Free Fish

One of the things I do to give back to society is moderate a Freecycle list. Freecycle was founded a few years ago as a way to keep stuff out of landfills. The basic philosophy is summed up nicely by "One man's trash is another's treasure."

It's wildly popular with tens of thousands of groups all over the world. The items posted as "needs" or "wants" are very varied with anything from couches to chinchllas beig offered and given away for free.

Today, a local lady offered Bob.

Bob may well be a Baptist. I'll let you read her description and decide.

I have a med sized(about 7-8 inches) oscar named Bob...my
other fish seem to like to beat him up, so I need to find
him a new home. He needs a large fish tank and
unfortunately he will eat anything that could fit into his
mouth so no smaller tank mates!

So Bob has needs, has been hurt before, and will devour others if given half a chance.

Hmmm.

The absolute hardest thing in my opinion for a pastor to do is to keep a church healthy. That means to keep the "Bobs" from getting beat up, and keep "Bob" from acting out of his disfunctional past and eating someone else alive. Notice in the post that "Bob" ideally needs a large fish tank all to himself. I've known people like that.

How to cope?

First - model kindness and compassion. It may be that you don't have the gift of mercy. Fine, but you can make a pretty good imitation for short periods. Do it. Step out of the comfort zone and care.
Second - model conflict resolution and teach how to resolve disagreements Biblically. That's going to mean that you don't let things go until they boil, but you proactively call people to work it out. Accept nothing else. The biggest mistake I've ever made in pastoring was thinking "it will work out."

There are millions of people like "bob" out there - hurting and.. hurtful. Our job is to help them change into the image of Christ. Probably still wouldn't trust them near baby Christians for a while though.

Gulp.

Grace!

David

A Holy Discontent

O ! might those sighs and tears return again
Into my breast and eyes, which I have spent,
That I might in this holy discontent
Mourn with some fruit, as I have mourn'd in vain.

John Donne

It should have been a joyous occasion - since it was my first time preaching on Sunday morning in five weeks. Normally, preaching is a joy. But all week long, I couldn't grasp anything solid out of the text - except that it told me a lot about where we weren't now as a congregation.

And it bothered me.

It still does.

Most sermons I've done are finished when the invitation is given, and I've done all I could. This one, it isn't finished with me, and I pray it isn't finished with New Hope.

Nehemiah 9. Worship. Real, authentic, God focused, God honoring, people seeing who they are, people realizing who He is - confessing, praying, praising - committing to change - Worship.

I want that. It's a holy discontent.

So this Monday, I won't think about quitting. :)

That Magic 5 years

Today has been one of those frames that you can see life through.

Friday for me has always been the day I get serious about writing the Sunday morning sermon. Up to this point in the week I've done my study of the text and spent some time walking around with it within me, listening for God to speak. (When I wrote that I knew someone out there would read this and laugh out loud, because every preacher knows God only talks to you on Saturday night.) :)

So I got into the office and did something I almost never do - I left the blinds closed. It's the universal symbol for "leave me alone, I'm doing important stuff!"

I had been at it five minutes when a knock came on the door, and into my world walked the reason I am what I am. She wanted me to know how much she appreciated my wife Bunny's prayers, and our love and care for her family. She spoke of what they were going through, and what she was going to do. I prayed, she left.

And my heart ached for her and her husband. They face tough days ahead, and it hurts to know that.

I'll be here six years in August. For the first couple of years, I was trying to do a job. For the next two I was trying to build a church. Now I'm trying to be God's hands and feet as he loves these people. Going from worrying about sermon construction, flow, and delivery to agonizing over what the people who face me every Sunday go through has made a real change.

Used to I'd have gone right back to work after an experience like that. Today instead I went right back to praying for her, and that led into an extended time of prayer for several others within the congregation. The sermon didn't get written.

But I know I did exactly what God wanted me to do.

Lest you think it's because I've learned so much about the people here, you should know that the vast majority have come in the last two years. Different faces abound.

But after 5 years, the pastor showed up for work.

It's good work.

Grace!

David

"You're the One"

Last night, I listened to a Mother tell the story of her prodigal son. And I heard her heart in every word as she walked back to his first steps away from the place of safety, of warmth - home, and she gave the condensed version of how many times he had come back, vowed to do better, and fell back. I heard her hopefully telling of his return again a while back, and how since then he was living a changed life. Amazement leapt out in the words she used to describe the transformation. Excitement pressed hard behind every word she used to describe just what he was doing, who he was living with, and how he had come back to God.

"I've been asking God to show me He was real for 15 years," he had said to her - "and He has!"

"And I've been praying for you every day for 15 years," she answered.

He might have thought that his mother didn't love him, because she had told him his behavior would lead to ruin and despair. But God knows she never stopped.

There are times when I really don't understand how people can look at God and see anger, and bitterness - seeing Him as always looking to hurt, to punish, to extract vengeance for people's sins.

If ever there was a people on earth that deserved a good Old testament "smiting" it was the people of Israel. If you've ever had a child cut up at the mall, or had to drag them away from the cereal in the supermarket and had them go limp and start screaming - right in front of some people you work with; well, just imagine a whole group of people that are your chosen ones, doing that all over the known world all the time.

My tendency was always to walk away from my kids when they did amazingly embarrassing things, then walk back saying, "wonder whose kids those are? Someone should really do something." :)

But not God.

I won't drop the whole 9th chapter of Nehemiah on you (that's Sunday's sermon), but here's a snippet.

16But they, our ancestors, were arrogant;
bullheaded, they wouldn't obey your commands.

17They turned a deaf ear, they refused

to remember the miracles you had done for them;

They turned stubborn, got it into their heads

to return to their Egyptian slavery.

And you, a forgiving God,

gracious and compassionate,

Incredibly patient, with tons of love--

you didn't dump them. Nehemiah 9 (The Message)



God never will. He won't walk away, give up, pretend you're not His, or bring out the smiting tools. He loves you. He's proved that over and over. The only real way we can return that love is to love Him back. How?

Give Him your life. Your everyday walking around, stumbling, bumbling life. Decide today you are going to love others the way God loves you. Spend time with God. Hang out with His people. Learn how to love Him, and them better. He's right where you are. You're the one He's come to see.

Grace!

David


A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Warts and All

I was reading a sermon today and caught this:

"The place was England, during the years of the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell. The Protector himself addressed the famous French painter, Mr. Peter Lely, saying: "I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts and all; otherwise I never will pay a farthing for it."

Cromwell's blunt words have since served as a forceful way to express a desire for honest description. "Warts and all---that's the way I want it!""

I remember warts.

During the most geeky period of my life, between the third grade and senior high, I was plagued with having a couple of warts appear. One was on my left thumb. I tried several of the over the counter remedies, a couple of stupid ideas, but was still left with warts. So my ultimate solution? Hide them.

Funny this should come up today. A big "wart" appeared while talking with our administrator.

For all the success we have had at New Hope in the last year, for all the people we've seen come to know Christ, all those we've added to the kingdom and to our family, all the growth we've seen in our outreach, our fellowship - in almost every area...

We have a wart. Our finances are ugly. They don't reflect a people who trust God and are in love with Him. Even after 40 Days to Financial Freedom came and went, our practices haven't changed. How do we change it?

