Thursday, August 30, 2012

Leadership is a fascinating topic. Business books offer models of leadership as diverse as Attila the Hun, Oriental warlords, and Abraham Lincoln. But jesus painted a different picture of leadership.

As He wrapped up His work, Jesus held a dinner for His closest associates. Instead of delivering a state-of-the-union address or naming a successor, He chose to leave His seat at the head of the table and pick up some household servant’s equipment - a basin of water and a towel. he then washed the feet of every person at the table - even Judas, His betrayer (John 13:1-20). Foot-washing was usually performed by household servants as an act of hospitality to weary, dusty guests (Compare Luke 7:44). Leaders and host did not stoop to such a menial task. But Jesus did.

Seated once again at the table, the Lord asked whether his followers understood what He had done (John 13:12). he then exhorted them to adopt the same posture of serving others, thereby following His example. he assured them that they would be blessed if they did (13:15-17).

Jesus still calls believers today to become members of the “order of the Towel.” As Christ’s followers, we need to lead others by serving them.


From: The word In Life Study Bible
Once again, something for the book by Chris Rice and Spencer Perkins, More than Equals, I thought was profound.

Friends or Yokefellows

Several distinctions need to be made between friends ans what Chris (Rice) and I Spencer Perkins) call yokefollows.

  • Friendships can happen with very little effort; yokefellows are intentional.
  • Friendships are built for the benefit of the friends; yokefellows come together for the benefit of the kingdom.
  • Friends are drawn together by their common interest; yokefellows are drawn together by a common mission.
  • Friend like each other; yokefollows respect each other.
  • Friendships are based on compatible personalities; the yokefellow bond is based on gifts that are needed to realize the goal.  
  • Friendships are fueled by emotion; yokefellows are linked by commitment.
  • Friends saperate by a fight never speak to each other again; yokefellows will cheer each other on until their goal is reached.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012


Today I,m praying for those who lead in ministry. I have become increasingly aware of the attack on the marriages and families. Marriages that have lasted for decades are 'suddenly' and without warning breaking down; the temptations of sin have found their way into the lives of men and women who we thought were 'safe,' are finding their way into their lives.

Temptations have always existed, and none of us are exempt from them, but are we who are called to serve with them spending any time at all in prayer for them as the human beings they are. Oh and please don't forget their wives and/or husbands, their children, etc.

We all need the support of each other, (see John 15;) we are called by the apostle to pray for those who watch for our souls (Heb. 13:17) and for those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-4.) Yes, that includes those we agree with and even those we don't. That I'm sure doesn't sit well with many of us in this highly political time, we don't get 'a free pass' when we would rather have someone else leading us; oh, and that applies to ministries as well.

What I've shared isn't the result of a 'feeling,' but because those who call me or share their pain with me, need to know, who they are and what their struggle is isn't going to be shared, but I should make you aware, of the struggle they face, isn't left for them to carry alone, we their brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for the burden, struggle, suffering and yes, loneliness they carry is being carried by thousands of us, who believe God wants them to succeed in life, marriage, family and ministry, (an in that order.)

For you today who struggle, you are not alone, abandoned or forgotten, we are praying with and for you.
AMEN!!!

"Ubuntu"

Monday, August 27, 2012

Praying Together on Monday - 8/27/2012

Abba, Today I pray for those of who are called to lead as pastors, youth leaders, lay workers, Christian educators, etc., and have losted loved ones. We too mourn and cry, but are all too often forgotten once the services and dinner are over. We are expected to back to work as if nothing happen. There are the ‘feeling’ that are often unspoken, some don’t allow us to grieve the lost, but to ‘get back at it.’

Bless us to be willing to ‘bear one anothers burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal. 6:2) Thank you Lord for being so near to them, may I join you with them as well. Forgive me for becoming so busy with my own life, I forget to call, write, or ‘check in,’ with a brother or sister and fellow-laborer. Lord, I didn’t mean to get so caught up in my own life that forget there are others, just like me, with great personal pain, struggle and difficulties they don’t want to share with but those closest (if they dare) to them.

