Makeovers

The Today Show chooses a somewhat ordinary-looking woman who is sent off to another room and, a little later on the same two-hour show, is brought back with a whole new look: hairdo, makeup, clothes, and accessories.

Time magazine features an article describing the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It tells the story of Alive Harris of South Central Los Angeles.  She still remembers the day the good people from ABC volunteered to demolish her house.  In 2003, a flood had left the uninsured community activist and her family living in just one bedroom of their destroyed home.  Worst of all, the waters had ruined a stash of Christmas toys Harris had collected for underprivileged children.  Harris said, “I figured no one was going to come to Watts and help us.  No one had ever done that.”  But Extreme Makeover: Home Edition found her.  Its bullhorn-wielding host, Ty Pennington, shipped Harris and her family off for a week’s vacation in Carlsbad, California, while over 100 workers and neighbors tore their home down to the foundation and built a brand new and bigger one.  They replaced the Christmas toys and donated appliances, mattresses, and landscaping to her flood-stricken neighbors.  They even threw in a basketball court for the neighborhood kids.  Now that’s an extreme makeover.

So what does all this have to do with New Years?  Simply this—all of these extreme makeovers have something in common: an outsider comes in with a one-two-three program.  First, the outsider sees the possibilities the recipient couldn’t see.  Second, the outsider does what the recipient couldn’t possibly do. Third, the outsider pays for what the recipient could never afford to pay.

As you face 2015, remember that there’s an amazing God who is in the makeover business.  He’s in the business of transforming your life and mine.  He has a similar three-step program.  

One: He sees possibilities in you and me that we’re not apt to see in ourselves. 
Two: He is able to do for you and me what we simply cannot do for ourselves.  
Three: He’s able to pay the price for what He does.  We can’t afford the price so He paid it for us.  

However, God’s makeover is slightly different in one area.  The reality show makeover is an external job; God’s is an internal job.  He makes you and me a new person from the inside out.

As you face a new year, please, let Him do His work.  He’s really, really good at it.

Bill Crofton

Did I Just Butt Dial God?

We’ve all done it.  We have no intention of actually making the call, but somehow we lean against something with our phone in our pocket, and someone in our contacts list receives our unintentional call.  Sometimes we realize it while the call is still going on, but most of the time you don’t know you did it until the person you called calls you back. 

“Hey!  Did you know your butt just called me?”

“You’re kidding me!”

“Nope.  Sounded like you were checking out at Publix.”

“Weird.”

“I tried calling your name to get your attention, but I guess you didn’t hear me.  So I just hung up and called you back.”

You feel pretty silly afterward.  And you wonder what you might have said that the person on the other end of the phone may have heard.  Most likely, the voices were pretty muffled, but if it was a private conversation, it may be a bit unnerving.

I’m reading Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline, because our church is doing a series on the 12 spiritual disciplines outlined in Foster’s book.  The chapter on Prayer seems a bit too formulaic.  I strongly believe in prayer and am committed to it as a practice necessary for Christians.  However, I have no idea how it works.  One thing I’m certain of, however, is that it doesn’t work or not work dependent on the “formula” you use.

If I’m being totally honest, I’ll tell you that most of my prayers do not get answered in the way I would most like.  I believe God’s answers to prayer are “Yes,” “Not Now,” and “Not in That Way.”  So, it’s not that I don’t believe God is listening and answering my prayers.  I just think, for the most part, He and I disagree on how they should be answered.

In his chapter on prayer, Foster talks about using imagination.  He suggests praying in a way that visualizes the answer actually happening.  For example, let’s say you know of a child who is ill.  Your prayer imagines the child’s body being healed and them rising from bed to run and play.  This was another example of the type of praying I find disingenuous – more manipulation and less “thy will be done.”  However, in an effort to fully immerse myself in the process, I decided to give it a try.

I had a friend in a personal crisis for which I had been praying.  As I closed Foster’s book and picked up my computer to check my email, I half-heartedly imagined what a solution to my friend’s problem would look like.  Without any intention of it actually being a prayer, I played it through in my mind – step by step – imagining how each person in the situation would make changes to bring about healing and restoration to my friend’s world.  Okay, I gave it a shot.  On with my day.

I have always viewed cynically the prayer stories of miraculous answers, so I wasn’t prepared for the message I received the next day from my friend.  In one of the longest texts I’ve ever received, she explained how her situation had been changed in what could only be understood as a God-provided miracle.  The details she provided were an exact reenactment of my imagination prayer from the previous day.

I was overjoyed and speechless.  What an amazing coincidence!!

My pastor chuckled when I told him the story, gently trying to help me accept this miraculous “coincidence” as an answer to my prayer.  But . . . my prayers don’t get answered like that.  Besides, it wasn’t really an “official” prayer – it was unintentional.  I never meant to “call” God.  There was no “Dear God” in the beginning or “In Christ’s name, Amen” at the end.  It was really more of a “butt dial.”

I’m still grappling with this.  I don’t understand prayer, and I’m not sure if I ever will.  But I know I need it, and God knows I need it.  Maybe I'm not meant to understand it all.  Maybe all I really need to know is, even when I’m oblivious that I make the call, God’s still calling my name and trying to get my attention.

Tami Cinquemani

Greater Than What Divides

This week I hosted a get together for a bunch of church AV techs in the area.  We are all part of a big Facebook group for church sound and media techs around the world, but we get together occasionally at a local church to have fun and get to know each other.  We have people from mega-churches and from small churches, volunteers and paid professionals.  Our backgrounds are different, our churches are different, and our opinions are different, but I've discovered that our similarities are far greater than our differences.

As we get to know one another, we discover that the issues we face are all the same.  We all have failing equipment and diminishing budgets.  We all have grand visions and less-than-grand resources.  We all have a heart that strives to give excellence to our God who is worthy of the best. 

