Making Our Days Count

Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." There is a benefit to understanding that our days are numbered. Knowing that we have a finite number of days in this world can motivate us to make the time we have left really count for eternity. This morning I came across a website at www.tombclock.com that will project your date of death based on answers you give about your present lifestyle choices. It is an interesting subject.

The date the site projects for my death is September 14, 2034. It tells me, at this moment, that I have 842,961,411 seconds left to live. Of course, we all know that nobody can be so precise in predicting when we will die, but I think a powerful point is made, nonetheless. There is a definite day and hour when you will leave this earth-life and the opportunities of this world will be gone.

On His last night, Jesus prayed to His Father, "I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do" (John 17:4). You know how many times you've either heard or read how I've stressed that the grace walk is grounded in being, not doing. But that doesn't mean there is no doing. When we understand that we live in union with Deity, we want to do things that honor Him in this life! As my friend, Craig Synder, says, "I don't have to do anything, but I get to do a lot of things!"

I gave up making New Year's Resolutions years ago, but there are some things I want to do a better job of during 2008. Here are a few:

1. I want to love people more:

I've really been convicted (a good biblical word that means "convinced by the Holy Spirit") about my desire to show love to others to a greater extent. I want to show love to my family more, to my friends, even to strangers. I even want to find people who aren't "all that lovable" on the surface and show love to them. Jesus was often criticized for loving the wrong people. That has never happened to me. I wonder why.

2. I want to relax more.

I love the work of the ministry, but I find that I still (as in my legalistic days) tend to get caught up in doing the work of the ministry to the exclusion of down-time. Sometimes I feel like I'm not showing the respect to my family or friends that they deserve because I'm too busy.

To be honest, during 2007, I sometimes found myself groaning inwardly when I looked at my upcoming schedule and that, as they say, "ain't right." I questioned my friend, Bill Gillham about this once a few years ago and he answered in his fatherly and folksy way, "Brother, you've got too much goin'!" Several years later, here I am again. Ugh. Okay, I repent again. This year - "I will say, no." I will say, "no." I will say, "no."


3. I want to let go.

God help me, I'm such a control freak at times. I remember taking an "early childhood memories test" during ministry training one time and it revealed that during my formative years, my belief system became: (1.) The world is scary and (2) people are unreliable, so (3) I need to control my environment to make sure everything works out the way it should.

All my life, I've seen my propensity toward that fatal error. I remember a few years ago when I was praying one morning, I heard the Lord say, "You are not suited for being in control. I, on the other hand, am perfectly suited for it. You cause yourself needless turmoil when you get our two roles confused." Pretty good, huh? I wish I'd listened. Oh well, by God's grace, this year . . .

Those are a few of the things I'm praying the Lord will empower me to do during 2008. They aren't resolutions because my resolve has always proven to be pathetic, but they are prayers.

I want my days to count, however many I may have left. Have you thought about this coming year and what you want to see God's grace accomplish in you, then through you? I think the start of a new year is a natural and good time to think about it.

Do You See A Sermon In This Story?

Melanie tells me I tend to see a sermon in everything. I certainly see one in the story I read about an incident at the site of The Nativity that took place last week. What do you see here?


Priests Scuffle With Brooms, Stones, At Traditional Site of Jesus' Birth

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) - Robed Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests went at each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity on Thursday as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities. Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can set off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners came to the fortress-like church to scrub and sweep the floors, walls and rafters ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in the first week of January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the cleanup turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly wounded.

Blast From The Past

I came across this video tonight and was taken back emotionally to the days when Melanie and I married in the early seventies. We listened to Doug Oldham all the time in those days and were so encouraged by his music. He has always seemed to sing from a place deep in his heart and has always touched me deeply. This video is twenty five years old, but it still stirs my heart as I'm reminded of the amazing love my Father has for me. The older I get, the more I long for the kind of music I grew up hearing in church.

This was sung in a Billy Graham Crusade in the early eighties:

Go Down Death

I've found myself feeling especially nostalgic during this holiday season, missing my family who have gone on to heaven - particularly my Mom and Dad. Somebody sent me this video and it so encouraged me. If you have loved ones already in heaven, I think this will encourage you too.

I Heard The Bells

The Carpenters were my favorite group when I was a teen-ager. Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs, sung by Karen Carpenter.

The story behind this song is powerful. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out that same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to hear the his own son had been seriously wounded as a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac.

Sitting down to his desk, one Christmas Day, he heard the church bells ringing, and ringing. It was in this setting he wrote:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

Whatever your Christmas season may hold - joy or sorrow - know this: God is on His throne. Christ has come and one day all will be made eternally right!

Mr Shi Is Still Being Held In Terrible Conditions

A USAToday article about Shi Weihan can be viewed online at the following link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-13-china-bible_N.htm

We have learned that Mr. Shi continues to be held without charges. Chinese law requires that he be charged or released within 7 days of his arrrest. The 7-day period prescribed in Chinese law has now been exceeded by 9 nine days.

News articles have appeared in several places on the web. Other articles from major news media are apparently in the works.

The U.S. and other Embassies in Beijing have expressed concern about the case. We hope they will advocate with the Chinese government for the case to be handled in accordance with relevant laws and international conventions to which China is a signatory. We hope that this case will be an opportunity to turn world attention on China's need to bring an end to religious persecution, especially as we approach the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Shi Weihan is being held at:

Beijing City Haidian District Qinghe Detention Center
北京市海淀区清河看守所
Qinghe Detention Center of the Haidian Sub-Bureau
Address: 北京市海淀区清河龙岗路25号
85, Longgang Road, Qinghe Town, Haidian District.

After his family employed a lawyer to assist them in defending Mr Shi, the family was finally informed of his detention although there is no still indication of what the charges against him will be. The notice, which is legally required within 24 hours of a detention was not provided until the 12th day of his detention.

The reason for the delay was apparently to hide harsh conditions to which he has been subjected during interrogation.

The family learned that Shi was being kept in a cell with no heat. He was not issued any clothing by the prison. When the family went to inquire about this, they were told that they were the ones neglecting his need for clothing since they hadn't delivered any for him. In fact, the police hadn't revealed his whereabouts, nor given any idea that the family would be allowed to provide clothing for him.

Shi is also being subjected to sleep deprivation, a common means used by the PSB to break people down and get them to reveal information about others or to extract confessions from prisoners under duress.

The police are apparently still refusing to provide the family any assurance that Shi is being given the diabetic and blood pressure medicine he requires. Requests that he be allowed house arrest with the posting of bail, a request that can be honored for those with medical conditions, have so far been refused. The family has been told that his case is too serious to allow this.

The official who has authority to grant house arrest conditions to Mr. Shi Weihan is:

Captain Li Xueming
Branch Bureau Chief
Beijing Public Security Bureau
Haidian District Substation

The family continues to be denied requests to see Shi, although Chinese law requires that family members be given access to see those being held in detention, except in cases where an investigation is ongoing. Even then the maximum period during which access to prisoners can be denied is 7 days.

Now entering the 16th day of his detention, Shi has not been allowed to see his family or a lawyer. The family's lawyer will make another attempt to see him and ascertain his condition on Monday (Sunday evening US time).

Letters that Shi's family wrote to him and delivered to the police have not been answered nor returned, including letters from his small daughters.

The two girls (Lily, 11 and Grace, 7) are reportedly inconsolable over their worry about their father's well being. Shi's wife, Zhang Jing asks Christians all over the world to pray especially for them. The girls are both frightened for their safety and ashamed that their father is in prison. Grace is said to cringe and hide whenever she sees any police. Lily, normally extremely outgoing, will not look anyone in the eye.

The family asks that cards, letters and small gifts be sent to the girls to console them and remind them that their father is very well respected by friends from many nations who have met him through his travel agency.

Mrs Zhang keeps reminding the daughters that their father is in prison for having done good things that the Chinese governement continues to label as illegal. She worries over the long term affects this ordeal will have on the young girls' emotional and psychological health.

Any small gifts or cards you would like to have carried to them should be forwarded by December 29th to:

Ray Sharpe
1757 Fairmont Dr.
Corona, CA 92882

Arrangements will be made to have them delivered to the family in China.

USAToday article about Shi:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-13-china-bible_N.htm

Story of the arrest of Bei Ling a Chinese Poet and Editor.
He spent two weeks in the same prison where Shi Weihan is currently being held.
He reports conditions to which, we now have confirmed, Shi is also being subjected.
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision_id=1894&item_id=1893

Help For Somebody In China

December 6, 2007

7-Year Old American Girl Forced into Hiding in China
Beijing Police Refuse Justice and Medicine to Her Diabetic Father

In the shadow of gleaming new towers built for the Olympic Games, just outside of Beijing’s city center, one case highlights the religious persecution and corruption of justice that can still happen to ordinary Chinese citizens.

Just months before China is put on the world stage hosting the Olympics, Grace (EnMei) Shi, a 7-year old American girl, has been forced into hiding with her Chinese mother and 11-year old sister. They fear for their own safety and for that of EnMei's father--Weihan Shi--a 37-year old businessman who was informally detained by the police and is being held in an unknown location.

Contrary to Chinese law, officers at the Haidian District Substation of the Beijing Public Security Bureau not only refused to tell the family where Shi is being held, they also would not tell them what he is being charged with, essentially denying him any possibility of legal defense.

He has become a victim of “enforced disappearance” placing him outside of the protection of law--a violation of “The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance“--a U.N. convention of which China is a signatory.

Mr. Shi, a life-long resident of Beijing, and a travel agent active in promoting foreign travel in China during the Olympics, was arrested in his Christian literature bookstore in a high-class business tower near the Olympics Village, along with some of his employees, his younger brother and his wife--Mrs. Jing Zhang--who have since been released after questioning. After 20 police raided their home at 5 AM on November 28th, the Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) detained Shi’s wife, more than once, to question her in connection with Christian literature confiscated from Shi's home, office and bookstore.

Mr. Shi is now in the eighth day of his detention by the Beijing PSB. The family is concerned that he may be quite ill. As a diabetic, going without his medicine for several days, Shi may already be facing the danger of diabetic shock. The Haidian officers have also refused to allow the family to take Mr. Shi's diabetic medicine to him. There has been no proof or assurance to the family regarding his medical condition. Deprivation and torture tactics are often used by the PSB in their notorious detention centers to force those being held to reveal information about others.

The little American citizen--“Grace”--born during the family’s visit to the U.S. in 2000, and her older sister--“Lily”--are reportedly terrified for their mother and father’s safety after witnessing the raid on their home. The mother and two girls have gone into hiding, fearing the possibility that threatened reprisals against Shi’s wife and two children would be used as an interrogation tactic against him before legal representation can be arranged.

Staffers at the U.S. Embassy have been provided information about the case and are reportedly concerned for the welfare of the young American girl.


For more information, please contact:

Ray Sharpe
President
Bethel Energy Group, Inc, (a client of Weihan Shi’s Beijing travel service)
(618) 780-2742

U.S. Embassy Beijing
Political Section
Mr. Gregory C. May
Tel: (86-10) 6532-3831 x. 6742
Fax: (86-10) 6532-6423
MayGC@state.gov

Beijing Public Security Bureau
Haidian District Substation
Director Zhang Weigang (86-10) 8251-9110, (86-10) 8251-9350

China Foreign Affairs Office
Foreign Spokespersons Office
(86-10) 6559-2311 or cellphone (86) 1391-086-9861

U.S. State Department
Office of Religious Freedoms
Assistant to Mr. John Hanford, Ambassador at Large
Joanella Morales
(202) 647-4359
(202) 647-3209 (fax)
moralesjx@state.gov


Please pray for this situation, but don't stop there. Make phone calls. We must act together to elicit a response in China.

All of Christ and None Of Me? Not True.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me because My yoke is easy and My burden is light - Jesus.



I was talking with a friend recently about a prayer he had been taught years ago. The prayer expressed the desire for Christ to so "fill us" that is "all of Him and none of me." Hear me out on what I'm about to suggest, but I don't think that kind of prayer reflects God's purpose for our grace walk.

This well-intended sentiment is sometimes expressed like this: "Lord, I want them to see only you and not me." or "Lord, I want to completely get out of the way and You do it."

I understand the motivation behind that kind of prayer and it certainly is a proper motivation. It expresses a desire that Christ alone receive the glory for what's done, that He be the One who animates whatever the activity we do might be. There's nothing wrong with that desire. It's a good desire, a commendable one.

But the fact is that words mean something. What we say and how we think about things have subtle (if not major) impact on our perception of reality. As we grow in our grace walk, we sometimes need to put a magnifying glass on our words and thoughts and see if they line up with God's Word and with the truth we want to communicate. While we don't want to nit-pick each others words, there is an appropriate place for thinking about the things we say to make sure that we really mean what we are saying. In the case of the statements I've mentioned, I don't think they clearly express what the grace walk is all about.

You and Jesus Christ are in union together. It will never be all Him because He lives His life through you. Christ wants to take your personality, your knowledge, your skills, your uniqueness and animate it with His life. So it isn't just Him. It is Him through you, or to be more specific, it is Him as you. I know this approach can make some people feel uncomfortable. I assume you have enough knowledge of my views to realize that I'm not saying we are Jesus Christ. I am saying, though, that Jesus Christ has taken possession of you, lock, stock and barrel and that everything that makes you uniquely you is to be animated by Him.

I heard an old African-American country preacher once say, "One day there was a crippled man sitting by the gate outside the temple. Then along came Jesus all dressed up as Peter and John." That guy got the point I'm making! Do you get it? Jesus lives in such union with us that when we act in faith, it is Him acting. When He acts through us, it is still us acting. We are one.

Paul said that we are co-laborers together with Christ. We are co-laborers - meaning we both labor. We labor together - meaning it isn't just Christ who labors while we are "out of the way." We aren't out of the way. We are right there - in union with Him. We labor with Christ - so that it isn't Him acting apart from us nor us acting apart from Him. We are acting together, in sync.

So the sentiment that suggests it is all Him and none of us doesn't really describe God's plan for our grace walk. His desire is that it be all of Him and all of us. We each possess one hundred percent of each other. That's why it is called "union." When Christ lives His life through you as you do certain things in this life, is it you or Him? The answer is yes!

That's My King

This is an excerpt from a message by S.M. Lockridge, a well known African-American pastor I loved to hear when I was a young pastor myself. I first heard him preach this message in the 1970s and to this day it still stirs me to hear his great description of our King.