We have had alot of storms lately. So many in fact that I am kind of tired of all the wind, thunder, lightning and storms. And why did I list wind first…well where I live now, that seems to be the first things that whips up and gets unruley. My pastor asked this Sunday if the wind in our “storms of life” is good or bad for us…I like what the bible says about it in James…
James 1:2-4(MSG)
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
I don’t know about you but when I am going through a storm I can’t always deem it as “pure joy” or a “sheer gift”. Most of the time we bellyache and whine our way through it, only to find out in the end it made us better, stronger and better equipped to survive in our current environment. So the next time you face a storm in your life, remember that the winds that blow you around in life are there for the sole purpose of making your roots grow deeper fuller and stronger in that firm foundation you were planted in!!!
Withstanding the Wind
Life without stress
What is stress? Is it controllable or avoidable? Does it bring things out in us that which we never thought was there? And for that fact does it bring out the best in us…probably not. For most people we can try as much as we like, but at sometime or another stress will enter our lives like an unwanted houseguest. It will come in suddenly, most the time not forceably. It will set up it’s little room off in the corner and promise to be quiet and not disturb. But after an awkward period of time you start to wonder if this guest is ever gonna leave. You come home and find that your guest, even though they promised to stay in their room quietly, has now torn your house into shambles!!! The other parts of your dwelling that had nothing to do with your guest, now our tarnished with the evidence of this foreign body. Our life is the same way. Many of us don’t invite stress in intentionally, but I have met a larg number of people who leave a key under the mat for this guest…I was thinking about stress and how it gets out of hand in our lives, when I happened to read this verse the other day.
Phillipians 4:6-7(msg) Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
After I read that I had to admit to myself that I am guilty of worrying about things all too often in my own life. Where is the money coming from or why isn’t this working out or why can’t I seem to make this work or why don’t I have the answers I need. Jesus clearly stated that our lives would be way more blessed and way more productive if we would just cast all our worries and stress on Him. He knows what we need and even the timing in which we need it. So try this, the next few weeks when you are faced with stress just put your hands up in the air…not as a sign of failure but as a sign of releasing everything to the Father!
Special Sauce (guest edition featuring Mandi Miller)
did the usual thing, I drove up to the menu and ordered. I proceeded to the
first window and paid, then drove to the second window and waited for the
order. After sitting there for a few minutes, the clerk slid back the window
and asked, “Will you please pull over to the side; your order is not ready.”
I was a little upset and even impatient, but I pulled over and waited. I
thought, “How come other folks ordered and drove straight through and I have
to wait.”
I waited for another two or three minutes. It seemed like hours. Just I
was about to give up and drive away the clerk finally ran out, tapped on the
window, and handed me the order. Of course I asked, “Hey, what took so
long?” She replied, “You wanted the Special Sauce, which meant it had to be
specially made for that sandwich, it doesn’t usually come with that one.”
This scene is a reflection of our prayer life. We make our request to the
Lord. Our menu is His Word, where He has listed promise after promise. We
stand before Him and request and plead and, sometimes, even beg. We go to
the first window and pay, sometimes with fervent prayer, sometimes with
prolonged suffering, sometimes with obedience, and sometimes not at all.
We then move to the second window and wait for our order. If God doesn’t
answer within a few minutes, we become upset. You know the phrase,
“Jesus, it’s 5:00 p.m. Friday; I prayed to You yesterday, and You still
haven’t answered. I can’t wait much longer.” Why is it taking Him so long?
I’ve seen people drive up before me and they received their orders right
away!
We even go so far as to tap on the window and ask if He has forgotten our
order. We become impatient. We become upset. We become downright mad. Lord I
asked for a mate ten days ago and I don’t see him/her anywhere. Lord, I’ve
been asking for a new job for two years; others have passed me by. I’ve been
waiting on a financial blessing for ten years and I still have more months
than money. Where are You and why haven’t you blessed me?
And just when you think He is giving you the answer, He pulls back the
royal curtain of Eternity, and states, “Please pull over to the side and
wait a while longer.” This once frustrated me to no end, made me mad, made
me want to give up, made me want to holler; that is, until the clerk brought
out my sandwich. Then, the revelation became clear.
Do you know why the Lord has put you on the side?
Do you know why you have had to wait for this blessing longer than
before?
Do you know why He has put you through more this time than ever?
Do you know why it seems as though He has not heard you and He does not
care? Do you know why it seems like you have had to go through more
tears, more pains, and more struggling this time?
Because this Blessing is a Special Sauce Blessing!
