Famished

Chicken was on the grill when everyone began showing up.  Tables were set, candles out, baked potatoes ready.  Serijo and Xavier were the first to arrive with the others following on their heels.  This, the last Sunday in September was a perfect autumn evening…pleasant and mild but cool enough for a fire.  It was also Daniel's last Sunday with us before heading out Seattle way.  Jason and Angela were here too.  They would tell us about their new Ethne House ministry in Hinton, a small railroad community in the heart of Southern WV. 

After the meal, which included a run to the store for a new tank of gas, we took a group photo.  Then I got things started.  "Sometimes I am famished for Christ", I said to bring our focus upward. "I have learned that many things can distract us from Him, even good things like ministry, relationships or a formulaic gospel.  We can miss seeing Him - our hope and future, our Master and Savior, our all in all." 

So to focus we listened to a video clip from Tim Keller reminding us that the Bible is not basically about me and what I must do, but about Jesus and what he has done. (View the What is the Bible Basically About clip here)

Then we were on to a reading by Max Lucado entitled The Word Became Flesh:

"He was touchable, approachable, reachable.  And, what's more, he was ordinary.  If he were here today you probably wouldn't notice him as he walked through a shopping mall.  He wouldn't turn heads by the clothes he wore or the jewelry he flashed.

"'Just call me Jesus,' you can almost hear him say.

"He was the kind of fellow you’d invite to watch the Rams-Giants game at your house.  He'd wrestle on the floor with your kids, doze on your couch, and cook steaks on your grill.  He'd laugh at your jokes, and tell a few of his own.  And when you spoke, he'd listen to you as if he had all the time in eternity."

Personally Speaking

It has been awhile since giving you an update of all that's going on with our family personally.   Thought I would bring back the list to catch you up.

1.  There is a birthday coming up on September the 27th that will be celebrated with food, books and relaxation.  Be sure to email or facebook Diana on Friday.

2. We are planning a short trip to Tennessee in October to visit with family and see the autumn leaves of the Smokies.  Hoping to get to the Candy Kitchen and Friars Donut Shoppe, too!

3.  Daniel will be moving next week to a small town outside of Seattle where he will work with a friend at a College/Camp and continue his on-line studies.

4.  Continuing to have young adults in our home to share Christian community together.  China, Philippines, Argentina, El Salvador, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio give us a good national and international representation.  We have been rearranging our basement to accommodate them.

5.  Maybe sometime the door of opportunity will open to focus on this in a vocational ministry setting.  Who knows?

6.  Our home continues to be a settling spot and launching place for our own young adult children...Maria in particular. 

7.  Personally speaking I am currently interested in….the Denver Broncos, Your Grace Finds Me by Matt Redman, creative photography, Christian Creeds, Mission Impossible, baseball playoffs….

8. Classical Conversations is taking much of Christina and Diana's time as they not only study the normal subjects but also work on Latin and formal Debate.  Christina just finished reading The Taming of the Shrew and is working on Tom Sawyer. 

9. I continue to work at a Center for Independent Living which seeks to improve the lives of those with disabilities. 

10.  Currently reading: The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy and Kathy Keller; The Writing Life by Annie Dillard; Between Heaven and Earth by Ken Gire

Discovering "The Fullness of the Spirit"

Another resource that was important to me was a message by Stuart Briscoe entitled The Fullness of the Spirit.  I could have given you proper answers to theological questions about the Spirit, but the everyday outworking was lacking.  I must have listened to this message more than twenty times.  Here’s something of what was said:

"It isn’t some spooky sort of arrangement, some ghostly sort of thing, some ecstatic experience, something that’s got to take place in a strange sort of situation.  It isn’t this at all.  It is a very simple down to earth experience that you are supposed to be enjoying constantly.  Nothing less than the control and the domination and the directing and the motivation of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

"Now would you say that the driving force and the dominating force and the motivating force of your experience is the indwelling Holy Spirit?  If so, you are filled with the Spirit.  If not, you’re not.  It’s as simple as that.

"When you received the Holy Spirit, you became his habitation.  You became the place where He lives.  You are the area in which He moves.  You are the vicinity in which He has His being.  And the thing that excites me about this is very, very straight forward.  If I am a habitation, then I am the living place, and if I am the living place, then the Spirit of God must be alive.  The thing that is so exciting about Christianity is this it is a lively business.   The One who died didn’t stay dead, and the One who didn’t stay dead is very much alive, and the One who is very much alive is very much alive in me. 

"The genius of the Gospel is not that Jesus Christ died for you so that you can live for Him.   The genius of the gospel is that Jesus Christ died for you that your past might be dealt with and rose again to live in you that He might be all that you need and simply invade your life with Himself.  You are His living place.  He is very much alive and all the mighty power of His wonderful life is in you. 

