Answered Prayers

The Benchuks, a Ukrainian family who had to flee from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, landed safely in Chicago shortly before Memorial Weekend. After the holiday weekend, our Refugee Care Team and a few other church members were able to meet the Benchuks and their temporary host family, the Vander Kamps. We were able to share a meal, hear from the family about their story, and share a little bit about ourselves as well.

As the evening progressed, we mentioned to the Benchuks that they are an answered prayer for us and that they blessed us by being here and allowing us to come alongside them. Dima, the father, was confused about how we could be blessed by his family needing so much. He shared how he is used to being the one that helps others, not the one who is needing help. In a time that is already hard for Dima and his family, he is learning how to be the one that is being served instead of the one who serves others.

The Bible repeatedly calls us to draw nearer to God and ask for help. We are not designed to walk through life on our own, and Jesus modeled this in his ministry by living in community with his disciples. When we serve each other, it allows us to express our love for those around us as image-bearers of God. While it is a blessing to be served in times of need, it is also a blessing to be given the opportunity to serve.

War Memorials

Next Monday we will take one day to remember those who have died for the freedoms we enjoy every day.  It is with some trepidation that I approach Memorial Day.  I have great admiration and deep gratitude for all who serve our country in the armed forces.  But may we never confuse that specific appreciation for soldiers with the wars in which they are called to fight.  Regardless of how one feels about the necessity or justness of any war, war itself is always a sinful tragedy.  As we gain close up views of the atrocities taking place in Ukraine, the horror of war is clearly in focus.  The fact that we live in a world where we must have a Memorial Day should trigger deep lament and sadness.  The honor with which we hold fallen soldiers should be surpassed by our disdain for the brokenness that causes us to send them into battle in the first place.

If you go to Washington DC and view the various war memorials you will see the cost of freedom - thousands of names etched in marble and granite.  It is also the cost of disobedience.  It is the price tag of rebelling against God and breaking a creation founded in peace.  Sin entered the world.  And now image bearers of God kill each other in the name of country, principle, or self-interest.  On this side of the new creation war may be unavoidable.  But let us never make our peace with it.

Looking for Resurrection

Typically, we think of the resurrection as an event that happened 2,000 years ago. It was a one-time occurrence that we can look back on and celebrate. It does some very wonderful things for us, but it is a moment in history. For the past several Sundays, we’ve been talking about the resurrection as an earthquake. And the truth is that it has never stopped quaking. Since that day in Jerusalem, the tremors have been going on. If we pay attention, we can still feel them.

We experience the rumble of resurrection when God answers a prayer. We feel it when we forgive or are forgiven. The tremors can be felt when we worship or take delight in the work of our hands. Any time we experience joy or hope or sacrificial love, the earthquake is still happening. All of these things have their roots in the resurrection of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was raised to new life at a moment in history. But the resurrection continues on in all of these ways. If you keep your eyes and heart open, you will see and feel it all around you today.

Magic Bullets

It’s human nature to look for an easier way to do something.  And thank goodness!  Otherwise we’d still be using stone tools and living in caves.  If necessity is the mother of invention, then our desire to have it easier is invention’s father.  We regularly look for the quick fix, a short cut, a magic bullet.  This is especially true when it comes to our spiritual growth.  We go to conferences looking for the magic bullet.  We read books looking for that nugget that will radically change us.  But the spiritual highs wear off.  The promise of quick results fails us.

Let me save you a lot of time.  There is no magic bullet.  First of all, spiritual growth is a gift from God.  Times of accelerated growth are blessings that God bestows on us.  We don’t command them through a secret formula.  Second, spiritual growth happens as we follow Jesus over time.  As you read the Bible regularly for months and years, you begin to change.  A regular connection to God through prayer will transform you.  Just not overnight.  So stay with it.  There is a lot of joy and satisfaction in looking back a year and thinking, “I’m not the same person I was a year ago.  God has changed me for the better.”  

The Power of a Mission Trip

There are some things that are hard to experience at home. When you travel somewhere outside your community, you experience a culture you weren’t able to experience at home. Once you spend some time in this new, unfamiliar place, you are able to appreciate the new perspectives it gives you. Mission trips are a super concentrated version of what normal life can offer us.

Similarly…

If you’ve ever had a spoonful of frozen juice concentrate you know what a powerful experience that can be. Once you add water it’s just juice. However, if you want something out of the ordinary there’s nothing quite like juice concentrate. The same is true with mission experiences. If we do one around home, our students might see it as just helping out around home. When they go to a community unlike our own, spend quality time with members of our group, and get busy doing things they don’t normally do and WHAM! they’ve tasted concentrate.

