Buried Under but Digging Out

Many people ask me, "How do you survive in South Bend with all of the snow"? I said to one recently, the same way you survive in life, I keep Digging out".

I wrote in my "It's Almost February post that we had received 40.5 inches of snow, something to that effect. By South Bend standards, a wimp of a winter. I thought I had escaped. This was January 30th. Then February rolled around.

With almost 5 days left in the month we have received 34.1 inches of snow in the month of February. We are only 1.4 inches away from breaking the record of the snowiest February of all time eclipsing a record that has stood since 1908.It was just yesterday I was laughing about how good it was, daring to point my finger at lake Michigan and the so called Lake effect snow and call them WIMPS. Then February came.

I write this because maybe you can relate. Just yesterday life was great, sun was shining, warm weather abounded. No major problems, burdens,or health concerns. Tax refund on the way, looking at vacation destinations and 70" TV's for the man cave and then it hit, the phone call that a loved one has passed, another announcing health concerns that won't be a quick fix,,, the tax refund now has been held up due to an audit of a tax dispute from 4 years ago

One problem on top of another problem. Before you can fix one another shows up, before you can clean off your desk, here comes another file, before this argument is settled, up pops another issue and you become buried under.A record day, week, month of problems you have never seen before. You become buried under.

The question becomes How do I deal with this Mountain of,,,,snow, burdens, problems, etc. Well let me give you the bad news first, IT'S NOT MAGICALLY GOING TO GO AWAY!! I can stick my head in the sand like an Ostrich but things will only become worse.

South Bend winters have taught me a necessary life principle: Live in between the waves. With a report of 2-4 inches of system snow today and lake effect of 1-3 tonight, an Alberta clipper that will drop 3- 5 this weekend with another 4-8 of lake effect after that, sometimes you only have hours, or days to dig out before the next one hits.

If you don't dig out from this snowfall, it will freeze and become too hard to move. You will have move-able snow on top and an ice chunk on the bottom. So we dig out. Snow blowers, plows, shovels and picks, we dig. Neighbors help each other, we push people out of driveways or dig people out stuck in the cul-de-sacs but we dig out.

We can't move all of the snow. That's an impossibility, so we dig enough to clear a path, a parking spot or a place. Let me encourage you, some problems will not be solved by ignoring them, nor will you be able to remove everything bad out of your life al at once, but if you can dig a place, a path, a parking place so that when the next wave hits you won't have to move twice as much, life will get better.

Dig out, don't get buried under.

You are not alone

75.5 inches of snow and by the grace of God, WE ARE STILL STANDING!!!!!!!! God blessed our church with another great worship experience as we finished our "BUT GOD" series. This is the first time I am exiting a series with trepidation wondering "Is it really time to leave it"?

The experiences, testimonials and life energy the series has taken on has been transformational for both the pulpit and the pew.

Dealing with the ever-changing landscape of daughters soon to be 14 year old, 12 year old and 10 year old making me wonder Am I really cracked up for this daddy thing??? They were so much easier at 7, 5, and three. Daddy was superman. They loved their daddy and he could do no wrong. Now Daddy is always wrong, never takes the right side, can't quite seem to get it................BUT GOD

I have a deacon whom I love that I constantly thank God for bringing into my life and although I never got the chance to experience a working relationship with him as Pastor and Deacon, I received something better, Dad and son.....and yet I received news that he is joining the legion of many that deals with the battle of  cancer, specifically prostate cancer......I had no words except BUT GOD!!

I have an amazing sister in Christ who I inherited when her amazing father Dr. Aaron A Jackson, Jr adopted me as his son in the ministry. I have said more time than I can count, Dr. A. Glenn Woodberry birthed me into ministry but Dr. Jackson gave me life. My sister always says she was the boy in the family until I came along. Our bond is unique...only to discover she joined the fight with cancer as well, fighting breast cancer, didn't know what to do, how to act, couldn't even really breathe when I heard the news, I could only say...BUT GOD!!

I have the potentially awesome opportunity to follow in the shoes of a great Moderator  Dr. Marion J. Johnson, Jr. who lead our District Association very well. Many pastors and leaders are encouraging me to step up. I feel the call of God and yet must admit, I see the challenges that lie ahead. Trying to make our Districts, State and National Conventions relevant to the needs of the people, matching the moment with the medium so that is more about ministry than money......it's necessary and I applaud and support whomever God chooses to lead this movement.............BUT ME.... I can't do it...............BUT GOD.

I pray for you. Yes You!! for whatever reason that brought you to this blog on this day, I pray for you! I simply want you to know YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

There is a chapter in Hebrews called the Heroes Hall of Fame found in chapter 11. Some of the Bible's best characters live here. We always have held this chapter up as people with great faith but actually this chapter is God's way of saying whatever you have gone through, someone else has been there and survived because they had a BUT GOD moment.

Whether Abel or Enoch, Noah or Abraham, whether Sarah, Issac or Jacob or even Joseph, Moses, or Joshua, a prostitute like Rahab or a man who couldn't leave prostitutes alone like Sampson and other names that time doesn't let us delve into, there is someone who has gone through what you are going through and God brought them out.

Don't lose heart and Don't lose hope. Hope is the fuel that drives your faith. It is the object on where your faith lies. It is why we used to sing My hope is Built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name, On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

If Satan can kill your hope, he can derail your faith because Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. If my faith is derailed my witness becomes dysfunctional because without Faith it is impossible to please God, and therein lies our shout, because he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek 
him.

