Thursday, February 26, 2009

The First Time

Upon returning from a 10-day mission trip to Zeway, Ethiopia, I find myself reflecting on several first time experiences.
It was my first time:
-flying in an aircraft for 23 hours
-traveling to Ethiopia
-preaching with a translator
-seeing poverty at its maximum level
-having starving, sick children embrace me
-seeing hundreds of poor beggars plead for money and food
-seeing naked children playing in street gutters
-worshipping with brothers/sisters in a different language and finding no barriers
-teaching a pastors school to a fellowship of pastors from 14 other churches
-feeling very out of control of my safety and circumstance
-living without clean water
-living without electric and working toilets
-meeting my sponsored children
-going through a week without ESPN, cell phones, and computers and not missing them at all!

This is only the beginning of a list of first times for this trip. But ultimately I would do them all over again for the experience was life-changing. To quote my son, "Everyone in the US needs to go on a trip like this for at least one time." To that I wholeheartedly say Amen!

Perhaps God is calling you to step out and experience something for the first time. Obediently follow His call-you won't regret it.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Faithfulness


This past Sunday Quest Community Church was honored to have a pastor from Haiti speak to us. Pastor Christian Altidor spoke of his church of 1500 people and his school that struggles to meet the financial demands. his country has been devastated by hurricanes over the last few years with thousands losing everything they had.

But the thing that struck me so much was his personal story he shared that was truly a testimony of faithfulness.

In a poor country surrounded by the darkness and evil of voodoo and witchcraft, he has been faithful to his wife for 52 years. She is now blind and paralyzed from diabetes. He has 7 children ad 22 grandchildren. Yet he lives on a monthly salary that most of us make in a few days in the states.

He has also been faithful in ministry since 1952! He said to me "God always provides."

The American church can learn a lot from stories like that of Christian Altidor. It's not about the numbers or the programs, it's about being faithful to what God has called you to do. The harvest is up to God. It's about being faithful to the spouse that God has given you and to the family God has blessed you with.

I thank God for my wife of almost 30 years and my 3 sons that I am blessed with. And I thank God for the flock of families God has asked me to shepherd at Quest.

How about you? Does Christian's story challenge you? How faithful are you?

Monday, February 2, 2009

Feb Devo

I recently preached on the power of persistence. I focused on the miracle found in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30. The woman who pleaded for healing for her daughter was very persistent. Jesus recognized how strong her faith was from her persistence. It was been said by many that character and leadership qualities are discovered not by what you accomplish in the good times, but by what it is that causes you to quit when going through the tough times.
How persistent are you? What causes you to retreat or quit? Are you persistent in your pursuit of spiritual truth? Or do you give up trying to walk in the light of Christ because you think it's too hard or too challenging?

The Power of Persistence

As hard as it is for this Ravens fan to say, I must say congrats to the Steelers on one of the most incredible Super Bowls I have ever viewed. Ugh-that was hard to get out...
Neither team gave up. The power of persistence was demonstrated by both teams-giving all they had to the very last second. When the Cards were down by 13, I said it's over. But they did not quit. Neither did the black and gold as they marched down and threw the winning TD to Holmes in the corner of the endzone.

This Sunday I got to watch a game in my backyard that showed a lot of persistence as well. As the temps rose, the mud got worse. Final score-10-9!
What a Super Sunday.