Sending & Going

This week I would like us to focus our encouragement on three young adults who are leaving tomorrow to go to Kenya. For many of you who have been fortunate enough to leave this culture to minister in another area of the world, the experience can be life changing. However, when one comes back from seeing God at work in another part of the world, it can often be hard to adjust because life back in one’s home country has not changed all that much.

I would like us to focus our encouragement on Khou, Jana, Mary Beth and Jacey because they are not going to Kenya to have a personal experience. They are going as representatives from the Young Adults as well as our church body. Let us encourage them by engaging in prayer for them and the team as an effort to send them, support them and receive them when they come back from their mission.

Here is what you can pray for:

• Pray for the safety of the team and that God prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for the experiences they will encounter there.

• Pray that they go with a posture of humility and humbleness, quick to use their gifts and abilities when needed, but with wisdom to discern cultural sensitivity.

• Pray that their hearts are open to receive all the great lessons our Kenyan/Tanzanian brothers and sisters are willing to teach us.

• Pray for unity amongst the team, that they will experience true community with each other.

• Pray for Beacon of Hope, praise God for the numerous ways Boh has been able to build up their community. And pray that Boh continues to shine His light in a place darkened by diseases and poverty.

• Pray with Kyama for his church and his vision of reaching the middle and upper class Kenyans so that they will in turn, overflow their resources and love onto the rest of Kenya.

Memory's Place

I love the concept of Memorial Day. I love the fact that people stop to pay attention to those that gave their lives to serve us and those that came before us. However, I don’t think many people take the time to actually remember the sacrifice of others. I don’t think many actually take the time to remember because deep down we are all really calloused hearted people. I think cultivating a thankful/grateful heart is a foreign concept.

We are trained to be reflective and grateful people. CNN is great at centering us on the present. They report the breaking news that is geared to disturb, interrupt, and dominate your thoughts for the day. Advertisers cultivate a discontent by creating needs for us that will be fulfilled when we buy their product. Movies and television overwrite our own stories, so when we do gather we end up talking about fictional lives, not our own lives. Ok, I am not down on the media, but if I am not careful, I can let the media dominate my thought life to the point where it squeezes every once of reflectivity out (if that’s a word).

This Memorial Day, I wonder if you would join me in not only reflecting on those that gave their lives for this country that we live in, but also those that gave their lives to pass on the faith to us. Reading Paul’s very personal words at the end of his letter to the Colossian church, has made me grateful for his life given for the sake of the gospel. Somehow his encouragement worked, because his words and life has been passed down to me.

I look forward to this weekend as good excuse to cultivate a grateful heart. Join me by reflecting on the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob…

"No Thanks"

This past week in Sunday Class, Paul encourages the Colossians to just say, “No,” to those who were showing them the myriad of ways to develop their spirituality beyond the work Jesus. We too, need to hear Paul’s encouragement and employ the word, “No,” rightly in our life.

So often I use this word incorrectly. I use it in a manner to turn down things that are good for me and things that I would enjoy. I don’t know if you do this, but often when I am over at someone’s house and they offer me a drink, I usually respond by saying, “No thanks,” even when I am thirsty. For some reason, my knee jerk reaction is to deny the offer. Therefore, I end up denying the giver of the gift and deny his or her pleasure in giving it (not to mention the denial of my parched throat the joy of a cool drink!).

In thinking about why I typically respond negatively to the hospitality of a drink offered, I have come to the conclusion that what I am really saying is, “No thanks, I would rather deny my basic need for water than to be indebted to you by taking you up on the offer of a free drink.” This is very foolish, I know, but I think there is some truth to it. In saying, “No,” to the offer, I am also unconsciously saying, “Yes,” to my self-sufficiency. By saying, “No,” to these offers of hospitality, I am also saying, “No, to the joy of living in community with others. I could go on, but this little use of the word “no” has massive ramifications on the development, or underdevelopment, of my spiritual formation.

Is it any wonder then, when I hear God’s invitation to come, my knee jerk reaction is to say, “No thanks.” Pray with me that we might use the word “no” rightly. Pray that we would use the word in order to clear out the clutter in our lives so that we can hear God’s call to come to him.

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

(John 7:37-38, NIV)