I am. I am disappointed and feeling discouraged. Heaven forbid I ever let anything that bothers me fester in blessed silence. So my husband calls me a slave driver, meaning my expectations of other people are often far too high. So there’s that, and there is truth there.
Conversely however, I once patiently waited for a new mailbox post for 11 years. Eleven years of picking up the mailbox that would fall across my driveway. Eleven years of getting in and out of the car and picking the darn thing up so I could park. Every single day. I almost never swore about it either, nor nagged anyone about it. And I praised every false promise to fix it, year after year, until one day I just suddenly became a Scottish highlander doing a log toss and banished the rotten post, mailbox and all, forever.
It was a great throw, too. Eleven years. My ability to wait patiently and graciously is pretty finely tuned.
But doggone it all, when you have to say the same thing, over and over again, year after year, and nobody really hears you, and nobody really listens, it begins to wear on you. Like, I am not chopped liver here, I actually do know a thing or two.
Also, my requests are not immense, not radical, nor complex. Like invite a man to coffee. Just do it. Just share a cup of coffee and have a chat. Simple. Cheap even. Relatively painless. Just do it. Create a relationship.
And three years later, three years later, we’re still debating the wisdom of whether or not we should you know, actually invite a man to coffee.
That’s the area I live in, that’s the 9th circuit of hell, that’s the kind of relationship fracture we suffer from, one that just creates paralyzing immobility. Stagnant water that cannot move or breath.
And that’s also my church.
I have a vision for this area, a dream that we will all unite as Christians, that we will transform this community from the second most secular county in the entire nation, to the most faith filled, God honoring one. I want to see people come to Jesus Christ, I want to see relationships healed, I want to see families strengthened, I want to see addictions ended. I want to see economic opportunities and housing and a functioning justice system and all the things you need in order to thrive in community.
I want to see His name lifted up on high from right in the middle of the 9th circuit of hell, like a heavenly choir, just like we all sing, Gloria in excelsis Deo, but I want those words reflected in the environment around us, in our actions and in our love for one another. That’s what Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Big dreams, but the Lord gave them to me. And He also said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
I claim this place I call the 9th circuit of hell for Jesus Christ. Like it is a done deal, and victory is now ours for the taking.
Those are fighting words and they are going to offend people, they are going to be met with resistance, but mostly our own resistance, as we waffle and flop about like soggy, overcooked pasta, too terrified to do so much as invite a man to coffee.
Seriously.
Also, turn the darn sound system up. Trust me on this. You have no idea what the gossip is like when it is coming from people who couldn’t hear a darn thing that was said, so they just did their best to fill in the blanks. Take my word for it, you hear enough of those tall tales, you’ll never speak with a tiny, fearful voice that can’t be heard, ever again.
Oh, how I hear you, IB. Well, about the mailbox dilemma, I plead guilty, because I am I bad procrastinator, (or is that a good procrastinator)? Anyway, about inviting others, or getting together with another to encourage, share with, build a relationship, I understand totally. Only so much “pushing” can be done, before too much pushback begins, and a family feud is not needed. Then, the same attitude in church regarding spreading the True Love of Christ throughout our community. Holy Spirit will keep working, as this part of the world is claimed for Christ also. He wants it more than we want it for Him even, so we go forward together.
God Bless you IB.
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Thanks George. “We go forth together,” love that.
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Strange I should read your thoughts this morning. Well, not strange–it was a God-thing. I’ve just started reading the book of Acts. No commentaries, no other books, just THE Book. It begins with Jesus after the Resurrection talking with the disciples about…..guess what? The Kingdom of God. Not the church, not the rules, not the government–about the Kingdom of God that invades the Enemy’s territory, and in your case, the 9th Circuit of Hell. So go forth, mighty Warrior! God is with you!
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Yes,amen, Pastor Randy! The book of acts, the tale of the early church and how a tiny handful of disciples spread the good news across a vast area, in what, about 30 years? Also, they often dealt with Romans who could and did frequently jail and kill people. We here in the modern West tend to just face some mild disapproval and assorted personal insecurities.
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Well let me tell ya.
The 9th circuit is fortunate to have you. I’m sure there is that thing called the two edged sword thing going on.
People are either comfortable with your faith, or uncomfortable because of their own lukewarmness, either way, the circuit is good. Lol
The mailbox thing- hilarious.
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Thanks for the encouragement, Colorstorm. Heard the Christmas story yesterday, how the shepherds were chosen to spread the good news, “And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” They were just ordinary people, the working class even, laymen. Today we are more like, “somebody needs to hear the good news, so let’s fill out a form, and send it to committee, and they’ll get together and vote about adding it to the pastor’s job description.” Drives me batty! If we’re going to paint the church purple, then consult with the pastor. If someone needs you to pray over them, then just do it. Like, right now.
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Wasn’t it on your blog I once read something like this: “If a man says he is going to do something, he will do it. You don’t have to keep reminding him every month”? J.
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LOL! Yep. “If he says he’ll do it, he’ll do it. No need to remind him every six months.”
The lamentation of my entire life, in every area. My hubby of course, is forgiven and then forgiven again, because he enjoys some special favor and extra grace with me, but even him. 🙂
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Oh what can I do, I recently read several doctrinal papers that form the foundations of the denomination my church is affiliated with, and discovered they are cessationists, another word used was dispensationalist, the words might mean different things to those who adhere to different schools of thought, but what I’m hearing is that the gifts died with the apostles, now I’m having a hard time with this, maybe there is another explaination, some only see that once the scripture was completed that that inspiration was done, never another book to be written in which we find the words complete and inspired of God. That I understand, it’s biblical. When we throw in that all of the Holy Spirit gifts ceased, well there it gets strange, like why even pray for the sick? And what should a new testament church even look like, can I even imagine the calvinist cessationists? No outreach, (predestination), no teaching, (once saved all ways saved), no prayers, no expectation of God intervening, is it just up to works, wait, no, maybe we make someone god, right let’s make a pope, someone to follow, to tell us what to do that we can believe in and follow blindly, having put our full trust in. Yeah right! So we become “Evangelicals” oh that sounds good, but just becomes people trying to legislate morality, so now that word is ruined, redefined, no longer does it mean a person is born again and actively spreading the Gospel, well that’s what I understood it to imply, now it’s just sinners pushing thier religious agenda on whomever they can,,. Naw, let’s read acts again, like pastor Randy wrote about, no commentary, no imaginary boundaries erected by so called higher thought, just the Bible, now what does it say? Oh it sets us free from the world and it’s ways, we enter a new kingdom, oh yes! We can have faith, we can see people set free, healed, forgiven, inspired, empowered, not to make new laws, but to enact the laws of liberty, and God’s grace, the laws that are already written on our hearts!
Yes, pastor Randy, preach it, I’m with you!
I.b. keep up the good work, someday your mailbox won’t say
” PO box 666 Ninth circuit,,,,.
It’ll say PO box 888 The Kingdom of God!
Then what will the neighbors say? But they will be shouting Hallelujah!
Well I’m trying to shout it anyways!
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Perhaps I should have added a few more things to my endless list of lamentations. 🙂
“I recently read several doctrinal papers that form the foundations of the denomination my church…”
You should intecede for me because my anger and frustration over this matter is just spilling forth everywhere. Like how many years should you belong to a church without ever bothering to find out what they actually believe in?
And elders, (elders!) who seem to have just discovered this ancient archaelogical find are completely without excuse. So thanks guys, you are charged with protecting us, and you never even cared enough to find out if our statements of faith might actually have something to do with promoting the sacrifice of small children to Baal…..!!
ALSO, blast it all,our statement of faith and doctrinal declarations say nothing about us being mandated cessationists!! So now that we have read it, we have gone and read it ALL WRONG.
They’re actually very good statements, IMO, well written, well worded, and far more concise then many others I’ve seen.
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You keep on trucking, IB. the 9th Circuit of Hell needs you. For, what it’s worth, the so-called Bible Belt is not doing much better. The only exception is many think they have it nailed. I think it’s easier to talk to a complete pagan about God than it is a person so steeped in the religion of their forefathers that they think they arare walking the golden path to heaven, yet don’t know Him at all.
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I just prayed for the churches in the Pacific Northwest as a result of this post and some personal conversations with a brother in that area…
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Thanks, Slim. Much needed and much appreciated. 🙂
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🙏
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