Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Sunday Reflections

Had a great day in our church family yesterday, in spite of a lower attendance. We've been doing great so far this summer, but I think yesterday was more of a classically low summertime attendance. And this on a day when I preached a message that I really felt good about. But I'm not worried about it. I've long since stopped worrying about who hears what message. My job is to faithfully bring the truth week in and week out. I'll gladly let God handle the details.

The message on God's jealousy is up on our website if you missed it.

CIY

We've got a group of students and adults that are currently on the road. They're heading for Illinois to take part in Christ In Youth's Summer Conference. I went up to the van rental place this morning to pray with them and see them off. It turned out to be a little more eventful than that.

The two vans, which were supposed to be there at 7:30 am, were nowhere to be found. Long story short, our group waited outside the rental office for 2 hours and 15 minutes before the vans arrived. That was a fun time. Not sure I've ever seen Brian Morrissey that mad! And he had every right to be angry. It was a completely frustrating morning.

But they're on their way now. Please join me in praying for all our students at CIY this week. I have a special place in my heart for CIY. I wouldn't be in ministry if it weren't for Christ In Youth. I may not even be a Christian today if it weren't for CIY's influence in my life. I'm praying for those same kind of powerful experiences to happen in the lives of our students this week.

Also, be praying for Brian & Cara Morrissey and Josh & Marie Young. These adults have given up their entire week (Josh & Marie are both burning a week of vacation!) to spend time pouring into the lives of these students. Awesome!

Can't wait to hear about all their experiences when they get back!

Tired

Great day. Long day. Tiring day. It's not even 8:30 pm and I'm struggling to stay awake!

One thing that is becoming more and more evident to me is how much my church family prays for me. Got an email from a lady in our ACC family. She told me that she prays for me and my message every Sunday right before I walk up on stage. How cool is that?!?

I'm hearing more and more people say things like, "I'm praying for you." You can't put a price on that!

More tomorrow. Right now, I'm one whipped puppy. The Andy Griffith Show is coming on, so I think I'm going to kick back and pay Mayberry a little visit.

Road Rage

A California highway has been shut down because of road rage. California Highway 138 is under construction, but was open during rush hour. Not anymore. Fox News reports, "Drivers inconvenienced by a road-widening project subjected construction workers to so much abuse — including death threats, BB gun shootings, even a flying burrito — that the state revoked a rush-hour window and shut down the highway altogether."

I don't know that any of us has shot a BB gun or thrown Mexican food at a construction worker, but we've probably all lost our temper behind the wheel. The guy in front of you is an idiot. The guy behind you is a maniac. Sound familiar?

God has called us to keep a tight reign on our temper. It's not a sin to be angry. Anger is a natural emotion. However, it is very possible to sin while we're angry.

Some questions to ask…Is this really worth shouting about? Is it worth losing your temper? Is it worth sending your blood pressure through the stratosphere? Is it worth it?

Jesus got angry when he took out the trash in the temple. But it was worth it. He was mad at the lying and extortion by the merchants. He was angry that God was being dishonored. It was worth his rage.

Next time you're about to lose it…stop. Take a breath. And ask, "Is it worth it?"

And keep your burritos inside your car.

President Cheney

Did you know that Dick Cheney is going to be our president today? President Bush is undergoing a routine colonoscopy. While he's under the anesthesia, VP Dick Cheney is the head honcho.

I Will Never Leave You

Had quite an experience with my three-year-old son yesterday. Ryan was busy playing while I was busy grilling hamburgers for dinner. I stepped out onto the back porch to flip the burgers. I was only out there for a few seconds. Doesn't take long to flip four burgers. But in those few seconds, Ryan looked for me, couldn't find me, and freaked out. He actually went outside by himself to look for me.

I came back in the house, and I couldn't find him. I had no idea he had gone outside. Ryan was panicked. I was panicked. I ran outside and found him. After a serious scolding for going outside without asking, we had a long talk. Ryan managed to choke out this sentence through his tears:

"Daddy, I couldn't find you."

This was the perfect opportunity for me to communicate this simple truth to Ryan. I told him, "Daddy will never leave you. If you don't see me, stay where you are and wait. I will always come right back. You're always safe with me. I will never leave you."

This conversation went on for a little while. I actually burned our dinner because I spent so much time talking to Ryan, but it was critically important that he understand that I will never, ever leave him.

As Ryan grows up, he will make a ton of friends whose daddys have left them. The reasons vary, but the result is the same. "Daddy left me."

Ryan will never know what this is like. He will never know a daddy who is unfaithful to his mommy. He will never know a daddy who leaves because it's just too hard. He will never know a daddy who will shut him out because he made a mistake. I will not leave him. I'm not a perfect father. In fact, my imperfections in fatherhood scare me to death. But I do know this: as long as there is air in my lungs, I will not leave. And I want Ryan to know that.

Inevitably, somebody who is reading this had a daddy who left them. But here is something we can all hang on to: we all have a Father who has promised to never leave us. God's most frequent promise in the Bible is, "I will be with you." It's not, "I love you." It's not, "I forgive you." The most frequent promise of God in the Bible is the promise of his presence. "I will be with you."

Ryan was comforted by our talk. Later on when I went out to flip the burgers again, he looked at me and said, "You're coming back." And I said, "Yeah, I'm coming back. I will always come back."

There are times when, just like Ryan, we can't seem to find our Daddy. God seems to have gone silent. It seems like he left and he didn't tell us where he was going. And we're not sure he's coming back. If you're in the midst of this spiritual season, I can't tell you exactly why it's happening. Maybe it's a test to help you develop perseverance. Maybe it's a form of divine discipline. Or maybe it's just the result of living in a world that is under Satan's evil influence.

When we are suffering, and especially when it seems like God is silent in our suffering, it's impossible to know why it's happening. The only thing we can know for certain is God's promise to never leave us.

Criticizing Our Own

I recently found a blog that is the most critical, divisive thing I've read in a long time. (I'm purposefully not listing the blog's URL.) And the thing is, it's a "Christian" blog. The writer's mission is to provide "news and comment on the contemporary church." Basically she is using this as a platform to rant and rail against all churches and believers who do not go along with her very narrow-minded view of our faith. And she gets pretty nasty in the process. Even on the very rare occasions when I do agree with her, I would never admit it publicly because I don't want to be linked to such a critical, divisive person.

Just makes me wonder why some believers get so focused on taking down other believers. It's one thing when we're dealing with a clear Biblical teaching. We don't bend when we're talking about a direct Biblical command.

But when we're in the realm of opinion, it needs to remain open. We're on very dangerous ground when we begin to believe that our opinion is also God's opinion.

Shouldn't we spend our energy fighting our common enemy instead of fighting each other? Wouldn't that be more pleasing to God? Wouldn't that bring more people to Jesus?

Just my opinion.

No More Daffy

Looks like YouTube pulled the video that I used in my previous post. Probably a copyright issue. Too bad, so sad.

Jealousy

This Sunday marks the halfway point in our What's God Really Like? sermon series. We'll be talking about God's jealousy.

Interestingly, the Bible warns us about the dangers of our jealousy. How can our jealousy be wrong and God's jealousy be right? Because our jealousy is rooted in selfishness, but God's is rooted in holiness.

I'm going to pull a Morrissey here. Check out this classic Looney Tunes cartoon, and then I'll complete my thoughts on the flipside.

Did you catch what Daffy's jealousy did to him? It kept ratcheting up in intensity, to the point where he was so jealous of Bugs Bunny that he attempted to "get rid of the rabbit and make it look like an accident."

Our jealousy hurts other people. Even people that are supposed to be our friends. But when jealousy is allowed to go on unchecked, we get to the point where we don't care who we hurt anymore. All that matters is our satisfaction. Having our selfish needs met.

But eventually what happened to Daffy? His jealousy ultimately destroyed him. Jealousy packs a destructive wallop that we usually don't see until it's too late.

I mentioned here on the blog a couple of days ago that I've been struggling with contentment. It's so easy to become jealous of what someone else has.

He has more money.

She has more talent.

He gets all the recognition.

She gets all the breaks.

When we get so wrapped up in what we don't have, we forget all that we do have. It's kind of like what Brian said during our worship set on Sunday. "If you don't think you've been blessed by God, you need to look at your life again."

As I've been doing that over the last few days, I've been reminded how stupid jealousy really is. How necessary contentment really is. And how good God really is.

Instead of looking with disparaging eyes on what other people have, we need to consider all the blessings that God has lavished on us.

A Little Baseball Trivia

Got this useless, but fun piece of trivia from Mark Sheldon of mlb.com.

With all the trade rumors flying around Major League Baseball, I found this intriguing.

Joel Youngblood once got two hits in one day with two different teams — the only player to do it in big league history.

On Aug. 4, 1982, Youngblood was traded from the Mets to the Expos during an afternoon game at Wrigley Field. He arrived in Philadelphia in time to get into uniform for Montreal and played in the night game.

I'm sure you'll sleep better tonight now that you know this.