This is an Overflowing, Pressed-Down, Shaken Together, Blessing! You made a
Special Order and God has been putting together a Special Sauce Blessing for
you and He has to prepare it for you!
That mate you wanted . . .. He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That job you wanted . . . . He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That financial blessing . . He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That peace on the job . . . He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That house . . . . . . . . He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That deeper anointing . . . He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
That promotion . . . . . .. He’s putting together a Special Sauce!
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts
of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end … [and a Special
Sauce]. Jeremiah 29:11
How many people have driven away before the clerk brought their food, and
how many people have missed their blessings because they did not wait? Hang
on there. Keep on waiting. You made a Special Order, now wait on God’s
Special Sauce!
“But they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they
shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
They who wait shall receive a Special Sauce!
What is trapping you?
When I was a little boy, my grandfather used to tell me stories of his childhood. One story that stuck with me that I remembered just yesterday went like this. When he was a little boy growing up in the Southeast he could remember going out with his dad and trapping different animals. They would trap muskrat, river otter, beaver, foxes, skunks and anything else that might just happen by a river bottom. One animal that they always had trouble trapping was the raccoon. These animals are smart and wary of new situations. He would go on to tell me that they learned of a very effective way of trapping these cunning animals. They would find a hollowed out log…nail up boards on both ends…and make sure it was a contained box. If the log didnt have a knothole they would cut out a hole just big enough for you to get you hand in. Then they would carefully take 10-20 nails and hammer them in diagonally all around the hole they cut. They would then take something shiney such as aluminum foil, an old pocket watch, or a piece of an aluminum can and drop it down in the hole. They would then set this log trap close to a river way where raccoons would frequent and leave it there overnight. Now listening to this story I could not believe that this trap would work on such a cunning and smart animal. My grandfather would go on to tell me that they would get up in the morning, walk down the the river’s edge and sure enough find a raccoon stuck to the log. See the draw of that shiney object was just too much for that raccoon to resist and he just had to stick his hand down in that hole. When he would go to pull his hand out the nails would trap his hand. I asked my grandfather “if raccoons are so smart, why didnt he just let go of the object and free himself.” He just replied, “the impulse of him needing that thing, was what led to his demise!”
Those words rang out in my head and I have never forgotten that story. This is a great illustration of the traps that we get into many times in our own lives. I dont know about you, but when I think of a trap I automatically think of it as something that is unescapable. But many times in our lives we are entrapped by something that we just “have to have”. It can come in many ways, shapes and forms. Many times we can even rationalize our impulse of just “having to have it”. Our impulse of needing that thing is what many times lead us to our demise spiritually, mentally, emotionally and even physically. So the challenge this week is to search our lives for any traps. Many times they are some of our biggest frustrations and the things that are draining on our happiness and contentment. So this week have God help you find these traps, and pray that He will show you to just “let go” of that thing that we hold in our hand that is keeping us trapped so that we may live free!
Do you have a leaky faucet?
Last Sunday I spoke about the storms in our life. Jesus didnt say we would just maybe have storms. Or we might have storms. He said they would come. So I spoke on how to weather your storm. As I got all my stuff together for Sunday, I ran across many books of the bible that were stormy books. Lamenations is one big raging mass of a storm. Ecclesiastes has its portions of grey clouds. And even the book of Psalms doesnt look so great on the storm radar in places. But none speak better of weathering a storm as much as the story of Job. Most of us know this book very well due to those Sunday school teachers we all had when we were young. I had read this book many times myself (usually when going through something stormy…after reading about Job’s losses your problem doesnt really seem that big of a deal afterwards!) I read something though this time that caught my attention that I had never seen before…it’s in Chapter 1 verses 9 and 10 and it is an interaction between God and Satan…Satan is just laying it on God:
Job 1:9 (The Message)
9-10 Satan retorted, “So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does—he can’t lose!
What Satan is really saying to God is “Job serves you and is faithful to you only out of self-intrest.” He is even further charging God with being naive. I can just see Satan pointing a crooked finger at God and hissing through his teeth mocking and laughing at God saying “You think Job loves you…dont you?” Even though this story happens early in existance of the World, Satan knows all to well the weakness, hidden agendas and thought process’ of the carnal flesh known as man. He, in a nutshell, is telling God “Turn off the faucet of blessing…and watch how fast Job slams shut his faucet of devotion”
I have wrestled and even been convicted of that last statement this week. In searching my own life I began to realize that times when it “seemed” that the faucet of blessing was turned to a slow trickle…how quick I was to slam shut the faucet of devotion. This happens all too much to people who claim to “let God have control of everything in their lives.” It’s easy to praise and give…live with a smile on our face…connect with God regularly…and be happy when everything around us is firing on all cylinders. But most of the time when a storm comes…those of us (I’m guilty too) who claim to trust, rely and give God control of all things…seem to be very angry and very distant from God. My challenge this week is that we first of all understand and know that God is working in everything…even the bad. Understand that most of the time our perspective of the situation is usually a postage stamp view of God’s huge expansive perspective for our lives. And that storms will come, but know, realize and rely in the fact that we serve the one true God, who speaks to the storm, and calms the raging seas.
Can you spare some change(s)?
Many times in my life I have wondered if where I am at is where I need to be. You ever have those times when you just question everything that is going on around you? Why this? Why that? Why is this person all of a sudden being this way to me? Why all these changes? I used to think that everytime I was faced with this, it was time to run away from that situation or place. But as I have grown to learn through the years, sometimes God has to put you through something that you might not learned on your own, in your current condition. In other words, God had to put me through something, to learn something that I thought I had learned already. (is it making sense yet?) We think when God puts us in a place, everything should be rosey and great. And for sometimes it is. But if we stay in that constant state of contentment, we turn into having a constant state of complacement also. Think of Joseph…God gave him a dream, and then immediately after telling his brothers of this dream, he is thrown into a pit, sold to some people, and moved away from his homeland. Now Joseph could have been thinking “Way to go God! What now?!” but I believe that he understood (maybe just a little) that God had to rearrange his surroundings and current condition, to prepare him for greater things. It didnt make immediate sense at that point and time when he was going through what he was going through, but in the end when he had the oppurtunity to preserve a nation, and ultimately his family…it all of a sudden bloomed into what God wanted all along. Many times you hear of great stories where people tell of great peril, impossible circumstances, and horrible surroundings…and then hear of their triumphant victory over all odds. The common thread in these stories is that they all say “if I had to do it all over again…I would” or “if that was the only way I could learn what I know now…then it was worth it!” Dont get discouraged, or beat down the next time something changes and challenges you…look it in the eye…be reassured that you can do all things through Him…and enjoy the oppurtunity to learn along the way!
What excites you?
Have you ever done something and right in the middle of doing it you thought quickly to yourself “I was made to do this!!!” When I was young I loved to play baseball. Now I didnt say that I was great at it, I just said I loved to play it. I can remember back to when I played T-ball. For those of you that dont know what T-ball is, it consists of a team of young kids (usually 5-7 yr olds) and a coach that has to have alot of patience. We had gloves, bats, uniforms…we practiced and even had real games, but they didnt even pitch the ball to you in this league. You hit the ball off of a tee. How lame!!! Still, I remember being the youngest, smallest kid on the team, and even being too little to swing the bat high enough to hit the top of the tee stand. Remember what I said about doing something that you just felt like you were made to do…well baseball wasnt it for me, but bare with me…it does have a point! One day I can remember being at practice and all the bigger kids were picking on me and telling me that I was too little to play ball…The coach told me to go and get a bat, and he would pitch to me to see if I could hit the ball. I found the shortest lightest bat that I could find and shouldered it and stood in the batters box afraid. After about 3 missed swings I saw the most perfect pitch come right down the middle. It seemed like it was in slow motion, like it just hung there for an eternity. Once it finally made it to me I swung with all my might and determination. I connected. If you have ever played ball you know what I am talking about. All your talent, technique, skill and power combined into one action. As I stood there watching that ball soar through the night sky, I thought to myself, ‘wow…I hit that right in the sweet spot!!!” As I have grown older, and tend to think back to childhood memories more and more, I kind of wonder sometimes…is it possible to live our lives, or do something impactful that feels like we are in the sweet spot? Many people moan and groan through their job, marriage, family time and other responsibilities, only to drag their tired, beat down bodies in bed just to rest for a few hours before reluctantly turning around the next day to have the same mediocre day. Jesus said He not only came to give us life, but to have life more abundantly. So the next time you feel like you have flipped your life into auto-pilot or “maintenance mode” ask God to rekindle your passion for life…and life more abundant!!!
Worship Charades
As I was reading my bible this morning I ran across a passage in Isaiah that I have read many times. But as I began to read this passage in the Message translation, it began to whoop my butt. The passage reads as follows…
Quit your worship charades.
I can’t stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I’ll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.
