David Redd - Thank You - Finishing Well

David Redd, our Brother in Christ, FoodBasket Ministry Leader, Church Board Member, and friend, graduated to heaven two Sunday’s ago. I remember the first time I met David. His wife and sons had started coming to church and I stopped by to introduce myself. He greeted me with the skepticism a preacher often gets when showing up on someone’s doorstep, polite, uncomfortable, and ready for me to leave. He certainly was not going to come to church although Christ and His church were part of David’s past.

A little further down the road of life things were not going well in David’s family and finally fell apart, and guess what, he started coming back to church. Sporadically at first, but slowly he showed up more and more. I prayed with him many times and encouraged him to become involved, and involved he became. He started helping in the FoodBasket Ministry, became a dependable member of that team, and when it needed a new leader he stopped by my office and asked me if he could take a shot at it. That’s like a pastor’s dream, people knocking at the door to ask for deeper involvement, offering themselves for greater responsibilities.

From the time of that knock on my office door to the day David went home to be Jesus, Dave poured himself into the Foodbasket, so much so that I had to tell him to slow down a bit more than once. Under his leadership the FoodBasket expanded to serving hundreds of people twice a month. He was continually on the hunt for more resources, which become a small problem because you have to put all of those stores somewhere. I finally had to tell him that he couldn’t have any more freezers. All the while God blessed him with a tremendous team of dedicated people he loved.

I wondered where David’s FoodBasket passion came from and found out that at one time in his life he was homeless, he knew from personal experience what it meant that someone cared enough to help anyone in need. He also wanted his retirement years to count for something, to be filled with Kingdom work, give testimony to Christ and God’s goodness.

He liked to stop by my office after a distribution day or after bring in a big load of food and share how God provided over and over again, how God answered specific prayers for food supplies, how hordes of people showed up and somehow there was food for all of them. That’s what happens in ministry, you get to see God at work. After hearing him sharing these blessings we would usually pray for both his team and the people the FoodBasket serves, that they would come to know Christ, understand the Gospel, be saved from their sins and God’s judgment, that they would come to believe in Christ, let Him into their lives and experience the saving grace of God and the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God (the Bible), become part of Jesus’ Church, grow spiritually, and become dedicated servants.

Except for a few snapshots David shared with me, most of the chapters of his entire life I am not familiar with. I do know it wasn’t perfect, had great ups and downs, regrets, hardships, and long stretches where God and Christ did not figure much. What I do know about is his Don Pedro life, the finishing lap of his life. Of a man returning to God and serving Jesus, the church, and our community. Of a man leaving no doubt about where he stood with God, his love for Christ, serving to the end.

Finishing well is a big thing in God’s mind. The Bible is replete with encouragement and warning when it comes to finishing well, to be faithful and dedicated Christ right down to the last step, the final breath. David did that and blessed us as a church and our whole community in doing so. Thank you! David.

David, our brother in Christ, friend, and fellow servant, “His (your) master said to him (you), ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” Matthew 25:21 (ESV, parenthesis mine).

To God be all glory.
Pastor Hans

Helpless + Hopeless = Happy

A crazy man, out of his mind, demonically controlled, isolated, abandoned, and feared. A woman incurably sick, beyond the ability of medicine, robbed of dignity, normalcy, and wealth. A little girl, with great parents, loved, dead. These three fell into the pit that reeks of helpless and hopeless, an abyss so deep they cannot climb out of it. Their helplessness and hopelessness are not just their own, but their families, those who love and care for them are also engulfed in their powerlessness, pain, frustration, and grief. They, like us, know the equation: helpless + hopeless = hurt, horrific, horrible, harrowing, hellacious.

Mark, like the other Gospel writers, tells us about the reality and truth of Jesus Christ, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” Mark 1:1 (NIV). Right out of the gate, Mark informs you and me that Jesus is not ordinary, not one among many, more than a prophet, more than a holy man, but the very Son of God, divine, sovereign, Creator and Sustainer of all things – good news, the equation changer.

They were real people, that crazy man, that sick and desperate woman, that very dead girl, as real as the people in our lives, in our families, our community, our coworkers, classmates, and friends. They were stuck in the helpless/hopeless equation. People stayed away from them, didn’t touch them, were made uncomfortable by them and their story. “What a shame,” “What do you say?” I wonder, how long it took for people to no longer ask the crazy man’s family about him? How much time passed before folks no longer asked the woman how she was? When do we stop talking with the grieving about their loved ones?

