Rick Anderson's Blog, page 5

Let the Church Shine

Kim and I marched obediently behind our tour guide who led us through the ancient streets of Taormina, a city on the Mediterranean Sea in Sicily.  Down the cobblestone streets we walked as the sun began to beat down on us from above.

We had already passed a couple of churches when our guide, Maria, stopped in front of another church.  She told us that this church had been hidden for centuries as other buildings had been built in front of it, obscuring the frontal view for all who passed by.

Maria went on to tell us that the buildings that had been in front of the church were all destroyed during an Allied bombing raid during World War II.  When the city officials began the reconstruction of the city, it was decided that it would be best for the church to shine instead of rebuilding the other buildings and hiding her once again.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14-16; “You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (The Message)

Just the same as the church, we are meant to shine the light of God’s love into a desperate world torn by war, violence, hunger, disease, abuse, and hopelessness.  May God pour out His Spirit on the believers so that Christ’s work is not done undercover but in full view so that others might see the goodness and grace of God.  May He use us all to bring glory to Him.

Love…with a Comb

Sitting near the bed in a hospital room, I visited with an elderly couple from my church.  She had just undergone surgery the day before to repair a broken hip as her husband, near exhaustion, smiled and reminisced. All of the while, his wife couldn’t recall what she was doing in the hospital as Alzheimer’s had wreaked havoc in her mind.

As I continued to visit, the nurse brought in a comb that the man had requested in order to comb his wife’s hair.  I watched with a sense of awe as this man who served his nation in World War II combed his wife’s white hair.

I had been reflecting prior to my arrival at the hospital on how great is the brokenness that exists in our world.  Sin and selfishness has robbed us of so much of the goodness of life.  We are forced into guarding our children and grandchildren like mercenaries from the evil influences of this world.  We live in a world where we hear of hatemongers who blow themselves up in order to take the lives of innocents in some perverted expression of their faith. 

Christian denominations and churches find themselves besieged from within and without by those who would rather follow the ways of the world than the Apostolic faith handed down to us by God through adherence to Scripture.

We struggle as individuals against the influence of the world in our own homes as the enemy attempts to seduce us in any way possible in his attempt to remove our focus from God. 

Yet into this world filled with darkness came one who didn’t fall for the temptations of the enemy.  He lived a sinless life, healed the sick, fed the hungry and taught his disciples to be servants of others.  This man, Jesus told us in John 6:29, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” He also told us in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”

From where I sat in that hospital room, I could see that light shining brightly as the man combed her hair; his wife gazed up into his eyes with a look of deep love and affection, in spite of her pain and the effects of Alzheimer’s.  May we, too, be lights in this darkened world so long as God gives us the ability as we serve others in His love.

Waving Goodbye

Waving Goodbye

Kim, the kids and I loaded up in the car for the long trip back to Texas from Tennessee.  We all waved one last time to my Aunt Marge and my cousin, Sherry as they stood outside the house with their little Pomeranian, Pumpkin.

It had been a great visit.  I was leaving filled to the brim with blessings.  It had been several decades since we had visited with each other.  You might wonder why it had been so long since we had seen each other.  The short answer is that my Dad left us for another woman when I was only four years old and his entire side of the family became estranged from my mother, brother and I.  It had literally taken decades to heal the damage done by my Dad’s sinful act.

After God restored my relationship with the Lord through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, He simultaneously began restoring my broken relationships with my father.  When the Lord finally led me to reach out to my Dad, God worked supernaturally to heal our broken relationship.  Afterwards, God began working to restore my relationship with the rest of my family that had become alienated over the years. 

What I found out about God is that He not only seeks to restore our relationship with Himself, He also wants to heal all of our brokenness.  He seeks to renew us through our coming to terms with the relationships in our lives that are wounded due to sin.  Jesus tells us in John 10:10; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

When God works in our hearts, He intends to completely heal us.  He knows the inmost pains of our hearts and He sets out to totally renovate our lives.   

I’m really glad that God led my Aunt Marge and me to have a visit that was long overdue.  I left Tennessee filled to the brim with the abundant healing that Christ had poured into my life.  How about you?  Is God leading you to reach out to someone with whom your relationship is broken?  Give God a chance to pour His healing oil onto your heart so that you can be set free to live the life abundant in Him.

Peter Stepped Forward

Peter Steps Forward

“Then Peter stepped forward…” Acts 2:14a. 

Yes, it was Peter who stepped forward at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down on the believers with tongues of fire and they began to praise God in the different languages of the people of the Mediterranean Rim.  Yes, it was the same Peter who told Jesus that he couldn’t wash his feet.  The same Peter whom Jesus told “Get behind me, Satan”, after telling Jesus that He couldn’t go to the cross and die.  It was the same Peter who tried to walk on the water to Jesus, but became afraid of the strong wind and waves and began to sink.  Yes, Peter would fall asleep with the others in the garden before Jesus was arrested.  He would even cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave with his sword when they came to take Jesus into custody.  Even more ominous, it was the same Peter who told Jesus that “I will never desert you”, yet would deny that he even knew Jesus before the cock crowed before dawn. 

There was something different about Peter as he steps forward at Pentecost, for this time, unlike the other times, he steps forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Up until this time, Peter has been operating under the strength of his own will and ego. Up to now, Peter has been filled with bravado and swagger.  Up until now, Peter has been hard headed and stubborn.  Peter now has been humbled because his own impetuous bluster has caused him to deny even knowing his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Yet Christ reached through Peter’s brokenness to forgive him as he tells Peter after the resurrection to “feed my sheep” (John 20:17).

Now the promised Holy Spirit has come and Peter steps forward infused with divine power.  He shouts to the crowd gathered in Jerusalem from all over the region and tells them the Good News about Jesus.  As the Holy Spirit moves in their hearts, many are pierced by this revelation about Jesus.  Peter has Good News for them. Acts 2:38; “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Act 2:41; “Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day– about 3,000 in all.”

And that, my friends, was only the beginning for Peter…It can be a new beginning for you and me, too!

Born Again

“Who are you, really, Jesus?” seems to be what Nicodemus is trying to find out in the 3rd Chapter of the Gospel of John.  Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness out of curiosity about Jesus.  He was a respected teacher and authority on the Hebrew scripture, yet he didn’t know what to think of Jesus.  He was shaken to the core by Jesus’ miracles and the words that He spoke.  Nicodemus began to seek the truth although he thought that he already had a firm grasp on it through his understanding of the scriptures.

Jesus confronted him right away by suggesting that anyone who wants to see the Kingdom of God would have to be born again.  Nicodemus was perplexed.  How could that happen to someone who was already an adult?  Jesus assured him that one must experience both a physical birth and a spiritual birth in order to have eternal life. 

Nicodemus left that night without making a commitment to Jesus.  Little would be said about him until after Jesus’ crucifixion when we see Nicodemus once again.  He who had been so timid and noncommittal now carried the body of Jesus to his grave in the moments before the Passover would begin at sunset.  This act would make him ritually unclean for the celebration of the Passover, which was a big deal to a member of the Sanhedrin. 

It appears that Nicodemus had come to realize the real truth about Jesus and he wasn’t about to be uncommitted anymore.  He would be willing to risk his own safety and security in order to live out his faith as a follower in Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus tells us in Luke 11; “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  He goes on to say, “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” 

Here is the key to being born again and I believe that Nicodemus found the answer through saving faith in Jesus Christ.  I pray that you, too, have found the truth about Jesus and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through a committed faith in the Son of God who loves you and gave Himself for you.

Like Ducks to Water

Ducks Maiden Voyage

The other day, my step-son, Matthew, brought three ducks home that he had been raising at his Dad’s house.  The ducks had never seen water except for what they had been given to drink inside the small cage that had been their living quarters for the several weeks that they had been alive. 

Matthew and I picked up the cage and carried it down to the edge of the pond behind the house and opened the door of the cage.  The ducks hurried from the pen and splatted nervously with their webbed feet into the edge of the pond.  It took about two seconds for them to figure out that they were made to be in the water.  They quickly swam and dove, played and frolicked in the edge of the pond.  It was obvious right away that they liked it…a lot! 

It was also crystal clear that they had no intention of going back to life inside their old pen.  They were done with it!  They had a new life now and it was the life that they were intended to live!  They now knew that their webbed feet were made for paddling!

I couldn’t help but think about the life of new believers in Jesus Christ.  We are much like the ducks.  The Bible tells us in Romans 6 that we are enslaved to sin which leads to death.  We are living a life inside of a pen that is controlled by sin.  We aren’t living the life that we were meant to live.

Only by trusting our lives to Jesus Christ are we set free to live the life that we were intended to have, free from the bondage to sin.   Paul says it best in 2 Corinthians 5:17; “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 

So if you become a believer in Jesus Christ, you get to live life the way that God intended for it to be, like ducks to the water that they were created to enjoy.  So tell me, how’s the water?

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Mom

Proverbs 31:30-31; “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.  Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.”

I remember the day when I was 4 years old and my brother, 8, that the letter came which ripped our world apart.  My Dad, who was in the military stationed in England, wrote to ask Mom for a divorce.  Everything turned upside down for us that day.  Mom would trade the apron of a homemaker for the smock of a factory worker as she went to work in order to support us.

Mom would have to dig very deep to find the wherewithal to raise two young sons alone.  It would be a long, hard road filled with many trials and tribulations.  One thing was for sure, she wasn’t going to do it alone.  She immediately threw herself into the loving arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He would be her strength in the long days of labor at home and at work.  He would comfort her as she dealt with the pressure of being a single parent living on a shoestring budget.  With the Lord’s help, she found a strength and determination deep within that propelled her ever forward against the stiff winds that she faced head-on.  A fire of tenacity seemed to crackle just below the surface as she toughened enough to be a firm, guiding hand for two hardheaded boys.

Mom never relented and did her best to raise us up to the Lord as she made sure that we were in church every Sunday, rain or shine, often against our violent protests.  I recall seeing her break down during the meal blessing in those times when she didn’t know how she would pay the bills that we faced.  Mom never apologized or shied away from showing us how she depended on the Lord for everything. 

