pastorpoet

Over the last few weeks, I, like many of you, have found myself troubled and overwhelmed by the waves of bad news that continue to flood the airwaves.  

In times like these we must remember the promise of the Spirit’s presence with us everywhere and in all things.  But we must also be reminded of the need we all have for community and connection!

For followers of Jesus, church is not an event we attend but a community we are born into.  Church is where we challenge, encourage, and comfort one another!  Church is where we share both burdens and blessings. When we gather for worship, prayers, fellowship, or study, we remind one another of God’s grace. In times like these, especially, we need one another! 

More than once over the last few weeks, a word or note from a brother or sister has been just what I needed to keep going.  God has gifted us to one another to care for one another!  

Stay connected!  We need it. And, someone is relying on you!

In our times where communities have been reconfigured by our technology and the way we connect to one another has made the world smaller – this can be a powerful tool when used properly!  When we can’t touch one another – we can still reach one another!

Stay connected! 

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24–25

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Adversity has a way of reminding us of what really matters.

Years ago, when our house was hit by a tornado, I can remember huddling in the darkness with my family drawn close to me. After the storm passed, I attempted to assess the damage in the darkness but it was pitch black! I discovered the downed power lines popping in the yard, and knew that I needed to get my family out of the house fast!

As I was corralling my folks, I stopped and hugged them, while I considered what I needed to grab before we got out of that house!  A surprising calm overcame me, when I realized that the answer was ‘Nothing!’  

Thank God. We had everything that we needed.  In the midst of the storm, we had everything that we needed.

Adversity has a way of reminding us what’s important – what is truly needed – what really matters!  The LORD works in mysterious ways…

Did you get that?

I frequently consider the clarity that I received in that storm – especially when I get beside myself with worry or anxiety.  Thank God, I have everything I need!

It makes me think about the encouraging words Paul wrote from prison:

19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:19–20

Even in the storm, we have everything we need!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

When we get up to go to work, most of us are motivated by the responsibilities we have to care for ourselves and those we love. But if the only meaning we find in our work is the money we make then work can be dreadful!

It’s interesting how even as we progress, the line keeps moving.  Once upon a time, many of us prayed for enough. But then, not long after God honored that prayer, we wanted more.  We always want more. Ironically, enough is never enough!

I want to suggest to you that there must be something else.  Could you consider that the work that you do is an act of worship? What if your job is an opportunity to carry God’s presence into places and to people that you may never see at a church? 

You see, when we reach the end of our story – what will matter most will not be the money that we made or the stuff we acquired.  

We find meaning through our relationships – the connections we enjoy with God and one another!  

Get it?

⁴ Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. ⁵ When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

Proverbs 23:4–5

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Can I tell you all a secret?  

There are times, many times, that I am overwhelmed with circumstances and literally at a loss for words.  These days, it seems to be happening more frequently.  

The near constant stream of bad news, tragedy, and suffering leaves a lump in my throat that prevents anything beyond groan to escape my lips. Ever felt like this?  

You are not alone.  

Thank God for Jesus.  Thank God for the Spirit that speaks for us when we don’t know what to say and who intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray!  

Lord have mercy!

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Romans 8:26

When you’ve run out of words, and don’t know how to pray – know that God can translate our tears.  God deciphers our despair!  God can hear our silent suffering!  God sees,knows, hears, and will answer!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs, 

just adam

Hypocrisy is as sneaky as humility is elusive.  To absolve oneself of guilt is to teeter toward hypocrisy.  To claim humility is to watch it escape us.  So what do we do?

When we witness injustice, violence, or greed, how do we confront it without exuding self-righteousness?  When we are seeking redress for wrongdoing, how do we avoid vengeance?  This is tough.

MLK would remind us that,

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

With all that’s going on right now socially and politically, I’ve been wondering why this season is so painful and disappointing for so many of us.  It’s not like we haven’t faced difficult times before.  None of this is new!  

I think part of the struggle is that we realize how entangled and entrenched we all are in this system.  All of us. We are victims of

and complicit to a wicked system that demands ‘haves and have nots.’ Our economy is built on the exploitation of laborers, domestic and foreign. Our desire for convenience outweighs the need to conserve natural resources and to preserve our planet. We are good capitalists – we are materialistic and  individualistic – but not very good Christians.  Lord, have mercy!

 Even our protests flaunt our designer proclivities.  We are all mixed up in this mess together.  So what do we do?

First, we must admit some humility.  None of us is all right or all wrong.  Then we must take a long slow look in the mirror and confess our own flaws and weaknesses – our complicity to these wicked systems, and confront our hypocrisy and contradictions. Then we must discuss how we dig ourselves out of this mess, by the grace of God!

Listen:

How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Luke 6:42

We got work to do!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

In seasons of distress, we are sustained when we realize that as God’s children, we always have something to look forward to. 

Like a runner who senses the finish line is near, though just beyond view, we are rejuvenated at the very thought of a breakthrough. 

Hope is what energizes us when we would otherwise quit.  Hope encourages when life tempts us to give up.  Hope invigorates us when the road is rough and rugged.

Hope is our reminder of God’s faithfulness even amid the bleakest of circumstances.  Hope is like the air; lifting us with its invisible power when we are weary and exhausted.  We can’t see it but we can certainly feel it!

Hope is the unseen power that compels us to press on when our own strength is gone!  But hope also gives us the resolve to wait faithfully on God’s promises to be revealed.

Hope is what sustained the prophets and apostles – God’s people across the ages! Hope is what sustained our ancestors through unimaginable hardship and persecution.  And, this hope is what will sustain us now –  even as we are waiting on better!

Hope! 

For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8:24–25

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam