In Times of Tragedy

Anytime a tragedy occurs, ranging from personal tragedies to national tragedies, the question will arise, "Why did God let this happen?"

This is not a bad question. It's natural to wonder why the Creator of the universe who holds us in our hands would allow something so terrible to come into our lives. This is a question, I will admit, that I cannot answer. I do believe God has a reason, but any attempt to explain the reason does both a disservice to God, and to the one who is suffering. So, with that in mind, I can only offer the following...

In times of tragedy, we need to have faith in the place, in the plan, and most of all, in the Man.

We need to have faith in the place. In John 14, Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." The fact is that God has prepared a place for us in His Kingdom where we will live forever, in His presence, without pain, without suffering, and without so much as the fear of pain and suffering. It will be a place of eternal peace and prosperity, where we can walk with our Lord, and be reunited with loved ones.

1 Timothy 4:17 tells us that "We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The "them" with whom we get caught up together are those who have passed on before us, and we will all be with the Lord forever. Better days are ahead.

We need to have faith in the plan. Often during times of tragedy and hardship, someone will quote Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." These words can ring hollow without eternity in mind. After all, none of us want a bigger house, car, better job, or more luxuries. We want back what the tragedy took from us, whether it's our ability to walk, or the close presence of a loved one.

All things work together for our good because all things are working together to bring about God's plan. God's plan is our reunion with Him in His Kingdom. God is working His plan to get us all into His Kingdom together. Anything that comes into our lives comes for that purpose. Anytime tragedy enters our lives, we need to remember that God is still on His throne, and God is still bringing us into His Kingdom.

I cannot explain how or why, but I can affirm that God's plan is perfect, and is designed to bring us to that place of eternal blessing. We don't have to understand it, and we are not prohibited from grief. All God asks of us is that we trust Him through the process. As one of my church members often sings, "The God of the mountain, is the God of the valley. The God of the day, is still God in the night. The God of the good times, is still God in the hard times, the God of the day, is still God in the night."

We need to have faith in the Man. The man is Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The way to access God's Kingdom and plan is by faith in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross, removing the stain of sin, so that we can enter His Kingdom, if we know Him as Savior.

Furthermore, having trusted the Lord to save us based on His death, burial and resurrection, we can trust that the Lord, who now lives and sits at the right hand of the throne of God, pleads on our behalf daily before God the Father. Hebrews 7:25 says Jesus "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Christ is your advocate before God, and you have no greater advocate than Jesus Christ.

Because of Jesus, we can trust that God hears our prayers, and that He takes our situations into consideration as He executes His plan. We are not just pawns on His chess board.

On top of that, we can trust Jesus to be more than fair to us and our loved ones. The Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of the truth. This means that the Lord pulls out all the stops when it comes to reaching folks with the Gospel. Furthermore, when it comes to our loved ones who have passed on before us, the Bible says "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." It's precious, because it represents the physical reunion of God with His people. He gets to bring us back into His presence.

In all things, God is good. Things are not always good, but God is always good. God is good all the time, and in all times God is good.

If you are suffering right now, these words may seem hollow. That's okay. Grief was never banned in scripture, in fact, it was encouraged, as the Old Testament saints took 10 full days to grieve (that's 10 days where they did nothing but grieve, no work, no commitments, just mourning.)

My only hope is that as that dark cloud passes, you can be brought back into God's presence by remembering to trust in His place, His plan, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. May God bless you in all things.

Driving Sideways

-Nascar.com

I'll admit, when I was a kid, I watched NASCAR races for two reasons, and two reasons only: (1) To watch Richard Petty win, and (2) to see spectacular crashes. You see, stock cars are designed to fly apart during crashes in order to protect the driver. Thus, NASCAR crashes usually are spectacular sights. Since then, however, my NASCAR fascination has become a little more nuanced.

Unlike other forms of racing, stock cars used in NASCAR races are heavily regulated to keep the cars performing at the same level. That way, the contest is not machine vs. machine, but rather racer vs. racer. While there are tweaks that can legally be made to stock cars (wedge, tire pressure, etc), by and large most stock cars perform at the same level.

Therefore, to win in NASCAR, you have to be a skilled driver, and perform consistently on the track. Thus racers log hours on the track, training how to properly drive the car, learning which lines are the best to follow, developing reactionary skills in emergency situations, learning to draft, and learning when to follow the line, and when to make a move.

The problem is, no matter how hard you train, with 39 other stock car drivers on the track, you cannot control everything that happens. All it takes is a simple bump on your inside rear quarter panel to upend your day. When that bump happens, the car is turned sideways on the track. It's a harrowing experience, but the well-trained driver calmly steers into the skid, straightening the car out as if drifts down onto the apron. Heart pounding and heavy breathing ensues as the driver comes to grips with what has happened as the rest of the field speeds past him.

At this point, the driver has two options. He can either head to the pits to compose himself and let the pit crew give his car a once-over, or he can accelerate and get back on the track. The former option will all but take the driver out of the race, as he'll be a lap down. The latter will keep him on the lead lap, even if he has been relegated to the back of the pack. Still, the latter option requires ambition, drive, and nerves of steal.

My point in talking NASCAR with you today is that life is a lot like a NASCAR race. Perhaps you have trained hard through Bible study, secular education, and vocational training. You have a career goal, a solid spiritual life, qualifications, and are building experience that will take you far in life. In that regard, you are like that well-trained NASCAR driver who has read the training manual, and gotten the hands-on experience to run the race.

