Monday morning meanderings. Vol. 84 addendum

Sayre, Oklahoma

Not sure how I could have forgotten to include this item in my post yesterday.  The calf activity distracted me from finishing up our weekly activities.

Friday we were treated to a day in the city, Oklahoma City that is, by our friends Buddy and Lynnie Suthers.  Buddy and Lynnie both work at Trinity after long careers in the family race horse business.  At one time the Merrick Ranch was one of the largest quarter horse operations any where. While they are not nearly as big as they used to be they still love it and are keeping their hand in it.

So we went to the city for a big yearling sale at a very upscale, at least to me, sale barn.  You can read more about it HERE.  It is a very nice place and during the 3 day sale nearly 1000 horses were sold by auction.  While we were there one sold for $185,000.00 based, I understand on it’s breeding and potential.  It was quite a place and very interesting.

I had told our children and grandchildren that we were going to a horse sale and I was going to bid on some horses as an investment.  I was not serious and even thought the way I wrote it they would know it was a jokebut apparently they didn’t and thought Poppa had bought them a horse.  There were a few that sold for 2500-3K but that too is a little rich for me, since there is little room in our trailer for a horse.  It was a lot of fun.

From there we went to Remington Park,the OKC horse racing facility where Lynnie’s brother Joe Merrick had a couple fo horses running. It is a beautiful race track with indoor viewing from a beautiful restaurant and the Suther’s treated us to a great dinner and an insiders view to horse racing.  Linda did the wagering and hit it big when one of Joe’s horses won!  We even were invited to the winners circle with the owner and his family for the “win” picture.  That picture is posted on my facebook page if you are interested.  HERE

It was one of those days where everything we did was new and exciting and being with Buddy and Lynnie is always special because they are such real and regular people who have been has high up as you can go in the horse business and seen their lives radically changed to be Kingdom people who are also in the horse business.  Their family story is pretty cool to hear.

The last item has to be “my” Washington Huskies win over the mighty USC Trojans on Saturday.  It was on TV here so I was able to watch it all.  That sure was fun.  Whatever happens from here at least we know what it can be.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.80

Norman, Oklahoma

We have the trailer parked in a new section of the Lake Thunderbird Lake State Park just south and a little east of Norman Oklahoma.  Norman, of course is the home of the University of Oklahoma, or OU for short, the school I pull for out here in Big 12 country. If it is OU why is it not called Oklahoma University?  We have some more work on the truck tomorrow in OK City so this was a good place to come from Duncan.

Item one.  We left Sayre Friday and headed south to Duncan, Oklahoma for the Oklahoma state high school finals (rodeo).  This event is the culmination of a year long effort to be a state champion in one of many events in high school girls and boys rodeo.  We had a great time going to the final two performances of a week long event, hanging with Charlie and Lorissa and the kids and with Jason and June and their family.  Their son Lane finished up his year as state champ in the bull riding event.  He will ride in the National Finals rodeo in Farmington, NM later in the month.

It is amazing to me that at these high school/junior high rodeos they begin the event with prayer.  True for all rodeo events as far as I can tell.  But not only do they have prayer to start off they almost all have a church service if the event goes over a Sunday, as most of them do.  Can you imagine starting basketball games in Washington with prayer and weekend tournaments hosting a church service?

Jason and June were responsible for the church service and invited Charlie and another friend, world champion bull rider, Matt Austin to be the speakers.  Jason was leading worship and invited me to play with the band (they were short handed).  It was a lot of fun and the guys did a great job of speaking Kingdom into these young people and their families.  Matt and Charlie are both Convergence students and great friends.

Item two. We have been busy lately with a number of interesting opportunities.  We hosted a group from Fellowship of Christian Cowboys at Trinity a couple of weeks ago and have also been spending some time helping them with some administrative duties.  They are one of the many  national Christian organizations that are in transition and so we are helping them to refocus and to think more long term.  Lots of organizations tend to have some real growth and influence but after a few years discover they are not longer making much of an impact doing things the way they used to do them.  It has been a challenge to find the right hooks back into viability but it is coming. 

Item three.  We started teaching a new Convergence class this past week called “Pursuing a Kingdom marriage and family”.  We had the biggest group we have ever had for a Wednesday evening class.  My thesis is that like so many other things that are called Christian, marriage has taken on more of a cultural influence than it has a Kingdom one.  The high point in a Christian marriage is usually the wedding and from then on “Christian” marriage looks about like any other marriage.  Divorce rates seem to bear this thesis out.  We need to help our young people see what marriage was intended to be prior to marriage and to guide those already married away from the cultural way of doing the marriage relationship and into a Kingdom one.

For the first session I worked hard to raise our awareness of the high value of marriage as a picture of how much our Father loves us and desires intimacy with us.  Marriage and the sexual union in marriage is designed by the Father to be a picture of His love for us and the potential of intimacy with Him.  The highlight of the class had to be a discussion of how sexual intimacy in marriage is a graphic illustration of how the Bride is to come into an intimate relationship with the Bridegroom, through worship.  If you want to listen to the audio of the teaching you can find it HERE.

Hope to get the next post on 24 up this week.  We are ready to focus our attention on the second of 3 questions the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 24.

Have a great week.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.76

Sayre, Oklahoma

After more than two months away we are back in our spot on the beautiful 100 acres that comprise Trinity Fellowship.  We arrived back yesterday in time for the second service yesterday,  and the opportunity to hear our friend and spiritual son Charlie, share some thoughts on staying fit spiritually, from the inside out.  It was a good word and really fun to see how this young man has grown.  He has such a good grasp on the importance of relationships in the Family and the value of hearing the Father.  Wish you could all know Charlie, Lorissa and their family, they are such a great example of how the Family is producing sons and daughters who get the Kingdom and are living out Kingdom values.  (Don’t have time for a pic, wish I did)

Item one.  We spent some really great time in Williams, Arizona with another Kingdom family.  Brooks and Melissa are ranchers in the dry high desert country.  Brooks rides herd over about 100 square miles of land where he cares for as many as 1000 head of cattle.  That is a lot of country.  I went with Brooks to help a neighbor with branding and moving some calves, while Linda helped Melissa with the homeschooling of their two oldest.  Along the way we shared our relationship with the Father and shared some pain and some joy. We are so blessed to have spiritual sons and daughters to go alond with our natural (they are spiritual, too) sons and daughters.  I don’t have any fear for the future of the Kingdom (of course we have a great King) because it is populated with some young people who are living it out.  There are so many more I could write about and probably will, but these two couples are fresh on my mind today.

Item two.  We were about half way between Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona when I-40 was closed down in both directions because of blowing sand.  We have experienced road closures because of snow, ice, flooding, downed trees, among other things, but never for blowing sand.  We sat on the freeway, with a few thousand other people, for over 4 hours before we were able to head on towards Albuquerque where we spent the night.  I really wanted to stop in Winslow where I hear there really is “a girl my Lord in a flat bed Ford…”  Didn’t get to this trip.  (extra points if you understand that last line)

Item three.  I intend to do a post just on points made by Bill Johnson in a message we listened to on Resurrection Sunday.  We had our own service with Chuck and Nancy and it was really powerful, great worship, good friends, an encounter with the Word that has stayed with me for days and excellent food.  Even watched the end of the Masters.  hard to beat a day like that.  There are not many messages these days that still have your attention days or weeks later but this was one of them.  He was talking about the fear of God and how the church has watered down the meaning of the word so as to try and make a relationship with the Creator more user friendly.  Bill said, and I agree, that fear really does mean fear, but he went on to say there are two kinds of fear in the Scriptures; fear that messes you up so you run from God and fear that brings us near to God, low and surrendered.  Not to many Christians in that posture these days.  More on that later.

Item four.  We are officially out of the trucking biz.  After several months of really good income followed by several more of limited income and then more of none, we had someone approach us about buying our truck and it seems like a good deal for us.  The oil industry has tanked out here so the work we had is just not there anymore and we are not interested in trying to find other kinds of loads so we decided to call it a career.  Many lessons learned and there are still some unanswered questions, but that isn’t all bad.  Questions always force trust in places we haven’t trusted before and of course that is what builds stronger faith.  Perhaps there still be some use for my CDL.

