All through life we are faced with goodbyes.  The dictionary calls it “an acknowledgement of parting, a parting or farewell, or an act of parting.”  I’ve watched my family say goodbye to extended when we’ve left to go home after a family-visiting vacation.  I’ve watched my kids say goodbye to friends as they left for college.  I’ve said goodbye as we left friends in our first church in Grove City, MN.  The last few weeks have been filled with goodbyes, a number of friends leaving Calvary for next chapters in life, and Jake and Katy heading to college, (Jake for the first time, Katy for the fourth).  Charles Schultz once said, (I think through Charlie Brown)

Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together?  I guess that wouldn’t work.  Someone would leave.  Someone always leaves.  Then we would have to say good-bye.  I hate good-byes.  I know what I need.  I need more hellos.

Then of course there are the goodbyes we say at funerals.  Those are the hardest ones aren’t they?  For some people saying goodbye at a funeral feels like a forever kind of thing.  For others, with the hope of Christ, it’s more of a “I’ll see you later.” kind of thing.  But even that’s kind of goodbye is woven through with an element of grief.  Today many of us from Calvary say goodbye to Sue Trotter.  Sue was a special friend of a number of folks.  I spent less time with her than many, but enough time to feel a bit of the loss of goodbye.  Most of our conversations were held at McDonald’s or one of the local care-homes in which she lived.  They were conversations about God, about fear, about her work and family, about gratitude, and life in general.  Sue will be missed.

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Pastor Paul.  His kids, Ryan, Rob and Ireida put together most of the memorial service and they did a great job.  If goodbyes could ever be good, it was a good one.  The worship was filled with joy.  Rob, Ryan and Ireida’s sharing was filled with laughter, and honor, and deep words of wisdom.  There was a video of Paul’s life and then Paul spoke.  From a previous sermon, he called people to faith in Christ…one more time.  Paul was well honored by the gathering.  Everyone there was well blessed by the gathering.  I have no doubt that there were those who took a step of faith in Christ.  Most importantly this particular goodbye lifted Jesus up so high that everyone could see him.  It was a good goodbye that was filled with “see you laters.”

You may or may not realize this but the word “goodbye” is the contraction of a longer phrase.  It has been in the process of contracting over the course of hundreds of years.  It comes from the phrase “God be with you.”  In other words “goodbye” comes from the words of a prayer, a short blessing.

I like that.  I think we should go back to it.  See you later…until then…God be with you.  That’s what I’m saying to Jake as he goes off to school for the first time.  I don’t need to say it to Sue or Paul.  They are already there.

Facebook makes it so easy.  Hit confirm and you add a friend.  Hit a button and they are unfriended.  Neither button takes into account the years involved in truly gaining a friend, nor the sorrow experienced in losing one.  Perhaps that’s the true curse of social media.  I lost a friend last night.  

When I first came to State College — as a mere 30+ year old kid — I told Calvary that I came with two convictions.  The first conviction was that God had brought me to State College, not just to pastor Calvary but to pastor the city.  The second conviction was that I couldn’t do that alone.  Paul was one of the people/pastors that God allowed me to partner with in trying to pastor the city.

So for 15+ years we’ve prayed together, worshiped together, laughed together, and spoken together.  I spoke at Paul’s church and he spoke at mine — and it always felt right because it wasn’t two different churches, just two different congregations in the same church.  We’ve dreamed about how to reach the city together and complained together when things didn’t happen the way we hoped.  To be honest I’m wrestling a bit with God about that whole “together” thing being done.

I will miss his wit, even when it was directed at me.  I will miss his fire.  He was always looking for a good fight in the good fight.  I will miss lunches together.  (I won’t miss Ponderosa though!)  I will miss our theological discussions on everything from “once saved, always saved” to “spiritual gifts” to “city-church unity.”  I will miss the way that I could annoy him by being late.  I will miss his friendship.

I’m in the midst of a doctoral class on organic leadership development.  This week we’ve been talking about legacy.  How do we live our lives in such a way to leave a legacy?  Paul did.  I always used to wonder which one of us would quit first in our attempts to bring together the church of the city to reach the city.  Now if I ever quit trying, I’ll be first, because he never did.  But it wasn’t just a legacy of serving God, Paul leaves a legacy of family and friends.  I can’t tell you how many times he spoke of Arline and Rob and Ryan, and more recently Ireida and a grandchild to come.  He loved them…was so proud of his kids.  And I love how the people he has led love him — a great legacy.

Like the apostle Paul, Paul lived for Christ…and now dying has brought him incredible gain.  Full healing.  Presence of Christ.  He has embarked upon the greatest adventure ever known.  His story has moved out of the introduction (that’s really all this life is in comparison to eternity) and into the first chapter with an amazing story to come.  And all those of you/us who showed up in his introduction will be a part of that story to come.

So in a way, I haven’t lost a friend — for a time — his story has just moved to a page beyond the page I’m on.

Join me in praying for Arline, Ryan, Rob & Ireida, and State College Assembly of God.  God can and will heal the hurt, but till we get out of our introduction, there will always be a bit of a hole.

See you later Paul, and thanks for everything.  May the rest of your story be beyond what you have imagined, hoped or prayed it would be.

The following quote from Dave Ramsey is making the rounds lately,  

If the US Government was a family—they would be making $58,000 a year, spending $75,000 a year, & are $327,000 in credit card debt. They are currently proposing BIG spending cuts to reduce their spending to $72,000 a year. These are the actual proportions of the federal budget & debt, reduced to a level that we can understand.

I’m not an economist.  I’m not a stock analyst.  I’m not a doomsday prophet.  I’m not even that great with my own personal finances.  But here are a few thoughts anyway…

1) This isn’t a democratic problem or a republican problem and it requires something more than a backroom political deal or a tea-party solution.  It’s our problem. Lynn and I have discovered something during the years of our struggling with issues — sometimes financial — when the issue is between us, every potential solution feels like an attack.

Picture two people sitting at a table across from each other with an issue that needs a solution sitting in the center of the table.  Every time one of the people at the table offers a critique or even a solution to the issue, the words come across the table like they are directed at the other person.  This raises the defensiveness level and makes solutions hard to find.  The only solution is to have both parties move to the same side of the table so that they are attacking the problem without attacking each other.

Every time we hear a democrat bemoan the tax policies of George Bush, we move farther from a solution.  Every time we hear a republican bemoan the spending policies of the democrats we move farther from a solution.  The reality is that it’s our problem.  We need to fix it.  If everyone isn’t willing to sacrifice it won’t happen.

2) Christians should be leading the way out of the problem — by repenting of greed and taking a greater responsibility for serving those in need here and around the world. Forgive me for using inexact statistics but they are not far off and they paint a picture of where we are at.  Imagine that the average american Christian gives about 3% of their income to the church and spends 97% on self.  Then imagine that the average american church gives about 3% of that income to serve those in need outside of their walls and spends about 97% within the four walls.

3) As odd as it sounds neither spending cuts, nor tax gains alone will get us out of this mess.  It will require the blessing of God that comes from generosity.  Not the generosity of the government, but the generosity of the people.

I don’t know.  I’m probably wrong.  But I can’t be any more wrong than we’ve already been…

Rhonda — one of the beautiful girls clinging to Lynn — is a young girl from Myanmar.  She and a number of other Burmese children –like Glory, Abraham, Susannah, Jacob, Joshua, and Mary — have stolen our hearts. There are 162 other children like them in four homes that we serve, love and support in Myanmar; Agape Orphanage, Blessing Orphanage, Kid’s Life Orphanage, and Wonderful Calvary Orphanage.   We currently sponsor four children in Myanmar.  What does that mean?  We pray for them.  We write them letters.  We give $40/month to help feed, clothe and educate them.  More importantly we help give them a home.  If Myanmar would allow adoptions, I’m pretty sure Lynn would be filling out the papers, but until then we sponsor them.  It’s the next best thing.

