A Counting or Accounting?*

 

As a seminary student, I volunteered and interned in the student ministry at a local church. One mission trip took about 100 students and adult leaders to the mountains of Colorado. We helped some churches there while learning and growing together in Christ. We generally did our mission/ministry work in the mornings and had a few hours in the afternoon of free time to hike and explore the mountains around our camp and lodge, then we had a worship and reflection time in the evenings. One particular day there were 25 of us hiking around the top of this mountain. It was beautiful, but we could see a rain storm quickly approaching. We began sprinting down the trail toward the camp, but this storm caught us on the side of the mountain. It was raining buckets of water, the wind was blowing hard enough to make the rain sting, and there may have even been some small hailstones. Some of us found a small ledge to crawl under until the worst had passed. Students and adults talked excitedly about the storm and what we had seen and experienced as the rain turned to a sprinkle and was gone as quickly as it came. We headed, cold and soaking wet, toward camp. As the leaders began to take a mental roll call of the students who came with us, we knew we had them all.  One young lady, however, noticed her friend was struggling to keep up and seemed a little confused, so she let an adult know. The nurse who had hiked with us, instantly recognized that the girl was on the verge of a diabetic coma. The girl had brought a rescue candy bar in case her blood sugar got too low, but in the excitement of the storm, she forgot to eat it and had gotten to the point where she could not even chew it. We had her sit down on a rock as her eyes started to roll back in her head. The quick thinking nurse asked the kids if they had any juice. One kid said, “I do!” The nurse helped the girl get her mouth open and sip the orange juice, all the while, telling her loudly, to “stay with us!,” and “keep drinking!” and “you are going to be okay!” The kids and other adults began to pray. After several scary minutes the girl responded and began to rouse. She was able to get her blood sugar back up and we helped her back down the mountain to the lodge. She was able to enjoy the rest of the week and return home safely. 

 

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that leaders are “those who must give an account” for their flock. When the apostle Peter was talking to the early church leaders, he was reminding them of their role as shepherds who take care of the flock. They are not just sheep counters, they take account of the condition of those in the flock. He says to the leaders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve…” (1 Peter 5:2) When I think of a good shepherd, I think of that nurse, who “just happened” to be on that trip as an adult leader, and take that particular hike, and recognized the signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and knew what to do, so that the story ended well. God sent her to be the good shepherd representing the Good Shepherd (i.e. Christ) in those moments. There may be friends around us who need someone to notice them struggling physically, emotionally, or spiritually. God may be entrusting us, to help them in some way, not just count them as friends, but give account for their wellbeing.  Be listening for His leading.

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

No Sleep For Your Eyes!*

 I was reminiscing a few days ago with Chad, a co-laborer in Christ. He had joined my adult leadership team in my first ministry out of seminary. I was the student minister, he was a big hearted skilled craftsman, whose faith had recently been radically revived. The church had an exceptional group of kids and an adult leadership group that was fantastic. On our first mission trip, I took these kids to Cordele, Georgia to help a seminary friend, Ira, who was a church planter. His church start was in the government assisted housing neighborhood he had grown up in. The first night of this mission trip, Ira took us to his old neighborhood in our church van towing a trailer and had us park right in the middle of the community. He asked if he could stand on top of the van and borrow our portable sound system to address the crowd. We said, “sure.” We all prayed and he instructed us that when he finished a short sermon we could go meet the neighbors and invite their kids to our Vacation Bible School. But the moment he climbed on top of the van and people began to come outside their apartments to listen, he said the Lord overwhelmed him and he began to prophesy against some of the people in that community. He called them by name and told them to repent. One man in particular, he called by name and told him if he did not repent the Lord would prevent him from sleeping. Ira said, “no sleep will touch your eyes until you turn to the Lord, and repent from your sins.” That man and some others yelled back at Ira, telling him to shut up and go away.  Once my friend came down from the top of the van we sang a hymn and left quickly. Obviously, after that our VBS plans were changed and we wouldn’t be going back to that community. We completed our week helping my friend clean up his rented building, hosting a very small VBS, and helping him host a revival night at his church. Some people came to Christ that revival night, but I never knew what came of those he had prophesied against, until now, 30 years later.  Chad told me that a couple of years after I had returned to Texas to another ministry position that he, by chance, was at a gas station somewhere in Georgia when a man came up to him saying he needed a little money for an alternator for his car so he could get home. He had most of the money but he needed $20 more. Chad helped the man and as they talked and walked to the auto parts store, Chad discovered that the man was from Cordele, GA. Chad told the man he had been to Cordele on a mission trip. The man stopped him and said, did you have a preacher on top of a van with a trailer behind it? Chad said, “yes!” The man said, “that preacher on top of the van told me I wouldn’t sleep until I repented. It was true, I was a drug dealer and a pimp, I was a bad man.” He said, I couldn’t sleep, no matter what I tried. He said he tried lots of alcohol… no sleep! All kinds of pills… no sleep! He became so miserable he tried overdosing, but still no sleep! He said he finally went to the church and repented from his sins and was saved that day. 

The biblical prophet, Jeremiah, tells us that true prophets of God are known by their prophecies coming true (Jer. 28:9). And when God is speaking to Ezekiel, He tells him: “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30–33) Wow, I hope we are never the ones who come just to hear good music or a gifted communicator, but never listen to God’s reminders of how we are to treat Him and other people if we really love them, then end up on the wrong end of God’s prophecy.  God loves us too much to let us stay in sin, so He is gracious to pursue us and give us grace when we repent. 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Camp Ba-Yo-Ca Grace in Weakness!*

In late elementary school I was on a camping trip with some R.A.’s (Royal Ambassadors, kinda like the Baptist version of boy scouts). We were all excited and going to an overnight camp at Camp Ba-Yo-Ca (a clever 1958 name for Ba-ptist Yo-uth Ca-mp). Interestingly, this sounded to me a little like Kum ba ya, an old Gullah song, made popular at youth camps in the 1950’s and 60’s. The camp was in the East Tennessee mountains and had old fashioned bunk cabins and a lake (which a cousin ended up in somehow in her sleeping bag on a Girls In Action or GA’s trip on another occasion). It also had a fire pit!!! These are boy magnets for poking with a flaming stick, making s’mores, and heating rocks! This all in spite of the adults warning that “If you play in the fire, you will wet the bed!” We arrived late afternoon on Friday so the Dad leaders could get off work to come lead the camp. As the evening progressed with dinner and games and Bible Study, I started feeling pretty lousy. I had an earache, my throat hurt, my head hurt. I was miserable, but I was determined to make it through.  Our new pastor had driven the hour and a half to come lead a Bible Study at the fireside and I knew there would be fun hikes and games the next day. One of the Dads saw me fading fast when I couldn’t even make a s’more. He found a phone in the cafeteria to call my Mom (this was back in the day of only landlines, nearly 4 decades before cell phones). By this time I was chilling with fever spikes, so my friend’s Dad drove me home.  I was so disappointed at first, but relieved to know I could sleep in my own bed, get some TLC from my Mom, and medicine from my Doctor, who also happened to be my Dad, who was on call and not able to go to the camp.  Sometimes, regardless of our determination, we just can’t make it through… we need God’s mercy, grace and provision. If we could do everything by sheer determination of our will, we may think we have no need for God, that we can do it all ourselves. Sometimes God entrusts us with more than we can handle on our own, so we can stay better connected with Him. He is always God-with-us, but we sometimes need to be reminded Who we belong to. 

 

The Apostle Paul was a very determined and driven religious man. He was a scholar,  “a Pharisee descended from Pharisees,”(Acts 23:6)  and a fierce defender of what he thought was right. Today, he would be considered a type A personality.  He had endured many hardships and survived shipwrecks, and beatings. He had first encountered Christ in a very dramatic way and seen amazing things in the heavenly realms. He could have become arrogant because of all he had experienced and accomplished. But God knows our tendencies… to take credit for His work when He entrusts us with exceptional experiences, so, sometimes He also has to entrust us with challenges to keep us in right relationship with Him.  Paul, as he wrestles with his own arrogance, says to those in the early church, “Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:6–10) So, the next time God entrusts us with a great experience and He also entrusts us with a failure, in spite of our fierce determination, we need to remember that in our weakness, Christ’s power rests on us. Christ can be exalted when we are humbled. He assures us “my grace is sufficient for you…” 

 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Wake Up!*

 

One glorious Summer day at a pool party at a friend’s house. We played all day, in the water, out of the water, inside the house, outside the house. We played sharks and minnows, Marco Polo, mimic my dive, splash contests, underwater distance contests, even some relay races… There weren’t many moments not spent in the pool or on the deck.  My friend, however, also had a mini-bike, Big Wheels, and a roller coaster in his garage. So, every moment was filled with gobs of fun. We of course snacked with Goober PB & J sandwiches. Goober was a Peanut Butter jar with Jelly stripes already in it made by Smuckers. It looked so cool.  They also had Koogle peanut butter, which was made by Kraft with chocolate, cinnamon, banana, and vanilla flavors.  Every kid wanted these, because we had all seen them on the TeeVee on Saturday mornings with our cartoons. It was a whole day of kid indulgence holding nothing back. Eventually though, everyone at the party left. My mother had an extra errand to run, so my friend’s mom said she’d be glad for me to stay a little while. My friend had gone inside and his mother was just sitting on the steps in the pool.  I was on the Big Wheel riding slowly around the pool deck when the next thing I know, the Big Wheel and I are in the water in the deep end. I don’t remember any of it, until I was awakened by the water. The Big Wheel sank to the bottom and my friend’s Mom came to check on me. Apparently the overindulgences of the day had put me in a sugary, dehydrated, exhausted coma. 

When John shared the Revelation of Christ with the Church at Sardis, Jesus gave them a warning. Sardis was a wealthy city, with luxurious living.  Apparently, the church had been lulled into an indulgent stupor and had forgotten how it was like them to act as Jesus followers. They had the appearance of being alive and doing good, but they were not. Jesus reminds them not to be fooled into thinking that they are living right just because they are living well.  He says,  “‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. ‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:2–5) 

As soon as I hit that water on my Big Wheel ride at my friend’s house, I woke up and jumped right back out. Jesus says, repent, which means do a 180, to turn around! Sometimes abundance makes us forget about those who lack, but even worse our contentment can make us oblivious to our desperate need for God.  If these words are a reminder for us today, God, give us ears to hear the Word of the Lord! 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Anxious? What's the Answer?*

 In my mid 20’s, I had the privilege to go to South Africa.  One of the highlights of the trip was an overnight stay on a gamefarm on the edge of Kruger Park. We rode on a game viewing truck, think padded bleachers on the back of a Landcruiser truck.  He drove us around and we saw many beautiful and unique creatures.  It was amazing. We had a braai that night, think, barbeque with meat and vegetables on a griddle over coals from an open fire.  It was delicious. I had never seen the Southern Cross so clearly in the night sky; it was awe inspiring (think Crosby, Stills, and Nash, “when you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you understand now why you came this way, the truth you might be runnin’ from is so small, but it's as big as the promise... of the coming day.”).  Our host left late that night to drive home. He told us to walk out to the watering hole to do some game viewing the next day.  He’d pick us up in the afternoon. All I could think of was the intimidating roars of the lion we had heard in Kruger Park a few miles away. It was quite a vulnerable feeling walking out a dirt road armed with nothing but a camera, still groggy from staying up too late the night before. We joked that we didn’t have to outrun a lion, just each other, unless there were two lions! Sticking together, we quickly made our way to find the viewing stand.  We looked intently into the bush, as our host had taught us, to see if we could see any eyes looking back at us: some looking to run from us, some ready to eat us. We saw some amazing wildlife and enjoyed the rugged beauty of the bush, but it was a very humbling experience. 

The Apostle Peter warned God’s people not to be anxious, because God cares for His own. However, anxiety, pride, and lack of connection with God make us vulnerable to a Spiritual Predator out there who is looking to do us harm. Peter tells us to stay humble and alert, remember we belong to God, and we can trust  Him with all those things that make us anxious.  He reminds them, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:5-9)  So, remember Whose family you belong to, stay humble, alert, and sober minded, and give ALL your anxiety to the One who sees us, hears us, is glad to be with us, loves us, and wants to do good things for us! 

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Meeting on a Mountain!*

 

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While in seminary, I interned at Travis Avenue BC in student ministry. We took a mission trip to Colorado Springs to support a local church plant. We caravanned in several 15 passenger vans to a beautiful Christian Camp in the mountains. The first morning, we split up and each van went to a different neighborhood to do Backyard Bible Clubs. I took my vanload of kids to one particular house and it was a rough morning. The neighborhood kids were having a bad day (read “Bill was having a bad day from lack of sleep and general orneriness; the kids were just being kids in a new setting”).  The TABC students did a great job of redirecting the youngsters and eventually the kids settled down and our students had things well in hand with the games, activities, and Bible Study they had planned. I decided the best thing I could do with an hour of time that morning was to go have some quiet time with God and get refocused. The neighborhood was just a few minutes from the Air Force Academy, so I wondered if the beautiful Cadet Chapel was open for a few minutes of solitude and personal Bible Study. When I arrived the Chapel was closed so I took a little hike up a nearby trail and found a bench, sat down, opened my Bible and began to read. I eventually was drawn to a passage in Hebrews that was hard for me to understand about an Old Testament king who was also a priest. These two don’t usually go together in Israel’s history. Kings come from the tribe of Judah and priests come from the tribe of Levi. So the writer explains in  Heb. 7:1,   "This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.'" As I sat there reading God’s Word, some people came up the trail to where I was sitting. One was in uniform and the other was a family with a young man who was considering the Air Force Academy for college. The officer stopped, shook my hand and said, "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Melchisedek.” He asked me a few questions, handed me his card and continued his tour for this prospect.  Bewildered, I dug into the passage more.

The writer of Hebrews wanted the early church of Jewish believers to understand that there was a new covenant that was much better than the first one that had depended on their good behavior and a sacrificial system to pay for their sins when they weren’t good. The writer reminded them,  Jesus is completely sufficient to save us in spite of our inability to do everything right and have a good day. He is our King, also our eternal High Priest, who offered Himself as the “once and for all” sacrifice for our sins. The incomplete sacrifices of animals made over and over again by Levitical priests who must be replaced over and over again for sins committed over and over again would never be enough.  The writer says, “Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”(Hebrews 7:23–25) Wow! I have never forgotten how God met me in the wilderness by a chance meeting with a recruiter with a unique name on a hiking trail at the Air Force Academy while studying His Word.

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!

Who Are You Becoming?*

In college, I took a semester off and worked at the Louisiana World's fair in New Orleans. My first day of work was Ash Wednesday.  I arrived at the office a few minutes early, but even after start time, no one was there.  I was confused, so in my naiveté I asked, "where is everyone?” They said, “It’s Ash Wednesday.” I thought, “oh maybe they were very religious and just wanted to kick the beginning of the Lenten season off right, having some extra morning devotion.” I quickly learned, however, that everyone had apparently really indulged in the fatness of Marti Gras. I noticed the longer I stayed in that city, the more I not only began to accept this destructive overindulgence, but I indiscriminately embraced the behaviors that devalued others and myself and harmed my relationship with God.  It was a city with great fun, food, music, culture,  but foolishness came easy for me there.  At first I lived in Kenner a little drive from the city. Then I moved into New Orleans. Then some the not so good values of Crescent City moved into me and I became less like the person God intended me to be. God helped me realize I needed to get out of that town and get parts of that town out of me. (No offense to New Orleanians, I loved the food, fun, music, and culture of your great historic city, but in my weakness, I was too easily drawn to become someone God didn’t intend for me to become. My denomination has a seminary there, but at the time I was not drawn that direction. As a matter of fact I was running from God’s call on my life. Also, my apologies if this sounds moralistic or judgmental of others, that is not my intention.)

They say you become like those around you.  In the Bible, we learn about Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Abraham, though far from perfect, kept seeking God and was blessed.  Lot on the other hand kept drifting further from God. At first, he and his family lived on the plain outside of the wicked city called Sodom. Then Lot is living inside the city accepting the city’s behaviors as normal. Then just before God is about to destroy the city, Lot is sitting at the city gate where the leaders sit. He had become just like the worst of those in the city, even offering his own daughters to wicked men.  In God’s grace He sent angels to rescue Lot and his family from the coming judgement He would bring on Sodom and sister city Gomorrah. Lot was about to change his mind about getting away from the evil city, but God’s messengers insisted.  Genesis 19:16 says, “When he (Lot) hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.”  God’s plan is always to rescue, but we gotta accept being rescued. We also read that the angels had warned Lot's family not to look back, but Lot’s wife couldn’t resist and she infamously became a pillar of salt, an icon of the consequences of continued and deepening disobedience.  Who are you becoming like?  When we run toward God and away from evil, we begin to act more like God’s children, but when we are drawn toward evil, we become someone God never intended us to be.

Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!