You may have been challenged and stretched in a way that just doesn’t happen at home. Now they’re getting down to what’s real too. Top it off with the fact that our students get to interpret this concentrated experience through the eyes of faith, and nothing can match the power of going away for a mission trip.

I’m ecstatic for what this trip to Charleston July 24-29 will offer our students and our church community. If you feel so led, our students and I would love to invite you to our post-service luncheon on May 15. Come join in fellowship over a meal with our church family, and help our students fundraise for their trip.

Deacon Update Spring 2022

For the third year in a row, we ended the year with expenses that were less than overall giving, leaving us with a year-end surplus.  In previous years, we've used the majority of this surplus to pay down the mortgage on our building.  With our building paid off, we now have other options for using the funds.  Thanks to your tremendous generosity, this year's surplus was nearly $50,000.  We'd like to share with you the plans for using this money.

For the past two years we've tithed on this surplus, giving 10% of it toward outside causes.  We have already done that with the 2021 surplus.  We split $5,000 evenly between two denominational agencies.  World Renew provides services to developing countries throughout the world and disaster relief as well.  ReFrame Ministries, formerly Back to God Ministries, brings the Gospel to nations around the world through radio broadcasts in multiple languages, internet ministries, and printed devotionals, including Today.  We are delighted to be able to advance God's kingdom through these agencies thanks to your generosity.  The remainder of the funds will be used to make our building more accessible and up-to-date.  We plan to install automatic door openers at the west entrance and change to a card/code entry system to better facilitate stewardly use of our building.  We are also planning restroom renovations to make our facilities more accessible for people with disabilities.

It's an exciting time for our church family.  God is at work among us.  Thank you for your faithful giving and generosity as we partner with God to advance his kingdom in Jesus' name.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I know that my Redeemer lives!

What joy this blest assurance gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead;

he lives, my ever-living Head!

He lives to bless me with his love;

he lives to plead for me above;

he lives my hungry soul to feed;

he lives to help in time of need.

-Samuel Medley, 1775

The Father's Protection

As we wrap up our lenten discipline of praying the Lord’s Prayer, one thing should be stated: the Lord’s Prayer is a prayer of surrender.  It is asking God six different things that we can’t do on our own.  We acknowledge our need for God.  But we are also surrendering and trusting him to meet those needs in whatever way he chooses.  We can offer suggestions, but daily bread doesn’t always come at the time and in the amounts we want.  Yet it always comes as we need it.  God’s guidance (“lead us not into temptation”) doesn’t always direct us to our first choice.  When we ask for God’s kingdom to come, we are submitting to the way he chooses to bring it.

As we pray the last request, we must also come with the same spirit of surrender.  We ask God to deliver us from evil.  God may protect me from the evil that would come to me if I had too much.  He may protect you from what a level of success would do to your marriage and your family.  God may protect you from complacency or spiritual apathy by letting some hardship into your life.  In praying this request, we are giving God the power to pursue our greatest good.  Protecting us from the worst things may mean exposing us to some other things.

The Father’s Guidance

The Lord’s Prayer is a beautifully crafted and easily accessible prayer to pray… except for one small phrase.  “Lead us not into temptation.”  It seems very odd that we would need to ask God to not lead us into temptation.  It seems like he would do that automatically.  Why would he intentionally make us deal with temptation or trial?  To deal with this tension, Pope Francis changes the phrase to read, “Do not let us fall into temptation.”  Other traditions have changed it to say, “Save us from the time of trial.”  All these are attempts to make sense of a prayer request that seems to misunderstand who God is.

As we focus on this part of the Lord’s Prayer this week, I believe that the jist of this teaching is Jesus reminding us of a powerful truth: unless God leads us, we will always fall into temptation and worse.  This part of the Lord’s Prayer is a plea for God’s guidance in our lives.  We are asking God to lead us and guide us, to give us wisdom and discernment as we go through life.  We are praying with the old hymn: “Lead me, guide me along the way.  For if you lead me, I cannot stray.”

The Father's Forgiveness

There is a litmus test for forgiveness.  There is a way to tell if a person has been forgiven - even a way to tell how much they’ve been forgiven.  Jesus shares this indicator with us when a woman sneaks into a party and begins washing his feet with her tears.  We learn that this woman had lived a sinful life.  She had made choices that were immoral and deviant.  She had to sneak into this party because she never would have been invited.  When the host objected to this turn of events, Jesus said, “Her many sins have been forgiven - as her great love has shown.”

