When I feel like I can’t keep up

Life can move at a frantic pace.  We use all sorts of phrases to describe it.  How many of these have you said?

These days are flying by.
This month has been a blur.
This year is moving so fast.
We’re doing everything at 100 mph.

It’s not just the unrelenting forward progression of time that has us feeling like we can’t keep up…it’s also the volume of events and responsibilities that get jammed into the swiftly moving stream of minutes.  No matter what grade level you’re in, there is homework in nearly every subject.  All of our jobs have multiple projects, events, or responsibilities that must be simultaneously managed.  It’s impossible to stay up-to-date on all the news – local, national, and global.  Social media always has more notifications and content for you to follow up on. 

Our hobbies have the ability to leave us feeling a bit overwhelmed, as well.  Keeping up with multiple sports teams and leagues; the latest movies and streaming shows; and online video games can feel like a part-time job.  Don’t forget to exercise.  And you know you should read that book.  Gotta eat healthy.  Go to church, be involved more than just showing up on Sunday.  The cleaning chores around the house never end, and a broken appliance is never a welcomed situation.  Make friends, keep friends, and be nice to strangers.  Stay in contact with your family, near and far away. 

Then multiply by the number of people in your family.  Add 10 points for good measure, for all the things I forgot to list. 

Oh yeah…and remember everyone (including ourselves) is sinful, broken, and selfish.  That won’t complicate much, will it?

I’m feeling a little stressed just writing all that down.  I imagine you’re feeling the same after reading it.

I was challenged recently with the words Paul wrote to the believers in the region of Galatia.  And with that challenge came a perspective that will help relieve the stress of life’s pace we all feel:

Galatians 5:16
I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

A little bit later, Paul adds:

Galatians 5:22, 25
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

So, if living by the Spirit is living out the fruit of the Spirit in the various parts of our lives, what is Paul talking about when he says to keep in step with the Spirit? 

This is a question of pacing, so I find it super-interesting that just a few verses prior, Paul’s prescribed pace is to walk by the Spirit.  The average human walks a pace of 3 mph.  Looking back at the life of Jesus, we don’t see him hitching a ride on a horse or chariot.  He walked everywhere.  He did life and ministry at a pace of 3 mph.  I have to wonder if we have trouble knowing God’s desire for us or recognizing His leading us because we’re just moving too fast.

If Jesus is moving at 3 mph, and I’m moving at 100 mph – who is following whom?

We must intentionally add slowness into our days.  Carve out some time, protect those boundaries, and put everything on pause for just a few moments.  During that time, ask God to show you His pace for your day.

Doing so will guarantee that you won’t get everything done for the day.  But you will have done the best thing you could do for today.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Them boys came to work

Sometimes, weekend plans can be completely scrapped due to unexpected events, especially when you are a homeowner.  You cannot predict when most appliances will need repair, or when a piece of furniture breaks, or when you’ll find a water leak in the yard…it just comes with the territory of owning/managing property.  This past week for me – it was a tree that suddenly collapsed in our yard.

This past Thursday, we had a soaking rain with lightly gusting winds.  However, the weather wasn’t the cause of the damage so much as it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Or that broke the massive tree limb, anyway.

Bradford Pear trees are a non-native species to North Carolina that property developers loved to plant in the 90s and early 2000s due to their rapid growth and pretty spring flowering.  However, they have many drawbacks – their aggressive growth can be invasive, with sprawling root structures that outcompete native trees for resources.  Their pretty white flowers also stink – like dead fish.  Lastly, and most consequential to my weekend plans, their branches are often weakly attached to the trunk. 

So, during a typical NC rainstorm last Thursday, one of the massive limbs on our Bradford Pear broke off and dropped into our front yard.  Thankfully, it didn’t land on the house or in the street.  However, the crashing limb so severely ripped the trunk that there was no saving the tree.  I snapped a picture and sent it to our church’s men’s group chat, lamenting that I suddenly had new plans for the weekend.  These are the guys that meet weekly on Zoom to go through the Scriptures, sometimes a book, or we take the time to check in on each other.  The group has been rolling for years and it’s always good when we can catch a lunch together or find another way to hang out, outside of saying hello on Sundays.

