Who Is In Control of Tragedy?

Who Is In Control of Tragedy?

Last Thursday when I made the drive from Fort Worth to Midlothian it was a beautiful day. After a few days of rain there were actually some blue skies. That quickly changed after lunch when Nathan and I noticed that the clouds were really dark. It wasn’t long after returning from lunch that someone notified us that there was a tornado coming toward the church and we needed to take shelter. Being wise in our old age, our first notion was to go outside and watch the tornado. Even though the tornado was not massive or causing severe damage, apart from movies I have never seen something capable of causing damage that close. I was amazed at how calm and blue the skies were behind the storm but yet there was a wall of about 75% of the sky that was black, it was eerily scary. It was a small storm that could have been disastrous had the tornado touched down a small distance in any direction other than it did.

Two weeks ago one of the first friends that I made when I moved to the Fort Worth area was killed in a car wreck. He had a summer job at Christian summer camp in south Texas and was headed there after a relaxing weekend back home. It was a beautiful day with blue skies so he had taken the top of his Jeep while riding down back roads when for some reason or another he lost control and his jeep flipped and he was killed. There were no dark clouds, no tornados, no signs of any danger in the air, yet His life was taken. It was a beautiful day that could have been a great day but yet tragedy occurred.

Who decides when tragedy will occur? It is obvious that we have no control over whether tragedy will occur when a tornado appears or when we take a drive down a country road on a beautiful day. We are not in charge of what tomorrow will bring, God is. Why then is it that we try to micromanage what tomorrow brings while forgetting where we are and what we are doing today? I know I am guilty of this. Focus on where you are today, and how in this very moment every fiber of your body can scream out “JESUS IS LORD!”.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:13-14

What Stability Is There Apart From Christ?

What Stability Is There Apart From Christ

Life is chaotic. If you really sit and think about it, our lives are oxymorons many times. We say we want stability or some sense of consistency when the truth is we have no control over anything. In fact the truth is, if life was a board game we don’t even get to make the moves, we’re just dependent upon the one who does. Why is it then we are always battling and fighting for some type of imaginary comfort? Maybe you don’t, but I can so easily fall into the trap of desiring a life that is comfortable, where I have all the steps and processes figured out. When the reality is we can’t plan for anything because we have no idea what the future holds.


I’ve been reminded this week how chaotic life is. If you’ve watched the news maybe you have too. Tornados throughout Mississippi which radically changed lives for many people, an oil spill in the Gulf which will radically change the economy and industry of many people’s lives who were dependent upon the seafood industry, an immigration law in Arizona which has causes riots and protests that are unlike anything I have seen in America in my lifetime, and most recently record flooding throughout the entire Nashville area that has altered and taken away thousands of people’s homes. Just this week all of these events have altered millions of people’s lives in some form or fashion. Do you not think that they had a plan? Do you not think they desired comfort and stability? I’m sure that the devastation of their homes or industries was not included in their plan of comfort and stability.


Isn’t it ironic that we can see daily that we have no control over what tomorrow brings but yet we still try to live like we do? I will admit I am one of the worst people about worrying about what tomorrow holds, especially recently. But what good is it to worry? I have no control over what the future holds one way or the other, and if I really sit and think about it, I’m glad I don’t. It seems every time I try to impose my plan upon my life everything gets worse real quick, but when I become fully reliant and submissive to God’s plan for my life, it turns out perfect. Do you struggle with the desire for comfort and stability? Do not be fooled, comfort and stability are a myth that many people lost this past week. Life is chaotic, the only comfort and consistent stability is God and His Love.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Matthew 6:25-27

Where Are All The Sinners At?

Where Are All The Sinners At?

I love people. I love people of all different ages, races, backgrounds, statuses, and locations. I love to talk to people, to get to know where they are from, how they grew up, what interests them, and what they are good at. Living in such a huge metroplex such as DFW I cross paths with thousands of people everyday whom each have a story, interests, and have something unique that they are good at – now it just so happens in our society these people are hidden in the shelter of a car and I never have opportunity to talk to them or to get to know them because we are crossing each others paths so rapidly on the road. But just think about it, how many interesting people I could have passed on the highway and never known about it because I was traveling in such a hurry, I could have passed famous pastors, pro athletes, political figures, or famous singers, I will never know.

Now think about how many people one passes in a typical trip to all of our favorite supercenter, Wal-mart. The lines are so long that more times than not you spend more time in line than you do in actually gathering the items that you purchase. I know this never happens to any of you, but for me this usually leads to impatience and grumpiness of there are not more lines open so Wal-mart can take my money quicker.

