This morning I met with the other two guys who will join me in teaching as part of the pastor’s conference in Uganda. We discussed all of our possible opportunities to formally and informally teach at the orphanages, in the villages, in churches on Sunday morning, and then in our specific roles as part of the conference. I am needing to be prepared for a wide variety of settings and learners.

Even in the most homogeneous setting, at the pastor’s conference, I will be speaking to some who have studied in formal seminaries and to some who have never possessed their own copy of the Bible, and to many inbetween. Actually, the one pastor who had been to Uganda before said there will be some men at the pastor’s conference who will be writing down any Bible verse we share, because it will be their only copy to reference in the days ahead.

Stop for a minute and take that in. In 2010, there are people who have fallen in love with God and have committed to follow Jesus with their entire lives, but could not read an entire copy of the Bible if they wanted to. Do you own one or multiple copies of “God’s Words to you?” Do you treat them as precious?

Go further. Would you be willing to put your life on hold and walk for hours and then write down as many verses as you hear with your pen and paper, so you could return home, not just spiritually smarter, but with your only chance to actually live faithfully to the God you love and teach others to do the same?

If you are reading this blog, the only thing standing between you and knowing what God has said in the Bible about Himself and you and life and faith is effort. If you think it is important, you have access. For us, ignorance of God’s Word is a choice. I wonder how we would value the Bible if we each had to handwrite our own copy?

Maybe, that should be a challenge for each of us. I know lots of people who have made it their goal some time in the past to read through the Bible in a year. Here is a new challenge: get a huge notebook and rewrite the Bible in your own handwriting for you to study for the rest of your life. Wow, now that is a new spiritual discipline I had never thought of before I typed this paragraph.

Another challenge related to this idea of “knowing” will be my ability to get to know the Ugandan people quickly so I may communicate with them as effectively as possible. How skillful are you at getting into the skin of other people and understanding the world from their perspective? Do you even attempt to do this?

As a guy who constantly leads discussions and learning environments I can tell you that I am confident that I have heard the phrase “I think” thousands of times. How many of us purposefully develop the skill of understanding what he, she, or they think? Especially, if they are not only different from you, but disagree with you?

Well, this summer, God has given me a precious gift wrapped in a great challenge. I have no choice but to work hard to develop this skill. I have to “know” the Ugandan people to the fullest exent possible because I want more than anything to be helpful in the Ugandan people knowing God to the fullest extent possible.

And, as I consider this challenge, I am confident as I pray that My God who fully knows me and fully knows them can work through me that they will come to know Him and will grow in their knowledge of Him until the day when every one of us who falls in love with God and gives Him our lives will not only be fully known by Him, but will fully know Him as well!

The Apostle Paul has written:

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Soon, get to know life from someone else’s perspective. Get to know life from God’s perspective. And, get a new pen, a big notebook, and a Bible and start writing. What might you come to know?

My trip to Uganda will include many, many, many hours on airplanes. I wonder who it is I might meet and get to/have to sit by for all that time?

If you could pick 10 people to spend two hours each sitting next to on a plane, who would be your top ten and why? What if you could pick only 2 people and for each you were going to spend 10 hours sitting side by side? What about that one special person for 20 hours, who would it be? Do you want that person to be an infinitely interesting conversationalist? Do you want them to be a great listener who can help you solve all your biggest problems? Do you want someone really attractive and sleepy so you can spend the whole flight watching him/her sleep? Do you want someone really small and really quiet who you won’t even notice is there? What would be your preference?

No, I am serious. I want lots of you to send in a comment and explain who and why. Will you take me up on the challenge?

You have already read the title of today’s blog, so it is easy to see where I am going with this. Today is a Wednesday, and almost every Wednesday morning of the last couple of years I have started my day participating in a SouthEdge prayer meeting.

It is a pretty typical prayer meeting, if you have ever attended one. People take turns praying. There is a list of requests that others have made. Often, someone will either read or pray some Bible verses along with the requests. Our time there is important. I believe it really matters. But, it is not how most of my time in prayer is spent each week.

Prayer for me is much more like that long plane ride, with God in the seat next to me. Sometimes I seem to be doing all the talking about me and my experiences while He listens. Sometimes I am doing all the listening as He seems to speak through books and songs and articles and people and experiences, and even my own thoughts.  Sometimes we are both just watching the world out the window, saying nothing, and I am sure, seeing the same things very differently. Sometimes we are eating together or laughing together about something happening in the cabin.

The thing is, the way I most often pray, or communicate with God, or interact with Him, this thing that seems so defined and spiritual, seems much more like a very informal conversation. More than anything, we are just TOGETHER. I don’t really ask for much or need explanations.

Whatever I do or not do, the benefit is knowing that I am experiencing life with Him. If there is a goal, it is that I would learn to see everything as He sees it. If there is a specific request, it is to change me and prepare me and do whatever He wants to do, however He wants to do it, whenever He wants it done, and without me being an obstacle.

As I look forward to this trip to Uganda, that is how I am getting prepared. But, I want your help. How would you suggest I look at prayer differently or practice prayer differently? How would you describe your prayer time with God ? Teach me so I can grow in this area. I can’t wait to read your thoughts!

This morning, after I complete this blog installment, I am heading to our local Department of Health to get the appropriate shot or shots and medications that are required and/or wise for my travel to Uganda. This brings up one of those questions people ask about taking a trip like this, “Aren’t you worried about disease?”

Really, they aren’t so much asking a question as they are making an argument as to why such a trip is a bad idea. And, as I observe people’s behavior and listen to them talk on a daily basis here in my home town, there are lots of people who avoid being on a mission right here because of the fear of catching other people’s “diseases.”

Now, most of the “diseases” people worry about here are not one’s that can be easily treated by medicine. They are more dysfunctions and brokenness that seem to be so very unsafe to be around.

Usually, the code words I hear that identify actions taken in response to the fear of other’s “diseases” include the phrase ”those people.” People don’t want to live near “those people” or be friends with “those people” or have their kids go to school with “those people” or even do community service if it means getting too close to “those people.” Even many of the good-hearted and well-intentioned members in the community are only willing to go so far to help so they can insure no long-term negative consequences for themselves.

Several years ago, God gave me an illustration that helps me identify the difference between when I am only wanting to be a “do-gooder” and when I am really willing to live out my faith as Jesus did. For me the question is, are you a band-aid or a stitch?

Band-aids are placed on top of wounds. If you are careful, you can even apply them without ever touching the wound. They are helpful in that they often keep the wound from getting worse. But, they don’t really last very long. They regularly need to be replaced. that is what a lot of help looks like in our culture.

Stitches on the other hand are sewn into the wound. They become one with the wounded person and get completely exposed to the disease. Stitches remain until healing occurs. Stitches are necessary if healing is ever going to happen to a deep wound.

I look around and see many people in my community unwilling to even be a band-aid. I even hear them complain about “their money” being spent so others can place band-aids on the wounded. It makes me sick to my stomach.  I see others who are willing to be band-aids, and sometimes find myself in that catagory as well. And, then there are the few who live to be stitches, and they are the tribe I want to be a part of.

Jesus was the supreme example of being a stitch. In the Bible, in chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, there is a beautiful description of Jesus being a stitch for you and me. He put on flesh and blood. He walked with us in the life and on this earth. He felt every temptation but did not get infected by the disease of sin. Yet, He still felt all the consequences of the disease. It resulted in rejection many times, in lies about Him, in personal treats, and in the end it led to Him being wrongly tried, beated, hung on a cross and killed.

Jesus stitched Himself into our lives and our disease and it cost Him His life. But, it was the only way we could be healed. If like me you believe His becoming a stitch for you resulted in your eternal healing, then how can we make any argument that justifies our unwillingness to be a stitch for others?

My trip to Uganda, even with some of the dangers,  is much more like a band-aid than a stitch. At the end of a few days, I am returning home. Unless that trip so impacts me that I return to those people multiple times in the future or relocate my life there, I will not have enough time to be much of a stitch to the people I meet. But, my prayer is that this trip will continue to shape me so I am more and more willing to be a stitch in the lives of people in whatever community I reside or can influence.

Finally, to the question, ”aren’t you afraid of the possible threat to your health?” My answer: There are lots of ways a person can die. If I die on this trip, or get a disease that ultimately takes my life, I would consider it a powerful testimony to my family and friends and anyone who will listen, that there are things worth dying for. And, giving up your time, money and even your life in an attempt to love other people the way Jesus has loved you, it the only way to live!

What has fear kept you from doing?

I have already been warned a few times by those planning our trip to Uganda that, once we are there, our schedule will be “very flexible.” In other words, things are not likely to start or finish “on time.” And, as I think about it, that’s fine with me. I will be entering into another world with the express purpose to give myself away to the people of Uganda on their terms. As I wrote about yesterday, I intend to love and invite, not force or manipulate them to behave in any particular fashion.

But, why is it that here at home, working with people who have a “very flexible” understanding of time seems so difficult? Why is it that we take the ”lateness” of others as such an act of personal disrepect toward us?

Is there anything truly Biblical or Godly about taking the time we have been given each day and breaking it up into a schedule and then sticking strictly to that schedule? Is this something God teaches us to do or is it simply a cultural convention? Is this what Paul is taking about in his letter to the Ephesians when he writes, “..making  the most of your time?” (Ephesians 5:16) Are the Ugandans wrong if they live in such a way that start times and deadlines are merely suggestions? Are we really right to teach our children to live this way?

Think about how deeply ingrained scheduling is in our culture. School not only has a start and ending time, but most often, what subject is being taught is determined by the time of day. Students are even punished for not sticking to the schedule. Students learn for a determined number of days and then move on to new classes and teachers and subjects. But, all this is for their good, right?, to prepare them for “real life” and a job.

Most jobs are paid based on the amount of time worked, even to the disregard of quality. At work, meetings most often begin and end on the hour or half hour, regardless of whether that time is too much or too little or the goal is actually reached.

In our leisure, TV draws us back to the hour or half hour. Shows must stick to a schedule. Movies and concerts better start on time or we are personally offended. All types of vacation accommodations determine their price by the time you spend there, not only how many days, but what time of year. And, if you don’t check out on time, you are charged for another day.

We are so consumed with this scheduling of time, that many people make their living making products and writing books and teaching seminars about how we can all be even better at making schedules and sticking to them. I wonder if one of those seminars has ever started late? And, if so, did everyone get a refund? And, how long did they have to wait on their refund?

The serious question I have is this: Is this scheduling of time and punishment/reward system that goes with it at all consistant with holiness or God’s original  design, or is a consequence of man’s sin?

When I look at the effects of the way we treat time in our culture, I find a bunch of people who determine their value and the value of others by how busy they are. People say, “time is money” and money is our strongest measure of value. So time leads to money which leads to value. And, in the end, that’s why we are so offended when someone else doesn’t respect our time, they are devaluing us.

What I don’t find as a result of our obsession with time and schedules is more satisfaction or more happiness or more holiness. When we are kids, there is too much time and we are bored. When we are on the younger side of adulthood there is never enough time and we are exhausted. And, if we are ever fortunate enough to hit that goal of a financially stable retirement, then we return to boredom and finding things to do to kill time until we die.

I am trying to live in this culture in 2010, but as a follower of Jesus. I can’t really find where He had a daytimer or a formal daily schedule or meetings that ended because He was late to be somewhere else. Even His worldwide mission, that He has left for us was to be done “as we are going” for an undesignated amount of time with regular breaks for rest and celebration (And, He wasn’t referring to 55 minute birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese).

I am thankful that this trip is helping me rethink everything. And, I am thankful that somehow at this stage of my life, I do not hold the assumption that I know the best way to do everything and need to get more people to be like me. I can’t wait to see what the Ugandans will teach me.

Finally, here is the very hard question God gave me today, and I am asking myself. I dare you to seriously consider it with me:

What don’t I have time for and why?

That question, maybe better than anything else reveals what I really believe about God and life and myself and others.

When I was a young man I hated everything that had to do with dating. The whole idea of taking the risk to ask a girl if she would go out with me was overwhelmingly intimidating. I could not bear the thought of her rejecting me. I could not bear the thought of her saying “yes”, just to be nice, and then going through what she thought was the agony of having to spend time with me, hoping it would never have to happen again. And, I could not bear the thought of her saying “yes” and meaning it. Then, worst of all I would have to pull off fooling her for as long as possible because if she knew the real me, surely she would run.

The end result was, I almost never asked girls out. There was one girl I “went with” for a few weeks my senior year of high school. But, as I look back that wasn’t really a relationship. It was more like two people who were bored and thought they should be dating, so they killed time together. Other than that, and a couple of proms, the only girl I ever asked out was a girl I met my senior year of college, and we have now been married for almost 20 years.

I tell you all this because today is Sunday. And, now that I am a pastor, Sunday is the day each week when I feel the most like I did as a young man. Every Sunday morning I feel some of that same anxiety as I wait to see if anyone will show up at our church service in a barn. And, if they do show up, I wonder if they are being nice and dutiful or if they are really sold on it.

Now, let me make this clear. I don’t think they are coming or not coming for me. No, the issue is their relationship with and love for God. But, as God’s representative in that moment, when they don’t come, or seem to come but for motives other than love for God, I feel a part of the rejection.

That is one of the most interesting aspects of feeling God’s call on my life. I am a guy who did as much as possible to avoid rejection for the first few decades of my life and now it is part of everything I do and live for.

One thing I have learned, is that God is not phased at all by this whole “dating and rejection” scenario. In one of the more famous encounters Jesus had with someone genuinely interested in the ways of God, a rich young man ends the conversation by walking away and rejecting Jesus’ offer to follow Him.

This story is recorded in 3 of the 4 Gospels (Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18). But, in all three accounts Jesus just lets the guy walk away. Jesus doesn’t chase after him to convince him with further arguments. Jesus doesn’t lower the bar and make it easier. Jesus doesn’t seem to be phased in the least that He would offer His love and commitment to this man and the man would reject Him and walk away.

I have come to believe that this is possible because Jesus recognizes that love can’t be forced. All that can be done in an attempt to woo someone to fall in love is to love them and invite them to respond. And, that is what Jesus does.

Jesus knows His value is not determined by the acceptance or rejection of people. His value has already been established. And so, He operates with the great freedom to love without needing to be loved in return and risk without concern for the responses of others. Then, in love He invites you and me and everyone in the world to fall in love.

Often times, with good motivations, the followers of Jesus settle for tactics that seem to force others to “love” Him. But, those never actually work. Even when we get people to behave in loving ways or say loving words, there is no authentic love if it was the result of force.

So, I am learning to simply love as many people as I have the opportunity to love and then invite them to love God in return. I do everything I can to let people know I want to help them live and learn and grow in God and then I have to step back and let them decide. It is very difficult at times, but I am learning to not take their rejection personally and not let it push me toward tactics of force, even when I am sure it would be for their own good.

And, as I look forward to my trip to Uganda, I am feeling a great sense of freedom. All I can do is love and invite. God is already at work to woo their hearts toward Him. If they are ready to choose to fall in love with Him, then they will. If not, I am not responsible to find a way to manipulate or control of force them to do anything.

I pray some people in my life will fall in love with God this week. And, I pray that some others will fall more deeply in love with Him this week. And, I pray that some people in Uganda, this July will do the same.

What do you think?

Today is a Saturday. Will you choose to get up tomorrow morning (Sunday) and go to a place where you will join together with others to worship God? Why or why not? If not, what will you do instead? How will your time be better used?

Before you think I am being judgmental, please look at the questions again. I am simply seeking to understand. Please give this blog a read first. Then, I would really like to understand your thoughts. So, please write me back. Here is what is going on in my head and heart this afternoon.

Over a dozen years ago I listened to the first teaching series I had ever heard about the topic of “worship.” The teacher was Louie Giglio, and he used this definition of “true” worship:

“True worship is, our response, both personal and corporate to God, for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”

Louie clarified that this is “true worship” because worship itself is the activity of every human soul every second of every day and isn’t limited to an expression focused toward God. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to believe in God at all  to be a worshiper. No, worship is simply an expression of “worth,” or what you value most highly. So, every second of every day as you make decisions, evaluate priorities, open your mouth or choose to keep it closed, and take action or refrain, you and me and all the people of the world are expressing worship. Surely, you have heard someone say, ”he worships the ground she walks on.” Worship is the activity of our lives, everyone’s life.

Christians are people who claim they have embraced God (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) as the One Who is of highest worth. And, as a result the things they say and the way they live ought to express a valuing of God over all else. Do you find this to be true in your life and the lives of others around you?

In the Bible, the Psalms are full of ideas and expressions of this kind of “true” worship of the One True God. For example, Psalm 96 both builds the case for worshiping God over all else and gives examples of what that might look like:

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;  (Psalm 96:4-8a)

The Psalmist writes that God is the most worthy of worship and therefore we should ascribe (give) it to Him. God is the Creator of everything and everyone to whom we give any worth. So, He is the greatest, above all others, above everything He has made! God deserves our worship (fear, right respect, reverence) to a higher priority and to a greater degree than any substitute (god, idol) we would put in His place. Do you agree with the Psalmist?

Psalm 96 also includes a number of action words that give us some of the ways worship is expressed from our mouths and our lives, they include: sing, praise, proclaim, declare, bring an offering, come into his courts, tremble, say, be glad, and be jubilant.

That is by no means a comprehensive list of ways we express worship toward God or anyone or anything else. But, this list does point us back to one very practical application for this discussion. All of these activities will be found in the corporate worship gatherings that will happen tomorrow morning all across our world that we commonly call, “going to church.”

So, back to the original invasive question. If you are a Christian, do you participate every week, whether on Sunday or some other day, in a corporate experience of worshiping God? Much more specifically, do you arrange your life and your energies to worship God with others in a public setting, NOT because you need it or like it or enjoy it or get something from it (as much as that would be good), and NOT even because other people need you, benefit from you being a part of the experience (again, which isn’t a bad thing), BUT SIMPLY BECAUSE GOD IS WORTH IT AND DESERVES IT!?!

So, what does this have to do with my trip to Uganda? Well, going (the setting aside of time and money and focus, taking on the possible dangers and negative impact to the rest of my life and responsibilities, and do the tasks I will do) is an expression of worship. Uganda is not my choice location for a vacation. Because God is of highest worth, I am going!

I am sure the people of Uganda are very nice and most will treat me well. I am sure the trip will be exciting and filled with stories that one day I can share at parties to impress others. It is always good to do good things for others. But, none of those things are as important as the deep belief in my heart that God is worth my worship every second of every day and when faced with a chance to get in my car and drive for a few minutes or to get on a plane and fly for several hours, the very best use of my life (and yours as well) is to do the things that best “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His Name.” (Ps. 96:8a)

In addition, my trip to Uganda is not only an expression of my worship of God. My trip has as its goal to multiple the worship of others which God is also due! The pastor and author, John Piper, coined the phrase “Missions exists because worship does not.” In other words, I am going on this mission with the desire and prayer that as a result of my trip, people who have never worshiped God before will begin to see Him as the One most worthy of worship, greater than anyone or anything else, and will choose to worship Him.

I also go knowing that a large portion of my time will be spent with people who already claim to believe that God is most worthy of our worship. But I know that simply saying those words does not mean they actually live that life. I am hoping that the words I say and the way I live in front of Ugandan Christians will also be an instrument God uses for them to become more faithful and devoted worshipers of the God they already worship.

Finally, I recognize that my worship and mission is not something I begin when I get off the plane in Uganda. This blog is part of my worship and mission. Tomorrow morning, my role as pastor is a part of my worship and mission. And, what you do today and tomorrow is part of yours!

