Too Poor To Pay Attention

Recently two guys in Virginia went to the DMV office to have their licenses renewed. No big deal, right? Just takes a few minutes and you are on your way. But these two guys decided to liven it up a bit by showing up in disguises.

Will Carsola and Dave Stewart posted Internet videos of their pranks, which included scenes of Carsola spray-painting his face and neck bright red and Stewart painting the top of his head black and sticking a row of fake buckteeth in his mouth in an ethnic caricature. They each entered the DMV office and return with real licenses with photos of their new likenesses.

In a video, a shaved-headed Carsola comes out of the DMV with a photo of his eyes crossed, and another friend obtains a license after spray-painting on a thick, black beard and mono-brow.

They got their license renewals. But when the Virginia Department of Public Safety caught on, Carson and Stewart were given a week to come back and do them again.

I had to wonder about the people at the DMV office.

We go there once every few years. They are there every day. We may gripe at waiting a few minutes. They are there all day with the patient and the impatient, the nice and not so nice. The people may change but the job never does. So after a while, you might be present in spirit, but the mind, she's checked out of the motel.

They were just phoning it in.

I wonder, how many Christians have done that?

Friends, it's a tough life. Following Jesus goes against our nature, against our culture, and against what most of the people around us during the week would do. And over time, it can seem to be a dull routine. So we look for "Our Best Life Now" or the "Prosperity Way of Living" or the like, seeking something else. Something easier. A shortcut to God.

Well, here's what the Bible says...

13 "Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. 14 The way to life— to God!— is vigorous and requires total attention.

Matt 7:13-14 (MSG)

The way to life - to God - is vigorous (characterized by forceful and energetic action or activity) and requires total ( entire: constituting the full quantity or extent; complete) attention.

You cannot phone it in.

Friend, you give your time to many things each day, and you spend your talents and energy on a host of activities. Put Jesus at the center of your life. Work for Him in whatever you do. He's given you everything, so you are not too poor to pay attention to Him.

Grace!

David Wilson
Lead Pastor, New Hope
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

Where Are You?

Sean gave me an Amazon.com gift certificate for Christmas and I've been looking at various things and combinations of things ever since. I need a new pair of shoes, so I looked at a few of those. Then I thought it might be time to get a new baseball cap, so I looked at a few of those. Then I saw it.

A watch that knows how far you have gone and how fast you did it. What a gadget for a geek! It accesses the 26 Geosynchronous Positioning Satellites and calculates the differences between where you were and where you end up to do that.

Way Cool! And it tells time!

I could of course just go by the Steven Wright method - "No matter where you go, there you are" , but I really like to know my location. Not just on the planet, but with God.

The very first question asked in the Bible is God's query after Adam and Eve had sinned. "Adam, where are you?" Adam doesn't answer. He hides from God. Later, Moses is asked the same question. He responds to God, "Here I am." That's where we need to be. Available. Open. Ready to work for God's glory.

It's the first week of our New Year. When the Jewish New Year begins, the observant Jew takes some time to examine his life to see just where he or she is with God. It's a process of discovery like that which Paul noted in his letter to the Corinthians. "Examine yourself..." the apostle said.

Let me share some action steps you can take.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
Philippians 4:8 The Message

We're usually quick to think of those things we need to cut out of our lives during our spiritual examinations. But what if we replaced those habits that take us away from God and off track with new habits that drew us closer?

What if we replaced the ordinary with the transcendent, the vulgar with beauty and grace? What if we got rid of those things that clutter our lives and replaced them with things that matter - things that will last?

I think Paul's onto something friends.

Where are you?
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/

Grass and Glitter

For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)

You have to know what to look for.

I can remember going hunting with my father, many years ago. He was trying to get me to become a decent quail hunter without getting himself killed in the process. Neat trick, that.

In case you might not be familiar with Mr Bobwhite, he has a tendency, some might say that he gets a perverse joy (if a bird can feel joy) at suddenly bursting forth from a previously undisclosed location. This can result in various actions being taken by the hunters approaching him.

Only one of them is really acceptable in hunting circles.

The others may include: shouting in surprise, dropping your shotgun, or worse - pulling the trigger regardless of whatever direction the gun might be pointed in at that moment.

To keep the less appropriate actions from occurring, my father was training me to look for the "waves" in the tall grass as the quail began to run away from the hunters prior to taking flight. If you can spot that happening, then you can be looking in the right direction and anticipate the quail's flight. You have to know what to look for though.

Today was my first day back in the study at church after the Christmas/New Year's break. I noticed a couple of things that tell me to get ready for God to take action here. Grass and glitter.

The grass here is just the opposite of our middle Georgia broom sage. Our grass here at New Hope is worn down from use by the boys and girls who gather here on Wednesday night. And on most afternoons since the Little League season ended, a group of those kids and some others we don't know yet are playing football on the field across the street. There seem to be more and more of them.

The glitter? The other night when I was vacuuming the sanctuary after others had done the hard work of taking the decorations down, I noticed that some of the glitter used by our New Hope kids and young people during the Christmas Musical they presented during the season just didn't want to come up. I ran the vacuum cleaner this way and that, and some of the glitter stubbornly clung to the carpet.

And you know, I'm just fine with that.

Because it reminds me that here at New Hope, we're working with God's next generation of Christ-followers, teaching them not only about Jesus, but about how they can show others His love. Combine that with a lot more people of their generation in the immediate vicinity and "BOOM".

Did that scare you?

I've been in churches where having people nearby that didn't know Jesus wasn't though of as a good thing.

That's just like that long ago quail field. People's reactions can and do vary. Some who are just looking to stay as they are and have always been, can lament the way the grass looks, and those whose focus is about keeping everything tidy in case Jesus shows up wearing white gloves can complain about the glitter.

But if you want to see God at work friend, you've got to learn what to look for.

New Hope, get ready.

Grace!

David Wilson
Lead pastor - New Hope!
--
Visit with me at my blogs:
http://davethepastor.livejournal.com/
http://davethepastor.vox.com/
Or visit New Hope!
http://www.newhopevalp.org/