The Father Heart of God

  It's that time of the year we celebrate 'Father's day'. It doesn't have the same powerful impact on our culture as 'Mother's day'. If we polled people  and asked which parent had the most impact on their lives I would guess that most people would tell us their mothers. Personally, I was always much closer to my mom than my dad though I know my father loves me very much.
  How we relate to our father's can have a deep impact on our view of God. Our parents and particularly our fathers are such powerful authority figures in our formative years. When our parents fail us in significant ways, our ability to trust and believe is scarred and damaged. When we hear as Christians that 'God is our Father' we shudder and draw back from faith. When our parents are nurturing, supportive and protective we can better relate to the concept of God as Father.
  Sadly, our heavenly father is being slandered all over the world by men who abuse their power and authority. For too many children, an abusive father figure can only instill fear and not faith. A deep chasm develops when we assume that Father God will be like all the other imperfect authority figures in our lives. God has all power and authority but he doesn't force it down our throats and demand love. Our heavenly Father reveals his love and kindness and woos us into a relationship of willful surrender and trust.
  When our parents are unfaithful in their care for us....when there is deep inconsistency between what they promise and what they deliver, we doubt God and his promises. We need to be honest and reflective of how we got to where we are in our faith.... or lack of faith. God's word tell us, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you...I am with you always even to the end of the age". (Heb. 13:5; Matt 28:20) But a question we often ask is "But if God loves me so much, then why  haven't I felt him or seen him?" It isn't God who has failed to reveal himself. The failure lies in those who claim to know him and yet don't become his hands and feet in a very dark and broken world. Jesus is drawn to hard places and broken people. Alas, many of his followers prefer comfort and ease and refuse to go to where the Spirit calls them.
  This Sunday is Father's day. All this week I am reflecting on my own performance as a father. I have two adult son's and one soon to be adult daughter. I know my weaknesses, failures and inconsistencies. But I don't lose heart because I know that the love of our Heavenly Father is so present in our lives together. The power of faith and the power of his amazing love in our lives brings healing where otherwise there would only be regret, bitterness and anger. The tragedy of disconnecting ourselves from the perfect love of God the Father can never heal the wounds of abuse, betrayal and disappointment.
  Who will go to the hurting and lonely individuals and families who know only brokenness and pain in their relational world? For so many of us our view of 'mission' is distorted and incomplete. Jesus commands us to go into all the world with his love and the romance of foreign lands and culture spur many onward and outward. But what of the broken relationships and broken people in our own families. The soul that is near is not of lesser value than the one in foreign lands.
  There are so many teachers about faith....but so few true fathers and mothers of faith. It costs much more to love purely and sacrificially the people near to us than those on the other side of the world. The grind of daily life responsibilities reveals more about who we are than any spectacular acts of service 'for humanity'.
  Instead of condemning those without faith, I want to live my life in such as way that it will be less likely for someone not to believe in a God of love. How can we do that? The only way I know is to allow the extravagant love of Father God to overwhelm me with his amazing grace....grace of provision, grace of forgiveness, grace of purpose, grace of tender care and protection. I have a Father of perfected love and on this Father's day and onward I want it to show in how I live.

Jim

Healing Rain

I live in Mobile, Alabama. We are normally one of the rainiest cities in the U.S. For the last few months we have had very little rain. The temperature and humidity is soaring with very little relief from the expected rains of late spring and early summer. There's something about rain that brings a sense of relief in so many ways. Rain brings life, cleansing, growth and refreshing. In a spiritual sense, rain represents the coming of God the Holy Spirit into our lives. When God comes with his presence we are revived, restored and healed. God's Spirit draws near and brings the life we so desperately need. Our daily lives drain us and we all experience times of spiritual dryness and even long standing periods of drought. We lose the sense of freshness that rain brings. Trials produce heat, friction, tension and fatigue. We become worn down....and often worn out. We need to pray for healing rain to pour into our lives. You were meant to be dependent on God for life itself. That thirst your experiencing on the inside is proof that you need a deep and ongoing connection with God. The Holy Spirit is God's great comforter and counselor and he comes to us in the midst of our ongoing struggles and hard times. We need to pray for God to pour out a storm of His presence in our lives.
  After long periods of drought and dryness we can begin to lose hope for rain to come. We need to wait until he comes.... wait in prayer, wait in contemplation, wait in expectancy. We learn much about ourselves when we are not hearing and obeying God actively. Life without God is a barren dessert of progressive danger and distress.
  You were meant to be refreshed by an ongoing revelation of God's love to you. God's rain comes in so many diverse and wonderful ways. A still small voice telling of his love.... an unexpected provision in a time of desperate need.....a kind word from a stranger.....a good report from a Doctor when all seemed lost.  All of these and more are the rain of God coming into your life.  Your body, soul and spirit need a daily 'bath' in God's rain of love and inspiration. God is deeply in love with you. His words tells us that his thoughts about us are innumerable....they can't be counted.....they outnumber the sand! (Psalm 139: 17,18)
  It's time for all of us to cry out in expectancy for God to 'let it rain' with healing refreshing and encouragement for our lives. The world breeds pessimism and death. Heaven breathes life, hope and love. Breathe it in and open your face upward into the rain storm of God's unending love. He loves you, he really does.

