Blogs

Over the past 2 1/2 years, I've gotten to be involved in a weekly meal for the homeless and low income people of our community. It's been a wonderful experience! We begin with a short devotional shared from scripture, we sing a hymn, and then we share prayer requests and pray for each other. There is a clothing cart where they can get clothes. There is a resource table where they can get information about employment, a place to stay, rehabilitation, other food resources, etc.

And then we share a meal together. Seated at each table in our Friendship Center are people who are homeless, people who are barely hanging onto their apartment/trailer/house, as well as, Bethany members. They eat and engage in conversation together. Over the past 2 1/2 years, significant relationships have been formed around these meals. We have formed community through these meals. It's really something to see!

Things are ok today, men and women because our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he wants to do. Now I don’t want to push anybody’s theological hot buttons here today when I say that. I don’t want to get into a debate here. I’m here. I serve in ministry everyday. And John was hard at work: he was proclaiming, he was baptizing, he was making sure that people were ready when Jesus came. He was busy at work. He wasn’t sitting back taking it easy in some big barcalounger easy chair somewhere saying, “Well, God is big and I am small so ‘Go, God!’” He was at work.

I’ve been preparing to teach a class called “Becoming a Good Samaritan” so I’ve been wrestling with Jesus’ story in Luke 10. Not just in understanding the parable but also in understanding its practical applications in our world today. To help with that, I’ve been reading Richard Stearns book, “The Hole in Our Gospel.” It’s a wonderful book dealing with the needs that our so prevalent in world today and how Richard responded to God’s calling to play a role in meeting some of those needs.

Stearns makes the point that the problems to be found in the world have never been greater than they are today. At the same time, our capacity to solve our problems has never been greater.

What do little leaders do? What are they about? John gives us a couple of things from his gospel: John 1:19: “Who are you?”

Now that’s a good thing. I like this question because apparently John’s ministry has been growing…he’s got a following…he’s shaking things up. So they send some leaders out to ask him: “Who are you?”

I don’t know if that’s ever happened to you. You’ve been involved in a ministry or a project and things are going well and people begin to ask questions. I used to love it when parents would call and ask, “What are you doing in that youth group? My son has completely changed, he’s like a different kid. He’s nice to his sister. He’s doing well in school. Yesterday we came home and he was on his knees in his bedroom praying. What is going on in that youth group? I mean…is it some kind of a cult?” And I’d just say, “Your son has fallen in love with Jesus and Jesus is reshaping him.”

Jim Wallis writes: “I once coined the phrase, “A budget is a moral document.” But being a dad to Luke and Jack, I now have a new phrase, “A calendar is a moral document.” As many have pointed out…all the social data shows how critically important fathering is for children -- both boys and girls. As Roland Warren so aptly says, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” And it’s all about the calendar. I used to say that a budget tells you what and who are most important to a family, a church, a city, state, or nation. And that’s certainly also true about a calendar. Who or what is most important?”

To quote someone else (who’s name I can’t remember): “No one comes to the end of life and says, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office.’ But too many people do come to the end of life and wish they spent more time with their kids.”