"It was by Faith..."

     When I was a small child I would anxiously wait for Christmas day to come.  As Christmas would approach I would become even more excited while thinking about the gifts that I would receive on Christmas day.  There was much anticipation and it was hard to contain my excitement.  I was certain that I would receive gifts because this is what happened every year. Some of the gifts would be something that I had asked for while others were surprises and with each Christmas there was a combination of assurance and anticipation.  The assurance that Christmas would bring gifts and the anticipation of waiting on the day to come... it's the same with faith!

Hebrews 11:1 (New King James) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Translation) Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we can not see.

     When we read Hebrews chapter 11 we see tremendous examples of faithful people.  Such examples mentioned are the faith of Noah. A man who built a large boat to save his family from a flood.  A flood of which had never happened before.  God had warned him about this flood so Noah went to work and obeyed God in building the Ark. Because of his faith his family was saved and the rest of the world condemned.

     Look at Sarah.  She was much to old to have children yet even though she was old and barren, she believed in God's promise that she would have a child.  Eventually a whole nation came from this one child as promised by God.  Hebrews 11:18, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted."  Sarah believed in God's promises.  She may not have understood how she could have a child, but she believed she would because God said she would. God keeps his promises.

     Look at Abraham.  He showed tremendous faith when God told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Even though God had told him that Isaac would be the man whom your descendants would be counted, Abraham knew that God keeps his promises so he raised his knife to sacrifice his son.  He may not have understood how God could keep his promise but he believed that if he obeyed God and sacrificed his son that God could bring him back from the dead and bring him back to life again to fulfil his promise.  So by faith he proceeded to sacrifice Isaac.  We know that God stopped Isaac from being sacrificed as an angel stopped Abraham at the last second.  God provided a Ram stuck in the thicket to offer as a sacrifice instead.  

     Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. Faith gives us assurance about things to come.  Just the three examples I mentioned show us how true this is.  I think it's important to know that to have faith you must believe that God is who he says he is and he does what he says he will.  Knowing God's character is the beginning of faith.  This is what gives us the confidence that what we hope for will happen.  The ending of faith is God doing what he says he will. It's God's promises being fulfilled.  This is what gives us the assurance about things to come.  To have faith is to believe that God is who he says he is and because of this we can trust with certainty that the things we hope for will come to pass.  God always keeps his promises.  Even though we may not understand or see how our faith can possibly work out.  We can trust in God's character and his promises, and that's all we need.

Hiding in the bushes

Genesis 3:8-10
(8) And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
(9) Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
(10) So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and hid myself.

     So I have to ask... have you ever found yourself trying to hide from God?  I mean even though we know we can't, we do it anyway.  I know I have.  When I read these verses I'm reminded of my own sin and the shame that I experience as I'm hiding hoping that God will just simply walk by and let me be.  Please Lord God, don't acknowledge me right now!  But then what happens? Hey Steve, "Where are you?"

     I think it's important to note that any sin we commit can not be covered up or hidden from the Lord God.  In Adams case he was actually naked, unclothed, and it wasn't until he ate of the forbidden fruit that he saw his nakedness. We know this from Genesis 3:7 as they both tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves.  Adam wasn't hiding from God because he was embarrassed to be naked in front of God, Adam was hiding because he was ashamed of his sin against God and his nakedness was confirmation of that fact.  Adam is also very afraid of God.  Adam knows he's in trouble and he knows the wrong he's committed.  Have you ever been there?  I have.

First lesson here... We can't hide our sin from God!  Sin is like being stripped naked.  It's out there for God to see.  We are exposed.

     In Genesis 3:9 God asks of Adam, "Where are you?" Why do you think he asked this question?  It's certainly not because God doesn't know where Adam is hiding. God ask the question so that Adam will have to answer and admit to what he'd done.  God convicted Adam of his sin just like He does you and I when we sin.  Ultimately God through his questioning got Adam to tell him he was naked and afraid of God finding this out. In Genesis 3:10,11 we see that God asks Adam how he knows he's naked?  God asks, "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"  Adam finally says to God that he ate of the fruit, but not until after blaming a couple of people first.  He blames the woman for giving him the fruit to eat, and honestly he blames God for giving him the woman.  Genesis 3:12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.  It's like, yes I did it, but if you hadn't given me that woman I wouldn't be in this situation right now.  It's hard to admit or acknowledge our sin to God isn't it? Especially if we're hiding.  In Genesis 3:13 we see that God also ask of Eve what happened and she explains that the serpent had deceived her and she ate.

Second lesson... We must acknowledge our sin.  When we admit we've sinned against God, we take responsibility for our actions. We admit our guilt.  Just try not to throw others under the bus when you do it... shame on you Adam.

     Well, we see that Adam and Eve had sinned and that they acknowledged and admitted their sin to God.  So what next?  Well there are consequences to sin.  We just need to know if we sin, we will suffer.  There were consequences for Satan, Adam, and Eve for what happened in the garden that day.  Now unfortunately, since we are all offspring of Adam and Eve, we're still suffering even today for their sin. God punishes Satan (the serpent) God punishes the woman and future generations of women, then God punishes Adam and future generations of men. Genesis 3:14-20 reveals how God dealt with this sin and the consequences of it.

Third lesson... There are always consequences to sin.  When we sin, we can expect suffering and consequences.  Keep in mind that sinning against God is a revolt against God.  It's a choice we make of disobedience. We will face consequences.

     Things don't look to good for us right now does it?  We see that if we sin, we can't hide, we might try to, but God knows.  Eventually we'll admit our sin to God, God convicts us of our sin so that we can acknowledge our guilt.  There's no chance for redemption if we don't admit our sin.  Have you heard God ask you... "Where are you?"  If so, it's time to admit your sin and confess.  Then we learned that there will be consequences.  People get hurt, our lives are not lived to their fullest, we aren't effective in our ministry anymore, on and on... there are consequences directly related to our sin.  But there is hope for us.  We serve a God that is abundant in grace.  He covers our sin and makes us right with Him.  God forgives our sin. Genesis 3:21 says... Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.  As you know Adam and Eve tried to sew fig leaves to cover their nakedness, but figs leaves are temporary and inadequate. God gave them skin coverings that would do the job. Covering their nakedness properly and providing for their needs.  
     I think it's amazing that right after they sinned against God, God still provides for them and cares for them.  God not only provided clothing to cover their nakedness, he provided a way to give mankind eternal life by protecting the way to the tree of life.  God didn't run Adam and Eve out of the garden to harm them, he ran them out of the garden and placed an angel to guard the way to the tree of life.  The way to the tree of life is now protected and the only way to it is through Jesus Christ.  No one will ever eat this fruit again unless, they go through Jesus Christ first.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Fourth lesson... Know this.  God loves us.  He will always provide for us even though we've sinned against him.  Forgiveness awaits us!  Restoration awaits us!  We will be reconciled.  Our sin will be covered!


