I prefer words.

I am not an especially big fan of numbers. That is probably a little disconcerting coming from someone who is mis-cast in the role of an administrator. Numbers and I have always had a tension-filled relationship, even back to grade school days. I have always preferred the company of words. Numbers portray facts and absolutes. 2 always fits between 1 & 3 and represents a value exactly between them. Words, on the other hand, can be arranged in many different ways, and different words can be used to convey the same thought in a different light.

Numbers can't reveal all that they represent without the help of words. Financial statements represent the reality of the moment, but they are incapable of telling the whole story without accompanying narraration. Businessmen have always looked for the one page report that would give a complete and accurate representation of financial status, but it still doesn't exist. It will always require a story told by the person who was there on a daily basis and who understands the trends represented by the numbers.

Words can convey emotion, where numbers can only convey value. "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11

I prefer words.

Creative Access

I learned a new term this weekend; "creative access countries". What I like about this term is that it concerns what used to be called, "closed countries". These are the countries that will not allow the traditional evangelist/church planter type of missionary to enter their country, so we called them "closed". In previous decades, we went about establishing works in the countries which allowed traditional missionaries and saw many great works done for the Kingdom. A huge number of the nations of the world now have a healthy indigenous church.

However, the Great Commission is to go into ALL the world, not just those places who welcomed us. What we saw as closed, God saw as His creation who needed his salvation. He worked through believers who would trust him to make ways where there seemed to be no ways, and now we are seeing how it will happen. God is using people with skills other than preaching and church planting skills to bring the Gospel to the rest of the world. Proclaiming is taking on a fresh dimension in reaching the "closed" countries. It is taking place while relief is given, gardens are planted, water is filtered, people are rescued from slavery and addiction, and while research is done. A new generation of missionaries who don't look or possess the skillset of previous missionaries are reaching the unreached in new and creative ways with previously unconventional ministry skills. "Creative access countries". I like it.

Can bad be good?

Stuff happens. We all know that. But did you know that when we face it a challenge or trial that it is one of God's ways of showing us His love? Hebrews 12:6 tells us "My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects." (Msg) And we're supposed find joy even in stress-filled situations. "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (James 1:2-4 Msg)

Many times we think that if something is happening to us that we don't like then God must have turned his head for a minute and let something bad slip up on us. Because if we don't like it then it can't be from God, can it? But if these scriptures mean what they say, then we should praise God and know that he loves us even during the worst part of the trial and not wait until it is over to give him praise. If we are being chastened, it means God loves us. When we see the trial as a gift from God, we display the spiritual maturity of one who trusts God for who he is, and not for what he has done for us lately.

The Call

Samuel was awakened in the middle of the night by the voice of God. Moses saw a burning bush. David was brought in from the field to anointed as king. All of these men were called by God. They are all great stories. And we act as though they give us permission not to do anything of significance because nothing like that has happened to us.

There are many questions concerning "The Call". We assume that if we are "called" we have to stop what we are doing and go to Bible college. Then we have to buy a dark suit and start trying out for churches. In reality, the call of God comes many different ways and takes on many different forms.

This Sunday night in our small groups, we will all watch a 12 minute video interview of several members of our missionary family. In these interviews we will see that none of them have "traditional" ministries. None are pastors and none are crusade evangelists. They teach English, build water filters and teach sustainable farming, help rescue victims of human trafficking, and serve as wandering storytellers. None of them had a dramatic "called" event. Each of them followed a desire to help in areas where they saw a need.

The question is not, "Am I called?". The question is "Where am I called?". It probably won't be in a remote jungle, but it might. But that desire you have to do something to help in an area of need, whether it is on your own block or on the other side of the world, just might be "The Call".

Trustworthy?

John 2:23-25 (The Message)
23-25During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn't entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn't need any help in seeing right through them.

Jesus knew how unstable the opinions of people can be. He was the visible image of God, and yet people's opinions about him wavered from day to day depending on how his message struck them. The same crowd that shouted "hosanna" one day shouted "crucify him!" just a week later.

We, as mere mortals have an unending struggle with this. We are social creatures, desiring to be respected and wanting to be in relationship with people we can respect. But it has been said, "The best of men are men at best." It is easy to hold the principle of caring only for God's approval, but in reality it hurts when someone you loved and felt comfortable around suddenly turns on you. I need to warn you; if you are my friend for any length of time, I will let you down. Please don't cut me loose, because eventually you will let me down and we both need all the friends we can get. I'll give you a pass if you still want to be my friend. I hope you will give me a pass as well. I think it's what we are supposed to do.

