It is all burned up and not much is left...

It is the beginning of a new week. I'm up early, enjoying a great cup of coffee and watching the sun rise over the roof tops. I peer out a window that looks onto our back yard and the vacant lot behind our house and I see a huge black circle and in the centre of the charred ground is a small remnant of the big cloth chair that looked very comfortable and inviting. The chair had spent the winter in the empty lot in the hood. This big living room chair has been played on and even the gangs spray painted their name on it. It was funny to see that even the abandoned chair couldn't escape the gang's artwork/claim on it in their territory. Anyway, so I see now someone got the urge to burn it. Thankfully that is all they chose to burn! It must have been quite the fire judging from the circumference of the burn marks. Seeing how little was left of this huge chair got me thinking and asking how much will be left of my life efforts when tested by the holy fire that one day we will all face? What can look to be so much will come out to be so little if it wasn't done God's way.

1 Corinthians 3:12-14 "If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward."

Timely song "In Me" by Casting Crowns

If You ask me to leap
Out of my boat on the crashing waves
If You ask me to go
Preach to the lost world that Jesus saves

I'll go, but I cannot go alone
Cause I know I'm nothing on my own
But the power of Christ in me makes me strong
Makes me strong

Cause when I'm weak, You make me strong
When I'm blind, You shine Your light on me
Cause I'll never get by living on my own ability
How refreshing to know You don't need me
How amazing to know that You want me
So I'll stand on Your truth, and I'll fight with Your strength
Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me

If You ask me to run
And carry Your light into foreign land
If You ask me to fight
Deliver Your people from satan's hand

To reach out with Your hands
To learn through Your eyes
To love with the love of a savior
To feel with Your heart
And to think with Your mind
I'd give my last breath for Your glory

Put off falsehood and speak truthfully!

Recently I told someone that they had spinach in their teeth. It was really awkward and I felt bad for that person but I didn’t want them to go on through out their day with it there. It is interesting that when you tell someone about something like that their first look or reaction almost makes you feel like you put the spinach in their teeth. Ask anyone what kind of a friend they’d prefer at that moment; the person that would tell the truth or the person that just pretends they didn’t see it. I don’t know about you but I’d want the truth teller not the pretender who plays it safe at my expense.
In regard to spiritual matters, as sisters and brothers in Christ we are to uphold one another and this “upholding” isn’t just about producing warm fuzzy feelings for and in one another. Certainly we are to encourage one another but we are also to speak the truth that will help one another grow in Christ. Doing this without doing it with a love for that person is devastating. It must be done in love. Even worse is not speaking truth at all. You can find hundreds of people who will tell you what you want to hear or not say anything at all just to play it safe. It is fruitful to find and be a person that genuinely loves a person enough to say the truthful things that are sometimes hard things to hear and say but produces much fruit in one’s life as a result. It is an important mandate;
Eph 4:25 “put off falsehood and speak truthfully.”
Eph 4:15 “…speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”

Spring Has Sprung In The Hood

Oh the signs of spring arriving in the hood are every where. One doesn’t have to look far or listen long to see it is true. Why in just one week we’ve seen used needles, condoms & a ripped up Bible appearing from under the winter snow as it melts away. There is fresh new gang graffiti spray painted on the garage door directly behind our house that we can’t miss when we’re gazing out our windows. Why just the other day at 2 am in the wee hours of the morning I was awaken by a group of young people in our alley loudly conveying their sentiments to the neighborhood as they proceeded to kick in three boards on our neighbor's fence. And just today arriving home from work we noticed that directly in front of our house where we park on the street it sparkles in the sunlight thanks to the freshly broken glass of the Smirnoff variety. Yes….and…..oh a sure sign that spring is here is the orchestra of whistles you can hear from about 10:00 pm to 5:30 am of people communicating and announcing their location to one another on the streets. The dogs are barking more often now through out the night and early morning hours. They are warning us that activity has started once again because spring has sprung in the hood and there is no way a person (or dog) can miss it here. Yes indeed, the signs of spring are all around us once again.

Praise God It Is A New Day!