Are You My Sugar Daddy?

Do you know anyone who is wealthy? Maybe it's a rich great uncle, or a successful business person in your community. Perhaps you know someone who cashed in on the internet boom of the late 90's or even better still, somebody who has won the lottery!

I think we all know somebody of wealth. We may not know them as well as we would probably like, but we know who they are (and we definitely know where they live!). And I think we have all sat around the kitchen table looking at our bank statement and wished someone of wealth would come by our house and give us $20,000! You know those moments when we start thinking things like - They have plenty of money to spare. Shoot, they probably spend that much in a week! Maybe I should call them and ask them for some money? If I knew them better I might ask but I don't so that would be inappropriate (not to mention unhealthy). And so we go on in our financial condition dreaming of being rescued!

Well I was thinking about some of the wealthy people I know today and how stupid I would feel asking them to bail me out, or simply improve my quality of living. I would NEVER ask them to do that for me! And then I was reminded of a conversation I had with Rhonda the other day.

Is that not exactly what I do when I constantly ask God to fix a problem, stop my kids from crying so I can sleep, give me peace, show me the way, heal my sickness, stop the pain! I am coming to the God of all wealth and asking Him for simple handouts. Now I know God delights in us, and He cares about these things too, but I would never treat my rich friends this way. So why do I treat God that way?

I mean, if you the President of the United States was your father would you go to him day after day and ask him to fix your problems? Would you ask him to pay off your in advised purchases so you don't have any debt? Maybe?! But I would hope that I would occassionaly ask him how the war on AIDS was going? Or if he could allocate some resources to the poor, or improving health care. I think that if I understood the magnitude of his position I would start asking him to do stuff bigger then fix my own problems!

So it has me thinking about the way I approach God. What do I ask for? Would I ask that of anyone else I know?

I guess it's something that I will have to learn how to do.

The Super Natural

Last week I had a conversation with a couple friends of mine about prayer and whether or not we could change God's mind/will by how we pray. It was a great conversation and it once again left me asking questions about God and the Holy Spirit's power for physical healing. Can we heal people? Is it our faith or the faith of the person asking for prayer? Do we have any say in the timing of when healing occurs or is it simply us responding to God's invitation/timing?

The next day I went to the UPS outlet and picked up a book I had ordered 2 months ago entitled "Healing Is A Choice". I immediately went home and started reading the preface (but I never got past the 3rd page!) and was struck by a simple observation made by the author. He was introducing the book by asking the question "Does God want to heal us?". A good question if you are going to write a book about healing! He started talking about God's ultimate timing and stuff like that but then he stated something I thought was very profound. What did he say?

He said we know God's desire is to heal us because our bodies heal themselves every day!

It's true!! If I get a cut on my finger there is a 99% chance that the cut will heal all by itself. When I get a virus my body kicks into high gear and begins to ward of the disease. Why? Because God created my body to do that! I'm created in His image. I was created to heal because it's the nature of God to heal things!

I sat back in my chair and thought to myself "why haven't I ever thought of that!". Why hasn't anyone ever pointed that out to me? God takes such a beating from the world who says He doesn't care or hear or do anything about our suffering and yet everyday we experience His immeasurable grace and power working in the tips of our fingers (and through the snot from our noses!). He IS a healing God! I have simply chosen to attribute it to the natural things instead of the supernatural creator of those things.

Does it answer all of my questions about healing? No! But it has been a great reminder that the God I serve and love has seen fit to take care of me on a moment-by-moment basis through a simple thing like my physical body!

Think, Hope & Believe

If you think you can't, you won't
If you hope you might, you may
If you believe you can, you probably will

If you think they can't, they won't
If you hope they might, they may
If you believe they can, they probably will

Leading For A Change

I believe the best thing a leader can do is overlook the limitations of their present reality and live as though their preferred future is already present!

What do I mean by that? Simply this: Instead of waiting around for your envoirnment to change, start functioning as though it already has changed and in doing so you will help establish the very envoirnment you desire.