Wednesday, December 31, 2003
As I spend the waning hours of 2003 thinking, I find myself thinking very little about 2003 and a lot of time thinking about 2004. In fact, I had to smile a little as I live in such an expectancy of what God is going to do this year in our lives and in the ministries we are involved in.
First on the agenda for 2004 will be the birth of our third grandchild. Through the miracle of modern technology we already know the baby is a little girl. After four daughters and two grandsons it will seem a little strange to have a granddaughter. Lonna and I have experienced joy unspeakable through our grandchildren who are truly a gift from God.
Second on the agenda for 2004 is trying to figure out how to raise enough money to fund our ministries. Ministry takes real money and we have real expenses in the ChurchMouse Chronicles, Home and Away Ministries and Pine City Community Church. I laugh when people tell me to pray and God will provide. You see, I have already been doing that for almost 30 years and we have survived but it hasn’t always been pretty or right. The lack of money in ministry is the greatest stress in my life. I have come to the conclusion that when people in ministry or others pray for their needs to be met, they are dependant on more than just God, their faith and the prayers they say. They are also dependant upon people to whom God speaks to be obedient to Him in their giving to the ministry or their need. Unfortunately as I listen to many sincere Godly people in ministry their needs are not always met. In fact, many are “formerly” in ministry because they couldn’t survive financially and maintain their credibility. Because in the past I have been only able to draw a small fraction of a full time salary between the three ministries and the fact that we now have more real overhead and monthly obligations than ever before in the ministries, we will be looking to God for different ways to obtain the necessary funds to carry on the ministry to avoid the word “former” by name.
Third on the agenda for 2004 is to finish the remodeling of Pine City Community Church’s 8,000 sq. ft. building that we recently purchased. The cost will be around $50,000 so our seventeen-month-old church will have its hands full raising the money to pay for it as we go. And the church needs a secretary and youth pastor. We also need to begin to develop the congregational gifts for leadership and service. This is no easy task for any church but very necessary. Without it a church cannot grow and become spiritually strong. For a church to become spiritually strong the people have to become spiritually strong. I call it God’s rule for a great church!
Fourth on the agenda for 2004 is to add three staff members to Home and Away Ministries both in our office here and in our office in Mexico. When I go to Monterrey, Mexico in February I will be bringing with me someone to meet with the pastors there about men’s ministries. In March or April we hope to make our first major shipment of food into Monterrey to be distributed through the churches to the poor. We will also look for new office space to accommodate new staff and to set up computer banks for training pastors and others in their churches. We also are ready to set up the sister church relationships between American churches and Mexican churches. God has great things in mind for this year in our ministry in Mexico. If your church is interested in becoming a sister church with a church in Monterrey, please contact us immediately.
But let’s do the traditional thing and reflect back on 2003.
First and foremost, I praise God for the work of His mighty hand and the blessings he has showered upon us. God has truly been good to us this past year. Our second grandson, Grant Michael, was born in November. Let me share with you some of the other miracles we have seen.
The ChurchMouse Chronicles continued as consistently as possible with a limited staff of writers and technical people. This ministry that began in 1997 continues to touch thousands of lives a day both in English and Spanish in many parts of the world. Some days I wonder why we do it and then I think of the prisoners in Southern California who use it for their daily Bible studies and devotions. When I get discouraged I think of the students, teachers and other staff in our public schools that make this ministry part of their day. When I feel sorry for myself I think of a special friend in Wisconsin who has been reading the ChurchMouse for years who has lost her legs, most of her eyesight and now is facing a kidney transplant as a result of a lifetime battle with diabetes. Her name is Debbie and she needs our prayers right now. When I think I am crazy I think of the missionaries in Africa, the students in Europe and the servicemen in different parts of the world who read this little impromptu daily writing. When I think of how this ministry has had such little financial support over the years (a number of years with no support at all and others with as little as $50 and $200.) I ask why?
