Brennan Manning

One Final CAFO Takeaway

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I was able to attend the final session of the CAFO (Christian Alliance for Orphans) 2024 conference for which I was a volunteer. It was an incredible experience hearing from MaryBeth Chapman about the journey of adoption through grief and healing and beyond. Then I heard an amazing sermon that I’m still processing. I don’t remember the name of the preacher, but the message hit home.

Basically, Caesar issued a dirty decree that made all the inhabitants of the Roman world go back to their ancestral hometown to be registered (so that he could later raise their taxes significantly). It was a hardship for many, especially Joseph and Mary, who was with child at the time.

But God used that dirty decree to accomplish His own divine decree, born before the foundation of the world and prophesied 700 years before Caesar made his decree. Caesar was the instrument God used to accomplish the purpose of bringing Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would arise from that little town.

I know that in the world of adoption and fostering and raising children, there are so many trials and tribulations of adoptions falling through and tragic losses and raising children that have come out of horrific abuse situations that so many must navigate with heavy hearts. But I see more and more that God is working behind it all to accomplish something bigger than any of us can yet comprehend that would blow our mind if we could see the way God sees.

I look back and see that me being out of a job enabled me to participate in this conference as a volunteer where I would normally have not been able. I could not have foreseen this back in February, but God already knew. God’s plan means there is a purpose for my pain and a special joy for me if I will step out in faith and join Him in the journey He has for me.

God is not surprised by my setbacks or my (occasional) stupidity. He’s factored those into His plan. In fact, Romans 8:28-30 says, “We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan. God knew from the beginning who would put their trust in Him. So He chose them and made them to be like His Son. Christ was first and all those who belong to God are His brothers. He called to Himself also those He chose. Those He called, He made right with Himself. Then He shared His shining-greatness with those He made right with Himself” (Romans 8:28-30, NLV).

Ultimately, the goal is to be like Jesus and to know that He is coming back. We will see the grand purpose in God’s plan, knowing that behind every dirty decree is a divine decree of God directing us toward His perfect will for us.

Giving Your Battles to God

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“… there’s some of us up tonight who can just thank God we’re not the mistakes we’ve made,
we’re not the plans that have failed,
we’re not the wrongs we have done.
We aren’t forgotten, aren’t abandoned, aren’t alone.
Because You, Lord, say to the lost: ‘Come.’
You say to the Unlikely: ‘Beloved.’
You say to the Battle Weary: ‘Rest.’
You say: ‘Take every battle to the air in prayer — so your God can take over your battles on earth.’
In a hard and beautiful world,
Your grace, Lord, is the only relief for our tired souls.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

#SharingPrayerTogether” (Ann Voskamp).

The battle belongs to the Lord.

CAFO2024

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Sometimes, you can go back. Almost.

This time, it was the Christian Alliance for Orphans (or CAFO) conference held at Brentwood Baptist Church. It was basically 13 years after the first time I volunteered for a CAFO conference.

I truly believe that if you are pro-life, you are pro-adoption and pro-fostering. The best way to show that we care for unborn babies is to keep caring for them once they’re born, especially if they’re born into unfortunate circumstances.

One of the few upsides of being unemployed is that I now have the free time to volunteer. I can be a part of something that’s bigger than me and make a difference (and possibly turn it into a career down the road). While that last part isn’t exactly super realistic, it’s not impossible.

One of my favorite parts so far is seeing the incredible diversity of the people who are attending. It’s like a small taste of heaven where there will be people from every tribe, tongue, ethnicity, race, and nation represented and bound together in worship to Jesus.

I’ve heard that one of the best ways to deal with stress/trauma/grief is to go and do for others. One of the best kinds of therapy is to serve others as a way of taking your mind off your own world for a bit. I’m not saying every single person is 100% ready nor that serving will make all your problems magically go away, but it does give a bit of perspective to step outside of yourself for a bit.

For me, the motivation is partly to recapture some of the magic from last time. I also believe in what CAFO is doing around the world. I also can’t think of a better way to spend my time.

This is not a humble brag about how great and selfless I am, but really a shameless plug for CAFO and an encouragement for you to go and find a place to serve not to get anything out of it but because of the joy of serving and most of all because God is worth it.

What God Gives

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I would love clarity, answers, and above all a road map. Although I’m not quite in Job’s shoes in terms of tragic losses, I sometimes can relate to His questions of God’s silence and hiddenness.

But what I often forget (and what Job eventually learned) was that God doesn’t so much give answers as He gives Himself. In the long run, that’s better. After all, I’m not always the best at asking the right questions or focusing on the right things.

