Just a Little Thank You Note

 Dear Father,

Thank you for meeting me at church today. It was really awesome. I'm sorry that last week, even though you never left my side, I wasn't focused entirely on you. I confess listening to some of the cheap shots the enemy threw my way the last few days. He followed us to the gym tonight as I'm sure you are aware. During the three miles and 45 minutes of pumping iron, he spewed more lies. I told him everything I could remember from your word. I told him how you've given me a spirit of power and love. I told him how he can't use me since you've given me a spirit of discipline and a sound mind. I promised him I'd learn more to remind him things I don't even know yet. I told him how you are going to continue to use your church. He knows our community is going to become the hardest place on earth to get to hell from. So we'll be needing you now more than ever. Oh yeah, I told him how your word says perfect love cast out fear and how I'm not afraid anymore. 

The Reason for Everything

http://millertimejedidiah.blogspot.com/2014/07/does-everything-really-happen-for-reason.html?m=1

You should check out the link above to Ryan Miller's blog. He's obviously hurting and trying to make sense of the loss of his friend. I understand and maybe too well.

 Miller gives a well meaning, yet misguided  attempt to answer the question "does everything happen for a reason ?"  To be fair, Miller's blog contains some biblical truth and paints some beautiful pictures of grace. While he accurately points out the bad things happening to Christians are not a lack of faith, he fails to draw biblical parallels and passages to back up his statement "will" and "desire" are interchangeable. Miller suggest there isn't   necessarily a reason for everything. He says, "For many circumstances, there are NO reasons... it's just life!"  Yet, God offers an explanation and Christians should know better.  Even for Christians, life can sometimes stink, but there is a reason.  Every circumstance is a result of the original sin. God gave us a paradise and we blew it. While God never desired us to sin, by giving us a right to choose in first place, His will allowed it. God never desired slavery for Joseph but His will allowed it. And He saved the world through it. God did not desire a cross for Christ but His will allowed it . And He saved the world through it. Just because you don't see a good reason for a tragedy , doesn't mean God doesn't have one. 

Miller also says,"To define God’s sovereignty as one who controls all things, circumstances and people is essentially a borrowed pagan theology," The bible is filled with examples that dispute this.  It's not a pagan but rather John who says, " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created ." Revelation 4:11.  All things were created for His glory. That includes even what we find disgusting. Likewise, according to Paul, the potter has power over the clay. Romans 8:28 declares "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28  NIV ." How about the entire book of Job ? God declares His continuing involvement in creation while stating since He is God he owes us no explanations.  

Later Miller further laments,

"it grieves my heart to know that our theology can damage others in the wake of loss and the burden of life when friends go through cancer or the sudden loss of their child, etc. ".  Perplexing it is, how Miller could think the idea of God using our losses for His glory would damage already broken hearts. Just because we don't understand something doesn't make it untrue. You could know every human idea about the crucifixion but never understand why beyond it was God's will. Does that make it untrue? Would it make it more or less palatable? 

The blog continues with his personal ideas that seem to include a need to get God off the hook for allowing bad things to happen to "good" people. Miller makes  an ill attempt at claiming God isn't all controlling. As if that were true, God would seem more merciful. 

God does not need our understanding.  He doesn't need our defense. He doesn't need anything. God owns it all. Everything. Right down to our skins. He can do whatever he wants because A. it's all His and B. He's always right. That's why we can trust Him with the details we can't control.

Enormous comfort can be found in the fact that God is God, and we are not. 

Is there a reason for everything? I sure hope so. I hope God is the reason for everything. That's the only way this mess makes any sense. Something larger and more majestic than we can fathom is at work in the microscopic and the mundane.   Where is the comfort in not believing there's a reason for our pain?  For sure  God leaves nothing to chance but instead He gives purpose to all things for His glory. Even the disgustingly ugly hurtful things. How else could this be true? "

... them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." Isaiah 61:3

A Living Legacy

Four years ago, I started writing The Broken Vessel because of a challenge from my pastor Kevin Childs. He said we should do what God has called us to do.

       Privately I said to Kevin,'Everytime I think I have given everything to God, God shows me I have more to give." 

