“Don’t Jump! But if you have to…”

Approximately one year ago, I was traveling my normal route home & passed by “The Corner”, you know the one that I talked about in “Help Lord! Where have all the Good Men Gone?”, well that corner.  But instead of seeing the Man that I usually do, I saw a young lady who was attempting to take her life by jumping off the bridge & onto the I-35, during rush hour.

I must admit, even a year after this incident, I am still heavyhearted. 

As I knelt on that cold bridge, pressing my face against the metal fence, & holding onto her wrists, talking to her, as the two other men climbed over the fence gripped her clothes with one hand, while holding on to the fence for their own lives, she squirmed and cried out, “Let me go!  I want to die!” 

As she squirmed & squirmed, I felt myself losing grip of her wrists, & the two men hold on to her could hold on no longer.  Slipping out of our grips, she fell approximately 20 feet off the bridge, where people were standing below trying to break her fall.

That was a moment that changed my life forever! 

I mean, the woman wore Crucifix earrings, & a Crucifix around her neck…but I had to stop and wonder, “Did this woman know the same Jesus that I did?”

Let me cut this thing short, my point is, YOU HAVE TO KNOW JESUS FOR YOURSELF!  ON A PERSONAL LEVEL!    It’s not good enough for you to carry your parent’s or your grandparents religion, or come to church just because they force you to, or come just to ‘go through the motions’ & to put on a show for people making them think that you are “saved & sanctified” or even wearing a Crucifix for that matter—those things are NOT going to take you to Heaven…it is cultivating a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS THAT WILL! 

Therefore, my challenge to you in 2010…***FIND JESUS FOR YOURSELF!

I don’t know who the woman was, where she was from, how she grew up, the situation that drove her to this point, or even what her relationship was with God!  But I am writing this to you to let you know that, no matter what has happened to you, no matter how hard the situation, the problem, or the issue in your life, no matter what, DON’T JUMP! 

But if you have to…jump into the arms of the One who can solve every problem, jump into the arms of the One who loves you no matter what, jump into the arms of the One who has your best interest at heart & knows your heartaches & pains, jump into the arms of Jesus!

***Speak to your Pastor, your Priest, your Bishop, your Rabbi, a religious person who you trust, & I am even going to make myself available pastorchanda@gmail.com all of us are willing to help you find Jesus for yourself this year!

Four Reasons Why I Give Thanks!

1. Jesus Lived!
2. Jesus Died!
3. Jesus Rose Up!
4. And Jesus Is Coming Back!

John 3:16-17–”This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His One & Only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole & lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

Give God the Glory! Give Him the Praise! And in all things give Him Thanks!

                  Ps.92:1–”It is a good thing to give thanks to God…!”

 

POWER UP!

I recently heard a story about a woman who was in search of the perfect refrigerator—and she found it!  To most of us a fridge is a fridge, but she wanted a fridge that was untypical to the normal household.

This refrigerator didn’t just serve ice—but cubed ice, &  sliced ice, & diced ice, & even crushed ice!  Not only did this fridge serve water, but cold water, room temperature water, & even hot water for tea!  This fridge was a beautiful stainless steel, with dual doors, & a very large freezer in the lower portion.  This fridge was not only able to tell you the temperature on the inside, but also the current temperature of the room, & here’s the kicker—it boasted not 1, but 2—20inch television screens in the door panels, and came with speakers for surround sound! 

The day came for it to be delivered & the men brought it in, & in all of her excitement, she quickly rushed the men out the door so she could go out & buy some groceries.

And did she ever buy a lot of groceries, at least $400 worth!  She got home and quickly stuffed her mega fridge with the tons of food she had purchased!   And after filling the humongous fridge, the woman so was exhausted, & decided to retire for the evening. 

All night long, she tossed & turned in excitement of her new arrival, in fact, many times during the night, she found herself in the kitchen, admiring the beauty of the fridge, so much so that she ended up sleeping in most of the following day to catch up on sleep.

Around late-afternoon, she was awaken by a putrid smell, coming from the lower level of her home, and as she traced the smell—it lead her to yes, you guessed it, her perfect, new, mega refrigerator!

“What on earth!” she exclaimed, as she opened the fridge, the $400 worth of grocery had become spoiled!  Quickly she reached for the phone to call the Store. “How dare you sell me a defective refrigerator?  I spent $12,000 on a fridge that doesn’t work & too top that off, my groceries have spoiled! I WANT A NEW FRIDGE, & I WANT IT NOW!”

