Picking Up the Trowel

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Friday, July 22, 2016

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions?  Can that kind of faith save anyone?  Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing.  What good does that do?  So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough.  Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.   James 2:14-17^(NLT)

Zimbabwe Journal, Wednesday afternoon, October 10, 2007

Our mission team met many interesting and gracious people in Zimbabwe.  We taught aspiring Bible students, conducted Vacation Bible School that saw nearly 150 children make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, laid a foundation and built part of the wall for new classrooms for Ezekiel Pentecostal Bible College in Harare.

In the space of a week I saw Africa’s beauty, barrenness and beckoning:

Beauty

I was privileged to see Victoria Falls, such incredible pristine beauty of God’s creation.  I got to lean against a 700 year old Baobab tree, and look into the beautiful faces of children and adult Bible students eager to hear about Jesus.

Barren

I met a man on our last afternoon at the school, and never did find out his name.  He was painstakingly using an old cylinder-head from a truck engine as a “hammer” against a piece of angle-iron to break the hulls off grains of maze – not corn, but an African grain that hardly has any nutritional value.  The steady clink, clink, clink of metal on metal was what drew me to his hut.  He had been at it several hours to produce a small handful of maze.  He would form it into a cake half the size of my hand; that would be his meal – his only meal of the day.

Beckoning

We built a foundation for a building, and began the walls before time ran out.  And on the final day we did what has become custom for short-term mission teams; we left what money we had left and everything else besides the clothes on our backs.

“Red” was a member of our team, a brick mason by trade.  He was about the only one who knew anything about construction.  He had brought his own trowel, and somehow the airport security had let it through, metal point and all.  (Amazing considering they’d confiscated my peanut butter!)

Red left his trowel with Abion, our interpreter, who promised to put it to good use in the days ahead. 

And this is how we left the beginnings of some future pastor’s education:

For You Today

There are a lot of bricks left to be put in place.  There are life-changing moments awaiting anyone who might be willing to pick up Red’s trowel.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

[i] Images: Russell Brownworth (own work)

Prayer On a Narrow Way

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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

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“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking, and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.  This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate.  The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.    Matthew 7:7, 12-14^(NLT)

The Christian life is never easy.  This is why God instructs us how to navigate that narrow road with prayer.  It’s all asking, seeking, and knocking.

ASK

Not many people would openly deny the willingness of God to give to His children.  Inwardly some of us want to buy the Father a calendar.  But this asking is necessary.  It shows our confession of faith in His willingness to give that which is good. 

Prayer is natural in the asking department.  A raven's chick stretches its neck out and screeches for mother to bring dinner.  The mother is moved to put aside her own appetite and feed her young.  A lamb's bleating not only brings Mom to the rescue, but the sound actually causes the milk in her udder to begin secreting.  The cry of the child brings the response of the parent.  One reason many prayers remain unanswered is the lack of asking.                            

SEEK

What exactly is it for which I should seek?  Well, what is it that your heart condemns?  Are there promises you’ve not kept?  Is there a bad attitude?  Are you insincere? 

Also seek for that which is truly the desire of your heart.  At times we receive different answers because God is speaking to our heart, and our selfishness gets in the way.  St. Augustine's mother prayed that God would keep her son with her until she could win him to Christ.  But the boy left and went to Rome.  It seemed like God hadn't listened.  But in Rome Augustine met Ambrose, an eloquent preacher, and was converted, and became an important instrument in God's hand.  What Augustine's mother REALLY desired in her heart, was given by a most gracious Father.

KNOCK

Action must always follow the seeking.  This is where the rubber of prayer meets the road of faith.  James (2:14-17) tells us that merely talking or wishing is not what comprises real faith.  You must somewhere along the line INVOLVE yourself with what God wants to do. 

Former President Ronald Reagan learned about decision-making early in life.  An aunt took him to a shoemaker for a new pair of shoes.  The cobbler asked him if he wanted square or round toes on the shoes.  He hemmed and hawed, so he was told to stop by in a day or two when he'd made up his mind.  A week later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked if he'd come to a decision.  Not yet, said he.  Okay, your shoes will be ready tomorrow.  When Reagan came to the store he found a pair of shoes, one shoe with round toe, and the other with square!

What is a step of faith like?  The Golden Rule is magnificent, and belongs to Jesus alone.  All the great writers in history stated it negatively.  Jesus, in His divine wisdom, is the only one to say it positively.  Note the difference....When stated negatively it is only common sense.  If I don't want to get punched in the nose, don't punch anyone else in the nose.  Simple; it almost works.  But Jesus changes the Do no harm approach to Do help!  It changes from common sense to Christian surprise.

In prayer, a step of faith is finding something for which you must be totally dependent upon God (ASKING), banishing self from the matter (SEEKING), and then finding something connected with the matter and helping out until God reveals His heart in the thing (KNOCKING). 

For You Today

The narrow road is a tight fit.  The harness of Jesus may be light, but it will constrain you to go in the direction HE wants. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  By Alicecarol23 (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons