DEALING WITH PRIDE

Pride is a friend of so many of us. If Pride were a facebook page, it would have a gazillion likes. Unfortunately, Pride is not the kind of friend anyone would want. It seems to stick its nose into my business more than any other friend. The more I allow my feelings to be hurt, the more trouble I have keeping Pride silent and away from me. Pride wants what Pride wants when Pride wants it. Pride simply wants attention…it thrives on attention! Pride wants other people to notice. Pride is simply evil…it is an invention from satan! Pride is not reserved just for the rich and famous. Pride afflicts everyone, whether rich or poor. Pride takes advantage...every advantage possible. Pride actually makes your feelings hurt worse. I think Pride delights in making us hurt. So, why do we cherish our friendship with Pride so much?

To deal with Pride, I try to talk to God. I know God hears me in my Prideful times, at least on some level of knowing. Sometimes I "KNOW" God hears me… and sometimes I sorta know He hears me. But one thing I am sure of…the more I talk to God, the less power Pride has over me.

A PRAYER FOR CHRISTMAS MORNING

The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and crowns another year with peace and good will. Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.

Close the doors of hate and open the doors of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our bed with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus sake. Amen

By Robert Louis Stevenson

TRINKET RELIGION

Okay, I’ll admit it, in the early years of my Christianity, I would spend countless hours in the Christian bookstore that was only a few blocks away from where I worked. I was so excited about my new found faith I just couldn’t get enough. I spent most of my time looking through the book section, but since I was still working in the retail business, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by that part of the store that should have had a banner declaring it the “Bible bazaar.” That special section was filled with pictures, posters, T-shirts…even some really bad ties for your pastor. There were plaques, wall decorations of every possible shape and size. There were toys, figurines, collectible items, bumper stickers, button, pens, dishes, and coffee mugs. I’m sure there were also some toilet seat covers with matching bath rugs if I looked hard enough to find them. On and on it went. Table after table, and shelf after shelf, just covered with every conceivable trinket imaginable. Almost every item had a scripture verse on it. Sometimes the connection made perfect sense. Other times it just simply seemed like someone had said to themselves, “I know. Let’s put a Bible verse on it. Christians will buy anything with a Bible verse on it.”

It’s been a good number or years since I left the marketing marvels of the retail business to answer God’s call to full time pastoral ministry, but, some things are just hard to unlearn. I remember taking part in an exercise called “Memorial Stones” along with a group of pastors. In the exercise we would write the address of a Bible verse that had an important impact on our life on a smooth stone. It was a moving exercise. But, I will have to confess that as I was making the drive back home from the meeting, I had a moment of genius run through my mind… I should produce a line of scripture stones… rocks with Bible verses! They could be “Bible Rocks”! I cannot begin to express to you my level of dismay when I realized that someone else had already beaten me to the idea.

Now, before I am inundated with comments about my brief fall into succumbing to the temptation of capitalizing on Christian trinkets, let me get to my point. I am just wondering if there is a problem with our society’s fondness for purchasing such Christian paraphernalia. Understand that the problem is not the item itself. I’m not saying you need to immediately get up from your computer and start throwing a bunch of stuff away. I think the problem is the philosophy. In a way, trinkets tend to minimize the power that is in the actual verse, and at the same time it lessens our personal sense of responsibility toward the Bible as a whole.

Let me explain it like this. A Bible rock in my pocket really does me no good at all, unless I am in daily relationship with THE Rock. A scripture verse hanging on the wall has little value if those words are not also inscribed on the walls of my heart. A coffee cup that encourages me to “have faith” cannot replace my need to BE a person of faith and faithfulness. Trinkets cannot replace the need for trust in my Lord and Savior. A cute figurine seldom serves as the seed that eventually grow into a mature faith.

Psalm 46:10 may well be one of the best examples of this. Without question, it is one of the most popular scriptures is taken from the KJV…. “Be still, and know that I am God;…” You can walk into any Christian bookstore and you can probably find it on at least a dozen different items. Now, here’s the issue for me. That scripture on a coffee mug might serve as a wonderful reminder, but it doesn’t possess any magical powers. The value of that word comes from its Source, not because it is repeated on a trinket. It’s power comes solely and completely from the Author of those words. If I separate the word from the Author, it loses its power, because HE is the Word.

The problem with spiritual trinkets is that after a while they can trivialize the truth. That phrase that once had such powerful impact when we looked at it only as a cherished part of God’s Word,…can become just another cliché. We can quote it (somewhat). It becomes a quick answer that we throw at the person who is wrestling with trouble and trials. But, does it have personal power? Does it have the life impact that it did when I wrote it as a scripture on a rock and shared how it impacted my life with other pastors? I guess what I am saying is that the danger is that some point along the way it’s meaning can become little more than background noise. It’s like the song you hear playing in the background at the grocery store. Instinctively, you find yourself singing along, but you’re not really paying any attention to the words.

I suppose that what I am trying to do is to remind us that God’s Word was intended to be much more than a pretty picture, or some ornamental knickknack. Again, the problem is not the item itself. I have them hanging in my house, too. But, God’s Word was meant to be a daily part of our lives. It is supposed to be read. It is supposed to be studied. It is supposed to be memorized. It is supposed to be obeyed and lived out in our day-to-day lives. Psalm 119 refers to it as a treasure that is supposed to be hidden away in our hearts. We can so easily fail in our regard for God’s Word. Too often the Bible has become just another decorative trinket in our homes. It sits on the shelf or table collecting dust. It lies buried in the bottom drawer. There is little wonder that we fall to pieces when tough times come upon us. How about we stop treating His Word as just another trinket. We need to recognize it as the treasure that it is…. and treat it as such.

FORGOTTEN PROMISES

“For You have heard my vows, O God; You have given me the inheritance of those who fear Your name.“ Psalm 61:5

I can remember it like it was yesterday. Our kids were little, and my wife’s sisters had done a pretty good job in keeping up with growing their families as well. There were nephews and nieces all over the place. We all decided to take a family trip…including all the in laws (and outlaws) to Six Flags in St. Louis. You know what I’m talking about…the whole family heads off for a weekend of rides, game booths, and lots and lots of food. You just buy your tickets, and take the kids on ride after ride until you either puke or pass out. 

Having consumed more than my share of hotdogs and other various treats, I found myself with my darling daughter in front of the line to the Screaming Eagle roller coaster. I could tell she didn’t really want to go on it, but her adventurous cousins did. So, Sara being the oldest felt compelled to take on that monster. The dads were then drafted to ride along (as if we could do anything to protect our little darlin’s from meeting an untimely end on this monster of a machine.) 

Now, I’ve never been particularly fond of carnival rides…especially roller coasters. I know that for some people its like heaven come down to earth to race around a tiny track at speeds no one should ever go, in what seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of little wagons connected to each other. Little did I know what awaited me. As soon as the ride started moving I realized I had made a terrible mistake. The climb to the top was slow and torturous. But, that was the last of anything that could be considered slow about it. My head started spinning. My stomach started spinning. The hot dog and bag of cotton candy that I had eaten earlier began looking for the nearest exit. I screamed!…I cried! All I wanted was for the ride TO STOP!!! (all while trying to hide my terror from my daughter). And then, it happened. In the middle of all my pain and peril I petitioned the Divine One for His merciful intervention.  “God, save me!!!… Get me off this ride and I will do anything!!!… ANYTHING!!!… Just do something!!!”  Thankfully, the ride came to an end in the next few moments. I pulled myself out of the seat, vowing to never do that again. And then, just like we so often do…I quickly forgot about my promise to God and off on my next adventure.

I suppose most of you can probably guess the point of what I’m trying to say. We have all been there at some time in our lives. Life is sometimes like a roller coaster…racing around, up and down, sometimes even spinning out of control. The thrill we had initially anticipated had given way to trials and testings. The situation we were in was making us sick. Our circumstances had brought us to tears. All we wanted was for it to end. And so, we began to bargain with God. We promised Him anything and everything if He would just intervene. “God, I will serve you. I will obey. I will stop. I will change. I will go. I will give. Whatever you want. Wherever you want me to go. Just SAVE me!!!

Maybe the circumstances surrounding your own vows and promises weren’t so dramatic. Maybe it was simply part of an expression of gratitude. But, in a moment of emotion you told God the same words. The music had been moving. The preaching had been passionate. The call had been clear. And maybe you went to the altar, or stood at your seat…but, you promised God the sky and the moon because of all that He had done for you. “God, I will serve you. I will obey. I will stop. I will change. I will go. I will give. Whatever you want. Wherever you want me to go. Just USE me!!!” And, in that moment you really meant it….with all your heart. But now, years that have passed and you have long since forgotten the promises of that special time when you called out to God.

What about you today? Now that God has showered His mercy and grace upon you, have you kept your word? Have you fulfilled your vows? Or have you just moved on to the next great adventure? The Bible gives us serious word of warning in Ecclesiastes 5:1-5: “When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.” We all want God to hear our cries for help. But, we must understand that the same God who hears our cries also hears our vows. We often forget that our words have value, and our promises carry tremendous power and potential.   Spend some time alone with God and let Him take you back today….back to that time when your life was out of control…. Do you remember?   Do you remember when you cried out and He heard you?   He saved you.   He kept His word.   Only one question remains…Have we kept ours?

HOLINESS IS WHAT I LONG FOR

There is a great song that Sonicflood does that has the lyrics “Holiness, holiness is what I long for.” Those words speak to my soul because we ought to be holy and blameless, It is something we all naturally desire because it is seared into our hearts. I remember back at the moment I became reborn in Christ. There was a depth of joy, and peace, and a wholeness of the love of Christ that flooded over me. It wasn't just some sort of feeling. It was something that simply enveloped me and completed me. I can’t help but grin from ear to ear as I think of it today. I remember how I couldn't wait to go to church to worship. I clung on to every Word that came from the Bible,…I looked forward to the next teaching Pastor Rudd would bring from the pulpit. I had never enjoyed reading before, but the Bible and great books from outstanding Christian authors became important to feed on. I grabbed every opportunity to serve and to help at church. I had a really good time. No one knew me or even cared who I was…and it was all okay! I was just another happy Christian!

I think in those early days of my new life I even had a grip on holiness…I just didn't know it. I didn’t realize it was something special because in my mind, that's just how it's meant to be. There were so many saints around me and I was learning from them. While I was of course a work in progress (and, if I am to be painfully honest, it appears that I still am, very much so), the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus made thoughts of sinning the furthest thing from my mind. I had no desire or appetite for it.

Then church happened. There came a time when I became noticed by church leaders and elders (as well as the people who thought of themselves as elders and appointed themselves as such,…I think you know the people I am talking about). Suddenly it began to matter what I wore, how I looked, who my friends were in church and even who I sat with during services. Up until that point I was in a place of such delight in my Savior, that I was blind to the undercurrents of church politics and the modern day Pharisees that are in our midst. I ran into religiosity. I was suddenly under scrutiny… not by the light of the Jesus…but by the eyes of man.

I have a dear friend and mentor who tells of how a tie tac was preached right off his tie (and it was a pretty nice tie tac). I suppose I began to wonder why should it matter if I tuck my shirt in or not? Isn't it okay if I wear jeans? They are pretty decent you know,… they don’t have too many rips or tears. So what if I am wearing a plain old t-shirt? Does being trendy mean I am not holy enough? And, what does it matter if I sit with someone with less than a great reputation in church? I mean, someone's gonna have to sit with that person…right? I just attended a seminar where the speaker challenged us with the question… “How many non-Christian friends other than family do you meet with?” How are we to be salt and light if we don’t associate with non-Christians, or even the Christian wannabes?

The Bible tells us “not to conform to the world but be transformed” (Romans 12:2). I am fearful that a version of the world exists in our churches also. This is the world of false religion that tries to fit us into a standard mold of its own definition. I found myself being conformed to legalism and I hated it. I began to experience striving to attain, rather than the joy of experiencing God, and I found myself struggling between law and grace.

Nothing changed inside me. I wanted to be holy. I desired it more than ever, and religion seemed to offer the direction. However, I also recognized how the Pharisees followed this path of religiousness, and it did not lead them closer to God. I continued even with tireless service, but it became burdensome and strained, because religion weighs a ton. Even the lightest load would get pretty heavy when we bear something long enough. The joy of my First Love was being squeezed out by do's and don’ts. His yoke is supposed to be easy and light (Matthew 11:30). It is not supposed to weigh a ton. So I gave up that burden, and embraced grace. His yoke is still a yoke, and I have chosen to be yoked to Jesus. I love being in a personal relationship with Him. What a relief when He carries my burdens. His friendship and His thoughts of me is now what defines me. I don’t have to worry about what others think about me any longer. That’s what happens when God is BIG and people are SMALL (“Thanks” to my friend for the book and His wise counsel on that!). He fights those battles for me now. I just need to follow His instructions, love God, love people, serve Him, and live righteously (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).

I freed myself from religious expectations (both those imposed by others, and those imposed on myself) and I am back where I should be with my First Love. I found the same grace I experienced when I first became reborn! And, what about holiness? Well, I may have a better grasp of it than ever before…I still seek it, I long for it, and I am growing in it. I think that's what transformation is. It is from the inside out, and it frees us.

There is always this question of law versus grace that seems to come up again and again. But, why does law have to be at odds with grace anyway? Jesus wasn't at odds with the law (although He didn't like religious legalism). Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). The law teaches us and leads us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). The Old Testament is not at odds with the New Testament. The Law has never been changed and it never will according to Matthew 5:18. But grace gives me life with my First Love . It doesn’t have to be one over the other. We debate grace versus law only to go around in circles. I don’t know, maybe that is just the point of it. Law and Grace exist in harmony and cannot be separated. Maybe we should just accept the law as the written moral compass and grace as our truth about it.

We should just be holy because God is holy, and we should do His will because that is what we long for. Law and grace…it works together.

Holiness, Holiness is what I long for…
Holiness is what I need….
Holiness is what You want from me…

REDEEMED HUMANITY

There is nothing like the Church! One of the most glorious things there is about the church, I think can be seen in a little rhyme we learned when we were little. Do you remember how we interlocked our fingers together making a little hand church, with our two pointers making a steeple? And then we would recite the rhyme that went like this: "Here is the church and here is the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people." I think one of the most glorious things about the church is all the redeemed humanity that is contained within.

When people connect with God,… and God gets a hold of a life through Jesus, there is a glorious thing that begins to happen. Starting way, way back, there was a guy by the name of Simon, just an ordinary, insecure guy, who becomes a rock named Peter. Then there was a guy named Saul who was a murderous and superior acting religious zealot who becomes a missionary to the very Gentiles he used to oppose so much. We find a story about a little widow woman named Dorcas who becomes a hero. And, then there was Mary Magdalene who has her life turned around. Through the centuries, there was Francis of Assisi, the Wesley brothers, Martin Luther, and in our day Mother Teresa, and Billy Graham…people who just shine like stars in our world…as well as ordinary people like you and me. One of the glorious parts of the church is all the redeemed humanity.

But, we can’t sit back in our pews thinking “Well, I have the heaven job done. I got out of Jesus what I needed from him. Oh, I might want to do a little extra credit work here and there, but basically I got out of him what I need from him.” That’s not the relationship with Jesus to which we are called. We are called to a transforming relationship. We are called to a mission. Jesus says, "Go to all the world, make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit." We want to lead our generation into a transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I love being a part of the redeemed humanity. But, I want more. I want to be a part of a glorious army of redeemed humanity on a mission…a mission given to me by my Savior…to make disciples of all peoples. How about you?

HOW'S YOUR BREATH?

Lately, God keeps confronting me with the power of words. Have you ever had a conversation with a friend, or your spouse, that included some critical words that you later regretted?

In the New Testament Book of James, we read in the third chapter, about the powerful ways our speech can give life or destroy it. It can draw people towards Jesus or push them away.   It tells of how out of the same mouth our speech is truly an unruly evil…it goes about boasting, cursing, gossiping, making promises…and out of the same mouth we praise God.

Well, in the middle of all this, God has reminded me of a couple of things that have been helpful at least to me. This morning I read Proverbs 10:32, “The speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it.” This verses makes me think of someone who’s eaten garlic or onions and has bad breath. In the same way, that which we fill our minds and hearts with can affect the aroma of our speech. Then Matthew 12:34 says “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” So I have to ask, what’s my “diet” like? What am I filling my mind and heart with that impacts my “breath”?

Maybe God is reminding me of a litmus test for my speech. Before I speak, maybe it would be a good thing to ask myself:
Is it true?
Is it necessary?
Is it kind?
Is it loving?
Does it build up or tear down?

It was just a reminder I needed this week. What about you?   How’s your breath?

TERRIBLE AS AN ARMY WITH BANNERS!

C.S. Lewis wrote a great book called “The Screwtape Letters.” The book is like letters written by a senior demon tempter named Screwtape, that he writes to a junior tempter about how best to pry a human being away from faith in God. This is what Screwtape writes: "One of our great allies in this is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her, spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy, but fortunately, it is quite invisible to these human beings.” It is a great book.

