Checklists and Preflight Routines

Wednesday, 2:40 pm. Hopefully, this time Sunday I, together with Blenda and Patti, will be boarding KLM flight 606 to fly to Arusha for another Missions adventure with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am always glad to look out of the concourse and see the pilot and copilot check out our plane long before anybody gets to board. One of them will walk around the entire airplane to visually inspect it and kick the tires. Then you can watch them in the cockpit with clipboards going over their checklists and pre-flight routines. I am very grateful they don’t just show up at the last minute, rush into the cockpit, throw their briefcase in a corner, flip some switches, and radio the tower that they are ready for takeoff.

I spent a good part of today going over my trip checklist: Passport – check, COVID test scheduled – check, ministry materials – check, home front assignments – check, medications – check, ride to the airport – check, … (Hopefully, I won’t forget anything.)

Although I have been blessed to be on journeys spanning thousands of miles, the reality of my life is day trips, daily journeys, that find me back in my own bed at night. In fact, what qualifies me to go on any Missions trip are my daily trips, how I go about each day. In the sum of life, it is the daily that makes up the most and matters the most, that shapes our character, shows our faithfulness, reveals our growth, and displays our faith.

How often though, do we dash into a day like the last-minute pilot you don’t want to fly your plane for the next twenty hours. No checklist – think Bible, no talking with the pilot – think God and prayer, no preflight routine checking blinking and labeled cockpit lights – think attitude, anger, decisions, commitments, promises, warning signs, …

I wonder, how many days have I gone off course because I didn’t start right? How many of my needless detours others had to endure? How many flights I was supposed to take never got off the ground due to a lack of or faulty daily pre-flight routine?

Ephesians 5:15-21 tells admonishes us to, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— making the most of the time (your opportunities), because the days are evil.  So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:  speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ” (HCSB, parenthesis mine). Did you notice? The foolish/unwise and drunk sing different songs than the wise and those under the control of the Holy Spirit. They also have different checklists, routines, and habits. I want you and me to be among those who land their plane at the end of each day full of praise to God, gratitude, and humility towards others, and I know paying attention to how we take off into each day will go a long way towards that.

To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

P.S. For a wisdom checklist see James 3:13-17. For an attitude and action checklist see Galatians 5:13-26. For a blessing checklist see Matthew 5:1-16. For a standing strong checklist see Ephesians 6:1-18. For a Christian community and interacting with people checklist see Romans 12. For a Christian conduct checklist see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24.

Read Full Post »

Large Shoes – Farewell to Joy and Mitch Miller

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:3-6 (ESV)

Farewells, Goodbyes, are never easy, but some are harder than others. We as a church and I as a pastor, brother, and friend have come to one of those hard ones, the kind you wish would never come, or at least be far, far down the road, certainly not yet.

Joy and Mitch Miller have deeply impacted our church and leave behind big servant shoes to fill. I suppose, if you are going to leave anything behind, it might as well be big servant shoes.

Joy went from serving in the Children’s ministry to leading it for well over ten years, spearheading sending scores to kids to camp, and becoming the undisputed Queen of VBS (Vacation Bible School). She also became part of our church’s missions committee joining Mission teams to both Tanzania and Indonesia, and, just for good measure, she volunteered her bookkeeping skills and expertise as assistant treasurer, and those are just the highlights.

Mitch followed Joy’s ever deepening commitment in serving Christ by first encouraging and supporting Joy. Only the Lord knows how many VBS decorations he stapled to the walls of the church, followed by having to pull out all those staples after the VBS dust settled. Then he got busy himself by becoming involved our church’s Missions Committee, serving as its chairman for the past six years. Additionally, he helped lead and guide our church as a member of the Church Board for three terms. He also talked me into teaching an in-depth theology course once a week for 18 months. I thought few would be interested in such an undertaking, but I was proofed wrong when 24 of our church members showed up.

It is very hard to say goodbye when you share that kind of dedication to Christ, His Church, His Word, and His Kingdom, when you minister alongside at that level of involvement, when you love each other like family, when you make each other better, and when you become that rare gift called friend, and Christian friend at that.

We, like the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, are left with tears, gratefulness, and praise, all three being very difficult to put into words but originating out of the very depths of our hearts and souls. And so, Mitch and Joy, how we thank you and how thank and praise God for you!

To God be all glory. We love you, your Lake Don Pedro Baptist Church Family and Pastor.

Read Full Post »

Servant – Serve with what you have now

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. Acts 3:6-7 (NIV)

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.  Galatians 5:13 (NLT2)

How many intersections have you navigated? How many four-way stops are part of your driving record? It has to be a lot.

