HERE IN THE REAL WORLD

A VISION
(1 Corinthians 13)

“A friend has painted a vision for what can happen in Pascagoula … a vision I do not think I could have had on my own …”[1]

In the days and months following hurricane Katrina, Brother John Dobbs, who preaches on the gulf coast and was devastated by the storm, kept us updated on post Katrina life. With the approach of the one year anniversary of Katrina I decided to look at 1 Corinthians 13 and let John’s words from the past year provide the commentary.

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4):
1. “We are just astounded at the following item! A brother has purchased for us a new camper in which to live while our home is being repaired. I am speechless!”
2. I would guess that hundreds of volunteers have flooded the Gulf Coast with help. Someone said today that the ‘church of Christ’ is ‘out in the community, not just serving people at their building’. I am happy about that.
3. Our building looks like Wal-Mart … food, clothing, supplies we have it all … at an everyday low price: $0. We are supplying hotdogs and hamburgers to the community, as well as ice and other supplies. One of our men and his wife are overseeing this massive project. They have been quite a blessing to our entire community.
4. “We are overwhelmed with the offers rolling in.”
5. “They work six days and get one day off. Can you believe that they spent their one day off working around the church?”
6. “Another cool thing happened today. Two kids about 12 years old each showed up. They are from our neighborhood. They came to help. They toted boxes, loaded the bus, went on two bus trips, and did anything we asked them to do. They have a servant heart.”
7. “There are people around us who will not lift a finger to help someone else. And there are people who would drive for hours to relieve the burden of a stranger. There are people who would not give a dollar to a hungry person. And there is Kyle. I think he is a child from Missouri. He sent a plastic bag with a couple of dollars worth of change in it. It was marked ‘hurricane fund’.”
8. “One thing that cannot be exaggerated is the generosity of our brothers and sisters throughout the nation.”

“Charity vaunteth not itself” (1 Corinthians 13:4):
1. A brother has purchased for us a new camper in which to live while our home is being repaired. I am speechless! ……. I do not even know this brother!”
2. “When we pass by our fellow human beings who are hurting, we become thieves. We rob ourselves of the blessings God has in store for the compassionate and service-minded.”
3. “The theme of the day on the bus route was “Loss”. Tomorrow will mark eight weeks since Hurricane Katrina slammed into southern Mississippi and Louisiana. Much has evolved in our relief effort, but one thing that does not seem to have evolved is the sense of loss.”
4. “Also this week it turned cold. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was cold in my camper. I cried for the people who were in tents and didn’t know that a cold front was coming through.”
5. “Our main Chief of Staff around the building is David Kilbern….. David and Elaine are just incredible servants who want no attention called to their work…. They are just doing what they have been taught to do by our Teacher.”
6. “Ripples on the water from one stone expand outwardly and we never know where that ends. A kind word, or an unkind word each create their own ripples. An act of service, or a withholding of service create their own ripples. A prayer with a hurting person has to create ripples in the Kingdom that we never see.”

“Charity envieth not”
1. “Remember that this world is not our home and all of these things will be burned up in the last day. You are actually envious of ashes!” (Dobbs last post before Katrina hit)

2. If you have a home, with your own chair, your own bed, your own pillow … when you go to bed tonight, thank God. The comforts we take for granted have been snatched away from most of us here on the Coast. Still, we feel blessed and hopeful.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13

1. “Today was a day when almost no one was here at the building to help. This made for some hectic times, but we’ve made it.”
2. “That tent has got to be a lonesome arrangement for a single mom trying to make it on her own with no job, no transportation (truck was flooded in storm), no electricity, no hot water, no possessions, no appliances, no nothing.
3. “He told us that he had been cooking on his mother’s piano. On the piece of wood that covers the keys he had placed a sterno burner. He took two wrenches and taped them to the next level of wood on the piano. Then he lit the sterno and placed the can on the wrenches. We nicknamed him ‘McGyver’.”
4. “I have more to say, but I need to go get some supper, rest a bit, and get some sleep. God has some surprises set aside for us tomorrow. Isn’t He Awesome?”
5. “Keep the work in Pascagoula in your prayers. We have a long way to go, but we have A Great Source of Strength to see us through.

CHARITY NEVER FAILETH 1Corinthians 13:8
“The generosity of the Christian spirit is so alive in the church today!”

[1] All non Biblical quotes are from John Dobbs’ web site http://remains.blogspot.com/
concerning the aftermath of hurricane Katrina

How To Loosen A Jar From The
Nose Of A Bear

It was quite a dilemma that the bear found himself in on the blustery day. As the balloons floated high above the beehive, the poor little bear’s nose was stick in a honey jar. Rabbit stuttered; Piglet ran around as in a nervous fit; Tigger went bouncy bouncy bouncy. All worried what to do to help poor Pooh. Christopher Robin sent him to the wisest of the forest: Owl. No one seemed to have the answer, yet they all tried. They all searched. They all pitched in with their own individual talents. Off course at the end the jar came off.

