Today! On 12-12-12

I am listening to God talk about today.  Today on 12-12-12.  The last day for 88 years and 20 days that the number of the year, month and day all match.  Having lived in Hong Kong as an American who write dates as: Month—day—year; amidst the British colonial influence of writing dates as: day—month—year and among Chinese culture who write dates as: year—month—day it is all rather stressful; which way shall I write the date.  But today the stress leaves since it is all the same.

Not to get too used to stress free date writing though because the next time this will occur is January 1, 2101.  That is 88 years and 20 days away.  I highly doubt I will be alive with any concern of arbitrary calendar time.  So today is the last day….

In the timeline of life there are days that contain opportunities to speak a word, to take a new step with others in following Jesus.  The opportunities may be a long time before developing again. “To everything there is a season” is the famous quote from King Solomon. 

I find myself at times reluctant to step forward.  At times because of fear or anxiety.  At  times because of uncertainty is today the day?  Maybe a better opportunity will present itself tomorrow.  Recently Caleb Kaye, Assistant Pastor with me at Capital Christian looked squarely at me and said, “Of course there will be ways you will look at whatever we do today and say we could have improved in this area or that or wished you had done it differently.  That is how your mind works in possibilities.  But that is no reason to not step out in what you are hearing today.”

I think he is right.  Not to the ditch on the other side of the road in presumption and personal ego fulfilling gratification.  But to steps of faith taken in the belief that the Holy Spirit is nudging and a step of obedience is expected.  Stepping without guarantee in results but merely that God is glorified in every faith step.

Psalm 95 (NIV) quoted in Hebrews says it like this:

Come, … let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did … in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

Today!

--posted @ 12 noon on 12-12-12

Finding Strength in the Lord

I Samuel 23:15 While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh. (NIV)

David had a threat against his life; naturally it inspired fear.  Jonathan, a true friend came to David in the middle of this crisis and “helped him to find strength in God”.  Jonathan did it by looking to the future and recalling the prophetic promises of God.  David had heard the word of the Lord but he needed his friend to come and remind him, to extend his own faith to cover David in his moment when his spirit felt weak and ready to give up.

Later in I Samuel 30:6 David is again in crisis.  After being expelled from the Philistine army David and his men returned to their town Ziklag.  To their dismay and much anger they found the town raided and their families and wealth carried off by the raiders. Here was David, their leader who had not delivered in getting them a share of the spoils from the Philistine fighting and on top of that their families were devastated.  The approval rating of David as leader was lower than low.

What should David do?

Perhaps he thought of his friend Jonathan and wished he was with him, surely Jonathan would be loyal.  But Jonathan was far away.  But David did remember the words and ministry of Jonathan.  Verse six says: David found strength in the Lord his God.

Then, with the strength of the Lord upon him, and a word from the Lord to go recover what was stolen.  He led his men into battle and rescued their families and wealth as well as additional plunder the raiders had captured.

God vindicated David his servant the man after God’s heart rather than fame and fortune.  Because Jonathan came and strengthened David’s heart in the Lord later David was able to remember and come before the Lord again.

When strength fails and circumstances overwhelm let’s strengthen our hearts in the Lord.  Let’s be aware of those in our sphere of influence whom God may be nudging to help them find strength in the Lord.

I wrote the above late last week while feeling rather blue.  The Lord ministered this into my heart and strengthened me in him; which is to say faith ignited in my heart, a whole mustard seed’s worth.  From there it was a powerful weekend in faith inspired prayers in a Saturday night prayer gathering that led to a break through morning at CCF.

My Mother and the Divine Image

My Mother’s health is in significant long-term decline both physically and mentally.  My prayer for her has become: “Lord, please do not let her body outlive her spirit.”  This is not wishing for her death.  This is asking that in her remaining days she can hold meaning in life and those of us close to her can see that meaning too.

Recently I went to visit her.  She was glad to see me and seemed to know that June is my wife and Lia and Austin my children.  She also thought perhaps I would take her home when of course she was home in the retirement facility where she lives.  And when I said that she lived there and I lived with June, Lia and Austin and would spend that night with them she thought perhaps I would bring tem all there to spend the night.  At one point she also introduced me as her brother.

