Some thoughs while away, ...

While Sherry and I have been away this weekend, I have been working my way through "The Whole in our Gospel" By Richard Stearns. He is the head of World Vision. The further I get into the book, the more I have been challenged. Case in point ,...

Isaiah 1:10-17 (NIV)
¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ "The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the Lord. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
¹² When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
¹⁷ learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

"If church leaders do not have an outward vision to become salt and light in our world, to promote social and spiritual transformation, pursue justice, and proclaim the whole gospel, then the Church will fail to realize its potential as an agent of change. it will become inwardly focused on meeting the needs of its members, to the exclusion of its nonmembers. It will be a spiritual cocoon, where Christians can retreat from a hostile world, rather than a "transforming station" whose primary objective is to change the world."

"If we in the church are truly dedicated too the Great Commission, then we will first have to do something about the "Great Omission". We will never effectively demonstrate Christ's love to the world, if we cannot first demonstrate it to the church -- the whole church, and that includes those struggling to survive!"

Wow! what powerful and humbling thoughts regarding our purpose for the cause of Chris, and why God even in his mercy is not pleased with our activity

Over the last couple of days I have been in conversation with our friends from RMI concerning the conditions of our missionaries and sister church in Haiti. At present, our sister church is safe, having avoided serious damaged. RMI did have a team in country at the time of the earthquake, and all of them are safe and uninjured. What we do not know is the status of Pastor Chery's adult children in Port-au-Prince, or Pastor Julliet's adult children also in Port-au-Prince. Communication is downtown in the capital city, with widespread devastation. Please continue to pray for the situation in Haiti. Our upcoming trip to Haiti is cancelled. We will be sending those funds to our sister church. With the destruction of the countries infrastructure there is certain to be a significant rise in the cost of basic food supplies as well as shortages due to the inability to transport supplies, our sister church family is sure to feel the effects quickly. We ministered to our friends in a similar way when the hurricanes swept through the country.

PRAY FOR HAITI!

We finally had our Christmas Cantata at church today (snow delay!) What a blessing. afterwards I took a few moments to share from Matt 2:2, where the wise men ask Herod, Where is he who IS born king of the Jews? What an interesting thought -- the wise men had accepted what the world today largely misses; Jesus is already King, not waiting to be king, nor in the process of being King. he already is! The moment we accept His state in our lives, the sooner we come to grips with and accept/allow Him to command, control, comfort, companion, and criticize our lives

As I sit here writing this note, the "New Magic Years" Seniors group is getting ready for their monthly gathering/meeting/luncheon. God has really blessed CBC through this group. In fact God has used many people in a variety of ways to be a blessing to others. Here with the Magic Years group we have a wonderful display of Christian fellowship, discipleship and caring. Later on today, we will be having a delivery of bread. This provides an opportunity to help those in the church, as well as parents who bring children to AWANA, etc. and then the Christian Caring Center.

In these kinds of small ways, the second commandment is being fulfilled -- to love your neighbor as yourself.

Perhaps what could be, and should be, is a burden on our hearts to expend the meaning of neighbor!

Some thoughts I have been impressed by, ...

"A Holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine." D.L. Moody

"If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you're available." Rick Warren

".. one of the most powerful reasons we don't totally surrender our lives to Christ is that we don't want to sacrifice the things we possess; they have begun to possess us."

"If we turn our backs on God's will for our lives, what makes us think we will be bettewr off?" R. Stearns

Bible For Dummies

I came upon an interesting passage in Stearn's book, "The Whole in our Gospel" -

"The Sermon on the mount, for example is beautiful in its simplicity. But on one occasion, Jesus made it even simpler. He had just been peppered by the Sadducees with detailed questions on the Law. Now the pharisees wanted their shot at Him, to see if they could trip Him up: Matthew 22:34-36 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

In a sweeping simplification of thousands of years of Jewish teaching, Jesus summed up God's law in a way that anyone could understand. Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

One could say that this passage of Scripture is the Divine Edition of "Bible for Dummies"

God has a sense of humor -- Thanksgiving style!

You really have to put this one in a category of its own!!!

Here is how our Thanksgiving went beginning at 5am Thursday morning till 9pm Friday night, ...

I woke up Thurs. at 5am so I could put the traditional Mrs. Smith's Pumpkins Pies in the oven for later that day. No biggie, as I have been doing this for years. Caught a quick nap, and then Sherry, Bri, and I made our way to the Columbus sale. Our timing was perfect! Got in, found a parking place, and had a nice breakfast and stroll around Columbus (also a family tradition). We left the Market in plenty of time to get home so that the bird could be put in the oven. Actually Jon called an put it in for us. This years poultry was a beautiful 20 and 3/4 pound Butterball. All of the other necessities were staged to go into the oven at the appropriate times -- potato filling (a Miller side of the family favorite), sweet potatoes, dried corn (another Miller side delicacy), ham, rolls, etc.

Now the big event was the arrival of family. My brother-in-law was coming in from D.C., my other brother-in-law was coming with his girlfriend/soon to be wife from Reading, and he was bringing my mother-in-law. My niece was also coming in by train fro N.Y. This is where things began to break down. We had given directions to my B-in-law on how to get to the train station to pick up my niece (his daughter). The directions we gave were to the WRONG station. he was going to the Metropark, and she was arriving in Hamilton. My B-in-laws car developed an increasingly louder noise in the area of the front tire. So bad to the point that he could no longer drive it after arriving at the wrong train station. So, Sherry (my wife for those of you who did not know), then took off to: 1. pick up our niece at the right station, and 2. pick of the stranded "in-laws" at the wrong station. While she was on the road (I had to stay at home to attend the cooking of the dinner {a whole different story}), my in-laws called AAA, and called me looking for a place to rent a car and a place to have their car towed to. Well, there are no car rental places open on Thanksgiving, and the first place I gave then (via the internet) was no longer in existence. Our second option was OK. During this time, my other brother-in-law arrived from D.C., and we waited and chatted. Now, I want you to know at this point the Bird is scheduled to come out at 2:30 for a 3pm carving. Sherry arrived, at station one, picking up the niece, traveled to station two, and followed the tow truck to the repair shop, and loaded up the rest of the family (oh, did I forget to tell you they were all in our Prius as we had loaned our mini-van to missionaries). They then started the drive back here for dinner.

I am now in crisis mode -- adjusting temperature for lateness, watching the bird, and wishing we had all just gone to Denny's! Everyone arrived at 6pm -- 3 hours past the scheduled dinner time!

Hey, everybody was fine and safe, This was the most important thing! After all people are more important than things. When we all sat down for dinner, I carved the bird AND it was still moist and delicious. Thank you God!

That evening, we packed the family in our mini-van (that we are able to borrow back from the missionaries, and traveled to Reading. Put our heads to the pillow at 2:30am. Sherry and I got up in the morning and did the traditional Friday shopping. We got word that all of the trouble with the car was due to losing one bolt, and the loosening of another. The car was fixed. So after shopping and my brother -in-law returning from work, we traveled back to pick up the car and then went our separate ways.

What a day! God has a sense of humor. he allowed us to have a safe, yet adventuresome holiday, kept the turkey moist, and permitted us to bond as a family in a unique way!