"Does your Dad know you are here?"

"Does your Dad know you are here?"

Those words sent a shiver down my six year old spine and caused me to reevaluate my priorities. 

It was a Summer day in 1952 and like all summer days for children, boring. I had nothing to do, I thought, and my Mom's answer to, "Go out and play" seemed empty of promise until I realized she had not specified where "out" was. Out was a big place. Surely out included my friend, Johnny Tierny's house. It was only over the railroad tracks and along the creek a ways. I was pretty sure I could find it and the walk could be exciting.

Just as I was about to cross the railroad tracks I heard the voice of God - or so it seemed until I turned and looked up to see the Bank's president leaning out of his second story window. He was an Elder at First Church of Christ and like most people in that little town of Olive Hill, Kentucky, knew the "preacher's kid" by sight.

"Yes?" I answered though the question mark was probably very clear to Mr. King. It was the only thing I could think to say and immediately felt guilty. 

"OK, well, I will just call the Church Office and let him know you are alright." 

Up to that point in my journey I was focused on finding excitement. Excitement that I could not find in my own back yard. However, his offer to call my Dad completely changed my priorities. My new priority was to avoid the inevitable spanking for disobedience. "That's OK," I squeaked out, "I was just heading back home anyway" and I turned and began to run home. 

The decisions we make in life are based on our priorities for life. I have found if I keep God close to me, like Louie King six decades ago, I will be challenged to chose the more worthy path. It has proved to be just as exciting and on that same day while playing in the back yard I still managed to climb the Empire State Building and slay King Kong to save the day. Better yet I did not have a date with Dad's belt.

"...the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son" (Hebrews 12:6).

It is not just a shepherd's staff

When Moses met God at the burning bush one of God’s proofs that He was with Moses was to have him throw his staff on the ground. “What’s that in your hand, Moses?”

“Uh, well, just my shepherd’s staff.”

“Throw it on the ground.”

“Ekk it’s a snake!” Ok maybe Moses didn’t say ekk but really, if it had been you wouldn’t you have said something like that?

“Now pick it up.”

“Hmmm”

“By the tail, of course.” God is so practical.

Moses had been carrying that staff for 40 years as a shepherd. It was his symbol of his personal power, protection, and provision for his flock. But from the moment he picked up that snake by the tail only to be holding his staff it became a symbol of God’s miracles in front of the Egyptians and the Israelites.

So the Question for you and I is this, “What’s that in your hand.” What skills, provisions, time, abilities and resources do we personally possess? What do we lean on as our source of power, protection, and provision?

Under God’s direction, are we willing to throw these things down? Release our control and ownership of them so God can change them before our eyes into whatever He wants to remind us that when we pick them up – though they look the same they are now signs of His power, provision, and protection of us?

When we open our hands to God we will have the privilege to be part of his miracles today. My thanks to Pastor Brian Kluth who wrote in his book, Open Handed Giving in a Tight Fisted World, “What may be our prized possessions, proven skills, personal positions of influence, prideful accomplishments, available time, or stored-up resources can become part of a living miracle when we yield whatever is in our hands to be used by the Lord.”

How to avoid getting stuck.

"Don't drive through the field - just go around."

"Avoid large water puddles on the road."

"Check the depth of the river before trying to cross."

"When your vehicle length exceeds the width of the river crossing you will get hung up."

Those are only four of the instructions I ignored on my way to getting a Willy's Jeep so stuck so that all four tires could free wheel. Had I followed the instructions I would have saved countless hours, not had to assist in a baby delivery in a muddy field, not had to be towed by a Land Rover out of a river bed, and not had to excavate a dry river bed so my tires could touch the ground.

Following the instructions of wise counselors is a short cut to success. 

Fortunately, I have gotten better at listening to and even soliciting instructions from people who have done what I am attempting. My spiritual growth has been accelerated on more than one occasion by mentors who have directed me to specific books or articles. My relational growth has progressed at the same speed with which I gather advice from friends and family who know me well and see my flaws more clearly than I. My professional life has been better navigated because of the many ministers and professors who have written on experiences and issues I have not yet encountered.

