Saul's Worst Nightmare

Return with me to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Saul was the first king of Israel. Of course we will be missing the fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and the hearty Hi ho Silver, away. (What an intro huh? I can almost hear the William Tell Overture in the background.) I am back. I know it has been awhile. By the time I finish this post, it may be a little longer.

Saul disobeyed God. God had told Saul to utterly destroy the Amalakites. God was done being patient with them. He told Saul to destroy everyone and everything. Saul killed most of the people and destroyed everything that he did not want to keep. When we look at it that way, it almost seems trivial. Apparently, Saul thought so too as we can infer from his response when Samuel showed up. (The account is in 1 Samuel 15.) However, disobedience is disobedience and when we cannot obey in the smallest things, we cannot be trusted to obey in larger things. God sends the little things along to teach us how to obey in the larger things.

God watched Saul keep the good things of the Amalakites and He sent Samuel to confront him about it. Saul had not the slightest inkling of shame. He greeted Samuel as he undoubtedly had many other times. When Samuel asked him why he had not obeyed God, his response was telling. I did...except I spared the king and we brought back the best of the animals to sacrifice. Word to the wise, never say to a prophet anything like, I did, but... That disobedience cost Saul his kingdom, his life, and the lives of his sons.

The next mission we know of Samuel undertaking for God is the anointing of David to be the next king of Israel. Recall the story as David is anointed and soon is called into Saul's service as a musician to soothe Saul when he is troubled by an evil spirit. That spirit also, by the way, was a result of his disobedience. His disobedience opened a demonic gateway and allowed that spirit to trouble Saul.

Not long after that, we can almost hear the ring announcer saying something like, "In this corner, standing nine feet three inches tall and weighing 500 pounds, Gooooooollllliiiiiiaaaathhhhh." That was moments before one stone sent him tumbling to the ground. David took his head and his weapons. (I am not totally sure why that was important.)

And the rest of the story is that some years later, Saul did die in battle and David assumed the leadership of Israel. It is in that interim time period that David was on the run from Saul. God sent faithful men to be with David in the wilderness. He had 400 of the most frustrated, disheartened, disenfranchised men in Israel as his army. God was redeeming them all.

There was a very interesting twist to the situation at work a few weeks ago now. At least it was interesting my mind. (If you do not know about what is going on you may want to read the couple previous posts.) I doubt I can count all the times I have heard the story of David and and Saul, especially as an analogy for submitting to the powers that be in our lives. A few weeks ago, though, it came from someone up the chain of command from me. That was interesting because, as we have mentioned before, my name is David--and--Saul was up the chain of command from David. Of course my mind started working on that. It occurred to me that since I am David, if the story relates to me at all, the person up the chain would have to be in the place of Saul.

You get it, right? Saul is telling David to submit to Saul regardless of how wrong he is because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Yes, really. What kind of sense does that make? Let me rephrase it for you. You need to submit to me as the power over you even though you have been anointed to be king because the current king, evil as he is, has not relinquished the throne--yet. David is obliged to obey because it is the right thing for him to do. I should hasten to add, I do not think I have been anointed to be king.

Stick with me here while I process this. So Saul (the rejected, but still sitting king) is saying, "You have to be in submission to me because I am the king." What is bothering me has to do with the directive to obey coming from the person who was judged unworthy by God. I really mean to say was bothering me because, of course, as I wrote that, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse from the New Testament. Romans 11:29 says, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." You do not have to be an attorney to understand irrevocable. It means once the gifts and calling of God come to a person, they will never be taken back. Saul certainly was called by God to be king. There can be no doubt of that. Therefore, that call continued until his death regardless of David being anointed.

Ok, so that is not really a very good analogy for what is going on here, but perhaps it can at least be a talking point for reference. In my opinion it would never be appropriate to equate being king over a kingdom with being an officer, director or manager in a company. I say that because a king answers to no one other than God. An employee, regardless of rank, answers to God first and his employer next (unless he is married, but we will not go there right now.) In this time, this dispensation if you like, all God's people answer to God--when there is a choice to be made. We are to be like Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin. "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, you judge." (Acts 4:19)

The Shaking Continues...

