Thursday, July 28, 2011

Speaking the Truth in Love

Ephesians 4:14-16 (New King James Version) “14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

Summer months are wonderful times to get out and do extra things with our family. At the same time it can be times where we may have our patience with each other challenged a bit more.  It can be from having the kids home and them getting “too much” of each other. It can be from times our plans don’t work out the way we would like.  There are lots of opportunities to “grow” and sometimes we just want to “tell each other like it is.”
This can happen between believers as well. Sometimes the words are said that can be hurtful to each other, leaving “bad seed” in each other’s hearts. Sometimes in the church we tell each other “little white lies.” This is not what this verse is speaking about when it says, “speaking the truth in love.” Those words are followed by very important ones – “may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.” I don’t know about you but I want to fully “grow up.” He is the one who joins us together and causes us to really function the way we are created to be. Being joined & knit together is what causes us to bring about the “growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” 

I sure want that kind of growth which will edify those around me in love, but how to keep it truthful. I read an article recently about a Pastor, Phil Callaway,  who took the challenge to tell the total truth for a year. After a couple months he shared that he realized he had a lot to learn. He came up with a key… Phil Callaway, in his book, To Be Perfectly Honest has an acronym for truth-telling: THINK. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Does it Inspire? Is it Necessary? Am I Kind about it? These words became the microscope he used to examine the “truth” he was going to share, before he shared it. I think it was a great thing to keep in mind when we want to share the truth with each other.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

A Chance Encounter

It was Saturday night and I had gone to a Gathering with Jeff. It became apparent that I had something different I needed to do. I had an overwhelming sense that I needed to be somewhere else. I jumped in my car and went in search of that something else. I thought about having a coffee at Caribou and seeing who was there. I pulled into the parking lot but it didn't seem right so I didn't go in. I went down a side street and pulled over to the curb to call a friend I hadn't spoken to in quite some time. We had a good discussion which lasted for some time. We finished our conversation and I started up my car.

I had noticed some gals sitting on the back steps of the house near me. As I drove off the one gal waved like she knew me. I wondered if they thought I was "stalking" the neighborhood and swung my car around to let them know I had parked to make a call. They laughed and told me they thought I was their neighbor who lived in a nearby house. I drove back to Caribou - still with coffee on my mind. When I got there, there were only men having coffee. While in line, I remembered a time when a friend did a random act of kindness and bought the next person's coffee. It came to mind I should buy some coffee coolers and take the ladies one, to enjoy while they talked. I drove back to my previous spot with three flavors of coffee coolers. I jumped out and headed across the street, only to realize I was missing one as the two gals had been joined by two guys. I told them my little tale of wanting to give them "a random act of kindness" like my daughter had done. They openly received them and told me I had the perfect amount as one gal did not like coffee. As I went to leave they invited me to stay and have a beer, which I declined because I am not "a fan" of beer. I turned to leave, but by the gal who waved at me in the beginning asked quickly, "Do you like wine." I felt this was an "open door". I had time to spend with them, so I accepted the invitation. 

It turned out to be a wonderful evening - lots of talking, laughing and sharing stories. Here with four strangers - we enjoyed an evening of open conversation. When Jeff finally sent me a text to come pick him up, and I got up to go, these four new friends made me promise to come back and see them another day this summer.

I left pondering the Lord's leading, being very glad I followed. There are four new friends in my life and I look forward to seeing them again.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Morning Stop Points – A Reflection of Unfailing Love

“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Psalms 143:8, NLT

This is a verse that I hope will warm your heart as it does mine. It seems with so much going on in the world over the past months that this verse is like a cup of cold water on a hot day. It sure has been to me.

F

irst unfailing love, stands out and it reminds me that even if the circumstances around me or in my life seem difficult, that God’s love for me has not changed. He is totally unchangeable in His love for each of us. It may be that we feel dry or disconnected, but He is faithful to us. What a wonderful reminder to have each day as we wake.

I

nclination to listen is key. We listen when we hear our name. Here the writer requests to hear the Lord reminding him of His unfailing love each morning. His is putting himself in the position to listen. He wanted to hear the Lord speak, so he was focusing his attention to listen. It is important we cultivate hearts ready to listen. You will be amazed at what you hear and how much the Lord knows you and loves you.

R

emember  to look to the Lord and give Him time to guide my day. I don’t want to just bolt out in to the day without His guidance. It may be I am just heading out to work, but I want His guidance in what my focus is to be for the day. I also want myself to be ready to be “detoured” by Him if there is a someone to whom He wants me to reach out to and share His love in some way.

S

urrender myself and my schedule each morning. “Our mindset (for our day) should not be the prevalent one of taking God with us wherever we might go. It must be instead, that we join God in his mission.” (From Right Here, Right Now, by Alan Hirsch & Lance Ford.)  It means I give Him my life each day and I let Him be the one who is in charge. After 9-11 I became convinced of the importance of hearing the voice of the Lord and obeying it. If it is part of our daily practice, we can rest assured the Lord will guide our steps.

T

rust in the Lord can be a real challenge in the midst of difficult circumstances. If we keep guard over our heart and choose to keep trusting no matter what goes on around us, it keeps hope alive in our hearts. Hope is the key to having faith begin to grow. The Bible defines faith as the “certainty of things not seen.”  I have a piece of jewelry I have worn for years which reminds me to “hope.” For me this is a physical reminder of who I set my hope (trust) in each day. I get reminded when I put a shoe or sandal on before I leave the house.

These “morning stop points” are ones that are easy to take with you. If hope that even when the storms come, you will remember to keep the FIRST things first at the beginning of your day!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Please Hear What I Am Not Saying

From the poem, “Please Hear What I Am Not Saying”


With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator--
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me
the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.
Charles C. Finn
September 1966



These words were ones in a poem that my daughter did a paper on for school this morning. This is only a portion of the poem. You can easily find in its entirety on the internet. It rings so loud in my ears with the attempted suicide of two boys that my kids know. It causes me to ponder who each one of us touching is…


Jesus has given us a commission, to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”’ Mark 16:15. I read this poem and have to ask myself if I am missing some of the people right in front of me? Am I overlooking their message?


I read recently that it is not about "taking Jesus with us", but rather about "going with God where He wants to go." It would seem to me then it is also about functioning with God - or submitting to His leading - to touch the lives He wants us to touch with His presence and His love. If we breathe His life in to the people He leads us to won't this fulfill His will.


At the Greenhouse Neil Cole talked about setting your alarm to go off at 10:02... so I did when I came home. It goes off twice a day - both AM and PM. It went off last night and my daughter caught me and said - well, aren't you going to pray. What a timely reminder to pray out of Luke 10:2, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." It takes my daughter to remind me once in awhile... Yet, I desire to have those opportunities - to be one of those laborers. Do you want to join the adventure? I think following Jesus wherever He leads surely is one of the BIGGEST and BEST adventures of my life!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Be The Church

Here is a quote from Alan Hirsch's book, Right Here, Right Now. "You are the church before you do the church. If we take Jesus at his word when he says, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you" (John 20:21), the we realize that our being "sent" (Latin: missio) is the basis of our "doing" church and not the other way around. What is more, this applies to every disciple and not just to the so-called clergy (the called ones). We are all called into the kingdom and into living our life under orders. What we normally infer by the word church limits what the Bible means by it. Church is not simply a building or a formal community meeting, it is who we are - a people who have been formed out of a direct encounter with God in Jesus Christ."

Each of us doing our part - being the being the church wherever we are! Taking the moment to give someone a listening ear, to speak a word of encouragement to them, having our hearts open to be lead by the Lord - so our encounters with people will count for this Kingdom.

My daughter picked up this flower and took a picture of it - to have a memory. A reminder of a moment in her life. May our lives be those "memory" spots in peoples' lives. May we leave an essence of Jesus behind us.

I love Alan Hirsch's words on what it means to be the church - "you are the church before you do the church. It is all about each of us - no one can sit on the sidelines and not realize that something would be missing, for someone, somewhere. Someone would have missed that opportunity to be touched by the love of Jesus! Be formed by a daily encounter with Jesus and go out and change your world!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Living Simply - "Taste and See"

We meet at LOC on Saturday. I so enjoyed listening to what the women on the panel had to share. They had Jeanie Keil, Teri Bierman, Gabby McGreevy and Beth Schulze on the panel of women. Nick was scheduled to wrap up, and each moment was filled with insightful thoughts and a lot of deep heart sharing.

Gabby M. shared on the devotional she uses called, "LOL with God: Devotional Messages of Hope and Humor for Women." She read an expert and the laughter began. You could sense the ease that came over the room as we entered on a couple of hours of adventure and discovery together.

Teri B. shared, "God has different dreams than we might have for ourselves - when life does not go the way you think - you have to find your new normal so you can move on with God." 

Gabby M. commented that what has formed her - struggle. "He has my life in His hands and I have nothing to do with that. He made such beauty out of such junk." (No one would have ever thought there was any 'junk' in that young ladies heart. She shown with the love she feels for Jesus as she shared. I had never meet her, but Wow! she was so engaging. I guess the junk was the struggle of walking along through her mother's struggle with cancer.)

Beth S. had insights on helping your children grow. "Living out our faith and encouraging our kids to do the same- coming alongside them in whatever they are involved in....Jeff is a great (her husband) story teller and he can connect real life issues to Biblical truths. This is awesome. Having God's word available to kids in their language in a way that speaks to them is important (- key). Sharing our story with the kids. Being open about our faith - successes and struggles."

Jeanie K. "Parents prayers for their kids should be constant. Mother said, 'I've got you covered.' I knew she did. "Everything you do is an example to them, whether you they they see you or not."

Beth - "God is bigger than all of it - even all of our struggles put together. You have to know your "winter" (times when you are struggling) - then you have to press in to God."

Jeanie M. "Young women like me really need mentors. Please pray about it - step out and find a young woman, girl and reach out to them."

Then came Nick Larson...

Nick share with us a bit about his journey into a place of deep intimacy with the Lord. It started in his basement...Quite a moving story! I am hoping he will put a bit of it to pen sometime for us. It was in this time where he felt the Lord was sad because he was not spending time with Him... It was then that God became really real to Nick. The more that he wanted to "hang out with God" the more his direction was formed.

Two Hinderances to Imtimacy:
1. Guilt and projectionism - Unhealthy guilt and condemnation which keeps us immobilized. Projection if the process where we unwittingly project upon the Lord, our attitudes and feelings about ourselves. We feel bad about ourselves and assume God feels the same way about us. God has unconditional love - accepts us sins and all. Has tender compassion toward us. Romans 8:1 - Forgiven, God loves you and accepts you!

Brennan Manning: "But we cannot assume that He feels about us the way we feel about ourselves - unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely and freely. In human form Jesus revealed to us what God is like. He exposed our projections for the idolatry that they are and gave us the way to become free of them. It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are - not in spite of our sings and faults (that would not be total acceptance), but with them. Though God does not condone or sanction evil, He does not withhold His love because there is evil in us."

2. Business - second hinderance. Luke 10:38 about Mary & Martha became a very interactive part of Nick's talks. The ladies asked numerous questions and opened up the talk even more. Both loved Jesus & enjoyed His company. Yet Jesus said, "Martha, Martha..." (a bit of correction to come be with Him.) Preparations had been made for Jesus' coming, but she did not know how to slow down and enjoy the time with Jesus. We can be busy or we can meet with Jesus. Martin Luther said, "When he did not have time to spend an hour with Jesus, he would then spend two hours." It was to important when he was busy. *Time in prayer will change you." The Lord is calling each one of us into more intimate relationship with Him...because He loves you passionately. His love for you will never fail and He wants you to experience that. Psalm 27 is David sensing the Lord calling him to seek him and pursue him more deeply. Something to meditate on this week.

Monday, January 24, 2011

A Moment of Pause

There are times when we all need to stop and refocus. There are silly ways we get slowed down in life. Ways the Lord gets ahold of us to make us focus... or to pause. 

Early December I had a moment of reflection. I got a "pause" inserted into my day. I went to let someone in and found they were not coming into the church, but rather using our parking lot to turn around. The wind was gusting and it caught the door, slamming it behind me. I found myself locked out of the church!
I was so grateful for the smaller entryway. I was also grateful for the small heater that keeps that area warm. I spent several moments praying for those who were out in the cold seeking warmth.
Seeds in My Heart!
I was also grateful for Todd, who was at home planning on coming to the men's Bible study, which was a little over an hour away. He listened to God's prompting, which sent him over to the church early!!! He was able to give me a quick ride over to P.O.P. where Rose was coaching the girls basketball team. Fortunately she had her key with her.


As I returned and opened the door, I looked at that space and thought of all the people who search for spaces like that to keep themselves warm overnight. I don't walk through that entry the same any more.