If you would like to know more about Myanmar, or perhaps you would even like to sponsor a child, I invite you to come to the Myanmar Experience.

• – Come tomorrow (Saturday July 23)
• – From 3-6pm at Harvest Fields
• – (1100 Boal Avenue, Boalsburg, PA)

This will be an opportunity for people of all ages to experience a bit of the Myanmar life — we’ve even piped in authentic Myanmar weather — and find out about the kids we love.  There will be experience stations teaching the language, playing Burmese games, Burmese face-painting, and many others.  Can’t come?  Two different ways that you can help.

1) Go to Pray Myanmar to find ways you can pray, serve or give.

2) If you have a facebook account, click the “Give” button to the left of this blog post and give a one-time gift. It’s entirely safe and easy. if you do not have a facebook account you can click Calvary Donate to go to Calvary’s secure sight.  Just choose Myanmar Ministry in the drop down box.  $40 will care for a child for a month.  $1000 will supply all the needs of Wonderful Calvary Orphanage for a month!

And if you have the opportunity to pray, serve or give, — in advance — thanks from me and Rhonda…read her letter below…

It was the night before we were to fly into Yangon, my third trip, first for the whole family. We needed to leave the hotel by 4:30am to get airport which meant awake by 3:30am. All after a day of sightseeing in Bangkok, preceded by a 20 hour trip from home to Bangkok.

So I was in bed, easily by 10:25pm. I figured I would fall asleep right away and get 5 hours sleep, not bad actually. Instead I never slept. From 10:30pm to 3:30am I was awake. Did that ever happen to you? You know you have to get up early, so you find it hard to get to sleep? Except it wasn’t just that. The flight into Yangon from Bangkok was the one that had the most question marks for me, which meant it also had the most prayer requests for me. Let’s see…

I had mistyped Sarah’s name on her Air Asia ticket – put Sarah Danielle instead of Sarah Nold. Tried multiple times to contact Air Asia about it, but in 10 weeks was never able to get through. Were they going to let her on or would her and I have a few more days in Bangkok? For our other three kids, Katy, Jake and Josh, we were using two different passports, a cancelled one that contained their Myanmar visa’s and a new one that they needed to get into Thailand. Was that going to be a problem at Myanmar Passport control? Because of different baggage restrictions between Cathay Pacific and Air Asia we had excess baggage going into Yangon. How much was that going to cost us?

So I figured, with all these prayer requests, I can either lay awake worrying or perhaps God just wants me to pray. So for five hours I rested and I prayed. Sometimes I sang – in my head of course, I didn’t want to wake Lynn. Some time I spent telling Jesus thank you. Some time I spent asking Jesus, “please help us.” Some time I spent praying for the people in Bangkok and Myanmar who don’t know Jesus

But at one point, must have been about 3am — I just wanted to know that Jesus was there. I was asking him to reveal himself, to make himself known to me. Perhaps part of it was that I just wanted to know that everything that day would be okay – but even more at that moment I just wanted an encounter with Jesus.

At the end of my pleas – the words came into my mind – “I’ll meet you in Myanmar.” It felt like a promise. I felt at peace.

About 6 hours later, as we drove away from the Yangon airport – having had an easy and uneventful trip — we drove past a garbage dump. A little girl about 3 was picking through the garbage. A young mother and her son were gathering scraps of wood for cooking. I heard Jesus words again – I’ll meet you in Myanmar. Jesus’ story in Matthew – close to my heart – came to my mind, Whenever you serve the least of these my brothers and sisters you serve me.

I’ll meet you in Myanmar. You might not be able to go to Myanmar this year, but you can still serve the orphan Jesus. Come out to The Myanmar Experience on Saturday. Come anytime between 3pm – 6pm. You’ll get a taste of Myanmar. You’ll see some pictures of the kids. You may write a letter or watch your children learn some Myanmar games. You may serve Jesus. Go to Pray Myanmar for more info.

I’ll meet you there.

So let’s see. He had a hand in starting Fox News. He has owned The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, 20th Century Fox, and a long list of other media investments. In fact he owns the company that owns the company that sells the most Bibles in the world.  He has been listed multiple times in the “Time 100” as among the most influential people in the world. In 2010 Forbes ranked him #13 in their “World’s Most Powerful People” list. Oh yeah, he’s rich too.

But this week the 80-year-old Rupert Murdoch was grilled by British lawmakers about his role in the phone-hacking scandal. When pressed about who was responsible, Murdoch demurred, stating that “the people that I trusted to run it and then maybe people they trusted” had failed him.

Whether or not Murdoch knew about the alleged practices is up for debate — his organizational universe is huge — but what seems to be clear is the governing hunger of Murdoch’s heart. The News Corporation (Murdoch’s company) developed a “whatever-it-takes-to-win” culture that championed success and aggression. As reported in the New York Times, Rupert Murdoch’s defining characteristic was the way he treated business as a life or death battle for power and success.

Murdoch has never just been satisfied with besting the competition, as most decent businessmen are. He’s not truly happy unless he has his foot on a competitor’s neck and is pressing it downward. Felix Salmon, a blogger for Reuters, unearthed testimony about an executive who ran one of Murdoch’s more obscure divisions. ‘I will destroy you,’ the man told a competitor, according to the testimony. ‘I work for a man who wants it all and doesn’t understand anybody telling him he can’t have it all.’

The whole thing leaves me with two questions:

1) How do we turn around a culture — speaking here of the broader human culture — that so strongly values success that it encourages companies and organizations to operate without an ethics scorecard?  Think Wall-Street, banking scandals, and Enron.

Perhaps the only way we can turn this around is by changing what we worship. There is an un-fillable hole in our souls that cannot be satisfied by success, so we are driven for more…always more. We worship what we think will satisfy, but ultimately we end up serving what we worship. The obvious answer to the question, “How do we change this culture?” is “Change what we worship.”

One of my favorite quotes on worship by C.S. Lewis is…

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. …I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country which I shall not find till after death. I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside. I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it is within your reach and you have lost it forever.”

2) So here’s the second question: If nothing changes in your life, when ‘that day’ comes will you find that you have attained it, or lost it forever?

Oh wait — a third question:  Should I buy my next Bible from Zondervan?

So last weekend, the third annual parents vs. teens semi-flag football game took place.  (I say semi-flag because there was also some semi-hitting that took place.)  The most important news is that the parents won.  I think the score was “a lot” to “not all that much.”  Though they will tell you it was more like “just barely” to “almost got us.”  But either way we won.  Now if you talk to one of teens, they will come up with all kids of excuses about who was there and who wasn’t there and who played too much and who had to sit, but the again the bottom line is… the parents won.

One interesting little known fact.  The first year we played, the parents won.  I was there.  The second year we played.  The parents lost.  I was gone.  The third year we played.  The parents won.  I was there.  If you didn’t watch me play, I’m telling you that I’m just that good.  If you were there and watched me play, you know that I might be a good luck charm, but I’m not just that good.  But regardless, I will say it one more time.  We won.

One of the semi-hits that took place was between Jake and me.  The best thing I can say about that hit was that I stopped him.  Well to be honest I think he stopped because he was concerned that I was hurt, but regardless I stopped him.  I’m not sure how a 275 pound former college football player hits his 18 year old lacrosse playing son and gets hurt — but it happened.  He lowered his head and the front of my face hit the top of his head.  My face lost.   My world got a bit dark for a moment.  I staggered to my feet and I kept playing.  Well I’m not sure I kept playing, but I did stay out on the field.

The next day Lynn put something on facebook about an almost 50 year old man trying to play football against an 18 year old.  Ouch.

So what’s the moral of the story?  Here you go, lessons learned.

1) We have a tendency to overestimate our abilities, just like we sometimes have a tendency to overestimate our goodness.  The apostle John once wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.”  I think the reason he said that was because the more time you spend with Jesus, the more realistic you get about your own inherent goodness.

