Before you get up in front of your people next Sunday, Mr. Preacher, chew on this...
"How would you communicate this message if your eighteen-year-old son had made up his mind to walk away from everything you have taught him, morally, ethically, and theologically, unless he had a compelling reason not to? What would you say this morning if you knew that was at stake? Because for somebody's son out there this may be his last chance. Now quit worrying about your outline. Go out there and plead your case like your own son's future was at stake."
(Communicating for a Change, by Andy Stanley, p. 98-99)
Friday, September 5, 2008
File it under 'E'...
I have a special file from my office filing cabinet. It’s labeled very simply: Encouragement. In it are words of appreciation that I’ve received from various people over the past twenty years. There are cards in here. Hand-drawn pictures. Notes scribbled on scraps.
If you were to look through my collection, you’d find things from my kids. You’d find thank yous from missionaries. And some of you would find words you wrote years ago.
Why do I hang onto all this stuff? I keep it because there are times when I need a lift. When I’m down, I can open this file and remember that I have helped others. I can read “love notes” from friends and know that I am truly blessed.
I read through the whole file this week. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t depressed in the least. I just started reading and couldn’t stop. Encouragement is kind of nice even if it’s of the antique or recycled variety. I was blessed as I cracked open cards I hadn’t seen in years, flipped through sheets of stationary, read the scribbles of youth group members. I was reminded of the many outpourings of love I’ve experienced over the years. God has been good to me.
There were half a dozen notes from friends and family members sent my way during a particularly difficult time in Indiana. I was being criticized mercilessly by anonymous complainers. The weight of the disapproving messages I was receiving was crushing. And there was nothing I could do about any of them. The events they referred to were past. The fault-finders were given the invisible cloak of complete anonymity. They attacked knowing they would not be held personally accountable for their slander.
What was I to do? Cry is what I did. My heart ached as I rehearsed again and again the cruel words which Hell’s fires burned into my mind. I tried to put out the flames myself. I couldn’t do it.
Enter God’s fire brigade – godly men and women who knew what to say because they’d been through the fire and survived. There was a note from my dad in this file. Another was from Grandma Neifert. My best friend Kevin wrote two pages. Doris, a member of our church, sent a handwritten paragraph or two.
My favorite note by far, though, was penned by a guy named Mike. When Mike, my across the street neighbor, received a copy of the survey that the elders were circulating about me, he wrote to them. Put his name right at the bottom of the page. He wasn’t one to hide behind the curtain of secrecy.
Somehow I ended up with his note. Not sure how. Maybe he made a copy so I’d have it. I don’t recall.
Anyway, here are the words he wrote:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank whoever brought Mike Neifert to the Friends Church. I would like to see Mike remain at the church; he has helped me through a lot. Mike has helped me believe in mankind again. Through his guidance, I am trying to accept the Lord as my savior. I lost faith in mankind a long time ago, and I’m trying to get it restored. I’ve never been a religious person, but Mr. Neifert has helped me to see some good in this world. I did not fill out an evaluation form for Mike’s pastoral care, but if I would have, it would have been rated very high. I only began to attend Friends Church about five weeks ago, but I can tell a difference in my spiritual well being. I hope someday that I am able to help Mike as much as he has helped me. I’ve been lost in a world that needs help very much, and so do I.”
Rereading those kind words touched me this week just as they did years ago when they were so desperately needed. They brought joy to my soul, joy I didn’t even know I needed. But God did. He was gracious enough to supply my need even before I recognized it. Just when I think I know the depths of his goodness, he shows me more.
You remember words of encouragement from your past, don’t you? A teacher spoke kindly to you when you struggled in math urging you not to give up. A boss came to you privately and thanked you for your key contribution to a make-or-break project that made it big. A friend whispered to you over a cup of coffee, “I don’t know how I could’ve made it without you.” A coach gave you an “Atta boy” thump on the back after you scored your first touchdown in junior high.
Those kinds of things stick with you for a lifetime. They lift your spirits even from the distance of a dozen years. Praise remembered is powerful. Encouragement is invigorating, refreshing, healing.
