A revelation was given to me this morning. satan's greatest stronghold in the west today is the church itself. God help us. Think about the sense this makes. The world is currently desperate for Christ. They want Him. They desire Him. They are so lost and the world is at such a difficult time right now. In such adversity the lost thirst, hunger, and cry out for God. The field is ripe for harvest. The world, in interviews, even says that if we were to follow the very things that we claim to believe, then they would be able to accept the things that we profess. It is our hypocrisy that keeps them from belief. Is satan himself able to oppose us? No. Christ defeated him on the cross. There is no opposition from satan's forces that he can provide which can withstand the mature and battle-ready Christian. Christ has given us all authority over them. So, who would be the most potent enemy satan could raise against us and against God? Ourselves.
My pastor told me something yesterday that I believe with all of my heart and I will hold before me in all things to guide me. He has seen healings, wonders, signs from many places and the people performing these things have said many things and what God spoke to his heart was that if they were not humble then he shouldn't listen to anything they said. Humility is the mark of someone truly following God. The Lord can give gifts to His children through His Spirit and they can subsequently be led astray... seeking to glorify themselves or even inadvertently serving the enemy. God will not revoke the gifts He has freely given, so the mark of those that truly serve Him is humility.
A testament to the fact that the Church is its greatest opposition is readily apparent in a truth I heard in a sermon last Sunday. First, I should point out a fact I made apparent in an earlier post. As Christians, when we received Christ, we went from sinners to saints. The process of transformation is not one of sinner to less of a sinner to even less of a sinner to still less of a sinner until we die and then we become saints. We were sinners, now we are saints. We aren't reborn when we die, we are reborn the moment we accept Christ as our savior. Therefore, our transformation in the words of Paul is from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. More on the fact that we are no longer in bondage to sin and are able to live completely free from it from this day until we are joined with the Lord can be found in an earlier blog or I can be contacted personally for more guidance in this matter. Back to the point... in the NBA or the NFL, when there are stories of men that were born in the ghetto and moved from a life of adversity and struggle and hardship and rose to make something of themselves and be an amazing athlete, they are glorified and stories are written up about it and people love to read these stories and to hear about these people. Success stories of people in the world where these people are glorified draw attention to these people. Jesus could tell people the hard truth and the people around Him hearing Him would accept it because they were drawn to Him by His Glory. He didn't have to water it down and tell people that they didn't have to listen to the parts of His message that they didn't want to follow. In the church, today, when one of us is lifted up and we become glorified, watchdogs within the church observe every single thing that the person does - watching and waiting for them to make a mistake so that they can then crucify them and pull them down to their level. The church lives in a church culture that is antiglory. The world has people to look up to... leaders... and the church tears apart and tears down its leaders. People are drawn to glory. If we want to make a difference we have to allow people to be glorified. We are supposed to be a people that believe in the power of redemption and forgiveness, so when one of our leaders does stumble, we must be willing to forgive. Christ said that the world would know us because of one thing... only one thing would mark to the world that we are His people.... that we LOVE each other.
I believe my church is actually part of the beginning of this move of God. I believe my church is taking the right approach because we are apologizing to the world for being UNchristian. I am excited by the steps our pastor is leading our church into and I believe the Lord is with us in this. I urge everyone to take heart and use this opportunity to make right your walk with God and to really live the words of the Bible and show to everyone that you live and walk in the very things you profess with your mouth to believe. If you don't know all of what it is that you claim to believe... if the Bible is something you don't know inside and out, then I encourage you to make the first day of your journey into that new frontier. Take a Bible and read it today, and tomorrow, but take it one day at a time. Focus on today and try to read just five chapters and think about them and reflect on them. Then do it again tomorrow. If 5 is too much, do 1. If one chapter is too much, read one verse. Read whatever portion you can handle. The Bible is an addictive substance, the more you feed on it the greater your hunger for it will become. It is one of the few 100% healthy addictive substances. ;) I would also strongly advise reading one of the modern translations... the old King James version was far slower reading for me than the Holman. I read in a week the same material in the Holman that it took me a month to read in my old King James version.
Anyone that is seeking someone to partner with them in learning and reading and prayer can feel free to seek me out. My email is jbaker4@hotmail.com.
God loves all and blesses those that diligently seek Him.
-Jeremy
I believe that God is about to move powerfully through the church here in the west and when He does He will separate the wheat from the chaff and the wheat will be glorified. Gird yourselves for battle because the greatest stronghold is about to be dismantled and it will be painful. I weep for those that will be lost in the battle. Pray that God holds onto all of His chosen ones.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Motivation of God’s Wrath….
So often I’ve connected the wrath of God with hatred and punishment. But rather it is His love for us, His compassion, His desire to spare us from pain… and a life half-lived, not that He wants to just wipe us out because of spite.
God is love… if we let that sink in to our core … His wrath then is motivated out of His great love, His fatherly protection. He wants the BEST for us. He says no because of a greater YES!
