Papal prophecy

I’m not Catholic, but I have enjoyed watching the wide reception of Pope Francis since his appointment.  He seems like a real “down to earth” guy that is particularly concerned with the well-being of all people and not so much with the pomp and circumstance surrounding his position.  Francis made the news this week for stating:  “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”  Most assume he was referring to Donald Trump’s desire to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.  I don’t know if a wall would help or hurt our situation, but I was a little surprised that Francis made such a strong statement.  I know Donald Trump thinks he is a Christian, even if he is flawed just like me.  I wouldn’t think his position on building a wall would make that determination, even if it is the wrong thing to do.  Let me know what you think.

Our Father

Our winter semester of church connect groups started up last week.   We are reading through the second half of Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy.   Chapter 7 is titled “The Community of Prayerful Love”, and the second half of the chapter is taking apart the Lord’s Prayer.  The prayer begins with “Our Father”, and Willard describes how important these first two words are.  In addressing God as Our Father, we are recognizing him as our creator and acknowledging our place below him.  We are also imagining the love of God to be more like the love of a perfect parent for his or her child than any other type of love.   Willard’s description makes me feel like I could meditate on those two words for my morning quiet time without having to move on to the rest of the prayer.  I think I will.

 

 

 

Pine Cove – The Back Story

My business post this week at SpotOnTheLake.com was about a camp that will be opening on Lake Hartwell in 2017.  I wanted to add a little more background.  It was in January of 2012 when I received a call from a gentleman from Texas.  I had posted a photo on Google Earth, and he found it as he was looking for property around Lake Hartwell.   He was looking for 100+ acres with good lake views that would be easy to build on.  He told me he wanted to build a camp at Lake Hartwell to tell people about Jesus.  I get a lot of calls from “dreamers”.  Most of them follow their dream with “and we would like to get someone to donate the land to us.”   Well, this dreamer was Bill McKenzie, and he didn’t need anyone to give him anything.  He founded Pine Cove Camps in Texas and was looking to expand by opening a camp in the southeast.  The picture in this post shows Bill in the center with two of  his associates on their first trip to Lake Hartwell to scout properties.  Little did we know at the time that the property they ended up purchasing in 2015 was literally a stone’s throw from the Google Earth photo that Bill had clicked on three years earlier.  Praise God for soldiers like Bill, and praise God for His provision.  I can’t wait to see what He will do at Pine Cove Chimney Point.

Take a stand

I hesitated to make this post because I am no political expert, and I did not want anyone to think I was pretending to be one.  The whole political process frustrates me because it is so difficult for me to understand where candidates really stand.  It often feels like they are telling each “group” exactly what they want to hear.  There is a spin for everything.  I appreciated this response by Marco Rubio to a question at a rally about where he stands on his faith.  I am not sure that this is a reason to make him president, but it sure does make me respect him as a man.

A whisper

I was reminded this week that God doesn’t always show up accompanied by fanfare and flashing lights.  God can show up in the smallest things that are right in front of me.   If I will just open my eyes to look and open my ears to hear, He will be there.   I have written in the past about Ben Smith.  Ben is a worship leader at his church and has now released his first album.   In one of his songs, he cries out to God, “Whisper, whisper, whisper in my ear.  Tell me words I thought I’d never hear.  Illuminate what’s right in front of me.”  If you have a few extra minutes, listen to him perform the song with his wife, Kelly, here.  If you have more time, you can join him for a night of worship at Serenbe on Saturday evening.

Safe saves

In this week’s post at SpotOnTheLake.com, I talked about Project Safe.  Project Safe is an Athens, GA organization whose mission is to end domestic violence and support those who have been affected by it.  So many times I wonder, “what on earth could I do to help?”  Volunteering time or donating money is always an option, but Project Safe recognizes that we may know people who have been affected by domestic violence.  If so, we may be able to help directly just by noticing and intervening when appropriate.  The Project Safe website lists these other ways to help.

The Composer

If you know me or have been following this blog at all, you will know that I love music.   My wife, Caroline, and I played in high school band together, got married right out of college, and are now playing in an adult band together, The Georgia Wind Symphony.  We get to play some great music.  One of my favorite composers is Alfred Reed.  We played one of his works, Russian Christmas Music, at your December concert.  I have to work hard to prepare my one little part on the stand in front of me, playing one note at a time.  I marvel at the ability composers have to first “visualize” (audialize?) the work in their head and then begin to flesh out the entire piece – with all of the variations and the scoring of the individual parts - the weeks, months and sometimes years of work to get it just how they want it. I can imagine it would be tough to ever be finished.   When I think of my God, the Creator, I like to think of him in these terms.  First visualizing the finished product and then building it carefully step by step.   And knowing from the beginning that He would need to come to Earth as a man to complete the work, so that He could one day proclaim, “It is finished.”  The Great Composer, indeed.