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Crisis of Faith

When was the last time you had a crisis of faith? We all do. We have those times when we are not sure if God is even listening, it doesn't seem as if He is even there. Sometimes when we pray we feel as if our prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling and not getting through. Why would God let this happen to me? Why does God bless him and not me? I was following God the best I could and He let someone or some situation hurt me. Doesn't God love me and want what is good for me?

You know what I am talking about. Walking in faith is sometimes hard. God allows us to go through tough times to test our faith. 1 Pet. 1:7

Mother Teresa is a modern day hero of the faith. For over 40 years, she devoted her life to the needs of the orphaned, penniless, and sick people of Calcutta. She lived such a sacrificial life of service that she has achieved super human status among us common folk. Surely a woman this devoted to God would never have doubts, fears, or a crisis of faith. Unless she really was human. What if she was just a normal human being who committed her life to Christ and God used her in a great way?

In a recent Time magazine article, Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith by David Van Biema, correspondence between Teresa and spiritual confidants show the human side of this faithful Christ-follower.

In 1979, while receiving her Nobel Peace Prize, she said, "It is not enough for us to say, 'I love God, but I do not love my neighbor,'" she said, since in dying on the Cross, God had "[made] himself the hungry one — the naked one — the homeless one." Jesus' hunger, she said, is what "you and I must find" and alleviate. She condemned abortion and bemoaned youthful drug addiction in the West. Finally, she suggested that the upcoming Christmas holiday should remind the world "that radiating joy is real" because Christ is everywhere — "Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smile we give and in the smile that we receive."

Van Biema wrote, "Yet less than three months earlier, in a letter to a spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, that is only now being made public, she wrote with weary familiarity of a different Christ, an absent one. "Jesus has a very special love for you," she assured Van der Peet. "[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."

The presence of doubt does not mean there is an absence of faith. It takes great faith to be obedient to God when the darkness of fear, doubt, and loneliness are present. No matter how many times Teresa struggled with her faith, because of her faithful obedience, she was very pleasing to God. Heb 11:6

It does not take super human strength to serve God and be a hero, or a great witness of the faith, it just takes the commitment to be obedient. Rom. 12:1 God provides his strength. I am thankful for God lead human witnesses like Mother Teresa. There is hope for me yet.
This Sunday Morning: EPIC Joy - A Study of Philippians part 9 - Running a Race for Joy

In chapter three the apostle Paul compares living a life of faith with running a race to win God's prize. This Sunday we will look at how we are to run to win.

If you are part of the LCC family, please join us Sunday and bring a friend. If you are a friend of LCC your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.

Serving you in Christ
Royal

Very Realistic and Amazing Sculptures

Lisa and I went to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth today to see the special exhibition of work by renowned contemporary sculptor Ron Mueck.

We were extremely impressed and I recommend it to anyone. It is only $10.00 per person and well worth it. (Free every Wed. and First Sunday) The sculptures are very life like but they are not life-size. They are either small or much larger than life size. They are so realistic you are sure they are watching you as you go around the room.

Most of the sculptures are nude so I would not recommend it for children. A lady had her three small boys with her while we were there and the kids just laughed and acted silly most of the time.

There was a thirty minute video that showed how he sculpts with clay and then makes molds out of silicone and fiberglass. Again, it was amazing.

Check this link for photos in the Washington Post

Know What Counts

When the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on the hill he said, "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people....He is Christ the Lord."(Luke 2:10-11)

How is your joy doing? Is it great or not so great? Is your level of happiness going up and down with the stock market? Are you struggling this week? Many are, Christians and unbelievers alike. It is easy to get caught up in looking for happiness in situations over the joy that comes from having a supernatural delight in God and His love for us. The devil wants us to believe that God's love for us is not enough. Our human nature drives us to seek comfort through the approval of others and our own success as determined by the world in which we live.

It is easy to forget that we are aliens (1 Pet 2:11) to this planet and God's provision for joy is not the same as the world's answer for happiness. The world says that in order to be happy we need physical pleasure or comfort derived from things like sex, security, popularity, and the freedom to be who we want to be. God, on the other hand, through Jesus Christ provides love, trust, peace, and the freedom to live without the guilt of sin and the knowledge, through faith, that we have great value. God provides the promise that when we are through with our time on planet earth we will spend eternity experiencing the rewards passed down to the children of God.

Joy is a matter of the condition of the heart that is the result of God's investment in us and not the rise and fall of the economy and our investment in the stock market.

This Sunday we will continue in our study of the book of Philippians called "EPIC Joy". (Phil 3:1-11) "The Joy of Knowing What Counts"

If you are part of the LCC family I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. Bring a friend.
For the rest of you, thanks for your friendship and your prayers and support of the ministries of LCC.

Make Quality Time

I hope you have had a great summer. That's right, I said had. The kids go back to school in a couple of weeks, and believe it or not, today we may hit 100 degrees for the first time. What a weird Texas summer this has been.

I went on a vacation cruise out of Galveston with my family last week. We last went on a family vacation two years ago. We had a great time together and I had a great time relaxing. For me a cruise is the best vacation on the planet, because it is the only place I can totally disconnect for a week and chill out. Every morning I would get up at 6:00 and go to the restaurant at the front of the boat, before everyone else got up, and get in the Word of God, journal, and look out over God's incredible ocean. When I am on the ocean I am reminded how small I am and how infinitely large God is. I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded of that more often than I would like to admit.

I think what I liked best about our vacation is that my mom went with us. Lisa and I had some great quality time hanging out with mom and my kids enjoyed time with their grandmother you can't get dashing through our normal busy lives. I really enjoyed watching my mother enjoy herself and have fun with my kids. I did have to ask mom to slow down one night as she was keeping up with Nick on the dance floor at the party on deck 9 by the pool. I got some great pictures.

You know the enemy is against quality relationships and our spending quality time together. Our environment in the 21st century continually distracts us from what Jesus said is most important. Love God and Love people. We have to intentionally and deliberately make quality time with God and the people we love. Sometimes we are so busy driving our kids to events that we mistake that time for quality time. It's not. We have to slow down and spend time with the people we love just like we have to be still in order to know God. (Ps. 46:10)

You don't have to go on a cruise to have quality time, but you do have to put yourself in an environment where the distractions to quality time are removed. Computers, TVs, Cell Phones and Blackberrys demand much of our attention. (For many they become an addiction) Parents, the best way to improve your parenting is to spend more time with your kids. Husbands will become better husbands through quality time with your wives. Christians will become devoted Christ-followers as they practice God's presence.

This is the time of year, before school starts, when many people are looking at life situations and trying to set priorities and schedules. If you want life to be better. Make time alone with God and with the people you love a priority in your schedule.

Hero: Billy Graham - Grief with hope

There is an incredibly uplifting article in Time today on Billy Graham dealing with his grief over the loss of his wife Ruth. He is such a Christian hero. It is well worth the read.

'"No matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock," Billy Graham observes, "and it still hurts very deeply." Ruth and Billy would have been married 64 years this month. He called her his soul mate and best friend; she was also a woman who could keep him humble, help swat away the temptations and ego trips and the offers from moguls who wanted to make him a movie star or talk-show host.'"

Rest of the article here.....