Journaling Life - March 25, 2010

Joshua 21-22 / Psalm 47 / 1 Corinthians 10

Wow, today’s readings had a lot to say.  From the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to the house of Israel as stated in Joshua 21:45 to the whole of chapter 22 which in a nutshell is an example that before we go in to a fight we first need to confront the other party, there may just be a misunderstanding as there was with the Eastern Tribes.  This was also an example of holding one another accountable to doing what the Lord would have us do.

Paul continues in 1 Corinthians by warning us to stay true to God using the history of Israel.  He goes on to tell us that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and that when we are tempted that He provides us an out – a way to stand up to the temptation.  Finally Paul tells us to do everything for the glory of God; just as it turned out that the Eastern Tribes had done by building the altar when the returned to the land that Moses had given them.

In all things, do them for God by leading by your example.

Too often we are afraid to confront one another when we are not being true to God or for any reason for that matter.  What is your reason?  Mine has been that I don’t want to make anyone mad.  The leaders of Israel that went to confront the Eastern Tribes and found out that what they had perceived was wrong.  How many times have I perceived something incorrectly and caused even more trouble.  Probably more than I’ll ever know.  That is not leading by example and is not God honoring.  Time to man up and do it God’s way and not my own.

Father, help me to do things your way, not my own.  Provide for me opportunities to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings to that in all things I can bring glory and honor to you.  Amen!

Journaling Life - March 24, 2010

Today’s reading is from Joshua 18-20 and 1 Corinthians 9.

In the passage from Joshua we read that 7 of the tribes have not received their land yet. Joshua doesn’t get it, why are they taking so long. It doesn’t say why there hadn’t claimed the land, but it does tell that Joshua gives instructions on how those 7 tribes need to figure out what land they want and then report back. By the end of chapter 19 all the tribes had their land and Joshua had his land. The only group that did not receive land was the Levites for their work was to serve the Lord.

Jumping to the New Testament reading we read Paul’s thoughts on earning a wage for doing the Lord’s work. We already know that the Levites in our Old Testament passage were taken care of for doing the Lord’s work and because of that they did not own any land. I remember as I was growing up the pastor at my church, First United Methodist Church in Clarion, Iowa, lived in the parsonage. It was the home that the church owned and provided for the pastor and his family to live in. When I started going to my wife’s church, Hus Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I heard someone mention the manse and I wondered what that was so I asked and found out it is the same thing as a parsonage. Both are homes provided by the church for the current pastor and his/her family. I am not sure about the church I grew up in, but Hus has since sold the manse.

Paul reminds us that it is our responsibility to take care of the men and women who are doing the Lord’s work. Just as the Levites received what they needed for the work they did, so should those in ministry today.

I am truly blessed by the congregation that I serve as the director of youth ministries. But with that blessing comes a responsibility not just to the congregation, but to our community and ultimately to God. It is not something to take lightly. I am also blessed to a mentor that holds me accountable as I seek to be a servant of God.

Thank you Lord for the blessings that you have given me. I pray that I am doing your work while constantly improving. Help me to plant the seeds of faith, nurture those you have placed in my care and to be a servant to all. In Jesus name I pray, Amen!

Journaling Life - March 23, 2010

Yesterday's devotional readings were from Joshua 15-17 and 1 Corinthians 8. As I read the passage from 1 Corinthians 8 I stopped to really think about how what we do as followers of Jesus affects everyone we come into contact with, especially those who do not hold the same beliefs or are new to the faith.

In this passage Paul is talking about food that was offered to idols. He begins the passage by defining what an idol is. He tells us that there are many idols that are known as both god and lord both in heaven and on earth. But for us as Christians there is only one God, our Father and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ. He further goes on to explain that not everyone knows this. This is where I not only thought about those who were new Christians, but also to those people that have heard, but still do not believe. Part of that unbelief is that so many Christians do not live their faith that the non-believers just shake their heads and chalk up it up to all Christians being hypocrites.

Can it be that Paul's message was so much more than being about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols? I'd have to say yes. When we do things that would make anyone question what we believe, then we are taking away the opportunity to fulfill Christ's words just before he ascended to heaven:

"All power in heaven and on earth is given to me. ¹⁹So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age."

If we are to reach our friends, families, neighbors, communities and beyond we have to live a life that will "not cause any of them to sin."

How? That can be the hard part. Many times we all, myself included, have found it easier to not do the right thing. When we do that we are saying we don't want to stand out, we want to be comfortable. Two brothers who were tired of being comfortable decided enough was enough and a few years ago wrote "Do Hard Things" because they were tired of low expectations. Since then Alex & Brett Harris have written another book, "Start Here" in which they talk to their readers about doing hard things from right where they are at. They decided they didn't want to be comfortable, they didn't want to let the culture dictate what they should do.

What about you, are you ready to "do hard things" or will you remain complacent and comfortable? I'm tired of being comfortable and complacent, but doing hard things can be, well hard. It is something that I know I will always struggle with, but I refuse to let that be an excuse. It means thinking before speaking or doing. It means letting God be my guide, not the world.

Hey God, its me again. I know I struggle with a lot of things, especially with things of the world. Please help to me overcome those things and that when I do mess up that I don't just learn from it, but that I do not make the same mistake again. In Jesus name I pray ... AMEN!

A Father's Love

From myfoxphilly.com:

The dad in this video handles what happens with love. Click the link above to read the whole story. Hope you are blessed by it.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

What Would We Know?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching” (Acts 2:42a). This was the Scripture for Pastor Mel’s teaching titled “Being Fully Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching” this past Sunday. When he reminded us that when the New Testament church came into being they did not have the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. All they had was the Torah. At that point, all I could think of was the Downhere song “Cathedral Made of People” from the album “Ending Is Beginning”:

If they shut down the churches
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her

If they burned every Bible
What would you know?

If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?

When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things
That you know are true
They can tear down this temple
But they can't touch you

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her

Pastor Mel’s sermon certainly got me to thinking. Could you and I survive without the church building? How would we learn? Who would teach us? I know we could survive without the building. But without a Bible? That would be a lot harder. What some of you may not know is that before any of the books of the Bible were written more than 3,000 years ago, the stories and songs were passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. It makes me wonder if we would be more devoted followers if we had to learn God’s Word by memorizing it. All of it. All 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. How can we become better students of God’s Word?

A few weeks ago, Pastor Mel introduced our congregation to “Life Journals”. The reading plan that is introduced will take us through the entire Bible once a year. We have an opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with God’s Word by journaling using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer). We could then answer the questions in Downhere’s song:

What would you know? We would know the Scriptures because we studied them intimately.

How would you grow? What will you do? The same thing Marcia did when she was having her MRI done. Singing the songs of worship and going over the Scriptures because they would be written on our hearts from our time in the Word. “We are a cathedral made of people in a kingdom that the eye can't see. We're a house, we are the bride where God's Spirit lives inside and nothing ever could stand against her.” Nothing can stand against God’s Word. My challenge to you … join us in journaling our lives.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Healing the Heartland

The goal was to provide a message of faith and hope for the heartland following last years historic flooding in Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa through with music, food, fun, inspiration and community care. Did that happen? It sure did and more!

After months of preparation the week of the festival was upon us. On Saturday, June 6^th about 15 of us gathered on at Taylor Elementary School to go door to door with fliers for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ. Wendy B., who coordinated the BBQ, had picked up 3,000 for us to hand out, prepped maps and even had bags of doggie treats for us to hand out. The group from Hus included Wendy, Diane, Karissa, Marissa and myself. Also there was a great group of young adults from Watershed. After splitting up the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods we set out to hand out the fliers. About an hour and a half into it our group called it quits because the rain was coming down so hard. We were quite literally soaked to the bone. By the time we made it back to Taylor the rain had let up and we decided to finish the last few blocks around the school, get lunch and go at it again that afternoon. Fortunately after lunch the rain had stopped and we were able to complete our task. Unfortunately the combination of the rain and the sun left a lot of humidity for us.

On Thursday, June 11^th I spent the day putting up the concert stage and roof. This was the first time that roof had been used. In addition to the half dozen or so volunteers the company that was contracted to provide them had six of their employees there as well as a factory representative for the company that made the roof. The first thing to go up was the roof which would eventually be about 60 feet up in the air. After assembling all the individual pieces the process of putting the supports in place began. After hoisting the first one the chain for the motorized roof hoist was being threaded when the line got stuck. One of the employees climbed the 60 feet up to fix that. After that the factory representative suggested they put together a mechanism that would use the rest of the motors to put up the supports. That was much easier, not sure why we didn't start off like that. Once the supports were in place the fitted tarp was put in place and then stretched to fit. We then went to work on the 40' x 40' stage. The stage was much more difficult to put together because of the uneven ground and the shear weight of the individual platforms. When we finished at 8:30 PM, just a short 12 1/2 hours later) I could not wait for the concert in just two short days to see how it would look.

The three day Healing the Heartland Festival kicked off on Friday night, June 12^th with a big backyard barbeque in 11 locations in and around the Greater Cedar Rapids area. Area congregations with Serve the City were the hosts for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ and provided food, games and a neighborhood atmosphere in parks and on school campuses. Hus Presbyterian had the pleasure of serving as one of the co-hosts for the BBQ at Taylor Elementary School which targeted the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods and was headed up by Hus member Wendy Barton. Despite the pouring down rain over 400 neighbors and friends came to Taylor Elementary for the BBQ. In fact the busiest time we had was when it was raining the hardest. People just kept coming, most of who walked to the school. It was neat to see some of the people we had handed fliers to the week before. Principal Brian Christoffersen was amazing and spent a great deal of the night with us. Fortunately we were able to find several areas with overhangs. The first one provided a safe, dry place for the sound board so we could continue playing music through out the entire evening. We covered the speakers with small tarps that were light enough let the music be heard and to keep out the rain. We directed people to the rest of the overhangs so they could stay somewhat dry while they ate. We had the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Some were survivors; some were people who had helped and continue to help and one young couple who had just moved to Cedar Rapids and are now living in a renovated home that had been flooded. The pain is still there and will be there for a long time. Most are still hopeful for a brighter future. One man wondered out loud why God would allow it to rain when people were trying to do something good for the neighborhoods. My response was that God had a reason. He then said, "Maybe to remind us of the flood last year." To which I responded that might be one reason, another might be so that we could bring glory to God by remaining there and continuing the BBQ and loving on our neighbors regardless. No matter what the reason everyone was grateful that we had the BBQ. A big thanks to the Hus crew, Wendy B., Diane V.W., Karissa L. and Riley W. (Riley’s home was flooded last year).

Saturday was one huge community “backyard” festival that was located Kingston Sports Complex and the CR Ice Arena. We celebrated surviving and healing, thus the name Healing the Heartland Festival. The activities included a Community Barbeque, Family Fun Zone, Sports Zone, a comprehensive Community Care/Services Tent and a concert venue with bands and speakers. The Community Care tent offered information and care to community members including job search and resume writing, mobile medical clinic, registration & fingerprinting of children by CRPD and more. As I walked through the mobile dentist chairs were all full with people waiting to get looked at. Others were taking advantage of the free clothing giveaway. Life 101.9 was there. 89.1 The Spirit was there broadcasting live. We are very fortunate to have two Christian radio stations in the area. The Fun Zone was located in and around the lobby of the CR Ice Arena. Activities included face painting, balloon artist, stick-on tattoos, bounce around playground, puppets, kids’ songs and visits from local mascots including Shucks from the Kernels and Ricochet from the Roughriders. The Sport Zone was held in the same arena as the Roughriders play minus the ice. The area featured emcee and international speaker Keith Cook and exhibitions from the “Untitled Skateboards” Team, Basketball Exhibitionist Tanya Crevier, and the Mike Hagen Strength Team. The day concluded with a concert emceed by Christian comedian Dr. Dennis Swanberg, a testimony from Mickey Robinson and music from David Phelps, BarlowGirl and the Newsboys! What a way to end the evening. I was back stage as security and as a stage hand. Diane and Karissa spent the night working the merchandise table for BarlowGirl along side the famous trio's parents. I think the highlight for them was when they got to meet the girls after they finished signing autographs. Twitter provided some immediate feedback from each of the artists. David Phelps tweeted "Had a great concert in Cedar Rapids with BarlowGirl and Newsboys. Great crowd. I think we made some new fans. Hope some of u were there!" Alyssa Barlow tweeted "Wow I lllooovvveee Iowa! I want to take you all with me! Please???" Lauren tweeted "The show tonight was so stinking amazing!!!!!" Do you think they like Iowa? The Newsboys tweeted "This town was under 12 feet of water last year. Heard some amazing stories from a local cab driver. Hope the show is a blessing to the city", "Great show tonight. Despite a few gear problems and the slippery stage, we had a wonderful evening!" I am guessing their drive out of town was not as much fun because the "Bus caught on fire on the way home! Everyone is fine. Bus is fine. Thanks to the "good samaritans" who stopped along the road to help!"

On Sunday the festival concluded with Faith Night at the Kernel's which included a second free exhibition from the Mike Hagen Strength Team in the parking lot and a concert inside provided by the New Covenant Bible Church "Big Band." With the exception of the Saturday food vendors and tickets to the baseball game the entire weekend was free. It was the desire of the of the 39 churches and 9 ministries that make up Serve the City to provide a weekend of free activities to our community as they continue to recover from the 2008 Flood as many cannot afford any fun family activities. The festival is over, but three years of Prayer, Care and Share to the community continues with numerous unprecedented opportunities to show and tell about the love of Jesus Christ. Continue praying for guidance on what you can do.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry

Our pictures from the Healing the Heartland Festival:

• Sports Zone
• Concert sound checks
• Saturday Night Concert
• Mike Hagen Strength Team – Sunday

For more on the festival, check out my friend, Pastor Kim Pagel’s blog posts and pictures:

• Healing the Heartland, Awe, Inspired, Renewed
• Healing the Heartland pictures