The post office is a strange place. Not strange like wearing black socks and sandals, but strange like not knowing which fork to use at a dinner party. This unique entity brings together the unfortunate combination of standing in a slow moving line composed of dozens of strangers, with that of a room décor which, to quote the late Phil Harris, “has all the personality of an old man’s knee.”
Thus constrained to endure this unsettling arrangement, one is forced to participate in the arduous task of keeping occupied while simultaneously avoiding the appearance of staring at anyone. It was while enduring this particular experience just yesterday that I happened to spend several moments gazing at the new priority mail display.
When I was in college I spent a year working in a corporate mailroom and another year working in a pack and ship store. The modus operandi in those days was to schlep the package over the scale, wait for the needle to stop bouncing, then look it up on the chart to see how much the postage would be. The price to send the package was thus directly correlated with the weight of the box. The more items that the shipper would stick inside the box, the higher the cost to mail said box became.
Upon determining the cost to ship the box and affixing the postage, you still weren’t guaranteed success. When the post office received the box, the very first thing they would do was weigh it again and make sure that your chart matched their chart and the price was truly paid. If not, it got sent back to you with the most dreaded of labels, Insufficient Postage. Somewhere, somehow, somebody came to the brilliant conclusion that all that weighing was becoming a bit cumbersome and decided to simplify the process. Thus the flat rate shipping box was born.
The concept is simple. Get a box, stuff whatever you want to inside it, pay the fee and wave it goodbye. Whether you stick in a single feather or load it with a pile of rocks, it doesn’t matter. The price is the same for both. There is no weighing of the package, no consulting the chart, no verification by the post office to ensure you have met the requirements, and best of all, no chance that it will be returned to you. One fee pays it all.
In the book of John, a man named Nicodemus came to see Jesus late one night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. His entire belief system was based on making some sort of atonement in exchange for every unclean act. Everything, from touching a dead body, to eating the wrong food, to breaking a commandment had its own remedy that had to be done in accordance with the law in order to receive atonement. This not only had to be handled on a case by case basis, but had to be verified by the priest to ensure nothing was missed.
In this evening encounter, Jesus brings to Nicodemus something radical. Jesus takes this concept of sin and salvation and replaces it with a single payment for sin that wipes out all transgressions in an instantaneous soul changing sweep. In John 3:3, Jesus says "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (NIV)
This caused some confusion with Nicodemus and part of Jesus' answer became one of the best known passages in all of scripture. 16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God (NIV)
Often times, we approach God as if we are still under the old system. We somehow allow Satan to convince us that the sin we have committed exceeds the limit of what Christ’s atonement is able to cover. We go through life wondering if we’ve done enough to keep our spiritual atonement from being returned to us. If that describes where you are at, it’s time to take that burden of guilt and shame and lay it at the feet of Christ. Regardless of the what you are carrying to the cross, when you give it over to God, the price is paid, the burden is lifted and salvation comes.
This Easter season, remember the price that Christ paid for you and know that In Him, his final words from the cross still ring true. “It is finished.” The price has been paid, the offer has been extended. All we have to do is accept it.
Prayer: That God will remind you that the price has been alredy paid.
Suggested Scritpure: John 3:16, Romans 5:8
Death by Volkswagen
During my second year of college, I went on a missions trip to Mexico sponsored by my college. I wound up working with the director of the trip and went as the official photographer. Each day I would go out with a different group to document the various projects being completed.
On the last work day, many of the local congregations hosted a dinner for their respective work groups. As it turned out, I wound up attending two of them. Now we had been advised to avoid partaking of the local cuisine unless we were at the hotels. However, it would have been insulting to the hosts to have refused to eat a meal that was a major sacrifice for the them to have provided. Thus, in the spirit of fostering positive international relations, I partook heartily.
All was well for a while. But as we were in the bus heading back, things began to happen. Bad things. Things that make you sweat all over and utter prayers of urgency. By the time we got to the hotel, the situation had become dire. I somehow managed to make it back to my room but I knew this was going to be a long night. The marines may have stormed the halls of Montezuma, but I stormed his bathroom.
It was soon abundantly clear that there was no way that I was going to make it to our evening service and activities. I called the trip director and let him know that if he really needed pictures, somebody was going to have to draw some. After what seemed like hours, I finally made it to bed and managed to fall asleep. I was so out of it, I didn’t even hear my roommate come in. Nor did I hear him get up the next morning.
Our group was split between two hotels. The bus that was to bring us back home was to stop at our hotel at 9:30 and load up my half of the group, then drive to the other hotel and pick up the second half of the group at 10:00. When I heard the door shut as my room mate left, I looked over at the clock. It was 9:34. GREAT JOY IN THE MORNING!
I had not packed anything the night before and sprung up and started throwing things together. By the time I had myself and my bags all situated, and managed to haul it all downstairs, the bus had already left. The other hotel was only 5 blocks away, but when you are still recovering from the ailment I had been dealing with and are also laden with luggage, that seems more like 5 miles.
Luckily there was a bellman there whom I had spoken to a few times during the trip. He realized I had missed the bus and told me “No problem. I get you a cab.” If you’ve ever wondered where old VW Bugs go to die, they get hauled to Monterrey Mexico, painted green, and turned into taxis. There were oodles of them everywhere you went. The bell man gave the driver some instructions in Spanish, threw my bags in and we were off….in the wrong direction.
I had walked between the hotels enough times that week to have our route memorized. I knew right away we were going the wrong way. I did my best to tell the driver “Plaza Hotel, Plaza Hotel.” He just nodded. This called for desperate measures. I pulled upon what little high school Spanish remained within in and said “Necessito Bano! Plaza Hotel.” I then accompanied this with the best “grunting” face I could muster.
It was then that I discovered something. Asking a Mexican cab driver to execute a U-turn is a potentially fatal undertaking. In the US, we’d find an intersection where U-Turns were permissible and wait on a light, or we’d pull into a parking lot and then back out once traffic was clear. Not this fellow. He hit the brakes and spun the wheel in a fashion reminiscent of a Hollywood action flick.
I suddenly found my face pressed flat against the window where I got a front row view of the swerving traffic barreling towards us. That’s when I said “Well that’s it. I’m going to die in a Volkswagen” I imagined the reception at the pearly gates. “You’re here early.” “Mexican Taxi Cab.” “Right...John, we got another one!”
Somehow we managed to survive the initial vector change and within seemingly seconds, we arrived in front of the Plaza. I gave the guy $5 and he seemed happy and since I was happy to be alive, we parted friends. When I finally got my luggage onto the bus, I went inside and found my roommate sitting in the lobby. I asked him “Dude! Why didn’t you wake me up?” He answered “I knew you didn’t fell good.” To which I replied “So you decided to leave me in Mexico?”
It seems a bit absurd doesn’t it? By leaving me as I was, he had actually made my situation worse. In the 10th Chapter of Luke, Jesus is being tested by an expert in the law who asks Him what must do to inherit eternal life. Let’s look at that passage for a moment.
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (NIV)
In response to this question, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. No doubt most of you have grown up hearing this story. Often we hear it as a call to love all regardless of race and social status. Surely that is a part of what is being told here. However, it goes deeper than that. The story is about taking action.
The injured man in this story is helpless and broken in every way that one can be. His clothing was gone, his money was gone, he was badly injured, he could no longer get to his destination. The man is the perfect representation of the world we live in. He embodies the brokenness that exists when we are apart from Christ. But he also represents the broken Christian. That person who has been ambushed by the world and it’s allure and has fallen along the road and suddenly found themselves bruised, broken and confused.
To both we are called to help bind wounds and to do all that we can do to ensure that they can pick back up and continue their journey. This passage concludes with the Jesus telling the man to “Go and do likewise”.
Last Sunday, our pastor shared the story of Jepthah, an outcast who was living in exile. In his sermon, he shared the following: “Our Father, in great grace, loved us when we were Jephthah. Looking for sinners, He found us in desperate straits. As one writer says, ‘Lifting us to the level of His much-loved Son, He brought us in, washed our wounds, and changed our direction. All our church-going and hymn-singing and long-praying and committee-sitting and religious-talking will never ease the fact that we were dug from a deep, dark deadly pit. And may we never forget it.’”
This week, take the time to look around you. See those who are hurting and in need and ask God to use you to show them the Love of Christ.
Prayer: That God would cause you to love others as you love yourself.
Suggested Scripture: Luke 10:25-37; Judges 11:1-33
On the last work day, many of the local congregations hosted a dinner for their respective work groups. As it turned out, I wound up attending two of them. Now we had been advised to avoid partaking of the local cuisine unless we were at the hotels. However, it would have been insulting to the hosts to have refused to eat a meal that was a major sacrifice for the them to have provided. Thus, in the spirit of fostering positive international relations, I partook heartily.
All was well for a while. But as we were in the bus heading back, things began to happen. Bad things. Things that make you sweat all over and utter prayers of urgency. By the time we got to the hotel, the situation had become dire. I somehow managed to make it back to my room but I knew this was going to be a long night. The marines may have stormed the halls of Montezuma, but I stormed his bathroom.
It was soon abundantly clear that there was no way that I was going to make it to our evening service and activities. I called the trip director and let him know that if he really needed pictures, somebody was going to have to draw some. After what seemed like hours, I finally made it to bed and managed to fall asleep. I was so out of it, I didn’t even hear my roommate come in. Nor did I hear him get up the next morning.
Our group was split between two hotels. The bus that was to bring us back home was to stop at our hotel at 9:30 and load up my half of the group, then drive to the other hotel and pick up the second half of the group at 10:00. When I heard the door shut as my room mate left, I looked over at the clock. It was 9:34. GREAT JOY IN THE MORNING!
I had not packed anything the night before and sprung up and started throwing things together. By the time I had myself and my bags all situated, and managed to haul it all downstairs, the bus had already left. The other hotel was only 5 blocks away, but when you are still recovering from the ailment I had been dealing with and are also laden with luggage, that seems more like 5 miles.
Luckily there was a bellman there whom I had spoken to a few times during the trip. He realized I had missed the bus and told me “No problem. I get you a cab.” If you’ve ever wondered where old VW Bugs go to die, they get hauled to Monterrey Mexico, painted green, and turned into taxis. There were oodles of them everywhere you went. The bell man gave the driver some instructions in Spanish, threw my bags in and we were off….in the wrong direction.
I had walked between the hotels enough times that week to have our route memorized. I knew right away we were going the wrong way. I did my best to tell the driver “Plaza Hotel, Plaza Hotel.” He just nodded. This called for desperate measures. I pulled upon what little high school Spanish remained within in and said “Necessito Bano! Plaza Hotel.” I then accompanied this with the best “grunting” face I could muster.
It was then that I discovered something. Asking a Mexican cab driver to execute a U-turn is a potentially fatal undertaking. In the US, we’d find an intersection where U-Turns were permissible and wait on a light, or we’d pull into a parking lot and then back out once traffic was clear. Not this fellow. He hit the brakes and spun the wheel in a fashion reminiscent of a Hollywood action flick.
I suddenly found my face pressed flat against the window where I got a front row view of the swerving traffic barreling towards us. That’s when I said “Well that’s it. I’m going to die in a Volkswagen” I imagined the reception at the pearly gates. “You’re here early.” “Mexican Taxi Cab.” “Right...John, we got another one!”
Somehow we managed to survive the initial vector change and within seemingly seconds, we arrived in front of the Plaza. I gave the guy $5 and he seemed happy and since I was happy to be alive, we parted friends. When I finally got my luggage onto the bus, I went inside and found my roommate sitting in the lobby. I asked him “Dude! Why didn’t you wake me up?” He answered “I knew you didn’t fell good.” To which I replied “So you decided to leave me in Mexico?”
It seems a bit absurd doesn’t it? By leaving me as I was, he had actually made my situation worse. In the 10th Chapter of Luke, Jesus is being tested by an expert in the law who asks Him what must do to inherit eternal life. Let’s look at that passage for a moment.
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" (NIV)
In response to this question, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. No doubt most of you have grown up hearing this story. Often we hear it as a call to love all regardless of race and social status. Surely that is a part of what is being told here. However, it goes deeper than that. The story is about taking action.
The injured man in this story is helpless and broken in every way that one can be. His clothing was gone, his money was gone, he was badly injured, he could no longer get to his destination. The man is the perfect representation of the world we live in. He embodies the brokenness that exists when we are apart from Christ. But he also represents the broken Christian. That person who has been ambushed by the world and it’s allure and has fallen along the road and suddenly found themselves bruised, broken and confused.
To both we are called to help bind wounds and to do all that we can do to ensure that they can pick back up and continue their journey. This passage concludes with the Jesus telling the man to “Go and do likewise”.
Last Sunday, our pastor shared the story of Jepthah, an outcast who was living in exile. In his sermon, he shared the following: “Our Father, in great grace, loved us when we were Jephthah. Looking for sinners, He found us in desperate straits. As one writer says, ‘Lifting us to the level of His much-loved Son, He brought us in, washed our wounds, and changed our direction. All our church-going and hymn-singing and long-praying and committee-sitting and religious-talking will never ease the fact that we were dug from a deep, dark deadly pit. And may we never forget it.’”
This week, take the time to look around you. See those who are hurting and in need and ask God to use you to show them the Love of Christ.
Prayer: That God would cause you to love others as you love yourself.
Suggested Scripture: Luke 10:25-37; Judges 11:1-33
Reynolds Wrap Theology
I love fireworks. I’m not all that into the little ones you shoot off by yourself. I like the BIG ones. If they don’t light up the entire sky in a shower of fire and rattle your chest when they explode, then I say, “Why even bother?” Even more exciting than fireworks alone is fireworks set to music. On my list of things I hope to do before I go to Heaven, is going to Boston on the fourth of July to see “Pops Goes the Fourth” in person.
One thing about these shows that not everyone knows is that they are ridiculously expensive to produce. Some of the shells in a professional show can run over a thousand dollars a piece. When you get shows that include hundreds or even thousands of individual shells, you can see just what a massive investment it can be. With that much money on the line, it is imperative that everything goes smoothly. A few years back, there was a special on TV that showed just how these shows come together.
The larger shows (such as the annual show in Boston) can take several days to setup. As the shells are loaded into the firing tubes and set into place for each show, the shells themselves become susceptible to their one natural enemy: rain. While they are still on the ground, even a small shower can cause major damage. The shells themselves are made out of paper and cardboard. They are plain, and actually kind of ugly looking. If they get too wet, the water will soak into the gunpowder inside and the shell will be ruined.
What is interesting, though, is that a rain shower won’t stop a show. As long as the shells stay dry, they can be fired in the rain without an issue. Once the shell is in flight, the rain doesn’t have a chance to get the powder wet before the shell explodes. This presents a quandary. How do you keep the shells dry, but still give them a clear firing path so they can be launched in the rain? The answer was ridiculously simple. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil.
Once the shells are loaded into the firing tubes, the technicians place a piece of foil over the opening of each one and secure it with two rubber bands. The foil is strong enough to keep the shells dry, while at the same time, thin enough to allow the shell to escape the tube without slowing it down or altering its trajectory. I found this to be fascinating. Here you had a multi-million dollar show that spent months in the planning, requires dozens of technicians to coordinate, and the whole thing is protected by ten bucks worth of tin foil. How crazy is that?
But you know what would be even crazier? Having the technicians who planned, organized, and setup the display decide that they would just leave the shells in the tubes where they were safe rather than firing them off. How many people would come out to see them? How excited would they be to view millions of dollars worth of fireworks that were just sitting on the ground, hidden from sight?
The past two weeks have been an amazing time in our church. Twice now Christ has intervened and changed Pastor Rick’s message. It has been an incredible and exciting thing to be a part of. As the staff has met together over the past few weeks, we’ve been impressed with the sense that God is calling us to do something big. REALLY BIG.
In the sixth chapter of Judges, Israel found itself in a dark hour. A group known as the Midianites had completely decimated Israel. The scriptures tell us it was so bad that many had abandoned their homes and were living in caves. In the midst of this great uncertainty and tragedy was a man named Gideon. He is introduced to us while he is hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat. In this crude shelter, he seeks safety and protection from his enemy. This unlikely candidate is then called upon to lead the army of Israel to defeat the Midianites.
God sent His angels to pull Gideon out of his hiding place. God knew that Gideon could never fulfill his calling while hiding in a wine press. It is only when Gideon leaves a place that seems to offer safety and security that God is able to perform a fantastic miracle.
When we surrender fully to the Holy Spirit, His power takes the plain and ordinary gifts that we have to give, and transforms them into something truly extraordinary. He covers us with His protection and grace while we mature and grow, and He protects us from the enemy. Then, once the timing is perfect, He calls us to action, knowing that even if conditions are not ideal, His Spirit shields us from the attacks of the enemy.
What is it that God is calling you to do? And more importantly, are you willing to say, “Yes, Lord. Yes, to Your will and to Your way.”
Prayer: As the leadership team strives to hone the vision we believe God is giving us, be in prayer that we will have clarity of thought and spirit, and that we will have the courage to leave behind the comfortable in order to pursue the divine.
Suggested Scripture: Judges 6 – 7.
One thing about these shows that not everyone knows is that they are ridiculously expensive to produce. Some of the shells in a professional show can run over a thousand dollars a piece. When you get shows that include hundreds or even thousands of individual shells, you can see just what a massive investment it can be. With that much money on the line, it is imperative that everything goes smoothly. A few years back, there was a special on TV that showed just how these shows come together.
The larger shows (such as the annual show in Boston) can take several days to setup. As the shells are loaded into the firing tubes and set into place for each show, the shells themselves become susceptible to their one natural enemy: rain. While they are still on the ground, even a small shower can cause major damage. The shells themselves are made out of paper and cardboard. They are plain, and actually kind of ugly looking. If they get too wet, the water will soak into the gunpowder inside and the shell will be ruined.
What is interesting, though, is that a rain shower won’t stop a show. As long as the shells stay dry, they can be fired in the rain without an issue. Once the shell is in flight, the rain doesn’t have a chance to get the powder wet before the shell explodes. This presents a quandary. How do you keep the shells dry, but still give them a clear firing path so they can be launched in the rain? The answer was ridiculously simple. Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil.
