This week has been slipping past me with no blog entry this week.  I had gotten into quite a groove, but this week knocked me out of it.  Between working on the directory, doing visiting, outside get-ready-for-winter work, and the like, I just haven't been in the office as much.  I just might have gotten a bit distracted by the election on Tuesday too.  :)

Anyway, I thought I would post some interesting articles I have been collecting.  All are amusing, some give you somethings to consider.

1. Who gets lost more: Men or Women?

2.  Can you sue a 4-year-old for negligence?

3.  Multivitamins Might Not Work?

4.  Young Asian or Elderly Caucasian?

5.  Kinect Killed the TV?

6.  For Married Men Only

Today at BCBC we will be starting our new series "Conformation/Transformation". Too often we who call ourselves Christians are conforming instead of being transformed by the Holy Spirit. We may not even know the difference.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NAS)

When we have been transformed, we are a new creation, not the old creation trying to be good Christians. We are different. The chief difference? Reconciliation. We will have been reconciled and therefore we will be in the ministry of reconciliation. Expressing the love of God to everyone around us.
John 13:34-35; Matthew 5:44-46; John 15:9-12; Romans 13:8; 1 Cor. 13.
That is only a sample of the verses that I could reference.  When we treat others without love, when we abandon reconciliation, we put the lie to our claims of being in Christ.  Oh we can still talk spiritual and quote the Bible, but that is covered in 1 Corinthians 13.  There is no profit in it.   There are those Christians who will point to the wrongs that have been committed against them as justification for ceasing to try to love, to seek reconciliation.  To this all we have to say is, Luke 23:34;  Acts 7:60.

1 John 3:10-14, when we say "I won't forgive" or act that way without saying it, when we withhold love, we have a problem.  This is GOOD.  It can show us that perhaps we have been conforming rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to truly transform us.  This is a challenging concept.  God has been working hard on my own heart, making sure that any hard spots get identified and softened.  May I always have the door WIDE OPEN to reconciliation and always be eager to love ALL, even those whom loving brings pain.  Let my love be without hypocrisy (Rom. 12:9).

Finally, this morning we will discuss "Plastic Fruit."  That will have to be a future blog post.  :)

Well, it has been quite a week.  Lot's of goings on.  In other words; Normal.

This last weekend we had Randy & Kathy Keeley from CB Northeast here to share the (very encouraging) results of our church life-cycle survey.  It gave us some very strong encouragement as well as a picture of what areas we need to work on.  This is just the latest in a series of tools and helps that God is using to grow us toward His work.   It was a fun weekend to have Randy & Kathy here.  It was a huge turn out for Sunday morning and a lot of people stayed for lunch!  We had over 200 for the morning service.  Jack will be working next week to increase our parking space since we are having a hard time fitting everyone in the lot.  Now we just need enough in the building fund so we can start on the larger sanctuary!

I was excited to get my work for this coming Sunday done early this week.  Better for both Beth and I as the end of the week would be busy.  I am very excited about the series we will be starting on Sunday as we look at the culture of church and Christianity and whether we are conformed or transformed.  I think many will find this very challenging as we examine why we do what we do as Christians.

The last half of this week has been all about connecting with people and I have only been able to do about half of what I wish I could.  One more big contact with some people today, but the week has been busy with just spending time with people.  Thursday was very busy with me out and about the first half of the day just calling on some people and then directory pictures at church, out with Gavin, youth group, and evening at church helping with the directory work.

***UPDATE*** Wrote everything else above & below Friday night for publication Saturday.  At 2am this morning ended up in the ambulance & emergency room with youngest child.  He is fine, but has the croup which is a really scary thing the first thing you hear it without warning in the middle of the night!   Got home around 5 this morning and went to bed.  Going to be a quiet day today.  But everything I wrote still goes. ***

All this to say, it has been a busy week.

Now here's what I think.
It has been a great week. One of my great joys is to spend time with God's people.  Another one of my great joys is to spend time in the Word, preparing to share God's Word with His people.  I did a lot of both this week.  It is wonderful.  Working here at Bean's Corner is such a joy because there are so many people seeking to know God, grow in Him, and serve Him.  There is joy, fellowship, sharing, leaning.  I connected to people this week who were hurting or having hard times.  I connected to people for whom things are going well.  I have been able to share joy and pain.  I have been able to watch as people grow in their walks with God and their relationships with others.  I have had the privilege of sharing sorrows and heartache and to see how God uses such things to mold others and myself.  It is the pulsing, breathing life of the living church.  Last weekend Randy reminded us that the church is not the building where we meet.  It is us.  And this week I have had the joy of experiencing what it means to be a part of the church and to shepherd it in gentleness and love.  There have been times when that has left me tired, both in body  and in spirit.  The times when you run into that person who won't reconcile, won't be honest, or isn't dealing with things.  That can just wear you down.  It is those moments when I must focus all the more on the fact that GOD does His work and not me.  I am merely a vessel, merely clay.  I will do what I have been asked, keep my heart and spirit open, and allow Him to figure the rest out.   I must constantly lean back onto Him and let His strength keep me open.  That too is joy!  :)

It has also been a great week for another reason.  I spent Monday with my kids.  Sarah and I were able to have some time Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings.  (Phone call Monday night and Trustees Mtg Wednesday, but we found time around those).  Today I expect to be meeting with someone but then the rest of the day will be just for us as a family, getting some things done around the house and just enjoying spending time together before a busy day on Sunday.  It has been nice to be able to have great quality time together.

