It's a GRACE day.

Several years ago I received a note from a good friend..."my dad's cancer is progressing. His time here is probably down to days..."  When I read those words I was transported back to the last time I was with his dad.  I was saddened by this news, concerned for the grief this final act of life would introduce to my friend and his family...and not.

My friend's father did lose his life; but not once was he in danger of losing his hope: the certain promise that he, as a believer in Jesus Christ, would finally be transported into the presence of His Lord and Savior, there to enjoy life as HE designed it to be.

Life is hard, then we die.   We will all lose our lives, but we need not lose our hope.

Praise God for the hope we have in Christ, and the healing death brings for those who have embraced Christ through effective saving faith.  For these death need not be something to be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a "face to face" real-time relationship with God. Without death, we become eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion...eternally separated from God, without hope of redemption.

Death became the modality that God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, the human race.  So then, death is the definitive "check-mate" and demonstrates God's mastery; always steps ahead of evil and the chaos of sin. Genesis 3 describes the event that initiated the rebellion of Adam and Eve to sin and it's necessary result, death; it's also here that we learn that death is part of God's bigger plan for hope and the redemption of human-kind.

The rest, is history, 1 John 4.9,10...

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son 

into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

We know that love is a four letter word, spelled H-O-P-E; more importantly, we know that death simply marks the first day of the rest of our lives, 2 Corinthians 4.16-18...

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet 

inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary 

troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, 

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

We will rise, thanks be to God.  It's a GRACE day.

bN tGit

Cracked Pots

A year ago, today, Gene Cherrie--Laura's dad, passed into eternity.  I'm reposting this as a "shout-out" to an amazing man.

As we prepared to say our final farewells in a memorial tribute to his life and legacy I ran across a pair of scissors that belonged to Gene.  My first response--I laughed out loud!  Then my heart was warmed as I realized they were metaphor for Gene's life--his legacy.

Gene's scissor project

They are an ordinary three-dollar pair, with customized handle--the one that your middle finger slips into.   It's been very skillfully fashioned from a one-inch piece of ply-wood.  It's clear that Gene had created a jig from the broken handle; carefully cut the wood using the jig, then shaped it with a grinder to fit precisely the targeted finger; sanded to be smooth and pose no splinter threat to the user.

The "stub" of plastic it has been attached to was skillfully reshaped to be the base for the new wood-extension.  The extension has been precisely measured so that the fabrication slips tightly over the stub with one end slightly longer than the other to provide the proper leverage as the scissors are opened and closed (Physics matter).  The extension has been glued to the "stub" and secured with three very intentionally placed wood screws, two on the long end, one on the short to complete the revision. The screw on the short end has been ground down just enough to allow the scissors to close precisely as they did when they were new just coming off the shelf at Staples.

I immediately asked Betsey, Laura's step-mom, if I could have them--she very graciously said "Of course, take them." As I've used these scissors, and yes--reflected on them--over the past several months, I realize they say as much about God, as they do about Gene.

This came clearly into focus for me just this week as I had breakfast with a dear brother-in-Christ and our conversation turned to the impact, the life-long impact, of sin on our lives.  There isn't a re-set button for the bad choices we make.  The grooves sin cuts into our lives are deep and stubborn, they don't simply disappear when we confess our sin and seek God's forgiveness.  The consequences of our willful choices and bad decisions are still part of our daily experience.  If it ended there it would be a difficult load to bear.  But, thanks be to God, it doesn't.

When we come to Christ through effective faith, God takes us as we are, then carefully, lovingly and skillfully refabricates our lives.  The scars are there, still visible--painful--but He restores us.  Like Gene's re-visioned pair of scissors, we become fully-functional again.   He never throws us away; He picks us up, dusts us off and empowers us to carry on.  The scars, the memories, they serve to instruct us each day about His gracious provision, His empowering desire and His loving redemption.

Paul writing to the Church in Corinth (4.1,2.. 7-10) instructs us...