Jeremiah 7:6b “… and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm…”
Jeremiah 7:19 “But am I the one they are provoking? Declares the Lord, Are they not rather harming themselves, and their own shame.”
Our waywardness, or idolatry not only brings Him so much pain but us so much pain – and that is unbearable to Him.
Perhaps it is better for the people in Jeremiah Chapter 7 to be wiped out than to continue to live such hollow lives apart from God (just my pondering, here…)
Do I believe God is love? Do I trust Him, His love for me? What is He calling me into or away from?
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C S Lewis, The Weight of Glory)
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
Do not operate out of fear...
I hesitate to write… mostly out of fear. Fear that I won’t make sense or the discoveries the Holy Spirit has revealed are so basic that the readers of this blog may laugh. But there it is, fear standing as a roadblock to vulnerability.
May the words written on this blog bring truth and life, honor to God, encouragement… If what I write is basic than rejoice with me that God is maturing my faith. If it speaks to you, rejoice that the Holy Spirit is moving our hearts in tandem.
This fear reminds me of the sermon a few weekends ago, the fear of judgment. Honestly, the past few weeks have been wrenched in homesickness. Why is it that I miss my family so much? Safety and security. They love me no matter what. My parents and my brothers can’t divorce me… we are bound by blood. But wait, there is another family bound in blood.
Bruce spoke about this a few months ago. Our Christian family is even more permanent, more lasting, … deeper than our nuclear family. For me, that is hard to swallow. I LOVE my birth family. But as a believer, God has adopted me into His family. I believe that God intends that there is no distinction between an adopted child and a birth child. I belong to God! He is my Abba! And other believers around me are my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are family. We are united, and bound by the blood of Christ – more powerful than any other blood. The Blood that brings healing and restoration, grace and mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation, laughter and joy… freedom.
As a family member, how am I treating my brothers and sisters? Am I loving them well? Am I respecting and supporting them as I should? Encouraging them, showing grace, being honest and clear?
God is opening my eyes to what it means to be in the family of God, a child of God. I moved to a new house recently. I’m astounded by the generosity, sacrifice and support from those who are not of my birth family, from some who hardly know me. And from so many. Where I come from, we do it ourselves and don’t ask for help. When I’d share with my mom about “so and so helped pack this, then we did that, so and so wrapped picture frames, transported, delivered food, cooked, cleaned, lifted, took the door off, cleaned till the wee hours of the morning,” my mother exclaimed, “Ginger!” Guilt set in. (no sir, devil, get back) “Mom, this is what community and family is all about. This is my family.”
I realized a few Sundays ago a crucial part of why I miss my family so much. It is that safety and security I have with them. A little boy was crying shear terror outside of a service on Sunday. Separated from his mother, he fought a volunteer, tried to climb over the gate, had a fit. His shrieks became louder and louder. My heart went out to his mother. How she must want to run to him.
Why was this boy so distraught?
Because his source of unconditional love - as far as he knows at his age - was gone. His safety and security.
God, I want to cry out to You like that. When was the last time I cried out like that for God- my ultimate safety and security…? Honestly, it’s been awhile.
When God “feels” distant, when circumstances feel lonely, may we cry out to our Abba Father! I’m reminded of the wee girl in the movie The Patriot. Her father never heard her speak until one day as he was going back to battle, she runs after him crying “Papa! Papa! Don’t go! Don’t go!”
What have I run to, clung to instead of my Abba? Instead of calling out Papa!?
Dr. Wayne Cordeiro (pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship) points out that we have to take “it” (every thing) to the Lord -“Sometimes you don’t realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you’ve got.”
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:15-16
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1
We are children of God. Brothers, sisters – let us rejoice!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Celebrate the Pain
What is it to celebrate?
| 1. | to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities: |
| 2. | to make known publicly; proclaim: |
| 3. | to praise widely or to present to widespread and favorable public notice, as through newspapers or novels:
|
| 4. | to perform with appropriate rites and ceremonies; solemnize: |
In December I wrote this poem:
I know what it is to be a leper
I know what it is to have once been able to feel crevices and details, but to now not notice intricacies.
I know what it is to forget what soft feels like.
To forget what rough feels like
To forget what pain feels like.
And I don't know which is worse.
And part of me is so angry and I want to clench my fists
but I can't
And part of me is so desperate that I need to stretch out my hands
but I can't
And part of me just needs to hold on
but I can't hold anything
So I sit
with hand resting on knees
Open only as far as they will fall on their own
But my hands are open.
My hands are open to the knowledge that you have healed leperswith nothing more than water
with nothing more than words
My hands are open to the promise that you love me more than I will ever know or understand
and my hands are open to the hope that I will one day be able to open my hands
But until that day
I sit
with hands resting on knees
open to the promise of you.
