The Power Within

What would life be like if every day were filled with excitement about God's work in your life? 

It is easy to get excited about God's work when you hear about it from someone else:  a mission trip, a healing, a great VBS week, someone getting a new job.  We may get excited about news from an orphanage in Africa, a great sermon we heard on-line, or the latest book by a favorite author.

But how often do we get excited about what God is doing in our own lives?  When it comes to my own life, I exercise extreme caution.  "Yes, I suppose that's God working, but..."  When I look at my friends' lives, I can share unbridled enthusiasm.  My own life feels more fragile. 

God is doing something good, but it could go horribly wrong at any moment.  How's that for faith?

If I trusted in God more, I would realize that he is really taking care of me -- emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually.  I would see him as my loving Father, who is guarding me and guiding me.

With that kind of assurance, I can really take on the world!  I can get excited about God's work in my life without reservation.  I can look at the good and the bad, and know that God is up to something of eternal importance.  I can live every moment with anticipation of God's goodness.  I can take bold steps, following God's lead.  He can really use me to make a difference

Now, what if the church stirred this fire in every person, the fire of excitement for God's work in their own lives?  He could use us to change the world.

Fun with Pandas

We are in the middle of our Vacation Bible School now.  It's Pandamania!  With a panda bear theme, we are learning how God is wild about us.

Today we heard the "growl" of pandas.  Not real ferocious.  We also learned about Elijah, who challenged the prophets of Baal to prove that their god was real.  Then he let the real God show off a little bit.

My favorite part of VBS is being with the kids!  They get so excited about everything -- the music, the skits, the games and crafts.  They really throw themselves into the experience, and they get a lot out of it.

I want to live life more like that:  throwing myself into the experience, living in the moment.  It's so easy to miss out by not living the "now" of life.  Enjoying the moment helps me experience God himself.

Dying town, living people

Last Saturday I rode through a dying town.  This old mill town, where I was born, was home to a booming textile company 50 years ago.  Probably dozens of my relatives worked there, including my dad.  Now a ride through town reveals architectural relics of the company that used to employ 10.000 people.  Someone has bought the real estate, and they are selling off the old lumber inside the mills.  Apparently after they salvage the guts of a building, they demolish it.  There are no cars parked there, no shift changes slowing traffic.

Downtown about half the storefronts are empty.  New car lots are now vacant lots.  Even the streets are virtually empty.  A few cars pass by, but there is probably never a rush hour. 

I also noticed something else about the town.  Everyone seems friendly.  In the hospital where I visited a relative, most people passing in the hallway gives a sincere greeting.  A one-legged man in a wheelchair caught the elevator with us.  After saying hello, he joked, "I was looking for someone to play double-dutch with me.  I can even jump on one leg!" 

Here's a man in a dying town, with only one leg, and he cheerfully cracks jokes about his disability.  For him life is good.  He has chosen to see it that way.

I wonder how many towns will become like this one.  The signs in the economy are not good.  The experts try to tell us that the recession is over.  The problem is that no one can tell it.  The media is full of less-than-cheerful news. 

The good news is that we don't have to let life become miserable just because the economy is bad.  As we learn to cope with the new realities, we can re-evaluate what really matters to us.  We can share the good news that God has something better for us than material prosperity.  Our souls can prosper, even in the worst of economic depressions.  Even if we only have one leg, we can jump rope!

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  I'm glad of that!

Vison of Hope

As we gathered for worship yesterday, we celebrated "Hope Sunday," a day to focus on helping children out of poverty.  With the help of World Vision, we learned about ways we can really help eliminate poverty.  We heard from several folks at Crossroads who already sponsor children, and it was a moving experience.  Helping these children has really brought us closer to Jesus.

At last count, we had 9 children around the world who had new sponsors!  (Please let us know if you signed up as a sponsor at home, so that we can see how many children have been blessed through Hope Sunday!)  It was especially encouraging to see our teenagers leading the way, being the first ones to "adopt" these children. 

I especially like World Vision's approach to helping the poor.  On their website, World Vision says,

"We seek to facilitate an engagement between the poor and the affluent that opens both to transformation. We respect the poor as active participants, not passive recipients, in this relationship...The need for transformation is common to all. Together we share a quest for justice, peace, reconciliation, and healing in a broken world."

Giving people food and shelter may help temporarily, but it can leave them waiting for the next delivery of aid.  When we work to transform their living environment, we see sustainable change.  This happens when we actually share the love of Jesus, through education, medical aid, clean water, economic opportunity and the gospel. 

As we share Christ's love holistically, he can change their hearts and truly transform their lives.

