Calling for Prayer

In real life, I am part of an outreach ministry called Kairos. We do evangelical work in maximum security prisons, trying to carry the message of the love of Christ in some of the darkest, most desperate places anywhere in the world.

My team and I will be spending 4 days at the Eastham Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; this will be the teams 20th visit there, and my 3rd.

If this is at all attractive to you, and you would like to help, there is a very simple way for you to become personally involved, and it won't cost a thing.

One of the ways we share the love of Christ with these men is to make them aware that other people care for them, and are praying for them. So we collect the names of people who are willing to commit to be in prayer for the span of 4 days, Nov 11-14, 2010. You will be praying that God will use our ministry to change the lives of the 42 men who participate in this weekend. You will never know their names, or meet them in person, but you can make a tremendous difference to them, for all eternity.

If you want to be a part of this, comment with your first name, last initial, and the city and country you live in, and I will include you on our prayer chain. Every name is written on a strip of paper, which are then linked together to form a chain, which we bring in and drape around the meeting room, to symbolize the cloud of prayer which covers the whole weekend. (We have had prayer chains over 300 feet long at these weekends!) The men are visibly moved at this tangible outpouring of Christian love, and often are brought to tears.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you are moved to respond and participate. God bless each and everyone of you.

Let's call this one Ebenezer...

There are times when I think God must just sigh deeply at the foolishness of His creatures, or at least at mine own. I have started a new blog, and in doing so, I was moved to look back over some of what I had written here. The last posting in particular struck me, since it was there I was speaking of renewed commitments to post consistently, and to be more diligent in my efforts; then, a year and a half goes by...and I haven't written a thing!

Ok, so I'm not even going to make excuses or justify anything. I could have done better, I didn't, and I ask forgiveness for that. Now, I will move on and try to improve. Can you move on with me? Let's hope so.

The new blog grows out of a small-group bible study I am a part of, comprised mostly of fellow choir members at my church, with a few others who come occasionally. My friend Mary, who is hosting this group at her home, approached me and said that she felt moved by God to invite others to join her in study and fellowship, but that she was supposed to ask me to lead the group. Many people have told me that I seem to have a particular gift for teaching, a certain ability to explain and expound which is easy to receive. For the longest time I rejected the idea, mostly out of fear of the accountability it would require. (It has taken me some time to be honest enough to say that out loud.) But, after the success I had spending a year leading a group of high-school age students through the Book of Revelation, and filling in from time to time as a substitute Sunday school teacher, I have had to admit that I am a good teacher, and I enjoy it too. So, after some prayerful consideration, I agreed to lead the group. I asked her what she wanted me to teach on, and of course she batted that right back at me with, "Oh, whatever you want to teach is fine!"

Have you ever noticed that Satan likes to hide land mines in the middle of the good works that we do? Putting this group in my hands could turn into an ego-fest very quickly, with me teaching my opinions instead of God's Word; I see enough of that in the world as it is, without adding to it. So, I have to tread carefully, which is a good thing, as it makes me deliberate in my preparation and study time. I probably spend more time reading my bible now than I would otherwise, and I definitely spend more time thinking about what I'm reading. So I have to recognize God's blessings in being faithful and responsive to what He has called me to do.

I am teaching on the writings of the Apostle Paul, whose work I greatly admire. He was an amazing writer and thinker, and God made great and mighty use of this man and the abilities he had been gifted with. I only hope that perhaps God is using me in some similar way to reach the hearts of those who may not know Him, or not deeply enough. I will do my best to remain faithful, and then stand back and watch God receive the glory for what ever comes of it.

I do hope to be more consistent in posting both here and in the new blog, and I covet your prayers, your comments, and your encouragement. I post this as my Ebenezer: this far by God's grace I have come, but I ain't stopping yet!

Back to the business at hand!

Hi everyone. My, but it's been a long while since I've posted anything. The hurricane threw us off track for a while; it was three weeks until we got our power back, and another week to get the Internet connection working again. (OK, but that was over a month ago, where have you been since then?)

Well, life has a way of just moving on, doesn't it? My job was not affected, my church survived remarkably well, my home came through unharmed. (praises to God for all this!) But much other stuff was going on. Right around Labor Day, my dad was hospitalized with a stroke, and he is still recovering, more from the damage to his self-image than anything else. My grandmother, who is in late-stage Alzheimer's, had another accident at home, leading to another hospitalization, and the family's decision to commit her to a nursing home for around-the-clock care, which is simply beyond our ability to provide. This in turn required the family to hire an attorney to "tidy up" Grandma's estate, and assist with the application for Medicaid assistance to pay for nursing home care. The family has designated me as liaison to the attorney and financial planner, and so I have spent literally weeks digging, sorting, and emailing bank info, insurance, deeds, etc. etc. etc. (It is more than a little disturbing, even somewhat morbid, to be going through the personal papers and affects of a person who is not yet deceased.)

