I talked about the conference we attended last time. I'd like to share another story from there if I could. We went a day early because they were having some extra workshops and I took in the "Hazardous Tree Removal" seminar. It was an all day event and it was very helpful. The presentor was from FISTA (Forest Industry Safety and Training Alliance). He has 30 years of experience in the logging industry. We spent the morning in class learning about handling the chainsaw safety, proper safety equipment, etc. In the afternoon we went outdoors to practice safe felling techniques. Our focus was on "Bore Cutting" a tree. This allows you to "fall" the tree just about anywhere you want it to go. It was amazing! I have heard of "bore cutting" but didn't know how to do it. The guy took a tree that was leaning a good 4 feet in one direction and dropped it in the opposite direction. He was good. But as good as he was, and as much expereince as he had, he still made a potentially deadly mistake. It was on the very first tree he cut down. It was an Ash about 12 inches in diameter, so not a huge tree by any means. He missed his mark by just a little bit and it got hung up between two trees as it fell. He talked about what happened and then he was going to cut it free and get it on the ground so it was safe. He was cutting about 12 ft off of the log when it came free and swung towards him, taking his feet out from under him and he toppled right over the log-saw still running- head first to the ground. Fortunately, the tree was stopped prematurely-just as it connected with his legs-by another tree, or he would have broke both of his legs (or worse).
I felt a little embarrassed for him, and it was quite awkward, but we all laughed it off.
So how could a guy with so much experience make a mistake like that? Well first off, that's the danger of logging. Trees are sometimes unpredictable. They do things even the most experienced logger can not anticipate. Secondly, I think he underestimated that tree. He thought it was a piece of cake and didn't take all the necessary precautions. And thirdly, he was distracted from his work because he was busy teaching us at the same time he was felling that tree.
There's a lesson in this story for Christians.
We live in a world dominated by our adversary, the devil. He wants to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). The bible warns us in many places to be on gaurd against his evil schemes.
Unfortunately many Christains don't heed these warnings.
We don't realize that, while not "all-knowing", the devil is a spiritual being with great knowledge and he can and will be unpredictable in his attacks against us. He is going to "hit us where we least expect him."
Similarly, we seriously underestimate him. A recent survey concluded that most Americans don't even believe there is a "literal" Satan. Underestimating your enemy is always disasterous.
Finally, we should be careful not to be distracted. We live in a physical world. We see, we touch and we feel. We go to work, purchase the items we need, raise our families and go on vacation. Life is all around us and we don't realize that there is a spiritual world, that is just as real, all around us as well. In fact, we are primarily spiritual beings, not physical. This body, your career-this planet-are all only temperary, but we have an eternal soul that will live forever. We are spiritual beings and there are spiritual forces working all around us. Now, it is not like Star Wars, with "the dark side." The forces of evil (Satan) have already been defeated. Satan is not equal to God! But God has allowed him the power to influence human beings for a time. Therefore, the bible warns us, to be on gaurd at all times. We must be vigilant, constantly working to strengthen our relationship with Christ, who as defeated our enemy, so that we will not be taken captive by the enemy and his evil schemes.
So don't let Satan distract you. "Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Team Work
Theresa and I were able to attend a conference this week. It was sponsored by the Christain Camp and Conference Association. (3CA) Cedar Springs is a member camp. It was at a beautiful camp in Westboro Wisconsin. I went with just a little apprehension. We are a small camp with lots of needs. I knew who would be there. I knew there would be a lot of camps who had great facilities and tons of resources backing them. I expected to feel overwhelmed, intimidated and, yes-jealous. Fortunately I didn't let these feelings stop us from going.
It turned out to be a little overwhelming, but over-all I walked away feeling incredibly energized. I learned a whole lot of stuff. Most beneficial for me was the Hazardous tree removal workshop. We have a lot of those and now I'm more confident in dealing with them. But beyond all of the new stuff I learned I gained something else much more valuable. I gained a family who cares and are there to help.
Let me be honest for a minute. I wasn't sure about going there because these guys are the competition if you think about it from a business standpoint. I met many folks from camps in Iowa who are drawing from the same population base as we are-but not a single one of them treated Theresa and I as the competition. It was a little weird. They were excited to meet us and treated us as part of the team.
Now isn't that the point? Christians should live and act differently from the rest of the world. These folks had the right perspective, they see the bigger picture; they realize that we are all on the same team with one goal-to reach people for Jesus and share His love. As Christians, no matter what church we go to, or what camp we operate, we are all working for the same boss with the same bottom line. We are not in competition with each other.
