Refreshed and being refreshed

“A generous person will prosper;
Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
--Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)

The Secret Santa has been revealed—it's Larry Stewart, a successful businessman from Lee's Summit, Missouri. Prior to the Christmas season of 2006, Stewart announced that he is the Secret Santa who has been anonymously doling out $100 bills to the needy every Christmas for the past 26 years. After years of anonymity, he decided to go public with hopes of inspiring others to become Secret Santas. So how did this practice begin?

In the winter of 1971, Stewart was working as a door-to-door salesman. The company he was working for went out of business, and he quickly ran out of money. Stewart hadn't eaten in two days when he went to Dixie Diner and ordered a breakfast he eventually admitted he couldn't pay for. Ted Horn, the restaurant owner, sympathized with Stewart. He acted as though he found a $20 bill on the floor underneath of Stewart's chair. "Son, you must have dropped this," Horn said.

"It was like a fortune to me," Stewart reflected. "I said to myself, 'Thank you, Lord.' Right then, I just made a promise. I said, 'Lord, if you ever put me in a position to help other people, I will do it.'"

Over the years, Stewart estimates that he has given away around $1.3 million. He says he has been amply rewarded in return. "I see the smiles and looks of hopelessness turn to looks of hope in an instant," he says. "After all, isn't that what we're put here on earth for—to help one another?" (1)

Stewart has been living the biblical principle of generosity. He has enjoyed the fruit of its promise. Giving of oneself leads to a generous outpouring in return. Whether it is generosity with one’s resources or being generous with a refreshing word, scripture assures us that we will experience abundant blessing in return.

Refreshing others is also a way we proclaim God’s favor and work for justice in the world. Jesus taught that the loving God wholeheartedly and loving our neighbor characterize the way of living that leads to true life (Luke 10:25-37).

God is our source of life and love. God has given to us generously. We have been called to refresh others with the resources God has given us.

Refresh us, O Lord! Grow in us Your love for all people so that we may fulfill your calling. May we be conscious of the opportunities to refresh others as they present themselves. We look to You for love, strength and generosity. Amen.

(1)Nanci Hellmich, "Santa Shares His Secret," USA Today (12-22-06).

What holds us captive?

Luke 4.14-21

At our Wednesday night Bible study we wrestled with the question, "In what ways may we be captives?"

Looking at the big picture, we are confined to a broken world. As long as we live, we live with the consequences of this broken world. Sin can captivate us, with destructive consequences. Grief can hold us captive. We can be confined by financial problems or legal problems. We can find ourselves in relationships or work situations that are confining. We can be oppressed by the consequences of illness. We can be prisoners of loneliness or depression. I have heard people describe the sense of imprisonment that comes with alcohol or drug addiction. If we are not careful we can make ourselves captive to the enticements of wealth or status or power.

Whether we are held captive by the consequences of living in a broken world or by a prison of our own making, we are captives who need release. Each and every one of us needs to experience God's favor. We need God to act!

Thanks be to God for his action. In Jesus Christ we can know the liberty and release God has promised. In Jesus, God forgives all debts owed to Him. In Jesus, God sets us free from the dark powers of sin and self that bind us. In Jesus, God gives to you and I the inheritance of eternal life as God's children.

We Live, God Helping Us!

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5, NIV)

“How can I grow in faith?” For we who follow Christ, it’s a challenging question. I don’t think many of us are completely satisfied with the strength of our faith. You may think Jesus’ original disciples are the ultimate examples of faithful people. But it’s clear that even they recognized their faith needed to grow. We’re in good company!

Those first followers of Jesus rightly understood that Jesus is the source of our faith. That’s good news! The life of faith is hard. You and I can’t live this life of faith without the Lord’s help. With the Lord’s help we have extraordinary power to face the distress, disease, and disorder that we encounter in life. With the Lord’s help we have the extraordinary power to put blessing, wealth, and the goodness of life in perspective. With the Lord’s help we have extraordinary power to accomplish things not possible by our own strength.

While staying alone in her convent, an 85-year-old Catholic nun got trapped inside a broken elevator for four nights and three days. She tried pushing the inside elevator door, but the electricity went off. She had her cell phone with her, but there wasn't a signal. Fortunately, she had carried a jar of water, some celery sticks, and a few cough drops into the elevator.

