Where do I go?

“Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”  Romans 12:9-13

There are quite a few people in this world who always seem to know where they need to go and what they need to do and know only one speed; full speed ahead.  They epitomize the saying “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way” that was credited to Gen George Patton.  And on the other end of the spectrum are those who cannot seem to make a decision along their journey, reluctant to go, unsure that their spiritual gifts are sufficient for the task presented to them.

The attached photo was taken at Mixte Lutheran School in Port-au-Prince some time ago.  The children are eating their noon meal; for some of them their only meal of the day.  In the early 1990’s we sang a new song in our Lutheran church in Lincoln, NE that written by Daniel L. Schutte in 1991 and it really hit a sweet spot with me then and now whenever I hear it.  If you are sitting on the fence and not sure of where God needs you, read the words and pray about your future.

“I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.  All who dwell in dark and sin, My hand will save.  Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.  I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.  Who will bear my light to them?  Whom shall I send?  Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.  I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain.  I have wept for love of them.  They turn away.  Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.  I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone.  I will speak my words to them.  Whom shall I send?  Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.  I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will send the poor and lame.  I will set a feast for them.  My hand will save. Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.  Finest bread I will provide, 'til their hearts be satisfied.  I will give my life to them.  Whom shall I send?  Here am I, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.”

What is your reply when our Lord calls you in the night?  There are twenty hungry children sitting around each of the two tables in the photo.  Is the Lord calling you to help?  You don’t have to cook, you don’t have to get a passport and a bunch of shots and travel to Haiti and you don’t have to buy a bag of rice and beans and put them into a cardboard box and mail it to Haiti.

Five dollars will cover the meal of every child in the attached photo for this particular day; two dollars and fifty cents for each table.  It is almost too easy to say “Here am I, Lord, it is I Lord, send me!”  Aim High. 

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

A HOPE filled future.

“Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.  The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter.  Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."  And [Peter] went outside and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:60–62

The group of children jumping rope are just a few of the 98 young missionaries who attend school at Bas de Sceaut which is located in the Artibonite of Haiti; they have HOPE.  Their HOPE filled lives are the bright future for Haiti.  I have been thinking a lot about prayer recently, because our country, these kids and our sinful world need a lot of prayers.  I can go without a mask now, but still not completely feeling safe.  Prayers, every Saturday from this point forward on this side of Heaven, I am going to share a prayer instead of a message and hopefully that will be on your heart and mind as you examine yourself and prepare for worship tonight or tomorrow morning.

Heavenly Father, every one of us live in a sin filled world and we, like Peter, have experienced failure as we have turned away from You.  We have had many failures.  They have left us sad, broken, depressed and disappointed in ourselves, and full of embarrassment.  There are times when we see flashbacks of those episodes in words people say, mistakes ‘they’ make and dreams that jolt us when our sinful pasts return to haunt us.  Lord, forgive us once again.  Thank You for sending Your son Jesus to take the weight of all our sins upon Himself.  Lord, renew our HOPE as we reflect on Peter, with whom we can so easily identify.  Remind us that, just as You used him after his failures, that You will also use us and these Haitian kids to accomplish Your will.  Lord, please help us individually to use our memories of failure to bring about a humility that sees Your grace for what it really is; amazing.  Lord, help us find renewed encouragement and strength from Your Word.  We look to You alone for the ability to HOPE again.  Only You have the power to make something beautiful and good out of lives that are littered with the debris of thoughts we should never have thought, words we should never have said and deeds we should never have done.  Our only source of relief comes through Your grace.  Bring it to our attention again and again in those critical moments when discouragement makes it’s painful way into our life and make us grateful.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Your important gift.

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.  For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.  If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”  Romans 12:3-8

The words of the Apostle Paul should be on my bathroom mirror, my refrigerator door, on the visor and in my heart to daily remind me that God is intending to use me to do His work, His way and in His time; and not revel in the meaningless paper accomplishments this world has given to me.  And, HE should be the one in my wheelhouse selecting my course cause without Him, I am lost.

