I had some time to kill...

 …My son Geoffrey was taking a test and it was expected to last 2 to 2 ½ hours. I had just one errand to run while in Savannah so I stopped at McDonalds® close to my destination and went in to get breakfast. In case you were not aware said restaurant is required to display the calories of each item they sell. Now honestly, if I was worried about calories why would I be stopping at Mickey D’s? I mean really? I learned something anyway. In the past I have purchased their Big breakfast eggs, hash brown, and pancakes not to mention a few other goodies I forgot about. I did this because it was a lot of food and cheap (about $4). Next to the title was the calorie count. I could not believe it. The count was 1300 calories. For some perspective, an adult male is to eat in a healthy diet 2000 calories in one day. That one breakfast item was 65% of my daily caloric intake in one meal. Who does that? In the past I would eat a big breakfast and then lunch later followed by dinner. Who knows how many calories 5000-6000 in one day? That is not what I ate. My choice was 450 calories for the meal. That is what I wanted. Not always is what I want what is best for me.

Do you have difficult people you have to deal with? Of course you do we all do, I mean someone whose behavior is self destructive and destructive to others around them? That is probably a yes there too. It’s all too easy to dismiss them because “they deserve what they get.” They are a big person and that is the choice they made and so I have no responsibility to help them much less be concerned about them at all (written with all of the righteous attitude I could get out of this keyboard).  God will deal with them. That is true. My question is how should I deal with them? What would be the “Christian thing” to do?

In a devotion book published in 2000, Max Lucado made a point in regards to such a quandary. Matthew 4:23-24 records the movements of Jesus through Galilee teaching, preaching and healing “among them.”  The Gospel record reports that news about him spread all over Syria and therefore people brought to him “all who were ill.” How cool was that? Lucado points out that not all of those people were nice people. Some had done some terrible things. Jesus knew that. Jesus knew their heart and intentions and they were not all honorable. He knows that about us as well. The Gospel record declares “he healed them (all).” He went ahead and healed them knowing what they had done. He healed them knowing that some of the tongues loosed would curse others and him; he healed lame legs knowing they would be used by some to run after stealing from another; he healed those demon possessed knowing that some would never glorify God. Jesus knew that “and he healed them.”

That is grace, Jesus our example. So, what about our response to those difficult people? In a word grace! That is not what you or I will want to do. It will be hard. I t will be the very best contributing to our transformation into the image of grace Jesus.              

In HIS Service and Yours,
BroG       

A tough week of tragedy and triumph...

 …growing up in the Midwest tornados are a part of life. I remember eating in our basement each night one week because the sirens went off as we sat at the table. The second night we had place setting pre-set on a table in the basement so that we could pick up our plate and drink and go downstairs and finish our meal. My heart is heavy for those who lost loved ones especially the families of the two infants killed. Yes, the death toll was less than the Joplin, MO. tornado two years ago (151 dead) but tell that to one of those families who lost a child or a Father or Mother. Thirteen thousand homes damaged or destroyed is massive carnage and clean-up almost beyond our ability to comprehend.  But in the worst of tragedies there is triumph.

Wednesday in an interview with CBS News, the head of the Salvation Army in that region thanked Southern Baptists for preparing over 30,000 meals each day in Oklahoma. That is our disaster recovery ministry partnering with other agencies. I read of a church in OK who is going Saturday to help. They stopped collecting supplies and are simply asking people to go who will help clear debris. It’s not a large church but one moved to help. A number of sources have established that the greatest need is money. You can donate through www.gabaptist.org directly to disaster relief in OK. The best thing is 100% of those funds go to help people. Administrative and other costs are provided through cooperative program funds by cooperating churches in Georgia. It doesn’t end there.

Tragedy comes home in the death of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters unexpectedly or following a long difficult illness. We are never really very far from tragedy. Distance is what we need to help make sense of a tragedy if that is possible. Time and the separation it brings help us not get over it but learn to live with the loss and the change to our lives. The presence of God brings us peace. When we call out to God he is there.

 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our affliction,^[a] so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 HCSB      

An update regarding our building project:

The structure is assembled and “dry” at the site on Honeyridge. We are having some difficulties getting some drawings from the original manufacturer and or having the structure “de-engineered” and then drawn with our intended modification but this week we have new hope from and unexpected connection. Nothing worthwhile is problem free just sometimes it would be nice for there to be “less” problems. It can be frustrating to the point of quitting. Perseverance is a prized fruit of the Spirit in the Kingdom of God.

Perseverance is what sees us to the end and beyond. Jesus persevered to the cross and beyond. What appeared to be a tragedy proved to be the greatest triumph in history because God had a plan.

He calls us to join him.     

In HIS Service and Yours,

BroG       

I have the drama today...

 I know you thought you did but you got nothing on me today…I will have to tell you about it at a later date. Drama is what makes the world go round. Enough real drama is in the news each and every day not to mention the hospitals and nursing homes. That is the stuff of life and death, now that is real. Then there is the made up drama of accusations, innuendo and half truths. Lastly there is the political drama that focuses on the unimportant bypassing the important. It is crazy how mixed up we can be.

So, just so you know, your emergency is not necessarily mine. Your drama is not necessarily mine either. Try as you might to make it mine, it is not necessarily mine. The same is true for you. Having said that, there are some things that are universally important. The list includes those experiences and people that we treasure the most. Our treasure is what we value. Those are what swell us with pride, peace and contentment. Last week I prepared a message on contentment and half way through drew it to a close in response to time and my own energy. I just did no real explanation. So this week I will conclude yet God has been revealing a few things that bring contentment. Turns out they are what I value the most. The list goes like this:

·         The smile of a child. Sunday a little girl whose family was dedicating themselves to the LORD looked at me in response to my voice and spontaneously smiled.

