The Next Milepost

It has been quite a journey. A journey which has taken me to the other side of the earth. A journey that traces its roots to a small town in Iowa about 13 years ago. I was a cross country truck driver waiting for my trailer to be loaded for a trip back home to Phoenix. The snow laid heavy all around me for the second day and I was stuck in my truck engaged in a knock down drag out fight with God.

God had been bugging me for a while about going into full time ministry. He was calling me to be a preacher, or a pastor, or something like that. I wanted no part of that. I was horrified of the thought of getting up in front of people and preaching God's Word. I was armed with all my Moses arguments as to why I was not able to do what He was calling me to do. I lifetime of driving a truck was my backside of the wilderness and Marshalltown, Iowa was the location of my burning bush.

As with Moses, God was not going to be denied. He broke my will and I gave in. I knew I could not do this without the Lord by my side, directing my path.

He put people in my life to help guide me along the way. Pastor Randy Southwick had been my friend and mentor up to that point and he helped mentor me afterwards with a different purpose in mind.

This morning we were reminiscing as we recalled how God has brought me up to this weekend. Sunday, October 27, 2013, is the day I pass the next milepost. I am being ordained as a pastor. It is evidence that God has a sense of humor. He has taken a truck driver and made me into a shepherd.

I am humbled that Calvary Community Church would ordain me. God wrestled me with me until I tapped out on that snowy day, 13 years ago, and I couldn't be happier. I love what he has me doing now. He has even given me a love for the people and land of India. As I write this post I am getting ready for the India Fellowship we have every Friday evening and I am planning my second trip to India.

I am a happy and blessed man. Sunday is not the finish line...just the next milepost.

Little Graces

I am coming off one of the most difficult, no, THE most difficult week I have had since I've been involved in ministry. I received the call that every pastor dreads. The call in the night that sends a pastor running out of the house, half awake, to go be with a wife as she stands by the hospital bed of her husband who was involved in an accident.

About 24 hours later I am with her again, for the third time, as the doctors take her husband off of life support. In just a few more hours he is resting peacefully in the arms of Christ. I drive home, in the middle of the night, alone, weeping. Grieving over what I've just witnessed. Grieving over a young widow, with a severely handicapped son, who is now without the man she loves to help her take care of their son. Grieving over the toll sin requires from each of us. Grieving, because this is just not the way it's supposed to be.

The funeral was requested for just two days later. The family wanted me to perform the memorial; I was just physically and emotionally exhausted. I had nothing left to give. Some of the other pastors lifted the weight from my shoulders and took care of it from there for me. That was one of those little graces.

Little graces are those times when God sends someone or something into your life to show you He cares for you. We have all had them. You may have overlooked them, but He sends them anyway. Have you ever slowed down enough to notice them?

Here are a few of the little graces I've noticed in my life these past few days.

Having fellow pastors to come along side to lift you up when you are weary. Thanks guys. Little graces.

Taking a mid term exam in seminary and earning a D. The professor adjusts my score to a B. Thanks Dr. D. Little graces.

Holding a friends 10 month old son and he doesn't deposit any bodily fluids on me. Thanks Seth. Little graces.

Hearing of real life change happening in the India Fellowship as we grow. Little graces.

Sharing a meal with my bride as we celebrate 33 years of marriage. Thanks Denice. Little graces.

Talking to my daughter on the phone. Thanks Sara. Little graces.

If you sit down and get still with God, He will show you some of the little graces He has sent your way. Try it. You might be surprised and that would be one of those little graces.

Grace and peace to you my friend.
Brian

YHWH, I AM

YHWH, I AM

You called me to yourself, YHWH, I AM

To meet you in the Psalms, YHWH, I AM

When you look you will find me, I’m YHWH, I AM

I sought you and found you, You’re YHWH, I AM

I’m a Rock, a Refuge, I’m YHWH, I AM

A Shield and Defender, I’m YHWH, I AM

I’m righteous and holy, I’m YHWH, I AM

I’m the Creator, Sustainer, I’m YHWH, I AM

My eye is on the needy, I’m YHWH, I AM

The widow and orphan, I’m YHWH, I AM

I’m for the lonely and imprisoned, I’m YHWH, I AM

I resist the proud and wicked, I’m YHWH, I AM

You are My Counselor, My Inheritance, You’re YHWH, I AM

My Healer and Deliverer, You’re YHWH, I AM

You’re My Strength and My Fortress, You’re YHWH, I AM

My Righteousness, My Redeemer, You’re YHWH, I AM

You’re My Confidence, My Father, You’re YHWH, I AM

My Lord and My King, You’re YHWH, I AM

You are My Portion, My Glory, You’re YHWH, I AM

My Helper, My Shepherd, You’re YHWH, I AM

You keep me and revive me, You’re YHWH, I AM

You’re upright and majestic, You’re YHWH, I AM

You are pure and kind, You’re YHWH, I AM

You are just and blameless, You’re YHWH, I AM

You are the lifter of my head, You’re YHWH, I AM

You forgive my sins, You’re YHWH, I AM

You lead me and anoint me, You’re YHWH, I AM

You met me and revealed yourself to me, You’re YHWH, I AM

This is my first attempt at poetry. I was assigned to write a poem using what I learned about God from the Psalmist. I do not consider myself a poet but I hope you enjoy my little poem.

My Utmost For His Highest

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2013

What is your New Year's resolution? Here are a few resolutions I have never heard verbalized before but it seems as if it just works out in our lives as if we had.

I resolve to:

• read the Bible less this year.
• pray less this year.
• put on another 10 pounds this year.
• play more video games this year.
• exercise less this year.
• spend more time in a drunken stupor this year.
• smoke more cigarettes this year.
• watch more television while sitting on the couch ignoring everyone and everything else this year.

Here is the Bible verse I am going to keep in front of me throughout 2013:

Philippians 1:20 (NLT) For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.  

Oswald Chambers calls it giving My Utmost For His Highest. That is my resolution this new year. I know it will cost me something. It will cost me some extra time snuggled up under the covers in the morning. It will cost me some time watching sports or some meaningless reality TV program. It will cost me my utmost for His Highest.

I am not looking to accomplish great things for Christ this year. I'm looking to deepen my relationship with Christ this year and leave the results to Him. That does not mean I am not attempting to do anything for the cause of the Kingdom of Christ this year, but I just want to be available for Him to do with me as He sees fit.

Oswald Chambers

My heroes are not the guys who sipped from the thimble of mediocrity; they are the men and women who have drunk deep from the chalice of self-discipline. Those who have callouses from spending hours on their knees. People who have scoured the scriptures thirsting for a more intimate relationship with the Lover of their soul. Men who have seen the sick healed, the dead raised, the worshippers of idols turn to the true and living God.

This is the year I start seminary. This is the year I finish the devotional My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. This is the year I read the Bible through from cover to cover.

This will cost me My Utmost For His Highest. Will you join me?

Click here for My Utmost For His Highest online.

Satisfaction

The Powerball Lottery is up to $500,000,000! That's half a billion dollars!!! What would you do with that kind of money? Would it be enough to buy happiness? Would it be enough to bring you satisfaction?

Lewis Martinee wrote a song that was popularized by the Rolling Stones, that put it like this:

I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

King Solomon wrote an entire book of the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes, that same thing over and over again throughout the book. Even King Solomon couldn't get no satisfaction, but it wasn't for the lack of trying.

Why is it that the thirst for money and wealth is never satisfied? Why is it that the thirst for power is never satisfied? The things of this world can never satisfy what our souls long for.

Jesus said:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Matthew 5:6

 Jesus answered and said to her (the woman at the well), "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 4:13–14

We are designed for greater things than what we settle for. We settle for stuff when we could have Christ. We settle for the things that feed our lust for power and glory that will last but for a moment then vanishes forever. We are designed for eternity and we settle for that which is temporal.

There is great satisfaction and contentment in Christ. Don't settle for anything less than Jesus. Everything else will burn up and be gone in a moment.

Take My Hand, Everything's OK

Last night Denice and I went to the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game with another couple. We had a nice dinner and came into the ballpark during the second inning. We glided up the escalator to the  upper deck. As we walked towards the doors we saw something I found very disturbing.

A man was trying to lead his son down the escalator. The little boy appeared to be about two years old. Each of them had a cup of soda in one hand and the father started down the moving stairway as his son stood at the top trying to figure out how this strange thing worked. I would start to step onto a step but then it would move away before he had time to get his tiny feet to move. The father finally walked back upstream where he took his son by the hand and the two went down the staircase, hand in hand. That's all the little fellow needed, his father's guiding hand.

When they were about half way down the escalator, a little girl walked up to the top of the escalator with a cup of soda in her left hand and the cutest little pink splint on her right hand. She was around four years of age. Just like her little brother, she was not familiar with the escalator. She kept trying to step aboard to get down to her father, but he kept moving farther and father away. She looked very distressed because she was too afraid to step unto the escalator and her father wasn't there to help her.

