Do You Hear What I Hear?

I stood in front of several thousand people at the end of last year and talked about God. I talked about how God loved us before we were born and made an entire universe just for us. I talked about how Nature could not do that and wouldn't/couldn't care. And I talked about how powerful, how huge and how consumed He is for our behalf.

And then the next day I promptly forgot what I said and ignored the Creator of the Cosmos whispering in my ear.

Oi, what a dunce!

Let me explain. After my talk in the main sanctuary at church, a wonderful lady came up to me and commissioned me to build a telescope for her beloved's birthday (I had introduced myself as an amateur telescope maker).

Oh joy! I've prayed for this for years! So she sent me a nice check and we swapped emails and phone calls on plans and ideas...what fun! I thought I had prayed for God's permission, but I think in my excitement I missed that step...

So the project started out with the wood I had purchased flying off the car and getting ruined. Then I couldn't find the time. Then when I found the time I had not one brain cell left over from my job to make an accurate cut, drill a clean hole or glue one board to another.

I prayed. And failed. And prayed. And failed.

Finally I cried out to God, "I don't want to tell her that I'm quitting! She's so excited!" In response, I clearly heard God say, "Don't worry, she needs the money. Tell her." I argued with God for a week and heard the same answer.

Finally, I got the guts up to tell her the "bad" news. She just laughed and told me that right after she sent me the check, she lost her job and God had clearly told her to cancel the order. But in fear of disappointing me, she let me flounder along for a month.

The point? If God created an entire universe just for me, and cares enough to speak clearly to me, I figure I ought to pay attention. And the same goes for my friend who heard but disobeyed as well. I won't have the fear of man, but rather the fear of God instead!

As the children's rhyme on ice cream goes, "She heard, I heard, we all hear what we heard!"

~Silly Jack

In the Beginning...

It's been quite the while since I have posted. I miss it very much. I will resume soon, because it is so good for my heart.

I do have two exciting announcements! The first is that we just sent our papers back for our house. As soon as we make our payment on January 1, 2010, the house is settled. Praise God forever more.

My second announcement is, "In the beginning..."

I have the incredible privilege to be speaking in the main sanctuary at Calvary Chapel Oceanside this weekend. I am inviting all of my friends and asking you to bring your friends (especially those that don't know Jesus) as we launch from Genesis 1:1 to outer space.

I will be speaking on how God's creation, His stars and planets and galaxies and astronomical evidence, all speak toward's God's unfathomable love for us.

If you'd like to take a ride through space and see God in it all, you may enjoy this. You can see a sample of the talks I give at www.StarryHost.com.

The services are:
Saturday, Dec. 26th @ 5:55 pm
Sunday, Dec. 27th @ 8:55 am
Sunday, Dec. 27th @ 10:55 am

You may also watch live on streaming Internet at: www.calvaryoceanside.org/recentsermons.html.

I hope to see some of you there.

Jack

Would You Rub My Feet?

As I adjust to my new life, I wonder and I ponder and I consider. I say to myself, "God, what do you want me to do? Am I doing all that you are asking of me? Am I doing enough? Am I touching the right people?"

In the midst of these Mt. Everest-sized questions, God is speaking in curiouser and curiouser ways.

"Would you rub my feet?" He asks.

Recently I went to my pastor's house who lives a few doors down. He had become very ill and I wanted to help the family.

So I show up at the house in grubbies with my mind set on something momentous like digging a new foundation for the house or taking out an oak tree with a dull plastic knife, or perhaps single-handedly re-working all of the plumbing in the house.

As I stood over my pastor, who had his legs elevated, he asked not for a mighty deed of heroism, but only this small request, "Would you rub my feet?"

What? Rub his feet? That's just plain weird. One man does not simply rub the bare foot of another man, particularly if that man is his pastor. It's just weird. And uncomfortable. And not manly like digging foundations.

"Really?" I stumbled. "Rub your feet?"

"That'd be really great, Jack. It would get my circulation flowing. Would you please rub my feet?"

So faced with the options of wimping out or showing my stupid manly hang-ups, I bent down, took his foot in my hands and begin to rub.

Soon we were joking about it and as his wife walked in and then his daughter, we all shared a smile and a tease. I simply quipped that this was Biblical and Mike asked me if I would then wash my feet with tears and dry them with my hair!

I realized that God had answered my prayer to serve. It wasn't service leading to the salvation of thousands and it wasn't in teaching from some pulpit. It was in the humbling act of responding to the request of a great man who needed his feet rubbed.

If the Creator of the Universe could wash His disciples' feet, I could tend to my pastor.

I recommend this. If you ever have the chance to do the smallest thing for the least of the Kingdom of God, jump out of your social boundaries and leap at the chance.

Mat 25:34 NKJV - Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I [was] naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

Mat 25:37 NKJV - "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed [You], or thirsty and give [You] drink? When did we see You a stranger and take [You] in, or naked and clothe [You]? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

Mat 25:40 NKJV - And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did [it] to one of the least of these My brethren, you did [it] to Me.'

And Debbie, please forgive me for those times when I did indeed, not rub your feet. I was wrong. And I love you.

Jack

Good Food

Have you ever savored a plate of food? I mean just sat there with your eyes rolling in your head, closing your eyes and concentrating on each morsel in your mouth?

I have. I did it the other day during lunch at work. If anyone saw me, they probably thought I was nuts, with my little yummy noises and rolling eyes and such.

Heck. Let 'em talk!

Jesus once said, Jhn 4:32 NKJV - ... "I have food to eat of which you do not know." Jesus' food was His Father's will. And I've got God's will available to me as well.

All through the day, when my tasks require concentration, multi-tasking and wading through, and when I get panicky that I'm not smart enough, I turn my chair 90 degrees and just take 30 seconds to read another Proverb from the open Bible on my credenza.

And bam! My Spiritual eyes roll up in my head while my soul makes yummy noises. Every bite becomes a feast of delight. For the tidbits that don't make sense at the moment, I store them in my heart. And then a verse later, God spoon feeds me what I need at that very moment. Instantly I have peace and clarity.

How joyous! How scrumptious! God's Word is a feast to be eaten throughout a too-busy work day.

I don't throw my Bible at people at work, but it is quietly available to me throughout the day. And I can't tell you the thrill of holding it for a moment in anticipation of the next great morsel.

I'm learning not to leave God at home, that He wants to spoon feed me gourmet meals all day long. And He is blessing me for letting Him be available to me all day.

I'm not wacky, say what you want. I have food I hope you know of!

Chef in Training,
Jack

Two for the Money

I'm amazed, but God blessed us with a 2nd interview on NBC. Apparently there was a huge response to the first interview so they wanted to do a follow-up.

I was so proud of Debbie as she stood there and said that our turn of events was all God. She's so faithful. And my children know it as well and that makes me happy to boot.

So, once again, I say thank you to those friends, acquaintances, strangers and unknowns for your patience, love and support. God moves us all like chess pieces and He moved you all in our favor.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of this blog to see the interviews if you like.

Gratefully,
Jack

Don't Panic

For two weeks I've been a human sponge, absorbing, learning, absorbing some more, extrapolating, questioning and overloading. Big emphasis on the overloading part.

New job, new things to encounter and learn. It's a brainful.

And then they asked me to do some important things in front of the team leadership and to do it very quickly. I panicked. It's one thing to learn, and another to actually implement.

So as I sat in my office rapidly realizing I needed help just walking through what I had to do, in comes one of my new friends at work. She sat down and walked me through all I had in front of me. And this in spite of her working 70 hour weeks on a huge deadline.

Her comment? Only this, "Don't worry Jack, I've got your back!"

Instantly I felt better, calmer, and rather than guilty, I felt comforted. She knew I am new and she knew that it is important for the team that I come up to speed appropriately, otherwise my failure becomes every one's failure. In short, her job was to train me.

How often God does the same thing I realize. He gives us an impossible assignment and then brings us through it.

He says, "Don't panic! Isa 52:12 NKJV - For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel [will] [be] your rear guard."

In other words, "Don't worry Jack, I've got your back!"

I've faced this situation so many times in my new job, but daily I fight that fear with the PROMISE that if God brought me here, He will make me succeed. That is so comforting.

The key is in the fight. Holding on to God's promise of being my rear guard and meditating on it gives me strength.

Then the fear flees far from me.

Don't panic.

~Jack

My Beaumont Friends

If any of my wonderful Beaumont Teacher friends are reading this, I miss you all terribly! Take good care of my Helena and Morgan.

I miss you all and will visit as soon as I can.

Love for all you do,
Jack

Two Worlds Made One

I am so blessed and I am so torn.

God has delivered me...to two worlds.

I daily live here on earth. And yet I simultaneously live in Him.

I am so torn, yet I am so blessed.

~

My job is going very well. Yet it requires all my thoughts for most of my day. I am finding favor among people and for that I am incredibly grateful. But it is not my skill set that is accomplishing the job, but an entire career of experiences that God has carefully orchestrated for dozens of years to get me to this point.

So every moment I am torn between pride and humility, between a cold heart and one that remembers my first love, between self dependence and total dependence.

God multiplies my thoughts. Where I as a human only have enough brain cells to operate in this world for this job, He doubles those brain cells so I can simultaneously live in this world and yet not be part of it. I hear the words of my boss and instantly hear the words of my Lord. I am glad in the successes I have and concurrently rejoice in Him who gives them.

I have new understanding and appreciation for the Scripture:

Rom 12:2 NKJV - ...do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Transform me, Lord. Transform me.

Jack

The Richest Man Alive - Joy

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This picture is a summary of my first week at work. That's me. Good for 3rd prize at the Halloween contest at the office and a new company mug.

I Have found that joy can come from many sources and be directed in many different ways. In this case, I had joy in my heart from making new friends and it was directed towards those new friends. It made me silly.

Back at my desk, I got my first paycheck. Talk about joy. I walked into my office, looked at the envelope and simply stared. A paycheck! A real live, honest to goodness paycheck!

I was the richest man alive.

The most wonderful part of my little moment was not thinking that I could go buy a badly needed new mattress for my oldest child, or perhaps a new astronomy tool for myself, or even a good meal for my wife on a date. The first thought in my head was gratitude to God. He had seen me through 18 months of joblessness and kept my house and was now providing success at a new company and a paycheck.

I was simply and profoundly grateful.

Frankly, it could have been for $100 and I would have felt this way. The fact is, it was not from my company, it was from Him. And I had joy. And I was not worried that I still have huge debts and a very rough uphill financial road to travel. I had a paycheck!

I could not wait to go home to tell Debbie and for us to decide how much to give back to God. And we did decide. And we decided where it should go. And we had joy together.

God owns it all: Psa 50:10 NKJV - For every beast of the forest [is] Mine, [And] the cattle on a thousand hills. And He slaughtered one of those cattle for us.

My heart has changed from, "I've earned this so I get to spend it how I want." to "This was Yours dear Jesus! You transferred it into my bank account so how do you want me to use it?". That change gives me joy, too. We've always tried to be generous, but there is a subtle difference now.

I like the new Jack. Keep molding me, Master Sculptor!

Your lump of clay,
Jack

There but for the Grace of God

Wednesday was the day our house was to go to auction. Debbie went just to make sure there were no mishaps of our home actually remaining on the list and selling.

It was surreal for her that she was even there. As she arrived she was still reflecting on the fact that God had stopped our house from going to auction. She looked around and tried to figure out where to stand and what to do. Then she noticed a nearby woman.

Instantly she recognized who and what she was. The lady's appearance, her wig and her quiet conversation said it all: she is a cancer survivor.

And there she was at the same auction as Debbie.

Debbie's eyes filled with tears as she overheard the stranger tell someone the same story as ours: joblessness, cancer, foreclosure. The only difference was that Debbie was there to watch God's miracle. This cancer sister was there to watch her house sell.

Debbie tried to go and console the woman but she simply couldn't. She was overwhelmed with the huge "close-call" of it all and the amazing blessing we received that this woman and her family did not.

Debbie called me and tearfully told me the story and ended it with, "There but for the grace of God go I." My heart simply broke.

We do not know God's providence for our lives, and we certainly cannot claim it was solely our righteousness or our prayers or the thousands of prayers that were uttered on our behalf. What we do know is that God changed history for us and that the body of Christ pulled together on our behalf and we have grown closer to Him who is light and love.

Somehow, someway, and for some reason God blessed His body today and we all (us and the hundreds who have prayed) have been blessed by our unfathomable and all loving Creator.

Thank you to Him and thank you to you.

Humbly,
Jack