a little summer sumthin…

Last night I felt privileged as I sat outside in my lawn chair looking up at the beautiful moon. Privileged that I was so fortunate to be enjoying the cooling breezes,  the smell of the freshly cut hay that wafted along with it, and the musical accompaniment of the myriad of insects all singing their summer songs at the peak of their powers. As I  stared into the brightness of that moonlit sky all the cares and concerns that have been been my recent companions took their leave and I was left in simple awe.

Sometimes the intensity or the perfection of a moment takes us by surprise, other times it’s a result of careful planning on our part. For me this moment fell into the former category. As if a stage had been set just for me to walk out onto, to take my place on and preside over this creation. I wondered if God was also sitting in His chair watching the show from His perspective. If I, like the things that I had enjoyed , was also part of His entertainment.

Like a parent who takes pleasure in watching His children enjoy what He’s provided them with. There’s a deeply fulfilling feeling that comes from believing that you have pleased your Father. That He’s looking on and smiling,  you can feel His presence but it’s so overwhelming that you prefer to fade in and out of it. Moving back and forth between the natural and the supernatural at your will.

Tonight’s the actual full moon, If I leave now I’ll still have time to head down to the river for a cool refreshing late afternoon swim…

After that I think I’m going to stop off and pick some blackberries and satisfy my craving for freshly picked blackberry cobbler with ice cream!

But later tonight, when that big moon comes up over The Pigman Ranch

(which is just across the meadow from me)

I know where I’ll be!

Something About Faith

If asked, many Christians can to some extent explain the basis for their faith. What they say may seem intangible,because it is by nature “unprovable”, but in their hearts, it is fact. They’ve never seen the Red Sea part, or manna fall from heaven. Never seen a blind man given sight or watched an altar be consumed by fire. What they’ve seen are very personal revelations of God in their lives, an answered prayer or an unexplainable peace in a time of trouble. A timely blessing or provision of some kind but nothing that couldn’t be perhaps explained otherwise by someone with a mind to.

John 20:29

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Faith is an interesting thing in that the more of it you have, the less of it you need. Faith brings such abundance into our lives that we see the substance of it manifested, and furthermore, we know that based on the faithfulness of our God that His provision having been seen in both the past and the present is tantamount to proof of it in the future.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The story of the prodigal son is the story of man. Who left his first estate to wander in rebellion and ultimately found himself in squalor.  Upon his return, he sought only to be a servant considering himself unworthy, but instead his father welcomed him back as a son with great joy!  It’s our knowing who we are in Christ and that the Father isn’t mad at us, and mostly that we are still loved that form the crucial basis for practically everything about us! Our faith is simply the acting out of these beliefs!

I’m saddened that so many Christians have instead chosen to continue on as the servant. Don’t misunderstand me, I am a servant as well, but the relationship I’m lamenting is one which denies our real identity and birthright.  Paul described himself as being a “bond servant” which is someone who serves out of love, not obligation!  Christian people who serve under a feeling of unworthiness or  condemnation will seldom ask of the Father the things that a son would because they don’t believe they’re entitled to ask let alone to receive them. Faith rests on the knowledge that we ARE entitled not only to ask but to receive all good gifts and blessings from the Father through our adoption as sons which was the purpose of Christs work on the cross!

At this time of the year, and in this economy, most of us are thankful to have a few presents under the tree. Why is it that we have sold so short Gods gifts and his intentions toward us? Perhaps we’re not expecting anything great from Him this year.  I believe He wants us to pray for peoples healing’s, and for all blessings, not as “beggars” but as representatives of the reality of His love in this world!

I was inspired to write this message by the reality of it’s truth in my own life and circumstances. As we’ve continued on in our ministerial endeavor Gods purpose and provision continues to unfold before us in some very amazing ways.  It’s encouraged me to experience more and more of what God has for me, and wants to do through me! There truly is “something about faith” that lifts us up out of this fallen world and into an unimaginable world of possibility which is made possible merely because we believe that it is so!

Blessed

What does it mean to be blessed? We say that we’re a blessed nation, constantly thanking God for our many blessings and praying for other people who we think are suffering or somehow in need of a “blessing.” Sometimes I wonder if we’re as blessed as we think. We see refugee’s in war ravaged places who are starving and have only the sparse clothes on their backs but what we don’t see or understand is that these people have a blessing WE don’t.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving…how thankful were you? Was it just another day? just another opportunity to over eat? or was it manna from heaven? Remember the story of the Israelites in the desert? They were fed “manna” that was new everyday. There were a couple of reasons for that, one of which was so that nobody could horde it… also, because it’s our nature as people to turn our back on God when we have what we need and God knew that. In order for them to continually experience the love and blessing it was necessary for them to be kept humble so that they wouldn’t forget or confuse the source of the blessing. God was blessing them by keeping them close to Him! God was blessing them by teaching them humility, God was blessing them by teaching them trust and dependence…

We’re so incredibly blessed in this country to have so many church’s and the freedom to worship God in the way we see fit. We dress up in our Sunday best and listen to preachers talk about how we’re not the church we should be. We kinda feel bad for a minute or two but it’s easy enough to brush that aside and contemplate what to eat for lunch or think to ourselves “How perfect! we must deserve each other because you’re not the minister you should be either” Meanwhile, somewhere in Sub Saharan Africa people are being delivered from demons and all kinds of disease, healed from sicknesses,truly brought into the presence of the Lord! These people may not have a three bedroom house or a buffet of food to pick and choose over but what they do have is a real relationship with Christ! They’ve been in his presence, they’ll never be the same.

What’s the difference between us and them? They’re believing on Christ for everything, they’ve got no other “safety net” to catch them, it’s absolutely a matter of life and death! That’s a right here and right now blessing not a “Lord, please continue to bless me and my family so that we don’t have to find out you’re really all that we need!” kind of blessing!

I think that there needs to be a drastically different approach to the evangelistic movement here in the U.S. We need to be treated like the spiritually poor people we are! We need to be given a crash course in honesty about ourselves and where we are. If we could somehow strip away all of the “window dressings” and our “prosperity” to reveal the truth perhaps then we might actually be “blessed.” If we could lay down our pride long enough to bend a knee before God and cry a few repentant tears we might experience forgiveness. Perhaps if we went through another “great depression” we might rediscover what it means to be thankful, to be dependent, and then, having “gotten over” ourselves…experience the love and blessing our Heavenly Father longs to give us!