Foreword from A Long Waiting

“God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears.”
Titus 2:11-13 [The Message]

Waiting, the antithesis of our modern lifestyle, is the keystone of Christian maturity in a world where bigger, faster, and better are the norm. For two millennia believers have waited for the return of the Messiah, yet in that long process we have learned, and are confident through God’s word, that our salvation is assured even in the face of impossible circumstance.

In this, the final poetry/illustration book in a series of five, we are reminded not only of our wait for “the glorious day,” but the pursuit of “a God-filled, God-honoring life” through two of the five sermon series. The Gospel, with 28 sermons to date, is from the book of Romans. And, the series, Stories With Intent, is based on the parables in the book of Luke which taught us profound truths through deceptively simple stories straight from the lips of Jesus.

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 Christian year, waiting for the King to arrive was the perennial theme expressed in the series Advent 2007 as Christmas approached. And early in 2008 we were treated to a short, three-sermon series entitled Time and Place which reminds us of the connection between everyday life and salvation’s promise. Easter 2008 brought us a series of four sermons which took us from the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and beyond Easter Sunday, saying at one point “God’s new age has broken into the present time, our time” in the poem We Live Not Alone (page 39).

In addition to the work from these five Christian Years, we have included in this book the poetry and illustrations from the final few weeks of 2003, the very first illustrations by Grace Ellen Schiel for the Christ Church bulletins. These are presented in the final section of the book entitled To the Praise of His Glory. So here in this one volume, you have displayed the very first and the last poem illustration work of this remarkable illustrator. These illustrations were done in black and white, usually pencil, so they will have a different “feel” to you, the viewer, but are equally powerful and inspiring as biblically based illustrations.

A Long Waiting (page 59), the signature poem of this book teaches that “In waiting is learning,” and as we wait, we witness over time “the deep of sin, the futility of men” and “the wonder of God” in everyday life. Certainly this year we have witnessed “the deep of sin” in everything from national politics to local crime and personal transgressions. And, with Hurricane Ike, we witnessed “the futility of men” in attempting to withstand the natural destruction. “The wonder of God” displayed itself in the sheer power of the storm and in stories of exceptional human compassion told in the aftermath. Yet, through it all, our God remains constant as evidenced in the unchanging rhythms of the seasons, the persistence of His church and the overwhelming grandeur of creation.

These five poetry/illustration books, Finding Ourselves at Home, An Unimagined Force, Bending Toward the Holy, Waiting for God to Speak, and now A Long Waiting have been an extraordinary experience as we witnessed the God-given creativity and unshakable commitment of poet and illustrator each and every week of these five years. You’ll find over 250 poem/illustration combinations in these books, each with a companion sermon delivered from the pulpit of Christ Church … thousands of hours of work to produce these creative, inspiring, biblically based messages. This is the final book in the series as Pastor Schiel leads us in new directions under the Lord’s guidance and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

We are greatly blessed by our Father in heaven with daily bread, forgiveness of sins and the promise of a kingdom to come as revealed in the Lord’s prayer. But along with these blessings we have been charged in Matthew 28:19-20 to:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [ESV]

The Great Commission, as given directly from the lips of Jesus, has not changed. But even though the mission remains as true and constant as the Lord himself, we live in an ever changing 21st century world. The technical revolution has reached epic proportions, especially in information technologies. In fact, I am writing this from my living room recliner on a laptop computer over a home wireless network connection which leads to the Internet. That means that as soon as I click on the virtual “button” on my computer screen, this article will be available for you or anyone else in the world with access to the Internet to read my words as we move toward the “end of the age.”

In the sovereignty of an almighty God, the existence of this incredible communications network is as much a part of His plan to spread the gospel as the Roman highways Paul used in his travels during the first century. The web server which holds the audio recordings of sermons from the Christ Church pulpit corresponds to the manuscripts laboriously carried from town to town bringing light and hope to a hopeless first century world.

Each week the biblical message is brought as the clear, undeniable authority guiding our lives in this modern, debauched world almost halfway around the world 20 centuries beyond the travels of Paul. We are charged to continue with the same gospel message to OUR world, using the tools the Lord has provided, even if those tools are also used by others for immoral purpose as the Roman highways were used for greed, slavery and empire-building.

Jesus entered this world, not only to fulfill the prophesies, but to make clear the gospel message. In the High Priestly Prayer he explained the relationship of his disciples to the world in which they live and move:

But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. [John 17:13-19, ESV]

In keeping with Jesus’ words we are now charged to take the truth delivered from this pulpit to the world by whatever means the Lord provides. The Internet, as evil as it sometimes becomes, is a dangerous place. But we have the assurance that Jesus has already prayed that we be kept “from the evil one,” and it is in that assurance that we can live and move and proclaim the gospel worldwide, at the touch of a button.

Even with this small congregation of 100+ on a normal Sunday morning we now have the capability and charge to magnify the message delivered here to a potentially world-wide audience. In fact, we are already delivering those messages to more visitors on the web than actually fill the pews on Sunday. If we fulfill our calling here, the Lord will appoint those He chooses to hear via the web the same message we experienced in our regular weekly worship services.

… sunset over the Grand Canyon

Knowing Him Press is the publishing arm of Christ Church in Conroe, Texas. We publish original works from the staff and associates in the form of books, poetry, original art and photography, audio and video. For the past five years we have published full color poetry/illustration books for each year. In addition we produce and distribute audio CDs of Sunday Sermons which are distributed via postal mail as well as posting all sermons on the Christ Church web site as streaming audio downloads.

Since Knowing Him Press is a ministry of Christ Church, we are supported entirely by contributions from the Christ Church family and others like you. We are in the process of posting our current inventory of available items, each of which will be offered for a minimum contribution.

This is also intended to be an interactive web site. We welcome your input on many of the articles and invite your to register with us so that we may communicate special messages and offerings in the future.

Join us as we endeavor to spread the gospel through our publishing efforts.