What's Luck Got to Do with It?

I (Cathy) had the honor of speaking at the Spring Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) Rally in Ramstein on Saturday. This was a regional rally so there were ladies from Ramstein AFB, Daenner, Baumholder, Heidelberg, Weisbaden, and Spangdahlem.

Since the rally was on St. Patrick's Day, I was asked to speak on "luck". At first I wasn't sure about the topic, but the more I meditated on the idea, I got excited about it. I was given two sessions and so I spoke on two different aspects about luck.

According to Webster, the definition of luck is “a force that brings good fortune or adversity”. As I was preparing for my teaching, I wasn’t surprised to learn that there is no reference to luck in the Bible. But, I did learn that there are actually 26 references to casting lots to make adecision. Many of us know the messianic prophecy that is fulfilled when the guards “cast lots” to see who would get Jesus’ clothes. How about the reference in Acts where after prayer, the disciples have Judas’ replacement narrowed downto two fellows and the cast lots to make the final decision between Joseph andMatthias – the luck of the dice chose Matthias.

Proverbs 16:33 states "We may throw the dice but the LORD determines how they fall." Here in lies the truth….the Lord determines how the dice fall,every decision is from the Lord. We spent our time looking at two things: (1) there is no such thing as luck, God is in control and He is sovereign and (2) what do we do with this idea of being“lucky”, blessed, fortunate.

We began examining the idea of God's sovereignty. Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines sovereignty as“Gods absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure.” If someone is sovereign, he is in control, the buck stop with him. God claims to be the king, not just of this planet, but of the entire universe. He is outside of time, He is infinite, He had no beginning, He has no end. He is the ruler over everything – you & me included.

Isaiah 46:9-10 states that “I am God and there is no other..my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.” Daniel proclaims “God does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stop him or say to him “What have you done?” Daniel 4:35 Job reminds us in 23:13-15 – but he is unchangeable and who can turn him? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me?” Finally, Psalm 115:3, “Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.” The Bible reveals throughout many passages that our God is sovereign and in control.

I don’t know about you, I find this to be great news! And here is why…I lack in many areas that God does not, and this is why His sovereignty is good news even when it doesn’t make sense to me. I find great comfort in understanding that life circumstances are not just coincidences, fate or luck. It is because God is in control and He is sovereign.

I can trust God’s sovereignty, because He is all knowing, all powerful, holy, just and loving. We may not understand things, but we can trust Him. When we have a loved one that has been diagnosed with a disease, we can rely on the truth that God is in control. When we think of our most difficult issues with our kids, we can rely on the truth that God is in control. When the economy – national or personal – in on a slide, God is in control. What about things that are going well in our life. We tend to focus on the trials more than the joys, but the truth is that nothing will enter your life – good or bad – that God does not either decree or allow. As Romans 8:28 states, my paraphrase, nothing will ever enter your life, that God cannot work out for your good. He is sovereign.

I understand this is a difficult idea to get our arms around. God who is in total control, is all-knowing, all-wise, infinite in His love. He is not surprised by what you & I are walking through in this moment of time. I don’t know what you may be walking through right now, good or bad, but , God isn’t surprised by your circumstances.

In the afternoon, we discussed what does it mean to be "lucky". I shared a story about an interchange between two friends of mine to help illustrate this point. In May 2004, Lou & I facilitated a short-term mission trip with 14 folks from our home church in Colorado to Mozambique. We joined about 10 folks from a South African church and went to a village called Manica. The missionary that we supported lived in Manica full-time, his name is Schalk. While we were there we met Mr. Short, one of Schalk’s best friend. We entered into a dialog between these two men that dealt with this idea of luck. Mr. Short considered another mutual friend "lucky" because he had an opportunity to receive an education and found a job in England. This allowed him to leave poverty. He got "lucky" in Mr. Short's opinion. It wasn't due to the fact that he had worked hard and studied hard. He just got the break.

We'll I got thinking about this idea. I'm a white woman, born into a middle class family, in the USA. I have an education, good health, a nice home, running water, heat, food. Am I lucky? Taking this into the discussion from the morning, I must admit I don't know how to reconcile the fact that our sovereign God chose me to be born in the United States and that the same God chose Mr. Short to be born in a war-torn, poverty stricken village in Mozambique.

I decided that I am blessed because I have the joy of walking with Christ and I am approved by God by no merit of my own. I contend that God created us for two reasons (1) enjoy a relationship with him and (2) to extend his glory to the ends of the earth. Simple enough. Enjoy his grace, extend his glory. As you study the Bible, see if you see these themes woven through God’s word: people enjoying His grace and people extending His glory. In the book Radical, by David Platt, he states “God is seen pouring out his grace and his people for the sake of his glory among all people, in every genre of biblical literature and every stage of biblical history.”

Do you think that God no longer pours out his grace to us for the sake of his glory? I don’t. So how does this work. I believe we experience his outpouring of grace the moment we are reconciled with him through our relationship with Jesus. But shouldn’t His grace motivate us to participate in His purpose?

So, can I challenge you to wrap your arms around the idea that God might have a motive in blessing us? Platt states again “God creates, blesses and saves each of us for a radically global purpose.” This challenge is what is our part in this purpose? For Mr. Short, as a Christ follower, He has the opportunity radically change his village based on how God has gifted him and "blessed him". Just like I have the same opporutnity, to radically impact my world for the glory of Christ. But, because of our different status, different locations, different giftings -- God will call us differently.

As I have wrestled with the fact that my friend Mr. Short was born where he was born – through the sovereignty of God and I was born where I was born – through the sovereignty of God. I’m meditating on this idea of what do I do now? What is the responsibility that I have with my materially blessings that Mr. Short does not have because of his lack of materially blessings? How is God calling me to radically impact the world to bring glory to God? And what am I doing about that?

Maybe you are in a place where you a weak (physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally), maybe you are feeling helpless or engulfed in worry, remember God knows what you are going through, He will use this time to give you grace, to prod you to trust Him more and to learn that He is all sufficient. Maybe, you are just realized that God has ordained each of your days, they are unfolding in the way that He designed and planned. He has allowed you to go through hard times and trials, joys and laughter, so that He can make something beautiful out of every situation! God knows everything about you! Despite the good and the bad, we can take comfort that we are still blessed by God.

No matter what is going on in your life, God is in control and we can partner with Him to impact the world for His glory. I know we are all in different places and stages of life… I challenge you to walk away thinking about this truth. "God is in control and I’m blessed, what am I doing with my blessings?" I’m not necessarily just talking about materially blessings, but that might be what God is calling you to do - give monetarily. I’m talking about taking inventory of your life, and if you are a Christ follower, ask yourself this question how am I impacting my co-workers, my children, my husband, my hairdresser, my “whatever” to bring glory to Christ.

This isn’t about guilting you into something, this is about our heart attitude. Our hearts should be consumed with making the glory of God known: in our families, in our work place, in all nations. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. God has prepared you for good works, before the beginning of time. He was sovereign and had a plan for You to partner with Him in bringing glory to Him. Isn’t that exciting?

For me, as I have had the opportunity to see how some of the world lives and that I am truly “lucky”. God has provided for me in ways that are truly humbling and I have a responsibility to impact the world in a way to bring glory to God through those provisions. As I have seen human beings who have been less lucky or fortunate or blessed than me, I have realized it is easy to give and serve when I remember how I am in partnership with God. Whether that is giving more money away to help those that are in poverty, to take cookies to my ailing neighbor, to love my husband well, to leave a legacy of Christian values to my children.

Sometimes I partner with God through contribution, money. Sometimes I do this through service. Sometimes I do this through prayer. For me, this is the good news….that God is his sovereignty, in his wisdom, in his love has created me to enjoy a relationship with Him and to partner with Him to extend his glory to the ends of the earth. Will you join me? Ask yourself the question: What’s next for me now?

It's been a busy season.....

We cannot believe how fast the past few months have flown by! We do stay busy with life and have recently begun to realize we need to do a better job with our work-life balance. On a monthly basis, we put out a ministry calendar so our folks know what studies and activities are going on at the Hospitality House.

We enjoy leading four studies, on 3 different nights. Lou leads a men's study on Tuesday nights and is faciliating The Truth Project. On Friday night, we are studying the spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, meditation, etc.) and enjoy a combined group of singles, young married and families. Every other Sunday night, we host a study for young couples and we are studying John 15, unpacking the idea of being "in the vine and becoming a fruit bearer". Finally, on the other Sunday nights, we host an adult study and we are going through Philip Yancey's book on Prayer.

Well, this week we had a young man that asked to get together with us. Since he works during the day, evenings are the best time for us to connect with most people. We do meet with some people one-on-one in mentoring relationships during the day either over coffee or lunch. But, our evenings become quite full. He was so sweet as he looked at our calendar and wanted to know if we could meet Wednesday or Thursday, since those "appeared" to be free. Yes, on our ministry calendar those evenings were open. Unfortunately, we had other commitments. So, we found a night that will work in a few weeks.

But, it caused us to chat again about the busyness of life here in Germany. We realized that we hadn't had a night open to ourselves for almost 40 days. We love doing life with people and coming along side them so it is hard for us to say "no" to folks. This isn't too brag either...it is not about how many people we are meeting with or how many are coming through our ministry. Our hearts desire is to do life with people, hear what's going on in their lives, support them in whatever way we can and love them as Jesus would love them.

We are realizing that we need to make sure we have a little balance in our life so we can not grow weary. We love our ministry, we love our lives and we are in this for the long haul. We are running a marathon and not a sprint. God willing, we want this to be the last "job" before we are called to our heavenly home. We love what we do and our privileged to be serving God and our military. We are taking a few days off in two weeks and will be going back to the drawing board on this issues. We are grateful that we serve a God who is patient with us - despite the fact that we have to relearn lessons over and over again!

Meditation and Rest

Over the past few weeks, I've been struggling (again) with what does it mean to rest in the Lord? How do we deal with the demands of the day, but knowing that we need God's touch to deal with the demands of the day? I don't know about you, but this has been a life long struggle. I have seasons when I do better with "life-balance"; I have seasons when I'm horrible with it. Job demands, family demands, ministry demands, life demands....how can I stop for a few moments to spend time with the King?

On Friday, Lou started, our Spring study, discussing the spiritual disciplines, as outlined in Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline. He started off this week by teaching on meditation. Lou challenged us to experience the discipline of meditation. Richard Foster defines Christian mediation as "the ability to hear God's voice and obey His word." According to Thomas a Kempis the purpose of meditation is calling us to "a familiar friendship with Jesus." Foster isn't trying to say that we should have some "mushy, giddy, buddy-buddy relationship with Christ"; but more the level of intimacy and frienship that the disciples experienced while walking with Christ.

So, this week I am going to take the challenge to put my "to-do" list aside, to trust God to help me push back the demands of the day, to not feel guilty about taking time to rest and to practice meditation. I hope you can take this challenge: to take a moment this week to become still, to stop and think, to stop and listen, to experience a moment of inward silence that can bring comfort and peace in our fast paced lives.

One Day at a Time

My family and I are walking through the grief of losing Jessica. We are approaching our first Christmas without her. We have experienced some pockets of joy in this holiday season, but we also have dealt with loss and despair. Daily I cling to the truth that God is in control, God will bring peace & comfort, God does have a plan. Yet, sometimes my emotions still fight this truth.

I've been reading through a devotional book by Frances J. Roberts, titled Come Away My Beloved. Today really hit home and I thought I'd share it with you. The scripture reference is Matthew 6:34, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Frances Roberts writes - the text is written as if God is speaking to us:
O My child, have you not known the way of the Lord, and can you not trust Him now? [I must admit I'm not sure I feel like trusting God in this current valley.]

Be content with what each day brings, rejoicing in your God, for surely He shall deliver you. [I have experienced this in the past, but again getting my emotions to line up with truth can be difficult.]

His way is discernable to the eye of faith. His heart is surely your strong tower. In His affection you have security. In His love are your hope and peace. Each day holds some small joy that shall escape you if you are preoccupied with tomorrow.

Nothing daunts your Father. Nothing can restore the past and nothing can bind the future, but today you may live in the full blessing of the Father's smile. Hold to His words, for they are like a nail driven into solid wood. All else may seem shifting and transitory, but His Word is firm. [I know this is true -- my feelings and emotions do shift, but God's word has been faithful to me.]

His word is a rock that shall not be moved. It is a firm place to stand. Do not walk in the path of human reason, and resist the pressures that would project you into conjectures about the future. Live one day at a time! For you know that He loves you, and you will find your peace as you rest in Him.

I choose today to remember that no matter how my emotions may shake me, my rock is God and I can trust His word. I will walk day by day, remembering who He is and knowing He will bring peace and healing to me and my family.

Reflections on turning 50!

Lou & I both turned 50 this year! Unbelievable, where does the time go? When I turned 40, I could see myself turning 80. I know that sounds silly, but it brought some comfort to know that I was not quite "over the hill". It was my way of rationalizing getting older.

Now that I'm 50, I do have a hard time seeing myself turn 100. So, the realization that I'm in the latter part of my life has hit me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraged over this. I am thankful for good health and hoping to age gracefully. My forties were my best decade to date; so who knows what will happen in my 50's!

