Friday, June 26, 2009

Thinking...

I have watched, with many, the coverage on the news of the death of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.  Many people are mourning the passing of someone they never knew personally and yet impacted their world.
 
Today I am thinking about the millions of girls that hate themselves because they don't view themselves as "beautiful," today I think of the millions of young people who dream of little else than being rich and famous.
 
I never dated Farrah (in high school I claimed I did… but I really didn't.  She asked me once but I was too busy [lie]) and I never worked on a project with Michael, but I don't honor them as icons of looks and fame.  Talent, generosity, beauty, personality, achievements and money will not change either of their eternal destinies. 
 
Today my heart breaks because we Christians get caught in the waves of someone else's popularity and find ourselves trapped in hype and clichés.  I wonder if it would be a good time to think not about the music or the appearance, but the soul.  Both of them have one thing in common with you and I – we will stand in the same spot before God.  Today I think about what is eternal.   
 
In my spirit I found myself standing with a crowd of people.  We all were human enough to get envious of each other and normal enough to idolize what doesn't last.  Jesus walked in the center of the group and asked us two questions we could not answer.  He asked us, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?  Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul (Mark 8:36-37)?  
 
Thankful for Today, Trusting In Forever,
 
Pastor Dave

Friday, June 19, 2009

Walk

I went for a walk yesterday and prayed for my church.  I was joined by the One I was praying to.  He asked me if I knew what His desire was for the people who make up the Body of Christ.  I wasn't sure, so I continued to ask Him to move in the lives of people and to help us be obedient to the call.  I asked Him to heal marriages and give single people a pure heart and ability to hear through the lies of what culture says makes a person valuable.  I talked a lot.  He listened. 
 
As we walked He asked me again if I knew what His desire was for the church .  I really didn't know how to answer.  I talked to Him about money and how we have so little faith when surplus is gone and a unique passion to be good stewards (cheap) when there is more cushion.  I talked to Him about the work that needs to be done and the gifts that need to be used.  I told him about direction, vision, and heart. 
 
He didn't ask me the question again.  He didn't say anything.  I continued talking to Him about pettiness, how there are things we need, there are programs that we must engage, and people we must assimilate.  Words and thoughts morphed from requests to whining… the difference between the two is often paper thin.
 
I waited for the question that I was trying to avoid hoping that I had accidentally stumbled across the answer, or at least hit something close.  I heard nothing.
 
I turned around to find Him two houses behind me standing on the sidewalk pointing to a teenage girl He was standing next to – she didn't know He was there.  She had just fallen and was trying to secure her hockey stick to a rack on her bike.  It wasn't going well.
 
I walked back to where she and my missing walking Partner were standing.  He smiled.  She fought with her bike, a bungee cord, and a hockey stick.  He told me to help her.  He told me to be nice to her.  He told me to stop ignoring her.  He told me to be a servant.  She didn't hear Him.  I did.
 
She and I talked about the street hockey game she was going to as I secured the stick on her bike rack so it wouldn't fall off or get twisted in her legs as she peddled.  She thanked me and rode off.  He thanked me for being kind to one of His favorite daughters (He has a lot of them and most don't even know it).     
 
We started to walk again and He asked me the question.  He asked me if I knew what His desire was for His people.  I looked to Him with a myriad of possible answers running through my mind.  All of them seemed either too religious or too weak to be the right answer.  He asked me to think about it.
 
Colossians 1:9-12
…we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
 
 
Walking,
 
Pastor Dave