I CON-DU-IT!

September 20, 2018

I CON-DU-IT

Judges 6:14, 15 (Message)

¹⁴ But God faced him directly: “Go in this strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian. Haven’t I just sent you?”

¹⁵ Gideon said to him, “Me, my master? How and with what could I ever save Israel? Look at me. My clan’s the weakest in Manasseh and I’m the runt of the litter.”

Being a part of a greater thing can be mind boggling when you really step back and look at the impact of what God is about to do or has invited us to be a part of.

In my mid-twenties my ex introduced me to infomercial and body building king, Tony Little. When she would work out and have Tony Little’s videos on I would laugh because of his trademark saying, “YOU CAN DO IT!” Still today when I see Tony Little whether it is on a late-night infomercial or the car rental commercial working his ‘Gazelle’ I can’t help but laugh simply because of that statement.

Thinking about this though brings me back to Gideon and our desire as humans to be a part of a bigger thing. Too often though we find ourselves disqualified because of one of two things.

1)     We tend to not see our potential as God sees us which requires a different and godly perspective OR

2)     We tend to hear something different than what God is calling us to.

Neither thing is truly wrong even if they may be off the mark. So how do we accept the challenge God has called us to and move to that point of how He sees us?

Earlier this morning Tracey and I were talking about this very thing. We were talking about how humbling it is when God calls us to be a part of a bigger thing. Both of us want to see God work through us but neither of us want to be the center of attraction. This does not mean we want to lose the character of gifts God has put within us. On the contrary we don’t want to be the focus of the process.

As I thought a little more about this I could not help but think about how social media is the vise that attempts to give us false validation and can confuse us from God’s calling for our lives. God sees us in one way, but we have a hard time hearing or even having the perspective he has of us. Instead we look at our followers or those who comment or tweet a post we put up hoping that someone will comment or at least like what we say. Understand it is tempting to watch that and make that the validation, but then you realize that there is so much more to life.

As I was planning a trip to go out west most people told me all about Arizona and how beautiful it was and what to see but very few mentioned something else that caught my eye; the state of Utah. What I realized and even still reflect on is just how different and beautiful the mountains can look from the different angles you look at them. The same mountains from the Arizona side has more of a cactus and desert motif as looking at if from the Utah side has the look of a painted landscape. As I drove around I then began to think of just how different the mountain ranges look from all the ones I have been to regardless if it were the Alps in Switzerland, the Rockies of Colorado, the Smokies of Tennessee, the Blue Ridge of the Carolinas and Virginias or the Appalachians of Pennsylvania. Each have their own unique characteristics, dirt, vegetation, rocks and colors to them as well as wildlife. Although they are mountains each one looks different from place to place and from bottom to looking up verses top looking down.

Just like the mountains we tend to generalize ourselves to fit in. We want to see ourselves like the masses and generalize ourselves no different than one would do talking about the mountains regardless to location. What we don’t understand is the potential we have and just how unique we look from God’s perspective. He sees our potential and has called us out to greatness because He has seen us from many different perspectives.

So, if it is not our vision that is holding us back from that epic plan that God is calling us to, it is our hearing that becomes our stumbling block. During my conversation with Tracey she was explaining to me how she did not want to be looked at being the leader of her small group as the top person, rather as part of the group. When I think about it I come back to 1 Corinthians 12 where it talks about the parts of the body make up the whole and how not one part has a greater function than another. As she was taking to me she said, “I don’t want to be looked at as the leader rather as a ‘conduit’ for what God is about to do.” As I was listening to her though I started to laugh as the first thing that came to my mind was, you guessed it, Tony Little.

As I thought about what she was saying I really had to focus on what she said verses what came to mind. Too often we think God is calling us to one thing yet is He saying something else?

When she said, “I’m a conduit for God” I had to question do we hear instead “I’m a CAN DO IT for God?” Do we think that God’s calling is more about what we do, or do we think God’s calling is that of God flowing through us? As we focused on the task or are we focused on the movement of God or in the process?

God when you call us may we not disqualify ourselves because we do not have the perspective you have of us and think there is nothing unique about what You have created us to be. May we not be defined by our surroundings or a singular perspective but allow us to see what you see from a different vantage point and be able to fulfill Your calling in the correct way. Likewise, may we hear You correctly. May we hear the word ‘CONDUIT’ correctly so that it is about what You are doing through us rather than “CAN DO IT’ which the focus is what we do in our own might. May we not be focused on the process rather that our eyes are fixed on the promise. In Jesus name!

Survey the Land-

Survey the Land-

Numbers 13

1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe.”

17-20 When Moses sent them off to scout out Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and then into the hill country. Look the land over, see what it is like....When they arrived at the Eshcol Valley they cut off a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it took two men to carry it—slung on a pole. They also picked some pomegranates and figs.

It is one thing to stand on God’s promise in a situation, but it is another thing to wait on God’s promise. At church today the pastor was talking about standing on the word of a promise. He talked about the ruler who came to Jesus on the behalf of his dying son and Jesus says ‘Go your son is healed,’ and in the process of him returning home he gets word of the healing of his son.

As I was listening to this, I could not help but think ‘what happens if God gave you a word yet you feel like you are just in a holding pattern and wonder if you even heard correctly His promises.’ Am I hearing correctly or did His word change or is my expectations not in alignment with what His promises really are? Have you felt like you have been in that holding pattern just circling the airport of your destination?

When I asked this very question during service God gave me one simple response....’survey the land.’ Being in the construction field and designing homes and the land they are on for nearly three decades I almost fell apart. As I took in this word ‘survey the land I was taken back to two projects, the first was my parents house which I did at the age of 20 and the second the job I currently am working on for a client in New Jersey. The thing they both have in common was the slope of the land was very drastic to the point where most would look at them and deem the lots as being unbuildable. The truth is these are the lots that create the most stunning residences.

When I heard the word ‘survey the land’ I had to think about exactly what that meant. Understand in order to create a survey you must take into consideration several factors; the boundaries, vegetation, soil topography and even the way the land faces. Much the same when we stand on the word God gives us we must take in the same factors.

When we look at God’s promises we need to understand all the factors that His word reflects. Take for example Psalm 23. There are so many things the Psalmist speaks of between enemies, tables, rods, staffs, banquets, and oil, but if we do not understand the significance of each thing we can overlook them as simply innate items rather than leverages of promise. Too often we ask for a promise or a word and camp out on it but do not understand those things within the promise.

So as I sat and listened to today’s message I had to correlate the promise God gave me about my kids and direction with the word He gave me today (survey the land) and what I do for a living. Understanding the elements of a survey gives us a better perspective to understand that area where you are going to build on and a word or promise is exactly something we are to build on. Too often though we find ourselves just pitching a tent in the middle of that ‘promise’ land God has given us and know it’s potential and blessings but get discouraged as we are just living in a tent when our desire is a permanent residence in the promise God has given us.

He requires us to survey the ‘promise’ land so we can strategically understand how and where to build upon His promise. It requires us to understand the boundaries of the promise, the topography (the highs and lows), the soil conditions which are rich for growth and the direction so the Son can shine down properly.

So as I look back at the promises where I felt stagnant for some time regarding my kids and not seeing any movement, I must ask, ‘what does surveying the ‘promise’ land look like? I know it has benefits to it for blessings, but what giants must I encounter and overthrow to build on His promise? Are there Giants of Fear and Doubt? Maybe it is the Giant of Fatigue. How about the Giant of Insignificance?

God calls us to survey the land not to be intimidated by the process, rather to gain understanding of the promise. Too often the Giants try to overshadow the promise stopping us from building on the land He has given us and deem it as ‘unbuildable.’

God forgive me for allowing the Giants to seem more significant that the promise. May my eyes be able to survey that which is good in the promises You have spoken that I may build on those things you have spoke into my life, my kids and the calling you have set.CAL

The Challenger

January 28, 2018

The Challenger

Proverbs 6:20-22 (NIV)

²⁰ My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teachings. ²¹Bind them always on your heart and fasten them around your neck. ²²When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep they will watch over you; when you wake they will speak to you.

