August 2011 Subscriber Letter

August 2011

Dear Reconciler Family,

The story is told about a five-year-old boy who was asked by his mom to get her a can of soup from the pantry.  He replied, “Mom, it’s dark in there!”  She said, “Jesus is in there.”  He said, “Jesus, hand me a can of soup.”

I gave a sermon recently titled, “Fear, Faith, and Reconciliation.”  In it I talked about our need to face our fears which can paralyze and stunt our growth and advancement in kingdom work.

I had the opportunity to face one of my fears a few weeks ago – the fear of heights.  I went out on the Sky Walk at the West Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It’s a horseshoe-shaped structure that’s built into the side of the canyon.

Statistics on the Sky Walk:

• Suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River
• Can withstand the weight of 71 fully-loaded Boeing 747 airplanes
• Immune to winds in excess of 100 miles per hour
• Can survive an 8.0 earthquake within 50 miles

These statistics helped reduce my fear and increased my courage to step out onto the Walk.

It can also be quite scary doing the work of reconciliation (or the gospel work) because we often deal with relationships.  Some people have post-traumatic stress syndrome or PTSD. Some have stuffed bad experiences and have never dealt with them.  I’ve learned quite a bit on this topic from Dr. Archibald Hart, former chairman of the Psychology Department at Fuller Theological Seminary. He wisely teaches us to face and confront the past and not live in denial.

What gives me and our team courage is Jesus in us and personal experience with Him:

His word also gives us great comfort. Also His “statistics:”

• The words “fear not” appear 365 times in the KJV – one for each day of the year!
• The word ‘faith” appears 247 times.

Acts 17:28 – “In Him we live and move and have our being.”

Colossians 1:17 – “In Him all things consist” – hold together.

Hebrews 12:2 – “He is the author and finisher of our faith.”

So we can boldly tackle any challenge that may threaten our growth, whether bad experiences of the past, present or future – anything that may threaten to cause failure, traumatize or debilitate us.  We can face it through Jesus.  The main reason is Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit, our Teacher.

In closing I would like to announce that we are scheduled to conduct a Reconciliation Chapter Leaders’ Training Conference on October 7-9 this year in Columbus, Ohio.  We haven’t had one in three years, and we have several candidates who want the training.  We all need the refresher and focus on the future of the ministry and to seek God’s lead in that focus.

There is such a need for this ministry in our broken and divided world!  Thank you for any contribution you may be able to make toward the conference expenses.  And thank you for what you’ve already done in support of the daily operations of the ministry.

God bless you,

Curtis May