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Acts 26:29 (NIV)
Paul replied, “Short time or long–I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”

“I pray that you may become what I am, except for these chains.” Paul wanted King Agrippa to become a Christian without the unpleasantness of prison. But was that all Paul was thinking about? What if everyone in the world became “what I am.” Is “what I am” a good thing?

I am many things. I am a compilation of thoughts, emotions and opinions. I am body, soul and spirit. I am a husband, father and friend. Sometimes I’m angry, sometimes I’m sad. Sometimes I’m outgoing and jovial. Sometimes I’m reclusive and distant. If you were “what I am” would you be happy about that?

Let’s go back to the obvious: Paul wanted Agrippa to be a Christian. He wanted Agrippa to share in the grace that changed his life, that gave him joy in the midst of sorrow, peace in the midst of trouble and strength in the midst of weakness with an eternal hope.

And that is what I am! I am a child of God filled with grace, joy, peace and strength. I have good days and bad days but no days without the presence of Jesus. Sometimes I reflect God’s character and other days I’m an example of his gracious longsuffering. Some days I walk with confidence and boldness. Other days I’m a whimpering coward. But there’s never a day that God doesn’t do something miraculous in my life. Everyday of my life his mercies are new and my path is paved with divine purpose. I am a follower of Christ on the most incredible journey ever! I wouldn’t trade it for anything the world has to offer. So, I believe Paul was right on: I pray that everyone becomes what I am.

Pastor Tim

“Settle in to a long bit of hard.” Not exactly what I want to hear the Spirit of God whisper to me at 5:45 in the morning. Not exactly what I want to hear anyone say at any time of day. But I had just spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine in the garage asking the Lord for a clue as to how I was supposed to handle this “season” of my life. The words were uncomfortable to hear and yet the message gave me comfort. Go figure.

After 25 months of “adjusting” to all that goes with the raising three small children adopted from Russia, I felt like I was losing ground. I am increasingly more exhausted, more frustrated, and more easily angered. The kids are making significant, steady progress. After a very rocky start, their behaviors are all within very normal realms now. They are loving school, loving life, and loving all that comes with finally having a safe, happy home. They are progressing, so what is wrong with me?

I turned to one of my favorite authors, John Piper, for direction. In his book, The Roots of Endurance John stated that I simply needed to “serve by the strength that God supplied.” Great. How do you do that? After following Jesus for more than 20 years and entering ministry as a profession over 7 years ago, you’d think I’d have some kind of a clue. I told Jesus that apparently I didn’t know how to do that and could he please clue me in.

So as I began to clean up after my workout, I believe I heard Him speak to my heart, “Settle in to a long bit of hard.” It was true. Instead of expending energies to just deal with the daily difficulties, I was beginning to expend more and more energies being frustrated and angry that it always had to be hard. I was fighting the “hard,” and certainly not settling in. Again my long distance running gave me a word picture to help me understand. What I was doing was the equivalent to a marathon runner spending every moment running profusely complaining that running a marathon was hard. Duh! Of course it is hard. It is supposed to be hard. Whining about how hard running a marathon is would profoundly destroy the whole experience and make the normal level of difficulty a thousand times worse. A marathon runner accepts or settles into the reality of the hardness of running 26.2 miles and that frees up all kinds of resources (mental, emotional, physical) to successfully complete the run. And (yes, I know this is freaky) even enjoy it.

Now that probably does not answer how I’m supposed to use the strength God supplies and not merely my own. But I think Jesus did clue me into where I was wasting a whole lot of energy (His or mine) that would be better spent dealing with things as they come. And they will keep coming and they will be hard – for a long bit. Maybe you have a season of hard you’re facing and it’s going to be a long one. Maybe we can encourage one another to “settle in” and stop wasting energies.

Holly

As staff member in charge of small groups here at Grace, I’ve been previewing the study that we will be starting on Feb.22nd. The book that goes with the study is called The Relationship Principles of Jesus. To be honest, relationships have never been my strong suite. My husband John is a people-person; I’m more of a task-oriented person. It’s not that I don’t like people, it’s just that I’m more comfortable doing things for them than developing relationships with them. A statement that I read in this book brought me up short. “God does not demand of me that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.” Arrrugh! I want to accomplish great things, but God says it’s not about that, it’s about loving and knowing me and the people that you come in contact with. In Mark 12:30 Jesus says it this way, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

 
Jesus lived out these priorities well. Even though He had great things to accomplish while here on earth, he made sure he spent time talking to his Heavenly Father and studying scripture. He also paid attention to people that others passed by or wrote off as beneath them. He stopped what he was doing for people. He touched them, healed them, forgave them, talked to them, even partied with them.

 
Yes, in the end he accomplished the important tasks he came to earth for. He died for the sins of people. He rose again to conquer death for people. But I imagine that the accomplishing of the tasks was probably made somewhat easier because of the people he knew and loved while here on earth. The people that he was going to die for had faces and personalities.

 
As most of you know, I’ve been on a lot of mission trips. The best of those trips have been the ones where I have connected with and gotten to know the people of the country. Some of those trips have been quite challenging because the length of travel, accommodations, the work, food, etc. Many times I’ve thought, I’d never do that for all the money in the world, but count me in again for those kids and possibly making an eternal difference in their life. So Jesus is right, knowing and loving God and people propels us through things that we’d otherwise never be willing to do.

Jan Perzee, Director of Group Life

Over the last 4 months I had the opportunity to be an assistant coach for the 8th grade boys basketball team at KVMS. We just finished up our season last Saturday with a 10-6 record. Not too bad. One afternoon, before or after a game, I don’t remember, I was in our bedroom and Caleb came around the corner wearing my shirt…kind of. The picture you see is after I gave him some help. Jessica and I laughed and took a picture.

A little while after that I saw that picture again and it got me thinking (look out). My little boy wants to be like his daddy (again, look out). He tries to help me when I’m fixing our stupid garbage disposal. He tries to help me when I’m putting up a new picture of him. He even cries when he can’t go out in the garage with me to change the oil (it was 20 degrees the day I had to get it done). My little boy wants to be just like me right now. And I hope that lasts for a while.

Now, some of you are probably thinking, “That’s going to change.” I know that. I went through that stage where I thought, “I don’t want to be anything like my dad.” But now I’m a dad myself, and I now find myself saying, doing, and being a lot like the guy I pledged not to be like (I’m still planning on keeping my hair, though).

If you’re a parent don’t give up. If you’re kids are young and they want to be just like you, pray that you’re the best role model they can see. If your kids are older and they’re pledging that they don’t want to be anything like you; keep up the good work. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).