Mile High Rev

Musings on Our Michigan Adventure

I'm sure that many of the things the Lord accomplished during the past 12 days will seep into my writing over the next several days.  But, I wanted to write a brief overview of our trip to Michigan and share a little about the opportunity I had to speak at the Maranatha Bible & Missionary Conference. (See previous blog about the conference center...)

Jan and I left on the 20th and flew into Detroit.  After enjoying a smooth flight, and obtaining a speedy Mazda 6 Hertz rental, we drove west towards Marshall, where Jan's parents have just moved...in fact there are still unopened boxes in their house!  They are now living literally one minute from Jan's youngest sister and husband in Marshall.  Marshall is a tiny historic town in southern Michigan with stately homes and wooded lots that had us repeating over and over, "Look at the trees!"  That was in between our outbursts of, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity!"  My brother-in-law shares in the leadership of a company called,  Michigan Kitchen Distributors, which has some amazing facilities there, including an intriguing assembly line for laminate tops.  Our tour of the plant was one of the trip highlights.  They moved into a spacious facility recently and we'd never seen it.

After spending just over 24 hours in Marshall, we loaded up and headed over to Muskegon with Jan's parents and sister, about two and a half hours away.  Muskegon is located on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan.  The lake is incredible this time of the year, and it elicited a flood of memories for Jan and me - we both grew up making summer vacation trips to Lake Michigan.  We got to spend some extended time enjoying the beach and water over the weekend.

Maranatha was celebrating it's 70th Anniversary, and I'm sure I'll be writing more on that later.  I was booked as the Bible teacher for the week, along with some missionaries from New Tribes Mission, who spoke at alternating sessions.  Although I was not involved on Sunday, since they had asked a well-known favorite speaker (Dave Burnham) at Maranatha through the years, both the missionaries and I started up on Monday.

Meeting the New Tribes Missionaries was a highlight of the week for Jan and me.  Their names are Dave and Carolyn Meyers and Tim and Joan Carmical.  The Meyers work in Camdenton, Missouri at the Missionary Training Center, and the Carmicals are appointed as Church Planters, in the process of raising support to plant a church in Papua, New Guinea.  I wish you could all meet these couples.  Their humility, grace, and kindness was so refreshing! Not to mention their giftedness for the roles God has assigned to them.  We connected immediately.  I'm sure God arranged our meeting.  I'll provide you with some links to New Tribes and the Meyers later.  I just wanted to introduce them briefly, and let you know how excited I am about the ministry of New Tribes...again.  Jan and I served in Jackson, Michigan early in our ministry, and New Tribes had their Bible Institute there at that time.  We got to know several New Tribes missionaries back then.  We were impressed then - and we still are!   They aim for pristine cross-cultural church planting at it's finest!  (Dave and Carolyn, we can't wait to see you in the fall.  Thanks for encouraging us last week.)

During the week we got to meet dozens of people from several places in the US, and even some international guests.  I chuckled aloud time after time about being able to "hit and run" as a speaker, and since none of them had my email address, I could say whatever I wanted.  Want a laugh?  I've already received emails from two of them!  We had a wonderful week.  Connecting with the people was my favorite part of the week.   I preached from the book of Job, and dealt with subjects like depression, lamenting, bad advice from friends, and the mystery of God.  I heard more painful personal stories than I can recall.  And the Lord used the message of Job to teach all of us that God is not looking to answer "why," but rather seeking those who will "worship."  I fought off the heat, humidity, rainy days, and sinus/allergy problems to share what I believe God laid on my heart.  That part of the week went far better than I imagined.

After finishing up at Maranatha, we spent one final day in the sun before heading back to Marshall with Jan's parents.  It was delightful to spend so much time with them, and they amazed us by making such a push to be up at the conference for the whole week.  God answered prayers, no doubt.

This morning, after saying our final good-byes to my in-laws, we drove back to Detroit and arrived in Denver in the early evening.  It feels great to be home.  It also feels great look back on a week of ministry and see evidence of God's hand in so many ways.  Thanks for praying (if you did) and stay tuned for some additional information about our experiences last week.  "God is so good."

12 Days - By the Numbers

12  - Days in Michigan

1142  - Miles flown from Denver to Detroit (...and 1142 back today)

90+  - Average daily temperature

90+  - Average daily humidity

6 - Messages preached from The Book of Job

4 - Jet ski rides

1 - Hobie Cat ride

1 - Power boat ride

666 - (<-honestly) - emails waiting when I returned ( I did not have computer access on the trip)

33 - emails (of the 666) that required a response from me

120 - the number of minutes I've been working to clear my emails

REVved - Leaving for Maranatha Bible & Missionary Conference

When I was about 10 years old, my dad surprised our family with a week vacation (rare for us to take a whole week) at a Bible & Missionary Conference in Muskegon, Michigan.  It was called Maranatha!  It still is.  (Maranatha means, “O Lord, Come.”)  Some of my warmest childhood memories are rooted in my experiences at Maranatha.  We went for several years in a row, every summer, one week at a time.  You’re not going to believe this, but we stayed in cottages (various years) named, “Iran” and “Iraq” (…they named the cottages after countries to pick up on the “missionary theme” of the conference!) 

We went to meetings in the morning – me, to the children’s programs with Miss Stockton and Miss Gould, and my parents, to meetings for adults.  Then, we had the afternoon to either swim in the pool or to play on the sandy shores of Lake Michigan.  And in the evening, we were back for a meeting that included great music and powerful preaching.  On Saturday nights, there was always a musical concert, that culminated with a chalk drawing by Karl Steele – who used black lights before they were cool, and created amazing works of art, that always revealed the central theme of his work – Jesus!  It all made an indelible impression on me.  In fact, it was there in those formative years that I would listen to speakers like Ted Engstrom, Billy Zeoli, Lehman Strauss, Howard Sugden, David Allen, and so many more.  And I remember dreaming that I might one day have the opportunity to speak there. 

I’ve been privileged to do so a couple of times in the past.  And, we’re about to head there once again for July 22–28.  I’ll be the Bible Teacher for the week.  The Missions Focus will be on New Tribes Mission.  You can find out more about Maranatha at this link: 2006 Summer Programs at Maranatha - Vacation with Purpose on Lake Michigan

It’s humbling to look over the speaking schedule and see that I’m on the same schedule this summer as Jim Cymbala, Erwin Lutzer, and Jay Kesler, Michael Easley (the new President of Moody Bible Institute) and so many other well-known men of God.  This is a rare privilege, and I’m eagerly looking forward to what God is going to do.  It’s Maranatha’s 70th Anniversary celebration while we’re there, so we’ll have the opportunity on Sunday (Founder’s Day) to hear from Dave Burnham, a long-time favorite Maranatha speaker.  (I get that day off!)

Please pray for us as the Lord brings us to your mind.  We are excited about returning to our home state and deeply grateful for this amazing opportunity.  Pray that the Lord would use us for His glory!

Blogging may be light the next week or so, since I’ll have some extra responsibilities and I’m not sure how accessible the Internet will be.  I’ll give you a report on the week upon our return.

REVrant 16.7 - "One Nation Under God"

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to protect the pledge of allegiance – leaving “under God” in it!  AMEN.  House Protects God in Pledge of Allegiance 

REVrant 16.6 - "Out of the heart the mouth speaks" - Churchill needs to go

On July 4th weekend, Ward Churchill, the inflammatory and fraudulent CU professor, spoke to a group at The Mid-Atlantic Radical Book Fair.  During the talk (and it was filmed), he mocked a 9/11 airline stewardess as having been “tweezed” until she submitted to fly the plane into a building.  He joked that the terrorist on the plane “tweezed her eyebrows” until she “screamingly submitted.”   We were once again shown what is in his heart.  That this man was ever permitted to teach students at CU is a travesty.  If he is ever permitted to teach again, it would be a double travesty.  It’s time for Ward to go. Ward Churchill Mocks 9/11 Victims as Being 'Tweezed into Submission'

Here’s a screen capture of his mockery.  

Hat tip– www.michellemalkin.com

 

REvrant 16.5 - The End of Theological Sanity in the Episcopal Church

While this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned the new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. - Katharine Schori – I could not resist responding to a recent interview with her in the July 17, 2006 issue of TIME Magazine – p. 6. 

When asked about the “primary focus” of the church, she mentions – feeding people, providing education to boys and girls, healing people with AIDS, addressing tuberculosis and malaria, and sustainable development.

When speaking about gays and lesbians in the church, she says that the Episcopal church has come to the “reasonable conclusion and consensus” that gay and lesbian Christians are “full members of this church.”

When the issue of evolution vs creation was raised, she says, “I firmly believe that evolution should be taught in the schools as the best witness of what modern science has taught us.  To try to read the Bible literalistically about such issues disinvites us from using the best of recent scholarship.”

When questioned as follows “Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?” – here’s what she said - “We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine.  But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.”

So…what Katharine Schori believes is unmistakable – these words come from her own mouth – 1) Focus of the church = social issues, education of children and health matters.  2) Practicing gays and lesbians = full membership in the church. 3) Evolution = the best witness of what modern science has taught us. 4) Exclusivity of Jesus as the way to heaven = “we can’t assume that God could not act in other ways.” 

Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong. 

The Episcopal Church in the U.S.A is a sinking ship.  I’m sure the mainstream media is eating this up.  THIS is precisely the kind of pastor they like to promote.  One who is primarily focused on social issues, one who never judges anyone else, one who isn’t tied to an anti-intellectual (Biblically literalistic) concept of creationism, and one who doesn’t insist that Jesus is the only way to heaven.  They found exactly what they were looking for in this lady.

A closing BIBLE verse – I Timothy 4:1 – “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” 

REVved - July 14, 1973 - Married and Still Enjoying It

This is the day that always brings a little lump to my throat and intense joy to my heart.  It’s the day, in 1973, when Janice Ann Nicholson promised to spend the rest of her life with me!  Our wedding was at 4:00 pm on a Saturday afternoon at the Cascades Baptist Church in Jackson, Michigan.  (I’ve chuckled about this geographical location for years because of Johnny Cash’s song with June Carter – “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout, We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out. I'm goin' to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around, Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson, Look out Jackson town.)

We were married by my Dad, and Dr. Hugh Hall, Jan’s pastor at the time.  We honeymooned at Niagara Falls and Cedar Point, and returned to live in Jackson where I worked briefly for The Kitchen Shop (my father-in-law’s company), prior to becoming Youth Pastor at Michigan Center Bible Church.  What fun memories I have of those early days.  Our tiny front half-of-a-house apartment. (Split with David Gideon, who we always suspected of smoking a foreign substance that drifted up through our heat registers – smelled like burning leaves!)  Our pale blue 1970 Chevy that Jan bought before we were married that was a luxury car for me (My first car with air conditioning!).  Tuna casseroles in our tiny kitchen that could not hold more than two people at a time. (Who cared how big the kitchen was?) 

As I look back on 33 years of marriage, I am thankful for so much.  We’ve had our share of disappointments and sadness, but the joys and blessings are too abundant to number.  I’m a big fan of marriage.  Jan is the perfect wife for me.  I’ve known her for 36 years –counting our dating years – and I’m still persuaded that God provided her to me as a specific answer to my prayers for a wife.  I still think that every time I see her.  I also think there are reasons why marriage has been such a positive experience for me.  Here’s just five of them on the occasion of our 33rd Wedding Anniversary!

1. I married my best friend.

2. There is no one I’d rather be with.

3. Nobody believes in me more.

4. I’ve never depended on anyone more.

5. We’re soul mates who share a deep passion to serve God first, and then to let Him provide everything else.

OK, I need to sneak one more into the list – 6. Jan is the most beautiful woman in the world!  (I married “up!”)

Happy 33rd Anniversary, my dear Jan.

REVelation - Hezbollah, Hamas, and al Qaeda - Biblical warning!

In this linked FOXNews article, President Bush says that Israel has a right to defend itself.  Bush: Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself   As I read the article, and many others about the recent aggression between Israel and Lebanon, I was reminded of those obscure Biblical texts that explain the historic Arab – Israeli conflict.  I wish I could say I am surprised by the extremist behavior of Hezballah and Hamas.  But, I’m not.  In fact, I expect it to continue.  Why?  Back to the Biblical texts I mentioned…

Genesis 16:12 – “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

Genesis 25:18 – “His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur.  And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.”

These verses describe Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, and the descendants of Ishmael, respectively.  In those early days and years of Ishmael’s life, it was clear that there would be hostility between him and “his brothers.”  There still is.

All of this tension in the Middle East compels me once again to join with the Apostle John in Revelation 22:30 – “Come, Lord Jesus.”  Jesus is the only One who will bring permanent peace to the Middle East and the world.

REVerie - Can't fix it, duct it?

I’ve said it for years – “duct tape can solve almost any problem” – now, apparently, even in space! Astronaut to NASA: Can't fix it, duct it? 

In 2004 while we were on a flight from Florida to Denver, there was an overhead bin that couldn’t be closed.  Everyone tried, including the pilot.  When the maintenance guy arrived, several of us suggested “duct tape.”  He sneered and acted very detached and professional as he formally assessed the problem.  After an hour and a half delay, guess what happened?  They used duct tape.  Here’s the picture to prove it.

REVealed - Illinois university must reinstate Christian group

This is good news.  A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that Southern Illinois University must allow a Christian student group to be a “registered” student organization.  Apparently, the school had previously decided that the group couldn’t have official status because of their Christian beliefs and requirements.  Doesn’t it seem abnormal that a “Christian group” would expect it’s members to adhere to Christian beliefs?  Think they have any other “student groups” at the university that require adherence to rules and requirements?  In a cultural climate that rarely produces rulings in favor of Christians, I find what happened in Southern Illinois unusually encouraging.  I just hope the ruling stands.  Illinois university must reinstate Christian group