"4 Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. 2 We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods...7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

Did you see that? We are cracked pots; pressed not crushed. Perplexed not confused. Pursued not abandoned. Pushed down not destroyed. Suffering, but fully alive in Christ!The scars that remain serve as a map pointing others to Jesus. It is our weakness that serves as such a remarkable witness to the power of God--choosing the weakness of the human condition to transform our spheres of influence one person, one family, one neighborhood, one community, one nation at time. This humble path-to-power is, in fact, the real "road less traveled." 

I thank God every day for that pair of scissors.  They have an honored place in a simple container, with other tools we use on a daily basis, on one of the counters in our kitchen.  Each time my gaze falls on them, I remember Gene--and in that moment, the legacy of his life points me to God's grace, power and love.  He takes the "total-loss" that was our lives and transforms it to treasure..."all I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life."   

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

bN tGit

THIS, is power.

My choices will shape my character. 

Good character will empower me to be the kind of person God uses to make hard lives easier.  

Making hard lives easier is a legacy that will transform my world, one needy--and often undeserving, person at a time.  

This is the miraculous power of amazing grace.

bN tGit

Deja vu.. All over again.

It's ground-hog day (the Flim) in America.  

More debate over a government shut-down, mud-slinging from both sides of the aisle, candidates sullied by their hubris and worse, a POTUS who thinks he's a visiting Professor who can lecture the world into a better, safer place.

As a Nation we've enjoyed a two-party system that has worked for the American people, bringing the best ideas from BOTH sides of the aisle in a synergy that has eclipsed ideology.  

"Father-in-heaven, deliver that kind of dynamic environment to us again, that we might continue to be a force for peace and that which is good, here and around the world. Heal our division and elevate the aspirations of our leaders to pursue values driven by character, reflective of our diversity, and aimed at the common good. Grant them shrewd judgement to desire and do the right thing. Give us the clarity we need to select leaders worthy of our trust; restore the confidence of this Nation in those selected to govern.  Empower our leaders to work shoulder to shoulder moving us forward for future generations.  Through Christ, let it be."

bN tGit

Power Failure

The Church in America is unplugged, it's powerless.  By power I mean spiritual gravitas which is the result of a clear anointing from God.  Most of the country perceives the confessing church to be the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.  I grew up hearing my mom say, "if the shoe fits wear it!"  Unfortunately, we've been tagged with this perception the old fashioned way, we've earned it.  We've chosen to contend for the soul of America using the political process--a grave error.  The shoe fits. 

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power."  2 Tim 3.1-4 

We routinely come to cultural "waypointes--places on a journey where the traveler can stop and change course."  It's past time for the confessing church to change our trajectory and become THE church. The fact is we've settled for sloppy seconds; too many of us worship in places that are driven by forms rather than power.  We've allowed popular culture to shape our vision of what Christ's church should be, what it should look like; we have embraced the wrong set of outcomes.

Today we measure the quality and effectiveness of our ministries based on the Big 3: People, Buildings, Revenue.  In fact, it's not difficult to erect buildings and fill them with people that generate million-dollar budgets.  False religions, cults and sects do it all around the world.  Jim Jones did in San Francisco and finally in Guyana.  Jimmy Swaggart did it, then did it AGAIN in Louisiana.  

People, buildings and money aren't wrong, they simply aren't the unique signature of Christ's Church.  These, alone, won't produce transformational-redemptive power, nor are they the indicators of the anointing of God.  Powerless religion, form-driven religion has a micro focus: it sees "the church" as the end.  Forms--the way we "do church," the things we do or don't do that identify us as "christians," are paramount.  This is the kind of context Jesus came into in Judea; the context the Religious power brokers endorsed and protected.

Form-driven religion becomes a template that blinds us to the brokenness which surrounds us.  Form-driven religion makes us think in "wrong-headed ways" about what the world deserves v. what God desires--Us v. Them.  Form-driven religion becomes a tyranny which chokes our vibrancy and shrivels our generosity.

Power-driven godliness sees loving, reaching and changing the world as the end.  Power-driven godliness acts without conditions.  Power-driven godliness seeks to make hard lives easier.  Power-driven godliness understands that wealth, leadership, talent and spiritual gifts are resources graciously given by God for His redemptive endeavor.  Power-driven godliness doesn't seek relavance; it is relevant.

Outcomes are critical.  Matthew 9..."35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.  36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.  37 Then He said to His disciples, 'the harvest in plentiful, but workers are few.'" 

We've come to a waypointe.

bN tGit

Capre Diem

"How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone." James 4.13 NLT

It's Monday.  A new week.  A new day...a gift of time, energy and opportunity.  What will you do with it? 

Will you wish it away; squander the "moments" it will produce, or will you seize it, make it great and do somehting significant; invest it in someone, something, that will outlive you? It's your day, make the most of it.

Today--here, gone.

bN tGit

Will-Power

I am reminded throughout the Scriptures about "the sacrifice of praise." 

When I will myself to offer Him my sacrifice of praise--not allowing environment, personalities, music style or selection to distract me--without exception I experience a "breakthrough" TO worship, where a dynamic exchange takes place--Kingdom authority for authentic Worship. 

I am persuaded this is why we see so much conflict around "worship" in the church today. Failure to worship prevents Believers from experiencing His empowering flow: from the throne of God, to the people of God.  As a consequence we underachieve; we never fully appropriate "His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." Ephesians 3.20

When I bend my will, God empowers me for victorious living.  Will-Power.  

bN tGit

Never Forget

".. It is not some arbitrary cycle of history that made the post-War era what it has been. It is American power, and American leadership."    President Harry Truman

POTUS Truman had the vision to see, after two catastrophic World Wars, that it was time for America to step up as a pro-active force for good. He understood what would happen without US power and leadership. His bold decisiveness gave our Presidents who followed a template; some applied it better than others. But our 43rd and 44th has chosen to forge a very different path and as his own Sec Def Hagel stated while serving last year,  "the world is exploding all over." 

We have not forgotten this day.  We have, however,  forgotten the lesson.

bN tGit

Less is more

Control the "Controllables"

Time.
Activity.
Stress.
Disstress.

Why don't we say "no?"  Our fear of loosing an edge is ravaging relationships, creating monster expectations, ruining our health and creating distance between us and God.

The fact is we really do live in a "less is more" world.  "White space" is what makes good Art so fetching, great landscape design so dramatic and relationships work.  It gives us permission to breath, to be creative, to recharge and recreate.  

Who "moved the cheese" and convinced Americans that the contemplative life is empty and worth-less?  
We did.  

Stop.
Breath.
Listen.
Smile.


bN tGit

We will Rise

Several years ago I received a note from a good friend..."my dad's cancer is progressing. His time here is probably down to days..."  When I read those words I was transported back to the last time I was with his dad.  I was saddened by this news, concerned for the grief this final act of life would introduce to my friend and his family...and not.

My friend's father did lose his life; but not once was he in danger of losing his hope: the certain promise that he, as a believer in Jesus Christ, would finally be transported into the presence of His Lord and Savior, there to enjoy life as HE designed it to be.

Life is hard, then we die.   We will all lose our lives, but we need not lose our hope.

Praise God for the hope we have in Christ, and the healing death brings for those who have embraced Christ through effective saving faith.  For these death is not something to be feared; it is a gracious provision that carries us back into a "face to face" real-time relationship with God. Without death, we become eternal beings, like Lucifer and the legion of angels which were cast out of heaven because of their rebellion...eternally separated from God, without hope of redemption.

Death became the modality that God uses to foil Satan's attempt to co-opt God's crowning creative act, the human race.  So then, death is the definitive "check-mate" and demonstrates God's mastery; always steps ahead of evil and the chaos of sin. Genesis 3 describes the event that initiated the rebellion of Adam and Eve to sin and it's necessary result, death; it's also here that we learn that death is part of God's bigger plan for hope and the redemption of human-kind.

The rest, is history, 1 John 4.9,10...

"God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son 

into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 

10  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us 

and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

We know that love is a four letter word, spelled H-O-P-E; more importantly, we know that death simply marks the first day of the rest of our lives, 2 Corinthians 4.16-18...

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet 

inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary 

troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, 

since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

We will rise, thanks be to God.  It's a GRACE day.

bN tGit