Healing or Being Poisoned?

As I’ve gone through the past few days, my emotions have run their course…or so I thought.  Each day is a whole new experience.  Some of the emotions are necessary to healing; others become poison which could eventually kill me.  Kind of like those people who are slowly poisoned by food or their environment.  Or kind of like chemotherapy…the cure can kill you.  So how do we heal without being poisoned?

1)    Some people use avoidance.  Don’t allow the healing emotions, and you don’t have to deal with the destructive ones.  Actually, I know a lot of those people.  They really aren’t healthy or happy.

2)    Feel every emotion that comes along.  That’s how we sink into depression, or other destructive emotions.

3)    That leaves us with dealing with it.  But how?

            a.     Good friends go a long way.  They go with you on the journey and they suffer through your pity party and they give you advice you often don’t want to hear.  Make sure you have good friends in your life for times of trouble.  (Of course make sure to reciprocate when it’s their turn!)

            b.    Learn what are healthy emotions and unhealthy ones.  Figure out how long is “normal” for you (though I do like the saying…”normal is just a setting on your washing machine.”)  Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time (or season) for everything.  Learn what that is.  Then figure out how to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and move on.

            c.    Don’t try to go it alone.  Seek God and listen when He speaks!  You might say that I should have listed God above friends…well, you might have stopped reading at point one.  The truth is that though God made us for His pleasure, He also made us to live in community.    Too often we don’t have those people around us to hold us accountable, to help us, to intercede on our behalf.  And though God tells us His grace is sufficient and that in our weakness He is strong…we often fail in feeling His strength and love, and need the gentle touch of a loving friend, a kind word of encouragement.

So go ahead and learn what the healthy and poisonous emotions in you are.  Figure out what formula works best for you in being healthy.  And remember that part of being created in God’s image is having emotions (He’s a very emotional God.)  Embrace that part of yourself.  And then try to be like Him with those emotions.

Giving Ourselves

The nature of some of my work is in showing people the difference between helping vs. enabling them.  This week I was reminded of a very important component to helping.

In this day and age, we are quick to write a check or even give a few dollars to someone on the street.  But it isn't always money they need.  Oh, they may want it, and they may take it, but it's not what they need.

Helping Hands Gospel Mission has a policy of not giving gas cards to people without a valid driver's license and proof of insurance.  We don't want to encourage anyone to break the law, and both of those are law in Wisconsin.  Someone I have been working with for a bit asked for gas.  She couldn't afford to even register her car.  I could have offered her cab fare, but instead chose to offer to take her to the store myself.  (Trust me, it was divine leading and not thoughtfulness on my part.)

Now you have to know me to understand that shopping is not my passion.  I typically run to the store on the spur of the moment, doing as many things as possible in the shortest amount of time when there are the fewest number of people in the store.  I have been known to fill a cart and be back on the road in record time.  So taking the time to schedule a trip to the store, and wait for someone who had limited resources to figure out how to purchase some necessities was not part of my game plan.

I realized something in that process.  We give too much money and not enough of ourselves.  This person knew the sacrifice to give her my time, and I knew in that moment that today's world is too disconnected.  We text, we tweet, we Facebook, but we don't give people time.  Our presence has the same power of Jesus'.  It's through our time and presence that we touch their hearts and lives.

While at the store doing some of my own shopping, I ran into someone from church and had a wonderful chat, catching up like you don't get to in the hustle and bustle of a Sunday morning.  On my way out I ran into a woman from the assisted living home I do Sunday services at and chatted briefly.  This was the first time we were able to connect beyond the superficial, "Hi, are you coming to services today?"  For the first time she knew that I knew who she was, and that I cared about her as a person.  I'm curious to see if she decides to come to church services now, or how she might greet me when I'm visiting the home.

Oh, and the person I took shopping in the first place.  She asked me to pick her up for church Sunday morning.  It all makes me wonder how many divine appointments I've missed by producing quantity vs. quality!

Perfection

We often talk about being “Christ-like.”  Many moan that we’ll never achieve that perfection.  But how often do we think about how God has lowered Himself to be seen through us in this dark world?  

Think about it…

David…a man after God’s own heart…blew it several times

Moses…the most humble of men…messed up and missed out on the Promised Land

Noah…trusted to save the planet…got drunk

Solomon…wisest man ever to live…not smart enough to listen to God’s warnings

…the list goes on…you get it.

The attainment of perfection is one we place on ourselves…a goal we can’t meet.  We set ourselves up for failure.  All the while God has come to our level,   First He lowered Himself (as mentioned in Hebrews 2) to live among us and save us.  Secondly He allows us, in our imperfection, to share His name…Christian (Acts 11.)  God uses us (not holy angels) to be the light in this dark world and salt of the earth (Matthew 5.)   Yes, He uses us in our imperfect state.

I’m not saying we should avoid trying to better ourselves or more like Him…I’m just saying God doesn’t expect what we can’t achieve…why do we?

Daniel's Gloves

I received this as an email, but thought it worth sharing here…thanks Connie!

  I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

  As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

  I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

  We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

  Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'  Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

  I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

  'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

  'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

  'Have you eaten today?'

  'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

  'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

  'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

 'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

  'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

  As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?'

