The belt of grace

In the ’90s, I was involved in work in a country I am calling Muldanesia. As this is a true story, the names of people and locations have been changed. While working in this country, I saw many people come to Christ and lives changed.

However, a problem arose with a man I will call Lonny. For a couple of years, I worked very closely with him whenever I visited this country. He was in charge of coordinating the work I did there.

Then he became very ill with a contagious disease. The missionary in charge told me to replace him with another pastor who could serve as the coordinator of the work I would do there in the future.

I chose Alan, a young man I had come to know and really trust over the previous few years. He had worked with us on our evangelistic teams, so I promoted him to the leadership of those teams for our next visit.

It turned out that Lonny didn’t like Alan at all. There were personality conflicts that had long existed below the surface between them, thus Lonny was deeply offended by being replaced with Alan.

Lonny started spreading rumors about me. A good friend of his was the leader of churches in one district, and he turned that man against me. The next year, when I was making plans to work in that district, I was informed I was no longer welcome there.

It didn’t stop God’s work from happening. We just moved our work to another district and saw great success there.

noun: (in Christian theology) the free, undeserved mercy and kindness of God shown to creation; the opposite of sin (Søren Kierkegaard)

However, it really hurt. I had considered Lonny a friend yet, he had not only gotten angry at me for a decision I had made, he had spread stories about me and turned others against me.

I didn’t say anything to Lonny about it at the time, but the betrayal hurt deeply. I prayed about it and, in my heart, I did manage to forgive the man. I just hoped and prayed that God would do something in his heart one day.

A few years later, I spoke at a university where Lonny was doing further study. I shared a sermon about Isaiah Chapter 6 and the things that happen when we genuinely encounter God in our lives — not when we encounter church or religion but when we really encounter God in some genuine way. At the end of the meeting, a lot of people responded to a challenge to get their lives right with God.

To my surprise, Lonny was one of them. I was surprised to see this man, who had turned against me so publicly, humbling himself to the point of responding so vulnerably under my teaching ministry.

After that, Lonny and I were reconciled and continued to have a good friendship throughout the years to come. One time, when I was speaking at an event in Muldanesia just a few years ago, he was attending and kept telling me, “Chris, I have a gift for you. I want to be sure and give it to you before you leave.”

On the last day there, he came to my room with a belt. It was covered in beads and had my name spelled out on it. It had to be one of the ugliest belts I had ever seen! But it was special to me because it showed genuine love and repentance. I kept the belt and was very grateful for the heart that gave it to me.

Not too long after that, Lonny became seriously ill again. One day, I was surprised to hear the news that he had died. He wasn’t old at all, so I really was surprised.

I wore that belt when I preached on Sunday. A couple people made fun of it, but I wore it proudly in memory of my friend. I told his story to the church and explained what the belt meant to me. It represented grace, and it represented God’s power to change a heart.

Lonny was not the only person who ever turned on me like that through the years. I know what it’s like to be gossiped about, betrayed, and rejected. Unfortunately, that’s something I think we all experience in this broken world. We can’t control how other people respond to us. Some may change their attitudes in time, but there will also be those who won’t. All we can do is pray for those who have hurt us, forgive them so that we are not overcome by bitterness, and be willing to love them if and when they return.

In the meantime, I will always remember that belt of grace. I, myself, have betrayed God and rejected Him more times than I care to remember, but He’s always welcomed me back into His arms. It’s a wonderful thing to remember that grace still exists and people still can be changed by it.

Parkinson’s: The quest for a cure

It was only the second time I ever saw my dad cry. He walked in the front door of our home in Reedley, California and told me, “I have Parkinson’s Disease.”

He’d had a relative who had Parkinson’s Disease, so he knew well what it does. It’s a degenerative neurological disease that does terrible things to the body. Over the past several years, we’ve watched as it has taken its toll on my dad. Through it all, he’s managed to stay in good spirits and provide us all with a good example of strong faith and resilience in the midst of adversity. In some ways, I think his spirit may be stronger than ever, though his body is weak.

All the same, how many times we’ve all wished and prayed for a cure!

In America alone, more than half a million people are affected with this disease. At least six million around the world have been diagnosed with it. I’m sure they’re all hoping and praying for a cure.

But is a cure possible?

Prominent neurologists believe it is. In the 1980s, a doctor named Bill Langston made a breakthrough that opened up several promising avenues of investigation into the causes of Parkinson’s. Since then, prominent researchers such as Dr. Langston, Dr. Jeffrey Kordower and Duke University researcher, Miquel Nicolelis, have made great strides toward finding better treatments for the disease and towards the possibility of a cure.

