religion

Just Another Monday

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As I get ready to type this blog, Lucy the wonder-cat has decided to camp out in my lap. I love the way she just barges in without waiting for permission. It’s like my own very affordable brand of therapy.

I have what seems like an everlasting cough that has been bugging me for three weeks or more. It doesn’t hurt and it’s not deep, but it’s persistent. And annoying. It’s hampering my possible superstar career in singing. Not really. But it is annoying.

I still feel that the best parts of life are those little pleasant surprises that come your way. They always seem to show up when you expect them least but need them most. I like to think they’re reminders that the grace of God is still alive and kicking.

That said, I’m glad Monday is over. It’s always a rude awakening for the week. I’m never ready for it and it always seems to come a day early.  But in perspective, it’s another day I woke up blessed and healthy and still saved by grace.

For those who keep up with college basketball, all my Final Four teams won. My bracket is back from the dead, off life-support, and looking good again.

There’s a whole lot I don’t know. Whole entire books could be written about what I don’t know. I do know a few things, like God is good and real and alive. There’s an enemy who is just as alive and real and opposed to everything God stands for. But my Bible says that the victory is already won.

I’ve said it before, but I love the idea that we as believers are fighting not for victory, but FROM victory. We are already more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us.

If that doesn’t get you through Monday, nothing will.

 

 

Reminders of Why I Need Grace

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I got home from Kroger with redbox rental in hand, ready to settle in for an evening with The Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall. Until I realized that the $10 in cash I had added to my debit card purchase was still at Kroger.

So I drove all the way back, fuming and calling myself all sorts of names. I was hyper-critical of the drivers around me, because I of course am always the model citizen and poster child for good driving.

I even was a little snippy with the lady when I asked about my $10. Thankfully, someone turned it in to customer service and I got it back.

I was reminded of something I heard a pastor say. We want justice for when others mess up, but mercy and grace for ourselves. How true that was tonight.

If only I could have shown more grace to the other drivers and to those at Kroger’s who were only doing their job. If ony I could have been more forgiving to myself for making a mistake.

I need grace. You need grace. We all need grace every second of every day. We all need to be willing to give it as well as receive it. We will all make dumb mistakes and do things that cause us to slap our foreheads and want to call ourselves names (not all of which are fit to print here).

Like leaving $10 behind.

Thankfully, I am not who I was. I’m also not who I will be. I am a work in progress. We all are.

I’m thankful that when God sees me he doesn’t see the bad attitude and the short temper I had, but rather He looks at me and sees Jesus. Even on nights like tonight.

By the way, the Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall was nothing short of spectacular. I got goose bumps and chills several times.

And tomorrow is a new day full of new chances and new mercies and fresh grace.

That’s good, because I will probably need it. So will you, if you’re anything like me.

My Favorite Bible

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I have to admit it. I have an addiction. Of all things, I’m addicted to collecting Bibles, particularly the pocket-sized ones. So far, I have a NASB, ESV, NIV, RSV, NRSV, HCSB, NLT, KJV, NKJV, NCV, CEV, ASV, Amplified, Pbillips, and the Message. That’s a lot of initials. And a lot of Bibles.

My favorite Bible that I own didn’t cost very much. It looks like it didn’t cost very much. But I love it.

It’s a Greek-English Interlinear Bible with the Revised Standard Version on the side margins. That means it has the Greek text and underneath each Greek word is the closest English word. It’s as literal a translation as you can get.

It takes a bit of getting used to, as the word order in Greek sentences isn’t always structured like it is in English. Often, the most important words come first, not the usual subject-verb-type structure.

For me, it is as close as I get to reading the original Greek New Testament. I can still sound out the Greek words, but I’d be lost without those little English words underneath.

The point of all that is for you to find the one you like and read it. It could be a literal translation or one of those dynamic equivalents, which are “thought for thought,” rather than “word for word.” Heck, it could even be a paraphrase, like the infamous Message version by Eugene Peterson.

Just find one that speaks to you, that makes the Word of God come alive to you and makes you fall in love with it. Find one that won’t be just mere words on a page, but words that change your life.

I heard once that if you have a Bible that’s falling apart, it usually means that your life isn’t. I don’t mean bad things never happen when you’re soaked in Scripture, but you have a solid foundation from which to anchor down in the stormy seasons of life.

By the way, my Bible doesn’t look anywhere as good as the Bible in this picture. But what matters is what’s inside. Kinda the same for you and me, don’t ya think?

It’s Wednesday

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It’s Wednesday at 9:48 pm and I can’t think of a blessed thing to blog about. The more I rack my brains together, the less I get. It’s sorta like that feeling I used to get when I sat down to begin writing a term paper or essay. The page stayed blank no matter how hard I stared at it.

I could continue with last night’s thoughts about how knowing who you are in Christ will defend you against the schemes and tactics of the devil. His name means slanderer. He is also known as the accuser. But he has no power over you in you’re standing firm and trusting in the promises and the power of the Christ who defeated him long ago at Calvary.

