One Life Blog

As chairman of the Building Committee I want you to join us in celebrating the beginning of construction. This is a great celebration and I invited some friends to help us celebrate. It has been over 7 years since the elders appointed the Building Committee, and frankly, we thought we would be out of a job by now! We can blame the delays on the county, funding, etc., but the reality is that we are on God’s schedule.

In order to design the building and meet the needs of the congregation, we surveyed all the ministry leaders and conducted two sets of ministry leader interviews. The committee visited churches and schools in order to see how new construction was being used to meet the changing needs.

Our committee selected the firm Helbing/Lipp – Engineering and architects. Helbing Lipp is one of the top architect firms inNorthern Virginia. We also selected Jack Bays Inc. as our general contractor. Jack Bays Inc. is one of the leading contractors in the Northern Virginia area.

After the Jack Bays Inc. bid was accepted, they went to their subcontractors and said, “Let’s review all the bids to make sure everything is covered.” They examined the bids line-by-line. They reduced their bid by about $1,000,000. Lynn Bays said to me, “Ralph, that never happens. It always goes up.” I said, “This is God’s timing.”

• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• Buzz it up
• Buzz it up
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post
• Tell a friend
• Print for later

Each morning as I’m getting ready for work, I see them out walking. The older Korean ladies come striding along with purpose. A few minutes later they are followed by two women strolling along chatting. A retired couple, engaged in conversation, often pauses at our corner before continuing on. With the weather warming up I expect we will see more of our neighbors out for an early morning walk.

I have a pair of worn leather sandals that I bring out each year at Easter. Several years ago I played one of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in the Pageant. Lorenzo and I walked along, lost in casual conversation. Stopped by a stranger, we spent some time walking with him. Later in the drama, we “asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ( Luke 24:31)

The other evening during Bible study, the topic of our One Life campaign came up. As we discussed some of the details of the program, the question arose: what is a “spiritual journey”? I thought back to those Easter performances for an example to share. And I thought of something we have been challenged with recently. If we really do believe that “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1), then it starts to make sense to ask the Owner what He wants us to do with what He has entrusted to us.

Have you set out on a spiritual journey? This week, I would encourage you to look around in your closet and slip on a pair of worn leather sandals; go for a walk with Jesus. Talk with Him. What better way to find out what is on His heart that to spend some time with Him.

Ron Hilbig
Communications Director
Immanuel Bible Church

• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• Buzz it up
• Buzz it up
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post
• Tell a friend
• Print for later

I’ve had the privilege of traveling to a lot of places around the world, including both third-world countries and more advanced countries.  I always return home with the same conclusion: we Americans are very wealthy.  Most people in the world have much less than even “poor” Americans.  Most of us are not millionaires, but we are rich.

We have an abundance of food and clothing.  Our grocery stores are stocked with copious quantities and a great selection of food.  If we tire of cooking, we have wonderful restaurants with dishes from all over the world.  Likewise, our closets are filled to overflowing with nice clothes.  We usually have far more than we need to keep us warm, comfortable, and looking nice.  If we do need more, our stores are filled with all the latest styles.

We live in comfortable homes that are large by world standards.  Our homes are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  They are nicely furnished and nicely decorated.  We have electricity and excellent phone service available 24/7 with only rare interruptions.  We have washing machines, dishwashers, microwave ovens, computers (often with broadband access to the internet), cable television, and I could go on and on.

Most of us drive nice cars.  We drive them on a network of generally excellent roads that are the envy of most of the world.  And we are free to travel whenever and wherever we care to travel in this beautiful country.  No travel documents needed.  No government permissions.

It is in the area of freedoms that we are particularly rich.  We freely elect our leaders.  We have great freedom of expression both in our speech and in our media.  We can gather for worship and worship as the Lord leads us with no expectation of interference.

We take all these things for granted and consider them our due.  What much of the world considers luxuries, we consider necessities of life.

Not many of our brothers and sisters around the world have nearly what we have.  Yet I’ve observed many people around the world whom I would consider desperately poor with a cheerful attitude toward life.  And Americans—including American Christians—with great abundance often are looking for yet a little more to make us feel happy and secure.  Even as Christians, our “stuff” often owns us rather than the other way around.

God has told us that “to whom much is given, much will be required.”  All of us have been given much.  God will someday ask us if we were faithful stewards of the great abundance that He entrusted to us.  He will ask us if we were tight-fisted or generous.  We need to examine carefully what we really need and what we only want.  One Life gives us an excellent opportunity to do this examination.

Gary Holmberg
IBC Elder

• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• Buzz it up
• Buzz it up
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post
• Tell a friend
• Print for later