The best part......

"God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble."

Psalm 46:1

Today I attended a funeral.  (I'm doing that a lot lately.)  The pastor, in his message for the funeral, used this verse.  He spoke more than 30 minutes on just these 12 words!

He said, "This is a wonderful promise. It's a great promise for his children but that's not the best part...."

"Even better than that is its permanence. This is a present tense promise.  God IS our refuge.  It's a present tense reality for every generation." And then he said, "but that's not the best part..."

And he continued,  "This promise speaks of a place of refuge, a place of safety and that place is a person!  God is the refuge for his people.  He is the safe place for his children to run to.  But it's not a refuge from the battle, it's a refuge in the battle. A safe place in the middle of your trials. But that's not the best part..."

(This is getting exciting....and as he talked my thoughts unpacked this verse even more...but back to the sermon.)

As he continued, with his rich deep voice he said, "This is a promise with a permanence in a place promised by a PERSON.  The best part is this...the person who promised it is God himself!"

And with that final piece of the puzzle the funeral audience was standing and praising God for this amazing promise. 

A promise, a present tense reality for every generation, a place of safety all promised by a person who is able to make it true for each one who trusts him.

"But that's not the best part..." will be words we will hear in heaven over and over again.  How sweet to catch a glimpse of it now.

I met a man this week....

I met a man this week who wanted nothing to do with God, religion or me.  He's dying. I really liked this guy right away. He was honest, angry and direct.  

I do wish we could have visited more, but he would have none of it!  I will be praying for him.  Although he doesn't believe in God, I do. 

The moment he told me what he thought of me, faith and God I knew he had been wounded somewhere in the past. It's sad how we so often blame the only one who can help us for the wounds we have encountered at the hands of others.

I will be praying for this man because I know God loves him. God's amazing grace and mercy are wonderful to watch. I will keep you updated.  I can't wait to see what God does in the life of this dear man.

Stuck

In Luke 18, as we follow Jesus through the days of Luke's narrative, he finds himself going through Jericho.  As he and the crowds walk along they pass a blind man sitting by the road.  This man is doing the only thing he can to survive.  He's begging.  He's stuck.  There is nothing else he can do, no place else he can go.  

Like many of us he found himself with few options.  He was probably bitter and discouraged. He may have given up hope.  But he still had to eat, so there he sat with hat in hand, begging for mercy, a gift, a kindness.

When the crowd passes, something that I am sure rarely happened on that road, he asked what was happening.  When he was told Jesus was in the crowd the blind man begged for the one thing he needed most, God's mercy. 

He cried out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!" I'm sure, if we had heard it, it would have been a desperate cry for help.  The crowds told him to hush, be quiet, don't bother Jesus, but that only made him more desperate, "JESUS, SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!" 

Jesus heard him, told the crowd to bring him forward and in this simple story we see the plea of each of our hearts....it's this-  Lord, see me.  See my needs. Listen to my prayer. Stop for a moment and help me.

In the midst of this encounter is a question that made me smile.  Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"  I'm sure Jesus was smiling too as he asked it.  The blind man blurted out, "I want to see!"  And in the moment that followed his blindness was gone.  The crowd, who only moments before had told him to hush, now welcomed him to their ranks as they followed Jesus together.

He was stuck.  He needed help.  The crowds took no pity on him, but he wasn't in need of pity, he needed mercy and so he cried out.  There is much more to say about the depth of this story, but for these thoughts I would invite you into this simple story as a blind man yourself, stuck on the side of the road, without hope and purpose.  Some might give you a little pity with a coin, but what you need is mercy and only one can give that.

Andre Crouch had a wonderful song with these lyrics, "Mercy's what we need, in times like these. Won't you have Mercy please?" If you find yourself stuck today maybe what you need most is a bit of God's sweet mercy.  All you have to do is ask.

A different congregation

I apologize for not writing in a while.  

I find myself with a new congregation.  One that looks much different than the last.

As part of a church staff our church family was fit, able and mobile.  They drove to church, had good jobs, were articulate, able body and able to share their thoughts with you.

Now my congregation is much smaller.  They are the cast aways, the forgotten, the dying.  Many cannot speak, some are wheelchair bound, others bed bound, most needing help with eating and daily functions.

