please forgive james

17 responses so far ↓

• Steve H // December 3, 2008 at 3:30 pm

  I have a great response on this. I have been blessed with the pleasure of working with a local Cub Scout Pack that my son is a part of. As a volunteer den leader I have grown to know the boys I work with and their families very well, almost to the point I could call them my extended family. It’s been wonderful passing on my beliefs and experiences with them and sharing the chance to bring guidance into these boys’ lives. It’s also connected me to other opportunities outside of the Scouting program. I’m very excited to participate in an upcoming opportunity to share God’s love with the community through a litteral spur of the moment deal that started with a friend and leader in the Scouting program who prepared a Thanksgiving meal outside of the usual options to the less fortunate that fed about 100 families. They are planning on repeating the idea on Christmas eve, and I can’t wait to help! I’m also praying that the rest of my family will decide to get involved as well.

• Kate English // December 3, 2008 at 4:02 pm

  I have definitely been labeled as “unique” throughout my life. When people have asked me what I want to do with my life I get some strange looks when I answer, “go and live in the slums or jungles of Asia and fight for justice.” When I was younger people would ask what I wanted to do after I got that out of my system, but by now they have realized that I just must be crazy. I still haven’t gotten to live in Asia full time, but I have realized that justice needs to be fought for here in America as well. People of all ages and all walks of life here in the states have been awakening to the realization that we have no choice but to stand up for those who have been made voiceless. I see so much hope in that fact that this is not limited to christians and that christians and non-christians are joining together to get the work done. One amazing example of this is the documentary CALL+RESPONSE that will be coming to Boise next week. Knowledge alone makes a huge impact on the world, imagine what knowledge and action together could do! I am privileged to be on the teaching staff for the Children in Crisis classes that we will have at the Vineyard in January and am so excited to bring people together who have a passion for changing the world in this area. I have also started a blog radiatejustice.blogspot.com where I hope to address what God, through men and women, is doing in the world in the area of justice.

• scram // December 3, 2008 at 6:25 pm

  WOW This is so awesome to hear other’s in the journey GOD has allowed us to take.Myself i am enjoying the blessings each and every day that so many of us don’t even see;experiancing life as the son of the All Mighty GOD my father is wonderfull.
  My marriage of only two year’s is growing closer to the Lord and each other every day,I feel GOD want our root’s to be solid in Him and each other before He put’s us into the ministry that I believe He is calling us to in the future.
  Untill that day I never have had a problem speaking my faith to anyone that will listen and some that feel it is pointless to believe in GOD;that in it’s self cause’s me to share the love and grace I have come to know(Thank’s GOD)

• Mike // December 3, 2008 at 6:51 pm

  During a couple of seperate seasons of my life I have seized the chance to live a “mother earth” life style. These seasons have developed into a love for gardening. I hope to eventually work, on a full time basis at sustainable living. As I slowly work toward that scenario I have had several promising opportunities to volunteer my time, formerly at the Garden O Feed’in, and more recently I am spending time volunteering at the Boise Urban Garden School and trying to find more time and opportunities to work at the Foothills Learning Center. Neither of these are faith based but it is easy to make friends there as a result of our passions.

  Recently at a Master Gardener function I was asked to pray before the dinner and party started. So I know my words and actions speak of my faith, and I know my lampstand isn’t being snuffed and stashed away.

• matthew harrison smith // December 3, 2008 at 10:41 pm

  yay gardening! i only have a tiny backyard space but i want to put out a few more pots and have a grow box next season. i also feel i should compost kitchen scraps, but have not found an ideal solution for that yet…

  the garden at vineyard boise really is an example of action (living out our beliefs) that resonates(ripples into) in the community and its appeal is wide-reaching.

  for me, it has been a entry into conversations with others i have met regardless of their faith.

