WHAT'RE THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS DOING TO OUR CHURCHES?

I love the mission, the direction, even the simple thought of the church.  It's baffling.  It's hard work.  It's rewarding.  And, it's ever making adjustments.

The younger generations are always a challenge it seems.  What's weird is that all older generations were likely to have been the younger generation in their day.  Do ya think?  So, what's with the seeming collision between generations which seems to ever abound when we older ones went through the earlier process ourselves?

I don't know.  It  seems that we are learners for awhile and then preservers of our meaningful learning experience as if, somehow, God maxed out His imagination on my era.  But...not so.  God is creative all of the time and creative will always include new.

So exactly what are the younger generations doing to our churches?  I believe they are bringing us life and giving us hope.  They dare to love us while exerting a new supply of energy to our design which is clearly the process of the God-involvement.

This younger generation of leaders sees things, knows things, and approaches church life in ways that I knew/know nothing about.  And who inspired these younger men and women?  Well, hopefully, guys and gals like me who dared to believe what hadn't been believed yet.  Hopefully, we were imaginers who passed the plate of imagination to the next group of leader/followers.

What are the younger generations doing to our churches?  Keeping them alive with hope and adventure in the Spirit.  That's what.  Go.  Forward.  In.  Your.  Faith.

LET LIFE REIGN ON YOUR PARADE

Be alive.  Live aware of the wonder of it all.  Such a call is not to abide in pretense that there isn't something wrong...like in many things wrong.  Yet, the beckon is to defeat the negative with the outrageous and incalculable positive which reigns on everyone's parade.

Wonder exists in every setting.  I live and work within the ranks of depression and devastation of family after family.  This isn't an occasional experience; but is rather a daily unfolding.  Life is rugged.  It bites and stings...every person.

What we do, therefore, is never pretend.  We do focus.  We look at the grand scheme of a redeeming God and praise Him for it.  In the very center of his prison cell, the apostle Paul sang to God and the jail collapsed under the load of...of...singing in a very unsingable situation.

Struggles?  Suffering?  Injuries?  At every turn for each of us.  And what shall we do about it?  We shall notice the blessings, the hope, the encouragement that is supplied from above...right on the very stage that wishes to beat us to a pulp. 

Let life REIGN on your parade!  Soak in it!

CREATED TO BE MORE THAN WE CAN BE

There remains a treasured commodity among us to this day that must never be taken for granted.  We need to note its luxury, its range, and its unmatchable impact.  Do I reference gold?  Success?  Fame?  No, I speak of the magnificent simplicity of faith.

Faith moves modern day mountains.  It goes where eye cannot see; but heart can.  It travels where legs cannot take; but imagination leaps even the tallest hurdles.  Faith is that word oft discussed in classes and sermons; yet tends to escape through the discussionary air into evaporational ineffectivity.

But faith is where the invisible rubber meets the visible road.  Our belief in what isn't yet, but can become, is a remarkable earth-shaking kind of dynamic.  Faith sees where formula and plan can't.  Faith is daring while human measurement and estimation are cautious.

We are created by the Creator to roam the high hills and the low valleys with a tool that defies logic, understanding, and systemic rule.  Faith is so amazingly wowing that if not careful we will miss it; all in the name of Bible discussion and sermon pondering. 

Dare...yes dare...to invest in what can't be seen, what can't be verified, what can't be proven as an act of gigantic wisdom so that the hand of God may be set free to do His thing among us. 

Think.  Question.  Wonder.  Envision.  Wrestle.  Risk.  Try. 

And then watch impossibilities become possible.  This is the very thing that pulls in the hearts of every age range.  We are looking for Life beyond our own meager provision.

DOUBLE CONDEMNITY

The human side of life is, indeed, baffling and full of twists and turns.  As we age, we often find ourselves playing "catch up" rather than reminiscing the solutionary answers we've accumulated over our decades.  Due to God's display of perpetual creativity, man can hardly make a new discovery but which it is quickly outdated.

An area that bugs us is our perpetual hankering to judge others while claiming Free Space when similar judgment slides in our direction.  We are all alike in that we possess a very strange factor; double condemnity.  Here's how it plays out.

We condemn others because they are not as good as we are (so we've persuaded ourselves).  We would never do the wrong they do.  We would never think to do what they have carried out.  Our condemnation is firm and often unforgiving.

Too, we simultaneously condemn ourselves because we are not as good as others.  We did what they would never do.  We have dark thoughts that others would be ashamed of us if they only knew.  And, our personal condemnation is firm and often lasting...well into depression.

So how can we be both?  Condemning others for they are so sinful and condemning ourselves for we, too, are so sinful?  It is at this junction that we look at Jesus and say, Is there any chance you could do something about me?  I'm a mess as I live in double condemnity.  I judge them...and myself.  Help us!!!

May the righteousness of Jesus be the prominent factor in our walk.  May our self-righteousness move to the back of the bus...and jump out the back door.  No one is right with God unless Jesus makes us right. 

 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. 
                                                                 II Corinthians 10:12

JESUS' SECRET APPROACH TO IMPACTING THE WORLD

One would think that to be a world impactor there would of necessity be information, accumulation, and destination; know your subject, gather pertinent tactics, and set out on mission.  One would think.  And thus, we who regard ourselves as mission-minded are able to take note of similar personal concepts in our faith walk.

Yet, there is another factor that's incredibly significant. 

When Jesus was sent from Heaven to earth to begin his mission, it was key that he first become an infant.  Yes, he was a man to be built from the ground up, so to speak.  This is where we replicas of him fight our biggest inner contest.  We do not want to appear vulnerable.  So?  We have traded the nakedness of an infant for the appearance of being equipped with knowledge.

Yes!  That's how we will tackle the world!  We will not approach society vulnerable as in an infant!  We will impress with our knowledge!  Therefore, the spiritual drive experiences shut-down because education was never the driving force.  Vulnerability and the willingness to try anyway has always been the secret approach to impacting the world.

Basically, we don't believe it.  Let me say that again.  Basically, we DON'T BELIEVE it.  The lack of faith is the game-changer when it comes to spreading the Gospel. 

The way to break through on mission--on impacting mission--is through the standard of infancy at heart.  Humility.  Dependence.  Hunger to learn.  Directable.  Ears that hear.  Receptive.  Defenseless.  Moldable.  Pliable.

A baby is vulnerable times 100.  It is this single route the God chose to save us.  Indeed, He would voluntarily become a person.  But more than becoming a person, which would seem to be humiliating enough, He became a baby person; can't walk, can't talk, can't convince, can't persuade.

This isn't the route I was hoping He would take for me.  I was more inclined to think that when I gained a more complete set of answers that it would be at that time that I was equipped to evangelize.  But one evening in a one-on-one Bible study He unlocked an imprisoning door.  I learned to say to the couple I was trying to teach, I don't know.  Surprise to me, their hearts opened even wider to me.  My lack was the secret to their eventual conversion.

Your secret to impacting the world will never be more than the secret Jesus knew.  Being inadequate seems to be a welcome mat to seekers.  Jesus didn't hit earth in cap, gown, and degree.  He hit it with inability to speak, inadequacy to plan, a diaper, and a bale of straw. 

Go.  Figure.  the.  Wisdom.  of.  God....and then...Enter.  In. 

SHOULD GUNS BE OUTLAWED?

Each time America experiences a mass murder, the call swells for the outlawing of guns.  This isn't a new chorus.  Wouldn't the move to make them illegal leave us with other immediate decisions.

     A.  Should we then outlaw trucks to curb the number of attacks which used such loaded with explosives?  And, should explosives be illegalized?
     B.  Should we, too, quit making automobile engines which travel beyond the speed limit as they
claim innocent lives as well because some irresponsibly drive too fast?
     C.  Should alcoholic beverages be labeled as illegal because some become drunk and cause harm,  at times, to others or to themselves?
     D.  Should sleeping pills be eliminated because some overdose?
     E.  Should churches be eliminated since they are often found to be centers of disruption rather than unity?
     F.  Should the Bible become illegal because a few use it to disrupt lives rather than inspire?

There will continue to be debate about gun control; even after my article!!!  I'm just saying that if such a law would be passed, it will not curb violence one whit.  The manufactured gun is not the problem of society.  We must continually, sacrificially work together to help each of us make a mature progress in loving God and then loving others.  Our hearts are where the adjustment is vitally needed; not the regulation of the tool being used to do the damage.

If we believe that simply outlawing guns would be the cure, then why don't we simply outlaw outlaws?  Oh...we already have....but that hasn't stopped them either, has it?

THE ULTIMATE HOSTAGE TAKEOVER

Okay, think with me.  Can you imagine what it would be like if, say perhaps while filling your car with gasoline, someone approached you with a gun and took you hostage?  Can you fathom for a second the blur of confusion which might be an obvious jolt to your system?  Try to imagine the surprise, the uncertainty of the next few minutes, and even the unexplainable imposed threat. 

You have just been taken hostage by a stranger who now wishes to commandeer your life!

I submit a shocking thought.  The person who likely victimizes us, freezes us in fear and takes us hostage (in repetitive fashion) is my(our)self.  We brandish our own weapon and we aim it directly at ourselves and scream, Freeze!  From the dimensions of panic and fear...we do exactly that.

Have we said to our advising friends, cheering relatives, and our supportive neighbors all around, Freeze!?  Have we scuttled their words of encouragement toward directional adjustment because we have taken over ourselves under the hostigetical guise of fear?  Rather than developing an ability to loosen up, to step out, have we frozen in our tracks; at least in our thinking patterns?  Of course, in the process we've thrown our hands up for we just arrested...ourselves.

Individually, we likely have made key decisive moves to take ourselves hostage.  We renamed it protection.  Protectionary custody sounds better?  Protectionary Custody leads to self-management.  Self-management leads to the self takeover. 

We are still holding ourselves hostage.  Life isn't passing us by under these conditions.  It's more.  Life can't look our way; it can't find us because we've gone into hiding.  This is the design and purpose of the Ultimate Hostage Takeover. 

The takeover, however, is taken over from what?  The glorious leadership of a very active, quite participatory God has been quenched and we, now, drive the bus.  We believe we are at the CONTROLS.  The Ultimate Hostage Takeover doesn't usually come from others.  Oh, it certainly can...and does.  But mainly, we arrest ourselves.  And...this isn't necessary.  Furthermore, it must stop.

We've been called to life and life abundantly at that.  Shall we dare step into this zone today?

REBEL WITH A CAUSE...WOULD BE...YOU

Conform.  Conform is an inner bark which howls that we retreat from bravery; from exceptionalism.  It is demanding and bossy.  Conform intends to lead us by the nose to be sure that we don't stand out as different from mediocre and neutral.  Thus we will find, within its protection, safety and acceptance without necessary development of the need to learn or to grow...up.

Conforming is "the" socially acceptable stance.  It is two clear truths: easiest and...deadliest.  Conforming to the flow around us takes no courage, it takes no intelligence, it takes no faith.  In this mode we simply develop into an approving/disapproving set of judges toward everyone but ourselves...and we are quite content with this very weak, sick arrangement.

Ours is fundamentally a conforming society.  It surely wasn't intended as such; yet this has been the trend with us for decades.  More than with us, it is us.  There are exceptions, of course.  Deliberately working on becoming the exception is what I wish to address.

God is clear, however, that we are not to conform to this world.  Rather, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  Uh-oh!  So that's the human glitch; stubborn, set-in-my-ways thinking.  Unwilling to learn at whatever age we are, we grow accustomed to blocking incredible life by clinging to the little world we know...and can control.

To be a rebel would be to stare down the social powers whose voices intimidate by offering threat.  Conforming is their absolute by-law.  This requires nothing but convenience, handy-isms, and certainly no application of thought.  Conforming is the easy way out and that's what too many settle for in life.

Transformation, on the other hand, launches us into the deep and unknown experiences of ultimate fantasmalistic living.  We are not in control; but controlled...by God's leadership.  Seldom, in all of God's human stars and starlets on His grand stage, did life ever unfold the way they would have anticipated; would have tried to control.

Abraham, Sarah, David, Thomas, Saul of Tarsus....these and countless others dropped their strong-armed control and yielded to nothing but an unprovable faith swirling in the air...a faith convicted that God can.  Ask Mary and Joseph about the time they learned they were pregnant!

God can.  Mark it down.  Leaders often can't.  Committees can't.  Best laid plans can't...can't offer the thrill and the results that the rebel with a cause can.  Dare to live beyond your fears.  Furthermore, dare to abide within His imagination for you.

Rebel with a cause...would be...you.  And...our hearts soar when we experience God doing the amazing among us!  Believe.  Big.

