2nd Chances

Last Saturday, July 16th, I was wrapped in my work at the office when a young family of a different ethnic group & very pregnant interrupted my work to seek assistance - food, clothes, money. Not having any of those available, I gave them directions to where they could find that assistance. Problem was they understood very little English, verbal or written. They asked me to take them, which I refused to do because I was into my own work. As they drove away, God convicted me that I was more concerned for the 'kingdom of me' than I was for His. I suddenly felt like one of the 'motel' owners in Bethlehem turning down Joseph & Mary.

On Sunday, as I preached on being a follower rather than just a fan, God brought this story to mind, so I shared it & closed my message. As we concluded the service, that same couple came walking back into the church. God was giving me a 2nd chance to do the right thing & teach the church about grace. I didn't miss my God-given opportunity, and the church didn't miss theirs to be a blessing as well.

My sin was putting my kingdom ahead of His. Don't do it! Don't put Him to the test of 2nd chances! Love God - love others - live it out, everyday by being a blessing & looking for opportunity to rescue the dying.

PTH (Pass the Hat) - 7/3/11

After being gone for a weeks vacation I came back to a bunch on messages, one pleading for help with her power bill to keep the A/C on. I prayed and asked for guidance because we just did not have the money available to help. As I prayed I sensed God wanted us to help, and Pass the Hat came to mind. But I no longer had her phone number because the number she used to call me on was the hospital phone number where she worked. So, I again turned to God to have her again call me. 30 minutes later, she called, and we met later that same day.

She was trying to 'get on her feet' after leaving an abusive relationship and needed more than $500 to get the power company to keep her power on in her new residence. She had half of it, & the power company was giving her 'grace' for a week to come up with the money. I told her about 'Pass the Hat' and that she was suppose to get it, but it would be Sunday before I would have any money to give her. I encouraged her to find a church to get involved with. We prayed and she left in search for more monies, determined to make a new start.

Tuesday, I called her to arrange giving her the money. It was her 'due date' with the power company. She needed $100. 'Pass the Hat' was $105.

God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

A Little Extra

I(names of givers and recipients will not be shared) was blessed with a "Pass the Hat" opportunity the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A co-worker has been through radiation and chemotherapy...twice.

When she came home the second time and shared the unfortunate news with her family, her husband told her that he was divorcing her. Currentl several months have passes since she finished the secnd round of treatmens, her divorce is final and her fmaily has been turned upside down in every aspect (financially, emotionally, physically, etc). She is now adjusting to being back to work full-time plus overtime (as her body allows, to help with bills) and being a single mom to her two sons (one is living at home going to college, the other is a senior in high school).

When I approached her on Monday, I explained the "Pass the Hat" at South Side and that I would like to 'share this gift and for her to know that Jesus loves her. That's it, plain ans imple."

Needless to say, she started to cry and for me the tears started when I was approaching her, so I began to cry a river whe she said "Thank you." She continued on, "You don't know what this means to me. My oldest son has a part-time job and I had to borrow money from him yesterday to buy groceries for our Thanksgiving meal. He gave me $100. and that's exactly what I spent."

I replied, "As God always does, he has given you a little extra." The total she received was $110. We shared tears and hugs and then returned back to our desks, both having been blesses bigger and better than either of us ever could imagine.

Pass the Hat

Today my son from Independence Mo called & asked me why I wasn't posting any more. He told me that there was a portion of the churches web site, 'Pass the Hat' that took him here to my 'Notions', and when he got here & found nothing, he was quite disappointed. he encouraged me to start setting aside at least 3o minutes a week to post 'Pass the Hat' stories. So here's the 1st one.

Last October I was at a conference and heard about a church doing something similar to our passing of the hat. I felt God nudge me toward instituting this in our church as a way to teach & encourage the church to be the church, be a blessing to others & create an opportunity to share Christ's love with others at the same time.

