Moving Time

“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” Genesis 12:1.

These words have been replaying in my mind for the past few days.  Today all of our belongings are being packed into a truck.  I, in no way, compare myself to Abram, but at least in some small way, I can relate to how he must have felt. 

You see, Miamisburg, OH is where I have lived for these 39 years of my life. O, I spent the school year away while I attended MVNU and I was gone all but the holidays while I was at NTS, but still I always somehow knew I would end up right back where I started.  Miamisburg really is home for me.  It is the place where most of my family who matter most to me still live.  I rarely can go to the grocery store or take a walk without seeing someone I know. I know every street and many streets trigger memories of years gone by.  Kimberly and I built our home in Miamisburg and said, “This is it.  This is the last time we will move.” 

But then about three years ago, I came back from vacation, I was walking through Living Hope Church and I distinctly recall hearing the inner voice of the Spirit saying to my spirit, “You don’t belong here anymore.”  My heart sunk.  How could this be?  I had always thought I was supposed to start Living Hope and then serve there until I died.  Yes, I would live right here in Miamisburg and be there to care for my parents as they grew older.  I would be there for them just like they have always been there for me. It was the perfect plan.  How could God not want that? 

I guess that is why it took me 2 ½ years of seeking and praying with Kimberly before I finally said, “OK, Father, I am so sorry for trying to figure this out on my own.  I put the ministry you have entrusted me with into your hands.  If you want me to stay, then I need you to make it clear.  If you want me to move then it will be you making it certain. It’s in your hands.”  Less than a month later I was talking with Dr. Carla Sunberg about Canton First Church of the Nazarene (The details that would follow made it undeniable to Kimberly and I that this was God’s call for our lives, but that is different story for another blog post). 

As I sit here surrounded by boxes for what will be my last day to call Miamisburg home, I am reminded that for any of us to experience a refocus we must be willing to move.  We cannot stay where we have always been and expect to see God do a new thing.  Packing is not fun.  Moving is somewhat scary.  Saying goodbye is painful.  BUT…but…I say this as much for me as for you…but it is necessary.  It is not a question of will what I have always known change, but will I move with the changes that are coming every day in my life?  Will you and I let God move us from where we are comfortable to where we are dependent?  Will we trust God’s leading more than we rely on our understanding?  Will we go kicking and screaming or will we go rejoicing?  Will we demand our way or will we surrender ourselves to his?

Perhaps these difficult questions are easier to answer when we recall the promise God gave Abram right after he told him to move.  “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you, “Genesis 12:2-3. 

That is the promise that comes with every move God asks us to make as a church family.  Is he calling CFNAZ to leave what is familiar, safe and comfortable?  Yes, without a doubt.  God has made that clear by giving us unity in a 95% vote to move!  But, now I invite you to hear the promise that follows a choice to trust God and move: God will bless us to be a blessing!  God will bless you to be a blessing!  God will bless CFNAZ to be a blessing!

The Enemy wants you and me to see what we must leave behind, but God invites us to see what is coming: blessings to bless!  As Isaiah said, “Forget the former things.  Look ahead!  Can you not perceive it?  See I am doing a new thing!” 

Well, enough with sitting in a house full of boxes…It is time for me to move!

He Knows

“I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord,” our kids shout!   This was one of our family Bible verses for 2013.  Sometimes a Bible verse can become so familiar that you start to forget it actually has great meaning for everyday life.  This past week I have been reminded of that simple phrase from the Bible in both a personal and humbling way. 

We had it all planned out.  We would close on our new home last Thursday, make some improvements, work would begin last weekend and be completed this week just in time for the new carpet to be installed on Monday and then I would hop in the car to be home to close on our house in Dayton the following day.  O, yes, we had it all planned out.  It was the perfect plan.  There was only one thing we did not plan on…what if our plans were interrupted? 

