Moments added to Moments...

So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.  And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. Ruth 3:6-7 (ESV)  It was dark, her presence was unexpected, and her actions were demonstrating a vulnerability that few would like to admit, much less demonstrate. Boaz could have called her out on such an action, could have abused her throughout the night, or could have made an example of her. But he did not. Life is made up of a series of moments that have built upon each other, just as a mason lays one brick upon another until the walls are completed. Each brick is dependent upon the previous brick, and when all are laid correctly, the wall stands firm throughout the ages. Ruth had been living the moments of life in a way that each moment was laid correctly in anticipation of one day finishing the walls of her life, and then enjoying the strength and stability that comes from such diligence.

Stuff

Then she said, "I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants."
Ruth 2:13 (ESV)

Those who enjoy much do not have much so they can be self-indulgent. All good things come from God, and we receive them in order to use them, not in order to love them.

Many times we get things reversed, and we love what we should be using, and use what we should be loving. It is a terrible, terrible thing when that happens.

We have our interiors wired to love, and we can be most genuine or most perverted in that area. When anyone loves things that cannot love them back, they have opened the door to all kinds of troubles.

Jesus made it very clear in the Scriptures that no one can have two masters. In fact, you will love only one and actually hate the other. If we love "stuff," then those we love become a burden or bother to us, for they are keeping us from our "stuff."

Boaz had stuff, but loved people, and because of that all will turn out quite well

Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste.

This could be true, the amount could be exaggerated or it could be an outright lie. The general public does not have a clue as to what is actually happening.

Yet, this is our government. These are our dollars. Who has been in charge?

When you rule from the bottom up you usually lose accountability. When you rule from the top down you usually get tyranny.

What is the answer?

First and foremost we need to address the idea of there being a right and wrong for without such terminology we have no way to correctly evaluate any information. If we are guided by our feelings, or what would benefit us or whether or not we would get “caught” then we have no way to evaluate whether or not something is right or wrong.

For those who are looking out for themselves, waste is acceptable when spent on themselves or spent to enhance relationships that will later be beneficial to self.

Leadership is only valid if the leader uses his/her power, influence, position, etc. for the good of the people. In fact, good leaders are givers not takers. Good leaders understand that they have been given a ‘trust’ and not a mandate.

As God’s Word so clearly states. We were made to love God and love each other. What this means is that we were made to obey God and to make each other successful.

What can we expect from a culture that ignores God and uses each other? Perhaps we are fortunate to have gotten this far.

If we continue to choose to ignore God we will have no basis for right and wrong and must live in a world dictated by “good” and “bad” which are words that are relative at best. We will then be at the mercy of the rich and powerful and be able to be persuaded by the eloquent even though being rich, powerful and eloquent are not the basis for truth.

We need to come back to God. 


2 Chronicles 7:14-15 (ESV ) if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.


(Title taken from an article written by:Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward for The Washing Post.)

We will see what God will do....

Throughout the years God has demonstrated His faithfulness in many ways. One of the ways is through the ministry of Silver Birch Ranch.  Silver Birch Ranch started as dream and a borrowed down payment in November of 1967. We then offered our first summer camp in 1968 and now host multiple ministries geared towards helping the local church know Christ and make Him known. 

It has been, and remains, truly amazing to see how God has supplied the necessary resources throughout the years. The staff at Silver Birch Ranch has been able focus on their mission, “To Know Christ And To Make Him Known,” rather than focusing on raising the resources for the mission. For fifty years, God has made known the needs of this place and His people have risen to the challenge of using their resources to Honor our King and serve His people in the majestic north woods of Wisconsin. (silverbirchranch.org) 

We know that God does incredible things. With all the uncertainty in the world the things that are certain are getting noticed. In the last year, Silver Birch Ranch has experienced the tragedy of losing our maintenance building as well as the joy of seeing God provide for our every need. We, like other businesses and ministries are dealing with the escalating health care costs, the uncertainty of new wage laws and ever increasing prices of doing business. 

In the midst of all that is happening….the cleaning up, restoration and infrastructure strengthening….we remain focused and energized and are expanding. 

This summer we will celebrate our 50th year. It brings tears to my eyes even thinking about it. God has been and is faithful and our mission remains steadfast…to know Christ and to make Him known. 

One of our goals, with the years God will yet grant us, is to give away our experiences and to prepare the next generation to hold tightly to the things that will not change while challenging the things that must.

The infrastructure is almost complete. This past summer, God seemed to orchestrate the installation of a fiber internet connection. We are currently attempting to get our utility providers attention in order to begin the process of getting natural gas to our facility. 

In the last few years God has given us the resources and personnel to build a new gym, chapel, and storage facility. We should be finishing our new maintenance building before the end of his year as well as a new recording studio. 

The recording studio was gift and we are beginning to see how God will use this, now and in the future, as a tool to reach our nation. 

We are now looking to see how God will provide for the equipping of His work. Here are some of the challenges we face.

We will be ordering the equipment we need to equip the new studio as well as bring some of our staff up to speed in their tech needs. The cost will be approximately $30,000.00.

We have asked Dan to replace our dump truck and at least one van. (Our dump truck is beyond repair and our vans are our “work horses” and are well maintained but older and have up to 300K on them.) We would like to buy new but realize that it may not be feasible. We have asked Dan to find the two vehicles we should replace and  have asked him not to exceed $50,000.00. (This would mean that we keep using 4 older vans.)

During December we will be needing to replace our phone system. Our system is old and there is no support for it any longer. This is a $12.000.00 project that needs to be done, so we will march forward and trust God to supply our needs. 

During December we also need to replace our servers. I am told that our servers are too old to service and the programs they are running are out of date. If our current servers go down we will lose much. We have hired a company that will do what is necessary to fix, repair and bring us into the future at a cost of $13,893.00. We also are looking to replace several of our staff’s computers at a cost of around $10,000.00.

Our housing and other buildings have been constantly upgraded. The next cabins to be replaced will be our tent cabins. We will be building some multipurpose housing that can be used as dorms for NBI during the year and family camp/youth camp housing in the summer. We hope to break ground on the first building in August of 2017 and are thinking that each building will cost approximately $185,000.00. 

After that we will address the entrance of camp. (The Lodge, Guest House, Texan and Maverick all need replacing.) The plan will be to raze these structures and put a new meeting room, the size of the Lodge, with cabins attached to them at the ridge of the hill overlooking Sawyer Lake by the current Lodge parking lot. Then we can rework the camp entrance and make things a bit more secure.

We also need to raze and rebuild a new lodge at our Wolf River Refuge property. We need the resources to begin the planing stages for this project. (We should raze part of the old lodge as soon as funds are available.)