I'm starting with me. I've got a few days until Sunday, and I'm going to be looking at what I'm doing and the spirit in which I'm doing it. I have it on good authority (my wife) that not practicing what I preach is a wart everyone that matters can easily see. How many times have I bought something just because I wanted it? How much more could I, should I be giving with a joyful heart, not with a wonder if we'll make it to payday? Or if payday will come?

So God, remove the wart. Change my heart. You are my rock, my tower, my fortress. To You I run for what I need to become the man you see when you look at me.

I know you love me, warts and all, but help me lead from example to precept into trust, and bring all of New Hope with me.

Grace,

David

You Have To Want To Hear It

"I've made myself available
to those who haven't bothered to ask.

I'm here, ready to be found

by those who haven't bothered to look.

I kept saying "I'm here, I'm right here' Isaiah 65:1 (The Message)

One of the biggest blessings I ever received was being placed so near the ocean. To those of you who know me exceedingly well, that might come as a shock, given my absolute belief that there are sharks who see me as a Krystal Hamburger, Whopper, ( ___________ insert your favorite fast food here) and lie awake nights dreaming of the day that I will present myself on their table.

Ain't gonna happen boys and girls. Try the sushi.

Yet almost every morning, as I walk along the road that parallels the bay's shoreline, I am in touch with the ocean. Over the years, I've developed some ability to see what is happening there too. From the blue heron standing almost motionless and silent as he waits for breakfast, the loud chatter of the gulls as they discuss the morning's catch, the screech of the osprey as he calls to his mate, I'm able to look into the life of the sea.

All those sounds are easily picked out of the background noise though. And there is noise. Almost every morning, the US Air Force reminds us that they are flying jets by sending one to the end of the runway and asking the pilot to make sure the afterburners work. And in the land of blue tarps, you can be sure to hear a hammer hitting a nail somewhere. Then add the neighbors leaving for work, and it is very rarely quiet.

Still, every now and then, if you are listening for it, you'll hear a sound that to most people wouldn't mean a thing. It's not unusual in itself, in fact, throughout this spring's pollen wars, I've heard variations of it hundreds of times. People at church, at school, all have been coughing.But when I heard that this morning as I walked along the shoreline, I didn't turn to look and see if someone was on the front porch of the home I had just passed.

I quickly turned to the water, just in time to see a dolphin's fin slice through the waves. He had just come up for air, and cleared out the water with a cough. As he rose again, I saw three more alongside their mate.

It's one of my favorite things to see in all the world, and I'd have missed it, if I didn't come to the shoreline every day knowing what I wanted to hear, and knowing that at any given moment, I could hear it and know that a dolphin was near.

It's funny how things like this always make me think about God.

But I know that He wants to be seen, to be heard - to be found. He's pointed to that longing for relationship in so many ways. Given that, I wonder every day as I pray for heaven to come down here, how many are listening? How many really want to hear His voice?

Can I ask you a question?

Do you really want to hear from God?

You can be honest, it's just you and your PC here. If not, there's probably a reason. Maybe some things you know He wouldn't like to know about you. So you think that like your friends, your family, your Boss, it's better if you don't let on what you fear, what you are failing at, or where you doubt.

Well - He knows all that. And He loves you anyway. Doesn't mean He doesn't want you to be right with Him - He does - because He knows better than we do what's best for us. But He's willing to let us learn, and grow, and fall, and get up, and fail, and get up, and live and love. And forgive us, and give us the strength to change.

But you've got to want to hear you're loved.

You are loved.

by

God.

It's called...

Grace!

David

PS- If you ever have questions about what I've written or about God, or whatever I can help with, just drop me an email. Thanks again.

A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Omnia mihi lingua graeca sunt

Omnia mihi lingua graeca sunt

Yesterday was a milestone in the life of one man, and a millstone around the neck of another - me. As a church, we ordained a man into the ministry last night, concluding the service with the very moving laying on of hands.

That morning, he had delivered a sermon to our church on "walking worthy". It was well contructed, well rehearsed, well delivered, and well supported. He skillfully used media, both powerpoint and video. Though it was long, no one could say it wasn't effective in transmitting what was in the text. So in a seminary sense, it delivered.

But I never sensed what all effective sermons have - that lifting past skill, through delivery, and across the distance into people's hearts that characterizes all great sermons. I'm sitting here tonight trying to figure out why, because I love the man, and I'm in a role of a mentor to him as he sets out into ordained ministry.

It's bothered me ever since the sermon was over, but I attributed it to my critical bent, or perhaps my passion for incarnational preaching. My wife even asked me if I was a little insecure about it. I answered no.

Then last night, the charge to the candidate was given by a seminary professor I respect as a man of God and as a teacher. That same feeling came rising up. I found myself asking "Is this what preaching is or should be?"

When I followed him in giving the charge to the church, it was with one of the few episodes of nervousness I have ever had in the pulpit. It quickly passed as I got into the sermon, but it was there, and it bothered me that it was. So I've been reflecting on both sermons all day.

More than anything, when I preach, I want to connect the Word to the world - that is to people's lives. I want to be the guy that delivers biblical truth in a way that people feel the truth - that God is present, that He hears and sees how we live, and that He through His Word, can give direction, can give comfort, can deliver a peace that is beyond imagination, and that He does it out of His love.

I felt very alone in that yesterday.

Each preacher was very logical, point by point in his approach. A person with any Bible knowledge at all could have outlined where they were heading after the first point.

Each trotted out their language tools and pointed out that even though our English Bibles said that the word was "____" , in the GK it was the word _____ which could also mean ____. That always bothers me, because I used to be the guy in the pew who loved God and read his Bible, but felt inferior when the preacher would trot out the original language. I now have those tools, but very, very rarely use them for that reason and one more. By doing that, I have the feeling that people who aren't very far along in their walk or are just investigating the faith have one more reason to doubt the words they see before them on their translation's page.

But I used to be those guys, before I fell in love with my people.

Now instead of preaching to them, I try to preach with them, or from among them, giving them "hooks" to tie onto, anchors to hold onto, and "canvas" that through the Spirit's force can move them farther along. It's Truth, expressed in a way that speaks into their context, that feels less like a principal's lecture and more like a Father's instruction.

My millstone is that what I do isn't what will get me acclaim, or a better placement, or a position that would allow me to influence others to look at preaching in this way. And for the life of me, I cannot do anything else.

I just don't get it. Just as you, unless you read Latin, don't get the title of this blog entry, which is "It's all Greek To Me." But I'm committing myself to become even better at this "foolishness called preaching" and make sure every sermon has everything I can do to bridge the gap into it.

Pray for me.

Grace!

David

Got Grace?

My beloved bride watches a lot of different TV shows than I do. I'm not even sure she's looking forward to Monday's Steven Segall Marathon.

One of the types of shows she likes to watch takes a person who is "fashion challenged" and helps them present themselves in a much better light. Many times the person's whole attitude changes just because they feel as though they look better. But sometimes I get the feeling that deep inside, though their clothes have changed, they still are the same inside.

I was reading today about a guy who was totally sold out to one way of thinking. He had gone to school to learn more about that way, and graduated magna cum fanatic. Not content to let people decide what to do with their lives, he went around telling them how to live and throwing them in jail if they wouldn't do things his way. He had power and wasn't afraid to use it.

Funny thing though, he didn't impress anyone with his speech, and as far as his looks went, he was a candidate for an extreme makeover. One writer wrote about him and said " he was small in stature, bald-headed, bow-legged, and barrel chested with meeting eyebrows and a slightly hooked nose." Can anyone say "unibrow"? Yet he was having a ball kicking people around until he met Jesus.