Earlier this year, through the ChurchMouse Chronicles and the generosity of good friends, we started Home and Away Ministries to be a mission’s orientated ministry. We incorporated it as a non-profit corporation. We applied for and were approved by the IRS as a 501 C 3 tax-deductible religious organization. Because it did not have a revenue stream of any kind we began to solicit for cars to be donated. Through this we were able to accumulate needed vehicles for the ministry both here and in Mexico as well as vehicles that we have been able to sell and others to give away to people in need. This fall we gave a car to a pastor from Nebraska who hit a deer in Southern Minnesota enabling him to drive home and have a replacement car at no cost. Just today we gave a mini-van to a young struggling family with five children who needed a vehicle that their family could ride together in. This is a great ministry.
This week we got a request for a vehicle for a young woman whose premature baby is in intensive care and will be for quite some time if the baby lives. She is stranded in a Ronal McDonald house with no transportation and no money. We are working on providing a vehicle that is suitable for her. And there are others. To date we have about broke even on the donated vehicles with the ones that are sold, picking up costs, repairs and the one ones we give away.
Earlier this year we made began to seek various items to be donated including food. Each Friday we drive to Minneapolis to pick things up, take them back to Pine City, sort them and distribute them to people who are having a temporary difficult time being out of work or some other crisis. We have assembled volunteers to find these people and deliver food to them. Recently a real estate agent delivered food to a young couple where the husband had just lost his job. When she brought the food to the door the young mother broke down and cried. When I talked to the agent she was so excited and emotionally described how she felt delivering food to this young couple. We have also delivered food and other items through our board members to families, youth groups and Christian schools in Minneapolis. And God provided a cube van the same week we started this to pickup and deliver food (It needs $800 worth of tires ASAP so please make that a matter of prayer).
Pine City Community Church continues to see the work of a miraculous and gracious God. The congregation continues to grow primarily with people who were not attending church anywhere. When I do my children’s message during the morning worship service we may have as many as 18 small children who come forward to listen and get their small package of M & M’s. Candy bribes are very effective!
Around the first of September we signed a purchase agreement to purchase a 8,000 sq ft former hardware store in a strip mall for approximately 45% of the appraised value with a tax receipt for the difference. The replacement cost is 400 to 500 percent of what we paid. God blessed us big time! We never got the sale closed until December 3rd as we experienced much spiritual warfare. We remodeled the north end of the building to be used for the sanctuary with a carpenter, electrician, a heating and air conditioning specialist and other volunteers from the congregation. This has been a wonderful bonding time for our congregation. We are a family!
Our first service was on Sunday December 7th. On Wednesday December 3rd we still didn’t have any chairs. I had been contacting everyone I knew about chairs. At about 10:30 A.M. that morning I received a copy of an email about 400 beautiful padded chairs that were available. To make a long story short, they were in our building by 10:00 P.M. that night. Isn’t it amazing how God works!
We had out first Christmas program in the new building and our new grandson Grant played Baby Jesus in the manger scene. One of the men in our church built the manger and Grant laid in it, complete with straw. It was a precious moment and made the birth of Christ more real.
2003 was a special year, one that we will never forget. I look back and cling to the memories. I look forward to 2004 and cling to God’s hand. You should do the same!
-Lyn Sahr
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Winter is part of the scenery in Minnesota each year when we lay to rest the previous year. The cold weather adds a sense of reality in reflecting what the previous year has been for us. But for some there is the sense of peace and fulfillment for a year in which they made giant steps with God. Each year is just another step toward eternity and the reality of that is real. If we are not walking with God day-by-day, year-by-year toward eternity in heaven we may be “left behind!”
-Lyn Sahr
-Deut 5:33 NIV
Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
Monday, December 29, 2003
It hasn’t been that long ago that I was a teenager and full of dreams and visions. Well, on the other hand, I guess it has been a while ago. But the great news is that at age 55 I still have visions and dreams. The big difference is that when I was young I tried to do them myself. It’s taken me a lifetime to figure out that it doesn’t work that way.
When God gives you a vision He doesn’t expect you to carry it out yourself. He expects you to be obedient, committed and accepting. Obedient to do it His way, committed to the fullness of time for its completion and accepting to the results of His hand. And one thing I have learned is there is a difference between my definition of success and God’s. I have learned that earthly failure may be divine success!
So if you feel that 2003 has not been a good year for you and life is going no-where, remember you may be now-here! It is all about perspective. And I would rather be a worldly failure with divine success than a worldly success and a divine failure!
P.S. You can’t fail clinging to God’s hand!
-Lyn Sahr
-2 Peter 1:3-9 NIV
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
We have just celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus. No other “religion” talks of God becoming man. But this is just part of the story. One day, Jesus is coming back, not as a babe in the manger, but as King of kings and Lord of lords. Every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. The best news is that if you have already confessed Him to be Lord of your life, He is coming to take you home.
Sometimes we forget that this earth is not our home. The Bible says we are aliens and strangers in this world. This is our training ground for heaven. When days seem long, it is good to remember that this world is not home, it is just a temporary stopover on the way home.
-Ardis Rivera
-Rev 1:7-8 NIV
Look, he is coming with the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.
So shall it be! Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Saturday December 27, 2003
The last few mornings before his Christmas vacation started, after I kissed my 11-year old son goodbye, I stood by the front window and watched him walk down the road to the bus stop. I haven’t always been able to spend the time watching him go due to a busy morning schedule with our large family, but lately I have just taken a few extra minutes to watch him leave and pray for his day.
As he sometimes walks in the ditch, stops to tie a shoe, or looks at the rising sun or cloud formations, I wonder what he is thinking? Does he know his father is watching him go, and is proud of him and what he will accomplish someday in his life? There will be pain in his life, but my wife and I will do our best to guide and comfort him in those times.
How much was watching my son go, like God must have felt watching his son go to earth to be born of “earthly parents.” Knowing that his son would have to go through excruciating pain while here, and that at the time he needed him most, his back would be turned (in love-no less).
I don’t know what troubles and heartaches my son will face, but as his father, I will continue to watch him, love him, and wait for his return. God did the same for his son, and was reunited after his death on a cross 33-years after his lowly birth in a stable. God does the same for you today; he waits patiently for you to come to him, and spend time with him, and has an incredible place waiting for you when you “come home.”
Have you discovered the real “gift” of Christmas?
-Garrett Novak
-John 3:16-17 NIV
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Friday, December 26, 2003
This morning I officiated a funeral service for a man who died just before Christmas. He was mentally challenged and had lived in a group home for most of his life. As I looked over those who attended the service I realized that many of the people there were staff from his present group home and previous groups homes where he lived. It was refreshing to see people who really cared for one of their residents and took the time out of their own schedule to be there. Too often we forget that the people who work in these settings and others really care. It’s more than just a job. It’s a calling. Only God can give them the special love for those often forgotten or ignored by society.
Unfortunately the church also has a short memory when it comes to time and ministry to these special people of God’s.
-Lyn Sahr
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Then joy of Christmas is never overshadowed by commercialism when the heart of a true believer worships. Worship is something that cannot be done by unbelievers for, if they did, they would be believers. You can’t worship something you do not believe in or are not committed to. So, this Christmas worship and rejoice in Jesus birth.
-Lyn Sahr
-Matt 2:2 NIV
Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
The world pauses for a moment to celebrate the birth of our Savior. As millions gather to reflect on family and friends, Jesus is remembered in every “Merry Christmas” greeting!
May you have a blessed Christmas with family, friends and the “Christ” of Christmas.
-Lyn Sahr
-Isa 9:6 NIV
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
The Christmas season comes and goes but Christ of Christmas remains.
-Lyn Sahr
-Isa 60:1 NIV
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
Monday, December 22, 2003
To find peace at Christmas you must experience it the other 364 days of the year. If not, you may get a reprieve for the day but the turmoil of life still stares you in the face after the holidays. Peace is only attainable when you are peace with God. Then the spirit of Christmas becomes a year around experience.
-Lyn Sahr
-Phil 4:7 NIV
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
To worship in the Spirit of Christmas one must possess the Spirit of Christmas. You don’t get that by attending church just on holidays.
May the Spirit of Christ dwell in you and His light shine through you this Christmas.
-Lyn Sahr
-Rom 8:9-11 NIV
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
The other night I was coming home and I couldn’t believe the traffic. It seemed the whole city had to be out and I imagine the stores were packed. Everyone is hurrying to buy presents for family and friends before Christmas. Probably by now you know what you are going to give most people on your list. But what are you giving Jesus this Christmas? We celebrate His birth, but many times we forget to truly include Him. I remember hearing a story of a little girl who had been told that Christmas was Jesus’ birthday. She looked at all the presents and looked at the names on them and then asked, “Where is Jesus’ present? After all, it is HIS birthday.”
This Christmas, give Jesus a present. Give Him time in Bible study and prayer. And make sure you have given Him your life. In all the activities, don’t forget the Reason for the Season. Let us be like the Wise Men, bowing down before the King.
-Ardis Rivera
-Matt 2:11 NIV
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Friday, December 19, 2003
The Gas Station
The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn’t been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. He had no decorations, no tree, no lights. It was just another day to him. He didn’t hate Christmas, just couldn’t find a reason to celebrate. There were no children in his life. His wife had gone.
He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. Instead of throwing the man out, George, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the space heater and warm up. “Thank you, but I don’t mean to intrude,” said the stranger. “I see you’re busy. I’ll just go.” “Not without something hot in your belly.” George turned and opened a wide
mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. “It ain’t much, but it’s hot and tasty. Stew. Made it myself. When you’re
done there’s coffee and it’s fresh.” Just at that moment he heard the “ding” of the driveway bell. “Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” George said.
There in the driveway was an old 53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front. The driver was panicked. “Mister can you help me!” said the driver with a deep Spanish accent. “My wife is with child and my car is broken.” George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold; the car was dead. “You ain’t going in this thing,” George said as he turned away. “But mister Please help….” The door of the office closed behind George as he went in. George went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building and opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting.
“Here, take my truck,” he said. “She ain’t the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good.” George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night.
George turned and walked back inside the office. “Glad I gave em the truck. Their tires were shot too. That ‘ol truck has
brand new……..” George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The thermos was on the desk, empty with a used coffee cup beside it. “Well, at least he got something in his belly,” George thought. George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn’t cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator.
“Well, shoot, I can fix this,” he said to himself. So he put a new one on. “Those tires ain’t gonna get ’em through the winter either.” He took the snow treads off of his wife’s old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn’t going to drive the car.
As he was working he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, “Help me.” George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. “Pressure to stop the bleeding,” he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound.
“Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin’,” he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease “Something for pain,” George thought. All he had were the pills he used for his back. “These ought to work.” He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. “You hang in there. I’m going to get you an ambulance.” The phone was dead. “Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car.” He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard
destroying the two way radio. He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. “Thanks,” said the officer. “You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area.”
George sat down beside him. “I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain’t gonna leave you.” George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. “Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through ‘ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain.” George got up and poured a cup of coffee. “How do you take it?” he asked. “None for me,” said the officer.
“Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain’t got no donuts.”
The officer laughed and winced at the same time. The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. “Give me all your cash! Do it now!” the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before. “That’s the guy that shot me!” exclaimed the officer. “Son, why are you doing this?” asked George. “You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt.” The young man was confused. “Shut up old man, or I’ll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!” The cop was reaching for his gun. “Put that thing away,” George said to the cop. “We got one too many in here now.” He turned his attention to the young man. “Son, it’s Christmas Eve if you need the money, well then, here. It ain’t much but it’s all I got. Now put that pee shooter away.” George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. “I’m not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son,” he went on. “I’ve lost my job. My rent is due. My car got repossessed last week…” George handed the gun to the cop. “Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can.” He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. “Sometimes we do stupid things.” George handed the young
man a cup of coffee. “Being stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin’ in here with a gun ain’t the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we’ll sort this thing out.”
The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. “Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I’m sorry officer.” “Shut up and drink your coffee.” the cop said.
George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. “Chuck! You ok?” one of the cops asked the wounded officer. “Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?” “GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?” the other cop asked as he approached the young man. Chuck answered him, “I don’t know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran.” George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other. “That guy work
here?,” the wounded cop continued. “Yep,” George said. “Just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job.” The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, “Why?” Chuck just said,
“Merry Christmas boy. And you too, George, and thanks for everything.” “Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems.” George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. “Here you go. Something for the little woman. I don’t think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some
day.” The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. “I can’t take this,” said the young man. “It means something to you.” “And now it means something to you,” replied George. “I got my memories. That’s all I need.” George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left
for him to sell “Here’s something for that little man of yours.” The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier. “And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too,” George said. “Now git home to your family.” The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. “I’ll be here in
the morning for work, if that job offer is still good.” “Nope. I’m closed Christmas day,” George said. “See ya the day after.”