Within 20 minutes the repair man was at her door, profusely apologizing for the mishap. He just couldn’t understand, it was in working condition when it left the warehouse.  He looked high & low, then took a step back, and with his hand on his chin, he tried to figure out what had gone wrong.  Finally, he gently pulled the fridge forward, and began to chuckle to himself, “Ma’am, I found your problem, you plugged it in, but you didn’t push the button to power it up!

Funny story huh?  But how true is this story of so many of us?  How many of us are plugged into God, but not powering up in Him?  And then when things don’t go our way, we want to yell & scream & blame God for not working things out the way we want them too.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is John 15—Verses 4,5 says, “ Remain in me, and I will remain in you…for without Me, you can do nothing!”  Basically what is being said to us that we need to power up, stay connected, be plugged into the Source daily, because without Him we are not capable of doing anything!

 So how can we remain powered up?  Here are  three simple ways—

1. Stay on our knees
2. Stay in the Scriptures
3. Stay in God’s love

 

“Pray Church! Pray!”

It was a Monday afternoon when I received the call from the Church Secretary, “will you be able to be a church at noon on Thursday?”  As I wracked my brain thinking of my ‘to do’ list for the week, I responded, “sure, I’ll be there…why what’s up?”  She assured me that it was nothing to harm me, but she was unable to share any details with me.

I arrived at church on Thursday at 1145a, went into my office, & waited until noon; the anticipation was driving me insane.  By this time, I noticed that the other 2 pastors had come into the office as well, & so I decided to do a little investigation.  I asked them if they knew what was going on, & what I managed to put together was that lunch would be served—and I am always ok with that!

A few moments after 12, a Lady came into the office, to let us know that it was now time for us to join them in our Fellowship Hall.  As we made our way down the hall, the sweet, savor of authentic, Mexican food tantalized my olfactory senses, I just couldn’t wait! (teeheheheee!)

When we arrived, the room was beautifully decorated, the food was displayed in such a manner that was fit for Royalty, & each pastor was escorted to their special seat.  “Wow,” I thought to myself, “what is this all about?”  But I continued to wait in anticipation!

As we settled in, one of the women stood up & asked for everyone’s attention.  “You may be wondering why you are here today, well…a few years ago, a group of women in this church got together, and we decided to form a group, at first it was just for simply a group to share various things that we were dealing with and for prayer.  But about a year ago, we all decided that we wanted to go deeper in our relationships with God, so we decided to recommit ourselves to God, His Word, & to a serious life of prayer.  When we made this decision to rededicate ourselves,” she said, “that is when the Devil started to reek havoc in our lives.  Some of our families were turned upside down, and things were spinning out of control!  But we kept on earnestly praying, & seeking, & worshipping God, knowing that He would deliver us.”

“And as the Lord God lives today,” she exclaimed, “I stand here & testify to you about His goodness!  And if I stood here & told you about the many awesome miracles that we have seen, I could keep going for the next year!”

“Praise the Lord!” I exclaimed, but what she said next, brought tears to my eyes, but overwhelming joy to my heart.

“But after going through these things, it got us thinking,” she said, “If we had this happen to us, and we merely rededicated our lives to God, how much more does the Devil reek havoc in the lives of our pastors who have dedicated their entire lives to God, and to the leading of people to Him?”

She continued to share with us that for the past two weeks, each of the families that surrounded us here for the meal, were assigned a specific pastor, and had been praying and fasting for us.

Till this day, I am still flooded with emotion when I think about this luncheon.  How wonderful it was to know that people would be willing to not only pray for us, but sacrifice and fast for us as well!

One of the greatest things that members can do for their pastors is not only to pray for them, but tell us that you are!  Pray for our families—our kids, our spouses (or lack thereof), pray for our needs, our desires, pray for our protection, pray for God to lead us daily with the dealings of our lives & the church, etc.  Simply Pray Church! Pray!

“Honey, You’re Going to Hawaii!”

As a pastor* the person who should have the best of your energies many times ends of with the least of them.  That person is the minister’s spouse. Demands on a pastor’s time range from sermon prep to late evening meetings to visits and then there’s the Quick-Question-For-The-Pastor calls at home.  Too many times pastors have little left for their families and for their spouses.  But a church that recognizes that fact is worth its weight in gold!

Last year some of my church members gave my wife a wonderful gift of appreciation.  My wife was talking with a member and the subject of our 10 year wedding anniversary came up.  Jeanette said that she wanted to do something special, but was not sure where we should go.  The lady responded, “You have to go to Kauai.  We went there and it is perfect.  You’ll love it.” My wife said that she would love to, but did not think that we could afford a trip to Hawaii.  The energetic would-be travel agent encouraged Jeanette to look into it. 

