January 27, 2009

TUE 27 JAN

While under the Rock By Stanley J Davis

Two years ago, I had what I would call a life changing event; the doctors called it a stress induced heart attack. I call is life changing. Meeting Denise Barrett, was a life changing event, I married her some 23+ years ago. Meeting Jesus, was a life changing event, I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. (Still working out the details of that agreement) Some 20 years ago I became a dad for the first time, Meeting my son, then 22 months latter my daughter those were life changing events. Adopting a young lady, now that was a life changing event.  In 97 I became the Pastor of a church in Jackson Mi. that changed all of our lives. We settled down and life was complete, I was a Pastor, a husband, and a dad of three, I thought that my life was settled.

That brings me to that life changing event that doctors called a stress induced heart attack. I needed time to heal and time to learn how to better deal with stress. (Clearly having a heart attack is not the best way to deal with it)  So I went on a three month sabbatical, stepping down from the pulpit, and out of the public eye. There I lost myself; I discovered how much of me was wrapped up in the role of being a pastor. (Almost all of me) Once I laid down that role I lost my identity, (it was like an extreme form of identity theft)

Looking back I can now see just how far down into the pit I had traveled. At the end of my descend when I felt hollowed out, deprived of my identity, self-worth, and purpose I found myself sitting in my basement weeping to the Lord, imploring him to tell me who and what I was. There at the apex of my sorrow and grief the Lord meet with me and whispered in my ear, reminding me that I am His child. His child, what a wonderful revelation it was. I know, I know, your reading this and thinking “big deal, isn’t that something that all Christians know.”   It is and it was something I knew, or once knew, but I clearly lost myself in titles and positions and lost sight of the simple liberating truth of being His child. There is so much freedom in that truth. I came to life once again.

Some may think that having a heart attack is a terrible thing but for me it put me on the road to rediscovering who I was, and who’s I am. Yes, I would call it a life changing event.

 

January 26, 2009

MON 26 JAN

something that most of us want to avoid By Stanley J Davis

Endurance

 

            Long before you see the finish line, before your muscles ache and your lungs burn, long before you even decide to run the race, it’s course has been laid out. There will be those gathered along the path to cheer you on, aid you with drink, encouraging words, and sound advice. While others are there in hopes of seeing another win, to see you lose, drop out of the race, stumble and fall. It takes courage to join, but courage alone will not see you to the end. Endurance will carry you, push you when you have come to the belief that you have given all that you have to give. When your lungs are on fire, endurance draws in that next breath. When your legs threaten to fail from fatigue, endurance takes one last step.

When a friend lets you down, endurance goes that extra mile. When you have been wronged endurance transforms into patience enabling you to wait for restoration.

Endurance empowers you to remain steadfast, when others change course, constant when others show instability, perseverance when other give up and look for easier ways. Endurance undergirds you enabling you to put up with inclement weather, conditions, circumstances and fickle people along the way.

            In the King James Bible you will find one of its reference in Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Here it is translated as longsuffering, something that most of us want to avoid, but in doing so we give up the empowering characteristics of Endurance. Next time you face a hard decision or face the temptation to bail out on a project, friendship, relationship, commitment, responcablity… (you get the picture) read Galatians 5:22 and ask the Lord to help develop the fruit of the spirit in you.

January 22, 2009

THU 22 JAN

Endurance By Stanley J Davis

Hi

 

I have finally sat down and started the next book. The images and thoughts are flooding my mind. A working cover of the next book is on the top, if you would like to take a look. I plan on having it out by June. I know it sounds like a rather aggressive goal but as my pastor says it’s better to shot for the moon and get half way there then shot for nothing and get nothing.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress as much as I can.

 

Thanks

Stan

 

Leave a comment about your thoughts on the cover!

 

January 1, 2009

THU 1 JAN

New year! New start! By Stanley J Davis

New year! New start!

Philippians 3:13 & 14 “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

            What was it that Paul felt that he was called for? “The surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Wow, what a goal! Each year millions of Americans make New Year’s resolutions to be greater, better, stronger, wiser,  richer, smarter, and healthier, all the time missing what God has called us to.

This is my New Year resolution, to know Christ Jesus, my Lord, in a greater, better, stronger, wiser, richer, smarter, and healthier way. With that as my goal I know I can echo Paul’s words, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.” But this one thing I will do this year. I will forget all that is behind me, (my losses, victories, defeats, winnings, disgrace, and times of honor). I will strain toward what is ahead, keeping my focus on the future not the past. I will press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. That is the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Is there anything greater? I invite you to join me in this quest to know Him, (He who saved us by His blood) better this year than ever before.

December 21, 2008

SUN 21 DEC 2008

Discovering the most precious gifts of all By Stanley J Davis

Discovering the most precious gifts of all

 

Waking up in the early hours, slipping quietly from my bed,

I’ll make my way downstairs and turn on the Christmas tree lights.

This has become a yearly tradition for me.

With a hot cup of coffee, or perhaps hot cocoa I warm my hands

as I settle down under a blanket to await the rising of my family.

Surrounded with all the lights,

decorations and presents that swell from under the tree,

I can understand how one can get lost in all of this and overlook the greatest presents of all.

When I was a child

and even for a good part of becoming an adult,

I unwrapped my presents, ripping the bows,

ribbons and paper away, that concealed the gift inside,

while all the time neglecting the most precious gifts of all.

By the grace of God I have found that it is not the gift that has been wrapped that is so precious,

it's the one who wrapped the gift that is so precious.

This is what my kids have taught me!

I could give them the most expensive gifts money could buy,

but if I neglect to give myself,

I would have diminished any gift I gave.

We give gifts to show or to express our love.

Make sure that gifts are not the only way we express our love,

make sure that you hug them and kiss them, I don’t care how old they are!

For the last few years when Denise and the kids ask me what I want,

I sit and I think,

and I tell them that I really have everything I want. I have them,

God has blessed me with Denise, Jacob, Hannah,

and eight years ago He has added Sara-anne to our family.

Don’t get me wrong,

I will still unwrap every package with my name on it,

ripping the bows, ribbons and paper away, that conceal the gift inside,

but no longer will I neglect the most precious gifts of all, those who wrapped the gift.

Finally, Jacob will come down stairs then Hannah, then Mom,

(Sara-anne if off fighting the war in Afghanistan)

and there they are, my favorite gifts.

 

May this be as Merry a Christmas for you as it will be for me.

Stan

December 16, 2008

TUE 16 DEC 2008

Lining up the confession of the mouth with those of my life By Stanley J Davis

Singing in Church on this Sunday morning

Raising my hands, telling the Lord, He is all that I need,

My provision, my healer, my sustainer, my provider,

Telling Him that I need nothing more, than to be in His shadow,

under His wing, and in His thoughts,

It’s all I need to sing

 

Then I thought of my own whining

I come to the sad reality that I was living a lie

I was telling the Lord he was all I needed

While all the time my life was saying I needed more

 

God is simply, gently, slowly striping it all away

Titles and positions, houses and possessions,

Until the confession of my mouth

line up with the confession of my life

 

Simplicity and tranquility,

Satisfaction in nothing less and nothing more 

then standing in the presents of the Lord

 

striped of my hand woven robs’

self fashioned crown

dwellings, build with my own sweat.

 

Until I truly stand and can say it

Know it, by living it   

“Lord you’re all that I need

My provision, my healer, my sustainer, my provider,”

Telling Him that I need nothing more, than to be in His shadow,

Under His wing, and in His thoughts,

It’s all I need to sing

 

Someday may the confessions of my mouth

Line up with the confession of my life

November 30, 2008

SUN 30 NOV 2008

Sorry about the confusion! By Stanley J Davis

Sorry about the confusion!

 

Some have called me all alarmed over my last posting: What does it mean? What is he trying to say? Has he lost his mind, his faith, his way?

No… no, let me assure you that my faith stands unwavering, my hope in my God unmovable. Please read on for the rest of the story.

Almost two years ago I suffered a heart attack, I blew it off but my loving wife wanted me to se my Doctor and share what had happened. After explaining what took place they put me on an EKG and with great fanfare and urgency put me on oxygen and in to an ambulance. Off to the hospital I went for a heart scope. The short of the story is that I had a stress induced heart attack. With the support of my friends and wife I stepped down from ministry and took a three month sabbatical to rest and to heal up.

            Late last year I pick up a part time job at highfields working with young men and that part time job has transformed into a fulltime occupation, still ministry but one that does not require credentials as a preacher to perform. Seeing how I have never been one to stand or hid behind titles I have chosen to lay down my credentials, if only for the time. If and when the Lord opens doors that call for me to have credentials again, I will respond by perusing them.

            As for any questions concerning my relationship to ministers I have worked with or the district of Michigan, I am, and maintain good standing with all. I hold in my heart fondness for and prayers for the continued blessings of the Lord on all that I have had the pleasure to be associated with.   

            I do hope that this clears up any misunderstanding that my previous note may have left.

 

Yours truly

Stanley J Davis  

November 29, 2008

SAT 29 NOV 2008

measuring the height and length of ones future By Stanley J Davis

Dear Friend

 

The letter to the district was sent out yesterday. With a heavy heart I sent it. No longer am I to be called "Minister", "Pastor", or "Preacher", now that I have relinquished my credentials and any claim to those roles I once fullilled. It was not an easy decision to arrive at, thus the use on my behalf of two years to come to the conclusion.

Every once in a while one must wake up and take stock of their surrounding, measuring the height and length of ones future. A honest evaluation of ones prospects, abilities, opportunities and hearts willingness and fortitude must be weighted and taken into account.

The future that is at present set out before me requires that I relinquish my hold of the past and seize that which is ahead.  Some might question my departure and the wisdom of leaving a life which has provided one adventure after another, but I have found that adventure awaits me at every turn of my life. I have cherished the privilege of serving as a minister to the people for whom the Lord sent me out to touch.

Now I’m engaged in ministry to those who have little or no moral foundation, I’m exposed to a whole new world, one that is more decadent and depraved then I ever thought possible. One whose residents are more neglected, abandoned and abused then the religions world wants to acknowledge. I have the privilege of ministering to this world’s Lazarus. Those whom this world have deemed dead and beyond hope, those who have been shut away out of eyesight and proclaimed beyond reach. I have the opportunity to roll away the stone in the hope that they will hear the voice of their Lord and come forth into newness of life finding the hope that can only be found in One.        

 

With that allow me to draw my ramblings to a close with this sentiment;

You are my friend and I thank you for your years of support.

 

Stanley J Davis

September 6, 2008

SAT 6 SEP 2008

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” By Stanley J Davis

“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”

A lesson from a snowmobile ride

 

I have never seen snow the way I seen snow as a child growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We lived on White Fish Bay, the most eastern part of Lake Superior, north of Sue Saint Marie. Winter meant that our back yard which in summer was a 200 foot wide beach became a 200 yard deep frozen playground extending out to the sandbar where the ice was broken and in piles of blue, five to six feet high. The bay frozen over left a wide open plan where the snow could land but do to the obvious lack of trees the snow would not stay. All the snow that fell would then be driven from the frozen surface of the bay inland only to bury all evidence of society. Toys left in the back yard, Cars left in the drive, the drive itself, the garage, and Old Grandma Badel’s one story tarpaper house. My parents have pictures of some of the local business (in what we called downtown) being reduced to nothing more then a cave in a snow bank, there were poles sticking up off the roofs to prevent snowmobiles from driving over them. Two items that I thing all residents of Paradise owned were snow shows and snowmobiles.

It was on a snowmobile that my Dad taught me something about the love of God. We were riding along the edge of the main road (the only road) at about 35 to 40 miles an hour. My brothers where all in a sled hooked to the back, mom was sitting behind my dad with her arms wrapped around his waist, and I was in my favorite spot, my dad’s lap. I would hold onto the handle bars while he drove, pretending that I was driving and in control (little has changed; now God lets me hold onto the handle bars).

Then the lesson started, the belt on the engine broke, snapped, creating the sound of a shotgun being fired between my lags, I though in my six year old mind “It’s going to explode”, and sitting there was now the last place I wanted to be! So I left! (Mind you we are still traveling about 35 miles an hour) I jumped off not thinking about the outcome of my actions, mainly hitting the cold hard road at 35 miles an hour then to be run over by my brothers in the sled. Well, that did not happen, instead I found myself suspended 2 ½ feet looking down at the snow and road whisking by my face. My Dad now driving with only one hand had caught my fleeing body in his right arm, he held me safely and securely until the ride had come to a complete stop.

I leaned to expect and have experienced this same protection from my heavenly father. Those times when I have abandoned ship leaving what I perceived as unavoidable failure, God has always caught my fleeing body in his right arm and has held my safely and securely until the smoke clears and once again I can get his prospective.

 

 “…he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5 

August 15, 2008

FRI 15 AUG 2008

Alone Again "The art of removing yourself" By Stanley J Davis

 

Alone Again

The art of removing yourself

 

             Quiet time, alone time; people call it different things, but it is an important ingredient in a healthy Christian life. While down in Florida, I heard John Maxwell tell of his "thinking chair." I picture it as a large wingback chair of leather, with a footstool of brown leather sitting in front of it. John did not give that much detail but that is the picture that formed in my mind. It is his thinking chair, that is all it is; it is not his planning chair, his reading or writing chair, just his thinking chair. He sits in it daily - or tries to - and if neglected for a day or two it become a monkey on his back, calling him, reminding him of his need to sit and think - to lay aside all paperwork, unhook the phone, and just sit, ponder and contemplate. What are these thoughts that he sits and thinks?     Ponderings, stories, what ifs, why nots, and what thens. One thought flowing into another, down one endless rabbit trail that leads to another. He seldom writes all of them down. A few that spark his fancy he takes note of; the rest continue to drift down the river of thought around the bend until they are out of the mind's sight.

Without a quiet time, (may I suggest that it be a daily quiet time) the winding of our emotions intertwine with the toxicity of stress, speeding us forward to an early death.

Jesus was noted to withdraw Himself after a time of intense ministry. He knew the importance of quiet time so well that he hightailed it out into the wilderness, and there He prayed. No E-mails to address, no faxes spitting out cheap insurance and vacation offers, no phones, not even a cell, He even left his twelve behind just for the serenity of being alone. He also made Himself scarce when people were about to demand too much. In John 6:15 it says that “Jesus perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king,     departed again into a mountain Himself alone.”

Today we try to meet the demands that others put on us regardless if they fit into the call that God has for us. Please do not fall into that trap. God has a wonderful plan that is designed just for you and only you can fulfill that plan. If we are out trying to meet the expectations of every Tom, Dick and Harry, we will not have the time or the energy to find and fulfill God’s plan. When that happens to you, do what Jesus did - remove yourself.

Get some alone time,

 Stan