Ten years ago, many in the field of neurology believed in the possibility of finding a cure but very little research was being done. This was due to a lack of finances made available for that research. In the mid-1990s, very little research money was directed toward this disease, in spite of the fact the research opportunities were so promising.

However, in 2000, actor Michael J. Fox (who has Parkinson’s Disease) started the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. In the past nine years, the foundation has funded more than $149 million in research directly or via partnerships. Through the work of aggressive funding and the raising of awareness around the world, great strides have been made in the improvement of treatment and the quest for a cure. In fact, they believe that a cure could be found within the next decade.

As a follower of Christ, I believe that one way we can live out our faith is by responding to causes such as this one. We are not called just to preach a message of “going to heaven someday,” but to also seek out ways of demonstrating God’s love and the values of His Kingdom through frontal assaults upon issues of injustice, poverty and illness around the world.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation generates funds for research through the generous giving of people around the world who care about the cause. For me, this cause is not some generic concern out there that is competing for our attention. For me, it has a name, and its name is Dad.

It has various names and some who are reading this will know it by one dear to you as well. Maybe it is you, or maybe it’s somebody you love.

If you’d like to join the quest for the cure, you can find out more about it at this link:

About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

I believe this urgent goal will finally be reached as more and more of us get involved.

“Medical science has proven time and again that when the resources are provided, great progress in the treatment, cure, and prevention of disease can occur.” — Michael J. Fox

Made for rhythm

I was recently watching a video on Facebook that our missionary colleague, Hazel Bech, put up. It was a video of a group of Christ-followers in Rwanda worshiping God. Their faces were vibrant as they sang and danced for Jesus! I was impressed by the sincerity and joy I saw in those faces. I also loved watching the worshipers dance. They had such rhythm!

As I sit here typing in a coffeehouse, they’re playing music. It’s good music and I can’t help but notice it has rhythm.

Did you know God made rhythm?

I just looked up a definition of the word online:

Rhythm: n. Movement or variation characterized by the regular recurrence or alternation of different quantities or conditions

Music doesn’t exist without rhythm, and its rhythm is really just a reflection of Creation. Everything God made has a natural rhythm.

For example, there’s the rhythm of the seasons: from summer to autumn, from autumn to winter, and so on…

There’s a rhythm to the day: from daylight to night and night to day…

And God also made the human being for rhythm.

Now, I’m not saying that all of us possess a musical rhythm. That’s disproven at any given concert, where everybody is clapping, by the occasional person who is clapping in between the beats!

But our bodies and souls are made for a natural rhythm and, without that rhythm, we don’t function very well. A song without rhythm is just noise, and a life without rhythm is just chaos. In fact, when we don’t respect the natural rhythms of our body and soul, we fall apart, just as the efforts of a symphony orchestra would fall apart as soon as the rhythm was lost.

I mentioned this briefly in my last post. We have to find the right balance in life — the rhythm we were made for — in order to be healthy, spiritually and physically. Let’s consider some of life’s natural rhythms and consider what happens when we lose the beat:

• The rhythm of sleep

  Part of the natural rhythm of our bodies requires proper sleep. If we don’t sleep enough, our bodies begin to break down. Lack of good sleep can lead initially to moodiness, irritability and disinhibition. Then, if a person doesn’t respond to these initial signs by getting the sleep they need, lack of adequate sleep in one’s life can lead to memory loss, the inability to multi-task and apathy. It reduces a person’s ability to be productive and can also make a person dangerous on the road as a person who doesn’t sleep enough is likely to have “micro-sleeps,” nodding off for 5 to 10 seconds, perhaps without even realizing he’s doing so. (reference: Why sleep is important and what happens when you don’t get enough)

  Some people are very proud that they feel they can “get by” with little sleep. They become so driven in their lives and careers that they sacrifice sleep and refuse to recognize they are destroying themselves in the process, by stepping out of rhythm with their body’s needs.

  When a person’s body is not continually renewed through sufficient sleep, his or her body’s healing process is impaired, and the body’s natural defenses against viruses and other illnesses are also broken down. PhD and diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, Michael J. Breus writes:

  Studies show an increased mortality risk for those reporting less than either six or seven hours per night. One study found that reduced sleep time is a greater mortality risk than smoking, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Sleep disturbance is also one of the leading predictors of institutionalization in the elderly, and severe insomnia triples the mortality risk in elderly men. Remarkably, sleep loss may also be a contributing factor to obesity.

  I believe a lack of sleep can be harmful to our spiritual condition as well. Some people legalistically think that they have to get up really early every morning for prayer in order to be “spiritual” enough, but some people’s bodies simply don’t cope with that kind of schedule. If we are made irritable by a lack of sleep, we can’t claim that as a spiritual victory and, if we aren’t taking care of our bodies properly in the name of “spirituality,” we’re missing the point terribly.

  Here’s something the Bible says about sleep:

  “In vain you rise early
  and stay up late,
  toiling for food to eat—
  for he grants sleep to those he loves.” — Psalm 127:2

  God made us with this natural rhythm for a reason and He wants us to honor that rhythm by finding the balance in life necessary to make sure we get our sleep! A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research study, released February 28, 2008, states that one out of ten Americans are sleep deprived. No matter how driven we may be, this is NOT honoring to God. God made your body with a natural rhythm for a reason, and you need to get your sleep.

  For more information about the body’s need for sleep, as well as a consideration of how to help people who simply CAN’T sleep, take a look at these Helpguide articles:

  Sleeping Well: Understanding Sleep Needs, Cycles and Stages

  Tips for Getting Better Sleep: How to Sleep Well Every Night

• The rhythm of sustenance

  When I’m visiting Africa, I sometimes see children whose bellies are extended; not from overeating, but from malnutrition. Due to their poverty, they haven’t had the option to honor their body’s need for sustenance. They truly know what it means to be HUNGRY, and their bodies suffer as a result.

  Most of us don’t know what true HUNGER is. However, we may know what it’s like not to eat PROPERLY. Our bodies have very real needs, and we need to respect those needs.

  The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). Taking care of that temple, therefore, is not an optional thing. When we disrespect our body, we disrespect the God who made us and lives within us.

  Respecting the body’s natural rhythm of sustenance means eating properly if we have that option. I’ve had times when I’ve been so driven by my work that I forgot to eat! That’s not good! I’ve also been guilty of not eating PROPERLY. Junk food doesn’t keep the body healthy. My body has needs, and I need to work a proper diet into the balance of my life. To be honest, this is something I haven’t always done well, but I’m trying to work on it.

• The rhythm of exercise

  If our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we have no right to abuse it. Exercise isn’t something we are meant to do only when we want to lose weight or get nice looking muscles. Exercise is a need that our body has, and we all need to seek ways to get the exercise our body needs. This takes discipline and, once again, it requires finding the balance we need in our life-schedules to make sure we are honoring our body’s needs thus, as a result, honoring the God who made our body.

  

• The rhythm of rest

  Genesis 2:2-3 says:

  By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

  God put the rhythm of what came to be known as the Sabbath rest into Creation itself. Even God rested, and He wants us to follow His example. In fact, the Sabbath was so important to God that He put it into the Ten Commandments.

  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8-11

  I don’t believe that the Sabbath was created as some kind of legalistic “religious” day to be forced upon people. It was created as part of the natural rhythm of creation. We NEED that day of rest each week and, when we don’t take it, we are putting ourselves in danger. The body and soul need time to rejuvenate and be refreshed, and we also need that time for important things like paying attention to our family relationships and our relationship with God.

  Airplanes can only stay in the air so many hours before they start to fall apart. Why is that? Because if a plane stayed in the air TOO long, the stress would pull it apart. The same is true for us. If we stay busy too long and don’t take those times to rest, we fall apart physically, emotionally and spiritually.

  I remember the day I made the commitment to take a weekly sabbath rest no matter what. I was VERY busy and wondered how I could get all my work done if I took a day off, but I also knew I was struggling to cope with the stress and that I was tired all the time. So I decided to SCHEDULE a day off each week and find out what happened.

  Here’s what happened; I discovered, when I took one day off each week, I actually accomplished MORE in the remaining six days of the week than I had previously accomplished while working all seven. I also discovered that I felt better, was happier and easier to get along with. I was beginning to respect the rhythm of life and, as I did so, life began to feel more and more like the beautiful song it was made to be!

God made us for rhythm!

To find out how you can help children like the hungry children I mentioned in Africa, check out When I Grow Up, a glocal initiative started by Redeemer’s Church in Reedley, California.

Good news and bad news

Dear Supporters,

Over the weekend, we got some bad news and some good news….but the good news so outweighs the bad that we are totally rejoicing! I’ll tell you the bad news first…

• BAD NEWS:
  It looks like we’ll actually need about $4000 a year (approximately $333 a month) more than I had estimated in my previous post.
• GOOD NEWS:
  This weekend, $1020 a month in pledges came in. That means we only have about $5,520 to go (or $460 a month) to meet the minimum support needs for our first year. That, in turn, means we’ve reached 77 percent of the goal.

Please pray that God provides the rest, as we’re confident He will!

If you feel led to contribute to our support fund, our online giving page can be found at:

http://web.nazarene.org/goto/goingglocal

The site is set up both for credit cards and for direct bank-to-bank deposits.

God bless you!

Chris & Karen

PLEASE NOTE:
The next post tells what we
envision for the work in México!