"YET!"

Hello All,

Each week, I will be adapting an excerpt from our Thursday Night Bible Study and making a devotional out of it. They will be available at the official blog for the Bible Study. You can find it weekly at http://ctnbs.blogspot.com. This one is called "YET!"

"Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, 'See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai."

Genesis 16:1,2

Sarai’s plan to obtain Abram's descendant was logical, but it fails in two areas. First, it was presumptuous. The word "presumption" has interesting origins. In the 13th century, it was used to describe "seizure and occupation without right." It also meant "taking upon oneself more than is warranted." Does that sound about right? Sarai has taken something that was not hers to take, namely the responsibility of bringing the miraculous Messianic child of promise into the world.

When last we checked, bringing this child into the world was something that God was going to accomplish. Here, Sarai presumes that it is hers to decide. After all, it's been at least a decade and there has been no child! It would seem that God needs a little help here, so why not go with a time tested, natural, solution from the World. Surrogacy seemed to make all the sense in the world to her.


What is missing in Sarai's methods is a clear reverance of the Lord.


"The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression."

Psalm 19:9-13

I was listening to a Pastor reminisce about hearing a televangelist say, "God needs you now like He has never needed you before!" That's true: He needs You and I like He has never needed you! He has indeed NEVER NEEDED YOU! For that matter, He has NEVER NEEDED ME! I completely agree: God does not need our help to bring about His plan for our lives.


Sarai's second flaw in logic was her assumption that because God has not acted, that He would not do so. When we wait, we all have the tendency to believe that God is unable or unwilling. Neither of which is true. I wish that Sarai would have employed just one word that would have helped her immensely: YET! The truth is that if He has promised, there is always a "yet" to add to each sentence.

Here is Sarai's sentence, with the "yet" added: God has not opened my womb...yet! See how helpful that is!? Yes, it's painful, because that "yet" means more waiting. That "yet" means that the fulfillment is still not here. But that "yet" also keeps your perspective in the right place. He has not failed you; He is making you wait, but that is not failure on His part.

So, try it with your sentence. Let me give you a few examples to get those creative juices going:


"I trusted God and my marriage has not been healed...yet!"


"I trusted God with my singleness and He has not brought a proper mate...yet!"

Doesn't that help!? Try one more:


"I have been waiting for the right job and He has not brought it...yet!"


Sarai's logic is desperate and fatalistic. With the Lord, we never need to get there. His power and wisdom is available and who knows if the change you seek is not just around the proverbial corner! It's coming, it's just not here...

YET!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

So So Many Thoughts...

Hello All,

"What a week it's been here in the Sanchez house!" That was going to be my opening line, but I felt that it betrayed a feeling of being overwhelmed. That doesn't quite describe it. Suffice it to say, it felt busier than usual, but as I look back, it was just another week, with a lot of little things taking place. Sometimes, that is worse than a few big things occurring, right?

Two things happened at the YMCA this week that created memories for me. The first involves Tiger Woods. As many of you are likely aware, most gyms are now equipped with wall televisions, as well as personal televisions which are attached to all of the cardio equipment. I love this feature. It makes that 37 minute exercise of brutality go by so quickly! Add to this, the fact that these machines are iPod classic compatible...I digress...

Usually, these machines reveal a wide variety of tastes. Men watch sports, women watch talk shows and then there are those with an "international" taste. On this particular day, every single machine and wall television, focused on Tiger Woods' face. There must have been 40 Tiger Woods staring back at all of us.

I admit: I had it on as well. I was fascinated just like everyone else. I applaud Tiger for having the guts to stand before the watching world. For whatever reason, and for whatever motive, he is doing the right thing for himself, and for his family, as much as it's possible for him to discern that. I pray that in the midst of this difficult time, that he might find true solace in Christ, where there is true and complete healing that can be had.

What surprises me is the hypocrisy of the media, as well as the unrealistic expectations of people who might call themselves fans. For the media's part, you cannot fault them. They live by the almighty dollar and answer the call of the consumer. It's simple supply and demand. What amazes me is that the media, a representative of the world system, on the one hand laughs and applauds when somebody lives a lascivious life, only to pick up stones to throw when there has been a moral failure. Doesn't the world through movies and it's value system, promote and encourage such behavior?

Let me be clear: I in no way endorse what Tiger did or what is alleged about him. I am saying that what he did is the natural outflow of a life that is outside of a covenant relationship with God. It's the natural step, especially for athletes and superstars, who live with an exaggerated sense of entitlement. Tiger admitted as much, saying that he did not feel the rules applied to him. The world applauds on the one hand and then comes in and uses the same tragic behavior as the fodder for it's media outlets.

Isn't that just like the enemy? Your natural fleshly desires are enticed by your own flesh. The enemy encourages you to fulfill them and you want to fulfill them because that is the nature that we are born in slavery to. The Satanic lie is believed, the act accomplished and then the enemy just turns around and uses that to accuse you in your heart and then before God! No wonder the World system is the way that it is, as it reflects a Satanic heart for the World, in that he seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

Maybe I am being too naive. Why should I have any expectations of the media? Yeah, you are probably right. This leads me to my second thought. When Tiger returns to golf, I will look forward to watching him because I never saw him as anything more than a golfer. He is not a role model to me. I do not take moral cues from him. He did not disappoint me because I did not expect much, in fact, anything from him.

I can say the same for any super athlete. I appreciate their skills. I love to watch them and the mastery that they display. I also know that their lives are often lived above the rules of this world and much more, above the rules that God lays out for the life of a Christian. But these people, to my knowledge, are for the most part, not professing or possessing Christians! Why should I look to them for or expect any moral inspiration from anyone in the World who is currently unredeemed?

In fact, if the Bible teaches us anything, each of the heroes of the faith were radical failures. Abram was a liar. David, an adulterer and accessory to murder. Peter was a coward. Only Jesus stands up to any and all scrutiny and only He is worthy of our imitation.

The second thing that happened was much less visible, but much more powerful. It happened in the middle of my routine, when a brother in the Lord came out to begin his workout. He came over and as usual, we shared some of what has been going on in our lives lately. He asked me to give him a little counsel on a "call" that was beginning to percolate in his heart.

By the way, this is my kind of conversation. I LOVE to hear the Church (By "church" I mean the group of individual believers that assembles itself in local fellowships...) speak about what God is calling them to do personally! I want to have this conversation every single day!

This particular brother has a call to youth ministry, but like all of us considering a call, there is a natural fear of what might happen. Most of the time, our fears are alleviated as we move toward God's call. In fact, most of the fear scenarios never even take place!

I was explaining this and noticed that the lady who was working on the hack press was agreeing with what I was saying. She apologized for listening in and then added her two cents into the conversation. She gave out some great principles of ministry, which had me in agreement. To her volley, I added another, and then she added another. The brother in the middle was literally getting it from both barrels! It was incredible.

Before we broke up this mini-conference, we agreed to end our time in prayer. I asked the lady to pray for our brother in the Lord. She proceeded to pray "earnestly" and charismatically for a several minutes! The power in her prayer was palatable...and quite noticeable!

I looked up several times to note the stares and quizzical looks on the surrounding members. Most seemed to know what was going on and none let on that there was disapproval. In fact, at one point, an older gentlemen came up, having just got a drink from the drinking fountain, sweating, but sensing what God was doing. He silently came up and joined in with the praying that was going on!

At the end, we all rejoiced in what the Lord had done. The older man just acknowledged the cool thing that had happened with a nod that said, "Yeah, if you need me, I'll be on treadmill 7..." and we all exchanged handshakes and greetings. I asked the woman where she attended and she volunteered that she was the head of their prayer team. I remarked that if she hadn't been, she should have been!

I left with the distinct impression that God had been honored by our lack of interest in denominational lines and with our hearts uniquely joined in His Spirit to encourage a man in his journey with Christ. That my friends, is ministry at it's best!