Lord, we do what we must, because that is who we are and are called to do, may they be blessed to find someone near, yes, even it is only via email, facebook or skype, etc. Somehow will you help me peel back the layers of my pride, my wounds and suffering to be allowed to share my heart and know that the ‘secrets’ I dare share with a few, stays there, and will never to shared with anyone. I’ve been forced to ‘cover’ my pain and sorrow because of the loss of a loved one, a relationship(s) or a friendship(s), because I don’t dare allow anyone to know my pain.

Oh loving Jesus, thank you for bearing with me (us) as I struggle. Thank you for an Aaron and a Hur to stand with me as I fight my own spiritual and personal battle(s). Bless those of us who must go to the next hospital and/or nursing home visit; preside over the next funeral as if NOTHING has happened in our own lives. Lord, you didn’t make us Superman (or woman), I am so very human, especially now. Come Holy Spirit, I (we) need you now more than ever.  I thank you for your love and mercy; your strength in these time of weakness, struggle and trial, Thank you for being presence in my past, my present and my (our) future.

As I face the emptiness of the moment, the quiet silence when my personal tears flow and there is no one but yourself to know, thank you for being so very presence I know I’m not really alone.

A Benediction

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, "Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."'

In you going out and in your coming in;
In your lying down and in your rising up;
In your labor and in your leisure,
In your laughter and in your tears,
until we stand before jesus,
In that day when there shall be neither
darkness nor dawning,
Amen!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Abba, I honor you today for the love that is so unmerited you have shown me (us.) Your care and concern amazes me. You are concerned about the smallest details of my life. I can bring anything to you and you never ‘brush me off.’  Your concern isn’t just for me, my ministry or business, but my family and everything that touches my life, THANK YOU! You who are God with so much to do and too be concerned about, care about me and those like me, you are an Amazing God.

Thank you for your love, patience and understanding. For taking on flesh to know how I live, laugh and struggle each day. You promised you’d never leave me alone, and as I think back on it, even when I felt alone, I know I never was.

Here in this moment, while we are alone together, I can share my secrets, my struggles and my pain, and you get it and me. You don’t sit and wonder, “. . . what’s that all about? Thank you for living in a body like mine, with passions just like mine and the need for ‘daily bread,’ just as I do each new day.

We are people who need you and try so hard to ‘make it on my own,’ and when I fall, fail, stubble in my attempt to exclude you, you are always there, sometimes in the shadows waiting for me to cry out to you, JESUS!!! I need you!!! I thank you.

I pray for those who like me, who feel they have either failed or didn’t measured up in some way in my (our) attempt to be of service to you and your people, my brothers and sisters. I haven’t always been what they needed, or I thought I understood a situation which only you can make sense out of. Thank you for allowing me to fall on your grace and mercy and to accepted in the beloved. Thank you for being in me, alive and active even when I think I haven’t measured up. Thank you for allowing me to see myself and as a result others as you do, broken, misunderstood, (by myself and others as well,) and yes, needy.

Here I am Jesus, this is me, not the me I wish I were, but the me as I am. THANK YOU for loving me, helping me, holding me and lifting me. Never letting me forget, “I Love You!” What a great and wonderful God you are and a  joy to know.


Your son and servant prayer, in the STRONG Name of Jesus, AMEN!!!

Love ya,
T.A.B.
"Ubuntu"

Monday, August 13, 2012

Abba, today I thank you for these your children, and not because of what they are, but because of who's they are!

You've blessed us to meet and often to become friends, some we don't know well, because our meeting was brief, and yet they have found a place in my heart, because of who You Lord are to us both. I pray a blessing on them, because only you know what their need is. Not the 'wishes, or wants' of their lives, but for you work in and around them. We all have challenges, but when we accepted you call into service, we had no idea what that might mean, but we followed anyway.

I thank you for tears we shed in your service, for those lonely times that so few know about; the struggle I have to believe that this is where you want me and doing this is your pleasure, I thank you! Forgive me for my doubts and yes, my fears, it was your voice who said, ". . . Come," and i stepped out onto the water. For a moment I too walked, but them I like Peter looked at what was around me and what I was doing and doubted That is when I dropped below  the waves, even here, you were there to save me, and bring me up again, THANK YOU!  

