On the Eve of Camp

As I write this several people are headed east to Panama City, FL. Several youth groups from across the state of Texas are motoring to Florida to the Laguna Beach Christian retreat center for Beach Camp. We have gathered there for several years to meet with the Lord and bask in the Sonshine. Yes, there will be plenty of sun but what draws me is the Son – Jesus.

This marks the third year in a row I have been invited to preach this camp. That is an unusual privilege. Preachers get invited back two years in a row but rarely three years in a row. I take the responsibility very seriously. I want fresh words from the Lord as well as the power of God to be evident in our midst.

We need more than songs and a sermon. We need to meet with the Lord. I know how quickly and easily camp highs can wear off as we return to our homes. The enemy attacks. We do not have the fuel of worship and digging into the word built into our lives to keep us on track. Camp highs fade with the sunsets far too often. I am not looking for that but lasting transformation.

On the eve of camp here is my prayer for all students and adults who will be in attendance. Dear Father, I ask you to protect the students and adults who are traveling so far to get to camp. I ask you to work in hearts to prepare all of us for what you have in store. I do not come as an expert or with a bag of tricks. All I have is you and your word and if they are not enough we are sunk. I ask you to stir my heart with the messages you want delivered. I have struggled looking at Eph 4. It has not clicked and yet you have not stirred anything else in my life.

I ask you to birth anointed messages in my heart. I ask you to birth messages that will have weight and impact. I ask you to save the lost. For those who do not know you I ask you to open the eyes of their heart to your saving grace. I ask you to make it abundantly clear that you alone are God and Savior. I know it is getting harder these days. Please give me what these students need to hear. I do not want to be distracted from the mission you have given me to preach. I know I am not there to entertain or to tickle the ears. I do not deserve this opportunity. I am humbled by it. I want to honor you with each message asking and pleading for your power to be evident.

I come asking you to protect students as they swim on the beach as well as when they travel. I know you are calling some to salvation. You are calling some to full time ministry. You are calling some to closer communion with you. I thank you for speaking to me and calling me to preach at a camp many years ago. I am thankful for that privilege to stand and preach to students once again. I am humbly grateful you still allow me to minister to students. I will do this as long as you give me opportunity.

Your word is vast. I do not want to go to Florida and do the same old song and dance. You have something to say to this generation and I ask you to reveal it to me. I ask you to let me know your heart for this week and to lay my life down as a servant to students. I ask you to give me some time to listen to those who are hurting, needy, unloved, unwanted, and unwelcomed. I ask you to give me a connection with the students and a compassion for them. I ask you to bind our hearts with your Spirit around your throne and word in worship.

I ask you to breakthrough hard hearts. I ask you to breakthrough hearts who have never surrendered to your Lordship. I ask you draw students and adults into a deeper fellowship with you than any of us have ever known before.

I ask you to energize me for the battle. I ask you to set things in motion that will last for eternity. I ask you to give students a deeper love for you and a deeper love for pleasing you. I know the focus for most in attendance is the beach. You have so much more in store than the beach. Please help me to hear crystal clearly from you.

On the eve of camp I consecrate myself to you trusting you to do wonders among us tomorrow. I ask you for a camp none of us will forget. Thank you again for this opportunity and thank you again for allowing me the privilege of preaching again this year. Apart from you there will be no supernatural move. I do not have creativity or tricks up my sleeve to manufacture some move. I have total reliance on you for anointing, for convicting students, for encouraging them with truth, and for calling them into your marvelous light. You alone know what will take place over the next week.

I lay this week before you praying for the full unleashing of your power. I beg of you not to allow this to be a wasted week. I surrender to do whatever you lead me to do. I ask you to use me as your vessel. That is my only purpose for being at camp this year. I am there to serve. Please use me and use this week in ways we could never have imagined. In Jesus name, amen.

She Hit a Homerun

We have returned from going to Brenda’s dad’s funeral. It was a difficult time for Brenda but also a time of healing for her. Most of you know I am married to an amazing woman. She continually blows me away. She did so again at the funeral.

