god

Mission Accomplished

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It may not sound overly exciting, but I got a few things done tonight. I paid a couple of bills and finally got around to my 2015 Federal Tax Returns. For some reason, I put my taxes off, and when I do get around to them, they really aren’t so bad.

Here’s my take on the day.

The morning and evening commute? Not my favorite.

Having a job to commute to and from? Totally worth it.

Having to pay bills? Not so much fun.

Not having to write checks and lick stamps and remember to put them in the mailbox in the morning? Win.

Having the money to pay the bills and not having to worry about it? Priceless.

Having my taxes done and over with until 2017? If I weren’t so tired, I might break into a happy dance. Maybe I’ll settle for a happy nap instead.

Perspective is my new mantra. It’s all about perspective.

I could complain about how sore my feet are from the journey or I can choose to sing along the way. I choose singing over complaining. It’s better for you.

Choosing to see the blessings instead of the burden isn’t always easy, but it is most definitely alway worth it. If you look for God’s gifts in the every day minutiae, you end up seeing God there. You see God’s hand everywhere you turn.

If you look for joy, you find it. If you look for bitterness, you find that, too. You really do find what you’re looking for in the long run.

All that to say that the most important part of this Thursday is that I’m still here, therefore God must have a reason for me being here. I will celebrate another day of life successfully lived.

I say that qualifies as mission accomplished, don’t you?

 

Judges: A Book Review

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So here I am, reading through the Bible again. I just finished the book of Judges. In my opinion, that has to be the most depressing book in the Bible.

In the first few verses of the book, it tells us that after the generation that claimed the Promised Land died out, the very next generation that came after didn’t know the Lord or what He had done for His people.

That didn’t take long.

There is a familiar pattern in judges, repeated ad nauseum. The people run after the next available god, fall into sin, get into trouble, and call on God. God sends a deliverer who bails them out and there is peace in the land — until another cheap idol shows up.

I read the Bible and I see the people of God by and large acting like anything but the people of God. It can be very frustrating.

Then I remember that I am one of those people of God. I find myself falling into familiar patterns of sin over and over, despite the guilt that remains from the last time. I find myself renewing the old promise of “never again,” which lasts until the next opportunity presents itself.

So I can relate.

I’m not excusing my (or anyone else’s sin). I’m just saying that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. It doesn’t have to be the familiar refrain.

I’m thankful for a grace that goes deeper and longer than any sin. I’m also thankful for a God who refuses to let me wallow in my self-destructive sin, but will provide me a way out. He won’t rest or quit with me until I am 100% sin-free.

I know that my story is your story. It’s the story of every child of God. But I also know that story doesn’t end with sin. It ends with grace.

 

 

Kairos 2.0

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I think I’ll like the new Kairos. I liked the old one with Mike Glenn and I’m 99.9% certain that I’ll like the new version with Chris Brooks.

There’s still some fantastic worship music from a band that lots of people would pay good money to see if they decided to go on tour. There’s some spot-on expository teaching that always hits home and is both comforting and convicting.

Tonight was no exception.

The text was Mark 7 where Jesus healed the man born deaf and dumb. Chris made the point that a lot of us trouble speaking the Gospel because we’ve gotten to where we can’t really hear Jesus speaking to us.

We have a spiritual speech impediment because we’re deaf to what God has to say to us. What people hear from us about Jesus says more about us and where we are than it does about who Jesus actually is.

My prayer for both you and me is that Jesus can again open our ears to hear Him speaking. I suspect that if we ever get to the place where we truly hear God speaking to us, our message might be very different than the morality sin management message that gets passed around a lot these days.

What turns people off isn’t necessarily the message, but the disconnect they see between what we speak and how we live. When our eyes and ears finally are open to what Jesus wants to say to us, then our lifestyle will line up with our lips and we will not only talk the Gospel but walk it as well.

 

The Woman at the Well

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“Drink this water, and your thirst is quenched only for a moment. You must return to this well again and again. I offer water that will become a wellspring within you that gives life throughout eternity. You will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14, The Voice).

It seems to me that there are presently two popular schools of thought when it comes to those who err. One school says that you’re a rotten, filthy, dirty sinner who deserves whatever comes your way. The other says in essence, “I’m okay; you’re okay.”

When I think about the woman at the well in John 4, I think she might bristle at both. She knew she’d messed up, but she was probably hoping from a little more sympathy plus a shot at redemption. As for the “I’m okay, you’re okay” way of thinking, she’d probably point out the fact that she came to draw water during the hottest part of the day to plainly state that she was not okay.

I heard a sermon today where the pastor said Jesus showed both compassion and conviction toward the woman.

He showed compassion in that He went out of His way to speak to the woman and actually engage her in conversation that was more than just about the weather.

