Where The Fruit Grows

There's an old Billy Graham quote that I love during weeks like this. I'm not going to get it perfectly, but it's something like: "The mountain tops are for vistas, but the fruit grows in the valleys." That is a perfect descriptor of this past week.

Monday started with such promise. I got some rest after a long night of ministry, staying up with the family of a man in our church whose aorta had ruptured. The surgery got him stabilized and into a cardiac ICU room, so there was hope. I was still praying for him when I went to the office and had a great phone call from one of my dear friends and mentors. It was just the word of encouragement that I needed in that moment. Mountain top!

Then, word came that our patient took a turn for the worse. People were scrambling to help, and things were seemingly under control. Yeah, I just wrote that sentence, and now reading it again makes me chuckle. Things are never 'under control' from our human standpoint.

Had a great BBQ with some friends, then an early night that night. Much to do the next couple days. But as Tuesday rolled into Wednesday, there was more bad news for our heart patient, then a call about another funeral, and then another. The week ended with three funerals in three days, including our heart patient tomorrow (Sat.). From a great, mountain top vista on Monday to three days of helping people grieve their losses.

Add to that this morning the phone call from Beth's mom. Her parents are in Las Vegas for vacation with some friends, and her dad had a seizure. He went to the emergency room where he had another. He's been admitted to the hospital and seems to be stable right now, but this has added a level of complexity and distraction to the already full plate. Feels like a valley.

So I'm here, feeling worn out, feeling the weight of the struggle, feeling for my wife who is feeling torn between waiting for word and running down to Vegas for her folks. This is where I need Jesus the most, and this is where He promises to grow us. Romans 8:28 comes to mind: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I'm waiting to see how God works this week for good. It feels like good is a long way from here, on top of a mountain somewhere else. But God is in this valley, too. And there is fruit in the future right here. That's what I am hanging on to at this moment. The promise of fruit.

Funeral Service for Elizabeth Gates

I said on Sunday that I'd post the info for the funeral service for Elizabeth Gates, so here it is:

The service will be at 2:00 on Friday, May 29 at Colonial Funeral Home on South Fourth. There will be a viewing before the service, and a dinner for the family afterward at FBC. If you can help with the dinner, email the office or contact Kathy O'Brien. Thanks!

Random Memorial Day Thoughts

In the office to get a jump on a busy week. Hope you and yours are celebrating Memorial Day with some good food, good friends, and a heart of gratitude for those who have given their lives to protect the amazing nation we call the United States of America. Some thoughts:

• Yesterday was a great time of worship and learning. Chris Boblit did a great job starting off the message, I love how his passion for Jesus and seeing lives change pours out of him when he speaks. The response to the 30 Day Following God Challenge has been good.
• Saturday, a special woman went home to be with Jesus. Elizabeth Gates had bravely fought a long time against cancer, and now she is at peace. I'm still waiting to hear details about the service, so check back if you're looking for that info.
• Spent a long night at the Cardiac Care Center at Portneuf Medical Center last night. A man from our church had a major heart operation. The doctor said it was a miracle that he made it to the operating table, and now it's a waiting game. Pray for him, he needs to have his blood start clotting, and he's a long way from being out of the woods, but God is faithful.
• Can't wait for the message this Sunday. Failure is a hard topic to discuss among men, but God uses it to teach us and grow us up as men (and women), so I'm jacked up to talk about it.
• Hope you're going to be in town for the July 4th parade reach out event at Caldwell Park. Like I said Sunday, we're taking it to the next level, and we're going to need people to be prayed up and ready to serve. It's going to be fantastic!!

Okay, have a great day, and thank you God for the sacrifices made by those who fought to protect the freedom we experience and take for granted every day.

Doing What You Love

I love to laugh. I love to make people laugh. I like the sound of laughter, and I think that Heaven is going to sound a lot like a comedy club at full roar. I may be on thin theological ice, but I'm pretty sure that the angels laugh a lot, and Jesus has had to laugh at some of the stupid things I've done in life. Laughter is good for the body (it exercises your insides) and your soul ("A cheerful heart is good medicine," Prov. 17:22).

So when I get to make people laugh, I feel good. That's part of why I use humor on Sundays in my messages, because it's a part of me and who God made me to be. If I was a better story teller, I'd do that. If I was great at writing poetry that connected to people, I'd do that. I'm not either of those things; God made me funny. The fact that it helps people to relax and to pay attention when I'm talking about the challenging and difficult issues of faith in Christ is a bonus. I'm just trying to be true to how I was made so that I can bring glory to God. Not everyone likes a funny pastor. For some folks, like slugs and rock salt, the two just don't go together. I get that. I'm not everyone's cup of mocha.

But here's the great part: when God gives you something that you're good at, and something that can bring glory to Him, He's also going to give you opportunities to use it. Count on that. For years, we've done a Comedy Night reach out event at our church, but because of financial constraints, we couldn't do it this year. That bummed me out, because I think it's a good way to show the community that we Christians have a sense of humor (Okay, some of us do...).

But God has given me other outlets for the 'gift of comedy' He's given me. Two weeks ago, I was asked to do a stand up set at a church in Oak Harbor, WA. It was a great time, the church was fantastically fun (Clint Webb, you rock!), and Beth and I had a great time. One lady who was there was dealing with stage 4 brain cancer, and a friend of hers told me afterward that she and her husband hadn't laughed that hard in a long, long time. God used my humor to bless those precious people while they were dealing with the darkest time of their lives. Praise God.

I was just asked to do some stand up at the annual National Cancer Survivor's Day celebration here in Pocatello. I'll share details later, but I'm jacked up about it. I can't wait to make people laugh, and bring glory to God for His healing work in my life over the past 5 years. Please pray for me about this, I want it to go well. Thank you to all who are praying for me right now, it's been a tough season, and the prayers are making a difference. Keep it up!! And if you're a survivor in town that day, make plans to be there!

Learning to Give Up

The call of God on our lives is not always going to be easy. I know I keep saying that, but partly that's because I need to keep hearing it. I have a gravitational pull in my life (a black hole, if you will...) toward my comfort and the easy way. Jesus called out his followers a number of times, gently but firmly explaining that it will not be easy. When He told them to "Take up your cross and follow me..." that was not entirely a metaphor. Taking up a cross in Jesus' day meant going to your execution. It meant the ultimate sacrifice.

All but one of the 12 apostles of Jesus met with an untimely end, martyred for their belief in Jesus. They gave their lives for the cause of Christ, and did it willingly. Sacrifice is part of the call. You and I may not ever be asked to sacrifice our lives for the sake of God's kingdom, but we will be called to make other sacrifices. We will be called to give up our comfort, our convenience, for the sake of Christ and the sake of others. The way of Jesus is not the easy way.

I read Karl's blog about the band taking some time off. You can read it here. It will be a sacrifice for some to worship without the whole band. It is a sacrifice of time, energy and talent that we ask of the band, and I'm glad they are taking this time to clarify what they need to in order to serve all of us and, most importantly serve God with their talents.

Karl also mentioned fasting. Fasting is the act of going without something important (usually food) for a period of time in order to spend more time seeking God. I've done some fasting, and it's a great tool that God uses to straighten me out, fill me up, and point me in the right direction. I've fasted some the last couple months, and I intend to do it more in the months to come. It is a form of sacrifice - giving up something - that honors God. It says, "God, I need YOU more than I need food (or for those with dietary restrictions, something else that's important to you).

I'd like to ask that you look for the ways that God is calling you to sacrifice, and pray about whether or not you need to undertake a fast. Even skipping a lunch one day in order to pray (it's not really fasting if you skip a meal to catch up on work, it needs to be for prayer) would be a fantastic start. If you can't fast from food, fast from media (TV, radio, I pod, Internet, magazines, all forms of media), and trade that time for prayer time. Try it once and see what God does.

If you have medical questions about fasting, call your doctor. If you have spiritual ones, call the church office or email me. But see if over the next few weeks, you can find a time to fast and pray. Pray for whatever is going on in your life, in your heart, and feel free to pray for our church family and the move that God is making here right now. If you want to, you can let me know when you're fasting, and I'll be sure to pray for you (just don't post it on the blog, that's too public).

The verse that I repeat during a fast is Matt 4:4 - Man does not live by bread alone, but by ever word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. See if God has a word for you!

The Man Series

I've wanted to do a series for men about what God has called men to be and do for a loooong time. It starts on Sunday, and I can't wait! There's going to be something for everyone:

• For men, a biblical model of masculinity that lets you be a man and still follow Jesus. Not the wimpy, Casper Milqutoast Jesus, but the man's man Jesus that changed the world.
  
• For women, some understanding about the men in your life, and how to deal with them in ways that help them draw closer to Jesus and to you.
  
• For parents raising boys, some help to point them toward healthy, godly manhood.
  
• For parents raising girls, how to help them to understand the boys they will have to deal with in the world.

There will be encouragment and help for single men, single women, married men and married women. There will be some frank talk about sex at one point, and maybe some help to have 'the talk' with your kids if you haven't yet. And parents, please understand that if you aren't talking to your kids about sex, someone else is. They want to hear it from you, so talk to them.

The reason for doing this series is simple - we live in a culture that sends mixed and confusing messages about manhood to us and to our kids every day, and we need to hear what God has to say to us on the subject. Plain and simple, if we're following Jesus, we need to know what that looks like from a male perspective.

(Ladies, there will be a series for you coming up this fall. Look for it, it will be Beautiful, I promise!!)

Get ready to be encouraged, challenged, stretched and hopefully blessed over the next six weeks!

Thank You...

Some deep appreciation I need to pass on:

• Thank you to the people who made a point of saying, "We're with you" on Sunday. Some on their communication cards, some in person. It was humbling and encouraging. God is doing great things in our midst, and it's because people are committed to going where He's taking us.
• Thank you to the people who gave. We had an offering that reflects the commitments people are making to the vision of our church family. Thank you for investing in God's Kingdom as it is lived out at FBC.
• Thank you to people who have received the apologies. I heard from a number of folks that they appreciated my apology for some of the language slips lately. They were glad for the passion, and glad for the apology. That was helpful to me. Thanks.
• Thank you to the people who stepped up to ministry. I didn't think I gave a real call to jump up and serve, but people heard it that way, and I'm really jacked about it! People are feeling the call of God to serve. That's what following Jesus is about - living like Jesus by being a servant. Yeah God!
• Thank you to the people who are sacrificing to see God's Kingdom go forward. I talked about sacrifice on Sunday, and so many names and stories came to mind. But if you are making a sacrifice, giving up what you want to see God's ministry here move forward, you need to know that I am honored and humbled and blessed by that as a man chasing after God. Thank you ever so much.
• Thank you to the people who keep praying for God to lead us. We are not there yet, and I for one have a long way to go. I keep saying I'm not perfect, and I probably show it more than I say it. But God is at work here, and it's because people are praying and begging Him to work here. Keep it up!
• And Thank you to the people who have come to share concerns. Thanks for talking, I know that's not always easy. Thanks for listening, I know that is sometimes even harder. And thanks for walking through the process and not giving up. Nothing good ever comes from giving up on each other, so thanks. God will reward your efforts toward unity.

Thank you, FBC family, I love you. And thank you, Jesus for what you're doing in this place!!

I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly Ephesians 1:16 (NLT)

What's Next? - Part 2

I started this a while back, and I want to continue to talk about what God is showing us is coming next as a church. The two ways God shows us what He's up to that I like the least are next.

First is -- Conflict.

Not my favorite word, and not one that most people want to add to their list of positives, for sure. But I'm starting to learn that conflict is a sign of movement. Nothing moves without some friction in the world, and the church is not immune to that concept. There will always be conflict in the church as long as there are people and ideas and movement. If there were none of those, there would be no conflict, simple as that. If we stay in one place, or get rid of all the people, or if there was never a single person who ever came up with a thot, then we'd never have conflict.

But movement creates friction, and friction creates heat, so if things are heating up, then that means there's movement. And even if the church is in need of a course correction, friction shows that at least it's moving so that God can steer it. It's easier to steer a moving car than a parked one, right? So movement is good, friction is good, conflict is... good.

It causes us to go back and pray, to seek God and make sure we're going in the right direction. Conflict done right (Matt. 18:15) is a tool God uses to mend relationships. Yeah, I know, I had to read that again, too. But it's true, winning a friend is the goal of conflict done right. Conflict done by gossip, or done by pouting, or done by silence is not good, healthy, God honoring conflict. But when someone comes and says, "we need to talk," that's the beginning of growth for both sides. I learn and grow when people confront me. I become a better person, and I believe that of the people who come and deal openly with me. I honor and respect people who will sit down and talk, rather than hiding their true feelings.

We don't have to agree on everything. We won't. This is Earth, not Heaven. But we can talk, learn, grow and take steps to understand each other on the way to what God has for us. God has given us His word to teach us how to live, and we will spend our whole lives growing in our understanding of what it says. If we're not challenged and pushed by each other as well as by God's word, then we'll miss out on all that God has for us.

Some churches just want to fight. They want to kick up dust and throw theological punches and make a mountain out of a dust bunny. But not this church. This church has grown over the years to a place where we can (and mostly do) take our God directed place at the table of conflict in order to see where God is taking us next. We've got a ways to go on this (I know I have a lot more to learn!), but I think we're making progress.

To those who are willing to do conflict Jesus' way, I honor and salute you. You are part of showing all of us where God is taking us next! May your tribe increase!!