CELEBRATE

"Lift your voice, it's the year of Jubilee, and out of Zion's hills salvation comes!"

Robin Mark's Days of Elijah is a song of celebration for our church, and for believers world-wide. Sunday morning was a time of celebration for me. During that worship time, we had the largest orchestra all 3 services that we've ever had on a Sunday morning. I had to pull in chairs for the 8:00 service!!!! It was awesome. Then, as we sang that song, I had the blessed privilege of sitting in front of Aiden J. Aiden is 7, and he doesn't just sing, he belts it. He praises God with his WHOLE self. Everyone should have the opportunity at some point in time to just sit in front of that sweet voice and join in their voice in lifting praise to Jesus.

That was the beginning to an entire day of celebration. Sometimes as Christians, we are so task oriented that once we complete one task, we are off to the next task. Today, I just want to bask in God's glory and CELEBRATE.

Sunday night, we had thousands on our campus for our first annual FirstFest. The sounds, smells and sights were amazing! Little kids in costumes laughing and playing filled the area. A sea of orange shirts from the over 500 volunteers covered the grounds. Hamburgers, coffee, bratwurst...the smell of good food was accompanied by the long lines of people anxious to get a taste! The sounds of praise filled the Levitt Pavilion as the Jeff Johnson band took the stage, and over 1500 worshiped. It was awesome!

Here were some of the stories from that night alone; five reasons among many others that I celebrate today:

1. I was monitoring one of the bounce houses, and a little girl yelled my name from across the grass. She was so excited to see me. I didn't remember ever seeing her before, but I knelt down to talk to her, and asked her to remind me of her name. She reminded me and told me that she comes to VBS every year with her cousins and that I was her music teacher at VBS. She was so excited to see me, and she wanted me to meet her Mom. Connection.

2. Again, I was standing next to a bounce house, and I recognized a name of a person. He was a brand new Christian. I had never met him before, but had seen his name, and knew that he and his wife had been visiting. I introduced myself. He was overwhelmed by all that was going on and how amazing it was. He told me how much this church meant to him and his family-- "I love this place!" Excitement.

3. I walked around to the games area. The sight was amazing. People of all ages were working together to hand out prizes and facilitate the games. I saw a woman in her 70s working with 3 teenagers that she probably had never met before that night. They were having so much fun together, interacting, and made it so much fun for the kids that came up to their booth. It was a glorious picture of the body of Christ. Community.

4. I talked to a young mother. This young mother recently started a blog of her faith journey. I had been reading it, and thanked her for sharing her faith--for being willing to step out there and risk telling her story. She said, "I just feel like everything in my life should be pointing people to Jesus." She wasn't just saying that because she was at church. She and her husband have made a transforming life change, and they are passionately and "on the edge" living out an authentic life in Christ, and willing for the whole world to see if it will in some way point someone to God! Authenticity.

5. One of our faithful teenagers was listening to the concert. A friend of his who became a Christian recently was listening to the music with him. That friend leaned over and thanked this young man for "saving his life". He told him that he was instrumental in leading him to Christ, and thanked him for being that person in his life who wasn't afraid to point him to Jesus. Transformation.

What an incredible glimpse of the Body of Christ. There are so many more stories of celebration. Young and aged, new believers and seasoned ones: God is at work in this place!

Thank You, Father, for all of the stories of celebration. Thank You for how You work in each person's life. Help us all to be transformed daily and live lives of authenticity that point people to You. Help us to connect with our neighbors and our friends and form lasting relationships that can only be attributed to You. Thank You for this community of believers. Thank You for giving us a day of true celebration! We owe it all to You!

Practice

What do you think of when you hear the word "practice"?
Practice Makes Perfect?
Practice What You Preach?

Saturday morning at 8:30, this was the scene at our household: Dennis was getting to sleep in for the first time in a long time. Abby was watching cartoons. I was sorting laundry. Ben was in the front room practicing his cello for All-Region. I heard him practicing the same thing over and over again, and it sounded great. So, I told him to move on to something harder.

8:45 Ben is in tears practicing his cello, saying, "I just can't play this." Abby was in the front room playing his piece on the piano (showing him up) and I was ripping my hair out because they were both fighting because she was distracting him. At that moment he hated the cello, All-Region, and especially his sister! So much for a peaceful Saturday morning!

