Consumption & Gratitude

This past week, our church began a 6 week series that focuses on how we can live a Satisfied life.   We were challenged with the truth that consumption does not equal contentment.  We were asked to count our shoes and our shirts.  Yes, I have over 40 pairs of shoes.  And, I have 24 pairs of high heels.  Then we were challenged to give something valuable away.  As I engaged in this assignment, I found it difficult to figure out what I would want to give away and to whom. Do people really need my "stuff?" Well, maybe & maybe not.

I remember the first time I served as a missionary outside of St. Petersburg in Russia. I was nearing the end of my time there and I offered almost all of my clothing to a teenage girl that I had befriended.  With excitement, I gave her my clothes (thinking she needed them.)  She looked at me and shook her head "no."  She didn't want my clothes.  I felt very awkward and embarrassed.  You see, she had clothes but she just didn't have very many clothes - maybe 8 outfits.  Even though I thought she could use some more clothes, she knew she didn't need anymore clothes. I then remember her pointing to my backpack - my new LL Bean Cobalt Blue Backpack.  She wanted and needed my backpack. Honestly, I hesitated.  This was my new favorite backpack but it was what she needed.  How did I miss that? She had been carrying around items such as books and food all summer and had even used my backpack for her things.  I missed it because I wasn't sensitive to her needs.  I thought I knew what she needed and I was wrong.

Moscow, Russia - Red Square - Taken 1995

In reflecting on what God taught me while I served 10 weeks in Russia and in recalling God's word, I was drawn to Dueteronomy 24 where scripture teaches us about the rights of the widows, orphans and immigrants.  

17 Don’t obstruct the legal rights of an immigrant or orphan. Don’t take a widow’s coat as pledge for a loan. 18 Remember how you were a slave in Egypt but how the Lord your God saved you from that. That’s why I’m commanding you to do this thing.

19 Whenever you are reaping the harvest of your field and you leave some grain in the field, don’t go back and get it. Let it go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows so that the Lord your God blesses you in all that you do. 20 Similarly, when you beat the olives off your olive trees, don’t go back over them twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. 21 Again, when you pick the grapes of your vineyard, don’t pick them over twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. 22 Remember how you were a slave in Egypt. That’s why I am commanding you to do this thing.

Throughout Deuteronomy, there is a strong anticipation of the promised land, which was soon to be in the possession of the Israelites. The majority of Israelite families would be allotted a portion of the land and they would harvest the produce of the land, crops and fruit. But there would be some who would not be landowners and who could easily feel left out of the life of the community in that they did not share directly in the possession of the land promised and given by God. This instruction makes sure that resident immigrants, orphans, and widows, though not owning land for themselves, might nevertheless share in the fruit of the land. The manner of their participation in the fruit of the land would be such that they could maintain their honor and self-respect. They would not have to beg or seek a "hand-out"; they would go into the fields and orchards after the harvest, and like the farmer, they would work for their own small harvest, as they searched and gleaned for the grain and fruit that had been left there. And the farmers, who had allowed some produce to remain, were not simply being charitable to those less fortunate than themselves; they were expressing their gratitude to God, who had brought them out of the slavery in Egypt and given to them a land of their own.

You see, when we choose not to consume all that is at our fingertips (even if we can afford it), we are simply expressing gratitude to God for all that he has done for us.  I am very thankful for a frugal husband.  He definitely keeps my spending in check.  He has taught me through the years that when we don't consume the things we don't need, we are expressing our gratitude to God for all that he has given to us.  And in the spirit of gratitude, we are able to then provide honor & self-respect for the immigrant, the orphan and the widow. This is a difficult task.  Sometimes, people can use my clothes.  Other times, people simply need money or my time. And at other moments, people need to be able to afford a house and find a job. I am very grateful for a church that honors immigrants by partnering with Kentucky Refugee Ministries - that gives $43,000 dollars toward a bilingual school that will help orphans - that adopts children into a loving home and is generous to those widows who are in need. May God continue to give us discernment on how we can give honor and self-respect to the immigrant, the orphan and the widow.

I look forward to what this series has in store for our Church!  God is Good!

Thankful for Reunions!

I love reunions! I love reconnecting.  I love sharing stories that make me laugh and cry!

I'm thankful for our Costa Rica Reunion tonight as we were reminded that we are all "sent"  and we have to ask to where and whom.  I'm so thankful for the Windhorst Family and the many other families & students who have ventured with us to Costa Rica.

