Do you ever fail with folks you love?
Do you ever find that you have hurt in ways you can't fix?
Do you ever do your best and despair that you didn't help?
I have those days. Days when I stumble from one mistake, problem or crisis to another. Sometimes putting out fires, sometimes helping victims, sometimes being accused of arson.
And I keep going. With or without praise, acceptance, help or partners, trying to live in the grace and mercy of God when not offered by others, going where Jesus leads as best I can.
I do the same thing at each point. I ask for forgiveness, pray for healing, and stumble on.
In the end, I love people and I push, neither perfectly. I'm called passionate, loving, determined and pushy. Maybe that's my natural talent.
But I may be in good company...
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Philippians 3:12 NIV
I guess stumbling is better than not...
Friday, October 5, 2018
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Sunday, January 8, 2017
I Am a Disciple!
I AM A DISCIPLE!!
I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed
I have Holy Spirit power
The die has been cast
I have stepped over the line
The love of God controls me
The decision has been made
- I am a disciple of His
I won’t look back, let up, slow down or back away
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,
My future is secure
I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking,
small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams,
faint visions, mundane talking, cheap giving and
warped goals.
I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position,
promotion, plaudits and popularity.
I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized,
praised, or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walking
patience, live by prayer and labour with power.
My face is set, my gait is fast
My goal is the kingdom of God
My road is narrow
My companions few
My Guide is reliable
My mission is clear
I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away,
turned back, deluded or delayed
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice,
hesitate at the pool of popularity or
meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I’ve stayed up,
stored up, prayed up, paid up, spoken up for the
cause of Christ.
- I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I must go until He comes, give till I drop,
preach to all known, work till He stops me.
- I am a disciple of Jesus Christ
Monday, March 23, 2015
Why is Everything So Complicated?
Complicated by Avril Lavigne
Why can't everything just be black and white? Why is there so much gray in this world of ours?- CB
Good question
Sometimes life comes at us, hits us and we still don't know what happened. Sometimes we can't understand people, the universe, God or even ourselves. We do our best, but it doesn't seem to make sense- or be the best set of choices for anyone involved.
So how do we deal with that? What does that say about our faith, and what does our faith have to say to that?
Sometimes life just hits us, and we don't see the black and white, the right and wrong- we just experience being run over by the truck. Part of that is how fast things are going, and growing, and learning, and sharing and happening. Our great-grandparents would have checked out after 2 of our months- but we keep on going- school fast, work fast, travel fast, vacation fast, rest short, start again. There aren't porches on our houses because we no longer sit on them and watch the grass grow. It has changed. There is no gray in life because life is moving too fast to have shades and colors...
Sometimes, though, we say we want black and white, but only on our terms. My white absolutely doesn't include smoking, but it does include speeding. Your black may include a mix of social faux pas and murder. When each person decides what's okay and what's not, there is no clear black and white. Even people of the same faith have different whites and blacks, and different levels of sin and righteous acts.
The things that came to me today about this, though, is the gray we create out of black and white. I'm not going to argue the details of our varying "rights" or "whites" and "wrongs" or "blacks" with you.
But I will use an example from my life to explain how we "gray" our lives.
I feel compelled at this point in life to stop speeding. Even there, I will admit to some gray- most people speed. Even here, I am classifying the speeding I feel convicted about to those times when for fun or schedule I go more than 5 miles over the posted speed limit.
I speed. I enjoy speeding- I like, as Top Gun describes it, going "Mach 2 with my hair on fire." I enjoy going around people, beating people to a location, just going fast with the music up.
But here's how the world becomes more gray. There are sometimes consequences for our actions, even justified. I would say I don't speed with other people's kids in the car, or when it's dangerous, or without being polite to all the other drivers. I would say it's just me, and even the danger is only on me. But I'm wrong. Even "private" things affect your attitudes, perceptions, how you see others and their words, lives and actions, and how you feel about yourself, God and others.
For example:
- Friends have seen me speeding by and commented on it. It becomes gray when I have to explain, defend or rationalize something I chose to do knowing it wasn't "white."
- I have friends who are policemen and deputies. If one of them were to stop me for speeding, what would I say?
- I have a fear response when I see police cars- whether or not I am speeding, because at times I do speed.
- I am tempted (although I usually don't give in) to pray for God's protection on my law-breaking. And when you start saying those prayers, you make promises and pray in ways that don't build your relationship with God in healthy ways.
- Because of this, I have an emotional trauma- guilt- when I speed. When experiencing guilt, I am also more likely to judge and/or make comments about other peoples' failings- guilt response.
So- for say 15 minutes in a 3 hour drive, I do all of this, and put up with all of this? In the end, it's not worth it. But I have taken a simple, easy-to-follow rule, and added gray, if not black, to my life.
That's my stuff. I don't know what attitude, habit, way of dealing with people, stress, conflict or relationships you allow to "gray up" your life. But I think we can avoid some of that by simply doing what we know to do, and avoiding what we know not to do, no matter what we "think" or "feel" about listening to the wisdom of our God, society, church, family and friends.
Makes the world more black and white, don't you think?
Thursday, March 5, 2015
What does prayer change?
From: anonymous
Why should I pray? God already knows everything that has happened and will happen. Why should I pray?
Our Answer
Some believers believe that life is set out like a timeline, with pieces already in place. To some extent, which varies by church and even individual, that leads to a fatalism, just trying to make it to where you are blessed by God, without really understanding how anything you would do could make a difference. Even more than that, some believe that God has things so much under control that our prayers are like a lottery ticket- we never win but we think we can.
We don't believe that creation is in that kind of time-line scenario, but that's a conversation for another day. Today we're talking about our prayers, and how God works in and through them.
C. S. Lewis says that we should pray not to change God, but to allow God to change us. I agree with that in good measure, but scripture also talks about people changing God.
But to us, God is an intimate partner, a Lord who not only has our best at heart, but also listens to, responds to, and changes things because of our prayers.
It comes from our understanding of God- God is not mostly concerned with the stuff of life, but primarily with us, and our relationships- to God and others- in this world and eternity. We believe scripture shows that we were created for those relationships- with God and others- and while God is "the same yesterday, today and forever" in many ways, God is also sensitive to us and changes things in and through our relationship with God.
The Bible, has many places where we see God having a serious conversation, changing God's mind and doing unusual things for those people who ask.
Our first example is Cain- yes, that sibling-murdering wanderer. Even in being punished, Cain asked for relief from God's punishment of him, and in return received the "Mark of Cain" (which could have been the first tattoo in the Bible!) to protect him from others who might decide to do him harm.
A second example in Genesis is Abra(ha)m. God goes to tell Abram about his son to be born (which would lead in part to the name change) and talks with him about Sodom and Gomorrah, Abram starts asking God for mercy, and ends up getting a promise that the city would be saved if only 5 people are righteous.
A third conversation, from Exodus, concerns Moses and the Israelites. A number of times, God is done with the ex-slaves he rescued to a desert. Moses appeals to God's nature, to God's reputation, and to God's mercy to keep working with them, and keep redeeming (making something good out of bad, as in our first post!) them.
Another episode comes from Joshua 10. The Israelites are facing the enemy, and God says that they will win as long as it is day. So, after marching all night to get where God wanted the battle, Joshua and the army fight all day. As the sun begins to set, Joshua, who has obeyed God in every way about this, asks God to do something else. God causes the sun to stand still so that the Israelites win the battle.
We could keep going, but the point is made. As Isaiah said, there is no other God like our God, who works on the behalf of those who love him.
Jesus goes on to teach further on our relationship with God and prayer. Believers are told that nothing is impossible if they are following God, that God will graciously give all things to those who seek God's Kingdom first, and that God wants good things for his children, much as a Father who would respond in love when their child asked for bread to eat. Jesus prays often, at least some times all night, as he does his work one art, and goes on to ask the Father for relief from his purpose, as if that conversation does matter, the night before he dies. If the Son of God does it, that might be a clue as to the value of some activity.
According to various scriptures, we pray for God's will, for provision, direction and protection, and for the church and others who need Christ. We pray for God to work, and work as if God will answer our prayer. And according to these and other passages, God will change lives, situations, kingdoms and eternity based on the faith and prayers of God's people.
Why should I pray? God already knows everything that has happened and will happen. Why should I pray?
Our Answer
Some believers believe that life is set out like a timeline, with pieces already in place. To some extent, which varies by church and even individual, that leads to a fatalism, just trying to make it to where you are blessed by God, without really understanding how anything you would do could make a difference. Even more than that, some believe that God has things so much under control that our prayers are like a lottery ticket- we never win but we think we can.
We don't believe that creation is in that kind of time-line scenario, but that's a conversation for another day. Today we're talking about our prayers, and how God works in and through them.
C. S. Lewis says that we should pray not to change God, but to allow God to change us. I agree with that in good measure, but scripture also talks about people changing God.
But to us, God is an intimate partner, a Lord who not only has our best at heart, but also listens to, responds to, and changes things because of our prayers.
It comes from our understanding of God- God is not mostly concerned with the stuff of life, but primarily with us, and our relationships- to God and others- in this world and eternity. We believe scripture shows that we were created for those relationships- with God and others- and while God is "the same yesterday, today and forever" in many ways, God is also sensitive to us and changes things in and through our relationship with God.
The Bible, has many places where we see God having a serious conversation, changing God's mind and doing unusual things for those people who ask.
Our first example is Cain- yes, that sibling-murdering wanderer. Even in being punished, Cain asked for relief from God's punishment of him, and in return received the "Mark of Cain" (which could have been the first tattoo in the Bible!) to protect him from others who might decide to do him harm.
A second example in Genesis is Abra(ha)m. God goes to tell Abram about his son to be born (which would lead in part to the name change) and talks with him about Sodom and Gomorrah, Abram starts asking God for mercy, and ends up getting a promise that the city would be saved if only 5 people are righteous.
A third conversation, from Exodus, concerns Moses and the Israelites. A number of times, God is done with the ex-slaves he rescued to a desert. Moses appeals to God's nature, to God's reputation, and to God's mercy to keep working with them, and keep redeeming (making something good out of bad, as in our first post!) them.
Another episode comes from Joshua 10. The Israelites are facing the enemy, and God says that they will win as long as it is day. So, after marching all night to get where God wanted the battle, Joshua and the army fight all day. As the sun begins to set, Joshua, who has obeyed God in every way about this, asks God to do something else. God causes the sun to stand still so that the Israelites win the battle.
We could keep going, but the point is made. As Isaiah said, there is no other God like our God, who works on the behalf of those who love him.
Jesus goes on to teach further on our relationship with God and prayer. Believers are told that nothing is impossible if they are following God, that God will graciously give all things to those who seek God's Kingdom first, and that God wants good things for his children, much as a Father who would respond in love when their child asked for bread to eat. Jesus prays often, at least some times all night, as he does his work one art, and goes on to ask the Father for relief from his purpose, as if that conversation does matter, the night before he dies. If the Son of God does it, that might be a clue as to the value of some activity.
According to various scriptures, we pray for God's will, for provision, direction and protection, and for the church and others who need Christ. We pray for God to work, and work as if God will answer our prayer. And according to these and other passages, God will change lives, situations, kingdoms and eternity based on the faith and prayers of God's people.
Monday, March 2, 2015
The comment that turned into a blog...
RT Tiffany Tracy: Something is on my mind: we keep hearing people say that God allows things to happen. This isn't something we completely agree with. I'd like to know other Christians' views on this way of thinking and why it may or may not be true.
Our Answer:
To the Hebrew, there is no good vs. evil as such. The Bible shows over and over God in control, Satan defeated, and God is the ultimate power- the only beings that we know God has allowed to make their own choices are people and angels (see Lucifer). So Job 1, and other passages, have God as the source of all that happens- with what we see as perfect & permissive will. God allows some things to come into our lives, and puts some things in our lives (Genesis 22; Psalm 66; Acts 17; James 1).
God doesn't cause everything to happen. As Emily said in response to your note, people have free will. We can choose to cooperate with God's purposes in our lives and others, or not. Our choices, righteous or sinful, affect us and others in impossible-to-see ways over generations- families, communities, nature and the world are changed by our choices (e.g., Hitler, people dumping trash & chemicals into our water and oceans, cancer from cleaning chemicals).
To Jesus, there was no battle between good and evil, except in people's lives. Demons had no power, Satan had no authority over Jesus unless it was allowed (as in the crucifixion). But in the hearts and souls of people, God fights to free us from the dominion we have given our enemy.
The real miracle is that God can redeem even the bad choices in lives. In Romans, Paul says "God works in all things for the good of those who love the Lord, who are called according to his purpose." Everything doesn't work together for good- GOD works in everything for our good! In your life, in my life, in the world God takes a mess and makes "Something Beautiful" (Gaither)
So Tiffany, God does allow everything. But even more, God is present everywhere- even where people would rather God not be!- and works in everything, redeeming the bad and building good, for our faith, lives and world. So cooperate fully with the Lord's work in your life and world, and most of all, know that you are loved by an all-powerful God who is on your side!
RT Tiffany Tracy: Something is on my mind: we keep hearing people say that God allows things to happen. This isn't something we completely agree with. I'd like to know other Christians' views on this way of thinking and why it may or may not be true.
Our Answer:
To the Hebrew, there is no good vs. evil as such. The Bible shows over and over God in control, Satan defeated, and God is the ultimate power- the only beings that we know God has allowed to make their own choices are people and angels (see Lucifer). So Job 1, and other passages, have God as the source of all that happens- with what we see as perfect & permissive will. God allows some things to come into our lives, and puts some things in our lives (Genesis 22; Psalm 66; Acts 17; James 1).
God doesn't cause everything to happen. As Emily said in response to your note, people have free will. We can choose to cooperate with God's purposes in our lives and others, or not. Our choices, righteous or sinful, affect us and others in impossible-to-see ways over generations- families, communities, nature and the world are changed by our choices (e.g., Hitler, people dumping trash & chemicals into our water and oceans, cancer from cleaning chemicals).
To Jesus, there was no battle between good and evil, except in people's lives. Demons had no power, Satan had no authority over Jesus unless it was allowed (as in the crucifixion). But in the hearts and souls of people, God fights to free us from the dominion we have given our enemy.
The real miracle is that God can redeem even the bad choices in lives. In Romans, Paul says "God works in all things for the good of those who love the Lord, who are called according to his purpose." Everything doesn't work together for good- GOD works in everything for our good! In your life, in my life, in the world God takes a mess and makes "Something Beautiful" (Gaither)
So Tiffany, God does allow everything. But even more, God is present everywhere- even where people would rather God not be!- and works in everything, redeeming the bad and building good, for our faith, lives and world. So cooperate fully with the Lord's work in your life and world, and most of all, know that you are loved by an all-powerful God who is on your side!
Welcome to Smart Christians!
Hi!
Welcome to a new feature at Eastside- our blog!
Allow me to share before our first real post. The blog is titled "Smart Christians"- for a very real reason. There are MANY topics that smart, wise believers have questions and can have honest discussions about. The Smart Christian in the title is one absolutely committed to the Lordship of Christ, attempting to find a place where their faith informs the realities, problems and challenges of today. We don't think we have all the answers, just that we know the one who does.
Each blog will focus on a part of modern life and its relationship to our faith. Our goal is to find Christ's way in areas that scripture is less than totally clear on. Scripture is seen as our standard, but not as a science book, cookbook or idea proof-text. We believe it is fully inspired by God and shows us everything we need for faith and life.
As part of the rich Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, Nazarenes welcome conversations with all others, and find themselves between polar extremes of theology and belief on a number of issues.
We welcome discussion, as long as it is respectful and about the topic, not personal. So hang on and enjoy the ride!
Welcome to a new feature at Eastside- our blog!
Allow me to share before our first real post. The blog is titled "Smart Christians"- for a very real reason. There are MANY topics that smart, wise believers have questions and can have honest discussions about. The Smart Christian in the title is one absolutely committed to the Lordship of Christ, attempting to find a place where their faith informs the realities, problems and challenges of today. We don't think we have all the answers, just that we know the one who does.
Each blog will focus on a part of modern life and its relationship to our faith. Our goal is to find Christ's way in areas that scripture is less than totally clear on. Scripture is seen as our standard, but not as a science book, cookbook or idea proof-text. We believe it is fully inspired by God and shows us everything we need for faith and life.
As part of the rich Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, Nazarenes welcome conversations with all others, and find themselves between polar extremes of theology and belief on a number of issues.
We welcome discussion, as long as it is respectful and about the topic, not personal. So hang on and enjoy the ride!
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