If you are a SouthEdger, I hope you will choose tomorrow to join with me at the barn in an opportunity for personal and corporate worship of the One True God. If you are not, I hope you will find a group of worshipers wherever you are, not because you need it or because you are expected to help others, but because regardless of what is going or not going on in your life, God deserves it!

Now it is your turn. Let me have it!

Last week I met with a few people who will be part of the team traveling with me to Uganda in July. A couple of them had been to Uganda once before and I asked them to help me gain an initial understanding of what I would experience. They shared about the amazing contrasts they experienced when they were there.

First, on a sensory level they couldn’t get over the sights and smells of poverty to a degree they had never seen in the USA. The way they described it was as if their senses were physically attacked the moment they stepped off the plane. But, they also described the extreme contrast when it came to looking into the faces of the Ugandan people and seeing a happiness that couldn’t be based on their circumstances.  How could there be such happiness, gratitude, contentment, and celebration in the midst of such great need?

The second contrast was on a spiritual level. The people I was meeting with have walked with God for awhile and I believe have developed an additional spiritual “sense” of God’s Presence and activity. They described for me a feeling of great spiritual darkness that surrounded them from the moment they got off the plane. But again, they added that they also experienced an extreme contrast because while they were ministering in that place they saw miraculous things happen that they weren’t used to seeing in the USA. Why would such a place of spiritual darkness also be a place with such potential for the miraculous?

This got me thinking about an event in the life of Jesus recorded in two of the Gospels. In Mark’s account it goes like this:

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:1-6)

There is a group of people who like to refer to the USA as a “Christian nation.” I have some differences with many in that camp, and I am not going to raise those differences here. But, what I do think is helpful about that label in this case is it supports the idea that the place where we live is a lot like Jesus’ hometown.

I am a person constantly looking for God’s Presence and activity around me. And, I find many subtle things that I would credit as God’s miraculous work. For example, each week when I get a chance to teach people about God and it “just so happens” that something I said spoke directly to something someone was experiencing, even though I didn’t know it until they told me after the fact. Some say it is just a coincidence, but I see something more.

Yet, in our culture and country, if we are honest, with the rare exception of the healing of some sickness, we don’t really think we see the miraculous happening. Why?

I think it is because our response to Jesus is very similar to the response He received from those in His hometown. Most the people of the USA don’t really know Jesus, but they think they do because He is familiar to them. They know enough of His story to discount Him. They may at times find Him to be an amazing teacher, but more often than not, they respond to His teaching with offense, not faith. And, as a result the miraculous doesn’t really happen or get noticed.

Think about it. Does your normal, everyday life really need the miraculous? If someone gets off a plane in Georgia, their senses aren’t attacked by the sites and smells of poverty. In the USA, families that make a total income of $48,000 a year think they are in poverty. Yet, compared to the rest of the world, those families make 100 times more than 51% of the world’s population.

In addition, we think we have figured almost everything out. Even those people who attend church most weeks and listen to the teachings of Jesus, spend most of their time deconstructing what He said and determining what He must have meant instead of banking their entire lives on Him as their solution and satisfaction. There is much analysis, little faith. We are people who claim to believe that Jesus is God, but with the possible exception of the whole heaven/hell question, we live as if we don’t need Him at all.

We live in a world of false spiritual light. Our lives are so rich and so clean and so smart and so religious that we are able to hide the fact that our spiritual darkness is probably even darker than that of Uganda. And, since our physical senses aren’t attacked, our situation may even be more hopeless.

Do you think I have gone a bit overboard here? Possibly. But then help me understand how we could have so much and be able to do so much and have what we describe as such great faith, yet we have little to no happiness, gratitude, contentment, or celebration?

I can’t wait to get off that plane and have every physical and spiritual sense attacked. I can’t wait to experience that “Ugandan Alarm Clock.” I am praying that it will wake me up to my own darkness and faithlessness that could be standing in the way of seeing the miraculous happen now, in this day, in my hometown, in my life.

I am also praying that I don’t have to wait that long. I am praying that all of us would have a powerful desire now to replace the substitutes for light in our own lives with Jesus, the light of the world.

What are your thoughts?

When I go to Uganda, I anticipate experiencing times of hunger. I just know that my normal eating habits will not fit in this very different place, especially with a very packed schedule. But, as I prepare for my trip, the idea of “hunger” is taking on multiple meanings for me.

As I mentioned on Day #1, Jesus experienced a 40 day period of preparation before He began His time of public ministry. Central to His preparation was a thing called “fasting.” Jesus purposefully didn’t eat, so His hunger would drive Him toward intimacy with God. In the book of Proverbs it says:

The laborer’s appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on. (Prov. 16:26)

We find an account of Jesus’ 40 Days of Preparation in the book of Matthew. The first few verses of chapter 4 put it this way:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:1-4)

This morning as I read those verses, a few things stuck out for me. First, was that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit of God into this time of preparation. I hope you join me in believing that if you have felt led to take on this 40 day challenge, God is at work leading you toward Himself for your good. This is not just a good activity, it is a divine calling on your life from the God who loves you and what’s you to know Him intimately.

Second, central to both Jesus’ preparation and the temptation He faced was the idea of hunger. Jesus voluntarily went without food as a tool to drive Him toward further dependence on God. And, the devil attacked that tool in order to sever the intimacy between Jesus and His Heavenly Father. If you take on this 40 Days of Preparation, I am sure you will experience the same challenge. Whether your commitment involves something as difficult as fasting or simply committing to read this blog each day, or something else, you will be tempted to put it aside and sever the intimacy that is being built between you and your Heavenly Father. I have only been writing for 3 days so far, and each day my children in one way or another have had their most distracting behavior happen while I am writing. When faced with that challenge, don’t quit! Fight harder! Be driven by your hunger toward God!

Third, when Jesus is tempted by the devil to satisfy His very real physical hunger, He quotes a profound Old Testament verse that explains more clearly that Jesus wasn’t fasting to lose weight or prove He was really disciplined, He was connecting with His Heavenly Father in preparation for what He was entering into next.

The verse Jesus quotes is from the book of Deuteronomy. The words of this passage are for the people of Israel after they have spent 40 years of preparation in the desert and are now about to enter the Promised Land and a new way of life. Look at how this verse connects food and intimacy with God and the fundamental truth they will need for life as they move forward with God:

He (God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut. 8:3)

It is amazing  for me to think that God, with a desire to have me see myself as I really am, would cause me to experience hunger (and not just physical hunger, but hunger of many kinds) so He could feed me with something I don’t even understand, in order that I might learn that really living (not just physically existing) is dependent on being in relationship with Him.

Then, I think about these 40 Days of Preparation and how God hasn’t forced me or you to be hungry, but instead led us (really invited us) to choose  to humble ourselves and make ourselves available to be fed by Him that we would be prepared for what is next in our lives.  The Apostle Peter wrote this strong encouragement to followers of Jesus:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

So as I look ahead to the rest of these 40 days, I am asking God to help me take all the ways I hunger and offer them to Him to fill with Himself. I am asking Him to take everything I can be anxious about and replace it with the knowledge that He cares for me, more and better than I can care for myself. I am asking Him to use my hunger to drive me to Him and not to finding my own ways to satisfaction. I am asking Him to use my hunger to drive me on, that I would quit or get distracted along the way. I am asking Him to lift me up at the right time, to a new level of living. And, I am asking  Him to help me believe and live the promise Jesus made when He said:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

I pray you will join me. and, I would love to hear what happens as you do!

This morning I am thinking about family. A few days ago I got to spend time with my father, mother, and my sister and her family. Together with my wife Sheri and our three kids we have a family of five, all still living under one roof. But who is my family?

Is my family simply the group of people I have been related to by birth or marriage or adoption? What about the human family? Am I really related to everyone? If so, how should that shape my life, my decisions, my actions?