And, as World Vision says, we who give are also transformed.  We began to see that yesterday.

Ready for Graduation

Next year I will have the privilege *sob* of having my oldest child graduate from high school.  So graduation season this year is particularly poignant for me.  Students have spent virutally their whole lives growing and learning and preparing for the transition to the world of adults.  The world is full of promise and opportunity; temptation and risk. 

It is the parents' responsibility to raise children and prepare them to enter the world of adults.  The transition is much more than the moment of turning a tassel on a mortar board.  It begins years before as children gradually take on more and more responsibility.  It continues long after high school graduation as they seek counsel and advice about education, jobs, and relationships.

But the moment of high school graduation often marks a turning point.  It is a time after which children don't really live at home; they live in dorms, spend summers away at summer jobs, move into their own apartments.  For the parents, it is the time of transition to being empty-nesters.

Before I get too sappy and sentimental, I want to consider how we parents prepare children for that moment when the routines of life change dramatically.  We need to equip them with life skills.  We teach them how to get along with others, how to mow grass and set the table.  We teach them manners and the perspective of empathy.  We make sure they have the necessary formal education, whether in the classroom or at home.

And we have to instill in them the most important thing of all:  love for God.  Jesus said that loving God is the most important thing in life.  From loving God, all else in life flows.  If we love God, then he can equip us to love our neighbors.  If we love God and love our neighbors, Jesus says, then we really have a handle on life.

Remember too that Jesus specified the ways in which we are to love God:  with our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Loving God with our minds requires us to gain some understanding of this world.  If we don't have a firm understanding of this world as God's creation, then we can easily buy into the world's false philosophies.

So often Christian students enter their college studies with great confidence in their beliefs.  But then they face challenging questions in the classroom, from professors and other students.  These questions cut to the heart of their beliefs; they feel foolish for ever having believed in the God of the Bible.  In their minds there are only two reasonable ways to resolve this tension:  ignore the questions with blissful ignorance, or abandon the faith.

What so many Christians don't know is that there ARE answers to these questions.  The God of the Bible does make sense.  We don't have to choose between reason and faith.  The two are more than compatible.  In fact, they go hand in hand as we understand this world in which God has placed us.  I recommend Nancy Pearcey's book Total Truth for an engaging explanation of the Christian worldview.

But while we have children at home, we can enthusiastically teach them about God.  And we can encourage them to ask lots of questions about God, science, morality, the Bible, faith, history, economics and setting the table.  There are answers, even if we have to work to find them.

What's the Big Deal about Easter?

Why does everyone make such a big deal out of Easter?  I'm not talking about the new outfits, the Easter Bunny, egg hunts, Peeps or sales at Kohl's. 

For some reason, this holiday has endured as a major celebration.  It has not become nearly as commercialized as Christmas.  The historical events behind Easter are not nearly as cute as the Christmas story.

A man was falsely accused, condemned and executed, while his friends ran for cover.  Then, on the third day, this man came back to life.  It is a story full of drama and pathos; it is far from cute.  But why does the story need to be told over and over?  Why do we need to celebrate?

Easter is evidence that God has not forgotten us.  The world is full of hardship and evil, but God entered this messed-up world as Jesus Christ.  He took on the evil of the world, suffering ridicule and rejection, even to the point of death.

God the Son died at the hands of his evil creatures.  Death, one would think, would be the final word.  But it wasn't.  On the third day, this dead man came back to life.  He defeated death.

In his death and resurrection, Jesus won the battle against evil on behalf of all who believe in him.  He used the greatest imaginable evil against himself to bring the blessings of heaven to the ones who had him killed. 

If God loves us this much, that changes everything.  He wants our company.  He redeems our sinful hearts.  He gives us his own goodness. 

Because of Easter, we can now see life in light of the Resurrection!  It makes all the difference in the world

More important than competition

I was hoping to tell stories about my triathlon competition today, but alas, I cannot.  The wicked weather system caused our event to be canceled, or rather postponed until September.  I should not complain, because we were not badly hit by the storm here in Stokesdale.  We had plenty of high winds and rain, enough to blow over and break tents at the triathlon staging area.

But miles to the east of us, home were destroyed and lives lost.  The devastation is unbelievable.  At least 22 people were killed in NC with this storm system.  It may take weeks to clean up, and months to rebuild.

Just when we think that we have conquered the elements, we are reminded that the forces of nature are beyond our control.  We really live every day at the mercy of God. 

Lord, help those who suffered loss in this storm find your love in the midst of disaster.  Let us share your love in your power.