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August 31, 2021August 31, 2021

The Care and Feeding of God Moments

1 Peter 2:21, “For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.”

GOD MOMENTS

When I get back in-country, one of the questions I have is how do I keep this feeling, actually much more than a feeling, alive? What is the care and feeding of a God moment?

These moments are the manna that is poured down from heaven to feed and nourish our souls. They are the actual display of God’s glory that will sustain us through bad times and provide the catalyst of hope for the future that we can then pass on to others.

The second most important responsibility we have when answering God’s call, short of obedience, is to become a living testimony to those who do not know God and have never seen tangible examples of His love.

When I first come back from a trip, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the experience God has allowed me to have through Him. Each trip is like the first time a small child visits a botanical zoo or an aquarium; they can’t verbalize all they have seen and experienced. My brain is on sensory overload. I have met so many Godly people that have little reason to be thankful but are still light to those around them. I have seen God instill wisdom that exceeds education level; it even exceeds what would be expected based on life experience. I have heard life stories that bring me to my knees.

2 Corinthians 1:12, “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you.”

I always leave knowing the reason I am there I not only how God used me to help them, but how He uses them to soften a hard spot in me. For every moment of truth, God reveals to them; he also reveals one for me.

CARE AND FEEDING

Tell a Story: Your story is the key that can unlock someone else’s prison.

Psalm 66:16, “Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me”

People remember stories. It is one of the most critical ways ancient man passed on knowledge. “Folk lore” is not real-life events, but stories used to demonstrate essential lessons; the illiterate could remember the account and pass it on. Fables are written to teach life lessons in a form that the listeners could pass on from generation to generation. The passing on is the crucial part.

God’s moments don’t always happen in significant ways. Living your testimony isn’t always a mission trip or a big inner-city event. Instead, some of my most favorite God moments are from everyday experiences. These are the moments when God sends someone into your life to make a point. They are strangers when you meet them, and many of them will remain strangers, when they leave, but they will have left an indelible imprint on your life.

Organize your Thoughts

“The unbelieving world should see our testimony lived out daily because it just may point them to the Savior.” Billy Graham

I am a visual learner by nature; it is the way God wired me. When I read words, they create a picture in my brain that is easier to remember. When I travel, I take lots of pictures, some of them relatively mundane. I have to go back and label them as soon as possible before I lose the moment. If I wait too long, the moments are gone. We each have our gifting; we are each wired differently.

So it is with all of our experience God gives us, big and small, we have to label them, sort them, and organize them so that when we need them, they can easily be found. We need to do this as soon as possible after God’s intervention. We need to treat them as heirlooms to be passed on from generation to generation.

Rehearse your Story

Psalm 22:22, “I will praise you to all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done.”

These moments become the stories of our lives. They need to be told with truth, for the lessons God gives us have a specific purpose. We need to take the time to meditate on them, with prayer and scripture, to ensure that we don’t stumble through the telling when they are required.

Don’t waste a single moment God has given you. There is no guarantee of more tomorrows; there is only this moment. So, make it count for something.

SHORT STORIES

Daniel 4:2, “I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders the Most High God has performed for me.”

Here are some short examples from the last few weeks. The context of these stories is that they are from a people who live in a predominately Muslim country that has been a strife with violent government uprisings and devastating economic circumstances:

– I met a man who had been released from a Russian prison at age 40. I bonded with this man immediately. He became a Christian after he got out because he experienced the love and kindness of other Christians and wanted to know why. He liked what they had.

– I met a great young man who organized youth sporting events in a vacant lot where he lived. Every Saturday between 3 pm and 7 pm, he would gather the neighborhood kids to play games. He used this as a way of getting to know the needs of his neighbors. When he would hear of a need, he would collect the required objects during the week and give them to the child to take home. As he did this, he shared the gospel and handed out Bible verses.

– I went hiking with two extraordinary young men. Extraordinary doesn’t do them justice. One of these men took 18-year-old men that had aged out of the orphanage system to teach them life skills. Most of these men had challenging backgrounds. The second man adopted orphans with severe emotional problems based on previous trauma. On the hike, he brought along one of his daughters, as it was her thirteenth birthday. He told about her having seen her mother stab her father with a kitchen knife at six. As they hiked, they talked. I was awe-struck by how commonplace they spoke of their dedication to Christ. They thanked me for coming to help them, but I couldn’t imagine someone having a more significant impact on God’s kingdom than these two.

One of my takeaways from these trips is that most Christians treat helping as organized sports with team uniforms and sponsored events. These people know it is a schoolyard game played at the moment.

