Close Encounters

Our ConnectGroup from church had the summer off, but we are getting ready to crank up the Fall season.  There will be 17 of us this semester studying Tim Keller's Encounters with Jesus.  If you aren't familiar with Tim, he is the pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and is known for his clear, reasoned approach to Christian apologetics.  If you haven't read any of his books yet, I highly recommend them.  And if you're not sure about who the Christian God is, I highly recommend The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism.  I hope some of you will read along with us.

Healing Prayer

 

I have been reading a book called Healing Prayer by David Chotka and Maxie Dunham.  The authors tell stories of their personal experiences with miracles that God has performed as a result of prayer.  The stories are inspirational, but they both acknowledge that there are many more times when their prayers for healing were not answered.  I have prayed for people I know with serious illness, and to my knowledge, those prayers have not been answered yet.  It raises the difficult question.  Why does God sometimes answer prayers, and at other times, he seemingly doesn't.  I wonder if my prayers are not bold enough, or if my faith is not strong enough.  Those things may be true, but there is another truth.  God instructs us to pray for others.  We may not understand his methods, or his timing, but our obedience is rewarded.  I found this great testimony by CeCe Winans about a healing miracle in her family history.   And if you haven't experienced her gift of music in a while, this is one of my favorites.

Thomas and Lauren

Even if you aren't a fan of country singer/songwriter, Thomas Rett, you have probably heard his music or at least recognize his name.  You may not have heard about his wife, Lauren Akins, unless you saw her on Good Morning America this morning like I did.   GMA did a feature story on her because she has been surprisingly open about the struggles she has had as a mom and a wife.  She became pregnant with her first child as she was in the middle of a 13 month adoption process of a baby that she met while on a mission trip to Haiti.  After the birth of her first natural daughter, she then quickly had two more girls.  She struggled with postpartum depression and was resentful that it seemed that Thoms's life and career was just continuing as usual.  In an "I am second" video, Lauren describes what she was going through and how support from her friends and counselors, and her faith in Jesus, were the three things that allowed her to emerge from the depression.  Social media usually paints a picture of how perfect it is to have fame and fortune.  I am thankful that Lauren had the guts to let people know it's not always that way.  I was disappointed, but not surprised, that GMA did not mention her faith in Jesus once during their segment.  I hope a lot of people, including you, take a moment to view the full 11 minute "I am second" video.  Praise God for people like Lauren who are willing to use their position to help build God's kingdom here on Earth.

Boat Church

 

Most of you know that we have been loving Lake Hartwell on weekends for the last 26 years.  Our kids were young teens when we began.  We had a home church in Gwinnett County, but many Sundays were spent at the lake.  We missed being at church on Sunday mornings, so we started Boat Church.  Several families gathered to sing, pray and worship at a friend's dock.  We would usually have about 20 people, but on holiday weekends we might have as many as 50.  People came by car or boat.  When our kids started having their own kids, the logistics got more difficult to manage, and we began meeting less frequently.  This year on Memorial Day weekend and on July 4th weekend, we revived the tradition.  My good friend John and his son led music, and my son-in-law, Trey, prepared a message for us.  The music and message were inspiring, and it was so good to connect with friends that we don't get to see that often.  I hope that we can start meeting more regularly on Sundays at the lake.  I hope you have a meaningful place to worship every week.

Freedom

 

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating our country's freedom from the tyranny of oppression by Great Britain.   Last week, I posted about some of the heroes that sacrificed everything for our freedom from the Nazis during WW-II.  Struggling against oppression has been a part of our history since the beginning of time as recorded by the earliest manuscripts known to man.  That oppression can be attributed to man's broken nature described in the Book of Genesis and throughout the Old Testament.  Our true freedom from that broken nature was only made possible by the life and death of Jesus, God in the flesh, who came to Earth to save us from our sin.  I was reminded of the words from this worship song, "Come out of the dark, just as you are, into the freedom of his love."  I hope you are able to celebrate our country's freedom well and also take a few moments to celebrate the freedom available through knowing and following Jesus.