Sorry everyone for the lack of update on my blog... It's been quite the roller coaster ride since I last wrote. I was just planning on writing about the stuff going on now so y'all can know and be praying for everything that's happening.
Ummm, where to start, where to start? Well, I have finally settled in Iquitos, Peru located smack dab in the middle of the Amazon rain forest (we're three degrees from the equator). I finished all the necessary upgrades needed on my house like paint, furniture, and the like, and it wasn't a moment too soon because now I have three Latin roommates and it's all working out great for us. I'm now living with Jose, from Ecuador, Enoc, an indiginous from the jungle, and Isaac, from a small town on the river to Pucallpa from here.
The biggest news is that we are now neck deep in two trainings going on at the same time. We have a girls training that started about two week ago, and a guys training that started last week. There are five girls in their training, and there are seven guys and one couple in the guys training. Today has been our first real day of rest since the girls training has started so we can finally slow down and breathe a little. Please be praying that the people going through the trainings may find their strength in Him, and be able to complete the training so they may be effective missionaries wherever they may serve. A praise I have is that no one has voiced any thoughts about quitting the training thus far, and that is great news for us and them!
That's pretty much it for now; my life is revolving completely around these trainings until they are finished so please also be praying for Jeremy and I that we may be given sufficient patience and strength every day to keep going out there to teach. I have to constantly remind myself that I cannot do this on my own; I need your prayers, and the grace of my Lord to get me through these next three months.
On a great note, my family will be coming to visit me in just three days!! hey will be here for nine days, and I am going to show them Lima, and then we're headed here so they can see the training and get to know the people involved. Please pray for safe travel for them and us this next week.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Called to Suffer as Christ Suffered
Happy Easter fellow bond slaves of Christ! It’s been almost a month since my last blog, but the reasoning for this gap of time cannot be claimed by nothing happening. On the contrary, quite a lot has been going on down here in Peru.
We had our Xtreme Team annual reunion a couple of weeks ago now, and it was amazing! Renewing old friendships, starting new ones, and hearing from all of the people connected to our team from all over South America is remarkable! We also shared the Bible chronologically from Creation all the way to the new church in the group times. The four days we had all together wasn’t near enough I thought to get to know all of the forty-ish people that were there. Afterwards, I had a couple days of rest in Lima to hang out with some really good friends (at Starbucks a lot of the time…) before I headed to Iquitos, Peru. I went there with my boss, Jeremy Taliaferro, and two other Xtremers, Adam Huser and Jonathan Jackson. Our main goal was to find houses for our team that was going to be starting up there this month. Amazingly, within three days we found two houses that are perfect for our team. That was truly an answered prayer because we had heard from other missionaries in Lima that it would take us close to a month to find a suitable house. Once we got those houses squared away, Jonathan and I stayed behind for last week to search out good places to have training for the new recruits at the end of May.
I recovered quickly my loathing of the jungle… haha I had somehow forgotten how the jungle was; I guess from all my time in Bolivia in the mountains. When we first stepped off the plane, I felt like I had walked into a sauna. The sweat immediately began pouring from my body like a river, good times, good times. :) To be honest with y'all, this is the most I’ve suffered in a while; and it's still nothing near to the level of suffering of others in "closed countries." The last three months had been pretty laid back for me, but now I feel I’ll more than make up for it now in Iquitos (look it up on a map…) and Peru between the climate, being at Jeremy’s side now to work, and the travel related to my job. What’s been running through my mind for the past two weeks have been the countless times in the Bible that we are called to suffer for Christ. Many have lost sight that to truly follow Christ is to suffer; there is no other way, no "easy Christianity." As Paul says in Philippians “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” 1:29 Wow… we have been ‘granted’ the great gift of suffering for the name of Christ. How many of us, me included, count it something incredible to suffer? To Paul, there was no higher way to show allegiance to Christ than that of suffering. Why? What is so great about suffering? The obvious benefit of suffering is that those not really serious about the cause they follow would quickly ditch. How many examples of this have each of us seen? Or the number of people we can think about who would ditch if “things got hard?” The second benefit of suffering is that we grow exponentially from the trails we face. Here are just a few verses that talk about it in the Bible: James says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” 1:2-4, Peter says “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1:6-7 and again “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed… Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” 4:12-13, 16, and one more from Paul “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” Romans 5:3-5. When we face the trials that life and this world throw at us, we have the opportunity to show them who we truly are, and that we are not just weaklings following a senseless religion that the world seems to believe we are. But that we are the real people (not perfect) whose strength comes from a source larger than anything we, or they, can imagine, Christ Jesus.