He also showed conviction when He wouldn’t let her evade His questions and steer the conversation away from the uncomfortable. While He showed love toward the woman, that love didn’t include enabling her in behavior that wasn’t God’s best for her.

I found that quite convicting. Who will I go out of my way to speak to this week? Who will I show love toward (and not just the warm fuzzy kind, but the kind that is willing to ask the hard questions)?

As for me, I’m thankful that Jesus was willing to love me where He found me and accept me as I was. I’m equally grateful that His love refused to let me stay in that place.

I’m thankful as usual for a pastor in Aaron Bryant who doesn’t always tell me what I want to hear, but will always share what I need to hear, especially on my birthday.

 

One More Letter to My Future Wife in 2016

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So, here I am again, writing to you. It’s been a while.

I confess that sometimes I wonder if you aren’t a figment of my imagination, if you really do exist out there at all.

Still, I keep holding out hope and praying for you.

I pray that you won’t let discouragement overwhelm you.

I pray that you know that the love of your Abba Father is exponentially greater than all the romantic loves in all the books, songs, and movies combined.

I pray you know your worth isn’t based on whether or not you have a ring on your hand or children in the back seat of your car. It isn’t based on your income or job title or net worth.

The Father has declared you to be priceless. Jesus has shown tangibly that you are worth dying for. That is your true worth, and I hope you remember it when every other voice tells you how cheap you are.

I hope and pray that you know that the waiting will be worth it. I know in my own heart that in my waiting I have come to see more and more that God is truly enough. I’ve come to know and understand that I won’t need you to complete me and you won’t need me to complete you. God is truly enough for both of us.

I also hope and pray you will treasure each day that you’re alive as a gift. I hope you can learn to be fully present to the present and not fixated on what’s past or what may yet happen. I pray you will find all that God has for you right here in this very moment.

Keep praying for me as I will keep praying for you. I still can’t wait to meet you one day.

 

A Little Shakespeare For Your Soul

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“Sigh No More, Ladies…”

(From "Much Ado about Nothing")
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;
    Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
    To one thing constant never;
        Then sigh not so,
        But let them go,
    And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
    Into. Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
    Or dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
    Since summer first was leavy.
        Then sigh not so, 
        But let them go,
    And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
    Into hey, nonny, nonny.

I admit that I was craving a bit of Shakespeare on this rainy Thursday. I put in my blu ray of the 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing.

It’s good to go back to the classics every now and then. It’s good to hear dialogue that actually makes you smarter and increases your love of the language.

It’s always good to go back to ancient wisdom.

I’m reminded of that as I’m reading through the Bible again.

Some of it is hard to take. I see where the people of God chosen by God have acted like anything but God’s own. They have run after anything and everything to fill a void that only God can fill.

Sadly, I can relate after too many times of doing that very thing myself. Many times, prayer and God will be last resorts after everything else has failed instead of my first go-to. As frustrated as I can get with those Israelites, I confess that I am too much like them sometimes.

The ultimate story of the Bible is God’s quest to woo His own people to Himself with a love that refuses to be defeated or deferred.

As for Shakespeare, I watched about half the movie and I feel like my IQ has gone up about 10 points. I call that a win.

 

 

Deep Album Cuts

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I’ve been listening to some Eagles albums. Most people associate them with songs like Hotel California and Takin’ It Easy. In fact, if you listen to most adult contemporary radio stations, you’d only think they ever recorded like five songs.

I personally have always been one who’s been drawn to the less popular stuff. Most of my musical tastes don’t necessarily align with what’s popular with most other people.

So far, the songs that have caught my attention are Saturday Night and I Wish You Peace. I doubt you’ll ever hear either one of those on the radio, but they’re really good songs.

I do believe the life of faith is like that. Some of the best people and experiences  come from the most unlikely of places. Sometimes, the best relationships are the ones where you have to dig a little deeper to find the proverbial diamond hidden in all that rough.

God’s motus operandi is to look for the least likely kind of people to do His best work. He almost never goes for the obvious choices– the learned, the religious, the well-to-do. He usually picks peasants, shepherds, foreign astrologers, fishermen.

I’m thankful He operates that way. I’m one of those God chose. So are you. Some of you probably know what it’s like to be passed over and always picked last. But not with God.

God chose you and me not because there wasn’t anybody else left to choose. He didn’t choose us because the people He really wanted were unavailable.

He chose us because He wanted us. He pursued us because He had set His affection on us and desired that we be a part of His Kingdom.

That’s a good reminder on a cold and rainy day where the sunshine seems a long way off. That’s something to hold on to in the midst of a long week full of Mondays.

So take heart and give thanks for a God who likes those deep album cuts as much as the popular stuff.

