Jesus in Bakersfield?

What if Jesus was sitting in your favorite chair and you were sitting on the couch right across from Him? Would you feel free to talk to Him or would you be intimidated by His presence? Would you just wish He wasn't there? Would you be so over ridden with guilt that you would not even be able to look Him in the eye? Or just maybe you would be really happy to see Him and couldn't wait to engage in stimulating conversation .

Hold that thought and we will return to that potential conversation later .  In the meantime lets just think about what would he the response if Jesus came to Bakersfield and was reported by Channel 23 to be walking down Ming Ave by Valley Plaza. Would you jump in your car and drive too fast getting to Jesus, or would you stay put and wonder what in the world Jesus is doing in Bakersfield? l fear that many of us would not get too excited about getting to see Jesus. l fear we would he harboring guilt over unconquered sins and would not be comfortable face to face with the Savior.

If he did come and l went to see Him this is the Scenario that I envision.                              

I'm standing by a tree as the crowd following Jesus makes its way towards my position. l am still struggling with whether l want to greet Him personally, since I was dealing with some issues l wasn't comfortable talking to Jesus about. As Jesus gets closer l try to get the tree to hide me. Just as Jesus gets in front of me He stops and looks right at me. Chuck, don't hide behind the tree, You should go home because I am headed to your house. I of course am shocked. I say ok Jesus, my address:... Jesus says, really Chuck, l know exactly where you live and I will be there in two hours to talk to you.

In my next post l will try to imagine how that conversation might have gone.

Being a disciple in Bakersfield

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in Bakersfield California today? That is how I choose to be identified but what does it really mean? Being a disciple when Jesus was physically there with you was exciting for the ones who were called during His ministry on earth. They followed Him everywhere, could get a hug when they needed one and benefitted from face to face teaching.

 
It is a little different today here in Bakersfield. For reasons understood only to Father God I was born in 1946, not 20 A.D..So I don't have the benefit of that physical, one-on-one contact that Peter, John and the others enjoyed.  Jesus understood that long before I was selected to be here in Bakersfield in 2016. So in Acts 1:8 he told the disciples (those who were there with Him and all disciples for ages to come) ,"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

 
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that a disciple is "one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another." So if I understand correctly, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ today I must accept the teachings of Jesus and then do everything I can to spread that message utilizing the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. That is the challenge and the mission should I choose to accept it. If only it were that easy for me. Stay tuned.
  

I  don't want to be a Christian in name only. I have no interest in merely going to church because it is acceptable. I don't want to force myself to pray just because it is expected. When I decide to give money or food to the homeless guy at the mall I want to give out of genuine compassion, not because it is the 'Christian' thing to do.

There is nothing I have done on my own to deserve the title "disciple of Jesus Christ", yet that is exactly what I want to be. Jesus Christ traveled around the ancient Holy Land for three years establishing His identity as the Son of God, the Messiah and the Savior who was sent to repair the broken relationship between man and Creator God. Why would I not want to follow Him?

Because it requires commitment, that's why. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ involves giving up our pride and submitting our self to the service of the rejected, abused, tortured, killed and risen Son of God. Following Christ means that I totally surrender my desires to the will of God. It means I may have to make a decision to put myself into an uncomfortable situation in order to truly minister to a needy soul.

I can do this because I realize that the man who walked the earth teaching about our need of God, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and raising the dead was not just a man at all. He was totally human and at the same time was totally God. He felt hunger, sleeplessness and pain but never sinned. He trod in sandals across the rocky countryside while at the same time slipping gently into the souls of those who accepted His message.

That is someone truly worth following. I want to learn to communicate for effectively with Him, worship Him with integrity, and serve Him faithfully. I choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Oklahoma challenges

I want to lose a bit of weight. Currently at about 178 I want to be at 165. That means I need to lose 13 lbs or so. How will I do this? Pray, eat better, work out. Sounds easy, let's see if I can figure this out.

I am writing this as I am on the Amtrak train heading back to California after a few days visiting family in Oklahoma. I had a great time just being there but there were two extra's that I hadn't expected. Most importantly I went to my daughters church on Sunday (two services) and again on Wednesday to a Bible study where we talked about how to counter the current culture. I was also blessed to have some really  good spiritual discussions with my daughter and son-in-law. In these discussions I was made aware that I really need to pray about what I am going to do about ministering within my purpose.  I have a lot to say about that but I will  save it for another post, since  this one is about eating.

