For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

-Jeremiah 29:11 

This week, 16 youth and 8 adults from JCPC have labored in Rasarito, Mexico to build a house for a single mom, Ita, and her three beautiful sons.

Today, while the family is out shopping for groceries, the team is assembling new furniture and setting the kitchen to make that house a home, ready for that family.  

The youth and adults have worked, talked, and laughed with the Apreza family for three days.  Today is the day we call, "the day we cry."  We will welcome the family back to the site, present them with gifts and the keys to the house, each of us taking a turn to share heartfelt words of gratitude, memories, and hopes.

There is a plan for the house and its construction, the needed materials, and all the workers necessary, as well as our master builders who lead us.  However, there is room for creativity and personalization.  The family chose where to place the windows and door, various personal details, and then...from us, a few surprises.  The builder helped us craft an overhang for the front door.  Several of our guys and girls constructed and decorated a flower box for the front window.

We have a few more days ahead of ministry work that includes a visit to the family whose house we built 2 years ago, an orphanage, a rehabilitation ranch, and service breakfast at the mission in Tijuana to the homeless population.

Pray for the people we serve, our team, and that God's love and hope will shine in the days ahead.  Thank you for your prayerful and financial support.  Thank you for helping us realize God's plans and our creative answer to God's call.

Prayer for Today

God, be with our team serving in Mexico.  Open my eyes and ears and heart to answer your call and live and serve into your plans for my life.  Amen.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat!

-Isaiah 55:1, NIV

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. We will see many symbols that remind us to give thanks for our nation and all that is good about it. One of the symbols we often see this time of year is the Statue of Liberty. It stands there in New York City and for years it has welcomed those seeking a new country. It has welcomed those who were looking for a new start, or for those who valued the principles on which this country was built.

In 1883 Emma Lazarus wrote a poem that was largely ignored for many years. It was a sonnet to the Statue of Liberty that was discovered after her death. A patron arranged to have the last five lines become a permanent part of the statue itself. By 1945, all fourteen lines of the poem were placed over the Statue of Liberty's main entrance. The last five lines go this way:

            Give me your tired, your poor,

            Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

            The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

            Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

            I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

I think about how those words sound similar to the words of Isaiah: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat!" (Is. 55:1, NIV) What would it be like for us to become a nation that focused on what really mattered? What would it be like to open our arms to those in need, in the same way the words of that poem inspire us to think about? Maybe in response to God's amazing grace, we need to refocus our lives on those things that really matter - the things that show God's love and grace to all who thirst. Jesus said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35, NIV)

Prayer for Today

Gracious God, we thank you for quenching our thirst for you. Use us to quench the thirst of others in your name. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

All of the decisions and plans that happen during the busy seasons of the year can feel like a huge mountain to climb. In an effort to encounter these times with a different mindset, I began to ask myself these questions:

• Do you feel that each day is overscheduled? 
• Have you ever had to collect your scattered self so that you could make an important decision? 
• Do you ever lay awake at night thinking about all you have to do? 
• Do you ever ask why your life is so full?

Simplicity may sound like an oasis in the desert during this time of year. I spent last week in the high desert of New Mexico on a pilgrimage exploring the landscapes and religious communities near Abiqui, New Mexico and Ghost Ranch Presbyterian Retreat Center. On our last day there, we traveled to Plaza Blanca (The White Place), made famous for some by Georgia O'Keefe's art of this geologic landscape. It is a unique landscape of sculptures of volcanic ash that has been eroded by wind and water for a long time. Long before I arrived and long after I left. This was one place that was an oasis in the desert for me last week.

My time there reminded me that living simply is not about deciding to get your life under control but about giving control of your life to God.

I think that in times like these, God calls us to assess our situation and take some time to retreat for a few hours, a day, or a weekend to reflect and prepare for all that the busy seasons of the year require. I would invite you to reflect on when Jesus talks about wealth and worries in Matthew 6, his message is simple: seek God, trust God, and receive God.

