Millennials Archives - call me pasturescott

Red Sky At Night

Blood Moon over Jerusalem; Photo Courtesy CNN

It appears the world survived last night’s Super Blood Moon event. And Isaac Newton’s ‘100% certain’ prophecy of an asteroid hitting the earth on the 25th. And (so far) Shemitah.

Does this mean there’s no apocalypse to come?

Sorry. If you’re hoping I’ll say no, I couldn’t possibly. There’s yet a Piper (not John, heavens) to pay for the kosmos and the earth-dwellers who insist on their treason against the Almighty.

Just not last night.

Collective whew, amiright?

Even we believers ought to be grateful to the long-suffering mercies of God to extend the deadline to fallen humanity. Don’t even get me started on the pre-trib rapturists (of whom I was part for several decades) who woke up grieving they’re somehow left behind (again). Another time perhaps.

Before the set kill-date of the 25th went into full bloom and certainly before last night’s lunar event, I wondered before the Lord if we (speaking of the church) might be painting a worse-case shemitah scenario prematurely.

I said aloud,

What if this this seven-year cycle we just completed doesn’t look like burning buildings, falling asteroids, crashing markets, Russia amassing at the borders of Israel, and the world generally on fire?

And then I thought the unthinkable, startling even myself:

What if the present apocalyptic event looks more like a man in a robe standing before the world leaders, begging them to repent of the atrocities of the countries they represent?

*no Revelation 6:2 or 17:9 comments, please*

Out-of-the-blue it came, a thought filling my inner airspace like a mushroom cloud: could it be that God is setting the current stage, not with bombs bursting in air and nuclear winter, but more quietly, less helter-skelter, with a (coughcough) Pope issuing a sobering warning to the planet?

Easy. Hear me out.

What if, just what if, God has used at the close of this current shemitah a controversial vessel through whom to say “My wrath is coming, and this is your final warning”?

What if – again, only what if – God is giving us another cycle of seven years in which to get our global house in order?

Please. I’m not even setting dates.

Just … what if???

What if you knew (none of us do, so let me rephrase that) –

What if you actually had seven more years, but only seven more years, after which the things many were freaking out about during this multiple-sign month, will actually happen? Burning buildings, plagues, mountains splitting, massive earthquakes, global martyrdoms, har-meggido, the Great Deceiver, demons unleashed, great apostasy, stars falling…etc, etc…

Believe me, these things are on God’s unamendable calendar, which Revelation 18 unfolds in gruesome detail. And we may not have seven years. But still, we have (in a manner of speaking) some time.

So what will you do with the time left? As for me, I’d like to be engaged in a holy, meaningful, and supremely purposeful enterprise.

On the asteroid-less night of the 25th, our home was jammed from stem to stern with worshipping millennials. The shekinah cloud descended, but not the smoke of torment. There was favor and shalom in our home.

I looked around the three rooms teeming with these beautiful folk and thought if I had opportunity to share my thinking in this post with them, I’d just bet some of them would begin to worry less about getting asked out for a date, should they change their major or not, getting a callback from that store’s hiring manager, what color should they consider for their bedroom, and the like. They might go back to these thoughts as soon as the late-night air hit them on the way home, but just for then, in that sacred space of time, they’d be moved to consider.

A few might even think about surrendering to a Christly cause bigger than themselves, less pay, less notoriety and go after God with all their heart, mind, and soul. In the time they have left.

In South Africa. In Honduras. In the Inner City. In Dangerous Places. Needy Regions. Anywhere but “Here”. Anywhere but Comfort City. Or Marking Time Avenue.

Mariners have a saying, “red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” For now the coast is clear for us, but time is cycling down like sands in an hourglass. The next port might be the end of the world.

What might you surrender to in this sailing weather?

Before it all goes to hell.

One Lion’s Roar

If you’ve followed my journey through the blog or in personal relationship, you are aware of the young men I’ve been blessed to mentor since 2011. God has not asked of me to shed my pastoral vestments – nor do I believe He ever will – and this fathering ministry has blessed me to no end!