We, here in the real world, are approaching the one year anniversary of a real catastrophe: The one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s visit to the Gulf Coast. Like God, nature is no respecter of persons. Musical great Fats Domino suffered as did brother John Dobbs as did the homeless man in the streets. Unlike Pooh who had his nose stuck and could solicit help from others in the Hundred Acres Woods, no one seemed to be spared the wrath of Katrina. Yet, they came together as one.

Many who had been at best Sunday morning Christians became NIKE Christians: JUST DO IT: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only (James 1:24). The doctor stood beside the teacher who stood beside the ditch digger all waiting to pitch in somewhere. It was no longer the “have” helping the “have nots,” as all in the matter of a day had became “have nots.” People hundreds of miles away who were not touched physically were touched emotionally and became “doers” of the Word.

On September 21, 2005, John Dobbs wrote: “Our building looks like Wal-Mart … food, clothing, supplies we have it all … at an everyday low price: $0. We are supplying hotdogs and hamburgers to the community, as well as ice and other supplies. One of our men and his wife are overseeing this massive project. They have been quite a blessing to our entire community.”[1] Notice that John didn’t say he was supplying hotdogs or hamburgers to his church family only. No, he said to the community. In the direst of times those in the worst of situations found ways to fulfill the royal law: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (James 2:8). It is amazing that James wrote “thy neighbour” when he could have easily written “brother” or “Christian brother.” And, that John Dobbs wrote “community” when he could easily have written “church family.” Can love possibly erase denominational lines?

On his 2 August 2006 entry at his blog Brother Dobbs wrote, “It is so important that young people are impressed with the message of serving the helpless and poor. This has been … not a spark, but a wildfire this summer on the Coast. Hundreds of young people have come to give of their time and energy for the sake of others.” Can it be that they have looked past “eros,” purified “Phileo” and are basking in “AGAPE?”

In times of catastrophe we all seem to help each other. But, we should be looking to help each other on a nice pretty sunshiny day also, not just when it’s blustery. It seems that is just what went on and still goes on in the aftermath of Katrina. Much like Pooh who didn’t know what to do with the honey jar stuck on his knows, those in the Gulf Coast were metaphorically in the same shape: they didn’t know what to do. Yet, they did it. They did it because there are three things that never fail: faith, hope and charity. (1 Corinthians). Of these Paul wrote, “The greatest of these is charity” (1 Corinthians 13:13). It will loosen a jar from the nose of a bear.

God Bless and Keep all our Brothers and Sisters on the Gulf Coast

Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA
little_sorrel@yahoo.com

[1] http://remains.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_remains_archive.html

THROUGH HIS SILENCE

There is a time in the life of every Christian when he thinks God is not listening nor responding to their prayers. There is sin and all types of un godly behavior all around them, and yet they think God has all but abandoned them. The prophet Habakkuk faced the same problem. In Habakkuk 1:2, we learn that Habakkuk had taken his concerns to God on many occasions, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save.” Though Habakkuk has taken his request to the Lord, he felt that God had not heard them or was not going to respond. The first thing we learn while we wait in silence is to maintain contact with God. The apostle Paul, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians, taught us to, “….pray without ceasing….” As Habakkuk went many times to the Lord in prayer with his concerns, we too are to pray and keep contact with the Master without ceasing.

Habakkuk was assured by God that he would act on the matters that he had taken to God in prayer. Habakkuk was waiting for immediate answers though, and God’s response was, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time” (Hab. 2:3). It wasn’t to be answered in Habakkuk’s time frame, but the time that God had set aside for the prayer to be answered. So many times we want answer immediately. We live in a time when with the push of a button we can send a letter electronically from one side of the world to the next. In our fast paced lives we sometimes forget that God does things in God’s time, which is based on eternity. God gave Habakkuk some of the best advice anyone could ever have while waiting in silence, “..the just shall live by his faith…” (Hab. 2:4).

In God’s silence we are to remain faithful and live by that faith. The apostle Paul complained three times to God about a thorn in his flesh. God did not take that thorn, instead, God told Paul, “My Grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor.12:9). In God’s silence we are to live by our faith remembering that God’s grace is sufficient to get us through.

As mentioned earlier, the apostle Paul told us to pray without ceasing. I remember a few years back when the WWJD craze was going strong someone came out with a new catch phrase PUSH, pray until something happens. Many times God’s silence comes because what we pray for is not in the will of God. We pray for selfish reasons. We look for the answer we want, and fail to recognize the answer that God gives. When we “PUSH” we need to ask that it be God’s will that is done and not ours. Jesus praying before his arrest in the garden closed his second prayer by saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (Matt. 26:42). We must remember as we pray during His silence to ask that it be not our will but His will that is done.

What is one then to do? In God’s silence, instead of becoming bitter and falling away from the faith, we are to continue to praise God and live by the faith. Habakkuk closes his book with a hymn of faith. In chapter 3:17-19, he tells us that no matter how bad it gets, he will trust in the Lord. Habakkuk tells us “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. 3:18). We are to pray without ceasing, growing in the Lord, and we are to accept that the answer to the prayer, when it comes in God’s time not ours, be in His will not our own. In his silence we are to remember that the grace that saved us is sufficient to carry us through

Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA
little_sorrel.blogspot.com