The body

I don't know if you know about an organization called World Changers or not. If you do, awesome. If not, then you should. They do a lot of really awesome things all over the world. I have had the privilege to be apart of several projects, two overseas, three here in the States.
I have met all kinds of people from all over the United States and the world who care about Christ and the work He is doing. They are His body, tending to a broken world.

About a year ago I met a man named Robby Ott. Robby is a straight up man. He is passionate for the Lord, passionate for the youth he leads, passionate for his wife and children. I do not live close to Robby (he lives in South Carolina, I'm in North), but from the little time we have spent together, I know we are friends and could be great friends if we had more time together.

So why am I, a guy who regularly rambles, writing about Robby? Because he has stage 4 colon cancer. He's had some crazy complications. Because he is a brother in Christ and now, more than ever, he, his wife, and his four kids need prayer and help. Because he have an opportunity to be the body of Christ. I don't honestly know what all can be done to help. But I do know there are ways to find out.

Here is a website that is all about Robby, his family, and what is going on. You can sign up for a prayer time to pray for him. It also has a link to their caringbridge site.  There, April (Robby's wife) has been blogging about what is going on. I will not tell you that it is easy to read. It is not. It is difficult to read about someone going through so much pain.

But there is hope. Always, there is hope in Christ Jesus. It is hard to see it in the midst of tribulation. It is hard to see it when there is little to be done, but hope and pray and wait. But thankfully,

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord.

And, 

³¹ For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not enjoy hurting people    or causing them sorrow. 




Lamentations 3:25,26, 31-33

Robby and April, I am waiting with you. My family is waiting with you. We are praying. 




Father, bring healing to Robby's body. You are the great physician and we know that you will get all the glory for restoring Robby so that he can continue to do the good works you have planned for him. Bring provision of every kind so that the Ott family can point to what you have done and glorify you with praises and thanksgiving. 

Holy Spirit, great Comforter, come dwell in the hearts of the Ott's giving them patience, peace, hope, self-control, love and wisdom. Move in our hearts, Holy Spirit, to be the true body, the body of Christ Jesus, caring for one another, providing for one another, lifting one another up. 

Jesus, we cry out to you! You are hope! Because of your faithfulness, righteousness and work on the cross, we can follow you. Prince of Peace, give us your peace that dares to trust in the midst of uncertainty. You are our King! Lead us now through death and life as we give ourselves wholly to you and ask for the old man to die and the new man live! Only you are qualified to be our guide in this life and in the next. We cling to the promise that you will not and have not left us. We claim your promise that you are working all of these things for our good! 

Invade us Holy God. Be made Holy in our lives and in our hearts. May we magnify your name in our conduct, speech and worship. May our lives be a pleasing sacrifice. 

Burn us up, LORD. Amen. 

Unused matches

For several years my immediate family lived across the US. We have gradually moved closer to one another and now all live in the same town. A little strange at times as it is the first time since I was 10, I think. But it's good.

When my parents first moved here they got a storage locker mostly because their kid's stuff. I will admit, I have not taken care of my stuff yet. I was there yesterday looking for something of my parents for my wife and decided that I would look for something of mine that I have not been able to find for some time now. As I sifted and sorted I came across a box of matches that a friend had given me in high school, ten or so years ago. At the time, I was a little obsessed with fire, so the gift and the little note inside made sense. All the note said was that this friend thought the box was cool and new I liked to play with fire so she got it for me. She said in the note "Keep on Fia for God :)." 

What is strange about all of this is that I have yet to use the matches. Matches, in and of themselves, have a very specific purpose: to catch and - presumably - start a fire. The purpose behind the gift was to be a physical reminder of both spiritual and emotional truth: the need to burn with passion for Christ and the affection of a friend. But these matches have never realized their purpose. They have neither burned nor reminded. They have a purpose, but they are unused.

I wonder how much people have become like those matches: physical reminders of who knows what for who knows what purpose.

I desperately do not want to waste my life, but I fear that is something that this generation has been lulled into  doing. How many 20 somethings are wondering merely existing, looking to "live the good life"? How many are passionate? How many are passionate about self pursuits? How many purpose themselves for the temporary, the instant, the quick and easy? How many, I wonder, will awake one day, as I have been waking, with the sudden harsh realization that like my box of unused matches, their life has gone a much shorter distance than they once thought? That they have missed their purpose, collected dust?

It is a paralyzing thought for me. "If I have no purpose," I ask myself, "what is my point?" I suppose the better question is what have I missed? Life can not exist without a purpose, so I made a mistake, put my thoughts and hopes into a mistaken purpose, one meant for another.
This is a question that we must ask ourselves. We must because life is too short to waste with a mistaken purpose. And let me be clear that purpose is not the same as vocation. They can be integrated, but they are not the same. We are in danger, this generation and this world. Without a clear purpose we will dissolve, slowly at first and then increasing speed and direction. It is happening now all around us.

The only true answer is found in Christ. He is the only one that can redeem and restore. He redeems us from death and restores our purposes. We are made useful in the eternal by the former and in the temporal by the latter. We have been redeemed to worship and glorify God inside and outside of time, forever. We have been restored to do the good works that God has prepared for us.

So what is my next step? I am going to use those old matches.

What about you?