My Personal Exodus!

There have been three shifts that God has been making in my life over the past few years. It has been a very distinct and undeniable work in my life. It has been a journey from one place in my life to another, a transforming process of heart and mind, of which I was unaware that I needed to take or undergo. At least two of the shifts, I believe, are ones that every Christ Follower needs to make. The third may be more personal to me in my situation and more distinct to my calling but is worthy of consideration none the less. You will not make these shifts from the comfort of your home. They don’t happen when the checking account is full, the kids are all doing well, the mate is loving and attentive, or when life couldn’t seem to get better. They are born out of struggle, difficulty, hardship. They happen when the job is lost, the family is falling apart, the health report is not good. The journey opens up to you when you are crying out, hurt, lost, confused. The process is near when you are discontented and think there should be more to life or that at least life should be better. Unfortunately, you rarely learn about these shifts in church. These are not decisions you make from a pew. These shifts are forged in the wilderness, in desolate times, and often in lonely places. For it is there that God reveals Himself. It is there that you truly begin to follow the path of God. You don’t experience Manna from heaven or water from the Rock by staying in Egypt. And that brings me to the first shift.

He has been moving me from the Empire into His Kingdom. Empire living is living that is deeply embedded in this world’s systems and thinking. It is represented in Scripture as Egypt. We are unaware of how entrenched we are in this world. We are blinded by consumerism, materialism, individualism and many other isms that cause us to live like slaves rather than sons and daughters of the Kingdom. We are free and are meant to live free. We are “born again” into the Kingdom of Heaven. Our citizenship has changed. We literally have to experience our own personal “exodus.” It involves a wilderness experience but the Kingdom lies on the other side.

I have much more to say about this but I will save it for other times. In order to not be too wordy, I will also save the other two shifts for a later date. Let me leave you with this: Are you experiencing difficulty or hardship? Is your heart crying out to God for relief and help? Is there a general discontentment rising up in your soul? Maybe this is just the beginning of a powerful and wonderful journey on which GOD is leading you! Maybe this is the first step on your own personal “exodus.” Maybe the most surprising thing is that you never realized that you needed such a deliverance. Maybe the “wilderness” that you are experiencing now is the path to a freedom and life you have never experienced before! Go with God! Journey with Him! Let Him do the perfect work in you!

Six Pages To Go

There is a certain way that God lets me know that He loves me. There is a way that He connects with me that lets me know that He knows what’s going on in my heart, mind and life. It has to do with my reading habits. I am a reader. I read almost everyday. Often I will be partially through a particular book, even a book of the Bible and I will suddenly stop. Maybe because of busyness or maybe I’m not connecting with what I am reading or maybe I get distracted with something else that comes across my view but somehow I will go days and sometimes weeks before I pick up where I left off. But almost always when I return, I am reading exactly what I need to hear on that day. If I had read it earlier, the words would not have been as significant. It happens so often that it can’t be just coincidence. It is God speaking to my heart.

Yesterday, it happened again. I had been reading The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. I was trying to finish this book before I left GA but it just didn’t happen. I only had 6 pages to go. Well, on Tuesday evening, we spoke to Rachele and Camille as they were returning to GA from TX. This would be the first time for them to return and we wouldn’t be there. The conversation was so sweet that I started feeling a sense of guilt. “Who am I to say God spoke to me? What right have I to move Pattie and Rayanne away from their family and friends? Who do I think I am? What am I doing here in Denver?” These thoughts plagued me through the night and I rose early and went to the nearby McDonald’s to read, commune, and have my hazelnut ice coffee. I picked up the book and this is what I read:

“One of the things that the story of Abraham, the fellowship of sports teams, the desperate comradeship of soldiers, and the Fellowship of the Lord of the Rings teach us is that the journey itself is important - that maturity and self-actualization require movement and risk, and that adventure is actually very good for the soul. . . We find these elements in the way Jesus formed His disciples as together they embarked on a journey that took them away from their homes, family, and securities and set out on an adventure that involved risk, active/reflective learning, and spiritual discovery. On the way their fears of inadequacy and lack of provision faded, only to be replaced by a courageous faith that went on to change the world forever.

