Posted on by Pastor Poet

Forgiveness…

While there are some whose issues and shortcomings are obvious and not easily hidden, we mustn’t believe the lie that we are better  than or worse than anyone else!  

We all have flaws and faults, failures and flubs.  Sometimes we stumble and fall, other times we dive headfirst into trouble.  Sometimes we are willful and other times we’re just clumsy. Sometimes we mask our intentions beyond politeness and the veneer of respectability, while other times our bitterness, pettiness, and meanness are on full display. 

So, what?! 

I’m glad you asked.

We all need and are recipients of God’s amazing grace.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are here by God’s grace – unearned, undeserved, grace!

When we know this, although it is difficult, we can learn how to forgive others.  The moment we begin to feel that someone is beyond the limits of grace, all we must do is remember that God knows everything about us – everything – and loves us beyond ourselves!

When we realize that the grace we readily and freely receive is also required of us, the love of God can melt away the cold hardness that traps our hearts in an unforgiving desolation.  

When our hearts are tempted to hold a grudge and our hands desire revenge, we pray:

…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  

Matthew 6:12

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Our Daily Bread…

I have to admit, most of my stress and anxieties come from concerns about the future.  In an effort to  be responsive to any number of circumstances, I have become a saver and planner.  

More often than not, the impetus to save and plan has served my family well, but I have to admit that the toughest times we’ve faced have little to do with a lack of resources.  

In retrospect, many of the worries and concerns that drove me to work so hard and to save  – these things never happened.  So, as a result, we often have more than what we need.  We have more stuff, more money than we actually need. (I probably shouldn’t say this out loud…)

We aren’t independently wealthy, but we aren’t lacking.  Unfortunately what we don’t have is an abundance of time.   And now when I look back, I wish I would’ve been more deliberate about the time I took off, the time I could’ve spent creating memories rather than trying to secure an unknown future or prevent some unlikely calamity.

When our family was young, we struggled with resources like many young families do, but God was faithful!  Things were leaner but our lives were simpler and we were happy.  I remember the days of buying groceries a day at a time, sitting at our small table and blessing our meals, and being content.  I remember the way we used to pray:

“Give us this day our daily bread…’

Matthew 6:11

Those were some sweet days, sweeter than I realized. I am only saddened by my latent realization.  But I will do better, one day at a time…

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

God’s Will Be Done…

When we get overwhelmed by life and circumstance the temptation is to seek control, to hold on tighter, to work harder, to power through, and to double down on our efforts.

But there are some times when hardwork, tenacity, and even the best intentions are met with frustration and disappointment.

When this happens, we might need to slow down, to become more deliberate, and ask ourselves some difficult questions.  We may need to reconsider our plans and examine our motives, as we ask the LORD whether or not our plans are actually in alignment with His will.

Sometimes, the truth is that while we are passionate about some cause or project, the struggles we encounter are the result of being out of alignment and mistaking a good idea for God’s will.

When we belong to God, sometimes obstacles are God’s way of getting our attention and helping us to recalibrate.  Other times these may well be occasions for developing the discipline that will sustain us for some future endeavor.  But the only way to know the difference is to ask God and then accept and submit to God’s will.

Whether this season requires leaning in or letting go can only be discerned through prayer. But even then our prayers must be punctuated by the commitment to allow our plans and purposes to be subsumed by God’s.

Jesus taught us to pray:

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10

Are you struggling? Exhausted? Frustrated? Seek God and surrender to God’s plans!

God’s will be done!

Good Morning, I love you all! 

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Take the Step…

Take the Step…

Four years ago, I walked away from a job I had been on for twenty-three years.   I was part of an organization that was growing and as it grew I prospered.  I had the best team and worked with some of the best people I have ever known. I am grateful for my time there.

But, after about twenty years the work environment changed.  The people who built the company began to retire or leave. The leadership and ownership of the company changed and things got really bad. I was put in an ethical dilemma. And when I protested, I went from being respected and valued to being isolated and ignored. In an attempt to do what was right for the organization while preserving my integrity and protecting my team, I paid a heavy price.  And, I probably stayed too long.  

Needless to say, things got increasingly hostile.  And while the quality of my work could never be challenged, I was routinely disrespected.  At about that time, I started hearing from recruiters and headhunters about jobs that I hadn’t even applied for.

One day after a particularly rough week, my wife looked at me and said, ‘If they offer you a job, you need to take it…’ This was not Job’s wife speaking – I could hear the voice of the Spirit.

The job offers came, and unsurprisingly, I ended up better off. While I lamented leaving my team and felt like I was somehow letting them down, my fears and anxieties were unfounded and I ended up in a good place.  That was four years ago, today!

God is faithful. God is a provider.  God is more than a resource. God is the source of my supply. 

Things around us are going to change. How we do things will change.  Who comes and who goes with us will change. Which way we go may change… But, God is faithful!  God takes care of God’s own.  

I was not expecting to change jobs after so many years. I planned to retire from that place.  I had been a part of building something.  I had a great team.  But, it was time to go! 

When things get tight around us and uncomfortable, and maybe even downright hostile; this is growing season.  When things become unhealthy and your integrity is being challenged; this is a going season! 

When you are encountering all these things all at once – this is a knowing season! 

Take heed… Pray and ask God about where you are, where you should go, and when.  And then, when you can hear God clearly – take the step! 

God will take care of us!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Do the Right Thing…

There are legitimate occasions when confusion about how to move forward should cause us to slow down.

When we are in a new place and don’t quite know our way around, speeding is ill-advised.

When we’re cooking a new recipe, rushing and improvising may not be such a good idea.

When we’re entering a new relationship, being cautious may be wise. There’s some veracity to the saying, ‘fools rush in.’

But when we’ve examined our hearts , after we’ve asked for help, and heard from the LORD, we must accept guidance, and then ACT on what we know to be right.

While we may not be able to see or control all of the outcomes, we can not allow the ‘paralysis of analysis,’ cause us to rationalize our disobedience.

Being patient with others, gracious, generous, loving, and polite are always appropriate. Even in challenging and holding one another accountable – as Christians we do so with a grace that affirms dignity. When we have to approach sensitive matters, and even while our emotions run hot and our anger may be justifiable – we do not sin!

Even when our critique is valid and our protest is well-founded and the truth is uncomfortable – we must strive to do what is right. When we don’t, in a moment we slide from being a victim into becoming an offender.

Many would call it weakness to lead with love and grace when one is confronted with hatefulness and cruelty – but this is the cross we willingly bear as followers of Jesus.

In the words of MLK, ‘the time is always right to do what is right…’

James writes,

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:17

In the words of the Mayor in Spike Lee’s, Do the Right Thing, ‘Mookie… always do the right thing!’

For you and me, that means we lead with grace, we lead with generosity, we lead with compassion and mercy; we lead with love!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Accept Help!

There are some battles that cannot be fought in our own strength.  There are some obstacles that we cannot overcome with our own abilities.

We will all face challenges where we will need some help.  We needn’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask. God is waiting to hear and willing to aid us!

But after we ask for assistance, we must accept aid, and then act on the advice and guidance that is given to us.  Get it?

I know I have been guilty of asking for help and then having an issue with how it showed up.  There have been times that I have asked, and then proceeded to argue about the answer.  And then there have been times that asked but then rejected the answer completely!  

I have a feeling I am not the only one…

The areas of our lives where we need the most guidance are fairly easy to identify.  These are typically areas where we struggle… 

Thank God that help is available!  Ask for help, accept it when it is offered, act upon, and adhere to the advice of the Spirit and the wisdom that God gives!  

Listen with the intention of obeying!  It works!!

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Ask for Help!

When you are faced with a problem that you cannot seem to solve, and the more you try, the worse it gets, it may be that you just need to ask for help.

In the land of the rugged individual, asking for help seems like a weakness, and seeking assistance is a blow to our egos.

So instead, many of us struggle silently, with our pride intact as our problems persist. We don’t know what to do or how, but we feign strength as anxiety and despair grip us. We are overwhelmed unnecessarily when all we need to do is ask for help.

We end up fighting on two fronts — a war that could have been avoided —because we refuse to ask for help.

Our pride fuels our adversary while at the same time creating conflict between us and our loving Creator, who is waiting and willing to help us! We are hard pressed on every side, when our help is only a whisper away!

Ask for help!

There is no victory for the proud, and stubbornness and self-reliance are not virtues!

Ask for help!

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

Psalm 138:6

Ask for help!

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6

Ask for help!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Asking Amiss?

Alignment…

When we petition God, it may do us well to examine our hearts and motives before we ask.

The truth is that much of what we ask of God has nothing to do with honoring Him or aligning ourselves with His will.

We want salve for our wounds, we

want to satisfy our appetites, we want to stroke our egos, and we want to stabilize our own schemes and plans. While the truth is, God’s will is actually just an afterthought! 

Do we want to do God’s will?  Really?

Before you flinch, know that I’m not hurling stones at anyone, inasmuch as I am inspecting the contents of my own heart and examining my whys.   Everyone of us needs time for reflection and introspection, so we can reset and adjust ourselves to God’s plans.  

Time and circumstance can cause the most sturdy of us to drift. But, this morning is as good a time as any to realign.  

In building bridges or any other large structure, being off by just a few inches at the beginning can become miles by the time one finishes!   Get it?

Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:2-3

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Full of Surprises?

The saying, ‘life is full of surprises’ is a truly enigmatic adage that’s been passed down through the years.

On the one hand, nature is unpredictable and mysterious.  But with another set of eyes things are very orderly and predictable.

On one hand human beings are mysterious but on the other hand we are rather ordinary and unremarkable.  

The science and the mechanics that make life possible are awe-inspiring and miraculous.  But human behavior is often obvious and disappointingly ordinary.

There is, in my opinion, one major exception that is truly marvelous.

The human tendency toward greed and selfishness is boring and mundane – the cause of wars, violence, struggles, and unnecessary suffering. We have enough of that, huh?   While the capacity to love and be loved despite such tendencies is as amazing as life itself.

Our humanity is an equalizer.  We are all basically the same – driven (though in differing degrees) by hunger, thirst, and desire.  But, the ability to subvert our primal urges in the name of love bears the markings of a divine impetus.

Love makes us exceptional.  To choose love – to give and to receive love – this makes us extraordinary.

Love, in a world full of hatred and brutality, violence and vitriol, fills our lives with surprise – the capacity for joy amid sorrow, comfort through grief, grace under fire, and resilience in the midst of uncertainty.  

Life is indeed ‘full of surprises,’ when we are led by and lead with love.

So today, I hope we will choose love.  Today, I hope we will abandon the mundane human tendencies that create destructive suffering and yield to the creative power of love.

Yes, love is a risky endeavor, but it is worth it!  It is the noblest and most exciting adventure to which we might give ourselves. 

Indeed, life is ‘full of surprises,’ especially when we are led, and lead with love!

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

1 John 4:7-8

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Keep on Living…

When we lose loved ones it can feel like our worlds have come to an end.  Grief ebbs and flows like waves on a shore, leaving us forever altered but somehow the same.  Our beloveds have left us but are somehow always with us.  We cling to their memory with our feet in the sand hoping that we will meet again.  

What do we do to assuage grief?  

In the words of my dear mother, we gotta ‘keep on living…’

When our love seems to have no place to go, it must find itself in the present.  We gotta keep on living.  We gotta learn how to pour this love into those with whom we remain.   We gotta keep on living.

We mustn’t remain among the tombs.  God has placed souls in our way that will become  welcome receptacles and repositories for the love that feels like it has no place to go. We gotta keep on living.

We can  honor our beloveds by continuing to live and to love.  We continue living as we cling to the gratitude that this love was a gift that we were privileged to receive.  

The poet Tennyson wrote,

“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all…”

I offer this addendum:  

It’s better to have loved, because love is never lost.  

Certainly love changes, but it is never lost. 

Love just  finds new ways of expressing itself.

Pardon my rambling this morning, as I work through my own grief at the passing of so many that I held so dearly.  This love that feels sometimes like it has no place to go,  I offer it to you.

Now, pass it on.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam