"Will You Cross the Bridge?"

On Sunday we looked at the first of six vantage points the Bible gives us of the cross: The cross is like a relationship being reconciled. Jesus on the cross provided a bridge that makes possible reconciliation between us and God, others and ourselves.

On Monday, someone from the church called me. She gave me permission to share her story. She said:

"Sunday after the service I was with my husband and grown children in the teen room having the burrito lunch. As we were eating we were talking about the service. I shared with my family that when we were praying at the end of the service, God showed me that I needed to let Christ's cross bring reconciliation between me and my mom. My family then began to talk about how they too felt hurt and alienated by my mom. We all began to talk about how we knew God was telling us we needed to trust him to do something about this broken relationship, but we all agreed we did not know what to do.

It was at that point that I realized that I had unknowingly called someone on my cell phone. I noticed my phone was on and so I picked it. I then realized someone was listening. "Hello," I said. I then heard my mom's voice say, "This is your mom and I have heard everything you've said." And then she hung up.

I went home, but mom was not there (her mother lives with them). Later that night my mom came home.

I said, "Mom, can we talk?"

"No," She said, "I have been so upset that my blood pressure has sky-rocketed and I can't deal with this right now."

I said, "Mom, we are going to deal with it now because if we don't do it now we never will."

I went on to share every question and every hurt I have had standing between me and my mom since I was a little girl. I then explained to my mom how much I loved her and how I was not blaming her, but how if we did not talk about our past that I feared my heart would grow colder and colder toward her.

Then, my mom did what I never dreamed would have been possible. She heard me. She really heard me. Then she shared her hurt and what had been done to her as a child and how she then passed that on to me. She apologized. I had never heard my mom apologize.

I then apologized for her for holding on to hurt and bitterness.

I know it sounds like some movie, but it was real. For the first time since I was a little girl, my mom and I came back together. We cried. We hugged. We finally understood each other. Just that quick, God brought reconciliation to what I thought could never be reconciled."

I want to thank this sister in Christ for letting me share her story. I know God used her story to speak to me and show me a bridge I need to cross so that he can bring reconciliation.

Friends, our Sister's story is the kind of story Jesus died to make possible. The only question is, will you and I cross the bridge and let him reconcile us to God, others and ourselves.

"The Cross is Like a Relationship being Reconciled"

"Nothing But Dust"

Ash Wednesday reminds us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. Until we honestly confront that in and of ourselves we are nothing but dust we cannot embrace the gift of the cross or the hope of the resurrection.

Will you admit that you are nothing but dust? Here are some scriptures to meditate on today to help us confront that without Christ we are nothing but dust.

Genesis 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."

Psalm 51:5, "Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

Isaiah 53:6, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..."

Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

How does it make you feel to confront your dust? What do these verses stir up in you?

It may not be comfortable, but it is very healthy to take an honest inventory of our falleness as humanity. This is the purpose of Ash Wednesday. It is a time to make me think about what I do not want to think about; that left to myself I am nothing but selfish, greedy, bitter, controlling, angry, hurting, fearful, hopeless dust. This acknowledgement is what will allow us to see the power of Christ's cross and empty grave. But for now, we must resist the temptation to run to Christ's symbols of hope and we must force ourselves to stare into our dust.

I hope you will join us tonight at 7 PM for our Ash Wednesday service in which we dare to confront our dust.

"Destany's Birthday"

Today, Melissa Moorman (a member of Living Hope), emailed me with something I had missed. As I shared on Sunday, one of the teenagers rescued from Human Trafficking through your efforts with the SOAP campaign during the Super Bowl was a 17 year old named Destany. Melissa emailed me to ask if I had noticed that today is Destany's birthday?

Nope. I had completely missed that. I dug out the paper work and sure enough, today is Destany's 18Th birthday. Think about that...today she can celebrate her birthday in freedom.

Jorie Hanson (another member of Living Hope) sent a prayer chain request asking us to remember to pray for the victims of human trafficking and the Ukraine Orphans (By the way, orphan and foster care ministries are a huge preventive measure for Human Trafficking). Thank you, Jorie!

Yes, please, Living Hope Church, let's pray hard! Pray for the children who found the soap in hotel rooms this past weekend. Pray that they have the courage and the opportunity to call the hot line. Pray for their freedom. Pray for God's healing grace to begin to mend their hearts and minds with his truth even before they are rescued. Pray!

Jorie also shared a scripture that I found to come alive in light of girls like Destany. "Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4. This verse reminds us that our prayers do not end with an "Amen." They end with action. God has called us, his Church, to "Defend", "Maintain", "Rescue" and "deliver." All of those are the action word "Amens" of prayer.

Sunday, March 11, Theresa Flores will bring her SOAP (Saving Our Adolescents from Prostitution) campaign to Dayton for the NCAA basketball tournament. Let's pray for this and say "Amen" by registering for FREE at http://soapfinalfourdayton-eorg.eventbrite.com I urge all men, women and teens to register. (Parents of teens, the training Theresa offers may very well be the best protection you could offer your child).

So, let's pray hard and let our amen be our action! Then, by Jesus' love and power answering prayer and working through us many more Destany's will celebrate their next birthday realizing that their destiny is not slavery.

"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.