Can you imagine what it would be like if your home caught on fire and you called 911 but they said they had no firemen to send because of budget cuts?

How would you feel if you had a loved one suffering from a heart attack and you brought them to the emergency room only to hear the receptionist say, “Sorry—but we’ve had to lay off all our ER staff because there just weren’t enough funds to pay their salaries.”

In a very real sense something far worse is happening on mission fields around the world. People who need to hear the Gospel don’t because giving to missions is down and agencies like our own International Mission Board have had to say “no” to people who have said “yes” when God asked them to go to share His love on foreign fields.

Here’s a true example:  Tim and Audrey Shepard (names changed) had said goodbyes to their neighbors, friends and church family. They had sold their home and resigned from their jobs. They had even given away the family dog, a Sheltie named “Q-tip.”

When they decided to answer God’s call to share Jesus in Asia as missionaries, they knew there could be obstacles. But the couple never expected a lack of funds. When word got out that 69 candidates in the pipeline to serve as long-term missionaries couldn’t be sent because of a lack of funds, churches spontaneously responded with extra gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering—enough that International Mission Board trustees gave the go-ahead to 25 of those held back, including the Shepards.

But others are still waiting. And because of that millions are missing the opportunity to even hear the Gospel.

One way our church joins with other believers in the mission of reaching those who are still missing this opportunity, is by giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This year our goal is $15,000. Your gifts will be distributed as follows:

• 50% to cooperative missions (SBC or CBF as notated by giver—default: SBC)
• 25% to Cathie Burke and her ministry to refuge women in Kenya
• 25% to RBC foreign mission trips (Dominican Republic and Guinea)

I encourage you to give sacrificially so our goal can be met.  In fact, consider adding to your giving by going! Ask God if it is His will for you to join us on one of Redland’s mission trips. I know for a fact that there is still room on the Dominican Republic team. If you have questions about that trip, ask Bob Michael.

Join me in giving and going so that lost people can hear and respond to the love of Jesus.

Keep the SON in your eyes!

I imagine that about now many of you are finalizing plans for Thanksgiving including the decision of whether to have ham or turkey (or both), how to get your kids home from college, and where to host the annual meal. You may be decorating your home to match the color schemes on the trees lining your street. And—as you go about all these fall activities I’m sure that you have already begun to thank God for His many blessings.

But if we only thank God for the blessings of life our gratitude is incomplete. 1^st Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This verse and others like it remind us that learning to trust God enough to thank Him for the difficulties of life is a vital part of maturing in Christ-likeness.

Complete thanksgiving includes gratitude for the tough times. It’s grounded in an understanding of God’s attributes and character. It’s embracing the conviction that God is good all the time and that He both promises—and is able—to work in and through even hardship and heartbreak for our good and His glory.

In his book, The Rest of God, Mark Buchanan writes, “In Guelph, Ontario, there’s a riverside park landmarked with large and intricate sculptures: a dinosaur, a man riding a bicycle, a child and his mother. But these are no ordinary sculptures. Each is made from the debris collected from the riverbed. Every year, the city drains the river by a system of channel locks, then invites people from the community to scour the river’s muddy floor and clean up the garbage scattered along it.

A welter of refuse is dredged up: shopping carts, tires and rims, car hoods, baby strollers, bikes and trikes, engine blocks, rakes and shovels, urinals, copper plumbing, wine bottles, shoes, and thousands of pop cans. Mountains and mountains of rust-cabbed rubbish, slick with algae, are hauled out.

Rather than truck all this garbage off to a landfill, the city calls its sculptors together (though most of the pop cans are turned in for refund and the money donated to park conservation).  Each artist is given a mound of junk and commissioned to make from it beauty. The created works are then showcased along the very river from which the raw materials have come.

God does that. He works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called to His purposes. He takes junk and sculpts art.  And the primary way we participate in that is thanksgiving. Be thankful in all things. Be thankful for all things.”

As you gather around the table this Thanksgiving—take time to add to your annual tradition the sharing of testimonies about the various ways God has taken “junk and sculpted art.” Look back over the past year and thank Him for the way He’s blessed you through the difficulties of life. As a Christ-follower strive to be thankful IN and FOR all things.

Keep the SON in your eyes!

A month or so ago we held our first annual staff retreat at the Crocker family home on the shores of beautiful Lake Anna. We had a great time: wonderful food and close fellowship—not to mention just plain fun. I particularly enjoyed watching the children fish and John’s boat tour of the lake—including a trip all the way to the nuclear reactor that is cooled by the lake’s water.
My favorite part of the weekend, though, happened on Friday night. After a super-sub-sandwich-supper (the best sub I have ever eaten) and a couple hours of card games like Apples to Apples and Split (made all the more fun by the children’s participation) — at Jennifer’s suggestion, we all headed down to the dock to look at the stars. She promised that, without the glare of the city, we’d see the stars as we had never seen them before.
So, we all laid on our backs on the floating dock, looked up, and Jennifer was right. Even without the help of gravity, my jaw dropped at the breath-taking beauty of the cosmos above. Distant suns, planets—even the star clouds of our Milky Way galaxy—shown clear and bright. It was almost like looking through the Hubble telescope itself! At first the dock was full of statements like, “Look at that!” or “Where’s the big dipper?” But soon all that could be heard was the lapping of the water on the shore as a holy hush descended around us. We stayed there for a long time just taking in the grandeur of God’s stellar creation.
I must confess—those star-gazing moments made the weekend a literal “retreat” for me—because they helped me to relax and rest by reminding me that God is infinitely greater than my burdens or problems—greater than the calamities and crises we hear about on the nightly news. God is great! Verses like these flooded my mind:

“The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1)
“O Lord God Almighty, who is like You? You are mighty, O Lord, and Your faithfulness surrounds You.” (Psalm 89:8)
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, Almighty! The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
“How great are God’s signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:3)

Are you dealing problems that seem mountain-sized? Perhaps you experience anxiety when you compare the size of your bank account to the height of the pile of bills on your desk or you worry about a doctor’s diagnosis. Maybe your career or your relationships are a constant source of stress.
Listen—take my advice. Get far enough away from the glare of your woes to see God more clearly. Go some place where you can be reminded that God is great—and that He loves you—loves you enough to work in all things for your good.
I recommend the dock at the Crocker’s house—but you needn’t drive that far. Any quiet place will do.

Keep the SON in your eyes!