Sometimes I am amazed at the rancor that takes place among Christian men and women about the "right" reading of scripture, doctrine, the "right" way to govern a church, etc. and so forth ad nauseum. And, I am not talking about having such discussions over things like whether Christ is divine, whether salvations is secure, whether salvation is by grace alone or requires some works, or whether Christ is the only way to the Father. I am talking about great angst and argument over things like whether there are such things as "private prayer languages," whether women can serve in certain roles in ministry, whether worship is too charismatic or not, whether anyone can conduct baptism or whether certain people can participate in the Lord's supper.

I appreciated Dorcas Hawker's recent post on choosing optimism in the midst of this atmosphere. And, it doesn't even require people of different religions or denominations within faiths to develop such rancor. In fact, often the most heated discussions take place within single denominations. And, while in the midst of all the stormy dialogue accusations arise, attacks are made, battle lines are drawn, and all of it is done in the name of defending the faith.

I don't want to stop just at choosing optimism, however, I want to choose faith in the One True Living God! Let me explain.

I frankly don't understand the rancor among Christians. To be Christians means to be like Christ. And, being like Christ and showing that we love Jesus means to obey Jesus. Jesus is the Word and obeying Him means obeying His word. Moreover, it would seem that walking by faith clearly would be to obey the Word regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

So, what does the Word teach us about our conduct and attitudes toward brothers and sisters in Christ? First, we know that Jesus' last recorded lengthy prayer included a prayer for us that we would be one and brought to complete unity to let the world know that the Father sent the Son and have loved them even as the Father loved the Son. John 17:20-23. (But unity isn't a primary doctrine, and what is unity really??? It can't mean that we don't argue over things, does it??) We know that blessed are the peacemakers, who will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9. We are commanded not to judge. Matthew 7:1. We are taught that God is in control and that we shouldn't worry about anything as though we might some how change something with all our worry; instead, we should seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Matthew 6:25-34.

We are taught to owe no man anything except love and to love them as we love ourselves. Romans 13:8-10. We are told to bless those who persecute us, to bles and not curse; to live in harmony with one another; not to be proud; not to repay anyone evil for evil and to be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. We are even told to do all that is possible within our own power to live at peace with everyone! (But God, didn't you hear what he said about me? I mean, how can I just walk away from those comments?) We are told not to take revenge and leave room for God's wrath and to overcome evil with good. Romans 12:9-21.

More? How about accepting him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. Romans 14:1. (But God, how can I do that, I have to disciple him, don't I??? What if he spreads that opinion??? Surely I can be the guardian of "the truth" (as I see it).)

People ask, "What is wrong with the church today?" "Why is it not having the impact on culture that it should, given the power of Jesus?" Or, even in our own lives we ask, "Why do I seem to be so powerless to battle this sin within me?" "Why does it seem I fail in my Christian walk?"

Could it be as simple as the fact that we aren't living by the words of the One true Living God? I think of God's words to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6, when he tells them to keep His words upon their hearts, to impress them on their children, to talk about them when they sit at home and when they walk along the road, when they lie down and when they get up. (How often do we do that??) He tells them that if they do these things that all will go well. God tells us plainly that people will know that we are Christians by our love. The church loses its saltiness to the world when it doesn't live by faith upon the loving words of the Word, Jesus, and people have no reason to follow us because we don't appear to be following Christ.

I believe the only way we will truly reach this dark world for Christ is to repent of our lack of faith and of the many idols we worship. Just as it talked about in 2 Chronicles 7:14, God's people must humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn/repent from their wicked ways. If there are any who believe they don't have wicked ways or that they are following all the commands, then please continue to do so; otherwise, we need to join together in humility and beg the forgiveness of our gracious and loving God for our pettiness, doubt, and lack of love.

I know there will be many Southern Baptist leaders gathering soon to discuss matters significant to that denomination. I pray they will choose complete surrender to the Spirit's leading and the Father's call upon their lives, wholly choosing to follow the principles God has spelled out for all of us. I pray that I, and all of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, will do so as well.

PERSEVERANCE

God is absolutely amazing. I wish I could claim credit for this day, because it was a day perfectly designed for God to use Tara and me to teach our children about perseverance. It's like I designed this and wrote an excellent book around raising my boys, like the one above: But, no, God gets all the glory for creating the perfect day for a lesson in perseverance.

One of the first main sights greeting us as we neared our destination was this. If you look behind the three large ones up close, you will see that the ones further back have lost some of their arms, are rusty, and, what you cannot see, is that none of them are working. The purpose for which these huge windmills were designed, on one of the windiest places in America, is left unfulfilled because none of the machines are still in working order.

This location is almost to South Point on the Big Island. It is the southernmost tip of the United States. It is REMOTE. We saw few cars, a few fisherman, a few houses with some resident goats (click on the funky tree to see them), and no signs of merchandising or anything open to the public for purchase.

We drove past this eerie sight, eerie because it seemed like a place for a horror flick, a display of death. Whomever was in charge of maintaining this excellent producer of electricity for the Big Island failed to persevere in their task.

We were following a wonderful guidebook to our destination. If you ever make it here to see the active volcanoes or to enjoy a step back to a more laid back America, please purchase or borrow this book. It will take you step by step through everything, especially if you are really good at following directions.

That is where I got off track. :) The book described a parking lot, and, we drove down a one lane bumpy road that used to be two lanes but, again, a lack of perseverance and care has resulted in the road becoming difficult for cars that don't have 4WD. And, we found a parking lot. There were many fisherman and other cars there, so I assumed it was the place where we would have to park and begin hiking. You see, we have a little PT Cruiser to use while we are here. It is not made for 4WD roads. And, past the "parking lot" I thought I was at were roads only for 4WD vehicles. We knew we'd need to hike, and the book told us it was about a 2.25 mile hike.

I loaded Regan, my two-year old into a backpack (she's close to 40 pounds) and then Tara, Tanner (7) and Keaton (5) all had to fend for themselves.

What fun!!! We are off on what will be a lengthy hike for my two boys, but what a great time we will all have as a family! Meanwhile, interestingly enough, the video we watched the night previous on our laptop and then again in the car was a Veggie Tales video about... guess....

Perseverance.

Isn't it amazing how God knows just what to be preparing you for????!!!!

So, off we go. 2.25 miles one way shouldn't be too bad. We'll rest at our destination and then return the 2.25 miles after a refreshing dip in the ocean.

We hiked for 40 minutes along the ocean front on this southernmost tip of the United States. It looked like this.

And we were having a grand time. The noise of huge crashing waves (there are no breakers on this coastline), the clear blue skies, the occasional sea birds crying, and the steadiness of feet padding along. Unfortunately, after 40 minutes of hiking along so happily, as we topped one hill we were greeted with this sight.

If you click on the picture and look between two of the vehicles you will see a gate. Well, the book tells you about this gate as the marker where the 2.25 miles begins. So, we had been hiking along for 40 minutes, over a mile, to be greeted by the fact that we had at least another 2.25 miles to go. We don't want to go back; we can't. You see, we are headed to a beach that is the only one like it in the world. It has GREEN sand, made from the mineral olivine. The sand is a mixture of lava and olivine, so it has green and black sand particles all throughout it. My wife is such a trooper and has so much determination and perseverance. So, we march on. Regan's forty pound pack is heavy, and I've been suffering from a neck/shoulder injury, but I definitely do not want to stop now. And, amazingly, I watch my five-year old suck it up and take off!

Enough of the build... We finished and were greeted by these incredible views. Please enjoy them because we finished strong to obtain these photos and a little bit of the mystical green sand, even a little in Tara's ears, in the girls' bathing suits, on our feet, etc. :)

The below, if you look closely, shows Tara about to be buried under a huge wave.Still smiling, even though we are getting ready to make the extended journey back...
Looking back after we leave...

STILL GOING....
AND GOING.... (click to see them off in distance)
Regan had it pretty good. Dad decided to take a break. We were almost there...

After all of this, which we estimated ended up being about 7 miles of hiking in 3.5 hours (we did stop at the beach for a couple of hours for a total of almost 6 hours), we drove the 60 miles back to Kona, treating ourselves along the way with an excellent find of a restaurant. (Oh, i forgot to mention, we didn't plan ahead well and ended up not having lunch at all...my poor kiddoes). The restaurant is the first Mexican restaurant we've found here that actually tasted Mexican (not that we've tried many, but there aren't many around either). It was Senor Billy's located in Captain Cook, Hawaii. Ha. What a name and a place for good Mexican.

Oh, and, besides the fact that the entire day was filled with lessons on perseverance, including ol' Larry and Bob chortling in our backseat all the way, these are some of the verses that God keeps hitting me over the head with of late:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3.

I suppose I better take note. I know I want to finish strong, just as my family did today.

Buenos noches!