Archive February 2008
Mexican Foodie Update!
There is nothing spiritual or even meaningful about this post — unless you are a Mexican food fan. Not that long ago I told you about a favorite little joint called Cancun Fiesta Fresh in the Westport area where you can get some fine “street tacos,” that approximate what you might find in certain parts of Mexico. You can read a bit more here or here.
For years I have lamented the fact that it is so hard to find Mexican food that is both good and authentic in this town despite the large number of Mexicans. So many Mexican restaurants make food that looks and tastes like what most gringos think it should look and taste like. You can find some very decent food out there, but it is frustrating when you are looking for the real deal.
Well, it’s time to let you in on a neat discovery. There is yet another good Mexican eatery in Westport. This one is called El Rancho and it is in the strip mall that is anchored by Chili’s on the north side of Westport Road. Chili’s is on the south corner and El Rancho is on the north. I hesitated to mention this since I have only eaten there three times and haven’t had a chance to sample many things on the menu. So much good food; so little time! But, I want you to go and try it out so that these nice folks have a chance to make it. They’ve only been open a couple of months and we need to encourage them.
This is a walk up to the counter and order type joint. The menu is fairly extensive for a menu on the wall and the service is very friendly. They fixed the space up nicely and looks much like a similar space might in Mexico. You know that you’re in Westport because they are open until 2:00am, 4:00am on weekends.
I was greeted in English as I walked up to the counter (it was cold and I was bundled up so that only my sparkling blue eyes were sticking out). I ordered a torta al pastor with an horchata. When the words rolled out of my mouth I got a smile and an immediate switch to Spanish. Talk about a sandwich! Oh my! Marinated pork, guacamole, lettuce, onion, mayonnaise, jalapeños, and who knows what all. Each bite is an adventure! The torta comes cut and wrapped in a foil paper. Warning — it is messy, but you can always wash your hands later.
My second visit I tried the tacos al pastor. Same meat, stuffed full to overflowing in your choice of flour or corn tortillas complete with white cheese as God intended. Big and yummy. Tonight, I took Cheryl for the first time and we split the torta al pastor. That was plenty, especially with a side of chips and guacamole. The guacamole was spicy and so was the torta, even though I had them leave the jalapeños on the side for me, since Cheryl doesn’t do spicy hot. I’m still smiling.
I just have to go back and try the quesadillas, enchiladas and some of the other meats on the tortas and tacos. There is plenty of other great looking stuff. So, I need your help to try out as much as you can and let me know what you think. I’ll do my best to go back and try the items you say you like and let you know whether they are really good or not. I know that’s a sacrifice for me to do this, but I feel I have the responsibility to look out for you.
Mission – Moving Stones and Setting Folks Free
John 11 recounting the resurrection of Lazarus is one of those texts that I seem to find fresh just about every time I visit. I preached on this passage not that long ago, but was reflecting on it again today, and it seems to me to have quite a missionary application.
Lazarus’s body had been four days in his cave tomb. This would have been similar to the family crypt of Joseph of Arimathaea where Jesus was laid to rest. Many Jewish graves in that area were family vaults dug into the side of limestone hills. A large stone rolled into place along a channel dug for that purpose was used to seal the tomb. When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’ tomb, he gave three commands that neatly summarize what sharing the Good News of new life is all about — bringing life to dead people. How do we go about that task. Most of you will remember this vivid story. I want to focus on John 11:38-44 and Jesus’ three mandates.
Take ye away the stone
This is our responsibility. If people are going to come of their tomb-like existence, we have to roll away some stones. I’m sure Jesus could have beamed Lazarus out of the tomb much like Scotty used to beam up Captain Kirk and the Star Trek crew. For whatever reason, Jesus chose not to exercise his life-giving powers until the servants had moved the stone. God has chosen to partner with humans!
