"The Need to Be Held"

Several months ago, our daughter, Anna (5 yrs. old) was crying for no noticeable reason. It was bed time so I knew, in part, it was because she was tired. I came into her room, sat on her bed and asked her what was wrong. She did not know what was wrong.

I said, "Anna, do you just need to cry?"

At that question, the dam broke and a flood of sobs spilled out. She fell into my arms and said, "Yes, Daddy, I just need to cry and I need you to just hold me."

I held my baby girl in my arms, rubbed her back, listened to her cry and told her, "Its OK, baby, you can cry as much as you need." Minutes later, we were wiping her tears and blowing her nose.

"Thank you, Daddy," she said, "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Good night."

Sometimes we all need is to be held. Especially a child.

My son Seth (3 yrs.) has never had the same need to cry for no reason, but he also expresses a need to be held. He does so in a more assertive manner. I've noticed that by the time my day off rolls around, he is in need of some Daddy time. Usually some time on Friday, he will suddenly stop whatever he is doing and make his way over to me. If something is in my lap, he simply moves it. Then he climbs up and takes a seat. I wrap my arms around him, plant a kiss on his head and say, "I love you, bud." Then I love to hear him say, "I wove you too, Dad."

Sometimes a child just needs to be held.

The same story will go untold in Indianapolis Super Bowl weekend. While the city fills with football fans ready to enjoy the game of the year, some evil folks will be looking to make more money on this annual event than they will at any other event in the USA. Across Indianapolis, motel rooms will be stocked with children, boys and girls. The average age for underage sex is 10, but some will be as young as my daughter, Anna.

I can hear them crying out in their hotel rooms. Crying to be heard. Crying to be held. Crying to be rescued. Others have been held in this modern day slavery so long they have stopped crying. To protect their young hearts and minds from another night of disappointment, they have given up all hope of ever being set free from this hell on earth.

And so, on their behalf, Jesus cries out. Jesus said he came to "preach good news to the poor, set captives free and open the eyes of the blind" (Luke 4:18). The question is, will we his church be about the same business? Will we open our blind eyes to the 27 million of our world forced to have sex or do work as slaves? Will we not just say, "how awful", but will insist on joining Jesus in setting captives free? Will we preach good news or will our faith be nothing more than empty words in a Sunday sermon?

Women...join us at Living Hope this Saturday anytime between 6-9 PM for a WAR (Women at Risk) international party. You can purchase hand made items that children and women have made so they no longer have to be slaves.

Men...take next Wed. off work and register today for the STAND in Indianapolis. Register today at www.elivinghope.com. Last year 61 victims were rescued from the Super Bowl. What if our part could rescue more? "America's Most Wanted" TV Show will even be there to follow the efforts of the day.

Come on...if it were your child, no excuse would get in the way of you holding him or her in your arms. And I can't think of any excuse worthy of telling someone else, "I won't help you hold your child again?" How about you?

"When was the Last Time you Went Roller Skating?"

Up until this past Saturday, the last time I had gone roller skating was when I was in my early teens. Its funny...the skating rink was much like I remembered it when I was a child: The same old skates. The same old signs hanging on the walls. The same disco looking lighting. And the same old fun.

It is funny how you out grow your appreciation for activities like roller skating at some point early in life, but then you reach a point when you have a renewed appreciation for things that had once become old. I suppose what made me enjoy skating all over again was because of the memories it brought up.

I remembered elementary school skate parties (life seemed so much simpler and yet so much bigger back then). I remembered watching my dad skate with his arms around my mom and being amazed at how they could skate together like that (Kimberly and I would kill ourselves in such an attempt). I remember my second cousin who use to run a skating rink in Florida and how he could do flips and spins and other amazing stunts. I remember how my Grandma skated for the first time at the urging of us grandchildren and fell and broke her tail bone (I don't know why I remember that memory as a positive one; I guess because she was willing to break her tail bone to do something fun with her grand kids). The point is, Saturday's skating experience was elevated by my past skating experiences.

The same is true in our journey with Christ. Every day, month, year, decade you walk with Christ, your present experience is elevated by your past experience.

We American Christians are so impatient...myself included...we want everything now. We want the experience of a 50 year journey with Christ in one year. It does not happen. This journey with Christ is about a daily following of him in relationship. It cannot be rushed. Too rush a relationship, is to rob from the relationship.

I think this is why when Moses asked God for his name, God answered, "I Am." God invited Moses and all of us to know him as the "I Am" right now God. Sadly many Christians only know God as "I was". Other Christians are looking for the God, "I will be". But, God says let me be the God, "I Am." Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may not be. All that you ever have is right now. Let God be the God of right now.

What's happening this very moment in your life? Stress, happiness, sorrow, business, confusion, laughter, work, parenting, marriage, divorce, applying for medicaid...what's going on in your life right now? What if where you are right now is exactly where God wants to give you the opportunity of a life time? And what if the more I learn to walk with him as the God, "I AM," the more your present experience will be amplified by your past steps.

That is one of the reasons we make such a big deal about small groups around here. Each group gives us intentional community in which together we can experience God as "I AM" and every day I experience that I am paving the way for a deeper, richer and more mature relationship with him tomorrow.

"Sometimes God Calls Me Martha"

Saturday night my mind was racing with things to do, plans to make and people to contact. As I would toss and turn in bed I would watch the clock...midnight...1 AM...2 AM...Finally, at 4 AM, after thinking of everything I could think of that needed to be thought of I was ready to go to sleep.

I prayed a prayer that I often pray, "Lord, if there is anything I need to see, hear or know, please, I give you permission to make that clear." As soon as I ended that prayer God spoke. In my heart and mind he reminded me of Jesus' conversation with two sisters in Luke 10:38-42. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things," I heard Jesus say to me. Yes, sometimes God calls me Martha.

Like Martha, I am more comfortable being busy than sitting around "relaxing" whatever that means. Like the original Martha, I too want God to kick some people in the seat of the pants and get them busy doing something for Jesus. But, if I am not careful I, like Martha, will exchange a call to action for Christ for becoming "worried and upset about many things." That is what I heard God saying to me on Saturday night.

So, in prayer I began to focus on God calling me Martha. I began to ask him about why I was worried and upset about many things. The more I focused on that the more I seemed to become worried and upset about many more things. Then God reminded me that what Jesus said to Martha did not stop there. Jesus went on to say, "Martha, Martha you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her." Earlier in the text it tells us that Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him. In other words, Martha, she and me, was upset because instead of our activity bringing us to it was taking us way from sitting at the feet of Jesus.

So, I stopped and sat (actually, I laid). Next thing I knew, I was sound asleep. Jesus was right. What Mary chose was better. May be someday God will have grown me enough in him that if he calls me by a woman's name it won't be Martha.

"What's Your Word?"

A friend of mine shared that this year instead of making a resolution, she had been challenged to choose a word for 2012. The purpose is to pray for God to show you a word to focus on for the year and then you let God shape you by that word.

That idea resonated with me. So, I have been asking God for a word. The word that I have come to is "Rejoice". My verse for 2012 is going to be "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4). Each day, with God's help, I will turn my attention to the word "Rejoice" and ask God to teach me anything he wants me to know, see or hear about what it means to rejoice in him always.

I have to admit that I am somewhat intimidated by the word rejoice. Let's face it...if I were in a Winnie the Pooh story (Can you tell I have kids who are 5 and 3?) I would definitely be type-cast as Eor. The word rejoice is not natural to my personality, but I believe that God can so transform us that he can even change the negative points of our personality. I am not saying that by the end of the year God will make me into a Tiger who bounces around all the day, but I do think that God will grow me in the depths of the truth called "rejoice."

Its interesting how God begins to birth a truth in a person. On New Year's Eve I was driving to LH and turned on the radio. I was listening to K-99.1 and they were posing the question about New Year's resolutions. A caller said, "This year I want to stress less and appreciate more. I want to not sweat the little things so that I am less miserable. I fear that I often make it so others do not want to be around me because of the way I let things get to me."

As I heard those words, they might as well have been God's word to me. They rung true. The only difference between me and the guy on the radio was that I know that I can't change myself. I need a Savior to change me. So, this year I am going to the word "rejoice" every day and asking the Lord to change me by whatever he wants to teach me through that small but powerful word.

What's your word for 2012? I would love to hear about your word if you choose one. Happy New Year!