You Do You!

                Look around you any day and you will see people posting or reading social media sites.  Whether you love or hate social media, it is a part of all our lives.  Facebook is one of the largest sites that allow people to gather and express themselves.  It is full of groups of people looking for some common ground to connect on.  Case in point, just about every city has a “hip” page associated with it and everyone that has even the slightest connection to that city can join their page. 

                Normally I don’t have any problems with these “hip” pages.   But recently I have started to pull away from reading these pages because people are constantly trying to pick fights with their “neighbors”.  Christians are falling right into these traps at an alarming rate.  The other day on one these pages, a guy was looking for a “church” that was open to homosexual relationships, allowed women pastors and didn’t judge people for their beliefs.  This post did exactly what the person posting it wanted the outcome to be.  People that call themselves Christians started making comments and condemning this person for their way of life.  They were defending what they felt was right but instead caused a greater divide between God and the person posting.

                The bigger question I have to ask, why do we feel like we need to be the judge, jury and executioner of someone else’s decisions.  We are not qualified to fill any of those rolls, so we should allow God to be the one in charge.  When we take that approach and love our neighbor as our selves (Matthew 22:39), then we will no longer feel the need to tell people they are sinning.  We can give them the verses in the Bible and pray that they change their ways without creating a greater divide in their life.  God is the only one that can change a person’s desire. 

                So the next time you see a post on social media that you feel like condemning someone for, stop for a second and pray for God’s direction before you respond.  You will find out that when you allow God to direct you first, then your response will either be to leave it alone or plant the seed of change without driving a wedge between them and God.  But either way, God will be in control of the situation and you will know that you handled it in His way. 

                Lord, I pray for anyone that reads these words and has gotten into an argument on social media trying to “defend” your word.  You are the only one that can change the hearts of people and I pray you soften all our hearts.  Lord you taught us to love you first with all our heart, soul and mind and secondly, to love our neighbor as our selves.  So I pray that we can fulfill those commandments as we are entangled in the traps in this world and we allow You to flow through us to the people setting the traps.  Amen

Are YOU still there?

                Normally I use my blog to bring a message that is laid upon my heart in hopes of it finding someone that needs to hear that message.  But lately, it’s been hard for me to sit down and put anything down on paper.  The past year has taken a toll on me mentally, physically and spiritually.  The days pass at a lightning pace in a snail race.  I can’t remember what day it is because they are all the same now.  The things that made life normal are changed or don’t exist at all anymore.  It has made people ask me several times, are you still there?

                 2020 started off like any other year.  The first couple months were filled with the kid’s school and sports.  We were moving along without a care in the world.  Life was normal!  The normal all started to change for us in March.  A tornado ripped through the Nashville area taking out two of the schools that are in our county.  Thank God it happened in the middle of the night.  Had it happened during the day, the schools would have been filled with kids and there probably would have been several students and teachers lost.  That tornado knocked out power and phone service to the area for weeks leaving others to ask, are you still there?

                As if a tornado ripping up the city I live in was not hard enough, the world came to a screeching halt due to a mysterious illness.  The pandemic caused governments to shut down businesses and made it where everyone was to stay at home.  Schools were closed, jobs were lost and normal activities were stopped until the “experts” could figure out how to handle the virus.  The two weeks turned into month after month of waiting on answers from the powers that be.   There was never a clear directive on when things would go back to normal.  The mental stress of not knowing what to do or how this would affect people caused people to take drastic measures.  Families were cut off from each other for months on end. They didn’t know the emotional state of loved ones and asked again, are you still there?

                The year of tragedy hit very close to home as well.  My grandparents lost not one but both of their sons during the pandemic.  Both of them were not in the best of health, but they both passed away in a hospital alone.  A family of five was cut down to three in a matter of months.  Now my grandparents only have the pictures and memories to hold onto until they are reunited again someday in glory.  Life is too precious not to take a moment to tell your loved ones that you love them before you are asking for the last time, are you still there?

                As I said earlier, this past year has taken its toll on me spiritually as well.  And I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.  With all the shut downs and stay at home orders, the churches have closed to in –person services.  Most of them have done a good job adapting and going virtual, but church is more than a sermon and music.  Without the fellowship that goes along with church, are you really getting the most out it?  The past nine months, I have seen my walk slipping and my relationship getting weaker with every passing day.  I know this is a me problem but it still makes me ask the question, God, are You still there?

                 I don’t make resolutions at the beginning of a new year, but I will answer that question.  Yes, God is still there.  He never left.  I was the one that allowed the situations around me to pull me away from Him.  Instead of looking to Him for the answers, I turned away and asked are you still there?  I was looking in all the wrong directions instead of being still and listening to Him.  He is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow.  All we have to do is quit asking if He is still there and start listening for Him.  When we start listening for that still, small voice, we will probably here this simple question from Him.  Are you still there?

                I usually end all my posts with a prayer about the post and for anyone reading it, but not this time.  I am going to ask for prayer for myself and anyone else that needs help in hearing God today.  I would ask that if you need prayer, then message me or comment on this post so I can make a list and pass it on to the pastors I know.  I want to be able to have anyone that needs prayer to be added to a list to be prayed over.  Next time you hear, are you still there, I hope you can respond with Yes Lord I am. 

 

Missed Opportunities

                Have you ever been walking down the street and approached by someone asking for help?  Did you make your decision about helping them based on their appearance?  Did you act like you did not see them or did you give them the help they were asking for?  These are questions that can’t be answered the same way every time they are asked.  Every situation is different and how you respond will be different.  But when you feel like you should have given help and did not, then you have missed an opportunity to be Jesus to someone. 

                Missed opportunities happen every day and we don’t even realize that we missed the chance to minister to someone.  These chances come in all different forms and from all types of people.  The world has gotten so busy that we overlook the people that need help the most.  These people can be anyone from the homeless man on the corner to the single mom working three jobs to the billionaire business owner.  We never know when an opportunity will be presented to us and we should be prepared to meet people where they are in life. 

                One group that should be able to minister to the needy is churches.  But even churches have lost sight of being a hospital for the hurting and desperate people in the world.  The leaders of churches are causing people to turn away from Jesus rather than leading them to the cross.  The church is missing the opportunity to win more people for the kingdom by not responding to a need.  There are simple things that can make a major difference in the lives of hurting people.  A simple phone call, letter or text could change the mindset of someone that is searching for something greater in life. 

                There was an opportunity recently, for a church, which could have changed the course of the lives of everyone that was in the building that night.  There were two different events going on at the same time.  The first event involved all the pastors in the area to be part of a conference and dinner.  The second event was to feed and shelter several homeless men for the night.  Each dinner happened on opposite ends of the building with very little cross over between the two groups.  That is where the first missed opportunity happened.  The second opportunity happened after the homeless men had finished eating their dinner and one of the men stood up and prayed for God to bless the church and the people that were helping to run the shelter for the night.  Could you imagine if both dinners would have been done at the same time in the same room?  Then both groups could have been blessed by the presence of the other group.  The pastors could have been available to pray with any of the people that needed prayer. They could have also heard a heartfelt prayer from a man that was so thankful for a hot meal and warm place to sleep.  These opportunities don’t happen very often and when they do, then you better not miss them. 

                When we look back at the life of Jesus, we see hurting people that would do everything in their power not to miss the opportunity just to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe.  Jesus also did not miss an opportunity to heal a sick or hurting person.  He made sure everyone that needed Him; He was able to meet their need.  He wasn’t concerned about being late for an appointment or if there was enough food for everyone.  The only thing that concerned Him was making the most of every opportunity that was placed in front of Him. 

Reckless Love

                Kim and Joey had been married for a couple years.  Joey remembered the words the older couple had given him while they were still dating.  He loved his wife more than words could ever describe.  Soon this young couple would find that their love for each other would only grow deeper when they found out they were becoming a family of three. 

                June 18 became the happiest day of Kim and Joey’s lives.  They welcomed to the world a healthy and happy baby girl.  Their bundle of joy came into the world with a head full of hair and the attitude to match it.  She was a gift from God for the faithful couple and they couldn’t wait until they could show her off to the church. 

                As the weeks passed and the baby started to grow, Joey decided it was time for Christine to be dedicated.  All the planning was complete, the families were making arrangements and the church was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of seeing the beautiful baby dedicated in the same church that her father had been dedicated in many years before.  The date was only a couple weeks away and Joey and d Kim knew everything was going to be perfect for their baby girl.

                The dedication was only days away and Kim could hardly contain her excitement for that day.  She had spent the entire week preparing their house for the families to come over after service to finish celebrating Christine’s day.  As Friday was winding down, Joey decided to go get Kim’s favorite ice cream to help her relax from the week.  He would only be gone a few minutes and he never worried about leaving Kim at home with Christine.  He had faith in God that they would be safe while he was away from the house. 

                But this Friday was unlike any other day that the young couple had faced before.  Not long after Joey had left the house, a fire erupted in back part of the house.  Several of the neighbors were able to get Kim out of the house before it became completely engulfed in flames.  Once Kim was outside, she realized that no one had gotten Christine from her crib.  Without even thinking, Kim ran right back into the inferno that was her house to look for baby.  Her reckless love for her child completely outweighed her rational thinking.  She was determined to find her baby and save her life.  There was nothing that would stop her from getting to Christine.

                The minutes seemed like hours to everyone waiting outside.  Joey had returned to the horrifying thought that his wife and young daughter were still in the house.  The fire department arrived to extinguish the fire and more than likely recover the bodies of Kim and Christine from the ashes.  The only thing that Joey could do was pray that God would protect his family.  Once the flames were put out, the fire department started their search of the house.  They went room by room looking for Kim and Christine.  And with each room, there was no sign of either Kim or the baby.  Finally they made their way to the basement; the fire chief prepared Joey for the worst because he knew no one could survive the heat that swept through the basement.  The fire fighters made their way around the basement until they found a small hole in the rock foundation.  They expected to find two bodies badly burnt but were completely stunned when they found Kim and Christine still alive.

                The reckless love that drove Kim back into the burning house to save her child is the same reckless love that God has for us.  The parable of the lost sheep from the gospel of Luke describes the reckless love God has for us.  In our thinking today, leaving the 99 sheep vulnerable to predators to find the one lost stray is completely crazy.  It would be a reckless decision made by the shepherd to leave his flock for one sheep.  But to God, the one lost sheep is more valuable than all the others and He will do whatever it takes to bring us back to the flock. 

                There will always be fires in our lives and every time God will walk right through the flames to rescue us even when we set the fire ourselves.  God’s love may seem reckless to us but it is the same reckless love that causes a mother to do crazy things to protect their children. 

                Lord, thank you for showing us a love that seems reckless to us.  You have never hesitated to walk through the flames in order to rescue us.  You are Love.  Lord I pray for anyone that may be going through the fires of life right now.  You know who needs your reckless love right now, so I pray that You can bring them through the fire and make them stronger.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Everyone Has A Story

                Have you ever sat down and really thought about your testimony?  Do you know what you would tell someone if you had the chance to share your story with them?  Everyone that calls themselves a Christian has a story to tell and it should be able to tell it without thinking about it.  Your story, no matter how grand or routine, can and will help someone that needs to hear it at the time God gives you to tell it.

                When we read through the Bible, we find some very extraordinary testimonies from people like Abraham, Moses, Mary and Joseph, Jonah, and Paul.  We also get to imagine the testimonies of all the people that were healed by the touch of Jesus.  In every one of these people, we see a glimpse into the life of each and every one of them.  And just like all of them, we all have a story that allows people to see how the hand of God has changed each one of us. 

                My own personal story started pretty much like most kids that grew up in a church.  My grandfather was a minister and my grandmother was the children’s director, so they drug us to church just about every time the doors were open.  And we were usually the ones opening the doors.  With my grandfather being a preacher, we were held to a higher standard by almost everyone in the church.  These standards were hard to live up to and made it difficult to want to continue going.  So I eventually drifted away from the church. 

                As I got older and realized something was missing from my life, I made my way back to the church and back to the loving arms of God.  I was in my early twenties and was on top of the world or so I thought.  I spent time reading and praying every day, was teaching a children’s Sunday school class and was part of several Bible studies.  My life was engulfed with the love of God.  But that was also when Satan put more pressure on my personal life than I thought I could take.  I was trying to finish up my bachelor’s degree and keep everything else up as well, but the pressure finally pushed me to my breaking point.  Depression soon set in and I was ready to give up on life.  The more I tried to fake my way through life, the more depressed I would become.  Soon the church I was attending turned their back on me.  The church friends I thought I had would not talk to me.  I felt completely alone for the first time in my life. 

                I spent three years trying to fill a void in my soul with a party.  Monday night was poker night, Tuesday night was stay home with a bottle of moonshine or tequila, and Wednesday through Sunday was all filled with going to the clubs.  There were very few nights in that three year span that I didn’t drink alcohol to help mask the hurt.  Even on the nights that I said I was not drinking, I would still drink a six pack of beer.  There were more nights than I want to think about that to this day I don’t know how I wasn’t killed or worse yet I didn’t kill someone else.  During those nights, I didn’t care if I made it home or not.  There was something missing in my life and I was determined to fill the hole with alcohol and a party.

                Don’t get me wrong, during those years there were some very good things that happened as well.  And looking back on it now, God had a hand in keeping me alive and steering me back in the right direction.  Even though I was still living my life in the clubs and drinking, God had a plan for me.  He brought a woman into my life that eventually became my wife.  We soon had a family and things seemed to be finally starting feel right; but there was still something missing in my life. 

                It took a simple question from my young daughter to get me back on the right path.  We had gone to a family reunion at a local park and ran into an old friend of mine.  Her husband was the preacher that married my wife and me but we didn’t stay in contact with them much after the wedding.  They had a family and a church to run and we had a busy life with two young children, but that day she invited us to come visit their church.  I did what I always did when people invited me to church; I was polite and said we would try to check it out.  I had no intention of stepping foot inside their church or any other church at that time.  I would not allow myself to return to another hypocritical group of people.  But that all changed when we heard from the back seat of the car on our way home that afternoon a very simple question.  My very young daughter asked the simple question of, “can we go to church?”  That simple question not only got me back into a church but also started filling that hole in my soul.

                This is only the first half of my testimony.  I am living the second half out every day and there are mountains and valleys in my life that I have to deal with all the time.  My walk with Jesus is still a hard road to walk and Satan still knows how to bring me down and will do it every chance he gets.  My testimony is an ever evolving story that hopefully will one day help someone else make it through a rough season in their life.  Even with God right beside me every day, I still go through seasons of loneliness.  It is in those times that I have to remember that Jesus is right beside me and I have to lean on Him more in order to make it through the hard times.

                We all have a testimony that needs to be heard.  Your story could be similar to someone else’s story but they will never be the same.  It’s in the little differences that make your story relevant to the person that needs to hear it.  I ask everyone that reads this to leave their testimony in the comments.  I would love to hear how God is working in your life.   Maybe it is something you say in your comment that will save someone else.  So please share some or all of you story with us.

                “Lord, thank you for the testimony that you have given me.  I pray that someone reading my testimony will turn their life over to you or it will at least help them to know there is a way out of their situation.  Lord, I also pray for the people reading this and are willing to put their story out there for others to read.  If through all of this it reaches just one person and they turn to you, then You have made it worth it.  Thank you Lord for all the hard times and all the good times that have happened to me over the years, those are the things that allow me to have a testimony for others to hear.  In Your precious name I pray, Amen.”

Beach Repair

Have you ever walked down the beach very early in the morning?  Did you ever notice how the sand right at the water’s edge is always perfectly smooth?  As you walked down the beach, did you ever turn back to see your foot prints were gone just seconds after you made them?  As the ocean crashes down on the beach, the water stirs up the sand enough to erase all the marks that are made by man.  

                On our last trip to the beach, my daughter learned this phenomenon the hard way.  She decided to dig a hole close enough to the water to allow the waves to fill is up so she could sit in it.  She called it her hot tub at the beach.  What she did not realize was the ocean has a way of healing the beaches.  As she would quit digging and go play in the water, the waves would stir up the sand and started filling in her hot tub.  Several times she would dig it back out only to have her hole filled right back in again with sand.  Over the course of a couple hours, she finally gave up her digging and the ocean repaired the beach back to smooth again. 

                We are no different than the beach when we have God in our lives.  The world starts digging holes in our lives and we think that the scars will last forever.  There are times that people walk all over us and other times when someone just starts digging a hole right in the middle of our sole.  We see the effects of what they are doing to us and think there is no way we can ever be whole again.  When we turn the hurt and scars over to God, His love crashes over us in wave after wave until all the holes are filled in again.  Over time all the footprints from being walked on and all holes people have dug are erased.  God’s love for us gives us an opportunity to be completely made new again.

                Lord I pray tonight for anyone that has not seen the love that You have for them.  You are the great physician and You can cure the physical and emotional holes that the world digs into us.  Thank you God for repairing all the scars in my life and allowing me to be made whole again in You.  Amen

Eclipse of the Son

                August 21, 2017 was one those days that will always be etched in my mind.  That was a day when the world stood completely still for just a couple of minutes in Middle Tennessee.  August 21^st was a solar eclipse that passed through the area.  At the peak of the eclipse, I stood there listening to complete silence.  All the dogs in the yard, the chickens around house and the people watching all had a common thread, they were completely still and quiet.  The outside temperature dropped drastically during that period of time.  All of the automatic lights came on to light the darkness.  And for just a brief moment in time the sun had disappeared from the world.  The solar eclipse was in full effect in my life.

                An eclipse doesn’t only happen to the Earth, it can also happen to Christians on a spiritual level.  We walk in the light and feel the warmth of Jesus shinning all around us.  We go through life without even thinking about the possibilities that Jesus will not be shinning down on us.  And gradually the Son starts getting blocked out and we start to lose the Light.  But we continue to carry on with our life as if nothing is happening around us.  We are too consumed by the things we have to accomplish to realize that our world is getting darker. 

                Finally, the Son is gone from our view and the darkness has taken over our lives.  Everything gets very still and quiet.  We no longer have the desire to keep moving forward.  We are frozen in place.  The warmth from the Son has vanished and we are left in the cold.  We start to look for light from any place.  We turn to man made lights to replace the Light of the World and go off in the direction of those lights just to feel normal again.  We try to feel the void in our lives with anything that might give us temporary happiness.

        

              The solar eclipse only lasts for a short period of time.  Middle Tennessee averaged two minutes of total eclipse.  A spiritual eclipse doesn’t have a time table.  We can be without seeing the Son for a short period or it could last years.  We never know how long it will take for the Son to reemerge in our lives.  And when the sun starts to reappear from behind the moon, it makes a beautiful picture of a diamond ring.  That same picture describes the Son as He is allowed back into our lives.  Our soul is presented with the diamond ring and the promise that He was always there waiting on us to emerge from the darkness and back into the warmth of his Light.

                It has taken me several months to realize that I was walking in the dark.  My personal eclipse started over the summer of 2017.  I watched as my father-in law was being weakened by cancer.  His body was not responding to the treatments or the medicines and he was growing weaker by the hour.  Finally on August 11 God called him home.  I didn’t only lose my father-in law but I also lost a very dear friend.  The height of my eclipse happened in December of 2017.  It started out on the first day of December when my grandfather’s body finally grew too weak to carry on.  He was one of my mentors and one of the people that I looked to for help in many areas.  The darkness continued as Christmas came and the realization set in that two of the people I loved dearly would no longer be with us.  My soul was in a cold state and my life was filled with man made light.  I would sit in the church pews but my mind was everywhere else.  The spiritual eclipse was in full effect in my life.

                Thank you Jesus for always being there when I was in the darkness.  You are the Light of the World and as You reemerged from the darkness, I saw the diamond and received Your promise that You will always be there when I’m in midst of the darkness.  Lord I pray for anyone that is going through a spiritual eclipse.  I pray that they remember the promise that You are always there and that they find the Son light.  Amen