Concert of Prayer

Each year I try to journey up to Sonday's Camp our annual youth camp.  It is a long journey but well worth it.  I have timed my visits to be a part of the Concert of Prayer.  On Thursday morning of camp, the sound of a lone bagpipe player signals that it is time to gather in the Worship Center.  Each church journeys from their cabin to the Worship Center in complete silence.  The only sound other than the bagpipes are the sounds of hundreds of feet walking the streets and gravel drive ways of the camp.

Once inside there is a time of praise and worship but then for the next 2 hours kids pray.  It is pretty amazing.  There is guidance and direction on specific things to pray, in groups or individually, by school and by church.  I listened to sounds of hundreds of teenagers praying.  Though there often were tears and struggles being dealt with it was a joyful noise to hear them all praying at the same time.  They bring so many problems and struggles.  It is hard being a teenager these days.

At one point I got to stand right in front of the stage on the front row.  I looked out on this huge audience of students as they sang an updated version of the old hymn, "Jesus Paid it All."  It gave me hope.  There are so many problems in this world and even in these young lives but God is also at work. And He is doing a great and everlasting work, from generation to generation - He is faithful.  The problems of the world don't seem so big when you watch around a thousand kids pray.  You feel the presence of God.  He is with us, even in the problems.

For the journey...

Problems Multiplying

According to the United Nations, the world population is expected to reach eight billion persons in 2025.  Right now we are 6.9 billion people here on planet earth.  Here is when we reached other milestones - in 1970 there were 3.7 billion, in 1980 there were 4.4 billion.  By 1990 we had surpassed 5.2 billion, and in 2000 we made it to 6 billion. 

I got these numbers from a release from the Baptist World Alliance now meeting in Asia.  They were discussing the types of problems that this population growth would create and how to best address those needs as cooperating Christians.  Two things were sure, the population of the world will grow and with that the troubles of the world will grow.  All 6.9 billion people on earth right now have problems.  With more people, come even more problems.  That is inescapable and always has been.

Did you learn the world's shortest poem in school?  It is entitled "Fleas."  Here it is:

"Fleas"
Adam had'em.

From the beginning of time until now, everyone has problems.  As I put these words together, congress and the president are debating the debt ceiling.  NFL owners and players are arguing about a new contract.  An email just came to me urging power conservation to avoid power outages.  These are just a few about which I know right now.  There are more that I don't know about or more precisely, I don't want to think about. 

How do you think about your problems?  How should you?  That is what we will look at Sunday and begin looking at in a new series, "Problems - God's Presence in Difficulty."  We know we have problems.  They come to us all the time.  We need to remind ourselves that God has solutions. 

For the journey...

Are you afraid of water?

That is a question I have now learned to ask every baptismal candidate.  One case of not asking it was enough for me to always remember to do it.  I should have known something when the woman (that I should have asked that question of) came to the baptistery in water shoes and a swimmers cap.  She never said she was afraid of the water, I did not know enough to ask.  What ensued was not really pretty.  She is the first person who half way submerged, going backward in the water somehow found a way to try to come back up.  Not really understanding what was happening, I was fully committed at that point to total immersion - that is what the Greek word for baptize means.  I cannot fully describe what happened, she and I got pretty wet and somehow people in the congregation commented later that they knew she had on water shoes.  I just knew that feet, hands and arms flailed.  When I came out of the door that lead to the baptistery area, back out into the congregation, no one would make eye contact with me.  They had the appearance of much compressed and contained laughter.  Now I always ask that question. 
But that is not the most important question about baptism.  There are a lot of more important ones.  I will attempt to hit on several this Sunday.  We will celebrate the ordinance of baptism.  I have asked both the candidates, they are kids and they love the water.

There is another question about baptism that is more Biblical.  It comes from the Ethiopian Philip witnessed to in the book of Acts.  I love the way he asks this after he understands the truth about Jesus, "Look, here is water.  What can stand in the way of my being baptized?"
You do not have to ask people my question, but how do you answer his?

For the journey... 

Stuck in Dallas Traffic

Last Friday afternoon I found myself stuck in downtown Dallas traffic at rush hour trying to make my way through the bumpers and brake lights and exhaust fumes to get a car load of kids to the Youth Evangelism Conference.  It hit me as I sat there trying to figure out how to get there after missing a turn I needed to take - 23 years ago, in 1988, I was doing the same thing.

