I am part of a ladies' Bible study at my church, The Bridge Bible Church here in Bakersfield, California. We meet at Table 10. It is a round table like all the others in the church auditorium. It is a tight squeeze when all twelve of us show up on Wednesday mornings! Naomi is our table leader. She is also the leader of our Abide women's prayer group.

Marj is the hospitality leader for the ladies of Table 10. She also happens to host the Abide women’s prayer group Monday mornings (every Monday morning) in her lovely home. She delights in doing special things for her friends and today she treated us, whom she calls “His Girls of Table 10”, to a gourmet luncheon at The Guild House[1] in Bakersfield, the beautifully refurbished historic Barlow House. Shortly after we moved to Bakersfield last year I read about the Guild House and have driven by it several times and thought it would be nice to someday visit it, and today I got to. I love old houses and architecture.

Naomi and Janna, our table co-leader, went out early this morning to get all the little items needed to make up 12 gift bags, one for each lady at the luncheon. It was to feature a cookie from Sweet Surrender, Bakersfield's iconic confectionery. I'm talking gourmet cookies here.

Nothing worked out right. Everything Naomi attempted in her pursuit of assembling the perfect gift for the ladies, to be presented at the luncheon hosted by Marj at The Guild House, fell flat. All the while Naomi kept hearing a little voice in the back of her head to do this other thing.

So Naomi, telling us all this as we sat around our table at The Guild House feasting on Chicken Dijon and wild and white rice, got up and reaching to pick up something from the table behind her, said that instead of gourmet cookies for us, she wanted to use that money so some little girl might have a life. She turned back and surprised me by reaching across the table and handing me an envelope. "She Is Safe"[2] was written on the front.

Of course, I immediately got choked up, knowing that inside that envelope was the money that instead of buying gourmet cookies for us well-fed ladies, would now go to buy a goat for a family in Nepal. I praised God through my tears. In fact, we all praised God that Naomi listened to that little voice in her head, as she proceeded to tell us about the little girls in Nepal who are sold into sex slavery by the time they are 12 years old because their families are too poor to feed them, and how a goat can be the means to rescue them through the ministry of She Is Safe as they partner with a Nepalese ministry to rescue these girls.

Naomi believes that goat is needed more than we need gourmet cookies. She's so right.

When I got home from the luncheon I put She Is Safe’s address on the envelope, stamped it and the mailman picked it up on his rounds.

Happy birthday, Jesus. May You have one more jewel added to your crown.

(The names have not been changed. These are real people and I am privileged to call them my sisters—and my friends.)

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[1] The Guild House serves gourmet lunches at the historic Barlow House to raise funds to support the Henrietta Weill Memorial Child Guidance Clinic. (Taken from the Guild House website.)

[2] www.SheIsSafe.org

I realized this morning a mistake I made in my blog posting of yesterday. Pastor Saeed Abedini is in an Iranian prison, not in Iraq. Sorry for that slip. Those doggone “I” words. You can learn about and follow his plight, and have opportunity to do more at http://aclj.org/

I had said Randy and I found several means to learn about needs of our brothers and sisters around the world suffering for their faith so I thought I’d send a few links to websites which we use for informing ourselves about the persecuted church. I’m sure you have others.

Randy recently posted an article on facebook from the Compass Direct group and here is their website: http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org

I recently signed up to receive prayer alerts from Voice of the Martyrs at iCommitToPray  Their web address is https://www.persecution.com/ Voice of the Martyrs has been around for a long time.

Another which is not so much a persecution watch organization but a partnering ministry with believers ministering in “the hard places” reaching women and girls especially, and from whom we learn of great needs for which to pray and a means to get involved: She Is Safe, ‎ http://sheissafe.org/

I pray we will be blessings to others in many different ways this year and always. You have encouraged me. Thank you.

Several years ago we began the tradition of lighting a candle on December first and praying every day in December for the persecuted church. We find there is plenty of information available to us to pray both in general for believers in different places in the world who are being ill-treated for their faith, as well as quite specific prayers for individuals, interceding for them by name. 

“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)

How I have failed in this area of “remembering the prisoners as though in prison with them” and the “ill-treated”. And what does it mean to remember them? What are the implications of the word remember?

First, I notice Paul says to remember them as though I was with them in prison. And he adds to that, “since you yourselves also are in the body.” Since I would not like to suffer incarceration, I must consider that they don’t either. Since I wouldn’t like being treated badly, are they any different than me? No. No one likes being treated unjustly. It also may point to the idea that the readers could have the same things happen to them. You and I are as vulnerable to ill-treatment as others.

Paul told the Colossians to “remember my imprisonment” (Col. 4:18). Certainly he meant for them to pray for him. He also indicated in the book of Philippians (4: 15, 16) that few churches sent material or financial gifts to him to meet his material needs. He wrote that it was a great blessing when those believers sent whatever it was they sent to Paul to meet his needs when he was in bonds in Rome. They, at least, hadn’t forgotten Paul. Their act of remembering him moved them to action and even though they were not wealthy, in fact, were in poverty, they gave to alleviate Paul’s needs.

Certainly to remember those in prison and those being ill-treated/persecuted for their faith in Christ means we need to keep them before our minds, not forgetting about them. Certainly to remember those in prison as though I were with them means praying for them because if I were in prison, I’d be praying for myself and I’d sure hope others were praying for me too.

Remembering those in prison and persecuted starts with prayer for them, but there are times when we have the opportunity to do more, and we need to be ready to seriously consider what we can do.

I recall back around 1979 or 1980 when Randy and I were a young married couple with little children (now we’re an old married couple with grandchildren), my parents became sponsors for a young Ethiopian man, Kiros, to come live in the United States because as a Christian his life was endangered there in Ethiopia. He came and lived with my parents and became a part of our family for the time he was there. That Christmas our family portrait included all four biological children of my parents, our spouses and children, my two adopted Korean brothers, and Kiros, our new brother from Ethiopia. A way to remember those persecuted for their faith.

We only need to remain open, listen and watch for the opportunities to present themselves, and be willing and ready to extend ourselves as need and opportunity and our ability to meet those needs converge.

But what got me thinking and writing this blog was Psalm 138: 7, 8. As I read it, I imagined this as a prayer of someone who is being persecuted, perhaps thrown in prison for their faith in Jesus:

            Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your      hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The LORD will             accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

It just sounded like something someone in such straits might pray. The other day when I read Psalm 142 I thought of persecuted Christians praying the same kind of things:

            I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make my supplication with my voice to the       LORD. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.

            I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the     living. Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of my prison, so that I may give thanks toYour name; the righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountiful with me.

 When I read these Psalms I thought of Saeed Abedini, an American pastor in a prison in Iran. I thought of others imprisoned for their faith and still others who live every day in fear and uncertainty because they are Christian.

We do not see persecution as Christians as God’s will for us, yet the scriptures are full of evidence to the contrary[1]. We tend to think of God’s will as something that will make us secure and safe, happy and fulfilled. Yes, I know the verses that say we should pray for all men, including our government leaders, “so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (I Timothy 2:1, 2). This kind of life is certainly to be desired and we need to pursue peace as much as we can at all times. But though we resist the idea of suffering for our faith, Jesus warned of it and the other writers in the New Testament tell us not to be surprised at it. Paul even goes so far as to say to the Philippian believers, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:29, 30). He told Timothy that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

The more I think of it, the more scripture references come to mind! The New Testament was written to churches which were intimately acquainted with persecution. If we open our eyes as we read, these verses jump out at us and we see color and meaning to the words of Holy writ we never saw before. So then keeping before our minds’ eye the suffering believers around the world puts flesh and bone to suffering for the faith we read of in scripture, which from our ivory towers can seem like a far removed theory.

(I am so convicted as I write these things. In fact, usually whenever I write something it is from a sense of God teaching me some aspect of truth. It is very personal and when I write it down on paper—and it takes on a life of its own and sometimes takes me places I didn’t know we were going—I am preaching to myself! You just get to listen in.)

We can be very grateful that our culture has been greatly influenced by the Bible. Many things we take for granted and enjoy as rights in our country slowly permeated the cultures because of the influence of Biblical values which over centuries became ingrained in western European civilization. No country has ever fully expressed God’s kingdom and no human government ever will. Only when Jesus Christ comes and sets foot on earth again we will see God’s kingdom truly and fully lived out.

But it is just because we have had so many benefits that we must guard against the complacency Jesus and the writers of scripture warn against. We have had it easy but we must become alert, be on our guard and learn to stand against the encroaching evil. Jesus said to work the works of God while it is day, because the night comes when no man can work (John 9:4).

Night is coming. Night has fallen in some places in our world. So because we live in these bodies and understand our limitations, we should be able to relate to our brothers and sisters whose lives are made difficult by persecution, and remember those who are now suffering for their faith, both those in prison and those who wake up every day and face every level of abuse, discrimination and persecution because they name the Name of Jesus Christ. We need to embrace their suffering as our own. My own (I’m preaching to myself).

So I light the candle and remember ….

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[1] Matthew 24; 25:31-46; Acts; James 1:2-4; I Peter 1: 6-9; 2: 13-25; 3:8-17; 4:12-19; 5:8-11

What is the responsibility of the church to elderly women among their numbers? To widows? To  fatherless children? To foreigners/aliens in our midst? The list could go on: the needy, the disabled both within and outside the church.

The question is: what is our responsibility to those around us, especially to the family of God, those of “the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10), who are the most vulnerable and dependent, those unable to care for themselves?[1]

This question is, for us, not academic, not theoretical. We have been staring at it for several months and it has a face and a name. “Kay”[2] is a sister in the Lord, now in her seventies, a real person, not a hypothetical example. She is now well past retirement age, though she has kept on working as long as she had good health, which, for most of her life she has enjoyed. Now through a confluence of various circumstances she has been facing frightening realities: She is alone in the world, never married, no family to care for her as she ages, with health problems hindering her ability to work and provide for herself as she has been accustomed to. Unfortunately, in our society age discrimination is also against her employability. Her savings are dwindling and she is afraid she will lose her little one bedroom condo in the retirement village in which she has lived for 25 years. She imagines herself on the street. We protest: this will never happen as long as we are here.

“We” are the members of our weekly small group Bible study affiliated with our large church. Randy was asked to take over leadership of this struggling group not long after we became members of the church. We take this pastoring and teaching responsibility seriously. We are a “church within the church”. We are called to “be the church” to others.

So what is our responsibility to our sister, a single lady, who is facing such dire straits, who confesses to going through a “crisis of faith”? First, we listen to her. She feels safe enough among us to be vulnerable and share her fears.  We pray for her, laying hands on her and beseeching God to intervene on her behalf to meet her needs as He sees fit, as has another prayer group from church of which I am also a member. But we know we cannot stop there, for God works through His people. We are sometimes the answer to our own prayers. Some of us have looked into options in housing for her. We have assured her that if the worst happens (i.e.: she loses her home) we would take her in. And we mean it. Dear “Agnes”, 80+ years old, who lives in the same retirement village, was the first to say it. For at least six months we have besought the Lord for wisdom and direction for this particular situation.

The scriptures admonish us to bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). That law is the one commandment Jesus gave His followers (John 14:34, 35). It is only one commandment because love is the fulfillment of the Law of God; all the other commandments, as well as the rest of scripture, are summed up in that one decree (Matthew 22:36-40). And it is that by which the whole world will know we belong to Jesus Christ, this love for one another—love lived out.

We meet on Thursday evenings for our small group Bible study. Last night Kay shared an answer to prayer. We listened as she told of a couple, longtime friends, who visited her and made the commitment to pay her mortgage. God had blessed them financially and they wanted to use His blessing to bless others. They are also paying another lady’s mortgage.

Were we rejoicing in amazement? Were we clapping our hands in joyful expressions of thanks and praise to our God? You betcha! Randy called us to worship our Lord for His great goodness, for His faithfulness to His child, for hearing our prayers for our sister. We worshiped with tear-filled words of gratitude and love for this God who is Love. What a way to start a Bible study (the prearranged topic of the evening being the importance of the local church and discipling)!

The couple who stepped out and made this commitment (legally drawn up) is “being the church” to these ladies. Their act is producing much praise and thanksgiving to God (II Cor. 9:12-13). We, too, in our small group, are being the church to our sister in our small ways. Indeed, we are the church, the body of Christ, to one another. And to others outside our group, outside the church.

We are reaching out to a homeless couple, expecting their first child next week ….

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[1] Acts 6:1-7; I Timothy 5:3-10, 16; James 1:27; Deuteronomy 14:28, 29; Deut. 15:1, 7-11; II Corinthians 9; Titus 3:14

[2] Names changed for privacy

Who would have thought it? We go away for the weekend and come home to this! Sort of creepy, but you learn something new every day.

We had headed for the coast for a few days over the Labor Day weekend, a good time to go there to escape the heat of the central valley of California. Randy was told at work he’d probably see half of Bakersfield in Morro Bay, since so many do the same escape routine! The coast being only 2 ½ hours away and 30 degrees cooler than inland, it makes perfect sense in summertime.

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed connecting with friends, not Bakersfieldians after all, but Georgians (the Pacific is a long way to go to escape Georgia heat!) and a couple from Cambria, up the coast from Morro Bay. The house we rent has fantastic views of the ocean which I took in as much as possible.

Now, when we leave home we do not keep the air conditioning on in the empty house. For thousands of years people lived without it and for generations from the time of its founding, no one had it here in Bakersfield either. It is hard to believe that people actually carried on normal lives without air conditioning in this climate! What wimps we are today. Nevertheless, I am not sorry we can take advantage of it. I would be on extended siesta time otherwise. But we also try to save money where and as often as we can, so we leave the air conditioning off while we are away.

When we got back from our perfect three day get away to the cooler clime at the ocean, I opened the backdoor of our house and was hit with a blast of heat. Three days of baking in the sun had worked its work alright. But I almost stopped in my tracks when I reached my desk, for there was a sight I had never seen: a candle feeding in a bowl rose petals? What?! Wait. That can’t be right!

I believe that if candles could speak they’d say, “Please leave the air conditioning on.” But my reply would be, “Show me the money, honey.”

(I can replace the rose petals for free from all the roses in my front yard.)

I’ve taken a big step; plunge might be a better word. I found a writer’s group in the Bakersfield area and joined it, and am now a part of a writer’s critique group, a sub-group of the larger one. I’ve been feeling it was time to get back writing on my book, which I started quite a while ago, but which I put on the shelf after my first writer’s conference when we newbie’s to writing were encouraged, while working on our first book, to also write shorter stories for publication, researching the various publications we were interested in. I had looked especially at writing devotionals since my writing tends to that application. I did the research; every publication has their guidelines, all variations on a theme, and after a while I figuratively threw up my hands and said, phooey! I’ll write what I want the way I want! A bit of the belligerent in me, I guess you could say.

Now, about 15 months and a move across the country later, I believe it is God who has prodded me to pick up the book again. I read through what I have already written and actually got misty eyed and choked up in places. I feel like it is going to be a chore to get my brain back into the right thinking mode for the book but I have to take that first step. Or plunge.

Enter the writer’s club and the smaller critique group. I am hoping for good feedback on what I write; some guidance and direction for moving forward. I’ve felt like a boat adrift at sea: no sail, no wind, and no idea in which direction I should be headed!

The Writer’s of Kern (WOK), based in Bakersfield, welcomes writers from all over Kern County (which covers a huge geographic area) as well as writer’s from all over the central valley of California. One of their boasts is that not even Fresno, their big sister to the north, has a writer’s group! WOK is a local chapter of the California Writer’s Club, founded in 1909 by none other than Jack London. Like I say, I am hoping to get some good input for my writing.