"What does it mean to be alive?  Are you the sort of being that thinks once in a while?  Having thought do you ever decide once in a while?  Having decided do you ever move into action?  Having moved into action do you see things brought to fruition?  Having seen things brought to fruition do you ever say to yourself ‘it’s good to be alive?’  You are you and you are you thinking and you are you desiring and you are you deciding, and you are you acting, and you are you bringing things to pass.  That’s what living is all about…isn’t it? 

"Well now, then, if that’s what living is all about for you… I wonder what living for Jesus in you is all about?  It would seem to me He is doing a bit of thinking.  Do you ever give any evidence of Jesus doing some thinking by His Spirit in you?  It would mean of course that He is doing a bit of deciding.  Do you ever give any impression of Jesus Christ alive in you making decisions, stimulating your will?  If He is making decisions of course, it will mean of course that He is moving into action.  Can you honestly think of any evidence of Jesus Christ really being in action?  And of course if He is moving into action, things will be coming into fruition.  Is there any evidence of things being brought to fruition that can only be explained because it’s Jesus Christ by His Spirit? 

"One of the sad things about our Christianity so often is this, we can explain it all in terms of honest endeavor, enthusiasm, and good solid training.  Now if you can explain all your Christianity in terms of enthusiasm, honest endeavor and good training, think again….Your Christianity is intended to be nothing more and nothing less than Jesus Christ thinking, deciding, acting and bringing to fruition through you.   And the things He is doing will be so obviously beyond you that you will have living evidence of the living reality of the living Christ."  

Discovering "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire"

Two things stand out to me as I read over some of these books from days gone by – timing and stirring.  God’s timing is precise.  In dependable love He shows up just on time.  He does not get in a hurry and never shows up late.   I am just as amazed at how an insight goes from good to dynamic when He is stirring our hearts.  Transformative moments are in His hands.  Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire was both for me. 

It tells the story of Jim Cymbala, the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City.  He was physically sick, failing in ministry, and facing burnout when he was able to get away to Florida for recovery.  While on a fishing trip he sensed God’s direction.  Arriving back at the church he announced, “I want to say to you today with all the seriousness I can muster: From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church.”

He goes on to persuade us all, “Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, ‘My house shall be called a house of preaching?’ Of course not.  The Bible does say, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.’  

"The honest truth is that I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons.

“We must face the fact that for our churches and ministries to be all God wants them to be, they must be saturated with prayer.  No new revelation or church-growth technique will change the fact that spiritual power is always linked to communion with God.

“If a meeting doesn’t end with people touching God, what kind of meeting is it?  We haven’t really encountered God.  We haven’t met with the only One powerful enough and loving enough to touch our lives.

“The more we pray, the more we sense our need to pray.  And the more we sense a need to pray, the more we want to pray...The apostles had this instinct: When in trouble, pray.  When intimidated, pray.  When challenged, pray.  When persecuted, pray.”  

Clearing Two: Trustful Dependence

After graduating from a small Bible college in the Appalachians, Diana and I were married.  Our intentions were to be missionaries in South Africa, but that plan was preempted by an offer to become a staff member at Diana’s home church.  I really enjoyed those twelve years as a youth pastor.  Life was good on many fronts.    

If you were on the outside looking in during those years, you probably would think we had a good marriage too.  After all we were doing all the “right” things - living on a strict budget, serving in ministry together, having a regular date night and trying to meet each other’s “felt” needs.  Truth is that in time struggles came, and we often felt like failures. 

Marriage revealed that we were selfish.  Parenting showed the extent of our selfishness.  I was often frustrated in those days and responded in anger more often than I care to recount.  The feeling of failure increased.  

One evening while showering I was overwhelmed after having blown it once again.  I couldn’t seem to get it right and cried out in desperation.  “I just can’t do it.  I can’t live the Christian life.”  In the solitude of that shower there came a quiet reminder of something that had slipped.  “You can if you let Me live my life through you.”  

A few months prior I had faced an incident that left me distressed.  A Christian friend, who himself was recovering from brain surgery, took notice and asked if we could meet for coffee.  He gave words of encouragement and suggested I read a book that had been meaningful in his life.    

While reading the book it soon became apparent that my life was not a trustful dependence upon God. This was painfully true in the one area I felt good about – my ministry.  It was not marked by the language of prayer.  I had exchanged the sacred care of souls for running the church.  Ministry was more about what I was doing for Him rather than what He was doing in and through us. 

While this brought an initial convicting sting, it became a refreshing time.  The pressure was off to get it “right” by my best efforts.  Our marriage began to grow into the kindred-spirit companionship we both desired.  Ministry became more prayerful. 

I discovered that there is a spaciousness and vastness in relationship with the Spirit of God; that life in Christ is whole and freeing.  I discovered too that trustful dependence in God is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.