It Has To Translate

“But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and His grace to me was not without effect.”
 I Corinthians 15:10

The success our group of 26 students and chaperones had on our recent trip to Nicaragua would not have been possible without having people around us who could translate what we were saying to the Nicaraguan children and what they were saying to us. Without those translators, their Spanish and our English would have been nothing short of worthless gibberish. And while I’m sure what was being spoken had value and a purpose, without understanding what was being said, those words had little or no meaning to the hearer.

In that setting, while walking on the beach shortly after the children left on the bus to return to their homes, I heard the Lord speak softly but clearly, “It has to translate.” The experience of spending three days with 56 underprivileged children at Camp Allegro had to translate into my life back home, and into our lives back home. Being able to make a difference in their lives, as we poured out the love of Christ and invested in them as individuals, had to translate into making a difference back home. Seeing those mired in poverty had to translate into a life filled with gratitude and generosity. Clearly, if it was only an experience to be remembered and not a catalyst for change, the end result would be far less than the Lord intended.

But the Lord wasn’t done explaining “it has to translate” to me. Having a relationship with Jesus Christ has to translate into our everyday lives, how we interact with people, the effort we put into building relationships and our willingness to share what the Lord has done in our lives with others. Our knowledge of the Word, gained through reading the Bible, has to translate into lifestyle changes where our priorities reflect eternal values and where our choices line up with what pleases the Lord. And further, our awareness of problems and needs in other’s lives only has meaning if it translates into time spent in prayer to see God move in those situations.

To have meaning, our Christianity has to translate into our everyday lives. To have meaning, our faith has to translate into action, into “going about doing good” as was said of Jesus in Acts 10:38. The love Jesus showed us has to translate into our loving others; the sacrificial giving of His life on the cross has to translate into our being generous givers, and not just of our finances but of our time, energy, gifts and talents. So let’s start today to apply “it has to translate” to our individual lives, making sure that we aren’t left with experiences and knowledge that don’t make an impact on the way we live out the precious gift of life we’ve been given!

God bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church 

Touch All The Bases

“In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will direct your paths.”
Proverbs 3:6

Putting together a message for an elementary and middle school awards ceremony, with an audience ranging from second graders to grandparents, can be a daunting task. And so I was incredibly thankful when the Lord quickened the theme to me, Touch All The Bases. Using the baseball analogy, I quickly came up with 1^st base being paying attention in class and listen to your teacher. 2^nd base would then be doing your homework every night and giving your best effort and 3^rd base would be going the extra mile, looking up words you don’t know the definition of and going beyond the minimum. And then, for effect of course, I’d hold up a home plate borrowed from the gym to wrap up with hitting a home run in your academics.

But I couldn’t leave the parents out, not with the tuition that they pay for private school. So the parental 1^st base was staying involved in their children’s education, proofing papers and helping with homework. 2^nd base for the parents was praying for their children faithfully with 3^rd base being a willingness to say no once in a while. (In the second version, 3^rd base became setting a Godly example of Christian living for their children to follow.) And, of course, being a grandfather to three beautiful granddaughters, the grandparents were easy. Just their being at the grandkids’ awards ceremony had them rounding 3^rd base and heading for home.

But the message, and the conviction on my own heart, didn’t stop there. Meditating on it, and sharing it with our church, the truth resonates that we’ve got to “Touch All the Bases” in our Christian lives if we want to find success in the Lord. My 1^st base for believers is staying in God’s Word. We can never overemphasize the importance of the counsel, the direction, and the wisdom that comes from God’s Word as we faithfully read and meditate on it. We could put so many truths to 2^nd and 3^rd base to make it exhausting but forgiveness was the 2^nd base this time around. People will hurt and disappoint us but we must forgive others, for the freedom it gives, and to receive the forgiveness we need from the Lord. 3^rd base was trusting the Lord in the hard areas of life, and speaking words of faith that reflect a growing faith in the Lord and in His goodness towards us.

No doubt, we can each come up with the bases that we find key in our Christian walk, and define touching home plate in a way that is challenging yet fulfilling. But we’re all competing for a prize and we all have a race to run and to win!

God Bless,
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

The Domino Effect

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because
you have done this thing, I will surely bless you.”
Genesis 22:16-17

Setting up dominos with my granddaughters recently reminded me of the elaborate designs that people create, all with the goal of knocking down one domino, and setting off a chain reaction that knocks over hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of perfectly arranged dominos.

The domino effect is a phrase used for situations where one often small action sets off a chain reaction of events, often in rapid sequence. Let me give you a very present example. Yesterday’s storms throughout the Midwest disrupted air travel setting off a series of events that have left me sitting here at my laptop typing this devotion. The storm caused the plane we were supposed to take off on at 5:50 am today to never make it to Detroit last night, resulting in our flight this morning being cancelled. Once that happened, students had to be notified, rides had to be rearranged, new flights are still in the process of being scheduled, the pick-up by missionaries in Managua, Nicaragua had to be put on hold, and afternoon plans there scrapped. And all because of domino number one, the storm that passed through yesterday.

Abraham set off his own domino effect when he decided to obey God in offering his son Isaac to the Lord as a sacrifice. God saw Abraham’s obedience and responded with this: “Because you have done this thing, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” That promise was fulfilled in pure domino effect fashion; Abraham’s one act of obedience set off a chain reaction of God’s incredible blessing on Abraham’s life and family. So consider this:

• You can set off a chain reaction of blessing in your own life by one act of obedience.
• You have the power, if you’ll take the initiative, to greatly bless your own life.
• The domino effect is waiting for anyone to experience who’ll do the little things, who’ll take the first step, pick up the phone, approach someone outside your inner circle of comfort, make a coffee date with someone you haven’t talked to in a while, send an email to a friend who’s been on your heart, or more.
• Your action, your part, is knocking over the first domino; God will do the rest! And as far as when to get started – the best day is always today!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church