Hit and Run

There is a hit and run epidemic in Denver. There has been an average of 17 hit and run accidents per day over the past three years. These accidents have led to many fatalities, injuries and countless dollars spent on auto repairs. Some have been solved and others are still open cases, but all have shaken the confidence in the drivers of the other cars in town.

Pharisees can be like hit and run drivers. They can focus so much on the rules and practices of religion that they fail to yield to grace and people get hurt as a result. Too many times, I have been guilty of running over people in the name of religion and leaving them in pain in my path. I have practiced hit and run religion. The result is shaken confidence in Jesus, the Church and individual followers of Jesus.

Are you practicing hit and run religion?

The antithesis of hit and run religion is living out grace and truth in relationship. May the grace and love of God flow out of us as we engage the lost and dying world, so that they grasp the good news of Jesus.

Love of Christ

“I pray that you may have the power to grasp how wide, and how long, and how high and how deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses all knowledge.” Ephesians 3:18
This is my prayer for our neighbors! We are surrounded by very successful professionals, intelligent upwardly mobile families with high levels of education and much worldly success. This leads to a contentment with life as it is, a feeling of being blessed with many things and no real “need” for God. The love of Christ, which is in us, is what fuels us to live in and love on this neighborhood. We have already been told in different ways that neighbors see something different in us and are drawn to it. We want them to grasp the love of Christ and see that unique love surpass all knowledge and “success”. Pray they will see Him in us, have ears to hear the Gospel and our testimonies, and experience His great love personally!
We are having gospel conversations more regularly now, as we have met and can call many neighbors by name now. We know God is deepening our connection with several specific neighbors and we are praying for salvation for these and for a chance to disciple them and see them grow in Christ!

Bipolar

Springtime on the front range is bipolar.  Today it is 70 degrees and sunny, but Sunday it is supposed to snow.  One day is warm, the next is frigid and windy.  The grass is starting to become green and the people are emerging from their hibernation to run, play in the park and care for their lawns.  But then winter reminds us that it still has a grip on the area with seasonal snow storms and the impressive sights of the ski resorts with massive amounts of snow still on the ground.

Planting the Gospel is bipolar as well.  There are days when there are frantically good things that happen…like the day of our monthly house parties or the days following when we take time to follow up with our neighbors, or when a new partnership is developed or a mission team is on the ground.  There are days of discouragement and frustration, too…. like the times when I would fill out multiple applications for a job, only to never hear back about the positions (praise God for opening a position at Albertsons in the coffee bar), or days when people are not receptive to you when you talk with them.  All in all, the journey has more ups than downs and we look forward to seeing what God is going to do in us and through us here in Lowry.

Faith

Faith! Short word, full of big meaning. God has me in a study of faith. He is teaching me about faith all across my life and He isn’t letting up!

Faith – “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see” Heb 11:1

“Without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.” Hebrews 11:6

I’ve heard these verses many times, read them, studied them. It’s real now, more real than ever before!
Many of you have called our move to Colorado a “leap of faith”. Maybe it’s true. There was definitely an element of trusting in what we couldn’t yet see, literally. But the testing of faith is more real now than then, than ever! God is asking me if I have faith that He can save my neighbors and bring life change, heal deep wounds, soften hearts, break habits, mend brokenness. Each day, as we engage neighbors in different places in the neighborhood, the lostness is SO evident, the brokenness heart-breaking. It would be so easy to dwell on how huge the need for God is here, or even to dwell on how impossible it seems that this place we call home will be redeemed. But God is strengthening my faith! He is helping me believe, with certainty, in what I cannot see or even imagine! He is calling me out into deep water and I’m committed to keeping my eyes above the waves and focused on Him, that I may walk behind Him and rest in His promise that one day, EVERY knee shall bow and EVERY tongue confess that He is Lord! Oh, to envision and believe all of Lowry on their knees confessing Him as Lord together! Now unseen, very dim at the least…one day soon, TRUE!

1 Peter 1:9 says “the outcome of our faith is the salvation of our souls” and we know “it is by grace, through faith, we are saved”. Faith is contagious and I’m praying for an epidemic, in Lowry and beyond. The salvation of souls is the goal and I am confidently believing it is His will!

My favorite song right now…can’t hear it too many times! Take the next 10 minutes to watch the video and soak it in. Let’s rest in His embrace together, expecting big things!!
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PLrQWVpoh7U