Day 30

 

Transformers

 

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

 

Romans 12:2

 

 

Once when I was a youth minister a man came into my office to sign up his kids for a youth retreat. The man was a church member though not a regular attender of the church and I was unaware he had any teenagers. I wasn't the only one that didn't know he had a teenage son and daughter. It was news to his family as well.

 

He told me the story. He had an ongoing affair with a woman for about 20 years despite being married to another woman. His mistress had given birth to 2 children who he had not acknowledged were his or had a thing to do with until just a few months before our conversation. His mistress had complained to him that the kids had become difficult to manage and she had finally demanded that he be of some help. So, he had revealed himself to be their father and set out to fix the 2 sullen, angry teenagers.

 

His plan to fix them was for me to fix them. I was to do this on a weekend retreat that would start on a Friday night and end on Saturday afternoon. I had less than 24 hours to  undo 15 years of neglect, hurt and anger. I was to be the Jack Bauer of youth ministers.

 

I like to think I was a pretty good youth minister. But somehow 3 short Bible studies and a relay race that you ran wearing swim fins on your feet while carrying a watermelon did not transform those two kids into Tim and Timisina Tebow. In fact the only things transformed by the experience were the watermelons which did not survive the race intact.

 

God does forgive people of their sins in an instant. In the amount of time it takes you to pray, God can change your eternal destiny and put you on the pathway to heaven. Being transformed, however, takes time. I know the little toy can change from a car to a robot in a few seconds but it takes a lifetime to transform a person. God has been working on transforming me for years and years and I have still got a ways to go. It is a process of discipleship that will last 'till I make it to heaven and see Jesus face to face.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Romans 12:1-2

 

• "In view of God's mercy" what are we to do that is the first step in being transforming?
• Being transformed is the positive thing we are to do. What is the negative thing we are to avoid?
• Is the world conforming you to be like it or are you allowing God to transform you to be like Jesus/

 

Day 29

 

Being Taken Advantage Of

 

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting."

 

Isaiah 50:6

 

 

Laverne and Shirley seemed like such a good addition to the church. (Yes, those are not their real names but what should I call them, Thelma and Louise?) They were roommates and were young and talented, both of them could really sing. Our singles group was growing and everything seemed great.

Then one Sunday night Laverne was singing special music when she suddenly stopped. She stood there momentarily then collapsed to the floor. People rushed to get to her side to help. She was conscious but weak. We helped her to the fellowship hall and got her something to drink. She was asked if we needed to take her to the ER but she said it wasn't necessary, she knew what was going on. The story came out. She was having heart problems.

As the months passed her condition got worse. She worked as a nurse but had to quit her job. Her roommate Shirley had to work to support them both and she soon used up all of her sick days caring for her friend. Some people in the church began to help financially. Laverne's health continued to decline.

I took her to the doctor one day when Shirley could not get off work any more. She went up to the receptionist and they took her straight back in. Later we were all told that she needed open heart surgery to fix the problem and that a day and time and place had been set.

I was in the church office the morning of the surgery when a deacon called. I had been getting ready to go to the hospital but the deacon was already there. He told me he had asked for her at the hospital but that they had no record of her and had no idea who she was. He was wondering what was going on. When I got off the phone with him I called her roommate at work. She said some other friend was supposed to have taken her to the hospital and that she had called the hospital herself only to find out that they knew nothing of her. She worried that something might have gone wrong with Laverne and that perhaps she was at the apartment unable to get help.

I called the apartment and got no answer. The pastor wasn't around so I got the church secretary and the two of us went over to the apartments and explained to the manager that there might be someone very sick in the apartment. He let us in but she wasn't there. The secretary and I were walking back to my car when I saw her. She was wandering around the back of the apartment complex.

I rushed over to her and took her back to her apartment. The real story came out this time. She wasn't sick. She didn't have a heart problem. There was nothing wrong with her. The doctor's office I had taken her was just a place she had worked at before and she had just gone into the back to chat. She had taken advantage of the church and most especially her poor roommate.

When you minister to people you will be taken advantage of. It will happen sooner or later. You can try to be as wise and cautious as you can be but someone will wind up using you. That' okay. It goes with the territory.

In Isaiah there are several of what is called "Suffering Servant Poems." The most well known of these poems is in Isaiah 53. The Jews see the nation of Israel as being the servant who suffers but anyone who has read the New Testament and believes in Jesus can easily see that the suffering servant is Jesus. They are an amazing foretelling of Jesus life and ministry hundreds of years before he walked this earth. And in those suffering servant passages we see that Jesus came to us knowing full well the abusive treatment he would receive. He knew he would be treated poorly yet he came because he loved us. When we are taken advantage of because we are trying to minister we are in good company. We are identified with Jesus and there is no shame in that.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Isaiah 50:4-9

• What happens each morning to give the servant strength?
• Though his back was beat, his hair pulled out and he was mocked and spat on was the servant disgraced?
• Who helps and vindicates the servant?  

 

Day 28

 

Don't Eat It!

 

 

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

 

1 John 5:13

 

One of my regular crazy people visitors came into my office to talk one day.  Like a lot of people who have gone scooters he had an amazing story to tell. The conversation started off with the tying up of some lose ends from a previous conversation.

 

He said, "I hope you the last time we talked you did not get the impression that I have got mind control over bugs."

 

I assured him that I had did not get that impression. He didn't even have control over his own mind let alone some bug's mind.

 

He clarified things a bit. "It's not that I can control bugs minds; it's just that I can read their thoughts and know what they are going to do."

 

I told him, "Thanks for straightening that I out. That is a load of my mind." Then we settled in to his real reason for stopping by.

 

"I want to tell you about this dream I had. I dreamed an angel came up to me holding this giant sea shell that had this white fluffy stuff in it. I reached out and gabbed some of that fluffy stuff and I ate it. The angel said, 'Don't do that!' So, I want to know am I going to hell because I ate the fluffy stuff?"

 

I think the correct counseling technique is to try to steer them away from crazy talk and try to get them to focus on reality. The problem with that technique is that if they are as goofy as that guy was reality is hard to find. Plus, it is not near as much fun as just going with the flow.

 

I told him, "The way I see it is that this is a warning. Since this happened in a dream it doesn't count. But if one day an angel does come up to you with a giant sea shell full of white fluffy stuff you will know not to eat it. I think you're good to go."

 

He left a satisfied customer.

 

There are a lot of sane people who worry about their salvation. There are a lot of reasons people doubt. Sometimes people aren't doctrinally sound and just don't know what the Bible says. Some people go through some emotional trauma and their emotions lead them to doubt. Often times a persons daily walk with God is so shallow that it causes him to wonder about his salvation. Whatever the reason for doubting your salvation a good cure is to study the book of 1 John. John writes it so that we can know if we have eternal life. So, if you have doubts study 1 John and whatever you do don't eat the white fluffy stuff.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 John 1:6-7

• What is a sign that we have fellowship with Jesus and he has purified us from our sin?

Read 1 John 2:3-4

• What do we do, habitually, if we know Jesus?

Read 1 John 4:7-8

• What do people do who have been born of God?

 

Day 27

 

Mar-Mar

 

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived  in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also."

 

2 Timothy 1:5

 

 

When you called my grandmother on the phone you had better have some time on your hands because you were going to talk (well, listen) for a good long while. Some of what she said was new but most of it you would have heard many times over. Getting caught on the phone with her for a while was a small price to pay for what you got in return.

As kids we spent a good deal of time with our grandparents. I remember playing card games with her on numerous occasions. Once when I was an adult she confessed to me she really never liked playing cards; she had played simply because she loved us. My older brother and I talked her into taking us to see the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. We convinced her it was a Disney nature film. I know by the time Suzanne Pleshette got her eyes pecked out she knew it wasn't a nature film and she surely didn't like it but she never let on.

When I was old enough to be dating if there was a girl I was pretty serious about I had to take her to meet my grandmother so the girl could pass inspection. Most of the ones that made it that far my grandmother liked but there was one she took a dislike to. She told the girl how understanding it was of her to go out with me since I had been hit by a car in second grade, bouncing my head off the pavement, and had been a little off ever since.

It was true...at least the part about getting hit by the car in second grade. I was hit by a car and I did have my head bounce off the pavement after being knocked flying several yards. I suffered a concussion but I was not a little off ever since. I was never on to begin with.

When my brothers and sister and I were adults we would go to her because of her strength and wisdom. She lived in what once had been a nice neighborhood but had become  part of a barrio. On more than one occasion I replaced window panes that she had shot out keeping burglars from breaking in. She had been robbed several times. Once they did not get her money though they looked every where for it. It was in an offering envelope in plain sight. She had cashed her social security check and placed in the envelope to remind herself that God got his tithe first. (There is an obvious lesson here). She would walk about a mile to her church through the bad neighborhood since she didn't drive. Nothing was going to keep her from being faithful to her church or drive her from her home.

She helped us through the trials of life. She always believed in us. She prayed for us daily. She loved to read, especially to read her Bible. She was like Timothy's grandmother Lois. She had a sincere faith and she passed it down.

She loved God's word so much that when she died we buried her with her Bible in her hands. Now she is in heaven hearing God's word in person ... that is if God has got his turn to talk yet.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Acts 9:36-43

 

• What was Dorcas known for?
• Why do you suppose Peter was urged to hurry to Joppa? Was it so he could get there in time for the funeral or do you think they were hoping for a miracle?
• Why were all the widows so upset?

 

Day 26

 

Unique Biceps

 

"All the days of the oppressed are wretched. But the cheerful heart has a continual feast."

 

Proverbs 15:15

 

 

Years ago when I was a youth minister I went with a group of teenage girls from the youth group to Dairy Queen after the church service. Much to my surprise the topic of discussion actually turned to the Sunday School lesson. (You see miracles still do happen). The lesson had been from Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The girls were not pronouncing it eunuch but instead calling him the Ethiopian "unique." One of them asked me, "What is a unique anyway?"

 

I explained to them that the Ethiopian was not unique but a eunuch and then I watched their eyes get big as I explained what a eunuch was. That was amusing enough but it wasn't the end of the story. From that point on when someone would use the word "unique"  in a sentence they would fall out laughing. No one else in the church knew why burst out laughing during the worship service when the pastor announced, "We have a unique ministry opportunity."

 

On another occasion, at another church, I was playing a game of Pictionary with a group of kids and parents, some of which English was their second language. The word we were to draw was "biceps." I drew my little stick figure man with bulging muscles and listened for my teammates' guesses. From the other team I began to hear some hesitant and bizarre guesses. I looked at the other man's drawing. The other man drawing was a deacon, an educated man, but he  had been born and raised in the Philippines. He spoke excellent English and rarely made a mistake. But on this night he had made a whopper of a mistake. He had confused the word "biceps" with a part of the male anatomy that without it you are a "unique." Needles to say his little stick figure man drawing was somewhat different than mine.

 

When I explained what had happened the adults and teenagers were on the floor laughing. We laughed so hard we had to go outside into the winter air to cool off. I had a whole youth group who would break up laughing anytime they heard the word biceps.

 

I don't know what makes you laugh. Each of us is unique (and I mean unique). I do know that laughter is good for you. In proverbs it tells us that, "a cheerful heart has a continual feast."  The great thing about a feast of laughter is it is not fattening.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Proverbs 15:15-17

 

• What part does attitude play in being oppressed or having a cheerful heart?
• Does great wealth have to cause turmoil?
• Is love the only thing that makes vegetables taste good?