       The pastor replied," Christians are like buckets with holes in them. We keep leaking and God keeps filling us up. Over and over." Our pastor was the most encouraging man I have ever known. That day the Broken Vessel was born. Since then, I've been" Pouring out my thoughts and love for Jesus Christ, who is still shaping and molding me. He can fill broken vessels, over and over." 2573 people from sixteen countries have waded in the shallow waters leaking from a busted bucket, constantly under repair by the master. He used Kevin Childs to do much of that repair. While constantly challenging us to be the best we could be, Kevin reminded us, God loves us even when we are at our worst. It's easy to say " I love god, love people, and want to do something about it. It's much harder to make Conway the hardest place on earth to get to hell from." Kevin wanted us to be "doers". 

Last year, Kevin said to me, " think about what you aren't doing that you should be." I gave him a puzzled look but I knew I was supposed to be counciling lost people. So I did. This year I have been there as four people passed from death into life. I saw firsthand, marriages healed by counciling instructions we learned in his sermons. I have seen financial miracles. I've seen broken hearts healed. It is the greatest thing I've ever been part of. It wouldn't have happened without Kevin and the Rock. I will miss him.

There would be a huge hole in my heart if I hadn't met Kevin Childs. Not just him, but people I met because of him. I couldn't have let Ian take his first drive. (Kevin said I was crazy). I couldn't have met his wonderful wife,  Polly.  I'd never met Matt or Randy who do their best to teach us. Or Debbie who is an angel in my book. I wouldn't have read "Let Me Fall " because I wouldn't have known Beth Pensinger. I couldn't brag about being taller than Jerimiah. I'd never met awesome believers like Phil & Wendy Adams. Without Kevin I'd never have known Tina Arms is as sweet as she is pretty. Or what a great man Perry is. I wouldn't be in John Lowe's my group. That's huge. And not just cause John's the man. Meaning, what if I'd never tasted Gina's cake? Or heard their boys sing? What if I'd never heard Julie pray? Or hugged Donna? or picked on my man Tony. I'd never felt the safety from being under Jim and Mike's protection. Ann wouldn't have encouraged me to keep on writing. Becky the first person to befriend me, wouldn't be keeping me straight. Martin and Danielle whose generosity is overwhelming, would be in other peoples lives. Jody and Kevin Gray would be making someone else laugh. Julienne wouldn't be there to keep reminding us there is two sides to every story. Never would I have known one of Bob's incredible prophetic one liners? Speaking of Bob, without Kevin, no moped and no house. And there's many more wonderful people I could list. What if I'd never met them ? " Jesus slays the WHAT IF monster." Remember who taught us that?
    Kevin, taught us so much. One of the most important things he taught me was the importance of bringing people together. How only eternal things matters. He kept telling

us our job to " make our community the hardest place on earth to get to hell from" would go on after he was gone. It's part of our legacy in Christ and it is connected forever to our pastor and friend. It is as alive as our savior.  It's a living legacy.

The Best Part of the Trip

With the journey almost completed, our guide set a new course toward one last beautiful place. We've visited mountains and waterfalls but our guide assures me this is the most beautiful place yet. So, the excitement builds as we follow him. I am familiar with this place. A large Bradford pear stands like a lone sentry at the drive, guarding the path to the vegetable garden. A row of crape myrtles, in full bloom, keep watch along the perimeter of the western border while   roses defend the home front. In the middle of the property, between the house and barn, daylillies and lantana encircle a purple plum. The floral fountain cascades with roses and hibiscus ending in a stream of pink verbena carpeting the edge of the drive. Oh, how wonderful it is to be home! The sweat and blood of my labor.

No one loves to travel more than myself.  Someone once said ," home is where you are." I hope that's not true and that you have somewhere special to return to. There really is no place like home. Fittingly today,  through the sweat and blood of our church, and others of our community, Bob Granata will move into his new home. (If you don't know Bob's story check out the link below.) http://kevinchilds.com/2012/08/13/bob-needs-a-house/   Now he will have a special place to go.

Although I'd love to see every inch of this world our master has created, I love my home.  No matter where I go, I love to tell people about my faith, family, friends and home. I also like to return home with new stories of adventure. 

As Christains, it's important to remember we are just here on a mission trip and to be anxious to go home. Our home has streets of gold and a crystal clear ocean. With no fear of death and no need for life support, I can't wait to go diving there. But while we're here, we need to tell people about our heavenly home.  We need to tell them how the mansion our father has built for us and how it was paid for through the sweat and blood of Jesus. We need to help them get started with their own mansions both here and home. I'm so excited. Can't wait to get there? You comin'?

Guide to the Ugly Parts

  I love to see the works of God 's hands still uncorrupted by our advancements. Not as often as I'd like, but as often as I can, I take walks off the beaten path. I never go without a guide . It's important to be on a first name basis with the guide and to trust where he's leading. There's comfort in knowing we are never alone even in the not so beautiful places our guide brings us to. It's only a necessary part of a journey along the way to places of wonderous beauty. Oh, the metaphors that come to mind as the clear water softly washes away the moss and cuts away the stones! But who has time for writing since my guide has more to show me? Did I mention his name is Jesus?

Resistance Training & The So Called "War on Christianity"

Turn on the television or pick up a paper and you'll eventually hear about the "war on Christianity." Some of my secular friends aren't aware of it, but for sure there is a war on Christianity. Whether you know about it or not, you have chosen a side.  Everyday, our nation slides further down the slope of godlessness. Even though the roots of our nation are embedded in Christianity, our nation is caught up in a rat race. The liberties we took for granted only two decades ago are eroding away. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is winning the war against Christianity, at least by the world's definition of winning. The problem with winning the rat race is in the end you're still just another rat. So when China destroys a church building, it's headline news to say " the war on Christianity" .click here for the story.

Here in the west, as we enjoy last comforts our Christian heritage has afforded us, there are those that would have us tow the line. Well meaning people want us to just go back to the way it used to be. I used to be one of them. I now have changed my mind. It's not that I no longer have hope for America. It's not that I don't love her. I just understand and recognize the enemy's tactics.
For three months, I have been trying to reverse the damage of twenty two years of bad choices.  I have dropped forty four pounds. I can see muscles where I've never seen muscles in my life. I had to tear down the old body to build up a new one. I feel younger. My confidence level is at an all time high. All because of the resistance training. Even though I am not at my goal, a funny thing has happened. I have gone from hating the resistance to embracing it because of the results. Embracing the resistance is the power swap our enemy is afraid of.  Our enemy has allowed us to become gradually fat. We have traded the nutritious truth for what Satan feeds us ...that taste sweet now. Complacency has covered our weak spiritual muscles. We need to exercise our faith. Miracles can only happen in the midst of a crisis.  If  being a follower of Christ, is about becoming more like Christ we need the resistance.
The truth is every since before the cross, there has been a war Christianity. Way back in the garden.  The war isn't about our freedoms, our fortunes, or our culture. It's not about buildings. It's about souls.  It's about connecting to our creator. That's never easier than with the resistance. Christianity isn't a lifestyle. It isn't an idea. It's a relationship. You can't win a war against relationships because no one can take away the love between friends. You can't destroy the church. People are the church not buildings.  Unlike buildings, when you tear people down, they have a way of becoming stronger. It was the way we were designed. For reasons the world can't understand, the church flourishes in the persecution. Maybe that's why Jesus said to love your enemies.

Father, help me embrace the resistance. Help me endure the resistance. Underneath this mess, is what you want me to be. Though in this world I'll never complete my goal, help me look as much  like Jesus this side of heaven.