Item five.  There are all kinds of projects to work on now that we are back in Sayre.  While we were away a high speed fibre optic line was put in place which will now allow us to get our classes and services on line in real time and to archive other video for use by our students and others.  This is really exciting for me but it is also pretty new to me so I will be flying by the seat of my pants as we put it together.  Convergence Summit 2 is not that far away and there is much to do, like securing speakers and publicity and all that goes with putting a program together for 100+ people.  We are also talking about a 3 month Convergence program for 10-15 students who want to live, learn and serve in the western culture.  There is also teaching to do plus our work with Forever Cowboys, Fellowship of Christian Cowboys and the Pro Bull Riding Outreach.  We have varied responsibilities and opportunities with these groups but we have a high level of interest in their success in reaching their Kingdom vision. 

So, lots to do.  Still hope to keep the Juniper Tree growing too, so stick around, I appreciate you.  Have an anointed week!

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.73

Payson, Arizona

When the time changed last week everywhere else in the country it did not change here in Arizona.  They see no point in it, so they don’t do it.  The rest of the country sees no point in it but they keep right on doing it.  It was nice to not have to change and nice to be in the same time zone with our family on the west coast but it did put us two hours off from our family in Oklahoma.  Now we have to change two time zones for the “move” back to Western Oklahoma, but when we visit Washington in a couple of weeks, there will be no change.  Trade offs.

Item one.  Our hosts here in Arizona own a screen printing and embroidery business and work hard doing all the work themselves.  So I volunteered to help during a big push last week and learned a new skill!  I afixed, with a high heat system, embroidered patches onto about 20 dozen hats over a three day period.  Not really that difficult after the first dozen but good, mindless work that was actually fun.  Now I can drive a tractor/trailer rig, put patches on hats and fold tee shirts!  Now that’s a resume.

Item two.  A week ago I visited a start up church here in Payson led by a young man I met when we were here last year.  New churches have an air of excitement often missing in a lot of established churches.  This church has  no building, no offices, no paid staff and meet in a small room in a grade school that they are already outgrowing.  While I might want to do it differently than they are, it was refreshing, full of happy multi-generational faces and I expect they will do well here in this community.  What seemed to be missing, from my point of view, was any emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to saving faith and to heal their hurts and diseases.  If they would allow a place for the supernatural in their format I think it would have greater impact and potential.  Just my point of view as the leaders of this church have thought a lot about how they want to do it.  Did make me think about giving church planting a try, though.

Item three.  Two views of the economy, one right of center, one left.  Right, HERE and left HERE.  Have you seen the Hyundai commercials where they promise to take the car back if you lose your job and can’t pay?  Well here is a church that promises to give back all your contributions if you lose your job!  Find it HERE.  You don’t have to go far, these days, to hear some pretty empty preaching.  HERE is a book that might help. 

Item four.  Had to put this link in a new Item so some of the people who skip over stuff they don’t find interesting might see this one.  I have several friends who believe you cannot be saved if you do not have a Mac.  One is my pastor, one is a natural son and the other, that comes to mind, is a son in the Lord.  You know who you are.  Sometimes I want a Mac just so I can be cool like them and then there are those Mac commercials of the fat, total loser of a guy who has the PC (think me) and then the totally hip cool, young guy who has the Mac (think Brad, Tyler, not Andy!) that make me really feel badly.  Here is a post that brings the fun part of the Mac/PC drama out as well as a serious side of the role of advertising in promoting ideas that are wrong.  Find it HERE on Don Millers blog.  It is a good read and in one place even agrees with my conjecture that Macs are really not that superior to the good old Gateway. 

Item five. Over the weekend we drove over to Wickenburg, Arizona to visit Cody Custer’s parents and attend something called a Cowboy Camp Meeting.  After a great steak dinner at Jim and Dixie’s and some good fellowship with our hosts and friends Destry and Terri Haught, we had an interesting evening in the beautiful guest house.  Jake the Dog (find his blog HERE) decided to eat all the dog food of the Custer’s three dogs.  He is not allowed to eat anything other than his own food.  Thank goodness for tile floors as Jake the Dog proceeded to ralph up several servings of food in several locations in the house.  Yeah, gross.  It was a fun night.

Early the next morning, we all piled in the trucks and drove back up into the mountains, up a dirt road, through some huge ranches (think thousands of acres) to a little church where the Cowboy Camp meeting was to be held.  This is an all day event where western Gospel music, preaching and food all come together for a good time.  Destry gave his amazing testimony and Jim sang some great Gospel songs and we ate doughnuts and ate sandwiches on the tail gate of the truck.  Good thing we had our Wranglers, boots and hats on or we would have looked seriously out of place.  Used our new Flip camera to take some videos I intended to post but with great skill I deleted them all!

We love this whole Western culture thing and are blessed to meet so many great people who quietly go about their lives on ranches and farms and in small communities.  They are for the most part simple people (I don’t mean intelligence) of faith, hard work, family and who care about this country.  We could all learn something from these folks.

Have a great week!

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.71

Payson, Arizona

We arrived up here in the mountain city of Payson, Arizona Sunday morning and after a little manipulating, well actually quite a bit, I got us backed into a very beautiful spot at the hill top home of our friends Chuck and Nancy.  Their house is about 500 feet above the city and has a panoramic view of the this beautiful little community and the surrounding Rim.  Very,very nice.  I promise a picture in a day or two.  For those of you in the Northwest Payson reminds me of Central Oregon or Northeast Washington.  It is cooler here than in the Valley though it supposed to reach 80 here today.  We both remarked about how much favor we have from our Father to be able to be in these beautiful spots.  Thanks Father and thanks Chuck and Nancy!

Item one.  We had the opportunity to go to the Scottsdale Rodeo on Saturday.  Our friend Luis Escudero, who we spent time with while in the El Paso area was bareback riding in the rodeo.  He has been riding bareback for 30 years at a pretty high level and for my money it beats you up as much or more than any other event.  He was able to get us into the VIP section where we had lunch and whatever else we wanted to eat or drink and a great view of the arena.  We also got to talk for a few minutes with another rodeo friend, Stran Smith, the current world champion tie down roper and watch him do his thing.  Met some other folks as well so it was a really fun day.

Item two. Things are pretty serious in this country these days, that is obvious.  I suspect they are going to get more serious so I am wondering if we are learning anything about trust we didn’t know a year ago.  What does it mean to trust God?  There are some obvious answers, some cliche and some with truth.  For example; trust is believing that God is in control, even when it appears everything is out of control.  True.  Trust, some say is what you do when YOU don’t know what to do.  Cliche.

What I would like to know is this.  What is trust like for you?  In what ways are you trusting today that you didn’t a year ago?  What changes for you when you really get to a trust level from a level of anxiety? There has never been an abundance of comments on this blog but I sure would like you all to weigh in on this subject.  What does it mean to trust God?  Take a chance and comment, who knows, it might make all the difference in someone else’s life, like mine.

Item three.  If you like the merger of Faith and Art you will like this blog.  Find it HERE.  Do you use text messages?  I have found it a helpful way of communicating but is there a downside?  Read this article if you are interested, especially those of you who have children with cell phones.  HERE is the link. 

Item four.  Ever make a list of the things you like?  Interesting things like Taylor guitars, In and Out burgers, colorful birds, southwest style houses and so on.  I think I could make a list of at least 50 things I like with out a problem.  How about you?  At dinner sometime make a family list of the things you like and see how long it gets.  One of my favorite blogs Stuff Christians Like invited their readers to tell them what they like and the list grew to 500!  Fun to read what gives other people a jolt of cheer and we sure need some of that right about now.  Find the list HERE.

Could we make a Juniper View list?

Keep trusting our Father, find a way to just have some fun and keep your head up!  Would love to have your comments, they mean a lot to a lot of us.

What about the salary?

Ft. McDowell, Arizona. Eagle View RV Resort.

We are back in one of our favorite RV parks where we stayed for over a month last winter, but this time it will only be for 3 nights.  Sunday morning we will drive up the mountain to Payson, to the home of our friends Chuck and Nancy, where we will be for a while.  More on that later.

I have always been one who has tried to keep our finances in a place where I didn’t have to concern myself with how we were going to live or take care of our family and other responsibilities.  For the most part, over the years, we have done well in that regard.  However, the last 3+ years have been very different related to finances, more so than anytime in the last 20.  Neither of us have had a full time salary for several years and the small income we do have comes from a variety of sources that, like all incomes today, are not as secure as they were. 

So these last years have been teaching me some huge lessons about money, about what I am willing to do regardless of whether it pays anything or not and forced me to get serious about whether I will trust my Father and go where He leads or only go where I know there will be provision.  Am I willing to serve my King regardless of the salary or will I only go where the question of income is settled first?

A good steady income is one of the surest ways I know to put our trust in ourselves and not in our Father and an income that is not so steady or secure forces the issue of faith to the front.  At least for me. 

For several years, Linda has been a steady reader of the Oswald Chambers classic My Utmost for His Highest.  I am more of a read in spurts kind of Chambers fan.  His writings are consistently anointed in ways few others are and yesterday and today’s are dead on related to the above subject.  It is amazing how often the daily reading is appropriate for where I am living on that day.

Here is the one for February 25. I trust it will catch your heart as it did mine.
THE DESTITUTION OF SERVICE

“Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” 2 Corinthians 12:15

Natural love expects some return, but Paul says – I do not care whether you love me or not, I am willing to destitute myself completely, not merely for your sakes, but that I may get you to God. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor.” Paul’s idea of service is exactly along that line – I do not care with what extravagance I spend myself, and I will do it gladly. It was a joyful thing to Paul.

The institutional church idea of a servant of God is not Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of other men. Jesus Christ out-socialists the socialists. He says that in His Kingdom he that is greatest shall be the servant of all. The real test of the saint is not preaching the gospel, but washing disciples’ feet, that is, doing the things that do not count in the actual estimate of men but count everything in the estimate of God. Paul delighted to spend himself out for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost.

We come in with our economical notions – “Suppose God wants me to go there – what about the salary? What about the climate? How shall I be looked after? A man must consider these things.” All that is an indication that we are serving God with a reserve. The apostle Paul had no reserve. Paul focuses Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint in his life, viz.: not one who proclaims the Gospel merely, but one who becomes broken bread and poured out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for other lives.

 You can read each days offering HERE if you would like a daily blessing..

Monday morning meanderings. Vol.70

Benson, Arizona

One more day here in Benson and then up to the Pima County Fairgrounds outside Tucson.  It is closer to the Tucson Rodeo grounds where we will be for a couple of days.

Item one.  We have done some tourist type things while in this area, though we don’t really do the sites that are just tourist focused.  For example we went to the town of Tombstone to see the historic courthouse but skipped the gun fight at the OK Corral.  We just don’t want to spend $20. to see that sort of thing.  Our son-in-law Brandon loves the movie Tombstone so we sent him a few pictures of things we thought he might like.  More to come. I want to start getting more pics up on this site but just haven’t taken the time.

Item two.  A few years ago we got started reading the mystery novels of JA Jance.  She has two major series of novels, one set in Seattle featuring a detective named J.P. Beaumont and another featuring Joanna Brady, the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona which happens to be where we are.  Bisbee is the county seat and many of the stories are set in and around this mountain city.  So we had to visit there and see it for ourselves.  We walked around this historic copper mining city and ate lunch in the Copper Queen Hotel, who you Joanna Brady fans will recognize.

Item three.  Yesterday we went to Tucson for the Tucson Rodeo, or known by it’s Spanish name, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.  We went as the guests of our friends and Convergence students Corey and Melissa Navarre.  Corey is a bull rider and Melissa a trick rider and both were part of the rodeo.  Melissa actually opened the rodeo with her trick riding and then stood on the back of her horse as she rode in carrying the American flag.  It was really great to see them and to watch them do what they do so well.  They are from Weatherford, Oklahoma, not far from Sayre. We will see more of them later this week.

I am determined to get some pictures on this blog.  It isn’t hat big a deal but I just need to do it.  I think I have bored people right off the site!  Can’t have that.  Enjoy your week. 

I leave you with this prayer that seems very appropriate for these days of uncertainty:

Most loving Father, whose will it is for us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on you who cares for us:  Preserve me from faithfless fears and worldly anxieties, that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from me the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns wiht you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever, Amen.

Monday morning meanderings. Vol. 69 (Wednesday Wanderings)

Benson, Arizona

We arrived in Southern Arizona yesterday afternoon, after spending nearly a week in Texas and New Mexico visiting our friends and students of the Convergence Ministry School.  We have lots of things we need to get done the next few days but we will find some time to see some of the history around here.  The weather is, as you would expect in Arizona, quite good. 

There just wasn’t time to blog over the last few days and obviously it is not Monday morning but here are a few things to meander through, catching up.  Perhaps, as Linda says, we should call this post Wednesday Wanderings.

Item one.  Maria Esteves is a little lady who was born in Mexico but has spent most of her life as a citizen of the United States.  She has raised a family, ministered in her church, worked hard, lost her husband and along the way found herself ministering to the poorest of the poor across the border in Juarez, Mexico, from her El Paso home.  Over time she has planted a couple of churches and now pastors a growing and thriving Family of believers deep inside the Mexican city. She travels back and forth several times a week, enduring 1-2 hour border crossings back into the US, to counsel, mentor, disciple, bring in clothes and food, preach, teach and pray with/for her vibrant Family.

Linda and I were honored to travel with Maria into Mexico and to share a few hours with some really wonderful people whose language we didn’t know, but who share the same love for Jesus.  Worship was sweet, even though I understood very little, the hugs and handshakes we received and gave were the same in both Spanish and English.  I was privileged to share some of what I have been learning from Hebrews 13 as Maria provided interpretation.  Along the way I felt a strong leading to call the leaders of the church up front for prayer and that was a very special time.

The stark contract between the relative wealth on one side of the border and the poverty on the other always shocks me.  No matter how bad a person’s life is in this country,  it cannot be compared to a few feet inside Mexico.  But these are strong people who have built a strong family life and a way of life, built not on accumulation of things, but on relationships and faith.  We could learn a lot from them for these days of uncertainty.

Item two.  Another friend and student Luis Escuedero, invited us to park our trailer on his small ranch north of El Paso, along the Rio Grand River, in Vado, New Mexico.   It was the perfect place to stay a few days and it gave us the opportunity to meet Luis’ family and spend some good time with him.  He is really fun to be around, is growing in the Lord and doing a great job as a single father to his two daughters while he waits in prayer and faith for his marriage to be restored.  Luis kept saying how blessed he was to have us at his place, but we know we were the blessed ones.

Our time in West Texas, Old and New Mexico was very special and a place we hope to return to.  Thank you Maria and Luis.

Item three. I am not economist and certainly no expert on anything that is happening in the world economy but didn’t we somehow know that spending fueled by cheap and easy credit would not last forever?  Did we really think that the huge upward curve property values were on, driven by low mortgage rates, could not just keep going up.  Didn’t we know we could not keep refinancing our homes to fuel our insatiable desire to buy more stuff, on the bet that our property would escalate in value? Surely we knew that buying and collecting multiples of everything, storing them in bigger barns for no real reason except we could, would have to come to an end?  Of course we knew all of that, we just chose to ignore it and make “hay, as they say, while the sun shines”.  And, of course, our leaders didn’t want to step up and say “no more” before it was too late.

Now our leaders are all looking at each other, acting as if this is a big surprise, while pointing the finger at us.  And the only solution they can come up with is to borrow more money and throw it at the problem.  Isn’t that what got us into this mess?  We have now added 3 trillion of more debt to the 3 trillion we already were committed to and no way to pay it back.  Many Americans are in the same boat, way more debt then they can pay off.

It is time to hunker down, save our money, give to others, especially the “First Fruits” to our Father.  We do know, don’t we, that we are blessed according to our faithfulness to the tithe and offerings?  There is nothing better to do, during these days of uncertainty, than to keep on tithing and giving to others, or to get started if we haven’t been.  This is the pathway to real blessing.  We must learn to take care of each other, to live out what it means to be a citizen of a Kingdom that is not of this world but will, if we submit to It’s King, change this world.

Item four.  Jake the Dog has two new posts at his blog.  You and especially your kids will enjoy what he has been up to.  Find Jake HERE.

And now, may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing His will.  May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, all that is pleasing to Him. (Hebrews 13:20-21a)

Ancient Words for a new day. Word #3

Lake Brantley State Park.  North of Carlsbad, New Mexico

Stayed a couple of nights at Palo Duro State Park south of Amarillo, Texas arriving here in New Mexico Wednesday afternoon.  We came this way because we wanted to see some of our Convergence students who live in the El Paso, Texas area.  We will spend the weekend with them, perhaps we will even be able to go into Juarez, Mexico to church.

Started a devotional series a few days back that flowed out of a Bible study with a few of the guys.  Hebrews 13 is full of good Words that speak well into the new day, I believe we are living in.  Here is Word #3

Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.  God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. (13:4)  Jesus said, Do not commit adultery.  But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

I am not going to spend a whole lot of time on the negatives of these verses.  We all know the devastation, some better than others, adultery brings to families and circles of relationships.  But we are all guilty.