When we arrived in Carson City, Nevada we went to visit Brenda’s stepmother. I had never met her and Brenda had only met her once. We also saw the house where the fire broke out and the smoke inhalation took the life of her dad. The smoke damage left the walls charred. I know walking through the smoke filled rooms and seeing his burned scooter pained her heart.

It was not until we got back to the hotel room and were settling in for the night that she began feeling God tugging at her heart to get up and speak at the funeral. The next morning I got up and went to breakfast leaving her some time to pray and jot down her thoughts.

If you know Brenda you will know she is shy and reserved. She prefers to work behind the scenes without drawing any attention to herself. She is perfectly content to live her life out of the limelight but not on this occasion. God prompted her to speak. Anytime she speaks publicly is only in obedience to the Lord. She gets very nervous speaking publicly but God uses her.

She got up at the funeral and spoke of memories of her dad serving Christ by making visits on Saturday recruiting children to ride a bus to church on Sunday. She remembered times when he would sing praise songs to the Lord and times of praying for their lost neighbors. She quoted scripture after scripture and spoke boldly of Jesus. I sat prayerfully on the front row doing what she has done for me each Sunday for the past two decades. Only this time I sat listening and praying and she did the speaking. I have never been prouder of her. She hit a homerun.

People laughed and cried. My heart hurt that nobody in that room knew the same man Brenda talked about. He battled alcohol for years. Many who spoke after Brenda made references to his drinking. Not one other person talked about his love for Jesus or his service to Jesus. Other than the pastor nobody even spoke the name of Jesus other than Brenda. Most of the people who gathered for that funeral could not relate to the Raul Ortiz who loved Christ, served Christ, and taught Christ to his children. They had never seen that side of him.

The preacher went through the motions of a sermon. His heart was not in it. So many talked before the message I thought he cut it short. Brenda exalted Christ and honored the Lord with her testimony. She spoke more truth that day than everyone else combined including the preacher. She is quite a woman and God chose me to be her husband. His anointing was definitely on her. I wish you could of have heard the message God put in her heart.

For the many women whom over the years have sat under Brenda as a teacher I know you are not surprised. She is a woman of great love for her Savior, great love for people, and incredible depth in her walk with the Lord. She is my best friend. I trust and make it a habit to seek her counsel above all others except the Lord’s.

We celebrate twenty years of marriage next week. I will be gone preaching a camp in Panama City, FL but will make it up to her when I get back. She is a great wife. She is a wonderful mother. She excels as a homemaker making my life and ministry more effective. She is my soul mate and just when I think she cannot out do herself God takes her to another level.

Brenda, I thank God for you and have never been more proud of you than when you stepped out of your comfort zone and exalted Jesus before strangers to point them to salvation and to the Savior at the funeral. I am proud to be your husband.

God: Creative and Powerful

After we attended the funeral for Brenda’s dad we found ourselves with half a day and nothing to do. Brenda did not want to go sit in the hotel all day and we had no interest in the casinos. She wanted to drive up one the mountains. I had no idea where we were going but we stuck out on our own anyway.

I had not been driving long when I saw a sign for Lake Tahoe. I followed the sign and soon learned we were only about twenty-five miles from this favorite tourist destination. We enjoyed driving through the mountains. As beautiful as the drive proved it could not compare the magnificent view of actually seeing the lake surrounded by mountains. I have never laid eyes on a more beautiful spot on this earth. I admit I have not traveled extensively as most people but the panoramic view held me spell bound.

Brenda and I were captivated by the view. We pulled off the road at a scenic overlook and sat down to take it all in. I asked Brenda at one point what she was thinking. She replied, “God’s creativity.” She in turn asked me what I thought and I commented, “I think of the power of God.” There you have it. Two Texans bewildered by the creativity of God to carve out a lake as deep as six hundred feet in some spots in the middle of the mountains.

As we sat on the park bench the cool breezes brushed our cheeks coming off the lake. I read where the water is so clear in places that you can see as far down as sixty-seven feet. We experienced serenity sitting on that bench. I do not know how long we sat there. Several visitors came and went but we remained perfectly content to linger there. We spoke very little. We worshipped much. Our words were few but our glimpse of the creativity and power of God were intense.

We worshipped without instruments, Sean leading us, or a congregation singing. In the public sanctuary of God’s Lake Tahoe creation Brenda and I basked in the presence of our Creator. God’s creativity knows no limits. His power is beyond comprehension. As I sat in the presence of the Lord in middle of a post card scene I kept thinking how small and insignificant we were in comparison to the lake, the mountains, and our God we were beholding.

This puts everything in perspective. Yes, Brenda was still grieving the death of her father but she was also comforted in the presence of her Heavenly Father. Though we were well over a thousand miles away from home we both felt at home before the Lord of Creation. We were stunned by the creativity and power of our God. That short drive brought healing and perspective to our souls. How easy it would have been for us to return to the hotel to lick our wounds and grieve privately. If we had done that I would have missed out on the second best highlight of the whole trip. The highlight beyond question for me had to be hearing my wife testify for Christ at the funeral. I blogged about that in “She Hit a Homerun.”

I am humbled today for having gotten to experience more of God last week near the shores of that impressive lake. Lord willing on Monday I will be standing on a beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico at Panama City, FL. Once again I will be wowed by the creativity and the power of God. Contemplating God in the splendor of His creation is better than sitting in the most entertaining movie.

Lord, thanks again for wowing me. Thanks again for one of those “Oh wow!” moments. Thank you for taking my breath away with your power and creativity. Thank you again for showing yourself strong and powerful again. If you can create massive mountains and carve out lakes as deep as the oceans, what are my little problems to you? They are like pebbles in your hands that can be cast to the side with the least of effort. Thank you for the reminder that you are creative and powerful. You inspire me and sitting at that lake breathed life back into my soul. Thank you for the reminder that nothing is too difficult for you. I rest in that. In Jesus name, amen.

Here I Am to Save the Day

That was a famous line spoken by a superhero in cartoons of yesteryear. The superhero never failed to be Johnny on the spot. Right in the nick of time he would swoop in and save the day. As you grow up you are faced with the sobering reality that superheroes do not exist. Nobody with tights and a cape ever shows up to save the day.

There is good news. Better than any superhero is our Sovereign God. He is all powerful, all knowing, always present to step in save the day. Brenda and I experienced this once again in a dramatic way yesterday.

Brenda’s dad died in a house fire this past Saturday in Carson City, Nevada. He was not burned but being unable to walk he tried to crawl to the bathroom to get away from the flames and the smoke. In the end, it was the smoke that got him. They had to do an autopsy on him delaying funeral arrangements.

We learned on Tuesday night the funeral would be this coming Saturday in Mound House, Nevada. Due to some financial set backs we have found ourselves with no extra money. We have enough to pay all our bills and buy groceries but there is nothing else to spare. All the money we had in savings went to repair the leak we under our foundation back in the winter. Because the leak was determined to be a preexisting leak the insurance did not pay to have it repaired. They paid to restore the flooring but not to repair the leak.

When I began to research how much it would cost us to drive to Nevada the information proved discouraging. To fly on such short notice brought even worse financial news. With my heart torn in how to get Brenda and I to Nevada for that funeral, I did what I have done thousands of times.

I sat down before the Lord and poured out my heart asking Him for a miracle. This is what I prayed in my journal yesterday morning. “Lord, I want to take my wife to her dad’s funeral. I do not have the money to drive or to fly but I know you do. I am asking you to release your provision for this trip. I ask you to give what is needed. I want to do this for my wife. Lord, would you grant us this money. I would love to fly but that would be even more expensive than driving. So I lay this at your feet. I ask you to show yourself mighty on our behalf once again. I ask you to do this for my wife. Please do not let money be an issue to keep us from going. I ask you to move this mountain for her. I leave it at your feet. There is nothing more I can do. I wish at times like this I was a rich man but I am not. I am rich in faith and pray that will be enough. As I have numerous other times in my life I look to you for provision. I cannot come up with it on my own. I look to you for this miracle and trust you to make this work. You are faithful and you are deserving of glory. I ask you to work this out.”

Not long after I finished praying I got a text from a friend who has come to mean the world to Brenda and me. She asked me to give her a call. She informed me she felt led of the Lord to help us to get to Nevada no matter how much it cost. She asked me to get the financial need together and to let her know. When we checked into airline tickets for the two of us they were $2,032.60. Our friend did not hesitate and told us she would wire us the money to book the flights. God worked it all out.

Without any other means for help I did what Jesus commanded in [Matt 7:7-8.] “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

I have to admit very seldom have I seen God answer a prayer that quickly or dramatically. I am not surprised. God in essence swooped into our circumstances and said, “Here I am to save the day!” I am not surprised because that is what He does. Read [Ps 50:15.] ”Call upon Me in the day of trouble I shall rescue you and you will honor Me.” Read His promise in [Deut 31:8] “The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

God continually steps in and saves the day. He saves the lost man from sin and the wrath stemming from God’s holiness. God steps and saves the day for the child of God bound up in the throes of sin giving that child deliverance and a way of escape. God steps in to help the burdened, the poor, and the needy. Most importantly, for those reading this today, God steps in to save the day for you too.

I pray our little testimony will encourage you to keep asking, seeking, and knocking. You just never when the Lord will intervene saying, “Here I am to save the day.”

Waiting on God: Time Wasted or Productive

I just finished reading about God choosing and calling Moses to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. [Ex 3:1-22] What really struck me most as I read this account did not take place in the third chapter in Exodus. God working in chapter two grabbed my attention. Read it, “Now it came about in the course of those days that the King of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.” [Ex 2:23-25]

Did you catch those phrases? Their cry “rose up to God.” “God heard their groaning.” “God remembered His covenant.” “God saw.” “God took notice.” All of that is very comforting but two things I would submit for your contemplation. How did Israel end up in Egypt in the first place? Remember Joseph and the seven-year famine. Egypt was the only source for food and God brought Israel and his eleven other sons to Egypt to settle under the protection of Joseph. Eventually Israel and all twelve sons died in Egypt. The people of Israel continued to live there and grow in population until the new King of Egypt saw them as a potential threat and they were enslaved. Why would God call them to Egypt knowing this would lead to centuries of slavery? I began asking that question to myself as I read through the story of Joseph last week. Did God not know that Israel and his sons coming to Egypt would eventually lead to slavery?

The second point I would submit for your consideration is why didn’t God act sooner. We just read how God heard and took notice of the hardships the people of Israel were going through. Most scholars believe the Israelites were enslaved 430 years to the Egyptians. If God saw, heard, took notice, and remembered His covenant why did He delay in intervening for so long?

These are the kind of questions that surface in my mind from time to time reading the scriptures. How many Israelites prayed asking for deliverance but still died in slavery? They waited and waited and waited some more. On the surface it might appear they waited on God in vain.

I know there are some of you reading this who find yourselves in the same set of circumstances. You have been waiting on God to intervene forever it seems. Your circumstances grow worse by the day and God does not step in to intervene. This delay in divine intervention produces confusion, frustration, depression, and impatience.

Let me be the first to say I understand. I find myself waiting on God to intervene but find myself waiting and waiting. It seems most of my Christian life I have been waiting on God to do something. I waited to get married. I waited to be serving full time at a church. I waited on miracle provision when times were lean. I waited on God to get all my books published and am still waiting until they are published nation and worldwide. I wait on the Lord for provision to pay back $10,000 I owe a local businessman on the Seminole Cares project. I wait on the Lord to provide another $23,000 so we can purchase the land for the hospital in Honduras. I wait on the Lord all the time.

I have to be honest. I hate waiting. I am a mover and shaker. I want to get on with the plans God sets before me. At times I think all the waiting is a waste of time. God is never in a hurry like I am. He has a plan and His timing is perfect. I do not know why God lead Israel into Egypt other than to say that without that there would have been no chosen nation of God. They would have died in the seven-year famine. Their 430 years in bondage was not wasted time while they waited on God. It proved to be productive time for the nation. It was during this most difficult time of slavery that the nation began to grow. They multiplied. [Ex 1:8-12] God used this time to make them a mighty nation of numerous people. God was at work fulfilling His covenant promise even though the children of Israel could see it for themselves.

