I was asked to give a short devotional about the ministries I've been involved in since being a member of our local congregation. I don't like to talk about myself, but my wife and ministry partner urged me to share the things we've been involved in over the past two years.
While we have done quite a few things, I almost always have the feeling that I come to them in a sort of Jonah-ish way. That is to say that many things I've done, I've initially had little enthusiasm for, but have done because there was a need and no one else in sight to do it. So in my own Jonah way, I've come to it out of duty more than wowsa. Just saying.
One of the men at the meeting reminded me of a little known (to me) scripture “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. (Matthew 21:28-31 ESV)
Not to justify myself, but I can identify with sometimes reluctant servants who do the right thing even though they didn't want to initially. Well, there's my confession.
God only wanted Jonah to give an eight word message to Ninevah, not a spectacular message, nor a splendid speaker. But when combined with the power of The Holy Spirit, a whole city was saved. Eight words.
The up shot of all this is that God puts things in front of us (Ninevahs) that He wants us to do. Sometimes as simple as saying eight words, or sharing truth with all the world (Matthew 28 comes to mind). Even if we don't want to do it, we should do it and leave the results to God.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Friday, August 16, 2013
Why is that Lion Barking?
Amusing story this week of a zoo in China which couldn't afford the real thing, so they put a lion looking dog on display in their lion den. A little boy brought it all to a head when he asked "Momma, why is the lion barking?"
This of course brings up the question that the world could ask the Church. Where oh Church is the Lion of Judah? you seem to be showing me a barking dog in His place. Very entertaining, but even a child can tell it's not the real thing. Much of the church has bought a dog and put it on display, claiming it is The Christ, The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
The answer sadly, is that the Church isn't willing to pay the cost of purchasing Christ. Christ is free to us, but costly at the same time. Demanding that we die to self, die to the world.
Truths in the story:
Even little children can tell the difference between a lion looking dog who barks and a lion who roars.
A dog may look similar to a lion, but still recognizes that it is in fact, a dog.
Apparently adults have trouble recognizing the real thing.
If you've never seen the real thing, you might be convinced that a dog is really a lion that's learned to bark.
Having the faith of a child is a valuable possession.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
The Home of the Emperor, Close by the Burger King
Arrived in China a couple of days ago. Got to spend a couple of days in Beijing. Impressions? Flew in by Air China on a 770. The aircraft was comfortable and service was very good on the flight. I started to appreciate the politeness and consideration given to customers in China.
When I arrived in Beijing, I was concerned that I might have some difficulty transiting the airport, immigration and customs. Actually there was no problem and everything went smooth. I must say that it has always been easier and more pleasant to enter almost every country except my own. I won't go on a rip about US Customs and Immigration, and now TSA; but I think they could take some lessons about being efficient without being unpleasant from any number of other countries.
Beijing was easy to get around in, thanks to my wonderful hostess, who also is my younger daughter, and the reason for my China visit. We took a metered taxi to her organization's facility in Beijing, where we were allowed to stay for two nights in a nice room.
Regarding Burger King, there are a lot of real and fake American Style fast food places scattered throughout Beijing. Strange what our culture exports.
The next day (jet lag be hanged!) we rode by subway (three connections) to Tienanmen Square, and the entrance to the Forbidden City. (Digressing about public transportation in China; The system is made much more foreigner friendly by the inclusion of English language announcements of the next stop, along with a visual display of the same.) We joined innumerable Chinese tourists, always under the watchful eye of many video cameras and a few sharp soldiers in dress uniforms, standing at attention, along with a couple of guys in Men-in-Black garb holding fire extinguishers, I think to curb self immolaters from immolating.
As it turns out, the Forbidden city is a series of gates and palaces stretching from north to south for about three thousand feet. The first gate you pass through has a huge portrait of Mao over it. In Imperial culture, the gates grew in importance as you drew closer to the center of the grounds. According to wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City) it has almost a thousand buildings and almost ten thousand rooms. Sarah and I visited as many as we reasonably could, but didn't see it all. It is now a museum, so there are many artifacts on display in many of the various buildings. I was impressed by the Chinese ceramic objects on display, some of which were dated to approximately 4000BC. The Forbidden City itself is dated to about the 1400's AD. One interesting thing I learned: There were marble pathways through the main meridian of the city, on which only the emperor could walk. Of course we had to walk on the forbidden pathway just so we could say we did. I didn't say I was mature. I did notice that a lot of the buildings showed signs of wear and tear, cracked and fallen plaster, un-restored paint. Some of this may have happened during earlier years when colonial powers sacked and stole artifacts from the city. There were huge bronze vats which had been gold lined, but the gold had been scraped off. How sad, and a reminder of some of the worst of Western interactions with China, that still probably bear on the minds and thoughts of the Chinese.
We stopped at one point and had a bottle of water and a bag of BBQ chips we purchased inside the city. After, we circled back because I was wanting to see a display of bronze artifacts, but we couldn't find the building in the maze of 10,000 rooms. We did find a couple of rooms with jade and gold objects and jewelry used by the imperial family and staff.
