I overheard a conversation the other day that went something like this…”Oh, you need to come to OUR church…we are doing such wonderful things. We had about 1,200 in VBS.” The response was like this…”Well, I go to ________ and we are doing________.” It turned into a one-up conversation about each other’s churches and which church was better with the measuring line being how many activities were being done and how many people were involved….
It might just be me…and probably is…but I have noticed there is more talk about what our various churches are doing rather than what Jesus is doing in our lives and in our congregations. Some might think it is just semantics but is it? Do we really mean “Jesus” when we say “our church”? I would hope so but I am afraid at times we are more concerned about the reputation of our congregations than the glory of God.
Maybe I am just being overly sensitive but I know that God alone is to be glorified in this kingdom work. It is with that thought that I want to have your input. What do you think? Maybe you haven’t considered this before but now you are! This is your time so let me know your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
AAA of Life
After I got my first car…my senior year of college…my daddy insisted that I enroll in AAA. I was aghast that he thought I would drink and drive until he sat me down and s-l-o-w-l-y explained to me the difference between AA and AAA! He told me that although I had been taught how to change a tire, it would be nice to have someone come and help me if I were on the road alone and if I broke down, he wanted to know that I could get a tow-truck to take me to a place where my car could be repaired. Then he said, “Cyndi, I won’t be able to come and help you out every time you need it, so I am telling you how you can find help on your own!” My daddy never even got through the 8th grade but he was the wisest man I ever knew.
My renewal for AAA came in the mail this week and I remembered his statement. These years later I see he could have been talking about life and what Christians should be to the world. AAA doesn’t fix our cars…it takes us to places where they can be fixed! Many of us hesitate to minister to others because we think we are to “fix” things. Being surrounded by great hurt can be overwhelming if we believe we are to make everything better. Admittedly, there are things we can “fix” for the moment…a meal, money to pay a bill, a hug, kissing a skinned knee… things we can do for minor hurts and pains but in major things, like great grief, we are helpless so we make trite statements because we must “say or do something” to make it better. We become overwhelmed, discouraged, and often give up and often become depressed ourselves because we thought we could make things better. I have been there…many times; delusional enough to think I actually had any control over terrible situations...thinking if I just said the right thing…if I helped them in another way…if I just stopped them somehow then things would be better.
God never called us to fix…but to take the brokenness to the Great Physician. Knowing this can free us to minister in His power. We are the conduits to the One who can fix…who can bring peace…who is freedom from sinful behaviors. Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Matt. 11:29) He didn’t say, cyndi, take on the world…but He said, bring the world to me.
How do we do that? First of all know Him and realize He has been the comforter, restorer, and redeemer on your own journey! Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings becoming like Him in His death.” Spend time with Him; learn to trust Him yourself. Secondly, you cannot lead people where you haven’t been so don’t try! You have, however, been on journeys others have yet to go and own an already-plotted map. Share that “map” when you see others on similar roads for that is ‘sharing in His sufferings’…Jesus understood every trial of mankind and showed the way to the Father to all who would follow. Thirdly, stop to help if you can or at least call a tow truck. We must minister…we can’t just speed by those in need because we don’t know what to do! Stop and offer His peace. When there is a breakdown, be there to take them to the repair shop of God’s presence. On occasion, we can help fix “a flat,” but that flat will eventually need to get fixed or replaced and that needs to be done by Someone who knows what He is doing! Let others know of the flat fixer…and let them know it isn’t you. So, friend, minister to others in the mighty name of Jesus! That is all we are called to do.
Daddy, you haven’t been here to help me out of some pretty bad situations…but you taught me about how to get help…and that has made all the difference. Thanks!
My renewal for AAA came in the mail this week and I remembered his statement. These years later I see he could have been talking about life and what Christians should be to the world. AAA doesn’t fix our cars…it takes us to places where they can be fixed! Many of us hesitate to minister to others because we think we are to “fix” things. Being surrounded by great hurt can be overwhelming if we believe we are to make everything better. Admittedly, there are things we can “fix” for the moment…a meal, money to pay a bill, a hug, kissing a skinned knee… things we can do for minor hurts and pains but in major things, like great grief, we are helpless so we make trite statements because we must “say or do something” to make it better. We become overwhelmed, discouraged, and often give up and often become depressed ourselves because we thought we could make things better. I have been there…many times; delusional enough to think I actually had any control over terrible situations...thinking if I just said the right thing…if I helped them in another way…if I just stopped them somehow then things would be better.
God never called us to fix…but to take the brokenness to the Great Physician. Knowing this can free us to minister in His power. We are the conduits to the One who can fix…who can bring peace…who is freedom from sinful behaviors. Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden for my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Matt. 11:29) He didn’t say, cyndi, take on the world…but He said, bring the world to me.
How do we do that? First of all know Him and realize He has been the comforter, restorer, and redeemer on your own journey! Paul said in Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings becoming like Him in His death.” Spend time with Him; learn to trust Him yourself. Secondly, you cannot lead people where you haven’t been so don’t try! You have, however, been on journeys others have yet to go and own an already-plotted map. Share that “map” when you see others on similar roads for that is ‘sharing in His sufferings’…Jesus understood every trial of mankind and showed the way to the Father to all who would follow. Thirdly, stop to help if you can or at least call a tow truck. We must minister…we can’t just speed by those in need because we don’t know what to do! Stop and offer His peace. When there is a breakdown, be there to take them to the repair shop of God’s presence. On occasion, we can help fix “a flat,” but that flat will eventually need to get fixed or replaced and that needs to be done by Someone who knows what He is doing! Let others know of the flat fixer…and let them know it isn’t you. So, friend, minister to others in the mighty name of Jesus! That is all we are called to do.
Daddy, you haven’t been here to help me out of some pretty bad situations…but you taught me about how to get help…and that has made all the difference. Thanks!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Blessing Might Be Hidden!!
This year, for my birthday my very sweet husband told me we were going to go to PF Changs and to get a Big Mac. I am not a culinary genius, but I did know that PF Changs did not serve Big Macs! I was a bit confused but after we ate, we shopped a little. I had wanted two things for my birthday: a MacBook or a CD Changer for my car that would play more than one CD. We ate a wonderful meal then stopped to shop some great sales! I opened my trunk to put in the packages we purchased and noticed that a side panel had fallen down. I have had this car for over 2 years and had never noticed the side panel much less the latch on it…both my husband and I noticed a strange box-like thing within the panel---it was a 10-disc CD changer!! For over two years I had struggled with changing CD’s on busy Interstate Highways with the single CD player inside the car when all along I could have just let the additional changer in the trunk do what it does best…change CD’s! What I had longed for had been there all along but a single latched panel kept up apart.
At times we desire something from God but soon give up when it is not in plain sight. We often settle for something less or give up completely and turn away thinking God had not been faithful. What I wanted was there all along if only I had examined my car more closely and turned a simple latch. Likewise, all we need when looking for God’s presence is found in Jeremiah 29. We love to quote the part where it says, “I know the plans I have for you”…but my favorite part comes in verse 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” The word “seek” implies much more than a cursory glance…it requires a deep search. It requires time and effort on our part and it requires our heart. When our whole heart is in something we take it more seriously and seldom give up until we find what we look for.
Admittedly, when I had turned on my CD player, the dashboard would state, “CD Changer empty.” The car had tried many times to inform me of the presence of the CD player but since I couldn’t see it I thought perhaps it was only included on another model but not mine. We do that too. The Bible tells us that God is “for” us not “against” us; that He loves us with an everlasting love and has provided all we need in life through the Holy Spirit but we say that “others” have great blessings or abilities from God but not us! The fact is that God is available to everyone equally! The difference is that some seek Him with their hearts while others look for Him like some look for mayonnaise in the refrigerator…if it is not in the front and center it is not there!
