Beware the Grumblers

In my reading this morning, I came across the story of Aaron and Miriam in the Old Testament. specifically Numbers Chapter 12 where Aaron and Miriam begin to grumble about Moses, saying, "2 "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.

Uh oh.

If you are familiar with the story, you will recall that God literally calls them out on this one. And Miriam is struck with leprosy on the spot. Both the men ask God to forgive and heal her - which is so cool because Moses had every reason to just laugh, or tell her it was what she deserved, or any of those things which would happen if this was a movie or TV show...

But it was real, and Moses heard the plea of Aaron, and he prayed to God on behalf of Miriam. Wow - would I do that? I guess I have these examples for a reason, don't I? I had better learn about this concept of praying for those who work with me, and also those who work against me. But Moses was "a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth."

I would be proud to have that said about me.

Uh, OK, you know what I mean...

You CAN go home, but you shouldn't

Quail from the LORD

4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

I love the little phrase, almost slipped in as a quick little jab, which says, "at no cost.."

The people where complaining that back in Egypt they at fish. It's the "at no cost" part that gets me. There was a HUGE cost to them: they were slaves! Do they really forget that they were not living in Egypt as free men? They may have had all they needed, but nowhere do we see that they had all they wanted. They were owned by Egypt.

I think we tend to want to 'go back to Egypt' from time to time because we forget what it meant to us to be slaves. Slave to sin, slaves to our bellies, slaves to the world. I have given up many things to follow Christ, but not one of them was a benefit to me and I am better off for having given them up. But yes, there are times when I am tempted to go back to them.

Lord, you have delivered me - now keep me.

Be it resolved ...

I just got back from a very nice meeting. Two brothers who care about the same things, trying to work out the problem I mentioned in yesterday's blog.

And we did work it out.

It turns out it was never an issue of integrity or the lack thereof - it was a lack of information. Once the whole picture was spelled out, we found we were on the same page.

The Message delivers Psalms 133:1 this way:

1-3 How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It's like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron's beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It's like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.
Yes, that's where God commands the blessing,
ordains eternal life.

All good - all good. Of course, now I'm left wondering: was I just a little too eager to be offended? Wow - this is good stuff, this 'let a man examine himself,' it can open all kinds of doors for God.

What people say

Wow - I am in a quandary. Look it up. I have had an interaction with the leadership of our church which called my integrity into question. I have tried so very hard to be a man of integrity, but of course we can all blow it from time to time, and I am one of us "all." So I am now trying to figure out if it is a simple misunderstanding, or if I have set myself up for failure here. By that, I mean, "have I been so goofy, or stupid, or have I messed with the line between truth and lie so much that I have let room for doubt creep in?"

In other words, "have I blown my own rep?"

And of course, the next question is: what do I do next? Can I continue as part of the team if I have made myself so unbelievable? If I go off and get offended, I don't think I will be honoring God. John Bevere may be a bone-bruised wimp, but he makes a good point about this 'taking offense' stuff. We are often an offense waiting to happen - just walking around looking for a chance to be the focus or center of something which will give us a reason to bolt. Run away. Take our ball and go home. I don't want to do that. But I also don't want to be in a leadership position if I can't be trusted because of things I have said or done. And if people have meetings about me and then assign somebody to come tell me that they simply don't believe something I have said, well I need to clean up, own that I brought that on myself somehow, do some heavy self-examination, and go looking for exactly HOW I did bring it. And fix it, of course. Which can take years, I know.

Let's look forward - I'm just thinking out loud and typing it here - what serves God the best in a situation like this. Well, division is not one of the better things to spread around in any part of God's church. I wish you could see how many times I have started a sentence, backed up with the delete key and started it again just now - this is tough, but healing at the same time.

I guess I have been my own worst enemy again. This has happened before, and I am afraid it will happen again. I do want to move on, but I have nowhere to go right now. So, I guess I will stick it out here, and take my lumps.

OK - God moment: There is nobody on this planet who can create a reputation for myself but myself. Oh, I know: people can spread false rumors, but that is not the case here, and that is not what I am talking about. I think it is more a case of, "you made your own bed, now lay in it."