Once the shells are loaded into the firing tubes, the technicians place a piece of foil over the opening of each one and secure it with two rubber bands. The foil is strong enough to keep the shells dry, while at the same time, thin enough to allow the shell to escape the tube without slowing it down or altering its trajectory. I found this to be fascinating. Here you had a multi-million dollar show that spent months in the planning, requires dozens of technicians to coordinate, and the whole thing is protected by ten bucks worth of tin foil. How crazy is that?
But you know what would be even crazier? Having the technicians who planned, organized, and setup the display decide that they would just leave the shells in the tubes where they were safe rather than firing them off. How many people would come out to see them? How excited would they be to view millions of dollars worth of fireworks that were just sitting on the ground, hidden from sight?
The past two weeks have been an amazing time in our church. Twice now Christ has intervened and changed Pastor Rick’s message. It has been an incredible and exciting thing to be a part of. As the staff has met together over the past few weeks, we’ve been impressed with the sense that God is calling us to do something big. REALLY BIG.
In the sixth chapter of Judges, Israel found itself in a dark hour. A group known as the Midianites had completely decimated Israel. The scriptures tell us it was so bad that many had abandoned their homes and were living in caves. In the midst of this great uncertainty and tragedy was a man named Gideon. He is introduced to us while he is hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat. In this crude shelter, he seeks safety and protection from his enemy. This unlikely candidate is then called upon to lead the army of Israel to defeat the Midianites.
God sent His angels to pull Gideon out of his hiding place. God knew that Gideon could never fulfill his calling while hiding in a wine press. It is only when Gideon leaves a place that seems to offer safety and security that God is able to perform a fantastic miracle.
When we surrender fully to the Holy Spirit, His power takes the plain and ordinary gifts that we have to give, and transforms them into something truly extraordinary. He covers us with His protection and grace while we mature and grow, and He protects us from the enemy. Then, once the timing is perfect, He calls us to action, knowing that even if conditions are not ideal, His Spirit shields us from the attacks of the enemy.
What is it that God is calling you to do? And more importantly, are you willing to say, “Yes, Lord. Yes, to Your will and to Your way.”
Prayer: As the leadership team strives to hone the vision we believe God is giving us, be in prayer that we will have clarity of thought and spirit, and that we will have the courage to leave behind the comfortable in order to pursue the divine.
Suggested Scripture: Judges 6 – 7.
Difficult Journeys
I have a confession to make. I’m not a Native Texan. I know, it’s hard for me to believe too. Before moving to San Antonio in December of 1981, we actually lived in Huntsville, Alabama. One of my favorite activities in Huntsville was visiting the NASA training facility.
Among the many attractions they had. there was one in particular that I absolutely loved. It was a giant pendulum type device and on one end it was anchored to a pivot head while on the other, there was a chair to which a gigantic spring had been welded. The device simulated the moon’s gravity and after you got yourself going, you could really get some monster bounces.
I didn’t understand at the time that this contraption had a purpose. For me it was simply a mode of entertainment. It was not until I was older that I realized that this piece of equipment had been designed to prepare astronauts for the unexpected and unsettling environment into which they were about to be thrust. Their success or failure hinged on their ability to perform their assigned tasks once they reached their destination.
I wish sometimes that life were that way. How many times have we gone through a situation where we thought “God, couldn’t You have warned me? Could You not have prepared me better?”
It’s not a new thought process by any means. In Genesis chapter 37, a series of events is put into motion that forever changes the life of a young boy. Joseph, the baby of the family, is known as Daddy’s favorite, the dreamer, the one with the fancy coat.
One day his father sends him to find his brothers, and in their jealousy, they decide the best thing to do is kill him. Yet one brother, Ruben, convinces the others to spare his life. When Joseph arrives in their camp, the brothers put their plan into motion. Verse 23, ” When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern.” (MSG)
You have to wonder at that point what Joseph was thinking. I’m sure at first it seemed like a joke. No doubt this was simply some sort of brotherly prank. Joseph probably wasn’t overly worried at first. Then he hears the caravan of Ishmaelite traders passing by. Hushed conversation is taking place above. A strange face pokes itself over the rim of the cistern and glares down at him. Beside it, the faces of his brothers. He looks into their eyes and he knows that this is something far more treacherous.
We can only imagine the horror that Joseph must have felt when he was hauled out of the cistern, bound, and handed over as a slave. How his mind must have raced on the walk from Israel to Egypt. As the days turned into weeks and each step he took brought him further from his home and family, no doubt Joseph’s soul screamed out to God for deliverance. And yet, inexplicably he found himself on the trading block being sold into a life of slavery in a foreign land.
Can you imagine what he must have felt? Hopelessness? Isolation? Despair? Soon Joseph meets his new master and is brought to serve Potiphar. The scriptures tell us that God was with Joseph and that he found favor with Potiphar. In chapter 39, things are going well for Joseph. Until he has an encounter with Potiphar’s wife. We all know the story. She attempted to seduce him, he refused, and in her anger, she accused him of attempting to force himself on her. Joseph is once again bound and now he is dragged off to prison.
Can you imagine what he must have felt this time? Here God has been working in his life, things have improved. Sure not everything as was as perfect as it was before, but still it was better than prison! What was the point of this? If God wanted him to rot in a cell, why not just leave him in the cistern in Israel? At least there Joseph would die in his own land!
Then God did something weird. The gift of dreaming that had caused his brothers’ jealousy in the first place, was used to not only free Joseph from prison, but to elevate him to the second highest office in all of Egypt. God took the situation Joseph was in and used the sin and bad intentions of others to bring about good.
It makes you wonder if perhaps I asked the wrong question before. Maybe it's not "Why didn't God help me prepare for this", it's more, "God SHOW me how you've prepared me to deal with this."
There’s something vital we need to understand about this story. Joseph wound up suffering because of the sin of other people. God did not CAUSE those people to sin. This is a HUGE theological idea you need to grasp. Sin is a CHOICE. It is something we willfully do. When situations occur in which we suffer from the sin of others, it is not God who is to blame. Yet, in those situations, God can take what was meant as evil, acts of hatred directed against us, and turn them around and use them to elevate us in ways we never thought possible.
As it was with Joseph, when we look at our past and examine those experiences which seemed insignificant or inconvenient at the time, we realize that God was working then to prepare us for the trials we would inevitably encounter. The blessing of being a Christian is not that bad things never happen to us. The blessing is that God takes those things which Satan intends to use to destroy us and He uses them to build us up, strengthen us, and bring us through stronger and wholly restored.
Last Sunday, Pastor Rick shared with us the story of the last supper. In it, he reminded us of the words of Christ in John Chapter 14. 1"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (NASB)
Regardless of where we are led in life, always remember that NOTHING can alter our final destination.
Prayer: That God would help you see His hand in the rearview mirror of your life, and that He would prepare you now for those things in your future that Satan intends to use for evil.
Suggested Scriptures: John Chapter 14, Genesis Chapter 37, & 39-45.
Among the many attractions they had. there was one in particular that I absolutely loved. It was a giant pendulum type device and on one end it was anchored to a pivot head while on the other, there was a chair to which a gigantic spring had been welded. The device simulated the moon’s gravity and after you got yourself going, you could really get some monster bounces.
I didn’t understand at the time that this contraption had a purpose. For me it was simply a mode of entertainment. It was not until I was older that I realized that this piece of equipment had been designed to prepare astronauts for the unexpected and unsettling environment into which they were about to be thrust. Their success or failure hinged on their ability to perform their assigned tasks once they reached their destination.
I wish sometimes that life were that way. How many times have we gone through a situation where we thought “God, couldn’t You have warned me? Could You not have prepared me better?”
It’s not a new thought process by any means. In Genesis chapter 37, a series of events is put into motion that forever changes the life of a young boy. Joseph, the baby of the family, is known as Daddy’s favorite, the dreamer, the one with the fancy coat.
One day his father sends him to find his brothers, and in their jealousy, they decide the best thing to do is kill him. Yet one brother, Ruben, convinces the others to spare his life. When Joseph arrives in their camp, the brothers put their plan into motion. Verse 23, ” When Joseph reached his brothers, they ripped off the fancy coat he was wearing, grabbed him, and threw him into a cistern.” (MSG)
You have to wonder at that point what Joseph was thinking. I’m sure at first it seemed like a joke. No doubt this was simply some sort of brotherly prank. Joseph probably wasn’t overly worried at first. Then he hears the caravan of Ishmaelite traders passing by. Hushed conversation is taking place above. A strange face pokes itself over the rim of the cistern and glares down at him. Beside it, the faces of his brothers. He looks into their eyes and he knows that this is something far more treacherous.
We can only imagine the horror that Joseph must have felt when he was hauled out of the cistern, bound, and handed over as a slave. How his mind must have raced on the walk from Israel to Egypt. As the days turned into weeks and each step he took brought him further from his home and family, no doubt Joseph’s soul screamed out to God for deliverance. And yet, inexplicably he found himself on the trading block being sold into a life of slavery in a foreign land.
Can you imagine what he must have felt? Hopelessness? Isolation? Despair? Soon Joseph meets his new master and is brought to serve Potiphar. The scriptures tell us that God was with Joseph and that he found favor with Potiphar. In chapter 39, things are going well for Joseph. Until he has an encounter with Potiphar’s wife. We all know the story. She attempted to seduce him, he refused, and in her anger, she accused him of attempting to force himself on her. Joseph is once again bound and now he is dragged off to prison.
Can you imagine what he must have felt this time? Here God has been working in his life, things have improved. Sure not everything as was as perfect as it was before, but still it was better than prison! What was the point of this? If God wanted him to rot in a cell, why not just leave him in the cistern in Israel? At least there Joseph would die in his own land!
Then God did something weird. The gift of dreaming that had caused his brothers’ jealousy in the first place, was used to not only free Joseph from prison, but to elevate him to the second highest office in all of Egypt. God took the situation Joseph was in and used the sin and bad intentions of others to bring about good.
It makes you wonder if perhaps I asked the wrong question before. Maybe it's not "Why didn't God help me prepare for this", it's more, "God SHOW me how you've prepared me to deal with this."
There’s something vital we need to understand about this story. Joseph wound up suffering because of the sin of other people. God did not CAUSE those people to sin. This is a HUGE theological idea you need to grasp. Sin is a CHOICE. It is something we willfully do. When situations occur in which we suffer from the sin of others, it is not God who is to blame. Yet, in those situations, God can take what was meant as evil, acts of hatred directed against us, and turn them around and use them to elevate us in ways we never thought possible.
As it was with Joseph, when we look at our past and examine those experiences which seemed insignificant or inconvenient at the time, we realize that God was working then to prepare us for the trials we would inevitably encounter. The blessing of being a Christian is not that bad things never happen to us. The blessing is that God takes those things which Satan intends to use to destroy us and He uses them to build us up, strengthen us, and bring us through stronger and wholly restored.
Last Sunday, Pastor Rick shared with us the story of the last supper. In it, he reminded us of the words of Christ in John Chapter 14. 1"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (NASB)
Regardless of where we are led in life, always remember that NOTHING can alter our final destination.
Prayer: That God would help you see His hand in the rearview mirror of your life, and that He would prepare you now for those things in your future that Satan intends to use for evil.
Suggested Scriptures: John Chapter 14, Genesis Chapter 37, & 39-45.
Dream the Impossible
I always love stories which involve overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. One of my favorites is the story of the Dixie Landings Oaks. When Disney Imagineers were looking to construct a new hotel at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, they wanted to create the look of a sleepy southern town on the Mississippi delta. There was only one problem. The land they were building on was a swamp.
After building a series of canals to drain the area, and clearing out all of the brush and debris, the design team realized that even if they managed to build southern looking buildings, the foliage was a stark reminder that this was still a former swamp.
After searching for a suitable answer to this problem, they discovered two massive oak trees, each over 100 years old. These would make the perfect addition to the resort and help sell the illusion they were trying to create. There was only one small problem. The trees were located 13 miles away and weighed in at a daunting 85 tons each!
Unwilling to let the idea go, the Imagineers began working on a way to transplant the two massive trees. Experts told them they were crazy. There was no way to dig them up in one piece, no way to keep them alive, no way to haul them that far, no way to keep a 6 story tree from falling off a truck. It was impossible. It was time to give up and find another way.
Never a group to back down from a challenge, the Imagineers worked to come up with a plan to safely move the trees and re-plant them in their new home. Finally, in April of 1991, after months of preparation, an army of technicians surround the trees and began working on digging them out.
To protect the roots, they constructed Cyrpess boxes 22 feet square. (That’s as tall as the ceiling of our sanctuary.) They used cranes to lift each tree onto special flatbed trailers. While in transit, the cranes rolled slowly next to the trucks, keeping the trees aloft. Crews went ahead of them and removed 108 light poles and six traffic signals so the trees could pass by.
Finally, after a 3 day journey, the trees reached their new home. One was planted in the center of the resort, around which the resort’s recreation area, Old Man Island, was built. The second was planted at the entrance of the resort so that it was the first thing seen when guests would arrive. They had done it . Though it took a tremendous amount of time, effort, energy, cooperation, and faith, they had done the impossible. Today, the trees are alive and growing and their offspring have been planted throughout the resort.
Last Sunday, our pator shared with us the story of the feeding of the five thousand. What is interesting about this passage is that before Jesus fed the crowds, he first asked his disciples to get the people something to eat. They scoffed at the idea. They said it was impossible. There were certain it could not be done. In fact in Mark 6:37, the disciples respond with "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" (NIV)
There are a couple of things going on in this passage. Remember how the disciples had just returned from their preaching journey? Now they were finally back with Jesus, they were tired, and they had needs. After all, they were hungry too. They needed to eat and they deserved a break after all that hard work. Now here is Jesus, asking them to do something that was IMPOSSIBLE financially. To add insult to injury, not only could they not do what Jesus was asking, they couldn’t even feed themselves. They didn’t have enough food for the 12 of them to get a decent meal.
