after the locust, there will be a feast

“I’ll make up for the years of the locust,
    the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
    fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
    I sent your way.
You’ll eat your fill of good food.
    You’ll be full of praises to your God" 
                                        Joel 2:25

I've had many seasons in my life when it seems as if everything good was being destroyed before my eyes and there was nothing I did to precipitate it, nor anything I could to stop it...

If you can relate read on, if not, read on so when it does...

To be honest, there are many times in my life when I baited disaster. I'll own up to it, but there have been long seasons of wasting and desolation. 

...but today I am in a season of harvest and redemption of what seems like the first half of my life. 

 
"God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance."
                                                                                             Job 42:12-15

It seems as if I have been given a bit of my inheritance NOW...which is fitting, as the Kingdom of God has broken in...

I once had a day-dream of the Great Banquet 
...(God often shows my heart things like this)

I was seated at a great table, under a huge blue sky, surrounded by people I knew well, but couldn't make out who they were...

we were all laughing, and smiling, and there was such joy!

The first course was served, and it was in cast-iron skillets...

I peered in, and it was fried locusts...
the ones that had eaten all the years of my life...

we feasted on them, they were turned to good. 

wait for it...with joy 

Compost for Christ

It's that time of year hear in New England when "leaf peepers" come out...

God does a grand thing...he turns the lights off just enough by tilting the angle of the earth, resulting in the heat of summer turning to the cool of fall...

He shows off with a massive mural across the hills.

The colors were always in the leaf, it's just that they were in full sun, doing their thing, and the new life was busy producing chlorophyll...the green simply covered what was there.

The fireworks can't last, so the leaves fall to the ground,
and die,
and all that they did becomes the launch pad for the next seedling.

God does this is us too...

But we have to be willing to fall from the tree.
Look;
"At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
“What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”

God composts all the good and bad from our past lives, and plants his new in us. 
It was always there, waiting for us to drop. 

A life that has become dead wood for God is the only place his New Life can grow...

Sometimes, we try and plant on rocky soil, and places like that...

But the winds and rains come and mud slides take it all away. 

We can't produce the life, 
or even prepare the dirt. 

All we can do is let go, 
and let God. 

Compost for Christ. 
 

listen up

‘The Lord your God is with you,
    he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
    he will quiet you with his love,
    he will rejoice over you with singing’ (Zephaniah 3:17).

Most days, I want to bury my head under my pillow and stop the noise...

So many voices competing with the voice of God. Some days it's easy to hear him, others, not so much.

I'm learning to rest in the fact that simply because I intentionally work at being still means that God is speaking to me.

 "You're not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. 

He draws people to me - that's the only way you'll ever come. 

Only then do I do my work, 

putting people together, 

setting them on their feet, 

ready for the End." 

                                     John 6:44

Can you hear him?

He is calling...sometimes a whisper

                             sometimes a scream

nevertheless, He is singing His delight over you today beloved.

New England is a magical place, but you need to be still to see the act.

Each year, God does his thing, and ushers in his grand act, and changes the landscape from green to a rainbow...

What grew bows down and leaves the stage, and Geese sound the trumpet as the curtain slowly rises...

This doesn't surprise God...but it always seems to catch us off guard.

Be bless the crisp air, and the sweet ciders and syrup, then curse the blanket that covers the spring flowers while they gather their scent from the decaying leaves under the billions of ice-diamonds.

Seasons come and go through us too...

listen for the trumpet, and greet it with joy.

let things die, God is aware.

An old leaf left on the branch will never turn green again...

let things fall. 

I am in a season of change, again.

I welcome it.

Restore our fortunes, Lord,
    like streams in the Negev. 

 Those who sow with tears
    will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
 
    carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
    carrying sheaves with them.
              Psalm 126:4-6

when the road ain't so winding....but it's long

"what would your school look like in heaven?"
......

