SUMMER TIME IS HERE!!!

I absolutely love everything about the summer. To me summer means beautiful weather and longer days. In short, for me summer means increased opportunity. During the summer you have more chances to get things done than in the short cold days of winter. Yet I find that the freedom the summer provides often results in wasted days and squandered nights. Many a person approaches the summer with great dreams and aspirations only to return to school or work or whatever at the end of August wondering where the days went. So you have got more time, you have more freedom, you have more energy, what do you PLAN on doing with all that opportunity? Are you just going to check out of life for a while or are you going to invest this time in something really life changing? I would really like to hear about some of your summer plans. So post a quick response to help us all learn from each other.

Be A Bridge!

You are a bridge towering high up in the sky.

Proudly you stand, spanning form land to land.

 

Although many may not know

Without you progress would slow

For across you travelers must go.

 

You have a cause both noble and true

Your purpose is to allow people to walk over you.

 

Trampled under foot by people rushing past

Climbed by thrill seekers hoping to make a splash

Driven over by large trucks

Flown past by noisy plans

Run through by foreign Ships

Pounded by changing tides

 

You continue to thanklessly do what you were created to be

A bridge that helps people move beyond you and me!

There are helicopters in the air

My hat is off to all the single parents out there. My wife was out of town this weekend and it was questionable that any of us left at home would survive. Fortunately we did eventually make it. And I actually got to finish up reading Mark Nysewander’s “No More Spectators”. This is a great book about how a cultural Christianity has developed a norm of spectators rather than participants in the Christian experience. Mark did an excellent job of not beating you up, but inspiring you to want to go for all God has.

 

I was very impressed by the book, but more excited about where I got it. Mark Fritchman recently moved to our community and he lent me the book. The impact this book has had on Mark’s ministry is very easy to see. Mark bleeds this book and I am excited to have a guy like that in our community.

 

God has and is bringing some amazingly strong leaders to our area. I use to live in Warner Robins where Robins Air force base is located. Sonic booms were a normal everyday occurrence. One general once told me, “Don’t worry about how many booms you hear or how many planes you see in the air. Watch for helicopters. If you see the copters in the sky something is happening.” I often wondered about that and only later learned that it had to do with personnel disbursement. When people start getting moved around it is because something is going down.

 So what is God up to? He certainly seems to be deploying some special forces to our area. Something is happening.  I am sure watching with interest. Oh, wait a minute; “No More Spectators” so I am actively seeking my role in what God is doing.  Hope you will make the effort to join in the adventure of this life time.

The Dilemma

Let me give you a little pick into my head. At my core I am a problem solver.  Like a policeman sees injustice and is compelled to correct it and a doctor sees sickness and has to heal it, I see needs and I am moved to meet them, it is not a have to kind of thing, I want to help people. I believe as Christians we are all called to help people.

 

Here is the dilemma though: the policeman can use force to correct the situation; the painful symptoms provide the patient a powerful motivation to allow the doctor to help them; but as Christians it is more difficult to obtain access to offer our help.

 

The policeman deals with outward behavior. He isn’t overly concerned with why the guy does what he does he just knows what he is doing is illegal so he uses force to modify the persons behavior. Problem solved.

The surgeon deals with the physical body. He diagnosis the physical problem, gets consent from the patient, puts them to sleep and removes the infected organ. Problem solved.

I realize I am over simplifying these but the point I am pondering is that just like in the areas of behavior and body, spiritual problems are also often easily identified and the solution is often obvious.

 

Our dilemma is in how to obtain real access to offer the solution in a way in which the person in need is able to receive the gift.  Our challenge is to earn the respect of the person to such a degree that they are willing to hear and accept as truth from us that which they previously felt was false.

I guess I am struggling with the fact that the very heart of many problems: behavioral, physical, emotional, spiritual, relational is really a valuing of the wrong stuff. Our world is warped in what it places a great worth upon. Yet to effectively convey this profound spiritual reality to people you must earn their respect. But to earn their respect you must display what they value; you must win at their game.

 As Christians may we lean what it means to be in this world but not of it. May we be used to transform our culture and not be conformed any longer to it.