Since we live in the county and not in a city, the debris removal was totally on me.  Immediately, guys were offering chainsaws and assistance.  From Friday evening to Saturday evening, multiple guys showed up in waves to help, with a couple of them bringing an extra family member to assist.  With chainsaws and a pole saw, we lopped off several still-attached branches, took down the tree, and cut it up.  We were able to haul the debris off to one guy’s nearby burn pile.

Left to myself, on my own time and with just my own effort, a tree that size would have taken me two weeks to take down and likely another two weeks of shuttling everything in my truck to the local compost facility.  Or, at least, I’d have to pay someone two grand to come do it all for me.

Instead, with about 6 hours of work over a 26-hour time period, 5 guys from the men’s group (plus 2 of their family members)…everything was done.  Them boys came to work.  And my neighbors noticed.

Here’s a few quotes from some of the guys in the neighborhood, at different points of the process:

Neighbor 1 (while work was on-going): “Are these guys from your church group?”
Me: “Yeah”
Neighbor 1: “That’s pretty cool.”

Me: (everything hauled away, I’m raking the last of the leaves) “I had some good friends come help me out.”
Neighbor 2: “I hope that if I’m ever in a similar situation, I can pull off what you did to get some help.”

Me: (after everything was done, during a dog walk) “Yeah, my men’s group from church jumped in to help me.”
Neighbor 3: (rubbing his chin) “Huh.  How about that?”

I’m pretty sure none of these men have believed in Jesus for eternal life.  But because of my tree-wrecked weekend plans, they all had front-row seats to the kind of community God made us for.  What they saw was a live-action application of one of Jesus’ teachings in His famous Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 5:14-16
You are the light of the world.  A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.  No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

My neighborhood saw our light shine, and I was able to tell many of them where that light was coming from.  My undesired inconvenience became my opportunity to talk about God.  I think we all could use a perspective like that when our plans are interrupted.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Honey is sweet, but this is sweeter

I love me some honey.

A peanut butter and honey sammich always hits the spot.  Honey drizzled on a hot, buttered biscuit just makes it better.  And if you’ve ever eaten pizza at Beau Jo’s in Colorado, you know that you gotta enjoy that leftover pizza crust by dipping it into some honey.

It’s not just good, it’s also good for you – especially if you can get it from local hives.  Raw, local honey is rich in antioxidants and nutrients; has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties; and contains prebiotics.  When we first moved to West Virginia, my allergies went haywire from being exposed to all the new flora.  So, I sought out some local honey.  Every day, a little went into my morning coffee, and eventually, my seasonal allergies weren’t a problem anymore.

While honey is readily available for us at farmer’s markets and in grocery stores, it wasn’t that way during Bible times.  Refined sugars were not available.  Most of the time, fruit (like dates, grapes, or figs) was boiled and concentrated down into a thick syrup, which was then used as a sweetener.  However, bee honey was the sweetest substance known in the Middle East.  It was rare enough to be considered a luxury.  Even a small amount was suitable as a gift to an important person.

With that scarcity in mind, take a look at this advice King Solomon gave to his son:

Proverbs 24:13-14
Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;
realize that wisdom is the same for you.
If you find it, you will have a future, and your hope will never fade.

When I read this, my first thought was, “I’ve never had honeycomb before.  I wonder what that’s like?”.  Fortunately, I have a friend who has several bee hives and was willing to share some honeycomb.  Let me tell you…if you haven’t had it before, it is an experience.  A delicious experience, to be exact.  The warmth of your mouth immediately collapses the wax comb structure, and your mouth is flooded with rich sweetness.  Although your first instinct is to start chewing the wax, your best bet is to simply suck on the collapsed comb and enjoy the honey.  I would also suggest spitting out the wax – you could eat it, but I don’t want to.

Honey from the comb is as fresh and raw as it gets, but as a son of King Solomon, you know this young man knew what honeycomb tasted like.  He understood how rare of a treat it was, because someone had to harvest it from the wild, wherever bees would make their hive – a hole in the ground, a hollow tree, or in a rock crevice.

King Solomon is taking something his son recognizes – and probably really enjoys – and uses it as an analogy for the value of wisdom.  Honey is good, rare, and sweet…but so is wisdom.  When we find wisdom, we need to taste and experience it, just like honeycomb.

Wisdom is sweet, too, but better…because it gives a future and an unfading hope.  The sweetness of wisdom doesn’t just last for a moment, but it continues on with you.