You find all three, the man, the woman, and the girl in Mark, chapter five, helpless and hopeless – until – until – Jesus shows up, and, because of who He is, the Son of God, changes helpless + hopeless to happy. He does not shy away from the lunatic demoniac; He doesn’t mind the unclean, sick, and desperate woman touching Him; He doesn’t stop going to the girl’s house simply because she died. He does so because He wants everyone to know who He is: The Son of God, sovereign over all evil, all of life, all people, death, and all helplessness and hopelessness. He is the eternal Good News. Most of us have been to Mark chapter five, if not all, at least in part. I have. Evil, mental illness, chronic sickness, death. Without Jesus, they trap and condemn us to the grave of eternal helplessness and hopelessness.

You have to wonder about those three and their families, you just have to. What do you think the crazy man told others about Jesus after Jesus put him in his “right mind?” What did the woman tell others after she was healed? What did the girl, after she was restored to life, think and say about Jesus for the rest of her life? How did these three engage with helpless and hopeless people after their encounter with Jesus? 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells me, as a follower of Jesus, as Christian, to be a person of faith, hope, and love. I believe that means I should not shy away from the helpless and hopeless people and situations, but to show up with the faith, hope, and love I have found in Jesus, to live the Jesus equation.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans          

Innocent Blood - Sanctity of Human Life

 “… Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?’” (1 Samuel 19:5 ESV) is what Jonathan asked as he stood up against his Dad, King Saul, who was out to kill David, who was also Jonathan’s best friend. In the long term this didn’t benefit Jonathan, it wasn’t beneficial to his career, soured the relationship with his father, and complicated his life. Standing up for what is right is usually costly, yet in doing so Jonathan not only protected his friend’s life but also drew a line in the sand against one of the seven things God hates, “Arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, …” (Proverbs 6:17 HCSB).They journey together, form a wicked triumvirate, the shedding of innocent blood, arrogance, and lying; where you find one you do not have to look far to find the other. Shedding of innocent blood requires the arrogance of your life being more valuable than the one you are willing to depose off, it necessitates lying to both to yourself and those to whom you justify the act. And God absolutely abhors and hates all three. It is a terrible thing to find ourselves doing what God hates, what is completely unlike him.One of the consequences of leaving, disavowing, turning your back on the only true and living God and substitute manmade religion or godless philosophies and ideologies, is that we end up playing God, and in doing so we both feed our pride and lie to ourselves. Listen to the ancient indictment of God’s own people, “They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them but mingled with the nations and adopted their ways. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; so the land became polluted with blood. They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance”(Psalm 106:34-40 HCSB).How much innocent blood has been spilled across this land since 1776? Justified on the altars of greed, Westward expansion, racism, political expediency, progress, personal freedom, and the worship of self? And we are continuing the bloodshed, arrogance, and lies. But the numbers of the most innocent, the unborn, the ones whose cries we cannot hear, are  staggering: More than 59,000,000, yes, fifty-nine million since 1973 (Roe vs. Wade); 926,000 in 2014 (touted as a record low).We are foolish to think that God’s anger will not “burn against” us when we embrace that which he hates. We too will reap what we sow, personally and collectively. Calls for God to “bless America” will be hollow if we do not dare to stand with Jonathan wherever and whenever innocent blood is spilled.May we humble ourselves and repent this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, January 21, 2018.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans     