So if you find yourself waiting on God let me assure you God does not waste time. He is at work. He is still in control though it may not appear that way. Let me conclude this with a few simple reminders.

1. Times of waiting on God are not wasted times but productive times.

2. God is at work around you and you may not even notice it.

3. God’s timing is always perfect and His time is usually different than our timing.

4. God sees, hears, takes notice, and remembers.

5. We must learn to trust Him patiently.

O, that dreaded phrase trust Him patiently. We must learn to trust Him with constant endurance. Day in and day out, we must keep asking and keep trusting. Hour by hour we have to keep crying out and with long suffering staying the course. Waiting on God is not always pleasant but it can be productive if we do not lose heart. Stay the course my brothers and sisters. Please know I am right there with you waiting on God for many things. I hope this brings a little comfort to someone today. Waiting is not time wasted but time productive.

It Has Been Awhile

I have not written anything since May 4^th. I attempted a blog several weeks ago and deleted the whole thing after three sentences. It has been over a month since I sat down at this computer and let the words flow from the Lord onto this screen. I have not even had the desire to write. It has been a while because I had nothing to write. I had no message to communicate. There have been no fresh thoughts to jot down.

During this time I have prayed a great deal and waited on the Lord. I often wondered if during the waiting I was wasting my time or if God used that time productively to build things into me. I have feel like it has been productive time. During the last several weeks I have finished reading through the Bible once again and finished reading six other books. During this time the Lord has birthed His messages in my heart to preach here in Seminole though I am not in any kind of series. During these weeks I have walked through Seminole and enjoyed my family, the flock entrusted to me, good food, laughter, and much time alone with the Lord. I am a man at peace though I am man also being challenged by the Lord to believe for more.

Yes, it has been awhile since I sat at the pulpit of this screen and poured out my heart to the cyber flock the Lord has allowed me to serve. [Eccl 3:1] “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” For these past weeks I enjoyed the appointed time of walking beside the still waters and resting in green pastures. [Ps 23:5] I have to be honest and admit such seasons do not come easily for me.

I have seven different projects going on right now that require my prayer, time, attention, and labors. There has been precious little time to write and even when the time presented itself I found I had nothing to say. Not that God has not been working though. He is working deeply in me. Truth is I am hearing Him loudly and clearly. He is stretching me and stretching my faith. That is nothing new. There are times when I feel like a rubber band about to snap under the pressure. God always does something astounding in times like these.

Day in and day out I continue to seek Him, prepare messages, visit the sick in the hospital, and now prayerfully begin to write again. During the season beside the still waters and in the green pastures I had a great deal of time to think. I meditated on His word and what I sensed Him saying to me. I looked in the mirror and took an honest inventory of my life. I have noticed behaviors and attitudes that did not honor the Lord. One of those things He has clearly shown me is my impatience. He has forced me to slow down and wait on Him and His timing in all things. He has slowed my pace and in that I have enjoyed the little blessings in life all the more.

Yes, it has been awhile since my last post. It has been awhile since I wrote a sentence, a paragraph or completed writing anything. I am back. I am back with a different outlook after having sat in the presence of the Lord for a prolonged season. I honestly do not know that this little writing ministry the Lord has called me to makes much difference. The hits on the blog counter tell me people keep coming to this site. They must get something out of it or they would not return.

So I consider this a kind of new beginning. I am amazed we have passed the 20,000 mark on our hits to the site. That should be cause for rejoicing but not when your vision includes hundreds of thousands people visiting and getting a fresh touch from the Lord. I desire your prayers. I cannot write under the anointing of the Lord without the prayer of God’s people. So I make a deal with you. You keep praying for me diligently to be inspired and anointed and I will keep writing as the Lord gives me fresh material. We will both trust the Lord for what happens after that. It has been a while but I am back.