I have mentioned probably a few too many times that we are currently going through the study called Experiencing God. It has been great and we have learned tons from this – not the least of which is just to open our eyes and see God working in our lives.

And God has given us lots of chances to trust him recently, even when we could not see Him, or what we were trusting Him for did not make all that much sense.

But I noticed something the other day. A friend of mine made me think again about the line "sure of what we hope for" from Hebrews. He thinks it’s funny to call that faith – cause it’s just us hoping for something, not faith in something God is going to do. I got to thinking about it, and I think he is totally right.

God does not promise that any time we go off half-cocked and say "God is gonna do this for me!", or "God is gonna do that!" that is not necessarily faith. That is insane. To think that you could command the Holy One… you’re nuts. BUT, when we "knew" that God was going to give us the shoe (see Oct 29/30)… we did not have that idea… as crazy as it may sound, I am confident that God let us know He was going to give us the shoe. We were very quietly confident that He would do it… because he told us. Not with audible words… with impressions… like were mentioned in the story.

God is working around us… and he wants us to join him. And he will and does invite us. We just need to listen, watch, and then follow him. Then our faith will be confirmed when he does what he says he will do.

Don’t forget that God is not a microwave. He told David he would be king, and then 30 plus HARD years later, he got to be the coolest king Israel has ever had. But it took 30 years. Abraham had to wait a LOOOOOOONNG time for the son God promised him – and obviously did not get to see the descendants God promised him. God’s timetable is bigger than the one we think we have.

So listen for God. That is what I have learned. When he leads you, you can trust him. You will know it is His voice. Check it with His word. Check it with his past dealings with people (in Scripture) and you’ll just know.

Now, be aware, I am talking to Christians here. Those of us who have already bought in to the big picture, and have surrendered our lives to him (like yesterday’s post). Until then, we have no hope of really discerning God’s voice. The Spirit is our connection between our messed up world and God’s Holiness.

But once you are in – watch and listen, and then follow. That is faith. That is trust. That is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. It is not initated by us – it is following the voice of our God. Following his lead.

And you know what? It’s fun!

Today is Jen’s brother’s birthday. He turned 40 today! Awesome! I was just thinking of him as I was going to type this BLOG entry about the rich young man (also called the rich young ruler)… he matches most of those qualifiers — except the young part today I guess!!! 🙂

We did a worship concert focusing on surrender last night… and the central story I used was the one about the man we call the Rich Young Ruler.

Jesus had been teaching crowds of people, and he had begun to move on to the next place when a rich young man came running up and fell on his knees before Jesus and asked, "Good Teacher, what should I do to be saved??"

Jesus had several clever replies… but the short version of the story – Jesus said obey God’s commands. To which, the man said, "I have since I was a kid!" To which, Jesus replied, "Ok… just one more thing… you need to sell all of your possesions and give it to the poor, and come follow me."

I always thought this meant that Jesus wanted everyone to sell all their stuff and live like monks. But I don’t think that is his point here. Jesus seemed to be saying this to just this one man. There is no time I recall that Jesus asked any other rich guy to sell all his stuff. This was a personal thing for this one guy.

But the crazy part was what happened next. All through Jesus life we see people responding to his call in a much different way… Peter, Andrew, James and John all got up and quit their jobs and left their homes seemingly instantly to follow Jesus. Zaccheus gave back huge sums of money to the people he had stolen it from – and more!

Not the Rich Young Ruler. The next line of the story is, "At this, the man’s face fell, and he went away sadly because he had many possessions." The text might as well say here "he went away sad because he had many possessions, and he would like to KEEP them!"

The reason I picked this story for surrender is right here. He could not surrender his wealth. Jesus said, "one thing you lack". One thing. And he could not let go. He could not give up the security and the comfort of his wealth.

Well it doesn’t really make sense does it? You’re not supposed to give up the stuff that you have? You need to keep some for yourself, don’t you?

No. Cause you’re dead.

When we give our lives to Jesus, he wants us to do just that. Give our lives. We die with him, the Bible says. Die to our old self. Die to sin. We are supposed to take up our cross every day… to remember that we no longer live – but Christ lives in us.

If you think about it, those are really strong words. We no longer live. It’s hard to hold on to something when you’re dead. I don’t see a lot of dead people clinging to their wallets… or their habits… or their whatever. They’re dead. They have surrendered the ghost. (I guess that’s the last thing you can surrender).

Jesus wants it all. Everything. In Revelation, Jesus said, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Some translations say "I am about to vomit".

