SAILING OUT JOHN

by Barbara Chadwick

Our church provides a Thanksgiving meal for the community. So yesterday we loaded our pumpkin pies and sweet potato casserole in the car and headed out. It would be an hour and a half drive.

As we drove down our snowy lane, a snowshoe hare darted across the road in front of a coyote. He was “sailing out John” (that is – running as if his life depended on it)

Driving down the mountain we passed fields of cows – standing perfectly still – as if waiting.

So it was an hour drive down a mountain road to hwy 287. On hwy 287 the speed limit is 65 mph only we got stuck behind someone driving slower.

Fif – ty – five – miles – per -  hour Kenneth said, emphasizing each syllable.

We made it to the church, put our stuff on the big table, then had to wait for everyone else to bring their food. Finally it was 12:00 and time for the pastor to pray. By 2:30PM we had fed 125 people. The table was heavy with food and the fellowship was great among people who only waved to each other occasionally. What a blessing.

We get in the habit of “sailing out John” – the habit of hurry. Why does it seem so hard to wait. Our impatience gets in the way sometimes. 

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

Be still and enjoy your family this Thanksgiving!

Measuring Effectiveness

I recently got hired to be the Jail Coordinator for the McLennan County Jail. My boss and I were talking about how to encourage the volunteers we have and how to get more volunteers. And two of the questions that we covered were: How do you measure effectiveness? Specifically, how do you measure the success of a jail ministry?

As I reflected on this question it occurred to me that I couldn’t measure my success based on the response of other people or I’d be sunk before I got started. You can never base what you do or don’t do, what you say or don’t say, by what someone else wants or doesn’t want. However, if I know why I’m doing something, or who it is that I’m doing it for, in other words, what am I responsible for? … well, then I might be able to come to a reasonable answer.

Why am I going to jail? Because I believe that God sent me to jail. I believe the word of God when it says to not forget those who are in prison; when it says to love others the way you want to be loved. And whoam I doing it for? I’m doing it for Jesus, only Jesus, my reason for living. Scripture tells me that I prove my love for God in the way that I love others. I’ve heard it said that the health of a country is best evaluated by how it treats its lowest citizens. I believe the health of the church can also be evaluated by how we treat those who are weaker than we are, those in jail, or prison, those who are marginalized. What am I responsible for? Loving God and loving others.

I asked some of our jail volunteers how they would measure their effectiveness in jail. I was so blessed by their responses and I hope you will be as well.

·         George: It’s like the farmer; he goes out and works hard planting all the seeds, then he goes home and rests. He’s done. The rest is up to God; to bring the sun and the rain and to give it life. I am responsible to sow the seed. Therefore I must get the seed … I must spend time in His word so that I have seed to sow.

·         Edmond: I am here because of the love of God. It was the love of God that saved me and made me whole. It is the love of God that moves in the heart of men to change them. I am responsible to share the love that God has given me to others.

·         Marvin: I’m obedient. God tells us to go, so I must go. He does the work.

·         Mary: I listen to the Spirit. The closer I listen the more effective I am. The Spirit is the One who gives me words to speak the moment I go back there. My job is to make sure that I spend time with Him daily so that I recognize His voice.

YOU ARE MY ROCK

by Barbara Chadwick

Adversity, trials, sickness, pain and death are all parts of life. We can face them only with the help of our “Rock, our Salvation.”

“When I had shingles the music stopped.”  (from a commercial about a singer who got shingles.)

 My sister, Mary, in a similar situation said of God, You are my hiding place…and you will surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7

A friend, Shirley rode the 1 ½ hours to our women’s retreat with a group of women from our church. When she arrived I said, “I’m so glad you could come.” She smiled and told me about the ride down the mountain with her sisters in Christ and said, “It felt so wonderful to laugh again.” Her husband had died 6 months before. They had been married over 50 years and she had felt bereft since his death.

O Lord, my God, I called to You for help and You healed me… weeping may remain for a night but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 30:2, 5

All of us have our litany of stories from friends and family who’ve faced adversity, trials, sickness and deaths of loved ones. Many have prevailed, stood on the rock that is Christ and given honor to Him through it all.

Writer Madeleine L’Engle said, “It’s a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet and what is sand.”

Who is the rock except our God. It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. …I will sing praises to Your name. …You broaden my path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn.       2 Samuel 22:32-33, 37, 50

When we were building our house on the side of a hill in the Colorado mountains, we were informed that  the foundation would be secured to a huge rock. The wind often blows furiously here, shaking the house.  I am always grateful for that secure foundation. On the days when I feel overcome with adversity, pain or trials I am eternally grateful for my God, my Rock.

The Psalmist, David wrote: Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to You, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  Psalms 61:1 Then in chapter 63:7-8  he says, Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. 

THE OWNER IS WATCHING

by Barbara Chadwick

For the eyes of the lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9

A friend was talking to be about our government snooping on us. “They know everything about us. Nothing we do is secret any more. But you know what? That’s nothing new with God. He has always known everything we do.”

She went on to tell of when she had a business taking care of dogs when people were on vacation. She told her employees, “When you enter a house, assume someone is watching. We don’t know that every house has a security system but we assume it does. So every move you make should be as if the owner is watching you.”

Wouldn’t that be a great way for the Christian to think? To realize that the God who put the stars in place, who created the world and started it on its orbit, who made the hippopotamus and the snowshoe hare is watching you – that’s awesome. 

O Lord, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways.  Psalm 139:1-3

In the middle of the night I ran to our son Ken’s bedroom to see why he was bawling. He was three years old. I put my arms around him and held him tight. After he quit sobbing and hiccupping I asked what was wrong and he said, “He’s watching me!”  When I asked who was watching him he cried, “God. God is up there in the corner watching me!”

Well, obviously he had been listening to the Sunday school lesson!  Only somehow in his little mind it got turned from an awesome sweet thing into an awesome scary thing.

If we would remember how great a love the Father has for us, (I John 3:1)  we would feel how awesome it is that the Father is watching us.

Do you know the song, Every Move I Make by David Ruis?

Every move I make I make in You. You make me move Jesus.

Every breath I take I breathe in You.

Every step I take I take in You. You are my way Jesus.

Every breath I take I breathe in You.

Waves of mercy, waves of grace,

Everywhere I look I see Your face.

Your face, Your love has captured me.

Oh, my God, this love, how can it be?

So make sure that, “…every move you make should be as if the owner is watching you.”