Lower Your Shields

American Culture pushes the notion to “trust no one” and “everyone has an angle.” So often that mindset causes us to be untrusting of people. Science fiction enthusiasts call that “raising your shields.” I found myself doing this very thing on our recent mission trip to Honduras. While I was not being untrusting visiting the […]

American Culture pushes the notion to “trust no one” and “everyone has an angle.” So often that mindset causes us to be untrusting of people. Science fiction enthusiasts call that “raising your shields.”
I found myself doing this very thing on our recent mission trip to Honduras. While I was not being untrusting visiting the orphanage and school, I initially found myself being standoffish during introductions. I don’t know if it was a case of being timid in a new environment or trying to determine if the situation was as I had imagined it to be, but regardless of any of those things my attitude swiftly changed to one of pure joy by the unconditional love shown by the children and the house parents. The kids had no idea who I was but they hugged me and wanted me to play chase with them. This reminded me of the verse in 1 John 3:1 that says: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are… In His glorious way he reminded me that no matter where I go in the world He has given the gift of love and those who accept it are ALL His children.
Of course my human weaknesses kicked in when we visited the home of a former Honduran school teacher who cares for special-needs children who have been given up by the world and have little hope for life. Before we visited the children, the caretaker, Carlos, was telling us about the children and how he found them. His desire was to show the children God’s love. He started to talk about how the Honduran government did not fund his operation, and then it happened…my shields went up. Without much thought the notion of “here it comes, he’s about to ask for money” popped into my head. Once again I had let the world’s influence place doubt and skepticism into my thoughts; and once again it quickly changed because Carlos’ next sentence was not about how he needed money, but rather that he does not worry about money because it always seemed to come when it was needed. He referenced the birds in Mathew 6:25-26: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? When I heard him say this I looked into his eyes and knew this was truly a man striving for righteousness through Christ; and my shields went down.
My favorite song we sing as God’s family is “The Greatest Commands” and the bass part repeats 1 Corinthians 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Sometimes it takes a good dose of unconditional love to make us (me in this case) realize that we can lower our shields and revel in God’s gifts.

Kidmin 101

This past Sunday night, I shared five core values that our Children’s Ministry is founded on. These values are what helps keep each event, activity, and class in line with our overall mission. The core values are: 1. Know: Our children will learn to know God and the...

Faith On a Shelf

I have this hat that my dad brought back to me from a business trip to Atlanta when I was 9 or 10 years old. You can see that I’ve worn it a lot. In fact, I wore it to just about everywhere I went during the summer when I was a kid. Church camps, grandparents’ house,...

“Jesus Loves Me”

After being led in this song by two of our young men Sunday night, I was reminded of a quotation from Karl Barth. On April 23, 1962, Karl Barth (the renown 20th Century Swiss-German, neo-orthodox theologian) spoke at Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University...

That’s Not a Candle

Several years ago, there was story shared about a woman from Connecticut whose power had gone out during a storm. She left her house to go to a local hardware store to purchase some flashlights, but the store was closed. She returned home and found what she thought...

The Post-Christian Problem

I attended the New Day Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the end of last week with a small group from Riverchase. It was a good conference and I left encouraged about the opportunities we have to fulfill the call of Christ to make disciples. On Friday evening,...

Josiah’s Reform

In the thirty-one years of his rule, King Josiah proved to be a faithful man of God and a great king of Judah. He served God from the beginning as a young king and grew into a greater understanding of God’s will and a determination to follow that will. He made a...

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Simply defined, it means that you should eat healthy if you want to be healthy. This phrase can trace its roots back to the early 1800’s. It came from the 1826 work The Physiology of Taste, in which...

It Is Well

Above the piano in our house is a large wood sign with the phrase, “it is well with my soul” on it. Kimberly and I purchased it during a season of our life together where we were not completely sure what the future had in store for our little family. Since then, the...

Do Over

  I messed up on recording my recent radio programs. The sound quality was so bad Mark could not run them on the air. So, I deleted them and recorded them again.   I sure wish I could do that in real life with all the other mistakes I make. Just delete them...

Don’t Believe Your Preacher

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9 ESV) Here is the test. The “teaching of Christ” is, of course, the very word of God. So, if your...