That meeting changed everything. The guy even changed his name. Now Paul, who was driving people away from Jesus with the power of the law behind him, began calling them back to him with a word he had never used before.

Grace.

His letters would begin with grace, and end with grace. Paul never got over what God had done for him, and when he thought about it the first word that came to his mind was...

Grace

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his grace and peace.
2 Cor 1:2 (NLT)

Over and over you read that verse. Different churches, different times, but Paul had the same prayer for each of them - that God would give them grace.

Paul never ever got over grace. After getting blindsided by Jesus' grace he stopped worrying about his life, his work, even whether he lived or died. All he cared about, all he lived for, was to spread the good news that God's grace was available to everyone.

Even angry, bitter, power mad, short, bald-headed, bow-legged, barrel-chested uni-browed, hook-nosed men like him.

Everything changed when Paul met grace.

Oh, and afterwards, he was still short, still bald-headed, still bow-legged, still barrel chested, hook nosed and uni-browed. But I left off the last line that the ancient biographer wrote in his journal about Paul. Yes, he wrote all those unflattering adjectives, but then he wrote...

"full of grace."

That sort of change will do a body good. It's a makeover of the soul.

Got grace?

David


A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Praise 101

1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his heavenly dwelling; praise him in his mighty heaven!

2 Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness!

3 Praise him with a blast of the trumpet; praise him with the lyre and harp!

4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with stringed instruments and flutes!

5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals.

6 Let everything that lives sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Psalms 150:1-6 (NLT)

In one of the most famous of the many anecdotes people told about the great football coach Vince Lombardi, my favorite is the one where he brings the world champion Green Bay Packers to the center of Lambeau Field after a particularly bad practice. He asks for silence, and when the players have all quieted down, he reaches into the equipment bag and pulls out a familiar shape. Holding it up so everyone can see it, he yells "gentlemen, we are going back to the basics. This is a football." You could have called that "Football 101."

Last night we had one of those opportunities you remember for a long time. A chance to see God at work in all His glory, in a way that left you thanking Him again and again. We got to see New Hope's own Emma dance in a production you could have called "Praise 101."

If you looked at Emma, you'd be hard pressed to see the soul of a dancer within her. She's pretty serious for a little girl going on eight. My impression is that she likes things done right - precise. People like that don't usually gravitate to the arts. But when they do... watch out!

There were a bunch of kids on the program Friday night, and they were in full possession of all those gifts God gives to help kids enjoy life, and that give those who are charged with getting them to do what's needed - indigestion.

We saw little boys who were supposed to be twirling streamers as a "peace" candle glowed - smack each other.

One little girl was so out of synch with the others at one point, I thought she'd be trampled.

One little boy, fresh from a "talking to" over the "peace" incident, stood and cried silently on stage, even as he waved his flag - though limply.

The idea was to teach kids to worship. By letting them express their joy and love toward God with dance, tambourines, and drums, they could learn how to give their all to the One Who made them the wonders they are. It's just that sometimes I wondered if the kids would come through it without being hurt by a flying flag, or whirling streamer, or in a collision of dancers occupying the same spot on the stage at the same moment.

That possibility kept you on the edge of your seat. Seeing all of the miss-steps and the kid happenings was something you could have spent the night doing. Watching for mistakes could have kept you busy all night.

I decided to watch Emma. Emma danced for God.

She concentrated on her steps. Her movements were graceful and precise. She took great pains to make sure she was at the right place, at the right time, doing the right movement. And through it all, she rejoiced. She's still little, but she knows how to praise God with her all. Her shy smile as she was brought down front to be recognized came from the knowledge that she had done all she could do for Jesus that night. They asked her how long she had been praising God and she said two years (her parents said 4). Time flies.

I think Emma's passed Praise 101.

To all you adults out there who haven't - come to worship God this Sunday with all your heart, soul, and intellect. Give it everything you've got - just like Emma did. Make God smile.

Grace!

David


A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

School Days

11They won't go to school to learn about me,
or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.

They'll all get to know me firsthand,

the little and the big, the small and the great.

Hebrews 8:11 (The Message)

There they were, at Valparaiso Elementary's graduation day - all those 5th graders we met 5 years ago when we first came to New Hope. As we walked into the cafeteria, their voices rang out "Miss Bunny", "Brother David", and we grinned and waved back. How they have grown! As the program began, each of the kids was called for one award or another, and it was hard to keep from cheering out of turn.

I watched them as they accepted the awards, and I looked carefully at the teachers as they presented them. Bunny and I don't really know who the best teachers are, not by any statistics at any rate. But as I looked at their eyes and saw the way they interacted with their kids, I formed some opinions. When we were talking afterwards with a parent, it turned out I was right. The teachers that I saw loving the kids and that the kids loved back by visibly trying to make sure they made their teacher proud were the ones every parent wanted their kids to have.

"Some families drive 30 miles just so they can have Mr. ____ as their child's teacher", one parent told me. That's a pretty amazing testimony of the influence one person can have with a child. Teaching really can be a place to serve God and society. What a difference they can make!

But now, fifth grade has ended, and that teacher is forever part of the child's past. Their influence may last a long time, but they will never be with "their kids" again. It was bittersweet realizing that one period was ending in the kid's lives, and they move into 6th grade next year - the great unknown - without the teachers and staff of Valparaiso Elementary that have known them most of their lives.

There is always some apprehension when changing schools, meeting new teachers, leaning new routines. We love these kids, and prayed that they'd go on and have a great time next year. Still, I was leaving with a little sadness. We'll just have to trust God, I told myself.

Then this verse in Hebrews popped into my mind, "They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great."

Not only will this teacher never be left behind, but He'll also make sure every single "student" has His full attention. I thank God for that. For after the books and FCATs are long past, the relationship those kids have with Jesus will continue. They'll never be out of His care.

Nor will you!

Grace!

David

A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

I Saw Jesus At the Zoo

Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" 3Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.
John 9:1-3 The Message

I saw a lot of God's work Saturday at the Zoo.

Yes, there were lions and tigers and bears a plenty, but oh my, I saw Jesus too. We had 30 New Hope folks out to see the wonders of God's creation at the Zoo at Gulf Breeze. Young and old, we had come to have a great time together. And we did. One of the things I love about New Hope is that we have fun! Sometimes it might be hard to tell we are Baptists. :)

Our friend Allan was with us. He's high maintenance to be sure, since though he has the body of a 23 year old man, he has the mind and heart of a child, with the energy to match. Allan can be very insistent, frequently interrupts, and has all the fears and insecurities of a child as well. He's a joy, and he's a handful. But he's ours - we love Allan. At first, I had responsibility for him. We rode out in the same car and began our adventure at the zoo together.

But not for long, because Diane Weech became Allan's fast friend Saturday. (note to self - check on sainthood for Baptists for Diane)

Diane made sure Allan had a great time, and I watched as she helped him explore the wonders of the zoo. He loved some parts and didn't like others - no bat cave for Allan, and he got scared even in the restroom. Yet I heard him laughing and chattering as he took it all in. But it was at the end of the train ride that I saw something amazing. The train held about 40 people, and was driven by a young man who also served as our guide to what we saw. It was a hot and humid day, and sitting behind an engine inside a metal enclosure can't be the best way to keep cool. But the young man did a great job the whole way. It was a great way to see hippos, gorillas, a rhino, and herds of other African animals.

We made the circuit, and all too soon the train returned to the station. We all began to disembark and started gathering to leave the park. Allan had gotten on the train hesitantly, but getting off, he was scared to step down. So the attendant got a set of stairs and helped Allan down. He was very kind, and turned to leave, thinking nothing of it. That was his job.

Allan stopped him, and after first trying to shake his hand and finding that they were both full, he put his hand on the man's arm, and told him thank you - three times. The young man seemed to really appreciate the gesture.

It is at times like that that I get a glimpse of what God sees in Allan and those like him. They practice the truth of "the greatest is love" every day. Sometimes we need to be reminded of just how God can use us to touch others with Jesus' love.

When Allan did that Saturday, he looked a lot like Jesus to me.

Grace!

David

A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org
Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Cherish Is the Word

Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. 23The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. 24So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.
25Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church--a love marked by giving, not getting.

Ephesians 5:22-25 The Message

Years and years ago, in a galaxy far, far away a man sat down to write a song to try to express in words just what he felt for his love. As you know, most men have great difficulty in accomplishing this feat. Ask a man to fix the dishwasher or washing machine, and he turns into McGyver. Ask him to "do something about that back door sticking", and he turns into Bob Villa. But ask him to tell a woman how he feels, and he gets mush mouthed.

That's why we men appreciate the work of those rare examples of the gender who can communicate while in love. Many of these are poets and songwriters. Very frequently, a man, when faced with his limitations, will buy a book of poetry, or a special song, and hand it to his love and say "this is how I feel" because though the heart is eager, the ability is weak. One of those songs way back when was "Cherish" by a group called "The Association". Here's a snippet of the words.

Cherish is the word I use to describe
All the feeling that I have hiding here for you inside
You don't know how many times I've wished that I had told you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could hold you
You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you

We'll have to ignore the "mold you into" part for the purposes of this email, (he was doing so well, too) but I hope you can see that even the most gifted of our gender have real issues in communication. He did though, grab just the right word.

Cherish. To hold dear.

When you read the passage above in the Message paraphrase, what word jumps out at you?

If you're most people, conditioned by years of exposure to what the world has done with this passage, it would be "submit".

That's a shame, because that's not the crux of what is being communicated. When we flash on that word, we reduce our ability to understand what the passage says to the same level of men who cannot communicate their love to their wives.

The word to focus on is "cherish".

A man must first - cherish, hold dear, go all out, give his all - to his wife before he can ever hope to have her respect as an equal partner in their marriage. And as much as a woman needs to know she is cherished, a man needs that respect. Well, I've run out of words. Maybe the end of that passage will help make it clear that cherish is the word.

31And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh." 32This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. 33And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband. Ephesians 3:31-33 The Message

I like that "I don't pretend to understand it all" part. I never have understood how someone as gifted, as grace-filled, as beautiful as my wife could have given me her heart.

But I cherish it, and her.

Yes, cherish is the word.

Grace!

David


A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Tar-baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en brer Fox, he lay low.

"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove. Matthew 10:16 (The Message)

Joel Chandler Harris' Song of the South was part of the literature I grew up with. His amazing world of Brer. Rabbit, Brer. Fox, Uncle Remus and the gang was almost required reading for a boy growing up in Middle Georgia. Just up the road from where I lived was the museum that enshrined Harris' work. The Disney film came along, and put the words Harris wrote to music. "Zip-a-dee-do-dah, zip-a-dee-ya, my oh my what a wonderful day..." is now swirling around in your head and you'll have trouble the rest of the day shaking it. The quote above comes from a scene when Brer. Bear got mad, and everyone scattered rather than face his wrath.

But Harris' story was written in an earlier time, and today it doesn't get mentioned much in literature classes at all. His use of the dialect of the slaves on Georgia plantations in his work is seen as insensitive and out of step with today's culture. So rather than have to face the protests, most teachers simply bypass Harris' work. Too many landmines.

I stepped on one of those this weekend, when I answered the phone and got an earful of criticism and wrath.

Why?

Santa Claus.

Handed the phone by a member right before Sunday School started, I was treated to the most one-sided conversation I've had in a long time. It seems that sometime late last year, Santa Claus came up in one of our children's groups. Most church leaders will tell you that with children under 12, the whole "Is Santa real?" question is quite the hot potato. No one really wants to get into it, and most try to deflect or avoid with responses like "What does your family say?" or the ever popular "what do you think?" We're trying to help families come to know Jesus and so we try to stay focused on that. Sometimes though, you get pinned down. It's happened to me.

So apparently, the question was asked and the truth was given to a 9 year old. So his irate mother called to let me know she wanted an apology from everyone involved. Nothing I said helped - in fact whatever I said in apology or otherwise just made it worse. It ended when she told me she'd tell everyone about how horrible we were, called me some names, and hung up.

It's bothered me ever since.

Friends, at New Hope we love people. Our goal is to reach out in love to all people, no matter what. And somehow, unknowingly, we've had a door into the lives of an unchurched family slammed in our face. That breaks my heart. I've been praying off and on ever since Sunday that God would keep reaching into the lives of that family, if not through us, then through some other church.

It's not that what was said wasn't true - it was. And I'm on record as hoping to keep the church focused on the Incarnation around Christmas time. But the world hasn't caught onto how Santa Claus' gifts pale in comparison to the gift of a Savior yet. In fact the mom told me that "we had ruined a sacred holiday for her family." We might know that isn't a very high view of what's sacred. But we don't need to go tap-dancing through every minefield we see.

I want to encourage you today, to focus on living the Jesus-life among the wolves by concentrating your efforts on what really matters - building bridges for the unchurched to walk across to meet Jesus. Don't get distracted and lose an opportunity to share the way home. And pray that a mom and her child find Jesus someday to be far better than Santa ever dreamed of.

If that ever happens to me again, I'm going to make like Brer. Fox. "...he lay low."

Grace!

David Wilson


A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Mothers and the Boys Who Love Them

1Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. 2Jesus and his disciples were guests also. 3When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."
4Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother--yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."

5She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."

6Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.

8"Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did.

9When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, 10"Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you've saved the best till now!"

11This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:1-11 (The Message)

It's been many years now since my Mother went home to be with Her Lord. But it hasn't gone away.

There are days when it's easier, when you remember silly little things, like the way she used to fix the boys instant cheese grits with torn up bits of sliced processed cheese, and they treated it like manna. "No one else could make grits the way Grandmother did," they'll say. Bunny and I would shake our head and laugh. Some days are laughing days.

Certain songs bring her memory closer. Old show tunes, big band numbers, and any song where someone yodeled. Yes, her first brush with fame was singing with "Uncle Ned" on the radio, and yodeling. A strong voice would come in handy later on when two boys competed for how far away from where they ought to be they could get. Oh and anytime the Star Spangled Banner is sung, I think I hear her too. Some days her memory is like a picture in my wallet.

Certain seasons too. No one ever was a bigger kid, or got more of a thrill out of Christmas than my Mother. Every year, no matter how old we got, under the tree we'd always find a couple of gifts from "Santa" or if she was pressed for time "SC." I'll probably never know how far in debt she went some years to get my brother and me what we wanted for Christmas, or for our birthdays. Of course as soon as our two boys were born, our benefits were cut in favor of the grandsons.

Seemed reasonable.

