Moses' Faith in God

The Bible tells of one of the biggest arithmetical miracles in the world...

Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was Moses going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 3 or 3 1/2 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General of the US Army, it is reported the Moses would have had to have 1,500 tons of food each day. In order to carry that much food, two freight trains – each a mile ling – would be required!

Besides, remember – they were out in the desert, and they would have to have had firewood to use in cooking the food. This would have taken 4,000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains – each a mile ling – just for one day. And just think… they were forty years in transit!

Oh, yeah…they would have to have had water. If they had only enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000 gallons each day… and THAT would require a freight train with tanker cars 1,800 miles long, just to bring the water!

And then there’s this: they had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now if they went on a narrow path, two abreast, the line would have been 800 miles ling and would have required 35 days and nights to cross… So, there had to be a space in the Red Sea 3 mile wide so that they could walk 5,000 abreast to get over in one night.

But then there was this problem: each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground 2/3 the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square mile long. Think of it! This much space was required just for nightly accommodations!

Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not!

You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of those things for him.

Let us take courage – - we have the same Awesome God! We think our problems are so big. Remember what God can do! What He has done! Team up with God and your problems will be His.

Let Him run your life!

Blessings!

Who is Jesus to you?

A friend of mine preached a sermon a decade ago in which he quoted, from memory, the following word portrait of Jesus entitled "Who is Jesus to You?"

I happily share it with you again, here:

to the Architect, He is the Chief Cornerstone
to the Baker, He is the Bread of Life
to the Carpenter, He is the The Door
to the Doctor, He is the Great Physician
to the Evangelist, He is the Master Teacher
to the Florist, He is the Rose of Sharon
to the Geologist, He is the Rock of Ages
to the Horticulturalist, He is the Lord of the Harvest
to the Injured, He is the Balm of Gilead
to the Jeweler, He is the Pearl of Great Price
to the King, He is the Blessed & only Potentate, King of kings
to the Lawyer, He is the Counselor, Lawgiver, Righteous Judge
to Mankind, He is the Compassionate Savior
to the Navigator, He is the Straight & Narrow Way
to the Oppressed, He is the Friend of Publicans & Sinners
to the Philosopher, He is the Wisdom of God
to the Questioning, He is the Sure Foundation
to the Restless, He is the Lord of Security
to the Sheep, He is the Good Shepherd
to the Teacher, He is the Rabbi, Teacher sent from God
to the Undertaker, He is the Resurrection of Life
to the Vinedresser, He is the Branch of the Living Vine
to the Writer , He is Good Tidings of Great Joy
to the eXaminer, He is the Truth
to the Young, He is the Ancient of Days
to the Zoologist, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah

So...Who is this Jesus? Who is Jesus to you???

To the SINNER, He’s the SAVIOR
To the CHRISTIAN, He’s EVERYTHING
To ALMIGHTY GOD, He’s the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

But who is this Jesus to you?In Acts 9:20, we read of the transformation that occurred in the life of Saul of Tarsus… “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.”

Notice the last few words… “that He is the Son of God”

Who is Jesus if He’s NOT the son of God?

HE’s NOT worthy for you to bow down and worship Him!

BUT… IF He is who He claims to be… then every knee in this room should bow before Him, and
every tongue should be loosed to confess His Deity

FOR… IF Jesus Christ is who He claims to be, He is Worthy of our worship, and He is
Worthy of our Praise!

As I sit in Chicago's Midway Airport waiting to board my flight, I just wanted to share these "ABC's" of who your Savior is...

God Bless!

Wind and Trees and Strength

We were in Oklahoma and Kansas to watch Caitlin play basketball over the weekend, and it was COLD! 7 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday morning... but it wasn't the temperature so much as the wind... the flag outside the Hampton Inn was standing at attention every time I saw it.

And it made me think of a quote from J. Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott Hotel chain:

"Good timber does not grow with ease;

the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."

I know it's cliche, but it is important to understand that we are built and strengthened by the trials we face... the unwelcome winds that blow in our lives...

I still really really hate wind... especially when the word 'chill' is attached to it. But I do understand at least a part of its function...

