Books stacked in front of me, I'm settling into my favorite
coffeehouse to dive into some study. In walks a guy that strikes up a
conversation with the barista. Wait... is he... this guy is actually
evangelizing for atheism. As he orders coffee he's not obnoxious, but confident
in his clearly presented teasers that invite further conversation. I wish there
were more Christians as well equipped to share their faith.
Most, I find, are fearful, or either too Christian-huddle or self
absorbed to actively be sharing their faith with the world they encounter
everyday.
The barista comes around, after things settle down, & asks the guy what had brought him to atheist conclusion. He begins recounting the bloody history of religion as a whole, but hohns in on Christianity whose people, he says, "had never been kind to him". I'm reminded of a passage of scripture that states some will curse God because of what they see Christians do. These Christian had provided no proof of a living powerful loving God. Now that is more anti-Christ than this guy is.
I got to thinking about us, the way we were made…The way we are created for greatness, but can equally handle smallness if that sometimes be the road to it. The way we are allowed to take up the Life of Christ & let that deep shift transform, addict, & grab us body & soul.
I got to thinking about us -The way we are empowered to taste the Passover; judgment flying over we hidden souls behind blood stained doors. And the way we are subsquently empowered to passover transgressions from others with that same unshakeable & irresistible power of mercy & forgiveness. The way we are empowered to lay down our life for others as if it were an honor to be asked, instead of an imposition to be endured.
Got to thinking about us… Been thinking about how we are wired for greatness - The greatness it takes to take no account of suffered wrong, & to love strong enough for two when the love of one grows cold. For loving when hated. For embracing when rejected – Rejecting rejection when it comes at us like arrows. For interceding when denied- For standing against the tide… We're created for greatness.
Been thinking how we been given enough love for us & ours & for everybody else too. How we can take it, when required. And dish it out when righteously necessary. How we can go it, when the second mile is calling from out of some trying situation. Been thinking about how we can bend when flexibility is the better choice, & stand erect in the winds of foolish change.
Been thinkin' bout how we’ve been wired to hold the secrets of others & spread them spilling out like a whisper before the Lord alone in prayer. Bout how we can have that love of God spilling over, plenty for come what may protection against bitterness & criticalness offenses & grudges. Protecting one another instead of lashing out. Been thinking about how we are wired for twisting anger to peace with a calm response & gentle edifying words. For practicing ruthless mercy. For offering two garments & taking two slaps with the bigger picture in mind.For taking the high road when the low road seeks to evangelize us to its side.
Been thinking about us… About the way we are destined to bring shift change to our corner of the world with radical generosity & a revolution of goodness which runs headlong against the spirit of me, myself & I as well as the spirit of us & them. Yeah, we're called to greatness. Empowered to walk in it. Encouraged to yeild to it, to accept the truth of it. And with that acceptance, to "forever north crying freedom, run on unshakled"
It's easier to work for God than to talk to God. And it's easier to talk at God than to come near God. Easier to talk about God than to... It's always been easier to diligently serve him than to diligently seek Him. Easier to debate his truths than to seek His face. Easier to divide our money with him than to give him our undivided attention. Easier to open a book & read about him than to lay bare our heart before Him, daring Him to do the same. Many are they addicted to his mission but few to His person.
Which are you? Unrequited Love poem here
Two roads diverge in the woods... Take the one less traveled.
What I'm about to recount will be hard to believe, but every word is
true. Today... I was robbed. A woman ahead of me in the Kentucky Fried
Chicken line grabbed my purse on the seat a few feet away, ran out of
the store, & peeled away in a car. There were just four of us in
the restaurant & the cashier watched her do it, just befuddled by
what she saw. So there I was, in Ft Mill, with no purse, no phone, no
laptop, no keys, no cash... because all these things were in my purse.
also in my purse were my work files, my ipod, some checks. You get the
picture. I called the police, who came out, offered little hope, &
took my information. I called my husband, who came out & stayed
with me for the hours it took to call & get a key maker on the
scene to re-key my vehicle. I was pretty miffed, & there was that
albeit brief moment when I thought "What did I do to deserve this,
God?" But I also prayed. Granted, it was an angry prayer, but I was a
prayer. I said. "God, I want you to get all my stuff back to me". I
felt like it was a long-shot, but worth putting out there as my
official request with the maker of heaven & earth. I prayed,
"Convict the thief & return my things". I had faith enough to pray
that prayer, but I admittedly couldn't see how that kind of turn of
events could actually occur. So... the proceeding hours were spent
waiting while the police came & went - waiting while my husband
came - waiting for the auto locksmith to come - waiting for them to do
what they do. $150 bucks paid for a key & more than four hours
later, I finally made it home. The whole way grieving the loss of all
my files, & work, & words of the Lord therein. Needless to say,
I was grouchy. As soon as I got home I commenced the arduous process
of changing all my passwords & sending the necessary emails, while
Scott started the arduous process of re-keying all related locks that
corresponding to keys on my stolen key-chain. There was a lot to do.
Ten minutes home & into it, we get a call. Well, Scott got a call,
you see my phone was in the stolen purse & the 1st thing Scott did
when he came for me was to call our phone company & had them shut
it down. So... Scott gets a call from Smitty who says he has my purse.
What? You have what? He starts listing the things in it...all the
things. Everything was accounted for. I'll write about the rest of the
story in the morning.
Part Two
Scott answers the phone & it's Smitty telling him he has my purse."What?, my husband replies. And Smitty begins to tell the story as he understood it. A woman said she found the purse sitting outside a gas station, but hesitated turning it in to the gas station attendants once she realized it had valuable things in it. This woman, instead decided to turn it in to a church. Being new to Charlotte, the only church she was familiar with in the city was the big pink church. So she drove over to Calvary Baptist church on 51 & dropped it off with a security gaurd. The security guard went through the phone numbers on the phone in the purse & called the last person who called me. That phone # rang Smitty. Smitty agreed to come pick up my purse pronto, & when he arrived at Calvary, he immediately ran into a family who knew him & fell into quite a purposeful conversation. Smitty, then calls Scott &, well, you know the rest from there.
Here's the kicker. #1. Why did the thief drop my purse off in front of a gas station with nothing taken? -not the laptop, not the checks, not the phone, not the keys, not the Ipod, not the, well, you get the drift?
#2.How is it that the one person who found the purse had integrity enough to themselves not steal it, but instead to go out of their way to leave it at a church?
#3. When we called a lock company to come & make a key for my car, my husband Scott chatting with the two key makers, which led to them asking Scott to send the company his resume that same night. He did so, & by that night he had already spoken to the owner of the company who set an appt for Scott to do an interview with him the very next morning (today). The guy was so eager to talk with Scott that he made the interview location at the coffeehouse closest to our home so Scott would not have to go out of his way to be interviewed. {This was the very opposite reaction he'd been getting from his other job searches).
#4 Smitty's conversation with the family he ran into on the way into Calvary was so serendipitous that he said they now might be coming to check out Renovatus.
#5 In a few hours from now Smitty will be arriving at 24-7 with my purse. Yay! I confess, when I prayed that God would convict the thief & return my things to me, I had no idea how that could actually happen... but that's what actually happened. That, and more. It's possible that by noonish today my husband, who has been out of work for almost a year, will have a job as a result of the chance encounter with the specific lock company that showed up to help us. It's possible that that family of 7 could have in Renovatus the new church home they'd been searching for as a result of their chance encounter with Smitty when he went to get my purse?
#6. Was the woman who turned the purse in to the church in fact the robber herself? I did not get to lead the thief to Jesus, or anything like that. But will be praying that she'd encounter Christ as Savior...and I somehow earnestly believe she will. I did however get acquainted with all the sensations that go with being robbed, & finally got a solid handle on what to go after in an upcoming deliverance session with someone who in their case was robbed at gunpoint.
I've always admired men with great leadership skill. Skill to run organizations while leading the charge on multiple fronts. People who master multitasking. I can imagine how one of God's leaders must have felt when standing between the oncoming Egyptians behind, the vast sea ahead, & the people in between raging & reacting to this life-threatening bad news. Moments like that can shape a man. This man turns to God & asks what to do. The simple words put together formed an even simpler sentence asking a simple question. What to do? The situation offered many answers - the people had an answer - the sea had an answer - the Egyptians had an answer... but this man sought God's answer to a very simple question posed in the middle of a firestorm. What to do? Having reached the edge of reason this man asked the most reasonable question that can be asked at such a moment. God...what would you have me do? And God spoke to him there in that firestorm. God spoke to the man who refused to pick up pandemonium & fear but instead turned his face away from the firestorm to find a quiet moment & ask a simple question. What to do? Most people ask this question - but they consult their fears for the answer. We consult the problem for the answer. We consult the people involved for the answer. We consult the emotional wind for the answer. We consult our fears, even though we shape the question as if we were consulting God. They say you can't save a drowning man until he comes to the end of his strength, because if he has strength & fight in him he will grab & clutch at his rescuer & both will drown. He seems to c
onsult the rescuer for his solution, but really he is taking counsel from fear - even as he is eye to eye with the rescuer & asking for help - he is consulting fear. I suspect that if moses had a strength, it was not in great leadership - I don't think Moses was a natural born leader. But I do, however, think standing between the desert & the sea, Moses was a man who consulted God & not his fears. That was a strength indeed. They say the most repeated comment about King David in biblical text was this "And David inquired of the Lord. In stillness & in firestorms David inquired of the Lord. Among the many who inquire of their fears & fires - signing off in Jesus name, & they who consult the problem or simply rage at it, God make us among the few who turn thier face to the wall & inquire of You.
For Mr. Joe Anyman
My kid fell today. I turned, looked, & saw my kid in full scream sprawled spread eagle on concrete. I dropped everything... and ran. I don't run. Anyone you meet who knows me will tell you this. But I ran. After the comforting hug, washing of the scrapes, & some neosporin, he was off on his next adventure. I got to thinking about the prodigal son's dad running out to meet him. Yeah, it makes total sense. My world stops at my sons urgent need... and to his urgent needy cry, I am captive to respond. I could do nothing else. It's in my d.n.a. I wonder if God is like that too.
And if the grief stricken, impaled by tragedy, are too wounded or too angry to cry out, can we cry out for them? Is this then the definition of intercession. If a nation, a people, or a person, becomes too broken or bound to even think of heading home, can we cry out for them? Is then this the definition of intercession?
Dad, Joe is too broken & angry to cry out, so I cry out on his behalf. Dad run out to meet him... where he is. Dad the people of Joe are too grief stricken & shell shot to lift up their heads toward heaven & cry out to you in their grief. Dad, hear my cry on their behalf. Meet them as you would have met me. And if they share blame - forgive & have mercy & hurl in solutions - for Your name's sake
He throws
like a grenade,
into our bondages.
And it explodes
out from every inward room...
until LIFE,
that consuming fire,
lays waste every rival,
leaving only unconditional surrender
and the ravishes of LOVE
in its wake
There is a great difference between wanting more of Jesus vs. letting Jesus have more of you. A thousand pangs & prayers of "Jesus I want more of You." , are fruitless compared to one act of surrendering more of ourselves & our lives to Him. And nothing can match the rewards of God- friendship & life exchange which stem from the insane act of absolute surrender. The most dangerous men to the kingdom of darkness are not men who simply want more of Jesus, but instead are those who want Him bad enough to surrender themselves to Him fully in order have that longing fulfilled.
Discipleship Starts at Home Series [Part 2 of 2]: Click | View Series
Start Early
You can and should teach your children basic Christian beliefs and how to memorize Scripture. This can be both fun and educational. You can choose short Scriptures to begin teaching your children. As you continue to learn the Scriptures, you can use longer passages such as the Ten Commandants and 23rd Psalm for when you and your children feel ready to go deeper. You can also use a short family catechism with questions and answers for you to discuss together that will help your children learn basic Christian doctrine.
Some Practical Ideas
Here are a few practical ideas that may help you disciple your children.
- Find a good children’s Bible.
- Remember to have fun with your children while learning the Bible.
- Keep the time brief to hold the child's attention.
- Recite the verse several times a day in your child's presence so it becomes familiar to them.
- Make flash cards with Scripture on one side and the book, chapter, and verse on the other.
- Put the verse to music or rhythm. Your child will enjoy singing and clapping their hands.
- Think of fun activities to make the verse fun and easy to remember.
- Tell them you are proud of them and have them recite it to someone else, like a grandparent or teacher.
- Pray with your children every day at meals and before they go to bed at night.
Dave a regular@24-7, died this week.
Rest In Peace, Dave. You will be greatly missed.
Full story here
When C
ortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519
to begin his dramatic conquest of Mexico
with a pint-sized force of 700 men,
he purposely set fire to his fleet of eleven ships.
His men on the shore watched their only means of retreat
sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
With no means of retreat,
there was only one direction in which to move…Forward.
Wanna walk close with Christ on the narrow road?
Sometimes in order to go further than the shoreline
& get deeper into the interior of this great adventure
You first must burn all your ships.
...Got a match?
Crouching down in the low of a humility & hunger led pursuit, i seek after & search out the One who calls himself “I Am that I Am”. And in that quest i run swift into the costly but comely place of His manifested presence, stripping off cares & trading up a self-centered life for His Christ-centered life bursting at the seems to express itself in those who dare to present themselves as living sacrifices.
Wounded & mortally flawed but faithfully held, I run out to meet with the One who calls Himself God of Earth & "Dad". To the One who calls me by name I let all my world spill out like the oil from that alabaster box broken to make a point with more than words. You…or nothing. The great of You in the big, & the subtle weightiness of You in the small, the very heart of You known & spilled out into this my world. This…or nothing.
For this I climb up onto that splintered blood splattered altar & grab hold of its horns, stretching myself across the distance like some kind of bridge between the spirit & the natural, a bridge between this world’s present darkness & thy kingdom come.
With a eunuch’s vow, a prophet’s passion, & a kid’s wonder, I stagger out into this world, hungry to make You known. Leading in with a servant’s towel & radical hospitality, out I go kicking at a darkness till it bleeds light, & all along the way taking in pleasure like only the King’s companions can.
Got another fast coming up.
I'm looking forward to it like root canal.
I have a love/hate relationship with fasting.
I hate doing it. I love the results.
What would it look like if all the Christians started living laying up treasures in Heaven? What if just half of all the Christians did this, what would it look like...? Well, it would probably look like revival breaking out in the earth.
Nice house, btw. Who's your decorator?
This is Rolling Hills Baptist Church...
www.wheresthesteeple.org
Rolling Hills Baptist Church, Fayetteville, GA
Their building and property is worth over 1.1 million dollars.
The church has a nice facility that is almost paid off.
The church owes less than one hundred thousand dollars.
The church has 1 million in equity.
The church has many families who have lost their homes and jobs.
The community is one that could use resources and money to help families in need.
The pastor and his congregation have decided to sell the church building and property to take care of his members and put roofs over peoples heads instead of their own on Sunday.
On October 5, 2008, the members of Rolling Hills voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining GOD in His redemptive work by selling her buildings and property, and using the proceeds to increase ministry and mission efforts in our community and beyond.
They are looking to lease a movie theater or something after the property sells.
Other churches have offered their facilities.
This is the church at work.
Pastor Frank is my new local church hero.
Bravo to you for doing what you most would never do.
Bravo for you for following in obedience.
May God bless you and your church richly.
This is the most backwardly beautiful thing I have seen a church do in a while.
I can only imagine what could happen if this became a trend.
Thoughts?
Posted From HERE
He didn't put a stop to the stretching season I now find myself in, but He poured out contentment so that stretch doesn't turn into stress.
He didn't rework my schedule to contain fewer meetings & fewer responsibilities & fewer things on my to do list, in fact, I have more. But He pours out peace & keeps multiplying the loaf & fish I offer to the multitudes so that they all walk away well fed.
He doesn't snap His fingers & make all my brokenness disappear, but He gives me grace to not have my brokenness topple me when all the triggers like buttons are being pushed & hard pressed.
And when He speaks, as I ride from hither to yet another yon, it's not primarily about what I need to do or not do. Instead it is conversation & long lingering looks exchanged between two people simply & deeply enjoying one another... And here's where "I love You" is the sum total of my responses as my smiles turn to weeping for the joy of God's companionship.
On our knees & on our feet we fight for you guys. Gladly laying down our lives to help you learn to live in His. Although it is for you we labor, God's pleasure is our ultimate aim. And God alone is our reward.
To escape the error of salvation by works
we have fallen into the opposite error
of salvation without obedience. . A. W Tozer
What If We Treated Our Bibles Like We Treat Our Cell Phones?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go….hmm…where is my Bible?" -Anonymous
Manifesto
- Living & dying daily to know God intimately - And in radical obedience & kamikazi servanthood, to carry out His life's work. ________ Having all these words be more than just words as I soul-press, excuses-crucify, life-surrender & present my body to embody the message of my friend Jesus.
November 2009
Needs More Cowbell
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Resources
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- Worship Media Links
- RELEVANT MAGAZINE
- Bible commentaries
- Worship House Media,
- IV EXHIBITION
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- John Wesley's Journal
