There’s No Time like the Present!
Eph. 5:16
As we begin the New Year, the year of 2011, do so with a renewed focus on time. Start the year with celebration and worship. We hope to help you do that through our Sunday night focus that is designed this year to assist you in growing deeper in your intimacy with God so that your witness to neighbor will be more positive and Christlike. We will have four Sunday nights focusing on devotion time, time dedicated specifically and wholly to our personal relationship with God.
I had a unique lesson on time during the Christmas season when I visited my aunt and uncle (Barbara and Wint Wilks), who live in Madeira Beach, Florida. Aunt Barbara wasn’t shy to let me know how much she would love to have Debbie and me stay with them at their condo when Debbie went down for her winter on-campus master’s class at University of South Florida. We traveled down on a Thursday and Friday, spent Friday and Saturday nights with them, and then drove home the whole way on Sunday December 13th.
Each discussion with them was a learning experience related to time. You see, my uncle is at the point where he knows that he has Alzheimer’s disease and spends some days just crying for up to five hours. Therefore, Barbara quickly taught Debbie and me on Friday night, when she was able to speak a few seconds when Uncle Wint wasn’t looking or listening, that we don’t use the word remember, because he doesn’t remember. That word makes him anxious. We also don’t talk about the future, because they know what their future holds, and it isn’t good. I tried to listen, learn and link/respond according to her guidance. Therefore, for roughly 38 hours, we talked and lived ONLY IN THE PRESENT (as much as possible).
Aunt Barbara would be behind Uncle Wint making motions to me and moving her lips, “We don’t say that!” or “We don’t do that!” Debbie’s car wouldn’t start Saturday morning and she was already running behind in order to be on the campus in Tampa by 9 am. Barbara quickly let me know that any experience that has a “stressor” in it can drive him over the edge. Therefore, we calmly and quietly tried to get her car started (I had jumper cables, but their Cadillac doesn’t have a black battery terminal that is visible, or for me finable. Fortunately, Jack the maintenance man knew how to ground it elsewhere). My guess is that additional anxiety or new stress could cause him to cry or even, at some stage become violent. Did you know that anxiety and stress can immediately cause someone else near you to go over the edge? Hmmm!
“Look at those beautiful waves lapping on the white sand!” I said as we looked out of their second floor window onto the beach and gulf only 40 feet away. “Do you see any dolphins out there?” “Wave at the people! They are waving at us!” I never knew how hard it was to constantly and consistently live ONLY in the present! I made lots of mistakes and left feeling like a bit of a failure. It was like learning a new language for me! Debbie’s and my presence was not a waste, however, according to Aunt Barbara. On Saturday afternoon, I was able to stay with Uncle Wint long enough for her to go for a one hour walk on the beach. During that one hour Uncle Wint looked for her out the window, walked outside the condo door to make sure their car was there. He would ask where she was. He literally cannot be away from her without completely drifting into a state of fear. But for her, she received one hour of peace and respite! Just one hour evidently can make a world of difference!
What does all this have to do with us? We have some church members who are battling Alzheimer’s Disease. Many of us also have extended family who have to deal with this horrible disease. I am going to challenge us, during our four Sunday nights of January (9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th), to become much more committed and consistent with regular private devotional time with God – spiritual formation is another term for that. Brother Lawrence called it “Practicing the Presence of God.” This is similar to my feeble attempts with my aunt and uncle. We cannot do this with others if we don’t do it first and foremost with God in our own lives.
We will begin each Sunday at 5:30 in the Family Life Center with a meal and then gather in the sanctuary from 6 – 7 pm for focused time on learning to deepen the intimacy that we have with our living and loving God. Just 5 or 10 minutes alone with God makes a world of difference! When we do that, we will be more immersed in the presence of God in the present, the here and now, and then we will be a present of God’s presence to those around us, some of whom are living on the edge! We do make a difference! May our difference ever grow more in tune with the Spirit of Christ who offers peace to those who follow and know him!
