Color Wars

When our kids go to Camp Siloam for a week of summer camp they are always excited about a camp wide competition called Color Wars. Every church group is assigned a color, either red or blue. Every day there is a huge group activity involving all the campers and many of the sponsors. They get points each day and by the end of the week a winner in determined.

Our group has been on the blue team for the last four years. Many of the students have been together every summer and brought their blue shirts and hats to show their blue pride. This year they did not tell us what team we were on until we checked into camp. Of course, this year we are on the … Red Team.

I thought the kids would be sad about the color change. I was sad for them. But kids being kids they took it all in stride. The girls asked for red paint and talked about trading with a church that came prepared to be red but ended up blue. Matt found red bandanas for all the kids and they were happy with that.

The kids were not upset about the color change because they did not go to camp to identify with a color of clothing. They were prepared to go to camp to be with their friends and learn more about Jesus.

Jesus told a story about heaven in which he compared the kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet. (Matthew 22) In the parable, (a story with a message), Jesus tells about a King who had invited guests to a wedding for his son. But those who were invited mistreated the messengers so the King said they were unworthy. He sent his servants to invite everyone they could find. When the King came to see his guests he found one who was not dressed for a wedding and asked how he got in there without wedding clothes. The king had him thrown out, into outer darkness.

The story is about being prepared for heaven. We have been invited and we know it is a special occasion for the King. We need to look, live, and act like we are going to see the King.

Bro. Robin

The Wheels on the Bus

“The wheels on the bus go round and round…” I thought about that song this week as I drove the bus for the summer children’s program. Terrific Tuesdays and Tremendous Thursdays have been a tradition around here for many years. This week we are taking the kids to the library in the morning and a swimming pool in the afternoon.

Driving the bus is a big responsibility. I check with the group’s leaders and verify the time and destination. There is a pre-trip check to make sure the bus is safe. I check location of the day’s event and pick the best route. We load the kids and make sure everyone is safe in their places. Then we drive to the destination. All along the way I am watching the road and other traffic. I keep alert for hazards to avoid along the way. I stop at railroad crossings. After I drop the kids off I find a good place to park the bus so I can get out easily for the return trip.

Anyone who leads a group should be able to see similar responsibilities. Whether it is a Sunday school class, small group, or your own family, you are taking them to a chosen destination and you want everyone to arrive safely.

Our ultimate destination, Heaven, is the same for all our church groups. There are long-term destinations such as Discipleship, Worship, Fellowship, Missions, and Evangelism. There are also short-term destinations that take us in the direction of the long-term goals. The summer children’s program is short-term but supports our other destinations in many ways.

No matter what we are doing we need to be sure of our destination. We need to make sure our plans are in order and people going with us are on board. We need to look out for danger along the way and make stops when necessary. When we arrive we need to park in a place where we can go again easily because the journey is not over until we reach the final destination.

In Acts 13 the Church sent out the first missionaries. They answered the call of the Holy Spirit to send out Barnabas and Saul to go where God led them. It was not easy, there were many dangers, but God led them to tell the good news of Jesus to most of the known world of their day. They did it all on foot. Imagine how much we can do in a bus?

Bro. Robin

Grandchildren and Imagination

I just got home from vacationing with my grandchildren, and their parents.  A few observations came to me based on what was seen and heard during the week:

#1 - Grain elevators can look like castles to a three year old. The first time she noticed a grain elevator she exclaimed with awe in her voice, “Is that a castle?” Of course we all laughed at the retelling of the story. It got me thinking, however, what happened to my imagination that I only saw elevators where she saw castles? Did something kill my imagination or did it simply die from lack of use?

#2 - Being an adult can also be fun. I found this to be true while enjoying a public pool that observes adult only swim time ten minutes out of every hour. This was designed to give the kids time to rest and reapply sunscreen. It also gave the adults a chance to swim unimpeded or, as I discovered to my delight, skip long lines on the giant water slides, over and over again. I was heading up for my fourth trip down the slide when the look on my grandsons faces, who were near the top when the whistle blew, caused me to stop and wait with them for time to run out and go down together. Sometimes we need to jump in and enjoy ourselves in good clean fun.

#3 - Our family can turn anything into a game complete with rules and prizes. We started out with the little ones blowing bubbles on the porch. Next thing I knew we were all competing for biggest bubble, most bubbles, most bubbles caught, etc. In the end everyone got a prize for something. The women took the young kids to Target and the men took the older boys to Cabela’s to find their prizes. Bubble blowing turned into an all-around fun afternoon.

Solomon also enjoyed his grandchildren and may have gotten some of his wisdom from observing them. He said, “Grandchildren are the crown…” of their grandparents, (Proverbs 17:6, HCSB). They not only give us joy they give us wisdom and a lot to think about.

Bro Robin

Fishing the Spillway

My Dad was the best fisherman I ever knew. He could catch fish when no one else could, and I saw him do it several times. One of His favorite places to fish was at the bottom of the spillway at Clearwater Lake. There was a retaining wall that curved away from the spillway and made it impossible to get close to the water as it cascaded in a waterfall through the spillway. But if the angler was strong enough and clever enough there was a sweet spot where the biggest fish gathered at the bottom of the waterfall.

Dad figured out that the right amount of weight on the line would allow him to cast his hook the right distance to hit the sweet spot. Another problem was the large rocks on the bottom of the river that would catch the weights and cause you to lose your line, along with the fish.

One day he just started catching fish. People saw him catching fish and assumed the key was where he was standing. As people began to gather around Dad He would gather up his gear and walk around the spillway to the other side of the river. The people he left were still not catching fish. But they soon noticed that Dad, on the other side, was catching fish there too. Some decided that it was the fisherman, not the location, and moved on. Others tried to get Dad to tell them his secret. He told them it was the weights. But when they tried to add more weight they just lost their line and got mad at Dad.

It was the weights. It was also a little trick he left out when he talked about it. The reason he left that out was because it cost him a lot of hooks, line, and sinkers to find out how to catch those fish. If you wanted to know what he knew you would have to find out the same way he did. He would point any fisherman who wanted to know in the right direction. The rest would be up to you.

I saw a poster once that said, “If fishing was easy it would be called Catching.” A father can teach a child to fish but the child will not learn unless the father turns over the pole and allows him to learn the rest for himself. Father’s Day is a reminder of the direction, wisdom, and guidance our fathers give us.

Jesus called us to be fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19) If we follow Jesus then we will learn how to point people in His direction. The rest is up to them. We do the fishing and He does the catching, and the cleaning.

Happy Father’s Day

Bro. Robin

Prayer Walking

The road looked more like a wide path. It was wide enough for people, animals with carts, and bicycles. It wound through a village of huts made with mud bricks and covered with a roof of straw. The huts were separated from each other by gardens and fields of field corn and pea trees. At one point we had to cross a bridge that had so many gaps and holes we wondered how anyone crossed it safely. We were in Africa but we were not sight-seeing. We were Prayer Walking.

As we walked we prayed for the people in the huts we passed. We observed the yards for signs of children and other evidence that would guide our prayers. In between the huts the pastor would talk and give us useful information about the area and the people who lived there. Sometimes we talked to each other pointing out things that we could pray for concerning the people and the church we were helping on our mission trip.

The rest of the week we walked, prayed, and carried Bibles and Evangecubes, (a tool for sharing the gospel with pictures). We saw hundreds come to Christ. Salvation is the work of God. Evangelism is a combination of the work of the Holy Spirit through our prayers, preparation, and participation in sharing the Word of Christ.

“Prayer walking is intercession on location with information in cooperation against opposition for glorification.” (Prayer Walking: A Journey of Faith, by Dan R. Crawford and Calvin Miller) Another definition is: “Walking on-site with insight.”

We continued to use Prayer Walking in the Dominican Republic and Vancouver. Our Children’s Ministry and Youth have learned about missions through Prayer Walking.

We are beginning a new ministry of Prayer Walking on Sunday nights. This will be our Sunday night worship during the summer. Over the course of the summer we plan to walk every street and pray for every home and business in Gentry. We want to take what we have learned on the mission field abroad and put it into practice on the mission field at home.

James said, “…The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful.” (James 5:16b HCSB)

In a prayer meeting recently one of our prayer warriors prayed, “Lord, we need more people praying!” Come and join us. If you do not wish to walk there will also be a group praying in the church while others are walking. Prayer makes a difference in our lives and will make a difference in our church.

Bro. Robin