That's just sad...

I was watching someone on TV the other day. He was an emphatic atheist. What intrigued me about this person was that they were trying to convert others to believe in nothing. (Well they were selling evolution I think.) I have learned as a believer in Jesus Christ as the promised coming Messiah from the Torah that you don't really need to go out and recruit "converts." You behave as a Christ would, and as you go others will ask you why you do what you do. Then be ready as it says in 1 Peter 3:15. But, to "evangelize" a belief in nothing! I was puzzled. This is not the first time this thought has been written, not the first time it's been read; but someone will be right in the end. If it is the atheists whom are correct, then it's really no big deal. However, if the Christians are on the right side of eternity, then that's just sad.

Do You Remember

M.J. sang about it, although it was about a girl and not God... which is strange based on the media stories about him, anyways; many people remember the date or the day they fell in love with God, and called themselves a "believer!" I don't. I can't remember the day or the date, I've just always known that I was His, and Jesus did it all for me, so now I must do likewise. I do "remember the time" when I knew, and this picture is from that time.

I used to be envious (I know, I know, shame on me,) of the folks who knew the exact date and what they were doing or whom they were with when they chose to believe in what Jesus says, and does. Maybe I wanted that experience of conversion. I don't know. In prayer this morning, I was thanking God for all He's given me that I get to share, and I remembered the time.

It was early April and everything was coming to life again; as much as can come to life in April in Buffalo. I was in second grade and going through the process of "first communion" in the church and school I attended. To receive this you had to understand who Jesus was, why He died for us, and you must have made a choice to believe before you could partake in this sacrament.

After teaching elementary school for some time, I think around second grade you begin to understand more about the world around you as you begin a years-long learning maturation. At that time, in the church our family attended I remember being taught all the terribly wonderful stories and lessons from the Bible. Thanks Dad and Mom, and Sister Eileen. I understood them, and I believed. Thanks Holy Spirit. I must have also grasped the overjoyed seriousness that a true-believer in Jesus must have throughout their life, hence the look in the photo.

We are most often overjoyed and thankful at what God has done for us. Yet we seriously must continue in our prayers (and actions) to thank and ask that He also do it for others too. (side thought: Evangelizing in someone's face isn't necessarily effective, but it might make you feel good.) Because of what I now know to be true, I am no longer envious of another story of a day someone remembers being saved because of Jesus. I lean toward thankfulness. And, although I haven't always remembered, deserved, earned, or lived accordingly, I have thankfully had a glorious life with Him. I now pray daily for others, and I thank God because He helps me remember the time. Do you remember?

Wheelchair Buddies

Todd Rocket sent this photo of Jim and Derek who are now wheelchair buddies! It seems Jim tore his Achilles tendon while playing softball, and he is using this method of moving about. As a child I had surgery on my back and spend about 9 months in a body cast. During part of that time I used a wheelchair to move about. I couldn't stand it! There is something freeing about being able to move, but something so uncomfortably restrictive in having to use a chair with wheels for this purpose. Thankfully Jim has Derek to show him the ropes. We have Jesus to that for us too when we are in a bad time. He was tempted, suffered and died for us. He understands where we're at, all the time.

A wheelchair can be needed for a short while, or for a lifetime, and it doesn't compare to the cross. It is still an ugly reminder of how everyone and everything in this world is crying out for God to intervene again, and make this place we live in like He originally intended. When I hear of another earthquake, or see nature's fury tear apart lives, I know we are getting closer to Jesus coming back. When He does, we won't need wheelchair buddies anymore. In the meantime I thank God for Derek, Todd, Michael, Matt, Brenda, and Mark; and everyone who shows Jesus' love in being a buddy to us disabled folk who sometimes need help getting around in this life. By their example we see how very much we all need a hand.

Circle of Friends is now on Twitter!

Hey Y'all,

Circle of Friends is now on Twitter. I know, I know, I'm a bit slow with this technology thing. It's not that I don't "...love technology...," It's just that I'm a bit "special." look for "Circle of Friends," or "ooffriends" on the Twitter page and follow us as we tweet about how God impacts us on more than just Thursday nights. You can always email at ooffriends@gmail.com. Remember, I'm a slow mover so tweets might be few and far between. Praying For You.

Jesus says, "Hi."

It has been a few weeks since I've been able to get away from life. Things are flying by; everyday during the school year seems to run into the next so quickly that sometimes just going to the toilet seems like a retreat. I can understand how some folks joke that they'll rest when they're dead. I don't pray for death but, I truly get what they mean. Life itself has felt a bit like a busy-death.

I don't believe the bible says we should pray regarding anything or anyone that is dead though. It does say that when you are absent from the body, you are present with the Lord. (Why would you need prayer if you're with God?) Jesus also said, "...let the dead bury the dead...," and although people have been praying for the dead since before the Christian church began, I have a difficult time praying for them. Still, many evenings at COF someone will ask me to say a prayer at the end of the night for their relative who recently, (or not recently) passed away. I don't pray for them. I do ask Jesus to say "Hi" to them for us. I figure it is a reasonable compromise. We can't (and shouldn't - according to the bible) talk with them but God can.

So I said a prayer last week and asked Jesus to tell a loved one "Hello" from our group. I don't often consider how the devotions or prayers at COF will be taken by our group. Through prayer and reading the bible, I trust the Holy Spirit to influence and guide me, and God can handle the "fall-out" with everyone.

Life was moving along as usual last Thursday as we cleaned up after the closing prayer, and a friend of mine, Chris came over to talk with me about his girlfriend. When we finished the chat Chris said, "Jesus says 'Hi' to you everyday." I felt the sting in his words. Was I dead? Have things deadened me so that the enjoyment of life has been "Hoovered" out? "No," I thought. I am alive because Jesus died for me! My friend Chris emptied my bag of dead-business and took out the trash that I should have known my faith already did for me. I don't know why we hold onto things, maybe that's why some of us are compelled to pray for loved ones we can't let go of. Maybe letting go will slow things down for us; Jesus did say His yoke was "easy," and His burden, "light." Jesus say's "Hi" to me, and you everyday. I will always remember that now. Thanks friends..., you're a lifesaver.

Underdogs!

Thursday evening was a cool moment in time for me. I'd just gotten out of my brother-in-law's memorial service and headed over to Circle Of Friends. I had been pondering all week as to whether or not I should leave the service and head over to church for our COF group. Everytime I thought and prayed about it I got the same answer, "Rick would go." So after the church service for Rick's family and friends I made my way to COF wondering how the evening would turn out. I usually have a plan or an inkling but, my plans don't usually inkle the way I thought they would. God show's up, and I'm good with that.

The devotion was all about...let me use the correct "christianese" here, "overcomers." I really don't care for any"-ese". People tend to over-use certain words, so we used "Underdogs" instead. Isn't that what we really are?

Let's see...we're all messed up on different levels, physically, mentally, and/or emotionally, and we need Someone to help us make it through our existence (most...if not all of the time), because no matter how much we'd like to admit it, we can't control everything (although we try). Because of sin, we are not built to succeed anymore, but with faith in Jesus, and God on our side through the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can do anything that is in His will in our lives. That sounds a bit like an underdog to me.

What fascinates me is how some folks don't get how this works. We can't succeed in life on our own, we need help to do the right thing because many times it is just not in us. Like cheerleaders for a sports team, God cheers us on and gives us the Holy Spirit, sort of like team spirit in our lives. It's "team spirit" inside of God's players that gives them the ability to get up everyday and function somehow when they're physically unable to get out of bed, or in pain. It's "team spirit" that guides someone to do the right thing in life because they heard how it looks when the bible was read to them as a child, yet they didn't (and don't) have the capacity to read it on their own now. It's also the gift of God's Spirit that gives many the emotional power to resist the temptation to yell and scream at someone when they were cut-off, or when their order was put together wrong, again. Believers in Jesus do nothing well without God cheering us on.

Thursday, I had the honor of speaking with 340 or so of my friends about how no matter what they're handling in their lives God has given them the Spirit to be overcoming "Underdogs!" (If you don't remember, our ministry is for folks with disabilities.) What a great promise from God, and who better to tell than our friends that those who believe in Jesus overcome the world! Why...do you say? Because God's word says that the Spirit in us (believers) is greater than the one in the world (1 John 4:4). Believers in Jesus Christ know that God has never broken a promise, and he never lies. Experiencing this verse in my life on many occasions I began choking up a bit during the devotion.

I mentioned in the notes before this that it had been a difficult week for me. The fact that God chose to have a devotion on being an underdog at this time not only spoke to my 340-plus friends, but it deeply spoke to me. Now I know why I was told all week that "Rick would go." As he has now gone and found complete and perfect comfort in God the Father's presence, I was able to find enough to help me overcome as my friends and I search for presents in His Word. God showed up, and I'm very cool with that!

Everything's Great!

It has been a weird week. Our brother-in-law Rick passed away and I can't describe the cloud I've been in this week. "Easily irritable" is the best description. But everything's great because I know my bro-in-law is in eternal life with the Lord. (We talked about this at COF last Thursday.) Rick is well versed in scripture and well read in Christian circles and such, and I look to him often as my spiritual big brother more than a brother in law. I watch and learn from him, his wife, Lisa, and their children about how to handle the various times and battles in life. Together we are in God's army, and Rick is like my superior officer, not because he is a better person or anything like that..., He sincerely loves God, and was just called to another position in the cavalry. Still..., I will miss him.