     I hope these words encourage you as they have me.  I want to thank all of you for your prayers.  I went back to church yesterday evening and I had been away for quite some time.  Living in sin, hiding in the bushes, knowing I'm not where God wants me to be, but finally tired of God asking me, "Where are you?"  Finally admitting and acknowledging my guilt I went back and it's as if I never left.  I guess I realized that when you're where you're supposed to be, it just feels right.  I'm so glad that my Heavenly Father is a God of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  
     If you find yourself hiding in the bushes, naked from the exposure of sin, there's only one way to cover up.  Call on the name of Jesus. Allow God to cover your sin and shame and then you can move on with your life as God intends.  The hard part is coming out of the bushes.  Once you do, God takes care of the rest! 

God bless you.

Different results demand different actions

     Last year I was tired of feeling overweight.  Now I wasn't in real bad shape but I was bothered by my clothes all of a sudden becoming tighter and more constricting.  When I weighed myself I was about twenty five pounds heavier than I'd ever been and I realized that I needed to do something to change my weight gain or who knows how big I could get? Either way I was headed in the wrong direction and I knew it. Things had to change.

     At first I didn't do much of anything about my weight other than kind of wishing I wasn't so heavy.  After a few weeks of wishful thinking and hoping that somehow I would lose weight just by being more conscious of it, I quickly decided this wasn't doing anything to help my situation. Yep, I was going to have to do something different.  

     So the first step for me was educating myself about weight loss.  Google search here I come!  I found out all kinds of stuff about weight loss as you can imagine and after much reading and becoming more educated about the subject, I finally came up with a plan. Eat less, exercise more. Sounds easy, but it requires something I didn't have up to this point and that was commitment and discipline. 

     My second step was to make a commitment to lose weight.  Until I became committed to the task, it was just a dream. With commitment came all kinds of ideas on how to make it happen.  I set a goal of how much weight I wanted to lose. I developed a tracker to measure my results weekly.  I calculated how many calories I needed to eat each day to begin losing weight.  I decided to stop drinking sodas.  I decided to eat three good meals a day instead of skipping breakfast as to jumpstart your metabolism in the morning and start burning fat as early in the day as possible.  I realized that if I walked every day then I would burn even more calories helping me to achieve my weight loss goal even faster. I decided to snack less in the evenings as I watch television. And finally, I determined that I could eat whatever food I wanted, just smaller portions at each meal. You see, my commitment set me on a path to make a plan... now comes the discipline part. The part where it takes discipline to execute the plan. Yes, the hard part.  

     This was the third step of doing something different to get a different result.  I stated earlier that it was the hard part of doing something different and it was, but only in the beginning.  The reason this was the hard part was because this is when I had to simply get going.  Up till now it was all just a plan.  Yes a plan of action but without action it's just a great plan.  Results are not improved because of great plans, results are improved because of acting upon great plans.  Without action, it's just a dream.

     Final step for me was to maintain.  After weeks of eating less, measuring results, walking more and snacking less, I saw the pounds coming off.  I ended up losing 28 pounds over a 3 month period.  All I did was stick to my plan and measure the results.  I did notice that as I began to get into better shape I was beginning to lose less weight each week. Eventually I was at an ideal weight, I felt good, I think I looked good. I actually had to buy some new clothes because the old ones just didn't fit anymore. But the weight loss slowed tremendously and my goal now was to maintain my weight goal through my new established routines.

     I tell you all this to parallel similarities with our Christian life.  In my case, I felt I've lost my focus in my Spiritual walk with the Lord.  I've come to a place where I know that I'm weak and for a lack of better terms... fat and lazy and in need of different results.  I would say that the last few weeks I've repeated the exact same process that I did in the beginning of my weightloss journey. Wishful thinking for change.  Sure I'm convicted and know I need to change, but as of yet, I've not made the commitment to do so.  Seems I keep making excuses as to why I can't make it to church.  Often my prayers are shallow and more and more infrequent. My bible study happens less often and about the only time I spend time with God anymore is in my car listening to bible studies or sermons on the way to work (I have an hour drive to work.) I'm feeling disconnected.  I'm not lost, but I'm way off course. Just as I said earlier when describing my weight gain... I'm simply headed in the wrong direction. 

Different results demand different actions!

Pray for me as I seek the Lord's guidance and ask for strength to re-commit myself to living my life for him.  May He give me a heart of commitment and a desire to set goals to grow into the Christian he desires me to be.

May this commitment refocus my attention on His plan for me through our daily walk together and a renewed attention to his word, the bible.

May I have the strength and stamina to be diligent and disciplined in my actions and behavior as he shapes and molds me.

And through this may I see different results.  May I be a different man. 

It's time to lose the weight of the world and become fit for Christ!  

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

                                                                                                                                                           Philippians 4:13

     

Our First Priority as Christians

     Through the years I have written many notes on the pages of my bible.  Today I noticed the same note over and over again.  These were little reminders to me to never forget our first priority as a Christian.  The note simply said, "Matthew 6:33 Our first priority as Christians!"  Then in another book of the bible I came across it again, written very small in the margin of the page, "Matt. 6:33 First priority of Christians."

Matthew 6:33, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

     What's this mean to you and I.  It's simple really.  It means to turn to God first for help.  We should fill our thoughts with his desires.  We should focus on his character and use this as our guide for our way of living.  We should serve and obey him in everything.  So if our first priority is to seek (first) the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then what's the promised outcome?  All these things will be added to you... What things?  The answer... basically everything that you and I worry about.
     I know that I've spent countless hours of my life worrying about things that concern me.  Worry about my kids, worry about my job, worry about my family and friends, worry about paying the bills, worry about the economy, worry about this and that... worry!  You know, Jesus teaches us about worry in the preceding verses to Matthew 6:33.  vs 25 Don't worry about your life.  Don't worry about what you'll eat. Don't worry about what you'll drink.  Don't worry about your body. Don't worry about what you'll wear. vs 32 says that God knows that we need all these things and Matthew 6:33 is his answer to us on how to stop worrying about our life and to simply let God take care of our needs.  He already knows what we need and he knows that in our weakness we are worry warts!  We need help! So God made it very simple for us... simply seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  The key here is the word first!

     What do I normally do?  I allow people, objects, goals, and other desires take priority over me.  They are usually first on my mind and my first thought is how am I going to achieve my goals, my objectives, or tackle my people issues.  When I do this I quickly bump God out of first place.  

     I have to always be mindful to choose to give God first place in every area of my life if I am to expect for those things that I normally worry about to be added to me.  Why should I seek God first?  Because God is the only one that can truly take care of my every need.  When I worry, my focus is not on God and what he can do, but rather on my concerns and questions about what I'm going to do.  I can not let my worries about tomorrow take my focus off of God today.  The only way to stop worrying, is to realize that God is in control, not me.  Isn't this great news!  I don't have to worry anymore.
     
     So if you find yourself worrying... stop immediately and seek God.  Seek first God!  Seek God's kingdom, his character, his righteousness first.  You notice there is not a second thing to do?  When you seek God first, you have nothing else to worry about.

     The title of this post is... Our first priority as Christians.  You know I would have thought maybe it would have been to witness, or maybe to pray, read my bible, spread the good news.  But no.  It's to seek God first.  I understand that for me to be an effective witness for Christ I must seek God first.  Before prayer, before reading my bible, before ever spreading the good news.  Before I can do any work that belongs to the Lord, I must seek God first.  Yes... this is our FIRST priority.  It's sad really that I struggle so much in this area.  At least I have these little reminders throughout my bible to get me back on track.  Wouldn't it be better if I just made this my routine?  I think today, I will do that.

With age comes responsibility

Titus 2 (2) Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. (6) Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. (7) Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, (8) and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

Wow!
     The older I get the more responsibility I'm given as a man of God.  In my early fifties (a grandpa) I realize the example that I need to be. Not only for my boys that now have families of their own, but for my granddaughter as well. (the next generation)
     It's scary to me to think that the bible that my immediate family may read could be the example they see in me.  A man in his fifties, getting older and expected to be the example of what a Christian would look and live like after many years of spiritual growth.  For me, these verses deeply convict me.  The Holy Spirit went right to work on me as I read them this morning and I've been thinking about this passage of scripture all day.

     I love role models.  People that live by their convictions.  People that strive to be the best they can at life and love.  People that put their faith in the Lord and as a result endure and press on through life's challenges with confidence, joy, and peace.  What an example they are for me.  What hope they give me.
     Now can I say that I am that example for others, especially younger men? Am I the example of a man that has been steadfast in his faith and love?  Have I been a good example of self-control?  Have I been that role model that younger men can watch and observe and see the reflection of God in and through my actions, speech, and behavior?

     Let's just say this... I know where I stand, and I know the work that God still needs to do in and through me.  His spirit has spoken and I have heard. Now as the Spirit leads I pray for my obedience to follow and allow God to make me the man He wants me to be. After all, I'm being watched by people I love, people that I know look to me to be their role model.  I also know that because of my age, my role, and my position, that I am already a role model for others.  The question is; am I the right role model?  A Godly role model? Am I an example of a man lead by God so that if anyone copied me or acted like me, they might be one step closer to God?  

     If you are asking yourself the same questions then pray along with me and  let's pray for God to intervene in our lives, to conform us into His likeness as we seek to be used by Him.

Prayer:  Dear heavenly Father.  You know my heart, you know where I stand.  You know I need help and I know I need you.  Please guide me and direct my every step and help me to listen and obediently follow you.  As a result, may I be the example you want me to be for others to see.  It's in Jesus name I pray.  Amen

The fog

The day is foggy. I can't see very far in the distance ahead of me. I'm not talking about a literal fog that the weather creates, I'm talking about a fog that life creates. It's a fog in our mind that clouds our judgement and our ability to think clearly. It's a strange and risky place to be, this fog. But today I'm in it. I have been for the last few days really. I've never had the fog so thick and last so long as it has these last few days. The fog, as heavy as it is, has caused me to rethink my life. To re look at areas of my life that have changed.

Work... huge changes there. Much more demands and expectations than ever before. Doing more with less is still the Motto. Wonder if I can hang in there? Do I have the capability to stay the course. I want to... but can I? I done this for years so I know I can, yet I'm struggling. It's my work, it's what I love to do, yet I'm struggling.

Home... Not so much relationship issues as it is that I'm concerned about the future of my kids and their families. Seems that everyone I know is barely surviving, making it pay check to pay check and struggling to survive. Family and friends have it so rough lately and this weighs heavily on my heart when I realize that my family depends so much on me for financial help and strength. Dad's the Rock in this family and right now Dad's concerned about his career and his state of mind.

Spiritual Walk... I'm weak right now. Still seeking a church to call home since I've moved. Prayer time is less and less. Devotion and bible study has fallen away to other things. I'm so blessed in so many ways but this fog blinds me from seeing that sometimes. Like I said... not a good place to be, this fog.

The good news... This fog is what it is... a temporary thing. Fog doesn't last forever and when the sun finally shines the fog burns away. This afternoon I can finally see the fog burning away. Thanks to the help and council of my Pastor this weekend to help me get back to where I need to be in my relationship with Christ. Thanks to the help and support of my Boss as I shared with him what I was going through while at work. And thanks to my Doctor as we went through many tests and such to see what might be going on in my body. Can I say the fog has lifted? Not yet. But I see glimpses of the sun ahead.

It's a scary place to be trapped in the fog of our life and not be able to see what to do next. But this I've learned, When you run away from the SUN, or should I say Son (Jesus), I can tell you this, you're headed for the fog in your life. I'm a firm believer that if your Spiritual life is not right, then the rest of your life isn't either. I think that sometimes we get confused and think that if our Spiritual life is right then our life is always right too. That's not always true either. But this I know. If your Spiritual life is right, then when you face trials, through Christ you will be able to work through it and come out of it stronger in your faith and relationship than you were when you went into the trial. If your Spiritual life is not right, then as you go through the trials and set backs, you begin to blame God for your circumstances and wonder where He is now? These feelings push you farther and farther away from God, because now I'm focused on me and my circumstances, instead of loving and living my life for Jesus. Now here comes the fog.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. My work, my family and friends, all depend on my relationship with my Lord. I'm just so thankful that I see this so clearly today, I'm thankful that I can see the fog lifting even as the day passes. I'm thankful for a restored relationship with Christ this weekend. How much better I feel today. Thank you Lord Jesus.

Are you in a fog today. Is it sunny outdoors yet in your head things are foggy and unclear. Then seek Jesus. Do nothing else until you first seek to mend this part of your life. God's waiting for your return with open arms. Don't let your guilt, your shame, or your self pride, stop you from returning back home to your Heavenly Father. May God bless you in your journey out of the fog.

Read the Parable of the Lost Son, Luke, 15:11-24 Know that when we finally come to our senses, God is waiting and watching for our return. When we come back He runs to meet us.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Persist in Prayer

Have you ever pestered someone long enough that they finally gave you what you wanted just to shut you up? My grand daughter does it to me all the time. She'll have her mind made up about something and she won't let up until I finally give in and give her what she wants. It drives me nuts... but hey, it's works. Sometimes the battle's just not worth the fight and unless it's worth standing my ground on... I'll usually give in (Yes, I'm a Grandpa!)

In Luke 18:1-8, There's an example of a woman that constantly went to an unjust judge asking for protection from her opponent. She bothered this judge so much with repeated pressure that he finally said to himself, "I better give her what she wants or she'll wear me out!" Again, reminds me of my grand daughter.

This passage of scripture gives all of us great hope. If an unjust judge gave into this woman's pressure because of her constant efforts, well how much more would a just God react to the requests and prayers from those he loves? Much more of course! So it's not that we should pester God with our prayer requests over and over thinking we'll wear him out and he'll finally give in to us. But instead know that God loves you and will answer you when it's right for you. Maybe He's teaching you about faith or patience or hope. But know this... God hears you and loves you and will answer you in His time for His purpose and for your benefit.

Stay the course... pray continually while trusting in God to answer. We should always pray and never lose heart.

Focus on your goal, not your obstacle

Have you ever received a phone call in the middle of the night? If you are like me your first thought is not a good one. I immediately think something must be wrong. I even hate to answer for fear of what I might hear. The news has to be bad.

Or Someone says to you, "There something very important I need to talk to you about." I immediately think, "this can't be good." But often it wasn't at all what I thought it was and most often not near as bad as I had figured it would be.

Why is this? Why are we so negative in our thinking? Well, it's not just you and I that do this. It seems that everyone does this as we can clearly see from several passages in the bible. Must be the way God wired us. It must be because we simply can't see what God knows. He knows already what the call is about. He knows already what's so important on the mind of our friend that needs to talk. When we face difficulties that overwhelm us... we can't see our way out, but God simply speaks and the problem is solved or goes away. So saying all this and understanding that we are weak and He is strong. The only way we can overcome those obstacles that are in the way of our goals would be to depend on God to remove the obstacles in the way of our goals.

Trust in God's provision and power is the answer. I'll give two examples in the bible, one being a lack of trust or understanding of God's power and the inability to see how the goal or objective can be obtained while the other being one of faith and trust that everything will be worked out even though we may not know how.

Doubt... This illustration comes from the book of Mark 8:1-4 The disciples were concerned about the well being of the large crowds that we're following Jesus.

(1) About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,
(2) I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for days and they have nothing left to eat.
(3) If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. or some of them have come a long distance.
(4) His disciples replied, "How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?

The disciples did what we do. They couldn't see past their own intellect of what was before them. Jesus is saying we need to feed them, but they say, we can't. We don't have food out here... it's not possible. But Jesus did it and he did it with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. By contrast look at this next passage of scripture...

Mark 16:2-4 These women had their minds set to anoint the body of their crucified Lord.

(2) Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.
(3) On the way they were asking each other, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
(4) But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

Not knowing how they were going to roll that huge stone away from the entrance of the tomb, they went anyway. It could have been very easy to see the impossibility of the task and just stay home and say it's not possible. But they did it, they went! When they arrived the stone was already moved away so they could enter. God took care of it for them. The obstacle was not their focus but rather the objective or goal was. That's how they were able to stay the course and press on even as they wondered among themselves how it was going to be possible.

It's too bad that so many times we go forth, only when we clearly see how it's possible. We need to keep our eye on the goal and less so on the obstacles in our way. We need to see past the obstacle. We need to peak over or look around whatever it is that blocking our view and even then we still may not be able to see or understand how. The good news is... God sees it. He can get you to your goal. There is nothing that stands in the way of God, and when we have God's power with us, that means we have nothing that can not be overcome that prevents us from accomplishing our goals or objectives. Lean not on our own understanding, but instead trust in the Lord.

Witness without saying a word

Today as I was driving to work I heard someone on the radio say something that hit me like a ton a bricks. Being Sunday morning the program I was tuned to was a message about spreading the "Good News" of Jesus Christ to others. Whoever was speaking this morning Quoted a person that said...

"Go ye therefore and spread the Gospel to all the ends of the Earth, and if necessary use words."

Our actions do speak louder than words don't they? How we live for Jesus says a lot about our commitment to our Lord doesn't it? It's important to know how to tell others about Jesus using our speech but to live for Jesus gives credibility to our words. Often we don't have to speak at all for others to see Jesus. Our loved ones and friends pick up real quick that we're different and although they may not fully understand they see it and they are curious about it.

As I said earlier, this message hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. Yes, a reminder that I'm not living my life for Christ as I should. I think it's important to understand that there's not a magic list of do's and don'ts that define me as a Christian. What defines me a s a follower of Christ is my realization that Jesus loves me and He wants to save me. It's my knowledge that without out Christ's forgiveness of my sin I'm a lost sinner destined for the fiery pit of Hell. Sure it's good to tell people about Jesus, but I believe it's better to show them Jesus. One things for sure, it's really confusing if we say one thing but live another. If our life doesn't match up to our beliefs , then how effective are we really? What kind of witness are we?

Look at the skies, they display the craftsmanship of God almighty. Without even a word spoken God is made known just by looking around at all that He created. Do we, through our lives, make Him known?

PSALM 19:1-4
(19) The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftmanship.
(20) Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
(21) They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
(22) Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me for living my life without putting you first. May your Spirit fill me today and overflow to others through my actions and love. My I spread the Gospel to everyone I come in touch with without even saying a word. Thank you Lord Jesus, Amen.

4 man scramble

Yesterday I played in a golf tournament to help raise money for the local Lions club of Smyrna TN. The idea was to have several 4 man teams to go out and play their best ball for each stroke of the game. Usually this is a lot of fun because surely one out of the four people on your team is going to hit a good shot and this allows the others to pick up their ball and shoot from the spot where the good shot landed.

I'm not a very good golfer. On my best day I might shoot an 85, but usually I shoot bogey golf and end up around a 90 most days. I just don't play often and as with any sport you have to play and practice to get better and more consistent. When I signed up to play in this tournament I wasn't too worried however about my score or my inability to really score high, because I knew this was a team effort and although I may not be consistent... occasionally I do make some great shots, so I'm sure I could help the team once in a while.

Well, when I got to the tournament, all the teams showed up except for the other three individuals on my team! Ouch! I waited till the last minute hoping that maybe someone else's team would be short a player then I could play with them. No such luck. Everyone showed except for my team. This left me with a unique opportunity. I was my own team.

It was decided that I would be allowed to hit the ball twice and take the best of the two shots to play. Ok, I'm thinking, hey this might be a lot of fun. I mean how often do you wish you could play that swing over again. If I only could hit that ball again there's no telling how much better my score would be! This was going to be great!

One of the Lions club members felt sorry for me riding around the golf course by myself so he decided he would ride around with me to keep me company and be my driver. I got to know Leon very well and I was thankful I had someone to visit with for the next 18 holes of golf.

After about 3 or 4 holes, I realized one very important fact. I don't like myself as a partner! You'd think my partner would have helped me out a little better than he was, but you know what... He shot about as inconsistent as I did. I'd hit it poorly, then he'd step up and do the same thing. I hit a shot to the left side of the fairway instead of the right side of the fairway, and he'd step up there and hit it the very same direction... no help at all to our game. I'd take a stroke to sink that putt and just barely miss the hole, the next stroke he'd leave it short. Yes, I realized that I made a very poor partner for myself. It was funny really. While other teams were achieving scores under par, my partner and I kept getting bogeys! I finally ended the game close to the score that I normally shoot when I'm playing by myself.

The good news was this... I went into this tournament without any false hopes of winning it big anyway and I also had a lot of fun playing golf and getting to know Leon, my new best friend.

As I think about this experience, I realized how important it is to have other people than just yourself on your team. I've always heard that the team is only as good as it's best performer. The team usually can not rise above the level of the best talent among the group. In my case my team was me. To prove that a team is only as good as it's best player... I did that! It's amazing that my score reflected what I was and how I normally played. Shocker? No, not really, but how often do we forget that we need other people to help make us better? I think sometimes we think we can do things on our own. But the truth is, if we want to improve our game, we need others on our team that are better than we are, or it just doesn't work. So what did I learn from this little golf outing today?

1. If you want to become better, then surround yourself with better players. Maybe I want to be a nicer person, then I should hang out with nice people. Maybe I want to develop a better work ethic, then I should surround myself with ethical people. You get the point, figure out what you want to become, and get people that represent that on your team. When you play with them, you become better. Not only in your own skill level, but in your social group as well.


2. To apply this to my Christian walk... How can I become a better Christian, if I'm playing all alone on my team? How can I become more like Christ, if I don't walk with him daily, if I don't surround myself with other Christians? The sad truth is... I won't change. There's very little I can do by myself. To be more like Christ, He's got to be on my team. I must watch Him and learn from him, and the best part is... even though I still have a long ways to go with my own skill level and abilities, I win because of who's on my team. Once in a while I get in a good shot or two, but at the end of the tournament of life, I'm going to be better, and a winner, because of my association with Christ.

So I ask you this question? Who's on your team? I certainly hope you aren't playing by yourself. It's not very pretty and the outcome is not good. God bless you in your life adventure and don't forget to surround yourself with other great players.

God's way is the HIGH way

If you're like me you find yourself confused and uncertain sometimes of what God's direction and will is for your life. We all try to understand and piece together what God's word is saying to us, how we should apply His word to our lives, and how we should live or what we should do. So many people interpret scripture in so many different ways. Just look at all the commentary on particular verses by bible scholars and you'll see even they can't agree on what scripture is saying to us. But this should not be at all surprising. God's ways are not our ways. His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than ours. God says there are somethings we just won't understand or know.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "It's my way or the highway!" Usually that person means to say that it doesn't matter what you think or want, we're doing it my way. If you don't like it, hit the road! Well God doesn't say it quite like that, but basically the same is true. God's way is the high way. His way is far above and beyond what we can even imagine. So no wonder we argue over the meaning of scripture and see things differently than the next guy. God's thoughts are way beyond us.

Isaiah 55:8-9
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

God's word always produces fruit. God's word always does what God wants it to. God's word always prospers. In spite of our differences and our misunderstandings, God's word cuts through all that and accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish. (Isaiah 55:10-11) God promises that we will live in joy and peace. His word is so powerful that mountains and hills will burst into song, and trees of the field will clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12) Kinda weird isn't it to hear God say that mountains and hills will sing and trees will clap their hands? Might not make a lot of sense to you and I. We might all have different opinions as to what this scripture means, but one things for sure. The world of God is nothing like anything we can imagine. We are so limited to our own understanding and we often limit our understanding to our own personal experiences. But God says... our ways are nothing like His ways, our thoughts are nothing like his thoughts. The good news is, we can take comfort in knowing that God knows our weaknesses. He knows of our very limited ability to comprehend and understand his ways, and yet... His word accomplishes all that He wants it to in us.

Back in the day, the people of Israel were foolish and they acted as if they knew what God was thinking and planning. Today we have to be careful not to do the same thing. God's word tells us that we don't know His ways or thoughts because they are so far above and beyond us. We have to be careful not to fit God into our mold or our limited box of understanding but instead, be willing to fit ourselves into God's plan.

I thank the Lord that God's provision and plan for me is not dependent upon my ability to do anything or understand His ways or thoughts. God's word accomplishes all He wants it to and that's all I need. I will live in joy and peace as will you, simply because we've put our faith and trust in Him. So lets' live life with joy in knowing that we don't have to know what tomorrow holds for us. God knows! We don't have to understand how everything works out, because God already knows. All we have to know is... God.

Do Not Fear

Because you belong to the Lord, you don't have to fear anything. Sure we may be concerned, or even uncertain of our future, but fear should not have it's grip on us because we are the Lord's child.

Isa 43:1-3
Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; and you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you; when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

My children (my sons) have both grown up and are now adults. They both still live at home and even though they hope to move out soon and be on their own, in today's economy, well it's tough. Now as their father there's no way I'm going to let them fall on their own. I'll always be there for them and as long as it takes until they are on their own, I'll help them out and provide a safe haven for them. Even when they leave, if they need help, I be there. They are my children and I will always be there for them.

Isaiah 43:1-3 helps us to see that the Lord is our Savior and Protector. No matter what we go through, He's always there with us. We won't be swept away by the rough waters. We won't be carried down the stream of the raging rivers we face. Even fire won't be able to burn us. Why? Because we belong to the Lord, our God, our Savior. We've been redeemed and He knows us by name, we are His.

Just like I will always watch out for my children, imagine how much more our Lord watches out for us. So the next time you face difficulties in life... remember who you belong to. Remember that Jesus gave his life for you and God would not give His life to save you only to let you slip away and perish. Don't fear! You are the Lord's Child! You are protected. Go in faith and live life without fear of tomorrow. Even though you never know what tomorrow brings, one thing you do know is that you are God's child and He will be with you always, leading, guiding and protecting you. What love He has for us that we can live without fear of tomorrow, what love He has for us that we don't have to fear what happens after death. What love He has for us!

Everything changes... but God, Hebrews 13:8

The truth be known, everything changes but God. God is always the same. He's never changing. We can trust in Him and his faithfulness. We can believe in His promises in scripture. He's trustworthy, all knowing and Holy. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So in this constantly changing world we live in, we can rest assured that God is unchanging. He's our anchor in the storm, our rock on which we build our lives. Although the world changes moment by moment, God doesn't and that's comforting.

I think the danger many churches fall into is assuming that since God doesn't change, we as a church shouldn't change either. Sometimes it seems that to change the way we do church would be, well, sinful in some way. Is our church here for (the body of Christ, Christians?) or for the lost (unchurched, living in sin without Jesus as their Savior?) You answer the question. If we as a church are here to reach the lost, then should we not structure ourselves to be able to actually reach the lost. The ways of the past won't work today. Some of yesterdays traditions might still work today, while others will not. Differences in generations make these changes a challenge. Most people resit change and if we resit changing when change is happening all around us, we run the risk of living in the past where no one is anymore. I know the older I get the more of a challenge it is for me to accept change, but I know it's necessary and vital that I always be prepared for change and even strive to see ahead of it if at all possible. Think about the differences in society today verses just a few years ago.

Families are not just husband and wife and children anymore, they're broken up! Divorce is common place and single parent homes are very common. Today we might stop and pick up something to eat on the way home from work rather than cook supper at home. We as a society have become very tolerant of diverse backgrounds, sexuality, cultures, and even religion. Years past only one person worked to bring in the household income where as now, everyone in the household works and the hours are not Monday through Friday with weekends off and businesses closed on Sundays so everyone can go to church or have family gatherings. Instead we're working evenings and weekends. With technology today we live inside more than outside as in the past. People are displaced and living all over the US and the world. Living in the same town your whole life is a rarity anymore. Loyalty to one Company or vocation is a thing of the past. Everything is fast paced these days compared to the slow and steady pace of yesterday. Communication is instant through the media and Internet. I could go on and on. Change, whether we like it or not or whether we agree with it or not has happened and I think it's safe to say, will always happen.

Why would we not change things as we see things change? Probably because we like things the ways they are or even better said... the way they were. Problem is... those days are gone and the reality is this... how effective are we today with yesterdays programs? Is the church growing by people giving their lives to Christ? Are people being baptized? Are we meeting the needs of not only church members, but of the community as well? Are we a light in a dark world? Do we have a mission statement that aligns with God's word and relevant for today's society in our community? If not, how long do we expect to carry on? If we live in the past, eventually we die and so do all our old programs and procedures. There's nothing wrong with traditions that work and are effective for today's issues, but hanging onto them because they worked in the past is not a good reason to keep it. If it's not working today, it needs to be challenged, and re-evaluated.

Think about these things...

Too many programs that the church can't support... we try to do it all rather than focus on the programs that we have enough volunteers for and supports our goals and mission statement as a church.

Visitation... it doesn't work like it did then. Going door to door and visiting is not as effective as it used to be. People don't want you coming around to their homes. Many will not even let you in and in today's society, who blames them. Maybe we need to think about this differently.

What do we offer for the divorced person, the recovering addict, the single parent, the unemployed, the depressed, children or youth... etc. These are the people that need the body of Christ in their lives.

Do we hang onto the King James version for our benefit, when we know that many folks today don't understand it? We say we don't want to destroy the true meaning of scripture by changing the translation, but we all know that King James was not the original translation of scripture back in Jesus day. So even our Kings James version is a translation of scripture and the reason it was translated to King James was so that more people might be able to understand what they were reading. Yet we won't accept a new translation of scripture now, so that people today can understand what they're reading? Where's our focus?

What about dress... do we dress up in suits and ties for church when our neighbors or those in our community don't even own a suit? Are we like the Amish who would rather make people conform to us rather than us conform to them so we can be accessible to say to them... Hey do you know Jesus? Or are we trying to protect our way of life, rather than give others new life in Christ? The latter is scary, because when we we bring in people that are different than us into our church, guess what, the church changes and are we ready for that?

Worship agenda and style, music style or theme, times of worship or discipleship training or teaching methods, evening worship effectiveness, all these things and many more are subject to change. Who says we need to have worship from 11-12 noon. Maybe if worship was at 10am instead of 11am we could get people home to watch the ball game they want to see on TV at noon? You see we don't thing about what people are doing or thinking, we just automatically think they should come to church when we have traditionally had church services. Maybe we should ask this question. What time is best for our targeted audience, those we are trying to reach? Why are we still having church in the evenings when we only have 20 people come and they are already Christians? maybe we could meet another need in the community during this time. Is it a sin to not have evening services and just spend time with our families instead? Maybe we need to ask why don't people come on Sunday evenings like they used to? Are we still doing an old program rather than identifying why we should change, what we should change, or how we should change?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that when it comes to the church, we should never compromise the word of God. We must build on Christ our solid unchanging rock, while at the same time changing constantly to meet the demands of today's society if you really want to reach the lost. Thinking this way will not only help us to look at new ways and new structure, but also understand that the things we do today won't be the right things in even four or five years from today. We must be ready to change again as society changes. We can not miss this. We need to take God's unchanging word into an ever changing society. We can still reach the lost, but we need to go where they are if we really want to tell them about Jesus.

Would it not be a shame if our unwillingness to change, prevented people from coming into a new relationship with our Lord and Savior. How can we answer to Jesus for that? "Well Jesus... I knew you would expect me to hold fast to your word and protect the church at all costs so we were very careful not to change anything this way upon your return your church would be just as you left it. I think Jesus might say... you wicked lazy servant, you knew that I would come back looking for my church to be effective and growing. You buried what I gave you under a rock yet look at these other churches. They took what I gave them and reached out and multiplied reaching those that needed help and bringing them into my family. I'll take what I've given you and give it to the churches that are effective.

Let's be the church of today with an eye on being the church of tomorrow. We can not be the church of yesterday... it's gone and over.

To mow, or not to mow?

I wrote this about 2 months ago when we had lots of rain... it's quite different now! When I wrote this devotion, it spoke to me as most of my devotions do and I've been going faithfully to church every Sunday since then. Kind of sad when I have to write myself a devotion to get me motivated isn't it? Anyway...maybe these words are just the words to motivate you as well.

To Mow, or not to Mow


The grass gets higher and higher with each passing day. Everyday that passes I think to myself, "I need to mow this evening after work, or it's really going to be a tough job." Then I get home and begin to relax and visit and the next thing I know, it's too late in the day to begin mowing because it will get dark halfway through. I'm not really that disappointed though, almost relieved in a way that I didn't get to it. So I convince myself I'll get to it tomorrow!

The next day it rains, so I can't mow anyway... again relived really because I didn't really want to mow anyway. Again rain the next day... I'm beginning to realize that all those other days that I should have mowed are catching up with me, I now regret not mowing when I had the chance... I should have never procrastinated. I make a commitment to myself that tomorrow I will mow after work, I've checked the weather forecast and it's not going to rain... I even tell my wife my plans (maybe this will help hold me accountable you know). I don't get off work on time and work late, when I get home it's time to eat. My son Ryan shows up with his girlfriend and we all begin visiting... You guessed it! Too late! Can't mow now, it's getting dark. I WILL MOW TOMORROW!


It's Sunday morning and I'm sleeping in rather than going to church. I wanted to go and even told myself I was going to go, but then I slept in instead. Last week the same thing. It's kind of like my lawn. It's needs attention but I'm not doing anything about it. It's easy to find excuses isn't it?


Luke 14:16-20
(16) Jesus replied with this story: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations.
(17) When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guest, "Come, the banquet is ready."
(18) But they all began making excuses. One said, "I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me."
(19) Another said, "I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me."
(20) Another said, "I now have a wife so I can't come."


As in the case with this story found in Luke 14:15-24 our excuses can really hurt us. This parable of the great feast shows us how our excuses can keep us from joining in the feast that Jesus has prepared for us. Eternal life is ours if we'll simply accept the invitation and go. But too often we give excuses as to why we can't go.


If you don't know Christ... it's not to late! The invitation still stands today. All you have to do is say yes... I'll come. If you do know Christ as your Lord, then your place at the table is secure, the feast awaits you. However... if you make excuses like I do, then you'll miss out on the blessings that God had in store for you. What did I miss by not going to church today? Did God have a word for me today from the Pastor? Who may God have had me interact with today? Could I have helped someone, could they have helped me? I'll never know because I made an excuse not to go.


Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me when I fail you, forgive my disobedience. May we all realize and know that time is short and may we make the most of every opportunity and not procrastinate. Amen.

God speaks... do you hear?

For the last couple of months my wife and I have been visiting several different churches. Every week we go to another one. Some are huge and others are not. Some are lead completely with contemporary music while others are more traditional hymns or a blended mix of traditional and contemporary music. The order of worship, although similar, is still different in every church. The Pastors vary in age, style and experience of preaching. It becomes very easy to begin comparing one church to the other, It becomes too easy to begin creating a list of what I like or don't like and make many comparisons. All this can distract my attention away from what is really important.... Do I hear God speak?

Worship is a time for not only our praise and adoration to our heavenly Father, but also a time to listen and hear what it is that God wants us to hear. In each church I visit I hear from God. I have not been to one yet that I haven't heard God, and if I did attend one where I didn't hear from God it could quite possibly be a problem on the receiving end (me) rather than on the delivery of the message or the worship service. I guess what I'm trying to share is that I need to focus less on the differences and more on what I'm hearing God say to me. Am I connecting and is the Spirit of God moving within me to allow me to become more like Him through the message. Am I more concerned about the songs, or the Preachers ability to preach, or the order of service... etc. Or am I going with an attitude of Worship and praise and an expectancy of hearing from almighty God?

I've almost come to the conclusion that it's not the church as mush as it is what's being said and am I listening? God's word has a way of penetrating our heart and soul even in spite of a preacher or music getting in the way of it all. Man can stumble but God's word is greater than all that. What is being preached and am I listening, that's what's important.

As I visit churches lately I see God at work in all of them. I sense the Holy Spirit in all of them. Yet they are all different! The decision on where it is that God would have me serve is still undecided. Until then, pray for me and my family and may I always be sensitive and open my heart and mind to listen carefully for God to speak.

You may not be searching for a new church like I am, yet you may have days where your worship experience was lacking in your own church. Something was missing or maybe you were distracted by other things that really are not that important yet intrude on your ability to focus on Christ during the worship service. May we all be focused on Christ and go prepared to listen, expectantly waiting to hear from God. God is there, we just have a difficult time seeing or hearing him sometimes. How can we live for God if we don't listen? If we don't hear? God wants to speak to you and I. Are we listening, or are we talking? Are we experiencing God, or are we making a list of things we like or don't like? Where's our focus during the worship service? Jesus Christ must be the focus and may we be ready to hear from Him today.

God bless you in your service and the next time you attend your church, go with a different attitude of why you are there. Go expecting to hear from your heavenly Father and you'll experience true worship. Focus not on the things of man, and completely on the things of God. You may leave seeing your church in a different way. One things for sure... you will be different and after all, isn't that what church is all about.... a body of believers lead by Jesus? All focused on Him and his direction?

The wrath of man

What is the wrath of man? It's easy to understand the wrath of God. If we're disobedient and go against God's will and direction we can experience his wrath. But what about the wrath of man? Basically it can be the same way... if we go against what another man directs us to do and we disobey we might experience the wrath of that man. There's a problem however with the wrath of man. That is that man does not reproduce God's righteousness when he dishes out his wrath. God is all powerful and creator of all things. The world and everything in it are His to do with as he pleases. As for man, it's on loan to us. Whatever has been given to us is temporary. I know of no one that took all of his possessions with him when he died and if by chance they buried it all with him, you could go dig it up and it would still be there today. Nothing goes with us after we die. Yet we work so hard to gain possessions while we're here.

Relationships instead of possessions are what's important to God. To build relationships we must be sensitive and good listeners. The bible says to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. (James1:19) It's hard to listen if we're doing the talking. Be slow to speak and instead be quick to listen. This way we'll keep our anger in check and we'll think twice before we unleash our frustration, angered speech, or actions onto someone else... or as the bible calls it... our wrath.

In James 1:20 it says... the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
It's pretty clear isn't it? When we unleash our wrath on another person, the righteousness of God is not produced. Our anger never represents a loving God, instead it shows our true thoughts and feelings. Just remember, when we do lose our temper and unleash our wrath, be quick to know that's it's wrong and be quick to apologize for the error of our ways. Usually people are quick to forgive if they know we truly regret our actions and ask for forgiveness. We're all going to get upset with other people, it's our natural tendency within us, but through God's power and strength within us we won't unleash our wrath but instead calmly listen and redirect. Only God's people can endure trials and still remain calm during the storm. It's not from us, but from God. When someone wrongs us in some way our reaction is to retaliate, that is unless the Spirit of God is at work in you. With God it may be to forgive and restore the relationship instead of fighting.

Remember, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.

Growing Good Corn

Author unknown for this story:
A co-worker gave me this story today at work and I thought I'd share it with you.

The story goes...
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his best seed with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know?" The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to filed. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

This farmer was very much aware of the connectedness of life. He can't improve his corn unless he also helps to improve the quality of his neighbors corn.

Proverbs 11:24-25
(24) Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.
(25) The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

Just as this farmer shared his good corn with his neighbors, we too need to share with our neighbors. When I read this proverb and think about this story we can apply this lesson in many areas of our lives. To live in peace, maybe we need to help our neighbors to live in peace. To live well, maybe we need to help others to live well. It is possible to give things away and become richer and it's also possible to hold onto to tightly and lose everything. As the proverb says... those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. In other words, if we want to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.

Think about what you can do to help your neighbors and don't be surprised if you receive refreshing blessings in return. By watering others, we water ourselves. So today... start watering!

Scattered Showers

The weather forecast for today was partly cloudy with scattered showers throughout our area. The scattered showers must have been somewhere else most of the day because we hadn't seen any rain so far. So about 1PM I decide to take a motorcycle ride through the country side. The weather was perfect... partly sunny and in the mid 70's. My ride was fantastic, no wind, mostly sunny, just perfect until... the scattered showers hit me. I was about 45 minutes from home when I felt the first drop of rain. The sun was still shining but in the distance I could see the darker clouds coming. I decided to take a detour on my ride and I thought I might be able to avoid this scattered shower. I did really well, I got into a very light rain that quickly went away after only 2 minutes. I wasn't wet at all. As I was making my way back home I saw another dark cloud in the distance. I could see that it was raining by the way the clouds streaked towards the ground. This one looked a lot worse than the last shower so I made another detour and tried to avoid this shower. Again I did well. It rained on me for about 5 minutes and very lightly. Not bad at all! By now I'm only 15 miles from home. Looks like I'm going to make it home without getting wet. 5 miles from the house I encounter a down pour like none other. One moment I'm in the sun, the very next I'm soaked! I drive the 5 miles in a downpour and arrive at home just as the rain stopped and the sun come out again. Of course when I walked in the house my family thought it funny to ask me if I had an enjoyable ride as I stood there dripping wet. (actually it was a great ride, it was just the last 5 minutes that was bad)

What makes me think is this... Today's ride was fun, it was a great time of relaxation and the country side was beautiful to look at as I rode the back roads of Tennessee. Taking the detours took me on roads I'd never been on before and it was wonderful to explore new roads in this way. I thought, "Wouldn't it be a shame to allow the last five minutes of my ride to ruin the whole experience?"

Have you ever let the negative things that happen to you take your focus off of the good or positive things that happen? Have you ever had a great day at work, or a great day off work, or a wonderful Sunday afternoon, but then a single phone call can change the whole outlook on the day?

I saw a sign today outside of a small country church on one of my detours to avoid the rain showers. The sign read, " Weather Forecast... The Son is always shining!" As I read that sign it made me smile as here I was trying to avoid the rain, but even when the rain got me, I was still able to smile because I was reminded that even when the weather is bad, "The Son is always shining."

Lord, help me to always see past the current rain clouds and bad circumstances in each day. May I never forget that you are always shining upon me. Also thanks for the quiet reminder that life contains both dark clouds and clear sky's and even so; thank you that everyday contains... "Son Shine."

Memorial Day

One of my greatest achievements in life was my service to my country while serving in the US Army. I joined when I was 17 years old. My parents had to sign a release form for me to be allowed in because I was not yet of age. I had my 18th birthday while in Boot Camp at Fort Gordon GA.

Why did I join? Well it wasn't to fight wars or become a hero or anything like that. I joined because I really didn't know where else to turn. I knew I wasn't going to college, couldn't afford it. So when I heard that I could attend college while serving in the service, I thought this would be my ticket. Maybe I could still go to college after all. So my reasons for joining the Service was not due to growing up as a child with aspirations of serving in the Armed Forces. In fact I knew very little about the military at that time. Like I said, this was my opportunity to go to college.

On the 2nd day of Boot Camp, the Drill Sargent selected squad leaders from the men in the platoons. Four were chosen and I was one of the four. How he determined that I was a leader within only the first two days of Boot camp I'll never know but never the less I was chosen and given the task and responsibility of leading my own squad of about a dozen men. Pretty scary for me when you consider I knew no more than the other guys but now I'm in charge! I found this new role very difficult because not only was I learning a whole new way of life but I was responsible for other men learning as well. After a few weeks I began to feel more comfortable in my new role as Squad leader and had even earn the respect of the men in my squad. After 12 weeks of Boot camp, we graduated, and I was given a commendation and certificate tiltled... the "most distinguished gentleman's award." I'd come along way since day one of Boot Camp but more importantly I grew up and matured a lot during those days. I learned about honor, respect, discipline, and sacrifice. I learned more about commitment and hard work than I ever dreamed I could. I began to see myself as a leader, and not just a leader, but a leader that was recognized as someone that was a gentleman during the process (Didn't see much gentleman leadership in those days, it was more along the lines of a dictatorship) so I was very proud of this award.

Later I did go to college during some of my tours of duty but in the end I never finished. After four years of service and making it to the rank of Sargent, I finally decided to get out of the military and go back to civilian life. I'll never forget when I announced to my commander that I would be getting out after making the decision not to re-enlist. He couldn't believe it and many thought I was kidding. You see, to everyone else that I served with, I was know as a "Lifer." In other words, I was in the military for life! I was very Gung Ho, and committed in my service and I truly did enjoy and loved serving my country. What had began as a way to get to college, actually turned into a love for my country, my flag, and what I stood for as an American Soldier. I may have started this journey in the military with other motives, but in the end, it was about service to my Country.

Why did I get out? Unfortunately for my wife, the service was not her love and joy. I spent many days away from her on training missions and honestly my career in the Army was rough on our marriage. I felt that if I stayed in I might lose her, so I chose my wife and our commitment to each other over my life in the Army. I've never regretted getting out, it was the right thing to do at the time. I've also never regretted my time of service in the US Army. I would not trade those four years of active duty service for anything. The values and discipline I had learned while in the Army, I have used everyday of my life as a leader. To this day I can't hear the National Anthem without getting teary eyed. When I see the Amercian Flag flying high on a flag pole I get a feeling of pride within me. When I see soldiers in uniform, I'm so thankful for their service.

Memorial Day for me is a special day. It's a reminder to me and all of us, that our freedom comes at a cost. The freedom we take for granted... was paid for with the blood of soldiers. On Memorial Day we stop and reflect on that for a minute, and I hope it moves you as it does me. But I suspect for many people, this day could be difficult to understand. Maybe even have very little meaning to you unless you have been touched by it in some way... either knowing someone that has served, knowing someone that has died in their service, or maybe like me, you have served. Hopefully you realize the price for freedom and appreciate and can show your respects to the fallen soldiers that paid that price. Men and women that have given the ultimate sacrifice so that others may live free.

Seems freedom always comes at the spilling of blood. Jesus Christ gave the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life and shed his blood so that we could have eternal life (freedom from sin). To live free, cost so much doesn't it? Maybe this Memorial Day we'll not only remember the fallen soldiers, but also the One that fought the ultimate battle for each and every one of us. The One that died and shed His blood so we all could live as free people. His name is Jesus Christ. May every day be a Memorial Day for Christ.

God bless the men and Women that serve in the our Armed Forces, and may we remember with gratitude and respect, those that gave their lives for our Country. Amen.

Not everything is as it appears

I found this draft that I had written on 1/9/2009.

As I sit here and write, I'm looking out the window and the sky is gray, the trees are without leaves, there's a slight breeze that makes the limbs on the trees and bushes move slightly. From all appearances while sitting here in my house it looks like it could snow at any minute. But when I walk outdoors onto my porch, it's a warm beautiful day. It's 65 degrees outside right now... but from the inside of the house it looks like it's freezing outside and ready to snow.

This reminds me that not everyone is as they appear either. From where we stand it may appear that someone has everything going their way. From our vantage point... it seems their world is great. But in reality, their world may be falling apart. Most of us are very good at disguising what's really going on in our lives. We do this because when you think about it... the last thing you want to do when your life is a mess is talk about it with others. Sometimes were embarrassed or too hurt or ashamed to discuss it with anyone. So to avoid this pain... we hide. Just like the weather outside that had me fooled today, so it is with the people in our lives that are going through tough times. Not everything is at it appears.

Everyone is going through something. A death and loss of a loved one, a serious illness or injury or other health issues, a time without income from a loss of a job, maybe they're going through a divorce or break up, an addiction of some kind and the consequences of that, dealing with legal issues, the point is we don't know what's happening in the lives of those around us. But the chances are... from where we stand, things appear better than they are because people are good at covering up their problems. So what's all this mean to us?

Be ready to listen, to try and understand things from their perspective. Assume that everything is not as it seems and be a support rather than a judge for their problems. Keep in mind that they already feel bad about their situation and our role needs to be one of support and encouragement. We can pray for them and just be there for them, without putting our shallow two cents worth in the mix of things. Every time someone asks me for my advice I wonder... who am I to give advice... Have you taken a look at my life lately? Or maybe I've done a good job of covering up my problems so that things appear different than they really are. The truth is... we all are suffering in some way, and we all need help. I praise God that he loves me no matter what I do, no matter the circumstances I've gotten myself into... God always loves me! God's love is the only love that is unconditional. How can we help others? How can we be an encouragement to others? Share the love of God with them. God is the only one that truly knows what they are going through. He is the only one that you can not hide from. He is the only way to find peace when your life is a mess. Sometimes people can't see God's love, unless they see it through you.

May you be filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to share the love of God with others when the time is needed. Don't assume that just because things appear to be good, that they are. God may be using you to reach out to someone He wants to help.

Romans 13:10-13
(10) Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
(11) Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
(12) Rejoice in confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
(13) When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.