Can We All Get Along?

These famous words were spoken by Rodney King following his public beating by police officers and a week of rioting in Los Angeles. Many times, I ask it myself in relation to our society and the church. It appears that the early church also asked itself this question. In James 3:13-18 (MSG), the writer of this books states it this way:

"Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor."

Three things jump out at me and challenge me in this scripture. "It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts." The old adage of actions speak louder than words echoes in this verse. I often think more highly of myself in my head than how I live. The reminder here is to guard against that type of thinking. What does a holy life look like? It is "characterized by getting along with others." It can be difficult at times because other people can be difficult, and so can I. Finally, we are reminded that healthy community is a result occurs "...only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other..."

We need to treat others with respect and common decency. It is hard work, but it is how we are told we should act. Let's reflect God’s wisdom and not our own, and I think we can answer the Mr. King's question with, "It is possible."

Written by Chip Kelly
Territorial Lay Leader
Development Bureau Director

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Love from the Most Loving

I'm not sure how a four letter word is sufficient enough to express a pool of emotions conjuring in my heart. A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, but how many words can I use to express the numerous ways God has been there for me and never forsaken me?

Out of all the words going through my mind, only one becomes repetitive: Love, a simple but powerful four letter word. A word so small that made such a difference in my life. Love is what embraced me in the presence of God, and it is because of love that God has gifted me with his mercy. Love is God, and God is love, but one can never understand how meaningful this relation truly is until acknowledging who God is and what love is.

To me, God is purity and perfection. He is so GOOD and mighty that because of my worldly life, my sinful eyes would be extinguished in his mere presence. But somehow, he finds a way to bless me with his touch and words, so that I know he is there through my praises and battles that he fights beside me.

To me, God isn't just my guiding father and uplifting warrior, but he is that conscience I feel when I am full of guilt, and somehow, at the same time, I am still filled with a grand amount of indescribable love and compassion. Before I even knew I was going to sin, God had already forgiven me and embraced me with open arms, and that to me is love.

This is the same love that stopped the stones from slaughtering a woman guilty of adultery (John 7:53-8:11 NIV). He reminds us constantly that although we are sinners, his love toward us is pure UNCONDITIONAL love.

esus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,"

Have you really thought about how wonderful it is that we have a choice? God doesn't get in our face and tell us "you must" do one thing or another. He allows us to live the way that we do. Of course, it isn’t always the life he wants for us, but we should know that no matter what path we take, we can always turn around, and he will be there.

"He will never leave you nor forsake you" is what Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV) kindly reminds us. He loves you, and he loves me, and he loves us all. All we have to do to end our own self-conflicting heartache is obey him. He tells us, as well as the adulterous woman, to "Go now and leave your life of sin." If we would just live for him and him alone, we could live a life of love and be the image of God we were created in.

Day after day within my relationship with God, I have found that his love is indeed four things I am able to understand within my own reasoning. To begin, his love is Ludicrous, and it's ludicrous because I see it to be foolish, insane, and unreasonable at times. Why? Because it is so out-right crazy to what extent God truly loves us. I cannot honestly say I would love someone who betrays me, cheats me and lies to me. I find it to be ludicrous to love someone like that... but that someone is me, and God loves me. Somehow, through all the mess in my heart and life, God loves me, and that to me is beautiful.

What is so significant about the woman whom committed adultery is that we are that woman. God tells us that no sin is greater than another. That is the significance of that story; we have all been in both positions. We have either thrown the stone or been the victim of the hit. BUT WE ARE ALL SINNERS. We forget that Gods love isn't just for us; it isn't just for me or you, but it's for us to share with the world.

 A song that convicted me of pointing fingers at everyone but myself is a song by Casting Crowns, "Jesus Friend of Sinners." One important phrase I love from this prayer song is "open my eyes to the world at the end of my pointing finger, let our hearts be lead by mercy." Although it may be ludicrous to love your enemy, it isn't impossible. We can all be more forgiving of those around us. I know I can.
 
Secondly, my next word is Optimism. God's love has allowed me to become more positive about the trials I face in life. I was reminded in a video posted by my friend, Stephany Bento, that God doesn't give us trials we cannot handle. Philippians 4:13 (NIV) says "I can do all things through him who gives me strength."

Steph reminded all her viewers that God "always has a hand in everything that happens in your life," and He is "never going to give you what you can’t handle - He knows what you can handle."

Her words couldn’t be truer, and when you understand his love, you will see that doors close not because God hates you, but because he opened a better one for you. He will never betray you.