There is a catch, though.  King Solomon admitted that there is one.  Note that he said, “if you find it”.  Wisdom and honeycomb also share this characteristic: they must be sought out.  We must be willing to put in the effort and take the time to find it.

Are you willing to search for it?  You won’t find anything sweeter. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The littlest psalm

If something is both well done and done well, we typically assume it was done on a large scale.  A master’s degree thesis paper can easily end up over 100 pages long, with PhD papers reaching up to 300 pages.  We’re impressed by large collections of art, cars, or historical artifacts.  Huge bridges and tall buildings receive ooohs and aaahs that single-story structures do not.  People with millions of social media followers are clearly better and more newsworthy than someone who has less than 100 followers, right? 

We’re so used to being wowed by the large, that it’s easy to skip over the small.  I think that kind of mindset can sneak into our personal Bible study and Sunday services, as well.  While most sermons will talk about Jesus – and rightfully so, He is the focus and reason for everything – if the preacher’s topic involves someone else in the Bible, odds are it’ll be about Abraham, Moses, or David.  This is certainly understandable, as these three men partnered with God in great ways to bring out His plan and purpose for humanity.  However, if we only talk about God in relation to “the big three” then we will miss out on seeing God in the lives of people like Ruth, Philemon, or John Mark.

And what of our worship songs?  The trend in recent years has been to repeat the chorus of a song 7x, 9x, 11x, or more.  But that’s not entirely something new…the longest psalm in the Bible is Psalm 119, which holds 176 verses (notably not repeating the same words over and over, either). 

That said, brevity and simple, clear truth was not lost on the psalm composers.  Just before Psalm 119 – the longest psalm – is Psalm 117, which is the shortest psalm.  Psalm 117 consists of just two verses and 23 words in total (only 17 words in Hebrew).  This psalm definitely qualifies as “small but mighty” when you look at what the composer wanted people to sing:

Psalm 117:1-2
Praise the Lord, all nations!
Glorify Him, all people!
For His faithful love to us is great;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Hallelujah!

Whether your day has been good or your day has been a struggle – being reminded of God’s faithfulness makes the day better.  Remembering that we are not alone, that the Creator of the Universe is active and interested in our lives is a source of both comfort and confidence.

The words faithful love come from the Hebrew word hesed – which is hard to wrap the full meaning of the word into English, but here is a good description of what the psalm’s author had in mind when he wrote about God’s hesed toward us:

It is an unfailing love, a loyal love, devotion, kindness, based on a covenant relationship between the two parties.

The Israelites had their covenant with God, and we have ours through Jesus.  We don’t deserve that kind of love and loyalty.  We can’t earn it or do anything to convince Him that we’re worth it.  The only thing we can do is accept His choice for how He loves and then receive it.

That is how God feels about us…and remembering God’s hesed toward us brings up the praise we find in Psalm 117, the littlest psalm.  Praise the Lord, indeed!

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Passing down diamonds

There’s been a big change in our family this year: our younger son proposed to his girlfriend – and she said YES!  She’s a wonderful girl, and we’re thrilled for the both of them.

Our son worked hard to make sure the ring he offered was just right.  He had several conversations with the jeweler about the layout, shape, stone size, etc. as they constructed the ring.  The final design incorporated a main diamond with two smaller diamonds, one on each side.  The ring is quite pretty, and it looks good on her.

What’s special for my wife is that the two smaller diamonds came from a ring that she owns, but rarely wore any more.  The ring was a gift from her father.  He gave it to her when she was a teenager.  She’s delighted to have contributed to the new ring, being able to pass down a gift like that, now to a third generation.

This got me thinking about what else we have passed down to the next generation as our son and his bride-to-be begin to plan a wedding and rest of their lives together.  What we pass on, especially to our children, has always been an important topic to God.  You see this theme repeatedly throughout Scripture.  Here are just a few examples:

Moses speaking to the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 6:6-7
These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

A psalm written by Asaph:

Psalm 78:1-4
My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth.
I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past –
things we have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us.
We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation
the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, His might, and the wonderous works He has performed.

A psalm written by David:

Psalm 145:4
One generation will declare Your works to the next and will proclaim Your mighty acts.

Paul writing to his protégé, Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:1-2
You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

It’s mind-blowing to think that the Creator of the Universe has given us the responsibility of sharing His reputation to the generations that come after us.  Out of all the mechanisms He could have used…He chooses to work in and through broken, flawed humans to tell other broken, flawed humans that there is more to life than being stuck as broken and flawed.

So, if we take an honest look at what we are saying and how we are living…what are we passing down to the next generation?  Is it something valuable, like diamonds?  Or is it something that just looks shiny but has no real worth?

We all have something about God we can share.  Don’t beat yourself up if you feel that what you have to offer isn’t the biggest diamond…because all the diamonds in the setting work together to make something beautiful.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite: Is God good?

I have been sick for the past week and was unable to finish the next post. So instead of something new this week, I’ll leave you with a question we all need to wrestle with from time to time:

Is God good?
Originally posted on June 12, 2015

I just stared at him blankly.  No one had ever asked me that question before.

I had just finished sharing a brief version of my life story, my journey with God up to that point in my life.  I had talked about being raised the church, accepting Christ as my savior at eight years old, and listed off the major difficulties I had either caused or someone else had caused me to live through.  I had also discussed how I saw God at work in those situations and in me during those times…and then the leader of the small men’s group asked me a follow up question.

Ken, it’s great that you recognize how and when God has worked in your life.  But I need to ask you…Is God good?

My mind swirled with this question as the other guys in the group stared back at me, waiting for my answer.  I stammered an answer that God is God, and what He does is what He wants to do.  The group leader wouldn’t let me off that easy, though.  He pressed in again:

Ken, I didn’t ask if God was in charge.  I asked you if He is good.  Do you believe that God is good?

Although he didn’t bring up this specific passage, the group leader was asking if I viewed God the same way that the author of Psalm 119 did.  Look for yourself to find how the author viewed the goodness of God:

Psalm 119:65-72
Lord, You have treated Your servant well, just as You promised.
Teach me good judgment and discernment, for I rely on Your commands.
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.
You are good, and You do what is good; teach me Your statutes.
The arrogant have smeared me with lies, but I obey Your precepts with all my heart.
Their hearts are hard and insensitive, but I delight in Your instruction.
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes.
Instruction from Your lips is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

The benefit of hindsight allows the psalmist to say that God had treated Your servant well, just as You promised.  Even though the author went astray and subsequently was afflicted and humbled by his errors, he was able to recognize God’s purposeful movements in his life.

Not only did he acknowledge to God that You are good, and You do what is good, his next response is the proof of his understanding – teach me Your statutes.  When we truly believe that God is good and that He has promised us good, we are drawn to Him and we want to learn from Him.  We naturally lean into those whom we believe are for us and on our side.

That’s what the men’s leader was trying to get me, and the rest of the group, to understand.  When we are able to tell God You are good, and You do what is good – that is when we are ready to lean into God and let Him speak into our lives.

So I’ll put the question to you – Is God good?

Keep Pressing,
Ken 

God’s primary path for our growth

Each of us has seen this before – someone has all the raw talent in the world, but they fail to reach their full potential.  And what is the typical cause?  Because they didn’t put in the work.

Examples are easily found in sports.  We see someone who dominates in high school, is the best athlete on the field in college, but then, when they get to the pros…they quickly flame out.  Their natural abilities can take them only so far, but at some point, they need to combine their giftedness with a dedication to learning and developing.  While a few of these late-to-realize athletes may figure it out and course correct to achieve an average-to-good career, most others simply fall to the wayside, leaving a legacy of what-could-have-been.

We know of similar stories in academia and other careers.  Perhaps you’ve even lived this yourself.  Early successes can fool us into thinking we’ll always be at the top of our game, but as the road gets tougher…we’re challenged with the realization that the amount of effort and knowledge that got us to this point won’t necessarily be enough to take us further on.

That’s when these hard lessons need to be learned:
·       You don’t know what you don’t know.
·       You gotta learn that you gotta learn.
·       It takes maturity to realize that you need to mature.
·       You have to practice at practicing.

The problem?  We don’t always realize these are the lessons we need, or, worse yet, we fight against them.  We get stubborn and keep doing things the way we’ve always done it, simply because it’s worked for us in the past.  But when we stubbornly stagnate, we miss out on fulfilling our potential, and we forfeit opportunities that could have been ours.

You may not realize it, but we can stagnate the same way in our spiritual growth, too.  In fact, the author of the book of Hebrews warned his readers about this.  They had not progressed as they could have…as they should have…and they were living through the consequences of their stubborn choices:

Hebrews 5:11-14
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

They didn’t know about living with righteousness (which means to be living rightly before God) because they weren’t ready for it.  They had trouble making wise choices and difficulty telling the difference between good and evil because they rejected being trained to do so.

He includes a painful critique – though by this time you ought to be teachers.  The readers had no excuse.  They had the talent.  They had the opportunity.  They had the resources.  They had ample time.  But up to this point…they have squandered it all.  And they are struggling because of it.

But the author says they still have a way out of their immaturity, and it is a two-step process:

1.      they need to start with God’s word
2.      they need to be trained…by constant use, i.e. – they need to practice

You and I mature by taking these same steps.  Are we engaging God through His word and putting what He teaches us into practice?  God is willing to walk us down this path of growth and maturity, but we have to meet Him there.  Don’t be a stubborn infant, like the original recipients of Hebrews.  Don’t be slow to learn.  It’s time to mature.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What a baby can tell us about Bible study

Let’s be honest…newborn babies don’t do a whole lot.  They eat, sleep, poop, and cry.  For the amount of work and round-the-clock effort they need, a running joke you’ll often hear new parents say is, “It’s a good thing they’re cute…”.

The terms “new birth” and “born again” are frequently used in the New Testament to describe what happens to a person who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  When you believe this, Jesus promises that we have new, eternal life:

John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Of course, Jesus’ disciples heard all about this “new life” as they followed Him during His earthly ministry.  So it’s not surprising that they would use similar terms in their own writings.  At the beginning of his letter to believers scattered across modern-day Turkey, Peter not only refers to our new birth, but two things we have been born into:

1 Peter 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Peter says we have been born into a living hope for the present life and into an inheritance in the life to come.  After reminding his readers how unique and special this new life is (despite any persecution they currently face), Peter encourages them to leave behind their old lifestyle and pursue living out of their new life as a believer.

While that sounds like a great idea, his readers need to know how to get there.  Does he expect them to just white-knuckle their way through life, avoiding all the bad behaviors they can along the way?  No, he doesn’t.  Instead Peter gives them practical advice, by going back to the new birth analogy:

1 Peter 2:2-3
Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Three observations about a newborn infant in Peter’s example:

1.      The attitude of the baby – How quickly does a newborn reach for his mother’s breast?  Babies might not know much, but they know where to go for what they need, and they will aggressively grab and pursue the nourishment they desire.

2.      The appetite of the baby – They are hungry, and only milk will satisfy.  How often do babies need to eat?  About every 3-4 hours, right?  How does that time frame compare to how often we go to God’s word for nourishment?  A baby wouldn’t survive eating just once a week on Sundays.

3.      The aim of the baby – He’s not eating just to fill his belly.  As he takes in the milk, his body uses it to grow.  A baby is not meant to stay a baby forever, and neither are we.  As we feed on the pure milk of the word, we will then grow up and mature in our new life.

Peter’s point is that we go to God’s word to sustain and develop our new life – but note that he said grow and not “know”.  While you cannot grow without knowledge, the focal point of our study of the Bible is growth, not simply collecting trivia.

You cannot grow out of being a spiritual infant without a steady diet of God’s word.  It is God’s primary tool for developing His children.  Growth may be scary or messy at times, but life is bigger, better, and full of more opportunities for those who mature and grow.  That is how we experience the promised living hope now and prepare for our future inheritance.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Move, adapt, and keep feeding kids

While we all acknowledge the unfortunate reality that there are food-insecure people in every city across the nation, it may surprise you to hear that High Point, NC is one of the worst in the nation for this problem.  Despite being known as “the Furniture Capital of the World” and having many metro amenities for city its size, as recently as 2015, a Gallup survey found that the Greensboro-High Point metro area had the highest level of food hardship in the country. 

Many churches and organizations have stepped up to address this challenge.  For several years now, our church, Connection Valley Church, has partnered with a local charity whose aim is to provide food to food-insecure families in the High Point, NC area.  Feeding Lisa’s Kids is the passion project of local businesswoman Lisa Hawley.  Currently about 140 families, which includes approximately 400 children, are provided with pantry-stocking foods once a month, with an extra delivery for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  On the first Wednesday of each month, a small army of volunteers meet to both load cars with food and to deliver to the families.

Recently, the monthly distribution site changed.  Previously, we would meet on the back grounds of a large church at 6:30am.  There was a pavilion where we could lay out and organize the pallets of food to be broken down and placed into cars.  The parking lot was spacious with plenty of room to make a path for the delivery volunteers to drive their cars through a well-defined route, where they would stop at the first station to get their assigned delivery family addresses, move up to another station manned with loading volunteers, get the food, and be on their way to the families in need.  We had been working from this place for a long time, and had the whole process down to a science.  Everyone understood the plan and what part they played in the process.  So much so, that we often finished the loading work early, before 7:30am.  The location was tucked away from any major roads or traffic.  It was a relatively peaceful place to meet up with friendly faces to do some good for others in our community.

But this past month, the location changed.  The new host church, First UMC of High Point, is located in downtown.  No longer tucked away from the noise and the traffic…instead, we are now in the middle of it.  The two stations – family assignment and food pickup – were no longer in a line-of-sight with each other.  Communication between the two was only possible via walkie-talkie.  There was a significantly smaller parking lot for the drivers to navigate, get their assignments, and then go to the next street over to load up with food.  A garage space smaller than the previous pavilion held the pallets of food.  The loading stations were along the right lane of a one-way street.  Traffic was just getting started for the day, and those that were out were not slowing down for anything.  The whole setup was nothing like we were used to, and, adding another degree of difficulty, we had fewer loading volunteers show up than in typical months.

We knew the morning was not going to run as smoothly as we were accustomed to.  After talking through the logistics and dividing into teams, one of our pastors prayed for God’s blessing on the families, but also that God would help us manage our frustrations as we navigated this new space.  I’d love to tell you that after he prayed that prayer, everything then went perfectly – but it didn’t.  At first, the family assignment station sent cars for food loading as soon as they gave out the addresses, but this quickly overwhelmed the three smaller loading teams, which led to a traffic build-up on the roadways.  As the pallets of food were broken down and placed for the loading teams to pick up, the only place to put the food was on tables which took up half the sidewalk.  Then, navigating the sidewalk around each other as we carried food to the cars slowed down the process.  No one was snapping or yelling, but there were plenty of concerned looks and frustrated faces.

But we adapted on the fly.  The three loading teams condensed down to two teams.  Those breaking down pallets adjusted how they were bringing food out to the sidewalk.  The loading side would walkie-talkie to the assignment station when to send the next car around.  We weren’t done early, by any means – but the work got done.  Families were fed, and that is the goal.  We all talked briefly afterward, grateful that God helped us keep our tempers in check and that the cloudy weather never turned to rain.  We agreed there were a lot of lessons learned and adjustments to be made for next month.  This wasn’t a “bad location”, but there are additional logistics to work out before we are as smooth and polished as we were in the previous location.

Walking back to my truck, a construction worker called out to me from across the street, asking if we were starting a food bank.  I told him about Feeding Lisa’s Kids and that this was our first time at this new location.  He asked if the food was going up to the mountains – and that’s a fair question, because there are still relief efforts ongoing for people in western North Carolina who were impacted by Hurricane Helene last fall.  I told him, “No, this food is for local families in High Point.  We’re feeding hungry kids here.”  He replied with a smile and said, “I’m glad we’re feeding the kids.”  I told him we’d be there the first Wednesday of every month, and then we both went on our way.

Driving home, I reflected on everything that happened throughout the morning.  I came to the conclusion that as good as we had it in the previous location, whatever issues we have to work through with the new location…our actions and the kids’ needs are going to be much more visible to the community.  Many people who work or drive through downtown High Point have likely never heard of Feeding Lisa’s Kids.  Now, every month, what will they see?  They’ll see two churches and a non-profit working together to help local families in need.  What will come of this?  I don’t know, but I’ll leave that up to God.  We’ll just put into practice one of Jesus’ directions from His “Sermon on the Mount”:

Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

I’m excited to see what happens from here.