So - I will.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

I have found myself in a position where God is calling me to go forward, but before I can go forward, I have to stop looking backward. I have to release the things I am clinging to. This is an oft-repeated theme in the lives of Biblical characters: move away from the comfortable, launch into the unknown, before God opens that final door through which you walk to find the specific calling you were created to fulfill.

So what am I headed for? I don't know. Hope and I have been feeling a growing urgency to pursue - something. Something. Just that: 'something.' Not some specific thing which we see off in the distance, rather, just something. The only thing we know of which is clear is that to get there, we have to give up what we are comfortable with here. That means? Well, we don't know the answer to that either. God tends to ask us to sign the check before he fills in the amount - at least in our lives.

God often asks us to say 'yes' before He makes it known what we are agreeing to do. Just go forward and trust that He will be there when we get to where He is leading us.

It is uncomfortable, people do not understand it, but 'people' are not who we have chosen to follow.

Jubilee

My reading this morning - BTW join me! I'm using this plan: http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/index.php/today

Leviticus 25 - much more detail on how the nation of Israel was to treat each other in business deals regarding property and the like. The idea of the year of Jubilee is introduced, and it's a very interesting concept. You sell all property with the idea that it comes back to you every 49 years. So, if you have half a brain, you will not go buy a piece of property for full price the year before the year of Jubilee. Duh. BUT - the more important point is that you will not SELL under those circumstances. It is a great idea: be good to each other in business dealings. Treat your customer the way you would like to be treated. Here, read this:

Leviticus 24:14 " 'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.

I know that we don't honor the concept of the Jubilee any more, and land is sold in perpetuity nowadays. But there is that second, and I think much more important concept which should live on - do not take advantage of each other. Wow - it goes farther than that: if you see somebody in need, you are supposed to help them get back on their feet. Interest-free loans, and other things are to be made available.

35 " 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interest of any kind [a] from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. 38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39 " 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. 40 He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

This is so lost now in our society. If we actually helped one another this way - and it would be the pure, true version of holding things in common - we would not have people who sit around expecting the government to bail them out when times are tough. Of course, if we all lived like this, times would not BE tough.

Just a thought....

Shocking

I just read a headline from CNN that says they are 'shocked' to find that less than half of Americans think our president should serve a second term. I don't want to get into the politics of it here and now, but I did find it interesting that CNN would have an opinion. Aren't news agencies supposed to be neutral? One of them says that 'they report, you decide.' They ended up the target of the administration recently, with one of the nastiest attacks I have ever seen coming from the White House. Hmm - I wonder if it cost them or benefited them in the long run? Either way, a news organization seems to give up the right to an opinion by virtue of their office.

I called the police to report a loud party once. Well, far more than once, but there was one time which I clearly remember: The office showed up and I really didn't want the people who were having the party to know that it had been me who called the cops on them, so I asked the officer: "you can hear the band, and see the drunken people staggering around in the street, right?"

He told me that he could take the report from me, but he could not report it as disturbing the peace, because "a police officer cannot have his peace disturbed." I have seen cops get riled same as anyone, but in the legal sense they are supposed to be immune by virtue of their office.

I have been in situations like that myself: as a parent, as a pastor, as a husband, as a friend, and even simply as a Christian: I have had to give up certain 'rights' by virtue of my 'office.'

So are there any 'rights' God is calling us to give up on a regular basis?

He is not here, he has risen

In my daily reading this morning, I came across this passage in the book of Matthew, chapter 28:
The Resurrection

1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Word of God is so rich and so full of life. This passage has so much in it. But as usual, by Chas-brain zeroed in on a tiny bit of minutiae amidst the grand scheme:

The guards fell as dead men at the sight of the angel,or at the message of the angel: Jesus rose from the dead. The women, on the other hand, ran off in joy. What was the difference? Only one of the groups wanted to see Jesus again.

