Rehab for the Soul, Heart and Mind

"My hat's in the ring! The fight is on and I am stripped to the buff!" Theodore Roosevelt

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, Strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31&32

I had a sifting experience, it was a testing of my faith and I would like to share with you some lessons from my heart and soul, so that you may be strengthen.

On August third, 2002 I had ridden my trusty old Honda Gold Wing to a Saturday morning wedding rehearsal. It was a beautiful clear day, the kind every biker dreams about. After the rehearsal I drove home with the pleasant thought of spending the day with Kim, my bride of eighteen years, and then returning to officiate the wedding. Life has a way of changing plans.

A young girl ran a stop sign in front of my motorcycle and I had no chance to avoid the collision. Without even braking I T-boned a little Ford and was thrown from my bike onto the moving car. I bounced off the hood and roof of the automobile and landed about thirty feet from the road in a broken and bleeding mess. I had two broken wrists, a leg broken in two places, a broken pelvis in three spots, a ruptured bladder, broken shoulder blade, broken sternum, injured lungs and many other injuries, cuts and bruises. Thus began new chapter in my life called recovery.

I went by helicopter to Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan. From ER, I went into surgery. From surgery I went to ICU and then a regular hospital bed. The hospital sent me home after two weeks to be cared for by the staff of Munson home care. The home care nurses, aides and physical therapists were the lifeline of survival for me for the next two and a half months. Then I was released to able hands of Munson outpatient therapy. Where I spent the next months healing under there care. This booklet is a collection of meditations and thoughts about rehab and the role of the heart and soul in recovery.

1. Never Let Anger or Frustration Rule your Thoughts
The Bible reading is Matthew 18:21-35.

"I will not permit any man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him." Booker T. Washington

"So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it." Colossians 3- The MESSAGE

It was very easy to think about all the pain the young girl caused my family. If only she had stopped at the stop sign! If only she would come and apologize for her careless driving! It is easy to find reasons to be angry and frustrated during recovery. The list is endless. We could be mad at the doctors, nursing staff, insurance company and many other things. As I got better I struggled with angry. I became healthy enough to feel my losses. Little things troubled me, such as not being able to open a jar or watching my wife put the on kayaks on the Jeep.

I soon learned that I could not afford the cost of angry. I needed to let go of my frustrated thoughts for the sake of healing. Anger only kills, it never heals. In a tearful night I gave my frustrations to God. I asked God to help me to I not fight for my rights and to give me the strength to choose forgiveness, hope and healing. As the anonymous proverb states, "Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured."

A young lady came to me for counsel. She was filled with rage because she had been diagnosed with cancer. She was anger with God, herself and any other person that happened to cross her path. I had been in the recovery for nine months and I could barely control myself as anger and self-pity gushed from her. Finally, my tolerance level failed and I declared, "Stop it! If you keep stuffing yourself with all this anger you are going to die!"

There was a moment of shocked silence and then a tiny voice said, "You're right." Then came the tears, prayers and healing. My painful recovery gave me the right to confront the deadly disease of anger.

2. Worry and Fear are Deadly Bed Mates
The Bible reading is Psalm 46.

"People who do not know how to fight worry, die young." Alexis Carroll

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

Everyone in recovery will be tempted to worry. There is lots to be anxious about! I had many fearful thoughts in my mind. However, this was the time in which I could not allow myself to fall into the mire of anxiousness. Worry was merely a red eyed demon trying to pull my soul and my body into the depths of death.

Franklin D. Roosevelt summed the powerful danger of fear in his inaugural address in 1933, "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Has fear or rather nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror paralyzed your recovery?

The big question is what do you do with fear and anxiety? You can not hide it. You can not stuff or deny it. You can not out run fear or out smart it. There is only one way to rid yourself of the dangerous cancer called fear. Give them to the only one capable of handling those fears-GOD. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 Remember when you cast those fears on God do not be a fisherman. Fisherman cast and then reel it back to themselves. You must cast like one who is throwing junk off a bottomless cliff. The distasteful object can never be retrieved. The opposite of fear is stillness and calm. When fear is running around in your mind, there is no place for peace. "BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD."

3. Faith is a Powerful Medicine "Faith is: dead to doubts, dumb to discouragements, blind to impossibilities." Anonymous

Hebrews 11:1 "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living." The MESSAGE

I worked as an associate chaplain for a few years. As I observed tragedy after tragedy in the hospital, I would often think: How do people make it without a faith in God? As I faced my own deep waters, I am so thankful for the deep faith that I had in God before I began to climb this mountain of Rehab. As a child I placed my faith in Christ as my Lord. From the days of childhood I have had a divine traveling partner. On that warm Saturday in August, God was there as I drove my Gold-Wing into the side of a young girl's car. He wept with me in ICU. God's warm hands were my only strength in a time of complete weakness. Martin Luther expresses what faith meant to my recovery, "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." I staked my life, my recovery and my healing on God and He was faithful.

4. Listen to Doctor Hope
The Bible reading is Psalm 33.

"It has been said that man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, and about eight minutes without air-but only one second without HOPE." Anonymous

"Life is like a bicycle. You don't fall off until you stop pedaling." Claude Pepper

"Be strong and take heart, All you who hope in the Lord." Psalm 31:24 NIV

Immediately after the accident, I laid on the ground as shock, pain and breathlessness overtook me. I had just enough sense to cry out to God to care for my family as I died. To my surprise, I gained consciousness in X-ray and was alive. In a cat-scan machine, while in overwhelming pain, I heard the voice of God whisper hope to my broken body. I felt God's voice declare, "Calm down, Tim I am not done with you yet!" The message was clear, I was going to live. I believe that this divinely given hope was the reason that I lived. Without that message of hope, I would have been doomed. The pain would have took my life without the shield of faith giving me hope.

As I laid in my hospital bed in a position of compete helplessness, it was very easy to give into the voices of despair. They cried that my situation was helpless. They wanted me to believe that I had no future and that all was lost. Many people had a role in my recovery. Doctors, nurses, hospital aides, physical therapist, x-ray techs, and many others. They all had their jobs. My job became to fight hopelessness and despair with every weapon that I could get my mind onto. Romans 12:12 taught me, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." NIV. I fought this battle of the spirit with praise, hopeful people, prayer and the words of encouragement of my family and friends.

Dutch Sheets wonderful book Tell Your Heart to Beat Again was a weapon against the enemy of hopelessness. He describes despair as hope deferred. He describes the beast of despair, "No one makes it through life without suffering hope deferred to one degree or another. It's the common cold of the soul, except that this virus can kill. The symptoms appear to varying degrees and in different forms, ranging from discouragement to depression, doubt to cynicism, and grief to suicidal tendencies. Hope deferred produces resignation, fear, unbelief, loss of passion, retreat from life and a host of other heart-disease maladies. It imprisons the soul."

Study this enemy called despair and fight for your life. Remember these words of Solomon from Ecclesiastes 9:4 "Anyone who is among the living has hope-even a live dog is better off than a dead lion." NIV There may be many wonderful doctors in your life and their skill maybe unequaled. Yet, every thing they do will not help unless you listen to the voice of Doctor Hope. Doc. Hope gives out prescriptions of peace, joy and lots of love.

5. Get Everyone to Pray
The Bible reading is Ephesians 6:18.

"More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"Pray continually..." 1 Thessalonians 5:17

"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." 2 Corinthians 1:1

As news of my accident spread people began to gather at the hospital to pray. I had story after story of pray chains, churches and individual that prayed for me. The children of Traverse Bay Christian School prayed for me on a constant basis and they were able to watch God's healing in my life. Each time someone came to visit, I would raise my broken arms to them and ask them to pray. This act of hope and faith of the very blood of life that kept me alive and lead to my healing. I wept with joy as a second grade class put their arms around me and prayed a prayer of thanks to God, because He had answered their prayer and I was walking.

I never understood the role that brokenness played in prayer till I was completely helpless. From a position of weakness I called out to God to be my everything. Hopeless to resolve my problems in my own strength, I turned to the source of all hope. E.M.Bounds wrote the book, Power Through Prayer, in this wonderful book he described praying saints in this way, "Prayer was to these saints what it was to Paul, striving with earnest effort of soul { Romans 15:30 }. Like Jacob, they wrestled and prevailed { Genesis 32:24-28}; like Christ, they gave themselves over to "strong crying and tears." They prayed "always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching with all perseverance" { Ephesians 6;18 }. "Effectual fervent prayer" { James 5:16 } has always been the mightiest weapon of God's most valiant soldiers." Get God's saints to pray at all times and in every challenge. Powerful waves of healing and hope flow from the prayers of his prayer warriors.

6. Rejoice in Every Little Victory
The Bible reading is Psalm 13.

"Be joyful always..." 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Focus on the little picture and leave the big picture to God. Your not able to see the end of the your treatment so do not waste your time and energy on hopeless thinking. My darkest days were when I was in my hospital bed in my living room, I was unable to care for myself in any way. Often I thought of the future in fearful ways. Negative thoughts came crashing on my mind. I wondered how I was going to provide for my family; If I would ever walk again; would I be able to play with my children. On and on the negative thoughts would pound my thinking. They left me sleepless, fearful and drowning in hopeless fear of the future.

I found hope in the small things. Some of my big accomplishments included rolling over in bed, holding a covered glass for the first time and taking a drink, crawling up the steps, taking a shower with the aid of my wife, going to doctor appointment and many thousands of other small victories. Each small victory was added to another small victory and soon I had some major breakthrough like walking.

I pray that I my never lose the joy of walking again! May this simple pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other, be a constant reason to smile. I walked into an ice cream place and told the people at the counter, "Look at me! I'm walking!" They replied with a polite, "That's nice." They did not see the miracle in front of them. But I know that walking is a gift from the hand of God.

7. Be a Selective Listener
The Bible reading is Proverbs 27:9,10,17.

"You can't hold a man down without staying down with him." Booker T. Washington

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Don't listen to hopeless people! Gather around yourself individuals that speak hope and belief over you. There were a few doom and gloom people in my life. These folks could find problems in the face of victory. So my injuries and challenges were easy targets for their words of hopelessness. I had to learn to turn off these negative voices. You can not afford to listen to the people of despair. Their words will eat away at your hope, like rust on a car.

I have a few ideas about how to stop the mouths of negative talkers. They include hanging up the phone, telling them to shut-up and turning down your hearing aid. However, there may be some polite methods to shut the mouths of doomers. Warn your love ones about these individuals and ask them to keep them from you. You can also politely listen for a moment and then move on. For the brave and bold, it can be very empowering to confront the despairing individual and explain the need for hope in your life. Then ask them to speak words of blessing or do not speak at all.

Remember, "The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit," Pr. 15:4. My bones had already been crushed by a Ford, so I could not afford to have words crush my spirit. As Jean-Paul Sartre states, "Words are loaded pistols." So stay out of the danger zone and keep all people that say stupid and thoughtless things at a very long distance.

Another important thing to avoid is negative media. It is the time in your life to stay away from all television, movies or books that have a negative impact on your spirit. Look for positive messages that lift your spirit and aid in your healing.

8. Speak Blessings over Yourself.
The Bible reading is Proverbs 18:14.

"God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty." Peter Marshall

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Words have power. Often, we speak negative words about are problems. These dangerous words break our own spirit. We must not call ourselves useless, hopeless or a loser. We must learn to describe ourselves in the ways that God describes us. Neil Anderson has a list of ways that defined followers of Christ. This list has often been the key to how I learned to value myself. Just a few things that we are in Christ include being a child of God, a saint, Christ's friend and many other blessings. Never define yourself by your failures, struggles and problems.

Define yourself by God's blessings and promises. Your language must be filled with the fruits of truth. Hope and belief need to flow from your lips.

9. Speak Blessings Over Others
The Bible reading is Romans 12:14.

"Never allow your own sorrow to absorb you, but seek out another to console, and you find consolation." J.C.Macaulay

"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others." Philippians 2:4

As I struggled it was easy to focus energy on myself. The whole world becomes narrowed down to just your problems. I had a elderly man recovering from a stroke come to me on my first day in outpatient therapy and encourage me. He told me in words that were difficult to form because of the stroke, that I was going to make it and that we would keep fighting together. That was a powerful message to my spirit. Always be on the lookout for ways to encourage others. Pass out words of hope to everyone you meet. Comfort others. "Rejoice with those who rejoice: mourn with those who mourn." Romans 12:15. Do not just seek to be comforted and encouraged, seek to comfort and encourage others. In ICU it was a privilege to pray with the family of the man in the next room to me.

Listen to the powerful truth in this anonymous quote, "When I dig another out of trouble, the hole from which I lift him is the place where I bury my own." Often, the only hope for healing is to reach out to others and be part of their healing. A miracle occurs, everyone is healed! This healing also gives us a new calling- to be comforters. As J. Henry Jowett instructs, "God does not comfort us to make us comfortable but to make us comforters."

10. Always Thank Everyone for Everything
The Bible reading for today is Luke 17:11-19.

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." Dante Gabriel Rossetti

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV

If you are overwhelmed with anger, frustration and self-pity, you will not be able to thank anyone for anything. All your thoughts will be self-centered and you will not be able to utter a thank you, even in the face of the most gracious act of kindness. Fight the thoughts of self-pity by thanking everyone for anything. Thank your doctors, aides, nurses, family, visitors and anyone else that crosses your. Thank God for every breath! Hope and thankfulness are beautiful twin sisters.

In the gospel of Luke, chapter 17, the story was told of ten lepers who were healed of leprosy, yet only one came back to Jesus and fell at his feet praising him for his healing. May we be the one leper who came back to thank Jesus. I had broken bones, bruises and many other painful injuries, yet I was responsible to obey 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." In a hospital bed it is easy to know what God's will is for you in that place, it is to express thankfulness with every breath of your being.

11. Never Make your Accident/Injuries your Identity
The Bible reading is Ephesians 1:3-14.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 1 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Never become your injuries or issues! It is a huge temptation to become one's problems. If one has cancer, their identity becomes one who has cancer. All they do and think about is their cancer. You can not get them to talk or think about any thing else. If you has a broken pelvis, you become a guy who has a broken pelvis but you are not just a broken pelvis. You had a identity before this accident and you will have a identity after you heal. These injuries are just something that happened to you, these injuries are not what define you. Your accident or that wheelchair do not give or take anything valuable from you.

I have meet some people in Rehab that have replaced their soul with their problems. Their issues dictate there feelings, conversation and purpose in life. They have no time to think about others or reach out to any one else because they have become totally self-absorbed. They have become grumpy and filled with self-pity.

Be interested in others and reach out to any one you can help. Spend a little time writing down your true identity and ask God to help you to live in Christ. It helped me to talk out loud to myself and tell me that "I am not a broken, hopeless mess but rather I am a child of God, who has been blessed with hope, purpose and God's loving hand."

This applies to every one who has a issue, challenge or addiction of any kind. You are not a drug addict! You are not a man with a troubled business! You are not just a divorcee! Do not label yourself by your past, failures or struggles or you will helplessly return to them. You must rule your challenges never let your injuries rule you. If your problems are your identity then you are a big problem. If your problems are merely something that is happening at this moment and by the strength of God will some day be a thing in your past, then you have the perspective that heals.

What if I have a problem that will not go away? My hands will never be the same. I may need the assistance of others the rest of my life. However they are not me! My broken hands do not make up my dreams, values and convictions .They do not define my future! My future is in the hands of God, who wants to bless me and give me a hope that is sure. Therefore, I can fearlessly live, love and care for others because God has got me covered!

12. Work like Your Life Depended on It
The Bible reading is Philippians 1:3-6.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men," Colossians 3:23 NIV

"Work as if everything depended upon your work, and pray as if everything depended upon your praye. " General William Booth

In April before my accident, I had traveled to West Virginia to go with water rafting with my son and some close friends. As we received the pre-trip instructions, there was a new instruction about how to return to the raft if you fell overboard. In the past the white water guides had told us to put our feet downstream and float with our feet up till we came to a safe spot. However, some rafters had floated into very dangerous spots and some had drowned, just by floating into a danger after there had fallen into the rapids. So the new instruction was to roll onto your stomach and swim to the nearest safe spot as quickly as possible. The guide explained, "Swim as if your life depended on it."

It is so easy to give up and not try in physical or occupational therapy. However your recovery depends on the effort you put into it. It may hurt or be uncomfortable. You may be embarrassed or frustrated, but you must keep on trying with every bit of energy and strength that you can that you can find in the depths of your heart. Work at your recovery as if your life depended on it because it does. So you can join Winston Churchill and say "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." Yet if you offer this mix of tears, blood, effort and sweat to God, the reward is joy as you toil with hope as your faithful partner in recovery.

13. Never Let Setbacks or Frustrations Rule Your Thoughts
The Bible reading for today is Philippians 3:12-14.

"We are not at our best perched at the summit: we are climbers, at our best when the way is steep." John W. Gardner

"...But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.." Philippians 3:13&14

You will have your good days and your bad days. Some days will be so painful that you will feel like surrendering to hopelessness. If you get on the roller coaster of "good days and bad days", you will be in a constant state of changing emotions. Each bad turn will swirl you deeper and deeper into despair. Your hope is not based in what is happening at the moment. It is not your job to be worrying about the big picture, your job is to keep hopeful in the small picture. The small picture is what is happening at this very moment. God's job is the big picture, your job is the small picture. As Henry Ford said," Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

I was afraid that I would never walk again, because I could not just get up and walk. My therapists broke it into small goals. First I learned to walk ten feet with a walker and then twenty feet, until nine months later I was walking. As I progressed in my recovery, their where painful days that I could barely do a fraction of what I had done before in therapy. Yet these days where not hopeless setbacks but rather disappointing days that I had to forget and move on from.

14. Listen To Your Care Givers
The Bible reading is James 1:19.

"It takes a great man to give sound advice tactfully, but a greater to accept it graciously." J.C.Macaulay

"...let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance." Proverbs 1:5

Here is a very short but important devotional thought-LISTEN!!!! As a rather normal man, I am the type of man that struggles with stopping for directions. I would think of it as a great personal failure to need to read the directions. As well I often think I have a better idea. In a time of recovery one must humbly except and follow all instructions given by your doctors and therapists. To overcome your brokenness in this time, you must brake your prideful do it your way spirit.

15. Weep
The Bible reading is Psalm 126

"Sorrow is like a precious treasure, Shown only to friends. " African Proverb

"Jesus wept." John 11:35

I have never been a good crier. I have been embarrassed to cry and felt that it was not a manly thing to do. The accident solved that issue. Tears are my precious friends. Often, only tears can express the sorrows of the soul. Never be embarrassed to weep and do not every worry about making others uncomfortable with your tears. Tears can be considered an investment in your recovery. Each tears cleanses the pain and grief and prepares yourself for further healing. As Psalm 126:5&6 declares, "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him."

As I recovered, I often would weep. One day on the way to therapy I began to cry. My wife was helpless to stop the tears. I wanted to stop crying but I could not begin to comfort myself. I just kept on crying. As I wept in therapy, a very caring therapist told me that on some days the best thing one can is cry. I am so thankful for the people in my life that were not embarrassed by my tears and excepted the cry of my broken body as part of my healing. If Jesus could weep so can I.

16. Laugh
The Bible reading is Ecclesiastes 3:4.

"The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient, while nature cures the disease." Voltaire

"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." Job 8:21

I love to laugh. Yet after my accident I had trouble laughing. I am so thankful for the doctors, nurses, physical therapies, friends and family that could see past my injuries and laugh and tease me. When I came home from the hospital, I had a pelvic fixator on my hips. It made it very difficult to laugh without pain. I was watching a book reading by Garrison Keeler on T.V. It was a painful mistake. Garrison was very funny and I began to laugh and laugh. It was the deep belly laugh and caused some serious pain. It was worth every painful second.

17. There is Great Power in Weakness
The Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.

"When a man gets to despair he knows that all his thinking will never get him out. He will only get out by the sheer creative effort of God. Consequently he is in the right attitude to receive from God that which he cannot gain for himself." Oswald Chambers

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Romans 12:9 NIV

I have always believed that I am a man of faith and prayer. Yet, I have always had a back-up plan if God fails. There was always something that I could do. My power, abilities and ideas were always part of the equation. I became totality helpless and without the ability to do anything for myself. The redemptive moment came as a confessed my complete weakness to my Sovereign Lord. God is able and I was not capable. I had no other choice but to lean into the faithful arms of my Lord.

18. Praise Cures
The Bible reading is Psalm 150.

"Shout for joy, O heavens;
rejoice, O earth;
burst into song, O mountains!
For the LORD comforts his people
and will have compassion on his
afflicted ones. " Isaiah 49: 13 NIV

Often, I could not sleep as I laid in my hospital bed. Troubled thoughts swirled about in my mind. Fears and doubts would seek to attack my soul. The weapon that would comfort me and transport my heart to a peaceful place was praise music. Praise caused me to enter God's presence and leave my earthly woes at the doorsteps of heaven. As I joined into the praise, I had a choice to either be filled with anger, fear and sorrow or enter the presence of God and leave these issues in the capable hands of the King of Kings. One can be filled with praise or one can be filled with fear but they can not be filled with both opposing spirits. Second Timothy states, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." NIV Not only can praise cause fear to flee, it can cause hope and healing to fill your life. Go on-pick out your favorite praise CD-Play it loud!! Sing LOUDER!! Lift your hands to God and praise Him!!

