God will make a way

I was just reading about Cornelius. You know: when God gave Peter a vision of all the 'unclean' things being lowered out of heaven on a sheet.

I have heard tons of preaching/teaching about the vision, and Peter's response to the vision, about how this opened the door of ministry to the Gentiles of the time, and how important it all was.

But I don't remember anyone talking about how well God set the whole thing up. Look at the passage in context - take a moment and read this all:

Acts 10 - Cornelius Calls for Peter

1At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"

4Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.

The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."

7When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Peter's Vision

9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

17While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.

19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

21Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?"

22The men replied, "We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say." 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests."

I know - I know. That was a lot of Bible reading. Well, my point will be short, much shorter:

Did you notice that God first came to Cornelius, and had to overcome his natural hesitation at going to a Jew, and then God came to Peter and had to overcome his natural hesitation at talking to a Gentile? And both men were perfect for God's job at hand - God made a way.

Faith. Oh yeah, I have that...

I have faith! Sure I do. But do I trust more when I have a solid income? That's an amazing question. I have found that there are many questions which can only be asked and answered by direct observation.

"Is that hot?" A quick touch can tell you more, faster than going to get a thermometer or other tool.

"Does this have enough salt?" A quick taste will let you know.

Do I really trust God even when my income has been removed? OK - THAT one may not be easy, and the 'quick touch' or 'quick taste' may end up taking several years to achieve, but God loves me enough to go to the lengths required.

But - and you knew there would be a conjunction here, didn't you? But what is "a quick" anything to God? What is several years to an infinite being?

I have told so many of my customers how to lower the pH in their pool or spa. The basic formula is, "add enough acid until you get the reading you need."

Sounds so simple, but some people will call me and complain that they have "added a ton of" whatever chemical they are talking about. But then I press them to give me a quantified amount: "how much, exactly, have you added."

"A cap-full."

Great. That's not enough. Go add a full measured cup, or four full ounces (or whatever), test an hour later, and then call me if it's not where it should be.

"wow - that much? I guess I just didn't think it would take that much."

So - to the question of my faith in God - do I have it? We will see. As the bank accounts creep lower, and IRA accounts are being set to be emptied, property is being offered for sale, 'things' are being cleaned up for sale, businesses are being groomed for closing - we ask ourselves:

"When is it enough to prove that we trust God?"

When He says it's enough.

James 1:2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

(in context here)

No longer slaves

In our country, the free press is a part of government. Did you know that? One of the important tasks of a free press, as established by the first amendment of the Constitution is to shed light on things like Government waste, corruption, imbalance, even inefficiencies. No, you will not find any wording to that effect in the Constitution, but we see how much pressure a free press can put on Government and government officials when they blow it.

I'm not going to get into any specific issues on this, because right now our country is so divided that I don't know if it's all that healthy. I wish we could all see that we do really agree on one thing: Government has gotten too big for it's britches, and we the people - down in our heart of hearts - don't think that Government can do the best job of running our lives.

So what am I on about this time? Accountability. I have a love/hate relationship with accountability, as do many people who are trying to live according to the word of God. We are all sinners, some of us saved by grace, some of us living by our own wants, needs and desires. But we are all sinners. That represents a failure of function, not a failure of design. We were designed to live with accountability: we were designed to allow light to shine into the dark places in our lives, so that WE see them, and the people AROUND us see them. That puts the pressure on us to improve.

I have a scale on the floor of my office. I step on it every Monday. When I don't - I tend to gain weight. Funny how a scale could effect my weight - OK we know it doesn't actually change my weight, it simply shows it to me. And then I have the responsibility to make the needed changes to keep those little numbers from climbing any higher.

Stupid scale. I sometimes think that gravity is more focused in my office: I tend to think things are going fine until I actually step on the thing. Then I see - those sweets? They counted. Those slices of Pizza early in the week? Still with me. Those things I snuck so my wife wouldn't see me eat them? The scale knows.

Amazing how accountability can change things. Puts the pressure back on us - let's keep that tool working in our lives.

Romans 6: 5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

The grass is always greener - when I water it.

One time I thought I would be a good homeowner and spread out a dose of 'Weed 'n Feed,' a product which is supposed to kill weeds while feeding the lawn and give you a nice, lush, green lawn. Within two days the whole yard went brown. Seems our "lawn" was no lawn at all. Just weeds.

After getting a real lawn in place, I have tried to take a bit better care. I feed it once a year, and I follow the instructions on the bag of chemicals and water the lawn twice a day for a week after feeding. Its amazing how green it gets during that time.

Those are the days I want to have photos taken of my house, because it's not like that the rest of the time. And it makes me wonder:

If I was to just water more - would I have a nice green lawn? Forget the chemicals and the money I spend on them, what would happen if I just watered? Sounds so simple. But I have never connected my sprinkler valves to the timer sitting on my shelf gathering dust. I have to go out and turn on the sprinklers by actually turning a valve. The humanity!

Sort of like the time I spend in the Word of God - it's work. And I have to want to do it, because it takes me two weeks to develop the habit of being in the word daily, and about two minutes to get OUT of the habit.

But the result is the same: when I water my lawn it flourishes. When I water my spirit, it does the same.

My wife - my goodness!

