Hospital visiting

Friday is the day that our pastor takes off for himself and I am the pastor on call. Today, I had my first random hospital visit. A gentleman asked the hospital to give our church a call, and see if a pastor could come visit him. Now I have done many hospital visits, but this is the first visit where I didn't know the patient or why he was in hospital. It made me nervous thinking to myself: what if this person was on his death bed? Or had a terminal illness? What would I say? could I make a difference?

When I got there, I went cheerfully and met a new friend. His name is Jim and if you keep him in prayer that would be awesome! I soon found out that he had been there two days, been through all sorts of tests, and the doctors were still uncertain what was wrong with him. Talked a little while with him until a nurse came in to do some stuff. When I came back in Jim was ready to take a nap, which I had told him at the beginning if he needed to kick me out for a nap that was okay. I asked if I could pray with him, grabbed his hand and prayed. It was a great experience for me, to better myself on what to say or not say, how to react around hospital patients. Always learning and building my relationship with people.

A little excitement with a church plant!

My first time attending a church plant launching service was awesome. I really didn’t understand much of what was said because it was a Hmong church service. We spent about an hour singing in Hmong and having a variety of special music performances. Our senior pastor gave a short encouraging word, as well as, a few of the surrounding area Hmong pastors. Pao Ly, the president of the Southern Baptist Hmong Association, gave a wonderful message that was both in Hmong and English. He spoke on Acts 2 and encouraged us that if we focus on preaching, discipleship, prayer, and fellowship we will grow our churches! We ended the service by commissioning the First Hmong Baptist Church of Green Bay; and prayed over the pastor and his wife. 

The service lasted close to two and half hours; and it didn’t end there! We went downstairs for lots of food and fellowship. I left three and half hours from the original start of the service. I was super excited to have experienced only what God could have put together. I intend to continue to invest in the Hmong people as they meet in our church and pray for them. What a great day at church!

God never takes a nap!

You're in it! A storm in life; you're drowning and it seems like no one notices or even cares. You gasping for relief, you're lonely, you're stuck and don't seem to me moving, you lost all hope. Then the question comes to your mind where is God? I don't see Him! I don't feel Him! Is He even there?

I was reading the other day from the book of Psalm. In there I came across an amazing verse that said God does not sleep! (Psalm 121:3) That's amazing, He is always available, right? But yet in the middle of our storms we look for Him and it's like He isn't there. Maybe He is asleep...Maybe He spending time with my pastor...Or maybe that guy who prays like 5 times a day is keeping God preoccupied...

All valid thoughts; but yet all thoughts are invalid truths about God! God does not take naps. He doesn't get preoccupied. He is with you through your storms. How do I know this? Well, from the Bible of course; you know, the Sunday School answer. But at the same time because I have gone through storms in my life. Now when I go through them, many times I don't see Him. Not sure exactly why at times, it could be that I am in a pity party or maybe the storm is so bad my eyes are closed waiting for the storm to lift. Whatever the reason is; I still know God was with me during the storms! HOW? When I get out on the peaceful waters and look back at my time in the storm. I see Him! He is working in and through my life. He sent people along to encourage me at the right times. He sheltered me from getting permanently lost in my storm. He helped me overcome the storm. He made me stronger. I am where I am because He loved me.

If you are a Jesus follower; you have that hope when Jesus said I will neither leave you or forsake you. If you are not a follower; He is waiting with open arms for you to turn around and accept Him! He has been there the whole time, asking you to give your life to Him, but for whatever reason you wanted to live life on your own terms. You wanted to be the king of you life. But He is right there waiting for you to say His name, waiting to be part of your life! God never naps, He is alive and relevant in the life of the believer and waiting to be alive and relevant in the life of the unbeliever!

God's Unconditional Love

God's unconditional love is represented all throughout the Bible! Tonight, in the Underground, we looked at just one example of it. Genesis 15 opens with God appearing to Abram in a vision. Abram goes back and forth with God on the original promise God gave Abram. God takes Abram outside and shows him the stars; and confirms that he would be the father of many people. Abram believed and it was credited it to him as righteousness!