My Lips Will Praise You
by Twila Paris

My lips will praise You
For You are holy
My voice will ever
Rise before Your throne
My heart will love You
For You are lovely
And You have called me
To become Your own

Hope is Highly Healthy
The Bible Reading for Today is Psalm 42

"Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles." Samuel Smiles

Dr. Walt Larimore has written a wonderful book entitled, The 10 Essentials of Highly Healthy People. It is a great book filled with lots of wisdom. If you need a resource book for your walk back to heath, this is the book. In his chapter called Lighten Your Load, he writes about our need to follow the essential of reducing Sadness. SAD stands for stress, anxiety and depression. As you recover you will discover that this evil trinity wants to control your life, thoughts and future. The good doctor has four antidotes to a poisonous attitude. These antidotes include hope, gratitude, humor and kindness.

For today’s devotion I want to focus on the hope antidote. Dr. Larimore stated, "The longer I practiced as a family physician, the more I was able to recognize and diagnose an insidious killer-hopelessness!” After this bold statement the doctor declares a cure. They are still looking for cures to many diseases, but this awful killer called hopelessness has a 100% cure rate, if you take the medicine. “Hope is healing, and one cannot be highly healthy without the hope antidote-which springs first and foremost from a personal relationship with God."

If you do not have a personal relationship with God, please go to my home page and hit the word HOPE and that section will show you how to put your faith in Jesus.

One last quote from this section, research on hope by C.R. Snyder, a clinical psychology professor at the University of Kansas reported, “Hope really pays its dividends when there are stressful events in life. When something goes wrong, [high-hope people] don't conclude they're stupid or dumb, as a low-hope person would. They say, 'Hey, I didn't use the right strategy. That gives me a clue as to another way to go about this.'" Bottom line: Snyder's research showed that people who have hopeful outlooks do better in almost all aspects of life, and they experience less stress.

This principle applies to everyone in rehab; we do better with hope in our life. Check out the Doctors web-site, it is found in the resource section.

Forgiveness is Healing

Forgiveness is Healing

Ephesians 4:31,32 “ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you.”

“But you don’t know how much this person hurt me! You say. You’re right. We don’t, but Jesus does, and He tells you to forgive others for your sake. Until you let go of your anger and hatred, the person is still hurting you. You can’t turn back the clock and change the past, but you can be free from it. You can stop the pain: but there is only one way to do it- forgive from your heart.” Neil T. Anderson

People often ask me, if I have been able to talk to the girl that hit me. The answer is NO. I never had the honor of confronting the person who brought so much pain and broken bones into my life. And that is OK! If I met her today, I would tell her that,” it is good with my soul. I am not angry with her and that all is forgiven.” I believe that physical healing can be slowed or hurt, if we harbor bitterness and unforgiveness in our souls against the one who hurt us. I needed to release the right to be angry and bitter at her, so that I could get to the important work of healing. Bitterness will make me into a victim. A victim says, “ Someone hurt me so I will focus on the injustice and sorrow of such a careless act.” A forgiver says, “ The moment that the crash was over, I needed to forgive so that I could take personal respond ability for my recovery.” Do not let unforgiveness stop your recovery! To quote Neil Anderson again,” You are going to live with those consequences whether you like it or not, so the only choice you have is whether you will do so in the bondage of bitterness or the freedom of forgiveness. No one truly forgives without accepting and suffering the pain of another person’s sin.”

I Choose Freedom!

I Choose to Forgive!

I Choose Life!

I Choose Healing!


SEEK HIS FACE

Seek God’s Face

Psalm 27:4, “My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.”

I often struggled with being consumed with thoughts and prayers about my recovery. The first thought on my mind was about my pain and me. I wanted to talk to both God and man about my broken bones. I am a storyteller, so my temptation when hearing a great story is to try to top it. So it was often hard to hear the pain of others because, I would want to say-“You think that’s bad, well I have a story to tell you.
So if it is hard to hear others, it is really hard to hear the voice of God. Matthew 6:33, states, “ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “ In the face of a long recovery filled with pain, it was very hard to live these verses.
Yet, we must make seeking the face of God more of a priory in our life then seeking healing. I had to come to the place that I surrendered to God’s will and said, ‘ If I never walk again that is OK, I except your will.” In the words of Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” My recovery is not as important as my relationship with Christ.
I have meant people that have made their problems, marriage conflicts, injuries, pains and troubles the focus of their life. They talk only of their issues. They seek others to pray for only their healing. They never ask any one to pray for them to have a deeper trust in the sovereign God. The passion of their life is not God; it is escaping their troubles. We need to obey First Chronicles 16:11, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
There are two types of christians, first there are those who are seeking stuff from God and second, there are those that are seeking God. Are you seeking His face or His hands.

So if the cancer returns-Seek his face!

If you lose your job -Seek his face!

If he or she walks out on you –Seek his face!

Whatever the trouble- Seek his face!

2 Chronicles. 18:4, “…First seek the counsel of the LORD.”

Psalm 9:10, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

Psalm 34:10, “ The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

Psalm 40:16, “But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, The LORD be exalted!”

Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Hebrews 11:6, “ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

There is a song that expresses the truth of praising God before seeking healing. It is by Beth and Matt Redman. Listen to both verses as they express the point that we must praise God in the good and the bad.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in
Lord still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

"The love of God is simply unimaginable. "May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may love be the root and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of God himself."[Ephesians 3: 17-19]
Do we really hear what Paul is saying? Stretch, man, stretch! Let go of impoverished, circumscribed, and finite perceptions of God. The love of Christ is beyond all knowledge, beyond anything we can intellectualize or imagine. It is not a mild benevolence but a consuming fire. Jesus is so unbearably forgiving, so infinitely patient and so unendingly loving that He provides us with the resources we need to live lives of gracious response. "Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine." [ Ephesians 3:20]."
The Ragamuffin Gospel
Brennan Manning

If you want to hear a great message on “Seek My Face” contact New Hope Community Church and ask for the October 3rd 2004, message by Pastor Dave Standfest.

Self-Pity Kills

Self-Pity Kills

“Milton the blind, who looked on Paradise!
Beethoven, deaf, who heard vast harmonies!
Byron, the lame, who climbed toward Alpine skies!
Who pleads a handicap, remembering these?”
Violet A. Storey,
Tea In An Old House

“ If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.” Isaac Singer

I was often tempted to wallow in self-pity. I love flowers and had planted some flowerbeds around my home. My wife, Kim was often given compliments on my flowerbeds. As if only women work with flowers. The accident took away many things, including my ability to work in my flowerbeds. When my overburdened wife would wheel me out to rehab or to a doctor’s appointment, the first thing I would notice was my flowerbed in a state of disrepair. I would forget everything that was happening and all that my dear wife was doing for me and fall into a deep state of self-pity.
I would whine and complain. I would think of the injustice of having weeds in my flowerbeds. I would view it as some kind of cosmic crime against my love of flowers. My daughter said that she was going to blindfold me every time I left the house, if I did not stop whining about the flowerbeds. It would have been a great lesson for me to blindfolded by my twelve year old.
Once, I fell into the pit of self-pity, I could never look out and notice all the wonderful and beautiful things happening around me. I forgot all about being thankful and my attitude reflected only the negative side of life.
Self-pity is not part of the language of healing. Those who are spinning their life-wheels in the slimy pits of hopelessness and defeat sing it. However, it is a very natural reaction to pain and brokenness. How do you fight this demon of self-pity? I really enjoyed the book by Mitch Albom called Tuesdays with Morrie. Morrie kept saying, “Love each other or die.” I believe that you love the Lord your God with all your soul and then love your neighbor as yourself. But that is not the point I wanted to mention from the book. Mitch asked Morrie if he felt sorry for himself. “Sometimes, in the mornings,” he said, “That’s when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move- and I morn what I’ve lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I’m dying. But then I stop mourning.”
Just like that?
“I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I’m going to hear. On you-if it’s Tuesday. Because we’re Tuesday people.”
I grinned. Tuesday people.
“Mitch, I don’t allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that’s all.”
I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few tearful minutes, then on with the day. And if Morrie could do it, with such a horrible disease…
“It’s only horrible if you see it that way,” Morrie said, “ It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye.”
Morrie caught the secret to living and dying, limit self-pity. A deeper look would have revealed that Morrie had very little self-pity. What he called self-pity was really grief. It is important to mourn our losses. I had some great cries, which was a healthy thing for me. There were times that I had to forget that I was a pastor and just mourn and weep.
However, grief and self-pity is not the same thing. Self-pity is defined as, ”pity for oneself, a self-indulgent attitude concerning one’s own difficulties.” A healing person cannot afford the self-indulgence of self-pity. It is like the drunk to alcohol or the addict to heroin. It will kill them. Self-pity has the ability to kill life and leave the person alive, but in a state of hopeless survival.
Grief can be defined as, “Keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss.” I am not asking one to live in denial. Sorrow must be expressed! Yet self-pity is never part of healthy sorrow. We must express our grief but not dig a pit of hopelessness and jump into it. One cannot heal themselves or others if they have only a self-centered focus.
There is a time that I needed to get my eyes off the weeds and onto the gifts God gave me.
Thank you Lord for the gifts of family, hope, healing, beauty, worship, friends, your word, peace, life, eternal life, grace, the cross, forgiveness, mercy, my daughter, my son, my neighbors flowers, ice cream, babies, wild life, sunsets, rocks, Cedar trees, laughter, tears, the color green, Lake Michigan, Blue Jays, my dog, PT’s, doctors, OT’s, Fall, rock-climbing, snow skiing, good books, grapes, Mexican food, little towns, eagles, kayaking, a loving kiss, touch, snow-days, snow shoes, Jeep, cards, Spring, peaches, pie, steak, black squirrels, green grass, crocuses, roses, Summer, fishing, salmon on the grill, choir, old songs, Winter, walks with my wife, caregivers, winter squash, tomatoes, chicken soup, hot sauce, Sunday school, motorcycles, new songs, violets, chipmunks, spiritual warfare, reading, white water rafting, prayer, healing, pig roasts, weddings, romantic evenings, loud music, hiking, the Grand Canyon, horses, apple cider, doughnuts, the Boardman river, frogs, gardens, Chinese food, camping, old cars, canoes, children’s pictures, sailboats & Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Psalms 1118:21, “ I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.”

First Cor. 15:57, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Colossians 3:17, ‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

First Thess. 5:18, ‘…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

A Tribute To Jan

A Tribute To Jan

“ A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” Christopher Reeve

Psalm 31:24,” Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”

Psalm 62:5, “ Find rest, O my soul, in God alone: my hope comes from him.”

Let me take you to a different place, a nursing home in Traverse City, I am sitting by the bed of a woman that has fought a fight with M.S. for over thirty-one years. Now a new enemy is attacking her fragile body. Cancer has joined M.S. in its endless attack on the life of this old saint. I hold her hand and pray the Lord’s Prayer and she utters the final words that I will ever hear her speak, “Thank-you.” The next morning Jan is dancing in the presence of God.
I had meet Jan five years before as I began my duties at New Hope Community Church. I was assigned the duties of visiting church family in nursing homes. So from time to time I would stop in and talk and pray with Jan. But what could I say to one in a nursing home fighting such a horrible disease as M.S.. She helped me out. She did not want to whine about her pain or rage about her disease. She had better things to talk about to a visiting clergy. She wanted to talk about faith, she wanted to pray for her family and wanted to find out about what God was doing beyond those nursing home doors. It was very clear that her hope was in God.
The real power of hope comes from God. Philippians 4:7 explains,” And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Soul peace is the most powerful weapon to live a meaningful life. Science, research and medicine will all fail but God’s love and hope never fails. After I learned that Jan was fighting cancer as well as M.S., I went to talk with her at the nursing home. She told me that her faith was strong and declared in an unusually strong voice three times, “I Believe!” I think she wanted this preacher kid to understand without a doubt that her hope was in God. I asked her what her favorite song was? She went through a lot of possibilities and finally, settled on “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Listen to these words-

Great Is Thy Faithfulness
O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not,
Thy compassions, they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their course above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope foe tomorrow-
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Jan’s hope allowed her soul to rest in God.
Let me explain it another way. Last week I went to visit a friend in prison. He was new to the prison system and this was my first visit with him all locked up. So I had a lot of questions. He seemed very peaceful as I visited. He told me that he had made a decision to not place his hope in getting out. That he was not going to live for the next court date or parole hearing. That he was going to be content in the situation. Then in told me that he met the most remarkable Christian in prison. This man expressed the presence of God everywhere he went. He smiled. He prayed. He welcomed newcomers to prison. He led Bible studies. This man was a powerful force for the kingdom of God and he had been in prison for thirty years. This unknown man of faith learned to put his hope in God not in deliverance from prison. Therefore, he was truly free to express God’s love to everyone.

Many of us need to say with the Psalmist, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” [Psalm 42}

What is your hope in? Doctors?

They fail.

Medicine, escape, science, research, government, deliverance, lawyers, technology, counselors, rehab ?

They fail.

Put your hope in God.

JESUS-the name above all names

Jesus

“Jesus is all we have; He is all we need and all we want. We are ship-wrecked on God and stranded on omnipotence!” Vance Havner

" Follow me; I am the way, the truth, and the life.
Without the way there is no going;
Without the truth there is no knowing;
Without the life there is no living.” Thomas A Kempis

Are you doing recovery in Jesus’ name? Your only hope in Jesus!
Are you taking that next step in Jesus’ name? Your only hope is Jesus!
Are you taking that surgery in Jesus’ name? Your only hope is Jesus!
Do you endure that endless pain in Jesus’ name? Your only hope is Jesus!

Do not go to rehab or the hospital or to your doctor’s office or anywhere, without this being clear. This challenge is not about you! You cannot manage your problems! It is only by the power of Christ in you that you can do anything. You can only move forward in recovery by the power of the King of Kings! I have been teaching a Foundations class at my church, please this wonderful description of the name of Jesus.

The Name That is Above All Names

Philippians 2:9-11, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

As believers we live in his name!

We are anointed-James 5:14
Forgiven-1 John 2:12
Baptized-Acts 10:48
And justified in his name-1 Cor. 6:11

We assemble in his name-1 Cor.5: 4
We bear his name- 1 Peter 4:16
Believe in his name- 1Cor. 1:2

In his name we give thanks-Eph. 5:20
Have life- John 20:31
Preach-Acts 8:12
And suffer-Acts 21:13; 1 Peter 4:16

We do everything in his name-Col.3: 17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
From Foundations, A PURPOSE DRIVEN DISCIPLESHIP RESOURCE by Tom Holladay and Kay Warren

Who was He?

by Michael Bird

To the artist He is the One Altogether Lovely
To the architect He is the Chief Cornerstone
To the astronomer He is the Sun Of Righteousness
To the baker He is the Living Bread
To the biologist He is the Life
To the carpenter He is the Sure Foundation
To the doctor He is the Great Physician
To the educator He is the Great Teacher
To the farmer He is the Sower and Lord of the Harvest
To the florist He is the Lily of the Valley
To the geologist He is the Rock of Ages
To the horticulturist He is the True Vine
To the judge He is the righteous One
To the juror He is the True Witness
To the jeweler He is the Pearl of Great Price
To the editor He is the Good Tidings of Great Joy
To the oculist He is the Light of the Eyes
To the philosopher He is Wisdom
To the printer He is the True Type
To the servant He is the Good Master
To the student He is the Incarnate Truth
To the toiler He is the Giver of Rest
To the Sinner He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world
To the Christian, He is the Son of the Living God, the Savior, the Redeemer and Lord!



Spiritual Heart Disease

Spiritual Heart Disease

Heart disease is #1 killer in America. In fact, according to the Cleveland Clinic, coronary artery disease, or heart disease as it is commonly known, affects over 12 million Americans each year. Of these, more than 1 million will ultimately suffer a heart attack. And, with all the recent attention on the growing obesity epidemic due to overeating and a general lack of physical exercise, these conditions continue to grow at an alarming rate.

Conversely, I submit to you, that “spiritual heart disease,” - - or a hardening of the heart - - is also the #1 killer of the full and abundant life that God so desires for his people. I suggest this to you, not from the perspective of the heart surgeon, but instead as one who is himself a survivor of spiritual open-heart surgery.

In the past few years, God has clearly revealed to me that there are at least four -- and there’s probably more -- key truths that can help us to avoid a spiritual heart attack, or perhaps even worse, a more subtle, lethargic and indifferent heart.

First, I believe that we must understand that we all are born with a natural propensity to contract spiritual heart disease. The prophet Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Proverbs reminds us that we are often deceived by our own motives, “All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:2) And the apostle Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 7:10)

The second truth we must understand is that it is God who purifies our heart - - not us in and of ourselves. In the Psalms we observe that King David cried out, “Create in me a pure heart O’ God and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10) Later in that same psalm, David articulates what God really desires of us when he says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart O’ God, you will not despise.” (Psalms 51:17) And when we repent in true brokenness, God is faithful. He willingly grants a new heart. The prophet Ezekiel tells of God’s desire to do just this when he wrote, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

Thirdly, our actions, words and thoughts are an early warning indicator of our heart’s condition that we must constantly monitor. Luke’s gospel reveals that, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.” Proverbs tells us that, “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” (Proverbs 28:19) What about you and me? What do our hearts reflect about us?

Finally, Proverbs reminds us that, “Above all else, to guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” We must guard the health of our heart by seeking the face of our Great Physician. Just as we see our earthly doctor for regular check-ups, we must also ask God to regularly assess the motives of our heart as the psalmist did when he petitioned, “Search me O’ God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:24-25) Again in Proverbs, we are reminded that, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but it is the Lord that weighs the heart.” God will reveal to us the condition of our heart every time we humbly seek him for a check-up.

So what can we conclude? Without a doubt, Satan seeks to render us ineffective with spiritual heart disease, to cheat us of the full and abundant life that we could otherwise be enjoying. So, just as with our physical hearts, we need to lower our risk for spiritual heart disease through a healthy diet - - a diet of his Word, time in prayer and meditation and disciplined exercise - - the exercise of our spiritual gifts. All the while, we must avoid unhealthy habits or behaviors that put our hearts at risk. We need to renew our hearts with his word so that we can humbly claim, as the psalmist did that “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

Simply stated, we only need to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

James B. Teela
October 14, 2004

What Sobriety and Being With God Means

On Mondays I shephard Celebrate Recovery Care groups. One night a men's step group came to me with a piece of paper. It had the things that being sober and finding God had given them. I will type the paper out as given.

What Sobriety and Being With God Means

TRUST
PEACE
CONTENTMENT
SANITY
LOVE
REAL FRIENDS
UNSURPASSED JOY
FREEDOM
ACCEPTANCE
ETERNITY
SELF RESPECT
TRUE WISDOM
PERSECUTION
TRAILS AND TESTS
VULNERABILITY
AUTHENTICITY
FELLOWSHIP
APPRECIATION OF BEAUTY OF THE EARTH
PURPOSE
VISION
MISSION
HOPE
QUIET & SERENITY
CHARACTER
STRENGTH
ENDURANCE
RESPECT
LOVING YOURSELF
STEWARDSHIP
NO SUICIDE THOUGHTS
MONEY IN WALLET
DISCIPLINE
REFINEMENT
PHYSICAL HEALTH
NO ANXIETY
BETTER RELATIONSHIPS
FORGIVENESS
BLESSINGS
MORE PURE THOUGHTS
CLARITY OF WORLD AROUND YOU
DISCERNMENT
HONESTY
HUMILITY
INTEGRITY

My thoughts on this list is that God gives good gifts to those that seek him with empty arms. Real freedom is not found in alcohol, drugs, sex, money, things-etc. Real freedom is a gift from the God who has good plans for you.