There is no better way to live out the example of Jesus faithfulness to His Bride than to honor marriage.  For whatever reason, even those who are “faithful” in their marriage do not always give it the honor it demands.  Lots of people are married, are even faithful in the strict sense of the word, but do not honor their marriage.  I see very few marriages where both individuals are connected at the heart level and are moving along together in joy and love. 

Personally, my marriage has been rocked but we are more together then most of the people we know, of our generation, who have not gone through what we have.  Why is that?  Could it be they do not honor their marriage?   Sometimes, though I sure don’t encourage it, a marriage needs a little shaking in order to see how important it is to not only remain faithful in their marriage, but to give it honor.

I know many men who are better friends with other men than they are with their wife.  Women who would rather do things with other women than with their husband.  They may be “faithful” strictly speaking but is it honor?  I know many couples who have never committed adultery but are so angry with each other, they rarely speak.  Couples who honor the marriage bed but dishonor every other part.

Did you notice this phrase in v.4? ..remain faithful to one another in marriage. If the writer had intended to speak solely of honoring our own marriage, he could have written it this way; remain faithful to each other in marriage.  Instead the writer chooses to write one another.  Our group agreed the injunction was to honor marriage in a more global way.  This I think is why this is an old word for a new day.

Protecting ones own marriage relationship is critical of course, and bringing honor to our personal marriage is our first responsibility, but we need each other to care about what happens to each others marriage.  Our goal should be to honor and protect all marriage and do everything we can to help others find wholeness in this most intimate of relationship.

Can there be a better witness to a world craving intimate relationships than to show them what it is to honor marriage?

Ancient Words for a new day. Word #2

Sayre, Oklahoma

Might be the last post from this location for a while.  We are heading west on Monday and will surely post along the way as well as when we are settled into our Arizona “home”.  I will miss our friends here in Oklahoma and probably even miss Oklahoma, but we are looking forward to a new adventure in following the Spirit and ministering to those He brings us.  While there are some ups and downs in this life, as there is in any life, we are still enjoying the freedom we have to do what we are called to do.  We will return to Western Oklahoma the middle of April.

Here is another Word from Hebrews 13.  Read the previous post for a little background.

Don’t forget about those in prison.  Suffer with them as though you were there yourself.  Share the sorrow of those who are being mistreated as though you feel their pain in your own bodies. (13:3)  I don’t think this is a reference to the general prison population of the day, nor all those who were suffering mistreatment, though as followers of Jesus we need to care about those in prison and those mistreated, wherever we find them.

I think this is a reference to those who are suffering these things, for their faith.  Google or Yahoo! persecuted Christians and you will have a wealth of info in front of you, if you sense this Word is for you.  I could link a bunch for you, but if you are called to care in this way, you will find what you need.

But here is the Word as it came to the 7 of us the other morning.  These three exhortations point us to embrace other peoples pain.  Suffer with… as though you were there yourself.  Share the sorrow..feel their pain in your own body…  If we are to really, I mean really make a difference in this world, during these days of declining everything, we are going to have to get involved at a level most of the church has never invested.  Most of us give well, some even sacrificially and we need to keep doing that as we are led, but this Word goes deeper.  Can you remember the last time you were moved to tears by the plight of someone else, the last time your heart was broken by someone elses pain? 

A few days ago I wrote a post called Dear Ted and Gayle.  It was an open letter to the Haggard’s, who have been much in the news these last few weeks, even months.  Not long ago they were on top of the evangelical world, with fame, “fortune” and everything going their way, but it all came crashing down when Ted’s dark side was revealed to the world.  Did we care?  Did we take some sort of pleasure from someone getting busted for behavior that repulsed us?  How could a pastor do that!?  Were we glad he got what he did, or did we suffer with them…share their sorrow…feel their pain? 

I know that is an extreme case but sometimes we have to see things in the extreme before we can apply them to our own little sphere of influence.  This Word is here to tell us that when we enter into peoples lives at a level that evokes emotion and touch we make a world of difference. 

This new day begs for a new kind of investment-ourselves.  Who needs you to suffer with them, share their sorrow or feel their pain? Yes, some of you can give money to those in desperate need.  If you can, do it, generously, sacrificially, but please don’t do it at the expense of this Word. 

Meditate on these Words. Suffer with them, share their sorrow, feel their pain.  It will change our lives, for the better.