Who do you say that I am?

"Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?"

Every type of work that I have ever had in my life has been fairly simple in terms of defining the objective. From cutting grass to bookkeeping, they all have not needed much explanation as I tried to explain to people what I did. Now I find myself identifying with Jesus. After two years, various sermons, and newsletters we continue to face a lot of ignorance about why we are here. As frustrating as this can be, we must continue to focus on what our call is and pray that God will give light as we continue to serve Him. We arrived in Celaya with a great desire to work with the churches, but it soon became apparent that the work outside of the church was to consist of missions points outside of the city. People/Pastors from the churches have cast dispersions upon our work saying that when we leave the works will die. I wonder if Paul had the same experience with the religious community in his day. I see so much pomp and circumstance in the celebration of Easter and then I see Jesus. He took time to sit with women at wells, demoniacs, and even temples of people who were not his followers. He did not worry about people's baggage or the way they were dressed. He just loved people. How much of our celebration of Easter is really about Jesus? Has anyone taken the time to ask Him how He would like us to remember His sacrifice? I choose to commemorate the day of the Resurrection this year looking upon the lost masses and asking Jesus how we can share the good news of His love with them. Lets set aside the fluff and tell everyone we can beginning with our children what Jesus did for us. Ask Jesus what he wants us to do differently as we live lives of worship. As our muchacha once said, "We shouldn't just go to church like a bunch of burros."

Fleeting thoughts

A former employer of mine has a newsletter that always includes some interesting illustrations and true stories. Since my link section is not working on the old blog, I will just paste it in here: http://www.preaching.com/preaching/preachingnow.html

There were a couple of parts that I wanted to share:
In a recent edition of his TIPS newsletter, Philip Humbert writes, "Harry Truman didn't find a career until late in life. He didn't marry until well into his thirties, and before that he tried a variety of jobs and ventures, including farming and selling men's clothing. His clothing store went bankrupt and he referred to himself as a 'failed haberdasher' for the rest of his life. Because of poor eyesight, he barely made it into the Army, but served with distinction and courage in World War I. In his 40's and 50's he drifted into politics and served as a county commissioner, mainly dealing with road repair.
"He never had money and he and his wife spend most of their married life living upstairs in his mother-in-law's home. When he was elected to the U.S. Senate, he was seen as a party hack and given little respect. In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt selected him to run for Vice President after the 'better' candidates were all rejected. FDR thought so little of him, they never had a serious conversation and Truman was told nothing about the atomic bomb until several days after he was sworn in as the new President.
"And yet this 'common man' is often viewed as one of the greatest Presidents of the 20th century. How can this be? Truman himself often said that there 'are probably a million people more qualified than me to be President, but I'm the one with the job, and I'll do my best.' Throughout his life, he was always known for doing his best, and often astonished people by exceeding their expectations. Here are some of my observations about how he did it.
1. First, he out-worked everyone around him. FDR rarely got to work before 10:00 AM, but Truman was usually up by 5:30 and worked all day long. In his first days as President, the change caught the White House staff off-guard. From the butlers to members of the Cabinet, they had never seen anyone who worked so hard and demanded such from them. One key to his amazing success was simple hard work.
2. Second, he was decisive. Where FDR delayed and avoided decisions, Truman listened to advice, read the reports, made decisions promptly, and once they were made, he rarely changed his mind. He made bold decisions and once made, he knew how to hold a steady course.
3. Third, his personal integrity was beyond reproach. At the Potsdam Conference after the war, he went into Berlin and a staffer suggested they could go drinking or get some 'women of easy virtue,' to which Truman coldly responded that he loved his wife and didn't mess around on her. He kicked the staffer out of his car and never spoke to him again.
4. Fourth, he knew the value of loyalty. He was famous for his life-long friendships and personal warmth. He knew the names of staffers in the White House, and remembered their families. When members of his staff came under political fire, he ignored the newspapers and kept his team together.
5. Fifth and most important, he knew who he was. In the face of enormous pressures and criticism, Truman knew his goals and purposes, remained firm in his beliefs and seldom wavered. He had enormous personal courage and quiet confidence in his own judgment.
"Sooner or later, life confronts each of us with problems that seem beyond our abilities and asks us to meet them anyway. Whether from illness or business gone bad, or in some other form, eventually we must dig deep to see what we are made of. These 'impossible' challenges reveal our character and give us the opportunity to surprise ourselves. President Truman did it, and so can we." (Copyright © 2006, all rights reserved. Contact Humbert at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=vuuavubab.0.jspisnbab.9nnikbbab.12966&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philiphumbert.com or email to Coach@philiphumbert.com)

And then on a less serious note:

Some aspiring psychiatrists from various colleges are attending their first class and the professor is lecturing on emotional extremes.
"Just as an example," says the professor to one student from a major urban university. "What is the opposite of joy?"
"Sadness," says the student.
"And the opposite of depression?" he asks of a young lady from an Ivy League college.
"Elation," says she.
"And you sir," he says to the young man from an agricultural institution. "How about the opposite of woe?"
The aggie replies, "Sir, I believe that would be giddy-up."

Buenos Tacos y Hasta Lasagna!

The Strategy of Prayer

Someone once said that prayer is the Christian's secret weapon. The more that I serve and live, I can see that prayer is the missionary's secret weapon also. I am amazed by all of the "strategies" that exist in missions circles. If you follow these ten steps then you should see a CPM (Church Planting Movement). It was the same sentiment when Rick Warren's book came out and my fellow seminarians were eating it up. None of these things are intrinsically bad, but they can distract if we do not keep the primary focus on Christ. Where I serve people pray to Mary because she has "special pull" with Jesus to get what they want. It is essentially a manipulation of Jesus by the use of his Mother. We also witnessed again this week the Holy week celebration in which people pay to suffer for their sins. I know, I know, why suffer to celebrate something in which the suffering was already completed. You will have to study your Catholic theology for that one, because I cannot explain it biblically. Anyway, whether your baptist or something else, we need to always keep Christ at the center as Matthew 6:33 teaches. I find myself longing for us to set aside our programs and focus on the basics of the faith. I saw this week several needs and concerns that God took care of as we worked with our friends from Goldsboro, NC. Is that to say that everything was perfect? No, far from it. We had illness attacking us from every side, but we remained faithful to what God had called us to. A friend lovingly has implied that we are not doing something right. While we know that we are not perfect, we also did not sense that what we were going through was punishment from God. Some people laugh at the idea of bringing a team from far away to come and pray, but we saw God raise up people of peace and break some really hard ground. We prayed for an area that is going to host a medical clinic in August and we think that we found a host that is not going to charge us for his facilities. We prayed for various needs through the week and God answered our prayers in some incredible ways.
So what idol will I turn to when I need God's direction for our city? What program or ten step method? I think I will stick with praying for His divine appointments, direction, and people of peace as I seek to serve Him in our city. That just makes the most sense to me. It may not make me famous, sell books, win me a promotion, or even see overwhelming response, but I cannot resist the feeling that anything less would just be another form of idolatry.

Strategically serving Him,
Craig