The truth is that it’s easy to forget these things even after only one day. It’s easy to sink back into old thought defeatist thought patterns and negative name-calling. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s job is to remind us of all Jesus taught us. We’re so very forgetful.

The name I picked out for myself to remind me of who I am was FAVORED. I have been the recipient of God’s unending favor and blessing. When it becomes all too easy to focus on all that I lack and still don’t have yet, I call to mind that I am the Lord’s favored one.

If you pick just one name and hang on to that to remind yourself of who you are when times get tough and God seems distant, you will remember that He may feel far off but He is never more than one cry for help away.

By the way, Wednesday means hump day. We’re over the hump week-wise and it’s all downhill from here. Only Thursday and Friday left to go.

Also a good reminder.

Strange Songs to Get Stuck in Your Head

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I have songs running through my head all the time. It’s better than listening to the radio. I never know what song will be next or where it will come from or what will inspire it. Like the one that’s in there now. It goes like

“My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do for you.”

That’s the whole song. It’s deceptively simple and easy enough for toddlers to sing, but profound enough to blow the minds of the most seasoned believers.

There’s so much truth here if you let it sink in. If you dismiss it as a simple children’s song, you miss out on some very deep truths.

God is so big. He’s bigger than you, bigger than your dreams, bigger than what you’re afraid of, bigger than what you’re facing. He’s bigger than what the world says you can’t do or be or overcome. He is so big.

God is so strong. He’s strong enough to reach down to wherever you are, no matter how low, and pull you out. He’s strong enough to break through any barrier or stronghold or even the hell you’re in to find you and rescue you. He is so strong.

God is so mighty. He’s mighty enough to keep you safe and secure from all alarms. He’s mighty enough to finish what He started in you and make you into the person He created you to be. He is so mighty.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that God cannot do for you. What’s impossible for you is not even remotely difficult for God (yes, I stole that from a good sermon I heard, but I don’t think he’ll mind).

If you had these words running through your mind all day, imagine how much more confidence and courage you would have. If you believed it enough to step out off the ledge in a leap of faith. If you went to the dangerous and messy places that Jesus went to in order to bring a cup of cold water and a message of hope to the lonely, the broken, the hurting, the outcast, and the thrown-aside.

My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. He’s stronger than cancer. Stronger than divorce. Stronger than unemployment. Stronger than moral failure. Stronger than addiction. Stronger than the death of a child. Stronger than depression. Stronger than chronic pain. Strong enough to get you through anything and make you stronger on the other side.

There’s nothing my God cannot do. For you.

Some Inconvenient Truths

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This is probably not going to be one of those feel-good blogs that leaves you all warm and fuzzy. This is probably not going to win me any popularity points or make me the next trendy blogger. Then again, the truth has never been popular.

The truth is that there aren’t many ways to heaven. There’s just one. Jesus Himself didn’t say, “I am one of the ways, one of the truths, and one possible life. You can get to Heaven through me if I fit your lifestyle.”

No. He said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father (or gets to Heaven) but through Me.”

The truth is that hell is real. As much as I would love to say it’s not, as much as the reality of it makes me uncomfortable, I can’t deny that Jesus belived it was real and spoke more about hell than heaven.

The truth is that the Bible is God’s Word and it is without error. It may not always say what I want it to say and I in my own human reasoning would have left some parts out. But thankfully, I didn’t have a say in what got into the Bible.

The truth is that God can save anyone at anytime anywhere who truly believes in Jesus. Not just their parents’s belief. Not just intellectual assent. But real faith that translates into a lifestyle of obedience and surrender. After all, as one pastor has said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it.”

I didn’t make it up. I didn’t come to the truth because I was so very smart and wise. God revealed it to me.

To say that I know the truth isn’t arrogant; to say that no one can know the truth is. Has anyone spoken to every single person alive on the planet to know that none of them know the truth?

To know the truth means I am responsible to live it out. It means it will change everything about me. I can’t be glib about speaking the truth. I must speak it with great humility because apart from the grace of God, I woud never have found it.

I may get called a fundamentalist or a Bible-thumper or arrogant or narrow-minded. I may get defriended or unliked. But for me more important than being popular or liked is to be faithful to what I know to be true. I can’t do anything else.

By the way, the truth will still set you free.

Speaking Life

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A bit of a conversation I had earlier today is still ringing in my ears. A well-turned phrase won’t let go of my mind.

We speak into each others’ lives. As believers, we call life out of each other and bring out the best in each other.

I can see in you what you can’t see in yourself. I can speak beauty and faithfulness into your life and you can speak the same into mine.

The best example I know of this is a man who married a woman many considered unattractive and plain.  Over the years, he spoke beauty into her life, telling her she was more lovely and telling everyone he met how beautiful she was. Eventually, she became the beauty he always said she was.

Only God can speak creation out of nothing. Only God in us can speak hope into hopelessness, love into apathy, courage into fear, and life into death.