Surrender must be absolute. We can not be lukewarm. Jesus wants everything. The good thing is, we can only surrender what we know we have. The rich guy was OK until Jesus showed him what he needed to surrender. Once he saw it, he was not OK. That was past the line for him. But the cool part is that Jesus showed him what he needed to surrender.

What do you need to surrender? What are you holding on to in life that keeps you from full surrender to Jesus? A habit? A way of thinking? A way of speaking? A sin? Perhaps your wealth? Perhaps your schedule? Whatever it might be… I bet you are thinking of it.

That is the great thing about surrendering to Jesus. He is patient, and will let us know when and what we need to surrender to him. For that, I am quite thankful.

So… just wanted to give you a chance to surrender, too.

Can I tell one more story? This entry is so long already. You can be done if you’d like. But if you want to hear one more thing… read on. 🙂

There is another spot in the Bible where Jesus says, I tell you what, if anyone give up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children for me will receive 100 times that in return and will receive eternal life.

When I read that, I thought — THAT’S US!!! A couple years ago, we had finally received a salary from the church we were working for after many years of living on support and some odd jobs… and we had big plans for that money! A house… paying off some stuff… just having money!!!! Well, at about that same time, God was calling us to give that up. We did not like that very much. We were looking forward to having a house. And the money. But we wanted to obey God… so we did. We resigned not one month after we received the salary. (Actually we resigned at just about the same time we received it, but continued in the position for one more month in order for the church to make some adjustments.)

Do you know what happened after that??? Within weeks we found out the jobs we thought God was leading us to were not where He was leading at all — and we were left with basic music ministries… which we didn’t think would work, but apparently God did. We turned down a stable, salaried job to go out and serve without ever asking for any money… and that year we made MORE than we ever had before!!!!

And, in addition to that, we found a house to rent that was just about the same as our apartment… and way lower than any other place in our area. And then God arranged a lot of things in our life so that we could BUY the house we are currently in. Folks… we should not be homeowners. But… God gives 100 times what we leave for him. We left the house we were going to buy with our new salary… but he gave us the rental, and now our own… and besides that, we get to stay in some AMAZING houses all over the country as we travel. Simply incredible. God is giving us way more than we could have asked for or imagined.

And that’s what he does. When we surrender – life gets better. Anyone who holds on to his life will lose it, but whoever loses it for me will gain it.

Absolute surrender. That is what he wants. Ask God today how you can surrender to him. I betcha he’s already letting you know. 🙂

We were at Subway today grabbin’ a little lunch – just me and the boys – and I noticed a little something about the way most of us look at things.

I had both the boys, so I could not order and take care of them, so I just watched what they were doing, and they found their way to the edge of the counter where they could stand up on the seat and look over. They seemed fine, so I let them be. They were safe in my eyes.

But not in the eyes of one of the ladies behind the counter. She scolded me for letting them be up there – "They might fall and hurt themselves!"

In all fairness, she might have been right. They may have fallen and bumped their head or gotten a minor injury of some sort. But really, that was not pressing in my mind, since I knew even if they fell they would probably be OK. It was not a long fall…

But she may have thought the same thing if she knew the dangers I was trying to keep them from. If she had perhaps seen me correcting my boys from a behavior that might harm them other than physically, perhaps she would have thought differently? I regularly regulate their TV watching (not only the amount, but certainly the shows they watch) and I try hard to make sure Ian is thinking pure thoughts and being grateful in life – not selfish or evil. And we try and generate generosity in both our boys through sharing with each other and everyone else.

Seems to me that those are the important things. The heart issues rather than the tissue issues. Muscles, skin & bones will all heal. Hearts take longer, and sometimes don’t.

So to some I may appear a bit lackadaisical in guarding my children’s physical bodies but be sure of this, I am doing everything I can to guard their hearts.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Prov 4:23

So what is more important? The seen, or the unseen?

I’ll go with the unseen. And take my chances on a few broken arms. 🙂

I have just been thinking recently how fast our kids will grow up.

Life is already so different from when we brought Ian home from the hospital. We don’t deal with is he eating enough food? How many wet diapers did he have today? Now we are trying to figure out how to help him be grateful in life (instead of always wanting more.) And trying to help him learn that he is not "in charge" (those are Ian’s words) by showing respect for other people in politeness and such (starting with Mom & Dad) 🙂

We got to spend some time with some friends who live in Cape Coral, FL. They have two boys – 17 and 15. They are good guys, and growing up fast. But I just saw in them what my boys might be in 12 years or so. Independent and sometimes making potentially bad choices. When I think about that – it just hurts. I don’t want my boys to ever get hurt (or hurt other people, for that matter).

