Jason's Blog

The Hebrew writer tells us, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” What does it mean to drift?

They takes all kinds of size and shape:
Some drifters live without zeal – paycheck to paycheck – weekend to weekend
Other drifters have their head down in the water and are swimming briskly – but the current is really pulling them along
Some drifters are more passive — the tightest grip in their life is around a remote control

Many drifters are just not listening – to God, their friends, their family
Almost all of them refuse to accept personal responsibility “either for their own lives or choices” (Nemick, The Spiritual Journey): 70.

The reality is that we are either a pilgrim/ a traveler seeking a new home or an aimless drifter. The Scripture offer countless warnings that we are to keep our spiritual fervor. Here are a few examples:

“The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

“To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” Proverbs 8:13
et no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

“The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

I never tire of recommending people to read Jonathan Edwards’ Treatise on Religious Affections because I feel it is such a spiritual classic. I leave this post with this quotation:

“As the affections do not only necessarily belong to the human nature, but are a very great part of it; so (inasmuch as by regeneration, persons are renewed in the whole man, and sanctified throughout) holy affections do not only necessarily belong to true religion, but are a very great part of that. And as true religion is of a practical nature, and God has so constituted the human nature, that the affections are very much the spring of men’s actions, this also shows, that true religion must consist very much in the affections.”

Don’t drift today. Live!

I had a chance yesterday to reconnect with quite a few people and groups– many of whom work on front lines of poverty in our community.  I thought that it might be good to share some of their fact finding with you.

1.  In 2001 with the passage of the No Child Left Behind legislation, all Texas public schools are now required to research and keep records of homeless children living in their area.  Bryan ISD identified 67 children in that year.  For 2008, the number they are reporting to the state is 300.  Absorb that number for all its worth.

What does that 300 count actually mean?  What that means is that during 2008 school year 300 children became homeless or were living in substandard conditions (like a motel, a car, doubled up beyond capacity in a house, etc.).  The state does ask why they are homeless – they only require that services be rendered or made available.  I believe the count for College Station is 88 students.

When the Bryan City council asked, “How many of these count are evacuees from Hurricane Ike?”  The answer was 72 overall and 12 still present.  On further clarification, there are about 163 students currently receiving services as homeless from the Bryan Independent School District.

To put that in perspective, I believe there were 164 in my graduating class from Magnolia ISD.  It is hard to fathom this many students in need.

I have to applaud our state for intervening and bringing the dignity of continuity to these students lives.  School might be their only constant.  There parents might be dead or missing or fighting with each other.  There may be no other relatives willing to step up or who can step up.  But they go to school, they get clothes, they get food, they have a chance.  They are not left behind.  So after 3 pm, if you happen to be out and you see a school bus, with lights on.  Offer up a prayer to whoever gets out.  Some of them may be on their way to a friends house to “couch surf.”  They may be on their way to little or to much.  But pray for them.

2.  Did you know that ALL federal and state funded low income housing assistance has been suspended in our community?  Neither Bryan nor College Station are accepting any further applicants and the current projections are that there is no help on the way for another year.  For the social workers that I was with yesterday, this was grim news.  It’s not as though they can help a person get back on their feet if they lose their housing.  Our families that enter the Family Promise program have an even stiffer hill to climb than normal.  It would take extraordinary funding to bring us back to a stable environment where people could receive aid in even a 90-120 day window.

3.  Twin City Mission is looking to continue its building program to open a new facility.  I’m certain when they open it in the middle of June, they will be full of folks needing their aid.

We live in a great community, but be praying for those in crisis, those who are hungry, those who have no place to lay their head.  They live nearby.

In memory of St. Patrick, here is the longer form of the “Breastplate Prayer” attributed to him. It is one of the great works of Celtic Christianity:

I rise today
in the power’s strength, invoking the Trinity
believing in threeness,
confessing the oneness,
of creation’s Creator.

For to the Lord belongs salvation,
and to Christ belongs salvation,
May your salvation, Lord, be with us always.

Prayer from Oliver Davies & Fiona Bowie, Celtic Christian Spirituality: An Anthology of Medieval and Modern Sources (SPCK 1995).

Why does God allow me to struggle so much with sin? Why can’t I be free from the things that eat away at my soul? Why do I have to keep falling down repeatedly—and over the same things?

Sound familiar? Do you know the war within? The apostle Paul alludes to it in Romans 7:19-20. It’s that battle that sin continues to fight in us even as we walk in the light of Christ’s love. If you can relate any of this, then consider these words from Kelly Nemick & Marie Coombs:

“[When a spiriutal storm arrives, words] temptations or distractions are terms far too mild to describe the onslaught which is unleashed. Storms arise quickly and without warning. They are sometimes violent and wreak havoc. While we are in the midst of them, they seem interminable. They uproot and tear down. They destroy and overthrow so that something new can spring forth. Storms are an effective way by which nature prunes and renews itself. Our spiritual storms come gushing up from within us, and they do not subside until God has accomplished in us what he has set out to do through them” (The Spiritual Journey (1987): 108-109).

Do you believe that God is using the war within to draw you to himself? He will use it to His purpose if you will allow him. The storms can take many shapes: fits of rage, sexual temptation, greed, anxiousness, envy—but the purpose is sure. God wants to know, “will you absolutely trust me and my ways? Will you go it alone or trust in my power?”

Whatever it is that is weighing down your soul, you are not alone. God stands ready to walk with you and to do that through other brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you have people in your life that you can trust and shoot straight with about life? Don’t try to be a hero or to be Jesus.

Face your storm with the people that God places in your life, and when the storm has raged to its fullest, be amazed at the healing power of God. He makes all things new in their due season and he can do the same to you.