What are you speaking into the lives of those around you? Who is speaking into your life?

I know many times people saw things in me I couldn’t see in myself and helped me to see myself through God’s eyes.

One of the reasons for this little blog is so I can hopefully speak life and hope and peace and love into your lives and more importantly, help you to hear what God is speaking into your life right now.

May He speak beauty into your ashes, a testimony into your trials, compassion into your pain, and a minstry into your scars. May you ever hear the voice of your Abba singing over you nightly, calling you Beloved.

And may we encourage each other daily and spur each other to love radically, serve sacrificially, and be no less than Jesus to everyone we encounter wherever we go.

Amen.

Who’s the Greatest?

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Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? That’s the question that got the disciples all hot and bothered and mad at each other? It’s a question that we ask today, though none of us ever admit it.

Is it the one with the golden voice and the great oratory skills who packs in the crowds with his great speaking ability? No.

Is it the one who can sing like an angel and who can hit notes other mortals only dream about who inspires fervant worship from the masses? No.

Is it the one with all the leadership skills who has read every John Maxwell book ever written? No.

Who is it then?

According to Jesus, the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is the one who is like a little child.

Not our westernized romanticized idea of children as sweet and innocent and perfect.

When Jesus said we should be like little children, he meant the children who can’t do anything for themselves and who are dependent on others for everything.

Only when we get humbled like that can we see God do great things in and through us.

Only when we trade in our ruler mentality for a servent mentality. Only when we like Paul see ourselves as the worst of sinners saved by the best of God’s grace.

Only when we become like Jesus, who thought equality with God nothing to be clung to, but Who made Himself nothing. Who became a slave obedient to the point of death. Who died a criminal’s death on a scandalous cross for you and me.

That’s what it means to be the greatest. To lay down your life for your friends and become the slave of all and count others as better than yourself and love till it hurts (and past that point) and take up your cross daily.

It’s the opposite of what sells books and what you see in a lot of leadership positions in churches and Christian organizations.

But it’s the only true way to greatness, according to Jesus.

 

For Those Who Have Doubts: From Kairos Tonight

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I love the question John the Baptist asked. He was in prison for speaking the truth against Herrod and he send his disciples over to Jesus to ask, “Are you the One or should we look for someone else?”

I love that question because that’s somethng I’ve wanted to ask at times but never been brave enough or honest enough to admit it.

I’ve had my doubts. So have you, probably. Jesus is big enough to handle our doubts and answer the questions we have.

His answer to John the Baptist was this, in essence: “Yes, I’m the One. I’ve made lame people walk, blind people see, given poor people hope, and raised dead people to live.”

I think His answer to you and me would be something like this

“For those who have staked their very lives on Me, I prove Myself to be the Supply to your every need, the Comfort to your every pain, the Deliverance in your every trial, and the unquenchable hope in each and every circumstance you have ever or will ever face.

I am the God’s YES and AMEN. I am the fulfillment of every one of His promises. I am the One who holds you together and keeps your hope alive. I am your Hope.

Your doubt doesn’t negate my Sovereignty. Your weakness doesn’t negate my Strength. Your failings don’t negate my ultimate victory.

I am the Ultimate Promise Keeper and my ultimate promise is to complete what I started in you, to make you whole and healed and free, to see you become all I meant for you to be when I made you.

Trust in me when circunstances tell you not to, when common sense tells you not to, when your own senses and feelings tell you not to. They may lie to you, but I never will.

I have set My affections on you and My love for you is stronger than your weakness or doubt. It’s stronger than your fear. It’s stronger than any foe you will face or any obstacle that blocks your way. My love for you is even stronger than death.

I will get you Home.”

 

Epic Phone Fail

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For those of you who are unaware, my Samsung Strive phone has officially given up the ghost. It is no more. It has ceased to be (to borrow from an old Monty Python skit).

I’m reduced to using an old phone with only the numeric keypad. Texting is such a pain and several times I have thought very unbaptist thoughts while trying to text.

That said, if anyone would like to sell (or donate) me phones they aren’t using, that would be great. I will probably end up going the refurbished phone route to tide me over until I can switch to Verizon in July.

If that’s the worst problem I have, I’m doing good. So many others have it way worse than I do. So many others lost their homes and possessions and in some cases, the lives of friends and family members.

I can’t imagine that kind of loss. I can’t begin to empathize with these people. All I can do is pray for them. It sounds like my religious cop-out answer, but it’s the best that I can do.

I’m blessed. Even if I don’t have everything I want, I have everything I need. I may not be where I want to be or think I should be, but I’m exactly where God wants me to be and I’m exactly where God can step in and do amazing things in and around and through me.

I can survive with a lame phone. It may take me 5 minutes to text one simple sentence, but it can be done.

I love the image one pastor used. He said that if God showed him his box of blessings and told him it was empty because he had used up all those blessings, he would say back to God, “I’m good.”

If God never did one more thing for me other than save me from hell and place His stamp of love on me, then I’m good. I’m blessed.

How about you?