I Can Only Imagine

Just returning from Jamaica yesterday I have spent much of today reflecting on the events of this past week. It was a week of eye-opening and heart-wrenching moments, as it normally is. This morning I was thinking about all this and, at that exact moment, the song "I Can Only Imagine" began to play. I am always taken to glory hearing that song but today, just as quickly, brought back to reality with the photos, statistics, and paperwork from last week's trip to Jamaica.

What came to mind was the phrase "I can't imagine" and I am not referring to the majesty of heaven. This past week we were in some of the neediest areas of the north shore of Jamaica ministering to people who are not strangers but friends. I know their names, their children, their living and spiritual conditions, and their desperation. I saw them come for medical treatment, free medications, grasping at something, anything that would bring hope, relief, maybe even salvation to their lives.

The reality of the week, however, was that there was not enough time to see everyone that needed to see the doctors. There was not enough food to feed all of them that are hungry, not enough funds for building materials to provide housing, not enough jobs at the Grace Center to provide employment. Almost daily I had to stand in front of crowds of my friends and tell them there's no more time, no more money, no more food.

Can you imagine what it would feel like as a parent to stand before your children and tell them there is no food to eat? Can you imagine the heartache, the sense of failure, the absolute loss of self-worth that must come at a moment like that?

It rained almost every day last week in Jamaica, most days raining hard and the entire day. Many people came to me asking for help with a roof that only strains the water as it falls on the few possessions they have. Can you imagine huddling in a corner or under a tree, hugging your kids close to you as the rain soaks all of you and all you own? Can you imagine looking into the eyes of your family and see the plea for relief and know you have nothing to offer?

I can't...it hurts too much to even go there. I just finished holding two of my grandchildren in my arms as I sat down to write this. I tried to let my heart feel what it would be like to tell them no food, no shelter, but it was one of those moments that sends chills up my spine and start thinking of something, anything, else.

I also can't imagine why we aren't doing more, why too many churches with too many of their members live with their heads in the sand about the reality of the world just outside our borders. I can't imagine what our excuses are going to be to Father God when he asks us about the times he was hungry and we didn't feed him, naked and we didn't clothe him, sick and we didn't visit him (Matthew 25). I also can't imagine what it would be like if we all did what Jesus did while here, going from village to village, healing the sick, touching the poor, blessing others with the blessing of God on our lives.

'Nuff said...may God's grace extend itself to us all, here and in Steertown, poor in spirit and poor in heart.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

It's Christmas time, one of my favorites as the whole world, regardless of faith or lack thereof, like it or not, all recognize that some world-changing, earth-shattering, eternity-marking moment took place. Some may not believe in Christ (but perhaps Santa Claus), others may battle nativity scenes in public places, even more may try to secularize the Spirit out of the holiday, but it is still Christmas and the earth practices a bit when "every knee shall bow" in the very near future.

It is also a great time of reflection for me. Yeah, even ragamuffin cynics get nostalgic, and I start flashing back to Christmas in the Caicos Islands with a tin tree (remember those ugly things?) and going to East Bay on that afternoon to fish/dive/swim, enjoying whatever I had discovered under the tree that day. I remember a couple of Christmases when we didn't have enough to place many gifts under the tree and had to cherish not what we had been given but that we had each other, more than enough, more eternal than anything that fits in a gift box.

Christmas in Brazil, where we were missionaries, also come to mind, with our Brazilian friends insisting we come to their homes for the Ceia, that huge midnight feast with a house full of extended family. What a night of eating way too much and, as Americans, wondering where this crazy idea came from while stuffing our faces with awesome food! Those times when our kids were still kids really cause the nostalgia to come crashing down.

I also reflect on where God has led me/us in the past 50+ years of life:

• I have been in a crack house (as a visitor, not a user) but never the White House.
  
• I have held the hand of a newborn baby in its first seconds of life outside the womb and I have held the hand as well of those in their last seconds of life as they neared the grave.
  
• I have travelled and seen some of the wonders of the world as well as some of the pits of poverty that were never meant for human habitation.
  
• I am thankful that, while I was never one that dated the same person for more than a few months, God has blessed me with a marriage that has blessed my life for 39 years this December.
  
• Praise as well as reflection comes to mind and heart as well as I think back on the ministry with which he has graced my life, touching the lives of so many people in so many places and in so many ways.
• I have been loved so well by many and my enemies, while vocal, have been few and so temporary.

Gotta go, my tough shell is beginning to crack and that makes me really uncomfortable...

When God Speaks

I have always had a hard time knowing the will of God, hearing his voice so clearly that I could not deny what he was saying or where he was leading. Reading through the Bible I kept seeing so many instances of where he spoke through a burning bush, a cloud, or a whirlwind, even a jackass. I also read where he wrote on a wall just so a pagan king would know! Why can't we have that?

We do, it just requires constantly being alert to his voice to hear it. Let me give you an example: this past weekend Sarah Groves was one of the featured artists in a Christmas concert at our church. She sang a version of "O Holy Night" as only she can but, before she sang, she read one line of the song:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

Now I have heard this song hundreds of times, even sang it many times in my own tilted voice, but these words had never spoke to me as they did this time. Read that, God had never spoke to me in these words before. Only at that moment and in moments since then have I realized that God does still speak to us, from his word, from his works, and, yes, from his people. God told me Friday night that the coming of Christ as a baby king was so that I could feel the worth he places in me!

If anyone's life is represented by that first line it is MINE...I still live in sin and error wishing I weren't, knowing the good and not doing it, knowing the bad and doing it anyway. This past week I spent some long hours wondering if my life, if what I do, is really significant. Does my life count? Do I count for something? God spoke loudly Friday night and this soul once again felt its worth as I thought of Bethlehem and Calvary, of a baby in a feed trough and a king on a cross.

As if that weren't enough, at the Sunday night service of our church our pastor, Joel Hunter, allowed God to speak through him and reinforce this truth in my life. He spoke about the life of Ahaz, the king in Isaiah 7, and how he belittled himself as not worthy to ask a sign of God. Read that chapter of the Bible and read God's response to him - "Not only are you worthy but I will give you a sign that proves that I am God and you are important in my plans!" God holds us in his heart as his own, born on purpose (his) and for a purpose (again, his), to do for him what no other living creature can do. What greater significance to life than to know we are created by the creator of the universe to be an integral part of the completion of bringing his kingdom to earth!

God does still speak, we just don't live our lives listening. God will speak to you today through his word or his people or his music or his creation. Today he is going to show up in your life in a way you totally don't anticipate but, if you are not watching and listening for him, you will miss hearing the very voice of the baby and the king.

Gotta go...someone's calling me...sounds like Corinne but you never know...

What in the world are you doing?

When I was a kid my parents, either individually or jointly, asked me many times after another booger-headed moment in my life: "What in the world are you doing?" Most of the time that came as part of an incident (one of millions like this) where I obviously wasn't thinking about what I was doing, who was going to suffer from my decision, or what the consequences might be for me and/or others.

This came to mind as we were attending a youthworkers conference recently. It first came to mind as I watched scores of people walk by the IsleGO Missions booth we had set up in the exhibit hall of the conference. The thought was in response to the way many of the attendees were dressed; so many were old enough to know better but still trying to dress like the teens they served.

With the passing of many hours in the exhibit hall, watching people (one of my favorite activities) caused the sentiment of this phrase to greatly change. You see, hundreds of people came by with arms loaded with ministry resources they had either been given or they had purchased. Some were so loaded they needed 3-4 bags or backpacks to hold it all. Many couldn't hold it all, so burdened under their load that it often spilled out onto the floor around them. That was when it came to mind again:

"What in the world are you doing with so much stuff?"

I flashed back to when I was still full-time in local church student ministry and attended conferences like this one. I remember going back to my office with all my "swag" from the latest convention and sorting through it. Sadly, a lot of it ended up in File 13 never to be used or seen again. So much information, so many resources, that I couldn't even read it all, much less use it!

The next picture that flashed through my mind (obviously a short trip for any thought) was of my ministry friends in other countries that only dream of such a wealth of tools for ministry. They serve in places where there is no Christian bookstore, no internet, no such conventions, with no resources and no hope of finding any.

