Faith & God

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Summarizing Ourselves

Who am I? What is important to me? What have I been up to recently (in terms of years), and what are my dreams?

Check out this photo from the early 1970’s of Pete (second from left) with his five siblings. Next month, for the first time ever, all six of them are all planning to get together, with their spouses, for a three-day family reunion. In addition, they’ve invited their dad (who will turn 90 later this year) and step-mom to join them. This is a Major Big Deal. One sister will be coming from Germany with her husband and one of their four kids. A brother and his wife are flying in from the east coast, and another brother-and-wife are coming from the west coast. Everyone is meeting here in Colorado.

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Sharing Home

As I’ve mentioned earlier, our finances aren’t in the best of shape. Extremely sporadic paychecks make it difficult to budget—how do you know how much you can spend on something like food if you have no idea when the next check is coming? Then there’s the matter of tithing. You can’t tithe on zero.

Last January, I wrote about how to give to God when we’re broke. I mentioned giving away things we already own, and giving our time. There’s a third way we’re currently giving to God that I overlooked when I wrote that article, even though it’s one we’ve been doing all along: we can practice hospitality.

Desperation Leadership Academy (DLA) is our church’s year-long, full time program for young adults aged 18 to 25. As our website proclaims to prospective students, “It is one year of spiritual training that will put you in an environment to accelerate your love for Jesus, His church, and a world that desperately needs Him.”

Since these students come from all over the country (and some years, even from overseas), they need a place to live here in Colorado. To make the program more affordable, the students are housed by members of the congregation, called “home sponsors,” who sign up to provide room and board for one or two kids from September through July.

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Doomsday

According to twice-wrong Harold Camping’s most recent prediction, the world will end on October 21, 2011.

If that isn’t a good day for you, how about October 16? I was recently alerted (by a caring friend who was quite serious about this) to the impending destruction of the earth by a small, nondescript assemblage of ice and dirt that is currently heading for the core of the solar system. That’s right. On October 16, 2011, on its way out to space again, the comet Elenin will pass by Earth at a distance of “only” 21 million miles. (By comparison, Venus is 23.7 million miles away.)

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Goodness Me

Last month, I wrote about how faith is an essential foundation for effectiveness and productivity, according to 2 Peter 1:3-8. Now I want to look at the second of God’s “Steps to Success”—goodness.

When I was growing up, my parents frequently commented on how “good” I was. It’s true that I tended to be obedient—and when I wasn’t, well, I was pretty good at not getting caught! But this isn’t the kind of “good” that Peter means.

While “good” can mean “satisfactory,” God has higher standards. I was a satisfactory child, but I certainly wasn’t good in the Biblical sense!

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Knee-Deep Farming

The cows are back!!

Well, technically they’re cattle… (in this case) cows and steers destined to be T-bone steaks and meatloaf. Forgive me if I call them all cows; it’s just easier.

For the past 18 years, we’ve lived on five acres just outside the city limits, across the street from a good-sized piece of undeveloped land. While our property is mostly Ponderosas with some grass, the spread we look out on is mostly short-grass prairie with a few trees. It’s been owned by a series of developers. I’m sure they have plans for high-density housing and strip malls, but one good side of the bad economy is that no bulldozers have yet arrived to spoil the peace and quiet of our country spot.

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Single-minded

May is migration month for many birds, and I’ve spent a significant amount of time outside lately, watching them fly north.

It truly is an amazing spectacle. I’ve seen tiny warblers (like the Yellow Warbler at left), five inches long and weighing about the same as a dime, who are working their way north from Central America to the boreal forest where they’ll nest and raise their families in the 24-hour sunshine.

Turkey Vultures soar along, perhaps from Texas or further south. Flocks of swallows return to build mud nests under our bridges and the eaves of our houses. You can see them filling intersections in town, swooping after flying insects.

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It’s All Good!

A week ago I wrote about our good friend who received an organ transplant. Much has happened since then, so I thought I should share the good news that God is amazing (just in case you hadn’t realized that yet).

Due to a series of delays, surgery didn’t begin until 27 hours after the phone call came alerting us to the possibility of a compatible donor. By the time the doctor finished at half past midnight, he (and we) had been up over 24 hours. (The same surgeon also removed the organs from the donor and accompanied them to Denver.) Finally, at 2:30 a.m. we were allowed to stop briefly in the ICU where our friend was somewhat awake and obviously in significant pain.

The next 48 hours were a struggle to find a balance between the much-needed pain medications and their side effects (primarily nausea). In addition, a nasal tube was causing gagging, intensifying the misery. Friends, family members, and others prayed earnestly for God to intervene. Things were so bad, an extra night in the ICU was added.

And then…

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Looking for a Sign

Last week I mentioned that I was trying to make a decision, but had no idea what God wanted me to do. A number of you gave me some excellent points to ponder, and I’ve been doing just that. Thinking back over all the hundreds of times God has clearly directed me, I’ve been trying to remember why I was so confident I was hearing his voice each time. Continue reading →

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Transplant

As I write this Thursday morning, one of our closest friends is being prepped for transplant surgery. After only eight weeks on a waiting list, the call came that somewhere in Colorado a young man had been critically injured in a car accident. He had signed a donor card and was a good match. What had until now been a theoretical, someday possibility suddenly became, “Let’s go, this is real!”

After talking to the transplant coordinator, our friend’s first reaction was to earnestly pray for the donor and his family. After all, we know from firsthand experience that God can bring to life even the dead, and this man was not dead yet. Our friend was more than willing to wait, should God choose to heal him. But an few hours later came another call—there was no brain function and the doctors were taking the man off life support.

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Should I Be A Quitter?

To quit or not to quit? I’ve been wavering between these two options for six months now, and I’m nowhere closer to a decision than I was last fall.

Without going into too much detail, here’s the situation. A decade ago, God led me to get involved with a wonderful group of people. I’ve been very committed over the years, spending a great deal of time and energy. As a result, I’ve contributed to a worthwhile cause, developed new skills and much-needed confidence, and seen relationships blossom. God has definitely used my involvement to both help others and to teach me and lead me in new directions.

Now, however, the situation has changed. Things aren’t so great. In fact, it’s so bad that we’ve lost close to half the volunteers we had a couple of years ago—over 50 people. No one wants to gossip (which I find both unusual and commendable!), but it’s pretty clear why people are leaving. They’re leaving for the same reason I want to leave. My question is, what does God want me to do?

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