Miles Walked: 28

Location: Near Phoenix, AZ

Christmas Blur

The past week has been a blur walking, meeting people, serving food in homeless shelters, preaching in missions, and preparing to fly home for Christmas to see my family...a privilege many worldwide could never enjoy due to poverty, impaired health, political barriers, or the end of a family line. The weather has been fantastic as I’ve enjoyed fellowship with those who help me along the way.  I found it interesting that I was walking into “Surprise, AZ” just before Christmas…

Along My Path

Walking down the sidewalk into inner city Phoenix, I found myself coming face-to-face with another walker pulling a wheeled cart behind. Arriving toe-to-toe, I asked him if he was on a long walk. In response, he pointed to a map tied to the top of his rolling gear and said, “Cologne…Cologne.” I quickly realized he did not speak English and asked if he had a business card to which he replied, “yes.” After navigating language hurdles, it became obvious he was on a 20,000 kilometer around-the-world walk beginning in Poland…crossing all of Europe, the Atlantic, and from the east coast of America to where I met him in Phoenix on his way toward Los Angeles and ultimately home for…world peace. I felt like a proverbial “light weight” by comparison, until I remembered that accomplishment is measured in obedience…not based on a noble cause. This dear man had a list of sponsors ranging from national banks to global organizations to gear manufacturers to private contributors which was daunting to say the least. And yet, when one promotes the “Prince of Peace” to a dying world…all such sponsors hold up their crucifix and flee wanting no connection with the cause of Jesus Christ… The gospels declare Jesus’ words telling us that the world will love those who are part of it and invalidate those who reach to liberate it from death to life.   I never cease to be amazed by the depths of human dillusion…

Seeing Through Different Eyes

Since buying my discount airline ticket more than six weeks ago…God’s heart carried me into the presence of those from all walks of life, economic standing, and cultural view who lack any sense of personal worth, purpose, or hope… As with many “Christmas” letters sent out by organizations, my goal is not to impose unfounded guilt on your part. Instead, my motive is to help the helpless by helping each of us see the unfortunate reality which surrounds us all in which unmet human need and heaven’s resource never cross trails.

Each day… my path intersects with those far more affluent, better connected, sadly detached, or less fortunate than myself leaving my heart burdened by their pain which only God’s love can heal. I encounter former doctors, lawyers, high-ranking military officers, and other noteworthy souls slumping beneath the oppression of alcohol, addiction to drugs, burden of bitterness, discouragement of defeat, and trapped by confusion as I look over a homeless shelter or rescue mission’s audiences I speak too. Many of these great people were once men or women of stature respected in their communities operating with excellence in their field until…life dealt its death blow shooting them off at a right-angle into torment’s unknown.   As believers, we know we do not wrestle against flesh and blood or fight against darkness with weapons of this world. The tools of our faith flow from heaven’s arsenal through our expression of love, truth, mercy, and forgiveness fully able to demolish strongholds in the lives of those hopelessly struggling.

Healing The Brokenhearted

Over the years, I have come to realize that “forgiveness” reigns supreme as God’s most redemptive gift to a misguided and plundered mankind. Forgiveness frees both the offended and the offender from hell’s shackle line tethering them to despair, rather than launching them to life. Forgiveness frees people to live, love, and lavish God’s heart on themselves and others. Forgiveness withheld creates captives, robs redemption, limits life, and grieves God to His core as it openly rejects the price He paid to birth His Son in a manger, sacrifice His life on a cross, and forge His character within the unlovable, unworthy, and self-absorbed travelers of time like you and me. Forgiveness cost us nothing and God everything… 

As I look deep into the eyes of those I meet…and yes, into my own eyes in the mirror each morning as I shave…I see both the scars of unforgiveness and the blessing of setting others who have harmed free to be touched by God Himself. Though it is easy to look back, contemplate prior events, re-live past pains, and to justify how we “think we really forgave”…it requires far more of us to give God permission to enlighten our discovery of all we never really released so it could be fully redeemed in Jesus’ name. What happened to you? Who harmed you without cause? How did it change your heart? Did you ever really let go and let God…His way through unconditional forgiveness? Most of those I encounter along the detours of life lost their grip on life, faith, family, career, respect, finance, home, and hope because of unforgiveness. Somewhere within, they chose to harbor or hold onto their personal right to judge, demand payment, and extract payment for a wrong they perceive was inflicted on them by someone, self, or God. In so doing, they bound themselves to heartache, hardness, and defeat ultimately delivering them to their current impasse with God and man. In my experience…only those who willingly dig to uncover what remains within…yield it to Christ through forgiveness…release offenders to God’s care…and resume walking in truth’s light will ever from brokenness to newness of life.  

Snowflakes and Sleigh Bells

I know…it’s Christmas time and that we have all been taught to smile, go shopping, drink eggnog, enjoy musicals, cook ham, hang cards, shovel snow, go caroling, be thankful, join family, help Salvation Army, open gifts, and say, “ho ho ho” in unison as those alone, sleeping under bridges, with empty stomachs, suffering broken hearts, and without anyone to care…huddle in life’s corners cold, empty, and alone. While many Americans sit inside warm homes separated from winter’s cold by frost-covered windows breathing in the aroma of hot apple cider…those dying both inside and out ponder troubling circumstances, wrestle with heart issues, rub cold hands together, and long to be valued by one willing to give of their time, love, and resource no strings attached…”without being asked.” Having to ask transforms the givers contribution from gift to hand-out…from love to duty…and from respect to inconvenience.  

Think about it…it’s hard to enjoy Christmas when one’s only options let him or her peer through the glass longingly at all they cannot have, stand beyond unspoken barriers surrounding others caught up in holiday cheer, and unable to gain audience with nary a soul genuinely interested in a struggling life’s need as the passer-by pushes by to grapple and snatch the last I-pad from a frenzied store’s shelf…

Wrestling Within

Though we all long to enjoy Christmas without a “discouraging word,” James chapter four ponders what causes strife among and within us…selfishness…the core issue behind holiday heartache. This time-tested passage goes on to ask if it is our ill-motivated desires that battle within causing us to want something and not get it because we pursued gain with wrong motives so we may spend what we get on our own pleasures…as the real problem (James 4:1-3 paraphrased). And yet in contrast to human nature…Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to heal the sick, to proclaim hope to the hopeless, to free the oppressed, to liberate prisoners, and to declare the year of His favor to all people. This is important for those who believe in Him to consider, since told us our faith in Him would cause us to do what He “is doing” (John 14:12). Jesus did not hit history’s scene to merely bless only the affluent, well connected, and otherwise cream of our dying world’s social crop. Whenever we put our personal desires ahead of another’s welfare, Jesus weeps…

Letter From Afghanistan

Today, while writing this post…I received an emailed Christmas letter from my dear friend Ahmad in Pakistan…a tender-hearted Muslim friend I acquired while doing technical consulting work in eastern Afghanistan several years ago. Like clockwork, Ahmad never misses a chance to express his desired blessing on those he cares much about at Christmas. It seems kind of odd that this gentleman who champions a faith most Christians reject…can take time to extend a genuine heart to those around the world important to him as Americans everywhere neglect their next door neighbors. My professional and ministry travels have taken me too many tumultuous areas of the world over the years. My arrival into third world or war-torn cultures reveals that many people viewed narrowly without love by the pridefully uninformed…in actuality have a measure of faith and receptivity to Christ rarely touched by Christians claiming to possess the truth. Though I wish I could state otherwise, I typically find that those who have the least notoriously give the most to those in need around them. It is my hope…my ongoing prayer…that I will see my dear friend Ahmad in heaven one day. 

Holiday Hope!

Yes, Christmas is a celebration of our Savior’s birth…God’s loving gift to our fallen humanity. Despite my sobering words and report above…Christmas is a time of joy for those who experience salvation, God’s blessing, and the realization that all things are possible for those who believe because of a babe born in a stable some 2,000 years ago. Though I pray for God’s richest blessing in, upon, and around your life…it is my hope that it will arrive in the form of receiving and extending God’s merciful heart to those less fortunate than yourself. Some you encounter may be well-dressed, others may have pockets filled with gold, others may sport high positions, and yet others may be clinging to the lowest of life’s depths by their fingernails…but, emptiness comes in all shapes and sizes as it looks with hope into the eyes, reaches for the hands, and draws from the heart of The Babe-to-become King…Jesus the Matchless Christ to be filled! Look around, look within, and look beyond yourself to hug, encourage, and love others in Jesus’ name! You just may find giving to be the greatest gift of all…

In Christ,

Greg

BattleCry Ministries

www.battlecry.org

www.battlecry.org/blog

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Copyright BattleCry Ministires / Greg Benner 2010.  All rights reserved worldwide.  This material shall not be used or distributed without written permission.