I've referenced this poem before in trying to figure out what God was teaching me through it. Today I recognize it as a monument to a prayer long prayed being answered. Today I'm choosing to set up another monument to pain.
I don't know that I fully understand all of the ways in which we are to rejoice in our sufferings. What I can say today is not over suffering, but I am rejoicing that I'm suffering. I can say that one thing that pain does is move us and hopefully move us in the right direction. There is no movement if we're not feeling.
Today I recognize that my prayers have been answered and will continue to be. As I sit with pain I will rejoice knowing that I did not feel it 8 months ago but I feel it today, and in feeling I stand confidently knowing that healing will come from it.
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you."
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 35
Thursday, August 20, 2009
My heart is in Rwanda...
Originally published Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 2:22pm
I have been asked more than once since I returned.... How was Africa? Often the question is posed in the casual nature of a request about the weather, as if in a few words I could sum up the entire experience. Those that have been there understand, it's not something you can express easily in words of any kind. Most will tell you that the best way to know how it was is to go yourself and experience it for yourself. Obviously, experience is one of the best teachers. However, taking a three week trip to Africa is obviously not something that everyone can do, especially on nothing more than a whim. I will here attempt to put into words an idea of what it was like as best as mere words can describe.
We left on Saturday the 11th at about 10 am. As we drove to Washington, DC to catch our flight, we stopped briefly along the turnpike to get some fluids and to use the restrooms. At our stop, they just happened to be serving Rwandan coffee. While driving down the road, a semi truck passed us with gold lettering emblazoned on its red painted exterior stating clearly, "Jesus is Lord." The seemingly innocuous events reminded me of Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. It felt like the concept that God had gone in advance to prepare the way for us and what we would do. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about our safety or what we would do or where we would stay. It had already been worked out for us.
We arrived in Rwanda's capital of Kigali late in the evening of the next day. At this point, we still were uncertain of where we would be staying or what the cost was. When we arrived, there was no one there to meet us. As it turned out, Jean Paul had somehow thought we were arriving on Tuesday instead of when we did arrive - Sunday. He came as quickly as he could and arranged to have three taxis take us to a hotel in Kigali where we spent the night. If memory serves, it was in the morning of the next day that Bruce, a pastor at Calvary and the leader of our missions project, informed us of our living arrangements for the next three weeks. A group of college students from Florida State University had rented a house in Gitarama and paid for the entire month. They had left a few days before we arrived. We were given the house to stay in free of charge. The money that we had intended to spend on the rental costs could now be given to the boys home in Biyamana as a gift towards one of the projects that money was needed for. This included both a basketball court for them as well as doubling their storage capacity for water.
I believe I was the only member of our team, new to Rwanda, that didn't get a feeling of culture shock when we arrived. Surprisingly, Rwanda felt more comfortable and more like home to me than America had. Not being shocked by the cultural differences did not prevent me from noticing the many differences between our cultures. I believe during our total time in Gitarama and traveling to Biyamana that aside from our group of ten, I only saw about 5 other mazungas (white people). Given my six and a half feet of hairy whiteness, I was often the most watched member of our team. Some Rwandans had never seen a mazunga before. Moreover, as far as mazungas go, I happen to be overly hairy. Often I would find Rwandans walking up to me, or sitting next to me and rubbing their hands up and down my arms to feel the hair that covered them. Children from the village of Byimana would rub my hairy arms and ask me, "What's this?" Barely a single African had hair on their arms. Not only was my being white shocking to them, but possessing hair to keep me warm in the colder climates I hailed from was virtually unheard of.
All of this petting demonstrated one of the most recognizably different traits between the average Rwandan and the average American. They love people... unconditionally and with no pretenses. I do not mean to offend any American reading this that suddenly feels disenfranchised by the suggestion that a group of people in Africa might have a greater capacity to love than they do. It is entirely possible that God has given you, dear reader, an enormous capacity to love others that exceeds that of the average Rwandan. Now, if your ire has cooled, I would ask you to consider this... 15 years ago, Rwanda had a genocide. At the time, they possessed a population of approximately 9 million people. After 100 days, the population was cut down to 8 million people. About 1/8 of the population was mercilessly wiped out. Families were halved. Those that sided with the "race" being wiped out were also murdered. Almost everyone lost someone that they cared about. Currently about 80% of the population is under 30 years old.
Allow me to put this into perspective. Do you remember 9/11? The death toll was approximately 2,752 people. Do you remember how outraged and patriotic we felt? It seemed that our patriotism and shared feelings lasted strongly for about a year after the event had occurred. Now imagine instead that the murders had been done by our own people instead of by people from outside of the country that hated us. It would be far more difficult to hate anyone in particular and far more challenging to decide who to focus our feelings toward. Not only that, but 1 million people were murdered. So take the feelings you had during 9/11 and multiply them by about 363 times. I can't imagine that anyone in the country was not personally effected by such an event. Given the sheer scale of this tragedy, the survivors would certainly be effected in such a way that their perspectives on life would receive a massive fundamental shift. Life and its various respects would suddenly have new meaning. The value of life would be understood and recognized in a way that wasn't possible before. Two outcomes could have occurred from this tragedy. Everyone could have become plagued with fear, hatred, denial and then moved into introversion and hid from the world and its horrors. In Rwanda, quite the opposite seemed to have occurred, an event that can only be attributed to the awesome wonder and redemption of God.