One of the things I learned at my first monthly WOK meeting is that everyone is writing something for publication. Well, naturally (not to say ‘duh’), all these writers are writing for publication, ultimately. But I mean articles and stories for popular magazines and books, like Chicken Soup for the Soul. And most of them are working on books. The members of WOK write across various genres: fantasy/sci-fi, other fiction, non-fiction. It appears, from my first critique group meeting (a sub-group of the larger group), that the others in my group of 6 are writing fiction of one sort or another. One woman is a screen writer. My short-article writing, the kind of thing I often post on my blog, as well as my book, are non-fiction and within the sphere of ‘inspirational’ or ‘spiritual’, according to the genre options listed to check as a new member.

So, being encouraged once again to write articles for publication, guess what? I’ve capitulated! I’ve written a story to submit to a popular publication! Whether or not it is published is another story, the important thing is it gets me writing. In fact, one of the requirements in the critique group is that each member must be writing and submit something at each meeting for critique by the other members. We meet twice a month so I have to write frequently. I’ve made a start on my book by submitting the first chapter for next meeting’s critique. It is not all that long and hopefully it is not too long as a submission.

Like I said, I believe God is prompting me to continue what I started. If my book, whenever I finish it, helps others, the work will be worth it. And maybe I’ll have some fun along the way and see some articles in other publications. You never know until you try.

I recently read a comment by a very busy mission leader involved in measures to bring the gospel in word and deed to those living in desperate need in countries around the world where life is hard and Christ is not known (and life is always desperately hard where Christ is not known). His comment was in the context of mentioning just a couple of international trips to do ministry in those countries that he and his wife, also a mission leader, had been on in the past couple of months; not to mention all the other varied ministries their organization is involved in around the world.  Both trips were to different parts of the world, two different parts of the world hostile to Christ. He said:

Sometimes I wonder why we never seem to get ahead, always running to keep up with our ministry commitments. Then I make a list like this and realize it’s our own fault. But the opportunities are as magnificent as the needs are enormous and we’re seeing lives changed forever in some of the most desperate corners of the world. [1] (emphasis mine)

“But the opportunities are as magnificent as the needs are enormous”.

Let that phrase roll around your mind as a fine wine would roll around your tongue. I did. It is a catchy phrase. It caught my attention.

But it is more than a catchy phrase. It is a true phrase. But a truth known only to those who see.

If one doesn’t see the need or the opportunities, does that make them less true, less real? Of course not. But do we have eyes that see, that see those “enormous needs”? Do we then have a mind and will to look for and find those “magnificent opportunities” to meet those needs?

Sometimes it is simply a matter of education. Once we have been taught to “see”, it is then up to us to cultivate the will to continue to see, rather than turn away; to see the enormous needs and look for the opportunities to meet those needs. We cannot see those needs and not look for the opportunities to alleviate those needs, unless we would choose to become cold and hard hearted, turning away from what we have seen.

Followers of Jesus Christ have not been taught to turn away, to become cold and heard hearted toward those in need. Indeed, followers of Jesus Christ have been taught by Jesus himself to love our neighbors, to love one another as God has loved us. To lay down our lives for the sake of others, as Jesus did for our sakes.[2]

In today’s world there is no lack of opportunity to learn to see. Great needs shout at us from every quarter. So the ball is always in our court: it is up to us to will to see and respond to those needs. 

Only when we have trained our hearts to see the needs will we begin to see the magnificent opportunities to meet those needs. Then we can align ourselves with and commit ourselves to those who are busy about making the most of those magnificent opportunities to meet those enormous needs.  In our neighborhoods, in our communities, and around the world.

We should be involved in all these areas, going where we are able and called by God to go, giving financially to send where we cannot go.

And always, always praying the Lord of the Harvest to go before us all. For our first call is to Him.[3] Then He calls us to work with Him to meet specific enormous needs. [4]

And He does call us to this work; it not just for the few, but for all who name the Name of Jesus. These were Jesus’s last commands to His followers, after all. No follower of Jesus Christ is exempt:

Love one another….We know love by this, that He laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives… Go into all the world and make disciples… [5]

When we do this we can be sure we too will have the opportunity to see “lives changed forever in some of the most desperate corners of the world.”[6]

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[1] Dr. Daniel Rickett, She Is Safe  SheIsSafe.org

[2] I John 3: 16-18

[3] Matt. 22:36-40

[4] I Cor. 3: 5-9

[5] John 15: 12; I John 3: 16-18; Matt. 28: 18-20

[6] Dr. Daniel Rickett

Road trips.

We’ve lived in Bakersfield for about 7 months now and have heard that the coast is only about 2 or 3 hours from us. It has taken us this long to plan a day trip to the ocean, but then it has been winter and now spring and it is considerably cooler over by the big water, which is great for our hot summer days here, not so good for winter time when the temps over there are a bit too chilly.

So, having the long Memorial weekend coming up, we decided it was probably warm enough by the ocean to enjoy our outing. We took off early, putting ‘Morro Bay’ into our GPS.

I am a visual person, meaning I learn and process and think in images I see in my mind so it helps me to look at something to learn from; the image will then be in my mind. I love maps because you can see where you are, where you are going to and usually how to get there.  With a good map anyway. I’ve run into some bad ones (my excuse for getting lost at times).

And there is the rub with a GPS.  You can’t always be sure it is giving you a ‘good map’. For one thing, it doesn’t show you a total map of your route, at least ours doesn’t; you have to trust the route it chooses is the right one. When you don’t know how to get to where you are going because you’ve never been there before, or don’t remember from the last time you were there (which is becoming all too frequent), you want a something which does know and will steer you aright. Unfortunately, a GPS will more often than you like send you down a bunny trail, or over a mountain, on the way to your destination.

