Amazing Grace!

"...while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5.6

The reality of redemption: Jesus died in my place, gifted me with the will to say "yes" and choose godliness.

My choices shape my character. 

Godly character will empower me to be the kind of person He (God) uses to make hard lives easier. 

Making hard lives easier is a legacy that will transform 

my world, one needy, undeserving person at a time. 

This is the miraculous power of amazing grace.

Say "yes" to God's Amazing Grace; new life in Jesus Messiah.


Lifeisfast
Liveitwell...M6.8

bN

Facts are stubborn.

Facts are stubborn.

It's easy to simply dismiss them, but then we won't--can't--make progress as a nation.

It's time Americans do what we have done so well for so long; put the best of both political visions, evaluating and applying the facts, to work and create a synergy that empowers our "We the people" political will.

The best kind of politics is not a "winner take all" proposition. That becomes a recipe for tyranny, regardless of whose in charge.

The degraded ethics of the human condition make too much of any ideology, too much. The Framers understood this on a very practical level when they fashioned our Constitutional "checks and balances." It makes governance almost always too slow, and often very clunky--but even with this, it leads to better outcomes.

Step back, breath deeply, think critically and refuse the Kool-Aid people on BOTH sides of the aisle have prepared for this Mid-Term election cycle.  I am not Pollyanna about this world system; I don't believe politicians, ideologues or pundits represent God's vision for our world--with righteous consistency.  I do know where I turn to discover what that vision is: God's Word.

So much hangs in the balance of this election. The impact of what we do will almost certainly outlive all of us. It's important that we get it right--right being leaders that will govern to the highest possible--yet still flawed--standard.

Seems like an impossible dream? I trust in the Sovereignty of God; He has the ability to change hearts and minds, empower for service and give gifts for leadership that are "exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3.20)." 

I am exercising due diligence in preparing my ballot. I am praying for guidance. I am voting. 

I am trusting God, asking Him to anoint this new leadership for 2019 and beyond with an ability to lead America to a commitment where we seek to "Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God (Micah 6.8)." 

With God all things improbable, even impossible are always on the table.



Liveitwell...M6.8 

bN

Will-Power.

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

When I will myself to offer Him my sacrifice of praise; refusing to allow life circumstance, my mental-state, 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 those who follow Jesus Messiah, through effective faith, 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.



Liveitwell...M6.8 

bN

Unplugged.

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. 

Many in our Nation perceive 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 Timothy 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; this forms- context is what 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.


Do. Love. Walk.
Liveitwell...M6.8 

bN

Deliver us from Evil.

Father in  heaven...

Politics has become a growth industry in America, this is a problem; too much ambition and too little service.  It didn't start this way.  The noble has become ignoble.

Regardless of party affiliation, the pursuit of power, wealth, celebrity too, has become the focus of many elected to serve "the people" in Washington.  Congress has been sullied by gridlock, the love of money, sexual scandal, graft and abuse of privilege.

I pray You will raise up leaders from every segment of political vision, willing to make tough decisions, without regard for how those decisions poll: that, will be patriotism.

...Deliver us from evil.

Lifeisfast
Liveitwell...M6.8 

bN

Seen NOT heard.

"I can...
Be there for you when it can't get much harder,
Cover your head when life starts to rain,
Hold on tight when you feel like you're falling,
Bread crumb the path when you've lost your way,
Make you laugh when the whole world is crying,
Build you up when you're broken in shame.
But if all that we do is ABSENT of Jesus, then this so called love, is completely in vain."*

Absence makes the heart grow harder.
Sometimes...
God's people should be seen and not heard.

"...do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God."  Micah 6.8

Followers of Jesus, let's walk the Walk.  



Lifeisfast.
Liveitwell...M6.8 bN


* "This So Called Love" by MercyMe

From Another Perspective

I posted this blog on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.  One year later, on Tuesday June 28, 2016 our beloved grandson Braden, leveled-up into the presence of King Jesus.  The epilogue?  Thanks be to God for our blessed hope: The anchor holds.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."  Ephesians 3.20,21

This is a capstone of worship and benediction to Paul's prayer for the Ephesian Church in his letter to the same. The prayer, and this benediction, are perhaps my favorite text in the Newer Testament.

 The optimist in me always sees the glass half-full. These words "...abundantly, beyond all that we ask or imagine..." always brought great joy to my heart as I contemplated--then experienced--God's blessing on His people, His provision on a "just-in-time" basis--rarely early but never late.  I've come to another perspective over the last few months about this promise in vv.20,21.

Recently I've connected the dots in a different way; "...abundantly, beyond all that we ask or imagine..." can sometimes come to us through the portal of pain, suffering and loss. It isn't that I don't understand that God uses suffering in our lives. It isn't that I've never personally experienced that process. I'm 62 years old--who hasn't suffered in 62 years? God has always been a ROCK and walked though all the squasma with me. I simply have never connected THIS verse to THAT process.