So, what did I learn about eating. Not a lot that was new, but what I  did learn is that it takes a lot of determination to eat well.

The problem for me  has never been not knowing what not to eat and what I should eat. I have always been able to plan my eating, the problem is eating according to my plan!  While in Oklahoma I was able to do three things: 1. Observe my daughters family struggle with the same problem. 2. Have good discussions about what it means to eat well. 3. Participate in some really good, clean meals.

I learned from watching Lisa and Stephen that all the knowledge and good intentions to 'do it right' are useless if we continue to yield to the temptations of foods that are essentially destructive. Things such as simple sugars, white flour products, carbohydrates devoid of any thing that is truly clean and healthy. I am not going to call them out, but I will tattle on myself.  Apple pie (4 pcs), ice cream (two helpings), cookies (three), white flour hamburger bun, apple fritter, croissant - you get the idea, I am not here to beat myself up too much.

Stephen has undertaken a challenge with his brother to eat clean and lose weight. So we talked a lot about what it means to eat clean.  We discovered that this was not really rocket science. Don't eat sugars and carbs that are essentially empty calories with detrimental effects on your body. That means no candy, cookies, cakes, pies etc. Try to eliminate as much gluten from your diet as possible, especially of the white flour variety. Don't drink soda pop, sugared or diet varieties,, simply not good for you. Don't fry foods in oil. You get the idea.

As far as do's - healthy fats, healthy oils, chicken, turkey, lean red meats, lots of vegetables, preferably roasted or steamed, whole grain bread products in moderation, a moderate amount of fruit (still has sugar). Drink water for the most part.

See what I mean, nothing earth shaking there, just common sense.  Now, I have already admitted to some of my not so proud moments of poor food choices. However, Lisa fixed some really good meals. Here are some highlights. From the grill, two racks of beautiful pork ribs - which disappeared  in one meal. And the kids ate very little of them - I'm just sayin', there were some great bone piles generated.  From the oven, roasted brussel sprouts with onions and bacon, roasted asparagus, sweet potato chips. I can't wait to get home and try some of this stuff on my lovely Debbie.

Also from the grill she did boneless, skinless chicken thighs which we had for two different dinners plus a couple of lunches and a couple of snacks (for me!)

So, two days on the train. I brought some healthy snacks but my meals will be in the dining car where choices are limited. I will make  the best of it and then start when I get home to see if I can make better choices, be healthier and maybe lose some weight in the process.

Finding my inner leader Part 3

In this series of posts I have been exploring my desire to be a leader in my church in the area of  prayer. I have determined that if I am going to be  the leader that is required I must first become a strong prayer warrior myself. So that is what, under God's direction, I will do.

I see three steps that I must take in order to become a prayer leader:

    First - examine my own life and make sure I am in step with the Spirit in all areas
 
    Secondly - read and study, learn from other prayer leaders

    Thirdly - pray for God's guidance and direction

Recently I saw the movie War Room, an inspiring story about the power of prayer and the importance of prayer warriors. I was so moved that I picked up the book and Bible study that are based on the movie. As good a place to start as  any I'm thinking.


As I begin moving towards this ministry, I don't want to neglect the other two areas of ministry I feel led towards - fitness/health and personal ministry. For now I will focus my attention on prayer and that will be reflected in my blog posts. Now and then I will share some thoughts on a fitness/health ministry or personal ministry as God leads.

Finding my inner leader Part 2

Let me start with prayer. God has given me a great desire to learn to pray better. This has been burning in me for a couple of years.  I just have this sense that I need to have a deeper level of communication with God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  I don't really consider myself a leader in this area because I have so much to learn myself, but I am working on it.

I have a vision. I can see the people of God gathering on Sunday morning before service to pray for God's blessing on the Lord's day. I can see an early morning prayer meeting at the church at least once a week where we gather to pray for our church, our leadership and our community. I can see a series of discipleship classes where we learn together to be more effective prayer warriors.  I envision an annual prayer conference where we have guest speakers who can lead us to greater understandings of the power of prayer.  There are 24 hour prayer chains leading up to special days such as Lent or Pentecost, an ongoing prayer chain where serious prayer requests can be distributed to many prayer warriors very quickly.

This is a vision. For this vision to begin to reach fruition requires a leader. I want to be that leader and I believe God wants me to be that leader. For this to happen I need to learn to pray more and to pray more effectively, this is in process.

More to follow in Part 3

Finding my inner leader Part 1

I'm 69, I am past the point where you would expect me to still be asking what I want to do with my life. Or, more importantly, what does God want from me? I am a firm believer in Jeremiah 29:11 where God says "I know the plans I have for you, plans for you to prosper......" So there is a plan and I think it is high time I lived up to it.

I am currently struggling with the difference between what I am doing and what it is I feel I should be doing. In prayerfully looking at this I find myself thinking about what leadership is. When I think of leadership I am tempted to think in terms of the ability to plan, organize and complete projects. I don't feel that I really have a lot of the strengths needed to lead in that way.

There is another way to look at leadership. It can also be about setting about modeling  something in a way that makes other people want to follow. So, if I feel it is important that people learn the value of arriving to Sunday School class on time ready to study, then I must model that behavior so that when I talk about it the response will be positive because they have seen me doing exactly that.

Before I continue talking about how I respond to this understanding I need to make it clear that I do feel called to lead.  And I feel God has given me specific areas in which I can make a difference and fulfill God's plan for my life.  This may be the first time I have ever expressed this in a public way. God has called me to minister and be an influence in three particular area's - prayer, fitness & health and  one to one ministry.

I will continue this in my next post.

Obedience trumps legacy

OK, guilty. I have spent too much time worrying about my legacy.  I have realized that I need to be more concerned about my daily obedience in following Christ.

Our Discipleship Class is studying the life and epistles of Peter. In our lesson this past Sunday morning was this statement: "Suppose God wants to teach you to say, 'I know how to be abased' - are you ready to be offered up like that? Are you ready to be not so much as a drop in the bucket-to be so hopelessly insignificant that you are never thought of again in connection with the life you served?"

Now look, I don't want to have my life considered insignificant. To the contrary I would like to die knowing that my life made a difference, at least to one or two people. I want people to think of me and remember the good person that I was and the positive things I represented and did for people. To be 'abased' does not sound like fun at all. Just look at these synonyms for abase - humble, humiliate, belittle, demean, lower, degrade, debase, cheapen, discredit. I think I can safely say, unlike Paul in Philippians 4:12, I do not know how to be abased. God does not expect me to like being abased for His name, but He does want me to be willing if that is what comes my way. He is more concerned that I follow Him in obedience day by day without concern for what history may say of me. I must be willing to be insignificant in the eyes of the world in order to be significant in His world to come. In fact, maybe when people look at my life and see that I was an obedient disciple that would be the ultimate significance.

Running against resistance

Part of my workout recently was running in the pool. 1500 meters (metric mile). 750m was running forward as shown in this picture, the other 750m was running backwards.  Running forwards  against the resistance seems to work mostly on my calf muscles while running backwards really works my quadriceps. Though I don't run as fast in the pool as I do going down the trail or the sidewalk, the resistance of the water works against my forward progress, putting extra work on the muscle groups of the lower body. The faster I try to move forward, the more the water resists my efforts.  All in all  a pretty good workout I think, although with out some of the cardio benefits of regular running. The advantage is that I don't have the pressure on my knee's and joints I get when  pounding on the  pavement or dirt.

While thinking about this during my workout I was reminded how much like the life of Christian discipleship  that is. Paul encourages us in Hebrews 12:1(NLT) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." In The Message it is even stronger - "Do you see what this means-all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running-and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins."

Running the race in life is just like running in the pool. Our forward progress in living the life of discipleship is constantly resisted. It is resisted by our own lack of faith. It is resisted by those around us who don't understand our journey. Most importantly it is resisted by Satan whose job it is to make sure we never reach the finish line where Jesus waits to reward us. Sometimes it seems that the harder we run the more resistance we meet. At this point we just need to push harder, listen to those who blazed the way who are cheering for our success and keep our eyes on the finish line. 

