What is God's will for my life?wouldn't it be great to have absolute certainty that every decision you made was in perfect alignment with God's best for you? What if I told you that is possible? It is is possible to know and live in the center of God's will. Furthermore, it can happen by letting one simple word sum up our daily lives. That word is follow.
As I prepare to re-engage next week, I realize that it is not my job to lead, but to follow. It is not my job to drive, but to be driven. It is not my job to look, but be found. It is not my job to try but be transformed. It is not my job to have faith, but to put my faith in Him. The best way to live is as a radical, risk-it-all, follower of Jesus. It may not always be easy...most like ly it will lead me straight to a cross...but any day at cross with Jesus is better than even one day in death without him.
Jesus put it this way..."Anyone who would come after me must take up his cross daily and follow me." See you soon!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
"Mature Faith"
On Monday I stood in the excavations of the City of Caesarea. (This was the place where Herod the Great built the first man-made port, the place where Paul was put on trial, the place where Pontius Pilate Governed (the one who handed Jesus over to be crucified), etc. ). Herod built a large hippodrome (circus theater) facing the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. It was here that eventually Followers of Christ would die as Roman citizens watched them be devoured by wild animals in the name of entertainment.
Then we stood on the Temple Mount. (This is the place where Muslims have built the “Dome of the Rock”—it is the large, gold dome that commemorates the place where Muslims believe Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Ishmael. But before the Muslims possessed it, it was the place of the Holy of Holies in the temple of Israel. The place where the Bible tells us Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Isaac, but at the last minute God provided a lamb.) While standing at this site one of the professors asked our guide if we could sing a song. The guide quickly answered, “If you are going to sing, please tell me so I can run!” You see, it is forbidden that any other religion’s readings or songs be voiced here. If you do, the guide said, you would begin a serious uprising and guns would be drawn.
Then we went down to the pit. It is the actual pit where Jesus was put for the night after his mock trial in Chiapas’ (the High Priest) house. Our Savior was thrown down a hole about 3 feet wide into a pitch black pit filled with water at the bottom. He bled there threw the night awaiting his ultimate suffering and death on our behalf.
Finally, we ended the day in Bethlehem. As you know Bethlehem is on the West Bank and controlled by Palestine. I was surprised to learn that about 40% of the people in Bethlehem are Followers of Jesus. We stopped at the store of a Christian Arab who knows a couple of the Seminary Professors. Before we shopped, he gathered us together and with a deep pain in his eyes, pleaded with us to pray. He said, “Please pray. Please pray…pray that the eyes of the leaders of both sides will be opened and that they will see that this conflict will never be resolved by force. Please pray for harmony and peace.” Later one of the professors with us explained that the store owner has turned his store into ministry. Muslim Palestinians refuse to hire people they know are Christians. So, he uses his store to hire as many people as he can to try to help his brothers and sisters in Christ. In the meantime he is saving money to try to buy a home in a foreign land so that when (not if), when he has to flee for safety, he and others will have a place to live.
Why do I share these stories with you? Because on my 7th week of Sabbatical, the word that comes to mind is mature faith. There is immature faith and there is mature faith. Immature faith is a fair weather faith…when life is good my faith is good, when life is poor, my faith is poor. Mature faith is a faith that stays true even when the circumstances of life are difficult, unfair and down right persecuting. Perhaps the reason the church in America is, over all, very weak is because it is made up of believers who are largely immature. We have it so easy, that our spiritual lives have been stunted. Who knows, may be the present economic crisis is an opportunity not caused by God (clearly it has been caused by our own human choices of greed), but allowed by him to give us the opportunity to experience the peace, joy and courage of a mature faith. Or may be you, personally, are facing a time of struggle in some other way…a broken relationship, a crisis of health, a battle with depression, a fight against addiction…what would happen if we saw every trial as an opportunity not to be defeated, but to be matured?
I know this is not the feel good message that I like to hear, but it is the message I for one need to hear. After all, life does not always feel good…I know that..but what I need to know more so is that faith in Jesus is so real that no matter what comes in life, even death, that instead of falling apart I can stand in a real hope that says, “Come what may, Jesus is with me and nothing…no, nothing can take that away!”
If you want to go deeper in this thought give James 1 and Ephesians 4 a read and then take a moment to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bethlehem. Then take a moment to pray for those who call us their enemies. Finally, during this season of Lent, let us pray that God would teach us how to accept difficult as THE PATH that leads to mature faith.
