Archive February 2007
Fire!
The lights flickered and a loud thumping sound rocked my office a split second later making me wonder if a HVAC unit on the roof had failed. I hoped my computer would not take a hit. Not long afterwards there was another flicker and thump. The power stayed on and I stayed the course. Not until my assistant sent me an e-mail a couple of hours later was I aware of a massive chemical explosion on the northeast side of the downtown loop. Only then did I make the connection with the earlier flickers and thumps.
Switching on the television in my office, I intently followed the continuous reporting from near the scene. Homes and businesses were evacuated for a mile around, and the smoke plume looked like an F5 tornado spewing toxic fumes to the far western and southern suburbs of the city. How ironic that just last night I spoke on fire to the weekly prayer ministry at our midtown campus.
Hebrews 12:29 quotes Deuteronomy 4:24 as saying that our God is a consuming fire. The essence of God is the fiery holiness of His being, consuming all in either judgment or the passion of His holiness. It is God’s grace that enables the believer to stand firm in the consuming fire without being consumed, just as God appeared to Moses as a fire engulfing a desert bush without it being consumed. When Solomon dedicated the temple, the fire of God’s presence descended upon it. Besides the fire of His presence, there is the fire of His purification. Peter tells us that God lovingly allows us to go through fiery trials to purge us from the dross of carnality and sin (1 Peter 1:7-9). Furthermore, there is the fire of His passion. Jeremiah wanted to quit the ministry, but the fire of God’s word burned in his bones (Jeremiah 20:9). Psalm 39:3 and Ezekiel 3:14 speak in similar, fiery terms.
Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt in the massive, fiery explosion in Kansas City. Incredible, intensive fire and the grace of God – this reminds me of the three friends of Daniel who were thrown in the fiery furnace. Yet, as the king looked into the furnace, he saw four figures, the fourth being like the Son of God. Though they were in the fire, they were not consumed and their clothing did not even smell of smoke! That’s how I want to live — with the fire of God in my bones, all-consuming, yet consuming me with the passion of His presence and purifying me from all impurities.
Pensando en la misión
Si has estado leyendo este blog, sabes que hace poco estuve en la Argentina en CIMA 2007. Una tarde me tocó presentar a un grupo de pastores un resumen de la obra de Dios en África. No pretendo ser experto en misiones Africanas, pero he estado en varios lugares de África a través de los años, y fue mi placer compartir un poco.
Uno de los pastores me preguntó sobre Guinea Ecuatorial. No es difícil saber por qué me hizo la pregunta, pues Guinea es uno de los pocos lugares Africanos donde se habla el castellano. Tuve que confesarle que no tengo mucho conocimiento referente a la iglesia en Guinea. Únicamente sé que es un país horriblemente pobre y corrupto.
Así que me llamó mucho la atención una correspondencia electrónica hoy de mi amigo Tony Vásquez en Madrid pidiendo oración por una señora argentina que se encuentra enferma en Guinea. Dos mujeres argentinas pasaron por España ordenando sus papeles para visitar su misionera en Guinea. Todo les salió y llegaron bien en Guinea. Pero ayer Tony recibió una llamada diciendo que una de ellas, Mari, se encuentra grave en el hospital sufriendo lo que parece ser una combinación de cansancio, estrés y ataque espiritual. Las condiciones allí son miserables para tratar la condición de la hermana y están tratando de evacuarla a España donde se puede tratar mejor. Tony dice que fuertes ataques espirituales son comunes entre los que viajan a Guinea.
Todos los días misioneros están bajo ataques de toda clase. Oremos por Mari, y por su marido quien está desesperado que no puede estar a su lado en este momento. Pero también oremos por misioneros específicos cada día, tomando en cuenta la guerra espiritual que les enfrenta siempre. ¿Por quién orarás hoy?
Listen! Everyone has a story
One of the things I enjoy the most is meeting people after services in our International Visitors Center. Here’s what I’ve learned: every person has a story and every story is important. Each week I meet fascinating people who never cease to surprise me. Just yesterday I met people from Kenya and Colombia. I also met people who have come to faith in Christ through amazing adventures, and people recovering from rough times who are thrilled to be learning biblical truth that equips them to grow into the people God wants them to be. Sometimes I meet people who appear to be unassuming, yet posses remarkable gifts and skills. Yesterday I talked with an artist and a poet.
