Being Still

I grew up embracing the Americanism, "Don't stand there, do something!"  And, I certainly agree that there are times when swift, decisive action is warranted.  But so many other times it is slow, deliberate inaction that is needed.  There are times when, instead of flapping about "like a chicken with it's head cut off," we need to be at peace - still before the Lord.

Often times, the hardest thing to do is nothing.  We are so prone to activity that to be still seems to be more than we can do.  We feel the need to do something, anything.  And yet, in times when we are at or wit's end, we are not called to frantic activity.  Instead, we are called to remember "what the Lord has done" (Ps 46:8) and then “Be still, and know that I am God" (v. 10).

Against all the clamouring to take charge and do something before it is too late, the Spirit bids us "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret" (Ps 37:7).  This is where we tend to find ourselves when things are out of control, larger than life, to much to handle - we pace, wring our hands and fret - just at the time when our Lord is calling out of the storm, "Peace, be still."

The problem is that the noises in our heads, accompanying our fears, our insecurities and our feelings of inadequacies, are too loud to hear His voice calling us to be still.  Our "fight or flight" response kicks in over and against our "faith not sight" response, which God is calling us to, and we are not listening for the Lord, we are not waiting for the Lord, we are not resting in the Lord.

Am I singing your song?  I know that I am singing the song of my people, the American, hyper-active, overly anxious, got to do something People.  But, is it your song too?  Are you, despite your faith in God, fretting about your future?  Are you wringing your hands in care instead of clasping them together in prayer?

I'm not suggesting that we sit back, fold our arms across our chests and say, "OK God, you take over and when I can see that you've got everything worked out, I start engaging again."  Rather, I am saying that in the middle of the turmoil that you rest in our spirit, moving forward knowing God will see you through, not waiting for everything to be resolved first.  I am suggesting that we "live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor 5:7).

Do you recall the biblical narrative of when Israel crossed over the Jordan River to the Promised Land?  The river was at flood stage, the people were to cross it on dry land but they did not wait for the river bed to be opened.  They began marching toward it as God directed and "as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing" (Josh 3:15-16).

Being still is not being motionless, it is being at peace, at rest in your soul.  It is to be able to move forward without fretting, without having fixed every problem beforehand, without having to see your way clear.  It is to move forward, knowing by faith that God will make a way, that he "will not leave us as orphans" (Jn 14:18).  Be still in your heart, God's got this.  Jus' Say'n.

Facing The Giants

In the 2006 film, Facing The Giants, a coach who never won a game in six years on the job helplessly watched his best player transfer to another school and then learns a group of fathers were conspiring to have him fired.  Combined with pressures from home, he felt overwhelmed and gave up on hope and faith until an unexpected challenge caused him to find purpose bigger than just victories.  Daring to trust God to do the impossible, Coach Taylor and the Eagles discover how faith plays out on the field and off.

When the young shepherd boy faced the giant Goliath, who had paralyzed the Israelites with fear, he did not tremble, instead "David said to the Philistine, 'You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands'" (1 Sam 17:45-46).

When the Israelite spies came back from scoping out the Promised Land, 10 of the 12 said, "We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Num 13:33).  But 2 of the 12, Joshua and Caleb, believing in God's power and promise, reported, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Num 13:30).

The point I am coming to is that facing the giants (those things too big for us to handle alone) is not what determines success or failure.  Rather, it is in where we focus in that moment.  Coach Grant had been focusing on his ability to prepare his team the heretofore juggernaut teams.  The 10 spies sized themselves up against the behemoth Nephilim warriors.  But David, Joshua and Caleb, and later, Coach Taylor, sized up the giants against the power and promise of God.

The difference in placing your focus on self or on God is that, when it comes to facing giants, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" (Mk 10:27).  The fact that you personally lack the power to face a giant is irrelevant when you walk with God.  It is as the Lord spoke to Joshua the former spy and now leader of Israel, "Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you" (Josh 7:23).

It is not the giants you face along the path, it is the path along which you walk.  Are you seeking the kingdom of God, focused on his power and will; or are you self-seeking, focused on your own power and desires?  When facing the giants, where do you focus?  Jus' Ask'n.

The Right to be Wrong

So, same-sex marriage is the law of the land.  It is the right of every man and woman to choose to marry the man or woman of their dreams.  So be it.  It is the law and therefore a right but that does not make it right.  It simply means that a law is passed sanctioning the right to be wrong.

You may be surprised to hear it, but I am not particularly opposed to government sanction of gay marriage, what I am actually opposed to is the government's regulation of marriage at all.  It is not man but God who joins a couple together.  As Jesus said regarding the dissolution of marriage, "Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Matt 19:6).

Mankind, in his arrogance has assumed many rights as he wrongly turns his back on God's right of rule and concern for God's will.  It is called sin and it is based on pride coupled with the will of self-determination rather than accepting the call of God.

It is clear that God determined that marriage was to be that event where "a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh" (Matt 19:5), and that this heterosexual coupling was God's original plan for Jesus said, "...at the beginning the Creator made them male and female....For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife" (Matt 19:4-5).

He didn't say "made them humans or individuals," but specifically said "male and female" and that it was for that reason - the heterosexual nature of family - that man and woman would separate from their original families and begin one of their own.  This is God's plan according to Jesus Christ.  I accept his words over the Supreme Court's ruling, even though I accept the Supreme Court's right to that ruling for the course of man, which does not embrace the will of God.

The apostle Paul said that we are not to judge "the people of this world [for]....In that case you would have to leave this world" (1 Cor 5:10).  Instead, we are to love and accept them as they are but not accept what they chose that is outside the will of God.  We can accept that it is their right to so choose but not that it is right to make a particular choice.  God gives them and us, the right to be wrong.

God does, by the way, love everyone but the very fact that there is a heaven and a hell, that there will be a Judgment Day, tells us that God will not accept everyone into his heaven.  We have the right to make choices but we mus also accept the responsibility of those choices.  That is why I can never condone or assist in gay marriage - I will not willingly help someone make a choice to turn their back on God will (that would include adultery, fornication, lying, cheating, lust, etc.).

I'm not going to herein take up the argument of whether one is born gay or not.  I am going to say that one has the choice to engage in sexuality and the type of sexuality regardless of or in deference to the will of God.  One may have been born gay but one is not born having intercourse.  On the other hand, if one is born black, they are wearing black skin from the get go and they have no choice to make.

So, to my gay friends and to those who may not regard me as such, I do choose to love you and respect your right to choose your lifestyle and your legal right of same-sex marriage.  I do not choose to endorse it or condone it or embrace it in any way other than your right to be wrong.  Jus' Say'n.

The Lord Is My Strength

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights" (Hab 3:19).  I love the imagery of this oft quoted passage.  Image, for instance, a mule deer coming to a high, jagged sheer cliff.  It doesn't back up, doesn't give up, it heads up - up the side of the cliff.  It is an amazing site to see.

The strength and agility combined with the calm focus of a creature that has no fear of the heights or the concern for the difficulty of the climb.  It simply accepts the challenge and equipped by God, it navigates the rock like a "Spider-Buck" (forgive me Spider-Man purists).

As I consider the mule deer on the side of a rocky crag, it occurs to me that God equips them not only to go up but also to come down.  And, he gives them the strength to stand still on the side of that sheer rock.  The point of having "feet of a deer" is that we can "tread" or navigate fully the challenging mountains that we come to in life.

I often tell my hospice patients that we are either in a mess, coming out of a mess or going into a mess.  Life is constituted with a series of challenging time.  We may be facing the challenge, in the middle of it or on the other side of it.  The Lord is our strength to maintain our balance, regardless of the challenge or just where we are in the process of dealing with it.

