Influence

It has been a busy week after being away for a couple days for Thanksgiving.  I enjoyed a special time with friend Keith and his family, coming home several pounds heavier after enjoying some fantastic meals with them.  It is always a joy to get together with the family there. 

I finished reading the books of Acts and Romans and am working my way through Corinthians presently.  It is interesting to see how the Apostle Paul ministered with all kinds of corrupting pressures around him but through the power of the Holy Spirit was able to keep from being influenced by those pressures, while at the same time making a BIG impact.  Corinth was notorious for immorality, Athens for polytheism and Ephesus for idolatry but in spite of the influences around him, Paul kept his focus and left behind young churches in both Corinth and Ephesus.

It is easy today to look at the world around us and get discouraged, but I suspect that is just what the enemy desires.  I have been listening to Chip Ingram as he has been focusing on the Holy Spirit recently, and recognizing how easy it is for me to pursue my plans and desires ahead of “tuning in” to the Holy Spirit. I am reminded of Paul’s warning to the Ephesians; “So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”  (Ephesians 5:15-17)  To accomplish that we sure need to know His Word and be in tune with His Holy Spirit!

The weather forecast for Saturday is great, so I plan to wrap up my outside/yard work, clean up the last of the leaves, drain the irrigation system and what I anticipate will be the final mowing for this year.  Our rainfall has dramatically diminished this fall so the grass has slowed growing, which hopefully will mean that I can slide through the month of December without another cutting.

I trust that you each have a wonderful weekend!

Chuck

Give Thanks

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, I am reminded of some of the Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Romans; “So be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do….And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Ephesians 5:15-17; 20)  I need those reminders in my life…Being careful how I live and giving thanks for everything to God! 

Today I received a huge item to thank the Lord for.  I had a call from my friend Bob this morning following his wife’s biopsy and lengthy battery of tests.  The diagnosis is cancer but it is only stage one and they have surgery already scheduled for the 28^th.  We will continue to pray for a successful surgery and rapid healing without any infection.  Thanks to all of you who were praying with us and to the Lord for this wonderful report!

Tomorrow I am heading over to Raleigh/Durham to be with friend Keith and join the family in Wake Forest for their family Thanksgiving.  It will be a special time to be with them and to be counted as part of their family.  

I trust that each of you will enjoy a special time of Thanksgiving with family and friends as you reflect upon the abundant blessings from our God!

Love to you all,

Chuck

The Reason?

What a blessing you friends are!  Your telephone calls, emails and text messages are always a great encouragement both when I am on the road and at home.  As the nineteen of us gathered in Chicago to celebrate an early Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was frequently reminded about how much Carol would love to have been with us, and at the same time recognizing how much she influenced each one of our lives.  We certainly do miss her but are thrilled to know that we will all be together again, likely sooner that we think, to enjoy eternal life with our Lord and Savior together.

 Driving back from Chicago was fun with little Ella chanting from her car seat from time to time “go go Boppi!”   I was sure amazed how well she did during those long 12 hours on the road.  As the family gets scattered further and further it becomes more difficult to get everyone together, but so far we manage to do it at least once each year with smaller gatherings during the year.  It is a tremendous blessing for me to have the health and strength to continue to travel to be with the family frequently.

Today I learned that one of our good friends, Lois, has been diagnosed with cancer and will be going in Monday to determine what stage it is in.  Times like this are always difficult so do join me in praying for her and her husband Bob and for clear guidance for the medical people about her treatment. 

As we face these challenges I was thinking about Jesus words as the crowd was ready to crucify Him; “Now my soul is deeply troubled.  Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But this is the very reason I came!  Father, bring glory to your name.”  (John 12:27-28)  I wonder how many times I face a major challenge that really is part of His plan to bring glory to His name and I miss the opportunity due to my self-centeredness?  Due join me in praying for a sensitivity of how those challenges in my life can be redirected for His glory!

Love to you all,

Chuck

God's Power Seen

I have enjoyed reading John’s Gospel this week and was reminded that while he does not refer to any of the parables of Jesus, he presents a rather complete account of seven of his miracles, five of which are not recorded elsewhere.  As I was reading about the man that was born blind (John Chapter 9) I was especially struck by the response of Jesus to his disciples when they asked him about the cause of the blindness, which they seemed to attribute to the sin of either himself or his parents.    Jesus responded “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”  That little phrase caused me to pause there and spend considerable time thinking about what that could be saying to me.  How I dislike the difficult things that come into my life and I go to great lengths to either avoid them or rid my life of them.  I wonder how many times God allows “things” to come into my life to use them for HIS glory, but the real question is…did I respond to them so that HE was glorified?  I fear that the church (you and I) today has lost a great amount of influence and power in the world due to our lack of faith and trust in HIM coupled with our own selfish interests.    I have been thinking much about how I can better respond to those “challenges” coming my way for God’s glory.

Yesterday I spent a very full day at our election polls helping people and running the voting machines.  When I arrived there at 5:45 am there were already 25-30 people in line outside waiting for us to open the doors at 6:30 am.  Later I found that the first man in line had been waiting there since 4:30 am to be sure that he was first in line and off to work.  It was an extremely busy day keeping 14 voting machines going and when I finally got home after 10:00 pm, I was tired!  Being that I work in my home precinct, it is always a delight to be able to assist many of my neighbors. 

Tomorrow I am heading for Chicago where the family will be celebrating an early Thanksgiving together to avoid heavy travel on the holiday.  With Jeremy being a youth pastor there, it is difficult for him to get away on weekends, so we decided to join him, Julianna and Judah for the event.  Laura and Ella have been in Michigan visiting family, so Justin will travel with me, meeting up with them in Chicago.  The three of them will then travel back with me so it will be nice not having to make that long trip alone.  Pray for all of the family that will be covering many miles.  Hopefully the predicted weather on the coast will not come inland where we will be traveling.

Love to you all,

Chuck