We checked out tickets to Kauai and some resorts and confirmed our fears. We could not afford it.  Months later, Christmas time rolled around.  We had one more stop at a wedding reception before leaving town.  Before walking through the snow to our car that was jammed with presents for our family, the lady who had told us about Kauai gave us an envelope.  She said, “Don’t leave it in your office.  Make sure you take it with you.” 

As we headed down the road, I opened the package to find a card inside.  As I opened the card, checks and money fell into my lap.  “Whoa! Jeanette, look at this!”  The card said, “This is from several church members who want to thank you for all that you do for us. Use this money to go and celebrate your anniversary in Hawaii.”  We were floored. 

Even with the tremendous gift, it was still going to be a stretch for us to afford plane tickets and a resort in Kauai.  We believed if God wanted us to go, He would have to work it out. 

Then the husband of the lady who organized the giving members at Christmas called.  He told me that since he flies all the time he had earned points for a hotel stay.  He and his wife told us that they would use his points to book us at the Marriot resort in Kauai.  I smiled to my wife, “Honey, you’re going to Hawaii.” 

The demands on a pastor’s spouse are great.  When a church remembers that and shows appreciation, it makes a world of difference. But even greater than gifts, is when a church does not force a pastor’s wife into a certain role or mold.  When churches allows a pastors’ spouses to be who God made them to be – that is the best gift a pastoral couple could ever ask for.  And tickets to Hawaii aren’t bad either.

 

*I would like you all to welcome my guest Blogger, Michael Halfhill.  He is the Associate Pastor, at the New Haven Church in Kansas & married to a wonderful woman, Jeanette.  They will be celebrating their 10th Wedding Anniversary in October and have 2 cutie pie children!

Living in the “Ma’owz” of God….

Today as I was preparing for an upcoming week of prayer, I came across this thought in the book, The 100 Most Important Bible Verses for Teens, and I thought that I would share it with you.  The Bible scripture focus is Nahum 1:7—“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; & He knows thouse who trust in Him.”

The people of Nineveh had messed up once before, & a hundred years later they were again choosing to live their own way.  By indulging in their desires, they had removed themselves from the safety & protection of God.  Getting your way has a certain appeal in the begging because it seems to offer freedom, fun, sensuality, & excitement.  The appeal however, is lost once you realize your way may not be as good as God’s way for your life.  His way for your life includes boundaries, but they are designed to ensure your safety.

Choosing to live according to God’s will is like choosing a safe shelter for your life.  The Hebrew word for ‘stronghold’ used in Nahum 1:7 is ma’owz, which means ‘a place of safety, protection, refuge’.  Imagine two houses.  One house is more like a castle with a moat, tall solid walls, & thick wooden doors designed to keep anyone inside safe from harm.  The other house has standard doors, walls, & windows. Living in God’s will is like living in the castle, compared to living in a regular house.

The people of Nineveh drifted back into the habit of doing things their way & ignoring God.  As a result of ditching God’s ways, they left themselves unprotected & open to attack from their enemies.  Speaking through Nahum, God called them back to the protection of His will.  God will be there for you when pain, disappointment, & frustration threaten to invade your life.  When you feel like you are under attack, whether at home, at school, or at work, God offers you His protection.  Nahum’s message was this: God is good.  Living within God’s loving will puts you in the most secure position you can be.

If you choose to live outside God’s boundaries, in a sense you’re choosing to live outside His protection.  What areas of your life need to be brought with the walls of God’s stronghold?

Here is one of my favorite Praise & Worship songs, I invite you to not only meditate on the words, but to  turn your life over to God, and live in the safety of His Will.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdINIPKCDJA

Why I lift My Hands in Praise….

Twenty-two years ago today, at exactly 1:15p—something happened to me that I will never forget!

As I sat in a circle in my Third grade class, it was the time of day that we all looked forward too!  It was time for all the jelly beans to be poured out of the glass jar, onto the plate, to be counted.  We had a guessing jar, and whoever guessed closest to the number, or the exact number would be the recipient of the much coveted candy.

As we sat there with glowing faces, waiting to hear our fate, one of the other students accidentally broke the glass jar.  Being the “little Miss Helpful” that I am, I told my favorite teacher, Mrs. M. that I would clean up the mess.

While cleaning up the mess, I noticed the beautiful cork top of the jar, and decided that I wanted to keep it.  After throwing the other pieces of glass out, I took the one piece of glass that contained the cork top, turned it up-side-down (with the jagged edges of glass upward), and I took a thick marker, and started to jab the cork out. 

WARNING…I am going to be a little graphic here, so if you don’t want to read what happened—stop here.

As I jabbed the cork, my hand slipped, & my right wrist came down on the jagged edges of the glass.  The broken glass pierced my wrist deeply.  I remember saying, “Mrs. M, I’m bleeding!”   She looked over in astonishment, she knew that the artery had been cut.  She quickly rushed me down to the office, & ”911″ was called.

Long story short…

The surgery lasted over 8 hours—I had severed the radial artery, ligaments, tendons, & veins as far down as my third digit.  At first, the doctors were not sure if they could save my hand, it was such a delicate procedure, I was so young, and they had never seen, or done an operation as such. (In fact, this surgery was so rare, that it is featured in a Medical Journal.)  They just weren’t sure whether I would ever have full usage of my hand again.

But today I praise God, on this 4th day of May, that I type this BLOG to you, with both of my hands!

I praise God for my favorite teacher, Mrs. M—who I still keep in very good contact with, for her initiative to pick me up, and run me down to the office that day, I praise God for Dr. Zucker & the Hospital for Sick Children Team for allowing God to work through them, as they repaired my wrist, I praise God for the Nurse, who was patient with me as I screamed as she removed all 52 stitches, I praise God for the prayers of my family, & church family, & I praise the Great God, that I have 95% usage of my right hand!

“So Chanda, why do you lift your hands in praise,” you may ask?  

Well, every time I look down at my wrist and see that huge scar, it is a reminder to me of the scars in the hands of Jesus, the ONLY One who was willing to die for me, (& you) so that I could have a second chance at life—and this is why I lift my hands in praise!

“I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING!”

A few weeks ago, I went out & bought a desk for my home office!  I had seen it in the store for weeks, it was the exact color that I wanted, it would work perfectly with the theme I was going for in that particular room, the price was right, & the best part about it was that it was not assembled therefore, it would give me something fun to do!

Early Sunday morning, I got up, & decided to put this desk together.  I pumped up the music, laid all the pieces out on the floor, broke open the packet of hardware, grabbed my hammer & screw driver, & of course, the trusty instructions!

Page One, the instructions read—“lay out all the materials you will be needing for the project”, I looked at the booklet  and thought, “Duh, I’ve done that already!”  Page Two, the instructions read—“Count & ensure that all the pieces of hardware are enclosed in this packet”.  “Yeah right!  Who is really going to count all those billions of pieces!?” I said to myself.

As I continued skimming past all the pages of the preliminary things, (& all that non-sense), I began to think to myself, “Come on now Chanda, how hard could it actually be to put this thing together?  I have all the pieces, & I have the picture, clearly, I know what I am doing!”

The first hour went by, & I thought to myself, “hey, I am doing pretty well, everything is under control.” Around the 2 hour mark, I started to get a little frustrated, some of the pieces didn’t seem to be fitting as planned, but I dare not pick up the instruction manual after all, I know what I am doing!

As I hit the 3 hour mark on this project, (& I know what you are thinking right now)but YES!  I was finally done! Mission accomplished! Task completed!  After all, I knew what I was doing!

I held up the picture next to the desk, it looked exactly like the picture did…well just kinda.  What I still can’t get my head wrapped around was the fact that I had about 20 or so extra nuts, bolts & screws, & about 5 pieces of the wood left over. (I guess that explains all the missing drawers I should have). But then I thought to myself—who cares, it looks good enough, I knew, I knew what I was doing!

How many times have you been in a similar situation?  A situation where you had been given basic instructions on what to do, yet figured that you knew what was best after all, YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE DOING! Right?

God’s Word has said to us, (I’m quoting from the Message by: Eugene Peterson, because he hits the nail on the head on this one), Jeremiah 29:11—God declares, “I know what I’m doing!  I have it all planned out, plans to take care of you, & never to leave you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

God has given us a set of basic instructions to follow if we desire to be successful in life—The Bible!   How much longer will we continue to set the Instructions aside, & allow things in our life to be, “just kinda” like when the real deal should look like?  How much longer will we continue to rob ourselves of the full benefits that have been offered?

It’s time for us to stop this, “I know what I am doing” attitude.  Now is the time for us to pick up the Instruction Book & focus on the “I AM” who HAS done, IS doing, and IS GOING to do awesome things in our lives!  After all, He Knows exactly what He’s doing!