You can't run the race too hard, but you will lose if you fail to run at all

Finding My Way

for years I have been struggling to find my way. what is my purpose? What does God want from me? What does God want for me? God has a plan for all of us but I have never been able to quite figure out what it is me. This quote from the book  Spirit Bridge may be a clue.
It certainly is requiring me to pray

The most potent attack of the enemy will always come against our identity. He does not want us to know who we are. He does not want us to know our talent, our true heart’s desire, our destiny, our path. For if we know these things and live out of them with passion, we become extremely dangerous to him. If we live in our true, free, Spirit-infused identity, he will do everything possible to thwart our realization of that knowledge

One chapter, twenty-four admonitions

As a common man I look for concrete instructions on how to live my life. I enjoy the deeper reaches of theology but I also appreciate the simple. I want to be a disciple that lives the kind of life that God expects, so when I find it laid out so nicely as in Romans chapter 12 I take notice.  Not that Romans 12 contains everything you need to know about living the Christian life but if we just did these twenty-four things we would be exceptional disciples.


Allow me to first list the twenty-four life-improving admonitions I see in this chapter. Then, in future blogs, let me deal with each one of them individually and maybe we can get a better picture of how we should live as disciples and follow Christ.  So here they are:

1. Offer my body as a living sacrifice
2. Do not conform to the world
3. Be humble, not proud
4. Use the gifts I have been given
5. Hate evil, love good
6. Be devoted to my church
7. Honor others above myself
8. Have fervor for the Lords work
9. Be joyful
10. Be patient
11. Be faithful in prayer
12. Share with the needy
13. Practice hospitality
14. Bless those who persecute me
15. Rejoice with those who rejoice
16. Mourn with those who mourn
17. Live in harmony
18. Don't be proud
19. Don't be conceited
20. Do what is right
21. Live at peace with everyone
22. Don't take revenge
23. Feed my enemy
24. Don't let evil overcome me

A long list, please stay tuned.

Recently it was my pleasure and privilege to be one of my church's delegates to the annual District Assembly. I had been in the previous two years and knew that it would be inspirational, but I am not sure I was ready to be so greatly blessed and challenged. District Superintendent Rob Songer started by presenting us with 7 essentials to have a successful, discipling church.  Here they are:

    Meaningful worship
    Theological coherence
    Transformational leadership
    Intentional discipleship
    Church development
    Passionate evangelism
    Purposeful compassion

Each one of these could generate several sermons. Instead of sermons, each essential was presented by pastors and church leaders. They shared with us how there particular essential was at work in their church.  For example, church development, Pastor Guadalupe shared that no sooner had she established a new work in Farmersville than God began to speak to her about a new work in Orosi.  She stated that doing so was not a money problem, only a vision problem. Pastor Jason presented purposeful by, in part, talking about how their church adopted every school principal in town and prayed for their school and their leadership, culminating in inviting them all to a Thanksgiving dinner.  It was truly inspiring to hear what was going on in our district to further the cause of Christ.

One of the great things about assembly was the worship, especially on Friday night. I haven't heard such enthusiastic congregational worship in some time. At Friday nights ordination service we worshipped together singing We Believe, a recent hit of the Newsboys. The worship was so electric that when the song was finished, Dr Busic (our General Superintendent) asked the worship leader to do it again. We nearly got Pentecostal as our voices raised in worship. Truly a memorable moment.

If that wasn't enough, my wife Debbie, as our local missions president, was a delegate to Saturday's Missions Convention.  There we were priviliged to hear from Missionaries Mark and Linda Louw.  Highlights from that:

Mark Louw - Mission is not a something, its is you-here. When you are sent there, your there becomes your here. Think about it.
A man named Kevin (leader of a house church in a coountry where Christian churches are forbidden) - my only fear is not doing what God called me to do
Mark Louw - we are each in our own mission field, is your presence making a difference?
Mark Louw - Integrity, if you say it you must do it
Mark Louw - is your heart broken for the world or is church just something you do?

And finally, Martha Lundquist (District Missions President) spoke straight to me when she said - Let's no think about what we can do, but what God is calling us to do.

What are you waiting for?

Once again I have been challenged by one of my pastors.  Let me just start by saying that when I write these posts I really do want them to be helpful and inspirational for my readers. But be clear that when I say 'you' the you is inclusive of me. I am far from mastering discipleship 101 let alone earning a degree in discipleship!

That being said, what are you waiting for? Many of us struggle to determine what it is God wants to do with our lives, some of us for many years.  We keep waiting for that 'magical something' that will make it crystal clear what we are to do.  Waiting is hard. The Jews of Jesus' day were waiting for a messiah who would overturn the Roman government and seize control. They thought Jesus was that kind of answer when He began His ministry. When He was killed they were taken aback because they had been looking for a conquering warrior who would assume some sort of throne of power. They were waiting for the wrong kind of king.

Two angels asked "Why are you looking into the tomb, He is not here" They probably thought that meant that He was going to set up His kingdom any moment. Another time they asked, "Why are you gazing into the heavens". They were expecting that maybe he had ascended to gather His army and that He would soon be returning to overthrow the empire. 

The church never got off the ground until the disciples returned to Jerusalem, waited in prayer and understood that this is what God wanted all the time was for them to wait prayerfully to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They re-traced the steps of Jesus in prayerful waiting. Once they did that - well, read Acts chapter two for the rest of the story.

So maybe our problem is that we don't know how to wait. Don't wait for a miraculous sign. Be sensitive to the prodding of the Holy Spirit while you prayerfully wait in His presence.  God does have a mission for each of us, we must be willing to wait in the right way by retracing the steps of Jesus leading up to the cross and following His example of prayerfulness.

Nobody likes to wait, waiting is hard. Waiting becomes even harder when we are waiting for the wrong thing.

Emmaus or Jerusalem?

After Jesus was resurrected he met up with a couple of disciples along the road to Emmaus. They were talking about all that had happened in Jerusalem with the torture, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus joined him they did not recognize Him and just thought him another traveler along the road. They were walking away from Jerusalem and the power of the resurrection. Once they were made aware of whom it was they were talking to, they immediately returned to Jerusalem.

Discussing this with a group of friends tonight, I was made aware that in my life I had done exactly that at different times. Instead of accepting the power of the cross and the resurrection for exactly what it was, I headed away from it because it was not the kind of salvation I was looking for. I wanted something a bit easier to live with. Somewhere along that road Jesus gently reminded me that I needed to return to Jerusalem and accept the fact that His love for me was enough, and that while working out my salvation might not be always pleasant it was necessary to stay focused on Him

Lord, thank you for meeting me on the road to Emmaus and gently turning me around towards Jerusalem and the beauty of your salvation.

Running with God

Went for a nice, easy 4 mile run this morning in the cool spring temp of 50 deg. Running always leaves me feeling energized, but it also has the effect of drawing me closer to God. In my study of Romans 12 one of the things that Paul talks about is the importance of offering our body as a living sacrifice. Again in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul reminds us that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  So I don't think it is unusual that my running, and even the other exercise programs that I do, make me feel as though I am engaging in spiritual worship while doing good things for my physical body. After all, worship is about making God smile and I think he is happy with my efforts, even though I may feel I could have done more.

Another blog

I love to write. A blog is a good place to practice my skills. The problem is I have started several blogs over the last few years and haven't been faithful to any of them.  So what is my response to this realization? Of course, start another blog!

OK, stop laughing. I really am going to do this.  I am calling it  Spirituality For The Common Man because I am after all a spiritual guy.  I purposely said spiritual instead of religious because I  do see a difference. And I consider myself to be a common man. Common in the sense that I am just another human being put on this earth at the proper time to accomplish certain things as I learn to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

In the past I have blogged about fitness, photography, cycling and yes, even spirituality.  I intend to make this blog primarily spiritual, but I will write about other passions of mine as well.  Could be about running or photography or writing, but I will always try to find a spiritual application.  That is after all who I am.

So what is my purpose for writing.  Well, to practice my skills for the bigger writing projects I have in mind is certainly one purpose.  More importantly, I hope that as I share my insights that I get from following what I believe to be the "way of the cross", I may be able to help other disciples discover their way as well. And most importantly, maybe there will be readers who stumble on my humble efforts who are not followers of Jesus Christ and will become followers as they read my thoughts.

My first project will be to delve into Romans 12. There are 24 admonitions in that one chapter of the Bible that if followed would go a long way in helping us be better disciples. Stay tuned.