Sort of like two people seeing a cop show up - one is robbing somebody and one is being robbed. Same person elicits two very different reactions. So, if Jesus walked into the room right now as you are sitting in front of the computer (or my computer), would it cause joy? Or fear? Celebration, or sorrow?

"Turn left. Turn left.."

Bible reading today took me through the section of Leviticus chapters 17 and 18 which very carefully spell out the simple truth that the Israelites were not supposed to have sexual relations with anyone other than their wife. Seems so simple, but it goes on and on saying things like this:

6 " 'No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

7 " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.

8 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father.

9 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

10 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you. And it goes on to make it abundantly clear - just about every possible type of relationship is mentioned, including men lying with men. All forbidden. So basic.

Now, if you put that together with the words of Jesus who later told us, "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart," then we have a real problem. Because our society seems bent on including sexual relations of all types in our entertainment these days. So do we, as men and women of God, even realize when we are guilty of transgressing these commands any more? I don't watch a lot of rubbish - we tossed the TV when our kids came along, and we wouldn't even watch R rated movies on the DVD player until both kids moved out - but we have slowly added a few of the spicier selections to our library as time goes on. Why? I don't know! But every once in a while it is good to step back, examine the standard which God set for us, and then look at where we have drifted.

I am a big fan of GPS. I liked it when it first became public and all you had were numbers. Similar to Loran-C, the predecessor of the modern GPS - you had numbers on a screen and then you had to have a chart and a ruler or plotting tool. You took the numbers, found them on a scale on the edge of the chart - one on the vertical edge and one one the horizontal edge - and then drew a line to the point at which the lines crossed. That was your exact location. But without the chart, the numbers were useless, so as GPS devices advanced, the maps were built into the devices. Pretty soon you could just look at the screen and see landmarks right next to (or all around) a little dot which represented your location. And then units began to be available which could record your track, and which could give you directions to a new point.

So not only did the device show you where you were, but it would show you where you had been, and where you needed to go. Today, it seems like most of us have a GPS in our car, boat, airplane. I even have a hand-held GPS which I use when I hike around finding stashed goodies as I Geocache. And every time I use any one of these devices, I marvel at the simple way that we can now navigate with such accuracy: we know where we are in relationship to the physical world around us.

So it should be with our spiritual journey - we need to know where we are in relationship to the things of the Spirit. That means that every once in a while we need to know where the landmarks are so we can make that comparison with where we have traveled, or where we may have drifted.

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Wow - I think I may have just blown by a landmark, and it seems I have missed a turn somewhere along the way.

Let your 'yes' be 'yes.'

I hired a painter. I have a big building to paint, and some of the walls are brick. The ceiling is high, and a few of the walls and parts of the ceiling had been painted black by the former tenant. Also, there were large sections of brand-new drywall, with still other sections which had been re-coated with drywall compound to cover some poor finishing which used to be hidden. Any one of those alone, and I might have tried to do the job myself or with the help of an odd wife or friend, but combine them all and it was a job for a pro. I got a recommendation from a friend who is a contractor, and set up a time to meet him at the job site.

The man came, listened to my requirements for the job, looked over the building, and then announced that he and two helpers could do it in a day, maybe a day and a half. And he quoted me a price. I asked if that was his best price, and he assured me there was just no way he could do it for less, at all, period. So I asked him to put it in writing. He did not reach for paper and pen, so I assumed he would show up with the written bid the day we started or something. Never did. Later that evening, after a conversation with Hope, I called him and told him we were not going to do it after all, because we simply did not have that much money to spend right now. He lowered the price significantly and I said OK.

Well, I'm going to jump ahead - there were several times during the job when I was certain that this was all a huge mistake. But the paint job looks great, the floor is clean enough, and I handed him the check with my thanks. I guess communication skills are highly overrated in contractors...

I have found two distinct things which will cause me to be disappointed in my life:
1. When I have set my expectations too high. If I expect more than is reasonable, I will be disappointed most every time. Sure, there are times when that causes the people involved to rise to the expectation and push hard enough to come through, but mostly not.
2. When people promise big and deliver small. That one haunts me to the point that I have become very careful myself about making promises. I want to be sure my 'yes' is actually going to be 'yes.'

High tech, low service

Thursday morning, and all is quiet. I have been texting with my daughter in Florida since around five thirty am. What amazing technology we enjoy these days - do you ever stop and think about it? We can zip a message into space and back to earth across the country in mere fractions of a second, we could fly there in hours. We can even drive there in days. Compare that to early settlers. OK - I'm not old enough to remember the settlers, let's be clear on that point.

I have just done battle with Itunes. It is the epitome of advanced technology to me: we can close all the music stores, video stores, libraries and just download information and entertainment into our computers and hand-held devices. But I have NEVER gotten Itunes to work well for me. Just the other morning I got a notice that I have a new version available to download. I gave it permission to do so. It tried several times but as always, it 'times out' before it is done. I am powerless. I purchased a show called "Dirty Jobs" once, and it tried to download twenty four shows into my system. But it never made it: it seems to be too much, or whatever. I don't want my money back, I don't want to watch those stupid shows (I have now seen most of them on line anyway) I just want my system to stop trying. So I have selected those tracks and then clicked "delete." But, of course, nothing happens. The infuriating thing is that the "delete" option is not highlighted if it is not available as an option, and it IS highlighted when it IS an option. In this case, "delete" IS highlighted, but doesn't DO anything when I select it.

Yes, I have a little knowledge of these things. As in, "a little knowledge is dangerous." My kids know this stuff like the back of their iPhone, but I can't have them sit at my computer and work for hours every time they come over. That seems to get old for them...

But if an option is there, and highlighted, it should work when you select it. Nothing is more frustrating than something which seems to be available, yet isn't. OK - perhaps there is one thing - how about a person who is designed to live and be a certain way, yet isn't?

God calls us to live according to His plan. Yet so many of us settle for something else. It must frustrate God - if I can be so bold as to pretend to know God's feelings - to see "serve me" highlighted on the menu, select it, but we don't serve. We say we will, but we simply don't. Or, we say we are, think we are, but we actually just keep on living according to our own ideas, our own plan.

Wow - I have just had a God moment, courtesy of the fine people at Apple Computer.

Now, if you will excuse me, I appear to need to put in a call to the Geek Squad.

Morning Coffee Scandal!

Do you ever wake up and with even the most ardent pressure just can't garner up a smile, or force out a word?

Me either. I generally drive my non-morning-person wife nuts talking her ear off, especially after my second cup of coffee. Which, of course is actually more like three or four 'cups' since a 'cup' of coffee is actually 6 ounces. Who knew? All these years I have been having a nice mug of coffee which contains close to TWO actual cups! I know! What a scandal! I'm thinking about writing a blog about it.

I measured my mug this morning, and sure enough, twelve full ounces of goodness. Wow - and to think that all this time I have "having a cup of coffee," I was ACTUALLY having TWO "cups" of coffee at once.

But what I am actually wondering about is the fact that from my earliest recollection, restaurants and diners have been serving coffee in those little 6 ounce cups. Were they watching pennies? Did they enjoy lying to the public? Was it a conspiracy at the highest level? Were Democrats in charge? Nowadays, of course, they have dispensed with the tiny cups and saucers and gone straight to mugs, which I bet are a full 'cup' as defined by reality. What is it in our society which has driven us to up-size so many things food-related? Look at how many people around you come out of a fast-food joint with a full quart of fluid: half inside them and the other half in a 'free refill' cup of what would have fed a family of four just a couple of decades ago.

Sometimes things happen for which we are simply not prepared. I'll have to give this some more thought, and get back to you.

In the meantime, I'm going to go have a bowl and a half of oatmeal

Bad times can build good people

Lord - I am hurting. I have some people in my life who are in a hard place. Some are relatives of relatives, others are good friends, still others are people I know. I have a desire to help these people, to DO something for them. But God is the one who will have to do the helping this time, and I am the one who gets to stand by and wait and watch. And that is hard.

