Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

                I like to think of myself as a moral person, as a good Christian.  But if I were to look at myself the way God sees me in all my wretchedness; my evil thoughts, my bad attitudes, my anger, my pride, my sins of omission and commission it would be a very different picture.  Thankfully He sees me through the blood of Jesus Christ.  I am forgiven!  Yet it is so easy to be deceived into sin.

                For our last Summer Series we had Bill Owens, the former CEO/CFO of HealthSouth speak to us. It was a powerful message on sin, forgiveness and restoration.  Bill spent 43 months in jail, and still has a parole officer.  His desire is to warn others of the subtlety of sin, the consequences and yet the blessedness of forgiveness. 

                He asked those in the room last Thursday morning “How many of your are 28 or under?  I made my first wrong decision that got me on this path of untruthfulness and altering the books when I was 28 years old.  I knew it was wrong.  I might have been fired for not making that decision, but no one held a gun to my head.  I got myself into a situation where I couldn’t get out.”  

                How do we deal with sin in our own lives?  Do we even recognize it our actions or attitudes as sin?  C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory says, “I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different.  I am asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me.  But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing.  Forgiveness says ‘Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.’  But excusing says ‘I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it; you weren’t really to blame.’  If one was really not to blame then there is nothing to forgive.”  

                Are you asking God to forgive you or excuse you? Do I really understand the seriousness of my sin that nailed Christ to the cross?  I think I can truthfully say I don’t have a clue.   The Christian life is finding

out about myself, how truly sinful I am, more than I ever thought; yet recognizing that His grace and forgiveness is more than I could ever imagine.  I must acknowledge His graciousness to me so I can forgive myself and forgive others.

                We have our Fall Banquet and Key Leaders Luncheon with Brigadier General Dick Able September the 22^nd and 23^rd.   Our 3^rd YP Forum this year has just taken place with around 30 attending.  Many of our Discipleship Groups took partial breaks for the summer and are in full swing.  I will meet with the Discipleship Group Leaders September 10^th. 

                I am always so grateful for your continued support and prayers for both me and this ministry.  There is no question in my mind that we are making an impact.  For nearly 30 years we have made inroads in men’s lives, families, communities and businesses.  But I know God wants to do much greater things. 

                Thank you for joining with us and seeing God be glorified by accomplishing His purposes.  Thank God that He has forgiven us, and let us strive to completely forgive others

Imagine this…You and I are just leaving a football game and we are walking back to our car.  On the way back, we approach a guy lying on the ground bleeding.  Why is it that the first question that we would think to ask him is “What happened to you?”  Let’s examine this response.  What relevance does “what happened to him?” have in that moment of bleeding?  Why are we really asking that question?  We cannot say that it is because we want to become more familiar with the situation; most of the random people walking from a game would not be physicians and really could not use that information.  So why would we ask an unnecessary, preliminary question that does not have any value toward actually helping the hurt person?  Consider this…

A few weeks ago, I revisited my copy of Dr. King’s Birmingham Jail letter.  While reading it, I noticed something that did not get my attention the first time.  Dr. King wrote, “Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here.”

 When I notice the phrase “readily consented,” I immediately began to feel guilty.  As I thought about it more, outside of what I do for my family and some close friends, there are very few things to which I would readily consent.  Any action of mine outside of that group of people is likely to be conditional.  How selfish is that?  Dr. King made an action-ready commitment to Rev. Shuttlesworth nearly a year earlier; and when the moment came to deploy, there was not a re-evaluation of the commitment. All un-expectancies were dealt with, and every adjustment was made; never was the commitment questioned.    

Where would any of us be if people along the way did not readily consent to be Christ-like toward us long before we crossed paths; especially, if we were in-the-wrong or helpless?  No contingencies, no conditions, no strings; we were loved.  Isaiah 40:1 says, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  As believers, why do we readily consent to do so little that Christ would do without hesitation or condition?   Furthermore, why do we filter and investigate when Christ would just respond?

In regards to the guy that we found lying on the ground, we really would have asked that preliminary question to determine the level of commitment we would give to that situation.  That question would not have been about being concerned, but rather an assessment packaged as a concern.

In conclusion, I want to encourage you with one of my favorite poems, Chip.  When the opportunity rises to help a hurting person, I pray that you readily consented long before that moment to be Christ-like.

  If I had my child to raise all over again, I'd build self esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less. I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites. I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars. I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often. I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd model less about the love of power, And more about the power of love.