And what makes phenomenal Jesus movements so dynamic is that they actually involve movement . . . there is real motion. This is not to say that every Christian literally left home and family to follow Jesus but that the foundational spiritual transaction of laying down all in the name of Jesus was at the very base of all of their subsequent following. In this way they had made an abiding decision to enter in to the liminality of leaving securities and comforts when they first became Christians and so didn’t have to try and factor it in later. [This type of Christianity] was to continue until Constantine gave us buildings and an institution and a bond between church and state that was to put Apostolic Genius (or Apostolic Faith) to sleep for a long, long time.

We need to hit the road again. We are people of the Way and our path lies before us, inviting us into a new future in which we are permitted to shape and participate. . . . By calling to mind how Jesus and the early church went about spreading the Message, we evoke that yearning and that willingness to undertake an adventurous journey of rediscovery of that ancient force called Apostolic Genius.”

Six timely pages lifted my spirits. I am thankful to have been chosen to move. I feel no guilt for moving my family. Pattie and Rayanne are also on a journey that will shape their faith, perspectives, lives forever. I am thankful that we have been given the courage and faith to move and act in the name of Jesus. The end we cannot see, the results will be up to God but we have already benefited from the journey and will continue to follow wherever He leads.

The First Good-bye

Last night we had a great time with our family at our Old West Murder Mystery Dinner. It was fun. It will be a priceless memory. We sorely missed our son-in-law, Kris, who is working in Texas and our youngest grandson, Cameron, but all the rest of us had a great time. But as the evening came to a close, the reality of our move to Denver was setting in. My daughter, Rachele, and granddaughter, Camille, left this morning for Texas to spend the next 2 weeks with Kris and if all goes as planned, Pattie, Rayanne and I will be moving over Labor Day weekend so it was our last time with them. As wife hugged Rachele and the tears began to stream, I stepped outside and through tears of my own I said, "Lord, why am I doing this? Why would I take her away from here?" The Lord answered,

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple."

and

"I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me
and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes,
brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them,
persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."

We are doing this because we love the Lord. There is no better reason. It is the greatest reason. We love Him. He is our Savior, Brother, Lord and King. There is no sacrifice we would not make to follow Him. Those who don't know Him or love Him will never understand. My family knows and understands this. I count it a great privilege to be chosen and sent by Him. My family belongs to the Lord and our going also sets them free to follow, go, be on mission, dream, explore, journey. Our family is dispersing yet growing closer. We are the same people yet eternally different because of these decisions. We are better off not worse off when we choose to follow Him. Our God be praised!

Defining Moments!

In the course of our lives there are only a handful of defining moments that significantly impact our direction and purpose and make us the people we are. Let's take Abraham as an example. His story is found in Genesis 11-25. Out of his 175 years of living, less than 20 significant events are recorded in history. Its roughly around one significant moment every 8-10 years. Some of these events are common to most of us: marriage (his and his son's are recorded), births (children and grandchildren), deaths (his father, his wife, other family, his own are mentioned), moving (Abraham did a lot of this). Some are failures (Abraham made some poor decisions that nearly cost him his wife.) Some are victories and successes that richly blessed him and others. But the most significant moments were when God spoke and Abraham trusted, followed, obeyed. Those are the ones that marked him as the "friend of God."

In the last 10 years, the first of June has become a significant time in the life of our family and ministry. They have been times when we believe God has spoken, directed, led and to the best of our ability, we have trusted, followed and obeyed. Let me share three of these:

1. June 2, 2002 - My family and I with the support of family and friends held our first worship service as the Axios Community Church in Holly Springs, GA. The decision to start this church came after much prayer and confirmation through others, circumstances, and His Word. We can recount many stories of how God opened doors (and closed some), graciously provided, and significantly blessed us and others through this endeavor.
   