This is a breaking news update. (I always wanted to say that.) This week, in the most recent twist of circumstances, another employee of the Central Coast Rescue Mission tendered his resignation effective immediately. He was at the bottom of the staff ladder, but may very well have been standing at least one rung higher by the time the dust settles on the situation we have been attempting to explain here lately. Now, sources tell me, he has been invited to air his concerns to people very highly placed in the larger, corporate structure. To my knowledge that would be the first time something like that has ever been invited, and certainly has been unheard of here during my tenure. It will be interesting to find out what the larger picture is in all this.

In the meantime, we had a little bit of a setback with one of the men who had made great progress in his life and was down to counting weeks rather than months before he would be finished with his program. Without going into a lot of detail, he had a bad day while on pass and decided a little beer would make him feel better. That is not a well conceived idea when the program rules offer zero tolerance for alcohol and the breathalyzers are out because of rumors about other progam clients. When he was tested upon his return from pass his blood alcohol level read 0.01, the lowest reading the machine records. In spite of my best efforts, which included a futile, forty minute phone conversation with his probation officer, an irate judge had him remanded into custody and his case moved to a different court for a probation violation under general law rather than the more lenient, substance abuse laws.

Sometimes my job is very interesting. The public defender in the general law courtroom talked with her counterpart from the District Attorney's office. The three of us then conferenced as it what I wanted as an outcome. I explained that I did not think a 0.01 BAC was worth six months in jail. As God is my witness, the ADA said, "Hell, mine is probably higher than that right now. What is your suggestion?" (No, I will not tell you which ADA that was and if you find out I will have to deny I wrote this. wink) The long and short of the story is the client exhanged 10 days in jail for 30 days away from the program for the positive test. I could rationalize that one all day long, but suffice it to say whenever we have to deal with different judges and different attorneys than we normally do, we take what they are willing to give us. There was definitely, also an overriding good in this one. Let me explain.

The client under discussion has a fiance and three children. His testimony coming back from county jail is that God was working through him to minister to men he never thought would listen to anything about Jesus. He was glowing when I picked him up from the courthouse. I also had a few conversations with his fiance about the situation. She did a complete about face on life in the past couple weeks. We talked about it in some detail and she understands she had not been partnering with him in life. Nothing she did changes the fact he has to decide at some point, as his probation office told me bluntly, he cannot drink alcohol. By the way, I did send an email to the probation officer thanking her for standing her ground and allowing him to go to jail. It has all worked out for the glory of God. Just another indication of the truth of Romans 8:28 that all things end well for those who love God.

While all that is going on, I am being invited to meet with the Executive Vice President and the Personnel Director on Friday of this week. I have no idea what they may propose, but I have, more or less, designed the outcomes that would be acceptable to me. The net result will probably be in the range of nothing changing for me to me being unemployed on Saturday. The Holy Spirit told me a couple months ago that I am bulletproof. I will be employed at the mission as long as the Lord is pleased to have me there. I have actually now become howitzer proof. Nothing except God can move me out. I just have to make sure I do not overstay the intended time and end up with something less than a gracious exit. While He is working all things together for good, God sees that benefits accrue to everyone involved who is walking righteously. Trust me, I have been on the other side of this equation and it is much better to be right and to have a righteous cause than to be chopped down for trying to impress one's own will on a given situation.

As a final note, some have wondered about Jon. I visited him yesterday at the county jail. We all thought he would be off to state prison by now, but it is beginning to look as though he may not end up going at all and/or if he does, it might not be for nearly as long as he had thought. He showed us several pictures of his beautiful baby girl and insisted she is helping motivate him to become the man God has intended for him to be. I believe he is serious and resolute in his stance and I know he has the knowledge and ability to do the right things in the future. God truly does all things well. Obviously, more to come later. God bless.