At first she said to herself, "This can't happen!" But then she decided to turn her elevator into a personal prayer retreat. "It was either panic or pray," she later told an interviewer for CNN. She started viewing the experience as a "gift." "I believe that God's presence was my strength and my joy—really," she said. "I felt God's presence almost immediately. I felt like he provided the opportunity for a closer relationship." (1)

When the Church commissions pastors, teachers, or missionaries, a part of the commissioning liturgy frequently includes “Questions of Commitment.” Each person is asked to commit to their mission through responding to several statements by saying, “I will, God helping me.” This is a response every Christian could make every day, for every circumstance, and for every task: “I will do it, God helping me.” Perhaps this declaration captures the essence of living by faith: “I live, God helping me!”

The New Year is often a time when we reflect on our lives and make plans to better ourselves. This year make it a daily practice to ask the Lord to increase your faith. You and I cannot live fruitfully as Jesus’ disciples by the strength of our own will. We live only by God helping us.

(1) Jenny Wilson, "Nun Stuck in Elevator Survives Four Nights on Celery Sticks, Water and Cough Drops," Time.com (4-28-11)

Jesus is coming...invite Him in!

The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will over shadow
you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. . . . For nothing is impossible
with God.”

Then Mary said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Luke 1:35, 37‐8

Standing in the checkout line at the local grocery store one year I noticed the cover of a national tabloid, “Christ will Return on Xmas Day!” According to the tabloid, visions of John the Baptist are signaling Christ’s return on Christmas Day. I don’t put any stock in these tabloid articles . . . but what if? Jesus Christ could come at any moment . . . what if this Christmas is THE day? Would you be ready to welcome him?

Christ’s return on Christmas day this year would be as unexpected as the news Mary received that God would come into our world as a baby boy she would bear. As shocking and unexpected as that news was, Mary invited God’s miraculous presence into her life. “Let it be with me according to your word.” She was willing to let God’s presence touch her. She was willing to go where God would lead her. The consequences and implications of her pregnancy weren’t fully known. But the Lord was with her, and she invited the Lord to work in her life. She said, “Yes!” to God’s
presence and plan.

Will you invite the miracle of God’s presence into every aspect of your life this Christmas season? Christian author and teacher Richard Foster observes that God will not enter into many areas of our life uninvited. The initiative to bring God’s presence into your world rests squarely on your shoulders. So invite God into every experience of life. Foster writes:

“We invite God to set our spirit free for worship and adoration. We invite God to animate our . . .singing and praying. We invite God to heal our bodies. We invite God to inform our minds with creative ideas for our business enterprises. We invite God to touch broken relationships and resolve conflicts at work or home. We invite god to make our homes holy places of worship and study and play and love. We invite . . . we invite.”

Our Lord Jesus is coming on Christmas Day! The Lord who saves is coming. The Lord who builds up is coming. The Lord who restores is coming. Invite the miracle of God’s presence into your life this Christmas!

Peace and prayers!
Randy

Book Review: Step-By-Step along the path to spiritual maturity

Since humankind has sought connection with God we have looked for ways to describe the process of spiritual maturity. The Old Testament used wandering in the wilderness. Jesus talked about taking up one's cross. The apostle Paul often used the metaphor of athletes training for a race. In The Walk, former NFL running back Shaun Alexander (with help from Joe Hilley)uses the metaphor of walking with God as a framework for describing the process of spiritual growth.

Shaun Alexander - The Walk from waterbrook multnomah on Vimeo.

Alexander's book is definitely a pleasant read. As you might expect, he tells many stories from his life in football. They are well told, and always helpfully illustrate his points. Alexander also has a knack for defining theological terms in clear, simple language. I found him to display good insight into the human condition.

If there is a drawback to this book it is that Alexander seeks to make one's walk with God a simple and clear process. He describes a five stage process to the spiritual walk. He suggests that each stage must be experienced in order. According to Alexander, Christians further along in the walk are best suited to mentor those who are two stages behind them. Although there is much helpful insight given for each stage of the walk, the progress to spiritual maturity is rarely this linear. The stages themselves seem forced to me and I found it difficult to get past that as the book progressed.

The Walk by Shaun Alexander (Chapter 1)

I recommend The Walk with reservations. I think it could be a helpful group study book for a men's ministry and a good gift book for a Christian sports fan.

NOTE: I received a copy of the book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review through their Blogging for Books program.

Clearing the air most important in building peace

Trappist monk Thomas Merton is one of my mentors in writing. I'm reading through his book The Nonviolent Alternative on Thursday mornings as part of my daily worship/devotional time. As I read this morning my thoughts turned to our recent Lockhart ISD School Board election. The process was contentious. Now that it has been resolved through the election process, how will these men and women create an environment that will help them move forward? Merton suggests this in his essay "The Christian in World Crisis" from The Nonviolent Alternative (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1980):

"One of our most important tasks today is to clear the atmosphere so that [people] can understand their plight without hatred, without fury, without desperation, and with the minimum of good will. A humble and objective seriousness in necessary for the long task of restoring mutual confidence and preparing the way for the necessary work of collaboration in building...peace." (23)

My prayer is for clear air and good will in the months to come for the sake of our school board and the children and youth of our community.

Pockets of Resistance

Mark 12:1-12

My wife works at the school district child care facility. She has been working primarily with two year olds. The other day she came home and said to me, “Those kids only know one word.” I took a guess: “Why?” Ronda shook her head: “All they say is ‘no’ or ‘I don’t wanna.’” Already at two we are learning the language of resistance. As teenagers, we rebel as a prelude to living on our own. In our first jobs we think we know more than our bosses. We often think we know more than our spouses. No matter how old we get we resist advice from our parents. Rebellion is deeply ingrained in us.

There remain pockets of resistance in my life, just as there are in each of our lives. If we are honest with ourselves, we can find thoughts, attitudes, and actions where we are failing to give God his due. There are places in our lives where we simply say “no” or “I don’t wanna” to God’s call to get right with him. This is the reality of humankind’s relationship with God from the earliest of times.

Think for a moment. Why would Mark preserve this story about Jesus’ conflict with the Jewish leaders? At the time it was written most of those leaders were dead. The early Christian church had been firmly established. What is the message to Christ’s disciples? Could it be that Mark wants us to be conscious of our continuing tendency to rebel?

Jesus challenges each of us to examine our own hearts for pockets of resistance. Where in our lives are we resisting God’s generosity and grace? Where are we saying “no” or “I don’t wanna” to God’s wishes or God’s plan? I invite you to pause for a moment and prayerfully reflect on possible pockets of resistance to God in your life. If the Lord reveals some areas, make note of them. Through the coming week, take time to pray about these things, asking God’s help in breaking down your resistance in these areas of your life.

God's Crazy Mercy

Mark 12:1-12

The drama of our rebellion is recounted by Jesus in the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. Jesus’ authority for teaching and healing had been challenged by the leaders of the Jews. More and more Jesus had confronted their injustices and hypocrisy. At the time he is telling this story he has entered Jerusalem to the shouts of people’s praise for what will be the last week of his life. The Jewish leaders are jealous and don’t appreciate the disruption of their orderly observance of their most important religious holiday…Passover.

So Jesus tells the parable of the Wicked Vineyard Tenant Farmers who treat the owners slaves horribly and won’t give the owner his due. Their rebellion is so great that they are willing to kill the owner’s son in a futile attempt to gain the vineyard for themselves. All this is because they are unwilling to give the owner his due.

Jesus’ use of the vineyard for this story he told to the Chief priests and temple leaders was very intentional. Several times in the Jewish scriptures we call the Old Testament, the people of Israel were refered to as a vineyard. The Jewish leaders would have made that connection immediately. The wicked tenants of the story were God’s people, who over and over again, rejected God’s prophets who called God’s people to give God his due. The prophets, God’s servants, called God’s people to be faithful to God as God had been so graciously generous and faithful to them. In spite of God’s patience with us, rarely has God been given his due.

Are you ever blown away by the patience of God? In the parable, the owner looks incompetent, doesn’t he? Sending servant after servant to be reconciled with his tenants…each one treated horribly, some killed. Then to send his son…believing that he would get a different response? What are you called when you keep doing the same thing, expecting different results? That’s right…crazy! Let’s be grateful for a God of crazy mercy, who never tires in efforts to redeem us…to bring us back into a right relationship with him.

