Gospel Community

What an amazing couple of days. This week I had the privilege of observing Gospel community lived out on a seminary campus. I have always had an imagination of what Gospel community looked like but never thought I would truly see it. I observed a community of believers living the truth of the Gospel. Their lives so revealed the truth of Christ that the entire community obeys the commandments (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself). Selfish living did not exist in this Gospel community. It was not “what mine is mine and what yours in yours” but rather “If you need a coat, here take mine” or “I don’t need the Government to take care of me, I have my neighbors.”

I asked myself would I go over to my neighbor’s house and ask to borrow a cup of sugar or even care that an elderly neighbor needed a meal cooked. I still don’t get it!

Thanks to some of our deepest friends for allowing us to peak into this Gospel community and may this experience fracture my defenses of living for my self.

Gospel-less

Whether we believe it or not we live in a community that is Gospel-less. We have been tricked into believing something that is not the true Gospel. What we think is the Gospel is a farce and we have believed a lie. We have taken this lie and used it as an excuse to not be accountable for our community. We say the Gospel is only for me and ignore the needs within our community because we have not experienced the truth of the Gospel or even understand it. Our community is falling into a pit all around us and we ignore the desperate need of people, families and children that are utterly being destroyed. Segregation of race and class has allowed us to be blinded by the needs of others within our community and without the Gospel working in us we ignore others and focus upon ourselves.

We can send millions of dollars to Sudan and to missionaries all over the world but the call on all of us (Gospel transformed Christians) is to make disciples where we are at. Herald the Gospel and then LIVE IT! Teach others how to LIVE IT! I do not ignore the fact that foreign missions are extremely important but when statistics show more evidence of the Gospel’s effectiveness in another country and I do not see evidence of the Gospel in my own community something is wrong. The Christian leaders within our community are responsible and will be accountable to how well they achieved the goals of their calling which is to teach the community the true Gospel. I am responsible and accountable as a Christian to live out what I believe in my community by pleading with God to save.

We can’t share the Gospel with the intent of making a persons life better. The Gospel is not a self improvement program. The transforming work of the Gospel in a persons life awakens the heart so that the things of God are all that matters. Our motivation is the power of the Gospel to transform a life broken into a life that bears fruit in the now and a sanctified life prepared for glory in eternity.

We can impact our community in only one way. Seek a true understanding of what the Gospel is. Survey your own life for evidence that you have been transformed. Beg God to demonstrate His power in the Gospel by transforming lives in our community. Ask Him to reveal your role in heralding the Gospel and to give you the confidence and will to carry out the mission we are called to do.

Day 2 Cruising for Dolphins and Wrestling Alligators

We woke this morning to beautiful water and clean beaches. Apparently the tide has more to do with the beaches being clean than the efforts of the cleanup crews. Other than the occasional tar ball the beaches are just like they always have been. I have never seen the ocean so calm. The water is so smooth not even a ripple and you can see for miles. The down side is the heat. You can’t escape the searing humidity which pulls the sweat out of you like ringing out a wet dish towel. We beg for wind to help with the blistering heat.

We ventured out into the water more this morning. The water is so clear. The kids are enjoying the occasional sighting of a stingray and blue crabs. The surf is extremely calm so we can actually stand in knee deep water and not get blasted by a huge wave. This helps us to comply with the health advisories which recommend not swimming in the water. In our book wading is not swimming.

The President buzzed our beach house in the Presidential Helicopter as he took a look at the beaches. I think we all said in unison “should have been here yesterday”.

This afternoon we all set sail in search of dolphins. Thanks to the Southern Rose cruise ship we idled the back water bays to find several porpoises on purpose.

The Southern Rose headed back to port and we experienced that magic hour that seems to occur every afternoon down here. What a great relaxing trip.

Oh and we wrestled a few alligators as well.

Beach 2010 - Day 1

Leaving at 4:30 AM on Saturday morning was a good idea and quite frankly I did not think it would happen considering we were still packing at midnight. Much to my surprise we hit the road at 4:28AM headed to Gulf Shores. After 10 hours of highway and a few quick stops along the way we arrived in Gulf Shores very tired and hoping to not find what we were afraid of.

Pulling off our shoes and doing the funny walk across the hot sand we seen what we feared. After catching our breath one loan beach lover looked up at us and said “it arrived yesterday”.

We are here to stay. We discovered that you can back up a bit from the surf and it is as if it is not there. You can hear the surf, feel the sun and smell the breeze. However you can’t escape the dropped chins of the beach walkers as they go back and forth. Our idle conversations are like this: “Well, I guess we will make the best of It.”, “What else are we going to do”, “Just terrible.”

Shelling peas was an exciting part of our afternoon. I guess the kids are “making the best of it” as well. We may discover that vacations are not about a destination but more about rest (Sabbath).