Don't Anticipate!

Well, it's the night before the big trip to LA. I'm almost packed but not quite. I've burned CDs for the trip as I couldn't find my iPod adapter for an older car. Tomorrow night we'll be going to Saddleback to visit their youth group. Sunday morning we're planning on going to Cathedral of our Lady of Angels, Faithful Central Bible Church and possibly Emmanuel Reformed Church. Sunday evening we'll be headed to Mosaic Church. As you can see, lots of different traditions and beliefs. As I said in an earlier blog, I'm in for some stretching.

I need to follow the advice that I hear so often when I participate in the Walk to Emmaus - Don't Anticipate!

However, there are a couple of things that can hardly wait for: Tommy Burgers - the absolute best, a Dodger game Monday night and working with the Dream Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm sure there's more - like the great So Cal weather, the traffic, etc.

I'm looking forward to this next week. It looks like Kaylene will be going too!!! She's a tough one. However if she needs some quiet or down time I might be contacting some friends down south for help.

Stay tuned!!

Just Checking In

It's two days before our big youth mission trip to L.A. and I'm excited and curious at the same time about what we're going to experience. This trip will have some elements that a traditional youth group has during spring break. We'll be involved in some kind of service projects throughout the week with various ministries. However, the main purpose of this trip is to study the church. I know that some of the places we will be visiting will really challenge me personally. It's funny because God has been bringing one Christian personality to me and I'm not sure what to make of it. This person is not a heretic but I wonder what God's "purpose" is in all of this.

If you read this and thing about us (and me), you can pray that we will receive all that God has for us in LA and that we will come home changed people.

You can follow our adventure on the blog that our youth will be contributing to over the next week (FirstPresinLA).

It's Been Too Long

I started this with good intentions of journaling to develop some spiritual disciplines. But like all good intentions, I got sidetracked with life. It's been over two years since I last wrote here or even visited my own blog.

In the past two years I've experienced the loss of my pastor, a change in my job, celebrating 25 years of marriage and now my oldest son is getting married in October. Chris graduated from high school two summers ago, Kaylene is now in her second year of public school, Wendi is subbing in Fresno and Cutler-Orosi, and I'm finishing up my first year as an elder on Session.

Lots of other things have happened too, but looking back, makes me excited about what's in the future. Next week I'll be in L.A. with the youth group. I'll write more about that tomorrow.

In the meantime, look for more blog entries in the days and weeks to follow.

Good Grief!

I read some news about a dear friend today and was disheartened at first. The doctor had some news that was not what we all have been praying and hoping for. As I was driving home, I thought of that phrase that Charlie Brown used say all the time, "Good Grief!" He or any other of the Peanuts characters would say that whenever there was a ridiculous situation.

The dictionary defines grief as a deep trouble, especially caused by someone's death or informally as trouble or annoyance. I have experienced both meanings of this word over the past 3 months, as have many other of my friends at my church, at work, and on Facebook. The grief has been different depending on the situation, circumstances, and the people involved. In spite of these differences, there is a common thread.

We think that this life is all there is and that we need to make the most of it. While it is true that we need to make the most of the time we have, this life is not all that there is.

Luke 17:11-19

The other day I was reading my Bible and  came across one of my favorite passages of Scripture (my other one is John 9). Luke records how Jesus was walking through Samaria and Galilee and met ten lepers. They cried out to him, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" He told them to go themselves to the priests. As they went, they were cleansed.  Here's the part that really impacts me every time.

"And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His (Jesus') feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan." (Luke 17:15-16) 

Of the ten guys that were healed, only one came back to Jesus to thank Him, and he fell at His feet! To top things off, this guy was a Samaritan - considered the lowest on the social scale in Jewish society. This guy realized that Jesus was the source of his healing and he gave God the glory and praised Jesus. Did Jesus tell him to get up? No. Jesus accepted his worship because Jesus is worthy of worship - he's God in human flesh.

