Nicaragua Mission Trip Update

THANK YOU to all who have or are supporting our Team on our trip to Nicaragua!  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to prepare to serve.

Thanks to your prayer and financial support for trip costs, I was able to match funds for the purchase of 85 copies of Biblia Historias de Jesus, as well as 7 "CPR Anytime" kits.  The Bibles will be used as education material for kids and parents in the areas we serve, and the CPR kits will be used for my CPR/first aid classes - all to be left behind for future reference.

Please continue to pray for our Team as we prepare for our mission!

SDG

One of my favorite hymns

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

                                                                                 SDG

The Gimp

One of our favorite things to do over the winter is Rollerblading at the Metrodome.  A friend of ours, Rick, showed up one evening limping due to a recurring calf and heel problem.  "Hey gimpy!  How's it going?" we'd yell.  "Oh, well, it's acting up again.  Not sure if I'll be able to skate real hard tonight.  It's one of those things that'll be with me probably the rest of my life."

While Rick didn't acquire his injury wrestling with God, there is someone who God wrestled with and came away with a lifelong limp.  His name is Jacob.

In Genesis, we learn that Jacob cheated his brother, Esau, out of his birthright as the firstborn son.  Esau, needless to say, was ready for "payback." 

While on the run, Jacob wrestled with an angel for an entire night, resulting in a dislocated hip.  In short, Jacob plead for the angel to bless him.  Jacob was blessed, but he was left with a gimpy leg that bothered him for the rest of his life.

God may choose to intentionally dismantle something in our lives (pride, for instance) to remind us that there is never a single second in our lives that we can live without him.  In fact, it's most likely that we'll go through trials of brokenness in order to tie us to him.  Perhaps to get us to trust him, he has to break us (dare I say, especially when we pray to God that he makes us who he wants us to become!).

In many ways, we can be left with a limp just like Jacob - a mark of God's grace and power in our lives that says, "I, The Lord, am The One who carrys you."   

Our need for God is not theoretical.  A sure cure for pride are the experiences where we must rely completely on him through our pain and inadequacy - our desparation.

Another reason that God may break us is to use us on the "other side" of pain.  In his book, Leadership as an Identity, Crawford Loritts explains that "brokenness is a tool that prepares us for the assignments God has for us.  It's His way of "adding weight, supernatural substance" so that we won't lose sight of the awareness of our need for him.  In turn, we are able to comfort those who are broken as well, with comfort that we have also experienced by God (2Corinthians 1:3-4).

Through our own pain and brokenness, others are made whole, which walks us closer to Christ-likeness.

During times of brokenness, Loritts says, we must "hold tight to God.  Even when (we) don't sense the affirmation of His presence, cling to Him.  Absorb yourself if His Word and hold fast to His promises.  Cry out to Him.  Stay connected and lean on your brothers and sisters in Christ."

"Don't waste the spiritual equity; God is creating a greater capacity to know Him and to love Him."

The Call

After we accept Jesus as our Lord, our Savior, it's so easy to think that we'll be without suffering, pain, or struggle.  That God will give us all we want (notice I didn't say "need").

Jesus prepared his disciples for the trials of the world, and we should be prepared as well.  Without preparation, we could end up doubting God's love. 

The disciples may have thought that, with God on their side, no suffering would ever befall them.  Yet, Jesus said, "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.  They will put you out of the synagoges.  The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God (John 16:1-2).  If we are faithful witnesses to Jesus, we are promised (promised) that persecution will come (John 15:21).  In Hebrews, we have accounts of great victories - and great costs as the world would see it. 

What should our goal be, then?  To conserve and save our lives? 

As Christ-followers, we need to live our life in obedience.  We're not called to ignore risk or to be reckless, and we are called despite hardship.  In fact, refusing or ignoring God's call because of hardship would be a concept that the disciples would find hard to accept as part of obedience.

How is God calling you?
Where does He want you?  Where does He want you to go?
Who do you need to talk to about the saving grace of Jesus Christ?

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all!"  (1Corinthians 4:17)

Sunday: Life

While at one of my least-favorite places recently (the mall), I witnessed a painful experience of a young man around the age of 12.

A group of boys about the same age approached this boy and a companion at one of the crosswalks.  At first, it looked like they were all part of the same gang - no matter - the larger group began teasing the other two who looked a bit heavy for their age.  "Loser!" the gang called out, holding their hands up at their foreheads making an "L" with their thumb and first finger. 

The two boys yelled, "Stop!" and started to run, clumsily, to be frank.  The others didn't pursue them, but continued to yell "loser!" at the boys while laughing.

It all happened so quickly and at such a distance where nothing could be done.  The only thing left was to think how sad; sad for the boys who would quite possibly carry the label with them for the rest of their lives, and sad for the others who would, no doubt, be emboldened to repeat their verbal assaults on others.

Labels can be a hard thing to carry.  Labels like "Loser" can establish or reinforce one's sense of self-worth.  Labels can also be easy to carry, when status is sought. 

Another label is a symbol of life.

What if someone stepped in and said, "Yes, 'loser' starts with an 'L,' and so does 'loved.'"
What about "lost?"  How about "lead?"

The cross turns the label of "Loser" around to "Loved."  Loved by God who cares about us so much that there is victory over death.  Victory over abuse.  Victory over addiction, loss, and betrayal.  He, Jesus, bore all these things for us.

Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed."

Through Jesus's resurrection, our identity is with him.  He is our Savior, King, and brother.

And we also identify with Jesus's suffering.  When we trust him in the midst of our trouble, we can have peace - a peace that surpasses all of our trials.

I love reading the "Faith Hall of Fame" found in Hebrews 11 and 12.  Toward the tail-end of these verses where Paul says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross."  How wonderful!