Love is the litmus test of forgiveness.  People who have experienced the power of forgiveness cannot help but love.  They love Jesus most of all because they know what he has done for them.  But they love others as well, because love spills out in all directions.  This week we are praying, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  God has indeed forgiven our sins.  And so perhaps a fitting paraphrase is, “Forgive us our debts and increase our love for you and for others in a way that is consistent with how much we’ve been forgiven.”  

The Father’s Provision

What do you need?  What do you need today?  These are two very different questions.  When I think about my material needs, most of them aren’t very urgent.  Sure, I need to eat today.  But there is food in my cupboards and in my refrigerator.  I need clothes to wear today but my closet is full.  Most of the needs I worry about are well into the future.  In fact, they’re not really needs as much as things I need to figure out or remember to do.

While most of us are in this same blessed position, there are still things we need today.  As you go into this day there are decisions that need to be made.  There are hard conversations to be had.  There are tests to be taken and pitches to make.  But there are also challenges lurking that you aren’t even aware of.  Situations that will come up and surprise you.  Snags that you didn’t anticipate.  While you can’t see these things coming, God does.  He knows exactly the daily bread you need for today.  Ask him for it with confidence!

The Father's Kingdom

I remember hearing a story about a Cambodian man who felt God’s call to minister to Cambodian peasants who had been pushed off their land and forced to live in camps outside of town.  These camps were in swamp land and lacked sanitation.  The people had no access to healthcare and rarely found enough to eat.  This missionary spent the first few years working to improve conditions.  He drained the swamp (literally!).  He helped people build homes.  He brought in doctors and dentists to provide medical care.  When asked how he knew to do all of this, here was his reply: “In the age to come, people won’t live in swamps without roofs, medical care, or food.  So I just tried to make the camp more like God’s kingdom.”

This week we are praying for the Father’s Kingdom. We are praying, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Perhaps the best way to start is by imagining a challenge, obstacle, or struggle once heaven has been poured out over it.  What is different for this person when God’s kingdom comes upon them?  How does this situation change when heaven floods into it?  Jesus invites us to pray his glorious future into our difficult present. 

The Father's Character

In any conversation it’s crucial to know who we are talking to.  We talk differently to our friends than we do our spouse or our boss or our teacher.  It makes a difference!  When we begin our prayer, Jesus wants us to be crystal clear about who it is that we’re praying to.  We are praying to our Father.  Isn’t that amazing?  Naturally, Jesus could claim God as his Father.  But Jesus is not just telling us about his prayer life.  He is telling us how we should pray.  We get to call God “Our Father.”

But Jesus also reminds us that he is a different kind of Father.  He is in heaven.  Not only is he as close as a father, he fills the universe with his presence.  He is a Father who can do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.  Don’t just spend time in prayer this week.  Spend some time this week reflecting on the amazing Father to whom you are praying.

Giving Up for Lent

It’s a practice in many Christian traditions to give up something for the season of Lent.  In the Roman Catholic Church red meat is the usual sacrifice.  This has led to all kinds of new and delicious ways to eat fish.  Other denominations in the liturgical church tradition also have observed a lenten sacrifice.  Maybe you choose to give things up for Lent too.

Here are a few things I can tell you about this practice.  It won’t bring you good luck.  It won’t make God love you more.  You may or may not grow closer to Jesus if you do it.  The real value in giving up something for Lent is in remembering what God gave up.  He gave up His only Son.  He sent Christ to the world to be the sacrifice for us.  As you experience the inconvenience of giving up something in your life, remember the deep pain of the sacrifice God made for us.  Most of all, think about the incredible love for you that drove God to do it.

Unshakeable

This year our GEMS theme is “unshakeable” as drawn from Psalm 62:2, which says “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” Each GEMS lesson has shown how our God is unshakeable by emphasizing one of the “I am” promises that God makes to us in the Bible: I am loved (1 John 3:1); I am not alone (Deuteronomy 31:6); I am strong (Philippians 4:13); I am forgiven (1 John 1:9); I am a world changer (Micah 6:8).