This past Sunday my pastor used a phrase that he often does describing our church as place that is not a hotel for Saints but rather a hospital for sinners – I’m not sure if I heard much of the service past that point because I begin to really ponder and become convicted on how as a follower and imitator of Christ I don’t know any sinner’s that are not Saints. If I truly desire to be a follower and imitator of Christ then I would want to be describes as He was as a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Mt. 11:19; Mk. 2:15-17). I honestly in the past three years have lost all contact and friendship with anyone who is not a Saint. It was easy because I go to school at a seminary with fellow ministers, I live in an apartment complex at the seminary with fellow ministers, and I work at a church where all of the members are proclaiming followers of Christ. So where are all the sinners?

I often wonder why our churches do not experience much growth through conversions but yet only through the transfer of membership. If everyone has fallen in the same trap that I have fallen in then there is my answer. We must know sinners in order for them to be exposed to the gospel.

So here is my new commitment: While at the grocery store or in wal-mart instead of grumbling about the long line or the lack of lines open, I will take the opportunity to get to know the person in front of me and behind me. I will find out their interests, where they work, what they enjoy, and whether or not they know the Savior. I may not get to find all of that out nine out of ten times, but my commitment is I will get to know sinners and befriend them.

Maybe you have fallen in the same trap that I have where all of you friends and people that you spend time with are all fellow saints? It is not bad to be around fellow Christians – in fact we should be – but we should also as imitators of Christ be associated and friends with sinners. We don’t become friends with sinners just for the purpose of sharing the gospel with them but because God has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves regardless of whether they accept the gospel or not.

So...Let's befriend some sinner's who aren't saints.

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:15-17

Jonathan

The Definition of Worship

A Book Summary

Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel

Part 1: The Definition of Worship

One of the most influential books that I have read in the past year is Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel written by Dr. Gordon Borror. Dr. Borror is the current chair of the music ministry and worship department at Southwestern and has a unique perspective and understanding of ministry having watched the churches progression over his fifty-two years in ministry and education. I hope that you enjoy this summary that will occur over the next four weeks.

When I say the word “worship”, what is your reaction? Is it that is what occurs on Sunday morning at 10:45? Or it may draw your memory to recollect a certain church building you grew up in. Or you may picture robed priests with incense and candles? Or maybe you think of a room surrounded with candles led by an acoustic guitar? Or you may remember a tent on a humid afternoon singing revival hymns. We all have imagery that is associated with a nostalgic time of worship where the presence of God touched us in a real way and demanded a response – either at that very moment or in some habits that we needed to rectify. “What, then, is worship? Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth”

Why worship God? When we worship God we receive and have opportunity to respond in fulfilling our purpose in life. “Worship is about God, and worship is what God desires from us.” God is actively seeking true worshipers. So what is true worship? Worship is revelation and response. In today’s church we have strong expository preaching and as a result the church has become great at hearing the word. However many times we forget to respond. Worship is not just hearing but it is doing the word. Do not just Hear the Word & Receive but also let’s Do the Word & Respond. Worship means to respond to God. If we fail to respond, worship has probably not occurred. Consider Isaiah 6; throughout this passage the prophet receives revelation and responds until ultimately the Lord reveals His plan and a need for a messenger with the prophet responding “Here I am, Send Me”. Our response may not be exactly that as the prophet’s was in Isaiah, it might look like a change in lifestyle, repentance of a certain sin, or a change in perspective; regardless of what it looks like, there must be a response.

A response that I have been mindful of lately is intentional fellowship. I’ve said it before, but the honest truth is on the outside I don’t have much in common with a majority of the people in the church I attend. That is the way it should be – a Church is a unique group of people that are only assembled because they have ONE Unifying factor, which is “Jesus is Lord”. If this is the case and the church believe this, then why is it that often when the church gathers for fellowship the only talk that occurs is about the weather or other types of “filler” conversations? If Christ is truly the only unifying factor, why does the church not talk about what He is doing in our lives and how He is growing us?

A few weeks ago on a Sunday Morning I was reminded how important it is that we have intentional fellowship and share one another burdens by an older man in my church. I had just returned from a whirlwind trip to Mississippi in which I had seen my grandmother alive, seen her die, and led out in her funeral, I was loaded with emotions and just desired for the Sunday to be over quickly. An older man came to me hugged me and truthfully told me he cared for me, loved me, and was praying for me. He didn’t have to go out of his way to do that, he didn’t have to open up my emotions, but he did. He could have taken the easy road and come to church and left church. Why would he take time to share my burdens? He did this because he is a servant & worshipper. How do we worship God day in and day out? Through responding by Loving God and loving others.

Love = Service = Worship.

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Source: Borror, Gordon, and Ronald Allen Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel.

Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1982