Thoughts on Vision and Leadership

This is one of the busiest weeks of my year, but also one of the most rewarding!  This is VBS week at our church, and the theme this year is God’s Big Backyard.  For my readers who aren’t from around these parts, let me just tell you that this is no ordinary Vacation Bible School.  The average attendance of our church on Sunday morning is around 250.  However, we will probably minister to well over 200 different children at VBS.  When people hear the name of our church, they think of our VBS.  It takes close to 100 volunteers to make it happen.  The planning starts in early spring, and builds to the point of having work days on both the Saturday and Sunday before to get things ready and then having VBS in the evenings from Monday to Friday.  On Friday night, we have to have two closing programs to accomodate all the families who will come.  This year, since the theme is based around serving, we will have several community service projects that everyone can choose from and get involved with next Saturday.  Then, Saturday evening we will have a final swim party at our local water park.  All of this doesn’t happen by accident, and it doesn’t happen because we have a great children’s minister (I can say this because I have been the children’s minister).  It happens because of great leadership.  Our VBS Director is amazing.  In fact, she is probably one of the most effective leaders in our church.  Seeing her in action reminds me of something I learned from one of John Maxwell’s seminars.  He says that if the people don’t buy into the leader or the vision, they will get another leader.  If they don’t buy into the leader, but they buy into the vision, they will get another leader.  If they buy into the leader, but not the vision, they will get another vision.  However, if the people buy into the leader and they buy into the vision, they will get behind the leader.  That’s what we have here.  People have bought into the leader.  We know she is going to put more effort into this than anyone else.  She is passionate about children and wants to make this a great experience.  She wants to glorify God through sharing His love and through using her gifts.  She does her best to place the volunteers according to their gifts.  Along with buying into our leader, we have bought into the vision.  Her vision to minister to children in our community is clear and compelling.  She has a gift of organization, and we are all clear as to what our roles are.  Our leader knows where she wants us to go and how we are supposed to get there.  She gives us a clear picture of the goal and gives us the tools to make it happen.  We will all work our hearts out because we support our leader and the vision.  I’m excited to be a part of something like this, and it makes me think about what I need to do in leading my own ministries.

Besides all that, she and her family are wonderful friends of ours, and we would do about anything for them!

As for me, I’m looking forward to the second night of VBS.  Last night was great.  I’m about to fire up the grill to cook about 168 hot dogs for our workers and their families.  My wife and I enjoy fixing meals each year, with the help of some great volunteers.  I think this year, we are set to feed over 100 people each night.  Then, I get to greet people at the door and show them where to go, lead the worker prayer time, and then help lead our little group of preschoolers from station to station.  I love this age group!  Well, better go!

May God make it clear to you His purpose and may He give you the vision to make it happen!

Prayer Ride

This has been a great day.  Our Sr. Minister and I scheduled a prayer ride for this morning, so I left the house at about 6:35 to meet him here at the church building.  We rode along the Jim Martinez Sunflower Trail, which I think is one of the prettiest parts of our city because it runs along the Arkansas River and through a park with a couple of nice ponds.  We stopped to pray and seek God together a couple of times, which was so encouraging to me.  We’ve decided to do it on a regular basis.  He had to head back early for another commitment, but I decided to ride on and spend some “alone time” with God.  I turned it into a mini spiritual retreat as I prayed for several different people and situations and read completely through 1 Corinthians.  I prayed for God to give me a vision for the ministries that He has given me.  I am transitioning out of children’s ministry and more into pastoral care, counseling, and involvement.  Along with that, I will continue to minister to single parent families and help with outreach and discipleship.  I desire to know God’s plan.  A couple of verses really stuck out to me as I thought about this.  First of all in Chapter 2, Verse 10-12, we read that God reveals to us His plans by His Spirit, who searches the depths of God.  No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  The exciting part is that those of us who truly know Him have received His Spirit, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  Wow.  It all goes back to John 15, where we are told to abide in Him and He in us.  Apart from Him, we can do nothing.  This is part of the spiritual fitness that I talked about yesterday.  By the way, a friend called me yesterday to tell me about Alistair Begg’s Wednesday broadcast on this exact subject.  Here is the link, if you want to listen:   http://www.truthforlife.org/site/News2?abbr=lst&page=NewsArticle&id=7178&news_iv_ctrl=1102.  Basically, if we want to nourish others, we have to nourish ourselves first.  We do that by spending quality time with God in His Word and in prayer.  We spend way more time worrying about our physical condition than our spiritual condition.  I think this is all the more reason for me to teach a class on Wednesdays this fall on deepening our spiritual root system.

Another passage that I stopped and read over and over again was chapter 16, vs. 13-14:  “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.  Do everything in love.”  I am reminded of what God kept telling Joshua as he was about to go into the Promised Land.  Be strong and courageous!  As you read the next paragraph, you’ll see why this even sticks out more to me now!

I ended up riding about 17 miles altogether, and felt so refreshed to have that time with God!  (However, I don’t think I’ll be doing the “Bike Across Kansas” anytime soon…)  When I got back to the church building, Lee told me to hop in the van and he took me over to a property that is for sale closeby.  On the way, he asked me about my “ranch idea.”  I told him a little bit of it, and how I would like a place to minister to single parent families.  My idea has always been to have a place for spiritual retreat, with things for both kids and adults to do.  A fishing pond has always been at the top of the list.  Anyway, this place he took me to had been a home for handicapped children.  It actually has two ponds on 9 acres.  In addition, it has always been my dream to have a place where we (actually those who know what they are doing) could work on cars for single moms.  This place has a large two car garage that would be ideal for this.   We are thinking it would work great for transitional housing for single moms and their kids, where we could help them get back on their feet.  My mind is swarming with ideas and dreams right now, so I’ll leave it at that.  Please pray about this idea.  I have said in previous entries that I sense God calling me to something bigger than myself, and this is definitely bigger than me!

Remember, that I told you I read 1 Corinthians while on my ride?  Well, there were a couple of plaques as we first entered the building with name plates of all those who had donated to the previous organization.  On each one was the verse 1 Cor. 12:26: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it…”  That’s what this would be about:  pure and undefiled religion of caring for the modern day widows and orphans.  Caring for those who are suffering.

May you spend time with God each day, seeking Him!!

Man Down…But Not for the Count

I am back after being at camp and then a quick trip to see family in central Texas.  I wish I had all kinds of warm and fuzzy things to write about from the trip, but I’m afraid it’s just the opposite.  I could choose to just skip those days and write about yesterday and today, but I would feel like a fake.  I have always tried to be real with you, my readers.  Therefore, I feel like I need to share the good and bad.  Hopefully, you can find encouragement and wisdom in both.  If I can help save you from a pitfall, then it will have been worth it.  I never want to come across as having some kind of perfect “Leave It To Beaver” life where I do all the right things and know just what to say, etc…  I’m no Ward Cleaver, just ask my family.  I make my share of mistakes.  I do have a desire to be a man after God’s own heart like David, but even he sinned, and I’m no different.

This weekend, I had a chance to spend some real quality time with my family.  We went to see my wife’s parents and all of her family came in to celebrate her stepdad’s birthday.  They live close to the lake, and have a swimming pool within sight of their house.  They have a golfcart that the kids love to drive all over the neighborhood.  My oldest is actually getting pretty good at driving it.  Even with all of this, I got blindsided with a darkness that came over me that I couldn’t shake.  I was emotionally withdrawn and “checked out”.  I was spiritually weak – I tried to spend time with God but my heart wasn’t in it.  My mind was filled with anxious thoughts of everything going on in life.  I was physically exhausted.  Normally, if I sleep past 7:00 a.m., I’m probably sick or was up all night.  Someone should have been checking my pulse because I slept past 9:00 three days in row.  This made me feel lazy, making things worse.  My least favorite word in the Bible is sluggard, and I felt like one.  I was quiet and disengaged, and didn’t feel like eating (more than that I was being stubborn and wouldn’t eat much).  I was very quiet and sometimes snappy with the kids on the 9 plus hour drive home.  Then, yesterday I was hit with the regret of a missed opportunity of really having fun with my wife and kids.

