for the wondering heart…

Hebrews 10: 25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (NIV)

During the past few years I’ve talked with friends who told me that their home church just “doesn’t feel like their church anymore”. There are a number of reasons leading up to this; some of them walked away with levels of disillusionment due to some sort of disagreement within the church or between themselves and different leadership areas within the church, or the worship and word changed in ways they can’t identify with, or the person themselves feel that they are changing and can’t relate to the home church any longer…  I can well understand much of what they are going through having left a church in near complete disillusionment to be without a home church for several years. It is a painful and numbing process.

I recommend that anyone leaving a church body not to wait too long to begin an intense search for where God is leading you; we really don’t have all that much time to waste on the sidelines of our faith. We don’t want to spend some of our prime time to be a blessing and to be blessed wasting away in the wilderness. We need other Christians around us for encouragement or as Hebrews 10: 24 says “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

Searching is not a bad thing to do as long as we keep in mind that we are looking for direction from the Holy Spirit. In fact, if we are not searching for that direction we could very well stop growing and stagnate to become lukewarm. Consider two lines on a graph, one being a state of contentment for where we are spiritually and the other our need for community and growth. While our contentment is riding high and our need for the body is running low we are in danger of being lukewarm. Over time our contentment will lag and our need for growth will increase and at some point they will intersect. It is then that we are spurred to search, to strive to belong, and our crying out for the Spirit will intensify. Then we can be led and then we can be open to the revelation that God has a purpose and place for us.

1 Corinthians 12: 18: “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (NIV)

Let the Spirit set us in the body as He will, let us keep searching and striving to know His will.

…as a little child

Mark 10: 13-16 (NASV) “¹³And they began bringing children to Him, so that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.’ ¹⁶ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands upon them.”

This past weekend we celebrated my granddaughters sixth birthday with a dinner out at the “E-bar” in Santa Barbara, and sitting at a long table for dinner that evening were four generations; two sets of great grandparents, the two sets of grandparents, the parents, a great aunt, the birthday girl, and her two and a half year old brother. Our seating was adjacent to a grassy knoll that separated us from the asphalt and chain link fence of the Santa Barbara Airport; we were able to watch (and hear) the small planes come and go. It wasn’t long before a little boy about the age of our granddaughter found our two kids on the berm for grand adventures that started with observing gophers at work just below the surface of their entry holes and proceeded from there to running up and down the grassy area while letting their imaginations run wild. The little boy’s family was leaving and there was a great deal of commotion about him wanting to stay with his new friends that only ended with him being carried away which gave our party a chance to receive the food and begin eating. But with such an adventurous place at hand, eating really could only occur between unwrapping presents.

It wasn’t too long after taking a couple of bites and all the presents were opened that another little boy appeared and a new trio of adventurers was formed. Off they went; there were no negotiations, no questions, just sharing the excitement and creating toys from plants and other items found nearby.

I can’t help but believe that it is this quality of acceptance without question that so endears our Lord to children. Also, their simple faith in what we tell them, what they hear from God, or other teachers must be characteristics that are required for entrance to the Kingdom. This puts a great deal of responsibility on earthly parents and adults to be as truthful as we possibly can. If I were to have told them that there were 20 or so gophers lined up waiting to come out and start dancing, these kids would not only have believed it, they would have positioned themselves in such a way as to be able to observe them in the hope that they would be allowed to join in the dance. Faith, acceptance, action based on faith… These are the things that make working with children both exciting and frightening at the same time.

What other aspects of children is Jesus looking for? Do we have it and, if not, can we find it again?

Set a Fire – A Youth Sunday

1 Timothy 4: 12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” (NIV) Yes, I’m using a student bible.

I’ll preface this post with a simple statement that my favorite church service is one in which I feel like I could have reached out and touched the hem Jesus’ garment. The reaching would have been up to me. Youth Sunday nearly always provides such a moment and I always look forward to them and am rarely disappointed. I know what you should be thinking; what would it be like if we looked forward to each service, every class, and all the service opportunities with anticipation of the opportunity to touch the Lord? We would rarely be disappointed.

This past Youth Sunday I was met again and was not disappointed. I was the only one of my earthly family able to come for the early service and was surrounded by my spiritual family and joined in the pew by several middle school girls who would be taking part in the service. As we sang the praise song More, “This is more than my obsession…this is more than my confession…All of my fears and failures, I lay them down for something more” I was struck by the honesty of the worship that my young friend next to me was displaying. That broke my heart which for me is a sure sign of God’s presence and the surest way for me to reach out and touch Him.

Psalm 51: 17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (NIV)

The next praise song: Set a Fire, “Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain that I can’t control. I want more of you God.” We all want more; we need to make sure it’s God we want more of.

