On one such occasion, the adults had risen early to fix breakfast and organize the plan of attack for the day.  I was about 5 and, for some odd reason, had chosen to sleep a little later than everyone else.  I got up out of bed and staggered down the hall for my morning hug when I saw a strange man sitting at the kitchen table.  (The visiting minister).  We had not yet been formally introduced.  He took one look at me and said, “Well, good morning little fella’.  And what do they call you?”  To which I replied, “They call me tupid.”  (Stupid, for those of you who do not now remember how to speak “five-year old”.)

Ever felt like that?  Stupid, I mean.  I have.  Lately.  I bought a pair of jeans that were so high-waisted that the belt was almost around my chest.  I didn’t notice when I bought them, for $8, at StufMart.  My girls did.  They didn’t call me tupid but they were thinking it.  I felt stupid when I tried to have a Core Group meeting, last night and almost fell asleep in mid-sentence because I was so exhausted.  They should still call me Tupid.

But I am the kind of person that God wants to use.  The kind that would attack a giant with a slingshot.  The kind that would ambush thousands with hundreds.  The kind that would chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day.  The kind that would climb up the side of a cliff with one other guy to jump a few hundred of the best trained warriors of their day.  That kind.  The stupid kind.  The kind that would get out of a boat in the middle of a hurricane just to see what it was like to walk on water.

But they all lived to tell an incredible tale. 

“The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen!  And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was incredibly, this:  The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.”  I John 1.2 (msg)

Just call me Tupid.

My dad asked me one question that put everything in perspective.  “Son, do you ever remember getting up before grandma Leonard?”  You see, I would spend a week or two every summer with my father’s parents who lived in Coleman,  AR.  Sometimes I was lucky enough to get to spend a week in the winter and deer hunt.  I loved living on the farm.  Part of what I loved best was to wake up every morning with the smell of bacon and coffee wafting down the drafty halls of that old grey house.  My grandmother would always rise before me and have breakfast ready and a fire in the fireplace.  And she never set an alarm.  How was that possible?  It was her very nature to rise up early.

It is my nature to do the same.  But that is not the only thing it is my nature to do.  Most of the other things I prefer to leave unsaid.  I have a nature that I inherited from a relative much further up the family tree.  He cursed me with innate desires that dog my every waking moment and my every passing thought.  How can I escape what is my very nature to accomplish?

You really need to read Romans 7.15-25 in The Message.  It’s so clear that we do not stand a chance against our nature unless Christ rescues us.  Verse 25 makes it clear; “The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.  He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do  something totally different.”

So, I’m always going to be odd about when I wake up and when I go to bed but I don’t have to be about the way sin influences my life.  Jesus rescued me.  Anybody else smell bacon?

Anyway, I was about six and my parents and I were on our way to visit some friends that lived on the airbase in my home town.  I was in the backseat jabbering about the planes and the regulations and bombs and anything military that I could think of.  This went on for about 15 minutes and my father got his fill.  He said, “Son, you are just talking to hear your head rattle.  Hush a minute.”  Hurt my sensitive ego.  That’s probably what has caused me to be the maladjusted individual that I am today, come to think of it.  So I stopped, completely.  I didn’t breathe a word.  I was silent for mere minutes and it weight of my silence fell on my dad.  He felt bad for what he had said.  He was  convicted over his insensitivity to my frail, childish persona.  “Son, I didn’t mean you couldn’t talk at all.”

That was my que.  I said, “Well then, as I was saying.”  That’s me, all over.  My parents really didn’t want to hear that.

“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear.  They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen.  But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”  Exodus 20.18,19 niv

Why is it that most of us have little or no problem going to church but have incredible difficulty reading our Bible?  Could it be that we prefer God to speak to the minister and the minister speak to us rather than God speak directly to us through his Word?  How long has it been since God spoke to you?  Are you in a relationship with anyone?  Don’t you talk?  Doesn’t conversation go two ways?  We don’t mind praying, do we?  Then we shouldn’t mind listening.

God might like to say to us, “As I was saying…”

Help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.  Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that my life may only be radiance of Yours.

Shine through me and be so in me, that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and I shall begin to shine as You shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus, will be all from You.

None of it will be mine; it will be You shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You in the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Amen.”

This prayer was written by a dying cancer patient.  May we all live it out.

John Jasper preached to black and white congregations every Sunday.  It is said that at funerals for slaves the white ministers would oversee the services.  When it came time to preach, if Jasper was in the crowd, they would start to chant, “Let John Jasper preach.”  Most of the time, they would.  And he could preach.  He started a church just outside of Richmond, Virginia that was said to number in the thousands.  At least one-third of his congregation was white.  He baptized 300 people, one Sunday afternoon, in two hours.  That’s a record I would love to break.  Can you imagine?

Before John Jasper became a christian, he was a passionate sinner.  He loved liquor and women and indulged in both as often as he could.  When he became a disciple of Christ, he put all that away.  He taught himself to read and write and he was used of God in a tremendous way.  His sermons are still legendary.  One of my favorite quotes from Jasper is, “If you is like you was, you ain’t.”