HOW TO OBTAIN THE LOVE AND SUPPORT AND ATTENTION YOUR HEART DESIRES

I write this with a particular segment of society in mind.  Those who desperately need approval and relationship with others...but cannot find it...are who I wish to cheer.

First, I'm sorry that you can't find that niche of approval you so desperately desire.  Loneliness is a horrible condition.  Along the way, I've watched a few try a bit harder than others to gain attention; but what they don't realize is that they are shooting themselves in the foot.  Through their drive to gain personal sympathy via their steady rehearsal of their woes, these drive good friends farther away.

I'm not saying the result is right.  I am saying that I want to help any in this condition to try another tactic.

Rather than bemoan the sorry circumstances you are in (and here I refer only to those who never have anything positive to say), switch the direction of your conversation.  Give a verbal boost to others who could use a word of hope.  At this juncture you will find yourself very needed just as you had always wished.

It's a strange thing and a most consistent one.  What we sow, we reap.  Plant words of negative bummerisms about your condition and you'll never...never...dig your way out.  You assume that it's because of circumstances that bring your misery.  But likely it's your speech; the way you talk.  Obsession with self bums self and draws no positive attention.  Driven to cheer others on brings a new sort of fulfillment.  It's all found within our words; not our circumstances.

I root for you; for everyone.  99% of the populace does a decent job of speaking life.  They talk it, walk it...and therefore...receive it.  Whether it's a good day or bad does not determine what kind of day you are having...and I'm not speaking of becoming pretentious nor fake.  I'm saying that in every illness, in every catastrophe, in every death, there are words of praise able to be offered.

We all go through depression.  The secret to getting out is not more money or new friends.  The real secret is to change your language to where you find reason to speak of the goodness you see in God, in life, in others.  If you are miserable, you have sown it through your words.  If you are an endurer, you have spoken about life in a way that attends to others.

What you sow...you receive.  Tell others about how and why you love them.  It will bless them...and you.

TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE

The Adulterous Woman..from John 8

8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, [a]Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]

There are two kinds of people interacting with Jesus.  The religiously-sinful Pharisees and the guilty sinful woman.  Jesus puts both into complete perspective.

The religious leaders left the scene with tails tucked between their legs.  The woman left the same scene with holy pardon.  Her instructions were to never sin again.  If she succeeded in Jesus command there would have been no need for him to later suffer agony on the Cross.  She must have sinned again.

Jesus died for us because we are most pitiful at trying to get our lives in order.  The devoted-to-God ones and the not-devoted-to-God one were two kinds of people found, in reality, to be the same kind...repetitive sinners.  

We do not find in any of Jesus' interactions toward we violators that pardon is granted because we got our weaknesses curbed.  Rather, we each find cure and hope because he came to earth to experience our guilt and then took on that guilt at the Cross.  He took on our shame and he handed us his honor.

Never are we to be permitted to sin that grace might increase.  But as sin shows up, grace does increase.  That's His power....not ours.  That's His Word....not our idea.

THE BATTLE FOR FAITH

We live in a social setting where danger lurks.  The target is faith.  The danger is that risking conviction has been tossed out while indifference escalates.  Faith (that Jesus died to promote) is not a sweet-Jesus feeling which offers a some sort of Sunday morning soothe.  It is a new theme, a new possibility, an entirely new sort of existence day by learning/growing day.

Why is there a battle going on?  Because faith's value is more precious than gold.  That we believe into the invisible as being genuinely real is under continual siege.  Faith blows the cover to legalistic control and the law-keepers despise it.  Faith transforms the broken and those who fear change detest it.  Faith turns the tables on reality making the seen the temporary and the unseen the eternal.  The hesitant resist it.

Be encouraged, there is a present war embroiling over your potential faith.  To believe what can become that isn't yet is absurd to the controller and fresh air to the dreamer.  The latter treasures our Creative God while the former is devoted to preserving how we got here.  It isn't that many things in our past were not awesome.  It's that in their awesomeness they were setting the stage for the next faith thriller/adventure.

Our past is full of marvel and wonder.  Be not robbed of its thrill.  Yet, its success delivered us to this point to keep the trust in His provision flowing.  We are to appreciate the bravery of those in our history with the awareness that it is now our turn to step up in equal courage to offer the next generation a current, vibrant, and effective faith.

