The foolishness of the message

I read a lot of books, web pages, news articles, other views of the world....secular writers, atheists, angry people, thoughtful people...but one thing I'm noticing is a rising hostility to the message of the cross. Those of us who embrace the gospel find salvation, grace, forgiveness, love and God, but those who reject the cross consider it foolish, ignorant or worse.

...

What a message this is- God providing a way to a relationship with him that requires only my faith in his solution. I can't work for it, I can't earn it, I don't have to understand it, I may not think it makes sense, but in the wisdom of God it's the perfect solution for the sin problem each of us face.

...

God's solution is HIS power demonstrated through ultimate weakness on a cross. Through that horrible cross God provided the only solution to my problem of sin. I believe that message. I believe I'm forgiven because of what Jesus did for me, but as I read....as I see how others view this amazing gift of God...I'm really amazed at how vile this message is to the world. It's irrational, foolish for sure and ridiculed by those who will not accept God's gift. They sneer at God's plan, God's love and they curse God's judgment on them for not receiving his free gift. The world, sadly, is missing God's amazing love because they consider his solution foolish.

...

But what other solution would satisfy them? What would they want God to do? If his perfect solution to our problem is thought to be foolish to the world they have raised their fists to the heavens and declared, "We will not trust you! We want to be forgiven on our own terms!" But God will not be negotiated with. It's his solution to our problem...take it or leave it. And, honestly, it's God's single, simple solution of a crucified savior that drives the world crazy. But for those who will trust, those who will believe, they find forgiveness, love and the wisdom of God.

...

I'm rambling a little, I'm writing as I think about many of the harsh and hostile words and articles I have read in recent days. It does seem that the anger of the world is rising and I wonder why....why won't they simply trust, simply receive, simply come to God for his free gift, but I know why they don't, I know why they won't and that does grieve me. I can't imagine how it grieves the heart of God to provide all we need for life and godliness and watch as many around us simply say "no!" to his amazing love.

Thank you

Melissa, our director of children's ministries, is leaving us to move to Chicago with her husband. Melissa has been a wonderful blessing and joy to work with for these 10 years. She is such an amazing person and has a great heart. I will miss her dearly. Thank you, Melissa, for all you have done and more importantly HOW you have done it. You have been a wonderful servant, a Godly woman and a good friend. Personally, I will miss you. Thank you.

Praying for each other

This morning I've been thinking about and praying for friends, family and people in our church who are hurting, struggling financially, dealing with health issues, worried about the future, in pain over losses and so many other things. I've been very much occupied this morning with these people on my mind and in prayer for them. There is so much to pray for!

...

A friend dealing with cancer, another hurting from a broken heart, others in need of a job, some concerned about having enough money to pay the mortgage....fears here....worries there....all around us things are being shaken and lives are being affected. I think of the words of Jesus, who told us of these days, but when the days come and the concerns for those I love and care about overwhelm me it brings me to the only place I know...it brings me to prayer. I don't have answers for all of these problems. I don't have words enough to salve the worries and hurts. I do have God's word to be sure and it is true and trustworthy and promises God care, provision, love and protection, but I also find myself going to God in prayer....appealing to the only one who can help for those in need. My list is long. There are so many things to pray for. So many hurting. So many tears. I'm not immune to the pain, in fact I think it intensifies my prayers. In these times I'm most comforted by the presence of a sovereign, loving God watching over his children. And yet he invites us to come to him and be part of his work through prayer, so today I'm praying.....There's a lot of us here before the throne appealing for God's help. He hears us all. He knows our needs. He smiles and comforts us. In a fallen world full of hurts and needs I'm so grateful I have a place I can go to find help. I'm so glad we are not on our own. So today I'm praying.....if you have a need add it to my list, it looks like I will be here for a while....

Reflections

Last night we shared with our church family some details of our trip to Africa. It's very hard to put the details of such an amazing week into a few photos and 6 minutes of sharing, but as I am thinking about the week of ministry in Africa this morning I find myself thinking about one person- my amazing wife, Joye. She was a great part of our team in Africa and a wonderful blessing to me.

...

When I try to talk about her it's hard, because I am thinking about more than 35 years of life with this wonderful woman and the results of God's work in her life. God's work in her life was evident on our Africa trip. She did a great job ministering to pastors, their wives and to our team. Her input in the small group times was a real blessing and I know many of the wives and pastors were greatly helped by her words.