Going Through It

Our entire lives we are always going “though it.” You are going “through it” right now, just like you were going “through it” yesterday, and as sure as you will go “through it” tomorrow, whatever your “through it” might be. It is impossible to escape “going through it.”Before one “through it” ends one or more “through its” have already started, like just when childhood ends puberty is already beginning. Many, many “though its” come our way without ever asking for permission to enter our lives, others are the results of our own choices, both wise and foolish.Some “through its” we don’t mind, the comfortable ones, those without worries, where you laugh lot, feel good, and things are going great. We would like for those “through its” to last, to be the normal. We do so because we all too familiar with the other kind of “through its”, the kind we loathe, dread, hate, that keep us from what we really would love to go “through.” Those “through its” bend life with pain, grief, fear, suffering, burdens, worry, sins and evils of all kinds. Those “through its” love to show up far more often and stick around much longer than we want them to. In fact, they are good in making us wonder if are ever going to make it “through them,” and at times whether or not we are going to make it “through them” at all, like the Apostle Paul, “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it” 2 Corinthians 1:8 (NLT).Since we can’t avoid “going through it,” it makes a big difference how we go through the highs and the lows, the joys and sorrows, the good and the bad, the mundane and the thrilling, the unbearable and the delights life has us “go through.” It makes a big difference if faith in the one true and living God marks our life or not. It makes a big difference whether or not we take our cues from Jesus whatever we “go through.” It makes a big difference we see no purpose behind that which we’d rather not “go through.”Followers of Christ, Christians, are not exempt from the “go-throughs” of life. In fact being committed to Jesus will have you go through things you would not naturally chose to go through and top of the regular “go-throughs.” In all of that “going through,” the goal of the believer is never just to get “through it,” but live out the will of God to the glory of God and to the exaltation of Christ in all that God allows us, prompts, and calls us to “go through.” The Christian is never devoid of purpose in the “going through” of life, nor are God’s children ever alone in whatever we are going “through.”And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Romans 8:28-31 (NLT)Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:23-26 (ESV)There’s no getting away from “going through it,” but we do get to chose how and with whom we go through it. To God be all glory. Love you, fellow “goer-througher, Pastor Hans 

Hoping, crying, living, and fighting for something better (A Memorial Day reflection)

Human history a tale of conflict, strife, enmity, violence, and war. The Bible reflects this reality from the 3^rd chapter of Genesis to the 20^th chapter of Revelation. All the advancements of science, all the modern advancements of technology, all the study of history, all of the religious practices and rejections of the one true God by mankind have not changed that reality. In fact, we just have gotten better at it. At the battle of Cannae it took Hannibal and his army a day to slaughter 80,000 Romans, today we can level a city of millions in a flash. We can’t even imagine peace without strong armies standing guard and willing to fight.The threats are not only external, nations and peoples pitted against each other, but also internal. Try to name a nation that is without strife, without conflict, without violence, without corruption, without various groups pitted against each other and willing to fight, clashing over ideologies, policies, liberties, rights, wealth, and … Just think about how much blood has been spilled between the East and West coasts of the United States from long before the Europeans settled here down to the present day.Even the history of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, incarnate for 30 odd years is marked at its very beginning by Herod’s regional infanticide, serval attempt on his life, and eventually his crucifixion.  The words of Isaiah the prophet are as true today as when he first wrote them and when Jesus walked the earth, “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.  So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows” Isaiah 59:8-9 (NIV. Take a few minutes, get out a copy of the Bible or find one online, and read Isaiah 58-59 and let it sink in).Both presently and ultimately it takes the intervention of the prince of peace, a Savior, the one who can change both the human heart and history to interrupt the cycles of depravity we cannot escape on our own, to regenerate what sin has killed, to redeem what has been lost, to reconcile us to God and his will, and to make us merciful as he is merciful (Luke 6:36).Things are so much cleaner on paper, neater on a page filled with words. The hard part is translating what is right, what is good, what is just, and what pleases God into our lives, our private life, community life, political life, national life, our “neighbor’s” life, our enemy’s life. How do you that?

• You have to care - “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” Galatians 6:2 (NIV). “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” Philippians 2:4 (NIV).

• You have dream of something better - Jesus cried out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings …!” Luke 13:34 (NIV). ‘‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6 (NIV).  “(Abraham) was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” Hebrews 11:10 (NIV).

• You have to be willing to weep for others and over the brokenness you see –“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” Matthew 5:4&9 (NIV). “…, weep with those who weep” Romans 12:15 (NASB).

• You have to orient yourself on God and his Son Jesus Christ -“(Father God) Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Matthew 6:10 (NIV, parenthesis mine).  “…, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” 1 Corinthians 1:24 (NIV).  “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” James 3:17-18 (ESV).

• You have engage and don’t quit - “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, …" Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV).  “Be doers of the word (of God, the Bible) …” James 1:22 (ESV, parenthesis mine). “I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them” Hebrews 6:11-12 (MSG).

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

The Cardboard Box

I don’t know how the small cardboard box ended up at the youth yard sale raising money for camp, but it did. Cristy brought it to the office; it was leaking ashes, someone’s ashes. No urn, no burial, not even a deliberate sprinkling of the ashes at some meaningful or beautiful spot. They just got picked up in the standard box, were stashed somewhere, and finally where scooped up with a bunch of other no longer wanted stuff and taken to the yard sale at the church. No takers though, some stranger’s ashes are not what people are looking for.What a contrast it was to Lodgie’s memorial service held in our church’s sanctuary while the yard sale wrapped up in the parking lot. People came from far and wide, wept, gave glowing eulogies, played beautiful music, sang their hearts out, gave praise and glory to God for her life, her influence, her contribution, and her love. Brought together by her death they lingered long afterwards to reminisce, to remember, to comfort each other. There was no obscurity here, no carelessness, to Lodgie’s family and to us our church family that would have been unthinkable, she was too precious, too valuable, too much of a blessing.I knew Lodgie. I have nothing but speculation about the individual in the cardboard box. However, I think the chances of your remains ending up in a dusty, uncared for, standard box at a yard sale are greatly diminished if you live a life that pleases and honors God. We reap what we sow, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith” Galatians 6:7-10 (NLT).Death, our mortality, should cause us to think, should cause us to make better, wiser, and eternally significant choices, “A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born. Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time” Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 (NLT). I don’t think the family of the person in the cardboard box heeded the advice Solomon, it might have been because of what s/he did or did not sow, but we really don’t know. What we do know is that you and I have limited time to do good, to love, to bless, to please and honor God, and then we face the reality of Hebrews 9:27-28, “Just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him” (NLT). Where and how we end up depends on our choices, whose wisdom we follow, and whose power we trust. Lodgie left no doubt, the person whose ashes were in the cardboard box at the youth yard sale, who knows. I know where and how I want to end up, that’s why I trust and follow Jesus Christ.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans  

Blessed Are Those Who Mourn - Michael Brown, James Foley, Dr. Amevo Adedavoh

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (NIV)Michael Brown is dead, shot by a police officer. James Foley is dead, beheaded by a jihadist. Dr. Ameyo Adedavoh died after she contracted Ebola when she had to physically restrain an infected patient, American-Liberian Patrick Sawyer, who wanted to leave the hospital. We only know about them because they made the news but along with them scores have died whose names we will never know, precious only to those who loved and knew them or maybe to no one at all.There is no shortage of opinions on the death of Michael Brown, on James Foley, on the Ebola epidemic. There is no shortage of outrage, anger, propaganda, political agendas, and rhetoric. There is no shortage of onlookers, head-shakers, and “what is the world coming to”-ers. There is no shortage of anger, hatred, and violence. What is missing are the mourners, those who weep, those whose hearts are moved, those who feel the brokenness, the senseless, the loss.If I am not careful my observation about the lack of mourning is just my clever tack to have a novel non-involved opinion. Am I mourning? Is the death of Michael Brown causing me to mourn? Am I grieved that there is still a big gap between the treatment of people with different colors of skin? Do I weep over the fact that our police chiefs see a need to assemble military like forces to keep the peace? Do I open my heart to feel the loss of countless Muslims who, like James Foley, have suffered through senseless violence, war, corruption, sectarianism, and religion run amuck? Does my heart hurt so much I dream of better for black teenagers, radical Islamists, and disease stricken, impoverished Africans? Am I willing to plead their cases on my knees before God? Am I willing to get out my check book? Am I willing to turn my back on meaningless talk and opinionating and instead mourn openly, publicly?“Blessed are those who mourn.” There is no blessedness in anger, in violence, in injustice, in poverty, in oppression. There is no blessedness in apathy, on-looking, commentating, disengaging.“Blessed are those who mourn.” We don’t mourn over things we do not care about, we don’t feel their loss. The Prophet Jonah was rebuked by God because didn’t care if 120,000 little kids along with their families got wiped out, but cried and grieved over the loss of his air conditioner (Jonah 4).“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Mourners know how to help. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV). The Greek word for comfort paints the picture of coming alongside, the very word Jesus used to describe the Spirit of God (John 14:16-17). No wonder calls us blessed when we are willing to mourn, we act like him when we do.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans