4 days and counting

In just 4 short days, I will be leading a team of 11 individuals on a Bundles of Love Trip to Guatemala. We will be giving gifts to over 1500 AMG sponsored children, and then to cap off the week, we will be hosting a Christmas Party for the teachers and the workers.

As of right now, we have 5 1/2 bags packed and ready to go, and we have yet to pack a single article of clothing. I think my son and I will be putting all of our clothes into our backpacks and hopefully that will be enough space for all that we need.

This trip is very different from prior trips because my wife and son are going to join me. I am praying that this trip will open his eyes to see the world that most of the rest of the world sees every day. Poverty, needs, sickness, death... they are all normal daily life for most of the world. As Americans, we are insulated from alot of this, and as Christians, even more so. I pray that God would tear mediocrity and selfishness from his heart, and replace it with a passion for others and a longing to share Christ with them. Actually, as I think of it, I pray that for myself as well.

Won't you pray for us? And maybe even someday join us as we seek to Advance the Ministry of the Gospel throughout the world.

Differences

This past Sunday, our pastor quoted someone who said something like this.

"There are 3 people sitting in your pew this morning. First, the person you think you are. Second, the person others think you are. Third, the person God knows you to be."

It got me thinking...

The larger the variance is between any of these 2 people, the more dangerous the position you are in.

For instance, if people look at you as a holy/perfect example of a Christian, and you know (as we all do) that you are a sinner saved by grace, the difference in how they look at you versus what is true is drastically lopsided. If we begin to hear the praises of people, we might just start to think that we are that perfect/holy person they presume us to be. That is when we find ourselves on very thin ice - IT WILL COLLAPSE.

Much the same, if our view of ourselves is not in line with what God knows to be true, the greater the difference, the more trouble we are in. This can go either way. Whether we think ourselves more unworthy of God (focusing on our sin, on our failure, etc - by the way, this is still arrogance), or we think of God as lucky to have chosen such a wonderful human specimen to work through (forgetting of course our propensity to sin apart from the Spirit's work in our life), either way, we diminish the value of the grace of God, and we portray His holiness as less than who He is.

As you reflect on the Word of God, seek a balanced view of yourself before God. As you hear the praises or criticisms of people, listen to them in the context of the Gospel, knowing who you really are apart from the wonderful work of Jesus Christ in your life.

If we do this well, we will avoid the pitfalls of being someone we are not, and we will be real.

I struggle with this, do you?

What is compassion anyway??

Yesterday I was called on to tell a family that a loved one died. The woman who died was 58 years old, but she did not die of "natural causes". She was killed in a car accident. I have never experienced the anguish that we were met with when we told the daughter that her mother had died. Wailing, crying, questions, pain, anger, frustration... on it went for what seemed like an eternity.

In reflection, I thought about a few things.

1. I have never lost anyone that I had not expected to die soon.

2. I have been told my entire life, and believe it to be true, that this life is just temporary, and that death is the beginning of greater things to come (for those that are believers).

3. It is possible that because of my belief in Jesus and the fact that my life has been surrounded by those that believe, I do not understand at all what this woman was struggling with.

I think I lack in sensitivity for others around me due to my view of what is to come. I do not fear death. I do not fear death for my family. I see it as sad but temporary. Death is not the end, but rather the beginning of eternal life for those in Christ, but also eternal damnation for those without Christ. It is the latter part of that statement I loose sight of. My guess is that others around me are experiencing the same problem.

Why can we see others tormented and are not tormented ourselves?
Why can we see pain and anguish and are not moved to respond?
Why can we walk through life worried about the temporary when the eternal is at risk?
Why don't I care as Christ did?

I am not saying that we are to be blubbering idiots snotting all over ourselves with constant tears running down our faces, but shouldn't we be sharing the anguish of the world around us? I am not saying that we do not move with compassion to help the needs brought to our attention, but how is it we often don't even notice the pain that others are experiencing, let alone share in it?

I fear I have become a Christian that rests on a mountain of security and calls to those who are at Hell's door with no more passion than a McDonald's worker asking me what I would like to order. This should not be!

What about you?

What are you building?

Almost 2 millenia ago, master craftsmen worked on a project in Greece. As the tour guide walked us through the planning, designing, and ultimately the building process of these amazing structures, we were amazed at the detail put into making it look straight, stand strong, and last for a long time. I am certain that the builders were not thinking about the destruction of their work before finishing, but I am confident they were interested in it's longevity.

As I think about our day to day life, we should be building something. We could build into the lives of others. We could build our own retirement accounts. We could build our families. We could build our businesses and ministries. We coule build our marriages. Yes, as life goes by, we should be building something... The question is, what are building? Are you working toward something that will last 10 years? 100 years? 1000 years? Are you building into the lives of those around you so that the impact you have on this world lasts long after you are gone?

Maybe you have started tearing apart what you had been building. My encouragement to you is to refocus your energy and time on things that last - things that last much longer than you. Maybe, like this building, for a couple millenia!!