Life verse of Pastor Rick Warren

Acts 13:36 
Now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.

Quite an unusual verse to have as a life verse. Isn't it? Here's what Pastor Warren says about that - "Acts 13:36 says David was purpose-driven: "David served God's purpose in his own generation, then he died ...." I cannot image a greater epitaph.Imagine having that statement inscribed on your tombstone: "He served God's purpose in his own generation!" You could receive no greater honor than that in my opinion!"

When the wise gets it wrong

"I am telling you, if there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in," he told reporter Jeremy Peters. "I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."

One of America's wealthiest entrepreneur and philanthropist, Mr. Michael Bloomberg, said the above quote. Like most people who are 'wise', he too believes he can earn 'moksha' by his good deeds. Christ came to the World to change this paradigm. There is nothing you can do that can earn you salvation. There is nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of God. What a paradigm shift in the way we live!

Kindness begins at home

This was truly the moment ‘Habitat for Humanity’ became what it is now. The organization that is famous for building thousands of houses for the homeless has an American President as its greatest advocate and champion - Jimmy Carter.

President Carter grew up during the hard great depression days in rural Alabama. His house was on the road to savannah and Charleston. And a great many number of tramps migrated to these cities in search of jobs. Often, they would stop by at his house and ask for food for some menial job. His mother always obliged them. Soon, they noticed that every single tramp would stop at their house. Their neighbor even commented that they don’t stop at her’s.

The rest is captured in this photo. It’s an excerpt taken from ‘an hour before daylight’, Carter’s autobiography.

Momentary

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

I had the unenviable task for any doctor, let alone any man. I went to my patient’s home to see her, and talk to her husband about the inevitability of death. 

Nikki is 32 and a mother of four beautiful boys. She has cancer of unknown primary, possibly from breast, but metastatic to the liver. She’s barely living. Her skin is jaundiced, she’s half the size she was before diagnosis which was less than four months ago, and severely cachectic. Cancer is literally eating her away in front of our eyes. I sat with her and discussed her symptoms and ways to manage them. I held her hands. I talked to her little children who have shaved off their hair in support of their mom. I shook hands with her parents who don’t speak English. There was tension all around. I simply didn’t have the courage to tell her that her days are now numbered. But I had to prepare her husband for the inevitable. 

Later, I asked him to follow me to my car. John and I sat in my car and started talking about Nikki and her cancer and my thoughts about her disease and prognosis. 

John was just quiet. He had no words. No tears. Nothing. I asked him how he’s handling all of this. Here’s his reply in his words. 

“Our promise is not in health, wealth, or prosperity but in the eternity that the lord has prepared for us. I know there’s nothing that can take us away from that. Paul was beaten, arrested, in a shipwreck and marooned. Yet he called it, “light momentary affliction”. When people stop in church and tell me, “God is good”, I just reply, “what made you think he isn’t”. Nothing that has happened has changed our relationship with him. We trust him.”

Is there a man of greater faith and love for God in this World? 

---------------

Postscript:

John's sister-in-law later emailed me this: 

"John’s response is truly a God given act of tangible love and faith. His life has been a tough one. He lost his oldest sister to suicide and last week his boss told him he may sell the business, and John may lose his current job.

And yet, like Job, John stands by our sweet Lord."

'Reject-able' King

The light of the world painting shows a king wearing a crown and high priest robes knocking on the door. A King does not knock on a door. Jesus puts himself at risk for rejection. We see a 'rejectable' King here. 

A review of the painting that I found interesting:

"I am the Light of the World; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life". St John’s Gospel records Christ's proclamation which inspired Holman Hunt to paint this world famous image. This is the third version of the allegory painted by the artist. The first, of 1853, resides in Keeble College Oxford and the second, painted shortly afterwards, can be seen in the Manchester Art Gallery. The St Paul’s canvas was painted over fifty years later, with the assistance of Edward Robert Hughes, and it is thought to be the culmination of Holman-Hunt’s vision. 

This “sermon in a  frame” became the most travelled art work in history. On completion in 1904 it toured the globe visiting most of the major towns and cities in: Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. It has been seen by millions of people and is one of the best known works of its period. Purchased from Holman-Hunt by the industrialist Charles Booth it was donated to St Paul’s and dedicated at a service in June 1908. The choir sang psalm 119 which includes the verse : “Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path”. Today the painting forms an altarpiece in the Cathedral’s  Middlesex Chapel, where it serves as an object of devotion and contemplation. Conveying the message  : The saviour of the world is alive and will dwell in the hearts of those who admit him.

There are two lights shown in the picture. The lantern is the light of conscience and the light around the head of Christ is the light of salvation. The door represents the human soul, which cannot be opened from the outside. There is no handle on the door, and the rusty nails and hinges overgrown with ivy denote that the door has never been opened and that the figure of Christ is asking permission to enter. The morning star appears near Christ, the dawn of a new day, and the autumn weeds and fallen fruit represent the autumn of life. The writing beneath the picture, is taken from Revelation 3 ‘Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.’

The orchard of apple trees evokes several biblical references. The tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden was, according to legend, an apple tree and in some Christian traditions the wood of that tree was miraculously saved to construct the cross on which Christ was crucified. The fallen apples could symbolise the fall of man, original sin, and sometimes in Italian art can refer to redemption. Neil McGregor, Director of the British Museum,  has noted that in the painting Christ not only knocks at the door; he is himself the door.

Wait - a poem

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

“Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

“My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

“You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait.

A sister's response

I had been in touch with the sister of my young patient, a mother of four beautiful children, who was facing death in the form of  a very critical cancer. Let me share the message she wrote to me one day. I think it is an exemplary example of faith in action.

"We gave her healing and life to our sweet Jesus and we trust He works us with His wisdom and care. Someone asked me “Why you, and your family?” I said why not?!? We are no more special than the homeless fellow on the street or the drug abusing single mom in the hospital. God loves us all the same. Our value is not in who we are but in whom owns us. Why us? Because Jesus wills it! For our good and His glory. Help us Lord see the good and give you your glory though this!

“How can you keep up your faith in these times when God doesn’t seem to be answer?” I replied: we don’t and can’t. But Jesus IS working it out in our lives one day at a time. Our faith is God’s tool of claiming us as His and also a conduit of His presence in our lives. Our faith is “God in us” not a cheap spiritual platonic Hallmark card! We are in this trial my family and I because He willed it for us before the foundation of the world. Glory to Him still!"

After the sister's death:

Waves of sorrow and oceans of tears. I Feel like I’m drowning and the truth is, I want to feel this way right now. On the bottom of the ocean of grief, holding on to her dress she wore last, and sobbing is where I want to camp for a while... This journey has been unbelievably hard and deeply bonding. But God...in his mercy...holds each and every one of our tears. He is close to me and I feel him now more than ever. His jar must have become ten buckets and that’s ok.

Leadership manifesto

Romans 12:8

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.

Samoan firefighters

Bones

Bones

When we think of people with faith, we always remember those who exhibited their faith in their living days. 

Well, read Hebrews 11 - the portion about Joseph. He asked his sons to embalm his body so that his bones can be taken to his homeland in Palestine and be buried there. He was a man of true faith. He could see the unseeable. He could believe the unbelievable. He displayed his faith in his deathbed. 

And, centuries later, his bones were indeed buried in Palestine. Seeing the unseeable when what you want to see is not even in the visual field is real faith. I hope you and I can develop such a faith. We can ask the giver of faith to bestow us with it so that we can reach our intended destination. Like Jospeh. 

Quotes

"God has brought me here in his wisdom. He will keep me here by his grace. In his goodness he will teach me what I need to learn. In his perfect time he will deliver me from here by his power." Dr George Cherian

Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.   Abraham Lincoln 

“If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly; it is light as a feather and a breath will carry it.” Rev. Charles Spurgeon (1855).

God doesn't double bill - pastor Rock Dillaman 

George Müller: “I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord.”

“There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still.” Corrie Ten Boom

God buries his workmen, but his work goes on. (Charles Wesley)

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so - Mark Twain 

In God we trust. Everything else, bring data. Dr. Edwards Deming

There are three versions to the truth - yours, mine and the truth. 

the will of God will not take you where the grace of God cannot keep you

Anyone can be great because anyone can serve - MLK Jr

David Copperfield, Charles Dickens writes, “It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.”

The more gratitude we have, the less entitlement we'll have. 

There is much we can do AFTER we pray, but not UNTIL.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. MLK Jr

Promises for life

             Daniel 2:21-22

 He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.

He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with him.

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Daniel 1:15

At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.

Proverbs 30: 7-9
“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
    do not refuse me before I die:
 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
    give me neither poverty nor riches,
    but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
    and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
    and so dishonor the name of my God.