My own financial situation is tenuous, getting better but still not real firm. We are now looking at selling some stock investments which were meant for long-term future growth, and which are down right now, along with everything else in the economy. But if we give up most of our future plans, we can most likely save our present situation. But having worked so hard to provide for our future, that is hard.

We have a bunch of toys. A bunch of expensive stuff. We need to sell it all, but there are not many people willing to pay very much for luxury items in a down economy so we will be lucky to get pennies on the dollar, and in no way will it be enough to really help us out other than to at least stop the payments of property taxes, DMV fees and the like. And then, we will not have them any more - And that's hard.

In all this, I have learned to trust in God. Because whatever happens, I have my relationship with Him, and in the midst of the storm, I have found that my wife and I have finally learned to grow together in hard times.

And that, my friends, is very - very - good.

Perfect

The Guilt Offering

14 The LORD said to Moses: 15 "When a person commits a violation and sins unintentionally in regard to any of the LORD's holy things, he is to bring to the LORD as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. [d] It is a guilt offering. 16 He must make restitution for what he has failed to do in regard to the holy things, add a fifth of the value to that and give it all to the priest, who will make atonement for him with the ram as a guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.

17 "If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible. 18 He is to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed unintentionally, and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has been guilty of [e] wrongdoing against the LORD."

There is so much here - but I continue to be challenged by two things in this whole section of the word:
1.Even if we sin without knowing it, or unintentionally, we are responsible.
2.The offerings the people had to bring to pay for their sins had to be the best they had - without spot, blemish, disease, etc. If they didn't own such an animal, they had to buy one to give to the Lord. What's the point of these two things?

Well, first, sin is an amazing thing. Even if we sin by accident, or by NOT doing something which we should be doing, God considers it important. It will effect us, and He wants us to remain clean and holy. Get that - God wants us to win. Cool. So we need to watch so very carefully the things we watch, take in, participate in, and the things we do and say. We are to live carefully, the Apostle Paul says.

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Secondly - the sacrifice that the people had to bring to the priest, even for an accidental sin or a sin of omission had to be perfect in every way. And the priest was to check it over carefully. Picture that - you show up at the temple with a sacrifice, hand it to the priest and he checks over every inch of that animal. Notice that at no point does the priest check YOU over. You don't really matter, it's the sacrifice which must measure up.

Same with us under the new covenant: when we come to God and ask Him to forgive our sins, He doesn't look at us. He looks at the sacrifice we bring. And in our case, that sacrifice is Jesus, and Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. Acceptable in all ways.

Thanks Lord!

Thank-you note

A friend of ours suggested that we have a work day. We own a commercial building which was trashed and abandoned by the last tenant. It needed serious clean up, including drywall work, landscaping, paint and more. I have been at it for long days and evenings for weeks, making steady progress.

With very little prompting, and no actual begging (that I know of - ) we had a great turnout. Jacki Reed brought a pot of delicious BBQ and rolls, salad, and more. Between her and Hope we had sodas and bottled water on ice, snacks as well as a real meal available as needed all day.

I had tools at the ready, though many people showed up with what they needed in their hands! What a great group of people god has surrounded us with!

I was there at around 7am making sure the place was warm and lit, and setting things in place to be sure nobody had to stand around waiting. I had more than one moment in which I wondered if anyone would come to help, or would I be the only one at the party. I knew one or two would be there for sure, but what would the day hold?

Tom Houde got there a good hour before the rest of the folks, after having stopped at our warehouse to collect a few items we would need, and then we went over the plan so that he could help facilitate as 'foreman.'

And it all went well. I was 'in a meeting' with a potential new tenant as people began to show up, but Tom and Hope directed them here and there, and they all pitched right in, praying that the lease would get signed at the same time.

And it did! Well, not the actual lease, yet, but we hammered out all the details and as soon as I can get the final lease drawn up she said that yes, she will sign it and get started on the improvements she needs to make to move in ASAP.

Thanks to God for good friends, a good new tenant, a renewed faith in our local church, and even my sore back! We got an amazing amount of work accomplished - Jacki Reed and Henry Smith hung around after most everyone else had gone home and continued to paint the walls with primer. New drywall really soaks it up, so it was slower going than normal paint, but they put in the effort.