Is your gift listed in the above verses?  It must be there in those choices that Paul provides, stop and consider those listed.  If you think that your mind, hands, eyes and skills you have been given cannot accomplish any of those choices then you aren’t following or listening to HIM; consider the attached photo.  This is the bathroom that ‘somebody’ constructed at Petite Paridis Lutheran school in Port-au-Prince about fifteen years ago.  It may not look like much when compared to the standards of North America but it is a blessing to the children attending school there as they don’t have to go outside and squat in a nearby ditch.

For the children attending school with a Trinity HOPE feeding program, you and your quarter are the blessing, your blessings bring them food to eat each day as they are learning about a gracious God who is preparing each of them to go and do His work with what they have been given at birth.  Thank you for answering His call and using the blessings He has entrusted with you. 

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.” Psalm 139:1

Imagine for a moment what has transpired throughout your life since your conception.  When and where you were baptized; where you went to school, what your favorite subjects were and how closely you walked with Christ during those years; if you were like me your path was full of zigzags that took you off course for a period of time.  There were many lessons learned in our early years, how to crawl, walk, eat, talk, read and trust.

Now, take a good look at this child who attends the Lutheran school in Ouanaminthe.  Imagine what has taken place in her life since conception.  Her steps have been no doubt been different than yours but still very similar; we all have strayed now and then away as we are tempted by this world.  Each of us in not an enigma to God; HE has known each of us since before our conception and consequently, He does not reject or despise us.  Rather, He begins now to re-create each of us in His own lovely likeness; we are His children.

He placed you here to read this devotion and prayerfully, think about poaaibly sending a quarter to Trinity HOPE to feed this child for one day as she learns about a loving Triune God who cares deeply for her.  At this point in your journey, He has presented you with an opportunity to feed this child, or a couple of children or perhaps their school.  It is amazing to see how the hand of God has touched our lives and we in turn desire to accomplish His work by touching the life of this child in Haiti.  I close today with the words to the hymn ‘Take my life and let it be’ which was written by Frances Havergal in 1874.

“Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.  Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love; take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.  Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King; take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee.  Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose.  Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine; take my heart, it is Thine own, it shall be Thy royal throne.  Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure-store; take myself, and I will be ever, only, all, for Thee.”

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

Desire to be mature.

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.  Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult.  On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.  For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.  They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:8-12

There were two things that I read last week that I want to share with you today.  First, you have probably heard me use the phrase “Haitian feeding program director” in my messages and the attached photo reflects that group of Haitians who oversee the feeding of 42,500 children throughout the country of Haiti every day; they are a remarkable group of God’s workers.  They need to be in our prayers every day.

Secondly, there was a devotion from Chuck Swindoll recently about maturity in the form of a prayer.  I want to share that with you because it really does address each of the people in the photo and you, me, all of those children and of the Trinity HOPE donors and volunteers.  I hope that it will touch, convict and move you as it did me.

“Father, thank You for the reminder of character qualities that are such a vital part of our Christian lives.  Though we bear very few of the marks of maturity Peter wrote about in the passage above, we always need to be stirred up by way of reminder.  How often we have come before You, asking for help in these areas!  You have heard our pleas on many occasions.  Truth be told, You will hear them again.  We yearn to be like Your Son, Jesus, the One who modeled each of these marks of maturity to perfection, though fully man.  We long to grow in spiritual maturity; but the uphill journey takes so long.  We confess that it often feels unending.  Thank You for the promise that Your Holy Spirit will be with us each step of the way.  We desperately need His empowerment to keep us going and growing, until we become like Jesus; fully conformed to His image.  We ask, Father, that You give us hope beyond our immaturity.  Help us in our unbelief.  Guard us from discouragement.  As we look back over the checklist You gave to Peter, and realize how far we have to go, remind us also how far we've come, by Your grace.  Remind us that You will complete the good work You began in us until the day of Christ Jesus.  Through His matchless name we pray. Amen.”

How do you know?

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.  This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”  1 John 4:1-3

When you go into the voting booth, how do you really know who to vote for?  When you finally get to go back into a restaurant after eating in your home the past pandemis year, where will be a safe place to go?  When you hear two different sides to an explanation of a scripture reading in a sermon, which do you believe?  And, why?

In these verses from first John, he spends a lot of time in his letter telling us how we can ‘know’ different things.  It seems that there is one thing he wants us to know so we can tell the difference between spirits, people, or groups that are really from God; and those that are not.
John urges us to "test the spirits" and we can start by asking whether they confess "that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh."  In those days, way back in the day of John, just as today, a lot of people have talked nonsense about Jesus.  For the Haitian children in the attached photo, the vodou priest forcefully stresses that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried, but that his bones are still in that desert tomb.  The Bible gives them the truth as the Holy Spirit opens their eyes, ears and heart to that truth and the chains of bondage to vodou are shattered. 
I can see four Ouanaminthe smiles in the attached photo and my mind registers a dollar.  God can use my dollar to feed them a lunch at the school where the Holy Spirit is nourishing them and drawing them nearer to Jesus and helping them to be more able physically to share that message along their life journey.  How do you know that God will use your dollar to grow these young children to be HIS missionaries?  Trinity HOPE is feeding 42,500 of them every day and will continue to do so as HE directs us to do that.  Aim High!

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

One bowl at a time.

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."  This is a desert place.  And he rose and went.  And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure.  He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot."  So, Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"  And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?"  And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”  Acts 8:26-31

This story really should cause each of us to consider the many precise and intentional things that God did in order to save a single human soul.  Here is this single man, a eunuch from Ethiopia, a queen's treasurer, who was traveling through the desert on his way home.  God sends Philip out of his normal activities to go meet him on the side of the road.  They have a small Bible study over Isaiah and you know the rest; the man gets baptized, and the Holy Spirit grabs Philip and takes him away.  All that work just to make bring one more soul into the Kingdom!
Now take a close look at the two young children in the photo.  Let’s call them blue bowl and white bowl since I don’t know their names.  What do you see?  Two hungry Haitian kids in a school with a Trinity HOPE feeding program.  I see fifty cents; the cost of filling the blue and white bowls.  God sees two more souls headed into the Kingdom.  How do you suppose HE will get the two quarters from your North American change jar in Trinity HOPE in Nashville, TN and then wired to their school feeding program director in Haiti so they can purchase the food and a Haitian cook can prepare their lunch and HE will use those two, blue and white bowl to save a soul?

HE sent Philip into a desert to meet the eunuch and getting your pocket change to blue and white bowl is no challenge for our God.  HE does that 42,500 times every day.  Do you feel a nudge?  One bowl at a time and add one soul into the Book of Life.  Aim High!

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

Got stuff?

“The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.”  Psalm 67:6

When you read this verse from the book of Psalms, your North American mind probably starts to consider what you have; the stuff in the asset column of your life’s ledger. 

I read a news article about Warren Buffet last week and it brought me a back in the day memory that our Monday Bible study men’s group talked about the Berkshire Hathaway meeting that had taken place in Omaha, as one of our members worked at the NE Furniture Mart, and we all agreed that their view of the importance of North American blessings is not that realistic.  The bottom line is that God blesses us today and will again tomorrow with all that we need; never fails and more importantly He has a home waiting for you in Heaven that will put your paltry shanty here on earth to shame.

The attached photo was taken at a Lutheran Church in the Plateau Central somewhere near a fence row of cactus about twenty minutes Northeast of Hinche.  This group of people were the wedding party that had just concluded at about 9:30 in the morning; avoid the heat and get married early in the day in Haiti.  I can’t tell you who are the bride and groom or parents or attendants, but they were very happy, they seem to be blessed with happiness and fine dress clothes.

