faith perspective

Open My Eyes – Mission Trip “Community Engagement”

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Today we began to dive into our new surroundings for the week.  My group is spending the mornings all week at a Day Camp for middle school kids.  We met a wonderful group of local leaders and other volunteers who spend their days with 30-40 youth…playing basketball, talking in small groups and teaching them about preparing healthy foods.  Our group did a great job of jumping in and started the process of building relationships with the kids.  It is amazing to watch the young people from our church be so willing to get involved in a unfamiliar environment and to share their God given gifts with people they just met today.  They are amazing.  

The second part of the day is a “Prayer Tour” around several different parts of the city.  This is by far the best way to fully understand information about different neighborhoods and the history behind social issues and how things ended up where they are today.  This part of the experience provides a clear foundation for the week to help you open your eyes to all the things that are happening in a community.  It makes me think about our community at home and how we could help make a difference their once we return.

The opportunity to step back in life and be present where your are is a wonderful and transforming experience.  Better yet to watch the youth of our church soak up the information, ask questions and begin to get engulfed in their surroundings is truly a blessing.

I leave you with Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble if its own.

Perspective and Attitude – Mission Trip “The Beginning”

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We have ventured out again on a mission trip with senior high youth…this will be my third year of going on this adventure in faith.  This year is a new city, a new group of kids and some repeat participants.  The starting weekend we spend time “getting started” finalizing and adjusting logistics that can and can’t be controlled to the best of our ability and making our way to our destination.  It takes a shift is perspective and attitude to process through some of these issues.

As questions and issues arise you need to be solution oriented and trust that no matter what God will be holding you through it all.  As always, the opportunity to get away from the day to day concerns and issues of everyday life and just focus on your relationship with God and others gives me such a sense of peace.

The youth and adult leaders that I am blessed to be with on this trip are amazing individuals and I can’t imagine my life before these trips…I never knew what I was missing.  We can look at a situation like a traffic jam, which on an ordinary day would cause frustration and anxiety as we now knew we were going to be arriving late for our schedule but the shift in attitude and perspective the kids took was to make friends with people in the other cars on the road.  They were waving and yelling Hi out the window and few people rolled down the window and chatted with us about where we were going.

A positive attitude and a perspective that we are here to help and serve others in the community that is the way we are trying to live and hopefully we can bring that home with us when we return.

Please pray for us and our journey this week!

Peace be with you.

 

 

 

What Comes First?

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In all of our busy lives we typically spend time focusing our energy and effort on what we believe is important.  The question then becomes what is important to you and your life?

There are many things that can be on this list and I have found the most peace, joy and contentment in the world comes when I put “follower and believer in Christ” first on that list. The world will not make this easy for you to do but we were never promised easy that was lost as soon as the fruit was eaten from the tree that was off limits.  We are promised something and that something is only offered by God…

We are promised his Presence, Forgiveness, Mercy, his Grace, his unconditional Love, an answer to Prayers, comfort when were are stressed and so many more gracious gifts.  If only we will choose to put him first in our daily life and spend time reading his Word will learn about and be reminded of all that he offers us.  What comes first can make all the difference for everything else in our lives.

May his Peace be with you!

The Shadow and the Light

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You look around and everywhere you look there is a darkness like a Shadow…you move to the right…Shadow…you move forward swiftly to try to get past it…more Shadow.  You look behind you…Shadow.  No matter what you do or where you go in this life the Shadow is always with you.

You spend so much time in your life looking for a better way…to get away from this Shadow but even when we begin to think we lost it or begin to believe it is gone you realize it is still with you and it really never left.

Many of us spend our entire life trying to get away from this Shadow and then at the end of our life…in our final days…we begin to see…a Light.  We have seen light in the past but this is different…this Light has a comforting sensation…as this Light brightens you begin to notice the silhouette of a person standing next to you…the longer you look the more you begin to realize that the Shadow that has been with you for your entire life is being cast by this figure right by your side.  You also now realize that this Shadow is not to be feared or ignored it is being provided to guide and support you on your journey.

Embrace the Shadow in your life that is being provided to protect you while you live in this world…because that Shadow is your guide to see everlasting Light.

Just Pray

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Sometimes every day feels the same as the one before….we fulfill our “responsibilities” of each day and before we know it the day is over and we need to get to bed so we can get up and start all over….

We fill our lives full of routines and distractions

The alarm goes off

Where are my keys

The car needs gas

Traffic is not moving

I’m so tired

My deadline for a project is tomorrow

Where should we eat lunch

My computer just locked up

What’s for dinner

Stop at the grocery store

I haven’t seen that person for a long time

What time is it

I don’t have any clean clothes for tomorrow

I’m so tired

Did you hear that story on the news

Did we win the game

I am going to bed…. 

Then it starts over again…and different things get added to the list and some fall off depending on the day…no wonder we feel tired, worn out and exhausted.  The thing is we really do have free will to choose to live life differently.  It is up to us to decide that we are really going to pursue the life that God has intended for us.  The hard part is that means we have to let go of some things and start spending time with God every day…not just on Sunday for an hour.

If you feel like there is something more or you feel like there is something missing in your life or if you are realizing you haven’t even stopped long enough to think about it…now is the time.

