Noise

The neighbor kid must be sick today. The incessant blowing of a whistle and barking of his dog is driving me to...

It's hard to hear through the noise of the world. It's hard enough to hear when things are quiet. God I mean; it's hard to God. Sometimes the noise of your own mind just drowns out everything else! Sometimes the pastimes we feel the necessity to be involved in take God's time. Every once in a while though God comes through anyway!

Like last night. I was sitting watching a pretty good game between the Eagles and the Giants. I wanted the Giants to win so Philly wouldn't be on top of Dallas; oh well. But, right in the middle of the best part of the game I started thinking about and hearing from God about the vision for NPCC. Oh, it's nothing earth shatering. It just hasn't been so clear before.

Loving God and loving people has always been the 'what' of our ministry. But the 'how' is different from place to place. I can't say that I have everything worked out yet, but it feels better to have a direction!

Pray with us that we know the specific 'how' of loving God and loving people in Woodland Park!

At Home in a Foreign Land

I spent my Monday in a Spanish class at the High School. I never took Spanish myself. I took German, Latin, Greek, and a little Hebrew, but not Spanish. As I looked around the room I saw all sorts of funny looking words I did not know how to pronounce nor did I know the meaning of them. As the students read aloud there books and worksheets, I felt an eerie feeling of being lost in my own city; like my home had transformed into a foreign land all at once. I felt as if I had entered an alternate dimension as I traveled down the long and winding hallway that is the foreign language department.

Have you ever felt that sensation? Perhaps on a trip, or in an airport? Have you ever felt that way at church? I hope not, but it's possible. The way we pastors talk sometimes I wonder if anyone gets it. And I sure hope there are no non-Christians in the service when that happens. They may feel as if they will never understand the religious we are practicing. Like we are in some secret society that wants outsiders to stay outsiders.

Hopefully the non-Christians you have conversations with don't feel like I did in that classroom; all left out and alone. Hopefully you don't feel like me when you are trying to teach someone about the subject of Christ! If we don't understand the language why do we use it? If we don't understand the language why do we think others will? If we don't understand the language of the religion we subscribe to how can we understand the language?

So, are we to learn a whole new language to go along with our religion or are we to change the language of our religion to match our everyday vernacular? Both. We need to understand the language used by the writers of the Bible and we need to be able to 'translate' those words into our everyday language. That souns like a lot of work, but it's worth it to those who need to grow in Christ or meet Him for the first time. 2 Tim 2:15 - look it up.

Short Curcuit

Last week I had a few minutes to do some chores around the house. One of my list items was changing some light bulbs and fixing a light switch. When I got to the light switch I connected it the way I knew it was supposed to be connected, but it didn't work. I reversed the wires. I tried a different switch. I finally went to the hardware store and bought a new switch. None of these efforts made any difference; the light still did not come on. I finally got the 'bright idea' to check the bulbs in the fixtures. When I did, guess what I found? Of course, they were burned out. I replaced the bulbs and the fix miraculously worked.

After replacing the other bulbs in the house that were burned out, I started thinking how frustrating it can be for us when we feel disconnected from God. When we go to flip the switch and it seems like nothing is happening. We try the switch. We try the bulb. And still...nothing. It seems as if there is a short circuit in our flow of electricity to and from God.

I supposed you are waiting for the 'punch line' of the fix. What is the solution. Can I just do something as easy as change a light bulb and fix everything? Can I just go to the hardware store and buy something new to complete the circuit again? Sometimes the answer is as easy as connecting to God again. We cannot expect to flip a switch after months of non-useand have everything right again. So, we need to repair the connection by spending time with Him for no selfish reason and prepare to listen as much as we talk.

Sometimes, however, there is no problem at all. There is no disconnect. There is no short circuit. Elijah prayed seven times before a cloud the size of a man's hand finally appeared on the horizon and God brought the rain after a three year drought. God heard him the first time, so why didn't He answer him? I don't know. Elijah didn't know. God knew, but He didn't say. The point is Elijah kept praying until he received an answer. Of course the rain was something that God promised He would send too.

I don't know why there seems to be a short circuit between us and God sometimes. All I know is that the Bible always promises that God hears us! And the Bible promises that God works according to His will and purpose and not ours. When we know God has promised something we can be assured He will answer the way we expect. But, God's hands are not tied to answer our prayers the way we think He should.

Know this; God hears our prayers and is faithful to answer. We may not always hear Him. We may not always see the answer. But 'faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.' Not the assurance of things that have already come to pass and the conviction of things we see.

Pray and have faith!