2) The most painful lingering effect from my hit with Jake?  I kinda get a fat lip or split lip, which led to the biggest canker sore I have ever had.  In the whole scope of life, it’s a little thing, but it’s amazing how much of my attention it has received this week.  It’s interesting how little things can overshadow our lives, gain all our focus.  While our energy is being consumed by that little thing, we keep thinking that it shouldn’t have so much of our focus, but it’s like we can’t help it.  I think the only way to take my mind of the little things that consume me, is to practice the discipline of gratitude.  I must intentionally choose to focus on something that is good.

Like we won.  Did I mention that?

It starts with the idea of creation.  Arts Fest is all about creation; artists finding a way to create what they have imagined.  People come and wander through the booths and as they do some creations bring forth an “ooo wow” or “aaaahh cool.”  The expression honors the creator.  (The creator is even more honored if someone is so drawn to the creation that they want to take it home.)

If God is Creator, then God is Artist.  What better time to honor THE ARTIST then Arts Fest.  So how do we do that?  Perhaps by oooing and aaaahhing in his presence?  Perhaps by praying and asking him to make his presence known to all creation?  That’s what the Arts Fest Altar is all about.

Since Thursday afternoon and going through Sunday afternoon, people are gathering to worship and pray at Unity Church on Gill Street.  Most hours of the day or night during Arts Fest, you can drop by Unity — except for the wee hours of the morning — and find people honoring THE ARTIST through worship and prayer.

Want to join? Let me give you two specific ways for you to enter in.

1) Tonight (Friday) and Saturday night there will be a worship/prayer opportunity at Unity from 6pm – 9pm.  A worship team will be leading in worship and people will be praying.  It’s open to EVERYONE and you don’t have to be there the WHOLE TIME.  It’s just like Arts Fest, wander in, wander out, come for 15 minutes, come for three hours.  Just take a moment to honor THE CREATOR, THE ARTIST.

2) If you go down to the Arts Fest, take some time out, while you are there, to honor THE ARTIST.  Here are some prayer-suggestions.

1. Pray Scripture: All of us at times struggle with what to pray for. Fortunately for us, the New Testament has recorded a number of prayers that are inspired by the Holy Spirit himself. Here are a few suggestions: Ephesians 1:17-19. Colossians 1:9-12. 2 Thesselonians 3:1-2. These are just a few examples. Choose one and take it with you as you walk, pray.

2. Pray for the City: Pray for the mayor and her staff. Pray for the University. Pray for local businesses. Pray for the schools and the children. Pray that God would move in a remarkable way on people’s hearts as they enjoy the arts festival. There’s almost no end to what you can ask God to do in State College.

3. Pray for the Church in the City: Many people do not often think about praying for the Church in a city, yet many of the prayers in the New Testament are precisely that. When the church is operating as Jesus designed it, it is the hope of the world.

4. Pray Everywhere: A major promise that Jesus made to us is that wherever two or more are gathered, He is there with us. This year at the Arts Festival, whereever you are, take a few minutes to pray. Ask God for divine appointments. Ask for a chance to share your faith. Ask God to do a million little miracles in the lives of everyone who attends the festival. When Jesus promises to go where we go, that’s a promise that he’ll answer the prayer offered at a taco stand just as readily as he answers prayer in a church building.

Who knows what might happen as you honor THE ARTIST this year?  Go to www.artsfestaltar.com for more information.

Steve May tells a story that reminds me of some of the dynamics of leadership. A while back, he was putting gas in his car and a truck driver pulled over and approaced him.  With a think accent, the truck driver said, “Excuse me. I don’t speak English. How to find Interstate 40?”

Steve turned to the man and said as loudly as he could (funny how we believe volume makes English more comprehensible, maybe that explains why when we are misunderstood we start to yell…), “Well, if you need to get to I-40 you’ll have to turn around and go up the other way. The best way is to cut across the road here, and then go west about a half a mile till you get to 45 bypass. Take that south for about 12 miles and then you’ll come to an overpass….” How much of that do you think the english-challenged driver could understand?