I have found that often when I am in a public setting and I can let someone else go first, or help them clean up a spill, or hold a door, the other person usually expresses a word of gratitude, and I respond with “Don’t worry about it, we are all family.” Most of the time the other person doesn’t respond with anything more than a polite smile, and it makes me wonder whether or not they would agree.

This question of “Who is our family?” often sits just below the surface of the discussions that are had about trips like the one I am preparing to make. Well-meaning people ask how or why someone would leave their “family” and their community where there are plenty of needs and opportunities to do good, at great personal cost,  in order to travel to another country and serve another people. The question behind the questions really is “Who is our family?”

In the Bible I find a ”family” that falls somewhere inbetween the personal family of birth, marriage and adoption on one end, and the family of all human beings on the other. This word, “family”, is used to describe all the people who are followers of Jesus. In the book of Hebrews it reads:

Both the One (Jesus) who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Hebrews 2:11)

And, that would be my heart as I go into this day and as I prepare to go to Uganda. I am asking God to continue to shape my heart until every person I see in Locust Grove, Georgia or in Uganda, or anywhere else, I would see as a member of my family, a person deserving of my respect and love. In the book of Galatians I found this command:

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Gal. 6:10)

I have found myself in the midst of a great opportunity to do good in Uganda to people who are part of the “family of believers” and to those who are a part of the “family” of all people. And, I can’t wait to go. But in the mean time for both me and you, the challenge  is, are we making the most of every opportunity to do good to all people in front of us today?

Living as family and loving one another as family does not begin after a long flight to another country. It is wrapped in every breath we take.

Who is your family? How do you decide? And, how does that shape how you live?

Today I begin a commitment to 40 Days of Preparation that will culminate in my trip to Uganda to minister to people in villages, to children in orphanages, and to pastors whom I will have the chance to help equip for the work they do everyday. Although necessary elements of such a trip, like the m0ney and the time and the travel can seem like big hurdles, they haven’t intimidated me. What has is the task itself. I don’t know what I will face when I get there. I don’t know what I will really need to be prepared to say or do. I don’t know how I will connect across the barriers of language and culture. And, one thing I do know is once I am there and realize what is needed, I won’t have the resources or the time to get prepared, I will only be able to offer what I already have. For me, that is the intimidating part. But also the unbelievably exciting part!

What about you? As I thought about these elements of my trip to Uganda, I realized that, more often than not, this is my life everyday. When I get a phone call from someone needing spiritual direction, when I find myself in a hospital with a family that has just heard bad news, or when I walk the hall of a local school and someone pulls me to the side in tears, all I have to offer is what I already have in that moment. The same is true for you.

So, if we are a people who desire to live out the life of love, compassion, forgiveness, hope and healing that was modeled by Jesus, then we are in a constant need for preparation too. Because of that, I want to invite you to not just read this blog, but join in and participate in your own 40 Days!

Why 40 Days? The Bible shares the stories of several people who experienced a 40 Day period of preparation before God did something significant in their lives. In the book of Exodus, Moses spent 40 days with God being prepared to lead the people of Israel. In 1Kings 19, Elijah is prepared to hear God speak. In Matthew 4, we read about the 40 days of preparation that preceded Jesus public ministry, and in Acts 1, we learn about the 40 days after Jesus rises from the dead that prepares the disciples for the birth of the Church.

These are only a few of the examples of God using 40 days to prepare a person or group of people, but they are examples with results I would love to experience during these next 40 days. I want to hear God speak directly to me. I want to be as effective as possible in ministering to others. I want to see people become followers of Jesus and join together with others as the Body of Christ (the Church). And, I want to become a better leader for those I get to influence.

These results sound good to me, and I believe they are honoring to God. But, I have already learned that God’s ways and thoughts are different and beyond my own. So, I begin today by taking off my own expectations of how these 40 days will turn out. Instead, I am going to embrace a simple prayer and invite you to join me. Here is my prayer:

Heavenly Father, Please use these 40 days to prepare me to be whoever You want me to be, and to do whatever You would have me do, to Your glory. Amen.

I hope you will join me for 40 Days of Preparation and I can’t wait to read your stories of what God does in your life as you make yourself especially available to Him.