Pray for Altoona

Immanuel, you are with us ...

2008-01-02T14:07:00.000-05:00

"Glory to God in the highest!"

Where has the time gone! December has simply skipped by. Melissa, Roman & I have been swamped with Christmas celebrations, family gatherings, my birthday, our anniversary ... you name it, it happens in December for our family. But even with all the busyness, I've always loved Christmas. For my whole life it has consistently topped the list of holidays as my favorite. Every year I try to take just a little time and contemplate what it all means ...

From the vantage point of my wide, childish eyes, Christmas was filled with wonder, awe and mystery. The flickering candlelight, dark, rich colors and songs filled with words of joy yet tunes of sorrow. All of this to commemorate the most strange, unlikely event; the God of the universe incarnate within a young Middle Eastern virgin.

Take a second to ponder this ... the Lord Almighty, the king of Glory left his position of power, his position of authority, his position of privilege to become a man. The most royal and prestigious families of the Earth would have been unworthy to posses this child whose glory was unequaled from the beginning and until the end of time. However, the child wasn't born into a royal family but into an obscure one: A young, poor girl from Nazareth in Galilee. The Christmas story is filled with stories with this theme: Glory lavished upon obscurity. Think about it ...

Wise men from a far Eastern land seeing a sign of glory in the heavens and spending a fortune to come and lavish royal gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh on a child whose bed was a manger.
A host of glorious angelic beings sent to proclaim the coming of the child, not to world leaders but to a nameless band of shepherds.
The promise of God to an old priest that he would meet the child Messiah.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords raised in the town of Nazareth in Galilee by a carpenter and a young woman who had to endure the shame of pregnancy outside of wedlock.

All examples of glory lavished upon obscurity.

When I'm thinking about such things, I must confess that the first thought that comes to my mind is "What a waste!" Why did men of such wisdom see the need to visit the baby Jesus at great personal expense? Doesn't that seem like a pretty bad investment? What use did Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus have for a chest of gold or flasks of frankincense & myrrh? Couldn't God's plan for the redemption of mankind gone on without the glorious announcement to the shepherds? Wasn't it kind of a waste of breath? Why does God lavish His glory upon our obscurity?

When you're talking about obscurity Altoona certainly seems to fit the bill. It seems that our city is filled with people who feel they have been discarded & abandoned. Communities that have rising crime and shrinking/aging populations are often written off as a "bad investment" or a "waste of time". Obviously attitudes like these contribute to the feelings of depression and loneliness that we've referred to so often on this blog. The fact that we serve a God who has a history of lavishing his glory on places like Bethlehem of Judea, Nazareth of Gallilee or Altoona of Pennsylvania should give us great hope! Yet the joy of knowing that God DOES lavish His glory on us can't compare to the joy we receive with we understand WHY He lavishes his glory on us.

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

Matthew informs us that this ancient name given to the Messiah means "God with us". It doesn't mean God is with us when we are powerful or that God is with us when we obey the rules perfectly. It means God is with the no name shepherds, he is with the blue collar carpenter, he is with us in our pain, our obscurity and, yes, even our sin.

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31,32

God is with us because he loves us. This is the message of Christmas. Let us carry this message into the new year, into Altoona and into the world.

Today:

Pray that God would release us from our own feelings of abandonment and despair.
Pray that Altoona's Christians would be God's grace and love with those who are lost.
Pray for God's blessing on the year 2008!

Come, Thou Rod of Jesse ...

2007-12-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

We are right in the heat of the advent season now and as I wait for the Lord's coming I frequently find myself boggled by how utterly lost and in bondage we are to sin. This precious carol describes it so well as it describes our condition under "Satan's tyranny" and mournfully sings about our need to be saved from the very "depths of Hell".

Have you ever felt as if you were bound in an existence full of errors? Struggling under a load of sins piled so high that there is no way that you could climb out from underneath the crushing weight? Have you reached the point that these deadly patterns are so ingrained that you begin to wonder if there is anything left of you outside of what should be discarded.

Welcome to the life of the struggling drug addict. Satan has used substance addiction as an especially powerful way to deaden people's minds to the gospel and bind them with despair and hopelessness. If you know someone who is addicted to a substance, you know that addiction can take a person's "normal" bent for sinful self gratification and magnify it a thousand times. Every dollar of their income quickly becomes absorbed in to perpetuating their habit. Every relationship in their lives becomes a means to an end. Desperately lost, addicts will alienate most of the people who would normally care for them and will instead surround themselves by dealers who benefit from their progress down the path of death.

Drug addiction and substance abuse seems to have an especially tight hold over a higher than normal percentage of people in the Altoona area. Medium sized cities like Altoona tend to attract drug dealers because of their modestly large populations and relatively small police forces. Reliable sources say that approximately 365,000,000 dollars worth of heroin was sold in Blair County alone in 2005.

So, here's the point, addiction is powerful, we should know we all are addicted to sin as fallen beings. BUT addiction is NOT more powerful than the Spirit of the Living God! Consider the following biblical passage ...

"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:5-11

The only one who can save us from Satan's tyranny is Christ himself. Let's appeal to the "Rod of Jesse" that he might free those who are slaves under the powerful bondage of substance abuse.

Today:

Pray that Jesus would give men & women the power to reject their sinful addictions and turn to Christ.
Pray for people who are not addicted that they might be filled with compassion for those who are slaves to this sin.
Pray that we are all able to see our wrong and our sin as clearly as a drug addict sees his.

Pray for the Lighthouse ...

2007-12-07T14:11:00.000-05:00

For many of us getting out of bed and making it to the office on time for work is hard enough, going to a meeting at 7am Saturday morning certainly isn't on our "top ten list"! Nevertheless, that's exactly what 120 to 150 Christian men from the Altoona area do every Saturday morning as they make their way to what they call "The Lighthouse".

What's "The Lighthouse"? Well, I'm glad you asked. The Lighthouse is a unique men's ministry in the Altoona area started by a local business owner name Dick Barr. Here's a clip of their history that I pulled from their website ...

"Back in 1995 Dick Barr, invited a group of Christian men to a Saturday fellowship and Bible Study held in a converted storeroom at his auto electric business. They had joined together for coffee, prayer and a time of teaching. They met around four folding tables and an old sofa and chair at the back of the room. At first there were 10 then 20 then 30 men regularly attending the group. They were rapidly growing beyond the capacity of their meeting space.

So Dick, looked to a piece of land where he was planning to build a house for his retirement. On this site Dick and some friends built a new and larger meeting place. It started out to be an enclosed picnic shelter. However, it was quickly changed into a full building with kitchen and rest room. It became “The Lighthouse Fellowship” because of the addition working lighthouse beacon on its roof).

Later additions to the building included a women’s rest room and storeroom. The front porch was later enclosed to act as a serving area for the coffee and doughnuts. And we are still growing!"

So, why is 130 guys getting together for fellowship and worship so significant? Good question. In many larger city environments you may be able to find men's fellowships and gatherings that are as large or larger than Altoona's "Lighthouse" but here are some reasons that this fellowship is particularly encouraging to me.

First, The Lighthouse is completely independent of any individual Christian congregation in Altoona. It seems that many widely attended worship & fellowship experiences are promoted by a exceptionally magnetic church congregation.
Second, The Lighthouse is attended by mostly middle-aged men and OLDER. Many of the "newest, hottest" fellowship and worship experiences are being geared toward a younger crowd while the older generations are either overlooked or unwilling to participate. The fact that the Lighthouse is mostly older gentleman seems very different and very significant.
Third, The Lighthouse is completely non-denominational. Many who are familiar with the condition of Christianity in the USA know that we are particularly prone to divisions along lines of doctrine & tradition. This spirit is certainly alive and well in Altoona's spiritual climate. However, the Lighthouse has served as an example of how we as a community can rise above that trend.

Consider the following Psalm:

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down on the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion!
For there the LORD has commanded the blessing,
life forevermore."
Psalm 133

If you would like to know more about the Lighthouse Men's Fellowship click here to view their website.

Today:

Pray that the Lord would bless the Lighthouse in its attempts to bring Christians together.
Pray that the Word of God would penetrate hearts and that lives would be changed.

Lord we await your advent ...