Civil Discourse

A couple of days ago, one of my facebook friends posted an update saying simply, "We must return to a more civil tone in our national debate." I agreed and clicked the "like" button. As a result, I was notified each time someone responded to that thread. It was ironic in a "Saturday Night Live" sort of way. No one responded negatively to the idea of civil discourse, but it seemed that the consenus was that we could have civil discourse if the other side of the issue would act better. Very quickly the conversation descended to accusations of lies, ignorance, name calling, and bad motives; in other words, while rallying around the idea of civil discourse, the actual discourse became quite acrimonious within just a few sentences.

As a Christ follower and minister, I have made it a practice not to engage in political discussions not because I have no point of view or consider myself to be above such topics, but because I know that God loves those from every political persuasion. He does not check the voting registration of anyone seeking Him before granting access, so neither do I.

The reason for this post is not to chastize those who engage in political name-calling. That is the centuries old nature of politics. I'm writing this post today because I see the same name calling going on in our churches around the nation. I have written about this numerous times on this blog. We are very quick to go on the attack if someone has the audacity to propose something different from our preference. There is little consideration of "the greater good" when we are convinced that we already live the perfection of that ideal, or at least know how it should look. I am troubled when a controversy arises and the motivation is to "win" more than it is to seek what is correct. We in the church have learned our craft well from the political arena. We make sure that we keep our constituencies happy and form coalitions to make sure that we have an unassailable voting block. We are quick to write our letters of complaint and to attack the motives of those who dare propose new ideas. Churches all over the nation are going through "turf wars". The casualties of those wars are those who need what Christ has to offer, but can't see him because those who are supposed to be his representatives appear to be no different than the people they see on Fox or CNN.

Ordinary can be awesome

Most of life is unremarkable if we are lucky. No one really expects to get notice of a huge inheiritance from an uncle we barely knew. No one really expects to be one of the six people in the world to find a golden ticket in their Wonka bar. But we all have our share of really terrible days; days of unexpected layoffs, bad medical test results, horrible fights with someone we love, and the like. We all hope that those days are few. So, with very few extraordinarily great days expected and several (but not many) really bad days anticipated, the vast majority of days are destined to be mundane. It is in those days that life is lived. It is what we do with those days that determines if we will leave anything of significance behind because of the life we lived.

Last night we had some folks over for dinner, one of whom was my grandson, Tyler. In the waning moments of the evening, he and I sat out on the front porch as the sun was going down. We weren't playing any sort of raucous game, we were just sitting. Since he is not yet 2 years old, we weren't having a deep conversation. (He does have an extraordinary vocabulary, but that is for another post.) But there was a second that I looked at him and he looked back at me and smiled. It only lasted for a couple of seconds, but I sensed how valuable those simple, ordinary moments are. There will be opportunities for over the top fun at parties and amusement parks, but I have learned to really appreciate ordinary days. Ordinary can be awesome.

Football Breakfasts- year 5

This morning was the start of another season of football breakfasts. This is the fifth year that we have served breakfast to the Putnam City North football team on the mornings they play in their home stadium. They arrive at the FLiC around 7:30 and they bring their appetites with them. This morning was incredible. Bob Smith, Trent Smith, Carole, Bambi Longstreth and I cooked 18 pounds of bacon, 15 dozen biscuits, 15 dozen eggs, 6 gallons of orange juice and 2 gallons of gravy. They ate it all. In years past when we cooked that much we always had a lot of leftovers, but not today. More players came than we have seen in previous years, and they ate like there was no tomorrow. I told the coaches to tell the players to keep coming. We'll cook more next week. If you would like to help with this, we will be cooking on Septermber 11 and 25, then October 9 and 23 and November 5. We will also cook for all playoff games. It really is kinda fun and the players are very polite and grateful. It has become a big tradition to the players; one they really look forward to. Let me or Trent know if you would like to help.

A new missionary friend

I just had lunch with someone I had never met. He is a missionary assigned to an area of the world which is quite sensitive, so I can't mention his name or the part of the world he lives in when on the field. He and his wife have been living as "ministry vagabonds" for the past several years, following disaster and upheaval all around the world to administer assistance and hope. They own very little in assets and live mostly out of two suitcases; one for hot weather and one for cold weather. I immediately liked him. He does not consider that he is giving anything up to do what God has called him to do. Sleeping in hammocks and in leaky canoes is all part of the adventure that he gets to do as a Christ follower.

I am convinced that we have young people in our youth group who can live completely committed lives as Christ followers. I believe that they are sensitive to God's voice in their lives. I believe that they have a desire to do anything God asks them to do. The only thing I don't know for sure is this: Will we as a church be ready and willing to resource them in every way necessary to prepare and send them, and will their families be willing to release them to live a life not in keeping with the "American Dream"?