“We live our lives
before the wild, dangerous, unfettered and free character of the living God.”
(Walter Brueggemann)
“Perhaps God, as
the Author of the Story we're all living in, would tilt the scale in a
favorable direction if we knew we could trust him. And therein lies our
dilemma. There seems to be no direct correlation between the way we live our
lives and the resulting fate God has in store for us, at least on this earth.
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, lives the life of a manipulator and is blessed. Jesus
lives for the sake of others and is crucified. And we never quite know when
we're going to run into the uncertainty of the part God has written for us in
his play, whether our character has significant lines yet to speak or will even
survive the afternoon.” Ransomed Heart 7/25/15
I finished a 2 part
series from John 15:1-11, “A Powerful Connection, A Powerful Transformation”,
today. Jesus was about to physically live this earth and He wanted to make 2 things
clear to His disciples: first, who they were before God (faithful followers), and
second, what He expected from them after He was gone (bear fruit – more fruit –
much fruit). As was Jesus’ method of teaching, He used a picture that was very
familiar to them, the vine and the branches. Last Sunday we looked at the
Powerful Connection – Abiding In Christ, and talked about the importance of the
branch abiding, staying connected to the vine. The vine dresser was responsible
for cultivating the vine and the branches by the pruning process. This past
Sunday we looked at the Powerful Transformation – Growing In Christ. The
vine dresser, and any farmer, knows that the greatest part of the “gardening”
process is seeing the fruit! And that is exactly what Jesus expected from His
“branches”, the disciples, and us as believers today. The fruit Jesus expects
us to bear is the likeness of Him, and to take the Gospel message to as many
people as we can. Their eternal security was at stake!
This message took
on a whole new meaning this morning, as the community buried a longtime
resident. The woman’s death was alcohol related. She was the aunt of our good
friends next door. Christie and I went to the funeral, which was held at the
Catholic Church. We were standing in the back of the small church as the family
and friends came in. I must tell you that heaviness came over me as I began to
think, “How many of these people in this church today are lost?” I was hoping
that maybe the pastor leading the service would bring some kind of hope in the
words he had to share. But sadly, one person read Psalm 23, a few secular songs
were played and sung, and the pastor read John 3:16-17 with NO comments at all!
What an opportunity! My heart just sank! I was so excited to share this message
this morning because I felt it was a message for this day, for this community!
If Jesus Christ is living in our hearts there must be a radically different way
we live our lives. We cannot keep silent.
We had a very
interesting “visitor” show up at our place this week. We were getting ready to
go out in the village and there was a knock on the back door. I went and saw a
man standing there at the top of the steps. I had no idea who he was. I opened
the door and the smell of alcohol was pretty strong. The man looked at me and
asked if Wayne was home. I said no, that he was out of town and we were staying
in his home. He was not very clear in his talk and almost fell back down the
stairs. He said that he usually came by and they had tea. I was not sure about
any of this and my gut reaction was to say we do not have any tea…thinking I do
not know this man or what he REALLY was doing here. BUT…I asked him to come in
and we would get him some tea.
I was very proud of
Christie as she watched him come in and sit down in what he called “his” chair.
He told us where Wayne would sit and where Rosemary (Wayne’s wife) would sit.
So we pretended to be Wayne and Rosemary! Christie fixed him a cup of tea and
we talked, well, I mostly listened. He told us his name. We asked him a little about himself but he basically talked
about what he wanted to talk about. During our conversation he said something
about some old Coleman stoves Wayne told him he could have. Not knowing
anything about this we called Wayne. When he answered I explained that his
friend was having tea with us. He knew this man and the story he told us
was true. I gave the phone to him and he talked to Wayne for a few minutes.
After I got the phone back I asked Wayne about the stoves. He said that was
something they discussed 6 years ago! But if he could find them he was
welcomed to them. He said that this man was a smart guy when he was sober, but he
was the town drunk! He said the guy knows not to come to the house drunk or
stoned. The man did mention that he had smoked some pot that day also.
I knew the best
thing to do was listen! And he had a lot to say, repeating some things
several times. Christie offered him some pizza but he did not want any. She
offered him some cookies which he excitedly took. He said that Rosemary always
had cookies for him. After about an hour, and two cups of tea, he got up and
said he had to go. He thanked Christie for the cookies. As he left I wondered
if this was going to be a regular thing since he knew that Wayne knew he came
by. I texted Wayne about this and he said he may come back. But he said to not
let him in if he was drunk or stoned, that he knows the rules! Wayne actually
wrote a little poem he gives to the people who seem to come by drunk…”If you’re
sober come on over! If you’re drunk stay in your bunk! If an a**hole you choose
to be, keep your good health and stay away from me!” He said they seem to
understand!
Little did this man know that we would meet again, sooner not later. The next day God was up to
some God things. Wednesday night the church sponsored a Ladies Night Out at our
house. My plan was to go to the library and work on my message for Sunday. But
God had other plans…I got to the library and there was a note on the door that
said, “Wednesday night volunteer librarian will not be here!” Ok, now what. I
cannot go back home because I would break up the hen party, I mean Ladies Night
Out! JUST KIDDING! So what are my options? I decided to go next door to the
laundry mat. They have a nice big table where you fold clothes…a perfect place
to spread out!
Several people came
in and out, mostly to use the bathhouse inside. We would speak. One man came in
and out three times. The last time as he was leaving he asked me what I was
doing. I told him I was preparing my message for church this Sunday. He said,
“Oh”, and kept on walking. A group of native ladies came in followed by a young
girl (13-15). They walked back to the bathroom. One of the ladies came back out
and we exchanged small talk. She asked me where I was from and why I was in the
village. I asked her how she knew I was not from the village. She said your
accent! I asked her where she was from and she said she was in town for the
funeral. In a few minutes the other ladies and the young girl came out. The young girl walked over to the table and asked if that was a Bible. I said yes.
She said that she had just gotten baptized the week before at camp. She got
saved a few weeks earlier and wanted to get baptized at camp. I told her that
was awesome and encouraged her to read the Word and spend time daily with the
Lord. I invited her to visit us at church on Sunday. She said she planned to go
to church every week. As the group left, one of the ladies stayed behind and
asked me what church I was preaching. I said McGrath Community Church. She said
that she used to go there until she moved to Kenai. We talked for a few minutes
and she left.
The person to walk
in next was, you guessed it, the man who had stopped by our house. You should have seen the
look on his face when he saw me! He walked over to the table and said a few
words, which I barely could make out. I asked him had he been drinking and he said sure. He asked me to watch his bag while he went to the
bathroom. When he came back he started a conversation about pot, saying that it
was better than drinking. He also said that you never hear of people on pot
killing people like people drinking do. I said that was not true, pot smokers
kill people too! I knew he was high, and probably would not hear, or remember,
a word I said but I had to share with him. I asked him why he wanted to waste
his life with alcohol and dope. He just looked at me and laughed. I told him I
was in the laundry mat that night to tell him that Jesus Christ loved him, and
wanted to help him get help! He said that my buddy, meaning Wayne, had told him
about religion and he had held on to a little of what my buddy had said. I
said, “Do you know that Jesus Christ died on a cross for you? Because He
loved you! I said I love you too and I came here tonight to tell
you that. He just looked at me with the emptiest look. He picked up his bag and
started out the door. When he got to the door he said when I am sober I will
come back and see you! Oh, what an amazing God we serve. He loves Jesse, and
wants Jesse to know that too! Please pray that I can talk to this man when he is
sober!
We had a couple of
cool mornings this past week and we fired up the Big Stove. Christie made a
batch of biscuits, fresh blueberry muffins and homemade bread. I am thinking we
may trade our electric stove in for one of these Bad Boy Wood Stoves. Christie
is getting really good at it! 
The highlight of
the week was visits by our special moose friends. The gardens around here are
really producing some very nice lettuce, broccoli, chives, herbs, very nice
leafy plants. Our moose friends are making the rounds and seeing what is on the
menu. The poor family across the street had this beautiful green garden
growing, but after Lucy Moose and her calf got finished, well, all that was
left was the stems! And they had a 5 foot wire fence all around the garden.
Lucy had no problem just stepping over the fence, while baby moose just pushed
it down! We learned that moose do not like the green leafs of the potato plant,
so you can plant them wherever you like and they will not touch them. You will
see gardens with rows of nice, tall potato plants and all the rows of the other
leafy plants all eaten down to the dirt!
There is another moose, Annie, who loves the small trees in our yard. She will always stop by the grill and check to see if we left her any treat on it. We had an unexpected guest “fly” by today. It was a gray owl. We will wait until we see it again to give it a name. Listing names now, thinking maybe Hoot would be a good one!
This week is a big week. Our Bible Clubs get started back this week after a VBS team was here last week. We have had a really good turn out so far. I am hoping that I can stir some interest in the church for someone to step up and take it over so when school starts back up the clubs can continue. We will also be hitting the streets this week and visiting. We are praying for receptive hearts as we knock on doors and see if we can help or pray for them in any way. The construction team arrives this Friday to start the final work on the parsonage. I will take some picture this week and post on the blog. We are in need of furnishings for the parsonage. The church has already purchased the stove, stackable washer and dryer, refrigerator and microwave. We need furnishings for the 2 bedrooms, and living room, as well as linens, towels, kitchen place settings and miscellaneous knick knacks (you ladies know what I am talking about). If you would like to help please make your check payable to McGrath Community Church and note on the check "Parsonage". Mail the check to McGrath Community Church, P.O. Box 82, McGrath, AK 99627.
One last thing before I leave...how would you like to have your quite-time each day with this view!
I will try to more
current with the updates. Hope you all have an awesome week!
Christie and Mike –
Bush People
