The Glorious Future Part 2

Joh 14:2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
(NKJV)
Some say the future is unknown but that is not true, “I go to prepare a place for you” is a promise our Lord gives to all of us. My imagination runs free when it comes to “what the Lord has prepared for those who love Him,” but my heart longs to see Him most of all. I really don’t care so much about where it is as I do about just being with Him. He has been with me for many years now, walked with me through some painful times and loved me with a love which would not let me go, but there is this veil of flesh which we all wear and to have it torn away will be a glorious thing. Paul speaks of it as a dark glass which is not easy to see through. The Jesus of the New Testament is our Father revealing Himself as our Savior offering forgiveness to sinful hearts. Jesus said, “he that has seen me has seen the Father,” so our Father wants us to come home. Jesus looked forward to our home coming, "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me;” It is hard for us to conceive that the Jesus of Jerusalem is the WORD creating the earth in Genesis one. “The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us.” He looks forward to our coming home where we will get a better look at Who He really is. Get ready for some big surprises. jfs

The Glorious Future

1Co 2:9 But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
When I was a boy growing up and occasionally going to Church services, I was never impressed with the image the Church gave me of heaven. They talked and sang about gold streets and pearl gates, crowns and robes and eternal worship services. What excited me was fishing at the creek, swimming in the river, big trees, butterflies and birds, and as for attire, I liked blue jeans and caps, no robe or crowns for me. Seriously considering the heat of the other place, I decided I would just have to live in town and wear the robe. And then I found the above verse. It gives me permission to dream of what heaven will really be like. It says we have never seen or heard anything on this earth which can compare to heaven. It challenges my imagination and gives me permission to think of the things which are important to me. The phrase, “nor have entered into the heart of man” says to me, it will be better than anything I can dream up. Now that is an open invitation to a dreamer like me. I can imagine green grass, giant trees, clear streams, flowers, birds and butterflies, grapes, and watermelons, fruit trees loaded with fruit, (no worms) and if I want a peach from the top of the tree I will just fly up and get it. If you don’t like my dreaming, then do your own, but I see the dogs I have loved and cared for running across a green meadow greeting me with slobbery kisses. It is my kind of place and I don’t want to miss it. Oh! don’t overlook the last phrase, “for those who love Him.” It is the most important part. Heaven is not for those who go to Church and do good, it is not for the self-righteous, but simply for “those who love Him.” Do You? jfs

Redneck Lessons

I confess, I am a redneck and proud to be one. I know redneck jokes are in these days and they are not politically correct, but I am not into political correctness. Now before you look down your nose at us rednecks, there are a few things you should know. If you eat, you eat because a redneck has spent his or her days working on the farm in the sunshine. Farmers have rednecks because they work long days in the sun so the rest of us can feed our face. My informative years were spent on the farm working in the fields of watermelons and corn. It was difficult not to get a sunburned neck as you worked to keep the weeds from choking out the fruit bearing plants. I know farming has changed, but I am glad I grew up in a time when the food you ate came from the hard work of a redneck. The lessons I learned are cherished ‘till this day. A fruitful harvest does not come easy. Things don’t just grow on their own. In a fallen world the weeds will take over, they have to be confronted. Grapes must have arbors and arbor building is not fun. Stable manure doesn’t smell like roses, but it will make watermelons grow. Our Lord expects a harvest from all of us, and if we work in the SON we might become a Christian Redneck. Nothing will grow without the SON, “Without ME you can do nothing,” and when we allow Him, He will use life’s manure to help make us more fruitful. jfs

Seventy One Years Later

Well, February 15 and I have turned 71. I can not tell you how fast my life has gone. It has for the most part been a wonderful trip with my sweet wife, Mary. Looking back we both realize that the difficult moments helped make us what we are today. We stand ready to say "AMEN" to Ro 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." I Praise Him for His many blessings.

How Much things cost in 1939
Average Cost of new house $3,800.00
Average wages per year $1,730.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 10 cents
Average Cost for house rent $28.00 per month
A loaf of Bread 8 cents
A LB of Hamburger Meat 14 cents
Average Price for new car $700.00
Toaster $16.00
Due to increased number of users Electricity prices have been cut by 1/2 in ten years.
In about 1946, my mother worked a 40 hour week and her take home pay was, $18.00.
In the early 50's my dad was excited when he got a raise to $1.00 an hour.

CERTAINTY

Put a UN in front of the word and you are tempted to get nervous as you sit in Haiti and don’t know how or when you will get home. That is the position 26 of us are in. We came to Haiti on a Medical trip. We have seen hundreds of people with all kinds of needs--a woman with two children who lost their home, a person whose family is still buried in the rubble of a destroyed house, hungry children, people sleeping outside because they are afraid to go inside, and I must admit as I laid in a Haitian bed and looked up at a concrete ceiling, I had my moments. Truth is, life is filled with uncertainties. I am learning not to focus on the uncertainties but on the certainties, and there are some that you can hang your hat on. It is a good thing to acknowledge there are some things over which we have no control. We had planned this trip for months and then the earthquake came and it looked as if it would be impossible to make the trip. I remember the frustration of the uncertainty. Finally I waved a white flag to our Lord and surrendered to His will. I said to Him, “If we get there we will know it is because you want us there,” and then a door opened and United Airlines offered to fly us to Haiti without charge, but they could not come back for us. So the big word flashed again, “Uncertainty.” In the midst of all this there was a snow storm and just getting to the airport was a challenge. I remember saying to the Lord, “I am signing a blank piece of paper and you will have to fill it in your way.” We don’t like feeling out of control, but it is when we are out of control that we learn about His faithfulness. He is never out of control. He has no obligation to help us with our plans unless they are His plans. Helplessness is opportunity for us to learn of His faithfulness. Living in the desert of life we learn how faithful He is to all who call on Him.
So today I sit in the warm sun of Haiti with the uncertainty of how I will get home, but I know the God who got me here will also get me home. I don’t have to know how, I just trust the one who has the power to get water from a rock. When His plan becomes our plan we don’t have to worry. He will work his plan in His own way and in His timing. Faith must march down from the pulpit and work for us in life’s uncertain moments. What we preach must be lived on the street.
Two days before we left Nashville with a one way ticket, Mary and I were reading our Bible at bedtime. Our pastor had asked us to read through the book of Psalms, we were at Psalm 121 and when we read the last verse we knew it was for us and our trip to Haiti. It was as though God marked it with a yellow marker. Ps 121:8 “The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”
Today we are still in the “going out” phase, but I know God is in charge of the “coming in” part. I am looking forward to seeing my family in Nashville and my heart smiles when I think of the greeting I will get from Tramp. The certainties of trusting in God are far greater than the uncertainties of this troubled world. JFS
PS: We are all home, my group came home on a US Air Force C17, what a ride! Thanks for all your prayers. jfs

Truth or Opinion

As I took my daily walk this morning I could not stop thinking about Pat Robinson’s statement about Haiti and all the flack it has drawn. He has indeed found himself flying through a barrage of opinions both negative and positive. The following is an attempt to put into words some of the many thoughts I had as I walked. I start with the premise that we do not make Truth, nothing is true because I say it is true and nothing is false because I say it is false. A scholar does not make truth and a primitive native of the Amazon does not make truth. Truth stands on its own feet. One of the problems I have with scholarship is that it is so often the propitiation of bad ideas. I believe that is especially true of moral and ethical concepts. Opinions are not scholarship. We can’t make God who we want Him to be. He is Who He is, the “I AM.” There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to understand what is going on in our world, but we must keep our minds and hearts open or we will find ourselves pointing our fingers in the wrong direction. If we must point an accusing finger lets start by pointing it to the person in the mirror. jfs

The Church

Joh 15:5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
When you say the word “Church,” what do you think of—A Building? The Church is not a place but a people. It is a living organism receiving its life from its connection with the One who said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” When He said, “ I am the vine you are the ranches,” He was using the grapevine as an example of His relationship with His Church. It is to be a relationship of LIFE, His LIFE. It is through His life that the Church produces fruit. He made it very plain, “Without me you can do nothing.” It is easy to confuse organism and organization. Think of it this way, if you plant a grape vine in your yard, and I have, you have a living organism, but grape vines do best when they have an arbor to support them. Take a look at any vineyard and you will see that there is a support system for each vine. The arbor can never produce grapes, but it does serve a very important function. It is a servant to the vine. The vine is not the servant to the arbor. Building arbors alone will never produce fruit. Grapes come only from the organism. We must give ourselves to the health of the branches and no amount of organization can take the place of healthy branches. A building is an arbor, Wednesday night suppers are arbors, mission trips are arbors. Any civic organization can do much of what we do in the Church. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, but it does remind us that we must bring something to the needy world that only we can bring. It is the LIFE OF JESUS. The fruit produced by the vine through the branches is unique. It is the work of heaven brought to earth. Lets not quibble over the methods—arbors or fences—but let us give ourselves to bringing the Life of Christ to a hurting world. Your neighbor needs grapes, not arbors. Jfs
P.S. Next week, God willing, thirty-two of us are taking grapes to Haiti, please remember us in your prayers. Thanks.