Is There Not a Cause

The longer I walk with the Lord, the more amazed I become at the details He works in my life. I imagine He is doing the same in yours. However, it seems only recently I have noticed things meshing quite as well as they are now. Maybe I was distracted. Maybe I was unconscious. Whatever the reason, as I said, I am amazed. Let me tell you from where the amazement comes.


I will not bore you with a repetition of how this blog came about. For those of you who do not know, and are interested, there is quite a bit of detail in the first few posts. It started out with a voice behind me whispering, "This is the way. Walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21) I would like to tell you, I immediately jumped up and started writing. I did, in fact, start researching how to publish a blog, but I had no sense of urgency about it. In case you are unaware, God starts calling some of us early because He knows it is going to take us longer to do what He wants us to do. Obviously, I did start writing and publishing the blog and the more I understand, the more I can see everything, right down to the timing, has been set in motion with precision.


Some of this will not make sense unless you have read the previous posts, "Shaken and Stirred" and "Aftershocks" published within the past few weeks, and "Of Men and Microcosms" as well as "Holy Boldness" published a little while before them. I am even more amazed as I type in those titles because, at the time, they did not seem to relate to each other. I even wondered why I was writing some of them. God truly does do all things well.


If anyone has ever been accused of ulterior or impure motives it surely must be me. I am not saying that to get any sympathy or glory in my sufferings. I am only stating facts. I think I have a good heart. I do tend at times to be naive, and at other times presumptuous, but I am making progress, at least in the latter area. I used to rush in where angels fear to tread, but these days I am much more deliberate so it takes me longer to make the same mistakes. I clearly remember a time when I intentionally said something for no other reason than to make another person look bad. I remember just as clearly the conviction of the Holy Spirit after I had done it. That was almost 33 years ago. It is something I have attempted to not replicate.


There was another fellow by the same name who was accused of wrong motives. You may remember the story. If you do not remember it, I would refer you to 1 Samuel 17. David, the shepherd boy, went to take food to his brothers who were with the army of Israel. They were encamped facing the Philistine army. The Philistine leader, Goliath, came out twice a day, challenging and taunting the Israelites to send one man to fight him. Goliath was descended from a race of giants and stood over nine feet tall. That would be intimidating enough nowadays, but if I remember correctly from physical anthropology, the average height of an Israelite soldier would have been barely over five feet. King Saul is reported to have been head and shoulders taller than average so he might have stood six feet tall. No one was going to challenge this huge man one on one, no one except David anyway.


You see, David knew something none of the other Israelite soldiers knew. He had been in training for years to defeat Goliath. He had already killed a lion and a bear. He also knew the battle was not his, but the Lord's. He had a Holy Boldness. While the other Israelites were Shaken, he was Stirred. He became a Microcosm for those of us who are fighting enemies larger than ourselves. When his older brother challenged him as to his motives, his response was, "Is there not a cause?" (1 Samuel 17:29)

Why did Eliab challenge David and question his motives? God had just passed over Eliab to be the next king of Israel having chosen his youngest brother instead. Certainly Eliab had reason to be jealous of David, but it seems to have been more than that. Eliab was one of the Israelite army who had been cowering at the taunts of Goliath. Along came David, willing to take the giant's challenge. Need I spell it out for you? When someone is doing the right thing, perhaps even the thing we should be doing, we will do whatever we can to keep them from doing it. Should they succeed, we might be embarrassed. God forbid! Who's victory is it anyway?


We all know the story. David was taken to Saul (another man not doing what he should) who was willing to let the brash, young man fight his battles for him, but thought he ought to dress differently. David eschewed Saul's armor (another whole teaching) preferring instead to trust his own weapon and believing God to give him the victory. God gave him the victory. He always does.


I do not want to make too much of this, but I take David seriously. After all, he has a great name. He became the second king of Israel. He fought the giant and won. The religious spirit is gigantic compared to me. Before I get to that though, I have another battle to fight. I cannot really go into detail at this time, but there is a cause. Part of it is protecting my men. Mostly it is simply the right thing to do--and I trust, the right time to do it.

It is my own fault I have this battle to face. I started praying for a change. Some people who know the situation say I should not have prayed for the change at all. My idea of change was just a little thing. This one looks to be much bigger than I imagined. At this point I am not even sure how big the change is going to be. I do know this though, it is yet another step in preparation for the larger battle here in the Santa Maria valley.

This battle will be joined tomorrow when I send out a letter asking for what I believe is owed to me. Were I to leave it there, some would impute the impure motives of financial gain to this battle. There may be some financial gain, but that will only be the spoils of the battle. I will let you know how it all resolves. Please pray. There is a cause.

Aftershocks

If you read the post about earthquakes (http://thechurchinsantamariaca.blog.com/2010/04/shaken-and-stirred.html) you know I prophesied there was still more shaking to come at the Mission. Sure enough, my boss got word that he was being replaced as director effective as soon as a new director could be put into place. He is understandably upset about the situation as there was no real indication that was being considered. He told me he had been asked to accept the open position of chaplain at the Mission. He has preliminarily agreed to that demotion. Interestingly enough, that would have put him in a lower position than mine according to the established hierarchy at the corporation, although I have no supervisory responsibilities. Wait, it gets better. That news in and of itself would not be blog worthy.

Earlier this week, my boss called me into his office to let me know his original understanding of him filling the open, chaplain position was not what had been decided. He showed me an email from the CEO that indicated his intention to demote each of us down one step, me to chaplain and him to Program Coordinator. Now I get to be shaken as well. (As if having a different person to report to were not actually shaking.) There is a fly in the ointment in that though. I was hired as Program Coordinator two and a half years ago and have not been offered a different position. So all the intentions in the world notwithstanding, I do not intend to be leaving that position. However, the employee handbook does indicate the company has the right to change pretty much anything about our employment at their discretion. I just think those kinds of decisions ought not be made by CEO fiat in a Christian ministry organization. I do have an ace up my sleeve though. I will use it if pressed and may use it simply because it is the right thing to do. As of this writing, that is still open for discussion. I have simply worked too hard for the past 2 1/2 years to have the rug pulled out from under me and given to someone who cannot and honestly, does not even want to do the job.


If you did not read the post just previous to this one, you may not know that we went to a wedding last weekend where God taught a spiritual lesson on how little it really takes to be a blessing to someone else. What we did not include in that post is that on the way to the wedding we had a little mishap with the car. The road was narrowing due to some construction and cones had been placed along the left side of the highway to narrow the road to one lane. Before I realized that was happening I had cones on my left and a tractor-trailer on my right. About the time I hit the gas to accelerate around the truck, I saw the line in the middle of the road disappear under its tires. I have no idea why the driver was moving to the left, but my choice was to be hit by a very large truck on the right or hit some orange, plastic cones on the left. I chose the cones. I watched four of them disappear into the front bumper before I got past the truck far enough to get back into my lane. Without boring you too much more, the car will be released from the body shop next week upon payment of $2,000. or so. Do you know John 10:10? I feel ripped off. Should we say shaken? By the way for those of who might be wondering I did speak to the situation as I was hitting the cones. I am pretty sure the words were, "Son of a." I am not sure how I had intended to finish that sentence, but the next thought was, "Oh man." and then, of course, "I wonder how much damage that did."

It looks to me like it is going to be an interesting time as the battle heats up. The events reported above almost make me think I might have been identified by someone as an enemy combatant. Were I a Marine as a couple of my friends are, I would say, "Bring it on." but honestly, I am just not quite there yet. To borrow part of a phrase, we have seen the enemy and he is not us. The enemy is a usurper and a thief. He only comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am simply not having it. There is a time to submit and a time to stand and fight. I am feeling more and more like this is the latter.

Being in the maelstrom does give one many different perspectives almost at once. I have already received several supportive emails and words of encouragement. One of my clients brought me a sandwich (a first for him) the other day and told me to eat it, it would make me feel better. I think it disrupted my digestive system, but I know his intentions were good. By and large my men are lined up in support of me. Time will tell if that makes any difference to any of the principals involved. I have taught them well, but if the old man raises his head these are guys who are used to getting ugly when threatened. I have yet to have anyone be less than compassionate with me and somewhere between annoyed and outraged with the whole situation. I do not know, maybe I am actually doing something right. Stay tuned and please be praying and seeking the Lord with us.

