Restless Heart Ministries Inc. .....where compassion and passion collide

Summer Mission 2011

2011-05-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

God has done great things! I have been talking with the clinic director about this summer's trip and to have been told that the Tanzanian Government's initiative to bring Insecticide Treated Nets free of charge to it's people has finally reached Tabora! Thank you to all who have helped us purchase and distribute over 2,000 nets that have covered 8,000 people! The stockpile we purchased for distribution at the clinic is not yet depleted and we will still purchase nets when need. So what is our call now that the need for nets is not as chronic?

...feeding the widows and orphans!
Last year the rain came at the wrong time. As a result the maze crop didn't pollinate. We were able to purchase 9 tons of corn. This year it has gotten worse. The rice failed completly and the corn barely came in. We will be negotiating the purchase of corn so that they can feed the starving as well assist the diocese in caring for the church planters. We have raised over $2,400 for food alone. This will, depending upon cost, match what was purchased last year. The overhead is simply gas to get the corn out. God is so good to His children!

...clothe the naked!

I have also been given 30 handmade dresses by a wonderful woman of God to bring dignity and joy to some of the young girls I will meet. Every girls loves to look pretty! It doesn't matter where you live!

...hats for babies!

Last year a group of postal workers from British Colombia knit hats for me to bring distribute through the woman's and children's clinic. This year the Seniors at the center where we worship heard about this and got in on it. I have over two hundred hats this year! A number of ladies at New Hope (youth included) contributed their skill as well.

...bring the Good News of Jesus Christ!

I will again be sharing the Good News that God has sent His son Jesus Christ to ransom his lost children from death and defeat all the things that harm and destroy his people. Please pray for the message of Hope to be spoken in the Power of the Holy Spirit and that many will come into the Kingdom of God!

Thank you to all who have made this trip possible. It is my fifth trip in the last six years. I am humbled that God has chosen me for this ministry and thankful that He has partnered you all with me. Please keep me and my family in prayer May 19-31st. Will post when I can. Look forward to God doing great things for His children! Donations are still being accepted. Shoot me a note if you are moved to help. Ansate Sana, thank you very much. Mungu Akubariki! God Bless you!

Bryan

Friends of Restless Heart Ministries, you saved another family!

2011-03-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
I had an urge to call our friend Ruth in Tanzania yesterday. She is caring for a family in one of the outlying villages in desperate need. The clinic is building a hut for them on our farm so they can work the land, have a place to life and access to much needed health care. I asked how we might help, this was the reply.

We gather we may need 15 bag of cement :18.000 each bag (270.000) and some wood for roof. Food is about 40.000 a month for 3-4 on a very basic level ( that gives them maize, beans, dagar-little smelly fishies- porridge, and maybe a little rice and milk, some oil and some tea and peanuts) They will have some fresh stuff from the farm and they have chicken , so some eggs.
That is not too bad nutritionally I don't think?
It is of course not enough for ****, but we are giving him plenty of extra protein and vitamins)
Mama Ndugu brought the loveliest sprightliest little 3 year old girl while I was doing ward rounds. She was really cute with braids and pink t shirt and trousers : a picture of lovely life and health ..and asked me if I rembered her: I admitted I did not : I had seen her 1/2 year before weighing 5 KG *(2 1/2 years old at 10 pounds) with undiagnosed TB. We referred her for Tb treatment and she was given food help from Familia Moja (Restless Hearts!!!!) and now she weigh 13 kg and is : amazing!
I wish I had my camera but it is broken!!!!
You just would have loved it!
God bless Ruth

So, friends, it is because of your prayers and donations that the hut will be completed and the family has found a donor who will be providing food each month. They are taught the Bible and prayed for each day. They are not Christians, but they are seeing and hearing daily of His Love. Thank you all for helping this family!

Bryan

Seymour gets baptized at 88 years old

2010-05-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

So I man I have known for years got baptized on last week into the family of God. I was so excited to hear about it that I ran upstairs to tell my wife weeping with joy....why?

I met him years ago while serving as an assistant at a church in CT. His friends would bring him to church and he would walk up for a blessing during communion, see he was Jewish but came each week to hear of Jesus and experience His love through His people. One Sunday he walked right up to me as I was handing out the bread, looked me in the eye and said "I want one of those". "I'm sorry" I told him, "but you can't Seymor, you need to be Christian" (I knew him well and he didn't believe in Jesus at the time)..."so God doesn't want me?" he replied. "Oh no, he wants you desperately" I told him.

So for the next year he would come to church looking for peace. He had lost his wife (the good woman) years ago and he didn't understand why and was in deep pain. She had suffered an long illness...they were good people, he had done good, he was an industry leader in the NY garment industry...and now he was alone, trying to fill a void and numb the confussion. He gave tirelessly to the poor and broken...and he would listen over and over.

One Sunday he walked up to me during the service and said "I don't believe what you believe but I want to... But I can see that you really believe it with all you have"...."is that enough?" For now, I told him...and he went back to his pew.

We would meet for lunch time and again and talk about the good woman and Jesus over burgers at Fridays' in the mall...and always the sadness would remain. He loved me (as he always said) and adored my wife and daughter...and I loved him as only a person who has walked through deep sadness personally can....

I left that parish yet kept in touch. And this morning I heard that last Sunday he got baptized. The priest had walked up to him during brunch after the first service and told him he had been thinking that he should be baptized...ok, he said. Great, let's get together and discuss it! No, let's do it today! Sure, next service! No, how why not now?

So upstairs they went, with a witness...and my friend Seymour walked away from a world of pain and hurt into the open loving healing arms of Jesus. And I weep and shake as I write this. I can still see his face across from mine over so many burgers...the why's, the pain, the why would a God like that want a man like me?

I cannot wait to see him as soon as I can, this new creation friend of mine. I am so grateful for his friends that brought him to church and told him of Jesus..and I am so grateful for God that He gave his best for this man...and that this man walked away from all he knew into a new faith and the arms of Christ....at 88 years old...praise God

One month and counting

2010-05-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was in prayer about why the Lord has sent me to Tabora...and I kept getting the sense that was to simply talk about Jesus, buy nets and help bring food and water. So when I started working this morning there was a message telling me of a wonderful new donation for just such work!

This morning I purchased an ingenious irrigation system from Chaplin Living Water Ministries. There are two drip systems; one uses a trash can the other a five gallon bucket (neither included!) and a flat irrigation tape, connectors and a nail. By raising the container a specific height and spacing the holes in the tape, it is possible to make horrible land fertile! The entire weight is 16lbs so I will have to trim my bags way down but that's ok....

So it's been a good day...God clearly spoke in prayer, and answered! And I found a way to help people not only conserve water, but increase their harvest!

Keep ya posted, keep praying!
Blessings
b

Tanzania 2010 updat from the clinic

2010-05-12T05:23:00.000-07:00

Plans are well underway! We have raised funds to:

cover my travel to and in Tanzania
build the cistern in Tura
purchase nearly 400 nets!

Keep praying as hearts are moved and funds roll in! Here is the latest update from the clinic (don't mind the spelling as Ruth has a broken keyboard)

Reg Mwakashindye : don't worry about spelling: I spell it wrong all the time.... Reg cistern or well: they are having a lot of input from government suddenly and been give 'a lot of money' (!!!) to build a zahanati , water, etc. o We think they are trying to phase us out maybe, but there are so many places to go that are waiting for us that we are quite grateful.

We are hoping to build a small 'familia moja community' on th farm for socially, or 'medicALLY' OUTCAST /needy PEOPLE. We are hoping to build two first houses this summer and we have no clean water there. So maybe building a rainwater cistern there would be something that people want to support?

God bless you wherever you are. Love from here

Ruth

So we wi

what happens when the Holy Spirit falls on kids

2010-04-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

Bryan,
I just have to tell you what happened here yesterday. Noah (our second) had a baseball game and Chase stayed with his friend JB (who is not a Christian) to play Xbox. We return three hours later to see them out in the dark putting away the lawn mower. Our neighbor moved months ago back to Cleveland because her parents both died and she was alone in the house and only in her early twenties. The house is empty and the landscaping was really getting bad. In our community, you are fined if your yard is not kept up. Instead of playing video games, Chase and JB spent three hours cutting grass, pulling weeds, and clipping hedges for someone who would never know and never see them. They felt very good when they were done.
The next day, another neighbor who saw them cutting the grass asked if they would cut their grass for $20. They were so excited because they had been trying to get lawn jobs. JB came up to me and told me very excitedly. I told him that it was God and he said, “I know!”. I started to tell him about the Good Samaritan story, but Chase had just told him. He told him that they helped someone who couldn’t give them anything in return. God saw their hearts. Praise God! What a witness to JB and Chase!
Another boy on the street asked why they were cutting the grass at the empty house and if they were getting paid. Chase & JB said no and that boy said, "What a waste of time!".
I have been holding a bible study for these kids every week for about 8 months. I have seen small moments in their lives (usually only during the bible study and not outside where it really counts), but when the kids lead the kids, then we will see real change! God is at work on our street!
Thank you for your workshop. Chase gets it and has had two opportunities to live it already this week!
Kristti

Blood, Jesus and the Soviet Union...

2010-03-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I went to a clinic to have some blood drawn. I had to fast overnight so I was in the twilight state of dad-with-an-infant-with-no-coffeeness... a very sad state indeed. The last thing on my agenda was talking about the centrality of Jesus to the Christian Faith to a Polish immigrant who had seen the destruction of Churches in an attempt to erase a the history of Christianity from an entire country but God always seems to have a different agenda for me... (dang, and without coffee)

Her name was Celina and noticing her accent I started small talk asking where she called home. Poland, she told me...how do you say hello (I love to learn a bit of language) so she told me and smiled and that opened the flood gates and we talked all about Poland...

I was taught about the hills, the plains, the mountains, the people. I asked her when she came and she told me she had been in Poland when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. "I'm a priest" I told her, "what was it like for the Churches then...do you have a faith background?"...Yes, she said she was Catholic and spoke with pride of Pope John Paul II. It was good for them all because before that they never saw the faith, it was all hidden in Rome but now it was in their villages.

The Churches were knocked down and burned during the Soviet Occupation she told me, and they were taught in school that Jesus did not exist, a vastly different story from what they were told my their parents at home. They (the Soviets) had no idea about Jesus. She told me of a Soviet doctor who had come to America; she had pulled her aside one day while she was doing some blood work and asked her "what is this Christmas?" ...It is the birthday of Jesus! Celina told her...

Can you imagine, she asked me, not knowing about Jesus? It is sad, she said, especially all those whose religions practice hatred...like the violent Muslims. If you just practice your faith well, we are all OK! You practice what you do and we practice what we do...we all worship Jesus but in different ways...I could understand how her parents taught her this. They had been forced by death and fire to recant their faith...and now they could not stomach to "force" anyone to accept a faith that seemed exclusive. She came from a land and a time where you didn't talk back to your parents, where you accepted what they said...

And I was left to speak the Truth to a woman whom I had just met, an Ancient Truth, the Truth, that went against what she had learned from her parents in the village...
"Celina, that is not Christianity. Only the Christian Faith worships Jesus." He is the only hope to reform the hatred you have seen. It's about being in Christ and worshiping Him. "

How do you convince someone who has been told by their fathers, fathers, father something else? "You can't" I told her, "that is the job of the Holy Spirit", the power that your Pope knew. "Only the Holy Spirit can transform a heart of stone to a heart of flesh."

"This is not what my parents taught me" she said. "I will have to think about it".... so I told her to not believe me but to search the Scriptures and ask a Priest. She looked intense, not offended.

I was struck by the conversation and went off to have breakfast at Starbucks, sitting by the window, reading, eating and praying...and I found myself struck yet again by how God is so ridiculous...
a woman had watched her country destroyed by a Godless power and had come to America for opportunity...and one morning while drawing blood from a sleep-deprived man heard about Jesus in a way she never had...

So I have this haunting thought in my mind from the whole conversation; she said she was very glad that John Paul II was from Poland because they could finally see the faith and it was no longer hidden in Italy...how true for the rest of the world...folks don't see Jesus because He's hidden in the Church...
b

Spirit-driven mission according to Scaredy Squirrel

2010-03-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

I am an Anglican, and as such I believe the Word of God to be True, the Master to have paid my price, Jesus to be alive and active, and to be called to proclaim Jesus to the ends of the Earth.

I am Anglican, and I trust God to be God, and His plans will succeed.

But I have not always felt this way, and I, along with Paul (the wretch formally known as Saul) live a daily struggle to release my meager, futile attempt of control of the universe to the one who created it....

As I have journeyed this Lent I have seen God in the midst of my life and the lives of others. I have seen and heard the Voice which spoke creation into existence in the homeless, the natural order, within the wall of my house and the interior of my soul. He has used ancient Words from the Patriarchs, Words from my Spiritual Anglican Fathers and from my daughter's story books...

I have learned from Scaredy Squirrel that we can pack all we wish to bring for all of the unforeseen emergencies yet it is God alone who knows what we will need, and it is He alone who can provide what is needed along the way. Scaredy Squirrel never left his tree for fear of the presumed known (green martians, sharks, killer bees, poison ivy, tarantulas, and germs) looking and checking day after day at his emergency kit packed with all that would be needed in case the dreaded expected unexpected happened upon him....

...and when he finally did fall out of his tree (an accidental reaction to a misconception of reality) he found that he was not in need of all he thought he was...God had made him a flying squirrel.

And so it is with Christians who experience what Brennan Manning calls "the second conversion", a point in life when they are exposed to the reality of their futile attempts and the greater reality of God's Grace in the midst of their fear. Sometimes they jump, other times they are pushed, but in the midst of the free-fall if they will but release their lives to the Spirit of God He will appear...the relief may not come in the way they expected; they may not sprout wings and fly, but God will come...

Jesus told his followers to go and spread the Gospel and take no staff or bag (the Gospels record this story differently...take/don't take the staff) for His promise to Abram (later Abraham) of protection and reward holds true to them...for God is not man that He should lie nor son of man that he should deceive. Don't pack an emergency kit, for you will have no need for God. That is trust, and that is where the power of God lives...

So at New Hope my folks are jumping out of the tree into a housing complex a mile away from us that people steer away from because of things more real than green martians and sharks in the woods...and we are taking no staff nor purse but we are praying and jumping. If we stay in the tree where will they hear of Jesus?

We jump out of our tree because our Savior was nailed to His tree for us...
Will you jump too? This Lent, pray that God shows you where your plans hold back God's desires and dreams for you and the world.
b

So

Barney's beat shoes

2010-03-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

So I have a real problem with deception...to know that what you are trying to conceal is not palatable and to package it so that others will start to swallow the lie....until it's so far down their throats that they can't spit it back out...that's just wrong.

I have a truth that many will not agree with, that Jesus is God, that the Cross on which He died paid a ransom for my soul and brought me back into relationship with God the Father, and that at some point in time Jesus will return and bring those who profess to His name along with Him...

My being right with God is because of Jesus...Christianity has nothing to hide...it professes a ridiculous truth and does not try to soften it.

One of the letters in the Bible, called the Second Letter to the Corinthians says in chapter two, verse 17 that "unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God". The Greek behind the word there for "peddle" means to water down, like wine, to take what was strong and make it weak. That is what Barney is doing with the Cross of Christ, he tells people that it did not buy our sins, that Jesus was not God....

And Barney is committed to going to many places to tell this lie...I've seen him in many places in town, most recently today at the Children's Museum...
I had taken my daughters for a daddy-day-date and there was Barney and his friend in white shirts, black pants and name tag...working as a volunteer...

As I've mentioned before, I have no problem with folks wearing their symbols (the uniform is such I had been told) but tell the truth behind your outfit please...so I said hey and he remembered me and started some small talk...we were on our way out so I sat down and put my youngest in her car seat and put my oldest coat on...and closed my eyes and began to pray for these two young guys who had been lied to for so long by so many...and when I open my eyes I noticed Barney's beat shoes...he was talking to a person on the other side of counter and had one foot resting behind the other so that the sole of his shoe was exposed..and I noticed that the heal of his left foot had completely worn through so that a large waffle-looking section of the inside of the heal had been exposed...and the Holy Spirit began to move my heart...why could he not afford new shoes? Why was he comfortable with bad shoes? Did folks in his "church" know he had such crappy shoes?" And then I was convicted of the fact that his shoes had been worn out by all his walking in my town spreading lies about Jesus...and I was sad because my shoes were not...
What do your soles look like? What does your soul look like? What do your shoes wear out from? Spreading the Gospel, working, exercise? Why don't Christians in North America have to buy multiple pairs of shoes each year because we walk around so much spreading the Gospel?
Ahhh So many questions! It's been some Lent let me tell you....I pray that my shoes wear out, and that my Gospel is not peddled...
b

living water in the midst of the chaos

2010-03-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

My church was really blessed today by a friend of ours named Annie. She's part of the thing that God is doing to her generation...living a life following Jesus like the world hasn't see in a long, long, long time. Her testimony is powerful, her love for Jesus gut-wrenching, and her passion for seeing people live Holy lives unquenchable.

I arrived early to help set up the church as I do each Sunday at the middle school where we met. It was a pretty crappy day by North American Standards..a bit of rain, a bit of cold, but I was moved to get out of my truck and pray for the area around us...

So I walked across the parking lot to look at this little brook and find that it's raging. It's amazing how a little water over a wide area can turn into a powerful river when focused....
so I found myself praying deeply, and loudly, that the Church would become the torrent in the midst of our towns, that God would concentrate His Spirit and pull the people together and that the river formed would carve a path that cannot be stopped...

Annie preached on the Living Water that flows out from us...and we later spoke of the water that flows from under the Temple in the Throne Room that pours from the four corners...

But around the river was a whole lot of trash...beer cans, nip bottles, and just garbage...so I found myself praying for all those who are outside the source of the Water of Life, and picked up the junk and placed on the floor in front of the alter...and as we went up for communion, we were had to walk past it all...praying for those outside the river...
a powerful day indeed.

Do you see the river flowing under your school too, or is it just me? Do you stop and pick them up just like Christ did for you, or is it too wet, or too cold? Did anything stop Jesus? I pray that we all jump in the torrent and pull those in with us along the banks...

how to loose the fear...

2010-02-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

I've been in Dallas for the past four days surrounded by people who are following Jesus Christ and helping the nations see His radiant image and experience healing and power. The Bible studies were insane as one teacher in particular spoke the inspired words from Saint Paul to the Church in Corinth....all things will one day glorify Jesus...and it all became clear

As is the case with me so often, and as the teachings reminded us time and time again, God works on the periphery of life and if we are attentive to the movement of the Spirit we will see it. I received a great many things from the gathering, but it was with my Bishop over breakfast in Dallas Fortworth Airport that I was released to bring Jesus to the nations...out on the edges, on the end of the vine, where there is the greatest amount of light.

Brennan Manning speaks of a trust that borders on the heroic as the trust that honors God. This trust is the faith Paul wrote about in his second letter to the church in Corinth and explains why we are given this trust:for the honor of Jesus and the comfort and salvation of others (2 Cor. 1:3ff).

I read this passage this morning as I sucked down a grande Americano and had one of those "ah-ha-so-how-could-i-have-not-seen-that-moments" ...the God of all comfort gives us comfort through our conviction of the reality of Jesus so that when we walk in the dark places we will be able to be a witness to those around us.. When we are fully (well, as much as we can in our "being sanctified human state") aware of the power and scope of Christ's atonement we are set free from fear...sounds good on paper, yeah? The comfort is not for me, for he also states that we will suffer as well...our comfort is a bit different.

So over breakfast after the conference Jesus came to my aid and helped me loose just a bit more of my fear. I was able to give my fear to God, along with confessing my pride lack of trust over eggs and homefries...and the most incredible thing happened:

I was forgiven and set free. God wants me to be all he died for me to be (stolen verse, but too good to pass up).

So, how can you let a few of your chains fall? Look at times in your life when you have been afraid or felt that God had abandoned you and say "Lord, I am sorry that I felt that you could not keep me safe in this area. Please forgive me."

There may be some work to still do for sanctification is a process, and it may be a long road but this is the start. So I am grateful for the conference, and for the fact that I came to the airport eight hours before my fight, and that my Bishop took a wrong turn inside the terminal so that he happened to pass by me, and that the Holy Spirit allowed me to confess my fear and weakness to the Lord and my Bishop, and that God healed me in many ways...for in my weakness God is my strength...

Thank you Jesus that indeed you take my yoke when I ask you too... I am walking a little lighter today. A bit more of my life has glorified Jesus.
b

Ruthless Trust...a Lenten gift

2010-02-20T11:04:00.000-08:00

At New Hope Anglican Church a number of us are reading "Ruthless Trust" written by Brennan Manning through Lent. As I prayed for our parish and asked the Lord what it is we will need for our work, trust echoed over and over. Manning is very clear in the book that trust is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus...I've understood this for years, but why through Lent?

Trust was required of Jesus as He abandoned Himself to the Fathers' will...
Trust was required of those who followed him...
Trust is what's needed more than anything in a world where we can seemingly fix anything...

Trust is what we get when we give up our will, our lives, our autonomy....
He is asking us to give up ourselves. We do this so often in church, singing songs of surrender. But the reality comes home to roost quickly when we examine our lives and our actions, doesn't it?
Trust is our gift back to God, and He finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for it (p.2)...childlike surrender is in trust is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship.(p4).

Why is it so hard to trust? We want clarity! We need to see where were going! "Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and you must let go of it" (p5)

The stakes are enormous and seem to be irreversible, don't they? But that is what the Lord demands of us...and has not History proved Him to be faithful? Perhaps if we would just take the time to come before the Lord and speak to Him about all the times we feel He has let us down, the times when He was not there, then He might be able to speak to us.

It's a come-clean and get-honest moment with the Lord. I've brought many things to him....and I keep doing it...day after day and sometimes moment after moment.

What are you giving up for Lent....try giving up your lack of trust...
b

Jesus wasn't a jerk

2010-02-18T03:08:00.000-08:00

I was struck hard as I am each Lent by the incredible power and love the early church had for the Lord, each other and the world...and how far off the mark my life in Christ is to theirs. In particular the passages we read from 2 Corinthians 5:20ff hit me to the point that I found myself standing in front of a congregation of two combined churches repenting of my failure and to be the ambassador Christ called me to be, and asking them all, young to old, to accept my failure and forgive me. How could I do this? How could I stand weeping in front of those whom I lead as well as a visiting church and their pastor? The Holy Spirit blessed me with eyes to see the ancient Church, myself and the Lord together...

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in any one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

So I repented of complaining when others mocked me, of taking the easy way out, of not staying up nights in prayer and ministry, of being overfed, of slandering others when I was angry, of being upset when my character was defamed, of not rejoicing...

So the early Church's leaders repented of this, so I did, thanks to the Holy Spirit, who put it all into perspective. And by His Grace, I am a new man today. We finished with Eucharist so that we would not attempt to live this life on our own which would lead to complete failure. Funny thing about God, He tends to hold your feet to the fire. On the way home I stopped for a coffee after a long day and long drive home. The girl who made my Americano asked me, after we talked a little, what I gave up for Lent. (guess my dirty forehead gave it away)...I didn't respond right away, I had just repented in the Spirit and guess was still processing.

"I gave up being a jerk" I told her, "and by God's Grace I won't be anymore". She was taken back to be sure. When she finally had some words together she said "that's odd, most folks give up chocolate or alcohol, I've never heard of that". "Well" I told her "we're called to give up sin in our lives that keep us from being the full image of Jesus. So when Lent is over, we're supposed to look more like Him. So what I lay down I try not to pick back up... At the end of Lent, I wanna look more like Jesus, and He wasn't a jerk."

please pray for me

Mormons in the Mall...the lies they don't tell ya

2010-02-15T16:46:00.001-08:00

jimmy Hendrix once said it wasn't the notes, it was the spaces in between...and man did that come home to roost today when I walked behind a group of Mormon Elders today at the mall.
First, I gotta tell ya, when I see a cult such as the Mormons or the Jehovah Witness's I follow them around, praying and walking up to those whom they talk to and fill in the empty spaces. Why? I'm a follower of Jesus and when folks lie about Jesus, I have to speak up
So I walked up to this group of eight who were wearing their name tags walking around the mall and asked if they were talking to folks that day. "No, today isn't a "P" day" I was told. "P" day I asked. "Proselytizing" they said, they were just hanging out at the mall. But they were wearing the uniform and badges so I knew it was a total lie. So I did what I said I would do and just followed them at a distance praying and asking God to keep me from getting any sense of superiority.
Well it was a cat and mouse game. I finally walked up to then at one point and said "It's pretty obvious you lied and you are indeed here to talk about Mormonism...so let me just ask you one question. Are your parents Mormon? Yes they all said. What about your Grandparents? One of the three said yes. To the two I asked, where are they now that they have died if they weren't Mormon? Well, it hit the fan. I kept asking simple questions and was told that God does not judge and all is acceptable, that Jesus saves everyone, that you don't have to have a full command of Scripture to be an Elder, that all "christian" faiths are ok...
What happened was that that I asked questions off the ones they had been trained to answer..and they were ripped when I wouldn't let them not answer the question. What they didn't say is that they believe that the Mormon "church" has the only line on the truth...so these four kids couldn't even tell me their "truth". Near the end of the conversation one of them said "please let me just speak (I wouldn't let him turn the question), and I said sure, let's just sit down here and you can tell me every thing you want to...to that he said he wanted to go and play basketball...funny, I thought if we truly cared for souls we would take all the time needed at all places..my heart broke for these kids and I have even more resolve to stop the lies that God hasn't paid the full debt in Jesus. I mean, these kids said we worship the same Jesus, but that His death and substitutionary atonement were sufficient....and that this is what all Christians believe.
to that I say...I will walk behind anyone, any where, at any time and make sure they tell the truth they believe and don't mislead with partial truth...

substandard sardines and Jesus

2010-01-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

During my trip to Tanzania last year I had to build an impromptu roof rack for the clinic truck to carry all of nets back from Arusha. I purchased the lumber from a local guy on the side of the road...after some negotiating I bought eight feet of rough-cut 2x6 for $5 US. I needed some tie downs to keep the huge bundles on top. Peter, one of the drivers for the diocese wanted to use the traditional long strips of black rubber that Tanzanians used to tie down everything...I swear they would use it to tie a wing back on an air plane! But to be fair, it's local, it's cheap, and it's functional. "Driver" doesn't begin to describe what these guys are...they are expert drivers, know everyone everywhere, can find everything, fix everything, and put their lives on the line for you...but I was on a hunt for some came straps as the drive was a few hundred miles on dirt "roads"...

Arusha is the hub of all the tourist traffic heading off on safari so it has an odd mix of traditional and "modern"...we found this supermarket in town that was just insane! You could buy anything you wanted, at a pretty reasonable price...of course most folks in this huge place were mzungu (whites)...and every accent could be heard in each isle...

I found my straps in the automotive isle (having one of those was nuts enough)...and we poked around buying things we didn't need but were craving anyway...broccoli, coffee, candy...canned fish for the ride back...so this can caught my eye...

have you ever wondered where the world's supplies of substandard sardines ends up? It's a dirty little secret i guess you don't see on the "deadliest catch"..sure those fish suck, but hey, let's send them to Tanzania and make some money!...

I kinda think that's how most of us life out lives of mercy to the hurting world...we keep the best and send the substandard stuff along...how can i say this? It's so rare that new clothes make it through the sorting bins at a local mission agency where I volunteer with a bunch of guys that when a piece of tagged clothing comes through you'd think we found a hundred dollar bill...

sure, when disaster hits we all jump on, but what happens when the dust settles...
i guess it's a gut check for me...am i keeping all the best and sending along the crappy sardines? If we have been truly transformed by Jesus, we'll give away the best...just like God did.
When we peer into the manger, the cross, the empty tomb...and realize the once-for-all-deal that we have been given....you just can't keep the good fish to yourselves...

Jesus, assault weapons, and reconcilliaiton

2010-01-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

...This past weekend as I was instituted as the Rector of my church (formally recognized is all that means, with many prayers and praises) the local paper was there with us. The headline the next day read "Rebel Priest Ordained". Other than the editorial glitch (I was already ordained) I'm really glad that they see me as a rebel because I am doing all in my power to be part of the revolution..

I was a revolutionary in college when i hung out with folks who were into Earth First and spiked trees. I've lost count on how many times I've marched on DC to protest policies, I've picketed outside the UN, and even the US Embassy in Pannama...we actually closed the Pan-American Highway... I picked coffee for the Sandinista's in 1987 during the Contra War and hung out with 13 year-old kids with AK47's and US Grenade Bandoleer. Yep, I bit of a Rebel...

And now they say I'm a Rebel because I love Jesus, think He is who He said He was, believe God is tired of Christians sitting in their pews watching all Hell break loose, and want to empower Christians to live lives of love that will set the world upside-down just like God asked us to.

And the revolution was a blast last week as i called the local churches together to pray for a broken country and send some aid as well. So a friend and I went to local business putting up fliers to call people to prayer...we stuck them on gas pumps, auto vacuums, coffee shops...grocers put them in their customers bags, stacks were taken to be handed out...

and as I was out I bought some gas cards for some folks and there was a lady there with a sticker on her car that read "the more people i meet, the more i like my dog"...after a week of hearing people talking so much crap about such a tragic event i wanted to show her at least one person who might be acceptable so I turned back, bought an additional $25 card and gave it to her.

"no, no, no" she said "you don't have to do that"..."yeah I do"...handed it to her and left...

so let the revolution continue...and for God's sake, get out of your pew....see most people think God is as big as a jerk as many people who claim to be His followers....Gandhi was asked once why he wasn't a Christian and his reply was "because of Christians"....so let's try to bring reconciliation to the broken, and show people the revolution on God's terms, not ours
b

New Year Resolutions and Jesus....they don't mix

2010-01-07T03:23:00.000-08:00

So it's been awhile since I had a chance to breath and type a bit but life hasn't stopped, nor our work...I've just been remiss. I really want to be more diligent about blogging this year. No, this is not a New Year's Resolution! As a matter of fact I can't stand them and I starting to think that Jesus thinks there nuts too!

The history behind them as most will attest to a time when people would return debts and start fresh. Before the New Year date was aligned with our calendar the day fell on the Spring Solstice, which makes a whole lot more sense, yeah? I used to celebrate the New Year by either spending the day surfing on the East End of Long Island in Monatuak in as many wetsuits as I owned or rock climbing in New Paltz, NY freezing parts of my body off but proving a point!
But what makes New Year's and the accompanying resolutions really "un-Jesus"?

We're called to live lives self-examination daily, not once a year
The top 10 list is self-centered. Most include loosing weight, not smoking etc...good things to do, but all about "me"
They fix the results of the root problem, not the root

So here's the deal...this year I resolve, by God's grace and power, to ask myself daily why i do what i do and what or who and i living for. i will seek to live my life for the sake of others and when my life drops out of balance i will look for the cause

It's not a "what would Jesus do" thing...it's a "do I look like Jesus" and if not ask Him to help me...

so the shot at the top of this post is of my friends in Tura, Tanzania....I'm gonna try and live for them this year
b

Christ-like hate

2009-11-18T05:27:00.000-08:00

If i hear "it is what it is" one more time I'm sure i'm gonna puke, honest. It really hit me last week how much I hate this phrase. I know hate is a strong word, but i hate this phrase and everything about it in very real Christ-like hate. How can this be? Common now Bryan, didn't Jesus say love your enemies? Doesn't the Bible say God is love? Absolutely! But trust me, God hates a lot of things and I was witness to many of them yesterday...
So it is what it is... in Connecticut strip bars are legal under the guise that all parties concerned are "willing" I suppose. But God hates it, and I will make no apologies about that statement. God hates the fact that His creation is being sold or rented for use outside of His beautiful original intent. I hate driving by larger than life signs on the highway telling me what "love" is about. I have a wife and two young daughters, one is two and a half, the other is 14 weeks. Each time I see a billboard about "love" or "dancers" I think of mom's and dad's who drive by these signs who have children caught up in this exploitation. I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to tell my daughters about these signs they see everyday...it's called sin kids and it destroys lives, homes, families, dignities...and it's really ugly and why is it allowed? Because most folks in pews like to sit in pews...
So I followed a sign yesterday after finally being convicted that I live a life of "it is what it is" by simply driving by these signs and complaining and doing nothing....I pulled off the highway on my way home from a meeting. I had tons of things to do but that was a lame excuse to not help break chains of exploitation. So the place was right off the side of the highway and I parked my truck in a central location, dropped the tailgate and sat there in my collar praying for an hour in silence; I prayed for the girls who were being exploited and the men who were exploiting them, for a state government that makes money off this exploitation, for the wives of the men who saw me and stuck their ring fingers inside their pockets, for the kids who went the to Subway next to this place and saw all this action, for my daughters, for the parents of the girls who worked in places like these, for parents whose sons went to places like these, for the kids who's mom's worked in places like these, for the kids who's dads went to places like these...and I began to day dream of a day when the Church would rise up and hate the things that Jesus hates....not the people, He loves them, but the ugliness that we have all become blind to.
Thankfully nobody approached me (I was ready but scared) I sat shivering from the cold, hyperventilating in nervousness, and thankful that God has so transformed my life that I hate the things that He hates....
...so i sat their praying, not yelling, carrying tears on my cheeks, no sign in my hands...and by God's grace perhaps one person saw the love of Jesus saying no....and was changed
So it is what it is,
It ain't what it's gonna be (when Jesus makes all things new)
So what are you gonna do about it?
I can't take any credit for what i did...
...see I met a bunch on 2o something kids last year at a youth conference (Rock the World) who stood against a wall outside the strip district in Kansas City every Thursday night for a year...they took in prostitutes and helped them get their lives back...this kids inspired me
...i also know of a bunch of people in a small church who are planning to minister at a truck stop in the center of the country that is known as the second largest hub of human trafficking in the country. These are people you would never expect to do this, but they are getting ready.
...all these folks understand what it means to hate like Jesus....to love the broken caught up in the horrible ugliness of this broken world, to see the cashmere under the burlap, and what to pour the love of Jesus on those whom have had a truck load of crud poured on them...
So what are you going to do about it? It doesn't have to be big, but it does have to be something...and it has to be in love...
I was changed yesterday...my heart broke a little more, my prayers became a more focused, and my priorities in life shifted..
b

Christians should play in traffic

2009-10-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

"Why don't you go and play in traffic!" ...
Not such a nice thing to say to someone. I remember this as being one of the earliest playground put-downs I ever learned. You'd tossed it out on the kids you didn't really like, often paired with a "your-mamma joke"...."your mamma tells you there are cookies in the street for you!" I think that Christians should play in traffic! Not that I don't like them (well, some I do not), but too many Christians are content to live in the parking lot, waiting for the service to start, their Bible Study friends to show up, or to set-up for the pot-luck, or whatever. Parking lots are nice, safe gathering places. You pull in, get out of your car when you want, get back in when the whatever-thing is over, and drive home...

But life is lived in the street, with everything flying by. Here is today's foray into traffic. It started out with a phone call while my family and I were away for a short trip up North. We have a connection with a woman who runs a yearly childrens tagsale that involves 80 sellers. I walked up to her two years ago when we visited the sale and asked if the sellers might consider donating her leftovers to our ministry efforts. She normally splits the donations between myself and a social worker in town but this year we were given all of the items! I had to laugh as it was just last week that we cleared out our garage and thought it would be empty for some time. My daughter (2 yr old Olivia) thought it was nice that "there was nothing up front!" and she could get to her bike by herself!

Whenever my garage is full, I know the Lord is about to send someone our way. Her name was Katiria, and she had gotten my number from a pregnancy crisis center. She's expecting a baby girl in a few months and didn't have any baby furniture...all she needed she told me was a baby bouncer; I showed up with a bouncer, baby bath, highchair, exercise seat, play mat, toys and a box of winter clothes. I would like to make a shameless plug here for the Honda Ridgeline Truck! I replaced my Toyota Tacoma (you may have seen it in previous blogs) a couple of months ago after I looked in the rear view mirror at my daughter sitting wedged between bags of donated cloths. The Lord sent this truck our way and it is perfect for our ministry! The back seats fold up completely in less than a minute so I can make deliveries in poor weather without a tarp!

So with the the truck full of blessings I left the parking lot and went and played in traffic. This portion of my ministry rarely takes me more than 10 miles from my home but I am always astounded by where I end up. My GPS has a little flag that pops up on the screen and tells me I have arrived at my destination...but until I walk in the door I never know what it will be like.

So this morning I found a pregnant mother with her young son and her mom living in an apartment with a couch and a couple of speakers...no table or chairs, lamps, picutures....nothing...well there is now a pile of things for the baby coming. So I passed on the blessings, talked about life, shared about Jesus, and prayed for them...and made a mental note of what they needed so I could get back. This is traffic people, and it's where followers of Christ need to play...get out of the parking lot, for the sake of Christ and those who have yet to see or feel His goodness and Glory...

It's not easy, and at times it's not fun...even dangerous. I always wear a collar when I drop off by myself. But it is always right and it always changes me...and the traffic never stops. As I was leaving to make the delivery my cell rang. It was a woman who I had helped about a year ago when she got her first apartment and she had no furniture for herself and her son. She is expecting another child and was perhaps looking for a crib...she wasn't sure if she was going to keep the baby as the financial burden is great. I don't have a crib for her right now, but I told her that I would buy her one tomorrow. She said to wait, and not spend the money as she would think about it. I prayed for her and told her I'd call her....the traffic doesn't stop.

Your faithful servant of the Most High God,
b

Who is going to pay for it?

2009-10-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

So this is what my little back patio looks like this morning. I picked up a bed, lamp, shelves and a few other items last night with my dad. I had a referral for a single mom who had to leave her apartment because of black mold. She had to leave everything she had behind...everything that is accept for her four children (4,3,2 and one month old).

This is what my garage looks like. I've got another twin bed, a TV, a couple of chairs and a number of other odds and ends that were donated to me to help out the folks I'm in contact with. That blue plastic thing on top is my oldest daughters pool...you can't see her wagon underneath the pile.

This is my "office" in the basement. I keep baby clothes, diapers and formula on hand. As a dad of two kids, I know how expensive these items are so whenever I am refereed to a family I ask if diapers or formula would be helpful. Now, I'm not trying to come across as a super-apostle that everyone should emulate. I've been given a very specific task and am trying my best to make "much of Jesus and much of His cross"

So as you can see, we're a little pressed for space with our ministry. Our second daughter, as small as she is, takes up more room that I thought. We've been tossing around the idea of looking for storage space but never seriously...until this morning. I found a space at a self-storage facility that seems like it will fit our needs. It will cost us around $125 per month to rent. Not too bad, but the question soon came up with my wife and me "who will pay for it?"...our ministry funding? Our personal giving? Some friends who know our work well?

I was struck by how fast the question came up...even while I was unloading my truck this morning my neighbor and I had a talk about my work (she loves it) and I mentioned our need for storage...and her remark was "who is going to pay for it?"...

Now here's the problem...this very question Jesus constantly gives me...how far and I willing to be put out for the sake of the Gospel and for the needs of others? And the Holy Spirit reminds me of how far Jesus did....

Jesus wants us to put people down!

2009-08-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

I've just launched into, well, I should say called, brought, dragged....into another personal spiritual reformation. Reformations, when they're true, can be troublesome.

It's not a make-over. As a Western American Culture we're all about makeovers. We can watch as friends send your name and video of your "pathetic" style into What Not to Wear and have Stacy and Clinton convince you that yes, you were a slob, just look in the 360 mirror...

Or we can go a step past that and stick you in a fish-tank on the middle of a sidewalk and have complete strangers tell you that you look at least 10 years older than you really are...and then have all kinds of chemicals dumped on and in your body so you look that magical 10 years younger

We watch houses, living rooms, closets, backyards, lives made over so...but does it last? I watched Stacy and Clinton the other day (oh yeah, I need fashion tips) and they were doing over this guy who was really honest in the end and said "I don't think two years down the road I'll keep this up, but it would be good". They both flipped and had him "rewind" and say "oh yes, I will do my best to keep this up!"

Makeovers don't get down to the foundation...except for extreme home makeover I should say...it's a cover up for what we can see, clothes that cause the illusion of losing weight, makeup that makes us look well rested when we work far too many hours...

No, only reformations get to the root, and that's a task too big for ourselves to do. And it's too big a task to ask others to do alone as well. So that's where our big Compassionate God comes into play, empowering us to love and do the things He would like us to love and do, by changing our foundations. It's a process, see. God has planted His son in me, and the Holy Spirit is working to illuminate my heart and mind.

So for me, it's been the call to deeper prayer in Scripture so I can pray the will of God into my life and the lives of others. I've launched into a book by D.A. Carson (Call to Spiritual Reformation) that's taking me on a journey into the heart of God. It's changing me, from the inside out. It's causing me to love those I didn't.

Carson writes "we shouldn't put anyone down, unless it's on our prayer list". So I'm finding myself putting lots more people and things down on my prayer list. Things like politics (secular and church) that I didn't want to think about because it took me off my track of "being spiritual" are now on the top. And I'm learning how to pray with an honest bipartisan heart...not the fake bipartisanship I had before.

So, I pray this reformation will have it's way with me. It's uncomfortable, since it's shifting me around. And I'm putting lots of people down along the way. And Jesus, I am sure, is really happy about that.
b

I shopped for beds, for Christ's sake!

2009-08-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

For Christ's sake, I learned about furniture shopping this past week! You can't just walk into a store anymore and buy a bed and drive away with it in very many places. So I spent a few hours running around looking for a bed to take care of someone...

For Christ's sake, I had enough in donation fund to buy Donna's little two year old daughter her own bed. She was still sleeping with her mom. Donna works full time, and a good nights sleep is really needed, so a "simple thing" like a bed really goes a long way.

I was able to find Donna through one of my contacts who performs home visits. She's a member of the growing population of working poor in America. Although she works hard and tries her best it's just not enough any more. There is always something coming up, always a decision to make, something needs to be purchased and someone or something always has to do without. So Donna's gave up her own comfort because she couldn't buy a bed for her daughter.

That is sacrifice. Hard as she tried, it just isn't enough.

There is an myth that the Albatross pierced it's breast and fed their y0ung with the blood. It was the iconic image of self-sacrifice, and as such the early church picked up on it and used to to explain the substitutionary love of Christ's sacrifice. He gave up His live and was pierced, He fed us with His blood.

So we, as followers of Christ, are called to pierced ourselves for those who are crying out for food...

Not just a little pin-prick, but a real piercing...

So, for Christ's sake, and to help out Donna's daughter, I chased down a brand-new twin box spring/mattress and frame, a set of girlie sheets, a new pillow, and pink side bar so she wouldn't roll out in her sleep. I took a bit of work to get everything, to get the funds, to find the person, but Jesus did a bit of work for me...

...did God work in the midst of this, for Christ's sake?

He did, as always. Donna shared that she was not working yet as she was high risk and had lost two children seven months into her pregancy. So I shared the story of my son Samuel...and then told her of my eight-day-old daughter, Hannah...which means "God is Mercy". I was there I told her, because Christ had given me everything, and I wanted to others to feel His presence.

So for Christ's sake, God led me to a woman to bring a bed for her daughter, share a story like hers, and talk about Restoration.

And all simply because I went furniture shopping, for Christ's sake!

Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty really ticked off Jesus

2009-07-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for being bold, but I've really come to believe that Jesus doesn't really care for random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.

Randomness is very selective. We really don't do anything randomly, do we? We're spurred on to do a "random act of kindness" to people we want to help out, when our schedule allows for it, when we have enough for ourselves. Do you randomly help people who tick you off?

Senselessness has no purpose. Senseless acts of beauty are not very beautiful at all; they are self-seeking, self-serving and rather cruel. It says "I helped you for no reason" or "I cared for your hurts, well, just because!".

No, I think Jesus wouldn't be down with that purple sticker... He's down with living a transformational life of integrity, one that makes us more lovely and those around us more loved.

I just dropped off a truck-bed full of furniture to Marie and her daughter this morning. A case worker called me and said they could use some help. So I packed up a dresser, two end tables, a coffee table, a kitchen cart, two throw rugs and some kitchen stuff that some folks gave me. I keep this stuff in my garage on purpose to be kind to people who need help.

My wife and I also gave them a set of new dishes and flatware. It says a lot when folks who are struggling get something new. It says when we were shopping, we knew there were some folks who didn't have what we do. It says we spent our money on you and we were committed to finding and helping you. It says "you are worth something new and shiny".

It has a very intentional purpose and is not random at all. It makes my life intentional, and makes the person on the other end feel the same way.

So what did this do?

Marie told me that while she was waiting for me her daughter asked her why I was doing this. "Because sometimes nice people do nice things" she told her. I told them both that's not why I do this. I do this because Christ is always good and gives me everything all the time....and I was just passing some of it along to them. When I gave her the dishes and flatware she was deeply moved. I don't think many people with access to computers know many folks who have furnished their entire lives with second-hand everything. For the first time in nine months that woman and that girl real.

Could you really tell Maria and her daughter they just recipients of randomness and senselessness?

So, do yo get it? Jesus can't stand random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.

How can I say this? The cross was not random, nor was it senseless. And as He did, so do we.

blessings,

Junk on my desk; Jesus' love for the unfinished

2009-07-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the poor shot, but my card reader is sick...
So years ago when I was like 9 or so and looking way to much like Danny Partridge, I visited a friend of my uncle's while staying with him one Christmas. He was a hoot this guy...he kinda looked and sounded like a character from one of the old-school claymation Christmas Specials... I remember wire glasses and a plaid vest...

He was (or is if He's still alive)...a crazy rock collector. He had everything from beach pebbles to hunks of rock from African diamond mines that actually had diamonds in them! His house was FULL of this stuff!

He took me around his house and my eyes must have been big as dinner plates...we ended up in his shop where he cut and polished the precious and semi-precious stones. He looked right at me..."Bryan, take any rock you want..." I kinda lost my breath...he was being honest too, no little game for a funny little overweight, freckled, redheaded kid...

I reall don't know why, but in the midst hundreds of really expensive rocks i picked up this one...it's Colorado Agate, a semi-precious gem stone...and it's not even completely polished! The bottom is still rough as well as the top corner that you can see.

"Really....you really want that one?"....yes, what is it?

So I've had this half-done rock that's not worth much that I picked out from amongst the largest collection of perfect and expensive rocks....

I keep it now right in front of me on my desk. It reminds me of myself you see, and all of those I find, and all of those whom Christ died for...the unfinished, un-perfect, in-expensive, diamonds-in-the-rough (i could have picked one!)

Micah 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

1 Corinthians 1:26 - 2:2 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." NIV 1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

So, thank God that I am not finished with, yet chosen to polished into the image of the Author of Faith...
"do you really want THAT one"....
...you see, i know the answer is yes...

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
b

The heros of Tanzania

2009-06-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

I flew into JFK yesterday at 7:50 am and as soon as I hit the ground people began to ask me about the trip. It's odd talking about it right now; I have so many things to talk about and at the same time I'm desperately trying to understand what happened to me along the way. Oswald Chambers would say I became a "holy experiment"...

"there is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (See Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment our of you-and His experiments always succeed". (My Utmost for His Highest, June 13th).

I'll be writing about the trip for the next however long it takes but I have to start by giving God the glory of all things and to tell the story of Asher, the holy experiment. Asher is an Evangelist with my diocese in Tabora, Tanzania. Evangelists are laypersons (men and women) who are called by God to enter into a community and plant a church. They receive no money from the diocese and live off the what they can grow and earn. When they rains don't come, they are very hungry. When the crops do well, they are full. At all times they love the Lord with a steadfast love that cannot be moved.

Asher is the evangelist in the village of Mwakashndye, Tanzania. When the Dr. at our clinic asked the evangelists if they would work with her to bring the clinic to the poor who could not access health care, Asher jumped at the chance. It takes 2 1/2 hours to get to his village from the clinic, up to 6 hours during the rainy season. He and others made a "road" out of a "track" (single-track bike track for you Americans) so that the clinic truck could make it out instead of having to pack all the gear on the back of bikes.

The clinic arrives every two weeks and Asher is there to serve his people.

He sits on a wooden crate that is sideways, behind a wooden table in the shade of the main mud-brick house that the clinic runs out of. He takes the meager money that the sick bring to pay for the drugs that are heavily subsidized by the clinic. None of the money that he sees pass before him will go to him. He is a selfless man, he is a holy experiment.

The others kid him often (in love) that he has no teeth and has to eat only soft food during the morning communal breakfast that is the meal for us that day. We laugh and I share with him that he will have glorious "Resurrection teeth" with whick he can eat aged beef at the feasting table with Christ. As the day ends I search Asher out and ask him how his church is doing. He tells me that there are around 50 people who attend each Sunday. How many in your village I ask...about 50 he tells me.

Asher gets it. He has given all that he had and has allowed the Lord to make a holy experiment out of him. I am so grateful for this man and his faith, for his love for his people and for the blood of Jesus that saved him. If you ever come with me to Tabora, I will introduce him to you. If that never happens, look for him at the Banqueting Table, he'll be the one with the biggest smile, sharing his aged beef with all those around him.

In His Mercy

bryan

Mosquto Net Distribution '09

2009-05-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hey All! Well I leave in two short days. Thank you for all the hard work and prayers. Donations are still coming in and will continue to do so after I've left. I've been able to connect with a number of programs while I'm there. The big news is that we've raised, including travel expenses, $10,500! That's just about $1,500 more than last years total! This, in a very difficult economy really points to the Lord's Hand on our work!
We will be able to purchase 700, not 400 nets due to great work by the clinic director in finding a new supplier a town away (still a full day drive). I will be traveling to Arusha to purchase the nets, and while I am there will visit with the Compassion International Program. They run a net distribution program as well and I have discussed possible grants with them. It will be a blessing to see what they are doing. On a personal note, Lisa and I have sponsored a young man, Ali, in this town through Compassion for eight years! Unfortunately, this trip was planned just a week ago so I will not be able to have a vist with him. They need six weeks for planning sponsor visits. We will return from Arusha with an engineer and his wife who are spending time in the diocese developing and building water storage cisterns. This will aid greatly in saving water, keeping water clean, and reducing the open water sources! I will be able to travel to several villages with them to help build these, what a great blessing!When I return to Tabora, I will be spending time in the clinic at the dispensary helping out. I have asked for a full immersion language experience (as little English as possible). I will also be travelling to the mobile clinic in MShindaye to see how the nets are distributed and then out on local home visits! Finally, Lord willing, I'll be in Tura for a couple of days visitng the church planters whom I have been praying for so deeply to worship with them and encourage their work. I will be staying in the diocese's guest house when not travelling and will preach on Sundays. A full trip! Please keep my family in your prayers while I am gone. I will have limited email access but will try to keep folks informed!Blessings to you all!Asante Sana! Jesu ni Bwana! (thank you very much, Jesus is Lord!)Your fellow servant of the Most High GodBryan

the power of change

2009-05-06T10:58:00.000-07:00

I love how the Lord uses change...i mean the real stuff like nickels and such. I just got from the bank depositing the money from a couple of tag sales and the man did the Spirit move!

I handed a couple of thousand dollars of tag sale money to the teller and she had to ask what I did to get such a large stack of singles...ahhhhh! I love to talk about our work in Africa!

I told her about the nets I purchase and the population we serve and she started to tell me her story:
She always dates guys that are either abusive, addicted or gang members. She's devote in her religion, helped out in the church and up until her husband left her was working with the youth in her church. She met him at one of their yearly festivals: the Holy Spirit Festival... he was drunk.

She eventually got him sober, but his temper didn't temper. They split. Seems like she always ends up with the bad guys she said. Then she told me of her latest dream;

Satan had control of the earth and she and three others were left to defend the world for God. The battles raged and they grew weary. All the others were taken so if they fell, then God would loose and Satan would claim the entire world. In her dream Satan tried in vain to pull them apart, and when she woke up her hands were throbbing and cramped.

..."so, if you fail, if you let go, God looses...sounds like God can't do it without you. That's a heavy burden. I wonder if God met you in your dreams to tell you to let go and watch Him work in His power"

So, the bank line kept moving around us and the Holy Spirit fell and I invited her to accept the full freedom of God and to rely on Him and not her own power. I told her that God found her majestic and radiant, made in His image and that He can love her like no other man ever could... that God alone had the power to save and change her.

Have you spread that message today?
b

After Easter...now what?

2009-04-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

The Holy Spirit fell hard on me this Easter.
I attended the town's Sunrise Service with all the other clergy in town. I had to leave my house pretty early to get their so I didn't have a chance for breakfast much less the "proper amount" of caffeine! So I stopped and got an Americano..then on to "that other place" to get an egg sandwich (oh how I miss my days on Long Island...real egg sandwiches!).

I was walking into DD when a guy in his pickup shouted something my way out his window. I didn't hear what he said so I walked right up to him. "Your fingers must have been cold up there!" he had been shouting. He had gone to the service too. I played the music on my guitar and yes, I couldn't really feel my fingers. I noticed he had a fishing reel on the seat of his truck so we talked a bit about fishing and weather and his job and such....hey, are you going in and staying he asked as I headed in. I'll come in with you...and he brought his doughnut and coffee back in.

We sat and talked for about 45 minutes ab0ut everything from his work recycling, to fishing the Naugatuck River, to his dad dying from cancer...so I asked him what brought him to the service. "I don't know. I've never been before. I just had a feeling yesterday that I should go. I don't go to church or anything."

So we talked about God ordaining days, about trout and salmon, gold feebies and cancer, about an empty tomb and Resurrection, trailer parks and salvation. He didn't know the Great Story, and he had been looking for it for a long time. He had been to a couple of churches along the way after being stirred watching TV preachers...but each time he went he felt like he didn't fit...so we talked about New Hope and our vision. turns out he went to the school where we meet along time ago...

...I'll see ya next Sunday, he said. I hope so...I prayed for him before I left.

I was struck as I drove away that the Master had given me an Emmaus Road meeting right there in Dunkin Donuts over an egg sandwich.... what a joy it is to be able to share with all those in "Jerusalem" what had happened so that their hearts might burn...

So Easter is "over" but not really....what are you going to do about the empty tomb?

Good Friday; calm in the face of death

2009-04-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

This image has been sitting over my desk since May 29, 2007 when it appeared in the New York Times. I have the original clipping and the paper is yellowing and the image is starting to look hazy now, but I find it as striking as the first time I saw it.

To me, it resonates with my understanding of Jesus, especially today on Good Friday. It was the day when in fear all those who had witnessed first hand the power of God unleashed through His son broke in fear.

They forgot that the winds obeyed Him, they forgot that disease obeyed Him, they forgot that Death obeyed Him.

And in the Garden as they came for Him, they forgot that He had come to do His Fathers' will. No one had power over Him but His father in Heaven.

Spend some time with this picture today and ask the Holy Spirit to quicken your heart to the unflinching faith Jesus had in the chaos...the chaos that He entered into to pull you out of the battle.

Malaria Work Update

2009-04-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

So I'm off to Tabora, Tanzania in 39 days! Before I go each year I ask my friends if I may please have thier spare change and things around the house. The change I cash in and take with me, the things around the house I sell at a "leftovers for passovers" tag sale. I sell the "leftover" stuff to buy mosquito nets so malaria can "passover"... our goal is 400 this year to be distributed in areas around Tabora, Tanzania. They go to the high-risk population in this order: pregnant women, children under 5, compromised immune system patients. We tell them about Jesus, the "Big Passover"... but no matter what they say they get a net. We also pay for malaria testing and treatment for pregnant women and kids five and under. To date we've enough for 3,447 life-changing tests/treatment and to purchase 299 nets that will cover 1,196 people! Please keep praying for us!

Worship Mr. Potato Head or the God-Head?

2009-04-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

... if we're honest, we spend most of our time worshipping Mr. Potato Head "god". He's a "god" of our own creation. He may very well be made with legitimate attributes of the True God, but we put him together in an image to suit our needs and desires with pieces that we pull out of our...well, do you remember where Mr. Potato Head's pieces are stored?

Some folks don't even do this on purpose. They may have had a true experience with an attribute with God, say a physical healing. There is such adoration with that one attribute that the "big picture" is missed. We do that with relationships that are based on our personal needs. Broken people tend to attract the parts that are missing. "I really love that about him!" means "that characteristic makes me feel good or legitimizes my own beliefs".

This makes many churches collect people who see one attribute or picture. Now, I'm not saying there are other "gods" or that we can have many theologies of God, but what I am saying is that we make God to look like what it is we want Him to look like instead of letting God make us what it is He wants us to look like. Why? Because we're afraid that to the world we might look like a messed up Mr. Potato Head!

Well, that's what the disciples thought about Jesus on Good Friday. Their Mr. Potato Head image of God didn't fit on the cross. But God's image of Himself did..... this is the end of Philippians chapter two. Jesus allowed God to have His way with him in complete obiedence. And the world has never been the same. We need to let God do the same us...because when we try to conform ourselves to His image on our own, we end up looking like Mr. Potato Head to God and to the world.

Day 23-29

2009-04-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

Philippians 2:25-30
..."but I understood that I needed to send Epaphroditus, my brother in the Christian Family, fellow worker in spreading the Gospel, and soldier in the spiritual battle whose honor is equal to the king, and messenger who is of no great status, and a minister to my needs
for he has been longing to see you all, and has been deeply troubled in spirit because you were all so worried about him because he was ill.
you were right, he was was sick and near death and in fact almost did die, but God had mercy on him and me; sparing him from death and me from more grief than I could bear.
So I am sending him back with special urgency (understand that I am giving my best away!), so that you may see him for yourself and rejoice so that you can be free from worry for him and yourselves as you see with your own eyes the power of God to save!
So receive him in the Lord with all joy and delight, and highly value such people as him! People like him who don't think about themselves, who are free from worry! He risked all danger and even death for the work of Christ...and this was not even the task he was assigned, but the one you could not complete!"

I just returned Sunday night from an event called Remix put on by Rock the World Ministries. The event is a time of prayer, worship and study where High School and College Students are trained to turn the world upside down for Christ in their generation.

One of the breakout sessions was led by a couple who have a passion to help Christians understand what it means to live as free people who are still bond-servants to the King of Glory.

Thier ministry "Free-people-Free-people" follows the life that all our players in the last reading in Philippians led; Jesus was free through His relationship to His Father to pour His life out as a ransom for many. Paul was set free to pour his life our for the Philippians and Epaphroditus did the same for them all....the ones that were set free enslaved themselves to those who were not free yet so that they might be free.

Have you ever heard the Negro Spiritual "follow the drinking gourd"? It's a song that was sung in the slave quarters down South, a freedom song sung to the captives that the way to freedom was to follow the "drinking gourd" the Big Dipper, for it was North, and there is where freedom was to be found.

How did these slaves learn of the song, and of the direction of freedom? Slaves who had realized that freedom was worth dying for risked their lives, literally, to return and show the captives the way to freedom. Free people free people.

Jesus, the First Fruit to break free from sin and death, returned to tell Paul on the road. Paul risked death to tell the slaves of sin that the drinking gourd had come; Jesus, the Well of Life, the Living Water.

Have you found your freedom? Are you still sitting in the Promised Land, or are you going back to free others?

Day 23 Philippians 2:22-24

2009-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Poli Sana! That's Swahili for "very sorry!" I've been reading but have not been waking up early enough to post before the ruckus starts! So....here we go

"...But Timothy's actions in all manner of life have proved his devotion and dedication to Jesus. He is so devoted to him because he understands Jesus' devotion to himself! See, he's acted like a bond-servant to us both; Jesus and me for the work of the Good News! I know he will bless you and if it is the Lords will I will send him to you to as soon as I can. I really believe God can take care of all this so that I will see you myself soon!"

Our lives are proof. It's not a sense of works righteous that says "you must do this for me!". But if someone honestly, gut-deep believes and has even a slight grasp on the message of the Cross, their lives are going to look radically different than the world.

I had a professor in Seminary say all the time "our salvation plays it's self out in the day-to-day tasks of the world; changing diapers, shopping, cleaning". Isn't this what Paul said in the beginning of this letter? Do everything without grumbling? So here we see Timmy whose life is proof that the Cross has penetrated his life.

The word used for his actions in serving Paul means that is once and for all a bonded slave to him, that he has been given his chance at freedom at the year of Jubilee and he said "No, I love my master I will not leave"

This is the dedication that the Lord needs, it's the one that was shown by the disciples who did not leave in the Upper Room (John 6:68), it was in the hearts of the women at the cross (Jn 19:25).

It is the dedication of the Lord Himself (Deut 31:6, Jos 1:5) This is the God who told us He is with us always even until the end of the age (Matt 28:20)

So, do you live out your day-to-day life as if God is in the midst of every action, or does the world bug you? Do you live it out as if the Lord has you there for a reason, or if it's just a pain. Are you bonded?

Day 20 Philippians 2:21...wanting nothing else!

2009-03-20T02:43:00.000-07:00

"...everyone else is passionately driven and seriously strives for their own interests and advantage, not the desires of Jesus Christ in their lives or the lives of others!"

Paul uses very strong and concrete language throughout his letters. Very early on in my faith. I got the image of a little guy excitedly jumping up and down yelling "be like me, be like me!". Then someone would walk up to Paul, pat him on the shoulder and say, It's OK, calm down buddy! I've come to understand Paul's passion and zeal more and more....and this study has let me look at it afresh. Paul uniquely understands the Judgment and the Mercy. He was the pre-eminent Jew who encountered the resurrected Jesus. He met Mercy face to face and He told him to preach to the Gentiles.

"....everyone else is passionately driven and seriously strives"...here Paul is using concrete language like my two year old daughter does. Paul is speaking about all the teachers of the Law he had encountered. Remember he held a high position in the courts and had been given clearance to wipe out followers of The Way. He studied under the best of teachers, he knew the Meta-Narrative of God's people and he sat in the position of power. He was accusing himself and those who taught him. He's pointing the finger literally back at himself before his conversion.

"...passionately driven and seriously strives for..." the form of the Greek word used here is found in a number of places; Herod, after he heard that a King was born was filled with this level of self-interest. It led him to murder all male children born around the predicted time of his birth. Jesus tells His followers that they must seek after His kingdom and His righteous with this level of passion. They must forsake all other things, put down their lives and take up His cross. It is a call to a deep level of conviction, of pressing on and forsaking. How can this come about?

"...not those of Jesus Christ"... have you ever heard it said that God "cares more about our character than our comfort?" This is true in this world, but not in the next! God cares so much about our eternal comfort that He sent His only begotten Son to die in our stead! In this world there will be difficulties and trials and many of them will test our faith. Not test in the sense that God does nasty things to us to see if we hold on! That is the type of testing that Satan tried with Job. The testing of God strengthens our faith much like steel when it is heated. The interest of Jesus in our lives is that we should come to understand the faithful, loving mercy of the Father. As Jesus prayed in the garden "not my will, but yours" so we are to pray.

Do your prayers sound like that, or do your prayers sound like they are trying to manipulate the things that cause you grief in the outside world? Are you asking the Lord what it is you are to learn, for the patience to endure under the weight? Yes, the Father desires good things for Children, but are we the ones who determine what is good? Ask for the Lord to help and give the bread when you ask for it, not the stone!

How can we pray for the things we are ought to? By praying in the Spirit of God. Verse 2:20 uses one of the very first Greek words that ever captured my attention. The word is also used in 1 John 1:5. The word sounds like "ew-do-mia" and it means that there is not even the possibility of something to happen. It means there is absolutely no way, like light escaping a black hole. 1 John 1:5 reads then "In Jesus there is not even the possibility of Darkness to be"...this is the resurrected Jesus that has born and been purged of all sin. The resurrected mind that thinks only of the One sitting next to Him whom all the company of Heaven are worshiping. Now, we can't in this life obtain this level of single-mindedness but we are called to try. And when we blow it, the Loving God picks us up and fills our cup again because He is kind and merciful!

So...check your motivation...have you ever felt like a church hasn't been "feeding you?" ... are really saying "I want my God to fit my agenda" rather than "I want my God to assist me to fit His agenda?"

Day 21 Philippians 2:20

2009-03-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

"...I have nobody else with me working for the Gospel who has the same heart and soul for you in Philippi. He is sincerely as concerned and interested for your spiritual and earthly needs as you are yourself!"

It's all about replication, do you see? This chapter focuses on how Jesus, by living a humble life under His Father is the example and power for Paul, who is the example and power to Timothy, who is to go to the fledgling church in Phillipi and be their example!

But in order to trust, to follow their lead, we need proof that the ones we are following has our best interest in mind, don't we? The leader needs to be completely devoid of any personal agenda or gain. Jesus proved his genuineness with the Cross. Moses did when he still led the people to the promised land after he was told he could not enter it (Duet 4:22). After he had been left for dead and had nothing to gain Joseph healed his families starving bodies and sin-sick souls (Gen 45 ff.)

Where are these leaders today? Where are the ones who have grasped the Servant Model of Leadership that Jesus calls us to? Has God stopped caring for His people? Has He stopped sending people to lead others back to Him?

Have we forgotten how much He cares for us? Have we forgotten how He provides everything for us? Have we put too much trust in our own abilities?

Timothy is said here to have the same concern for them as Paul did. The Greek understanding behind this word for concern is used throughout Scripture to point people away from their situation and to rely on God....don't worry about what you will eat (Matt. 6ff), don't worry about how you will defend yourself (Lk 12ff).

Do you have the same selfless love for others, more so than yourself? Now, don't go and sell all you have and give to the poor! Wait, didn't Jesus say to do that?! Yes, he did to a man who wanted to justify himself! He lacked one thing, and that was trust that God was his portion and provision!

Do you trust....have you really asked God to reveal His dedication to you in the Cross? Have you used God's dedication to you for personal gain, or has it released you from yourself to live for others?

...are you leading? Do you trust the scandal of the cross?

Day 20 Philippians 2:19...strength from strength

2009-03-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

"...I continually and fully trust and ask the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One of God, to send Timothy to you quickly! He is a trusted ambassador to the faith that has been handed down to you and he will be able to test and prove your living out the call of God on your life. I pray that the Lord will answer this so that my urning to hear of your faith will cheer me as I suffer my trials and persecutions for the Gospel as well! My faith will be lifted by yours!"

Have you ever met someone whose faith caused you to desire to seek the Lord deeper? Have you ever met someone face-to-face with a trust and unwavering faith in the goodness and mercy of Jesus that they would put their all out for the Gospel?

We are supposed to live lives so that we will encourage each other on to run the race with strength and courage. Meet Anthony and his family. He is a lay-evangelist in the Tura region of Tabora, Tanzania. They are standing in front of their house which is in the middle of a dirt lot on the grounds of a cement factory. They are there to plant a church and reach the workers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Two weeks before I met these beautiful people they had been given an emergency food drop from the diocese because the crops had failed. They don't want to leave, they don't want it easy. All they want is Jesus...and for all those around them to experience His love and grace.

It's because of people like these that allow me to look at my life in perspective. If they trust the Lord and continue to follow Him in conditions like this, well I can press on a bit more!

Have you ever introduced someone to Jesus and run into them years later? What does it do to you when you see that they are chasing Jesus just as passionately?

Our lives are connected, we are one body. So run the race so as to encourage one another. If the person who first told you about the grace and mercy of God would come to your house today, would they be encouraged?

Day 19 Philippians 2:18

2009-03-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

...just like me, you need to be pleased to do the same for the Gospel!

I woke up way to early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, that is my excuse I guess for the video. Actually, I guess it's because I've got a group of friends that are trying to hash out what the Gospel is and to be honest it's kind of driving me nuts.

This is the Gospel and our response in dominos...Jesus fell to bring many of us back to the center with God. Then we go back out to do the same. If we hadn't been hit by the Jesus domino, we'd all be standing in the same place unable to get to the center.

This is why Paul is rejoicing today...happy falling people!

Day 18/19 Philippians 2:16/17

2009-03-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you folks don't mind that I do a double post on Monday. I get up to read on Sunday morning but it's a bit of a rush to get the three and a half of us out the door by 8am!

(shine so that you may be seen as a rescued one of Christ! Why? )

...so that when Jesus returns to bring justice and judgement of the Day of the Lord I may make my Master proud that I have born fruit for His glory! Your holding firm to the Gospel you will have heard from me will be the proof! Even if I am called to so spend myself for the sake of your glory that it is if my lifes blood is poured out upon the sacrificial alter just like the bulls, rams, goats and birds were in the Temple, so be it! I will be glad and rejoice with all of you in the Kingdom after that! Philippians 2:16-17

I subscribe to a Christian magazine called Relevent. It's rather cutting edge and current, but I wouldn't call it trendy. It does a great job of looking at Christ in Culture, and I encourage all folks to at leaset look at it once. There is a small piece in it this month featuring a discussion with a man who used to play in a band called Korn. He looks like the kind of person you would run away from in an alley; long braided hair, body piercings, tatoos covering his body. He used to play in a band and live the lifstyle of those in The Darkness, now He is a Child of Light and is a Christian.

In the piece he talks about about being involved with a campain in Texas called "I am second". It focuses on proclaiming and living the reality that if we are God's, we are called to live selfless lives for others (does this theme seem familiar yet?) This guy litterally had to walk away from everything he ever knew. Sure, you might say he should have and horay for him and that would be true. But he left every bit of security he knew, everything that was familiar, all of the things that defined his identity. He left them all for the new one, the Risen One. It cost him his life.

Have you gotten to the point where you could look in the eyes of Jesus and say you would do the same?

Day 18 Philippians 2:15

2009-03-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

(so live out the life in unity that you have been empowered to do through the sacrifice of Jesus)

2:15...in order that your outward appearance may be lived out like your inward reality; blameless and guiltless as far as evil is concerned in the eyes of God. You are adopted children of God, without any spot or blemish in the midst of countless people who are covered in blemishes. You shine like a man without pigment in the midst of a race of dark-skinned people!

This is why God saves and empowers His people. He loves all of His created and uses a type of "domino effect" to reach them all. This is in fact the understanding behind the verse "you shall do greater things than these!" As we die to ourselves and live for the Master we are like Jesus when he said a seed must die and fall to the earth...so that it will happen all over again.

The generation of eyewitness to Jesus as He walked physically on the earth is long past, we are to take up the mantle in a very real sense! We are new creations, temples of the Holy Spirit! Washed clean and made whiter than snow! When we live out this position we are seen as counter to the rest of society as a day-glow object in a darkroom where there is not even a hint of light!

And, just like that that day-glo object we have no light in and of ourselves. We are mearly radiating the light we have been exposed to. This is the Greek behind the word used for "shine". It is a passive shine, like the moon. The moon does not generate any light, it simply reflects the light from the sun. It shines only in the darkness when we cannot see the sun, but my how bright it is! I've love to be outside on huge full moon nights! I've actually climbed rocks and surfed during full moons! You can seen clearly in the darkness, so that even in the dark the Sun's glory is seen!

One last image; Have you ever heard of bio-luminescent algae? There is a natural chemical in them, like fireflies. When they are ruptured, they release their luminance. When you surf through a mass of these on a full moon night you can actually see a light trail of where you have been. It is amazing!

This is the thrust behind the passage today. We are illuminated by Jesus, no light of our own. As we live it out and offer up our lives in the darkness, they will see the light and where we have been. And, just like a moth will naturally seek out the light. The dark can see that we are not like them.

are you bright in the dark places or keeping the light to yourselves? What's keeping you dark?

Day 17 Philippians 2:14 (I don't wanna, but ya gotta!)

2009-03-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

(so, try and live a life in accord with the Father as Jesus did. It will be impossible to do it to the same degree, but try! Life it out among yourselves. You are the pointers to what a life in community with the Lord is like!)
...so, in everything you do in life (yes folks, EVERYTHING!) you must do it completely divorced from petty behind-the-scenes-water-cooler-type-complaining or clever reasoning as to why you shouldn't do what you are being called to!

Back in seminary I had a friend named Claudia. She's an awesome woman of God with a gift of expressing the joy of Christ by her presence, even when she's having a tough day. We were in a preaching class together and our small group was working on how to preach the parables. We each took turns preaching to each other to gain feedback on how effectively we could communicate the truths in Scripture. She got up in front of us one night and began to preach on a passage calling the hearer to abandon everything to God...."and everything means EVERYTHING people! I looked it up in the Greek!" she exclaimed with her characteristic bright eyes and ear-to-ear-grin. There was no hint of anything but joy in her voice as she told us to leave it all behind.

And so Paul is doing the same to us in this passage. He's finished showing us the reason behind being humble: the newly defined way of discipleship as revealed through the actions of Jesus so as to prove to all corners of the universe that God has the final control. Now we are told to live it out and why. Our lives are to be an example to the rest of the world. Many times Christians will be the "only Jesus people will ever see". This can be frustrating! Often folks complain "I'm only human" or "I hate living life under a microscope!" but that's what's going to happen. Just as Paul says look at Jesus, Jesus says look at my people.

So Paul tells the Church to live out their salvation without complaining behind each others backs or petty reasoning. No compromise folks. We can't complain about the job, the driver in front of us, the government. AHHHHHHHH! Why? Because we are called to submit to the Father's will just like Jesus had. What happens in this world that is not under His will?

But Bryan, I hope some might say, aren't we called to test the spirits, help each other live accountable lives and beware of false prophets? Yes, we are. But we need to check out motivations at the door! Most times, if we are honest, we engage in self-justifying behavior just as the young man did in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We, life he did, want to justify ourselves, to prove our actions.

This passage clearly tells us that we can't but not to worry or try to justify ourselves. Can't. Cross did. So we can live it out without arguing or grumbling because God isn't justifying the world, He's redeeming it. So in the midst of it all, let God be God. Be still the Psalmist wrote. Be joyful in surrendering everything my friend pointed out, because Jesus did just that for us.

A final say here people: be merciful to yourself and full of grace on this one. Don't beat yourself up, but try your best. God's Word is a book about God being kind to the complainers! If you mess up go to the person and ask forgiveness of them and God. If you find yourself talking about people all the time go and reconcile to them or dig deep in yourself and ask if the problem isn't really with you. (most times it is)

Are there things you are talking about at the water cooler? Do people see you as a complainer or a truster? Are you really trusting or trying to appear like you are?

Day 16 Philippians 2:13 (Tootsie Pops and Sanctification)

2009-03-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

(Every one will confess the Truth because of the Cross. So work out your salvation with fear and trembling when you are in the alone places of your life)

...Why? Because all that is happening to you and around you is under the control of God, remember? God is continuously working in you through the implanted Spirit. This is so you will be given the grace and power to desire and really want the things that are His will and purpose. These things are to to bring your salvation to completion! Don't fight it, it's His will!

I was sitting in a math class a half a billion years ago when the teacher (I don't even recall what grade it was) explained this theory of Greek thought called an asymptote. It suggests that if you travel toward a fixed point and continuously half the distance, you will never arrive at it...it's quite maddening really, especially to a young boy sitting in a math class.

There are few "problems" with the logic primarily that you have to never allow yourself to cheat in your imaginary walk over the next allotted "half distance". ..you walk five feet to an object ten feet away, then 2.5...and so on. Of course when total boredom sets in you just want to jump to the line and be done with it! Like with the old tootsie pop ad with the wise old owl.

This is what is happening to humans in this verse actually. God has implanted in us the Holy Spirit so that we would have the will and desire to continue to follow God's will in our lives. The ultimate goal is our sanctification, or becoming like the image of Christ. Since this image is ultimately unattainable (we can never be fully like Christ) we in effect are "halving the distance" to an point that is infinitely away! Ahhhhh! Since we have free will, we get bored and will never allow the God's desire and will to have it's way in and with us. We cheat and bite the Tootsie Pop...
God's desire is that we remain steadfast and under His will, just as Jesus did and not fight it (Romans 7:15). The mercy and grace is that He forgives us even when we cheat. His desire for us is that we finish the race and get to goal of sitting at the Throne of Grace forever enjoying the Father. Far better than the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, eh?

Day 15 Philippians 2:12

2009-03-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

.....Now beloved children, rescued ones, live like rescued ones even when I'm not here! This is genuine faith! You are free, so live it with reverence and awe under the one who set you free!

This verse tends to upset, no, freak most evangelical Christians out. Why? They misundertand what the "work it out means". The theology is simple "your theological indicative (the position of being adopted and ingrafted to God through Jesus by His work and grace) demand an ethical emperative (now, you MUST live like the free adopted children of God!) We obey our parents, right? So why do people get so nuts when God askes you to do the same, right? It's not a "if you love me you will do this" but rather "because I love you will you do this". It's not "if you love you you would do this" but a "I see how much you love me i want to do this!"
This friends, is the whole power behind the cross. Watch the video. It nails it. For those who are new to blogs and videos, please turn your sound on and simply click the arrow in the center of the picture. And may the Holy Spirit convict you too of His mercy and grace

Day 14 Philippians 2:11

2009-03-10T05:45:00.001-07:00

(Jesus subjected Himself to humility under created order so that He would be exalted. By this action God's power has been revealed so that all powers of the heavens, earth and under earth will bow in submission...)

..and also every single created being (angels, demons, humans) will use their respective languages to openly declare and profess that this action has proven that Jesus is indeed the Savior, the Anointed One of God. This declaration is the final judgement and is the Goal of God the Father.

This verse expands upon the reason for the humility of Christ; to bring judgment and salvation, and to reveal God's position as King of All. The fact that every tongue will confess that Jesus is indeed God does not point to universal salvation but rather to ultimate judgement.

Judgment is a loaded word for humans. We see and feel behind it all of our perceived failings we have placed upon ourselves. We hear in it the biting words of those who have tried to elevate themselves by bringing us lower. We hear self-righteousness by those trying to gain their own sense of worth. It is used as a weapon in the hands of most humans, but in the hands of God it is meant for Glory.

How can this be? The judgment of God (Day of the Lord) will pronounce guilty the things that warred against His people as well as declare innocent those whom He has saved. The humility of Jesus proves that nothing can judge nor control Him. God and God alone has the power and say over all creation from the heavenly realms to the realm under the earth. As far as East is from West.

This is what was revealed to John when He was caught up in Heaven and given his revelation:
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation..." This is the song sung by the four living creatures and the elders seated around Jesus in the Throne Room (see Revelation 5). These are the tongues of the Heavenly Beings indeed agreeing that Judgement has come through the cross, and that it brought both victory and defeat proving God's rightful position.

This Judgment which is indeed the Good News (we have been saved and can have access to the Father) is not just for the Second Coming but for today! This confession occurred even before the Resurrection in the river water with John the Baptizer when the Holy Spirit convicted of sin and righteousness. It fell upon the people after the Resurrection in Acts 19:18 when many confessed and repented of their evil deeds. It happens daily around the world and it should happen daily in our lives. This is what it means to die daily and take up our crosses.

After John the Baptizer pulled the confessing people from the cleansing waters, he admonished those on the banks to live lives (bear fruit) worthy of repentance. This was a call to jump in the water and claim the cleansing of Jesus.

Every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord. Some for good, some for not. If you are following Christ today, I beg you to take the time today and thank Him for defeating all of the forces that competed with Him against you. Thank Him for your freedom and salvation. Thank Him for giving you the good profession in your soul, for no one could have called Him Lord, Lord without the sacrifice of the One Holy Offering.
peace
b

Board Meeting, in Bushnell Park

2009-03-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

I would like to introduce you to a few of the Board Members of Restless Heart Ministries as well as some folks who assist with sorting of clothes in my basement, driving to peoples houses to offer prayers hope and furniture or raise money to buy nets in Tanzania;

In the red hood is Geri, our secretary who is a para for special need kids. The mitten around her shoulder belongs to her husband Moe who is a go-to-guy for pick ups and drop offs. The no-hat-crazy-man is Kevin. (it was 12 degrees F that day) He is a parishoner from New Hope Anglican Church and is using the time while he is looking for work after being laid off to serve the Lord. The guy in the center back is my dad, Tom. He's retired and in the past few months has gotten a broken heart for Jesus. He says it was the day that he helped pick up Angel Food and saw so many people struggling that God grabbed his heart. He and my mom (front right) are at my house every other week sorting or making drop offs. The tall guy in the back right is Hap. He handles or computer stuff and is great to bring along becuase he loves Jesus and is really big. That's his wife Nancy in the middle with the green scarf. She is really gifted at administration and like the rest of the members, is committed to loving Jesus and bringing His love to the ones who have fallen through the cracks. Bill, another board member was with us that day but left just before the pictures because he has really bad knees and the cold had brought a lot of pain. But he was there out of love for God.

We helped a friend in her ministry in Hartford that day make and distribute sandwiches to the homless guys in Bushnell Park. See, these people don't just sit on the board, they are always asking how they can serve, how they can get into the mix, how the Master could use thier hands. They are the hope that is poured out on the poor and broken, the healing Balm of Jesus, the one leper who returned to say thanks. And so is Pat, Barry and Ingrid (other board members) who could not make it that day.

So, as you pray for our ministry, pray for them.

Blessings

Day 13 Philippians 2:10 all things are in judgment under Christ

2009-03-09T04:53:00.000-07:00

(God exalted Him so that...)
when the title of Jesus is mentioned in the heavenly realms all the transcendent beings will assume a bowed posture in reverence and submission and when the title of Jesus in mentioned on the earth, all those beings that are opposite to the transcendent beings will assume a bowed posture as well, and even those who are apart from them both will do it too!

It is reversed, all of it, at least what we can see and understand in human terms. Jesus, the Anointed One of the Most High God redefined the way of discipleship as to "come and die" and so live. By following this trail to it's penultimate, Jesus placed His full trust and obedience to the Father. He cut the lifelines.

And God proved Himself to be faithful to His covenant to never leave. (Romans 14:11) As Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruit for those to come afterward judgment was passed so that all the powers that raged against God were proven defeated and they bowed in submission to the vanquishing King.

God's sovereignty reaches to every corner of the earth (Ps. 139), and with it He brings pardon and judgment. The grace and mercy we have received is that we are able to be in the heavenly realms with those bowed around the throne, as opposed to the defeated who bow not in humble adoration but in defeat.

What does this do to you? Do you understand the mercy and judgment? What has God's mercy and judgment done in your life?

Spend some time repeating this verse and ask the Lord to give you an understanding. Say it out loud to yourself, or at least move your lips. Actively seek God's will and word.
b

Day 12 Philippians 2:9

2009-03-08T03:24:00.000-07:00

Because Jesus was able to selflessly make Himself void of all His glory by humbling Himself in such a way, God gave Him praise and commendation, not earthly praise, but Heavenly praise from beyond our realm, and gave Him the position and status above all things! And He signed this declaration by giving Him the name which is above all names!

Jesus alone could reduce Himself to the point of the lowest of lows. Why? Because He was in communion with the Triune God-Head in totality. This allowed Him to be able to fully make Himself void of any type of glory for He understood it was not His (something to be grasped), He could not hold onto it (it was given to Him) and that it was out of His control (all things had been given to Him by His Father).

When we try to follow we have so many barriers, don't we? We fall prey to low self-esteem. We pretend to be humble but then either use it as a club to beat the other person over the head with or use it as a badge of courage. We can't lower ourselves to the point we are called to simple because we are not Jesus.

But we are still called to try. Why do we do it? Because Jesus did and showed us we are to do it as well. And we follow because we are in love with Him and what He has done for us....and when trials come, and frustration and anger, the Holy Spirit is sent to aid our feeble attempts. And at the end our attempts we shall hear "well done, good and faithful servant"...not perfect and successful!

The lowly way, the way of the cross, this is the way of Jesus. There's a seminary in Kentucky that has a statue of Jesus in the garden that is looking down at an angle. The only way to see His face is to contort yourself in such a way that you are on your knees looking up.

This is the way of the cross. This is the only way to see Jesus. This is how we are to gain a piece of the exaltation and name.

Day 11 Philippians 2:8

2009-03-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

Because He, Jesus, was able to selflessly put Himself in the position furthest from His nature (God/King to slave/servant) God the Father once and for all raised Him to the loftiest height that exists and freely gave Him commendation and honor for the great work that was accomplished. He defined Him, Jesus, the greatest created of all created...

I have been waking up most mornings to meditate, study and journal on this devotional reading through Philippians around four am. It's had a tremendous impact on my life, this simple act of putting aside rest to come into the presence of the Living God. I have a toddler in the house, and another one on the way, so part of this act is due to time, but I adore this early morning time. It reminds me of my days in seminary when I would wake up early and have a quite time before chapel and class. I made sure I did that so that my devotional time would never become a time of study, but time would remain time with the Author and Perfecter of my salvation.

As I sat this morning, the Spirit brought to mind the story of the first miracle Jesus performed at the wedding in Cana in John 2. The wine steward, the keeper of the treasure as it were, bore witness to what we read today in Philippians 2:8. As Jesus made water into the wine (furtherest from wine to wine it's self) God makes the lowest (Jesus in human form) into the highest (exalted one). This is what He does when we (sinners/haters of God) are made righteous through faith and profession in Jesus. The dead are made alive via adoption.

It's this great reversal that is the stumbling block for so many: lowest to highest, first to last, death to life. All this is from God to prove that it could come from no where else. In this verse God is telling us that because Jesus was so able to separate Himself for all "earthly desires", as He first did in resisting temptation after His baptism, and was able to be so fully obedient to the point of death, God raised this God-man to the highest of highs and made Him the first-fruit. He was the once-for-all-sacrifice needed.

Can we? If we could there would have been no need for Jesus to die. Can we now after His death through the indwelling power of the Spirit? No, for then we would be equal to Christ, not like Him. But we are given the ultimate example we are to follow.

This my friends, is the true depth of "giving up" we are called to in Lent. Jesus didn't give up His favorite food, smoking, TV....He laid down it all and never picked it back up again.

Are you prepared to do the same? Why not? Are you clinging to the glory you have on earth? Don't you see, this is our cross...

Day 10 Philippians 2:8

2009-03-06T03:20:00.000-08:00

Years ago while studying I came across this image in a textbook. The irony of it took me back and sent me reeling. I have yet to recover. This is a piece of graffiti from a wall of a Roman School. It shows the image of a man with a donkey’s head on a cross and under it is scrawled the commentary "Alexamenos worships God." And there I was a few thousand years later worshiping the (pardon me, but you need the effect) the One whom many deemed a “jack-ass” as my living, saving, powerful Lord.

And this is what we read today:
…but He fully made Himself void of His glory, and received the appearance of a bonded-slave and birthed Himself into the lineage of fallen men. And being found in that appearance, He reversed His status; the Master of all things created placed himself under it’s power and became obedient even to death (which He had crushed), even a humiliating death on a cross.

This is the ultimate example of “humility”. Death, the conquered foe, appears to be given the upper hand. Christ, the victor, placed Himself under its weight upon the cross in obedience to His Father’s will so that those who could not bear the weight of death could gain the fruits victory.

…and He did so in full view of the world in a manner reserved for the lowest of lows. Most times when theologians and pastors try to explain the cross they tell of the whips, the scourging, the blood, death by asphyxiation but they never talk about how ridiculous and ironic it was. Here was the Creator being manipulated by those whom He created (or so it seems. That is a HUGE discussion). The crowd at His feet understood how audacious His claims to Kingship were when they cried out “you saved others, now save yourself!”. Some powerful God! What an idiot! He could have gotten out of this! He didn’t even die like a semi-important man! He gets a slave death! Ha!

Why did He stay there? Well, many songs sing that “love held Him there” but the truth is it was His obedience to the Father and His covenant to us. We call it “love” but God called it His promise when He spoke to Abram. It was the ultimate act of humility, of being obedient to the Father’s will.

Are you willing to “die” to bring others to glory as well, or are you afraid that someone will call you a jack-ass too. Is your pride in the way? Are your plans in the way? How else will the world see the Truth of Christ’s victory unless we live into it?

Day Nine..Philippians 2:7

2009-03-05T04:58:00.000-08:00

(so if He was equal with God and didn't hang onto that, what did He do?)
...but he decided that it would be robbery keep hold of the pre-existant glory He had with the Father and Holy Spirit. Instead He deliberately grasped onto the form of what he knew was the polar opposite. He let go of the Throne and walked into darkness. He clothed himself in appearance of a human, sinful, mortal, a slave to sin and death. He chose to walk in the form of the fallen.

If you have spent any amount of time around me you will have undoubtedly heard one of my "can I ask you a question" stories. This is my favorite string of six words, even better than "you have free pizza for life" or "the surf is really big today". I hear these words after the Holy Spirit has fallen upon a heart of flesh and the person wants to hear the Name of Jesus pronounced out loud.

Today's verse is the best way to describe the Love of God. It's selfless love and sacrifice, it's choosing to take the shoddy and give away the shinny, it takes the coal and gives the gold.

It's an action that selfish human hearts can understand: firefighters who run into burning buildings to save a helpless baby caught in the flames. It's a person running to a burning car on the side of the highway instead of away from it. It's a soldier carrying in his buddy who is "hurt worse" only to die outside the OR waiting for his buddy to come out. It's a mother saying "take my life, but save my baby".

The "hero story" stirs every soul, it's an echo of the image of God lost deep within us. God reminded us of it through Jesus. He could have grasped the brass ring, but he chose to pay the debt for the next ride and give the free one away.

There are two people on Scripture other than Jesus and one in my life that I have seen this lived out.
Moses, after he was told that he personally would not enter the promised land continued to love those whose disobedience cost him his own glory. Paul said he would give up his own salvation so that others would be saved. The one who I watched in my life live it out has forever changed my selfish heart.

That's what is supposed to happen. Has it? Do you really understand what Jesus did for you? Has His example led you to run into danger to save others? Why not? Do you think you saved yourself? Do you think you really weren't in danger? See, Jesus really did it friends, and we are to be as bold in our lives.
blessings friends,
b

Day Seven/Eight Philippians 2:5-6

2009-03-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

(Now I have asked to lead of unity as a church through being humility to God and each other. We can’t follow human examples, look at the life of humility Jesus led…)

You followers of Jesus must let the same kind of thinking dominate you that dominated Christ Jesus: whose outward appearance belied the fact that He was the pre-existent Triune God. He had never in the pre-creation “world”, nor does He in this tangible present, nor will He ever until the end of ages consider the fact that he was in ALL ways equal to God something that he could claim as His own right or even hang onto! He would have thought that robbery!

This my friends is what a real “Amplified Bible” looks like. The popular one for sale expands certain words that have multiple meanings in Scripture. They are honest and true translations of the word used. How can it have so many meanings? Koine Greek, the guttural, colloquial language of the common person used to write the Greek New Testament from which all modern translations derived was a highly reflective language. That sounds more impressive than it really is! What that means is that words had different meanings in different contexts. A modern equivalent is the use of “bad” a number of years ago. Depending on the context of use, “bad” could be either awful, good, or even the greatest! Inflection and tone of voice aided as well. American Sign Language has some similarities in that some hand shapes may have the same shape but different meaning in context and the “degree” of meaning varies in how they are expressed.

Today’s passage is a prime example. If you read and Amplified Bible, you would find a number of different meanings for the word. But when you look at the word used in context throughout the Bible, it becomes clear that it has (as it only can) one very clear meaning (although interpretation may vary on what that is). When this is done, you see a power in the words that are “lost in translation”.

These two short verses tell us a number of the greatest truths in all of Holy Scripture as well as our reaction to them.
Our lives are to be an expression of our relationship with Jesus. The NEB translation states: “Let your bearing towards one another arise out of you life in Jesus Christ.” We are called to focus on personal holiness, to worry less about others sanctification and more about ours.
Jesus is in very nature God in a 1:1 relationship. Yet He chose to limit His glory to bring about the plan the Redemptive Salvation History
This glory was nothing He could steal
We are called to do the same with the aid of the Holy Spirit
What do you say, care to come along?

Day Five/Six Philippians 2:4

2009-03-02T02:32:00.000-08:00

Unity through humility

Now, since you are modeling your unity after Jesus’ love for you and in the power he has bestowed upon you, each and everyone one of you should not pay careful attention to your own lives, interests, or even take notice of what you think you need. All of your thoughts, actions and attention should be completely on others without even a hint of regarding yourself! Philippians 2:4

Paul concludes this section by underscoring the fact that the only way to obtain the unity Jesus prayed for His disciples to receive (John 17), was through a chain of humility, which brings unification.

They needed to first place themselves under the lordship of Jesus. This is what humility means. Being allowed to do so is a gift as it takes a regenerated heart to love God. Since Jesus was fully humble to the Father’s will, we are then vicariously as well through him. Only when this occurs can humans who by sin-nature are self-serving and inward focused turn to live lives completely focused on interests other than their own. This does not mean we are incapable of “sliding out” from under His will, but rather that we are able to love and do these things at all.

How can we let go of our control of trying to meet our needs? Trust.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Matthew 6:25 ff.

Are we called to lives of abject poverty? Some are, most aren’t. Look at your lives; check book, furnishings, vacations, leisure time, what you do at church, even food. Are you taking care of yourself or others? Be as honest as you can and compare your life to Christ and to the saints. Feel convicted? Welcome to Lent…ask for forgiveness and the power to change and it will be given.

Day 4 Philippians 2:3 "always check your motivation"

2009-02-28T04:10:00.000-08:00

(So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.)
3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Years ago I began to teach people how to see the providential hand of God in their lives through an exercise of prayerful thanksgiving. Each person is given a piece of paper and a pen and asked to close their eyes and in their mind “walk through” their houses room by room and visualize what is there. Open the drawers, look in closets, and count the number of pairs of underwear, the number of forks, cans of soda. They are given only five minutes to complete the walk. I set a timer, say go, and watch the race! At the end everyone in unison prays aloud “thank you Father for giving me”…and read their list. It’s life changing actually, to intentionally look at everything you possess and place it against what we as Anglicans say each Sunday “all things come from thee oh Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”

Here in verse 3 Paul is telling all followers of Jesus to prayerfully walk through their motivations and honestly look at why they did them. It’s a call to live a very intentional life, isn’t it? Try it out. Think about every decision you made yesterday from the time you woke up to the time you went to sleep. The very first waking thought. The word used for “nothing” means “nothing”, not a single action should not be checked to see if it for our own glory.

The selfish act is self-seeking; as in seeking political office for personal gain. This self-seeking leads to strife within the body (see Cor. 13). Vain glory is focused on me, humility is focused on others. As I mentioned yesterday, it is impossible to have this outward focus without inward transformation. This “other-serving” community is so counter-cultural that it is a principal witness to the world (see Romans 12:5)

But isn’t humility like being a doormat? No, only in New Testament literature is humility expressed in a positive tone. Why? It was the position Jesus took with His Father, and it is the one we should take as well. This act of putting our actions into captivity is liberating. And, it is grammatically, and thus ethically, imperative, to place yourself under Jesus and then others. You are to see them better than yourself, as you are called to see Jesus better than yourself.

We keep journals of calories, of expenses, of time, why are we so remiss to keep track of our actions? It is difficult as fallen humans. We innately self-justify our actions; “that woman, who you gave me, she made me!” Adam and Eve weren’t framed, we framed ourselves. What should the response be? The same as the prodigal who returned to the Father after he realized the motivation of his actions. Realize our selfishness and ask fo for forgiveness. This is very purifying. Then, when we are persecuted, it will be easier to tell if it is from doing good, or evil. Critical self-examination, confession, repentance, asking for forgiveness…and receiving it. That is the work of the cross. It is the process of sanctification for the world to see Jesus

Day 3...Philippians 2:3 "be of one mind"

2009-02-27T02:47:00.001-08:00

Philippians 2:1-2
(So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy…)
Verse two
…make my joy the ultimate joy and bring it to completion! My joy is this, that on the day you stand in judgment you shall be deemed innocent of all charges of sin. How can you fulfill the purpose of my joy? By having a genuine common mind; sharing interests, ideals, goals, ambitions), having a mutual love and working in complete harmony. You must do this!

Paul is very clear today on the purpose of Christ’s love, comfort, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, sympathy and affection. Often we focus on what Christ did (putting aside the pre-existing glory He shared with the Father) and forget to ask the pressing issue why it was done.

I often ask followers of Christ why they think Jesus drank to the dregs the cup of wrath that He was given (Isa 51:22). As I am sure you would guess the common answer is “love” quoting John 3:16. True, but this is half the answer. It was for love, but not for ours alone. It was done to glorify His name. Christ died for us so that we might in turn die to ourselves so that we might, as Jesus did for us, live for others. We share in the sufferings of Christ in this mortal life, as did Paul, to bear witness to Jesus.

How can humans have the mind of Jesus and be as unified in purpose as the Holy Spirit is with the rest of the God Head? How can those who have all turned to their own desires and purposes (Isa 53:6) be of one mind? The key lies in Romans 12:2. In being transformed (the word that is used here is the one from which metamorphosis is derived), there is a “great reversal” in that the heart/mind that was bent inward to the self for fulfillment and desire is pointed outward to God. The word used in Romans 12:2 is a passive imperative, giving the weight of “it must be done to you”. It is a work that we cannot accomplish ourselves.

So, Paul is telling us in verse two that the fulfilled joy of Christ in him is to see His people unified in Spirit living as an organic body, which will bear witness to the world that with Christ, nothing is impossible. Living in such harmony without being transformed is impossible.

Are you living in harmony with God, with your family, with your community? Paul urges us here to not to change the other, but to examine and change yourself. We are to love when hated, sacrifice when taken advantage of, forgive when assailed….for this is exactly what Christ did for each and every one of us.

Day 2; Pilippians 2:1 "We are the mission field"

2009-02-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

I had a friend who was suffering from a devastating disease. The Lord blessed him with two years of life when his physicians told him he had six months to live. During those years God did amazing things, from shrinking his tumors, to making some disappear, to melting hearts and bringing people to faith.

I went with him one day on the hour long ride into the City while he had a treatment. We talked about big things, we talked about small things, we sat in silence. "I wish I could go (he said speaking of my work in Tanzania). I wish I had my Africa." On that cold, dark morning he realized what Paul had, that our lives and how we live should have an impact on others.

What he didn't speak then, although he was living it, was that his very body was the "Africa" that God has chosen for him. It was the place that God would show forth his glory, not so much how he lived, but rather how he died and suffered. This was the call on Paul's life and it is what he is exhorting the church in Philippi to take comfort from.

We don't like affliction, we would rather chose comfort. Martin Luther King Jr. once remarked that the measure of a man's character is judged not when he is in comfort, but how he reacts with adversity. This summarizes Paul's theology of the suffering of Christ, himself and the church.

2:1 opens with the word "if", a subordinate conjunction. This has the weight of "if you are encouraged by may actions in my imprisonment and the sufferings of Christ". He does not say you must have a lot, he adds "any", like the faith the size of the mustard seed God will multiply it.

If any..encouragement; the act of emboldening an others faith or course of action. Like Job, his life (and ours) are sign posts to those around us. How we suffer points to our convictions. We don't trust ourselves, but rather Christ. This is the foolishness of the Cross, to put power in the one who was crucified. His humility and self-imposed subjection to the Father gave us the way follow.

Any encouragement of love...increased perseverance from the selfless acts of Christ and Paul

...any participation with the Spirit; acts of participating for self-interests. The Spirit is working the power of sanctification and glorifying the name of Jesus while Paul is allowing God to use his life (of which God alone saved) for the advancement of the Kingdom

...any compassion or mercy. This is deep-seated compassion, it's the source of the mercy not the mercy its self. The word refers to the inner bowls, where the ancient mind felt compassion came from. So, if these "transformed guts", or "new creation is in you and working"...

Paul understood that he was "Africa" and derived his strength, encouragement, desire to love, fellowship, his ability to go any where, do anything for the Gospel from the Cross.

Do you have this mind in you? Are you allowing God to use your life as "Africa"? Do you find it within you to share your confidence in the trials, or do you complain like the world? Where is your trust, your hope? Do you believe that all the troubles of this life pale in comparison to the all surpassing joy of knowing Christ (Phil 3:8)?
b

"Surely this man was the Son of God"

The Messsiah's humility; Philippians 2 day one

2009-02-25T12:20:00.000-08:00

For friends outside of New Hope Church, we're collectively reading chapter two of the book of Philippians as an act of adoration to God during Lent. Why? In this letter, and in particular chapter two, Paul gives us a clear picture of what the humility of Jesus looked like, why He had it and what it should do to us. And this my friends is what Lent is all about. We're going to focus on one verse a day. I'll be translating from the Greek Text, so you'll be reading the "Bryan" translation. The result won't be heresy! What you will see, or rather feel, is what the Holy Spirit does with Holy Scripture.

The Greek that the New Testament writers used is highly inflected, that is to say the words have a sense of dimension. Most often there isn' t just a 1:1 ration of translation so much is lost in simply defining the words. Don't worry! This won't be hard! You aren't going to be asked to translate the Greek! But we're going to look at the text as it was meant to be read...in a commoners language, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and breathed of God.

On this first day (or perhaps two) we need to look at the context of this letter. Context is ALWAYS key to understanding the Bible! We can't allow our feelings to dictate what we think the Word of God ought to say! The time, date, place, settings that I will be alluding to are held by tradition to be true. Tradition is not a "stiff upper lip" word, but rather that these beliefs have been tested against Scripture for a very long time and with good use of biblical theology have proven to be true.

Where Paul wrote the letter from is debatable for some; Cessarea, Ephesus or Rome. It is clear that this is one of Paul's "prison letters" (1:2-6) and that is was penned out of the experience of sustained imprisonment. Paul is not just saying "I understand your troubles", he is writing from the heart of the maelstrom. This gives him the authority to speak to Christians under persecution.

He was writing to a group of gathered followers of Jesus who had been meeting to pray, read and study the teachings of Jesus in the influential center of Philippi. Philippi was a powerhouse in terms of influence, and as such so were the residents. It had the special status of being a Roman Colony and carried with it all of the rights and privileges. They were under Roman law for administration and taxes. It had a history of being settled by battle proven and privileged veterans. It was Roman to the core (see Acts 16:20-21). When Paul arrived his original preaching was to a pagan culture. There and found Lydia and other women by a river in prayer (Acts 16). When he left, there was a strong devoted Christian core, most of whom were Gentiles.

This letter was written for a number of reasons; it gave thanks for gifts, explained which brothers were coming and going and why, warned of Jewish legalism, encouraged the community to live bravely and to urge them to live in the unity of the Spirit. The church need to be reminded how to endure, and Paul pointed to the humility of Jesus as the model, source and power.

It's all about living a humble life, a life submitted to God, a life of trust and obedience.
So, as we start out on this study get honest with yourself (God knows anyway). Are you humble like Jesus?
b

The Shack: Week Three

2009-02-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

Meet bear. Bear is the love of my daughter's life. We don't remember who gave him to her, but he is the center of her little 22 month old universe. We tried (unsuccessfully) to find a "back-up bear" once only to discover that he is a "retired" beanie baby. We found one that was close on eBay, but Olivia didn't buy it. She actually calls it "more bear". He's cute, but nothing really special...see he wasn't a big seller and was sent out to pasture...kinda the land of the misfits toys.

Mack was confronted with this kind of love in chapter six this week. "

No matter what God's power may be, the first aspect of God is never that of absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself"

My daughter chose the least desirable as the sole object of her affection. When that happens to humans, the response is multifaceted; disbelief, humility, gratitude, adoration. The list goes on and on. Our response is natural, we are loved and in return we want to love back to the same degree, if not more so.

...so now what am I supposed to do...you 're not supposed to do anything (replies Jesus), you are free to do whatever you like..well (Mack replies) I sort of feel obligated to go in and talk to him, er her..Don't go because you feel obligated (Jesus replies). That won't get you any points around here. Go because it's what you want to do..(p 89)

Here's the rub. Obligation. Are we obligated to do anything after we come to fall in love with Jesus. This question has spilled much real blood and I do not wish to spill anymore. Let me say this;

If you have honestly come face to face with the reality of 1) your spiritual condition and position before you answered an invitation from Jesus 2) understand that it is by grace you have been chosen and given that right then I doubt that your heart will desire to do anything but run to this Merciful God and offer all that you have.

Anything else to me seems like you either expected God to do things for you because you deserved it or that you didn't really need God to do anything for you that you couldn't do for yourself.

How would you respond if someone bought you a used $1,000 car as apposed to a new Porsche?

Have you responded...did you run out of love or obligation? Do you really understand the gift?

week two in the shack

2009-02-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

...so we launched off into week two with a couple of new faces; one that i've known for twelve years and another who's interest was peaked while waiting for his drink at the espresso bar...

So there we were, ten of us last night, and out of that ten nine had a personal "Great Sadness" story. I'm never surprised when i see this, in fact i'm more bothered when it doesn't happen. I mean, Jesus came for the sick, right? So if you're really living on the edges where Jesus seems to be most often you'll be in the same company.

Oh, i'm not saying we're all walking around like major headcases, just that some people understand the deal a bit deeper than others simply because they fell a bit deeper than others...that's all.

Grief was the topic, deep grief that hangs on your soul like a soaking wet t-shirt that makes that hollow sucking sound when you pull it off your body...it clings to your back so you can't pull it off, and when you finally do pry it over your head it hits the floor with a thump. Left unattended it grows into a smelly pile of funk...you have to deal with it...

Great Sadness grief isnt' a "get-over-it-kind-of-thing" is it? It makes you do a gut check; who is with me, why did this happen, where am i? Too often well-meaning folks come along side you and tell you the old familiar lies; "i know how you feel, it will be ok, it was for the better"...

but there is good in the dark in that our eyes automatically search for the light. There just has to be something besides this. We weren't made for the dark places, we were made for the glorious light...we just got lost. So as we fumble in the dark we hit walls and other people...and we're called to help others out of the shadows...

When the Great Sadness's descend, we need to hang together, just like God hangs with us. He promised to never leave us or forsake us even thought at times it seems as if He did...

that's when we need to turn to each other and simply say by our actions "i'm staying with you..i'm not going. I i'll be here beside you and wait."

wait for what? wait until we cry "uncle"...and let the light flood in

so what is your Great Sadness? How did God respond? Are you still waiting and trying to fix it yourself?

The Shack

2009-02-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

New Hope, the church that i'm pastoring, just launched into a study of this book. Thought you might like to join us.

First to be up front, as a man who has suffered the agony of the death of a son I was able to enter into the Shack by the front door. My story is different and the grace that Papa gave me and my wife was as thick as the Spirit of God (for that is what it was) but i wore the interpretive lenses of Mac. We all do, if we have the guts to be honest. Some are just a bit thicker than others.

So we met last night at a coffee shop, most of us getting jacked up on espresso, others on the company. God was i'm sure rather giddy about the whole gathering, i mean, it was quite the eclectic group with crazy stories of where we had been, where we were, and dreams of where we were going. So we took up most of the shop, more of the tables, and an hour of time.

I asked a simple question: "we've read the first chapter, what hit you?" We didn't even get past the forward.

"...Mack has been married to Nan for just more than thirty-three mostly happy years. He says she saved his life and paid a high price for it. For some reason, beyond understanding, she seems to love him now more than ever, even though I get the sense that he hurt her something fierce in the early years. I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in from the outside..." pp10-11

Now, i'm not saying that Young meant to say this, but as i stare again at this passage I can't help but see Jesus..do you? See, Jesus began his public ministry at the age of thirty, and preached, healed and did other Jesus-type stuff for three years, making him how old when He breathed this last and gave up His Spirit?

Still not there? Perhaps you've forgotten the high price paid for your life by the one who saved it?

...and it's beyond your understanding that God called Israel to be His, and yet they rebelled...still Papa demonstrated His greatest love through a very personal gift. But that doesn't make much sense. That's grace from the outside...

...and it is so true that our hurts and healing both come through relationships...we died because of our actions and we are made alive because of His...

How many missed these few sentences i wonder, in their rush to get into the story? To be honest, i did, but today it seems clear as day...and they make all the differece. So let me ask you this:

Are you reading too fast that you miss the grace throughout your life?

Are you part of the hurt or part of the healing?

What price are you willing to pay to save someone or something?

Do you think that price is too great? Remember what it cost Papa...

blessings friends...and grace for the journey

all dressed up, now what!

2009-02-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

So i took my daughter out for daddy-date-day this week. I learned about date-days from the Sr. Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle...the whole philosophy is that if dad's take their daughters out for dates when they're young, they'll have a standard for how Godly men should treat them. We have a blast. We get up, eat, get dressed and figure out where we should go. We hit parks on sleds, long slow trips through the grocery store where we pick up and move everything, bookstores...

This past week we had a mission to get her hair cut. My wife and I don't dare do it so we take her to this place that's like Chuckie Cheeses, only you get to play with scissors. It's a good drive from our house so i brought along some gifts cards that were given to her so we could pick up a few things for her to wear. When i stopped my truck she was little-miss-sleepy-girl snoozing away so i scooped her up and shopped while she snored. She popped up just in time to give the checkout girl my credit card (foreshadowing?), get some stickers and grab her bag and walk out of the store looking like a buyer for Saks. It was like she was a sea turtle, i mean, she didn't have to be taught to throw her bag over her shoulder and strut...she woke up from a snoozing stupor and slid into the job.

...have you ever met a follower of Christ who has done the same? i mean, as soon as they wake up from their stupor and enter into the radiance of Jesus, they just flow? Most of you haven't i would guess, and i'd lay money that it's not because the person didn't exhibit a natural desire to put on the new clothes they were given by Jesus. When the Holy Spirit begins the process of sanctification it is decisive and immediate. The dead are alive, the old is new.

What happens most often is that when sleepers awake, those that thought they were the "spiritual alarm clock" try and make them fit into thier idea of what a buyer for Saks should look like...and most often it's themselves....so when these new lives that have been redeemed by God start off to tell of the wonderful things God has done, they get told to wait and clean up first...

This was not the case when Jesus woke them up, as with Peter's mom when she was sick (Mark 1:29ff). As soon as the fever left her, she got up and began to serve...just like that.

I guess I'm a little sensitive in this area as i've been blessed to see many people wake from their sleep and then head off to a church only to be told to calm down, clean up, look like us. Now I know that we are called to live a life inline with the Spirit of God and at least not resist transformation, but i've seen too many people get pumped for Jesus, run to the church...and then run away....why is that?

Here's your challenge. Look around your church next time you are there. What do they look like, how do they serve God, how did they come to faith?

wake up sleepers, the Lord wants to send you redeemed shoppers...are you ready?

Hope in the Power of One

2009-01-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who's a priest in Iowa who has shown me over the years what Jesus would look like if he were a priest in Iowa (or anywhere for that matter). He's a brilliant theologian yet he just "does theology" in and with his life like no one else I have ever met. I pray he blesses you as richly as he does me.
http://sowingseedsinthewilderness.blogspot.com

fully immersed in grace

2009-01-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

I’ve always had this fascination with water. I don’t know, maybe it’s because my last name is Bywater, but I just love the stuff. I’m always the first one in and the last one out. I love to surf and paddle on it, fish and dive it in, snowboard over it, and trail run through it. Whether it’s bath water warm or steal-your breath cold I can’t seem to keep out of it. Surfers swear that a single wave can cure anything. A stressful day can’t survive a hot bath. Isn’t being properly hydrated the cure for everything these days? It just seems like nothing ill can stand water.
Yep, there’s something about water. But some things just don’t wash off, do they? A spouse that leaves you, a close friend’s frightening diagnosis, a factory that closes, your state of separation from God. A lake, river, puddle or ocean can’t keep your lights on when the bill is overdue or stop the bank from taking your home. Nor can they make you right with God. But there can be healing, hope and joy in water. Once you emerge from this water your life is never the same. Where is this water? It’s the waters of Baptism in Jesus Christ and all you have to do is answer the invitation and wade in.

And he [John the Baptist] preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Mark 12:7ff.

Now John wasn’t saying that either he or the water was magic or special. The water was just an old stream that wandered through the woods where people came to wash and clean. He was calling out to the crowds to wade into it as an outward sign of inwardly desiring to repent and turn back to God, the act simply saying, “yes God, I want in”. These were the waters of turning around (that’s what “repent” means) into the family of God and all the healing, grace, mercy and love He could offer.
And then Jesus shows up, the One whom he had been waiting for, the One whom he had been created to proclaim. And He asks to be baptized! In that outward act, Jesus was proclaiming what was required of all: to dedicate their entire lives to God. Anglicans (of which I am one) traditionally pour water on a person’s head when they are baptized, but to he honest, I am a fan of full-immersion. You can’t miss the profound symbolism of the entire body dying to self and committing to Christ. We’re called to wade in fully, not just our heads. Have you waded in fully, or are their parts of your life that you have laid on the banks of the river? What is it that you don’t want to get wet? Your marriage, your money, your job, your house, your spare time? It’s impossible to toss these things in unless you have experienced the second baptism John talks about, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now that makes some folks nervous. It shouldn’t. John is telling us that this second baptism is the one that gives us a new heart, one that is no longer focused on ourselves, but rather on God and our neighbors. At New Hope we’re trying to do our best to bury our whole lives in the waters and let hope spring forth and water our neighborhood. How? We’re helping provide low-cost food to our neighbors; we’re bringing clothes and furniture to teenage and single moms. We’re helping people see and find hope in Jesus, no matter if they’re on the banks or in the water. That’s what we’re about at New Hope. We’re all wet, or trying to be, and we’re pouring the waters of hope and grace on our parched town.

the pagans got it right!

2009-01-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

...my wife and i got our daughter a Fisher Price Little People Creche this year. We wanted her to be able to be involved with the season and to be able to play and interact with the Greatest Story because it is part of her family story.

It was honestly a riot! She did her best impersonation of "girl-zilla"...she'd pick up the inn and run around the living room looking at us through the windows, she loved playing "hide the baby" and most days the donkey was sitting on top of the manger where the Angel was supposed to be sitting...

But it did what I hoped it would, it made the story accessible to her and it made me think about it over and over as I would pick up the pieces and tell my daughter about them. The story she learned was a little different than you see on most cards. It was Biblically accurate (sans Herod's call to kill all male children 2 and under, although I did tell her that Jesus was born into great danger) And in the midst of all the chaos, order came. That's what Epiphany is about, God bringing order into chaos. And this year as I dug deep into the reality of the revealing of the King of Kings alongside my daughter, it became all the more real.

The store-front image of the kings bent over the Christ child in their fine robes and chests of precious gifts is about as realistic as my daughters camels! They didn't show up until Jesus was into his terrible two's (he was human!) and after a trip of four months or more that covered approximately 900 miles! And they didn't come to pay homage to Jesus as their personal king, they had come to pay homage to a great king. It was more of a visit of the state than a pilgrimage. But Matthew still sees this as one theologian writes; "an acceptable Gentile response to a genuine revelation, despite dubious means". These kings were pagans. They weren't Jews looking for their king, they weren't God-fearers who were born outside of the Covenant and came to see the child that fulfilled the prophecy. They were magician/sorcerer/sages who (along with their doubtless very large entourages) came to do what any learned person would have done when the Greatest King that was ever predicted to be was born.

And these pagans had it right, for their act of worship was more real than they ever could have imagined. They thought they were bringing gifts to flesh but made offerings to heaven, they had left their comfort to witness a King and came face to face with the Creator of Kings, they followed a star according to their calculations and met the One who calculated thier creation.

The pagans got it right, and the "church got it wrong"...Matthew 2:3 tells us that "when King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. This reference was to the Pharisees and the Sadducee's, the rulers who had aligned themselves with the Romans. Their power and position depended on Romes, and if Herod lost, so did they...for they trusted their ability at running the state more than they did God to deliver them...

The pagans got it right, have you?

The birth of Jesus as told by a toddler

2008-12-22T05:55:00.001-08:00

Behold, I bring you great tidings of joy, for i saw on the Advent Calendar that a little baby was born and it seemed to turn the entire world on it's head.

It made sheep float, cats sit on shepherds' heads, guys float up to into the rafters and stare at stars...in short, chaos came into the chaotic world and this is order?

mmmm.....so let me unpack this one for y0u. My daughter is an avid fan of any kind of sticker she can get her hands on, so when I found an Advent devotional calender at a Christian bookstore I was thrilled! Each day we simply pray with her "thank you Jesus for coming" and give her a sticker to put on the manger scene that we have taped to our wall near our kitchen.

We decided to let her put them wherever she saw fit. The first couple were spot on, and I thought I had a theologian in the making...until we got further along and well, as you can see, the story changed a little. The characters are all there and in the right place, but was pretty much a mass (no pun intended) of people crowded into one little space. But the more I looked at it, the more like reality it seemed...

See, it kinda looks like church to me; we're all crowed into the house where Jesus is, some are stepping on each others heads, others are drifting off into space, some are stuck in corners where no one notices, and a few are even straining to stare at Jesus face to face!

...and in the midst of it all is God, never-changing, always-present God...

It really looks like the Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 9. See, these sticker-people didn't get to be in the house of God because of what they did...and we don't either. It's all because of the Lord's doing.

"Nevertheless...the people walking in darkness have seen a great light...for as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor."

What was it like during the day of Midians defeat? It was a time when people were afraid (Judges 6) when all seemed hopeless and God raised up a young boy who was faithful to God by the name of Gideon. In the midst of a battle, God sounded trumpets and entered into the fray to free his people from their oppressors. It was not Gideon's might that saved his people, it was God's faithfulness (Judges 7:2).

That's what happened at Christmas, and what my daughter told in stickers. When the earth was still held in bondage to sin, and Satan's bar rested across man's back, the angels came anouncing God's favor with trumpets and a birth occurred in a manger in the midst of chaos to prove that God is faithful and mighty to save.

So where do you sit today this Christmas? Are you waiting, are you trying to get the best seat, are you stepping on people...are you trying to break the rod across your back yourself? Or are you trying to stare at Jesus face to face, to see the one who was sent to break the rod across your back for you?

Welcome to the chaos my friends, be of good cheer, for Christ has come, and the bar is broken. The old-sticker-story still holds true... A great light has come into the world,who is Christ the Lord. We are free. Now go and run down your street and tell everyone you see.

Merry Christmas

drenched in mercy

2008-12-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

Psalm 126:1-6 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.

I've got a history with water and the ocean...for as long as i can remember I've always had a passion for being on, in, under and around water. I was a full-fledged surf-rat for years. People knew better than to ask me how the surf was when they pulled up to the local break and saw me getting out of the water...my reply was always the same..."it's better than being dry"...no matter what the waves were like, when i needed to get wet i paddled out...

I did spend a summer living in Colorado rock climbing...(if it weren't for rocks, everyone would be a surfer). I was really far from the beach, but I still managed to survive. While I was there I used to go for hikes in the middle of nowhere. I lived at the base of the Platte, so there were these dry river beds around that only filled up during the flash-floods. A single inch of rain could fill these harmless, parched trenches with enough water to cause devastation. Instantaneous, powerful, couldn't-see-it-coming-kind of floods.

That's what the "watercourses of the Negev are like...barrenness in the wilderness...and God's people are opening their mouths wide and asking the Master to cause a flash flood of mercy to rain down upon them...to restore their fortunes, to bring life to their dry beds, to bring green grass in the heat of drought

...and He answered in just that manner....when Mary birthed mercy, and the flood of grace came forth into the world...
are you sitting in a dry bed waiting? Are you bringing drops of water to the thirsty, or buckets? Is your well dry? Cry out for the flood, and be drenched in mercy
b

the notched mailbox

2008-11-26T05:46:00.001-08:00

...so my daughter has this cardboard house we bought for her at "the world's largest dairy store"...and her favorite thing about it i think is the mail box. She's loves mail, it's awesome. She'll stand outside the house for as long as you put up with being inside of it passing mail back and forth through the slot...anything works...business cards, plastic toast, you name it...

...mailboxes stuck in my mind last week

... i visited friends, churches and church plants last week in PA sharing what we're up to. I heard many stories about fear and uncertainty in these "economically unstable times"...pastors are worried as giving is down, non-profits are worried that giving is down, jobs are being slashed, buses are going on strike...it can easily overwhelm you, and for good reason... i did a lot of praying on the spot as people told me their stories.

...each time i spoke with someone i was reminded of a visit i had last week with an 82 year old woman who attends New Hope (the Anglican church I'm pastoring)

...she grew up in Kansas in the early thirties...she's not a financial advisor and you'll never see her on CNN...she has a keen awareness of hardship, food and money...see she lived through the depression... she lived in the dust-bowl. She was hit by one of the uncontrollable causes of the depression and the economic fall-out as well.

...yet in the midst of it all her family still fed neighbors and strangers alike. Her father was a postman and had one of the few secure jobs. People knew that they had food, they knew others didn't and their hearts that had been molded by Jesus spilled out the overflow into the cramped stomachs of the hungry...

...in those days, hobos and the unemployed had a system of marking houses that would feed you, often notching mailbox posts. My daughters mailbox brings her joy, these mailboxes brought hope.

...so here's the challenge i was given by The Lord as i drove home last night about my mailbox and i pass it along to you;

is your mailbox notched, or is it marked with washable markers like my daughter has.

See, notches take an awful lot of work to cover up...sanding, filling, painting. Washable marker cleans up with only water, they don't even stain.... it doesn't take much to make it as if a mark was ever there

...the Lord asked me this question and i was grateful to reply, "Lord, my house is notched because you notched it". See, i could only use a marker, but in God's mercy He changed that...

Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in
them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of
flesh.

...and i keep ever before me the One who did more than notch His mailbox to feed me Himself...

...so i pose the question to you...is your house notched, or not? Will mere water wash away your serving, or will you pour out your life like Jesus did for you? If you could answer yes, wipe the tears of gratitude away from you eyes and say thank you to Jesus, if you couldn't, ask the Lord to show you what He did for you...He really wants to.

...so this is how the church has grown and God has worked through ages...in times of famine His people gave, in times of plague they cared for the sick and went to houses of death, the ran into the fires, not away...because the Word did the same thing (John 1:1)

...as i walked around my house this morning putting things away i found; a stroller against my garage door that my neighbor gave me to give to the needy, a booster seat and a bag of clothes to pass along in our storage room that a parishioner had given my wife for us to distribute and a gift in the mail to help us pay our bills... by God's mercy my family has marks of their foreheads and we are know to have a notched mailbox...

...see, when we live lives that show our treasure is not of this earth others take notice, come along and do the same. It's "pay-it-foward" in response to salvation.

Blessings to you all, may all of your needs be supplied by Jesus...and may He give you His heart so that you may give as He gave so that all might be His children and be saved.

Isaiah 49:8-16 This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!' "They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar-- some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan." Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

How can that happen in America?

2008-11-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

God does things in my life that are so outrageously extraordinary that it leaves no doubt who is behind it...

This past weekend tragedy struck a family in Kaduna, Nigeria. The Anglican Bishops son died while living in the UK of a virulent strain of meningitis that took his life in a matter of two days and I found myself connected to this deep sadness in the front seat of a Honda CRV while in a parking lot in Amesbury, MA.

I checked my email on my Blackberry during a break at the Anglican Awakening conference this past weekend. Hundreds had gathered to worship The Father and witness an historic event as the Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya ordained priests and deacons to serve as missionaries here in America. There were black faces, yellow faces, brown faces, white faces....all shapes and sizes and many languages gathered in that Holy Space. We had come to gather in unity as Jesus commanded us to, for He wishes the church to be one.

...and He brought unity to Joyce, Martin and myself on the sidelines of the whole event. Martin is an evangelist from the Diocese of Kaduna and I asked if he knew of this man and the boy who had died. Indeed he was priested by the Bishop and spent years working with the son, watching his children grow up in the church...."oh man, oh man" was all he could say...."there will be great mourning"...we began to pray, asking for the mercy of God to descend upon fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, wives, children, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, friends...

and when we had finished Martin lifted his head and looked at me..."how could this happen in England?"...."Martin" I said "nowhere is safe from the effects of the fall of man and the brokenness of the world" and I proceeded to tell him of my sons death....and he had that look that he understood for the first time...color, geographic location, nor money can build a wall to keep pain and death away...

he lost his vision of the Industrialized Nation as the Eden....

....it's time the church did too. I was hit by this article on Yahoo news this morning...

"Some 691,000 children went hungry in America sometime in 2007, while close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.

The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.
Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006.

That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."

The church has forgotten what Providence means...oh, that doesn't happen in America.
It has, it does, it is....and God is asking what will you do? Now, I understand that God places these things in front of me in a powerful way, and he has asked me to step out like He has few others....I mean, here were two people who lived many miles from their homes in a parking lot connected by the sacrifice of Jesus...and tragedy

At New Hope we've started to work with Angel Food Ministries to help our neighbors not suffer...and we're easing the strain on our own food bills as well!

Yes, it happens in America...but even in the midst of all the "it's" that happen, thanks be to God that we have the grace of God to endure through the mercy and love of Jesus...
b

I love my Master, I will not go free...

2008-11-12T05:58:00.000-08:00

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. ..... "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

Exodus 26:2-6

It was 1990 when I graduated from college on the East End of Long Island...that's out in Suffolk county, across the accent line for those of you who just read "longa Eyeland". It's was a magical place, and still is in most ways even though Route 27 has gotten wider and the traffic longer.

Back then it was a place where the multi-million dollar homes were just starting to spring up in the potato fields that were so productive because of the cool climate and sandy soil. East End wines were gaining favor and one of my college friends worked at Bridge Hampton Winery so we often sampled the wares. I fulfilled my childhood dream of surfing during those years. My first board was an old Hawaiin Design single-fin pin-tail (just think a yellow surfboard) that was pocked with patches of marine boat filler. In the last few years of the 90's God seemed to bless the East End with swell after swell. I learned to ride large surf and like it.

We never stopped surfing...spring, winter, summer fall. We would paddle out in snow storms and dance on waves with Harbour seals, coating our faces with Vaseline and our bodies with as thick a layer of neoprene as we could afford. We would surf out at the lighthouse on weekends. We'd change in the public bathrooms while standing under the hot-air hand dryers thawing out our fingers until they were flexible enough to pull off our booties.

Ah, those were the days, or so I thought.

I had declared to the sea and waves "pierce my ear, I love you and will not go free." It was years later while living in Colorado that I discovered the One who made the sea, and some time later declared "I love you Master, I will not go free."

I would like to say that after that I never turned back. Paul writes that our entire lives are struggles between the Old Adam and the New Adam (Romans 7:16ff) Just like I had many ear piercings in the 90's I had many spiritual ones as well. If we could look at our lives and see just how many spiritual piercings our ears actually have we would stare in disbelief and wouldn't hold our head up due to the weight of the earrings.

But the wondrous, scandalous thing is that Jesus has pierced himself for us, in effect saying I love my Master, I will not leave....them. It was not an awl and a doorpost, but a Roman spear and nails on a cross that formed the threshold of the doorway to everlasting life for those who would receive the gift of His love and mercy.

Have you ever entered His house? Do you want to leave His house? Has Satan deceived you into thinking that it is in ruins? Do you want to swap it for the one down the street? Has the hole in your ear you once asked for closed because you have taken the earring out one to many times?

Today friends, say Master, pierce my ear. Pierce it again if you need to too. Take the jewelry I have purchased in the bazaar and give me the one back, I know you have kept it safe (Matthew 18:21 ff, John 21:8ff).

I love you Master, I will not go free...

my truck runneth over

2008-10-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

.....so the weather here today was pretty wet and windy, perfect for Gortex and a hike. The first time i bought a Gortex jacket i put in on and stood in the shower...it was fun, i'm freak and it was a really new product back then. i mean i started using Nalgen bottles when my buddy would "borrow them" from the labs...anyway, so the weather was up today and those are the days i really love to get out and do something in. i like great days and bad days, the "kinda" days don't do much for me. So i'm out in the woods on this little ridge line sitting on the edge swinging my feet feeling really happy that i have a Kashi Bar (dang...for the days when i would live on Power bars) so anyway i'm sitting there in my Gortex watching sideways rain and the wind pull the mist up from this little gorge when i notice six or so nut hatchs (small birds) flitting about from tree to tree just living life.

The weather didn't bother them at all...no Gortex, no Kashi bar, no boots, nothing but the gift the Master Creator gave them...and i found myself asking forgiveness for my neediness last week...i forgot that Jesus knew all my needs...and i felt very naked and exposed flitting about life.

One of the churches i work with felt as if our "one for you" ministry had lost a bit of its' steam. It's true, it does take a bit of work to keep people focused on God's providential goodness and keeping a burden for the lost and broken...but that day kinda hit me in the stomach. After hearing the news i went to drop off a number of things that would be placed for free into the hands of people who had lost their job, or had a spouse die, are going through a divorce...unforeseen setbacks that are endemic to living on this side of Eden...and while i was there i mentioned to the director that i might not be able to bring her clients much for awhile until i found new sources.

Well, as i was driving home i got a call on my cell from a woman who lives down the road from me...each year she runs a children's tag sale which this year boasted 80 sellers. My wife and i go to get great deals...but my mouth kinda waters when i see all the cribs and highchairs, car seats and shoes that i know would be a source of hope for many people. i left my card and asked if the sellers wished to donate leftovers i promised i would get them into the hands of the desperate. I hadn't heard from her in a month and had kinda written it off, but the Lord chose that hour, that day to have her call me...so He could remind me that all good and perfect gifts come down from Him...and that He is the Provider.

...so i had to go out and buy industrial shelving and 14 industrial storage bins to hold all of the children's clothing...i figure each held around 20-30 pieces...or about $150 worth of clothing new. So, when my heart was the lowest the Master turned my basement into a storehouse on earth for the gifts of heaven in the order of a thousand dollars worth of donations...

...and my truck runneth over...God is so good, and for that i am so grateful...but our trucks don't always run over, and that's when Jesus is closest...in the hours of desperation.

i pray that your trucks are running over

blessings

Why I hate/(love) the Shack by William Young

2008-10-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

So perhaps i am a bit late to pick this book up, but life's been rather crazy....
so i google the shack and some obscene number of hits comes up. Seems like everyone has something to say about it, which makes sense since everyone has something to say about what theology really is about
..but i wish i could narrow the search to reviews written by dad's who have buried a child...
i'm sure the tone of critiques would change, sometimes loudly echoing off canyon walls of stone hearts at altitude, other times gentle whispered questions rising with the morning mist off deep lakes of turbulent waters...
see, i've been there, and to me this book hit too close to home...my son wasn't murdered. he died during birth, but as my wife was rolled out for an emergency c-section i sat as alone and as helpless as Mack did, wondering why what began with such joy and excitement months ago could turn to such sorrow
...in the flash of a few clicks from a heart monitor wrapped around my wife's abdomen our world changed and has never been the same...
The Trinity was with us in it all, and i would love to tell you the entire tale, but here i would just like to talk about the broken little boxes we all stuff God into, and how it is in these boxes that we seem to see God fail us
see, it's been said that God made us in His own image, and we returned the favor. a god like that can't destroy the Great Sadness, it can only satisfy our selfish ambition and desire. a god that bears our image would indeed look like a broken down, crapppy old shack, wouldn't it?
but it's here, in the crappy old shacks that the Infinite God of mercy and love chooses to dwell...and it's here that the wonderful collision happens, in the place where we feel God failed us the most, that we can see His imprint on all the shards. if we dare go to these places, and say Lord show me where you were, often times we are graced by seeing it...
or, if you would prefer, you can just live your lives in a staged house that looks real nice, and you can inflate the price so people will think it's worth more than it is...and when the judgement comes and the sub-prime loans of pride and arrogance are called in...you won't be known by the bill collector...
see my wife and i have been forced to really look hard at God, and to see if He really is about love. i love God so much it makes my soul ache, and i have come to learn that he does the same for me.
so to all those who read this book and only saw problems with theology, i dare you to seek out a mom or dad who lost a son or daughter and ask them what they think. spend time with them, listen well and listen deep. too many Christians sing "here I am Lord, I will go Lord if you lead me"..and what they are really saying is "i'll give you everything (i want to give you) and i'll go where you send me (as long as it is in line with my plans..which i call discernment for my church friends)...see mom's and dads who adore Jesus and have buried a child have an sight into the pain that caused the sun to stop shining and the earth to quake one fateful and wonderful Friday afternoon...and if you really want to learn about theology, ask these people.
Deep peace to all those who are waiting to dance and play with their children...i look forward to the Resurrection Play date with the King and you all.
b

turtles, trail running and transformation

2008-09-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

Hey, so i'm back from my Mid-West trip and i'll start to write about that tomorrow...so much happened. But check this out....

I've been cranking at a pretty hectic pace and my right knee has been really sore (old surfing injury...honest!) and i just haven't gotten to see a doctor about it yet so i've been really light on the miles i run and the intensity. i've even been riding my mountain bike a bit (gasp!) because i've just missed flying over trails so much.

So yesterday i really needed to hit the woods to clear my head and focus. I had only gotten two minutes into one of my favorite six mile hill routes when i notice this baby snapping turtle in the middle of the trail...so this thing is kinda outa place, and as you know i have a deep passion for lost things that need help, so i pick this critter up and run back to where my truck is parked...right next to a swampy area by some flood control dikes. I plopped the little bugger onto the weedy edge and headed back out.

Now i'm running and the Holy Spirit starts to remind me of the fact that i've personally been called and gifted to see the lost that others step over, and have been given eyes that scan the corners of places where others don't look to encounter the things the Lord wants me to. I thank the Master for the reminder and pick up the grind as I start a three mile uphill. I hit the section where i found the first turtle and look down a bit thinking "ok Lord, if you want me to change my agenda a bit for you, that's ok" of course this is half-hearted, i mean heck, what are the odds of finding another turtle from the same hatch in the middle of a trail with the closest water-source hundreds of yards away, right?

100%...those are the odds when God does something. So i stop and pick up the other turtle, annoyed that God actually listened to me and wouldn't let me run. I contemplated leaving this one on the trail and coming back to it, but thought better of that (Jonah kinda freaks me out...surfer, big fish, being eaten...you know) so back to the start i go again.

I took a picture of these two guys (i had a camera in the truck) and plunked them both in the drink, again thanking the Lord for having his way with me and when i turn around and begin my little climb up the dike there's this guy right at the top. You could tell he had been out running a real deal... he was wearing technical clothes, was drenched in sweat and filthy (fun, fun, fun) so I told him i just found these cool turtles running and he said all he had seen were a couple of White-tails (deer). I noticed he had a water bottle from Crested Butte, which is in CO so I asked him if that's where he was from..he said yeah, he was home for some family stuff and had gone out for a run...i mentioned that i spent a summer living in Fort Collins (CO) and dropped a few names of places where i climbed to let him know i wasn't a poser...

"How long did you run" he asked...and i told himI justed an hour when i found the turtles... "my knees been bad and i haven't had much time since i had just launched a non-profit helping folks out in Africa. what about you"

"I was out for three today (hours), I was out for 8 the other day. I run ultra's (minimum of 50 miles)... "dang" i said, "i've wanted to run an ultra for ever! That's been my dream!" "I'm living the dream" he said...and we parted ways...

so while i was sitting on my tailgate sucking down the last of my water i was struck by the fact that if that dude had my knee his dream would be over...

And i found myself thankful that i'm living out the Lord's dream for me and for His people through me. So I thanked God for the chance to plant some seeds in this guys head, for the reminder of the turtles. I asked him to keep me from feeling smug that i was able to see the little turtles in life while all he could see where the big deer...and when i awoke today my knee hurt again, and i got freaked out by the market, and was short with my wife as she left for work...and had to repent for being focused on the deer today already, and ask the Master to help me see the turtles.

Philippians 2:3-5 Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. 4 Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.

Blessings

in the midst of the storm

2008-09-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

...so this is where i seem to spend most of my life, and that's ok because this is where Jesus spends His time. The moments in the harbour are for gearing up to set sail again...
now, if you've ever spent time at the sea, you know that the ocean is "a fickle mistress".

i spent years as a surf-rat so I've seen the ocean in pretty much every conceivable mood it can have....and i've seen it during every season of the year as well. Honestly, there is little more "magical" than surfing during a snow storm with seals to keep you company.

Have you ever been to the beach in the winter? I mean the ocean beaches, ones that take the full brunt of the winter weather. The beach gets real steep then due to the heavy seas. The sand moves fast, rip tide are strong and the wind carries off what the water doesn't want to claim

and there is unstoppable change there, where water impacts the shore. i kinda think this is what it looks like to be formed into the image of Christ, at least if you're living where the front lines are. Parking lots don't change much, although they do get flooded and dirty....

so, are you being drastically carved, or is there no change in your life?
If not, why are you staying in the parking lot?
b

Please Join in Prayer

2008-09-12T12:41:00.001-07:00

Friends,
I ask you all to please pray deeply for those who are under the shadow of Hurricane Ike.
Father, all things are under your control, for you are the Author and Sustainer of all life. We ask for Mercy, gracious Lord. Look down upon us Master, and rebuke the winds and replace the chaos with calm, the fear with Hope and the desperation with assurance.
In Jesus' Name.
Amen

church in the parking lot

2008-09-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the sense that you're living out your faith in Jesus in a vaccume, or maybe in a bag like my daughter? Well last Sunday i started a seven week series on the Images of Jesus, starting with the "The Reality and Necessity of Christ's Humanity" and with out even trying The Lord took me out of my bag.

As I was driving in (it takes me about half and hour as I'm helping a parish a good bit away) I found myself almost sad in that the week went by and I hadn't had any very public acts of ministry. I wasn't down or anything, it just seemed like my ministry has taken place on street corners as of late.

So while I was waiting for one of the congregation to show up with a key (we're borrowing space at another local church) i was enjoying the weather and praying for the service in the parking lot.

...so i look up and this guy is walking across the far end so i say "good morning" and comment on how nice the weather was. He agreed and we started talking a bit and i mentioned that he was up really early walking (or service starts at 8a).

"Yeah" he said "I wake up early every day and walk down the street to the store. I was in a comma for two months after I had a stroke almost 12 years ago. The doctors said I shouldn't have woken up, or if I did I'd be a vegetable and never walk again. So I walk each day down to the store to prove them all wrong!"

"wow, that's a story and a half" I said..."well someone was looking out for me Father" he said....

"sure sounds like it, but His name is Jesus.
..."Oh I know that, but I lost my faith 12 years ago when I had my stroke. How could God let this happen to me? I had moved down to North Carolina to live with my girlfriend and her kid, I had a good job from an old boss of mine. I had everything going great and then bam, I have a stroke. Besides I'm Catholic and I got fed up with the church, it seemed like it didn't care about people, just raising money". (big note, I am NOT against the Catholic Church)

"wow, what's your name?" "Andy" he said, "Andy, sounds like you got beaten for a few years, really sorry about that. I know what it's like to think all is going for you and then have the rug pulled out of ya." So I proceeded to tell him the story of losing my son two days after graduating from seminary...and that I didn't know what it was like for his situation, but I know for me it was rough.

"I still don't get it" he said. "Why?" Ya know Andy, we all wonder why bad things happen to folks that are living good lives. The deal is is that we're living in a really busted world...."

...so we talked about sin, the person of Jesus and how New Hope Anglican Church is about loving the man named Jesus who was God who came into this busted place and at the same tiem trying to love and take care of each other as well.

...so we said goodbye and I walked in and preached on the reality of Jesus and it seemed a bit odd to be preaching indoors to folks who already know Jesus...

Church in parking lots....i love them

blessings

restored to greatness...Hitchcock in the 'hood

2008-09-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

When i was a little kid my uncle used to restore antique furniture. He'd find or buy old pieces of junk and then bring them up to his attic and bring them back to their original glory. He'd strip paint, sand,scrape and stain but his specialty was re-caning chairs...you know that reed-looking stuff on the seats of chairs that starts to sag with age (ours as well as the chairs)...

...so he taught me a bit of this trade and as a kid I was of course more fascinated by the process than the product. This stayed with me and i still marvel at seeing hidden beauty uncovered. We all see and feel this to some extent each day when we clean the house, shave, wash the car (or kids or dog). And we always seem to step back and look and that grin creeps onto our faces....

...but the hair grows back, bugs get splattered on the car and the kids chase the filthy dog across the floor. But we saw it, didn't we? The beauty under the scratches. It was there, right? We could of course cover our lives in vinyl, or set up a glass case, or put up red-velvet ropes, but that wouldn't last long. Never-ending perfection will come and we'll live lives where the lines in carpet from vacuuming will never end. But until then we have this different kind of restored perfection to live....

...so this begs the question, where does greatness lie, where does the beauty reside? In doing what we were created to do and being who we were created to be...

...here's a how it happened with a set of Hitchcock Chairs and a rent-subsidized apartment.

I was given a table and four chairs from a very kind person. As i was leaving i was told "those are Hitchcock Chairs, painted over, but Hitchcock". Now i know that each chair had was worth a few hundred dollars (with four, you do the math) and i was tickled by the irony as I unloaded this precious cargo in the parking lot of what many people might call "the projects".

....the "created value" of the chairs attributed to the name was hidden under the paint, their intrinsic value as a simple place to sit was restored. Could I have refinished these chairs, sold them and used the proceeds to purchase many more chairs for other people? Yes I could have.

...but to me that day it seemed as if God was restoring the greatness of those Hitchcock Chairs. Their purpose was restored, and they in turn brought joy.

The Westminster Shorter Catechises states that the "chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." This simply means that we're covered in paint too, and the name of the Master Craftsman is covered. One day all of the junk will be totally stripped away, but until then we are still called to glorify God and we do this by living out our intended purpose...plain and simple. We're not called to put our label on display under glass, we're called to be useful in bringing many daughters and sons to glory in Jesus.

...That day as i brought those chairs into that woman's apartment i actually felt moved to tell her they were Hitchcock Chairs; "hey, these chairs are Hitchcock" I told her, "they're really nice". "Oh yeah?" she replied with no sense of comprehension beyond that fact that she now owned a table and a set of chairs and she and her two children could actually sit at a table to eat. I just wanted to let her know that we were bringing her nice things, not junk.

...kinda like what the Father did by giving us His best in the worst of places, Jesus in a broken land is far greater irony than Hitcock Chairs could ever be in the projects

...of course you can't restore others until you've been restored yourself...check out this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrGfA6y9fNI

happy antiquing

illustration from an illustrator

2008-09-03T05:34:00.001-07:00

...so i'm a huge fan of trail running. On my fridge i've got this picture of a guy from the calves down in running shoes splattered in mud.

The caption underneath it reads "some people take the straight and narrow, others chose the road less traveled, me, i prefer to cut through the woods!"

...but i tend to run a bit different that others, see i can be flying down a trail with really quick leg turn-over (feet moving fast, but cool term) and i'll see those orange newts that spawn in the humid summer days all over the trail and i'll stop and to say good morning to them, or i'll move the ones that are like an inch small.

i also have this habit of finding hawk feathers, so often in fact that when i come home with one i burst through the door beaming holding up my treasure to show my wife and yelling, "Lisa, guess what I found!"....she just looks up with a half-grin...

...so when i notice things i get really excited, and my mouth kinda goes ahead of my mind. well, that happened yesterday when i wrote about this wonderful book...see i kinda burst into your kitchens and said "hey, check this book out!" and in my excitement i said about the illustrator "i don't get his name"... simple it seems, but ya know, there's some real power in names.

...so i got a note from him telling me about it. The name is Cornish for James and pronounced Jay-go.

...know two things i gleaned from this...first, ya never know whose around when you speak (that shouldn't matter anyway) and second, learn before you open your mouth.

...i try really hard not to open my mouth about anyone or anything until i walk around in their shoes for awhile. ya never know how they got there or why. i think that most of the problems we have are from assumptions...and we can never truly enter into lives until we know what that life is about.

...so i was reminded of the grace Jesus gave me by a simple little comment from a man who's got a great name in a country across the pond from me who draws pictures that make my daughter giggle and me stop...

.."what's not to get" he told me, plain and simple and explainded it...and when you take the time to enter into the live of others, it gets just as plain...perhaps not easy, or acceptable, but at least you understand...and then when you open your mouth to make a comment, even if it meant no harm...you'll find a whole lot less feet in there.

Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. Revelation 2:17

...blessings all....ask some folks about their names today

and God said "to be continued"

2008-09-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

A good friend of ours gave us a copy of an incredible book "The Jesus Storybook Bible...every story whispers His Name" written by Sally LLoyd-Jones and illustrated by by Jago (still don't get that name). I've started to read bits and pieces to (or should i say at) my daughter...if she manages to stay still for long. The more i read, the more i was blown away by the depth and honesty of this book...so i read the acknowledgements to check this person out (i trust the friend who gave us the book, she is a brilliant theologian who is living out grace with her family).
This is what Sally writes in her acknowledgments...
"I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to...Dr. Timothy Keller (of Redeemer NYC) whose teaching informs every story and from whom I have liberally borrowed: for his wisdom; for giving me a vocabulary of faith; for opening my eyes to the wonder of Grace". No wonder this book is so powerful. It's like the Shack, but for kids, and from Keller through a Master Story teller....

...so how did it hit me today? Well i woke up today and ran for the paper to read about the hurricanes and on the front cover there was a picture of the Hands of God (interestingly enough they looked like a thin concrete levee) holding back the forces of broken nature as the Gulf once again wanted to prove how broken this world was...

and i was struck by the fact that the story is being continued, in concrete, in New Orleans and God gave me proof right there. See I often need reminders that God's story continues in, on and through me. Don't we all though? Like Peter, we get lost, but the Hand of Providence always pulls us back in...my soul was sick yesterday as my friend wrote me, a humble, loving, powerful man of God who said his soul was deeply troubled by what appeared to be the inevitable unthinkable...and the Hand said no...

Are you here today, looking for the "to be continued" in your life? Here the words of John's Gospel as told in my daughters Bible...

"....and he knew then that the ending of The Story was going to be so great, it would make all the sadness and tears and everything seem like just a shadow that is chased away by the morning sun.
"I'm on my way," said Jesus. "I'll be there soon!"
John came to the end of his book. But he didn't write "The End." Because, of course, that's how stories finish. (and this one's not over yet.)
So instead, he wrote: "Come quickly, Jesus!"
Which, perhaps, is really just another way of saying...
To be continued....

prayer and help for the broken

2008-09-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends,
This letter was sent from my very dear friends James and Mary Giles who spent a a huge amount of time in the Gulf after Katrina helping thousands sort out some type of life. Please read, pray and respond....send this message along.
Dear Family,
You are probably aware Hurricane Gustav is predicted to wreak havoc on the Gulf Coast within a matter of days, as a category 4 hurricane.I'm hearing from several friends on the Coast. The mental and spiritual burden upon them right now while evacuating their homes is almost debilitating. I have so many mixed feelings myself, I can't begin to express my thoughts clearly.

For those who are not aware God's Kitchen has established a first response ministry, Cavalry for Christ (formerly God's Katrina Kitchen) and I would like to invite you to visit our new website as we prayerfully anticipate response to this potential disaster. Whether you are interested in volunteering as an individual or leading a volunteer team now is the time to provide us with your information, so we are able to keep you updated should we respond, and better inform you of the needs and opportunities for your volunteer services.We will be looking for local churches or city officials to partner with in the area where our services will be needed, when we make the decision to respond. Should you have personal contacts in these immediate areas which are affected by this tragedy, sharing our information with them, for services would be a valuable blessing to all concerned. Solid dedicated partnerships are already forming which is very heartening. The GK board will meet today to discuss our options. Please keep us in your prayers as well as those in the path of this storm. We hope and pray that our services will not be necessary. But if and when they are, we want to be ready and that is why we begin to prepare now.....Here are links for easy access during this time of preparation......Our website www.c4crelief.orgTo Sign Up As A Volunteer (then hit "click here to sign up to volunteer"): http://c4crelief.org/Volunteeering.html

diary of an at-home dad part. 1

2008-08-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

So my wife is back to work in a school and once again i find myself among the ranks of an at-home dad two days a week. It's really a blessing, as i spend a couple of months in Tanzania and my travels around the states are picking up. I remember listening to an interview with Ann Graham-Lotts, a daughter of Billy Graham. She was asked what it was like being the daughter of THE Billy Graham, and her reply was quick and honest; "hard, I didn't have a daddy around to often, but we understood that he had work to do." I think about this alot when I get frustrated that I never seem to have enough time to "do" my "work" and then catch myself and remember that my daughter is my real work... and i am amazed at how God is using her to form me more and more into His image. Here's is where the rubber hits the road for me....sacrifice on both end; my family gives me up because the Lord gave Himself up...

Here's how i saw it during yesterday's nap-time (or lack of) My daughter is in a daycare two days a week and they just moved her up into the "toddler one" room. I have no idea where they came up with that idea, i mean she's just too little for that "big kid class" (if I keep telling this to myself, will it become true?) Well, she's at the stage of dropping her morning nap and having just one in the early afternoon. It seems to go well for everyone but me...did i miss a memo on this somewhere? Well as i put her down today, i had to do the "five minutes and go up, and then wait ten..." thing and she held out to 8 minutes and 47 seconds...

She's got a strong will (stupid apples, can't they fall farther from the tree!) and a great set of lungs (argh...ditto) and as her cries reached the ears of her father i found myself thinking "how long"...not because it bothered me (it did, but not in a aggravated way) but because my daughter was crying out becuase she didn't understand what was going on... plain and simple....and my heart broke.

...so i found myself really hurting, and Scripture began to fill my head, words that Jesus spoke like when he was pleading in the Garden about the sacrifice he had to make, and the cries of pain over the wayward people of Jerusalem, and the snort of rage over the death of his friend Lazarus and the pain of his sisters as they mourned. About the hidden things of the Lord...

...and it started to strike me afresh, this deep sense of pain that a father hears when his children cry out, afraid, uncertain, frustrated, mad at him because they didn't get their way. And I know that God doens't rejoice in our suffering...but my daughter gave me real-life testimony

Our father hears our cries in the same way. The gut-wrenching that I felt with because of my daughter is in some way a shadow of the anguish that our Mediator feels for us. When "all of creation groans with eager expectation..." the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are included in that...somehow.

What did that drive me to do? Say thank you Lord, I love you. Please help my daughter. It became very real, and I pray it does for you as well. It's not a sense of the deep theological debate concerning the emotions of God. Nope...a simple truth revealed to a simple man...God really is love

blessings

chasin' hot pants...for Jesus

2008-08-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

...my wife and i have been married for awhile and she really knows me well. When i joke around with her and its REALLY obvious she smiles at me with a crooked grin and says "fuego!"...a reference to the state of my pants...ie they're on fire! i hear fuego alot.

...it makes me crack up, so i run around the room when i think i'm really (that is actually) funny trying to snuff out the invisible flames coming off my butt...

...ya know, it would be alot easier if God made that a reality, wouldn't? I mean, when you met people lying, their pants would burst into flames! Oh man, what an ad campaign! (if you make money off that idea, hook me up)...so if it would happen, me and Jesus were chasing hot pants up and down my street today.

...the doorbell rang and there where two Jehovah's Witness there, wanting to "give me something". All i say when i hear this is "no thanks, but i'd like to give you something" and i start to pray that the false gospel they have been given will be forgotten. When i'm done praying they always ask "what was that about?" and i simply reply "i've prayed that you might hear the Truth"

....we'll these two today stood there in their fuego pants and i simply asked them if Jesus was God, to which they replied "no" (as i knew she would). "May I ask you a question?" i said. "Sure" was the reply.
I'd like to ask you a question about a verse that is not one of those marked in your book (she had her proof texts all marked...like many Christians do)...and i'd like to use my Bible and your book." "OK"
"Let's look at John 1:1, what do you read in your book"
"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was a god"
"May I ask why the word "Word is capitalized in your book"
"well, i don't know...(her friend pipes in) that's a name for God
"so you're telling me that it's reading "God was a god?"...He was one of many?"
"no, it's the name for Jesus"
"so, Jesus was a god, you agree?"
"no!"
We spoke for abit, and as they walked down my sidewalk, i put my daughter into her stroller and told them i'd follow behind, going to the doors they went to and put out their flaming pants..that is correcting their wrongs. I told one guy walking his dog that they denied Jesus was God, and a young kid who took their books in his doorway up the street....

....so this is what Jesus did to hot pants, he exposed the lies and pointed to his father....was it uncomfortable, yes it was, but i couldn't let their people lie to my neighbors and say that Jesus wasn't God. I wasn't angry at them, i felt sad so as i walked behind them i reminded them of the deep love Jesus had for them.
...so, what do you do when you see hot pants walking down the street? Look at them and say nothing, or expose the lie in love.
b

yer grandma wears army boots..and so does jesus

2008-08-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

...so when i was a kid it used to be an insult to say "yer grandma wears army boots"...it's pretty stupid, and i have no idea where the saying came from, but it stuck in my head.

lot's of junk get stuck in my head, much to my wife's dismay. But i've come to realize that Jesus wears army boots as well...at least in the picture that smacked me between the eyes on the cover of the NYT on May 29, 2007.

Now i don't really care where you stand on war...i could blog for a really long time on the just war theory and spin both sides...i've come to understand that the answer is, when asked "whose side is Jesus on" is "yes"...see, the Word says that Christ died for sinners at just the right time, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring glory to God (Romans 5:8)... so Jesus didn't die for the "good guys"...that's a flawed question for their are no "good" guys (1 John 1:8)..so since we all fell short, than that's who Jesus is for...us fallen folks (Matthew 9:12-23)

...so that's what went through my mind when i saw this picture...Jesus in full camo...letting some random kid hide behind him as he walked into the path of death...look at his eyes, see how he's not distracted by anything...that's Jesus....in the garden, on the cross...letting us hide behind him while he walks into the battle against enemies that we could never face...grace

we're called to do the same thing friends, you and I...to walk into harms way, into the dirt and fear of life where others run, and to let the scared, helpless ones hide and attach themselves to us...simply because that's what Jesus did for us...grace and mercy

.... i heard many times today as i spoke to friends; "bryan, you've got the guts to walk into places where i can't....you are fearless to ride the storms of life. i don't have that courage!"

...well, tonight let me tell you i have that courage either...i've been in the midst of a battle that left in it's wake death and pain, fear and anger, and yet i can still say "Lord, Lord"...and that is and understanding of a deep, deep truth that let's me do this.

two days after i graduated seminary, my wife went into labor with our first child. It was the "perfect" pregnancy....that's what we heard all along...we were poised to head out and replant a church in an area we where sure was ripe for our gifts...and then one night, things went really bad, really fast... triumph turned to tragedy in the blink of an eye

my wife went into labor, and we went to the hospital. The attending nurse at one point had a very difficult time finding our child's heart beat, and when the attending physician came in and saw our child's heart rate, he rolled my wife off for an emergency c-section...the last thing he said to me was "i'll see you in a few minutes with a healthy baby"...so i sat there by myself in the loneliest place i think man has ever been....in what seemed like eternity, our Dr. returned with another Dr. and they both knelt by my side and said words that parents are not supposed to hear; "where sorry, but your son did not make it".

...and they both put their hands on me and prayed...the story unfolds for month after month as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ministered to us and to thousands of others in ways that defy words...but we learned through it all the answer to the question "where was God when.....?"

...."closer than our own breath....." that's where He was and is and will always be. No, we never said "that you Jesus for doing this to us....we said "thank you Jesus in the midst of this"...

...so when you hear my stories of walking into places where others won't go...or you say "I don't have the courage that he has"....let me tell you that i don't either...i just know that there is no place, height nor depth, that i can ever go where my precious Jesus has not been before me...he took the hit of all the attacks on me so i would only have to bear the shadows...you see the word for Hope in Biblical Greek is a noun, not a verb...it's a real thing, not an idea

so please, step in line behind me friends, for if Christ is for us, who can be against us?

in sure Hope

a drip for jesus...

2008-08-25T06:36:00.001-07:00

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

Mother Teresa

...so let me start by saying thank you to all of you who joined me in prayer for China as well as those who have been praying for me. Many times i have felt shrouded by the cloak of prayer as i stood in the midst of my town. It has been a journey that i shall never forget, and an action that i will continue to do in my life...

...well, i brought my sign with me on vacation as i said, but i didn't stand on any corners... instead i surfed, prayed, picked up garbage on the beach and enjoyed my family. Before i left i told myself "the Chinese Christians aren't on vacation, so i'll keep it up!" i have a habit of telling myself what to do. The Holy Spirit is trying to break of that so i'll be more attentive to him.... so i was reminded of Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever....

Silly me to forget.

...but i was out there this morning with my sign for the last time asking strangers on their way to somewhere to stop and pray for strangers. i'll miss my corner, the faces in the windshields, the cramps in my arms, the hour of prayer and the blessing to stand up for sisters and brothers proclaiming the truth of Jesus...but something has happened in me.

The Holy Spirit has built into my heart a corner on which He can stand....it took obedience on my part to follow his lead, but as i stood there like fool i actually became what i was doing...

..so what happened today? Well, i found myself weeping early on and had no problem letting my tears roll down my cheeks. If Jesus could weep over Jerusalem, it would be an honor to weep over China for Him

....just when i was feeling very alone (i found this always happened at some point, hey, Jesus did in the Garden) a female schoolbus driver rode by and blew me a huge kiss out her window.

...a man who was jogging came across the street to read my sign "Father, why should I pray for China? The Olympics didn't do much for the human rights abuses..."Well" i replied, " there are Christians in prison today in China, so i'm going to stand here on this corner and ask people to pray." He looked at me while he kept his feet moving...."all right Father, I'll pray for China" he said and turned and left.

...a policeman was stopped in traffic right in front of me and smiled (why do they all like me?) "looks like it might rain, good luck!" (mmm i'm not down with luck!) "that's ok, there are Christians in prison in China, i can handle rain"... a half hour later when the rain started i didn't grab my jacket, it felt too sweet

...on my way home i stopped for coffee (surprised?) and a man asked to sit next to me. He used to be a former customer of mine when i worked at the coffee shop we were both at...he asked what i was doing so we talked...turns out he's owns a software company that developed programs to track people and supplies during massive humanitarian relief efforts...he offered to help me out.

...as i was leaving i passed by a man who is high-functioning mentally challenged. He was mumbling something to me and when i got close enough to understand him he said he didn't have a rain jacket...so i gave him the one i had brought along...it didn't zip up (he's kinda big) but it was better than nothing...

...so i've come to understand that indeed a great work was done in my life and by God's grace in the lives of others as well...i'm not sure what kind of impact i had, but i was called to be faithful, not successful. Along the way I was both loved and abused (like Jesus had been). The TV crews never showed up, nor the newspapers..but joggers did, cult-members did, kids did, neighbors did and random people who needed prayer...

My sign is sitting rolled up in the corner of my office. I think i'll hang it up as a reminder of the time i spent being a drip for Jesus...come back, my work continues on!

how much can one drop do?

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

day 7...gone surfin'

2008-08-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

....when i was in college at LIU Southampton on the East End of Long Island my friends would tease me that they never saw me dry...i surfed my brains out as often as i could

...well times have changed, but me and the fam' are heading off to Cape Cod for a week of surf and relaxation...but i will be bringing my sign and standing on the side of the road Monday-Friday 7:30-8:30 am...

...i won't be blogging, just paddling! We'd appreciate your prayers. I'll see ya'll when we get back..

...day 6 Jesus and Toyota...re:mix (take 2)

2008-08-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

...so i've got a good friend who's in industrial management and i'm really intrigued by what he does. See, if God is omnipotent, they we should see brushes of Him everywhere, right? So i tend to ask people lots of questions and learn from the ground level. He loaned me a book the other day which i think never made the NYT best seller list, but it should! Check this out
...Toyoda Sakichi and Toyoda Kiichiro developed the Toyota model of production. ...."they had the foresight to go always to the heart of the matter. Both spent their lives mainly in the production fields, looking at things realistically, calmly, and objectively." They understood and chased the "actual-v-theoretical"... it's the "looks good on paper, but does it fly?" approach
...so why do so few Christians do the same i wondered today. They read the book, love the actions of Jesus, and applaud from the bleacher seats the guy who's out in the field doing the deal. Don't get me wrong, i'm right there with them compared to the heroes of faith that i've been reading about! You could say that i've got splinters in my bottom as apposed to a speck in my eye!
...so here's today's hero who got up off the bench and worked the factory floor...
Nguyen Van Thunan was imprisoned in Vietnam for his faith. He says that he spent years waiting for his release...until one day he got it..."No, i will not spend my time waiting. I will live the present moment and fill it with love" He chose to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. The result? He gave up what he thought was God's agenda for his life and began to focus on God. He writes "I said to myself...why torment yourself? All of the work [you had done but cannot do now] is excellent work, the work of God, but it is not God!" So he changed his focus to God, not what he wasn't doing, and God brought the ministry to him. The power came from God, not his (Nguyen's) actions.
...this is life on the production line of salvation history...
...so today, i seemed to be more focused on God than my sign and plea....i still believe that i was called to do what i'm doing, but God had a very different agenda for me today.

here's what happened....

the "different guy" in town (whose appearance and actions make most uncomfortable) stopped, took off his head set and yelled across bus traffic I love your sign, I will pray for China today!" I laughed, because while i watched him make eye contact with me i started to pray, "Lord, please no".

A bit later a woman stopped, read my sign and said "we all need prayer", so i asked her what she needed prayer for and prayed for her(Carroll) on the street.

And then this guy walks up and i say "i like your tie" he stops and asks if he could give me a copy of the Watch Tower (the paper for the Jehovah's Witness) to which i said, no thank you, but can i give you a book and pray for you. I asked his name (Cletus) put my sign down, i laid hands on him and prayed for deliverance for him from the false gospel he had been taught. He walked away not really sure what happened.

Later as I left my corner i saw him across the street handing out literature to a mildly retarded young man whom i see working in town. i walked over to them and simply said the young guy "do you believe in Jesus" "yes" he said. "Do you believe he was God on earth?" "well...he replied. "Well" i said to him, "if you profess to be a Christian, the whole deal revolves on that. This man Cletus here, now Cletus, correct me if i'm wrong, will tell you that Jesus was not God, or even THE son of God, right. " "Right,"Cletus said, yes, you worship the created, i worship the Creator"... so the kid saw his lie and said he had to catch his bus. I told Cletus he forgot the book he said i could give him and put my Bible into his briefcase. "I don't want your book" he yelled at me and threw it back at me. "But Cletus" i said, "if you want to follow Jesus, you need to know the truth. i wasn't a jerk, or forceful, just convicted

...i began to walk home when i passed this guy sitting on a bench with his head down sitting next to a half a 2 liter bottle of soda. i felt i was supposed to stop and talk to this guy, hear his story and pray. But i kept walking, i had to get a coffee and get home so i could go rock climbing. The nagging continued so 25 yards past him i stopped and turned around. "Excuse me" i said " i get a sense that you could use some prayer. What's your name, are you ok?" Oh, I'm Peter and I'm fine, you could pray for my dad though, he died in '91..." and as his story rambled on i could tell he had some issues. "oh, well how are you today?" "Not so good" he said. "I'm chronic bipolar and schizophrenic and my meds are working to good." "Oh my, do you have a case worker" "Yes, I'm seeing him today" "That's great, let's pray for that". So i prayed for another person on the street asking for a peaceful day, meds that worked and comfort.....my head is still spinning

....so, what did i learn? that my heart is indeed being transformed by God's grace. Spending all this time in prayer for others and learning of their acts has moved me to act as i wait holding my sign, to be attentive to the Spirit of God, and to listen....
God's peace to you all
b

day 5...playing in traffic for Jesus

2008-08-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

This morning i went to the Voice of the Martyrs web site to read the stories of the persecuted today. VOM, along with China Aid launched the appeal from Chinese House Church leaders for prayer...this is what i found posted;

Pastor Zhang “Bike” Mingxuan, known for traveling across China on a bicycle to evangelize, was arrested by Chinese police just two days before the Olympics began. Pastor Bike was the inspiration for the recent partnership between The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association to create the Olympic Prayer Band.

Pastor Bike pleaded with VOM staff to ask Christians to pray for persecuted Christians in China during the Olympics. The pastor voluntarily preaches the gospel openly in China despite being persecuted. He has asked for his identity to be revealed to bring continued attention to the persecution of Christians in Communist China.

Thanks to Pastor Bike’s inspiration and the commitment of concerned Christians across the United States, more than 800,000 prayer bands have been circulated. On Aug. 6, Pastor Bike was arrested while trying to deliver medicine to his ailing wife. His wife and another pastor were also arrested. We have also learned this week that Chinese officials are opening a full investigation of the Olympic Prayer Bands that were distributed to house church members within China. Despite this increased pressure from Chinese authorities, Chinese Christians continue to ask for prayer and to make their plight known.

...so that little rubber band that i wear that says "pray for China" would have had me investigated, and the sign that i've been holding would have had me arrested and sent to one of the official "re-education farms". i was so aware of this today that i found myself counting the police cars that drove by, thanking the Lord that they were not slamming on their breaks, beating me and throwing me in the back of their cars. i prayed for those in China for whom the cars did stop, asking The Lord to give them strength and to turn their captures hearts to him.

...so what happened today as i stood there? Oddly enough, almost EVERY police car that drove by today slowed down, and the officer waved....one even rolled down his window and shouted support

...the eyes behind the windshields of the other cars searched even deeper as i stood for the 6th day...and children in back seats could not stop staring at me as their parents drove by...

...but one man pulled his car over in the midst of traffic to stop and ask "why should i pray for China?" "Because there are Christians who are being beaten today for doing what I am doing, and the Holy Spirit has asked me to call people to pray" i responded. He smiled and said "can i make a suggestion? Most folks driving by don't know why you're asking them to pray, perhaps you should make a sign that reads "please pray for the persecuted church in China." "Well" i said, "this is the sign the Holy Spirit asked me to write. i'm asking for prayer, not protesting treatment. i trust that the Spirit will move in the hearts of those driving by and speak to them.Besides, i've been finding that people who are moved walk up to me and ask." With that, the man looked at me and said "i might get arrested for stopping here, but i gotta get out and shake your hand." Turns out this guy had spent time in China with missionaries in the underground church in China, and here in the middle of yuppie-ville rush hour traffic (literally) the Holy Spirit connected us...could i ever script this stuff?

...he took my card and said he'd connect, and apologized that he couldn't talk longer but he was on his way to NYC for business...he said "he's sorry" i had to laugh! He had turned around and stopped in traffic because God moved him....

...as i stopped by for a coffee afterward i bumped into an old friend who had supported me for years...we haven't spoken much since i've launched off in this new adventure with God...she said she had read part of my support letter, and apologized that she had to get to a meeting and she was very busy...no time to catch up...Now, this all may have been true and heartfelt, but still i felt very sad. i had met a man just 15 minutes before who stopped in traffic to ask a stranger why he was asking for prayer, and here was a friend in a very small line in a very safe coffee shop who did not have the time to look at the "burning bush"

....so today i am grateful for the brave pastors in China, and i was given the gift of Joy from the Lord today. i was beaming that i was asked by God to stand at my intersection, holding my sign...my arms did not hurt today, my feet were fine, only one person yelled, i didn't sweat...and in my head i kept sensing "you are the light of the world, and you are not under a basket...your work is glorifying me"

....so to paraphrase Joshua...chose this day what you will do....hurry through the coffee shop or stop in traffic for Jesus?

play in traffic friends, play in traffic

But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free. They placed their hope in the resurrection to a better life. Some were mocked, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in dungeons. Some died by stoning, and some were sawed in half; others were killed with the sword. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, hungry and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world.

Hebrews 11:35-38

day 4...the China-Americano Connection

2008-08-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

Before I left this morning I read the story of a 16 year old boy named Yun who in Mainland China in the 1950's first heard that the Bible existed.

..."There is a book that tells how to get to heaven?' "Yes, Yun. I have seen it with my own eyes," answered the old man. "Where is this book?" asked Yun. "I must see it for myself!" "It is very far away-over 35 miles," the old man said sadly. "It is too far to walk and you have no bicycle." "I will go!" Replied Yun. This young man walked the 35 miles and met with the owner of the Bible...Yun then joined with another Christian, and together they went from village to village telling about Jesus...

...it was sunny today and a bit warm as i stood on my corner. i make it a point to make eye contact with people as they drive by, like Jesus had done with Peter. Since i've been at the same corner now for four days cars and faces are becoming familiar. i've noticed that expressions have changed. People seem to have a look of contemplation...that's the power of a consistent faith. As my arms became sore from holding my sign in one position for an hour and sweat trickled down my back (tell me again why most Anglican clergy wear black???) i thought of Yun walking 35 miles to just see a Bible. i was strengthened by his faith... again i had three neighbors smile and wave (thank you Jesus that they know what i am about), and i had a good laugh with the guys who were mowing the green that i was standing in front of...

so when i left i stopped by Starbucks for an Iced Americano...people are now getting curious about this priest walking in with a folded poster board. i put my sign down (doubled-over) on a table next to me as i added 1/2 & 1/2 to my coffee (yep, i mess with my coffee) and a woman asked if i was going to sit there. i told her no, and offered to move my sign if it was in her way. "No", she said, it was fine there. "It must be a good one though" she offered as she made a gesture to my collar. "Are you with the peace protests they have out there?" "No mam" i said, "but i am looking forward to the day when all violence is crushed". "i'm not protesting, i'm requesting". With that she opened up my sign that read "please pray for China"...she looked up at with eyes searching for an explanation. "In China, if Christians do not register their churches with the official church (Three-Self Patriotic Church) and adhere to their practices and beliefs, the government arrests or harasses the congregation, confiscating property and often beating the pastor and flock." Not many people know this, so i'm asking for prayer for them. Would you please pray for them today?" She had a look of bewilderment as i picked up my sign and walked out. Others who were around us had leaned in listening....like the old EF Hutton adds, honest.

...Yun was later beaten many times and eventually imprisoned for 10 years for his faith in Jesus. Yesterday a prominent house pastor was arrested for going to church in Beijing (see Voice of the Martyrs website)....

...tell the stories of the scandalous cross today, and of the faithful followers who understand the cost...

day 3..."me and Nee"

2008-08-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

...there was no rain today, but i still grabbed my bag as i headed out the door this morning. Last night i had started reading from Cox's Book of Modern Saints and Martyrs written by Baroness Caroline Cox. Cox founded HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust) which takes her to places that the Red Cross calls "red-zones"...areas where the violence is so active that relief agencies refuse to send workers. When others are evacuated, she goes in. She says of the Christians she finds who refuse to leave these zones, who are currently living the life found in 1 Peter 1:3-7...
"It is important for their stories to be told, for many reasons. The testimonies of modern martyrs should be recorded and celebrated-not consigned to the dustbin of history...Their witness may serve as a source of inspiration..."
So today as is stood holding my sign, i meditated on the the final words left by a Man of God named Watchman Nee who gave his life for the faith in China...Nee became a Christian at 17 and his zeal was fast and strong. In 1928 he established the Shanghai Gospel Backroom and before his arrest approximately 400 churches were started in China. Since his death on a labor farm in 1972, 2,300 churches trace their roots back to this man's ministry. During his detention, just before his death, his family was alerted to that he was gravely ill, but by the time his grandniece could get to him, he had died and been cremated. She writes..."before his departure, he left a piece of paper under his pillow which had several lines of big words written in a shaking hand...'Christ is the Son of God, who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ. Watchman Nee"
...i stood repeating these words over and over, for nearly an hour this morning as i stood on my corner. i prayed "Christ, you are the Son of God, who died for the redemption of sinners and was resurrected after three days. i pray today for all who are persecuted in China today for proclaiming this, the greatest Truth in the universe." i was grateful when my feet got sore (i even wore sneakers) and when my arms got tired, because i was reminded of all those who gave their lives, not just an hour... just before i left, a young man walking by me stopped, took his ipod ear buds out and asked "so why should we pray for China?"....to which i replied "there are Christians who are persecuted because they proclaim that "Christ is the Son of God...."
so there you have it, day three...hundreds more called to prayer...and the words of a Saint of God from China passed on to a young kid in West Hartford....
peace,
b

day 2...diaper bags and downpours

2008-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

...so i woke up today to the sound of hard rain. we've been having it on and off for days now. i rummaged around to find my gortex coat, hat and pants so that i would stay dry while i called the traffic to prayer. by the time i left the rain had let up, so i grabbed the nearest bag i could find (my BOB diaper bag), stuffed my hat and pants into it, tied my coat around my waist, picked up my sign and walked the three blocks to town. i laughed on route thinking "here i am calling my town to rattle the gates of heaven and change the course of history and all i've got is a diaper bag and a sign....but hey, God has used less in the hands of others...

before i head out each day i spend time in prayer and reading. Ephesians tells us to put on the whole armour of God and i know that the battle i enter into each morning on my little corner is against powers and principalities that i can't (nor want to) see. i finished a sermon i started reading yesterday preached by Charles Spurgeon on Gospel mission. i was deeply moved by his words referring to why his generation didn't see the powerful works of the Spirit as in days of the Apostolic Church

..."Again, we have not enough self-denial (emphasis his); that is one reason why we do not prosper. Far be it from me to say aught against the self-denial of those worthy brethren who have left their country to cross the story deep to preach the Word."

...and the Spirit led me to Job 19 this day..."I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth." and Romans 12:21 "do not overcome evil by evil, but overcome evil with good."

i it was flooded with a sense of affirmation. armed with the Spirit and Word (and gortex) i took my place with more assurance and power than i had felt before...i had no one yelling today(although i expected it) as i stood and prayed in the power of the Spirit...i had a few honks, thumbs-up, peace signs, hands clasped and raised in the form of prayer. Two school buses drove by and the children saw a man of God in the midst of town begging people to humble themselves in prayer...my neighbor across the street passed me as he walked to the bus and we had a great talk...an old youth group kid from 14 years ago waved out her window...a friend who i used to work for who owns one of the largest pet stores in the state rolled down his window and gave me a smile and look that affirmed the fact that yes, i looked like a follower of Jesus, i will stand and proclaim you wherever...it was something else

...i stand and pray there for an hour (give or take a few minutes) and this puts me in mind of the saints of old and acts of self-denial...so my arms got sore. i thanked God for the chance to suffer in a small way for Him and prayed for those whose arms were sore because they were tied and in prison for the Gospel...i was wearing my "church shoes" and as my feet began to get sore i laughed at myself; my shoes were made for show, not work! i prayed for those whose feet were sore because they walked for days to preach the Word.

...so day 2 was over and i left my very public place where i had proclaimed Jesus and went to Starbucks for an egg sandwich and Iced Americano....deeply touched by the Christians in China who hide behind doors and feast on the Bread of Life...

...of these the world is not worthy

day one...back in the day

2008-08-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

"Back in the day" i might have been spotted walking around a parking lot or at an intersection near where the Dead might have been playing holding a sign that could have read "i need a miracle" (which in deadhead language means "i don't have a ticket do you have one you could sell me hopefully really cheap or better yet free!").... or I also might have been found walking toward the United Nations building, the Capital or the White House carrying pieces of poster board that may have had words on them relating to various current political actions...perhaps i had long hair (or any hair for that matter), a tye-dye shirt and some hippy-type necklaces...

Well.....things looked a little different this morning as i began a call to prayer at one of the busiest commuter intersections in the upper-middle class town where i live. I was at an intersection holding a sign like "back in the day" ... but my hair was thin, my shirt was black and my necklace was under a clerical collar....

... but my sign still asked for a miracle...but not for me, for someone else...and not for the Dead, but for Life

i stood there not in protest, but asking a request...asking for people to rattle the gates of heaven on behalf of people who are being oppressed....politically, spiritually, emotionally, economically, mentally....my sign simple ready "please pray for China"....

i had no agenda...only a burden that the Lord placed on me, one to call people to pray. i woke up freaked out over having to do what i said i was commented to doing.."what if the police come, what if people ask me why i'm there, what if the newspaper shows up, what if this is really not from the Lord and it's just my idea, what-if, what-if, what-if...so the first 15 minutes i was sweating and shaking...

so i stood their holding my sign. i sang in my head ...'i stand amazed" ...which kinda took my mind off of what i was doing...then i caught myself and started to pray for all the folks who went by and for all those in China...one car full of kids yelled at me, a city bus driver rolled down his window and mocked me, two cars honked and gave me a thumbs up...but most of the people drove by and looked, a few smiled...it seems like the masses didn't know what to do with a priest who stood in the center of town with a sign asking people to pray...

i was changed....i've asked kids over the years to gather at a flag pole and pray at their school in plain sight...i've told people to seek to please the Lord not man...i've preached about getting out of the boat and stepping onto the waves....i've done these things before, but never alone like this morning....i felt really exposed, yet wrapped in the blood of Jesus...i didn't have the anger of my youth, but the peace that surpasses all understanding...

so what happened? a bit of fear is gone from my life....and pretty much my whole town knows where i put my trust...and i'll be there each day for the next few weeks...asking people to join me in asking God for a miracle....and the only reason i'll be there doing this is because He has done one in my life

blessings....

stand with strong knees..

in the Master

so what are you going to do now?

2008-07-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

"so what are you going to do now?" I asked the man who just finished telling me his story of a former life of drugs and gang violence. "I left a party one night and asked the guy driving if he was ok..so i kinda fell asleep...next thing i know i'm waking up in the hospital two days later. God saved me for something i know...."

"so, what are you going to do about it? I mean, if you really feel like God saved you, kept you alive, you have to do something. If you think He is that powerful, what are you going to do?...do you know about this God?..." And I proceeded to unravel the scandal of the cross and you could have heard a pin drop in that tiny inner-city apartment. It was really hot that day and I had just finished hauling a bed, chair, dresser, vacuum cleaner and five boxes of assorted dishes and housewares up two flights of stairs. This guy and his girlfriend along with their two year-old son had just found an apartment after living in a shelter...the kid had no bed and they were all sharing an inflatable mattress...they're cheap at wal-mart and if folks on the margin can find a cheap bed you can't take it home on the bus...

So I was sweating like a pig because it was hot and I was wearing a clergy shirt...i kinda feel like it's a good witness to see a priest getting dirty...and when I was done I noticed that there weren't any fans so I went down the street and bought three for them. And in the midst of the sweat in that tiny little apartment the Creator of the Universe showed up and opened hearts...I have heard from sources that they have been attending a church now...they did something about it...

And that was why I was there that day as well. A song that gets a ton of airtime in my head sings "I want to make much of you Jesus, I want to make much of your cross." At just the right time Jesus crashed into my life so now I sweat, haul, store, preach, spend, laugh, pray, drive all over the place here and in Tanzania...i'm not saying that i'm anything special and i'm not trying to blow my own horn...but really....

What are you going to do in response? Sitting still is not an option...

make much of Jesus my friends, make much of the cross...

in Him

gas, espresso and Jesus

2008-07-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

I bumped into a friend I hadn't seen in years a couple of weeks ago. As we sat and talked over a bagel he launched into the price of gas....what really ticked him off was this feeling he gets when he's at the pump that the companies were trying to personally stick it to him...it sounded a bit like a "conspiracy theory" to me. I don't know how many people share this level of outrage, but I can say with a fair amount of confidence that most people do feel as if the companies have no idea how we're effected by their actions...do the CEO's of the gas companies personally feel the pinch like we do when they hammer out prices? I can't say, I just wish they understood how their actions affected others

With this conversation still fresh while I was on vacation in Maine last week I got really excited when I found a gas station that was "under" four bucks a gallon! So what if was only by $0.01, it still got me happy enough to take a picture of the sign! Little things get me really excited and this vacation was full of little things...little waves, little gas prices, little to worry about, and a little coffee shop in the middle of Kennebunkport Maine that made me very happy.

My wife and I were looking for a good espresso buzz so we asked a local behind a cash register where to find a tasty jolt. She pointed us to a espresso shop around the corner. I walked in and asked if they could make me a lot of espresso and pour it over some ice cubes. You can't imagine my joy when I got four shots over ice for only two bucks! I almost danced in the shop..so I quickly became best friends with the kid and we started talking while he made my wife's drink.

As I was leaving he passed a little comment "oh Jesus, help me, or god or someone"....and before I could think I turned around and replied "dude, Jesus can definitely help you"...to which he said to his co-worker "oh, that reminds me, i need to call my aunt...she's one of those crazy Christians that always cries in church and speaks in tongues. Every time we see them or go to church with them they feel so bad that we don't act the same way, it really makes them really ticked and it freaks me out."

You could tell by his voice and posture that he was turned off by these folks. Little comments they made had a great impact on him...i'm not saying that thier reaction to the reality of thier redemption of thier very souls by the atoning work of Jesus on the cross is a bad thing. In fact many is the day when this reality washes over me and I, like David before the Ark (although fully clothed) dance about in joyous praise.

I was nugded by the Holy Spirit and I walked back to the counter and said "dude, sorry to hear that. I get freaked out by people who come down on folks just because they don't react the same way as they do in church too. Next time you see them, tell them that different people reacted in different manners to Jesus in the Bible too when they encountered His power...there was a woman at a well who was sleeping around and Jesus confronted her on it and she kinda just broke down, some blind guys ran after him when they got their sight back, and a guy filled with demons just sat down after he was healed and they were cast out...We all react different because Jesus reaches us all differently. But there will be a reaction." I thanked him again for my drinks and skipped out.

Do you ever wonder how the little things you do effect others? I'm not saying we need to put artificial parameters on how we personally authentically worship the Trinity. What I'm saying is this...when you live life among people who you wouldn't normally see in church, you begin to understand why they aren't in church....and with frightening regularity I find that it's because of "Christians" that most keep away. Jesus said we will be known by our fruits, and that it's what comes out our mouths that makes us unclean. So what are the words you have pouring out of your mouth and what kind of reaction are they causing?

So....if the CEO's of the large gas companies understood, i mean really understood how their actions effected the average person at the pump i think they would think twice about their actions...i wonder what would happen if Christians did the same...

i'm tired of the politics

2008-07-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I preached on the parable of the soils, or the sower, depending on which commentary you may read, or where the Holy Spirit has you at that moment. As an evangelist I've read that passage many times. I'd shared it with kids at rest stops for years on the way home from Young Life camps. This time as I dug into it, I found myself in a very different place....

Jesus told that parable, as he did with all his stories, to illicit a reaction and a response. Jesus is good for that all the time. I once heard it said that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable well that's what he did in the parable of the soils, and in the case of me, he keeps tilling away. By the simple fact that I was in church that day, preaching that God is a good, kind merciful king let me know that the Holy Spirit had done an amazing thing in my life to allow the seed of the Gospel to take root.

So....do you ever get broken over the fact that many don't have the same reaction when they hear the message? I do, big time, and I often wonder if they where given the seed in a really bad package. God answered my question that very week three times in a row.

I took my daughter out for a wagon ride around the block taking a break on Saturday as I finished my sermon prep. I wheeled by a neighbor who recognized us as 'Bucks regulars. We chatted a bit and I turned and said I needed to get back and finish my sermon. "What religion are you" she asked...I told her Anglican, understanding where her question came from. She didn't know "Anglican" so I mentioned that it's like Episcopal, but I had enough of the junk in the state and was just about chasing after Jesus and loving each other. She looked at me and said "I'm tired of the politics, where's your church?" So I told where.

After church, my wife and daughter and I stopped by 'Bucks to get caffinated. There was a twenty something girl at the counter with an arm full of tattoos and a six year old daughter. She kept staring at me to the point that I really noticed. As I was fixing my Americano, she said across the store "Man, I want to go the church that allows the priest to wear earrings! I'm tired of the politics". We had a great quick little talk, I told her where she could find that church.

Later that night I was helping out a friend drywall his kitchen ceiling...a guy who was helping was having a hard time one of his kids, I mean really hard. This guy was broken. So we spoke about kids and the fact that some do great and others do other things and how we can try our best and they just do what they do...and so he turns to me and asks, "where is your church. I'm tired of the politics."

So, here's the deal...what kind of package are you for the seed of the Gospel? What kind of seed do you claim the Gospel is? These three people I met where all sold bad seeds I think in nice shiny wrappers. And when the troubles came like famine, and they harvested what had been sown, it couldn't give them what they needed.

I'm tired of the politics too. I'm not saying that we don't need to be firm in the Gospel, it's just that I'm a simple farmer, who trusts the seed because I have eaten of this bread and rest on the first fruits of the Holy Spirit that has been planted in me...So I'm free to bring the message to some pretty barren fields and sow in some crazy manners...like teaching kids outside the Livingston Memorial Museum in Tabora, Tanzania how to dance the YMCA....call me a fruit, call me a melon, I'm just thankful my name will be called on the Day.

blessings farmers...sow wide and well

wonder working power in the blood

2008-07-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

The other day my wife, daughter and I went to visit some old friends at a parish where I had served. They were in thier second to last day of Vacation Bible School and this little church was packed to the gills with kids and adults. I love kids, Jesus and Vacation Bible School...so I was an ear to ear grin reconnecting with kids.
I found myself standing next to Phil, or "Pappy" as the kids call him. He and his wife, "Nana" are two of the saints we'll all be feasting with one day. You'll recognized them as I'm sure thier ressurected bodies will include laps that will be able to seat all the kids they have shared Jesus with over thier lifetimes.
As I stood next to this gentle man of God, the kids started to sing a remix of the hymn, "there is power in the blood"...and the next thing I know my hands are raised and I have tears in the corners of my eyes as I realized that the only reason I was there was due to the wonder-working power found in the blood of the Lamb. I knew this, but it was one of those moments of assurance that God grants that flooded my soul like the river that flowed from Calvary.
Perhaps it struck so hard because I've been studying the parable of the Sower, or the Four Soils, or whatever you want to call it. As an evangelist I've read this passage many times...and I have to say that this past week I felt an amazing sense of gratitude that the wonder-working power of the blood allowed me to hear and act on the Gospel Seed that was scattered into my life....many times. And I prayed this morning that by God's grace alone I may continue to grow in mercy and grace.
I always have had a sense of gratitude when I hear this story....but for some reason I'm in a season of my life where I am beginning to get a small glimpse of how large the hand of God's providence is...and this is not my own doing....
There is power, power, wonder-working power in the Blood of the Lamb"
blessings to you all....
In the grace and love of the Wonder-Worker
b

bring on the revolution...

2008-06-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-06-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

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....."

2008-06-04T17:34:00.001-07:00

"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...

and here's a little extra

2008-05-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

So, I had this vision from the Lord that I was to raise enough money to test and treat 10,000 children infected with malaria in my diocese of Tabora, Tanzania in East Africa...and to purchase 200 mosquito nets along with the insecticide to treat them. How? I asked people for their leftovers so I could purchase lives. What happened? Well, one five year old kid stepped up got his class of just over 110 kids to raise a bit over $1,000...a tag sale brought in $2,000...a bake sale table at dodge ball tournament organized by a young girl bought another 330 treatments...and it just kept coming in. People in parking lots, hair salons, wherever would kick in. My dentist sent me off with a case of tooth brushes, my pastor gave me a suitcase of surgical sutures...I was given hundreds of ball point pens (a big deal in Tanzania)...
and in the end my goal of $4,300 dollars was smashed...the Lord opened up hands to bring share $5,543.20. That's 10,000 kids tested and treated and 454 nets...more than double.
So I'll be real honest here. I've got a bunch of friends doing huge powerful things for the Lord and at times the sinful man in me would think..."and here I am, tag sale guy, spare change pastor"...but the Lord would always speak to me and say "be faithful, I'll be successful" ...and boy was He ever.
I have no Idea how many hundreds of people I got to speak to about Jesus and the Merciful heart of his Father. So, remain faithful friends, for our God is faithful. I'm off to Tanzania and will be back at the end of the month. I'm sure I'll have a something to share.
In Him
b

really covered

2008-04-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

"don't worry, I got ya covered".....

That's a common saying in our culture, wouldn't you agree? You hear it from your coworkers when you've forgotten your wallet and you're in front of them trying to buy lunch. You hear it when a friend wants to go to dinner and you don't have enough cash on you and not enough time to run to the ATM. Sure, some times "i got ya covered" means "you're in my way...hurry up". But remember how it felt when someone came in when you were really desperate and took care of you? There was a peace, a calm...you caught your breath and you were saved from the moment.
Well, that's what happened the other day at our church...and let me tell you, how it was done was absolutely amazing!
God calls us at all times to be faithful, and to let Him worry about being successful (2 Sam. 10:12) so I cast a vision that I was given and here is what happened. I was urged by the Holy Spirit to run a rather unique tag sale...honest!
I walked through town (with my daughter in the stroller) and asked to put up signs for our benefit tag sale. Each person I spoke to I was given the opportunity to share the joy of the abundance of Christ, and talk of the plight of those who live in areas devastated by malaria. These signs not only advertised our sale, but a number of folks called or just came by with donated goods to assist us. Everyone who gave us us money was given this short little track

A little goes a long way!
……Here’s where your little went today! Each dollar you spent will travel to Tabora, Tanzania in East Africa. That’s over 8,000 miles away from where you are standing. That’s a long way…..

Each dollar will help three children be tested for malaria, and if needed to be treated. The thirty five cents they don’t have to spend will buy food for days….that’s a long way

In rural Tanzania many don’t have the money to pay for testing or treatment…thanks to your help, they do now. Hope came from this little town in Connecticut….that’s a long way…

Every 30 seconds in Africa a child dies from Malaria. There is no need for this at all. Death can be prevented by testing and treatment when they are sick, and illness can be avoided by a simple $5 mosquito net. But for thousands a day, that small bit of hope is too far away…until today. Thank you. The little you spent today reached
__________________ Kids

Why did we run this event? God gave us a little child, Jesus, to bring us a long way back to Him.

In the blank space we calculated how many children could be treated by multiplying what they spent by three...

I wish you could have seen the faces of the hundreds of people who read this...many came back after they had walked to their cars and put more money into the donation jar, many held up the constant line we had and asked more questions. And I am sure, that all went home with a deeper understanding of how much they had, and how thankful they should be for the providence of God...

So what did we raise in our "little" tag sale...

We cleared just over $2,000...that's enough to test and treat 6,000 people...and that is the estimated number of people who die each day in Africa from untreated malaria...

So our little tag sale, in effect, covered the entire continent of Africa for a night... how good is God!

...let us never forget, that it is only by the blood of Jesus that we are covered. God gave more than spare change, He gave his very life.

blessings to you all

...in the love and mercy of the Overseer of our Souls

a tight squeeze

2008-04-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

The other day I was sharing what I'm doing to help reverse the devastating effects of malaria in Tanzania with a group of high school kids who are chasing after Jesus. They're pretty much new to the faith and have that wild-eyed look of abandon and passion that I'm sure the disciples had when they were accused of turning the world upside down.

So during the meeting, one of the leaders shared a story that hit me on several levels...She was visiting her daughter at college and the two of them caught the train to go out one night. It was rush hour and they were packed in so tight that a number of times they couldn't close the doors. She noticed a man sitting by himself on a triple seat, taking up almost 3/4 of it himself...due to his rather large size (perhaps 400 lbs.). She sat next to him in the remainder of the space and they chatted for the next half hour. They were about to leave when he stopped her and asked "are you a Christian?" Without hesitation she responded yes. "I thought so" he said, "no one ever sits with me." ...when she finished telling the story my mind raced. It had all the classic elements of the parables that Jesus used with the religious elite...the stories of the great-reversals...I was left with these challenges and thoughts and I pass them onto you;

Jesus said don't only love those who are like you (Luke 6:27-32) who am I sitting next to?

Why am i sitting next to them? To show how great I am, or because Jesus has given me a new heart?

Am I called to change, and will I do it...

I praise God for my friend who loves Jesus so much that she says all the time, "change my heart Lord, I want to be more like you"...praise God we worship a savior who took the seat next to us, and not in spite of who we are, but because of who we are...no matter how difficult or uncomfortable the space was.

... "Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing;he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "

Philippians 2:3-11

...blessings to you all....get on the bus

Reflecting the Providence of God

2008-04-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy as of late with a program I launched at our church called "One for You". It's pretty simple..
We've got a table in the back of our church where we're learning how to receive and reflect the Mercy and Providence of God. When you receive a gift or purchase a new item, you're asked to bring the one that was replaced into church (if it's in good shape). You place the item you're offering(donating) on the table and pray "Lord, thank you for the new (whatever) I pray that you be with those who have no (whatevers) and remind me that all (whatevers) come from you. Amen...
In this simple act, we acknoldwge that all we have is a gift from God, the Author and Creator of everything in the world...we humble ourselves before the giver of Life...and offer what little we can. We remember that all gifts have their source in Him. With a heart properly oriented, we then can reflect the love and light of Jesus into some pretty dark places...I have a rather wide network of organizations where I bring the offerings...teenage mothers, divorced folks, just off the streets, single mom's doing their best...and man does Hope shine bright when you just show up with the merciful full hands of God.
Blessings...
shine my friends, press deep and shine
b

brushed by the Presence of God

2008-03-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Hebrew word for the Spirit of God that hovered over the waters, that breathed life into dirt, goldfish and me, is Kabod. The word is more of a feeling, a weightiness, a presence....like still summer air, your breath inside a scarf...like wet clothes clinging to your body after a getting caught in a rain. Kabod envelops you, not just covers you. It's closer than your own breath. "Anyone who has been brushed by the Divine Kabod cannot help but adore God" wrote Peter VanBreeman. You know what he means if you've ever been close to it.
But have you ever understood that this is our call as followers of Jesus? We're to be the presence of the Lover of Souls in a land looking for someone to dance with. We're empowered by the indwelling Spirit who created the broken to go to them and shine like Hope so bright that shadows scream and run for cover. I had a neighbor, Emmanuel, who had been helped to emigrate to America by a local synagogue back in the late 90's. My dog would hang out with him in the afternoon taking naps with him and eating po-ta-to-chips. I taught him English and he taught me how to garden "Russian peasant style" using whatever you found. One afternoon we were behind our apartment building, pulling weeds and tying cucumber vines to pieces of pipe and broken hockey sticks when I almost audibly heard God ask me to talk to Him about His son Jesus. "Emmanuel" I asked "have you ever heard of Jesus". "Who? " he replied. "Jesus" I said, "the prophet you might have heard of in synagogue." "No, I have never heard of Him....oh...wait wait, Jesu Christo...yes I have heard the name but know nothing about him." Turns out that he had been to synagogue when he was a little kid (he was almost 80) and didn't know the story of God at all. So I told him of Jesus, the Nazarene, and of God and His love and power. I told my friend that this Jesus wanted to have a friendship like we had, spending time on walks, and that He had suffered greatly, even to death to give him the gift of never-ending life. After some time, my friend looked at me and asked "what does a kind God like that want with a useless old man like me?" "Love, my friend. Only your love."
I moved away from that building, but I still think of my friend often. I pray that we'll have a seat at The Feast together..maybe eating po-ta-to-chips. That would be great. I don't know what he ever did do with the love story. But I know he brushed Kabod...before I left he gave me the watch he brought with him from Russia.
b