I’d like to share a story with you from Sherri Hill, the Mud Creek Christian School Director.  It’s a story that reminds us of God’s desire to use us in everyday situations if we’re available.  The story comes from Sherri’s husband Anthony, a North Carolina State Trooper and his partnership with God and other believers in a near-tragic situation.

Sherri’s story follows: “This past Monday afternoon, Anthony was called to a wreck in the Bat Cave area of Henderson County.  A young 22-year-old male driver named Ryan apparently had a diabetic emergency and wrecked. His toddler daughter and his girlfriend Rebecca (the child’s mother) were in the car.  Rebecca, not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown throughout the car’s interior during the accident. All three were transported to Mission Hospital.  When Anthony arrived in the ER, he made his way to where 22-year-old Rebecca was waiting.  She was in pain and alone, and he found himself in the role of consoling her.  For those of you who don’t know Anthony very well, when he is moved with compassion, it is 100%.  He sat rubbing her head, talking to her about Jesus’ love, telling her God had spared her life for a purpose, and asked about her church family.  She told him no one had really ever taken her to church since she was a young child, but that she knew she had made some bad choices and needed to make some changes in her life.  Anthony left her side to call me, and I could hear the urgency in his voice.  Anthony needed a minister and hoped one of the Mud Creek ministers happened to be in the Asheville area.  As providence would have it, Anthony ran into David MacEachern, pastor at Bat Cave Baptist Church, and said, ‘I need you!’  David said, ‘I know you do.’  Anthony was dumbfounded.  As it turned out, David had been at the scene of the accident as a volunteer firefighter, had spoken to Rebecca there, and had come to Mission himself.  Anthony took him back to Rebecca’s side, where she gave her life to the Lord.  Of course, my burly, brusque-façade husband was reduced to a blubbering mess as he gained a new sister in Christ. Pastor David went to visit her again yesterday and met up with Ryan, who also surrendered his life to Christ.”

Sherri reminds us “that God wants to and will use us if we’re willing.  From compassion to consolation to praying for the unknown as you’re walking toward the ER, no effort is insignificant in God’s perfect plan.  When all hearts are listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, He brings the many pieces together to orchestrate a beautiful and perfect outcome!”

Since the accident, our women’s ministry director, Becky Garrett has had the privilege of visiting with the family and taking them a copy of God’s Word.  I would like to echo Sherri’s admonition that God wants to use us as His partners to share grace, compassion, and salvation with those around us.  God does use extraordinary circumstances, catastrophic situations, as well as everyday events to reach those who are unbelievers.  Let Anthony’s compassion to the hurting, David’s sensitivity to God’s prompting, Becky’s willingness to serve, and Sherri’s thoughtfulness in sharing be examples to us.  What situation might God place in your path today where He wants to use you?  Please continue praying for the recovery, health, and spiritual growth of Ryan, Rebecca, and their daughter.

In the past few posts concerning Christian thinking, we’ve explored the exclusivity of the gospel and the historical transitions that have attempted (rather successfully in some instances) to mitigate the universal and supra-cultural authority of the Scripture.  In this post, we’ll highlight the contemporary quandary left by the blurred lines separating Modernism and Postmodernism.

Modernism resulted from the confident assertions of the Enlightenment.  Flowing out of the secular framework built by Enlightenment thinkers, Reason became established as the Truth.  When combined with Darwinistic Naturalism in the late 1800’s, the break from religious truth and faith was complete.   The modernistic framework no longer needed the vestiges of faith and religion to provide a starting point as with Enlightenment Deism.  Modernism had high hopes as it combined with the idea that humanity was evolving into an enlightened understanding about life, philosophy, politics, and culture.

Shattering the positive, hopeful nature of Modernism was the devastation caused by the two world wars in the early twentieth century and the sinister despotism of the totalitarian regimes inspired by nationalism and communism.

An overarching positive view of the world was increasing incompatible with the destructive and deadly realities displayed in the early and middle twentieth centuries (which have not really changed today).  Enter postmodernism.   The postmodern mindset rejected the positive, hopeful approach that science and secularism had expected.  Further, postmodernism rejected the idea of the metanarrative (grand and universally comprehensive worldviews explaining life).  In some ways this was a helpful and even welcome critique (particularly related to the totalitarian worldviews of communism and nationalism as well as the secular scientism that dominated [and in many cases still dominates] academia).

As with so many reactions, postmodernism overreacted—throwing out any metanarrative and proceeded to relativize truth.  Art, music, and pop culture depicted a world without rules or overarching explanations.  Interpretation (hermeneutics) shifted from its traditional view of a text-centered approach to a deconstructionist or reader-centered approach.  In other words, meaning (for the postmodern) is not determined by the text, but by the reader.  Postmodern relativistic interpretation was planted into a fertile soil by combining this radical hermeneutic with the individualism of Western culture.

As such, the church today must confront reader-centered hermeneutics with a return to text-centered interpretation where what God said is what God meant.  The former approach idolizes individual interpretation and severely minimizes (if not destroys) God’s rightful authority as the author of Scripture and Truth.  The Bible means what it meant, and our challenge is to discover what God meant when it was originally written and apply it to today’s cultural context.  As a result, we must humble ourselves before the text (God’s inspired, inerrant Word) and submit to its authority.  If we fail on this foundational task, we have no right, no authority, and no certainty to the exclusive claims of truth and salvation we rightly believe are taught in the sacred Word of God.