Tonight we laughed as we shared stories and the reasons why we journey back to Costa Rica.  One of the many reasons I love journeying to Costa Rica is that I learn to read the Bible with a new perspective.

Here's a paraphrase of Colossians 1 from The Message

I, Tomara, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God's master plan. Together with my family (Wally, Elliott & Max) and friends/students (Windhorsts, Boswells, Baughmans, Powells, Halls, Curnuttes & Meghan, Sheridan & many more), I greet the Christians (Lalo, Pastor Angel, Ernesto, Glenn Roddy,...) and stalwart followers of Christ who live in San Jose - particularly La Carpio and Los Pinos. May everything good from God our Father be yours! Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings.  We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you!  We keep getting reports of your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians.  The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept by hope.  The Message is true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world.  The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more.

Prayer:  May we all be hungry of more of what only God can do!

Additional Reasons why we return to Costa Rica: 

1.  Serve out of obedience and expect nothing in return

2. Learn about Sacrifice and not just Generosity.  Generosity gives out of abundance but Sacrifice costs us something.

3.  Learn about those who are "rich in faith."  Build reciprocal kingdom building relationships across cultures.  We need to learn to give and receive.  Our materialism and our achievement orientation influences us into thinking that we (the rich) go to help you (the poor) or that we (the educated) go to help you the illiterate.  We think the word resource means money.  Reciprocity teaches us that our brothers and sisters are rich in many other ways. 
4.  Continue to bring Good News of Great Joy to All People

The Gift of the Spirit

The Gift of the Spirit - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 (excerpt from Be the Message: The Gift of the Spirit)

Life in the Spirit is not only the key to understanding the Christian life but also understanding the Christian Church.  If you think that our life as a church lies in the abilities of our staff or the strength of our programs or the gifts of our people - you have not yet understood what a Christian Church is.  The life of the church comes from the Gift of the Spirit (Holy Spirit).  We hang on and live by the life of the Holy Spirit.  Without the breathing of the Spirit into everything that we do, we will be ineffective.

You prepare a Sunday School class; you organize a small group; you rehearse a song; you run a kids/youth camp; you organize another mission trip; you write another sermon - and in all these things we are like Elijah arranging wood on the altar (1 Kings 18).  It is God who sends the fire and without the fire (without the Holy Spirit)- it is only another class, it is only another group,it is only another song, it is only another camp, it is only another mission trip, it is only another sermon.  But when God's fire (His Holy Spirit) comes, lives are transformed to truly BE THE MESSAGE.

I wonder - Do you ever feel your need for the Holy Spirit?  Do you ever feel our need for the Holy Spirit?  Have you ever come to a place in your life where you are tired of all that you can do and HUNGRY for more of what only God can do?  I want us to be a church that is HUNGRY for more of what only God can do!

In order for us to really Live Life in the Spirit - we must rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances!  We are able to do this because of our position IN CHRIST JESUS!

Regarding Prayer:  What do you want to see happen when you pray?  I want people to know that they are saved from their sin, their rebellion & their self. You see, it takes the same power to bring spiritual life to a polite rural religious girl like me as it takes to bring spiritual life to a drug pusher or gang member.  That's why we need to pray for our children.  Because without the movement of the Spirit of God, our kids will end up being nice, self-centered, money driven, convenience seeking people with a religious faith but that is not New Testament Christianity.

Prayerful Intimacy: The Essence of Closeness to God

When the word "intimacy" is used, people normally think of something sexual.  Why?  Because media sells "sex." As Christ followers, we must begin to think of "intimacy" in spiritual terms and not in sexual terms.

A former colleague & mentor of mine writes this inspiring note about prayerful intimacy:

My desire for intimacy with God is a common desire. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until we find rest in thee” (Confessions 1.1). We hunger to live intimately with God. Prayer enables us to know more of God and to know that we are known by God. Prayer enables us to walk with, talk to, and listen to God. With revolutionary equality, prayer is available to everyone, everywhere, any time because God loves us equally and desires for each of us to know his love.

Since we are a diverse people with sixteen personality types who live in diverse circumstances, we need various ways to commune with God. Consequently there are more than a hundred ways to pray. We can pray with or without words, early in the morning or late at night, and whether we are happy or sad, glad or mad, tired or rested. We can pray with eyes open or closed, kneeling or standing, with hands folded or lifted high. We can pray when confused or clear, with prepared words or spontaneous expression. We just need to pray humbly and through the Spirit of Christ.

