Giving

It has been said many times by leaders and missionaries of the past that you cannot give what you do not possess. I could really focus here on the negative aspect of this. I could rebuke governments for giving away what we don't have which results in printing money without backing it in gold. I could talk about personal credit card debt of Americans who give gifts and presents while having nothing in the account to back it up.
But I want to speak positively to make us think about others for a change instead of the big ME.
Your life and mine is NOT about Me. Its not about what can I get. For example your marriage will not last if it is about what you get out of it. Rather it is about serving and loving the one chosen to be your spouse and having Christ in the center of that relaitonship.
but think about the following examples and perhaps dialogue with some others close to you about it. It may change your life, your relationships, maybe even the place that you live. Wouldn't that be radical?

-You cannot give money until you have made some yourself.
-You cannot give away a song unless you have a song in your heart.
-You cannot give clean water if you do not have the resources or the know-how to give it.
-You cannot give away fresh vegetables if you never planted your garden.
-You cannot give away firewood if you never cut any.
-You cannot give hope to others if you do not possess it yourself.
-You cannot give shelter to the homeless if you do not have it or know how to provide yourself.
-You cannot give advice to those in another language until you possess the skills or have a tranlsator that can speak their language.
-You cannot give away Jesus unless you have Him yourself.
-You cannot give away love unless you possess it yourself.
-You cannot minister with compassion unless you already possess it.

You cannot give what you do not possess. What is it that you want to give? Do you possess it yourself? If not why? If not what will you do about it?

Social Justice

So after 3 days of heavy rain and strong winds in my hometown in Md., I caught myself saying several times, "tough night for the homeless." Though I am not one, I have ministered to many homeless and poor on the city streets and in poverty-stricken countries.

Jesus said whatever we do for "the least of these", we do unto him. Yet today churches are still trying to figure out what to do with the poor. We sit in slumber in our padded pews, giving comforting 'talks' from the pulpit that keep the congregants coming back and writing checks for offering. As long as we don't make them mad, they will return. Then there are the Joel Osteen types that make you feel really good about yourself, tell you how to live in an unreal world, and guarantee you prosperity.

Meanwhile millions of children try to survive without food and clean water with little or no hope of a future or longevity while we are adding gymnasiums for the youth, building commercial kitchens to host the quarterly church fund-raising spaghetti dinner and forming the summer 'all-Christian' softball leagues.

Then there are the Glenn Becks who recently ruined my respect for Fox News. In a recent broadcast he makes a statement saying 'if your church has on their website the words "social justice", you need to run as fast as you can! ' Beck continued by saying, "Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!"

As a church planter trying to be faithful in a culture that is more anti-church all the time, I really question Beck's motives in all of this. His reasoning was because Nazism and Communism both waved the banner of social justice. Yeah their answer to the poor was to take from the rich and give it to the government so the people become slaves to the government. Come to think of it, this sort of sounds like what is going on in this country now. Down through history, socialism always had a way of doing away with the middle class. Either you are wealthy as a dictator, or big government or you were among the poor.

Contrary to the talking head that feels he has the authority to tell you to leave your church, Jesus spoke about social justice many times. He gave honor to the poor, he showed respect to the broken and hurting. He fed them and gave them clothes and taught his disciples by example to do the same. It was the religious, legalistic, Pharisaical crowd that Jesus had the hardest time with. He always felt comfortable around the poor because he lived the life of a homeless man for several years of his adult life.

Perhaps Mr. Beck needs to go on a mission trip, take a break from the concrete jungle and get some dirt on those shiny shoes. Walking and working among the poor will change your life. I highly recommend it while we still have time to make a difference.

Cup of Coffee Anyone?

I recently was sent the following story from my sister in law that I just had to pass on. Perhaps you are like I am and just love a good cup of coffee. But I never thought about being a cup of coffee until I read this. Check it out...
A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how hard things were for her. She was tired of fighting and struggling and she wanted to give up.
Her mother took her to the kitchen and heated up 3 pots of water. When the pots came to boil, she first placed carrots into the first pot. In the second pot she placed eggs and in the third she placed ground coffee beans. She left them sit and boil without saying a word.
20 minutes later, the mother placed the carrots, the eggs and the coffee in separate bowls. She then asked her daughter to tell her what she saw. "Carrots, eggs, and coffee" she said. The mother asked her to feel the carrots. She did so and noticed they were soft. Then she took an egg and broke it and peeled the shell off of the hardboiled egg. Finally, the mother asked her to take a sip of coffee. She enjoyed the fine aroma and took a healthy sip of the fresh brewed coffee. The daughter then asked, "What does all this mean?"
Her mother explained that all 3 objects faced the same adversity-boiling water. But each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being in the hot water, it eventually softened and became mushy and weak. The egg went in fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected the liquid inside, but after sitting in the hot water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique however. After they were in the hot water for awhile, they actually changed the water. "Which are you?" asked the daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee?"
How about you? Are you more like the carrot that seems to be strong, but under adversity you soften up and lose strength and wilt away?
Or are you more like the egg that hardens with the changes of heat. Does your shell look the same but on the inside you have a bitter and tough spirit?
Or are you like the coffee bean? When the water gets hot, you actually change the water-releasing a great fragrance, changing the color and taste of the very thing that brought the heat.
Perhaps today you know someone that you can share this with to encourage them. Who do you know that has given up hope? Perhaps even you have? May I suggest taking some time and having a cup of coffee with them or better yet be a cup of coffee for someone.

