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In June 2009, I spent ten days in Guatemala on a mission trip. In order to go I had to get a passport and airline ticket. Then I had to have money; cost was seven hundred dollars for lodging and expenses while I was there. I slept (Ha!) in a strange place and ate food that didn’t agree with my system. Would I do it again? I would because God called me out! Many would say "I can’t do that, I’m not called to sleep and eat in a strange land" or "I’m not trading my hard-earned vacation for a mission trip because I need to relax! I need a break from this fast-paced life!" The truth is, you CAN go on a short mission trip just down the road from your house! I’ll give you an example.
The Saturday before Thanksgiving, Grace Point Baptist church invited us to join them to help the serve people in at the Miles Center across from Bales Baptist church, located at 12th and Bales. Six people from our church took pies, dressing, salad, and green beans down to minister to the neighborhood and homeless in that area. “What was the cost? It was pretty minimal actually. It took time to prepare the food and an about four hours of a Saturday. We helped set up tables and served the people who came. Not only did we serve the people, we sat down and visited with them and had a great time! They each had their own story to share. They all needed to see the love of Christ in us and not be judged for the path they had traveled.
I met a young mother, Jennifer, and her five year old daughter Precious. Her story was familiar one. She was friendly and it appeared that making friends was easy for her. She has a problem however, that she hasn't distanced herself from the wrong "friends". She made the decision to break away from drug abuse because her children meant more than her drug addiction. Great choice! I’m sure that wasn’t an easy lifestyle change, but she did it! She needed encouragement to know she can do all things though Christ who strengthens her... but she needed Jesus in her life and the life of her family.
Now why did God send me there that day? It was to give this young lady and her family hope! It only cost me six hours of my Saturday. It could be that the six hour sacrifice may have been an everlasting life conversation for her and her family. Is you’d like to experience mission first hand, call our Kansas City Blue River Baptist Association office and see where you can serve. It may be here in our area or internationally! But God has a plan just for you. There are ministries where you can even serve in your own back yard! We are called to share the love of Christ where we are... just do it - and watch God at work!
This was published in the Kansas City Blue River Baptist Assoication Newsletter March 1, 2010
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Hailstones generally begin by ice layers forming around foreign air born particles such as, pebbles, leaves, twigs, nuts, and insects that have been lifted into the storm cloud by strong updraft winds. For the particles to grow into hailstones, they must remain in a layer of super-cooled water for a length of time -- the longer they stay in the storm cloud, the larger the hailstone's potential size. And since gravity pulls all airborne things back to earth, there has to be a countering force to keep them aloft. Strong updrafts in the storm clouds keep the hailstones in flight. Eventually each hailstone breaks free from its up and down cycles plummeting to the earth’s surface often exceeding speeds of 100 mph.
For the smallest hailstone to form, a minimum updraft of around 30 mph is required. Larger stones, like golf-ball size hail requires updrafts of around 55 mph. For a softball-size hailstone to form, updrafts exceeding100 mph is required. The largest hailstone ever recovered in the United States fell in Aurora, Nebraska on June 22, 2003 with a record 7-inch diameter and a circumference of 18 ¾ inches. That could create a big problem coming from the sky.
This information about hailstones resembles one of life’s problems, gossip. As with the hailstone there is always something at the heart of gossip and when the layers form and reach their optimal size and weight, they drop like a bomb and have the potential to destroy, demoralize and damage innocent people. They grow to monstrous proportions never resembling their beginning state. Gossip never seeks restoration or repair, only destruction. If a gossip is ignored it becomes as deadly as a 7-inch hailstone hurled to the ground with no particular destination.
Gossip tells a story that soars high then floats down. This cycle continues as the story is told to this person and another. Every time the story is told to someone new, another layer of exaggeration gets coated on it. Eventually it becomes so big that it can’t stay in the draft any longer and something has to give…it has to fall. Like hailstones it will eventually fall to the ground, crash and break, or melt until the truth is revealed. Perhaps the center of the hailstone is a misunderstanding or even a lie…often the center is usually not so important as the junk that builds up around the particle. Regardless, unreparable damage is done.
There is a two-step remedy for gossip…the one hurling gossip stones must stop and the one acting as a sounding board must refuse to listen. Listening to a gossip’s lengthy stories will not change the gossiper and it will simply cause untold harm and destruction. If you care about a gossiper and you truly have their best interest at heart, then this what you should do. When you sense they are getting ready to cross the line and start gossiping, gently warn them that they are about to gossip, it is wrong and you will not participate in that kind of behavior. Resisting the temptation to listen to the gossiper will cause him to flee. If we all did that, gossipers would be forced to find other pastures or stop what they are doing. If they don’t stop they will ultimately face the Lord God’s judgment and that won’t be a desirable outcome.
Refraining from gossip is a problem for most people and I truly admire those who recognize gossip when they see it coming and stop it before it ripens. Most of us have a natural tendency to gossip. The juicier it gets the harder it is to not listen and the harder it is to keep it quiet.
We each have a choice to make. Will we be part of the solution or part of the problem. Gossip can cause pain in the church, home, work or in the community. Do you want to see relationships flourish or be destroyed by fiery hailstones of condemnation? Do you want reconciliation and restoration, or division and destruction? Make the healthy choice for the sake of your friends, family and the Kingdom of God and you will be blessed.
If you’re ever engaged in a conversation with me and you sense that I’m about to gossip, will you please do me a favor and stop me before I add a layer destruction to someone else’s story?
This was published in The Point.
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“Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never harm you”. Whoever dreamed up that one-liner didn’t have much experience around the people of our day.
I don’t know about you, but I think we too often say, to justify our own wrongful actions, “well at least I don’t do”…whatever we’ve witnessed someone else doing, hoping to somehow elevate our selves above that person on the scales of righteousness. How would someone, that perhaps has not reached your “level of righteousness” feel overhearing your words?”
It’s an easy thing to judge someone else’s actions or perhaps their choice of words, especially when they have done or are doing something that you wouldn’t dream of doing. But the truth is, if each of us compares ourselves to the only Holy One who ever lived on earth, we’ll come up short every time.
Someone might say, it is wrong to murder; I wouldn’t murder. It’s wrong to steal another’s possessions; I don’t steal. It is wrong to sleep with someone else’s spouse; I wouldn’t do that. The problem starts when we begin to feel so high and lifted up that we attempt to elevate our selves to the plane on which the Lord Jesus Himself sits.
In our righteous little minds we forget about the other day’s little outburst of anger when someone cut us off in traffic. And…what was that you said? What was that name you used to identify that person? How deep did your fiery dart penetrate into the back of that man’s head? How stupid did you decide the young lady was who passed you on the interstate at eighty mph with a cell phone in one hand, a tube of lipstick in the other hand, looking in the mirror with one eye while navigating the road with the other and keeping the car (sort of) between the lines with an elbow or a knee? Oh yes, don’t forget about that middle aged man in the pickup truck with a trailer attached to the rear bumper, hammer down, cutting in and out of traffic during morning rush hour with little or no regard to anyone else’s safety on the highway. How stupid did you label him oh righteous one?
I know you are not a thief but have you “borrowed” little things from the company which employees you never intending to return them? Have you robbed them of time when you were having a bad day, or made personal phone calls, many of which were long distance? Are you in a position on your job that gives you ability to sit at your computer surfing the web for hours on end?
I know you don’t commit adultery but do your lingering looks at the opposite sex pose a problem for you? Where do those lingering looks leave you on the scales of righteousness?
I know you don’t lie like others in your circle do but remember the time the police officer pulled you over and asked if you were aware that you were speeding and you said “no way man”…knowing full well that you were in such a hurry to reach your destination that you exceeded the speed limit cursing anyone who had the nerve to get in your way or drive the speed limit in front of you?
While I’ve never applied lipstick while driving on the highway, I have talked on the phone and used an electric razor at the same time while steering the car with my knee. I admit that over the past 50 years I’m guilty of many things that have uninstalled my position on the scales of righteousness. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m not the gentle little Pastor pictured at the top of the page when I’m driving down I-70 and I’m cut off in traffic by one of the above mentioned drivers.
I’m glad I don’t hear the comments from fellow drivers around me. Are you glad you can’t hear their comments either? If we heard all the nasty things people say about us behind our backs the toughest of us would be crushed in our spirit. Our egos would be deflated to the point we may never speak to another person again. Let’s step off of the scales of self-righteousness and realize that we are just like everyone else.
Sticks and stones break bones that will heal, but the cutting words of self-righteous people penetrate the heart and cuts life from their spirit. That is a wound that doesn’t easily heal.
This was published in The Point.
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