My MVP for the day would have to be Tom Houde. Excellent team leader, team player, hard worker, and Tom was the first there and last to leave. He directed, oversaw, and encouraged the others at the same time he got a lot of jobs done with his own two hands. And Tom primed the very high ceiling in the main room, no small task I assure you.

So thanks to one and all, and once again, Thanks be to God for surrounding us with such great friends, brothers and sisters. I am proud and humbled all at the same time! I was too busy to snap any real good pictures, and I so badly wanted to take one group photo, but nobody stood still long enough! But I will hold these memories for years to come, I assure you.

Worship leader example

OH man. I had a meeting last night with our worship team and the pastor. Our pastor is an amazing man, but I won't go on about that right now, I want to write about an 'aha moment' which came from somebody else at the meeting. It was priceless, and I didn't even 'get it' until about three am this morning as I lay awake in bed thinking about what I was going to blog today.

First, you need to know that my wife makes the best brownies in the whole world. Yes, I'm sure some of you think that you have had things which were purported to be good, awesome, or even life-changing. Nothing. Forget 'em. Throw them right out the nearest window, even if it happens to be closed at the moment. There is no secret that my wife uses a mix, but with the amazing chocolate chips and huge secret ingredient she adds, they will rock your world. I have eaten whole batches by myself in a single day - OK, that was in my tubby past, but they are still THAT good. OK, enough background. On to the meeting last night:

We were gathering to go set up a table and chairs for everyone in the pastor's office. I had the brownies on a paper plate in my hand, so I knew that they were still warm from the oven. But they were zipped into a plastic bag, and none of the awesomeness was escaping and tempting the nose of anyone. OH - one more important detail: Hope had used a new baking tool she just got the other day, a set of baking pans which create little mini cupcake shaped brownies. So these things looked more like shriveled, embarrassed cupcakes without frosting than they looked like the little pieces of heaven that they actually were.

I offered them around by just showing them to people, and one by one they all turned their noses up. Yes! These wonderful people were insulting my wife's Godly gift one by one! I was amazed, because I knew the deep, heart-throbbing love that was baked into each one, and I knew the way in which the triple chocolate and fudge could wrap itself around your central nervous system and cause that predictable look of ecstasy which I had seen on face after face in years gone by.

Wow - this was amazing. I was holding in my hand an opportunity few mortals ever get to experience - a world-class chocolate experience unparalleled in human history, and they were refusing, and not even doing it politely!

Finally I opened the bag, and tossed it unceremoniously into the center of the table as the meeting got under way. I was deeply disappointed, but I knew that with that bag open, something good was going to happen, I just had to be patient. Finally, the wonderful smell of choco-goodness got out and found the first victim. Martin Johnson - fire Captain and worship leader was that victim. I'm sure he THOUGHT that he was in control of his hand as he reached out and took one of those brown lumps, but it was already beyond his control, I assure you. And as he transported it to his mouth, he mentioned that 'hey, these are still warm!'

Then it happened: he tossed it whole into his mouth. And the look - the reflex reaction which humans are simply powerless to stop - came across his face. The meeting came to a crashing halt as we all looked to see what this was about: Martin was moaning in a most personal way, with his hands raised and his eyes rolled back. He was either loving it or about to have a stroke, we couldn't tell for a second or two.

All eyes were upon him as he swallowed, and all manner of 'ooh' and 'ahh' escaped his chocolate-encrusted vocal instruments. "Oh WOW!" he said, and then he tried to start about four sentences at the same time - but finally just gave up and grabbed another heart-stopper from the bag - this time he bit off half (the recommended way to eat them) and began the ecstasy all over. This time he cut it short and held up the uneaten half for all to see, saying, "LOOK! It's still warmmm and there 're chocolate chimps and they are all meldy.." I'm trying to capture the chocolate-induced way in which the words came out around the brownie he was chewing as his eyes once again shot toward the heavens.

