Be Thankful

Psalm 107:1; Psalm 136:1

Thanksgiving has just passed and we gathered with our families. For me and my family this holiday has never been about pilgrims but about being able to gather, when we normally probably wouldn't because life gets in the way, to look at all the ways God has blessed us and kept us. Its a time to pray and thank God for life, strength and each other and of course eat.

I know for some Thanksgiving is not a happy time because of history and current events but I want us to stop and think about the things we have to be grateful for, that we are thankful for. We take many things for granted and all we have can be gone in an instant. There are very few guarantees in this life.

I am thankful to God everyday because He is good. He wakes me up when many others don't. He starts me on my way when many others can't. I have ears to hear. Eyes to see. Clothes to wear, food to eat, and a place to sleep. That is all I need and God promises to supply all our needs. I am blessed beyond measure.

I'm not saying to not want more or to not be ambitious, I'm saying to just

Be Thankful 

for the little things, for the big things, for EVERYTHING.

The Unlikely Missionary

DHW

PS. To my fellow believers don't just be thankful to God so that He will give you things. Be thankful because you deserve none of the things God has already given you.

In God's Economy... Love is Action

In God's economy

Love is Action

Many of us know the 1 Corinthians 13 which has been dubbed the "Love Chapter" of the Bible.

It has always bothered me that people say they fall in love with people because to me this means that just as fast as it can happen it can end. And if that is true that means that God can fall in and out of love with us at any given moment. And if that is true how can God be love personified if love is so wishy washy? That doesn't fit with who God says He is.

But, when people talk about love its like this mystical thing that just comes upon you. But to God and in His Word it is much more than that. It is a conscious, and deliberate action that you can control. I've listed the ways that God says we are to love. Its here both in the the traditional version that I memorized this verse in when I was a little girl and then in The Message. I love The Message version of scripture and you will see it quoted here often because it breaks the Word down in a way that speaks to the way I speak, process and understand God's Word.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
NIV (Traditional)	The Message
Love is patient,  love is kind.  It does not envy,  it does not boast,  it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others,  it is not self-seeking,  it is not easily angered,  it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil  but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects,  always trusts,  always hopes,  always perseveres. Love never fails.	Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies.

As I said earlier God is love and love never dies. If this is true and I believe God and His Word and that it will not return unto Him void, therefore I have to believe that you cannot just fall out of love with someone. Either you stopped loving them or you never loved them in the first place.

Whether it is platonic love, romantic love, love of family;

Love is and always will be a verb.

How do you show love to your children? Through patience when they work your nerves. Or when I tell my one year old son to stop and he does it anyway holding my temper in check show him that I love him.

How do you show your neighbor love? Through kind acts, not coveting what they have, and by not forcing my beliefs on them.

How do you show love to your spouse? By keeping a short record of their perceived wrongs. By letting arguments and hurts live in the past and not looking back to them to throw in their face in a future argument. Through forgiveness, always looking for the best in them, being with them in the good times and bad.

The reason many marriages end in divorce is not because you fell out of love but because you stopped doing the work of love. You stopped being kind. You stopped being patient. You became prideful. You started being rude. Your record of wrongs became endlessly long. You didn't persevere. You gave up. Don't get me wrong there are times when there are things that a partner does (infidelity, bodily harm) that can destroy a marriage, a family but more often than not marriages and family bonds don't end on a whim. They end over time - days, months, years, decades - of inaction, of not loving.

We stop loving people all the time. We stop calling. We are inconsistent. We become short tempered with them. We become more focused on ourselves than the other person. We get brand new. We start smelling ourselves. That's why young people can be best friends one minute and enemies the next. We need to own the fact that we stop doing the work of love and when you don't have God in you, honestly it is quite easy to stop doing that work. Because even when God is in you it is difficult to love.

Love is not easy but we have to own our part in love.

You don't fall out of love. You just stop doing love. There's a difference.

The Unlikely Missionary,

DHW

There Are Too Many Pharisees in Today's Church...

There are too many Pharisees in today's American church. If you don't know what a Pharisees is let me explain...

PHAR'ISEE, n. Heb. to separate. One of a sect among the Jews, whose religion consisted in a strict observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders,and whose pretended holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering themselves as more righteous than other Jews.

In today's world that would be a self-righteous person.

See here for a history of their exploits.

Before there was the church as we know it there were Jews and there were Gentiles. In case you are wondering, unless you have Jewish heritage we all qualify as Gentiles. The Pharisees were what we would consider modern day religious folks that think they are above it all. They were very law focused and intent and content to tell you all of the things you were doing wrong and in some cases using that guilt trip for personal gain. Hmmmmm. Sound familiar in present day?