2007-12-03T10:49:00.000-05:00

Could today be the day of His coming?

Getting up at 4am to buy a toaster, sitting in backed up traffic while trying to get to our favorite store, listening to "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" as it seems to play endlessly on at least 15 of the local radio stations ... Yep, we've definitely entered the Christmas season.

Christmas is, by far, the number one gift giving holiday. This makes the short winter days between Thanksgiving and December 25th the most lucrative of the year for retailers ... and Altoona has plenty of retailers. In fact, if there is one thing that Altoona is known for other than the railroad, it's shopping. The Altoona area's large retail district draws consumers from as far as two hours away as they shop for the special family celebrations just around the corner.

I am profoundly thankful for the wonderful retail industry in Altoona. I really think that it's a blessing to the area that many fail to recognize. However, during this time of year I get especially worried as I see the cars packing into the parking lots of the Logan Valley Mall, Logan Town Center and Wal-Mart that we are apt to forget the real & mystical meaning of Christmas. This season of shopping bliss between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the very season that the ancient church has called "Advent".

The Latin word "advenio" literally means "to come". In the traditions of the church, Advent began on the first Sunday after the last day of November and marked the beginning of the liturgical church calendar as the faithful awaited the nativity of the messiah. But for many in the church the season of advent has both the symbolic "waiting" for the nativity and a real "waiting" for the second coming of Christ. Here's an excerpt from an article that was published in "Focus on the Family Magazine" highlighting the similarities in the two kinds of waiting:

"My daughter brought home an interesting craft one day when she was about 4. She had an empty toilet paper roll she'd colored and decorated with stickers. She held it up to her eye, scanned the sky and announced she was looking for Jesus. 'Jesus?' I asked. 'Yes,' she said with absolute confidence. 'He's coming back, and I'm watching for Him.' Her certainty humbled me. Of course I believe that Jesus is coming back, but I don't have my daughter's kind of faith. Not a faith that looks up at the sky to check. Not an expectancy that says today could be the day.

Yet expectancy is precisely what we could have. The Bible pulses with it. In the Old Testament, the Jews watched and prayed for a Savior who would come and make all things right, hoping He would come in their life-time. In the New Testament, the early Christians lived with the firm conviction that Jesus would come again - any day." Focus on the Family Magazine December '07

In a world where the ceramic Santa Clause and the stuffed reindeer are right next to the nativity sets in isle 11, it's easy to start to losing faith. Do we believe that Jesus came to Bethlehem one cold lonely night to become the Savior of the World? Do we believe that he is coming again to Judge the World with his winnowing fork in his hand? How much we believe the first will ultimately determine how much we believe the second ... consider the Apostle's Creed:

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead.He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead."

This season of Advent don't be duped into thinking that the fantasy world of Santa Clause and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer are anything like the world of the nativity of Christ. Pray that believers everywhere would truly believe that Christ came the first time as a helpless babe and that he will come a second time to rule the world.

Today:

Pray that the people of Altoona would remember Christ as the ultimate gift to the world.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would give our hearts a sense of eager expectation of his "second coming".

Pray for Ambition ...

2007-11-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

Roman poses with a buck his uncle shot in archery season

Hello fellow prayer partners ... Melissa & I just returned to Altoona from our annual Thanksgiving celebration in Lancaster with Melissa's family. It was wonderful. The festivities included lots of food and lots of conversations with family: a perfect holiday!

Many of you who know Melissa's family know that Thanksgiving events are a sign that another highly anticipated day is right around the corner: the first day of deer season. For most of the men in the family (not to mention quite a few men in most families), the first Monday after Thanksgiving is greeted with an amazing amount of excitement and preparation ... let me explain.

Any man who desires to harvest one of these prized animals will undergo a litany of steps in order to prepare himself for the task. First, the prospective hunter will spend hours before the season starts scouting out the area where he intends to capture the animal looking for "buck rubs", "buck scrapes" or any other sign that the deer are present in the locations that he intends to hunt. After confirming the presence of the animals the hunter will sometimes setup a "tree stand" in the appropriate area, facing the appropriate direction according the signs he has observed in the surrounding woods or fields. As the day approaches the hunter will often invest a good chuck of money buying camouflage attire, deer scent, rope, flash lights, knives ... and the list could undoubtedly go on ... the night before the hunter will talk with his hunting buddies about his prospects for the following day, whether or not he feels his luck is up or down and the likelihood of him landing a "big one".

