Getting a life


I have noticed something this last year that I find frightening. Since I returned to America I have noticed that not many Americans live a life of their own. The life they actually live is the life of someone else on TV. The statistic for TV watching that I found, which I think is probably a year or two old, is that Americans are watching around 4 hours of TV a day. Do your math on that and it will add up to 28 hours of TV watching each week. That means that the average American watches a little more than one full day (24 hours) of TV every week. It also means that Americans spend two full months each year in front of the box and if they live to be 65 it means that they have spent 9 years watching someone else’s life. Can this really be true? Surely someone is imagining this?

The old phrase “get a life” has all the sudden taken on new meaning for me. I am worried that Americans simply have lost their life. They spend all their free time watching other people live a life, which is not really the actors life either, it is simply a script that they act out. Is there no one living a life in America these days? Is everything we say simply scripted? I remember when my children were young we use to have to ban movie talk at the table. If we had not done that a lot of the conversation would have simply been movie lines that our children had memorized. I wonder if this is true in most American homes at supper time. Or maybe families don’t eat together anymore because there is too much to watch on TV during meal time.

At the age of 53 I find life really fascinating. I really enjoy it and it actually gets more enjoyable all the time. At my age I am thinking that I really don’t know how much I have left and I don’t want to waste it at all. Jesus said in John 10:10, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life”. He actually wants to give us a rich and satisfying life. The problem is that most people are not living a rich and satisfying life and don’t even know that it is there for the taking because they can’t turn the TV off long enough to listen or to read about it.

Why do you do it?

Once while serving coffee to some rowdy people on a late Saturday night in Stockholm Sweden I was asked a question that I had trouble answering. A drunk walked up to me and asked me, “Why do you do it”? I answered with an answer that I often gave to people that were going in and out of the city subway station in Vårberg where I lived. I said, “We are a small group of people that are planting a church in this area of Stockholm. We heard this was a pretty rough subway stop and we wanted to help make it a calmer place.” We would stand out there beside the subway entrance with free coffee and tea and serve it from 12 midnight until around 3 am.

The answer that I gave the drunk that night didn’t satisfy him. He looked at me, smiled and then asked me, “really now, why are you doing this?” I answered with the same answer as if he didn’t understand it the first time only to get it asked again for a third time. At this moment I realized the man was drunk and I didn’t answer again. I just continued to do what I was doing. I met this same drunk on several occasions while serving coffee late Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings and he would ask the same question. After awhile I realized I didn’t like my answer! I really didn’t like it. Was I serving people on Saturday nights into the wee hours only to get people to come to our church that we were starting? Was I only serving to get something in return? Is it wrong to do it that way? Jesus says, “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to others sinners for a full return. Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the most high, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” (Luke 6:32-36)

When I read the words of Jesus I see that it is not wrong to do things for others because of what you will get, it is just wrong to do it if you are expecting to get something from them. Our reward is from God, the one who created us and the one we are serving. When we follow God’s word and do what He says we are promised a reward from Him. He is the one that gives us joy in what we do and peace that passes all understanding. We are to serve others because our Heavenly Father serves us and has made us to serve others. He gives us joy and peace here on earth as we serve and an eternity together with Him when we die. Our Heavenly Father is a compassionate God. This trait of compassion should run in the family.

The lesson of the chair

Once when I flew back from Sweden to America my plane first went to Amsterdam and then on to Washington/Dulles. I always pray for opportunities to talk to people about Jesus while I am on a long trip. My flights to Europe are sometimes up to 8 hours so I have plenty of time. I could just read which I do sometimes or I could watch movies all the way over (which I also have been guilty of), but I consider the latter a total waste of 8 hours.

This particular morning before I began the flight from Stockholm I forgot to ask for an aisle seat. I like to get an aisle seat so that I can get up and walk or stretch whenever I want to instead of having to crawl over someone else that is sleeping or having to ask someone to please move while I go relieve myself. Anyways I forgot and so I was stuck the whole trip over from Stockholm to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam to Washington D.C. and Washington D.C. to Jacksonville Florida all on window seats. It didn’t really hit me what I had done until I sat down on the flight from Amsterdam to Washington D.C.

When I realized that I had been given a window seat and that there was a man sitting beside me hemming me in I thought oh no I need to change seats. He was talking with another person across the aisle and I thought that maybe I could get that person to change with me. No such luck. He told me that both he and she had asked for an aisle seat. I realized then that I needed to look and see if an aisle seat was empty. There were a few that were empty so I thought, once this plane gets up in the air, I will simply get up and take one. But then it hit me. I remembered my prayer, “Lord, I ask for an opportunity to talk to someone about your Son Jesus while I am on this trip today”. But I fought it by thinking that the man beside couldn’t speak English very well. I have tried at times to share with people before that didn’t have a good grasp of English and if they don’t speak English or Swedish it gets real difficult for me. Anyways, surely this guy doesn’t speak English very well and I would really like an aisle seat.

As I sat in my seat and the plane was about 15 to 20 minutes in the air I realized that I shouldn’t get up and change seats until I had at least tried to talk to the man beside me. Yes, he was reading a book in Dutch, but still I needed to try. Sooo I waited until the drinks came by. I usually like to try and begin a conversation when the Stewards bring the drinks by. Even though I thought that this conversation was never going to take off I still couldn’t forget my prayer and thought I must give the Lord a chance to answer it. He has surely done it before so why not today.

I don’t even remember now how I began but I did. I really couldn’t believe the results. This man that was sitting beside me could speak English very well. We starting talking and as our talk continued I slowly moved into spiritual things and then I was totally shocked. The book the man was reading in Dutch I was very familiar with. It was the Alpha course by Nicky Gumble ( I didn’t notice the name of the author or else I would have been able to figure it out). It is the book that God has used in many Swedes life to give them a second chance to consider the claims of Christ and how they can begin a personal relationship with God. I have even helped teach the course at our church plant in Stockholm. This man sitting beside me had gone to the first meeting of the Alpha course but was going to be in Florida for the next three weeks so the pastor teaching the course had given him a copy of the book and told him to read the next three chapters so he wouldn’t miss anything. It became very obvious to me that God was after this man. The Hound of Heaven had treed this Dutch man and then He had placed me beside to speak to him and help him along the way on his journey to meet Jesus.

For the next 5 hours of the trip this Dutch man and I talked about Jesus, the Bible, the Alpha course and so many other important subjects. I felt so privileged to be sitting there talking with him and being used by God (and having my prayer answered in such a real way) to take this man a little ways farther on his journey to meet the Creator of the universe. I was also blessed to see the excitement in the Dutchman’s eyes when he found out I was a Christian and I was sitting right next to him and that I had actually taught some of the book (Alpha) he was now reading. He kept turning to the lady next to him and telling her what we were talking about. He told me he had seen that I was reading a Christian book when the flight first started and he wondered what it was about.

I call this story the lesson of the chair because I was looking for an opportunity to move from my chair to another one that would put me beside the aisle. I had prayed about an opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus that day but wasn’t looking for the answer. God had placed me in the right chair but I wanted to move away from it and I would have missed God’s answer to my prayer. When we pray we must keep our eyes open for answers. We must be prepared that God will answer us and use us for His kingdom. In the letter to the Colossians Paul say, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

Ain’t it good to be back home again

I have been traveling in Europe for the last two weeks and I must admit it feels good to be home again. Of course there is that nagging question that crosses my mind over and over again asking me where my home is. Being in the work I am in right now means traveling a lot and living in different places. Our family over the last 25 years has lived in three countries and at times we have moved to new places within those countries and back and forth to America in between. Some of you reading this might think that sounds like fun and others will read it and wonder how we could do such a thing. I am somewhere in between these thoughts.

I enjoy my work and think that life would be a little dreary being in just one place. At the same time I enjoy coming home to family and a place where I hang my clothes and put things away so that I know where they are the next day when I wake up. It is nice when at home to wake up and know exactly where you are instead of waking up and having to remind yourself you are in someone else’s house or some motel near an airport. At the same time I have to keep going back to that question I asked before and that is, “Where is my home”. While traveling in Europe I saw an advertisement reminding us of the old saying that home is where you hang your hat. We have all also heard that home is where you heart is. I am not convinced that either one of these statements are totally right.

Perhaps the real answer to this question for me is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1 where the Apostle Paul writes, “…we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” I have heard Christians speak of this world as not being our home and that we are just passing through and I agree that we often find ourselves alone here and not at home. Over the years I have begun to realize that I am at home when I am in fellowship with God. When I worship Him and enjoy his presence I feel at home no matter where I am here on earth. I am greatly encouraged by this because I know that if I am at home in the presence of God then I will always have a home. God is eternal and will always be around and the secret for me to feel at home is to always make sure that I am in His presence. The verse in 2 Corinthians promises me that not only can I be at home in his presence here on earth but when I die He promises a new body that He has prepared for me so that I can be in his presence and feel at home forever. Wow, that is a promise I like. One day there will be no more feeling homesick and even now in the present I can cure homesickness by making sure I am living and communing in God’s presence.

On the road again!

My bags are packed and tomorrow I head out. Yea, over the next two weeks I will travel back to Europe. I get an opportunity to visit Sweden and the church plant ministry that we have been involved in there. I will also attend some Greater Europe Mission leadership meetings in Berlin and I get an opportunity to visit a new church plant in Estonia. Am I excited? I am always excited to go back and see what the Lord is doing there!

God is at work everywhere doing things that we don’t always notice. He hears our prayers and He answers them in ways that we don’t always expect. One of the big things I have learned about prayer and God recently is that prayer doesn’t control God. We don’t make Him do what we want when we pray. He is in control of everything already. Prayer is more a reminder for me that I can’t do anything in the Spiritual world on my own. He is the one that does it and yet He desires that I am involved and He wants to answer prayers through us, His children. I am even convinced more and more that He puts even the thoughts in our minds so that we will pray and begin to see just what He is up to. In the Old Testament in the book of the Prophet Amos Chapter three verse seven the Prophet writes says, “Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.” He wants us to see what He is doing. He does not do anything without letting us know but we must be watching.

I am looking forward to seeing what the sovereign Lord is up too right now in Europe. I will try and write about a few of those things over the next two weeks.

An end and a new beginning

2008 is at an end. As I was listening to the news tonight I heard several times that people were going to be happy about 2008 coming to an end. I imagine that most are thinking about the economy. Things are definitely not what they use to be and at the same time it sure could be worse. I have heard it said that there are countries in the world that would love to have a recession if that would mean that they had as much money as those that feel they are suffering in America. I guess it all depends on how you look at it, or even better, it all depends on how you respond to what comes your way.

As the New Year comes my way I want to think about some words of wisdom that I have tried to remember, memorize and put into action. Here it is, “The circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life do not make me the way I am but reveal the way I am.” (Dr. Sam L. Peeples. Jr) In other words I can’t blame circumstances etc… for making me unhappy in 2008. If I was unhappy in 2008 it was because I choose to be unhappy. If I am going to be happy in 2009 it is because I will choose to be. My job is to respond to all that comes my way as coming from a sovereign God that loves and cares for me and has my best interests in mind. This does not mean that all will go the way I want it to or even the way I think it should. What it does means is that I can’t control the things that happen to me or around me but I can control the way I respond to them.

Paul in Philippians 4:4-7 says, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Christmas Eve 2008

It’s Christmas Eve and I am sitting in my living room near the tree. The lights in the house are off and I am writing this blog by the lights of the Christmas tree. I have a lot of thoughts going through my mind tonight. Since I have been back in America this year I have noticed some new things that I don’t remember so much before. It always happens when I return from Europe after being gone awhile.

One example of this is “lines”. Since I have returned to America I have noticed how Americans, or at least southerners where I live in Florida, have to have so much space as they stand in store or café lines. In other word when I walk into a café and want to buy a cup of coffee the “line”, even though there might just be three people standing in it, is so long. At first I almost walked in front of people to the counter not even realizing they were actually standing in line. My son or daughter, who has been living here longer than I have, had to remind me that those people, even thought they were standing so far from each other and so far from the counter, were actually standing in line. It took me some getting used to at first. I would walk up to pay for something in a store and I would feel the urge to push from the back of what I perceived was the end of the line so that we would be a little closer to the cashier. Now you might read this and wonder why I was in such a hurry, well it wasn’t really being in a hurry, I just had to realize that we Americans need our space and don’t to try to change them. This is just one example of what I have observed.

Another thing I have observed this Christmas here in America is that some Americans don’t seem to decorate their houses with any lights and others seem to put so many lights on their house that it looks like something out of Disney World or some Hindu Temple. I don’t ever remember so many lights on one house in my life and that is not counting all the reindeer and Santa’s and etc… Whatever happened to that word “modest”, like in a modest amount of lights? Here it seems that it is either all or nothing. Now this discussion on Christmas lights gets me to the subject of what I really wanted to write about tonight. The amazing amount of lights, even though I am not really impressed, makes me think about what the shepherds must have experienced that first Christmas night. The Bible says that on that night the Angel of the Lord appeared to the Shepherds and the “glory of the Lord” shown around them. Now I have no idea of how bright the glory of the Lord (surely brighter then my neighbors house) must have been, but it was sure enough to scare the shepherds. And even before this night we read that the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, had already said when speaking of the Christ child that He (Jesus) would, “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and guide us to the path of peace” (Luke 1:78). A little while later when Jesus was brought to the Temple by Joseph and Mary, to present Him to the Lord, there was a man there by the name of Simeon. We read that Simeon was a righteous and devout man that was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come (Luke 2:32) and when he saw Jesus he took him in his arms and one of the things he said was that Jesus would be, “a light to reveal God to the nations”. Over and over again in the Bible we read that Jesus was is a light. He is the”Light” in a very dark world that will show humanity the way back to a relationship with God, one that would, give us life and peace.

It is Christmas Eve 2008 and tonight I am thinking about the light of Christ that shines in the darkness. What hope it offers in a darkened world. What joy it gives those who receive it and walk in it and find their way back to God. Tonight, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and may the light of God shine on you and your family. May His light show you how you can find the Life and Peace that comes from knowing Christ.