"no lockers"...yeah, no one will steal stuff

"no school nurse"...yeah, no on will get sick

"no more fighting or arguing"

.....  and in my mind I add "no more lock down drills"

We had been reading our family devotional and I couldn't get past my own tears longing for Christ to return.

Most days, I simply can't walk any more....
all I see in front of me are miles and miles.

My feet ache,
my back is sore,
and i smell...

yet, I walk.

Others try to encourage me from the sidelines,
like they dowhen I run a marathon...

but they aren't running my race.

I can see the finish and I know the prize, so I keep running...
foot, foot, foot.

Sometimes I run, sometimes I walk, sometimes I have to stop...

but I keep moving.

He did it. He is worth it

 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
                                                  Hebrews 12:2 The Message

What are you leaving behind?

When I was a kid, I used to daydream like many others about what it would be like at my funeral...

would lots of folks come?
who would be there?
what would they say?

As I got older, I thought about legacy and leaving the world better than I when I showed up...

When God grabbed my life, things changed a bit.

I still struggle with wanting to be remembered and liked...

But the most important legacy I have in my life are my girls.

Now, I often daydream about a conversation they would have about me after I have died...

I hope it centers around how much I loved them, and Jesus, and their mom.

I hope it has a part about how they learned to love and respect all people because all people are made in the image of God.

I hope my love for Christ will show them the realness of God, and that He is true and alive.

What about you?

What are you hoping to leave here?

Seasons and beaches and the goodness of God

Man, does life fly...

That thing on my head is starting middle school next week...

The thing strapped to my wife starts forth grade.

...and I was walking the beach this morning while they slept, listing to a man of God share thoughts on other men of God who lived long ago.

I was encouraged and cut to the heart for the millionth time that Jesus was all-sufficient...and I found myself dropping to my knees in thanks and sorrow, asking for help to simply be who He wants me to be.

I wasn’t lamenting the fact that I wasn’t surfing because of the sharks...

Time does fly, and we change, and grow old.

Thankfully, God does not.

of broken teeth and death camp miracles

"Really, God, while this guy is extracting a broken tooth?"
"yep...."...

The Lord said to always be ready to talk about why you believe what you do...

That's not so you can be ready to walk around telling folks what you know. Being "ready" naturally implies that you there will be situations that come upon you when you least expect it.

Christian's tend to read this verse and think "I need to be able to answer all the questions when a person presses me with objections to the Bible"...but that's not it.

Here, read the verse in Eugene Petersen's "The Message" translation...

^"If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. 

Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:15-18

Jesus was telling Peter what was coming down the pike:

1. You are going to suffer

2. Your going to be punished for doing good

It's gonna happen folks. 

You are going to suffer...

Don't believe me? Here, believe God..

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
                                                                                                                                       Matthew 5:10-11

Well, that doesn't sound like the "feeling blessed" life on Facebook...

No, when God says "blessed" he means that he is very near and working in and through you. 

So, when Paul wrote to Peter "be prepared", he was NOT saying "tell them all your Bible verses...he WAS saying "when you are in in the midst and after the suffering, tell them WHY you believe..

...and there I was, about to have a tooth extracted, when my dental guy started talking about his Rabbi (God sets up things so well)...who was spared in the death camp, only to meet the girl who saved his life later in CT and marry her (cue awe and tears)...when he says.."You know, I've always judged a person's belief when it holds up under suffering. He went through so much and still had faith"

He asked me how I started working in Africa, and I shared about a son who had died, and a drive to save babies, and a faith that still believed God is good...

What do we take away from this?

"Being prepared" means not so much to get your answers ready to convince others when you they take a breath and stop talking...but rather spending time in the presence of God,  so that you convince yourself of the Love and Truth of Him...so that WHEN you suffer in his place, those around you will think there is something to your faith...

That was God's plan...and what Jesus did. With his very last breath ...
Read it here

Wrapped up in Him...

God asks very little of us...actually, to simply do all we can to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength....

Oswald Chambers wrote years ago...
“All [else] we do is of so much scaffolding to God...”

Yes, we all have a plan and a purpose and are called to participate in God’s redemptive plan of salvation for the whole world....but it’s all to easy to get caught up in everyone elses’s plan.

Me, my plan is to love God, make some sandwiches, preach the Good News, and share some underwear.

I believe the plan is that others might see this, and give glory to God.

You can join me if you like.

small towns have the same size souls

Brownsville, VT was a major destination "back in the day" when Ascutney Ski Resort was up and running. The mountain closed and in 2010, the owners sold off  the remaining equipment.

All that is left of it are scars on the mountain and memories of great turns. Thankfully, the town purchased the land and has plans to put back a small lift for the town residents. This, is beautiful but I don't want to talk about the resort,  I want to talk about the souls that live there.

There are still some great shops left there, but Brownsville was, and always be, a small rural town. My friend pastors the church across the street from the mountain. It is small, like the town itself yet both (the town and the church) are of bo little importance to God.

It will never be a mega-church, but the souls that attend are of equal value to God as those who worship in the Great Cathedrals.

This does not mean that a small church is bad, or that a large church is good, or vice-versa. It simply means that the world is full of small towns and large cities and both are full of souls of equal value to God.

God is in the large church and in the small church
in the same measure,
in the same power,
and for the same purpose.

The pastor of this church is a friend of mine and his dedication to the souls in the area and to the God who loves them humbles me.

He works as a music teacher in a local christian school while he pastors the Brownsville Community School and another small gathering of Anglicans. He raises chickens, cows, and pigs to help feed his family and bring in extra income. He taps 150 sugar maples for syrup, reconditions wood stoves, and whatever else comes his way to help support his family.

The local game warden knows his freezer is full when a family in town is hungry,  and the emergency workers know his face when he shows up for pastoral care.

He will never toot his own horn, except pulling out of his driveway at times.
He is by no means a perfect saint, just ask his wife who is as equally amazing, or his three young children who help out with all of the above.

But all those who know this family will be quick to tell you why they work so hard where they are;
Jesus Christ died for the souls in the city and the farmer and the tourist who looks at the leaves.

Small towns are full of souls that matter. Small churches care for them. Small town pastors shepard them sacrificially.



"And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
                                                     Jonah 4:11

a friend to the homeless

I have been taken, and this is how I know;
Years ago I was in Cripple Creek, CO on a road trip and found myself in a music shop talking with the proprietor. I was on an extended cross-country road trip and was making an effort to not be a tourist and get caught up in the facade.
She looked at me and said "your type, you're not a tourist, your a friend". Whether she meant it in her heart or it was a sales pitch it worked and it stuck.
Yesterday I found I had crossed the line and became a friend to the homeless.

Yesterday, I stopped being a tourist in my own city.

I didn't think I was a tourist, honest. I had spent the winter handing out soup, socks, and underwear to the homeless in Downtown Hartford each Saturday with a variety of friends through my work with Church Army.  We have been there consistently in all kinds of weather but yesterday was different. I had been contacted my the church I attend which was expecting over 500 visitors on Easter and asked if I knew anyone who they could donate their leftover coffee-hour food to. I replied "me". I had asked a few of the folks I see every Saturday to meet me in the park and tell others to be there.

As I approached the park I passed a few guys I knew and said hey out the window and told them what we were up too. There were no "regulars" there. It was a rainy day and folks were all holding up in places all across the city. I learned where they hold up in bad weather while waiting for the shelters to open for the night. I was given tip-after-tip by my friends on how to reach the other guys. So-and-so was here, so-and-so was there...

So we loaded up all the food in my hand cart and set off to be "Robin Hoods for Jesus". What we didn't know was that we were there so God could work in us more than through us, which is funny, because that is what I always tell people what my ministry is about.

