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Published: 20 June 2019

Theologically defined, providence is “the care or benevolent guidance of God.”  Missions and providence fit together like a hand in a glove.  We’ve seen this divine-human interaction throughout the Acts and we’ll see it again (Lord willing) this Sunday in Acts 18.  God is able to get two people in the same spot without coercing their will or moving them like puppets on a string.  When the principal missionary to the Gentiles decided to leave people who want him to stay, you’d think that ministry would languish.  But, God used Priscilla and Aquila to disciple a man named Apollos.  Priscilla and her husband had been kicked out of Rome and “just happened” to meet Paul in Corinth.  They all travelled together to Ephesus where Priscilla and Aquila “just happened” to meet Apollos from Alexandria, Egypt.  He “just happened” to be a Jew who was educated, eloquent and had “just happened” to have met some disciples of John the Baptist at some point in his journey.  God delights in lining up seeking and open-hearted people with those who are willing to share the gospel.  This is providence and this is how the church has expanded over the world in the past 1900 years.  It is a mystery and a marvel and our great God in the Heavens deserves our praise and adoration for His amazing work.  Understanding this means we ought to be willing participants.  We never know when our paths may providentially cross with a person seeking a relationship with God.  Therefore, we should always be ready to give an answer to those who may be curious about our hope in the Lord.

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Published: 14 June 2019

Remember those carefree days as a kid when your only work was play?  I do.  I remember sitting next to a lilac bush and throwing maple tree “helicopters” up in the air just to watch them land.  I remember building stick forts for my little green army men.  I remember riding my bike up and down the drive way, and building ramps, and wiping out.  I remember sand box farms, coloring with Crayola crayons, playing Cowboys and Indians and swinging on the swing-set.  Here’s something I’ve never said publicly before, I even learned to crochet and did cross-stitch.  Please don’t give me grief over that.  I also played baseball and shot birds with my Daisy B-B Gun.  If we couldn’t find a game to play, my brothers and I would make something up; that didn’t always end well—no illustrations needed.  We moved to a farm when I was a young teen and the work began.  Baling hay, caring for cattle, hoeing beans and picking rocks were the new paradigm of summer.  Of course I started to want “things,” and things required money.  I learned early that money does not, in fact, grow on trees, and that there is only one honest way to get money—work.  I’ve been working ever since.  I worked my way through college (and graduated debt-free).  I thank the Lord that I have been steadily employed almost my whole adult life.  I know some of you think I only work one day a week but, seriously?  I do like work though I confess that some days, work is really work.  Actually, I have whole weeks that are…work.  Every once in a while I read some knuckle-head who suggests that we should find a work we love so much that “it gets us out of bed in the morning.”  That’s not biblical.  What is biblical is that we should work.  That work will be work.  That it is our God-assigned task to be creative and thankful in our work.  Nowhere are we commanded to always enjoy our work or find it “life-giving.”  So, if you are stuck in a job—give thanks.  If you can pay your bills—give thanks.  If you have the opportunity to join God in His work in this world through your vocation—give thanks.  Work can be work but it is our way of joining God to bless others in a troubled world.  Work.