I came home wondering about it & still praying about it. The next day, as I was passing through the sanctuary, on the front pew hung a old, black cowboy hat I have never seen before. Laughingly I said to God, "OK, since You provided the hat, we'll see where it goes.". That Sunday we began

'passing the hat', and we collected $110 to give away as a blessing to someone in need. I felt God lead me to someone in the church to give it to to pass on to someone else telling them that Jesus loves them , which they did later that week. I set that old, black cowboy hat on a desk in my office & left for home. The next day when I came in, that hat was gone. To this day, no one has fessed up to taking it. It's just gone. I since have gone to using another hat that I found in the ushers closet that no one has claimed. It's still being used used. To date we have given away over $5,000 to 32 families, who have mostly been strangers in need of hearing that Jesus loves them. Knowing, that the one's who have been blessed the most is us, as we get to hear the 'Pass the Hat' stories every week.

So starting this week I will try to post those stories for you to share in our blessings from God. And if by His design you happen to be a recipient some day, know it's because Jesus loves you & wants to bless you with a gift from a church that loves Him.

Pass The Hat

Our church is becoming missional minded. Yes, we support missionaries. Yes, we help those in the congregation who need help. Yes, we support the local food bank. But those things are allocated into our annual church budget. How do we intentionally get past ourselves to see what Christ sees? To discern the needs around us and be willing to be uncomfortable to meet those needs?

One of the ways we learning the answer to these questions is by Passing the Hat. Every Sunday after the tithes and offerings are taken, we pass a hat from pew to pew. People are encouraged to put whatever little bits they can spare into the hat. For some it is the cost of a cup of coffee, for some it is spare change, for some it is a five, a ten, or a twenty. No one is expected to give more than they can afford but all are encouraged to think of those less fortunate than themselves.

At the end of the service, someone is chosen from the congregation to take the money and ask God to reveal who they should give it too. The only requirement to giving the money away is to tell the recipient that Jesus loves them. We will try to accurately record stories from week to week to keep you all informed of how God is using Pass the Hat to help others and to help us learn the joy of giving and living missional minded.

The first week a little over $137.00 was tossed into the hat. A gentleman from the church was randomly picked to give the money away. A big smile crossed his face. He already knew who God wanted him to give the money too. He selected a young couple who were going to have their first baby. The husband had recently lost his job and this gift couldn’t have come at a better time.

God is good. Stay tuned for the next installment of Pass the Hat.

Yeah, I know it's been a while again. I was walking with a friend the other day up my favorite trail & they were talking about their life situations & how God has been at work in their life. The trail can get rather steep, and it was during the steep part my friend began to doubt they could make it to the top without a stop, whether or not they were in shape enough for the climb. I told them, you determine how good of shape you're in by how fast you recover from the exertion. Dawned on me the same is true in our spiritual walk. How good of shape we are in spiritually is determined by how fast we recover from our lapses in sound judgment, otherwise known as sin. Do you wallow around in it, or do you set your heart on getting right with God again so you can continue the climb. That's the mark of a spiritual growth.
PJ

More

Last night we where at Muncher & Randa's picking up Carole's computer, which gave me a chance to play with my grand kids, Braska & Kinlee. Kinlee, who is only 14 months old, came over to me as I sat in the couch & lifting her arms said, "Up." Instead of just lifting her unto my lap, I tossed her into the air & caught her. She loved it & laughed with delight. So I asked her, "More?" Which she quickly responded to with her sign lamguage & the word, "More!" Everytime I tossed her up she would laugh & squeal with delight, and as soon as I would catch her & set on my lap she would sign for & ask for "More." After a while I got tired, so I quit & put her down. Wasn't very long before she was back, lifting up her arms to me & asking for "Up?" And as soon as I picked her up she signed for & asked for "More." Of course I complied.
That's how God wants us to be with Him in life. Coming to Him with outstretched arms wanting "up", and when He stoops to comply, asking for "more". More of His love, His grace, His hope, His peace, & His joy. God loves to make us laugh & squeal with delight; and He loves it even more when we return again & again asking for "more' - MORE of Him.
PJ

Last Sunday was my birthday & almost my whole family was over to help me celebrate it. Xander, my 13 month old granson, who has justed started to walk managed to find his way to the open patio door, which is 2 steps off the ground. Yep, he went for it & landed squarely on his forehead on the cement patio. Immediately all of us adults rushed to his aid & began to swoon over him & doing whatever we could to tend to his what would prove to be a minor injury, feeling absolutely lousy for allowing it to happen & for him being injured.
That's the way God is with us when we take steps we shouldn't & fall down & injure ourselves. He rushes to our side to pick us up, doing all He can to help heal our wounds, feeling lousy that we choose the steps we did, wanting to protect us from all wrong; but knowing because we get to chose, we will continue to fall down & get hurt; which in turn hurts Him as well. Makes you think a bit, doesn't it.
PJ