God asked him to gather some animals (a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon). Abram split the animals (not the birds) in two and laid them out opposite of each other. During this part of the message; I pulled out a few stuffed animals. To be exact; a cow, a lamb, and a cat. I took a butcher knife and split the stuffed animals in halves and laid them out in front of the students! Gory, I know.

I went on to explain the importance of this covenant among the people of Abram's day. They would take animals, split them in two, and both parties would walk through the animals. This was a strong symbol that was saying; "If either party breaks their agreement; let myself be like these animals." What a way to make a covenant! In today's times; our promises, vows, and agreements are not taken so serious. In marriage, it is not "till death do us apart"; it is "till we grow apart, and I want a divorce." 

Abram watches as God walks through the animals and fulfills the covenant without Abram ever walking through. This is God showing that He will fulfill His commitment to Abram; no matter what Abram does or doesn't do. It was the same way for us. God sent His son to be pierced and die for us. He restored the relationship between man and Him; giving us the opportunity for Salvation! We can receive this; no matter what we do or don't do. Nothing changed the agreement between God and Abram; as nothing will change the commitment of Salvation God gave us through the death of His Son. God's unconditional love is so amazing!

God is an Unpredictable God!

At our human core, we love things to be predictable! I personally love when professors are predictable, because I was able to narrow my studying come test time. It gave me a one-up on the test knowing that he or she does their test in the same way each time. When we sit on a chair, we want it to stand our weight and not break. It's a plus when it is a recliner and it has been a long day of work, we want to sit down in the most comfortable chair ever! Sometimes chairs give, we break them, we get embarrassed, people laugh; we all would agree that in this case we like the predictability of a chair doing what it was designed to do. Think about your favorite food or drink; it would be a sad day if you sunk your teeth into a rotten food or spoiled drink! It would most likely ruin your day; and for some might ruin their favorite food or drink.

In fact we like to live a comfortable life. We don't like when life sends us a curveball. Granted, life is full of curveballs and unpredictable events. Parents divorce, people die (even people that are younger than us that have so much life to live), he or she breaks your heart, your senior year of football begins with a broken leg, etc. Life is so unpredictable!

With this you’d think it would be great to have a God that is predictable...Right?

God fixed your friends parents divorce; and you know that He would do the same for your parents. Yeah, you broke your leg; but God is going to bring that college recruit into your life over the summer. He sits down with and opens up your life's map; and points to all the places He will take you from your birth to death. BUT that is not God, He is unpredictable. He works in different ways for different people; and at times we won't understand why He does things.

Now to note: God is predictable in some ways of His character. He is a God of love and He will love you. He is a God of justice and mercy. If He makes a promise; it is like a check that we can take to the bank to cash. Though, He doesn't just fit in a box. Into a mold that we make for Him; He is an unpredictable God in His greatness. 

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. Psalm 145:3

Who God is? We will never even get close to understanding how great he is and how much he can impact our lives!

God will work in and through you!

God can make you a better person!

God can make you feel complete!

God will never leave you!

How He does this is different for people, but He still does it!

 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. Psalm 115:3

In Jeremiah 18; He takes Jeremiah to a potter's house. He teaches that in the same way clay is in the potter's hand; that His people are in His hand. Sometimes a potter has to remold and fix his project. Sometimes he has to start back at the beginning to get what he wants. Sometimes the potter makes a bowl, other times a cup or a plate. 

Same with thing with us! Sometimes God has to break us down to get us moldable to what He wants.

Sometimes He has to start at the beginning. God makes us different as well; some of us are like cups while others are like bowls and yet some like plates. All of these serve a purpose in the kitchen and all of God's people serve a purpose in His kingdom!

God is unpredictable! We will never know where he will plant us. We will never know where he will take us! We will never know why He does for some; while not doing the same for others. We will not always understand Him and His methods. We will never grasp the fullness of His love and greatness. BUT I am okay with that and you need to be too!