All of this has had an affect on me which I had not anticipated, nor even considered, but which I am profoundly grateful for...I find myself turning toward the Lord more and more, praying with greater consistency, meditating on His great providence in how things are working out, marveling at the immeasurable grace He bestows upon us (and feeling saddened at how often that grace goes by unnoticed and unremarked on, even by me.) I have a renewed sense of the urgency of communicating His glory to as many people as I can, with every means at my disposal: my service at the local church (driving the van to pick up kids for church, helping to lead worship in the choir, leading a small-group study in my home); openly sharing my faith with people I work with, as the chance arises (and it arises a lot, if my eyes are open to it!); and stepping out on faith to enroll in college-level bible study courses at a local college , which offers tuition-free classes in a distance-learning setting, which I can easily fit my schedule around. (Yes that wording is deliberate..I am beginning to re-evaluate how I set my priorities in life.)

I have written before about the blessings of being used by God to do His work...the key to receiving those blessings is to stop delaying and get on with it! So, with fresh determination I set out to do just that...and I ask for your prayers, that I may be faithful in my commitment, and truly be useful and used according to the purpose He has for me. I will continue to post updates, and I ask that you, Gentle Readers, would help keep me accountable, and inquire about my progress if too much time goes by without any news. I will be blessed by your concern and your support.

Thanks to all, and may God's grace cover you in all you do.

Thoughts on the Storm (Here It Comes!)

Ok, here we are, about eight hours until landfall, and all the preparation that is going to be done, is done. I have braved the fierce grocery store dragons, stocked up as well as possible given my cash supply and the selection remaining. I went to my dad's this morning and helped him secure his property (at least to his satisfaction; he simply would not allow me to do all that I thought should be done. His statements that "We didn't take all these precautions before and it all worked out fine!" raise hackles on my neck, but I just don't have the stamina to argue with him.)

Our windows are boarded up, the dogs have been walked to relieve their anxiety, and now we just watch and wait. The outer rain bands are beginning to come ashore; parts of Galveston Island are already under water. Here in my neighborhood, an eerie quiet has descended. I helped a couple of neighbors finish their prep, but mostly everyone has gone inside, to either watch the storm approach on TV (our local news channels went to 24-hour coverage yesterday), or to avoid all thoughts of the weather, by any means necessary (the video stores are as out-of-stock as the grocery stores and gas stations).

My home is about 65 miles inland, so the tropical-storm-force winds are just beginning to reach us now. It's strange to see winds coming in from the north-east, when I know the ocean is south-east of here, but we are on the "dirty side" of the eye, and this is how it will be until the storm passes us. I will try to keep updates coming is, as log as the lights stay on. When I have a chance to collect my thoughts, there will probably be more philosophy than reporting, but I haven't reached that point yet.

Please, keep us and the city, and the state of Texas at large in your prayers, we definitely need them. More later!!

Thoughts on the Storm (Prelude)

Well, life here in Houston, TX is about to get...interesting, to use the word in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse. ("May your life always be interesting." Myself, I prefer a little boredom!) As I write this, we are about 36 hours from landfall of Hurricane Ike, and the mood varies from panic to oblivion, depending on who you speak to. I fall somewhere toward the calmer end of the spectrum, but it is fascinating to observe this enormous variation in attitudes.

One part of my life is my profession; I am a construction foreman for a large mechanical contracting company, and we install HVAC and plumbing in new buildings. My current project is a 17-story office building, which is up to the eighth floor so far. My crew and I spent the morning tying down and securing tools, equipment, and about 30,000 lbs of sheetmetal, in the hope that when we return Monday we don't find it scattered across most of the Katy Freeway frontage road. I will be satisfied if the two 150-ft tall tower cranes are still standing after the weekend. The superintendant closed down the site for the weekend, so all the workers could attend to their own homes and families. The nature of construction management is to embrace the worst-case scenario, so as to avoid as muck risk as possible, and minimize the impact of what cannot be avoided; we have to think, "How bad can it get, and what can we do about it before it gets that way?"

