David Ralph

The Storm Is Coming

As I drove into the church today, no matter what radio channel I listened to, it was all about the impending snow storm that is to arrive over the next 24 hours.   One radio station was “in the street” asking people what they are going to do to prepare for the storm.   There were all sorts of practical suggestions when it came to being prepared.   Preparation for the upcoming storm would make it possible to ride out the storm – that was the feeling of many who responded to the question. 

Sitting at my desk I began reading Acts 16.  Paul and Silas faced a storm – not of snow or rain or wind.  But a storm of opposition to the preaching of the gospel.   The storm included being arrested, being flogged severely, being thrown into a cold, dark and damp prison cell, chained together to prevent any possibility of escape.  How did they ride out the storm?  We are told at midnight, after being beaten and thrown into prison, they started to pray and to sing hymns of praise to God.  They rode out this storm by worshipping God.  Would that be my response?   Would I worship and praise God or would I be ticked off at him?  After all, these men had served God faithfully and sacrificially, shouldn’t they be spared from this storm?  So often that is our line of thinking and then we are disappointed with God when the storm comes.  But not Paul and Silas.  They worship God in the middle of a severe circumstantial storm.  The important questions is, “how were they able to ride out the storm with this kind of response?”  It had everything to do with how they had prepared for the storm.  They had a continual abiding relationship with Jesus.  They constantly worshipped God through prayer and singing and solitude long before the storm ever came.  They had developed a depth of relationship that gave them confidence in God’s power and presence long before the storm happened.  Without this kind of preparation, they would have never been able to ride out the storm.  They would have given into the temptation to question God, given into their doubts about God and his ways and given into complaining about the way he let the storm come into their lives.  The would have ended up being disappointed and disillusioned with God.  It was all about preparing prior to the coming of the storm.  Jesus told us that storms would come into our lives (John 16:33).  How are you preparing your heart and mind and soul for those impending storms?   How you prepare determines how you will ride out the storm.  If it seems calm now, are you preparing for a storm that might come.  When there calmness, it is easy to not even think about preparing for a storm and that is where most people get caught off guard.  Then a circumstantial storm comes and little or no spiritual preparation has been made.  The storm overwhelms them.  It all comes down to preparation.

The flurries are starting to fall as I look out my window.  The news said the storm is approaching and gaining in intensity.  I have filled up the washer fluid and made sure I have lots of gas.  My snowblower is ready.  Shovels are in a strategic spot.  I feel I am well prepared.  Bring on the storm.

A New Metric

I read this quote this morning from Oswald Chambers - 

“The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private time of fellowship and oneness with Him.”  

  Too often those of us who are teachers and leaders are guilty of measuring the value of our public ministry by so many other metrics – the number of people, the size of our buildings, how big our budget is, the number of email we receive after a message, etc.  I wonder if at the end of my ministry – maybe the end of my life – if the words in my private devotional journals will have been near as many as the words I spoke as a leader and teacher.  Would there be depth in those private words?  Would they reveal a deep intimate relationship with Jesus?  Would they reflect a oneness?  A sense of fellowship?   Jesus said that if we “abide with him and he abides with us that we would bear much fruit – apart from that kind of intimacy, we really do nothing of value.”   Maybe it is time to add a new metric to our ministry life – how much time did I spend and how deep were those times I spent in private, alone, with Jesus.

Resolutions

On the first day of any new year the making of resolutions is pretty common.  We look back over the previous year and we discern things that need to be changed.  It might be to lose a few pounds.  It might be to eat better, get more rest, be better in some kind of a relationship, stop this or stop that.  One of the keys to making a resolution last more than the first six weeks (which stats say is the average time before we give up on a resolution) is to write it down and to review it each day.  It is taking time at the beginning of each day to remind ourselves of what we resolved to do and to close out each day reviewing how we did.  I have done this on a consistant basis since my sabbatical and I can from personal experience tell you that it does work.  I have made progress in certain areas of my life that I have tried to do before but with a whole lot less success. 

The first key aspect of making and keeping a resolution has everything to do with perseverence and persistance. It is creating a simple system that reminds you on a daily (even hourly) basis of the desire for change that you have and it is a system that tracks your progress and allows you to make any corrections that need to be made. 

The second key in making and keeping a resolution is to have a team of people who hold you accountable regarding the changes that you want to make.  It is difficult to make changes all by yourself.  It takes a little team of people who care for you and want the best for you who will both encourage and exhort you along the journey.

The final key in making and keeping a resolution is to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help you make the changes you desire a reality.  The writer in Hebrews tells us that drawing near to God and his promises, gathering around us a little team of those who will spur us on to love and good deeds and making regular connection with a faith community are essential to perservering and persisting and enduring including the resolutional changes that we want to make.

It won’t matter what is on your list.  Unless you can keep them, they are only ink on a piece of paper that will leave you frustrated unless you  find a system of reminder and review, unless you find a team of people to help you keep them and unless you rely on God’s power to change.

So what’s on your list?  Will you take the steps needed to giving you a better chance of keeping the resolutions that you have made this year.

Have a happy and blessed and joyous New Year.

Just Keep Fishing

I have been reading through the book of Luke in my personal devotional time.  I have probably read this book more than a dozen times on top of the portions I have studied in message preparation.  I am not sure why but there are some things that I am reading and discerning and discovering that I have never seen before.

I was reading Luke 5 the other day.  The story of the great catch of fish.  When Jesus asked Peter to take out the boats and drop the nets Peter responded that they had used those same boats, those same nets, the same bait, fishing in the same spot the previous night and they caught nothing.  But because Jesus the rabbi asked, Peter obliged.  They caught so many fish that the nets began to break and then they filled two boats to overflowing. 

This story that I have read over and over before seem to speak to me in a new way.  Our responsibility as church leaders is to continue use the same nets, the same boats, the same bait and the same fishing spots that we have up to this point.  When Jesus is ready – he will fill the nets with fish.  Too often church leaders continue to look for a “silver bullet” to help fill the nets with fisth.  New bait or new boats or new fishing spots.  If they don’t produce the results they are looking for they get disillusioned and wonder why.  If they do work, then they often take the credit for the great catch of fish.  The problem is that Jesus wants the credit because he is the one who make it happen. 

I am not saying the we shouldn’t continually check the nets and the boats and the bait and the fishing spots but we do need to free ourselves from the responsibility for how many fish we catch.  That is Jesus’ responsibility.  If he says so – then the nets will be filled.  But maybe right now – the nets are going to remain empty so that we first prove our faithfulness to fishing instead of our constant craving for full nets.   If we faithfully fish – Jesus in his time – when he says so – he will fill our nets.  Let’s set sail.