We are a rebellious lot

Mark 12.1-12

It was a beautiful, warm spring day in Sioux Falls, SD. I was sitting on the plaza outside my dorm at Augustana College reading the Sunday paper. Many of my fellow students were walking to worship on campus or were leaving in cars for worship services around town. That had not been my habit for several months. In fact, I hadn’t really had much to do with God or the things of God for several months. I had done what many young men and women do after high school. I had checked out of the whole church, following Jesus thing. I was enjoying freedom and not giving God his due. I was having a revolt against the God and the faith I grew up with.

As I sat there reading the paper, a great sense of conviction came over me. Something had been missing from my life and it had been showing. I knew it. I knew why. I had been in rebellion from the One who gave my life grounding and focus. At that moment, I set my paper down, walked to my car, and drove to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. That day I met a man who would become an important mentor in my life, Gary Schwerin. In God’s grace, when I ended my rebellion, God had someone waiting in the wings to help me get back on track. It was one of the most important moments in my faith journey.

I mentioned earlier that my story is typical of many people in the years following high school. Recent research by the Barna Group, a social research company that focuses on religious beliefs and practices, shows that 59 percent of 18- to 29-year olds with a Christian background drop out of attending church, after attending regularly. Almost 40 percent say they have gone through a time when they significantly doubted their faith. (Kinnaman, David. You Lost Me. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011).

Dropping out is not the only kind of rebellion. Last weekend several of our youth group members went to a great youth event called Planet Wisdom. This year’s theme was focused on the importance of the Bible to one’s faith. One of the speakers introduced us to the work of Michael Novelli. Novelli stepped back and looked at the Bible from a broad perspective and identified seven movements in the story of God and God’s relationship with humankind. At creation, people and God enjoyed a close relationship. But you only have to go three chapters into Genesis before that close relationship is disrupted by human rebellion. And from that time on, the Bible tells of the story of God’s great love for us, God’s mission to redeem us, and God’s patience with us as we continue to rebel by going our own way and doing our own thing.

Dickens and Religion

On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens I found this quote posted on the web by David Cody, Associate Professor of English at Hartwick College. Dickens was apparently not a conventional Christian, although raised in the Church of England. But the spirituality behind his writing and his characters was definitely Christian:

Dickens and Religion: He was reticent on the subject of religion, but we can let an earnest...letter which he wrote to the Reverend D. Macrae speak for him:

With a deep sense of my great responsibility always upon me when I exercise my art, one of my most constant and most earnest endeavours has been to exhibit in all my good people some faint reflections of our great Master, and unostentatiously to lead the reader up to those teachings as the great source of all moral goodness. All my strongest illustrations are drawn from the New Testament; all my social abuses are shown as departures from its spirit; all my good people are humble, charitable, faithful, and forgiving. Over and over again, I claim them in express words as disciples of the Founder of our religion; but I must admit that to a man (or a woman) they all arise and wash their faces, and do not appear unto men to fast.

(The reference, at the close of the letter, is to Matthew 6:18; Dickens's religious emphasis, in his work, is indeed on the New Testament rather than on the Old, on Christ rather than on Jehovah.)

Finding oneself cooperating with evil

I frequently spend several minutes on Thursdays reflecting on The Compassionate Life using a devotional aid from Renovare. The Occupy movement has had me thinking about bringing about change through non-violence. I have been reading a collection of essays and speeches by Thomas Merton entitled The Nonviolent Alternative (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1980). I'm finding lots of wisdom that applies to other situations. Here's a quote I wish Eric Holder and the Department of Justice had taken heed of before approving Operation Fast and Furious:

Whoever finds convenient excuses for this adventurous kind of policy, who rationalizes every decision dictated by political opportunism and finds it justified, must stop to consider that he is perhaps himself cooperating in the evil. (p. 17)

The Lord speaks peace to his people...

Here is a responsive call to worship I wrote for the second week of Advent. It's based on Psalm 85:8-9.

L: Let us hear what God the Lord will speak.

P: God will speak peace to the faithful, to those who turn to God in their hearts.


L: Surely God’s salvation is at hand for those who go God’s way.

P: May Your glory dwell among us! May our songs of praise never cease!

I hope your Christmas season has started well!

Intimacy with God

I've been reading a spiritual classic: Thomas Keating's Intimacy with God. It's been very eye-opening to me. One concept is the observation that we become present to God only by our consent. We will only give our consent if we trust. From today's reading, Keating's observation on trusting God:

The Christian spiritual path is based on a deepening trust in God. It is trust that first allows us to take that initial leap in the dark, to encounter God at deeper levels of ourselves. And it is trust that guides the intimate refashioning of our being, the transformation of our pain, woundedness, and unconscious motivation into the person that God intended us to be. [Thomas Keating, Intimacy with God (Crossroad, 1994):22]

Trusting in God's favorable vision

6 Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly,
but the proud he knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes,
with your right hand you save me.
8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever—
do not abandon the works of your hands.

Psalm 138.6-8 (NIV, 1984)

My son, Jesse, is a high school freshman this year...his sister, Hannah, is starting her senior year. My heart is anxious particularly for my son. Jesse is developmentally disabled, with a sweet and gentle spirit. The high school environment is tough and carnal. I already had a personal demonstration of that. As I walked the hall with him, I accidentally bumped into a young "lady." I sincerely apologized, but she took it upon herself to get smart with me. If she had no respect for an adult stranger, what kind of treatment could Jesse expect from her? I know many awesome students at his school...I'm not taking her as representative of the whole. But kids like my son can be the objects of scorn and ridicule from peers.

This morning I am holding on to the psalmist's words--God is looking favorably on Jesse today. He will not be abandoned, indeed I can trust that God will fulfill God's purpose for him. (It's easy to say...much harder to live into.)

Letting go of control

Genesis 13:8-9 (NSRV)

Who doesn’t like being in control? You and I like being the master of our own destiny, the captain of our fate. We often like to be in control of things beyond our own selves…our families, our workplace, and our church. Control issues can be major points of contention in these relationships.

Recently I read through the early chapters of Genesis. I noticed some things about Abram (later known as Abraham) I hadn’t before. For example, when his nephew Lot was kidnapped, he put together an Old Testament version of a SWAT team. He led them in a successful rescue of Lot and all the people and goods taken by his captors (Genesis 14). I never thought of Abram as a warrior before.

What Abram is better known for is his trust in God. In the scripture above, he and his nephew Lot had both been blessed by the Lord with substantial wealth. They had been traveling together for sometime and the land could no longer sustain both of their enormous herds of livestock. As you read, it was leading to conflict.

Abram became a peacemaker with Lot and his people. Notice in verse 8, he was willing to defer his control over the circumstances in order to keep his relationship good with Lot. Abram permitted Lot to choose where he would go and trusted that God would bless him in whatever land was left. Sure enough, God blessed Abram and his family in the land of Canaan, the land he got as “leftovers.”

Some Greek converts to Judaism once sought Jesus out. He had this wisdom for them about being his follower:

“Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” (John 12:25-26, NRSV)

Jesus calls us to give up the white-knuckle grip of control on our lives for life-giving service to him. Trust God to take care of you. Trust Jesus to lead you to the right places. Trust the Holy Spirit to give you the gifts, skills, talents, and experiences you need to flourish. God honors those who are able to let go of control and serve. This is the path to discovering, as Abram did, the peace and blessing that comes with trusting God for the outcome.

Getting Somewhere on Purpose: Book Review of Chazown by Craig Groeschel

The key to your future lies at your death bed. That’s the fascinating place where Chazown, the latest book from Craig Groeschel begins. Groeschel, founding pastor of the nation’s second largest church, LifeChurch.tv, wants us to consider our legacy…what will the reader’s life add up to? Will one’s life really matter? His ambition with this book is for people to capture their vision of the unique life God has designed for them, because: “Everyone ends up somewhere. But few people end up somewhere on purpose” (6). Finding the God-designed vision for your life is the essence of this book. In fact, its unusual title comes from the Hebrew word for vision. Capturing this vision and living into one’s purpose will have positive, life-changing effects.

Groeschel uses a fast-paced, concise style that is easy to read. Each short chapter addresses a singular thought. He begins by helping the reader uncover their God-given vision by exploring their core values, giftedness, and life experiences. Through well-chosen stories and personal anecdotes, he helps you see how these things intersect to reveal the chazown God has designed for you.

One feature I really appreciated was the “You’re the Author” pages. After each major section he provides focus questions and guidance to explore the section through a Chazown journal. There are also a couple of helpful appendices devoted to this. And you will notice several places throughout the book where you are directed to additional resources online. I particularly found helpful the appendix on learning from past experiences.

