A Place For The God-Hungry

The other day, I was at one of Jamie’s track meets. All day long there were a variety of races. At these track meets, I will generally stand against the fence around the track, waiting on my daughter’s race. The time came for the 100 meter, varsity boys’ run. This is always interesting. These guys are generally very fast. The runners got in their respective lanes. The starter raised his hand with the pistol in the air. “On your mark, get set, go!” One young man apparently jumped to soon. As soon as the gun fired, the starter then quickly fired again—signal for a “false start.” When that happens, all of the runners are to stop and then go back to their starting positions. All of them did–except for one young runner in a maroon uniform. He continued running. I cringed with embarassment for him. I heard someone say, “Oh no, he’s still running! How embarassing!” He ran by himself the entire race, not realizing that he was the only one running. Finally he raised his arms as he crossed the finish line, thinking that he had won the race. He then turned around only to realize that no one else had been running with him.

I can’t imagine. The stands were full of people. 14 or 15 schools were present. People from everywhere were watching and everybody saw this kid run a race by himself.

Do you ever feel like that is you? Do you ever feel like you are alone in your race? Christian people are in a race. Life is a life long marathon. The goal is not speed but endurance. We just want to finish–strong. But it is awfully difficult to do this by yourself.

There are times when I have felt like I was running by myself. You know the feeling. You wrestle with a matter and you want to do the right thing. But it seems like that you are the only one wrestling with the decision. Others either rationalize the situation or just follow their own desires.

The truth is–we were never meant to run this by ourselves. Life is tough–at times it is extremely tough. How encouraging it is to know that you are not running alone. Are you making sure that you are running with other people?

Well, not quite. This Florida beach does look inviting. Doing nothing all day and eating fresh shrimp at night. No, that is pretty far away right now.

This past weekend was great, however.

1. On Sunday, I was a part of a very good assembly. It was one of those mornings when I was able to think much more about God than about what was going on in the assembly (I think that is the point). So often I find that I let my mind think about other things (For instance, thinking about something that I need to add to my message).

2. At noon on Sunday, we had our first meal in the new Crestview Community Center. 475 stayed for the meal. Our friends at Rudy’s Bar-BQ served the meal. (What wonderful sauce!)

3. After the meal on Sunday, the new building was dedicated. This is a project that has been underway in some form almost five years. It is a beautiful building and I am excited about ways that it will be used.

4. Christine was home! Our oldest daugther was home from Harding University in Arkansas. (This is the first time that she has been home since Christmas). What a wonderful weekend we had together!

Not quite the beach in Florida–but a wonderful weekend.

You know, I want to be much more conscious of things that are happening in my life (however small they may seem) that are due a celebration. It is so easy to enjoy God’s gifts and to pay little attention to the giver himself. Yet, every day I am being blessed by the giver. I was thinking a moment ago, “It is Tuesday afternoon. What has already happened in my life since Sunday for which I can celebrate and thank the giver.

I just suspect that if I do this everyday, I will complain less and thank God more.

I don’t know Louise or anything about her.  I do know that she is not the only one who needs mercy.  I find that the more intimately that I know God and the more clearly I see him in Scripture, the more I realize that I need mercy.  I suppose that if we are just comparing ourselves with one another, I might quickly remind you that I am really not a bad guy.  No skeletons.  No horrible, wretched sins in my track record.  (As I say this I can feel the pride of focusing on what seems to me to be a pretty good life).  Yet, all of that is really only a pathetic attempt to justify myself and make me look good before others. 

Its interesting how much energy we spend reminding one another that we are really pretty good people.  We remind one another that we really do have good hearts.  When someone repents of sin and has obvious remorse, we may feel so uncomfortable that we tell this person that they are really not bad persons.  I have seen people publically repent of sin only to be told by friends, "I don’t know why you said those things about yourself.  Why you’re not a bad person."

No– I need mercy.  I know that what is in me is often unlike the character of God.  No need to rationalize my thoughts, my motives, and my desires.  The truth is, I desperatly need God’s mercy. 

So what is the hurdle?  Pride!  You know how difficult it is to ask for help.  Have you ever had to ask for financial help? You probably said something like, "I really hate to ask you for help.  It is so hard for me to ask help.  I will pay you back next week."  Yet with God’s mercy, you can’t pay it back.  You are in spiritual poverty without his mercy.  There is no payback!  I desperately need mercy.  My pathetic and feeble attempts to prove that I am able only serve to rob me of being a mercy reciever and consequently a mercy giver.

