Life is an experiment

Life is an experiment. Or, if you wish, life is a series of experiments. I have come to that conclusion because if I hadn't arrived at that conclusion I would have had no choice but to lose my mind. As a person who is living my life in an imperfect world, many of the decisions I make will have imperfect outcomes. Some make decisions with no thought to God's will for their lives, and some struggle to make decisions because they are waiting to hear a specific direction from God for every decision. Those who disregard God's will eventually find themselves in a fix of their own making, because God will allow us to go our own way as long as we are satisfied with our own plan. And it is easy to point to them and dismiss their difficulty with a simple "You made your bed, now lie on it."

But many Christians who want to live lives that are pleasing to God really get tied up in knots over the specifics of the decisions they must make. They feel that a decision must be 100% perfect because God doesn't make mistakes. Then when the outcome they get is less than what they expected, they have to figure out what went wrong. They either blame themselves because "they must have missed God", or someone involved in the decision must have blown their opportunity. The example of King Saul is brought up frequently in these discussions. But before we begin to expose the Sauls in our situations, we must look inside ourselves to see if we are truly a Samuel.

In reality there are few decisions which are truly "one chance to get it right the first time" lifelong decisions. Most of the decisions we make are transitional decisions. They are made today and are adjusted later. Cars we buy can be traded. Appointments we make can be changed. The outcome we get can be just what God wanted to bring us to the place we have been asking Him to bring us to. He doesn't guarantee that each decision we make will turn out as we wanted it to just because we have placed it in His hands. He has promised that He will honor our humble and obedient spirit.

So if you've made a decision, a judgment call, or started on a new direction in life and it isn't turning out the way you hoped it would, don't get all tied up in knots. If you didn't seek God's input before making the decision, ask His forgiveness and ask His guidance to get you through the situation. If you feel that you did seek God's counsel, then continue to walk in faith even though the decision might seem disastrous. He does things we can't understand, but we can understand that He loves us and will see us through. Don't beat yourself up and don't point fingers. Just trust Him. He loves you. Really.He does. Look at life as a series of experiments. Some will turn out the way you expected. But experiments have uncertain outcomes or else they wouldn't be experiments. They would be habits.

Withdrawl Symptoms

This Sunday will be the first Sunday morning service at Living Water Church that I have missed since Carole and I were call here last November and I am already suffering withdrawl symptons. Carole and I are leaving on Friday for Arizona for General Council, which is the national meeting of Assembly of God ministers and is held every other year. We are leaving a couple of days before it begins so we can enjoy a couple of days at the Grand Canyon, which is one of our favorite places on earth. I am looking forward to spending some uninterrupted time with Carole, who is my favorite person on earth, and I'm looking forward to hearing what the leadership of the A/G will have to say concerning the future of our movement. I am expecting to come back refreshed and enthused after hearing new ideas and enjoying wonderful worship services each day.

But I am still having withdrawl symptoms from Living Water. God has been working an amazing transformation in me since I began this journey in Guthrie. I see the seeds of fresh momentum beginning to germinate in our church and I love what God has been doing in our Sunday services. I don't want to miss one minute of this fresh, new and exciting season. I have complete confidence in Scott and believe that he will bring a powerful word. I don't have any fear that any uprisings will occur or that the church will suffer in my absence. I just like being at LWC. I don't like missing. I'm going to enjoy myself while I'm gone, but I will be really happy to get back!

Perception- the sequel

Many of you have talked to me about the last post about my adventure at the bank. Thanks for offering to help sort and roll coins, and most of all for the many humorous comments you have made. I thought I'd share how the story ends:

I took the infamous coin jug to Highpointe church because I knew they have a machine which will sort and count coins. My friends there even visited with me while the coins were sorting. I carried them away in their separate containers and headed to the bank where our church has its account. I carried in the smaller containers and waited for an available teller. The young lady didn't seem the least bit bothered that I had a large amount of coins to deposit and she was very helpful and cheerful despite a number of machine malfunctions while the process unfolded.

As a parenthetical aside, while I was watching the coins being counted, one of the ladies from Missy's Bakery came into the bank with a pan of baked goods for someone in the bank. I asked her if I could get added to her route for routine delivery of fresh baked items, but I wasn't given any hope that that would ever happen.

When my teller was finished with the counting and the rolling of the coins, she asked another bank employee to verify her count. As the other lady was verifying, she suddenly looked up and me and said, "Oh, you're the jug guy from yesterday!"

Yeah, that's me. The jug guy from yesterday.

Have a great day!!!