I thank God that He saw fit to give me a mother who cared enough about me to raise me and my brother up to know Him and to trust in Him.  Although she wasn’t able to be the doting mother that she wanted to be, I know that she loves me because I’ve felt her firm hand of correction on my backside and had her live out an unwavering faith in God right before my eyes.

Thank you, Mom, for caring enough about me to show me the way, even though you had to fight against me throughout the process.  Surely, your reward will be great.  I love you.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Italian Cream Legacy

Kim rang the doorbell as we stood at the front door of a beautiful home plopped at the front of a sprawling cow-filled pasture near Magnolia, Texas.  The front door opened and we were greeted by a warm lady who invited us into her home.  She escorted us through the living room into the breakfast nook where Miss Laura sat staring at a half-eaten biscuit smeared with butter and grape jelly. 

We took turns giving Laura a hug before we sat down for a nice visit with her and found out about the beautiful retirement community where she would relocate.  When I asked her if she liked it, she replied, “No.  It’s just not home.”  After living your whole life in and around one community that she loved so dearly and where she was loved in return, I can see what she meant. 

It is impossible to express in a few short lines how much of an impact that she has made on her church and community during her ninety-some-odd years.  Suffice to say that you couldn’t set foot inside the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church of Garrison, Texas, without being welcomed by her.  Within a few days you would also receive a card from her welcoming you on your visit to the church that she always called her “family”.  There were countless other things that she did as well, but chief in my mind is her famous Italian Cream cake that she made for special occasions and when she wanted to say a special “I love you”. 

Needless to say, she will be missed greatly by her church and the entire Garrison community.  In similar ways, this scenario is being played out all over America as the mantle of church service is being passed down from those who have carried the load for decades to a new group of disciples.  For those of us to whom the mantle is passed, the need is great for us to rise to the occasion and follow Christ’s call to be loving servants.      

I hope that Miss Laura and others like her rest well from their labors. I pray that the rest of us will be inspired by the Laura’s of our churches who have given us their hearts and that we who remain will meet the challenge to carry the torch that is being passed on to us.  With God’s help, we will succeed.  When in doubt as to what we should do, we can always follow Miss Laura’s lead and bake an Italian Cream cake for someone who needs a little TLC. 

Through Her Eyes

It seems like only yesterday that my family and I traveled to the other side of the world in pursuit of answering God’s call on our hearts to adopt a little girl.  That little girl had been abandoned by her birth mother on the day after she was born and was found wrapped in a blanket lying on the steps of an orphanage in a city in southern China. 

This child would be embraced by a loving family and bond with a new mother who had longed to hold her since before she was born.  That mother, Judy, was so proud of her and tried her hardest to love away the hurt that she knew this child had faced in the long months of life in an orphanage.

Ironically, Judy would end up in a losing battle against cancer, which would take her life less than two years after our trip to adopt our daughter.  Once again, this little girl was motherless.  It seemed to be too great to expect a three-year old child to understand how she could lose two mothers so early in life.

Just last night, I eavesdropped on my daughter’s prayer time with her new Mom, Kim.  This Mom that God has given her looks resembles her as they could pass for biological mother and daughter.  I listened as my daughter prayed for her little classmate’s father who is in a life and death struggle against cancer, a trial that my daughter knows all too well.

I can’t help but marvel at the love of God and his wisdom.  It could only be God who could work such a miracle as I listen to my little girl express the love that she sees through her eyes.  Psalm 52:8-9; “I will always trust in God’s unfailing love.  I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people.”

 

Freed from Prison Bars

Parrot in a Tree

I turned off the highway into our neighborhood like I’ve done a thousand times before, and immediately saw a strange sight.  Several people were just ahead on the side of the street looking up into the top of a tree.  My neighbor had pulled alongside in her car as she must have been just ahead of me.  I slowed down and glanced upward, but didn’t see anything so I kept on driving.  I got out at my house about a hundred yards past them and stepped out to the street.  My neighbor was getting out of her car, so I asked her, “What are they looking at?”

She replied, “Their pet parrot has escaped and flown up into the tree.”

“Oh, no!” I responded.  As we continued to watch, I could hear the strange singing of the parrot that seemed to fit better in a rainforest than in a sweetgum tree in East Texas.  A few moments later, the parrot took flight and flew away to the dismay of the family that watched helplessly.

I couldn’t help but think of the old spiritual that I had heard sung so many times: When the shadows of this life have gone,

                   I’ll fly away;

                   Like a bird from prison bars has flown,

                   I’ll fly away.

                   I’ll fly away, Oh Glory!

                   I’ll fly away (in the morning);

                   To a home on God’s celestial shore,

                   I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).

For those who have saving faith through Jesus Christ, we know that the best is yet to come.  Christ has promised us beginning in John 11:25; “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.  Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.”

Furthermore, He has won the victory over sin and death through the cross and resurrection.  Don’t be discouraged, but trust in the One who has already won the victory!  One day we’ll be just like the little parrot and we’ll fly away to be with Him who took the nails for us.  Thanks be to God!