·         The love of a pet. We have a beagle named Annie. When I come home she raises cane in the house until someone lets her out and then she come at full speed right to me to pet her.

·         The care of a community. This week a member of our church in a health crisis was grateful for calls and visits before surgery.

·         The foundation of family.  They support you not maybe how you want but how they and only they can.

·         The sacrifice of a Savior.

^10-14 I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles. Philippians 4:10-14 The Message

We look for peace, contentment, purpose and prestige, power and passion in the wrong places. The world we see around us and in us bombards us with messages to make life better, peaceful and content. They are all hollow. This week I am bulletproof because of Christ who strengthens me and loves me so.

How about You?   

In HIS Service and Yours,

BroG       

That's amazing...

I am not sure if you heard that a young woman was pulled from the rubble of the factory in Bangladesh alive Friday of this week. She had been in the basement trapped for 17 days since the collapse of the building. The mission on the ground moved from rescue to recovery over two weeks ago with over 1000 bodies recovered following over 2000 people rescued.  Hope for victims remaining alive ceased. Today with her rescue in good condition, workers said she had no visible injuries and she was able to walk, hope is renewed. That is amazing. What must she have thought while trapped? Did she wonder if anyone was looking for her or would ever find her alive? Did she think of dying from dehydration or hunger? Time will tell as she tells her story in interviews.

The dog at our house is relentless when one of us is eating anything. She works the table over and over again with many trips unfruitful and then suddenly a tidbit finds its way into her mouth. Even when we say, “No go away,” she continues. We have not trained her very well. She has trained us better. Yet she persists in hope of food.

I don’t know about you specifically but I would guess it is true for you that hope does not always spring eternal. It is hard work butting your head against a wall day after day at work or at home or church, attempting to complete a task or tougher still trying to motivate another in one direction or another. With little or no success at all, we are tempted to throw in the towel, give up, and write them off regardless of calling or commitment or whatever. We may even see is as a trial or test of our courage, faith, stamina or endurance.  Often we blame ourselves because we didn’t work harder, try harder, weren’t smart enough, strong enough, pray enough, preach enough, go enough just      something or anything enough, like somehow we all by ourselves could change the course of human events! We think a lot of our abilities, don’t we? That is that God Complex from the garden hitting us square in the face. If we were god we would do it like… But we forget we are NOT god. So, hope whimpers out the door. What we need is a shift in perspective.

The Christian can even welcome trouble

^2-4 When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence.

¹² The man who patiently endures the temptations and trials that come to him is the truly happy man. For once his testing is complete he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to all who love him. James 1:2-4, 12 J.B. Phillips

While questions may have come and gone in the mind of the one trapped for 17 days in the rubble of her work place rescue efforts were underway beyond her hearing or sight. She had a limited perspective as to all that was going on. What she knew was where she was. Much like an unborn child, all she knew was small cramped world where she was trapped and nothing was happening. James reminds us that when our world feels like that small, cramped and stifling God is doing more than we know. There is hope and help on the way. Like my beagle we just need to patiently endure to the next moment, stop or possibility. In the end upon completion our patient endurance is rewarded with a crown of life and living.

My beagle almost smiles when she gets a handout after working so hard. What about you?

In HIS Service and Yours,

BroG

An opportunity of yesterday...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak at the Bloomingdale National Day of Prayer luncheon. The churches in the community provide lunch for the city employees, elected officials and volunteers. This has been going on for 8 years I think. Police officers, firefighters, city maintenance workers all were there to enjoy. It was good to see friends missed and catch up with their families. Kids grow up fast when they are not yours. Yours take forever to grow up but they never leave (more on that in another article).

Being that it was a church/city event preachers and politicians spoke and short is not in their vocabulary. The kicker is we were on a time schedule so the “working” folks could be back on the job in a timely manner. I was told I would have 15 minutes (for me a challenge anyway) at the end. As the program progressed my 15 minutes became 12 and then 10 and then 7.5 and finally 5. Well, I set a timer and still went past time but I talked fast. I had asked the audience to listen fast. You can guess how that went.

That whole process can be aggravating, the pressure of a time constraint and no control over what comes or does not come before. Two choices exist, you can sit and stew about how little time you might have or you can figure out a way to get to the point as quickly as possible. I chose the latter and was good with that. I don’t always choose that well but yesterday I did. I am glad for the opportunity. I am glad for what came later.

A friend said to stop by and see his wife on my way home. She was feeling good that day and would be up to a visit. This lady is a woman of great faith and a great woman. She has battled stage 4 cancer since before 2004. Her appearance was  frail but she was in good spirits and asked about family etc. During the conversation she revealed she has stopped treatment. Asked what she thought about that she said she was at peace. Peace is a great word for she was at peace in her manner and tone, in her questions and answers, and most importantly in her choice. She decided if she was going to feel bad she wanted it to be because of cancer and not the treatment for the cancer. At some level I get that. We chatted for a few more minutes, not as long as I would have liked but I had to go to deliver those babies home to their parents.

In our conversation her husband told of the great number of folks who wanted to pray for his wife and that she would not let them go until she prayed for them. They wanted to bless her and she would not let them go until she blessed them. So, as I kneeled by her chair to pray I said, “you pray,” and pray she did. I spoke a few words and we concluded.

As I drove home a little late for my schedule I saw the events of the day in a new perspective. Schedule is not life and death blessing is. Order is not life and death peace is. Chatting is not life and death prayer is. When life and death hang in the balance what really matters is peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, the one who will give you rest.

In the end, it’s only Jesus that matters.

In HIS Service and Yours,

BroG