Truth AND Advertising

Something on the radio this morning set me off a little bit today. I was listening to the Christian music station when an advertisement came on for one of the radio’s sponsors, which happened to be a church. I don’t have a problem with church’s helping to sponsor Christian broadcasting by any means but it was how this particular advertisement ended. The church (who shall remain anonymous) stated it’s name at the end and then made the bold statement “also known as THE love church”.

I had to let it sink in for a moment (I had only had one cup of coffee thus far). “Wait, what?”, I thought to myself. “If they’re the ‘Love’ church then what are the other churches around them labeled as? The “Hate” church? The “NICE” church? The “I kind of like you” church? And after I asked myself that question another question popped into my head; “If that church has all the love” then what do the rest of the churches get? Why are they only known as the love church? Is it because they paid for this advertisement segment? Did they give themselves that name?

But…

I wish it only happened once in a while in segments on the radio station but it doesn’t. I’ve driven by other churches that have seemingly snarky phrases at the bottom of their signs which make the statement – “BIBLE BELIEVING CHURCH“…Um okay. So the other church down the street is NOT a bible believing church? Or this church is just BETTER at believing in the Bible? And who decides that this particular church and its congregation is strictly a bible believing church? Do they pay bills? Do they drive a car? Do they pay taxes? Then they’re not solely a bible believing church then are they? By this one statement one could make the assertion that their claim to be strictly a bible believing church is false.

Still I’ve come across another sign over a church that made this dire statement: “PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD”. When I first saw THAT sign I thought to myself, “Wow their God sounds wrathful and fierce, would I even consider stepping into that church?”

Here’s a truth that the Apostle Paul made that I believe ALL churches should hear again:

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” -1 Corinthians 1:10-13

I’m not picking a verse that fits my purpose, I really want churches to stop comparing themselves with each other. This isn’t some sort of Church growth competition. There isn’t some trophy a church will receive when they get to Heaven because they had the best advertising campaign or slogan on the front of their church. Though Paul spoke these words to a specific church at a specific time, the point is still clear and relevant today: “There should be no divisions among you”. Yet we can look all around us and see just that divisions and comparisons and envy and even hate. I’m telling you this ought not be!

Regardless if a church advertises that they are “THE love church” the fact of the matter is that if any connecting part of the body of Christ is sound in doctrine and serving those less fortunate they are Christ to the lost AND they are the “Love” church too!

I would say this to any and every Church out there: Stop the competition! Stop the comparisons! Stop the divisions and underhanded actions. We have real Kingdom work to do and it will never be accomplished by these ploys and vices. Get on with loving your neighbor and enemies and stop plastering it all over the place…because we need each other and we all work for the same Master.

-Just a thought!

March 4, 2014 0

Forgiveness and Peace

Anger

Bleeds

Red…

Sometimes

the things

said

make

jagged

broken

beds…

we lie in them

the cumbersome

oozing regret.

BUT

Reconciliation

is Not

NOT

too far away.

Make a break

get away

turn your

pride

into

Forgiveness…

clean

the mess

confession

regress into

peace again.

February 13, 2014 0

Safe Harbor – The Spiritual Discipline of Solitude

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” -William G.T. Shed

I admit I’ve been addicted to the show “Deadliest Catch” for a few years now.

It’s crazy, wild and it truly is a rugged dangerous living.

I was watching one episode where one of the skippers had to bring their fishing vessel into port because of a mechanical issue. The seas were raging and the weather was not desirable, but they had to get to harbor for safety and repairs. Of course the tv show paints it with great drama and suspense, but in this instance they were extremely worried about getting to the docks and getting out of the storm.

Are you in need of getting out of the storm in your life today?

Has the storm been brewing around you for a while now, swirling and ebbing, crashing against your vessel and threatening to capsize you? Do you feel threatened and exposed, fearful of being washed away?

we all need safe harbor! I think the Apostle Paul felt this way many times in the midst of his persecution and imprisonment. He even knew a little bit about being literally shipwrecked (this happened to him not one or two times, but THREE times!). He even wrote about it; “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Safe harbor is vital for all of us to have. Do you have a safe harbor? Safe harbor needs to be a place where you can go and find rest. A place that will shelter you from the storms. A place where you know the storms of life can’t harm you. Jesus said;
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Safe Harbor is available –

But we have got to be willing to act on it…to actually go to the safe harbor. We have to be willing to admit that these storms are more than we can handle. Admit that we need help and our strength just isn’t enough to get us through what we’re going through.