We did not intend to set out on our own little "manifest destiny". Our hearts were in the right place, but today it was as if God accepted our sacrifice of time and discomfort and took us deeper into his fold.

The homeless took us into their family.

All those months they were honestly grateful for what we were doing. I know because I asked them, but today, they were taken by our efforts to get to them.

As we pulled our cart for 2 1/2 hours through the city it was like a scavenger hunt, getting clues where to find the next crowd of people  and more beautiful, learning more about our friends.

We stopped being a mobile food truck.
We came into their homes.

We shared five full trays of Dunkin Donuts bagels and muffins so we have many stories to share, but this is the one that will not leave me. So I give it to you.

There is a woman and her daughter (I'm keeping the name to myself) who I have watched pull their suitcases through the street all winter. I nicknamed mom "Mrs. Grumpy" because she started out by yelling at me and complaining so we did out best to love her. Two weeks ago I actually saw a huge grin come on her face when I had oranges and strawberries to share so when I saw her Saturday at our regular time giving out hot drinks and socks I told her to meet me in the park on Easter because my church had promised me the leftover muffins and fruit.

"You going to have the oranges?" she said to me.
I smiled and said "yes".

When I picked up the food there were no oranges, but thankfully I just "happened" to have one in my truck I had forgotten about from a couple of days before! God is so good! Secondly, she was not there! I asked my friends as we went along on our march through the city and finally heard that someone had seen her in the photo booth with her daughter at the bus station.

I have only been to the bus station once in my life and had no idea where the photo booth was. This place is really small, but I still had a hard time until I recognized their suitcases in a little hallway that leads to the bathrooms. I huge grin came across my face as I walked up to find them, both of them, in a tiny little photo booth watching a movie together on Easter Sunday, crammed into a three-by-three foot phone booth.

"Hey, there you are! I've been all over the city looking for you! Happy Easter!"
She smiled, "you got my orange?"
"Yeah, and some other stuff too."
She came outside with me while her daughter watched her stuff.

This is the Easter Message my friends. God came into the neighborhood to bring gifts. His people where scattered and hiding, so he came to seek after and find those who were lost. He became a friend to the outcast, the sinner, and the lonely. Slowly, one, by one, he spread the message as we did yesterday. God loves you and has not forgotten you.

"Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing."
                       Ephesians 2:7-9

I need bras for the weekend!

Are you seen as an odd duck? 
I am. 
God commanded me to be.
Am I?  Here was my conversation at the school bus stop today. You be the judge:

"Good morning ladies! I've got something going on this weekend and need your help!

 Can you get me some sport bras please?  

They didn't give a second look but simply asked how they could get them to me.

 No, I do not wear woman's clothing. 

My neighbors simply know me, and in so doing, they know my faith in Jesus, and my desire to serve the broken in the world by any means I can find. They know my family collects underwear for the homeless because most don't have more that two pairs. They know most folks in shelters don't have the extra money to was their clothes, so they do so in the sink at the shelter or wherever they can and their underwear runs out. My truck always has underwear around some wear. I would even venture to say that most rooms in our house has a random package. Honestly, we can't really go anywhere without a friend handing me a package they had bought. 

We are called to be odd ducks as followers of Christ. We are to stick out like a two people on the street kissing during a protest, like the fresh air rushing through the first open window of spring, like a lit match in a deep cave. 

This is what God has to say about it:

"But you are the ones chosen by God, 

chosen for the high calling of priestly work, 

chosen to be a holy people, 

God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him,

 to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—

                                   from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted."
                                                                                                           1 Peter 2:9 (Message Translation)

Here is a simple test, try it, not to "prove" anything, but to check HOW you are living; 

• Do the people who live in the houses around you know what you are doing for the glory of God and to eliminate the suffering of the people? 
• Do the neighbors around your church know what you are doing for the glory of God and to eliminate the suffering of the people? 
• If either you, or your church disappeared over night, would the vacuum left in your place be felt and cause people to weep? 

I think the church got this verse a little bit wrong. Folks aren't supposed to look at us as Jesus freaks because we speak in tongues (which is fine), or dance with abandon (which is fun) or shout with praise (which is biblical) or even swing incense (which is lovely) or use stained glass (which is art). We are peculiar not because of the things we don't do, but what we do do. Yes, we abstain from things God doesn't like such are murder, and stealing, and robbing the poor, but we will be seen as Godly Odd Ducks when me love enemies, bless those who persecute us, and live our lives for folks who can never get us ahead in life simply because this is what Jesus did for us.
 
Now settle down folks, I'm not getting upitty and holier-than-thou on you. I'm just trying to live out the life of the suffering servant like my King Jesus did for me. 
...Oh, and if you want to give me your underwear, leave me a comment with your contact info

Following Jesus is like running a marathon? Have you run one?

"I can do that".
These are the words behind God's call that most folks see as the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. We can break it down like this:

Be intentional
Be sacrificial
Be sustainable 

Once we are called to God, we are given choices. We can love or not, we can obey his words or not, we can forgive or not. We will be forced to make hard choices. We must love those who not only love us, but those who hate us. It goes to reason then that we must not only know of, but be involved in the lives of those who hate us. Do you? Be intentional.

We are called to live lives of selfless compassion and mercy, emulating the life of Jesus. This will force us to write down acts of mercy into our planners and if need use two alarms on our smart phones. Do you have "visit the prison" next to "so-and-so's playdate on your dry erase calender? When you shop, do you pick up the extra items on your list for the food bank? Do you not do something you enjoy so that you can care for another? Be sacrificial.

We are called to this life for the long-haul. I am a distance runner and have heard the cliche over and over that the life of following Jesus is a marathon, not a sprint. But here is a tip from a guy who actually has run 8 of them; we train hard for months before the race, logging in literally hundreds of miles. We run in the rain because the race day may rain. We run at night if we have kids and a job. We wake up at 6am on weekends so that we can get in a three hour run before it gets too hot.

Our families give up time so that we can compete.

During the race we may puke, pass-out, or get injured. You will use products so that you will not chafe parts of your bodies but you will bleed. You will want to quit when you hit a "wall" and your mind and body says stop. You will have to stay hydrated and fed so you try and balance and keep ahead of the game. If not you will cramp, HARD.

The next day, if you ran hard, you will experience Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It will be hard to walk and most will have to walk down stairs backwards. It will take days to recover but you will not die.

Now most of you are saying "why do it?" The apostle Paul was quick to point out that we are just wired to do things like run and complete. We all do (see here).

Being a distance runner is a lifestyle. We make choices about what to eat, how long to sleep, and how to train. Following Jesus is the same. We think we can just do enough like read and pray and go to church sometimes and then jump in and run the marathon it is.

We must make this a sustainable life.
We must see that it is like a marathon, but marathons are "NOT long easy runs". They are  painful and costly.
Take these tips to run sustainably:
1. Be intentional and focus
2. Be sacrificial and put in the hard work
3. Be sustainable and rest when you need to, run hard when you have to. Remember, resting is NOT passive, it is actively choosing to trust. 

When we have completed the race, we will gain the prize and you will have new bodies. We will be with Jesus. We do NOT run hard so that we will be rewarded for our hard running. We simply run hard because the run IS hard. Jesus finished the race and gave us his medal. Do not kid yourself.
Run in such a way so that you will have nothing left when you cross the line. Why?
This is how Jesus ran and how he asks us to

Love the one you're with

Do you love where you live because of the great opportunities it provides you?
That is loving yourself.

Jesus calls us be the light of the world.
Light goes where it is absent, and disappears when it it reaches itself.

I fear far to many followers of Christ have become Black Holes while our call is to birth little Sons.
If indeed the Light that came into the World was not overcome by the darkness it only stands to reason that He was want to reside there.

He lived with the physically, spiritually, and emotionally sick, the lightless, so that they would have been made light too.

It was not because he hated what they did.
It was because He loved them.

So I ask us all today, stealing a line from George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers;
Who do you love?


We love because he first loved us.
1John 4:19

rainsbows on the floor

I was headed out to preach in a friends church two hours away. As I got dressed my message ran through my head bringing memories of peoples faces, smells, and God's faithfulness.

I was lost somewhere in myself when a little piece of rainbow on the floor caught my eye.
It was the size of a dime,
almost under our bed.

I've learned to ask God in these A.D.D.  "Lord, what is it you you are showing me?

...look for my presence and my promise in the places you least expect it. I am here already.

I did,
and he showed me,
and as always,
it was not what I expected.

As were getting ready for the service in the rented hall of a small, inner city Kenyan Church I began talking with Judith, the deacon. She was from Kenya, and had been trained by Church Army. I explained that I was Church Army too and she lit up with joy. She did not know that Church Army was in America! She thought there were only three Church Army workers in the country.  I was her promise.

And she was mine. I had come to bring the message and as always, God showed me where he was already working; in a lovely woman named Judith, who had a passion for Jesus, and an overwhelming desire to tell all those with breath of his love and mercy. God was before me.

That is the funny thing about light;
It has to arrive before you can see it,
doesn't it?
 

I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
                         Isaiah 45:2

Can we fix it? No we can't!

I had a professor in Seminary who looked out on our faces with this little smirk he would get. It would creep up at us underneath his mustache and whenever I saw it I knew that we would all soon have our spiritual nickers in a bunch.

You know, you are all saved by works. 

(a pause as the smirk grew and eyebrows furrowed)

What???

Our school was reformed! We believed that we were saved by grace through faith, clearly NOT by works! Didn't he read Ephesians 2:8-9!? What is he talking about!

and then as he watched us all squirm he continued 

Yes, you have all been saved by works. 

GOD'S Works, and don't you ever forget it!

A collective sigh came over the class as we breathed and relaxed parts of our bodies. Whew, he did read the Bible, and moreover, He never let himself forget that he had been saved by the works of God. 

This was the problem of Israel, this is the problem for us. 

I've often said that one of the "downfalls" of the Reformation was just this; we understood that we had nothing to do with our gaining our salvation and so we lost the power of what had been done. This is what is written in James 2:26. He is calling out those who claimed to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and with a snarky flair! So, you think Jesus was the One, well good, so the the demons!

What we profess and what we believe are not always the same. We understand this when we say "our actions speak louder than our words. Yes, I know, we are all sinners, the church isn't perfect, yadda yadda, blah, blah. 

Look at your life. What does it read. 

Does it read "I was saved by my God's works" or "I was saved by my works"

Beauty and Beast...dog eats bear

It sounded like my daughter was being being abducted by aliens as I raced around the corner, my heart beating in my chest. My eyes locked onto her, sobbing, running towards me, burying her tear-streaked eyes into my chest wailing:

Daddy! Austin is trying to eat Bear!

I glanced up and over her head and there he stood, motionless, bear hanging limply out of the corners of his mouth. Our eyes met and he froze. I did not have to say a word. I walked to him purposefully, announced with all authority "bad dog", and took Bear out of his mouth without any challenge. 

I held my girl and we checked bear for damage. He was fine and as I stroked her hair and came to realize just how much that lump of faded, flattened stuff meant to her and as always God pulled on soul and spoke about his love. 

Let me share what he showed me: 

Bear was given to Olivia when she was born and we have no recollection where he came from, he has just always has been with us. When Olivia was two or so my wife heard a tip from a friend and tried to find another Bear as an precautionary measure. This failed miserably after we found out he was a "retired" Beanie Baby. Months of ebay seaching yielded a "close but no cigar" bear that Olivia tossed aside and named "more bear". 

Now please bear with me (pun-intended). The Biblical record tells us that after Adam and Eve disobeyed God they were expelled from the Garden and His presence. I have always understood this, as most of have and should, as  God having a bit of anger and frustration but today I can to feel a bit of the sadness too. We see and feel it in  Jesus' tears over the death of his friend Lazarus (John Chapter 11). God feels pain and sadness over loosing his crowned jewels of creation. God was not pleased that day, he was not just angry. He was grieved.

Beloved, you are God's Bear, loved and lost, covered in drool from the happenstances of life.

You are unique and irreplaceable.
You were snatched out of the mouth of death by Jesus who placed himself in there your stead.
He escaped death after three days and wants to draw you from the tomb of death also.
He stopped at nothing to get you back (Romans 8:32).
Call out.
Now.
You are His Bear, he will run to you if you call on Him.
You will be made new.
I wonder. God says that he will wipe away every tear upon his return. Maybe, perhaps, he is talking about the tears he has shed over our death and pain too.

Yin-Yang dogs for Jesus' sake

"Oh what a cutie!"
"Thanks, but I'm married"
"haha, the dog"
"thanks, would you like to pet him? I'm raising him as a therapy dog to visit the abandoned and sick"

"Oh that is awesome!"
"Yeah, so I'm a pastor, and I figure since Jesus came to me like that me and my dog ought to do it for others"
"that is so cool. Would he like a drink?"
"Sure, that would be great., thanks"

...and so we sat in front of the natural food market, both of us looking adorable but one of us getting out ears scratched and belly rubbed while a worker brought a deli-cup full of water out. Folks walked by and asked in they could pet him and I just kept saying, sure, we're raising him as a.....

This is what happens when you place your whole life under the rule of God.
You just naturally talk about his wonderful love,
and he will send many, many, many people your way.

"oh, I love his colors!"
"Yeah, he's kinda like the yin-yang of dogs"
for Jesus' sake...

there are no small souls

A few weeks back as I drove through rural Maine I noticed that each small town had two things;

1. Each had a  gas station that seemed to sell gas, beer and bait.

2. Each town had a postage-stamp cemetery.

I was struck by the Holy Spirit that each life that lived and died in these little towns  in relative obscurity to the rest of the world was of infinite value to the creator of the universe. These souls mattered to God to the point of his death and offering of himself through Jesus Christ.

And I wondered to myself why do we view these souls as any less than those who are buried in the great cathedrals?

In God's economy a saint is a saint is a saint.

I imagine if we had this high-view of the souls of those around us as God does we would treat each other differently and re-order our lives accordingly.

What do you think?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, 

you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

running the race

I love to run, especially long distances in the woods....I mean anything over 10 miles. 

When I say this to non-runners they call me crazy and make odd faces. 

When I say this to road runners they call me crazy and make odd faces. 

I run for long distances in the woods because it is good for my soul, and if it is good for my soul it is good for the souls of my wife, my kids, and my friends. 

The Hebrews knew that if the soul of one in the community was not right with God then it would infect them all. Jesus picked up on this theme and warned is inner-band of followers to be aware of the "yeast of the Pharisee's". 

Simply put, this means to guard your soul against anything that makes you believe you less than completely dependent upon God. 

I forget this a lot. 
We all do. That is the human condition. James warned us of this in his letter calling us to not be double-minded. 

This is why I run. 
It gives me time to think.
It gives me time to pray. 
It gives me time to listen. 
It gives me time to care for my soul. 

God cares for souls, so much so that He died to reclaim them. 

What are you willing to give up to care for your soul? 
What are you caring for most in you life? 
If it is anything other than your soul than stop and re-focus. 


"This is the only race worth running. I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting—God’s applause! Depend on it, he’s an honest judge. He’ll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming."
2 Timothy 4:7 Message