George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. “Where’d you come from? I thought you left?” “I have been here. I have always been here,” said the stranger. “You say you don’t celebrate Christmas. Why?” “Well, after my wife passed away I just couldn’t see what all the bother was. Puttin’ up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin’ cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn’t the same by myself and besides I was getting a little chubby.” The stranger put his hand on George’s shoulder. “But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold
and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man.” George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. “And how do you know all this?” asked the old man.
“Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again.” The stranger moved toward the door. “If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned.” George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room. “You see, George… it’s my birthday you celebrate During this time of year. Merry Christmas….George.”
George fell to his knees and replied, “Happy Birthday, Lord.”
-contributed by Garrett Novak
Thursday, December 18, 2003
My wife’s parents are moving and they have been sorting through boxes and picture albums. One picture was of the youth group at the church that Dad attended. Taken in the mid 1940’s, it was fun to look at the hairstyles and clothing and how young they all looked when we knew some of them were now great-grandparents.
Looking at the picture, about twenty people, I asked Dad how many of them were still serving the Lord. He looked closely at the picture and began telling us something about the individuals. Some of them had spent a lifetime on the mission field, some were pastors or pastor’s wives. Out of the whole group he identified only two that had fallen away from their walk with the Lord. Most of the rest were still living, in their late seventies or early eighties, and still serving Jesus!
I pray that the church I attend will have that type of impact on the youth we minister to each week.
-John Roe
-Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Recently I heard of a church that wasn’t going to sing Christmas songs this year. Surprised I thought, “What will we eliminate next, church itself?” Many people watch church on TV, some through other electronic medias and others attend but just sit in their favorite entertainment seat. In other words, people are becoming more and more detached from the heart of the church. Pretty soon we will all be able to take a “church pill” and everyone can sleep in on Sunday mornings or get an early start shopping the Sunday Newspaper ads. Just think, then we could eliminate the need for buildings and save lots of money!
But before you take the “church pill” remember this, Jesus didn’t send a doll for Mary to have in the manger in Bethlehem, He brought His own flesh and blood. We should do the same when it comes to worshiping Him!
The path to the heart of God leads through the church!
-Lyn Sahr
-Eph 5:1-2 NIV
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Sunday, December 7, one of my foster sons, Jose, and I had the privilege of attending Pine City Community Church. It was the first Sunday in the new building and it was exciting.
As we walked across the parking lot to our truck Jose turned to me and said, “Know what? I wish there was a way that I could stay here and help build this church and work with the youth here.”
I knew exactly what he meant because I felt the same way. The excitement was catching. The vision was clear. God is doing something! Distance, 300 miles to be exact, makes it impossible to attend and help out there, but, God has a work for us here.
Get excited about what God is doing in your community and in your church. If your church isn’t an exciting place to be then get fired up and make it that way!
-John Roe
Monday, December 15, 2003
I can’t remember the last time I have been so excited about Christmas. This year I know of at least a couple of dozen people who will experience a “Jesus Christmas” for the first time! My heart is blessed when Christmas is celebrated with “Christ” in people’s hearts. “Mas” means nothing without “Christ.”
-Lyn Sahr
-John 15:9-13 NIV
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
As we celebrate Christmas, it is easy to hear the Christmas story and not really think about it. We have heard it so often that it is easy to forget what it really means. We think of the baby Jesus, born in Bethlehem, laying in a manger. But that was not the beginning of Jesus’ existence. Jesus has always been—He was present at creation and before. He has always been.
So at Christmas, we celebrate God become man. Jesus left the splendors of heaven. He came to earth to live among us. When you really think about that fact, it is an awesome thought. Jesus lived in heaven with all of its’ glory and He was willing to leave that to come to this earth to live with us so that we can share the glories of heaven with Him. Talk about a mission trip! Jesus gave up the glories of heaven to come and live with us and become one of us. And He understands our fears and hardships. Why? He lived them. He understands when others ridicule for your faith, because He too was ridiculed.