Finally, the day arrives. The hunter will rise at an amazingly early hour of the night (sometimes as early as 4:30am) in order to get dressed and be in his stand by daybreak. The preparation for venturing out into the dark is usually pretty exhaustive and includes putting on several layers of clothes, spraying yourself with deer scent, preparing your firearm, etc. Once the hunter is finally in his stand he will sometime sit there for hours in very cold weather and not see a single animal ... not one. I have heard stories of men who have repeated this process for years and have not landed one deer. All this done out of commitment to the rich hunting tradition (not to mention the hopes of landing that fabled "trophy buck").

Here's the point ... Many men love to hunt. Hunting takes skill, patience, ambition, energy, initiative, commitment and many other very admirable qualities. Yet in many places like Altoona I see a growing apathy in men. It feels that we are increasingly surrounded in our society by men who have failed to take initiative with their families, with their churches and with their communities. I sincerely believe that God created most men with an inherent desire to be ambitious, to dream big, to set high standards and to achieve them. Consider the following passage:

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:7-14

Let's pray for men that they would use their God given ambition, courage and commitment to seek, not their glory but the glory of God.

"He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." Romans 2:6 - 8

Today:

Pray that God would give men ambition for the gospel.
Pray that God would allow men to strive for His glory.
Pray that the Lord would protect men against selfish ambition.
Pray that the Lord would protect men against apathy.

Thank God for Altoona, PA!

2007-11-21T11:43:00.000-05:00

Altoona's beauty is just one thing for which we can be thankful.

This is a view gazing down the horseshoe curve valley.

For what do you have to be thankful? For what does our country have to be thankful? But here's the real question: For what does Altoona have to be thankful?

If you've met very many young people from Altoona & talked at any length about their feelings for their native city, you'll find one thing to be fairly true: they don't have many good things to share about Altoona! I remember one conversation that a good friend of mine had with a former resident of Altoona. It seemed that the person complained incessantly ... "people from Altoona are fat, people from Altoona are under educated, people from Altoona use bad English, people from Altoona are lazy, Altoona is an ugly city, Altoona is depressing" ... and the list went on and on.

The Word of God heavily warns us about the dangers of "ungratefulness". Not being thankful for what we've been given is listed as one of the signs of the absence of God's Holy Spirit & of the end of all things. On the contrary the presence of thankfulness is commanded and is a sign of the Spirit's working in our hearts ... consider the following passages:

"But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." 2Timothy 3:1-5

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:15-17

This Thanksgiving season I've been blown away by how much we have to be thankful for here in Altoona & all of central Pennsylvania ... Let me share a few things for which I am thankful:

I am thankful for the physical beauty of our area.
I am thankful for our rich railroad heritage.
I am thankful for the many God-fearing churches that we have in our area.
I am thankful that, unlike many parts of the world, the gospel is preached in Altoona.
I am thankful for the many people I know in Altoona (in spite of their faults).
I am thankful that God allowed Altoona to be created for HIS glory and purpose.
I am thankful that God has called me back to this place to minister.

Today:

Pray that God would allow people in Altoona & Central PA to have hearts full of thanks.
Pray that the Lord would do away with all bitterness, or ungratefulness we may have in our hearts.
Pray that God would show you what you should be thankful for.

Pray against holiday strife ...

2007-11-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

Colder weather serves as a harbinger of holiday family interactions.

Well, we are less than a week away from the great celebration of giving thanks and, before you know it, Christmas will be upon us. If you're anything like me, you can almost smell those pleasant & familiar smells (I don't know about you but I'm already feeling stuffed!). Food isn't the only thing that the upcoming holiday season will bring. For many of us these intimate seasons of celebration bring much needed time re-connecting with family members, co-workers & neighbors. Yet, in spite of all the joy that this season brings, holidays can bring painful reminders of the brokenness within Altoona's families. Let me paint a picture ...