Rwanda learned love. It is hard for me to imagine that a country poised to commit genocide - pregenocidal Rwanda - could have been as filled with love as it is now. God does amazing things. Rwanda seems to be a perfect example of how God can bring about great redemption, healing, and life from horrible tragedy, destruction, and loss. The theme recurs countless times in countless places throughout creation. Forest fires promote growth and new life. The aftermath of a volcanic eruption leaves some of the most fertile soil that can be found on the earth. Following the horrors of the Rwandan genocide the victims forgave the murderers and the country found (and is finding) a way to move on. Christ died to bring life to many. One cannot help but stand in awe of God's love, power, majesty, and glory.
We stood realizing the truth of Rwanda. Their people had less than us... less materialistically, less worldly wealth. However, in the things of God... the things that cannot be seen or measured - the intangibles, they were among the richest people on Earth. Some of us came to Rwanda believing that we would accomplish something for them. After our two and a half weeks just about everyone had realized that we had gained far more from them than we could have done for them. They showed us one of the things that is most important in walking with Christ - love. Without it, everything else is meaningless.
I could tell you about our trip to the genocide memorial in the capital city. I could mention our day trip to Akagera national park where we saw some giraffes, gazelles, hippos, birds, and zebras. I could describe our circular hike over a mountain in the land of a thousand hills. However, for team Rwanda, the most eventful and meaningful experience we had over those two and a half weeks was our almost daily trip to a little village called Byimana where we gave our imperfect love to 30 boys and the village they lived in while they showed us a more perfect love.
Personally, I had two significant experiences during the trip that had a deep and lasting impact on me. The first I can only share in person. The second was a little girl named Godance. She was three years old. This little girl demonstrated love to me in a more godly way than I had known previously. When I first met her, she sang everywhere that she went. This three year old demonstrated to me the kingdom of heaven in the way that I expect Jesus had intended when he compared little ones to it. The first English words I heard her say were, "I love you." She spoke the words in a sort of sing-song. I believe she knew what she was saying. The words were so innocent coming from her mouth. The mental picture conveyed as she sang and said those words was the idea of a heaven where our Father continuously and simply says, "I love you." Surrounding His throne would be the continuous, joyous singing of so many that shared in that love that He expounded upon His children.
Even Godance is an example of God's love and redemption. From what I was told, she was the daughter of a prostitute. This beautiful, sweet, innocent child was born into what would seem to be tragic circumstances. Moreover, a man chose to be her father. He adopted Godance and her brother and took their mother in. When Godance's father had received clothes, boots, and gloves as a generous gift from the church, her mother stole them and left father and children behind. This might sound terrible, but Godance's father continues to care for her and her brother. The man truly loves them. Godance's father works at the boy's home and Godance spends her days playing alongside her family of 30 brothers. Her brother by blood, Jean Paul, loves her dearly and is very protective of his little sister. One might believe that she might be better off elsewhere in a different set of circumstances. If you were to observe her in her environment you would understand that there is nowhere else where she could be that would be as loving of a home as that one.
I miss Rwanda. Were it my calling, I would happily live out the rest of my life there. If there is anything I could bring here that they had, it would be their love. Every day that we went to Biyamana, the village children would see us and run out of their homes and take us by the hand. By the time we reached the boy's home at Umuryango, each of us had a child holding each hand. When we would leave at the end of the day, they would come out and the boys from the home would walk with us to the taxi stand and they would wait with us until we left. They would laugh and play and teach us kinyarwandan words. Their mothers trusted them to be with us. The love and trust displayed was such a vast difference from the typical attitudes displayed in our country. These people didn't know who we were, yet from the moment they saw us they trusted us. There are few things that I have experienced that are as heartwarming as having 15 or more little children running up to me daily for no other reason than to share companionship. Love transcends all things and can be conveyed effortlessly through language barriers and cultural barriers. A part of my heart will forever remain in Rwanda. Let me finish my brief summary of my experiences by asking you, whom have you shown God's love to today?
I have been asked more than once since I returned.... How was Africa? Often the question is posed in the casual nature of a request about the weather, as if in a few words I could sum up the entire experience. Those that have been there understand, it's not something you can express easily in words of any kind. Most will tell you that the best way to know how it was is to go yourself and experience it for yourself. Obviously, experience is one of the best teachers. However, taking a three week trip to Africa is obviously not something that everyone can do, especially on nothing more than a whim. I will here attempt to put into words an idea of what it was like as best as mere words can describe.
