Category Archives: being a disciple

May 12, 2014 · 14:01

serving among the poor

My colleague Josh and I took a drive through a “township” this morning looking at unused property.

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His organization is called Growing Hope. The next evolution in this ministry to some of the people in this township is a centrally located station. This center will have multiple uses:
– a place to get garden supplies at prices people can afford;
– a place to get training of various kinds;
– a place where the gospel is shown and spoken.

We’re pretty excited about brainstorming the next couple of days I’m here to take the next steps! A couple from England has already raised some needed funds to get this project off the ground! You can help too! Go to www.ceokids.org to learn more about Growing Hope and get involved.

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Filed under being a disciple, travel notes

March 27, 2014 · 10:46

seeking balance

I’ve heard this quoted a could of times in the last few days and it is attributed to Donald Gee (I’m told he was an English leaders)…

If you have the word alone you dry up
If you have the Spirit alone you blow up

and I am told, he also added…

If you have both, you grow up

balance and maturity, they are important

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Filed under being a disciple, seeking understanding, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings

February 21, 2014 · 16:41

Niebuhr on Christ & Culture

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Here’s my thoughts (what I took away at the end)…

The church is a broad and deep body of people that transcends time and space, it has no geographical or time boundaries. It is like the broad and deep Pacific ocean is a body of water… mostly there are no individual drops. I am not describing some kind of monism. I am thinking of our oneness in and with Christ and one another (John 17?).

To take this drop thing too far, I would say this… There are no individual drops in the ocean excepts for those created by the surface water being battered by storms. What does this tell us about being in the deep with God and one another? The deeper we are the safer we are?

Niebuhr writes: “Our decisions must be made in the present moment-but in the presence of historical beings (this book is all about those beings) whose history has been made sacred by the historical, remembered actions of the one who inhabits eternity.”

From all this I think: We learn to look back to help up see now and hope for the future. But as usual, don’t look back with regret, nor now in fear, but forward with hope in God. (This, I would propose, is a healthy existential position that is based of a hopeful eschatology.)

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Filed under being a disciple, culture, seeking understanding, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings

February 7, 2014 · 11:14

good soil (heart)

This morning I heard about a plant, hairy vetch that is, I was told, essentially a weed. This ground cover has the advantage of adding important nitrogen to the soil as it grows from fall until it is cut away at the next planting season. It makes the soil better.

Weeks back I read a book on humility in which the author stated, essentially, that we should consider every humiliation, no matter the source, as a way to grow in humility. In that, we are made better servants of God. As we are lowered, or lower ourselves, the soil of our heart is made better… then just now I read Mark 4:20…

…those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit… (ESV)

I then considered that our hearts, like soil, need constant tending and that comes working… so the humiliation that comes our way (regardless of source) can be used by God like hairy vetch, though it may seem to be just humiliation on the surface, God can use it to work our hearts into better soil. This give another layer of meaning to Romans 8:28… “…all things work together for good…”

Hang on to God, he will work in your heart, no matter the circumstance.

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January 25, 2014 · 02:07

Conference

gatheringOn a Friday afternoon where the cold had pushed away the spring and the snow had begun to fall, folks from as far away as Belgrade, from five or more churches, gathered for a Bible conference. Our assigned text is:

” if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Last night we focused on who really are God’s people. Our attention was drawn to the sufficiency of the work of Jesus on the cross and in his resurrection.

teaching

 

I told a story of the work our Ukrainian partners have been doing for the sake of orphans and how they seek to see every orphan adopted! Then we considered what Paul teaches us about being adopted by God. I mentioned how expensive it is to adopt a child and then I reminded us of the GREAT price God paid to adopt us… the death of Jesus. Our sins put him on the cross, his righteousness imparted to us. His adoption of us planned by him, paid for by him, we simple receive… indeed, as we sang…

 

sing

 

His grace IS enough.

Today at 9, 11, 4:30 and 5:30 pm we will continue (trust me, I DID NOT set up such a heavy schedule).

Please pray that God will continue to speak in and through us to one another as we study:

– humbling ourselves and repentance

– humility and forgiveness

– how will God use us as HE heals our land

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Filed under being a disciple, from the Balkans, photos along the way, spiritual questions/musings/wonderings

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Sojourner

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I took this picture yesterday as I walked across this bridge crossing the Danube river from Croatia to Serbia…

Peter talks about our being sojourners in this world. When I travel I am not a tourist, nor am I a “local.” I am not “just passin thru” with no cares or concerns. But I am also not tied to the places I go to and invest in. Indeed, if my heart is right there are things about each place, things that are compelling that are different than the others. Some places are more comfortable than others, some provoke more thought than others. I have to think about the way I relate to people culturally which is different, perhaps from the last place…

This is what Peter means in his first epistle about the way Christians ought to view this world. Being travelers who know and care but are not from there, we are from and belong to another place, yet as we visit, we care and we invest. How are you investing in the place you are visiting and the people therein?

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January 24, 2014 · 07:21