Mushroom eater

I started reading the Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus, and this is a great book.

Erwin talks about how Christianity has become civilized and we are expecting to be kept safe in the arms of our savior, and if we are in the center of the will of God, then we will be safe. Because in the center of the will of God is the safest place to be. Erwin says this is what the civilized Christianity says, but true barbaric Christians know that being in the will of God might lead to death. I mean look at the disciples and John the Baptist and Jesus. Jesus hung on a cross, is that safe? John the Baptist was beheaded! Jesus calls us out of our comfort zones and calls us to go. He does not tell us our lives will be a walk in a rose garden. He needs us to go and fight for the heart of our King!

He is calling us to be innovators, to eat the mushroom. Think about it, who ate fish eggs and made them a delicase? Or how about snails? If not ever tries mushrooms would we have gotten the Portabelo? If we all stay in our nice safe box of Christianity will the world ever hear the truth?

Be a mushroom eater and boldly fight for the heart of our King!

November 2009 Back Page

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. (Philippians 1:3-6)I thank God for this congregation. My family have been blessed beyond imagination by being here. I never would have thought that we would be in South Texas, but know that God will provide for us. He has brought us here and it is a wonderful thing for us. We have moved in and are almost settled, 99.96% (don’t hold me to this) of the boxes are un- packed, and we are slowly finding places for all the stuff. We were very impressed by the magnitude of Heritage Day and glad to be a part of that. We are looking forward to getting to know everyone better and having time to visit. We have already made ourselves at home and found a gym for the girls to do gymnastics, and we are slowly finding our way around town. We can always get there, it may not be the quickest way, but we make it.Thank you for all of your prayers during this time of transition, for us as we traveled and for all of your assistance. We are truly grateful and thank God for each and every one of you. I know that God will finish what he has begun, and work through us all in mission and ministry for His Gospel. As long as we focus on building and nurturing relationships for and with Christ, I know he will give us the strength and grace to go on. I know this because it is my favorite verse in the Bible, also found in the book of Philippians 4:11b-13 for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Lean on the one who gives all of us strength and always put your trust in Him and we will do wonderful things together with Him.

Boot Straps…

As I put on my boots this morning I realized something…

If you have never worn cowboy boots it may not be evedent and it took me about 3 weeks to realize that boots are like our relationship to God…

You see I can put on tennis shoes, or dress shoes or any other shoe using only my foot and force pushing on the shoe.  However with my boots I can push all I want, but I have not been able to make my foot go into that boot all the way.  I have to grab hold of those boot straps.  I have to pull that boot on by those straps. I can only get into and wear those boots by grabing hold and pulling them on, I can not do it with my foot alone.

This is significant on many levels. The level that hit me this morning is my putting on the boots is like my reliance on God.  My foot alone can not put the boot on, but with help from my hands, I can get my foot in.  That is the way my life is, if I try to do it all on my own, I will push and push and push and never get any where, but if I ask God to help me, it will be effortless and slide right into place.

The other level of significance is that we are all in this together, as the body of Christ, we need each other.  My foot can not push its way into the boot, unless my hands help pull the boot up.  My hands would not be able to pull the boot up if my arms did not assist, and my arms could not do it, if my brain did not tell it to.  It takes my whole being to do it, just like it takes all of us to do the work of Christ.

So ask God to pull you up by your boot straps, and help your brothers and sisters.  We can’t do it alone, but with Christ I and all of us can do all things!

Creed ~ Why are we slow to speak?

In my devotional on Tuesday morning, I read an excerpt from This We Believe by John A Ross.  He speaks about standing shoulder to shoulder with brothers and sisters in the faith proclaiming the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and how he is moved very deeply within his soul.  I have to admit there is something to that. It moves me to know that all of these people think the way that I do, and can say this statement of faith the same way I can.  Through this creed we are joined to the whole church, through time.  And even though, as Ross comments, the 12 Apostles did not actually write the creed, Ross is sure, as I am, they would have agreed with the binding of all believers together in a common core of faith.

The problem with the creed comes in just that.  As Ross points our the word creed comes from the Latin word credo which means I believe.  In worship we are surrounded by those who believe the same way we do, so we hold our heads up high and belt the creed out.  We are safe, we are among those who will not ridicule our faith, yet when we get into the world, outside of the doors of our worship space, when we speak about God, is our head as high and do we speak as loud?  We seem to shrink away from talking about God in public.  We are hesitant to bring up our God in the world that needs to see Him.  We spend time in Sunday School and week day Bible study classes talking about our faith and the problems of the world and how our God could help fix those problems, but when it comes time to speak up in public, it seems our God is now where to be found in our thoughts.

If we truly believe the words of the Creed, why are not shouting them from the rooftops, and proclaiming the love of God to everyone.  To quote Ross, “If the creed is right – if I do know the one to whom this world really belongs and know how he intends to run it, and that he made adequate resources available for making the best-dreams-ever come true-I should speak up and say, “This I believe!””  If we really believe what we say, why does it not affect us to the very core of our being?  Why are we afraid to open our mouths and speak the truth we know and have known?  Why is that we have a relationship with the one who can fix the worlds’ problems, but are unable to tell the world about Him?

If we truly believe the Apostles’ Creed, then we should be moved by the statement of belief, and follow after the meaning of apostle.  Apostle means one who is sent out, so cling to your beliefs and Go!  Knowing that God is with you and also the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us all.

Go and make disciples.  Open your mouth and speak the truth, God is calling you to go.

Are you willing?

Today I read for part of my devotion Acts 5:1-11, the story of Ananias and Sapphira and how they sold their land and withheld some form the disciples. I was struck by this as always. Why would God do this to these two people?
Ananias did not eve say a word to Peter and was struck dead for not giving all to the collective, because we heard just before this that Joseph sold a field and gave all the money to the disciples, because they had all things in common. But Ananias and Sapphire schemed and kept part of the profit. If Sapphire had not lied to Peter would she not have been struck down? Ananias was convicted by Peter and struck down by the Holy Spirit, but Sapphire was asked if this was all. How is it that Peter knew Ananias was crooked but was not sure if Sapphire was in on it, or was he just giving her a second chance?
Also here we see the first use of the word church in verse 11. This is the collected body of believers, and those called out or separated from the world. They all were seized with great fear, because they were worried they would be struck down.
I wonder what is it that we are holding back from God that we think he does not know about? Is it our giving of money, or our giving of time? Do we hide things from those sitting next to us in the pew? Do we think when we go some where that God does not know, or we can hide it from the people we worship with? God knows everything and goes with you everywhere you go. But this is not something that should give us fear, but comfort. What is it we hide from ourselves, and others? Can it be redeemed by God to be used for his glory? Of course it can, the question is, “did you sell the land for such and such a price?” or “Are you willing to be honest with me and your self and acknowledge what God is doing right here, right now…

Are you willing?

If or Since

I just read Matthew 4:1-11. This is an interesting passage about the Devil tempting Jesus. However Dr. Richard Carlson and Dr. Mark Vital Hoffman taught me a few things in seminary which do not come across in our English translations of this text which impact its meaning and how we should live greatly. The littlest biggest word in the English language is if. If only I had… If we had the time, I would do that if. We all know these sayings, and have probably said them hundreds if not thousands of times. The problem is when we use if in the way it is used here in the Gospel of Matthew. I believe this is translated incorrectly. The way it reads is the Devil is asking a question. “If you are the Son of God…”However this is not a question. The word translated here as if can mean if, however it can also mean since. Is the Devil questioning Jesus’ divinity, or is he proclaiming it? “Since you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” The Devil knows exactly who Jesus is, that is why the Devil is trying to tempt Jesus into giving up the divinity. The Devil proclaims him as the Son of God.

I wonder how many of us question Jesus’ divinity and say, “If you will do this then I will…” Or if I could only see a miracle then I would believe. If If If. Know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Devil doesn’t question it, and neither should you. He died on a cross to set us free, so don’t use the smallest biggest word in the English language to describe or ask about Faith. Believe. Trust and know that Jesus is who he says he is and tell the Devil to just take a hike.

What is holding you back?

We hear this and I think instantly of seat belt laws. In Ohio there are signs that ask “What is holding you back?” and they have an image of a seat belt, but I wonder this in a different way. I read a devotional this morning about being generous, and the woman Elijah encountered during the drought.

Do you remember this story, the woman was going to make her last meal out of the flour and oil she had left and was going to eat it and die, and Elijah asked her for some food, because that is what God told him to do. She morns this man asking her for help when she is preparing her “last meal” and does not want to do it, but Elijah prevails and gets her to give him some food, and because of her generosity she is rewarded with food that does not deplete. She did not want to help, because she thought she had so little to give, yet when she gave she was rewarded abundantly.