As difficult as going up can be, coming down can even be more challenging.  And being still on the side of a cliff can be particularly unsettling.  Facing difficulties in life can be very similar.  Staring down a threat to our safety or security can be very scary but coming out the other side can leave us shaky and uncertain of what to do next.  Trying to be calm in the middle of a storm is no simple thing either.

But when the Lord is our strength, we can face every aspect of the challenges of life with calm and certainty, which knows with that same certainty that "God's got this!"  When you fully trust in God, knowing that he is your strength, why would you be afraid?  Why would you back away from the challenge?  Why would you be unable to experience "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding" (Phil 4:7)?  Jus' Ask'n.

Falling Down

Reading from 2 Chronicles 9:22-24, it was impressive that Solomon was "greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings" and that "all the king of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart."

But it was so depressing to read further that Solomon maintained thousands of horses when he had been warned not to multiply horses, and that he had 700 wives plus 300 concubines from nations the Lord warned him not to take wives.  Solomon, in all his wisdom, could not keep from falling down from the mountain  top of pride.

Apparently he began to believe all the praise he received from other kings and thought himself beyond the reach of the temptations that brought others to ruin.  He didn't see the danger of him becoming like those who "trusted in horses and chariots instead of the Lord" (see Ps 20:7).  He dismissed the idea that marrying women from idolatrous nations would "surely turn [his] heart to other gods" (1 Kgs 11:2).

But Solomon was quite wrong.  His pride overcame his wisdom and because he turned away from the Lord to idols, God determined to "tear the kingdom away from [him] and give it to one of his subordinates' (1 Kgs 11:11).  Wisdom is a virtue that co-exists only with humility.  Pride  cannot bear wisdom: "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (Pr 11:2).

True wisdom is from the Lord and is shown by "deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom (Js 3:13).  The wisdom of the world, "which is foolishness in God's sight" (1 Cor 3:19) is accompanied by a pride in self and a distain for seeking help, even from the Lord.  "I got this," instead of "God's got this," is the mantra of the one filled with human wisdom.

Solomon fell down from the heights of which no man or king had ever know before or since because he allowed the wisdom from God to be corrupted by the vanity of self.  It has always been and always will be that "pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Pr 16:18).

Pride is a stumbling block that causes the falling down of even the wisest among us.  The active choice of humbly coming before God, seeking his counsel and care is the only antidote to a sin-sick spirit of pride and the destruction that follows.  Jus' Say'n.

Balance

I've come from a very conservative religious background.  There weren't any extreme sports when I was young but there was extreme religion.  Based on a shallow understanding of Revelation 3:15-16, which reads, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." I thought there was only one way to perceive things and one way to approach them.  To do otherwise, to any degree was to straddle the fence or become lukewarm and fit only to be spit out.

I didn't see myself as a fundamenttalist or as narrow-minded.  I thought I was committed to t he truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  I thought the church to which I was a part had the full and complete, unadulterated, unchangeable and unbending tuth.  In my mind, everyone who didn't agree with us on every biblical issue was heretical and, of course, lost.

I had no doubts, mostly because I had no idea.  Even though the apostle Paul was so plain in saying, "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God," (Rom 14:5-6), I thought there was no give, no balance - only hard-core, hard-pressed in one direction.

I completely missed the simple truth Solomon shared in Eclesiastes 7:18, "The man of God will avoid all extremes."  The inescapable reality is that anything moved to far to either the right or the left is out of adjustment or lacking balance.  To stay in the middle isn't straddling the fence so much as it is staying on the bridge.  Too far to the right or left is to careen off the bridge to disaster below.

The disaster in our political  landscape of the day is that far too many are posturing on the far left or the far right.  Neither side wants to work with or work things out with the other.  Each side hods the other in contempt and simply does not seek to find middle ground.  Each side is working hard to erect walls between them and the other instead of building bridges.

I know that the two sides are diverse, that they have different ideas about what to do when.  One want to move on an issue, the other want to hold fast.  Next time they will switch places, each side digging in, insisting their way is the only way.  I've noticed that cars have both an accelerator and a brake. Both are quite useful though polar different.  Both have a function and are meant to be used together in concert.  You can't use them both at the same time, that causes on tension.  You can't use only one ever for that will lead to going nowhere or going too far.  You must use them in a harmony that allows for braking and accelerating in order to safely arrive at your destination.

Did you know a successful marriage will employ the same principle?  Do you suppose a successful business uses both?  Does not the ability to turn right and left, stop and go, and move forward and reverse seem to be a good idea?  Does not balance seem like something to achieve rather run away from  to the extreme?

I'm not suggesting that there is not a right and wrong path; Jesus is clear that both exist (cf. Matt 7:13-14).  What I am saying is that to travel the path, which leads to life, one needs to start/stop, turn right/left, move forward/backward.  We need to be able to stop when we start getting off the path.  We need to back up when we've gone too far in one direction, we need to turn back to the right or to the left when we begin to stray.  What I am saying is that godly, right-thinking people will have balance.  Jus' Say'n.

Moving Mountains

If you are as gray as I am, you no doubt remember Elvis crooning, "It's been one hill after another, I've climbed them all one by one.  But this time, Lord you gave me a mountain, a mountain I may never climb...."  And, with all those gray hairs, you have seen your share of hills and faced a mountain or two.

Truthfully, gray-haired or vigorous youth, you may be facing a mountain right now - an event or circumstance to big to overcome.  You may have recently sat across the desk from your boss telling you that your services are no longer needed.  Your spouse may have walked out out your life for good.  You may looking over your bills, wondering which ones you can afford to pay this month or if there is any way to avoid foreclosure.

For all of us, there have been, are or will be be time and circumstances, where we cannot see any way to climb the mountain before us.  Sometimes, it doesn't just look like there's no way over, sometimes there is no way over.  You are facing a mountain too big to climb - you are not going to recover from your cancer, you are not going to save your marriage, you are not going to keep your house.  What then?  What do you do when the mountain is too tall to climb?

Answer?  Don't.  Don't climb it.  Instead, move it.  Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt...you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done" (Matt 21:21).  Can't climb that mountain, call upon God's power to move it.  "Whatever we ask for according to His will, we will have it" (1 Jn 5:14-15).

When, in faith, we ask God to change our circumstances according to his will, he will do it.  The mountain we faced will no loner be on our horizon, for our horizon will be changed.  Death will not longer be a threat, money will no longer have power over your life, a particular individual will no longer determine your feeling loved and needed.

When God's will is your will, when his treasure is your treasure, there is no obstacle on earth that will stand between you and God's desire for you: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well" (Matt 6:33).

Don't try to climb an unclimbable mountain by your own power, move it out of the way by God's power.  Jus' Say'n.

The Blind Side

To be blind-sided is to have something come up for which you weren't prepared that knocks you off balance or perhaps off your feet.  To be blind-sided is disabling because it does not allow us to prepare for the hit or shift for the load, so to speak.

The blind spot is that place you know exists but you just can't see what is in it.  That spot beside your car, which your mirror does not reveal.  It is potentially dangerous because we simply can't tell if another vehicle is there or not.  However, knowing that we don't know can prevent us from being blind-sided by that spot.  While it prevents us from seeing, it does not prevent us from allowing for the possibility, so we can make adjustments for what we cannot see.

It becomes obvious that not to be able to see an approaching danger is problematic but to not be aware of an approaching danger is disastrous.  And yet, allowing for or even creating a blind-side is not necessarily dangerous at all.  Say what???  Let me explain.

We actually place blinders on horses at times so that they will not see what is to the right or left, allowing them to focus on what is in front.  This manufactured blind-side allows the horse to run or pull without distraction or worries about what it might see to the side.  Running with blinders on is not a danger but a helpful aide.

In life, while we normally want to be aware of the potential downfalls, there are times when we must close our eyes to those risks or threats and simply step out on faith.  Does anyone, for instance, get married or have a baby with all potential risks accounted for and preparations made in advance?  Not ever in the history of the world.  Businesses are started, partnerships are formed and commitments are made knowing that we don't know all the risks that lie ahead but certain they are there.

We call that forward motion focus, keeping your eye on the prize.  When what is ahead is valuable enough or who is ahead is trustworthy enough, we close our eyes to the distractions around us and forge ahead.  In fact, to do otherwise is to court disaster itself: “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matt 14-28-30).

While Peter kept his focus on Jesus, the wind and the waves did not distract him and he was able to step out on faith.  He was not being dismissive of the danger, he was being obedient to the call of our Lord.  The winds and the waves wee not his business but the Lord's.  However, when Peter began to look around, he made them his business - a business for which he was ill prepared to deal.

The called often leave the safety of a career to enter the ministry.  Missionaries leave the safety of their homeland to enter into the field.  Following Jesus can often require that we leave the comfort and safety of what we know in order to go where he bids us and do what he directs.  Life in general calls us to a future that does not allow us to see all the risks surrounding it.

However, when we step out in faith, trusting in Jesus, we do not need to concern ourselves with all the potential risks but rather with faithfully answering His call and trustingly moving forward in life, relying on God to make a way, even when we can see no way.  The answer is to allow for the blind side and "set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Col 3:1).

Focusing on Christ allows you to face unseen dangers and distractions ahead, knowing that God will provide and protect.  At some point, we really have to "let go and let God" be in charge of our future for "who among you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" (Matt 6:27).  Jus' Say'n.

The Cover of Love

What seems an eternity ago now, while I was preaching in California and both teaching and leading seminars on marriage, two very important truths I shared were: 1) You  have to put up with temporary moments of insanity in order to have a lasting marriage, and 2) You have to develop the ability to be more forgetful when it comes to wrongs.

That second truth, by the way, is what allows one to actually carry out the first.  If we cannot forget slights and offenses of our mate, we will never be able to truly love them as God's Word instructs.  The Lord tells us, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Pet 4:8).

True, lasting, biblical love covers over offenses.  It is as if we took the offense, dug a grave, tossed it in and covered it over, laying it to rest.  We must bury the offense, placing a R.I.P. headstone over it before we can rest in peace and allow peace to permeate our relationship.

As long as we keep remembering the offense against our partner, we will never be able to hold them in the esteem that love demands.  Each time you lift up the offense in your memory, you lower your partner's value in your heart, placing a negative in your love bank.  If you do that enough times, your love bank will be overdrawn and your relationship will become bankrupt.

When someone says, "I can forgive but I can never forget what he/she did," they are equally saying, "I can love but I can never be in love with him/her."  We can, and should, love our enemies but we do not like them nor would we want to live with them.  We certainly do not have a deep, warm feeling about them.  To love is a choice to seek the greatest good of another but to be in love is an active pursuit of the other - something not really possible while remembering that which puts distance between you.

I'm not suggesting that it's easy.  If it were easy, six out of ten marriages wouldn't be ending in divorce.  Getting over offenses is a challenge.  Getting along for a lifetime is not a given, it is a giving - a giving up, a giving over, a giving in, a giving of self.  It is in this total giving of self that the wellspring of love is found.  And, this giving will not happen if we do not allow the cover of love to obscure the offense, for love "is not self- seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Cor 13:5).  Jus' Say'n.

Fathers' Daze

If I were to have written a book when I first started preaching, it would have been entitled, "Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Rearing Children."  If I had written on the subject when my kids were in primary school, it would have been, "Some Things You Should Know About Child Rearing."  If I were to have written one after my kids were in their teen years, it would have been, "A Few Possibly Helpful Tips On Parenting."  If I were to write that book today, I would entitle it, "Good Luck With That."

Funny, the more you learn, the you know about how much you haven't learned and don't know.  I had no idea how individual kids are - that what works on one may have zero effect on the next.  I didn't know going in that a child's primary mover is not parental will, what is right or what is best for everyone, their primary mover is self-preservation.  A kid will do and say most anything to protect against discipline or consequences.  For those parents who are still believing, "My child would never lie to me," I offer this counter: NOT!  They will lie like a Persian Rug and hide things like a squirrel before winter.

I  know that Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3-4).  But he didn't say, little children perfect in every way, so don't expect to find any disappointment in your rearing them up.

Actually, the Bible is clear in saying, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined---and everyone undergoes discipline---then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all" (Heb 12:7-8).

The truth is that children are a challenge to rear because they are a moving target.  They adapt and change, learning new and better ways of  throwing partners off guard.  Parents, on the other hand, are woefully unprepared and no instructions come attached to that bundle of joy/terror.

The good news is that millions and millions of dads have gone before you, surviving the onslaught of child-sponsored terror.  And also, much of our most wonderful experiences comes from this same challenge.  The icing on the cake is that Jesus promises, "I will never leave you as orphans" (Jn 14:18).  Where we are weak, he is strong.  Nothing is too hard to deal with when Jesus is near, not even rearing children.  Jus' Say'n.

Right or Left

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it" (Isa 30:21).  OK, it's Scripture so I believe it.  But how does it work that whether I chose the path to the right or the path to the left I will be going the right direction?''

Doesn't Jesus plainly say“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Mt 7:13-14)?

How can there be two path, one leading to life and one leading to death, and yet we can choose either way, neither being wrong?  When I leave from Benton to Hot Springs, I have to turn west on I-30.  If I turn east, I will arrive in Little Rock.  Turning left or turning right result in completely different outcomes.  How can both be OK?

The two cannot be right if one of them is wrong.  If I choose the path of death, I will enter the realm of death.  If I choose the path of life, I will enter the realm of life.  Isaiah is not debunking this truth, he is affirming that those  who have a spirit of repentance will be making choices that are God honoring, and that trusting in God, we will have direction in life.  

If God's ways are my desire, he will lead me in his way and give me what I desire: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Ps 37:4).  Going back to Isaiah 30, listen to what he says in verse 19, "How gracious he will be when you cry for help."  When Israel repented, turning to God, he heard them and marked the way the way home.  They would not have to find their way, God would direct their steps.  They could rest easy knowing that each step of the way, right or left, was under God's direction and way part of the journey home.

What we are talking about here is a precursor of grace, that we do not have to find our own way or earn our redemption.  God has paid the price, he has prepared the road.  We need only walk in the way he directs.  All the barriers are down, the detours are removed, the way clearly marked by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jus' Say'n.

Ground Like Wheat

When I was 16, my friend Ray and I got on a bus, headed out for Wichita, Texas to look for a wheat harvesting crew to join.  Despite the fact that I did not know where they might be once we got there, or if they would still be in town, and never mind I had never operated a combine before, I just knew we were going to find work - and, we did.  God must have smiled at those two foolish boys.

During that summer, I cut thousands upon thousands of bushels of wheat.  Wheat that came from the Bread Basket of America, destined for the bread baskets of Americans and beyond.  But this bountiful wheatt would not be worth anything to anyone until it was cut down, sifted thoroughly and ground into flour.  To become the life-giving product, which is sought out by millions, wheat must be broken and battered and ground down into a shadow of it's former golden glory that waved in the fields across this country.

As a Christian, a child of God, have you wondered why God has allowed you to suffer periods when you were cut down, winnowed and ground to a powder?  Have you not had occasion to look up at the heavens and cry out, "Why me God?"  How often have you looked around and noticed how cushy some unbelievers and posers and takers have it while you suffer under the weight of a mill stone?

Perhaps it is for the very reason that you are a child of God instead of a son of Satan, wheat instead of chaff, that God allows for the grinding of your soul - a grinding that humbles you into a shadow of your former self so that you can be recreated in the image of His glory.  Perhaps the fire of suffering you feel is but the oven in which God transforms you into bread, which can feed the starving souls around you.  Perhaps, you are not being destroyed butt transformed.