Yet in pointing out their inadequacy to do the task at hand, Christ teaches them something life changing. He takes the little bit they have to give and supernaturally expands it to feed thousands. But as great as the miracle is, it doesn’t end there.
Mark’s account goes on. “42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.” (NIV)
So what you now have are the disciples not only finding sustenance for that meal, they discover that there is so much excess food left over that they now each have a basket of provisions to get them through the next several days. I believe one of the points that Jesus was trying to make was that when we allow him to do the impossible, he multiplies not only what we have to offer to others, but he gives back provisioning to us that is even greater than what we had to start.
What impossible thing is God calling you to do? What obstacles are you seeing that make it seem impossible? How much more glory will God get when He takes what little we have to offer and does something impossible with it?
Prayer - Be in prayer for the church and it’s leadership as we seek out the impossible.
Suggested Scriptures - Mark Chapter 6, Matthew Chapter 15, Judges Chapters 6-7
After building a series of canals to drain the area, and clearing out all of the brush and debris, the design team realized that even if they managed to build southern looking buildings, the foliage was a stark reminder that this was still a former swamp.
After searching for a suitable answer to this problem, they discovered two massive oak trees, each over 100 years old. These would make the perfect addition to the resort and help sell the illusion they were trying to create. There was only one small problem. The trees were located 13 miles away and weighed in at a daunting 85 tons each!
Unwilling to let the idea go, the Imagineers began working on a way to transplant the two massive trees. Experts told them they were crazy. There was no way to dig them up in one piece, no way to keep them alive, no way to haul them that far, no way to keep a 6 story tree from falling off a truck. It was impossible. It was time to give up and find another way.
Never a group to back down from a challenge, the Imagineers worked to come up with a plan to safely move the trees and re-plant them in their new home. Finally, in April of 1991, after months of preparation, an army of technicians surround the trees and began working on digging them out.
To protect the roots, they constructed Cyrpess boxes 22 feet square. (That’s as tall as the ceiling of our sanctuary.) They used cranes to lift each tree onto special flatbed trailers. While in transit, the cranes rolled slowly next to the trucks, keeping the trees aloft. Crews went ahead of them and removed 108 light poles and six traffic signals so the trees could pass by.
Finally, after a 3 day journey, the trees reached their new home. One was planted in the center of the resort, around which the resort’s recreation area, Old Man Island, was built. The second was planted at the entrance of the resort so that it was the first thing seen when guests would arrive. They had done it . Though it took a tremendous amount of time, effort, energy, cooperation, and faith, they had done the impossible. Today, the trees are alive and growing and their offspring have been planted throughout the resort.
Last Sunday, our pator shared with us the story of the feeding of the five thousand. What is interesting about this passage is that before Jesus fed the crowds, he first asked his disciples to get the people something to eat. They scoffed at the idea. They said it was impossible. There were certain it could not be done. In fact in Mark 6:37, the disciples respond with "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" (NIV)
There are a couple of things going on in this passage. Remember how the disciples had just returned from their preaching journey? Now they were finally back with Jesus, they were tired, and they had needs. After all, they were hungry too. They needed to eat and they deserved a break after all that hard work. Now here is Jesus, asking them to do something that was IMPOSSIBLE financially. To add insult to injury, not only could they not do what Jesus was asking, they couldn’t even feed themselves. They didn’t have enough food for the 12 of them to get a decent meal.
Yet in pointing out their inadequacy to do the task at hand, Christ teaches them something life changing. He takes the little bit they have to give and supernaturally expands it to feed thousands. But as great as the miracle is, it doesn’t end there.
Mark’s account goes on. “42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.” (NIV)
So what you now have are the disciples not only finding sustenance for that meal, they discover that there is so much excess food left over that they now each have a basket of provisions to get them through the next several days. I believe one of the points that Jesus was trying to make was that when we allow him to do the impossible, he multiplies not only what we have to offer to others, but he gives back provisioning to us that is even greater than what we had to start.
What impossible thing is God calling you to do? What obstacles are you seeing that make it seem impossible? How much more glory will God get when He takes what little we have to offer and does something impossible with it?
Prayer - Be in prayer for the church and it’s leadership as we seek out the impossible.
Suggested Scriptures - Mark Chapter 6, Matthew Chapter 15, Judges Chapters 6-7
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)