Brent, Deanna and the AweStar team are sharing in the mountain villages now in Peru. They continue to see a great hunger for the truth, seeing many pray to receive Christ and seeking churches to mentor them. There is also great darkness in many areas so please continue to pray for them. Again, you can follow along under the Trip Update Section (Peru) at www.awestar.org

"Light, space, zest - that's God! So with Him on my side I am fearless, afraid of no one and nothing." --Psalm 27:1 (from The Message)

I want to say this and mean it. I am not there yet and I know that I can't attain this of my own accord because I am too weak-minded and timid. but I do believe that it can be true because I believe in the Wod that God has given us. I believe it because it is the word of God! Those who are working on The Bible's revision to suit their personal or political views should remember that.

It amazes me that there are groups of scholars who would have us believe that the church has always gotten it wrong, that only this new "enlightened" interpretation filled with politically correct revisions could be what He (or She) really meant when He inspired his select to write scripture; the original authors were apparently confused at what the Holy Spirit wanted them to write.

I would ask them why it is that our Lord would allow His word to be misunderstood, misinterpreted and mis-taught for so long, only to be corrected by a group of folks who don't believe that Jesus would have said most of what scripture says that he did. This seems worse than arrogance to me - why call yourself a follower of Christ if you don't believe His word?

I write about it but must be prepared to stand up in love and challenge those who would warp the Holy Scriptures. How long will I cower and hide as men mock God?! Lord strengthen me so that I might be used for your purposes today.

Brad

The other day I touched on accountability, suggesting that we as believers in Christ should hold each other accountable for living in accordance with the teachings of Christ but that we cannot hold non-believers to this same standard because they are blind to the heart of Christ until they open their own hearts to Him and diligently seek His truth.

Later that same day I was reading a book that a freind had shared with me a month or so ago and it challenged me to dig into this further and examine why I held this belief. I have always heard that we should hold each other accountable but can't say that I had ever really examined this...it just seemed to make sense. This book challenged the accountabilty issue by pointing out that the passages in Scripture dealing with the subject deal with our personal relationship with Christ and being accountable to Him, not each other. So I grabbed my concordance and started digging in to my Bible to study.

Now the danger in using a tool like this is that we limit our search to narrowly. In looking through the verses dealing with derivatives of the word "accountable" I found truth to the statement I had read. In expanding my search to related topics I didn't find a lot during my search, but Galatians 6:1-2 says:

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves or you yourself may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ

Notice that it says those of you who "live by the Spirit" should restore the person gently. So we are talking about those who are truly responsive to the Holy Spirit because they will bring the insight and tenderness needed to restore the one who has sinned. According to my "Bible Readers Companion", the Greek word for "restore" is a medical term used of setting a boken bone. So we are to help the broken mend, not expose them to shames by condemning them. Any confrontation must be tempered with comfort and compassion.

This scripture does indicate that we are responsible to and for each other, but we must be sure that a believer gifted with the proper insight and spirit is working with the one who has committed the sin. So we must check ourselves, our hearts and motivation before jumping in when we see a fellow believer sin. Are we acting in a spirit of restoration and grace or disgust and anger? Maybe we should bring someone else in to the situation.

I am interested in seeking out other scriptures that deal with this subject and examining it further. Please feel free to share them with me.

The next time we find ourselves ready to confront a fellow believer we should picture Jesus sitting and writing in the sand, listening to our charges; and if our relationship with Him and our motives aren't clear we should drop our stones and hit our knees in prayer instead.

Brad

The fallout realities of the current financial situation have hit home here at the not-for-profit camp where I work. A good friend and coworker was just let go after 10 years of service here due to a lack of funds to support our staff, programming and facilities. She and her husband have three kids in college. The rest of us saw pay and benefits cut - a reality that is far from isolated as we look around us today and see bankruptcies, layoffs, closing and plunging portfolios that prohibit foundations and individuals from funding the community services that they normall do. There are harsher realities for many who are retired and looked to the financial security of their retirement accounts to carry them through.

We are raised to trust in certain institutions and methods of doing things. We are a cause-and-effect-minded people who are taught that if you do X then Y will result. We are being reminded that it doesn't always work that way, especially when X isn't placing your trust in God for the provision of our needs today. Much of our life is spent trying to control our circumstances so that we are financially secure through the end of the week, month, year or lifetime.

We need to be responsible for the lives that we are given and for the gifts that He gives us, be they spiritual or physical. We need to be responsible and careful with how we raise our families. But we need to balance this with being open to His leading in our lives - daily. Sometimes careers or jobs get in the way of being free to act on the opportunities He brings us. Sometimes they are the tool that He uses to deliver opportunities into our lives...but what is your priority? Is it financial security or is it relationship with Christ?

I know that this may sound silly to some because we are taught to be responsible, get a good education and a good job to provide for ourselves and for our families. I am not suggesting living in an irresposnisble way I am just challenging you (and me) to consider our situations and look at what we are really spending our lives doing and why. Doing other than what we know is scary to us (me).