How can we live simply in a consumer focused culture?

In the midst of all of the busyness, how can we focus our lives on seeking God, trusting God and receiving God?

How might these responses effect the way we enter into this day or then next busy season of our lives?

Prayer for Today

Direct my steps, O God, toward the actions You want me to take to help someone in need. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your work on earth. Amen.

Thomas knew what he needed to do. Having been born to a poor family in India and adopted by Americans, upon a return trip to India he witnessed the dire needs of the children in his hometown. So he knew he had to help. He began making plans to return to the US, finish his education, save a lot of money, and come back in the future.

Then, after reading James 2:14-18 in which James asks, "What good is it . . . if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?" Thomas heard a little girl in his native country cry out to her mother: "But Mommy, I'm hungry now!" He was reminded of the times he had been intensely hungry as a child-searching through trash cans for food. Thomas knew he couldn't wait years to help. He decided, "I'll start now!"

Today the orphanage he began houses fifty well-fed and cared-for children who are learning about Jesus and getting an education-all because one man didn't put off what he knew God was asking him to do.

James' message applies to us as well. Our faith in Jesus Christ provides us with great advantages-a relationship with Him, an abundant life, and a future hope. But what good is it doing anyone else if we don't reach out and help those in need? Can you hear the cry: "I'm hungry now"?

Prayer for Today

Direct my steps, O God, toward the actions You want me to take to help someone in need. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your work on earth. Amen.

It can be difficult when we're told "no" or "not now," especially when we sense God has opened a door for us to serve others. Early in my ministry, two opportunities came my way where I thought my gifts and skills matched the churches' needs, but both doors eventually closed. After these two disappointments, another position came along, and I was selected. With that ministry call came thirteen years of life-touching pastoral labors.

Twice in Acts 16 Paul and company were redirected by God. First, they were "kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia" (v. 6). Then, "When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to" (v. 7). Unknown to them, God had other plans that would be right for His work and workers. His no to the previous plans put them in a position to listen to and be confidently led by Him (vv. 9-10).

Who among us hasn't grieved what we initially thought to be a painful loss? We've felt wounded when we didn't get a certain job, when a service opportunity didn't materialize, when a relocation got derailed. Though such things can momentarily be weighty, time often reveals that such detours are actually divine diversions that God graciously uses to get us where He wants us, and we are grateful.

Prayer for Today

Father, I praise You that in Your wisdom You know how to best arrange my life. Thank You for protecting me through Your detours.  Amen.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

-Galatians 3:28

I will depart this Sunday morning with our youth mission team for Mexico at 5:00 AM. You're welcome to come see us off. We head there amidst a challenging year of US/Mexico relations. We will serve in a border region that has been populated for many years by the poorest of Mexico and their southern neighbors who have fled poverty, oppression, drugs, and violence and can go no further north. We go because so much of God's word to us in scripture and God's son and prophets tell us that these people are our brothers and sisters, that these children are our children, as sure as the blood members of our immediate family.

While non-believers and those of any faith might take pity on those of other nationalities when they see their plight, we are compelled as believers to answer God's repeated calls to see each person as God's beloved child and our brother or sister and to see their children as our very own. God devotes the first four commandments to our relationship with God and the next six to our relationships with our brothers and sisters. And then spends hundreds of years, all the judges, prophets, kings, apostles, Christ and his parables, and men and women of the early Church to explain who our brothers and sisters are.

If we take these countless lessons seriously, we may be people of any nation and location proudly, but never at the cost of our faith and our obedience to our Lord and king. There can be no such thing for us as someone else's people or someone else's children. If they are people, they are us. There are no people not made by our God. And so we go. We serve. We build. We feed. We clothe. We give drink. We visit. And we love. Pray for us this week as we live out the command to love one another as Christ loved us, as brothers and sisters, unconditionally.