Now, I don't mean to sound naive, like this is the first time I have realized this. This is a principle that I preached on and trained my leaders in. But if we are all honest with ourselves sometimes the ideal is not the reality. Too often we do not work with each other, preferring instead to go it alone, not wanting to share the work-or the success. That's a shame because, when it comes to the Kingdom, we can accomplish so much more when we work together. It's the most important business in the world, why are we letting jealousy and pride keep us from accomplishing our goal?
The apostle Paul was really upset with the church in Corinth. They had a problem treating each other with respect. The some of them thought they were "better" than other members in the church because of the spiritual gifts they had. Paul gave them a tongue lashing making the point that we are all parts of one body, working together to accomplish the work God has for us. He makes the case that love is the most important gift and we need to practice it towards one another. (1 Corinthians 12-14)
So I'm excited about the new relationships we have made. I look forward to having the Iowa members of the 3CA over to our camp so they can give us some pointers. And as often as I get the chance I intend on stopping by their camps too.
It turned out to be a little overwhelming, but over-all I walked away feeling incredibly energized. I learned a whole lot of stuff. Most beneficial for me was the Hazardous tree removal workshop. We have a lot of those and now I'm more confident in dealing with them. But beyond all of the new stuff I learned I gained something else much more valuable. I gained a family who cares and are there to help.
Let me be honest for a minute. I wasn't sure about going there because these guys are the competition if you think about it from a business standpoint. I met many folks from camps in Iowa who are drawing from the same population base as we are-but not a single one of them treated Theresa and I as the competition. It was a little weird. They were excited to meet us and treated us as part of the team.
Now isn't that the point? Christians should live and act differently from the rest of the world. These folks had the right perspective, they see the bigger picture; they realize that we are all on the same team with one goal-to reach people for Jesus and share His love. As Christians, no matter what church we go to, or what camp we operate, we are all working for the same boss with the same bottom line. We are not in competition with each other.
Now, I don't mean to sound naive, like this is the first time I have realized this. This is a principle that I preached on and trained my leaders in. But if we are all honest with ourselves sometimes the ideal is not the reality. Too often we do not work with each other, preferring instead to go it alone, not wanting to share the work-or the success. That's a shame because, when it comes to the Kingdom, we can accomplish so much more when we work together. It's the most important business in the world, why are we letting jealousy and pride keep us from accomplishing our goal?
The apostle Paul was really upset with the church in Corinth. They had a problem treating each other with respect. The some of them thought they were "better" than other members in the church because of the spiritual gifts they had. Paul gave them a tongue lashing making the point that we are all parts of one body, working together to accomplish the work God has for us. He makes the case that love is the most important gift and we need to practice it towards one another. (1 Corinthians 12-14)
So I'm excited about the new relationships we have made. I look forward to having the Iowa members of the 3CA over to our camp so they can give us some pointers. And as often as I get the chance I intend on stopping by their camps too.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Call the Experts!
A group of guys from the Fayette church came over to work on our new tabernacle rooms this past weekend. I thought I was ready for them with just a few little wiring details to finish. I am not a contractor but I know enough to be dangerous. I figured I could work on this stuff and keep ahead of them. What I didn't take into account was the fact that these guys were experts. They didn't take half the time I would have in completing the job.
There are 3 (with baths) 12'x16' rooms. I figured they'd get the ceilings done and maybe a wall or two. They arrived on Friday afternoon about 4pm and by 7 they had the first room completely done. I was working in the other two and began to feel the pressure. (Thank goodness one of their guys, who couldn't stay overnight, came early to help me!) I got up early on Saturday to get ahead of them but it didn't help much. By the time they were on the 3rd room they were tripping over me. Now, I think I got everything done, and I think it was done right, but I would have liked the opportunity for someone to check my work before the sheet rock went up. Now, if I wired the smoke alarms into the electrical outlet wiring we won't know until we power it up, and that will be a problem.
I tell you all of this to make a couple of points. First, thank God for experts who are willing to come and serve the Lord by working at the camp! They do the job right and it looks good. Secondly, what is an expert anyway? An expert is someone who has done a task enough to know everything there is to know about it. They can handle challenges when they arise and because they have done the job enough, they do good work.
When it comes to our Faith we should all be experts!
We should not only know what we believe, but why we believe it too. I hear so many times, often from my own lips, that "I worry about sharing my faith because I don't know what to say" or, "I don't like to get into debates with people about faith because I might say the wrong thing." Those are not good excuses, they are a cop out!
So how do we learn what we should know? It's just like contractors. They hang sheet rock so much they can do it with their eyes closed. We need to live the Christian life, not just talk about it.
As we live the Christian life, as set out for us by the Lord in the bible, we are able to share it more effectively. We need to be so proficient at the principles of Christian living that we are effect witnesses all the time-even when it's necessary to use words!
So how about you? Are you and expert?
I don't mean to make you feel guilty. I ask you that question to challenge you to do something about your inadequacy. Here's what I suggest you do: Pray about it. Ask Jesus to mold you and shape you to be more like Him. If you are serious, and you are persistant, He will change you into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
He will transform you into an expert!
And remember, it is not something that happens over night. Roger and his men didn't become experts at hanging sheet rock after their first job! The Christian way of life is a process. Keep in mind what the apostle Paul had to say: "Not that I have already obtained all this (Christian maturity), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Philippians 3:12)
There are 3 (with baths) 12'x16' rooms. I figured they'd get the ceilings done and maybe a wall or two. They arrived on Friday afternoon about 4pm and by 7 they had the first room completely done. I was working in the other two and began to feel the pressure. (Thank goodness one of their guys, who couldn't stay overnight, came early to help me!) I got up early on Saturday to get ahead of them but it didn't help much. By the time they were on the 3rd room they were tripping over me. Now, I think I got everything done, and I think it was done right, but I would have liked the opportunity for someone to check my work before the sheet rock went up. Now, if I wired the smoke alarms into the electrical outlet wiring we won't know until we power it up, and that will be a problem.
I tell you all of this to make a couple of points. First, thank God for experts who are willing to come and serve the Lord by working at the camp! They do the job right and it looks good. Secondly, what is an expert anyway? An expert is someone who has done a task enough to know everything there is to know about it. They can handle challenges when they arise and because they have done the job enough, they do good work.
When it comes to our Faith we should all be experts!
We should not only know what we believe, but why we believe it too. I hear so many times, often from my own lips, that "I worry about sharing my faith because I don't know what to say" or, "I don't like to get into debates with people about faith because I might say the wrong thing." Those are not good excuses, they are a cop out!
So how do we learn what we should know? It's just like contractors. They hang sheet rock so much they can do it with their eyes closed. We need to live the Christian life, not just talk about it.
As we live the Christian life, as set out for us by the Lord in the bible, we are able to share it more effectively. We need to be so proficient at the principles of Christian living that we are effect witnesses all the time-even when it's necessary to use words!
So how about you? Are you and expert?
I don't mean to make you feel guilty. I ask you that question to challenge you to do something about your inadequacy. Here's what I suggest you do: Pray about it. Ask Jesus to mold you and shape you to be more like Him. If you are serious, and you are persistant, He will change you into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
He will transform you into an expert!
And remember, it is not something that happens over night. Roger and his men didn't become experts at hanging sheet rock after their first job! The Christian way of life is a process. Keep in mind what the apostle Paul had to say: "Not that I have already obtained all this (Christian maturity), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Philippians 3:12)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Family Reunion
Theresa and I are beginning the spring season by visiting churches to promote the camp. We had the pleasure of being in La Porte City, at our home church this past Sunday. It was like a great family reunion only better. Usually at family reunions there are folks there that you don't know but they insist on giving you hugs and kisses and there are folks there that you would rather not see-but not so with our reunion in La Porte City. It was great to see old friends that I hadn't seen in years. Theresa and I spent many years at that church, growing in Christ, and we have many fond memories of our time there. Reconnecting with everyone was great. I was standing in the foyer talking with one person and I saw several others I had to talk to...one right after another! It was like, well, Heaven.
In chapter 19 of the book of Revelation John describes the vision he has of the "wedding feast of the Lamb." All of those who have placed their trust in Christ will be reunited there together with the Savior. What a fantastic reunion that will be!
We really enjoyed our time in La Porte. I hope to visit there again soon. Theresa really enjoyed singing with the worship team. And they blessed us with many gifts! We will be able to finance one of our priority work projects in the dining hall because of their generosity. But as much as we enjoyed our time there, I wait for, with much more anticipation, that great reunion we will all have together in Heaven.
I wonder: Are you going to be there?
(Romans 10:9-10)
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