As I think about the one man's response to Jesus, I have to ask myself, "Would I react like this man did? Or would I be like one of the nine who went on their way?" I think I would probably be one of the nine but I would want to be like the one that came back. I need to recognize Jesus for what He's doing in my life and in response to Jesus with an outflow of praise. 

Change

When you think about the word 'change', what comes to your mind? Leftover coins? A different set of clothes that would be more appropriate? Diapers? A mixing up of your normal routine? 

A candidate in this year's presidential election ran his campaign on the theme of "Change" - but is change good? Does one really want change in their lives?

We are constantly changing - growing older and all the fun things that come with that. The idea of having the same day-to-day routine can sound dull and boring, but it can also sound comforting at the same time. I guess when it comes to change it all depends on your perspective and the type of change you're talking about. Change can be very unsettling, but change can be good. I just saw a

 friend's Facebook status that said she was "excited about change."

This past week I have not been excited about change. First I hear that my principal will no longer be my principal (not his choice). Then I hear that my job will not be the same next year and that I may be back in the classroom. I'm OK with that. It's just that I am called upon to do many things at work and wonder how all of it will get done next year if my primary responsibility is a room full of students.

When change is disconcerting, an aspect of God's character comes to my mind. He is eternal, unchanging. Psalm 136 speaks of God's love enduring forever. Isaiah 40:8 says that "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." Those are comforting words. 

When change is necessary or has a positive aspect to it, it usually is seen as something that will result in improvements or a better condition than previously experienced. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." We are becoming more and more like Christ. How are we being transformed? God's Holy Spirit living inside those of us who have been called by Christ and are trusting Him does the work. As we read the Bible we will be "transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2). We will no longer be thinking like the world but we will have the Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

That is really cool. That is change that I can look forward to. That is change that I can handle. And when it seems like the change that is coming is too much to bear, I know that God's love for me will never change and His plans will always be for my good.

Happy 2nd Birthday

It was 28 years ago today  that two students from San Diego State came to my dorm at UCLA and shared the Gospel with me. Johnny and Steve met me in the stairwell and asked me if I had been reading the Bible. I had, but was not understanding it. 

A couple of months previously I had been invited to an evangelical outreach dinner that was sponsored by a Christian fraternity called Alpha Gamma Omega. Wendi had invited me to it. I can only remember two things about it: David ZagRodny wearing a kilt (it was an international theme) and the speaker presented the Gospel in such a way that I first began to understand that Jesus Christ was important for reasons other than Christmas and Easter. 

From that dinner in October or November, I started reading the Bible but didn't have a clue what it said. I started at the beginning in the book of Genesis. I was doing OK until I got to Chapter 5 when all of the"begetting" takes place. I couldn't see where this was going so I thought I'd switch gears. I looked at the table of contents and saw that the Bible was divided into two parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament. Advertising has taught me that 'new' is always better, plus it's an improvement on the past. So I turned to the first book in the New Testament, Matthew. Matthew starts out with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, starting with Abraham begetting Isaac who begat Jacob who begat... ugh. How could anyone understand this?!

I invited them to my room where they shared God's plan of salvation with me. They showed me verses in the Bible like Romans 3:23 (For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God) and Romans 6:23 (For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord). The key verse for me was 1 John 5:11, 12 "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the Life, he who does not have the Son does not have the Life." I realized that I did not have eternal life and that I was being offered it freely. 

That was 28 years ago today and my life has not been the same. Things don't always go the way I want nor are things always perfect. But I have purpose, direction and know that I have eternal life. This past month I met some people that have been questioning me asking me how I know I'm saved. I have not experienced the "second blessing" as they call it and I think that according to them I'm not really saved (probably a future blog after I give it more thought and study.) However, I can still remember that Monday night on the 4th floor in Dykstra Hall when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I didn't know all of what I was getting into but that's OK. If I knew everything about God, He wouldn't be God, would He?

So it's time to put another candle on my birthday cake - I'm another year older and closer to Jesus.