I’m afraid many of us are much better at putting rocks in the road preventing people from coming to Jesus, when we should be removing rocks. Is there someone in your family or circle of influence who needs the Lord? Is there someone for whom you have been praying to come to Christ? What are the rocks or stones that keep that person from coming to the Lord? What can you do to remove those stones? Start here.
Lazarus, come forth
This is someone that no one but the Lord Jesus Christ himself can do. He alone has the power to grant life. I’m very glad we don’t hear a lot of talk about going “soul winning” today. I understand and appreciate what is meant by that term, but it also can communicate the idea that we can convert people to Christ, give life or save souls. No one but God can do that. But, we first need to remove the stones.
Loose him, and let him go
This is also our responsibility. People who come to new life are still bound in the graveclothes of death. Folks come to Christ with a host of hangups, complexes, habits and attitudes. This is the role of discipleship — mentoring people in the scriptures, training them to live according to what Jesus taught and tasking them to go and make disciples themselves.
Again, I fear that too often we tie people up instead of loosing them and setting them free. In Matthew 23:4 Jesus accused the Pharisees of binding people with heavy burden that even they themselves could not bear. Sometimes the focus of our discipleship strays from showing people how to find freedom in following the precepts and principles of scripture. Their focus becomes loading folks up with personal preferences, convictions and cultural quirks.
Who do you know that is struggling to walk in faith? Maybe they are waiting for someone to loose them and set them free? Why not let that someone be you?
It’s a Wrap!
A little after 7:00pm this evening, a live video feed from the gym enabled us to count down to the cut of the final Portuguese New Testament. The cameras followed the testament from the gym through the hallways of the church, into the auditorium and to the platform. There, the last New Testament was deposited into the last box. I had the honor of taping shut the box. They won’t let me touch the machines — I’d mess them up badly. Even at that, they had to go back and re-tape the box. I’m not a very mechanical person. I would not make a good engineer!
35,000 Portuguese New Testaments! Missionary Paul Pritchard shared with us how they would be used among the Portuguese speaking people of West Africa. The testaments we assembled will be used mostly for distribution to school children in Guinea-Bissau. Many, if not most of the testaments will go to people who have never held a Bible in their hands before.
This has been a good conference. Pastor Alan did a great job of condensing an enormous amount of history to show us how we got our Bible. Several gave testimonies. I am very thankful for the hundreds of adults, students and children who worked on the assembly line beginning after our first service Sunday morning. I am grateful for those who manned our 24-hour-a-day prayer chain. I am grateful for being to complete our mission by the grace of God.
The verse of the day. Paul Pritchard shared with us the horrible accident he suffered in Africa in May of 2007. Hit head on by a drunk driver, he was pinned in his vehicle for two hours and suffered 22 broken bones. That he survived is a testimony to God’s power. Our church was one of many who responded to airlift him from Africa to the United States. Paul shared a verse from Job that God gave to him. As he shared this verse, I thought of the Gimble’s tragedy this week. I thought about us working to assemble these scriptures. I thought about the sovereign God who loves us.
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? Job 12:9
Rehab by Replacement
Got flaws? Of course you do! I do, too. We all do. A lot of effort goes into overcoming bad habits, attitudes, hurts, and other assorted stickers, thorn berries, burrs or hitchhikers that stick to your shoelaces, socks and pant legs as you walk down life’s path. Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way.
A familiar story in Luke caused me to reflect on an important principle the other day.
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Luke 11:24-26
Jesus spoke these words in the context of a rather intense confrontation with some Jewish leaders who accused him of casting out demons in the power of the Devil. After addressing the absurdity of such an accusation, the Lord told this story to demonstrate the futility of self-reformation. Many of the religious leaders of his day were incredibly proud of their self-discipline, hard work and vigorous attention to clean living. The problem was that they were doing this in their own strength without submission to God’s transforming power. The only true transforming power is God’s power.
The danger of self-reformation, as successful as it may first appear, is that it leaves the door open for other evil spirits to flood one’s life. An alcoholic, for example, can exercise tremendous self-discipline to stop drinking. If not careful, however, the evil spirit of pride can slip in the back door of life, escorted by a judgmental spirit, self-righteous spirit and a host of others.
