Waiting

     'Tis the season for waiting...finally we are past Thanksgiving and we can freely talk about Christmas. Although I've been listening to Christmas music since around October, now is acceptable. But we are still waiting. I believe I wait well. I'm patient in line at Wal-Mart, usually, with the exception of going through the express lane and the person in front of me obviously has 12 items when the sign clearly states 10 items or LESS. I'm patient when driving unless I'm in a hurry. I'm patient at the doctor's office...well depending on how sick I am...then I want to see the doctor ASAP I don't care if the person in the next room has severed a limb, an artery or some other near death experience. Emphasis on NEAR. OK...so maybe I'm not the most patient man in the world.

     Now, imagine waiting 400 years. Yes, years. We can't wait 400 seconds much less 400 years. That's several generations removed from hearing anything from God. No phone calls, no texts, no prophets of doom or restoration, no letter, no post-it note, nothing, nada, zilch. 
     Jesus is worth the wait. Salvation is worth the wait. Forgiveness is worth the wait. Redemption is worth the wait. So now the big question is...what are you waiting for in accepting this gift? How much longer is God going wait for you? Don't miss the greatest gift of Christmas because you are waiting for the perfect time. Now is the right time. Today is a good day for salvation. Stop waiting. 

Super Sized Gifts

Some of this began during Life Group last night...

Going to try an use only "I" in this post. Which if you read previous posts you'll see a lot of "we". If Evan sees this, he'll be proud.

Because of Christ I have been given gifts from God. And if I think about a phrase from a few years ago, the gifts I have been given have been "Super Sized".

God gives me LOVE. But not just everyday, normal kinda love. He gives me His love which is unconditional. So because I have God's love I can love like God...
unconditionally. Now I can't do it alone. I have to rely on the source. I can barely begin to even love apart from God much less love unconditionally.  

God gives me JOY. Joy is different from happiness. Happiness is conditional, circumstantial. This super-sized joy is over abundant. It doesn't make me constantly gitty or goofy. It's a background feeling but not based on feelings. It's a smile instead of a frown. It's a sparkled in a tearful eye. 

God gives me PEACE. It's a peace that passes understanding. Which means it makes me and others scratch their heads. Because this peace shouldn't hold up under duress. Unspeakable life events are met with this peace. Since it passes understanding it can't really be explained. 

God gives me HOPE. This hope is not like a star struck person. It's also not simply wishful thinking. It's a confidence that God has everything under control and that regardless of how this looks, everything's gonna be OK. Better than OK, eventually everything will be right...correct...in it's right place...perfect.

Now I don't always live like I have these gifts. Too often they are shelved. I don't use them as they were intended. Sometimes I treat them like a tie I got for Father's Day. 

Abba Father, thank you for these and so many other gifts that You've given. Forgive me for taking them for granted and help me to live them out so that others will want them and then give me the willingness to share.  

It's a Meaningless Life...

Smoke, nothing but smoke...There’s nothing to anything - it’s all smoke. What's there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone? One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes - it’s business as usual for old planet earth. The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again - the same old round. The wind blows south, the wind blows north. Around and around and around it blows, blowing this way, then that - the whirling, erractic wind. All the rivers flow into the sea but the sea never fills up. The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do it again. Everything’s boring, utterly boring - no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to the ear. What was will be again, what happened will happen again There’s nothing new on this earth. Year after year it’s the same old thing. Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”? Don’t get excited - it’s the same old story. Nobody remembers what happened yesterday. And the things that will happen tomorrow? Nobody’ll remember them either. Don’t count on being remembered.

Kinda depressing, huh? These are the opening verses of Ecclesiastes from The Message. But have you honestly ever felt like this? Obviously King Solomon had. With all his wisdom, knowledge, riches, women, etc., he found life to be empty and fleeting. I'm pretty sure no one has this passage as their life verses or at least I hope they don't.

There is some truth to this lament though. Even in our rapidly changing world, nothing really changes. People are born, people die. There are wars and rumors of wars. There is feast and famine. There are glimmers of hope and canyons of despair. Is it easy to become so fatalistic in our outlook? It can be. We look at our life. Our frustrations and failures can outweigh our victories and accomplishments. The scales of our life are never balanced. We can identify more with Eeyore than Tigger. 