Perception

Our church just completed a coin drive to help our children go to Kids Camp. I am thrilled that we have 25 kids leaving Monday to have a great time at camp. My responsibility today was to take the big jug of coins and cash to the bank to be deposited. Being a bank, I figured they had the stuff to count coins accurately, if not happily. The jug of coins weighs around 50 pounds, so you don't want to carry it further than you have to, and you have to use both hands. I made it through the front door and someone was standing at each teller window, so I asked one of the workers if there was someplace it would be okay to set the jug down while I waited for an available teller. One lady smiled and pointed to a clear area of counter space and I headed that direction. Just prior to being relieved of the load of coins another lady said quite urgently, "Are they separated?" The jug is clear, so I thought it was a rather silly question, but I answered "No". She replied, "We can't take them unless they are separated", to which I replied, still carrying the full weight of the jug, "I was told that you have a coin counter." With a matter of fact expression, she said, "We do but we don't sort coins. They have to be separated." With that matter settled, I thanked her for the information and headed to the door. However, it is more difficult to pull the door toward you than it is to push it away when you are carrying a bulky load of coins. No one made a move to help, and I got the door open and made it to the truck.

I was not angry that the bank doesn't sort coins. I should have called or gone in empty handed to make sure. My feeling was that the bank had missed a golden opportunity to display helpfulness in excess of policy. One person saying, "I hate that you have had to carry that jug of coins for nothing" as she reached to help with the door would have given me a completely different impression of the entire bank. What I got was information. I needed the information but a little grace would have turned a frustrating experience into a pleasant one. I would not expect them to sort the coins for me if their machine doesn't do it, but I did expect them to show a little sympathy for my situation.

Maybe that's how we as church people should be. In stead of giving someone only the truth, which the person may not want to hear, we can add a little grace to the truth and possibly get a much better result.

'Tis all that I can do

For whatever reason I have had the last verse from the old Isaac Watts hymn, "At the Cross" on my mind today. That verse goes:

But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe,
Dear Lord I give my self away; 'tis all that I can do.

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
and the burden of my heart rolled away;
It was there by faith, I received my sight,
and now I am happy all the day.

As I reflected on the words of this song sung many times in my youth I thought of those who I have encountered over the years who have struggled with their forgiveness. They continued to labor and grieve over past sins and transgressions. I really believe that they felt that they were either disqualified from Christian service, or that they must labor in Christian service in an attempt to make themselves "worthy" of their salvation. This song verse isn't scripture, of course, but it does a good job of summing up the heart of Christian service. We owed a debt beyond our capacity to pay, but Jesus' substitutionary death on the cross paid our debt in full. Our response is (or should be) that we give ourselves completely to Christ in gratitude for what has already been done for us. Anything less is gross ingratitude. Dear Lord, we give ourselves away. It's all that we can do.

The Power of Forgiveness

This week it has been my privilege to visit with two different people who have endured hurt and betrayal by someone they thought they could trust. That in itself isn't remarkable. Each of us who have lived any time at all bear the scars of hurts inflicted by someone we loved. What made these two conversations remarkable what that each of them made the conscious choice to forgive the one who caused the hurt.

Both situations left the hurting person with a perfect opportunity to use the hurt as an excuse for harboring bitterness and mistrust for the remainder of their lives, but their choice to forgive actually freed them to live in joy. They fully realize the pain they suffered and they don't minimize the severity of the offense, but by forgiving, they have released themselves from the weight of bitterness and unforgiveness which so many carry to their grave.

Each of the people I visited with are joyous people. If you didn't know their story you might be fooled into thinking that nothing bad had ever happened to them, but their joy is not fakery; it authentic God-given joy.

They have found that forgiveness is the best gift they could give themselves. Forgiveness is powerful.

A Lot Has Happened!

In preparing for the dedication of the EdZone this weekend I got to thinking about those who have helped bring us to this place. I thought of those who originally looked at a metal warehouse and saw a beautiful church. I thought of those who gave of their finances, time and talents to lay out the floorplan and began to do the work. I thought of those who framed walls, ran electrical, built platforms, strung cables, hung lights and projectors, layed tile, painted, hung ceilings and decorated. It was a grand undertaking. I know that I do not know everyone who was involved in the early labor but I owe a debt of gratitude to all who gave of themselves so completely to build the attractive and current house of worship we enjoy.

While difficulties slowed the project, they did not kill the dream. The dream is alive and well and gaining momentum week by week. This week's dedication will be a further step in fulfilling the vision that placed us where we are today.

I have sensed since my arrival a few months ago that my first mandate was to complete the original vision before I led us in any new directions. The EdZone is the most visible of the remaining work. Now only a couple of air conditioners and some roof repair stand between us and the completion of the original plan.

God has been faithful through the exciting early days of the project, through the difficulty of the crisis period, and in the quiet healing period we are experiencing today. He has never left us and He never will. He still has great things in store for us, and as we keep our hearts turned to Him, He will reveal His plans for Living Water Church.

Be blessed and I'll see you Sunday!