Our plans were interrupted…actually…they were pretty much obliterated...ha!  Yes, the closing that was planned for last Thursday was postponed until today (we hope).  The work that was planned for last weekend never happened.  And last night as I spending some time in conversation with the Father, I could hear our kids voices in my mind echoing, “I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.”  I smiled at the thought… “Yes, Father, I get it…”  God says HE knows the plans HE has for us.  I was pretending I knew the plans…I was acting like the plans I had were God’s. 

Can I be honest?  This is not the first time I have had to relearn this lesson.  I have this tendency to forget that God, not me, is in control.  I mean, I know that…deep down, I really do know that…but sometimes, I forget to live like that.  Sometimes I am tempted to act like the plans I have are the best…how could God possibly have a better plan that I have come up with?  It is laughable when I say it out loud like that, but in my daily living it is not funny.

Can you relate?  You have your day planned out…you get in the car and it won’t start or you stop by McDonald’s for a coffee on the way to your early morning appointment and you dump the coffee all over your pants or you plan to pay off some debt and your roof starts to leak or you are on getting ready to go to a basketball game when you get the call that your loved one has just been diagnosed with cancer or you make an offer on a house just before your boss says they have to let you go... need any more examples?  No, I doubt you do…life has a way of interrupting our best laid plans. 

In response we can stomp and snort in frustration, break down and have a good cry, blame ourselves, others or God or pretend nothing is wrong, when it is really driving us nuts.  OR…or…or…we can sit up and hear the innocent trust of children as they recite, “I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.”  Did you hear that?  Did I really hear that?  God knows…praise the Lord…whether it is something as small as a delayed closing or as big as a dying loved one…OUR GOD KNOWS…sometimes the most meaningful prayer we can pray is simply, “Father, you know.”  Take a moment to breathe that prayer just now, “Father, you know.”  Slow down and try it again…”Father, you know.”  How about one more time? “Father, you know.”

The Father knows the right plans.  He knows how to take what life and Satan use to interrupt the best plans and turn them around for his glory and our good.  He knows what we don’t.  He knows the plans he has for you.  Get that! God has plans for you!  He has the whole universe to sustain, but he cares intimately and in detail for your every step.  Wow!  Praise God! 

So, will we close on our house today?  Will the work get done when we wanted?  Maybe or maybe not…but here is what I DO know…HE KNOWS!

Nothing's Better than the Real Thing

Not long ago, Anna came home from staying the night with her Grandma and said, “Daddy, Mamaw’s toilet paper is so soft.  Why don’t we have toilet paper like that?  Do you want me to ask her where she gets her toilet paper so we can get some too?” 

“Ha!” I laughed and said, “Sweetie, we buy generic toilet paper because Daddy likes to save money on things like that.” 

“O…,” she said with a disappointed but understanding voice. 

I suppose that will play out to be one of those introductory lessons in the difference between cheap/generic/low quality and expensive/brand name/better quality. 

Whether you are like me and are willing to sacrifice softness for savings or vice versa I think we could all agree that no matter how much we cheap folks may say “toilet paper is just toilet paper,” even a child can see there is a difference between the generic and the “real thing.” 

I am convinced we live in a culture that is fed up with generic. I believe the argument could be made that our society is tired of politics and phoniness.  People are suspicious of anyone or group who is assigned or claims to have some form of authority because there is a popular perception that behind that authority is hidden corruption or deception.  And to top it all off, people are kind of angry about it.

If I have gotten at all close to properly gauging the temperature of our present culture, then that means the Church has been given a great opportunity to be real.  In a culture of generic, vague, half-truths, out- right lies and hypocrisy a little bit of authenticity can go a long way in gaining credibility and serving as a catalyst for great change. 

So, what is “brand name” Christianity?  James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” 

On Sunday I mentioned a Poll that was taken some time ago that asked unchurched Americans why they do not go to church.  The number one answer given:  “I do not go to church because the people I know who go to church do not live any better or different than people I know who do not go to church.”  What is that, if not a cry for the Church to live an authentic faith? 

James reminds us that at the end of the day, reaching our community for Christ is not complicated and yet it is so hard we can’t do it but by the grace of God.  True religion is staying clean in a dirty world and meeting the real, tangible needs of the marginalized.  If we could offer our world this “brand-name” Christianity could we not see Jesus’ prayer answered, “They kingdom come, they will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?  I believe our world is looking for something real and life-changing and we have been given that through Christ.  If we will live out that brand-name Christianity both together in our church family and openly and intentionally in our neighborhoods, schools, sporting events, work and…well…everywhere…we will see a cynical, suspicious and angry culture begin to sit up, take notice and, if we stay at it long enough, respond to it to the irresistible drawing of the Holy Spirit through a faith that is anything but generic.

So, while Anna will never experience the comfort of “Charmin” in our home, I hope she we will know that while we went generic with toilet paper, we always strived for the real thing when it came to our faith.  I pray that not only for my children, but for your children and grand-children as well.  May the generation that follows us know us by our purity and compassion because, as James said, that is the real thing.

Happy Birthday?

This Sunday, our son, Seth, will turn 6 years old.  As far as he is concerned this has been a long time in coming.  You see, he started planning his 6^th Birthday party…O, I’d say…about a year ago.  Seriously, when we wrapped up his 5^th Birthday, he looked up at me and said, “Daddy, do you know what I want to do for my next Birthday?”  Seth has been living in anticipation of his 6^th Birthday for a year!  He has known for a year he wanted to have a “Justice League” party (“Super Friends” if you grew up in the ‘70s and 80s like me).

I, on the other hand, have looked at my 2014 Birthday with less enthusiasm.  This year I will turn forty.  This is the first Birthday that has made me think twice.  No offense to anyone 40 or older, but when you were young, didn’t you think 40 sounded old?  I mean, if I live the average life expectancy of around 80, then I am going to be half way there.  You could say, I am half dead! J  And let’s face it, things are different now. I can braid the hair that wants to grow in my ears, but can’t grow hair on my head to save my life.  So, no…I have not been dreaming and longing about this upcoming Birthday. 

And there you have it…two very different ways of living: That of a boy looking forward to turning 6 and a man not looking forward to turning 40. 

Now, what if we let Jesus begin to speak into this monologue?  He says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:14-15).  Jesus wants to rebirth us into the eschatological mindset of a child.  Eschatology means the study of the end times.  In our Wesleyan heritage, our eschatology reminds us that our God IS (present and future tense) making all things new! (See Rev. 21). 

In other words, there is a Birthday party coming that will (according to Revelation 21) bring about the birth of a new heaven and earth!  Now, is not the time for us to dread 40 as though it means we are half dead, but to anticipate eternity like a 5 year old dreams about, talks about and gets excited about his 6 year old, Superhero Birthday. Seth’s anticipation has allowed him to experience the joy of his coming Birthday party long before its actualization. 

Jesus is inviting you and me and our church family to live in the same way.  We can let our hearts “grow up” into a cynical, “realistic”, skeptical, doubting, discouraged people who ring the bell of, “It’s bad and it just going to get worst.”  OR we can let Jesus do in us what he says must happen for us to experience his kingdom both now and later and that is become like a 5 year old anticipating his 6^th Birthday.  When we let Jesus do this in us, then even before he returns we are positioned to experience his hope, peace, joy and freedom now; even in the face of difficulties and trials.  Jesus did not die and come back to life so we could wait to die and go to heaven to taste of his victory.  He conquered death so you can live alive in full anticipation that we are on the winning side forever.  Even in what goes wrong, our God promises to turn it all around for his glory and our good (Romans 8:28).

This eschatological hope is key for the refocus of any church.  Will we be a people who ring the bell of doom and gloom?  Or we be a people who shout, “HE IS RISEN!” not just at Easter but all year long? 

My prayer for you and me and our church family is that God will help us to increasingly grow up in him by becoming like a child anticipating his 6^th Birthday.  So, Happy Birthday, Seth!  And thanks for reminding your old Daddy of what of Jesus says it means to truly live.