Lisa J. Camp

 Where are you? The world was new, and the idyllic atmosphere can only be imagined as utopian.  There was life - every imaginable plant in its budding and blooming form, fragrant and beautiful, every creature in its wild diversity and docile demeanor.  But even more than the beauty we can only imagine and placidity we can only dream of, there was connection.  Man and woman in perfect regular fellowship with their Creator.  Creation enjoyed Creator, and Creator delighted in His Creation.   Every evening after the day's tasks, they walked together, shared with one another on a deep level, maybe even laughed.  I imagine it to be like those hushed tones that used to come from the kitchen as mom and dad began the day while the rest of use slept a little longer - peaceful, purposeful, wedded, one.   Perfection.  Then imperfection - namely sin, namely Creation finding its satisfaction in self-promoting, self-directed actions that led away ...

The morning and most of the day was the kind that made Rudolph famous, as my co-worker quipped.  Fog so thick the driving conditions were treacherous, and that was before factoring in Wichita drivers who always still surprise me with their ineptitude and aggression. (Lights, people! In fog, you turn on your headlights!)  For three days the Wichita area was covered in a blanket of fog.  Not the white Christmas we were dreaming of, as another co-worker pointed out. (I have funny co-workers.) The holidays would end up being lackluster at best - lots of events that I attended alone, lots of second guessing the gifts I bought, lots of "it is what it is" realizations.  I suppose all of that was part and parcel of the year we were about to put behind us.  The year had been one of unexpected turns - my family had navigated a heart attack, a stroke, breast cancer, emergency room trips, and the ever-underlying sadness of those who are gone.  None of these had been on...

Honestly, I've been told that before.  When I complained about something or someone, my friend would retort, "That sounds like a YOU problem."  Her not so gentle way of telling me the situation was only a problem because I had interpreted it that way.  Had someone else been the source of my complaint or if it had happened to another person, it would not be a big deal.  It was only a big deal to me.   I hope you have honest friends like that who tell you when you're being unreasonable or petty or just plain wrong.  I have several... probably more than my share. I find great comfort in knowing they are not saying anything to anyone else that they haven't said to my face.  They act as if I'm not always right or not always dragging baggage into my relationships and interactions.  Weird, right?  The truth is that I'm NOT always right and often have more baggage than LaGuardia. True friends see through it all and love me anyway.  And tell...

This is about so much more than a protective wall around the Church.  This is so much more than about serving in the ministry of prayer.  The wall is the physical benefit of the work, but the rewards are other than that.  Let's talk about what happens when there's a wall of prayer around your church family.   The first reward (and what might be my favorite reward) is this - outsiders recognize God's hand on us.  Nehemiah 6:16 talks about what transpired after the work to rebuild was done, and it says, "when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and feel greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God." I mean, come on!  Could there be any greater reward for our role in the ministry of the church than for the reputation of God to be made known and for all those who oppose Him or His church, even those who criticize "organized religion" to have to admit that God st...

When anyone endeavors anything for the Lord, there is a fair (or unfair) amount of opposition.  As we talked about in the Equipping:Prayer event, our enemy has very few new tactics.  He has been far too successful using discouragement, intimidation, mockery, gossip & hearsay to really develop something new.   In my years of serving the Lord, I've never seen a leader or spiritual influencer "fall" with out seeing the full affect of these weapons in their ministry.  They become discouraged, they no longer seek to work whole-heartedly out of intimidation or because the blow back that comes from making changes.  I would even say, all moral missteps begin this way, and all fall under one of three temptations.  Study of Scripture will reveal that Saul, David, Jesus and in our study of Nehemiah the people building the wall were tempting three ways.  They are common temptations of not only pastors, but of anyone with spiritual influence or fervor, any...

 In our previous post, we've seen why the city of Jerusalem is important and have come to the conclusion that we too are being called to the work required to build a wall of defense on behalf of the city also known as the local and global Church.  For some who attended our recent Equipping: Prayer, some of this will be a review, but read on so that we remain on the same page, so to speak, in the next blogs on this subject.  The book of Nehemiah is the account of a man who was not a builder nor was he a man of status or station.  He was a cup-bearer - one who would taste the king's wine before he drank to make sure no one had poisoned it. He served the King, and apparently he served him well because when he told the king his heartache over the condition of his hometown, the king gave him everything he needed to do the work - materials, time off, authority, etc.   Can we find encouragement in this?  As followers of Christ, and servants of the King, won't...