Yesterday I had the privilage of hanging out with a good friend who has a place on Gun Lake.  We had a great time talking about life, family, and being disciples of Jesus.  We discussed how Christians should look counter-cultural, and what that may look like in daily life.  Little did we know that our thoughts would be tested so quickly.

My friend bought a pontoon boat a few weeks back and to make a story really short, he’s had nothing but problems with it.  So while we were sitting there enjoying the sun, he got a call from the shop saying that it had been fixed.  As my friend proceeded to go through the list of things that were wrong with it, it was clear to him that it hadn’t been properly looked over.  The guy on the phone was adament that it was fixed, so my friend agreed that he would let them deliver it only if a mechanic would come out with him to test it on the lake.  Guess what?  The boat was not fixed!  My friend was very frustrated, but in that moment he had a choice, much like we all do.  Do we bring Shalom (peace, completeness) into the situation, or do we act as any other person would?

I’m happy to say that he chose to bring Shalom to the situation.  The mechanic on the boat mentioned that usually when this happens people freak out on him.  The man saw that my friend’s attitude was counter-cultural.  He saw the gospel being lived out in rare form.  What a great example of brining Shalom into any and all situations.

And we’re back….

In her book, Less Clutter. Less Noise., author Kem Meyer gives some defintions of culture that she has gathered; here are some of them:

Culture is…

1. how people think, feel, and act

2. a system for creating, sending, storing and processing information

3. a program for behavior

4. the way in which a group of people solve problems

Her claim is that culture is so much more than the attitude of, “that’s the way we do things around here.”  She states that the good news about culture is that we don’t always need to stay the way we are.  The word culture derives from the Latin word “colere” meaning “to build,” “to care for,” “to plant,” or “to cultivate.”  Kem Meyers ends this particular chapter by talking directly to the church:

“This is where it gets good.  And, this is our opportunity within the church - to use this definition to drive ministry decisions.  Not this is how we do things around here, but instead, to build, to care for, to plant or to cultivate.”

I’ve found myself agreeing with most things throughout this book.  I really enjoy her passion for cutting through the junk/noise, so people can understand and participate in a meaningful mission.  The mission that Jesus has called us all to is not meant to be confused and cluttered down.  Make it easy for people to understand, join, and participate in….yup, cut through the clutter.

My dog loves me.  Despite all my flaws, which are many, he thinks the world of me.  Now before you get the idea that this a post to “0000000hhhhh″ and “awwwww” at, I assure you that it is not.  I know what you’re thinking…”you even included that cute picture to the left side for us to enjoy!”  Yes I did, because I’m setting you up for the next section.

Toby, my dog, does indeed love me but he’d give me up in a second for a cheeseburger.  If you’ve been to my house you know that my dog loves table scraps.  My wife and I know we shouldn’t give Toby any; we even made an agreement when we first got him that we wouldn’t do it.  However, slowly we started handing him “treats” from the table and have somehow managed to create a monster.  I walk my dog each day for about an hour, I feed him and give him water, I lay with him on the couch, and I spend a lot of time with him.  However, if someone was hurting me and there was a cheeseburger in the room…He’d choose the cheeseburger over helping me while I suffered.

I know that overall Toby doesn’t truly love that cheeseburger more than me, but I do know that he easily gets distracted by fleeting happiness that comes from a vice.  His vice is cheeseburgers, but I can’t help but think that I may have some of my own.  While I love God and want to surrender my life to His mission/will each and every day, many times I get distracted by my own vices.  Our affection for God needs to continually grow so that we don’t keep exchanging His mission/will for something so temporal…for another cheeseburger.

I have read many articles regarding the recent oil spill in the gulf.  I’m sure we’re all educated on the situation to one degree or another, but my question is what is a follower of Jesus Christ’s response when something as tragic as this happens?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been wrestling with this question that I feel needs resolution.  However, what is God’s response?  How should we respond?  Here are some of the comments made by people in various forums pertaining to the spill (I’ll choose the very few that were PG-13 and under):

“Please investigate the fact that maybe BP could plug the leak, but they are not plugging it because they would loose all future profits from the oil well.  Could they be stalling and not closing the Oil well for future profits from the oil well?  Maybe in reality they could close it right now.” - Anger, Suspicion, etc

“The Dems have had control long enough to pass ANY legislation they wanted, including environmental laws to fix this. But they chose instead to mandate that U.S. citizens buy insurance products.”- Anger, Political Agenda, Arrogance

“This will be the end of BP, but who cares really. We the taxpayers will be shelling out so much cash for this for years to come.” - Apathy, Anger, etc

“And God said…Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” - Responsibility, Care, Mission, Growth, etc

So…

What’s our response?  Is it Gods?

What’s our responsibility?

Do we feel like this effects us?

What changes need to be made?  Why?

How can Christians set a vision and live out a mission in this world that prohibits and also helps redeem situations like these?  Can we lead the way?  I feel as if a voice crying out in the wilderness of this situation is needed.  A message and direction that people will resonate with.

Great news!  Pastor Larry had a great day of rehab yesterday, even getting a chance to walk outside for a while.  The best news, though, is that he also got his discharge papers, and will be heading home on Monday afternoon.

His rehab work has been going remarkably well, and he is gaining a lot of strenght, and the ability to maneuver with a “15 lb. brick” on his head.  Pray that he continues along this path, and that his medical issues (wound healing) would also continue to heal.

The doctors and rehab folks are impressed with Larry’s hard work and focus and kindness.. no surprise to any of us! :-)  Thanks for your prayers, and please join us in prayers of praise for this great news!  Please pray, too for the Doornbos family, as this transition will have its own challnenges, welcome though they are!

Larry continues to work very hard at rehab -  pushing to get all his strength and mobility back.  He’s moving forward, hitting some exhaustion walls, but progressing well.  They are looking at ways to make his move home possible at some point, and making sure that all of his wounds are healing appropriately.

Just a reminder that Mary Free Bed is pretty strict about visiting hours - 5:30 - 8:00 each evening, after their folks are done with their rehab work and dinner. If you can limit your visits to those hours, everything goes much more smoothly!

Thanks, as always, for your prayers.  Each day brings new evidence of God’s love and care, “revealed through nature and miracles”…. and community.

Shalom,
Jodi

What does it mean to lament? While reading through lamentations the prophet Jeremiah gives us insight into living within this mourning, grief, and suffering.  Jeremiah suffers well in the midst of a horrific situation.  So what do we exactly learn about lamenting from him?

1.  It’s okay to sometimes admit when life really stinks, when we’ve lost our way, and when we feel hopeless.  We see Jeremiah doing this for 40 years while warning the people of coming destruction.  They won’t listen, and Jeremiah lets us know that this really stinks.

2. We suffer together, in community.  None of us were ever meant to live as individuals.  In fact, God says from the very beginning that it is not good for this to happen, and directs us to multiply as one people, His people.  When one suffers, we all suffer.  This is why Jeremiah is weeping so much, his community is lost.  He doesn’t exclude himself from this.  We are not individuals, but we are a body gathered by the Holy Spirit…we lament together just as well as we celebrate together.

3. We remember in our lamenting that “in the end” God alone is our only hope and and we cry out for Him to remember us.  Jeremiah ends in Lamentations 5 with the following, “Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!  Renew our days as of old—unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.” He knows that the his community, including himself, is totally dependent upon God.  When lamenting well, we cry out for God to restore us.

We are expected to suffer during this life.  We are expected to lament.  However, this lamenting was never to be done alone and without a sense of coming restoration.  If we’re lamenting alone or know of some in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and throughout other areas of our lives who are; I encourage us to either find others to join in with us, or to join in the lamenting with them.  Lets be a part of the restoration.

More good news on this Lord’s Day — Linda called yesterday to say that during physical therapy, Larry was able to get up with a walker and walk about 30 steps!  Praise God that they are able to make so much progress so quickly!

Larry and Linda and Chris and Gayle are rejoicing in this, and so are we!  There are lots of steps ahead, but this first one was a biggie– please keep praying for strength, and for more glimpses of God’s profound healing mercy.  We sang this morning about a God who reveals himself in nature and miracles, and he truly does.

We’ll update again tomorrow to let you know when visitors would be welcome.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement for Larry and his family, and also for the staff here at egm.  We are so thankful for this amazing community!

Shalom,
Jodi

Great news!  Pastor Larry was able to move to Mary Free Bed for rehab today!  (Isn’t it interesting that “Rehab” is our current series?)  Larry had a good day of recovery yesterday, and although moving from hospital to rehab facility is pretty draining, he is doing well now.  Both Larry and Linda are grateful to be on the next step of this jo urney.

Mary Free Bed has visitation hours that are quite strict — 5:30 - 8:00 pm only, since the patients there are busy doing rehab work during the day.  Visitors will be welcome soon, but tonight both Linda and Larry are pretty tired from the move, and rehab starts bright and early tomorrow, so tonight (and most likely tomorrow) might not be the best visiting times.  I promise we’ll let you know!

We’ll probably not update quite as often now… during recovery like this, the less “news” the better, since it means things are progressing as they hope.  We of course will keep you updated on any changes.  Please know that we still covet your prayers for Larry and his family, and your love and support has been, and will continue to be, a great comfort.

Shalom,
Jodi

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Have you ever thought how big a root system of a tree is?  As I was digging up a tree in my yard on Saturday I answered this question for myself.  The tree was not a big one, but as I started digging it up the root system kept going on and on and on.  My tree isn’t even close to a “watering” source outside of the rain coming down on Zeeland, so I can only imagine the root system of a tree planted by one.  It upset me so much because a 10 minute project turned into quite the endeavor, but I was reminded of this verse in Jeremiah 17 that was part of our church’s readings a few weeks ago.  I was struck by a new thought pertaining to this verse in connection with the events over the past week.

I respect Larry Doornbos.  This may seem like a small deal to the hundreds of people who would nod their head as they read that statement, but for me this has been a huge development over the past 2 years.  I’ve never told him this, but well over a year ago I singled out some people in my life that I believed were living on God’s mission.  Ideally, these godly men would live their lives with an attitude of thankfulness while possessing a deep tension for all of us to live better stories, Kingdom Stories.  These men would have deep roots that would allow them to trust in God whether the rain comes or not.  They would be able to help me learn how to thrive within the tension while taking advantage of every day that God has granted us.  They would point me to a deeper experience in relationship with God.  This is how God and I chose Larry.

As I stopped digging in the yard I couldn’t help but wonder if the depth and width of our roots has any connection to the amount of lives one can impact.  If May 26 is any indication..it does.  Many of us, including myself, have thanked and blessed God for Larry’s protection on that day.  He has a long road to full recovery, but the doctors believe that he’ll be fine.  However, in the yard on Saturday I wasn’t so much thankful for Larry’s protection, but for his life.  We need more people in this world like Larry.  We need more deep-rooted people who are concerned with living in the kingdom as Jesus has called each one of us.  If Larry could get out of his bed and come preach to us right now, I have a feeling that he’d say:  “Don’t worry about me right now, but Do Justice, Love Mercy, and continually walk humbly with God.”

In fact, Larry will probably be upset that anyone is glorifying him or exalting a man, but he knows as well as anyone that it’s God through Him doing the work.  By looking at the Doornbos’ lives we can see what God has done and will continue to do through a few willing kingdom people.  Our world needs more of them.