We left on Saturday the 11th at about 10 am. As we drove to Washington, DC to catch our flight, we stopped briefly along the turnpike to get some fluids and to use the restrooms. At our stop, they just happened to be serving Rwandan coffee. While driving down the road, a semi truck passed us with gold lettering emblazoned on its red painted exterior stating clearly, "Jesus is Lord." The seemingly innocuous events reminded me of Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. It felt like the concept that God had gone in advance to prepare the way for us and what we would do. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about our safety or what we would do or where we would stay. It had already been worked out for us.
We arrived in Rwanda's capital of Kigali late in the evening of the next day. At this point, we still were uncertain of where we would be staying or what the cost was. When we arrived, there was no one there to meet us. As it turned out, Jean Paul had somehow thought we were arriving on Tuesday instead of when we did arrive - Sunday. He came as quickly as he could and arranged to have three taxis take us to a hotel in Kigali where we spent the night. If memory serves, it was in the morning of the next day that Bruce, a pastor at Calvary and the leader of our missions project, informed us of our living arrangements for the next three weeks. A group of college students from Florida State University had rented a house in Gitarama and paid for the entire month. They had left a few days before we arrived. We were given the house to stay in free of charge. The money that we had intended to spend on the rental costs could now be given to the boys home in Biyamana as a gift towards one of the projects that money was needed for. This included both a basketball court for them as well as doubling their storage capacity for water.
I believe I was the only member of our team, new to Rwanda, that didn't get a feeling of culture shock when we arrived. Surprisingly, Rwanda felt more comfortable and more like home to me than America had. Not being shocked by the cultural differences did not prevent me from noticing the many differences between our cultures. I believe during our total time in Gitarama and traveling to Biyamana that aside from our group of ten, I only saw about 5 other mazungas (white people). Given my six and a half feet of hairy whiteness, I was often the most watched member of our team. Some Rwandans had never seen a mazunga before. Moreover, as far as mazungas go, I happen to be overly hairy. Often I would find Rwandans walking up to me, or sitting next to me and rubbing their hands up and down my arms to feel the hair that covered them. Children from the village of Byimana would rub my hairy arms and ask me, "What's this?" Barely a single African had hair on their arms. Not only was my being white shocking to them, but possessing hair to keep me warm in the colder climates I hailed from was virtually unheard of.
All of this petting demonstrated one of the most recognizably different traits between the average Rwandan and the average American. They love people... unconditionally and with no pretenses. I do not mean to offend any American reading this that suddenly feels disenfranchised by the suggestion that a group of people in Africa might have a greater capacity to love than they do. It is entirely possible that God has given you, dear reader, an enormous capacity to love others that exceeds that of the average Rwandan. Now, if your ire has cooled, I would ask you to consider this... 15 years ago, Rwanda had a genocide. At the time, they possessed a population of approximately 9 million people. After 100 days, the population was cut down to 8 million people. About 1/8 of the population was mercilessly wiped out. Families were halved. Those that sided with the "race" being wiped out were also murdered. Almost everyone lost someone that they cared about. Currently about 80% of the population is under 30 years old.
Allow me to put this into perspective. Do you remember 9/11? The death toll was approximately 2,752 people. Do you remember how outraged and patriotic we felt? It seemed that our patriotism and shared feelings lasted strongly for about a year after the event had occurred. Now imagine instead that the murders had been done by our own people instead of by people from outside of the country that hated us. It would be far more difficult to hate anyone in particular and far more challenging to decide who to focus our feelings toward. Not only that, but 1 million people were murdered. So take the feelings you had during 9/11 and multiply them by about 363 times. I can't imagine that anyone in the country was not personally effected by such an event. Given the sheer scale of this tragedy, the survivors would certainly be effected in such a way that their perspectives on life would receive a massive fundamental shift. Life and its various respects would suddenly have new meaning. The value of life would be understood and recognized in a way that wasn't possible before. Two outcomes could have occurred from this tragedy. Everyone could have become plagued with fear, hatred, denial and then moved into introversion and hid from the world and its horrors. In Rwanda, quite the opposite seemed to have occurred, an event that can only be attributed to the awesome wonder and redemption of God.
Rwanda learned love. It is hard for me to imagine that a country poised to commit genocide - pregenocidal Rwanda - could have been as filled with love as it is now. God does amazing things. Rwanda seems to be a perfect example of how God can bring about great redemption, healing, and life from horrible tragedy, destruction, and loss. The theme recurs countless times in countless places throughout creation. Forest fires promote growth and new life. The aftermath of a volcanic eruption leaves some of the most fertile soil that can be found on the earth. Following the horrors of the Rwandan genocide the victims forgave the murderers and the country found (and is finding) a way to move on. Christ died to bring life to many. One cannot help but stand in awe of God's love, power, majesty, and glory.
We stood realizing the truth of Rwanda. Their people had less than us... less materialistically, less worldly wealth. However, in the things of God... the things that cannot be seen or measured - the intangibles, they were among the richest people on Earth. Some of us came to Rwanda believing that we would accomplish something for them. After our two and a half weeks just about everyone had realized that we had gained far more from them than we could have done for them. They showed us one of the things that is most important in walking with Christ - love. Without it, everything else is meaningless.
I could tell you about our trip to the genocide memorial in the capital city. I could mention our day trip to Akagera national park where we saw some giraffes, gazelles, hippos, birds, and zebras. I could describe our circular hike over a mountain in the land of a thousand hills. However, for team Rwanda, the most eventful and meaningful experience we had over those two and a half weeks was our almost daily trip to a little village called Byimana where we gave our imperfect love to 30 boys and the village they lived in while they showed us a more perfect love.
Personally, I had two significant experiences during the trip that had a deep and lasting impact on me. The first I can only share in person. The second was a little girl named Godance. She was three years old. This little girl demonstrated love to me in a more godly way than I had known previously. When I first met her, she sang everywhere that she went. This three year old demonstrated to me the kingdom of heaven in the way that I expect Jesus had intended when he compared little ones to it. The first English words I heard her say were, "I love you." She spoke the words in a sort of sing-song. I believe she knew what she was saying. The words were so innocent coming from her mouth. The mental picture conveyed as she sang and said those words was the idea of a heaven where our Father continuously and simply says, "I love you." Surrounding His throne would be the continuous, joyous singing of so many that shared in that love that He expounded upon His children.
Even Godance is an example of God's love and redemption. From what I was told, she was the daughter of a prostitute. This beautiful, sweet, innocent child was born into what would seem to be tragic circumstances. Moreover, a man chose to be her father. He adopted Godance and her brother and took their mother in. When Godance's father had received clothes, boots, and gloves as a generous gift from the church, her mother stole them and left father and children behind. This might sound terrible, but Godance's father continues to care for her and her brother. The man truly loves them. Godance's father works at the boy's home and Godance spends her days playing alongside her family of 30 brothers. Her brother by blood, Jean Paul, loves her dearly and is very protective of his little sister. One might believe that she might be better off elsewhere in a different set of circumstances. If you were to observe her in her environment you would understand that there is nowhere else where she could be that would be as loving of a home as that one.
I miss Rwanda. Were it my calling, I would happily live out the rest of my life there. If there is anything I could bring here that they had, it would be their love. Every day that we went to Biyamana, the village children would see us and run out of their homes and take us by the hand. By the time we reached the boy's home at Umuryango, each of us had a child holding each hand. When we would leave at the end of the day, they would come out and the boys from the home would walk with us to the taxi stand and they would wait with us until we left. They would laugh and play and teach us kinyarwandan words. Their mothers trusted them to be with us. The love and trust displayed was such a vast difference from the typical attitudes displayed in our country. These people didn't know who we were, yet from the moment they saw us they trusted us. There are few things that I have experienced that are as heartwarming as having 15 or more little children running up to me daily for no other reason than to share companionship. Love transcends all things and can be conveyed effortlessly through language barriers and cultural barriers. A part of my heart will forever remain in Rwanda. Let me finish my brief summary of my experiences by asking you, whom have you shown God's love to today?
Comparisons
Originally posted Monday, August 3, 2009 at 12:39pm
Yesterday, during church, I was contemplating the origin of comparisons. Specifically, I was wondering where the decision to compare oneself with someone else began. You see, I find it hard to believe that the practice, when engaged in, can ever result in any good. If I compare myself to another and come to the belief that I am less capable in some respect to the other person, then I have denigrated myself, which is not healthy. If I compare myself to the other and come to the conclusion that I am more qualified, then I have built up my own pride and now think less of the other person because of their perceived inferiority. I could claim that I am equal to the other person, but truthfully how often are two people exactly alike in any respect?
Therefore, I conclude that we should do away with the poor habit of comparing ourselves to others. If Christians wish to come to some conclusion of who they are, rather than making a judgement of ourselves by trying to measure our abilities through comparing them to the skills of other people, we should instead accept the truths and promises about who we are that are made in the Bible. Through the realization and acceptance of these truths, we will find that we never need to make comparisons of ourselves with others. These truths are far more fulfulling to us than some vague comparisons we try to make with our own imperfect sense of judgement.
A list of these truths and the scripture that reveals them can be found here: http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm
Given these truths, as Christians, there is no need to make any sort of comparison between ourselves and others. With these realizations of who we are, to try to make comparisons is fruitless. In Christ, all of these truths are shared amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. Next to these, trying to determine whether or not we are better at something than someone else holds no meaning. So the next time you feel the urge to compare yourself to someone else in your attributes or the things that you have, stop and consider who you are in Christ and let the frivolous practice end along with the negative impact it will have on your viewpoint of yourself, others, or both.