...

What can God do in a life? Find someone who wants to follow God and watch them. It takes time, but you will see them molded into the image of Christ and they will begin to look like him in how they live and care for others. It's the molding process Paul talks about in Romans 12....it takes a lifetime, but if you watch a person over time, you will see the molding taking place. You will see Jesus begin to shine through a life given to him. You will see God glorified in that life.

...

I'm very blessed to be able to see that in the life of my sweet wife. I'm grateful to see what God can do with someone who is available for his use, because I must tell you that even 10 years ago a mission trip to Africa would not have been on Joye's list of things to do. So, I'm watching as God works in the life of my sweet wife. It's exciting to see what he's doing. And I'm watching other lives too. I'm watching many who are walking with God and the transformation is obvious, but I also see others who are missing a wonderful transformation because they want to do it their way. They want to set the guidelines for how God will work in their lives. And so they miss God's plan because they have their own. This morning I'm most grateful to be able to watch God work in the life of another person and see them become like Christ. What an exciting adventure!

...

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

It's more than jet lag...

After a great week in Africa and a safe trip back I find myself with a cold! I have done what I need to, but I am sick! I hate being sick....and I feel worse than this guy looks. I'm very grateful for NyQuil!

...

Who invented this amazing stuff? I hope to be back at full speed by the first of the week. I don't "do sick" well, so this is really hard for me. Ok, nothing spiritual or inspiring to share here....there's no room in my stuffed up head for inspiring thoughts. I'll share more when I'm over this cold.

Saturday's cartoon

God's work in another life

I got this note today from Winston, one of the pastors who attended the Marriage conference we were part of in Kenya. I thought you would like to hear from someone God is using in a place you may never visit-

Dear brother Mike,

Believing you reached home safely, I thank you with the whole team for coming to Kilifi and being a great blessing to us. I do not know how to express myself concerning the great change that God used you to bring in our marriage. The way God touched me personally. He spoke to me but I could not believe that he was the one speaking which made me cry for some hours before I said yes to what was said to me after the advice of my wife Eunice.

I started as a pastor on the third Sunday of June 1994. I have a certificate in theology and a certificate of primary Education. Eunice has a certificate of primary Education. I went to high school for only one and a half years because of school fees that my father could not pay.

We have six children. 4 boys and 2 girls.

Our church has 80 children, 40 youth, 30 women and 10 men.

Whenever, I think about the growth of the church, mostly the children and the youth, I have tears coming from my eyes. Please pray for me that God will show me how I can help these children and youth to become good servants of the Lord.

Winston, Kilifi, Kenya
...

Obituaries

Last night the news media was in a frenzy over the deaths of two celebrities on the same day, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Another celebrity who died in the last few days was Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson's sidekick for many years. Life passes and so do those we know.

I do wish that we would remember those of less worldly importance and celebrate the great lives of the unknown. It would be an amazing thing to see the obituary of someone no one knew highlighted simply because of their godly life. Imagine this on the evening news:

Mary Wilson, 84, died last night after a long battle with cancer. She was a wonderful Christian woman who serve God and other people her whole life. She was married to her husband, Harold, for more than 60 years until he died three years ago. Mary was loved by all who knew her, but she spent most of her life in rural Kansas and rarely traveled. Her goal in life was to imitate and serve her Lord. Everyone who knew her loved her dearly and she influenced hundreds of children over the decades as a Sunday school teacher and public school teacher. She will be greatly missed by those who knew her.

Of course this kind of life is rarely celebrated. For the tastes of the world it's too bland, too boring, but to live a godly life and leave this kind of commentary behind would be exciting to me. Imagine, living for the Lord and serving him....what more could you do to influence and impact eternity?

So, as the media outlets spend the next few days on the lives of celebrities I wait for the day when all of heaven will celebrate great lives never mentioned in the news. I wait for the day when God will highlight lives that REALLY made a difference.

Amazing people

You never know who you will meet and what lies beneath the skin. It takes time to find out who a person is and what they are like. Often, in our busy lives, we miss amazing people because we are too busy or they are simply different. One of our amazing people from our week in Africa is Erick. He's on staff with ALARM Ministries and served us all week as we met with the pastors in Kilifi, Kenya. Erick sounds like Sidney Poitier. We all worked hard to say "church" the way Erick did....he has a wonderful accent. Erick is a brilliant guy. He has his masters degree and is looking into schools in America to get his doctorate. Erick is a funny guy. Before he even knew me he was taking jabs at me about my extra weight. Thanks a lot, Erick! We had a great time with Erick and I look forward to seeing what God does in his life. It always amazes me to see what God is doing in the lives of people, amazing people, you might simply pass by if you don't take time to know them. I hope I get to spend more time with this man. I see God working in his life and I look forward to seeing what God does with Erick, one of the amazing people on our trip to Kenya.