Let Me Tell You What I Don't Know

I believe every word of the Bible. I read it, study, and apply as much of it as I can to my life. I'm not alone, there are people who believe it just as much as I do, who disagree with my take on some of it. We agree on the main points though. Peter said "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation."  He probably said this because moments after being told he'd be the foundation of the church Jesus called him the devil. That I understand, but there's a lot of the Bible that's a total mystery to me. For example, God seems to complicate some solutions that seem rather simple to me for all-powerful master the universe. I mean, why did Noah need to preach for 120 years for absolutely no one outside of his family to be saved? Or, why in the world did God allow His people to become enslaved in the first place? How was Jesus a man and God when at the same time He was God's son? Did God conquer death from heaven, the cross, the grave, hell or all of the above? Just under the top of that mysterious list is predestination verses free will. It's a conundrum over which many a Christain has worn out a brain cell. The Bible clearly indicates repentance is a choice while saying we are chosen by God himself. How can both Paul be right in Romans 9, if Jesus's right teaching in John 3? How do I respond to those kind of questions? I don't know. I don't know if it's one or the other or both at the same time. Oh and I don't believe you know either. If you do know, praise The Lord, but don't waste your time trying to explain it to me. It's obviously over my pay grade. I've seen members of the body Christ come to almost blows arguing over this issue. They cite bible verses driving home their point of view in the name Jesus.  If both sides were honest, they'd admit there's more questions than answers concerning this issue. When Christian discussion turns into a Christain doctrine debate, charity goes out the window. Someone said we are supposed to love one another just like Jesus loved us. Who was that guy? That's hard enough with God's help and impossible without it. Jesus said that the world would recognize us because we loved one another. Yet, who in there right mind would blame the fact we stink at it on God even if He's in control and has a plan? Or, do we stink at it because we aren't the real thing?  Perhaps, the world doesn't believe us because we act as if we don't love one another. If we act like everyone else, then there's nothing special about us, is there? Meanwhile, widows and orphans... Aren't there enough demonic forces to battle here without arguing with one another? It saddens me we spend so much time debating trivial matters rather than doing the things God asks us to. The kind of things no one can argue or find fault with like we are commanded to do throughout the Bible.  Like the verses found in Romans 12:18, Galatians 5:22-23, or Titus 2:8 for example .

God never promised us we'd have all the answers. The greatest mystery of all is found in the sacrifice of Christ. Nope, I don't know why He did. I don't know how He did it. I don't know why He chose me or how It works. I don't know much. But God knows. He has His reasons. You can debate how or why He did it. You can even debate who he does it for. When? Where? I've read it and I'm still don't know.  Because He loves me and I love Him, I will work as if it depends on me. I believe, hope, and pray it depends on Him. One things for sure, someone else's salvation doesn't depend on you or me.  Nevertheless, I'll leave the mysteries to Him and the debate to someone else. As Job says "God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. (Job 37:5 KJV)". 

Are you listening?

Scientist may have found evidence of a creator.

"Proofs in the pudding" whatever that means.

Check out the link above. So scientist have discovered more evidence to support the Big Bang theory. Before creationist roll their eyes, with this new evidence comes strong support for a creator. To make a long story short, the new evidence suggests in addition to a starting point of the universe, the Big Bang had to have a starter. A catalyst, a pusher if you will. Something outside of time, space, and matter had to pull the trigger. Exciting as that may be for believers, you can rest assured much time a research will go into finding a more logical explanation. Some people won't listen to reason. What if science actually proved the existence of God? Would that make more people have faith? I don't think so. In fact, I don't think even seeing God would change a thing since we tried to kill Him the last time He was here. Apparently, God puts more stock into listening rather than seeing. "Seeing is believing " but the bible says " faith comes from hearing". After all, if you can't see that there's a creator, you are visually impaired and ain't no amount of magnification gonna fix it. In order to have faith in something you don't have to see it, or understand it but you got to listen to it.  Witness to enough people and you'll find most don't want to listen to it. Jesus said they wouldn't listen even if someone came back from the dead then He did just to prove it.  Take Romans chapter one. We have. "Clearly seen" and are "without excuse". Mankind knows the truth yet we have rebelled since the garden. Do we have to have data from the telescope to tell us how big God is? Is He hiding so well we need a microscope find Him?  Believing is not equivalent to faith for even Satan believes in God. Belief is something you can develope by understanding what you know. Faith is believing in something you know you can't understand. And God is too wonderful to understand, don't you know. 

There Will Be Crosses

 "Real men don't cry" is a lie the devil made up. One of his better ones, actually. I saw a real man crying today and he's a man's man and a rock in my book.  It broke my heart to see him that way.  It made me think about how being a follower of Christ is an invitation to war with Satan. Though there's a place for positive attitudes, the idea that life will somehow be a positive cloud nine, mountain top experience for Christians is as fictious as Star Trek. "Give your heart to Christ and live long and prosper."  Those words serve a fantasy much better than the reality. And the reality is we need a "real" god.

Two words blow what I refer to as the "Gospel According to Spock" ( the prosperity gospel) out of the water and prove real men do cry. "Jesus wept". http://mobile.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012&version=NET. (Read John chapter 11 pay close attention to verse 16.)Those two words say so much about not only life, but also the giver of life. A life that isn't always a void of heartache . I'll be the first to admit, there's comfort in knowing the creator God is just and all powerful.  But before we all break out into the chorus of "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands,"let's be honest.  As in awe as we may be of His majesty and power, it is hard to find a friend in that. But a god that lets us see Him cry, we can be friends with that God. 

It's not just the fact Jesus cries but what he cries over that gets me. The suffering of a friend and the anger and frustration in the attitudes surrounding him from his friends to his enemies. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Even in perfection, his life was real and positively human. Before the betrayal of Judas, he had felt the frustration of relationships. Before his pain in death, he felt the pain of life. Those closest him, then as now, suffer . But it these words, that hold those who would preach the prosperity gospel in contempt . "And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:38 NET)".  I can almost see Jesus writing those words in red in the margin of a copy of  " Your Best Life Now ".

 Following Jesus is sometimes painfully disappointing and hard work. It isn't easy to forgive. Forgiveness, not prosperity, is the heart of the gospel message.   It's only through the work on the cross the work the work of the gospel gets done. It's there we can find forgiveness for ourselves and others. We certainly won't carry a cross unless we embrace the one Christ carried for us. The one we we built for Him and effectively and personally nailed Him to. Crosses not meant to adorn the necks, but instead, to scar the backs of those who do the work of real gospel. Real people, in the real world, with real problems, needing real forgiveness, serving a real God. If there is forgiveness, there will be crosses.

The Burden of Proof

Everyday, I hear of a new article trumpeting the charge for atheism. 

Uber-inteligent people, convinced God doesn't exist, articulate the ignorance of anyone who believes in a creator. Those believers, like myself, who openly defend the faith are often labeled delusional. Many of us lack either intellectual prowess or spiritual fortitude to debate the likes of Stephen Hawkins or Christopher Hitchens. If we are, in fact ignorant, then for sure ignorance is bliss. To be clear, I'm not attempting to defend my mediocre intellect. That would be a whale of a task. Really, my God doesn't need me to defend Him. Quite the opposite is true. He isn't a yeti, or a little green man from outer space. He can't be authenticated or quantified metaphysically speaking . So, what I find tragically comical is the burden of proof for a creator, placed on believers by many atheist. Why do we have to prove anything? Much evidence exist for things that are unprovable. Like your love for your children. As evident as it might be, it's impossible to prove. At the same time, you know it is true because you experience it daily. Just because, someone who's never been a parent hasn't got a clue what that kinda love is, doesn't mean it isn't real. You wouldn't feel pressure to prove that. The same should apply to matters of faith in God. Imagine someone  analyzing a beautiful painting, while trying to explain why the paint randomly, spontaneously adhered to the canvas, to the sons and daughters of the artist . Despite many scientists who believe, from Sir Isaac Newton to today's Francis Collins, many atheist still often condescend to believers as parents of children with an imaginary friend.  As if, nothing can exist outside of what men have a capacity to measure. Atheism means placing your faith in mankind and only mankind. Let that sink in. It means explicitly trusting modern men, whose feet barely left the dirt less than 200 years ago, to explain the cosmos. It means trusting the data and integrity of intelligent life with modern technology in its infancy to explain everything. A 15 billion year old ever-expanding universe, being measured by beings whose farthest reach is their moon, who are convinced the possibility of a creator is laughable. It's akin to weighing the ocean with bathroom scales while claiming pigmy right whales are extinct. By the way, modern scientist missed that one by 2 million years or so with a recent discovery of one. http://m.livescience.com/25656-pygmy-whales-living-fossils.html   . I'm not suggesting that new science can't be trusted even though it often debunks ideas once held as scientific truths. Rather, that 15 billion light years wide and counting, leaves a major margin for error.  Ruling out any possibilities isn't good science. It's arrogance. Not admitting a creator is a plausible theory to the origin of the universe is a closed minded agenda. Don't discount what you don't understand because you haven't experienced it. You never know what might wash up and change everything you once held as true. So you still don't believe in God? Can you prove that?