Category Archives: Assurance

Personal Incomes Up in SD…Be Thankful!

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Shel Boese / Shelby Boese, Corey reposted some stats that just came out with a little analysis…I might add it seems the fear mongering “end of the world” talk is part of the human psyche.  There are always secular and religious apocalyptic theories and we tend to latch on to them for various purposes.

Political, economic, religious, social…have you examined your fear buttons lately in light of the economic apocalptic theories?

Jesus promises that if we center on down in Him in relationship and His teachings we need not be paralyzed or driven by hate or fear.  That His Spirit helps us transcend the brokenness within that is driven by fear and hate.  Therefore the more “heavenly minded” we become the more grittier and joyful and engaged we can be in “real life” without dehumanizing our way to goals that do not ultimately satisfy nor bring security.

Righteousness (right peace-making relationships with God and each other), peace (soundness of mind not that re-orders our emotions), and joy (an all consuming sense of delight in that which is a gift- everything) are promised as we seek the Kingdom of God now in anticipation of a re-creation/new creation one day.

 

OK so ….

Hey, Sioux Falls! Get your personal income growth back in gear! According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income in the Sioux Falls metro area (Minnehaha, McCook, Turner, and Lincoln counties) grew 1.6% in 2010, from $9.47 billion to $9.62 billion. That’s positive, but so was the growth rate in 362 of the country’s 366 metro areas. Around the country, the average personal income growth rate in the big metros was 2.9%. Personal income grew in every metro but four (Grand Junction, CO; Las Vegas-Paradise, NV; Reno-Sparks, NV; and Carson City, NV).

Sioux Falls actually improved over its 2009 personal income growth rate of 0.3%, a year when only 124 metros posted positive numbers in that column. But now with everyone else growing, 2010′s slow and steady performance ranks Sioux Falls just 335th out of the 366 metros.

Personal Income Growth, 2009-2010, Metros by Quintile | Bureau of Economic Analysis

Just down the road, the Sioux City metro enjoyed a good bounce back from a rough 2009. Our Iowegian/Dakota Dunesian friends spent 2009 losing 1.4% of their personal income. In 2010, they cranked up their personal income 3.2%

Meanwhile, across the other river, the Rapid City metro (Pennington and Meade) saw a similar turnaround. It rose from from 0.3% shrinkage in personal income in 2009 to 3.2% growth in 2010. That’s a climb from $4.66 billion to $4.81 billion.

Set growth aside and look at the raw dollar figures. The total personal income in South Dakota in 2010 was $31.6 billion. Out of every $100 made in South Dakota last year, $30.45 was made in the Sioux Falls metro, while $15.21 was made in the Rapid City metro. Nearly half of our state wealth is generated in those two metro areas.

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Finding Hope After a Miscarriage

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Shel Boese / Shelby Boese – This was on RELEVANT Magazines FB update today – an article on the pain of miscarriage.  I hope this speaks to anyone who needs to hear this.  Being  a church of a lot of young people (and the other end of the age spectrum too – we have lots of people in 20-30s, starting to grow in the 40-60s (our smallest age group so far), and a large 60-90s group) this is a real issue and not an easy one to talk about. ..

Finding Hope After a Miscarriage

Jesse Harden

I came home to my wife writhing in pain as her body rejected the life that was God’s gift to us for only 8 short weeks. We were not prepared for this. No one in our family has had a miscarriage. Everyone that got pregnant stayed pregnant. Why was this happening?

 

 

The miscarriage was the most violent and painful thing I’ve watched anyone go through. Labor pains are supposed to give way to life, but this pain served no such purpose. There was no “but for the joy set before her” in my wife’s eyes as she went through these contractions. This pain gave birth to death and we knew it. I felt helpless as I held Joanna’s hand and dabbed her forehead with a washcloth and held the bucket for her to puke in when the pain got to be too much.

In the weeks that followed the real pain commenced. The physical pain was brutal, but I was not prepared for the deep spiritual and emotional pain that was to follow. There is an incredibly deep bond that God allows to develop between a woman and her baby in utero. Even in these short weeks, Joanna loved this child and had become attached to this person growing inside of her. Add on top of this our Christian conviction that God had “knit this baby together in his mother’s womb.” How does God knit a life only to allow it to be torn apart? This was a painful question that led to confusion and doubt.

Honestly, the pain was not as sharp for me. To me, the child was abstract – an idea, not a reality. Since it was so early in the pregnancy, Joanna was not showing. She had felt the change, but I had observed nothing. It was not as palpable for me.

This affected our marriage significantly. I tried to be sensitive, understanding and empathetic, but could not summon the emotions that validated my sense of loss like Joanna needed. She wondered why I didn’t cry – if I even cared. She needed someone to cry with her and share her pain and I couldn’t do it. Instead, I tried to give her the answers to her grief. I tried to be her pastor rather than her husband, partner, and friend. I tried to “fix” her, but she needed someone to hold her.

Unfortunately, the church held her no better than her husband. It’s funny how people in the church fear pain in others. We find it awkward and uncomfortable. We don’t know what to say so we either avoid interaction beyond the superficial or we speak without grace, sensitivity or attentiveness to the Spirit. We needed people to tell us that they knew we were hurting without telling us how to heal. We needed people to remind us that we weren’t alone without handing out religious clichés or greeting card anecdotes.

Healing is slow. We could not get pregnant in the months and years following and began pursuing adoption sooner than we had intended. We went to specialists and they couldn’t find anything “wrong.” It’s as if Joanna’s body simply refuses to entertain the prospect of such pain again. This prolongs the intensity of the pain that Joanna is experiencing. As a young couple in the “prime of life” you are surrounded by babies. Babies and pregnant women are everywhere! You can’t escape them! Our siblings have had six healthy babies since our miscarriage. Cousins, friends, teenage girls in our youth group and even Clay Aiken and Elton John are having babies!

Each announcement of a new life is bittersweet. We never begrudge someone the joy of their pregnancy, but the sorrow is in the reminder of our loss and the unfulfilled desire we have to be called “mom” and “dad” and to raise a person to love God, others, soccer and art. There are times when people unthinkingly ask, “When are you guys going to have kids?” as if we have any control over it. Others say, “Aren’t you glad you don’t have to put up with all of this?” Or, “Are you sure you want kids?” referring to their screaming, pooping child. The answer is “Yes! We want to change diapers, clean-up puke and get embarrassed in the grocery store! We have an aching hole in our hearts!”

To be fair, some questions came from people unaware of our struggle. This has led me to be much more sensitive in the questions I ask people concerning family planning or flippant comments regarding the inconvenience of child rearing in front of others.

It’s been about four years since our miscarriage and ensuing struggle with infertility and the adoption process. We’ve learned many lessons through these painful trials. Chances are you know someone struggling with infertility or loss from a miscarriage.  Here are some suggestions to lovingly navigate the waters of their pain:

 

  • Be quick in compassion. Write a note or speak with them in church communicating your thoughts and prayers are with them, avoiding advice or Christian clichés.
  • Persevere in your concern. So often we are good at triage care. We are there for people in the hours, days and weeks following a painful experience, but then forget to persevere, remembering their pain may last months or years afterward. Try to remember significant dates associated with the loss and keep them in mind when others announce new life.
  • Watch your words. Be careful how you talk about children or parenting around childless couples. Be aware of how certain statements or questions may ”hit” someone struggling with infertility.

 
God is not wasting our pain. We continue to experience healing and He is graciously giving us the joy of anticipating the arrival of a son from South Korea whom we have not yet met. Together, Joanna and I will embark on the journey of parenthood carrying always the memory of our loss with the hope of comforting others with the same comfort by which we have been comforted (2 Corinthians 1:3).

Jesse Harden is an associate pastor in Albuquerque, NM. He’s married to Joanna and they have one son, Jaxon, who will hopefully be in their home by the end of the year.

 

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Assurance of Salvation – You Already Said No, Will You Say Yes?

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shel boese – I have been thinking about different ways to understand assurance of salvation.  I will be posting some articles from others about this.  But first a few thoughts… “Only those who are already dead don’t struggle.”

 

(1) There is nothing you do in life and there are NO decisions you make with all the information and ALL the verification of the “facts” assumed in making those decisions. At some level you ALWAYS CHOOSE to trust and risk – you cannot “go all the way down” to the bottom of any issue before acting and living.

(2) My assurance is based on belief that God is, Jesus was an actual historical person, His life and teachings are the clearest revelation of love and  are superior to other ways of being in the world that I’ve encountered.

Moreover anything I am attracted to in other spiritual and moral systems I find in Jesus – they lead me back to HIM!

(3) My assurance is based on the reality that I am RESPONDING to something outside my will drawing me to Jesus.  Jesus is attracting/calling/convicting me.  He upholds the relationship and goes before!  This is identified as the part of the work of the Holy Spirit.  Not all that occurs in our minds and experiences is of our own making – some is from others – including God’s Spirit.

(4) Once you hear/learn/read about Jesus – you  must make a choice – you in fact have already choosen against Him, the question is will you reconsider Him as the clearest revelation of God, and His universal, timeless claims on your life NOW and His Church as sign pointing to His Coming Again and the coming fullness of His kingdom?

 

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The Assurance of Salvation

BY CARM

One of the more annoying problems in Christians’ lives is the issue of assurance of salvation.  We’ve all been there.  We’ve all wondered if we are really saved or not.  We’ve looked at our lives and actions and thoughts and sometimes just said, “How can I be saved if I am like this?”  I’ve counseled many Christians who have doubted their salvation and who have worked themselves into a worry and sometimes even depression over the issue.  I’ve always thought that the solution was pretty basic.  I ask the person, “Why do you think you might not be saved?”  Almost always the reason is, “Because I have a sin in my life.  Because I can’t beat this one sin.  Because of my thoughts.   Because I keep failing.”  ”Okay,” I say.  ”So you know you’re supposed to be doing better than you are, right?”  ”Yes,” they say.  ”I am supposed to be doing better and I’m not.  This is why I doubt that I am saved.”  So, I give them this illustration.

Let’s say that we are on a 20 foot boat out in the ocean.  We are sailing along when we notice two men in the water.  There is no other boat around, so it is obvious these two men are in trouble.  We take a life preserver, tie it to a rope, and throw it to them.  It lands just a few feet short.  We start yelling and yelling for them to grab the life preserver so we can pull them in.  ”Come on,” we yell.  ”Grab it!  Grab it!”  One of the men, exhausted, reaches out his arm for the life preserver but falls short.  ”Grab it!” we yell again.  He reaches again and his arm plops down in the water from fatigue.  The waves slap his face, but he tries again.  The other man is simply floating face down in the water.  He isn’t struggling at all.  But, the first man is trying for that life preserver.  He is fighting against the ocean, the wind, and the waves, all which are greater than he is.  That is when I ask the person, “Which one of the two men in the water is alive?”  Always, the response is, “The one reaching for the life preserver.”  ”Right,” I say.  “He is struggling for life.  Dead people don’t struggle for life…. and spiritually dead people do not struggle against their sin.  Only those who are dead, who have no life in them, do not struggle. The fact that you are struggling against your sin is one very good sign that you are very much alive in Christ.  If you were not struggling at all, then it might be true that you weren’t saved.  But, since you war against your sins, then it sure sounds like you’re saved to me.”  Usually, the eyes brighten at this point.  I then keep going.

“Do you believe there is only one God in all existence, all places, and all times?”  ”Yes,” they answer.  ”Do you believe in the Trinity, that God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?”  Again, “Yes.”  I continue.  ”Do you believe Jesus is God in flesh?”  ”Yes.”  ”Do you believe Jesus is the only way to salvation?”  Again, “Yes.”  ”Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead three days later?”  Another, “Yes.”  ”Good,” I say.

1 Cor. 2:14 says, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  I continue by telling them that a natural man is someone who is not saved.  Now, these are absolutely, definitely spiritually discerned truths that they answered yes to above.  They are that there is only one God and that God is a Trinity, that Jesus is God in flesh, that Jesus is the only way to salvation, and that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead three days later.  In other words, the fact that the person confesses these things and believes them is further, very strong evidence, that he is spiritually alive.  Usually, the person is encouraged even more.

And finally, I tell them that Jesus gives us eternal life (John 10:27-28) and He does not fake us out when we ask to be forgiven and for Him to be Lord of our lives.  He said in Luke 11:10-13, ”For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. 11Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?  12“Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?  13“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” In other words, you get what you ask for from the Lord (except for sinful and selfish things, of course); He does not bait-and-switch.  If you ask for eternal life from Jesus, that is what you get–no matter how you feel, no matter how your emotions may mislead you.  The truth is that God’s word tells us that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to us if we ask.  The Holy Spirit only indwells believers.

We all have our struggles and we all need to take into account the fact that we are still sinful and we are going to struggle with our sin.  But, if you begin to doubt your salvation because you don’t “feel” saved, then stop trusting your feelings and start trusting God at His word.  Ask yourself if you are struggling against your sin.  If you aren’t, maybe you aren’t saved.  But, if you are, then that is a sign of life.  Ask yourself if you believe in the Trinity, that Jesus is God in flesh, and that He died and rose from the dead.  If you do, that is a sign of spiritual renewal.  Ask yourself if you believe what Jesus said about Him not faking you out, about Him giving to you the Spirit if you ask.  If you do, then that means you are believing Him at His word.  Take your eyes off your feelings and failures and put them on Christ, His word, and His sacrifice.  Trust in Him and Him alone…. not what you feel, not at what you fail.  He didn’t save you because of your works or your “goodness.”  He did not save you because of what is or is not in you. He saved you because of what is in Him: love and truth.

 

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