8:50 I got Abby settled back down watching cartoons, and sat down with Ben to work with him on his music. First, I told him he needed to set attainable goals for that practice time. Playing something once through and expecting perfection is not an attainable goal. I also explained to him that music is never going to be perfect --it's an extension of us. We will never play something the same way twice. So, rather than set a goal of perfection, I encouraged him to set a broad goal of excellence, but also map out the daily goals necessary to achieve that excellence in his music. So, we decided to focus on an A major scale. After several minutes of breaking things down and working on one thing at a time, he started making major improvements, the tears stopped flowing, and once again, we were enjoying our Saturday morning.

I started thinking about his practice time, and I thought, "We are that way with God. We want to work on the things that are easy for us, and don't want to tackle the hard things". We tend to define the "hard" things as those things that we can't immediately perfect--things that don't come naturally to us. These things become discouraging to us, if we let them, and we often abandon them.

It's kind of like being on a diet. If you select a diet that is radical and unsustainable, you'll lose a lot of weight short term, and gain it all back and more in the long haul. Then, you're usually more discouraged than before you started the initial diet because you've tried and failed. I think we tend to be that way in our Christian walks. We burn brightly, often out of our own strength, and fail to plug into God's power and keep our eyes fixed on His guidance and direction. Soon, our strength gives out, we realize that we are farther from God than when we started, and we get discouraged. Many people fall away simply because of this pattern of behavior.

Here's the cool part, though--God doesn't expect us to be perfect. And especially not the first time! He's given us a whole life to walk that journey, and has made it clear that perfection is not something attainable this side of Heaven. The only one who ever walked this earth and was perfect was Jesus. Whew! Now, that doesn't give us license to be intentionally disobedient...let's face it...sin is sin. But, what Scripture does tell us is that He wants us to keep walking, keep trying, and continue to be refined. He wants us to set goals, keep our eyes fixed on Him and put our full weight behind attaining those goals.

In Hebrews Chapter 11, the author paints for us a beautiful picture of the faith of all of saints that have walked before us -- real, live, flesh and blood people. He opens Chapter 12 with this statement:
Therefore since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God's throne.

We cannot attain perfection. But the One who sits at the right hand of God did attain it. All we have to do is set our eyes on Him-- Jesus, the One and Only-- and keep putting one foot in front of the other until the day that our story joins those of the saints that have gone before. So, practice...daily, joyfully and with all of your heart!

Lord, thank You for sending Your Son to model life for us. Thank You for sending Your Word to act as an encouragement as well as an instruction book for our lives. Thank You for living in communion with us daily, that we might turn to You for direction on this grand journey. Help us to continue to daily put into practice the things that will draw us and others nearer to You.

D*I+S#T^R*A&C+T^I%O*N

Have you ever been talking with someone who had a chunk of food in their teeth, and you couldn't focus on what they were saying because you were so bothered by what was in their teeth? Have you ever sat in a lecture, and while you were trying to concentrate on the material, there is some high-pitched mechanical noise that you just wish they'd fix? Have your kids ever tried to tell you something, but you were working on a project on the computer, and didn't even realize they were talking to you?

I have to admit -- I have a SHORT attention span. If there is something to distract me, I'm going to be distracted by it. Here were the things that distracted me on the way to church yesterday morning:
1. I got out of my car in the church parking lot just before 7 a.m. The train was going through town. The train whistle was so horribly out of tune with itself, it was piercing to my ears. And it just kept getting louder and louder. I got inside as quickly as possible -- rather than enjoying the cool of the day and the beautiful moon that was out!
2. It was hot in the Sanctuary. Not just kind of hot -- really steamy hot! Every time I'd try to focus on something, my mind would wander back to my own comfort.
3. My daughter came in once again with a different outfit on than what I had picked out for her to wear -- and she had rolled around on her hair in the car so that, once again, it looked like it hadn't even been brushed. I was distracted about this moreso because I knew my mother was going to say something to me about it, and so I was bracing myself for when I saw her.

How selfish are those thoughts and reactions? My reaction SHOULD HAVE BEEN the following:
1. God -- thank you for this beautiful morning -- the weather, the moon -- this beautiful park that just opened next door.
2. God -- thank you for the freedom to worship you this morning with your people in this beautiful church building.
3. God -- thank you for my precious, free-spirited daughter. I am blessed to have her.