It's a humbling role I find myself in.  A pastor to the dying.  One dear lady, in bed and dying, replied when I came in this week, "You mean I get my very own chaplain?" as her eyes lit up with joy.  It's most humbling.

These dear ones are facing eternity.  Some are excited to go and see their Lord. Others have no idea what's ahead and fear death.  All know it is near.  

I never imagined I would say to someone, "You will probably die this week, isn't it exciting?"  And yet, this week I heard myself say those words to one man who loves God and is finishing this life in terrible pain.  

It's a new congregation, but what a wonderful band of broken and dying.  I look forward to what God will do in these dear lives each day.  It seems, when we are on the edge of life and death, we finally become honest, clear headed and willing to deal with the real issues of life.

And so here I go, off to care for his sheep.  The wounded, dying and forgotten.

Sons, Saints and Servants

Identity is critical.  We live out who we think we are.  How we see ourselves drives how we function in society and how we interact with others.  Identity defines us.

If our identity isn't clear we look for a group we like and adopt their identity even if it isn't who we really are, what we are really like.  We all have to be somebody, anybody, so we can fit into the world around us.

Often,  when we meet someone new, we ask, "what do you do?"  It's a way of establishing identity.  And with their answer we have them tagged, marked, we think we know who they are and how they will act.  Identity, for each of us, is vital for a healthy emotional life.

The greatest problem I see in the Christian church in America is we don't know who we are.  We don't have a clear and focused identity that defines and drives us as we live in the world and so we live badly, represent Christ poorly and tell the world being a "Christian" isn't really all that great.  (And, honestly, that's the current view of Christians in our culture.)

As I thought about this three words came to mind.  There is so much more I could write on identity in Christ it would fill volumes (and many have written books on this topic) but let me just focus on three small words.  If you will weave these into your identity as a Christian believer it will dramatically change the way you live in the world and in your relationship with God.

1. Sons.  We are identified by God as sons.  Adopted, beloved children of God.  You and I are sons of God!  Heirs, his children dearly loved, members of his house. Sons and daughters who will never lose our family relationship with Father.  It defines first of all our relationship with God.  With God we are sons.  His children. Part of his family.  If a son of God how should I act?  Pragmatically and simply-  I should live like the son of God himself, Jesus, who came to show us what sons do in a fallen world.

2. Saints.  Second, we are called saints, holy ones.  This is both an "already, but not yet reality."  I am holy and yet I'm called to live a holy life.  I'm a saint!  A holy one of God.  Hebrews 10:14 says, "he has made perfect forever those who are becoming holy."  I am a saint, but still becoming one.  I'm called into a new kind of life as I live in a fallen world.  I'm called, you are called to be holy.  That defines how my mouth works, how I live with others, how I treat those who cheat me.  It's an identity that describes how I live until he comes.

and, 3. Servants.  We are called, like our Savior, to be servants, to serve God and serve others.  Being sons doesn't change the reality that we are to live out the life of a servant.  It means I take the lowest place, I don't seek honor or fame, it means I serve others whenever possible.  It means, like Christ, I pick up the towel and bowl and wash the feet of others.  Servants and Sons. The lowest and highest identities blended in the lives we live.  It means this- knowing I'm a son of God I can freely serve others, not expecting anything, knowing I already have everything.

Identity is critical.  If we, as believers in Christ, would simply live out these three aspects of our identity in Christ it would be world changing.  For sure it would change how the world around you sees Christ.

And so, I invite you to the quest to imbed these three key aspects of your identity in Christ into your life.  I think you will find it changes every encounter, every relationship and every opportunity to sin into a new way to relate to the world around you.  I can't wait to see what happens in the lives of those who take this identity seriously.  You are a Son, a Saint and called to be a Servant.  How does that change the way you live?

The fingerprints of God

God has his fingerprints on everything around us  

He is working in us

through us

and for us

to accomplish

an amazing outcome

Often his work is unseen

but just dust the area for fingerprints

and you will see 

that God was here

He works

and we are clueless

to his amazing plan

The fingerprints of God are everywhere

And that's a good thing!

Talking to God

 "It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12

Last night I woke at 3 after only a few hours of sleep and was unable to get back to sleep.  As I sat in my recliner waiting for the night to pass I began to pray, to talk to God.  As I did my mind went to this passage ofJesus' night of prayer.  And I wondered....how do you pray through the night like that?

My mind wandered from prayer to worries of life to things I needed to do tomorrow and then back to prayer.  Focus in the dark hours is difficult.  But I thought, as I sat in the dark alone, what it must have been like for Jesus to spend the entire night talking to his Father.

How little I know about this God I love!  I talk to him, but my mind wanders.  I try not to ask for things, but I can't help it.  As best I can I worship, but it all feels so small.  

And yet Jesus spent the entire night in prayer.  I wonder what he and the Father talked about.  What did he say? What did he ask?  How did he worship?  Did he get sleepy like I did?  Was he weary the next morning as I am?

I know this- I have an amazing God and I value my time with him far too little.  To spend an entire night with God rather than sleep?  My normal response would be, "God, can we talk in the morning?"  And yet Jesus knew something I miss, valued something I don't, loved someone I only claim to love and that made all the difference.

After 4 or 5 hours of sitting in the dark, talking to God, wishing for daylight or sleep, I know this....I don't really know this God I claim or time in the night hours would have been much different.  And yet I long to spend a night like Jesus did, giving up sleep because time with the Father is so much better.

Can anyone see it?

"This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

So, how's that going for you?

Can anyone see it?

The one sign Jesus gave us that we are his disciples is love for one another.  That's it.  Not our great theology, wonderful preachers and beautiful buildings....just this one thing....love.

But we have lost sight of the most important thing. We have become judgmental, arrogant, self-righteous and critical.  We have repelled the world around us from their only cure- Jesus Christ.

The only task we had to do well was love one another and we failed, at least in this time, in this place...and now the world wants nothing to do with their only solution for sin, death and eternity away from God.

How do we recapture the one thing we were told to do? 

We have to do that one person at a time. We, I must commit myself to a focus on this one thing- loving others as Christ has told me to do.

What if they are "wrong?"

Right now, that's not my problem. My job is simple. Love.

If I do that maybe one day we can talk about truth and lies, but for now loving others well is my job.

I pray for a few who have a passion for the main thing, the one thing that will change lives. I pray for my own heart to be willing to love those I have avoided in the past.

What about truth? What about Jesus? What about all the important stuff?  

We will get to that....but first let's love well.  The time for the rest will come.

Love one another as Christ has loved you.

That's your only job right now.

A new year

This morning the sun rises on a frigid morning in Texas.  It's cold!  The dogs have to go out shortly for their morning "walk" but I know it will take 30 seconds before they are ready to retreat to the warmth of the house again.  I watched the morning change from black to a hazy gray.  Now, shortly, the sun will rise for the first time after many days of gray gloom.  It's frigid all over the country as people try to stay warm.  But on this first day of a new year I'm thinking about a year ahead and how I can live it out for the glory of God.  Each encounter, each task I have I pray, "Lord, glorify your name in this."  and then I do the next thing.  It seems simple, maybe too simple, but God wants to work through the little things, the encounters, the relationships of our lives and show himself to those around us.  Now, as the spiritual lights of the world dim, as it grows ever darker,  it seems the light of Christ has a chance to shine brighter than it ever has.  Lord, in this new year, shine through me.

Perhaps today

This is the last day of 2017.  One year ends and another begins in just a few hours.  We celebrate the end of one year and welcome the new, but isn't it just another day?

New years resolutions will be made and quickly broken.  Diets started and abandoned. Promises made and broken.  But aren't we simply talking about today?

The real focus at the end of a year, at the end of each day is this- perhaps today the Lord will return.  

Am I living in such a way that I welcome his soon return or dread it?  Am I loving others as he asked me or using them? If today was the last day how would others celebrate my life or welcome my death?  

Perhaps today is your last.  Perhaps today the Lord will return.  Perhaps today the world will end.  I'm not being fatalistic, I'm simply inviting a proper response to the God who will come to judge the living and the dead.

Perhaps today.  Whatever the new year, the next day holds am I living in such a way that pleases my Father?  That's the only question that matters.

