What the Hell do we really know.

When I heard about the topic for this month's synchroblog, I was immediately a bit apprehensive about writing on the topic of Hell. You see, in my previous faith traditions, Hell was a very serious thing, and when anyone disagreed about or questioned the traditional teachings on Hell, they were quickly labeled as a heretic and either banned from teaching or asked to leave the church.

Heartbreak, Groaning, and The Not-As-ItShould-Be World

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.  For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.  Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:18-23 (NLT)

When I think of "suffering with Christ", I tend to think about some third world prison, or perhaps some awful place of exile like Siberia, or even to those few countries left in the world where taking a stand for Christ could cost you your life. Over the last few weeks, as our Sunday school has been going through Romans chapter 8, I have began to develop another view of how we as Christians can "suffer with Christ". 

Tearing Down Fences and Building Sidewalks

 

 The pastor of the church we regularly attend told a story of when he first arrived at the church.  He looked around the neighborhood and asked God who around the church needed to know God's grace. The first place he noticed was a huge low income apartment complex right behind the church. The church and the complex were separated by a hill going down to the apartments and a large fence around the church property.  The decision was made to tear down the fence and build a sidewalk. The kids in the apartments were invited to play basketball on our courts. People from the church began to reach out to the families. This one act forever changed the landscape of our church.  Now it is home to a food distribution center for needy families, a last chance school that not only helps kids finish high school and learn life skills, but gives them a chance to experience unconditional love for the first time and many other places where people can come to know Jesus in very real ways.

Cognitive Dissonance and Preaching to the Choir

       

 

       "Daddy, that was an awesome sermon, but you really did make my head hurt". These were my daughter, "Diamond's" words after I finished preaching a sermon on Romans 12 last Saturday. Well, at least I knew she was paying attention to the end of the message, cause I had used that phrase to explain the difficult passage in verse 20 that talks about heaping burning coals on the heads of our enemies. You see, after reading the things that Paul calls the believers to be doing in their lives throughout the rest of the chapter, I came to the conclusion that when Paul talks of burning coals, he is most probably using something akin to the modern phrase "you make my head hurt". We can all pretty much relate to this when we encounter someone or something that does not make sense to us. In technical terms, we would call this cognitive dissonance, basically a fancy term for when our beliefs or expectations are contradicted by real world experience. 

Finding New Life in Our New Home (March Synchroblog)

Last night was the final time we would be in our old house. The inspectors finally came to approve our move out, after a few weeks of lost paperwork, lost checks, and missed appointments. Even then the process was less than smooth and it was a few more hours before we received our cash for keys check and were able to be completely done with the foreclosure on the old house.

As we left what had been our home for the last several years, we tried to remember the good memories, the memories of children being born, our two middle sons were both born at home, in this house. Memories of children learning to walk and talk, of having bar-b-ques with our friends. Of opening our house to families in need and coming to learn what home really is. We tried to forget the last year of falling behind on payments, of collection calls, of one failed attempt after another to refinance, of dreams and hopes lost.

Today was a beautiful mostly sunny day, the children were able to play outside in the new back yard, we were able to sit on our new deck, and look at the fruit trees in the back yard as they begin to form buds. Today we remember that we cannot dwell on those things that are past, whether good or bad, but we must each day try to find the good. We wake each morning looking to God to lead us into new experiences, and know that He is still with us here as we make new memories in a new place. We look at the coming of the spring and know that our lives are in a way beginning again here, and we look for the good.


This post was part of the March Synchroblog "New Life". Please visit the pages of the other authors listed below and read their stories of new life.

Michael Donahoe – New Life
K.W. Leslie – Sin Kills; God Brings New Life
Carol Kuniholm – New Life. Mystery Fruit.
Jeremy Myers – I Get Depressed On Facebook
Glenn Hager – A Personal Resurrection Story
Loveday Anyim – Spring Forth – Ideas That Speak New Life
Loveday Anyim – Inspired By Spring To Create A New Life
Sarah Quezada – Post Winter Delight
Edwin Aldrich – Finding New Life In Our New Home
Doreen A. Mannion – Each Day A New Decision: Choose Life
kathy escobar – new life through nonviolent communication

Launch www.HisUrbanPresence.org

Today we launch the Website for His Urban Presence, and officially begin the process of raising support to become full-time ministers to the marginalized communities of Colorado Springs. For my wife and I this is the culmination of more than a year of prayer and searching for God's will for our lives. We have a long way to go to reach our goal and we hope to be fully supported in approximately 2 years. If you share our passion for the poor, homeless, addicted, and otherwise cast aside, please check out our website for opportunities to support our work. Also, we ask that you share the website and our Facebook pages with your friends and families and encourage them to prayerfully consider supporting God's mission through us.

Edwin "Pastor FedEx" Aldrich
Karen "Charity" Aldrich

Embracing Change - MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!

        I have never really liked changes. I am a creature of habit and truth be told, I really like for things to continue on as they have been. In the last few weeks since we have moved houses, I have found myself more than once taking the road to my old house only to realize that I am going in the exact opposite direction of our new home. I like to develop routines, and I now have to drive an extra 15 minutes each way to work. This means getting up earlier. This also means finding a new morning coffee stop along the new route to work. All of these changes have resulted in me having a pretty lousy attitude about going to work for the last few weeks, like I said, I really don't like change.
        Unfortunately, as our family begin to recover from the turmoil of this latest period of transition and reestablish new routines, we are looking at some more, even potentially bigger changes. Many of the things that we have had as part of our routine for the last several years are going to change and many of the things we have looked to for stability are going to be challenged. Not liking change, and knowing that these decisions would change nearly everything for our family, we have been seeking God's direction through prayer and counsel for nearly a year, and we are finally ready to move.
        Most of you who read this blog know of our ministry, and most of you know that we have supported out ministry work over the last several years through our work as the owners of a granite counter top company. Over the last few years, it has become apparent to Karen and I that we really needed to decide between the business or the ministry as we felt we could not continue to do both well. After much prayer and hours of talking with friends and family, we have made the decision to move toward leaving the company and entering into ministry work on a full time basis.
        So, as of now, we have set a goal of either selling or closing our business by June of 2016, and we have applied to become a missionary project under the Joy to the World Foundation. We are trusting that as we step out in faith, God will provide ministry partners and support to meet all the needs of this ministry. We have an official Launch date!!!!! We will be going live with a new website that includes links to the ministries we partner with, along with a list of partnership opportunities from volunteering to monthly financial support. The website address will be officially announced on our blog, and our Facebook pages on Friday, March 21st.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!
        We really Believe that the work we do is important, it is important to our local communities, to our city, our state, and ultimately, it is important to the Kingdom of God, and we need your help getting the word out. If you are on facebook, and you have not liked our page yet, you can do that by going to His Urban Presence Facebook page, and clicking on the like button. We ask that you also consider sharing out page by inviting your friends to like this page as well.
        Also, starting in March we will be sending out our first of hopefully many quarterly newsletters by e-mail. These newsletters will let ministry partners and supporters know about recent events, changes, and updates and will be e-mailed out to anyone who requests them. If you would like to receive our newsletter, please send an email to hisurbanpresence@gmail.com and be sure to put "Newsletter" in the subject line.

And be sure to check our blog and Facebook pages on Friday, March 21st to be part of the official launch of our new website.
Blog - His Urban Presence
Facebook - His Urban Presence
Facebook - Pastor FedEx

Pastor FedEx