It’s a stormy day.  Your joints hurt.  You’re in a bad mood.  Something has gone rotten in the back of the refrigerator and you can’t find it.  The cat just peed in your shoe.  Then you look up and there’s God.  You have one question to ask Him.  What is it?

It’s your last day.  But it’s not yet the end of your last day.  You look up and there’s God.  You have one question to ask Him.  What is it?

Does perspective change your question?

If you want, write your answers in the comments section.  Let’s see what comes from interaction around these answers.

Having listened intently to the instructions, I made myself ready for the big day.  We drove a couple of hours to river.  My friend donned all the appropriate gear and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw my outfit.  I had duct taped heavy-duty garbage bags over my tennis shoes and up my legs to keep me from getting soaking wet.  I wore a pink baseball cap and a lightweight powder blue windbreaker which bulged on one side where I’d shoved in a can of diet soda.  I saw no reason for the sneers directed at me by the fishing hot shots.   After all, my rod, reel and tackle were standard issue and suitable for the excursion.  As long as I didn’t get soaking wet, why should I have to look like every other fisherman on the river?

I sat back and watched the activity for a while to get the feel of the place and the people.   Casting into the river when people were standing almost shoulder to shoulder along the bank intimidated me.  Finally, I decided to wade into the water.

A young man had vacated a spot which gave me access to the river’s edge.  In the excitement of the moment, I forgot to yell out that I was casting my line.  I got a dirty look and word from a lady behind me who almost got hooked when I launched my line toward the water.  I apologized and then turned my attention back to fishing.

I cast and reeled like the rest of them, and on my second or third try my hook got stuck on something underwater.  I pulled the line but it didn’t move.

“I think I snagged my line,” I said to my friend who was standing close to me.  “What should I do?”

“Cut the line.”

I didn’t want to cut the line.  The weights and hooks were expensive.  However, I couldn’t stand there looking at my line all day, so I started to put my pole down so I could get my knife.

The pole moved.  As I watched my line, it was moving upstream.  Snags don’t move upstream.

“I’ve got a fish!”  I said a little breathlessly.

My friend said, “Oh, you do not.  You can’t have a fish this quick.”

The line continued to move upstream as all the training my friend had given me left my brain.

“There is a fish on my line.  What do I do?”

By this time the people around me were backing away leaving space on all sides of me.  Even if I didn’t know protocol, they did.  At no time did I ever say “Fish on!” nor did I tell anyone which way I was going to move.  All I knew was that somehow there was a fish on the end of my line that I didn’t want to lose.

Oh, it was a battle.  I reeled and tugged and reeled more.  I breathed hard and sometimes not at all.  I dug the butt of my fishing rod into my thigh so deep that I was bruised for weeks.  But finally I got that fish in.

It was a 22 pound salmon, a slimy beauty.  My friend reached down to unhook the fish and found that the hook was just barely attached to its lower lip.

One lady came up to me afterward and asked, “How long have you been salmon fishing?”  When I told her this was my first day, she shook her head and said, “My son has been trying to catch one of those for years.”  She pointed to her son, and he was the young man who had vacated the river bank where I ended up standing.

The moral of this story:  Fishing is not a spectator sport.

Neither is fishing for souls.

I’m about to get personal.

Our pastor preaches and teaches God’s Word.  He does so “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.” (Ephesians 4:12)  God did not intend for the pastor to be the only one with a fishing pole.  His preaching and teaching is about equipping each of us to hold and use our own fishing poles, to fish in the streams, rivers and lakes around our community.  We have a lot of lost people in our area and he alone cannot reach all of them.  His responsibility is to teach each of us how to reach those within our sphere of influence.

“But I’m not gifted as an evangelist.”  Oh really?  Let’s see what the Bible says about that.  “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)  Jesus was talking to the eleven after His resurrection.  He didn’t point to just a couple of them who were great speakers or comfortable around others.  He spoke to each of them and told them to go out and tell people the Good News of His saving work on the behalf of all creation.

Would they always do it like He showed them?  No.  Did He require them to get it right all the time?  No.

Jesus requires these things:  1) That you believe He is who He says He is, and 2) that you are willing.  He will make you able.  He will help you become equipped.  He will even give you the words if you ask Him.

All you have to do is take one short step outside your comfort zone and cast out your line.  Start fishing before the season is over and we end up with riverbanks littered with dead stinking fish.

Here’s your pole.

Let’s talk about types of churches and the people in them.

First we have the dead or dying church.  It is characterized by the fact that people are leaving or dying and ministries are folding.  Another characteristic is that there is a core group of people who have pulled the protective walls around themselves and will not peek out or allow others in.  The doors need to close and the “For Sale” sign nailed to the reader board out front.

Next is the status quo church.  This church has some life in it, but often suffers from a split personality.  Some people want it to grow and others want it to stay the same.  Ministries may be effective or they may be ongoing only because “we’ve always done it this way.”  A status quo church moves a little toward dying and sometimes toward growing.  The main interest is in keeping the doors open and hoping people will come in and join us.  But if people do join this church and change starts to happen, then the next stage kicks in with control issues and fear.  This can either be ignored and the church keeps going as it always has, or it can be dealt with and changes made.  If it’s ignored, status quo will slip into dying.  If it’s dealt with, status quo will move into the next type.

Finally I present the growing church.  Growth doesn’t happen in a church until the people grow individually.  When individuals allow Christ to peel the layers off them, exposing and healing sin areas, then and only then will the body start to grow.

One of the biggest blocks I’ve seen in churches is when the leadership structure is run by those who like status quo.  To break away from this often requires replacing the status quo people with those willing to grow spiritually.  It’s a long, hard, painful process . . . kind of like individual growth in Christ.

Most people don’t like to be uncomfortable on any level.  Discomfort points out that something isn’t right, that change is required.  Therefore, people make choices.

Some choose to ignore those things that make them uncomfortable.  “If I don’t acknowledge it, it isn’t real.”  Let me know how that’s working for you.

Some choose to openly fight against things that make them uncomfortable.  “Discomfort isn’t right.  It’s your fault I’m feeling this way, so stop what you’re doing right now.”  Really?  I’ll bet that even if the current thing that makes you uncomfortable disappears, something else will appear shortly to make you uncomfortable on another level.  It only gets worse until you relent.  So good luck with that tactic too.

Some choose to face the discomfort and walk through it.  These are the people I wish to be aligned with in the body of Christ.  People who are living this life spending the currency of discomfort and engaging in growth in order to finish the race well and earn the high honor of hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 NIV)

The discomfort lasts for a time, but the honor of serving King Jesus lasts for eternity.

At this point, if you’ve finished reading this blog entry, you might just be one of those willing to do what it takes to grow even when it hurts.  So I ask . . .

Who will join me?

In one story, I skewered some of the members of the “Hide Bound Church of Man Made Rules.”  Love the name.  It paints a picture, unflattering though it may be.

The members of the HBCofMMR diligently enforce the Law.  They don’t tolerate alcohol consumption by anyone.  They swiftly bring down judgment on anyone who doesn’t toe the line on clothing choices, language, or associations.  They are indeed judge and jury for their community.

They forgot one thing though.  They forgot that the value of the Law is in the people.  If you value the Law for the Law’s sake and forget about the people the Law is designed to protect, you’ve kept the letter of the Law but you’ve broken the intent of the Law.

On the other side of the teeter totter, you’ve got those who believe the Law is outdated and stands for nothing anymore.  Those folks are from the “Circle Hug” church.  Everyone there gets in a big circle and just hugs each other no matter if one is stabbing another in the back or someone else is gossiping about them while lifting a wallet.  It’s all about “Love, man, let’s just loooove one another.”

They forgot one thing though.  Love is important.  Really important.  But loving someone into Hell isn’t very loving.  If you know someone is committing sin with lifestyle choices, not telling them, not confronting them with Truth is similar to walking them to the edge of the pit and giving a little push.

On this teeter totter rests Justice on one side and Love on the other side.  These two groups counter balance each other, but they’re both off center.

Let’s look at the fulcrum, the One that keeps the teeter totter balanced.

That would be Yahweh, the Self-Existent One, the I Am.  See He is the only One who is completely centered.  He is Perfectly Loving and Perfectly Just.  There is not one without the other.  All things are in balance.  When we try to take justice or love into our own hands, we lose our balance.

Next time you hear someone berating a sinner and raining justice down on that sinner, take a moment to look at the sinner instead of the sin and see if you see yourself.  Or next time you hear someone loving someone who is in the middle of depravity, take a moment to look at the person then look at where that person is headed and see if you notice that you too are one step from the pit.

Then look at Jesus.  His loving arms are wrapped around the sinner and the stripes of just punishment are laid across His back.

Only He gets it right all the time.

Limiting fear is the stuff that phobias are made of.

Limiting fear keeps you from flipping on the lamp when you hear a bump in the night.

Limiting fear creates a barrier between you and your dreams.

Limiting fear builds walls between you and those you love or want to love.

Limiting fear chains you to the prison wall.

Limiting fear deceives you so opportunities look like traps.

What overcomes limiting fear?

God’s Word in Deuteronomy 13:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

When you have a limiting fear, remember this truth from 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.”

Then respond as Hebrews 13:6 teaches, “So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

The truth is limiting fear doesn’t come from the Lord.  Limiting fear is a tool used by our common enemy, the devil.

It’s a choice.  When fear rears its ugly head and tells you that the Lord is not strong enough to help you meet the need at hand, you can choose to believe that lie or you can trust the Lord’s Word.  He will walk with you through whatever you’re facing . . . no matter what that circumstance may be.

From personal experience I know the Lord is with me.  I believe He will never leave me or forsake me.  I trust that He will lead me through the fear and help me come out on the other side . . . stronger, wiser, and closer to Him than ever before.

He will do that for you too . . . if you’ll trust Him and take a step forward toward the fear instead of hiding from it.

To quote John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death — but saddling up anyway.”

Matthew 5:11-12

How can we possibly engage in the deep conversations necessary in our culture if we can’t engage in the deep conversations in our church gatherings?

Our model is to take a stand.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were commanded to worship King Nebuchadnezzar and they took a stand for Yahweh and were thrown into a furnace for their troubles.  Jesus took a stand when he cleared the temple of the money changers.  That was a stand against the Jewish religious leaders and one of the tipping points that caused them to plot his death.

One example shows men of faith standing against unbelievers.  The other example is The Man of Faith standing against the religious establishment.

In my daily interactions on Facebook, I note that those people who live and support a worldview vastly different from my biblical worldview are often the most outspoken.  One friend who considers himself a Christian wrote that if any of his Facebook “friends” supported a particular evangelical governor as a presidential candidate, my friend would unfriend them.  This is a man who preaches tolerance of all lifestyles, yet his words and actions seem intolerant and angry.

In an up close and personal experience, I witnessed two Bible study participants go at each other’s throats over differing political opinions.  These were two believers in Christ who allowed political opinion to momentarily overrule their godly love for each other – throwing vile, hurtful words rather than engaging in reasoned discourse in order to come to mutual understanding of each other’s views.

On the other hand, I’ve participated in as well as witnessed intelligent, well-spoken Christians using silence and non-participation when I/we should have spoken up against injustice, lies, and wrongdoing.  Why?  Because it is easier to stay silent than to enter into the fray.

Easier doesn’t make it right.  Avoidance isn’t taking a stand.  Peace at all costs is no peace at all.

Here are the arguments I’ve used, and I’ve heard from others: “I don’t know what to say.”  “I might hurt their feelings.”  “They might not like me anymore if I don’t agree with them.”  “Christians aren’t supposed to argue with people.”

Really?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how I am to engage people in my sphere of influence.  I’ve examined my fears.  I’ve looked hard at what pushes my own buttons and sets me off onto some tangent.  I’ve scrutinized my filters, my values, my worldview, my stand on a variety of issues of the day.

My conclusions are these:

• I must look at all things through my biblical worldview no matter who I am addressing.
• I must listen first and stop rehearsing my response in my head.
• I must strive to keep Jesus first in my thinking rather than putting people’s impressions first.
• I hope to become less fearful and more fearless.

So this coming year I am taking a stand.  First, I will determine if the Lord wants me to enter the fray.  If He says, “No,” then I will sit down and be quiet.  If He says, “Go,” then arming myself with the fruit of the Spirit, I will act or speak as the situation warrants.

The key:  At the end of the day, I must stand before the Lord with a clear conscience knowing that I did as He asked, that I did not charge ahead of Him or lag behind Him.

His opinion of me matters so much more than the opinion of others.

Dear Lord, help me to live this daily even as my palms sweat and my heart pounds at the thought of persecution, probable loss of friends and being labeled as a freak or troublemaker.  Help me to allow You to be enough for me.  Amen.

Instead of striking out on your own and expecting to come up with the best of everything, try this easy three step method.

Step One: Ask the Lord what He wants you to do.

Step Two:  Stop talking so you can hear His response.

Step Three:  Do what He tells you.

For those of you who insist on looking a gift horse in the mouth, here’s what the horse says:

Step One is often ignored.  None of this works without Step One.

Step Two seems to be the hardest for many people.  Asking is great, but if you ask a question, you’ve got to shut up long enough to hear the answer.  Otherwise why bother asking in the first place?

Step Three: Even if you don’t like the answer, if the Lord told you to do something, you are going to be much better off doing what He tells you than you are ignoring Him.

See?  Simple.  Effective.  Works every time.

Let me know how this free Christmas gift works out for you.  Enjoy!

I think there is too much noise in the house.  Not people noise or animal noise.  Electric and electronic noise.  It’s everywhere all the time.

Walking through the house and casually counting only the things that make consistent noise, I found four clocks, the fan on the fireplace insert (our main source of heat), the refrigerator, room heaters with blowers, and electronics that sigh and beep even when not in use.  It’s enough noise to bother my hearing because it never ends.  No wonder I get sleepy.  I’m exposed to enough white noise to knock out a nursery full of colicky babies.

How did I figure this out?  Yesterday I went outside to get the mail.  The night before snow had fallen and rewrapped the outside in pure white.  As I walked back from the mailbox, I stopped to look at the trees and bushes layered in snow.  Lovely.

That’s when I heard it.  Silence.  No electronics.  No cars.  No people.  No animal noises.  My stomach wasn’t grumbling.  Nothing.  A car started up probably a quarter of a mile away.  I heard it clearly because there was no ambient noise distracting my hearing.  Then a dog barked, again from quite a distance away.  I heard these things clearly.  I could hear my shoes scrunch in the snow.

Not only was my hearing clearer, my brain felt freer.  As I sit here typing, my room heater is running.  It gives me a low-level buzzing in my head because of the sound.  How much of that gets in the way of my ability to think?

How much of this ambient noise that we take for granted gets in the way of us hearing each other clearly?

Try it.  Find someplace to go where there is no electronic noise – inside or outside, I don’t care where.  Take a few minutes to let yourself acclimate to the experience of listening to silence.  What happens inside you?  What do you start thinking about?  Does it freak you out?  Make you feel alone?  Or do you love it like I do?

I feel like I’ve discovered something precious that I lost a long time ago.

Silence.

I refer to the fence sitter.  In a Louis L’Amour novel, the fence sitter might be the local banker who knows that two factions are fighting over a ranch; one side to save the family ranch and the other side to usurp ranch ownership.  The banker perches atop the proverbial fence while watching yet removed from the action. He wants to know who is going to win the fight so he can reap the spoils of victory without having to lift a finger.

There are fence sitters in many churches.

Some are malevolent in their intentions, sitting on the sidelines while slipping a word in here and there to cause dissention between parties.  These are the ones who say things like, “It’s not my fight,” yet they spread gossip about the people involved, usually out in public where they can gather underground support to make themselves look good.

Then there are the fearful fence sitters.  The ones who see something is happening and they firmly plant their heads in the sand up to their shoulders.  If they can’t see it, it doesn’t matter to them.  Rather than carefully examining what is going on, these folks choose to take no stand – it’s harder to stand on a fence than to sit on one.  Their fear paralyzes them from being any good to anyone, including themselves.

Here’s the rub with fence sitters no matter if their malevolent or fearful.  Eventually, they do have to take a side.  Choosing to not take a side means you’ve taken a side already.  In all the world, there are only two sides: with Christ or against Christ.

Fence sitters take note.  Time is short.  Choose whom you will serve.

Giwani is living in a city on the other side of the world and is most likely being held against her will in a brothel. I’m asking the Lord to give her hope, to protect her from diseases, to see to her rescue and to watch over her rescuers. I’m also asking Him to make Himself real to her through the people in that city who are planning how to rescue her from her life of enforced prostitution.

I pray to Jesus acknowledging that He is the Eternal Yahweh, God Almighty, King of kings and Lord of lords. He has put this little one that I pray for on my heart because she is on His heart too. He is the One who willingly put aside the grandeur of His exalted position as Creator of all to walk in the dust and rub elbows with the sick sinners of this fallen world. He’s the One who sees Giwani huddled somewhere in a dark room waiting for the next customer to purchase her screams for a few moments of pleasure.  And He moves His people to take action.

Yahweh is patient and loving. He sees Giwani trapped in her youth and weakness and works to save her. He sees the ones who purchase her, and He works to bring them to understanding of their sinfulness and His willingness to forgive. He works behind the scenes to make a way for the rescuers to bring Giwani out of that awful place and into a new home where she will be fed, bathed, given medical attention and education, loved, and gently birthed into a new and living way in Christ.

I pray Giwani will respond to the Lord. I pray the people who use her as their child prostitute will encounter our Living Lord and realize He is their only way to heaven. I pray that I will not become so comfortable in my life that I forget to pray for Giwani, her captors, her rescuers and the other children like her.

Humbling to realize that but for the grace of God . . . my life could be so different.

Lord, please save Giwani.