Joshua is one of the Lord’s young “lions” for whom I’m taking responsibility and I’ve been his pastor since he was a young kid. Ask him and he’ll tell you he loves me but that I bored him to tears and death with my hour-long homilies on Sundays all those years ago. Thankfully, all that has changed. I’ve learned how to say more in less time and he’s learned not to fall asleep.

🙂

Truly, Joshua is one of the most servant-hearted, respectful, and abandoned young men it’s been my pleasure to know. I’m having to accept the tough assignment of letting him go, however, but God has called and this lion is listening.

I’m glad to share my brother with you in this post. Pray for him as he moves now into a more costly and defined season of his life. I could not be prouder of this young man if he were my own son.

• • • •

When did you first know that you were meant for the foreign mission field?

JV:As kids we dream about “what were going to be when we grow up”. Most kids say policeman or soldiers, but not me. When I was about four, I started telling everybody that I wanted to be an opera singing missionary. As time went on I dropped the opera singer part (Thank Goodness), and I eventually dropped the idea of being a missionary altogether. I became consumed by the “American Dream”. I wanted money, and an average life like everybody else instead of doing missions. I graduated high school and went to college with the goal to get a degree that will make me a lot of money.

After going to college I began smoking weed daily and became very complacent. I started skipping classes and eventually dropped out after a year. After dropping out, I realized that I was not where I needed to be with God and because of it my life was a mess. So I got a job doing septic work, and started to work on my relationship with God.

After working for the septic business I was presented with the opportunity to eventually take over the business. I thought my life was all planned, but God had other plans for me. After working for the septic company for a few months, I came in one morning as usual and just felt like I was doing something wrong. I couldn’t figure out what though. I prayed for about a week and finally I heard God. He told me I need to quit my job and go do mission work. It seemed so crazy at the time, but I felt like if I didn’t do it I was going to die. So I told God “ If my boss asks me how long I plan to work for him I’ll quit, right then and there”. And what do you think happened the very next morning? He asked that exact question.

So without even talking to a mission organization, I told him that in two months at the end of the year I was going to do mission work. Again, I quickly realized how crazy I was being. So I emailed the only mission group I knew: Frontline Missions. I got no reply for about a month; I started getting a little worried. Then about a week before Christmas I got a phone call saying they wanted to meet with me to talk. The interview went well and I started a one year internship.

Where have your mission exploits taken you?

JV: I spent one month in January/ February in Honduras; I spent a week in Honduras in April; I spent all of June and July in Honduras; and I spent two weeks in Guyana in November

You have been interning at Frontline for the past year. Tell us a little about Frontline and what this past year has meant to you personally.

JV: Oh goodness, this past year has been a learning experience! I have learned so much about different cultures, leadership, Spanish, people, and myself this year. I have learned what it means to be a servant. I learned what it looks like to live a life worthy of the calling. And most importantly, I learned a lot about God and who He is.

If you had your choice would you be a missionary permanently or as a part-time proposition? Could you picture yourself living full-time on a foreign field?

JV: If money was no problem I would do missions fulltime. I would go on trips all year round with Frontline Missions. I could even see myself living and serving in another culture, absolutely.

What has been the most difficult part of laboring on the foreign field?

JV: Learning how to help people without “American-izing” them. Often times when missions teams go into third world countries we try to do everything our own way, because we think it’s better. This past year has taught me how to respect the people we are working with. Instead of doing it our way we ask the people we’re working with how they do it. Often times it is more difficult but it helps us show the people respect, which helps build relationships.

How have you personally been challenged as you have taken the gospel to indigenous peoples?

JV: The most challenging part for me was learning to listen to God and his instruction. Usually my flesh argued with what God had to say. It was a real battle. There were times that God would tell me to do things that I didn’t want to do and it was tough to do them. But after I did what he said I felt such peace and joy.