These plans sound and are ambitious. Silver Birch Ranch is entering its 50th year and we have seen thousands of young people come to Christ on these grounds. It is obvious that we are here and able to minister because of God’s faithfulness and we continue to be in a great position to show the world who God is and how He works and look forward to seeing how He supplies for the next steps and who it is He includes in the solution. 

There are some Scripture passages that we are looking to for guidance throughout the next few years. They are:

Exodus 33:13-15 (ESV)  Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”  And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”  And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.

1 Samuel 17:46-47 (ESV)  This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,  and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

1 Kings 18:37 (ESV)  Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.

2 Kings 19:19 (ESV) So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Acts 20:24 (ESV)

24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Philippians 3:8-11 (ESV)  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ  and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

We remain thankful beyond words that God has granted us the privilege of serving His church here at Silver Birch Ranch for the past fifty years. We have seen some very tough times and some very fun times and we are certain there are both in our future. 

We would ask that you pray for us. Please pray that we would be faithful in these tough times and that we would take advantage of every platform God gives us to speak and act boldly on His behalf. Pray that it is obvious to all who examine how things work here at Silver Birch Ranch that God is God and that we are just His servants. 

Along with praying I ask you to help us identify those who would travel with us, those who God has chosen to use to meet the many financial challenges we face. It is our great desire that we would be able to continue to spend our time working the mission and not working for the resources that provide for the mission.  

We are about knowing Christ and making Him known and are excited to set the stage for this to happen on these grounds for decades to come. Thanks for praying and helping.

"Post-truth?"

“ Oxford Dictionaries has chosen their “word of the year,” and it is an interesting reflection of the current 2016 culture.

The word, according to Time.com, is “post-truth.”

Oxford defines it this way:

“post-truth: relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.””

This is a troublesome observation. We must never allow a belief system to become the criterion for truth. We must never allow emotion to overtake truth or define truth. We must be diligent in not allowing the pretend to define reality.

As a culture we spend multiple hours being influenced by the pretend world as portrayed by Hollywood. We are so invested in the pretend that the real is difficult to find. There are many married couples who have spent more hours in the pretend world than they have in the real world and have lost all context for their real life and real relationship. 

The hours of influence have dulled our ability to live in reality and made us a most dissatisfied people who are adversely influenced by the millions of dollars spent trying to convince us that our lives are not complete without their product or service.

We have become emoters rather than those who live real lives, victims of the pretend world (pretend being Satan’s native language) seemingly unable to live as we were intended to live.

The answer to this problem is simple, yet not easy. We need to abandon the pretend for the real. We need to place an emphasis on being in relationships rather than watching relationships. We need to start living in the realm of what we know rather than what we feel.

We need make restoration more important than punishment and recognize the great danger that exists in the individual(s) who refuses to embrace the truths that allow restoration to occur.

Restoration does not mean we compromise truth, it means we have decided to get in line with the truth. Those who are restored are those who see things correctly and respond to truth honestly and openly. Those who refuse to be restored to truth, to God, should not be given an opportunity to influence us. They should not be given the opportunity to influence our lives.

This sounds harsh and contrary to restoration yet it is vital. The process of restoration, is a simple pathway to truth that is uncluttered and unobstructed. Those who make it difficult, clutter it up and somehow obstruct are evil and need to be recognized as such.

If you love sheep and are entrusted with their care you know that it is never appropriate for wolves to mingle with your sheep. Wolves are always a threat to the sheep and it is always appropriate for the shepherd to make sure they do not mingle.

Where are we headed?

Hip-hop's royalty helped get out the vote in Cleveland with an all-star concert to support Democrat Hillary Clinton. Beyonce said: "Less than 100 years ago women did not have the right to vote. Look how far we've come from having no voice to being on the brink of making history again, by electing the first woman president." JAY-Z told the crowd: “This other guy, I don't have any ill will towards him but his conversation is divisive and that's not an evolved soul to me, so he can not be my president, he can not be our president. Once you divide us you weaken us, we are stronger together." For fans at the event, voting Hillary is a testament to President Obama. "We don't want to go backwards. We have a legacy with Barack Obama and we want to keep his legacy alive and Hillary's the best one to do it.”1

It may be politically incorrect to correct thinking here, however, these statements are ridiculous in both content and the context of the character of the speakers. The very fact that Hillary chooses to identify in a positive way with Jay-Z while slamming Donald Trump for how he treats women is not something that a rational mind can comprehend. 

If you check out the lyrics of Jay-Zs songs and you were at all rational in your thinking you would conclude that his endorsement is meaningless and ridiculous. 

This is not to suggest that Donald Trump is someone who's words and actions towards anyone should be embraced, for they are obviously wrong. But to think that Hillary would align, for any reason with Jay-Z after what she has been saying about Donald Trump is troublesome. 

Likewise, Beyonce’s thinking is flawed at best. To vote for someone because of gender, ethnicity, etc. is foolish. When we make gender and ethnicity the only issue we miss the real issues. 

Haters are going to hate and those who are prejudice against any given group are going to remain prejudice and no political speech is going to change their hearts. 

When God is removed from the process then our politicians believe that they get their power from the people and work the people in order to gain power. If power is all that matters you will use, manipulate, coerce, threaten, lie and cheat to achieve your objective. Then, when you achieve your objective you continue to use the people rather than serve the people. 

The foundational blocks of the government of this nation were formed from a reverence for God and service towards people. If we have shifted towards a reverence for self (politician) and the using of people we will see the foundation crumble. As foundations crumble the structure it was meant to support will collapse. When that happens the debris must be removed and foundation and structure rebuilt. 

At one time, we were a nation, under God. We are now a divided nation under a self-serving political system and there is no way to be united since each man/woman is doing what is right in their own eyes. 

It is time for us to repent. We are only free if we live in the context of how and why we were created and we were created to love God and each other not to exalt self by using others. 

1. http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/11/05/hes-not-an-evolved-soul-to-me-jay-z-on-t?videoId=370369069&videoChannel=1

Leaders who do not lead

"My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle."

Zechariah 10:3 (ESV )

Leaders who do not lead will regret the many lost opportunities.  God does not give leaders their position to use others, but so that they would use their position, influence, resources, and power to empower others.

It could be that many leaders will be in for a surprise when they meet God. In this life they might have surrounded themselves with people they could use and control, and fooled themselves into believing that they were actually in charge. They worked at getting people to follow them because they were following themselves.

In the end, when those who followed them need help, they will be no help, for they will have nothing to offer but human wisdom and resources, and neither of those are useful to the hopeless.

There seems to be much jockeying for position in this life, even though position is something that is assigned by God, and the greatest in this life are those who are the least in this life. 

Sleeping Shepherds

Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. Nahum 3:18 (ESV)   Sleeping shepherds and nobles. Those entrusted with leading have quit leading. When people are scattered, shepherds are asleep. When nations are confused, kings have failed to rule.   When the sheep are scattered, it is time to replace the shepherds, not the sheep.   Leadership has a responsibility to lead, and the best position from which to lead is one that has you following God. As leaders follow, they lead.   There is needless and great tragedy in life because those who should be leading have decided to lead independently of God. Instead of getting their authority from God, they get authority from people. Instead of caring for others, they care for themselves, and use others to promote their personal agenda.   The examples of good leaders in the Bible are many-Jesus, Paul, Stephen, Noah, Abraham, and so on. They all had a tremendous love for people and a burning desire to obey God. Those two qualities alone are the qualifications for a good leader.   Scattering leaves each one on his/his own. It was not meant to be that way.

Education In The Media Age

We live in the communication age, have hundreds of years of trial and error to study and respond to, and are daily using tools that today’s silver-haired generation would never have imagined.

Yet, in the midst of all the changes, the cause for excellent education remains the same as it has been for thousands of years.

Mankind was created to be relational beings, and effective education can only happen in the context of healthy relationships. Those who struggle with relationships will struggle with academics, significance, and security.

Any school district in any community cannot improve education apart from improving family relationships. Districts that are faltering can never be made successful through legislation, additional resources, or better teachers.

Better schools will only be experienced when we see better parents, for there seems to always be a correlation between academic success and parental involvement.

Our nation would be best served by living as if all life mattered, rather than putting our energy into making shirts declaring that someone matters. First and foremost, we need to live as if our children matter by giving them our time and attention.

Instead, we so often hire someone else to spend time with our children so we can be about making sure the children are fed and clothed. Parents often spend so much time trying to sustain life and meet their own desires that their time and influence with their child is minimized.

Even churches have joined in this failing process by hiring staff to spend time with their youth because the adults of the church are too preoccupied to rearrange their schedules.

If we are relational beings, and we are then effective, educational processes must revolve around healthy relationships and not just academic information. This is becoming increasingly difficult as the definition of “healthy relationships” becomes harder and harder to define.

Today, children in the United States are more confused relationally than any other time in our history. They are confused as to what a family is and to what roles each family member plays. They are confused as to what love is, and have no idea with the term actually means.

They have grown up seeing the adults in their lives use what they should be loving, and love what they should be using, and they have no idea of what is and is not true.

Confusion always arises when each man does what is right in his own eyes, and we are in the midst of trying to accommodate all people, no matter what they believe and how their belief system affects the people and situations around them.

The problems in education will, most likely, not be addressed, for in order to do so we would need to admit our mistakes, reestablish our relationship with God, and rearrange our lives so that other lives matter more than ours.

Public schools cannot address the issues of this day because they represent the issues of the day. Our children are trained in political correctness while ignoring obvious truth, for in a Godless educational system there is no obvious truth, and these young impressionable minds will be influenced by the loudest, strongest, and most prevalent voice.

If we were to address the public education crisis, I would do the following.

Reestablishment of the fact that there is one God who created and sustains the universe and who has a purpose for all He has created.
Hire teachers who know God and love Him.
Train teachers to focus on healthy relationships.
Hire faculty to work with parents with the goal of healthy parent-student relationships.
Teach simple truths not based on what each person believes, but on what actually is true. Family and gender need not be confusing, and a teacher is responsible to clear the confusion, not create confusion.
Insist on parental involvement within the school and educational process.

When children are convinced that their significance and security comes from God, who does not change, and they know what good relationships look like and have experienced the same, they will do well academically.

In essence, effective education is a byproduct, not a product. We do not produce it.  We enjoy it because we have focused on those things that support it.

Who Should Care?

But God said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" And he said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die." And the Lord said, "You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

Jonah 4:9-11

Our smartest thought is only equal to God's dumbest thought. It is hard to think clearly when the fog of self makes life's journey so difficult to navigate. This life was not about Jonah, and it is not about me.

Without God, people cannot experience life, and those without God act like people without God. They are purposeless, empty, self-absorbed, and angry and have nowhere to go for answers.

Unlike Jonah, we should care and be willing to be used to solve the problem, and the first problem we need to allow God to solve has do to with our hearts, not theirs. 

Wasted Gifts?

There is a substantial amount of money being donated to political causes in the United States. As of today, according to OpenSecrets.org, the candidates for public office have been given $993,651,906.00.

I cannot help but wonder why? 

I am amazed at the amount of money competent business people seem to waste on politicians. Our nations’ leaders have failed to lead. We are a nation that has abandon God, abandon reason in the areas of family, gender, abortion and public aid, budgeting, etc.

We spend extraordinary money on educational systems that are broken. Information at institutions of higher learning seems filtered through a politically correct cheesecloth. Safe zones, where the free expression of ideas are no longer welcome, are becoming more normative. Those who graduate from college often need to be retrained because the schools have become more of a holding tank than a training ground. 

To add to the confusion, we pay athletes, who have used and enjoyed the freedom they have been given in our country, millions of dollars to entertain us and then watch them disrespect the very symbol that represents the system that gave them their opportunity. 

Why? Why are there so many people willing to give so much for so little in return? Incompetent government, spoiled self-centered athletes, and fantasy world universities represent the problem not the solution. 

People and businesses must be donating for some reason that serves themselves. They must be giving for what they get out of it regardless of what it actually accomplishes. They must be giving to obtain power or position for themselves and are willing to continue to support a broken system for their personal benefit. 

This seems terribly short sited.

For years those who have donated to the nonprofit I serve have insisted that we show that their investment with us, in the form of a gift, is well used. Obviously that is not the same standard placed upon those in politics, athletics or education. 

Silver Birch Ranch is beginning to make plans for it’s 50th summer. For fifty years we have worked with children and families in order that they may know Christ and learn how to make Him known. The real answer for the challenges we face is to know God. Those who truly know God, love God. Those who love God love people. If you know God, love God and love people you will make proper decisions and be worthy of donated dollars. 

If you are going to give your money away I would suggest that you give it to Silver Birch Ranch. They have been able to stay focused for 49 years and are still serving our nations children and families. Since gifts given or fees paid to government, athletic events and colleges seems like a certain waste you could use your resources to fund something outside those “norms” that has the possibility of actually fueling real hope and change. 

I think we, as a nation, should rethink why we give. You can find more information on Silver Birch Ranch at silverbirchranch.org. 

The meaningless die meaningless...

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 ESVST)

The living know they will die, but often live as if they will not. The truth of the matter is very simple: we will all die. Death is as much a part of life as life. The day of our birth is special, the day of our death is special, and it is filled in-between with either meaningful or meaningless activity.

Meaningless activity would be activity that dies with the person or shortly after the person dies. Meaningful activity is something that will last for eternity.

Whenever we are involved in things that focus on us in the here and now, we focus on the futile. Then we wonder why we feel so insignificant. We feel insignificant because we have not enjoyed the source of significance.

We were made to enjoy God and will find no joy without Him.

Maybe they knew something.....

A funny cycle keeps happening in history that might be worth noting. Those who are living now tend to look at those who have gone before them with admiration for what they accomplished, yet they often seem to think that the preceding generation was somewhat simple or naive.

When I entered Christian camping and attended the Christian Camping International conferences there was both an air of apparent respect, as well as a feeling of superiority that seemed to permeate the younger camping professionals.

The tone and content of the message was that the founders were very nice men of faith who were a bit simplistic, and that the “industry” was fortunate that another generation came along to rescue the obviously perishing.

These “founders” were men of simplistic faith. They borrowed money without a plan to pay it back. They staffed the camps with untrained volunteers. They created activities that were not installed or inspected by professionals. They made decisions. They got their hands dirty and actually worked the soil of the grounds during the day, and did the desk work when they were too tired to work outside. They didn’t and couldn’t pay people, so they used volunteers. They seemed to always be on the edge of disaster, but also seemed to have learned to balance on the edge rather well.

In many ways, these men were like Noah, Daniel and the boys, and Elijah. They knew God and listened to Him, and that alone was the secret to their success.

Today, before this generation would build an ark, they would need a feasibility plan, a budget, and evacuation plans in case the ship sprung a leak. The project would not start until double the funds were in so that there could be enough funds in the bank to maintain the vessel. There would have had to have been a public relations campaign to insure the public that Noah was not nuts, and an exhaustive study on how to get the animals to move on demand, so that they would enter the ark.

We would also need an exit strategy before we started, and a plan for how we would govern the people aboard the ark, address the maintenance issues we would encounter, and brainstorm as to how we would handle every possible adversity that may arise.

Or, we could do as Noah did, and get up the day after he was told to build an ark, and get busy building it.

Modern pastors and teachers seem to always be looking for something newer and better, when, in reality, there is nothing new under the sun. The modern-day preachers are not more educated, more gifted or talented, nor have additional insight, and in fact, they may be lazy as they ride the tide of a generation that understood that all life is about God, not man, and actually was guided by and trusted Him.

American Christians have become like secular America, in that physical laborers are tough to find, in that most want desk jobs, an easy life, and respect without doing anything to earn it.

Many gauge the success of their work by attendances, offerings, and facilities, which would be the same criterion by which secular businesses judge themselves.

Many pastors talk of the grueling schedule they keep, and the stress they live under, as if those in other professions lack stress and gruel, and if you doubt how hard they work and how stressful their jobs are, you only need to ask them, and they would be glad to tell you all about it.

One of the stark contrasts in those who minister today as compared to the founders is the specialization that has occurred. Some just teach and have rather little contact with the people. Some just do the business side of the ministry. Some just do the cleaning, some the marketing, and so forth.

The Christian camping founders did not have those lines. They did whatever was necessary to get the job done, and often knew that there were those who were more qualified, but unwilling, so the less qualified did the work, only to be criticized by those who could have done it better, but would not.

In fact, many Christian works have been criticized throughout the years because of their lack of “professionalism” by the professionals who themselves are unwilling to participate. After years of leading a ministry, I am accustomed to the idea that everyone can do my job better, but they, too, are unwilling.

While playing collegiate football, I learned that a football team could only play with the players that were actually on the field. The injured or talented that would not join the team would not have any effect on the outcome of the game. Likewise, these Christian camping founders understood that you can only play with those who “suit up,” and that the many who did not “suit up” will sit and evaluate, and even criticize, those who do.

I think the Christian camping founders would think that we took the treasure they handed us and buried it in hopes that we would not lose it, when we should have been following their lead by investing our time and energy in the impossible, so that generations to come would be able to clearly see our God. I could only imagine what some of our ministries would look like if the founders would have continued on for many years.

Instead, future generations will clearly see business plans, long range plans, and other ideas that are now as common in ministry as they are at Wal-Mart stores.

Those who are in leadership today would be wise to learn from those who went before them, realizing that 100 years from now, should Christ not have returned yet, those who are running the ministries will be looking at us as simple and naive people, for they will have learned and grown so throughout the years.

The job we have on this earth is to know Christ and to make Him known, and the best position to do that from is one of obvious inadequacy. This has not changed and will not change. The modern generation’s focus on adequacy changes everything, and will only lead to ineffectiveness, for you should not attempt to change what cannot change.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

Looking in the Mirror

Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.
(Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 ESVST)

This verse holds the key to a leader's sanity. If anyone is in leadership, they will be doubted. In fact, many who are under your authority believe that they can do your job better than you, and  all whom you serve could give you a lesson on how to serve them better.

Everybody wants to have their voice heard, but they do not really mean that they want you to hear them. They want to you listen to them and do what they say. If not, they will claim that you do not listen to them.

A leader hears many voices and, probably, actually listens to them, but in the end, he still needs to make a decision that he alone is responsible to make, and for which he alone will stand accountable for before God.

I have been guilty of criticizing leaders, and was wrong to do so, for my information was limited, and my criticism was to enhance what those around me thought of me. When I focus on me, it always turns out poorly.

Having It All But Possessing Nothing.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.
(Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 ESVST)

There are those who have much, yet live in poverty. They are spiritually bankrupt, ethically challenged, and enslaved in the saddest possible way.

Imagine having it all but having nothing. There seems to be a game that must be played in convincing those around you that having it all fuels significance and security, when those who have it all are the most insignificant and insecure people group.

Those who have nothing can lose nothing. Those who have much can lose much. Therefore, those who have much are often more anxious, angry, and arrogant.

It is hard for a rich person to love God, for they are too busy loving what God has given them.

When one is entrusted with possessions and honor, one must understand that these things are given to him/her to be used to help others, not as provision for self-indulgent lifestyle.

Money

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
(Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 ESVST)

We often hear that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, yet we seldom have a definition for the term. Here we are given a definition.

Those who are not satisfied with their income love money.

Loving money does not work in that money is something we are to use, not love. We tend to use things we should love, and love things we should use.

Those who focus on their income are slaves to their income. They will change locations, abandon relationships, break promises, and sacrifice precious moments in order to gain a little more. Their significance is tied to their income, something that one day will be gone or given to others to squander.

We cannot love God and money.

"3" MAY BE THE PERFECT NUMBER

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him-a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESVST)

We were not meant to be alone. We never operate best alone. In fact, the gifts God has given us are wasted when not exercised in the context of community. Man does not operate well alone, and was not meant to ever be alone.

Strength comes in numbers. The greater the number of body parts that have unfettered access to the brain, the greater the ability to accomplish great things.

Significant people have at least three other important relationships in their lives. They have someone older from whom they can learn, someone younger whom they can teach, and God, to whom they can submit.

One strand is not only easy to break. It breaks often and is in constant need of repair.

Pokeman Game Should Be Avoided

Years ago a missionary friend of mine shared an experience that took place in the jungle. In light of the fact that there is a Pokeman game captivating many I share this story with you.

Bautista and Pokeman
Again, this has been posted previously, and is being reposted by request.

As missionaries working with the Yanomamö, I am constantly reminded that when it comes to spiritual matters, I am not the expert. Bautista was an ex-witchdoctor. He accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ many years ago when my parents first started working with his tribe back in the early 50s. Although still a young man when they arrived to his village, he was a witchdoctor of considerable fame. He had already attained to the highest level known as “ijiluwalewä, or “child eater,” because he could attack other villages in the spirit world stealing the souls of a child there, causing the child to die. These souls were given to the many cannibal spirits who were his accomplices in this “murder.” The soul would then be eaten by these demon cannibal spirits. Although having attained the highest he could go, by his own admission, he was being overwhelmed by the bondage he was under even before he heard about the saving power of the gospel, so once he clearly understood that Christ was the only way to be freed from this bondage, he accepted Christ’s claim on his life and his life has never been the same.
One of the times I was reminded of how much more the expert he is in spiritual matters happened one day a couple of years ago. We had been in the jungle many long weeks with no mail from home when the plane landed bringing us a package. I was excited as I took it home. “Look hon, a package from the Wauconda Free church” I gave her the package and she opened it up, she, as excited as I was. Enclosed was a book. Now that in itself was a big enough disappointment because I wanted some “real mail” like maybe a box of chocolates or something, but when I saw the cover, I was even more disappointed. It was a book on the pokeman cartoon characters. I am old school on cartoons (Bugs Bunny, road runner and their friends) and really don’t get into any of the new ones, especially ones that look as ugly as these did. Then we noticed there was also a letter enclosed with the book and we read it together. “Dear Mike,” it said…it seems the church was having a discussion about pokeman, with the church divided about this “toy.” So they were sending this book of all the pokeman characters to me asking me to have Bautista look at it and see what he thought about the characters.
Well, that was more interesting than just having a book of ugly cartoons for the boys, but to be honest, this was pretty low priority for me. As a matter of fact, Keila had been asking me for weeks to watch a video tape of these same cartoons, that our son Stephen really liked. She claimed his attitude really changed after watching these cartoons. I told her I would and really planned on watching it with him, but we are extremely busy in the jungle and I had not had a chance yet. But to be honest, I did not place much importance on this book. But one day while I was talking with Bautista, Keila remembered the book and ran upstairs to get it. She handed the book to me. Opening the book at random, showing him a picture I asked.  “What do you think of this?” He looked at it, and said, “Oh, I know this one!” He suddenly had my attention!
He went on, “Oh, this is a nasty little Jecula. (demon) It is always underfoot, bites, scratches, screeches and what not.” I looked at the page, and on the list of attributes, it said, “bites, scratches, screeches, claws…” and I forget what else, but it was as if Bautista was reading the page, and he does not read or speak one word of English. I figured that the first one could have been just a lucky guess, so I flipped the page to another picture and asked him about that one, again, he told me exactly what it’s attributes were. He did that over and over. So he made a believer out of me! About that time, Keila ran upstairs to call Stephen and he came down reluctantly, not wanting to hear anything and determined to not allow anyone to do anything to his cartoon tape. His frown slowly disappeared as he listened to Bautista describe the attributes of each cartoon that he knew. By the time Bautista was finished, Stephen went upstairs and brought his tape down and he and Keila destroyed it. So he made a believer out of Stephen as well.
 There were some he did not recognize, and he said. “There are so many demons, it is impossible for any one person to know them all.” Then he added, “tell the people from your churches, that if there are things that make them feel uncomfortable, it is probably not good. God’s Spirit will speak to them about what is right and wrong.” Your people need to learn to listen!”

Forced Fantasy

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.
(Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 ESVST)

There is only one real power in the universe, God. He is the only one who has the power and authority to grant life and take life. He is the only one who can make sense out of life, death, suffering, and prosperity.

When we try to ignore Him, we are attempting to avoid the only reality there is, and are thereby forced to live in a fantasy world. This fantasy world is most fragile, and is held together with lies, deceit, and the false promise of a better tomorrow, when apart from God there is no hope for any tomorrow.

A wise person starts and ends with the premise that there is a God and he/she is not Him, and then lives in that context. A fool lives as if he/she is sovereign, when in reality he/she is nothing.

Made to be hungry?

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 ESVST)

This was said by one who actually had it all, not one who wanted it all. If you dream about having it all, you are never satisfied with what you have, and then, when you get it all, you miss the hungry years, for there is a wonderful satisfaction that only takes place in the struggle, and is not available to the victor.

Perhaps we were made to be hungry and not satisfied. Perhaps we were made to work and not rest. Perhaps our only satisfaction can come from enjoying God, and we can never seem to enjoy Him enough. 

Where is the gain?

What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.  All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
(Ecclesiastes 1:3-7 ESVST)

Some people make living this life their goal. They work hard at living in hopes that they provide enough for themselves in order to ensure they would stay alive until they die.

All people will make that goal. It is not a noble goal. In fact, it is a foolish goal. No man knows the time of his death. Only God knows that. No man can care for Himself apart from God. Without God we have no past, present, or future.

God and His purposes do not change. We would be wise to align our thoughts and actions to be in harmony with the things that will not change

One Valid Motivation

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
(1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESVST)

This seems like a simple, yet direct command. We must be watchful in that our enemy is relentless. For us to act as if he is not relentless is nothing more than in invitation for him to destroy us.

We are told to stand firm, and we indeed have that capability in that God is a rock that cannot be moved. As we choose to take a stand with Him, there is no worldly force that can move us. The winds of this life may blow, but the rock will not, and those who are anchored to it will be standing when the storm has passed.

To act like a man is a specific and direct statement. Men are those who are entrusted with leadership, who protect, who guide, and who ultimately give up their lives for the good of others.

There is only one valid motivation for those who will be deemed successful, and that is the motivation of love: obedience to God and care for others. There is no other way.

Since we know....

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:58 ESVST)

Since we know we will one day be victorious, we need to be steadfastly immovable. Why would one who is sure of victory waver? Why would one who knows the outcome fear the outcome? Why would those who know, live as those who did not know?

We know that death, the end of life on earth as we know it, has no power to destroy those who are in Christ. We know that death is doorway, not a wall. We know that this life is a training ground, a proving place, and a preparation for what is yet to come.

Since we know these things, we live as if we know them, and Paul tells us what that looks like.

Those who know are not stubborn, but steadfastly immovable. Those who know always abound in the King's work, for they know that the return in investment is guaranteed.

One day, when this life is over and we stand before God, we will look forward to Him saying, "Well done my good and faithful servant," but we must remember that God will not lie.

Why Invest Now?

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
(1 Corinthians 15:50 ESVST)

This life is a war zone, not a final destination. There is no way that we can stay here and enjoy all that God has for us to enjoy. The flesh and blood that now represents my life must die for me to inherit my eternal life.

Those who cling to this life are clinging to a war-torn land in hopes that the war has ended, when in reality, the war continues to rage. There is no possible way to have our best life now, for now is the time to fight, not to rest, and those who seek comfort in this war zone will live frustrated, angry, and meaningless lives.

All that I see around me will perish apart from the people God has placed in my life. People will  last forever, whereas money, time, etc. will pass away. Spending time with God and people will have a huge return on investment.

Why would we invest in the things that are guaranteed to deliver a 100% loss?

Confusion

We are a confused nation. Confusion is something that fuels helplessness and hopelessness. It does not need to be this way.

Many have abandoned God and thereby abandon reason. Those who reason have a set of absolutes with which to evaluate their reasoning upon, and without such a structure, it is impossible to have reason.

Those who are Godless are unreasonable.

When someone subscribes to the idea that there are no absolutes, they become the absolute. Imagine the shock and horror that will take place when they discover that they never were and are not in that position.

Our thoughts and ideas have evolved throughout the years. We kindly make fun of those who at one time thought the world was flat, and at medical professionals who did not realize the importance of washing their hands inbetween patients. Landing on the moon was a someday dream at one time, and Alexander Graham Bell was brilliant in providing to us a gadget that enabled us to talk to one another even though we were separated by miles.

We often think of ourselves as having come a long way, and we have. Yet, fifty or one hundred years from now, the very things we now consider modern, sophisticated, and necessary, could be looked upon as simplistic, naïve, and well, nice, for those who were so limited in understanding.

We seem to always look at ourselves as the measure of success, and avoid absolutes in that they have the possibility of destroying our carefully designed deceptions.

Reasonable people embrace absolutes, for they allow us a simple understanding of life, death, significance, and security.

Here’s an example.

In the beginning God, not Dave.

God created, meaning that there is an ultimate “force” in the universe, and that the created has meaning and purpose.

The revealed purpose of creation is to allow us to love God and each other, and in doing so, display who God is in our very flesh.

I did not choose the day of my birth, and I will not choose the day of my death.

I will die and actually be dead much longer than I was ever alive on this earth.

In reality, the simple rules. The simplicity of God’s plan transcends time. Our knowledge will change, as will our perspectives, understandings, health, wealth, and so on, but our God will not. His purposes will remain. They are simple and direct.

Satan seems to worm his way into our lives and culture whenever and however he can. He seems to enjoy helping us elevate ourselves so that it is our feelings, emotions, ideas, thoughts, and more that rule and not God.

When this happens, we become a confused people, and have all the ‘fruits’ of confusion evident in our lives and nation. 

One might ask in what ways have we made the simple complex?

Here are some illustrations.

Gender: Each of us is born either a male or female. God made it simple. Abandoning the simple has made this confusing. 

Marriage was intended to be a covenant between one man and one woman. Abandoning the simple has made this confusing. 

Sexual intimacy was meant to be between a male and female who have committed to faithfulness to each other.  Abandoning the simple has made this confusing. 

This list could go on and on in that Godless people make things complex in order to hide their desperate and hopeless ways. Complication fuels complacency.

The tax code, ObamaCare, and other laws of the land demonstrate how complexity fuels complacency. I doubt that many have read the entire tax code and really understood what it said. I also doubt that many have read the entire ObamaCare regulations and are able to grasp the entire concept.

Often what starts our simple becomes complex as we twist and turn the ideas in ways that sound good for everyone, but somehow benefit us.

When you think about it, our highest governmental officials do not use ObamaCare, and the richest people in the world pay little in taxes.

I have no idea why.  It is way too complicated for me to understand. So, I just ignore the whole mess, demonstrating, once again, that complexity fuels complacency.

It is time to get back to the basics, to the simple. If we do we will re-engage many into the processes of life. If we do not, we will continue to slide towards meaninglessness.

For now, the choice is ours.

The Important Things In Life....

It was a  wonderful privilege to be able to speak, once again, to the junior/middler campers at Silver Birch Ranch at the beginning of our 49th summer. Each year I get more reflective, more thankful and better positioned to see what God is and has done.

For many, while on our grounds, the world and its problems fade away and kids are able to be kids. They laugh, cry,  have good times and struggles that are a part of learning to grow up and make decisions independent of mom and dad.

Every day we pause several times to talk with the campers about God’s love, plan and purposes for their lives. We are able to begin the process of clearing up the confusion that seems prevalent in our world.

Summer camps value has exponentially increased over the years. Young people now more than ever need to escape the pressures of every day life and enjoy being a “kid” for a while. They need to ride a horse, tube behind a boat, raft a river, buy a pizza with friends, stare at a campfire, play large group games and listen, several times a day, to what God has to say about love and life.

Summer camp is a connection point for many that creates a bond to God, to friends and can clear some of the confusion that seems ever present in the public arena.

Silver Birch Ranch has become a place where people can see God clearly. If you look closely at what God has provided in a physical facility you cannot help but be awed at His provision. In the last few years we have seen tremendous provision. We have been able to build a gym and chapel and maintenance building (which will become a storage building soon) and have them paid for and are in the process of building a new recording studio and auto/wood shop as well as pay or normal bills which total over $6,000.00 per day.

This is all accomplished without fund raising campaigns, arm twisting or having any endowment money. These “things” have clearly demonstrated God’s provision.

Even more incredible are he lives that challenged on these grounds. In a crazy, mixed up and confused culture we have the opportunity to clear the fog. After one of the chapel times I was able to watch the campers respond to an invitation to place their trust in Jesus as their savior. There were about 60 young people that night who wanted to talk with their counselor about their need for Christ.

As I watched the campers walk out of the chapel with their counselors, who were going to spend some additional time with them, pray with them, etc. I saw one counselor walking out with kids who, when he was 8 years old, made that same decision in our old chapel. Our chapel may have changed but our God and His love for these campers has remained the same.

Age has its advantage in that, at times, we have the opportunity to enjoy some of the fruit from the trees that were planted years ago.