We had our Xtreme Team annual reunion a couple of weeks ago now, and it was amazing! Renewing old friendships, starting new ones, and hearing from all of the people connected to our team from all over South America is remarkable! We also shared the Bible chronologically from Creation all the way to the new church in the group times. The four days we had all together wasn’t near enough I thought to get to know all of the forty-ish people that were there. Afterwards, I had a couple days of rest in Lima to hang out with some really good friends (at Starbucks a lot of the time…) before I headed to Iquitos, Peru. I went there with my boss, Jeremy Taliaferro, and two other Xtremers, Adam Huser and Jonathan Jackson. Our main goal was to find houses for our team that was going to be starting up there this month. Amazingly, within three days we found two houses that are perfect for our team. That was truly an answered prayer because we had heard from other missionaries in Lima that it would take us close to a month to find a suitable house. Once we got those houses squared away, Jonathan and I stayed behind for last week to search out good places to have training for the new recruits at the end of May.
I recovered quickly my loathing of the jungle… haha I had somehow forgotten how the jungle was; I guess from all my time in Bolivia in the mountains. When we first stepped off the plane, I felt like I had walked into a sauna. The sweat immediately began pouring from my body like a river, good times, good times. :) To be honest with y'all, this is the most I’ve suffered in a while; and it's still nothing near to the level of suffering of others in "closed countries." The last three months had been pretty laid back for me, but now I feel I’ll more than make up for it now in Iquitos (look it up on a map…) and Peru between the climate, being at Jeremy’s side now to work, and the travel related to my job. What’s been running through my mind for the past two weeks have been the countless times in the Bible that we are called to suffer for Christ. Many have lost sight that to truly follow Christ is to suffer; there is no other way, no "easy Christianity." As Paul says in Philippians “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” 1:29 Wow… we have been ‘granted’ the great gift of suffering for the name of Christ. How many of us, me included, count it something incredible to suffer? To Paul, there was no higher way to show allegiance to Christ than that of suffering. Why? What is so great about suffering? The obvious benefit of suffering is that those not really serious about the cause they follow would quickly ditch. How many examples of this have each of us seen? Or the number of people we can think about who would ditch if “things got hard?” The second benefit of suffering is that we grow exponentially from the trails we face. Here are just a few verses that talk about it in the Bible: James says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” 1:2-4, Peter says “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1:6-7 and again “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed… Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.” 4:12-13, 16, and one more from Paul “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.” Romans 5:3-5. When we face the trials that life and this world throw at us, we have the opportunity to show them who we truly are, and that we are not just weaklings following a senseless religion that the world seems to believe we are. But that we are the real people (not perfect) whose strength comes from a source larger than anything we, or they, can imagine, Christ Jesus.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Moving
The last week has been really hectic for me because tonight I am leaving Sucre, Bolivia for good. I still don´t know how I´m feeling over the move, but I know it´s necessary for the good of the team (so I can be in the same city as our chief boss in Peru). I have a great thing going on for me here in Sucre with the three Latin teammates I share the house with. We meet every night after dinner and discuss a chapter of the Bible, and I feel like I will missing out on that side of relational living when I move to Iquitos, Peru because I think I will be living alone for the first few months at least. It´s going to be a big change but I know that God will see me through it, no matter what happens. I just wanted to let ya´ll know about the fact that I´m moving and also to ask for your prayers. We are going to be traveling over the course of the next three days to Lima, Peru, eventually. Please pray that we have safe travel, and that at the Bolivia/Peru border we don´t run into a lot of trouble from the border police. They like to act more important that they really are. Please lift up us during that situation so we can reflect the glory of Christ through all we do to the police.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Celebration
Sorry about the length of time between posts, my friends. Maybe before I start this blog I should explain how I go about writing these and when. Most of the time I will write a blog whenever something happens in my life or to our team down here, to update y´all on the things that are passing here. Other times I will write a blog whenever I feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to do so; take the last one for example, and at least one of my entries from a while ago. This blog will mostly be the latter, but I will also throw in some of the things that are happening down here since it´s been a while since you have had much news.
