Tag: accountability

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Season’s Open!

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November, at least in the State of West Virginia, could be declared a State “Hunting Season Holiday” for the entire month and few would complain. Game hunting is one of the largest industries in the nation. In 2011 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which estimates that roughly 90 million citizens, or 38 percent of the population age 16 or older, spent an estimated $145 billion on wildlife activities in the U.S. last year. We’re serious hunters. Duck Dynasty has made millions off of the concept of hunting, beards and family; you can walk into a store just about anywhere, be it a convenience store or major retailer and find the faces of those crazy characters from the show.

Another hunting season opened November 1st for many; the “Gift Hunting Season.” Web traffic goes insane for the greatest find on the latest kind of what every trend happens to be on top. Toy catalogs are in the mail and lists are being made (many without limits) and retailers gear up for the Black Friday mayhem!

And then there’s the little publicized hunting season for “Necessities for the Needy.” There’s an abundant harvest of opportunity. The season is actually open all year, but it doesn’t seem to be noteworthy until about November. And then suddenly eyes (and wallets) are open and alert for the opportunity to score points on an unseen tally sheet. The season passes as quickly as it came and by January the season appeal has dwindled to just above no one.

I’m not a fan of enabling poverty by providing handouts to those who refuse to work. It’s not biblical. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10~ For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. But… then there’s 1 Timothy 6:17-18 ~  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

Life isn’t about the hunt, it’s about the release. It’s the willingness to allow God to work through that which you’ve been given. This is one post that has pierced my heart. Because I’m as guilty as the next to fail to recognize (communicate) and give (distribute) to a soul in need. A recent sacrificial giving in our church didn’t go un-noticed. A young woman who I know didn’t have it gave beyond her means and for no other reason than to be a part of the Lord’s work. I loved her before she gave, but after she gave, I felt her knit into our ministry as a vital part. That’s what giving does! There’s no buying your way into Heaven, please don’t misunderstand that. But there’s an investment in it. If you’re passionate about something, you invest in it (as our keynote speaker Donna Tallman) reminded us at our ladies retreat this weekend.

So… is this your season? A change of attitude and heart toward a mission that is soon to become your passion? I hope it’s mine. I’m shoppin’!

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Are You Somebody to Anybody?

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Living in a small rural community has its pros and cons. For one thing everybody knows everyone, and everyone knows everything about everybody. There are busybodies and nobodies, and people who think they are somebodies. When something happens to somebody everybody talks about it and sometimes the truth isn’t even in the middle; but it made for interesting conversation on the porch on a Saturday night. And sometimes makes for interesting prayer requests on Sunday morning. That’s rural community in a nutshell. Everybody knows just enough about everything to be dangerous, but we’re still community, at least for now.

Rural community is at risk of becoming a victim of the global community. The information highway has opened portals to wild and exotic places that can make community look very routine. Families have lost focus of one another and smartphones having stolen their lives. Color me guilty. It wasn’t until I read an article, (yes it was online) about a recent murder in San Francisco, where multiple times prior to shooting and killing a young man, a video camera caught the murderer as he brandished and pointed his weapon at others on the train unnoticed. No one noticed until he fired a fatal shot.

John 2:1-10

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

So what does the wedding of Cana have to do with a murder on a train in San Francisco?

Family and Community.

Jesus and the disciples had been invited to the wedding for which Mary is keenly aware of the orchestration of the event. When the wine was running empty it was she who brought the news to Jesus. I have to wonder if she had not seen Him perform a miracle or two before. Surely He had practiced and she was His mother after all. Do you suppose? Anyway…back to my point. Jesus was all about the community. He was where they were. He wasn’t hold up in room somewhere.

He was among them.

He celebrated their victories, He came to their house for dinner, and He was at the festivals and fairs. Community was important to Him and it should be to us. Church is of great importance, but a family dinner or event has a place in our lives. And while we’re there the phones should be put away and our focus on those around us.

He was aware of them

His mother brought the need for wine to His attention and you get the feeling He scolded her somewhat when he said Woman, what have I to do with thee? I don’t get the feeling it was in anger but more as one of those conversations between Mother and Child, “Really Mom, you want me to do that here?” mine hour is not yet come. He wasn’t ready to divulge that He was Lord, but she knew. Perhaps she’d watched Him practice.

He was accountable for them

The wine may have seemed like a trivial thing, but it was important to the community. There could have possibly been shame on the bridegroom for not having prepared adequately for the event. Shame that they spoke about for months down the line, you know how small communities are. But Jesus took care of it. They’d be talking about this party for months to come but not for shame, for glory!

Jesus was all about community! I hope this weekend you’ll spare a little time for your community. Put the cell phone away, call a few friends, go to someone’s house for dinner or invite them into yours. Be among them, be aware of them, and make yourself accountable to see that small community lives on.

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What Are You Spreading?

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Sponge People

In reading Psalm 22 this morning chills ran down my spine as my thoughts ran through the words of David in verse 13-19:

They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

You cannot help but see the correlation between David’s Psalm and the crucifixion of Christ. Whether or not David knew the weight these words would carry, I don’t know. But the church is without excuse as we carry them forward.

The final two verses of this Chapter, verses 30-31 read

A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Verses 13-19 – That’s Christ.

Verses 30-31 – That’s Christ and us.

The Bible promises that until the end of time the Word will be taught in this place by these people of God that He’s chosen and He’s holding Himself accountable for it. If the Lord, the Creator of all, is holding Himself accountable for the Word, should we not hold ourselves accountable for the delivery of it? There are far too many people sitting idle in the churches across America giving way to every excuse in the book on why it’s not their responsibility to further the gospel. They’re soakers.

It reminded me somewhat of a kitchen sponge this morning. When the water of the Word flows into them, they enjoy it and they soak it up, the Holy Spirit gets into the mix and is like a detergent scrubbing the soul squeaking clean and then they leave the church and go back into the community. There they brush up against the germy counters of their lives and bits and pieces of the world’s pollution clings to them and as they go on their way they distribute bits and pieces of that pollution themselves because they haven’t got back to the Water to get cleansed again. It’s not wash day after all. And then wash day comes again. Sunday…more Word….more cleansing… and out they go again. I don’t know if you’ve ever kept a sponge for a while and didn’t use it a lot, but it gets this funky smell to it that eventually won’t wash out and you just have to throw it away, its spreading more germs than cleanliness.

The same is true in a Christian life when they don’t hold themselves accountable for the collection and distribution of the Word. In place of the Word they’re not reading, the world heaps into their soul polluted thoughts and those are the things that are spread. Where, if every day they’d just have taken a little time to let the water of the Word cleanse them again, it is those thought that would be distributed.

We’re not all called to be preachers, or teachers but we are called to serve Him. And that service is not an allotted time between 11 and noon on Sunday morning. You’re His. He is holding Himself accountable for making sure you have the Word that He willingly died for.

What are you doing with it?

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A Trip to the Station

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Isaiah 22:13-19 ~  And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.

 Stations in Life

I will confess to you that over my lifetime there have been countless stations that pride factored in. I loved the title, I did not always love the job. When I left my job with the courts, I left because I was absolutely miserable. When I received the job it was a blessing and an appointment from a Circuit Judge, a job of prestige of sorts; but with it came heartache and sorrow of families, personal information about the lives of people in my community and day by day it tore at my heart. Coupled with the politics of the place I was not a happy camper. Station meant nothing at that point, I just wanted out.

This was not the case with Shebna. His position had gone to his head and he began to think himself so important that, while his city lie in ruin around him, he had built, or engraved for himself, a house in stone that Isaiah referred to as his own sepulcher. Nice huh? A house that looked like a grave plot; my spine just shivered. Mainly because I’ve witnessed much of the same in society today when they build huge houses of enormous cost and then fill it with misery and death. But God sends Isaiah with a message in verse 19 that says “I will drive thee from thy station.”

I don’t know at what point God’s going to get there with the American political faction but He will. I don’t know if I’ll get to see it, but it will come to pass, because God detests prideful acts where people live with total disregard for others. I don’t think God’s going to take care of it on the political realm only, but on the spiritual as well. For too long church leaders have set in their stations of life enjoying the prestige that the role carries while their communities lie in shambles. Wicked television evangelist squander every dollar they can from their fans with total disregard for the hardship it caused, proclaiming that it was for God’s glory when in reality it fueled their jet. I’m not lumping them all in the same category. There are some good television ministries, we have some awesome leaders in our churches, we have a “few” decent political allies. It must only be a few, else they’d be more done in Washington.

My point of this blog is this. We need to be more aware of our surroundings. Those within and without. I speak very personally now. I waste so much. I could do so much more with what I’ve been given. I don’t live in a mansion, or drive a Cadillac, but I’ve got some poor priorities. Today for myself I just want to examine my “station” in life lest God sends me a messenger…