Monthly Archives: January 2012

 

Chuck Summers gave me a book, it looked interesting, it set in my office for months, every time I saw it I thought I should take the book on a trip and read it.  Last week when I came down to New Orleans for the bowl games, it was at my office, in the same place I had laid it when Chuck gave it to me.  On the plane flight home, I sat next to a young Doctor and his wife, and he was reading the same book.  I asked him how he liked it, he said “it’s challenging…”  When I got home I thought I know God wants me to be challenged, maybe it’s time to read the book.

 

The book is called “Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the  American Dream.”  Tonight when watching one of the ball games, (I told you I will mindlessly watch any two teams play!),  I turned the sound down and picked up the book, and somewhere in heaven I’m sure I heard a voice say “finally!”  O.K., maybe I didn’t, but after a few pages, I sure felt like I did.

 

The author, David Platt, shared how he had been one of the youngest pastors of a mega-church in America, he was living the dream, had thousands of members, new buildings going up everywhere, he was rising as a super star in the modern church. But he found himself uneasy. The man he gave his heart to, and pledged to serve didn’t set mega churches as his model.  When Jesus was crucified and resurrected he only had about 120 followers that were doing what He had asked them to do!  Often when thousands showed up, to see Him, Jesus would tell them of the great sacrifices they would have to endure to follow Him.  Obviously, that did not attract a lot of followers.

 

David was bothered by two questions;

 

1.  Was he going to believe Jesus?

 

2.  Was he going to obey Jesus?

 

His biggest fear is that he would do what most of the Christians in first century did, hear Jesus, and then walk away. He committed  to follow Jesus wherever He led him.   It led to his meeting with groups of Christians in underground churches in Asia.  I’m going to pull the next couple of paragraphs directly from his book;

 

Imagine all the blinds closed on all the windows of a dimly lit room.  Twenty leaders from different churches in the area sat in a circle on the floor with their Bibles open.  Some of them had sweat on their foreheads after walking for miles to get there.  Others were dirty from the dust in the villages from which they had set out from on bikes early that morning.

 

They had gathered in secret.  They had intentionally come to this place at different times throughout the morning so as not to draw attention to the meeting that was occurring.   They lived in a country in Asia where it is illegal for them to gather like this.  If caught, they could lose their land, their jobs, their families, or their lives.   He listened as various members share stories of what God was doing in their churches.  They shared about members that had been kidnapped, tortured, and killed.  They shared about being threatened their families and all they had would be taken if they did not stop gathering to study the Bible.   They got on their knees with their faces in the dirt, and prayed prayers like;

 

“O God, thank you for loving me.”

“O God we need you.”

“Jesus, we give our lives to You and for You.” 

“Jesus, we trust You.”

They wept as they cried out to God.  Even in fear, they knew He would be with them!

 

At this point I was under deep conviction  From time to time many of you have been so kind, and nice,  to say how much you appreciate my witness,  and sacrifice to share the Good News.  As I read about these courageous Christians, I knew that anything I’ve ever done for Him is truly pitiful by comparison, or as the scripture says, our righteousness is as filthy rags.

 

The name of the first chapter of the book is;  Someone Worth Losing Everything For    I want to have a radical faith, a faith that sustains me as I offer Him it all.  I believe I have committed my  all to Him before, but reading this wonderful book, I realize that I need to re-make that commitment.  I don’t want to play church, I don’t want to appear to be a quote, “good” Christian.  I want to be the man He is calling me to be.  I know I’m not that man now, I know it will be a long slow climb, but I desire to be enabled by Him, to walk away from anything that stands between Him and my heart!  Pray for me as I start this journey, better yet, join me……….

 

In Him,

 

the pilgrim

 

Are you tuned to the right station?  When I’m out driving around in my car I love to listen to a variety of kinds of music and talk radio, but if I’m tuned to a rock station I won’t hear the nice soft jazz I was expecting.  If you want to develop a relationship with our Heavenly Father, you need to be tuned to His station.  O.K. pilgrim, cute picture, nice tie in, but I need more specifics!

 

No problem, Just as we wouldn’t expect to receive light Jazz from the rock station, we can’t expect to hear from and be guided by God if our antennae is aimed in the wrong direction.  I can tell you some places you will have a hard time tuning into God; a casino, a bar, a street corner where drugs are being sold.  How about a night club, or exotic dancing joint.  Shocked that I knew about those!!?? In a past, that I don’t want to discuss, I have seen and done things I know better than to have anything to do with now!  God can certainly be in the most unexpected places ministering to the lost, but it’s not a good idea to go there to fellowship with Him.  Truthfully,  those are pretty radical places, try this list; an x-rated movie, a TV show that is counter to what you believe, being in a conversation that is filled with gossip, or  how about telling or listening to a dirty joke.  Truth be told, almost all of us have been someplace we knew we should not have been.  But where do you tune into God?  How about church, or in prayer, in reading the Word.  How about fellow-shipping with other brothers and sisters in Christ.  How about meditating on His Word, maybe even finding a quiet place to listen for His voice.

 

The world desires to drown out His voice, to offer other things to fill our time rather than to seek Him.  Over the Christmas season I feasted on far too much football, I should have been reading and studying,  more than watching a mindless game I wasn’t even interested in!  I don’t like the word discipline, because I don’t have a great deal, but to successfully walk with Him you need to discipline yourself to stay on your knees, in the Word, and in contact with him.  Im thankful for Sherelene, Chuck Summers, and  Jim Begley for keeping me steered in the right direction.  Jim Haverstock, and Carl Turner do their part as well.  If you wonder if you have friends, look to see who is helping you keep it on the straight and narrow!  Those are the keepers!

 

Try to remind yourself to ask constantly, am I tuning You in my Lord, or tuning You out……………….

 

the pilgrim

 

 

Why seeking power never wins;  Seeking to control always ends badly.  Jesus told us over and over that seeking power and control ends in the loss of everything.  Someday the greatest powers the world has ever known will fall down on their knees before a King that never sought power!  Why is wanting power a loosing proposition?  Those that seek power for the sake of power need power to fill the hole left in their spirits from a lack of self worth.  We try to find ways to assure ourselves that we are worthy.  There is one big problem, we’re not worthy…  We have all fallen short of God’s glorious plan for our lives, and instead of accepting the only worth that matters, His love and approval, we seek to find it in some other way.  We often hurt others in our grasping attempt to gain a hold on authority over others.  Jesus set an example that was the opposite of this.  He, who was God’s Son, the King of Kings, came to be a servant and to offer all He had to others.  He never asked to be recognized, or placed in a position of high authority, He already was the most powerful force in the Universe, yet He never sought to be recognized and worshipped for His power, but for His Great Love.

 

Why do we look for what we need in all the wrong places?  Because we lack the understanding of even a little child.  We lack the faith in our Heavenly Father to trust in Him.

 

We seek instead to prove our worth, only showing our foolishness.  There is an answer though, surrender to the only real power worth kneeling down before, our Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

Forgive us father for we know not what we do…..

 

the pilgrim

 

On the way back home today from New Orleans I had an interesting conversation with a man in the airport waiting for my first flight out of New Orleans.  He noticed that my backpack said NPS Professional Services with the Nikon logo and he wanted to know what I did.  I explained to him, as best I could, what a Tech Rep does.  The conversation led to my teaching and doing workshops and then he asked how he could look my workshops up on the internet.  When I told him the name of the workshop series was His Light he got even more interested.  He asked what a “Christian or Faith related” workshop was.  I explained it to him and then on the flights home I thought about it some more.  I decided I needed to flesh it out a little more for anyone that might want to come to one of my workshops, but may not be sure what they are??!!

 

I will also post this at the His Light Workshop sight.

 

I’ve been a photographer, professional, serious,  and committed for over 42 years!  I’ve been a Christian since I was in high school and gave my heart to Jesus at a evangelism rally in my home town at age 15.  I was saved that moment, but it took years for what had happened to become a complete reality in my life.  I worked for many years as a photographer in a number of different fields and God grew me constantly teaching me more and more.  The biggest lesson came when i was diagnosed with terminal cancer, that was the real wake up call.  when God allowed me to live, it started me on a totally new direction in life.

 

As I started to teach photography and lead workshops, I soon realized that I loved other photographers and really enjoyed their company, especially those with whom I shared a spiritual connection, our joint love for our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Later in life when I started working for Nikon, and started to run and occasional workshop again, privately,  I knew I wanted the new workshops to be more than “just” learning photography, or even great fellowship, I wanted what  I did to honor Him.  I wanted people to be able to come to His Light Workshops and feel free to express their faith, their joy, and their passion about our Lord as well as photography.  Anyone is welcome to come to our workshops, I just want to be sure they know that we are very open about our faith and not afraid to integrate it into all we do.  Being a person of faith is not a requirement for joining us, but you might just find that you want to make that connection to Him yourself.   I can promise you one thing for sure, you will have never been to a workshop like these before!  We are not running revivals, you will be safe to know that no one will be trying to change you, we couldn’t do that even if we tried!  We are celebrating the great love we have for Him and each other, and in that atmosphere you may find wonderful things happening to you as well!  We are welcome to join us!

 

the pilgrim