I think we can all agree that it is far preferable to allow God’s Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out, and that self-reformation falls painfully short and is potentially dangerous. That is a great lesson to learn from this story.
There is, though, another truth here that begs our attention. By implication, the man in this story failed to fill the void in his life that was left when he cleaned out the evil spirit. In other words, our objective is not just to clean out bad habits, evil influences, stinky attitudes and the like, but we must also be certain to fill the void with corresponding positive influences.
Let me put it this way. When God delivers you from a bad habit, immediately fill the void with a good habit. Otherwise you have only a void that can be filled by just about anything, including habits worse than the one you just broke. One of the illustrations of this truth is found in Ephesians 4.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Ephesians 4:28
You can put a thief in prison, but he is still a thief until there has been a transformation of heart and character. He may not steal in prison, but only because he doesn’t have the opportunity. True biblical rehabilitation is rehabilitation by both transformation and replacement — a change of heart accompanied by a replacement of a negative character trait (stealing) with a new trait (using the hands to do good for the benefit of those in need).
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ephesians 4:29
Here’s another example. It’s not enough just to clean up your language. True victory is to learn to use your mouth to build people up, to minister grace to them.
It’s not enough to spend your time picking those sticky burrs off your pants. You’re bound to miss some. Instead, change your pants and walk down a different path. Don’t just repair, replace.
Bottom line to cleaning up your act:
- Identify a habit, attitude, or action that needs to be eliminated from your life.
- Pray that God would give you grace to overcome this aspect of your life.
- Identify a corresponding good habit, attitude or action. Ask God to empower you to make this part of your life as you intentionally cooperate with the Holy Spirit by pro-actively engaging in that activity over an extended period of time until it is established as an habitual part of your character.
When Words Have No Meaning
Your two-year-old has been sick with flu-like symptoms along with half the population of the city. One evening you are concerned that the symptoms are worse. Your gut tells you something is not right. So, you do what any responsible parent would do. You head to the nearest ER. Before you can get there, something goes terribly wrong. Your precious child is clearly in great trouble. Arriving at the ER trained personnel valiantly fight to resuscitate the tiny body. Before you can even properly process what is happening, your beautiful child is dead.
These things happen to other people, not you, me or people we know. Right?
Last night, this very thing happened to a wonderful couple in our Midtown church. Our two churches had come together to assemble 35,000 Portuguese New Testaments. The scene I described played out as we were having our service before going to work to put the scriptures together. The service had concluded, and Cheryl and I were talking with people, mixing with the crowd in the gym where the assembly line was in full swing. A church employee caught my attention as she approached and asked me if I had heard.
I was stunned. You might as well have kicked me in the gut. Cheryl was absolutely devastated. I looked around and noticed that almost all of the Midtown people had disappeared. Someone told me they had seen some of them together upstairs praying. Cheryl and I went up and found a group of young couples tearfully praying in the main lobby. One of the first reactions to bad news is denial, and I was hoping against hope that this was a bad rumor, a mistake. It wasn’t. A text message came in extending hope that resuscitation efforts were ongoing. We stopped immediately and prayed. As we finished, we learned that what we feared was true.
Please pray for this couple, Gordon and Mandy. They have other family members in our church. There is no way I could imagine their pain or even relate to what they are going through. These are times when words have little meaning and sometimes the best thing to say is nothing — just love and support. There are no easy answers. The absolute worse thing you could do is toss them some pious platitude or stock answer.
I asked the church for prayer tonight and thought how appropriate that we are in the middle of a Bible conference. Though we have no immediate answers, we do have an anchor for our souls — our faith God and his word. We trust God. We trust in his great love for us, his wisdom and his plan, even when we don’t understand.
I wrote a commentary many years ago about a biblical character who lost ten children in a single day. His name is Job.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Job 1:18-22