It was a grand adventure, and as with so many such remarkable places around the world, you'd like to have more time to explore. If you get to China, this is a recommended must see of too many must see's to see. From the Forbidden City, we traveled by bus to The Temple of Heaven. I will describe that in another post. I did want to mention that as we came out of the Forbidden City, we were in some confusion about what bus to catch and a kind man who was trying to get people to ride in his taxi's took time to tell us where to stand and what bus to catch. I have been impressed by this type of thing several times on this trip; the willingness of Chinese to do random simple acts of kindness to foreigners, even though they don't appreciate the Western custom of lining up and taking turns. Politeness has it's limits I suppose.
When I arrived in Beijing, I was concerned that I might have some difficulty transiting the airport, immigration and customs. Actually there was no problem and everything went smooth. I must say that it has always been easier and more pleasant to enter almost every country except my own. I won't go on a rip about US Customs and Immigration, and now TSA; but I think they could take some lessons about being efficient without being unpleasant from any number of other countries.
Beijing was easy to get around in, thanks to my wonderful hostess, who also is my younger daughter, and the reason for my China visit. We took a metered taxi to her organization's facility in Beijing, where we were allowed to stay for two nights in a nice room.
Regarding Burger King, there are a lot of real and fake American Style fast food places scattered throughout Beijing. Strange what our culture exports.
The next day (jet lag be hanged!) we rode by subway (three connections) to Tienanmen Square, and the entrance to the Forbidden City. (Digressing about public transportation in China; The system is made much more foreigner friendly by the inclusion of English language announcements of the next stop, along with a visual display of the same.) We joined innumerable Chinese tourists, always under the watchful eye of many video cameras and a few sharp soldiers in dress uniforms, standing at attention, along with a couple of guys in Men-in-Black garb holding fire extinguishers, I think to curb self immolaters from immolating.
As it turns out, the Forbidden city is a series of gates and palaces stretching from north to south for about three thousand feet. The first gate you pass through has a huge portrait of Mao over it. In Imperial culture, the gates grew in importance as you drew closer to the center of the grounds. According to wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City) it has almost a thousand buildings and almost ten thousand rooms. Sarah and I visited as many as we reasonably could, but didn't see it all. It is now a museum, so there are many artifacts on display in many of the various buildings. I was impressed by the Chinese ceramic objects on display, some of which were dated to approximately 4000BC. The Forbidden City itself is dated to about the 1400's AD. One interesting thing I learned: There were marble pathways through the main meridian of the city, on which only the emperor could walk. Of course we had to walk on the forbidden pathway just so we could say we did. I didn't say I was mature. I did notice that a lot of the buildings showed signs of wear and tear, cracked and fallen plaster, un-restored paint. Some of this may have happened during earlier years when colonial powers sacked and stole artifacts from the city. There were huge bronze vats which had been gold lined, but the gold had been scraped off. How sad, and a reminder of some of the worst of Western interactions with China, that still probably bear on the minds and thoughts of the Chinese.
We stopped at one point and had a bottle of water and a bag of BBQ chips we purchased inside the city. After, we circled back because I was wanting to see a display of bronze artifacts, but we couldn't find the building in the maze of 10,000 rooms. We did find a couple of rooms with jade and gold objects and jewelry used by the imperial family and staff.
It was a grand adventure, and as with so many such remarkable places around the world, you'd like to have more time to explore. If you get to China, this is a recommended must see of too many must see's to see. From the Forbidden City, we traveled by bus to The Temple of Heaven. I will describe that in another post. I did want to mention that as we came out of the Forbidden City, we were in some confusion about what bus to catch and a kind man who was trying to get people to ride in his taxi's took time to tell us where to stand and what bus to catch. I have been impressed by this type of thing several times on this trip; the willingness of Chinese to do random simple acts of kindness to foreigners, even though they don't appreciate the Western custom of lining up and taking turns. Politeness has it's limits I suppose.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Squirrelly Day
The neighborhood here has a lot of Live Oaks, which in turn, play host to a large red squirrel community. Don't know if it's the mating season or not, but they are certainly active the past couple of weeks chasing each other through the tree branches and scampering across roof tops. It is fun to watch them as they appear to play hide and seek in the crooks of tree branches, and jump from tree to tree in a veritable highway through the trees. Don't know if they do it for fun, or have something more serious in mind. Never really see them catch one another, so it doesn't seem that is the goal. Well it's entertaining to watch our fuzzy tailed rodent neighbors do their "play". Better than watching "Hoarders" on reality TV.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Dallas Contrasts
My wife and I cooked some beans last night and got up this morning to roll some bean taquitos, package them with fruit and water, along with gospel tracts, to take to a couple of places where day laborers congregate hoping someone will pick them up and give them work. As usual, we ran out of all before we ran out of men. Some observations on the day: the men were all either hispanic or black, but they were from a variety of places; one from Cuba. All want to work, probably all are illegal although we don't ask before we give them food for their bodies and their souls. All are grateful, and would prefer we could hire them for some job.
