Serving God

This thought has been swirling around my head for a few days as I ponder things that I hear in Christian circles. Often, we sing songs and pray prayers and talk about how we want to serve God. I wonder, in light of passages like Matthew 25:31-46, do we realize this plain and simple fact: Serving God means serving others.

and not just Christian others. serving other people. Often times, we spiritualize passages like Matthew 25, or Isaiah 61. but, as much as we can find spiritual comparisons to the types of people listed, but they are quite possibly talking more about the literally poor, oppressed, needy, sick, imprisoned. after all, Jesus himself served people with literal physical afflictions as well as spiritual.

i would welcome any thoughts on this subject- should any of my readers feel the desire to, or should you desire to direct others here, as well.

terrorists- of the ultimate kind

"Satan is {like} a terrorist." and later "...he is a terrorist"

Douglas Kelchner- in his sermon 10/14/07

Our 'New' Cars

Since the untimely death of our Camry (still one of the saddest days in history, which began one of the strangest weeks ever- see “God Has a Sense of Humor”), I have waited until the car situation was totally settled before adding the update here. So here’s the quick story and specs on each of our ‘new’ cars.

Car #1

1995 Nissan Maxima
• Color: white
• Miles: 112,000 (when we bought it- a month ago)
• Automatic transmission
• Power windows, power seat (driver)
• General feelings: it’s not quite as gas efficient as the Camry was, but it’s also a larger car with a larger engine. I’ve been driving it to and from Lancaster for 2 weeks for work- it’s got a lot of good qualities, but our Camry was simply a sweet car and we miss it. It’s ok, though- no complaints, no worries.

Story: We had picked out this car on the Friday following Labor Day weekend. We had been to a few guys we know in the auto business to see if they could keep their eyes and ears open for us for something specific. We knew we were going to refinance the Camry to include a second car and we wanted to feel as though we were getting something we’d be able to keep for a while. We found this as we just decided to take a quick look on a used car lot with a good rep.

Funny thing is: we had taken care of all the financing options at the bank that Friday night, but it needed a manager’s approval to cut us a check- and there wasn’t going to be one till Monday morning. Through the rest of the weekend, Rachel and I figured out what was going to work best for us to get the car sometime before Tuesday night (when the dealership insisted we pick it up by) and decided that coming to Lancaster after work on Monday and doing the paperwork Tuesday morning would be ok- Rachel would be late for work Tuesday, but better Tuesday than Monday she decided. Then the Camry caught fire on Monday AM on the way to work, and despite this- the bank still let us refinance- so we got the Maxima (and it went along with our rental car on the insurance company’s dime). Story finished with car #2…

Car #2

1998 Mitsubishi Mirage
• Color: Grey
• Miles: 100,700
• 5-speed (standard transmission)
• Manual everything- windows, door locks, seats, side mirrors- everything. No frills.
• Cassette player
• 2-door DE Coupe
• General feelings- I’ve really missed driving a standard!! When we had gone looking for a #2 car and decided on the Maxima, I was sad because I had really been hoping for a standard! It’s a small car, however. A bit smaller than my first car- a ’93 Subaru Impreza Sedan. But it reminds me of that, too. And as long as I can fit (which I do), i can live with it.

Story: We heard from the insurance company on Friday- actually, from the adjustor who had looked at the car (as opposed to the claims adjustor who was the overseer handling our claim) and he told us what he valued the car at. MUCH more than we had anticipated. With this in mind, we sometime talked to the guy at the bank who had approved the refinance of the Camry and he told Rachel that the bank would release the title for less than the insurance company would pay, so we would get the difference. Slight misunderstanding there, however- as what he really meant was that the insurance company would have to send the bank the whole check, which would be applied wholly to the newly refinanced loan, and we would get a loan giving us the certain amount, and the rest of it paying off what was due on the other loan- basically, refinancing that loan to give us some to buy a 2nd car, but still pay off a good chunk… much more complicated- added a middle man, but whatever…

The REAL problem came in the insurance company taking forever to do stuff. We even told our claims adjustor that we would overnight the paperwork from us to her to speed up the process. That didn’t stop her from taking a week to do anything with that paperwork, then lying to Rachel about sending paperwork to the bank- she said she’d sent it a week earlier, then her assistant told Rachel that it had been faxed to the bank that day.