Yesterday, during church, I was contemplating the origin of comparisons. Specifically, I was wondering where the decision to compare oneself with someone else began. You see, I find it hard to believe that the practice, when engaged in, can ever result in any good. If I compare myself to another and come to the belief that I am less capable in some respect to the other person, then I have denigrated myself, which is not healthy. If I compare myself to the other and come to the conclusion that I am more qualified, then I have built up my own pride and now think less of the other person because of their perceived inferiority. I could claim that I am equal to the other person, but truthfully how often are two people exactly alike in any respect?
Therefore, I conclude that we should do away with the poor habit of comparing ourselves to others. If Christians wish to come to some conclusion of who they are, rather than making a judgement of ourselves by trying to measure our abilities through comparing them to the skills of other people, we should instead accept the truths and promises about who we are that are made in the Bible. Through the realization and acceptance of these truths, we will find that we never need to make comparisons of ourselves with others. These truths are far more fulfulling to us than some vague comparisons we try to make with our own imperfect sense of judgement.
A list of these truths and the scripture that reveals them can be found here: http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm
Given these truths, as Christians, there is no need to make any sort of comparison between ourselves and others. With these realizations of who we are, to try to make comparisons is fruitless. In Christ, all of these truths are shared amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. Next to these, trying to determine whether or not we are better at something than someone else holds no meaning. So the next time you feel the urge to compare yourself to someone else in your attributes or the things that you have, stop and consider who you are in Christ and let the frivolous practice end along with the negative impact it will have on your viewpoint of yourself, others, or both.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Love
Originally wrote Friday, July 10, 2009 at 2:17pm.
Tonight is my final evening in the states. So, if I have any readers, this is a final note for you to perhaps enjoy before I leave to a country which, if it is God's will, I may end up not returning from. ;-P
Growing up as a child, I felt unloved. I can't really put a finger on exactly what it was that caused such a feeling. It may have been that my mother was working all of the time, so I rarely had her around to draw support from. It may have been that my father was emotionally abusive. It could have been the lack of a stable environment to grow up in, since my father was in the Air Force and we regularly moved not long after I had established friends at our new home. Inevitably the continuous moving caused me to stop attempting to establish friends and caused me to be more and more introverted and reclusive. It can certainly be a loveless existence to be alone.
Fortunately, in my continuing walk with God, I have found the warmth of His church and the members of my Christian family. While it is a continuing process of becoming free to feel safe among the members and to learn the nature of socialization which I had never really had the opportunity to learn before, I am slowly and inevitably growing in comfort around these friends, peers, brothers, and sisters. It is a unique experience to have a group of supporters that cry with you when you are sad, exult with you when you are happy, pray for you when you need prayer, and have unending reserves of encouragement and happiness when you meet the challenges and elations that walking a life devoted to Christ provides. While I do not mean to slight my own blood family, my Christian family has shown me more love and support and contact over the past year than I have ever received from my worldly family. I find this to be an awesome testament to Christ's love.
Ginger had an opportunity to see my true self, for but a moment. Just about everyone had left for downtown State College from our fourth of July party and it was just me and Heather out on the front lawn. I dropped my guard and started acting as my silly self tends to act when the defenses are not in place to guard me from the unfamiliarity of trying to act properly in front of other people that might be perplexed at my carefree silliness. To see me in my most natural uninhibited state would be like the realization that squirrels, when people are not looking, pull out tables and sit together in groups to play cards. Ginger, for the brief moment that I thought only Heather could witness my silliness, was able to bear witness to the squirrel in his act of seemingly unnaturalness.
America, at least from a worldy perspective, is judgmental. We have an idea that we call "normal". We expect people to act in a way that conforms to the common perspective of normalcy. When anyone acts in a way that is contrary to the norm, we ridicule, attack, tear down, reprimand, and ostracize them. We use peer pressure to force people to conform to the way we act. The most horrible point of this attitude is that, in sin, we pressure others to join us in our sin. With the social pressures, more and more people attempt to join the norm, which is sinful. We become defeated and fall into the normalcy of the world and its worldliness. Even the Christian writers that I am reading from call others that fully follow Christ and have spoken of his teachings with true faithfulness and belief as being "extremely radical".
In Christ, we need not maintain appearances. In trying to expand my ability to love others and to love as Christ has loved me, I have developed a new way to observe other people. I have been trying to understand how God sees people, and the best analogy I have come up with is to think of individuals not as bodies, but as stars. God sees the spirit, men see the body. I like to think of God's perspective of what we look like as being that of seeing the many stars that are in a galaxy. To Him, we must seem to be varying light sources which differ in magnitude in proportion to how fully our hearts are turned to Him. He looks at the hearts of men instead of their bodies. If we all looked at people as pinpricks of light held in space, rather than looking at "fat" or thin, pretty or "ugly", old or young, or any other physical aspect, how much easier would it be to leave the accompanying condemnation and judgement of another person's looks behind? This analogy also fits well to the concept of being light to the world as Christians. It also makes it quite understandable that, as being lights in the world of varying magnitudes, how Satan might be able to easily perceive those lights at work and move to snuff them out.