Sometimes It Does Not Take Much

In both the Old and New Testaments, the power of our words to bless other people is a recurring theme. I have always loved the verse, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." from Proverbs 25:11. It is but one example of the affect our words can have on other people. Sometimes the most simple words carry eternal weight.

We travelled to Mountain View, CA this weekend to attend a wedding. Jeanne, the bride, is someone Judi had become acquainted with professionally about seven years ago. She had met the groom within the past few months, toward the end of a courtship that went on for nearly a year and a half. Both the bride and groom have adult children from previous marriages. Over the course of the past seven years, the ladies have kept in touch via occasional visits, professional interactions, and online.

A few years ago, Jeanne was telling Judi that her son was at something of a loss as to his direction in life. He felt he had some sort of calling to Christian music and very much enjoyed leading worship, but was unable to distill his vision any further. Judi suggested he might look into the discipleship program at a church near where he lived as a way to distill that vision. He told us at the wedding, he felt God was speaking to him when he first examined the web site of the church, but let let me tell you about the scene as the guests were gathering in preparation for the wedding.

We were near a handsome, young man whom Judi suspected was the bride's son although they had never met. She asked him if he were Jordon. With something of a quizzical expression on his face, he acknowledged he was. She introduced herself. I can only describe his response as shocked silence. It only lasted perhaps ten, awkward seconds before he moved forward and gave her a hug. In the brief, ensuing chat, he thanked her for the recommendation and she, of course, responded with a polite acknowledgement saying she was glad he had benefited from it. He said the experience changed his life. He then introduced us to his fiance and filled in the blanks about where he is and what he is doing. Among those things is that he regularly leads worship for two different groups of people while pursuing some additional education.

Sometimes we do not have to do a whole lot of anything to be a blessing to someone else. Sometimes it does not take much except the right word at the right time. We all know this, but we get too busy with the things of our lives we forget we have the ability in our mouths to change the course of a life, by saying the right thing--or the wrong thing.

It is interesting how the Lord brings people into our lives to test, try, and temper us. As with most people in any sort of ministry, I do not even have to look for such people. Every time I go to work there is a parade of people through my office with some kind of need. Sometimes the needs are easy to dispatch as with a simple answer to a question. Other times it becomes much more difficult due to the nature of interpersonal relationships or because things from the past have their hooks in so deeply there is a lot of unwinding to do before solutions can be applied. Still other times, people are simply not ready to hear good advice that will answer their need. In any of these situations, a word fitly spoken is the right prescription.

I recall a time nearly 23 years ago now. We were in a time of transition and I went to visit a family I had known for a long time. Unbeknown to me, this family had followed a slightly different path than we had after having some ministry together. They had learned the lesson of the power of their words better than we had. I was making a statement of fact about our situation thinking I was only rehearsing events and wondering aloud what the future might hold. The wife held her finger to her lips and cautioned me about speaking negatively. I had no idea I was. Of course, I can now relate this incident because I understand a little more of the principles of the power of our words.

If you know how good apples really are for your health, you can even better appreciate the verse with which we opened this post. Everyone has heard, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." That makes an apple a good prescription for our bodies and a word fitly spoken the proper prescription for our ministry to anyone and everyone we meet. Until we are able to stop saying the wrong things and consistently say the right things we will be continually taking steps backward when we should be going forward.

Speaking of going forward, the Lord is impressing me to begin to walk and pray. I even have the first direction to go. I really do not want to that, but then I really do want to. I hope I do not have to walk too far because I will probably have to walk back. I have known for some time now that "prayer walking" as it is called would be something God would have us do in the Santa Maria valley. It surely cannot hurt and we could use the exercise. Stay tuned, give me call or send me an email if you have any interest in that sort of thing. As I said, I do not. Of course, I am a classic introvert so I envision walking alone anyway. We will see how this all develops. God bless.