Smitty City

I heard a preacher say this from the pulpit..."God is still relevant in our complex world."

Honestly, this statement really bothered me. It implies that it is our responsibility to fit God into our complex, dynamic, fast-paced lives...like we can still, despite all we have going in this life, position the God-piece in life's puzzle. Friends, that's not how it works. It is not our duty to find a place to insert the Creator of the world into our lives. We must understand that we are blessed beyond understanding to have a tiny, almost insignificant place in God's Story. Do not flatter yourselves. To say that he is still relevant in our evolving world is to imply that God's doing a great job of holding on to our coat tails as we sprint in life's race. No sir. God is the track that we run on. He is the race. Please do not loose perspective. God is King. It is His story. God is more than relevant.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

It's more of a pant-like deep breath for me.

Sometimes...words get in the way of communicating with the Father.

This morning, Jon Weece shared the testimony of some American nurses who have moved to Africa to help with the overwhelming AIDS pandemic.

As we all know, the AIDS crisis in Africa is dominating the continent. It has become so bad, that African hospitals are taking sick patients who are days away from death out in to nearby woods and leaving them to die. A group of incredibly passionate nurses from America decided they couldn't live with that going on. God blessed them with the funding to build a "death" hospital for the diseased. Many nurses have left everything they have ever known in American and moved to these AIDS infested areas of Africa. THERE PURPOSE: At night, they intercept the bodies in the woods, bring them back to this hospital, share the good news of the Gospel with them, give them a nice meal, and allow them to die in peace.

This is what it is all about.

I struggle with what someone once said to me...he said, "If you are not called to stay...then you are called to go."

We all need to pray that God would free us from our self-absorption...and allow us to give a crap about someone other than ourselves.

I am chief.

I recently read an exceptional book that focused on dismantling the one thing that has the potential to consume my life on a daily basis...pride. On the recommendation of Mr. Keith Walters, I completed C.J. Mahaney's, Humility: True Greatness. I immediately connected with Mahaney when he offered this honest statment in the introduction, "...I could entertain you for hours relating the comments and facial expression of those who discovered I was authoring a work with this title. I understand their reaction. If I met someone presuming to have something to say about humility, automatically I'd think him unqualified to speak on the subject. So let me make this clear at the outset: I'm a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God. I don't write as an authority on humility; I write as a fellow pilgrim walking with you on the path set for us by our humble Savior.

The book is very good. I encourage those who battle endlessly with the demon of pride to encounter Mahaney's work. It is concise and stinging. Below, are suggestions that C.J. Mahaney provides and disects throughout the course of the book.

HOW TO WEAKEN PRIDE AND CULTIVATE HUMILITY

ALWAYS:
1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ.

AS EACH DAY BEGINS:
2. Begin your day by acknowledging your dependence upon God and your need for God.
3. Begin your day expressing gratefullness to God.
4. Practice the spirtiual disciplines-prayer, study of God's Word, worship. Do this consistently each day and at the day's outset, if possible.
5. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture.
6. Cast your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

AS EACH DAY ENDS:
7. At the end of the day, transfer the glory to God.
8. Before going to sleep, receive this gift of sleep from God and acknowledge His pupose for sleep.

FOR SPECIAL FOCUS:
9. Study the attributes of God.
10. Study the doctrines of grace.
11. Study the doctrine of sin.
12. Play golf as much as possible.
13. Laugh often, and laugh often at yourself.

THROUGHOUT YOUR DAYS AND WEEKS:
14. Indentify evidences of grace in others.
15. Encourage and serve others each and every day.
16. Invite and pursue correction.
17. Respond humbly to trials.