Some days, I feel like I have it all together. Then there are other days where I’m likely to stick my car keys in the fridge or look for my cell phone using my phone as a flashlight. Usually, there’s no in between for me.

Most days, I’m thankful that the security of my salvation doesn’t rest with me, or I’d lose it. In every sense of the word. If salvation was something I could lose, I would have already lost it long ago.

But I believe that my eternal security doesn’t lie in my firm hold on God but in His firm grip on me. He’s the One not letting go. He’s the One who is forever faithful to His promises to finish what He started in me. He’s the One who speaks of my future as if it’s already a done deal. And it is because God says so.

I see a lot of posts from believers on social media about how strong they are and how they’re the storm and how Satan better not mess with them. All I know is that when it comes to matters of faith, I’m not self-reliant at all; I’m completely God-reliant. Every day, I make a declaration of dependence that I need God as much as I did the day before — and perhaps even more. I’m as prone to wander as ever, as prone to leave the God I profess to love. Only God can take my heart and seal it and keep it tender instead of it hardening to stone.

Christians aren’t perfect. They’re far from it. At least if they’re honest. It’s too bad that the current climate in most churches won’t allow for admissions of weakness and failure because it keeps believers thinking they have to wear a mask.

This one isn’t the one mandated by the CDC. This one has a fake smile and a response of “I’m fine” to everyone who asks how you’re doing. This one tells everyone that you’ve got it all together and you don’t need any help from anyone at anytime ever. This one keeps people living the lie that they’re the only ones who struggle or the only ones with private sins they’re too shamed to confess or who feel like failures in matters of faith.

The more you understand that salvation is entirely from God and even the faith to believe is a gift from God, the more you can feel free to take that mask off. The more you can be free to be your authentic broken self and confess your frailties because you know that’s where healing and restoration come from. The more you free others to feel welcomed as they are and discover a God who can meet them there and make them who they were always meant to be.

My hope isn’t in my own faith. It’s not in my goodness or my faithfulness or my generosity or the size of my heart toward others. It’s in the God who is the strength of my heart and my portion forever, the One who sustains and guides and renews me. The One who is my righteousness and my goodness and my intercessor and my hope forever.

Recently, I discovered an online radio station that plays nothing but vintage Christian music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It leans more on the rock side with some pop and some holy hair metal thrown in. In case you’re intrigued, it’s at www.classicchristianrock.net.

Listening to these old songs takes me back. Some are new to me, but when I hear some of them, I’m instantly transported back to youth group days or those years at Union University when my musical world got expanded and I found out about a lot of great Christian artists.

I particularly like it when they will focus on songs from a specific timespan — like April 1987, for instance. I remember that there was so much variety in Christian music that seems to be missing in these days of hearing a lot of sameness on Christian radio.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of worship music, but after a while, it feels like I’m hearing slight variations of the same song played over and over. And yes, I know I sound old when I say things like that. I am old.

It gives me a bit of joy in the midst of the weekday grind. It’s nostalgic but also has the great messages of the faith that I still need to hear periodically. Plus, you can request songs and they will actually play them. Crazy, right?

If you grew up in the Church around the 80s and 90s, you need to check out this website and the radio station. Like yesterday.

Note: I wrote this 11 years ago, but I still feel the same way. There is no such thing as biblical Lone Ranger Christianity. None of us were meant to figure out this life alone. We need each other, which is why God designed the Church.

Now on to what I wrote back in the day:

I think one of the reasons that community is so important is that it enlarges our view of God. I like to think that each of us carry puzzle pieces of what God is like. Each has a few pieces that reveal a limited aspect of God. When you get to know me, you add more pieces to your puzzle and your view of God gets bigger and clearer. When I get to know you, the same happens for me.

The more people whose lives we invest in, the more pieces and the bigger our view of God becomes and the more the pieces fall into place and connect into more coherent forms.

I truly believe that we grow as believers and our knowledge of God increases only in the context of community, where we share with each other and serve one another in love. There’s no way I can figuire out God on my own, apart from other believers.

There it is. That’s my thought for the day. Hope it helps.

Tomorrow is Thursday, also known as Friday Eve. It’s one of my favorite days. I get to meet with my friend and go hiking at Radnor Lake State Park. Hopefully, it won’t be rainy or super humid, but I’ll be bringing along a pair of shorts to change into just in case.

I also have 3 more days until I get my second dose of COVID vaccine. Again, I’m not telling you what to do one way or the other. I’m doing what’s best for me based on what I know and understand. Plus, I’m all for not having to wear a mask anymore.

