A Thanksgiving thought and Christmas music

If I were to write the text for a Thanksgiving card it might go something like this:

This season may find us

Far apart; but,

In Faith, Hope and Love

We're one...at heart

 

And for that

We are truly thankful!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope that you and your family enjoyed a great celebration of thankfulness this last week! Maybe you got some Christmas shopping done too! We braved the crowds one day, but generally enjoyed time together with family here in Colorado.

As you may remember, some years ago, some friends and I published a Christmas choral piece with Mark Foster Music. Stanton, a sheet music source, posted a recording of the song. You can find it at this link

http://listeninglab.stantons.com/title/comfort-and-joy/326648/?s=1

May it bring a smile to your face and heart as you enter the Advent season.

Glorify God

Yesterday our pastor led us in a time of special prayer for those who have been suffering with illness in our church family. It was a special, but difficult, time. Many are hurting. Some possibly facing death, if God does not intervene.

As I sat there, my first thought was, "Am I ready?" If I found out today that I had a terminal form of cancer and had a short time to live, could I be at peace? I think, though it would certainly be a very emotional and difficult time, I could be. My greatest concern, of course, would be for my family.

My second thought was on how God gets glory in our lives. You know that this is a subject I spend a lot of time complaining about to God. I hope that, in his grace, he sees me in the same light as King David as David spends a lot of time complaining to God in the Psalms when things are not going well.

If God is truly our GOD, then our main priority is to gain glory for him. Our needs, and most certainly, wants, take a distant place in value to that one goal. I am certain that most of us go about our lives with bringing glory to God as a major part of what we do. However, we are hoping for the "both/and" version; God gets glory AND we live a comfortable, enjoyable, successful life. I am sure that this happens for some; but, I am also sure God doesn't always go with the "both/and" plan.

Hence, he doesn't always save. He doesn't always heal. He allows his people to suffer; to be martyred; to be abused. Truly horrible things happen to his people, much of which we are blind to here in the United States. We must trust that in all of this, God brings himself glory and will ultimately fulfill his promise to bring about the best for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Such is the fragility of our faith.

Why would we continue to trust? This morning in chapel one of our missionary kids, Ian Smith, shared the answer. We trust because we, and others in the Family, have experienced God's faithfulness, kindness, mercy and love. We hold those things in our collective stories as monuments to God's active work in and through us.

I had a part in writing a song committing ourselves to God's glory above all else. You can hear it at
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B974RmAHjuPSTm8xNmktUFZLcms

Honestly, this is a hope for every day...that I would have the attitude shared in these lyrics. But, you know, though hope springs eternal most days I find myself grasping for it. Lord, have mercy on me!

Deänne Keeps Busy

It would be logical to guess that you have questions about what our work includes. When you hear that Deänne is the Director of Membercare for OC it would be natural to wonder just what that is. Not too many companies have Membercare departments!

Recently our Communications department did a special on what Membercare in OC actually is. The result was a video featuring Deänne. Though it was included in one of our electronic letters I thought I would also post it here.

http://vimeo.com/44744162

Happy viewing. We trust that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration this week!!

We are broken!

Since the political barrage of ads and the election is behind us, I thought I might reflect on something political…or not! There is a reason why political systems fail…though they may have perfect logic behind them. People aren’t perfect!!

The Republican philosophy of resourcing the wealthy because they understand how to invest money and grow the economy by creating jobs etc. sounds great except for one thing. Many of those rich people lack the character to do so. We only need to look at the character failures of some of those people in the last 5 years to see that.

The Democratic idea that giving money to the poor will better their living standard falls to the same reality. When people get extra “free” money they tend to waste it on things that they have wanted but couldn’t afford…not on things that they actually need…that would better their life. Once again, a lack a character could be to blame.

There are two things I know for sure. I am generalizing and I am speaking of myself in all of this. We all show a lack of character in one way or another. For some it is “cheating” on their taxes while for others it is keeping the extra amount an insurance company pays for a loss though it exceeds the repair. We could also mention the charges for some of that repair elevated because the repairer knows how much the insurance company will pay. We have ways to justify our lack of character, of course. In short, though, it boils down to brokenness.

We are broken and we have been since the beginning. All human systems fail because all humans are “failures.” Not trying to be fatalistic here, just realistic. We all desperately need grace from God and others. We all desperately need to give grace to all.

If we, in the family of God, would be the ones to actually set ourselves aside and be the grace givers…beginning in our own families and our own churches...to all others, friends and “enemies” alike, we would turn the world on its head. This is mimicking Jesus; who gave it all up so that his “enemies” might have the opportunity to be restored, remade into his image…unbroken.

Grace to you.