A Prayer

(Note: This is a little "old school" but it is powerful once you work your way through the archaic language.  It is good for finals and those struggling or suffering in other ways.)

 

O God, who makest cheerfulness the companion of strength, but apt to take wings in time of sorrow, we humbly beseech Thee that if, in Thy sovereign wisdom, Thou sendest weakness, yet for Thy mercy's sake deny us not the comfort of patience.  Lay not more upon us, O heavenly Father, than Thou wilt enable us to bear; and, since the fretfulness of our spirits is more hurtful than the heaviness of our burden, grant us that heavenly calmness which comes of owning Thy hand in all things, and patience in the trust that Thou doest all things well--Amen. 

 

Rowland Williams

Love in Crisis

I just went to Wal-Mart to return a few items. There was a misunderstanding ahead of me over the procedure for returning food items. The cashier said these items could not be returned but the customer was told earlier that they could. Frustration and irritation set in and each side mumbled words, rolled eyes, spoke quietly and looked to us for sympathy. When the transaction was done, the customer seemed to sarcastically say, "Thank you for your help." and the cashier seemed to mumble a less than gracious "Mm hmph." (That's the best I can write it!)
I have learned that it is precisely in these moments of crisis where we learn whether we are really ready to love or not. Surely love is more important than a few dollars. Surely love is more important than being right. But we will always wrestle money and pride and whatever else. Let us love in crisis.

Things to remember about banquet

1.  That was some really good food. 

2.  You all looked so happy...like you really enjoyed yourselves. 

3.  You all clean up pretty good.

4.  I think the Sneeds are so wonderful to want us in (and outside) their home.

5.  Thanks to all the guys for your help with chairs, tables, etc.

6.  Thanks to Jeremy and Chris for recognizing my superior supervising skills! :)

7.  Thanks to my wife (for the idea) and Soko for the entertainment.  That was some crazy stuff!

8.  Dave and Sean make a cute couple.

9.  Lucas...I think you are getting funnier...:)

10. Nathan and Carla don't quite know each other perfectly yet...but they will!!

11. Those who are leaving this year will be missed dearly.  I truly hope you will remember your blessing.  You blessed me so richly.

12. Ann, you did a great job with the slideshow and are just a great servant.

13. I can't believe how much help I'm going to have next year with the interns.  I can't wait!

14. Soko...I'm glad the battle belongs to the Lord.

15. Lauren and Courtney--that was amazing stuff.  Thanks for being so entertaining.  (Good work to the dog as well!)

16. Lucas, I'm so glad Lauren helped us make better sense of your life and who you REALLY are. 

17. Dave and Sean make a cute couple! :)  (I know I repeated!)

18. I can't believe Chris and Jeremy talked my wife into letting me play ping pong last night afterwards.  It was so exciting to get to play late.  Good work guys.  It'll be easier once we move to our new home.

19. I can't believe Dave and I lost to Chris and Jeremy.  It's ON today!

20. This was an awesome banquet for me.  It will only get better as we invite and allow more people into our lives.  There is no limit to what God wants to do through us. 

 

What do you remember most from last night?

Community: The Greatest Potential for Pain and Love

In working on my study for tonight, it just hit me that community (or relationships) is the place where there is the greatest potential for pain and love.  Only in community can you truly experience a broken heart.  But only in community can someone love you exactly the way you are.  This is why marriage is so wonderful, but divorce is so catastrophically painful.  Only by allowing ourselves to be fully known by somebody else can we truly be loved.  But when we risk that vulnerability with imperfect people, we will also experience pain.  Michael Card wrote about Judas betraying Jesus, "Only a friend can betray a friend.  A stranger has nothing to gain."  

 

Hopefully, forgiveness is what keeps community together.  Forgiveness flows from us to others as God's agape gets a firmer grip on our heart. 

 

The pain of community is why some people make few friends or tend to be loners.  The risk of love is too great.  But it seems to me that all of life is a risk...why not risk your love for the sake of others.  This is what God did.  Sometimes, though, we take the easy way out and risk things like money.  We don't mind gambling our money away, but when it comes to our heart, we simply will not risk. 

 

The love in community is what makes single people try again even after they have been hurt by their last relationship.

The love in community keeps a married couple together for 50 years. 

The love in community causes the divorced and the widowed to look for another relationship even after all that pain.

The love in community keeps me coming back again and again to Christ's church. 

 

What pain keeps you from community?  How does agape love always try and pull you back in?  This love is from God.  RISK IT! 

Should Christians be in the military?

This is sure a tough question. We dealt with it for the last couple of weeks in Counter Culture. One of the neat but frustrating things about these kinds of questions is that we get to see how complex the issue is. It is neat because we get past simplistic answers that do not deal with the real issues. It is frustrating because by the end, it is hard to come out of the discussion with THE answer. Maybe I should say, it "used to be" frustrating. I enjoy the struggle and really like seeing college students wrestle with the issues. I've certainly had to wrestle with the issue myself. Yesterday, Saheba joined our group because the question interested her. She is preparing to leave to start her Air Force training. She is just one of several examples of this hitting close to home. We have other students with family or friends in the military.

I'm wondering what more of you think about this question. How does our Christianity affect a decision to be in the military and to what extent does it affect what we are willing to actually do in the military? How does the "enemy love" of Matthew 5 affect our decisions? What is a Christian response to evil, death, and war? More to the point, if we claim to follow Jesus, what is his response to evil, death, war?