After a somewhat rocky start, ("You're going to what?") my Mother and my wife got along pretty well. The fact that they both had two boys, and both loved them fiercely, helped a lot I'm sure. There's something about the way a mother loves a boy. Girls most often grow up with mothers, boys grow away toward their fathers. But that love from their mother never leaves.

So when I read the passage above, particularly in the emotionally charged paraphrase by Eugene Peterson, I see a real mother and son relationship and out of that, the Son is recognized for what He really is - Messiah.

No one but Mary could have "pushed" Jesus and assumed He'd agree to be moved to action. No one except His mother. Mothers know their sons for who they really are, and mothers see what they can become. As they raise them to maturity, they fade into the background, but they never leave.

Women are unique in all of God's creation inherently. But a Mother takes that unique gifting and gives it away - willingly, gladly, joyfully. As one who continues to benefit from that gift, and who is grateful to be married to someone who continues to give, my prayer is that God will bless each Mother who reads this with a glimpse of just what you've given and it's lasting effect on your children. Lincoln was right - no one is poor who has a godly Mother.

Grace!



David Wilson

A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Past "Glimpses" are archived at www.newhopevalp.org Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Pass It On

If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching.8 If your gift is to encourage others, do it! Romans 12:7-8 (NLT)

How many people have you met in your lifetime? You probably can't count that high. Okay, how many can you say made a real difference? Chances are, out of a list of the top ten, there will be a teacher in there somewhere. Think back - who would you choose?

You'd probably not choose someone who laughed at you while scrawling an "F" on your essay. But that's exactly why I'd put Dr. Catherine Futral high on my list of women who've affected my life.

After a long time away, I had returned to Mercer University in Macon, GA to finish my undergraduate degree. I was majoring in business, because that's what my company would pay for, and was checking off the squares of required courses when I ran head on into Dr. Futral. A fixture for years at Tift College in Forsyth, she was teaching in the evening college after Mercer had absorbed her beloved campus. My goal was to get all my English courses out of the way as quickly and as easily as possible. Her goal seemed to be the destruction of the ecosystem by flooding the world with red ink.

To give you a mental picture of her wouldn't be hard. Think English teacher. That was harsh. Okay, think English teacher with a great smile and eyes that twinkled as she explained just how miserable she would be making our lives for the next 12 weeks.

She was a woman of grace, peppering her lectures with humor, and her comments on our work with wit. A committed Christian, and member of First Baptist Church of Forsyth, she'd often bring her faith experiences into her lectures. She'd quote Shakespeare, Faulkner, and the Psalms all in the same example of how to write a compelling paragraph. But when she evaluated your work - well, you'd better be ready to hear the truth.

I'll never forget one paper I wrote which received this comment: "Until the very last line of this paper, I felt that it was one of the best I had read. However, your thoughtless comma splice in the last phrase ruined it for me - and you." Beside that snippet she inscribed a large red "F".

Can I call that the gift of encouragement?

It was for me. My mission from that point on was to make Dr. Futral see the error of her ways. She kept trying to change my style, wanting me to use less punctuation - create shorter sentences - eliminate the passive voice. At one point, I ran a paper through a grammar checker program (new technology at the time) and handed it in. Her comment? "This isn't your work." "Oh yes it is," I replied, "and it's perfect." "It may very well be perfect as far as grammar is concerned," she shot back," but it is perfectly awful prose." You've never seen a smile leave anyone's face as fast as mine did. "You can do better," she said now smiling as she handed it back to me, "write it like David this time - from the heart."

Maybe she was from another time, when teaching was less a career and more a calling. All I know is that she gave her best and expected ours. I think of her often and thank God for her. In a sense I'm still writing partly for Dr. Futral. She believed in me. Every time I write I remember, "from the heart."

Do you remember someone who encouraged you along the way? Someone who helped you become the person you wanted to be?

Let them know it. They gave you their gift - pass it on.

Grace!

David Wilson
A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

Mama Tried
(This week I'm writing about women who have made a difference in my life)

41Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. 42One poor widow came up and put in two small coins--a measly two cents. 43Jesus called his disciples over and said, "The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. 44All the others gave what they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford--she gave her all." Mark 12:41-44 (The Message)

When I think of my grandmother, I see her hands. Small, wrinkled and scarred from years of work - first picking cotton in the fields of Southwest Georgia, then in "Mr. Willingham's Mill" where she worked from age 7 to age 72. She had lost portions of some fingers in the twine rolls there, but continued to work 6 days a week to feed her family. Her hands were seldom idle, even in the last few years of her life. But when they were, she'd rub them together over and over, as if she could wring the last bit of pain from her life. Often, I'd see her bowed over her Bible, her hands clasped in silent prayer.

She buried her husband early, after he was struck by a car, walked home, then died the next day. Then came her daughter, set ablaze while lighting the stove and in her fright, racing away and preventing anyone from helping. Soon the car in which her oldest son was riding in was struck by a train within earshot of his home. She gathered the remaining children together and loved them even more.

The depression came, but I'm not sure she noticed much. They were bitterly poor, but rich in what matters - so rich that when two other children needed a home, she took them in. Took me decades to figure out that Aunt Barbara and Aunt Peggy weren't really related at all. Others came and went - folks used to say that Bertie was a "soft touch", but in those years when people were often wanting, Mama did all she could do.

She raised her family, made sure they got an education, and lined them up every Sunday and marched them across the railroad tracks to Rebecca Baptist church. There they would hear about someone who loved them no matter what. His name was Jesus. They learned that He gave His life for them. Mama made sure her kids knew Jesus.

My mother was one of those who was baptized in that little church, and after coming home from WW2, settled into a home next door to raise her family. I don't remember Rebecca Baptist, but I was told that on more than one occasion my Mother took me to the front porch to lay on hands.

When Mama died, there wasn't much for the family to divide. My Aunt Geneva got her sometimes sharp tongue. My Mother kept her giving heart. All I got was a memory of a woman who spent her life giving to her family everything she had - one day at a time. Maybe she couldn't make her kids lives better than hers, but mama tried. Her legacy was a family who loved God and each other.

Fiercely loyal, surprisingly warm, always faithful. When her life was over, it was clear she had put into her family all she had. They might not have been perfect, but Mama tried.

I thank God for women like that. What a difference they make!

May God bless all those women who give their lives away to their God and to their families.


Grace!

David

(Friends, as we look forward to honoring Mothers this weekend, don't forget to thank all the women who have made a difference in your life. They may have never had children of their own, but that doesn't mean they haven't made a difference. Let them know.)

A Glimpse of New Hope is my attempt to share the hope I have found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Should you no longer wish to receive it, or find that you have received it in error, please write me at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I will immediately remove you. Thanks and God bless, David Wilson

To Love - To Life

To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...

The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Anastasia Elizabeth Wilson entered heaven three years ago this week. She never drew a breath outside her mother's womb.

She was our first grandchild.

It hurt. Dreams were crushed. Hearts shattered. Tears flowed.

To this very day, there's a heartache. If Bunny and I discuss those days, it's in tears. As we talked about it last night, we agreed the events were a sad story, with no joy anywhere within.

But we live on. We love on.

We could do so timidly, like a child venturing out over a frozen lake who knows he shouldn't be doing it at all.

We could do so blindly, like someone who doesn't want to hear the truth and so sticks his fingers into his ears and screams la la la la la at the top of his lungs.

Or we could live each day in love with life, just as it is, with all its hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows.

Why? Or maybe more importantly, how?

