Hearing God's Voice

Blessings to you and yours during this season of Lent!

Yesterday I had the privilege of talking with my younger brother, Chris, on the phone as he was calling from Iraq. It took a while to be able to talk with him because he was calling through an internet connection and we could never seem to get a good connection between us. We finally got connected, but throughout our 35 minute conversation, it was difficult to make out what he was trying to tell me.

Throughout our conversation, I had to continually tell him to speak up and let him know that I didn't understand what he had just said. Without all the starts and stops, our conversation could have lasted only 20 minutes, but it was prolonged because of the bad connection. I found myself, in the midst of talking with him, that I was focusing intently upon each word he was saying in hopes that if I even caught a few of them, I'd be able to piece together his overall message to me.

I sat at my desk, with the volume on my phone all the way up, and my other hand plugging my ear so that I didn't have any distractions. Even with the increased focus and the intent on getting as many words as possible, there were times I had no idea what Chris was trying to tell me. He bailed me out a few times when he said, "You know what I'm talking about?" I would answer with a "yes" because I didn't want him to have to go over all of it again (sorry Chris).

When I hung up with Chris, it felt good to be able to hear his voice, even though I didn't know exactly what he was saying all of the time. The joy I had was more in being able to hear his voice verses understanding the content of the conversation.

As I reflected on that call yesterday, I realized that my prayer life should often be the same way. There are so many times I pray to God. I pray for family, friends, and myself. I pray for specific situations and I seek His guidance. But, there have been many times when I am trying to listen for Him that He doesn't come through too clearly. Has this ever happened to you?

When I don't hear Him very well, I then get really focused. I become intent on listening for Him. When I do, there are times I hear Him clearly and then, just as quickly, His voice fades out. There are times I don't understand everything He is trying to tell me and I feel as if the conversation (the prayer) is a lost cause.

Yesterday reminded me of the joy I can still find in just hearing God's voice. I may not be able to understand it all of the time (He did say in Isaiah 55:8, "My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways...") and He may cut in and out - but I was still blessed to hear Him. To find joy in knowing He was there. To know that I mean something to Him because He answered my call.

This thought was affirmed this morning when I was reading my devotion from LIFE Group Devotions. They had a quote in there from Terri Mifek that said, "We wonder how we can make space for the wise and compassionate voice of Christ in the midst of so much noise pollution. The truth is we have to cooperate with the little opportunities we are given each day to slow down, become quiet and notice how the Holy One is speaking to us."

When I don't think I can hear God in my life, I need to slow down and become more intentional about the ways in which I can make space for Him to speak to me. I need to focus more of my energies on recognizing Him and noticing Him. I also need to be willing to find joy in the fact that when He speaks to me, I don't have to understand it, I can just rest in the peace of knowing I heard His voice.

Holy God, when the noise in my life keeps me from hearing Your voice, speak to my heart and guide my actions to slow down and listen for You. When I desire to know the mystery of You and it is not revealed in my time, bring comfort to my heart and remind me that just hearing Your voice is all the comfort I need. Help me, O God, to hear Your voice and give my life to listening for You in the little opportunities You provide. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don

Who Has a Hold of You?

Good afternoon!

Have you ever had one of those weeks in which you felt like everything went wrong? Where the burdens of the week seem to override the blessings? Where the stress was so massive that you felt like you were going to break under the pressure?

I've had weeks like that and this one was getting pretty close to the brink, until I heard a great message from Rev. Bob Kippley from Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at our Lenten Lunch and Learn yesterday. He was talking about the abundance of God's grace and how that grace extends to every part of our lives. I offered my "amen" and my head nodded as he shared the truth and mystery of Christ's grace.

But, then, God got my attention. Bob talked about the times in his life when he was tempted and when the burdens of life felt overwhelming and he said that in those times he had to ask himself, "Am I grasping God, or is God grasping me?"

What a moment of clarity for me as I thought about the many ways I try to hold onto God and make my will, His will...my ways, His ways...my thoughts, His thoughts...my heart, His heart. I try to make God in my image, instead of the other way around. When I feel that I am falling or failing, I quickly try to grab a hold of anything I can get my hands on and hold on tight, in fear of falling even farther.

In these times of struggle and strife, Bob reminded me that I need to change my perspective. I don't need to try to grasp God, I need to allow God to grasp me. That I may be able to be open to His will, His ways, His thoughts, and His heart. That I may find peace in knowing that God has a hold of me and when I allow myself to rest in His arms and in His presence, God will never let go.

What has a hold of you today? Who has a hold of you? Are you grasping God, or is God grasping you?

