pastorrudytlc

There are people who erroneously believe that just because you follow God you are somehow exempt from hard times hitting you or your world. This leaky theology attempts to convey a thought process that says that if you are battling storms or experiencing personal suffering of any kind, it must have been because you or somebody very close to you has sinned. Job’s friends believed teachings like that and they were of no help to their comrade at all just when he needed them most! As a matter of fact, I would dare to say that if you exhibit any desire towards seriously following Jesus in this life- you might as well batten down the hatches and make sure your seatbelts are fastened because you are in for a bumpy ride.

We learned this past week that our oldest son Rudy who serves as an assistant pastor out in Johnstown, Pennsylvania with his wife Lindsey and his two sons Jude and Gideon- had to venture to the emergency room because he thought he was dealing with appendicitis. After the medical staff began doing further testing- we had discovered that matters were even more serious. Rudy’s kidneys had shut down and his lungs were showing some strange growths that were causing concern among all those who knew what they were looking at when they read the x-rays! Terri and I were getting these reports in bits and pieces back here in Cape May County and began taking part in a worldwide prayer meeting on Facebook as well as appreciating the spiritual support from our friends and family here at The Lighthouse Church.

Just yesterday, the doctors performed a biopsy in Rudy’s lungs. We don’t know the results of those tests yet. My wife is on her way out to western Pennsylvania to be with our son and his family. I am here in Jersey trusting my Heavenly Father to be what my earthly son needs at this moment. Here is what I prayed yesterday: “Good Morning Lord! Thanks for the promises and hopes and mercies for a new day! Thank you that you already have the results of the biopsy and there is nothing hidden from you! Teach us that to trust you is the wisest move we could ever make! Give Rudy a peace that passes understanding and Lindsey the strength and courage that she will need today! Give Jude and Gideon the comfort that only children can know comes from your hand! And be glorified through this all Lord! I trust you to take care of my son in ways that I am helpless as a Dad to do so today! But I believe in you Abba! I believe in you! Selah and Amen!”

Either God is our God through it all or he is not our God at all! And what good is a peace if we only feel it when everything is going nice and easy? Didn’t the Lord promise to be with us in the midst of the trials and tribulation? Did Jesus ever say that knowing him would exempt us from knowing the hazardous moments that living this side of glory would bring?

I am so proud of my son Rudy. I actually read this on his Facebook wall this morning. He wrote these very words himself and to me it is a modern day masterpiece of a psalm of praise. To me, it is affirmation and a celebration that my son knows who and what matters most! Don’t wait until God opens the door to do your worshipping! Praise him in the hallway! I am sharing Rudy’s words hoping that they may light the fire to fuel your soul! It is always about surrender but not to our situation- but bowing our knee to our Savior!
FROM THE OTHER PASTOR RUDY
“What can I say from this fragile form? What can I say for tomorrow?
Nothing more than this: Cling to Christ!
I will not rebuild- I will not stand strong- I will not overcome.
I will not keep calm and carry on.
I will not toughen up- I will not ride this one out- Because I can’t!
There is no amount of strength, no amount of will, no amount of initiative,
no amount of motivation- strong enough, bold enough or good enough
that could spring forth from these bones.
I was not made for independence.
I was not made to strut my renewed vigor in the face of adversity.
I was not made to flex my strength over insurmountable odds.
Because I can’t! But-
I was made to hold fast to the Rock that will not crumble when all else falls apart.
I was made to clench tighter to the Sustainer of life.
I was made to find my portion in Christ when my flesh and my heart fail.
I was made to experience uncertainty to push me to trust his limitless wisdom.
I was made weak to know the one who is Strength.
I was made to need and need and need.
Without Him I fail. Without Him I am lost. Without Him tomorrow is but a guess.
Without Him dread and fear mark my steps but with Him, and only because of Him,
I stand secure!
What can I say from this fragile form?
What can I say for tomorrow? I need a Savior.
I need someone who is Strength! I need someone who is Hope!
I need a Promise that will not fail! I need a God who reveals himself in word and action!
And when I hold fast to Christ this is my inheritance!
Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow. Whether feast or famine- whether death or life-
whether pain or pleasure- He stands victoriously Sovereign over all of these things!
And I bow fragile, humble, and needy at His mercy to His glory and fame!”

So we press on that even in knowing nothing of this earth- we know it all because we know our God and he knows us and that is all we need to know at all!
pastorrudytlc@comcast.net

One of my favorite Bible Studies that I have had the privilege to lead many wonderful people through over these last 31 years is one that finds us dusting off one of the hottest romantic and fiery pieces of the Scriptures. The Song Of Solomon is an underrated and underappreciated masterpiece of God’s model for all of us of how to not only make marriage work- but get the covenant to sizzle as we pass via the seasons of life!

