Thoughts on Bearing Burdens

Learning to Bear Burdens

I have been thinking a ton lately about bearing the burdens of others. As a family we have been praying much for the healing of Matt Chandler. We have also been praying for several guys on staff at The Village and their families. Our prayers have simply been the following:

Papa, please make Your thoughts their thoughts. Make Your feelings their feelings. Give them a peace that will surpass all understanding that guards both their heart and mind in You.

As I have prayed this for each of them I have realized how much of a distorted view of carrying a burden I possess. Many times I have looked at it as asking God to take the persons “burden” and pass it to me. The problem is that it would crush me, so I definitely would not be carrying it well.

He has been teaching me the only way to properly carry a burden is to look at Him and ask Him to take it from the person. It does not have to do with the burden being “taken on” in order to relieve the other person because of my ability to carry their burden. After all, this is still practical atheism. God has nothing to do with that thought process.

He asks us to intercede in such a way that the relief people experience is MAINLY from Him, not my prayer. If it is any other way I am focused mainly on my glory and ability in prayer and not looking for Him to be all in all. Let me give a word picture (although analogies breakdown).

A little boy and his friend were playing outside in the woods. Lightening struck a tree and it fell over on the little boys friend. The little boy runs to His daddy, who is the world’s strongest man, and says, “Daddy, My friend is being crushed by a tree in the woods! Please come and help! I KNOW you can lift the tree.” The father quickly runs out and lifts the tree off the friend and brings him to safety. As the boy recovers, they both constantly talk about the father and what he did.

Let’s look at a few things in this analogy.

First of all, in a situation like this the father does not begrudgingly come to help. It is his good pleasure (Mt. 7:7-11). He is fully confident in His own strength. The strength of the Father should give us a source of comfort and confidence. He is not like the father who hates to be interrupted in the middle of a college football game to come and help!

Next, the son knew exactly where to go. He did not take time to try and lift the tree. He knew it was hopeless, yet it did not cause TOTAL hopelessness. His lack of ability caused him to seek out someone greater than himself. This is the call of truly “carrying a burden”. We are to seek out Him who is truly greater than us and ask Him to lift the burden. After all, HE IS INFINTELY STRONG!

Finally, notice how the relief of the injured child and the relief of the son was found in the work of the Father. The strength of the father produced an intense confidence that culminated in His praise. It would have been ludicrous for the son to turn toward his friend and start talking about how great he was because he ran to his father and THAT ACTION is what saved the boy. It is not that the action was not important it just was not the saving source of the boy. The father was.

The size and weight of the tree was not mainly the focus either. The problem was not the focus. Looking at the power of the tree would not have saved the boy. The focus was the father. His strength. His compassion. His love. His power.

As we think about “carrying burdens” for others I pray we will mainly look to Him who is infinitely stronger, more loving, more compassionate, and more powerful than we will ever be. As we pray for others, I pray our focus would be on our Father in Heaven who feels infinitely stronger about every situation than we will ever feel. Pray for all those involved in this situation with Matt. Yet, pray in such a way that the way you carry the burden is by Ps. 37:5.

“Commit your ways to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”

Love Truth

Vernon

His Voice and The Advent Conspiracy

His Voice For Sudan Advent Conspiracy Video from Amber Burger on Vimeo.

I made this little video up last night to go along with The Advent Conspiracy. If you, your small group, your family or your Church are looking for a avenue to give to children around the world, we would love for you to consider our sweet friends in Sudan.

For more info on what the needs are visit our website's Partner Page or CLICK HERE for a document that has goals you could set for your group.

THANKS!

(scroll down to previous post if you are unaware of The Advent Conspiracy)

The Advent Conspiracy

If you have not already heard of The Advent Conspiracy, please take time to watch this video and consider how you can be involved::


Last year we had a couple families give to His Voice for Sudan instead of exchanging gifts! I have heard all kinds of great stories of people giving money to help build water wells, helping send missionaries to remote lands, providing for single parent families in their church and buying animals for families around the world so they can eat. All these things by simply buying less extravagant gifts and giving more relational gifts.

One example may be: Instead of giving a nephew a $40 gift card, buy two tickets to the cheap seats of his favorite sports team and go with him. Spend $15 and give the other budgeted $25 to your favorite non-profit or even better, tell him about a child in need and let him brain storm how the $25 could help them.

Happy Conspiring!

Thoughts from Tim Keller

I am reading Tim Keller's new book called Counterfeit Gods. It is amazing!

Here is a great quote that he gave about reading the Bible:

We usually read the Bible as a series of disconnected stories, each with a "moral" for how we should live our lives. It is not. Rather, it comprises a single story, telling us how the human race got into its present condition, and how God through Jesus Christ has come and will come to put things right. In other words, the Bible doesn't give us a god at the top of a moral ladder saying, "If you try hard to summon up your strength and live right, you can make it up!" Instead, the Bible repeatedly shows us weak people who don't deserve God's grace, don't seek it, and don't appreciate it even after they have received it.

Have you ever read the Word as MAINLY trying to get something out of it for yourself and put the MAIN STORY as secondary? I definitely have. If you have not done this, good deal. Keller's words have been a timely reminder and encouragement.

What do you think about his thoughts?

Love Truth
Vernon

Islam in France

The following video was posted on Islam in Europe regarding a couple of streets that are literally shut down for 2 hours during Friday prayers. It is pretty wild to see but really crazy if you remind yourself, as you watch it, "this is PARIS, FRANCE" a self proclaimed secular country.



The blog post also notes that this is not being reported on by the mainstream French press.

Provoking Thought by Richard Foster

Here is a passage from the book Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster. He is talking through the generosity of God and how this reality should help us to simplify our lives, instead of complicate it with the sin of "Me First Hoarding".

Here it is:

A dominant note in the Old Testament witness is the generosity of God, who freely gives to his children. Repeatedly in the creation story we have the confession that the earth is good. God lavished abundant provision upon the original pair...

The book of Deuteronomy is peppered throughout with promised blessing, and we do the text a grave injustice if we seek to spiritualize the blessing. It was literal land and flocks with which God said he would bless the people... (See Dt. 7:13 and 16:15) Note that the rejoicing is because of the abundant provision from the hand of God...

We do need to stress the promise of material blessing was a conditioned promise. It was no blank check. There was the stipulation, "If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land" (Is. 1:19). That is to say, there was the strong emphasis upon the inward nature of simplicity - holy obedience - that conditioned all the promised provision. And a vital aspect of that obedience was compassionate provision for the poor and needy.

And why shouldn't the high note of obedience have among its secondary notes the promise of blessing? After all, it would be a strange kind of God who would always repay obedience by withholding the good of the earth. Such did sometimes happen, as the Psalmist testified, but even so he was puzzled by the prosperity the wicked enjoyed while he suffered (Ps. 73). God at times does withhold material blessing for our greater good, but that is the exception to the rule of gracious provision, which is also for our good. It is like God to want to give us good things.

The connection between obedience and blessing is genuinely significant, and the significance is not primarily in the notion of being rewarded for doing what is right. That has its place, but it is a minor place, almost a childish place. The deeper reality in obedience is the kind of spirit it works into us. It is a spirit that crucifies greed and covetousness. It is a spirit of compassion and outreach. It is a spirit of sensitivity and trust. Once the inner disposition has taken over our personality, material blessings cannot hurt us, for they will be used for right purposes. We will recognize material goods to be not for us alone, but for the good of all.

This leads to another important factor in understanding the Old Testament emphasis upon material blessings. Almost without exception the promised provision was for the community rather than the individual. The stress was upon the good of the nation, the tribe, the clan. The idea that one could cut off a piece of the consumer pie and go off and enjoy it in isolation was unthinkable.


What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? Has Foster taught you anything you didn't already know?

Love Truth
Vernon

TODAY IS ORPHAN SUNDAY

Check out the following statistics. What are some ideas you have on how to practically engage this issue? Are you willing to be a person who helps to answer this problem? We love you all much!!

There are 143,000,000 orphans around the world.

143,ooo,ooo orphans standing shoulder to shoulder will go around the 10,913 mile perimeter of the USA nearly 4 times.

143,000,000 orphans in a single file line would reach around the earth over 2 times.

You could fill Michigan University Stadium 1,330 times to EQUAL 143,000,000

OR

Take all the people in

NYC {8,214,426}

CHICAGO {2,873,326}

then add all the people form the next 47 largest US cities

HOUSTON {2,144,491}

PHOENIX {1,512,986}

PHILLEY {1,448,396}

SAN ANTONIO {1,296,682}

SAN DIEGO {1,256,951}

DALLAS {1,232,940}

SAN JOSE {929,936}

DETROIT {871,121}

JACKSONVILLE {794,555}

INDIANAPOLIS {785,597}

SAN FRANCISCO {744,041}

COLUMBUS {733,203}

AUSTIN {709,893}

MEMPHIS {670,902}

FORT WORTH {653,320}

BALTIMORE {631,366}

CHARLOTTE {630,478}

EL PASO {609,415}

BOSTON {590,764}

SEATTLE {582,454}

D.C. {581,530}

MILWAUKEE {573,356}

DENVER {566,974}

LOUISVILLE {554,496}

NASHVILLE {552,120}

O.K. CITY {537,734}

PORTLAND {537,081}

TUCSON {518,956}

ALBUQUERQUE {504,949}

ATLANTA {486,411}

LONG BEACH {472,494}

FRESNO {466,714}

SACRAMENTO {453,781}

MESA {447,541}

K.C. {447, 306}

CLEVELAND {444,306}

VIRGINIA BEACH {435,619}

OMAHA {419,545}

MIAMI {404,048}

OAKLAND {397,067}

TULSA {382,872}

HONOLULU {377,357}

MINNEAPOLIS {372,357}

COLORADO SPRINGS {372,437}

ARLINGTON {367,197}

WICHITA {357,698}

PLUS

the entire population of IRELAND {4,109,086} as well as NICARAGUA {5,603,000} and NORWAY {4,770,000} and DENMARK {5,457,415}

then COSTA RICA {4,133,884}

and the entire population of GREECE {11,170,957}

and finally add the 62,000,000 people who live in FRANCE.

to EQUAL the 143,000,000 ORPHANS WORLD WIDE