“We live our lives before the wild, dangerous, unfettered and free character of the living God.” (Walter Brueggemann)
“Perhaps God, as the Author of the Story we’re all living in, would tilt the scale in a favorable direction if we knew we could trust him. And therein lies our dilemma. There seems to be no direct correlation between the way we live our lives and the resulting fate God has in store for us, at least on this earth. Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, lives the life of a manipulator and is blessed. Jesus lives for the sake of others and is crucified. And we never quite know when we’re going to run into the uncertainty of the part God has written for us in his play, whether our character has significant lines yet to speak or will even survive the afternoon.” Ransomed Heart 7/25/15
I finished a 2 part series from John 15:1-11, “A Powerful Connection, A Powerful Transformation”, today. Jesus was about to physically live this earth and He wanted to make 2 things clear to His disciples: first, who they were before God (faithful followers), and second, what He expected from them after He was gone (bear fruit – more fruit – much fruit). As was Jesus’ method of teaching, He used a picture that was very familiar to them, the vine and the branches. Last Sunday we looked at the Powerful Connection – Abiding In Christ, and talked about the importance of the branch abiding, staying connected to the vine. The vine dresser was responsible for cultivating the vine and the branches by the pruning process. This past Sunday we looked at the Powerful Transformation – Growing In Christ. The vine dresser, and any farmer, knows that the greatest part of the “gardening” process is seeing the fruit! And that is exactly what Jesus expected from His “branches”, the disciples, and us as believers today. The fruit Jesus expects us to bear is the likeness of Him, and to take the Gospel message to as many people as we can. Their eternal security was at stake!
This message took on a whole new meaning this morning, as the community buried a longtime resident. The woman’s death was alcohol related. She was the aunt of our good friends next door. Christie and I went to the funeral, which was held at the Catholic Church. We were standing in the back of the small church as the family and friends came in. I must tell you that heaviness came over me as I began to think, “How many of these people in this church today are lost?” I was hoping that maybe the pastor leading the service would bring some kind of hope in the words he had to share. But sadly, one person read Psalm 23, a few secular songs were played and sung, and the pastor read John 3:16-17 with NO comments at all! What an opportunity! My heart just sank! I was so excited to share this message this morning because I felt it was a message for this day, for this community! If Jesus Christ is living in our hearts there must be a radically different way we live our lives. We cannot keep silent.
We had a very interesting “visitor” show up at our place this week. We were getting ready to go out in the village and there was a knock on the back door. I went and saw a man standing there at the top of the steps. I had no idea who he was. I opened the door and the smell of alcohol was pretty strong. The man looked at me and asked if Wayne was home. I said no, that he was out of town and we were staying in his home. He was not very clear in his talk and almost fell back down the stairs. He said that he usually came by and they had tea. I was not sure about any of this and my gut reaction was to say we do not have any tea…thinking I do not know this man or what he REALLY was doing here. BUT…I asked him to come in and we would get him some tea.
I was very proud of Christie as she watched him come in and sit down in what he called “his” chair. He told us where Wayne would sit and where Rosemary (Wayne’s wife) would sit. So we pretended to be Wayne and Rosemary! Christie fixed him a cup of tea and we talked, well, I mostly listened. We asked him a little about himself but he basically talked about what he wanted to talk about. During our conversation he said something about some old Coleman stoves Wayne told him he could have. Not knowing anything about this we called Wayne. When he answered I explained that his friend was having tea with us. He knew the man and the story he told us was true. I gave the phone to him and he talked to Wayne for a few minutes. After I got the phone back I asked Wayne about the stoves. He said that was something they discussed 6 years ago! But if he could find them he was welcomed to them. He said that he was a smart guy when he was sober, but he was the town drunk! He said he knows not to come to the house drunk or stoned. He did mention that he had smoked some pot that day also.
I knew the best thing to do was listen! And he had a lot to say, repeating some things several times. Christie offered him some pizza but he did not want any. She offered him some cookies which he excitedly took. He said that Rosemary always had cookies for him. After about an hour, and two cups of tea, he got up and said he had to go. He thanked Christie for the cookies. As he left I wondered if this was going to be a regular thing since he knew that Wayne knew he came by. I texted Wayne about this and he said he may come back. But he said to not let him in if he was drunk or stoned, that he knows the rules! Wayne actually wrote a little poem he gives to the people who seem to come by drunk…”If you’re sober come on over! If you’re drunk stay in your bunk! If an a**hole you choose to be, keep your good health and stay away from me!” He said they seem to understand!
Little did the man know that we would meet again, sooner not later. The next day God was up to some God things. Wednesday night the church sponsored a Ladies Night Out at our house. My plan was to go to the library and work on my message for Sunday. But God had other plans…I got to the library and there was a note on the door that said, “Wednesday night volunteer librarian will not be here!” Ok, now what. I cannot go back home because I would break up the hen party, I mean Ladies Night Out! JUST KIDDING! So what are my options? I decided to go next door to the laundry mat. They have a nice big table where you fold clothes…a perfect place to spread out!
Several people came in and out, mostly to use the bathhouse inside. We would speak. One man came in and out three times. The last time as he was leaving he asked me what I was doing. I told him I was preparing my message for church this Sunday. He said, “Oh”, and kept on walking. A group of native ladies came in followed by a young girl (13-15). They walked back to the bathroom. One of the ladies came back out and we exchanged small talk. She asked me where I was from and why I was in the village. I asked her how she knew I was not from the village. She said your accent! I asked her where she was from and she said she was in town for the funeral. In a few minutes the other ladies and the young girl came out. The young girl walked over to the table and asked if that was a Bible. I said yes. She said that she had just gotten baptized the week before at camp. She got saved a few weeks earlier and wanted to get baptized at camp. I told her that was awesome and encouraged her to read the Word and spend time daily with the Lord. I invited her to visit us at church on Sunday. She said she planned to go to church every week. As the group left, one of the ladies stayed behind and asked me what church I was preaching. I said McGrath Community Church. She said that she used to go there until she moved to Kenai. We talked for a few minutes and she left.
The person to walk in next was, you guessed it, the man who dropped by our house. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw me! He walked over to the table and said a few words, which I barely could make out. I asked him had he been drinking and he said sure. He asked me to watch his bag while he went to the bathroom. When he came back he started a conversation about pot, saying that it was better than drinking. He also said that you never hear of people on pot killing people like people drinking do. I said that was not true, pot smokers kill people too! I knew he was high, and probably would not hear, or remember, a word I said but I had to share with him. I asked him why he wanted to waste his life with alcohol and dope. He just looked at me and laughed. I told him I was in the laundry mat that night to tell him that Jesus Christ loved him, and wanted to help him get help! He said that my buddy, meaning Wayne, had told him about religion and he had held on to a little of what my buddy had said. I said, “Do you know that Jesus Christ died on a cross for you? Because He loved you! I said I love you too Jesse Hooper and I came here tonight to tell you that. He just looked at me with the emptiest look. He picked up his bag and started out the door. When he got to the door he said when I am sober I will come back and see you! Oh, what an amazing God we serve. He loves Jesse, and wants Jesse to know that too! Please pray that I can talk to this man when he is sober!
We had a couple of cool mornings this past week and we fired up the Big Stove. Christie made a batch of biscuits, fresh blueberry muffins and homemade bread. I am thinking we may trade our electric stove in for one of these Bad Boy Wood Stoves. Christie is getting really good at it! 
We had a real craving for a homemade grilled burger this week. The house we are staying has an old gas grill converted into a regular fire grill. With charcoal being so expensive, we decided to give Wayne’s wood fired cooking a try. So, I found a couple of pieces of real dry wood and fired it up. After about a half hour I moved the wood to one end of the grill and threw a couple of burgers on to try it out…WOW, what a unique taste! A real good burger cooked over a wood fire. I threw the others on and we had plenty for leftovers! You need to try this out. I might not go back to charcoal!
The highlight of the week was visits by our special moose friends. The gardens around here are really producing some very nice lettuce, broccoli, chives, herbs, very nice leafy plants. Our moose friends are making the rounds and seeing what is on the menu. The poor family across the street had this beautiful green garden growing, but after Lucy Moose and her calf got finished, well, all that was left was the stems! And they had a 5 foot wire fence all around the garden. Lucy had no problem just stepping over the fence, while baby moose just pushed it down! We learned that moose do not like the green leafs of the potato plant, so you can plant them wherever you like and they will not touch them. You will see gardens with rows of nice, tall potato plants and all the rows of the other leafy plants all eaten down to the dirt!
There is another moose, Annie, who loves the small trees in our yard. She will always stop by the grill and check to see if we left her any treat on it. We had an unexpected guest “fly” by today. It was a gray owl. We will wait until we see it again to give it a name. Listing names now, thinking maybe Hoot would be a good one!
This week is a big week. Our Bible Clubs get started back this week after a VBS team was here last week. We have had a really good turn out so far. I am hoping that I can stir some interest in the church for someone to step up and take it over so when school starts back up the clubs can continue. We will also be hitting the streets this week and visiting. We are praying for receptive hearts as we knock on doors and see if we can help or pray for them in any way. The construction team arrives this Friday to start the final work on the parsonage. I will take some picture this week and post on the blog. We are in need of furnishings for the parsonage. The church has already purchased the stove, stackable washer and dryer, refrigerator and microwave. We need furnishings for the 2 bedrooms, and living room, as well as linens, towels, kitchen place settings and miscellaneous knick knacks (you ladies know what I am talking about). If you would like to help please make your check payable to McGrath Community Church and note on the check “Parsonage”. Mail the check to McGrath Community Church, P.O. Box 82, McGrath, AK 99627.
One last thing before I leave…how would you like to have your quite-time each day with this view!
I will try to more current with the updates. Hope you all have an awesome week!
Christie and Mike – Bush People
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