The one thing God is after...

God does not NEED your money.

Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. 


God is not concerned with the amount of your giving.

Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.


God is not concerned with great works of men.

Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.


God is after one thing, your heart.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Stop concerning yourself with your works because God's not.  Stop putting the weight of the world on your shoulders and make sure your heart is right with the Lord.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'   I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

I say all this as a reminder to myself but I hope others will read and be reminded as well.

Stop trying to do good things.  Let love and peace of Jesus fill you up.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.



**Scripture verses:
Luke 20:25
Luke 21:3
1 Corinthians 13:3
Matthew 6:33
Luke 18:10-14
Psalm 37:5-6,

3:00 Northgate

I am angry.  The walls of my apartment suffocate me.  I yell at God.  Why?  What's the point?.  Some things don't ever seem to work out for the craziest reasons.  Now I begin to wonder if God isn't toying with me.  I sit angrily by my bed, refusing to sleep until God gives me some sort of answer.

3:00 Northgate

That pops up in my thoughts.  I wonder where it came from.  Usually these random thoughts, I don't heed.  But this time, I had to know, what happened if I listened?

The next day, I drove down the interstate.  I park my car at about 3:05 on a street near the bustling Northgate mall.  Now what Lord?  

I get out and begin walking.  I ask God to reveal who I'm supposed to meet today.  I look around at the people nearby.  Not that one.  Not that one.  I keep walking with faith, that God would reveal who I was to show His love to this day.  There's a reason I'm here.  A guys walks beside me, talking to himself.  He has a hitch in his step and looks clearly drunk, high, crazy, or possibly all three!  He is dirty and looks like he hasn't had a bath in months.

This one.

Lord, but this one's crazy!

He walks behind me as I cross the street and I pray.

Lord, if he follows me, then I will know he is the one.

He follows me.  Then I switch directions and wait by a light post.  I test the Lord yet again.

Lord, if he turns this way, then I will greet him at this light post.

He looks like he is about to enter the mall but then all of a sudden he changes directions and walks directly toward me.  Yep, this is the one alright.  I introduce myself and invite him to lunch.  He calls himself "John Paul."  He eats with lightning speed.  I try to ask him about his life but he responds with short answers.  I ask him if he has kids and he doesn't know.  He says he may have had some before.  

"Before what?," I had asked.  

"I mean...when I was younger...," he stammered.

I fed him, I served him, but I felt like I failed to connect with him.  I don't get much time with him before he downs his lunch.  I ask if I can pray for him with anything and he says to pray that he gets more money.  Then he got up to leave.   

"Thank you," he said.  I could tell he meant it.

I responded with "Yep."

Yep?!  It's amazing God desires to work through me, or any of us, at all.  After he left, I knew the correct response would have been: "don't thank me, thank the Lord, he's the only reason I'm here."  That was the absolute truth.  I would have never gone to that place, at that time, and had lunch with that individual if it wasn't for the Lord!  

He left to go back to his addictive life, living from drink to drink and hit to hit. 

Lord, why him?

I knew two things.  One was that I found the right guy.  The other is I would have no idea why God sent me to him that moment until I got to heaven. 

Through that experience, the Lord taught me about being truly open to His leading.  In my daily life, I am too often closed in my own plans to what He would have me do each moment.  How many opportunities am I missing along the way?        

9/11 and bin Laden: What is True Victory?

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

I watched on the news as my fellow countryman celebrated a man being killed.  It left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  True, he was a mass murderer.  True, he was probably planning future attacks on our country.  After 9/11, hearing all those stories of sacrifice, the way everyone united in an effort to help one another, I was proud to be an American.  But I was not on this day.  I thought of al Qaeda members who loved bin Laden watching the news of people celebrating his death.  What must they be feeling?  Our hate for that man will fuel their hate for us.  The world has not become a better place, on the contrary more hate has been sowed.  I think Gandhi may have put it best: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Maybe I'm an idealistic fool, but I believe true victory would have looked something like this:

        

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        The towers fall.  The people come together to mourn.  A sense of togetherness envelops the nation.  Citizens pray for the victims and their families of the terrible tragedy. 

        And they pray for the terrorists.  They pray their hearts would be changed.  They pray for the orchestrator of the attacks, Osama bin Laden.  We seek out al Qaeda…to forgive them.  We want to tell them of our loss, how much it hurts, and we want to show them love.  We want to show them love because that is the only way to fight terror.  Love shames the enemy.  Members of al Qaeda begin coming out, admitting their crimes, admitting their wrongs.  The peace army of the United States of America embraces them, forgives them, and calls them brothers.  Ten years after the fateful attacks, all across the nation, the headline reads: OBAMA FORGIVES OSAMA.  Osama bin Laden comes out and finally admits he was wrong and pleads for forgiveness for his actions.  Obama and Osama eat together as brothers at a White House dinner.  The war on terror is over, love drove out the hate, light dispelled the darkness.

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I didn’t lose anybody close to me on 9/11.  I can’t imagine the pain some people went through on that day.  Maybe putting the word forgive and Osama in the same sentence makes you cringe, and maybe it should.  I think true forgiveness is supposed to be difficult.
While people celebrated bin Laden's death, I was encouraged by a quieter reaction going on.  I went onto Facebook and as I scrolled down, quotes from Martin Luther King, scripture verses, and the like lit up my screen.  It made me smile.  While the people celebrating on the streets may have gotten the news coverage, there were scores of others who went to quiet reflection and prayer.  It may not have been particularly newsworthy but the ways of love usually aren't.  If you are reading this, here's something you can do right now.  Pray for bin Laden's family.  Pray for members of al Qaeda, that God would work on their hearts.

But I say to you, love your enemies and bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you... - Jesus (Matthew 5:44)