Dr. Fitzgerald
Friday, December 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Can you get a pulse?
Countless times I have been witness to nurses checking a person’s pulse to determine their health condition, not to mention my own every time I visit the Urgent Care for some illness. Blood pressure, pulse and temperature are always checked to determine basic health conditions.
Recently I was listening to a science documentary on television when they discussed the Big Bang theory and the perfect place of our universe in the midst of expansion and contraction. This is life! This is God! There was a pulse from something or someone outside of what we know as our three dimensional universe and life came into being. The pulse is like a heartbeat, expansion and contraction. The heart shoots out life giving blood and brings it back to reenergize it, to run it back through the power mill of oxygen in the lungs in order to feed the rest of the body – brain, organs, limbs, etc. During the season of Christmas, will your pulse rate change? Based on what you feed your body, mind and soul? Keep Christ at the center of your life, your heart. Don’t get trapped with the pulse sent out by consumerism and the superficial stimulation of all that glitters, since you know the rest of that cliché (all that glitters is not gold).
The sound of the heartbeat is the basic rhythm used in all Native American drumming. Did you know that? I would challenge you that it is the basic rhythm that makes a tune pulse right or else it drives us crazy. If the beat is off, the rhythm doesn’t make sense, it sends our nervous system into some kind of shock! We cannot stand to hear a musical piece left incomplete, without the final note, the final pulse. Christmas music has a pulse of life, light and love! Do you feel it?
In the incarnation, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, out in an expansion of himself to energize and offer life to humanity and creation. Then God drew Him back again. God then sent his Holy Spirit to empower our breath with His breath, our spirits with His Spirit, our minds with the mind of Christ, our hearts with the very pulse of life that enables perfect rhythm. God is at the origin and the apex of breathing in and breathing out, expansion and contraction.
Where there is no pulse, there is no life. Life is not experienced in a healthy way without going out and coming back in. Jesus is clearly described as life in John 1:3, “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” Jesus also puts it this way, as recorded in John 15:4a,9b, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Abide in my love.” Stay in Jesus during Christmas. Stay in His love. As we have a pulse, as we have life in us, we have the thread of life in us that is Christ wanting to not only give life to our bodies, but also to our minds and our souls. To “know” this, is to know the love of God made available in Jesus Christ.
So we go out into the world with life, with the love of God in Christ Jesus. We go out to share the good news and to give energy and sustenance to those who are starving for air, for breath, for a stronger pulse, for balance. We come back again into worship, into meditation and reflection on the living and written Word of God. Out and back in again. Breathing out and breathing in. The heartbeat! The pulse of life. Christmas music that pulsates with something indescribable! Life!
How’s your pulse rate? Put your finger on your wrist and feel. Do you feel the presence of God? Do you feel life pulsing through you? Do you feel the love of God manifest in your wrist, in your finger, in your mind, heart and soul? Joy to the World if so. If not, you’re dead!
Recently I was listening to a science documentary on television when they discussed the Big Bang theory and the perfect place of our universe in the midst of expansion and contraction. This is life! This is God! There was a pulse from something or someone outside of what we know as our three dimensional universe and life came into being. The pulse is like a heartbeat, expansion and contraction. The heart shoots out life giving blood and brings it back to reenergize it, to run it back through the power mill of oxygen in the lungs in order to feed the rest of the body – brain, organs, limbs, etc. During the season of Christmas, will your pulse rate change? Based on what you feed your body, mind and soul? Keep Christ at the center of your life, your heart. Don’t get trapped with the pulse sent out by consumerism and the superficial stimulation of all that glitters, since you know the rest of that cliché (all that glitters is not gold).
The sound of the heartbeat is the basic rhythm used in all Native American drumming. Did you know that? I would challenge you that it is the basic rhythm that makes a tune pulse right or else it drives us crazy. If the beat is off, the rhythm doesn’t make sense, it sends our nervous system into some kind of shock! We cannot stand to hear a musical piece left incomplete, without the final note, the final pulse. Christmas music has a pulse of life, light and love! Do you feel it?
In the incarnation, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, out in an expansion of himself to energize and offer life to humanity and creation. Then God drew Him back again. God then sent his Holy Spirit to empower our breath with His breath, our spirits with His Spirit, our minds with the mind of Christ, our hearts with the very pulse of life that enables perfect rhythm. God is at the origin and the apex of breathing in and breathing out, expansion and contraction.
Where there is no pulse, there is no life. Life is not experienced in a healthy way without going out and coming back in. Jesus is clearly described as life in John 1:3, “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” Jesus also puts it this way, as recorded in John 15:4a,9b, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Abide in my love.” Stay in Jesus during Christmas. Stay in His love. As we have a pulse, as we have life in us, we have the thread of life in us that is Christ wanting to not only give life to our bodies, but also to our minds and our souls. To “know” this, is to know the love of God made available in Jesus Christ.
So we go out into the world with life, with the love of God in Christ Jesus. We go out to share the good news and to give energy and sustenance to those who are starving for air, for breath, for a stronger pulse, for balance. We come back again into worship, into meditation and reflection on the living and written Word of God. Out and back in again. Breathing out and breathing in. The heartbeat! The pulse of life. Christmas music that pulsates with something indescribable! Life!
How’s your pulse rate? Put your finger on your wrist and feel. Do you feel the presence of God? Do you feel life pulsing through you? Do you feel the love of God manifest in your wrist, in your finger, in your mind, heart and soul? Joy to the World if so. If not, you’re dead!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Getting the Wind Back in our Sails!
Do you ever feel like Elijah felt after God had been with him in loving, intimate and miraculous ways, and then all of a sudden on person sucks the wind out of his sails! I've felt like that numerous times in my life, including recently. What do you do? Seriously! Is it enough for us just to offer God little blurps of our time in the midst of other seemingly more important daily responsibilities? I am reminded often of what John Wesley said, "I am so busy now that I am finding it necessary to pray up to four hours per day!" We work just the opposite. We get busy and cut down on our "alone" time with God. Wesley had it right. The busier we get, the harder life gets, the more we get attacked from the left, the right, from up above and from down below, from the front and the rear... the more we need specifically time alone with nobody and nothing but God! We need to give carved out absolutely dedicated time, though, energy, mind, body and soul to God, to God's work, to God's breath/wind/Spirit. That's how we can get the wind back in our sails. It's is God's wind/breath/Spirit that moves us along the way!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Article about Situational Awareness
On Sunday, July 25, 2010, I mentioned in my sermon an article from American Chronicle that covers a topic of "situational awareness." If you are interested in this article and how we are researching experiences like these, as well as remote viewing, ESP, and neurobiology and quantum physics as they relate to our ability to experience life from different times and places in the here and now, then click here for further reading.
SA relates to how some soldiers are better able than others to "perceive" IED's. The same thing happens to those who spend time reading and meditating on God's word; spending quiet time in prayer listening to God and the world around them. As we grow more mature in the depth of God's love, we grow more and more in tune with the fruith of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). We develop a spiritual awareness about when the fruit of God's Spirit is threatened by false gods, IED's of the world. We are more and more able to live in self-control rather than taking the bait that robs us of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So may you develop more and more SA in your life!
SA relates to how some soldiers are better able than others to "perceive" IED's. The same thing happens to those who spend time reading and meditating on God's word; spending quiet time in prayer listening to God and the world around them. As we grow more mature in the depth of God's love, we grow more and more in tune with the fruith of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). We develop a spiritual awareness about when the fruit of God's Spirit is threatened by false gods, IED's of the world. We are more and more able to live in self-control rather than taking the bait that robs us of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So may you develop more and more SA in your life!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Generosity
I am musing on the blessings of God. My breath. My vision. The gift of God's very being/Spirit/Son. My family. My church. My ability to serve and be productive, and to grow. I often wonder why God has so graciously blessed me? It is a mystery, but my primary response is praise and adoration. Following that, I am compelled to be generous with my time, talents and money. All is but a gift of God's grace and mercy. I enclose a picture of one form of God's generosity to me and allow you to muse over why I posted this picture. What picture would you place here?
