A Ferocious Feline

When I got up this morning, I went down to our family room. There in the middle of the room was our declawed cat batting around a mouse. I think the mouse was about 99.9% dead when I arrived.

Now our cat is a house cat. The biggest thing she has ever hunted was a two inch moth. Her name says it all when it comes to this cat--Fluffy. But, this morning you would have thought she was a lioness out in the sunshine of the Serengeti. She tossed that mouse, twitched her tail, and rolled as if she were the only cat to ever catch anything.

She had been stalking her prey for weeks. She sat for hours in our storage room waiting for the right moment. Last night at some point, the right time came. She grabbed the mouse and took it out into the family room for all to see.

While Fluffy may not be the greatest example of a powerful cat and what it can do to its prey, I was reminded through her persistence over the last several weeks that we have an enemy and we are his prey. Peter tells us that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We would do well to realize that he does not give up and looks forward to relishing our defeat!

Mister Rogers Would've Been Proud

At noon today, I attended the dedication ceremony for the new metro 911 center of Kanawha County. What a great building! While technologically very sophisticated, its design is practically very simple.

It looks as if this facility will be a great help to the people of our county, and has the capacity to be one of the finest 911 centers in the nation when it opens. Hats off to all of those in the city, county, and state that have worked to get this center completed. Anyone who sees it will be impressed.

I was also struck with what a great neighbor the new metro 911 facility will be for us at Bible Center. When we relocate to our new property at Southridge, the 911 Center will be right next door. Our property practically surrounds the 911 facility. We have the land beyond it on Peyton Way and behind it along Parkway.

The security, safety, and 24-hour nature of the center will help to create a similar atmosphere in the neighborhood. The community that is developing around our property is the kind of neighborhood about which Mister Rogers would've been proud.

God has again reminded me that He has provided us a wonderful piece of land. Even the fact that 911 is our next door neighbor is a blessing to us from Him. Thank you Lord!

Finishing Up and To Be Continued...

We had about 100 people who gathered for a special noon time prayer service on our land at Southridge. It was a beautiful day! The sounds and sights of God's grand creation were just perfect. What a wonderful place to pause and praise Him! What a wonderful place to plead with Him for continued blessing on our great land and on His church family at Bible Center!

With the service today, we concluded 40 Days of Passion and Prayer. We have been praying that God would keep us focused on His passion for us as people, His mission to us as His followers, and His vision for us at Bible Center. Several have relayed to me that God has worked on them during these 40 days in unique ways. God even used this period to convict one man of some drug use that had been going on a long time in his life. Others have mentioned ways in which God had convinced them about specific aspects of their financial giving to the Lord. Many have enjoyed being reminded to pray for Bible Center because of the awareness bracelet.

God has truly blessed the Bible Center family over the years. We pray that as we remain faithful and God blesses us, others will see that truly what is happening in and through the people of Bible Center is a "God thing."

While the 40 days have concluded, keep praying for God to guide us in the planning of the new property. Keep praying that God would provide the financial resources through His people that will be necessary to do what He has called us to do.

I will continue posting blogs for a while. I have enjoyed blogging daily, but can't promise that there will be new blogs every single day. I may post a verse or song that has stood out to me. Who knows, maybe I'll post a joke or two. But, I will try to share what God is doing in my life, what He is teaching me, what He is using to challenge me, and how He is involved in even the simplest and silliest things that occur in my day.

So I conclude this 40 days of blogging with: To be continued...

Car Wash

On my way in to the office today, I decided to wash the car. It was covered with pollen and I don't need any more tree pollen around. It also had a great deal of mud and dirt on it from being on our Southridge property. Anyway, it was a mess, so I ran it through the car wash at the gas station.

I drove a good distance to have lunch today. By the time I got back, there were bugs all over the windshield and pollen all over the car. It was amazing to see how filthy the car got by the end of the day. Obviously, another wash was needed. But, it will eventually end up getting dirty again.

How true this is of us as God's children! We are completely cleansed by God when we receive Christ as Savior, but he periodically cleans us up again as needed. It is needed when we as His children sin. He has forgiven us once and for all, and because of that provides us the periodic washings needed to remain in tune with Him.

Thank God for His cleansing!

Do They Know Me?

Someone spoke to me today about my background and my religious heritage. Interestingly, they had made some assumptions about me that were not true. They thought I was associated with a branch of Christianity with which I have little or no connection. They based that on these false assumptions. But, I had given them little other knowledge of me to remove those assumptions.

They began to speak to me about what I believe and how I live out my Christianity. Again, they were way off in their understanding of me and my faith. This happens to me a great deal with people who do not have much contact with me or know much about me. But, this person, while not a part of our church family, has had a great deal of contact with me over the years and I thought should know me pretty well.

Through this interaction, I was struck with the reality that it is my responsibility to share my faith and my relationship with Christ. I am the one who has not represented myself and ultimately Christ well before this person. I could easily blame them for their ignorance of me, but I was convicted that by now this person should know what I believe about faith and how to have a right relationship with Jesus Christ. They didn't and that is my fault.

This person really didn't know me for who I am and what I believe and for the sake of my witness for Christ, they should have. From now on as I interact with other people, I am going to ask myself the question: Do they know who I am? After a little bit of interaction with me, friends, neighbors and associates should know that I am a born again follower of Jesus Christ and that I live for Him. They need to hear about and see Jesus in me. I may be the only "Jesus" they will ever see. If they know me, that will give me the opportunity to help them know Jesus Himself.

The Good Side of Sinus Pressure

I slept about three hours last night. For some reason, this year's tree pollen has affected me more than in previous years. My eyes feel as if someone is trying to push them out of my head from the inside. Sudafed has worked very well, but I thought I did not need it last night when I went to bed. Boy, was I wrong.

So, when I awoke at 3:00 a.m., I decided to pray for people. This is not normal for me--praying in the middle of the night that is. I prayed specifically for people who shared needs with me throughout the day yesterday. I prayed for some of our missionaries we have heard from lately.
Even though Lesli was right there next to me, in the quiet of the night, I felt as if it was just me and God (I guess we were the only ones conscious in the house at the time). The stillness and the quiet of the house and our neighborhood provided such a peaceful atmosphere in which to talk with God. I even found myself thanking Him for the sinus pressure that allowed me to converse with Him in the stillness of the night.

Life moves at such a fast pace for all of us. The world is filled with noise. We should follow the psalmist's challenge to be still and know that God is God. After praying, I simply lay there in bed and thought about God being God. Then, I took the time to repeat verses I had memorized regarding who God is, what His attributes are, and just how much He loves me. It seemed after two hours of communing with, praying to, and thinking about God that my heart was refreshed and realigned to His heart.

While I don't like that pressure behind my eyes, I am glad that God used it last night to tune my heart to His!

Simple and Sufficient

Over the last two months, I have dealt with people both inside and outside the Bible Center family who are feeling the effects of sin. I have dealt with people who are struggling with addictions to alcohol and drugs, people whose lives have been ruined by infidelity, people who have lived in sexual immorality, people who have lied, cheated or stolen at work and have lost their jobs due to their sin, and people who are deeply broken because of the wayward wanderings of their children or grandchildren. Sin continues to do what it began to do in the Garden of Eden--corrupt people, destroy marriages, devastate families, and seize greater ground in human society.

Today, we celebrated the Lord's Supper which reminds us of the freedom Christ has secured for us from sinful addictions, actions, and attitudes. The Lord's Supper (or communion) has two basic elements given to us by Christ Himself. Both the fruit of the vine and the unleavened bread symbolize for us the work of Christ on the cross. The bread symbolizes the purity of the one who was the perfect sacrifice. The juice symbolizes the price that He paid for our forgiveness. Each element points to the work of grace displayed in Christ on the cross. Without the reality of the grace that these symbols represent, none of us could be free from the penalty, guilt and consequences of our sin before God.

The grace of God of which we are reminded each time we participate in communion is sufficient to forgive every sinner and to cleanse away every sin. What's so amazing about God's grace is how simple it is to receive--by faith, but yet how sufficient it is to free us from sin--completely!

Tonight, I thought not only of my sin and God's grace being simply sufficient to cleanse me, but also of those with whom I have cried, counseled and prayed in the last two months. In each case, my method of ministry was to take them back to the concepts of the cross. If they did not know Christ, I sought to win them to Him. If they did know Christ, I sought to help them see that through confession of their sin they will discover that He is faithful and just to forgive them.

Truly, His simple and sufficient grace is amazing!