“I asked her what she prayed for, because I could tell she was a woman of deep faith. She said that she prayed to God that He would not forget her and her three children on that remote mountain - that He would help her carry this burden and that He would send help. And as I held her hand and prayed for her, God revealed to me a profound truth - that I was the answer to Octaviana’s prayer. Eight thousand miles from my home in Seattle, fourteen thousand feet up in the Andes Mountains, she had cried out to God for help, and He had sent me. God has sent me to help her, He had sent me to comfort her in her suffering, and He had sent me to be Christ’s love to her. She had prayed and I was God’s answer, I would be God’s miracle in her life …

I promised her that I would not forget her. I promised her that I would help. I promised her that I would be the answer to her prayers. May God help me keep those promises.”

~Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?

These are the notes Richard made after a visit he had with a widow and her fatherless children living in extreme poverty. He had heard God’s voice, and he followed through with loving kindness and obedience as the Lord directed him about how to minister to this woman and her family.

Stearns’ newly released book has challenged me to take a deeper look at what it means to fulfill the law of Christ, as mentioned in Galatians 6.

What is the Law of Christ?

Love God and love your neighbor … ALL the law hangs on this.  (Mat 22:36-40)

This is what determines if it is a good work or a dead work. If we are doing it out of love for God or our neighbor, then it is a good work …. if it isn’t out of love for God or our neighbor, then it is a dead work. I don’t think it matters WHAT the work is. Look at the following passage:

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV)

Those were outwardly good works, but apparently they were doing them for reasons other than loving God or loving their neighbor … and God knows the heart, so He judged their actions accordingly.

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17)

If I understand him correctly, Stearns suggests that this verse from 1 John shows us how to use our wealth … but I disagree. I think it shows us how to love. Wealth is just a ‘delivery truck’ for love in this scenario, but there are a lot of other delivery trucks. Look at Tabitha (Acts 9:36-41). She sewed for the widows and the poor, and Scripture called that a ‘good work’. And 1 Timothy gives a list of things that are considered ‘good works’ such as:

• Bringing up children (providing for their needs and training them in the way of the Lord)
• Showing hospitality
• Washing the feet of the saints (today we might say serving other believers humbly)
• Helping those who are in trouble or afflicted

All these good works are delivery trucks God wants us to use to show His love toward our fellow man. In this way, we become a light in the darkness, because the world does things out of the darkness of ’self love’. So it is important to remember that even the good works mentioned in this paragraph can be ‘dead works’ if they are done for any selfish reason.

My prayer is that the Lord will speak to us as clearly as He spoke to Richard Stearns that day in the Andes Mountains, and that we will follow through with loving kindness that delivers God’s Love and the Hope of salvation to those in our own circle of influence.

Keeping it real,

Choosing a respectable career field is an important decision, one that will have a profound effect on your life, the life of your family, and even your society. It will also consume much of your time on this earth. If we start work at the age of 22, and we are privileged to live to the age of 70, we will spend approximately 200,000 hours of our life at our workplace … that’s the equivalent of nearly 23 years of our life! Quite an investment, wouldn’t you agree? But more important than what we are, is WHO we are … THAT is with us full time for a lifetime.

Who we are affects how we spend our time on the job and away from the job. How we invest our free time and our spare money is a true reflection of our character and our belief system. Perhaps our education enables us to be a chemical engineer, a graphics artist, or a nurse … but WHO we are enables us to minster both on and off the job.

How do you spend your free time? Your spare money? What does this say about who YOU are?

I have been reading The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. Ministering to the needs of the poor is his passion, and while I don’t completely agree with his view on a couple issues, I have to say that I have been challenged by his heart for serving the Lord. I have had to take a hard look at the reality of who I am, as evidenced by how I am spending my time and resources, and to be honest … I’ve realized that I am going to have to stand up from my comfortable place of ministry and take a few steps of obedience in ministering to those in need.

Stearns has an insight and a voice that most preachers will never have, because it is a look into the Word from a perspective they’ve never seen … the perspective of one who has seen the power of the gospel at work in the lives of those who live in extreem poverty and disease, many of them are only hours from death. They have no hope physically or spiritually. Stearns shares his insight by telling true stories of the positive things that happen when we minister Life and Hope to those who are completely without.

This is a soul searching book that seeks to answer the age old question, “What does God expect of us?” In my opinion, Stearns does a very good job of helping us find that answer.

Keeping it real,

From his home underneath the pier at Gulf State Park on the beautiful beach of Alabama’s coast, Andy’s perspective was anything but beautiful. He had just finished crying the kind of tears that a man doesn’t want anybody else to know about … the kind of tears that express deep sorrow and hopelessness. He had lost sight of what life had to offer, and what he had to offer to the world. In Andy’s mind, he had received nothing, and he had nothing to give. But that day, someone had heard his sobbing. He introduced himself as ‘Jones,’ and asked if Andy could spare one of the Coke’s he had stolen from the fridge of an unattended beach house. He took the Coke and settled himself in the sand outside Andy’s home under the pier. It was time to invest a little wisdom in this young man’s life, and Jones had a way to talking so that people listened.

Jones had a different perspective from most people. He could see potential even in the most bleak situations, and he had a way of cracking the door open just wide enough so that others could get a glimpse of that potential too. That was his gift, and that was what he came to share with Andy that day … a glimpse of what life COULD be.

The Noticer is an inspirational book which would be great to read in short bursts, because each chapter details a separate encounter with the mysterious drifter named Jones. This lovable character has a knack for showing up at the most opportune time to offer insight to neighbors who are disheartened or desperate. There was little or no mention of God or His wisdom, so I missed that aspect in the lives of Andrew’s characters, however the story line was creative and clean and the advice was insightful and practical.

A couple years ago, my family and I enjoyed listening to the audio version of another Andrews’ book called The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success while we were on a camping trip. Using the lives of historical personalities like Lincoln, Anne Frank, and Truman, Andy Andrews weaves together an interesting storyline which offers the same kind of practical advice as he does in the The Noticer. Both of these books are well suited for family reading, because they open the door to conversations about important life lessons and character traits.

The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.

This is my personal review of The Noticer, written by Andy Andrews, and published by Thomas Nelson.

I enjoy reviewing books as a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program.

Keeping it real,

Have you ever noticed how God sometimes works in themes when He is speaking to us about something?

I have!

One time, He decided to teach me about His Holiness … about how pure and perfect He is, about how loving and tender He is toward me, about how honorable His works are, and how endless His resources are. When I finally ‘got it’, I was humbled to my knees. Why? Because He is HOLY, and we have never known the likes of Him … not even close!

Another time, He addressed an area of disobedience in my life. It seemed to me that every sermon, every book, every song on the radio had something to say about it …

Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Lately, the theme has been about faith-in-action … about how ‘real’ faith is belief that leads to action. In particular, it leads to doing things ‘differently.’ What unsaved person ever lived a life that honored God? Faith makes our life different, or it isn’t faith at all. Where will this difference show up? We will listen to different music, read different books, spend time with different people, react with a different attitude, aim for a different goal in life, raise our children to be different, invest our money in a different way … I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.

Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that the essence of faith is entirely a mental and inward thing.

~Dallas Ward

I’m not familiar with Dallas Ward, but when I read this statement, I realized that it is the essence of what God has been teaching me, lately. Faith cannot be hidden away in our mind or heart. It is obvious in our life, or it is obviously not in our life … and that is a scary place to be because Scripture tells us it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God without faith.

Keeping it real,

In sharing their story, Rachel Scott’s mom and dad each tell of hearing about the school shooting, arriving at the designated meeting place where parents were to be reconnected to the children who were being bussed away from the school, and of the terrible sinking feeling that washed over them as the last bus rolled away and their daughter had not been delivered to them. My heart was torn as I imagined the sorrow they must have felt that day, but the focus of the book quickly turns to the beauty of Rachel’s life … beauty that was seen in the details, many of which had been written down by Rachel herself.

In the days following her death, family and friends began to tell of how they were encouraged or challenged or comforted by Rachel in some way, and a beautiful picture of one with uncommon “faith in action” began to emerge. Rachel had been a note writer. One who had written many, many notes to friends and often even wrote notes to God in her journal. Her parents have included copies of a good number of her handwritten notes which were often more like her side of a chat session with God. Through her notes, it is easy to see that Rachel understood that God has set a higher standard for His people. Time and again she poured out her heart concerns to God through her written words as she worked through typical teenage situations. Often she received God’s direction before she finished writing, and in those cases, she recorded her answer and a commitment to follow through in obedience. In describing Rachel’s personality, her mother said,

“Rachel was very committed to Christ. She wasn’t a middle-of-the-road person. She wasn’t apathetic. She had a vitality for life and an all-out devotion to what she considered important, and that devotion seemed to come through in even the smallest things that she did.”

I hope this can be said about me when I’m gone. What about you?

Keeping it real,

Rachel’s Tears: 10th Anniversary Edition: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott

This is my personal review of Rachel’s Tears, written by Beth Nimmo and Darrell Scott with Steve Rabey, and published by Thomas Nelson.

I enjoy reviewing books as a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program.