Slave Ants

What do you think of when I say “Polyergus breviceps”?  (I asked this last night as I was giving a devotion at a meeting. Someone responded “Oh, I had mine taken out last year.” Ha ha! That cracked me up!) Well, it is not an obscure body part. It is the scientific name of a species of Slave Maker ants. Hunh?

If you haven’t heard of these little creatures, draw near and marvel with me. They are a type of ant that raids other ant colonies and steals their eggs. They bring the eggs back to their own ant bed and after they hatch the unaware babies are literally turned into slaves. These poor slave ants gather food, take care of the Queen, dig tunnels, etc.

These unfortunate insects remind me of the Israelites in Exodus Chapter 2. Their people had been slaves to the Egyptians for so long, 430 yrs (Exodus 12:40), that generations were born into this lifestyle accepting it as normal.  

I understand that the Jews are a real part of history but the story of the Jews is too much like my own story. I have to believe that God intends for us to see the Israelites this way, as a representation of how God wants to be in relation to us.

God knows that we are all born into slavery suffering under immense pressures of the world. In Exodus 2:23-25 the people are groaning and crying out to God. Then the Bible says “God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” God sees enslaved people today and He knows. What do I mean? Well, sadly human sex slavery is all too common today. But, also, can we be slaves to things other than people? Sure, just think…can we not be a slave to our job, sexual relationships, cell phones, drugs, cravings for food, alcohol, gangs, TV, Video games…

Get deeper…can we not be slaves to other peoples’ opinions, our appearance, pride, anger problems, jealousy, etc. In short, we are slaves to sin. And, for the sake of brevity, sin is going our own way instead of God’s way.

All this talk of slavery brings me to consider the question, what is salvation? What I usually hear from the Church is that Jesus died for our sins so we can be with him forever and not go to Hell.  But, as a wise man asked me once, what did salvation look like to the Israelites?

It is a long drawn out story involving reluctant Jewish leaders, hard-hearted Pharoah and plagues. But in the end the Israelites not only walked away from their slavery but left with abundance of bread dough, livestock, silver and gold jewelry and clothing!!! (Exodus 12:34-36)

It is a bit long to add here, but for a great picture of the nature of salvation, read Psalm 65. Read it out loud! I love the image of God's wagon tracks filled with abundance.

Yes, part of salvation is about spending eternity with Jesus in heaven and not going to Hell. But it is also about experiencing God’s loving salvation from selfishness and sin today, in this life.  This concept always reminds me of 2 Corinthians 6:2 where Paul exclaims “now is the day of salvation.” This verse gets the carnival lights put around it. But if we read on through verse 10 we are led to my third point.

The walking out of a life after salvation is full of blessings, wonders and mountain views but it is surely wrought with difficulty, temptations and dark, dark valleys, the things which enslaved us in the beginning. Paul discusses this extensively in 2 Corinthians 6:2-10. And, as Christians, we have to be ready to walk this road.

After Israel walked away from their longstanding enslavement to Egypt, what happened at the first sign of difficulty? They saw the dust clouds of the Egyptian army pursuing them and THEY WANTED TO GO BACK INTO SLAVERY THINKING IT WOULD BE BETTER THAN GOD’S PLAN FOR THEM! We cannot be surprised by this. And we are not immune from it ourselves!

To recap, as ministers (and if you are a Christian then you are one), we must be:

1)      Aware that we are BORN into slavery to sin.

2)      Aware of what salvation means not only for the next life but also in THIS life.

3)      Aware of the difficulties for one who is saved…this includes US.

Now, revisit with me our insect friends. What if you could become and ant yourself and go down to one of those slave-ants and tell him he was designed to be something so much better, to be free, he did not have to be a slave anymore? What would you hope he would do? Experience salvation! But surely this road home would be a difficult road for such a little ant.

That is exactly what Jesus did for us. He became a little ant like us and paid our way back home to our true Father. And Jesus chooses to continue this loving work through you and I.

So, all of our planning, church methods, ministry and program development, etc. is not bad at all. But these things are not the height of Christianity. If we are to endure the ups and downs of ministry, the blessings and disappointments, to help those who have been saved, we must maintain righteousness.

We cannot maintain righteousness in any other way than by reaching the height of Christianity. The pinnacle of Christianity is not working hard for God but simply knowing Christ is with us now. Here I defer to the words of Oswald Chambers in his classic work My Utmost For His Highest.

What He desires for me is that I see “Him walking on the sea” with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see “Him walking on the sea” (Mark 6:49)-Oswald Chambers

A Bandage over a Broken Heart

Jeremy Collins

We need to get high on Jesus and drunk on the Holy Spirit!

Families suffering from brokenness seem to be the rule instead of the exception these days. In keeping with our effort to confront real-life issues faced by youth this year, the topic of discussion for one of our camps was “Drugs and Alcohol”. According to the U. S. Dept. of Justice, over half of the inmates in prison are there for drug related charges. We must remember that behind this statistic is a vast ocean of shattered families. The Church must stand behind those in prison and their hurting family members outside of prison. There are multiple societal reasons for these issues which are far beyond the scope of this blog. Addressing the problem as a society boils down to the concepts of intervention and hopefully prevention. We got very real with our campers sharing our own experiences with substance abuse and incarceration. Instead of repeating banner type jargon, we looked at what scripture actually says about these things.

However, addressing the problem as the Church of Jesus Christ boils down to addressing a heart problem. Scripture is abundantly clear and repetitive about the true reason for our brokenness, which can take many different forms. It is simply that we have all chosen to go OUR way instead of GOD’S way (Genesis 2:15-17, Deuteronomy 30:11-20 and Matthew 7:13-14 just to list a few). Therefore the only fix for a broken relationship with God is to trust that Jesus Christ lovingly died on the cross ONLY to pay for our sins. Through trusting in that redemptive work we will be seen as whole and blameless once again in the eyes of God (Romans 3:21-26). Without Jesus Christ, we might be able to prevent or intervene in drug and alcohol related problems. But in the end we have only placed a band-aid over a broken heart. 

I had a dream last night where God asked me to write down what was on my heart. In misspelled words written in odd looking, contorted “dreamy” letters I wrote something like this: I want to better understand the long term effects, good or bad, on people raised in a broken home so that we can better serve them while they are young.

Three Circles Foundation is dedicated to the idea, quoted from Frederick Douglass, that “it is easier to build strong boys than to repair broken men”. We hope to do just that, however, once a mother, a father or both are missing from the picture, there is no simple solution. We understand that there is a gamut of needs that go unmet when the family breaks apart, regardless of the reason. That is why we strive to serve and partner with other organizations to collectively minister to the needs of our community. Please be in prayer for us as we continually seek God’s direction in fulfilling our mission. For now we will continue to teach them about the best drug out there, Jesus, and the best booze ever, The Holy Spirit!

I want to take a moment to deeply thank those of you who have so faithfully supported what God is doing through Three Circles. God has used your commitments for continual improvement and plans to grow in the near future. If you have not supported Three Circles before, I encourage you to contact us and discuss ways to do so! Thank you.

Stewards & Consumers

Jeremy Collins

My family moved to a different home recently. Yes, they let me come too. The volume of “stuff” seemingly birthed by this venture is overwhelming. Cardboard boxes that haven’t been opened for years, plastic bags stuffed with clothes, questionably reusable but definitely obsolete items (mint condition VHS tape of the movie Wayne’s World, anybody?) and helpless pink, stuffed animals all bulge around the ratchet straps and bungee cords straining to contain the mess in the bed of my little pickup truck, trip number 11.

My wife and I try to be responsible with the disastrous pile, diligently allocating unwanted items to charities, recycling facilities, thrift stores and, if we must, dumpsters. It is there at the row of stinking metal dumpsters that I take pause. The big receptacles appear to have choked and coughed up their contents onto the surrounding gravel. Very much is recyclable, even reusable!  Hey, at least someone brought it to the dumpsite instead of throwing it out of the car window.  At camp we often pick up litter on the sides of the road. Beer cans, liquor bottles, fast food bags, tobacco product packaging, energy drink cans, soft drink bottles and lottery tickets comprise 90% of the roadside litter. What is going on here? Lest you think I am going on a tree-hugging tirade, let me get to the point. Something deeper than environmental concerns are tugging at my brain, nay, at my very soul.  

Could our relationship with the environment affect the way we view our relationships with God and our community? When I say environment, think resources like money, food, land, animals, trees, water, buildings, air, roads, vehicles, etc. If my relationship with these things is broken but considered “normal and acceptable” then could that lead me to think that a broken relationship with God or other people (community) is actually “normal and acceptable”?  I propose that it very much does.   

For example many people have a similar relationship with food as they do with God.

1. Pull up to the drive-through window.

2. Get cheap food handed to me.

3. Eat food.

4. Throw packaging out of the window (or, if not totally bereft of decency, in a garbage can).

This is a consumer, short-sighted, stagnant way of thinking. We treat food like its only purpose is to fill our empty bellies. Food is designed for so much more. Food should be of a quality that nourishes our bodies, giving us sharp minds and physical strength. Meals should be shared with others to provide a time of relationship building. Who has time for a healthy, family dinner anymore?

Don’t many of us view God with the same consumer, short-sighted, stagnant mindset?

1. Go to church (maybe, if I feel like it).

2. Hear the sermon (get fidgety and start hint-coughing if lasts more than 30 minutes).

3. Eat the part that I like.

4. Throw the rest out the window (maybe not in public, but at home it surely goes in the trash).

We treat God like He is there to fulfill a cultural obligation so we can check the made-it-to-church box or any other religious-looking-thing-we-do box. God wants so much more for us. He died on that cross in order to purchase our freedom from slavery, slavery to sin. Salvation! He wants us to have peace that surpasses understanding, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and so much more! What are we going to do with that kind of love??? We can either consume it in a self-centered way or exude it in a God-and-others-centered way.

Envision a stagnant pond compared to a fountain. When we are a dead-end for water that comes to us, we tend to get pretty scummy. But when we allow the water that comes to us to fill us up and overflow into others there is only life giving water amply supplied to those around us. We should think with a giving, eternal and dynamic mindset!

Be good stewards of your resources. Eat healthy food with other people as often as you can. Spend money wisely. Recycle what you can. Turn from your sin. Receive the love of Christ. Give your life to Him. Invest in time with Him and His people. Love others (including the lost) as yourself. Love God with all that you have and are!

Today, ask the Lord to reveal areas of your life where you are being a self-centered consumer. Consider your three circles (relationships) with the environment, with others and with God. Hmmm, maybe I’ll ask a friend to help me with trip number 12, so we can, umm, build a better relationship. Yeah, that’s it.

Mortar of Grace

Jeremy Collins

A recent monthly camp theme was forgiveness. There are several great analogies in the Bible which describe the Church of Jesus Christ, a flock, a body, a bride. One that I recently heard a teacher discuss was Peter’s analogy in 1 Peter 2:1-5. Peter says that we are like living stones being used by God to build a spiritual house. This teacher said that Peter chose the word stones instead of bricks because bricks are all exactly the same and God is not in the business of making cookie-cutter people! Stones are each unique (Stop and think about that for a minute…God has NEVER made two of the same people out of the billions and billions He has made! What creativity! What an awesome God!). They each have different shapes, colors and strengths. Some are suitable for going around a window, some for the foundation of the wall, some for the front porch. Each stone requires some shaping and placement by the master-builder as He decides how each one will sit in relationship to the Cornerstone (see verses 6 and 7). All of this is done to build a spiritual house, a place where God’s love can be shown in real time, HERE and NOW, the Church. There are as many opportunities for God to show His love to the world as there are people. The issue that we run into is that we do not all fit perfectly together. God may put some of us stones together who rub each other the wrong way. That is where the mortar comes in! Just as each of us has been forgiven through grace exemplified when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we must forgive one another by grace as we die to ourselves. When this happens it is like the mortar that the builder uses to bond the stones together and fill in the gaps and strengthen the wall. It helps us to become what we were designed to be…creatures with whom and through whom God can share His love. This mortar of grace is the forgiveness that allows us to transition from stubborn selfish stones into a unified spiritual house.

We had some great talks about forgiveness at camp. Most of us have people that we need to forgive and others from whom we need to ask forgiveness. We believe it is important to teach our campers the truth about the destruction wrought in our lives by harboring unforgiveness. The peace that comes from forgiveness surpasses understanding. It is a gift that we want our campers to have.

 Thank you for supporting us and helping provide opportunities to love on these youth from single or no–parent homes. We share truths with them from God’s Word that they may not hear otherwise. 

Who Are You?

Jeremy Collins

The theme for June's camp was “Identity.” During our two talks of the day we
asked the boys “Who are you?” The Bible teaches that we must decide whether we will ground
our identity in temporary creations like money, family and religion OR in an eternal creator,
Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13-25). Each of us has measured our value by worldly standards. This is
sinful and ultimately leads to destruction. God deeply desires for each of us to have our identity
restored in Him and He has done all that He can to offer this opportunity (1 Timothy 2:1-6).
However, each person must decide for themselves.

Ironically, camp did not go as planned on many fronts and Three Circles was faced with
an identity crisis of its own. Transportation logistical problems, a skeleton crew of volunteers,
difficulty at our footwashing projects and a last-minute fall-through of our afternoon High
Ropes Course plans led us as a ministry to ask “Who are we?” It seemed to be an unfolding
disaster. Instead, by God’s grace, I was reminded once again of what Three Circles is all about.
Thorough planning is a huge part of what makes camp happen each month. Thankfully,
though, it is not what holds us together. When the plans fell through, I looked around and saw
no gloomy or frustrated faces. The boys were simply content to be with people who loved
them. I saw new campers making friends, impromptu fun, old friendships being strengthened,
teenage boys from broken homes receiving biblical teaching and adult volunteers investing in
youth. Identity crisis averted! The interruptions of the day and how we handled them as a
group pointed to our true identity. Three Circles is simply a part of the Body of Jesus Christ.

MINISTRY UPDATE: We see several exciting opportunities on the horizon!

• I am stepping down from my career as a veterinarian to pursue a call to full-time ministry. Whether it is sharing the vision of TCF, biblical teaching or preaching, I love it all! I would be humbled by the opportunity to visit your church, youth/small group, club or civic group in these capacities! Give me a call!
• We are also beginning some very strategic partnerships with other ministries in an attempt to more lovingly and thoroughly address the wide spectrum of brokenness in our community. Look for more information on this down the road.
• Is it in your heart to start a satellite of Three Circles or similar ministry in your area? Contact us! I would love to hear what God has placed in your heart!

I extend sincere and humble gratitude to those of you who support the work God is
doing through Three Circles. You are investing in the future of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!