Wrapping up Phase 3 of The Ultimate Journey

Last night I completed the final phase (Phase Three) of The Ultimate Journey/Christ-Life Solution. I highly recommend all three phases of The Ultimate Journey program to anyone.

Since starting Phase One in January 2009, I have changed quite a bit. The main ways that I have changed are in my thinking:  I now focus more on God being in control and I try to look at people through His eyes. Knowing that God is in control has helped a lot during this unemployment phase of my life.

Of course, this is only the beginning. Turns out that The Ultimate Journey is a lifelong journey. . .

One of the benefits of social justice

Last week at church we had a guest speaker, a pastor from River Heights Vineyard Church. He was talking about caring for the poor, and particularly highlighted Isaiah 58:10-11:

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
9-12"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

What I find interesting about this passage from The Message is that not only are we called to serve the poor, but there's a benefit to us as well. That benefit is God's guidance and a full life.

Busier at 79 than 56

Eleanor Clinkscales

I often hear people say that they are busier in retirement than when they were working. I'm not sure why that is -- perhaps others naturally assume that retirees have a lot of free time.

For Eleanor Clinkscales of Ragland, Ala., life is busier now at age 79 than 24 years ago when God gave her (and her husband Gordon) a mission. Here's the story from The Daily Home:

It was while on vacation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 24 years ago that Clinkscales said God spoke to her.

'Gordon collected knives, and he wanted knives from the Maya Indians,' she said. 'We went up to where they were selling the knives, and when we left, we decided to walk back to where we were staying because the people in Mexico eat very late at night. They may eat supper at 10 p.m. We decided to walk down the railroad tracks, and I saw poverty like I’d never seen before.'

Clinkscales said she saw people living in cardboard boxes with one outside spigot for water and no sanitation.

'The Lord spoke to me right then and there,' she said, 'but I told Him to get somebody else because I had not been poor in a long time. The Lord persisted and when I finally gave in, I did not take a chance on me knowing what I needed to do just by myself. I went around to food banks, to people who dealt with the poor, and asked questions. I wanted to know what worked and what did not work.'

It was in 1987 when Clinkscales, then 56, started helping the needy people of St. Clair County.

Since that time, Clinkscales has been passionate about serving the poor in St. Clair County, Ala. She regularly coordinates projects to make sure students have school supplies, coats during the winter, food at Thanksgiving and toys at Christmas. With her most recent project, she helped 200 children have toys for Christmas and also put together 154 food baskets for needy families during the Christmas holidays.

Don't give up hope.

There's a very moving column by Pastor Lynn Walker that ran in The Express-Star. In the column, Walker tells the story of a time in 1992 when he wanted to commit suicide and was running from a broken marriage and everything in life:

I fumbled around under the seat and finally got my hand on my daddy’s old Smith & Wesson snub nose .38 Special. I pulled the hammer back and stuck the barrel up against my temple. Just as I started to pull the trigger, something very strange happened. All of a sudden I felt like someone was pouring a bucket of warm water over my head, and that feeling went all over my body. Then God took his turn to speak to my heart. In a voice that was so real, I could almost swear it was audible; God spoke so clearly to me in just a few sweet words. All He said was, “YOU’RE GOING TO BE OK”. That’s all. He didn’t tell me how or why or when. Just that I was going to be “OK”. That’s all I needed. I was at the end of my rope and thank God I found the knot that kept the rope from slipping through my hands. That knot was the Love of Jesus Christ and He gave me everything that I needed. HOPE.

No matter what is going on in your life, God can give you hope. Whether it's unemployment, divorce or anything else, turn to God.

In God's time

Today after church I noticed that, in general, it's the same people that always are crying and needing prayer. I asked my wife, "Why doesn't God just fix their situation so they don't have to be miserable all the time?"

"Why has it taken so long for God to fix your relationship with your stepdad?" she replied. "Don't ask me. I'm not God -- ask him."

So I did. Here was his response:

I fix things in my time, not your time.

Fair enough. God has a plan, and his timing is always perfect.

Slow down...and listen.

I'm nearing the end of Phase 3 of Christ-Life Solution:  The Ultimate Journey. This past week's lesson instructed us to spend some quiet time focusing on God and hear what is on his mind. So, I slowed down, and here's what I heard:

• Bloom where you have been planted.
• Show my love to your wife and son.
• I will take care of you. You need to focus on me.
• Don't give up.

So often we go to God with our requests. Take a moment to slow down and hear what God desires.

The power of life and death

I'm currently reading an excellent book by Gary Smalley and John Trent, Ph.D. It's called "The Hidden Value of a Man."

The book talks about the two swords of value in every man. There's the silver sword, which relates to a man's positional power. This includes a man's job title, academic degrees, place in the corporate hierarchy, etc. Most men focus on the silver sword and neglect the gold sword, which is the ability to develop meaningful, fulfilling relationships and strengthen our families.

There is an interesting passage on p. 28 of the book under the header "The Power of Life and Death Lies Within a Man's Reach":

Writer Gordon Dalbey describes a deeply moving church meeting where the congregation had just watched the powerful anti-abortion film 'The Silent Scream.' Stung in heart and stirred to prayer, men and women began interceding for the pregnant young women faced with the appalling choice of bringing an unwanted baby to term or destroying it in the womb.

Others prayed for the parents of the young women, for the doctors and nurses in the abortion clinics, for the unborn babies themselves, and for the conscience of the nation.

Yet Dalbey felt a strange uneasiness. Something seemed missing somehow. Overlooked. 'Lord, is there something else?' he asked.

'Almost at once the words burst forth in my mind: Pray for the men! No one is recognizing that without a man to impregnate the woman, the abortion issue would not exist.'

Smalley and Trent go on to explain that the ultimate "choice" in the issue belongs to the man. As men, we have a tremendous amount of power; we need to be aware of how we wield our swords. It is possible to have an effective balance between the silver and gold swords.