Dear "Hollywood"

Dear “Hollywood”,

I trust this letter finds you doing well and knowing peace with the Creator you and I will one day face. I thought it would be appropriate to notify of your roll in my life. I fear that you have strayed beyond the scope of your expertise and giftedness.

Please note: I do not receive my political views from you. I know you are well traveled and have the admiration of people around the world, but you are not elected to lead or empowered to set policy on my behalf. A Political Science class in college doesn’t make your opinion right and mine wrong. I drive to the polling place the same way you do… just in a less expensive car.

Please note: I do not look to you for social guidance. Living in the home you live in and flying to an occasional third world nation with a camera crew does not make you the conscience of the nation. You have driven to the bank with money we have freely given you and I find it a little disingenuous to live the lifestyle you live, while asking me to sacrifice to your social project.

Please note: I do not consider your spiritual input as valuable. Too many of our kids are following your weak pluralism that has not calmed your soul or impacted your eternity in a positive way. Trust me on this, I know, a microphone and platform doesn’t make you an expert on God. Our souls are important and I’m afraid you have taken advantage of them and even disregarded them.

Please note: I do not look to you for marital example. Humans are not animals that can’t control their urges. The picture you have painted of marriage, with your occasional commitment, undermines the holy design of human relationships. We all have to answer for our own decisions, but you need to accept your role in glamorizing immorality and trivializing the weakening of the family and the institution of marriage. I do not have to embrace the moral compass you’re showing us, and I will not take the label of religious prude because of my convictions.

I’m sure it sounds strange to you, but I think the Bible is a much better guide in each of those areas (and all other areas) than you are.

I don’t want to sound unjustly harsh, but I thought I should remind you of a reality you may have forgotten. You are filling a very important role in my life – occasional selective entertainment.

Thank you for some laughter and a few tears. Thank you for some excitement and some really great stunts and acting. Thank you for helping me enter a world of where hero’s win and death is temporary. Thank you for an occasional escape from the pressures of life. But, don’t take your role too seriously and don’t over estimate your power over me, don’t assume that I want to be like you and don’t pretend you’re better than me because you’re thinner than me.

You are a form of entertainment and I hold your career in my hand – the remote.

Have a nice day,

Dave

Psalm 146

Psalm 146:1-10
"Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—

the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets prisoners free,

 the LORD gives sight to the blind,

the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,

the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD." 

 
The Psalms are full of truths that are timeless in application, as I read the words in my mind my spirit seems to be praying as if they were written the day before yesterday. 
 
Notice how the Psalmist started off with a testimony of his life purpose, " I will…."  It was an expression of Hebraic poetry to repeat the two "I will" lines with the second one building on the first.  
 
"I will praise… in fact I will do more than that - I will SING my praise."
 
The second "I will" line is more personal than the first.  It's not just "the LORD" that is the recipient of my praise it is "my God" – this is personal, and it is lifelong.
 
Then the choir leader goes from personal testimony to challenge.  No matter how well intentioned, smart, rich, powerful, respected or victorious, don't forget people are people and can't build an eternal kingdom. 

Then there is a list of nine things we should know about God.  As I looked them over and over I found an application in my mind for each one of them today.  Each descriptor can lead me to intercession.

"LORD, I know you set prisoners free.  I trust in your power to set free those friends of mine that are in bondage to the enemy."

"LORD, I know you can provide food to the hungry.  Right now there are people who are starving in Haiti in ways that go beyond poverty."

"LORD, I know you will, and do, reign forever - teach me how to combine joy with servanthood.

Find a few moments this weekend and meditate on Psalm 146 and see what the Lord leads you to pray.

 
Listening,
Pastor Dave 

Thoughts on Haiti

This morning I'm praying about Haiti (like countless other people).  As a church we feel a small degree of the sting that Haitians know as an explosion of pain and destruction. 

 

Corruption, crime, poverty, starvation, and hopelessness have been profound in their grip on these people.  In the midst of what is evil there have been bright lights of the Gospel of Christ and consistent efforts of His people to make a difference.      

 

As I watch the news and hear the stories of death and devastation, as we (fellow humans) take the immediate steps of getting food and water to the people, as we attempt to find living souls displaced or underneath rubble, as we search for answers to a crisis that has changed the face of a nation, I respectfully cast the vision of my faith down the road a little farther.

 

I'm thinking about what might be elements of the "rebuild." I don't claim to be a sociologist.  Pastoral statements in this realm can quickly be reductionistic or painfully simplistic and expose my lack of understanding of a culture or the depth of their need.  But they're my thoughts –

 

1. The "strong man" must be bound (Matt 11:29).  Where evil has claimed ownership and produced its fruit there needs to be a rebuilding that takes away its largely unchallenged reign.

 

2. Change is a buzz word everyone likes to claim but few will be held accountable to its value.  Every politian I remember has been elected on a platform of change, but there are still the problems they claim to have fixed; and most often their "change" has created new ones.  The issue isn't just change – it's advancement.  Haiti will never be the same.  I wonder if the coming change will bring advancement.

