Be Careful What You Say and What You Mean

Sometimes I wonder if people really think about the signs they post. I thought churches and Jesus were in the business of turning things around. I guess these guys did not consider this sign before they put up TWO of them in their parking lot.

 

What Happened to June?

I cannot believe I have not posted since May 31! What happened? I guess the final days of school coupled with time off, chores around home, finishing a major rock project, and a trip up north have taken their toll. I still read as much as ever, but I truly thought I would be writing more this summer.

I have managed to post a few photos to the Flickr feed, and I suppose a few more will be included soon as well. It looks like things will be happening soon in the new New Day location. Hopefully that will cause more blog entries rather than take away. 

Grace & Peace,

John

 

Digging In

I think a lot of folks like to dig in the dirt this time of year. It’s time to dig, plant, sow, and transplant. I believe there is a great amount of spiritual therapy in these activities at many different levels. At the most basic level I love the time I am able to spend engaged in these activities. It is often slow and that forces me to reflect upon the beauty of my surroundings and the special nature of life itself. How often I think about the creative forces that propel seed into plant and plant into fruit.

But is the anticipation of fruit or flower the only reason I plant and dig in the dirt? Not at all. I do it because it provides me with a great distraction that keeps my hands busy and my mind free. This freedom is not new found, but for me it is connected to what we ought to be doing in the world the rest of our lives. We ought to be planting and transplanting seeds of change that have as their intent making this world a little more like heaven. Yep, that applies to people too, but that involves a much more complex cycle of growth that often spans decades.

People do not often grow at the expected rate and sometimes not at all. This brings about future concerns such as the ability to survive the cool seasons and propagate. Too much shade, not enough water, too much water, not enough nutrients, wrong kind of nutrients and the list goes on and on. What does a gardener do? They usually keep on being a gardener and they dig in once again. A series of failures does not always mean that we are responsible. The plants and people metaphor either breaks down at this point or is stregthened.

Plants and people are often innoculated against all kinds of disease, but disease is still present. People fail and so do plants, yet life continues. We cannot make a plant take responsibilitiy, but humans can and should be responsible. We conitnue to dig in because we have been made as caretakers of this orb and that extends to all of God’s creation.

I’m getting ready to dig in again. This time I’m moving rocks and working on the patio project that has spanned over a year now. All the rock we have gathered here on the place. Some require more effort than others, and some we have to ‘dig in’ to place in the mosaic of our patio. Placing the rocks are fun, but the gathering has been most enjoyable and has involved everyone. No rock is too small for this project and more rocks seem to appear every day. Where is this going? Here’s the end thought: people are not projects.

I’m sure some of you can build on this since you have been digging the past couple of weeks too. Dig in.

Grace & Peace,

John

 

Some Prayer Needs

This is not the usual garden variety blog entry, and yes, I have been rather slack the past few weeks other than sermon notes. Anyway, there are some prayer needs I have received specifically for us from people in Romania and Von from the YHC BCM.

Here are Von’s own words about thanks we can pray about. “I am taking a group of 7 BCM students (from all over GA) to Jena, Germany from May 28 – June 9 to share with university students in Jena.  We are very excited and can’t believe that we leave next week!  I am going to stay an extra week and come home on June 15 so I can visit with the lady who hosted me in her home when I went to Magdeburg 2 years ago.  Please pray for safety, good health and close unity for the team, and the opportunity to sow LOTS of seeds while we are there!  Our main task is reaching out to college students and building relationships with them.  Many are atheists or agnostics.”

Pastor Ion Damian near Arad, Romania has asked that we also remember some specific items:

“Sunday, 25 of May – we’ll have the Baptism of the 6 souls in Radna; 26-29 of May – I’ll participate with some workers to a Mission Conference; Friday, 30 of May – Zone Bible Study for workers in Mures Valley to Lalasint; Staurday, 31 of May – Zone Youth Meeting to Cuvin; Saturday, 31 of May – Zone Bible Study for workers in Mures Valley to Lalasint;     With God’s will, I’m working to start a new mission group to Arad Prison. Just we finished the group of this spring; With God’s will, we continue the mission work among the gipsy and Romanian people in Radna Valley; The gas price, for car, it is 2$/liter now in Romania. It is a burden now for the traveling in the villages. But I trust in God for this mission need.”

So, some items to pray about in the next few days. Lana and I will be occupied this Thursday night for the Graduation Projects at AHS. She will be one of the judges and I will be making sure all the tech stuff works. It has been hard to find willing community members to take part in the projects this semester.

Grace & Peace,

jp

 

Divine Appointments

We hear and use the phrase all the time, but have you experienced any divine appointments lately?  What is a divine appointment and how important are they to our spiritual welfare?? One could say that a divine appointment is a meeting that was inspired by God and God lead.  It is much more than coincidence and happenstance.  What is their value and what happens when we do not take advantage of God’s intervention in our lives.

The biblical text is full of examples, but two stand out to me.  The first occurs in Acts 8 where Phillip was in the midst of a great movement of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, without prior notice, Phillip was asked to leave that meeting and go out into the desert. Once there Phillip met an influential Ethiopian man who was inquiring about the meaning of a text (Isaiah 53) which detailed the sufferings of the Messiah.  Phillip did what Phillip did and clarified the Scripture and the man was converted. Phillip was then Spiritually transported to another location.

God spoke, but Phillip answered. The new situation was not comfortable or even desirable. It was short-lived and tailored to the gifting of Phillip.  Phillip was already occupied in Godly activity, so why would God direct him elsewhere?  Is that even the right question to ask?  Sometimes we often error in our decision making because we over/under  spiritualize our present conditions in favor of what we determine to be best for the Kingdom. In Acts 8 we are not told that Phillip prayed about it, counseled with others, or even contemplated his own decision; he acted.  We (I) need to be more like Phillip in this situation. When given opportunity we must also be people of action.

What would have taken place had Phillip not taken action? Would the Gospel not have spread as rapidly in this new area? It is hard to say for sure, but we can cite the text as evidence that one life was eternally impacted because of his decision. That’s enough for me.

The second situation that comes to mind is from the book of Esther. It was for “such a time as this,” that Esther was married to the King. The second highest official in the kingdom hated the Jews and did not know that Esther was one. He plotted and plotted, and even built a special gallows when he finally received permission to kill a prominent Jew named Mordecai. Later that night the king could not sleep and read (like most of us) about the recent history, but discovered that a man named Mordecai would thwart an assassination plot against him.

When Haman approached the king the next morning hoping to gain permission to hang Mordecai he was told to lavish him with honor instead. Needless to say he was dumbfounded. After parading him around and extolling Mordecai’s virtues Esther eventually tells the king she is a Jew and that Mordecai is her relative. Mordecai was promoted to Haman’s position and you might say that Haman was elevated to the position he intended for Mordecai. He was hanged.

Esther was placed in a situation where she would one day have the power to intervene in a great way. How many days was she just another king’s wife? Esther risked her own life by revealing herself as a Jew. This revelation not only saved Mordecai, but in turn it preserved all the Jewish people. Esther overcame fear, God woke up the king, and the Abrahamic covenant was upheld.

The appointment became a placement for a one time event. The event and the personalities were critical to God’s plan, but how could she have known?  She did not, and that is just another reason that we should be primed for the situations that God has in store. We might not be anywhere near the seat of power in our organizations or workplaces, but we were placed where we are for a reason. God has wired us all so that we can each be available for his use. He places us among people with a divine purpose in mind. Will we be aware enough to move forward with courage like Esther?

So that clears that up right? The next time you have one of those coincidental meetings where all the stars seem aligned and you wonder whether you should take part ask yourself, “Could this be the time for which I was made.”

Grace & Peace,

John

 

 

Finding Time Now

Why is it that some of the most meaningful family reunions occur after a family member’s death when everyone from near and far gathers?  This is not the first time I have experienced this phenomena, but it is the first time that I have taken the time to consider what it may mean in spiritual terms.

Could it be that we somehow lose a sense of self and fully consider the needs of others during such times? Most of our schedules are often termed too inflexible to accommodate such spontaneous family gatherings even when they are planned months in advance. Someone will invariably have an ‘excuse’ for not attending. It stands to reason that we esteem the departed and their contribution to our own stories so much that we make every effort to be part of these celebrations.

In fact, stories often occupy a major part of the time we spend together during such events. At least that has been the case most recently in the case of Lana’s grandmother. Everything conjures up a special visual or auditory memory during these days. Many have updated contact information in an effort to remain in touch. Will we? It’s hard to say, but one thing is for sure . . . we will do it all over again the next time so that the stories continue about who God created us to be as we celebrate the persons of our past.

Grace & Peace,

John

 

 

Support Your Team?

So UNC lost in the semi-finals Saturday, but that did not mean that everone ripped the Go Heels! plates off the fronts of their vehicles. It seems that plates like these are for the loyal among us. I kept my Reds tag until it disintegrated.  So I guess that makes it ok for fans to promote their favorites.

But who in their right mind puts a tag on the front of a vehicle that says KJV? I suppose we all have our preferences, but what  is the point? Is it saying that my team is better than you team and that I’m a KJVer till I die. Probably so, but who really cares?

I care. It’s all about indioctrination at this point When little kids at school have it hammered into their heads that this is the only portal to God and salvation depends on it something is really whacked. Yes, I like the Reds, but its baseball. Baseball can have friendly rivalries. Doesn’t everyone hate the Yankees? Sorry, hate is not a family value.

In the final analysis it goes something like this. I carried a KJV for most of my life, I don’t now. It is ok to read or prefer this version, but I prefer a more accessible version. I am a fan of the Reds, Buckeyes, Bengals, Browns, and Hurricanes. There is a line in our culture that sometimes is hard to distinguish; the line is between fan and fanatic.

Grace & Peace,

jp

 

New Things

Be sure to look on the right hand side of the page for some new additions. You will find links to various places and things including Kim’s journal.  It is listed near the bottom along with Simple Church Journal and Emerging Rural.  All of these items contain regular postings on things I think we may be interested in following.

The Interesting Stuff on the right side is dynamic.  That means that it changes when I load something new into one of those accounts.  For example, a site called  del.icio.us allows me to mark my interesting links when I am on the Internet and share them with others or locate them from any computer.  You will also notice a recent picture that I have added to my flickr account. There are currently over 1,000 there that you can view. You will find Pastor John and David from Romania, New Day Folks, places, school, and all kinds of interesting and weird things. Pictures uploaded can be annotated and linked geographically.

Grace & Peace,

John

 

The Bible According to Google Earth

Here’s the link to the Google Earth version of Golgotha that I spoke about this morning.

There is also a separate Google Map version of the Passion Week along with annotations. You really have to check this one out and don’t forget to click on the letters for amplification about each destination

Grace & Peace,

John

 

The Homeless Church

In two months or less we may be faced with one of the most challenging opportunities we have faced together. We may have to abandon our current space for a more affordable and mobile solution.  We may have to either meet in homes or some space that is available on a limited basis. Is this God’s Plan B or is it really Plan A?

Does a vibrant community of Christ need a place to meet and gather that they call their own? We like to think of ourselves as flexible and adaptable, but are we really? Are we willing to give up the conveniences of storage, place, and convenience?

As much as we tend to view ourselves as a simple expression of the church the fact remains that we have our preferences, and that is not necessarily bad. How important is it that we are identified with a certain place or building of any kind. How important is it that we have exclusive access to that place. Those are questions that we must answer individually and corporately in the next little while.

Are we willing to be intentionally homeless like the Son of Man who has no place to lay his head? (Matthew 8:20)

Grace & Peace,

John