Reflect on this with me for a moment--applying the text, "...abundantly, beyond anything we can ask or imagine," to the crucible called suffering. This promise is a deep well of hope for those between a rock and a hard place. 

God wastes nothing that comes into our lives. I believe that most of what we suffer is simply the result of the ebb and flow of life impacted by a world wrecked by sin. Imagine (though the text says it's beyond our ability to imagine) God meeting us "abundantly, beyond anything we can ask or imagine" in those hardest of hard "life-loss" moments--NOT removing the suffering or restoring the loss, but using it to transform us.

This--the hardest of hard-- is where I've lived since February 19, 2015 when we learned our 13 year-old grandson, Braden, had a very serious cancer. God has met me in this barren place...abundantly, beyond anything we could ask or imagine. 

Braden is not cancer-free, and we have no guarantee, though his prognosis is good. The way to his current status has been difficult, he has suffered and lost too much. Yet, through it all, God has inhabited my fear, my anger and my tears. He has changed me, made me more dependent, forged a more profound faith in me; He has changed Braden. He has changed our family...abundantly, beyond anything we could ask or imagine.

I have witnessed abundance through Braden's parents--their resolve and leadership; through Braden's transformed adolescent attitude; through younger brother Kellen pitching in, doing all he can to bring comfort and ease the load. I have witnessed abundance through answered prayer. I have witnessed abundance through the hundreds of people who are investing there time, energy, love and faith in us--generously, constantly. I have witnessed His abundance in my "dark night of the soul" moments...abundantly, beyond anything we could ask or imagine.

I know this: God is. God is acting. God is acting for us. God is acting for us abundantly beyond anything we can ask or imagine--in celebration and through suffering.

Loss isn't abandonment. It isn't the death of hope. It's an "intersection" where one can step back and see life not just for what it isn't, but for what it is; it's at that place, in that moment, we see the goodness of God...abundantly, beyond anything we can ask or imagine.

Sometimes, joy comes in the MOURNING.

Lifeisfast

Liveitwell...M6.8 bN

The Great Debate

Politics is part of our DNA. It's why we don't choke up when we hear our cousins from across the pond singing "God Save the Queen."  

That said, let's work to keep the Debate civil and respectful.
Let me be clear here; civil doesn't mean we can't passionately disagree with each other. It doesn't mean we can't say what we think and apply with dazzling skill (or not), the amazing resources at our fingertips to back up our opinions. 

 It's ironic that we have come to believe that it's politically correct to be neutral--or at least give the appearance of neutrality. The term "political" has no application apart from the idea of people engaged in advancing a specific set of ideas to govern the way we do things--in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, communities and government!

The freedom to speak is part of the foundation of our nation; our nation, that survives today because citizen-soldiers have taken up arms against those who would seek to subjugate us and our way of life--without regard for wether they agreed with all the politics. We owe those who gave so selflessly a debt of great responsibility with regard to our deportment as a free-people.

That said...let's engage in the debate.

• Let's speak out with boldness. 
• Let's refuse to be thin-skinned.
• Let's choose kindness.
• Let's refuse to brand "not like me" as hate speech.
• Let's make it passionate, but not personal.
• Let's give each other the space to be stubborn and blind. Not everyone is as smart as we are...that's a good thing (wink, wink).
• Let's believe the best about those who think differently.
• Let's ask questions to clarify.
• Let's exercise grace and tolerance for those who seem, from our perspective, so intolerant.
• Let's be willing to grow and change.
• Let's not be ugly.
• Let's remind those who may embrace what we believe, but do so in ugly ways, that "ugliness isn't funny, helpful or appropriate--ever."
• Let's work to control hyperbole...which is rhetorically useful and appropriate but must be done with balance.
• Let's allow for another rhetorically useful tool: sarcasm...but those who use it unwisely do so at their own peril. Less is more.
• Let's be willing to own our errors humbly and with grace.
• Let's be willing to forgive.

Remember, we have a new-direction "fork in the road" every two years. It's the "governor" on the system and virtually assures that the more things change, the more they stay the same; therein lies the genius of the Founders.


Politics, it's part of our DNA. Forget the Queen; God bless America!

Lifeisfast

Liveitwell...M6.8 bN

We WILL rise.

Thinking of that great cloud of witnesses who have finished the race...there soon.

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 (Romans 10.5-13).  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.

Lifeisfast

Liveitwell...M6.8 bN

Breathe it in.

When the road of life is clear and smooth,
too often we miss the beauty within our easy grasp.

We gaze ahead with intensity
through the portal which beckons us,
"...move quickly along the way!
Life waits...just ahead." 

Indeed it is the journey, not the destination
that unravels the mystery: breathe it in, let it out.

Lifeisfast.

Liveitwell...M6.8 bN