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Living through disaster...
Recent update from Hans Meinardus, out friend at Frontier Camp
See Pastor Gersan Valcin's heartbreaking update below...
� There are so many exciting things to tell you about in Haiti. We have had the privilege of receiving several emails from Gersan and even a couple of pictures. These have all be placed on our Facebook Page. Anyone can visit the Facebook page and you can add your comments, pictures, etc. if you are a member of Facebook. We are so pleased that over 200 people have joined our group and are interested in the ministry of Gersan and Betty. We will probably start sending fewer emails and encourage you to visit the Facebook page often as there is up to date information posted there as soon as it is received. Please look under the Discussions tab to see the longer messages from people.
� The leadership team met tonight and it was decided that the group will be referred to as ECC Haiti Recovery. ECC is for Evangelical Community Church which is the name of Gersan and Betty's congregation. So don't be confused if you start hearing that name.
� Noelle was interviewed by a Houston TV station, you can see the clip online http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7225548
This weekend in Haiti brought the beginning of the total reality of what families in Gersan�s church, The Evangelical Community Church of Haiti, are now dealing with. A much smaller than normal group of believers gathered at church on Sunday. Through tears of grief, they also praised the Lord for many miracles that occurred. They shared their pain as they recounted the stories about those who are now on �heaven�s side� and also those for whom they are still searching. Gersan tells us best in his own words:
Friday the 16th
It's 9:30 pm and there is no electricity in the Port-au-Prince. It's unusually cold. Betty and I are in the van for our third night. All around us
on the street are people. Some are sleeping in their car and others just on the ground. We had a surplus of mattresses from last week
camp and we gave them all away. I keep in the Van one jacket just in case I might be called for funerals. So far, the situation is so bad that we don't have time for proper burials. People are just put in a common grave.
Out in the dark people are singing songs of praises making harmonies. I don't know how long they will sing, but it's beautiful.
Because of news about criminals breaking out of jail, we put cars on each side of the road and put a brigade overnight. We are fortunate to have water and so far the food we need for the day. We take one meal a day and save what we can because we don't know how long the situation will last. Each night
I pray for it not to rain. With so many people outside and no tent, it will be good not to have rain. God has been faithful to keep all the rains in Cap-Haitian area. We also need to pray for the people there because their crops are receiving too much rain and they will have a hard time this summer. We share everything and it's such a great testimony for the unsaved. One woman in our neighborhood starts to develop some interest in the Gospel. She realized how we as evangelicals we life our faith: how we care for each other and love each other. I shared the gospel with her.
Saturday morning the 17th
I left home to drop a family member to a place where she can take a tap-tap. After I dropped them in Petion ville, I turn to go back home. 4 people get into my car and ask me to drop them to where they were going. As they were in the car, I took the time to hear each one story and each one had a family member that was under the wreckages. One particular man who was silent all along started to tell his story. 8 family members are dead under his house and he was going to try to find a way to get to them. When he started, there was no emotion on his face, but when he came across the house he broke in tears and pointed to the place: here is the house; here is the house he cried!!! Tears came down all over his face. I stop and let him step down the car. I stood there for a few minutes hopelessly and looked around; but there was nothing I could do. He turned with his hands up over his head in despair. He turned around at lease three times and looked for help; but there was no help. That was one of the most painful minute of my life! There is nothing as painful as hopelessness! After this crisis, there will be need for a lot of counseling. People that seem to be strong now, when face with the reality of their lost will probably lose their mind.
Sunday, Jan. 18
Today at church, few people show up as this is unusual for Haitians, we knew that something has changed. Most of the people are out of their home and not able to travel because their car has been damaged. We have heard many stories of how God miraculously spared the lives of friends, family and coworkers in spite of the disaster all around.