Another segment of my life is my church. We had an abbreviated choir practice last night, followed by an impromptu deacon's meeting with the pastor. (I am not a deacon, but I serve as much as I can, and I am often priviledged to be included in planning and decision-making. I do love the small-church family atmosphere!) Our fellowship hall was constructed in the fifties, and was built to a standard unmatched by most contemporary structures, so we have a standing plan to convert to shelter status if the need arises. We keep food, bedding, essential medicines, and other basic neccessities available, and have a co-ordinated team on standby, to open the building, bring people in, feed them, and comfort them. We have contacted our entire congregation, informed them, and we will stay in touch with each other to assist in any way possible. We also make our facilities available to the community, and more than once have had twenty families living there for a week at a time. I daily praise and thank God for bringing me to such a loving and caring church, where I have the chance to contribute and serve in a meaningful way, and display the love of Christ for each other, and for"strangers" as well.

My home was built just after WWII, and in the twenty years I have lived here, we have never flooded. Even during Tropical Storm Allison, when the vast majority of Houston took over 20" of rain in 24 hours, water never came closer than 50 feet to the house. (We were in fact an island, because for half a mile or more in all directions, strees were impassable, and stayed that way for three days. My neighbors acrss the street watched helplessly as water climbed over their thresholds, sometimes rising two or three feet inside their homes.) I will be boarding up windows tonight and tomorrow, and after that we will just sit, watch, wait, and pray.

My dad is probably my greatest concern; he is an old-school fatalist, one of those "It doesn't matter what you do; either the storm passes you by, or destroys everything, so it does no good to prepare." kind of people. He has no intention of leaving, which is ok, I guess, since there isn't really anywhere for him to go. He will not come to my house, because he "has" to stay and watch over his house and his cat. I may be able to convince him to cover the windows and clear the stuff from the yard, but probably only if I do it myself over his objections. Most likely I will spend more time getting him ready than anything else, but that's ok, too; I feel it's my turn to care for him, to "repay" the years he spent caring for me when I was little. Isn't that the way it should be?

Well, there is more to write, but the lines at the stores are long and getting longer, and much remains to be done. I will post more as the weekend progresses, for as long as the power stays on, and then after it comes back. Keep us in prayer, and know that I love you for doing it. Later!!

Blogs are made for posting!

OK, it's been a hundred forevers since I posted anything, and so it's high time to make up for the lack. I kind of hoped that my regular postings would be of a devotional, inspirational nature, but the overachiever in me rose up and thwacked that idea in the head: " What inane tripe is this you're writing? This isn't blog material!" So, nothing got written. Well, begone with that! If you read my very first post, I stated then that my blog would be a sounding board/thinking space/release valve, and I got stuff! As the old proverb goes, "Sit down, shut up, and hang on!" (My, but is't that rude?)

The last couple of weeks have been just chock-full of activity and new things. Foremost on my mind is my dad. He's going on seventy, and stubborn as they come about taking care of himself. I talk to him on the phone every day, because he is the primary caregiver for his mother, my grandma, who is 91 and in late-stage Alzheimer's. She is still somewhat functional, but can no longer tend to her needs (meds, meals, remembering to bathe, etc.). Dad and I moved in with her when my grandpa passed away, back in 1979, and I left home from there for college, marriage, and my adult life. Dad stayed on, and over the years he has been there for all seasons.

Now, things are changing. About two weeks ago, I noticed he didn't sound right on the phone. He told me it was just a cold, and not to worry about it. I fianlly got over for a visit that weekend, and saw right away it was more than a cold. The left side of his face was hanging slack, he was drooling on that side, his memory was a little wonky, his speech was slurred if he didn't try real hard...all the classic stroke symptoms. He flatly refused to go to the ER, but finally I convinced him to see a doctor on the following Monday. Sher took one look, sent him to the hospital, and confirmed that he had in fact had a small stroke. They also found signs of one medium and several smaller events over the last two years which he had ignored. Add in chronic hypertension, bp 220/155 (which he has known about but refused to treat), and diabetes, blood sugar at 350 (ditto), and he was a pretty sick man. They kept him a week, getting him back into the realm of normal readings, and trying to convince him that all of this is manageable (and that management is necessary!) His standard answer is that our lives are ultimately in God's hands, and we go when He says so. God bless the cardiologist who looked him straight in the eye and said, "You are correct, but what are you going to tell God when He asks you why you mistreated this poor body He gave you while you were here? Don't you love Him enough to look after yourself?" (I have been trying to make this point with him for years, but I'm just his kid, what do I know?) The doctor also knocked the props out from under him when he said, "You know, the kind of strokes you've been having don't kill; they just leave you helpless, peeing in your pants while others feed you and clean you up. Is that the condition you want to be in when you finally do leave this life? How is that at all fair to the people here who love you?" (Graphic, but most effective!)