Indeed, personal application is a major emphasis of Chazown. Almost half of the book is devoted to helping the reader apply the chazown they have uncovered to one’s daily life. He identifies five “spokes” of chazown: Relationship with God, Relationships with People, Finances, Health and Fitness, and Work. As with the vision itself, discussion of each spoke concludes with a “You’re the Author” page where the reader is encouraged to set some specific goals to live out one’s chazown. I found his frank discussion of relationships with other people to be especially insightful.

This is certainly one of the most application-oriented texts among recent books for helping people find their purpose. Though practical in nature, Groeschel takes just enough time to lay a biblical foundation for his points. This book is definitely meant for a lay audience and he hits that target well. I highly recommend Craig Groeschel’s Chazown.

Link to the first chapter.

Watch video introduction of Chazown.



Note: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Prayer as an occupation

Acts 1:12-14 (NSRV)
Susan Guise Sheridan, a biological anthropologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, has been studying the bones of a large monastic community that lived in fifth-century Jerusalem. After examining more than 6,000 skeletal elements pulled from the crypt complex beneath Saint Stephen's Monastery, she found that the Byzantine monks shared several traits: they were robust, well-nourished men; they lived on average into their 40s; and they had bad knees.

In almost every monk over 20, there was damage to kneecaps, leg bones and heel bones. "If you consider prayer an occupation," concludes Sheridan, "then we have a case of occupational stress."

The glue that kept the early Christians together was their deep devotion to prayer and intimacy with God. The monastic community’s whole life was ordered around worship and prayer.

Prayer is such an important practice for living well. As the hymn “Take Time to Be Holy” observes: “the world rushes on.” Those words were written by William D. Longstaff in the late 1800s. How much more true are they for the world today. “Rushes” is almost too tame a word to describe the pace of most of our lives. And still, God calls us to pray.

Don Postema, in great book on prayer entitled, “Space for God,” wrote:

I used to write in my daily calendar "7-7:30 a.m.: Prayer." But many times I passed that up. It was one more thing to pass by that day. Now I write "7-7:30 a.m.: God." Somehow that's a little harder to neglect.

It is not prayer that beckons us to pause, but God. There is nothing more important with which to occupy ourselves.

May the coming year be a blessed one for all of you!

Let it be with me...

Luke 1:35-38

I read this passage again while I was in Minnesota for my father’s memorial service. I am always struck by Mary’s willingness to accept the lot in life that was set before her. The news that the angel delivered was both exciting and scary. As an unmarried young woman in her culture, the implications of her pregnancy were life-changing…far deeper than simply becoming a mother. She would have to endure much. She risked losing a lot. So her ability to say, “Let it be with me…” was a very big thing.

There is challenge for me, as I believe there is for many Christians, found in Mary’s response. Are we able to accept the lots in life that we are dealt? Are we willing to endure the consequences and the challenges that God allows into our lives? Will we live yielded to God’s way and power so we can say, “Let it be with me…”?

It’s important to recognize that when Mary said “yes” to God, she was also saying “yes” to the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary was not in it alone. God’s Spirit was with her, and in due time, God’s Savior would be with her. Whether life is dealing you hardship or opportunity…whatever challenges or rewards lay before you…there is much to endure and much to risk. Fortunately, we live in the generous grace of God who reassures us that “…nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

To get to the place of saying “Let it be with me...” you and I have to answer a big question. “Will I trust God and the Spirit’s power?” When I read this a few weeks ago I found myself confessing that I was taking on a lot in my life without yielding to God’s power and guidance. I was worn out. God’s gracious word to me was that I wouldn’t get through the challenges of dad’s memorial service and the Christmas season very well without inviting God’s presence and power into ALL facets of my life. I share this with you because I believe many who read this know exactly what I am talking about. My confession is your confession.

The Advent season is a time of preparation to receive God’s Messiah. It’s our opportunity to deepen our trust in God and to yield ourselves to the Spirit’s leading and power. Christmas gives us the opportunity to welcome Jesus into our lives afresh. It is from this place of trust and yieldedness…it is when we can say “Let it be with me…” that we discover the very real power and grace of God.

Charles W. Frye In Memorium

My father, Charles W. Frye MD had been on kidney dialysis for the last year and a half. He had received a kidney transplant in February 2003. In October he went into the hospital very weak and with blood clots in his legs. His dialysis port had also clotted over. Following a poor prognosis from his doctors he decided to discontinue dialysis and let the kidney disease take its course. After two and a half weeks in hospice, he died on November 20, 2010. He was a great doctor and a marvelous father. I wrote this biographical sketch for his memorial service:

Charles was born on October 30, 1928 in Decatur, Illinois, to John and Opal (Beckett) Frye. They lived in a house overlooking Lake Decatur.

A formative event in his life occurred as a junior in high school. Suffering an injury during football practice, it eventually developed into osteomyelitis in his hip. He spent nearly a year in the hospital and did not graduate with his class. He persevered, however, graduating the following year. His fellow students voted him Salutatorian of the Decatur High class of 1947.

Charlie entered Millikin University in Decatur. During this time he demonstrated his gift for working with his hands by building a beautiful wood boat. His junior year he went on a blind date with Djina Champion. He graduated in 1951 from Millikin with a BS in Chemistry.

He entered graduate school at the University of Illinois-Champaign, but soon learned of a medical research position in Chicago and moved there to continue his graduate work at the University of Illinois-Chicago. At the same time, the courtship with Djina blossomed and they were married on August 22, 1953. Charlie had surgery to fuse his hip (a further consequence of the high school injury) in April 1953 and was still in a full body cast on their wedding day!

His research assistant job led to the design and creation of a prototype artificial respirator on their apartment kitchen table. He received a patent for it and sold the patent to a California company. Following graduate school, Charlie entered medical school at the University of Illinois-Chicago in September 1953.

Charlie graduated with his MD in 1957 and began his internship and residency at Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago. Along with the demands of being an intern, Charlie and Djina began their family. Their first child, Randall, was born on July 22, 1957. Thirteen months later, their second son David was born on August 31, 1958. Son number three, Stephen, was born 20 months later on May 9, 1960. Through it all, with Djina's loving support, he successfully completed his medical training in June 1961 with a specialty in Radiology. He accepted a position with Associated Radiologists in St. Paul, MN.

The Fryes took up residence in South St. Paul, MN. There Charlie met some men in the neighborhood who shared his love for fishing. They made regular fishing trips into Canada for years afterward.

In September 1963 Charlie and Djina moved their family to Pheasant Lane in North Oaks. Toward the end of their stay on Pheasant Lane, Charlie and Djina learned they were expecting their fourth child. Thomas was born January 9, 1969. Charlie and Djina wanted to build their own home in North Oaks. They purchase some property that others had passed on and began building in late fall 1969. The family moved to their new home at 88 East Pleasant Lake Road in May 1970, their home to this day.

Charlie's career took a new direction during this time. He joined Minneapolis Radiation Oncology, focusing exclusively on treating patients with cancer. In 1984, he was made a Fellow of the American College of Radiology.

Charlie made his own distinctive mark on the East Pleasant Lake home. One of his great joys was to work in the yard with his tractor. He built several railroad tie retaining walls around the house. He and Djina also did extensive landscaping around their home.

Charlie poured a lot of attention into his kids and, eventually, his grandchildren. He was a very supportive father and father-in-law. As grandchildren came, he was a fun and generous grandfather.

In the fall of 2001, Charlie severely injured his leg while working in the yard. He developed an infection that led to kidney failure. After 15 months of dialysis treatments, Charlie received the gift of a kidney on February 6, 2003 from the family of a cancer patient. After the transplant, he enjoyed six years of good health. Through the summer of 2009 his transplanted kidney began to fail, and he had to resume dialysis. Declining health forced him to be hospitalized in October 2010. A poor prognosis led Charlie to the courageous decision of discontinuing his dialysis. He spent the last few weeks surrounded by the love of family and friends, and with Djina ever at his side. He died as he lived—with dignity, wit and humility. Charlie entered into the kingdom Christ prepared for him in the early hours of November 20, 2010.

Call to Worship for Luke 7:11-17

I was struck by the reaction of the crowd following Jesus after he raised from death the only son of the widow woman from Nain. I wrote this call to worship for Sunday.

L: We give God glory for God’s unmerited favor.
P: God has looked favorably on his people!
L: We give God glory for God’s unending compassion.
P: God has looked favorably on his people!
All: Let our worship spread the word of God’s love, grace and compassion!

I don't write my own liturgy stuff often enough. I'd like to explore this creative edge a litte further in the future.