We have also heard of some difficult stories. One woman shared how her husband and three of her children were buried aive under the wreckage of her house and she stood there crying with no help around. They all passed away and she was at church to share the story. Another father stood with his baby girls with almost not cloth sharing how his wife and her mother died. A young girl Regine Michel raised her only moving arm in the air to give praise to God for saving her life. Her left arm was broken in two places and no hospital wanted to help her because her wound was not life threatening. We praise God for one congressman that was present and that took her to the DR boarder in the hope that she will find help and they will not have to amputate her arm.
Like a sister wrote in her news letter, �this event has reminded us, once again, how fragile life is. We can be called home at any time and so we should live in such a way that we will not be ashamed when we meet Him.
Nothing in my life and training prepared me for a tragedy of that magnitude. That was the opportunity to turn to the Word of God. We read the third chapter of Lamentations and shared some words of comfort from the 46th Psalms. In the day a head, we will conduct symbolic funerals for the dead ones. Thank you for your prayers and support!
(Sunday evening)
This is the sixth night and again it may rain. So far, God did hold it back, but it would be a disaster with all the dead bodies out there and so many people sleeping outside. We pray again for the rain not to come. As the sun come down each day, I go to the refugee cam at the church to pray with the people before they go to sleep. This is a time they all look forward to. Before I get there, a tap-tap driver plays some Christian music and they are ready for me to come and pray with them. Using the Frontier Camp speaker phone we sing and recite a psalm and pray with them. On Saturday night, I had to pick up a team of Haitian doctors in Petionville and I was not able to make it back to the church. To night, the people at the camp shared with me how they missed that time of prayer on Saturday night. As I pray with them each night they always clap at the end. This is a way to express their gratitude to the Lord for just being alive. I see a lot of strength in them and I�m glad that they get their strength from the Lord. In Psalms 46:1, it is said that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. More and more people are finding their strength in God. I pray that Haiti will never be the same again!
Gersan
See Pastor Gersan Valcin's heartbreaking update below...
� There are so many exciting things to tell you about in Haiti. We have had the privilege of receiving several emails from Gersan and even a couple of pictures. These have all be placed on our Facebook Page. Anyone can visit the Facebook page and you can add your comments, pictures, etc. if you are a member of Facebook. We are so pleased that over 200 people have joined our group and are interested in the ministry of Gersan and Betty. We will probably start sending fewer emails and encourage you to visit the Facebook page often as there is up to date information posted there as soon as it is received. Please look under the Discussions tab to see the longer messages from people.
� The leadership team met tonight and it was decided that the group will be referred to as ECC Haiti Recovery. ECC is for Evangelical Community Church which is the name of Gersan and Betty's congregation. So don't be confused if you start hearing that name.
� Noelle was interviewed by a Houston TV station, you can see the clip online http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7225548
This weekend in Haiti brought the beginning of the total reality of what families in Gersan�s church, The Evangelical Community Church of Haiti, are now dealing with. A much smaller than normal group of believers gathered at church on Sunday. Through tears of grief, they also praised the Lord for many miracles that occurred. They shared their pain as they recounted the stories about those who are now on �heaven�s side� and also those for whom they are still searching. Gersan tells us best in his own words:
Friday the 16th
It's 9:30 pm and there is no electricity in the Port-au-Prince. It's unusually cold. Betty and I are in the van for our third night. All around us
on the street are people. Some are sleeping in their car and others just on the ground. We had a surplus of mattresses from last week
camp and we gave them all away. I keep in the Van one jacket just in case I might be called for funerals. So far, the situation is so bad that we don't have time for proper burials. People are just put in a common grave.
Out in the dark people are singing songs of praises making harmonies. I don't know how long they will sing, but it's beautiful.