Right answers and clear thinking and even a five-year plan without God’s immediate presence do me no good. I’d screw it up or try to subvert the process to get to the end quicker. And as I’ve learned sin is taking my own shortcut to God’s promises and/or trying to get God’s provisions apart from God.

So much of what God wants from me in this season means slowing down and really seeping in each day instead of wanting to rush on to the next big event or the next holiday. Lately, I’ve been actually hungering for the Word of God instead of reading it as part of my rote routine.

I think God gets us all to a point where we have to lean on Him and learn from Him for as long as it takes to get us weaned from ourselves and our own self-help. He puts us in a season where all our theoretical head knowledge about God becomes lived-out experience and love for God. Basically, we find out what “Jesus loves me, this I know” really means.

Take your time, God. As much as I really would love to have clarity and answers and a detailed plan for my life, what I need right now is You. Just You.

Burdens

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I wonder how many of us are carrying secret burdens because we have this mentality of “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone else” and “I have to bear this alone.”

I do think that’s one of the negative consequences of this kind of Lone Ranger/ pull yourself up by your own bootstraps kind of individualized American Christianity. Not only is it okay to share your burdens, it’s actually commanded both bear one another’s burdens.

That means you occasionally take someone else’s burden. Also, that means that another sometimes takes your burden. It works both ways. Not only are you making your own life harder by bearing unnecessary burdens but you also deprive someone else of the joy of fulfilling God’s command in that way.

That’s the most tangible way we have of showing our love for each other. And oh, by the way, how we love each other is the greatest witness to the saving power of Christ and the gospel that we have. The early Church turned the known world upside down by how they loved each other. Also by how they loved their neighbors but mainly by their sacrificial love for each other.

My prayer is that churches become places where we can unburden and find rest, not a place where more burdens are added. Part of it starts with the Church but part of it starts with you and I being willing to share our burden and let it be known that we’re struggling instead of the pat answer of “I’m fine” whenever anyone asks how we’re doing.

I think when I let you share my burden and you share mine, we learn a little more of what it means when Jesus bore all our burdens to Calvary. We understand more of what it means about His yoke is easy to carry and His burden is light. And the world sees a love that it simply cannot resist.

Every Breath for His Glory

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“Our Lord and master, redeemer and savior, come and take complete possession of us. We are your right; but you must take by force what you have purchased, or you will never have it. By your strong arms, the arms must be those of love, you will capture our willful, wayward spirit. Come and divide the spoil with the strong in us, we pray. Take every faculty and use it, overpower and sanctify it. Help us to employ every moment of our time for you; may we breathe out every breath to your honor. We feel that there is still unconquered territory in our nature. Subdue, Lord, we beg you, our corruptions; cast them out, and in our spirit rule and conquer. Set up your eternal throne in us.
Amen” (Charles Spurgeon).

I think that’s my prayer for tonight. It’s not enough to surrender to Jesus once and for all. There must be a daily dying to self and a daily carrying of the cross. Sometimes, God has to break through to us before we can have a breakthrough in us. Sometimes, I don’t need a polite God who only knocks but a God who knocks down the door and storms in to radically rearrange my priorities and desires until they match His.

God, my life and my will and my body are yours. Do what you will in me.

Amen.

Who’s Trash?

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I recently ran across a Facebook post where someone was calling Elon Musk a piece of trash. I’m not about to defend Mr. Musk since I don’t really know much about him or what he stands for. I do know that it’s easier to point fingers at other people than look in the mirror (and I’m probably the first one to be guilty of that).

I’ve read my Bible, and I’m pretty sure that Elon Musk and Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are all made in the image of God. All bear the imago dei and Jesus died for every single one of them. If that’s trash, then Jesus died for trash. If that’s trash, then God made trash and I suppose that would make God trash (which He is obviously not).

That’s the worst part about elections. People can get very self-righteous and feel it’s okay to speak contemptibly about anyone who is on the “other” side of the political spectrum. Aldus Huxley said, “To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior ‘righteous indignation’ — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

But that is not the way of Jesus. Remember He loved His enemies. He died for His enemies. He forgave His enemies while they were in the very act of murdering Him. And that’s the standard if you call yourself a follower of Jesus.

I’ve been around long enough to know that there are no political solutions to spiritual problems. No elected official can right what’s wrong with this country? No bill or amendment or vote can legislate spiritually dead people into life. Only Jesus can do that.