The last few days have officially been Carnaval here in Bolivia. I say officially because for pretty much the last month, the youth have been celebrating it in one way or another (usually involving water thrown at someone). The celebrations I have seen the last few days are incredible compared to anything I have seen in the States: people dancing and singing in the streets with a band following them everywhere (traffic doesn´t matter to these people), families standing on their balconies with water balloons, water guns, and buckets filled with, yes, water waiting for the unsuspecting passer-by, and the all-out water balloon wars in the main plaza between the youth. It seems everyone gets caught up in the celebration of this holiday here: children dress up in costumes, young people enjoy their water, and even the parents and grandparents have been spotted throwing the occasional water balloon, and then playing it off like they are innocent! I have a confession to make… even I, the serious, hard-working Jeff :P, have been caught up in the celebration the last few days. I have no idea when this came to be, all I know is that I now find myself laughing trying to dodge water balloons and shaving cream (and even an egg once) aimed at this poor gringo while I am trying to pass through the plaza and streets downtown. A week ago I couldn´t stand the celebration but something in the air, something electric, almost palatable, has transformed me into someone who enjoys getting water balloons thrown at him!
This has led me to think about life back in the States: the mostly monotonous routine we live day-to-day, with a little variation on the weekends perhaps. We, as children of the Most High, as followers of the King, as citizens of the Eternal Kingdom, might be going through life with no celebration whatsoever—minus our singing on Sundays—that others can see. People notice no difference between the followers of Christ and other people with regards to joyfulness. In fact, some may say they notice that we are shockingly less joyful than others; the ¨typical Christian kill-joy.¨ How can that be?? How can we, who have the promise of eternal life, be any less joyful, celebrate any less than those we label ¨non-Christian¨ in this life we have?? Yes, we know this world is not for us; Jesus said as much (John 17:14). But that doesn´t mean that we aren´t allowed to be joyful! On the contrary my brothers and sisters; we are supposed to be the most joyful of all people because of our relationship with the Father through the Son! The Psalms are filled with expressions of the joy we should feel; 4:6, 5:11, 13:5, 21:6, 30:6, 92:5, 95:1, 100:1, 118:24. The Gospels preach joy from start to finish, from the angel visiting Mary in Luke 2:10 to Jesus himself speaking on it in John 15 and 16 to the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene in Matthew 28:8. The Apostles´ letters are also filled with joy: Romans 15:13, Philippians 2:2 and 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:20 and 5:16, James 1:2, 1 Peter 1:6, and 1 John 1:4. We should be exuding joy so that it becomes contagious, and the people around us are caused to wonder how and why we are so joyful. Joy is a vital, prevalent part of the Christian walk. Our situation should have no affect whatsoever on our joy, in fact we are advised to ¨rejoice¨ and to ¨have joy¨ when we do suffer! This wonderful oxymoron that we are called to follow is just one of many that the world says makes no sense, but we know the truth. ¨More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God´s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.¨ Romans 5:3-5. This is one of my favorite passages from the book of Romans; it is just so powerful and inspiring to me. My challenge to us as the body of Christ is one that may be hard for some. I challenge all of us to rediscover the true joy we have in Christ through His sacrifice on the cross for each and every one of us. Let your co-workers wonder and marvel at this joy you have, and when they ask about it curiously, you have the perfect opening to share the wellspring of your joy.
Right now, and actually for the last few months, I have shifted in the type of work I am doing for our team here in South America. I have moved from being a ¨front-line, mountain walking missionary¨ and have become the administrator of our team. My job has involved many different aspects of things in relation for our team: from producing promotional materials for our Latinos and for the churches in the States, to coordinating several features of our annual team meeting next month, to pretty much anything in between as my boss sees fit to assign me. Our Bolivia team is doing well; Roberto and I are here in Sucre after a month in Cochabamba for Roberto´s Quechua classes, Efrain and Javier are in Cochabamba right now taking Quechua classes, and Trent, Kay, and Jack are getting back from a three week trip into the communities tomorrow. Please be praying for all the travel that will be taking place next month from all over South America to Lima, Peru for our annual meeting. Thank all of you so much for all of your support and prayer thus far in my journey here; as of today I am sitting at my one year and four month anniversary and only eight months to go.
