Christianity

For a Good Friend

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This is for you, my friend who will remain anonymous but not forgotten:

I know that you’re getting ready to move to a new city in a few months and a brand new adventure in the story God has authored for you. I know I probably won’t see you anymore, unless God has a surprise twist in the story that I’m unaware of (and he’s better than anyone at that sort of thing).

I wanted you to know how very thankful I am for you. Your friendship truly has blessed me more than you will ever know.

You believed in me and my blog when it seemed that no one else did. I had almost decided to quit when you encouraged me by telling me how much my blogs had blessed you. You helped me believe in myself and the gifts God gave me again.

No matter what I was going through or what my day had been like, seeing your smiling face always made my day better. I couldn’t help but smile and be filled with joy.

We never hung out that much. You had a crazy hectic schedule that probably could have benefited from having a 26-hour day instead of the usual 24. While I wish we could have hung out more, I’m grateful for the times we were able to get together and talk and share stories of God’s faithfulness.

You’re the kind of person that has hundreds of friends, that anyone would be lucky to know. I’m still not sure why you wanted to be friends with me in the first place, but I’m glad you did. I’m better for it.

I heard once that a friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. You reminded me of my song that I had forgotten and, thanks to you and a few others, I am singing again.

I hope we can keep in touch after you move, but if not, I still have your footprints in my heart to remind me that God still does bless me, because one of those blessings was you.

I will be praying God’s best for you, believing great things for you, and rooting for you every step of the way. I firmly believe that the future God has for you is better than even your wildest dreams can conceive.

May the Lord always bless and keep you and make his face shine on you and grant you peace. Every time I order a chai frappacino with caramel drizzle, I will think of you and smile.

Phil. 1:3,

Your forever friend in Christ.

The Trouble With Tribulations

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Before I start, let me throw out this disclaimer. I am not an expert on eschatology and I don’t by any means have Revelations figured out. I think when it comes to millennial and tribulation views, there are wise and godly people on all sides of the spectrum. I’m just offering my own thoughts on the topic, based on the sermon I heard today.

The pastor says that when he comes to a problem, he wishes God would pick him up and toss him over to the other side where he can breathe a huge sigh of relief that that problem is over. God isn’t like that. He walks you to the very problem and proceeds to walk with you through it so it never has dominion over you ever again.

I think when it comes to God’s people and tribulations, the pattern is that God doesn’t protect his people from them, but rather through them. Revelation 14:7 talks about the multitude clothed in white robes who have come OUT of the tribulation. You can’t come out unless you first go in. So many blessings are given to those who endure, not those who escape.

Again, I’m not trying to be dogmatic. There’s a whole lot about Revelation that makes my head hurt and makes me want to lie down for a while. But I do know that the main point isn’t when we get raptured or how the timeline works, but that in the end Jesus does come back and set everything right. The happily ever after ending isn’t just at the end of fairy tales and children’s stories. It’s at the end of the Book of Revelation, too.

I like the old joke that goes like this: I’m a pan-millennialist because I firmly believe that everything is going to pan out in the end. And I have Bible verses to back that up.

 

A Letter to My Niece Lizzie

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You’re too young to read this right now, but one day maybe you will.

Today is your 1st birthday. It only seems like a few days ago that I was meeting you for the first time in the hospital room with your mother and father wearing smiles that stretched from ear to ear. I got to hold you for a little while and I think you grabbed my heart in your tiny hands and it’s been there ever since.

Today I and the rest of your family watched you eat your first birthday cake, getting more frosting all over your face and in your hair and on the floor than in your mouth. You had the biggest grin on your face. You were loving every minute of it.

You’ve already grown up so very fast, learning to crawl and stand up and say a few words. It won’t be long before you’ll be walking, then running, then asking for the keys to the car.

I hope you know already how much your mother and father and brothers love you. How much your grandparents love you. And how much your crazy goofy uncle loves you, too.

You’ll be the most photographed child in history. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you will have lots more photos taken of you. You’ll have videos taken of your first steps, your first day of school, your first soccer game, and so on. There will be birthday parties and slumber parties and field trips and vacations and so many things to look forward to.

If anything, I hope you come to know as soon as possible how much not only your family loves you, but how much God loves you. I know your parents are already showing you by word and by example.

I hope you know that you are a princess, because your Father is a King. I hope you will listen to what he says about you and don’t listen to anybody else who tries to tell you otherwise.

I hope you grow up into a beautiful young woman and find a godly young man who loves you more than his own life. I hope you get married and have children of your own that you can laugh with and tell stories to. I hope that you can pass the legacy of faith down to them just as it was passed to you.

I can’t wait to see you become all that God created you to be.

Remarkable Comebacks and More Good Reminders

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I am a Cards fan. I admit it. I have been since around 1981 or so. I don’t really follow baseball as closely as I used to, but I was glued to the TV for the last few innings of the Nationals-Cardinals game.

It was 6-0 after 3 innings. It looked hopeless. I wasn’t too optimistic.

But something happened. Inning after inning, the Cards chipped away at the lead, scoring a run here, 2 runs there, and suddenly, we’re in the top of the 9th inning with a 7-5 ballgame.

Even then, I wasn’t overly optimistic. I may not win Fan of the Year, but I’m just being honest. I figured that the magic was about to run out.

But I was never more glad to be wrong. The Cards scored 4 more runs in very dramatic fashion and ended up winning 9-7. Yeah, it was awesome.

But the little gears in my brain started whirling and got me to thinking, “What else in my life have I given up on? What dream have I all but discarded and resigned myself to the fact that it won’t ever happen?”

I think the reminder for me and everyone else reading this is to not give up. If Jesus could find a way out of the grave, he can surely find a  way to give you the desires of your heart. If not, he’s bound to give you something way better.

So take it from this baseball equivalent of Eeyore. Don’t give up. Don’t throw in the towel just yet.

Trust that what seems impossible to us isn’t even remotely difficult for God (yep, I stole that one from Crosspoint Church). Trust that God is able to do what he promised.

Even when you’re down to your very last strike, it’s not over. Not as long as God is in charge.

 

Stardust and Thoughts About True Love

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I’m no expert on love. At least not the romantic kind.

I do think that while movies often get love wrong, sometimes they hit the nail on the head when it comes to what true love really looks like.

In Stardust, one of the main characters talks about love. She says that true love is unexpected, uncontrollable, and very often can be mistaken for loathing. I don’t know about that.

She also says that true love should be unconditional. You shouldn’t have to earn it or prove it. I think she’s right.

True love is when someone loves you for just you. Not who you might one day become or who you hope to be. True love doesn’t wait until you measure up or get all your flaws fixed.

I know enough to know that love isn’t all moonlit walks on the beach and candlelight dinners. Love is work, because love is an active verb that requires action. Love transcends emotions and does the best for the beloved, regardless of whether it feels like it or not.

Love is God becoming a man to take my place in a punishment my sins deserved to die a death that should have been mine. Love says that I was worth it. Love not only said it, but backed it up on a cross.

Sometimes, love isn’t pretty. Sometimes, love means laying down your life for someone else. Even if that means a gory death on an instrument of torture. We romanticize Jesus’ death on the cross to make it more palatable, but it was anything but. It was messy, it was shameful, it was horrific.

And it was for us. That’s the ultimate example of true unconditional love that has been or ever will be.

That’s the kind of love I want to receive. That’s the kind of love I want to show.

Reminders from Revelation

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I’ve been loving the sermon series on Revelation from Brentwood Baptist Church, as well as the companion Wednesday night Bible study. Here are a few of the highlights I’ve taken in so far.

1) Revelation is primarily a book written to persecuted believers to give them encouragement that Jesus has already overcome and the victory is already theirs if they hold on a little bit longer. Like I heard it said, we as followers of Jesus don’t fight for victory, but from it.

2) Revelation is a book saturated in worship. The setting of the book is a heavenly scene of ultimate worship. To focus on the symbols and what they mean is to miss the main point that God puts everything right again and the good guys win once and for all.