Regardless of preparation and education, however, no one is ever in full control of their lives. Just as a bump to the rear quarter panel can send a stock car into a spin, a bump in the real world can send your life into a spin as well. It looks different for all of us. Some of our bumps merely put us into a skid that lands us safely on the apron. It's a setback, but we are still on the lead lap, and are still in the race. Others experience a more devastating sequence. Perhaps our metaphorical stock car has been spun into the wall, or perhaps we've collided with another stock car.

These metaphorical bumps, skids, spins and crashes look different for each individual. Whether it be a divorce, terminated employment, a financial crisis, a medical condition, natural disaster, or the death of a loved one, a bump on the track can temporarily knock us out of the running. The question is, whether you are the type of driver that gets back into the race, or heads to the pits.

2013 was a year that saw my life sent into a skid. I'm going to be transparent with you, and tell you that I battle depression. At least, that's what I think it is. I've never had it diagnosed, and I am not interested in medicating it. My emotional problems stem from Spiritual problems in my life, with which I am learning that everyone struggles. Still, 2013 saw some bumps that sent my proverbial stock car into a skid.

Funding for Grace Pointe fell off, as did Sunday offerings. The church has not operated in the black for months. Also, attendance at Grace Pointe has fallen off, due partly to members moving out of town, but also due partly to mission-fatigue. To top all that off, over the summer, I was faced with hostility that forced me to find a different job, and once I was settled into that new job, my grandfather (who raised me) passed away. At least we were able to say good-bye, first.

That's not to say there weren't high points. My new job is co-hosting a morning talk show on KXYL. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to do talk radio for a living? The Southwest Association continues to support Grace Pointe. The Missionary Baptist Association of Texas contributed $15,000 toward Grace Pointe's building fund. The American Baptist Association meeting in Dallas was a blast, and I am getting the blessing of being able to show a group of foster kids a whole new way to live. Oh, and we got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and I am enjoying Mario Cart.

Still, human nature is (or at least, my human nature is) to allow the bad to take hold of your mind, and drown out the good. Six years ago, I resigned Denson Springs Missionary Baptist Church to move to Brownwood, and plant a new Missionary Baptist Church here. My goal was for the church to be self-supporting by 2011, and sending out missionaries by 2014. Neither goal is going to materialize, and I have found myself wondering if I have done something wrong.

Enter my wife Jessica, who uses the object lesson of our relationship with our children to illustrate why things seem so distant between me and God lately. The problem is that I allow the trials of life to outshine God's blessings in my life. In short, I have not been thankful. The lesson that God has been teaching me over the course of the past year, that I think I am just now learning, is that my focus needs to come off of the good and the bad, and just be on God. I need to delight in the Lord, joyfully receive His blessings, trust Him during the "bumps," and continue doing what He has called me to do.

With that in mind, my resolve is to be the driver that, once he finds himself on the apron of the track, accelerates and steers back into the race. God has called me to Brownwood-Early. He has called me to launch this church, and He has called this church to publicly proclaim the Word of God. With His help in 2014, we will obey His calling. And with your prayers and encouragement, I am going to learn to rest and delight in the Lord, to trust Him, and then to obey Him.

Have you been bumped into a spin this year? If so, how did you recover? And how are you planning on getting back into your race?

Psalm 37:4-8 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

IDF

IDF is a military term meaning "Indirect Fire". It is a situation where the enemy is firing morter rounds in your general direction without knowing your exact coordinates. The idea I get from talking with soldiers is that when you are taking IDF, you often hear the rounds explode in the distance, and often close to the base, sometimes too close, but rarely do you actually suffer a direct hit.

Granted, I am no expert on military matters, but soldiers I know that have been to Iraq told me that they could take IDF two-to-three times per week, sometimes daily. I never heard them discuss getting hit, though. In fact, the U.S. Army still didn't require their soldiers to wear body armor unless they were leaving base.

The reason I bring this up is that Mission: Brownwood has been taking IDF from satan's forces since May of this year, when we began the final preparations to move to Brownwood. Satan would seek to stir conflict in mine and Jessica's marriage via miscommunication. He would try to drive a wedge between me and my sponsoring church via miscommunication. Once on the field, he would attack through various people we met on the field.

Satan's attacks in these instances amount to IDF, in my opinion, because my family and ministry have been directly attacked by satan in the past. In various places in my ministry, I feel like he brought on an all-out attack. These attacks ranged from temptations to false accusations, to attempts to assassinate my ministry through the false accusations and rumors started by other preachers, to all-out rebellion by the members of the body of Christ where I ministered. I remember thinking in some instances that these attacks would literally kill me. Once, it almost did, but that's a whole other story altogether.

No, in comparison to previous experiences, these attacks have been mild... hence they are IDF.

The IDF we are experiencing right now comes from the apartment communities where my wife works, where I also minister. There are those there who love us and want us to continue ministering to them. Then, there are those who live there and would rather Jessica and I fall off the face of the planet. Neither these people, nor these complexes have ties to our mission-church, Grace Pointe. However, they still oppose our ministry.

So far, the attacks have been limited to lies, false accusations and rumor-mongering which has gained no traction with the ownership of the apartment communities, or the company for which my wife works. Still, it is annoying and is having a draining effect on my wife. (One courageous man boldly confronted my wife while she was alone in an elevator... yes, we have elevators in Brownwood). Others have also vandalized property.

Our plan is to stay the course. When God calls us to a ministry, we also understand that He calls us to a battlefield. Satan has no respect for God's people, or His creation, and will oppose the spread of God's word everywhere he can. We understand that. We just covet your prayers.

Last night, we had 10 at our Wednesday evening services at Market Place. Four were out of town at a funeral, one was having surgery, one was recovering from surgery and one was tending to her mother who just returned from surgery.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Oh, and things at Brownwood Apts. II are still going well. This will be where we build the core group (which is already taking shape) and be able to organize and launch the church.