The Perfect Mistake…

I received this in an email yesterday and thought it was worth sharing…

The Perfect Mistake (don’t know who wrote this, but it is great!!)

My mother’s father worked as a carpenter.  On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to orphanages in China .  On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone.  When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what had happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut.  His brand new glasses were heading for China !

The Great Depression was at its height and Grandpa had six children.  He had spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of having to buy another pair.  ‘It’s not fair,’ he told God as he drove home in frustration.  ‘I’ve been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this.’

Months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States .  He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China , so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather’s small church in Chicago . The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage.  ‘But most of all,’ he said, ‘I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year.  You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate.  Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses.  Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this.  Then your crates arrived.  When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top.  The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in.  Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued:
‘Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that.’

The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses.  But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought.  There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.  But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.  There are times we want to blame God instead of thanking him!  I have to remember this in these times of trial with my own family.

May GOD bless your week. Look for the perfect mistakes.

‘People are like tea bags- – you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.’

Now ‘ain’t’ that just like God to do something like that????????

Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of God.

What if…

Here is a statement from a mission start congregation in Toledo Ohio called Threshold.

From Threshold Church Vision Statement:

Picture a movement of real, everyday people who are completely sold out to knowing and loving God and their communities. They don’t buy into the notion that real life is found in what they acquire, but in personally knowing and serving a real, living and personal God.

They don’t hide out in a fancy building and just play church once a week. They pursue relationships with other real people, and they are relentless in their efforts to influence their environments by living lives of high integrity, morals and values – every day, everywhere. And if you ask them why they behave this way, they’ll tell you: they follow Jesus.

They are authentic. Their most common posture is one of open arms, because that is the posture of welcome and acceptance, a posture which persuades people to be real, the way God created them to be. It’s the posture of Jesus, and reflecting Jesus is why this movement exists.

They are risk-takers and dreamers, who are never content with the status quo. While the truth of their message never changes, they are constantly driven to create new and innovative ways to capture the imaginations of those who have yet to join them.

They sincerely care about others – age, race, gender, nationality, salary, even past mistakes make no difference. They sacrifice their comfort zones in order to bring light into the dark lives of others who are poor, oppressed, hungry, sick, guilt-racked, lonely, forgotten and lost. To know these people is to know they care.

They don’t operate alone. They draw strength from one another by worshiping, studying, serving, praying and living life together. They accept, comfort, lead, heal, teach, protect, challenge, strengthen, and restore one another, as each relationship requires.

The people of this movement change the lives of other real people in their own families, their neighborhoods, their schools, their businesses, and their social arenas.

How and why does this happen?

Because Jesus has sent and empowered them to do so.

This is a real picture. It’s called Threshold.

What if we all acted this way?  What if all of the disciples of Jesus chose to make a difference?  What if we all chose to live in a community relying on each other and not fighting with/hurting each other by our words and actions?

What if?

The Amazing Mobius Strip

Could this be an example of the body of Christ?

A strip of paper that is only one sided, and if you try to cut it in half, you don’t get 2 of them, you get a longer one sided paper with a little more twist…

And if you try again to get two of them, and cut ir in half again, something amazing, you get two one sided papers, but they are linked together, so they are still joined…

We are all one body, one community and we can not be like minded, but we still are connected as the body of Christ…

BBC – h2g2 – The Amazing Mobius Strip.

Nice…

What does it mean to be nice?

We were taught as children, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Is this really the way we are suppose to be a Christians though?

Nice is a word that we have come to understand means to be kind, polite, non confrontational. However is this really what nice means? When I look up nice at Merriam Webster’s online resource the first definition is obsolete – wanton, dissolute, coy, reticent.  Not kind or polite, which are definition number 7 on Merriam Webster.  The word nice actually comes from the Latin word nescience which means lack of knowledge or awareness – ignorance.  To be nice is to over look what someone is doing to you that is wrong.  It is as if someone is hitting you and you tell them thank you for being such a wonderful caring person.  You completely over look what they are doing in order to be polite and kind.

This is not what we as Christians are called to do or to be.  Jesus never told us to overlook what is happening around us.  He never told us to include everyone because it is the nice thing to do.  Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers to give the Gentiles a place to worship!  He told people they needed to go and sin no more.  He gave us in Matthew 18:15-20 a way to handle conflict because he knew that the church would not always agree.  But he knew we need to be held together in unity.  He also told us in Matthew 18:8-9 that it is better to cut part of the body out/off to cure the body.  Sometimes we have to say the hard thing and go to our brothers and sisters and tell them they are sinning against us and are not part of the community, for the restoration of the community.  If they do not respond, then we have to treat them as one we pray for and hope for.  But anyone that is causing conflict in a community mus be handled in a manner worthy of the Gospel.  Jesus said to go and tell them what they have done, if they don’t listen, go back with 1 or 2 more, and then take them before the church, and then remove them.  Being a Christian does not mean we are nice. It means we love people for who they are and where they are, but do not let them tear apart the body…

Here is a wonderful article by William Easum entitled On Not Being Nice, “For The Sake of The Gospel”  

May we all know His love, and stop being nice, and live like Christ.

August 2011 Front Page

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Life together

How many of us listen to each other?  Really listen.  We might hear what someone else is saying to us, but do we hear them, or do we think we know what they said?

Most of us will hear 3 – 4 words of someone speaking to us and then start formulating what we are going to say.  We will hear where a sentence starts and then begin working on our come back, what we will respond with. In doing this, you are no longer listening, but are paying attention to yourself.  This is one of the first things I work on with couples that I am working through premarital counseling with.  Communication is the basis for every relationship, and if you are not communicating there is no basis for a relationship. This is why we pray, to communicate with God.  Part of this should be silence to listen for what God has to say to us.  We need to listen not only to get to know the other person, but we need to listen, because that is what we have to do in order to communicate.  In order to know what to really say we have to listen, and hear what is said to us. Then and only then can we respond with a response that is one that will build the relationship. It may not always be what the other person wants to hear, but it will build the relationship if it is spoken in love after listening and hearing what was said. If we listen and hear, then we will get to know more about the person and grow deeper in relation to them.

That is what Bonhoeffer tells us in the quote above.  We owe it to others to listen to them. We need to hear them and to love them by being quiet and not formulating a response while they are talking.  To hear them as we hear His word.

So the next time you are listening, listen and hear. Grow in relation to others.

Jesus Bring the Rain – Mercy Me

Bring The Rain lyrics

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what’s a little rain
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Listen!

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Life together

How many of us listen to each other? Really listen. We might hear what someone else is saying to us, but do we hear them, or do we think we know what they said?

Most of us will hear 3 – 4 words of someone speaking to us and then start formulating what we are going to say. We will hear where a sentence starts and then begin working on our come back, what we will respond with. In doing this, you are no longer listening, but are paying attention to yourself. This is one of the first things I work on with couples that I am working through premarital counseling with. Communication is the basis for every relationship, and if you are not communicating there is no basis for a relationship. This is why we pray, to communicate with God. Part of this should be silence to listen for what God has to say to us. We need to listen not only to get to know the other person, but we need to listen, because that is what we have to do in order to communicate. In order to know what to really say we have to listen, and hear what is said to us. Then and only then can we respond with a response that is one that will build the relationship. It may not always be what the other person wants to hear, but it will build the relationship if it is spoken in love after listening and hearing what was said. If we listen and hear, then we will get to know more about the person and grow deeper in relation to them.

That is what Bonhoeffer tells us in the quote above. We owe it to others to listen to them. We need to hear them and to love them by being quiet and not formulating a response while they are talking. To hear them as we hear His word.

So the next time you are listening, listen and hear. Grow in relation to others.