There have been so many faithful men and women who have served our nations’ youth on the gourds of Silver Birch Ranch throughout these past 49 summers. God has been and is evident. I personally am grateful beyond words to have been a part of such an obvious and mighty movement of God.

I have no idea where or who our next provision will be supplied from. The cost of doing what we do steadily increases as does the opportunities.

I think the challenges that lie ahead continue to revolve around how we can provide an effective, safe, fun and affordable place for young people.

Camp is vital and expensive. It would be wonderful to be able to have a revenue stream from somewhere/someone that would allow us to reduce our summer camp prices.  This may seem like a crazy wild idea to many and perhaps  it is. However, it is yet another way that we can clearly show who God is in this world where His view is blurred.

God is faithful and I would encourage you to take a moment and reflect on His faithfulness and rejoice with us as we think of the many transformed lives, friendships and hope that has been a part of the past 49 summers.

Having faith however is not just for those who are in ministry, it is the only way any of us please our Heavenly Father. Those who live outside of faith have no way to demonstrate who God is in this life, no way to please God, no way to be significant, no security and ultimately no purpose or hope.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
(Hebrews 11:6 ESVST)

Spend some time today enjoying God. It will be the most important thing you will do.

Addictions

Addictions are caused by feeling isolated, left out, feeling cheated, or feeling as if your life does not matter, and that all things in life that you did value are so fragile that you could lose them at any time, for reasons out of your control.

An addicted person has formed a connection with a substance, situation or pleasure that gives them a false feeling of connectedness, and the control over this connectedness. The addiction gives them something to get out of bed for, something to live for, and something to be connected to.

Disconnection is a problem. We feel disconnected from being able to control the most important factors in our lives. We feel disconnected from the things we think will make us happy. We feel disconnected from people. We feel disconnected from purpose in our work and play. We feel disconnected comfort, love, significance, and security.

When those who are addicts become addicted to substances that are illegal, we usually shame them, or they shame themselves, and go into further isolation, making the disconnection worse, and the hope for recovery more remote.

Many of us believe that addictions have physical triggers, and there have been many treatment centers developed to try to deal with the “physical” addictive properties we believe to exist. Many times these centers fail in that they tried to solve a disconnectedness problem by further isolation and shame.

Punishing addicts does not work. Loving them does work. Connecting them works. Doing life with them works.

The Bible often talks about the motive of love and the power of love to overcome all odds.

I have been in the hospital often, and been under the knife of several occasions. I have been to the emergency room with severe pain, and whether I was in for an operation, or due to some other interesting malady, I have been given Diamorphine, which in reality is a very pure form of heroine, to ease the pain.

I have never become an addict, and in fact, I have asked that I not be given those substances again, as they did not seem to ease the pain, but rather had an effect on my mind that made it so that reality was a dream world.

When you are connected and enjoy your connections, the escaping from reality is not something you desire.

I am not alone in not becoming addicted to pain killers, heroine, or other substances. There are many grandmas and grandpas who have had hip replacements who were given legal drugs to fight pain, yet who are not now hanging out in dark alleys trying to find a dealer. My generation was the generation that fought the Viet Nam War. During the war there were many soldiers who got into heroine, and the fear was that when they returned to our country, we would face a tidal wave of addictions. In reality, most of them, upon returning to the States just quit, cold turkey.


What happened to the physical triggers that caused addiction in both the hospital and Viet Nam cases?

I’m not sure what happens to a proven theory if there are many who defy what has been proven.

I was listening to a Ted Talk and was told about a man, Bruce Alexander, who conducted an experiment on an experiment.

What I mean is that for years we based the idea of addictions off of a study done on rats that put a single rat in a cage with two bottles of water. One bottle was pure the other was laced with some kind of drug. The isolated rat would go to the drug water over and over again, and eventually died early from a continual overdose, obviously proving a physical trigger to addiction.

However, Bruce did an experiment where he made a rat cage that had a tremendous amount of connectivity. There were rat neighborhoods, plenty of food, and places to play. This cage also had two bottles of water. What he found was that the rats in this cage seldom, if ever, used the drug water, and none of them became addicts.

It is obvious that man desires connectivity and that Satan has worked this lack of connectivity, or the feeling of non-connectedness, to its fullest. Our culture is saturated with the pretend lives shown on television and in movies, and, in many case, the entertainment world has become our reality. We watch others live while not living ourselves, and we begin to identify with the pretend more than the real. We see advertisements that are cleverly meant to show us how “disconnected” we really are, and we spend time with others who watch all this with us, while never experiencing real connectivity with them.

Somehow we always feel disconnected, like we are missing something.

Smartphones, internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc. were creations that seemed to help our connectedness, and they have people “addicted” to them in that they actually appear to solve our connectedness problem, when in reality, they are causing the problem to become even more complex.

Today, the most disconnected can portray themselves as being the most connected, and addictions of many sorts are more the norm than the exception.

Addicts’ problems are not the availability of drugs, alcohol, sex, money, etc., but the lack of connectivity to God and to each other.

The Bible clearly shows that man was created to be connected with God and each other, and that sin has destroyed our connectivity. Sin always separates. It always isolates, shames, and distances us from God and others.

Every human being desires significance and security, and many are searching for them. We often do not realize that this significance cannot come from power, comfort, or control, but from connectedness. While we were sinners, disconnected with God, hopeless, and alone, God sent Jesus to pay the price for reconnecting us.

Without this connection, there is no hope for significance, and no hope for the addict. With this connection, there is a new and healthy addiction, that of being addicted to the connection with God. When one is connected with God they will find that all other attractions pale in comparison and lose their grip.

We find that this connection with God allows us to position ourselves to then have proper connection with others. Our connection with others is about them, not us. Addicts make their connections with others about themselves, which proves that they have not understood how God made this connection thing to work.

When Jesus was asked what was important he said that we should love the Lord our God and each other. He told us that we should be involved in connectivity to God and to each other. In fact, we are told that it would be impossible for us to be connected with God and each other and also be connected to the world. Those who love, or are connected to, this world, cannot love, or be connected to, God.

Satan seems to play the game of disconnection by making the promise of connection by means that actually cause disconnection. He has us looking for significance in all of the wrong places, in doing things rather than being someone, and in using people and enjoying stuff, when we should be using stuff and enjoying people.

Perhaps the most dangerous addiction that comes from disconnectedness is the addiction to self. When self is on the throne, all others become subjects rather than friends. When we are on the throne, we look down upon all, use all for our pleasure, and trust no one. Being our own royalty gives us the impression of significance and security, but deep down we realize that it is only an impression.  When we are addicted to self, we are most isolated, and all others, including God, do not matter. It is those who have given into this ultimate addiction that often take it upon themselves to end their lives. Since they are the only ones who matter, it makes sense to them to continue to satisfy self, alone, and the suicide they commit becomes the ultimate self-centered act in that the feelings, thoughts, and relationships with those they should be connected to, no longer matter.