I Was A Bum

I Was A Bum

One day I received a phone call from Lake Ann Camp, asking me to play the part of a homeless person at a youth winter retreat for a downstate youth group. The camp staffer stated that I was the only person that he could think of that would do such a thing. What he really meant that I was the only one stupid enough to do such a thing. So naturally, I said “Yes”.
I began to prepare for this new challenge. I took a old wool jacket out of my dog’s house. It was disgusting and filled with dog-hair. I bought a Bud T-shirt. I pulled out my oldest and most dirty blue jeans and rubbed the winter dirt off my van with them. I went to the tool and die shop that my wife worked at and picked up the empty ash-trays and picked up all the empty cigarette packs. I filled the pockets of that dirty wool dog jacket with cigarette packs and rubbed in the cigarette ashes onto the jacket. I went to the local costume shop and bought a teeth make-up that yellowed my teeth. My teeth had the worse fuzzy gross feeling. I didn’t wash my hair for a few days and then put Vaseline in it. A friend gave me a little bottle of bow hunting juice. He told me not to put it on till I saw the bus of kids.
So I was ready to play the part of an undercover bum. I waited one night at a gas station, it was raining a cold wet snow. I was freezing! I heard the large church bus approach the station. I opened the little bottle of deer juice and placed a few drops on me. UGH!! I smelt like a buck had urinated on me.
The youth pastor left the bus for the station. That was my clue to make my move. I hurried to the bus and knocked on the door. It opened and then it closed. A female youth leader had run down the aisle yelling, “No, no close the door!” I knocked again. This time the youth team sent out the biggest youth leader that they had. I told him how cold and hungry I was. I asked if I could ride with them and how hopeless I felt. The big sponsor spoke in a deep and firm voice, “Beat It”. My assignment to get on the bus was not working! So I went to plan two and began to beg the big boy for mercy. He said that I could talk to the youth pastor. The man gathered all his youth sponsors in a circle and let me tell my “sorry homeless” story. I told a story of hopelessness, hunger and cold. The youth pastor said “ We can’t leave him out in the cold, let’s take him to the camp and see what they can do. His youth staff looked at him as if he needed brain surgery. He received the most evil look from the female leader that had closed the door. The noisy bus went quiet. I set down next to the only kid without a seat-mate. Jason was his name.
We had a lot in common, no one wanted to sit by him either. The girl in back whispered to Jason in a loud whisper, “Jason are you afraid?” The big youth sponsor sat across the aisle from me. He was guarding me or was he guarding the youth?
The youth pastor had told me to bring nothing and come a mess. So I had no towel, toothbrush, soap, food, clean clothes, toothpaste, shampoo, sleeping bag or any other thing. The plan was for the youth group to supply my needs. By bedtime I had received only an offer of a banana. I had secretly asked some kids for some smokes. They told me, “We go to church and we don’t do stuff like that!”Nice kids. The youth pastor had brought a extra sleeping bag for me, if I received nothing. Well I received the full course “NOTHING”. As he bought the bag to me, Jason told him that he had forgot his sleeping bag. So now I was sleeping with my dog’s old jacket. The reason we have outdoor dogs is that I am allergic to dogs, especially dog hair. So I slept on a cold mattress in a cold cabin in the winter with only that dirty jacket for warmth. As the evening progressed I had full allergic reaction, watering eyes, itching and deep choking fits.
I was told that else where the girls cabin had a prayer service for their safety. The kid in the bunk next to me stayed awake all-night. He told me at the end of the weekend that he knew karate and planned to use it on me if I got out of bed. What sweet kids.
The theme of the messages where What Would Jesus Do? During each chapel I acted bored and pretended to sleep. The youth pastor had placed the exact number of chairs as kids in the chapel, plus two extra chairs. During the three chapels the two chairs next to me where always empty.
During a devotion time where the youth group went off by themselves to have a time with God, another youth sponsor came to me and handed me a tract. I was excited! I have never had anyone try to witness to me. I had a bunch of questions to ask about salvation and God. However the youth sponsor merely said, “You ought to read this, sorry if you can’t read.” and left on his mission to meet with God. I was now angry, I felt homeless and rejected! I wanted to yell, “You idiot! I’m a ordained pastor with a masters degree.” I stayed in character but that,” bitter chip on the shoulder- homeless look” was real.
I counted my losses in my mind- dirty body, gross teeth, sleepless night, itchy eyes, greasy hair and a very bad attitude. At the last chapel I was going to be the speaker. So I pretended to sleep during worship, with no one in the seats next to me. The big sponsor was sitting a few chairs away, keeping a close eye on the bum.
The youth pastor announced that they had a special speaker for this chapel, Since there was no unknown person in the crowd. They were confused! Then I stood up and stretched. The pastor introduced me as Tim a pastor from Traverse City. The group sat in silence. Then they began to talk. The big guy said that he planned to go to town to buy me carharts. Others talked about what they planned to do to help me. My thoughts were,” Yep, sure, I believe this trash.”
After the chapel ended without me ever talking [ I really had nothing nice to say.] A whole bunch of the leaders and youth came up to talk to me after the service. A few of them wanted to express how sorry they were for how they treated me. The youth pastor’s wife was one of them, she was the sponsor that closed the bus door and gave him the evil eye when he let me on the bus. The youth pastor was one brave kid, he had not even told his wife about the bum.
One girl said the most unbelievable statement to me. It went like this, “ I’m sorry! I would have helped you if I had known you were a pastor.” She missed the whole point of the weekend! I was shocked! Sometimes we Christians are very dumb that is why God compares use to sheep.
As related to my accident, I often felt the same way when I was in a wheelchair. Some folks would talk to my wife and not involve me in the conversation. Some folks talked in a child voice to me. I guess they thought that all folks in a wheelchair were stupid. Watch it folks, do not get your brain on a wheelchair. The Bible says in James 2:1-4,” My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” It can be found in the Old Testament, Lev. 19:15,” Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great,..” or Proverbs 21:13, ‘If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.” And the Lord plans to meet the needs of the broken and hurting, Isaiah 61: 1-3, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. And provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” If you see a bum or someone in a wheelchair, remember that this is one that may be used by God to express His splendor.
He blessed me with a healing that expresses the glory of God!
Hebrews 13:2, is an interesting verse,” Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” So God must do the same thing as that youth pastor. That bum maybe not just be a pastor but an angel.


Jesus Gets It!

Jesus Gets It

Hebrews 4:14-16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Jesus gets it.

Here is the same verse from The Message, “Now that we know what we have-Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God-let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all-all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”

Jesus gets it!

One of my Physical therapists told me about a great little lesson she had to learn while in training. A teacher assigned her the task of living in a wheelchair for a weekend. She had to learn what it felt like to be confined to the limits of four wheels. She felt the many emotional challegences of the handicapped and experienced the physical limits of the disabled. She said she sure learned a lot. However, many disabled would argue that a week-end in a wheelchair is merely a small lesson; try the challenges of a chronic health issue and then you will begin to understand - what it means to be disabled.
Jesus’ life and my PT’s class lesson cannot be compared either.
As I think about the Father sending Jesus to earth as a man, the contrast between the assignment and the mission of Christ become very obvious. Her task was to learn some lessons about being disabled. However, Jesus had the mission of becoming a man. Jesus became man in the little town of Bethlehem. He took on flesh and bones. He was not an undercover God, who merely disguised himself as a human. He was a real man. He chose to set aside his divine powers and be totally a human. Jesus gets it!
One can try to be an Eskimo by going to the Northwest Territories and living as an Eskimo. He could feel how cold it feels to live in that environment. He could understand their joys and sorrows. He could learn their language and eat their food. He could learn their customs and even love them. Yet, he will never be the very essence of an Eskimo. He will not have Eskimo blood in his veins and see through Eskimo eyes. Jesus became the very essence of a human. Real blood and real pain. He saw through the eyes of a human and human blood flowed his veins. He bruised. He wept and laughed. Jesus gets it!
What about me, could I understand what Jesus did? I became part of the disabled community in a very real way. I left the healthy life for a hospital bed. I felt the pains and sorrows of wheelchair life. I still remember the pure terror of taking a wheelchair through a grocery store. I know what it is like to not be able to get up and walk. I do recall the fears and despair of wondering if I will walk again. I was dependent on others for my daily needs. This trauma and recovery has changed me forever. I am drawn to anyone in a chair and if I see someone with a fixater on, I must talk to him or her. I still feel rage if I see a healthy walking person park in a handicap spot. I have a lot to offer someone that is going through trauma recovery, as far as advice and counsel. But my time as a handicapped person does not compare to Jesus becoming a man.
First, I never choose my accident. It was in an accident! No one in a sane frame of mind would choose a motorcycle accident. I am very careful as I drive-today, because I have experienced the pains of trauma and injury from an accident. Jesus choose to come to earth. It was an intentional act of love. Jesus came in obedience to the Father to save mankind. As a child many of us learned, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” With out Jesus we are doomed! He was on a rescue mission for our souls! “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [Colossians 1:13] Jesus gets it!
Second, I was trying to get out of my mess. I had surgeries, rehab, doctor visits and lots of medicine to try and cure my problems. Jesus wanted no cure for being human; instead he became the only cure for sinful mankind. He prayed, “. Not my will but thine.” This is the Father’s purposeful plan of redemption. Jesus gets it!
Third, he came to live and to die for all mankind. I could merely offer help or counsel. Only, Jesus can give the gifts of eternal life and salvation. “It is Finished” said Jesus and then he died. What was finished? The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world was offered. No other sacrifice for redemption is needed, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:18,19 Jesus gets it!
A final thought, once a woman came to me for some council on her divorce situation. I hopelessly tried to counsel her, but as we talked, she got louder and louder. I fruitlessly tried to calm her. I’m male and my first reaction is to run in fear from an emotional female. She began to yell, “Tim, do you get it!!” and “Tim do you understand!!” Well, I did understand that I could never understand the rejection and sorrow of a broken marriage. No, I do not get it. My only desire was to guide her to Jesus, who does understand rejection and sorrow.

JESUS DOES GET IT!!!

In Max Lucado’s book entitled “Come Thirsty” he gives a beautiful prayer that expresses this truth.
“ Lord, I come thirsty. I come to drink, to receive. I receive your work on the cross and in your resurrection. My sins are pardoned, and my death is defeated. I receive your energy. Empowered by your Holy Spirit, I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. I receive your lordship. I belong to you. Nothing comes to me that hasn’t passed through you. And I receive your love. Nothing can separate me from your love.”
Jesus gets it!

Do Broken Bones Give A Broken Spirit

Broken Bones and Brokenheartedness

Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. To proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

“How else but through a broken heart? May Lord Christ enter in?” Oscar Wilde

Does broken bones, divorce, trauma or any other trouble cause one to have a broken spirit. I have a simple answer“NO!” Some of the most prideful, angry, bitter folks I have ever meant were disabled. Some of them felt that disability or troubles gave the right to have a bad attitude. Cancer does not give grace, but I have seen graceful people with cancer. Trauma does not give out the gifts of hope and peace, but I have seen hopeful, peace filled people in the middle of crisis. In fact sorrow, suffering and pain have the potential to make you a self-centered blob of angry passions. As Warren Wiersbe says, “The sorrows of life do not create problems they reveal them.” Dr. Henry Cloud writes, "Grief that is ignored turns into depression or hopelessness. Hurt turns into cynicism, lack of trust, or worse. Anger turns into bitterness and hatred." In the depths of our evil nature is found pride, bitterness, unforgiveness and many other character issues. One of the best ways to bring these evils to the surface is a crisis. Like a hurricane that stirs the waters and pulls junk and mud from the depths and deposits it on the surface, so those pains reveal the real character of a soul.
However, crisis and pain can become the path way to true peace. However, it is not a direct route. One does not just get in an accident and miraculously become a better person because of their trauma. It is a choice made by the heart and the soul. I choose hope and reject despair. I choose peace and reject anxiety. I choose faith and reject bitterness and fear. I accept brokenheartedness and reject pride. I accept life as it is not as I want it to be.
Once you embrace a broken spirit you are free to receive the most important things of life, such as serenity. At AA meetings the Prayer of Serenity is often prayed. This prayer is the old way of expressing the concept of brokenheartedness. Read out loud the entire prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr-

The Prayer For Serenity

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is;
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen

Let’s look at the prayer through the eyes of broken person-

“God, grant me the serenity”

A broken spirit allows us the faith to ask God for a gift of serenity, it gives us peace instead of a selfish begging for things.