Prayer for Today

God of creation and compassion, help me to remember that we are all your precious children and that we are to see all children as precious, all people as our brothers and sisters, and their children as our children, here, and in all places. Amen.

A while back, I asked these questions in a sermon: Do you believe people can be physically healed supernaturally by God? According to research by the Barna group, 66% of Americans believe people can be physically healed supernaturally by God. I also asked this: How many people would say that they themselves have experienced a physical healing that could only be explained as a miraculous healing and not solely as a result of a natural process, medical procedure, or the body healing itself? According to Barna's survey 27% of those surveyed said that they themselves had experienced a supernatural, physical healing.

This Sunday is our first "Fifth Sunday" worship service. We are having a time for healing and wholeness as a part of our regular 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. services. I asked those questions to give us a sense of how people in general might think about healing by God. We call this time, "A Service for Healing and Wholeness." We use that language in the Presbyterian church because we think that what God may choose to do extends beyond simple faith healing. I like these words about the meaning of healing:

In their ministry to the sick, the community of believers first offer intercession for healing and wholeness. They pray in response to what they have heard in scripture and sermon. Opportunity is given to pray for specific needs of any who are present. In the laying on of hands upon the sick, those who take part can see an outward sign of their prayer of faith that God will come in healing grace. Even if the sick are absent, they are still part of the community gathered for worship. This suggests that friends or relatives be encouraged to receive the laying on of hands representatively for the sick for whom they pray.

I have led services like this before, but I have noticed that last line about coming forward to represent someone for whom we are praying. I hope you will make plans to be here Sunday as we pray for those we care about and ourselves. I know you will be glad you came!

Prayer for Today

Mighty God, you rise with healing in your wings, to scatter all enemies that assault us. As we wait in hope for the coming of that day when crying and pain shall be no more, help us by your Holy Spirit to receive your power into our lives and to trust in your eternal love, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

"Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn,

preparing rain for the earth,
Then turning the mountains green with grass, feeding both cattle and crows. He's not impressed with horsepower; the size of our muscles means little to him. Those who fear God get God's attention; they can depend on his strength. "

-Psalm 147:7-11

This morning, I worshipped and am surrounded by amazing scenery. I continue to give praise and thanksgiving for the beautiful creation God has made.

This week, I am on a pilgrimage experience to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico where I am surrounded by this beauty and am being immersed each day into different religious communities and traditions to connect with God in a new way. I would invite you to consider your surroundings this week and connect with God through creation... may it be near a river or ocean, a mountain or valley, somewhere in your backyard or a nearby park... what might it be for you?

Take a deep breath and experience the gift of this day.

This is my morning view.

Prayer for Today

Creator God,

Thank you for the gifts around us. The mountains, mesas, peaks and valley are a blessing to us this day. Open our hearts to see your creation. In Christ's Name, Amen.

I was intrigued when I noticed a tattoo of a bowling ball knocking down pins on my friend Erin's ankle. Erin was inspired to get this unique tattoo after listening to Sara Groves's song, "Setting Up the Pins." The clever lyrics encourage listeners to find joy in the repetitive, routine tasks that sometimes feel as pointless as manually setting up bowling pins over and over again, only to have someone knock them down.

Laundry. Cooking. Mowing the lawn. Life seems full of tasks that, once completed, have to be done again and again. This isn't a new struggle but an old frustration, one wrestled with in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. The book opens with the writer complaining about the endless cycles of daily human life as futile (1:2-3), even meaningless, because "what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again" (v. 9).

Yet, like my friend, the writer was able to regain a sense of joy and meaning by remembering our ultimate fulfillment comes as we "fear [reverence] God and keep his commandments" (12:13). There's comfort in knowing that God values even the ordinary, seemingly mundane aspects of life and will reward our faithfulness (v. 14).

What are the "pins" you're continually setting up? In those times when repetitive tasks begin to feel tiring, may we take a moment to offer each task to God as an offering of love.

Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving value to the ordinary activities of life. Help us to find joy in the tasks before us today. Amen.