Well, very much like today there are too many people condemning when there own condemnation looms over them like a heavy dark cloud. The Bible says in Matthew 7:3-5 (MSG)

“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

When Jesus came his gripe with the Pharisees was their lack of care for the people in light of the fact that they were supposed to be God's representatives. That's why Jesus preached so much about love. Just never preached to condemn but to set free.

It's interesting how the Pharisees were looking for the Savior and because he was packaged as a poor, homeless carpenter who showed compassion for those the world forgot they missed him.

In this racially charged climate many of the evangelicals who claim to love God would easily reject the Savior as the Pharisees did because he is a Jewish man from the Middle East/North Africa.

It is amazing what hate and being self-righteous can cause us to miss out on.

My fellow Saints be careful that you yourself don't miss the Savior in this moment because of the biases you carry and please remember that God will remember how you have treated people in His Name.

Reacquaint yourself with the Pharisees and make sure you aren't one.

The Unlikely Missionary,

DHW

After This Election We Know We Should Pray but...

After the election My social media timelines have been full of people saying that we need to pray.

And they are absolutely right.

However....
The Bible (Ecclesiastes 3:1-18) also says there is a time to pray and a time to mourn...

We have abbreviated this to the old adage there is a time and place for everything.

So we need to give space to those who are mourning, we need to give space to those who are angry and let everyone feel what they are feeling and stop telling them we just need to pray.

Why do we need to stop this? Because besides giving people space, prayer is not always the only answer that God gives us. Sometimes he calls us to pray but other times he calls us to march (think the walls of Jericho, see Joshua 6), sometimes he calls us to speak up (see Esther 4), sometimes he calls us to be still and listen (see 1 Samuel 3) and sometimes he calls us to fight (see the story of the Judge Deborah in Judges 4:6).

As a Christian even I am telling you that the "we need to pray" response to the hurt, fear and angst I am feeling is ANNOYING! I know I need to pray but at this point God wants more than our prayers. He wants our understanding, our compassion, our holy discontent in the injustices that are happening to our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles and everything in between.

So please give folks space to feel. And you pray that my feelings are channeled into the right healthy direction.

Make no mistake we are going to need prayers for the fight that looms. And there will be those called to pray and those called to fight.

Just don't keep telling me to pray. I know that already.

The Unlikely Missionary,

DHW

EXTRA: God has never been a God of words only. James 1:22 says, be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. So for all my prayer warriors out there, we have to be ready to apply the actions God calls for when we pray and He answers. Don't just talk about it, be about it.

Pray... God Hears

I love music because it is the way that God ministers to my heart. I will be sharing a lot of music on here but today I just wanted you to know that God hears you when you pray and He WILL ANSWER!

The Unlikely Missionary,

DHW

Your Unlikely Missionary is Back

It has been 5 years to the month since my last post. Five long years. Many things have happened to me in this span of time that caused me to turn my line to God off. I have experienced great highs and incredible lows.

Life happens...

But during this election season God has been weighing heavily on me as I have watched hate, lies, death, hurt and turmoil permeate and dominate my social media timelines.

It made me especially sad that many of the people spewing these offensive things were people who proclaim the name of Jesus.

I would like to say, on behalf of the God that I serve...

I'm sorry!

I knew God was real on a sunny day more than 20 years ago when I felt a hand in the middle of my chest push me out of the path of a speeding taxi. He reminded me again when I was 19 and I had planned to commit suicide. And He reminded me again just yesterday.

When God's hand is on you there is no escaping.

And I can tell you with confidence that the God that I serve is a God of Love not hate; of Inclusion not exclusion. He died for everyone, not just for some, EVERYONE - Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, India, First Nations, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Gay, Straight. And now more than ever both you and I need Him and His Love.

So I'm back if for no other reason but to share with you that God is Love because He has been Love to me even when the church and the people of God have failed me. God and church are not synonymous.

Church is full of flawed people as this election has shown. And it is something I have known for a very long time. But that does not mean that God is. I hope that by following my journey you will come to know a God that is Loving, Forgiving, Accepting, Inclusive, and understands you.

I'm not your typical Christian so this will not be your typical blog. Everyone won't like or agree with what I have to say but that is ok too. I'm here for that one boy or girl or woman or man who is lost and alone and at the end of their rope. I have been there, I know how it feels and I know that God has never let me down and He won't let you down either.

I'm Back!

The Unlikely Missionary,

DHW