Mighty to Save

Everytime we come back to the U.S., there are a number of songs that strike me in a positive way.

One of my favorite new discoveries is "Mighty To Save" by Hillsong Australia. You can hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-08YZF87OBQ

I must confess that I often think that a lot of Hillsong songs now sound the same. Despite that impression, I really like this particular song. It would be especially great on Easter Sunday.

Here are the lyrics:

Everyone needs compassion,
Love that's never failing;
Let mercy fall on me.

Everyone needs forgiveness,
The kindness of a Saviour;
The Hope of nations.

Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.

Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again.

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in,
Now I surrender.

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus (x2)

My Saviour, He can move the mountains,
My God is Mighty to save,
He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation,
He rose and conquered the grave,
Jesus conquered the grave.

My Saviour, you can move the mountains,
You are mighty to save,
You are mighty to save.
Forever, Author of Salvation,
You rose and conquered the grave,
Yes you conquered the grave

Kyrie Eliesen

One of my favorite songs of the 80s: "Kyrie (Eliesen)" by Mr. Mister. It is fascinating that a song "Lord Have Mercy" was so popular. Yes, the tune is awesome and catchy. But the message is powerful, even to those outside of the church.

According to Wikipedia,

The words to "Kyrie" were written by lyricist John Lang who co-wrote the songs on all of Mr. Mister's albums. The music was composed by Richard Page and Steve George while on tour with Adam Ant.

"Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel

Kýrie, eléison, through the darkness of the night"

Kýrie, eléison means "Lord, have mercy" in Greek, and is a part of many liturgical rites in Eastern and Western Christianity. Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison is a prayer that asks "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy".^[1] According to Page the entire song is, essentially, a prayer.^[2]

Here's a live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOq9v4fAEo0

Kyrie lyrics
Songwriters: George, Steven Park; Lang, John Ross; Page, Richard James;Kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison
Kyrie

The wind blows hard against this mountain side
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road

My heart is old, it holds my memories
My body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

When I was young I thought of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could be

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

Dealing with opponents

I've found a couple of interesting things on the Internet this morning.

One is a Sept. 20 news story titled "Atheist Hitchens skipping prayer day in his honor" by Associated Press write Jay Reeves. It can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100920/ap_on_re_us/us_christopher_hitchens_cancer

Christopher Hitchens has been an outspoken critic of Christianity. Age 62, he has been stricken with esophagal cancer and is not doing well physically.

Despite Hitchen's virulent attacks of Christianity, he still has some friends who are Christians, including Larry Tauton, head of the apologetics group Fixed Point Foundation. In fact, some Christians informally declared yesterday as "Everybody pray for Hitchens Day."

My initial reaction to Hitchens was not prayer, but anger. I probably would have had a hard time being a friend with him had I been in contact.

Yet I admire Larry Tauton for being his friend, even though their ideas are opposed. Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for being a "friend of sinners."

On his Facebook status, Ed Stetzer writes, "Jesus chose to love those and be with those of bad reputations. The pharisees weren't pleased. Some things never change."

Someone quoted A.W. Tozer as saying, "To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men."

May Christopher Hutchens' heart be softened by the Lord, despite his opposition to Him. May we know how to handle the opposition of Pharasaical types today.

New Friends in a New Place

We moved to the Denver area 3 1/2 weeks ago.

As we planned this year of U.S. Home Min*stry Assignment (HMA), it seemed like we needed to spend a few months in this area. A primary reason was to be geographically close to both sides of our family. Since 1989, my brother & his family, and later my father, have all settled in Colorado. My sister-in-law moved here in 2004 or so. My in-laws still live in western South Dakota about 7-9 hours drive from here.

We've stopped through this area pretty much every time we've been in the U.S. But we've never lived here, nor did we know many people here except for our families.

After we flew stateside on July 22, we let out word that we were looking for a temporary rental here. G*d opened up a this townhouse for us while I was in Michigan in early August and we moved in on August 24.

We've been surprised by the kindness of some new friends to us already.

3 Sundays ago, we visited a ch&rch that hosts the Friday school our older 2 kids attend. After the wor*ship service, a couple behind us introduced themselves & complimented us on how well the 3 kids had done (as they stayed with us, as there was no children's ch&rch that day). Ken went out of his well to tell us about the ch&rch & show us around. We mentioned that we were looking for a lamp.

The next Sunday, we went to the ch&rch again. During the service, there was an opportunity to share about G*d's faithfulness. I shared about His provision for housing & mentioned that we were new to the ch&rch. A handful of people introduced themselves to us after the service.

During the brunch, Ken spoke to us again. He then went home & brought a lamp to lend us. He introduced us to Bob. Between them, they arranged for some shelving for us. Bob brought it over 2 days later.

That Sunday, we met a couple of whom the wife is completing her doctorate in French. They moved to the area from North Carolina 3 months ago for the husband's work. This past Tuesday we spent the afternoon with their family, then had supper as well. Our kids got along well & we hope to spend more time with them.

On Saturday we briefly met the family who is renting our place to us. They have daughters the age of our 2 girls, as well as 2 month old twin daughters. Yesterday we watched their older 2 daughters so the mother could have some alone time getting some things done. Our kids all got along well and we hope to spend more time with them.

Last night I was at Walmart picking up birthday invitations. We hope to distribute them to some of our older daughter's classmates today for a party in 8 days.

While in this new place, it's easy to long for the depth of friends & relationships that we have with some of our Paris friends. However, those friendships took time to get to where they are now.

As I reflect on my life, it's interesting to remember the diversity of places where some of my friendships began. You often can't guess when meeting someone for the first time where a relationship with him or her might go (or not go).

I'm pleased to see my children connecting with some other children during this season in the U.S. It takes time. They have expressed missing some of their friends in Paris.

My older daughter misses her best friend from her class in Paris. Last week, her friend telephoned. After the call, our daughter cried a little. She said that it wasn't fair that her best friend was in Paris, while the girls in her Friday class that she wants to be be best friends with already have best friends. But a few minutes later, she seemed to be in better spirits.

For me, it's a good reminder what it's like for new people in a new place. Paris definitely doesn't feel new to me anymore after 16 years there and lots of relationships being established. But it did feel new to me at one time.

Soft hearts

I was struck by the Ps@lm 95:8-11 this morning.

Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said,
"They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways."
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
"They shall not enter into my rest."

In recent readings through the Gosp*l of Mark, I was also struck by the hardness of heart of some of the Ph@risees and reli*gious leaders. Ironically, they should have had the softest hearts, as they should have known the most about G*d and His ways. It's a reminder that just knowing the Scrip*tures (or perhaps, even more, different people's proposed interpretations of the Scrip*tures) doesn't guarantee having a soft heart toward the projects & voice of G*d. In fact, knowledge can itself bring pride and arrogance, rather than having the simple, yet obedient heart of someone like Mary.

It seems important to pray for soft hearts for ourselves, our children, ch*rches, as well as those whom we're in contact with, but aren't following Chr*st yet. I know several people who have grown up in Xian homes & attended solid ch&rches as children, yet have given that up as adults. My prayer for them increasingly is that G*d would soften their hearts.

As we seek to raise 3 children, I pr@y this for them as well. As much as we try to influence them to become G*d-lovers and G*d-followers, only through the power of the Spirit will their hearts be softened.

I've recently been reading Tedd Tripp's "Shepherding a Child's Heart." It's a very helpful book on parenting. In his chapter "Getting to the Heart of Behavior," he writes:

The heart determines behavior. What you say and do expresses the orientation of the heart...Behavior is not the basic issue. The basic issue is always what is going on in the heart.

A change in behavior that does not stem from a change in heart is not commendable; it is condemnable. Is it not the hypocrisy that Jesus condemned in the Pharisees? In Matthew 15, Jesus denounces the Pharisees who honored him with their lips while their hearts were far from him. Jesus censures them as people who wash the outside of the cup while the inside is still unclean. Yet this is what we often do in childrearing. We demand changed behavior and never address the heart that drives behavior. (3-4)

Being a good neighbor...in Colorado

We moved to Colorado 3 weeks ago today. God used my sister-in-law's broad relational connections here to help us get this nice 4-5 month rental. Getting short-term rentals in the Denver area is not easy, as most landlords are looking for at least a 12 month commitment. I had read in August that this was the hardest time since the early 2000s to get rentals in this area, as there is a lot of demand and much less supply.

The tenant before us here is a professional soccer player on the Colorado team. He scored a goal at the game that we attended several weeks ago.

During the last few years in Paris, we've gotten to learn a lot about connecting with people in our neighborhood. We've built good relationships with people in our apartment complex of 14 stories. Through our kids, we've connected with children and their parents in a French PreK/Kindergarten, as well as in a French elementary school. We've also connected with local merchants through frequenting their businesses.

One thing that we love about our Paris neighborhood is its ethnic & cultural diversity. While definitely French, it is also a mosaic of other cultures. I was worried about not being able to connect with this same diversity during this year of U.S. Home Ministry Assignment.

I also wondered if we would be able to connect with our neighbors here as we have been able to do in Paris. We hadn't really lived here for more than a few months since our 1998-2000 stint doing graduate studies @ Wheaton. Back then, I wasn't that interested in connecting with those around me, except within the student community @ Wheaton. While that student community was ethnically & culturally diverse, everyone there had at least signed on that they were Xians.

During the past 3 days, I've been happy to connect with a number of neighbors in the complex where our rental townhouse is. These include:
--a woman originally from Latvia who lives with her mother on the place directly to our left. She came by on Saturday to try to get in contact with our landlord (who used to live here) in order to offer a baby gift to his 7 week old twin girls.
--our upstairs neighbors. They have a cute dog. My in-laws were her this weekend and my father-in-law asked him to borrow some tools for some projects in our place. Last evening we had a talk while I was outside our ground level apartment & he was on his 2nd story balcony looking down. His mother is originally from Germany and met his father when he was in the military stationed there. When he found out about our work, he matter-of-factly mentioned that he wasn't a "church-going person." I mentioned that many of our friends in Paris are also like that and that we're often more comfortable around people like that than we are around "church-goers."
--the woman who lives on the apartment to our right. Yesterday my wife asked how her surgery went. I don't know how my wife knew about this, but she certainly must have been in previous conversations with her. She mentioned that it was rather a test that she had and that she would have surgery soon for knee problem. She mentioned that she would be away for a week and asked if we would pick up her newspapers for her.
--another woman in our complex has been in the military for 23 or so years. She works in the videography. We learned this yesterday when she saw the Vietnam vet baseball cap that my father-in-law was wearing and made a postive comment. (We were just giving final farewells to my in-laws right outside our apartment when she pulled into her parking spot just a few meters from ours).
--on Saturday morning I met a woman who parked with her dog grooming trailer right by our place. Her business is driving around and giving beauty treatment to dogs. She comes to her clients, rather than them having to go to her or other dog grooming places. In the course of our conversation, I learned she was originally from Cuba and fled it in the early 1960s when Castro took over. One of her grandmothers had the name "Clavier" and was French. I got her business card and home to be able to pass it on to others who might have dogs looking for grooming.

One thing that I need to do is write down people's names right away, as I'm drawing some blanks on them.

But I'm pleased that we're making this kind of connections here in the Denver area. I hope that we are salt and light wherever we go on this U.S. trip.

Yesterday I got back to the book "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner. One point that struck me was "generate small wins." I think that the idea of "being a witness" can be intimidating, as it's a very large idea. However, one way to generate small & measurable wins is by seeing each interaction or conversation with neighbors as a small win or step toward being a witness to them. In general, we're not going to regularly have opportunities to speak to the masses. However, we can have an impact on a small scale one person at a time and one conversation/interaction/act of kindness at a time.

May God be glorified & honored through us living missionally & connecting with our neighbors in the U.S. this year. While they are different, we're discovering that they are pretty much the same as our neighbors in Paris in terms of concerns (health, economic, aging parents, children, etc.).

Hands and Feet

While driving home tonight, I heard this song by the Newboys on KLove, a station in the Denver area. It's titled "Hands and Feet" and addresses the theme of being the hands and feet of Jesus, a practical way of leading through serving.

An image flashed across my T.V. screen
another broken heart comes into view
I saw the pain and I turned my back
Why can't I do the things I want to?

I am willing yet am so afraid
you give me strength when I say ...

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me

And I'll try, yeah I'll try
to touch the world
like you touched my life
And I'll find my way
To be your hands

I'll abandon every selfish thought
I surrender everything I've got
You can have everything I am
And perfect everything I'm not

I am willing, I'm not afraid
you give me strength when I say ...

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me

And I'll try, yeah I'll try
to touch the world
like you touched my life
And I'll find my way

This is the last time

I turn my back on you
From now on I'll go out
send me where you want me to
I finally have a mission
I promise I'll complete
I don't need excuses
when I am your hands and feet
I am your hands and feet

Hands,(Hands)(Hands)
Feet, (Feet)(Feet)
Go, (Go)(Go)
Go, (Go)(Go)

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet
I'll go where you send me, go where you send me
I'll be your hands
I'll be your feet

I will go
I will go where you send me
I will go
I will go where you send me
I will go, go
I will go, go
I will GO!
Go where you send me

I wanna be your hands
I wanna be your feet

(fades out)