My sermon yesterday stressed our need to get quiet, get with God and learn to listen to his voice. I think we should also learn to listen to each other. We are often quick to judge others before they say a word. Or, we are so intent to tell them about ourselves, impress them or teach them something, they never have a chance to speak. I am trying to learn to listen a bit to people’s stories and learn from them.
Some people, of course, need to left alone. A great example of this is when God said to his prophet Hosea, “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone” (Hosea 4:17). Most people, though, have a story that’s worth hearing. “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning” (Proverbs 1:5a). Or, as James put it, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19b). On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself as a listener? I’m a five on my way up!
Snowy thoughts on urban legends
I’m in Denver now, waiting to fly home. Caught in the latest round of snow to hit Denver, I was listening to traffic reports as I was driving down the mountains. I heard an announcer make reference to the 100 words Eskimos have for snow. I have heard similar comments many times and have contributed myself. It seems this is a classic myth that is about 100 years old and stems from a book that made reference to four Eskimo words for snow. Things grew from there with each careless quotation.
Investigation reveals there are several “Eskimo” languages, each with different words for snow. Which language are we talking about? Besides, are there really that many words for snow, or are we counting adjectives tacked onto one or more nouns. Think of English, for example. We can say snow, wind-driven snow, blizzard, dry snow, wet snow, snow flurries, powdery snow, or simply powder. You can probably think of more. Does that mean we have eight words for snow?
Here’s where I’m going with this. In recent years I have purposely disciplined myself to investigate things more rigidly before quoting them or passing them along to others. I have never purposefully passed along bad information, but I am embarrassed to think of the few times I have unwittingly quoted an “urban legend” as the truth. Any of us can pass along bad information received from a trusted source, but we can all do a better job of checking out the facts from multiple and reliable sources. Just because you saw it on the Internet, in print or in a blog doesn’t mean it’s true!
I find that churches and Christian groups are particularly susceptible to the proliferation of urban legends and false information. We all want to believe things we hope are true, bolster our positions or make those we don’t agree with look as bad as possible. As followers of Christ we have legitimate concerns, but this often gives us the tendency to jump on any forwarded rumor and pass it along as fact before verifying the information. This often destroys our credibility with the very people we hope to influence. I still get an occasional e-mail urging me to write my congressman about Madalyn Murray O’Hare’s attempts to get atheistic bills through Congress even though she’s been dead for years and keeping company with that Nigerian gentleman who left you ten million dollars in his will. So, before you hit that “forward” button and fill up my inbox, do your homework and I’ll do the same.
Anna Nicole, we hardly knew ye
Her well-documented weight gains and losses were symbolic of her life in general – from rags to riches to rags, from one relationship to another, from fame to irrelevance to notoriety. Suffice it to say that Anna Nicole was the antithesis of a “good Christian girl.”
Here’s what’s troubling me. How many “good Christian girls and boys” look down their upturned noses at Anna Nicole? When hearing of her passing today, how many said, “hummmph! Undoubtedly a drug overdose. That’s just what you get for a life style like hers.” But Anna Nicole is the type of person you and I are tasked to love in Jesus’ name.
She was only 39 when she died. In her brief life filled with sexual partners, affairs and relationships, how many people really knew her or cared about her? From a broken family with no strong father figure or close relationship with mother, family or church, how many people do you think she trusted? Anna Nicole Smith was an American icon. But who was she? Everyone seems to have an opinion about her poor choices, the cause of her death and what type of person she was. Yet for all her gains and losses of money, weight, fame, and relationships, she didn’t seem to have anyone to love her just as she was.
Hiding from his enemies in the darkness of a cave David experienced some of the loneliest moments of his life. “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”(Psalm 142:4). I wonder if Anna Nicole ever thought, “Many men wanted my body, but no man cared for my soul.”
David could say, “I cried out unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living” (Psalm 142:5). David found peace with God in the land of the living, not just in the afterlife. Anna Nicole apparently found no peace or refuge and is now in the land of the dead.
The troubled teen from Houston was catapulted into a larger-than-life role on the slippery stage of American pop culture and had trouble staying on her feet. In reality, she is representative of the Anna Nicole Smiths all around us. They sit in the cubicle next to us, wait our tables, or give us change at the convenience store. Sometimes, they sit next to us in church. I’d like to think that if Ms. Smith came to KCBT she could have found the way to be someone of value, just for herself, and because Jesus died for her and others who have sinned–like us–not as someone to be exploited, laughed at, treated with contempt or viewed as a bizarre oddity.