Well, the expected result finally was achieved: everyone leaned toward the center of the table, hands were extended, and a tussle almost ensued as all but four or five of the brownies were grabbed and gobbled. It was a perfect example of what a worship leader is supposed to do: experience God and then make it inviting so others will follow.

But 'worship leaders' are not the only ones who have this responsibility: each and every one of us does too.

Sabbath, again!

I read this morning about the second set of tablets which Moses had to chisel out and drag to the top of the mountain for God to write on. Obviously, God could have just handed Moses a Kindle, or iPad with the whole law spelled out, but where would Moses have plugged it in to charge? OK - sorry. But God could have so easily provided Moses with the tablets all complete and ready to go. He didn't. He instructed Moses to chisel them from stone and bring them up to their meeting on top of the mount, think of that next time somebody near you says, "quick, have you got a pencil and a sheet of paper?"

God often does that - asks us to take part in the miracle He is about to perform in our lives. I can't tell you how many times I have spent time wondering why God didn't just do this or that, but I was just talking to myself or anyone nearby who would listen. But not until I made it a prayer - and spent some time and effort in communicating with God about it - did the answer come. God waited for me to become part of that answer before he released the answer to my life.

"God helps those who help themselves" is not actually in the Bible. Even if there was something close to it, it would most likely read, "God helps those who participate in the work He is doing." I have had the great joy of homeschooling my two kids, and one of the most rewarding things to happen - over and over - was when one of them would come to me with a question about some part of their work. The truly amazing part was how often they would come to me with something I was not familiar with. In other words, I didn't have a clue how to 'solve for x' or 'diagram this sentence' or 'define the comparison of valence shells in atoms heavier than carbon...' OK - bad examples, I can do those things. I'm not totally ignorant, but you get the idea.

I would let them ask me their question, and then I would pose a few questions back to them, and they would read the question again, look back at the book, and in a matter of seconds I would see it. The light. It started in their eyes and radiated to their face, and then their whole countenance would change and their face would lift - they figured out the answer on their own. I don't know if it was verbalizing it, or looking at it another time, or if it was just their brain finally engaging. But of course, I always claimed the credit. Hey, I'm good, but I'm not God...

But back to Sabbath. If you have spent any time reading the parts of the Bible dealing with the law, you have seen how many time the idea of Sabbath comes up. God is big on this idea. And I simply wanted to say one thing about it - yes, I know that 'simple' is a relative term, and that I can take two pages telling you what time it is... but back to Sabbath -

Why is it that we seem to reject this idea? It is fundamental to so much of our life. Rest. But more than that - the Israelites were not to light a fire, do work, transact business or barter, etc. etc. They were very limited. What was left? Basically sitting around. With each other. WITH each other.

I can't tell you how many Sabbaths I have spent alone - my family was off playing, shopping, sitting in front of a computer in their room, working, doing things with people on line in some other part of the world, but NOT connecting with the family right at their elbow. I'm sorry for that. I repent. I think so often when we look at things God tells us to do, we see it as a list of good things we must give up. But can you even imagine the improvement our society would enjoy if families all over the world began to spend time together? One full day each week would just about do it. Imagine that.

I can so clearly remember Doctor James Dobson telling his audience that the average time spent together by an American father and an American teen was about three minutes - per week. So I vowed to try to spend three minutes a day, and beat the national average by seven times. Then I pushed it farther, and guess what? My kids and I became friends. And I think they have turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. The key was that I had to have times of communication in which I was not simply correcting or dealing with a problem. We had to have times when we communicated joy, fun, laughter, things they cared about, things they had experienced - LIFE!

So Sabbath. Take a day to rest each week. But not alone. Use this time as I think God intended it: together with those you love. Too late for you? Kids gone? Marriage over, family far away, sitting alone? Then find some part of the family of God, alone or in a family, and let's connect. Toss the TV - start watching people. Sabbath is not about recharging the batteries, or sleeping all day. Well, those things may very well be part of it, let's not get crazy! But I see a new way of looking at this- God has just given us another part of recipe for growing together. And in a strong body, He can more easily do amazing things. Isolate? That is just one way to limit God's ability/willingness to work in my life.