Then we stood on the Temple Mount. (This is the place where Muslims have built the “Dome of the Rock”—it is the large, gold dome that commemorates the place where Muslims believe Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Ishmael. But before the Muslims possessed it, it was the place of the Holy of Holies in the temple of Israel. The place where the Bible tells us Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Isaac, but at the last minute God provided a lamb.) While standing at this site one of the professors asked our guide if we could sing a song. The guide quickly answered, “If you are going to sing, please tell me so I can run!” You see, it is forbidden that any other religion’s readings or songs be voiced here. If you do, the guide said, you would begin a serious uprising and guns would be drawn.
Then we went down to the pit. It is the actual pit where Jesus was put for the night after his mock trial in Chiapas’ (the High Priest) house. Our Savior was thrown down a hole about 3 feet wide into a pitch black pit filled with water at the bottom. He bled there threw the night awaiting his ultimate suffering and death on our behalf.
Finally, we ended the day in Bethlehem. As you know Bethlehem is on the West Bank and controlled by Palestine. I was surprised to learn that about 40% of the people in Bethlehem are Followers of Jesus. We stopped at the store of a Christian Arab who knows a couple of the Seminary Professors. Before we shopped, he gathered us together and with a deep pain in his eyes, pleaded with us to pray. He said, “Please pray. Please pray…pray that the eyes of the leaders of both sides will be opened and that they will see that this conflict will never be resolved by force. Please pray for harmony and peace.” Later one of the professors with us explained that the store owner has turned his store into ministry. Muslim Palestinians refuse to hire people they know are Christians. So, he uses his store to hire as many people as he can to try to help his brothers and sisters in Christ. In the meantime he is saving money to try to buy a home in a foreign land so that when (not if), when he has to flee for safety, he and others will have a place to live.
Why do I share these stories with you? Because on my 7th week of Sabbatical, the word that comes to mind is mature faith. There is immature faith and there is mature faith. Immature faith is a fair weather faith…when life is good my faith is good, when life is poor, my faith is poor. Mature faith is a faith that stays true even when the circumstances of life are difficult, unfair and down right persecuting. Perhaps the reason the church in America is, over all, very weak is because it is made up of believers who are largely immature. We have it so easy, that our spiritual lives have been stunted. Who knows, may be the present economic crisis is an opportunity not caused by God (clearly it has been caused by our own human choices of greed), but allowed by him to give us the opportunity to experience the peace, joy and courage of a mature faith. Or may be you, personally, are facing a time of struggle in some other way…a broken relationship, a crisis of health, a battle with depression, a fight against addiction…what would happen if we saw every trial as an opportunity not to be defeated, but to be matured?
I know this is not the feel good message that I like to hear, but it is the message I for one need to hear. After all, life does not always feel good…I know that..but what I need to know more so is that faith in Jesus is so real that no matter what comes in life, even death, that instead of falling apart I can stand in a real hope that says, “Come what may, Jesus is with me and nothing…no, nothing can take that away!”
If you want to go deeper in this thought give James 1 and Ephesians 4 a read and then take a moment to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bethlehem. Then take a moment to pray for those who call us their enemies. Finally, during this season of Lent, let us pray that God would teach us how to accept difficult as THE PATH that leads to mature faith.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
"Grateful"
Last week was a week of celebration in our home. It was Anna's third birthday. The actual day of her birthday we went to Young's Dairy for dinner. While in the dining room I shouted for everyone to hear, "Everyone it is Anna's third birthday." The place erupted with applause and cheers. Anna hid her face but she could not hide her smile. Then on Saturday all of our family gathered at our house for a "princess Birthday party". Jen Watkins from our church family made an amazing cake that looked like a castle. Anna was so excited to have her cousins in town and loved the extra attention that she got from her grandparents and the rest of the family. It was a fun day (even though something inside of me could not believe that my baby girl seemed so grown up already). Then on Monday morning, as I was preparing breakfast (i.e. pouring cereal in a bowl), Anna said, "Dad, let's have my birthday again!" Such are the words of true gratitude. So grateful was she for the birthday experience that the only thing that could make it better was to do it all over again.