• Krista // December 3, 2008 at 11:19 pm

  I have been blessed with the gift of traveling with my job, it has taken me to Chile for the last 5 years. My husbands family has always been very involved with a local orphanage in the small town we are in and I had the amazing opportunity to pass on Gods love and compassion to one special girl. She had never owned a new piece of clothing at the age of 18…My husband and I decided that I would help help her by taking her shopping for some basic necessities.. Wow, I thought it would be an amazing experience for her but I think God brought her to me so I could have the humbling experience. It was an amazing journey and I pray that God continues to use me to the best of my ability with in the orphanage while we are in Chile..I sometimes wonder if my life would be better by being more settled in one place, but I truly believe that God brings our special talents to us so that we can use them in our daily life and each one of us holds a special purpose. For some people that is to minister in their community and for others it is to minister abroad. God Bless each and everyone for their journey!

• Marcus Beresford // December 4, 2008 at 7:58 am

  Using my uniqueness? This is more a testimony about how God brought blessings that I never expected. All I did was offer some landand then God did the rest. Thsit testimony is by neccessity a little long
  I moved to Boise from San Diego in August 2007. My new home has a field of about a half acre behind the house. When we arrived it had a bountiful crop of weeds and tall grasses which were brown and full of “goat-heads” I had been wondering how to maintain this wild western prairie.
  I originally considered keeping a couple of sheep or goats but the zoning laws would not allow livestock so I turned my thoughts to growing crops. I realized that for me to grow crops would take up much of my time so I prayed to find someone who might be interested. I considered offering plots to nearby apartment dwellers and envisioned competitions between them as to who could grow the biggest leeks or rhubarb and making friends with our neighbours.
  After going to the “Advent-ure” meeting in January I offered use of our field to the Vineyard’s Garden O’Feedin but they could not handle any more land at that time. The Vineyard did however inform others about our land and in late February I received a call from Katie Painter, refugee agricultural coordinator for the Idaho Office for Refugees (I. O. R.) who was looking for land for refugee families to farm.
  Katie came to see the land and meet me. Having approved of both we made arrangements for the refugees to come. The groundbreaking was part of the I. O. R’s Earth Day celebrations on Saturday April 26th. Representatives from three families came, each family from a different continent –Columbia in South America, Uzbekistan in Asia and the Congo in Africa. For days they worked hard digging irrigation ditches and clearing the land while some of their children played on our swings. Since it was such a diverse group and they were all refugees from wars I decided to name the project the “Global Peace Garden”.
  For whatever reason the Columbian lady and the Karins (who came later) decided not to continue, so the half acre was soon divided between the Russians and a large French speaking African co-op from Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. Luckily my schoolboy French was enough for basic communication.
  The next step was to get the irrigation working. A few years ago some offices had been built next door and the landscapers had decided to put a path along the front beside the road. This path was purely ornamental since it stopped at our border and it did not lead to any of the offices. However it was built over our irrigation slide-gate, completely covering it with three feet of gravel and sand.
  I had been trying to find the owner of the property since November so that I could open up the irrigation. Miraculously, two days after Katie Painter came the landlord called and we met. He agreed to me digging on his property to uncover the gate. This turned out to be quite a project in itself, since I did not know exactly where the gate was or what it looked like. It was like an archaeological dig for an ancient temple. When I uncovered it I found the slides that allow the water through or stops it, were bent and rusted, so I had to get new ones specially made.
  Through the summer the families would come over at least twice a week, often more. My responsibility as the “Water Master” was to go to the Irrigation head gate (about a block away) and turn the irrigation on and off for them. Sometimes they had so much water the land looked like a Paddy field somewhere in the Far East.
  Uzbekistan is on the same latitudes as Idaho with a similar continental climate and even similar altitude, so the Russian families were well organized and knew what they were doing. For some of the Africans however adapting was harder, but their irrigation system was ingenious, with water flowing one way along one side of a path and the reverse direction on the other side.
  Both groups grew a great variety of crops, some for sale in the market and to local restaurants and some for their consumption. To list a few they had amaranth, cantaloupe, celery, cucumber, egg plant, maize, marrow, onions, peppers, potato, squash, tomato and zucchini. So the summer came and passed and the garden grew and flourished.
  As September slipped into October the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness arrived in Idaho and the first frost brought a sudden end to the harvest. One morning we woke to see our field looking like a primordial battleground, withering tomato plants and icy corn husks standing among a field of stakes. Fortunately this battleground had been a great victory for man and nature alike. God had showed our family a good productive use for a field of weeds. We had helped provide refugees with food and income. And it made us feel good too!

