Struggling with anger, resentment, frustration, emptiness, and broken relationships?  Not seeing others influenced by what you thought was Good News from you?  Finding that your approaches to making others feel guilty and reminding them of “the rules” to follow God not working?

Just as guilt, shame, condemnation, and rule-keeping only end in lifeless pool of frustration for ourselves; Scripture reveals they don’t work for helping others change either.

Unless genuine desire is ignited in the heart of another person to seek after God, any other efforts through pressure, laws, and rules fall flat.  There is only one way for desire to be ignited in another person’s heart – through grace.

To show that grace our hearts have to be resurrected and filled with a new kind of desire and love.  That resurrected love has the power to infuse life and desire into others.  It also has the power to free me from the pressure to have to make others conform and obey when I say.

The power of the resurrection is far greater a power than any of us have ever tapped into or understood.  In this series at encounter we cry out with the apostle Paul when he said, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection!”

Where do your definitions and experiences of love come from? The ways you have seen and experienced love will determine how you show it to others. You can only give to others what you have first experienced. For most people, their understanding of love has come from parents, family, friends, or media. As good as any of these may have been, they are all flawed at some point. None of them were perfect. They all had their weak points of inconsistency, unfaithfulness, impatience, being unforgiving, and selfish.

If they are the only ways you have experienced love, then your experiences in showing love to others will look much the same.

Love, however is something much greater than the best people in our life ever expressed to us. At its origin, it is patient, forgiving, understanding, faithful, merciful, gentle, never gives up, and is available even when I am undeserving of it.

Its that kind of love we long for. Its that kind of love we dream of. But just because we’ve never seen or experienced it, doesn’t mean that it does not exist. That kind of love is available – it flows from the heart of God. When I genuinely accept it without resistant and refusal, that kind of love changes me.

When I realize I can’t earn it, never will deserve it, quit trying to pay it back, and humbly allow myself to be loved by God, it causes my heart to be reborn. It causes me to be different. It changes how I see life. It changes love others. Then I have a new definition and experience of love. How much of this love have you allowed yourself to receive?

You can only give to others what you have first received.

On Friday, we were informed of the tragic death of John Corpany. John was a proud father of two young boys, a give year old and a 15 month old and the loving husband to Jaimie who is also 6 months pregnant with a girl. She is due to enter this world in late August/early September.

Upon visiting with Jamie today, we learned of some of the greater needs she has now. John did not have life insurance and he was the sole provider in their home. Please review the list below, any help you could provide would be extremely appreciated.

1. Baby/Toddler needs:
a. Diapers – Gabriel currently wears a size 4 diaper
b. Wipes, etc
2. General Household items:
a. Toilet Paper
b. Paper Towels
c. Laundry Detergent (Dreft only please)
3. Rent – June rent has not been paid yet. She will pick up John’s final check next week. After that check, there isn’t any other income. She will apply for SSA Benefits for the children, but as we ALL know, it takes quite a long time to go through the application process to receive benefits.
4. Utilities – Again, John was the sole provider for all of their expenses.
5. Vehicle – John was driving the only vehicle they owned. The vehicle was financed, therefore the insurance will cover the payoff, but won’t provide another vehicle. She needs to be able to get back and forth to the doctor, take Ian to school, etc. If anyone has a vehicle they want to sell or donate, please contact us as soon as possible.
6. Funds for burial service needs

Are you ready to extend your hand with grace, love and mercy? We have an Encounter family who has experienced a great loss and is in need of our help. What better way to show God’s undying grace, love and mercy than to embrace those who are hurting, help them through the storm and lift them up with unceasing prayer?

Please contact Brian Treadaway or Lisa Mederos if you will help love on Jaimie and her children. As always, please lift up Jaimie, Ian and Gabriel in your prayers. Please pray for Jaimie’s family as they will be traveling from out of town to be at her side during this time.

DONATE to the JAMIE CORPANY FAMILY FUND:

You can also donate to a special fund set up at SAGU as well.

Send your donation to:
SAGU Cashier
1200 Sycamore
Waxahachie, TX 75165

Note on payment “For Corpany Family Benevolence Fund”

If donors wish to pay via debit or credit card, please call Nancy at SAGU (972)825-4561.

Or you can make a payment in person by visiting the cashier in SAGU’s Davis Building.

Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken…. – Rich Mullins

Where have you seen Jesus lately?

There are times when community gets tough. When jumping out of the (fellow)ship seems way easier than sticking it out. But when we abandon ship because it holds people we don’t like, we also abandon community.

“Community has little to do with mutual compatibility. Similarities in educational background, psychological make-up, or social status can bring us together, but they can never be the basis for community. Community is grounded in God, who calls us together and not to the attractiveness of people to each other. There are many groups that have been formed to protect their own interests, to defend their own status, or to promote their own causes, but none of these is a Christian community. Instead of breaking through the walls of fear and creating new space for God, they close themselves to real or imaginary intruders. The mystery of community is precisely that it embraces all people, whatever their individual differences may be and allows them to live together as brothers and sisters of Christ and sons and daughters of his heavenly Father.” – Nouwen

It’s easy to build community when everyone looks like you, talks like you and believes the same things as you — but is that really the type of community we’ve been called to be a part of?

How have you struggled with these barriers? How have you overcome them?

“Love means loving the unlovable – or it is no virtue at all.” – GK Chesterton

It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God.
They do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them.
They do not covet what belongs to others.
They show love to their neighbors.
They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves.
They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them friends.
It has become their passion to do good to their enemies.
They live in the awareness of their smallness.
Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing.
If they see a traveling stranger, they bring him under their roof.
They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, but they know they are brothers in the Spirit and in God.
If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of his needs. If possible they set him free.
If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him.
In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs.
This, O Emperor is the rule of life of the Christians, this is their manner of life.
– Asistides 137 AD

Are you infected? Wanna be?

But imagine showing love to a group bent on bringing harm to you, your family and your friends — simply because of the color of your skin.

The civil rights movement in America can teach us a lot about loving our neighbor — and loving our enemies.

“The black freedom struggle is the best example of bringing together the quest for unarmed truth and unconditional love in the face of American Terrorism for 400 years. Instead of a Black al-Qaeda you get Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther.” – Dr Cornel West

Kevin Hendricks shares an even more personal look at how love defeated the KKK through one Rev. Wade Watts.

When Oklahoma State Sen. Gene Stipe and civil rights activist Wade Watts walked into a restaurant in the late 1950s, a waitress confronted them at the door and told Watts, an African American, that the restaurant did not serve Negroes.

With a smile, Watts replied, “I don’t eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs.”

And as Kevin writes, that’s tame compared to Watts’ reactions to Clary as detailed in this video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

May we all have the power to love in the face of adversity. May we all have the courage to face our enemies with a smile and love. May we give sacrificial love to everyone within our sphere of influence. And may our lives exhibit the love that has changed our lives — so that it may change the lives of others as well.

I’m reading the new book “We Get to Carry Each Other – The Gospel According to U2″ (by Greg Garrett) right now and it talks a lot about community and how the band has always emphasized helping those around us and the privilege we have to actually GET to carry each other. Yet for some reason we seem to think its a burden to build community, to open up to others, to share and serve.

How different our outlook and lives could be if we saw serving and loving others is actually a privilege – a calling – a purpose in our lives…

Imagine if you could find your purpose in serving your neighbors? Imagine if you could find your purpose in loving your spouse unconditionally? Imagine if you could find your purpose in serving your kids?

Imagine if we built ekklesia all around us – being the hands and feet of Christ in our own sphere of influence?

Wow!

Chewing on these ideas, I was struck by some great questions that Ryan asks on his blog…

1. Am I okay with having surface-level relationships with everyone?
2. Outside of my family, who can I really trust?
3. Do I have people in my life that I can call at 3am when everything is falling apart?
4. Are there people around me who can strengthen me when I’m weak?
5. Am I using my God-given gifts, talents, or abilities to serve my friends?
6. Am I investing MORE or LESS into the relationship than the person I’m trying to build a relationship with?

Ryan also shares some suggested steps towards authentic community:

1. Choose wisely. You don’t need to be friends with everyone.
2. Get coffee, have someone over for dinner, go play golf, etc..
3. Be intentional. Ask a deeper question // reciprocate.
4. Work at it. Don’t assume a relationship is fine.
5. Be transparent and authentic yourself.

What about you? What do you imagine would change if we really saw the privilege in carrying one another? Is there anything missing from either list?

But then I read Eugene Cho’s blog post today about Fatima bint Mohamed bin Uthman Al-Mutairi.

Fatima was a 26-year-old Saudi woman who was killed by her own brother in August 2008 simply because she followed Jesus Christ.

Eugene shared Fatima’s story as a parallel to the life of Paul – who was vilified, imprisoned and hated because he was a “traitor to his people, the Jews.”

Eugene writes ::

I don’t have much information about her story. Couple sources cite that Fatima was a member of a major Bedouin tribe (Al-Mutair) and she resided at “what is arguably the most religiously zealous town in all of Saudia Arabia, Buraydah.

Her fellowship with other believers “appears to have been limited to Internet forums”. She composed her amazing poem (translated into English) before her martyrdom and it has deeply resonated with me ever since I heard of her death last year. Fatima was burned alive after having her tongue cut by her brother. In her last letter (on an internet forum) before her death, after being locked in her room for 4 hours by her brother, she cited these words from Psalm 27:1 -

“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?”

Here is Fatima’s poem:

?? ???? ?????? ?? ??????
And enlighten your hearts that you might love others
? ???? ?????? ? ?????? ?????????
The forum does not revile the Master of the prophets
??????? ?? ???? ???? ????????
It is for the display of truth, and for you it was revealed
?? ?????? ??????? ? ?????? ????
This is the truth which you do not know
??? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ??????
What we profess are the words of the Master of the prophets
? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ????????
We do not worship the cross, and we are not possessed
? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ? ???? ????????
We worship the Lord Jesus, the Light of the worlds
???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????????
We left Mohammed, and we do not follow in his path
???? ?????? ? ????? ???? ??????
We followed Jesus Christ, the Clear Truth
? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? ??????
Truly, we love our homeland, and we are not traitors
? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ? ???? ??????
We take pride that we are Saudi citizens
? ????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???????
How could we betray our homeland, our dear people?
??? ???? ????? ? ????? ?????????
How could we, when for death—for Saudi Arabia— we stand ready?
??? ? ???? ????? ???????? ?????????
The homeland of my grandfathers, their glories, and odes—for it I am writing
???? ?????? ? ?????? ? ?????? ??? ??????
And we say, “We are proud, proud, proud to be Saudis”
? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???? ???????
We chose our way, the way of the rightly guided
???? ?????? ?????? ???? ????????
And every man is free to choose any religion
? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ???
Be content to leave us to ourselves to be believers in Jesus
????? ??????? ?????? ? ????? ??????
Let us live in grace before our time comes
????? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ????
There are tears on my cheek, and Oh! the heart is sad
????? ??? ??? ???? ? ????? ????
To those who become Christians, how you are so cruel!
??? ??? ?????????? ?? ??? ???? ?????
And the Messiah says, “Blessed are the Persecuted”
? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?????????
And we for the sake of Christ all things bear
? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ???????
What is it to you that we are infidels?
?? ?? ?? ????? ???? ??????
You do not enter our graves, as if with us buried
???? ???????? ?????? ? ???? ???????
Enough—your swords do not concern me, not evil nor disgrace
???? ?? ????? ?????? ? ?? ???
Your threats do not trouble me, and we are not afraid
? ?? ????? ??????? ? ?? ??? ??????
And by God, I am unto death a Christian—Verily
????? ??? ????? ?????? ? ?? ???
I cry for what passed by, of a sad life
???? ??? ?? ??? ?? ??? ????
I was far from the Lord Jesus for many years
??? ????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ????
Oh History record! and bear witness, Oh Witnesses!
? ??? ?? ????? ? ?????? ?? ??????
We are Christians— in the path of Christ we tread
???? ??????? ???? ?????? ?????
Take from me this word, and note it well
? ???? ??? ?????? ? ?????? ???
You see, Jesus is my Lord, and He is the Best of protectors
??? ???? ??? ?? ???? ????????
I advise you to pity yourself, to clap your hands in mourning
????? ???? ???? ? ???? ?????
See your look of ugly hatred
? ???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?? ????
Man is brother to man, Oh learned ones
??????? ??? ????? ?? ???????!!!
Where is the humanity, the love, and where are you?
??? ????????? ? ?????? ? ???? ???
As to my last words, I pray to the Lord of the worlds
? ??? ????? ???? ??? ????????
Jesus the Messiah, the Light of Clear Guidance
???? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????
That He change notions, and set the scales of justice aright
???? ???????? ? ???? ????????
And that He spread Love among you, Oh Muslims

–

So I’ve changed my mind about non-violence.

I’ve decided its no longer a questionable issue for me. It’s an absolute for me as a Follower of Jesus.

If it’s good enough for Fatima, Paul, Martin Luther King Jr., Balthasar Hübmaier and thousands of other disciples and martyrs — it’s good enough for me.

My prayer is that while today my resolve is strong, may my strength and resolve will remain in those moments when my flesh is weakened by the momentary troubles.

Read more about other martyrs of the faith.