Grace Church

Living it Up

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I got my you have _ _ _ _ to live sentence, although it sounded more like 20 years in an Illinois State Prison System. It felt like it was the end of my life. There was the fear of the unknown, and if that didn’t cripple me enough with fear, I would be going to one of the most violent prisons in America. The idea of not knowing anyone or anything about where I was going was enough to still my joy. With only two weeks before being shipped out I was suddenly face with tons of fears, what do I do now? How am I going to be able to handle this? Will I be able to survive it? I heard all the horror stories and seen first hand what can happen if you don’t mind your own business. Scary, isn’t it?
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Dying to Live

A couple of weekends ago, my sister Katie invited some of our younger siblings to spend the night at her and Nathan’s new home. Dinner was a comical scene: four Helds and two Fanchers squeezed around a table for four—two of us shared a piano seat and another sat (bounced) on a Pilates ball. Laughter was all that came from our carefree group for the first few minutes. When the conversation did begin, it centered on the topic of how differently Christians and non-Christians view death and the unavoidable process of “gettin’ old.” It seemed strange that six “kids” would be talking about the end of their lives on earth, but for me, the conversation had unique significance. God had already been leading me to think about my life’s purpose in light of the fact that it is “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
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Leaving a Lasting Impression

A few years ago I was really struggling with my relationship with God and was questioning Him about some things I knew He had told me years earlier. I knew He had shown me a ministry where He would use me to bring healing to hurting woman. I didn’t feel like I was making an impact on our world and that time was running out. I felt I was standing still watching everyone else’s lives being used by God and that their lives had meaning and purpose. I now understand that this restlessness was God prompting me to get out of my comfort zone and to seek Him again for that earlier promise.
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Making a World of Difference

As I read through Day 27, I could vividly remember that day in LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago when I had to make the decision between staying in the USA and enjoying the comfort and relative safety or to go back to my country and continue serving in student ministry. We were just coming from talking with the Registrar at Moody, since my host had offered to finance my studies. It was in July 1999, my first time in the USA to attend an International conference of Christian students hosted by Intervarsity USA at Wheaton, Illinois. By this time, we were two years into a ten years civil war in my country, Sierra Leone, which left behind the destruction of over 200,000 lives, property and deep emotional wounds. As I prayed silently, I knew that God wanted me to go back to my country and he was waiting for me to make a decision. In my mind it did not make sense, but in my heart I felt the joy of the Lord as I said to my host, “thank you for the offer, but I have to go back to my country, because the Lord needs me there”. That moment, I knew I handed over my life completely to the Lord to let him do what he wanted with it. My safety and comfort became secondary.
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Staying the Course When Your Life Crashes

I appreciated the reminder that obedience comes from faith. People like us are horrible and can front goodness for extended periods of time. Plus, we live amidst a culture pushing humanism–saying people are pretty much good creatures (sure they make mistakes, but….). That being so, we could do well enough with some effort. But we are the kind of people who can only obey God if he founds something new in us: Paul wrote to the Romans that, “Through [Jesus] and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith (Romans 1:5 NIV).” Upon this I poeticize as follows:
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by Jim Reklis

Listen Here

Using Eternal Building Materials

I like how our authors paraphrase something that Jesus says to Martha after she’s complained that Mary isn’t helping her prepare their meal: “Mary is doing the thing that’s most important and will last, the only thing that’s eternal…. All that really matters is a relationship with Me and a relationship with others.” This quote is particularly interesting because of what the rest of the chapter is about. It’s not about having fun with friends, or even about making time in your busy schedule to stop and enjoy the day—it’s about building what matters for eternity. And what’s one of only a few things that last for eternity? People!
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Planting for the Future

Seeds and Trees - reminds me of one word: Legacy, a sobering word. If you are wired as I am, I get rather pensive with that word. Not bothered, just pensive. Maybe it’s my upbringing and the many years of conversation with my dad. He always spoke of lasting influence. A Chinese saying paraphrased – “there are three ways of living a legacy- write a book, plant a tree or have a child”. I have many scientific publications, you can google my name. They are simply…there. We have planted trees where we live. Every season they come and then they go…No one really notices, maybe occasionally. And then there are the three kids. Now that is different. They go everywhere. They have much influence. They reflect me. I hear stories about them (thankfully, often good reports!) And not just that, but they influence me. I have to live as their example. And what a challenge! They somehow make you a better person as a parent. Strange.
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Creating a Lasting Legacy

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Experiencing a Personal Miracle

