Friday, October 15, 2010

I’m gonna shake your cage a little…are you ready?

This morning alone I had these prayer requests cross my desk:

• “Pray for my brothers because two of them are going to war.” Madison
• “My friends make fun of me a lot so I need new ones. You are my only chance, and I need help and assurance. Please!” Anonymous
• “My uncle only has 5% of his heart working and he’s not saved. He did a lot of bad stuff but I want him to go to heaven.” Noah

These are little kids writing to CBH Ministries for help. They are laying out what’s on their hearts in prayer requests to perfect strangers. The requests come over the Internet, through snail mail, and sometimes via a phone call.

I find it truly amazing how many children have concerns for their parents’ salvation. Parents probably aren’t even aware of the little guy’s desire to see them saved. Then there are kids who are so unselfish as to ask prayer for a grandpa or grandma. Some of these grandparents are dying, some are sick from diseases, and others aren’t saved. They write to us about friendships, fights, and failure in school. They tell us their hearts’ desires to be a better Christian. There’s a lot of this going on every day!

Sometimes, when I read these requests and they’re about kids who are hurting, I just want to reach through that letter and grab them out of the home and take care of them myself! Yes! I think about that a lot! Other times, I’m responding with teary eyes to children feeling unwanted or unloved. They just want a friend. There are kids like this all over our world today. But you’re only one person you say, so, what can you do to change this situation?

Get involved! Some way, somehow get involved! Turn off that TV, get up off that couch and reach out to the kids in your neighborhood, your church, your local young kids club. Teach a back yard Bible club, mentor a child, donate to a mission that focuses on kids, and if all that is not your style…then pray unrestrained! Prayer always works. But don’t use prayer as a cop-out instead of actually DOING something physically with kids. Don’t be afraid…they don’t bite and you’re not too old!

So if I got you riled up—good! You need to be rattled about the state of kids today. I won’t go into all the research about what’s happening with children in our culture because it would more than raise the hairs on the back of your neck. (Google: abused kids and see what you find!) All I’m trying to say is, get involved. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Your time is God’s time. He gives you every moment to do His will. Make some time for kids today!

Whew! My heart is racing. I think I’ll go hug a kid!

Friday, October 8, 2010

It's final

Long, drawn-out illnesses, tremendous costs, strain on the family. These are all devastating events we never want to talk about but know may happen to us or someone we love.

Today, a very dear friend passed away. She was a Southern belle, a thoroughly gracious person who exuded charm from her head to her toes. She walked with the stature of fine royalty and had the intelligence of someone well-read and schooled. I will deeply miss her.

She was once my children’s principal, once my boss, and my pastor’s lovely wife. She held all these positions and touched so many people with her elegance and great humor. Oh yes, she had a wonderful humor that fit her Georgia peach accent well. She has stood behind the pulpit in our church doing a meaningful reading and in the course left the audience bursting with laughter with her dry wit.

She was my boss while I taught at a local Christian college; she was highly respected for her knowledge of the educational system and love for teachers in training. When I left my position to become a director of a local children’s ministry she dryly said, “If you were leaving for any other reason, I would not let you go.” That was so like her to say!

As a pastor’s wife, she set her boundaries quickly. We knew that church did not come between her husband and his family. That was great to hear. She told us soon after arriving that she did not play the piano like so many other pastors’ wives, but she could tell a joke with the best of them! It sort of set us back on our heels, looking at this elegantly dressed lady and hearing those words! She was a gem.

She cherished every breath taken and thanked God for her life. Having one lung removed in her early years she pushed on with one working lung which later became a labored lung. In her final days she was relying on oxygen to take every breath. It was painful for her family to watch her slip away with every visit! Her salvation was their only peace in the violent storm of death.

So it’s final. She’s gone. Those few short, labored breaths and then…the last. What does the mind think of during that time?  Does it see the faces of loved ones? Is it steeped in regret? Does it have a longing for a look at the Savior they accepted years ago? I won’t be able to answer that until it’s my time. But for my friend Maxine, I’m sure she did what this song suggests:

"Just think of stepping onshore and finding it Heaven,
of touching a hand and finding it God's
of breathing new air and finding it celestial....
of waking up in glory and finding it home..."

Maybe you need to take inventory of your life today. Will you leave a legacy like Maxine did? Will anyone know you were a believer by your actions, your life, or your care? Don’t take that last breath with regrets. Live for the King today so when you step onshore, there will only be GLORY!

Monday, October 4, 2010

I confess!

I confess!  I was in kindergarten when I kissed my first boy. But I have to tell you he was the cutest little thing with red hair and lots of freckles! Since I’d grown up with only sisters I had no idea you weren’t supposed to kiss boys. I’m sure I never thought about the ramifications when my teacher and my parents found out either. But after all, I was only five!

Ah, confession. It’s good for the soul. I remember when my oldest son was sitting around the table with our family one day when he was about 28 years old and confessed to doing something in high school that absolutely floored me.

We had an old fire extinguisher that you could fill up and pressurize. One day he and his friend filled it up with water, pressurized it and went for a ride. They went to a well known hamburger joint in our town and ordered take-out. When they got to the take-out window they pulled up the fire extinguisher and let ’er rip, as he said. They completely blew all the food off the counter inside and the girl who took their order was soaked to the bone. Then they took off squealing their tires. Now, let me tell you, it was funny when he told me this, but it would have been his undoing if I’d known about it back then! I’m amazed he never got arrested!

Another confession came from my brother-in-law. When he got his driver’s license he did some wild things. One thing he did he never told anybody about until it was too late.

My father-in-law took impeccable care of his cars. This one was a brand new 1969 Chevrolet station wagon that we took to Florida pulling a pop-up camper. There were seven of us traveling in that station wagon and it got pretty crowded, but we had a great time. Once we got to Florida the car started acting up and all of a sudden it just quit! This is a brand-new car we’re talking about here.

We parked our little camper next to the repair garage and actually had to stay there for three days! We didn’t have money to rent another car to pull the camper so we were stuck. It was some sort of vacation, believe me! Not until the repair man told Dad that something big broke underneath the car, it would cost $1,500, and they fixed the car did my brother-in-law Mike confess.

Mike had taken the car into town the night before we left on vacation and ran over a PIG! Yes, you read correctly, a pig—a sow, to be exact, that had escaped from a local farm. Probably weighing in at 800 or 900 pounds! Wow, that would break just about anything! The consequences from that confession lasted, I believe, until Mike could pay off the debt he owed his father. It was a long, long trip home for Michael.

Confessing our sins should be nothing new to us if we’re believers. God is an avid listener and One who always forgives. This doesn’t give us a license to sin, but gives us a way out of our old nature’s sinful habits. It frees us to worship as we unload our burden of sin at His feet.

So got something to confess today? Maybe a wrong you did to your mate or something you have held against a friend or relative? Or maybe you need to confess to something done to you and you find that it’s difficult to give it up and live in peace. Forgiveness is a part of confession. Let Christ clean up your soul today. Confess to those sins and ask Jesus to take them from you. It says in His Word that he removes our sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). And I confess, that’s an inconceivable distance!