A break next week?

We tend to almost hold our breath for breaks.  The pace of living often makes a reprieve something that most of us look forward to.  A break from the daily schedule, the weight of work, the impact of the urgent, the frustration of repetition, it's all interrupted with what we like to do.  

Next week many people will find different ways to live a week of break, even if it is without a vacation or trip to some place that is really warm.  Many will do what they have been holding their breath for.  

The Spirit of God wants us to know some of the things that the Father will not take a break from.

1. He will not take a break from the plan.  God's plan is eternal and includes a home that has been prepared for those who have faith in him.  Driving an SUV will not end the world - God will.  Dishonest governments will not end the world - God will.  Satan himself will not end the world - God will.  He's got a plan for the universe; we should not be too arrogant with our messes.

2. He will not take a break from loving.  For us love is an emotion that can be turned on and off with physical appearance or relational status.  God's love isn't as shallow as ours.  His love is as deep as His nature and touches every fiber of His being.  Even punishment and judgment are filtered through the fingers of love.  The fact that such love is hard to understand doesn't make it a fable.  His love is more real than we know.

3.  He will not take a break from grace.  Grace is what draws us, sustains us, restores us, grows us, and glorifies us.  Every moment of God's eternity will include the scent of His grace... including the one right now.  Grace is that channel of interaction between the created and the Creator.  It requires God sized hands to open that channel - we can't work hard enough to deserve it.

4. He will not take a break from restoration.  He is about restoring people to who they were made to be.  He is about chipping off the edges and making whole the gaps.  God is about people knowing and living in the freedom and power they were made to know.  

5. He will not take a break from listening.  He listens to the cries of His people.  He listens to the laughter of His people.  He listens to the silence of His people when their souls are too busy to talk.  God does more than hear... he actively listens.  

6.  He will not take a break from being worthy.  He is worthy of my praise.  He will not stop being that.  He is not hoping that some dirty indiscretion will never finds its way to the public - He is worthy.  God is not pretending or puffing himself up to impress people - He is worthy.  God is not demanding what is undeserved - He is worthy.

7.  He will not take a break from believing in you.  God has a faith in you that will not waver.  He believes in your holiness, your ability to grow, your power to choose what is better, the healing of your soul that is damaged, and your desire to know revival.  God has faith in you that you can be what he empowers you to be.

God is not thinking about taking a break next week!

Counting on it,

Pastor Dave        

A Question for Jesus

David:
Jesus, I have a question.  It might not be the most spiritual question you've ever been asked, but I was just wondering something.  Sometimes I have questions because I don't think, but I've been thinking this one through.  

I know I've asked you some pretty goofy questions before, (like the one - what were you thinking when you created giraffes?) but I think this one is better.  It's not like the one about why do bad things happen to people who don't deserve it, or why don't you make it so child abusers arms fall off before they hurt a child.

Sometimes I can imagine what the answer might be.  By the way, thanks for my imagination.  It kind of bugs people sometimes, but I'm glad you gave me one.  But, I can't use my imagination and let what I know about you push this question away.

Is it ok?  Can I ask you a question again?

That's one of my favorite things about our relationship - you let me ask questions without making me feel like a dingbat.  You've never mocked me for what I don't understand.  

Sometimes I come up with real religious sounding answers to my questions.  You've said you're not fond of answers that pretend to be deep.  You've never liked it when I ram the Bible into a question so I don't have to think anymore or even really listen for your heart in the words.

Here it is - What were you thinking about two weeks before you died?  

We're two weeks away from Good Friday and I was thinking, were you too busy to think about what was coming?  Did you have to psych yourself up to go through with it?  Did you avoid thinking about it?  What was it like to know that you only had two weeks left?  Did you ever wonder if you heard your Father right?  Did you think about going to Egypt instead of Jerusalem?  When I know something bad is coming I do everything possible to avoid it.  Is that why you cried at the garden?  When you got to go back to heaven did you ask your Father why He didn't stop them from beating and killing you?

I guess that's a lot of questions.  You don't have to answer if you're too busy or it's too personal... but, what were you thinking about two weeks before the cross?

Jesus:
That's a good question David.  I'm glad you asked.  I would love people to ask that question so I could give them all this answer.

I was thinking about how much you would love getting rid of sin and how big your smile would be when you were free.  I was thinking about how willing I was to do anything to be able to spend eternity with you.  I was thinking about what a wonderful time you and I would be able to have when you let my Spirit fill you, and guide you, and teach you, and love you, and calm you, and heal you, and even correct you.  I was thinking you would be worth it.  And I was right, you are! 

David, I know this is hard for you to understand - the answer is you.

David:
Oh.

Jesus:
Can I ask you a question?

David:
Yes.

Jesus:
It's two weeks before Good Friday, what are you thinking about?


Thinking about Jesus,

Pastor Dave

Loving the Thought of Two Springs

In the spirit of a good attitude and in light of the fact we [probably] aren't done with snow and freezing weather, I thought it would be good to list out the Ten Things I like about winter.

Um...

After having thought this through and not wanting this post to be too lengthy, it seemed good wisdom to reduce the list to the five things I like about winter.

Um...

As a result of further consideration it seemed appropriate to share with you the single thing I like about winter.

Um... Maybe this post should be "Inspirational thoughts from the book of Lamentations" instead.

I do like snowmobiling.  Or, I did as a kid 400 years ago when I last did it, had access to one, and a yard bigger than a city lot.  

The first big snow is pretty.  But, so are postcards of the Eiffel Tower, I don't need one of those in my backyard.

It's fun to run a snowblower.  Well, in that compared-to-shoveling kind of way it's "fun."

But, most important, the thing I can't reduce, the one thing about winter that I can't complain about or discount in any way is... ya, sorry, I got nothing.  I thought something would come to me - but it didn't.

However, I do like the season that precedes it and the one that follows it.  

Every one of us has seasons in our life we would rather skip.  All of us know the "winters of the soul."  We all have those times when it seems that bitter cold and slippery sidewalks have taken over.  

What we may not be aware of is that God the Holy Spirit was in the season before.  We didn't know it but He was strengthening our souls getting us ready for what He knew was coming and we didn't.  He is also there to bring warmth, healing, and new life when the season is over.  By the way, He is also there through the middle of the season we would have liked to avoid.

If you're in the season before the storm (which is hard to know), let the Lord strengthen you.  Drink in the strength and preparation God can bring you.  Be strong in your faith and don't take God for granted.

If you're in the season of the storm, let the faith of His presence sustain you.  Let God whisper to you and promise to go with you through it.  Be strong in your faith and don't let the storm loosen your grip on God.

If you're at the end of the season you would have rather skipped, let the new life that God wants to give you bring healing and wholeness.  Let Him restore the joy.  Be strong in your faith and don't forget about the God that has brought you through.

Loving the Thought of Two Springs,

Pastor Dave

Wanting the Real

I've been reading a book by B.T. Roberts, the founder of Free Methodism.  I love it when I read something that makes me stop, reread, and dwell.  

"The more valuable a currency, the more liable it is to be counterfeited.  It is so with religion - both as a whole and in all its parts."

I thought about the pure work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life.  Valuable.  Often counterfeited by the enemy and by attention seekers.  But, the counterfeit does not reduce the value of the genuine.  We need the Spirit to move.

I thought about what the Most Important Person (Jesus) said was the most important thing, "...love God with all your heart, soul, and mind."  Fake and shallow love for God will never fool Him and it will never be a foundation for growth.  But, the fact that the imitation exists doesn't mean the real doesn't.

I thought about the role of the church.  The truth of game playing doesn't deflate the purpose that Christ has given the "called out" (church).  There is a mission to accomplish.  It's not found in our charter, our personality, or our dreams.  The mission is found within the consistent heartbeat of our Cornerstone, Jesus.  The mission is to proclaim the truth of the gospel by living it.

I thought about prayer.  

I thought about grace.

I thought about passion.

I thought about friendship. 

All can be faked and all can be real.  What is real will make us more like Christ, and what is not real will be exposed.  God is better at sorting them out than I am.  

So, there is fake money floating around and passing through our hands.  The best thing to do is to do away with all money - can you say "bon-fire?"   Or, wouldn't it be better to continue to use and appreciate the real, learning its characteristics?  We want to know the real so well that the imitation is obvious.  We want to live the real so well that the imitation is obvious. 

Wanting the Real,

Pastor Dave