The Unexpected

So this weekend has been interesting. Very good, but interesting. God really took me out of my comfort zone this weekend. Being the second friday of the month, we did the monthly City Rescue Mission micromission trip. If you don't know what that is, every month I take anywhere from 35 to 70 LifeChurch volunteers to the City Rescue Mission, where we do a LifeChurch service for the homeless clients there. We generally have anywhere from 100 to 200 people show up for the service. God always meets us there in a big way, and each month in a different way. This month, he really stretched thing. Or, should I say, He really stretched ME! Normally, our worship band will do a few warm-up songs, and then play the worship set. Then I will do a short welcome/intro, where I tell them who we are, what the message will be about, etc., then we play a dvd of one of many of pastor Craig's archived messages. Normally I try to select a mesage each month that I feel will speak to the hearts of the homeless. We have been doing it this way for a couple of years. There have been a couple of occasions that a person here or there, especially Camerson Wilson, have encouraged me to preach once in a while, but I have never had the courage to do so. It seems like each month, we ALWAYS have some kind of technical problems, as the equipmet there at the rescue mission is pretty crummy, but we somehow always find a way to make last minute repairs that get us through the night. Well, this month was different. The coaxial cable from the projector (that is hanging from the 25 foot ceiling) that we always plug into our laptop for the song lyrics and the message BROKE. PERMANENTLY. So in other words, we were singing without lyrics to the song, and we were not able to play the dvd. SO, yours truly, being the leader of the trip, had to come up with a solution FAST. And the only solution being that I had to get up onstage and PREACH! And needless to say, I was NOT prepared for that! I have known for a long time that we might someday have a malfunction that required me to speak off-the-cuff, and knew that I should prepare a short message to always have ready, but being the procrastinator that I am, I kept putting it off. Not good. Because here I was with a hundred people looking to ME to do something, say SOMETHING! Now, let me say that normally, I am not nervous at all about getting up on stage at the City Rescue Mission, because it's only for a couple of minutes, and it's only to intro the message, or to do the "altar call." This time, let me assure you, I was NERVOUS! Try as I may, I couldn't come up with what I wanted to talk about. So I prayed, VERY earnestly, "God, I don't know what to say. Please, just fill me, and speak through me. Let the message be what these people need to hear." And I still didn't know what I wanted to say when I stepped up there. But I had faith that God would come through when I needed Him to. When His people needed Him to. And come through He did! Referring to our technical difficulties, I began to talk about when we all experience times in our lives when things don't go the way we expect them to, or when things don't go the way we want them to. I talked about how we handle those times, whether we turn to God, or whether we turn to the things of this world to ease our pain in troubled times. I talked about how nothing else would heal our pain or satisfy our souls but a relationship with God. I talked about how no one is too far gone, or too screwed up for God to transform their lives. I talked about how He created each one of us uniquely, and how He has an amazing plan and purpose for each of our lives. I talked about how much He loves each and every person there, and that becoming a christian didn't mean that they will wake up in the morning and have a new house, a job, and a nice car, and that life will be a cakewalk from now on. I told them that they will still have earthly, physical struggles. But that the difference is, that now, instead of confusion, they have peace. Instead of despair, they have hope. Where there was once pain, God will bring healing. Where they are weak, He will be strong. It was an amazing, anointed time, and I could literally feel God's presence there. When it was all said and done, 12 people gave their hearts to Jesus that night. And God showed Himself faithful and true to me in a new way. He took me to a new level Friday night. And I understood more than ever, when He is involved, it is never rote or routine. And I understood more than ever, that it is SO not about me - that regardless of how I might plan the trip or the service, that HE has a bigger plan, and His plans ALWAYS trump my plans! He orchestrated the night the way HE wanted. And it was GOOD. And I guess that He is going to continue to stretch me, because until and unless the projector gets fixed (fat chance), I am going to have to preach each month from now on! I think He's trying to tell me something......
When is a time that God has stretched you or used you in a way you didn't think was possible? And what was the outcome?

I was just thinking the other day that everywhere I turn, someone else is promoting their new book. And as much as I admire Craig Groeschel, even he seems to always be writing a new book. It can be overwhelming to keep up with the crowd, making sure you're up to speed on the newest literary works by all the up-and-coming leaders of the church world. But as I was unpacking a few of our things since we recently moved, I came across a priceless treasure I had forgotten I owned. It is a leather bound compilation of several books by Jack London. My grandparents, my mom's parents, gave it to me for Christmas in 1985. Yup, you read that right: 1985! The book is 23 years old! It's older than my wife! Oops...... ha ha I had to throw that in there Ashley - love you! Just checking to see if you still read my blog. Anyway, I began reading "The Call of the Wild," and was absolutely engrossed and mesmerized. I could hardly put the book down. As I read along, I couldn't help but think that John Eldredge must LOVE this book. Jack London has a way of holding the reader's attention that I haven't experienced in a LONG time. I couldn't help but continue reading on and on, caught up in the story of Buck, a gentle, tame southern dog captured and turned sled dog in the wilds of Alaska. When I finally put the book down to go to sleep, I had a renewed appreciation of the classics that I hadn't had in a long time. What are some classic books that you really enjoy, or that you enjoyed as a child?

The Warrior God

The following is an excerpt from one of John Eldredge's books.  I really like this passage, so I'm posting it here.  Enjoy!

I don’t fully understand the modern church’s amnesia-plus-aversion regarding one of the most central qualities of God understood for centuries before us: 

The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name. (Ex. 15:3 NIV) 

The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. (Isa. 42:13 NIV) 

But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. (Jer. 20:11 NIV) [The NASB translates mighty warrior “dread champion.” Goliath was a dread champion; the mighty men of David were dread champions. King James has it as “a mighty terrible one.”] 

Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. (Ps. 24:7–8 NIV) 

Our God is a warrior, mighty and terrible in battle, and he leads armies. It is this God that man is made in the image of. I spoke of this in Wild at Heart, but some things bear repeating, because a man will be in a much better place to enter the stage of the Warrior if he knows this is thoroughly grounded in Scripture, supported by Scripture, compelled by Scripture. 

(The Way of The Wild Heart , 138