Tom with kids in Kuwait

Tom with kids in Kuwait
Tom with kids in Kuwait

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Why is life such a struggle?



The Family of Faith



Work seems all consuming

When I get a day off I just crash

Then it’s back to work again

Just try living without cash



The morning is consumed with children

Getting them ready and off to school

Then worrying that the phone doesn’t ring

About a bloody nose or broken rule



Of course we go to the games

We have to pull for our team

High school sports are life

In our small community



It’s overtime and report cards

More meetings and more work

And it seems my life is empty

I am about to go berserk



I said the words about Jesus

So I could have eternal life

But it seems that things remain unchanged

Days full of struggles and of strife



And then someone invites me

To come with them to church

I say that I’m too busy

To just leave my life in the lurch



I don’t expect tomorrow

To be any better than today

To give up something else for church

Is surely not my way



But to continue as I have been

Is to live as if I’m blind

For I know there is something better

If I will seek, perhaps I’ll find



There is a truth I must admit to

If I am to end this time of strife

This precious jewel of wisdom is

I can’t squeeze God into my life



Don’t judge or condemn me

For this simple fact is true

No matter what you say to others

The same is true for you



God will not be a second

Or third or fourth or fifth

God’s place is always first

All other thoughts are myth



No other gods before Me

We make none of wood and stone

But we carve them of idleness and busyness alike

And find ourselves alone



So far from our Redeemer

So close to life’s contempt

Living in separation

So much life already spent



But God has given us a family

It is one of those called out

So that we never face the world alone

It is an ear to hear whenever we may doubt



The church is that special body

Where nothing goes to waste

A Covenant Community


A family of faith



Where many gifts and talents

Are shared to produce good fruit

The Body of Christ lives fully

When the vine is our true root



The church is more than a place to gather

More than a place to sing and to repent

Those called out of this world are set apart

To be sanctified and resent



Into a world that dies of busyness

Of worry and no hope

That seeks so many other gods

Money, stuff, and dope



God must be at the center

Surrounded closely by the Body of Christ

And those called out call others in

For inclusion in real life



For the church is the true center

Of the community’s very life

When people have no time for it

They reenter one of strife



And wonder how they got there

From a place where things were good

Blind to their own departure

Feeling always misunderstood



The early church had no need

People gave of what they had

This body of believers stuck together

Not quitting when someone got mad



And there were no hungry among them

No one left to sleep upon the street

And no worry about tomorrow

For Christ did death defeat



And before there was a work day

And after the day was done

The family of faith did gather

For prayer and food as one



We cannot squeeze God into our day

Living as the church is no after thought

Following Christ is all in or all out

And we know what all out has wrought



The Ecclesia is called out of the world

To be holy and set apart

Yet so many cling to the things of this age

Instead of singing How Great Thou Art



Until God is set above all things

And the church is central to our life

God’s blessings will be elusive

We shack up with our sorrow and our strife



Change is often difficult

Human nature is to remain

With that which we know so well

Even amidst the hurt and pain



And I have tried time and time again

To make those bold first steps

Only to fall and hurt myself

And return to what I know best



And finally admit

That I cannot really change

Without the helping hand of God

While serving in his reign



It’s hard to accept a victory

That first began with surrender

But a life among God’s chosen

Is one with fear replaced by splendor



And one living among friends

Who truly love one another

Makes the church so central to our lives

A community like no other



The church building is a crossroads

Where the church itself does gather

In two’s and three’s at times

By the multitude is our rather



And a place where some just stop in

Or come to pray or talk

Knowing that belonging to each other

Is essential to our walk



With Jesus Christ and God’s own Spirit

Who lives in our heart and walks by our side

As the Father intended when He gave us his Son

That one day we would rejoice as his bride.



Many words have brought us to this final point

Take a Sabbath from this world of haste

And find a way each and every day

To gather as the Family of Faith.

Who will love these children?




Children walk to church

In the cold

In the rain

Often with parents unaware

Of where they are

Or why they are there



Cars park far away from the church building

Kids get out

And run for where they will find love

The car speeds away

Lest someone speak with them

Or invite them to stay



Kids come having no boundaries on their lives

Parents often don’t care

Some just don’t know what to do

But the parents will not accompany their children

For fear of hearing the truth

Their kids are just not worth it



The firm direction of a pastor or an elder

May be the only taste of discipline they know

May be the only real love they have tasted

The command to love one another

Is a foreign language to a child brought up in a sea of selfishness

Is a huge step to think of others first



Hope and despair walk side-by-side through the church doors on Wednesday evening

The anticipation of real love in one set of eyes

A spirit of rebellion in another

Who will answer the call to be love as God is love

The harvest is plentiful

The workers are few



Yet the remnant that persists thrives on hope

Lives with courage

Encourages others

Those whom God has called and do not come

Live with busyness

But not fulfillment



It hurts so much to see children growing up without love

Throw away kids

Kids left to fend for themselves

It hurts more to see those whom God has called

Stay on the sidelines

Surrender their lives to busyness



For all who come will be filled

With God’s love

With a renewed spirit

All who come and are completely spent when they arrive

Will leave full of energy

Will find that God will refill and renew whatever is used up



We who should lead will never find abundance in timidity

Only in giving do we gain

Only in serving do we grow

We who should say follow me to the One I serve

Can find no peace in excuses

Wonder why love does not abound in their lives



How will those who do not know love come to know love

When God’s people sit this one out

When the followers of Jesus are on an extended break

How will we answer the question, “What did you do with what I gave you?’

By hanging our heads

Or in expectation of sharing our Master’s happiness



We were not made to feel guilty

But to be God’s love

But to fully live

We are made to put God first in everything

In our life

In the lives of others



We see the children of our community living in households of rebellion

And say, “How pitiful.”

And think, “Something should be done.”

But we are the ones to lead the lost to the light of love

By going into the community with the good news

By being present when the children come seeking love.



So let us be love

As God is love

As we are commanded to be love

So let us be love

Without excuse

Without fail


Amen

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Spirit within me speaks



My prayer begins in a silent room.

With praise and thanks

For simple things

Breath and sight and the day not promised but delivered.



Consciously I seek to continue in thanksgiving

Not wanting to petition too soon

Not wanting to manipulate

As if that were possible with the Almighty.



Feeling too constrained by my own thoughts

I go to silence

There is safety in silence

My mind surrenders to silence.



I anticipate hearing God

But the thoughts come from within me

They are not mine but God’s

His Spirit within me speaks and my prayer is complete.



Sometimes I wonder why I look skyward

Or bow my head

Or seek God in lofty places

When He has given me his Spirit to live within me.



Amen

Romans 8:26

Friday, January 13, 2012

To live fully for The Name

Not so long ago


Words seemed too many and so large


And towns seemed so small


That has all changed since my call.


It’s a different world once you have received a charge.








Today my books are full of words


That help me to understand


Things past and present once distraught


But at the cost of reading in microscopic font.


While striving to live the greatest command.








And the towns which once seemed empty


No places to go hang out


Now seem so full of hurting people and needs


Will I be able to plant enough seeds?


And finally let the good news out.








The world has really not changed much.


It lives for glory, fame, and even wealth.


But my eyes are set upon another place


Where stored up treasure is truly safe,


And my purpose is beyond myself.








I see the world through different eyes


Though physically they are the same


My vision responds to a new paradigm


One which embodies both rhythm and rhyme


And calls me to live fully for The Name.