Migrant Workers

I’ve heard lots of times people say, “If Jesus was on Earth today _______ is who He would be helping.”  Obviously you can fill in the blank with whatever stokes your passion and if it’s a worth cause you can feel justified in making such a bold statement. I’m not going to go there…

Maybe Jesus would help illegal and legal immigrants who make sure you get your vegetables, watermelons, while keeping your grass mowed, and roads paved.  Maybe he would turn His head, because they snuck in our country, can’t speak English, and took jobs we don’t really want anyway.

I’m not running for office, so I’m just going to tell you why Axiom Church is going to turn our effort, resources, and our passions at helping Migrant Workers and their families.  BECAUSE THEY NEED OUR HELP.

I’ve done block parties, outreaches, random acts of kindness.  Giving a guy who makes $50K+ a year a light-bulb isn’t likely to make them drop to their knees and accept Jesus.  Buying a lady with $100 earrings a $4 coffee probably won’t quicken her soul to the Holy Spirit’s calling. But, giving a Migrant Worker a pair of shoes or a warm jacket just might make them ponder God’s love shown through your kindness.

According to our sources there are 500+ children and 1000+ adults we can help in North Central Florida, so here is what you can do to help:

• Send men’s shoes (size 7-9) to 5745 SW 75th St. #172 Gainesville, FL 32608
• Send men’s jackets (small or medium) to the above address.
• Send children’s size jackets (boys and girls).
• Send school supplies like pencils, pens, erasers, colored pencils.
• Send toiletries like toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, soap, deodorant, and nail clippers.
• Finally, you can donate through PayPal and earmark it Migrant using the “Make a Donation” button under Axiom Church on this page.

Benchmarks

Lots of different ways to see the principle of benchmarks in the world and in the Christian faith.  Accordingly, they can become idols if viewed as more important than our present relationship with God.  Yet, I think Joshua’s leadership in asking the appointed leaders of Israel to gather stones was a powerful tool for recalling God’s miracle.

If you look at the story of Israel it was one of constant backpedaling.  Kind of like the saying, “2 steps forward, 1 step back.”  Of course in their case it might have been more like: “1 step forward and 3 steps back.”  Either way, they struggled to see God’s hand of protection, His will for their nation, and to stick with His guidelines for living.

We are no different today.  Accordingly, we need to write, mark down, or even get a tattoo when God speaks to us about what He said and what happened as a result.  Nothing is more powerful than God’s voice in our lives for knowing what to do.  Our sinful nature makes it tough to continue on the path He gave us and we often need reminders that God neglects to give…with just cause.  It’s like a President having to remind his staff by text about his last instruction after clearly conveying it in a meeting.  I think the best thing we can do is to go back to last time he spoke, moved, or did something in our lives as fuel to carry on…instead of asking for Him to repeat Himself.

Israel didn’t gather stones for exercise they did it for recall.

Got rocks?

Magic 8-ball

How God speaks, if He speaks, how you can tell what He is saying, what He sounds like and how you can be sure it’s God are all great questions of our faith.

As Christians we are looking for His voice to be a little bit more substantial, like a flaming paper airplane out of Heaven with a message about what degree to get, guy to marry, job to take, or business venture to undertake.  Maybe it’s whether or not our kids will ever follow Christ or if the business we started is going to make it.  I would say that no matter the request, at times, we all feel we need something more then “peace” or “fleeces” to guide us…right?  We want our relationship with God and time in prayer to be conversation and for God to let us know what He is up to.

Here is a secret…the God of the universe isn’t a magic 8-ball.  We can’t shake Him up with our prayers and force Him to speak to us.  The complexity, size of the decision, or it’s importance to us won’t force Him to send an angel or burn a bush in our front yard to get us going in the right direction.

I know God the Holy Spirit gives us thoughts, guides us through peace (or a lack of it), and helps us by reminding us of Scripture, but we all long for the supernatural.  We want concrete words, circumstances, and miracles we can use as benchmarks that will give us hope to continue.  According to the Bible even Jesus didn’t get this kind of treatment.  God sent Him to Earth with a mission, but God only “spoke” to Jesus two times in the New Testament that were audible and miraculous.  Once at His baptism and once at the transfiguration.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean that it was the only time God led His Son, but it sure means that if God wanted us to have an expectation of constant, supernatural, and insanely obvious feedback to our circumstances, you’d think He would have spoke at some other huge crossroads in Jesus life too.  Like…the death of Lazurus, His arrest, His trial, and at least one or two times the Pharisees cornered Him about being a heretic blasphemer.

I’m trying to learn this reality while still looking for still hoping for “signs” and a vision for our church.  BUT, the reality is just like with Jesus,  all God may give me is a mission to plant a church in Gainesville.  Only I can decide if that will be enough…

Put down the donut and step away!!

