New Clothes

 

 You have clothed yourselves with a brand new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.  Colossians 3:10 (NLT)

Clothing, our outward appearance, is the first thing people notice about us.  It creates that first impression and people make assumptions about who we are based on what they see on the outside.

What we wear on the outside reflects what is in our hearts.  Our faith in Christ has created within us a new person. That new person has been given a new set of clothes to wear.  If we walk in our old ways even our best outfit is described as filthy rags (Isaiah 64.6).  When we put on Christ it is as if we are wearing a beautiful set of new clothes. 

Clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness,

humility, gentleness, and patience,

  bearing with one another and forgiving one another,

if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. 

And to all these virtues, add love which is the perfect bond.  

Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart, 

for you were in fact called to this peace, and be thankful.

Col 3:12-15 (NET)

Lord,  thank you for the new clothes you have given us to wear.  Let us put them on each morning and remember to keep them wrapped tightly about us as we go through our day.

I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.

Isaiah 64:10 (NLT)

Natalie's Story

Over the weekend we visited First Presbyterian Church of Leupp on the Navajo Reservation.   After lunch we gathered for small group discussion - a great way to get to know each other.  In that group we heard from Natalie Begay, whose husband Raymond was the former pastor of the Leupp church.

Our first question for discussion was, “What kind of home did you live in when you were a child and how was your home heated?”  Natalie shared that she had lived in a Navajo hogan - a domed wood and mud structure.  There she lived with her mother and 11 siblings on one side of the hogan.  Her father’s second wife and her four children lived on the other side.  The hogan was heated by a wood fire in the center which was vented through a hole in the roof.

When Natalie was a young woman she married Raymond.  She had two daughters, Eunice and Lorena.  Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, her husband was sent to prison leaving her alone with the two girls and no means of support.  In desperation, she returned to her original home but found no one.   There she sat with her food running out.  Finally, she was left with only a few potatoes.  She cooked the potatoes, feeding the children but not taking any for herself.  That evening, she happened to be listening to a radio program and heard these words, ”If you give your life to God, he will help you.”  Her heart was touched and there she cried out asking God for his help.  Then she cried herself to sleep.

In the middle of the night she heard noise and a knock on the door.  In comes her brother with boxes and bags of food. Where did all that food come from? Apparently, earlier that night, a freight train had stalled in the area and because it could not be repaired in a timely manner the local people were told to take the food on board before it spoiled.  

After this miracle of provision, Natalie dedicated her life and children to God.  Her husband spent the next 15 years in prison.  Through Natalie’s influence, Raymond also dedicated his life to God and when he finally got out they went together to Bible training school.  Natalie raised two other children in need of a home.  Her daughters, Eunice and Lorena continue to faithfully serve.  They sing and minister to the Navajos.  They also have traveled to Scotland and Jamaica sharing about their native culture and about Jesus.  Eunice teaches the Navajo language at the school in Leupp.  Her husband, Calvin, is now the pastor of the church and is building a new house for Natalie and Raymond.

A mother’s desperate cry to God was heard and answered, blessing Natalie her husband and her children.  That blessing continues to spread to many on the Navajo Reservation and I believe it will continue for generations to come.

He will rescue the poor when they cry to him;

 he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them.

 He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them.

Psalm 72:12-13 (NLT)

Natalie Begay and Friend

Members of Desert Hills Presbyterian share in tree planting.

New Every Morning

  Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Lam 3:22-26 (NIV)

A Tribute to David Wilkerson

David Wilkerson  1931-2011

I was saddened to read this morning of the death of David Wilkerson.

My husband, Allan Jump, worked with David at the Brooklyn, New York Teen Challenge Center from 1968 to 1970. Allan was called into the ministry at the age of 20 when David said at a large youth rally in Anaheim, California "I feel there is someone here that is supposed to go back with me to New York." It turned out to be Allan.  Through David's provision he was able to fly to New York that summer.  There he worked with the men at the center and participated in rally's with David and other staff members on the streets of New York. They would preach from a special van, outfitted with speakers, drawing crowds of listeners from the neighborhood. 

We married in December 1968 and I returned with him to New York where we lived at the Teen Challenge Center and later became the traveling representatives of the ministry.  We presented a play where I played a girl heroin addict and Allan was the preacher who brings me to Teen Challenge.

This was the beginning stages of Allan's ministry.  He was given opportunities to preach and teach.  He went on to participate in several ministries, teach at several Teen Challenge centers and pastor several churches leading many to Christ until his death in 1997.

Because of those early days at Teen Challenge I have continued with the desire to help those caught in the drug trap. I participate in prison ministry in Northern California and have taught at the Teen Challenge center in Oakland.

You can read more about the exciting beginning of David's ministry to gang members and drug addicts in New York City in the book The Cross and the Switchblade.

http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2011/s11040178.htm 

Freedom

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:36 (NIV)

When I look out at the beautiful expanse of Arizona sky it reminds me of the unlimited and ever expanding freedom we have in Christ. 

Narrow and bound by sin and self focus we are in need of freedom.  Sin is a narrowing thing.  It hinders us from experiencing true life.  We are hindered by resentment and anger, obsessions and compulsions.  Jesus said, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin." (John 8:34).  When we are a slave to worry, fear, doubt or addiction our lives are restricted. 

Jesus came to set us free.  Paul speaks of the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Ro. 8:21)  He has put us in a broad place.  Life in the spirit is an ever expanding life, broadening our perspective until we reach away from ourselves and out to others. 

Lord, set us free from the narrowing attitudes that keep us boxed in.  Let all fear and doubt, anger and resentment be gone. Let us no longer be slaves to ourselves and our own passions and desires, but let us be free to love, to give, to go, to experience all that God has for us. 

You were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature;

rather, serve one another in love.

Gal 5:13 (NIV)

Overwhelming Joy

I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God!Isaiah  61:10 (NLT) 

Loki

My cousin and her husband just got a new dog, a male shih tzu named Loki rescued from the streets.  Dan says, “It’s sure nice to be welcomed home by a puppy dog who is excited to see me.” 

Babies, too, when they see their parents smiling at them get so happy they can hardly contain it.  And, when we see a loved one after a long absence we are filled with joy.  When the separation is over and our closeness is restored it brings joy and satisfaction to our souls.

Can you imagine the joy the followers of Jesus felt when they saw him alive. Three days earlier they had witnessed his torturous death and never thought they would see him again.  Suddenly, their deep despair and confusion was turned into overwhelming joy. 

Jesus great desire for us is that we would experience fullness of joy in his presence. He was sent for that very purpose (Isaiah 61). May we in our encounter of the risen Lord be filled with his joy today trading our garments of sorrow and despair for garments of praise and joy. 

I have told you these things,

that My joy and delight may be in you,

and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure,

complete and overflowing.

John 15:11 (AMP)

You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.

John 16:20 (NLT)

   

Confidence

Theodore Roosevelt Dam

On Sunday we took a drive to Roosevelt Lake.  As we were looking out on Theodore Roosevelt Dam a line from a well-known hymn came to mind, A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.  A bulwark is defined as a wall or embankment raised as a defensive fortification or safeguard, a breakwater.  There it was in front of me, a bulwark - a 357 foot high concrete structure holding back 1.6 million acre feet of water, a defensive fortification safeguarding the valley below.

The original dam was completed in 1911 as one of the first projects of the Bureau of Reclamation which was established to harness rivers in the southwest to provide water and power for western growth and development.  Without these projects many of the cities of the arid southwest would not exist today.  In 1984, the safety of Roosevelt Dam was assessed.  It was determined that under extreme conditions the dam might fail. The largest possible flood would be greater than the dam’s capacity.  Roosevelt Dam needed to be modified to an additional 77 feet. Sure enough, in January 1993 before the modifications were completed, a huge flood caused by extreme rain fall caused overtopping on the left side of the dam resulting in massive amounts of damage.

Our lives, too, are subject to flooding.  At any moment the waters of trouble can threaten to undo us. We don't know what the maximum possible flood will be and it could be far greater than we previously projected.  If our confidence is in human resources alone we are subject to failure, but if we put our confidence in God’s mighty bulwark we will never fail. We can be confident that the waters will never overflow us. We can be confident that the dam will hold.  

I love you, Lord; you are my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;

my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. 

He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Psalms 18:1-2 (NLT)