I think about why we don’t see many miracles today in our church (Grace Church). Maybe they are not advertised or maybe we do not properly recognize them as miracles (our standard is too high). I know of some things going on in people’s lives that make my heart cry out to God for them. But these are simple things that usually we, in our culture, just put up with, get a pill for, get a program for or read a book for. But if we are God’s people, those of His choosing, then why don’t we see God do things for us? Certainly we all will die and even if God brings us back to life (this life), we have just been granted the opportunity to die again and, in the process, bring more life to the Body.
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Playing with Integrity

I know my God that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. 1 Chronicles 29:17

Better to be a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse. Proverbs 28:6

I have to admit, after reading the chapter I was assigned, I was doubtful that I had anything meaningful to say. I am going through a major “hurricane,” and I’m struggling to rest in God and find my peace and joy in Him. In my current trial, what could I possibly contribute to a discussion about integrity? Yet, after reading the chapter, I realized that in both tough seasons and in bountiful seasons, integrity is equally important.
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by Jim Erickson

Listen Here

Building a Foundation that Lasts

Earthquakes are scary events. I felt my first earthquake last fall while reading at about 5 am in my hotel room in Taipei. I heard a creaking sound and felt the building sway back and forth a for a few seconds. Since our room was on the seventeenth floor, I was a bit nervous, but it was over quickly. That earthquake was obviously very minor in comparison with the earthquake this week which has devastated central China. My heart aches for the families devastated by this tragedy. Hundreds of parents have lost their first born, their only children allowed by the state, as well as other family members. We’ve witnessed other weather related tragedies this week such as the cyclone which destroyed the southern part of Mayanmar, tornadoes in the central and southern US and in North Carolina, and wildfires in Florida.
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Beauty and the Gasp

I love the story of the butterfly. It reminds me of a woman’s retreat I attended years ago on the California coast. The speaker, a lovely woman fueled by the energy of grace, was concluding her message of hope with the promise of metamorphosis, the change from chrysalis-bound caterpillar to gloriously free butterfly.
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The Immovable Anchor

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Heb: 13:8

Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks they dropped four anchors and prayed for daylight. Acts 27:29

“What we focus on becomes bigger.” I heard this statement at a conference I recently attended. The presenter emphasized that that was not always a good thing. It was highly dependent on perspective and sometimes when our perspective on things changes we actually achieve what we had set out to do with a more grateful and positive approach. She gave an example of a woman coming to her office focused on losing weight. Everything she experienced were numbers, sizes, comparisons and clothing not fitting. When she changed her focus to “becoming healthier” it impacted her choices about food, exercise and her long term physical health.
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Finding Your Direction

God blessed all of our children with musical talent. One of the ways we tried to help develop and steward that talent was to have them take piano lessons. They studied and practiced and played, but it was a struggle for them to keep at it. We relented and let the first two drop the lessons in turn, but Michelle continues to struggle. Part of my reluctance to let them quit piano is the recollection of my own musical training growing up; how I had struggled to practice and ultimately quit, yet regret it to this day (epiphany!). Perhaps I was trying to get them to fulfill my passion instead of theirs, which I discovered too late to pursue among the many other demands on my time.
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Discovering Who You Were Meant to Be

The chapter lays out the idea that discovering who we were meant to be has two layers. The first step is common to all believers. We must apprehend who we are in Christ. What I really like about this book is the little word pictures that the authors use. For Day 16 I liked the idea that much of our spiritual battle is about identity theft. We would be outraged and quite hurt if someone were to hack into a computer system and steal our identity and thus cause great havoc on the things we value in this world (finances, reputation etc). Yet, we often sanguinely stand by as the enemy steals our identity in Christ and cheat us out of true riches.
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What has God done in your life since reading One Month To Live? What changes have you made? What has inspired you? What story can you share to encourage others?

Please share your experiences or insights as a comment.

Revealing your Heart

“The people around us need to know what is ultimately motivating our communication with them. The only way they can truly know our intention is if we pay the price of revealing our heart.” (One Month to Live, p. 110)

Revealing my heart. Vulnerability. Ugh, it’s a word that sounds pretty but in all actuality is VERY scary. Why? Because in order to form the friendships and relationships we seek, we have to risk rejection in exchange for deepening the relationships with the people in our lives.

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I have a friend who struggles with depression. We walk together and I noticed awhile back that she never noticed the beauty of the day around her. We might be walking on the most beautiful day of spring, surrounded by the sounds of birds singing and the incredibly tender colors of newly unfurled leaves and spring flowers, but she neither hears nor sees the beauty that surrounds her. As I have spent time thinking about this I’ve realized that she has defined the world in a way that does not include the wonder, hope and the joy that truly surrounds her and that this false definition has become what she perceives as truth.
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