Friday, July 20, 2012

The Sky is Falling.....

The Sky is Falling.... And What Jesus Has to Say About it! My kids love Disney’s adaptation of Chicken Little, a beloved children’s story. The movie follows the familar plot of Chicken Little. Chicken Little falsely rings the warning bell for the town after He is hit in the head with a mysterious piece of matter from the sky. As the story evolves Chicken Little and his friends attempt to save their town from aliens. Ok, it isn’t the traditional 19th century folklore but it resembles the story of Chicken Little being hit in the head with an acorn and his journey to tell the king. Some of the original stories end with Chicken Little and a group of feathery friends sharing the news with the king. Other versions end with a fox luring the group into his lair and eating them. Sometimes I feel like those who heard the news from Chicken Little as they question the validity of her claims. Everywhere we turn from politicians to news reporters someone is screaming: “The sky is falling.” There is little question as to whether or not the fears are true. The worldwide economic sky does appear to be falling. There are many predications as to how it will fall or when it will fall and who it will fall on; But the economic and political word on the street is that it is falling. I recently had lunch with a girlfriend who honestly shared that two years ago she questioned whether we were really in a recession. She would hear chatter about it but it just wasn’t truly effecting her. Today, she says: “I feel the recession.” This is not an economic or political expose - in fact I am neither an economist nor a politician. I am a committed Christ follower who has spent the past 15 years with other committed Christ followers preparing to share the Gospel by meeting human needs when “the sky falls.” History has shown that each economic downturn in the U.S. had been met with Spiritual revival until the year 1929 when the stock market crashed. That year, President Franklin E. Roosevelt enacted the New Deal. And the New Deal for all intents and purposes circumvented the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and put government in God’s place. It has taken 80 years to finally see the fall out of trusting an idol for manna rather than trusting God for provision. If history repeats itself the United States is in waiting for the Greatest Awakening of the past 100 years. Since 1996 Touched Twice United has been training churches, Christ-followers to touch their communities twice. The first touch is to meet the physical needs of community members with things like free medical exams, eye glasses, dental screenings, haircuts, groceries, legal services and more. The second touch is to share the reason for the first touch - Jesus’ love. Instead of looking at the “sky” as falling could this be the evangelism opportunity of a lifetime? After Christ’s resurrection He left instructions for his disciples to go into all the world preaching and teaching of His ways. The church was left as a physical expression of Love to a hurt and dying world. We, the church, are to bring Heaven to Earth. In that way the falling sky will look less like an alien attack and more like Jesus. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 20:3-4