March 21, 2020March 21, 2020

The World of 1910

More than a year before the pandemic, I was thinking about what my life would look like if I were born in 1910. It was to give perspective of how blessed I truly am. I thought I would pass it on as a reminder in these troubled times.

Today we believe that our world is afflicted. It is not a wrong observation. The 2109-nCov pandemic is racing around the world. We are cautioned about meeting in groups of 10 or more; our churches have turned to video conferencing to spread the word. God is, and always has been, in control. God’s sovereignty will never change.

What would my life be like if I was born in Europe in 1910?

The population of the world in 1910 was about 1.5-1.7 billion compared to 7.2 today. This revelation puts the following numbers is perspective. To understand the impact of these events, if they happened today, you could see multiple everything by 3 or 4 to get the equivalent result.

When I was 12 years old, the Titanic sunk losing 1,500 passengers. But this was only a sign of what was to come. By the time I was in middle school, “The Great War” had started. It wasn’t called World War One until 1939 with the start of World War Two. Who thought there would be two of them? The Great War would claim 40 million military and civilian casualties, 6 million to war-related famine and disease. It left 23 million wounded. It was fought in my backyards with such weapons as mustard gas (a vomiting agent), tear gas (affected the eyes and lungs), and barbed wire.

The Great War ended at the end of my High Schools years (although I wasn’t in High School, I was in the army) just to be followed by The Spanish Flu epidemic in which millions died, approximately 5% of the world’s population. It targeted 20-35-year-old’s, my age group. Citizens wore masks to schools, theater, and other outside events. Businesses were shuttered, and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march in 1919. By the end of 1919, the average life expectancy plummeted by a dozen years. The first vaccine was created in 1940.

By the time I turn 39, the Second World War was starting. It would claim another 50 million lives, 20 million in Russia alone, another 12 million executed by the Germans. Five million in Poland, and 7 million in German. Again, it was fought in my back yard. Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the Battle of Normandy alone.

When I was born, life expectancy was only 46 years. If I lived through all of this, I was lucky and had maybe another 10-15 years left. I would die in the middle of the greatest military arms buildup in history. By the time I turn 60, there are over 30,000 nuclear warheads ready for deployment.

During my lifetime, over 190 million people would die from war and flu alone, very unnatural causes. This death toll had to mold my view of life. Today we complain of political corruption, loosening of moral standards, self-centeredness, and the pandemic. We point to Revelations and say the end must be near. What would you say if you were a child of the early 20th century?

Don’t get me wrong; our problems and perceptions are real. Our world is slowly circling the drain. But God is still the God of love and compassion. He is not the author of evil; he is the vaccine. He and He alone has gotten us through a lot of worse situations.

Psalms 136:23-26, “He remembered us in our weakness. His faithful love endures forever. He saved us from our enemies. His faithful love endures forever. He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever. “

January 3, 2020January 22, 2020

I need you to find me

1 Peter 1:8-9 “You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls.”

Things come to me from odd places. I was watching the movie “Find Me.”, I gravitated to it because it was about hiking. It’s a love story, I’m a guy I know, don’t judge me. I won’t ruin the storyline, but a statement struck me, “I need you to find me.” It was like a lost little voice from within. It had a hint of desperation. It was the voice of the man that God wanted me to be. It was a plea. It was lost and wanted to be found.

I never really thought that the life I was looking for was waiting to be found. The visual of this is hard for me to describe. I see a great love lost in a dark forest of discouragement. The trees of disappointment and lost dreams are blocking out the sun. This great love forages for food and stays warm at night by the campfire while I bask in the sun. God made me this man of great passion and achievement, and I have sequestered him in the recesses of my mind.

See, the problem is that he is not practical. He has great plans and great enthusiasm for things he cannot be. He doesn’t worry about the bills or going to work. He cares little for the aggravation of traffic or the passing of time. He speaks of adventure. He speaks of usefulness without compensation. He wants me to believe that I can exist in a world of joy and fulfillment, and God will provide.

He is real. He is in my mind, pushed down by life.

Proverbs 10:28 “The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.”

The reality is the picture is painted backward. It is I who live in the forest of discouragement. The man that God wants me to be lives in a world of light. The trees of my forest are bills and jobs and traffic. I have come to believe that being the person God wants me to be is the struggle and living life, is natural and more uncomplicated. This view of life is not valid. Each has its struggles, but only one has eternal rewards. God admonishes us in Luke 11:35, “Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.”

1 John 1:5-6 “Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.”

As I struggle to find my way, it is encouraging to know that I am not alone. Through the Holy Spirit embedded in me, I have a guide. I do not have to pull the real me out of darkness; I need to walk toward the light.

When lost in the darkness of the world, always walk east toward the horizon and sunrise will come.

Ephesians 5:8-9 “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth).”