So, this was a pretty personal blog as I share my heart at the end of a busy week.  Praise God for all He did, all He is doing.  The moments of challenge and discouragement.  The moments of affirmation and encouragement.

"So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'"  (Luke 17:10 NAS)   Great perspective there.  I am an unworthy slave.  To God Be The Glory!!!

Thought this was funny.  For those who think that it used to be better.

The article linked above is about the wife of a soldier who lost his life in battle refusing to forgive the young man who through the grenade that killed him. I feel for this poor woman and her kids who have been deprived of a husband and father.

Forgiveness is tricky and hard.  In this case the captured militant has apologized.  What if you don't believe the person who apologizes?  What if there is not a way to make up for the hurt that they caused?  What if they aren't, or don't seem to be, sorry?  What does it even mean to forgive at that point?  If the person abused or deeply hurt you, how could anyone even ask you to forgive?

God forgave.  I think we often really forget just how deep each of our treasons went.  If we, even as "nice christian people" ever really look at our own hearts/motives/minds and were honest, we would see that there are still plenty of sinful attitudes, thoughts, even actions that are deeply wounding to God and, often times, to others.  Yet God forgave.  He did this by absorbing the punishment himself.  Then He asked us to go and do likewise.

"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.  (Matthew 6:14-15 NASB)

"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.   (Mark 11:25 NASB)

That's an incredible statement and it doesn't give us room for those who have really really hurt us, perhaps hurt our loved ones, who aren't sorry.

I have met plenty of Christians who don't really forgive.  Oh, they say they do, some of them can even explain how vitally important forgiveness is, but watch them.   You will see the acts of unforgiveness.  They will continue to seek to punish the wrongdoer.  As western Christians, our main form of punishment is social.  We will review their crimes with others.  We will treat them with coldness or shunning.   We will not forget what they have done and make sure they don't forget either.  And it is pretty easy for anyone to know what is really going on.

This is one reason that our witness for Christ is so weak and ineffective, no matter how much spiritual talk and praise we spew.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.   (Ephesians 4:29-32 NASB)

Forgiveness is part of who we are as Christians, it is part of how we show Christ.  When we do not engage in FULL and COMPLETE loving forgiveness, especially to our enemies

"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:43-48 NASB)

we destroy our witness and the image of Christ that He intends us to show.  Look at that verse in Matthew.  "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?"  So if you have an enemy who you are socially punishing by giving the cold shoulder, you are not fulfilling this passage!  If you are rehearsing their crimes against you and sharing with others their need for punishment, you are allowing unwholesome words to proceed out of your mouth.

BUT HOW!?!?!  When you have been deeply hurt and wounded.  When the other person is unrepentant.  HOW can you truly forgive that person and love them?  This seems too hard.  IT IS.  There is no human way to do it.  Only the Holy Spirit can accomplish such things.  But when He does, when He is allowed to soften a hurt heart, He will empower a forgiveness that shakes the world for Christ!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/can-unforgivable-violence_b_748002.html

In the article above from the Huffington Post (An very liberal web publication with no evangelical goals), the Amish School Shooting is revisited four years later.  I encourage you to read the whole article, but check out this excerpt.

There is probably no way most of us could comprehend the grief and horror that this unspeakable brutality caused the Amish community and the families of these innocent victims. There are no words that can even begin to express the violence and its devastating toll.

But somehow, these people did not respond with hate. They did not cry out for revenge. Their hearts were filled with unimaginable grief, but they sought and found ways, miraculously, to turn their misery toward compassion.

....The Amish didn't hold a press conference. They didn't cast blame or prepare to file lawsuits. Instead, though their hearts were filled with grief and shock, they reached out with compassion to the killers' family.

....The story became the subject of national attention. Many reporters asked, "How could these people forgive such a terrible, unprovoked act of violence against innocent children?"

It's a good question. Part of the answer stems from how deeply devoted the Amish are to the teachings of Jesus, who taught his followers to forgive others, to place the needs of others before themselves, and to find peace in the reality that God can bring good out of any situation.

This is who the Amish are. This what they do. They try to meet evil with good. When they are harmed, they seek to forgive.

How come that is not how we are known as Christians?  How come the world does not write, "That is who the Christians are.  This is what they do."?   Because we are not known for it. Maybe we should all look within, with a good hard honest piercing glare, and see how we are not truly forgiving. Who we are seeking to "socially punish", and start showing love and forgiveness, even to those we consider enemies who have hurt us. If the Amish can immediately forgive the man who shot their little girls, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can forgive our "shooters" too.