God wants to be found…He wants to bless us with the things we need for abundant life and with the power to overcome great obstacles. He through Jesus Christ has removed all the barriers---Luke 23: 45: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” The one-time barrier for everyone to approach God was gone! Jesus made it possible to go directly to the throne of God to make our requests…so why don’t we? Perhaps a lack of faith? Perhaps a sense that we don’t deserve it? Maybe we are just lazy and would rather complain. Giving up hope often takes less effort than seeking Him but seek Him we must if we are to experience all He wants for us. He is and has been here all the time…don’t wait for a wall (trunk panel) to fall in on your life to see Him. Whatever you need today the answer is, “Seek God!” He is there and when your heart gets hungry enough He will be found.
Oh, and that Big Mac? They had lots of them at the Apple store next to PF Changs! I got the MacBook Pro Combo!!! What a great birthday!
At times we desire something from God but soon give up when it is not in plain sight. We often settle for something less or give up completely and turn away thinking God had not been faithful. What I wanted was there all along if only I had examined my car more closely and turned a simple latch. Likewise, all we need when looking for God’s presence is found in Jeremiah 29. We love to quote the part where it says, “I know the plans I have for you”…but my favorite part comes in verse 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” The word “seek” implies much more than a cursory glance…it requires a deep search. It requires time and effort on our part and it requires our heart. When our whole heart is in something we take it more seriously and seldom give up until we find what we look for.
Admittedly, when I had turned on my CD player, the dashboard would state, “CD Changer empty.” The car had tried many times to inform me of the presence of the CD player but since I couldn’t see it I thought perhaps it was only included on another model but not mine. We do that too. The Bible tells us that God is “for” us not “against” us; that He loves us with an everlasting love and has provided all we need in life through the Holy Spirit but we say that “others” have great blessings or abilities from God but not us! The fact is that God is available to everyone equally! The difference is that some seek Him with their hearts while others look for Him like some look for mayonnaise in the refrigerator…if it is not in the front and center it is not there!
God wants to be found…He wants to bless us with the things we need for abundant life and with the power to overcome great obstacles. He through Jesus Christ has removed all the barriers---Luke 23: 45: “And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” The one-time barrier for everyone to approach God was gone! Jesus made it possible to go directly to the throne of God to make our requests…so why don’t we? Perhaps a lack of faith? Perhaps a sense that we don’t deserve it? Maybe we are just lazy and would rather complain. Giving up hope often takes less effort than seeking Him but seek Him we must if we are to experience all He wants for us. He is and has been here all the time…don’t wait for a wall (trunk panel) to fall in on your life to see Him. Whatever you need today the answer is, “Seek God!” He is there and when your heart gets hungry enough He will be found.
Oh, and that Big Mac? They had lots of them at the Apple store next to PF Changs! I got the MacBook Pro Combo!!! What a great birthday!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Pictures Don't Show Everything!
Last week we discussed complaining about our situations even though God is blessing us greatly with all we need. The Children of Israel did that on the way to the Promised Land by wanting more than the daily bread God provided. Today they are in another situation…their journey is almost done…the Promised Land is in reach…yet, they hesitate.
One of my very favorite songs is Sara Groves’ “Painting Pictures of Egypt” on her Conversations album. I love it because it is so much like me. Let me give you some of the lyrics:
The past is so tangible I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy To discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the Promise
And the things I know
I've been painting pictures of Egypt,
Leaving out what it lacks
The future feels so hard,
And I wanna go back!
It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
And the place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
And it wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this
I have experienced this feeling many times. I have known that God had something for me to experience…something better and amazing and yet I was scared and played it safe…stayed comfortable. God had something better, but in my little mind I could not imagine “better” and so I hesitated. Sometimes I might have even gone forward a bit but the road became difficult so I returned to what was familiar even though it was not a great place to be. Yeah, It was not great but it was something I knew…it was comfortable.
A funny thing happens when looking backwards…memories seem to be better than the reality of what was! Remember how big things were when you were a child? I think often of the story of an adult bemoaning about how when he was a little boy the snow would come to his knees…then he looked down at his son…who had trouble walking because the snow was so high! Memories lie! Things are not always better “then.”
The Children of Israel were at the Promised Land but they got scared. What they saw ahead were “giants” and they began to listen to the babblings of men while forgetting the miracles of an awesome God. They didn’t listen to Moses, Caleb, or Joshua. They began to sing, “We will, we will not be moved!” and once again God gave them what they wanted…they got to stay in… the desert…wandering until they died.