We can all learn from wise counsel. Who are your wise counselors? Which one do you need to contact today for insight and correction. I find beginning the day with the most wise of all counselors, my Lord, opens my mind to the rest of the counselors in my life.

 Proverbs 11:14 

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. 

 1 John 4:1 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

"I knew what you wanted to say."

Did you ever wish you had an interpreter? If you have taken a vacation in a country where English is a foreign   language you probably have. Even the simplest thing needs charade like antics to become clear. But the worst is when you know a little of the language and think you have a bead on what you need to say and how you believe they will reply.

I tried to get bug spray in Rome and by the time Pam and I had finally found someone who guessed the the right word from our "looks like" "sounds like" communication we were in stitches and the sales lady was laughing with us, or, at us - that is still unclear.

One our new missionary doctors who took great pride in his language learning repeatedly gave a man pepto bismal because the man said he was "wafa mudumbo wangu" only to find that while mudumbo was stomach the actual sentence was not, "I am sick in my belly" but "my pregnant wife is sick." 

I believe one of the biggest mistakes we can make is believing that communication styles have changed but meanings have not. Even the simple changes from "bad" being terrible to "bad" being incredible signal the danger. Given that communication is less than 30% verbal then everything from our posture to our location becomes a giant opportunity to miscommunicate. The real problem is not that we miscommunicate but that we only get one chance to communicate with most guests and if that is a miscommunication we have lost the opportunity to open their eyes to the savior we so desperately want them to get to know.

The care with which we are approaching the face lift of the property and building along with the effort we are making to clarify our vision and what a win would look like with that vision is more than warranted. Because we are dealing with an eternal outcome for those we touch we cannot afford to take any shortcuts or overlook any information that would inform our efforts.

My first interpreter used the three sentences I spoke on the subject of the wise and foolish man to preach a short sermon that ended with 6 decisions. As we walked away from that village I told Watson, "I didn't say all that.' To which he replied, "Yes, but I knew what you wanted to say."

I have spent the last 55 years of my life wanting to say the right thing that will bring people to Jesus. May our present efforts, as difficult as they are, be for that very purpose.

What are you doing with it?

Dave Peters told me about a friend of his who leads a rather large Bible Study who often asks, "How many here are saved?" Most hands go up and stay up till he asks the second question, "What are you doing with it?" George Barna confirms this lack of out reach by followers of Jesus in a list he calls "10 Stops on the Journey of Transformation". Taking a person from no relationship with Jesus to Spiritual Transformation his first five stops on this journey are  

1.   Ignorance of sin:  Non-believing people don't even realize that sin exists in their lives.

2.   Indifference to sin:  Non-believing people grow to understand the concept of sin but are indifferent to it.  They don't know they should be concerned about it and do something about it.

3.   Concern for sin:  Non-believing people become concerned that sin exists in their lives.  They begin to search for the answer to the question, "What should I do about this sin?"

4.   Understand a Need for Forgiveness:  Their concern for sin becomes a need to be forgiven by Someone capable of forgiving sin.  They find Jesus to be the only One capable of this forgiveness.

5.   Embrace Grace & A Need to Grow in Faith:  This is the point of salvation.  They recieve grace and begin to grow as a follower of Jesus Christ.

An interesting statistical note to his study is that 89% of all Christians in the USA never get beyond stop 5.  They never grow or develop beyond the point of salvation.

Certainly we need to take into account the people who come to LHCC just beginning their journey and that is our focus at this time. However, we are not going to be able to guide them if we, the followers, do not move through the next five stops.

1.   Spiritual Discontent:  After salvation and an understanding of God's grace, the nice, comfortable, safe Christianity that is typically taught no longer satisfies.  They long for more and are discontent with a faith that doesn't challenge and change them or other people.