We need to do something! Two out of three marriages in America presently end in divorce. The rate to break up is just as high in the church as it is for those who never go. Something is definitely broken and to keep on producing damaged goods without examining to see what needs fixing on the production line is foolishness. And God has been there all along with the game plan to partners experiencing paradise but we humans ignore the Lord and consider ourselves to be way beyond His ancient direction. So we keep on doing it the way that it is sloppily being done all around us and before you know it- what started with high hopes at the altar has ended up as heartbreak with a catfight in the alley. And God weeps along with us as we pick up the pieces of what could have been!

So I dig into the Song Of Solomon with anybody willing to commit the time to learn from the One who created the whole idea in the first place. Commitment is not built upon the foundation of marriage because feelings come and go and there are good and days and bad ones in any relationship.

Marriage is built on the rock of our promises! The commitment keeps us pressing forward even amidst the days that neither one has anything to offer to the other. You don’t fall in love. It sounds like an accident! You make the choice to willfully lay down your life for another. You do so not because the other necessarily deserves it! You do it because that is what drives love! Love gives! Love doesn’t let go! Love remains when everything else has abandoned the building! And without love- we have nothing! And it is sad how many marriages are attempting to muddle on missing the key ingredient!

If you are available on Wednesdays at 6:30 PM, come on over to The Lighthouse Church and join me and some others as we taste and see what the Lord has to offer in this text that was so controversial that even in Bible days the Rabbi’s would not let children near these smoking Scriptures! Why not see what you’re missing and maybe get active in striking the match that could set your love life on fire once again!

I leave you today with one of my favorite stories of romance. It comes from the bestselling author and Pastor Max Lucado. I shared this with those in my class last week. I had them read this and wonder about the whole art of attraction. What is drawing others to you? What characteristics are you drawn to? I quote the Captain and Tennille as I close.
“Young and beautiful- someday your looks will be gone! When the others turn you off, who’ll be turning you on? I will, I will, I will, I will
be there to share forever. Love will keep us together. Said it before and I’ll say it again while others pretend- I’ll need you now and I’ll need you then! Stop ’cause I really love you. Stop I’ll be thinking of you. Look in my heart and let love keep us together!” If somebody looked in your heart today- what would they really find? Here is the story “The People with the Roses.” Enjoy and share!

“John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell.

With time and effort, he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding.

Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting–7:00 p.m. at the Grand Central in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen.

I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened… ‘A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blond hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were as blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small provocative smile turned her lips, “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one more step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell.

She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was quickly walking away. I felt as though I was split in two. So keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld mine. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible; her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful.

I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?” The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit that just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”
You can contact Pastor Rudy pastorrudytlc@comcast.net

Seaside Heights will always have such a special place in my heart as it was the “down the shore” that we who grew up in the “real” North Jersey used to venture down to on the weekends in the summers back in the 1970’s! My Chevy Nova taking me and whatever wonderful girlfriend I happen to be dating at the time down to mile marker 82 on the Garden State Parkway with the song “Free Ride” by the Edgar Winter Group blasting on the 8Track Player is painted forever on the memory canvas in the corners of my mind! I can’t count how many times I ventured with so many of my wonderful friends from The Long Hill Chapel Youth Groups of my past! Then later in the 80’s, when I became a Youth Pastor myself, I would take my own Youth Groups there as many times as I could. We would go to Island State Beach Park to swim and hang out together during the day and hit the boards at Seaside before we headed home the same night.

After Super Storm Sandy last year, I actually cried when I saw the roller coaster of our teenage years literally ripped apart and relocated to the ocean waters. Nothing looked the same as it was. We would never be able to go back again and be able to sit and be where we had once been when we had written so many of the stories of our youth. If you live long enough- the seasons of life have a way of trashing the treasured places that once sparkled so bright with the lights of enthusiasm and fun. Our cities of adventure turn into ghost towns of what used to be.

As I am writing this article today, I am watching the news and seeing the pounding Seaside Heights is taking as a fire blazes out of control torching its way down the boardwalk as we speak! And I can only gasp as I know the efforts that have gone into making this place even presentable again this summer for the tourists that provide so much of this area’s economic stability. I am seeing the blank stares of those being interviewed and the collective expressions of a non-verbal “This is way beyond belief” that it is happening all over again! Happening so soon! And this happening is so terrible!

I am a Pastor not because I claim to have all the answers. I live most of my life pretty clueless as to why things happen as they do to those that they happen to. I myself have been the recipient of some pretty terrible tragedies that I will flat out tell you as I have also communicated to God that I don’t think I deserved! More than a million times I have blurted out the proverbial question, “Why is this happening to me?”

So I share this humbly and also quite graciously that all of the Seaside Heights events of this day remind me again that none of us are stronger than any storms or immune from the tragedies that living life this side of heaven brings to all of us! The best of man’s inventions and creations have not been able to last forever and all of them come to an end and we can’t be indestructible on our own no matter how hard we try and oh do we try! But the good news is that God never expected us to be solo performers and equipped with super powers of our ingenuity. Only we human beings have placed that kind of pressure upon ourselves. We men and women have put on those false faces and faulty fronts and have bragged too boldly and behaved very badly at times thinking that all we needed was ourselves! We have bought hook line and sinker into the lie that without help- we are all that and a bag of extra spicy chips with sass and salsa!

God, there is never a time that we don’t desperately need you! And if ever there was a day that we needed to dial down the hero worship of our own reflections- it is now! God has never promised to provide us places on this earth that would be for us the eternal play lands we secretly long for. I stopped asking God a long time ago to be the architect of constructing such refuges for us where we would be immune to all the happenings that come along with doing nothing more than attempting to make it through another day here on earth! God is not externally making for us a magical building that will never fade away. God is internally making us into a new creation that will be eternal! God’s love for us will lead us into becoming the kind of people where someday soon- no harm or pain or fire or earthquake or trial or tribulation will ever be able to destroy again! I believe this and it is this focus alone that keeps me getting out of bed each day not to avoid pain but to see God redeem real passion in me from it all because we together made it through it all!

Faith is the only vehicle that can get us there! God is the only creator that can pull off such a miraculous masterpiece! But our Lord doesn’t take short cuts nor give in to our demands of it being done within 30 minutes or less. We will all know pain on the way to paradise. It is part and parcel of the path! But God is working all things together for good to those who love him. God has always been about loving people and using things! Don’t you think it is about time that we finally learn from his lead?

Today for Seaside Heights- it is another day of tears! It is another time of terrible tragedy. But it never has to be useless or without purpose. God please help those within these flames today. Lift up their eyes so they don’t lose hope when it seems to be spilling out all over the place! And as we watch, remind all of us today where life is found and what our trust and investment can and should never be placed within. My prayers are not that Seaside Heights become stronger than the storm but that they and we may find your presence God, in the midst of the pelting rain and the driving winds and to discover your sovereignty Lord, despite the loss of property and possessions. People matter most! Help us to live that truth!!! I pray this for all of us! Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! And let mercy be our most prized possession for your mercy is storm proofed! Amen!

Earlier this summer I had a medical procedure called an arteriogram. It is an imaging test that uses x-rays and a special dye to see inside the arteries. It can be used to literally grab a glimpse of our bloodlines in the heart, brain, kidney, and many other parts of the body. I had one done to see if there were any obstacles evident keeping my blood flowing at full capacity through my body to and from my heart!

It made me think about the need to every now and then take the necessary time and procedures to evaluate how we are doing when it comes to the engine room of our spiritual lives. The Bible tells plainly in the book of Proverbs to, “Above all else guard our hearts because from it comes the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). What is genuinely going on inside the core of that which makes up the true you? I have some questions to ask you that I want to act like a holy dye injected into the veins of our souls that will help us define what makes us learning active disciples who are alive and well in growing in our walk with the Lord! Think of these challenges as just what the doctor ordered to keep us healthy in all matters that matter most!

1. WHAT DISAPPOINTS YOU?
Have you ever thought that there are times that our disappointments with life and the way things go are God’s way of reminding us that we are not as in control as we might think we are? Humility is such an essential character trait when it comes to following God and there will be times that the rug must be pulled out from under us so that we will plainly see that the only foundation worth building upon is a life that anchors itself to the Lord!

2. WHAT DO YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT THE MOST?
What we lament about each and every day can show us what we really worship the most! Whining is when we basically tell the God of the Universe that He is doing a lousy job in our world that unfortunately is suffering only from too much “YOU in your VERSE!” Winning is when you receive whatever you are getting as a gift! It is so important that we stop insisting God give us what we want when true life is found when we invest the necessary tools to uncovering the grace that God supplies us with what we really need!

3. WHERE IS YOUR MONEY GOING?
This isn’t rocket science! It is as simple as just heeding the words of Jesus when he told us that “Where our treasure is- there will our hearts be also” (Matt 6:21). Take a lengthy honest inside look at your spending habits and approach the assignment as if you were someone else trying to conclude what it is that matters most to you!

4. WHAT WORRIES YOU?
You can actually care so deeply about something that it actually can become your reason for living and hence- without you even realizing it- turning it into an idol in your life! Don’t ever give the place that God deserves in your affection to someone or something else. You shall have no other gods before you other than the One and only who deserves the title of deity in your spirit. Don’t allow your life to be robbed by all the “What If” questions. Live in the security of what you know actually is because God said it- and you believe it and that is the truth that will set you free!

5. WHERE IS YOUR SANCTUARY?
Where do you go when you are hurting? Who do you run to when you need a refuge? Don’t tell God that he is your number one if he always ends up as your last resort- and your end of the list go to source! Psalm 46 tells us that God is our constant and faithful provider of strength. The Lord is our help in times of trouble! He is so much so that we should not fear even if the earth quakes and the mountains fall in the sea! No, we are not stronger than the storm! But God is an awesome God and he reigns from heaven above with wisdom power and love! And there is no chance of losing that kind of power no matter how loud the thunder roars and rolls! The “high ground” we seek reveals the geography of our values!

6. WHAT INFURIATES YOU?
What has power over you? What are the real issues that get under your skin? Why do you allow the things that are passing away to steal your joy and rob your opportunities to put your best foot forward? Is bitterness spoiling all the good fruits that God has tried to bless your garden with? Have you allowed your inability to offer forgiveness to rot the landscape of your life? Passion is a result of us allowing God to turn our pain into productivity that doesn’t destroy us but produces indestructability within us?

7. WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS?
Where do you allow your imagination to go and wander? What fantasies have a grip on you and put a twinkle in your eyes? Aspirations are fine- but the question is what is driving you to those dreams? Is your motivation to use your life to bring glory to God or is it your own fame and fortune? Are you using things and loving people? Are you surrounding your days to the Lords so he may use you rather than you trying to exploit and use him?

It is time to allow Doctor Jesus to create in us a clean heart and provide inside of us some healthy spiritual arteries where the lifeblood of God can be pumping to us leading to a supernatural light shining through us! God longs for your life to be a great adventure and not just an extended nap time! It is time for God to set the table and feed us the healthiest of heaven’s fare so that while we are living here on earth- we will represent fully his presence there! This kingdom is fading fast- but God’s reign will never end! He is Lord! Is he your Lord?

Jesus lived a story of glory because He wholeheartedly obeyed his Father. What kind of story are you living and who is the glory for? Here is my heart Lord Jesus! If you don’t have total access there- then nothing else I may do matters at all! Change my heart O God and make it ever new! Change my heart O God- and make me more like you! Amen!

Have you ever wondered where the phrase “Saved by the Bell” came from? During the Renaissance era when folks were taken to be buried, the funeral workers weren’t always fully positive that the person was actually totally dead. One of the reasons for their uncertainty was because lead poisoning would offer symptoms that someone was dead when they were actually just deep within a coma. Lead poisoning was common back then because individuals of that century used pewter for drinking cups and plates and when you add alcohol or anything citrus to this particular metal- the lead comes out. This is also why they had extended “Wakes” to see if the one they were paying respects to might wake up in the midst of the ceremony!

What those attending the alleged deceased would do was to install bells attached to a string that was placed down within the coffin at the grave site to give that individual one last grasp to ring that thing in case they were just asleep! Hence the term “Saved by the Bell” was coined otherwise he or she would be buried alive. Believe it or not- the term “Graveyard Shift” was coined here also because someone had to stay in the cemetery all night just in case the corpse got antsy! All in all- it was a procedure put into action to prevent people from being dismissed before their time!

Maybe somebody reading this today needs to wake up and ring that bell because it has been far too long since you have been fully alive to aggressively and courageously move forward! These 24 hour periods are far too precious for us to waste by sleepwalking through them! Don’t be singing funeral songs when what you might really need is revile! I know there are seasons when life is so very hard but God’s presence doesn’t abandon us just because we are being tried and tested! Did your teacher make lots of noise when you used to take tests in school? They were there with us in the classroom and didn’t stop being our mentor even though they observed us sweating out the potential answers to the daily problems fixed before our eyes! Pressure is always going to be part of the equation. We might as well as learn how to not give up when we should be looking to clang that bell loud and proud and bold and strong!

Pressure is nothing new to this culture or this planet. James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote to Jewish Christians in the first century in the letter that bears his name. His audience was made up of those facing intense and even unjust pressure. These believers had been dispersed and spread out because of fatal persecution, and they faced the increasing temptation to settle and allow their faith to be nothing more than something ceremonial experienced only in their heads instead of being launched from their hearts and lived in their lives! James rallied these first believers to learn how to use pressure to their advantage and to genuinely push them deeper in their journey with Jesus. Today, James still invites believers to open up their eyes and respond wholly and obediently to the truth of God’s Word and ask God to turn the pressure points coming at us from the outside into a renewed passion for the Lord being produced to heavenly perfection on the inside!

Beginning the weekend of September 7^th and 8^th at The Lighthouse Church, I will be taking the church family through a verse by verse study of this incredible composition that we refer to as the Book of James! We will be dealing with the following topics as we exegete God’s word together during The Celebration Services. Fasten your seatbelts Christians as we are going to make sure and allow that bell to ring boldly so no one mistakes any of us for being dead yet!  I will tackle the following questions such as “Why do Christians have to suffer?” “Why is the lure of sin still so strong even though I love God?” “Is my faith more performance or it truly about pure passion for Jesus?” “How deadly is my tongue?” “Is my goal with others retaliation or relationship?” “What would I define as my main fight this side of heaven?” And I am sure that I will be raising lots more strategies to deal with life’s pressure points rather than waving the white flag and looking for a hole in the ground to hide in!

If you need more information you can check our website at www.tlccma.org or give The Lighthouse Church a call at 609-465-6690. Our Celebration Service times are Saturday at 6PM and Sundays at 9 and 10:45AM! Why not make this September a time to ring that bell and let others know that you are alive and well and ready to move forward as God continues to orchestrate us in this symphony entitled our life story? Good things happen when those bells ring! I’m ringing mine now!   

When I was in the Dominican Republic recently, I was surrounded by a plethora of creativity exhibited in some wonderful young people who accompanied me on this mission. I had never been around so many gifted musicians and artists and thinkers and authors and theologians all under the age of 21. When somebody wasn’t writing a song, or jotting deep soul snippets within a journal, he or she was singing or playing or preparing a new drama for the kids in San Marcos that we were doing for Bible school daily.

An amazing young lady named Angel and two awesome young men named Jahvin and Ryan, under the watchful eye of our Youth Director Adam, actually composed a song in Spanish that we sang over and over again in Puerto Plata. The title in English was “We Will Fly” but I loved the Latin translation “Volveremos” so much better. Everyone both young and old would soar around the room like a bird or a plane, and yes even Superman when we sang it. I loved picking up the little ones and holding them high over my head so they could fly as we vocalized. I also coaxed some of the wallflowers out on the dance floor so they too could be part of the praise jam. You can’t be crooning lyrics like, “I will ascend through the clouds and I will lift my eyes to Jesus, we will fly,” sitting down.

It was in the spirit of all that ingenuity that I too felt a song coming on. I couldn’t write the tune to my words right there in the Dominican because I only play the piano and they don’t travel as well or as easily as guitars do! Anyway, I want to share my composition with you today because you too might need a reminder of the wonderful redemption and renewal that God supplies just when we are desperate for it the most.

Too often we ask ourselves, “What did I do wrong?” when life doesn’t cooperate according to our agenda. But living this side of heaven will never produce a trouble free existence or be without intense pressure at times pounding upon our hearts and minds. Basically it always all comes down to us etching the truth of God within our brain so that we don’t get beaten up by the barrage that nobody escapes fully from.

Jesus is not in my life to make it easier and comfortable. Doing what is right will often lead us to be faced with very wrong results. Jesus is in my life to bring purpose out of the pitiful and perilous seasons. I can’t quit in the middle of a masterpiece that God has promised will finish with a victorious ending. I just need to regularly come clean and be honest and open about the state of faith and my relationship with God. This is what my song, which by the way contains verses that rhyme, is all about. Enjoy, and maybe when the music is complete, I will sing it to you with my own motions.

Set My Soul Free … Words by Pastor Rudy

I have wandered, I have strayed, Left you lonely, Should have stayed.
Broke my promise, Broke my word, don’t remember, all I’ve heard.
But I need you, need you now, More than ever, Hear my vow.
Take me back Lord, Cleanse my heart, Brand new colors, Brand new start.

And the grace of my Jesus, Come rain down on me,
Please untie my knots, and set my soul free.
I want to come home Lord, Come lead over me-
And live all my days Lord, and set my soul free.

I have stuttered, I have stalled, Left me speechless, and you appalled.
Broke my union, Broke my bond, empty embers, Fire gone.
But I want you; Want you near, more than ever, Lord I’m here.
Take me back Lord, Know there’s more, I’m your servant, that’s for sure.

And the grace of my Jesus, Come rain down on me-
Please untie my knots, and set my soul free.
I want to come home Lord, Come lead over me,
And live all my days Lord, and set my soul free.

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast

Psalm 66:18-20 “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; 19 but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!”

“Cherish is the word that I used to describe all the feelings that I have hiding here for you inside.” Many of you will recognize those lyrics from one of the prettiest love tunes ever written and sung by The Association. Maybe you, like me, actually sang it to the love of your life somewhere along the way. But in Psalm 66, the Bible is not talking about composing symphonies of love to our God! It is referring to actually playing kissy face with the very things that break God’s heart. And if we start loving on the dark side, we will be missing life in the light.

When I read that verse, I was blown away by the reality that too many of us who call ourselves believers actually sing more love songs to our sin than we do to Him who we call our Lord and God. Say what you will, but when we treat our sin with any intention of entertaining it rather than exterminating it, we are in trouble with a capital T! We have to begin to become militant with the wrong that we do so that it doesn’t get in the way of our sacred romance with the Lord. God sent his son Jesus to wipe our sins out by his death on the cross and not to give us permission to party with our enemy. So my simple question to all of us today is: Do you love the very thing that you should be kicking to the curb?

When we experience conversion, we are then ready to be consecrated to God so that He can use us. Religion uses God while Christianity is a faith that allows God to use us for his glory. But God is holy and we are not and while we can’t earn it, those who wear his name should definitely yearn it. But no man can love two masters so we much choose to refuse to let sin do what it used to in our hearts. And this comes when we allow God to totally clean house in our hearts.

To help make this a reality in my own life, I actually wrote a “Dear John Letter” to my cherished sin that I found myself stuck in. Many of you have received that dreaded “Dear John Letter” signifying the end of a relationship. Maybe even more of you have written your share of them over your days. One of my Christian heroes, Keith Green, once recorded a song entitled “Dear John Letter to the Devil” and so it inspired me to write my own. I want to share it with you today:
My Dear John Letter to My Cherished Sin

Dear Sin that I was once chained and caught up in; I ecstatically would like to inform you that you have been eliminated from further contention as the love of my life. As you are probably aware, the competition was exceedingly tough when my flesh was in control. When I put me first, I didn’t care what God wanted, but there is a new Spirit in charge. And now because my new expectations are set by the God of the universe, you have now failed to make the final cut. I am deleting your name from my brain effective immediately. Yes I used to cherish you, but now that’s hard to do because I got some information about the evil things you always want me to do. And because of this we’re through.

Yes, my Mama warned me, and how my Daddy tried, but I bought the tales you told me how you’d always keep me satisfied, but you lied, and exploited my pride, so consider yourself currently denied. You see, now I believe in Jesus and what He says He’s going to do, which is put an apple in your vulgar mouth and cook you in a sulphur stew, one that will never be through, (Is it soup yet? No!)

And if it wasn’t for the Grace of God, then I’d be down there cooking right next to you. Something I don’t want to do, So Goodbye to you! I am a child of the living God, and because of that truth, Jesus loves me and that puts me way out of your league; I suggest you set your sights lower next time. Like back to Hell where you came from. I was going to say that it’s not you, it’s me, but no! It is definitely you! With no intentions of ever missing you. PASTOR RUDY

Here is the good news Family: What God cleanses, God uses, and I want to be more beacon than benchwarmer. How about you? Maybe it is time to write your own letter. I’ll loan you the paper but the Spirit will give you the power to do so.

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast

As I write this week’s column, I do so in the midst of our annual venture to San Marcos in Puerto Plata of the Dominican Republic. I am surrounded by 18 other young people and adults from The Lighthouse Church and we have been spending this week immersed in loving and being loved by our wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ in our adopted neighborhood in the Caribbean.

We have been coming here for the past 10 years and since the journey began, we have not only seen the physical building of a church and a community center and water wells all throughout the area, we have seen God knit together the hearts of the people who belong to two distinct and diverse cultures who would have never been brought together any other way except through the power of God’s amazing grace, mercy and compassion. The Lord has made a real family out of a people that would have stayed strangers without the intrusion of the awesome intervention of divine love. When God stirs your soul, it is important to allow yourself to blend right into what He is doing for the mix will change you for good and the aftertaste will last forever and a day.

What I love most about our time here is that every day is really all about relationships. Back home in the USA, the clock seems to dictate what we have to do and where we have to be and if we are honest, time is not always on our side especially when we choose to be run by hours, minutes and seconds. Here in a much slower paced society, the most important project of each day may not be getting the job done as much as it is allowing the task to bring us together.

At times we Americans are so driven to check things off of our “to-do” lists, we don’t even know we are missing the magic of the moments while they are happening right in front of our very eyes. The conversation that we are having with our family, friends and neighbors needs to become as much a priority to us as the completion of the assignment that was given us. When I am in the Dominican, I eat breakfast, lunch and supper with loved ones. I can’t even remember the last time I did that here in Jersey. And it is not the food that I miss the most but the fusion of our hearts and souls and minds to the precious times that are flying by much faster than I care to admit.

I also exercise. I get out and play with the kids. I do physical labor. I move my body. So much of what I do can be limited to an office and God didn’t make men and women to be stuck inside. I know that I am probably at the worst shape of my life because I don’t allow myself the simple of pleasure of taking a walk with my wife or playing catch with my son. I live so close to the ocean and I haven’t been in it once this year and that shouldn’t be something to admire, but actually feel bad about.

We need to stop wearing our workaholics tag like it is a badge of honor. I breathe in the Dominican Republic and I actually feel like a kid again when playing baseball till dark was the primary reason for the day. We play ball with grown men in the park in the middle of the day. How cool would it be if men of our community would take off one afternoon just to play some baseball again down at the Goshen Rec Field? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Is it that farfetched an idea?
And when we worship in San Marcos, we are not in a hurry to get it all done in an hour.

There are churches here in America that use as a selling point that they get you in and out faster than Jiffy Lube. Why are we always in such a hurry to move on to something that is not as important as our relationship with the Living God? How many times have you been in a church service and you are just beginning to sense God really speaking to you but rather than linger in the presence of the Lord and see where the directive might lead you, we look at our watch and realize it is time to go home and watch the ball game or go shopping or get to some other responsibility that will never be as important as just being with the God who loves you.

I hear God and I see God and it has nothing to do with the surroundings as much as it has to do with the difference in me when I am there and not here. Sometimes I hear us saying that we have been blessed with so many more material things than those in much poorer places in this world, but I wonder, are they really blessings if they keep us from all that matters most? Would we be better off with less stuff and more soul? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Every time I come home I determine in my heart that things will be different, and then before you know it, I have been sucked right back into the rat race and I have to admit I am tired of racing rats. I am asking the Lord to give me discernment so that I can live the San Marcos life wherever I may be planted and in doing so, God becomes more real to all of us. I love our family in the Dominican Republic and I am thankful more for what they have done for me, than anything I might have ever brought them and in it all, I see God and smile.

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast

While it was a true blessing to have been given a son we named Rudy some 17 months earlier in August of 1986, there is no bond like the one between daddies and their little girls. Leah was all eyes when she burst upon the scene on that winter’s afternoon in Dayton, Ohio. I never saw bigger brown eyes on anybody up until then and I grew up with a crush on Natalie Wood.

But staring in those amazing eyes, I saw an angel sent from heaven that needed to be cherished and cared for and loved in a way that would allow her to realize all the dreams that God had ever designed with her in mind. An independent spirit from the beginning, Leah would need a love that would give her an undeniable affirmation and assurance that she was loved beyond words. But Terri and I learned early in the game that we would also need to care enough about her to provide her the necessary space that she would need to know that we would believe in her clear ability to soar upon her own,

Leah has always declared some defined goals along her journey. We knew she wanted to be a teacher of primary-aged students. And we discovered that she had a distinct calling to take her lessons overseas to a land where God could use her mightily. These past 10 years, Leah developed a strong bond with the people of the Dominican Republic.

The Lighthouse Church has been ministering there from our church’s very start. As a matter of fact, I will be heading to San Marcos with 19 young people and adults from our congregation to spend our annual week there in Puerto Plata from Aug. 2 – 9. But Leah has gone to live there. Leah has gone to be in Santiago and build into the young people and adults there for at least the next two years.

Leah is amazing with kids. She is a first-rate coach and has loved on the teams that she has passionately led here in Dennis Township since she graduated from Toccoa Falls University in Georgia two years ago. Leah was hoping to get a full time teaching job right out of college but many know all too well that there are simply not enough openings to go around. So Leah has been a daily substitute these last few years treating every class assigned to her with the tender loving care as if it was her own.

She excelled but she was frustrated because she longed for a class that she could nurture and truly invest her being into. Doors closed as fast as they might have opened and I could see in Leah’s brown eyes the yearning and a longing that while I recognized it; I could not fix what only a position could fill.

But just when she thought that another year was about to just come and go, only six weeks ago everything changed. Out of the clear blue sky, the Lord gave her an opportunity that no doubt He had put her name upon. She was offered the chance to teach first grade at Santiago Christian School, an English-speaking private school located in the very place that she already had such a burden for. When all seemed silent, God exclaimed out the name of Leah from the heavens and literally dropped down upon her the desires of her heart. And what she thought was going to be another typical summer serving faithfully at the famous Green Cuisine Restaurant in Stone Harbor suddenly turned into her packing up her bags and shoving off to a new adventure by July 26.

Leah looked at my wife and I with those familiar brown eyes and we knew that she would desire our blessing to move forward. How could we say, “No?” To attempt to hold her back would be a grave sin on our part that would only feign a veil of parental protection. We knew that she would only be safe in the arms of her Lord, doing what she was born to do where she was energized to do it. Sure it would mean allowing another of our high flying birds the freedom to bolt the coop from what would be beyond a simple hour’s drive to touch base- but letting go is just another way to say how much we love her so.

So in the wee small hours of this morning we said, “See you later Brown Eyes!” Leah was off upon her vision to live God’s will for her life. There will be a huge hole in the house here on Route 83, but we know that training up a child in the way they should go is not about blocking the doors that God clearly opens. So off she goes into the wild blue yonder. But Leah’s brown eyes are firmly fixed on Jesus and she knows that His hands are even better than her Daddy’s because they are the ones that matter most.

I am already looking forward to Christmas time and have secured Leah and my tickets for our annual date to The Nutcracker in Philadelphia for the day after she gets here. Until then, I pray for my sweet daughter to shine and show them Jesus and make an amazing difference with the precious assignment that she has been given. She has her space to showcase God’s grace working through her and it is going to be amazing. We love you Leah Noel Sheptock and can’t wait to hear the good news of what God is going to do in you and through you! Stay tuned.

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast

Most of us live like we have no other choice other than to do our dutiful best to attempt to cover up the emptiness of existence that many of us deal with each and every day! We strive tirelessly towards the illusion of thinking that we can actually arrive to a point where complete satisfaction is genuinely obtained. We are tempted to try to buy into the charade that happiness here can last and linger but we all know that this side of heaven-even the best of times come to a close and we awaken to find ourselves a pumpkin all over again.

I think a limited party is all that this earth at its best can offer us and while it may have its upbeat moments- its fleeting nature leaves us yearning for so much more. That desire was actually designed and placed inside our souls by the God who made us but rather than try to fill that vacuum with pseudo substitute adventures and possessions- only a lasting relationship with our Lord will ever really fill the bill and do the trick! We can’t fix a vertical problem with a horizontal solution!

Left up to our own ingenuity, we compile a tower of coping mechanisms that we look to medicate the pain left by unsuccessful attempts to slay our dragons of despair. I have even experienced a scary inner desperateness although also a helplessness to make the hurt go away and leave me safe and sound in a home where horrors are no longer welcome! Nothing really got better until I gave up trying to hide the chaos and decided to invite God right into my personal nightmare! And with the entrance of God’s presence- I finally felt hope return for the first time in what seemed like ages.

Human beings will do anything they can to escape the pit of futility. They go the route of stockpiling their experiences with lots of noise and distractions in order to numb the loneliness and the crying ache in their inner souls! They settle for shallow acquaintances rather than have the guts to dive deep and allow somebody else the same courtesy to get to the nitty gritty of the heart! We run away from getting serious with the nagging questions by just staying busy! But we are still bombarded with deeper thoughts such as, why am I here? Does anything I do really matter? Is there a God? What is he doing? Why do good guys finish last? Life is short. Time flies. The years go faster and faster. What’s it all for?

I have discovered the hard way that one can’t be rescued until they admit they need help! I found my higher road when I finally willingly entered my dignity of deep despair and allowed God to speak the truth to the mountain of lies that I had allowed to dominate my terrain. Despair does not have to be our final destination- but I believe we must taste of it if we are ever to recognize what healing and hope is actually made of. Because until the wisdom that comes easily now fails to stir you with hope then; Until available pleasures no longer satisfy or even bring more than a temporary relief to your empty soul; Until whatever wealth you have accumulated, whatever possessions define your life, whatever achievements decorate your resume; Until all of it leaves you with the realization that more will not fill the emptiness in your heart; Until time with friends doesn’t energize you as it once did; Until you have nowhere to turn for the satisfaction of your soul’s desire, not to the Bible, not to prayer, not to music, not to friends, not to church; Until all of this happens, you will never be free enough to know where life really is and where it is not.

You will waste countless hours and even days looking in the wrong wells to quench your deepest thirst. You will not hear God’s song of love as clearly and beautifully as angels have learned to sing it. You will not know that every moment of your crazy life is still a perfectly tuned note in the eternal harmony of the masterpiece that God has orchestrated. And God doesn’t want you to stay in the dark about what He is doing with you in the light.

We can all try to settle for the shallow happiness and limited excitement that this earth at its best attempts to offer us- or we can invite God fully into our despair and muck and meet our emptiness head on! You can’t really be rescued until you finally admit that you are drowning! I was almost suffocated by my senseless striving but when I surrendered my futile efforts to His almighty Hands- I finally got a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an oncoming train- but the beacon beckoning me to the home I have always longed for! And until I get home-you will find me clinging to Jesus! I am not as strong as I used to pretend to be! I know my weakness and I know that God shows up in my inability to prove that He is able!

So Lord, help me to make space, find the silence and dare to dive right into the deep end of your grace! Help me to recognize your voice there and to tune into your station with the courage to stay there. Empty me of my mess so that you can fill me with what will prove to a lasting joy. Let me desire to love others the way you love me in this brief, but beautiful, journey on earth. And when it is time for you to call me home- may you not have to cry out twice! I’ll be there the second that you open that door. I love you Lord.

Let Pastor Rudy know what you think by emailing him pastorrudytlc@comcast