Jim

A Short Goodbye

  Some of my fondest memories are of our family visits to our grandmother's home on the bay in Avalon, N.J. We would make the annual trek ( Parents and 5 children) crowded into a station wagon in anticipation of time on the beach and more importantly time with our grandmother who was a widow. My mother lost her father to cancer when she was 5 years old. My grandmother became pregnant with my mother over the age of 40 which was very unusual at that time. She hid the pregnancy from the neighbors. Since my mom was the youngest of her siblings it was hard for my grandmother to let her go when she married my father at the tender age of 19.
  As children we didn't understand the depth of the family dynamics of our parents and how they related to their families. At the end of our vacations I remembered that my mother would always get very teary eyed and almost break down. My mother understood something that we all need to remember and learn deeply, life is all about relationships. Having lost her father at the age of 5 she knew more than most just how precious time with her mother was. As we packed the station wagon and began the task of readying to leave Avalon, a dramatic and important ritual would take place. My grandmother would stand at the top of the porch and hold back the tears as my mom struggled to leave. They would wave in an exaggerated and prolonged semi-circular wave. My dad who was always in a hurry would attempt to pull away. My mom would quietly but firmly let him know.... not yet. We would linger. You could feel the emotion. I didn't know what it was. I felt it nevertheless and understood that there was no one or nothing more important to my mother right then than to fully embrace that moment. My mother understood that the time she had with her own mother was precious and needed to be savored.
  At the age of 10, tragedy struck in the midst of our annual traditional trip to Avalon. One very warm day I was asked to look outside for my grandmother since she was not in the kitchen where she was needed. I went around the side of the house to find my grandmother prostrate on the ground and unresponsive. I froze and felt sheer fear strike me. My precious grandmother.... always strong, always doing, always loving was now helplessly lying on the ground. Something came into my mind that I struggled with silently for years..... a sense of guilt. In a few twisted seconds of incomprehension I thought somehow that something I had done had caused my grandmother to collapse on the ground. In a few seconds I realized I needed to get help and ran around to summon the adults.
 An ambulance came. My grandmother had suffered a massive stroke. I never saw her again. Whispered conversations among adults made decisions regarding what to do. We were not allowed to attend the funeral. The goodbye never happened for me. We were handed a "Mass Card" with a picture of Jesus on it and a few details about the life of my grandmother (she was Catholic) and told we should light a candle and pray for her soul...that she would make it to heaven. We were all devastated. My grandmother was poor. She lived on a pittance of Social security income...but she was rich in her relationships and the void left behind was immense. My mother was devastated. When we left Avalon that summer there was no one to wave goodbye to. Grand mom was gone!
  Years later as we aged and left home my mother restored the tradition of the lingering wave whenever we would visit and later leave our childhood home....until her premature death in 1995 from Leukemia. The last time I saw her was in the driveway of our home. I was taking my family back to Pakistan to serve in a mission hospital. In spite of her suffering from Leukemia and knowing she might never see me again she told me to go back and do what God had called me to do. I wept. Her wave pierced my soul. I knew somehow deep in my heart that it was the last time on this earth that I would see that wave. That wave symbolized not a forever good bye...but an acknowledgement that the pain of goodbye... the tears... the feeling of separation won't last forever.
  The Bible tells us about a forever place where the long goodbyes of death are forever transformed. Faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross enables us to see beyond the overwhelming grief of death. In Revelation chapter 21 and verse 3, "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more deaths or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."
  When we put our faith and hope in Jesus all our goodbyes....even the ones involving death are short ones. There really is a reunion coming of those we love and whom we miss so much. Soon and very soon it will be time to laugh together again.... and remember those precious times of relationship which God gave us as a foretaste of what was to come.... a forever love and place where we'll never have to say goodbye again.

Jim

The Power of Presence

Every time I celebrate a birthday, anniversary or other significant 'life' event I am always amazed at how fast life seems to go by. Sometimes I feel like I want things to slow down a little... at least when things are going my way.....when life's circumstances seem good...at least to me.

Since 2008 it seems like life is getting a little more confusing. There is so much uncertainty... jobs are hard to find... the economy is not good. When people you love and care about are struggling you want to help in some tangible way. We can give of our resources and time but what about advice & counsel concerning direction and purpose?

Many years ago I read a quote by a man who died quite young doing what he felt led to do with his life. His name is Jim Eliot. Jim was someone who loved God's grace so much that he went to a hard place on the planet (the jungles of Ecuador) to convey a message of love. In his lifetime it seemed he was a failure. He was killed before a single person could understand or receive the message of Christ love he was carrying. Later, his widow and children continued the work of loving the people in the jungles of Ecuador... and many received God's grace..... his death was not in vain.... nor was his life.