When we really get to know each other, we often discover that we are more alike than we are different.  That doesn't mean the differences don't matter, but it does mean that our differences don't have to divide us.  When we choose to build on our similarities and see issues from a different perspective, we can discover new ideas and new relationships.

I have gained support and encouragement from others who understand the struggle.  I have learned from others’ mistakes and have shared my own.  I have learned more about my faith by talking with others who believe differently.

There is much to be gained from others if we will take the time to get to know them.  There is a real beauty in our diversity.  God never intended for His church to be all hands or all arms; we are a diverse body of different parts that all work together for a common goal.

Chad Hess

The Face of Faith

I wrestle with faith; every follower of Jesus should.  Not because our faith is small, or it’s weak. But because it’s a mystery.

Faith is too often talked about as if it were a personal possession or a character trait.  Your marriage didn’t work because you didn’t have enough faith. Your child died because your faith was weak. Have faith, and everything will be okay.  Then when a spouse leaves the marriage, an innocent chid succoms to an illness or that promotion goes to a less-qualified coworker, the reason seems simple: you didn’t have enough faith.

The solution is equally simple; first beat yourself up for failing God, then grit your teeth and conjure up more faith! We see faith as something that is our responsibility to create, and if we do our job well, God will reward our efforts, “our” faith.

Matt and Bobbye are two of the most faithful Christ followers I’ve ever known.  They love Jesus; they teach Jesus; they live, sleep, eat and breath Jesus; and they exude the peace, love, and joy of those that follow Jesus constantly.  Yet on June 25th, 7000 volts of electricity passed through Matt’s body, nearly killing him. Bobbye was present at the scene to bear witness to the horror.  Matt has endured nearly a dozen surgeries and remains bandaged today, with the prospect of more surgery to come.  He has suffered what has been described as the worst pain a human can endure and literally lives today with his scars on his sleeve for all to see.

Yet the faith of Matt and Bobbye is intact . . . fully intact, flourishing, and growing.  Why? Don’t they understand that if they had more faith this would never have happened? Don’t they know that things like this only happen to those who disappoint God? Shouldn’t they be examining their lives for their shortcomings? If Christianity is based on our personal striving, then the answer to all these questions is, Yes!  If God is capricious, punishing those who fall short and rewarding those who work hard then, Yes! If God measures us, accepting those who earn mercy and punishing those who didn’t do enough, then Yes! They and we should accept our punishment and work hard to do better.

While this might seem a completely reasonably formula, it is is utterly unChristian.

In John 9, Jesus’ disciples asked him an eerily similar question when coming across a blind man on the road. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus answered "Neither this man nor his parents sinned…

Matt and Bobbye spent several hours with our staff last week.  They told story after story of people approaching them, asking what happened, then sharing the hurts of their lives.  The woman who stopped them in the parking lot of the Harley dealer and ended up crying as she confided her pain to this precious young couple, then was comforted and nurtured by Matt and Bobbye!

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The jaded firefighters whose hearts were broken by this call.

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The medical staff who Matt began praying for almost as soon as he regained consciousness.

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The friends and family that have been participating in bible studies and spiritual support groups led by Matt and Bobbye.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The church that needs to be reminded of the grandeur of God.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The World Wide Wake Boarding community who love Matt without understanding the God he serves.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

It would be presumptuous for me to say that this was allowed to happened so that the works of God might be displayed in Matt, so I won’t say it.  But I will tell you that is the Bible passage Matt shared with us last Tuesday.

God does not promise us wealth, or fame, or respect, or accolades, or an escape from pain or hunger or suffering or even death as a reward for our faith or anything else.  In fact, Christ followers can expect all those things and more.  

God, however, offers us the opportunity to share in the work that he has ordained.  He graciously permits us to be his hands and feet to share his love with a hurting woman in the parking lot of a Harley dealership, or the back of an ambulance, or a burn unit . . . or with our neighbors. Faith is the mysterious gift from God that fuels his work.  It flows from God, through us to a world that desperately needs his love, comfort, forgiveness and grace.  And sometimes our pain can give the world a glimpse into God’s grace.

I don’t understand it; I don’t always like it, but I trust the one who is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Amen

John Monday

Walking By Faith

Walking by faith is hard.  Every week our technical teams send out our worship services into the unknown.  We have people all over the world who watch our stream, but we really don't know who most of them are.  We broadcast live to 2000 TVs at six campuses of Florida Hospital with no way of knowing who watches and who doesn't.  We have visitors every week in our Worship Center and Worship Cafes.  We have members whose world is falling apart, and we have no idea.  But we walk by faith that the message of hope will reach a needing heart and have an impact.

At least that's what we try to do.  It’s easy to get caught up week to week and wonder if there is anyone even out there, if it even makes a difference.  That's why it was so refreshing last week when I got a series of testimonies from the people at our Winter Park Memorial Hospital Worship Cafes.  Stories of families in crisis who received the hope they needed.  Families united in a time of worship, even though one of them was in the hospital and another was at church.  People who have come to believe in Jesus through our services.

John 4:37 says that "one sows and another reaps."  In evangelism, it is incredibly rare that the same person who sows the seed will also see the harvest.  We each play our own roles, big and small, seen and unseen.  We live by faith that for every story we hear, for every harvest we see, there are others that we will never see.

The same is true in my own life.  I’ve had people who knew I was a Christian even though I never said anything about God, but something about the way I lived my life told them.  We never know when a smile or a simple word of encouragement will make a difference in someone's day.  We may never know the impact of the things we do, but by faith we can know that it makes a difference.  And every now and then, we may even get to hear a story that reminds us that this is true.

Chad Hess