 'St. Louis.'

 'Where you from?'

  'Oh, all over; mostly Florida.'

 'How long you been walking?'

  'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

 I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

  Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

 He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

 'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

  'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

  'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles, that's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

 I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

  'What?'

 'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

 'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

 My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused He turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

  I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

  He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

 'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see' I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

 'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

  'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

  'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

 'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

 He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

 'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

  I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

 'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

 'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.   A long time,' he replied

 And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed.. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

 'I'll be there!' was my reply.

 He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'
  'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'

 'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

  Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them.... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

 Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

 Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

 'I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way
again.'

Fire from Heaven

 

In an earlier posting, I noted that I prayed that God would give me the faith of Elijah…you know the faith to call down fire from heaven.  And He did.  Through the recent process of trying to open a temporary homeless shelter in town, I realized I had been given that deep kind of faith.  And I believed it would happen.  When things were voted down, I was surprised and wondered what had happened!  But I was ok with the result, another gift from God I felt.  In fact, in some ways there was relief because the workload was going to be a lot less.

I decided I had failed in only praying for the faith and not the fire.  And my obedience, I reasoned, was in believing...the rest was God’s choice.  After all, I hadn’t asked to move any mountains. 

It took about a month and one day I realized I was wrong.  God had sent the fire.  You see, I was looking for the Old Testament fire like Elijah had experienced.  What God had sent was His New Testament fire…the fire of His Holy Spirit.  What God did through that process and more importantly through what was perceived as a negative vote and lost victory, was used to ignite the fire that burns deep inside of us.  He had awakened His people with outrage and a desire to do something.  A new awareness was awakened in the community.  People were spewing scripture publicly because of their outrage.  “Success” at City Hall wouldn’t have accomplished that.  Once again “failure” by man’s definition was great success for God!

A City of Compassion

Many of you are aware of the homeless battle going on in my community.  Since the common council voted down the proposal we brought before them, many things have happened.

You see this began a year ago with a phone call from my mother about a news story in the Milwaukee area.  I saw the idea as a way for our community to help others and proposed it to our senior pastor.  His one comment was, “I’d rather be a community of compassion than a church of compassion.”  And so I went to the city for their approval.

Success is measured many ways by many people.  After our six week plan was completed, we felt success.  And I thought we were done.  Our local homeless organization would probably have a permanent place by next winter, and we’d done what we felt we were “called” to do.

As time passed, we realized that there would be no solution for this winter.  My local church board approved my job to be that of organizing something for this winter in the community, provided the mayor was on board…they wanted “the king’s favor.”  We got it, found out the process, and started working on a plan.

After losing the request we’d submitted, I thought I was done.  Yet, I told my senior pastor that I knew it wasn’t done…didn’t know any more than that…but it wasn’t done.  Then the comments to the newspaper started coming in.  The anger and hatred that were hurled on line were unsettling.  Phone calls and emails to me became intimidating.  I was so done with this and had moved on…but I knew it wasn’t done.  I wanted it over with, but the comments kept being made.

Then an editorial and then another article.  Letters to the editor started, and more comments.  Then I started getting phone calls and emails from people with solutions to the problem.  A businessman willing to give us space for the cost of heat…churches asking if we couldn’t use their location…an idea for an already empty building as a permanent shelter. 

Again I went to the mayor and said that we might be able to solve the problem, but she would need to cut through the red tape of city hall, because the red tape meant that we couldn’t make anything happen until February.  That’s where we’re at today…waiting on the city staff to figure out a way to make one of these offers work in a timely manner.

But the biggest thing that happened through all of this is that we’ve learned that our community is one of compassion.  Most of the voices speaking out about the subject have been in favor of the project.  Many have said, “You can move into my backyard.”  Donations have started to come in.  Awareness has been created.  And I believe the words will become actions.  As I said to the council members who voted ‘yes,’ “any time a community is moved to act in justice for those less fortunate, it speaks volumes about that community.”  I believe Wisconsin Rapids is a community of compassion.

Victory in Loss

Many have contacted me since our common council voted down our proposal for a homeless plan for this winter.  People who were neutral have become enraged and supportive of the efforts.  Is that a bad thing?

Our local organization which has been working on a permanent solution to the homeless problem is quickly gaining momentum and support in a community which sometimes shunned and criticized them.  Can they have hope that their next attempt to open a home for the needy will be better received?

There appears to be a level of guilt in those opposing the plan as they wonder where to send dollars to help the homeless this winter.  Can that guilt generate enough money to make a difference?

When people ask me how I feel about all my hard work being for naught, I'm ok with it.  Nothing is in vain when it's what God has called us to do.  I find myself comforting others more than I need comforting. 

What have I gained? 

• I've been given the gift of deeper faith...the faith of Elijah to call down fire from heaven.  I know it sounds crazy because I didn't get what I'd set out for, but faith in something doesn't mean it's going to turn out how I expect or hope.
• I've learned that even as I age and tire more easily...God provides strength (maybe only "enough") to do what He's asking me to do. 
• That even when it appears we've "lost" a battle, God is still in control and will come out more victorious than we ever imagine!

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers.  Just watch and see what God has planned for this. . . .