Faith isn't easy.  Its character can be easily kidnapped and bound so that the capturers may peddle a pseudo-faith that offers the activities; but not the personally engaging fruit of believing, dying, and arising.  There is a stern battle for faith going on....now.  The warheads are not frightening.  Instead they are socially acceptable.  Indifference is in escalation mode.  Thus, the needed alert. 

Faith wasn't for an hour yesterday (Sunday).  It was for then and it is for your waking moments now.  Win the war.  Step up for service and step out with belief; a faith that thinks that what good isn't yet can still become. 

Win.  The.  War.

Believe.

Big.

ENAMOURIZATION WITH GOD?

Sunday came!  It's here folks!  No, I'm not kidding!  Sunday is here!

It's a strange admission, but my initiation into the church culture didn't seem to take when it came to my being in awe of God.  I wasn't.  I'm not saying that I wasn't taught it.  But, I soon became devoted to getting church right....which, duh....one would have assumed included a high priority of honoring God.

I did offer Him acknowledgment, you know.  Yet, to focus upon Him just to ponder His absolute and deserving wonder?  Umm...not so much.  I was more interested in me; what I liked about church, about serving, about learning my Bible.  Enamourization with God?  Not.  So.  Much.

Because of this, when we sang I wasn't so much attune to the words as I was to whether I liked the tune.  Did I like the personality of the song leader?  Did I like the....I was full of the did I likes.  And where was God in all of this?  

Patiently waiting.

When I entered the privilege of preaching, I was more focused on my performance (using Scripture properly, connecting with the audience) than on Him.  Too, the church placed strong emphasis on getting things right and such was my complete adherence.  And where was God in all of this?  

Patiently waiting.

Over the years I've made strides to improve my attentiveness to God.  This has enhanced my prayer walk because I spend more time bragging on Him to Him due to Him than the rest of my needs content.  I encourage you to give God verbal glory in both prayer and daily conversation.  

To be sold on church is quite different than being sold out to God.  The former can be really good or it can become the god of our engagement-oriented needs.  The latter (sold out) would include our development and our service with the addition that we are to be more conscious of God than any of our works.

Sunday is here!  You'll be blessed by re-forming bonds with your favorites.  Some, like myself, will be equally charged to be introduced to guests whom we've not yet met.  But I cheer you on.  Be first and foremost enamoured with the God of all Creation.  He.  Alone.  Makes.  Life.  Tick.

NO ONE IS ADEQUATE

In II Corinthians 3:5 the Apostle states that no one is adequate within themselves to consider anything as coming from themselves for our adequacy is from God. 

From.  God.

We inadequate ones tend to believe, even admire, others whom we deem as obviously adequate.  Yet, such is a misnomer.  No one is adequate.  Yes, each has strengths; but all also have vital lack which shows up moment by moment, day by day.

He told us in that same book (10:12) to stop the comparative living; classing ourselves against others to determine how we believe we are doing.  This is a mistake on both sides; esteem or discouragement.  Every person carries a secret dynamic which can only be accredited to faith; power is perfected in weakness (12:9).

Like me, some of you may have wasted much of your life wishing you were more like others.  Yet, that's a cyclical trade-off within all of society...the always wishing we were like someone other than myself.

No person's true efficiency is ever located in any realm other than inadequacy.  This is the signal to God...Welcome...Come on in!!!  From that stage we get to observe Him actually working from within us...because we give Him permission to do so.

Stop the self-criticalization.  Accept the God-secret within.  You are of incredible power...but it will never be where you groom it or control it.

THE PROBLEM WITH SIN IS THAT WE THINK ONLY EVERYONE ELSE IS GUILTY OF IT

Sin is illusive.

Slick in presentation isn't the half of it.  It has an uncanny way of presenting itself to every individual as understandable for ourselves; but vile and rejectable for all others.  Sin presents itself in a way that we can justify hatred toward another(s).  Sin goes blameless while we dis-eased ones rail against one another.

"Theirs" is quickly despicable and damnable while "mine" seems to, somehow, warrant patient understanding.

The longer I live the more I see Jesus.  The more I see Jesus the less I think of me.  My stock seems to go down as His goes up.  The Son of God was beaten to a pulp over the crimes of Terry Rush.  I have nothing to gloat about...except Him.

The blood of Jesus is to be remembered more than a ten minute window at Sunday's communion.  It is to be remembered as the million-dollar price paid for my/our sins.  Communion declares we are all sunk to the lowest common denominator; yet we are all raised to the highest holy status of brotherhood with the Lamb.

If you are quick to judge another for his or her sins...you just sinned.  If you are impatient with any other person whom you deem as hypocritical, deem again.  Re-deem.  It is me, it is you, who are first in line to take our judgment based upon God's ideal perspective.  "They" are not the issue before "I" am confessional.

Once we take the beam out of our own eye, it is at that point that we see clearly.  And exactly what is it we are to see?  The Word names the one thing we see; a speck.  We will be notified immediately that what we thought was a glaring beam in another's eye was really us still staring down the plank which is our own.  We just couldn't see around our own.

Once the beam causing personal blindness is removed?  What we will all find in another is a mere speck.

Jesus said this...not me.

MOVING ON...

One of the strongest, most delightful, characteristics of life is movement.  Flexibility is a wonderful factor in old age.  Hands and feet love the idea.  Volume increase is such a blessing for old ears.  Age has such an appreciation for this as well.  Thank you for those who are flexible enough in your speech to speak up!

However, one of the toughest circumstances of life is such movement.  The former is for progress.  The later is  threatened by fear.  Everybody has these elements.  Faith to move along in progress or fear to stay away from danger; each has strong grip.  It's up to our determination as to which one we crown as ruler of our day.

Faith or fear?

Faith requires letting go.  Fear obsesses by clinging.  Faith moves on.  Fear sits home and worries, frets, agonizes...and ultimately cheats us of life-arousing faith.  Faith is mobile.  Fear petrifies.

Faith has to be one fascinating element.  It cannot be controlled by legislation.  Neither can it be regulated by sub-truths presented by our sight information.  Faith is not casual.  Neither is it irresponsible.  Quite the opposite, moving on by faith can be breath-taking and daring.

It is faith that brings life--new life--to our old habits, bossy ruts, and scared colleagues.  Read Hebrews 11.  Wild, crazy, could-not-have-happened...did happen by bold and unexplainable, irrational efforts of common people with an adventurous God.

Moving on...movement...mobility is the profound work of the Holy Spirit of God within every believer.  If you want security, trust in His call; not in your mental survey which often insists that you shut down God's element of glorious surprise.  Moving on...is the mark of a Holy embedded people.

DARE TO DRIVE OUT INTO THE SOUL-AR SYSTEM OF TRUTH

Truth is a major tenet of conservative bent churches.  It's promoted as it should be.  We are each called to know it, believe it, abide by it.  But one must be equally aggressive in refraining from flaunting it for such a stance is the trip-up which falls for hypocrisy. 

In my early days of ministry, my efforts were based upon this concept of Truth.  I assumed that I knew it.  I surely defended what I knew as such was the clarion call of all Bible-packing students.  As time moved along, however, I noted I was stuck upon the rocks embedded within my Scriptural River where Truth rambled downstream.  Yes, I knew how to locate key verses; key, you understand, to defending my stance more than learning of His will.

Can one know Truth?  Of course. 

That's precisely why the Bible has been provided.  And, from that Dynamic given from above, I see us given to a glut of information without hearts given to seeking transformation for a large percentage of our people.  I don't mean to sound sarcastic nor negative.  I do mean to say that our hunger and thirst for righteousness has been sabotaged by our own repetition to the point we hardly realize how cold some hearts have grown.

Such awareness does not throttle down our enthusiasm for the Kingdom life as if we are sunk.  No, quite the contrary.  This most definitely leads us to step up our drive for the eternal, the spiritual, the Son and His profound system.

Religion is drunk on argument.  There is need for the sober (my own sobering included) recall that we are to go into all of the world with the Good News.  Clearly the active going has been replaced by the inactive sitting by the many; by the masses.  Our reach is too often found to be suffering paralysis. 

There is ever the drastic need for creative imagination of glorious ways to reach, to teach, to convert hearts from self to Jesus.  Religion won't do it.  The Man will.  There has long been a voice by our communities against organized religion.  Yet, the replacement has basically been nothing more than self-centered me-ism. 

Jesus is the Truth.  He's the game-changer because He is the grave-breaker.  May we concentrate on jumping the curb of the routine and driving out into the Soul-ar System of possibility which has always been intended and available for every one of us!  We are not to be discouraged at how much Truth we do not yet know; but we are to be encouraged at how much bigger Truth is than our meager minds can grasp!

GOD GETS THE PICTURE OF US

God fascinates me.  He is in all places, knows all things, and has a grasp of pure reality.  This is baffling; truly too good of news to be true.  It is the Gospel.

In His unfathomable awareness of the real us, He bends over backwards to convey the real Him.  His wish is that we not be fake and, furthermore, that we  not perceive Him as unreal.  God sees us all the way through to our best intentions...and, yes, even our worst.  God knows our hearts.  He gets the picture of who we are at our most sensitive whim of a thought whether godly or sinful.

When we go through the church motions, without an intimate confidence in God, our Christian walk is about six feet wide and one inch deep.  In this mode we do our best to impress one another with our good deeds all-the-while knowing we aren't really cutting it.  Our wish is strong.  But our action often seems to be a bust.

So, don't you think that it helps us feel a bit more secure in Jesus when we become convinced that He already knows this about us?  Read Romans 7.  The mighty and profound apostle Paul spilled his beans.  He said that he didn't do what he knew was good to do.  And he didn't stop there.  Paul continued that he did do what he wasn't supposed to do.  Anyone relate so far?

His conclusion?  OH.  THANK.  YOU.  JESUS.

When we do not thank Jesus, we shift to an unspiritual state of living by comparison to one another.  This is to enter the alley of untruth....every time.  Oh sure, we know ourselves to fail in areas--several arenas--but we point out others of whom we deem as worse.  This seems to tweak our conscience enough to spur us on through our religious and ritualistic terrain.  But this perspective is a sham.

Unless we are convicted of our own sins--and not the  sinfulness of others--we will continue to tote our Bibles off to Sunday School without believing them.  We will simply go through the motions of which even unbelievers quickly detect are not the fulfillment of God's will.  So, what shall we do?

It seems that we are off to a better start when we can grasp the reality that we are a mess, that God is the very One who points this out, and because of such, He redirects us to Jesus upon the Cross.  God does not give up on us and we should not give up on others.  Jesus died for our sins; not our slight missteps.  He arose to convict us of personal inner relief; not some off-the-wall theory of being a do-gooder. 

Our sins are deep and strong.  Jesus' paying for our sins is deeper and stronger. 

WHAT I'M BEGINNING TO LEARN UPON RETIREMENT

I love learning.  I will always be in Kindergarten when it comes to knowing all that God has available for our walk.  Our future is bright, alive, and meaningful.  God has given me something as He awakened me at 3:00 and I just must get up to write it down.

Discipline is for learning; not for beating.  If it isn't for inner development, this very trait will be regarded as nothing more than a dirty ten-letter word.  Many my age know the ills of what were intended spankings to really be poundings.  Thus, the biblical word discipline suffers understanding which often means it is avoided; even rejected.

Yet, discipline is a major thread in the Kingdom fabric.  We must have it.  The church struggles today in extreme form because we have lived without (trained ourselves to live without) this factor.  We don't do struggle.  We don't do pain.  Rather we take flight when it gets tense in our world.  We move on because we don't like conflict.  The result is that we don't learn via the very basic process of being corrected.

Stress is a very present and most necessary reality.  It is not a call to take flight from it; but to be still and go to school.  Until we get this into our thick heads, we will always be on the run from something; people, places, assignments, etc.  Life.  Is.  Often.  Hard.

I'm beginning to learn something in these initial days of retirement.  We are losing ground because we refuse to shut down and step back.  I refused.  I didn't even realize it was a key to effective Kingdom labor.  But now that I'm able to pull off to the side of the road, clarity is unfolding...and I like it.

Recall how Jesus kept slipping away to be alone?  Even (especially) when matters were pressing, it seems that He had a knack of devotion to His time spent with Father.  So here's what I see.  We are hindered from expanding the Kingdom of God because we are riddled with busy distraction that keeps us from application of the meaningful, the useful, the productive.  Yes...too busy.

And here's the kicker.  We want it that way.  We want to be in demand, walking in rapid fire, because this distracts us from learning what God wants of us.  We refuse to slow down because when we do we will be more likely to be open to His will.  Busy-ness keeps us distracted from effective-ness.

