Integrity and life

I was out with a friend last night and we got to talking about living out what we say we believe. He was pointing out that there are people who say one thing and live another. For example, people who participate in certain activities when they think nobody is looking,..... or nobody who would care is looking. The fact is that when we call ourselves followers of Jesus, people are always looking. Even if it is just the people "involved". Sometimes people need another person to take the high road in order for them to follow. They end up following on the low road, wishing somebody would lead them to the high one.

This happens all the time in conversation. Vulgarity leading to more vulgarity. Discouraging rather than encouraging. You see, we speak of grace and cling to God's grace for us, but do we extend that grace to others. The same can be said for compassion, forgiveness, etc.

My friend pointed out that this is especially disappointing when the other person is supposed to be a leader and behaves in ways that do not show Christ. I think this is why Paul said, do not aspire to be a leader for the responsibility is greater as well.

The bottom line is, many are longing for an example to follow. What kind of example am I? What kind of example are you?

Dig a Hole

So, the diving board on our pool started coming out of the ground this weekend. Apparently the cement pad was way to small. I spent part of yesterday jackhammering and digging until my back was seizing. I have to dig about 4 feet deep. I am 2/3 of the way there, I'll see if I can do the rest today. Meanwhile my wife's beautiful yard has a gaping hole in it.

Syl is coming back from Edmonton tonight. She was visiting our "oldest daughter", Lenny. I am sure they had more fun than I did digging the stupid hole...... Yeah for Macallan Cask Strength. It will be good to have my wife back.

K

I am praying...

I don't have a clue about raising money. I have been running a "faith" mission for 16 years, and I suck at raising money. As a matter of fact, I know that God has made it very clear, that He opens the wallets, not me. We need a bigger facility. So, I am praying that God would give us 1.5 million dollars. I am also asking that He do it within the next 24 hours.

Peace,

K

God's Grace

So, I met this week with the person who was the subject of my “Question of Grace” post. It was a good and hard conversation. People do crazy things for a lot of messed up reasons. Most times they are wounded and in need of love, discipline, healing, compassion, etc. We talked for quite a while.

In the end, it was obvious that God was already laying groundwork for our conversation. The cocaine dealing career is over. The actively seeking God and figuring out how to walk with Him has begun. Friends will be key. He is not out of the woods yet, so pray for him. He was only dealing for a short time, but that world is a dark place. But, God is faithful.

Peace

A Question of Grace?

Here is a very real problem we are dealing with. There is someone who has returned to our community after being gone for a year or two. This person was a Vault kid and professed to begin a relationship with Jesus. In the time that this person has been gone they started dealing cocaine. this is confirmed information, so now I have to figure out how to deal with it. What limitations do I set? How hard should I be on this person? How hard and fast? What would Jesus do? Seriously. I know what "I" want to do with it.....

Peace,

K

What We See

I have had a few conversations in the past week that I have found somewhat disturbed and questioning what we see in each other. We seem to be much more gifted at finding what is wrong with people than we are at finding what is right with them. As a matter of fact we are willing to discount the good as fraudulent due to the “bad” that we see. This seems pretty much the opposite of the example Jesus gives us. He seemed to choose to see the good in people rater than the faults. You don’t even have to look past His disciples to see this. As flawed as they were, He used them to change the world.

We have a choice. We can choose to see what God is doing in people, or we can focus on the areas that need work. Maybe we feel better knowing someone else sucks(worse than us…), maybe we feel we need to assist the Holy Spirit(because you know how weak he/she is….). Whatever it is, I think many of us need to make a shift. The question is not what is wrong with someone, the question is what is God doing in their life and can we celebrate and how can we encourage that? Can we trust the Spirit and the Father to continue the work that He started in others?

As recovering assholes, we are need to recognize that we are predisposed to criticism, rather than encouragement and distrust rather than trust. The challenge is to make the change and walk as Jesus did.

Peace,

K

Rough Week

This has been a rough week. Both Syl and I have been battling the flu while trying to keep our regular schedules. I was hoping to fast this week, but the flu kind of put an end to that.

Dealing with people issues isn't always fun, less so when your sick. I have found myself fantasizing about the demise of certain individuals. Not very spiritual I know, but, I opted today to spend time praying for them instead. This really works. It is hard to think ill of people you are asking God to work in and bless. Forgiveness is a crisis of the will, I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Peace,

K

Frag You

Frag is a term that refers to soldiers who turn on their own. A soldier who shoots his sargeant or foxhole mate for example, has "fragged" him. Sometimes I think it is a Christian term more than a military one. There is little more discouraging than finding out your biggest "enemy" out there is a professing believer. I have been struggling lately on how to handle someone who is actively trying to sabotage the good work that we strive to do every day in our community. This someone is supposed to be about the same cause. Part of me wants to get "medieval" on his person. However, I know that God calls me to something more than that(which kinda pisses me off...), He calls me to love the guy.

I know I am not alone, other people I know trying to do good things have the same type of experience going on. Why do we hate to see others do well?

The trick I guess is not to be distracted by what morons do, but to stay focused on the mission and He who called us to it. It still pisses me off.