Hero

5, 4, 3, 2, 1,..... Every kid that has ever played basketball has dreamed of this moment. The clock is running out, your team is behind, and you take the shot that potentially could win the game.  Everyone dreams, but not everyone has the chance to see that dream come true.  Last night, on his Senior Night at BBC, the last regular season home game of his career, my son Bobby had the chance to be the hero.  It's not like he hasn't had the chance to carry his team to victory on his shoulders before, he is a 6'9" All-American who averages 19 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game, but last night was something special.  This has been a difficult season.  His team, which won 20 games last season, has not lived up to its potential this season and the frustration level has mounted as the end of this, his senior year has approached.  Their opponent last night, Ecclesia, is an NCCAA Div I school that had beaten BBC by 23 in Springdale less than a month ago.  This game was nip and tuck all the way.  BBC got out to an early lead, but by halftime, they had let it slip away.  The second half proved to be even tougher as Ecclesia seemed to be pulling away, stretching their  lead to eight at one point.  With 23 seconds to go, a BBC layup rolled around the rim and dropped out leaving the Patriots 5 points down without the ball.  It seemed that BBC was destined to another frustrating loss.  It was then that lightning struck.  The Patriots stole the ball in the front court, passed to Bobby at the top of the key and he launched a three pointer, just as he was being fouled by Ecclesia's post.  When the ball fell through the hoop, the clock said 16.8 seconds, and hope flooded back into the Patriot team.  Bobby sank his free throw, making the score 83-82, Ecclesia.  BBC then applied the pressure, almost getting a five second call and then coming agonizingly close to a steal on the sideline before having to foul the Ecclesia guard with 10.3 seconds left.  Under the pressure of the moment, the guard missed the front end of the 1&1 and Bobby secured the rebound and called timeout.  The last ten seconds were agonizing, as BBC brought the ball into the frontcourt and Johnny Golden made a handoff to Bobby at the top of the key.  During a moment of confusion between the two defenders, Bobby was left open so he rose up and launched a three-pointer that rattled in with 1.3 seconds remaining to give BBC an 85-83 lead. The W.E. Dowell fieldhouse erupted, but the game wasn't over yet.  After a long pass that was almost intercepted, Ecclesia had an inbound play infront of their own bench with one second left.  Their player raced into the corner and put up a hook shot three pointer that bounced twice on the rim and then fell off giving BBC the victory.  It was one of the most exciting Senior Nights for any BBC player in recent memory.  Bobby ended up with 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists and a memory that he will be able to keep forever.
As a father, it is rewarding to see your son living out his dreams.  The kind words of the coach during the ceremony before the game meant a lot.  He said, "Bobby is an All-American.  He has won all kinds of awards for his play on the court.  But he is also the kind of young man that people want to be around.  He is a great young man that God is going to use."  Bobby has at least three games left in his career, two road games at the end of this week, then the first round of regionals.  If the Patriots are able to pull off two wins at regionals, then they will make it to Nationals in early March.  I am excited to see what God is going to do in Bobby's life after basketball is over.  I have no doubt that he will be a hero in whatever God calls him to.

What Now?

The following song by Steven Curtis Chapman has always been a challenge to me.  It's called "What Now?"
It finds its inspiration in the story in Matthew 25:40.


I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl
She was standing in the corner on the other side of the world
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my heart
Didn't you say you wanted to find Me, Well, here I am and here you are

So what now? What will you do now that you've found Me?
What now? What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected, but if you'll remember
This is right where I said I would be. You found Me.
What now?

And I saw the face of Jesus down on Sixteenth Avenue
He was sleeping in an old car while his mom went looking for food
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my soul
Didn't you say you wanted to know me, Well, here I am and it's getting cold.

So what now? What will you do now that you've found Me?

What now? What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected, but if you'll remember
This is right where I said I would be. You found Me.
What now?

What a challenging thought! We say that we want to know Him, but Paul reminded us that fellowship with Him is a fellowship with His suffering, and with that of those that He loves.  So when you see someone in need, what are you going to do about it? 
January is "Make A Difference Month" at IBC.  I challenge you to be praying about how we can put into practice the truths that we are seeing from God's Word this month. I challenge you to make a difference in the life of someone around you before this week is out.

My Bangla Road Dilemma

"Ok, Lord, but I'm still her father.  Can't I just take care of her a little bit?" 
By the time Chelsea was 13 years old, I had figured out that she was too much for me to handle on my own.  Even with my awesome parenting skills :0) and my super-hero wife, Chelsea had already proven that she was going to be an exceptional child and an exceptional challenge.  It was somewhere in her seventh grade year that I threw up my hands and said, "God, you are going to have to take over with this one."  And as is often the case, God said, "What took you so long?"  I can say without a doubt that the last twelve years have been an adventure, one that I wouldn't have missed for the world.  And Chelsea's strong will and determination have resulted in some mountaintop experiences for all of us.  When, after coming home from China in 2009, Chelsea shared with us that God had led her to surrender her life as a missionary, it was one of the greatest days of my life. 
This past June, when Chelsea was accepted to participate in the World Race, I wrote a blog entitled Dangerous Milestones, where I shared the peace that God had given me concerning her taking part in this exciting, but potentially dangerous adventure.  Over the past seven months, that peace has never waned.  I knew that God was going to do great things in Chelsea's heart and life and that He was going to teach her some amazing lessons through this process, but the one thing that I didn't expect, was that He was going to do the same things for me as well. 

Less than two weeks into her adventure and already, God has hit me with a 2X4. "He touched me, oh, He touched me..."  Chelsea's first ministry assignment is to reach out to the prostitutes in the 200 bars along Bangla Road in Phu-ket, Thailand.  She and her team are trying to build relationships with these women so that they can share the Gospel of Christ with them and see them set free from both their spiritual bondage and their physical nightmare.  Her facebook status "worship with the teams before heading out for another night in the bars...please pray for divine appointments and protection."  "Protection"??? One of my preacher friends said, "Bars? Do they have protection? Will they be safe?"  My only answer is that she is in God's hands.
I spoke with her briefly the morning after her first night of ministry and asked if they would be going back that evening.  She said, No, because the transportation costs to take the teams to the bars was too great to allow them to go everyday.  Their funds would only allow them to make two or three trips a week.
Suddenly, my fatherly instincts kicked in.  I can't let her travel to the other side of the world and then not be able to minister because she doesn't have the 900 baht that it takes to get her team to where the need is.

But even in that moment of passionate reaction, God spoke to my heart. "I am in control.  I know what I'm doing.  Don't interfere."
There is a reason that they have only so much budgeted for their time in Phu-ket.  It may be that God, or their ministry leaders, want them to find a way to provide the need without outside help.  It may be that they know that ministry that is this intense and heart-wrenching cannot be taken in large doses. It may be that a constant presence would arouse the suspicions of the bar owners or the girls' handlers.  I don't know.  But God does.  And so I wait.  I wait and watch to see what God will do.  I have had to release my little girl once again into God's hands.  I never thought I would be proud to say that my daughter spent last night in the bar, but these were the kind of people that Jesus spent His time with while He was here, so I guess there is no better way for her to be His hands and feet than to extend His love to the ones who need it most.

How About You?

How About You?

The fields are white, His Word is true,

The harvest is great, the laborers few.

And when I inquire, "Why perish the lost?

Why are they wandering, blind, tempest-tossed?

Why won't some Christian go lead them in,

Out of hell’s pathway ravaged by sin?

Why won’t they show them the Way that is True?"

Then the Lord asks me, "How about you?

You know the story of mercy and grace.

You found me waiting when you sought my face.

You have been purchased by My love divine,

You claim to be one that I will call mine.

Why don't you tell them of My love so rare?

You be the one this message to share."

The harvest is waiting, we must count the cost,

For if we delay, their souls will be lost.

The time of the harvest is passing us by,

And if we don’t reap, we’ll mourn by and by.

But if we are faithful, God’s Word is true,

And we'll be rejoicing eternity through.

Pastor Marty Hughes

What Will He Ask You To Give?

Yesterday was an amazing day in my life, a day of beginnings.  I took my daughter to the airport to begin the next phase of her life's journey and as our last hug for eleven months came to an end, I felt the magnitude of what God has asked of me.  He asked me to release her and trust her to His hands.  Then last night, we had the first service of our Faith Promise Missions Conference and Brother Jerry Byars challenged us about faith and finding out what God would have us to do for Missions in the coming year.  These two events stirred similar emotions in me.
I have had a number of people ask me if I cried all day yesterday.  The answer is no.  The process of releasing my daughter didn't happen all at once, so yesterday's farewell was not terribly traumatic.  I learned from Dr. James Dobson many years ago that I needed to begin to let her go a little at a time as she approached her adolescent years, so that she could learn and grow and so that I would be ready when the time came to let her fly.  Shelley and I have encouraged our children to make their own decisions, offering godly counsel, but allowing them to make choices and deal with the consequences.  They have not always chosen to follow exactly the same path that I would have chosen for them, but as I look at their lives right now, I can see the hand of God moving them and both of them have learned to listen for His voice and to follow it wherever it leads.  God gave me the responsibility to teach them what is right and then release them to His care.  The result, in my life and that of my family, is that I am now being blessed by the life and testimony of my children.  I am learning from them new ways to worship and serve the Lord with gladness.  And by God's grace, I can now count both of my children as joint-heirs, co-laborers, and best of all, friends.  What God asked me to give up was control, something that we never really have anyway.  What He gave me instead was a relationship that is both fruitful in His service and joyful for me.
When I think about Faith Promise Missions, my mind goes to a similar place.  This is not a new thing for me.  I have been giving regularly to Faith Promise since I was 12 years old, almost 40 years.  And God has never let my giving to His work become a burden.  Long ago, He taught me that my life and all that it entails is not my own.  It belongs to Him.  Just as my children are gifts from God, so everything else in my life ultimately belongs to Him.  He asks me to surrender control to Him, and promises that if I do, He will allow what He has given me to germinate and grow into something that will be fruitful in His service and a joyful blessing to my life.  As I heard Brother Byars' testimony about Faith Promise last night, the question wasn't, "Will I give?" but "How much will I trust God for?"  And since I have already learned to give Him control in my family, it's not too hard to surrender control over my finances as well.
I challenge you to be a part of Faith Promise Missions giving.  It will change your life when you decide to trust God with all that you are and all that you have.  Then you can just sit back and see what God is going to do with what you have given Him.

