Rescue Is Coming

There's no escaping it, life can be tough. I have been reminded time after time the past couple of weeks that there are many people out there experiencing hardship and suffering. It seems everywhere I turn I have seen faces filled with pain, voices over the phone battling depression, and even read e-mails typed with a sense of real desperation. My attitude of Mr. Fix It doesn't hold up too long when I encounter so much in such a short time but it has brought a couple of thoughts I'll share with you.

First, I think we have to focus on God's strength and our weakness. All too often I've heard well meaning counsel attempting to either relieve suffering or at least quickly discover its eternal purpose in order to keep a happy perspective on life. But God's chief concern clearly isn't making us happy, He desires much more. No matter the circumstance that we find ourselves in, we know Him to be sovereign over all things and are called to trust fully in Him during all seasons in life. That's why we can read how Paul boasts in his weakness because it is through these very things that "the power of Christ may rest upon me." Why? "Because He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) I preached on this passage earlier today at a nursing home in Southern Indiana and really saw God open eyes to His word by listening to some of the elder men and women I talked to afterwards. One in particular motioned for me to come down to her wheelchair so she could tell me something, "You reminded me that even though my body feels broken in this wheelchair that my soul is still being renewed daily in the Lord," she said. God is truly working all things, including our trials, together for good to them who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose and that is to make us more like Christ (Romans 8:28-29).

Even though all these things are opportunities for us to love God more deeply and depend on Him, there is also a joyful expectation in knowing that one day Christ will put all things under His feet and return in glory as He promised. Make no mistake about it, He is going to return and when He does He will make all things right. The elder saint I spoke with earlier will not need her wheelchair. My wife's grandmother will no longer suffer from Alzheimers when she is face to face with Jesus. Those who've never known what it means to have a home without abusive dads will have a perfect Heavenly Father. Rescue is coming to those who willfully admit they are truly weak and find their strength in someone bigger. Trusting Christ isn't just a one time event but a lifetime journey we are blessed to be a part of by His grace.

On a separate note: I want to ask everyone to pray for a couple of Mormon missionaries who came by our place this morning. We had a good discussion and I am trying to faithfully present the truth in love to them. They are coming back to our home next Friday, March 3rd. Please pray that God will open their eyes to the truth that is in Jesus Christ. We will be discussing several issues of contention between Christianity and Mormonism. There are plenty of apologetic arguments that we'll be going through, but at the end of the day it comes down to their minds and hearts being blinded by the god of this age. Pray for them and for us as we share with them.

 

lunch lady land -- life in the cafeteria

I'm really enjoying my job at Harrison County Hospital. I am currently working in the Cafeteria. They have trained me for two different positions and next week I get to start training on another one. Eventually they will train me for every position in the cafeteria. The most recent position I trained for has allowed me a wonderful opportunity that has shown me the reason why God led me to this job.

In this new position one of my responsibilities is to take menus up to the patients at the end of the day. I was watching the progress of one patient pretty much from the time he came into the hospital. He was in ICU for a couple of weeks and then he moved to a private room. This gave me hope that he was getting better. Then I saw that he had five lunch trays for his children to be delivered to his room until further notice. It kind of made me wonder if he might be dying. I had to take lunch trays to the Obstetrics ward when I heard beeping coming from his room. A nurse ran past me and into his room. That kind of worried me. At the end of the day, I was taking menus to the patients and I got to his room. When I went into his room, his children were all sitting there with somber looks on their faces. I asked how he was doing and his son told me that he only had a few hours left to live. When he said that, it completely broke my heart for this grieving family. I asked them if I could pray with them. They told me that they would like that, and when I finished praying, they thanked me. He died that night.

His daughter works at the hospital and I saw her today during lunch. I asked her how she and her family were doing and she said they were fine. She thanked me again for praying with them. It was a real blessing to me. I knew the day that I prayed with them that that was why God has me there. It's at least one reason. It makes me very excited to see what else He has in store for me there.

The Spring semester is off to a fast start and classes are going well. This promises to be my busiest semester to this point but I know I'm really going to enjoy the opportunity to learn from experienced Pastors and church leaders. One of our classes involves journaling "devotional thoughts" to encourage or challenge others in Christ. So in addition to life updates I'll include some of those periodically but will give you fair warning if you would rather read something else. So here's that but we'll place some other updates later on.
 

"Here is your God!"

I guess I'll explain these pictures and share a few thoughts that I hope encourage you today. I was going through some of our photos from a mission trip to New York City last summer and came upon this one taken from the fairy. We were standing there admiring the beauty of the sunset and I told one of our students to hold his hands apart like he was holding something small and fragile... a little closer... a little to the right... there!

Okay, so maybe this optical illusion won't make it onto a David Copperfield special or send the world into panic that I have successfully shrunk the Statue of Liberty. Obviously my friend's thumb can't possibly support this massive structure that so many have admired for so long. But before we leave this thought I want to remind you of our relationship with our Creator from Isaiah 40.
"You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him." (v.9-10)
When we struggle and stumble in our Chrisitan life we often lose sight of the greatest and simplest truths of our faith. He is your God and you are His own. We can study all the facts we know to be true of God but living it means moving beyond acknowledging these truths to walking in them daily. After all, God is beyond words huge or as our students often say, "ginormous". Read on...
"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. (Isaiah 40:12-15)
It should be clear now that we aren't in charge. God is running the show. He holds this massive cosmos and sustains it by His word. Which makes it even more amazing that He would choose you. The greatest joy that any human could ever experience is simply being in awe of the fact that this God wants us to know Him personally. He knows your name. For those in Christ, He has cleansed you from your sin and made you a new creation! He walks with you every moment of the day. Snuggled in the heart of verses teaching of how God is huge and powerful beyond our imaginations is verse 11, which should render us speechless.
"He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young."
The same one who spoke creation into existence and has power and wisdom beyond what our fragile minds can comprehend carries us in His arms... close to His heart... here is your God.