So what is holding us back from giving, are we going to die if we give up our last, or are we afraid we might get blessed.

Give to the Lord and he will return it to you, in ways only he can image.

So what is holding you back?

Fear

I just read a great article by Dr. John C. Maxwell on fear. He ends it with a quote of Eleanor Rossevelt, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

We must do the one thing that we fear most. We have to succeed.

Christ tells us he is always with us and will walk with us through every thing that happens. And as Franklin Rossevelt said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

To read all of Dr. Maxwell’s article go to http://tinyurl.com/q45b3c

Spoiled?

Are we spoiled?
Or do we maybe just take our world and technology for granted. I mean look around at the wonderful things we get upset about if we do not have it. Television for one. I know I complained about the switch to DTV because we lost all of our channels except 27. We even did the tests back before the big switch, with channel 13. They said if you still have signal now you are ok. Well we still had signal then, but now are we ok?
Louis CK, a comedian, spoke about this one night on the Conan O’Brien show. He talked about how people get upset when their cell phone does not have a signal, or does nto react as quickly as they had hoped. Well there use to be a time (and yes I do remember it) when we had to actually stand next to the phone, because we were limited by the cord on the phone. And we had to move a dial around to call a number. It is not like we have now with cordless phones so we can walk around and talk. He also talks about the internet and flying, how many of us complain when we fly that our flight is late or that they make us sit on the runway for a long time. Louis CK reminds us we should simply be in awe every time we fly, because you are sitting on a seat way up in the sky, is it not amazing enough that we can go from California to New York in 5 hours, let alone that fact that you are moving through the air.
It seems we get so hung up on what we are due that we forget that life is a wonderful gift. We do not have to have cell phones or the internet. We do not have to have cars instead of horses, or planes that make a once very long carriage ride, where families would change drastically, by birth or death on the trip. We have the most amazing thing we could ever ask for—eternal life. We should be in awe over this every day, every moment, but this is one we take for granted.
Paul told the Philippians, “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” No matter what is happening we should be happy, because God loves us, and Christ is walking with us. We do not have to fear anything. I heard just the other day, sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up. I think faith needs to look everywhere, because that is exactly where God is, and promised to be.
Next time something does not go your way, remember where Jesus went and he followed through, because he knew the Father was going with him, and know that He will go there with you.

Sin and lashing out…

I find it amazing the way we let things take over our lives. Sin is that very thing that makes us turn in on ourselves and look at things in a way that God did not intend for them to be. Over the past 2 days I have had to reload my laptop twice. Once did not seem to be enough, so I found myself doing it again. I always find this an interesting task, for which I sit at the laptop and answer questions and change settings. It is very taxing and very exciting brain work. Not really.
In the midst if this reloading the stresses of not getting done what needs to get done start to take over along with the mundaneness of simply reloading the laptop twice. This then boils over to seeing those around us doing the slightest little thing and we explode. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been doing something you really wished you did not have to do, and find yourself letting the stresses of the moment pile up until the slightest little thing sets you off, on something that did not deserve the set off. This is really what we call sin.
This sin is turning in on ourselves and looking at the stresses in our lives and trying to handle them all ourselves. It is when we think we can handle these things by ourselves that we get into real trouble. We look to ourselves to find the solution, and that is where we discover we can not do this and then we react. Each of us reacts differently, but we need to lash out beyond ourselves in some manner, and it is usually those that we love that get caught up in the middle of that. They do not deserve the lashing that comes to them, but they are the one that is chosen by us to receive that which we can not handle at that time. Why does this happen? Or does this not happen to you and this is something that is special for me? I do not believe that I am the only one who takes things out on the wrong people, there are hundreds of not thousands of titles written on this.
But you see the real issue is, is there ever anyone that deserves to be lashed out at? We are to love everyone, just as Jesus loved us, and he gives us the strength and power to do whatever has been put in front of us. It is sin that actually hurts in this life, not the person that hurts us. And really in the end if a lashing is necessary what really does it help? I know after I have given someone a bunch of stuff from my pent up anger they do not deserve, I feel worse than I did before carrying around all of that junk, and the person who got it is wondering why did this pile up in my lap. God gives us a way to deal with all of life. He is ready and willing to take everything from you. Give Him complete control over everything and do not let the stress effect you, because Gid has already handled the situation. Just as Paul said, “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Know who you are in Christ and love everyone around you.