Part of what Lewis is to make a fundamental distinction. There is, on the one hand, what might be called the Church (capital C)…the body of Christ… "spread out through all time, and space, and rooted in eternity, an army with banners," and what we often see is what might be called the church (little c)…the buildings, pews, programs, and people going to services. The danger is if the “little c church,” is all we see…we miss the vision of the great Jesus-fueled mission in the world.

In Luke 9, we read this, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, 'Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart…And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.’”

When Jesus first called these 12 guys, they got a front pew seat to hear Jesus teach, and see him perform great miracles. They thought, “When it comes to Jesus, we get to watch.” That is until Jesus said one day, "That's not the plan. You get to GO. This is not actually a come-and-watch movement; this is actually a go-and-do kind of movement."  And, what do they take? Jesus says, "Nothing…no staff, no bag, no money, not even an extra tunic… because now my Father (the God of manna, the God of our daily bread) is involved and He'll provide. And, you're going to see stuff, Church, you won't believe."

It’s a funny thing…generally, through history, you will find the Church flourishing mostly where people do not have many staffs, or bags, or tunics. When people have a lot of bags and a lot of tunics (and a lot of us have a lot of bags, a lot of tunics),…every once in a while, we get really generous, and really humble, and really good stuff starts to happen. But more often, we get kind of self-sufficient and we start thinking to ourselves, “Man, if God had all of MY resources, and all of MY skills, and all of MY stuff,…any church would be really lucky to have MY help.” …and, we miss out on the miracle of the Church… "spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners."

Jesus did not say, "I am looking for some spectators who will come to some little building once a week and watch." He said, "I'm looking for followers who will go and do." Some did… and something great started. Something started with nothing, no money, no bag, no staff, no extra tunic, and no power. Something was starting that God would use to touch the world,… something that would "spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners."

There has never been anything like the Church! There is nothing like the Church!

FINDING ME

It’s been a couple of months since I took the time to write. I suppose my head is still swimming from all that I have learned about myself over the past few months. My time of vacation was wonderful and came a just the right time! God taught me a lot of things during this summer… most of which I think I’ll keep to myself for right now. I just really wanted to spend some time with my wonderful wife, and with God, while resting up on Big Turtle Lake. It was really “our time” and not an opportunity for me to find new gems to write about.
I will have to confess that during my God time this summer I learned a lot about me. If the truth be known, I probably learned more about the layers of stuff I added over my real self to create a false self. And, the reality of seeing the contrast in those two selves in the quiet of a Minnesota dawn helped me to shake myself out of the false self, and see myself once again as the man God called me to be.

Sometimes we try to clothe our false self with accomplishments, and glory, trying to make ourselves something we are not. And because there isn’t any substance to the false self, when all the coverings are stripped away, there is little left.

I’m working hard to take apart in small pieces my false self and allow my true self in Christ to emerge. It’s easier said than done! My desire to please people, along with all the expectations people have of me, as well as those I place on myself, have created a pretty thick web of coverings to shed.

I think that the most important blessing I’ve received through my time of rest was to help find who God has called me to be in Christ. I began to reconnect with the real me through silence and solitude, as well as trusted relationships. The silence and solitude was important because I’m still trying to find ways to escape the distractions and noise that continues to bombard my life and simply add to the confusion of who I truly am.

I especially am thankful for my trusted relationships. These special people in our lives are not the people who tell us what we want to hear, or the critics who are speaking out of their own personal pain, but they are the true, trusted friends and family, who can give me honest feedback about what they see God is doing in my life. They are people who can tell me when they see inconsistencies between how I’m acting, and who God has called me to be. They will come alongside me and coach me through the most difficult times, and be an encourager as I search for the person God created me to be.

While I know that these two things…solitude and relationships…may seem to contradict each other… they really don’t. It was Deitrich Bonhoeffer who said “Let the person who cannot be alone beware of community. Let the person who is not in community beware of being alone.” We all have to find this balance. Maybe I’m finally beginning to get it.

GONE FISHING

I am preparing for some time relaxing and fishing…maybe catching up on my reading, so this will be my last post for a while. I thought this excerpt from Thomas Merton's book "Thoughts in Solitude" would be something I would like to share with you while I take a time of rest.


My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so. '

But I believe that the desire to please you
does, in fact, please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

I LOVE FISHING!

"As He (Jesus) was walking along the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. "Follow me," He told them, "and I will make you fishers of men!" Immediately, they left their nets and followed Him" (Matthew 4:18-20)

There are only a few things that I can do that will take my mind off of the stresses of life and work. There are only a few things that I do where I can lay aside all of my cares, at least for a while. And, one of those things is fishing. I love fishing! Vacation time is on the horizon, and, I am looking forward to spending a few weeks up north on Big Turtle Lake in Minnesota...just fishing.

I love to be in the boat and apply everything that I have learned about fish to outsmart fish. I love to catch fish. I love to eat fish. I love everything about fishing. I don't even mind cleaning the fish that I catch. There are a few jealous friends and relatives that make fun of the size of my fish…and, I do have to confess it’s true that I have no trophy fish on my walls. Some days I really catch a lot of fish... but, you know,…even if I hadn't caught a single fish… I still have had a good time. I just love fishing.

Jesus said that we are to be "Fishers of men." I am a "fisher of men" in my preaching. You are "fishers of men" when you show others Jesus in you. We may only be the bait with God holding the pole, but none the less we are all "fishers of men." We are to be constantly thinking of ways in which we can spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the people in our realm of influence who need Him.

Obviously, we cannot expect to "catch" every lost person with the message, or with our worship music, or with our programs or events, any more than we can expect to catch every fish with our bait. But, we go; and we tell; and we share; and we win some; we disciple them. We do it the best we can so that others might learn to become fishers of men as well.  I love fishing!  How about you?

I AM BLESSED TO BE A DAD!

As Father’s Day weekend approaches…I found myself reflecting on what a blessing God gave me in allowing me to be a Dad. It has been a true joy. I heard it said that “What you're never told is that fatherhood is ‘for life.’” Your children never want you to think of them as children, but to you they always are. Whatever their age and in whatever circumstances, you remain responsible and always available. Gradually they adopt the same thought about you.”

Another old saying says, “Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad.” I never thought much about being a father, or even about whether my own father was a father or a dad, until I was an adult. But, I think that once you’re an adult, you have the wisdom to see your father for what he is and was, and what he does, or has done for you and your family, over the years. I hope that when that analysis for me as a dad comes to my daughters, it will be one of cherished smiles and great memories.

Thinking back on the earliest days after Sara and Erica were born, I can remember how they just filled our days! But, they also strengthened the bond between their mom and I, as we worked through the nights they captured with late night feedings and diaper changes. That’s what moms and dads do…they make room for these helpless and innocent creatures in their lives, regardless of how difficult and taxing it can be. Yet, my girls could do no wrong. Connie and I loved them, nurtured them, and tried to give them all that we could. As they began to grow, all we could see were bright futures ahead for them.

As toddlers, they were so precious! As they grew into childhood, we recognized just how bright they were. I loved the “daddy date nights” when we got to just hang out for a bowl of jello at their favorite restaurant, or a movie, or just shopping. I enjoyed so much that look on their face when I caught them looking up to me expectantly for a word of praise or even a hint of a smile, to let them know that, yes, I had seen their effort on the swim team, or the tennis court, or on the softball team….and I was proud of them regardless of the outcome.

When the teenage years came, we discovered their willfulness, as they began to stretch their boundaries,…but what a joy it was to be their dad! Through high school, they both just shined! Not only were they both excellent students, but they were so grounded. Their friends were a joy to be around, and they knew and demonstrated what it meant to be a true friend to others. When we dropped them off at college, they tears flowed until we were 50 miles away, not because of sadness, but because of the wonderful young women we were so blessed with, and the pride that swelled inside us to see them moving into a new and exciting place in their lives. Those college years were a growing time for both our daughters and us, as Connie and I learned life with just the two of us again, and as Sara and Erica learned how to become independent.

The years slipped by so quickly when we proudly watched them graduate with high honors from college, ready to start life, and all it was to bring for them. The time came too soon when their longing to be free would materialize. They had learned how to talk, how to walk, and how to run. And, now they were ready to fly…and to care for themselves.

But, even after that walk down the aisle with his precious daughter on his arm… remembering all the memories that they had shared growing up… a father's heart does not forget that these are his “little girls.” He knew they were different from all those other father’s girls, because they were his. Planted in them were seeds of dreams and plans for the future. And, now has come the time to wander out in search of their dreams…with another man in their life. Nothing can stop them, not love, not money, not even teams of wild horses! They had grown up. And, it was time to leave their mom and dad’s embrace.