Listen to the words of the apostle Paul: "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" (Rom 5:2-5).

Being humbled in life, even being broken and ground down like a fine flour, is not particularly a sign that you are forsaken or found to be unfit for the kingdom.  It may be instead that you are found acceptable needing only to be humbled sufficiently before the King in order to be lifted up to the position God has in mind for you.  God's humbling is not to lay us low but rather to lift us up: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Pet 5:6).  Jus' Say'n.

I Have a Dog

I have a dog.  I don't know his name, he doesn't greet me when I come home but I have a dog.  I don't feed him or take him on walks but I have a dog.  I don't have a kennel or a dish or a leash, but I have a dog. I rarely see him but he is here, not in my house or in my fenced in back yard but rather out front.  I don't feed him, bathe him, take him to the vet or scratch behind his ears.  I have nothing in particular to do with him or him with me.  I might not know he still exists except that he leaves a calling card on my yard regularly to remind me that he's still around.

I have a dog.  I didn't find him, buy him or adopt him from a shelter.  I have a dog that simply shows up, leaves his package and disappears.  If it weren't for the packages left on my front yard, I wouldn't even know I had a dog.  But I know I have one because I find myself picking up after him.

Of course I'm being a bit sarcastic.  I don't actually own a dog because neither my wife nor I have the time right now to take care of one.  Additionally, our backyard has a drainage problem that we have to fix before we could have a dog going out there and coming back into the house without making a terrible mess with each trip.

We have chosen, for the time being not to have a dog even though we both love dogs because it is simply not in the cards for the time being.  But, nonetheless, I have a dog.  A dog that I get to care for by picking up the mess his actual owner does not want to bother addressing.

So, what do I do?  Well, there are many options: Because this city has a lease law, I could call animal services.  I could package up the deliveries and redeliver them to my neighbors front porch.  I could set out an animal trap and relocate the K9.  I could get a BB gun and lie in wait for the beast.  I could react in any number of knee-jerk ways.  But how should I react?

Here's what the Bible has to say about reacting to a neighbor's dog leaving deposits on your yard (not directly you understand but the message applies): "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing" (1 Pet 3:9).

Take the battle to a higher level.  Instead of getting back at the neighbor or dog, offer them grace.  Rather than let them see the angst in me, let them see my Lord in me.  What my wife and I intend to do is take a cake to our neighbor and let her know that her dog is welcome on our yard.  I will offer to take care of his deposit when he is through with his business.  It is not what I want to do in particular but it is what I believe my Lord would have me do in his honor, for my neighbor's good and for my blessing.  Jus' Say'n.

Lowering Our Wings

"When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings" (Ezek 1:24-25).

When the creatures in Ezekiel's vision were moving about, their wings created a deafening sound that would prevent them from hearing the Word of the Lord.  But when they lowered their wings (stopped their moving about, being still) then the Voice of the Lord came to them.

While we do not have actual wings like these heavenly creatures, we do flit about on wings of busyness, flapping about doing first one thing and then another as we meet the demands of a hurried culture depicted by Tim Kimmel as "The Little House on The Freeway."

Despite all the time and labor saving devices afforded by our advanced culture, we are busier than ever as we have to work more to afford all those luxuries that we now hold as necessities.  With the affluence gained from the income of an affluent country, we also add on a litany of personal, community, school and extra-curricular activities. 

We get our kids to school get ourselves to work, get to the soccer practice, get to the meeting, get to the movies - getting after it until we have gotten exhausted from all the flitting about, beating our wings too loudly to hear the Lord call us to "Be still and know I am the Lord" (Ps 46:10).  Too busy, frantically trying to keep all the balls in the air, believing that everything rests on our ability to keep on top of them, our ability to overcome the challenges of life, not realizing that "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still" (Ex 14:14).

I'm not talking about inactivity as we have little choice but to face the challenges of daily living, but we can be still in our spirits, trusting in God's power and grace to see us through rather than the frantic beating of our own wings, attempting to keep up a pace that can keep us down.  Jesus doesn't call us to dismiss our burden, rather he invites us to "come unto me all who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you" (Matt 11:28-30) - step out of your individual yoke of individual burden and step into the yolk of shared burden, burden shared with the Lord.

Knowing God is with us and will strengthen us by pulling along side us, we can stop our flitting and take comfort in His promise, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and meinds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:7).  As we lower our wings, we raise our awareness of God's presence, finding rest for our souls.  Jus' Say'n.

So This is Sixty

As I write this, I am stepping into my seventh decade.  I am today, sixty years old.  Or, as I like to think, I am celebrating the twenty-first anniversary of my thirty-ninth birthday.  It is not at all what I thought when I was a boy.  My early memories of grandpa were when he was this age and he seemed tto be ancient.  I don't feel ancient at all.  I don't feel youthful but I don't feel elderly in the least.

Oh, of course, I can see what the mirror tells me.  I'm grey-haired and and weather worn.  Some might call that getting a bit wrinkled but I prefer to think of myself as achieving a ruggedly handsome maturity of facial distinction.  Well, you say tomato, I say vine-ripened fruit.

The thing about aging is that it is as much mental as it is physical.  My grandpa, at this age, resigned himself to sitting on the couch while we grandkids played on the floor.  When "Pops" (me) goes to Texas to see the grandkids, I get in the floor with them, I swing them about, I play with them.  If I am on the couch, they are on top of me.

 I have to grow older at the pace time travels but I chose how face I want to grow up.  I simply haven't chosen to let go of my playful spirit.  It requires more rest than before and can't hang as long as before but I am not letting it slip into the past as long as I have the will to hang on to it.

I'm not trying to hang on to my youth.  I have fond memories of my younger years but I also know what a struggle they were.  The battles I fought then allow me to enjoy the season of life the Lord has brought me to.  I don't look upon maturing in age as a curse, I see it as a reward, which is exactly what it is: "Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness" (Pr 16:31).

I wouldn't dream of coloring over my gray hair with dye because it is a crown of achievement.  I welcome each gray hair as a gift from the Lord.  And besides, hair that doesn't turn gray, turns loose.  I'm just saying.  Gray hair is as much a defining mark of we seniors as muscle definition is the defining mark of the young: "The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old" (Pr 20:29).

So, by God's grace, I've begun the winter season of my life.  However, I do not intend to bundle up by the fire and watch life go by through the window.  I will be out there throwing snowballs with the grandkids.  And since I am over the hill anyway, I think I'll try snowboarding to the end instead of riding in a horse-drawn sleigh.  Jus' Say'n.

Dark Night of The Soul

This morning, in my devotional reading, I came across the phrase "dark night of the soul."  I immediately thought of someone who appears to be living there right now.  My first thought was, "I can only imagine what this individual life is like."  But my next thought was, "I absolutely can do more than imagine, I lived for months in the dark night of the soul."

I was diagnosed as "Unipolar," and told it was "an adult onset of clinical depression."  Whatever label the medical community would like to use, it was a dark night of the soul.  I felt estranged from God, worthy of condemnation and loathed the very thought of facing another day.  All joy, all hope, all desire other than an end to the pain was gone.  Each day I longed for the night so I could close my eyes and shut out the world.  Each night I prayed it would end and dreaded the coming of another day.

Many of you will have a hard time understanding the depth of this darkness and 20% of you will know precisely what I'm talking about.  Nonetheless, it is real, it is dark and there appears to be no way out, no way forward, nothing but pain and sorrow and regret.  You feel worthless and condemned and that God has rightly turned his back on you.  And, you could not be more wrong!

