Often we have said to ourselves "when all else fails"and we come up with answers like; read the scriptures, go on your gut instinct, stop and take a deep breath, etc. What do you do when everything fails? When I do everything humanly possible to find a solution and come up with nothing I realize how totally powerless I am to change things and yet I know down deep inside that there has to be a solution.
I guess that coming to an end of ourselves is good because that means the beginning of something else has to occur in order to make our way through. There are human instincts that most of us completely disregard as God given and therefore take for granted. Has God left us out there with no help at all? God forbid! His whole schematic for wholesome and secure living was created way before our little problems ever existed.
Here's what I have found to be true in my life when I find myself banging my head against the wall over something.
1. I'm trying to do it all alone
2. I do not recognize the Body of Christ
3. I do not understand authority
4. I do not want to relinquish control
God in His mercy and grace has provided us with all that we need. We just have to trust His provision. If you are stuck in some wilderness somewhere and can't find your way out then you are a prime candidate for one of God's redemptive solutions.
I guess that what I am trying to say is that when all else fails then we have an opportunity to turn to Him and say, "Father, I give up!" and like the Father He is He embraces you and holds you and calms your soul and your earthly problem begins to dim and becomes insignificant in light of your relationship with Him. That's what we really need. We need Him and the closer we come to Him the less we worry about our worldly concerns.
He truly is a great and awesome God.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Trinity, The Family and Us...
Never before have I had a mystique like view of the family unit. I have been wrestling lately with the awesomeness of the Trinity as the first family. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each one distinctly unique yet they are one. God in all His great wisdom and love wanted to see an extension of His beautiful Triune family living here on the earth and so he created man to start the family. The whole idea has become quite revelatory to me lately. The family was God's idea because God is a family. He wanted a human representation of all the love, security, and joy that only the family unit can bring.
There has been so much written about the family and there are so many champions of the family like Dr Dobson who are trying to protect the family unit but his approach is way too political for me. We cannot legislate ourselves into a better family life. It is obvious that the human soul desires brotherhood and wants to be a part of something that represents a family unit. Young men who are abandoned by their parents at a very young age are desperate for a replacement and too often they become a part of gang because the gang members give them some distorted view of family life and belonging.
When I view church life in America, I usually find a core within the church that relate to one another like family. The founding group of 100 or 200 are solidly knit together but the next 500 or 1000 sometimes never become family. A real family can only absorb or take in so many members or it will cease to become a family. When I think about the years that Dar and I raised our kids, I can now better reflect on my mental state and approach as a father. I knew that my kids were going to screw up and blow it many times but that had no affect on my love or dedication towards them. I just accepted that as part of life. I knew that our family would work things out through sibling battles, parenting and just hanging in there.
So what's the mystique? I now see the family as the Lords way of teaching us the life that He lives in the Trinity and how He wants us to experience the same. That makes the breakdown of the family so much more devastating to me. We always measure the family breakdown on how harmful it is to us but it's worse than that. It's a perversion of God's greatest desire for us to live in peace and security. Strong families are a joy to be around. It makes you envious. You want that kind of strength. That is God's best for us.
There is a caveat that God teaches us about our devotion to family and that the family is never to take precedence over Him but it is obvious to me that strong natural families and strong spiritual families will always touch the heart of God.
There has been so much written about the family and there are so many champions of the family like Dr Dobson who are trying to protect the family unit but his approach is way too political for me. We cannot legislate ourselves into a better family life. It is obvious that the human soul desires brotherhood and wants to be a part of something that represents a family unit. Young men who are abandoned by their parents at a very young age are desperate for a replacement and too often they become a part of gang because the gang members give them some distorted view of family life and belonging.
When I view church life in America, I usually find a core within the church that relate to one another like family. The founding group of 100 or 200 are solidly knit together but the next 500 or 1000 sometimes never become family. A real family can only absorb or take in so many members or it will cease to become a family. When I think about the years that Dar and I raised our kids, I can now better reflect on my mental state and approach as a father. I knew that my kids were going to screw up and blow it many times but that had no affect on my love or dedication towards them. I just accepted that as part of life. I knew that our family would work things out through sibling battles, parenting and just hanging in there.
So what's the mystique? I now see the family as the Lords way of teaching us the life that He lives in the Trinity and how He wants us to experience the same. That makes the breakdown of the family so much more devastating to me. We always measure the family breakdown on how harmful it is to us but it's worse than that. It's a perversion of God's greatest desire for us to live in peace and security. Strong families are a joy to be around. It makes you envious. You want that kind of strength. That is God's best for us.
There is a caveat that God teaches us about our devotion to family and that the family is never to take precedence over Him but it is obvious to me that strong natural families and strong spiritual families will always touch the heart of God.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Rocking Pneumonia...
Hi Guys!