Stew is the typical middle-aged man from Altoona that you might bump into on the street. The holidays are approaching and out of joy for the season you ask Stew if he's planning on spending time with his family. "Naa, probably not," he replies, "my family's too screwed up. I can't handle all the drama." Because you're a caring person (and somewhat curious) you inquire about what he means by "drama". What you find out is troubling ... Stew is divorced, Stew's parents are divorced and most of Stew's siblings are either divorced or have serious marital problems. The instability in these marriage relationships causes huge tensions in the family creating family crises on a monthly if not weekly basis. Whenever a portion of Stew's family does find it within their power to coordinate a family "get together" there is always fighting. Fighting about football, fighting about politics, fighting about religion, fighting about the spread for Christmas dinner. Then add alcohol into the mix ... watch out!

Here's my point: holidays are traditionally times when we can come together and celebrate but for many of the families in Altoona, holidays are a source of pain. Reminders of the brokenness of their lives are all around them. But we must remember that all of this brokenness comes from the sinful condition of our hearts. Consider the following passages:

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these." Galatians 5:19-21b

"For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor." Zechariah 8:10

Let's believe that the Lord can use this upcoming season of celebration to mend broken families.

Today:

Pray that the Lord would remove "enmity" between family members.
Pray that the Lord would restore marriages to health.
Pray that the Lord would curb the desire for drunkenness.
Pray and thank the Lord for the family and friends he has given you.

When I shut up the heavens ...

2007-11-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

The banks of one Georgia lake are so low

it's left several boats beached.

Let's join Georgia in praying for rain!

Hello friends. I want interrupt our regularly scheduled prayer time for the city of Altoona to praise God for a national example of answered prayer ...

In the end of last October Georgia's Governor, Sonny Perdue, declared a state of emergency over what would become the worst drought in the history of the state of Georgia. Here is a quote from an article about the devastating drought written on Oct. 21st ...

"Georgia has declared a state of emergency over its worst drought in decades and appealed to President George W. Bush for federal aid, newspapers said on Sunday.read this article

After trying several courses of action it seemed as though nothing was working. The people of Georgia were faced with such extreme shortages of water that the story continued to draw more & more national attention. Then, as if the story wasn't drawing enough attention, Gov. Perdue decided to attack the problem from a different angle ...

"What to do when the rain won't come? If you're Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, you pray. The governor will host a prayer service next week to ask for relief from the drought gripping the Southeast.read this article

Now folks, we've all been around the block enough times to know that there were going to be quite a few people who weren't as favorable to the idea of praying for rain as we are ... and they made sure to let it be known!

"A secular group said Friday it would protest Gov. Sonny Perdue's planned prayer service intended to ask for relief from the Southeastern drought, saying the rally violates the principle of separation of church and state." read this article

But, after the Gov. pressed on with his appeal to God, lo & behold ... it rained! Check out the article released by the Georgia Associated Press ...

"A storm system crashed through the Southeast and brought up to an inch of rain in parts of drought-stricken Georgia ... The rain, late Wednesday and early Thursday, brought some precipitation to the parched hills of northern Georgia. The showers began a day after Gov. Sonny Perdue led a prayer service on the steps of the state Capitol to beg the heavens to end the drought." read this article

Stumbling upon stories like this gives me a great deal of encouragement and a great deal of fear all at the same time. Is it really so incredible that if we would humble ourselves before the Lord and request His divine intervention that He would answer us? After all, isn't this exactly what He has promised ...

For me, following this story has brought a new profundity to the well known passage in 2 Chronicles ...

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14

So, let's rejoice with the people of Georgia & Gov. Sonny Perdue for the blessing of answered prayer.

Do you believe that God will answer your prayers for Altoona?

Today:

Pray & thank God for giving Georgia and the rest of the region the much needed rain.
Pray that God would continue to bless with plentiful rains.
Pray that God would give us the faith to believe that he answers prayer.

The wall is broken, the gate is burning ...

2007-11-14T21:37:00.000-05:00

Weeds peaking through the sidewalk & homes

in need of upkeep are a common

sight in parts of Altoona.