As you can see, they had prepared for an overflow crowd as there are chairs set outside.  Those chairs are not like North American padded folding chairs, those chairs can get very painful on a soft old man’s derriere after a two-hour long service.  Those chairs were certainly a blessing as the alternative is sitting on a church pew that was a simple board nailed to three branches sunk into the dirt floor.

God truly blesses us, every day, in so many various ways.  I hope and pray that when you are sitting in the pew in your Church tonight or on Sunday, this photo will come back to haunt you or at least remind you of where you could be worshipping.  Blessings from our Triune God can and are taken for granted so often throughout our life’s journey.  A daily meal of beans and rice for a quarter is such a blessing.  Two hours of singing and listening to a message is a blessing if you have spent a couple of hours walking to your Church; why would you want to leave after just an hour?  Count your blessings dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

Green thumb.

(Jesus said) "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2

My grandmother Ada and her sister Esther had green thumbs; flowers or vegetables, didn’t matter, whatever they planted it grew; very abundantly.  My father was a farmer and my mother had a large garden that fed our family.  I don’t understand why my thumbs are not green; it should be in the genes.  My daughter Deidre gave me a small planter for my deck last year for Father’s Day and then she planted tomatoes and a couple of peppers for me and within a few weeks with my attention to their welfare; they were belly up.

The attached photo is of school children attending the Lutheran school in Merrotte which is in the Arcahaie District and is about a quarter mile North of the Caribbean.  Behind the children is a plantain crop that is flourishing and will provide a wonderful harvest.

This is a meaningful photo as it ties into the scripture reading from John.  We too are like a fruit tree; meant to bear fruit and we get pruned from time to time so that our lives will be more productive.  The children attending this school are also like little fruit trees; being nurtured with God’s Word and a Trinity HOPE meal at noon so they too will bear much fruit for the Kingdom.

These children and each of us receive pruning from time to time so that our lives can accomplish much for our Heavenly Father.  Thank you for sharing of your fruits with these children as they bring more souls from Haiti into the Kingdom.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay

Stay the course.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Matthew 5:11-12

These verses in Matthew are the culmination of the beatitudes that I’ve shared with you the few days.  The verses above are basically an extension on what Jesus had said earlier but here in verses 11 and 12 He elaborates on persecution.

Persecution can take many forms ranging from a mere insult to fearing for your life.  The evil foe has found multiple ways to try to discourage the Christian church on earth but unfortunately those being persecuted fail to realize that the more the church is persecuted, the more it grows.

Several years ago while in Haiti with a Trinity HOPE mission team, I was asked by a Haitian pastor in the company of witnesses to bring a request to a different mission society in North America that I was also affiliated with.  I did share the request, and that same Haitian pastor later recanted that request when he feared that he would lose financial support in Haiti and insisted that he had never asked that request and called me a liar.  Another Haitian pastor and a North American pastor joined in the accusation and prepared for a battle with me.

Rather than fight the accusations as there were several witnesses to back up my action, I chose to just turn the other cheek and walk away and get on with serving only through Trinity HOPE in the future and not that other mission organization.  In our country, there is no legal way that we can be sued or fined for being Christians; although there are those being hassled for showing that they are.  We are all sinful human beings, and there is a saying that sums up what this world may think about your words and actions, “the last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it’s still on the list.”

The evil foe wants nothing more than to discredit the ministry of Trinity HOPE and snatch the spoonful of rice and beans from the hand of the child at the Lutheran school in Ouanaminthe shown in the attached photo.  There are people who will say it is more important to use the funds to purchase trucks, buildings, generators and fund salaries for church workers in Haiti.  Rice and beans or blocks and mortar; walking and sharing the love of Christ with the lost or riding in a fancy new truck.  Continually ask yourself “is this mission work God pleasing?”  We sinners should rejoice at persecution and, someday, we will receive our reward for it and meet this young, hungry child who lives in Ouanaminthe, in Heaven one day.  Thank you for staying the course and doing His work no matter what the world tells you.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you…Jay