I Can’t Wait!

rushing-where
 
 
 
 

A long, long, time ago, Alabama sang a song that ‘fit me to a tee’:

 

“I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.
Don’t know why I have to drive so fast
My car has nothing to prove,
It’s not new But it’ll do 0 to 60 in 5.2
Can’t be late, I leave plenty of time
Shaking hands with the clock,
I can’t stop I’m on a roll
and I’m ready to rock
I hear a voice That say’s I’m running behind
I better pick up my pace, It’s a race
And there ain’t no room For someone in second place.”

 

I remember my mother laughing at me when I was 5 years old and just starting kindergarten (a traumatic life style change for me). My question was very simple. “How long do I have to keep going to school?” After falling apart in laughter, she gently broke the news to me that it would be, at the very least, another 12 years.

 

In my mind, the starter’s gun shot out, & my “race with time” had just begun.

I couldn’t wait to finish kindergarten.

I couldn’t wait to finish grade school and then high school.

I couldn’t wait to finish college. I stumbled out of the starter’s gate & it took me 5 years, but I finally did finish.

By then, I was a follower of Jesus and had my call to full time ministry.

I couldn’t wait to get married and have our own children.

I couldn’t wait to finish Seminary & come back home to California.

I couldn’t wait to get my first church in Kernville.

I couldn’t wait to become an associate up in Yuba City. But after 3 years,

I couldn’t wait to leave.

I couldn’t wait to finish my doctoral studies, but no one seemed to notice.

I couldn’t wait to grow a large church in Orangevale, but it all fell apart right before my very eyes. I wasn’t completely broken, but I was badly bent.

I couldn’t wait to get well, to get my mind right. It is still a battle at times.

I couldn’t wait to get on the “mission field”. After several short term trips,   I couldn’t wait to get into the 10/40 window and reach those yet unreached.

 

I know what you must be thinking. “Now there is a “Type A” Driven man.”

And I have no defense for that accusation. As you can clearly see, I have been impatient for most of my life.

The good news is that God has a lot of patience.

2 Peter 3:8-9 NASB

8     But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

9     The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

For people like me, that is incredible. He could have squashed me like a bug, years ago. But His love for me, my soul, my eternity, is so very important. He was (& is) waiting for me to accomplish the task that was assigned to me when I became a follower of Jesus.

 

For me, I just keep prodding and kicking, like a rice farmer in Myanmar, trying to get that beast of burden to move a little faster. Some might say that I am too persistent. There is a big difference between being impatient and being persistent. Impatient people like me worry so much. We are fearful that we might run out of time & thereby miss out on the opportunity. I can see it all now. They are closing the door to the plane that I should have been on. As I race to the terminal gate, I am too late. I missed my connection. And so I worry. Always thinking about what might have been.

Matthew 6:25-34 NASB

25     “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink;

nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

33     “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,  and all these things will be added to you.

34     “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

Life becomes so much sweeter when we allow God to do the leading and directing. He has His own timetable.

 Mike-e1342678172131-150x150

Tempus fugit – Pastor Mike

 



Racism Alive and Well

As our country grows more racially diverse each day, we see that racism is still a very difficult problem. It is a signal to all of us aaa-racism-ruinshow deeply sin is imbedded in our hearts and lives. A part of becoming new in Christ  (2 Cor. 5:17) involves allowing the Holy Spirit to root out the very depths of our prejudices and bias against people groups.

Recently several cases of blatant racism have been reported by the news media. There is Bundy, a cattle rancher locked in a dispute with the US Bureau of Land Management over land rights. In an interview, he takes the opportunity to reveal that there is a deep evil lingering in the depths of his heart as he makes outrageous claims about blacks.

Then there is Donald Sterling, owner of a basketball franchise, who, apparently unknown to him, has a private conversation in his own home taped and released. It went viral. Again we see the darkness of racial evil dwelling in the soul.

Shaquille O’Neal, a retired basketball superstar, after castigating Sterling on his racist comments, recently took to Twitter to mock the appearance of Jahmel Binion, who suffers from a rare disorder called ectodermal dysplasia. Thousands called out his obvious hypocrisy in condemning Sterling’s racism while mocking a disability. De-humanization comes in all shapes, colors and
Sizes.

Then a publically elected official, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., described Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the only African-American judge on the Supreme Court, as an “Uncle Tom”. He implied that it was OK for him to say it because he is black himself.

All of this is just the very tip of the racist ice-burg. This should not be  shocking to us. Evil is alive and well all over the world. What is hard to believe is that after the last century where untold millions upon millions were slaughtered at the hands of atheistic socialism known as communism, there are still millions adherents to that system which promises utopia and true equality, but never comes close to delivering it. It is one of the most racist and biased forms of government ever imagined.   They are willing to tear down nations and destroy as many as necessary to achieve their satanic inspired visions. They are

blind to the lessons of history.

As true followers of Christ, we need to be at the forefront of these conversations that are happening in our work places, neighborhoods, friendships and families. The Good News of Jesus Christ demands that we confess our sins, dig out the very roots of evil & prejudice in our hearts, and then offer true reconciliation that only can come through the Spirit of God.

 

Coram Deo – Pastor Mike

 

 

ZDKM9