I have to guard against becoming pharisaical in seeing other peoples’ flaws and overlooking my own. I can very easily become judgmental and forget that the very foundation of my faith is the grace by which I’m saved.

So who’s trash? In the eyes of God, no one. No one is beyond redemption. No one is too far gone to save. Ask the Apostle Paul, once a terrorist against Christians and later the biggest advocate for the gospel. The gospel is for everyone.

Do Not Be Surprised

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“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. 1 Peter 4:12-13

3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:3-5

Commentary:

The Purpose of Our Trials

In the midst of our struggles, we may feel overwhelmed, but God will carry us through.

September 10, 2024

1 Peter 4:12-13

Some believers like to portray their life as ideal and carefree. But in reality, being a Christian isn’t easy. In fact, sometimes we’ll experience trials that truly test our faith and ability to trust in God.

In today’s passage, Peter refers to times of testing as a ‘fiery ordeal.’ He says we shouldn’t be surprised when adversity comes. It’s important to remember that God has a purpose for our difficulties and will see us through them (Romans 5:3-5). Here are some of the goals He may have for painful experiences:

At times the Lord uses hardship to cleanse us. Trials drive us to Him. And as we focus on God, we’re increasingly able to see things from His perspective.

A difficulty in our life may be the Lord’s way of testing us. He could be trying our faith, endurance, or devotion to Him.

God uses suffering to demonstrate His power to sustain us. When He brings us through challenging times, He glorifies Himself. In turn, this encourages others, because they have witnessed God’s sustaining power in our life.

Ultimately, hardships strengthen our testimony. In the midst of our struggles, we might feel overwhelmed and discouraged. But once the storm has passed, we can often look back and see the Lord’s providential hand carrying us through” (Charles Stanley).

When Did We?

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“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25:37-40, NIV).

I was watching a video podcast called 1 Degree of Andy on YouTube where he and the guest made an interesting comment on the parable of the sheep and the goats. Those sheep will hear Jesus say that they ministered to Him when they fed the hungry and gave the thirsty something to drink and so on, and they will reply, “When did we do that?”

In one sense, they’re ministering to Jesus by serving the least of these. But also in another sense, their greatest moments of service will be when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, which is to say they won’t be aware of the magnitude of what’s happening.

So many times, we think people will remember us for the big dramatic moments where we saw hundreds come to faith in Christ or we spoke to multitudes. But so often, the times when we made the biggest impact will be the ones we don’t remember at all.

It will be like someone comes up to you and says, “Remember when . . .” and you will have to be reminded. They will say that what you said or did in that moment changed their life forever but you had no idea.

To me, the perfect kind of serving and ministering is a lot like C. S. Lewis’ idea of the perfect worship service. We won’t remember what the songs were or what the sermon was about because we will have been so focused on God that we noticed nothing else. When we are making a true Kingdom impact is when we’re so focused on Jesus that we don’t notice anything else except serving Him in that moment.

That should give us hope. We may have blessed others without realizing it just as there are surely times we have been blessed by those who were unaware. It’s probably so we won’t get puffed up and lose focus. Otherwise, we might try to serve out of our own strength (and fail miserably) rather than out of the overflow of God’s love for us.

We Remember 23 Years Later

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I can’t believe it’s been 23 years since 9/11. It blows my mind that people in college weren’t alive on that day in 2001. In a lot of ways, that day feels like yesterday with how vivid my memories are.

I still remember my boss calling me into his office on that day. I had no idea why and thought for a minute I’d done something wrong or forgotten something. But when I walked into his office and saw the TV, I knew something was up.

No one knew what was going on when that first plane hit the Twin Towers. I think everyone was in shock from seeing images of a plane crashing into a skyscraper. But when the second plane hit, suddenly I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. So did everyone else.

In the words of the Alan Jackson song, that’s the day the world stopped turning. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives and if not for the brave efforts of so many of our firefighters and police, many more people could have died.

It was the day when everything changed. Airports and flying were never the same after that day. One beautiful part was seeing unity and cooperation on 9/12 that we’ve rarely seen before or since. And I distinctly recall a lot of churches were full that next Sunday.

It’s one of those moments like when JFK was assassinated. Everyone who was alive and old enough to remember can tell you where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. It’s a flashbulb memory that’s indelibly marked in a lot of brains.

The best way to honor those who died that day is to not forget what happened. We need to pray nothing like that ever happens again. We who call upon the name of the Lord need to repent and return to seeking God’s kingdom instead of trying to build our own political kingdom. We need to get back to the Great Commission and being the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We remember still.