Are there things in your life that are turning points that have made an impression on you that you will never forget? Are there things in life that have gotten you to where you are that maybe you have forgotten and may have caused things to feel more routine than they should. Scripture tells us in Proverbs 6 not to forget those things we have learned as they will be our guide.

One event that has made an impression on me is due to the title. It is hard to believe that 32 years ago today (January 28, 1986) the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up in mid flight only 30 seconds after launch killing 7 astronauts and changing the way we did space exploration ever again. What killed 7 astronauts on the Challenger just a couple decades later (February 1, 2003) almost to the day ended up killing 7 more on the Space Shuttle Columbia upon reentry shutting down the space program indefinitely.

Both flights have made an impact on the history of our country forever, yet it would be so easy to forget that which has happened either because it was before some people’s time or simply had no direct impact on their lives. Seeing that the Challenger disaster happened the day after my 14^th birthday and how NASA wanted to teach school children about space exploration and get them excited, I don’t think I will never forget. You see it was NASA’s goal to send a teacher upon the Shuttle, so children would remember this specific day and desire to become an astronaut. Unfortunately, the effort did exactly opposite as someone the children could related with was sent to their death in such a vivid and tragic way.

            The reality is time allows for pivotal moments to be the milestones to allow people to succeed and become creative and inventive. Here are a few examples.

-          Beethoven, a deaf man used his disability to become an accomplished musician

-          Albert Einstein, a Jewish man born in Germany had to flee from his home to the United States who was the catalyst to stop World War II by developing the atom bomb.

-          Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., called for and end to segregation and racial equality, but never got to see the progress of his dream come to fruition where segregation of schools, neighborhoods, transportation and places of gathering or restrooms have changed drastically for the better.

-          Billy Graham, a young man who many thought would amount to nothing and counted him out became the most pivotal and influential pastor of the 20^th century where millions have given their lives to God and thousands have going into ministry either as a direct result or an indirect result.

The list goes on and on. The reality is each one had a couple things in common that made them who they were; adversity and remembering who they were is bigger than what had happened to them. If those who had gone before us, either listed or not, allowed adversity to define who they were, they would not have made the impact they did, and the results would have been much different.

Proverbs talks exactly about this. We are reminded to not forget the teachings of our mother or the commands or direction handed down to us by our father. The reason for this is very simple; it allows us to understand who we are and our standards. If we can do so we will not be deceived in those times of adversity. This doesn’t mean we will not go through hard times, only that we will not loose our identity in the process and get off course.

So now 32 years later we can take the lessons of the Challenger and apply them to our personal lives. Here are a few I think one could glean from that fateful day.

-          Never take the things you have learned from the past for granted. When a commission was put together to investigate what happened they found that 2 things went hand in hand. The first was temperature differentiation and the other is the maintenance of the Shuttle. Temperature always has a cause and effect on things in our lives. When we fail to balance out the outside temperatures of our lives with the inside temperatures of how we are feeling or what is going on we can find ourselves getting to the point of exploding. Just like temperature, we must recognize those things that need to be fixed or adjusted in our lives and not to ignore those things that are even slightly off. In the Challenger the commission found that there was a rubber seal called an ‘O-Ring’ which was affected by temperature. On that fateful day it was determined that the rubber seals shrunk because the temperatures were near freezing and the heat distributed by the boosters where heating up too fast where the ‘O-Rings’ could not get back to the proper shape allowing fuel to leak and explode. Our lives can be very much the same where things move so fast and we don’t allow ‘O-Rings’ within either to be replaced or stretch leading us to leak and eventually explode.

-          Don’t take things for granted. When NASA introduced the Shuttle program they sold it from the stand point of cost efficiency and doing more with less. What they did not expect was the idea would become too mundane and people both working on the ship and those paying attention would just be going through the motions and forget the original purpose for what they were created for. Likewise, we may find ourselves in a rut and what was on track for good we keep doing the same thing in a mundane way. As a result, we become dissatisfied, resent what we have been doing and the reason why we started out this way and eventually have a call for an end of what once was good, now being considered status quo. Today other outside companies are competing against government agencies to do those things that NASA once did great in a much better way.

So how do we avoid the leak of the ‘O-Ring’ or the lack of luster of what was once great? We need to go back to the fundamentals of where we are heading. We must remember those things that we were once taught. We must have others who are willing to challenge us to be better at what we had the dream to be. We must not box others out thinking we have all of the answers. We must be able to not allow tragedy to define who we are as life will always throw a curve ball and make us want to give up.

So what is your Challenger? Have you had an idea where once it had great potential and now has either become mundane or as leaked so much that is has exploded? You must get back to the basics and rediscover the greatness of those things that once was. The ironic thing is the third Space Shuttle created after the Columbia and Challenger (the two that later blew up) was called the Discovery. You see sometimes it requires the original dream to be created only to be followed up by a discovery of what that dream initially was.

In memory of the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Challenger: (January 28, 1986)

·         Commander Francis R Scobee

·         Michael J Smith

·         Ronald McNair

·         Ellison Onizukz

·         Judith Resnik

·         Gregory Jarvis

·         Christa McAuliffe

And in memory of the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Columbia: (February 1, 2003)

·         Rick D Husband

·         William C McCool

·         Michael P Anderson

·         Kalpana Chawla

·         David M Brown

·         Laurel Clark

·         Iian Ramon

May we not forget your service and impact you had for future generations!

Where Do I Belong?

Where Do I Belong?

Isaiah 49:15-17“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore?But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never.Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you?As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—

It is so easy to get lost and wonder where you belong, especially after a tragedy. Loosing your place of purpose can be the result of several different things from depression to loneliness to loss to feeling inadequate in a calling, job or position we have been called to. We all experience it at time to time, but there are some who tend to live there with a loss of hope.So where do I belong and why do I feel so out of place?

In order to answer this question you must reflect on a few things first. What am I made for and which direction do I need to take? You are made for a purpose... to glorify God in everything you do!
Now as for direction we assume that it has just one or two definitions, but imagine if it actually has two opposing definitions? Too often we think of the definition of ‘direction’ simply as a path forward or instruction of how to do something, but Webster has another interesting definition to ‘direction’; it is the address scribed on the outside of a package or building, the description of a destiny. It is too easy to be concentrated on the path that we forget the destiny God has inscribed on us from day one.

Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 49. He mentions that God wrote you on the back of the hand. One may not think this is significant, but think about it this way. When I put my watch on I do so where my watch is face up on the back of my hand. In doing so, when I drive the back of my hand faces out and I can quickly see my watch to be reminded what time it is at a quick glance. Likewise God has you scribed on the back of His hand, like my watch, to remind Him at a glance of where you are.

The greatest problem we have as humans is the ability to be overcome by our circumstances that we forget the destination we have set out for. Looking back I am amazed with my parents. Here it is being from a large family we did many road trips whether it was to see my aunt and uncle in Boston or the beach in Florida. This is why I am impressed. Packing up to 9 people in a car to drive hundreds of miles away without tv or any other activities but maybe a coloring book or Etch a Sketch. We as kids would be excited about the destination but didn’t understand the journey.

To help us better our parents would buy an atlas so we could understand the journey better. Little did I understand how important the map was until I was the one in the driver’s seat. You see it is easy to cheer on the destination when you aren’t the one behind the steering wheel. I didn’t understand what my dad went through driving straight through front Akron, Ohio to Orlando, Florida with the packed car until I was the one day driving the car.

When I was the one responsible for the destination I learned there were a lot of distractions and pitfalls. On a family vacation it may be the kids yelling in the back seat or fatigue sitting on your shoulders to where the last 100 miles you didn’t even remember. The place where God has called us is much like that family vacation though. When we are younger we are excited about where God is calling us and where we feel we need to be and just can’t understand why others don’t feel the same. We have our map book in hand then realize we are in the driver’s seat. We know where we are to be going but have been distracted by the yelling in the background where the mission seems to fade into the horizon. Maybe it is driving down the same road where it seems nothing has changed and we lost track of the past 100 miles simply because we are tired or used to just keep on where we have been.

