Leif said, on seeing this picture of the cross: "You sometimes do what Jesus does, so you need to look at that cross for a while." 

 

 So I did.

Surrender to Love

 

When we fall in love, we often recklessly allow another person to love us in a way we’ve never experienced before. Our God is amazing in the way He loves each one of us enough to show up in person and prove it to our hearts, so that we can fall in love with Him.

How do you do with receiving love? Some of us feel awkward, embarrassed, or even a little ashamed when someone makes a gesture of love or affection towards us. Sometimes we have been so wounded by those who we thought would love us, that we're unwilling, or unable, to trust love again as we would like to. Have you ever felt this way about God’s extravagant love? I see in myself (and many of the people I walk with) a certain resistance to being loved.

Jesus never had this problem. At the Pharisee’s dinner, He let the prostitute adore him, kiss his feet, wet them with her tears and wipe them with their hair. How awkward would this gesture be for you or me to receive? He let Mary break the expensive perfume all over his head and hair. He gladly received His father’s affirmation at His baptism and again at the transfiguration: “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” What allowed Jesus to receive love like this? Of course we might say, He knew that He was worthy of love. Do you know how worthy you are of God’s love? Do you experience yourself as worthy? You are worthy in Jesus. Jesus lived in the Father’s love every moment and everything He did flowed from that love. I’m writing this because I believe that you and I are meant to function exactly as Jesus did, our love flowing from our knowledge of the Father’s love for us. Learning how to love others starts with receiving God’s love for ourselves. So, can we stand in the place of the prodigal son, with nothing to show for all our efforts, and simply let the Father lavish His affection and approval on us?

What is this voice that says we are not worthy? Perhaps it is the voice of our shame speaking, because we look at our performance as the way we can make ourselves acceptable to Him. God does not look at our performance, He looks at the cross and uses it to justify us and make us lovable. Perhaps it is the voice of the Accuser of the faithful who will tell any lie to keep us from receiving God’s love poured out for us through Jesus on the cross to make us perfect. (Heb. 10:14). God does not want us listening to the Accuser.

             Listen to the voice of the Spirit “I chose you before the foundation of the world that you might be stand before me holy and blameless in love.”  (Eph 1:4). It is by His inspiration that love is “poured out in our hearts” so that we cry Daddy! Daddy! (Rom. 5:5; 8:15).

Will you listen to the still small Voice that calls you His beloved right now? Are you willing to surrender to His love no matter how awkward it makes you feel? I am.

I pray for you and for myself that we will be willing to let Him teach us in a personal and experiential way that “He is love” and so He loves us perfectly. The people I meet with are on their own journey into experiencing His love this way. Will you pray for them and for me as well?

To those of you who support me in life and in ministry, I thank you for the generous gifts of grace that you share with me. I gratefully receive them as an expression of the Father’s love (and your love) poured out for me and the people I serve. By these gifts you assist many people to make this journey into His love.

Be Loved,

Charles

Here is a song that captures for me a little of what His loving voice sounds like as He speaks to me. I hope that you read the lyrics, hear His voice, and respond with trust from your heart. You can listen to the song on youtube here.

 

Beloved, by Tenth Avenue North

Love of my life

Look deep in my eyes

There you will find what you need

Give me your life

Lust and the lies

The past you're afraid I might see

You've been running away from me

You're my beloved

Lover I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

Our Love it unites us

It binds you to me

It's a mystery

Love of my life

Look deep in my eyes

There you will find what you need

I'm the giver of life

I'll clothe you in white

My immaculate bride you will be

Oh come running home to me *now*

You're my beloved

Lover I'm yours

and Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

Our Love it unites us

and it binds you to me now

Well you've been a mistress, my wife

Chasing lovers that won't satisfy

Won't you let me make you my bride

You will drink of my lips

And**taste new life

You're my beloved

Lover I'm yours

Death shall not part us

It's you I died for

For better or worse

Forever we'll be

Our Love it unites us

it binds you to me

You're my beloved

Forever we'll be

Our love it unites us

And it binds you to me

It's a mystery

It's A Wonderful Life

Happy New Year everyone.

I just wanted to take one more chance to say thank you for your support this year. Your generous giving allows many people to know Jesus in an intimate way and come to trust Him for everything that they need.

As I watched It's a Wonderful Life last night with my mom and my wife Dawn, I was reminded in a very moving way how much each of our lives touches the people around us, and how much God pours His Life through us to serve each other, even when we don't realize He's doing it.

I could completely identify with the moment of anger and despair that George Bailey experienced as he came home to his family on Christmas and carried the knowledge that his world was coming crashing down around him and all because of a loss of $8000. Mind you, I'm not complaining because we are not suffering from lack, I'm just saying that I often respond to my own family in an unkind manner as George did because I'm carrying worry about money and how I will provide for them. But then George Bailey learns what the world would look like if he had never been born, if every opportunity to show the grace and strength and love of God had been missed. How great is the love that God pours though even a single life. (Side note: If you get a chance to watch the movie, watch the   way Clarence the angel talks to God. I so identify with that conversational style of relating to Him.)

As George Bailey/Jimmy Stewart stood at the end of the movie and received the support of all the Bedford Falls towns people whose lives he had touched, I was reminded of you, because you have touched my life in this way. Not only have you poured out God's blessing into my lap, but you have allowed me to touch the lives of other people with the power of His Life, and this is a gift beyond comparison. So, thank you for being participants in the outpouring of His Love.

I have the privilege to belong to a wonderful church where I see this love of Christ demonstrated in a vivid way all the time. The Church at Grace Life (a sister ministry to GMI where I work), and our pastor, Herb Sims is such a beautiful expression of God's grace in my life that I want to share with you a letter Herb recently wrote. If you have time I encourage you to read it, if not, I'll just let you know that it is about the readjustment of our perceptions of the new year from goals and responsibilities, to the opportunity to let God display His kindness towards us and through us.

As I reflect on the kindness of God, I'm reminded of a conversation I had with Jesus this morning. You see, my little boy Leif is sick. In fact, we just got back from the hospital. He has a fever, an ear infection and chest congestion, so he coughed and cried through the night, and Dawn and I were both up with him (mostly Dawn). I tend to have a pretty negative attitude about these things, and feeling tired while facing a 17 hour drive back to Georgia is not my idea of a good time. I confess that I even have a tendency to complain to God sometimes. Well, as lay awake in the night listening to Leif coughing, wincing each time heard him cry in pain, I spoke to God about this suffering. This morning Jesus shared the most transforming thought with me.

"Charles, when things go wrong for you,
or for the people around you,
you don't have to complain or get angry.
When you see suffering it is an opportunity
for you to experience and to show My Kindness.
So take advantage of suffering
by allowing my Kindness to flow through you to anyone in need."

I immediately thought of Leif, and how many times I will have a chance in the coming days to show him the tenderness of God towards his suffering and sickness. I realize that as we travel, I will have so many places where I can show Dawn, Leif and Owen the care that God shows towards them through me. Of course, I could also get impatient and complain, feel sorry for myself or get angry, but in the light of God's perspective and His words to me, those just don't seem as attractive as the kindness route right now. I take great pleasure in the thought of God manifesting His tenderness through me, and maybe this pleasure is the power of the gospel. I may get impatient, but I know that at those times I will need to know His kindness towards me most completely, and so extend it to my family.

Even now, as I reflect further, I see how Jesus saw each crippled or sick person brought before Him not as a problem to be fixed, but as an opportunity for God to display His Grace to them. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt. 9:12-13. People who don't think they need anything, aren't looking to receive kindness or grace, but those of us who realize our need are all the more ready to receive, and offer grace to each other. So in the coming year, as I focus on God's kindness to me (the more I think about it the more I think that kindness a wonderful word that helps me connect with what Grace really means) I'll have His words resonating in my heart.

 Every time you see suffering, it is an opportunity to receive and express My Kindness.

Be Loved,

Charles

A New Years Letter from my pastor, Herb Sims

Hello All,

Happy New Year, almost!!!  What are your goals for 2012?  Many begin setting their goals by asking questions like:  What do we do to make the year better than 2011?  What do we do to make our finances stable?  What do we do to protect our health?  What do we do to make our loved ones happy? 

There is nothing wrong with resolutions or goals unless they lead us to be so focused on the past or the future to then, as a result, miss the present.  Often we spend more time measuring our failures and successes than enjoying the present tense moments of life.  Jesus had an answer for approaching life that many of us are very uncomfortable with.  He said, “I do nothing of myself…” and He went on to say, “I can do nothing of My own initiative…”   Jesus defines present tense living. 

I think I want to control the different outcomes of life.  Who wouldn’t?  I want to control my business, control the church, and control my family, maybe even control God.  For me it is in the name of avoiding pain.  Goals could be just another way of control for me. But I’m not!  In control, that is.  So what are my options for 2012?

Option one:  Focus on what you need to do to be in control and set the appropriate goals.  Then manage (motivate) yourself through self-condemnation or pride.  Then as the year progresses you shift the focus from your unmet goals by measuring others. 

Option two: Experience the miraculous life of Jesus Christ.  Approach life in 2012 as Jesus approached life some 2000+ years ago.  What if you did nothing of yourself?   Listen…

I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  John 15:5

When we are faced with all the unknowns of 2012 it seems foolish to not redouble our efforts to make things work out.  But maybe “things” working out is not what life is all about. 
What if 2012 is all about a year of kindness?  Have you heard the phrase "kill them with kindness"?  That is NOT what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about a kindness that draws people to change their messed up perceptions.  What if 2012 is a year of discovering a life of relationship found in truth and grace?  What if 2012 is a year of being with each other without judgment and condemnation?  On the other side of control, judgment and condemnation is kindness.  Though it may appear that this is "anti-responsibility" nothing could be further from the truth ... for it is all about our RESPONSE to Christ who is our life and giving up the control we never had.  This miracle is a response to His kindness.  Kindness is a supernatural walk in the Spirit.  Christ’s kindness is what changes our lives. 

Remember, without Jesus we can do nothing.  But through the first movement of our Creator we see His movement in our life today, right now.  I didn't regard myself as a kind person but I really am, surprise!  God is love and God is kind.  As a fruit of His love and kindness you and I can expect the very REAL working of God in our life.  We are free to be with each other without measuring successes and failures; without being defined as a failure or spending our life defining others as failures.  We will discover the miracle of kindness and love not because we have resolved to be more kind but because God in and through Christ has made us a kind and loving people. This requires the very life of God, Christ in us, the hope of glory… and the hope of a kinder 2012. 

Love,
Herb

Emmanuel

 

Charles

I love you in your loneliest moments.

When your need feels the most extreme

going beyond what another human being can offer you,

I am present with you

for all that you need.

You have seen infinite need

in the faces of your children

and you know how limited

your resources are

to meet them in their loneliest moments.

Their constant cry is “pay attention to me”

and the same is the cry of your own soul.

Just as you come up against the wall

of your limited attention span

and feel the loss that your children experience,

in equal measure as you perceive

the lack,

so you find that

I am miracle

that knows no bounds and leaves no lack.

I Am

the only one

who truly knows you

and I love.

I am all knowing, infinite Love

so I know and cherish

your every thought, word and wish. (Ps. 139)

I Am the loving Father

who dotes on every moment of your life.

I play with you

when no one else will.

I listen to you

when everyone else ignores you.

I dance over you and exult.

This celebration of the one I made

when I made you

is only fitting.

It is your heart’s deepest desire

to know how much I delight in you.

If your heart is open

You will cherish and adore

the baby in the manger

because in Him,

all Heaven adores the individual.

In Jesus I intend to reveal
that small is beautiful

in each person

especially in you.

In Jesus,

I myself present as that baby,

the knocked on door is opened

and I adore each soul

in sweet communion.

Know then Charles

that your little child within

delights in the nativity

because you know

that it is a sign of how loved you are.

You carry a crèche,
a spirit led worship scene

embedded deep in your soul.

Go there often

and enjoy.

Go there, enter in, and hear
all Heaven rejoicing:

I bring you good news of great joy

which shall be to all people,

but first and foremost

to your lonely soul

right here, right now.

I AM Emmanuel.

with you here and now.

and so

The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;

Those who seek Me will praise Me.

Let your heart live forever!

All the ends of the earth

   will remember and turn to the ME,

and all the families of the nations

   will bow down before ME

and right here, right now, this means You.

Let your heart come alive forever! (Psalm 22:27)

Our Life in Pictures

Owen learns to kiss the Christmas ball, not throw it.

The Kiss

Leif and Mommy Decorate the Tree

Leif loves to set up the nativity with everybody watching Jesus

Christmas lights are everywhere, even in the MiniVan

Leif and Owen playing with their new pirate ship

Okay, now he's going to throw the Christmas ball.

Deer in the headlights

Leif is Santa's little helper. Mommy is Santa.

Smiles by the tree

Obedient children pose for their portrait

We visited a pumpkin patch and a farm

Daddy pulls the boys up Kennesaw Mt.

We took a nice ride in the country on our anniversary.

Owen watches our friend Ben take a ride in a Bi-plane.

Ben enjoyed his flight

Owen is not sure about the loud engine on that plane

Leif is very excited to be Jake the Neverland Pirate

He wore the costume every day for a month

Dawn and her Halloween minions at their photo party

Crazy Dad's last minute pirate costume

Owen is a baseball player

Leif at the house of dreams, Berry College

Leif: House of Dreams

Leif on the tree swing: Berry College

Leif fell asleep in the shopping cart at Target

Owen likes Papa's plane: Trip to NJ

Owen and Hailey play together: Trip to NJ

Bacon Boy

Leif is a fireman at heart: Trip to NJ

Owen Loves Grammi

Andy, Owen, Leif, Sammy (we love our cousins!)

Owen contemplates a career in skateboarding.

Sometimes we fall asleep before lunch is finished.