I really can’t say that a father’s love is greater than that of the mother’s. The roles of dads and moms in a child’s life complements each other. One can nurture, and support, and encourage, while the other can discipline, instruct and protect. They both just affect their children differently. And, while children can find the heart and inspiration in life from their mothers, they can find the strength and will to live a good life from a father’s love. So, while I can’t say a father’s love is greater than that of the mother’s…I can say that Moms already got their shot on Mother’s Day…this weekend is all Dad’s!

Daddy’s heart still breaks when he sees when they hurt, and he has great joy when he sees them happy. But he tries to step back into shadows to allow them space to be the great daughters…and now wives and mothers…that they have grown to be. But, shadows or not, there remains a love that only a father can give. The love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. The love that never fails. No man will ever love my daughters the way their dad does.

Sometimes dads don’t say, "I love you" as often as we should, though the feelings are always there. He tries to speak his love unselfishly by giving all he can to make his daughter’s, (or son’s) dreams come true. Sometimes the love that dads feel is just too big for words, yet a father’s love is irreplaceable…it's real, and it’s true. A father's kiss is pure. It comes from the one man who will always be there…full of love for his girls. There is nothing he wants more than to bring hope, joy, and faith to those daughters he loves so much.

As a dad I hope to always be the friend my daughters need when they have no one to turn to, knowing I will support all their dreams… no matter what. When they need to cry, I want to have a shoulder ready. When they laugh, I want to laugh with them. Sorry girls….there is no replacement or substitute…I’m the one you are stuck with! You have one father. But, know that even if you ever think the world has turned its back on you…your Dad will always be there for you.

"Thank you God, for the priviledge and honor of being a father to such wonderful women. Amen"

YOU ARE A PEARL OF GREAT VALUE

“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:45-46

Back in my days in the jewelry business, one of my favorite gems…I think because it was the only gem created by a living organism…was the pearl. You can almost get lost in the beauty of a high quality pearl because of the warmth and glow that is found in no other gem, due to its very unique beginning. A salt water oyster embeds itself in the muck and mire of the ocean floor. The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle tissue and the shell,… which irritates the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to try to cover up that irritant to protect itself. So, the mantle tissue of the oyster covers the irritant with layers of a mucus like substance called nacre. The nacre substance is the same substance that is used to create the shell. That is why you see the beautifully iridescent mother-of-pearl layers on the inside of the oyster shell.

Those humble beginnings hardly seems to be an appropriate setting for something as beautiful as a pearl. Yet, I have seen strands of magnificent South Sea pearls valued at 100’s of thousands of dollars! And they shine and glow with a radiant beauty despite their early environment. One of my most difficult tasks was to evaluate those pearls for appraisal and determination of value. Not only were the obvious factors, color, quality of skin, roundness, iridescence, etc, all important…but there was the internal factors that could only be determined by x-ray that could determine if the pearl was cultured with man’s help, or if it was a magnificently rare pearl created by the oyster.

I think the same can be said for us as well. No matter what kind of bad situation your life may be in, God sees way beyond that. He sees you as the valuable and worthy person you really are. God goes beyond your own self assessment and the assessment of others who are looking at your outward appearance, and He goes directly to the inside, the heart, the unknowable part of you to make His own appraisal of your merit and significance. God sees the pearl. God looks beyond where you were, and always sees something special in you…and He gave everything to have you for His own!

“Thank you God….I am grateful that You look far enough in me to see what is hidden inside.  Thank you for seeing past my being but an ordinary man, and seeing me as one of great value to You . Amen”

CAREGIVERS ARE SPECIAL PEOPLE

There are very special people who everyday have to come to grips with life, caring for a disabled or seriously ill child or adult. They are often unknown, and more often go unnoticed. Yet, their sacrificial love is God at His best. Their walk is a walk of faith in the darkness that most of us cannot know, but their great courage, even in the middle of weakness and weariness, gives life to the ones they love. They provide the ultimate care for their special people by simply being there for them, holding a hand, or giving comforting words.

In their weariness, I can almost hear their unspoken, yet anguished cries to God:

“Great and gracious Almighty God, My life has become so difficult I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. Every day is a new day of dread and I’m weary, worn, and discouraged before my feet even touch the floor. Each day I face is like the one before and each day to come will be no different. I am so tired. Between cooking, cleaning, shopping, and doctor appointments, my life is a merry-go-round that is spinning out of control and I can’t get off. Then there’s the mountains of laundry piling up faster than the machines and I can get them done. Oh Lord, please help me.

Renew, refresh, and strengthen my body, my mind, and my spirit so that my thoughts are of You rather than lists of tasks that remain undone from yesterday. Help me to focus on the present instead of looking at the road ahead. Whisper your love to me in the gentle touches of my family as I pat a head, or hug shoulders, rub tired feet, or scratch an itching back. As a caregiver for my deeply loved family member, let me be simply a conduit for Your love to pour through to those who need my assistance just to make it through each day. Be my shelter in this great storm of life, for listening to my cries of despair, for lifting me up when I feel overwhelmed. You are my salvation and my joy, regardless of the circumstances around me. Grant my heart with your peace which prevails over all.”

Father, Bless those who accept that they have been given care of a very fragile person… never knowing why this task has been passed to them. Help them to realize that what they do has great value. Give to them strength to care for their special person, whether a spouse, a parent, or child, to the best of their abilities. Help them to forgive themselves for the days they could do better, but don't…as well as for the days they would do better, but cannot. Teach them how to draw from Your well of infinite patience and energy, and open their hearts up to the possibility of joy, of fulfillment, and of Your grace. In Jesus Name…Amen.

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE OUGHT TO PRAY FOR

I just read those words this past week as I was working on an upcoming message…“We don’t know what we ought to pray for.” (Romans 8:26 NIV)…and, I thought, “Oh, how true!” Sometimes it is the very answers to our prayers that cause many of the difficulties in our life. We pray for love of others, and God sends suffering people our way who are difficult to love, and say things that get on our nerves just to remind us that “love is patient, love is kind…it is not rude…it is not easily angered…it ALWAYS protects, always trusts… always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

We pray for patience, and it seems that the first people who cross our paths are difficult and demanding, and test us to the limits…because we know that “suffering produces perseverance.” (Romans 5:3). We pray to be unselfish, and God responds by giving us opportunities to sacrifice by placing other people’s need first. We pray for strength and humility, and “a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud.” (2 Corinthians 12:7) is promptly dispatched to make sure we are “not puffed up”.

We pray for a Christlike life that exhibit’s the humility of Jesus, and we are soon asked to perform some lowly task, or we are unjustly accused and given no opportunity to explain. We pray for gentleness and quickly face a storm of temptation to react with harshness and irritability. We pray for a quietness, and suddenly it seems that we have only one nerve left…and someone is STANDING RIGHT ON IT!…all so we can learn that when He sends His peace, no one can disturb it.

We pray as the Apostles did, to “increase our faith” (Luke 17:5), and it seems that promptly our money seems to take wings and fly away; someone close becomes critically ill; the car won’t start, and if it did you couldn’t go anywhere till you changed the tire; or, some other new trial comes upon us requiring more faith than we have ever before experienced.

We pray to be like Jesus, and God’s answer is “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10) “Will your courage endure or your hands be strong?” (Ezekiel 22:14) Or, as Jesus said in Matthew 20:22... “Can you drink the cup?”

It appears that the way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance and every trial as being straight from the hand of our loving Father, knowing He is looking down from glory on those circumstances as being lovingly and divinely appointed to grow us into what He created us to be…in His likeness.

I read a poem written by Annie Johnson Flint that I would like to share with you. I believe it is called “Better Than My Best”.

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile
All sense of nearness, human and divine;
The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,
The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine;
But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,
The everlasting arms upheld my own.

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds,
The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,
The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,
And all my little candle flames burned out;
That while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,
The face of Christ made all the darkness bright.

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,
A slumber free from pain, a hushed repose;
Above my head the skies were black with storm,
And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;
But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew,
I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

I thank You, Lord, You were too wise to heed
My feeble prayers, and answer as I sought,
Since these rich gifts Your bounty has bestowed
Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;
Giver of good, so answer each request
With Your own giving, better than my best.

