「…他国の人も、主の前には、あなたがたと等しくなければならない。」（１５）
皆は違います。違う国、違う文化、違う弱点、違う力、違う罪があります。でも、いつも同じ神様に同じ愛や恵みを受けられます。感謝しています。 “…You and the alien shall be the same before the Lord.” (vs. 15) We are all different. We have different home countries, cultures, strengths, weaknesses and sins. But, from the unchanging God we can all receive the same love and grace. Thank God for that.In this passage, after seeing the Lord’s disapproval at their lack of faith, some of the Israelites changed their minds. They chose to enter the Promised Land after all. But God was not behind this action, and so they failed. They’d missed their opportunity to receive God’s promises. He would not bless their attempts to take the Land in their own strength.
I’m reminded of the time King David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but God said no. David’s son would have that privilege. Sometimes we want to do great things in Jesus’ name, but not according to His will or timing. The thing we have mind — a ministry, a career choice, a relationship — may be good, but if God is not in it, it will fail. And maybe, once we get past the disappointment of God saying no to our ‘brilliant’ idea, we’ll find He has something a lot better in mind.The question is, do we really believe that God’s plans are better than ours?
God had Moses send spies into the Promised Land. 10 of them came back afraid of the enemies they saw; only 2 of them had faith to believe that God could help them conquer them. How often do I focus on the risks, the needs, the negatives? God would have me focus on His promises, His presence, His provisions.
Israel missed out on God’s best for them because of fear. It would take 40 years before they would enter the Promised Land. An entire generation missed their opportunity. How often do we let fear control us? How much do we miss out on because we are afraid to take risks? The current disaster in Japan has been a huge reminder of just how short and fragile life is. Life is too short, the future too uncertain, to let fear hold us back from living the lives God wants us to live.CRASHって、何ですか？（日本語）What is CRASH? (Japanese with English subtitles)
(posted March 21, 2011)
Monday, March 21, 2011:
I’ve been in Tokyo for about a week now, volunteering at the CRASH command center. I feel like my role has been small, but it’s still been a privilege to serve here. Ever since the 11th, I had a huge burden to do something to help those who were suffering in the affected areas.
I ended up doing IT work at CRASH command center. While part of me would much rather have been up in Sendai, getting my hands dirty, delivering relief supplies and personally helping those in need, I realize that those going out need support from a well-run headquarters as well. One thing that impresses me about CRASH is that they are not simply sending a bunch of people into the fray, as quickly as possible, with no plan. A lot of help has been sent in a short amount of time, but the leaders of CRASH have a long-term plan as well, and aren’t sending relief teams in unprepared. They realize that there is going to be a lot work to be done for at least 6 months to a year.
God is blessing this endeavor. Good things are happening. Here are a few:
1. The command center has grown from around 20-30 people a week ago to over 100 this week, all of whom are volunteers or supported missionaries.
2. Samaritan’s Purse partnered with CRASH to deliver over 90 tons of relief supplies via airplane to Sendai. We needed 40 trucks to pick up and deliver the goods, and in a matter of hours the trucks were found and sent into action.
3. Besides Samaritan’s Purse, there are a number of other big American churches and organizations choosing to partner with CRASH because CRASH is Japan-based and knows the culture, the land and the language.
4. As of this morning we had one base in Sendai set up, with 5 relief teams on the ground. Within the next few months that will multiply to 5 bases with 80 sub-bases and a rotating cast of 1000 volunteers.
5. All of CRASH’s work is done in partnership with local churches in and near the affected areas. Our intel team has been on the phone constantly the past week with churches about what their needs and the needs of their communities are, and how we can work together to share God’s love with those in need. There is an amazing amount of unity in the Body of Christ as the Church responds to this crisis.
‘Greater things are yet to come…’