Stealing Other’s Joy

Podcast available here:

http://www.richardjlewis.com/pod/StealingJoy1.mp3

In Don Piper’s book “90 minutes in Heaven” he shares a small story about his time in the hospital after his serious auto accident. Many people came by to visit and always asked the same question, “Is there anything I can get for you?” Don would always answer, “No thanks”. One of Don’s trusted friends, Jay, witnessed one of these visits and confided in Don afterwards, “You really need to get your act together…You have spent the better part of your whole life trying to minister to other people… You are not letting them minister to you… It’s what they want to do. Why can’t you understand that? You’re cheating them out of an opportunity to express their love to you.” These words burned in Don’s heart for a few days and then he had the opportunity to implement them. A visitor again offered to get something for Don and just as he was about to say “No” again he thought about what he was doing – stealing joy from those that loved him. He asked the person if they could maybe get him a magazine. The person joyfully swept out of the room and returned moments later with an armful of magazines. Don noticed that the person was grinning because he had been able to help him in this simple way. Soon Don was letting people do small errands for him, get milkshakes, etc. He began to realize that in these small acts of kindness he allowed others to do for him, he was allowing them to express their love. He noticed that when he told people “No thanks” the expression on their face would tell the whole story.

Don had a battle with pride and other things in allowing others to help him. I have to say I have had the same problem. I am reluctant to ask for help on a project. I often would rather go out and lift something or do something that would be much safer and easier if I had another set of hands but I am too prideful or impatient to ask for help. I may hide behind the excuse that I don’t want to bother others or be a burden to them but that is just an excuse as it is really my pride that is the problem.

The next time that someone asks me if they can help me I’m going to answer them differently. If I realize that I’m about to say “No” because of my pride, I’ll just tell them the truth, “I’m sorry, but I am too proud to accept your help”.

Acts 20:35 “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Giving is easy to do but receiving involves humility and the admitting that we need help. The end result of receiving is blessing for the giver and growth for the receiver.

No Power

In this PodCast I share a story about power in a car and in a life.

http://www.richardjlewis.com/pod/samson.mp3

No Power

A few years back my carpool pal and I were buzzing down the 91 Freeway in Southern California near Anaheim. It was his day to drive and as we visited the engine just lost power and quit. We coasted to a stop and got out to see if there was an obvious problem. There was no obvious external cause but the engine refused to restart. The car was towed to the shop the mechanic discovered a broken timing belt. Fortunately, the engine in his car was not an interference motor where valves can make contact with the pistons when the timing belt breaks, so when it failed the engine just silently lost power and quit. It was a really strange sensation one minute we were at 65 MPH and the next silently coasting with no power.

Shortly after that I got to experience something similar to this when I was behind the wheel. My wife Sue and I were driving East on Highway 40 towards Flagstaff, Arizona. I was at the wheel with the cruise control on when our car did the same thing. The engine just went silent and the car glided to a stop. I started thinking to myself where would be the best spot to pull over and how long it might take to get some help. Once the car coasted to a stop and road and wind noise were gone, I noticed the engine was still running at idle. It seems that I had not broken a timing belt after all but my wife had accidentally nudged the shifter into neutral with her knee and when the engine RPM went up, the cruise control disengaged letting us coast to a stop. It again was a strange feeling being powerless until I discovered there was still power available.

Probably one of the saddest verses in the bible is about Samson when he lost his power. Samson had accomplished many things in delivering his people from oppression but he also had allowed anger and pride into his life. His anger had resulted in the deaths of his own wife and father in law. Then in pride he revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah who took advantage of that information. In the last sentence of Judges 16:20 it says “But he did not know that the LORD had left him.” Eventually, the great man is left powerless and easily tied up and wounded by his enemies. Samson had forgotten that the true secret of his strength was not his huge muscles, but in his relationship with God. Eventually, God granted Samson one final feat of strength before he died.

Like Samson, we often put our confidence in our physical strength, health, or our financial resources. In the racing world we put our confidence in sponsors, drivers, crew members and our own mechanical expertise. We risk allowing pride to sneak in and we can soon forget the true source of our power, until it is gone – crowded out of our lives.  A sad footnote would be that when Samson was captured, it was probably a huge blow to the morale of his people – their champion was no longer there to protect them. Our failures don’t happen in a vacuum. There are family members, friends and others who are also impacted.

I never want to have someone describing my life with those words “But he did not know that the LORD had left him.” Let us commit ourselves to thank God each day for His power and let us not allow anything to crowd Him out of our lives.

Judges 16:20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

Richard Lewis

Pathway Christian Cruisers, Pathway Christian Church

Riverside, CA

 

The older I get, the better I was… Follow up information about Ron LaPeer

The miracle I want to tell you about is tied to a devotional I wrote for the Racers For Christ (RFC) web site. http://www.teamrfc.org/devotions10/D022210.shtml

This devotional was written late in 2009 and appeared in February of 2010 on their web site. The devotional mentions a man that taught me all I knew about competition driving in the late 1960′s. Ron LaPeer had won an SCCA National Championship, driven one of the powerful Genie Mk10 Chevrolet CanAm cars of the era, drove for the Datsun Factory Team and was certainly on his way to a very successful professional racing career. I met Ron through the Bondurant Driving School where he was the chief instructor. When Ron passed away in a racing accident at age 26, I recall this greatly impacting my life. Although I knew him for only a short time this was an incident that, in part, steered me into fulltime Christian work. I was about 20 or so at the time and I was a relatively new Christian when these events happened. I attended Arizona State University and came to faith in Christ by the testimony of two students. This conversion experience for me probably happened about a year before I went to Bondurant and met Ron. The impact of Ron’s passing made me examine my own life, its priorities and really deal with the brevity of life.

Shortly after this time I decided to enter full time Christian work with Campus Crusade for Christ and that was what I did for the next 8 years. That was how I ended up moving to California, meeting my wonderful wife Sue and we now have 2 children and 5 grandchildren. Sue and I will have been married for 36 years later this year. We are active in our local church (Pathway Christian Church) and I write devotionals for my church, Racers For Christ, The Upper Room and other publications and groups. Somehow in God’s great plan, although Ron’s life crossed mine for a short period of time, it had a huge down-line domino effect. Ron’s passing has been a part of my testimony for many years, not just in this devotional.             

Enter the events of May 2010 – A Christian woman goes to her computer and types in a search for her father who died in a car racing accident over 40 years ago in 1969 when she was only 12 years old. To add to her tragedy, her mother died just a few weeks later. In a six week period she had lost both her Dad and Mom. Something she had not seen in years was a picture of her Dad and that was an important part of her hopes and prayers for these periodic searches.  She did this Internet search a few times a year just to see if there was any new info on her Dad or a picture of him. In early May there were 2 new search results showing up that she had not seen before. One gave her information about Ron’s racing accident from an eyewitness driver and the second one was my RFC devotional that mentioned Ron’s name. She fired off e-mails to both of us in hopes she will be able to get a picture of her stepdad.

You see she had many wonderful memories of Ron, who although he was her stepdad, was really Dad to her for three years. She remembered when Ron brought home 2 carnation corsages on Valentine’s Day – a red one for mom, and a pink one for her. Another time Ron took her to a father-daughter dance and she was so thrilled and proud he was there. She remembers him winning races and her doing a victory lap seated in the back of his racing car hanging on for dear life. She would hang out in the garage by the hour while Ron worked on his racing car – until he started the loud open exhaust engine and she was frightened away. And, of course, she remembers the horrible day when a family friend showed up to announce that Ron was gone. She had so many wonderful memories but no picture of the Dad she remembered so fondly.

When I received her e-mail from RFC I did not have any pictures of Ron myself but I recalled that the Riverside Raceway Museum was collecting photos for their museum archives. Also, Clark Taylor a racing friend and one of the attendees at the Pathway Christian Cruiser Car Show at our church just a few weeks ago, had some contact names he thought would have more information. Starting at the Museum with archivist Norma Jordan and rippling across the US and around the world we began a massive search to bring that little 12 year old girl, who was now 53 years old, a picture of that face she loved so many years ago but a face that was starting to fade in her memory.