This Christmas, remember that we celebrate His birth as God made man. But Jesus really has no “birthday” because He always has been.
-Ardis Rivera
-John 1:14 NIV
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Yesterday I returned from Monterrey, Mexico. Because of some problem with the ISP we were unable to email the daily “Thought For The Day” through their system. Because of all of the SPAM being sent these days the ISP’s are going through greater and greater lengths to eliminate it and so when they see an email going out to a large number of people it can be rejected.
Our week in Mexico went by fast and was very productive. I met with about 100 pastors during the week and was once again reminded of the inequities of the church. It makes no sense to me that the same razor blades cost $6 in a Wal-Mart in America and $9 in a Wal-Mart in Mexico when the people make so much less money in Mexico. Some of the pastors live on $200 – $300 per month. Many live on less. Gas in Mexico is about $3.50 a gallon and basic phone service for many is almost $50. It is estimated that seventy percent of the people in Monterrey are poor, twenty percent the emerging middle class and ten percent are wealthy. With an estimate of over 12,000,000 people in the Monterrey area, that means there is approximately 8,400,000 poor people.
As I met with pastors and other people I asked them many personal questions. When I asked on woman pastor if she ever ran out of food for her family she dropped her head and tears began to flow. When I met with about 25 mothers from a neighborhood where they live in houses with dirt floors and made of whatever materials they can find, I asked them the same question. The tears welled up in their eyes and the pain on their faces said it all. Many of the school children had no food for breakfast and eat their first meal when they come home from school at 12:30 p.m. That meal is tortillas, eggs and beans. And they eat the same thing for supper. Fortunately a ministry we were with brings them food once a week and gives them parenting classes. Without the small amount of food, they would starve. Many of the husbands in this area are alcoholics, drug addicts, unemployed or underemployed to care for their families.
The purpose of Home and Away Ministries, the mission organization started through the Church Mouse Chronicles, is to make a difference in Mexico and wherever else God leads us. However, the need is so great that it is impossible for us to raise enough money, hire enough staff or have enough food to help by ourselves. That’s where the American Church comes in.
We are establishing “Sister Church” relationships with churches in Mexico and the United States for the mutual benefit of both. Instead of an individual American church going on a single short term missions trip or ministering in a number of church while they are in Mexico, they have a sister church that they work with on a regular basis for years. The American church has resources and finances that can really make a difference in the Mexican Church. Different people from an individual American church can go to Monterrey and help their sister church as often as they like.
The Mexican church has few resources and finances but they have a passion for the Lord that, frankly, we rarely see in the American Church. In time we want to bring Mexican pastors to preach in their sister church in America. What a beautiful thing. The borders melt with the love of God.
There is something wrong when we have so much in the American Church and our dear brothers and sisters in Mexico have so little. We can help hundreds in Mexico reach thousands of people for Jesus Christ by teaming up a church here and a church there and working together.
If your church has an interest in being involved in missions where you can know the people and develop a relationship between your church and the church in Mexico, I would like to hear from you. I subscribe to the philosophy of James when he says that faith without deeds is dead… and no one ever got saved from dead faith in America or Mexico!
-Lyn Sahr
P.S. We also need at least three self-supported staff people in Monterrey and three in Minnesota. If you are interested, I need to hear from you.
Sunday, December 7, 2003
Tomorrow the director of the ministry that has started here in Monterrey is arriving for some meetings. One day I was thinking about that fact. When I moved here in September, it would have been easy to think that no one would know what I am doing and to think I could just take it easy for awhile. If that had been the case, right now I would be scrambling to get things together to show some results of work I had supposedly done. But I am looking forward to the visit. I am anxious for our director to meet the wonderful pastors that I have met in the short time I have been here. I can confidently say that I have been working all along and have no fear that someone will find out I have not used well the time I have been here.
One day, another “director” is coming. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. And He also will want to seek the results of the work He has given me to do. The thing is—He already knows what I have been doing. I can’t fabricate data and expect Him to believe it. The other thing is that I don’t know when this “Director” will come to ask me to give account of the work. I have to be ready at all times. And so do you.
-Ardis Rivera
-Matt 24:44 NIV
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Saturday, December 6, 2003
I am in the habit of getting up before the sun most mornings. Just a couple weeks ago, I had gotten ready for work, and had gotten dressed in very dim light, and hadn’t noticed I was wearing two different black shoes. As my wife kissed me as I was heading out the door she said “Honey, have you looked at your feet yet today?”
As I looked down, I saw my feet, both with black shoes but from different pairs. In the hustle (and a pretty dark house) I had grabbed for what I thought was a “pair,” and put them on (at least I had one right and one left shoe).
As Christians, there are days when we are not putting on the same pair of shoes. We wear a shoe from this pair and one shoe from that pair, and think that it will be fine. They might not feel right at first, but we get used to it over time. One right shoe and one wrong shoe will always mean we are walking in sin!
-Garrett Novak
-Genesis 4:7 NIV
If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Friday, December 5, 2003
As we are in the month of the year when we celebrate Christmas, I realize that this Christmas will be different for me in many ways. First, there will be no snow (hopefully). Second, I didn’t bring any Christmas decorations with me since the vehicles were loaded down with necessities. And I won’t be with my family.
However, this things don’t mean that I won’t be celebrating Christmas. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth and of God’s great gift to us. It is an attitude and I intend on celebrating Christmas—even though it will be a very different type of celebration.
The thing is—we should be celebrating Christmas every day of the year—not just one. We know of a gift that the world needs. So let’s celebrate Christmas, not just this month, but every day of the year.
-Ardis Rivera
-Isa 9:6-7 NIV
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
Thursday, December 4, 2003
What is God’s will for my life?
This is the question that most Christians ask at one time or another. Sometimes we ask and ask and ask and never seem to find the answer. It might just be that we are already in His will because He has already answered our prayers and we don’t want to accept it. For most of us God’s will doesn’t include mud huts in the jungle, or martyrdom in a country hostile to the Gospel. No, mostly God’s will is just doing what we have been doing. Working, paying the bills, taking care of our family, attending church, living each day with the assurance that He is God and will take care of us.
Don’t miss God while you are waiting to find out what His will is. Live!
-John Roe
-Ephesians 5:15-16
Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
Do you know someone, a Christian brother or sister, that is living a life that may not be pleasing to God? You know that they are saved but yet they are really struggling with the issues of holiness. How do you handle it?
There may be times that you have to confront them. Make sure that you have the facts straight before you rush into a confrontation and make sure that you have their best interests at heart. Don’t go in your own strength but seek God first to make sure that your motives are right and that your aim is restoration, not punishment.
Pray for them the way that Paul prayed for the saints in Ephesians. He didn’t pray, “Lord zap them with lightning”, he prayed that they would have the power to understand Christ. He knew that as their relationship with Christ grew many of these other things would fall away.
-John Roe
-Ephesians 3:16:19
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you will power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Tuesday, December 2, 2003
I admit it; I have a little trouble getting revved up for Christmas. I even know why I am a slow starter. I am uncomfortable with the idea that people are so nice to each other a few days of the year and less than nice the other 350 or so days. As Christians, we should have the spirit of Christmas 365 days a year. After all, it is the spirit of Christ is it not?
-Lyn Sahr
-Rom 8:9 NIV
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Monday, December 1, 2003
I never get used to the idea that in America we are not even allowed to finish celebrating Thanksgiving and suddenly we are pushed into Christmas. Holidays were meant to be spent with family and friends with times of joy, cozy fires and warm fuzzies. Unfortunately, the commercialization of Christmas has driven it to be a season of heartache and loneliness for many people. Christmas isn’t about gifts, it is about giving. God demonstrated that by sending Jesus, His one and only Son.
When you don’t have money to buy a gift, be a gift.
Even if you do have money to buy a gift, be a gift!
Yes, God gave of himself. We should do the same.
-Lyn Sahr
-Prov 25:14 NIV
Like clouds and wind without rain
is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.