STOP everything that is routine and distracting and pray to God for wisdom, guidance and courage to pursue the things he has planned for you…just pray, once a day, every day or all day long about everything and anything.

God loves you, he is with you and he would like nothing more than to hear from you.  To show you just how much he wants to be with you he sent his one and only Son into to the world to be sacrificed for you, so that you could turn to him anytime…don’t fill your time with everything except God.  Start each day with God and everything else will be ok.

Peace.

Holy Week…The End of the Beginning?

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I need to share this song and the lyrics with you today as this recording by David Phelps, a Christian artist, says all you need to know about Jesus Christ and how he came, he lived and he died and how he did it all for you!  During this week may we all spend time reflecting on how much Jesus suffered for all of us and I hope we strive to live our lives in a way that is worthy of his sacrifice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kU-l973MRZg

Words and Music by David Phelps

I was taking a trip on a plane the other day, just wishin’ that I could get out.
When the man next to me saw the book in my hand and asked me what it was about.
So I settled back in my seat. “A best-seller,” I said, “a hist’ry and a myst’ry in one.”
Then I opened up the book and began to read from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John…

He was born of a virgin one holy night in the little town of Bethlehem.
Angels gathered ’round Him underneath the star singing praises to the great I AM.

He walked on the water, healed The lame, and made the blind to see again.
And for the first time here on earth we learned that God could be a friend.
And though He never, ever did a single thing wrong, the angry crowd chose Him.
And then He walked down the road and died on the cross and
that was the end…of the beginning.”

“That’s not a new book, that’s a Bible,” he said, “And I’ve heard it all before.
I’ve tried religion, it’s shame and guilt, and I don’t need it anymore.
It’s superstation, made-up tales, just to help the weak to survive.”
“Let me read it again,” I said, “But listen closely. This is gonna change your life.”

“He was born of a virgin one holy night in the little town of Bethlehem.
Angels gathered ’round Him underneath the star singing praises to the great I AM.

He walked on the water, healed the lame, and made the blind to see again. 
And for the first time here on earth we learned that God could be a friend. 
And though He never, ever did a single thing wrong, the angry crowd chose Him. And then He walked down the road and died on the cross and that was the end…of the beginning.”

“The end of the beginning?” he said with a smile. “What more
could there be? He’s dead. You said they hung Him, put nails in
His hands and a crown of thorns on His head.” I said, “I’ll read it
again, but this time there’s more.

And I believe that this is true: His death wasn’t the end but the beginning of life that’s completed in you.
Don’t you see, He did all this for you…”

“He was born of a virgin one holy night in the little town of
Bethlehem. All the angels singing praises to the great I AM.
He walked on the water, healed the lame, and made the blind to see.
And for the first time here on earth, did you know that God could be a friend?
And though He never, ever did a single thing wrong, He was the one the crowd chose.
And then He walked and He died, but three days later, three days later, three days later…
He rose! Three days later He rose!

You see, He came, He lived, and He died, but that was the end of the beginning.

When we ask…Why?

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When you stop and think about events and things that occur in the world and in your own life there is always the natural tendency to ask Why?  Why did this happen?  Why did that not stop?

The questions are normal and if they are asked with positive intentions like when you are seeking to understand, it can be very fruitful to pursue answers for these questions.  Unfortunately, we live in a dark and fallen world and more often than not these questions are being asked in order to seek something else…Blame!  Once again the evil in this world has used a natural God given gift…the ability to seek to understand…and turned it into a hunt for Who is to blame for this?

We get so caught up in the Why becoming about the Who did this…that we lose all sight of the opportunity to learn from things that happen.  The world tells us the Why is all about Who is to blame and if we just punish that person or group of people then these bad things won’t happen anymore…that is just not true.  Yes people are a big part of everything that happens, however, it is important to remember that all people have the same gift in common…free will.  So you can keep focusing on Who is to blame your entire life but that is going to be a life full of negativity, bitterness and anger and that is not the life God has planned for you.

Recently, I made a decision to leave a position I had been in for several years.  It was comfortable and I knew what to expect.  I didn’t pursue the move, it came to me so I was hopeful and looking forward to something new, even though I had nerves about leaving what I knew and what I was very comfortable doing.  The change ended up having unexpected events occur shortly after I started and these were unexpected even for the people I was working with…so needless to say I began to ask Why?…Why did I make this move?  I should have just stayed where I was, doing what I was doing…you see I knew who to blame…me…so I began the negative self-talk and thoroughly began to punish myself in my mind.

Then I did something I have learned to do over the last several years…I asked a Why with positive intentions…I asked God to help me understand What he wants me to learn from this situation and he answered like this…

One of my devotional books by John C. Maxwell had an entry about “A Growing Community”…it mentions that if you’re in an environment that is doing nothing to help you grow you are going to have a hard time reaching the potential planned for your life.  The kind of place that can help you grow should look like this:

  • Others are ahead of you
  • You are still challenged
  • Your focus is forward
  • The atmosphere is affirming
  • You are out of your comfort zone
  • Others are growing
  • There is a willingness to change
  • Growth is modeled and expected

I had become to content with my surroundings…so content I had not written on this blog very much for the last few months.  My lesson is I need to keep seeking growth so that I can become everything God has planned for me to be for him in this world.  One important step in faith is to share what you have learned…I pray this post can help at least one other person who reads it.

Peace to you this day.