David

Seven years ago, I lived in Sweden. A lot of people already knew that I spent a year there when I was 16, but one of the stories I haven't told many times is one about a man named David Örkvist, a man that saved my life.
I met David through my host mother at the very beginning of my year in Sweden. He worked for the state church, and he had a passion for kids. He had put together the funds to begin a youth house, a place for teenagers to hang out where there was no drinking or smoking. This was a unique thing in the city I was in, so he had a host of people backing him up. But he wanted this center to be designed by students. So, in an effort to make friends and become involved, I attended that first meeting. I couldn't understand anything that they were saying, because I didn't speak Swedish yet, but I remember thinking that David was a bit strange. In the US, people would have been suspicious of a person like him, thinking he was involved with kids for all the wrong reasons. But what I also noticed was that the kids he knew were incredibly loyal to him. Why? Because he openly loved and cared about them in a way few people do in a place like that.
Now, I had had some pretty rough experiences with Christian adults before going to Sweden, and I had quickly learned that youth leaders, teachers, and other Christians that worked with teenagers generally disliked me. I wasn't the right kind of kid. I was hard to love. But David changed that. I began working out at the house that was to become the youth center, cleaning and painting walls, building Ikea furniture, and other things like that. When things at home started to get worse, I started spending most of my day hanging out at the youth house, doing whatever needed doing. It was during this time that I got to know David. He was openly Christian, a brave thing for a Swedish man, and he used to wander around, singing old worship songs and talking about Jesus and God's love, living it out in every possible way. Kids flocked to him. He was just that kind of person, and a kid that might bash God one second would keep his mouth shut around David out of respect. I couldn't believe how much those kids respected him. In my experience, a guy like that would have been an embarrassment. But I soon found that he was the only adult I knew in the whole country that I trusted. And he was one of the only people that I knew loved me in that place. Imagine what that meant to a kid like me. What's more, I wasn't the only one. He really had become Christ to the lost and lonely kids of Lulea.
I can remember that one night, one of those nights when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, David said, "I know that something is wrong, and you don't have to tell me what it is, but I want to pray for you." I wasn't in the habit of letting people put hands on me and pray over me. That still makes me squirm. But I couldn't say no to David. I don't remember what he said, but I know what I was thinking at the time: God, are you really there? I don't think I believe that anymore. I don't believe that you care at all. But here's this guy, praying for me anyway... And this guy was praying with more joy than I had ever seen in a person. I had never met anyone who loved Jesus like him. And even now, I can say with confidence that his intercession on my behalf gave me a grain of hope that later led me back to Jesus.
Now, when I eventually accepted Christ, I really wanted to tell him. I wanted to find him and write him and thank him for everything that he did for me. But by then I had lost contact with everyone there, and I have tried in vain to find him online; you know, a phone number, email address...anything. And I'll give up for awhile, then remember him again, and try to find him and fail. He's one of those people, though, that I'll keep looking for because he changed my life.
There are people like that in everyone's story, and when I hear songs like "Thank You for Giving to the Lord" by Ray Boltz (I know...old song...), I can't help remembering David and wishing I could tell him what God has done and what I am doing now. But I may never get to do that. What I can do, however, is thank God for him, and pray that he's still changing lives.
Tell me your story, about who God brought into your life when you needed them the most. Because we all have those people. And, David, if you read this, I want to say thanks. Thank you for being Christ to me.

North on the fourth--a joyus time

I love the fourth of July for many reasons, the fun, the food (no big revelation there) and of course, the fireworks. I also have come to think of it as a celebration of our nation, Praise the Lord!

But what I really love about the fourth is how we at the Northern Lighthouse tend to celebrate the special day we, as God's folk, enjoy getting together and just being with each other as dear friends. I know that most holidays would be kind of dreary to me since I have no family close to me.

We make a big deal out of the fourth of July at the Lighthouse. Going back to the very beginnings over 10 years ago. Back when we were just a church plant, we thought of using the fourth as a promotional event to get people to come and check us out. We had planned to have rides, concessions, and a concert, but at that time, God did not supply us with what we needed to do those things, so instead we decided to make do with what we could. Much to every one's surprise, we had so much fun it was a memorable time for all. Many traditions we hold dear got started on the fourth.

One of those traditions was the water balloon fight. It began way back when by accident when two people started throwing water balloons at each other for fun, but this soon escalated into a full blown melee where even pastor Sam got wet. Since then, the water balloon fight has went through many changes, but it still survives to this day (got you Wes, heh, heh, heh) It is all done in fun, and usually the day is hot enough so that you don't stay wet very long.

The recent Fourth of July was a little different, the temperature was a great deal cooler ( in the 60's or so) and the sky was overcast. Everyone still had a great time, and there were all the games and sand volleyball. Plus a water slide that didn't have much attention, due to the cooler temps.

I remember Abigail (Pastor Jeff's girl) crying when her parents were discouraging her to play on the water slide, but this little Heerspink was not to be deterred by any mere adult standing in the way of her having fun. As the picture will show, this little drowned rat is Abigail Heerspink fresh from off the water slide, still smiling, and shivering. I don't know if she caught a cold, as her parents feared, but as you can see by her big smile, she was having the time of her life.

Before we form an opinion about Abigail or her parents let us consider our human nature for a minute. Sometimes, though God tells us explicitly NOT to do something, it only makes the temptation to do it more powerful, and we go ahead and do it anyway. Sometimes it seems as though we get by with it, but most of the time we eventually get caught. If we think about it, when God is telling us not to do something we find out that it is really for our own good. I believe that God is not so much anti-fun as he is pro-safety and wanting us to live as long as we can. But like Abigail, we still have to go down the water slide on a day we probably shouldn't, and we have fun, but we end up shivering, and maybe even catching cold when it's over.

I have done the same thing, and if we are honest about it, we all have. But praise to God, we have a God that will forgive us, and allow us to have a second, third, and so many chances to succeed.

A question of focus

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Anyone who knows me know that I have recently come under conviction in my life to change some things in my behavior that is causing me some grief. I have been kind of coarse and short with people and although I want to be Christ-like, I miss the mark and I sound like a know-it-all, or so pious as to seem unapproachable.

I have found that this pride (which is what it amounts to) is sinful in God's eyes. There are many instances in the Bible where God makes his feelings on pride very clear; he doesn't like it one bit.

After I confessed my sin, I was left with how to go about changing a behavior that seemed so comfortable to me for all of my life. After much prayer, and talking to those I consider wise in the church and my life, I decided that the simple answer to my question was changing my focus.

If I focus on myself, it all comes from me, and goes to me. I see myself as the center of my attention. Oh I might give God some praise, and sound like I know what I am talking about, but I find that God will not accept that, and he will confound my efforts to perform, serve, and worship him like I really should. I also tend to not give to those around me the grace that God bestows on me. I cannot gauge the damage I have done to my testimony by doing things like this; and for that I am so very sorry to those who seen me instead of Christ.

If I focus on Jesus, (as I am starting to find out) my whole life changes greatly. Suddenly, with this basic change, I have a different outlook on life entirely:

• My attitude towards the scriptures changes
• The way I look at others in my life (saved and unsaved)
• My worship (as a lifestyle--not just something to do once in a while)
• I notice more things in my life that are blessings from God alone
• God is opening more doors for me I would otherwise not have access to.

The focus of my life is now one of doing things that are pleasing to the Holy Spirit, and with that the grace that God affords me, I can freely ladle it out to others in my life. It is a joy to be merciful, a warm feeling to be gracious to those whom I would have been cold to otherwise.

It is all for Him, to Him, and to Him goes all the glory.

Hearing God

I have never felt like I have had a strong ability to hear God. I have often wanted to hear God like most people when I have a big decision to make or when I simply want to make a quick choice. However, I have come to see that God is speaking, speaking each and every day to us.
In my past it was we only heard God by the reading of His Word (to be sure this is a great and most consistent way for us to hear God speaking, although we may need to ask if we are listening). Yet, today I have heard God speaking and see God speaking in a number of ways.
It is the little things like how I was thinking that we need to do a series at the NL on Galatians so that we focus on the Gospel in our community and then I go to hang out with my new friend Kevin and he hands me a short commentary on Galatians and tells of how God has been teaching him through this book.
It is in the ways that as I read different authors on the church and I hear these similar themes on missional communities and the changes that I have been feeling need to happen as well as these guys have done or are expressing the same thoughts.
Or it is how Beth was doing dishes the other day and gets the idea that she needs to check craigslist. In doing so she finds a two seated bike trailer for our kids something that I have been wanting and desiring so that I can take all three kids on a bike ride when I am at home witht he kids (We had been looking and could not find one at a reasonable price and this one is like new and was cheap)
God is speaking to us today and these are just a few ways that I have seen this happening. Are you listening?

A Joyous experience...really

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A few months ago I entered into an arrangement with a person I had met in a Bible study I have gone to for years they are a small businessman who deals in Credit card processing machines. He had given me the opportunity to earn some money to help me out of a bind. We had differences, so I left his employ not wanting to deal with the stress of working for a person I had so much friction with. Unfortunately, I owed him some money that I was paying back to him a little at a time.

Now recently I had a need to raise some money, and this same person had contacted me also at that time with an offer to help him download and deliver some machines about 100 miles or so away. I decided to make it clear exactly what I intended to do, what I intended to do it with, and how much I intended to be paid for what he wanted me to do. He agreed to how I wanted to roll with this, and I went back to work for him.

I did the work, and when it came time to get paid he disagreed with me on our original agreement and did not want to pay me.

Now in the past, I would have gotten real mad, argued with him, maybe even registered my complaint with my knuckles, or at the very least I would have threatened taking him to court. After all, this is a person that I had been going to a Bible study with for a long time, I could have embarrassed him in front of the group, or his church by calling him all sorts of things.

But lately I am learning how much is to be gained by having a great deal more control in dealing with these things, by and with the grace of God. I have been praying about this, studying verses in the Bible about how we should approach things like our relationship to each other, our business dealings with each other, and how we can and should provide a witness to others on how to deal with these things in love.

Instead of resorting to the old ways of dealing with this fellow; a calmness came over me, a peace that I knew that this would be handled, and that if I exercised my "right" that no good could come of it. Time to put all of those heady principles to practical use, so I just walked away from the guy, and although I was hopping mad at being cheated; I decided to let that verse about "vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay." to be more than just a theological principle.

Was I upset? You bet your grandma's spittoon I was. Did I have all kinds of urges to retaliate? I won't tell you what I planned to do in my head; I am too ashamed to go into it here. I thought about slandering him to all that I knew, but what of that? Wouldn't it make me look like more a jerk than I imagined this guy to be? What I did do was pray first, then I just sent him a copy of my bill. I told him that he did not deal with me in good faith, and that I expected to be paid. I then left it at that, and felt better in the short haul that I didn't blow my top at him, and let my alligator mouth write a check I didn't want to cash.

I am happy to say that I now have my friend back. He just walked up to me yesterday at the Bible study we both attend, and paid me what he owed me. I was happy that there was no more tension between us, I was overjoyed that a Biblical principle that I had overlooked, treated like I couldn't use, and didn't have enough faith to rely on, worked and paid off in a really big way. I now have a friend that I can fellowship with, learn from, and I have gained more confidence to live a life that is God honoring, Christ centered, and I willingly and joyously thank God for. I am in awe at this, and I am humbled at God's working behind the scenes.

Interesting?

It is interesting isn't it. That a person in the US can die and for what may be the first time in my memory that every headline on Yahoo News is about this one person (Yahoo typically has three headlines). Yet at the same time conflict is still happening in Iran (in fact the the headline reads "Iranian Cleric says some protesters should be executed"), The house is passing bills on the environment and a couple just got arrested for domestic dispute using Cheetos (not that sounds interesting).
I also noted that the other day on face book I posted on my status that I was in awe of the work of God in my life and in relationship around me, no one commented. I then posted a status that stated that I wanted a Harley. Within 12 hours 9 people respond with comments about me needing to make up for a lack of something (careful), to me going through a midlife Crisis as 37, while others simply laughed, or supported my thinking.
The point is that it has been interesting to see what we in our culture find interesting. I find it odd that out of over 300 friends on facebook no one asked about how I saw God at work or what was going on. I find it interesting that people or at least the media assumes that we care more about an old pop music icon then ANYTHING else. I am not thinking that we should not care about the death of Micheal Jackson or that I myself do not have memories of wearing one white glove and listening to "Thriller" on MTV over and over and over again. Nor am I want to to have us always be living in a tisy about the environment. Nor is it all about me and my facebook experience. It has simply got me thinking about what I respond to, pay attention to, and care about. It has made me think about what I should care about and how easy I can get caught up in waisting time reading about things that matter little, while there are many things that matter much. How about you?

Grace for all, all for grace

Image by ashley.adcox via Flickr

It seems we talk about grace a lot around the Northern Lighthouse, and to be sure that is what we are all about in all instances. However, this one wonders what value do we really hold of that grace if we carelessly go about out lives without the inevitable changes that grace brings.

The kind of grace I am talking about here is not the "aw, heck, that's ok bubba." variety. it is the grace that accepts on a personal AND spiritual level. Let me open this up for you a little bit.

Grace, in the form that provokes change in a persons life come from not only a commitment to change, but a change that brings the person experiencing it closer to what God's standard is. I feel that repentance (really being sorry about) is a first class ticket to this unmerited favor that only God is capable of bestowing on a person who is really at the end of themselves, on the ropes, cut and bleeding. It is indeed a precious thing that is not to be treated lightly, nor is it to be held in such low esteem that we think that there is plenty of it, so as Paul said in the Letter to the Romans, "So. shall we sin so grace may abound? God, forbid!"

Much too often, in my life and others, we treat grace so cheaply that we think, "well God isn't coming back today, and __________ would be so nice to do, I think He'll let me get by with it." This is the definition of cheap grace that I see so much around our lives, it is this rationalization that got us into trouble way back when in the garden, seems we haven't learned much.

All I can offer is that when we come under conviction (our conscience bothers us) and it is so bad that it almost physically feels like a pain. It is high time, past high time I should think, that we need to be like that tax collector in the temple crying out to God, "Be merciful to me , a sinner!!" and plead with God to show you the way to repentance; especially if you are feeling like a prisoner of your sins.

When I have prayed like this, God has never let me down--ever. He shows me the way I can get right with Him, and by learning of Him in a personal way. It is then I experience that wonderful grace that we all like to dispense at the Northern Lighthouse.