J. Lee Grady says, "Spiritual Intimacy with God will inspire you and prod you to leave the realm of spiritual mediocrity so that you can experience a dynamic, face-to-face relationship with Jesus, who truly is the Lover of our souls."

Generosity Is A Paradox

I am absolutely thrilled and grateful that Middletown Christian Church has given over $40,000 to help complete phase 2 of El Camino Bi-lingual School- a ministry of the mission hospital Loma de Luz. www.crstone.org  I have witnessed firsthand that many at Middletown are embracing a lifestyle of generosity!


Generosity is a paradox, in that we gain by giving! But paradox is a common feature of our faith:  Jesus gave his life that we might gain life forever; a person who saves his life will lose it, while someone who loses his life for Christ's sake will find it; and the first will be last, but the last will be first.  So it's no surprise that the paradox holds for Middletown's spirit of generosity.

I believe that Christ followers who are pursuing generous lives (with time and money) provide the clearest picture of God to others.  The church is God's plan to carry forward the gospel until Christ returns and makes all things new.

Whether it is giving sacrificially to fund a Christian Bi-lingual school in one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere or making a huge pot of Chili to hand out to the homeless in downtown Louisville, we must seize the opportunity to share our faith & resources with others.

The book Contagious Generosity reminds us that our willingness to share our resources with others without restraint speaks volumes about the extent to which we've been embraced and been changed by the gospel.

Good Night, Mom. I Love You.

What has happened to my teenager?  Almost every night since he has begun high school, he walks into our bedroom and says "Good Night, Mom.  Good Night, Dad.  Love you!"  We tell Elliott that we love him too. Then, we look at each other with surprise.  Is this our child? What happened to him?

Philippians 1:6 - God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion....

Now that Elliott is in high school, he is often up later doing homework or watching TV.  Usually Wally and I are hanging out in our sitting room talking about our day.  It's 11 or 11:30 p.m.  We've said our prayers with Max (our youngest son), we've eaten dinner and we've usually played either soccer or ping pong with the boys.  And then, Elliott will barge in our room and just hang out with us. We enjoy the moment.  Then, we look at each other with surprise.  Is this our child?  What happened to him?

Philippians 1:6 - God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion....

Each morning I get up at 5:30 a.m.  I make Elliott's lunch, read a little and then I cook his breakfast.  I sit his breakfast on the kitchen table and I walk up stairs to let him know it is on the table and ESPN is on the TV!  I either work out at that point or I get in the shower.  Then, I wake my younger son up and I make his lunch and cook him breakfast.  This morning I made waffles and bacon for the boys.  As I walked down to the kitchen for the second time to make Max's lunch and breakfast, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Was this really happening?  I looked at the kitchen table and there was nothing on it.  There was not a glass, or plate or silverware or napkins.  Did the dog eat all of it?  Then I noticed that all of the dishes were in the sink.  They weren't just in the sink but they were rinsed.  Yes, rinsed.  No sticky syrup.  My son had actually put his dishes in the sink as I ask him to do every morning. However, this was the first morning that I can remember that he actually did it. So, yes I praised him.  I told him as he left for school "I really appreciate you cleaning up after yourself.  He smiled.  And I said my usual - make great choices today."

And then God brought the verse to my mind...Philippians 1:6 - God who began a good work in the heart of Elliott as a 9 year old will bring that work to completion....

Amen with JOY!

Effective Love

LET EVERY DEED WE DO TODAY : 
RISE UP AS A PRAYER OF LOVE

Vincent de Paul said, "We must love God, but let it be in the work of our bodies, in the sweat of our brows. For very often many acts of love for God, of kindness, of good will, and other similar inclinations and interior practices of a tender heart, although good and very desirable, are yet very suspect when they do not lead to the practice of effective love."

What makes our love effective?

John 13:35 - "Everyone will know that you are my disciples because of your love for each other."

Our love is ultimately effective when people know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ because of the radical love we have shown. The word "disciple" comes from the Latin "Discipulus"  meaning "pupil."  A disciple of Jesus is a student who learns how to live his/her life according to the way of Jesus.  And, we find that way as we study the life of Jesus in scripture.

Is your love being effective today?

Prayer:  Lord God, you have shown us what love looks like through sending your son Jesus to this world.  He was the word made flesh and he dwelt among us.  May Jesus continue to dwell among us through our love that we show to others.  Help us through acts of forgiveness and reconciliation to so love one another that our neighbors know we are your disciples and know that to be good news! Amen!