God's love is so Varied. He shows us his love in more than a way or two. Allowing us to take another breath in the morning is by his loving grace, and the opportunity to be forgiven is by his loving mercy. We are able to get through our toughest days by his love and protection, and this list could go on forever. There is nothing that God does for us that isn't out of love and with love. his love is just that immense; everything that has to do with him deals with Love.
 
Last but not leas, God's love for us is Eager. Eager because he solely wants us to love him as he loves us and be the children he created us to be. I believe that whenever another sinner gives up his or her life to God, that he is enthusiastic about this exchange of love. He must be, because angels rejoice with him over our redemption. God is eager for us. He loves and hopes for us to be just as eager to love him as he is to love us, and the wonderful magical thing about this is that no matter how much we push him away and deny his love at times, he doesn’t give up. He continues to love us, accept us and be eager for us regardless of how we react to him.
 
The ongoing statement is that He loves us NO MATTER WHAT. He loves us with unconditional love. He loves us without a reason and his love, like his water of life, is never ending. God, who is an everlasting God, loves us with everlasting love, so therefore God is love, and love is God. That four letter word may just be more then enough to express His love after all.

Written by Elizabeth Ramirez
Newark Ironbound Corps

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The Slow and the Furious: But and Yet

"This is going to hurt me more than its going to hurt you!"

The phrase heard around the world. No matter what language you speak or the neighborhood you’re from (unless you suffer from affluenza), these words preceded an inevitable form of punishment.

"How can it be?"

How can my pain hurt you, not as much, but more than it hurts me? As a child, this paradox baffled me to my core. It made no sense that the source of my perceived affliction would hurt more than I. As a child, and sometimes even now, my thinking was simple: Up was the opposite of down, there were winners and losers, and there were pain givers and pain receivers. Now, you ask me to believe in a mutual suffering? A mutual suffering that stems from love and anger.

Love. It has caused wars, raised heroes, built nations and caused committed men and women to gladly look death in the eyes and stare back! So has anger. These two great passions can be seen as the seeds from which all great efforts and conflicts grow.

A man will climb and cross mountains to get to the woman he loves. If she were harmed, in anger, he would traverse those same peaks in pursuit of her assailant. A mother would move heaven and earth for her children, yet she will grow angry if they misbehave and discipline them.

In the same way, God would do anything for His people because He loves us. Not unlike the loving mother’s reaction to poorly behaved children, this does not absolve us from the discipline of His love.

I was always taught that whenever you see 'but' in a sentence, the latter often contrast the aforementioned statement, BUT when you see ‘'yet,' a crucial detail is about to be added. In Numbers 14:18, we read:

"The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.

Yet

he does not leave the guilty unpunished"

The Lord loves us, but this love doesn't negate His anger when we exhibit undesirable behavior, yet the discipline is still from a place of love. Love and anger are a two car garage that are attached to the same house. One is a luxury sedan and the other is a four wheel drive SUV. They pull out of the same driveway and onto the same street. The weather or circumstance determine which the driver takes, but they are both intended to get us safely from point A to point B.

God is abounding in love and slow to anger, but that anger isn't rooted is hate. It's rooted in love. He only grows angry because He cares. My fear is not His correction. My fear is when He no longer desires to correct.

Written by Lt. Darell Houseton
Newark Ironbound Corps 

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The Full Truth

(written on September 19)

I saw Sha yesterday.

We talked for the first time in ten long, feels-like-forever-ago days since he left the hospital.

He asked why I didn't stop by Rite Aid earlier, having seen me pass it nearly every day. I told him part of the truth, then the full truth.

"I'm always running late for work when I drive by...and I'm hurt. It hurts to see you back here."

I asked him what happened, how he went from all in to all out. He told me the full truth.

"I'm not ready."

His words hit like a soft dagger, a tender weapon.

Sha said that his heart wants his body to get well, but the battlefield of his mind supersedes them both. I asked what his rock bottom is and said that if I were him, I would have been at that point a long time ago.

He didn't have an answer.

Sha started to go off on a tangent, asking for my assistance on a new project. I refused his request. I told him that my family and I had already put our lives on hold for him, and his asking for more, while using again no less, was a slap in the face. I said that both my dad (who visited Sha at Rite Aid on Saturday) and I were able to sit with him now only because of the Holy Spirit in us. Otherwise, perhaps a few obscenities would have been exchanged, bringing this story to an end. But it's not finished.

I handed him the seemingly endless list of detox/rehab phone numbers I had called.
"I won't make the calls again. This is on you now."

As firm as I was, Sha knew my words weren't seasoned with anger or bitterness.
"If I go to rehab, will you still support me?"

I told Sha that he always has my support in prayer and love, and nothing will ever change that. I gave him a hug, he gave me a kiss, and I started to walk away. He called back out to me.