“Desperate House Husbands—Desperate Times, Desperate Measures”

Last Friday, as I was surfing the net, I came across a news report that caught my attention. It was about a 43 year old man, a Father of four young children, the well-loved soccer coach, a Real Estate Agent, well respected in not only in his church where he served as a Deacon, but also within his community. Pretty normal when you think of things right? So what was it exactly that caught my attention? Well, it was the fact that this same man was now deemed as a “Suspected Bank Robber”.

He walked into the bank, and held two employees at gun point, and after a 90 minute standoff with the Police, he finally let the hostages go, and then gave himself up.

He had no criminal record, people within the community called him, “a model citizen”, his sister said that this was, “so out of character”, and his Pastor, who stood next to him in the court room stated that he is, “one of the best father’s I know anywhere”. When the man was asked why he committed the crime, he stated that he had, “never stolen anything before, but was having great financial difficulties, and that he was desperate”.

We are living in some desperate times in 2009. Homes are foreclosing by the hour, the stock market is fluctuating daily, money is running out before month, people are losing their jobs after years of dedication to their companies, and we are being driven to our breaking point, and in these desperate times, people are responding with desperate measures! So many have now reached the point of not knowing what to do, maybe you are there right now, well… what do we do?

This situation of desperation, reminds me of one of the stories told in the Gospel of Mark, (2:1-12). Jesus just comes back to Capernaum, He goes to rest at home, but naturally, the crowd follows him, and it gets so big, that there is no room in the house, or even outside of the house. Everyone wants to hear what Jesus has to say, and some even want a healing.

So the scene is set, these four guys come along, and they are carrying their buddy because he was paralyzed! No matter which way they try, they cannot get into the house! They try pushing through the crowds—it didn’t work, they try the front door, back door, but nothing seems to work for them. This is their moment of desperation. When would Jesus ever come back that way again? Would there ever be another opportunity? These men desperately wanted to see their friend restored back to full health!

Desperate times, call for desperate measures, and so in an instant, they devise a plan! They get up on the roof of the house where Jesus is, and they start tearing up the roof, until a hole appears, and they lower their best buddy down on a mat, and into the presence of Jesus!

My point?  Desperate times, do call for desperate measures…“JESUS Measures”!

Lower yourself into the presence of Jesus, He will see your faith, and He will bless, in His perfect timing!

Help Lord! Where Have All the Good Men Gone!?!

If you are a single woman like I am, and your getting up there in age, I know that this question has crossed your mind more than just a few times!

For me, this question often pops into my mind when I am driving past a certain intersection in my town. He stands, on the corner, I know that you have seen the intersection too, he isn’t dressed all the great, his bag looks pretty beaten up, his shoes are worn, and he totes a cardboard poster that reads, “Please. I need money for food. God bless you.”

As I pass by the intersection, my heart is always jerked, and I feel compelled to assist him, and many times I have. But what really hurts my heart, is when I see the number of cars that drive by the same intersection, and not one person offers up anything to the man.

Ok, ok, so I know that you are thinking that maybe he’s a con artist of some kind, and that he’s getting all that money for free, instead of going out and getting a job, or maybe he will use the money to buy alcohol, or drugs, or cigarettes—and so, there is no way on earth that you would be willing to give to such a cause!?

And that is why I ask the question, “Help Lord! Where have all the Good Men gone?” Or to put it another way, “God, where has the goodness of mankind gone?”

Really now, have our hearts grown cold with compassion? Are we seeing these similar scenes on a daily basis, so much so that we have become numb to the realities we encounter? What happened to the days when we would see someone who was in need, and be willing to help them?

Jesus shared with us in the book of John (12:8), that there will always be poor people that live around us. In fact, in the Bible, there are 2,000 verses that tell us exactly how God feels about poverty and injustice, as well as His command to us to help put an end to it.

I know, I know, some of you are thinking, how many times am I going to give for one day? And how much am I expected to give? It’s not really about, the “how much”, but it is the point of “being willing to give”…after all, I have never heard someone who was in need reject something that was given.

God has asked us to give to those in need…but He has not stipulated how much, so simply give what you can.

The book of Proverbs (19:17), tells us that, if we take the time to bless the poor, God in turn will bless us with a great reward! A great reward from God? Now who wouldn’t want that! But even greater than that, is that possibly in your giving, you may have just had the opportunity to give to God Himself! (Matthew 25:35).