Monday, July 11, 2011

God is Faithful (to the end)

While here we have had the chance to meet several parents in different stages of grief and suffering. One family I will never forget.

Joseph was burned in a trailer fire while he and his brother were playing with a lighter. He sustained burns and his brain had been deprived of oxygen. His father told me he was brain dead when they arrived but they were waiting on further testing to be sure. The entire time Joseph was here his family bombarded the hospital. Several remarks were made that they were here for the duration. Then late last Tuesday it was determined that he would not survive. The family made the decision to end life support on Joseph.

Joseph was an organ donor so he was kept on life support until all his viable organs could be harvested and sent out to be transplanted into awaiting patients. This type of thing is not uncommon.

What struck us as even more devastating is that when the parents made their decision, they packed up their belongings and went their separate ways leaving Joseph in his room, alone. No one was with Joseph in his final hours. As a parent I could not imagine having to make the first decision nor would I ever think of making the later.

I am so glad that God is not like those parents. When things are at their worst, He is at His best! When my faith is at its lowest, His grace and mercy far excel my comprehension. When I can't carry on, He carries me.

Psalm 100:5 says that "the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations." God is so much more than I (or even you) deserve. And because He is good, he will never leave us or forsake us.

Joshua 1:9 promises that "the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." I will never find myself in a place where God's mercy and grace didn't get there before me. I will never encounter a problem that He is not there, waiting to help me, if only I will ask.

I said earlier that Joseph died alone. His earthly family had turned their backs and left him. But his Heavenly Father was with him all the time. And when Josephs time was complete, his Father took him home.

WHEW!! Hold my mule......

Thursday, July 7, 2011

We Still Need to Pray

Gen. 25:21 "And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived."

Isaac was the promised seed of Abraham. God had promised that the coming Messiah would come through his bloodline. Isaac had married Rebekah but she was barren and could not get pregnant.  His brother, Ishmael, was married and had fathered several children by this time.

Get the picture. Isaac was right in the center of the will of God. He was doing what he was supposed to do. He was right where he needed to be. But yet he was troubled. You mean to tell me that a person can be in the perfect will of God and still have troubles? Still have concerns? That everything might not go just right all the time? You mean that someone can be in the will of God but because they cannot see the entire plan they get discouraged?

So what did Isaac do when he got to this point? He prayed.

V21 says Isaac prayed to God on behalf of his wife (something I have been doing daily since before we married). That is a great practice to get into whether things are going great or not.  We have no record of how long Isaac prayed or how many times he approached the throne with his requests. What we do see is that God heard his prayer and answered it.  God's plan was to bring forth the Messiah through Isaac and that was accomplished.

Let me make it personal. Metha and I believe that we are doing what God wants us to do. We are where we need to be and yet we are troubled. So what have we been doing? We've been praying.  We have been praying fervently for Noah, our family and each other during this time.  We fully expect God's plan for Noah's life to be accomplished. We are praying for God's will, whatever that might be, and His grace to help us through it and to accept it.

But we still need to pray.

Just a thought...

This will be difficult. I do not mean for this post to offend anyone or cause you to leave this page. It is something that God has been putting on my heart for a long time (long before we found ourselves in the position we are in now).

First, let me tell you how much Metha and I appreciate everyone who has joined, posted or liked anything on th...is page. Although we are not able to respond to each post, rest assured, we do read each of them and often find ourselves reading them to each other throughout the day.

One comment that we have received over and over is one that I have often shared with others who are going through troubles and rough times in their lives. It is a phrase that often is the only one we can come up with at the time. The comment is this, "God will not put more on you than you can stand." While I understand the sentiment behind the comment, I'm not sure that we need to take it as the gospel truth. I want to share with you what God has been showing me recently.

If we take the comment at face value, then we are saying that God will let us take care of all our problems without His help. We are saying that God knows what our limitations are (and He does) and he will test/try us up to that point and not a bit more. While that gives us a good feeling and boosts out selfish pride I'm not sure it's what we should say.