Watch For The Signs

Thursday evening was "Signs and Mimes" night at COF. Kathy Madsen and a few friends come and teach us how to use sign language to sing songs. It is a pretty cool thing to watch 325 people sign a song together. You almost don't even need the music to feel and hear the praise that is going on around you. It is a shame the world doesn't look at the signs around to see where we are in history. Matthew 24:7 says, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." All of this will happen not to far from when Jesus returns.

Instead we are fascinated with a Mayan prophecy that states that 2012 will be the end of the earth. We also look to Nostradamus to find out what has and will happen. The folks that believe in these type of predictors seem to forget that the Mayan culture died out and hasn't returned. In addition, Nostradamus has a small handful of predictions that might have come true, but he has many more wrong predictions than right.

The Bible on the other hand, has never been proven wrong, and His people have returned to Jerusalem after 2000 years. There have been scoffers, but the Bible actually says that there will be. It also says that "Nation will rise against nation..." The actual word used when this was written meant, "culture against culture." Just looking at the United States in the last 50-plus years I would say that we are fulfilling that prophecy as I write this. If I'm not mistaken there have been and are continuing famines, and earthqakes have increased in the last hundred years more than global warming ever has increased. Yet does the weather channel talk about this? No, in discussing the recent tragedy in Haiti no one mentions this. The one Christian who took the news headlines and could have presented the true word of God instead spread the false version; the one most everyone hears when they think of today's Christian, judgemental. He forgot that God judges, not us, that is not our job. So he could not really know why Haiti is dealing with this horrific earthquake. God's ways are not our ways and whether or not we understand, or like it, it doesn't matter, He's God. When Christians remember that, and shut their pie-holes at the right time, we are doing what a follower of Jesus would.

Our job is to love each other, friend and foe alike. That is the sign of a true follower of Christ. So when you see someone helping another in Christ's name, or trying their best to listen, and not speak or judge, know that that is a sign of somone who loves God and is called to His purpose. Those signs are never wrong, and they truly give God's love to all who see, and experience them. That is a pretty cool thing.

As long as I'm part of it.

It has been good to take a break from COF. Everyone needs a little time away. (Jesus took 40 days - we only took a few weeks.) We came back and played "Win a Buck" On Thursday! Great game! Probably the most exciting game at COF. The devotions the past two times we've met were all about how to become a child of God's family by saying the S.T.P. prayer. Great stuff! Probably the most exciting topic for anyone to present as a devotion.

Everyone wants to play "Win a Buck." Everyone wants to go to heaven when they leave earth, Christian or not. (Crazy people want anything else.) We all just want to be part of a chance to win something of value and to be part of the family (or group) that spends eternity in the most wonderful kingdom. To some it doesn't matter what the prize or what they'll do in heaven...they just want to be part of it. That happened this past Thursday night.

We were playing "Win a Buck" and the first five contestants were called to come down. Josh, Matthew, Kelly, Brooke, and someone else who wasn't there, no biggie, we called another. Each person answers three questions about the Bible and if they do...they win a buck, hence the name. (I know, cheap rip-off.) Either-which-way, the folks get rowdy on "Win a Buck" (WAB) night! Everybody wants to be part of it. Dollar General must have some great buys after the holidays.

Our first contestant came over and as soon as we welcomed him to the game I knew it would be a whiz-bang night of WAB! I asked him how he was doing and He answered in a language that no one understood. It wasn't that he was non-verbal, it was just that he didn't speak in a comprehensible dialect of any known language. Without wanting to take our introduction down an uncomfortable road I went on. "O.K.," I said, "Let's get to the first question." The music kicked in and I read, "Who told Mary that she was going to have a baby?" I then gave the answer choices, "Joseph, or the Angel." Our excited contestant yelled into the microphone, "Aglicobachitrimill!" My trusted counterpart Jeff was going to ask him to repeat his answer as Jeff didn't quite make it out when I yelled, "Jeff, it sounded like he said 'Angel,' that's correct!" Before I could say, "Let's go to question number two," our contestant raised his hands in victory and leaped back over to his chair and sat down satisfied for having played in the coveted game of "Win a Buck!" The place erupted!

Jeff and I were stunned. We have been helping with COF for nine to ten years and every now and then something really precious happens. (It actually happens pretty regularly, like weekly.) But this summed up everything Circle Of Friends is about: wanted to have something with value, and have it eternally with our friends in the presence of God. The joy our first contestant displayed is the joy spoke of all throughout the bible. It is the joy we have when we truly realize the verse from 1 John 5:13, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

Knowing you have eternal life is a lot like answering only one "Win a Buck" question. You have a victory as long as you're part of it. Are you victorious? You can be with a simple prayer - S.T.P.