Imagine–Imagine what we would be like as Christian people if we each had a deep sense of desperatly needing God’s mercy.  Much of the sin that I have witnessed as Christians mistreated Christians is rooted in no-mercy.  I think that this is more than not showing mercy.  I think that it may be rooted in not seeing that we are desperately needing mercy.

May God have mercy on us all.

Last Saturday evening, our good friends Doug and Dereece were visiting from Alabama. We had run around all day. A trip to Crawford. A run to HEB for meat to grill. Some were looking for a good buy at Steinmart. Finally we were home. Late that evening, Charlotte went to the extra refrigerator that is in the garage. She screamed and we all ran to see what was the matter. There, in our garage was a possum. An ugly, gray, “pointy headed” possum. Jamie climbed on the hood of her mother’s car and yelled, “That’s a rat! A giant rat!” The possum managed to get himself in a corner and was hard to get out. Doug got on a work table and poked it a few times with a broom. The thing openned its mouth, hissed and exposed what looked like razor sharp teeth. Meanwhile, I threw a shoe at it– which did nothing. Finally it ran toward the outside of the garage, did a head fake (making us think that he was going back into the garage) and he took off into the blackness of the night.

I’m sorry but that is one animal that is just ugly. I have no desire to get close to that animal at all. As far as I’m concerned, there is really no place for a possum anywhere within sight.

Somehow, that seems pretty obvious to me. However, I want to get to a place where I really believe that the evil one has nothing to offer me. It is so easy to let him linger (though we would say that we have no intention of doing wrong). A person may say that he/she has no intention of doing something immoral but then the evil one is allowed to linger. (“I’m note going to do anything. I just want to think about it for a while.” Hmmmmm) Meanwhile, when Jesus was confronted by Satan, he said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written…”

Maybe that’s worth thinking about.

This past weekend, I was in Alabama. I spent a little over ten years of my life in that state. These were very good years–for the most part. Saturday, I was there for a wedding. The daughter of some of our very best friends (for almost 20 years) was getting married. The wedding was in Birmingham in a church building located on a hill. It was a beautiful wedding and a great time to see friends who I have not seen in a long time. The next day, I preached in Jasper and was with George and Rene’, two of the finest people that I know. They have lived in that community and ministered to that church for 12 years. Over and over the people there told me how much they loved them.

It is a strange experience to go back to a place where you used to live. Things are the same and yet they aren’t. There are familiar sights and yet things are different. A new Krispy Kreme. Princeton’s, a once popular resturant is now closed. On and on, things are the same and yet they are different.

I am amazed that yesterday’s little girl who I saw playing with her dolls is now a beautiful bride.

I am amazed at yesterday’s young couple, who are now entering their 40′s and have a grandchild.

I am amazed at yesterday’s child who is now a social worker in Birmingham and married to a wonderful man.

I am amazed at our friends in whose home we ate a number of meals and now he has gone to be with the Lord. She remains–a sweet Christian lady.

I am amazed at our dear friends who have walked through life with us for almost twenty years and now they have a married daughter and new son-in-law.

I am amazed as I look in the mirror and see a 50 year old man staring at me. How could I be that old?

Things are the same and yet they aren’t. Time is moving by quickly. Our bodies grow older and then they die. Yet, in Christ, there is a newness and a freshness inside of us that can’t be touched by time. In Christ, I have a life that really is eternal.

I was thinking the other day about how good I had it when I was in school. You remember–Start a new semester in the fall and then finish it just before Christmas. Then we had a Christmas break. Following that break another semester began and then ended in May. Then–school was out! For most of June/July/August (in the old days many of us did not start back to school until September). I kind of miss that.

Still, we do have some sense of start and stop to our lives. We begin a new day every 24 hours. We begin a new week every seven days. I have found it very helpful to begin a new week by reviewing the previous week and then taking an overview of the upcoming week.

These are important questions which I need to be asking as I review the previous week.

1. Did I genuinely treasure Jesus? Is he just “…an important part of my life” or is my heart filled with passion for him because I value him above all else.

2. Was I a person of integrity? Was I more concerned with making people happy or making God happy? Did I spend more time thinking about what gaining the approval of others or about gaining God’s approval. Was I the same person in private that I was in public?

3. Did I treat people in a way that pleased Jesus?How did I behave when I was upset or frustrated with someone?

These questions are critical to seriously maturing in Christ. It is far too easy to just breath air and let the time go by without examing our lives.

I also need to look at the coming week.

1. As I look at the next seven days, when do I plan to spend time in prayer and in the Word of God?

2. Do I have adequate time carved out for my family, for rest, and for exercise?

3. What do I need to be praying about in light of the kind of week that I forsee at this point?

These questions are important if I am going to stay connected to the “big picture”