Grateful is the word that best sums up my experience in week six of my sabbatical. To be a Follower of Christ means to follow Christ down the path of gratitude. To be a Christian is to be grateful. Thanks and praise are as core to our faith as confession or any other aspect. Think about it...every week we call ourselves together from our various life ventures to worship together. And at the core of worship is not me and you as individuals, but an expression of corporate gratitude for what God has done, does and will do and for who He is. "While we were yet sinners God demonstrated his love for us in this: He sacrificed his son." Talk about reason to give thanks...while I was yet totally self-absorbed and uninterested in relationship with God, the Father made the ultimate love act on my behalf. That is powerful! Christian people ought to be the most continually grateful people in the world.
One thing I have come to appreciate from our Brothers and Sisters in Celebrate Recovery and AA is something called a gratitude list. It is taking the time to sit down and just start writing all one has for which to be grateful. They say this is especially important on those days when you feel like there is nothing to be grateful. My friend, Greg Hurst, once explained it this way, "Everyone has some ting to be thankful for. You may have a day that is so bad that it is hard to think of something, but if you can thank God that you can tie your shoes that will get you started and before long you will overflow with a list that could go on and on." Of course, CR and AA got this principle form the Bible. The Bible says in more than one place to give thanks in all circumstances. Why? Because thanks moves our focus from what is going from to what is going right and when we can see what is going right we are able to see WHO is right even when everything is going wrong. Our Father is always right in love, mercy, strength, comfort...
So, today, as I sit in the airport preparing to leave on a trip that has been a lifelong dream, I am grateful. If you are willing to keep reading, I would love to have you look in on a portion of my gratitude list...
I am grateful for...
this opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For me it is deeply personal and spiritual.
the realization that even though I am excited about this trip, I have a big ache in my heart for the time I will be away from my wife and children. I already miss them and I thank God for that. I have a home that I can't wait to get back to and that is a tremendous gift that is largely do to a wife who has made our home a refuge.
family...as I leave I know that Kimberly and the kids will be surrounded by grandparents and other family members. And this is no exception to the rule, this is just how our family is to us and we are so grateful.
church family....as I have been away, more than ever, I have come to see that I just happen to be the pastor of the most incredible church family in the world. Truly you are not just people I work for, but people our family loves and is loved by like family. Thank you. I love and miss you.
My Father in Heaven....all he wants is intimate, life-changing, world-changing relationship with me. The one that holds it all wants to hold me. How col is that!
Thanks for listening in...my prayer for you and me both is that someday we will get to the end of our lives and look back and, like Anna, say, "Let's do it again." Something tells me that the only way one has a life like that is to live a life of gratitude.
Grateful is the word that best sums up my experience in week six of my sabbatical. To be a Follower of Christ means to follow Christ down the path of gratitude. To be a Christian is to be grateful. Thanks and praise are as core to our faith as confession or any other aspect. Think about it...every week we call ourselves together from our various life ventures to worship together. And at the core of worship is not me and you as individuals, but an expression of corporate gratitude for what God has done, does and will do and for who He is. "While we were yet sinners God demonstrated his love for us in this: He sacrificed his son." Talk about reason to give thanks...while I was yet totally self-absorbed and uninterested in relationship with God, the Father made the ultimate love act on my behalf. That is powerful! Christian people ought to be the most continually grateful people in the world.
One thing I have come to appreciate from our Brothers and Sisters in Celebrate Recovery and AA is something called a gratitude list. It is taking the time to sit down and just start writing all one has for which to be grateful. They say this is especially important on those days when you feel like there is nothing to be grateful. My friend, Greg Hurst, once explained it this way, "Everyone has some ting to be thankful for. You may have a day that is so bad that it is hard to think of something, but if you can thank God that you can tie your shoes that will get you started and before long you will overflow with a list that could go on and on." Of course, CR and AA got this principle form the Bible. The Bible says in more than one place to give thanks in all circumstances. Why? Because thanks moves our focus from what is going from to what is going right and when we can see what is going right we are able to see WHO is right even when everything is going wrong. Our Father is always right in love, mercy, strength, comfort...
So, today, as I sit in the airport preparing to leave on a trip that has been a lifelong dream, I am grateful. If you are willing to keep reading, I would love to have you look in on a portion of my gratitude list...
I am grateful for...
this opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. For me it is deeply personal and spiritual.
the realization that even though I am excited about this trip, I have a big ache in my heart for the time I will be away from my wife and children. I already miss them and I thank God for that. I have a home that I can't wait to get back to and that is a tremendous gift that is largely do to a wife who has made our home a refuge.
family...as I leave I know that Kimberly and the kids will be surrounded by grandparents and other family members. And this is no exception to the rule, this is just how our family is to us and we are so grateful.
church family....as I have been away, more than ever, I have come to see that I just happen to be the pastor of the most incredible church family in the world. Truly you are not just people I work for, but people our family loves and is loved by like family. Thank you. I love and miss you.
My Father in Heaven....all he wants is intimate, life-changing, world-changing relationship with me. The one that holds it all wants to hold me. How col is that!
Thanks for listening in...my prayer for you and me both is that someday we will get to the end of our lives and look back and, like Anna, say, "Let's do it again." Something tells me that the only way one has a life like that is to live a life of gratitude.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
"Admit"
Admit represents a disturbing theme of Lent...it brings up a challenging theme of this sabbbatical...admit...If you are like me, admit is not a favorite word. Just ask my wife and she will tell you that I have a slight (that's me putting it nicer than she would) problem with admitting when I am wrong. I am good at making excuses and blaming...I am actually quite a pro at such avoidance tactics, but admitting does not come easily. Strong walls come up with the suggestion that it is time to admit anything. These walls tell me such convincing lies as, "Admitting your shortcomings will leave you vulnerable," "Admitting your weaknesses makes you weak," "Admitting your faults makes you less." And so when it is time to admit anything, it would seem that strong lines of defense raise up from deep within to wage an all-out war to keep me from being completely honest with myself, those I love and even my Father in Heaven.
Each time I face this impending war, I realize that "admit" is the key that unlocks my door to greater freedom. However, that door will not be unlocked unless I choose to make the word admit a choice of my will. The will is a powerful gift from God. It is dangerously powerful. My will is the place where God has established a "no trespassing sign." Think about that...the Almighty limits his power in respect to my will. That means that my choice allows me to genuinely and freely choose between life and death, blessing and curses. And perhaps before every other choice lies the choice to admit or not admit. For instance, will I admit a need, a hurt, a fear, a desire, a regret, a struggle, a dream...?
These past five weeks I have been challenged to make a choice to admit many things to God and thus to myself. For example, in week five of my sabbatical I admit that I am more soul-tired than I had even been willing to see. I also admit that while I am not one to be controlled by what people think at large, I do have a few people in my life that I sometimes allow their approval to be more driving than God's approval. I admit that I am ready for God to show me who he wants me to be as a pastor and not what I or other voices may think.
Each time I let God give me the strength to admit before him what is for good or for bad inside of me, God turns a dark door knob and opens before me new light...bright light...glorious light...hope-filled light...awe-inspiring light...bright light that hurts my eyes at first glance, but as my once-darkened eyes adjust I smile in joy as I see in a new way.
Admitting requires intense honestly with oneself and with God. It is something that my natural self always initially resists, but, by God's grace, whenever I stop resisting and make a choice of my will to simply admit, it is amazing how light chases away the darkness.
Each time I face this impending war, I realize that "admit" is the key that unlocks my door to greater freedom. However, that door will not be unlocked unless I choose to make the word admit a choice of my will. The will is a powerful gift from God. It is dangerously powerful. My will is the place where God has established a "no trespassing sign." Think about that...the Almighty limits his power in respect to my will. That means that my choice allows me to genuinely and freely choose between life and death, blessing and curses. And perhaps before every other choice lies the choice to admit or not admit. For instance, will I admit a need, a hurt, a fear, a desire, a regret, a struggle, a dream...?
These past five weeks I have been challenged to make a choice to admit many things to God and thus to myself. For example, in week five of my sabbatical I admit that I am more soul-tired than I had even been willing to see. I also admit that while I am not one to be controlled by what people think at large, I do have a few people in my life that I sometimes allow their approval to be more driving than God's approval. I admit that I am ready for God to show me who he wants me to be as a pastor and not what I or other voices may think.
Each time I let God give me the strength to admit before him what is for good or for bad inside of me, God turns a dark door knob and opens before me new light...bright light...glorious light...hope-filled light...awe-inspiring light...bright light that hurts my eyes at first glance, but as my once-darkened eyes adjust I smile in joy as I see in a new way.
Admitting requires intense honestly with oneself and with God. It is something that my natural self always initially resists, but, by God's grace, whenever I stop resisting and make a choice of my will to simply admit, it is amazing how light chases away the darkness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)