Genesis - life from lifelessness.

I am preparing for our TTU board meeting that starts today. (www.touchedtwiceunited.org) There are more than 20 people coming to WI to see what the Lord is stirring up for this year. The creating of culture that would be more powerful and substantive than the flashy veneer that is today is on the agenda. It seems as if we are a bit too full of ourselves as we print the agenda.

I am going to show a video clip from Star Trek the Wrath of Khan. It is called, The Genisis Project. Some scientists have been testing a device that could be shot into any dead or lifeless planet and generate life. In the clip they suggest that what is depicted is only the very minimum of the kinds of change that could happen.

I see the message of Jesus as the same device. It has the power to bring life into lifeless people. If deposoted into any enviornment, it has the power to transform. Not just the change of the veneer. The transformation of the entire planet. It seems that this process had started 2000 years ago and yet something has gone wrong. What is keeping this change from happening?

In the anchient book of prayers we see that there is more to this change than what we have seen:

what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
Psalm 8

If everything is under our authority, then what is stopping us? If God is for us, who can be against? What if the changes we see are just the minimun of what could be?

Benevolent?

Well meaning and kindly? We are having some great discussions regarding benevolence and the church. At our church we do not have a benevolence fund. That may sound good or bad to you and let me elaborate...

Our church is called Fellowship and we hold relationship as a high value, thus the name. I have seen people give directly to people in need based on these relationships. Last night the leaders of the church were talking about adding a line item (benevolence) to our no existent budget. (we don't take up an offering) As we talked about Acts 2:42, (fellowship verse) I was marveling at the magnitude of giving that was going on inside these relationships. One single mom had received over 1,000 people hours in the rehabbing oh her first home. Another young man had received a cash gift of $1,000 from fellow students. None of these gifts came from the fellowship checking account. Or did they?

I wonder if we had placed a % line in our budget, would the giving would have been capped at that level? If we add up all the gifts: $, food, car repairs, housing, cars, clothing, computers, time and talents, it would have far surpassed the total budget of Fellowship.

Is there another way for people to share burdens?

Forgiveness & Trust

I have been talking about forgiveness and trust. It has caused quite a bit of negative feedback. How can anyone suggest that we 'need' to forgive in order to be free from our own wrong doings? Especially if our wrong doings pale in comparison to what others have done to me.

There is a phrase in the bible that says, "Consider it all joy, when you receive trials of any kind." This is an equally disturbing idea. It seems that we are supposed to say, thank you for this great gift of difficulty. I am so filled with joy as I suffer through this.

I think this thinking is a bunch of bunk.

What if, this is from that scary place, what if it was more of the chance to prove what you believe?
What if trials are the chances to exercise our faith? What if it was more about our faith and less about the trials? In the movie 300, there is a scene where the Spartans are looking at the millions of men in the Persian army. One of them starts to smile and laugh. He says that he has prepared his entire life to meet a man that was his equal in battle. He was pleased to think that among the hoard was one such man.

It is not even our faith, as much as the one we have placed our faith in. He has proven himself over and over again. No matter what the fear, the circumstances or the outcome. He promises that He can and will work out everything for our good and the good of all who love Him acording to His purposes. We can trust Him as He is ever faithful.

The New Year with an old body.

I am still sore from sledding with the kids over Christmas break. I remember when I could and would sled for hours. The hills, large as they were, never seemed to matter nearly as much as the potential fun they promised. Now I found myself acting like the full time defender in a basketball game. Bent over holding my sides and telling the kids to go ahead and I would wait for the next run. (not that I would have ever experienced this)

I feel this same side splitting ache as I look at the hill of this year and wonder if it would be better to wait until the next ride. Not that I am quitting, its that the potential seems to be less than the effort it feels it will take to ride again. Why?

I think that after a year like we had, it feels daunting to think that this next hill could be higher. Yet with each loftier trek the each ride holds that much more potential for exhilarating fun. More fun, more danger, more excitement, more risk... More reward?

As I hold my knees and wait to catch my breath, the thoughts of faces flash through my mind. Faces of the many people that I have had the privilege to ride with on this journey. People who's lives I pray will never be the same for the ride. In my imagination I see these faces all turned toward the one who started this entire sledding idea.

Here I go again...