I have been evaluating what have I done so far with my life and what will I do with the remaining days I have. This has struck me more so in the past few weeks as I have been walking through the valley of greif again. I know that God numbers my days, but it becomes more real when you lose someone. [At least it does for me]. Jessica was only 18 when God called her home; Chris was only 27. How many more days do I have before I go home?

I don't have any answers yet to any of these questions. But, I am clinging to the truth that God has ordered my steps; God will never leave me and is faithful; and God will never hide from me, no matter how dark my journey seems. I have made some mistakes in my first 50 years and I will make some more mistakes in the next 50 years. But, as I continue to grow older, my desire is to serve God and bring Him glory with my life, love Lou & my family with all my heart, support my friends as they walk through life and to finish the race well.

Please continue to keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we move into the holiday season. It will be difficult since Jessica won't be here to celebrate with us. Yet, we have confidence that she is celebrating and enjoying her eternal life and we cannot wait to see her again soon.

Jessica JoLinn Collins

On 1 October, I (Cathy) was cleaning up after our normal Friday ministry night. The phone rang and it was my father. My dad told me that my niece, Jessica JoLinn Collins, had died. She was 18 years old, a recent high school graduate and my brother's only child.

I sat there numb as I began to realize that I won't see her until I leave this world; as I began to realize that my brother won't see his little girl get married; as I began to realize that we won't hear her laugh again. Is this really happening?

God was so gracious to us. Lou began to call people to see if we could get help with running our ministry. I called United to see if we could get a flight home ASAP. Within four hours, we had our ministry covered and a flight to Denver the very next morning. The tough part about living in Germany is being so far away from family. How I wanted to be right there giving my brother a hug and crying with the family as we began to grieve the loss of sweet Jessie. Fortunately, I was home within 24 hours.

It has been a tough week as we said good-bye to Jessica. She was a relational young lady, who was deeply loved. She never met anyone who didn't become her friend. She had a heart of gold, a smile that would brighten the room, and loved life. She was creative, loved to bake, enjoyed volleyball, singing in the car, loved animals and really brought joy to our lives.

Now, we begin to live without her. I know God will continue to bring comfort and peace as we deal with this tragedy. We are trusting in God's soverignity and that He is in control. Our prayers is that He will be glorified through the homecoming of Jessica. But, right now, our hearts ache, in time we will heal...it will be a long time.

We do remember...we will never forget!

As we get ready for church this morning, we are discussing the fact that it is 911. We reflected on where we were 10 years ago and what we have done in those 10 years. 911 is my generations "JFK assassination." Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing.

10 years ago, we were waiting to meet our movers as we were settling into our home in Colorado Springs. 10 years ago, we sent our new middle schooler off to 6th grade at Challenger Middle School. 10 years ago, we were excited to see what doors God would open up for us in ministry as we began to look for a new church community.

As we were sitting in our driveway, waiting for our movers, we were listening to the radio. The unthinkable occurred....a second plane had hit the World Trade center. WHAT?! We didn't even know there was a first; was this a joke? Throughout the day, with no TV, we listened to a portable radio that one of our movers had. We listened to updates on the pentagon, New York City, Flight 93. We listened to local reports that our bases were being locked down. We were in a daze! What was going on, America was being attacked. Lord, protect our country was our cry!

As the years went by, we all returned to our "normal" lives. Katie continued in school, we continued to work and serve our church. We spent time with family, enjoyed wonderful vacations, life went back to "normal". But, just like every tragic event -- there is always an anniversary.

Now, here we are 10 years later: 9-11-11. Katie is no longer a cute 6th grader, but a senior at University of Northern Colorado. We are no longer living in our nice home in Colorado Springs, but in a ministry home in Kaiserslautern, Germany. We no longer minister to 20 somethings that are just getting ready to start their lives after college; but we minister to the US military as they continue to protect our borders and our freedom.

We are proud to be Americans. We are proud to see how our country has handled this act of war -- it has been a testament of our people's character and resolve. We are proud to be serving God and our country in a very unique way as we open our home to servicemen and women and their families. Despite the fact that our enemy meant harm to us as a nation, we have persevered. God is still in control, He still reigns and He continues to have a plan for the American people.

Pause today and pray for those people who lost loved ones 10 years ago. Pause today and thank God for our freedom. Pause today and pray for the men and women who are currently serving in the military and a special prayer for those who are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pause today and remember.