3) It’s not ultimately about when the end will come or who the anti-Christ will be or what the mark of the beast will look like. Ultimately, it’s about the Lion of Judah, the root of Jesse, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus, and how he has already overcome.

You can read commentaries about the book. I’m reading one right now. But if you really want to understand the book, read the book. Sit down and read all 22 chapters in one setting.

You can even read the ending first if it will help.

 

What A Christian Is (And Is Not)

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I found a poem on Facebook that spoke about what a Christian is and is not. It speaks better than I ever could about the essence of the faith that I hold dearly. In the end, I’m not a Christian because I’m smarter or more clever or anything like that. It’s because God loved me so much that he sent Jesus for me. I just want as many people to know that as possible.

“When I say…’I am a Christian’
I’m not shouting ‘I am saved’
I’m whispering ‘I get lost!’
‘That is why I chose this way.’

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need someone to be my guide.

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on.

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
and cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
my flaws are too visible
but God believes I’m worth it.

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartaches
which is why I seek His name.

When I say…’I am a Christian’
I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority.
I only know I’m loved. (Carol Wimmer)”

 

A Good Lesson from A Lost Key

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I went walking on the beach today in my ever-so-stylish swimming trunks. Imagine the polar opposite of speedos and you have an idea of what they looked like.

I headed out to the beach and went about waist-deep into the ocean. I waded like that for a while before I remembered to reach down and see if my key to the condo was still in my pocket. It was not.

I had a moment of panic. Or more accurately, a minor heart attack. I was thinking of how my keys were probably halfway to the Bahamas, or wherever the next destination is across from the ocean in South Carolina. I was figuring out in my head how much the fee for a lost key would be.

When I got back to my beach chair and looked through my backpack, there my key was where I left it when I took it out of my pocket. Apparently, I outsmarted myself again.

Sadly, this was not the first time I was too smart for my own good. On a college and career retreat to Panama City, I was convinced that I had lost my watch on the beach, only to find it in my bed. After much panicking and searching and fretting.

I was reminded tonight of the prodigal on his way back home to see his father. He was thinking, “I have lost everything. How am I going to explain that? What excuse could I possibly use to keep from getting unceremoniously thrown out the door?”

Little did he know that his father was already running down the road to meet him, not caring about all the money he wasted. All the father cared about was that his son had come home.

God doesn’t care about your wasted days and years. He doesn’t care about how you misused all those gifts he gave you. All he cares about is seeing you come home.

I worried for nothing. I made a big deal out of nothing. All my fears turned out to be groundless lies.

Whatever is keeping you from coming back to God is a lie. As big as your sin or mistake or failure, God’s grace is bigger. A past of shame and scars and waste is no barrier to the great love of God. There is nothing to heinous or scandalous that he won’t forgive. Nothing.

Your Father God is calling you. Will you come home?

Starry Beach Nights

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Tonight, I took a short walk on the beach. It was great.

I had a t-shirt and shorts and a flashlight, so I could avoid stepping on anything sharp or living. At least that was my plan and it worked well for the most part.

It was a beautiful night. There were more stars out than I have seen in a long time and a cool ocean breeze was blowing in my direction. The sand and ocean water felt good on my feet.

I was alone on the beach and I felt currents of peace wash over me. I didn’t walk very far or stay out there long, but I stayed long enough.

Sometimes, you just need to get away from all the noise and the distractions and the hurry and find a place where you can be still and quiet and breathe. It doesn’t have to be the beach, but a place where you feel peaceful and at rest. A place where you can hear the still small voice of God.

When I get back home, I will find mine. I know I need to hear from God on a daily basis to keep my sanity and to know what to do next. Sometimes, I need to be able to still the other voices that clamor and contradict each other and tell me every way to go but the right way.

My prayer is that both you and I find those places where God speaks. My prayer is that we have open ears to hear and willing hearts to obey what we hear.

I think I’ll sleep good tonight.