Please pray this pray from William Barclay in Prayers for the Christian Year:

"O God, our Father, we know that the issues of life and death are in your hands, and we know that you are loving us with an everlasting love. If it is your will, grant to us to live in happiness and in peace.

In all our undertakings,
Grant us prosperity and good success.
In all our friendships,
Grant us to find our friends faithful and true.
In all bodily things,
Make us fit and healthy,
Able for the work of the day.
In all the things of the mind,
Make us calm and serene,
Free from anxiety and worry.
In material things,
Save us from poverty and from want.
In spiritual things,
Save us from doubt and distrust.
Grant us
In our work satisfaction;
In our study true wisdom;
In our pleasure gladness;
In our love loyalty.

And if misfortune does come to us, grant that any trial may only bring us closer to one another and closer to you; and grant that nothing may shake our certainty that you work all things together for good, and that a Father's hand will never cause his child a needless tear. Hear this our prayer; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don

Tangible Faith

Good afternoon everyone!

I am just getting back from three days in Colorado Springs where I had the honor and privilege of meeting with and affirming the ministries of men and women who have felt God's call to ministry on their lives. It is a joy to witness the fruits of their ministry and to experience the passion they have to minister to and with God's people. My service on the Board of Ordained Ministry provides me with the wonderful opportunity to witness God's hand and movment in other people's lives...so much so that they desire to give their whole lives in service to Him.

As I left this afternoon for my drive home, I was thinking about my experiences and I was reminded that God's call is the same for all of us...that we give our lives, our hearts, our jobs, in service to Him. That is the distinct mark of a Christian - when our faith is able to be manifested in ways that bring love to our world. While the call to professional ministry is one thing, the call to the ministry of service is another. When we give our lives to Christ, we are saying, "every part of my life will be given in service to you, Jesus!"

During this time of Lent - I have been reminded of the areas of my life where I have been more a consumer of God than a servant. Lent provides me (and us) with the opportunity to take a deep look at my life and to seek God's restorative grace upon those areas where I have gone astray. This season of Lent has reminded me that my faith needs to be seen...it needs to be heard...it needs to be felt...it needs to be alive.

Some of you may know who Roman Emperor Julian was in the 4th century. He was the nephew of the first Christian Emperor of Rome, Constantine. Julian was raised in the Christian faith, however, when he became Emperor, he rejected the Christian faith. This rejection, however, did not keep him from noticing the difference between Christians (whom he called Atheists) and the pagan culture he embraced.

Emperor Julian said, "Atheism (Christianity) has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not one single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them."

This is the reputation that we, as Christians, should vow to return to. My hope would be that any person could sniff out the good news of Jesus on me and on the church, whether we open our mouths or not. The early church was marked by how they tangibly cared for people and it didn't seem to matter whether they played on the same team or not.

During Lent, the question that plagues me is this: "Is my faith tangible? Does it smell like a sweet offering to God? Does it taste rich and good? Does it listen and hear the cries of the voiceless? Does it touch the lives of others with the hand and heart of Jesus?"

I hope so...and even when I fail, I keep trying.

Living God, thank you for the blessing of this day. Thank you for living with us in Jesus and for living in me today. Give me courage, wisdom, and strength to live for You, so that my faith may be a tangible, life-giving, grace-filled, wonder-full, witness of my faith in You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don

Humble Pie

Good morning everyone!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where every day seemed like a Monday? Not that Mondays are bad, just hectic. Or, in the words of Cyndi Lauper, "it's just another manic Monday". There are a lot of exciting things going on and in the midst of the busyness it has become easy to lose my Lenten focus. It is important to our spiritual growth and health to intentionally take the necessary time to focus on my relationship with Christ and to listen for His direction in my life. Oh how I need that direction when my life is manic and hectic from time to time!

After having some time to settle down, I was reading a Lenten devotional that talked about humility. From the article Proud to Be Humble, it mentioned, "the call for humility is a call for simple realism...Humility is an honest and objective relfection of our real relationship to God. The fact is that we are all dependent. All that we have comes from God - our lives, our salvation, our hope, our Christ. God has given all; nothing is our own...Humility is a simple, objective recognition of the reality of God."

It is hard to be humble when we think and believe that everything revolves around us. When we believe that our opinion is more valid than another's. When we strive for our own recognition at work, at home, or at school. When our beliefs alienate those around us. When we think we have the right to sneak into the express checkout lane in a crowded grocery store with more than ten items...because our time is more precious than someone else's. When we get involved in the rumor-mill because it somehow makes us feel more important (we want them to know how much we know or we feel we deserve to know everyone else's business).

We all struggle with humility and we are all challenged with moving away from the me-centered life to the God-centered life. But, that is what Lent is all about. It is about righting the ship. Getting ourselves balanced again. Centering our lives back on God. God calls us to live humble lives that recognize our real dependence upon Him for everything. If we can gain that perspective, we begin to see others, the world, the church, and our lives as God sees it. Just seeing those things in that perspective will keep us humble for sure!

Take a moment to check out Luke 14:7-24. On the surface it may not seem like a parable about humility, but look deeper. If God is the host at the banquet of our lives then we have two options. We are either the snotty-nosed guests who turn down the invitation, or we are the motley crew that the servants dragged in from the streets. We are either like the self-righteous Pharisee who patted himself on the back, or we are like the humble tax collector who knew he needed mercy. The point is that nobody swaggers into the kingdom of God. The only ones who show up around the banquet table are those who know they have no business being there.

We are invited and welcomed to this banquet of life by an extraordinarily extravagant God who brings us in, not because we are all that good, but because God is. (Living With the Mind of Christ)

I have found that the deeper I go with Christ the more humble pie I eat. I am reminded time and time again that it is not about me. It is not about my opinions (don't say that!), my preferences, my position in life...it is about God's position in my life. Is He before me or is it the other way around?

What changes need to be made in your life in order for you to live with mindset of humility? In this season of Lent (and beyond), what steps will you take to make these changes? What about the church? How can our lack of humility be a barrier to growing relationships with each other and sharing the Good News?

Jesus is sharing with us a piece of humble pie at the banquet table of life. Let's eat it and fill up on it, so that our lives reflect the true, humble nature of our Lord!

Jesus, You have led the way for me and modeled for me true humility. Grant me Your mercy that I may be able to humbly walk with You as You go before me as my guide and my friend. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don

Jesus Stayed

Hello Everyone!

I pray all of you are doing well and that all of you have been intentional about your Lenten journey this year. It is in this time of Lent that we break down the ego, the pride, the barriers, that have kept us from experiencing the fullness of Christ in our lives. We take the time to shed the sins that have kept us from growing into mature Christians and seek the redeeming power of Christ's grace in the newness He brings.

I would like to share with you a story from Malcolm Muggeridge's book Something Beautiful for God that has been challenging me this week as I journey with Jesus.

I ran away and stayed away; Mother Teresa moved in and stayed. That was the difference. She, a nun, rather slightly built, with a few rupees in her pocket; not particularly clever, or particularly gifted in the arts of persuasion. Just with this Christian love shining about her; in her heart and on her lips. Just prepared to follow her Lord, and in accordance with his instructions regard every derelict left to die in the streets as him; to hear in the cry of every abandoned child, even in the tiny squeak of the discarded fetus, the cry of the Bethlehem child; to recognize in every leper's stumps the hands which once touched sightless eyes and made them see, rested on distracted heads and made them calm, brought back health to sick flesh and twisted limbs. As for my expatiations on Bengal's wretched social conditions - I regret to say that I doubt whether, in any divine accounting, they will equal one single quizzical half smile bestowed by Mother Teresa on a street urchin who happened to catch her eye.

As I shared this with the staff of the church this week, Pastor Emily pointed out the part at the begining which said, "she stayed". I have been thinking about that act all week. How, in the midst of the mire and muck, the nastiness, the death, the disease, the condemnation - she stayed.

My high spiritual opinion of myself would lead me to think that I would stay, too. But then again, I have trouble staying with people that talk bad about me or people I don't agree with. I struggle with staying with people who have a bad attitude or those who can only find something to complain about. I have trouble staying true to my own promises - to myself and to God. What makes me think, that in all of that human suffering, I would stay?

Here is what I know - Jesus stayed. He came in the midst of human suffering and misguided souls and He stayed. He stayed when the crowds turned against Him and tried to throw Him off a cliff. He stayed when the religious leaders tried to discredit Him. He stayed when His own friend plotted against Him. He stayed when the authorities came to arrest Him. He stayed when they nailed Him to the cross. He stayed. And, He is with us today.

I pray, that as I continue to grow in Christ, He will give me a heart that stays - even when every other fiber of my being wants to leave. That is love that comes from God...when we are willing to stay, even in the midst of suffering because we realize Jesus stayed and continues to be with us.

Loving God, thank you for coming into my life and taking up residence in my heart. Forgive me for running away from time to time. Create within me a heart that stays even when my reaction is to leave. I want my life to honor you, Jesus by loving how You loved and living how You lived. In Your holy name I pray. Amen.

Climate Change

Hello!

This month I haven't been as consistent in my weekly blog. I apologize. Last week I was at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona that shared with us the shifting culture we live in and it challenged church leaders to discover new ways to be in ministry with our changing culture. It was a good conference that offered a great deal of food for thought.

As I processed everything I learned at the conference, I realized that climate change is alive and well in the church. We hear alot about climate change in our media, the government, and some scientific institutions. I am not hear to argue for or against, because, quite frankly, my main concern is the obvious climate change that is happening within the church itself. We all know that "church" as we have come to know it is changing. Some see it as a threat to the gospel. Others welcome the changes with open arms. While most people are trying to figure out how the changes are going to affect them.

We all know that we live in a culture that has become increasingly selfish, me-motivated, and highly relativistic. These characteristics have worked their way into the church and to combat these challenges, the church is having to change the way in which we are in ministry with one another...the way we are the church together.

The younger generations (I am included in that) are becoming increasingly skeptical about the institution of church. It has become a political system more than a spiritual one. It has looked out for itself and its own survival more than it has looked out for "the least of these" among us. It has focused more on being right (theologicall, doctrinally, etc.) than it has on being right (righteousness) with God. To be honest, the church has lost its right to be an authority in the lives of those it has been called to serve. The church has lost its way on many fronts.

I have mentioned before, that for decades the church has slowly but surely abdicated its authority and responsibilities to government and other social and civic institutions. We have turned turtle and gone inside of ourselves. As a result, we are growing generations of Christians who are biblically illiterate and spiritually bankrupt. We have grown members, not disciples.

This is not just my opinion, but the research and statistics prove it to be true. As a result, the church's climate has changed and a new generation is rising up and saying, "We need to change the climate again. We need to get back to being the church, putting our faith into action, making Jesus real through the relationships we build. The church can once again be a transforming power in our lives and in our communities, but we are going to have to change the climate." And, that is not always easy.

Here is what I suggest. Yesterday, was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of our Lenten season. Often times, and rightly so, our focus during Lent is on our individual relationship with Jesus Christ. We confess our sins and seek our Lord's forgiveness. Some of us give something up that has been keeping us down. We substitute that with something that will bring growth and health to our lives (exercising, reading Scripture, strengthening our prayer life, becoming more vulnerable in our relationships, etc.). These 40 days of Lent lead us to resurrection...to newness...where the old is gone and passed away and the new life is lived!

Maybe we should also focus ourselves as a church. Maybe we should also honestly assess our ability to be holy and spiritually healthy. Maybe we should confess the ways we have turned people away and seen ourselves as "to big to fail". Maybe we should journey together toward resurrection, newness, and LIFE! Instead of being afraid of the climate change in the church, we ask God to direct us and lead us to new ways of reaching people and building relationships for the sake of our Savior. Maybe we embrace the change and thank God for using us broken vessels to carry the living water of hope in Him.

What do you think? Are we too entrenched in the old way that we won't allow God to make us new? Or, are we broken enough, empty enough, open enough, for God to restore us to new things?

Almighty God, forgive us when the lives we lead bring recognition to ourselves and do not point to your greatness and mercy. Forgive our arrogance and our piousness. Restore us and make us new again. Restore our relationships with each other. Strengthen our relationship with you. Help us to see this world with new eyes and serve this world with renewed purpose so that Your Body may be what you originally created it to be. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.

Scattered Thoughts

Hello!

Sorry I missed last week. Life got the best of me and I didn't have a chance to check-in.

Life is going well this week as I am preparing to go to a Sharefest luncheon for the pastors in Fremont County to tell them about a great opportunity for the Body of Christ to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus! I know God will work in a mighty way to bring the Body of Christ together and begin His transformative work among us.

With everything on my plate, my mind is a bit scattered so I wanted to share just a couple of things that have kept me going over the last couple of weeks.

The first is a quote I received from a LIFE group devotion that I am a member of. It is not only funny, but profound:

"Live your life so that when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, the devil says, 'Oh crud, they're up!'"

Another one is something I received from Jan Blue as she was responding to one of my blogs about Significance. This quote comes from The Bible in One Year: "Here's the key to significance: fulfilling our unique, God-given, eternal purpose. In this life, we do not labor to leave a physical legacy or waste our days pursuing pleasure. Instead, we help those in need, influence our culture, and reach out to the lost. And when a believer enters the heavenly place Jesus has prepared, he or she keeps on working for Him."

May these words work their way into your heart and mind, as Christ continues His wonderful work in you.

Precious Lord, even when my mind is scattered, You are there to remind me of Your presence n my life in very simple ways. May I be open to Your movement in my life and to the glimpses of Your holy presence that you show me throughout my scattered day. In Jesus' Holy Name. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don