I also plan to sleep late and hang out with my cat Peanut. She’s the most chill feline that I’ve ever known, and just being around her instantly puts me in a good mood and calms me.

I also intend on getting a haircut. Actually, I plan on getting ALL my hairs cut [insert rim shot]. It’s that time. I understand that the white boy fro look is not in this season. Also, I don’t want all the extra hair to cause me to sweat more than I already do.

Thankfully, it will be an extended weekend. I hope that I remember that Monday is not National Grill Out Day. It’s all about honoring those in the military who have made the greatest sacrifice for our freedoms. May we never forget that freedom is never free. There’s always a cost.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

I don’t feel old most of the time. In my mind, I feel like I’m still in my 20s. That is, until I try to hang out with actual 20somethings, then I don’t feel like I’m in my 20s anymore. I feel old. I feel like I need to go home and pick out a favorite spatula and be done with it.

I also feel like adulting is highly overrated. It really does mean going to bed when you don’t want to and getting up when you don’t want to. It means wondering why certain body parts hurt and getting super excited over bargain prices on toothpaste.

But then I see where a guy I went to school with and who was my age passed away from a heart attack recently. He won’t get to grow old. So many friends and relatives that I’ve known didn’t get the chance to get old. They died young. Much too young.

So instead of seeing aging as a burden, I choose to see it as a blessing. I get to grow old. I get to wake up every morning and experience the beauty of life for another day. I get to fool myself that I can still hang out with the youngsters when 10 pm is looking like the new midnight for me.

I get to live for as long as God allows, and I know that as long as I’m living, I have a purpose and a reason for being alive. So do you. May we never stop striving to become all that God made us to be and never stop being amazed at our lives.

Questions to ponder:

How many times today have you thanked God for something you already have instead of asking for something else?

What would you have left if God took away everything for which you failed to give thanks or took for granted?

Why is it so much easier to focus on what we lack rather than what we possess and have already received from God?

There are people around the world who would give anything to have one of your bad days. There are people who are praying for those things you and I routinely take for granted. There are people who would treasure what you and I throw away as trash every day.

This is not one of those posts designed to bash your lifestyle or make you feel guilty. It’s simply to help us reorient our outlook and realize that we do have so much more than so many and we have been blessed far more than we deserve. There’s always something to be thankful for, and if you or I can’t find it, the fault lies with us.

It never hurts to send up a simple “Thank you” to God every so often. That’s all I’m saying.

Just yes. I’m ready for the regular Baptist communion elements. I’m ready to go forward with other people and receive the elements and hear the words “The Body of Christ broken for you” and “The Blood of Christ shed for you.”

Believe it or not, I’m actually counting down the days until I get my second vaccine dose this coming Saturday. For those of you who are as bad at math as I am, that makes 6 more days.

I’m ready.

I’m all for life returning to a sense of normalcy. I’m ready to be done with wearing a mask and having to stay 6 feet away from everybody else. This isn’t me discounting the reality of the pandemic; this is me wanting it to finally end and go away.

As I’ve been told, there may or may not be a few side effects. I say bring them on if that means me helping out with the whole return to normal. I can live with not feeling good for a day or two.

I won’t tell you that you have to get the vaccine. That’s between you and God. You have to do your research and make an informed decision not based on hearsay or undocumented internet ramblings but on facts and science.

But six days from now, I’m getting mine. That’s all.

“God does not have problems. Only plans,” said Corrie ten Boom. A clerical error saved her from being executed along with all the other women her age at the concentration camp and allowed her to be released and share her story. You never know what good can come from a simple mistake.

So maybe the next time something in your life goes wrong, think how God could turn it for good. Think of it not so much as a problem or an obstacle but as an opportunity for God to show up.

“You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.” (Luke 6:20-21).

Blessings don’t always look like blessings. They don’t always come gift-wrapped with pretty bows. Sometimes blessings can be painful. But in the end, blessings are what lead to joy and peace in the end.

So the question is this — how willing are you to wait?

Waiting is almost a dirty word in this culture of instant and immediate gratification. We’re told we should never ever have to wait for anything.

But God’s timetable is not the same as ours. His ideas of what we need and when we need it are often different from ours.

Sometimes God makes us wait because what we want isn’t ready. Sometimes it’s because we’re not ready to receive it. Sometimes the discipline of waiting is good for us. So we wait.

Is what you’re waiting for worth waiting for?