Disturb Us

I read this poem by Sir Francis Drake last week and I wanted to give you a written copy also. I love this poem and hope that you will enjoy it too.

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

Bubble the Bear

Bedtime at the Cook house is a special time. As a child I never realized how precious those few minutes were to my parents. I am not talking about the gentle kisses or the good night hugs, I am talking about the quiet that only comes when the children are asleep. Bedtime has evolved over the past three years for Riley, it began with us holding him in our arms and rocking him to sleep, until he outgrew that. We have had several months when I had to exorcise his room to rid it of hobgoblins, spaghetti monsters and bed bugs, but he outgrew that too. But there is one constant that has remained; there is one necessary ingredient to bedtime that Riley has not outgrown: Bubble.

Bubble is a sad looking blanket bear, Bubble’s eyes and nose are gone, he is a sad looking bear, but Riley loves him more than any other toy in his room. Right now I am not too concerned with Riley’s attachment to Bubble, but if Bubble goes on Riley’s first date or if he is tucked under Riley’s arm when he graduates from High School I will be more than worried. I want Riley to grow up slowly so we can enjoy each stage of his life, but the reality of life is that he will grow up and one day Bubble will be put on a shelf. Riley will outgrow the things that he loves now and will move on to other things.

Sadly, this is something that man Christians are not good at. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” We are the children of God, and sometimes it seems that we are spiritual teenagers playing with toddler toys. There are things in all of our lives that God is trying to wean us from, not because He is mean, but because He wants us to grow into healthy, mature Christians.

We must each examine ourselves to identify the things that are not good for us, we should allow the Holy Spirit to direct us and purify us on a constant basis and we should search the Word of God so that we can see ourselves the same way that God sees us. I can’t tell you that in doing these things you will achieve perfection, but I can tell you that you will never place yourself in better hands than God’s. God wants to mold you into something special; His plans for you are more than you could ever dream.

Sometimes we have to let go of something good to become something better, so be careful to not let what you are holding on to hold you back from the plans that God has for you. Have a blessed week!

A Special Gift

Something amazing happened this week. This event was so huge that I decided to use my space in the bulletin to share it with you. I can feel your curiosity and excitement rising right now, as you wait for me to tell you about this amazing event.

This event made me feel special, appreciated and it gave me the strength to make it through another hot day of work. So what was this amazing event? A man gave me a watermelon from his garden when I pulled up to deliver a package to him.

You might think that I am silly for valuing this so highly and that I have just wasted your time by telling you about it, but this is more than a man giving me a watermelon. This man saw something that most people don’t see when the UPS truck pulls up in their yard, this man saw another human being. While most people grab their package and run away wondering what I have brought them, this man decided to use the fruits of his labor to bless me.

I don’t know if this man is a follower of Christ, but I do know that his action blessed my day and in our selfish world it caused me to wonder: What would happen if Christians intentionally and intensely began looking for ways to bless people in the name of Christ? The answer is obvious: people would want to know what our motivations were and would be pointed to Christ.

Now I am not writing this in order to guilt some gift from you, the watermelon was really not what inspired me. What amazed me was the fact that this man who did not know me thought that I was worthy of his watermelon. And as followers of Christ we possess something much more valuable than a watermelon, we possess the knowledge of God’s amazing grace. So why do we not share this knowledge? Is it because we don’t think some people are worthy enough? Because they are to God, He already paid the price for them on Calvary. Is it because we are afraid of rejection? I imagine that if I declined the watermelon, the man would have given it to someone else and written me off as a jerk because he was just trying to be nice. So we cannot find in our imagination a justifiable reason to horde God to ourselves.

This week each of us will have the opportunity to bless someone, let us seize that opportunity. We may never realize how much that small act of kindness means to that person or what it will inspire them to do. It may brighten their day and it might open the door to changing their eternity.

One Special Sermon

You missed a special sermon this week on Thursday night. I walked into the sanctuary while I waited for the photographer to pack his stuff up and couldn’t believe my eyes. Someone was preaching from my pulpit and had captivated his audience. You might wonder what kind of fellow would sneak into a pulpit on a Thursday night without permission. Well, only a three year old preacher’s kid could get away with it.

Yes, Riley, my son, preached a special sermon Thursday. He could not tell me the text that He used for his sermon, he didn’t have a catchy title, it was not cleverly alliterated and he couldn’t tell me what it was about. So I asked the congregation (Bridget) and she quoted me the whole sermon (she has never been able to do that when I preached.) So here is his sermon:

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong.

Yes Jesus loves me.

In a world of theological differences, denominations and dogmas have we overcomplicated the gospel? The message that we carry is pretty simple: Jesus loves you! Now, I’m not suggesting that we should abandon our search for truth or stop teaching people good doctrine. But imagine how our world would look if we spent less time arguing about silly things and started spending more time saying, “Jesus loves you!”

What we have

How many times in our lives and in our churches do we focus on what we lack instead of what we have been given? I read this article in Ministry Today Magazine and God really spoke to me through it, so I wanted to pass it on to you.

Stories abound these days of leaders attempting to do

more with less. Whether it’s facing shrinking teams or dealing with dwindling budgets, we can either run from the challenge or to it. Ernie Schenck is no stranger to adversity. The author of The Houdini Solution challenges us to think inside the box, not outside the box, when it comes to doing more with less: “The legendary magician did his best work shackled, and cuffed and chained inside the smallest of boxes—and yet he managed to find his way out every time.”

Lately I’ve found myself retelling a story from the famous Apollo 13 mission about doing more with less. There’s a scene in the 1995 movie starring Ed Harris when the crew on the ground in Houston has to build an air filter that will allow the crew stuck in space to increase their oxygen supply. With limited resources (only what was onboard the spaceship), the crew on the ground had to figure out how to fit a square peg in a round hole. It was a critical point in the story because it forced people to find solutions for problems with less-than ideal resources to achieve success.

I’m inspired by moments like these as many Christians today find themselves in a similar spot. It’s not time to complain about what we don’t have or dream about better scenarios. It’s time to for Christians to get on the same page with the same urgency for the same mission. Anything less could be catastrophic.

www.ministrytodaymag.com

Snow Day

I guess Friday was a memorable day for most of us, anytime that it snows in Alabama is a day to remember. Friday morning as I worked in the snow, I noticed a transformation on my route, something that I have never noticed before. After the snow started sticking I realized that everything was pretty, even the yards that could use some work were pretty because they were blanketed in snow. I do understand this principle, I had tried to apply it to my room when I was younger; it was much easier to hide the mess with a blanket than it was to actually clean it like I was supposed to. This approach never worked for me as a child with my parents and it still doesn’t work for me with Bridget (Yes, I have tried.)

Sadly, I think that there are many people who have tried to hide their flaws with a blanket of good works. As much as we hate to admit it, somewhere deep down we all know that we have messed up. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The natural reaction to the realization that we have done wrong is to try to make up for it; that is where the blanket comes in. In an effort to cover up our bad works (sin) we try to do good works, in the hopes that, like snowflakes covering the ground, our good works will somehow cover up our bad works.

There is a problem with snow though, it melts away and reveals a muddy mess. Our good works may hide our sin from the people who look at the outside, but they can’t hide our sin from the One who sees our heart. God looks past the outside and sees our sinful hearts. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices that were offered atoned (covered) the sins of the offerer, but there was no forgiveness of sin. Forgiveness came when the perfect sacrifice was offered (Jesus Christ).

So, I challenge you to take an honest look at your life today, are you just trying to cover your sin with a blanket? The good news is that there is real forgiveness, you can find acceptance by accepting the gift of salvation offered by Jesus. Don’t hesitate, just believe. You can try to escape the bondage of sin on your own and fail, you can try to cover your sin with a temporary blanket and slowly watch it melt away, or you can trust Jesus and be set free. I hope that you will choose Christ.

A Big "But"

Romans 5:8-9

8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! (HCSB)

I’ve never tried to hide the fact that when I was younger I made some mistakes and bad choices; one example of a bad choice that I made was in the type of music that I listened to. Every time I read this verse I think about a very popular song from my teenage years. The song was by a “poet” named Sir. Mix A. Lot. You may already know the title of the song, “I like Big Butts.” While I don’t suggest you go try to find this song for your personal library, I do have to agree with Sir Mix A Lot when I say that I like a different kind of big “but”, the kind we find here in Romans.

Paul began this section of Scripture reminding us that it is hard to find someone who would sacrifice for us, even for the best man, it is hard to find someone who would be willing to give his life for ours. This leaves us in pretty bad shape: lost, lonely, hopeless, desperate, searching, empty and, because of our sin, falling way short of the perfection demanded by the law.

“But God,” What an amazing statement! We were lost and lonely in our sin, we had broken God’s laws and alienated ourselves from Him, we were doomed to spend eternity suffering for our disobedience, but God stepped in because of His love. God’s love compelled Him to send His Son to pay the price that we could not pay so that we could be reconciled to Him. Mankind may have messed up, but God gets the last move.

You may think that you have messed up your life, maybe you are haunted by the ghosts and guilt of past mistakes, but I want you to know that the story does not have to end sadly. Your life story can also have a big but in it. God loves you and there is nothing that you can do to change that. You may not be able to change your life but God can.

I do not know of another preacher who has ever said this, but I have good news for you: You can have a big but! I know that this play on words is a little immature and I hope that you will forgive me. My prayer for you is that you will realize the transforming power of God. God wants to be a part of your life and many times His power is demonstrated after a “but.” So do not be afraid to trust God with your problems, maybe your life story can have a big “but” in it too.

My marriage was in trouble, but God…. My child had strayed, but God…. My life was spiraling out of control, but God… I was addicted, but God…

Praise God for big “buts!”