OK God - bring it.

Skill of the craftsman (craftperson)

I was reading this morning about the details of the tools and implements to be used in the Worship in the Tabernacle during the time Israel spent in the wilderness. There is some detail in how these tools are to be made, and how they are to be used. It is interesting that the people who make these things are not to be worshiped. The tools themselves are not to be worshiped either. In fact, it could very well be that the golden calf which Aaron had built to appease the people - the one they worshiped and sacrificed to while Moses was up on the mountain in the very presence of God! - that calf could very well have been made by the same craftsmen, or the same type at least.

So - we have one product of skilled hands which was created in rebellion, and led to the death and destruction of thousands as they broke faith with God and worshiped an idol they had made with their own hands - and then we have another product of skilled hands which was created to be used in the worship of God in His Tabernacle, later the Temple.

Notice the subtle difference: one thing was built and then worshiped, the others were built and then used to worship God. I know I'm repeating, but it just stuck out in my Chas-brain so starkly: which one am I doing? Am I using the things my hands have wrought to worship God, or am I guilty of producing idols in my own life?

I won't I won't I won't

The Parable of the Two Sons

28"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'

29" 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.

31"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"
"The first," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

I don't know if I could add anything to this. It is so powerful - but let me shine a little more light on it, and perhaps bring a few minor changes to the language to show you how it seemed to poke me right in the heart as I read it this morning.

I have said many times that I find it interesting that we judge others by their behaviors (what they DO), yet we judge ourselves by our motivations (what we MEAN or MEANT to do). Further, we tend to judge others - or at least classify them - according to their outward appearance. Yet we have it clearly spelled out in scripture that, "God judges the heart." In choosing a king for Israel, this is written: 1 Sam 16:7Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

So - this passage from Matthew 21 - what does it tell us? That our attitude is more important than our actions. NO, our actions are not unimportant. They are important. But our attitude is MORE important. I'm sure we have all seen a child demand to get something. "I want it" seems to carry so much weight to a child that they expect it to be like a magic word: all they have to do is explain to mommy or daddy that they want something, and heaven and earth will be moved in order to satisfy that want.

Funny, some of us never lose that childish tendency, do we? The prostitutes and tax collectors will enter heaven before us.

The popular righteous - a vanishing breed.

The details of tabernacle, and the triumphal entry of Jesus. Two things from my Bible reading this morning. One reassures us that God takes worship very seriously, and the other shows us that a whole town coming out to cheer and celebrate your life can turn on you in just a few days.

Food for thought - if I am the most popular person one minute, and the most despised the next, what am I? OK - most would say, "parent of a teenager." And you would not be wrong. But I can also be a Christian, giving his testimony. Even LIVING his testimony. I know Christ Jesus was the hope of the nation, they so badly wanted him to overthrow the Roman government, but that was not His plan. He came to give us all the strength, courage and power to live Godly lives in the midst of whatever the people around us can throw at us.

And we all know that there are times when standing up for what is right ruins our popularity. But right is right, righteous is righteous, and wrong is something to be avoided. Even if it costs. And it will. But I have known a few rare people who could stand up to the pressure of the world - and let's face it: the world will put pressure on us to give up our righteousness daily - and live righteous lives. And yet they remained popular. No, they didn't just buddy up with other righteous folks. They had plenty of those friends, yes, but they also were inviting to the worldly folks around them. And as such, they were living examples of right living before a lost and dying world. Darn few though.

I hope some day to be one of them. And no, don't try to tell me that it can't happen, or that it involves compromise. Some of the most amazing people never compromised on right and wrong, God or the world, righteous or profane. It is a choice which is so deep down and basic that it becomes a way of living, more than just a way of making choices or decisions.

LORD - I want to be your ambassador to this world. I know that means I may have to give up some things, and I know that fitting in to the world is at the top of that list of things. But shine through me Jesus: you are inviting, let enough of you show through me that I will be inviting too.