Late To Life

(This is the second post in a series.  Please drop down and read this post first…)

I got a letter in the mail from my church the other day telling me that the name of the new three-week series would be called “The Generosity Conspiracy” and Pastorman asked us all to be there.  “If you don’t like what I say at this weekly message,” he wrote “I give you permission to take the following two weeks off.”

What?  A Pastor telling his congregation not to come to church if they don’t like what he says?  Yep.  He’s done it before and he’ll likely do it again.  Why?  Well, if you’ve been around North Heartland for very long you know that what he’s going to teach/preach about is so foundational to us as a church that if you can’t get down with it you’ll be better off not being there.  (At least that’s been my take on this strategy!)  I also know this “take the next two weeks off” thing always means that he’s got something so incredible to talk about - so full of the Holy Spirit - that there is no way that you are going to want to miss those next two weeks.

Coincidentally, what he is preaching on was planned out several months ago.  He did not pull this series out of the air because of the current economic situation or the fact that his 401K got obliterated this week along with everyone else’s.  This actually started being an issue for him to teach about over a year ago.  The only coincidence here is that God lined this topic up for our church at the exact moment in history when we would need to hear it the most.

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Give.  Save.  Live.  It’s the biblical foundation of money.  If you are holding ten one dollar bills in your hand you give one of those dollars to God, put one of those dollars in savings and live off the other 8 one dollar bills.  Easy enough, right? 

Do you know that if every Christian that attends church in the United States had done that last year - if they had tithed the full ten percent of their income - there would have been 139 billion dollars to put towards changing the world? 

Do you realize that if $139 billion were thrown at the world’s problems of poverty and hunger and homelessness that the problems would pretty quickly GO AWAY?

Do you realize that instead of giving ten percent to God’s causes last year the average Christian only gave 2-3%?  And why is that? 

Because we’re all living beyond our means. 

Almost ALL of us are deeply in debt to one degree or another. 

Instead of giving to God, we’re giving to Visa and Mastercard. 

Think about it for a moment.  If you didn’t have to make those payments to your credit cards, wouldn’t there be enough left over to tithe to your church?  I thought about it on the way home last night.  Ever since my debacle with a broken dryer last fall that left me struggling to get $300 together to buy a new one I’ve been seriously thinking about the way I’m living.  Then, this spring, God brought the point home to me again when the tree limb fell on my deck, the computer crashed and the car needed repairs - all in a one month time period.  It was then that I realized I had to seriously start moving towards paying off my credit card debt so I could get something into savings (for emergencies) and retirement.  I’ve been moving in that direction now for a few months - not buying anything I can’t pay cash for and socking as much as I possilbly could (money that would have just been blown on “crap”) onto my credit card to get it paid off.  I’ve made some strides but I’ve still got a ways to go before I am out of debt and have a nest egg big enough to get me through a real emergency. 

And this is where last night blew me away. 

Pastorman talked about how generous God is to His people - that it is the most visible characteristic of God and should, therefore, be the most visible characteristic of His people.  Not sure how generous God is? 

Oh yeah…that’s what I would call extreme generousity considering we did nothing to earn it and certainly didn’t deserve it.

It was just given to us for the taking.

So…what was the big moment last night?  The part that did me in? 

Back in July I read a book called, “The Shack.”  There was a part in that book that got me so wound up it caused me to write a blog post and write my pastor an email.  The post was entitled, “What If?”

Here’s an excerpt from that post/letter:

Most of you know the circumstances as to how I became a Christian.  I’ve told the story several times on various blogs over the years about “the great depression” I went through and the overnight healing that I experienced when the Holy Spirit dropped by for a little one-on-one visit back in early March of 2005.  What I don’t know is how many of you really know how I came to be a regular member of North Heartland Community Church a few short months later.     

After I was saved that one fateful night I went back to talk to Counselor Ken for my weekly therapy appointment and I explained to him (the best I could) what had happened to me.  I told him all about the planned suicide attempt and the visit from the Holy Trinity that not only kept that attept from being letal but who also healed me of the six months of deep depression in a life-altering instant.  Even as devout a Christian as Ken was he still sat across from me with his jaw on the floor, almost unable to comprehend what I was telling him because it was…well…it was rather out of the ordinary, to say the least.

After I recounted the night’s events he tried to recompose himself (remember - this guy knew all my stuff - he knew the level and intensity of my depression and the severity of my anxiety attacks at the time so he KNEW that what happened to me was nothing short of a God-given miracle.)  The first thing that came out of his mouth after he realized I was truly healed was this:

“Julie, you’ve simply got to find a church.”

My reaction?  I almost hurled.  The thought that God had spared my life so I could proclaim His mercy and grace seemed an even trade to me…but now I was going to have to start attending church?  CHURCH?  The place where the music is played on organs and sermons go on for countless hours?  The building where you sit on long, hard wooden benches until your butt falls asleep and everyone pretends they are happy and wears their “good Sunday clothes” so they can all impress each other?  THAT PLACE?  I had to go back to THAT PLACE ???

(Suddenly, I wanted to die all over again…}

I began to tell a few other people what had happened to me and each of them said the same thing - FIND A CHURCH.  I really didn’t understand it until I read the book of Acts and people began to explain to me that this is where community happens between Christians and it was vitally important that I find a place where my questions could all be answered and I could continue to grow and serve God. 

I thought back to what church was like in my youth and realized I could no more return to that same fake facade without having to go back on the anti-depressants again so I went looking for a different church this time.  I went online and started to research the differences between certain denominations, knowing there were some things I definitely believed to be true but left my mind open to all other things.  I ruled out quite a few denominations because of their “rules” and “regulations” they insisted on for their members but still had several left that I felt I could fit into without giving up too much of who I was.  I decided maybe it was best to start out in one that wasn’t so governed by the hard edges of religion so I began to look for non-denominational or inter-denominational churches in my area.  I did an online search within 20 miles of my home and guess what?  It brought up over 300 different churches that fit that description. 

I had no idea what to do next. 

A few days later, I was driving home from a friend’s house and there was a church on the corner near her house so I made a mental note to go home and look it up on the Internet to see what they were all about.  By the time I finished the five minute drive to my house I had totally forgotten the name of the church…all I could remember was that the word “Community” was in it.  I did an online search and didn’t find that church - but I did stumble upon North Heartland.  I decided to give it a try.  I prayed about it for a solid week and finally said to God one night, “Okay, I’ll go but You better go with me because I hate walking into a place by myself for the first time and if I don’t like it I’m not going to keep doing this.  This better be the right church or else I’m giving up.  You got one chance, God…don’t blow it.”

(Yeah, I was a bit brazen back then, no?) 

But the day came and I followed my Mapquest map to the address.  As I got out of the car I started walking across the ginormous parking lot and as soon as I did I felt the same presence that had been with me that fateful night.  I knew the Holy Spirit was leading me to this place and I also knew there was no turning back.

Surprise, surprise…nobody was wearing their “Sunday best.”  There were no hard pews to sit in - only comfy chairs.  There wasn’t an organ in sight - but there were drums and keyboards and electric guitars.  The sermon only went on for about 20 minutes and by the time it was over I was in tears because my heart has been touched so deeply by Pastorman’s words.

I knew I had found my church home.

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So why am I telling you all this? 

Because tonight I went to that same church’s Saturday night service and something incredible and life-altering happened - again.  I meant to go up to Pastorman and tell him how moved I was by what he said but I didn’t think I could do it without busting out in tears.  Every time I tried I felt a wave of emotion so deep it was incomprehensible and I knew I wouldn’t be able to control it so I walked across that ginormous parking lot and got in my car instead.  I turned the key in the ignition switch and my CD player turned on and the song “I Can Only Imagine” began to play. 

I drove home tonight trying to imagine what life will look like one year from now for myself, for the people I go to church with, for the community I live in, for the country I am apart of and for the world of Christianity as a whole.  I know one thing for certain - none of it will ever look the same again.

None of it.

If you are one of those people that think Christians are all talk and no grit or one of those Christians that believe the church can do nothing right or even just someone who is watching the world economy and wondering what in the name of all that is holy are we going to do about this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into - then stay tuned. 

My church is about to give you all a run for your money.  Literally.

Tomorrow, I’m going to come back here and begin to tell you how but tonight I feel an overwhelming sense to spend the rest of the evening in prayer with God so you’re just going to have to wait.  But do come back because I’m telling you - you’re going to be blown away. 

I know I am.

Oh wait - why did I name this post “Three Words?”  I’ll tell you that tomorrow, too.  what I will tell you is what those three little words are.   

They are:

Give.  Save.  Live. 

Those, my friends, are the words the Holy Spirit has been whispering in my ear for the past three years and tonight they rang through my church and came flying out of Pastorman’s mouth, telling me once again in no uncertain terms that I am where right where I am supposed to be.  Oh baby, is this going to get good…