I just wanted to give you a little update. I thought I had the flu last week but it ended up being pneumonia. I have to admit, it has slowed me down a bit. I have to have a cat-scan as a precautionary measure. I'll be back soon! Lot's of good stuff on the way! Our journey does include health issues at times and so I am trusting the Lord in all of this for sure. I trust that you are staying focused on Him. It's not often easy for we busy Americans but we must make the time. It's that important or we can be swallowed up by our culture.
Talk to Ya Soon when I know a bit more!
I just wanted to give you a little update. I thought I had the flu last week but it ended up being pneumonia. I have to admit, it has slowed me down a bit. I have to have a cat-scan as a precautionary measure. I'll be back soon! Lot's of good stuff on the way! Our journey does include health issues at times and so I am trusting the Lord in all of this for sure. I trust that you are staying focused on Him. It's not often easy for we busy Americans but we must make the time. It's that important or we can be swallowed up by our culture.
Talk to Ya Soon when I know a bit more!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
We Lose a Loved One...
Northfold was so exhilarating at the beginning. We were very progressive in our vision for the future. We weren't really built to just hang around. Pastor Ron was experiencing a lot of new firsts I'm sure. We were very much in love with our new surroundings. The dome gave us a great worship experience and sense of unity.
There was a fellow in our our congregation named Bill. He was a big strapping guy who kind of gave a feeling that only Santa Claus could give. His hair wasn't long like Santa's but his cheeks were rosey and his smile was big. He seemed to chuckle a lot when you would have conversation with him. Bill was so in love with the Lord Jesus and was so very open about his relationship. It seemed so natural and un-forced when he would talk about the lord. Bill had a wife and three or four children in the church. His boys were often in some of the Sunday school classes. They were a unique family because they seemed to have really turned their lives over to Jesus and the family became a living testimony of what God can do to the whole family unit.
Bill would always encourage me. He would throw one of those big Bill arms around me and say, "Davey boy", "I'm so glad the Lord sent you Here". He would pick out one of my songs and would ask me how I would get the lyrics from the Lord. He would chuckle and then try and sing the song for me in private. He couldn't sing very well but when he would try it would really lift my spirit. He was such a beautiful man.
Word soon got around that Bill had some kind of blood disease. At first, we all kind of just accepted that and began praying for Bill. I can't remember how long this went on but it seemed that it was more than a year. Bill began to decline rapidly and before you know it, he was on his death bed at North Hills Passavant Hospital. I remember his last week. Each elder would take 8 hour shifts in the hospital and pray for God's healing. We were sure that God was going to heal Bill. I had never watched anyone die before. I watched Bill gasping for air on his hospital bed. I was at such a loss. Bill died shortly after I left the hospital.
Northfold was a family of about 350. We knew each other pretty well. We loved Bill. God decided to take Bill home. We wrestled with that for awhile. There may have been the first sense of some kind spiritual pride creeping into our congregation. After all, we asked God to heal him and He didn't. We may have been a bit presumptious with our Lord. That can happen anywhere at anytime. This was my first lesson of many yet to come.
Next up....... A Change of Focus
There was a fellow in our our congregation named Bill. He was a big strapping guy who kind of gave a feeling that only Santa Claus could give. His hair wasn't long like Santa's but his cheeks were rosey and his smile was big. He seemed to chuckle a lot when you would have conversation with him. Bill was so in love with the Lord Jesus and was so very open about his relationship. It seemed so natural and un-forced when he would talk about the lord. Bill had a wife and three or four children in the church. His boys were often in some of the Sunday school classes. They were a unique family because they seemed to have really turned their lives over to Jesus and the family became a living testimony of what God can do to the whole family unit.
Bill would always encourage me. He would throw one of those big Bill arms around me and say, "Davey boy", "I'm so glad the Lord sent you Here". He would pick out one of my songs and would ask me how I would get the lyrics from the Lord. He would chuckle and then try and sing the song for me in private. He couldn't sing very well but when he would try it would really lift my spirit. He was such a beautiful man.
Word soon got around that Bill had some kind of blood disease. At first, we all kind of just accepted that and began praying for Bill. I can't remember how long this went on but it seemed that it was more than a year. Bill began to decline rapidly and before you know it, he was on his death bed at North Hills Passavant Hospital. I remember his last week. Each elder would take 8 hour shifts in the hospital and pray for God's healing. We were sure that God was going to heal Bill. I had never watched anyone die before. I watched Bill gasping for air on his hospital bed. I was at such a loss. Bill died shortly after I left the hospital.
Northfold was a family of about 350. We knew each other pretty well. We loved Bill. God decided to take Bill home. We wrestled with that for awhile. There may have been the first sense of some kind spiritual pride creeping into our congregation. After all, we asked God to heal him and He didn't. We may have been a bit presumptious with our Lord. That can happen anywhere at anytime. This was my first lesson of many yet to come.
Next up....... A Change of Focus
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