But I think God is helping me see that they do grow up fast. And they really belong to him. I wrote awhile ago about Perfection. How it is not attainable for me — or for my boys. My boys will make bad choices. But God will use those for good.

I wish it was not that way. I try my hardest to keep them from bad influences. I try my best to fill them with good things – and help them see the world as it really is – as it has been revealed to us by God.

Unfortunately, part of that world is sin. Our bad choices. And until Jesus comes back and makes everything new – we get to live in the messed up world.

But grow up they will. I can’t do anything about that. I will continute to do the best I can – and ask God to do way more than I can – to help my boys grow up living everyday in God’s amazing grace.

Hope you are too.

Today, just wanted to introduce you to some cool friends of ours. Their names are Justin & Tasha Golden. Together in public they are known as "Dividing The Plunder". Get to know them, and buy their music below. We highly recommend these folks.

Dividing The Plunder – website

Dividing The Plunder – Journal

Buy their music at Grassrootsmusic.com

Happy Halloween!!!

I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of fun on this holiday growing up. My mom would help us find (or MAKE us) the COOLEST costumes, and we’d go around to friends, family, and neighbors’ houses say the magic phrase "Trick Or Treat!", smile, and get FREE CANDY! I remember sitting at home on our awesome burnt orange shag carpet (ok, maybe it wasn’t THAT bad) and sorting through all my candy and offering strategic trade proposals to my younger sister… hoping to come out with the greatest candy collection ever!

It wasn’t till much later in life that I found out that if you love God, you have to hate Halloween. Well, you know what … I almost NEVER do what I "HAVE" to do (or am excpected to do). I really don’t see a problem with the candy and fun part of halloween. Obviously the exalting of the gross, dark, evil side of life is something we should not ever be doing… but dressing up as our favorite superhero and walking around with our family getting to say hello to all our neighbors (and getting FREE candy!!!) …. how can that be bad?

How do you feel about this issue? If you feel strongly enough to let me know – e-mail me at the link to the left and I’ll post your replies on the blog page if I can.

So, till then…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🙂

I just wanted to add some more on the fantastic faith story of Ian’s watershoe. 🙂 Just some thoughts from my head throughout the whole thing…

Can God Really Do It? That thought obviously kept going through my head. In a way. You know, I really had no problem believing that God COULD bring Ian’s shoe out of the water and neatly onto the shore for us… but where my mind betrays me or gets me into trouble is on the "does he want to" side of things. I mean, what does God care about a shoe?

But he cares about Ian… But I kept coming back to the fact that it’s not about the shoe – it’s about how much God loves Ian – and even me – in this. He loves when we come to him believing that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Heb 11:6)

Faith Like A Child. You know, I actually saw Ian’s simple faith waiver a bit. But it wasn’t as insecure as my waivering. I wonder if God would ever do something big and God-like for me… but Ian didn’t worry about that. He just wondered when it would happen. He KNEW God would do it. That was so cool. I did too actually. It was honestly some of the most confident I have been in a while, and I just smiled everytime I was talking to God cause I really knew He was going to do it.

Moments of Doubt. There were plenty of moments when I had looked and asked and found nothing where I wanted to just give up… and I would talk to God again and ask Him what should I do… lead me to the shoe. (that rhymed…) I knew that even if God did not come through with the shoe, there would be some awesome story of His provision. I was confident in that.

Celebration! You know, I honestly thought I would celebrate more… but all I wanted to do was smile and worship God. We sang some, we shouted out "GOD IS AWESOME!" and just had fun. But in the end… we were really expecting Him to do it! We knew he could – and we thought he would. Amazing.

I think that is how God wants us to live. Completely trusting Him, even when it doesn’t make sense – or seem possible. There are so many chances we have in life to trust that God is bigger. Sickness being one of them. Our friend’s daughter is really really sick. And they love Jesus. A lot. They are in a crisis of belief. Can God fix this? Will he? Does he love us? They know all the answers, but now they have to trust him.

God gave Ian his shoe back today so he will have a reason to trust Him in the future with bigger stuff. Our friends are dealing with a very tough situation right now — where they have to trust God. God has given them plenty of shoes… that is what they are holding onto and taking comfort in right now – the shoes God has given them.

What are your shoes? Can you think of one? Or several? God gives us little markers along the way where we see Him very clearly working or leading in our lives… and it’s when we look back at those that we can look forward in trust. Faith is being SURE of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Faith requires action. God gives us reasons to trust him (shoes) and then something happens where we HAVE to trust him – and that’s when we remember the shoes and trust that He has another one for us.

