How do people get encouragement to move towards dong the good works that Jesus and Paul speak about. It is very possible that we can be frozen by fear, cold hearts or by plain old apathy from moving out in faith to the thing that God wants us to do. The way I get encouragement is by hearing and especially reading the stories of people who have dared against all odds to go forward. These stories leave a scar on my heart ( in a positive and fire like way) and a hope that things do not need to be the way are. They can change. Here is a quote from Walter Brueggemann
Hope is the refusal to accept the reality which is the majority opinion,” declares Walter Brueggemann. Hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretensions of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.” Brueggemann sees this subversive hope being kept alive in the “ministry of imagination.” Jesus was part of this prophetic ministry of imagination. He came proclaiming a vision for the future that was different from the dominant vision in his time and ours. (Tom Sine quoting Walter Brueggemann in…….Mustard Seed Versus McWorld)
I will share stories of people who dared believe that this kind of positive change was and is possible.

This is the first song form a John Michael Talbot song.

Thanks to Thee O Lord
That I have risen today
To the rising of the sun (John Michael Talbot)

All of life is a gift form our great God. The sun, the moon, water, trees and plants, the air we breath

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good
For His lovingkindness is everlasting
Give thanks to the God of gods
For His lovingkindness is everlasting
Give thanks to the Lord of Lords
For His lovingkindness is everlasting

To Him alone who does great wonders
For His lovingkindness is everlasting
To Him who made the heavens with great skill
For His lovingkindness is everlasting

To Him who spread out the earth above the waters
For His lovingkindness is everlasting
To Him who made the great lights
For His lovingkindness is everlasting

The sun to rule by day
For His lovingkindness is everlasting
The moon and stars to rule by night
His lovingkindness is everlasting (Psalms 136: 1-9)

This is a quote from an article by Jon Zens and Cliff Bjork.
Instead of crusading and picketing against all of the perceived evils in our culture, believers would better glorify Christ by leading the way in concrete acts of kindness and love. Instead of complaining about our government's tendency to waste money on useless programs, believers should open their hearts and their purses to care for the poor and needy. Instead of blocking the doors to abortion clinics (or worse), they should open the doors of their homes to pregnant women who don't need a “Pro-life” lecture, but a clear presentation of the gospel and loving assistance in carrying their babies to term. Instead of fighting to have “prayer in the classrooms” of our public schools, believers should be spending more time in prayer themselves. Instead of suing for the right to display a nativity scene in the public square believers should be “using the, public square” to tell anyone who will listen about the grace of God in Jesus Christ. These are but a few of the practical ways believers can demonstrate the love of Christ instead of becoming objects of ridicule by constantly engaging in all of the negative rhetoric about how bad our society is. (Jon Zens and Cliff Bjork)
Yesterday at our home meeting we discussed the issue of materialism and miracles. The point I wanted to make was related to the beginning of the first paragragh of the sheet I was handing out; that God uses living stones to help other people out. Many people feel there is a persecution coming on the church. Now I don’t know if this is true but regardless of that, the question remains for me is this, “Will the house church be more than simply an informal way of doing church or will we involve ourselves in helping the needy, the widow, the orphan……? not for our own sake but for theirs. I hope so. It will take a major paradigm shift to get people thinking differently. The next few blogs will be about be about dreaming dreams for the kingdom of God. I’d like to hear some of your feedback. Until I figure out how to put on a comments section my email is zuzu@mts.net Let me know if you want me to publish your comments. Thanks.

Richard Halverson, while chaplain of the US Senate wrote that,

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, then it went to Rome and became an institution, and then it went to Europe and became a government. Finally it came to America where we made it an enterprise."