My reasoning is based on this fact: If God will not put more on us than we can stand - where does faith come into the picture? If I can handle my problems then I don't need God to help me. Faith is totally taken away. If I can handle anything that comes my way - I don't need God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let's see what scripture says about it. Don't just take my word.

Psalm 55:22 (NIV) Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Psalm 68:19 (NIV)  Praise be to our Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.

Matt. 11:28-30 (NIV)  Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

I believe that each of you is following the command in Galatians 6:2 by helping to "carry" our burden. I think verse 2 applies to you but I know verse 3 applies to us. "If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves."  I am here to tell you that there is no way Metha and I can get through this on our own. We are not strong enough, smart enough or tough enough to get through this without God's help. I think the song "Through it All" says it best:

So I thank him for the mountains
And I thank him for the valleys
And I thank him for the times he's brought me through
For if I'd never had a problem
I wouldn't know that He could solve them
I wouldn't know what faith in God can do

So the short and simple thought is this. God will put more on us than we can stand. Why? So that He can receive the honor and glory when we pass through the storm. 1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) says that "These (trials of our faith) have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

In closing, please understand my heart as I write this. Metha and I dearly love each of you and thank God daily for the comments you make. Please continue to pray for our family in the coming days. This will not be a quick or easy road. We will be getting used to a new normal very soon with Noah and it will not be an easy transition. We will not only need your support, love and prayers while here. We will, most definitely, need them when we get home.
  

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

What can you get for $2 these days?

"Confession: A Roman Catholic App" has won official church approval all the way up to the Vatican. Yet feedback over the past week has given priests cause to hit pause. More than a few Catholics believe their iPhone can now forgive their sins.

The article on the NewsOK website starts like this. "Like God, technology is everywhere. Unlike God, it can't forgive sins." Sadly, many people will fall for this marketing trickery. But isn't that just like us humans? Always seeking what seems to be the easy way out? I mean if an app on my Smartphone can listen to my confession, absolve my sins and make my heart pure and whole again...isn't it worth the $1.99 the download costs?

If you want the easy way out (and remember, who doesn't) well the way has already been put in front of you. You don't need an app on your phone; you don't even need a priest behind a mesh window in a booth. All you need to do is apply the cure for sin TO your sin and all is forgiven.


Ephesians 1:7 tells us that we have rememption through his blood and our sins are forgiven according to the riches of his grace.

Romans 6:23 lets us know that forgiveness of our sins does not come from any other source but Jesus.
Verses on Jesus being the only one who can forgive

So save your $1.99 and go to the original source of forgiveness - Calvary! It's FREE!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Are You ALL IN?

Tonight, while traveling to the hospital to sit with my youngest son, I was listening to Family Life Today. The special guest was Pastor Chip Ingram, the author of "Living on the Edge".

Being a former poker player, Chip said something that caught my attention. Here is a paraphrase. Life is like a poker game. You are sitting at the table with all your chips in front of you. Instead of having stacks of $50, $100 or even $500 chips; you have stacks of chips labeled home, family, hobbies, finances, etc.

Just like watching a poker match live or on TV, it does not get interesting until one of the players says, "I'm all in!" That's when the crowd grows anxious. That's when the announcer's voices really show the tenseness of the moment.

Once you go "all in" you can't take back your chips. You have to wait until the cards are dealt to see how the hand will end. So it is with our walk. Many of us "play" the game of Christianity. We've won a few hands - lost a few. We might even be sitting on a pretty good stack of chips. But have we ever gone "all in"? Have we ever taken all our chips (family, finances, and fame) and pushed them into the center of God's table and told him "I'm all in"?

I encourage you today to go all in with God. As Chip so eloquently put it, we might have to lose a few to win a few. God might have to take our 'all in' offer, weed out some of the bad and replace it with good. In the end, we will win.