ONE IS THE LONELIEST?

Some years ago the pop group Three Dog Night sang a song that included these lyrics, "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do."  Having been widowed recently I can understand that sentiment, but there are some "ones" that are really good.  “Ones” in which there is no loneliness, only blessing.  Last Sunday night our church family got to experience the joy of being "one" body during our second Concert of Prayer.  The oneness that results when the body of Christ comes together like that is something special.  Multiple generations and age groups mix.  To hear the heart of God that comes from the old and young while they pray together makes you realize that in spite of worship preferences, race or gender, age or stature, we are one body, committed to one Lord, one mission.  There is an old adage, "The family that prays together, stays together."  The same can be said of the church. 

Our church wide prayer events have this cool side benefit.  Though we meet to encounter God in prayer and seek His engagement in His world and ours, there are other neat things that happen.  One of them is that we get drawn closer together as a body.  Want to really get to know the heart of someone?  A 20 year old?  A 70 year old?   Be a part of our prayer events.  Listen to them pray.  It will strengthen our oneness, really grow our love for one another, break down stereotypes and put a smile on God's face. 

The next prayer event?  Sunday,  August 5th.  These are powerful times.  Put it on your calendar today and we'll see you then.

VACATION

Have you ever looked at the word VACATION?  I am on one of them this week, so my blog entry is going to be neither deep nor wide.  VACATION looks like it might well come from the root word, VACATE...to leave, as in leave the premises, the area, the routine, the daily responsibilities and do something relaxing, refreshing, and fun.  Every time I go on vacation that's my goal.  I look forward to disengaging.  No computers.  No smart phones.  No email.  I look forward to a day totally different from what my normal day looks like.  I want to recharge emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  This year I traveled again to the Big Island of Hawaii.  I'm snorkeling, hiking, enjoying local cuisine, drinking POG, (a delicious mix of passion fruit, orange and guava joices) and spending time at Mackenzie Park, where I enjoy the creative genius of God while reading, journalling, and spending time with my Creator/Redeemer.  Yet its interesting to realize how hard it is to really disconnect.  I have to resist the daily temptation to access work email, get on Facebook, stay connected to
things and people back home.  The fact that I am posting this blog shows I haven't quite succeeded.  VACATING is getting tougher and tougher each year.  Do you think you can go on vacation this year without logging in? Give it a shot.  I have a feeling it will be tougher than you think!

MEN AT WORK?

We often chuckle when we see a sign saying, “Men at Work” and then see five guys leaning on shovels.  Not too much work getting done.  Do we ever wonder if God is leaning on a shovel, not really working like we’d like Him too?  Maybe our view depends on what we are looking for.

I must confess that I want to see bigger things - 4^th of July fireworks kind of things.  I want to see renewal in the church to where its impact on its community sees people coming to Christ regularly like in the book of Acts, where physical healing occurs in response to James 5 prayer.  I want to see radical transformation in lives to where righteousness becomes our passion, marriages are healed, relationships are restored and Jesus is the love of our lives.  And I want to see it in big mass movements where God’s Spirit just breaks in and changes the regular routine of things, washing over lives in big time power.

I pray for that.  We pray for that.  But if we don’t see that does it mean God isn’t working, that He’s leaning on His shovel?  Jesus tells us in the gospel of John that the Father is always working.   The timetable on which God chooses to reveal Himself through the big time epic events is up to Him.  The big splash may be our desire, but we see throughout church history that those times really are up to God.  The Great Awakening of 1858 came after a year of prayer.  Yet we have seen a huge movement of prayer over the past 20 years where nationwide revival was not the outcome.  Our prayers open up the channel for His power for the day he chooses to do the big stuff, but in the meantime, His Spirit continues to work in ways we may call the smaller scale stuff.  He persistently convicts men of sin.  He draws people to Jesus.  He lives in us producing fruit of incredible worth and impact, (Gal 5:22,23), gifts us for service, moves us to prayer and praise, and keeps increasing our maturity and usefulness in God’s service.  The norm is the everyday steady working of God in the lives of people, bringing us to conformity to Christ.  

Over my life I haven’t seen the big stuff, but I have seen enough evidence in the little stuff to know that God is at work, not leaning on a shovel.  Have you?  Especially in your own life?