John Jasper knew the power of a changed life.  There was no comparison between Jasper the slave and Jasper the slave-preacher.  Just as there was no comparison between Peter before the resurrection and Peter after or Saul and Paul.  Once they surrendered, they were no more slaves to sin.  They became slaves to Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  2Corinthians 5.17 niv

“If you is like you was, you ain’t.”  That will still preach.

How many times have you planned one thing and done another?  How many times have you been let down when you had high expectations for a job, date, evening, meal, movie, worship, holiday, … you understand?

You cannot guarantee results.  You cannot bank on anything in this life.  We come with no assurances.  We have only one hope; that the One who holds the future also holds us and  loves us and wants what is best for our joy and God’s glory.

So we make our travel plans.  We book our reservations.  We set our dates.  We reserve our seats but in the back of our minds we know that everything could fall out from under us at any given time.  The storms may destroys our ships but the One we follow needs no vessel to traverse turbulent seas and He is always willing to take us on the walk with him. 

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11.1  esv

“The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.  Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.”  James 3.5

“Better to be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.”  Abraham Lincoln

I stand, corrected.

But I think the lyric to one of their new songs best sums up why they have decided to begin a new journey.  Sometimes a place just wears on you.  The pace becomes too rapid.  Perhaps things start to become too repetitious and you start to operate out of necessity instead of desire.  Maybe you just need a fresh perspective.  It is possible that one man can be used by God in more than one way or for more than one purpose.  I applaud the vision and courage and boldness of the David Crowder band.  They will preserve faith over fame.  They will “renew their strength.”  “They will mount up on wings, like…” you know.

So they move on and start another chapter in their lives.  I think it’s awesome.  I think it’s exciting.  I think, one day, I will too.  And so will you.  You won’t always be the person that you are, today.  (Please, God, I hope I am not.)  One day, we all will make big changes and take new steps and strive for fresh goals or we will become stale and stagnant.  That is the way of things.  Thriving civilizations are built near rivers and streams, not land-locked lakes.

So, keep it moving.  Be fluid.  Be prepared for anything.  God may be doing something new in your life.  Don’t be afraid.  Follow the Leader.  Remember, Matthew was a tax collector, Peter was a fisherman, Judas was…O,well, you can’t make all the analogies work all the time.

God made mankind in His image.  You know how women like to rearrange things?  Where do you think that trait comes from?  “And God said, ’Let there be light.”  He loves to tinker with his  creation.  That includes me.  Who knows what I’ll be, when I grow up?

I wondered what she really thought about her experience until she sent me this text message; “U should submit article to school & local paper on wonders of Passion.  How two students, through GOD’S work, have opened up & let HIM work wonders & invite other’s to the Center for Renown & how even a 65 year old Jew felt GOD’S love.”  HALLELUJAH!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!

Unbelievable, isn’t it?  Is it not amazing what the love of Jesus and the truth of scripture and the power of the Spirit can accomplish.  My best publicity is coming from a 65 year old Jewish woman.  Praise God!!!

She called me yesterday to ask a question.  She loved everything about the conference but she was puzzled by one thing; “Why is all the emphasis on Jesus?”  She’s found the question.  Father, help me lead her to The Answer.

And then one heart rose up and acted.  The vast majority of us were being enthralled by the words of Francis Chan as we sat and listened to the message after the music.  We were awash in the afterglow of praise.  All but one of us.  Craig got up and walked out.  When he went by me he said that he had to go.  I stood and let him pass, all the while thinking he must be going to the restroom.

Five minutes later, I get a text from Craig.  “I am outside.  I met a homeless lady named Sheila.  She is hungry.  We can feed her, right.  Can I bring her to meet you?”  I was stunned.  What was he doing outside by himself?  What was he doing picking up homeless people in Atlanta at 10pm?  I texted him to stay put and I would come to him.  He agreed.  I gathered my stuff and headed for the exit.  Before I could get out of the building, he and Sheila came walking toward me.

I wondered how he got her inside this highly secure facility without any problem.  Anyway, Craig introduces me to Sheila.  He tells me that she came to Atlanta after Katrina and that she has been here since.  He says she is hungry and wants to know if I will take her to the hotel and get her something to eat from our leftovers.  I assure he and Sheila that I will take care of her.  Then Craig looks at me and says, “You can take it from here, right?  So, I am going to “Do Something Now” and make a donation.  I knodded my head and he turned and hurried off.

Most of us are moved in worship but that is all we ever are – just moved.  Craig was moved to action.  He could not sit still.  He knew that there was something that needed to be done and there was no need to wait.  Wouldn’t it be amazing if we didn’t have to dismiss people from worship?  Would it not be incredible if our congregants, one by one, rose and walked out to act on what they had heard rather than just walking out and talking about it among themselves?  Let our calls to worship be calls to action!

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead,  fix your attention on God.  You’ll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”  Romans 12.2a  msg