My wife and I have very distinctive communication techniques. Very different - from each other.

This morning, we got into an argument. It was only a few minutes of squabbling, when I was about ready to just leave the room and start my day. Forget it. She was never going to 'hear' me.

But at that moment, it dawned on me - we would not be arguing unless we cared deeply about the other person. If I was having this discussion with somebody about whom I did not care, there would BE no battle. I wouldn't care if some stranger ever 'got it' or not. But this is a person I care deeply about -

So I said that. I mean, I told my wife that the whole reason we were having this clash at all was because we both deeply cared about the other, and what the other thought about our feelings and ideas mattered to each of us. And THAT is when we looked at each other, smiled, hugged, and changed the subject.

It was awesome!

Four Amigos

Last night we had a banquet to say "Thanks" to our pastor of the past sixteen years. He and his family will be leaving us - they were elected to a leadership position in our denomination's Southern California office in Orange County. This is a big deal, and we are proud that Dr. Cervero was elected the way he was. However, that doesn't stop us from being very sad at losing him as Pastor.

So - we put on a huge banquet. The place was packed, and for the first time in my memory, we required tickets, paid in full, before anyone got on the list. I only mention that to communicate that everyone who was in the room was there because they had listened to the announcements, signed up as they paid their money, and so on. They were there on purpose, if I can put it that way.

As a result, they were a very good audience - VERY good. I was the "MC" of sorts: I kept things moving, and I kept a little entertainment flowing as we were waiting for the chicken to thaw out -which was the only 'hitch' in the evening, but even that was met with smiles as people truly enjoyed just sitting around the tables chatting and having a good time. And we had some of the most delicious Tri Tip roast imaginable, so I'm not sure the chicken was even missed.

We had a comedy troupe put together for this event called "The Three Amigos," who did a few skits/sketches, we had a guest speaker who did a mild roasting of our beloved pastor and family, we even created an award called "The Dr. Anthony J Cervero Thermostat Award," which started out as a gag but morphed into a true honor to the man and the ministry, and will be an ongoing award given to those who exhibit the traits and character of this awesome man of God.

And then the moment came: I handed the mic to the Pastor with a bow - and begged for mercy as I humbly took my seat.

But he was gracious. He ribbed us lightly - said that "The Three Amigos" were a hit, then some mild teasing came to us and to many others in the room who played a part in the past sixteen years of ministry. But then a wonderful trip down memory lane ensued, full of humor, laced with sadness, and wrapped in a challenge to be the drem fulfilled. It was one of the most gracious presentations of it's type I have ever seen from this man who obviously loves this church, yet carries the burden of an amazing wit!

I won't go on much more, not all of you even know this man and his family, but suffice to say that if you have Pastor who truly loves you, you are blessed. Thank God for that ministry, and then - be sure you thank the man or woman too!

Registration good until 2011

I have bought and sold far more motor vehicles than the average person. I'm not a licensed dealer, but I probably push the limit on how many things I buy and sell. So when I tell you that I know a bit about the DMV and the laws of our state which govern the registration of vehicles, rest assured that I do.

I am always on the lookout for that super-special 'deal,' so I cruise the ads on Craigslist, Ebay, and I check out "for sale" signs that pop up on cars and trucks around me. I see a note in an ad now and then, and it makes me smile: "Registration good till 2011 (or 2012...)"

You see, in the fine state of Cash-starved-afornia it doesn't work that way. The day you sell a car, the registration ends and the new owner has a very short time to go to the DMV and transfer the title and register the vehicle. As a side note, the state just keeps the extra money the previous owner paid for a full year (or more)of registration, and the new owner gets to pay for a full year starting on that day. But the point is - you don't get the benefit of the registration they bragged about in the ad. Oh, it's good that it's not past due or out of date, but it all starts brand new the day you buy the vehicle.

Sort of like the way our life starts anew the day we make God the center of it. Saved, born-again, regenerated, call it by whichever word or phrase you like - you start from scratch at that point. The Bible says it this way, "The old is gone, the new has come."

So - why do we keep living the same patterns we lived before? I don't have an answer for that one, but I'm working on it.

Depressed

I have battled depression most of my life. I see hurt where no hurt is intended, and I tend to put myself in the center of things as if people actually think more about me than they do. It's a classic conundrum - I worry about things I can't control, and let go of the control over the things I should be worried about.

So - what works when I get down, as I am now? Prayer and the word. I have to wash myself in it. Soak myself in it. Immerse myself in it. I guess it must work, since my wife has not killed me. Yet...

In fact, we are coming up on 30 years - our thirtieth anniversary is at the end of this month, June 2010. We joke about how we have had some good years and some not-so-good ones. I guess all couples can say that. We have humor in our relationship, and it helps a lot. But the only other thing which can pull me out of a deep funk is my wife. The apostle Paul said to the Corinthians,

"(1 Cor. 1:) 4I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

I can turn in one of two ways today - I can sink deeper and become more silent, more alone, more bitter about the things in my life not going the way I wish they were,

or

I can be thankful for the blessings I have been given, and the wonderful people which live in my life. People who are filled with God's grace in Christ Jesus, people who confirm the testimony that Christ desires to keep me strong to the end.

Excuse me, but I have a life to live - a day to conquer. See you out there, among the blessing of God.