A MEMORIAL DAY PRAYER FOR OUR HEROES AND THEIR FAMILIES

Lord, this morning I turn my thoughts toward the women and men who have served our nation in times of war and times of peace. I stand before You, God, grateful for the dedication of the heros who have lived and died, suffered, and cried, and stood with pride on ship, battlefield and parade ground. I honor those who gave their lives for peace with courage that others families may be free, so children could grow strong and safe as they would ever be. In giving your life and safety for the sake of peace, you and your families may have suffered loss, your body may still show its wounds from taking up the battle. I pray the remembrance of your personal sacrifice for peace have time to fade away.

So, I take time to pray this morning, Father, that these women and men experience Your healing and comforting presence for the wounds they have known and still know today,… for the losses they have endured and always will endure. I also ask that Your healing and comforting presence be experienced by their families, their children, and their loved ones who have suffered beyond measure along with them, and who have had to endured the anxious loneliness living without them.

I especially ask that Your presence be experienced by the heros of tomorrow,… those who are bravely serving in harms way today. Please, gracious God, guide them to safety, guide them to justice and righteousness in even the toughest of conditions. Bring them home to their husbands, their wives, and their children. Comfort those moms and dads and those who love these patriots, and teach us how we might help them with their troubles. Show to us how to be Your compassionate presence to them as they experience anxiousness, anguish, and the loneliness and pain that comes with the knowns and unknowns of war.

Finally, God, for all of us, for all who are in the service, for America, for the world, we pray for peace. Lead the leaders of the world to the day when “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; [to a day when] nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4).Grant us Lord, that we would strive more strongly for freedom from causes that sent some away to fight that we may freely live. With gratefulness we thank you, veterans for all you gave and give. We long for Your peace, for Your shalom. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

PASTOR'S LETTER TO HIS WIFE

Dear Connie,

I was sitting here at my desk working, and began to think of you and how precious you are to me and my ministry. I believe that very few understand the pressure of being a pastor’s wife. Higher expectations are often placed on you more than anyone else in the church. Your life is more public than you likely would have ever chosen it to be. You receive more scrutiny than others. I know there are times of loneliness because you often have to share me with others as I attend my meetings and other functions that take me away from home. You are expected to endure when my hours are long; you shoulder my pressures; you feel my disappointments; and, you suffer my defeats, probably as profoundly and as deeply as I do. And yet, you shoulder your role. Your beautiful smile speaks more powerfully to people than all of the words that pour from my mouth.

I’m learning from you how to be a better pastor, and hopefully how to be a better husband. You challenge me to be a man more like Jesus. I know that being a pastor’s wife was the farthest thing from your mind when we started our life journey together almost 39 years ago. But, I have no doubt God made you to be a pastor’s wife. Now…why He chose to bless me with you,… I do not know. But, God gave you this desire for me that is without explanation. Your love for me is a picture of God’s grace in my life.

Remembering some of the lessons I learned in my earlier years in the jewelry industry, I can say you handle the pressure of being a pastor’s wife with the skill of a master watchmaker. You have a sense of understanding the delicateness of all the relationships in the church, understanding how each gear turns another, and how each part affects another. I know I don’t always show the greatest mercy in my conversation, but you help me learn how to have more tact when I speak.

God’s grace just seems to shine through you as you manage the scrutiny of being a pastor’s wife. Though I cannot share with you every private matter in the church, I count on you to be my outlet for stress. It is only God’s grace in your life that explains how you can diffuse my ministry stress, understanding when I need a word of encouragement, or simply a time of quiet. You are the one who listens to my dreams for the church and helps me to look into the future and see those dreams become a reality. You gracefully love others the way Christ loved. I’m learning about God’s grace more and more through you.

I am thankful for the way you live out the higher expectations placed upon you…not because of what others may think or expect,…but because you live them out for Jesus. You’re a godly, (though sometimes slightly stubborn) woman. And, I love you, Connie. You make me want to boldly live the Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:25, when he wrote… “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” I am blessed to have you on this journey with me.

Love, John

NAVIGATING THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

Have you spent periods of time, some short, some long, or maybe in between, when it seemed as if you were traveling though the dark nights of your soul. Maybe even a time where your identity and self worth seem to come under direct assault. At the risk of vulnerability, I must confess to finding myself wandering through that wilderness recently. Those moments were marked by depression and maybe even an underlying anger toward the Lord for even allowing me to go through such emotional torment. What is going on, God? Why is this happening to me? This doesn’t make any sense! But, the wilderness time just continued, dragging me through anger and then to apathy. Soon I was knocking on the door of sadness until I could no longer move. My frustration became so intense that I didn’t know how to navigate out of the darkness…I couldn’t even pray. Have you ever been to the point where you can’t even utter a word…you don’t know what to pray?

I am thankful God blessed me with a loving caring wife who knows me better than I know myself and is not afraid to reach out for help when she sees I am struggling in the wilderness. She quickly called on a great friend with whom the Lord has blessed me, who quietly came alongside me, and with a simple phone call, he gently helped guide me back on track again. The burden became clearer and not so distorted, the frustration (though still present) became a target for action, and I was able to refocus my energy. And now, I’m beginning to feel like maybe I can identify a some of the truths revealed to me over the course of that painful crawl through the wilderness.

Somewhere in the midst of all my crying, and frustration, and yelling at the Lord, I began to realize that He’s not really impressed nor even swayed by my fit throwing. It seems that as so often the case, most of my overly dramatic cries for help were actually my attempt to get the Lord to do what I thought He should do. And, of course, that demand would not be complete if it didn’t include the desire that I wanted Him to do them in the time frame that I thought He should. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is that God really does have “all the time in the world” to accomplish His plans and purposes. So, for us to require the Lord to respond to our “more important than anything” requests, or even to fulfill His promises in our time frame…well, it just doesn’t work out that way. When I surrendered to His Lordship, part of what that meant was that would be trusting not only that He’ll get it done, but that it will happen when He’s ready for it to and not a moment sooner,… no matter how much I complain, or whine, or “beseech” Him (I love that word…I need to use it more) to do otherwise.

Another thing I learned about navigating through the wilderness was staying focused on the right things. Paul encouraged the early church saying…“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable … if anything is excellent or praiseworthy…think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) One of the enemy’s oldest tactics is to rob us of our enjoyment of life by simply reminding us of what’s not right. If he can get us to spend our days dwelling on what’s not right about ourselves, or our situation, or that person who makes our skin crawl,… then he has succeeded in getting our minds out of focus on those things that are… “true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable … excellent or praiseworthy.” Magnifying the negatives and minimizing the positives of our realities, whether past or present, will inevitably suck the joy out of us and leave us depressed.

This principle is particularly true when applied to our relationship with the Lord. If our prayers are focused on what He hasn’t done for me lately, rather than what He has,… then we’ll slowly be convinced that He surely can’t love me the way I once thought He did. That deception can literally can ruin your faith, and, spoil your life. Thanks to a lot of time in prayer and inner searching, I have developed a stronger inner resolve to focus on the goodness of God, and what He has done, and is still doing in me and for me.

You know, if we’re going to spend eternity in the WITH-GOD life…we must first take ownership that we are saved, redeemed, justified, adopted, deeply loved, and accepted just as we are. We serve a GOOD GOD who wants nothing more than to bless us just because we are His children. He is indeed true, noble, right, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of our praise! If we choose to believe anything other than that,… regardless of how miserable our situation may seem in the moment,… then we are walking in the foolishness and deception of the enemy of our soul. We cannot allow our flesh and our struggle with our own human weakness to twist and distort our heavenly perspective.

I think the discipline of focusing begins with a decision to simply “think about” the “right” things. And, we will stay rightly focused as we learn to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Lord Jesus, help us to get this one right. We know You are good. We know You love us. Forgive us for our impatience. You want to bless us and surround our lives with your mercy and favor. You have provided for us, you have protected us, you brought us out of the darkness and into the light and we give you our praise. We worship you because you are worthy! Thank you Jesus, we love you. Help us to stay rightly focused today. Amen.

RELATIONSHIP THAT CAUSES THE EARTH TO SWOON!

I still remember my wedding day, when my beautiful bride, now of nearly 39 years, came through the door of the church on her dad’s arm…I nearly swooned from the beautiful sight I beheld. Connie and I had gone through much to arrive at that day. There were hurts, and heartaches along the way, but forgiveness and genuine love for each other carried us through to a relationship of belonging, and acceptance, and love. My love for my bride has not weakened in the years that followed. When we would begin to build up walls and barriers to protect our hearts from hurt, we found that wouldn’t work long. We did much better when we were open and vulnerable to each other. So, no matter what came our way…we stayed with each other, and helped each other…doing life together.

The church needs that same powerful commitment to relationship. God wants to have a relationship with Himself and His creation that would cause the world to swoon. People walk through the doors of our churches for a lot of different reasons, but ultimately they stay for only one reason…they have cracked the near impregnable wall of cliques and clusters, and have been able to establish relationships with others. When we have been joined and fitted together rightly in relationship, we will put up with all kinds of our church craziness. But, without relationship, or having the sense that no one really gives a rip about us, or that we won’t be accepted for who we really are, we will bail at the first sign of trouble. Don’t you think it’s time that we Christians come to terms with our incredible need for belonging and acceptance?

Ultimately it is all about our relationship with our Heavenly Father. It is true that we must be in constant pursuit of a deeper revelation of God’s unconditional love and acceptance of us as His children. But, this seem to me to be where we’re missing something. We are also to be our Father‘s expression of love to each other. Think about it…what better way is it that we receive God’s love for us than through another’s loving touch, or kind and caring words, or selfless actions?

Jesus clearly understood this principle. During his ministry on this earth he was a living and breathing testimony of how we’re to conduct ourselves as a follower of Christ. Did Jesus ever wall off his heart from others so he could avoid further injury than which he was already receiving from the religious leaders? Did Jesus make it a point to avoid any meaningful relationships in order to avoid rejection? No, he kept putting himself out there….serving the needs of others, healing the sick and lame, and ministering compassion with all who came to Him through up close and personal contact. Indeed, Jesus would often get away to escape the constant drain of ministry so He could spend some uninterrupted time with his father. Yet, once recharged and strengthened, he just kept coming back for more, even to the point of enduring torture, humiliation, and death as His final demonstration of love for others.

I cannot help but believe that our Lord is saddened by the relational superficiality that so many believers are currently experiencing in their local church. When it comes right down to it, what or who is to blame for this relational breakdown is probably a mute point…but, for pastors like myself, and other church leaders, it is our responsibility to do something about it. And, it always seems to come down to this…more often than not, it starts with us. Church leadership seems to provide plenty of opportunities for relational strife and personal heartbreak. Way to many pastors, myself included, have had to fight off the natural tendency of becoming overly protective of our heart in order to survive… and the walls go up. But, erecting impenetrable walls of protection around our hearts can lead to an even greater problem than the outside assault…it well eventually result in love starvation, and an overwhelming sadness or anger toward others…and maybe even towards God…after all, it was He who called us into this.

It seems as if the church need some emotional restoration effort for its people. Christianity simply must be lived from the heart. If we ever hope to accomplish anything of eternal value, our passions and our emotions must be fully engaged and alive both vertically and horizontally…toward God and toward people. If we find ourselves going about our Christianity like we’re killin’ snakes…trying to do all the right things,… running from one ministry to another,… while our primary motivation is our sense of obligation or duty, we likely won’t last very long. And, if in the middle of all that business in the Lord’s work, we get our emotions stepped on and choose to remain offended, or refuse to seek healing for those wounded emotions,… we are a sitting duck for our enemy who knows that if he can get us to close off our heart…he’s got us. It only takes a little un-forgiveness and soon he has succeeded in knocking us out of the race.

1 Peter 2:4-5 tells us that Jesus was the original “…living Stone rejected by men”, and that “…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.” If you feel rejected, you have to understand that you’re not the only one in that boat. You’re in pretty good company. Rejection seems to be like a right of passage for us to achieve true spiritual authority. And, somehow or other, through the process of having our heart repeatedly wounded and healed… it becomes stronger, and maybe even a little softer at the same time. I am finding that in the times when I am unwilling to be vulnerable with the Lord or with others…I am soon headed to the altar for confession…because it is a sign that I have lost my trust in my Father’s sovereignty and loving care and watchfulness over me.

The local church is that spiritual house built with living stones. And, just like the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed…with many of its stones burnt and scarred by the ravages of battle… in order for you and I to function properly, or even to survive for that matter, we cannot be rebuilt by leaving our burnt and scarred hearts laying in the rubble…we must be connected to one another…not just organizationally, but at the heart level. The local church must regain its place of being a refuge for those in need of emotional restoration… it must return to being a place where the building of meaningful relationships is a top priority…instead of building personal agendas, structures, and programs.

As individuals, we must pursue a deeper revelation of our Father’s unconditional love and acceptance for us so that we can receive that kind of genuine love and give to others. It is only when we lay ourselves before the Lord and allow ourselves to become vulnerable to His touch that we can find the kind of intimacy that we all secretly long for. It seems as if our poor treatment of one another, our uncompassionate heart toward those who reach out to us in great need, and even our faulty perceptions of how we might feel the Lord has treated us, we can find ourselves prone to relational superficiality. But friends, we simply must resist this tendency. Our spiritual life really depends on it. Our ability to function as an integral member of the body depends on it. The fulfillment of our spiritual destiny depends on it. We need a renewed focus on the value and importance of maintaining a deep, heartfelt relationship…not only with our Lord, but with our fellow man.

"Jesus we really need some help here. Lord, I know we all want to serve You with an open heart. Please heal our emotional wounds. Tear down the walls we have built to protect our hearts. Heal your church Lord. Heal the bride so fully that her beauty will cause the heavens and the earth to just swoon! Give us Your great love for others, and strengthen our trust in You that we may do as You have taught us…to Love God…and love others. Amen."

RE-DISCOVERING COMMUNITY

I was just starting reading Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer III’s book “Essential Church” and in the first couple pages I read that “2/3’s of churchgoing young adult students drop out of the church because it is not essential to their lives.” Other polls and studies indicate that clearly the majority of people in all ages in our country are not committed to, or attending a local church in any significant way, and that includes many who would consider themselves a believer. Before I paint with such a disturbingly broad brush… there is without question communities and pockets where spiritual renewal is taking place, and there are healthy and even thriving local churches. But, I don’t think we can ignore the sick and dying congregations that are often sitting right next to them. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, the body’s “parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”

If we are to be perfectly honest…which of course we should be as Christians…when we’re enjoying all that comes with being a part of a healthy church full of spiritual growth and vitality, it’s pretty easy to slip into that place where we become overly focused on our own little corner of the Kingdom. When we’re not suffering,…when the attendance is up…and the money is flowing nicely…when every corner of activity seems to have the blessing of God on it…it’s easy to forget those who are struggling. Or, maybe it’s your church that’s struggling, and all you see around you are growing and thriving congregations, and you begin to wonder, “What is wrong with us?” Either way, I’m convinced that, as a whole, our churches and leaders cannot continue with business as usual as our smaller local congregations that are so critical to the Kingdom, grow more and more unhealthy.

For most believers in this country, Sunday morning is still the central focus of our Christian experience. More often than not, our faith is more likely identified by where we go than by who we are. If someone is asked, “Are you a Christian?”… the most common answer would likely be “Well, I go to_________church.” Christianity is not an event that we attend regularly, although that is the way we often think of it. Church has become more about where we go than who we are. And folks, this is a problem, because we have made Sunday morning service a pitiful substitute for the abundant lifestyle we were created to enjoy as Christians. And, this attitude is perpetuated by (I’m ashamed to say) even our church leaders who spend a lot more time and effort trying to maintain our buildings and programs than we do actually interacting with the people in our congregation.

We can say, “Wait a minute…we have several small groups meeting in homes. That’s good interaction isn’t it?” Sure it is…and we need more of them! But, the real question is not so much about who you are meeting with…but, who are you really doing life with? How many people know and care about the real you? How many people know the person you are when you’re weak, or tired, or discouraged? How many people know and share with you your moments of triumph? How often are people in your home for no other reason than you just enjoy hanging out with them? See, I’m not talking about some program or agenda driven meeting. I’m talking about mutually gratifying relationships that would survive with or without the Sunday morning routine. I’m talking about congregations enjoying what we were designed to enjoy…genuine community. I believe that one of the challenges we face as small congregations is re-discovery of genuine community. Because if the truth be told…many of us have not lived or functioned in actual community for many years.

When I grew up in the small town of Ashley, everyone knew their neighbors (whether you liked them or not). But in today’s society most of us have little or no relationship with our neighbors. Why is that? I don’t believe it is because we don’t want to get to know them,… it’s that we don’t seem to want to invest the time and effort into building a relationship. I realize that life growing up in Ashley just isn’t the way society works anymore…and I need to recognize we no longer live in Mayberry where generation after generation would grow up and eventually die in the same small town…where everyone knows the Sheriff and the town drunk on a first name basis. Our society is different…and to be honest, while I might often hark back to the good old days…I kind of like the challenges and changes that have come with progress. I am especially thankful that I can sit in my Sunday services in the heat of summer in a nicely air-conditioned building rather than trying to cool myself off with a paper fan on a stick!

I guess my point in all this is that there are things we’ve been doing in some of our small local churches that just aren’t working anymore,… and it’s time to be honest about it… and begin to make the changes necessary so we can get past them and move on to what’s next. Please understand, I am not claiming to have all the answers. I would be satisfied to just have a few answers. I am just finding myself hungry to process through some of sacred cows and the craziness we’ve come to know as church life, and begin recapturing the sense of community and meaningful relationships with each other. The small local church needs to move on…and move out. And, I’m not speaking in terms of all the church growth stuff. I’m talking about getting out of our comfortable quagmire that stifles vitality and health, and to begin to reclaim our rightful place as “essential” in the lives of our people.

Help us Lord to be faithful to the commandments You have given us…to Love God, and Love others. Help us to restore honest community with one another in our churches, and then as a Holy Spirit inspired army…then carry that community into our world. Amen

MY PRAYER ON THIS NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

Our gracious God and Father. I approach Your throne today on this National Day of Prayer, knowing that it is only through the name of Jesus that I can stand before You. I thank and praise You for Your goodness in allowing me to do so. I recognize very well that I am unworthy of this honor, this privilege, apart from Your unmerited favor and grace. I come before You to petition Your power, mercy, and abundant grace be granted us.

I first pray for our leaders. Lord, give our leaders godly wisdom. Guard them from making ungodly decisions, but lead them in all righteous instead. Return our leaders to the godly principles our Nation's Founders employed. May they lead in a way that pleases You, not men.

May the citizens of this great country, recognize the greatest patriot is the one who recognizes Jesus as Lord. Refresh our memory of the spiritual foundation upon which our country was founded. Restore a spirit of humility that comes from realizing we moved away from You, not the other way around. Restore honor and integrity to all elements of our nation.

Give to our President wisdom to make the choices You want him to make. Give him a tender heart of compassion for those he serves. Give him godly conviction and holy desire. Give him courage to do the right thing even when expected to do the wrong thing. Make his way parallel to Your way. Keep his thoughts pure and his walk blameless.

Give our cities strong leaders with strong spiritual wisdom. Help our leaders take care of business without compromising godly principles. Surround us with favor among other cities. Shine in the dark places of this city to give hope to the fearful. And, restore a godly influence through godly leaders.

Grant to our churches a real desire for revival. Make our churches a place where Jesus is praised, and our worship is predominant and open to your leading. Give to Christians a renewed passion to be clean and reconciled to each other. Bless us so we can bless others. And as a pastor You have called to ministry, give me and all pastors strength and energy to do Your work in Your power. Make us men and women of prayer that we may lead a people of prayer. Keep our eyes on what You want, and give us the endurance to run the race well.

As for me Lord, use me to do your work and allow me to praise your Name forever and ever. Restore my soul, extend my boundaries, and bless my ministry. Magnify the work of my hands and heart to bring glory to your Name. Make the desires of my heart the absolute same as Yours, Father. Help me to stand when I want to quit. Turn my mistakes into learning experiences. Make a way where I can't see one now. Give me strength and means to continue serving You. Use me to do something extraordinary today. Open the door where previous failures have seemingly closed them. Use me anyway you will. Use me to accomplish what You desire.

Teach me to love my wife today the same way Jesus loves me. Bless my spouse today with your richest blessing in Christ Jesus. Provide the spiritual needs of my wife in a way that glorifies You. Thank you for using her to fill my missing parts. Bless her for the way she has blessed me.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to Your sight Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. I render to You, a thankful and surrendered heart. I ask all of these petitions on this day of prayer, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

THE SIMPLE CHURCH LOVES GOD AND LOVES PEOPLE

I have had enough time to digest the treasure of inspiration I received at the “Simple Church” Conference held recently at our State Ministries Camp Ground. Author, Tom Rainer, did a marvelous job of challenging us to revisit the simple picture of what it means to be a New Testament church. As he repeated several times to his audience,…he was not promoting a “new” way of doing church or some new program. He was showing us nothing “new”, but instead was re-introducing us to the simplicity of being a vibrant church. The day was too short, but the conference set me to thinking about church, and how we go about it. And, I thought maybe I would share some of my thoughts today.

When Jesus was asked to provide the cliff notes version on how to be a Christian, He said “love God and love each other, cause that’s what this thing is all about.” RJVT (Revised John Vaughn Translation). I believe that most would readily agree that Christianity, in its purest form, is pretty simple. But  we often seem to make our faith and practice a lot more complicated than we would like it to be. Maybe it’s spiritual A.D.D., but we tend to quickly lose sight of  our primary focus as believers… loving God and loving others.

Our addiction to maintaining order and traditions of how we do what we do every Sunday morning, can make the clarity of our mission seem muddy. Somehow, because we’ve been basically doing the same things the same way for the last several hundred years, we now associate singing songs and listening to someone talk for 45 minutes… with being a believer. What has happened to us? The result is that many have come to the point of merely attending church as a non-essential spectator. In turn, we’ve created a false perception of what it means to be a Christian.

We’re not really living life as Christians anymore. What we are doing is we’re singing songs about it, and letting the preacher tell us what it might look like if we actually did something about living as a Christian. But, I submit to you that Christianity is not an event that we passively attend,…it is a life we must live! And more fundamentally, Christianity is about a real being that we must get to know as a friend.

Before we can truly love anyone, we must have some form of up close and personal interaction with them. But, we’ve been trained to interact with God vicariously through the songs, teachings, and well written and even sometimes entertaining books of others. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, and I’m sure it would seem pretty strange to early Christians.

Much of what we’ve come to accept as our expression of faith is no more than a routine that we do each week, because apparently we lack the motivation to try something else. But, the essence of our faith is relational in nature, not ritualistic in nature. And, there lies the problem. Our culture has trained us to put more effort into our events than we do our relationships. Now, we can assemble together in a friendly manner...but, too often we are not friends. We were created to live out our Christian lives in the context of a family and a community that would allow us not only to function as a community, but also to actually enjoy ourselves in the process. It seems that much of Christianity today has become more about our meetings than what our meetings are supposed to be about…which is developing life giving love relationships with God and others.

Even in our service setting, looking at the back of each other’s heads while listening to a speaker, though it serves its purpose, is clearly not relational in nature. Don’t get me wrong…before you prepare to stone me…I’m not saying there is no value in gathering on Sunday mornings as we do. The point is that we have often invested a greater percentage of our time and energy in our meetings, and not nearly as much as we should in each other and our individual interaction with the Lord. Genuine relationship, whether it is with God or others,… is costly. It is time and energy consuming.

I have watched as godly men and women,…mature in their faith…full of godly thoughts and actions…(and, if they wouldn’t be stared at they would be comfortably dressed in white linen)…who were going through some of the most heart wrenching, and difficult life struggles. I expected at any time to hear them blurt out, “I’m mad at God!” And, I would not have been shocked. As a matter of fact I would appreciate their relationship with the Lord. Because at the very least, even in the frustration of the moment, their reaction would be real, and it would be honest… the way genuine relationships always are.  Sometimes we get mad and have to give each other a piece of our mind. “I don’t like the way you’re treating me!” “Why’d you do that?” “Sometimes I don’t understand you!” If we ever find ourselves talking this way with God…it’s probably a pretty good sign.  Intimate relationship requires truthful, gut wrenching vulnerability more often than not. And frankly, that’s probably more at the center of the real issue.

Most of us are so emotionally wounded, that we have great difficulty achieving much heart to heart intimacy with God or anyone else for that matter. Life has occasionally been rough, whether we’re willing to own that fact or not. I don’t care how spiritually mature we think we are, we are deeply emotional beings and most of us could benefit greatly from some inner healing. And, as much as I hate to admit it…sometimes it’s the most visible and influential church leaders who are in the greatest need of emotional healing. Many of the leaders and even pastors I’ve known would love the opportunity to be truly vulnerable with someone, but they are afraid go there for fear of character assassination.

All of this has led to much of the masks that cover what is going on outside our church life that we experience currently in churches across the land. Hey…Pastors are people, too…cut’em some slack! I don’t in any way mean that we should turn our heads when there is moral failure. Our feet must be held to the fire. But, we simply must allow our leaders to be transparent without fear of being publicly destroyed.  We can't forget that every moment of our lives we dwell in the middle of a full on, bare knuckled brawl in the supernatural realm. As a believer, we have an enemy whose greatest pleasure is sucking all the peace and joy out of our life here on earth that he possibly can. One of his most successful strategies is to simply get us to focus on one another’s weaknesses or mistakes so that we remain in a state of offense toward one another. Or, he just gets us to start doubting the Lord’s goodness and love for us, and as a result we become offended at God. Proverbs 18:19 says, “An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city.” That sounds a lot like battle language to me!   If we don’t allow emotional wounds and offenses to heal, both have the potential to keep us from honoring our two most essential directives…to Love God, and to Love Others. We can’t love God or each other at a distance. We need transparent, face to face interaction for it to work.

If you think about the definition of “love” provided in 1 Corinthians 13, you will realize that very few of these concepts are easily apply to a large public gathering. True love must be always be expressed in the context of relationship,... and most often to an individual. So,… loving God and each other can be difficult to do well in a crowded room with someone singing or talking through a microphone. Maybe, we need to re-think this thing a little. How am I to express love to you if I’m afraid to even look at you when you’re sitting right next to me? I mean, God forbid we distract one another and miss some crucial moment of the performance on stage. Is it just me, or is there really something wrong with this picture? Why are we so afraid to get out of our seats and mix it up a little?

Truthfully, it’s not just the rut we’re in on Sunday morning, it’s the overall shortage of joy and our inability to simply ENJOY our relationships with one another and the Lord. We’ve been so busy doing the church thing that we’ve forgotten how to BE the church. How we interact with our friends, our family, and our fellow man is a much more accurate indication of our spiritual maturity, than how well we understand and can articulate the latest and greatest teaching methods. Paul called this being “blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” (Ephesians 4:14)

Many of us still think that if we can just get our friend to the meeting… if they just hear the right message,… they’ll “come to the Lord.” Here’s an idea,… why don’t we make an honest effort to take the Lord to them? He’s in us isn’t He? I don’t know anyone right now who would say they suffer from too much kindness being shown to them, or having too many friends who really care about them. Jesus was known as a FRIEND of sinners. Sometimes just being a good friend may be the most spiritual thing we can do for someone. That also applies to our relationship with the Lord.

Slowly I’m coming to the understanding that God wants us to see ourselves as more than His child or His servant. Just like us, He wants to love us as friends love each other. Jesus likes it when we just hang out together, no agenda, no pressure…just being friends. Honestly, we need to learn how to be a good friend in the Sunday morning environment,…both to the Lord… and to others.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

“Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20b)

I recently read this piece written by Bishop Handley C. G. Moule that set me to thinking. He wrote:
“It is possible for believers who are completely willing to trust the power of the Lord for their safekeeping and victory to lead a life of readily taking His promises exactly as they are and finding them to be true.
It is possible to daily ‘cast all your anxiety on Him’ (1 Peter 5:7) and experience deep peace in the process.
It is possible to have our thoughts and the desires of our hears purified in the deepest sense of the word.
It is possible to see God’s will in every circumstance and to accept it with singing instead of complaining.
It is possible to become strong through and through by completely taking refuge in the power of God and by realizing that our greatest weakness and the things that upset our determination to be patient, pure, or humble provide an opportunity to make sin powerless over us. This opportunity comes through Him who loves us and who works to bring us into agreement with His will, and thereby supplies a blessed sense of His presence and His power.
All these are divine possibilities, because they are His work, actually experiencing them will always humble us, causing us to bow at His feet and teaching us to hunger and thirst for more.  We will never be satisfied with anything less…each day, each hour, or each moment in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit…than walking with God.”

If Bishop Moule is correct…and, I believe he is…if this kind of life is possible, then whatever in the world keeps us from living in its reality? As Jesus said in the beginning portion of the verse above in Matthew 17:20,…it is “unbelief and lack of faith!”

But, just what is it that is required for us as believers to experience these divine possibilities? I think Jesus made it quite simple when He said things like: “Come to Me”; “Learn from me”; “Follow Me”; “Trust Me”; “Obey Me”; “Abide in Me.” Every one of these instructions are given in the present tense to let us know that an ongoing one on one relationship with Him is possible! It is real…it is loving…and it is a joy!

WHAT WAS IN THE CUP?

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” .... Matthew 26:36-46 NKJV

Luke’s Gospel says in Chapter 22, verse 44, “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” ....Luke 22:44-46 NKJV

Here is Jesus approaching the betrayal and the cross as he enters this garden to pray. You can’t help but sense the anxiety in His words. What is that would cause the very Son of God to sweat as it were great drops of blood? What is it that would cause the Son of God to return to that spot in the garden three times to pray the same words? I believe it might have been that which was in the cup that Jesus prayed to the Father about.  When we see Jesus in this garden we see him filled with sorrow and deep distress. I can’t think of anywhere else in scripture where we see the humanity of Jesus like we do in this passage. So, what caused such anxiety? What was it that Jesus saw in that cup?

It is possible that on the first stop to pray Jesus looked into the cup of the Father’s will and He was confronted with sin? Not just any sin, but the sin of all the world. Jesus looked into that cup He saw the sin of all the world from Adam… to the last sinner that will ever be present on earth. He saw all sin, past, present and future. But, why would that cause such sorrow and distress in the Son of God. I mean,…Jesus was familiar with sin,…only He Himself was spotless…he had never sinned. And now, He was about to become sin. That certainly must have caused Jesus anxiety as He looked into the cup!  But there was more. I believe he may have also seen suffering.

Jesus was not caught by surprise by the suffering, but I believe that when He was praying in the garden, it all became so real because now the hour had come. We all know that our life (if we live long enough) will be stricken with a certain amount of suffering. We will all be betrayed by someone we considered a friend. We will all face death in some form... some of which will cause a great deal of suffering and pain through disease or accident. My point is this…just because we know that suffering is going to come, it doesn’t make it any easier to handle when it actually happens. Jesus knew He would suffer and die. He told his disciples in Luke 9:22... “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”  But now that hour had come. He would face trumped up charges during trial,… he would be mocked, spit upon, slapped, beaten, and His flesh would be ripped to shreds. This is what Jesus saw as He looked into the cup. But, I think there was more. I believe he also saw sacrifice.

Jesus looked beyond the Sin, beyond the Suffering, and He recognized His role as Sacrifice. The Day of Atonement was not a pretty sight. It had to be an awful, awful bloody sight at the tabernacle on that day as the lambs would be slain at the altar. Imagine the small lambs, white without blemish, being slain as they stood helplessly. The blood must have overcome that altar! I know that it is an awful image to suggest, but that was the day that Jesus would face at Calvary. I believe Jesus saw his sacrifice in the cup! He would be the final, the once for all sacrifice. It was necessary because His was the only blood that would satisfy the righteous demands of God’s justice so that the wages of sin could be paid. And Jesus was that sacrifice. But, I believe there was more. There was also separation from the Father.

Jesus looked beyond the Sin, the Suffering, the Sacrifice... and maybe what led Him back into the garden the third time is what He saw toward the bottom of that cup. It was something that He had never experienced before. Perhaps this is what brought the blood drops of sweat dripping from his body…Separation! Matthew 27:46 records that it was about the ninth hour when Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" For the first time ever, from eternity past, the Son had never known separation from His Father. But now the Father laid the sin of the world upon His only begotten Son.

Now I know that people say it was my sin and your sin that put Jesus on that cross. And, I know that some say that it was Rome or the religious establishment of the Jews. But friends, when it comes to Jesus dying on that Cross….He was put there by the Father!  It has always been the plan of God the Father from the foundation of the world, to offer Jesus on that Cross. It was the Father’s will. And there on that cross, Jesus died; for my sin, for your sin, for the sin of the world...He died!  That is what Jesus saw in that cup.

You may wonder, if Jesus really saw all that was in the cup, then why did He go through with it? The cup was full of such bitterness and Jesus had a choice... so, why do it? Well, because there was more! You see, Jesus looked beyond the Sin,…the Suffering,…the Sacrifice…and even the Separation....and in the bottom of that cup was the one thing that turned that bitter cup into sweetness. It was….Salvation. He was and is… our only hope!

First of all, Jesus loves the Father and it was His greatest desire to do God’s will in God’s timing. That is why He prayed the same thing three times. But friends, Jesus loves you...and, He loves me...and that is why He looked beyond all that the cup had to offer and He got up from praying,…dusted himself off,…released the disciples from the weariness of prayer and surrendered himself to his enemies. All so that YOU may be saved today!

Maybe you haven’t received that precious gift of salvation from Jesus, and today is the day you want to say “Yes” to Jesus. On the right hand side of this blog is a prayer for you to pray under the title… “Do You Want to Know My Jesus”. Would you pray that prayer, and tell someone close to you that you have asked Christ into your heart. And please, will you let me know too?