2. June 1, 2008 - On our 6th birthday, we held our last service as the Axios Community Church in Holly Springs, GA. This was harder than starting the Church. We had put so much of our lives, energy and resources into this work and God was continuing to use our ministry that the decision to close was difficult. But it was clear to me through prayer, circumstances and the Spirit that this was what God wanted and that He had other plans for us. He immediately made it clearthat our next opportunity would be in Denver.
3. June 2010 - After 2 years of what feels like a wilderness experience, God seems to be suddenly moving us forward to our new calling. There have been significant lessons that needed to be learned during this time and God's graciousness of allowing us to stay and care for Pattie's mother in her last days and experiencing greater relationships with our kids and grandkids will always be appreciated and looked back on with fondness. We now have a target date of the first of June to move to Denver, CO. Oh, the things we may do, the people we will see, and the places we will go!

These have been defining moments and this one will set the course of our lives for the next 10 + years but God only hands us a handful of these opportunities in the course of our lives and we are ready to trust, follow and obey!

Hurting People Hurt People

We have recently had several painful encounters with people we hold dear. It has once again verified the statement "Hurting people hurt people." I am not trying to cast judgment on these dear people. We love them dearly. But since I have known them for a long time, I know the hurts and pains they have experienced. Many of these hurts have cut them deeply and they still carry them around as a great burden. Their hurt is justified, their pain is real, and many of their words, actions and reactions flow from this hurt place. Carrying hurts like this is not easy. It's like wearing my hoodie in the rain. The more rain, the heavier it gets. It weighs me down, hurts my shoulders, affects my posture. Hurts are the same way. They weary you and are tiresome.

The truth is that we are all hurt people, we are all damaged goods in some way. We all could stand a few good sessions with a counselor to help us sort through the pains of life. But there is a difference between "hurting" people and "hurt" people. "Hurting" people continue to wear their "wet hoodie" and allow it to dampen their lives. "Hurt" people have found that through acts of forgiveness and love made possible by the forgiveness in Christ, they can actually take off this heavy jacket and put on a "light wind breaker" that won't absorb the hurts and pains of life. Paul in Colossians 3 says it this way:

⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these (the list that follows is why hurting people hurt people): anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

¹²Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

It is a beautiful thing what God wants to do with our lives. May we all find the healing that God made possible through His Son and be "hurting" people no longer.

Facebook

I used to update all my activities on this blog but since joining Facebook, this blog has been reduced to my venting, ranting and sharing what God has been teaching me. Check in here periodically to see what God is doing in my life but it would be better if you became my friend on Facebook. There you can keep up with my day to day life and I will let you know when I have posted to my blog. My desire is to blog once a week but it seems that God has been teaching me so much recently that it has been difficult to put it in brief words. I will eventually figure out a way to communicate it all with you.

Being Set Free From Freedom

Freedom is a strange bird. Its on the short list of those things that we value most. We will fight for it, die for it, kill for it, live for it, yet, ultimately, its the very thing from which we need to be rescued. All freedom eventually takes us down a path from which we need to be saved.

I hear the clamor on talk radio about how our freedoms are being threatened and how our nation will catastrophically change if the healthcare bill passes. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but that is for another discussion. My point is that we are where we are because of freedom. The freedom to choose led our nation to elect this administration and fortunately in 2012, we can choose again. Christmas is approaching and I am sure that we will once again hear the outcry of saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." We will hear about equal time for Kwanzaa and Hanukkah but we are where we are because of freedom of religion.

Generally, we are all right with freedom as long as everyone chooses what we feel is the right and acceptable path. But freedom opens the door for all paths to be explored and will take us to places that we never intended to go. (Just ask Adam or read his story in Gen 3. He was the first to experience this truth.) And it is at the end of that path, my friend, when we will cry out to the only one who can save us, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Freedom in Christ is the only freedom that matters. Paul writes, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." I love that verse. Its the only freedom that will not lead us to enslavement, to self-destruction, and a bitter end. Its the only freedom that will lead to the peace, love, joy, life that we all long for.

George Bush once said that it was the mission of our nation to spread freedom around the world. I assume by freedom, he meant democracy. But democracy is not the answer for mankind. It may be a better form of government than communism, socialism, dictatorships, monarchs, etc., but it cannot change a heart, transform a life, set one completely free. Our mission is to set people free through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us not fight for our freedoms in such a way that hinders us from presenting true freedom to all for whom Christ died.