Lord, Help me to be a Thermostat set after You.

What do you do when you can see something needs done but it is not your turn, or not your responsibility?  Do you do it, remind the party responsible or ignore it?  If you do decide to pick up the slack, are you willing about it or thinking I should not have to be doing this.  Do you point out to others “So and so said they would do this, but they must have forgot.”

How do you respond when everyone around you is whining or complaining about a circumstance or a persons actions.  Do you agree, “Yes this sucks” Confront the negative attitude, try to change the subject or just listen and hold your tongue?

What is the right response?  How do we serve as Thermostats in those sort of situations?

Take Moses as an example.  There is no doubt He was a man of God, he was a friend of God.  God’s favor and protection was in His life.  He was loved by God.  God did miracle for and through him.  Moses did not start out wanting to lead.  Recall the burning bush, he was afraid, he did not feel capable, he was not confident in his abilities to lead other or communicate God’s word to Pharaoh.  But God saw Moses full potential and He promised to use Moses mightily and to back up Moses words with signs and wonders. 

For 40 years, Moses led God’s people through the wilderness.  He saw God deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians.  He witness God provided them with manna and quail.  He saw God Provided water in the dessert.  He watched as the presence of God burned like a fire.  Moses was responsible before God to lead and teach the Israelites'.  To lead them in the ways of God, to bring them to the land God had promised them.  For 40 years  Moses walked with God as a friend.  Yet in the end, Moses never got to step foot into the promised land.  He got to see it, but he never had the chance to touch it.  Why?  How could this man of God miss out?

God had called Moses to be a Thermostat, to lead others.  For the most part he did.  However on one occasion, he reacted as a thermometer rather then a thermostat.  Imagine this, He had led the people 40 years through the desert on a trip that should have only taken 2 weeks.  It was not his fault, that God had kept them in the desert.  Time and time again these people who had see the miracles and power of God would complain and murmur against God and Moses.  They would not learn, they would not trust God they would not obey Him.  And so in Anger  Moses struck a rock and said that God would provide water to these undeserving Israelites'.  However God had told Moses to speak to the rock.  for that moment he let the complaints and disobedience of the people get to him and He responded in anger, and frustration.  But he knew better.

God still loved Moses, God still favored Moses, God still considered Moses His friend.  But Moses missed out on the reward God longed to give him.  He missed out on touching the promised land.  I will admit that scares me. 

Papa, My King, help me to follow after you and challenge others to follow more passionately after you.  help me not to blend into the crowd.  To lower the standard for comforts sake.

Are you a Thermometer or are you a Thermostat?

What’s the difference?  Well a Thermometer is that little gauge that tells you the temperature.  Weather it is hot or cold the thermometer will reflect it.  It has no power to change things in anyway just show you the reality of what you can already see and feel.

Some people are like thermometers, they get into a crowd and adjust to what everyone else is doing.  If they are with a bunch of Christians, these people can fit right in, but just as easily they can slip into the non Christian circles and fit right in.  They dress, talk, act and think like the people they surround themselves with.

A Thermostat on the other hand, is that little gadget in most rooms, where you can press a button or turn a dial and set the temperature for the room.  If you want the room to be 63 F you turn the dial set the temp and the heating or cooling system will kick in. 

The people who are like Thermostats set the standard for those around them.  They are the leaders among their peers.  People follow them, doing, speaking, acting as they do.  They can lead others in upright behavior or pave the way for sin.

God has called us to be thermostats not merely thermometers.  He wants us to have a positive impact on the people we meet.  It is up to us, we can let God set the standard and draw others towards it or we can allow the world, our friends or even ourselves to set the mark.  Will we burn Hot, Luke-warm or Cold?

A Taste of What is to Come

I had only been in Homer all of ten minutes when I was told that if I had 150 to pay for the Ferry ticket I could join the team on an outreach to a native village. I had the fare and was game for the adventure. So after a hectic three days of helping to cook for a team of 34 teens I and 3 of the YWAM staff and 5 kids boarded a 12 hour ferry to Kodiak. We arrived in Kodiak the next morning, went shopping for supplies and then hopped a much smaller boat/ship/water vessel which carried us to Spruce Island and a small village called Ouzinkie. It was a beautiful trip as you can see!!!!

The rest of the YWAM team were already there and had been repairing/remodeling this really old mission house that had served as a kindergarten and Medical clinic (I think) for the village for some 54 years. For the most part the labor they needed was reserved for the people who actually had skills, but I helped out as I could. It was fun getting to know the people who lived in this village. There was this teenage girl who hung out who was starved for affection. I and two other YWAMers had the opportunity to join three native guys on a fishing trip. That was a lot of fun!!!! I actually spent most of my time on the water hoping I did not catch anything, since legally I should not have been fishing. It was funny as I was the only person on the skiff who never had to re-bait my hook. But watching everyone catch was not real fun either so I was pretty happy when we floated over a school of Cod and everybody (including me) caught some fish. The native guy who had taken us said we should not worry about the white man’s fishing licenses since as far as he was concerned we were doing nothing wrong but catching food to eat. Though I hope to be legal next opportunity I have to fish.

I made some cool discoveries.

• Salt water or the sea has a unique and cool smell, can’t describe it really.
• Jigging is a term that has nothing to do with dancing…though technically I suppose it could be said you were making the bait dance in the water to attract a fish.
• A Banya – is sort of like a sauna, only different as it involves no clothing and well that is a slightly awkward story J.
• Well so far fish is not as bad tasting as I recall. I have tasted halibut, salmon, shrimp, crab, scallops and something else.
• Whale’s are really big and wow, I want to see lots of them!!!!

North to Alaska

Alaska is a beautiful state!!!!! I have never seen a land so rugged and yet so incredibly majestic. The drive was amazing, I was in no hurry as I ventured forth, in some ways I dreaded getting to the other side and having to meet people I don’t know, but also I wanted to see and appreciate all the beauty God had created. One sight I wish I had been able to take a photo of so you could see it was this long glacier that set like a belt in the middle of this mountain range. At first I thought it was a cloud, and then I supposed it might be a river at the foot of the mountain, but as I neared even closer I discover it was a vast band of snow, half way up the mountain. It was as I turned away from the peaks that in my rearview mirror I glimpsed the image I so wish to have captured. This glacier had what must have been enormous ice crevices carved into it where the sun had melted it. The snow was a blinding white those jagged fissures were a brilliant blue. I must admit thought the sight was beautiful beyond words It was also threatening. I don’t know how deep those cracks went but I think I would hesitate to walk across such a field.

I must share with you how God provided for this trip. It seems He likes to test my faith, my departure date (Tuesday)came and went and I only had a small portion of the travel money. I was grateful to God and those who had given, but in all honesty it felt like a drop in a need as vast as the sea. I did enjoy the extra days to say good bye, and I resolved that I would leave Thursday morning. It all came in Tuesday and Wednesday, some from a cousin in Texas, some from two teenage little brothers in the Lord and the rest as I stopped by people’s houses just to say good bye. So Thursday morning I set out a bit nervously on this great adventure. It is funny I bawled like a baby saying good bye to those I left on Wednesday but when I left the Nicholson’s Thursday morning it felt no more like goodbye had I been setting off to run errands in town for them. I gave them each a hug, and as I walked out the door I called back I have my phone on me and Sarah finished for me, we will call if we need anything. That was God’s grace I am sure for it did not really hit me that I had left until about half way to Canada. The trip was uneventful, that is a good thing!!!! I enjoyed the time just to talk with my heavenly Dad. I will confess one funny thought that occurred to me my second night of sleeping in the Canadian wilderness. I had not see another vehicle for hours and had not seen any wildlife for some miles, it was 10:30 at night and although it was broad daylight I was tired and ready to sleep. Wearily I pulled off the road in this turn out alongside the river. I stepped out to stretch my legs, take some pictures of the landscape. On one side a cliff seemed to loom over me, and the river roared past, but other than that not a human sound could be heard. Pestered by mosquito’s I quickly returned to my vehicle and prepared to stretch out on my front seat. I was nearly asleep when I recalled that I had not locked the doors. Muttering to myself I lazily stretched out both my hand and my foot to simultaneously push down both locks and fell fast asleep. The next morning after having driven a few hours I recalled my sleepy mutterings and had to laugh at myself. What had been that last semi-conscious thought you ask? “Better lock the door ‘case Big Foot comes down and wants a ride.” It sounds silly now, but on that night, in that remote wilderness it seemed perfectly logical.