This past weekend I went to a youth retreat with my new church's teens. What a wonderful experience. It was like a taste of what heaven will be like as we talked, worshiped and ate together like a family, although we were a very diverse group. I have led a diverse youth group as long as I have been in ministry professionally, but this group was unique. There were 7 different races that I know about for sure represented in my group of 21 kids. They all got along together and shared like a family. Race and history bring so much into the mix. Unfortunately many times those things are negative and divisive.
With today's young people that is not the case. Most of our teens in urban areas are not influenced much but the race of a friend or acquaintance, they are able to roll with differences and continue to develop deep friendships with people who do not share the same shade of melanin. I left this weekend thankful at the maturity of these teens and proud to be someone who they will hopefully look to for guidance down the road as we all grow closer. There will be no ghettos or security fences in heaven. No gated communities or "other side of the tracks". We will live together in harmony and song, praising the one who made us and led us. Thank you teens for letting me see another taste of heaven this weekend.
What IF everyone in America opened themselves up fully to be used by God with whoever He calls us to be in community with? Can we push aside the negative stereotypes and embrace the new direction of equality that God is taking His church toward?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Going "ALL IN" for God.
Going all in has become a term largely synonymous with poker, especially with the rise of Texas Hold Em on the national scene. I admit to loving Texas Hold em although I do not play for money. I have an online community of friends that I play with through Facebook. It is a live gaming experience where you use "fake" or computer generated chips, so you don't spend any real money. That's my kind of gambling!
The other night one of my regular poker buddies seemed a little down. It turns out that with the economy tanking her husband had lost his job without any notice. This was roughly a month before Christmas and had put a large strain on this family at a normally high strain month financially in a regular year. The financial pressure was effecting this friend in a serious way. Although she believed in God, and had even served in ministry for years at a local church, she was angry because of the situation that her family was and still is in.
After drilling down some, I difficult process in this case, my friend opened up and became very candid about the problems her and her lovely family were experiencing. As she was reciting some of the problems, another friend who I knew from a different connection joined our poker table. I asked him if he had any friends in this person's area because they were struggling. He did not. However as the first friend began reciting some of the strains in her life and the anger she was feeling toward God, she mentioned needing contacts for her daughter and that they were waiting for months to receive them. This friend had come as close as you could to telling me that she was not interested in God anymore because she was extremely angry with Him. I had been pleading with her to not give up on God and to wait and see what God would do. The weight of debt and financial pressure was crushing her and her husband, so much so that they feared meeting minimum basic monthly utility expenses. Admittedly I knew God could help, but I was fully aware that it would take a small miracle for her to see a glimpse of the promise I had made to her about God's provision in an immediate way.
Did I really believe that God could show up at an online poker site? Maybe I was pushing the limits of God's reach.
Well our great God heard my prayers at that poker table. As it turns out the second friend was a believer as well, a fact I knew as we had often "talked church". The fact I did not know was that he was a practicing eye doctor. Upon hearing of the issue of contacts, he told my first friend who he had never met or spoken to before sitting down at the poker table that night, that he could hook her up with some free advice and some free contacts for her daughter if she would get in touch with him and get him the prescription for the contacts! My heart was overjoyed and I could do nothing but praise God at the table! My first friend was literally crying, she had to get up from the table and go get Kleenex. I shared my testimony of what God has done in my life and for the first time I told her I was a Pastor. she cried some more. I shared how I had been in her shoes, angry fist in the air at God too, but that He had softened my heart and my hurt and transformed my life. I shared several things that have not been easy in my life since I became a Christian, but how God had turned them into good when my heart was in a place to be used. A fourth person a poker buddy of the first friend who I had not met until this evening, was also in the room for this time. She also shared testimony. I admit to preaching a little, I couldn't resist. But it was not a sermon I had read 10 commentaries to research, it was one straight from my heart and those other two believers who God had placed in that room, one was a friend of mine, one a friend of the other person who needed ministering. None of us have ever met face to face! Somewhere in the talk I told these dear friends, " you see? God can even show up in an online POKER tournament!" That's how big He is, he can even use poker to minister. In a matter of an hour this poker buddy had gone from disgusted, hurt and angry with God to looking at being regenerated. All because the four of us decided to play poker online for a few minutes to wind down.