Today we just spoke on the phone and Ron’s daughter opened the first of what I’m sure will be many e-mails with many more pictures as we get more responses from around the world. The first three pictures we received are near perfect. Ron has his helmet off and his face is clearly visible. We were both in tears at the end of our phonecall.

We worship a great God that preserved and brought the pictures of a long deceased father to someone who has not seen that face for 41 years.

What a wonderful God we worship…

Richard Lewis

Eulogy for a grandchild

Each time I spend time with my grandkids I think of what a joy they are. As the old joke goes – If I knew how much fun they were I would have had them first.  To lose one of my children or grandchildren would be devistating.

Sometimes I am asked to help others write up a testimony, a story or a devotional. Recently, I was contacted by a friend who asked me to help write a eulogy for a little baby that had passed into eternity after only a few hours of life. The request was made by the baby’s grandmother. She hoped to share a message at the funeral that would both comfort others and also share her hope and belief in God with them.  In the end the funeral service arrangements did not allow her time to share this message so I have posted it here as a tribute to her and to her beloved little grandchild.

Eulogy for a grandchild

We come to a time of mourning at the passing of my dear grandchild. There are few more difficult things in life for a parent or grandparent than when a child or grandchild precedes us in death. This leaves us with many dashed hopes and dreams for the life they might have had and the times we might of shared being witnesses to their life. We have a profound sense of loss and we can’t even begin to explain the pain to others who have not experienced this.

In the midst of this sadness I have a hope. The hope I have is in God and in being reunited someday with my little grandchild. The Psalmist King David spoke of this reunion when his small child died in 2nd Samuel 12:23b. He shared, “I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.” I believe that there will be a day of reunion with my grandchild and other loved ones who have gone before me in death.

In Heaven the life we formerly experienced will be gone and we will have our tears wiped away. Revelation 21:4 says,   And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: For the former things are passed away.

In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 13-16 Jesus demonstrates how he loves the little children: One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.  

Not only did Jesus want the little children to come to Him but He made them the example of the faith that we all should aspire to have. In our world we might list off many influential religious leaders as models for faith but Jesus pointed out that little children should be our example of faith and belief.

In terms of eternity a life that lasts only a few moments or one that lasts 90 years is very much the same.  James 4:14 says, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” In those years of our life we want time to pass more quickly so we can get our driver’s license, or get a job or get married. In our later years we try to slow down the hands on the clock so we can have a few more years, days or hours to be here with friends and loved ones. The reality is we all will die and then comes a wonderful home going to be with those who have preceded us into heaven.   

Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall told the story of a young mother who had to face the bad news from the doctor that her young child was dying of a terminal illness. Her son was old enough to ask her all those questions about what it was going to be like to die and what Heaven would be like. The young mother was sometimes overcome with emotion and often had to quickly leave the room to hide her tears. She prayed and asked God to give her some way to explain death and heaven to her son. In an instant, God revealed the answer to her prayer.  She asked her son if he could remember what happened the last time he had grown sleepy and fallen asleep on his parents’ bed or in another part of the house. He said he did. She asked if he remembered how he had woken up the next day in his own bed and he said he remembered that. She explained that while he was asleep, the strong arms of his father had picked him up and taken him to his proper place of rest. “In the same way“, she explained, “When it was time for him to die, the strong arms of the Lord Jesus would come and pick him up to take him where he belonged.”  The young boy seemed satisfied and was infused with new courage for what lay ahead and a short time later he was gone to be with Jesus. What a simple beautiful picture of the Savior’s love and that his strong arms are there for you and me. Those loving arms are there for us in death but also in life. Our beloved little baby has been transported to be in the presence of God.

We have the opportunity to be with our loved ones again if we embrace Jesus in the simple childlike faith that Jesus encouraged us to have.

There is a purity that a little child has a simple childlike trust that Jesus speaks about in Matthew 11:25 “Then Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike.”

Paul writes in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. A gift must be accepted and embraced and we do that with the same childlike faith Jesus spoke of.

My belief is based on God’s promise that if I acknowledge with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead, I will be made right with God and given that gift he has promised of spending eternity with Him and given a new hope and meaning in this life. Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world but to save it. As John wrote in that familiar verse of John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

I look around this room and see the faces of so many wonderful people I love. Please come join me in embracing the gift of God so that we can all be reunited together in Heaven with my wonderful grandchild.     

         An Anonymous Grandmother

Home

A couple of years ago I purchased an inexpensive GPS for my car. I have to say that this has been a great investment. Finding a cryptic address or being able to navigate in an unfamiliar city, is great.

Recently Sue and I traveled to the Carmel area in Northern California. As wonderful as the fantastic views of the coastal shoreline were, after a few days there was a longing in our hearts to go home and to sleep in our own familiar bed and eat normal, healthy, home prepared food. The day we got ready to return to Riverside I went out to the car and turned on the GPS. Soon it had acquired the necessary GPS satellites and it was ready to plot a course. I clicked through the menus and came to the list of possible destinations. At the top of the list was that magic word “Home” and I selected and confirmed that entry. The GPS did its thing and in a few moments displayed a map and a route list for the way home. Now, I had not even moved the car a few feet yet but I could almost feel myself sitting in my familiar office chair and imagine how wonderful sleeping in my own bed would be that night. The 400 miles and 7+ hour drive was a mere formality. In one sense I was already enjoying being home. Along the way we got stuck in traffic on a secondary road near the 5 freeway. The road was completely blocked for about 30 minutes due to a bad traffic accident. Eventually we made it home but even with the delay we were not concerned. Home might be delayed a bit but it was still our assured destination.

We have a Home in heaven. Once we have embraced Christ in faith and our course is set, we are bound for Home. There may be some things that come our way while we are on the trip but our arrival at the destination is assured. The events of the day are all just adventures because the destination is already a done deal. My up and down condition, on a given day, does not impact my Heavenly position. Our trip is a process and our destination is the prize. Circumstances no longer need be a heavy weight we must endure. We can relax in peace knowing that we are already at Home and at peace with God.

We have some friends that go through life living under the circumstances. Each change in the wind of circumstances is seen as a setback. These circumstances seemingly gone against them are relived and replayed many times. Friends they talk to must hear the circumstances replayed again and again and hear how only if this circumstance had been different their lives would be so much better. Living life by constantly looking in the rear view mirror is going to mean you miss an awful lot. I formerly lived that way and can speak from experience.

We must seek the adventure of the journey – the call of the Heavenly highway – and focus our hearts on growth, community and caring. We must embrace the possibility that God will reveal himself in our lives when we least expect it.

ISA 40:3-5 “Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God. Fill in the valleys, level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks. Then God’s bright glory will shine and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said.”

A heart of compassion

The story is told of a man who was known for his love of older Cadillac cars. Now the Cadillac was not a trailer queen but his choice as a daily driver. When asked why he liked these big cars so much he explained that he really liked to long nose on the Cadillac because if you do have an accident it was kind of “like hearing about something bad happening in another state – it did not really effect you.”

 Of course, we live in an age where we see suffering and hurting people all around us. Like our Cadillac loving friend, we may try to distance ourselves from problems. We may turn our eyes the other way to suffering or pain because it makes us feel too uncomfortable. We all must deal with it in our own way and I’m told that police and emergency personnel may sometimes make jokes about the tragedies they have seen: “Gallows humor” is what it is called. All these are a way to just help us cope with the suffering that is all around us. Sometimes our families don’t have enough drama in them so we turn on the TV to see suffering in the form of Reality TV.

 I believe that the TV has desensitized us to the suffering of others. As a young man I spent time with the reporters at a large network television station. I worked in the photo lab. Before the day of video tape, the film processing lab was the focal point of the incoming news footage for the evening news. Reporters often gathered there while their film was going through the development process and compared notes on the tragedies they had witnessed that day. Yes, there was an occasional “feel good” story but there were not the meat and potatoes of news coverage. News by its nature tends to feed on suffering. A tragic plane crash, a shooting or a hostage situation is the kind of news that results in awards and the potential for increased ratings. The problem with TV is that the dividing lines between reality and fiction often become blurred. When the director yells “Cut” the actors that were seemingly injured or dead get up and take a coffee break. Unfortunately, this fictional world of television is displayed side by side with the non-fictional news and documentaries. We see the injured or dead and forget that there is no director to yell, “Cut”. The hurting person may not get up again without help and may never get up at all. Also, the hurting person usually has a circle of loved ones that are likewise hurting and suffering due to their loss.

 The Southern California freeway I commute on is very busy and it was not unusual to see a bad traffic accident. I have to admit, that like many others, I would slow down to survey the accident scene. Unfortunately, my interest was more on a clinical level. I was looking to see if I could figure out what had happened and how the cars were damaged. Of late, I have changed my approach and I now try to look and have compassion for the people involved. If you look closely you can often see a person with their head in their hands or someone anxiously pacing back and forth trying to gather their thoughts and figure out what just happened. They may be standing next to a law enforcement officer explaining what happened in those few seconds right before crash. In the coming weeks they will have to replay the decisions they made in a moment and retell and justify their actions to themselves and to others, many times. There will be forms to file and questions to be answered keeping the painful event fresh in their minds. I recalled a hit and run accident I was a victim of with two others and that I could not sleep well for some time because when I closed my eyes the accident would be replaying in my mind. It was almost like on the inside of my eyelids the movie would be replayed again and again. Unlike the friends that were with me that day, I escaped physical injury but the flashbacks went on for some time. If these folks standing beside the road were like me, they may be asking themselves if they were somehow to blame or if they could have done more to prevent the accident. They may be wondering, like I did, if a person they saw injured and taken away in an ambulance would recover or even survive.    

 As I began to think about how I had been impacted, I changed my own thoughts and tried to put myself in that person’s shoes and to pray for them from that spot of standing by them as their friend. It really helped me to begin to have compassion and be concerned for them even though they are a complete stranger that I would likely never meet or get to know. Jesus gave us the model – he viewed others as a friend even though he had known them for only a few moments.   

 ^{LK 5:20} When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

 This has helped me mentally to shift gears into better identifying with others and their needs and suffering. Ask God to give you a heart of compassion for other’s suffering. This is a prayer He will gladly answer…

The Buffalo and The Butterfly

In 1992 in his book the “Language of Love” Gary Smalley outlined the differences between men and women and used an unusual illustration. He contrasted a buffalo and butterfly. When I first read this many years ago it was so helpful to me in understanding Sue that I was inspired to write a companion poem. The poem was illustrated by my bicycle riding friend John Spencer. John had taken a calligraphy course and graciously created a beautiful drawing that has been on my office wall even since. Shortly after that John was involved in a serious bicycle accident and has not done any more drawings since that time, so I treasure this piece.

A color copy of this poem and drawing was sent to Gary Smalley and I received a very nice phone call from Gary thanking me for sharing this with him. I hope you enjoy it, too.   

The Buffalo and the Butterfly
By Richard Lewis
1992
 

The Buffalo stormed across the desert plain,
His name was Stalwart, a stately name.
His best friend was flying up in the sky,
Her name was Tender the Butterfly.
 

T’was a strange friendship that brought them together,
One tough as a rock the other light as a feather.
Stalwart stomped the ground and stirred up lots of dust,
While Tender floated on the wind high above all the fuss.
 

But she knew her protector would keep her safe from harm,
If an enemy came she would swoop down near Stalwart and sound the alarm.
And Stalwart would snort and bellow and send the foe packing,
In the protection department he was not at all lacking.
Tender would soar to the heavens and report she’d seen,
She’d tell Stalwart that she wished he could be were she’d been.
The view from up high was so clean and so clear,
I wish my wings were stronger so I could bring you up there.

 
Old Stalwart laughed so much he fell down on the ground,
Why every buffalo knows that is not where happiness is found.
Why waste time flying around when there is nothing to see,
Come stomp around on the ground and play in the mud with me.

 
You just don’t understand Stalwart – you’re such a nerd,
Just go ahead and play with your dirty old friends in the herd.
Tender flew up to the mountaintops and looked out at the view,
She saw the buffalo hunters were coming – she knew just what to do.

 
Fly away Stalwart, come to the mountains with me, she pleaded,
But Tender I don’t have wings or special hooves to climb that are needed.
The trail was narrow and steep and filled Stalwart with fear,
My dad told me to stay on the flat plains – real buffalos don’t come up here.
 

He rounded the corner and looked down on the sight,
The hunters had shot many of the herd – others had escaped in fright.
Stalwart looked out at the fields, lakes and places he’d never seen,
Now he understood his friend Tender better now that he’d been were she had been.
 

You see Stalwart the tiniest pebble on my wing would knock me from the sky,
But the view that I have from up here helped me save your life.
The Buffalo didn’t fully understand right then,
But was grateful to have this special friend. 

Baby Steps

In the fictional comedy movie “What about Bob” Bob, played by Bill Murray was encouraged by Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfuss, to take “Baby Steps” to overcome his many fears and phobias. Bob “Baby Steps” through much of the movie with his goldfish “Gil” in a jar tied around his neck.   

 Moving from the world of fiction, here is the quote from Dr Sanjay Gupta in his Fit Nation column in the June 15^th 2009 issue of Time Magazine:

“Just before you picked up this magazine, you probably made a decision that affected your health. Maybe you bought the pizza instead of a salad. Or are sipping soda instead of water. Perhaps you decided once again to delay the beginning of your long-planned exercise routine. Every day there are hundreds of seemingly trivial decisions that individually may not mean a whole lot but in combination can add or subtract a substantial amount of time to or from our lives”.

I think that Dr. Gupta has hit upon a universal truth that applies to growth. We watch the “Biggest Loser” or “The Last 10 Pounds Boot Camp” TV shows where they see instant weight loss results and we would like to see those same quick results in our walk with God. We may focus on the next big spiritual event or retreat or we may focus on big decisions like who we will marry or what our life’s career will be. 

Ultimately I’m beginning to realize that it is really those “hundreds of seemingly trivial decisions” that direct and mold our lives. The things we read, the images we view on our computer, the hours of sleep we get or don’t get, all shape our lives in greater ways than the few “big” decisions that we all think of as life changing. Indeed, by making these small decisions we may find ourselves better positioned to make wise big decisions.

By living intentionally we begin to make a small change in a single area of our lives. It starts with a desire to change and that moves us to an action and after that the action is repeated until the action becomes a habit. Now if your experience mirrors mine, the minute I try to make a small change, all heck breaks loose. I never thought it would be so difficult to try to stick to a certain time to go to bed. Maybe it is my own flesh, my own control issues or that I resist trying to change many years of haphazard living. Perhaps chaos has become my friend.

I am paid in my job to be highly organized but that all changes in my spiritual life where I find that I have little intentionality. In any case, we can expect opposition when we try to change. We draw a line in the sand and it becomes a challenge to change even the seemingly simple areas in our lives. That is where the encouragement comes in. I don’t think that there is anything more wonderful than hearing someone say, “Wow that sounds like you have some growth in your life.” For many of us that simple praise and affirmation is something that we never received at home as kids and we seldom get in our jobs.

Now, I am not talking about accountability here. There is certainly a place for accountability in our lives but often accountability is like the tail wagging the dog. If we are stuck in an area of our life accountability can backfire and make us feel more guilty and eventually result in us dropping out of the accountability system because we either have to be deceptive about how we are doing or keep admitting to our accountability partner that we have failed once again. Seeing ourselves as a “hopeless failure” is where the enemy of our souls would like to keep us because once we reach that low point he can keep telling us the lie that we obviously aren’t qualified for God’s use or service while we are in this condition. Soon we are back trying to earn our way back into God’s grace and make ourselves acceptable to Him again – something that is neither possible nor what God wants, anyway, as His Son paid the price of sin for us.

I have mentioned the concept of Displacement before and this is where that comes in. True and lasting change and victory over sin happens as we allow the good things of God to fill that space in our lives and displace the corruption that has formerly made its home there. This is the concept of putting on that new life that Christ has given you. Paul said it well:

^{COL 3:1-17} Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Fear and Faith can’t be friends – they can’t occupy the same space. Faith will send the Fear packing. The Peace of Christ will likewise send Discord and Anger on their way. I think you get the idea. The concept is that we can’t drive sin out of our lives but God can and by us embracing Him and putting the good things of God in our lives, He can displace these things that do not belong there. The best that self discipline alone can accomplish is to clean our house temporarily. The risk of just cleaning up our act is that if that space in our life is clean, but left empty, we can end up vulnerable to more attacks.

^{LK 11:24-26} “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

So what I am proposing is that we begin to take Baby Steps – points of personal decision. We make the little decisions of life, intentionally. We begin to embrace the good things of God and allow them to drive out the things that we can not. We allow a tsunami of God’s Grace to sweep over us. We find a person to stand along side us to give us the encouragement as changes and growth happens in our life. And we find a church environment where we can corporately join with others who are in this process.

Tribute to Our Church

The following posting is a bit about the church that Sue and I attend: Pathway Christian Church in Riverside, CA. This was given as a communion meditation for our congregation this past Sunday. Several of you have asked for a copy of the message.

David speaking about God says in PS 65:4 “Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.”

 When Sue and I first came to Pathway Christian Church about 7 years ago we asked Cathy Taylor about what kind of church it was. Now she could have described the church as fun or friendly or a lot of other positive attributes, but her simple answer was that it was a “healthy” church. Sue and I have inspected this church from front to back and have found Cathy’s description to be true.  

 This church has provided the catalyst or a spark for spiritual growth in our lives. It provides a place where the varied and diverse gifts of several hundred people come together and those gifts work together in harmony to create a truly beautiful and blessed symphony of service to God, to each other, to our community and to friends around the world.   

 The things we do here spread like the ripples on a pond when a small stone is thrown into the water. The stone may be small but the results are visible and far reaching. And there is the overwhelming sense that we do these things not out of duty or obligation but because we realize that God loves us. Out of that wellspring of forgiveness and grace, we love because He first loved us.  

 Every day of the week this church is the focal point for healing and blessing many people. There are Celebrate and Grief Recovery meetings, bible studies, Sunday school classes, youth meetings and various ministry events or gatherings. And then there are the Pathway extended campuses in people’s homes and, of course, the official Pathway Satellite campuses at the Little Green Onion and at Farmer Boy’s Restaurant on Madison Street. I went to Farmer Boys recently for lunch there were many groups of you all over the dining room. There are the Facebook postings where people care and pray for each other and share their love for God openly. There are appointments kept, hospital patients visited, prayers offered and hugs freely given. We rejoice with those who are rejoicing and mourn with those who have suffered loss. There is both laughter and tears. There is food provided, decisions made, baptisms performed and there are songs sung by angelic voices and also by those of us that can only make a joyful noise to the Lord. There are the frontline missionaries we support who risk their lives to share the message of Christ. There are sweet little girls half a world away being kept safe from pimps and predators. There are dozens of parentless children being given hope where there was formerly little to no hope. We have sought to be Jesus with “skin on” to those that don’t yet know what He looks like.

 And there are people standing up testifying, often through their tears, of how God has reached into and changed their lives through the loving people of this church. Some who have walked through these doors of this church are no longer present. Some have fought the good fight, won the race, passed the baton to us and gone ahead to be with the Lord to await our coming. Others have moved out of the area or moved on to attend church elsewhere. We have tried to bless all, while they came through these doors. When they left, we sent them on their way with our blessing and prayers for their continued walk with God. We will miss them, but in their absence, we will continue to give and love freely, whether you come to visit for a day or decide to stay. We want to love you with no strings attached and not because of what you can do for us but because of how much He has loved us and how much we know He loves you.       

 As we come to this time of communion we come to a time of remembrance of what the Lord has done for us. What we are about, as a church, is loving others, because we have first been loved by Him. We can minister to others because God has ministered to us through the precious gift of His Son. We can give because He has given to us. We are who we are as individuals and as a church because of His grace and great demonstrated love. He alone is worthy of our praise. Let us remember Him now as He admonished us to do when He asked us to “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

The work begins in earnest

The Peel arrived and has cleared customs. In CA you have 10 days to register a car and so I had to hurry down to the DMV to avoid any penalties. It was quite the attraction at the DMV and the supervisor said it was the ugliest car she had ever seen.

There are a lot of changes that need to be made on the car and many modifications prior to any driving.  The electrical wiring all needs to be checked out and it has already blown a fuse that looks like it was put into the starter circuit. So now the work begins in earnest…