The Jim Eliot quote I want to share with you in this brief blog is this, "Wherever you are, be all there." Life is not primarily made up of "big" events or noticeable achievements. It's made up of every single small portion of time alloted to each one of us. None of us know for certain how long our clocks are wound for. There is mystery involved in our span of life. One thing is certain.... there is no more foolish or wasteful person than the one who will not live fully in the moment..... The NOW of life.

I am deeply saddened by people who are always living in the wrong dimension of life. They are either stuck in the past or consumed by an unknown future. They struggle with embracing life moment by moment.... and thus never really live at all. The simple but profound mysteries and deep beauties of life are not discovered either by focusing on the past or the future. Life's gifts are most enjoyed by people who throw themselves .... immerse themselves in the precious gift of today. They refuse to be swallowed up by the demons of the past or the ghosts of tomorrow. They walk hand in hand with the God who created them..... for NOW.

Faith allows God to heal the past, forgive our failures and ensure our future will be God's ultimate purpose for our life. When we understand who he is (God) we can fully become who we are in the moment by momentous gift we call the Present.

Jim

Satisfied

Beyond the basic needs of life like water, food and shelter there remains a spiritual search for the satisfaction of the heart. People are born to love and be loved. And yet relationships are so 'complicated'. The very thing that brings us so much joy and happiness can also torment, frustrate and harm. Our imperfections disappoint, hurt and fracture even the best relationships. We don't know what to do when things go wrong. A common strategy of withdrawl or even abandonment through divorce, separation or 'disappearing' is not really a solution as much as a cop out. Until and unless we are healed on the inside of our hurts and disappointments; we become a part of the problem..... hurt people hurt other people. Inside of all of us is an imperfect and damaged spirit. We are broken. When we attempt to build lasting and satisfying relationships without dealing with our broken places we fail and disappoint.

When we are restored to an intimate relationship with God through Jesus there begins a process of soul healing that offers hope in all our relationships. Knowing you are loved perfectly and unconditionally yields a foundation for all other satisfying and stable relationships. People struggle in answering questions regarding issues of the heart.... "What does love look like?" Clearly, how you answer the questions of the heart determines whether you can ever really be satisfied. Love is real but it's also true. No myth will ever satisfy. We all need the real deal. Fortunately, he's been waiting for us all along. Jesus satisfies.

Jim

2011

Looking into the future is a dangerous proposition. Nevertheless, I will offer my own personal view of what I feel is coming in 2011. 2010 in my view is a year of transition. We are seeing a steady transition and erosion of freedom in America. Due to greed and avarice our economy is in a state of shock and dependent on government bailouts. China buys our future debt and slowly and inexorably we become less free to determine our future as a collective society. We continue on our path towards hitting the proverbial 'brick wall' of disaster. Due the large size of our economy and until recently our role as the world's consumer of 'cheap'goods, our demise has been delayed. The balloon of our bubble economy has burst but the air has leaked out slowly. In 2011 we will begin to live a new kind of lifestyle in America. We will come to the sober realization that in fact we are not the big shots we thought we were. Highly talented and educated people will work if at all at jobs way below their pay scale and expectation. The American dream becomes more and more a mirage based on history and not present day reality.

There will be a collective sense of despair as people realize that the choices they have made personally and corporately have them them in a place they never wanted to go. For those with faith there will be a deeper sense of dependence on God in prayer. There will a return to searching and seeking truth in the Bible. For those without a clearly defined faith there will be deep confusion and a sense of hopelessness. Some will strike out with acts of rebellion and defiance seeking for a return to the past through desperate acts.

Being prepared for the future begins with a proper orientation to where we are today. We are in desperate need of a moral center based on absolute truth. No matter how much you want to be somewhere else in life... reality is what it is. We need God.

Jim

Looking in the Mirror

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is look in the mirror. There is the mirror that we face each morning as we prepare to meet the world head on. We spend time making ourselves 'presentable'. We cover our faults and buff what we can't cover. The older we get the longer and tougher it gets to obtain the image or appearance we feel we must present to others. It's hard to just be ourselves in a world that judges appearances as reality.

There is also a mirror that reads our inner person... our souls. Through our perception of truth, our souls issue a daily report on our inner selves. For many the concept of truth is fuzzy, if not confusing. What can we tune ourselves to for spiritual guidance that will enable our souls to be at peace when we look inward? In the New Testament book of James chapter 1 and vs. 23 we read, "Because if anyone is a hearer of the word (truth) and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently in the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts--this person will be blessed in what he does.

There is a conscience embedded in our soul that won't let us stay 'ugly' on the inside. God wants to put the lasting beauty of a transformed character into all of us. There is one mirror we dare not avoid in life. The mirror of truth found in the word of God. Today, choose to place yourself in the presence of the perfect law of freedom.... and get beautiful from the inside out!

Jim