He waits for us to come to Him. He doesn’t just want us to come to Him when we’re in danger…but that’s a start. Sometimes we come to Him only after we’ve hit rock bottom. Sometimes we come to Him only after all of our other resources dry up. Yet He is always faithful! He is always available.

May I offer you a little ticket to the safe harbor?

It’s just a gentle word of advice and help. It’s a small thing that ~~I’ve learned~~ I’m still learning…

Solitude with God:

It might sound kind of funny, but being silent before the Creator of the Universe really and truly helps! There is no better place to go than to God for guidance and for a re-connection with Him.

We live in a world where we are surrounded by sounds and noise every day. There are distractions in our homes and in our workplaces…so how do we find these moments of solitude with God? Is it even possible?

Yes it is! But the real question then becomes are we truly willing to seek out these moments with God? Are we prepared to sit in silence before Him? Truly finding solitude in God’s safe harbor requires us to devote or set aside purposeful time with Him. Without our dedication to the practice of solitude we will find ourselves hopelessly bored and defeated by it. You have to prepare your mind and your life so that you can actually sit in silence before Him.

Anything worth doing takes work. An Olympian can’t simply show up to an Olympic event without first having spent countless months, days even years practicing and training. So it is with the spiritual discipline of solitude. It’s called a discipline for a reason.

dis·ci·pline

ˈdisəplin/

noun

1.

the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

“a lack of proper parental and school discipline”

Discipline takes real work and practice. Sitting in silence before God will take work! Tuning out distractions and sounds/noises of our every day life will take work! But it’s worth it!

Do you need safe harbor today?

Whether you’re burnt out, washed up, overly tired, stressed out, overwhelmed…whatever the case today, perhaps it’s time you became plugged back into the true source of power in this world! Perhaps it’s time to realign your priorities which need to include these vital moments of solitude before a God who wants to encourage, strengthen, support and love you.

Are you ready?

-Just a thought for you today.

(These thoughts and images were put together specifically for http://www.pastorsponderings.org but are free for anyone to use in the express hope that God’s word may be heard and seen. May all the glory be given to God!)

January 23, 2014 0

Finding Love

I started with hope –

because I think hope begins things

makes us sing…

but faith and love…they have to be included too.

they just kind of go together don’t they?

You really can’t have one

without

the

Every one needs,

craves, desires,

hopes, wishes,

dreams, aspires

yearns, waits

for

Songs are written about it

poems are rhythmically charged with it

countless books bleed from the heart of love.

How do we ?

How do we

em·brace IT?

emˈbrās/

verb

hold (someone) closely in one’s arms, esp. as a sign of affection.

“Aunt Sophie embraced her warmly”

hug, take/hold in one’s arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one’s bosom,clasp, squeeze, clutch;….

How do we flourish and thrive in it ?

Love makes the world go around…not money, not fortune and fame…but

It shines in the darkness,

paints over our mess

helps us confess

blesses us…love…

captivates, motivates, escalates, elevates…us.

Love always perseveres! Always, always, always, always…always.

Have you found love yet?

Is it worth finding at all?

True love,

God’s love…

It begins here…ends here…

If we find it here,

and cherish it here

depend on it here

Then from here

to —————————————–> There

Love will be.

Real authentic,

no hidden agendas

No…

From the source of Love,

God.

Almighty

We will

to the only

real source of

love.

Find love today.

He is waiting.

With arms wide

Open.

This.

Is.

Love.

Begin with this one simple truth:
You are loved! You matter to God! You are important to Him! He loves you so very much! From this point of reference, may you find Him, and find love!

(These thoughts were written specifically for “Pastorsponderings.org” but they are free so that others might find love and hope through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen and to God be there glory!)

