I will be so glad when Wednesday morning comes!

I am tired of all of the political commercials. I voted this week early. I think early voting is the best thing yet. I would like for it to be law that once you vote you are exempt from the political ads, calls and nonsense. I don’t know HOW to do that but it should be a law. It is our responsibility to be good citizens and vote as Christians. Regardless of the election results, it is our duty to vote. But not our duty to watch those blasted ads.

Be informed before you vote but not from the ads. Ads are what ads are and truth is not as obvious as they would have you believe. Luke Skywalker asked Obi-Wan Kenobi why he had not been told the truth about Darth Vadar being his father. Obi-Wan replies that what he was told was the truth from a “certain point of view.” The same can be said of those commercials, they tell the truth from a certain point of view. They leave out the details. Do some fact checking. It means whatever you do in office would be used against you in the court of public opinion, Catch 22. That is a shame. We need Godly men and women in elected office. However, they will pay a price.

Consider the amount of money being spent by these candidates to be elected! The totals for this year will be a while coming in but I have little doubt it is obscene when compared to the cost of providing food, shelter and clothing to those without here and around the world. That’s the long view and politics is inherently short sighted. Believers are to be good citizens but this is not our home. We are ever so certainly being changed to fit in Heaven not here. By design and sacrifice we will be less and less comfortable here. If we are not very careful the temporary can consume us to the point of failing to look at the view of the permanent. Heaven is the permanent. Politics is the temporary.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome (a brutal oppressive regime) these words.

¹ Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.

⁴ For government is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong.

⁵ Therefore, you must submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience. Romans 13:1,4-5 HCSB

 

Notice there is no mention of political ads! Come on Wednesday!

 

Really we should say, “Come, COME Lord Jesus!

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G

It's in our nature to make the simple complex!

 In the introduction to Hebrews in The Message Eugene Peterson writes (adapted):

We can’t get too much of God, can’t get too much faith or obedience, can’t get too much love or worship. But religion – the well-intentioned efforts we make to “get it all together” for God – can very well get in the way of what God is doing for us. Doesn’t matter the circumstance: in good times or bad our tendency is to add on, supplement, and embellish. But instead of improving on the purity and simplicity of Jesus, we dilute the purity and clutter the simplicity. We get in the way of God. He goes on to write, “That’s when it’s time to read and pray our way through the letter to the Hebrews again, written for “too religious” Christians. Written for “Jesus and” Christians.

I wish that was true of other people and not me but it’s not. I make the simple complex by getting hung up on the unimportant. You know like a child who fusses over the cup their juice comes in rather than the juice. The Pharisees concerned themselves with their appearance more than their character. Jesus called them out on that. Too often we make life and living about ourselves AND Jesus. Jesus AND my belief, Jesus AND education, Jesus AND politics, Jesus AND my right behavior, you get the picture.

This becomes true (well it’s true all the time) but more evident when we are aggravated that life seems unfair. That someone else is not doing what they are “supposed to.” Yet WE are and THEY seem to “win” or have it better than us. Tuesday as I walked with the dog early in the morning I found my conversation (the one in my head) to be exactly that. It was Jesus AND my righteous behavior. IT JUST WASN’T FAIR. At least as far as I was concerned. If I was God… That is the problem. I want to be God, me AND Jesus.

Reliant K penned a phrase “the beauty of Grace is it makes life not fair.” That’s what I’m counting on, not getting what I deserve in all fairness. Yet, I want to require fairness (karma) for everyone else. I am a hypocrite. I want my cake AND eat it too. I overheard a child on the bus this morning telling another to “shut up.” Their reasoning was they were not the boss of me. I reminded the child speaking they were not the boss either. Yet that is exactly what they were trying to do. I learned it from them?

What I need to learn is found in the words of Jesus (go figure), “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

 

I have MUCH to learn about “unforced rhythm” AND Jesus. 

In HIS Service and yours,

Bro G

You just never know!

Last Saturday as I was tooling down the road in a caravan of school buses taking the ECHS marching band to a competition, I was enjoying the pretty day and relative light traffic on US 321 outside of Estill, SC. Little did I know that there would be an accident in the other lane that would spill over and involve the last bus. That changed everything!   

Sunday evening Weston (Elizabeth’s boyfriend of two years) asked her to marry him. She said yes and was surprised by their friends and family gathered around to celebrate the event. It seems she has grown up. There have been times… That changed everything (I’m sure I will find out how much in days to come).

This morning (Thursday) there was an accident (come to think of it there has been an accident somewhere in the area each morning this week) at Ga 21 and Ebenezer Road. That changed the path of a few hundred people as they rode buses to school arriving late because of traffic and detours not to mention the lives of those involved and their families.

We live everyday with the possibility that it all could change in an instant and yet we are surprised and shocked when it happens. When was the last time God showed up surprising you and changing everything? For me it was a week or two ago in a conversation with Elizabeth (our oldest). I realized she had matured and was surprised it had happened, grateful too. She spoke of student loans and how grateful she was to not have to pay them. I remembered the struggle deciding which school to go to of three private (read in expensive) colleges, Baylor, Mercer and Berry. I prayed over several days after the financial aid offers arrived. God revealed it was Berry College. I argued because it was the least attractive financial package. God didn’t argue. It dawned on me after all this time He has been good to his word. He had a plan and we (this time) followed and look how it worked out. That kind of realization changes everything.

That’s what we are looking for. The presence of God active and interested in our lives. It’s a game changer. That’s what God does is change the game completely and wonderfully. Most often unexpectedly and unknowingly on our part, nevertheless, “He who was seated on the throne said, Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” Revelation 21:5 (HCSB) He is at work making all things new and yet we are surprised. Why? Our thinking needs to be made new!      

In HIS Service and yours

Bro G

I'm going to do it!

I saw this post on Facebook from Ed Stetzer of Lifeway Resources with this photo. He declined but yep, I’m going to do it. In some Christian circles there has been much emphasis placed on these four Blood Red Moons to occur this year. It is a rare event but not a brand new event.

 

Since man first noticed the heavens he has tried to make a connection with events in the heavens and events here on this planet. Do events in the heavens predict happenings on this planet? Do they cause them? Often our fascination has misled us to worship the created instead of the Creator. This is still going on today.

Some in the faith community have suggested these astronomical events are the announcement of the second coming of Christ. Now there is a precedent for such a conclusion, Bethlehem. A star announced to the entire universe that the Son of God had become man. The star was witness to what God was doing. Magi who studied the stars saw it and came. However the eclipse of the moon is a calculated regular occurrence. It is not new nor unexpected. It’s more like Apple announcing a new IPhone. It happens regularly and people freak out about it as new and exciting. Now a lunar eclipse is special and unique. It reminds of the spectacular nature of the universe God created and the unique order and precision that God alone defined. It’s not the announcement of the Second Coming. So, what do we look for…

¹⁰ But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief…

^11-13 Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness. 2 Peter 3:10-13 The Message

In HIS Service and yours

Bro G

It's been a week!

We started off with our 10^th birthday celebration at Crossroads Church. We had a great crowd (75) great music, good food, and fine inflatables outside for all to enjoy. I was touched by the numerous words testifying of what God is doing in the lives of those present and how we have facilitated that as a church. That is what I had hoped we could do from the very start, connect people to God through Jesus Christ in real day to day ways. Sunday I heard story after story of how that is happening. A day like that should set me on cloud nine for a while. It did but it didn’t last. About the time you get a big head reality comes screaming to a stop right in front of you.

That has been the theme of the week for me. Up in the morning down by the evening or down in the morning and up in the evening. I thought I was heading down one path only to find it blocked. I thought one plan was going to work only to find not today. The roller coaster you see is fun while going up but not so fun if it stops. You are stranded and it’s not easy getting down safely. Have you had those weeks or months? They sure don’t seem like the powerful existence that the 1^st century church had.

They don’t seem like it yet they are exactly the same experience the 1^st century church experienced. Paul writing to his son on Christ Timothy reminds the young man what he needs to do when he is on the roller coaster.

So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain. 2 Timothy 2:1-7 The Message

Once again it is to focus on Christ and following his example.

That is our task.

 
In HIS Service and yours

Bro G