The truck driver looked at him helplessly. Steve realized his words weren’t getting through. Then an idea occurred to him. He stopped and spoke two words the truck driver understood: “Follow me.” Relieved, he hopped in his truck, waiting for Steve to pull out on the road. 15 minutes later, as they approached the interstate Steve waved him on. He beeped his horn in appreciation.

Some obvious leadership applications:

1. 1) The lessons I’ve learned best in life are not the ones that have been shouted at me. They are the ones that have been demonstrated by people with the capacity to lead by example.
2. 2) I’m more open to being led when I admit that I don’t know where I’m going.
3. 3) When I choose who I’m going to follow, it would be wise to make sure that person knows the way.
4. 4) Shouting does not help those who don’t understand.
5. 5) It’s easy to tell others how to do something, but sometimes it’s more effective to show them.
6. 6) When I’m in need I’m willing to follow almost anyone who will stop and help. It shows me they care.  As GenX preacher David Edwards says, “It’s not enough to be right, we have to be real.

Jesus once said, (John 14) I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. He didn’t say, I’ll show you the way.  He said, I am the way.  We don’t just look to him to tell us the way, we follow Him as He shows us the way!   To the Corinthians, Paul said…”I urge you to imitate me…Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1) Can we, like Paul, say that we are following close enough in the footsteps of Jesus that we are comfortable saying to others, Follow me, because I’m following Jesus?

Perhaps that’s what it will take to get us all where we need to go.

As a child, one of the first things I learned about God was that He could be everywhere anytime, all present all the time. It’s called omnipresence. But if God is everywhere all the time, what’s the big deal about His presence? The big deal is that God is not limited by His abilities.  Because God can be everywhere anytime, it doesn’t mean He has to be anywhere all the time. He can remove His presence.

Remember Ezekiel’s wheel? We sang the song as kids, “Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the air…” Ezekiel had this vision of God removing his presence, removing his glory (the wheel) from Israel. Sometimes we talk about the manifest presence of God, this is something different from the omnipresence of God, it is God making his presence known. You understand, it is this presence which is the key to blessing, the key to transformation.

Revival always begins with an arrival… it begins in a revelation of Jesus himself and a sense of his nearness. Duncan Campbell, who was involved in a move of God that transformed his region, described the experience simply as (we became) “a community saturated with God.”

And you may already know this… when God is in the house, the house overflows with his blessing. When God is in the city, the city overflows with his blessing. Do you realize how deeply people need and long for God’s blessing in their life? Do you realize how often people came to God as the last hope? I minister from a deep conviction that when people come to Calvary, if all they can find is us…they will leave disappointed.

A pastor of a church in Texas was having lunch with a recent visitor, and asked him, “What did you like and dislike about our service? The man said, “I disliked the fact that in your church I didn’t know any of the songs. I felt like an outcast.” “I understand that,” the pastor said, “we need to be more sensitive to that. What was it you liked?” “I like the fact,” he replied, “that you expect God to come. You really think He’s going to show up.”

And isn’t that what it’s all about? If God doesn’t come, why should anybody else? We long for the Father’s blessing…we need the Father’s blessing. But his blessing is always wrapped up in his presence. That’s why I am so attracted to these words in Matthew 18:20

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

My presence is there. My blessing is coming. All it takes is two or three. When two or three come together, God is in the house… and blessing is on the way.  Because the key to extraordinary transformation…awe-inspiring overflowing blessing is the presence of Jesus.

In fact it is the presence of Jesus that gives power to prayer.  Go back just a sentence and read Matthew 18:19-20,

Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

Last week 8 local congregations gathered on a Sunday morning to worship and pray and listen to the Gospel proclaimed.  Everyone agreed, it was a great morning.  Why?  Because God was there.  Why? Because two or three of us came together in Jesus name.  What would happen if tow or three of us came together more often?