So yes some confusion but in the confusion a harmonious theme.  Her brother now passed away, her grandchildren all somehow existing and close enough together that they intertwined in her mind.  She wanted to care for us, provide for us because we all connect into her soul even though the timeline that separates and categorizes memories was not in full function.

I reflected how God caries this quality. Not confusion but of the ability to span time and hold past present and future in his heart.

And somehow mysteriously in my mother’s frailty I caught a glimpse of the divine that my ordered rational mind often misses.  God living outside of time yet intimately connected to all everywhere where time and location is no barrier was reflected in my Mothers fading mind; loose on the facts but strong on the love and motherly care and joy of being with those she loves.

That day I saw her spirit and body gloriously reflecting a divine quality as through a fog of frailty but unmistakably a heart of love that knows no limits.

The Hot and Dry Season

The freshness and promise of spring has given way to the heat and parched ground of a very hot summer.  The garden I referenced in my last long ago blog was planted and is producing fruit.  Some plants are still maturing to the fruit producing stage if they survive the heat.  Some plants are succumbing to the heat or to the deer encroaching and nibbling as food sources dry up for them in the close by woods.

Ministry trips I have taken over the years almost always have the dry and dusty period...after the initial excitement and before it is close enough to the end to count the days until I return home...that is the hard time.  It is hard to keep ministering with purpose and not pull back and just go through the motions.  It is the depths of summer the dry and dusty period of the growth cycle.

Life is like this.

Between the seeding of fresh energy and vision and the fulfillment of the harvest comes the time to wipe the sweat and chose to continue on.  We persevere with the promise that we reap a harvest if we do not give up (Gal.6:9).

Several weeks ago I drew away from the day to day to seek God at School for Apostles.  I received several prophetic words assuring me that I was ministering and moving in the right direction.  It came with exhortation that I was not to hold back in timidity.  So a part for me to do, and a part for me to walk in a deepened trust of what God is doing...even in the midst of the heat and sweat.  It was like drink of meadow tea on a hot day. It renewed me and increased my God confidence in the normal day to day.

Growing...

It is time to grow--body, soul and spirit.  And these three intertwine beyond what science and experiment can fully observe and comprehend.

So at Capital Christian Fellowship where I pastor we are planting a garden.  Yup a physical actual garden. Dug up the ground last Sunday talking about fallow ground.  What new areas does God, the gardener want to dig up in my life?

Fallow ground -- unplowed ground -- if exploited needs a season of rest to regain its fertility but its potential is not released until the shovel digs into it, turns the dirt and trifles with the status quo.  That is when the unlocked fertility engineers fruitfulness.

Anointing, call, and courage stays locked away in hard crusted -- fallow -- places in our lives and the water of the Holy Spirit runs off rather than penetrates.  Breaking up the fallow ground allows us to soak up the rain, storing the moisture to sustain during draught and unlocking new potential in enduring fruitfulness.

Growing a vegetable garden at church also says God is a gardener and cares about the earth he created.  He loves all of his creation, especially, but not only the human part.  So as we unlock the fertile potential of the soil by planting we are co-gardening with God and declaring with the Psalmist and the Anabaptist preachers, "The earth is the Lord's!"

Working in the physical is a prophetic declaration of God at work in the arenas of our soul and spirit as well.

New Flow

A long absence from blogging.  Sometimes life happens at a pace that doesn’t allow for much reflection.

Yesterday I had a follow up scan and consultation with the surgeon who operated on my DVT, and amazing good news!  The stent that had been inserted during the surgery Nov 2010 and then was discovered to be clogged in the spring/summer 2011 today had blood flowing through it!  Sometimes that happens the doctor said!

I say: Thank-you God.  For your attentiveness.  Praise you for the way our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made!  I am so enthralled that my almost 50 year old body ahs created alternate pathways for blood and has also removed a blockage restoring life giving flow.

What hope this offers to the body of Christ--in places of stagnation there is good news.  Even in places where reform that was intended had mixed or incomplete results, and questions emerged, “Was it worth it?”

Good news:  Where blockages are present—they can break free—and new life can flow!

Restore and heal your body, the church, Lord Jesus!  Where administrative attention and intervention has only mixed results bring healing, restoration, and new health for the functioning of your intent and purposes!  It is your body after all.

--Glenn