I have another friend named Jeremy. Jeremy lives life very differently from most in that he has placed himself in a position to be open to God's calling more freely than anyone I've ever known. His focus is serving Him at the drop of a hat. He lives simply with few posessions and is willing to give away just about anything he has at any point. In fact, he is currently travelling around Europe for an indeterminate time sharing the gospel of Christ with those he comes into contact with. He works to make enough to live on but how he makes money is secondary to his daily mission of living Christ to those around him. He responds to needs as he sees them - the Holy Spirit doesn't have to shout through the clutter in his life to get his attention, it only requires the softest suggestion of a whisper for Jeremy to hear and act. I have never known someone who is more Christ-like and Christ-living day in and day out.

My challenge for all of us is to look at our circumstances each day as opportunities. Losing a job isn't easy and brings with it anxiety and stress...but it can also afford us the opportunity to truly live dependant on our Christ as we are supposed to, trusting Him to provide for us as we look for the ways in which we can respond to His call to love and serve those around us, even if our circumstances aren't what we might consider ideal. As many of you have discovered, giving out of our need brings greater joy and blessings than giving out of our excess. A penney given by a poor widow is a more powerful gift than thousands given by a wealthy individual.

Be open to Holy whispers today, even if you aren't in the mood to give of your self or your resources. Let's learn how doing so draws us in to a much more intimate knowledge of the God we serve.

Brad

I want to share that Brent and Deanna are seeing tremendous fruit from the team's ministry in Peru with hundreds coming to pray about a personal relationship with our Lord and King. You can follow their trip in words and pictures at the "trip update" section (Peru) on www.awestar.org. Please be in prayer for stamina, perseverance and health for the team.

This weekend we celebrate our country's Independence Day as well we should. It must serve as a reminder that there is a tremendous cost for freedom. Be in prayer for our men and women fighting in Afghanastan and Iraq, and keeping us safe on other fronts.

I can't help but wonder how our founders and those who fought after them would view our drift from the blocks that they underlayed the foundation of this nation on. We are no longer a "Christian" nation though there are still many believers here. But we have wandered off and find our national soul (if there can be said to be such a thing) floundering morally and spiritually. (Check out Ezekiel 5 to see how God dealt with Israel's defection from Him).

What country will take up the Lord's mantle and in so doing become His mighty tool? What blessings await the people, the "king" willing to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord of all, King over science and the mind, body and soul.

How mighty even a small island that does so will become - a mouse that roars with the voice of Heaven.. Our leaders once followed and exalted our Savior, but today they apologize and neuter Him in words and law. This will only draw His wrath and deflect His greatest blessings to the one(s) that will lift Him on high and exalt His holy word. Hail His grace, acknowledge His Lordship, live His love!

Brad

Over the past week or so we have been inundated with the news, video, soundbites and songs of fallen celebrities. Some were tragic, some courageous, some simply overexposed. I no longer even have television (I opted out of the digital tv world)and I couldn't get away from it. It seemed there was a Michael Jackson song playing everywhere I went no matter the time.

Now, I grew up listening to this music as he was only a few years older than myself and so many of his songs made up a part of the soundtrack of my childhood and college years. I admit I stopped listening when his life got really, well, wierd. I view his life as tragic and lost, many years and dollars spent on trying to capture purpose, maybe justification...or as he said, his "lost" childhood.

However, one of the songs I heard captured my attention in that it was very different from the others and I had never heard it before - obviously from one of his later albums. I didn't know what the song was called but thanks to Google have learned it is simply called "Childhood". It is a slower more melencholy song than was typical of his style.

While the slow tempo is what initially caught my attention certain lyrics jumped out at me and are stuck in my brain: "Before you judge me, try hard to love me." As Christians, doesn't this call to mind God's command to us to love each other? Isn't this representative of His unconditional love?

It is very difficult as citizens of the Heavenly kingdom living in a fallen world to not judge those we come into contact with because they are not exibiting the moral character, attributes or lifestyles we are called to. And yes, we are called to hold each other as Christians accountable when we see a believer living contrary to Scripture's teaching. However, we can't hold a non-believer to the same standard and if we try to do so we will alienate them faster than anything else, then what chance is there that they will turn a listening ear to the message of God's love for them and offer of saving grace?

We are commanded and called to love others. As you pass through your community today it might not hurt if you let these lyrics haunt your brain as well. Try hard to love them before you judge them. You don't have to condone their lifestyles, habits or life choices. You might not like their circumstances -- but if you jump to judgement first you may find it very difficult to exhibit God's love to them in a way in which they will receive it.

Overwhelm the world with His love today,

brad

Friday I was able to spend the day with my sister Lynae and her children. It was a hot day but beautiful outside as there was often a cooling breeze. We spent most of the day in a small community learning how the people spend their time at work and play, what their backgrounds were and how it is that they came to be where they are now.

Despite the hot, humid weather, they were dressed in long dresses and long sleeves even as they went about their business in an unairconditioned environment, inside or out. We got to observe a small classroom in session and had to have the teacher explain the math table that was in use, unlike anything we had seen before. Strict order was the rule of the day in the classroom.

We also were able to visit a farm and admire their large draft horses, the chickens (one of which cuddled up to Joshua and fell asleep), sheep, pigs and cows. We visited with the women in the kitchen while they made fresh apple dumplings over an open fire...they smelled incredible. We helped weed and water their garden where a whole assortment of vegetables and berries are growing. We were able to visit with a blacksmith and his apprentice as they made a whole assortment of items we take for granted. We were even able to sign a petition in support of the Women's Sufferage movement!

Living history museums are fascinating and this particular one on the north side of Indy is representative of the early days of Indiana. We were even able to throw tomohawks at targets in a small Indian Village.

The "residents" are well educated on the history of the time and place and very deep in character. It was fun to try and find out as much as you could about their families, jobs, schools and community. They were so good at playing their roles that we had to keep reminding ourselves who it was that was out of place - who was living in the real world. They would take off down verbal rabbit trails in unexpected directions sometimes and you would think they were out of their "role" only to find that their answer to a follow-up question didn't fit today's world. It was a major disappointment when you realized the beautiful glassware in the general store wasn't really available for 37 cents.

You are talking to actors, young and old, engaged in activities that fill their lives and filled the lives of the average folks of their day. As you visit and watch them toil and sweat at their jobs it adds to the illusion that it is real.

Some of us are just as gifted at acting out roles we have established for our lives on a daily basis. We have developed in-depth background stories that people are challenged to draw us out of because we don't want to visit thosse places that are too real in our lives, maybe painful or shameful for us. Sometimes our background stories become so deep that we ourselves find it a challenge to seperate the reality from the illusion. We don't want people to know who we really are or can't let them get close enough to see who the real person is behind the role we are playing.

Our Heavenly Father knows all of those things about us already and try as we might we cannot hide from Him. He accepts our imperfections and loves us in spite of them. Those who know him are the same way, though imperfect themselves...we are all damaged goods of one sort or another. He can take those imperfections and make something beautiful out of them if we are willing to set aside the role-playing and be ourselves. We all must choose to step out of the role we've been playing, take off the costumes, let Hiim shower away the dirt and then step into the lives He has blessed us with.

Brad

I remember sitting in a restaraunt by myself while I was in college, an unusual event at that point in my life. I was there with a book, whether studying or just casual reading I don't remember but I do remember very clearly the thought overwhelming me that this would be a regular part of my life. I had a sense that I would be live as a single man and to date this has been the case. Whether this was a "revelation" or just a projection because of a lonely frame of mind I can't tell you, I just know that I have never forgotten it.

Some people would call it a self-fullfilling prophecy, others a fear of commitment, still others have various ideas but you get the idea. In all honesty I can't say for certain why I am still single and I don't normally worry about it and often enjoy it. Henri Nouwen wrote that "we are called to convert our lonliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness, not as a wound but as a gift - as God's gift -so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we are loved by God."

I believe that singleness can be a gift from God and I have believed that this was the case in my own life. Paul desired it (see I Corinthians 7:7-8 among other verses) for its freedom to be single-minded to Christ. Like all gifts God gives it is given for a reason to those upon whom He bestows it and it is here that I started to worry.

There have been times in my life where I knew that I was able to serve others in a unique way because of my circumstances. When I go through periods of spiritual drought I find myself filled with doubts about where my heart is, whether or not I am living in relationship with my Lord. When I am not, life seems and feels hollow or meaningless. I know that it isn't.

I have enjoyed a degree of solitude for as long as I can remember. My Mom will tell you that I was always good at finding ways to entertain myself. In solitude I have sought the will of my Father and felt tuned to His voice -- I don't always hear it so well in the clutter of life; then, solitude becomes lonliness as our focus shifts from relationship to selfishness.

As Nouwen indicates, solitude can be a very good thing, but isolation from Christ is not. We can seek Him out in quiet places and escape the stress of our lives temporarily by seperating ourselves from our routines. But if we allow ourselves to be isolated from Him we lose our fellowship and our focus. This is my struggle especially now as I get older; I too often isolate myself in my solitude and it becomes lonliness.

Think of it this way: Solitude is like putting a pane of glass between yourself and the world around you. Now paint one side of the glass silver and you have a mirror with which you can see yourself in everything else you try to look at in the glass. That silver paint prevents you from seeing past your own reflection to the world beyond, a world very near that needs His light -- this is lonliness. A mirror reflects light back at us while a window lets it pass through to those beyond ourselves who need it.

Today, let's spend less time in front of the mirror and more time at the window. Better yet, walk through the door and be a part of what you see outside.

Brad