• Robin Lee Hatcher // December 4, 2008 at 10:36 am

  When God called me out of writing for the general market and into writing for Him, it opened many doors of opportunity to share. One that I cherish was when I was interviewed for the Romance Writers Report. Naturally, this wasn’t a Christian venue, but I simply answered truthfully which meant sometimes talking about God (i.e. question: “Tell us how your day looks” and answer: “I begin with a time of Bible reading and prayer…”).

  At the close of the interview, I was asked if I had anything I would like to add. I said, “No, but if anyone has any questions, I’ll share anything except my weight.” I said it with a laugh and meant it to be kind of a joke. A throw-away line, I thought.

  Then I received an email from a writer who asked if I’d meant what I said. She had questions about my relationship with God. This opened an exchange of emails that culminated in one where she wrote that she had asked Jesus into her heart.

  I believe that when we are authentic and transparent doors will open for ministry in the most surprising places.

• Robin Lee Hatcher // December 4, 2008 at 10:37 am

  P.S. Tri, I see from the photo that it takes a bribe of M&Ms to get you to blog.

• James // December 4, 2008 at 12:03 pm

  In my younger days I was a “car” guy. So much so, that not only was I car-poor most of the time, my addiction led me into repairing them for a living, which in due season helped me not to love them so much!!! As you might expect, a car guy’s favorite slice of the newspaper is the classifieds and his first choice for perusal. :0)

  One day, 30-something years later, someone had left the classified section on a restaurant table where I was sitting. I’m sure I would’ve fast forwarded to the autos section had my eyes not first connected with an unusual listing in the personals. It began: “Please, need someone with a heart!” The man explained that he was a heart surgery patient who was destitute and desperately in need of a reliable vehicle to take him to his follow up appointments. While my conscience was indicating that I could help this man, the skeptic in me was suggesting he might be a con artist? I decided a call to him would help me discern the situation but later in the day, I’d forgotten to make contact. A week passed and while I was listening to a musical piece- the lyrics, “walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown” brought great emotion and a cameo of a man in need that I’d forgotten. I knew I was being reminded, with great urgency, to make the call! At the other end I listened to the voice of a truly broken and lonely soul in great need. Though he’d offered to make small installments, I assured him that God had a car for him without cost, only that I needed a day to prepare it for him, since it had been in storage. The next day, as I pulled up to his tiny apartment, a frail man with ashen skin and sunken cheeks appeared. As his eyes took in the car the transformation in his appearance was amazing… from utter despair
  to joy! The smile on his face now; priceless! Worth far more than this “favorite” of mine that, assuredly now, I was delivering to its rightful owner.

  After his son drove us back to my place I invited them in. I got to hear my new friend’s life story… how he’d embarked on a successful career as a comedian, met and married the woman he loved and through the years, strayed from his early belief in God. Now, all the former things had been taken away… his fame and fortune, his wife who’d passed away and most recently, his own physical health. He broke into tears while telling me that prior to my call he was deeply depressed and comtemplating suicide but that our phone conversation had given him hope, and he knew he needed to return to his former faith. “Jim, you don’t know how close I came to ending my life!’ Then we both wept until he and his son left… smiling and waving goodbye.

  We don’t always know when God might use us, but need only to be willing. I’m overjoyed, awestruck and still have tears when I think about this experience. I wasn’t feeling very close to God when he used what made me unique for the situation… yet he got through to accomplish his will. All Glory to Him. -lw

• revelatorart // December 4, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  I really enjoy my coffee. And in particular I have a love for Starbucks coffee (when Trevor holds up the red cup in church signifying the beginning of the holiday season I want to stand up and give a cheer out loud). I get teased quite a bit and even get some flack from friends for my “addiction”…but this love for coffee and all it represents as I hang out in coffee shops is a way of building relationship (at least that’s how I see it). I have spent many an hour engaged in meaningful conversations with friends and friends-to-be over a cup of coffee.