January 22, 2014 1

Elijah in You (Poem)

“But He wasn’t in the earthquake or fire” (1Kings 19)

It is at wits-end that God is there
but He is also there when tears fall
before you call, He has heard your heart
from the start, you’re never alone.
Sometimes like Elijah depressed and dejected
emotionally high yet fear has boldly infected
the soul with a broken heart inside
waiting for God to show up as you hide…
no, not fire, or earthquake He’s in
but His still small voice, He knows where you’ve been
you might feel weak and powerlessly alone
but find strength, He will come
He won’t leave you alone,
Hold on, don’t you quit, or lose sight
See, here He comes with power and might
don’t lose fight, don’t believe the lie
the strength you now have, comes from on high.
You don’t need to call down fire from above
you don’t need to have visions to receive His love
but faithfulness in spite of the place
His rescue comes in full as does His grace.

January 22, 2014 0

Finding Hope

Sometimes it’s a hopeless world around us and all anyone can seem to do is just survive.

I don’t want to merely survive,

I want to bloom and grow and thrive in the place(s) that God has placed me.

Sometimes though I think that we all can just sort of settle for the “just good enoughs”.

I’m not talking about materialism or stuff but about our life circumstances and our hopes and dreams….

you see

when we were just kids

We dreamed. We welcomed imagination. We hoped to become, and in that becoming the sky was the limit.

We weren’t weighed down by endless doubts, or the “not good enoughs” or the “I can’ts”…

we just imagined and dreamed big dreams…

but…

over time…

we started to believe what others thought about us.

over time…

we bought into the lies that this world told us.

over time…

we accepting the truths of the fallen, instead of the truths of the risen.

So, for just a second, will you accepted this breath?

Will you accept this gift of hope again?

Will you take these written words to heart…

and believe again?

Here is the hope that I have for ~~you~~ for me, for us

today…

This is what I know HOPE to be:

H.elping us

O.pen our eyes to the

P.ower of

E.ternity

This isn’t something readily accepted. This isn’t something generally practiced…even though flowery speeches and whole sections of bookstores are devoted to “self-help”…they can fall short.

Hope lifts our eyes.

Helps us see beyond what this earth

has taught us to know.

When we can begin to look up, accept divine help…

our eyes can become truly open to the possibilities again.

The ~~power~~

God’s power, brings us closer,

so much closer

to the way things were created to be

in the first place.

Don’t be limited by your hopes and dreams…find hope…

and….

let it….

set…

you…

January 20, 2014 0

January 1st = Forgiveness (The 70X7 Principle)

New beginnings. That’s what some people are hoping for at the start of 2014. Cue the song “High Hopes” (I’m really not being cynical here either…really). I believe in the God of second chances, do you? I believe that when His disciples asked Him how many times they had to forgive Jesus told them seventy times seven (Matt 18:21-22). I know that He wasn’t just giving them a random number out of His head and it wasn’t legalistic in the sense that they only had to forgive 490 times (that’s 70 X 7 by the way for us who had to use a calculator cause we suck at math). I believe the disciples eventually got Jesus’ point. Forgiveness isn’t really about how many times we have to forgive but rather about the conditions of our hearts and the willingness to find grace for others. Isn’t that what God has done for us? We mess up royally and we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and yet His prevenient grace is offered to us through Christ. He forgives us COMPLETELY!

I don’t wish to imply that there are conditions on forgiveness here but think of it this way: Forgiveness of others and those who have wronged you alleviates the burdens and scorn you may still have in your heart for that person(s). They may not even seek sincere forgiveness from you but when you wipe the slate clean of transgressions done to you, you are clearing the weight of that burdens of wrongs done to you. It may sound selfish, but why live life burdened by the wrongs of others? It holds you back. It holds you captive. You will always be a prisoner to their wrong doings done to you even if they have moved on. So why let it fester? Why let that kind of emotional/spiritual sliver remain? Pluck it out and move on for your own health and well being.