If you’re local to High Point, come join us the first Wednesday of each month.  If you’re not local, I guarantee there are needs of people local to you that you can meet.  Get out there and shine your light in ways so they can see your good works – all with the aim of pointing them to your Father in heaven.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

We'll do greater works than Jesus?

Today is the Thursday before Easter, also known as Maundy Thursday.  “Maundy” is a shortened form of the Latin word “mandatum” which means “command”.  This Thursday remembers the day when Jesus held His Last Supper with His disciples and gave them their marching orders for when He would be gone.  In John’s record of Jesus’ teaching, three times Jesus commands them to love one another (John 13:34, 15:12, 15:17) and two more times He urges them to follow this command (John 14:15, 15:14).

There is a part of Jesus’ Last Supper teaching that has always sat a little odd with me.  Philip has just asked Jesus to show them God the Father, and this was Jesus’ reply:

John 14:9-12
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know Me, Philip?  The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?  The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own.  The Father who lives in Me does His works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.  Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

Truly I tell you, the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do.  And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.”

Greater works than Jesus???

That’s a hard concept to wrap my mind around, let alone accept.

Many commentaries and preachers will say that Jesus’ “greater” comment was more about scope rather than size.  They’ll argue that we’re not running around performing even bigger miracles than Jesus did, but that because He went to be with the Father, the Holy Spirit indwells all believers – the result being that the good news of Jesus is spread to the entire world, instead of the small section of Israel that Jesus ministered in. 

While that answer makes sense, I’ve never been fully convinced it fits what Jesus was talking about here.  However, I came across an explanation from Donald Barnhouse that both helps me understand…and blows my mind.  He takes an analogy from a real-life hero, Wheeler Lipes, who was an officer in the Navy.  In 1942, Wheeler was a Pharmacist’s Mate aboard a submarine and had to perform an emergency appendectomy.  He did not have the proper medical equipment, nor any formal surgical training…but the procedure had to be done, as a fellow sailor’s life was at stake.

Here is Barnhouse’s retelling of Wheeler’s story and his analogy back to Jesus’ Maundy Thursday statement:

Aboard a United States submarine in the enemy waters of the Pacific, a sailor was stricken with acute appendicitis.  The nearest surgeon was thousands of miles away.  Pharmacist Mate Wheeler Lipes watched the seaman’s temperature rise to 106 degrees.  His only hope was an operation.  Said Lipes: “I have watched doctors do it.  I think I could.  What do you say?”  The sailor consented.  In the wardroom, about the size of a Pullman drawing room, the patient was stretched out on a table beneath a floodlight.  The mate and assisting officers, dressed in reversed pajama tops, masked their faces with gauze.  The crew stood by the diving planes to keep the ship steady: the cook boiled water for sterilizing.  A tea strainer served as an antiseptic cone.  A broken-handled scalpel was the operating instrument.  Alcohol drained from the torpedoes was the antiseptic.  Bent tablespoons served to keep the muscles open.  After cutting through the layers of muscle, the mate took twenty minutes to find the appendix.  Two hours and a half later, the last catgut stitch was sewed, just as the last drop of ether gave out.  Thirteen days later the patient was back at work.

Admittedly this was a much more magnificent feat than if it had been performed by trained surgeons in a fully equipped operating room of a modern hospital.  Study this analogy and you will know the real meaning of Christ’s words.  “Greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”  For Christ, perfect God, to work directly on a lost soul to quicken and bring out of death and into life is great, but for Him to do the same thing through us is a greater work.

Jesus can represent the Father perfectly.  He said, “the Father who lives in Me does His works.”  As such, Jesus can flawlessly show who God is to everyone He interacts with.  We are as far from perfect as Wheeler Lipes was trained to perform emergency surgery.  We are rudimentary and broken and unrefined, having no merit to partner with the Creator of the Universe in anything…let alone to be the ones to share the Father with other broken humans.  And yet…we who believe in Jesus as the Messiah are the ones whom God partners with.  That is the greater work.  This partnership is far better and more eternally impactful than performing physical miracles of restoring sight and healing broken bodies.  To use lesser instruments and still achieve the results that would come from perfection…that is a magnificent feat indeed!

So, on this Maundy Thursday, remember Jesus’ command – love one another.  But do not forget that we will participate in greater works as we partner with Jesus and show others who the Father truly is.

Keep Pressing,
Ken