I ran over to this precious little girl and held my hand out to her. I asked her if she wanted to hold my hand and I would help her ride the escalator. She shook her head and raised her little pink splint towards my hand. I took her hand in mine and we stepped onto the escalator together.

Finally she was on her way down to her father. As we were gliding down the stairway I asked her what happened to her arm. She said, "I bwoke it!" She was the cutest little thing. I delivered her safely to her waiting father and she was happy once again.

That made me think about how we come up to times where we are afraid to take the next step and we are in need of our Father's hand. Unlike that father who was not there for his daughter, Hebrews 13:5 tells us Jesus said He would never desert us nor would He ever forsake us. As we are walking through life, sometimes we separate ourselves from Him but whenever we reach up to Him He is always there to take our hand and help us take that next step into the unknown.

Instead of pulling your hand away from your Father and going off your own way, how about holding tightly to the Father's hand and let Him guide you through this life. Unlike our earthly father, who have probably let us down and not been there when we needed them, our heavenly Father is always there for us. Just raise your hands and look up. He is always there waiting for us to reach up to Him.

The Heart Of The Human Problem

The Heart Of The Human Problem

This morning I found myself reading the latter chapters of the book of Exodus. This post is the result of meditating on God's desire to dwell with His people. The last few chapters of Exodus is a description of Moses receiving instructions from the Lord for the Tabernacle.

The Tabernacle was a large tent, a portable temple, where the presence of the Lord lived among the Children of Israel while they wondered through the wilderness. The instructions go into great detail for the design and construction of the Tabernacle as well as the furniture to be used in worship to the Lord Almighty.

This morning my mind wondered down a meandering path, not of the design of the Tabernacle, but the fact that the Lord desires not just a relationship with us, He wants to live in us. Here is how my meditation journey took place this morning. As I contemplated how God chose to abide with His people, the Children of Israel, I thought of how they camped around the Tabernacle. The Presence of God was at the heart of the encampment. When the Cloud/Pillar lifted above the Tabernacle the people pulled up stakes and moved.

Just like the the Children of Israel, you and I need to have the Lord at the center of our lives. When the Lord moves, we need to move. Where the Lord stays, we need to stay. Our lives need not be merely aimlessly wondering through life or driven by our own passions and desires for materialistic things, power, or prestige. God said He would give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). If God is dwelling in the middle of the camp He will be placing the desires in your heart. Those are the desires He loves to fulfill. The Lord's desires become your desires.

Then I started thinking how the Israelites camped around the Tabernacle. If you add up the numbers of each tribe and where they camped (Numbers 2) you will see that they camped in the shape of a cross with the bottom pointing to the east. I then stood up and held my arms out so that I was in the shape of a cross (Okay, a fat cross) and the Tabernacle would have been right where my here is. Try it.

Again, God was telling me that He needs to be at the center of our lives. Over and over again the Lord tells us of His desire to live life with us.



Isaiah 7:14 (NASB95) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." (Immanuel or Emmanuel = God with us)




Matthew 1:22–25 (NASB95) "Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.'” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."


Jesus goes on to tell His disciples John 14:16–18 (NASB95) “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans."


I am writing this post just a few days after the movie theater massacre where a young man with several weapons went into a movie theater and shot 71 people, killing 12 and wounding 59. We ask ourselves how someone can do something like that.


The news is reporting about a football coach from Penn State University was convicted of being a serial rapist of young boys and the university was fined and sanctions were handed down for their part in covering up the crimes so as not to reflect poorly on the university. We ask ourselves how could they do that.


I have heard it said, "The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart." I think that sums up the situation pretty well. The problem of evil and wickedness is that Jesus has been excluded from the middle of the camp of people's live. We live in a fallen world where Jesus is not at the center of people's hearts and lives and as a result people have to fill that spot with something. Some fill it with themselves. Some fill it with a false god who commands them to prove their devotion by running planes into buildings, killing as many people as possible.


Enough despair! God has called me and you to show people there is a better way. He has called us to help people put Christ in the center of the camp. Tell them there is a better way than being self-centered, being Christ-centered. It's called Christocentric. Everything was created by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. Putting Jesus back in the center of the camp realigns everything to the way things were created to be.


To fix the problem of the human heart, one must first put Jesus back in His rightful place.