In what ways have you personally witnessed the power of God as you have carried the gospel cross-culturally?

JV: Oh man, I have seen God show up this past year!!! I have seen a baby that had pneumonia so bad you could feel vibrations – like someone was scraping a wash board whenever she would breathe. We prayed and prayed and as soon as we were finished you couldn’t feel the vibrations anymore. I’ve seen the ‘shy and beaten down’ tribe of the Tolupan Indians rise up to the point where they were singing solos and preaching in their native language. There have been incredible things that couldn’t happen without God. I tend to be very skeptical about things, but I couldn’t argue with the things that happened.

What’s next for Joshua Vineyard? Going forward, where do you see yourself in the coming years?

JV:In the coming years I plan to do missions fulltime with Frontline Missions. I’m stepping out in faith and seeing what God does. If the Lord provides everything I need to keep doing mission work, then, that’s what I’m going to do. If he doesn’t provide, then I’ll brush the dust off my feet and seek where God wants me to be.

These Daughters of Zion

As many of my readers know – perhaps you, being one – my wife and I have one son – who went home to Jesus last December – and zero daughters.

“Mitchell, party of three!”

“Make that two!”

::Sigh::

And, as some of you also know, I wanted exactly four girls and a son when I entered into matrimonial bliss with Sandy. Alas, God gave us a boy, in quite a miraculous way, which, if you didn’t already know, can read about in a prior post. The way in which Graham came into our lives more than makes up for a quiver-full of daughters, believe you me.

But God –

Isn’t that always the way of things?

But God – who knows best, and who redeems, reshapes, revisits, restores, rekindles and regenerates – knew the longing in my heart from decades past. He doesn’t forget. He heard me ask my mom, when I lay broken and newly paralyzed long ago, if she would ‘settle’ for adopted granddaughters. He’s seen and felt the pang in my soul when I see dads out with daughters, wishing I knew what that was like.

Graham would’ve been a great big brother.

::Sigh::

But God.

Is good.

And that’s enough.

And because of a “but God” that means the story isn’t finished!

For the past three-plus years, I’ve been given a small flock of guys and gals – twentysomething’s – to whom I’ve been honored to be a father of sorts, mentoring, investing, loving, doting, caring and generally being proud of.

So when I received this* from the gals in our group – the finest concentration of young godly women I know – needless to say, the father in me went totally verklempt by the daughterly love from them.

I carefully broke the fancy wax seal, unfolded the letter, and found a blessing they’d written for me.

It read:

Dear Pastor Scott,
(I instantly forgave them for the missing nomenclature ‘Pasture’)
We see in you: Leadership, Humility, and Mentor
(They already had me at the Oxford comma)
We all join together to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for being obedient to God’s will, and for stepping into the position of being our leader and teacher. Thank you for leading with such grace, mercy and humbleness. We all are so grateful to have a place to call home with the Millennials. We could not have asked for a better Mentor and studies of the word of God. You have taught us to be women after God’s heart, to realize that we are beautiful, but not because of our outward appearance, but because our Father is the Creator and He hand-crafted each of us into Hus image, and lastly, you have taught us not to settle. To not settle for men, because we have the only refuge we will ever need in God, to not settle for a mediocre life, because we serve a God of immeasurably more, and to not settle for what we know of God’s word, but to continually dig deeper and press into the promises of God that we know to be true. We are blessed to call you teacher and friend. We continually pray that God will use you in whatever way He pleases, to build His kingdom and that you will be an obedient follower!
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5, NIV

Thank you, darling Daughters of Zion. I receive that – and it is my intention to live in the blessing you have spoken over me.

Thank you also – each one of you – for offering all us guys – so generously – a dazzling portrait of the breathtaking beauty of the resplendent Bride, who faithfully awaits her Bridegroom Lord.

Y’all are the bees knees!

_______________

*each of the young men received beautifully crafted blessings from our gals also.