“to accept the things I cannot change”

Brokenheartedness leads to serene and peaceful acceptance of our circumstances.

“the courage to change the things I can,”

A broken soul gives the humility needed to make real change. Pride causes us to remain in a stubborn state of denial. We refuse to see the reality that we must change or pride makes us bitter because of the changes that we must accept.

“and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Brokenheartedness is the eyes and ears of the soul which give the soul the needed wisdom to live a life of Godly discernment. A discerning spirit is not a character trait of a prideful man.

“Living one day at a time, “

Brokeness allows to live each day without the overwhelming obsession and fear of the future.

“enjoying one moment at a time;”

A broken spirit takes away the restlessness that keeps us from enjoying the moment.

“accepting hardship as a pathway to peace”

Without a spirit of broken-heartedness one can never hope to accept hardship as a pathway to peace, Instead we fill ourselves with self-pity, rage and bitterness. It is not easy to look at pain, cancer or troubles as a pathway to serenity. Yet the choice is between peace or bitterness. Only God can grant the wisdom to except such a pathway.

“taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is;”

Brokenness allows the humility of character to follow the sacrificial example of Christ. Instead of hating sinners, we reach out in grace. In stead of raging at the dark ,we risk lighting the darkness with hope.

“not as I would have it;”

Brokenness allows us to see that this is the only choice. Instead of selfishly whining about our rights, we accept the truth that life will never be as we selfishly would want it to be like. Instead we embrace each new day as a gift from God and fearlessly live out our lives in a God given spirit of adventure.

“trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to your will;”

Broken people can pray the first part of the Lord’s prayer and mean it. “Our Father, who art in heaven hallow be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” Broken folks know that God is in control.

“so that I may be reasonably happy in this life”

Brokeness allows us to not make the endless pursuit of happiness our life. We know that life will give us a dose of sorrow, pain and lost and we serenely accept that from God.

“and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen”

One who is broken knows that this life is not the end. We look forward to being in the presence of the almighty one day. That is where we look for real happiness.

The Eight Recovery Principles

The Eight Recovery Principles Based on the Beatitudes

One of the most helpful recovery nets that was in place at the time of my accident was the Care Groups that I shepherded at New Hope Community Church. Members of these care groups nursed me back to life, prayed for me and were my example of recovery as I walked down the broken path of recovery. The eight Celebrate Recovery principles were written to guide those in the bondage of addiction to the promise of recovery. Theses principles are based on the beatitudes from the sermon on the mount. The eight principles became a useful guide in my healing process. I have four rehab principles based on the eight. Follow through the principles with me. The eight principles by Pastor Rick Warren-

Principle 1-
R=Realize I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.

“Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.”

R=Realize that I’m not God; I admit that I am powerless to heal myself and that I can not manage my recovery in my own power.

Principle 2-
E=Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover.

“Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”

E=Earnestly believe that God exists and my pain matters to him and that he has the power to help me recover.

Principle 3-
C=Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

“Happy are the meek”

H=Hope only in Christ’s care and control. Give Him complete control of my healing.

Principle 4-
O=Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust.

“Happy are the pure in heart.”

Principle 5-
V=Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects .

“Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires”

Principle 6-
E=Evaluate all my relationships; Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others except when to do so would harm them or others.

“Happy are the merciful” “Happy are the peacemakers”

Principle 7-
R=Reserve a daily time with God for self examination, Bible readings and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and gain the power to follow His will.

A=Always be ready to forgive, restore broken relationships, seek self-examination, read his word, praise God and discover & obey his will. Do every thing I can to keep the destructive vices of bitterness, unforgiveness, anger and rage from by soul, so that my recovery can happen in all aspects of my being- physical, emotional and spiritual.

Principle 8-
Y=Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.

“Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.”

B=Be a healer. Let your words and actions bring comfort, encouragement and hope to others in pain.


Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Lord, Teach Us To Pray!

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer –ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this;”

“Our Father in heaven.
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best-
As above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The Lord’s Prayer from the Message.

My leadership team during combined prayer at Celebrate Recovery night had a very interesting discussion about prayer. We were praying for Diane Cran and her family. She has had a long hard fight with cancer, how do we pray? Do we pray for the miracle? Is it a lack of faith if someone we pray for is not healed? Can someone in a wheelchair, be able to walk, if they only had more faith?
There is nothing more painful then to pray for a relationship to be saved and then go to divorce court or pray for a healing that never happens. Often we learn that nothing can be done. So, we pray for the miracle! Sometimes, demanding that God do the right thing and heal. Then we stand at the graveside asking, “Where were you God?”
First, we must understand that prayer is never the changing of God’s will. Our prayers must be the obedient, faith-filled prayers of God’s children seeking His will. So the question needs to be asked, could it be his will, that his children die? Yes, or every funeral service becomes a service about failure of faith, instead of a reminder that each of us will pass this way.
I have seen some Christians in hospitals; become the source of awful soul pain for those struggling with a loss. They say simple statements like, “Ask God for more faith, and then He will heal.” Or they seem to have some type of magical God formula that needs to be followed according to the directions and if you do not follow it just right, guess what-God cannot help you. Sometimes in the face of no miracle they just blame the hurting one for the fact that their prayer was not answered in faith.
As a hospital chaplain I watched one such person enter an ICU room and declare that God had told her that this one would be completely healed. Then she led the hopeful family in a loud and bold prayer of faith. However, she was not there the next day to mourn with the grieving family. Her words made God seem like a cruel promise breaker.
The second time I arrived at Church in my wheelchair after my accident, I experienced such a moment in my own church. I was proud that I was able to get out bed and get into a wheelchair and go to the church that I loved so much. I had missed months of church and my church family was covering me with hopeful statements and love, when I was told by one in my church family, “You’re a pastor, where is your faith, get up out of that wheelchair and walk.” My joyful return to church was trashed by a painful and thoughtless remark. It was a miracle that I was alive! I learned that I could praise God in a wheelchair. Every bit of life is a miraculous grace from the hand of a sovereign loving God.
Does God still heal? YES! I always pray that everyone I meet is healed. I have stories of healings that God gave others and me. Just like the blind beggar He heals fellow beggars today. I don’t put my faith in a healer my faith is in Christ that heals.
Does he always heal? NO. In the physical sense we are not always healed. So why do we struggle with this issue?
I think some of us have forgotten about eternity. This life is all there is to us. Cancer and other diseases becomes an enemy that will take us away from the only life that seems real to us. We view death as only loss and sometimes, we view death as a failure of our faith. Jesus taught that physical healing is not the priority of His kingdom.
When Jesus saw the paralytic man, who was let down through the roof, he forgave his sins first. The physical healing was nothing compared to the spiritual healing. Jesus told his disciples, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell…” [Luke 12:4&5]. Death is not to be feared! After death true life in heaven awaits those who have faith in Christ. After death true death in hell awaits those who reject Christ.
Remember that God says, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” [Psalm 116:15] Very few of us could say with Paul “Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.” [Philippians 1:23, The Message] I think we have our life invested in this life, so if we die we leave it all behind. Listen to Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-worse! -stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” [The Message] Hey, everyone let’s all sing a loud chorus of Sweet Beulah Land! It might be time to reinvest. Get your heart treasure invested in the Kingdom plan! Don’t diversify your investments put all the riches in eternity.
Erwin W. Lutzer writes in his book One Minute After You Die, “ And so while your family tends to your funeral, you are beholding the face of Christ. Through the family weeps at your departure, you would not return to earth even if the choice were given you. Having seen heaven, you will find that earth has lost all of its attraction. As Tony Evans says, “Have a good time at my funeral, because I’m not going to be there!””
What about having a physical problem that isn’t healed. Is that due to a lack of faith. One of the most remarkable healings I have ever seen was on a pagan, who can barely grasp that miracle of their life. I still pray that he does not waste a miracle on a life lived for himself. So faith is not the only factor in God choosing to heal. We do pray in faith that God can heal and will heal. However, our faith needs to be in a good God that can choose not to heal us. Can you praise God while in pain and suffering? Or do you believe that God must heal you and that He is cruel unless your life is comfortable.
Paul had a thorn in the flesh that was not healed. This sinful world needs to see Christians living by faith with cancer, in a wheelchair and content in God, despite the pain. The gifts of God are much better then mere health. An unhealthy body cannot keep one from peace, serenity, hope, joy and the abundant life. When we pray that God’s will be done and His kingdom come in our lives. Then we must be ready to claim whether by life or death- God be glorified!
I only found peace in my recovery once I prayed “God your will be done whether I walk again or not.” Then I was free to heal without anxiety or fear about the outcome because it was in God’s hand.
Stop the presses! While writing this article I learned that a dear friend died. On Tuesday, Diane Cran went to be with the God that she loved so much. She had battled cancer for years. I had prayed many times for this beautiful gal to be healed. Now, she is whole and with the Lord. She told my senior pastor to not fail her at her funeral. People were not to dress in black. She wanted praise songs sung. She wanted Pastor Dave to preach a gospel message to her family and then give an invitation. It was a beautiful funeral service and a beautiful life.
About a week before her death I stopped by to visit Diane on a Sunday afternoon. Some of her family was there and they asked to receive communion. We did a little scavenger hunt and found every thing needed for communion. It was a very intimate service filled with love and tears. At the end of the family communion service, I asked Diane what her favorite song was? She loved praise songs. She told me “Shout To The Lord.” I tried to sing it with the family and led the worse rendition of the song ever. I knew that I was awful, but she smiled. Later on her sister thanked me for singing the song, she said that they laughed all day.

So no matter what is happening to you always remember to “Shout To The Lord!”

Remember he will return soon with a shout.

I’m Home Now

I’m in my eternal home now! It’s all true! This place is absolutely magnificent. Human words cannot explain it. And I’m so alive, so free, so happy, so perfectly content. I’m home now! My mind is clear, all pain is gone, my hopes and dreams have all been satisfied the moment I left earth’s shores and landed here.
Thank God—I’m home now! There are no misunderstandings in this place! No anger, no harsh words, no hurt feelings, no selfish acts, no problems on my part or that of others. I see plainly here and although God’s will was sometimes hard for me to see on earth, here it is beautifully perceived.
Praise the Lord—I’m home now! Sorrow is foreign to this place and I have yet to see anyone weeping. And the friends that I’ve met, you wouldn’t believe. And they seem so different and so gracious. I’ll probably spend half of eternity talking to them!
I’m home now! The greatest thrill was to see my Savior—face to face! If I could cry I would, but I’m just consumed with such joy and love that it defies comprehension. Mortals on earth cannot know it. It is just unexplainable! I’m home now! I’m filled with God’s glory and with His radiance. I’ve found that talking to people on earth about Jesus has made the inhabitants of this place extremely delighted. They said that I would meet some of those I brought to the Savior later on. That gave me rapture because I now know what this abode is like. So I’m home now! If I could speak from this side to your side I would say that the old adage is never out of date. It goes, “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” And in parting let me say, don’t ever pity me, or shed bitter tears, I’m better off now than in all my earthly years. I’ve started my new life and it’s been worth it all. I trust I’ll meet you again here. Maranatha! I’m home...now! I’m Home!

Source unknown


Breaking Free From Grumbling

Grumbling/ Grumbling/Grumbling-How To Break Free Of The Grumbling Cycle
“O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.” William Shakespeare

Exodus 17:7, “And he called the place Massah [means testing] and Meribah [means quarreling] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not.”

The Israelites grumbled and grumbled, they were never satisfied with God’s provisions in the wilderness. Pastor Dave preached a great message on this subject on October 31st 2004. Grumbling can be such a huge temptation as you recover. Here is the main points-

1.Get a better perspective on life. Do you have an, “Everyone has to take care of me attitude.” Some people think life is an entitlement for me. I deserve “this” and I deserve “that”. Reality is that there is always a huge chasm what we expect out of life vs. what we get out of life. Biblical perspective is that we are to be thankful in all circumstances.

2. Get a greater gratitude for life’s provisions. As the old song states we need to “Count Your Blessings, name them one by one.” A grumbler is never happy with what they have. They are never satisfied or happy with the “What” or “How Much” of life. They always sing, “Why me Lord!” This sinful world needs to see the best possible poor, ill, healthy, rich, etc. persons that they can see. If a Christian can not face the challenges of life with a thankful spirit, how will the world ever see that our faith is real?

“When one’s flesh and bones are full of aches and pains, it is as natural for us to murmur as for a horse to shake his head when flies tease him but nature should not be the rule with Christians, or what is their religion worth?” Charles H. Spurgeon

3.Have a deeper trust in the faithfulness of God. A grumbling spirit reveals a heart devoid of the truth that God Is Faithful! “But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15. Listen to Paul as he explains how to be content whatever the circumstances. [Philippians 4, from the message.]

“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”

That is the secret of defeating grumbling learning that “ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”[Phil. 4:13] and that, “ My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

A final warning –God has his limits! Never test the limits of God’s grace by your complaining spirit.



My Testimony- Armor Bearers

ARMOR BEARERS – “A TESTIMONY”
By Pastor Tim Manzer
4/27/03

It was pretty ironic that two weeks before my accident, at the biker blessing for those of you that remember that, there was a drama and I was biker man, the invincible, the all-powerful biker, and two weeks later I was helpless man.

It is an honor to stand before you once again. I would like to read from 1 Samuel, chapter 13, starting with verse 16. Verse 16 “……………………………………………………………………. This passage represents to me so much of where I have been; let me explain that to you. The valley they were in. The defeat was so bad that only two men had swords on the day of battle. I don’t know about you, but if you are going to line up in battle against an enemy and all you have is two sword you are in trouble. It’s a bad day. The fact of the matter is if you wanted to get your sickle or plow sharpened, you have to go to enemy and they would charge you an enormous price. In fact as you read the passage you gather that they had no intent of going to battle. They were going to spend all of their time underneath a pomegranate tree whining about how bad things were.
Well recently, in August that’s when, I hit a valley. Well it was really a Ford. She failed to stop at a stop sign and I had that (snap of the finger) much time to react. At full speed we collided, and I became completely disarmed.
Now I have always been somewhat of a rough tough character. Not as tough as Pastor but I was up there. As a college student I worked as a mountain guide in New Hampshire and I loved it. Did all those ‘big tough men’ things. Met my wife while guiding for a summer on a river in Ontario. Always knew myself as the man going from adventure to adventure. Shortly before this, in April, I talked some of you into going White Water Rafting with me in West Virginia. I took you in April because nobody else is stupid enough to do that, and you guys didn’t know better. It’ll be great! Little did they know why people don’t raft in West Virginia in April, it is because the water is great.
I have always been that kind of a person. Even as a pastor I depended upon my own wit and wisdom, my own giftedness, ability to talk and ham it up. We talk about trust in the Lord, but rarely has the moment been when I haven’t been able to rely on something. But I found that moment.
A couple of weeks ago I was at Belle Tire, first time I had done an errand by myself without Kim keeping watch. We compromised on the motorcycle thing and I went out and bought myself a Jeep Wrangler. The top comes off, you can get air in your face, but it has a roll bar, seat belt and double air bags. So I will be driving around in that with bugs in my teeth.
But I am there at Belle Tire, and there is one other customer in the store, the lady looks at me and asks what happened? I told her I was in a motorcycle accident. She said, in Thompsonville? I said, yes! She said, my best friend was the first man on the scene.
Now I have tried to go back and thank everybody, but this man was not findable. His name was on the accident report but unbeknown to me he had moved to Minnesota since the accident. This was the volunteer fireman who ran from his vehicle to help, he saw the accident happen. She said, well you have got to call him he thinks you are dead. So I called him and thanked him, a unique conversation from a dead man now living in his mind.
I broke my pelvis, my leg, ruptured my bladder, broke my shoulder, my sternum, mangled my arms, punctured my lungs, a lot of bad stuff. I was in intensive care completely disarmed. Just like Israel was.
When you are disarmed, if I can give you one piece of advice, don’t listen to the voices of hopelessness. Don’t listen to the cry of pain. They are not good voices.
Now, my voices were not from any discouraging person, they were from my own head and my own pain. Thoughts like: now you did it. What are you going to do? How are you going to raise your kids? How are you going to earn money? How are you ever going to get better? Hopelessness roared in my mind. Don’t listen to those voices. Saul had begun to do that. They didn’t go to battle. You don’t go to battle hanging out underneath a pomegranate tree. I don’t think so. They were sitting in the shade. Sitting around and grumbling.
By the way if you know me really well, you will soon find out that I am a whiner. I’ll tell you what the problem is. I won’t whine to you unless you know me really well, but once you get to know me, I’ll tell you if your tie is ugly. Kim knows. Kim knows that whenever I have been sick that I am the worst person to be around. I grumble, I complain, I am miserable and I want everybody to be miserable around me. Come into my presence I will ruin your day.
But I had whole new level of problem on my hands. We weren’t dealing with the flue anymore. And I had to fight for every bit of hope I could find. Now Jonathan separated himself from his dad, and those voices of negativity and chose hope. He chose to not wallow with the fellows of despair, but to move forward in victory.
But I want to point out to you a participant in this story that we overlook; it’s the armor bearer. He is a remarkable fellow. Jonathan is going to go up to battle by himself, and he says to his Armor bearer, hey, let’s go up and take them on by ourselves.” Now this Armor Bearer is one incredible fellow. He says to Jonathan, “I am with you heart and soul.” Think about it. They had two cliffs to climbs to face the enemy. I worked as a mountain climber. That’s what I did for living. I taught rock climbing when I was in college. I know what it is like to climb a cliff, but I do not know what it is like to climb a cliff carrying somebody else’s shield and sword. That’s what this young man did. He picked up the sword and the shield and the spear and said, I’m with you, let’s go. Jonathan had the easy job. The Armor Bearer had the real job.
When you want to come out of the valley of despair you have got to find an Armor Bearer who’s behind you. You have got to find an Armor Bearer, someone who says; I’ll carry your weight. I’ll bear your burden. You can lean on me. I’ll pray for you. I’ll stand behind you.
I see a unique co-operative in this thing that I have had to experience. There is a divine/ human component here. Somewhat of a Trinity here. Jonathan and the Armor Bearer had to move forward in faith and take on the enemy in obedience to God. Then there is that God component where God acts in their behalf.
When can you be an Armor Bearer? When you pray, at the prayer time of our church on Saturday morning, you are Pastor Dave’s Armor Bearer. When you mow that elderly person’s lawn down the street, you are their Armor Bearer. When you baby sit that child of that single mother for free, and say, I’ll help you tonight, you become her Armor Bearer. It is in the acts of kindness, that we ought to do, that we stand as each other’s Armor Bearers. Do you get it?
Now, walk away from the voices of despair, step to the cliff and start climbing, that’s what I had to do. When I came home they had removed every bit of furniture from our living room. We live in a tri-level home and I could no longer go upstairs or downstairs. There were places I didn’t see, including the shower for months. In place of our living room furniture was placed a hospital bed and trays. And immediately Munson Home Care attended me to.
Immediately the stepping out in faith had to happen. When my home Physical Therapist said to me; well, Tim it is time to get up. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it seemed like a thousand miles from possibility. He gently worked with me. I remember sitting up for 30 seconds, they were timing it, sitting up for 30 seconds and seeing the room spinning around, and laying back down and thinking to myself, I can’t even sit on the edge of the bed.
In the middle of the night I would wake up; at midnight, one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock; all night long. Thousand of thoughts spinning in my mind. And fortunately one of you hooked up Satellite TV to my home and I got Angel Net. I could turn it on and listen to praise music in the middle of the night, and only then would the thoughts stop and would the faith begin. Little by little I began to move forward.
I wrote something, and the reason I wrote it is I know I can’t say it unless I wrote I and then read it, so here it is. I wrote a little thing called “You Are My Armor Bearer”. I have to warn you that when I wrote it I cried the whole time.

YOU ARE MY ARMOR BEARER”
You were my Armor Bearer when you stop to aid a broken traveler.
You were my Armor Bearer, Doctor. As you used your skills for healing, your years of training, your sacrifice, and your willingness to answer the call, made you my Armor Bearer.
You were my Armor Bearer, friend, when you prayed for me. When you spent the night in the hospital room with me. When you sent a card or visited me. When you brought me a meal. Mowed my lawn. Weeded my flowers. Built my wheelchair ramp. Cleared my driveway of snow. Took me to my Doctor appointments. Fixed the things at my house. And spoke words of hope and encouragement to me.
You were my Armor Bearer, nurses, as you cared for me with compassion and skill.
You were my Armor Bearer, aids, as you cleaned, washed, and made me feel human.
You were my Armor Bearer, therapists, as you took my broken body and gently began to strengthen weak muscle and push me forward to healing. When I could not step you stepped with me.
You were my Armor Bearer, Pastor, as you prayed over me, and as you let me know that you wouldn’t give up on me, and showed that you were willing to rehab a Pastor.
You were my Armor Bearer, family. You were my hope in the darkness. You were my calm in the storm, and my rest from the pain.
You were my Armor Bearer, Kim. You were my helpmate, friend, counselor, protector, devoted lover, late night aid, driver, cook, medical advocate, and at some point you did everything possible that anyone could do for another.
You were my Armor Bearer.