2.   Brokenness:  They begin to realize that they cannot change the world on their own.  They need God, His power and the rest of His people to do it and are broken by their limitations and inadequacies.

3.   Surrender & Submission:  As their brokenness takes it's toll on them they throw their hands in the air and cry out "I surrender"!  In the Church of God, this is the point which we used to call being "sanctified".  Surrendering all of who we are, our will, our desires, our lives to God and His purposes.

4.   Profound Love for God:  Having surrendered and submitted to God's will, love and grace, a deep, intimate and profound love for Him develops.

5.   Profound Love for Other People:  It is only after understanding and receiving God's amazing grace and love that we can extend that love to others!  This is God's mission in the world!  For all people to know, receive and share the love of God through Jesus Christ!

  Everyone in the body has to fulfill their gifting for us to be successful. As we consider how to become a church the unchurched want to attend let us also consider how we become a church where the churched want to contribute to bringing those not yet following Jesus to meet Him.

Learn for yourself not off bumpers

There are two schools of thought on how to learn. One is to read and study and the other is to try and try again. The adage, "experience is the best teacher" is the response of those who prefer the latter while the former is pretty self explanatory. "You can't do what you don't know."
My fellow toddler learned how to brush his own teeth by himself before I did. The fact that he could not reach the sink did not deter him - after all there was a bowl of water just toddler height in his home. I guess you could say, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" in his case, especially since his mother sterilized   everything he touched up to that time. I, on the other hand, would not get on an escalator until I had watched my younger sister safely make her way to the top with out being thrown off, "caution is the better part of valor" I always thought. She got the praise and I got the ridicule because she - evidently - believed "no guts no glory."
All this to say we don't find wisdom in catch phrases, but in the understanding of God’s mission.
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” Luke 6:35
“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” Proverbs 22:7
Both make great quotes. One seems to favor co-dependence as a spiritual service while the other warns against becoming a slave to the generous person. Truth is found in reading the whole Word of God so you can put any quote in the correct context.
Certainly we can learn to live as God wants us to live from others who are proficient in teaching but it would be wise to have some of our own knowledge to add to the teaching. Reading the Bible is not just a spiritual discipline it is the best way for us to become wise in the way to live as God has always wanted His Creation to live.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24

Sometimes just planting a seed is the really important part.

Sometimes just planting a seed is the really important part.

According to Jean Boles, in, eHow Contributor, points out that the Giant sequoias are the oldest, though not the tallest, living tree on earth. They are dwarfed by the redwood, but, out do them in total volume; the giant sequoias are the largest living things in the world. Sequoias reproduce from the seeds of their cones, and in order to reproduce, these seeds have three requirements: some direct sunlight; an adequate supply of moisture; and soil containing minerals, but no grass or other plants to share the available moisture. Before the seeds can have a chance at reproduction, they must be free of the tough, tight cones.

There are three methods:

The first is the Long-Horned Wood-Boring Beetle’s larvae which are laid on the cone and eats the hard outer shell thus releasing the tiny seeds when the cone dries.

The second is the Douglas Squirrel, also called a chickaree, eats the fleshy green scales on young cones cutting open the scales but does not bother with the seeds. While the chickaree prefers young cones, beetle larvae search for older cones.

The third and most prolific is the release by fire which dries the cones dropping the seeds on ground denuded of any competing vegetation allowing for the likely growth of the seedling.

Some days I feel that little insects of discouragement are eating away at my resolve only to find they are eating away the hard shell of my resistance to change or action. Other days it seems I am being nibbled to death by the little and sometimes petty things I consider non-essential for daily life only to find they were my daily life for that 24 hour period. But the days that really consume me are the days my plans get burned up in the passage of time or the tyranny of the urgent. Those days I tend to go to bed discouraged and defeated.

As you may have already discovered for yourself those tend to be followed by the most fruitful of days or even months (fires can burn as long as there is fuel). I try to remember those days past during the eating, nibbling, burning days of the present so I can prepare myself for what God planning for.

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and … then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed” (Joel 2:25-27)