The last few days have officially been Carnaval here in Bolivia. I say officially because for pretty much the last month, the youth have been celebrating it in one way or another (usually involving water thrown at someone). The celebrations I have seen the last few days are incredible compared to anything I have seen in the States: people dancing and singing in the streets with a band following them everywhere (traffic doesn´t matter to these people), families standing on their balconies with water balloons, water guns, and buckets filled with, yes, water waiting for the unsuspecting passer-by, and the all-out water balloon wars in the main plaza between the youth. It seems everyone gets caught up in the celebration of this holiday here: children dress up in costumes, young people enjoy their water, and even the parents and grandparents have been spotted throwing the occasional water balloon, and then playing it off like they are innocent! I have a confession to make… even I, the serious, hard-working Jeff :P, have been caught up in the celebration the last few days. I have no idea when this came to be, all I know is that I now find myself laughing trying to dodge water balloons and shaving cream (and even an egg once) aimed at this poor gringo while I am trying to pass through the plaza and streets downtown. A week ago I couldn´t stand the celebration but something in the air, something electric, almost palatable, has transformed me into someone who enjoys getting water balloons thrown at him!
This has led me to think about life back in the States: the mostly monotonous routine we live day-to-day, with a little variation on the weekends perhaps. We, as children of the Most High, as followers of the King, as citizens of the Eternal Kingdom, might be going through life with no celebration whatsoever—minus our singing on Sundays—that others can see. People notice no difference between the followers of Christ and other people with regards to joyfulness. In fact, some may say they notice that we are shockingly less joyful than others; the ¨typical Christian kill-joy.¨ How can that be?? How can we, who have the promise of eternal life, be any less joyful, celebrate any less than those we label ¨non-Christian¨ in this life we have?? Yes, we know this world is not for us; Jesus said as much (John 17:14). But that doesn´t mean that we aren´t allowed to be joyful! On the contrary my brothers and sisters; we are supposed to be the most joyful of all people because of our relationship with the Father through the Son! The Psalms are filled with expressions of the joy we should feel; 4:6, 5:11, 13:5, 21:6, 30:6, 92:5, 95:1, 100:1, 118:24. The Gospels preach joy from start to finish, from the angel visiting Mary in Luke 2:10 to Jesus himself speaking on it in John 15 and 16 to the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene in Matthew 28:8. The Apostles´ letters are also filled with joy: Romans 15:13, Philippians 2:2 and 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 2:20 and 5:16, James 1:2, 1 Peter 1:6, and 1 John 1:4. We should be exuding joy so that it becomes contagious, and the people around us are caused to wonder how and why we are so joyful. Joy is a vital, prevalent part of the Christian walk. Our situation should have no affect whatsoever on our joy, in fact we are advised to ¨rejoice¨ and to ¨have joy¨ when we do suffer! This wonderful oxymoron that we are called to follow is just one of many that the world says makes no sense, but we know the truth. ¨More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God´s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.¨ Romans 5:3-5. This is one of my favorite passages from the book of Romans; it is just so powerful and inspiring to me. My challenge to us as the body of Christ is one that may be hard for some. I challenge all of us to rediscover the true joy we have in Christ through His sacrifice on the cross for each and every one of us. Let your co-workers wonder and marvel at this joy you have, and when they ask about it curiously, you have the perfect opening to share the wellspring of your joy.
Right now, and actually for the last few months, I have shifted in the type of work I am doing for our team here in South America. I have moved from being a ¨front-line, mountain walking missionary¨ and have become the administrator of our team. My job has involved many different aspects of things in relation for our team: from producing promotional materials for our Latinos and for the churches in the States, to coordinating several features of our annual team meeting next month, to pretty much anything in between as my boss sees fit to assign me. Our Bolivia team is doing well; Roberto and I are here in Sucre after a month in Cochabamba for Roberto´s Quechua classes, Efrain and Javier are in Cochabamba right now taking Quechua classes, and Trent, Kay, and Jack are getting back from a three week trip into the communities tomorrow. Please be praying for all the travel that will be taking place next month from all over South America to Lima, Peru for our annual meeting. Thank all of you so much for all of your support and prayer thus far in my journey here; as of today I am sitting at my one year and four month anniversary and only eight months to go.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A Fatal Flaw of the Traditional Church
Seeing how about 90-95% of my readers are currently in a traditional church setting, I´m betting the title does one of two things: it either makes you uncomfortable, or you´re already deciding to ignore this blog as a rave against the traditional church. Let me assure you, I love the traditional church and I plan on attending my home church once I return to the States. In fact, last night I hardly slept at all thinking about this blog and how I could write it lovingly. I really feel led to write this and even asked the counsel of one of my team members about doing it.
