The chosen ones

Last week, the guest preacher was a missionary from the "armpit of Africa", Equitoral Guinea. The man and his wife came and spoke about missions and the effect that they have on the people around the world and the effects that need to be had. Some of the staggering statistics he shared were:

~There are 6,900 world languages, and 2,100 still need to start to have the Bible translated into their language.

~The percentage of all missionaries who work to serve the unreached is 2.5%.

~There are more Evangelical Christians in China then there are in the United States.

That last one-that one stopped me in my tracks. I could not stop thinking about that statement, how the country best know for it's opposition to America, liberty, freedom and democracy had so many people that were fighting against the norm, the accepted, the 100 million-plus strong Buddhist juggernaut. Not how a country where labeling yourself a Christian could result in persecution, harm and even death could still have so many people willing to do that, but how I lived in one where labeling yourself a Christian did not result in that most of the time, and we had less willing to "take up the cross."

Is America the blessed nation of Christians that we think we are? Sometimes, it is easy to think or even say that God blesses the USofA, but to what extent? More than other countries? There are more people proclaiming and practicing Christianity in China-are they a blessed country or people also? God is not an American. He is also not Chinese. He exists and lives and functions outside of our walls or country lines or divisions.

On the brink of destroying the people God had set them to do, Joshua sees an Angel of the Lord, and has this conversation with him:

"Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied..." Joshua 5:13-14

Neither, he says. Not on their side and not on his. God wins, ultimately. We cannot expect Him to line up to our side, and we must be willing to line up to His.

Instrument

God, use me as your instrument, as a voice that speaks not from within myself but as a voice that calls out from the wilderness of 2011, the suburbia and comforts of today and my setting and proclaims the Lord.

Help me to be the blessing you designed me to be, for as a man blessed beyond my wildest hopes I am inclined to focus inward-help me to focus outward, to be a blessing that your plans set forth so long ago for all of us.

I pray that when given a chance to speak, or stand or demonstrate your love, I do that and give that situation my all. Help me to less of a fan, and more of a teammate.

Amen.

Communion

In many churches around the world, there is an essence of shared experience that we go through...

There is fellowship, prayer, singing, teaching, offering, invitational

And all of those components to the experience help move US closer to God.

But the Lord’s Supper is different, isn’t it?

While all of these forms of worship move US towards God, Communion is unique in that it isn’t about us and what we do that is so important, but it is what we receive here that frames the moment

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

The words of Jesus reflect that it is HIS actions, HIS giving to us.

We understand how we do something, taking the bread and cup but we may not see how God does anything.But during Communion, God does something-He acts.

We do not come to the table to learn something with our minds---we come to meet God. God and people meet here and something happens.

Here we touch eternity. Here God gives love, forgiveness and grace and we receive.

He graces us, and for a moment we are in the presence of the Almighty reaching out to us. Heaven meets earth, like a wet sloppy kiss. There is an essence of God meeting us here on this plane, this moment and reality and it is real and it is present.

In prayer we go to God. In the Lord's Supper He comes to us.

In the moments you get to experience Communion, focus on the knowledge that God through Jesus is reaching out to you and asking you to remember, asking you to experience His presence and feel His love.

Poetic God

I have been reading Don Miller's book "Searching For God Knows What" recently, amongst many other things I love/need to read. The subject matter continues, like it is in most of his books, to be focused on him and where he struggles/shines/etc. But a recent part got me thinking...

He talks about the change in tactic/approach by the church in the early-mid 20th century, and the introduction of Darwinian Theory and science beating down on the door of faith, and how during this time the church gained an apologetic tone, and a focus towards providing answers and defenses to every question. And the most important thing lost during this approach was our appreciation for the poetry of the Bible.

Yes, poetry. Obvious books like Song of Solomon, and the less obvious ones like Ecclesiastes and the Lamentations of Jeremiah and the really less obvious ones like Genesis, chapter 1. These expressions of work cannot be dissected and labeled and broken into so many little points, they scream to be felt and explored and enjoyed not in our western approach, but in the more eastern view of things.

The Bethel Bible Series taught me that there is a vehicle, and there is cargo; there is the message and the stuff used to get it to us. The poetry of the Bible is part of the vehicle that gets it to us, and when we over-analyze and critique passages and words and structure, we loose the message-the simple truths God puts into writing for us.

When we always try to have an answer for something in the Bible, or one of life/science/philosophy's quandaries, there can sometimes be that effort to fill every hole of doubt or question-giving firm, all-compassing answers. But God leaves room for questions, doesn't He? He leaves room for uncertainty and questioning and most important-He leaves room for Mystery. Our God is a mysterious God. But not in a shady way, but in a way that says "You don't know everything there is to know...your laws and bounds cannot hold me...I AM."

Our God is poetic, beautiful and transcends any of our attempts to answer for Him or frame Him in to a neat little box.

growth and struggle

I love to hang out with the kids. There are fewer things that I enjoy, and there are fewer moments that make me feel young and happy overall. Whenever I get to spend time playing or just listening to them interact, it makes me feel good. And even in the moments when I don't like to hear the repetitive nature, or the arguing or ignoring-I still try to experience it as it is, as a whole and not a singular. Listening to them discuss and debate and interact with each other is awesome, and it is a way for me to see how their minds and hearts are developing.

I wonder, if in the same way, God really enjoys seeing me interact and learn and touch those around me. When I laugh, or have a blast or discuss with those around me, does God enjoy that? What about when I struggle or really need help, or argue and fight-does He look at the whole more than the moment?

My heart and ideas and opinions are always on the move, always growing and questioning and sharpening to shape me. There are loads of things in my mind, and they are always trying to piece out and make sense and lay out a foundation of me. I think, or at least I hope, that the moves I make and growth I experience will be something fun to watch from God's perspective, and like a Father-He can smile and love every minute of it as well.


What is growing in you right now?

All things of nature

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."
-Aristotle

I drank in nature for all that it’s worth. The smells, sounds, sights and feelings of the earth around me felt awesome. It is hard for me to see all of the creation around us and not attribute it to the Creator who designed it all ex nihilo.

There were sites in the Smoky Mountains that were breathtaking, and by far my favorite was the 1 mile each way hike to the waterfall in Townsend. It was a road off the path, unmarked and not what you would expect to be a great path, it was pretty simple on the sign, “Buckeye Trail”.

So we ventured, with the kids, and our friends and set out on the trail. This is an area where the journey was so important to enjoy, and the destination was something that was going to be there regardless. The journey was beautiful; scenic with lush greens and small creatures, and it was even treacherous at times as well. There were plenty of people telling us to turn around, looking at the little ones thinking, oh they are too small, they can’t make it all the way (some even said it out loud). There were many areas that were just wide enough to walk, and off the edge it was a straight drop down the side of a steep fall.

When we arrived-what a sight. The waterfall was beautiful, hard to describe in words. The shoes came off, and we walked around in the water, enjoying the cool refreshing flow. It towered above our heads and down into the bank below, and smelled sweet and pure. The trees and nature around us sat calmly and sheltered us in. As I sat and contemplated and took it all in, I could feel the presence of God among us.

God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree."
And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
God saw that it was good.
(Genesis 1:11-13 Message)

When God created, He created the World we see around us and it was natural and beautiful and like the trees and the waterfalls, it was untouched and not corrupted by our hands. The more I get outside, the more I can see the good God saw when He created. I would challenge you to get out of your comfort, out of your man-cave or living room or office building and taste, smell, see, feel and hear the world in it’s natural state around you. The Bible tells us that all of creation points to God-you just need to learn to look for it.

What is the most beautiful thing you have experienced in nature?

What I love...

What I love…

(As stolen from my bookface account)

I love our God.
I love my wife.
I love my kids.
I love my family-blood and in Christ.
There are place and people that I will remember all my life though some have changed-some for better not forever, some have gone and some remain.
I am a Christian by faith.
I am a husband and father by love.
I am a Physical Therapist by trade.
Some of you know me forward and backward.
Some of you don't really know me at all.
And even more of you think you know me-you probably don't.
I am just sitting here-watching the wheels go round and round.
I am living for today...not yesterday, not tomorrow-just today.
Do you realize you have been blessed?
Have you blessed someone today?
Grace is amazing...do you get it?
More importantly-do you TRUST it?
I love music...I really do.
I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you...they are really saying I love you.