A Heart For The Harvest

In Matthew 9:35-38, we are given a picture of the heart of Christ.  Jesus was busily traveling throughout Judea, teaching, preaching, and healing. But in verse 36 we are told that He paused for a moment and just looked at the condition of the multitude around Him.  They had come to the end of their own resources, they wandered around in confusion, and they didn't know what to do or who to turn to, and it touched the heart of Christ.  He had compassion on them.  It was this  poignant moment of need that led to His famous challenge to His disicples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest."  It is from this narrative that we get the theme for our Missions Conference that begins tomorrow night.  We are asking God to give us "A Heart For The Harvest."  Sometimes we get so caught up in the necessary busyness of life and service that we fail to take note of the multitudes around us.  As a result, we lose compassion for their needs.  I would like to challenge you to pray for three things as a result of the services this week: 1. That God would make it very clear in your own heart how He wants you to be involved in the Harvest.  2. That God would stir up in our church a new passion for missions and for reaching our community and our world for Christ.  3. That God would provide the vision, the resources, and the manpower to make our church a base of operations to turn the world upside down.
Let's begin by committing ourselves to be in every service of the Missions Conference and to listen for His voice through the sermons and presentations.  Let's welcome God to speak to our hearts and then be prepared to put into action the things that He leads us to do.
The only thing that has changed in the 2000 years since Christ made this statement is that the harvest is now even more plenteous.  Let's get busy reaping.

Wonders in the Night Sky

Okay, I confess, I am a “wonderholic.” Call it what you will, mushy sentimentalism, hopeless romanticism, mindless preoccupation...I prefer to call it child-like wonder. Long ago, I made a choice to put my faith and trust in the Word of God as the basis for all truth. I accept it at face value and it shapes my world view and my outlook on life. I don’t need proof in the physical realm, because God has done his greatest work in my heart and soul. I know He is real because He is at work in my life on a daily basis. But when He puts on a show like He did last night, I am struck with wonder, just like a child in awe of His amazing artistic power and prowess. A couple of days ago, I heard that there was going to be a total lunar eclipse, a fairly rare event, but the fact that it was going to fall on the Winter Solstice made it a first in the last 372 years. The fact that it would be visible over most of the northern hemisphere was also something that intrigued me. On my way home from a hospital visit in Joplin, I saw the full moon rise in all of its splendor and I was struck with its beauty. I decided that I wanted to see the eclipse, so when I got home, I looked up the timing of the event. It was to begin at 12:35 AM…..OK, did I really want to see it that bad? So I made one concession to the fact that I am no longer a teenager. I went to bed at the regular time and set my alarm for 12:20 AM. When it went off, I got up and got dressed and made my way down to the Honey Creek Landing so that I could get a good view of the moon over the lake. It was a gorgeous night. The lake was calm and the temperature was in the mid 50’s. The sky was clear and as the moon progressed into darkness, the stars shone even more brightly. I was struck by the beauty of the scene; The lights of the bridge reflecting off the water, Christmas lights from the houses on the shore twinkling in the distance, and the mist rising up off the lake in the cool darkness. Even though I was alone, it struck me that others all over the country were looking at the same spectacle that I was. We were sharing a moment of wonder over God’s majestic handiwork. I stood there for an hour and a half in awe of what I was seeing and experiencing. As the light of the moon came close to being completely eclipsed, another image began to appear, a brownish, red reflection of the earth that became more evident as the sunlight reflecting off the moon was blocked from view. It was a beautiful sight, but looking back on it this morning, I can see a faith lesson to be learned from last night’s majestic show in the heavens. When Jesus proclaimed that we are the light of the world, the light that He spoke of was very similar to the radiant light of the full moon. The moon itself produces no light. The light that we see is simply a reflection of the light from the sun. In the same way, the light that shines from the life of a believer is light that is simply the reflection of the Light of Christ. An eclipse happens when the earth in it’s rotation around the sun, passes between the Sun and the moon. The eclipse gives us a pretty clear picture of what takes place when a Christian allows the world to come between him and Christ. Before long, the Light of Christ is completely covered up and what becomes visible in the life of the Christian is a reflection of the world. These rare but spectacular events should be taken as a reminder from God not to let the world get in the way of our testimony for Christ. Fortunately, the eclipse doesn’t last for long. After only a few minutes of darkness, the light became visible again and progressed slowly, but deliberately back to its full strength. Ultimately, the message of Ps. 19:1 was confirmed to be true. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork,” and like a child, I still look on in wonder.