By Diane Loomas

 As always, thank you for your commitment to support, pray and uphold this ministry.  You know that I cannot do it alone.  I use these monthly prayer letters to share with you what God is doing in my life in hope that it will impact yours.  Feel free to share your comments or encouragements with me via email at dfoster@ybl.org.

Matthew 5:48 Be Ye perfect, as my Father in heaven is perfect.

Are you making progress in your Christian life? Can you see changes in attitude, actions, and more of His desires and less of yours? It is a battle isn't it?

C. S. Lewis in his classic book Mere Christianity talks about this verse from the Sermon on the Mount. He says, "I find a good many people have been bothered by .... Our Lord's words, 'Be ye perfect'. Some people seem to think this means 'Unless you are perfect, I will not help you'; and as we cannot be perfect, then, if He meant that, our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant 'The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.'"

Lewis later states what he believes Jesus is saying, "Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life ... whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, or let you rest, until you are literally perfect-until my father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with Me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.'"

These seems so unreachable but listen to what he says next, "and yet-this is the other and equally important side of it this Helper who will, in the long run, be satisfied with nothing less than absolute perfection, will also be delighted with the first feeble, stumbling effort you make tomorrow to do the simplest duty. As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is pleased at the baby's first attempt to walk: no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son. In the same way, he said, 'God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.'''

Yes we are to strive to be perfect and yes we will never get there.  But I want to emphasize our feeble, stumbling, sometimes humiliating efforts. God is pleased with our progress. The dictionary   definition of progress is "a forward or onward movement: a movement to a goal or to a further or higher stage." We are certainly going to a higher stage, beyond anything we could ask or think. And we will look like Jesus then, complete and perfect.

We are gearing up for a busy fall. We have had two of our Summer Series that have been well attended and we expect the same for our last Summer Series on August 26^th. Our banquet with General Dick Abel is scheduled for September 22^nd. Our two new Concentrating on the Majors studies are progressing nicely.

I am so grateful for all of you who continue to keep this ministry as a priority. We covet your prayers as well as your continued support of this ministry. I still believe this is a very critical time for us to be in this ministry.

As I have continued to say in these last few letters our prayers, our actions, and our lives do matter. Any small act of obedience does not go unnoticed. For His glory God has chosen to accomplish His purposes through us and develop us in the process. Our Father has a high regard for us.

Just recently, during a small group study the topic of impatience was mentioned for discussion.  We talked about impatience in different areas: at home, at work, with family and friends; and for a few minutes we discussed why we get impatient and what prompts it. The first ingenious conclusion that we reached was that sin was the problem!  Although that was true, I challenged the group to be more specific.  Further along the path of discovery, we also talked about other issues such as discontent, irritability and frustration. Surprisingly, every man around that table struggled with these issues at home.

Fifteen minutes later, we still were wrestling with identifying a more specific stimulus; when one of the fellas burst out with “I just hate being inconvenienced by my wife and boss.”  I remember immediately thinking to myself, “Ahhh…now we are on to something.”

 Needless to say, we continued to pursue that thought, and drew a second conclusion of why we become discontent, irritated and frustrated…and that stimulus is idolatry.  As believers, when we hear the word idolatry, we often think about placing people, things and habits and before God; which are usually noticeable or foreseeable. What about temporary or situational feelings? Do we put these before God as well?

 How often is it, that the issue is really not about having, but rather how you “feel” about wanting more; or that it was not totally about being inconvenienced, but rather how that made you “feel?”  We make our feelings idols daily…It’s like second nature.

 When your “feelings” about a situation are getting the best of you step back and gather your emotions.  The situation usually looks different with your feelings aside, but accounted for.  Interestingly enough, I’m sure that you have heard some of this before and still do it; but what is more important is that now you know that idolatry is not just a sin, but is also a vehicle to a self-inflicted headache based on your feelings.  

Friend, consider this… Even under the new covenant, John warns us in 1 John 5:21NASB “to guard yourself from idols.” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:14 NASB ”to flee from idolatry;” and Luke stated boldly in Acts 15:20 NASB ”to abstain from things contaminated by idols.”  Usually, I processed these scriptures with a big picture of idolatry; placing people, things and habits and before God.  Before today, I never considered the self-affliction, sabotage and dysfunction of one of idolatry’s by-products, and that is hurt feelings.  

 As always, thank you for your commitment to support, pray and uphold this ministry.  You know that I cannot do it alone.  I use these monthly prayer letters to share with you what God is doing in my life in hope that it will impact yours.  Feel free to share your comments or encouragements with me via email at dfoster@ybl.org.