So my question to the reader is...WHAT if we went ALL IN everyday? Can we, like God, always be available to minister no matter what? Sometimes its inconvenient, sometimes we don't feel well, sometimes we are in a hurry. But we cannot allow those circumstances to get in the way. I was used by God to connect two friends of mine to one another at an online poker table. I live on the east coast, one friend in the Midwest the other on the west coast. This is truly an amazing story of God's never ending pursuit of us and our obedience. Many nights I would have been unavailable to be used. I got off the computer at 2 am that morning. My eye doctor friend could have chosen to not log on, or not connect with me that night, happens all the time. The other two friends the same idea. God divinely placed all four of us online at different times to connect and minister to one. He set it up, we were usable vessels. I cannot always say that I am a usable vessel or that I am ALL IN. But we must be ALL IN, or else we are bluffing our way through the Christian walk. Everyone knows that bluffing works sometimes, but it usually ends badly. If it is your primary strategy, you will not win very much. Play the game of life like each day at any point might require you to go ALL IN. The kingdom of God will benefit if we all play like that!
God is indeed good, ALL the time.
The other night one of my regular poker buddies seemed a little down. It turns out that with the economy tanking her husband had lost his job without any notice. This was roughly a month before Christmas and had put a large strain on this family at a normally high strain month financially in a regular year. The financial pressure was effecting this friend in a serious way. Although she believed in God, and had even served in ministry for years at a local church, she was angry because of the situation that her family was and still is in.
After drilling down some, I difficult process in this case, my friend opened up and became very candid about the problems her and her lovely family were experiencing. As she was reciting some of the problems, another friend who I knew from a different connection joined our poker table. I asked him if he had any friends in this person's area because they were struggling. He did not. However as the first friend began reciting some of the strains in her life and the anger she was feeling toward God, she mentioned needing contacts for her daughter and that they were waiting for months to receive them. This friend had come as close as you could to telling me that she was not interested in God anymore because she was extremely angry with Him. I had been pleading with her to not give up on God and to wait and see what God would do. The weight of debt and financial pressure was crushing her and her husband, so much so that they feared meeting minimum basic monthly utility expenses. Admittedly I knew God could help, but I was fully aware that it would take a small miracle for her to see a glimpse of the promise I had made to her about God's provision in an immediate way.
Did I really believe that God could show up at an online poker site? Maybe I was pushing the limits of God's reach.
Well our great God heard my prayers at that poker table. As it turns out the second friend was a believer as well, a fact I knew as we had often "talked church". The fact I did not know was that he was a practicing eye doctor. Upon hearing of the issue of contacts, he told my first friend who he had never met or spoken to before sitting down at the poker table that night, that he could hook her up with some free advice and some free contacts for her daughter if she would get in touch with him and get him the prescription for the contacts! My heart was overjoyed and I could do nothing but praise God at the table! My first friend was literally crying, she had to get up from the table and go get Kleenex. I shared my testimony of what God has done in my life and for the first time I told her I was a Pastor. she cried some more. I shared how I had been in her shoes, angry fist in the air at God too, but that He had softened my heart and my hurt and transformed my life. I shared several things that have not been easy in my life since I became a Christian, but how God had turned them into good when my heart was in a place to be used. A fourth person a poker buddy of the first friend who I had not met until this evening, was also in the room for this time. She also shared testimony. I admit to preaching a little, I couldn't resist. But it was not a sermon I had read 10 commentaries to research, it was one straight from my heart and those other two believers who God had placed in that room, one was a friend of mine, one a friend of the other person who needed ministering. None of us have ever met face to face! Somewhere in the talk I told these dear friends, " you see? God can even show up in an online POKER tournament!" That's how big He is, he can even use poker to minister. In a matter of an hour this poker buddy had gone from disgusted, hurt and angry with God to looking at being regenerated. All because the four of us decided to play poker online for a few minutes to wind down.
So my question to the reader is...WHAT if we went ALL IN everyday? Can we, like God, always be available to minister no matter what? Sometimes its inconvenient, sometimes we don't feel well, sometimes we are in a hurry. But we cannot allow those circumstances to get in the way. I was used by God to connect two friends of mine to one another at an online poker table. I live on the east coast, one friend in the Midwest the other on the west coast. This is truly an amazing story of God's never ending pursuit of us and our obedience. Many nights I would have been unavailable to be used. I got off the computer at 2 am that morning. My eye doctor friend could have chosen to not log on, or not connect with me that night, happens all the time. The other two friends the same idea. God divinely placed all four of us online at different times to connect and minister to one. He set it up, we were usable vessels. I cannot always say that I am a usable vessel or that I am ALL IN. But we must be ALL IN, or else we are bluffing our way through the Christian walk. Everyone knows that bluffing works sometimes, but it usually ends badly. If it is your primary strategy, you will not win very much. Play the game of life like each day at any point might require you to go ALL IN. The kingdom of God will benefit if we all play like that!
God is indeed good, ALL the time.
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