Again I remembered why I do what I do - to connect the needs of the Church outside the U.S. with the abundance of resources inside our country. If we can just connect THEIR need with our BLESSINGS it is a win-win situation as they receive the needed materials to change their students' lives and we get to be a part of the blessing. So let me ask you, no pun intended, what in the world (literally) are you doing with the blessings God has given you? What difference are you making in the world outside your church and community with the abundance of God in your lives?

Just a thought...I need to go now. Somewhere in one of my swag bags from the convention is a finger rocket with John 3:16 printed on it.

Abstinence Ed not working

Originally posted Saturday, April 14, 2007

The news is out - after years of government-funded sexual abstinence education teens are still having sex. So what do we do, throw out the effort to educate and try to stem the tide of teen pregnancies and STDs? Do we stop education on drug/alcohol abuse because people still cave in to temptation? Do we cease all education on drinking and driving because some people are too stupid to listen? To stop this education now is moronic at best, tragically dangerous at worst. The greater question is how many teens have, because of abstinence education, thought twice about giving in or made conscious decisions to be safer when having sex or decided to be celibate and just not tell anyone? Don't stop sending out the message that abstinence is still the only truly safe way. To stop now is as stupid as having sex as a teenager. Think about it...

Never say never

originally posted Monday, August 20, 2007

Corinne and I recently went fishing with a new friend and he told us a story about why he never says never any more. Recently he had a friend from up north fishing with him in the saltwater flats area close to Cape Canaveral. As happens often they spotted a large alligator cruising near the boat in the brackish water. The New Yorker asked Dave if they should be alarmed or move to a new place. Dave assured him that gators never come after a boat larger than them. The boat continued to drift closer to where the gator was and, again, the northern friend asked Dave if he was sure there was no need for alarm. Dave again assured him there was never any problems between boats and gators in these waters. Just as he said that the gator submerged in the shallow water near the boat. Evidently, as the boat drifted over the submerged gator in the shallows, the keel of the boat touched the gator's back, as it erupted out of the water, bit the side rail of the boat puncturing the fiberglass, then proceeded to bite the bottom of the boat, tearing off a rubber keel protection in it's mouth. Dave grabbed his fiberglass push pole to get the gator to let go only for the gator to bite the pole and cost Dave $600 in push pole purchases. The large gator finally let go and left for other adventures. Dave showed us the punctures in his boat from the gator's teeth as we all swore never to say never again. *you could never fund an orphanage on prayer alone but George Mueller did. *you could never build a Christian school with no land and only a dollar bill, but my dad did. *you could never reach the world for Jesus using large events for young people, but Billy Graham did. *you could never expect a woman to make the world sit up and take notice of her ministry (a woman minister?), but Mother Teresa did. *you could never impact lives in eight different countries from Lake Mary, FL, but IsleGO is. *you could never expect God to answer your prayer, respond to your questions, meet your needs, show you His plans, can you? The longer I live the more I realize that our God is bigger than we ever imagined, different than we ever pictured, and works in ways we never expected...join the ranks of those of us who swear never to say never again!

I need a third cup of coffee

Originally posted September 2, 2007 No, I am not a madman, just a mad man, angry at most, cynical of all, ready to retire to a small island in the Bahamas just to leave it all behind. What have we done to our world, to Christianity, to relationships, to the oppressed, to the church? I am torn between a desire to escape from it all (if that were possible) and a yearning to make it all right (certainly not humanly possible). For example, we deal with some of the poorest of the poor in the ministry God has entrusted to us. These are people that live on less than $2 a day while we as Americans live on $70 a day and complain about that. We gripe about property taxes when most of the world has no place to call their own. Gas prices drive us nuts while the majority of the world walks to whereever life takes them. Our daily confusion is WHAT to wear and WHERE to eat when so many have one set of tattered clothes and wonder if they will eat today. Want to experience part of my frustration? Try talking to someone in the U.S. about the above and see how quickly the conversation dies. Want to see your e-mail content go way down? Send an e-mail to all your address list asking for help in feeding and clothing the third world. Want to understand why escape to nowhere feels like a good idea? Take a look at the needs of the world just a few miles off our own coast, realize those needs could be met by the Church in our own country without great sacrifice, and then study how much is given by the average local church to do so. Oh, well, forgive my venting on this Sunday morning. I think I'll go to my walk-in closet to see which of my shirts I will wear to church today before joining friends at Chili's for lunch...