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]

---

[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.

 

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the mystery of God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.” I Corinthians 2: 1-5

This morning, as my mind went over again what I am going to say, for I have rewritten and rewritten it many times, I knew that it was pretty much done. I can keep rewriting until the morning I stand in front of the ladies, but what is needed more than anything is the power of God, not more polishing of words.

Every Christian public speaker goes through this process; it is just a new phenomenon for me. But it is actually the same principle for whatever we do with the Lord: though we do our very best, ultimately what has to happen is God must move through our words and actions to effect his purposes.

Water to wine.

So here I found myself this morning, looking up the passage above. “Weakness, fear, much trembling”? Check. I am in good company there. “No wise and persuasive words”? Check. I’ve never been able to convince by my powers of persuasion!

“Demonstration of the Spirit’s power”? That is definitely what I need! It is up to the Lord—though  I continue to look to him for the words and the strength to say the words—to move with the power which is beyond me, to turn the ‘water’ of my words into the ‘wine’ of life in the hearers.

Next Thursday, May 16, I will be speaking to a group of ladies from the neighborhoods of South East Bakersfield, the area of town with the worst reputation: the most poverty, gangs, drugs and crime. The MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) Park next to the building we will be in is a local hangout for homeless people and drug dealers.

The wife of the couple starting a church in the area holds a Thursday morning ladies’ Bible study there each week, and once a month the church I attend hosts a breakfast for these and others ladies invited from the neighborhood. A speaker is invited to come each month and this month… I will be the speaker.

I, of course, was hesitant when asked a few weeks ago if I would speak to the group of ladies this month. I said I’d pray about it (that’s always a smart start). I thought, maybe I can get Randy to share the podium with me. Nothing doing. He thinks I should step up and take the opportunity since I have a message and God has given me more strength. Ok. I agree, but public speaking!

In Bible college they taught us to be ready to “Preach, pray, sing or die at a moment’s notice”. I pretty much deferred to the guys on that one….well, here I go.

Ok, Lord. This is not something I feel competent to do, but others think otherwise, and a door of opportunity has opened. I cast myself on the mercies of the Lord!

Actually, I feel God has given me something to say; I had it forming in my mind before I even knew I’d say yes. I may have a racing heart when I get up to stand before the ladies next Thursday, but I am trusting God to help me, and keep my kneecaps firmly in place. I truly believe the word God said, ‘my strength is made perfect in (your) weakness ‘. I’ve lived at that address for a very long time.

His strength is just what I desire. I want God to powerfully work in the lives of these ladies whose lives are hard, filled with things I cannot imagine, struggling to live day after day with odds stacked against them.

Their hope is the same as my hope. Our one and only hope is Jesus Christ. I have met the God of hope and now I will try to tell others where to meet him too.

It is Jesus I intend to point them to; to call them to give their lives wholeheartedly to God, to love and serve him with all their hearts.

Will you pray for me?

For those ladies?

For spiritual barriers and defenses to be torn down?

Will you pray that God have unhindered access to each of us, for his eternal purposes? Will you pray for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it….for the Lord gives….” Psalm 127: 1, 2

Unless the Lord speaks through me, I speak in vain…for the Lord gives life, not my words alone. But my words must be spoken so the Lord can give life to the hearers of his good news.

Blest are the feet of those who bring good news…even in the central valley.

Winter and spring months bring many inquiries to Mustard Seeds and Mountains about Mission as Life trips to West Virginia. In the literature I send in reply, we offer an Appalachian cultural event we call Bluegrass Night, as an optional activity for their free evening on Wednesday. People often ask, “What is Bluegrass night?”

Here is a reply I made today to that very question. I have such fond memories of Bluegrass nights I’ve attended over the years, I thought I’d share this with you:

Many years ago, not long after we moved to West Virginia, Randy, a self-taught guitar player, heard about a little bluegrass place near our home called The L'l Opry, where you could jam with other musicians on Thursday nights. He went, had fun and met Phil and Kay who own the place. Randy found out Phil and Kay are Christians and he had the brainstorm of taking our volunteer teams to The Li'l Opry while they were here on their week long mission trips, as a cultural experience (we get a lot of city folk come to WV, you know).

The Li'l Opry was usually open Friday and Saturday nights, so since teams left for home on Friday mornings, they wouldn’t be able to go to the regular performances. So Phil and Kay opened their doors every Wednesday night, after they got out of Wednesday night Bible study at church, and had a show ready for the Mustard Seeds and Mountains volunteers. Sometimes a volunteer would get up on stage and play and sing, too. People from all over the eastern seaboard who had never heard bluegrass music, or two-stepped or flatfoot danced, had a blast! Phil opens each evening with prayer, and when they play any gospel songs, there's no dancin'.

 We've grown to love Kay and Phil, and Kay and Phil have grown to love Mustard Seeds: our staff and the wonderful folk who come from all over the country to serve the needy in McDowell County.

When asked what Bluegrass night is all about, I always tell people Wednesday night Bluegrass is a 'hoot' (I learned that word while living in GA, northern girl that I am)! It is a lot of fun, and the right kind of fun. Be sure to bring your cameras!

 So there you have it;)

Ya’ll come on over sometime.

The picture in my mind is of the front yard of our house, looking out the picture window of our front room. There wasn’t much to look at, actually; a small yard with a big Chinese elm tree which was so shady it killed all the grass around it. We were missionary staff at the US Center for World Mission in Pasadena, CA, and our sons were in grade school. It was this period of our lives when I had the first realization that the life of faith and serving the Lord is an adventure. The memory is always accompanied by the sense of excitement in the adventure. Always makes me smile.

It was when I was about 20 that I finally came to the point in my life as a Christian--for it was when I was a child I had asked Jesus to save me from my sins--that I was serious about living whole-heartedly for God. He, of course, had been calling me to Himself for several years; I just finally heard.

Since that time I’ve sought to serve Him with all my energy and strength. If you know me, or anything about my story, you know those two commodities have been in short supply for me from the time I was 13 years old. That was when I began to show symptoms of muscle weakness; I was diagnosed with the disease known as Myasthenia Gravis.  With a severe muscle weakness I didn’t have much to give the Lord. But God wasn’t interested in what I could do for Him, in what great abilities I could give to Him for His service. He was interested in how much of myself I would give to Him, in all my inability and weakness. Back then I had no idea how I could ever serve the Lord, but I started on the road to prepare myself for whatever service He might lead me into.

And for nearly 40 years now I’ve been a partner with husband Randy in serving the Lord with all my strength. It’s always an adventure, this living by faith; “faithing”, as Randy calls it.

Oswald Chambers so beautifully says, “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us “go”.” My Utmost for His Highest, March 19.

Mustard Seeds West

While the WV ministry moves ahead apace, these days Randy and I are in a new adventure of faith, seeking by prayer and research the ministry God has for Mustard Seeds and Mountains in and around Bakersfield, California: Mustard Seeds West. We are a bit more ‘seasoned’ after 40 years of “faithing”; we’ve been learning to be patient and wait in hope as we seek the Lord for His guidance.

Waiting on the Lord does not mean doing nothing. It is a very active period when we investigate and research, gathering all kinds of information about the needs of an area and who is doing what to address those needs. We lay before the Lord all this information, remaining open to how He may impress us to act on that information.

Wherever one goes, there is need: West Virginia, California, your town and county. But the need is not the call. We cannot be involved in meeting all the needs a community presents. In fact, no one can but Jesus. Our call is to Him. So we keep our eyes on Him, seeking to find out the particulars of how He wants to put us to work as His hands and feet to meet needs in a particular area.

Randy’s been meeting a lot of people here in Bakersfield and Kern County, and learning about the multitude of needs and who is doing what in the area to meet those needs. So now we are beginning to see things narrow down to some ‘what’s’ and ‘how’s’ and “who’s”; the particulars of ministry involvement. We are still on the front end of this, but already we are excited about the possibilities.

One venture has already begun: Randy has been serving a small, struggling non-profit which serves the poor community, by consulting with them on how to better do what they desire to do. His years of experience and training are being brought to bear to help others fulfill their vision and calling. And that is exciting.

“…those who wait for (hope in) the LORD will …walk and not get tired…” Isaiah 40:31