These promises are ever so relevant to GEMS girls as they navigate the challenges that come with growing up in a broken world. But I find myself reminded week by week that they are just as relevant for the rest of us too. In a world corrupted by sin it is easy to feel that we are not good enough, not capable, or even broken beyond repair. Yet God’s promises remind us that our strength does not come from ourselves, but from Him. He loves us, He will never leave us nor forsake us, He forgives us, He purifies us, He shows us what is good, and through Him we become more like Jesus. May we all rest in the truth that God’s promises are unbreakable, even when the world is shaking all around us. God is our rock, our salvation, our fortress. He is unshakeable, and we are too when we rest in Him.

Valentine’s Day and Spiritual Discipline

Today is Valentine’s Day.  This day comes with certain expectations of people who are involved in a romantic relationship.  Flowers, roses, chocolates, jewelry, a night out.  I’ve always felt a bit uneasy about having Hallmark tell us when we should express our love for a significant other.  It bothers me that Hallmark also gives us a script for how we express our love.  At the same time, I recognize that we probably need these nudges.  We need to be reminded to say the things we really feel.  Perhaps we even need to be reminded of how we feel.  Sometimes we need words not our own that we can sign our name to.  

As followers of Jesus, spiritual disciplines can function much like Valentine’s Day.  Sure, we should be talking with God throughout the day.  “Pray on all occasions.”  But we typically need reminders to talk with God.  Sometimes we even need words to pray that, while not our own, help us express how we feel.  A spiritual discipline like prayer or Bible reading or fasting can feel perfunctory.  But setting aside time for God is a reminder that God is always with us.  So when you pick up roses or grab a card from the rack, remember your God who is the definition of love.  Write him into your calendar.  He longs to spend time with you no matter what it takes to get you there.

In Between

There are times in life when we feel in between two things.  Right now is one of those times.  We are in between the year-end holidays and the best and beautiful parts of winter.  We are not yet to spring break and the warmer temperatures.  There are other in-between times in the year, depending on who you are: mid-October, July, and anytime Covid surges.  The point is that these times place us in a difficult situation.  The cheer of the last thing has worn off and the anticipation of the next things has yet to take hold.  It can be disorienting.

For centuries Christians have followed a rhythm that we call the “church year.”  It is made up of two seasons (Advent and Lent) and a number of special days (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost).  Built into the church year are in-between times.  The time after Pentecost, for example, is nearly six months long.  Right now we are in one of those in-between times.  We are between the Epiphany and the start of Lent.  We are neither celebrating nor preparing.  So if you feel a bit in-between right now, it might help to know that centuries of wisdom recognized this and made room for it.  It’s okay to be in-between.  No matter how in-between you feel, these truths still remain: Christ is born and Christ is risen and Christ lives in you through the Holy Spirit.  Hallelujah!

Cadet Contribution

This coming Sunday, the tri-cities Cadet club would normally have their annual Cadet Sunday.  Because of Covid, they won’t be together at a church.  We will still be taking an offering for the Cadets.  Cadets is a boys club that has fun, learns God’s word, and builds intergenerational relationships.  Things change over the years, but Cadets left an indelible mark on me.  There were a lot of laughs as we cracked jokes and blew off various forms of steam as boys are wont to do.  But I also saw Christian men sharing their lives with us.  Mr. Van Laar, Mr. Scheffers, Mr. Laning, and my own father were all Cadet counselors.  They invested in me and other squirrelly boys from my church in ways that contributed to our lives and our walk with Jesus.  They have become a part of my story.

It blesses me to know that men are still investing in squirrelly boys in the name of Jesus, contributing to their lives and their stories.  These are ordinary men who keep showing up twice a month to be a living example of what it means to follow Jesus.  Say a prayer for Rod Pell, our lead counselor, as well as the other counselors who are helping.  Pray that they will know their labor is never in vain.  They are leaving an impact and becoming part of a young man’s story.

What You Can Do

When was the last time you set out to do something that you knew you couldn’t do?  Ever attempted something that, in order for it to happen, would require miraculous outside intervention?  In business this happens all the time.  There are risks because no business plan, no matter how good, can account for or control every variable.  Even sporting events are often decided by a funny bounce, a lucky roll, or a highly unlikely combination of events.

What about church?  What risky things do churches do?  When do churches make leaps of faith that require God’s miraculous intervention for success?  Perhaps capital campaigns are an example.  But I would contend that most things that churches do can be done without God.  Of course, we need God for our every breath.  But most of the goals we set and the plans we make are well within our power to accomplish.  We don’t need God to achieve them.  Does that sound right to you?  We are people with the power that created the universe and raised the dead available to us.  And we set goals and make plans that require none of it.  That might be worth some reflection.

Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.