Some blessings you bring home with you

On of the guys on our team that I really enjoyed getting to know better was Dave. I knew him casually before our trip. Honestly, I think I knew his wife, Cheri, better because we have worked together in ministry, but getting to know Dave was a real blessing for me on this trip. It always takes men longer to get to know each other and a trip like this will really build relationships. Dave is a great guy and I am blessed to know him better. And, as a side note...he's an amazing photographer! I'm very rusty from years of focus on other things, but Dave helped me with some shots and made all the photos from our trip even better. Because of Dave we have a great photo journal of our mission to Africa. I'm glad that some blessings you bring home with you....Dave is one of them.

Great people, a great week

..........(click on photo to enlarge)

We just got home a few hours ago from a wonderful week on the east coast of Africa. We met with a number of pastors and their wives for a marriage conference. They had a great time. This photo is part of the group just before our marriage renewal service. All the couples who attended the conference participated in the renewal ceremony and one couple was really excited because, for them, this was their wedding....I'll tell you more later. What was funny for us was their response to my closing words, "husbands, you may kiss your wives." They all did it, but the giggles and laughs that followed were really funny. They are not used to any public display of affection, so this was not "Kenyan", but they did it and had fun. It's great to be home, but I come back with new friends and relationships that have changed my life and I hope I have changed their lives in some little way.

Home at last

Finally, we are home. We left Kenya at 4pm yesterday and got home at 3pm today. Needless to say we are tired. I just wanted to let you know we made it back. The trip was great and I have a lot of stories. I'll tell you more after a nap.....

Friday in Mombasa

It's Friday, late afternoon, and we are at the Mombasa airport waiting to return to Nairobi. It's been a long week, but it was wonderful! We met with a group of amazing pastors and their wives. It was a great week, and I think the pastors here were encouraged by our time with them. We all found some new friends in this part of the world that we have fallen in love with. When I am able to do so we will post some photos of the great people serving God here and tell you their stories. They all expressed their thanks to our church for sending us to them. Our ministry work is done for the week and now we have a couple days of rest before we head back home. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. It's been a great week!

Africa update

Finally, a computer, Internet and a moment to update you. It may be a surprise, but the Internet is not alive and well in East Africa. Dial-up speeds are most common if you can find a place to get online at all. So, I am sorry for taking so long to update you, but this is literally the soonest I have been able to write. We arrived Saturday night, were in church first thing Sunday morning and teaching every moment since. It’s been wonderful to meet and interact with the believers here in Africa. We have made many new friends and have some wonderful discussions with the pastors here. They are not shy about debating with us….I’m enjoying the fellowship and interaction immensely! Keep praying for us and I will give you a more detailed report as soon as I can.

Tornados, trees, travel and thankfulness

It started last night...heavy winds, rain, and a tornado near our area. I was out getting dinner and quickly abandoned my quest to retreat to the shelter of home. This morning, at 5am the rains started...2 to 3 inches in less than an hour. I decide my fate and head for the back yard with my shovel. We have some landscaping problems we are planning to fix, but here's what happens- heavy rain=flooded house. This morning, at 5am, I'm determined to stop it this time. I am quickly soaked, digging a trench to get the water to run off to a harmless destination. Finally success, then to the garage where I turn on the sump pump and then to the front yard to haul huge broken limbs from the yard to the back...with only hours before we leave I had to get the yard cleaned up. As I'm pulling limbs around to the back my neighbor is leaving for work. My neighbor, Kevin, and I talk about how blessed we are to have so little damage. I agreed, but told him I had to get it all picked up because we were leaving for Kenya at noon. As you know, there are no coincidences, and Kevin, leaving for work said, "Just dump it all there, I'll clean it up on Friday. Have a great trip." I am so thankful that we were well protected and only had a few problems. I hope you survived our storms in the night. What an exciting way to kick off a mission trip! I'll check in when we get to a computer. Thank you all for your prayers for us as we travel. Do also pray for the pastors who will be attending this conference.