BUT...you must have "buts" in your life. But, remember what Jesus said...I have come that they may have life and have it to the full or and have it more abundantly. When Jesus gives life it changes everything without necessarily changing everything. I know that's confusing. Our life with Christ is not void of difficulties. It's not a life of only rainbows and puppies. Reality is still found in Ecclesiastes. Days come and go. Seasons ebb and flow. Even with abundance of rain the oceans never fill and flood over the land. Christ isn't required to pluck us out of the muck and mire and place on a mountaintop. But, there's that word again, He does give us abundant, over-flowing, better than we deserve life. AND, another great word to have in our vocabulary, He has promised to make all things NEW, NOT used, NOT even simply new to us. Jesus is making all things NEW, immaculate, spectacular, pristine, better than new car smell new. All the junk, all the turmoil, all the stress, all the poppycock, all the garbage will be gone. G-O-N-E...gone. I know it's hard to imagine. But Jesus promised and His promises are trustworthy and true. So, we hold on. There are better days coming. Infinitely better days that will last for infinity.  The king was right BUT the King of kings is more right!

Like a Prodigal

We had a great day of worship yesterday. We had a guest speaker who challenged us to be revival-minded. Last night he shared several great thoughts. One of which has stuck with me the most.

He mentioned the prodigal son and his perspective on life and on his father. At the beginning of Jesus' parable we see the younger son with a selfish attitude demanding his father to GIVE him his inheritance. What a blow to the father. Basically the son says, Dad, I wish you were dead but since that hasn't happened yet and probably won't happen before I'm old myself, give me what's coming to me now. I don't want to wait. What nerve, we may think. Can anyone be so self absorbed? 

Out of the father's love for his son, he grants his demand. He was under no obligation or law to do so. Before long the son leaves home. Which is another blow to the father. Not only does the son wish the father dead, he can't stand living at home any longer either. The son can't seem to get out of town quickly enough. There may have been a trail of dust behind him as he left. 

The Bible tells us the son went to a distant country. He didn't just leave town, he got as far as possible away from his family. Started over, new home, new money, new life. He partied hard and blew through his inheritance like nobody's business. 

But soon the money ran out and he lost everything apparently. On top of that the food in the area also ran out as there was a famine in the land. Homeless, penniless, hopeless, the son desperately looked for employment anywhere, everywhere. He finally got a job at a hog farm. Not the most prestigious of jobs especially for a Jewish boy. And as he drooled over the slop wishing he could jump the fence and fight those pigs for some food to fill his empty stomach, Jesus painted a beautiful word picture saying, when he came to his senses...an ah-ha moment. My father's servants have it better than I do. Maybe I can go back home and beg him to take me back as one of his hired hands. 

As he heads home, he begins practicing his apology. We've all been there. Playing the track over and over again in our mind of what we'll say, especially when he have to apologize to our parents. As he walks he says, Dad I've sinned against heaven and against you and no longer am worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired servants. (Luke 15:18-19) 

Did you catch the change in his attitude? Before he left he was all give me, give me, give me. As he returns, the son says make me a servant. 

Which am I most like in my prayer life? Is it all God, give me this, I want that, bless me and bless me now? Or am I make me Your servant humble and willing to do whatever You ask? My life is in Your hands. 

I know how I want to be. I want to be more MAKE ME and less GIVE ME. 

The cool thing about this story is the what happens next. As the son gets closer to home, the father sees him coming and runs to him. As the son begins his well-rehearsed confession...Father, I have sinned against heaven and you and am no longer worthy to be called your son...the father interrupts him. 

Son, you may feel unworthy but let's get you a robe, some shoes and a ring. All of which were already his. He had simply left them behind. Allow some creative license of me here please...Son, you may have wished me dead and wanted to get as far away from me as you could so you could forget me but, I want you to know you never, ever stopped being my son. I didn't stop loving you when you left and you've got to know that I love you just as much, if not more, now that you're home. Home where you belong.

Follow-Up

I was looking at my last post and this thought came to mind...

Last post started out...unknown to me and I just thought of the bridge from the theme song from this year's VBS...'unknown to us but known to Him'...repeat multiple times (wave arms around erratically.) Then I thought...Wow, that's it. Everything that is unknown or uncertain to us is completely known and completely certain to God. So why do we get all worked up about things? This seems revolutionary but because I'm a slow learner and a slow changer, it's going to take some time for this to seep into my brain and eventually make a difference in my life. 

This all stems back to that $50 word we use to describe God as omniscient. He is all-
completely knowledgeable about every subject matter that anyone could or has or will ever think of, great or small, minuscule or ginormous-knowing. We could ask God, so God have you ever thought about _______________? And His reply would be, Yes, I thought about that before I created anything. KA-BOOM!! 

Again, any superlative we could ever imagine calling God is so lacking because that superlative to infinity and beyond + whatever comes after that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of who God is. And those thoughts that so easily blow our minds to God it's a simple thanks in reply. 

What a mighty God we serve!

God, Are You There?

Unknown to me until recently, this is the question that is rumbling around in my mind. God, are You there? I can't see You. I can't hear You. At the moment, I can't feel You. I am a little lost and wandering.

This is not the kind of question you ask out loud. At least I don't. Am I afraid of the answer or do I not want to really know that the problem is me not God? Because I already know that if there's a problem, it's me. God is never the problem. He is always the solution.

So, how do you know if God is really there? And by there I mean here, accounted for, present. It all stems back to His word. He has been solving this problem from Genesis to now. That promise never changes. I WILL BE WITH YOU. It's just as true for me as it was for Moses or Joshua or David. Not only is He with me. He also has said I will never leave you. In the original language it's even clearer. I will never, no never, no never ever leave you. 

So why am I missing His presence? He's so huge His presence should be like an elephant in a room. Pretty obvious. But when Elijah was running from Jezebel He didn't hear God in all the clamor and noise. He heard God in the still small voice. Quiet and unassuming. 

Maybe I'm trying to play hide and seek from God. Now that's silly. Though I know we try. David reminds us, where can I go from Your presence, if I go to the heavens, You are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. It's a lot like playing hide and seek with a preschooler. They may think they're hiding well but the adult almost always knows where they are. Same with God. He always knows where I am. 

So the bottom line truth is God is here even if I can't hear, feel or see Him. There is comfort in that. It's a reminder that that is what faith is all about. Faith is believing in what is unseen and the expecting what is hoped for. So God is with me, and you. I, we, just need to turn around and acknowledge His presence.

Sigh...maybe this is why I should blog more. I find simple answer as I search for the right words to express my thoughts. Guess we'll see what happens. Maybe it'll be less than 3 months before the next post. 

Thank You God for the assurance...the blessed assurance.    

Simple Prayer

A couple of weeks ago I had the blessing of working with David Hawk, Hawk, in Children's Ministry as the Carpenters for Christ were building our new Community Life Center. As they built a building we built trust and laughter into the lives of kids. One of Hawk's goals was to teach the kids The Lord's Prayer. He believes, and I agree, that we've missed a generation with Scripture memorization. The kids did an amazing job and had it down in less than three days. 

Today I was reading someone else's blog and he mentioned The Lord's Prayer. Here's what he said...

From Chris Lockwood's Blog entitled Pray Like This...
It seems that prayer has become so matter of fact these days, that we have forgotten the privilege we have in approaching and speaking with a Holy God.  What an amazing opportunity to communicate with the Author of all creation, and how sad for us that we don’t heed every moment we have to speak with, or hear from, Him.  We have become too busy to pray, too calloused to bother with what God wants, and too unimaginative to the wonderful possibilities that might await us if we’d just embrace this intimacy.  Jesus relieves the burden for what we’ve imagined prayer is by informing us that there’s no need for long ambitious empty phrases or many words.  God doesn’t need us to put on a show.  He’s not impressed.  Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 

Prayer, sincere prayer, is simply a way of saying, “I trust you God”, therefore, by not praying, we communicate lack of trust.  Could it be that our busyness, callousness, or lack of imagination is more a result of our insistence that we bear our burdens rather than believing the One who has already overcome the world?  Yes, God has overcome the world, whereby our prayers allow us the opportunity to become a little more familiar with just who He is, all that He’s accomplished, and what wonderful gifts He desires to pour out on those who trust Him.

Not sure where to start?  Jesus has laid out a simple blue print.

1)  Worship:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

2)  Surrender:  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

3)  Trust:  Give us this day our daily bread  

4)  Repentance & Forgiveness:  forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

5)  Protection:  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

6) Added by me...Ends with worship: For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever. Amen!

What a privilege, an honor, we have in prayer.  The only required cost is time, but the returns far outweigh the investment.

So Sad

Ok, so I am not a morning person, though as age catches up with me I am less of a night owl as well. I was up before 5 answering 'nature's' call and then my brain wouldn't shut down as I lay in bed with my CPAP mask on. Now I am awake on what could be a long day. Our VBS begins this afternoon and then I'm going to help Bonnie with some A/V issues at an evening VBS the Summer Missions Team and she are helping another church lead. 

This all stems from a conversation we had in Sunday School yesterday. Well, maybe not a conversation because that takes two or more persons and our youth aren't the most talkative on Sunday mornings. Anyhow, this is what I shared.

We were talking about God's Word and how it impacts our lives. Our key text was from Psalm 119. We were talking about how the Bible can bring us joy and this is part of what I shared and will now elaborate on a little more.

I read a news article last week that was so sad. A pastor in the Houston, TX area took his own life after a long bout with depression. Now I am not trying to judge but I am trying to understand. I can relate to this man, whom I've never met, because I too have dealt with depression. Now I've never been suicidal but I have been in what felt like a dark hole with little or no light. I just feel so sad for that pastor and his family, both his natural family and his church family. One of the verses we  read was Psalm 119:11, 'Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God.' Yes one of the few verses I have memorized in KJV. I know depression can warp your sense of reality. But for me, I can say that I never completely lost my joy. The depression that I've dealt with has been since we lost the girls in 2008 and it was coupled with the fact that I broke my arm at the end of 2008. I was emotionally, physically and spiritually broken. I actually went to a psychiatrist who in less than 10 minutes diagnosed me with clinical depression which took me by surprise that I was that easily diagnosed. But after counseling and some medical help, I am much better. So much better that I am off the meds and counseling both. All this does have a point I'm not just rambling.

After I shared a little not even as much as I have here I began thinking about Bible verses that I had hidden in my heart that had helped me and continue to help me. The verse I shared with the kids yesterday was 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.'  Then I thought about a simpler verse, the verse that is still ringing in my mind and keeping me awake...'Jesus wept'. A favorite verse for many to say they've memorized because of its simplicity. But there's nothing simple about it. Because Jesus wept, He knows what we're going through. That is one of the most comforting things about being a Christian or Believer or Jesus Follower, which ever term you prefer to use. We have a Savior who identifies with us. That's why Jesus came. As Dawson McAllister would say, Jesus was God in the bod. So when we hurt, He hurts. When we laugh, He laughs. I love the classic song from Geoff Moore, 'He was one of us, somehow like you and me, the God we serve breathed the air that we breathe...' We are not alone. I remember hearing some pastor say when we read Jesus say I will never leave you nor forsake you it literally means I will never, no never ever leave you nor never, ever forsake you. I don't know what that pastor was going through but I know what I've been through and even in the darkest of valleys, even the ones that can be described as the valley of the shadow of death, I wasn't alone.

Conclusion...WE ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS WORLD. Please, please, please don't buy into that lie.

Here's another song that has gotten me through the tough times...

10,016

I cannot believe that I have 10,016 views of my blog since it's inception. I know 10,000 plus people haven't read my blog but a few of you have looked at it bunches.  I don't know how many views other people get but to me this is huge. To those of you who take the time to read my ramblings, I want to say Thank You! I know that I am not the most eloquent or thought provoking writer. I believe I'd fit well in the category of 'normal Christian man'. I've had all the normal experiences in life - joy, sorrow, laughter, fun, disappointment, grief, excitement, regret...but all of these have been filtered through my faith. As long as I can remember I've had God in my life. It doesn't make me perfect or my circumstances perfect. It doesn't make me better or worse than anyone else but it has most definitely shaped who I am. Are there things I'd change if I could? Sure. But for the most part I'd just hit repeat like I do on my favorite songs or the favorite parts of a movie. If you've followed me for a while you know my posts have consistently gotten fewer and fewer over the years. But you should also note that that has changed some this year. Regardless if these words are significant to anyone, they are my words and maybe I'm just feeling better about myself or maybe I was having some kind of progressive writer's block but, for the most part, my brain is very active with thoughts and ideas and way back in 2010 I started this blog to get those thoughts out. This is more for my benefit than yours but thanks again for joining me on this journey called life.  

Hope

Hope...a simple four letter word that changes lives. Hope is a huge part of what Easter is all about. Hope. It doesn't have to be much...you've heard the saying a glimmer of hope. That isn't much hope but it's enough to change a person's perspective. Check out this verse from Ecclesiastes...Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! (Ecc. 9:4). It's that a great reminder. One of my favorite verses is about hope...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Is. 40:31). Paul teaches us...Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5) And the writer of Hebrews emphasizes... Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. (Heb. 10:23) Because the One whom we hope in is faithful. Peter had this hope as well...Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. (1 Peter 1:3-4a)  For Peter as well as Paul and others, their hope was a living hope because of Jesus' resurrection. I want you to realize that hope is secure. Hope is grounded. Hope is more than wishful thinking. Because the hope that we can have in Christ is living. And it's a living hope because Christ is alive just as He had promised. Several times He told His followers that He had to go to Jerusalem to die but that in 3 days He would rise. In my pastor's sermon this morning, he pointed out that the one's who seemed to remember or take seriously Jesus' words were the religious leaders. Although they denied His divinity they knew He was telling the truth. We serve a risen Savior, He is in the world today, I know that He is living whatever men may say...He lives, He lives salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives He lives within my heart. That is an unswerving, undeniable, everlasting HOPE!

Saturday

Saturday, that day between Friday and Sunday...this week it's between Good Friday and Easter. There isn't anything written in the Bible about this day. For the followers of Jesus, who were Jews, it was the Sabbath. They were restricted in what they could do. The disciples were in hiding. Jerusalem was a large crowded city, surely it would have been easy to get lost. Were they together? Had they scattered? They must have been terrified. Shocked. Dismayed. Discouraged. Not to mention the sorrow, grief, and tears. Lots of tears. Although they had seen Jesus raise the dead...more than once...there's no way He could raise Himself, could He? Hopelessness would soon change. Just wait till tomorrow. 

Nothing...

What can wash away my sin?
What can make me whole again?

Nothing...

nothing I can manufacture...
nothing I can purchase...
nothing I can borrow...
nothing I can steal...
nothing I can trade...
nothing I can conjure... 

The only thing that can change my nothing into something, into everything, is Jesus' blood.

O precious is the flow 
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Seven Year Ache

I've been thinking about what to write on here even in my sleep or in the in-between awake and asleep this morning. I've not blogged as much as when this thing started in 2010. Guess I feel as if I don't have anything of significance to say. 

Here we are at the 7 year mark of our world being changed. Our reality and the girls' reality both changed that day but I believe their transformation was a lot more intense. They became who they were always created to be. They are the complete fullness of themselves as God intended our lives to be before the Fall. The only other people to experience this on earth are Adam and Eve and they traded it for a piece of fruit. Hard to imagine trading perfection for something so common. But we continue to do it every day. Many times our temptations are even more menial. 

All I know is Kayla and Alicia are experiencing true life and we're wading around in this thing we call 'life'. We do get caught up in all this world's trappings. We long for the day when our faith is made sight.

These 7 years have brought a lot of blessings and a few sorrows. Even now, many of our friends are mourning the death of a precious 17 year old girl who is now free from Cystic Fibrosis. She, for the first time in years, is breathing freely, breathing deeply and the air she breathes is nothing less than heavenly. 

We are now at the point where the girls have been away more than half of Jeromy's life. He still remembers, he remembers more than I do at times. He still cries. Not only today but random days throughout the year simply because he misses his sisters. I see such a real faith in his eyes. I pray he never loses that. 

I thought that the more time that passed the easier their loss would be but it seems to be the opposite. We say time heals all hurts but it's not time that heals, it's God. And that happens only when we allow God to heal us regardless of the amount of time it takes. 

I still see their pictures daily and remember how they were and can't imagine how they truly are today. But I have an undying hope that we will be reunited again some day; until that day we walk by faith.

20Fifteen

Happy New Year...we're only 9 days into it so it's still new. Been thinking about a few things these past days. While on vacation at my parents' home, my brother-in-law was reading a devotion to close out the year that challenged him to pick a word for the year. We had fun as a family 'helping' him discover a word. He finally decided on 'committed'. That is a good word. So, if I were to choose a word for 2015, what would it be? Well...9 days in and I'm still thinking about it. I was listening to the radio one night and they asked the same question. A lady responded, on Christian radio nonetheless, 'thrifty'.  I'm not trying to be judgmental, but I was thinking, 'that's not too spiritual. Can't you do better than that?' At least she had a word. I may be overthinking this whole thing. As I've thought of different words, I've thought can I live up to this for 365 days, now 356 days? So, here and now, I choose the word-TRUSTING. 'Simply trusting every day, trusting through the stormy way, even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus that is all.' 

Yesterday, word was out that Andrae Crouch passed away. His music has influenced my life and the life of church music for years. One of the songs that keeps coming to mind the last 24 hours reflects my word choice.