When We Lose Someone

Yesterday was a dear friend's birthday who went to be with the Lord last year. It is a strange thing to see an electronic update come up with her name and face. She was such a dear saint that loved the Lord, her family, and her friends. She was a person that you could always count on to do something kind. It may be a gift or just a card saying that she was praying for you. Her ministry was to students and to women in the church. She hosted the first of what is now our Girl's Ministry in our Student area of the church. Her help to me was in caring for and counseling women who were going through marital difficulties. She was a gifted encourager and teller of truth. I miss Lynne Breen.

I know that a lot of other people do too and we are all praying for Mike, Travis, Caleb, and Lynne's family.

I also know that many people feel the way I do about someone else. It may be a family member, a friend, or someone they admired. When we have a loss that cannot be replaced, it is tough to go on. There are certain places in our lives for a parent, a child, a confidant or an inspiration and when we lose that person, a replacement may not be possible. The loss is real and lasting.

The grace of God gives us joy even in our loss for those of us in Christ that have lost loved ones who are in Christ. We can say what David said when he lost a child, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23) One day all of us in Christ will be gathered together with God. We will all be together with Him. What a great day that will be!

What We Get To Do

Not only are we receiving the Lord's Supper tomorrow... And not only will we see the family of Living Hope love Jesus, each other, and people in need... We can do what D.L. Moody says angels would love to do - celebrate and share the Gospel!

I believe that if an angel were to wing his way from earth up to Heaven, and were to say that there was one poor, ragged boy, without father or mother, with no one to care for him and teach him the way of life; and if God were to ask who among them were willing to come down to this earth and live here for fifty years and lead that one to Jesus Christ, every angel in Heaven would volunteer to go. Even Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, would say, "Let me leave my high and lofty position, and let me have the luxury of leading one soul to Jesus Christ." There is no greater honor than to be the instrument in God's hands of leading one person out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of Heaven.

-- Dwight L. Moody

Africa on My Mind

I woke up thinking about and praying for Africa. It will not be long before I will be there with a small team of leaders to evangelize, train young Christians and church leaders, and to pray for a village that needs a church. It is our hope to have Living Hope take responsibility to see to it that a church is planted in that village of some 15,000 lost people.

Please commit to pray for me and the team of men I will be serving with. Ask God to keep us safe and healthy, to enable us to serve Him and His church effectively, and for Him to do a work in us and through us that brings Him glory. Also, please be in prayer for the missionaries and the people group we will be seeking to give hope to. You can read about the people group here and get to know the missionaries here.

Please be in prayer for our families here. They will have to continue on with business as usual without our help. The workload they will have to carry along with missing us and praying for us will be quite a burden.

Right now each of us is finishing our planning for what we will teach. We are making final decisions about what we are going to bring and preparing our hearts and minds for spiritual darkness, heat, and also for the sweetness of fellowship with our missionary friends and the new believers we will come to love. If you could pray that God would provide us with discernment and for clarity in our preparation for what to teach, that would be a huge help. There is so much we can give, but so little time.

Opportunities like this have the power to change us and eternity. My prayer is that God will do a fresh work in me and grow a greater love and awe of Him in my heart.

Buying from Amazon? Use this link and support missions...

Under my picture on this blog to the right you will see a box that says...

Use this Link to Support Missions at Living Hope Baptist Church

* Amazon Link for Referral Credit for LHBC

If you are going to buy anything from Amazon, please use that link first. Every purchase you make will give money toward the mission efforts of Living Hope. You can support missionaries all over the world and make it possible for people to hear the Gospel by doing nothing more than buying something you were going purchase anyway.

It's good Kingdom stewardship.

You can also find the link on the church's website.

Taking It for Granted

It was really dark this morning and when I was leaving our dark bedroom to go run at 5 am, I failed to notice that our bedroom door was slightly opened. I nailed my head on the door. It hurt so bad. Thankfully, it didn't leave a mark.

While I was driving to the gym, I started thinking about Proverbs 4:19 "But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." So many people live what I briefly experienced this morning. Darkness is their normal and they stumble about in hate, lust, greed, and all sorts of Godlessness and the result is pain. In sin we never see what's coming until it's too late and by then all we can do is hope to minimize the damage.

What a privilege it is to be walk in Christ and enjoy the blessings of His promises like John 8:12 "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'”

In Christ we are guided by truth and enabled to be blessed by His presence. This light allows us to see sin for what it is and to avoid obstacles that would trip us up. In Christ we can "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles," and we are able to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us." We do this when we "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1–2

It is easy to take God's blessings for granted. We can own Bibles and have access to places of worship and friends in Christ, but if we do not appreciate them and live in them, we will miss the blessing of the light and face the consequences of darkness. It is a privilege to know Christ. I am going to live in appreciation of God's grace to me today and the light He has bestowed in me.

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I was so tired. It was cold. My head is stopped up with the beginnings of a sinus infection. The last thing I wanted to do was put on my work out clothes, get in a cold car, and go work out.

But I did. The only reason I got up and went was because I knew that if I didn't follow through with my commitment, I would have regretted it. Regret is the worst. There is nothing that can mend it. Opportunities come and when we don't take advantage of them, we don't get a do over. You push through and go for it or you miss it.

The words "would have", "should have", and "could have" leave a bad taste in my mouth. They are the first words of justified failure. Once you start saying those words and get comfortable with them, you can know you have accepted regret as a reality. That's no way to live.

God has a great day planned for each of us today who have been saved by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The question we have to answer is, will I go for it and take advantage of the opportunities that stand before me today even though they will require great effort and maybe sacrifice or will I settle for regret.

Day 3 of Resolutions

Barna's Research on Resolutions:
When asked to describe their experience with resolutions during 2010, only one out of four Americans (23%) who had made resolutions found those commitments resulted in “significant, long-term change” to their behaviors or attitudes. More commonly, Americans described their 2010 resolutions as resulting in “minor change” (29%) or “no change” (49%).

Resolutions are funny for me. I have found that there are things I want to be different in my life, but I usually don't want to have to change what I do. I like the idea of weighing less, but I don't want to give up the calorie intake to do it. I like the idea of reading more, but I don't want to give up the other activities I engage in.

What I have learned works for me is getting excited about the life change and letting the results be secondary. If I focus only on the results, they usually don't happen. When I focus on the day to day activities of my life and celebrate them and make them habitual the results usually come in time.

I don't really have any resolutions this year, but today I'm getting back into my work mode where my mind is required to live in 5th gear for 8-12 hours a day. This is good and bad. The good thing is that I love what I am privileged to do, but I will miss building legos with Asher, shooting ball with the kids, and the afternoon naps that I enjoyed during my vacation last week.

So it's day 3 of the new year and my prayer is that God will do a fresh work in my heart, allow me to feel His presence in every decision and task, and enable me to rest in the goodness of His grace that provides me the opportunity to live in the power of His Spirit. I am also going to keep the M&M jar in my office closed this week.