On the way to the corners where we give out the "manna", we followed a nice shiny mercedes sports car down an ill repaired street for some blocks. Probably a Doc on his way to Baylor. God bless the doctors. On our way again after the distribution, we passed what looked to be a homeless woman with three young children straggling along behind her. The youngest probably three years old and the oldest possibly eight. The woman and the two older children were carrying trash bags of what we assumed were likely their belongings. Stopped to try to offer some assistance, but it was almost like we were not there. No recognition of someone wanting to help. So, sadly the lady and her children walk on up the street without the assistance we wanted to offer.
I couldn't help but think that this is what God sometimes faces as he tries to help, offering the sacrifice of His own Son to rescue us from destruction. A blank stare, an uncomprehending look and some poor soul who slowly turns away and goes their own way to destruction.
As I headed back to the house, I passed a church in the "Deep Ellum" area of Dallas (an area where older buildings are being revitalized into expensive condos). Outside the church a worker was taking children for a ride in one of those strollers that hold about nine children. Several well dressed mothers strolled alongside them for their ride, smiling and happily chatting with one another. Again the contrast between those mothers who were happily looking after their well cared for children and the mother who was leading her small children with their belongings in trash bags to some unknown (to me) destination in the downtown area. I a happy for one set of mothers and sad for another who are so visible in this Dallas of contrasts between abject poverty and elegant opulence.
I'm not passing judgement, as I have previously noted, even in what I consider my modest means, I am so blessed and wonder what the answer could be for the poor. I realize that if I liquidated everything I have and gave it all to the very poor, it wouldn't go very far, and then would I too would be destitute. So I must do what I can within reason and pray for those who like me are trying to make a modest difference where they can.
On the way to the corners where we give out the "manna", we followed a nice shiny mercedes sports car down an ill repaired street for some blocks. Probably a Doc on his way to Baylor. God bless the doctors. On our way again after the distribution, we passed what looked to be a homeless woman with three young children straggling along behind her. The youngest probably three years old and the oldest possibly eight. The woman and the two older children were carrying trash bags of what we assumed were likely their belongings. Stopped to try to offer some assistance, but it was almost like we were not there. No recognition of someone wanting to help. So, sadly the lady and her children walk on up the street without the assistance we wanted to offer.
I couldn't help but think that this is what God sometimes faces as he tries to help, offering the sacrifice of His own Son to rescue us from destruction. A blank stare, an uncomprehending look and some poor soul who slowly turns away and goes their own way to destruction.
As I headed back to the house, I passed a church in the "Deep Ellum" area of Dallas (an area where older buildings are being revitalized into expensive condos). Outside the church a worker was taking children for a ride in one of those strollers that hold about nine children. Several well dressed mothers strolled alongside them for their ride, smiling and happily chatting with one another. Again the contrast between those mothers who were happily looking after their well cared for children and the mother who was leading her small children with their belongings in trash bags to some unknown (to me) destination in the downtown area. I a happy for one set of mothers and sad for another who are so visible in this Dallas of contrasts between abject poverty and elegant opulence.
I'm not passing judgement, as I have previously noted, even in what I consider my modest means, I am so blessed and wonder what the answer could be for the poor. I realize that if I liquidated everything I have and gave it all to the very poor, it wouldn't go very far, and then would I too would be destitute. So I must do what I can within reason and pray for those who like me are trying to make a modest difference where they can.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Blessed For Responsibility
Living in Dallas these past few months has been a study in contrasts. Parts of Dallas have open almost gaudy displays of opulence, while other parts show stark poverty. It would be almost easy for me to judge the rich for their extravagant lifestyles, if I did not also realize that, what I consider my own modest means, is likewise extravagant to some in not only poverty ridden parts of the world, but also in contrast to the homeless and poor of Dallas.
Which brings me to my topic. I am thankful to God that He has blessed me with the means to accumulate a comfortable lifestyle for myself. And I am aware that He holds me responsible for what I do with His blessing.
Gen 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
I am blessed for a purpose. That the families of the earth would be blessed and thereby make God's name great on the earth.
My task therefore is to enjoy and share God's blessing wherever He shows me that I am to be a blessing.
The greatest blessing is that others from "every tribe and tongue and ethnic" would be part of His family through the sacrifice of Christ: "And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,.." And would raise their voices in praise of God. Knowing this makes me all the more eager to do my part to appropriately be an administrator of God's blessing to the nations (gr: ethne).
Which brings me to my topic. I am thankful to God that He has blessed me with the means to accumulate a comfortable lifestyle for myself. And I am aware that He holds me responsible for what I do with His blessing.
Gen 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
I am blessed for a purpose. That the families of the earth would be blessed and thereby make God's name great on the earth.
My task therefore is to enjoy and share God's blessing wherever He shows me that I am to be a blessing.
The greatest blessing is that others from "every tribe and tongue and ethnic" would be part of His family through the sacrifice of Christ: "And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,.." And would raise their voices in praise of God. Knowing this makes me all the more eager to do my part to appropriately be an administrator of God's blessing to the nations (gr: ethne).
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