All that’s the side story. This car came across our plate from someone at church- she worked with a girl who was having her 2nd child and she and her husband needed a larger vehicle then as the Mirage would not take 2 car seats. We kinda dismissed it- not because we weren’t interested, but because at first, we thought we were going to have to finance something again and even though the price was good for this car, we really wanted to get something a bit more if we were going to be paying for it over the next 5 years.

Then we found out we were going to actually have money in our pocket to put a sizeable downpayment (or simply buy outright if it was less- which this was), we revisited the information that had been passed along to us. So, we set up a test drive of the car, which went very smoothly. We had a small side conference, and that evening we told them we’d take it- as soon as the insurance company cut a check and we had the money to pay for it. And this weekend (the first weekend of October, 2007), we transferred the title and picked up the car.

Not Against Flesh and Blood

Ephesians 6:12
"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

I’ve been thinking about the topics of politics and religion recently. These are, as any sane person will tell you, the two topics to stay away from discussion regarding. Everyone’s opinion is usually very strong, and people are so charged- yes, driven- by these two topics, it is hard to hold a calm discussion about them without having it quickly escalated. A problem arises when discussing either topic of the two of them. Imagine trying to discuss both!

I’ve been thinking about these topics recently as I’ve done some reading. It has been a struggle for me to see what I have seen so commonly among, particularly, God’s people regarding these two subjects. The struggle has been so intense in me- seeing things that I know that God’s Word would not promote being taught and perpetuated so much. Jesus Himself would very strictly reprimand this behavior, I believe- based on his own reaction to a similar dilemma.

First, I want to take a look at Jesus response when asked to get into a discussion on politics. He was asked about paying taxes. A dilemma of the day among the Jews was whether or not they should pay taxes. They did not want to recognize Caesar as their ruler, but to stay out of trouble, they had to pay. Jesus was asked whether they should pay taxes.

Of course, they were trying to trap Him- if the answer was yes, then they would say he was supporting the Romans, something most Jews strayed away from- and certainly those who rallied around Jesus would. If the answer was no, then he was supporting anarchy and they could have had Him arrested by the Romans. The answer, however, was more complex and said so much more;

“Who’s face is on the coins?”
“Caesar’s”
“then give to Caesar what is His, and give to God what is God’s!”

In essence, that what he was here about was more important than the questions they were asking. His mission, which was clearly defined as bringing about the Kingdom of God, was more important than politics, not “wrapped up in” politics.

Ephesians 6 tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and principalities of darkness in the spiritual realm. I like the way the New Living Translation puts it: “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies”

To the Christians out there who feel that God’s Kingdom will be brought about on earth through a particular nation, people group or political party, note this- those are flesh and blood “enemies” that we have focused on.

Our struggle to bring about the Kingdom of God is not against any of the following:
- Islamic people/nations (very cafeul- I specifically am noting the people!)
- Terrorists
- Communists
- Liberals
- Conservatives
- Homosexuals
- Abortionists
- Tree-huggers
- Harry Potter books
- “Family Guy”
- any other people on the face of the earth.

While we may wrestle with other religious worldviews (and perhaps the evil powers behind them), we are not to be wrestling with one another. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Allying ourselves with any particular political view too closely will inevitably wear off on us saying that these ARE our enemies. We must resist that temptation!

These thoughts have been brewing in me for a while, and articulated as I began to read a book by Gregory Boyd. Stay tuned for my reaction to and summary of the first few chapters, as I’ve been reading them on lunch break at work.