You are living a lie hosted by the "father of lies" (Satan, Jn 8:44).  This is the devil's aim.  He is not interested in keeping you out of church or keeping you from believing in God, "even the demons believe" (Js 2:19).  He desires to keep you from having joy in the Lord, from being a life-filled testimony to God's love in Christ.  You can be as religious as you may be and be in church "every time the doors are open" but Satan won't even flinch as long as your heart is not open, as long as your joy is not evident.

Your darkness, your pain, keeps you from being able to share the hope of the cross.  All that can be seen in you is the pain of your own self-crucifying mental outlook.  Being hopeless, you have no hope to share.  Being lifeless, you have no life to share.  Being joyless, you have no joy to share.  All you have to share is life-sucking, joy-sucking, hope-sucking dark night of the soul.

You have nothing good to share and no ability to receive anything good.  There is no good news for you and no good word for others.  The only laughter in your life is the sick, twisted laughter of the father of lies, "the god of this age [who has] blinded [us, so that we] cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4).

While you may need medical intervention to help you get past the chemical changes in your body, if you are clinically depressed, there is ultimately only one way to dispel the darkness: Step into the Light.  Darkness cannot exist where light shines and such a light is shining for all who will accept the Lord's invitation to come into the light for "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (Mt 4:16).

There is only one ultimate answer: Come to Jesus and lay everything at his feet.  Hold nothing back.  Seek nothing else.  Like the apostle Paul, who faced such darkness in his life, we need to "consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus [our] Lord, for whose sake [we] have lost all things, considering them garbage, that [we] may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8).  Jus' Say'n.

Almost Perfect

It was Paradise, a garden made by the very hand of God as a place for man to dwell along side all the animals of he world in harmony.  All the trees with seed bearing fruit was given for man to eat and all the animals were given everything green to eat (see Gen 1:29-30).  Man had charge of the garden and the animals but there was no struggle with weeds and watering, and no striving between the eater and the eater (there was harmony not competition for survival in this garden).

It was Paradise, it was made by the hand of God, the Lord himself reviewed what he had created and "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (vs 31); it was perfect - well, almost.  There was one imperfect part, one thing that did not allow for harmony but rather, seeking after only its own good alone, led to a loss of harmony and the beginning of striving in the world: Pride, the source of sin itself, the imperfect thing that would not fit in a world of harmony as it is so entirely one-sided.

The one variable that would allow for a perfect world, also allowed for the end of that perfect state: Love.  Love?  Really?  Really!  The variable of love that allows for this disruption is choice, without which there is no possibility of love for without the freedom of choice man is simply a programmed animatron (lifelike robotic creation that emulates human characteristics).

Consider one of the closing messages of the Bible in Revelation 29:9, "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!"  Note that man is invited not ordered to come to the feast.  God prepares and provides but does not demand.  In order to have a mutual relationship witth mankind, God had to allow for man's mutual right to decide, and therein lay the imperfection.

Man could have lived forever in Paradise forever partaking of the "tree of life" (Gen 2:9) but in that same garden grew another tree, "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (2:9), which God forbade man to eat of but which man chose over and against God's desire.  Falling short of the will of God, man introduced sin into the world, which is to "fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).

After this, woman was cured with "painful labor in childbirth" (Gen 3:16) and man with "painful toil of the ground" (vss. 17-19).  Mankind was ejected from the garden into a world marred by sing in which he would experience pain and death - Paradise was lost "death reigned from the time of Adam" (Rom 5:14).  Death continues to reign in the world today for all except for those who accept Jesus Christ, "for those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!" (Rom 5:17).

So, what next?  I believe that God will restore Paradise since he promises that, along with the redemption (return to the original) of man, "...the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Rom 5:21).  There will be a renewal of "heaven and earth" (Rev 21:1), which will happen when "God's dwelling place is now among the people" (v. 3).

God will dwell among men in a new heaven and a new earth, he will dwell with man in both places because both places will be joined together in newness.  Heaven (the dwelling place of God) and earth (the dwelling place of man) will be one new place, a restored Paradise but this time made perfect by the grace of God through the blood of Christ.  God's Redemption At Christ's Expense (GRACE).  Jus' Say'n.

Angry God?

In the summer of 1741, British colonial theologian, Jonathan Edwards, preached a landmark sermon entitled, "Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God!"  Edwards concept smacks of an understanding of God that steps out of ancient Israel's experience at Sinai who came "...to a mountain...burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast...to such a voice...that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them...[to a] sight so terrifying  that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear'" (Heb 12:18-21).

Honestly, it was a similar picture I had of God growing up, being fed a regular diet of "hell-fire and brimstone" preaching and a theology, which could be distilled down to, "God's going to get you for that!"  My concept of God was that of an easily angered Deity, who would not hesitate to send me to a firey hell if I slipped up.  I honestly believed that if I was crossing a road, thought a bad thought and was hit by a truck, dying before I had a chance to fully repent, God would send me to hell.

The thing is, however, Jonathan Edwards and my early church experience notwithstanding, God is not like that at all.  God is not looking for ways to send us to hell but rather for ways to ensure that we don't wind up there.  Rather than being ready and waiting for an opportunity to "get us for that," God "is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9).  Jesus was very emphatic about this point in saying, "I did not come to judge the world but to save the world" (Jn 12:47).

Contrary to Edward's postulation and the viewpoint of far too many in fundamentalist church groups today, we do not come to a mountain burning with fire but "...to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly" (Heb 12:22).

God is out to get us, to get us free from Satan's grip and the judgment that is reserved for him and all who are his.  God does not angrily send us to hell, rather he tearfully allows us to chose that path while he lovingly calls us to turn back to him and live.  God is the Father who, seeing his rebellious son from a distance, "was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" (Lk 15:20).

God is not angrily watching for us to mess up so that he can send us away, he is lovingly watching for us to show up so that he can welcome us home.  Jus' Say'n.

No Bull

If you know me, you know that I love a good turn on a word.  This morning, as I was reading from the Psalms, I came across one expressing both light humor and deep truth: "I have no need of a bull from your stall..." (Ps 50:9).  If your mind works at all like mine, you immediately saw the turn: God doesn't have any use for our bull - you know, the kind of half-hearted, insincere when we go to church but never really show up.  Or, when you read at your Bible or read into it but never really seek to get His message from it.

Of course, the bull David was referring to was an actual bovine that was sacrificed to God not a euphemism meaning suggesting a lack of true belief or commitment.  However, the meaning is not far off.  God was calling out their hypocrisy, their lack of true belief and commitment.  This is where the turn is: Israel's offering of barnyard bovines and our offering bloviated (like that word? hot air) bull, are one and the same: Insincere hypocrisy.

God listens beyond our words and hears the song of our hearts: "The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught" (Isa 29:13).  When we go through the motions without having any real fire in our bellies, we give God motion sickness: "So, because you are lukewarm---neither hot nor cold---I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16).  That phrase could accurately be translated "vomit you out of my mouth."  Nice mental picture, huh?

But here is the meat of this message: While we are half-heartedly reading our Bibles, mindlessly reciting prayers, meagerly giving a contribution or physically showing up at the church building while mentally on the golf course or the lake, God is having none of it.  He has no no need or any stomach for our bull.

You know what it is?  God, like all loving parents, desires a loving response from his children.  Anything less than that is a weariness to his heart that longs for a real connection with ours, not a half-hearted attempt to pacify.  "...understand what the Lord’s will is....be filled with the Spirit...and make music from your heart to the Lord" (Eph 5:17-19).  Jus' Say'n, no bull.

Plan B

In five days I'll turn 60.  I've observed some things long enough to come to a few firm conclusions in life such as, despite what the government calls a free lunch program, "There ain't no free lunch."  Another such sage observation, one on which I want to elaborate, is, "Life is less about plan A and more about executing plan B."

Having ministered to people in the closing days of their lives for years, one of the most common denominators among my patients is the realization that life did not turn out as they planned or thought it would.  They also smile and say, "Well, it never has.  Life has always taken surprising turns."

We start out in life planning to be a lawyer, a doctor, an Indian chief, a cowboy or an astronaut, but most often end up working 9 to 5 in some place where you settled for after you decided to give up pursuing plan A.  A few go on to be that lawyer or doctor or whatever, but even for most of them, it wasn't what they thought.

Plan B is necessarily a bad thing, by the way.  Even settling in is not necessarily selling out.  And sometimes, plan B is absolutely awesome!  Personally I'm in plan C and looking forward to what plan D might bring.  I started out to be career military until the Lord called me to ministry plan B and then I thought I would be preaching for the rest of my days (my D.Min. is in the art of preaching), which ended when the Lord re-directed me to helping people prepare for end of life in hospice - plan C.

My point is that despite all our planning, we are not truly in control of our lives and their outcomes.  Even when you think you're locked in to a career or a way of life, all your plans and your "think so's" may be about to turn upside down or perhaps right side up.  The truth about plan A's and B's and such is summed up by Solomon, "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps" (Pr 16:9).  Bumper stickers notwithstanding, God is isn't your co-pilot.  And, taking a turn on one of George Bush's tag lines, "God is the Decider."

Passing over our plan A and implementing plan B is what God decides for us.  It would, therefore, seem that making a plan A is a waste of time, and it may be at times.  However, there is a way of developing a plan A that will be implemented: "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans" (Pr 16:3).  Put plan A into God's hands.  Seek after and yield to God's will for your life.  Stop proposing plans and start praying for purpose.

Here's the deal: If we willingly put our lives in God's hand, seeking his purposes, whether he endorses your plan A or implements a plan B, you will have the best and most enduring plan. "To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue" (Pr 16:1).  Jus' Say'n.

Working Out

Although my high school counselor warned me, "You're not really college material," it turned out that I actually have a knack for advance studies and degrees.  However, there was one class for which I was knackless: algebra.  I struggled through it barely able to pull out a B.  Compounding a brain that resisted the thought process required for algebra was a mindset that thought it unnecessary for the BA in Religious Studies that I was working toward at the time.

Unnecessary as I thought it to be for my studies at the time, I knew it was required to complete the degree so I dug in and came out with a passable grade thinking how glad I was to be through that useless class.  That was in my freshman year.  In my senior year, when I was taking a class on formal logic, I found not only was there a need for algebra in my studies, I was quite happy I had dug in and gained something from it.  Algebra was not the ends but the means to an end.  As painful as it was while I was going through it, just barely pulling out a B, it allowed me to excel in formal logic, which I found stimulating and useful; and for which I received an A grade.

What I didn't fully understand as a freshman was that all the classes I was taking in my course of studies was working out for the advancement of my education, whether I saw it at the time or not.  Each class and each project laid a bit of the foundation that would one day allow me to complete a doctorate in ministry.  More to the point, each class I was taking "was working out," not had worked out or would work out but "was" working out.  In the moment I was going through it, despite the difficulty and distain I felt in the process, my good was being worked out.

That is precisely what the apostle Paul was saying about the path we travel under God's watchful eye.  Despite how difficult or distasteful or demeaning or disturbing or dumbfounding a particular point in our life might be, "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28).  God "works," not has worked or will work but "works," present tense.

I'm not saying God causes everything that happens to us as "a man reaps what he sows" (Gal 6:7) or that everything that happens is good in and of itself as the Lord would not need to work something good out for our good as it is already good.  Sound good?  Good grief!  Some things we endure are truly the "trials" James speaks of that we are to "consider as pure joy" (1:2).  They are not welcome, they are painful and tiresome but they work to "mature and complete" us as God works out those things for our good.

You may be facing a trial right now.  If you are not, hang on a minute, one is heading your way.  Life is filled with valleys and turns that throw us off and challenge our forward motion.  Some of these trials seem to be too much for us to handle but then there is God.  They are not too big for our Lord to handle.  And, if you are of that group that loves the Lord, he is already working it out for your good whether you see it now or not.  Jus' Say'n.

What If?

It only takes two little words to derail forward motion, "What if?"  You've finally decided that launch that business that you have dreamed about for years but you pull back thinking, "What if I can't establish a strong enough customer base or what if the market changes suddenly or what if I get hurt?"  There are so many things that must go right to launch a business but just one missing piece can stop it dead in its tracks.  What if?

You've always wanted children and now you feel ready but you  wonder, "What if I lose my job or my child is born with a disability or my spouse gets really sick?  What if?"  Your job is going no where, you know that you need to go back to school in order to make a career change but what if you can't make the grade, what if you can't get enough funding to finish, what if things at home make it necessary to drop out?  What if?"

It is not the what was and rarely the what is that keeps us from making a change or accepting a new challenge, it is almost always the what if that does us in, that holds us back, that keeps us down.  We have dealt with the what was already and we are dealing with the what is right now, but that what if, that we have not yet faced, that is an unknown, that we will require we step out in faith.  Exactly!

No one has experience in doing something they've never done before.  I find it amusing when I hear people say things like, "I can't teach a Bible class, I've never done that before."  Really?  You mean you don't have experience in something you're being asked to do for the first time?  How much experience do you think the current teacher had before he/she accepted challenge for the first time?

How much experience do first time parents have going in?  Several years back, I started an insurance agency.  Did you know that I didn't have any experience in starting up an insurance business?  Can you believe that I didn't have a guaranteed customer base, that I didn't have any assurance I would make it in the insurance business?  I didn't have one customer or a single guarantee of business worthiness before I began.  I had to step out on faith, faith in God, faith in the outcome of hard work and determination, faith in doing what I had never done before.

The foundation to a faith that overcomes "What if?" is trusting in God to ultimately be in control our your life.  There is little fear of what the future might hold if you know Who holds your future.  Despite future trends or market downturns or physical maladies, God can "work all things to the good of those who love him" (Rom 8:28).  And, he promises, "seek first the kingdom of God and all these things (necessities of life) will be added to you as well" (Matt 6:33).

So, here's the deal.  Don't allow the what ifs to hold you down.  Instead, lay your life before God, seek his will in your life, listen to his calling, step out in faith in his faithfulness.  Life doesn't come with guarantees but God guarantees he will be with you always: "I will never leave you as orphans (Jn 14:18).  Don't hold back in fear, wondering what if, step out in faith when you hear God calling.  Jus' Say'n.

Like A Baby

When one has a particularly good night sleep, a common way to express it is, "I slept like a baby."  Apart from some anomaly, a baby can fall to sleep quickly and rest stress-free because they have no worries, nothing to keep them up.  If a baby does not sleep, you know something is wrong - perhaps gas, teething pain, congestion, messy diaper, something but not stress or guilt - those are adult maladies reserved for those of us who do not understand why Jesus said, "Unless you become like this little children, you will never enter the kingdom" (Matt 18:3).

So, what is it about little children or babies that make them so "kingdom fit?"  Trust.  As infants or small children, concern about tomorrow or guilt about yesterday simply doesn't happen.  When these little ones lay their heads down to sleep, they rest in a world that is overseen by their mommy and/or daddy.  They have a worldview in which their parents are paramount.  Their self-worth comes from a mother who is cooing over them and from a father who greets them with smiles and kisses.

Receiving their view of self from loving parents, doesn't allow for negative self-doubt.  Being able to live in the moment, trusting in the oversight of parents that will protect and provide, and in whom the child has ultimate faith.

What if we had a world-view like a baby?  What if we derived our self-worth from our Father and absolutely trusted in Him to provide and protect?  What would be keeping us up at night?  What would we be lying awake worrying about or regretting?  If we could lay our concerns at Jesus' feet before we went to bed, how sweet would that rest be?

Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me..." (Jn 14:1).  How would our lives be different if we really did that?  What if we accepted our Father's forgiveness and allowed him to take away our guilt?  From where would our guilt or regrets come?  Truly, what if, like a baby, the last thing we see is the face of our Father and the first thing we look for in the morning was that same face?  What if?  Jus' Ask'n.

Comes The Night

Since, as I have shared in previous blogs, God works the night shift and gives us songs in the night, then, by necessity, God must either bring or allow the night to come.  If the night were not to come into our lives, there could be no breaking of  day.  If there were not a sundown there could not be a sunup - no dusk, no dawn.  Mae sense?

The answer to why there are periods of darkness in our lives begins with the fact that we live in a dark and fallen world.  The darkness of night is not where God desires we live, "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" (Col 1:13).  While darkness comes when God's light is not present, it is we who choose to move away from him, turning our backs on his light.  He will allow the darkness to overshadow us as we exercise our divine right to reject the Divine Ruler.

We choose to pursue material wealth, which so often leads us down a path of greed and the isolated life that follows.  We choose to let our wandering eyes take us down dark and dangerous paths of fornication and adultery, destroying our families and our reputations.  We choose to run after the things of this world, which causes us to run away from the presence of God and the light of his presence.

Sometimes the night truly comes upon us in the form of a tragedy we did not cause - an accident we did not see coming, a disease that took us by surprise, an attack from without we did not promote.  But so much of the time, we are the source of our own darkness.  Think of all the heart attacks, diabetes and strokes caused by obesity, which did not come upon anyone, it was invited.  I talked to a man not long ago who smoked for 40 years and then questioned why God gave him lung cancer.  Yeah, no that wasn't God.

When I was a boy, I once saw an old woman I thought had cancer, but I didn't know anyone who live in the night of chemo and radiation treatments.  Today, everyone I know has a loved-one touched by it if not themselves.  I have six people in my close association who have cancer, not to mention my wife and my late wife.  We live in a world where 1 in 2.5 people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.  Do you think that is God's work or some kind of freak twist of nature?  How about the fact that our food supply is saturated with chemicals from being sprayed in the fields to being processed in the factories?

The night comes, tragedy happens, pain finds us, we walk into traps, we make bad choices, whatever, but in the end comes the night.  Whether we accept the blame or try to blame God, there is only one Source of light and it is not you and I.  What Isaiah prophesied in 9:1-2, came to pass with Jesus' incarnation: "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned" (see Mark 4:12-17).

The tragedy of night coming is followed by the triumph of light coming.  "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life" (Jn 3:16).  The world is dark and brings us into dark periods of the soul but Jesus is "the light" and will bring brightness to your spirit.  Jus' Say'n.

I Got This

"It's my life, I can do what I want.  I know what's best for me.  I got this!"  Does that sentiment sound familiar.  Maybe not in those exact words, but you know the sentiment.  Chances are you first expressed something along that line when you were a child, wanting to do something yourself without parental help.  I recently saw a YouTube video of a small girl trying to get her child seat strap fastened and when her Dad tried to help, she said, 'You just drive, I got this!"

Many a married couple winds up crashing their marriage on the rocks because one or both refuse to talk with a counselor because they don't need help, they can work it out themselves.  So often times workers on the job dig a bigger and bigger hole because their pride simply won't let them go to their supervisor or a more experienced employee and ask for help.

Who out there, besides me, has tackled a repair job that was beyond their abilities only to have to call in an expert to now fix the additional mess you've caused, instead of calling for help in the beginning?

Have you ever completed a project at home or work or school only to find out that what you had in mind was not even close to what was called for or being asked?  Not taking the time to seek instruction or clarification, you just go ahead and dig in thinking, "I got this," only to find out that this got you and now you have to do it over?  Yeah, I can hear you moaning.

In work, school and home projects we jump in attacking the problem or job with our own understanding, believing we got this, and its not pleasant.  But sadly, we too often approach our spiritual lives in the same manner, thinking we've got this worked out.  I remember a friend in the Air Force who didn't want to hear what the Bible said about his life choices because, as he said, "Me and God's got this worked out."  Actually, it was just him as he didn't bother to consult God's Word.

My friend, like so many others, decided, based on his own desires and feeling what God should  want and/or accept from him.  The truth was that while he was never in doubt about his theological conclusions, he was seldom correct.  He made the mistake of being self-determined,which leaves God out of the picture and paints a picture of destruction.

Listen to what the Bible so clearly warns, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Pr 3:5-6).  Not to lean on God, preferring your own thinking leads, therefore, to crooked paths.  Solomon further warns, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil" (v. 7).

Apart from the revealed will of God, "you don't got this."  What you want the truth to be or decide the truth is, does not change the truth.  There is only one measure of truth and that is the revealed word of God.  Unless you let go and let God have control in your life, you don't got this for God has the whole wide world in his hands.  Remember the song from your childhood, "He's got the whole world, in his hands...?"  Yeah, he did then and he does now.

Don't think you've got this in your own thinking.  Don't be wise in your own eyes and blind to the real truth.  Look to God's word for direction, for as the Bible says, "Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them" (Pr 26:12).  Jus' Say'n.

Self

Several years back, a young man my daughter was dating at the time said, "Your dad thinks he's always right."  When his angst was shared with me, my response was, "Of course I do!  If I thought I was wrong, I'd change my thinking."  I know that I can be wrong but I don't go around thinking I'm wrong.  It requires someone or something to point out my error before I admit to it.  And, just because someone says I'm wrong doesn't mean I will necessarily accept their assessment.  I may say uncle but you probably should bring your lunch if you intend to change my mind.

I don't believe having confidence in yourself is a bad thing.  It tends to be confident people who get things started, get things done and help others along the way.  However, over confidence in self is a real problem.  It stretches you beyond your grasp, it carries you into places you are ill-equipped to operate, it puts you and others at risk.  In my over-confident youth, I once dove off a ledge with a shoulder injury and sunk to the bottom like a rock.  I could have drowned and those who dove in after me were put at risk as well.

The apostle Paul warns, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment" (Rom 12:3).  He is not suggesting that we degrade ourselves or underrate our God-given abilities, but that we accurately assess them and humbly approach life knowing that, as talented and skilled as we may be, we are not equipped for every circumstance.  Sometimes, even the very best among us need to accept help or disaster follows.  The wisdom Literature of the Bible reveals, "Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice" (Pr 13:10).

God can do "more than I can ask or imagine according to his power at work within me" (Eph 3:20), however, he may not choose me to accomplish a particular task, for when it comes to particular gifts and works, the Spirit "distributes them to each one, just as he determines" (1 Cor 12:11).  A good leader will understand this and delegate rather than micro-manage.  I remember hearing Dale Galloway (mega-church pastor on the West Coast) say, "If I can find someone who can do something even 80% as well as I can, I give them the job."  The growth his church experienced was in large part because he realized his limitations and gave things over to others who could make it a focus.

Having a strong self-image is not necessarily a bad thing, but having an accurate self-image is always a good thing.  Have a positive view of self but let humility temper your image so that you can admit your weaker areas and seek advice and/or help from others.  And, moreover, so that you can give God the glory for endowing you and blessing you with all that you have and can do.  Jus' Say'n.

Night Shift

"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided..." (Ex 14:21).  I watched the movie in glorious technicolor and that was not the way Cecil B. DeMille portrayed it.  Charlton Heston's Moses spread out his staff and within minutes, the Children of Israel were passing through the Red Sea on dry land.  Instead, God worked through  the night to accomplish this awesome task.

The point is that God doesn't just work in the plain sight of day, he works the night shift as well.  Even up to this point, "the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud by day...and by night a pillar of fire..." (Ex 13:21).  Our "Father is always at his work..." (Jn 5:17), not just when we can see his hand in things or when things are obviously working out for our blessing.

Do you recall having read Daniel 10:12-13?  Let me refresh your memory: "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia."

Daniel prayed for help.  Twenty-one days went by appearing as if God had not heard and was not acting.  Daniel was in a dark time and he could not see the Lord's hand in action, but God was working the night shift, he had sent help but there was a battle to be fought against evil in order for his blessing to be delivered.

You are aware, are you not, that "our struggle is,,,against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12)?  While we wonder if God hears our prayers, he is sending out warrior angels to fight on our behalf.  God is always at work, as Jesus reveals, but his work is carried out in a cosmic battlefield that doesn't always allow for immediate responses.  And sometimes, his battle plan does not allow for us to have things just as we want but must be in accord with his plan.

Nonetheless, he hears and he answers our prayer - always: "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer..." (1 Pet 3:12).  Even though you may be in a dark time and you cannot see the work of the Lord, he is not limited to the day, he still works the night shift on behalf of his children.

So, as dark as it may seem, God is at work.  As hopeless as it may appear, God offers hope.  Even though night has come, God has not clocked out, he is working the night shift.  Jus' Say'n.

The Heart of The Matter

When someone says that they want to get to the heart of the matter, they are saying that they want to get to bottom of it, to its foundation.  They are looking to see what is real, what motivates, what is the true measure of the request or the outcry or the demand.

We use to say, "Let's get down to brass tacks."  Many who read that statement today won't have any idea what it means at all.  Some of us older geesers will but most don't know how the saying originiated, what itt really means.  It comes from the business of cutting cloth.  A buyer and a seller of cloth can talk about how much a certain fabric would cost but wouldn't know until it was laid out on the cutting table and stretched across the brass tacks that were imbedded in the wood.  The tacks were laid out in precise increments to give an exact measurementt.

To get to the heart of the matter is to get down to brass tacks.  It is to wave aside all the guessing and see precisely what it is that you are buying, what it is that you are agreeing to or what it is that you are getting involved in.  The heart of the matter is the unseen part that lies beneath, just out of sight requiring closer examination.

An employee may complain that they are not being paid enough when, in fact, they may simply not feel appreciated for the work they do.  A wife may erupt in what appears to be outrage over her husband coming home late when dread of what might have happened to him was the true emotion beneath the angry outburst.  A complimentary co-worker may be using flattery as a way of disarming you as they try to gain an advantage over you.

In America we prize decisive action, quick decisions and immediate results.  This hurry to get'r done often leaves us holding the bag, wishing we had taken a little more time on the front end.  So many marriages wind up being dashed upon the rocks of divorce because dangerous undercurrents of ethics, morals and beliefs were overlooked in the dash to the altar.  I'm not talking about a long engagement period, I'm talking about a deep engaging period where you get down to those brass tacks and find out exactly what the cost of this relationship will actually be.

In 1 Samuel 16:7 we read, "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'"  Of course, God can look directly into one's heart whereas we cannot.  But we can look for evidence of one's heart.  We can see how a man treats his mother, how a woman reacts around other men, how your prospective mate or business partner deals with disappointment.

It does take time, attention and a good deal of emotional energy to truly weigh out the actions, which reflect an individual's heart.  You cannot arrive at an accurate understanding of a person's true feelings and motives by dipping your toe into the waters of his soul, you have to dive in deep: "The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out" (Prov 20:5).

Getting to the heart of the matter is not an easy matter but it is what really matters.  Jus' Say'n.

Godly Wisdom

Wisdom is not to be equated with intelligence.  Intelligence is something one is born with, a capacity to accumulate knowledge.  Being knowledgeable is also not the same as wisdom as it is simply the end result of accumulating knowledge.  Intelligence is the result of genetics, knowledge is the result of study, but wisdom is the ability to apply intelligence and knowledge in the challenges of life.  Wisdom is learned not by intelligent pursuit of academic knowledge but of honest and humble reflection of life's challenges and results of personal choices, so often at the expense of making a mistake or taking a wrong turn.

Wisdom comes from making decisions and learning from the results.  And the most teachable decisions are the ones we call mistakes.  Having gone around the block a few times and hitting a pothole or two, allows one to realize that there is a need to slow down at certain points or move to one side or the other - provided one has learned or gained wisdom from the experiences.  Some people don't seem to learn from their mistakes, they just keep on making the same ones over and over.  They would be the contrast to the wise, otherwise know as fools.

Some people are just not very intelligent and therefore do not have the perceptive skills to learn from their mistakes very well.  But, so much of the time, the barrier to gaining wisdom from one's mistakes is a lack of enough humility to admit they made a bad decision or own up to their mistake.  They can't learn from mistakes because they are too busy denying them.  Therefore they are doomed to keep on making them.  People who keep embracing Socialism despite the fact that every experiment with it - Russia, China, Cuba, et al - have failed, keep on thinking it will work this time because they refuse to critically examine it and see how flawed it is.  These social/political types may be very intelligent but wise?  Not so much.

The humility to admit mistakes and miscalculation is critical to gaining wisdom but there is more.  Paul queries,  "Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Cor 1:20).  The "more," the essential component of true wisdom is the willingness to go to the Ultimate Source of wisdom: God.

As important as the humility to admit mistakes is to acquiring wisdom, all the more so is the humility to admit that you are not the source of true wisdom "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Cor 1:25).  As we humbly admit to our mistakes, we then need to humbly come before God, seeking an answer that can come fully only from above.

So, humbly embrace your mistakes as they are the proving ground for gaining wisdom but do not neglect to humbly bow before God for he is the Ultimate Source of wisdom: "Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction and Death say, 'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.' God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells" (Job 28:20-23). Jus' Say'n.

The Company You Keep

The Bible warns, "Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character'" (1 Cor 15:33).  In somewhat more colorful terms, "It's hard to soar like an eagle if you're always running around with turkeys."  The point being: The relationships we form in turn tend to form our thoughts, our actions, even our very character.

Have you ever wondered why it is that recidivism is so high after drug rehab or incarceration?  The recovering drug addict or reforming criminal commonly goes back to the family, friends, neighborhood, activities  he was immersed in before any attempts at recovery or reform and there begins running with the turkeys again, leaving behind any notion of soaring like an eagle.

An old saying I picked up in preacher training at Harding somewhere near the dawn of time goes something like this: "That which we see is that which we perceive.  That which we perceive is that which we believe.  That which we believe is that which we become."  Simply put, we are conditioned by that in which we are immersed.

Think about it.  How does one stay dry if he is immersed in water?  How does one become fluent in English if she is immersed in a sub-culture that speaks a foreign language?  How can an inner city boy become a responsible man when immersed in a culture where the men bail on their responsibility to their family?  What are the chances of a politician staying idealistic, honest and ethical if he stays immersed in the political system (can you say term limits)?

Bringing it back to you - yes, I know I'm starting to preach now - how can you expect to become your best when your choice of friends is mediocre at best?  Are you likely to become a top performer at work if you hang around with the low-fruit pickers instead of the ones stretching to reach the top?  What are the chances of making the Dean's List when the students you run with are on the probation list?

Here's the deal: The company you keep, seeks to keep you in their company.  They will not respond well to you rising above them, they will drag you down to their level.  On the other hand, if the company you keep has high standards and is high performing, they will tend to pull you up to their level.  Either way, the company you keep will seek to keep you in their company.

So, if you want to become a top performer hang around top performers instead of top excuse givers.  If you want to excel in your studies, hang around serious students instead of seriously lame students.  If you want to a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, don't immerse yourself in a church full of people who are only fans of Jesus or worse, posers.

And most certainly do not put yourself in an upside down relationship where the unbelievers have more influence on you than you do on them: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?