ANONYMOUS

How low can you get? It was cold and the people in need had been waiting several hours to pick up their groceries. A church in the area has a once a month food pantry for people on fixed incomes who need the support. A woman was preparing to leave with her groceries.

Everyone was told to get their vehicle and come back to pick up the boxes of food sitting by the door. When she returned with her car someone had taken her boxes. How low can you get? Not only had someone taken her boxes but all of the food had been distributed at this point and so she was told there was nothing they could do.

This gave us the opportunity to step in. We took up a donation of food and purchased a gift card from Wal-Mart to make sure they had what they needed. We got the woman’s address from a member who had witnessed the sad event, and we dropped in with bags and bags of groceries.

The best part? Her elderly husband wanted to know where the food was coming from. What church was extending the assistance? He named several names of people and churches he suspected. It didn’t matter because they didn’t come from a church, not really. THE church sure, but in this situation there was no need to call attention to our fellowship. Jesus was the only one who needed any glory. The church was anonymous but our Lord wasn’t.

Who brought the groceries to this couple who didn’t know what they were going to eat for the month? I told him followers of Jesus. Some people trying to live out who Jesus called us to be.

BACKTRACK JOURNEY, WHERE TO START

You hit the ground running. What other option do you have? I’m sure it has a great deal to do with my personality but when I arrive it is time to get to work.

So you hit the ground running, or at least at a brisk jog.

First order of business? Insert yourself into the community. Go out and meet people. We were not in Delta, Colorado for more than 30 minutes and I already had two tickets to what they call the Sugar Plum Festival and LIttle Side Street Market. It is this Friday and that reminds me, I need to check and make sure this isn’t an event open only to women. That is another part of the story I’m not going to get into.

In fact, let me take a few minutes to go over to the florist where I purchased the tickets. I will be right back. Like everything that took longer than I thought it would. Great talk with the florist though. A lot of information about the community.

Back to the Sugar Plum Festival. She said it would be a lot of fun. My wife will love it because it is one of those dress up events that she likes and that I try to avoid. I also purchased a flower since I was at the florist for her. An all around win for everyone it would seem.

Anyway, here is how it happened. I left very early in our Penske moving truck with my Honda Civic in tow. My wife departed the great city of Santa Rosa, New Mexico four hours later after enjoying the free continental breakfast and several additional hours of sleep. Well this allowed me to pull into Delta about 30 minutes before my wife.

She is not very good at directions and she asked me to give her directions. I decided it would be easier if I just went up to the main street and waved her in upon her arrival.

That was when I saw the sign on the florist shop. Ruby’s Florist that is. The sign announced they had tickets for the Sugar Plum Festival. Well I had to go in and find out more. It didn’t take long to own two tickets for the event.

I can’t wait. A great way to meet people in the community. A great way to begin building relationships. Showing people that you are real. Showing people the love of Christ even when it requires a tie.

DECISIONS AND MOVIES

I am a dollar movie kind of guy. Whether that comes from Redbox or at the Movie 8 I don’t care. I just don’t like to pay a lot for movies. Why? Because when they cost a lot and are not that good it hurts.

That is why people review movies isn’t it? They are trying to give you the information you need to know if you are going to waste eight dollars or not.

When I was a kid I loved watching Siskel &Ebert. I really don’t follow any movie reviewers today. The internet is the place to get your information. Rotten Tomatoes will give you a quick idea of the quality of a movie.

My point? We look for help when making decisions. When a new restaurant opens up we ask our friends if they have eaten there. We gather information to help us decide. To protect us from making a bad decision.

LET ME PUT THIS ONE FORWARD.

Let us go back 2000 years to the Roman Empire. A place full of many lifestyles that people encourage today. A place filled with the types of freedoms so many seem to crave. An empire that had all of the things our current world tells us we need. Wealth, power, prestige, authority, and freedom of expression.

What happened to the Roman Empire? What changed it? It took people serious about following Jesus a little more than 300 years to transform everything. A transformation that impacts every person living in the western culture today. Change that shapes our idea of justice, civility, humanitarianism, surely you get my point.

That to me is some recommendation. I know what you are thinking. The current church seems like anything but. In fact a book like Unchristian will explain why the current church is a terrible recommendation to many. I agree totally, trust me on that one.

Please wait before either giving up on the Christian faith or ignoring it all together. Please don’t take the current recommendation, take those who were much closer to the source, Jesus. Those who walked with Him and experienced his love and heart. Please. Give Him a hearing. Give them, those early believers a chance to give you a recommendation. An entire empire did and it was changed for the better.

Take time to look at the culture 2000 years ago. Take time to see how one man dying on a cross totally changed time. Now that to me is a recommendation you don’t have to ignore.

THOUGHTS?

Oaks of Righteousness

What does it mean to be favored? I loved trees as a kid. Our yard was full of trees. They became anything we needed. A home or a skyscraper, a fort or a police station. Our trees gave us countless hours of fun. They acted as shelter when it rained and as great protection from snowballs when it snowed.

I remember my sadness when we moved to western Kansas, a place decidedly short on trees. We used to joke that on a windy day we could smell what was for dinner in Amarillo, and that was if we were lucky. It was usually the smell of feedlot pies.

There is something about trees that say strength and protection, that give the image of comfort and rest. In Isaiah 61 we are told that those who are in the Kingdom are “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord so that God may be glorified.”

I love the imagery that is created. We are not called twigs or blades but oaks of righteousness. An oak doesn’t have to be afraid of anything, it stands strong. The text also tells us that we are favored. We have been favored by God to be His planting.

As a kid I loved a pair of brown Touchskin jeans, a Sears special. I wore them until they looked like knickers. My mom often tried to keep them from me by not returning them from the wash but it didn’t matter, I went out and found them. Eventually she snuck in and took them under the cloak of darkness. They were gone never to be seen again, but I favored them. They were special and because of that I often put them on display.

That is the way God favors you and I. We are his prized possession that he wants to display to the world. To show them what it means to be redeemed. To show mourners who are comforted, who receive gladness and who can sing praise.

The text goes on to tell us what we are to be doing while on display. He tells us that we are to be rebuilding the devastations and repairing the ruined cities. You see we are favored to be a part of God’s reclamation project.

Who are we looking for? Who matters when we survey the ruins? Well Jesus gives us our marching orders when he quotes from Isaiah 61:1, it is the poor, those without, the brokenhearted, those fractured at their core, and the captives who badly need set free. May we walk each day as oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, may we live out God’s favor.