Pain and trials - a practical exercise in Christlikeness

Yesterday’s blog entry was an appropriate illustration in the whole pain & trials thing. As I wrote the blog entry, I titled it “Pain & trials - path to Christlikeness.” I actually wrote it on Tuesday, but had troubles uploading the entry to my blog. I kept receiving an error message and finally gave up, went to the online forum on the software, posted my difficulty and waited.

A couple of days ago, I received a message from the software creator stating that an upgrade was available that should solve my problem. Joyfully, I downloaded the “beta” version/upgrade and tried updating an earlier blog entry. Success! I wrote of my victory to the author and thanked him immensely for a quick resolution to my painful experience.

Not so fast...

I tried uploading yesterday’s entry this morning as I prepared to write this entry (which had a totally different focus). Again, I received the dreaded error message. “Something” told me (what I really mean is Someone, namely the Holy Spirit!) to change the entry’s title from “Pain & trials...” to “Pain and trials...” (simply changing the symbol “&” to the word “and”).

Lo, and behold, I uploaded the entry and awaited the disappointing error message. Instead, I received “Entry successfully received.”

I was relieved. I laughed that the “upgrade” or “fix” for the program didn’t solve the problem. I simply needed to communicate in normal language that the computer could understand -- no symbolic language for that computer server.

Now, what I am about to share is not my normal way of life, so don’t put me on some pedestal or sing any song of praise. I think that the Lord simply wanted to use this as an illustration (a very, very small illustration!) of how we’re to approach difficulties, pain and trials. Simply put, be patient. I honestly didn’t want to wait for a solution. I wanted to try uploading the entry a thousand times in hopes that somehow it would finally be entered. But, no matter how many times I would have tried, I would have received the error message.

I’m a pusher and it’s not my nature to wait. It’s not my personality to sit back and really try to look at something from a totally different perspective or angle. In all of my blog entries, I have never used the “&” symbol. It would never have occurred to me that that little symbol could create such chaos. But, having stepped back from the problem, prayed about it and received a “just wait a little bit” message from the Lord and then actually being obedient to wait, I “stumbled” across the solution through the Holy Spirit’s prompting to try changing the “&” to the word “and.”

Does it make sense? Now it does. But for days, it made no sense to me -- especially since I had just upgraded to the newer better software and had experienced successful entries since the upgrade.

Little did I know that the “upgrade” was in the testing and trials department of my faith much more than the software department. Doesn’t it feel great to experience the joy of obeying the Lord and watch Him work things out as opposed to pushing & pushing & pushing and pushing until something happens or we give up in anger & frustration?

I sure hope that I don’t forget this lesson. I know I will, but I hope not for a long time.

“Dear brothers and sisters,* whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.“ Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997, c1996 (electronic ed.) (James 1:2-4). Wheaton: Tyndale House.

More later... Ahhh, another successful blog entry....

Daily pain and trials - path to Christ-likeness

I was reminded again how pain & trials are really the key to being “conformed to the image of Christ.” Romans 5:3-5 says (New Living Translation), “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. 4 And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. 5 And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

That reminds me of another passage found in James 1:4-6 which says, “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. 3 For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

One of the biggest lies -- or at best, mis-truths - in the Christian church today is the thinking that when I attend church services (worship services, youth group, small group, Sunday School class, adult fellowship, men’s or women’s class or whatever), that it is during that class that I am growing in my walk with Jesus Christ.

That is not exactly right! It is in those meetings that I primarily receive the information, encouragement & inspiration necessary to use to turther my growth. It really is only in the day-to-day living that my faith is shaped/strengthened/established and proven. It is in the “mundane things of life” where the true believer shines. I think of moms who spends 18 hours of her day caring for the needs of children crying for food, nurture, love, attention, guidance, understanding, hope and so much more. In contrast, is my work meeting for an hour or two with young people to discuss their spiritual pilgrimage, troubles or dreams more important in the Kingdom of God than that which moms do day-in and day-out? Absolutely not. Not only is they having a far greater impact on the lives of those children by molding their priorities, attitudes, responses to difficulties and much more, but their own faith is being tested & proven as they seek understanding from the Lord in handling disputes, beg Him for wisdom as to how to comfort a restless child, or as they cry out for physical & emotional strength to give just a little more attention/focus/love to the little ones who rise at 5:30am and finally crash at 11:00pm. (Oh sure, there’s a nap or 2 in between there, but that’s just enough time to get laundry started, wash dishes, do meal prep or any number of other day-in and day-out chores.)

My faith isn’t truly proven during church-sponsored events (though they certainly help). My faith is proven in how it impacts my decisions at work (do I put off that project that my boss wants? do I “fudge” a little on the expense report - after all, I did tell him the name of the company I work for, so doesn’t that make it a business lunch? - This company is so big that they’ll never miss this thing... Maybe you do something or don’t do something because it actually does sobotage someone else’s job and that person doesn’t really deserve to work here anyway.)

When my faith affects my daily living (work decisions/attitudes, what I spend my money on, what I watch or don’t watch on TV/DVD/computer, whether I help my wife in the kitchen, spend time with my kids, give money AND time to a non-profit organization that really needs the help, how many hours I work, and so very much more!), then I truly have a faith that can be a llight shining before men so that they can see our Heavenly Father, not to mention that it is a faith worth watching from a distance by others who will be encouraged, inspired, convicted or challenged. At any rate, they’ll certainly be drawn to our Lord Jesus -- and isn’t that the point?

HMA Home stretch

Quick! Write down 5 words to describe yourself! What words did you choose?

Would you describe yourself as holy? Do you even want to be holy? Does the word “holiness” create within you positive or negative emotions? According to God’s Word, we are holy and we are to be holy! 1 Pet. 1:15, 16 clearly tells us that!

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Today marks 39 days before we leave for Slovakia -- providing that we have 90% of our support raised and that we have $4,000 in our reserve fund.

Although that sounds like a long time away, we have less than 2 weeks before we “abandon” our domicile here at 832 W. Pecos in Mesa, AZ.

On May 29th, we leave for Hawaii to visit family, attend a 30th High School reunion (mine, not Linda’s - she’s not that old, yet!) and meet with some folks/friends/old Bible college schoolmates who pastor a church in Hilo to see if their church will join our partners team for our work in Slovakia.

On June 13th, we’ll return to Phoenix, AZ, pick up our van and drive up to Andy & Linda Nemcik’s home in Loyalton, CA., (about 45 minutes north of Lake Tahoe) to spend almost 10 days there and in the Northern California area visiting supporting churches, supporters and potential supporting churches/individuals.

Lord willing, on June 24th, we’ll head out to Slovakia!

If you’re a praying person, we’d ask that you pray for some things for us. The first, of course, as with all missionaries, is financial support. Since our first trek to Slovakia in 1996, our support needs have almost doubled due to increased cost of living, fluctuations in exchange rates, weakening of the dollar and much more. We need to raise another $210/month by mid-June in order to receive clearance from Greater Europe Mission to return to Slovakia.

Also, we’d appreciate prayer regarding our housing situation in Slovakia. We will be returning to the house in which we previously lived. For that we are very thankful. However, as with all of life, there are some glitches. The family currently in the house doesn’t want to move until their children are out of school (understandable), but school ends on June 30th, about 1 week after we arrive in Slovakia. That means that we need to find somewhere to live for at least 1 week, maybe 2, depending on how long it takes the owners to clean up and fix up the house for us. The biggest hassle is finding somewhere where Hero can live. On top of that, we have a ministry team coming to Slovakia on June 14th - 24th for some mission work.

Ah, well, it’s life as usual here on Planet Earth -- confusion, waiting, wondering, looking, (some worrying), anticipating.

We’ll just keep on keeping on and trust the Lord Jesus to do what He always does - the impossible!