Lord, it's interesting that I've never thought of this before, but once again, because you lifted me from the water,  we were walking on the water again to the boat! THANK YOU!!! You are bring me now to yourself. Out of the struggle will come your victory; out of the pain will come your healing; from my weakness will come your strength; through each and everything I (we) face, you are present, THANK YOU!!! Come Holy Spirit, thank you for being present in the middle of my (our) situation, because you've taken me, what by some to be a 'left-over' and created something perhaps better than I (we) began with; to some I might be a 'left-over',' but to you I am the new, fresh and even inspiring new 'whatever' you want us to be. THANK YOU!!!
 

So for that one, who dreads the beginning of 'another week,' someone who wants to SCREAM, or yell at the darkness because of uncertainty, I thank you for your comfort and courage to face it, AGAIN and yes, AGAIN, in the Name of Jesus! Trusting you for results, where none seem possible. I thank you for their determination to fight on, move on in the face of what seems, 'IMPOSSIBLE,' because " . . . with God nothing shall be impossible." With me, I give way to, "I can't; I don't see how; I don't know what to do now or even next . . " I say to you my loving Abba, I trust you, you know what, when and how, and I and these challenges are yours, and you are or will work them out, THANK YOU!!!!!

I pray in the strong name of Jesus, AMEN!!!

Love ya, T.A.B.
"Ubuntu" 

Thursday, August 9, 2012

A prayer on Thursday by John Wesley

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put met to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you,
enabled for you or brought low by you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.


Thanks Pastor Mike Kelly!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012


Okay, its confession time! I'm different, that's the way God wired me! I've come to grips with this fact and thankful to be so. It has caused me to forgive the worst acts of hatred and insults, abuse and mistreatment, not because I enjoy it, but " . . . greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world" and Christ in you the hope of glory. Yes, I've screwed up, (for you saints, I beg your pardon, I've made mistakes.) and pulled off some 'bone-headed' moves, etc., but I'm not perfect but he is at work in me, and I thank him for that.

For those whom I've offended, wounded or injured,  I sincerely apologize, for those who don't get me, I couldn't fix me anyway to please you, so I've decided to stop trying. You have my blessing to either get on with your life or get over it! You may not believe this but I will always love you, you can't stop it or change it, I certainly won't want too.

There you have it, in the words of Walter Cronkite, " . . . and that's the way it is, Wednesday August 8, 2012"

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Have you thanked your pastor lately?

FYI. For those who think that pastors and ministries leader have a special suite of armor through which nothing get through or that can hurt or wound them, I am sorry to report that is a lie! These past fifty years have been filled with more pain, tears, struggles, abandonment, insults, etc., and often, too often by the people you are called to serve and/or serve with.

Not discounting the "whole armor of God,' no I'm talking about the price we pay everyday, just to be who and what we are called to do and to be. Some would rather 'you' fail then to offer a word of encouragement. And more often then not, it does not come from those you would call "the other," (thanks Chris Rice and Spencer Perkins.) Some say they do it to keep you humble, sorry, I don't believe it for a moment, it is often an attempt "to keep you in your place;" and where is that place, under them.

So the next time you see a pastor, minister, or Christian leader walking with their head held high, that's not arrogance, or selfish pride, it very well may be their attempt to; keep their spirit up in the face of opposition and angry words spoken against them. Oh and just for the record, we don't do it for the pay. I recently read a stat, that most pastors in the USA would qualify for the Food Stamp program, based on their salary.

If you are fortunate to have someone you call pastor, or a  servant leader who giving it all the have, perhaps you might stop them for a moment, take them aside and say something like: " . . . thank you for your service!

Blessings, T.A.B.
"Ubuntu"

Monday, August 6, 2012

Abba,

today I honor you for those of us who have been faithful even in adversity. We followed you believing you might keep us from adversity (or so we were told, turned out to be a lie,) but when we were met with reality, we fought first with you and then when you wouldn't change, ourselves, believing that we had done something wrong. thank you for never letting go of me (us), for holding us secure in the power of your love and grace.

forgive me when I dwell upon the past, with my failures and wounds they bring. May I dear Jesus, look full in your wonderful face, ". . . to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in the temple," Ps. 27:4. Jesus I need you a lot more than you need me, and yet you have called me by name, thank you for the reminders of your presence, you affection and care, thank you for loving me as I am, and not as you know I should be and thanking you that as you are making me what you want me to become. I'm yours, not by my choice, but because you called me out, THANK YOU! .

I thank you I don't face “. . . the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day” (Ps. 91:5) alone. In you I am secure and safe. Bless the effort that will be required for this week, grant me strength and patience that it will take to finish this race strong and with victory. I know I can't do this alone, (and don't want too,) and I know you don't expect me too.

Again I thank you for our families, for those who have wives and yes, husbands; thank you for bring us together, and for forging a real and lasting relationship even as we sometimes (okay, often) struggle. May I see again, what I saw at first, not only the beauty of the exterior, but the spiritual depth and strength that blesses our family. May I fight the false expectation or refusal to bend when necessary, (that's my own stubbornness at work.) May I learn the blessing of silence, trusting you to make an argument I can't, and to remember that I don't need to win every argument or battle. Grant me a teachable spirit, even as I am called to teach others, I need your help here.

Bless my enemies. Why they want to hate me and fight against me, I'm not sure; if there is need for me to repent and ask their and your forgiveness, grant me a heart to do so and quickly. There is enough for me to struggle with. Bless these my fellow laborers, give them success in the work you called them too, and may their reward be rich and blessed; give them a spirit which won't be broken or denied, and a passion for the souls of men and women.

Thank you for making me your own, I love you, not for what you do, but who you are! In your name I pray, AMEN!!!

Sunday, August 5, 2012


Saturday August 4, is day I shall never forget, what began in a whirlwind of activity in preparation ended with a great sense of thanksgiving to God for His great blessing upon me and our family.

So many people gathered from all point on the compass, many of whom I haven’t seen in decades (literally) assembled in Rehoboth Temple Church of Christ, in Columbus, Ohio to Give thanks to God for fifty years of service to God and His kingdom, with my family. It was a momentous time of worship.
There was laughter and a few tears, and because the Lord chose to honor us with His presence, we rejoiced in His sovereign grace during these years.
To each of you, I want, no, I need to express my thanks for your loving presence both yesterday and in my (our) lives as well. You made this day so very special. For those of you who could not make it, thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers on and during this day, it was filled with surprises and blessings which touched Barbara and our family very deeply.

In ministry we use words as one of the means to communicate our thoughts, but often the greatest means of communication is just your presence, you came through for us in so many unexpected ways, Barbara and I can’t thank you enough. Far beyond any gift given, (and there were many) were your expressions of love, which frankly mean a great deal more than any monetary gift of any size. THANK YOU!!!

I pray God’s riches blessing will always surround you, my prayer for you remains:
                The Lord bless you and keep you,
                The Lord make His face to shine upon you
                And give you Shalom (peace)
                In your going out and in your coming in
                In your lying down and in your raising up
                In your labor and in your leisure
                In your laughter and in your tears,
                Until we stand before Jesus,
   in that day when there shall Be no darkness or dawning,
                Amen!  "Ubuntu"

Thursday, August 2, 2012

From Today's Time alone with God . . .


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The Teaching of Adversity

The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling . . .” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God.
If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint.
God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength. Are you asking God to give you life, liberty, and joy? He cannot, unless you are willing to accept the strain. And once you face the strain, you will immediately get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the first step. Then God will give you nourishment— “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life . . .” (Revelation 2:7). If you completely give of yourself physically, you become exhausted. But when you give of yourself spiritually, you get more strength. God never gives us strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Our temptation is to face adversities from the standpoint of our own common sense. But a saint can “be of good cheer” even when seemingly defeated by adversities, because victory is absurdly impossible to everyone, except God.