It makes trees stronger...as do the trials that come our way...

Friday night the York College wrestling team was traveling to a match when the van in which the team was riding wrecked. As the van rolled, one of the passengers, Brock Pigorsch, was ejected from the vehicle and killed.

I cannot begin to imagine what his family is feeling right now. And indeed it seems trite to apply the 'wind-trees-strength' analogy to this tragedy...

but, at some point, the application will be made... and this family will likely be stronger... some day. For now, my prayer is that God send His Spirit to comfort Brock's family... and that they will pull together to face the unimaginable task of moving forward without their son/brother/uncle/grandson.

Please say a prayer today for the Pigorsch family.

when it gets out of sync

"the 1 thing" is a terrific little book...reading this little powerful book this morning, I discovered another gem:

A member of a particular church commented:

"the leaders at my church decided to do something about our declining attendance... so they devised a new-member campaign and urged all the members to bring a friend to church. It was all OK until I walked into the sanctuary on Sunday and saw the membership-progress 'thermometer'... positioned in front of, and obscuring, the cross"

Wow! what a powerful (while, I am sure, accidental) metaphor for what is wrong with so many churches!

You see, when we forget the one thing... when we forget it or we get it 'out of sync', we can end up 'obscuring the cross'...

I mentioned a few months back that I have a friend whose church decided they were going to get back to 'the 1 thing'...

So they purposefully, prayerfully decided to use the following 'filter' through which everything would be sifted:

Outward Focused at our Inner Core

The importance of everything, they said, would be judged by that creedo... every ministry, every budget line item, every Bible Class curriculum, every.... thing... would be compared with their 'outward focused' mantra... and if it did not measure up, it would be tossed aside.

What a revolutionary (for most churches) concept! How beautifully simple! How incredibly powerful and liberating!

May I suggest that we always keep the ONE thing in its proper place: at the very center of all we do!

Blessings!

...such a tiny offering...

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers,

in view of God's mercy,

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,

holy and pleasing to God

—this is your spiritual act of worship."

These are Paul's words to his brothers in Rome... they transcend time and culture and apply to us today. In the King James verson, the last phrase is translated "...this is your reasonable service".

No matter the version you read, the point is very clear: what is expected of us - as a result of the mercy of God - is simply... everything. Our very lives, our being, our bodies.

I love the new song by Mercy Me. In 'God With Us', Bart Millard writes (and sings) about our 'reasonable service' - that of giving our very lives to Him:

it's such a tiny offering

compared to Calvary

but nevertheless

We lay it at your feet

Our attitude should not be defeatist: 'what do I have to give to Him, especially compared to what He gave to me'... instead, it should be victorious: 'all I can give is all I have... and that's what I will do...'

yeah, it's teeny tiny compared to the unfathomable sacrifice He gave on the cross... but what else can I do? What other response can I have? Once I begin to grasp what He did for me, there is no other response that seems 'reasonable' than to give Him my very self.

God Bless!

The 1 Thing: rules or love?

I am reading this little hard back book... you know the kind: about 50 pages and the size of a postcard?

Well, this little volume is called 'the 1 thing'... it is a small gift we got from Group Publishing, written by Thom and Joani Schultz, when we ordered our VBS curriculum a few years back. And, since one of my resolutions (as it is most years) is to put better stuff in my mind (Philippians 4:8), I keep this book (and a few other similar texts) close to the 'throne', if you know what I mean...

All that to say that what this little book lacks in size, it makes up for in powerful content!

Of course 'the 1 thing' is relationship with Christ... but the way it is written and the examples used by the authors are so spot on, I feel compelled to share...

When the Schultz' want to make a point, they use personal and real stories to drive it home...

One such point is made very well; after asking the question 'what would people think of your church if all they had to go on was the signs you post ('no food or drink in auditorium', 'do not tape anything to the walls', etc)?, and suggesting our buildings NOT be like police departments, they then relate this story:

"The 'police department' aspect of relationship has never been the 1 thing in our marriage. That's not to say we didn't have some rules... and as our relationship bloomed, a few more rules began to emerge. I now know the non-negotiables such as 'always put the toilet seat down'.... but I must admit, if Joani had posted little rules signs or enrolled me in 'Joani rules class', our relationship would have been dead on arrival. I'm afraid I would have viewed her as the 'lid lady' who needs to learn to make her own seat adjustments. Now I comply without a second thought... because rules have never been 'the 1 thing'. Love is our relationship's '1 thing'. Love leads us to follow the rules without making the rules the centerpiece."

I thought it a brilliant analogy... and worthy of sharing with you!

May God Bless us as we always remember the 1 thing!

and may He defeat us when we begin to imitate our distant forefathers, about whom Isaiah said:

"These people come near to me

with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is made up only of rules taught by men."

Blessings!

Discipling = Creating Christ Champions

The 'discipling movement' is as old as the Bible.

Over the centuries we have perverted it and, in my lifetime, sabotaged it... when the 'Boston movement' came to prominence in the 70s, it scared 'mainstream' church-goers, so we mounted an organized campaign to marginalize it as extreme... and, in large part, successfully squashed it.

When it reappeared in the 80s as the 'Crossroads movement', we again attacked it because it was uncomfortable... and, again, we 'mainstreamers' (aided, conveniently, by our more conservative brothers and sisters) helped to stomp it out...

OK, it is fair to argue that those two examples may have, in certain pockets, gone to extremes in their respective approaches...

But the venom and vitriol with which we persecuted and prosecuted those involved was hateful and ugly and sinful.

Especially when we consider what the Bible has to say about discipling.. IT is literally full of commands and examples of discipling...

"...go therefore and make disciples..."

is one of our very favorite mantras

but we use it comfortably and usually interpret the command (and execute it) as: "go and make church-attenders"...

All this to ask the question: what is 'discipling?

Well, as we discussed (OK, this is a one way medium... As I wrote) several weeks ago, it is about helping others in their need, then assimilating them into your faith group, then teaching them to help others in need... etc etc etc...

Well, I've come to the conclusion that what God wants is for us to help create 'Christ Champions'... to help develop people into champions for His cause... folks from all different backgrounds and social strata and income level and job descriptions... people who, very simply, are sold out to Jesus Christ.

And, to the degree we are able (through study and prayer and the Spirit's guidance) to develop these Christ Champions, God will be glorified!

Blessings!

Vision's number 1 enemy

I love to laugh... a lot. I like funny things... My whole family is a group of laughers.

Our brand of humor employs sarcasm sometimes... and that's ok, to a point. But as I begin this new year, it has become clear to me that sarcasm is a second cousin to cynicism, and cynicism is the number one enemy of vision...

I'm sure I will continue to find humor in sarcasm, but I am determined to be careful that it not cross the line and become cynical...

In Matthew's gospel, Jesus is quoted as saying:

"...unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven..."

that's pretty clear, right? So I want to be child like without being childish... and one of the most definitive and endearing qualities of a child is wide-eyed gullibility. The complete lack of cynicism...

you see, we need more people with more vision in the Kingdom... and fewer people who sit back and accept and defend status quo and take swipes at those who are trying to affect positive change.

We need more folks who will swim upstream with the Spirit, and fewer cynics who just want to ride along, downstream on the current.

and vision's number one enemy is cynicism... being cynical is a vision killer!

So in 2008, I resolve to be less cynical and more wide-eyed... to give people the benefit of the doubt... 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 678th chances. To pay attention to the still quiet voice of God and the leading of His Spirit...

And to believe.

God Bless!

New

Don't you love the word?

New.

I know and you know that every day is a new day and a fresh beginning... we are, as Mark Hall wrote,

'drowning in His sea of forgetfulness'

...so, where God is concerned, May the 18 or November 3 can be every bit as fresh a start as January 1.

But we have attached special significance to this day...

...so my prayer for you this January 1 is to see it for what it can be. A new beginning. A fresh start.

It can be a watershed day... it can be whatever you make it.

So here is what I resolve to do, starting anew today:

love more. worry less. criticize none. enjoy more. relish everything. smile always. laugh often. listen better. excercise daily. allow God to teach me and His Spirit to lead me.

May God Bless You today and all year long!