Paul writes in Corinithians:

"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does. " Cor 14:1 The Message

Life includes the highest of joys and the deepest of heartaches. That's just life. Nothing I've ever experienced was as heartbreaking as the events around Ana's death. But God has shown us His love directly again and again and through many, many people. We are surrounded at New Hope by children, some of who need love so badly they'll beg to be held, or work to catch your attention, or will just sit next to Bunny when she's on the floor teaching, and lay their head on her shoulder.

Friends, to make it through the valley of the shadow of death, you need to know that God is with you, and that there is life on the other side of the valley. Our lives depend on receiving God's love through His Son Jesus and the Spirit's presence with us AND on giving love to others as God has given to us.

Hurts never become happy.

But we can find joy when we live to love.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Is It In You?

Psalm 105:2 (The Message)
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
translate his wonders into music!

In December 1989 the United States Army deployed the use of High Voltage Rock Music to force General Noriega out of hiding. Noriega who was wanted by the USA to face charges of violating racketeering and drug laws and money laundering.

After failed diplomatic pressure on Panama and the Panaman dictator President Bush deployed his troops to capture Noriega. It was at the Nunciatura that the General seeked refuge from the army. The US troops surrounded the building and in an attempt to force the dictator out they played rock music constantly.

In 2002, the Metropolitan Boston Transit Authority police also used music.

When students gather each afternoon at the end of the Orange Line, often a time for teen tensions to flare, they’re now greeted not just with the shouts of their peers, but tunes played by the Pops floating from newly installed speakers.

.... “We tried arresting the kids last year. That didn’t work at all. We just wanted to try something different,” said William Fleming, acting chief of the MBTA Police.

.... On a recent afternoon, as the delicate strains of Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” drifted from the speakers, commuters, police, and teens milled about, their movements taking on an almost choreographed quality.

Just a few days into the experiment, it appears to be working, despite the fact, said MBTA officials, that several teens have issued critiques of the music in terms that cannot be reprinted.

.... “Ever since this music’s been playing, people are leaving earlier,” said Devante Jones, a senior at West Roxbury High. Guess that tactic worked.

And for two weeks now across the street at Valparaiso Elementary, PE teachers have been playing square dancing music for three hours a day. Enough! You can have Panama, I'll leave the bus stop, just don't make me alemand and dosie do any longer!

If they continue, I'm going to have to go back to my roots and set up my speakers and blast some Stylistics, Temptations, Four Tops and Otis Redding at them, and if it still continues - I'll go nuclear with the Bee Gees at full blast. "You should be dancing...... yeah."

Funny how music effects us, isn't it.

Last night New Hope hosted a senior adult choir from Georgia. Just hearing English spoken with my native accent was heavenly. They presented "Singing With the Saints" a program chock full of the music that was popular in the church 30 years ago when I became a believer. Times have changed, and so has the music we sing in worship.

But one thing hasn't - the Holy Spirit still uses music to move people closer to God. It's a heart -language that transends generations and cultures. And if we can get past the date the music was written, and the accompanying notes, we'll frequently find that the music we sang and the music we sing today both glorify God.

So for an hour last night, I watched as those senior saints sang their hearts out for God's glory. Watching their faces I knew their hearts were fixed on God. Awesome!

Now when we get to heaven, just to be fair to my new friends, I've got an hour of Matt Redmond, Steven Curtis Chapman, Third Day, and Casting Crowns they get to listen to - or whatever music I'm worshipping with when I come home.

It's the language of the heart, of praise to our Loving God. Is it in you?

Grace!



David Wilson

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

No Stairway to Heaven

Some of you know I love to play guitar. It's a great relaxer and gives me another creative outlet. If I was any good at all at it, that would be a huge plus, but I'm approaching mediocrity at a snail's pace.

The other night, I was trying to learn the acoustic part to a Led Zeppelin song, "Stairway to Heaven." I had stumbled across the music and tabs to it and so started trying to learn to play it. Never having been a big Zeppelin fan when they were big and I was young, now I really have begun to appreciate their music more, and in particular, "Stairway." So I was fumbling around, making noise.

My son Sean, an accomplished and self-taught guitarist, walked in behind me. When he heard what I was trying to do, he laughed and said "what are you trying to do, get ready to go to the guitar store?"

Let me explain what he meant.

One of the most common songs people play at a guitar store, when trying to impress everyone with how well they play is, you guessed it, "Stairway to Heaven." It has so become so bad that Sean stated some guitar shops put signs up saying "No Stairway to Heaven."

I guess everyone gets tired of seeing people try to be something they are not.

The Bible has a lot to say about people who fake it, but one of my favorite verses perhaps says it best.

9Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. 10Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Romans 12 - The Message

When we "clean up our act" around some people, when we "watch what we say" if the pastors around, when we have one set of ethics for business and another for church...

We are faking it.

If we are to love from the center of who we are, Jesus has to own our heart. He has to be our treasure. We cannot be Christ-followers any other way. There are no short-cuts, no "stairways" to heaven. It takes loving Christ more than yourself, and it takes doing that every day.

The good news? Stay after it - after Him! Over time, as you continue your journey with Christ, you'll look back one day and find you've made progress. There'll be more of Christ and less of you.

Gotta run, Purple Haze is next on my list of songs to learn. :)

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Hiding In Plain Sight

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. by Walt Whitman

There has never been a generation with more tools with which to find God.

Radio stations fill the airwaves with praise and preaching. TV channels are exclusively devoted to the same. The average American household contains 7 Bibles. When you Google Jesus Christ, 19 million websites are ready to deliver the information.

We've been MasterLife'd, Experience God'ed, Purpose Driven, and still, how many of us really know God?

Whitman's poem caught me today at a needy moment. Frustrated because I wasn't happy with the way my message for Sunday morning was going, I took a break and pulled a literature book off the shelf. I felt like the poet had been looking over my shoulder all morning as I tried to fit God into my purpose, instead of spending time listening to His Word. I was looking for points to deliver, for principles to teach. That's all there in the Scriptures to be sure. But just like Whitman had to leave the lecture to find the stars, sometimes you really need to step back from the Scriptures and embrace the wonder of God's love.

More than anything else, the Bible is given to bring us to God through His Son, Jesus. Jesus put it this way, when confronted by some people who memorized the words without getting to know the author...

"You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! John 5:39 (The Message)

Friends, it's wonderful to know the Bible, and awesome to be given the opportunity to teach it. Just remember, it's not about information - it's about Jesus. Teach someone biblical truths without helping them find love for Jesus, and you've hidden God's love for them in plain sight. Help them find Him, and His love will lead them into the Scriptures.

It's always about Jesus.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

A Scrap of Blue

It wasn't really all that big, the scrap of blue plastic that lay in the road ahead of me, as the Great Dane and I made our morning rounds. But in the middle of the road, it stood out, and made me wonder what it was and where did it come from.

Lifting my eyes as we continued, I found its source - a home near the water, with roof damaged from Ivan, had been temporarily protected by the blue FEMA tarps. In the weeks that followed the hurricane, everyone's efforts had been to clean up and protect what was left. With the shortage of material and labor to repair, many homes are still not back to the way that they were before. The tarp was tattered, and sections of the roof were uncovered again.

But the rain comes.

Last week, we received a foot and a half of rain, accompanied by pretty fierce winds. Temporary measures to fix permanent problems only work so long. A scrap of blue tarp told me that. I walked on praying that not too much damage had been done.

What about you? Have you tried to make do, instead of making things right?

You see, I'm convinced that people suffer a lot of needless pain, for a lot longer than God would have them do, simply because they would rather hide from the problems, or paper over them, than fix them in a God-honoring way.

And friends, sooner or later, your "tarp" will tear, and there will be more than a scrap of blue in your life. The rains will come, and damage will follow, that could have been avoided if only you turned to God.

Why not take action today to mend broken relationships, to cease sinful behavior, to make things right between you and God and you and your fellow men and women. It's not too late, as long as you have breath in your lungs, you can say "Forgive me."

Here is what the Master Builder has promised to do if you will:
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.1 John 1:8-9 (NLT)

God will make it right. Trust Him.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Do We Really?

So his master said, 'Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. Luke 14:23 (NLT)

Had lunch today with my bride. Parked my trusty Fiero out towards the end of student parking, because the visitors parking is limited to 30 minutes. Enjoyed my lunch, but when I returned to the car, found a parking ticket because I didn't have an OWC sticker. Drat.

So where is a visitor supposed to park? Or are all visitors limited to 30 minutes on campus? Inquiring minds would ask if visitors were expected or welcomed. I know that's not the case, but apparently someone never thought through the problem, probably because it wasn't a problem to them.

Rode back to the church, and on our sign was this statement: "Turned off by church but not by God? Check us out"

After my experience at OWC, I'm a little afraid of that quip. What if they come? Will they be turned off again?

The average church-goer thinks about as much about the barriers that churches put between seekers and God as a fish thinks about water. Since they have always been there - they know where everything is. Since they've always worshipped in a particular fashion - they can't understand why newbies don't get it. Since they've always used "Christian-ese" to describe the things of God - they are dumbfounded when someone says "but what does that mean?"

Do we really want seekers to "check us out"?

If we do, then we'll have to be true to deliver the message of the apostles delivered once and for all, while making sure the places and methods we deliver it with don't confuse, frustrate, or obstruct God's desire to bring them to Him.

Grace!

David

Postscript:

5 minutes after I wrote this, I got an email from a lady on the mailing list who works for the president of OWC. She asked to be dropped from the list.

There's a message there somewhere. :)

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night

Charles Shultz, the creator of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and all the gang, had success as a cartoonist because he wrote life into his characters. Each one of them was so human - even Snoopy, that we could readily identify with them. The title of this devotional comes from Snoopy's continual attempt to write the "Great American Novel", always with the same opening words - "It was a dark and stormy night..."

We have those. Nights when we can't sleep because worry prods us awake. Nights when we lie awake in fear, wondering if we are going to make it - if it all is going to be okay. Despite every outward appearance of tranquility, maybe even a spouse fast asleep beside us, the light races away and the storms come.

Few have had a night worse than Abraham.


Later on God tested Abraham's faith and obedience. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."2 "Take your son, your only son--yes, Isaac, whom you love so much--and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you."3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go.

Gen 22:2-3 (NLT)

I was reading this today in preparation for tonight's Bible study, and it jumped out at me: "The next morning..."

That meant Abraham was told the day before, and spent a dark and stormy night in advance of his departure. What follows in the remainder of the chapter is one of the pinnacles of faithful obedience in all of the Bible. How did Abraham do it? How could someone endure such a trial?

Lots of people go through tests every day - a doctor delivers bad news, a spouse says goodbye, the boss hands you a pink slip. Life has its share of everyday troubles, this we know well. In watching people over the years, one trait has stood out for me in those who overcome such difficulties..

They have a Big God.

By that I mean that their God can do whatever He chooses to do - there are no limits to His power, no barriers to His love. He's a Big God.

So when trials come, they turn in trust to God and think "I can't wait to see how He gets me out of this one." That's not to say that they don't stumble at first - shock affects everyone. But when they get their "feet" back under them, they start believing God is able to take care of them.

Abraham had a BIG GOD.

We read this and take great logical leaps. "Well, Jesus raised Lazarus, and Paul raised Eutychus, and besides, Jesus rose from the dead. No sweat.

Might I point out to you that Abraham had absolutely no experience with resurrection?

THUD - (preconcieved notions hitting the floor)

But he believed God.

I'm not going to tell you that a living faith in Jesus Christ will mean that you avoid any of the troubles known to man. But I will tell you this - when you've trusted God with your whole life, He'll take care of you. Nothing will separate you from God's love.

So if it's dark and stormy where you are right now, move closer to the Light.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Verily, Verily

"Expedition V. Rhinoplasty", "Fractious S. Lineart", "Stargazing F. Propensity" all know my name.

I'll open my email inbox and there they are, along with a few of their other brothers and sisters, trying to sell me something I don't want or need. Bunny and Sean get emails like that too, and we've begun comparing names every now and then to see who has the most outrageous.

It didn't take but a couple of those emails to figure out that someone has a computer and a lexicon and knows how to use them. They randomly generate names just so you won't know who is sending them. The names are meaningless. Cool, quirky, but meaningless.

I'm reading through the early New Testament today, sort of hit and miss. The idea was to read only the words of Jesus, and immerse myself in the scenes and people around Him. Thank God for red letter Bibles.

What I found was this - Jesus loved people like no one ever has.

Sure you can read His words to the religious fakes and catch a real edge to His voice - even anger. He did that out of love too - for the people who needed to know God loved them. And in the final week of His life on earth, knowing that His message of love would be rejected by those fakes as God's messages to them had always been - He wept. That's amazing love.

When I reached the end of my Bible journey, I was in the book of John. It was there I noticed another name that was different. Just like those email names in a way, since the person had a name, but used a phrase to replace it.

"The one Jesus loved..."

She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. John 20:2 (NLT)

What made John stop using his name? Was he doing that to say to others "Jesus loves me best?"

No, I don't believe so. I think John grasped what it means to know that God loves us. I think the love Jesus showed the people around Him convinced John that the greatest thing in the world was to be known as someone Jesus loves.

Well friends, verily verily I tell you the truth, you are one Jesus loves too. And when you love Him back with everything you've got to give, gradually, little by little, you'll learn just How much you are loved. Toward the end of His life, after decades of following in Jesus' way of love, John wrote this. He was still amazed by Jesus' love.

See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are! 1 John 3:1 (NLT)

Are you amazed? Try calling yourself "the one Jesus loves."

Go live it!

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Throw the Stone

3The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone 4and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. 5Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" 6They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. 7They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." John 8:3-7 The Message

Preparing like thousands of other pastors this week for Holy Week coming Sunday, I've been reading the account of the ministry of Jesus in John's gospel. Today I stopped here. Or I guess I should say "it stopped me."

It probably was easy for the religion scholars to get all worked up over the woman in this story's sin. She was guilty of breaking God's law - no doubt. They could point and yell and grab and drag her to justice. It's always easier to see someone else's sin, and we've got an incredibly powerful ability to get angry when we can do that while keeping our moral distance from those we catch.

If we think about it, our lives are full of those instances. Growing up in the South, I heard about "those blacks. On a trip to Texas, someone wanted to talk about "those Mexicans." Even in church, we have a tendency to try to take the same moral high ground when we talk about "those abortionists" or "those homosexuals".

Feels good too.

Until God shows up.

This day, the men in their ignorance had made the mistake of bringing their feigned outrage to the only one Who had a right to be angry. They turned their attention from her to Him as they kept hounding the Son of God to agree that they were better than the woman they had caught.