Secondly, forgiveness doesn’t mean that you become naive and trust people who haven’t earned that trust yet, but it does mean that you move on. We must be wise in how we let others effect us coupled with the decisions we make which also impacts others. Forgiveness and trust aren’t always mutually the same. What forgiveness allows you to do (and the offending party) is to move on. I don’t believe that we have to automatically forget but we forgive. Afterall we can’t expect someone who has been sexually or physically abused to forget what was done to them right out of the “forgiveness gate”…it will take time to heal and to cope. In the same way that it may take years of counseling and healing for the abused, those who have been wronged in other ways will find that time needs to pass before trust and “forgetting” can ever take place.

Lastly, I mentioned earlier about what the year of Jubilee meant in the Hebrew culture. It was a year in which all debts were erased and people could start over. Perhaps 2014 is that year of Jubilee for you. Perhaps you’ve been holding onto pains, hurts, and grudges that need to be wiped completely away. Forgiveness heals and lifts burdens of all parties.

Are you willing to forgive? For those also who are seeking to find forgiveness, be strong. It takes a lot of courage to own up to wrong doings so that you can grow and move on. Don’t miss this opportunity on the first of the year to begin on the right foot!

-Just a thought for new beginnings.

January 1, 2014 0

Faith – A Rules Changer

My daughter is five years old, and already she is very clever. If you ever cross her, I don’t envy your position because she is the most cunning strategist that I know at the age of five.

It all began with a game. Actually it started when she wanted something that her twin brother had, and she was determined to have it and get it her way. So she played a game with him. It was a kicking game, and she made up the rules right then and there. In a very commanding voice she told her brother, “If I kick you I win, and if you kick me I win and I will win the mask“. -the mask was what she wanted from her brother. She had devised a game with rules in place in which the outcomes would benefit her either way. At no point in this game would her twin brother, who is taller and quicker than she is, have an edge or even a chance to win.

My daughter’s cleverness made me laugh. In part I was proud of her for being quick on her feet, yet surprised at the lengths at which she would go just to obtain what she wanted most. She had devised a strategy in which she could outsmart her brother even though she knew that she was no match for his physicality.

Sometimes life is kind of like that isn’t it? We are greatly outmatched and the thing(s) that we want so badly are just beyond our reach. We want our families to be closer, our health or the health of loved ones/friends to be better, our financial situation more profitable, our jobs more enjoyable, love and respect that goes unfulfilled. Life can sometimes be like that cruel master which dangles a carrot in from of a donkey just to get it to work and be productive. We want so desperately to change the rules, to make a life more to our advantage…to win. But what do we really desire to win? Will we truly be happy? Can we really change the rules in life?

How does faith play into this thing called life? Is faith important? The simple answer is YES, absolutely! Despite how much we might plan for every contingency and strategize for every positive outcome, life doesn’t play according to our rules. Life can sometimes be unpredictable and we can find ourselves grossly out of winning options. But faith isn’t some wild card or last resort. The key is the source behind our faith. If our source is simply our own powers and motivations we will eventually face disappointment and discouragement. But if our source is God, in whom made all things and our faith takes us to the understanding that we are indeed loved and important to the Creator then regardless of what happens to us we can have this immeasurable unending faith.

Faith is a rules changer. Faith can propel us from self-sufficiency to something much more sustainable and everlasting…if we allow it to grow in us. Are you willing to let this kind of everlasting faith take root in you? Give it a try and perhaps you will begin to see life in a whole new perspective.

-Just a thought.

December 31, 2013 0

Finding Hope (A Poem)

Finding salvation and comfort…is that even possible?
In a world that seems so wrought with pain and sadness,
these half-timbered, dimly lit dwellings
plastered with the scabs of hurts and slings of words
how can hope spawn from such a place?
These tall escarpments seem too far,
and we, with reaches far too limited
how can hope ever stoop, low and bending
to such a place as this?

Yet, when the babe, cherubic and glorious
came to this fallen shambles of a place
we now, with arms extended
broken and needy
can embrace this light
beaming and radiant.

Hope? Don’t speak of such a thing,
live it, experience it, vivid and streaked
with Theophonic glory…speak not
of falsities and half promises of this word!
Instead, with hearts extended
grooved and bending
no longer a barren land but
but rich, empirical
blazing in His glory!