I was a single staff pastor in a little church stuck in downtown Dallas traffic at rush hour with a van load of kids trying to get them to the Youth Evangelism Conference. I was full of anxiety and anticipation on my first trip out of town with the youth group.  I missed my turn back then too. I could not imagine then that 23 years later in a much larger church, with a much larger staff, with a much larger youth group, I would still be doing the same thing.

Somehow it hit me - this is progress, to still be doing the same thing.  That first van load of kids I took to Dallas are all grown now, I did three weddings from that group in that van that day.  They have children of their own.  Last Friday I was taking my own child to YEC to see her commissioned for a mission trip overseas. Gone is the Reunion Arena that we went to 23 years ago.  It is now a parking lot for the Dallas Convention Center that we went to this year.  So many things have changed, yet so many things are still the same.  God worked in those kids then and God worked on the kids last week too. 

Who knows, maybe 23 years from now, God willing, I maybe stuck in Dallas traffic again trying to get to Youth Evangelism Conference to see my grand kids.  If I am, I will see doing the same thing over again as progress.

For the journey...

Generations to Come

I am struck with repeating phrases as I read through the section of the Bible on the Kings of Israel and Judah.  One phrase is he, "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done."  The other phrase on the negative side is he, "did evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of Jeroboam and his sin which he had caused Israel to commit."

David was far from a perfect father, that may have been one of his weakest areas, but God still used his influence for generations after he was gone.  Jeroboam set a course as a king for the nation of Israel for generations to come; a course of idolatry that they would never recover from and which would eventually be their downfall.  Neither David nor Jeroboam was able to realize in his day how he would influence future generations but they each did.

The same is true of us in our day, we are influencing generations to come in ways we do not now realize.  God can use the positive even in a flawed life.  But in a life that turns from Him, even just a little in the present, the future is drastically altered.  Like an airplane pilot or a boat captain setting a faulty course at the beginning of a journey, the mistakes of the present become actions that set us miles off course in the future.  Our choices are powerful and important, for generations to come.

Sunday we will look again at how Joshua stood in his day to set the course for another generation, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."  Today, with God's help, we can influence a generation yet to come.

For the journey...

The Hearts of Children

As I continue to approach being an empty nester, I heard a statement that continues to resonate with me.  When it comes to raising children, "the days are long, but the years are short."  I look back and wonder where did all those years of raising children go? They are gone and it seems so fast.  But I have very clear memories of changing diapers and driving kids to school and it seemed like it would never end on some days.  Those were some long days.

'The days are long and the years are short' are not just true in a family, they are true in a church as well.  We come to Vacation Bible School week; these will be some long days.  But how long do we have to influence a generation?  How many times will we be granted the opportunity to explain the gospel to this child or that child.  The years can be short.

Let's determine this week to make the most of "today" with the children we have been granted.  Let's put aside our inconveniences, our differences, even our fatigue for the sake of the heart of the child who now stands before us.  He or she may not stand there next year, in fact, today may be all we have.  Let's make the most of it for the sake of the good news of Jesus and for the sake of a generation yet to come.

For the journey...

Prayer Muscles

Prayer is in the news today.  A judge has blocked even the mention of prayer and the word "prayer" and "amen" from the Medina Valley High School graduation exercises.  Judges may be able to block public prayers at public school functions but no one can keep a person from really turning to God.  Though I do not agree with that judge, a judge has never been a hindrance to my prayer, busyness, distractions, spiritual coldness - those things have been my biggest problems.  I think for most Christians a lack of prayer does not come from being told not to pray but from choosing not to pray.

I came across this statement from Richard Foster that helps me.  "We must never wait until we feel like praying before we pray for others.  Prayer is like any other work; we may not feel like working, but once we have been at it a bit, we begin to feel like working...our prayer muscles need to be limbered up a bit and once the blood-flow of intercession begins, we will find that we feel like praying."

Individual Christians and churches may need times of their "prayer muscles" being limbered up.  This Sunday will be a day like that.  I hope you will come stretched and ready for a good workout.

For the journey...