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

Thank God for Cancer

                How many times has someone gone to the doctor for a routine check up or a minor injury that would not go away?  And how many times have they received the worst possible diagnosis from those routine visists?  The diagnosis that they don’t want to hear is cancer.  In 2016, an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed and approximately 600,000 people lose their battle with this horrible disease.  And that is just in the United States alone.

                Unfortunately my family is not immune from those statistics.  On August 11, 2017, my father in law lost his battle with cancer.  He fought the disease until the very end.  Even when the doctors gave him little hope of surviving being taken off the vent, he fought for two more days.  And in those days he was able to tell the family that he loved them.  He slipped from this world holding his wife’s hand after telling her that he loved her one last time.  He was finally able to rest.

                Cancer stole him from this world before we were ready to let him go, but it also gave him an eternal life.  My father in law was a good man.  He would go out of his way to help people and make sure others had the things they needed.  On many occasions he gave hurting people money to buy food or pay a bill. He would give them food out of his own freezer to make sure they ate.  It was not uncommon for him to give someone a ride to help them get to work.  But even with all the good deeds, he realized something was missing.  As he lay in the hospital one afternoon, he was led to 

Jesus and accepted Him as his personal savior.  And now he is walking the streets of gold.

                But his story is not that much different from thousands of others that come to Jesus.  They go through life being a good person, helping the sick and poor and feel they are making a difference in the world.  They make their own way and rely on their hard work for everything they have.  God becomes an afterthought right up until the realization hits them they can’t overcome their situation.  Then God, in that still small voice, starts talking to them and they find their way into His presence.  They finally accept that He gives them a way to win the war.  They may lose the battles in this life but they win the war over death.  And they are awarded the same reward as someone that has been in the presence of God all their life.

                Mathew 20:1-16 shows us that everyone is given the same reward no matter when they come to Jesus.  It reads, “1 For the kingdom of heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. 3”At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw people standing around doing nothing.  4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right the end of the day.  5 So they went to work in the vineyard.  At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.  6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around.  He asked them, “Why haven’t you been working today?”  7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’  “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’ 8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first.  9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.  10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more.  But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.  11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’ 13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair!  Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage?  14 Take your money and go.  I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.  15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money?  Should you be jealous because I am kind to other?’  16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

                God doesn’t care when you accept Him, He just wants to fully accept Him.  Like most things in life, it’s never a good idea to procrastinate but your reward will still be waiting on you.  Thank you Lord for always knocking on the door our hearts waiting for us to allow You in.

Taboo Gift

                Walk into just about any traditional church in America and you will get just about the same response from every congregation when the subject of alcohol is brought up.  Drinking alcohol is a sin and you should abstain from taking a drink.  One of the most often things said when it’s pointed out that Jesus drank wine is the wine back then is like grape juice today.  These statements are not only false but they are not even Biblical. 

           

     So what is the truth about drinking alcohol?  David says it best in Psalms 104:13-15.  It reads, “13 You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.  14You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for the people to use.  You allow them to produce food from the earth—15wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength.”  God provided us with the fruits to be able to enjoy His gifts.  Ecclesiastes 9:5-8 tells us that God approves of drinking of wine for enjoyment.  The NLT translation reads, “5The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing.  They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.  6Whatever they did in their lifetime—loving, hating, envying—is all gone.  They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.  7So go ahead.  Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!  8Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!”  Clearly drinking wine is not a sin nor should it be seen as taboo in the church.   

                When we dig a little deeper on the subject, we find that Jesus drank wine in celebration.  The first miracle Jesus performed in front of disciples was to turn water into wine at a wedding celebration.  This miracle was recorded by John (John 2:1-12) and caused the disciples to believe more in Jesus.  But if wine was a sin, then why would Jesus choose turning water into wine as His first miracle?  Wine has always been used in celebrations and other gatherings throughout the Bible.  The last super that Jesus shared with the disciples, Jesus took a glass of wine and passed it around as a symbol of the blood He would shed for our sins. 

                These are just a couple of examples of wine being consumed in the Bible.  But does that mean we are free to drink without consequences?  Just as with any gift that God gives us, Satan can take that gift and turn it into a sinful act very quickly.  And the Bible warns us not to become drunkards.  Ephesians 5:18 says, “Don’t be drunk with wine, because it will ruin your life.  Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”   So there is a fine line in enjoying the gifts of God and allowing that gift to become a sin.

                God gave us the gift of wine for our enjoyment and to be consumed in moderation.  It is completely up to us individually to choose whether or not to have a drink of alcohol.  And if God convicts you about consuming wine, that does not mean that it is a sin for others to have a drink.  We have to be very conscious of the message that we are telling others when we judge them for their choices on alcohol.  Wine is a gift from God and needs to be treated as such. 

                Lord, thank you for providing all the gifts You want us to have.  I pray for the Christians that judge others because they feel alcohol is a sin.  Lord only You have the power to judge us for our choices.  Lord, I also pray for the brothers and sisters that struggle with alcohol.  In Your name I pray, amen.

               

                

Six Inches

             

  There are many things that come to mind when I think of half of a foot.  Six inches made the difference when the Tennessee Titans were in the Super Bowl.  If the receiver could have stretched just six more inches, then they would have won a title.  Around lunch time every day, you can see people flooding sandwich shops looking to feel their stomachs with a six inch sub.  The phone you carry is probably about six inches long (unless you are me and you need the bigger screen).  A dollar bill is around six inches long.  So in the grand scheme of things six inches is a very small measurement unless you break it down and then it becomes a pretty important part of life.

                Six inches also could mean the difference in life and death.  I have a friend that can testify to how half of a foot meant that he could tell me the story.  He was inspecting a roller coaster and fell off of it.  When he hit the ground, he broke bones and was injured, but he was alive.  The piece of ground that he fell on was about six inches from a concrete sidewalk.  Had he been over just a few inches, then his head would have hit the concrete instead of landing on the grass.  So six inches meant everything to him that day. 

                Eternal life and eternal damnation can also be measured in six inches.  When you measure the distance from your head to your heart, it measures about six inches in length.  Jesus is a very well known historical person.  You can do the research and find Him without any trouble.  All the Jewish leaders knew who Jesus was before they put Him to death.  They all used their heads and never allowed Jesus into their heart.  The disciples on the other hand got to know Jesus with their heart.  They followed Him because they wanted the relationship with Him.  They decided that the relationship with Jesus would ultimately lead to eternal life.

                The choice is the same today as it was then.  You can be like the Jewish leaders and know Jesus with head or like the disciples and know Him with your heart.  Knowing Him with your head will lead to Him telling you depart from me, I know you not.  While building a relationship and allowing Jesus into your heart will gain you an eternal life.  And you will hear the sweetest words to ever be spoken, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” 

                So six inches in worldly terms is a very small distance, but could have lasting effect on you.  But in the eternal life, six inches is the greatest gap ever to be seen.  Don’t allow half of a foot to cause you to be separated from God.  You have an opportunity today to go from knowing about Jesus to Jesus knowing you.  All you have to do is develop a relationship with Him.  He will stay closer to you than any other person you know.  He will be there when you are down and feel like no one loves you.  Even when you go through the dark times in your life, Jesus will still be right beside you.  So the real question that needs to be asked is, how big is six inches?

                Lord, thank you for putting people in my life to show me how important six inches can be.  I pray that six inches doesn’t keep anyone from the eternal life that You have promised to all of us.  Lord I pray for anyone right now that knows about You, but has not allowed You to get to know them.  I pray that the six inches between their heart and head is not what stands between them hearing well done and depart from me.  I pray that anyone reading this, which is not in a relationship with you, find someone to pray with them about their salvation.  Thank you Lord for allowing me to continue writing the things that You put on me to write.  In Your precious name I Pray, Amen.