And so it came about, as we journeyed forth in the westerly direction, making for that great sandy edge of the continent, with its cool breezes and salt air, the phantom lady-voice of the GPS directed us to leave the 2- lane, sometime 4-lane highway, for a 2 lane byway, one with a decidedly country remoteness and curviness as it wound now away from open countryside to twist around the bottoms and over the tops of brown round treeless hills. Tops of hills with no vistas to behold except more blind curves and air sucking drops over crests with no road visible.

Since the brake on the passenger side of the car didn’t work, I had a death grip on the door handle.  At least it kept me in a semi-upright position. I consciously told myself every few minutes, “Relax. Breathe.”

Now, you would think, having lived in the mountains of West Virginia for the past almost-20 years, that curvy roads wouldn’t bother me as though I were some flatlander who’d never hugged the side of a mountain.  I swear there is no such thing as a straight road in the whole state of WV. I couldn’t even read a book on the Interstate-77 freeway to Charleston for the curves. Makes me car sick.

But the difference, or one of the differences, is that on this road trip I had no steering wheel to hold onto. Isn’t it amazing how much easier it is to navigate curvy roads with a steering wheel in your hands? You hardly move from side to side, not like the whipping back and forth you get without that wheel to hang onto.

Another difference is that I was familiar with the roads I traveled in WV.  I knew the lay of the land ahead and how fast I could go around a given curve (see, I had that steering wheel). And how fast I wouldn’t go around any given curve! The road we were on to the beach was an unknown entity and full of fearsome, or potentially fearsome, surprises.

I don’t like surprises. I like knowing what’s ahead. I, frankly, like to have control, which in the case of our aforementioned road trip, I definitely did not have. Have I mentioned the brake on my side didn’t work? And the only thing I could hold onto was the door handle?

And besides, the purpose of this road trip was to get to the beach, not sight-see along the way. We, or for sure, I wasn’t interested in the scenic route, especially since there wasn’t even any scenery of a scenic nature about. Only those brown round treeless hills the tops of which, when reached, weren’t high enough for us to see any scenery.

I wasn’t interested in the trip as much as the destination.

Ah. I feel a metaphor coming on.

Didn’t I just this week email a message of, hopefully, encouragement to Nate and Trudy as they slog their way through the seeming obstacles of life which seemingly are getting in the way of the ministry to which God has called them to West Virginia (bless them)? The question mark is not for the ‘bless them’.

Didn’t I say to them that they are doing ministry as they get their house, that is, their physical dwelling, in order, livable for their family? If they do not have the livable house to live in, they cannot as well do the work for which they believe they went to West Virginia. They are living the work, that is, the ministry, before their neighbors’ eyes as they go about the everyday mundaneness of life.

We tend to think the Destination is our goal. But God is interested in the Process, the journey, the road trip, if you will, to that destination. His Goal is not the Destination but How we get there, ie: the road trip.

My latest road trip to the beach is a metaphor for my overall spiritual road trip. To be sure, I had to get ahold of the proverbial scruff of my neck several times to get my attitude corrected. But then, this is exactly what I am getting at. Attitude checks and readjustments must happen all along the way. Well, at least for me. It is usually called conviction and repentance. I do a lot of “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward …I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13, 14)

Yes, I’ve been learning: to hand over control (here, you drive), to stop trying to use a non-existent brake on curves, to relax and enjoy the ride, as much as possible, even when it is not what I anticipated. It is learning to live in the little things of life. Really live. Learning to Praise in the midst of sometimes not so great little (and big) things of life. And to never forget to praise in the good things of life.

So I share with others, like you and Nate and Trudy, the importance of perspective in our journey, of being-in-the-moment of the journey; it’s How we navigate the blind curves and air-sucking drops over crests of hills on which you can’t see the road ahead that is the point; that is the Goal. Relaxing and enjoying the non-scenic scenic route; loosening the white-knuckle death grip on the door handle; taking yourself by the scruff of the neck and telling yourself to ‘breathe’; this is the how.

And it helps to trust the Driver more. He has the wheel, and the brake on his side does work.

“Let’s therefore, as many as are mature, have this attitude (of forgetting what’s behind and pressing on); and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by the same standard to which we’ve attained. Brothers (and sisters), join in following my (Paul’s) example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.” (Philippians 3: 15-17)

(PS We did make it to the coast and had an enjoyable day. Glad I brought my sweater!)

I have become a part of a prayer group here in Bakersfield called Abide. I attend the Monday morning session but they also have a Monday evening session. I have met several wonderful Christian women who love the Lord, His Word and prayer in the morning Abide, but I haven’t yet met all the other ladies who attend the evening Abide.

I thought I’d go out to the Monday evening session last week to meet other sisters who have the same heart I have for seeking the Lord. My friend, Naomi, who leads the Abide groups, was there, along with Debbie, whom I had met once at a Monday morning Abide time. Others, one being a lady named Kay, were supposed to attend but though we waited before starting, no one came. Though I was delighted to be there with Naomi and Debbie, I was a trifle disappointed that I wasn’t going to get to meet these other ladies Naomi had told me about who usually attend the evening Abide group. Alas, I’d try another time to meet them. In the meantime, we had a great time listening to the Word and in prayer with the Lord.

Still, Naomi was surprised the other ladies hadn’t shown up when they had told her they were coming. Most unusual. After our 2 hour time together, we locked up the building at church in which we met and went our separate ways home.

I opened my email the next morning to read a message from Naomi. Kay and another lady HAD been at church to meet for prayer but finding the outer door locked (they didn’t knock, just assumed no one was there) the two of them had prayer together and left, thinking it quite strange Naomi wasn’t there.  All the while, we were in the building listening to the Word and praying!

Every weekend Naomi posts an article on the Abide blog site with an invitation to join them for prayer. This week’s article was written by Kay Chancey, the Kay who was locked out when we were expecting her to join us! I thought Kay’s article was so good, I wanted to share it with you all. I asked for, and received her permission to post her article on my blog, and an invitation to coffee to meet her next week!

I’m having so much fun!

Please read Kay’s thoughts on Waiting on the Lord. May He bless you as you contemplate and then go out and live His Word.

Thoughts by Kay Chancey ( member night time ABIDE)

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.” (italics mine) Psalm 32:8-9

Waiting on the Lord

There is a phrase God uses all throughout the scriptures to describe the act of getting into his presence; he calls it “waiting on the Lord.” It’s another way to say “meeting with God.” Yet I’ve mostly heard this phrase used to mean waiting for an answer to prayer or for direction. We think of “wait” as “not moving forward; holding back, patiently waiting our turn.” But words often carry more than one meaning. Scripturally, the phrase “waiting on the Lord” is more something to do, an action verb. It has to do with the act of worship. The word “wait” in Hebrew means “to look for, hope in, expect; to braid or twist together.” It’s something you’re actually doing, not waiting absent-mindedly in line.

Think of a waiter in a restaurant. He waits on tables. And if it’s your table, you hope it’s not the absent-minded waiting-for-you-to-leave definition! It’s his job, to actively wait tables. Hopefully he’s got the working definition - watching for eye contact, watching for what might be needed or wanted, ready to pounce into action. My dog definitely gets this active waiting thing; all ears, eyes, and muscles are trained on me as he attends to any movement or indication on my part. He even picks up on my mood or intention; what’s in my eyes.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.” (italics mine) Psalm 32:8-9

Oh, that we would be a generation skilled in waiting on the Lord, not so busy in all our self-imposed importance that he must force us to stop, and look at his face, but that we come running into his presence, humble, and eager to gaze long and wait.

Waiting on the Lord is a skill, a spiritual discipline to be developed. Seeking him, intentionally pursuing an awareness of him, the person of him, and attending to him – this is waiting on the Lord. Unlike before the fall, meeting with him is not natural; it doesn’t just happen, which is why we’re told to press in, to be diligent. We’re told to pursue, to seek his face and follow hard and fast after him. He wants this kind of relationship with you. He wants it. He created you to be you, because he likes you. He chose the you-ness of you and has invited you to walk through life with him. Not just with biblical principles or with the church or with a moral code, but with him. He’s made all the reservations, taken care of everything, and now it’s up to you to respond to that.

There are seven points here, on meeting with God. This is not a formula, and it’s not exhaustive, but rather just some things to consider as you spend time seeking his presence.

Waiting on the Lord

• Believe that he is real and that He wants to communicate with you.

• Have a healthy fear of a Holy God. He’s not your buddy; not your peer; he is altogether unlike us. Remember from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when the beavers were describing Aslan to the kids and Lucy says, “Then he isn’t safe?” “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” We must have a healthy fear of a Holy God. Put yourself in your place. And come sincerely; seek God himself, not a contrived experience, or some spectacular manifestation of the Holy Spirit just for the novelty of it. 

• Set aside a block of time.  Maybe ten minutes, maybe an hour, or a day. Maybe you’re desperate, and you want to say to him, “I’m not getting up from here until you meet me.”

• Confess any known sin and give your life to him again.

• Get into his word and worship him there.  This is why daily devotions are so vital; to have a bible study that you do, or read a portion of a devotional book. If you use a devotional book, make sure you get into God’s words, too. Study his words or phrases; meditate on them/sit with them; look for his character in there; minister to him in worship; thank him; maybe journal; use his own words to exalt him; look for biblical truth that you can pray back to him. Have relationship with him through his word.

• Ask him for wisdom; and/or to show you something new and wonderful (Jeremiah 33:3). You can pour out your heart, if you need direction or an answer from him, or just are concerned about things. But ask him to speak into your life through his word. Most of the time we do all the talking, but he wants to get a word in, too!

• Settle down and wait.  Settle your mind and spirit from the constant thoughts and talking, and see if you can hear (sense) him speak to you in your thoughts, from his word, or in your spirit. Many times when Christians say, “the Lord spoke to me,” they mean that he impressed upon them an understanding – that he communicated without language, Spirit to spirit – in their inner man. Often he uses his written word to communicate, using whatever section of scripture you’re already in, “speaking” into your circumstances, problems, concerns, needs, or desires.

This waiting, for God himself to interact with you, may take some time and persistence. We are so used to perceiving from our physical senses (hearing, taste, touch, sight, smell), and always on the fast-track, drive-thru mode. But though this biblical meditation, or waiting on the Lord, is a sacrifice of time and though it may not come easy at first, developing the spiritual discipline of interacting with God personally will be the greatest joy of your life.

Prayer: LORD: teaches to pray and help us to desire to serve you by waiting and anticipate your voice in worship. We love you Lord!

Well, I showed up today to speak to ladies at a monthly breakfast in SE Bakersfield. And God showed up too. For my part, the things I can see and know, God answered prayer. I was not nervous; no, not at all! I’m not used to being in front of people so I don’t have that practiced smoothness, but my voice didn’t quaver and my knees kept placidly in place; no bouncing around. Pretty boring…no, it was great!

For the other things we asked God about, those remain to be seen. But I trust He was at work in the ladies as much as He was at work in me. We live by faith! I do my part; God does His. The getting us to do our part is actually more difficult than God doing His part….

And that was a part of the theme for my talk today. It was interesting that I had the ideas forming even before I agreed to speak. Typically, the talk took shape as I wrote out what I would say (my writing, and I guess my speaking too, seems to take on its own life as I type), and rewrote, and rewrote, ad infinitum…well, almost. I had to stop rewriting because I had to get my “script” to Maria so she could familiarize herself with it so she could translate into Spanish! Otherwise I might have been rewriting up until this morning.

Being willing to do whatever God puts in your road and nudges you toward, even though you’d prefer to make a wide berth around it, is the crux of serving God with all your heart. The ‘all your heart’ (and soul and mind and strength) part is key. Shadow serving, like shadow boxing, is wasted effort. God sees through it and people can too. I can’t afford to waste my efforts; I don’t have enough energy for that, neither physically or spiritually.

What I said to the ladies who came out to this breakfast was geared toward those who live in the kinds of neighborhoods they live in. I understand something of that since I’ve lived in neighborhoods similar to theirs in SE Bakersfield for much of my adult life. That has been my place of service, the people to whom God has sent me. They have “faces” and “names” to me, even though I don’t personally know these ladies, yet; they are not strangers, really. So I spoke to them as God laid the ideas and words on my heart.

But you know, the truth transcends all cultures and economic levels of society. What I said to those ladies applies to everyone. The truth for the ‘hood is the same as for the middle and Upper class enclaves in the “high dollar” zip codes of our country (a good West Virginia-ism there).

For anyone interested in reading what I spoke, I’ve included it here. If you prayed for me and the ladies of SE today, thank you. You are a part of whatever God is doing in SE Bakersfield!

The script is rather “staccato” looking simply because it had to be translated every few sentences. It follows:

Good morning! Buenos Dias!

Wasn’t that a nice breakfast?

Let’s thank the ladies who did all the work!

My name is Jacque Wallace and I moved here last October.  I like Bakersfield!

I was born and raised in Michigan, the Mitten State.

I’ve lived in Minnesota, Florida, Canada, California, Georgia, West Virginia and now I’m back in California again. I think this will be the last state I live in!

I count it an honor to be able to speak to you today. Thank you for this opportunity.

Today I want to talk to you about two girls. Then I want to tell you how you all are connected to them.

The first is a girl we read about in the Bible; from the book of Mark, chapter 5:

“…one of the synagogue rulers…came (and)....Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

So Jesus went with him….(then) some men came from the house of …the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead”, they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly.

Jesus went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”

But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”

Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was 12 years old).”

I was about 12 years old when I read this story and somehow I felt a kinship with this girl. Even though she had lived 2 thousand years ago, she and I had something in common, we were young girls.

I had no idea at that time that in a few years I would have something else in common with that little girl: I too would be dying, and my parents would be crying out to God like her parents had.

So the second girl I want to tell you about is… me.

I was a happy, healthy child until about age 13 when I began to have weakness in my muscles.

I had a hard time talking, smiling, eating; my eyelids drooped, I had no energy, I couldn’t even raise my arms to comb my hair, and you know how important that is for a young lady!

For 2 years I kept getting weaker and weaker; we didn’t know what was wrong with me.

My parents finally found a doctor who diagnosed a disease with a very long name I won’t make Maria say! I’ll shorten it to “MG”. Much easier!

After I was diagnosed I got worse and worse so that finally I couldn’t go to school, couldn’t feed myself, couldn’t even raise my arms.

I ended up in the hospital at age 15 to have a surgery the doctors hoped would help me.

But they told my parents I might not live through the surgery, and if I did, the surgery might not even help me get stronger.

I cannot even imagine how my parents felt. I was dying before their eyes.

Crying out to God in prayer, my parents grasped at the small hope offered that the surgery would help me, that God would heal me, just like the synagogue ruler in the Bible grasped at the hope that Jesus would heal his daughter.

I lived through the surgery. 

When I woke up after surgery I couldn’t talk because I had a tube in my throat to help me breath, and tubes in my lungs. I had a big scar down my chest.

I remember being in and out of consciousness in the ICU. I found out a few years ago I had been in ICU for 6 weeks, hovering between life and death.

Instead of getting better after surgery, I was getting worse every day; I was still dying.

Finally, one night when the doctors didn’t think I would live until morning, my dad gave me up to God to let God have his way, even if it meant I would die. He let go of his little girl.

That night, I started to get better.

Jesus gave me life.

But is that the end of the story? Happy ever after just to be alive?

When God gives you life in exchange for death, there is a debt to be paid.

I think of it this way: When my dad let go of me to let God do whatever he chose to do, God said, OK. Now I will give her life.

You finally understand she belongs to me. I have a claim on her. I have put a call on her life to serve me and one day she will understand that too.

And one day God did call me, softly, lovingly he called in my heart, to make good on his claim.

At about age 20 I heard God in my heart calling me to him and I gave my life back to God; I dedicated my life to loving and serving God.

I had put my trust in Jesus Christ to save me from my sins when I was a child, but now God was taking me the next step in following Jesus: giving my life back to God.

I just wanted to serve him because I loved him!

That was the most joyous time of my life! Even though I had little physical strength, I wanted to serve God with all my strength, out of love for him.

And by God’s grace I have been doing that for the past 42 years. It has been the greatest adventure to live by faith and serve God!

Now, why did I tell you about the little girl in the Bible and about me?

I told you so you could see a picture of the mercy and grace of God…the mercy and grace he has shown to all of us in Jesus Christ.

All of us are made in the image of God and he loves every one of us.

But the Bible also says we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We all are dead in sin, dead to God.

Just as that little girl was dead in her body, we are dead in sin, dead to God.

We all are in desperate need of the Savior to give us life and forgive our sins. We can’t save ourselves. 

Jesus Christ is the one and only savior who can give us life in exchange for death.

By his sinless life, by his death, taking our sins on him on the cross; by his triumphant rising from the dead; Jesus has become Lord and Savior for all, for anyone who calls on his Name for salvation, for forgiveness of their sins.

And he gives us his own eternal life; he makes us alive to God!

Now, today, is the day of salvation! God calls to us in the Now. Choose now to trust Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all your sins and to gain eternal life.

And if you have done that, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

now is the day to give back to God what you owe him for that great salvation: your life.

And that is the point of me telling you about my life: God gave me life; I owe him my life in return.

I’m not talking so much about when I was sick and dying and he gave me life;

I’m talking about the life he gave me when by faith I placed my trust in Jesus Christ to save me from all my sins.

God the Father sent his son Jesus, who took my sins on him and died in my place. That is why I owe him my life.

And that is why you owe him your life. Jesus gave his life for you.

God now says to you,You understand, don’t you, that you belong to me. I gave my life for you. I have a claim on your life.

And I have put a call on your life to love and serve me with all your heart and now I am calling you to step up and do just that.

You must ask yourself, How can I hold back my life from such a merciful and loving God as this who gave his life for me?

How can I turn away from the greatest joy of my life?

How can I miss out on the greatest adventure in life, living for God my King and Savior?

So, OK, you may ask, how do we give our lives back to God to love and serve him?

Giving our lives back to God means we Love and Serve him with all our heart. And we prove our love for God by loving and serving other people.

So first we must confess we have not loved God wholeheartedly, and repent of going our own way.

Then, we must begin to live our lives according to God’s ways, as he shows us in the Bible, no longer living in our old ways.

Serving God has nothing to do with big, flashy, noisy things.

Serving God is done in quiet, everyday deeds.

Loving and serving God doesn’t take a lot of money or education; you don’t need those things to be kind to others and choose to do the good and right things. Right?

Loving and serving God doesn’t take a lot of ability. Anyone can serve God.

Someone said, the greatest Ability is Availability. In other words, Just showing up!

So what does it look like to give God your whole life to love and serve him here in SE Bakersfield?

Let me share some ways I can think of (and I only talked with God about this, no one else!).

First and foremost you love and serve God by faithfully going to church every Sunday, with your children or grandchildren, and your husband.

Why? To be with other believers who love God and who will encourage you, and you encourage them; and to learn from the Bible about God and how God wants us to live. That is why we go to church.

You love and serve God by teaching your children each day about the Lord and living out what the Bible teaches in front of them, doing the right things, day after day in your home.

These two things are the basics, the ‘kindergarten’ of living for the Lord. Everyone who says they are a follower of Jesus can and should be doing these things.

But there are other ways to serve God close to home:

Being a good neighbor. Do you like to have good neighbors?

Be a good neighbor! You are the face and hands of Jesus to your neighbors.

You could show your love for God and serve him by volunteering to work with the children during church some Sundays, or volunteering at church to help in other ways. Could you use some help at church, Maria, Cesar?

Whatever church you attend, you can serve God by being a faithful worker there.

You could serve God by volunteering with Maria and Cesar as they reach out into your neighborhood.

God has sent them here to your community to join with you to tell your neighbors and family about Christ.

Maria and Cesar need your help in the after-school and summer programs serving your children.

You need to invite your friends to go with you to Bible study, perhaps joining Maria’s Bible study on Thursdays, to learn more about God and how to live in the world.

You can help with putting on this wonderful monthly breakfast to show your love for the ladies sitting in this room with you. Is this something you can do? Sure it is!

What are other ways you can serve the Lord right here where you live?! You can come up with a lot more ideas than I can!

Let’s hear some of your ideas.

You may not do all these things but certainly you can do something.

This is how you give your life back to God and serve him with all your heart --by serving others.

We are only limited in showing love and kindness to others by our will to do it.

If you say you are a Christian but haven’t been loving and serving Christ with all your heart, come confess that to God and start serving him now! God will forgive and help you.

But don’t come forward unless you mean it! God takes you at word!

If you haven’t put your trust in Jesus to forgive all your sins yet, do that now and then start doing what is right, living out your love for God by loving others. Start in the ‘kindergarten’ of loving and serving God and move outward to your community.

Again, don’t come forward unless you mean it! God takes you at your word!

We cannot Earn our salvation, but we must make every Effort to follow Christ in obedience, fulfilling Jesus’ great commandment to “love one another.”

And remember, in everything you do, do it as though you did it to the Lord…for you are.