June 30, 2014

Anywhere but there!!

There is a quote that hangs on my refrigerator that I heard back in 2006 at a missions conference. Little did I know how true that quote would become.
"The life you have always dreamed of, lies in the mission you dread." -Dr. John Marshall
When my family and I started this journey on mission, we had a determination to serve God overseas. Our plan was to go and begin what we have always dreamed of in London, England, but God always has other plans.

Our mission agency told us to go to Texas for an intentional step to the field. This would provide growth in our ability to adapt, and strengthen our family and marriage, before we are displaced out of our comfort zone 4,000 miles from home.

When you take the first steps toward seeking God's purpose for your life, you covertly get enrolled in God's comprehensive training. His ways will meander you through your story rather than a straight line. It is very counter-intuitive or uncommon sense, but as you look back through the fire that you just stepped out of, you begin to see clearly what common sense looks like from His perspective. Faith is never produced on a plane ride or a long bus ride to your destination. Faith is always produced in the fiery trials of our life.
God doesn't cause pain and anguish, that happens from our sin and disobedience, but rather uses the pain and circumstance of our life for His purposes.

Each of us begin the journey on our own. God strips away every prop and scaffold that we used to make ourselves sufficient without Him. Once we have been stripped naked of all our pretense and intelligence, God begins to push value into us unlike we have ever heard before.
Being raised in church, I always heard I am "His masterpiece", but I never really believed it. You see, I was more dependent on the evaluation of others, rather than the One who created me.

So, when my family went to our Candidate Orientation to receive our assignments, Texas was certainly not on our radar. Oh sure, Greater Europe Mission has an office in Texas, so maybe that's why God picked that place, but really?..Texas? Why not England?

Never forget this; God won't always give you what you want, but He will always give you what you need.

Texas was the last place I wanted to go. I would've rather been sent to Zimbabwe or India over Texas, but that wasn't God's plan.
In Isaiah 55:8-9 we hear God tell His prophet not to put his ways or thoughts above the thoughts of God.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts..."
So why did we come to Texas? We don't know where we are going to live. We barely know anyone. How will this effect our kids? Did we here God right?

So what did we do?...We began to use our own understanding and logic towards obedience to God. We reasoned that God wouldn't want us to just up and go. Besides, our Member Care told us to raise the necessary funds before we go. Why would we defy them?

One day, my wife and I were really feeling a lot of anxiety about all of this. (By the way, this is also a couple of months after we were given our assignment.) So I told her I would go for a long walk and pray, read, or whatever I felt God pressing me to do. Little did I know how God was pressing on my wife to seek from Him.

One of my favorite places to go, is my friends coffee shop. In front of the roastery is a large glass window, with two high-back chairs warming in the streaming sunlight. A perfect place.
After some time, it hit me like a lightning bolt. The title of the chapter I was reading said, "Go until you get a No." I grabbed my stuff and ran out of the shop hurriedly walking toward home. "This is it," I thought. She will read what I read and God will show her just as He had shown me.
I burst into the house, walked into the bedroom, where she was reading, and asked her to read this chapter. I handed her the book, and said "We need to start packing!" I left the room and somehow ended up in front of the television watching a soccer match. Inspiring stuff, I know!!

After a while, she came out of the room and asked if I was ready to discuss the chapter, I had asked her to read. Now I was torn, because the second half of the match had just started, and the game was really good. The more exciting thing was, my wife actually wanted to discuss something I asked her to read. If you know my wife, discussion for her is like painting or folding clothes. She'll do it, but not with much excitement.
I first had to check my pulse to see if I was alive, because this dilemma never presents itself.
When I decided I had better get in there and see what she thought, I went into the room and sat down with a bit of a skeptics emotion.

She began to read me an excerpt from a book she had been reading while I was gone. The story begins with a young woman trying to decide if God wanted her to be married to a young man she had been seeing. She went and spoke to her pastor, and he advised her that God is a green light God. Meaning, if you think you should do something, pray about it, but go in His name. If you are seeking to hear from Him, pray He will give you a red light if what you are doing is out of His will. Watch for yellow lights. This doesn't mean stop, just proceed with caution.
She turned to me, with tears welling up in her eyes, and said; we have to go until we get a no.

So, after a few minutes of shock and awe, we set out on a course for Texas. Only four months after God told us to go, we landed in our new home....for at least a couple of years.

I will finish with a story Jesus tells in Luke chapter 14:
“Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, ‘Come on in; the food’s on the table.’
"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, ‘I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.’  
“Another said, ‘I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.’
“And yet another said, ‘I just got married and need to get home to my wife.’
“The servant went back and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, ‘Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.’
“The servant reported back, ‘Master, I did what you commanded—and there’s still room.’
“The master said, ‘Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.’”
You see, we've all been invited to come. If you don't, there may be an empty seat waiting for you, that will be filled by someone else. If you feel God calling you to something greater than yourself,
 "Go until you get a NO"


June 6, 2014

Don't touch the hot burner!!

The other day, my son was attempting to make himself a sandwich. The problem was not with the sandwich, but the location as to which he decided to make it.
I had just boiled some hot dogs for our family for lunch, and I moved the hot pan off of the burner to another cool spot on the range top. 
Our cook top is a smooth glass surface with radiant burners beneath the glass. If you've ever used one of these, you would know that the surface remains quite hot even though the burner is off. They even have a light that shines red as long as the surface is too hot to touch.
Apparently this feature was not evident to my son. He knew the surface was hot, because I had just called them in for lunch, and the pot was still cooling on the stove. What he didn't know was which burner was used.
Even though the light was on to alert him of the incredible heat he will soon feel, he felt compelled to test the validity of the little red light by touching the burner with the palm of his hand.
He claims he only touched the surface for a second, but clearly it was hot enough to cause 2nd degree burns to his palm. 
The funny thing was, we didn't know this had happened until we heard the water running constantly in the bathroom.
My wife asked if he was alright, to which he answered, "I'm okay, I just burned myself.".....this soon sent my wife and I into a bit of panic.
Wouldn't you know it, we were also out of medical supplies to treat such a burn.
As I was reflecting on all of this, God whispered a perspective I didn't expect. My son wasn't sure if the burner was hot, but against all the warning signs, he decided he must know for himself. Most of us are that way with God.
We hear all the time the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" To most of us, the answer eludes our thinking. Some of us believe we've been bad and we deserve punishment. Some believe our past is never really far enough away from our circumstance.
If shame is Satan's #1 tool against our relationship with God, then it is "logical" that our sin deserves punishment.
This was true for thousands of years under the Law of Moses, but then God's Son stepped out of His royal power and entered the world as a lowly carpenter. He lived for 33 years, and paid the final bill for our past, present, and future; with His death, burial, and resurrection. His grace and mercy shown on His cross covers a multitude of our sin. Are we then free to sin without consequence? Of course not!!
So why as believers and followers of Jesus Christ do we still feel the pain of our sin? I can't speak to every instance, but for me, I experience pain because I did not listen to the warnings. God never causes our pain(1), that comes from our decisions or the decisions of others. No, God uses our circumstances to produce in us a peculiar glory that He uses for His purposes in our lives.
Even natural disasters are a result of someone who ignored God, and proved it for themselves. Just read the story of Adam and Eve. All of creation has been groaning like pains from childbirth, and decay entered with sin.
Does God shout or blast a warning signal when you are approaching danger? No, He speaks in a whisper.
Why a whisper? A shout or a blast of an alarm seems more appropriate. If He loved us, He wouldn't want to see us harmed, right?......take a moment and ponder that question......that sounds more like a question Satan would ask. (a) Satan asked Eve, "Surely God wouldn't kill you, right?"
First of all, God does not think like us, and He does not react like us.....thank God!! God's love for us is not based on our love for Him....thank God!! God doesn't use our pain to manipulate our need for Him.....thank God!!
When the time comes for you to make a decision, no matter how trivial, God has already made the warning; sometimes we have grown dull to His pleadings. Our selfishness and pride has determined to prove it for ourselves. Even if God did many miraculous signs and wonders, even if He sent messengers after messengers, even if He sent Himself to suffer the penalty of our choices, would we then listen?.....some would, but most would not. We are bombarded with many things begging for our attention and God refuses to compete.
God whispers His love to those who are listening for Him.(b) The fact that we hear from Him is proof of our love and affection for Him. We view this life as the whole, but the truth is, our life is but a vapor in all of eternity(c) Everything that happens in this life is used by God to draw us closer to Him, our creator.
Only through spending time with Him, knowing Him, listening intently, do we begin to see the path He has laid out for us. When trouble comes, we will know it because of a catch in our spirit. Just like a child knows the sound of their mother's voice, so too we learn the voice of the Holy Spirit.
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”      -Jesus  
John 16:33 
 I love this new song by Shane & Shane, but listen to what John Piper has to say about pain and trouble: