Routine

Routine



“Keep your distance so you can see which way you
should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”
-Joshua 3:4

On the surface, it seems like a paradox. We serve a God who doesn’t change. He has told us in Malachi 3:6 “I am the Lord, I change not”. In Hebrews, He is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever”. And in James, He is “the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows”. The seeming paradox is that while God doesn’t change, He always does things differently, from one person to another, and even in each of our lives.

In the early church, Peter, James and John were the three disciples who were closest to the Lord, accompanying Him when Jairus’s daughter was healed, going up the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord and praying with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. But their lives turned out drastically different, the Lord having a different plan for each of them. James was martyred by Herod in the infancy of the early church, Peter went on to pastor the church in Jerusalem before being martyred later in life, while John died a natural death after being exiled to the island of Patmos and writing the Book of Revelation.

We so like the comfort and dependability of routine that serving a God who doesn’t treat everyone the same (but He is perfect in fairness!) and who doesn’t do the same thing today that He did yesterday can be difficult and challenging. When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, Moses held his staff out over the water and the waters parted. Years later though, when it came time to cross the Jordan, it was not going to be same-old, same-old for God’s people. No, this time would be different; this time He told them to step into the water, and that when they did, their miracle would occur. This time, after years of seeing God provide miraculously and defeat their every enemy, a step of faith would be required for the waters to part.

When you look up the word “routine” in the dictionary, you see included in the definition words like predictable, commonplace, ordinary, and unimaginative. When we get into routines, we no longer have to think or listen; we just go through the motions. But that’s not how God operates. He wants us to have a living, present tense relationship with Him. He wants our lives to be directed by what He is speaking to us today, in this moment of time, according to His unique plans and purposes for each of our lives. Let’s each have ears that are open and attentive to the Lord speaking a fresh word to our hearts today!



God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Gray Sweater

The Gray Sweater

“Is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God?”
-I Corinthians 4:7 MSG

It may seem like a silly, trivial thing to some, but seeing my mom wearing the sweater Nancy and I gave her for Christmas when I arrived here in New York last night made me feel good. Even after a 6 hour plus drive, and a small ordeal at the border, my 94 year old mom wearing that gray sweater produced a special feeling. We all know that feeling of satisfaction, the thought that something we have done, or a gift we have given, is both appreciated and liked.
Sitting up after my mom went to bed, I started to wonder if God feels the same way about the gifts He has given us. James 1:17 tells us this:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father

of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

The gifts the Lord has given to His people are incredibly diverse from the ability to make others laugh to the anointing to heal the sick. Some people have been blessed in areas that we would not usually associate with gifts, like the person with the unique ability to show compassion and understanding to the man or woman going through pain and loss. Others have been given wisdom to the degree that they are able to counsel others facing difficult life-changing decisions. The apostle Paul said that our gifts differ according to the grace given us, which means that for each gift given to us by the Lord, there is also the divine ability given to operate in the gift and use it for the Lord’s glory.


Our gifts and talents are not to be like trophies to put on display for others to see, and they’re not to be hidden and kept for safe keeping, or for another day. Like the gray sweater, they have been given to be used; they have been given for “the common good”; they have been given to bless and make a difference in other lives. But so many miss their gifting because they look for the more public abilities, the more outward, visible ministry gifts and callings when God has blessed them with talents that are so needed in the world: the door greeter who makes everyone feel welcome in church, the one person who comes to the funeral and you feel really understands what you’re going through, or the person who you know loves you for who you are, not for what you do for them. We have each been given unique gifts and talents; let’s make sure they’re not sitting on a shelf somewhere; gifts are given to be worn and to be used!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

He enables me to stand on the heights.”

Psalm 18:33

Putting a subdivision on the side of a long hill leading down to the Genesee River became the source of many an adventure for our group of young boys in the early 60’s. The main street, Chapel Hill, a steep half mile road leading down to the river flats, instantly became our favorite place to race homemade soapbox derby cars and bicycles throughout the summer. The only problem, other than Jimmy Gallagher breaking both wrists when his wooden car ran into the back of a real car, was the walk back up Chapel Hill; it was brutal, exhausting and unforgiving, not to mention the only way home.

The reality is that going uphill, building something, making progress in any area of life is always more difficult and requires more of an effort than the downward path. Here are just a few examples:

• The old oak tree in the woods behind our house was over a hundred years old, having grown from a seedling, but it was felled by the strong winds of a summer storm in a moment of time.
• A house takes months to build, the product of much material and many skilled workers, but a fire can destroy it in the matter of an hour.
• A man or a woman’s reputation is built over many years of walking in integrity and honesty, but one lapse in judgment, one indiscretion, can ruin it forever.
• Relationships are forged over time and trust takes time to develop but the best of relationships can be lost so quickly by a secret repeated or a confidence betrayed.

Cautions to think long about the ramifications of our choices, decisions, and actions have to be looked at in the light of the examples above. Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes after learning many hard lessons and seeing much loss and destruction in his personal life, wrote “one sinner destroys much good.” So often one thing, a word or an action, the product of frustration, anger, a misguided motive, or a selfish desire, can do such harm, harm that the Lord wants to keep each one of us from.

But the examples also come with a much needed encouragement to not be weary in the walk God has called you to, knowing that the best things in life take the longest to develop and require the uphill climb that Chapel Hill represents. Pine trees shoot up many times faster than the majestic oak but their roots are shallow and their uses limited. Casual relationships come easily but they can rarely be leaned on in a time of crisis the way that relationships forged over time can be. With that in mind then, let’s ask the Lord to give us “hind’s feet for high places”, that divine enabling that strengthens us for the journey that, at times, can be awful steep.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Dual Controls

Dual Controls

“In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths.”

Quite coincidentally, the first time that my father took me driving was also the last time that he took me driving. Our one and only attempt at “driver training” was quickly followed by a call to the Morgan School of Driving to sign me up for driving lessons. They showed up several weeks later in a car that I will never forget: a black 1966 AMC Rambler equipped with dual controls. Yes, that’s right; it had two steering wheels, two gas pedals, and two brakes so that the instructor could take over at any moment when a student’s driving so required.

In talking about our giving God control of our lives, A. W. Tozer, in his book “The Radical Cross”, mentioned something that reminded me of those Morgan School of Driving dual controls. In allowing God to direct our paths and in being led by the Spirit, we, in many ways, give up the steering wheel and control of our lives to someone greater, to a God filled with wisdom and perfect in knowledge. We surrender control to a God who knows the end of every road we might take, the outcome of every choice and decision we might make, and the effect of our every action.

And that works quite well until our desires conflict with God’s will for our lives. And what happens is often similar to what happened when the driving instructor didn’t like the driving choices I was making; he would take over control of that AMC Rambler leaving my controls with absolutely no power to do anything. With us, we take control away from God so that we can do what we want, leaving Him out of a segment of our lives, ignoring the potential consequences and ramifications of our wanting our own way.

We have to remind ourselves early and often that God can be trusted. We have to remember that God has only our best in mind when He directs the paths of our lives. We can never allow ourselves to forget that God’s ways are perfect and that the end of the road He leads us on will be fulfillment and true happiness for each one of us. What we might want to do is disconnect the extra set of controls in our personal “AMC Rambler”, leaving the steering, speed and total control of our lives in the hands of a faithful, loving God.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church