I purposely chose to be very short and concise today in how I spoke. The climb of my cliff has been very long though. When I was a mountain guide I climbed primarily in New Hampshire, and the guys who climb the cliff first get to name the rocks they climb. I don’t know if you have ever done that or experienced that part of culture, but they named rocks like “Mike’s Folly,” or “All Who Follow Here Are Doomed,” or “Desperation.” The cliff I faced at first I named it hopeless, painful.
One of the first things you have to do is rename your cliff. I don’t know what you have called your cliff, your challenge, and your problem? Are you calling it hopeless? Have you called it, “never will happen?” God won’t answer this prayer! Desperate! Doomed!
What are you calling your cliff, rename it. I have renamed mind a couple times. From hopelessness to the name “be still and know that I am God.” To “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” To “Not my will, but thine be done.
Now, I have gotten very close to the top of this climb. I’m not quite there yet, but I have got my hand on the top and I can peek over the edge and I can see the voices of hopelessness and doubt running. I can see the victory at the top. I am almost there.
I have asked Chris to sing my favorite song. By the way it was my favorite song before the accident and it has cemented itself now at the top of my list of favorites. It is called “My Deliver” as song of Rich Mullen.
Now that I have gotten to the top and realized that I have had the best Armor Bearers a man could ever have and I have had to put 100 percent of my effort into this; now that I am at the top looking down (back) I am realizing that it was my deliverer who did it all.
As he sings if you have a challenge bring it to the altar. If you have a cliff that you need to rename, if you have hopelessness in your life come to the altar during this song and I would love to pray over you at the end of it.


36 Ways To Reduce Stress

36 CHRISTIAN WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS

An Angel says, "Never borrow from the future. If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn't happen, you have worried in vain. Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice."

1. Pray
2. Go to bed on time.
3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.
4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.
5. Delegate tasks to capable others.
6. Simplify and unclutter your life.
7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)
8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.
9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don't lump the hard things all together.
10. Take one day at a time.
11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety. If you can't do anything about a situation, forget it.
12. Live within your budget; don't use credit cards for ordinary purchases.
13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.
14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut). This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.
15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.
16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.
17. Get enough rest.
18. Eat right.
19. Get organized so everything has its place.
20. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life.
21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.
22. Every day, find time to be alone.
23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don't wait until it's time to go to bed to try and pray.
24. Make friends with Godly people.
25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.
26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good "Thank you Jesus."
27. Laugh.
28. Laugh some more!
29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.
30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).
31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).
32. Sit on your ego.
33. Talk less; listen more.
34. Slow down.
35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.
36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you're grateful for that you've never been grateful for before.

GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)


A NEW MIRACLE

A New Miracle

2 Corinthians 5:18,19, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

“For the sake of each of us he laid down his life—worth no less than the universe. He demands of us in return our lives for the sake of each other. “ St. Clement of Alexandria

Often as I walk about on my missions in life, an old friend will stop me and say, “Wow, Tim you are walking great!” I will give a big cheesy smile and say, “Yep, I’m a walking miracle!” I feel like I am a moving and proving example that God answers prayers. Thousands of people can say that they prayed for me and each one can know that God answered their prayer. I am thankful that my broken arms, shoulder, leg, pelvis and injured lungs and bladder have all healed. Each day that I get up is a miracle! Life is a gift to me!

Well, I came across a greater miracle then my healing!

Do you remember the story of the friends that took their paralytic buddy to Jesus in Mark, chapter two? These were bold fearless friends! When they hit a roadblock (like a huge unmoving crowd) they can up with a better idea. They went onto the roof and smashed a hole in it. Then they successfully lowered their dear friend into the presence of Jesus. Mark 2:5 says, “When Jesus saw their faith." Jesus saw the fearless, bold faith of this companions and he say, “Son your sins are forgiven.” Later Jesus healed the paralytic and he rose and walked.

Jesus was very clear in his actions. The soul is more important then the body. So every time I’m at the hospital, I pray for the needed healing of the soul and then I pray for the healing of the body. God did greater miracles in my soul then he did in my body. But this miracle is not about me.

The most asked question in my recovery is, “Will you ever ride again?” Which, I always give a wide range of answers, some answers bring out my evil side. Most of these answers reflect my dry sense of humor. Another popular question is have you ever met the girl that caused the accident. For two and a half years I would answer “No, but I want to.” I have always felt that it was an accident and that I could never give any time to bitterness, whining or an unforgiving spirit, because they would have a negative effect on my physical healing.
My friends and I did pray for both the soul of the young lady and that the she would not live with guilt and burden from this accident.

Well a miracle was happening in another church. Renee began attending church and then a small group Bible study. Her fiancé and her found the forgiveness of sins and an eternal relationship with Christ. The leader of this small group happens to be working on an Emmaus Walk with me. So we have been spending Saturday mornings planning and praying over this walk. As well he has relatives that attend New Hope Community Church. So he asked for prayer at the small group for a relative that attends New Hope. After the meeting Renee asked my friend, Mike if he knew Pastor Tim Manzer. He said, “Yes”.
After a surprise lunch meeting with Mike and his wonderful wife LaVerna, a date after thanksgiving was arranged for a meeting. I felt like Philemon being told in letter by the apostle Paul that his run away slave Onesimus was now a believer. He needed to accept him back as brother in the Lord. Well, I had a sister in Christ that I needed to shower with lots of love. The first meeting was a little uncomfortable. No one has ever explained to me how a meeting of two people involved in a near fatal accident ought to go. She had some questions about legal matters. Later, it hit me, she has a lot to fear concerning me. We live in a sue others society. I never wanted to waste time suing anyone because I viewed that avenue as unchristian and destructive to my healing.
Since then I have felt the urge to maintain contact with Renee and her fiancé, James. They blessed me on December 26th by coming to my church and hearing me preach. No one in that service could have guessed about the special nature of the drama going on in the second service. Sitting next to my wife, Kim was Renee. As I preached on Romans 5:6-8, a text that I had selected before I knew about my new sister in Christ. It says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
After the service we all went out to eat together. I learned of the many painful challenges that she has faced in her young life. She was raised in foster care due to an abusive stepfather. Suddenly a few broken bones did seem like such a big deal. I developed a deep sense of compassion for this gal.
Since that Sunday we have talked from time to time. I was at the hospital as James faced surgery. I was able to comfort him because of my vast knowledge on the subject of surgeries from real life experience. This week we will be getting together to plan a wedding. I will be honored to be the pastor at James and Renee’s wedding. God is amazing! As I said to Renee’s loving Foster-mom, at the hospital as I prayed over James. “GOD CAN HEAL ANYTHING!”

GOD CAN HEAL ANYTHING!

“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”
Unfinished Business, Charles Sell, Multnomah, 1989, pp. 121ff

P.S. On January 25th, I was honored to preform a beauitful wedding as James and Renee got married.

He Could Have Stopped But He Didn't

He could have stopped it but He didn't

Lately I often think about what might happen when in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, I stand before Him. When at last I behold the King of Glory, the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb that was slain.
Perhaps I will be standing there and all the sudden pictures will start flashing through my mind.. Pictures that aren't so pleasent, especially in my present Company. And maybe He will ask after what seems like such a very long time but has only been a few seconds; "Why is it, that when presented with so many opportunities to build up you chose to tear down instead?"
Now I imagine myself lying prostrate on the ground, my mind racing for a response. I mean after all, this is The One, you know, The One that restored the ear of one of the men that was taking Him away to suffer unimaginable horrors.
He could have stopped it, but He didn't
He stood mute while trumped up charges were read against Him. He could have stopped it, but He didn't.
He stood silently while He was spit on, punched in the head and face, mocked, had a crown of thorns driven down into His head then as if that weren't enough, He was scourged. At which point you could not even recognize Him as a man! He could have stopped it but He didn't.
Then, carrying His Own cross He started the long painful journey up the hill to the place they called "the skull" but in a hushed whisper we call "Calvary". There they ruthlessly drove spikes through His hands and His feet nailing Him to the very cross He Himself had carried!
He could have called 10,000 angels! But He didn't.
Then He would suffer perhaps the worst heartbreak of it all. His precious Father that He loves so dearly turned His back on Him. Because at that moment He became sin for me!
And now, all the things I have been taught throughout my life are ticking off through my brain at a rate of speed that cannot be conceived by the human mind. Suddenly! I understand like I never have before; He could have stopped it, but He didn't. He knew if He did my debt would be left unpaid and the payment required is death! He was willing to die that I might live!
"Why was it that when presented with so many opportunities to build up, you chose to tear down instead?" This is my question. Maybe yours is different, maybe yours is "Why did you forsake the assembling/" or "Why did you spend so much time in the world and so little time in My presence?" or perhaps "Why was what men thought so much more important to you than what I thought?" The questions are to numerous to list and they don't really matter anyway. What matters is the answer to your question. I know the only answer for mine is.....
"I could have stopped it, but I didn't."


Revelation 22:12-13
"Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what He has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last the beginning and the end"
"Hallelujah"
Inspired by: El Shaddai
Penned by: Dorothy Nitzh


Draw Me To You, O Lord

Draw Me to You, O Lord
By John McColley

1. Draw my heart, to your heart
Let me be one with you my Lord

Draw my mind, to your mind
Help me think in parallel accord

Draw my spirit to your Spirit
And enfold me in your love

Fill my longing for your Presence
Holy Sweetness from Above

2. Draw my heart, to your heart
Help me be grateful to you Lord

Draw my mind, to your mind
Let me see the beauty of your world

Draw my spirit to your Spirit
Breathe in me your breath of love

Fill me with your grace and courage
Full refreshment from Above

3. Draw my heart, to your heart
Strengthen my will to trust you Lord

Draw my mind, to your mind
Fashion every vision I should hold

Draw my spirit to your Spirit
Lift the weight that holds me low

Fill me with your peace and comfort
Heal my wounds, restore my soul

4. Draw my heart, to your heart
Let me bring honor to you Lord

Draw my mind, to your mind
Channel my conception of your Word

Draw my spirit to your Spirit
And conform me to your mold

Consecrate me for your service
Armed with love to make me bold