As I was thinking about all of this, I had determined that I had forgotten how to relax and have fun.  Without a schedule, I didn’t know how to act.  However, I now realize it was much more than that.  I cried out to God yesterday morning to deliver me from the darkness.  I don’t normally just randomly flip through the Bible, but I did yesterday morning.  I came across Psalm 139.  Verses 23-24 really hit me:  “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  I prayed that verse.  I prayed on the bike ride into the office that God would deliver me.  Slowly, God revealed to me what was going on.  While I was at camp, I was able to run with the kids for the first time and not get winded.  Because I’m eating better, have dropped 20 lbs, have been riding my bike to work and have been push mowing my “nearly one acre” I am in better physical shape than I have been in years.  I hadn’t really noticed it until camp.  That’s what motivated me to get on the bike yesterday morning in spite of the fact that I hadn’t been on it in about two weeks and it was supposed to be in the upper 90’s yesterday afternoon.  I like the feeling of being in good physical condition, though it takes discipline.  Once I got to the office, I decided to read a few emails before hitting the shower.  A couple of comments on my blog stuck out for some reason.  Since it had been a week or so since I had blogged, I couldn’t even remember what I had wrote.  When I read it, it all hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had been really pumped up about the idea of a retreat for single parent families.  Ideas were flooding in, and I couldn’t get my mind off of it.  DUH!!!  I was under spiritual attack.  The enemy was trying to side track me.  He unloaded on me with both barrels, and I was too out of shape spiritually to recognize the spiritual warfare.  My prayer time and time in the Word has been so stale and routine.  My heart has not been in it.  Therefore, I was not ready for battle.  I got caught in guerrilla warfare with my armor down, and the enemy let me have it.  I was letting anxious thoughts about finances (personal and church) and the future overtake my mind instead of paying attention to what God was doing around me.  Pride and impure thoughts were running amuck.  It kills me that my wife and kids were caught in the crossfire with their spiritual leader not prepared for battle.  That should not happen.  A soldier should always be prepared for battle.  I didn’t even have the wisdom to call my prayer partners or my band of brothers.  I just let it happen.

Yesterday, God encouraged me through a perfectly timed call from a friend / prayer partner and an email from a friend who cares.  Before I left the office, I shot off an email to my band of brothers for accountability and prayers.  In fact, I saw one of them last night, and he encouraged me.  When I got home last night, I uttered a pretty poor apology to my wife, who was still visibly hurt by the whole thing, and rightfully so.  She thought I didn’t want to be there with she and her family.  She thought I would rather have been at home working on projects.  She apologized for even asking me to go on the trip.  That made me feel so much more like a jerk.  I tried to explain, but my heart was hurting so much for hurting her that I couldn’t even give an explanation.  I didn’t have the words to say because everything sounded so lame and pitiful.  I owe her so much more than that.  This morning, I reflected back on the verse from yesterday, and I asked God to restore me to Himself.  I had some great time with Him this morning, and feel restored.  As I was leaving our neighborhood on the bike this morning, in the field west of our addition, there were two deer grazing while their three fawns played.  To me it was a sign that today is a new day to anticipate God’s wonders.  To top it off, when I got to the office, I had an email from one of my “brothers” who reminded me to stand on the truth, not on what I was feeling.  He said many other encouraging things that really lifted me up.  Yesterday, I had said that I may even quit blogging because I wasn’t living out what I was writing.  He told me not to quit, so here I am blogging once again.  What in the world would I do without a loving God, family, and friends?  I shutter to think of it.

I know this is a long entry, but one last story…  Last night, we had our last coach pitch softball game of the season.  In fact, it was my oldest daughter’s last coach pitch game ever because next year she will move up to the next level.  She really wanted to win this game.  Normally, this particular team is pretty feared in the league.  When I discovered we were playing them for our last game, my heart sunk.  However, they only had 6 kids show up to play, and just before the game their coach got hit in the face with a ball, breaking her glasses (she was okay).  She was pitching with a borrowed pair of contact lenses (I’m sure there is some devotional lesson to a story like that, but I better move on).  Anyway, it had rained earlier in the day and the field was pretty muddy, especially behind home plate.  We kept having to clean the ball.  Inspite of all that, our kids were hitting the ball like nobody’s business.  I could be wrong, but I think every kid got at least one hit last night.  In addition, the kids had their heads in the game and really played well defensively.  I was so proud of them.  I don’t know the exact score, but I think we won something like 14-3.  We were all so happy, you would have thought we had just won the World Series.  Afterward, we had a swim party, and I even got in to join them.  In fact, I was one of the last ones to leave the pool at around 11:00.  I ended up playing with my son for awhile at the end.  I was trying to get him to jump in the water, but fear was keeping him back.  He wanted me to hold his hands and then he would jump.  I kept encouraging him to just jump.  Finally, he got to where he would sit on the ladder and fall into my arms.  He kept saying, ”More jump, Daddy” and “Do it again, Daddy.”  He was having a blast.  At least I didn’t miss that opportunity.  It reminds me that we have a loving God who wants us to jump into His arms.  We have nothing to fear.  Especially in our times of weakness, He is calling us to rely on His strength and not our own. 

May you seek God first today and stay spiritually fit and ready for the battle!

Look Toward the Stars

First of all, I want to apologize for those who read yesterday’s post before I “cleaned it up” today.  I should not have written when I was tired, just coming back from church camp.  My attempt at humor came out as complete sarcasm and pridefulness.  Even though I stayed up late watching the All Star Game (baseball is one of my weaknesses), I think I’m in a better frame of mind today to write.

A friend shared a story with me last week about a sermon that she heard recently.  The preacher told about driving down a road on July 4, and seeing people lighting their fireworks in their driveways.  He said they were so enthralled with their own little fireworks that they didn’t seem to notice the huge, dramatic firework display going off not far away.  He said that we often do that with God.  We are so caught up in the little things that we are doing, that we don’t see the huge, magnificent things that God is doing.  Wow, what an illustration!  Just the other night at camp, we were all sitting around the campfire listening to the devotional.  I was mesmerized by the fire.  A friend nudged me and pointed for me to look up.  The sky was clear and we could see thousands of stars.  It was almost like God was saying to me, “If you think this fire is good, just look up and see the millions of fireballs that I made.  Don’t look to what you can do, but to what I can do.  Come, join me in my work, and let’s do something BIG.” 

The next morning, I read from I Corinthians 5, which encouraged me that God wants us to influence those with “messy” lives.  He said not to associate with fellow believers that are immoral, but that doesn’t include non-believers.  We are to go out and make disciples, and in order to do this, we will have to associate with people who are immoral.

After breakfast, I was talking to the Camp Manager and he began sharing some of his vision for the camp.  He wants to minister to at-risk kids.  He wants the camp to be more than a place for Christian kids to come, have a good time, and learn.  He wants it to be an outreach tool.  He knows it may get “messy” doing this, but as I said earlier, we need to be making a difference in the lives of people who need Jesus.  They are beginning a horse program at the camp that will include equine therapy, which has proven very successful with at-risk kids.  In fact, they have had in the neighborhood of $30,000 worth of horses donated along with some feed!!  Is there any doubt that this is God’s plan?  Then, we got to talking about a retreat for single parent families.  He was excited about this idea.  He even suggested that they could bring their cars to be worked on because there is a shop at the camp.  We could have activities for the kids both with the parents and away from the parents.  It could be a great time of relaxing for all.  This goes right along with the vision for a ranch that my wife and I had several years ago.  The camp is much more suited for ministering to families than the place we were looking at buying and pouring money into.  In fact, it would be a perfect setting for a retreat like this!  Like I’ve said before, the dream has never died, and I’m excited to see what God is going to do.  If God leads you to do so, please be praying with me about this vision!

May we look up today from what’s happening in our little world to see the big things God has planned!!

Frequency

In my world, this is “camp week” just in case you’re wondering why I haven’t been blogging the past several days.  I went to day camp with my soon-to-be Kindergartner on Saturday, along with a good friend and his daughter.  We had some good daddy-daughter time.  It was also good to catch up on what is happening in my friend’s world.  I think my daughter found out that daddy wasn’t that great at doing crafts, but we had fun in the pool and with the other activities.  Then, on Sunday, I went back to camp with seven 3rd and 4th Graders, along with two other sponsors who did an outstanding job.  We arrived back home today.  My oldest daughter was part of this camp.  I’ll have to say, it feels good to still be considered “cool” even though she’ll be 10 in a few months.  Though it was really nice that she saved me a place at every meal, the best part was that out of all the new people she met at camp and all the friends she had in our group, she still wanted to sit with me at campfire time.  I feel so blessed, and I cherish those moments!  I’m sure we’ll go through that time where she thinks that I’m an old fashioned geek who just doesn’t understand, but things are good for now. To see her growing up in the Lord brings great joy to my heart.  I was so proud of our group of kids, too.  They were respectful and obedient, which is less than I can say for many kids who were there.  I get to go back to camp on Thursday, this time with my middle daughter and four other kids.  I’m looking forward to it.  It is a unique and wonderful experience to go to camp with each of my daughters and spend time with them without any of our other kids there.

Anyway, about the title, “Frequency.”  That is the theme of the camp this year.  The key verse is Colossians 3:1-2:  “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  Basically, we were reminded to tune out all the “static” in our lives and get in tune with God’s frequency.  In our society, there is so much noise, that we have forgotten how to stop and listen to the still, soft voice of God.  He will speak to us through His Word, through our situations, and through others if we will just stop and listen.  God is powerful and His “frequency” can be reached from anywhere in the world, as long as we don’t allow the “world” to get in the way of the signals.  We have so many things that can get in the way of our relationship with God.  With all of the electronic advances, we can be reached 24/7 from just about anywhere if we allow it.  There are so many electronics that can eat our time away – television, email, internet, cell phones, gaming systems, etc…  Don’t get me wrong, these things can be good, but they can also devastate our relationships, especially our relationship with God.  I’m not big into electronics, and can really do without most of them.  In fact, I’m still holding out on getting a personal cell phone.  My wife has one, and that’s close enough for me.    To me, it was sad to see the number of adults at camp, with this type of a theme, who still couldn’t seem to go an hour without checking messages or checking email by way of their Strawberries (or was that a Blueberry…no, maybe a Blackberry)  or laptops.  It really took away from there time with the kids and from being able to have time with God.  There was one guy this morning who was looking at his phone, I’m assuming checking email, while sweeping the floors.  I guess some would call this multi-tasking.  Two guys were checking their emails during one of the lessons yesterday.  What kind of a message does that send to the kids.  We tell the kids they can’t bring their electronics…maybe the adults should have the same rules.  There was always someone walking around with a phone stuck to their ear.  I’m afraid we have forgotten how to slow down and let God take care of things.  People have existed thousands of years without the stuff that we say we ”can’t live without.”  On top of that, there are numerous activities and entertainment options that can get in the way.  Our culture is so busy running from one thing to another.  How many of these things will matter for eternity?  Not as many as we would hope, I’m sure.  I’m not trying to get on a soap box or be “holier than thou” because I have plenty of my own things that get in the way of listening to God.  My point is – we need to slow down, be quiet and listen to God.  If we will just stop and listen to His plan, His will, and His ways, we will live a much more fulfilling, abudant and less chaotic, cluttered life.  I know from experience, it’s easier said than done, but I believe God will bless us when we obey.

Well, I’m off to the softball field to pitch for our 9 and under coach pitch team.  I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight.  Tomorrow, if I have time, I would like to tell you about a conversation I had with the camp manager – it was a God thing.

May you tune in to God’s frequency today and tune out all of the static of the world around!!

GG Pa

The wonderful gentleman that I have been writing about the past few days is now in the presence of the Lord.  After a tough battle, he passed away peacefully this morning about 8:34.  I had the privilege of being by his side, comforting the family.  When I say “privilege,” I mean that with all of my heart.  He was a great man who loved his wife and family, and they new it.  They love him, and he knew it.  It was a blessing to be there to witness this beautiful love.

Yesterday was truly a gift to the family for him to be alert, peaceful, and able to communicate through writing.  I don’t know how many times over the past few days I have heard the phrase, “I love you” expressed with such heartfelt sincerity from the youngest to the oldest family members.  His great granddaughter is about 2 1/2 years old.  When she saw him yesterday, all of the tubes, mask, noise, etc… kind of frightened her.  She said, “What’s wrong with GG Pa?”  They told her that the mask was helping him to breath.  At that she said, “So he will be better in the morning, and can play with me.”  Well, she was right in the fact that he would be better in the morning because he went to be with His Savior, Jesus Christ.  They asked her if she wanted to tell GG Pa anything, and she said, “I love you, GG Pa.”  That, to me, says it all!  His wife, while expressing how much she loved him and would miss him, also said that she was a little jealous that he was in Heaven without her!  They have been married nearly 54 years.  A friend visiting the hospital yesterday said that the thing she has always noticed and will remember is the fact that you could always tell that they were truly in love.  One of their daughters said she remembered that her mom was always happy when her dad got home from work, and they would always give each other two kisses.

For me, this next event had the most impact today.  When they were informed that nothing more could be done and that the oxygen should be removed, the doctor told them that they could prolong his life for an hour and a half to allow their son to get there.  They told him, no, that their son was at peace and would not want them to prolong the suffering.  His wife said that in their family they didn’t wait until moments like this to say, “I love you.”  It was something that was said and lived out in their family all the time.  The kids knew they were loved and at the same time expressed their love for their dad. 

An incredible legacy has been left by this quiet, gentle, loving husband, father, grandfather, and “GG Pa.”  I am better for having known him, and feel like they have ministered to me by the love they have for each other more than I have been able to minister to them.  What a wonderful family!  May God give them peace, mercy, comfort, and an outpouring of love now in their time of mourning!

Our God is Amazing

Knowing the time would come to write my milestone fiftieth blog post (I know, I know, I’m such a stats guy), I have been trying to figure out something “out of the ordinary” to write about.  Here it is – orchestrated by our Amazing God!! 

I can’t think of anything better to write about than to follow up on yesterday’s post.  After the ballgames last night, our Sr. Minister and I went back to the hospital to see the family that I mentioned yesterday.  Much to our joy, he had made great improvement!!!  His oxygen level was back up, and the doctor said it wasn’t because of the machines, but because his body was responding.  His wife told me that when he saw his great granddaughter, who he absolutely adores, his oxygen level shot up!  I went back to see him this morning, and he is still improving.  He is even able to write notes on a notepad in order to communicate.  He asked such questions as, “Why are they keeping me in this unit so long?”, “Have you watered the grass?”, “What are the gas prices?” and “Have you had breakfast?”  He also asked for Channel 2 (weather channel), and Channel 53 (stockmarket reports)!!  Glory be to God for this incredible turnaround!!!  No matter what happens, this is a gift to the family.

While things don’t always turn out this way, and we all know that he is still a very sick man, let’s remember that our God is a promise keeper, too!!  He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.  Whether He gives us more time on this earth, or we are taken into His presence, His will and plan is perfect.  I have been blessed to see this family come together in unity and in prayer, and I have been encouraged to see how God is answering those prayers.  God has a plan, and we live in faith that He causes all things to work to the good of those who love Him.  In this case, we are rejoicing with this family today for the blessings from our Lord. 

May God richly bless you today as you live in faith, hope, and love!

Promise Kept

I have spent the majority of the morning at the hospital with a dear family from our church.  The husband / father has been in the hospital for over 3 weeks now, and his condition is deteriorating.  His oxygen level is way down, and it was time to make a decision whether to use the ventilator or not.  It was heart wrenching to see this family going through such pain.  In tears, his wife said several times, “We promised each other that we would never do that.”  In the end, with all things considered and the promise weighing in heavily, the decision was made not to use the ventilator.  All three of their children and some of the grandchildren were there, and everyone was unified in the decision.  There was definitely sadness, but there was a peace that can only be explained by the hope they have in the Lord.  I was there when she told him of the decision and saw him nod his head in agreement.  The only other words she needed to say at that time were, “I love you,” which she said several times.  I heard him tell her, through the oxygen mask, “love you.”  I’m supposed to be there to comfort and to be strong, but tears came to my eyes and a lump came up in my throat.  This is real life stuff, not just a movie.  This is a hurting family, and my heart is breaking for them.  At the same time, God ministered to me in that moment through the love this couple has for one another.  They are role models for the rest of us.  They always speak kindly and lovingly to one another.   I have ministered at a nursing home with them before, and have witnessed how they love others.  They took me to lunch one day, and we had a wonderful conversation.  They speak with such high regard for their children and their families.  They were instrumental in taking their then-future son-in-laws to church when they were young.  They didn’t want their daughters marrying unbelievers.  Incredibly, both men are ministers today!  Both daughters have been here in the recent weeks and are back.  Their son has been up here several times over the past few weeks to help take care of them.  This is a great family, who will pull through this together in the strength of the Lord.  When I left the hospital, they were all at peace.  In keeping her promise and hearing his agreement, it took the weight off of her shoulders.  More than likely, barring a miracle, he will pass from this life and be in the presence of the Lord today or tomorrow. 

I had a flood of thoughts while I was with them this morning.  Have I said what needs to be said to my wife and my children?  If I was to be on my death bed today, is “I love you” all that would need to be said?  Have I taken care of them and provided for their future needs?  How will they remember me?  This gentleman’s son was talking about what a wonderful father, grandfather, and husband he was.  What a wonderful testimony.  These kinds of moments really make a guy think about priorities and what we are doing to make our time here on earth count.  What kind of legacy will I leave behind?

May God give you the peace that transcends all understanding today!

Amber Waves of Grain

Many of you will be surprised by this story.  I think a lot of people assume that since I am originally from Texas, have a degree in the ag field, wear Wranglers and drive a truck that I grew up on a farm…  Well, that’s not the case.  Though I took a lot of classes that talked about farming, I haven’t had many real life experiences with it.  I have been around livestock quite a bit, but most of my experience came in the meat lab, packing plant, and processing plant…

After last night, I will never eat a piece of bread the same again, nor will I get upset when I have to share the road with a combine, nor will I sing America the Beautiful the same again, nor will I ever read the Bible the same again, nor will I forget that the field is ripe for harvest…

I got to be a part of a custom harvesting crew for the evening.  A friend from our church invited me to join them to see what it was all about.  In some ways, I felt like a little boy getting to do something exciting and different for the first time.  Anyway, I learned a few lessons that I would like to pass on.

First of all, my words from God lately have been perseverance and patience.  My friend has learned the art of perseverance and patience.  His wife fought a long term illness for many many years and went home to be with the Lord about a month ago.  To me, he is the model for loyalty, dedication, and love.  In sickness, and in health, in good times and bad…  On top of that, he owns a small custom harvesting operation.  This is not a job for the weak at heart.  What if it rains, what if it hails, what if we have a drought, what if the machines break down…  Last night, I believe I saw some of the fruit from the perseverance seeds that have been planted through life’s trials.  When I first got there, the starter had just gone out on one of the combines.  He had been up until about 3:30 the morning before and was back in the field by 10:00 that morning.  It was now 6:00 p.m., which is not a great time to start trying to find parts.  He calmly came up with a solution, not getting agitated at all.  While one of the crew was taking care of the starter, my friend moved the combine to the next field.  A couple of us moved other vehicles, as well.  My friend opened up that field, made a few rounds, came to empty the machine, and found that the tire was losing air.  He calmly said, “Well, we’re done with that one for the night”, and he began thinking up a solution for that problem.  In the meantime, the other combine was back up and running, so we went and picked it up.  It ran well, and we cut until about midnight.  He said to me, “Well, you wanted to experience harvest.  This is it, problems and all”.

Secondly, my friend explained to me how the combine works.  I was amazed at how efficient it was.  There was a lot of waste that needed to be removed to get to the seed, and this machine did it quickly.  As he was teaching me about the inner workings, words from the Bible came alive, such as winnow (separating the chaff from the seed) and thresh (removing the seed from the plant).  There are so many passages of Scripture that are coming to my mind right now.  I will forever see them in a different light.  John 4:35b says, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!  They are ripe for the harvest.”  Last night, as it looked like rain clouds could possibly come in, there was a sense of urgency to get as much grain in as possible.  Today, as I think about this, there is a sense of urgency to share the gospel with as many people as possible.  There will come a time when the wheat will be separated from the tares.  There will be a time when the chaff will be winnowed and burned, and the grain will go to the storehouse.  There will be a day when it will be too late, but that day hasn’t come yet. 

Thirdly, I thought about what God is doing right now.  Matthew 9:37-38 says, “Then He (Jesus) said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’”.  We have been praying for “workers” for about five years to help with Wings of Love, our ministry to single parent families.  All of a sudden, it seems that God is moving in a mighty way for this ministry.  We took 6 people to a leadership conference in May, our Outreach Ministry Team wants to come alongside this ministry and make it our church’s “niche ministry” because no one else is doing it in our area, our Sr. Minister had a meeting yesterday with a man who wants to join this team and already has some ideas, I had lunch with a friend today who wants to join us…  I’m about to email our Prayer Partners to cover all of this in prayer!

Lastly, I learned that threshing involves the wheat heads rubbing against each other.  This action removes the seeds from the plant.  If we want to be effective and truly make disciples as Jesus commissioned us to do, we need to GO into our community and world and build relationships.  People aren’t just going to come to us.  We need to be rubbing shoulders with people in the community, meeting needs, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

May you GO today, and may God use you in His mighty harvest!

Laminin

Wow, sounds like an exciting title, huh?  Aren’t you just so encouraged just by the very name, Laminin?  Okay, probably not.  In fact, I doubt I have many hits on this post with a name like that…

I have always been facinated by God’s creation.  I have taken numerous science and animal science classes, including two semesters of biochemistry.  Everything I have learned and continue to learn from science serve to increase my faith and prove there is an amazing Creator.  There is no way we are here by chance.  The world we live in is too amazing to be explained by the ridiculous “Big Bang Theory.”  Life wasn’t created by some big explosion any more than this computer I’m working on was made by an explosion at Compaq…  What a dismal existence it would be to think I was here by chance and had no greater purpose than to live on this earth to satisfy my every desire in the time I had here and then die. 

Just remembering who we are in Christ should be encouraging to each of us who know Him, and bring hope to those who don’t.

Colossians 1:15-17:  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Watch this video and enjoy:  

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=152b5103d741aca61093