Randy's Ruminating

Walking in the Valley with Mom

2010-09-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

My 86 year old mother had a stroke recently. She is able to move her arms, hands, feet or legs, for which we are so thankful. Her speech was somewhat affected, as was her swallowing. She also had some facial distortion. But all these things seem to be improving significantly. But it did affect the part of the brain where we process things, a further weakness to her already struggling memory.

We want to stay in the valley of trust, and stay out of the valley of despair. We must trust God. Seeking his wisdom about how we can best be helpful to mom, the path is not easily discernable. I am reminded of Scripture verses I memorized years ago: “Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths” from Proverb 3:5-6. I believe these words. They guide and give hope. We must trust doctors, their expertise, and those who work with mom.

I have learned in fresh ways of the power of a caring church. People asking for an update - How is your mom? Anything new? - is meaningful and supportive. Notes from people who tell us of their prayers, are deeply appreciated. It is a good reminder that it takes very little to let someone know you care.

It’s hard to see the one who gave you life in need, crying and asking tough questions: What is going on? And the most sobering one of all: What are you going to do with me? I’m struggling with the doctor’s candid counsel that mom really should not be alone. How do we balance that with our love and care for her? She wants so much to be in her own home. It takes trusting God to a new level. This is the last of our parents, my wife having lost both of her parents and I having lost my dad. Perhaps there’s an added burden with that.

So we are left with the Psalmist’s words to point the way: “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; . . . .” I’ve encouraged my mother to do this. We must do it too.

Man To Tweet the Bible

2010-08-14T12:28:00.000-05:00

The summer has chewed up time with good things that only summers offer opportunities for, but communicating with you through this blog has been on a summer back burner. Today I move it back to the front burner. I must tell you about something I read about today - a grand, creative and unique attempt to get the message of the Bible to the world, through cyber space. A Worship Director from the UK is going to send out the gist of the Bible, chapter by chapter, over the next three years on Twitter. You can read about it here: "One Man Will Try to Tweet the Bible Over Three Years." It is illustrative of two things: 1) the fundamental importance of the need for the Bible's message to be read by everyone; 2) the ever expanding ways now open to us to communicate the written Word of God to the world. Together they remind us that God's truth is marching on, in ways we could have never imaged only a few years ago.

Way To Go, Steve Jobs!

2010-06-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

Three cheers for Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple! He recently took a stand, an extraordinary step, that I applaud. It's not a new gadget, though he did just introduce his latest version of the iPhone that has techies everywhere watching with eye-popping curiosity. I own and use an iPhone, and it really is an amazing piece of technology. But he really topped that now. Steve Jobs took a stand to stem the tide of pornography through the products that he offers to the public. He wants pornography off Apple products. Read about it here.

God has given each of us a little space to have some semblance of control. Let's handle it well, to honor God, and along the way make the world a better place to live. Bravo Steve Jobs!

Little Twigs - Big God Sighting

2010-05-24T15:09:00.001-05:00

Mary and I spent a recent Saturday morning working in the yard. Whenever I work there, I seem to catch some God-sighting. My final task was to trim a tree in our back yard; its limbs were hanging too close to our deck. I trimmed some larger limbs, but also noticed several small twigs that were dead. I clipped those too. It was in trimming the smallest twigs that I sensed God showing me something. As I snipped each small twig, the branch on which it had grown lifted slightly. What? That little twig wouldn't weigh down that limb . . . would it? But it did.

Sometimes we think it is only big burdens - loss of a job, a death in the family - that pull us down. But smaller burdens - the little twigs in our lives - weigh on us too. We are often conscious of the need to release big burdens to God. But God invites us to "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). "All" means the small stuff ltoo. As those little twigs tumbled to the ground and the branch lifted, I understood why.

3rd SATURDAY IS LAUNCHED!

2010-05-15T14:03:00.007-05:00

3rd Saturday is launched! Many of us want to serve, to help someone in Jesus' name, but we don't know where or how. So we decided to tap into something that was already going on. Sergio Sanchez, pictured here on the left, along with his wife, Amber and Grant Thomas, serve often at Empty Tomb. So we talked with them about heading up a new ministry we are calling 3rd Saturday. On the third Saturday of every month we are now inviting our church to serve in Jesus' name. You can meet others at Empty Tomb, 301 N. 4th Street in Champaign, at 9:00 a.m. Stay as long as you are able, but work will stop at about 1:00. Anyone is welcome. You will be blessed.

On this launch day others served in other ways, but I went to a home where, under the able leadership Cecil Billingsley from Empty Tomb, we began removing the old shingles on a house. Yes, the pros were there to make sure it was all done correctly. The back half of the roof shingles were taken off. Robin Thomas (Top right) helped remove shingles. And George Daigh (center, top), who lives the old saying - let George do it - is always ready to serve in Jesus' name.

I hope you will join us next month - on the 3rd Saturday. Mark your calendar right now.

One Million Meals for Haiti

2010-04-24T21:43:00.008-05:00

My wife, Mary and I, participated in One Million Meals for Haiti Saturday afternoon, along with thousands of others who served throughout the day. I was so excited to see so many people from our church participating in this worthy mission. As the number of meals prepared was announced throughout our time of service, it was so meaningful to be part of helping feed the people who had been devastated by a recent earthquake.

The Salvation Army had things well organized. Obviously strategic planning had gone into getting ready for this big weekend. At the end of the first day, 880,000 meals had been prepared. Awesome!

I couldn't help but think how exciting it would be to be there when these meals were opened and eaten. But my excitement was dampened by a second thought - how quickly these meals would be gone. The opportunity to serve never ends.

Why Did God Bless a Special Week at Our Church?

2010-04-19T21:35:00.006-05:00

We finished the "Eternity" production last week, an outreach to our community. Wow, what a week! The church pulling together, serving together, rejoicing together. Big crowds. Many people saying "yes" to following Christ or renewing their relationship with him. It has become the buzz of our church. Why?

It seems to me that there are three "simple" contributing factors.

1. We invited the heart of God into the heart of the church. Whenever we invite the heart of God - for people to be in relationship with him, his desire to love and give to the world - into the heart of the church, the church is really being the church.

2. We seriously sought God's power, presence and blessing. And God responded. God's power, presence and blessings were poured out.

3. We joined hands and worked together as the body of Christ. God seems to find great pleasure in his people working together for his glory, and wants to bless those efforts.

This is not a formula, like a recipe in a cookbook. God is sovereign. We don't manipulate God. But God does welcome the opportunity to have his people join him in the work he desires to do in the world. When we do, it's pretty exciting!

One Big Step to Be More Attentive to God

2010-04-02T19:58:00.004-05:00

Recently I wrote about reading Leighton Ford's book, The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in All Things. This is not a book to teach us how to live like an isolated Monk. Leighton Ford reminds us that "The poet Kathleen Norris believes 'the true mystics of the quotidian [everyday] are not those who contemplate holiness in isolation reaching godlike illumination in serene silence, but those who manage to find God in a world filled with noise, the demands of other people and making a living" (page 83). Yes! That's where we live.

Ford writes of John Ortberg (page 130), who went to Chicago as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, and soon discovered that he was moving so fast his spiritual life was suffering. In desperation he called a spiritual mentor, Dallas Willard. He explained his concern and asked what he should do. Willard responded, "Ruthlessly eliminate hurry." Ortberg's quick response was, "that's good . . . what's next." Willard said, "There isn't anything else."

That's a tall order. The speed of life does drain life from us. It keeps us from being attentive to God. Who would not have to start with baby steps? One hour. Thirty minutes. But do start. Ruthlessly eliminate hurry.

Happy Easter!

Learning to Pay Attention

2010-03-24T13:06:00.017-05:00

I'm a reader. Ask our daughters. Or my wife, who has listened patiently to countless private readings. They have, on numerous occasions, paused to listen to a nugget I had to share with them from my current reading. Honestly, it's a family joke - there goes dad again.

So, it is not surprising to me that I want to share with you a nugget from a book I've just finished reading - Leighton Ford's wonderfully refreshing, The Attentive Life: Discerning God's Presence in all Things (InterVarsity Press, C. 2008). To whet your appetite, Ford suggests that learning to pay attention will yield these results :

"You will see things you have not seen before.
You will be more fully alive.
You will experience life in its depths.
You will be more rooted, less rushing.
You will be a more whole and loving person.
You will live before you die" (page 46).

That's enough to get me interested. But then I'm easily distracted.

Stop again. I have more nuggets to share from this attention grabbing book.

Human Logic vs. Faith Logic

2010-03-17T16:38:00.004-05:00

I talked with a wonderful member of our church who has Multiple Sclerosis. His wife is the bread winner in the family. She just received word that she will lose her job later this year - more fall out from the economic crisis. I told him I was sorry to hear the news about his wife losing her job. His response is what I have come to expect from this man of faith.

He said: "it is just one more opportunity for human logic to say, 'what are we doing to do?' And another opportunity for faith logic to say, 'Okay, God, show us what you want us to do?'" Yes it is!

There are many such paradoxes in the life of one who walks with God. We hear paradox, for example, in 2 Corinthians 6:10, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." That's a rhythm of paradox that only God can orchestrate.

We Never Know What We Have Been Spared

2010-03-11T11:20:00.002-06:00

Driving by a home we had at one time been interested in purchasing, I noticed trenches had been dug all around the foundation of the house. I don't know what the problem is, but it looked serious. Adding to the heaviness is the fact that I've noticed, in several other trips by there, it's been that way now for weeks. I'm sorry for the people living there who have to deal with whatever problem they're facing.

Driving by that home has reminded me how much we wanted that home. After agonizing over it for some time, we had called our Realtor to tell her we were ready to take the plunge . . . only to find out another buyer had already taken the plunge. We were disappointed. We did not get what we wanted. Would there ever be another home like that? You know how it goes. But seeing that home with issues again recently, I recalled a simple life-truth that's good to put in the back of our minds When disappointments come, we never know what we have been spared.