Prayers / Support for Sharon Greb

I am honored to serve as an elder at Hilltop Christian Fellowship.   I mean honored because, really, this church family has ministered to me since my return to the Waco area in February 2011.  They love me, encourage me, and bless me daily.  We are blessed with a dedicated staff who give much of themselves to serve us.

I’d like to share with you about one of those staff members—Sharon Greb.  Sharon has been at Hilltop Christian Fellowship for five years now.  She serves as the financial secretary.  She also shares cleaning responsibilities.  Her role is so much larger, as she does everything from making the bulletins, to helping organize our church life, and serving us as a spiritual leader.

She is a dedicated wife and mother.  Her husband Kevin is a hard-working, godly, and faithful man.   They have two daughters.  Sharon has homeschooled her two daughters.  Her oldest daughter Kaitlyn (20) is a chef at Disneyworld in Orlando.  Prior to that, she was a chef at the Gospel Café in Waco.  Her youngest daughter Nicole (17) is a senior in high school, but is already taking steps toward a career in the medical field.

Recently, at prayer meeting, they shared with us the following news:

I have recently been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, a grade 3 tumor. At this time I am having consultations with the various doctors to determine the best course of treatment. I am uninsured. I work part time, and my husband just started a new job with a fairly new company, and they are not large enough to offer health insurance. Unfortunately for me, this diagnosis will keep me from obtaining insurance. I am setting up meetings with the local cancer groups to see what help there may be for me. I have already connected with one and am trying to qualify for a program for women with breast cancer. 

Please pray for us as we navigate what is to come and try to understand it all. It can be very confusing and emotional at times and the financial burden has already set in. But my God is able and I trust in Him to see us through. I have been blessed with a supportive family, great friends, and wonderful church family. I am richly blessed. May the Lord bless you as well.

We love this family dearly.  And we were taken back by the news.  Yet we also love and serve a God who saves, heals, and provides.  He has given us a family in the local church (small “c”) and Church Universal (large “C”), and we know He has called us to care for one another and share one another’s burdens.

As elders of Hilltop Christian Fellowship, we are asking for you to join us in prayer for Sharon.  We have also set up a fund for people like Sharon: a “benevolence fund for the uninsured” to be monitored by the elders, with the goal to raise support for the Greb family and (as goals are reached) for any others in a similar situation.  The expenses will be great.  More than medical, there are additional travel and personal expenses as families engage the healing process.

You can access that link here: HCF Benevolence Fund for the Uninsured

I also want you to know a few other things about us at Hilltop Christian Fellowship:

First, we believe in stewardship and accountability.  If you give a donation through the site, it will go to help the Greb family and others who are facing hardship.  You will receive an email confirming your donation.  We did research means for donations to be considered for tax deductible purposes, but giving of this kind may not qualify. Read the Give Forward FAQ here.  And, as always, consult a tax professional regarding your donation.

Second, we are a small church.  This church has huge heart.  But we average 45 in regular attendance.  We would tackle this head on, and keep this in house, if it were possible.  Moreover, each of our families has also faced unexpected financial, medical, and employment circumstances this past year.  The Greb family and our church as a whole are not the type of ask for money.  We are humbling ourselves before the Lord and our brothers and sisters in Christ, asking for your help.

Third, we are still a giving church.  We give what we can (though they deserve so much more) to support part-time salaries of a pastor (David), youth pastor (Chris), worship pastor (Brent), church admin (Sharon), and a cleaning staff (Sharon and Ginny).  We support various missions and missionaries.  When a mission team came to share this year, the members opened their hearts and wallets to support one team member to go to Europe to strengthen churches there.

Finally, we believe in the power of prayer.  Many are not in the position to give financially.  Others may not feel led to give or struggle with giving to a cause outside their local church or known circle.  But please, please, please join us in prayer for Sharon and her family. Pray for us at Hilltop as we seek to walk with this precious family.  We are asking God to heal Sharon, in the way and timing He sees fit.

Kaitlyn Greb recently posted:

Asking all to keep my mom and our family in your prayers. My mom has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  She is currently trying to research her best options for treatment. My mom is my rock and one of my closest friends.  Don't know what I'd do without her.  Thank you to everyone who has offered support so far.

You love and bless me, as you love and bless those who have loved and blessed me.  Thank you!

What's Bubbling Up

The election is over.  But the debate continues.  When will something finally trickle down?

We've been hearing a lot about “trickle-down economy.”  The winning candidate warned that his opponent wanted to create a nation in which all the money goes to the hands of stock brokers on Wall Street.  Then, the rich will get richer to the point of overflow, and it will trickle down to the rest of us.  This notion, he claimed, was a pipe dream.  It would lead to droughts on Main Street.

We then heard about “trickle-down government.”  The opposing candidate warned that the President wants to create a nation in which all the money goes to the hands of power players on Capitol Hill.  There, the rich will be taxed at the point of excess, and it will trickle down to the rest of us.  This notion, he claimed, was also a pipe dream.  It would lead to deserts instead of Fruited Plains.

It felt that we’d be left there either way—sitting under the pipes, waiting for something to come down and transform our situation.  Are we to stand with hands cupped, hoping for something or someone to be filled to the brim, so we receive the benefits of what trickles down?

Jesus, the One who did come down from heaven to transform our hearts, doesn’t just speak about what’s trickling down.  Rather, he is very clear about what’s bubbling up.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  (John 7:37-39)

I wonder if we’re also clinging to an idea of “trickle-down church.”  That is, if we just build big enough buildings – we will have room enough to pool our resources and build our stages.  From there, we will find the ultra-gifted and the uber-holy, whom we will lift high on pedestals and place on holy hills.  And we will go each week and stand beneath them, waiting for his faith…her hope…their passion to trickle down to the rest of us.  This notion, I fear, is a pipe dream.  The Church will be left thirsty.

You see, if you’re thirsty in the desert, you don’t look up for the answer to the problem.  You may never see a drop of rain.  Instead, you look down.  You search for what may be coming up out of the ground below you.  You may have everything you’ve needed all along, right under your feet.

Likewise, Jesus is saying – “I have put My Spirit in You.  You have access to the Source.  If your life is dry, and you need grace to flow, no need to look outside of you.  There is a powerful river inside of you.  You always have access, by faith in Me.”

In all our mega-churches, mission conferences, weekend experiences, and camp highs, many of us are still waiting for the trickle-down effect.  We get a drop of something, and we leave happy.  But it doesn’t satisfy for long.

In fact, it may be a well-kept secret these days – but the same Spirit who lives in that person standing on our stages also lives in us.  We have access by the same Spirit, to the same power and glory.  Why settle for droplets?  We have a roaring river.

Desire love?  Need joy?  Long for peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control?  The Spirit has this, and more.  And He’s here, in us.  No need to wait for the perfect circumstances. The Spirit in us uses all things to perfect our character. And His character bubbles up in us, and flows out of us, to effect change around us.

Don’t buy into trickle-down church.  It is not Biblical faith.  Any leader who tells us that he or she has something we don’t, but neglects to help us grow in our understanding of the Spirit and access to the One inside of us, is setting us up for spiritual poverty and dependence.

Look down.  Pray to the Spirit who bubbles up, who comes from the heart.  Everything you need is there: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).

Next time we show up for church, let’s be Rivers.  Not empty wells.  When we are all Rivers, we flow together as the Church, and reveal the ocean that is Truth.  Otherwise, the lost will just stand with us, waiting for something to trickle down.  And that, my friends, will leave us all parched.

Just Believe

Jesus said: “Do not fear. Only believe” (Mark 5:36).

Jesus makes it sound so easy. Or maybe I am the one who tends to complicate belief, while at the same time underestimating it.

After all, there is great power and precision in that word: “only.”  Simultaneously, there is a great amount of nuance in it – enough to expose all kinds of objections, questions, fears, battles, doubts, and struggles in this heart of mine.  To put it another way…

Only believe. Simply believe. Strictly believe. Solely believe. Merely believe. Wholly believe. Absolutely believe. Fully believe. Thoroughly believe. Undividedly believe. Uniquely believe. Singularly believe. Altogether believe. Totally believe. Plainly believe. Perfectly believe. Just believe.

Yet I feel I need so much more.  I want faith…and immediate answers.  I want belief…and guaranteed certainty.  I want trust…and earthly reward.  I desire to proclaim: “You can have all this world. Give me Jesus.”  But honestly, I still desire the world too.  I want approval and acceptance all around.

Jesus makes it look easy too (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43).  A man comes to him, saying: “My daughter is dying!” Never one to panic, Jesus begins to patiently make his way. Another man comes to inform them: “She is dead…” Jesus arrives to weeping and mourning.  Apparently, he doesn’t have great funeral etiquette.  He seems to crack a joke: “She’s only sleeping.”  The people laugh at him.  Not one to get his feelings hurt easily, he in turn drives them out.  He then tells the little girl to get up.  She does.  But, never one to see a need to defend himself or give an “I told you so,” he instead tells them: “Don’t tell anyone.”

Again, the dynamics of this story expose so much in me.  First, I might have panicked.  I would have said: “What? She’s dying?! Someone do something! Let’s get it fixed! Hurry!”  Next, I might have arrived and said: “It’s too late. The casket is closed. The funeral has begun. Let’s not cause a scene.”  Or, I might have let the crowd deter me. I wouldn’t have made it past their laughing at me. I’d likely have left dejected and in self-pity. Or, if I did make it to the final scene, I would have rung the bells and said: “I just pulled off a miracle! We’ve got to tell the world!  Are news cameras around?!”

You see, I am always adding the “and.”  Faith and…  Belief and… Trust and…

I want faith and the quick fix, the easy road, and the uninterrupted weekend.  I want faith and tradition, predictability, normalcy, the status quo, and my comfort zone.  I want faith and to fit in, for the room to like me, and to be part of the in-crowd.  I want faith and trumpets, celebrity, and fame.  I want to live by faith…and sight.

For in my heart, I still carry Fear.  It delights to take up residence, as if fear and faith are married.  They are not.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  Faith belongs to Him.  It takes on no other name…than Jesus.

There is no other name under heaven by which we are saved… (Acts 4:12)

There is no other place to go when we need words of eternal life… (John 6:68)

There is no other thing to know—than we were blind, but now we see… (John 9:25)

There is no other desire worth having—than to dwell in His courts forever… (Ps 27:4)

There is only one thing necessary—to sit at His feet… (Luke 10:42)

To listen to Him.  And to not fear.  Only believe.

To which I say: “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).