The student testimonies by Emily, George, and Xavier carried that same honesty, the same desire for more of Him. Through their simple stories, I was again blessed; by the nervousness at sharing, I was moved to pray for them and thank Jesus for their lives. The Cardboard Testimonies with Katie’s violin were a wonderful opportunity to meditate and bask in the healing touch of the Spirit.

Thank you to all the Timothies; I am blessed to know you because you are doing it, you’ve set the example in simple speech, in your lives, in the way you love each other, and in your impassioned faith. Pursue purity.

 

Why him Lord? Why now?

It has been over twenty years since I sat with a small group of seventh and eighth graders and the other adult leaders of my first Mission Arizona trip and told them a story that had begun nearly twenty years before that and, unbeknown to me, was about to take a blessed turn. I shared with them how I’d lost one of my best friends, Doug Clark, in some freak accident with a drunk driver getting on the freeway the wrong way. Doug was the only one in his car to be killed and the only one in the car not to have a broken bone. I couldn’t understand why this had happened, what good purpose could there be in it? He was the first person that I had prayed with leading him to accept Christ as his Savior. I told the little group about how angry I was and how that I held on to the first question I thought I would ask when I got to heaven myself, “Why him Lord; why then? Why did you take him from me?” Over the years, through a disillusioned breakup of the little church Cindy and our family were in and through years of being outside the church altogether, my anger turned to a bitterness that drove a wedge between me and God.

I wasn’t aware of the tears until I’d been sitting there for a moment after finishing my story when the young intern and my friend, Darren Bottino, gathered the others around me and they laid hands on me to pray. I was healed then of all the bitterness, God seemed so close that I could touch Him, and in all truth, He was touching me with the laying on of their hands. It was a bona fide miracle and the first thing I’ll do when I get to heaven is to thank Him for this small group of believers, their faith, and the sacrifice He made for me. Is it any wonder that I gladly answered His call to go back to Arizona and spend as much time with youth groups and sports teams as I have? My son was a part of that group and I hope that he reads this and understands what a big part he played in setting my feet back on the path God had chosen for me. I hope that many of my young friends read this and understand what a great impact they can have on other’s lives.

I still don’t know the answers to those questions I was going to ask; they don’t seem so important now. I feel like that by giving up the bitterness and anger over it that I’ve somehow honored my friend in it as well as honoring God’s call. I wouldn’t necessarily know what to say to someone else who’s lost someone they love so much, a family member, a best friend, a spouse, a parent…all the old clichés seem so trite when I think of them here. I believe that what I’d do is to simply be there as much as I could, let them vent or just sit there quietly reviewing the life they had with the lost one and what life might be like without them. For certain, I would offer a quiet warning about holding it in and being comforted by the heat of anger and how those things could spread like a disease and affect all their relationships. I can only bring two ears and an open heart to the mourner and help them grieve.

How about you? What things could you do beyond the “He’s in a better place now” solace? What would you bring? What have you already experienced that has shown good effect?

Bless you all to be there when needed, present and in the moment, a representative of Jesus' great peace.

I’d rather be…

I used to have the license plate frame “I’d rather be paddling” that I got from Sports Chalet and many times it was true because I really love being on the water paddling along the river or the lake, or the back bay…anywhere. We see those “I’d rather be…” frames all over the place and why not? They’re free and we love to be doing anything but being stuck in traffic. Then one day as I was driving along to something that I had been looking forward to for quite some time it struck me that I really wouldn’t rather be paddling, I was going to do something really great. Don’t ask me what it was now because it was a long while ago and it could have been any one of many things, worshipping, playing some goofy game with a bunch of Junior High Students, seeing their Talent Show, seeing my own kids, going out with my wife…the list can go on because I’m blessed with an abundance of wonderful people in my life. The point is, I don’t want to drive around advertising my regret if I’m actually doing something I love so I took the plate off.

What got me thinking along this line was during a Saturday Victory Motorcycle Club ride a couple of weeks ago I overheard one of my riding friends say “I’d rather by riding my motorcycle and thinking about God than in church thinking about my motorcycle.” I liked hearing that and applauded it and support the sentiment now. There is no reason why we can’t think about God and worship Him while doing whatever it is we are doing and, in fact, we should do just that. Jesus is the perfect example of this, naturally. He was always about his Father’s business and did nothing that the Father didn’t show him to do. He was in perfect obedience and contact with God. When we are in church, that’s where we need to be focused and not on the game we’re going to right after, or seeking out a fellow member to lodge some complaint, or how we’d rather be on the golf course, or doing Pinterest. When we are in church we need to be present; God is. When we are riding, shooting hoops, or paddling along a lazy river we can and should be in His presence. Others will know it when we are just as they will know it when we aren’t.

A word of caution though before we give up our Sunday services to go and think about God at the matinee, or the mall, or even for a stroll at Descanso Gardens, we cannot and should not forgo the gathering of the saints. Hebrews 10: 25 says “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” We need each other and the corporate times of prayer and worship if we are to hold fast to our faith. I’ve known precious few people, maybe one, who could honestly profess God’s love and yet not be even a part time churchman.

Peace

Psalm 130 – A song of ascents

How fitting that a Psalm of ascents would speak to me so clearly. My Lenten season had degraded to daily skirmishes to the point that a battle raged between my commitment for the season and my habits of escape and withdrawal that resulted in bouts of guilt ridden self loathing. All of this drove me away from the main purpose of Lent; drawing near to Christ and his suffering, embracing the sacrifice and victory that He has already won on our behalf.

Psalm 130: 1 & 2: “¹Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; ²O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”

The first act of ascending to the foot of the cross is recognizing our need for it, deep within us, until we cry to him with an intensity that rocks our soul.

Psalm 130: 3 & 4 “³If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”

Then we confess and repent in order to receive the assurance of His forgiveness with our response of worship and praise.

I really love this next part; I can relate to the watchmen. One of my favorite things about Mission Arizona is to walk about the camp, late at night and into the early morning while watching over the mission team, praying for them, crying out for God to lead us and to dwell in everything we were doing. Under the moonlight with a star-filled sky while hearing the breathing of a couple of dozen people who were out working and serving Him all with the backdrop of coyotes in the distance and even a couple of times drums from the reservation, I was often times answered in the quiet and was assured that all would be well in the camp.

Psalm 130: 5 & 6: “⁵I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. ⁶My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Psalm 130: 7 & 8: “⁷O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. ⁸He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

And we pray it now Lord; we put our hope in You, Your love never fails. Bring us to your redemption, from all our sins, all those things that keep us from having you always before us. We lift You up in victory, risen from the dead, sin and death vanquished. Come quickly Lord!”

Troubled Times - What Would Joel Do?

How odd; I would have thought that when setting out to write something at this time of year that it would be filled with the message of Christ coming to dwell with us or celebrating His birth in some way or the new year with new beginnings. I guess that’s not how the Spirit is working with me and that what’s been on my heart are events launching change and the horrible shootings in Newtown, CT along with all the Facebook postings, murmurings, and rumors. All this is driving me towards commentary I’d prefer not make.

Seeing the various political ramblings, the gun rights activists using the school shootings to suggest that we have armed guards on campus, the gun control activists using the shootings to crank up efforts to further the political drive at legislation to limit sales of various weapons, and the best yet, religious commentators suggesting the shootings are because we’ve legislated God out of the schools or that the states and courts are recognizing gay marriage as a right. In my personal search for the reasons of a senseless act I came up with a somewhat different viewpoint but resisted the impulse to post it as a FB status. I read a friend’s blog on the subject, a thoughtful consideration on where God was in all of this, and offered my un-posted status as a comment; I offer it here and hope that by the end of this post my point becomes clear:

“It’s my fault. I didn’t pray enough for God to protect the children so that he would directly intervene. I am to blame. I haven’t prayed fervently enough for God to raise up men and women of God who would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to see a need and be moved to love somebody enough to take action when that person needed someone to care. It’s my fault that I haven’t prayed enough. God help me pray.”

The other thing that has been of concern can best be described for me as church turmoil caused by poor communications about changes being considered in light of diminishing worship attendance and significant casualties to the church membership, something that’s be in motion over a few years now, at least from what I have observed.

How are we to react to such things; to tragedy, internal discord, or when it seems that events and people pile up against us? The Body of Christ is under assault, innocent victims to senseless acts are accumulating, day-to-day suffering grows, and it seems that the wicked and the opponents of God’s Kingdom are winning. How do we respond? With legislation? Clever ways to draw people in? Disguising the Gospel to make it more palatable or comflaging ourselves to attract new people before they see who we really are? Arm teachers and priests and train them in armed response?

Let’s look at Joel for a few minutes and see what he prescribes. Joel was witnessing an invasion of locusts on the land with horrific effects that promised years of starvation and suffering. Did he suggest that Israel arm all of the children and farmers, every one of God’s people to battle the pestilence? Not so much.  Joel 2: 12 – 17 shows us the way, the heart of it - “¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. ¹⁶Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. ¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

God’s Kingdom is the answer and we can’t legislate it into existence or put up buildings so constructed in design as to bring the Kingdom to fruition. A response of repentance and crying out to our Lord is what will catch His ear and provide the answer. Joel 2: 18-19 “¹⁸Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. ¹⁹The Lord will reply to them: ‘I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.’”  Joel’s formula is fairly simple when boiled down to the bare ingredients; separation from God’s will, tragedy and opposition, repentance and seeking His face, forgiveness and restoration, and finally, judgment to evil (see Joel 3).

And so we pray, come quickly Lord. Joel 2: 27 & 28 “²⁷Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. ²⁸And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”