Connectedness is something we are created to have, but not connectedness to just anything. Addiction is taking that need for connectedness with God, and people and satisfying it with things that can never really satisfy it.

Satan has worked the system well, and he is very good at what he does. In the United States we live in big houses and have many ways of isolating ourselves while in the midst of family and friends. We have normalized the use of people for pleasure, and lost the art of going through pain while perfecting avoidance techniques. We try to show connectedness with things rather than time, objects rather than self, and favor rather than responsibility.

One can go to church and not be connected in that it has become less about real community and more about perceived community, more about programs that give the appearance of connection, and less about real connection. Discipleship and mentoring have become meaningless buzz words in that they are systems that are trying to work at reconnecting in a format that gives the connection appearance, while not having the ability to crack the isolation factors that are ever present in our culture.

God and His truth are actually rather simple. When we make it to complicated, we give Satan a foothold in our lives, and open the door for all sorts of spiritual loopholes.

God created me so that He could love me, and be connected to me. This love connection demands choice and is thereby significant. If that connection is not right, I will try to find connection elsewhere and fail, for it cannot be done. Eventually, the very things I connected to will prove to be the fuel for the ultimate disconnection.

We were made to be relational beings, and need to live in the context of the connectivity that healthy relationships provide. Alcohol, food, sex, or drug addictions are symptoms of a greater problem.

Healthy people with healthy relationships do not have addiction problems. If someone is struggling with addictions and they want help, they must first see their need for being connected to God, family, and friends, and begin the process of real connection.  Since the addict may be blind to these things, those who are connected must make an effort to re-connect. God showed us how to do this in that while we were sinners, addicts, He made the effort to send His Son, so that the real problem could be solved.

Satan is a genius at deception and has many thinking they are connected because they “fit” into the norm of society. They are fans of the same sports team, members of the same church, citizens of a country, or alumni of the same college.

God is realit,y and has made it so that all people, regardless of circumstance, can have what is necessary to be significant and secure because He provides these things to those who are connected with Him.

Antigo Shooting

On Saturday night there was a random shooting at the Antigo High School in Antigo, Wisconsin. There were two students shot. One was treated and released the other was taken to the hospital, has had surgery and is doing well.

The police in this small city did a fantastic job as they acted quickly and decisively. We are thankful for such people who protect us day in and day out.

The shooter died in this incident and their family is grieving as this was a surprise to them as well as to the entire community.

The family of the victim released this official statement.

"(The student) is doing well. He has come through a long surgery and will recover with time and effort, but we have always believed that God is good and has a plan even in the midst of tragedy.

We are so thankful for his girlfriend and two friends on the scene who acted so bravely and calm. We would also like to thank the police officers who responded so quickly, the medical staff, doctors, and the surgeons that have already gone above and beyond to help our son, and all the law enforcement from many counties who have dedicated themselves to investigating this shooting. We would like to especially thank the officers who saved the lives of our son, his girlfriend, their two friends, and the countless amount of students, staff, and others in and around the school. Lastly, we cannot express enough thanks for our family, friends, fellow employees, church, employers, school administration, and those in the community who continue to shown and communicate their kindness and love to our son and family.

Please continue to pray for (the student), his girlfriend, two friends, fellow classmates, and everyone else involved as they recover from this traumatic night. Please also pray for the family of Jakob Wagner. As much as we are struggling through this event, we cannot imagine the grief they are experiencing at this time. We want everyone to know that we believe and trust in the eternal God. We are so thankful for the hope that we have in Him. That all can be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life when they believe in Jesus Christ as Savior."

I appreciate this family, their honesty and their relationship and trust in God. This is not an act but the result of a real relationship with God. There is no hope for a solution to our nations' issues without our people turning to God.

During these tragic times we hear of people praying yet we cannot help but wonder who they are praying too since God has been removed from the public square.

The epidemic that plagues our nation is one of unbridled sin that has become normative and without the absolute authority of God and His Word we have no way to make right what is obviously wrong.

Young people today are too often abandon and allowed to be immersed in hours and hours of violent video games, television as well as porn, greed and continual gossip on the internet. There is an effect to such things and it is an effect we will not like and cannot stop.

I do not know if this shooter had these influences but my experience in life would guess that he did. These things in and of themselves are not the problem. Our sin is the problem and our sin has separated us from God. These other things just fuel the problem.

However, God, in His mercy has given us an answer. He sent His son, Jesus, to experience an unjustifiable death on our behalf in order to pay the price demanded for our sins.

Sin always separates, it is the spoils of our sin. It is ironic that God used the death of His son to reunite us with Himself while at the same time giving us the significance and security we lack without Him.

Without God we have no absolutes, no standards of conduct, no line in the sand. Without God all is random, good and bad replace right and wrong and man becomes the measure of all things.

Guns do not kill, sinful people do.

If we want to solve this problem we need to address it's cause and I am beginning to think we are no longer capable of doing so because we do not want to deal with God or the absolutes He declares.

We will never be able to legislate righteousness so our government is not capable of solving this problem. If we are to solve the real problems we need to work on it ourselves, one life and family at a time.

It starts with me knowing I am incapable and needy, as a orphan child without hope. My hope is not in myself but in the one who will show me mercy and has the capability to care for what is broken. God has offered all mankind this opportunity.

After I am adopted, due to God's mercy, I get to live in the way I was created to live. I can now find true significance and security and live in a way that was meant to be. In fact, I get to experience more than  I ever imagined and will never receive the punishment I so deserve.

The parents of this shooting victim and the victim himself have experienced this mercy and are now living in the grace of God, as children of His. They know that they have been forgiven much and therefore are willing to forgive much. They are making our society a better place to live because of their relationship with God.

The answer is not found in religion, or government but in a repaired relationship with God that is offered to us through His Son.

It is the starting point that all must start from or forever live in hopelessness.

The following are verses from Scripture that speak of our sin, God's mercy and the hope of those who have accepted God's forgiveness. I leave you with them without comment in that my comments are not needed to clarify God's Word.


“ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
(John 3:16-17 ESVST)

“ None is righteous, no, not one;
 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
 “ Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
 “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
 “ Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
 “ Their feet are swift to shed blood;
 in their paths are ruin and misery,
 and the way of peace they have not known.”
 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.
(Romans 3:10-18 ESVST)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(Romans 3:23 ESVST)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 ESVST)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 ESVST)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9 ESVST)

For “ everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:13 ESVST)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 5:1 ESVST)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 8:1 ESVST)

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:38-39 ESVST)