There is a BUT GOD statement for your situation if you believe and trust in God.School taught me that citing the source changes plagiarism to scholasticism. Let me cite the source that gave me hope to Keep the faith. Thank you for reading this blog. Be encouraged!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Tony Evans defines Faith as this "Faith is acting like it is so even when it is not so in order that it will be so simply because God said so!!

Everyone Needs Encouragement

Everyone needs encouragement! That's why the writer of Hebrews exhorts us to "... consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" (Hebrews 10:24). The word "consider" is the Greek word katanoeo, a compound of the words kata and noeo. The word kata is a preposition that means down. It describes something that is moving downward and can also describe a dominating force. The second part of the word is the Greek word noeo, from the word nous, which refers to the mind.

When these two words are linked together, it means to thoroughly consider something; to think something through from the top to the bottom; to think hard about something; or to deeply ponder a matter. In other words, the word katanoneo does not represent a momentary shallow thought. A person engaged in this type of thought process is focused and concentrated. His attention has been completely captured, and he is seriously contemplating the matter at hand.

So when God urges us to "consider one another," He is saying we are to be so concerned about each other's welfare that we take time to regularly and seriously contemplate how we might encourage one another. If we truly care about the people in our lives, we should notice when their countenance has changed, when they don't seem as "up" as usual, or when they begin to skip church services. Because of our genuine care for others, we should make it our aim to think through from beginning to end the question of how we might become a greater source of blessing and strength for others.

The local church is designed by God to be a spiritual family where people sincerely love and are mindful of each other's needs. We should not only know each other's dream and desires, but we should pray often for those dreams to come to pass and check to see how things are progressing.

Church should be a place where everyone is committed to being a blessing to one another. If each member of a local church family took this approach, observing and contemplating each other's needs this thoroughly, it would be very hard for discouragement to find its way into the family of God. In fact, a situation like the one described above with the young missionary girl would almost be unheard of! Instead, Christians would be able to perceive when someone was starting to sink and begin to lift that person back up to a place of strength!

Therefore, Hebrews 10:24 could be taken to mean:

"Carefully observe one another, contemplating each other's situation and needs, diagnosing the other person's situation, and contemplating how you can stir him or her to love and good deeds."

We all like to be cared for and appreciated, but let's not forget that there are others around us who need encouragement just as much as we do. We shouldn't be led by our eyes only! Everyone who smiles isn't always happy.

If you'll be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and truly be concerned about the people who are close to you, God will show you when they need a special word to lift their spirits. Think how much it means to you when someone deliberately goes way out of his or her normal daily routine to let you know you are appreciated. Isn't it powerful when someone does this for you? Well, just as you need people who will love you, be sensitive to your needs, and support you when you are struggling through challenges or feeling tired and worn out, the people you encounter in your daily life have those same exact needs.

Sparkling Gems from the Greek.

The Melody in the Misery

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most inspirational verses in the Bible and yet it is a good verse in a bad chapter in a bad book. When Jeremiah penned these words, it was the worst of times. The balance of world power was shifting between nations and Jeremiah's people were caught in the crossfire. The Israelites were living in a hopeless situation because they were under divine discipline. Why? According to Jeremiah 25:8-9, "Because you have not listened to my words". However, in the middle of this misery and mess, God plants a melody in Jeremiah to give to His people.

We are trained to believe that we can't sing unless everything is right, unless all conditions are conducive to worship, notes have to be right, mics have to be right, temperature can't be too hot or too cold, needs to be the right song but sometimes God gives us encouragement not when our situation is over but rather as we are going through. Ironically, one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible is penned while the listeners are going through their worst experience.

What was this melody you might ask? It was the sound of Hope. Although it seems hopeless and you fear you can't go on, God has planted a melody inside of you and that melody is the sound of Hope. It was said better than I can express it when it was said "Hope is hearing the melody of the future and Faith is learning how to dance to the melody right now". This melody of Hope teaches us how to look out of the windshield of our lives and not the rear view mirror.

This melody teaches us that the past does not define us nor does our present destroy us but God gives us a future to deliver us. How long does it take to get to you future? The overall end for the children of Israel was 70 years but the future is always the next moment. Your past is the last minute, the present is the minute you occupy now, the future is always the next moment, and in that future God has hope waiting on you and that melody keeps us going.

As I tried to share this with Macedonia Sunday, I feel as I failed to connect the central truths of this passage as I got excited and undisciplined as a preacher; however, the Melody in the Misery should teach us several things:

I. Ushered by God's Directive--"For I know"
II. Under God's Development---"The Plans I have for you", God's plan, purpose, promise
III. Unfold your Destiny-----"A Future and a Hope"

I am really looking forward to preaching this one again, as soon as Sunday service was over, I was sitting in the office trying to figure out where I could go preach. God said to me, "Go live it"! Build houses, you are going to be here a while, live in your future, plant gardens, you are going to be here for a while; take wives,(Low Blow God) you are going to be here a while, seek the welfare of the city, you are going to be here for a while.

Cinderella had a wicked stepmother and stepsisters who harassed, insulted and discouraged her. She hated being there until one day she had the chance to go the ball and meet the prince. When she was forced to return to the housework, something was different. The stepmother was still evil, the step sisters were still abusive but Cinderella was different because now she had a song on her lips.

I am not Cinderella and I have not went to the ball nor met the prince but I have met the King and the king gave me a melody in my misery; a song in my heart................................
Owens