Once again I have butted heads with an assumption!

              I have been reading Jeremiah for way to long. Not because Jeremiah has grown in length but rather because I got tired of the abuse he continues to suffer by the very people God is speaking to. It really is bad. So, I left Jeremiah and went to Acts. That’s my story. This was some time ago yet Jeremiah has not left my mind. Honestly, I have not heard too many messages from Jeremiah save the one passage we fancy.

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (HCSB).

Jeremiah has been used and abused by the folks he is trying to save. God gives him a message and he faithfully speaks it, they don’t like it and they try to “shoot” the messenger. Time and time again his life is in peril because he faithfully follows God’s direction. Do you see the head butt?

Here in America we assume if you do what God wants everything will be fine. That is true in a long view. Everything will be fine. Jesus will reorder all of creation to be without sin at his return. But in the meantime, to follow Jesus and do what he asks is to butt against the world and it’s master who is not fond of God or you at all and that means trouble for you. Somehow we don’t see this is normal. That is the life Jesus lived and the prophets before him and his disciples after him. Butting against the world and the sin that pervades and invades every aspect of the planet is NORMAL. Following Jesus is not for wimps. So, what to do when it seems too hard and too difficult and too useless.

The book of Job is probably the first book penned to paper and to this day the most difficult to read because it mirrors our walk with God through difficult times. In an e-mail I subscribe to from Chuck Swindol for pastors came these words.

Job’s life was an authentic model of courageous living. He had trusted God in the good times. Now the scene was set to determine if Job would trust God in an impossible situation. He endured loss like few have known. His home . . . destroyed. His family . . . perished. His health . . . ruined. His finances . . . wiped out. His friends . . . questioned his godly reputation. In the long process of working through his questions and struggles, Job finally resolved to trust God—no matter what. He responded, in so many words: “I accept what God has sent. I have accepted good, now I accept adversity.” Read that once more. Acceptance is the secret of his stability.

My friend, if your days have been punctuated by difficulties and nights have been like a long and dark tunnel, find your comfort in God’s sovereign control and everlasting love. We pastors need to remember that God often uses the ministry in us [bold mine] more than He uses us in the ministry.

Your Savior knows your breaking point. The bruising and crushing and melting are designed to reshape you, not ruin you. He’s the Potter, remember, and you’re the clay. Your strength and courage increase the longer He lingers over you.

"How to Trust When Feeling Troubled" by Charles R. Swindoll  Posted: 17 May 2016 02:00 AM PDT

In HIS service and yours,                                                       

BroG

P.S. Jeremiah also used object lessons to get God's message across! Yes, I will keep reading Jeremiah.

Time for a building Update! It's GOOD!

               You may or not know that Crossroads Church is in the process of building a building. This has been a long and slow process. It is definitely on a Kingdom timetable and not an earthly one. To be honest, I am TIRED of it. But, it is not done yet, soon, but not yet. We are paying as God provides and HE is ALWAYS faithful all the while trying to be good stewards of resources as well as reusing materials as is possible. We have been blessed by the generosity of people in their time, talents and materials.

We are also trying to build with energy efficiency in mind. That includes foam insulation, an energy efficient metal roof, fiber cement siding, insulated doors and double glazed windows with low-e coating. We have recycled the original metal siding, wiring and a/c units. The new A/C will be more energy efficient with and SEER rating of over 18. The lighting will include LED fixtures in the main room and efficient fixtures in the class room, bathrooms, and lobby/serving area. Energy efficiency has a payoff in reduced costs as well as requiring less from the grid.

I have become the project manager. “I ain’t never done that before” (that is our motto). Seminary did not prepare me for that task. There was no church building 101in the course catalogue but God did, does and continues. He uses Google and YouTube as well as friends who share their wisdom, experience and kindness with me. It honestly is a real life example of how God calls not necessarily the skilled or gifted but (in my case) the ignorant and willing. He then skills and gifts as needed for the task He has assigned. He provides the strength and endurance to continue even when you are, “dog tired” and fed up with it.

All of those folks in the picture to the right are volunteers. Some with some building skills some not so much. Yet they have been and are willing to try anything and learn. None of them, including yours truly, have ever put up fiber cement siding and yet reading instructions, watching a video or two and a little common sense we are doing it. If I do say so myself, what we have done looks good and after a week is still on the building. I cannot speak for a month, year or decade from now but… There is a strange familiarity in this process.

Much of the Old Testament involves the Called of God living out his message. Jeremiah, Hosea, Moses are but a few examples of individuals required to live the message, be the example of God’s message. I have seen and continue to recognize our building process as a living example of God’s work in lives. Taking three used, discarded, modular office units and transforming them into a place set aside for Kingdom work and worship is a miracle. But not more than the transformation of a life dead in sin into a living, breathing, redeemed Child of the Living God. It’s not easy. It’s hard. It’s GOOD!

In HIS service and yours,                                                       

BroG

What to do when you are sliding into the pit!

              This past week was only seven days long however it seemed like an eternity. My Mother was hospitalized from Tuesday to Saturday with jaundice. She presented Tuesday yellow and so we began the discovery process through ultrasound, imaging, blood work and observation. The preliminary results as to the cause were a blocked gall bladder and so that is what we were thinking. The results were not what we expected as the believed cause was pancreatic cancer (one year to the month since my dad’s diagnosis). Crazy huh? My Mom is 92 by the way. So we held out hope waiting on a biopsy. Unfortunately the biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. It is pancreatic cancer. That will take the wind out of your sails as it had not been on my radar as to a possible cause. I don’t know why but it wasn’t.

The whole hospital experience with trying to be there and complete tasks at the house and the church became daunting but to then add a life-ending diagnosis, overwhelming is and understatement. I hope you have not been there but I would be remiss if I failed to tell you that if you haven’t you will be and if you have then you know where I was. So, I was existing yet I had to prepare for Sunday to lead in worship and preach. Needless to say I did not want to do any of that. I just wanted to curl up in a ball by myself for a long while. God had another message.

I was reminded last week in the middle of Jesus and his disciples at the last supper. In John chapter 13.

Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1 HCSB.

Those are hard words “He loved them to the end.” Consider what Jesus knew. He knew he would die for the sins of the world and yet was not guilty. He knew that of these 12 men, one would betray him for money, one would deny him three times, nine would run for the hills and not be seen during his greatest time of need, only one would be there at the cross. That is a load. I wonder if he wanted to curl up in a ball and just be? That’s not all,

³ Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God. John 13:3 HCSB So, what does Jesus do? ⁴ So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. 5 Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him. John 13:4-5 HCSB.

Jesus serves them.

That is the last thing I would do and I guess maybe you too. Even when he knows about how these sorry men will respond Jesus serves them anyway. Don’t you just want to slap him? Well, at least I did.

I did not want to go to church, play and sing or much less preach. It seemed so pointless at the time. But I serve Jesus and God reminded me what He did. So out of duty now I prepared and went. We were outside, the crowd was small to slim. We forgot some necessary supplies. Just not a good day and I did my “duty” thing and God showed up.

As I served them he met me. At the end I was glad I had been there and served. Serving others was what I needed to overcome the pit I was slipping into that morning. I whole heartedly recommend it to you when you are sliding in the pit of despair serve another.  

In HIS service and yours,                                                       

BroG