bring on the revolution...

I reconnected with this man of God in know in PA the other day. He kinda blows my mind actually. I've never really hung out with this guy before, but I know his dad and his brother. The only thing I really know about him is that when you meet him you really get the sense that he genuinely is welcoming you in the name and love of Jesus. No joke...
So he does his thing in life, as far as I can tell, living out the life of a person who is convicted of the reality and truth that Jesus is the real deal and the day is coming when he's going to be bright and glorious, surrounded by a throng of people who have been given seats of honor at the feasting table with the King of Kings....
His reply to my email the other day was simple, but it made me smile ear to ear and run and tell the tale to my wife. Seems that this man of of God gave a homeless guy some cash last week and he bumped into him a few days later. The homeless guy (if I knew his name I would tell you, at least Jesus knows it) was doing great because he was able to buy colostomy bags. It kind of struck me as the compassion that Jesus had at the wedding banquet in Canna...
No, this man of God didn't turn water into wine foreshadowing his shed blood and gift of a new and perfect sacrifice...he gave the guy what he had to give, some cash, and the dude turned it into what he needed at that time...health and dignity...
Scripture doesn't record that the wine steward followed Jesus later....and I'm not saying this homeless guy is a follower of Christ either...all I can say is a man of God heard the heart of Jesus break for a person He created and opened his wallet...I hope I get a set by this guy at the feast...I'm gonna give him my dessert.
Let justice roll friends...may His name be heard
b

"I just wanna get off the floor"

I got a phone call from a young woman today who had been told that I might be able to help her out. "I'm just looking for a bed" she said. "I'm nine months pregnant and I'm sleeping on the floor. Do you have one?"
Every time I get these calls a number of thoughts go through my mind...and most times they head right out my mouth! My wife says that my filter doesn't work all the time. I kind of think it's like the filters I've heard they have at Niagara Falls. The first filter they have stops really big things, like trees and whatnot. The size of the screen gradually gets smaller and smaller until until the water finally passes through, at some point down the road somewhere, a filter so small that it's drinkable.
My "Spiritual filter" is like that. When I hear of large injustices and atrocities against the image-bearers of God, my "large outcry" passes through a very large filter. The result is that most things get through.
My response to this girl was "not tonight, nor tomorrow night. I have a bed for you."
Now, if I were of the true mind of Christ, the size of the injustice would have no correlation to the depth of my pain and anguish to the injustice. The heart of God breaks for all things that further batter the broken race of Adam. Can you imagine that? No "degree" of importance, good or bad. That is what Grace and Mercy are all about.
So, this afternoon as I'm bringing a bed to a young mother who has made a heroic decision to raise her child and honor life...my heart will both leap and break. It will leap because I will be a small part of the ministry of helping undo the effects of a sin-stained world...and it will weep because I will be reminded that my heart is far from being like that of Christs. God is so good. Blessings to you all.
b

"I've been doing this for a long time....."

"I've been doing this for a long time..." that's the near-audible voice I heard while on my last trip to Tabora, Tanzania. I had gone there with a plan...to deliver funds that "I" had raised to help pay for children to be tested and treated for malaria free of charge and to purchase hundreds of mosquito nets to distribute in an effort to ward-off avoidable deaths. Oh...and I was to be priested in the diocese as well...the first "foreigner" to be priested in Tanzania. I had no idea that I had developed in preparation to my trip a sense of self-importance but as is always the case with the Holy Spirit, He sought it out and revealed it to me....I thought I would be filled with a sense of "well done, good and faithful servant!"...but instead it was a still, small voice saying "thanks for saying yes to me and caring for my people, but I've been raising up leaders for them and ministering to their needs since they first ran from me in the cool of the morning in the Garden"... thanks be to God He has been doing so, for if it were up to me, we'd all be in a heck of a big mess. I await with great joy the day when Jesus will return and we will no longer be in need of any other leaders..

Blessings...

b