  One night a couple of years ago I was sitting at a Starbucks nearby, sipping my hot cup of java and reading a novel when I overheard a lady talking to one of the baristas at the counter. The lady had a Scottish accent and she was sharing about how she missed Scotland (where she grew up). My ears were peaked (I used to live in Scotland myself and have a deep love for all things Scottish) and I found myself putting my book down to listen in.

  After a bit I couldn’t help myself any longer and I decided to approach the lady to somehow enter into the conversation she was having with the barista. I’m like that…I mean, many times I will start up a conversation with a stranger if I feel led to do so.

  To make a long story short…that night I got to be part of this woman’s journey for a little bit. It’s like I was able to step into “her story” for a moment and be an influential character.

  She sat down at my table and joined me for coffee and conversation.

  We enjoyed the common bond of Scotland and from there the conversation opened up to sharing with each other about who we were.

  I was able to share about why I had lived in Scotland (I had helped with a Vineyard churchplant in the inner city of Glasgow and went to a small leadership college where I learned how to authentically minister to people).

  She shared with me about her church background and I learned that she had a belief in God but had experienced legalism and judgmental attitudes in the churches she had been raised in.

  I got the chance to share about being an artist and how I utilize my own art business “Revelatorart” to let God reveal himself through the art that I create and how I teach.

  She was quite intrigued with me and on another occasion she voluntarily came to my art studio to see my art and talk with me further.

  It was at my studio that I got the chance to share that I’m involved with VineArts at the Boise Vineyard (I was also able to share briefly about all of the things we’re doing at the Vineyard, i.e. Lets Tend the Garden, Garden O’Feedin, the Clinic, CR, etc. )

  She expressed that after meeting me and talking with me…she was beginning to perhaps view Christianity a bit differently. She said it was refreshing to actually meet someone who really lives what they believe. She let me know that perhaps one day she would come to the Boise Vineyard and check out what I was talking about.

  I share this with you not to promote the Vineyard…or to promote Starbucks…or to even say that this woman is going to accept Jesus because of me…but actually I’m sharing this to say that I was just being myself and I was open. And because of that, I had a Spirit-led opportunity to walk alongside this woman for part of her journey (to be in “her story” for a little bit).

• Esau Kessler // December 4, 2008 at 2:44 pm

  You said “benign devotional blogs”. (g)

• Colin Mansfield // December 5, 2008 at 9:07 pm

  Tri must like M&M’s…lol

• Mike // December 5, 2008 at 10:49 pm

  Actually, I believe the coordinates are in Upper Hulls Gulch Park about 325 yards off the road to the east . James is an adventurer. Mtn biking, anyone? I don’t own a gps but we could get real accurate if anyone does. I’ll be foraging in the morning.

• Esau Kessler // December 9, 2008 at 3:14 pm

  I have GPS I could loan.

• me // December 9, 2008 at 5:39 pm

  im having a hard time with belivers being down rite rude with each other( iknow we are all human) i feel attacked and then i lash out,and then i feel like ive lost all my christ likeness,then it can snowball,im a farly new beliver but i am a beliver …god bless you all…

• LaWayne // December 9, 2008 at 9:08 pm

  Me,

  I think you’re struggling with the same thing that so many outside of the church (and inside the church) struggle with. It’s the question James deals with (the writer in the New Testament, that is) when he talks about how we bless God with our tongues, then turn around and curse our brothers. We all know intuitively that shouldn’t be, and yet we see that all around us. And just like you, we all fight against using our words in unholy ways.

  We’re all in process, new Christian or those who have been on the journey for a long time. We each face the daily pull of the spiritual warfare going on within us, what Paul calls the flesh and the spirit.

  The amazing thing is that God is able to work through our weakness if we will let him. I’m not so certain that the world judges us for not being perfect, but for acting like we are. I have found that people are pretty willing to accept us with our flaws if we’re honest about them. And when we’re honest, we can begin to share God’s strength in the midst of our weakness.

  As a parent I have found that sometimes the most powerful words on earth are “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” Those are the words that restore our Christ-likeness and open the door to God’s healing power. Hang in there!

• Like gas stations in rural Texas after 10 pm, comments are closed.