Instead, He turned toward them and hurled their words back with brute force. "Throw the stone."

He only made one condition, but it was one neither they, nor you and I can ever hope to meet.

I wonder what it sounded like as the stones dropped into the dust?

I know what it sounded like here as I threw my stone away.

"Lord have mercy on me a sinner."

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

After the Doubt

"I doubt it."

Those might be the words you live by.

People have let you down so many times that when you catch a glimpse of hope, or someone seems to come into your life that gives you an indication that things might be different - that your life could change, the first words that come to your mind are "I doubt it."

You aren't alone in that.

One thing I am constantly thankful for are the realistic pictures I get when I read about people's lives as shown to us in the Bible. Despite all the people we sometimes see in church making constant efforts to present a plastic "front" to their lives, when we look at the Bible, we see a quite different person emerging. One who is real in their fears, in their worries, and in their doubts.

I'm preparing for tonight's Bible study, and I come across Abraham and Sarah. "God bless them", my mother would have said. They were so mixed up at times and made so many mistakes along the way. An example:

Then one of them said, "About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son." Now Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent nearby. And since Abraham and Sarah were both very old, and Sarah was long past the age of having children, she laughed silently to herself. "How could a worn-out woman like me have a baby?" she thought. "And when my master--my husband--is also so old?"

Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, 'Can an old woman like me have a baby?' Is anything too hard for the LORD? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son." Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, "That is not true. You did laugh." Gen 18:10-15 (NLT)

And that's where it ends. We are left with a picture of a woman who doubts that God can do what He says He will do, who laughs almost in His face - is caught doing it, then denies it to His face. Not a pretty picture.

We have several slogans around here at New Hope, but perhaps my favorite is a quote from an old saint named A.W. Tozer. I'm convinced it helped all of us as a church look past our doubts and focus on God's promises. Tozer wrote:

"Anything God has ever done, He can do now. Anything He has ever done anywhere, He can do here. Anything He has ever done for anyone, He can do for you."

Would Sarah have said that? Maybe not at first, but she did grow to believe God could. After the doubt, came a time of reflection, and a realization that God was able. Later we read:

Sarah, too, had faith, and because of this she was able to become a mother in spite of her old age, for she realized that God, who gave her his promise, would certainly do what he said. Heb 11:11 (Living)

Friends, I'm sending this to you today to tell you that God has not changed. But some of us need to. Embrace the idea that God loves you, and that He can do whatever He needs to do to help you see that. He can lift you when you are weak. He can still your heart when you are fearful. He can demonstrate His power anyway He chooses.

He can do that in your life, in the life of those around you, in your community, in a church.

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL.

Grey - Go Away!

It was grey today. In a place that gets over 300 days of mostly sunshine.

Everything was wrapped into a big grey package that you kept waiting for the sun to rip open.

But he never did.

I'm not really into grey. (Understatement alert!!!!)

And I'm ready for winter to be over.

The earth around me is beginning its annual revolt against the forces of greyness. Pink azaleas have begun to appear, along with daffodils. Soon the rebellion will be all around me, as each flower, each tree competes to see who can contribute the most to the banishment of all things grey to wherever grey goes until next winter.

Good riddance. Old Man Winter can pack his bags and leave any time. In the meantime though, I've got to look forward, not back, just as I have to look forward to what God has for me, not back through my old grey life without Him.

Listen to how expectantly Paul of Tarsus writes about what's ahead for believers. It's like Spring!

12So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it--yourself life one red cent. 13There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. 14God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

15This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" The Letter to the Romans, chapter 8 The Message

Call me "Adventurously expectant" about what God's going to do around us and in us beginning again tomorrow - rain or shine. :)

There are things to do and places to see with our loving God. I can't wait to see what's next.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

Light In Dark Places

I saw the first daffodil of spring today.

And every robin within 5 miles showed up in front of my office to remind me that Old Man Winter is on his last legs here. I needed to hear that, because after being down here almost six years, apparently my blood has thinned to the point that a 50 degree morning has a real chill to it.

Remember, I was born and raised in Middle Georgia, where a winter just isn't winter unless you have a good old fashioned ice storm, and at least a couple of days without electrical power. When I left there, I gave away all my cold weather gear - my parka good to 5 degrees, my leather gloves, my scarf and stocking hats. I kept one coat, and grumbled about having to do that. I was moving to Florida - why would I need a coat?

But it gets cold here sometimes. Gray days happen, seeming to drag along one after another, until they pull down your spirit with it.

So God sent me daffodils and robins.

As our church has grown, we've embraced so many awesome people. Those families added to the ones who originally dreamed the dream that became New Hope make Sunday each week a celebration of just how good God is.

But there are gray days for some at times.

Today I visited one in the hospital, talked to several going through trials on the phone, and visited with one saint who may be headed home soon. That wasn't an easy visit. Even though she was in good spirits, thankful for her family and church, and confident in her God's love and care, when I left I was touched by sadness, knowing we might not have many more conversations.

As I was walking to the car, I prayed that God would shine His love into that home for all to see. One day, He's going to do that for everyone. One day His light will shine into the darkest places.

7 In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The Lord has spoken!
Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Is 25:6-8). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

One day our Loving Father will end all our pain and heartache. And His own hand will wipe away every tear.

Friends, it may be dark where you are too, but the Light that came into this world through Jesus Christ is as close as you'll let Him be. Take heart! Have hope! If God is for us, who can stand against us?

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.

"When You Get the Chance"

A friend and I were finishing a conversation the other day, and right before we ended it, he said "when you get the chance, come see us." It's one of those things you say full of more hope than substance, knowing that in this busy world, it might happen, but likely as not it won't. Good thing to do? Absolutely. Gonna get done? Pretty doubtful.

Call it a hunch, but it seems that's the nature of human interaction - Good intentions.

We so often fail to act on them that we just accept such a lack of love as "just the way it is." After all, we are all busy. "Who has time?", we'll say.

Yet we are the same people who say that we seek to pattern our lives after the One Who in His essential nature is love.

It hurt me to write that.

God's example is so clear.

43"You're familiar with the old written law, "Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, "Hate your enemy.' 44I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, 45for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best--the sun to warm and the rain to nourish--to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. Matthew 5:43-45 The Message

God loves. He loves those who refuse His love, and those who embrace His love. Even before any one of us now alive drew our first breath, or committed our first sin, God had already paid the price Himself for those wrong-doings.

7We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. 8But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. Romans 5:7-8 The Message

God put His love on the line- on the cross, so that whoever decided to turn away from their old life of lies and embrace the new life of love would have a home to come to, arms to run into, shoulders to cry on. And the Bible says that was His plan from the beginning.

He didn't wait until He "had a chance."

Friends, there are days like this that make me re-evaluate just who I am and what I'm doing. Right now it's busy here. Things are jumping, and I'm doing a lot for God. But am I doing it in love? Purposeing to let God's love flow through me? Letting Him use my hands, my feet, my speech to love others?

"If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing." 1 Cor. 13:2 The Message

So the preacher opened his Bible and His heart this morning friends, and God whacked me upside of the heart. Maybe you are there too. Maybe you are doing a lot, but loving a little. Or maybe you are living and loving on your schedule, and giving the people around you only that love you "get a chance" to give.

I don't know. But I know this - I want to be like Jesus.

When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. 29It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying--quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard. Matthew 7:28-29 The Message

Don't you?

Grace!

David Wilson

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.