Posted on April 28, 2008 at 1:29pm.
Rainy days and Mondays, are not so bad. Lord knows we need the rain, and Mondays are what they are. This Monday is actually pretty good. Thanks to the Spirit’s prompting and your response the church has received $19,000 for the hungry in Haiti and Liberia. Wow!!! May our gracious God not only fill their bellies, but their hearts with His love and presence. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your compassion.
I serve in a unique position and am privy to some difficult issues in the lives of many in our church familiy, and I am also aware of God’s divine intervention that is often equally confidential. So, let me tell you this in generalities. For those of you who have been around for a while, you will remember that for years we took up a love offering on communion Sundays to help those in our community who found themselves on hard times. You have probably also noticed that we no longer do that every communion Sunday. It’s not that there are not needs in our church, for there are always needs, and with the numbers growing, so are the needs. Here is the really cool part - the folks who have been helped out in the past have been giving back, and have become the very lifesource to others that they had experienced. God is rescuing His people, and using His people to rescue His people.
So, when the Spirit prompts, as He did last week, we had the freedom to respond without question.
Posted on April 24, 2008 at 7:28am.
I spent this week in Texas at a management conference, the days were filled with a myriad of options from IRS regulations and tax laws, to HR, and IT classes and my back end is sore from moving from seat to seat. The nights however were worship centered, and on the itinerary for the week were a front line list of well known speakers. Lord forgive me, but I had a subversive prejudice about the celebrities that were on the docket. Being an attender of conferences for decades and hearing from the most famous teachers/preachers over the years, I expected more hype, and less authenticity, more self promotion and less good old fashioned down to earth preaching on Jesus. “Lord, forgive me”, for his servants one by one stepped up to he podium and allowed the Lord to speak truth. I heard no book promotions, no upcoming seminars, but the Word preached, Jesus preached, from hearts and lives surrendered to Him. It never ceases to surprise me - where and who God uses to get to this heart of mine, in spite of my short sightedness and prejudices. Lord, forgive me, and give me ears to hear - where and whoever you choose to speak.
Posted on April 17, 2008 at 10:02am.
I was struck this week as I listened to the prayers offered up in my home, my own included, that so much of our concerns are about ourselves. We pray that our lives, and those we love, go well. We pray that our days go well, but we don’t pray that we would struggle well. I don’t. So I may not be the best candidate for a blog on struggling well. I struggle, but “well” is up for debate on most days. Having the amazing privilege of experiencing China this past month left me in awe of the believers we met there. Their front burner issues are not for personal safety or ease for themselves or for their families, rather that Jesus be known, and preached. To say I am humbled is an understatement - truth is I am slayed by the clarity they have in their relationship to Christ and His gospel.
As a dad I have worked so hard at providing a “smooth” life for our girls. But now with just a few years left of the girls living under our roof, Lord willing, I wonder if I have done too good a job. What I long for is for them to know Jesus. And I know that experiencing the presence of God, and really knowing Jesus is discovered through brokenness. I question that in my attempts to provide and protect if I have robbed them of the bitter/sweet joy of knowing that when the bottom drops out - there is Jesus. Like Bob, in the movie “What about Bob”, I am taking baby steps in my prayer life, asking God to make His presence known in their lives no matter what happens in their day.
Ephesians 1:17-18 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Posted on April 11, 2008 at 5:17am.
Welcome to my new blog.
I’m a dedicated runner. Some might call me a jogger. So when I was asked if I wanted to be a blogger, I was pretty familiar with the term - at least the last 5 letters of it.
My first reaction was, “I really don’t have the time.” To add something else to what I usually see as a week with little or no margin seemed a little foolish. Until a friend reminded me of something. I am already a journalist.
Not in the traditional sense - I don’t work for the newspaper or a local television station. But I do keep a journal. (For those of you under 25, think of it as an analog blog - an anablog.) It’s a book, and I write in it every day. I record my walk with Christ. I write about the things that happen to me, the people I meet, the questions that scripture stirs in me, my petitions to God, the blessings I have to be thankful for. In short, I journal my struggles with life.
I love the struggles. They both frustrate me and invigorate me. They assure me that Jesus is real. They warn me that Satan is, too. And to be a part of a church that not only recognizes that we do struggle but embraces those struggles is exciting. I look forward to sharing how I and others at Church at Charlotte struggle well with life. It is a struggle. But if we remain pointed toward Christ, we really can struggle well. Tune in!
