Off to Camp!

Tomorrow I head off to Camp Allegheny for my annual excursion into the wilderness. Extended Horse Camp. Wild animals. And I'm not talking about the horses! 49 teenagers will converge for 7 days of fun, fellowship, and oneness with our Creator. It's up to me and 8 counselors to keep them in all in line, and direct them in their relationship with God. It's actually my 7th year of deaning this camp, and I have a great time. The kids are wonderful, and it is a great opportunity to lead them closer to God. It has been a great responsiblity to have such a large camp, but it is also a great privilege to reach so many lives over the years and to share in the development of these youth. Please be in prayer for the campers, the staff, and myself as we seek to connect with God in a special way at Camp Allegheny.

Always Singing One Note

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” -Colossians 1:3-5
In a recent sermon I shared the story of William Tyndale, a pastor from the 1500s who was passionate about translating the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into English, so the common people of England, Scotland, and other English-speaking countries would be able to read the Bible for themselves. His passion was met with great resistance, because the religious hierarchy of the time, sadly, did not want to give up the power they felt they had over the common people. Eventually, Tyndale did make a translation of the New Testament, but he was executed shortly afterwards, and it wasn’t until years later, 1611, that the King James Version was authorized and put into print. In William Tyndale’s lifetime, however, he made great strides in helping people understand the grace of God that was available to them through a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was said of him throughout his life that he always sang one note – that note being that people needed the Bible to be translated into language they could understand, so that they could know of God’s grace through Christ. This was his passion, this was his life’s purpose, and this was the ‘one note’ that he always sang. It made me think about what my ‘one note’ might be. What is my passion, my life’s purpose, my constant thread in my preaching, in my thought patterns, and in my life? Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have ‘one for the thumb,’ I can finally start focusing on something else as my passion in life! Seriously, what is my passion? What is my ‘one note’ that I want to get across more than anything else? In a word, hope. Paul says it in Colossians 1:5 (see above), and I say it as often as I can as well. There is so much darkness in the world, there is so much tragedy, there is so much bad news out there, and yet in the midst of it all, always, there is hope. There is hope for this life, that there will be better days ahead. There is hope for this world, that we can leave it a better place for our children and grandchildren. And, thankfully, there is hope for us all when we pass from this life into the next. All hope is found in Jesus Christ. Our hope for our lives, our hope for our world, and our hope for our eternal soul. Hang on to hope! Always hang on to the hope that Jesus Christ is with you, and that His love and His power is stronger than anything the world may put in your path. Remember, too, Paul’s words about what hope. Hope is a spring from which love and faith abundantly flow. Do you have hope? Do you let your love and your faith flow out of the hope that God has stored up for you in heaven? Paul writes elsewhere of faith, hope, and love, and he makes it clear that the greatest of these is love. Here in Colossians, however, he makes it clear that love springs forth out of hope. Keep your hope alive in Jesus Christ, and He will see you through. What is your 'one note'?

Hook, Line, and Sinker, Sucker!

I believe I've been taken again, thanks to my overly optimistic desire to trust people. A man showed up at my house today (conveniently, or not so, located right next door to the church) with a seemingly sincere tale of woe, and a desperate need for some cash to get him safely on the road to join his ailing family member, etc., etc., etc. Well, sucker that I am, I gave him some $ and gave him a ride to where he needed to be, with many assurances from him that he would be back to repay me for my kindness in his time of need. Well, I like to believe the best in human nature, so, although I doubted I'd ever see him again, I hoped that he would live up to his word. Surprise above all surprises, he did indeed come back later to repay me! When he walked up to the house the second time and said that he had come to pay me back, I was utterly floored and beginning to praise God for this genuine display of appreciation. (I have helped people before, and NEVER been repaid, but for some foolish reason, I continue to help people in apparent need). So I was amazed and pleased that finally I had helped someone who genuinely needed help, and here they were, back on their feet again, and ready to repay me! Wow! Well, not quite. He pulled out a checkbook, and prepared to write me a check for the amount I had given him, PLUS an extra $ amount that he wanted me to give him additionally right then, to help him get something else taken care of that he needed that night (Sunday, no banks open), and I could cash the check tomorrow and be paid back in full for my generosity. Well, at that point, I was onto the game, and my earlier joy at thinking that here was a genuine person in need came crashing down to reality as I realized that he had duped me once, thought I must be an easy mark, and was now trying to get even more from me. At this point I told him I had helped him all that I could, and didn't have anything else to give him. He insisted on writing a check for the amount I had given him earlier, and I had him write it out to my church, but when he gave it to me, I saw that it was a starter check (no name or address), and I'm confident that it is as rubber as he is crooked. I can't win in these situations, because if I help someone, I can't help but fear that I might have been swindled. And if I don't help someone, I can't help but fear that I might have turned Jesus away in a time of genuine need. Either way, I feel guilty and unsettled whenever this type of situation occurs. The words that guide me are those of the dear grandmother of my DS in seminary, who always lived by this mantra: "Better that I give and they not need, than that they need and I not give." I try to live by these words, but still have a bitter taste from the overwhelming evidence that most of the time someone asks for a handout, they really don't need it.

Grace and Gunfire

My daughter Gabby is returning home from a mission trip to Detroit, sponsored by YWAM Pittsburgh. They are returning a few days early due to a harrowing and dangerous situation in which, by the grace of God, no one was hurt. She spent the first week at 'missions boot camp' at the YWAM center, working on skits, songs, and street evangelism training. Monday, 3 groups of 50 kids and 24 staff piled into vans and cars and made the trip to Detroit, where they would be doing street evangelism. It has been an eye opening and life changing experience for Gabby, for which we are very thankful. However, it was potentially very dangerous on Tuesday, as one of the groups (thankfully, not Gabby's) was witnessing to what they later found out was a street gang. A rival gang drove up in a van and started shooting at the gang that the YWAM kids were witnessing to. By the grace of God, no one was hurt, but the gang in the van then held everyone up at gunpoint and robbed them of all of their cash, not to mention their sense of safety and well-being. After that experience YWAM pulled out of the Detroit area and returned to Pittsburgh to continue their mission work there. I am so relieved that no one was hurt (this time), but at the same time, my heart breaks for the people who can't simply pack up and pull out of Detroit, or New York City, or even certain areas of Pittsburgh. People live with the reality that bullets could fly through their neighborhoods at random. How sad that even when the light of Christ tries to penetrate into a darkened area, Satan's strongholds can dim the light. Hopefully Christ, through YWAM, was able to make a lasting difference in the short time they were there. Remember in prayer those who live each day in unsafe areas, and those who try to bring hope to the dark places in our world.

Happy 4th of July!

We just returned from an outstanding (albeit, short) fireworks display at Idlewild Park. Anything that can keep a 3, 5, and 6 year old boy quiet and focused for any length of time is a wonderful thing in my book! My boys loved it, and had a great time listening to the music and watching the fireworks. As an added bonus, Idlewild has a magic show on the main stage this year which we also got to see tonight, so it was a great night for me! It was an amazing array of sight and sound, with the bright lights and the big booms, escalating into the grand finale to close the show. So where is the spiritual significance? I don't know that there was any, but it did get me thinking. We need to celebrate more. We need to find happy events and special occasions, and mark them in our minds and in our lives with a celebration. When were you baptized? When did you accept God's grace and welcome Jesus Christ into your life? When did you overcome a struggle, or accomplish something that made you (or someone else) feel special? When did you feel God at work in or through you in a special way? Mark an occasion! Buy yourself a vase of flowers, or a balloon bouquet, and celebrate! Send someone else a greeting card and let them know that you celebrate their friendship, or something else about them. Celebrate, share some joy in this world, and give God the glory!

New Park = New Opportunity!

Our community just put in a playground about 6 blocks from our church. We take our boys there to play, and I started thinking of ways to use this as an opportunity for outreach. For the past few years, Jeff Bobin has brought in people to the Conference Center to teach how to make balloon animals. While some may look at this as childish, I see it as a way to make a connection point for people. Yesterday I took my bag of balloons, printed up a bunch of stickers with our church name and website and "Balloons from Bethany UMC!" on them, and decided to see what would happen. It was amazing! The second I started on the first balloon, I had a line of kids waiting with their parents. As I blew up the balloons and made the animals for each child, I asked their name, and shared with the parents who I was and what church I was with, and told them there was information on the sticker about our church if anyone was interested. I ran out of balloons just when the last kid came forward, so I was able to make one (or two, there were a few popped balloons along the way!) for everyone. Then as I was sitting down watching my kids play afterwards, it was easy to talk to some of the parents who were sitting there and engage in conversation about church, ministry, and family. Yesterday was the first, but certainly not the last time I will be doing this. I bought more stickers to print, and I need to get to the party store for more balloons!