 

Mondays Are Rude

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“Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings” (Ephesians 3:16-19, The Voice).

Mondays are just rude. They come barging in at some ungodly hour of the morning, interrupting your nice, relaxing weekend, making all sorts of demands, sucker-punching you in the face, forcing you to interact with life before you’ve even had your first cup of coffee. Of all the nerve.

Mondays are typically the days when your passwords suddenly don’t work, you spill that beloved cup of coffee on all your papers, and your inbox blows up.

Sometimes, it can feel like Monday can last a lot longer than 24 hours. It can seem to go on for days, weeks, and even months. You don’t feel adequate to handle all that Monday brings.

Relax. Remember this.

God doesn’t just give you enough grace and mercy to get by. He doesn’t just give you enough love to sustain you until Tuesday mercifully arrives. He doesn’t dole out peace with stingy fingers and a dour face.

Your cup runneth over with God’s provisions. You don’t just get enough. You get much,much more.

You get God. Not just what’s leftover when everybody else has gotten their share. You get all of God.

You get so much grace, mercy, love, and peace that it’s like trying to catch the ocean in a thimble (with thanks to Mike Glenn for that image). There’s so much that it overflows your capacity to receive and pours out on those around you, those in the places where you live and work and play.

Honestly, all Mondays come to an end. They seem to last forever, but they’re just 24 hours, like the other six days in the week.

All of God’s grace and mercy and love and peace will never end. Long after Monday is over, those will still be with you. God will still be with you.

And there’s always more refills of coffee.

 

Costly Love

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“Jesus: Dear woman, where is everyone? Are we alone? Did no one step forward to condemn you?

Woman Caught in Adultery: Lord, no one has condemned me.

Jesus: Well, I do not condemn you either; all I ask is that you go and from now on avoid the sins that plague you” (John 8:10-11).

I’ve learned over the years that any kind of love, romantic or not, is costly. You have to give of yourself for love to work, to be real and true love.

The best kind of love, God’s love, is the kind that reaches out to the unloveable. In case you were wondering, that was both you and me once.

There are some people in your life, in my life, who will be very difficult to love. It will cost you something, maybe a lot, to love that person. It will require forgiveness and letting go of a lot of hurt and anger.

Maybe it will help you to remember that it cost God everything to love you. It cost a cross for God to demonstrate that love to you and me.

I was sitting in the back of The Church at Avenue South, where I normally sit when I am the designated graphics person who puts up the worship song lyrics and sermon text on the big screens.

I was thinking of how much I really do need to forgive because I know that there have been (and will continue to be) many cases where I will need forgiveness for myself. I, like so many of you, have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth and say stupid stuff. I have a tendency to be forgetful and selfish and lots of other things (that I’m sure you’ve been at some point in your life as well).

I continue to be thankful for Aaron Bryant for being a faithful messenger of God’s Word to God’s people. His honesty and transparency are always refreshing and inspiring. Thanks, Aaron, for always being a good and faithful servant of Jesus.

Gravy

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Waking up, breathing in, and breathing out. That’s the gift. Everything else is gravy.

I had quite the interesting evening.

It started off as a normal Thursday. I stopped by Best Buy and browsed a bit. I stopped by Barnes & Noble and browsed a bit more.

I ended up at Maniacs for dinner, which seemed easier and more convenient than trying to turn left onto Mallory at 6 pm.

The trouble started when I got in my car to drive home. I put my key in the ignition and turned. Nothing.

I tried it again. Nothing.

I waited a bit and tried once more. Nothing.

One of the guys who worked there tried to jump-start my car. Nothing.

I ended up calling AAA. The guy who showed up tried the same thing. Nothing.

Then he did something I’ve never seen before. He took a long wooden pole and jabbed it at something in my engine while the jumper cables did their thing.

I almost felt like burning incense and chanting to help out. It felt that mystical.

Whatever he did, worked. I was able to start my car and drive to Advance Auto Parts, where further testing revealed that my battery, starter, and alternator were all fine and dandy, thank you very much.

I still don’t know what happened. Maybe I’ll never know.

I do know that sometimes God is trying to get me to trust in the dark. It’s not enough to trust Him when all my prayers are answered and when all my dreams come true.

Perhaps the best place is trusting no matter what. Even if my car doesn’t start, even if my life doesn’t make complete sense, even if I never see another tangible sign of God, I still have more than enough reason to praise Him. I still have more than enough reason to trust Him.

Can you trust God if the job offers don’t come? Can you trust God if the spouse you’re praying for doesn’t get well? Can you trust God if the money doesn’t come through to pay those bills? Can you trust God even if you can’t see any hope that God will ever bring that significant other into your life?

Ultimately, God is enough. When you finally get that, you can trust Him no matter what. I think I got one step closer to that tonight.