Interview with a Former World Racer

I have a good friend named Caleb Lorenson.  In the forge of affliction our friendship was created, but that is another story.  Maybe we will get back to that some other time.  Let's wrap the part about Caleb up by saying that I trust Caleb with my life.  Enough about that for now.

Caleb has a friend named Samara, and she is a missionary type, like many of us are.  Caleb and I were talking on the phone a few weeks ago, talking about a trip he had recently returned from to Thailand.  We talked for quite a while, and in the conversation he reminded me about Samara, and that she was back from the race.  I told him I really wanted to talk to her about it, because of my familiarity with The World Race.  It is something of an emerging expression of short-term missions in my mind, and I have talked with the founder, the director, and some of the staff in person in recent years to try to understand what they are doing and why it is experiencing such growth.  If Samara was willing to talk with me, in some ways it would make my exposure more complete.  I was hoping to get something deeper than the marketing view.  I did. Continue reading “Interview with a Former World Racer”

Proclaiming the Name

Isaiah 52:4 – 6

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria. What is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long. But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.”

I see something in this verse this morning.  The name of God is blasphemed when we are ruled by other lords, enslaved by other masters.  It is because His lordship, His leadership produces His likeness in us and makes us a reflection of Him.  When we are ruled by other influences, motivations, when other things animate our lives, we are reflecting their “glory”, or our lives are a testimony to these other things. Continue reading “Proclaiming the Name”

Change

change from earthen vessels

We are being invited into something new in God. It doesn’t look much like what is, and it doesn’t look much like what has come before. There are few who see it, and fewer who enter, tho it is being felt and is stirring in the hearts of many. More would enter, but forerunners are needed to make the way for others to come. Will you be one of those?

I am having the sense that this is bigger than i thought early on, or maybe just how I have thought about it lately. There seems to be a fair amount of turbulence, resistance, that is attempting to prevent access to the promise of change, this groaning promise of something new. How can we be sure that our pursuit will bring us to where we are hoping to go, when the trail is not well marked, there are many detractors, and others prominent who market false hope?

Luke 18:25 In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”

Is it that we have to take off everything that we have put on, accumulated?

As we enter the Kingdom more and more, we lose affection for and entanglement with the things of this life. The verse above reveals the idea that abundance creates many entanglements. Whatever our entanglements, their value can not be compared to the value of His Kingdom, tho it takes the eye of faith to see it as it is.

Is the threat of losing what we accumulated worth the promise of something transcendent, but elusive? People are making this decision every day. Make it well today.

Preparation

trainingThe time between when we sense or know something and when it takes place is given to us for preparation.  If we do not use this time for it's intended purpose, we will likely not benefit from the foreknowledge.

I often observe people wasting the time that is available for preparation. The things that we are called to do, our destinies, require preparation. If we know that God has called us to something, maybe something big or something far reaching, we have a responsibility to begin to prepare for it, as soon as we know.  Often it seems the bigger and more far-reaching our vision is, the longer and more difficult the preparation time can be.  Another fact that emphasizes our need for focused preparation. Continue reading “Preparation”