"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matt. 16:18)
That is the scripture that kept going through my head this morning as I tried to get myself out the door and begin my day. The thermometer was well below zero, and all I could think about was leaving for vacation in a few days to Florida. Couple that with the fact that I had already seen on TV that USA schools were closed because of the weather, which meant I would have a couple of open hours. And all I kept thinking was "Man it would be nice just to stay home today".
That is when the above scripture kept echoing in my head. "The gates of Hades". Today those gates in my mind were the weather, and I knew that I could not allow the conditions to distract me from what God would have me do today. So I left the house and headed to Sebewaing. As I drove there, at one point the thermometer in my truck registered 11 degrees below zero and was still 8 below when I reached Sebewaing.
As I set out on my prayer walk the Scripture from Matthew was ringing in my head as well as portions of Psalm 25. The version of the Bible I am reading right now records Psalm 25:1 this way: "Lord, I give myself to you; my God I trust you." (NCV) I must confess that as I set out walking with this verse in mind as well as Psalm 25:14: "The Lord tells his secrets to those who respect him; he tells them about his agreement," I sort of expected God to bless this effort. After all I was "suffering" for him. An hour an a half later, which included a 20 minute stop at McDonald's for coffee, I returned to my truck. I was cold and nothing extraordinary had taken place.
As I considered all this, a message came back to me that I heard Dr. Larry Crabb give a number of years ago at the National Youth Workers Convention. One of the lines stood out to me when he made the statement that there are times when God will ask you to be faithful in the "absence of blessings". As I reviewed my morning I realized that this was one of those times.
Now don't get me wrong there is always a blessing spending time in prayer and solitude with the Lord, but I was sort of expecting some kind of divine appointment like I have experienced on many of these prayer walks before. Yet none seemed to materialize.
As I considered this it occurred to me that a true disciple of Jesus always is willing to be faithful in the absence of apparent blessing because a disciple has a kingdom mindset. A kingdom mindset allows us to know that we need to be faithful to God and let him handle the details of the moment. I am so glad that I did not give in to the temptation of allowing the weather to be the "gates of Hades". I was reminded on my walk on this day that as we work to build disciples, who reflect Christ, it will be Jesus who builds the church, in His time and in His way. That is good enough for me!
As I mentioned earlier I leave for a couple of weeks vacation next week. Over that time I really covet your prayers that Deb and I might be refreshed and renewed. I also ask that you would keep the work we are trying to do in Sebewaing in prayer as we consider how to expand some of the groups and opportunities. Talk to you again in three weeks.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Discipling Little Ones
After a couple of weeks of not traveling to Sebewaing on Thursdays because of the holidays, yesterday I got back in the swing. I started my day in Caro meeting with Bob Sweeney. For those of you who don't know, Bob is the pastor at Cass City Missionary Church and the head coach for the Thumb Area LEAD team. Bob and I spent a little over an hour together talking about the progress that was being made in Sebewaing and trying to define the direction of this disciple-making effort. I always appreciate Bob because he has a real heart for the gospel and is willing to challenge people to have them look at ministry in new ways.
After meeting with Bob, I traveled up to meet with one of the guys that I meet with each week. We decided to meet over his lunch time because of some commitments he had later in the day. During our conversation we talked about how easy it is to kind of fall into a sort of post Christmas "depression." Our reading assignment over the previous week had us reading the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. We talked about the overwhelming odds that seemed against the work of the two of these men and the parallels that exist today as we try to make disciples in a world where there seems to be more bad news than good. We talked about the need for believers to encourage one another on a daily basis with stories of the places that God's work is showing through.
Later that day I visited with a former student of mine. She has a young son, and the two of them live in income-assisted apartments. I asked her to share with me the attitude of the people she came in contact with in her neighborhood. She shared with me about some of the young children from her building, who often come to her apartment to play with her son. She was telling me that the first time one of these young boys was at her house and and they were going to eat, they had a time of prayer. This amazed this little boy because he didn't understand that you could talk with God. She told me that now any time when he comes, and they are already eating he always ask; did you pray? Apparently there was also a time when she told this little boy it was time to go home because her son had to get ready for bed and then say his prayers. This boy was amazed at the thought of praying more than once a day and including God in things.
The reason this story was so interesting to me is that a couple of the books I have been reading on disciple-making point to areas that society often marginalizes, such as low-income apartments, and talks about how fertile a place they can be for a disciple-making movement. The question that needs to be asked is how can the church do a better job of reaching into these areas and groups of people to build relationships and begin disciple-making movements. Sometimes it can start with things as little as demonstrating prayer to a child.
Praises:
People like Bob and the other LEAD team members who encourage me
The privilege of seeing God in the little things
The joy of spending time with friends and family and supporting one another
Concerns:
Schedules this next quarter as I have a number of things that will take me out of my normal visits
More leadership to rise up to help expand the circle in Sebewaing
Discernment for the LEAD Team as we continue to define our mission in Sebewaing
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Brian
After meeting with Bob, I traveled up to meet with one of the guys that I meet with each week. We decided to meet over his lunch time because of some commitments he had later in the day. During our conversation we talked about how easy it is to kind of fall into a sort of post Christmas "depression." Our reading assignment over the previous week had us reading the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. We talked about the overwhelming odds that seemed against the work of the two of these men and the parallels that exist today as we try to make disciples in a world where there seems to be more bad news than good. We talked about the need for believers to encourage one another on a daily basis with stories of the places that God's work is showing through.
Later that day I visited with a former student of mine. She has a young son, and the two of them live in income-assisted apartments. I asked her to share with me the attitude of the people she came in contact with in her neighborhood. She shared with me about some of the young children from her building, who often come to her apartment to play with her son. She was telling me that the first time one of these young boys was at her house and and they were going to eat, they had a time of prayer. This amazed this little boy because he didn't understand that you could talk with God. She told me that now any time when he comes, and they are already eating he always ask; did you pray? Apparently there was also a time when she told this little boy it was time to go home because her son had to get ready for bed and then say his prayers. This boy was amazed at the thought of praying more than once a day and including God in things.
The reason this story was so interesting to me is that a couple of the books I have been reading on disciple-making point to areas that society often marginalizes, such as low-income apartments, and talks about how fertile a place they can be for a disciple-making movement. The question that needs to be asked is how can the church do a better job of reaching into these areas and groups of people to build relationships and begin disciple-making movements. Sometimes it can start with things as little as demonstrating prayer to a child.
Praises:
People like Bob and the other LEAD team members who encourage me
The privilege of seeing God in the little things
The joy of spending time with friends and family and supporting one another
Concerns:
Schedules this next quarter as I have a number of things that will take me out of my normal visits
More leadership to rise up to help expand the circle in Sebewaing
Discernment for the LEAD Team as we continue to define our mission in Sebewaing
Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Brian
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