This past weekend I gave a message about fear, namely that we need to stop denying/pretending (or being paralyzed by it), and work through it.

In the course of the message I talked about the fact that the #1 command in the Bible is “Do not be afraid.”  It starts in Genesis (15:1) and goes all the way to Revelation.  Dozens and dozens of times God says, “Do not be afraid” or “Fear not.”  Same thing…

But then we read other statements that talk about fearing God.  Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom! 

Hence, “to fear or not to fear?  That is the question!”  Forgive me for taking a bit of Shakespearian liberty.  Below is an email I received from a retired pastor who attends our church.  He is an wonderful man—loving, wise and a great teacher.  I decided (with his permission) to include his email and my response.  I hope it helps a bit.

Nick

This week I am in the northern part of S. Africa (Mafikeng—near the Batswana border) on a personal vacation/missions trip.  I am walking alongside an incredible couple by the name of Mike and Michelle Tessendorf.  They are pastors and founders of an organization called Orchard: Africa (www.orchardafrica.org).  It is movement of sustainable compassion amidst suffering and hardship that for many of us is inconceivable.

I wish I had pictures to post but those will come later.  For now imagine looking over row after row after row of fresh graves—children and young adults from one day old to thirty years old. The AIDS pandemic has brought great misery and suffering in Africa, but in the midst of it all is a kind of hope that defies logic.  I’ve been learning so much from Mike and Michelle about causes and solutions and the more I learn the more I realize how little I know.  The issues are as complex as we human beings.  To say I am humbled is an understatement.

I met several courageous, beautiful people today—all HIV+, some with full blown AIDS. To offer them the gift of encouraging words, human touch, and compassion was all I had to offer.  I hope it was enough.

Through Mike and Michelle’s wise leadership they are creating a network of leaders who are addressing systemic problems (overwhelming in many ways) with grace, compassion, foresight and enormous wisdom.  Michelle has written simply amazing curriculum on AIDS for students and has also developed equally effective curriculum to assist children in grieving the loss of parents to AIDS (death, as I have learned, is simply not spoken of in this culture—therefore children are living with enormous trauma by the loss of parents who seemingly just disappear).

I am with friends Herb and Chris Fluharty, a couple in their late 60’s who in recent years decided to step out of their personal comfort zone and get involved in a deeply personal way.  Rather than sitting comfortably on the substantial resources God has entrusted to them, Herb and Chris are giving and serving in ways that both inspire me and humble me.  They are living examples of what I talked about in the series we conclude this weekend (Oct. 2, 2011)—MOVE.  

But what impresses me most is the wisdom of God at work to bring long-term, sustainable solutions to deep, systemic problems.  Coming on a trip like this and getting all emotionally entangled in a way that results in “shoot from the hip” solutions won’t work.  In spite of my best efforts I keep spouting off ideas like, “What if we…” as if a thousand people before me haven’t thought of that!  Sometimes I want to smack myself.

But Mike and Michelle have made a long-term commitment, and with that comes experience.  And with experience comes wisdom.  And with Godly wisdom comes Godly solutions.

Though I am here on personal vacation and orchard: africa is not a Bay Pointe partner, I am honored to meet, know, respect and love leaders like Pastor Jephthe Lucien in Pignon, Haiti, Pastor Benjamin Francis and Pastor Robert Tamang in Kolkata and Siliguary, India, and now Pastors Mike and Michelle Tessendorf in Mafikeng, S. Africa.  

Amazing people doing amazing work in the name of Jesus.  What an honor to be a small part of it all. 

  I became a follower of Jesus when I was fifteen.  Sometime after that I became a huge fan of Bob Dylan too.  Not that Bob and Jesus are on the same level—although they are both Jewish (for whatever that’s worth).  It’s just that I kept picking up key insights about God, life, death, faith, doubt, hope and host of other things through Dylan’s music. 

So I’ve decided to blog about some of this.  I’m not sure why—literary therapy perhaps. If any of this resonates with you that’s cool.  If not, that’s okay too.

Why did Bob’s music move me so?  Why does it still?  In asking the question I feel a bit afraid, as if reflecting on this does Dylan an injustice unless I write something so profound (which often means no one really gets it) that my words carry a mystical quality about them.

Screw that.  I don’t care about being mystical…or witty…or clever.  I am, however, interested in the uncanny parallel between my earliest days as a believer in Jesus and how much of the gospel I gleaned from Dylan’s songs.  As I devoured the gospels (and the rest of the Bible), some of the profound truths I was learning from scripture kept finding expression in Dylan’s songs.  

Take, for example, “Every Grain of Sand.”    It’s a song about trying to find meaning and hope during the seasons of life that make no sense, or when we screw up.  The Bible has much to say about pain, suffering and screwing up.  But it also talks about God’s presence in the midst of it all…that God sees and knows and loves.  Jesus talked about God caring so much about us that not a hair will fall from our head without God’s knowledge and awareness.  

Every Grain of Sand…one of many songs that stirs my soul and connects me again to the gospel that changed my life.  Thanks Bob.

By the way, I posted a link below to some girl from the UK doing a very slow, soulful version of Every Grain of Sand.  But being technically challenged, I have no idea if it will actually appear.  I hope so because I dig this girl’s simple, slow, soulful rendition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0jpPf8sXg&feature=related

I recently attended a Transformation Intensive designed to help churches bring about authentic, deep spiritual transformation in people’s lives.  I am also taking an online course called “The Leader’s Soul.”  One of the major themes of both the conference and the online course is the place of spiritual disciplines/activities that are catalytic for ongoing spiritual growth (growth being defined in terms of increased love for God and increased love for others—see Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:37-39)

Today’s assignment had to do with prayer, but it was a particular kind of prayer: a prayer of surrender.  The idea is to surrender your life to God at the beginning of every day.  It’s the old “one day at a time” idea from recovery.  And since today is really all we have, it’s a pretty good place to start.

One person’s practice for daily surrender was to hit the floor every day “knees first.” This was a daily reminder to surrender the day to God—to invite God to live His life through this person.  Kneeling was symbolic of surrender (it’s kind of hard to be cocky and self-absorbed on your knees).

In the coming days I will be experimenting with various ways to do a daily prayer of surrender first thing in the morning.  In the meantime I wrote my own prayer of surrender as a starting point:

Jesus, I am your servant, humbly available to you.  As best I can I surrender this day to you.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here.  So I give you NOW— today.  Please use my life for the glory of Your name and Your kingdom.  Add anything, take anything away…at any cost.  I am Yours.  Use me.

May I not be remembered for physical appearance, professional accomplishments, people I know or crowds I address.  Rather, may I be known for loving You by the way I love and serve others.  

I yield this day to the power and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  May everything accomplished through my simple life bring honor and glory to You, Lord Jesus.  Take my human flaws and failures and use them to remind those who know me that only You are God and I will never be any more than Nick.  Amen. 

I can’t help but wonder about the cumulative effect of a daily prayer of surrender on our lives. I hope you will join me in doing this—simply opening your life to God at the beginning of each day and saying, “May Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth—today, in my life—as it is in heaven.”  

Here’s to the transforming journey of daily surrender…

I recently read another blog about a group of pastors and church leaders who met for a four-hour service of Bible reading, a few short messages, singing, and prayer.  This may sound like the ultimate in boredom to some, but something from the blog caught my attention.
One of the speakers asked the question, “What are you praying for that seems impossible?”  One guy said he was praying for $500—as if that might be more money than God could scrounge up.  

The speaker, an amazing author named Don Miller said, “I am praying for God to reveal the cure to all cancer in my lifetime.”  

Whoa!  That takes a bold prayer request to a whole different level.  But the question unleashed a whole lot of deeper, God-sized prayer requests, including…

1. For abortion, as a means of birth control in the United States, to stop. 
2. For the evangelization of India. 
3. For regime change to allow religious freedom in North Korea and throughout the Muslim world.
4. For the American church to awaken from its lethargy and rediscover passion for the gospel and personal holiness 

I would add to that:

• The salvation of every one of my family members.

What impossible things might God be calling you to pray for?  

Today is December 29, 2010.  As of 5 p.m. I have declared winter over…almost.

Yes, we live in Traverse City, MI.  Yes, there is snow on the ground.  Yes, undoubtedly there is more to come.  But I have declared winter to be over…at least in the sense that hope is on the way.  This is due to several undeniable factors.

First, we had sunshine ALL DAY today.  It’s a sign…

Second, at 5 p.m. it was not dark.  I took a picture of it on my smart phone to post. Unfortunately, I’m not smart enough to get the picture from my phone to this blog. That notwithstanding, it is undoubtedly another sign… 

Third, winter hasn’t even started yet.  ”What?!?!” you say.  Think about it: you can’t count November—it’s late fall and there’s still some lovely days in November.  You can’t count December either—Christmas is in December and it’s supposed to snow.  It’s Christmas, not winter!  Stay with me on this…

 JANUARY IS WINTER—all 31 days.  It’s a long, cold month.  But anyone can endure something for 31 days!  

February doesn’t count as winter either.  Why?  You can’t take seriously a month with only 28 days (29 at the most).  Besides,  by Feb. 1 we have noticeably longer days and and more days with sunshine.  Valentine’s Day is in there too…and love always warms things up.  So forget the fact that February days can be bone-chilling, nostril-freezing cold.  The sunshine trumps the cold.  So February doesn’t count.  

Neither does March.  Who cares if it snows in March.  The winter beast has been slain.   

So if you’re tempted to mope about long winters, adopt my philosophy of winter and you’ll be amazed at how well you’ll cope.  I am so pumped about this that my wife and I decided we are going to start hosting an annual “End of Winter Party” the end of January.  We’ll have summer cuisine, wear flip-flops and short-sleeve shirts and have the Bruce Hornsby station playing pandora (great mix).  

Perhaps you should consider an end of winter party yourself.  Invite your friends. Have a ball.  People may call you mad, delusional, etc. but hey…if it’s 5 o’clock somewhere, it’s probably also summer there too.   May as well get an early start on things!

Okay…time to get back to shoveling snow.

Our staff gathers once a week for a “DT” (devotional time).  We sit quietly and read our Bible, write down insights and thoughts, some point of application and a prayer.  Then we spend about 15-20 minutes talking about how God spoke to us.

This morning Tim Homa, our Student Ministries pastor, brought up an interesting point from 2 Corinthians chapter 1.  The apostle Paul was writing about difficulties he had endured planting churches and writes: “On him (Jesus) we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” (v. 11)

It was the last statement that hit me: “…as you help us by your prayers.”  The thought occurred to me: how many “helpers” are out there—people who sit in our services quietly each week—who pray for us every week and in some cases daily?  

The thought is incredibly humbling to me.  Over the years I have been the recipient of some amazing cards, emails etc from faithful people telling me they pray for me and our staff.  Every time I receive one I am humbled and grateful in ways words cannot express.

So to all you faithful people of prayer—our partners and helpers in the ministry—thank you for playing a far more vital role than I often realize.  You are the front line of helping us share the love of Jesus with a messed up, hurting world.  Keep praying because we cannot do what God has called us to do without you doing what God has called and equipped you to do.  

Pray on, friends!  

A recent post about some of my personal concerns over recent cultural trends that have social and political implications deeply offended someone I deeply care about and for whom I have great respect. And people matter a  lot more to me than policy decisions.  Furthermore…they were just my opinion.  And I’ve been wrong before.

So I apologize to anyone who may have seen the post.  

On a more positive note, yesterday’s teaching (part 3 of “The Chance of A Lifetime”) triggered a flood of emails.  The gist of the message was that Living Like Jesus amounts to loving like Jesus (i.e. receiving his love first and then the “fruit” begins to manifest in our lives) and then loving like Jesus is about serving like Jesus (Mark 10:45 makes it clear that Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve others).

As I finished up the message I asked myself, “What would happen if we engaged in 40 days of love—loving God by serving others?”  The idea was sparked by the movie, “Fire Proof.”  It was the concept of 40 days of love that evoked so much response.

So today is Day One.  It’s about the power of words and how much affirming people means to them.  So often all people hear about is their failures and mess ups.  So how ‘bout you…is there anyone you can serve and show God’s love by looking them in the eye and saying, “Have I told you lately that I love you…and here’s why”?

I’m starting with my daughter…it’s her birthday.  

For several years we have had people ask us to visit them in Florida.  We finally decided to take them up on it.  

We flew out of TC on Monday, March 8 and landed in Fort Myers, FL in the afternoon.  We left TC in beautiful sunshine and 50 degrees.  We landed in driving rain and winds.  Oh well…the journey was on.

Monday…dinner and an overnight with Ed and Doris Loznak.  We’ve known Ed and Doris for years (Kim Lowder’s parent) and had a delightful time.

Tuesday…hung out with Mike and Dani staff and daughters Bailey and Ella.  We had lunch and dinner together, but the highlight was playing wiffle ball on the front lawn.  Ah…the simple joys of life.

Drove from Ft. Myers to Orland Tues. night and arrived at hotel at midnight…exhausted.

Wednesday was with Bonnie Kelly.  We attended a Tiger-Yankee spring training game (Tigers lost in the 9th on a two-run homer), then went out for a delightful Cuban dinner.  

Thursday: Had breakfast with our niece and a late lunch with Bay Pointers Ben and Maydean Felt.  Later that day drove through ridiculous rain and tornado warnings to Palm Beach.  At one point I thought Rose and I were going flying.  I told her no matter what happened I loved her and that when it was over be sure to “follow the yellow brick road.”  That did not comfort her.

Friday: Arrived at Dave and Jill Hall’s.  Had a great dinner with the Hall’s, Bob and Marilyn Andrews and Jack and Arlene Peplinski.  We celebrated Jill’s birthday, a number that will remain anonymous.

Saturday: spent the day totally chillin’ with Dave and Jillers.  This was our first day not running 100 mph.  Finished the day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  Yum.

Sunday: attended a great church (Christ Fellowship) and thoroughly enjoyed the worship and solid teaching.  The facility was mind-blowing, especially the children’s ministry.  The facility said, in no uncertain terms, “Kids are a top priority here.”

In the afternoon we drove back to Fort Myers area across “Alligator Alley.”   Rose and I counted at least 20 Gators…and there were tons more to see if we pulled over and got out…which Rose was not interested in doing. 

Tomorrow is our last day, which I set aside to spend with my brother Kevin and his wife Debbie, and my sister Sharon, both who are within 30 min. of our hotel near the airport.  I’m looking forward to connecting with them.

Tuesday a.m. we head back to a community (Traverse City) and church (Bay Pointe) we love.  It’s been a great trip seeing friends in an unrushed, unplugged environment.  It was a great reminder to me of what I already know but sometimes forget: relationships matter.  If I’m too busy for that then I’m just plain too busy.

I am devastated by the pictures and reports of Haiti.  But I am also moved by the compassion of so many sacrificing and giving so much to make a difference.  Pray, give and do what you can to be a “difference maker.”