Brennan

I read this today and it reminded me afresh of the breathtaking power of grace. God's abounding grace!

What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and riducule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far country. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.

After life has lined their faces a little, many followers of Jesus come into a coherent sense of themselves for the first time. When they modestly claim, "I am still a ragamuffin, but I'm different" they are right. Where sin abounded, grace has abounded more. Brennan Manning--The Ragamuffin Gospel

What's Your Day Look Like?

I don’t know what an average day looks like for you. Mine is doing life with people who are often struggling with something. They want more out of life and more out of God but that something is crushing them. Some days, the breakthroughs are breathtaking! Most days….the brick walls are thick and high. I take comfort in knowing that God loves them with far more intensity than I could ever muster. I just received an email from a friend serving in central Africa. Here’s a look at his average day.

Jesus wept. I think He's getting tired of weeping. I am. Don't you think He must be planning to come again soon? I can't wait, but wait we must, and work and pray for the night is coming. Glory! Oh, that will be glory for you and me, but terror and judgement for so many who have been blinded and cannot, will not, see. My heart grieves for the lost around me.

I interact daily with multiple patients and family members who, even at high noon on a cloudless day in our small clearing in the heart of the Congolese Rain Forest, are totally in the dark. They live in the dark, the heart of Satan's Darkness. In deception. In slavery to sin. They don't even know or understand that they can be free in Christ, even though we tell them until our voice is hoarse and we sound like a broken record. Death has such a hold on people here. Even those who don't need to die, who have no reason to die, sometimes who are not even very sick, sense the inevitable and seem to yearn for it! An incredible tendency to run, walk, limp, crawl, or be carried into the grave!

Death is celebrated so much more than life. Baby's come. Baby's go. But whenever a "real" person (over age 8) dies, the whole family, village, tribe, shows up for the 3-day, all-night drunken dance-seance-trance that follows.
Patients that slowly decline in the hospital for weeks who have no one to feed or care for them, besides our busy staff, suddenly have hordes of people come like flies on yesterday's roadkill, as soon as they begin to breathe their last. And too often, just when the patient is getting better, or the appropriate treatment has finally been initiated, they demand the release of their relative, so they can bring them to the fetisher and pay big money for "Kisi ya BaNkoko." To consult the ancestors as to the "real" cause of the tumor, or infection, or anything more than a cold!

Enough! It is finished! But there is so much more work to be done! "In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength." Isaiah 30:15. God help us.

Well maybe this is more than you asked for...but just want you to know that the yearning is strong here among His faithful. Even so, come LORD Jesus, take us Home!

Walk This Way!

I love a good conversation. The kind that leaves you challenged, energized and a little uncomfortable because you’ve been stretched. This Sunday, my dear friend Bob Deppen and I will launch into a five week conversation with 40 people from Grace as we begin a new Just Walk Across The Room class. The JWATR experience is amazing in it’s simplicity. I’ve been through so many outreach training experiences that frame sharing your faith as this complex---almost impossible information dump. Pointing another life toward God rarely involves one stand alone conversation. More often, it’s believers wholeheartedly stepping into a person’s life and slowing pointing them to the God who loves them. This happens through relationships!

You’re welcome to join us! Room A-1 @ 11:00am. The class lasts all of February.

Joshua 1:7-9

"Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. They you will be prosperous and successful."

How many times have we pointed to not knowing God's will for our lives as the reason we are paralyzed from doing it? Yet, as with Joshua, there is enough truth in the Scriptures to fill our entire lives. The problem is not that we don't know what to do---the problem is we don't do what we know.

The Least

This thought from Dave Burchett’s book When Bad Christians Happen To Good People pushed a good reminder my way:

Notice that Matthew 25:35-40 doesn’t say, “For I was hungry and you gave a check to the local food bank, I was thirsty and you gave money to a fresh water relief fund, I was a stranger and you supported a homeless shelter, I needed clothes and you made a quick drop-off at Goodwill, I was sick and you donated to a Christian medical outreach, I was in prison and you supported Prison Fellowship.” There is nothing wrong with doing any or all of the above, but I would suggest we all need to mix in personal contact.

I have made a commitment in this area: I am committed to giving something besides my money to the mission of Christ. There is a time to give money and a time to give yourself. You won’t get the same kind of blessing or personal growth out of sending a check that you would rolling up your selves and actually touching someone.

Chasing Daylight

Nearly 3 months ago, I began meeting weekly with an incredible group of young men. None of the guys really knew each other and they are all extremely different individuals. One guy was actually finishing up a prison sentence. I literally took him back to his step-down facility after our gatherings. These guys were hand-picked based on the amount of un-tapped potential I saw in each one of them.

We walked through a study of a very unique book entitled Chasing Daylight by Erwin Raphael McManus, a gifted pastor from Los Angeles. The purpose of this book is to focus Christ followers on the difference between living a life of purpose and adventure, and living one of apathy and missed opportunity.

We concluded our experience last night. I can only say that God exceeded my wildest expectations as to what might happen when a group of strangers join together to ask God for guidance. Here’s an excerpt that was part of our closing session.

There’s so much talk about potential in our culture, as if it’s the end-all of success. Has anyone ever said about you, “He/she has so much potential?” If you’re under twenty five—consider it a compliment. Potential---your untapped or unlocked capacity. Potential---the hint of greatness not yet developed. “He has so much potential”---a statement of praise and maybe even adoration. And then you’re thirty, and you still have all this potential. Pressing forty, and you’re still full of potential. If you’re forty-five and someone looks at you and says, “You have so much potential,” pause…excuse yourself...step into a closet...and have a good cry.

What was once a statement of promise is now an assessment of lost opportunity. There is a point where you’re supposed to be full of potential; you’re supposed to be full of talent, capacity, product. Potential is a glimpse of what could be, yet there must be a shift from where we have potential to where we are potent.

finally

My kids gave me a laptop for Christmas. Totally blew me away. I haven't had a computer at home for some time so I was really grateful to receive it. Hopefully I'll be able show up here more often.

I just came across this in an email. Caused me to pause and be thankful.

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ
that a man should have to seek Him first to find her."

When I say ... "I am a Christian" I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'"
I'm whispering "I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian" I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!