There is a simple truth though we must keep in mind. Just like any major highway we must on occasion look for that rest stop, stretch our legs and relieve ourselves from those things that are weighing us down and making us uncomfortable. Once we do that we need to break open that map book and see where we are and where we are going.

Remember, where you belong is less about the journey and more about the destination. If we allow our focus to be centered on the pitfalls and detours along the way we may find ourselves turning around and giving up on the destination God has made for us.

I encourage you, if you wonder where you belong, to pull out your map book and remember some of those promises you once had and look at the path you have taken so far and how much more you have to get where you belong. Remember God wrote you on the back of His hand so when He is carrying you He can see you at a glance and know where you are is in His perfect timing!

Bathing in Dirty Water

January 20, 2018

Bathing in Dirty Water

John 5:1-6 (Message)

^1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people- blind, crippled and paralyzed- were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

Water is imperative to the survival of an individual.

As I was thinking about the context of this journal many things came to mind where the initial premise has changed although the heart of it remains the same.

In life we look for things to be awesome. We have goals dreams and vision for the direction we plan to go, yet not always does it turn out to be as we thought the journey should be.

Last week I shared a blog called “Where Do I Belong?” It talked about how we have a tendency of having goals and visions, but as time would have it we tend to lose our way and find ourselves in a vortex where we lose the light at the end of the tunnel.

This week I am building on this.

When I was younger my family grew up in a house that had well water and a lot of iron deposits. We were the ones that would drink out of the garden hose on a hot summer day because it was convenient and very cold and refreshing water. We would in fact overlook the iron flavor because it was refreshing on those hot days. Today people would think drinking from a garden hose would be unsanitary, but is it?

A few years ago, when I met my girlfriend and her kids they told me that bottled water tasted different, and I thought they were full of it. They would for the most part only drink Zephyrhills water. Admittedly I just thought they were just being water snobs until they put several waters to the test for me. To my surprise they were right. Zephyrhills water tasted much better than an Aquafina or any other water on the market.

Now my point is not to promote water rather to say what we put in and even bath in makes a difference. Too often we find ourselves in our daily walk preverbally drinking from the garden hose because it is convenient or sufficing with bottled water that is subpar to other that are better.

In other terms imagine bathing in water that was dirty to get clean. Before running water, and my mother has attested to this, families would gather enough water to fill a tub and each family member would use the same water to bath in because it was a lot of work to cart fresh water for each person’s use. As a result, most families would bath maybe once a week and the one who was the last got the short end of the stick. Keep in mind that many families at the time were relatively large so by the time the last one would bath the water was pretty dirty and cold, but this was reality and that was acceptable.

Very often we do the same thing in life. Sure, it may not be the dirty water, but it may be the things we read, say do, people we associate with, the compromise of our morals or beliefs and so on. As a result, we fill up that tub once and expect the water to be clean each time we use it. We take a drink from what is convenient simply because that is what we do. In the process we look for God to bless us, heal us, clean us and nourish us. We look for Him to fulfill our dreams and in the process, are okay with the status quo. When someone shows us or tells us there is something better and what we have partaken in for so long could be bad for us and there is a better solution we look at them with this indigent look as if they are crazy or a water snob and continue with that which we are used to.

When you look at the verse in John 5 you see an encounter with a man who obviously everyone knew and knew his plight and situation. Scripture reads that he was there in the gate or alcove coming back to the pool where he knew there was healing for thirty-eight years. Even Jesus knew him, but did the man know the one he was talking to? Was he aware that there was a different way and something better?

Too often we allow status quo to dictate our direction and realize the one we are talking to is an answer to our prayer. We expect God to do the same thing for us as He did for someone else almost like getting that perfectly cut cookie or biscuit cut with a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and assuming that is the only flavor and shape there is only to find out there are drop biscuits that taste just as good or Kolaczkis filled with the decadent jam and sprinkled with powder sugar. So often we expect God to do something new with the same old thing. Jesus talked about this as well (Mark 2) where someone would not take new wine and put it in an old wineskin as it would burst and what was new would spill out and be lost.

