Here is a picture taken from Bumpass Hell parking lot at Lassen National Park on May 28th, 2012 at around 5pm. Had a wonderful time with my family on Memorial Day.
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Here is a panoramic shot of Tenaya Lake taken from the Sunrise Trailhead.
I’m exciting about the Cambodia Mission Trip. They just took off and will be doing a lot of good work. Pray for Patrick Kim (the only Gracepoint Davis Church member to go).
Jeremiah 26-30
Key Verse
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11–13 NIV)
God is …
God has a plan for me and for everybody. He has a plant to prosper me and not to harm me. He has plans to give me a hope and a future. It sounds good. Knowing that God does not lie and that he is capable of delivering what he promises, I can take heart and look forward to a wonderful future. This is the part of the Bible that I like. But it’s important that I understand appreciate the context in which these words were given. This wonderful promise was given to the Jews in exile—those that were carted off to Babylon. God told them to settle down there. Build families, and get used to the idea of living in Babylon because it’s going to be 70 long years away from God and away from the Promised Land. Not only that but it also 70 years of shame. God is not just a giver of a good plan, a hope and a future. God is also a god who wants us to enjoy, cherish and steward them. And sometimes, to be able to do so we need to go through a period of discipline and humility. That’s why it was 70 years, and not just a few years that other prophets were falsely stating.
Lessons for me …
There were two false prophets who gave false words of encouragement. They must have felt that the 70 years of exile was too long. They personally didn’t like it or believed that God wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. They rebuked and corrected Jeremiah and called him a false prophet. Jeremiah’s words were unpopular, but they were true. And they alone were the words given by God. There is a tendency and perhaps even a temptation within human nature to make things easier for us during periods of discipline. No one likes punishment and discipline. It’s shameful, it’s alienating, relationally, from everyone, especially the person who is doing the disciplining. The pause button is pushed and life can’t go on. And it can be very awkward socially because we don’t know what to do or say or how to act. I can understand why these false prophets hated Jeremiah’s lengthy sentence. “Seventy Years! No Way. That’s too much.” Looking at my life, I had gone through periods of discipline. Like the Israelites, I felt like I was in exile. And it was painful because it was isolating and alienating. But worst of all I felt that God had given up on me and there was no possible future. If I had it my way, these periods of discipline would have been short and I would have been on my way. But if I had my way, what would have changed (about me)? Nothing. I would be the same sinful person with the same character issues and messed up value system that got me into trouble in the first place. I’ve gone through long periods of painful discipline in my life and I’m thankful to God because it humbled me, it helped me to take responsibility over my character and my actions, it made me feel urgency the urgency to change. But most of all, it was just God and me. God was with me during that time, and I learned again to love him and him alone. As a lyricist once said, “the desert has become holy ground.” It was through these periods of discipline where Jeremiah 29:11 came to me. And I was so thankful that God still has a plan for me, plans to prosper me, to give me a hope and a future. These words were like gold and they encouraged my spirit.
I’m a pastor now, leading God’s church in Davis, ministering to precious souls and telling a large college campus community about a God who loves them (and me). I love my job. I love the plan that God had for me all along. And I’m so thankful that he brought me through many periods of discipline before coming to Davis. Otherwise, I would not appreciate, cherish and steward my role.
Therefore, when God disciplines me, I must submit and be careful not to listen to voices that tell me it’s okay to take short cuts. And I must trust that God has a plan for me by persevering through the desert. I am thankful that God goes with me through the desert of discipline. God has a mountaintop planned for me. Climbing it will require character, perseverance, trust and hope. This past weekend, I took some college students on a hike in the sierras. We started on a flat land near the freeway. The scenery at the trailhead was nothing to write home about. But once we were on the mountaintop, the scenery was gorgeous—even the flat area where we started our hike. And that’s the thing. The desert is just a desert, but it’s beautiful once on the mountaintop. And as I look back at my life, I’m so thankful for the deserts—the discipline. It goes really well with the rest of the scenery that God has painted in my life.
Like this:
Here’s a video of several pastors in the Davis area who are talking about iCare. It’s going to happen on May 5th! Gracepoint Davis Church is cleaning up the arboretum.
Here’s an inspring video of a man who ran his race and finished it well. I am so thankful to have personally met Chuck Colson and to have had lunch with him, Pastor Ed, Kelly and several other Gracepoint Church leaders. His books and broadcasts have helped my faith tremendously. He is definitely one of my heroes, and with his passing I am more inspired to run my race and finish it well.
Thank you Chuck, for faithfully serving the Lord and for sharing your thoughts through your books and broadcasts! Thank you also for endorsing Interhigh. You have helped me to run my race and now you are in the cloud of witnesses cheering me on!
I’m really excited about this. On May 5, 2012 several of the churches in Davis will participate in iCare. iCare is a chance for us to express our love for the community through community service. Gracepoint Davis Church will sponsor a project to clean up the arboretum at UC Davis. I am really thankful for the fellowship I have with the other pastors at Davis. Ever since I came here, they have welcomed and supported me and our church’s ministry. I’m thankful for the opportunity to work together on May 5th! I hope you can join us. Click here to sign up.
My first Good Friday and Easter Service at Gracepoint Davis are coming up this week! Looking forward to a powerful, reflective week and weekend.
“God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours.” ~ David Livingstone.
I thought of this prayer as I was doing my devotions and morning prayer today. David Livingstone is one of my heroes, and this was the prayer he gave when felt the call to missions work and when his wife died on the mission field. As I had a chance to reflect on the parable of tenants today in Luke 20:9-19, I want to joyfully give God whatever fruit that is demanded from me. I am simply a tenant of the life God gave me and He has claim over everything. I want to pray as David Livingstone did, so help me God!
One of the joys of being a pastor is sending people to the mission field via a missions tunnel. Just recently we had a couple go out to on a two week mission trip to help provide healthcare. What’s a mission tunnel? Click below (warning, you might get dizzy).