Mankind finds ways to be comfortably stuck.  We don't want to improve, grow, change in areas because it makes us U-N-C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-L-E.  Therefore, we hide in our roles...our very busy demanding roles...in order to refrain from exposure to adjustments God would wish for us.

Elders elder, staffs staff, families family, and members member with our best feet forward....constantly.  Full-steam a head. This comes off as commitment.  But I suggest it isn't all commitment; but a large section is avoidance.  We've found our sweet spot; our comfort zone and we don't intend to surrender it because it was to difficult to capture in the first place.

I suggest we discover ways to step out of our demanding schedules for a time where God could reveal His latest will.  It can be done.  We are creative you know.  We can find ways to avail ourselves to becoming open to the Spirit's steady and current direction.  Here are suggestions:

  1.  Elders take a six-month sabbatical.  No elders' meetings.  No minutes forwarded.  Trust the others.  Let God.  It is very possible to do this.  Fear of losing control will be the balker which ought to make it's needed point.
  2.  Churches provide staff sabbaticals.  These workers cannot keep pouring out without significant time of God pouring in.  We are unconsciously demand-weary. And, in our case as well, we fear decisions would be made without our input...and, therefore, possibly not what would keep us comfortable.
  3.  Pull your members/devoted workers/out of their roles for six months.  Tell them to sit down, be still, and listen.  I see too many failing to grow in the Kingdom because they are hiding in their church-work.

None of this is suggested as punishment.  That isn't the discipline to which I refer.  I suggest it as development of the inner man; a very deeply needed exercise for the core of Kingdom life.  The good news is that it can be done if we will yield our subtle controlling nature.  It is possible and the church will be the better for it.

Okay.  It's now 4:12 a.m.  That's all for now.

SOOOOO.....

Sooooo....I just now took my car keys and punched the unlock button.  Yes....I really did.

And....the TV didn't come on.  Oh yeah, I need to use the remote for that one.

Have a happy day!

DISCOURAGEMENT IS THE LAUNCHING PAD TO WONDER!!!

Everywhere we turn we are faced with discouragement, resentment, and sometimes even depression.  If not within ourselves, we see it to be true of our friends, colleagues, and relatives.  Being "blue" is epidemic in nature.  No one escapes the steady encounter of this Meany.  No.  One.

I speak with a bit of authority for I am persistent in my self-evaluation as to how nothing I am.  I was hoping for better than this by now.  Yet, I've learned a most fascinating truth.  Being low is precisely the launching pad God would use to provide us with incredible wonder. 

Jesus makes a seemingly absurd statement as he opens his mouth at His famous Sermon on the Mount.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, He assures.  Really?  Blessed are the down?  Blessed are the discouraged?  Blessed are the failers?  Blessed are the confused?  Blessed are the losers?  Yes...very articulately...Jesus says that such a one is prime for the launching of incredible, actual, hope.

How.  Can.  This.  Be.

It seems that man's nature is to find less need for God when experiencing the territories of what we could deem as successful.  It seems that we begin, in these "doing okay" parameters, to take on an attitude that we aren't in need of God for we are strong enough to maneuver our way through the current jungle.  When we feel we are in control, there is less likelihood that we would depend on Him.  This truth plays out everyday.

But when we are at the end of our proverbial ropes, we find that we have nothing more to offer to escape our nagging dilemmas.  It seems that we made our final effort...and made no progress.  It is here at this juncture that one begins to look up for help.  Our hands are empty of effectivity and our words seem to be empty of solution.

Poorer nations, such as zones in Africa, are coming to God in droves for their lifestyles are empty of self-provision.  And even in a territory as wealthy as the USA, even the richest of rich begin to turn to God when self-reliance, independent-sufficiency crashes.  Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Poor in spirit considers humility to contain a power--as super-natural power--of which we lean toward only when in great need.  Our independent muscle seems to have atrophied.  Our insight has gone blind.  We must have Other help...and in steps Father, Son, and Spirit.

I urge you today to become unstuck.  One does so by one simple move; change your mind.  This is known as repentance.  Don't walk a life of doom; but arise to a life of potential and possibility...right...now.  Try to open your eyes and peer through the dim veil of frustration.  Begin to notice actual hope.  See that your trauma is serving you by leading you to a new zone; a new kind of life of which you had always imagined.

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  Tradea the poor-me doldrums for a better call; blessed are the poor in spirit.  Yay God!  Yay us!