Accumulating stuff

As I prepare to leave for Chile in about an hour, I am blown away this morning by a very clear truth:  What I spend time and energy accumulating reveals where my heart is.  Here's where this truth came from:
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.  Revelation 3:18

Though it is not wrong to be motivated by things like earning earthly money, earthly trophies, or earthly accolades, none of those things should be our sole desire.  Once the next raise, or a Super Bowl trophy, or the ultimate promotion becomes our very life, we allow the world to determine our worth.  Rather, let's accumulate stuff that can only be purchased from God Himself.

I want to invest in things that will last into eternity.  I want to be content with my radiantly white garment purchased with the blood of Jesus.  I want Him to heal my eyes so that I see what He sees.  This is how I want to go about my life and, right now, how I want to approach and walk with God while in Chile.

May my heart change as I accumulate God's things.

If prayer won games?

As a Denver Bronco fan of more than 40 years, I wonder whether it would have been appropriate to actually pray for a win.  Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.  Next to Jesus and my family (both blood and Christian), the Broncos rank up there as one of my passions, even to the point that a Bronco win or lose plays with my emotions.  Yet, it would be absolutely stupid for me to pray for a Bronco win.  Why?  It's about not just what you love, but what you worship.
Peyton Manning was asked, again, about his legacy and he wanted to be known for giving it his all and that did he did all he could so that his teammates could as well.  Some no-it-all sports talk show guys said something like, "I think he wants his legacy to include being better than John Elway and Tom Brady and, right now, he isn't."  That epitomizes the difference between someone who loves sports and someone who worships sports.  I don't know what Manning believes about Jesus, but I do know he has a pretty good perspective on sport's place in life.
If prayer won games, then, I still wouldn't do it, for my God is much bigger than that and cares for His creation way too much to allow them to elevate sports to that level.  So, let's utilize our requests of the Most High God for things having to do with things that the Most High God would honor.
A humiliating loss in the Super Bowl does not compare to the possibility of leaving for Chile this Wednesday and spending 16 days away from my family, for nothing.  We must pray for God to move!  As a result, please pray for the following from now through our trip (see previous blog for itinerary) and beyond as the Lord leads:

• Revival amongst the pastors and leaders for make disciples and multiplying.
• Establishing a network of mutual encouragement across cultural, geographic, and language barriers.
• Freedom to proclaim God’s Word.
• Solid commitments to Christ and His Kingdom.
• Sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading, doing EXACTLY as the Lord leads.
• Our growth in the Lord and that God would grab ahold of our hearts.
• Healthy interaction and relationship-building between us three as well as the two others going (Alex & Julie Mandes, he is the Hispanic Director for EFCA).
• Gateway Training (Feb. 8-9) would lead to not only solid theology but practical application as well.
• Church Planting Boot Camp (Feb. 15-16) would be ultra practical with God’s truth.  Carlyn, Manuel, and I will have opportunity to teach during this time.
• Mutual encouragement and refreshment amongst fellow workers for the Kingdom.
• My ability to understand and speak Spanish.
• That we wouldn’t fall off the side of the mountain.

Of infinite more value than winning games, join me in the real battle.  The real battle is doing all we can to convince people that the only way to live life here is to not live it for the "here and now" but to give it to the One in charge of the "here and now" as well as the "there and then" and beyond.

A Chilean Super Bowl!

Part of my goal of "leaving it on the field" by the time the Lord calls me home is to take every opportunity possible to do something difficult but beneficial.

All kinds of things can fall in this category.  Recently, when my good friend Manuel mentioned his plans to go to his homeland of Chile, I knew I had to pray about and pursue the possibility of going with him.  Why is this difficult?  Allow me to name just four things that come to mind:

1. Being away from my family for 16 days.
2. Missing our church's annual Winter Get-A-Way Retreat.
3. Being somewhere where I stick out (from my lack of Spanish to the color of my skin to my height to . . . you name it).
4. Preaching and teaching to a different culture through an interpreter.

Yet, why is it so beneficial?  Allow me to name just six things that come to mind:

1. God has some work to do on me, and this will be a great place for Him to turn up the heat.
2. I get to witness faith in Christ in a whole different context.
3. I get to fellowship through language barriers with brothers and sisters in the Lord.
4. God has opened up opportunities to teach and preach about things I am passionate about.
5. My family and my church will get to be stretched as well through my experience.
6. Our network of disciple-making churches gets to expand.

I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 
                     Galatians 2:20.

Super Bowl XLVIII is this weekend and my favorite team is playing (Go Broncos!).  It is a big deal and it comes to my mind often.  Yet, as I consider what will be happening once I leave for Chile Wednesday, February 5 (see itinerary below), I not only think about it often but there is also an undefined emotion that comes over me.  It is part nervousness, part curiosity, part anticipation, and part pure JOY, with a little trepidation mixed in.

As an athlete has a sense of being blessed for having the chance to play in a Super Bowl, each of us needs to aim for and pursue as many Super Bowls as we can get to.  We need to pray for opportunities to be stretched, to be counted on for something bigger and more significant than ourselves, and to grow as a person and as a follower of Jesus Christ.  For it is no longer I who live so I may as well leave it all on the field for Christ's sake.

Chile Itinerary:

Wednesday 5-Thursday 6 . . . . . . .Fly from Minneapolis to Santiago, Chile

Friday 7………………………… Travel from Santiago to Talcahuano

Saturday 8 …………………….GATEWAY (The whole day)

Sunday 9………………………..GATEWAY (morning only), service in Talcahuano (evening) CARLYN PREACHES

Monday 10……………………. Travel to Curarrehue

Tuesday 11……………………..Service in Curarrehue PAUL PREACHES

Wednesday 12………………..Return to Quillón

Thursday 13…………………….Barbecue with Pastors’ Network in Quillón

EVENING  SERVICE Alex PREACHES

Friday 14…………………………Free day in Quillón/BOOTCAMP  (It will start at 6:00 pm)

Saturday 15…………………….Church Planting Bootcamp

Sunday 16……………….………Service in Quillón (morning) (Carlyn Preaches, service in Talcahuano (Alex Preaches)

Monday 17………………………nothing schedule

Tuesday 18………………………YOUTH EVENT PAUL PREACHES

Wednesday 19…………………Nothing scheduled currently

Thursday 20- Friday 21……… Return flight to Minneapolis