Changes

Life is full of changes.  Daily we deal with new things that we each have to adjust to.  One old sage said, "the only thing that never changes is change."  It's a funny saying, but profound.

For me change has happened a lot in the last year.  We have sold our home and moved into a much smaller apartment.  It seems it was time for this change.

We gave away a lot of our possessions as we downsized and felt lighter for the task.  It was cleansing, the release of a weight to rid our lives of so many things.  Now our lives fit into three rooms.  We have found great joy in the simplicity of living with little.

I am also finding a change in what I have been doing.  I've left the pastoral work and after a time of searching found a wonderful company where I serve as a hospice chaplain.  It's a great fit for my gifts.  Now, on a daily basis, I'm dealing with real changes in the lives of others as they pass from this life to the next.

Now change is part of every moment of my life.  

I'm aware, more than I ever have been, of how loosely we must hold this life.  We are only here for moments and then life is over.  As I meet with those finishing life and visit with the ones they leave behind I'm brought face to face with our mortality.  Life is short!

And that reality changes something else for me.  It makes me look at my life differently.  My goals don't really matter.  My dreams are all just illusions. My accomplishments, whatever they may be, add up to little.  All that really matters in the end is this-  do you know the one who made you?

In a life full of change I'm discovering how important it is to have one thing, one person who never changes and that's the Lord of creation.  As the world changes around me with a speed that takes my breath away I can look to one who never changes and find my center, my hope, my "true north" and stabilize my chaos.

Changes are part of life.  In the midst of the changes all around me I am more keenly aware of my wonderful and faithful God who never changes.

Present

Today I prayed with a man dying of cancer.  

He has come home, in his last days.  

He was asleep on a bed that had been brought into the living room.  

He and his family love the Lord and have lived out their faith for years.  

Today, as his son in law and I prayed for him I gently put my hand on his leg.  When each of us had prayed our "patient" took his turn and prayed.  He was "all there" even though we assumed he was asleep.  He finished our little threesome with an amen.  

I couldn't help smiling.

He was fully present, even in his pain, in his last days and he didn't miss a chance to pray to his wonderful God.

Christmas

It's Christmas morning

The sun is just creeping over the horizon

I've been up for hours

reading

thinking

praying

wondering

How great is this love

we celebrate today

that God would

give his son for us

How amazing it is

that he would love us

to such a sacrifice

Sadly I take it too lightly

at times

I celebrate the day

with family

friends

food 

and gifts

But I forget

the love

that should

overwhelm me

with joy

amazement

and worship

How amazing is the God

who loved us so much

I wonder if I will ever

really understand

how great his love really is

Revelation Day

There is a day in history that tells us more than any other.  It's a day that reveals how God feels about us. A day when he shows us what he is willing to do to fix our dilemma.  It's a day when we see, really for the first time, how magnificent the love of God really is!

We call it Christmas, Jesus' birthday, but it's really revelation day- the day when God reveals the great depth of his love for us. How much he really cares...and his love is much more than we could have ever imagined!

So, I want to wish you a very merry and special Christmas...or as it should be called...Revelation Day.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosover believes in him will never perish but will have everlasting life."  John 3:16

My Servant

One of the great compliments of scripture for any man or woman is when God calls them, "my servant."  It's a rare title, few have earned it, but it's one of highest praise by God.

My servant.  It seems so contrary to the goals of our culture, our world.  Both elements of it go against our pride and independence.  

My- I'm "owned" by someone, I am accountable to someone, report to them and respond to them.  I belong. I have an authority I say "yes" to. 

Servant- It's a title and role we rebel against because it's the lowest, most unknown role.  It kicks against our pride and desire for fame and success.  It means being unknown and being ok with that.  It means I aspire for only one thing....

....pleasing my master.

But God takes great pride in announcing a man or woman who has become "my servant."  We look for titles of power and prominence, but God looks for servants.

With a bowl and towel Jesus showed us what this looked like and invites us, rather commands us, to follow his example.  

I'm on that odyssey now...the odyssey of being no one, being nothing but a servant.  It is assaulting my pride, my ego and my sense of what success looks like, but....

....if I can be called by God "my servant" I will be thrilled!