Why not go out and refresh someone today? Encourage a friend who needs a lift. God may use your words, your actions to change a life.
To receive my once or twice weekly message via email, send a blank email to webmessage-subscribe@associate.com. Past messages are available at freegroups.net/groups/webmessage.
If you were to look through my collection, you’d find things from my kids. You’d find thank yous from missionaries. And some of you would find words you wrote years ago.
Why do I hang onto all this stuff? I keep it because there are times when I need a lift. When I’m down, I can open this file and remember that I have helped others. I can read “love notes” from friends and know that I am truly blessed.
I read through the whole file this week. I’m not sure why. I wasn’t depressed in the least. I just started reading and couldn’t stop. Encouragement is kind of nice even if it’s of the antique or recycled variety. I was blessed as I cracked open cards I hadn’t seen in years, flipped through sheets of stationary, read the scribbles of youth group members. I was reminded of the many outpourings of love I’ve experienced over the years. God has been good to me.
There were half a dozen notes from friends and family members sent my way during a particularly difficult time in Indiana. I was being criticized mercilessly by anonymous complainers. The weight of the disapproving messages I was receiving was crushing. And there was nothing I could do about any of them. The events they referred to were past. The fault-finders were given the invisible cloak of complete anonymity. They attacked knowing they would not be held personally accountable for their slander.
What was I to do? Cry is what I did. My heart ached as I rehearsed again and again the cruel words which Hell’s fires burned into my mind. I tried to put out the flames myself. I couldn’t do it.
Enter God’s fire brigade – godly men and women who knew what to say because they’d been through the fire and survived. There was a note from my dad in this file. Another was from Grandma Neifert. My best friend Kevin wrote two pages. Doris, a member of our church, sent a handwritten paragraph or two.
My favorite note by far, though, was penned by a guy named Mike. When Mike, my across the street neighbor, received a copy of the survey that the elders were circulating about me, he wrote to them. Put his name right at the bottom of the page. He wasn’t one to hide behind the curtain of secrecy.
Somehow I ended up with his note. Not sure how. Maybe he made a copy so I’d have it. I don’t recall.
Anyway, here are the words he wrote:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank whoever brought Mike Neifert to the Friends Church. I would like to see Mike remain at the church; he has helped me through a lot. Mike has helped me believe in mankind again. Through his guidance, I am trying to accept the Lord as my savior. I lost faith in mankind a long time ago, and I’m trying to get it restored. I’ve never been a religious person, but Mr. Neifert has helped me to see some good in this world. I did not fill out an evaluation form for Mike’s pastoral care, but if I would have, it would have been rated very high. I only began to attend Friends Church about five weeks ago, but I can tell a difference in my spiritual well being. I hope someday that I am able to help Mike as much as he has helped me. I’ve been lost in a world that needs help very much, and so do I.”
Rereading those kind words touched me this week just as they did years ago when they were so desperately needed. They brought joy to my soul, joy I didn’t even know I needed. But God did. He was gracious enough to supply my need even before I recognized it. Just when I think I know the depths of his goodness, he shows me more.
You remember words of encouragement from your past, don’t you? A teacher spoke kindly to you when you struggled in math urging you not to give up. A boss came to you privately and thanked you for your key contribution to a make-or-break project that made it big. A friend whispered to you over a cup of coffee, “I don’t know how I could’ve made it without you.” A coach gave you an “Atta boy” thump on the back after you scored your first touchdown in junior high.
Those kinds of things stick with you for a lifetime. They lift your spirits even from the distance of a dozen years. Praise remembered is powerful. Encouragement is invigorating, refreshing, healing.
Why not go out and refresh someone today? Encourage a friend who needs a lift. God may use your words, your actions to change a life.
To receive my once or twice weekly message via email, send a blank email to webmessage-subscribe@associate.com. Past messages are available at freegroups.net/groups/webmessage.
'The Present'?
A bishop's assistant sent me an email yesterday. In it was a quick note about this amazing book, The Present, full of truth that "will turn this world upside down or right side up" if everyone reads it. A link to the book, written as a contest entry, was provided. This bishop's assistant also suggested pages to read if I wanted to get the gist of the ultimate truth presented. ("Be sure to see the foreword, page 6, 20, 53, 61, 355, the end of the book starting at page 433 and the comments people are making about it. It helps to read the comments first.")
I don't know what possessed me to actually follow through and read the suggested pages, nor do I know why I spent 15 minutes or so reading the comments, all of which were glowing in their reviews of this poorly-written, poorly-reasoned fiasco.
If I understand Michael the author's premise, he is suggesting that the devil mentioned in the Bible is our mind, not a separate created being bent on evil. Our mind is what deceives us and if we can just get our mind straightened out, we'll be saved. The 'devil' will become the 'angel of light' he/it was created to be. Michael suggests that we couldn't know the truth, the real truth, until now. Science has helped us to understand the truth that will set us free.
Unbelievably, this book features prominently (on page 82) photos of hell. The place of eternal torture is evidently seven miles below the ocean's surface. It's where we'll go if we refuse the truth. We'll drop down the evolutionary ladder and become one of the lowest life forms. If we don't get it right, we'll become non-human and suffer as something else for eternity.
Do I need to go on? Michael does...for an unbelievably painful 438 pages. That's a lot of baloney. I do not, as my bishop's assistant friend did, urge you to read any part of this nutty book. Not even sure why I'm giving it the time of day on my blog. It's false silliness.
Enough said.
I don't know what possessed me to actually follow through and read the suggested pages, nor do I know why I spent 15 minutes or so reading the comments, all of which were glowing in their reviews of this poorly-written, poorly-reasoned fiasco.
If I understand Michael the author's premise, he is suggesting that the devil mentioned in the Bible is our mind, not a separate created being bent on evil. Our mind is what deceives us and if we can just get our mind straightened out, we'll be saved. The 'devil' will become the 'angel of light' he/it was created to be. Michael suggests that we couldn't know the truth, the real truth, until now. Science has helped us to understand the truth that will set us free.
Unbelievably, this book features prominently (on page 82) photos of hell. The place of eternal torture is evidently seven miles below the ocean's surface. It's where we'll go if we refuse the truth. We'll drop down the evolutionary ladder and become one of the lowest life forms. If we don't get it right, we'll become non-human and suffer as something else for eternity.
Do I need to go on? Michael does...for an unbelievably painful 438 pages. That's a lot of baloney. I do not, as my bishop's assistant friend did, urge you to read any part of this nutty book. Not even sure why I'm giving it the time of day on my blog. It's false silliness.
Enough said.
Step back from 'The Shack'!
Here's a not-so-positive review of the book that's the "new" Pilgrim's Progress...My cousin recommended this book to me. The longer I read, the more frustrated I became. As the plot unfolded, I thought perhaps this was going to be a book dealing with the age old question; "Why do bad things happen to good people?" However, the longer I read the more I understood this book was about the character of God, who He is, and our relationship with Him.
I know this book is a work of fiction, but often people get their truths from fiction, and it could confuse some who are "babes" in the faith.
One of the first falacies that made me want to jump off my seat was when God is first introduced as a woman or rather 2 women, because God is "neither male nor female". In the Bible, the inspired Word of God, God never once refers to himself as a female. He has always revealed Himself to us as a male. God does not have feminine characteristics, women (and men) have Godly characteristics. We are created in His image, not the other way around.
The author believes God loves everyone, that we are all his children. The truth is that while we are all God's creation, we are not all his children. John 1:12 states, "...all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the RIGHT to BECOME children of God."
This book is very new age in it's thinking. Justice is unnecessary and barbaric. Satan is not mentioned. The closest he gets to mentioning Satan is some strange reference to the "matrix" and it is implied that few if any go to hell, because God just doesn't have the heart to send anyone there.
The virgin birth is not mentioned; Jesus is limited in being fully human, and while he does mention he is also fully God, he renders Him impotent of his Godly powers and claims Jesus can only do miracles because of God (the father?) working in Him and through him - reminiscent of Luke Skywalker and the force.
He states that the entire trinity was crucified with Jesus, that Jesus only felt abandoned. We know this isn't true. Jesus cries out on the cross, "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46) Jesus had to pay the FULL penalty for our sins, part of that penalty was separation from God -experiencing hell.
The author obviously has a problem with authority, religion, responsibility and law. In fact he states that in Jesus we are not under the law, everything is lawful. It is true that the law isn't going to save us, good works are like filthy rags, unable to cleanse us of sin. However, obedience to the law is evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Much as an apple tree produces apples, the Christian life produces good works.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? NO!
The final straw for me was when the author finally comes out and says it, you don't have to be a Christian to be saved, it's just the "best" way. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life, NO one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6)
There is SO much more wrong with the book, I just don't have the space to cover it all.
- Guest Blogger, Verla (original post on Amazon.com)
(For another review, visit by brother's Nufey blog.)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Great pain...
It is a well-known fact that Kansas is a windy state. There aren't many trees or buildings or what have you to stop the rushing of air o'er the earth's surface here, so it is, most generally, blustery. A breezy day holds sustained winds of 5 to 10mph. Today was more than breezy! I took off for my noontime ride and found myself struggling to creep along at much more than a snail's pace. There were times, riding up an incline into a strong north headwind that I was under 12mph. Argh! The pain was great! I ended the outward leg of my journey with an 13.8mph average. Slooooow.
Great pain...great gain! With the wind at my back, I sailed home. I quickly reached cruising speed and in no time at all my average had climbed up over 17mph. I decided to push harder to see just how much I could elevate my overall speed. I pulled up to my garage, clamped down on the brakes and looked at my cyclocomputer. 17.8mph! I gained 4mph in just 7.5 miles! That is, if my memory serves me, the greatest gain I've ever seen on a single ride.
Can't wait to get out and see what tomorrow will blow up.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Oh, the difference a day can make...
I love biking. I think I've mentioned that before. I love biking. There I did it again. I love riding swiftly along the highway, out distancing all the cares of the day. I forget I have troubles while pushing (and pulling) the pedals of my Trek.
Yesterday was a day to die for. I rode out into a mildly strong headwind - 7.5 miles straight north - eking out a pitiful 15.2mph average. But when I turned it was glorious. I flew over the bumps Kansans call hills. My wind-assisted return took considerably less time than my trip out. I ended with an average 3mph higher - 18.2mph. An incredible gain if I do say so myself.
Today was another story. It was, first of all, much windier. It was also much cooler. While I struggled to keep the sweat out of my eyes in yesterday's 80+ heat, I had to don my cold weather gear this afternoon. In tights and a jacket, 59 degrees was just barely bearable. Then it started raining. Gustav's eye is just to the east of Kansas and it's long tentacles were reaching back into the state. Riding in a hurricane (or former hurricane) is not fun. The wet you get is a cold wet. I was never so happy to pull into my garage and never as pleased as I was with my otherwise unremarkable 16.2mph average.
Tomorrow's another day. It's supposed to get up to 80. We'll see.
Yesterday was a day to die for. I rode out into a mildly strong headwind - 7.5 miles straight north - eking out a pitiful 15.2mph average. But when I turned it was glorious. I flew over the bumps Kansans call hills. My wind-assisted return took considerably less time than my trip out. I ended with an average 3mph higher - 18.2mph. An incredible gain if I do say so myself.
Today was another story. It was, first of all, much windier. It was also much cooler. While I struggled to keep the sweat out of my eyes in yesterday's 80+ heat, I had to don my cold weather gear this afternoon. In tights and a jacket, 59 degrees was just barely bearable. Then it started raining. Gustav's eye is just to the east of Kansas and it's long tentacles were reaching back into the state. Riding in a hurricane (or former hurricane) is not fun. The wet you get is a cold wet. I was never so happy to pull into my garage and never as pleased as I was with my otherwise unremarkable 16.2mph average.
Tomorrow's another day. It's supposed to get up to 80. We'll see.
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