WOW!!! I was speechless after I read this. It has made me think so much today about why we do what we do in church. We overplan, overcomplicate, overcompensate, and at times we just plain over do it. God doesnt desire the kind of worship that we ”think” He needs. God desires the simple song of our heart…our personal worship! But the most intresting thing about this passage is who it was originally written for. Isreal. We know that Isreal is known as God’s chosen people. I started to think if God’s chosen people can get this far off track with their ”worship act” then what are the odds that alot of times we get off track. God says its an easy “rehab” to get back on track…
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don’t have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.
If this sounds like something a parent would say to you…you are exactly right…its just Daddy God helping us get back to what is truely important!!!
Do you Trust?
The older I get I have really started to realize and take account the people whom I can trust. Some of this is comes from knowing over the years who to trust, and some of it just comes with that “gut feeling” of knowing that it’s gonna be alright. When I was younger (and Im sure that most of you that know me will be shocked by this statement) I was a very quiet kid. Not around my family or people that I knew well. Im talking about your everyday stranger. Someone you had never seen before. Or the irritating awkwardness of standing at the post office while your parents talked and talked and told all of your embarassing stories to someone they know, but you dont (okay maybe that was some repressed agnst that I needed to get out!!!) But none the less I was quiet. My little brother on the other hand would tell his life story to any passer by who would lend him their ear. He would talk and talk about how he had rode his big wheel or the adventures that him and his G.I. Joes had played out that afternoon. Or maybe even the secret location of which he buried some of my favorite G.I. Joes in my mothers garden spot in the backyard (which has still to this day not been unearthed—again repressed angst?) I was thinking about this the other day and I thought wow…I am so glad that I am the way I am now…I dont think that my personality or willingness to trust people has been changed too much by people…I think that my willingness to trust has come through God using imperfect people. Many times people will fail us…most know this statement all to well. Someone in our past, when we needed them the most. Has dropped the ball. We needed to be supported or loved. We needed someone to comfort or just someone to trust. And at the very time that we needed all these things and more…someone let us down. Now this is sometimes a very hard thing to recover from, but once again I have found a solution. Now I in no way am implying that this is a cure all…make all your problems vanish in minutes kind of miracle spray, ointment or snake oil charm. I am talking about trusting in God. You say, “To easy it wont work…I dont believe you that cant be the solution to all my trust problems!” It really is…God said I will never leave you or forsake you…meaning I am here at all times, and I will not let you down. See men may fail you but I know a God who is Faithful…dont believe me, ask my wife…God has made a believer out of her many times in the past year. I think about that Indiana Jones movie clip that I have seen many times before where he is at a vast canyon and can’t see a way across…he doubts himself, then doubts (for the first time) if this journey is real, and then has to believe and have faith…he steps out and all is fine. God expects the same from us…He knows that we are gonna doubt ourselves, even doubt the people around us…maybe even doubt our whole journey…but the one thing that He asks us not to doubt is Him…step out…it may be scarey…but He is there to hold you right where you need to be!
Where’s Waldo?
I loved when I was smaller looking at those Where’s Waldo books. Ya know, the ones where this plain, dorky, normal looking little red and white striped shirt guy would be hiding in these huge scenes of things. Sometimes you would have to find him at the beach, other times it might be an amusement park or even a zoo. There were always tons of people around and always crazy scenes and senarios that drew your attention away from finding Waldo. I remember the last waldo book that I bought…You had to find Waldo in a whole mass of other waldos, only this time, he was the only one not wearing a shoe!!! I found him (after about 2 solid weeks of dedicated looking!!!) As I got older, that book is long gone, but there are still many times I know exactly how Waldo must have felt. So small. So plain. So far out of mind. Many times we think that we are little Waldo’s to God. We feel like “how can the God of the universe who hung the stars, moon, and planets, know exactly where I am and how I feel”. Well we arent alone in this. David himself said in Psalms 8:3 (Message Translation) “I look up to your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, moon and stars mounted in their settings…Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?” Maybe David was one of the first inspirations for the Where’s Waldo books with this thinking! God why bother with me, why even take a second look? What a connection I can make to that statement. A few years ago while going through some things, God answered my question. He said, “because I love you, and that is what a father does.” It wasn’t until recently that I understand that statement a little better, being a father myself. I love my son, I know my son, there is nothing in this world that would seperate me or make me forget my son. Did you know that God looks at us the same and even greater. He said that He knows the numbers of the hairs on our head (how’s that for intimate for ya) and He knows every waking thought (convinced yet?) He even came to this Earth and endured hardships, pain, suffering, mocking, and rejection. Think He knows where you’re at now? God said He knows even when a tiny, little sparrow falls from the sky…How great and how deep is His love for us?