 

3.  People are the issue.  Politics will never fix a greed problem.  Charity will never fully end poverty.  Laws will not eradicate crime.  Who people worship determines the way people are, how people think, and what people value.  The hearts of people need to hear, experience, and live the message of Jesus Christ.  This is a soul issue.  A repentant and humble nation before God will value people and know His blessing.

 

4.  God can.  There is a nation that is ready for revival in ways that we are not.  Churches have a new platform with or without buildings.  Christians have a message that is needed.  Light can overtake the darkness.  God can use this in ways that go beyond our ability to imagine.  There is hope for a new foundation!

 

Right now we pray for the immediate needs – water, food, medical care, rescue, mourning, shelter.  But there is a part of me that is thinking and praying deeper, beyond the immediate that is so real.  I pray for a transformation that will demand the world's attention and be a standard for us to reach up to.

 

Praying for Haiti,

Pastor Dave

Interview with Al and Dave

Interview with Al and Dave (DK).  Al is a pretty non-descript person.  They say he appears like the person he is closest to at that moment.  He looked an eerie amount like me as we talked.

 

(DK) Thanks for this opportunity to talk with you.  I've wanted to do this for a long time.

(AL) Sure.  To be honest, I'm a little surprised you got around to it.  It's not like I'm an important person or anything.  I'm sure you've got much better things to do.

(DK) That leads me to my first question.  What exactly is it that you do?

(AL)  I guess I help people with their priorities and activities.

(DK) Can you give me an example?

(AL) Let's take you for example.  You've wanted to take some big steps in your prayer life haven't you?

(DK) Ya, but, I don't think I have yet.

(AL) But, you've gotten very close haven't you?  That's what I do.  I help people get close.

(DK)  You seem to be very busy right now.

(AL) It's my favorite time of the year.  I need to make sure that people who have made good spiritual and physical decisions get really close to a life changing experience.  My employers love it when people get close to newness.

(DK)  That brings up another question.  Who are your employers?

(AL)  Let's just say you and I work for different people.

(DK)  I don't understand.  Could you fill that in a little more?

(AL)  No.

(DK)  You talk a lot about people "getting close," what about completion?  What about when people do take life changing steps and allow the power of God's Holy Spirit to take them to new places?  Do you help with that too?

(AL)  Let's get something straight.  I'm all about helping people make decisions and getting close to actually doing it.  But I find the actual change and doing it to be a waste of time.  It's the thought that counts, not the actions.  My goal is to keep people right where they are.

(DK)  But don't they get discouraged?  Don't they feel like a failure?  Don't they get tired of not quite growing?

(Al) I don't think so.  I don't know.  I've spent a lot of time with you and you never seemed to mind being close to real change but not quite getting there.

(DK)  That's been you?  You're the one that has kept me living with good ideas stuck in my mind that never really make it to my spirit so that they move my hands and feet?  You're the one that keeps me from growing?!

(AL)  Well, I can't take all the credit.  My boss has been involved in your stagnation, um, I mean idleness, um, I mean mediocrity, no, that's not right either - my boss and I help you be strong enough to stay just like you are.  There's no need to thank us, we're glad to… hey, where are you going?  Wait!  We're not done yet!  You didn't ask about our plans for 2010! 

I left the interview with Al Most. 

He has not been invited to join me this year.  I heard he's lonely and looking for a companion – but I'm not going to hang out with him anymore.  Are you?

Empowered to Complete,

Pastor Dave 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

 

As I look ahead there are a few things I know about 2010 for the Midland Free Methodist Church.

 

1. We will continue to sign the deed over to God.  There is nothing that we can claim ownership of.

 

2. We will need more people to get on board with their finances.  The new budget will require more of us to be involved with trusting God with our money.  Giving is part of your worship, obedience, and surrender to the God that owns it all.

 

3. Change will happen.  It is impossible to grow spiritually or numerically without change.

 

4. No one will know everyone.  It can't be done.  Meet a few and risk deeper relationships.  It's better to have quality than quantity.

 

5. There are people God has brought across your path for the express reason of you touching them in the name of Christ.

 

6. We will adjust what is temporary and hold high what is eternal.  Putting things in their right category will save us a lot of strife.

 

7.  There is going to have to be an increase in involvement.  Ministry has to continue to touch lives and we will need more people to get into giving themselves for a greater cause. 

 

8.  Flexibility and creativity are mandatory.  Our structure is limited, even with a new building.  There are four generations of people who use our facilities and we've got to be willing to be inconvenienced for the greater good.

 

9.  There are people right now that are going to hell that will meet Jesus because of our obedience.

 

10.  Humility and sincerity are required for unity.  We long to see the prayer of Jesus answered through us (John 17).  But it won't happen with arrogance and shallowness.  The Holy Spirit of God longs to do more than we have let Him do.  Let's let Him do it this year!

 

There are more things that I don't know than there are things I do know.  But what I know is that God is God and we are following Him.  The Kingdom is growing!  Be praying for the willingness to be part of what He is going to do in us and through us in 2010!

 

With Growing Passion,

 

Pastor Dave