Tonight, celebrate Ian’s shoe – and remember yours. And thank God for his amazing love and faithfulness. And trust him. Really.

Just a quick update on Ian’s shoe…

We got up this morning at 7am, which is like 3 hours before Ian usually gets up! We walked right out the door (Dad & Ian) and headed to the beach. We were asking God to show us where He put the shoe… and we started looking. We probably looked for 30 min or so… up and down the beach where we had lost it. no luck. I finally told Ian, why don’t we go home and we’ll come back and see if God wants to give it to us later. Sometimes God likes us to learn to trust Him by waiting.

So we did. We went back around 1:30pm or so with the whole family, and started to look again. We were just having fun, too… but Ian really wanted to find his shoe. He said, "Ask God again, dad!" I told him, yeah, I can’t do anything about this Ian, if God wants to give you your shoe, He will, if not, then we’ll just have to get another one.

Within one minute I think, Ian had gone up to be with mom (out of the water) and they started walking down the beach, and there were shouts of excitement… THEY FOUND IT!!! It was just sitting right in the beach wash (which Ian and I had checked 4 times at least earlier today).

Wow. Thanks God. You are the Wave Maker. The Oceans (and the Gulfs) obey your commands. And you love your children so much. We are amazed at God’s abilities and his love for us.

Hope you know that too.

I was humbled again. By my son Ian. I love it when he does that. Really.

We were praying, and sometimes Ian is a bit embarrassed to talk with God in front of people – even mom & dad. Tonight he was again… but He decided to….

A bit of background… We went to the beach tonight after sunset (yes, the water was still QUITE warm!) and Ian and I were having a bunch of fun jumping waves. On one jump, over a large wave, Ian was quite upset, and finally got out that he lost his water shoe!!! 🙁 I spent 10 minutes feeling around for it, and looking around in the moonlit water. No luck. And all I could think about was the trust of Ian for his dad to find his shoe (that seemed to me to be quite precious to him) and how I could not do it. So I kept thinking that God is in control of oceans. And I kept asking him to help me find it, wash it up on shore, or put it in my hand. Whatever he wanted to – for my son Ian who completely trusts both of his dads. Well, no shoe – but I kept thinking that we should just come back tomorrow morning…. so, I went back to Ian and told him that. And we are going to go back and look for it tomorrow morning. 🙂

So, fast forward to tonight – praying before Ian goes to bed. And Ian decides he can pray without getting embarrased. He simply asked God to "please put the shoe on the beach so we can find it tomorrow. Thanks.". That was so cool.

The part that humbled me was not that… we continued to pray, and this time I was praying for our friend Kayla who is sick in the hospital with pneumonia. I thanked God for being big and powerful and asked him to help in many ways to heal Kayla, and to help Kayla’s mom have peace as she trusts Him.

Simple. Plain english. That’s how I would talk to my dad – so that’s how I talk to me Dad.

But Ian wanted to pray for Kayla, too. So he did.

"God, we know that you are mighty, and powerful… and we ask you to… get the… to… uh…. (many words) … help the doctors get medicine to help Kayla’s body to get better. So she doesn’t die."

Notice a difference? I did. Ian was getting all flowery (in his best four-year-old way… because I guess I do. I try hard to just be real with God. Guess I can try even more. 🙂

Thanks Ian for a fresh perspective.

Thanks Dad for Ian.

You are both awesome. (In different ways of course) 🙂

Today has been a day that I have longed for home again. This time I mean the tall yellow house in Palmyra, NY. 🙂 Just, when I load the dishwasher in this awesome temporary home, I think – wish I was loading ours… and when I take a shower, I think, wish I was in our bathroom… etc, etc, etc. We are so blessed to have all that we have. Here and at home. I guess I am just missing the fun of being in OUR home. And, more than that, just missing our friends and family back home. This usually happens at the midway point of a trip. The funny part is, that is usually MANY more weeks into a trip. 🙂 This is a short one! We’re home in just over two weeks. 🙂

Check out the calendar when you get a chance to see what is coming up for us. We have a couple more "free" days here and then we head to Ft. Myers for the weekend. It’s a fairly full weekend, and then we actually head right back here! Ha! Fun!

We had a great day yesterday, celebrating Jen. She is so great. I am so glad my family moved to Clarence, NY. Glad she came along 11 years after her next oldest brother. Glad she decided to hang out with me. 🙂

More later.