It’s crazy how fast time goes these days.

I looked at my calendar today and realized that it’s only 2 weeks until Halloween.

After that comes Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas, and then 2020.

What?

I’ll just be done processing Halloween when it’s time to sit down and eat turkey.

My turkey will still be digesting in my belly when it’s time to open presents.

I’ll barely have the wrapping paper off when it will be time to ring in the new year.

Well, happy Hallowthanksmas and a happy new year.

I honestly don’t know what it is about fall that stirs up nostalgia in me. It seems like every time an autumn breeze sweeps over me, it conjurs up a childhood memory or makes me feel things I did when I was little.

I can remember one time when I was very little and got sick at my pre-school (or maybe it was daycare). I recall that my grandmother came to get me and take me home. I distinctly remember passing by a courtyard filled with those tiny rocks that they used to use for playgrounds. At least that’s what it seems like in my memory.

That is one of my favorite memories of my grandmother. I don’t know why it (and other memories like it) seems to come back to me in autumnal weather.

Today was one of those days where I could have curled up with a blanket in a hammock and been quite content to take a nap all day. And possibly dream of days gone by.

I do love fall days.

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track” (Proverbs 3:5-6, The Message).

“Place your trust in the Eternal; rely on Him completely;
    never depend upon your own ideas and inventions.
Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish,
    and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead” (Proverbs 3:5-6, The Voice).

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

That’s how I grew up reading this familiar passage.

I probably read over it a thousand times and never really grasped it.

It’s all at once simple to understand and exceedingly difficult to live out.

In fact, it’s impossible in my own strength.

How do I trust God completely instead of trusting in my own understanding?

How do I cling to Jesus when it goes against every natural instinct in me?

My default setting is to lean on my own understanding, incomplete and faulty as it is, and to shun God.

My own experience has been that when I do trust God completely, I’m amazed at what happens. When I trust my own understanding, it doesn’t go well.

Lord, help me to trust You when it doesn’t come natural to me. Help me see that Your ways are always best. Help me remember that You are big enough for my doubts and questions, and You are strong enough to deliver me when I only have the tiniest seed of faith.

Amen.

“It is not only wrong to worry, it is real infidelity because it means we do not believe God can look after the little practical details of our lives; it is never anything else that worries us” (Oswald Chambers, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount).

“Worry is the act of imagining a future without God.

When you strip it down to its bones that’s what it really is. I worry when I imagine a future devoid of God. I worry when I project my current feelings and discouragements and struggles into the future. I worry when I take God’s love and faithfulness out of the equation. When I imagine a stark and bleak future, a screaming void in which my faithful and loving Father does not exist or act on my behalf. Underneath all the anxiety and fear and confusing emotions worry is actually a form of atheism. It’s acting as if God does not exist.

Psalm 18:46 provides three words which destroy worry and fuel faith: ‘The Lord lives…’

Don’t pass over those words too quickly. The. Lord. Lives.

My budget is flatlining and we are financially tanking and I don’t see hope for the future! But the Lord lives. The same Lord who owns everything and provides for ravens and sustains galaxies and calls us his children is real and alive and active in your life. You can’t provide for yourself but your budget is not too tight for God. The Lord lives.

My child is not doing well spiritually and I’ve tried everything and I don’t have any hope that anything will change! The Lord lives. The same Lord who has saved murderers and prostitutes and Pharisees and drug addicts and money addicts and pastors kids is real and alive and active in your life. You can’t save your child but your kid is not too hard for God. The Lord lives.

My marriage is on the rocks and we’ve tried counseling and we’ve read all the books and I don’t see things getting any better! The Lord lives. The same Lord who created a bride for himself out of rebellious, wicked, God-hating sinners is real and alive and active in your life. You can’t rescue your marriage but your marriage is not too hard for God. The Lord lives.

My spiritual life is dry, and I’ve tried a thousand different things to get it kickstarted, but nothing seems to work, and honestly, I don’t think things are going to get any better. The Lord lives. The same Lord who caused you to become spiritually alive is real and alive and active in your life. You can’t breathe fresh life into your heart but your heart is not too dry for God.

Your circumstances may be bleak. You may not see a light at the end of the tunnel. You may not see any silver lining. But circumstances and tunnels and silver linings are not the basis of our hope, God is.

Don’t be a functional atheist today. The Lord lives. Let’s live in light of that reality” (Steven Altrogge).

“Everything about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son–a headache, an insult, a long line at the check-out, someone’s rudeness or failure to say thank you, misunderstanding, disappointment, interruption. As Amy Carmichael said, ‘See in it a chance to die,’ meaning a chance to leave self behind…” (Elisabeth Elliot)

That’s exactly what I needed to hear, so I decided to post it.

When you stop seeing all these annoyances and aggravations and insults and wrongs as things done to you and start seeing them as the means of God shaping you into something brand new, your outlook changes.

When you see every hardship, every pain, and every loss as God’s means of making you more like Jesus, you understand that God really is working all things– even the worst things– together for good.

Every time I don’t get my way, when my plans get frustrated and my dreams come to naught, I can see in it a chance to die– a chance to leave my old self and all its selfishness and self-centeredness behind.

Maybe then I can even start to give thanks in these circumstances, if not for the actual events then what God will bring out of them. Maybe I can learn to give thanks for every no from God because I know there’s a much bigger yes in store down the road.

“In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride. As soon as we start walking with Him we find that He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. Don’t give up! Get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose” (Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest).

For me, it’s not truly fall without Oktoberfest. This year turned out to be rainy and short-lived, but I still got to experience it in all its German glory.

I miss the old location with all the old houses you could walk in and out of and all the historic charm. I’m also not the biggest fan of all the condos going up everywhere.

That aside, I got my German food and walked around a bit in the rain and a good time was had by all.

Hopefully next year it will be back to the regular sunny weather.

It’s all about perspective. It seems to me that the default setting for most of us is to focus on the negative. Comparison really is the thief of joy, making us envious and anxious instead of peaceful and content.

But if you’re reading these words and you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, money in your wallet, a car to drive, and people who love you and whom you love, you are more blessed than you know.

I’m trying to start a new habit: when anyone asks me how I am, instead of saying “Fine” or “Good,” I say “I’m better than I deserve,” because it’s true. I don’t deserve to be so blessed, but God saw fit to bless me anyway. I’m sure the same applies for you.

Choose to count your blessings and realize that if you have God, you really have all you need. May we all (me included) learn to give thanks more and complain and worry less.

“Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come” (Henri Nouwen).

Lately, the main topic at my church has been gospel conversations, which are how you can gently broach the subject of Jesus and salvation in such a way that doesn’t come across as preachy or condemning.

That’s been on my mind a lot lately.

I confess I’m not very good at these gospel conversations. Most of the time, I chicken out. I either don’t say anything or I make small talk.

I think most of us feel inadequate when it comes to initiating spiritual conversations.

Maybe the way to get started is with random acts of kindness. Perhaps it will be peace or a smile. Maybe it will be forgiving when you have every right to hold a grudge.

Kindness can open a door for gospel conversations and give you the right to be heard but it can’t ever replace the actual conversations. The Apostle Paul says that salvation comes through hearing and not just seeing. The words matter.

But the good news is that God has promised to give you the right words in the right moment when you need them most. He will guide your conversation if you enter into it prayerfully, humbly, and sincerely. He will also prompt you when the time is right.

May all believers have the courage to not only act with kindness but also to speak words of lovingkindness that those around us desperately need to hear.

I’m just gonna leave this right here. I think it says everything about how much I love fall and all the things that go with it.