The Aftermath

I was reliving Sept. 11, 2001 last night, thanks to the help of the History Channel, which was running a real-time account of that morning's events.

THC made it such a human story, utilizing a lot of footage shot at street level that really focused on the people of New York. The thing that struck struck me so strongly was the innocence on the faces of those witnessing events that were beyond their comprehension.

There was no frame of reference. Nothing like this had ever taken place on American soil. With sympathetic reactions to the tragedy unfolding before their eyes, they had no idea what was really happening. Okay, so an airliner flew into the north tower of the World Trade Center. We had seen accidents like this. Rare as it was, it was not unbelievable.

But when the south tower was struck 17 minutes later, whether first-hand or by way of broadcast, every person watching it was snatched out of reality into a surreal landscape that resembled nothing in his or her experience. Suddenly we were in a cinema watching yet another doomsday flick. Right?

But all too soon, we realized that this was reality, strange as it was -- painful as it was A new reality was thrust upon us.

Yet still we had no idea how our world was about to change.

Looking back over the eight years since then -- it really was a different world wasn't it?

That innocence will never be regained.

belief?

I have this scripture on my desk: "For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

Do I believe it?

"...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:17)

I'm not sure the Luke passage - although I've read it, thought about it, contemplated it, examined it - has quite sunk in. If it had, I would be living every moment of every day under the conviction that anything is possible and doing all I could to prove it.

I think I need to begin a study of scripture wherein I REALLY test what's there. What better way to build my faith than to act on what I'm reading in scripture? I think my tendency is to think, "Yeah, that's good stuff," and pray that the Lord would help me live it out. Not that it's a bad thing to do, I just don't think it's always making a immediate, tangible difference in my behavior. If it is, it's slow, minute movement. I'm talking about reading it and immediately putting it into effect.

I think I'll call it my "Believe-What-You-Read-And-Test-It-In-Faith" study.

Anybody want to join me?

(I must clarify here that I'm not meaning to promote any theology that puts "us" in control. God is the author of all things and I strive to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in all things. God is not my co-pilot. No, indeed, He is in the driver's seat - when I let Him - ideally.)

Hi.

Yeah - so I just found out that the last time I blogged was in the ides of March. St. Patrick's Day.

Five-and-a-half months.

Shameful.

Basically I've been sucked into Facebookworld. I'm approaching 1000 friends there and have found it to be a good vehicle for sharing about our work.

Buuut...

I really miss blogging. I feel it's important for me to write on a regular basis. It helps me to work through things that are on my mind and that I think are worth sharing with others. Of course that's what I think. You may have a different opinion.

So I'm setting myself a reminder on my calendar to pop up each week and remind me to blog. I do actually have a lot of ideas of things I'd like to talk about. I just need to develop the discipline to stay with it.

So maybe you'll be hearing from me more often.

To update you on our progress - we are close to 60% in our needed monthly financial support and are hoping that we can finish up our MPD (Ministry Partner Development - a.k.a. fund raising) soon, go to pre-field training and get to Ireland permanently to continue our work full-time.

Keep praying!

The Legacy of Patrick

When I think about St. Patrick, there are a few things that come to mind.

The first is - Patrick started his ministry in Ireland when he was in his 40's. That's where I'm at, and we're starting our ministry there. That encourages me.

Next - Patrick was used in amazing ways by the Lord, yet never took any credit for himself. He always maintained a spirit of humility, couched with the knowledge that "..all things are possible with God...", which I think was key to his ability to win over those he was evangelizing.

He suffered many hardships in his lifetime, but always looked for the good that would come from such suffering.

Finally, his legacy and those of his contemporaries (monks, priest, nuns) was to pass on knowledge of the Scriptures and train Christian workers to reach the world with the Gospel. In fact, the Irish are responsible for not only saving the Scriptures from disappearing from the face of the earth during the dark ages, but re-evangelizing the mainland of Europe as the Renaissance dawned.

If each and every one of us who call ourselves Christian would clothe ourselves with the same ethic that Patrick possessed - it would be a whole new world.

You may want to read Patrick's autobiography, his "Confessio". It's a short read and can be found lots of places, including here: http://www.cin.org/patrick.html

I encourage you on this St. Patrick's Day to pray for Ireland. 99.3% of the people of Ireland have no relationships with Jesus. Also, several years ago Patrick organizers of the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin decided that Patrick was too religious of a figure and should no longer be allowed to appear in the day's festivities.

We want to see the "days of Patrick" return with a renewed fervor and watch in awe as revival once again spreads across the Emerald Isle!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

The Shifting Tide

You know how you're just trucking along in life -- trying to keep a handle on things, stay apprised of what's happening in the world around you, thinking you have a good broad perspective on things and then out of the blue your hit by something that either takes you by surprise, or shows you that your thinking has been way too shallow?

Well that's happening to me right now. I try to keep myself educated about things that are happening in Christendom here and abroad and how that relates to society as a whole, yadda, yadda, yadda...

In the past 4 hours, I have read two articles, brought to my attention by two individuals, that has me refocusing on my perception of the Western church and it's role in the world today.

Rather than go into a long diatribe about the content of these articles and my reactions to them, I think it would be more beneficial to simply provide you with the links to said articles and let you read them.

But before I do (I know, I just can't help myself) I must at least say that, although they both carry with them a fair amount of what appears on the surface to be "bad news", it gets me excited to think about what this really means for the overall health of the world-wide Body of Christ.

The first article is a straight-up news report based upon statistics.

The second is written from the perspective of a servant of Christ who shares his thoughts about coming changes in the evangelical church, based upon his observations, and then ends by giving us the "good news" of what it all could mean for the life of the church.

Thus said, here you go...

Religious Groups in US Losing Ground

The Coming Evangelical Collapse