When Jesus stepped out of Heaven and decided to take His 33 year sojourn on this Earth He had a very obvious agenda.  As I see it, it was announce the Kingdom of God, challenge people to live by faith, do miracles, and to make disciples.  This way His legacy was secure and His disciples could carry on these tenets when He left.  It goes without saying that He accomplished His mission quite well.

As we look back back on the Scriptures (hindsight being 20/20) it seems clear as crystal what He was doing.  What was shocking and provocative 2000 years ago is vividly clear to us.  So, why is the execution of it so complicated?  Why are there so many books trying to find some edge, or missing element, or uncover a lost truth.  Why has discipleship become so difficult and complicated, while producing so few people willing to execute Jesus’ teachings?  Is it simply that we aren’t divine and therefore can’t do it as good as Jesus.

I don’t think so…He said we would do more.

I think the reason is that we don’t believe Him.  We don’t believe He was serious in the Sermon on the Mount or that Kingdom of Heaven is here (and we are it’s citizens), or that His return is eminent.  Argue if you must, but if your doctor (who graduated from Harvard medical school and was the President’s personal physician) said, “eat one more donut and you will die,” you would probably never go near a Krispy Kreme in your life.  Just saying…

Got the time?

I saw a guy brushing his teeth on the way to work this morning and I couldn’t help thinking, “If you are so busy or disorganized or ill-adjusted to going to work every day that you need to brush your teeth in the car…you need some serious help (and possibly a beating).”  Shaving or putting on your makeup in the car on a regular basis, just means you are a little dimwitted.

Think about how long the whole process of shaving takes.  Five minutes from lather to toweling off?  That’s getting up at 6 instead of 6:05 or 7:15 instead of 7:20 or…you get the point.  Why can’t someone adjust for that little time in their life?  Breakfast on the run (I’m not talking about a bagel from Panera)!?  That’s laziness, not convenience.  Alarm clocks and snooze buttons do what we program them to do!

Here is what I know to be true.  People that can’t make it to work on time choose to be late.  Folks that miss deadlines did so on purpose.  I once had a guy who worked for me who was late the same 5-10 minutes every day.  How can you consistently be late the same amount of time and not be able to reorganize your life to come to work 5-10 minutes early!?  The reality is that the morning routine he chose (and stuck with) didn’t include coming to work early.  It included coming to work 5-10 minutes late everyday.

Time is precious and life is fleeting.  There are hundreds of illustrations of small amounts of time being the difference between wins and losses, huge deals and lost ones, and even life and death.

“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”
Benjamin Franklin

Are you a spleen?

One of the greatest questions a person that follows Jesus should tackle once they have chosen to follow Christ is the following: “What has God the Holy Spirit gifted me to do?”

You may have been told that it’s easy to answer and you should just do what you already know you are good at doing.  That’s partially true, but it misses some pretty clear Scripture from 1 Corinthians 12…especially verse 11.  God didn’t just give you the ability to organize so you could be a good manager.  He didn’t help you develop a sense of empathy for people in tough spots, so you could be a good social worker.  God the Holy Spirit hand picked spiritual gifts to help the Body of Christ, the Church, reach the world and make disciples.  Plus, you might not even be using your gifts at work!

Going through life with no knowledge of what God the Holy Spirit has armed you with would be a mistake.  More than likely you will also be frustrated and discouraged as you fizzle out in various roles in the church.

There are various ways to figure out what you have been given.  You can guess based on what you like to do, what you do well, or you can get some assistance from people that know how to pull it out you.  I’d go with three to be on the safe side.

Two free and easy ones are Gifted 2 Serve and  Team Ministry.  Don’t take the inventories alone…you will need someone there who can help you answer what is actually true, not what you wish was true. 

MIND DUMP – Conflicted Edition

• It feels like everyone I meet goes to church somewhere.
• Those that don’t have no interest whatsoever.  What does that mean?
• I feel like I write good sermons, but my delivery is less than average.
• It’s probably because I only get to do it once a month…but that’s how often I believe God wants us to do it!?
• My kids are at the perfect age and are incredibly fun.
• Yet, I want them to grow up and be successful at following God and leading others to do the same.  Guess that means they can’t stay cute forever…
• We have 3 cars (an 2004 F-150, an 2000 Accord, and a 2002 Trailblazer), but we only need 2 of them (the F-150 sits in the driveway and collects leaves anyway).
• I’d like to get a Honda Odyssey for Carrie, which means trading in the truck (only one worth anything), but keeping one of the other 2.  Can’t decide which one to keep…
• I’ve learned to like/drink coffee…makes me feel grown up.
• To make it good takes a bunch of sweeteners, which makes it sweet as soda.  They both have caffeine and soda tastes better.  Not sure why I did this to myself!?
• I might be able to get a nice pair of sunglasses (these or these) for 50% off.
• As good of a deal and great opportunity as that is I’m not sure I should, because they will probably get destroyed like my $10 pair?

I’m going to need counseling to get through all this…