I would encourage you to realize that there is no normal. We are all individuals loved for our individuality. God made each one of us. He loves all of us. Surely He also loves our differences.I would like to thank all of the brothers and sisters in Christ that have made me feel welcome in Christ's family. I have tried to tag all of you that have had an impact on my life since I began this journey of transformation.
Pray for us while we are in Rwanda, that God would work through us and that we would be open to the fact that we are more apt to be worked in by God than to accomplish work for God.
Your brother in Christ,
Jeremy
Tonight is my final evening in the states. So, if I have any readers, this is a final note for you to perhaps enjoy before I leave to a country which, if it is God's will, I may end up not returning from. ;-P
Growing up as a child, I felt unloved. I can't really put a finger on exactly what it was that caused such a feeling. It may have been that my mother was working all of the time, so I rarely had her around to draw support from. It may have been that my father was emotionally abusive. It could have been the lack of a stable environment to grow up in, since my father was in the Air Force and we regularly moved not long after I had established friends at our new home. Inevitably the continuous moving caused me to stop attempting to establish friends and caused me to be more and more introverted and reclusive. It can certainly be a loveless existence to be alone.
Fortunately, in my continuing walk with God, I have found the warmth of His church and the members of my Christian family. While it is a continuing process of becoming free to feel safe among the members and to learn the nature of socialization which I had never really had the opportunity to learn before, I am slowly and inevitably growing in comfort around these friends, peers, brothers, and sisters. It is a unique experience to have a group of supporters that cry with you when you are sad, exult with you when you are happy, pray for you when you need prayer, and have unending reserves of encouragement and happiness when you meet the challenges and elations that walking a life devoted to Christ provides. While I do not mean to slight my own blood family, my Christian family has shown me more love and support and contact over the past year than I have ever received from my worldly family. I find this to be an awesome testament to Christ's love.
Ginger had an opportunity to see my true self, for but a moment. Just about everyone had left for downtown State College from our fourth of July party and it was just me and Heather out on the front lawn. I dropped my guard and started acting as my silly self tends to act when the defenses are not in place to guard me from the unfamiliarity of trying to act properly in front of other people that might be perplexed at my carefree silliness. To see me in my most natural uninhibited state would be like the realization that squirrels, when people are not looking, pull out tables and sit together in groups to play cards. Ginger, for the brief moment that I thought only Heather could witness my silliness, was able to bear witness to the squirrel in his act of seemingly unnaturalness.
America, at least from a worldy perspective, is judgmental. We have an idea that we call "normal". We expect people to act in a way that conforms to the common perspective of normalcy. When anyone acts in a way that is contrary to the norm, we ridicule, attack, tear down, reprimand, and ostracize them. We use peer pressure to force people to conform to the way we act. The most horrible point of this attitude is that, in sin, we pressure others to join us in our sin. With the social pressures, more and more people attempt to join the norm, which is sinful. We become defeated and fall into the normalcy of the world and its worldliness. Even the Christian writers that I am reading from call others that fully follow Christ and have spoken of his teachings with true faithfulness and belief as being "extremely radical".
In Christ, we need not maintain appearances. In trying to expand my ability to love others and to love as Christ has loved me, I have developed a new way to observe other people. I have been trying to understand how God sees people, and the best analogy I have come up with is to think of individuals not as bodies, but as stars. God sees the spirit, men see the body. I like to think of God's perspective of what we look like as being that of seeing the many stars that are in a galaxy. To Him, we must seem to be varying light sources which differ in magnitude in proportion to how fully our hearts are turned to Him. He looks at the hearts of men instead of their bodies. If we all looked at people as pinpricks of light held in space, rather than looking at "fat" or thin, pretty or "ugly", old or young, or any other physical aspect, how much easier would it be to leave the accompanying condemnation and judgement of another person's looks behind? This analogy also fits well to the concept of being light to the world as Christians. It also makes it quite understandable that, as being lights in the world of varying magnitudes, how Satan might be able to easily perceive those lights at work and move to snuff them out.
I would encourage you to realize that there is no normal. We are all individuals loved for our individuality. God made each one of us. He loves all of us. Surely He also loves our differences.I would like to thank all of the brothers and sisters in Christ that have made me feel welcome in Christ's family. I have tried to tag all of you that have had an impact on my life since I began this journey of transformation.
Pray for us while we are in Rwanda, that God would work through us and that we would be open to the fact that we are more apt to be worked in by God than to accomplish work for God.
Your brother in Christ,
Jeremy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)