So, now Dad is on an adventure, learning how to live all over again. And I'm on it with him, coaching, supporting, explaining...It's not unlike taking care of kids again, except this one is independant and willful and needy and...wait, where's the "except"?

There's more to say, but I'm gonna leave it there for now. I need a chance to review my thoughts, and organize them into something that actually says what I'm trying to say. Stay tuned!

Where is He in YOUR heart?

I lead a small group of high-school students in a weekly home bible study, and we've been going verse-by-verse through the Book of Revelation. This week, in preparation to discuss Jesus' letter to the church at Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7), I came across a little "self-check" about whether Jesus is the first love in your heart. I was very convicted by this, because it reminded me of how much growing in the Lord I still have to do. I thought I would post it here, in hopes that you might also see yourself in it, and move Jesus to His rightful place in your life. I recognized far too much of myself in the second list than the first, (Praise God, much less than when I first began walking with Him!) and that recognition brought me to confront these obstacles to my closer walk with Him. I pray that each of you who sees a glimmer of yourself here would feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart as He guides you to a better and closer relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May His blessings be with you all. Amen.

If Jesus is First in Your Heart:

1. You love to pray. Daily ( or hourly, or continual) prayer is the privilege of believers, who have an opportunity to converse one-on-one with their God, and deepen their relationship with Him. Your prayers revolve around thanking Him, blessing Him, and just spending time talking with Him.
   
2. You love to praise God; you try to get to church early so you won't miss the first song. You sing and praise honestly and with joy, and carry that song of praise with you through the day and through the week.
3. You love to read and study your bible, to get into God's Word and get His Word into you. A day without at least some bible reading leaves you feeling the void and off-balance.
4. You find deep personal satisfaction in being obedient. If you read something in Scripture or hear a teaching that points out an area of sin in your life, you immediately feel convicted, repent, and pray to God for forgiveness, and for His strength to overcome this difficulty.
5. You go through the ups and downs of life in contentment: "OK, God, I just lost my job, but I know You have a plan for me, and everything will be fine, I trust in You." You aren't oblivious or foolishly careless, but you know there is no need to worry or panic, because He is in control. Besides, (more to the point), you have already been saved from eternal separation and torment, and promised everlasting life in the Kingdom, so anything else good that comes along is just gravy, right?
6. You have a fire in your heart to tell others about Jesus. We call this evangelism, but all it really is is the simple inability to talk for very long without talking about the One you love. (Anyone who has ever found themselves going on and on about a spouse/girlfriend/etc. will understand what I mean!) You have a relationship that far outweighs in significance anything else you have ever known, and so you cannot resist wanting others to know all about Him.

If Jesus is NOT First in You Heart:

1. Prayer is not a big priority for you. In fact, you rarely pray at all; not even the "SOS" prayers which many people send up from time to time, because you are SO unused to talking with God, you're not really sure He's even listening.
2. Praise just doesn't "do it" for you: the songs are boring or unfamiliar; you only sing because people will look at you if you don't; sometimes you deliberately arrive late to avoid the music and "get to the important part ." Besides, God knows you love Him. He doesn't really want to hear you singing flat and off-key, does He?
3. You don't read your bible every day; in fact, you're not really sure exactly where it is right now, are you? And when you find it, it's got a pretty good coat of dust on it. Well, as long as you have a bible when you need one (!?!), you're ok, aren't you?
4. Being obedient isn't your way of doing things, especially since you aren't reading enough to know what God expects of you in the first place. Your plan is basically to get away with everything you can (and still call yourself a "Christian"), and depend on God's grace and forgiveness to make it all right in the end.
5. There is very little contentment in your life. You zoom along on life's roller coaster, worrying about how you're going to make it, blaming God for letting you get into this mess (again!), and complaining about the unfairness of it all. You can't remember the last time you were really happy.
6. You just aren't comfortable talking to people about Jesus. I mean, sure, you know you're supposed to "make disciples of all the nations", but...the moment is never right...or you hate to argue with people...or you don't know where to start...and besides, other people are much better at that sort of thing, so let them do it; God will understand, won't He? Instead of a fire in your heart, there's a tiny, flickering flame, and you're afraid if you stir things up too much, it might get blown out.