Here's the most shameful part about it -- I wasn't convicted until the 3rd service. I was sitting there in my seat, again focused on the heat. I realized the doors were open and I thought, "People are going to start walking by as they leave church, and it's going to be distracting to what Dr. Wiles is trying to preach." At that moment, two thoughts hit me:
1. When I was in Cuba, it was hot, all the windows were open-air. People were gathered throughout the church and street. There was more "noise" there, it was hot, everything was in a foreign language, and yet, I still worshipped.
2. It was as if God said, "You've been using excuse after excuse to be distracted all morning...are you going to continue to find excuses, or are you going to meet me in this place today?"

Then, I began to focus on the words of the Pastor. His message was incredible -- about faith, trust, reliance on God and not on self, and then....distraction. Casting ALL worries on God.

God is truly amazing. He can take us when we are at our most sinful, our gaze turned away. And yet, He let's us know, one way or another, that He desires our focus. He wants our attention. I'm so thankful that He is a jealous God, and that He desires, in fact delights in, that time spent with me.

Proverbs 3 is one of my favorite scripture passages. It talks about trusting the Lord completely, and He will guide our paths. But, further down, it talks of the Lord's discipline. I felt a little bit chastised yesterday. But I'm grateful for it. Here's what scripture tells me about it in 3:11-13.

"My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, for whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding."

Thank you, Lord for loving us enough to remind us that you are LORD, and that You deserve our undivided attention when we are in community with you -- especially when we worship you. Thank you for loving us, delighting in us and being a jealous God who doesn't want us being poisoned by the things of this world, but rather filled with Your goodness that only comes from time spent with You. This week, help me to eliminate the things that distract me from You.

A Builder's Faith

James 1:2-3 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, for the testing of your faith produces endurance."

Have you ever known anyone with incredible faith? Faith that plummeted the depths of your understanding? Have you ever seen someone toil day after day and still manage to dig deep, and find the joy in every circumstance? Not a fake, plastered smile, but a heaviness in their spirit--one of resolve and hope and peace that came only from joy in Christ.

This is what I experienced among my brothers and sisters in Cuba. They have a deep, growing, joy-filled faith that stems from their daily walk with God. They don't take His Word lightly. They walk daily with Him as "Lord", because apart from him, they have NOTHING.

When I went to the Eastern part of the island, I saw several families living together in one home. We're not talking one of our American homes. I'm talking about 4 concrete walls (about 10 X 10) with MAYBE one or two smaller rooms with concrete walls, and a concrete floor. We threw a bucket of water down the toilet to "flush" it. We bathed with a bucket, standing in what seemed to be a bathtub. Sometimes that bucket of water would be fresh, and sometimes it wasn't. It rained every afternoon, and the streets were mud, so as I walked the mile and a half between the home and the church, I'd slosh mud up on me the entire way. They thought this was so funny--that I didn't know "how to walk" so that I could keep the mud off of me. So, when I got to the church, they'd greet me with a towel, and I'd attempt to get all of the mud off of my legs while they laughed. We found a lot to laugh about.

When I was there, 2 years ago, there was a food shortage. I thought, "I've got money, so I'll just buy them some food." We went to several villages, and I pulled out my American dollars, and found the same answer that they did daily -- there wasn't ANY food. So, for 8 days, we had rice and plantain. I've told you the story before...we had mashed plantain, fried plantain, boiled plantain. The amazing thing was that they were so fed by the Word of God, that I never heard them complain. We would sit around the table and feed off of the sweet fellowship, the laughter and the friendships. All I heard about were the wonderful ways that God had sustained them, and the things he was doing in their lives. The people had nothing compared to our earthly standards, but they had joy!

Why do I bring all of this up again? Because I received an email yesterday from one of the worship leaders there. He is one of the most influential, and yet humble, leaders in the area. I've taken out names and locations so he can't be identified. I wanted to share with you this modern day saint's words of faith:

"Hello my sister Emily. We never forget you, thank you because you always remembers us. Thanks to God we are well, How are you and your family? The hurricane harmed us a lot of, thanks to God we are alive, now we are working a lot to continue ahead, the temple of our church in __________ was largely destroyed. Now I am not musician of the church, I am builder. We are lifting the construction to take place where to meet, we making the service with sky as our roof. Wonderful are the services of adoration to God always with the stars on our heads. Thanks to God that has never rained while we are in the service. help us in pray, so that we can get what we lack for the temple, if you know to some person or church that wants to help, you can communicate with ________, they know what to make. ...(some personal greetings and updates, and then) Greetings to all, I have many problems with my mail, now I don't have telephone where I am living, it is very difficult the communication but God knows everything. Always your brother that don't forget you, ________________"

Do you see the praise in his words? He praises God for the opportunity to worship with "the stars on our heads". He thanks God that it hasn't rained while they were in worship services. He has abandoned his role as musician, and now has joyfully put on the hat of "builder".

I am telling you about this for three reasons:
1. I want you to be encouraged -- God's people ARE COVERING this earth. And they are faithful.
2. Be challenged. Actively participate in every opportunity that you have to cultivate that joy-filled faith journey with our Father. He is our Sustainer. He is the Great Physician. He is our Rock. He is the Cornerstone.
3. Pray. I read this, and immediately I want to fix their situation. But I can't outside of God's authority. However, I can pray, and follow God's lead. Pray that we (our missions team to that region) will have an appropriate response to their situation. Pray that God will help us with all of the practicalities associated with that response. Pray that He will call forth a team of people with the right skills, and willingness of heart, to go and help. Pray that their spirits will not be crushed as they toil, but with each hammer stroke, and each stage of the rebuilding, they will be drawn closer to God. Pray that they will be able to draw others close to Him through their acts of faithfulness.

My favorite passage to pray through, and I prayed through it with my brothers and sisters in this village last time I was there, is Philippians 1:2-6. Begin with this as your prayer today for them:

Father, reveal to our brothers and sisters in this region the grace and peace that you have for them through Jesus Christ. I thank You, my God, in every remembrance of my brothers and sisters there, always offering a joy-filled prayer in every prayer I pray for them, in view of their participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that You who began a good work in us and them will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Concentric Circles

In Luke 10:27, Jesus reminds us of the two greatest commandments, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."

A couple of days ago, I was flipping through my son's school notebook. One of the classroom papers he had to do had concentric circles. He was supposed to place the things most important to him in the inner circle. As he went away from that center circle, he was supposed to prioritize people in his life, and also character issues. For instance, in that center circle, he put "parents" and "God". Of course, this made me proud -- this was a school project, done in school with no input from me or Dennis. So, the fact that Ben put God at the center of his life pleased me. As it moved outward, there were words like "grandparents", "honesty", "respect". As it moved to the outer circles, I saw "lying", "cheating on a test", "gang members", etc. Finally, I got to the far outer circle. I saw "drugs", "profanity", "stealing" & "my sister". I got so tickled...of course, I know that he loves his sister and one day will appreciate her, but for now, he was putting down his honest assessment, and "sister" ranked down at the bottom!!! Okay...so the "loving thy neighbor" part hasn't come as naturally for him.

It got me thinking about "loving my neighbor". That is a hard concept. I think it's even harder in modern-day America. We are fighting our neighbor and everyone else for everything that we have. You hear horror stories of fights breaking out at the gas pump because of the gas shortage in the Southeast. You hear of people cussing aid workers in Houston because they're not getting to them "fast enough". We hear of bad loans, high interest rates, unfair business practices -- all geared toward one individual making more money over another individual. That's without mentioning crime rates or terrorism. It's a difficult concept to "love" some of these people!

But "neighbor" is a relevant word to us --- especially here at the church. Our church is at an exciting place right now. Here in the City of Arlington, we are right in the center of so much activity and growth -- so much potential for reaching our community. If you walk outside this church building, within view are the Levitt Pavilion (which will soon host thousands each weekend that have never even heard of FBCA), City Hall, UTA, and all of the downtown businesses. Within a mile or two are The Ballpark, the new Cowboys Stadium, and plans for so much more. It is an exciting time.

That means that for us it is so important that we are faithfully growing as authentic, "walking daily with God" Christians. It's so important that we are witnesses of the Jesus Way to the waitress who messed up our order or the guy in traffic who cut us off or the frustrated "customer service" representative we get on the line when disputing a bill. My prayer each day is that I don't get in the way of someone being drawn to God -- that somehow my failure doesn't turn someone away from the Truth of the Gospel. All we have to do is be faithful in living our everyday, ordinary lives -- planting seeds -- nurturing relationship with our neighbors. God will grow them into a harvest!

1 Corinthians 3:6 says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth."

Lord, we pray that you will remind us daily that others see us in action. We pray that you will continue to grow us spiritually deeper in You so that the things that come spilling out in the difficult times point people to You and not to our own selfish gain. We pray that You will help us to live lives that are authentic. We pray that you help us to walk the Jesus Way daily -- not just when it's convenient for our circumstances -- and by doing so, live lives that will glorify You. We desire to be faithful. We look forward to the day of Your Harvest!