How often has the road taken you to a servant intersection? Has God directed you to a servant four-way stop? It has to be way more often than you and I thought.

These servant intersections, these bond-slave (a voluntary slave for life) four-way stops become way tougher if you don’t have what the moment demands, when your wallet isn’t heavy with silver or gold but is thin with air.

I wonder how often we stop, look left, look right, and left again and see exactly what God wants us to see with servant eyes, and turn away in a different direction because we processed what we saw by thinking about what we don’t have. Short on resources, lack of skill, too little knowhow, not enough time. Maybe we lingered for a while, hoping someone else would step in. Maybe we high-tailed it out of there – afraid, ashamed, defeated.

One of my best memories of my Dad happened on a storm-drenched night while on vacation. The thunderstorm was so bad our campsite flooded, so he packed all five of us kids and Mama into the VW Square Back to drive us to our uncle’s farm nearby. On the way an enormous lightning bolt lit up the sky illuminating a distant farm on our left, giving us a front-row seat as it struck the far corner of the roof sparking spectacularly before the darkness threw a blanket over the scene. Maybe twenty seconds later, the corner of the roofline where the lightning hit reappeared in a dim flickering light. My Dad without hesitation wheeled the car around, put the pedal to the metal, and turned right at the next crossroad. When we made it to the farmyard the entire roof of the barn and staples was engulfed in flames. “You stay put,” he yelled as he hopped and ran into the rain and towards the barn. We watched as he helped the farmer and his wife free the animals in the burning barn, staying at it until the fire engines arrived.

My Dad hadno experience as a firefighter or taking care of large, spooked, and panicking livestock. He had nothing to put out that fire, and he had his rain-soaked family, who needed to get somewhere dry and warm, in the car. But he could give a helping hand, or at least offer it.

Most of my, and most likely your, servant intersections and stops are thankfully not that dramatic, but if we are going to engage with them we need to do so out of what we have instead of what we don’t have, and trust God with the rest. We need to operate out of the confidence of faith that God knows how direct each one of His servants to his or her particular assignments and responsibilities, and that between whatever we have and what He has it will be enough.

So, since you have stopped long enough at this pastor’s note intersection, look around with servant ears and eyes and respond to what the Heavenly Father is showing you and what the Spirit of God is compelling you to do as a follower and servant of Christ.

        To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Read Full Post »

Servant – Is the Title You Want

Some things just go together, like cookies and milk, morning and coffee, salt and pepper, being drunk or high and stupid, laziness and excuses, Washington D.C. and fiscal irresponsibility, freshly baked bread and butter, ocean and waves, rush hour and traffic jams, taxes and complaining, smoke and fire, history and repetition, love and kisses, …, following Christ and serving.

“For even the Son of Man (Jesus Christ) came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:45 (NLT2, parenthesis mine).

“Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” John 20:21 (NLT2, italic mine).

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love” Galatians 5:13 (NLT2).

A Christian is a servant to both God and others. The context of Mark 10:45 you read above is the brothers James and John (two of Jesus’ twelve specially chosen disciples) asking Jesus for the highest positions in the His kingdom. The other ten were none too pleased, “indignant,” resentful, put out, and maybe mad at themselves for not having the same audacity to beat the others to the punch. They were all jockeying for position, for the big payoff for following Jesus. “So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:42-45 (NLT2).

The Twelve had grasped the importance of Jesus, but they still had to learn to behave like Jesus. They had put their faith in Jesus, but they still need to be transformed to be like Jesus. They loved following Jesus the King (Messiah), but they struggled with embracing Jesus the Servant.

“But among you it will be different,” and with that Jesus turned it all upside down, redefined what it meant to be great, to be a leader, to be first in Jesus’ way of thinking, in His economy, in His kingdom – and, He made himself the chief example and measuring stick.

Being a servant is part of the core identity of a Christian, it influences how we think, how see ourselves, how we respond, how we act, and what we do. When we wake up in the morning, we are servants. When we engage with the affairs of any given day, we are servants. When we dream of what to do with our lives, we are servants. When make plans, we are servants. When feel like we are doing more than our fair share, we are servants. When we are elevated in power, position, and prominence, we remain servants. When we finish a day and wearily stretch out on our bed, we are still servants.

Although they should have, none of the Twelve asked to be servant. They didn’t think it was important. They thought the goal was to graduate from being a servant to be the one who is being served. They projected onto Jesus and His kingdom the thinking and ways of the world. They needed to observe Jesus more closely and learn from Him how to embrace the life of a servant, as do you and I.

            To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans

Read Full Post »