Imaginary E-mail conversation with my Christian friend.

Dear Friend,

I am glad you had such a great Thanksgiving Day. We ate too much too and did our share of laughing around the table. In answer to your questions; we had both turkey and ham, blackberry pie for dessert, and yes – the Lions were pathetic.

My wife is busy de-falling our home decorations. By the time I get home tonight the living room will look like a pack of elves hyped up on sugar attempted to repopulate the earth with ceramic snowmen, fake pine branches, and nativity scenes. I’m really glad that pink and lime are not colors of choice for Christmas décor!

As we head to the Christmas season and I plan out sermons to end one year and start another I too find myself reviewing the year and wondering about the next.

We both certainly have had the ups and downs emotionally this year. I’ll never forget how excited you were when you got the news from your boss about your job, and then found the other extreme when you heard a week later from your doctor.

You’re right about needing to take everyday a little more purposeful. Maybe 2009 will hold new anointing from God for you and your family – I’ll pray for that… no, I really will.

In your note you asked me about prayer. You said that it has been quite flat lately, as if you were “habitually talking to the air.” I’m sorry you find yourself feeling guilty and discouraged about such an important part of our faith.

The truth is most people pray – but it rarely has passion. There are times that I find myself talking to God as if He were an invisible force rather than an awe inspiring relationship that I couldn’t take my next breath without. That’s not what God intended for our relationship with Him. We’ve got to bring passion back into prayer.

Read this quote from E.M. Bounds, “If prayer puts God to work in earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world’s affairs, and prevents Him from working. And if prayer moves God to work in the world’s affairs, then prayerlessness excludes God from everything concerning men, and leaves man on earth the mere creature of circumstances, at the mercy of blind fate or without help of any kind from God.”

I love the challenge in that.

God longs to do the miraculous through us, but I don’t know if we really believe. Too often we read a list of requests expecting little to nothing to really be different. We are more moved by the TV than we are by talking to God. Isn’t that astounding?

Hey, here’s an idea – what if you and I took the remainder of this year to really pray with passion? What if we committed to set a time aside every day to beg God to have His way with us? What if during the Advent season we stormed the gates of heaven with boldness and humility and asked God to make the end of this year a transformational one that prepares us for the New Year.

I have a hunch that if you and I did that we’d both be different and somehow God would be glorified! I’m not sure you and I are ready to enter this Christmas season with a new passion – but let’s try it! Let’s take it up a notch!

Say “hi” to your neighbor for me.

Your friend and God’s servant,

D. David Kessler

What Is Valuable

The whole point of being a pick-pocket is to be able to take something of value from someone without them knowing it, until it's too late.

Imagine standing on a subway (not the store, the story wouldn't make sense if you were standing on a building that sells 6 inch meatball subs) going to visit a family member or friend in Thailand. You're all alone except for the other 30,000 people in the 30 square foot area. The car comes to an abrupt stop and everyone lurches forward. The doors open and 14,385 of the 30,000 people need to get out. In the middle of all the "excuse me's" and "my stop's" people push by you as if you were a post with no sense of feeling.

When you get to your stop you gracefully push through the human wall and find your way to the street. It's then that you realize that your wallet has been taken from your back pocket or out of your purse. Twenty-seven credit cards, each with a $20,000 limit are gone – so are the thirty $100 dollar bills you had in the secret compartment – so is the ATM card that you wrote the password on the back of so you wouldn't forget it. The pick-pocket just got away with ¾'s of a million dollars(use your imagination) and a bunch of other stuff.

Panic.

What is valuable is gone.

There is no hope of finding the thief…

Your visit to Bangkok is ruined.

What have we allowed the enemy of our souls to take from us?

The economy is tight and he brushes by us lifting generosity without us even noticing.

There are a lot of issues that aren't the way they should be and now we can't find any asemblance gratitude.

It seems that we can't find the passion for Christ that we used to have.

Where did my hunger for the Word go?

Just then you notice a squirrely looking punk running from you down the road. "Stop that thief!" You call out. The punk turns his head around to grin at you and runs square into a man, bouncing off him like a ball off a block wall. The man takes hold of the runner's ankles and holds him upside down shaking him as if he were a dirty throw rug.

On the cement falls all of those things that were yours, the money, the credit cards, the picture of you on the top of Mt. Everest - and there's the generosity, and the gratitude, and the passion, and the hunger for the Word.

You thank the man for stopping your thief. He smiles and says, "My Father told me Lou (that's his street name) was after you again."

You start to bend down to pick up the stuff at his nail scarred feet when he lightly lifts you back up before you can get hold of anything and says, "My Father sent me to keep this guy from robbing what is of most value to you. He says you can only take back what you can't afford to lose."

There you are on the streets of Bangkok with Jesus, who's holding Satan upside down by the ankles, and a pile of stuff that used to be yours.

What's really of value that has been robbed from us?

What would we choose to claim back?

What would God choose for us?

Would God and I agree on what was most valuable?

Sunday we'll sew together the last banner.

Waiting for Spring,

Pastor Dave

A Thanksgiving Idea

A Thanksgiving Idea.

Don't be thankful. There is a danger in having a "day." My wife doesn't want flowers on Valentine's day. She would rather get them when the calendar didn't tell me to get them. She likes a spontaneous expression, not a hallmark motivated attempt at saying "I love you" (before I get any nasty notes I always do something to make valentines special for Leah). But, what if we turned the tables on this holiday?

This Thanksgiving don't think of things you are thankful for. Don't eat a lot of good food. Refuse to have fun with your family. Lock yourself in a room and be crabby all day. Eat nothing but vegetables (like dried peas), pull the shades down, and think of all that you don't have that someone else does. Watch the first half of A Christmas Carol and not the end. Don't watch or go to a parade. Honor the Pilgrims and stand outside in the cold all day. Assume every phone call is a political plea to get you to vote in 2012, or a salesman to sell you a full set of 3000 eight tracks for your listening enjoyment. One day. 24 hours.

Then spend the other 364 days being thankful. Spend the rest of the year tasting from the well of gratitude. Find things to thank God for, quit overlooking what you've taken for granted. Pray with a sense of being overwhelmed with God's grace. Hug people like it's the last time you might see them. Refuse to complain because something wasn't the way you wanted it. Taste life. Go to church excited about meeting someone new, thrilled with the opportunity to worship, hungry to hear from the Lord, and eager to have a short prayer with someone you love.

Let's start a movement – boycott Thanksgiving for one day! Instead, set aside one day for being crabby and spend the rest of the year being thankful.

Here's some rules for the Crabby Day.

1. Crabbiness is only appropriate for one 24 hour day. Any crabbiness on another day of the year is a violation.

2. The Crabby Day must be spent alone (if we're all crabby on the same day and we all avoid each other that day we should avoid any potential conflicts)

3. No driving on Crabby Day!!!

4. No working on Crabby Day – you'd get fired, both you and your boss are crabby and you're supposed to be home.

5. Crabby day only falls on Saturday (no school).

6. This day is not official until everyone in the U.S. agrees on the day.

7. Wives cannot Celebrate Crabby Day – ever… no, I mean ever. Once you become a wife you are not invited to this day again. Ever!

8. Teenagers who celebrate Crabby Day on another day another than Crabby Day will be exiled to an island off Greenland until they apologize.

9. To whatever degree you were crabby on crabby day, that same degree of Thanksgiving must be shown the rest of the year.

10. The fine for violating Crabby Day by celebrating it on the wrong day is you must purchase a blackberry pie for your pastor from Grand Traverse Pie Company.

I think that about covers it. Until this is official no one is allowed to celebrate Crabby Day.

Thankful,

Pastor Dave

Thoughts on a Friday Morning

I was thinking this morning about the change that is going to be happening in the leadership of this nation. There have been a lot of promises (as there always is) about what is going to change and how new policies will be better for everyone involved. Barak Obama will be the new president of the United States. Rather than debate policy and positions I've been thinking about what he will be unable to do.

He can't solve the real problem with the economy.

Greed. There is a core issue that can't be adjusted with tax rates or profit margins. People who have a lot of money want to have more and people who have less want someone else's. We seem to have found ourselves with the economic result of "wanting" without responsibility. A new President will not pass a law that makes greed a thing of the past.

He can't end what causes war.

Hatred. There is a profound emotion that is as old as the sons of Adam and Eve that causes people to act irrationally. It's not about protecting boarders or preserving life, it's about a sour soul that wants to eliminate people because they have no inherent value. Hatred isn't logical, it's volatile and dangerous. A new President will not pass a law that makes hatred a thing of the past.

He can't change human nature.

Selfishness. We tend to think of ourselves first and leftover thoughts can be given away sparingly. I want to know how something impacts me. We have taught each other and our children how to be extreme hedonists- my pleasure is primary. There are needs that must be met – but what I want is first. A new President will not pass a law that makes selfishness a thing of the past.

He can't undo what embarrasses me.

Stupidity. I know in some homes that word is akin to a swear word – but it fits. In the name of Christ people say and do really stupid things. Someone who bombs an abortion clinic in the name of God saving lives for God is not honoring the God that person claims. The "evangelist" that says give him a gift as "seed money" and God will bless you is a scam artist. The person who despises the President elect because of his color, his heritage, or his opinions while claiming random out of context verses from the bible… well they embarrass me. 2 Peter 3:6 says, "By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed." This verse obviously and clearly says that people who drink bottled water will be the downfall of the world, and Nahum 2:10 "She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale" warns us all of the greed of white people. I'm not worried about what people who don't know Christ think or say, I'm embarrassed by the one who claims to know Christ and yet talks like they've never met Him, or He's in their back pocket throwing out blessings and curses like tootsie rolls at a parade. A new President will not pass a law that makes stupidity a thing of the past.

He can't legislate what we need the most.

Spiritual renewal. The role of the government is not to care for the eternal future of souls – that's our role. What's sad to me is the church has sometimes taken its cues from business or government. We've attempted to heard people into Christ-likeness by decree, guilt them into submission by argument, or attract them to commitment by polish. Our church doesn't need what others have – we need what God has. We need the outpouring of God on our lives and His healing work in our souls so we can accomplish what we are called to accomplish. A new President will not pass a law that makes lifeless religion a thing of the past.

He can't fit on God's Throne.

It's occupied.

Summary Thought:

No person can fix what is really broken. We can debate policy and busy ourselves arguing about debt and immorality, but Church of Jesus Christ – God expects more of us. We aren't here for long and we've got a job to do.

The call is not to read from a teleprompter, the Messiah doesn't live in Washington, my hope is not limited to a majority vote, the role of absolute truth is not up to the "wisdom" of pundits, bloggers, or elected officials, and my faith is not pointed down to anyone who walks this earth.

My call was spoken by the Creator, the Messiah is seated at the right hand of God, "my hope is found in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness," my belief in the truth sets me free, and my faith is pointed to the One who loves me enough to give me a breath today and a home tomorrow.


Ya, that's what I thought about instead of watching the news this morning.


There's someone you will talk to today or tomorrow that is waiting to be invited to church.


Freedom,
Pastor Dave