Read Numbers 32: 6-13. Folks, God doesn’t joke around when He says He will do something. He had told the Israelites that He would give them a land…but they didn’t believe Him and there were consequences. The same goes for us today…God has a plan for us and when we trust Him in that plan He takes care of all the details…when we don’t trust Him, we wander in the desert and eventually die without receiving His promise. I don’t want that, and I know neither do you. Note verse 12 in our scripture that state two men, Caleb and Joshua, were the exception. Why? It was because they followed the LORD wholeheartedly. They received God’s blessing…not because they were special…not because they were better…no, they entered because they followed God wholeheartedly. What a lesson for me in trust. It might sound trite, but when God sends us forward, He gives all we need to defeat whatever is before us. When we refuse, we are saying is God cannot do what He said He will do. That is unbelief and unbelief is a sin.
The great thing about living under grace, is that our sins can be taken care of by confessing them and allowing God to renew us…we are not doomed to wander forever…but we are doomed to wander until we confess…
God wants to give us His best because we are His children. Do you believe that? If you do, then what is holding you back from your Promised Land? 40 years later in our story, Joshua says these words to the next generation: “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5 These trusted God and passed into the Promised Land and discovered God was faithful. Let us be that next generation…the ones known by following…not wandering.
Have a Happy 4th of July!
One of my very favorite songs is Sara Groves’ “Painting Pictures of Egypt” on her Conversations album. I love it because it is so much like me. Let me give you some of the lyrics:
The past is so tangible I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy To discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the Promise
And the things I know
I've been painting pictures of Egypt,
Leaving out what it lacks
The future feels so hard,
And I wanna go back!
It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
And the place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
And it wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this
I have experienced this feeling many times. I have known that God had something for me to experience…something better and amazing and yet I was scared and played it safe…stayed comfortable. God had something better, but in my little mind I could not imagine “better” and so I hesitated. Sometimes I might have even gone forward a bit but the road became difficult so I returned to what was familiar even though it was not a great place to be. Yeah, It was not great but it was something I knew…it was comfortable.
A funny thing happens when looking backwards…memories seem to be better than the reality of what was! Remember how big things were when you were a child? I think often of the story of an adult bemoaning about how when he was a little boy the snow would come to his knees…then he looked down at his son…who had trouble walking because the snow was so high! Memories lie! Things are not always better “then.”
The Children of Israel were at the Promised Land but they got scared. What they saw ahead were “giants” and they began to listen to the babblings of men while forgetting the miracles of an awesome God. They didn’t listen to Moses, Caleb, or Joshua. They began to sing, “We will, we will not be moved!” and once again God gave them what they wanted…they got to stay in… the desert…wandering until they died.
Read Numbers 32: 6-13. Folks, God doesn’t joke around when He says He will do something. He had told the Israelites that He would give them a land…but they didn’t believe Him and there were consequences. The same goes for us today…God has a plan for us and when we trust Him in that plan He takes care of all the details…when we don’t trust Him, we wander in the desert and eventually die without receiving His promise. I don’t want that, and I know neither do you. Note verse 12 in our scripture that state two men, Caleb and Joshua, were the exception. Why? It was because they followed the LORD wholeheartedly. They received God’s blessing…not because they were special…not because they were better…no, they entered because they followed God wholeheartedly. What a lesson for me in trust. It might sound trite, but when God sends us forward, He gives all we need to defeat whatever is before us. When we refuse, we are saying is God cannot do what He said He will do. That is unbelief and unbelief is a sin.
The great thing about living under grace, is that our sins can be taken care of by confessing them and allowing God to renew us…we are not doomed to wander forever…but we are doomed to wander until we confess…
God wants to give us His best because we are His children. Do you believe that? If you do, then what is holding you back from your Promised Land? 40 years later in our story, Joshua says these words to the next generation: “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5 These trusted God and passed into the Promised Land and discovered God was faithful. Let us be that next generation…the ones known by following…not wandering.
Have a Happy 4th of July!
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