A few years ago my wife & I bought a rental property near downtown Altoona and in a rougher neighborhood. To say the place was trashed would be an understatement. In the bottom apartment all the rooms had been painted one of three colors; dark blue, neon purple or black. The kitchen and bathroom were both ruined by the previous tenants, every single window needed to be replaced and the drop ceiling was destroyed ... we're talking a real wreck. The upstairs apartment was slightly better but when I say "slightly", I mean it ... I won't bore you with the details. But, as we started the long process of restoring the property to wholeness, I realized that the other properties in the area were in a similar condition.

Two years ago when I decided to try to sell we were told by several realtors that we shouldn't spend another dime doing repairs because we would never get it back in the final price. Now, think about it ... this problem will only spiral downward. If I don't put money into my property, it will stay rundown and sink the value of the whole neighborhood lower. Then, none of the other property owners will put a dime into thier properties for the same reason. Now, let me be clear, I'm not blaming anyone. My realtor was right; according to the figures, I wouldn't have gotten my money back out of the place ...

Here's what I'm driving at ... we've talked in the previous blog posts about the apathy and depression that seem to plague some of the residents of our area; I think blight adds to that. If urban blight and rundown homes cause the people to whom we are trying to reach out, to struggle with despair and hopelessness, then it's fair to say that blight is, to some degree, a spiritual problem. There's been a lot of attention in local media regarding blight and a lot of people have kicked around solutions. However, if part of the problem is a spiritual problem then part of the answer must be a spiritual answer: PRAYER.

Consider the following passage:

"And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven." Nehemiah 1:3, 4

To beat blight we must pray that the Lord would restore our honor to us much like Nehemiah did. You'll notice that if you read on in that same book of the Bible that Nehemiah ended up going to the city, risking his own safety and spending his own free time working to restore the honor of Jerusalem. In short, God gave Nehemiah a love for his homeland. Would God do a similar thing for Altoona?

Today:

Pray that God would give home owners & landlords the desire to be "good stewards" of their property.
Pray that God would allow elected officials to pass laws upholding the value of our city.
Pray that God would provide workers to help those unable to do the work themselves.
Pray against the spiritual influences that lead to vandalism and destructive behavior.

Lord, build up our walls and restore our places of honor. To you be all the glory Lord Jesus.

Rise in the presence of the elderly ...

2007-11-12T21:36:00.000-05:00

The Green Avenue Towers is a large apartment

complex that houses many of Altoona's

elderly who are in need of assistance.

A few years ago I was working pretty aggressively on a political campaign & decided that I wanted to go door to door in my neighborhood to promote my candidate. After I had knocked on a dozen or more doors I started noticing an undeniable pattern ... the people were mostly elderly! The gears in my head starting turning as a trekked up and down the abnormally steep hills we have in Altoona.

The very next house that I came to was slightly run down, the grass was a bit long, there were small projects here and there that looked like they had unintentionally been left undone. It was clear that the house had suffered some deterioration in recent years. After knocking and waiting for a minute a small elderly lady that looked like she was in her seventy's came to the door. The lady was quite nice and invited me in to talk about my candidate, but politics weren't the first thing on my mind ... after asking a couple of questions about her life she opened up and told me her simple story. She and her husband had moved here to work for the railroad during the booming WWII era and had decided to make Altoona their permanent home. For many years they happily lived their lives and raised their children in the area. When things started going down hill for the rail industry all of her children decided to pursue careers elsewhere which left her and her husband as the only remaining members of her family. Then, just a year prior to my visit, her husband succumbed to cancer and she was left a widow. "I'm considering selling the place," she said to me in a sad but matter-of-fact way, "I just can't handle the upkeep without any help from family."

The pattern that I was noticing was what many social commentators would call "The Brain Drain". Due to the lack of jobs that we discussed in my last blog entry, young people are moving out of the area in record numbers leaving Altoona with an older and older population. However, as I left that dear woman's house, I started to think about this whole problem from a different angle.

In our culture we have it all backwards (big surprise huh?). In our culture we are constantly re-evaluating the value of a person's life based on what they are contributing to society "right now". This dangerous way of ascribing value leaves the unborn, the severely handicapped and, yes, even the elderly in a treacherous trap. In my opinion this has led to unhealthy societal dynamics that cause the old wise sage to be replaced by the young rebel/revolutionary thinker as the icon of society.

Let me submit to you all that this IS NOT the attitude shown in the Bible toward the elderly. Consider the following passage:

"You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord." Leviticus 19:32

In our society and in Altoona have we failed to give our older citizens the honor that the word of God commands? Don't get me wrong, I am so so excited about seeing more young people move into our area (by-thy-way, so are most of the older people) but I certainly don't want to miss the great treasure we have in our elderly population.

Don't get caught up in the "rebellion is the answer" narratives of our society ... Let's honor the elderly and rise in their presence because by this we will demonstrate our fear of God.

Today:

Pray that God would give us respect for those who are elderly.
Pray that God would restore broken trust between older and younger generations.
Pray against the Spirit of the Age that would have us discard people who are of "no discernible value" to our society.

Lord, bless us coming in and going out ...

2007-11-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

The origins of the name "Altoona" are somewhat unclear. Most historians believe that the title likely came from a derivative of the Cherokee word Allatoona which means "highlands of great worth". The valley would soon live up to it's name. In the mid-1800's the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) invested hundreds and thousands of dollars to create a city that would be a "gateway to the West" ... and so it was that Altoona first officially became a city in 1849.

Unfortunately for the PRR, the time between the end of World War II and today have held far less success for the struggling rail industry. But the PRR wasn't the only one affected by this downward trend in industry. The decline of the railroad has caused a job crisis for the whole city of Altoona. For years the railroad provided Altoona's young men and their families with entry level jobs for a decent income, but their ability to provide these much needed occupations has declined leaving many families in a lurch.

So ... what does all this have to do with prayer for Altoona? Quite a bit! We must remember that as we seek to pray for and minister to the people in this city that they have very very real needs! One of those needs (that we might not think of as spiritual) is for gainful employment. I've heard from many people that have visited or moved to this area say that they can sense a spirit of despair, of hopelessness and of apathy among us. I believe one reason could be that people find it difficult to get good paying jobs. It is painfully clear that Altoona is experiencing ever increasing numbers of youth moving out of the area ... possible explanation: No jobs. Let's pray that the Lord would bless our city in this area.

Today:

Pray that the Lord would provide jobs for the people of Altoona.
Pray that the existing industries in Altoona would flourish and more jobs would be available for young families.
Pray that the Lord would bring more business into our area.
Pray that the people of Altoona would have a good work ethic and not disrespect their employers.
Pray that employers would treat their workers fairly & pay decent wages.

Here's a passage to consider:

"And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out." Deuteronomy 28:1-6

Do you believe it?

P.S. You can now leave comments on this blog ... exciting!

Praying for Altoona, PA

2007-11-09T12:58:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody ...

Welcome to "Pray for Altoona". This is the first official post! I hope and pray that this site will be a helpful tool for those who would like to pray for this community using specifics.

As Melissa & I have felt the Lord calling us back to Altoona, we've been overwhelmed by the need for prayer. Prayer for the churches, prayer for government officials, prayer for the unsaved, prayer against addiction and the list could go on and on and on.

You see, the things that we're asking God to do in Altoona (and around the world) involve miracles of biblical proportions! The adulterous man leaving his lover and returning to his wife, the drunkard & drug addict casting aside his debilitating addictions and choosing a life of quiet productivity, the homosexual woman abandoning the lifestyle she has become so used to and surrendering her life to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. As we meditate on each of these few examples we must come to grips with the fact that it is a vast MINORITY of cases in which we see these positive outcomes become reality.

Why? Well, there could be a whole host of reasons as to why we don't see more examples of lives changed in Altoona (not to mention around the world) ... but here is the question that I would like for us to chew on today:

Have we persistently asked God to do these miracles in our midst?
Have we consistently asked God on a daily basis to change our city into a community that better glorifies Him?

As you're asking these questions for yourself, keep in mind the many admonitions of the new testament:

"For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to
the one who knocks it will be opened." Matthew 7:8
"Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will
receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:24

Today: Pray that God gives us a heart to cry out to him in faith ...