Hot Tub Evangelism

Pastor of Care and Finance, Ron Mol

You never know the opportunities God may send your way on any given day - even when you leave the beautiful state of Colorado!

Last week I had the privilege of taking my wife and son on a vacation.  We left late on Friday and drove only to North Platte, Nebraska, where we found a Fairfield Inn to lodge for the night.  

Before retiring, Scott and I opted
for a visit to the hot tub.

When we got to the whirlpool, we found it was already occupied by a gentleman.While starting a conversation with him would fit my nature, I was also keenly aware that this would likely embarrass my teenage son, so I showed great restraint and remained silent.  Our predecessor in the hot tub did not have a teenager with him, however, so he was not inclined to restrain himself! “Where did you guys start your day today?” he asked.  “Well, we got a late start from Denver on our way to Chicago, how about you?”  I had taken the bait.

The stranger told us his name, and that he was returning to his home south of Denver from Chicago.  I told him we lived in Highlands Ranch.  

 He asked if I knew where the corner of Broadway and Mineral was.

At this point I thought God might be prompting me to talk about our church a little bit, so I told him I was a pastor and my church was right at that location.  He started asking me about our church and told me he was currently looking for one (about this time, Scott had had enough of the heat).  The stranger and I shared some of the details of our respective spiritual journeys, and he told me he would like to visit our church sometime.

So, if you meet a new face at church in the near future,
you may want to ask how he heard about our church!  And always be looking for an opportunity to share the good news with those you meet.

The Gift of Time

“How about if I take the boys out this morning, 

and give you some time to do whatever you'd  like?” 

So went Heather’s question to me regarding the upcoming Saturday morning. What a wonderful gift she was offering to me as a busy dad, husband, worker, etc – the gift of some time to do whatever.

Time is an important commodity in our culture. As Michael LeBoeuf, American business guru quipped, “Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.” So when Heather asked me that question, it was a no-brainer. Why would I not gratefully receive such a gift from her?

The question I then face is “How would I ‘spend’ that Saturday morning gift, 

that commodity that was now in my piggy bank?

Time is a commodity only because of our limitations as part of God’s creation. We can try to manage it and make the most of it, but ultimately, we are prisoners bound by and within time. We can do nothing to make it stop, slow it down, manipulate it. Time moves ahead minute-by-minute and we are helplessly carried along in it’s current. 

While we are very aware of our limitations regarding time, 

we must remember that God is not. 

Time is the very thing that he created so his redemptive purposes can be carried out. As time rolls along, he actively presents us with opportunities to be transformed into a clearer and cleaner reflection of his image.

So back to my question of how I would spend a half-day of time that is given to me. What would bring me the most joy and recharge my batteries? I have several ideas running through my head that I get pretty excited about. 

How would you spend such a gift? 

When given a block of time like this, we shouldn't feel guilty about doing something we really enjoy, whether creative, productive, or simply taking a nap. God loves seeing us soak up such moments!

But wouldn’t it be a great idea to check in with God and ask him what would be best? 

After all he knows each of us intimately. A quick prayer might be, “God, you know me, all my needs and wants. Here’s what I think I should do, but what do you think is the best way for me to use this gift of time?” And why not bring that kind of question to him everyday? This seems to be what the psalmist expressed in Psalm 90:12, 

“Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom.”

We may see time as a limitation, but we can also see it as the means by which God carries out his plan. To that end, it is a gift from God. Recording artist, Charlie Peacock, captured this idea well in the first stanza of his song “The Secret of Time”:

Time is a gift of love and grace;

Without time, there’d be no time to change,

Time to be healed, humbled, and broken,

Time to hear the words of love spoken.

Click here to listen to this song.

Learning to Come

Yesterday afternoon, I actually had some alone time to work on uploading pictures to my Shutterfly account so I could work on a memory book.  As it takes some time for photos to be moved, I had the brilliant idea of working on a watercolor painting I’d started last spring, but never finished.  So here I was moving from the computer on the deck, enjoying a warm afternoon before the storm hit, to go downstairs to where I paint.  Back and forth, back and forth.  And then it hit me.  Why am I making such a project of something that should bring joy and rest?

I took time with the photos, then thanked God for great times with my husband and extended family and the way we saw God at work in us.  After taking time to choose and upload the best photos (quite a project with a son, son-in-law and other extended family members who are great photographers!), I let it be for a while.  

Then I spent time finishing a painting from an anniversary trip.  As I took time to work on it, God brought to my quieted mind memories, not only of a great time with Steve, but also reminding me that it was on that trip that we got a phone call from my Mom that my Dad’s health was failing.  The beauty of the sunset I was painting was a reminder of God’s faithfulness and presence with us in the really good times and also the really challenging and difficult times.  

Isn’t that our life stories? Wonderful and hard, precious and desperate, quiet and crazy?  Yet in all of it comes Jesus’ voice:  “Come to me; come to me.”  As we spend time this fall as a church family considering the focus of “Running at the Pace of Grace,” let’s ask hard questions of ourselves: 

- Where do we needlessly impose stress on our lives?  

 
- Where can we take the necessary tasks before us and bring them to the Father as prayers?  

- How do we take Jesus’ statement seriously, “Learn from Me?

Thankfully Jesus does not expect us to do this alone.  His fulfilled promise to send a Comforter and Guide in the person of the Holy Spirit enables us to keep on learning and growing in Him.

Joy In Anything?

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  James 1:2 (NIV)

Two weeks ago Pastor Steve's sermon,"Between Plan A...and Unplanned Z" (click here to listen) brought us to think about all that was going on when Paul and Silas visited Philippi.(Acts 16)  All of their plans A,B,and C were disrupted by unplanned X,Y,Z, which became God's plans.  The sharing at the end of worship was remarkable - example after example was given of God redeeming our failed plans (with the pain and frustration those failed plans caused) to bring good and glory to Himself.

I have been there many times: times where hopes and dreams did not play out as I planned.  Yet, I experienced God's faithfulness as a love gift from the Father to bring hope.  Jeremiah 29:11 came to life over and over again as I let go of my plans and embraced what God was doing.  I could see God's plan for me was not to harm me but to bring me "hope and a future."

But now back to where I started.  James 1:2 says to consider it pure joy whenever I face trials - when every failed plan A,B or C occurs.  That's hard.  I can say I love God, and I do.  I can say I trust God, and I do.  But to consider it pure joy, PURE JOY, to walk through the confusion and hardship as a result of the trials and failed plans?  James goes on to give the outcomes .  Trials lead to faith tested.  Faith tested leads to perseverance.  Perseverance leads to my becoming mature and complete, not lacking anything. In other words, it leads me to become more and more like Jesus.  When put that way, I can consider it pure joy when I come face to face with any trial.

Do your work in me, Lord; in us all.

Today

Senior Pastor, Steve Thulson

 Our church family just lost a gift from God. His name was Bob Jepsen. On July 22, he succumbed to cancer, diagnosed just a few weeks before his death at the age of eighty. About nine years ago, Bob became one of our very first deaf attenders. He rarely missed a Sunday. Complementing his strong rugged physique – with big mustache and sideburns – was his childlike innocence, even “sweetness.” We’ll miss him.

Bob’s daughter Renee says he never tired of telling her and everyone else to remember this:

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

We’ve all heard that line. Maybe so many times, you might even yawn or roll your eyes. And yet it’s undeniably true. And more than a thin greeting card cliché, it can carry a weighty reminder with a hope-giving invitation.

Bob Jepsen

Think about “today.” Yet one more revolution of the earth: 86,400 seconds – each a flicker of “present” that’s simply the rush of an unlived future into an irretrievable past. Yet that elusive sense of “now” can be seen not merely as a flicker of ticks on the clock, but as a flow of life. The river of “now” can be seen as an ongoing gift from God whose great love and unfailing compassions “are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Each fleeting moment holds his infinite Presence and his ability to use our pasts and direct our futures for his glory, others’ good and our own joy.  

A man who seemed to have wasted his life was slowly dying in excruciating pain by inhumane execution. His “today” was the worst of all his days. Next to him, dying, was Jesus who turned and spoke. What was said totally redefined and redirected the man’s present: “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

“Today… with me.”

Today is probably not dying day for you. It probably does not seem a whole lot different from a thousand other days. Yet it’s a “first.” It’s “new.” If you’ll trust and welcome the risen Jesus, this is a day filled with him.