Together

Last Sunday I dismissed the kids for children's church like I do every week. This week my 4 year old granddaughter & another little girl a year younger than her were walking down the center aisle together, just the two of them. You could tell by the way they walked they were unsure where they were going, but they were going there together. God spoke to me right then. We often don't really know where God is taking us, where we are headed; and in truth it really isn't that important. What is important is that we are going there together, with each other, and most importantly, with Him!
PJ

Toddlers Walking

Our 1 year old grandson is just beginning to walk. A few weeks ago it was a few hesitant steps, & now its 15-20 in a row. I love how he does it. He pulls himself up by something to steady himself, gets his balance, raises his arms apart & above his head, and with a grin that stretches from ear to ear he takes off, one slightly wobbly step after another until he either reaches his destination, or he runs out of gas or gets off balance and flops himself down on his rump. Only to crawl to next the nearest support object & do it again... and again... and again. He's not ready to run yet, but soon. Until he is, it's one baby step at a time.
Our life of faith is to be like that. Too often, we put to much pressure on 'baby' Christian's, or allow them to put to much on themselves. They aren't given the opportunity or time to learn how to 'walk' in Christ. They miss the joy, of simply 'walking', because they are expected or trying to to walk like an 'adult', when their still a 'toddler'. We & they have to realize, their 'walking', is going to be a little wobbly, & from time to time they're going to take some flops on their rumps. But if they will find someone they can trust for support, and they will keep on trying to 'walk', again... & again... & again, eventually they will learn how to run! But until they are ready & steady & they can stand on their own, it's one baby step at a time.
God bless you.
PJ

Hidden Paths

Wow, I see it's been 10 months since I last posted, so I assume it will be a while before anyone looks at these 2 posts I intend to do today.
Next to our house is a state park that has two & quarter mile trail up a rather steep hill that I try to walk as often as possible. The trail winds it way up over some rather rocky terrain, which I like. Many times when I come to this one certain spot in the trail I have been tempted to leave the trail & blaze my way through the brush until I relocate the trail again; but I haven't because you're NOT suppose to leave the trail.
A couple of weeks ago, as I got to that point & once again felt the urge to blaze my own way, I did, I gave in. I climbed up a dry creek bed until I broke into a semi clearing, where I discovered a deer trail, hidden from sight, that led me back to the original trail. It was great! I felt like I had been on some sort of an adventure. But what was even greater is what happened next.
God has a way of speaking to me from time to time when He wants me to learn something & I am in a place spiritually to hear; which I must of been. What I believe I heard God say to me was, in order to really experience this journey in life with Him, one has to get off the well traveled trail & take a step in faith, in order to discover the hidden paths He has prepared for each of us.
I hope from time to time you are discovering yours.
PJ

Witness Post

I know it's been awhile, but I have a couple of God moments I want to share.
On our return from Montana a couple of weeks ago we detoured south to spend a few days with some friends from Elkhart KS. One of the friends we visited, Jay & Sondra, have a dog that is 106 in dog years named Lady. Lady stays very close to Sondra. In fact, if she happens to fall asleep (which is quite often) and Sondra leaves the room, when she awakes she begins to search diligently from room to room until she finds her again, and then she lays back down close to wherever Sondra may be. God wants us to act the same way. Every time we realize that we're not right next to Him, we should search diligently for Him, and not rest until we have gotten back into His Presence.

Here's another God moment. I am walking as often as possible in a park next to our house. At the top of the hill I noticed a sign post a little ways off the trail that reads,'Witness Post - Survey Boundary Marker'. I believe God wants our lives to be witness posts for those without Christ in their lives. Our lives are to be the boundary markers for His righteousness & love. People ought to be able to walk past us and that we stand for something in life greater than ourselves - Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thanks for reading.
PJ

Prayer for Fred

My wife left this morning for Montana. The Dr's there called the family home to be with their dad who has had a history of heart problems, and recently has gotten much worse. Now mind you, this happened 4 years ago, and once everyone got there, her dad decided he would go ahead and live a little longer. Maybe the same thing will happen again, and we'll all get to enjoy Fred's wit and wisdom a while longer. If this is indeed his time to meet Jesus face to face, he is ready, as is the family. But even though all are ready, the sorrow & lost are still there to walk through. So please take a moment and say a prayer for Carole & her family. Thank you.
PJ

The Lost & Found Room

At a recent meeting, held in a church, our ministry team met in a room in the back of the church, with a Lost & Found placard on the door. When I entered the room, I noticed the 4 cement weights with attached ropes setting in the corner. Many thoughts ran through my head, but this is the one I would like to share with you today. Until we discover just how desperately we all need Christ's forgiveness, and what it means to walk through life with Him as our Lord, we all go through this life somewhat lost, looking for answers to life's questions with very little success. And every time we make a wrong choice because of the lies we believe, it begins to feel like those blocks of cement looked. Only instead of setting in the corner, they are fastened to our hearts & souls, weighing us down. What was needed was for us to find Christ. When we do, and we accept His payment for our wrong life choices, that weight is removed and cast aside. For me, that's what that room represented. The Lost & Found room where the weights of life's wrong choices are discarded. I hope you have discarded all of yours. Blessings.
PJ

Chipmunk in the Squirrel Cage

Last week we experienced a cold snap, like 1 degree, that lasted for a couple of days. About 5 days later my wife went over to the churches parsonage which has been vacant for several months to check on things. The ice cascade out of the back door provided her with an initial response that something was wrong, and when she opened the door and heard water running her fear was quickly confirmed. Evidently, a water pipe in the upstairs bathroom ruptured do to the cold, sending water raining down in the basement and through the bathroom wall into the kitchen and dining room area. The basement sump pumps are all that saved it from being worse that it is. As it is the false ceiling in the basement is now all over the floor, the carpet is soaking wet, & the drywall in the downstairs bathroom is no longer dry and rests on top of the sink & stool.
Once I found the water shut off and contacted the insurance company, we started the clean up process. I called a national company that deals with such things and met them at the parsonage the next day. But when I tried to turn up the heat to help dry it out, we discovered that the furnace wasn't working. AH-HA the reason the pipes froze! So I called our furnace guy, who came right over. What he found was a chipmunk, now dead an decaying, stuck between the blower fan (i.e., squirrel cage) and the blower fan housing, effectively locking up the furnace blower so that even though the furnace would come on, it wouldn't heat the house. The rascal had entered through the dryer vent, chewed through the plastic flex hose, found its way into the heater vents to the furnace, chewed through the filter, only to come to his demise when the blower kicked on, I'm sure quite unexpectedly.
OK, that got me thinking about us and God. There are times when we go vacant from God. We get comfortable with our relationship and slowly stop spending time in His Word every day. Or maybe there's that part of our life we withhold from Him because we're not ready to give Him control of it yet. There's several ways I think we go 'vacant' from our relationship with God. Then, in our vacant state, 'trouble' shows up in the most adorable fashion, and appearing quite innocent begins to scamper around in our 'vacancy'. And before you know it, havoc is being reeked in our 'vacant area' at a great personal cost. And instead of being on fire and full of light, we end up the frozen chosen wandering in the dark.
PJ

Popcorn

Everyone in my family loves my popcorn. The other day when I was making it I had these thoughts about popcorn and us.
A kernel starts off hard & rather insignificant, looking like every other kernel of corn in the bag. And basically it could stay like that until it rots.
BUT, when you take that kernel of corn and apply a lot of heat to it, it erupts into a unique and tasty morsel with a purpose. It doesn't look anything like it did before it popped. And you can now do all sorts of delicious things with it. You can enjoy it just as it is, or flavor it with an abundance of toppings and coatings to make it even more enjoyable. You can take a bunch of it and make many various designs and adaptations. (I'm sure there a few thoughts I'm missing so feel free to add them in a response.)
Now, it's not too difficult to figure out the correlation between a kernel of popcorn & us! We all start out basically like everyone else, and unless something special & dramatic happens to us, we end up rather hard of heart until the day we die.
BUT, if we encounter the heat of the Living Lord, which is quite special & dramatic, we erupt into a unique individual with a special purpose. We don't look or act anything like we once did. And once transformed, the Holy Spirit 'flavors' us to God's liking, and shapes us to His design.
I hope you experience the heat of Christ in 2009 and explode into the unique individual God has always intended for you to become, fully flavored by the Holy Spirit.
PJ

Could It Be?

For those don't know and read my blog, our youngest son, His wife and their daughter Shaylin, who's 2 going on 3 have been staying with us to help get them over a rough place financially. That means I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time with my grand daughter. She has even given me her cold this week, which doesn't seem to matter to me in the least.
A phenomenon has taken place in my life as result of their staying with us. I find myself looking for Shay every morning before I go to work. I'll steal a peek towards her room to see if she's up and moving around. I listen for the pitter-patter of her tiny padded feet coming down the hall. I even dally, knowing she will soon wake up, and come to see us off to work with hugs and kisses and whispers of "I wuv you pap-paw." in my ear. Pretty cool stuff, and what life is suppose to be all about.
Then a couple of days ago I began to wonder, 'Could it be God looks for us as we start every day?' Peeks our way every morning to see if we're up yet? Listens for the sounds of rustling & hustling around? Waits for us to come to Him and whisper our words of affection up to Him? Could it be? I know what I think, how about you?
PJ

The Gord

I will probably use the lesson of the gord in a upcoming children's message, but it's pretty good, so I wanted to share it here too. Our church was decorated for the fall with corn and pumpkins and gords. It was really pretty neat. In the basement stairwell was a box of extra gords. One day I noticed one was covered in mold. Concerned it would contaminate the whole box full, I went and picked it out of the box. I was instantly aware of how light it was, like it was hollow. I brought it back to my office & set it on a shelf, figuring there was probably a lesson in it somewhere. The next time I went down to the basement, I began to wonder if the other gords like it were also hollow. I went and found one, and to my surprise it wasn't. That's when I got the lesson. If your life is empty and void of the things of God, especially Christ; it will most likely end up like the mold riddled gord - contaminating all it comes in contact with, dying inside & out! But if your life is full of the things of God, especially Jesus Christ; you'll be healthy inside & out, and a joy to other the other 'gords in the box'
PJ

Why do we test it?

The other day my wife set up 'shop' in our kitchen to cut hair for two of our sons and myself. Our 2 year old grand daughter was there, and was told to stay out of the kitchen because of the hair all over the floor. She so much wanted to go into that kitchen! She'd run right up to the edge of the living room carpet, testing to see what we do. Every time, someone would caution her, and she would stop. It came my turn, and her antics continued. Then, she did something different. She slowly walked up to the edge and just stood there. I told her not to come any further. Then, with the look of defiance on her face, she took one foot and stretching it across the line, touched her big toe on the kitchen floor. Of course, her folks verbally corrected her; but she had done what she had set out to do - she had stepped where she was forbidden to go, and she got away with it!
We probably all have seem this in our lives. And I'm also pretty certain we have all done what she did. But why do we do it? And why do we do it when it comes to God and sin? He warns us not to; but we stretch out and touch our 'toes' where we know we are not to go. And then we wonder why we have problems in life?
PJ

The Shack

A while back a pastor friend of mine recommended the book 'The Shack', by Wm. P. Young to me saying that every pastor in America should read this fictional story about a man's search for truth in his relationship with God. I am almost finished with it, and I can say it is one of the most compelling books I have ever read. It has not only spoke to my heart, but it expresses my heart towards God like no other work of literature I have ever read. Not only do I consider this a 'must read' for every pastor I know, but a must read for everyone I know. Please read this book.
Let me share with you a tiny glimpse of this book. For financial reasons, one of our sons and his wife & 2 year old daughter are currently living with us. This morning as I sat at the breakfast bar eating breakfast and talking with my wife Carole, in the doorway suddenly stood our gran daughter, Shay. Carole opened wide her arms and somewhat loudly proclaimed "Shay!". Shay's face, already in a grin, burst into an all-out smile, and proclaimed Carole's name back to her. Shay then ran into Carole's open arms and was swept off of her feet in an embrace of love. I heard Carole whisper into Shay's tiny ear, "I love you.", and Shay with her head now on Carole's shoulder and her arms wrapped around her neck whispered back, "I wuve you, Carole."
My friends, that is what this life is all about. Now, go and get your hands on The Shack!
PJ