Before we can understand how God will rectify our circumstances and set things straight to receive His healing and blessing we must understand a few things. First, we must change our habits. Some of the things we are allowing into our lives is no different than bathing in dirty water our being okay with drinking bad tasting water. Maybe that water is the music we listen to or the movies we watch. When we first heard it we winced at the vulgar language or the underlying sexual content portrayed and what once made us uncomfortable now seems common.

Secondly, we need to recognize God doesn’t do the same thing for everyone. Until we

understand what our calling is we cannot understand what God is about to do in our

circumstances. One person’s financial blessing may be your simply because you are not

used to it or have the knowledge to understand how to manage it. Likewise, what God does

in someone’s life is unique to their character and personality. If God did in your life that

which was exciting to someone else, say like a mission’s trip where many people got saved

because someone had the ability to speak or build a building and you find that God

provided the resources for them to go as well as take care of their needs you may feel very

out of place and fearful of not having your needs met not having he same result. God

certainly, knows our needs and our direction. He would not put us in a compromising

position or give us the wrong resources to fulfil the goals He has in story for us.

Thirdly are you okay with the ‘status quo?’ Too often we tend to do the same thing over and again simply because it is comfortable, and we are used to it, but as a result are we becoming too shortsighted that we miss the blessing standing right in front of us? It is so easy to be used to the same old things, but as a result to we hold on to those things that are not good for us for the things that could be better simply because the unknown takes faith and it could be too scary to step out? When I lost my last job, I found I compromised what I wanted to security and consistency, but I didn’t realize until I lost my job I was killing my soul due to my compromise. I did not know the blessing that was standing before me. I did not realize what God had in store because I thought He could bless in the same old thing with the attitude of status quo rather than stepping out in faith.

Much to the chagrin John tells us there is a man who for thirty years expected God to heal him but did everything the same way thinking that God would bless him the same way that he had seen others before him healed. If you continue to read on you find further dialog between Jesus and the man.

“The sick man said, ‘Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to help me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody is already in.”

What Jesus may have witnessed is someone who was saying, ‘Look I missed out on my blessing because of someone else.’ Or He could have seen someone who had expressed, ‘Because of my state maybe God doesn’t want me healed.’ Either way Jesus put both factors to rest testing the man to see what he was made of and if he truly wanted something different and new or if he was willing to live in his crippled state.

“Jesus said, ‘Get up, take up your bedroll and start walking.’ The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.”

You see God gave him a second chance. He saw the state he was in the years that he lived in

status quo and even the excuses. He saw the man’s desire to see God intervene and his

expectations for somebody else to help be that one in his time of struggle and need. He

recognized the dirty water he had in his spirit that for thirty-eight years was okay with

sitting in an archway without resolve and in pure abandonment not knowing if God was

going to change the circumstances. And he saw a man who didn’t even recognize his healer

was standing in front of him and with one statement showed him grace and a second

chance and his all in all.

Are you the cripple man waiting for God to intervene in your situation? Are you that one who is drinking whatever water you can because it is convenient or bathing in the same dirty water because it is what you have always done and yet expect God to fulfill those dreams that showed you once before? God is showing you that there is something different. He is showing you that there is something more refreshing. He is showing you that there is a different way to change your crippling circumstances, but it requires you to change your habits, fix your perspective and step out in faith. Are you ready?

Power in the Blood

September 2, 2017

Power in the Blood

Hebrews 13:20-21

“May God, who puts all things together, make all things whole,

Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,

The sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant

Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead,

Now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him.

Make us into what gives him pleasure,

By means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.

All glory to Jesus forever and always!

Oh, yes, yes, yes!”

Just one week after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas many organizations are looking for ways to help out. Just prior to the storm I was contacted by my local blood center saying that it was time to give blood again since it has been about 8 weeks since I gave last. They are always looking to take my blood, not just because they are a blood center but because I have a rare blood type that can be used in multiple applications.

Per my conversation with those at the blood center they told me that they would be giving me a tee shirt for giving blood. I don’t really pay much attention to what they give away as they have given me cooler bags and blankets before, but this particular shirt peaked my interest once they gave it to me.  As I read it, it took me back to an old hymn that I probably haven’t heard in decades, but remember my mom singing when I was a little boy. This is what the shirt read….

                “The Power to Heal is in My Blood.”

As I sat there with my blood flowing into a bag, pondering this saying, I could not help but think about that hymn my mother used to sing many years ago…

                “There is power, power wonder working power, in the blood of the Lamb.

                There is power, power wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb!”

It is easy to forget the calling and power of those things we do, but more importantly the things that God is doing through us and the importance of giving that to others.

As I happened to take all of this in I needed to ask the question “What is the true purpose of blood?” Now I know you cannot live without blood, but why?  What is so important about it? So I looked it up and found out why blood is so important to bringing life to our very being.

There are 3 main purposes of blood-

-          Blood allows for oxygen and nutrients to be carried throughout the body. Without the appropriate levels of oxygen or nutrients our bodies would start dying off.

-          Fascinating enough our body produces platelets, which are found in our blood, for the purpose of carrying off waste and bad cells that are throughout our bodies. It is a natural homeopathic remedy to heal our bodies.

-          The third purpose of blood is to create homeostasis. This means to bring life to our organs allowing them to function together in the environment and purpose they were created to function.

As I thought about this a little further my mind raced about many different things:

-          The importance of sacrifice in the Jewish faith and why the Passover was so important.

-          Just how important the sacrifice of Christ’s death was on the cross and His resurrection.

-          And how we can be like blood to those in our surroundings.

First let me expound on the Jewish faith of Passover. The very last plague God instituted against Egypt was the death of the firstborn. You see the first born was the lifeline to both the heritage and future of a family. Without the firstborn son the family would die off.

In order for the families of Israel to be protected they needed to kill a lamb and paint the entrance of their homes with the blood. Back  in those days blood too was consider very holy and depending upon the animal the blood was even more sacred than others simply because it meant life. In Exodus 12 though, scripture talks about the significance of taking the blood and putting it on the door frame for their protection.

Many may not understand the significance and symbolism of the door. Doors where the entrance to a given building but the frame was (and still is) comprised by three separate elements; two door jambs (one on either side) and a lintel or header which is used to protect the weight that is over your head. You see the header is there to give way to the path but the jamb is there to transmit the weight coming down on the header to the foundation so the opening is made without being crushed. Exodus 12 clearly talks both about the header and the 2-jambs or door posts being covered by the blood, we cannot understand the significance of the blood used for their protection. God spoken those very three components to show the Israelites that He was going to be their full protection; above them and beside them and as long as they move in obedience the blood would give them life, protection and direction.

Unless you understand this concept you cannot fully understand the second concept about Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Although the church ties the two stories from the Old and New Testaments together very few may pick up on even the symbolism there. First you have a crown which was placed on his head causing blood to flow from above. Secondly you have two posts from the cross which one held his arms as the other held his body. Both posts were covered with His blood due to the severe beating He obtained. It is through the cross (the door) where He shed His blood that we have been redeemed and protected from the weight of sin and death.

All of this brings me to my final point of being like blood to those in our surroundings. It is through the blood that life, healing and oxygen are found. Likewise it was through the sacrifice that Christ did on the cross that we find life (through salvation), healing through His sacrifice (Isaiah 53:5-6) and our breath where He has made us whole.

As I pondered about this I remembered what Christ said before His ascension to His disciples….

-            “Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see- these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on  my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do. (John 14:12-14)

So if you align this with the power of the blood and our mission we need to realize that we are like blood. We are called to breathe life into people and their situations. We are called to bring healing in sickness and in brokenness. We are called to flow out of the abundance of our faith so we can grow and bring growth as God created us to be. When we do this through Christ and move in obedience, having the lintel over our heads painted with the blood of Christ to protect our minds and our ears and the posts (our right and our left) to guard our heart and those who stand by our side. We can then find ourselves in the center of what God designed us to be. We are called to bring life!

CAL