RABBONI...which is to say, Master

Boy, I hate moving! And moving your Blog is not much better. Blog.com was so good in the beginning, but now I am having more problems than when I was with Blogger, so I am out of here.

Following the recommendations of trusted friends I am now at Word Press. Alas, another learning curve. I apologize to those of you linked here. I know what a pain it is to change links, but hope you will do so to enable the rare link chaser to find me.

Here is the Link to the new home of Rabboni...which is to say Master.

Have you heard about the Christian answer to MySpace? It is Shout Life. Click here to see my site.

Just a side note. I am having a lot of problems with this site and am looking for a new blog provider. I see a lot of folks have gone to Word Press. I am open to your suggestions and comments about your own recent moves.

If you are a Rob Bell fan like me, then you will want to read Ben Witherington postive critique of Rob's Books, and his recent visit to Lexington, KY. This is the first, and this is the second. Very informative and thought provoking.

This is Thursday's post at Tim Spivey's Blog. This is good stuff!

This past Sunday morning, I preached on the healing of the man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5). I suggested that there are many Christians that live their lives like Eeyore (looking distinguished on the left). Eeyore is a chronic pouter and moper.

Some Christians absolutely channel Eeyore.

There are some who are simply spiritual and emotional hypochondriacs. They view the world as a movie starring them—and this movie is a tragedy. The soundtrack is written and performed by Johnny Cash.

Below is a quote from Sunday's sermon. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on whether more Christians are like Eeyore, or more Christians are unsympathetic to the needs of the hurting. It seems to me that a case can be made either way. The quote below addresses the idea that I believe John 5 addresses. Keep in mind that this is an excerpt, not the whole sermon (which had plenty of warnings against excesses).

"One of the reasons so few people know that Jesus has the power to heal is because when they encounter Christians, they aren’t walking around with their mats over their shoulder saying, “I’ve been healed.” Instead, they encounter them laying by the pool moaning.

"For some of you, Jesus has walked up to you, asking, “Do you want to get well every Sunday morning at 10 o’clock for years.” It’s time to receive the healing of Jesus who says, “Pick up your mat and walk.” No more  Eeyore. Be healed!

 Christian churches are supposed to imitate Jesus, not the pool. They are not communities or places people come to lay down and moan indefinitely. The church is where Jesus is alive and working among his people in a ministry of healing, declaring, “pick up your mat and walk.”

While the following is a bit longer than my normal post, it is well worth the time to read. Beth Moore, noted author, describes what can only be described as a "God Moment". Thanks Trey for sharing this.

For those of you who do not know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible teacher, writer of Bible studies, and is a married mother of two daughters.

This is one of her experiences:

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville, waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport...an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me.

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane."

Then I heard it... "I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair." The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man."

Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair."

I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?" God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"

To which he responded in volume ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that."  

At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?"

At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Longlocks.

Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you really want to." Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush."

"I have one in my bag," he responded.

I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull.

A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while. The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said, "Sir, do you know my Jesus?"

He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures, I thought.

He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said, "You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride."

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.

I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?"

I said, "Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!"

And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted, you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way, all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Gloria Gaither said, "We don't sing old songs because they are old; we sing them because
they are TRUE. If God is at work in our lives, we will also burst forth
with NEW songs." Another option is to sing old songs in a new way. Hope you enjoy Passion's rendition of "Jesus Paid It All".

Sunday evening one of the ladies in our care group shared a wonderful story of a 9 or 10 year old child that had gone to his parents and expressed a desire to be baptized. If you have older children you have been where these parents were, and if your children are still young, you will be where they were. The parents were not sure if they felt their son was ready to be baptized so they ask their youth minister to talk to him.

In the meeting with the youth minister, he asks their son if he was familiar with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He said he was. The youth minister reminded him that the Knights all sat at the table with the King and that their commitment was so strong to each other that they would not only die protecting their King, but each other. It was a “One for all, and all for one” type of commitment. The boy assured him that he understood that. The youth minister then asks him an interesting question. If the King were Jesus and you were invited to sit at the round table with Him using a clock dial to describe the seat locations, and Jesus is sitting at 12 noon, which number of the dial would you choose to sit? The young man after giving it some thought said, “I would sit at 5:00 o’clock”.

The youth minister then expressed that he felt their son was ready. He went on to explain that children who do not understand there sin will say they want to sit right beside Jesus, but those who are developing an awareness of sin and that it separates us from God will always choose to sit some distance away from Jesus. Interesting isn’t it?

While I may be very comfortable with my relationship and walk with Jesus in this life, there is always that consciousness of my short comings and sinful nature. I think that to be confronted with deity in its white hot purity would cause me to have the same reaction the Apostle John had. “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.” Rev. 1:17a. A healthy awareness of our sin and how we fall short will keep our pride in check and never allow us to become arrogant concerning our position in Christ.

I am just so amazed that I would ever be invited to sit at the table at all.

One of the things that I love about Madison is how much this group of Christians believes in prayer and how they practice what they believe.  In a congregation our size you are going to have responses most every Sunday when the invitation is given. This Sunday was no exception. There are always a number of people who go down in support of those who respond. A group of our shepherds are always there, but this Sunday one of our shepherds and his family responded. Bro. Pat has been a Dentist in Madison for a lot of years, and he has just learned that he has a rare condition called pulmonary fibrosis. This is also a condition, as I understand it, that there is little that can be done from a medical stand point. He will be seeing a doctor this week that hopes to be able to get him into an experimental program. The only other option would require a lung transplant.

It was a touching site to see numbers of folks surround this couple and just bathe them in prayer and love.  Tears flowed as prayers went up as this leader of God’s people was presented before the throne. The flock was caring for their shepherd. But something else was taking place here too. This shepherd was leading the flock in how to respond to a life threatening condition. While being ministered to, he is ministering by example.

I love our shepherds. They are some of the finest I have ever seen; great hearts and deep love for the body.

I would like to ask you to pray for Brother Pat. Just ask the Father to heal him and take all the glory as the great physician. Thanks!

Someone once told the story of a mother bird that built a nest each season like all other birds, but hers had a hole in the bottom. This mother bird and other mother birds were talking one day and someone ask, “Why do you build a nest with a hole in the bottom?” Her reply was simply, “I love laying eggs, but I hate raising little birds. They are so much trouble.”

My tribe’s efforts in evangelism over the years have reminded me of this story more times than I like to think. Campaign trips to India, Africa would tell stories of great victories and how numbers, sometimes in the hundreds, were baptized.  Many of those would never be seen again. I know of local churches that through various means would baptize folks on a regular basis and then lament how that they could not get them to remain “faithful”.

I think that one reason for this problem is that we have thought of evangelism as an event, or that our efforts lead to THE event. If I can just get a person to accept Christ and be immersed…done! We made it! Job accomplished! Now all we have to do is get them to continue to learn and grow. All of our energy to this point is on the event, not on developing a relationship. The reason that I believe that evangelism is best accomplished in the context of relationships and community is that there are relational ties established before a person makes the big step. I really believe this is what Jesus did. He taught and brought people along; all the while letting them know what it would mean to follow Him. They literally fell in love with Jesus through this process, and when they made a decision to be His disciple they just simply kept follow Jesus.

Through relationships in which you share your journey with Christ with others and invite them to just follow with you as a learner, you are building the context for their future growth while you are leading them to understand more about Jesus and make a decision to be His disciple. Even before your new friends make a decision for Christ they may in turn invite others to join the journey. Noted missiologist Jim Engel says, “There is widespread agreement that the western-driven agenda of the last 50 years to “finish the task” of world evangelization has tragically missed the mark in its narrow focus only on conversion. As I have often said, the Great Commission has become a “great commotion” of proclamation in virtual disregard of spiritual formation (doing the business of making disciples) and social transformation (righteousness and justice).” (Development Associates International, Vol. 4 no. 2 [August 2001]: p. 5) I think this comment is so on target.

To quote Virgil Vaduva, "Colbert on the end of blackness (click the play button to start). There is so much irony in this that is beyond funny"