When Is It Time To Move On?

My blogging friends are giving up the business.  It makes me wonder when this blog will have run it's course.  I've considered shutting it down a couple of times - mainly because I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over.  Other times, I feel like new points are being revealed to me and I want to record them to look back on at some point.  

Forgiveness is back on my mind and surrender is on my mind.  A good friend shared a quote with me the other day that has me contemplating how well (or how not so well) I forgive.  Lewis Smedes is attributed with saying, "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."  Gandhi said, "The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."  I don't want to be a prisoner but I do want to be one of the strong.  It s something I still need to work on.

Forgiveness is the power of the cross, it's the final words before death to ourselves and new life.  Jesus exemplified this in his words, "Father, forgive them for the don't know what they are doing."  With that, Jesus was dead and so was the power of darkness over light, the power of bitterness over freedom, the power of hatred over love."  With complete forgiveness comes things that cannot exist without it, it brings life with joy and hope.  I need to forgive better.  I need, I want to forgive as the Lord forgave me (Colossians 3) because I believe it will lead to loving others like the Lord loves, seeing others as the Lord sees, having compassion as the Lord is compassionate, offering hope that the Lord offers me.  Today, I'm praying that I will have the strength and wisdom to forgive completely and freely.

Grace and peace to you.

Bug Guts Revisited

This is a post I wrote a year ago that has remained with me because of the message in it for me.  It had an impact on me that day and it's as meaningful today.  

Bug Guts

I'm driving home from Abilene and the windshield is a mess of bug guts and other stuff from the road that makes looking out the windshield a mess, not impossible to see but certainly not clear.  Add driving at a rate of speed that might just be a smidge over the speed limit and it's a recipe for a mess.  I can't see clearly but I'm still going 80-to-nothing (no, I wasn't going 90).  I seem to go through life that way too often.  Anyway, I'm rolling down the highway and all of the sudden I am driving through a downpour.  Buckets of rain are falling and I have to turn the windshield wipers on high to try and keep up.  I'm listening to the rhythm of the wipers and doing my best to see the lines on the road and then, poof, the storm is left behind.  It is then that I notice I am driving with a much cleaner and clearer windshield.


It's a true story but also a story of God.  I am speeding through life, going too fast, vision impaired and then I hit a storm.  As bad as the storm is, God uses it to slow me down and clean up with the windshield so I can see His desire for me more clearly.  The storm helped me, even though it caused some problems at the time, because it made me slow down, think and it helped clean my windshield so I could see my way more clearly.


Thank you God for knowing what I need, always better than I know myself.


Grace and peace to you.

Memories

This ain't a great day for me.  Last night I kept thinking about where I was on the same date many years ago and things I had done on this date.  The memories bring smiles and they bring tears.  

Last year at this time I was at ACU meeting some of the coolest kids I've ever met.  Allelon is their website I'm familiar with.  I'm not sure it's still the one they use but check it out.  It was a day that kept change in my life active.  

My son.  Baseball.  This weekend.  I. Can't. Wait.

Did I mention the Rangers look like they are headed back to the playoffs?  Good stuff.

I hope to do a better job living in what God has given me instead of spending too much time thinking about what Satan has taken away.  I've got so much more from God, so much promise and true hope, so much unconditional love and acceptance for who I am, warts and all.  I want to be better at being open to his presence in my life, every moment of it.  I want to be confident in my walk with him even when people don't understand it, I want to enjoy sabbath time with him even when events, people and my desires want to pull me one way or another, I want to have peace in my time of healing even as my head tells me to press ahead and go places I know deep down my heart isn't ready for.  I want to walk side-by-side with God instead of trying to make my own way in the world.  I've done it well at times and when I do, there is a beauty to my life that I can't describe.  It's where I want to be.

Grace and peace to you.

As The World Turns

Does life mimic soap operas or do soap operas mimic life?

I think I can find more villains in real life than I can in a TV show.  

I'm a bit grumpy right now.  I think it's based on a phone call I had today.  

"Can't we just all get along?" - Rodney King (social genius)  :)

I prefer to focus on the Texas Rangers right now.  They don't cause me to go deep.  They don't cause me to explore pain.  They don't cause me to cry out to God to open my eyes and my heart and to remove my anger and hatred.  It appears they are headed to the playoffs.  I draw for my playoff tickets on Thursday and will be accepting bids on Friday.  ALDS and ALCS tickets will need to start with 5 figures before the decimal.  World Series tickets will need to start at 6 figures before the decimal.  I'm not sure anyone is willing to pay that much but, if you are, I'll find a place to watch the game.  

Rick talked about hope on Sunday.  As he talked I thought about how flippantly I use the word "hope" so often.  I hope the iPhone 5 will be ready soon.  I hope I can get a new truck or Mercedes soon (I need those ticket prices to be high to support my style of living), I hope I have a good day.  I have hope for things that don't last and as I thought about it, I thought about the song that goes, "my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."  We ended up singing the song but I hadn't looked at the program so I just thought the song leader and me where the great minds thinking alike.  Anyhoo, hope built on Jesus' blood is a bit deeper and broader and weightier than an iPhone 5.  I want my hope to be about much, much more than things of this world.  I want to focus on and live in that deep and broad and weighty hope that marks my eternity.

Grace and peace to you.

Crazy Stuff and Homecoming

The following seems crazy to me:
This was Josey’s eleventh felony conviction, and his second for evading arrest. Other felony convictions include five felony DWIs, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of forgery by passing. The earliest conviction dated back to 1989. Sentences from previous convictions totaled more than 57 years, but he always earned an early release. In this case, he will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least half his sentence.
ELEVEN felony convictions and he's out on the streets.  I don't agree with the death penalty but I do agree with "do the crime, do the time" and this guy is constantly doing the crime and seldom doing the time.  Is Rick Perry's stance on crime "kill 'em or let 'em go"?

I'm not a Rick Perry fan.  I've heard good things about him from people I trust but I don't get good feelings about him as a leader.  If it comes down to Perry and Obama, Perry has the edge being from Texas.

Tonight is homecoming in Decatur.  I'm not a big fan of all the hoopla but I know lots of people are and thank their lucky stars they are not like me in many ways.  That said, it's pretty standard for the homecoming game to be played at home.  I was talking to someone about homecoming the other day and asked if they were going to the game.  "I don't know.  It depends on where they are playing."  Hmmm.  I haven't asked but I'm guessing they are playing it at home.  Cracked me up.

In talking with some friends the past few days, it seems we are all run-down; physically, spiritually and emotionally.  I'll end my week with this from Psalm 18, words of David that I want to be living out right now:
  ² The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield^[b] and the horn^[c] of my salvation, my stronghold.

Grace and peace to you.

Talking About God

My conversations have long been filled with sports, money, sports, girls and more sports.  And hunting and fishing.

Lately, I find my conversations are filled with more talk about God.  The odd part is that most of the conversations are with people I often spent time talking about sports, money, sports, girls, more sports, hunting and fishing.  And NASCAR. 

Why are we talking about God so much?  Well, the one thing we all seem to have in common is that something bad has come into our life and we finally reached a place where we had to be authentic, transparent, real with each other and we quit thinking we could hide from God and have started bringing him into our conversations as well as our lives. 

I spent part of Sunday afternoon talking with a new friend about God and the journey we were on and would have sat there for hours if time would have allowed.  I spent lunch on Tuesday talking with another friend and co-worker about God and discussing the revelations we both had as we read The Shack.  I sat on the porch of a house on Saturday talking with two of my dearest friends about something God is leading us to and how we are finding ways to go about answering the call. 

The talk is richer than all that other stuff, deeper than all of that other stuff, more rewarding and fulfilling than all that other stuff. 

I try to say as little as possible but if you want to get me talking, bring up God.  It's my most favorite topic.

Grace and peace to you.

The End Of One Soapbox, The Start Of A New One

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell

Why is surrender such a bad word?  Isn't it what Christ did in the garden?  Isn't it what he did on the cross when he said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"?  

I have to ask how often I am willing to surrender; my money, my time, my heart, pride of self, pride of citizenship, control...to God. 


I was talking with a good friend today about our desire to "react" when something happens to us.  Someone says something mean, we react.  Someone does something that hurts us, we react.  In his case, a parent provides alcohol to his and other minor children and my friend wants to go rip the guy's head off.  I understand that.  Had I been in the garden and they were coming to get me, I might have joined up with Peter and gone to swinging a sword around.  "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."

"Father, forgive Jeff because he so often doesn't know what he is doing."

When I surrender my will, I am more powerful.  When I surrender my money, I am richer.  When I surrender my time, I'm at peace.  When I surrender my life to God, I live more fully. 



Grace and peace to you.

More War Talk

An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

Some people are going to start to think I'm nuts.  Maybe I am.  I may be nuts but I'm also saddened by all the war/death references I see people putting on Facebook and other places who publicly call themselves Christians but want to take up arms against others.  The most recent two were women.  Now, I have to wonder if they are planning on enlisting and taking the battle to the enemy or if they want someone else to do it.  I did see one post about using unmanned planes but if you are going to go kill someone, isn't face-to-face the way to do it?  Just asking...


It is only the dead who have seen the end of war.
Plato

I'm afraid Plato might have it right.  I don't know if the fighting and killing will ever stop.  Sadly, it's usually not the youngsters who are old enough to be sent into the battle that are rattling the sabers but older folks who will stay at home and bemoan the death toll.  

What if we laid down our weapons?  What if the "bad guys" won the battle?  


What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
Gandhi

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children.
Jimmy Carter

Wars will come and it I'm quite confident this country will take up the battle.  So be it.  What I hate to see is those who say they follow Christ advocating war so staunchly.  War is evil and if the first thing from a person's mouth when dealing with someone who has hurt us is war, then evil has won.  This applies in our churches, our marriages, our schools, our work and our countries.  The day may come when I am placed in a position to defend myself and my children and I will have to make a call on that day.  Until then, I hope I will put love first.  

So many ascribe to the "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" mentality.  Jesus' last words on the cross were to forgive for the enemy didn't know what it was doing.  Jesus took God's side and allowed God to have the final say.  I hope I will be that strong.

Grace and peace to you. 

9/11

It's been awhile but not for lack of trying.  For some reason, I cannot post anything when using my normal Internet browser.  Technology can be such a frustrating thing.  Much like my blog for many readers.

As we remembered 9/11 yesterday, I was struck by the number of posts I read on Facebook about my friend's hatred for President Obama, Muslims and a host of other people who don't do things just the way my friends want them to do it and was reminded of a principle I learned reading The Shack and was reminded of yesterday as we studied Romans 15 and one of our Elders said, "remember when you are looking at someone you want to put your hands on and strangle, you are looking at someone that Jesus was willing to die for."  

I've too often been on the opposite side of God in my love for people.  He loves them and I'm ticked off at them and hoping for a piano to fall on their head.  If God loves Obama and I hate him, who's side am I on?  If God loves Muslims and I hate them, who's side am I on?  It doesn't mean I approve of what Obama or Muslims do.  It doesn't mean I approve of what many people do who I sit in church with on Sundays who don't act Christ-like the rest of the week either but God loves them and I want to be on God's side so I'm going to love them also.

When those who would be my brothers and sisters in Christ want to bomb, kill and maim anyone who doesn't agree with our way of life, I have to ask what way of life that is - the American way or God's way and which one is most important, which one should be the priority?  

I hope I will learn to love people even when I don't condone their actions or motives.  I hope I'll do a better job of praying for those who persecute me and my fellow man instead of hoping for bombs to rain down on them.  I hope I'll always remember the kingdom of God is where my true citizenship exists and that I'm just passing through as an American.  

I am thankful for those who protect us and keep us safe.  I honor them and pray for their safety and protection from those who would do them harm.  They have my support and I hope no one can doubt that or mis-hears how strongly I feel about those who serve our country in any capacity.  

Even while I support those who protect me from harm, I will not wish harm on those who would hurt me but pray that one day love will rule and that God will be the victor over all.

Grace and peace to you.