"Something good is gonna happen in your life. I know it."

I smiled.

"How about a deal? When I have good news, I'll report back to you. When you have good news, you'll report back to me."

He nodded his head and waved goodbye. I got in my car, and a deep peace washed over me.

Before talking to Sha yesterday, I prayed for Christ to give me the right words to say, and I believe He did. I pray Sha meditates on them. I pray he meditates on how much the God of the universe loves him.

Jesus is ready for you, Sha.

Written by Elyse Jankowski
Community Relations Associate

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Divine Appointments

Every Tuesday at our headquarters office, we have devotions from 11:30am-12:00pm. These very special 30 minutes are spent in prayer, worship and hearing a message from a fellow staff member or officer. I had the pleasure of speaking two weeks ago. Hope this vlog (video blog) blesses you!

-Elyse Jankowski, Community Relations Associate

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The Friend Zone

In the lush green plains of relationships, two great peaks reach skyward casting a permanent shadow on the valley between them. On the lesser peak stands planted a flag reading "Friendship." Across from it, on a clear day, bursting through cloud nine can be seen another flag which reads "Romance."

Between the two mountains, in that dark and shady valley are the remains of unattained desires scattered about like an elephant graveyard. In its center lies a mound of wants that could not safely make it from one peak to the other. Atop this mound of insecurity, disappointment and 'what-ifs' is planted another flag. Unlike the other flags that boldly flap in the wind, this flag is tattered from the multi-directional winds of the valley. It reads, "The Friend Zone!" 

John 21:15 says: When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." 

Commissioner Israel Gaither brought to my attention that Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him using agape love, an unconditional love, but Peter responds using a philia love, a brotherly love. In other words Jesus ask Peter, "Do you love me?" and Peter responds, "I like you a lot..." planting Christ firmly in the friend zone.

Many of us entertain, even enjoy, a friendship with Christ. We don't mind the occasional chat or benefit from the relationship as if Jesus was that one friend in high school that was invited out only because they had a car. As long as the friendship doesn't inconvenience us, we will even hang out with Him for a bit on Sundays if it will keep Him happy.

Commissioner Gaither said it best, "Jesus doesn’t want us to 'like' Him! He wants us to love Him!" Instead of accepting a meaningful relationship with Christ and giving Him the prominent office in our life, we have made Him the Prime Minister of Justafriendistan! Liking Christ is nice, but loving Him is better! Having a good friendship with Jesus is wonderful start, but He wants more from this relationship.

General William Booth was once asked to reveal the secret of his success. After some hesitation, tears came to his eyes and he said, "I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me..." 

Will you allow the walls of fear and comfort to be torn down so that Christ can have all there is of you? 

Written by Lt. Darell Houseton
Newark Ironbound

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Making the Connection

In my line of work in the IT field, I am always trying to make the connection. When working with others concerning their computer issues, my mind is on what caused the problem. The issue is only a result of what the actual problem is, whether your e-mail isn't working, you can't connect to the internet, the phone is not working, or you can't find the power button on your computer (just kidding on the last one!). There is always a reason why something isn't working or responding the way it was dynamically built.

We were dynamically built according to Psalm 139:14 which says we were fearfully and wonderfully made with a connection to God, but because of the fall of man in Genesis 3, we became disconnected from God through sin (disobedience).

At times, a computer is not going to perform to its potential if it's not making the connection with other internal hardware and software components. If one component fails, it affects the whole computer. Then, the computer has to be analyzed to determine what caused it not to print, open up a Word Document, and in some cases, not turn on.

I believe, just like computers, people will not work properly if we do not make the connection. Our peace should not be predicated by what is going right in our life but by our connection to the One who gave us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). Our joy should not be determined by things that happen to us but by our relationship to the One who has written our name in the Lamb's Book of Life (Luke 10:20). Our love should not be measured by mere words but connected to the Word that was made flesh (John 15:13).

The only way that a computer can work properly and perform at its best is to make sure that the hardware is compatible with the software, or else you can expect disappointing results. We as people must also make the connection in order to function properly the way we were designed. I believe until we make the connection with Jesus, we also should expect disappointing results.

Are you tired of being disappointed, hurt, disconnected, abandoned, alone, malfunctioned, or just powered off? I have a connection solution just for YOU! Just repeat these wonderful words: "Father, I know you love me and sent Jesus to forgive me of my sin and to take my place in the judgment of sin.  I want to invite Jesus into my heart. I want to make that connection with Jesus. I want to make that connection to God’s plan for my life, and I want to make that connection with heaven. Thank you, Jesus for making my connection!"

Written by Terrell Curry
IT Help Desk Analyst

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