Last night, my mind began racing with thoughts about my home church as I tried to go to sleep. Recently, as most of you know by now (I´d be surprised if you hadn´t heard... but that´s another blog), the senior pastor of my home church has decided to follow God´s direction for his life and that direction is leading him away from my church. It really got me thinking about the traditional church culture as a whole. I was reminiscing about the past when our former senior pastor left and ¨coincidentally¨ a surprising amount of members left as well. I wonder if that will happen this time too. Of course, those people will use a plethora of different excuses as to why their leaving coincides with the pastor leaving, but the truth is, everyone knows. ¨For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.¨ 2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV Wow, that sounds remarkably familiar... Research shows that about 15% of the church members leave whenever an able pastor leaves that church (Weese & Crabtree, Elephant in the Boardroom).
This research alarms me because it points to a fatal flaw of the traditional church. I recently read something that struck me profoundly as true, ¨Members of the traditional church often mistake a leader´s charismatic personality for His Spirit.¨ So, when that charismatic pastor leaves, people feel free to leave as well. The flaw is that the vast majority of Christians in the traditional setting attend ¨their¨ church for one reason or another that has nothing Biblical about it... For example, ¨I go to so-and-so Church because I like the pastor (or the music, or the people, etc).¨ Fill in the blank with whatever the fad is at this current moment. It´s the ¨I/Me¨ focus that pains me; the point of church has become to please the attendee (i.e. hip music, impressive buildings, fancy stages and the ¨performances¨ of the worship leaders) and we have lost the point that church is to worship and praise our Creator. It doesn´t matter how we ¨feel¨ about it, but American culture has permeated and warped the meaning of the church from Him to ¨me.¨
So the point of this blog is to issue a challenge to all of my readers to examine, critically, the reason one attends your church. Please ask yourselves these questions, ¨Why do I go to ______ Church?¨¨Is it because I like the pastor, or the music pleases me, or the fancy stage presence?¨¨Or do I go because I can honestly feel a connection to the almighty presence of God while I´m there?¨ I earnestly pray that you can take the time to look deep inside yourself and, most importantly, ask God to show you the reasons you attend.
One disclaimer before I end this blog: this blog is not advocating that if you are unhappy with your church, you are free to ¨shop¨ other churches for one that fits you. Yet again, the focus of that kind of thought process is back to ¨me.¨ This blog is only asking that you find the right reasons for attending your church.
Last night, my mind began racing with thoughts about my home church as I tried to go to sleep. Recently, as most of you know by now (I´d be surprised if you hadn´t heard... but that´s another blog), the senior pastor of my home church has decided to follow God´s direction for his life and that direction is leading him away from my church. It really got me thinking about the traditional church culture as a whole. I was reminiscing about the past when our former senior pastor left and ¨coincidentally¨ a surprising amount of members left as well. I wonder if that will happen this time too. Of course, those people will use a plethora of different excuses as to why their leaving coincides with the pastor leaving, but the truth is, everyone knows. ¨For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.¨ 2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV Wow, that sounds remarkably familiar... Research shows that about 15% of the church members leave whenever an able pastor leaves that church (Weese & Crabtree, Elephant in the Boardroom).
This research alarms me because it points to a fatal flaw of the traditional church. I recently read something that struck me profoundly as true, ¨Members of the traditional church often mistake a leader´s charismatic personality for His Spirit.¨ So, when that charismatic pastor leaves, people feel free to leave as well. The flaw is that the vast majority of Christians in the traditional setting attend ¨their¨ church for one reason or another that has nothing Biblical about it... For example, ¨I go to so-and-so Church because I like the pastor (or the music, or the people, etc).¨ Fill in the blank with whatever the fad is at this current moment. It´s the ¨I/Me¨ focus that pains me; the point of church has become to please the attendee (i.e. hip music, impressive buildings, fancy stages and the ¨performances¨ of the worship leaders) and we have lost the point that church is to worship and praise our Creator. It doesn´t matter how we ¨feel¨ about it, but American culture has permeated and warped the meaning of the church from Him to ¨me.¨
So the point of this blog is to issue a challenge to all of my readers to examine, critically, the reason one attends your church. Please ask yourselves these questions, ¨Why do I go to ______ Church?¨¨Is it because I like the pastor, or the music pleases me, or the fancy stage presence?¨¨Or do I go because I can honestly feel a connection to the almighty presence of God while I´m there?¨ I earnestly pray that you can take the time to look deep inside yourself and, most importantly, ask God to show you the reasons you attend.
One disclaimer before I end this blog: this blog is not advocating that if you are unhappy with your church, you are free to ¨shop¨ other churches for one that fits you. Yet again, the focus of that kind of thought process is back to ¨me.¨ This blog is only asking that you find the right reasons for attending your church.
Friday, January 2, 2009
An Organic Appetite
The following entry was an article in a magazine I read this morning as part of my quiet time. When I read it, I identified with everything the author said… I just felt like sharing it with y´all since it affected me so much. It was written by Margaret Feinberg, and is taken from her book, The Organic God. Enjoy.
¨All too often I find myself tempted to live a distracted life. You know the kind—the one where within the busyness of life you still manage to perform the stand-up, sit-down, clap, clap, clap of regular church attendance, hope for a new nugget of knowledge or insight from the weekly sermon and check off a random, albeit short, list of acts of kindness.
That´s when the hunger appears in my belly and overtakes my soul, grumbling that there must be more. More of God not only to understand but to discover.
Deep down inside, I still hunger for a true, pure relationship with the Organic God—the One True God.
While organic is usually associated with food grown without chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides, organic is also used to describe a lifestyle: simple, healthful, and close to nature. Those are all things I desire in my relationship with God. I hunger for simplicity. I want to approach God in childlike faith, wonder, and awe. I long for more than just spiritual life but spiritual health—whereby my soul is not just renewed and restored, but it becomes a source of refreshment for others.
I want to discover God again, anew, in a fresh way. I want my love for Him to come alive so that my heart dances at the very thought of Him. I want a real relationship with Him—a relationship that isn´t altered by perfumes, additives, chemicals, or artificial flavors that promise to make it sweeter, sourer, or tastier than it really is. I want to know a God who in all His fullness would allow me to know Him. I want a relationship that is real, authentic, and life-giving even when it hurts. I want to know God striped of as many false perceptions as possible. Such a journey risks exposure, honesty, and even pain, but I´m hungry and desperate enough to go there.
In some regards, the journey to know God isn´t too different from a first encounter with someone you´ve never met. I want to know what God looks like and what His interests are. I want to know His likes and dislikes. I want to know what makes Him tick and also what ticks Him off. I want to fall in love all over again. I want to know God.
I want to know the Organic God.¨
¨All too often I find myself tempted to live a distracted life. You know the kind—the one where within the busyness of life you still manage to perform the stand-up, sit-down, clap, clap, clap of regular church attendance, hope for a new nugget of knowledge or insight from the weekly sermon and check off a random, albeit short, list of acts of kindness.
That´s when the hunger appears in my belly and overtakes my soul, grumbling that there must be more. More of God not only to understand but to discover.
Deep down inside, I still hunger for a true, pure relationship with the Organic God—the One True God.
While organic is usually associated with food grown without chemical-based fertilizers or pesticides, organic is also used to describe a lifestyle: simple, healthful, and close to nature. Those are all things I desire in my relationship with God. I hunger for simplicity. I want to approach God in childlike faith, wonder, and awe. I long for more than just spiritual life but spiritual health—whereby my soul is not just renewed and restored, but it becomes a source of refreshment for others.
I want to discover God again, anew, in a fresh way. I want my love for Him to come alive so that my heart dances at the very thought of Him. I want a real relationship with Him—a relationship that isn´t altered by perfumes, additives, chemicals, or artificial flavors that promise to make it sweeter, sourer, or tastier than it really is. I want to know a God who in all His fullness would allow me to know Him. I want a relationship that is real, authentic, and life-giving even when it hurts. I want to know God striped of as many false perceptions as possible. Such a journey risks exposure, honesty, and even pain, but I´m hungry and desperate enough to go there.
In some regards, the journey to know God isn´t too different from a first encounter with someone you´ve never met. I want to know what God looks like and what His interests are. I want to know His likes and dislikes. I want to know what makes Him tick and also what ticks Him off. I want to fall in love all over again. I want to know God.
I want to know the Organic God.¨
The Desolate Places
Yesterday morning while I was having my quiet time, I came across a verse in Mark that really struck me. I stopped reading, and just had to try to wrap my mind around what the verse was saying… It is amazing what the Lord uses to speak to us because I am sure that I had read that same verse many, many times before without giving it a thought, but this time it hit me. The verse is as follows: ¨But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every corner (emphasis mine).¨ Mark 1:45 ESV
This phrase just made me stop and think for a while. It´s not a very striking verse, though. What I mean is that this verse hadn´t jumped out at me before yesterday; I would read it and just keep on going, but yesterday was different for some reason. I came to the conclusion that there was a reason Jesus was out in the `desolate places´ at that time. His fame had begun to spread as one who could heal people with a touch and cast out demons with a single word. I think he went to the desolate places because there, only the most desperate and believing people would come find him to be healed. Think about it: if Jesus were in the city, anyone with a cold or something slightly inconvenient could confront Jesus to be healed, and I´m sure He would (as time consuming as it would be). But if He´s out in the middle of nowhere, then people will think twice about going to see Him to be healed. The people with no hope (lepers, the blind, the lame, etc) would seek Him out no matter His location. I believe this is a test of their faith in His power to heal them. And the verse says that still people were coming to Him; I can picture the most broken and hopeless people being the ones to go to Him in that desolate place.
Many of us find ourselves in `desolate places´ at least once in our lives. It seems like nothing is going our way, we´re struck with a hopeless situation, everyone seems to desert us at a moment´s notice, or we just feel at our wit´s end. It is there that I believe that Jesus is waiting for us. He wants to help us at all times, but in those desolate places of our lives it seems to me that He jumps at the opportunity to comfort us with His presence. We sometimes forget that Jesus´ main goal while He was here on the earth was not to heal the physical infirmities He confronted, nor was it to cast out the demons He came across in His travels, and today it is not to make His church´s life easier; far from it. His main goal is to bring the lost and broken into His family, no matter the cost (His painful death being the ultimate one).
We, as followers of Christ, should be going to the `desolate places´ of others to reach them in the name of our Lord. All that this requires is our ability to be transparent with others and to be able to recognize when someone has reached that desolate place. It will take us looking beyond our own lives, and actively trying to empathize with our neighbors around us (neighbors being everyone…). My prayer is that I, for one, can look beyond my own selfish pity and be able to help a hurting human being out of their desolate place, or at the very least point them on the path to the One who can heal them of their woes.
This phrase just made me stop and think for a while. It´s not a very striking verse, though. What I mean is that this verse hadn´t jumped out at me before yesterday; I would read it and just keep on going, but yesterday was different for some reason. I came to the conclusion that there was a reason Jesus was out in the `desolate places´ at that time. His fame had begun to spread as one who could heal people with a touch and cast out demons with a single word. I think he went to the desolate places because there, only the most desperate and believing people would come find him to be healed. Think about it: if Jesus were in the city, anyone with a cold or something slightly inconvenient could confront Jesus to be healed, and I´m sure He would (as time consuming as it would be). But if He´s out in the middle of nowhere, then people will think twice about going to see Him to be healed. The people with no hope (lepers, the blind, the lame, etc) would seek Him out no matter His location. I believe this is a test of their faith in His power to heal them. And the verse says that still people were coming to Him; I can picture the most broken and hopeless people being the ones to go to Him in that desolate place.
Many of us find ourselves in `desolate places´ at least once in our lives. It seems like nothing is going our way, we´re struck with a hopeless situation, everyone seems to desert us at a moment´s notice, or we just feel at our wit´s end. It is there that I believe that Jesus is waiting for us. He wants to help us at all times, but in those desolate places of our lives it seems to me that He jumps at the opportunity to comfort us with His presence. We sometimes forget that Jesus´ main goal while He was here on the earth was not to heal the physical infirmities He confronted, nor was it to cast out the demons He came across in His travels, and today it is not to make His church´s life easier; far from it. His main goal is to bring the lost and broken into His family, no matter the cost (His painful death being the ultimate one).
We, as followers of Christ, should be going to the `desolate places´ of others to reach them in the name of our Lord. All that this requires is our ability to be transparent with others and to be able to recognize when someone has reached that desolate place. It will take us looking beyond our own lives, and actively trying to empathize with our neighbors around us (neighbors being everyone…). My prayer is that I, for one, can look beyond my own selfish pity and be able to help a hurting human being out of their desolate place, or at the very least point them on the path to the One who can heal them of their woes.
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