Final Tidbits:
• Remember that I said I wanted to have a dedicated blogspot for the Thursday Night Bible Study? Here it is. You can listen to messages that we have been doing, read notes, eventually look at pictures, etc. When you go look, remember to say a prayer for the fellowship that is growing there.

• There are people who are just learning of my sister's passing over the summer. It amazes me that in a world where we are so connected, we can obviously miss news that affects us. This last week we noticed that we had unusually heavy traffic and that our posts related to Leah were being accessed. I suspected that we might have an email or two from one of Leah's friends and we did. This part of the email from a co-worker of my sister's, really blessed me and honored the memory of my sister:

"She did not preach to me or push me, but she did provide me with knowledge I needed to find Jesus. By treating with such kindness and love, she showed me what a life of salvation could be."

• We had new double paned windows installed this week. They really work at trapping the heat in. I'm looking forward to how they do with cool air once the summer comes. Here are a few pictures of the demo, as well as our house.

• I am speaking Tuesday morning at the Packinghouse Christian Academy's Chapel, as well as at Wildwood Calvary Chapel on Tuesday evening for those who are in the I.E. It'd be great to see you at Wildwood, but you'd probably be thrown off campus at the Packinghouse!

• Our family got to see little Karis dedicated at Calvary Chapel Murrieta today. She is such a cute little girl. Pastor Brian Bell does a great dedication. Afterward, he shared a few stories with me from his recent trip to Haiti. The devastation is heartbreaking, considering there are still children with broken legs who are waiting for a week or more for simple medical treatment. And these are the lucky ones! Please pray and consider partnering, at the least, in prayer for all efforts that bring aid to Haiti. Maybe the Lord would give you both a desire and resource to help in a hands on way.

• One other thing that blessed me about Pastor Brian's service today, was the call of attention to Freedom Sunday, which is a call for the church at large to be aware of the problem of human trafficking around the world. Slavery is not over. It is alive and well in many parts of the world. Check out the website here. What I liked especially is that he announced it to the church and added that the information should lead to compassion and then their responsibility personally to appropriate action. This is social justice platforming that I can get behind. No pressure, no guilt. As our friends say, "All information and no solicitation!"

• Don't miss my son's great lip-syncing Valentine's Day tribute. It's the post beneath this one. Just so you know: It's banned in Germany! Turns out that there is a copyright issue with the song...I'm pretty sure Weird Al doesn't mind, but if you live in Germany, you will!

• AND FINALLY, I am available on a limited basis, to take on some drum students. If you or somebody that you know is interested, and lives in the Inland Empire, feel free to contact me. Here's a little sample of what I'm talking about:

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Valentines Day 2010

Hello All,

This is for all of you hopeless romantics!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Moving Day Reflections

Hello All,

It's late...well, not really. It's just that we moved today and it feels like several days have been crammed into one. Those who have moved before know what I mean. The packing, the lifting, the tie-downs, the plastic for rain coverage and the slow drive between houses are all par for the course. Then, just when you think it's all done, you go back and find 20 things that you forgot to take with you! You swear that you have no idea where all this stuff came from, but without a doubt, it is in fact your stuff and it must go to the new place.

When you settle into a home, you imagine that you'll be there as long as you possibly can, especially on the day of your move. On that day, there is nobody on Earth that could convince you to move again! For us, this is our second household move in 2 months! (For those just joining us, check out this post for our reasoning...) And as this is our 2nd move in as many months, I am here to tell you tonight that it just never gets old! :-) But that feeling of being done and looking forward to your first "whatever" is a great one, thus, this is my first transmission in the new "old house" era! Here are a few appreciative thoughts. I really appreciate:

• My family. Grandpa and Grandma Finfrock took our little ones for an overnighter last night so that we could pack and ready ourselves for the move. Then, tonight, Grandma Sanchez watched them while we cleaned up just a little more. Add in that my Dad and brother Mike lent their backs today and my Aunt April lent her cleaning skills and surprise paintbrush just two days ago. I cannot overstate how thankful I am to be near our families again! I just love it!

• Every Lopez that joined us today. 3 Lopez', 2 families! A big thank you to Mike Lopez for his awesome skills and for literally saving our entertainment center after I nearly crushed my own finger! And a huge "thank you" to Steve and Mary Jane, who blessed us immensely with their attention to detail and incredible thoughtfulness in ridding our home of any allergen that might have traveled over with us or hid out in places we would have neglected to look!

• Friends that stood at the ready to lend a hand if needed. I was happy to be able to let some people off the hook, but it blessed me that they were standing by! Thank you guys and gals!

• The hot flowing lava shower with appropriate, tall person shower height! I think I said it all there!

• My amazing wife, whose strength is only superceded by her great beauty! A move is difficult for anyone. For a Mom, a move is a nightmare of details that cannot be understood by just anyone. Lela manages to handle each move with grace and a good deal of humor! Tonight, I really appreciate her. I don't think I could have married anyone else with the same fortitude and I'm sure that I would not have found one that could have handled what we have in the last 5 years of our lives!

• An allergy free environment. Renae has reported that she is currently free of stomach aches, dizziness and running nose! Elizabeth also seems to be free! Thank you Lord!

• The warm bed that now beckons me come and sleep!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and well-wishes over this current move. As always, we sincerely appreciate each of you.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

It Can't Mean That...Can It!?

Hello All,

I had the opportunity to play drums last night at Seabreeze church in Huntington Beach with my brother-in-law Nathan. We had a great night of worship. It's always funny to me that in each church, the scenario is essentially the same. The worship personnel arrives a few hours before the service, runs through the tunes and then gets some time to hang out in the back. Every place I've been, the story is virtually the same, as the musicians spend the next period of time sharing stories, resources and most importantly, laughs.

On this particular occasion, the worship team was filled with Laker fans. And, on this day, the Lakers had vanquished the Celtics. It had been a closely contested game, but the end result was victory for us and humiliating defeat for them, which put all of us in a much more jovial mood. (I wonder what the evening services in Boston were like! "Ah, those Lakuhs! Go pahk the cah!") As we discussed the game, we were rather open about our feelings about the Celtics. Frankly, we all confessed openly just how much we hated the Celtics and why. We all had our reasons. Mine include, but are certainly not limited to, Kevin McHale's clothesline on Kurt Rambis (Ironically, Rambis now works under him!), M.L. Carr's towel waving, the big mouth of Cornbread Maxwell, and of course, the pasting that we received just two years ago in the finals. We were getting all worked up about games and players from the 80's as well as the current Celtic roster.

In the midst of these moments, someone said, we should pray. Now, I thought that it was funny, because here we are HATING on the Celtics, and at the same time, calling on God to show His love for His people through the music we are about to present!! "God, we love you and want you to be glorified through our lips..." It brought these verses to mind:

"But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so."

James 3:8-10

Of course, this is not the meaning of these verses. This refers to people in your life, not a franchise of hated green men! Now, if I said that I would refuse to lead Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to salvation, THEN I might have a problem! (Would I? I can't answer that right now!! :-)

The point that James makes is that our mouth should be an accurate reflection of our hearts and that our words should always be consistent with what we believe. At the same time, our mouths provide an accurate measurement of what is in our hearts. If there is cursing along with blessing with regard to people in our lives, we need to be concerned and rectify that with the Lord. I might also say that this might have reference to what we call "speaking out of both sides of our mouth." That is to say, in front of a person, we may speak in flattering tones, but then, as their back is turned, our speech turns in another direction. This is an area that we all need to be exhorted in.

However, when it comes to professional basketball teams, it seems to be wide open! I think that I am clear on all accounts: I ONLY curse the Celtics! There is no double speech here! Whew! I feel so relieved! :-)

Now, I am sure that the bigger sin would be pride...but I'm gonna show THE moment from the game anyway!! Hopefully, this won't come before the fall right!?

Now, if we can just do this 4 out of 7 times in June...

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez