I read this quote from Homer’s Odyssey. 

“Yet taught by time, my heart has learned to glow,

For other's good, and melt at other's woe.”

It reminded me of the verse from Psalms 126:5-6

“Those who sow in tears

Shall reap in joy.

He who continually goes forth weeping,

Bearing seed for sowing,

Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,

Bringing his sheaves with him.”

I think, with few exceptions, the “Great Commission” is about investing in people; pouring ourselves out for others as Jesus did.  

If we sow the word of God in tears we will see results. 

    

 

I was reading in Psalms 116-118 and I wove together some verses that explain why I love the Lord.

"I love the LORD, for He heard my voice;

He heard my cry for mercy.

The cords of death entangled me,

 the anguish of the grave came over me;

 I was overcome by distress and sorrow.

 Then I called on the name of the Lord:

 “Lord, save me!”

I trusted in the Lord when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”;

And You freed me from my chains.

You rescued my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

And my feet from stumbling.

I was pushed back and about to fall,

But the Lord helped me. 

Because He turned his ear to me,

I will call on Him as long as I live. 

 

 

  "Any man can cultivate having the heart of a father. Reaching out and showing care and concern to kids that don’t have or are separated from a healthy father is critically important today. 

I witness the power of purposeful attention and loving recognition of a child every time I step inside the Union Gospel Mission Crisis Shelter for Women and Children. 

I saw this yesterday when we were transporting 7 moms and four kids from the Shelter to our Church on Sunday. 

There’s a few different looks on a child’s face when I encounter them. 

One is a hesitant distance in the eyes and body language. It’s a skittish demeanor resulting from the lack of consistent contact with a safe, gentle and touchable man. It’s part ignoring, part distaste and part ignorance. It’s a difficult posture to overcome, but it slowly yields to proximity, opportunity and consistency. 

The other is hunger, longing, memory and need. It’s noticeable in the eyes first. I walk in and many eyes turn to me. Like little birds in a nest heart-mouths open. Chatter begins. Faces then hands then hearts. Closeness happens, smiles dawn, shadows flee and laughter sparks. 

Sometimes it’s just calm, like a dog that turns over on its back revealing its belly in an act of surrendered vulnerability. Sometimes it’s gentle confidences and trust exhibited by a willingness to talk or look you in the eyes. Sometimes they will reach out to be held. 

Yesterday one of these little boys got secured in a car seat in the van and the mom was making sure he was good. She then grabbed her baby and was heading for the second car we had for transport. I was surprised since this was their first ride to an unknown place and I thought he might be scared without mom close by him. She assured me he wouldn’t and that he didn’t have separation anxiety because…they hadn’t been living together for awhile. He was comfortable being alone and away from her. 

I didn’t quite know how to process that quick explanation. It landed in my mind as an understandable explanation, but as it moved down into my heart it took on a sadness of realization. Separation is a common reality in the chaos of life lived in these struggles and hardships. 

I purposefully reassured him, gave him supportive compliments about his big-boyness and watched him as I facilitated moms, car seats, babies and all that comes with trying to get them all in a van. 

As we travelled he was quiet, looking out the window. The only thing he said was “That’s my day care!” when we passed it on the way to our church. We got there, he jumped out and reunited with mom and integrated into the kids program of the day easily and enthusiastically. 

As I was dropping them off at the shelter after church I gave him a fist bump and told him I was amazed at how good he was. 

His mom told me that he said he had fun and was coming back tomorrow. My heart ached a bit realizing he thought it was going to be an every day joy. 

Thankfully his mom has entered the long term program and our ability to continue our connections will grow." 

Pastor Eric. 

 

  Jonathan Edwards, a hero of the faith, became one of the most prolific American Colonist’s preachers, and was an integral part of the "Great Spiritual Awakening" in America. 

 He was married in 1727 and was known to be a very loving, compassionate, man who spent quality personal time with his family. 

He had 11 children. 

In the evening, he would sit down with his children for one hour each day. He took the time to talk, listen and pray over them. And then pray a special blessing over each one. What then was the result of his loving care? 

In 1900, a man named A E Winship tracked down 1400 of  the descendants of Pastor Jonathan Edwards. 

Here’s what he found: 

285 College graduates 

300 Preachers 

13 College Presidents  

65 College Professors

100 Christian Lawyers 

1 Dean of Law 

30 Judges 

56 Physicians 

80 Public Officers 

3 Senators 

1 Vice President 

1 Comptroller the US Treasury 

Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray." 

 "Death has climbed in through the windows"

“Teach your daughters how to wail; and have everyone teach one another a song of mourning. 

For Death has climbed in through the windows, 

and has entered our fortresses; 

it has removed the children from the streets 

and the young men from the public squares."

  These sobering scriptures should wake us up! 

Our streets are lined with young men in the depths of addiction, our children are captured in the jaws of the enemy, who crushes them with pornography, fills their minds with anarchy, and steals them for child sex trafficking. 

Surely death has climbed in through the window! 

And what comes from our pulpits? What urgency is proclaimed? 

Sadly, 

 

"They dress the wounds of my people as though they were not serious." 

"Your prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. 

"Peace, Peace,” they say, when there is no peace.”

Are you lulled to sleep, has your conscience been hardened? 

Does the Gospel you hear allow you to sit inactive in the midst of evil? 

Are you in peace while countless thousands are oppressed and in bondage? Is the message you hear, 

"Learn your Bible more, and make sure you strive for sinlessness. You can remain isolated from the cries of the needy and oppressed, you are saved by Grace you are not called to action."   

Jeremiah 8:11, Jeremiah 9:20-21

 Here is a report about the work that goes on in our Urban Missions all over the U.S., where the truly destitute take harbor.

 If you consider yourself an evangelist for Christ this post will rivet you.

  

Resistance in Rescue

 She stood there with her fingers in her ears, her face turned into the door jam. Her heart and mind fighting some battle in the moment.

Eternity and time collide in the UGM chapel. If the veil of our visible reality could be pulled back, we’d see beasts and beings, life and death wrestling over destiny and destruction. 

It’s a confrontation with demons in the flesh, the past or the present.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” -‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬

 ‭Spiritual transformation doesn’t come without spiritual resistance.

There’s a war being fought in the mind and heart and in the depths of the soul.

It’s a fight with terrors, troubles, abuse and abuses, arguments, wounds, fears, mistrust, lies, deception, false identities, bruised and broken minds.

Gospel work is bringing a message of hope and healing into the madness and the mess. 

It’s a rescue mission in the stormy seas of people’s complicated lives that are all wrapped up in the ocean seaweed of life moments, happenings, horrors, hells and hemorrhages. We are caught in Jonah’s deep decent, fleeing the Lord…but drowning.

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

Singing songs of deliverance isn’t easy.

Not everyone in need, wants help.

Not everyone who is sick, wants to get well.

Not everyone hurting, wants free.

Not everyone crying, wants comforted.

‭‭

Psalms‬ ‭32‬:‭7‬-‭9‬

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.”

But Christ finds us wherever we are at and continues to compel us to surrender. 

His mercy chases us.

In these chapel services I watch women and men present themselves as conduits for the love, truth and power of Jesus to flow through. 

They stand as Christ’s heart and hands extended. 

Singing, praying, holding, hoping, hurting, weeping and fighting for all that is good, beautiful and true to conquer.

‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3‬:‭17

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

 ‬ ‭Some of the greatest battles ever fought have been waged in small, stuffy, packed crisis shelter basements like this one.

To God be the glory and may the resistant eventually become the redeemed. 

Pastor Eric Blauer.

  I was reading in Acts chapter four and five today and these are the verses that struck me, so I weaved them together to paraphrase the message.  

“Oh Lord, look at their threats, (look at the power of Hollywood, the evil influence of television, music and social media, the continuing flood of drugs into our land)

and grant it to Your bond-servants to speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. 

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was SHAKEN, 

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

The people from the cities in the vicinity were coming together as well, bringing people who were sick and tormented with unclean spirits, (addictions, degrading passions, vile affections, violent behaviors) and they were all being healed. 

In the midst of all this perversion, confusion and hostility, “an angel of the Lord came and said, 

“Tell the people the full message of this new life.” 

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul.”

-------------

Yes, the times are evil, the enemy is armed and furious, but as we join together and pray, 

the Holy Spirit will fall and shake us with His power, 

to speak with confidence, to heal the tormented and unclean, as we boldly 

“Tell the people the Full Message of This New Life!”