Reflections from the Blizzard of 2010

After hours of shoveling and moving snow just to get out of the driveway, I sit by my fireplace with feet propped up, a hot cup of coffee, and TV tuned to the Super Bowl. 25 " of wet, heavy snow slammed our area. It would be easy to moan and groan about how much work the snow made. It would be easy to complain about standing in lines at the stores for food. It would be easy, as many have, to gripe about being housebound for 2 days because they don't know how to talk to the family they live with. But then I started to think about those who have a whole lot more to complain about then me. I remember a pastor friend of mine who lost his wife this week to cancer. I remember the ones with disabilities who can't hold a shovel let alone move snow with it. I remember the homeless locally and abroad who have no property to call their own.

So instead I choose to look at the positive-my sons were home to help shovel, my neighbor showed up with a tractor. We offered to help neighbors with our shovels.

But other things came to mind as well. We have heat in our homes, food in the kitchen, warm clothes to wear. I thought of those in Haiti that are using shovels, but moving rubble to uncover bodies and possessions. Thousands have made the streets their home because their homes were demolished by the earthquake.

As we go for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th drink while watching the Super Bowl and we eat our 3rd bowl of chili, maybe lift up a prayer for the orphan who is looking for his 1st meal and his first taste of clean water for the whole week. As we yell in celebration for our favorite team scoring a touchdown, maybe think about the last time the people in Haiti had anything to cheer about in the last week. As we laugh at the crazy Super Bowl commercials, maybe think about those who have shed tears in grief and could really use a laugh.

And in all of this contrast from the good to the bad, let's remember there is a Savior who loves all of us-He created us, He created the snow to remind us of His cleansing power, and He loves us, Oh how He loves us!

Gaining Perspective

As a pastor who has travelled to Africa and Haiti, and as a father who has a daughter-in-law serving in an orphanage in Haiti and three sons that travel worldwide as musicians and advocates for the poor with Food for the Hungry, I have been trying to gain perspective on the recent tragedy in Haiti.
After the 2nd major quake hit the island earlier this week, a friend and prayer warrior, Matt, sent me an email with some statistics that helped me grasp the magnitude of this event.
Matt is from Harford County, Md. which has a population of around 233,000. The closest city limit to my home has around 6,300 people. Recent death toll has risen in Haiti to 110,00 with numbers expected to be around 200,000+. Imagine waking up one morning and Harford County is gone. imagine for us Carroll County, Md. people that Westminster and Taneytown are now wiped out.
Here's another one Matt passed onto. the population of Baltimore City and Baltimore County is close to 1.3 million people. It has been reported that there are now approximately 1.5 million homeless people in Haiti.
I recently stayed up all night with some dear brothers feeding and clothing around 50-60 homeless people in Baltimore City Friday night. I know we made a difference, but it gave me a new persective on the amount of ministry that is needed in Haiti. Can you picture what it looks like to see 1.5 million people without a home?
God help the people of Haiti rebuild and may God hear the cry of His people as we pray and worship the Lord Almighty.

Hello from Haiti

Ever since the Tuesday earthquake rocked the Haiti community, all my family and church longed to hear was 'Hello from Haiti'. My daughter-in-law Kathleen is a missionary at an orhanage there about 100 miles SW of Part-au-Prince.
We saw first hand the power of prayer and the love of the Body of Christ through the anxious days of waiting.
With my sons (WILLET) touring in New Zealand, and Kat in Haiti, my wife and I began to pray. Two nights I prayed into the early hours of the night. The church prayed, old friends contacted us on FBook saying they were praying. I participated in an all-night prayer gathering in which hands were laid on me while praying for my family and the people of Haiti.
Special thanks to Geoff in New Zealand who called me with phone numbers to reach my sons and to all who have been great hosts for them while touring. Thanks to my many brothers and sisters down under who prayed and supported my sons during this waiting period.
Thanks to Pam and Fern from Mission Haiti, and to our freinds at Food for the Hungry for supplying any information they received.
Well its now Sunday, we still haven't heard "Hello from Haiti" by telephone yet because of communication lines, but we have recieved text messages, emails and seen FBook entries assuring us that Kathleen is OK and the other members of the orphanage, especially the children are all accounted for.
We experienced the comfort, strength and peace that only comes from Christ our Lord. Where does your strength and peace come from in unstable, troubled times? Who is it that holds you up when you feel like collapsing? If you are a believer in Jesus, do you praise Him in the storm as well as in the sunshine?
We do not hold our own destiny in this life-our lives are fragile and held in the loving hands of our Heavenly Father. Do you know Him?

Call to Consecration

Consecration is a word we don't hear too much anymore in our culture, but it is a word we desperately need to pay attention to. Consecration is more than service or duty. It is living a life of personal holiness. It is a life submitted to the power of prayer. It is through prayer that we can shake off the entanglements of this world and receive the power to endure. It is through habitual and effective prayer that we become more set apart in holiness. Perfect? No, but moving towards holiness? Yes!
It is a life of making right decisions and choices no matter what the circumstance and regardless of who is involved.
E.M. Bounds wrote, "Consecration is the setting apart of all we are, all we have, and all we expect to have or be, to God first of all."
Are you giving your all to God? Is your life one of consecration and separation? Do your goals for 2010 reflect a consecrated life?