Because of news about criminals breaking out of jail, we put cars on each side of the road and put a brigade overnight. We are fortunate to have water and so far the food we need for the day. We take one meal a day and save what we can because we don't know how long the situation will last. Each night
I pray for it not to rain. With so many people outside and no tent, it will be good not to have rain. God has been faithful to keep all the rains in Cap-Haitian area. We also need to pray for the people there because their crops are receiving too much rain and they will have a hard time this summer. We share everything and it's such a great testimony for the unsaved. One woman in our neighborhood starts to develop some interest in the Gospel. She realized how we as evangelicals we life our faith: how we care for each other and love each other. I shared the gospel with her.
Saturday morning the 17th
I left home to drop a family member to a place where she can take a tap-tap. After I dropped them in Petion ville, I turn to go back home. 4 people get into my car and ask me to drop them to where they were going. As they were in the car, I took the time to hear each one story and each one had a family member that was under the wreckages. One particular man who was silent all along started to tell his story. 8 family members are dead under his house and he was going to try to find a way to get to them. When he started, there was no emotion on his face, but when he came across the house he broke in tears and pointed to the place: here is the house; here is the house he cried!!! Tears came down all over his face. I stop and let him step down the car. I stood there for a few minutes hopelessly and looked around; but there was nothing I could do. He turned with his hands up over his head in despair. He turned around at lease three times and looked for help; but there was no help. That was one of the most painful minute of my life! There is nothing as painful as hopelessness! After this crisis, there will be need for a lot of counseling. People that seem to be strong now, when face with the reality of their lost will probably lose their mind.
Sunday, Jan. 18
Today at church, few people show up as this is unusual for Haitians, we knew that something has changed. Most of the people are out of their home and not able to travel because their car has been damaged. We have heard many stories of how God miraculously spared the lives of friends, family and coworkers in spite of the disaster all around.
We have also heard of some difficult stories. One woman shared how her husband and three of her children were buried aive under the wreckage of her house and she stood there crying with no help around. They all passed away and she was at church to share the story. Another father stood with his baby girls with almost not cloth sharing how his wife and her mother died. A young girl Regine Michel raised her only moving arm in the air to give praise to God for saving her life. Her left arm was broken in two places and no hospital wanted to help her because her wound was not life threatening. We praise God for one congressman that was present and that took her to the DR boarder in the hope that she will find help and they will not have to amputate her arm.
Like a sister wrote in her news letter, �this event has reminded us, once again, how fragile life is. We can be called home at any time and so we should live in such a way that we will not be ashamed when we meet Him.
Nothing in my life and training prepared me for a tragedy of that magnitude. That was the opportunity to turn to the Word of God. We read the third chapter of Lamentations and shared some words of comfort from the 46th Psalms. In the day a head, we will conduct symbolic funerals for the dead ones. Thank you for your prayers and support!
(Sunday evening)
This is the sixth night and again it may rain. So far, God did hold it back, but it would be a disaster with all the dead bodies out there and so many people sleeping outside. We pray again for the rain not to come. As the sun come down each day, I go to the refugee cam at the church to pray with the people before they go to sleep. This is a time they all look forward to. Before I get there, a tap-tap driver plays some Christian music and they are ready for me to come and pray with them. Using the Frontier Camp speaker phone we sing and recite a psalm and pray with them. On Saturday night, I had to pick up a team of Haitian doctors in Petionville and I was not able to make it back to the church. To night, the people at the camp shared with me how they missed that time of prayer on Saturday night. As I pray with them each night they always clap at the end. This is a way to express their gratitude to the Lord for just being alive. I see a lot of strength in them and I�m glad that they get their strength from the Lord. In Psalms 46:1, it is said that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. More and more people are finding their strength in God. I pray that Haiti will never be the same again!
Gersan
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Share your experiences here...
Today we kicked off our church-wide campaign to listen through the New Testament in 40 days. Feel free to comment on your encounters with God and others as you let words or texts envelope you, meditate on them and pray them deep into the fabric of your life. Today we listened, or read, Matthew chapters 1 - 7. Anything jump out at you?
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