upward & inward

Prayer Journal Entries July 3, 2012: "Help us cope with [another] departure." July 5, 2012: "Comfort for the congregation during this time of transition." Like the ripples in a pond after a stone is tossed in, a big change brings other changes. When the Sr. Pastor resigned, I had already scheduled a trip to Africa and a vacation for the month of June. While it was difficult to leave the church during this time, I had to realize that this wasn't my church but Christ's church, His bride.  I remain only a steward. So, on June 30th, our team, the first team to go in 2012, returned safely.  It was great to be back in the fellowship again on that next day, a Sunday, celebrating Christ, and thanking Him for a great trip, another church built, and for so many stories to share with our church family.  It was the day after, a Monday, when the reality of another leadership lesson would shake me (briefly) out of the fog of jet-lag. After 11 years of faithful...

How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. Psalm 31:19 When I think about the LORD and His goodness to me and those around me, I am so thankful. And yet, I'm not sure I've thought often about how He stores up goodness for me.  Have you? If we fear Him alone (and that's a BIG IF), then we can be assured of this promise: that He will store up goodness for us! The doctor gives bad news. God has goodness stored up for us. A spouse asks for a divorce. God has goodness stored up for us. Children make decisions that grieve us. God has goodness stored up for us. Fellow students or colleagues at our place of employment treat us with contempt or worse. God has goodness stored up for us. Dreams and goals we thought were important are no longer possible. God has goodness stored up for us. No matter what we encounter along the Way - whether calm or storm, peace o...

Let's pretend for a moment that you and I are on our way to see someone we both admire greatly. This person could be anyone, absolutely anyone in history - Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so on. We've received our invitations, the time and date has been set, and we're really on our way. How would we approach that event? Would it be with excitement? Or, even muted anticipation? Would it be, instead, with a casual disregard? Once we arrived, would we seek a seat in the back? Or, would we get there early for a seat as close to the front as possible? If we are followers of Christ, worshipers of the Most High God, then whenever we gather together in corporate worship, we have this opportunity.  We are not coming just for the music or the speaking - no matter how great (or not so great) they may be. Instead, we are coming to see and celebrate not a man like those in the example above, but the King of Kings and ...

Kamuli Town, in the Kamuli district, is a small town with two gas stations and several small shops to purchase food, merchandise, livestock, and so on. We stayed in town at a guest house where the couples had their own rooms and the rest of the team were divided into groups of two or three. I roomed with Moses and Carl Gordon in a small room where three twin beds were shoe-horned into. The doors were locked with a padlock and remained secure the whole time we were there. In fact, the guest house was a walled compound with a gate to drive into a courtyard in the back. The church site is on the outskirts of town past several private schools named after Catholic saints and filled with colorfully uniformed kids. The church property was purchased at the end of a road - also purchased to reach the larger site. As a guess, I think the property is less than acre while the road is about 200 feet long. The church, as we arrived, lacked some brickwork, a roof, doors, and windows. The trus...

My bride pointed me to a post by Mark Beeson, pastor at Granger Community Church that resonated with me. In it, he shares that service to and for God is worship - just as lifting holy hands in song and adoration is worship. It's not either/or - it's both/and. When we serve others for His sake, we are worshiping God. Romans 12:1 - Finally, my dear brothers, in view of God's mercy offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. When we offer ourselves to God, then we do what pleases Him. And, as Mark reminded me, God is pleased by our service - our sacrifice to Him. Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. How many times have we missed the mark of true worship in the Spirit, because we ignore the opportunities to serve Him?

The Bible says:  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.  Psalm 145:3 A.W. Tozer writes: The dictionary says that to admire is "to regard with wondering esteem accompanied by pleasure and delight; to look at or upon with an elevated feeling of pleasure." According to this definition, God has few admirers among Christians today. Many are they who are grateful for His goodness in providing salvation. At Thanksgiving time the churches ring with songs of gratitude that "all is safely gathered in." Testimony meetings are mostly devoted to recitations of incidents where someone got into trouble and got out again in answer to prayer. To decry this would be uncharitable and unscriptural, for there is much of the same thing in the Book of Psalms. It is good and right to render unto God thanksgiving for all His mercies to us. But God's admirers, where are they? The simple truth is that worship is elementary until it begins to...