How Can I Keep From Singing

This has become one of my new favorites...

Grace and peace to you.

My Thoughts Are My Thoughts

Profund stuff, huh?  I found myself in a conversation the other night about why there are so many churches believing so many different things and as I gave answers to some of the questions I wondered how many of my answers are driven by my own thoughts of what God intends for us to know today as opposed to simply what God wants us to know today. 

I have grown up listening to and believing the things my preacher and my teachers told me the Bible said and spent far too little time knowing what God's Word said.  I've read some of the famous authors and the not so famous, studied commentaries and searched out what other people had to say but haven't spent near enough time reading and be quiet to hear what God wants me to know. 

My thoughts are not God's thoughts, at least not all of them, but I hope the coming days will find me spending more time reading from God's words and listening for what he wants to lay on my heart instead of being content hearing what the preacher has to say and leaving it at that.  While I think the man delivering the messages at my church does a great job, I know he would agree that only God himself can speak to me in the way only God can.  I simply need to listen.

Grace and peace to you.

#powerofGod

The Well

How long can I go without water?

Rich Little, in his sermon last Sunday, referenced a ranch in Australia that was so big it wasn't realistic to put up fences.  While some would worry their cattle would wander off, the rancher realized that the cattle wouldn't go far from a well that provided them water and that's how he keeps them home.

Rich went on to make an analogy that our churches should be the same.  We don't need things that divide us (fences) in our churches, we need water - the Living Water - the water that anyone can drink and not go thirsty.  If our churches are fountains of this well, we won't need to fear people wandering off because it's something essential they need.

Our disputes over music, communion, men, women, meeting times, meeting places...you can keep filling in the blanks...are not essential to knowing the love of God and being drawn to him.  The living water, the fountain of life, the truth and the way, that is what is essential and that is what can bring us to the same place.

Grace and peace to you.

Grief and Idols

I appreciate my friend Rick Ross so much.  One of the things I appreciate is his sharing of what he has learned through a extremely painful event in his life.  He's been speaking in class about some of the things he learned and he made a comment yesterday that has stuck with me.  I wish I could remember it exactly but I will give my rendition.  We must be careful we don't let what we grieve become an idol in our life.

I'd never thought about something I lose becoming an idol but it's true.  I have likely come close at times to letting something I grieve become an idol, become something that I hold more dear than anything else, something I could almost worship by giving more attention and focus to what I lost than what God wants to give me.  

What if you lost all your money?  

What if you lost your health?

What if you lost your spouse?

What if you lost your child?

Would the loss of any of those things consume you?  For some people a loss can do just that - consume them.  What a dangerous situation that can sneak up on me if I'm not aware, not prepared for how a loss can transform my life.  

I appreciated the reminder of how to keep life in perspective and keep God in focus for my life.  

Grace and peace to you.

Following God...A Borrowed Post

I found this yesterday while catching up on a few blogs I read.  I was thinking about the power of God and as I read this, I was reminded that for me to experience the power of God, I have to let God work in me and let go of the things I want hang on to or control in my life.

Vicious Cycle

Grace and peace to you.

#powerofGod

It's a hashtag I used on some of my tweets on Sunday because the power of God and how he uses people began to overwhelm me.  

My friend Rick said some powerful things about grief in class today.  More on that another day.

My church family gave over $161,000 for our special mission offering.  More on that in a few lines.

Rich Little, a visiting preacher, spoke some powerful words about the power of God to use people.  More on that another day too.

Here's the power of God story for today.  I may have shared some of this before - too tired to go back and look right now.  Anyhoo...

Several months ago a teenage boy asked me how we came up with our budget for Missions Sunday.  Normally it's around $25-30,000 because that's what we have "felt" like we could muster and be "successful".  (Notice the words in parenthesis?  Those are human concepts.)  The teenager asked me why we didn't set it at $100,000 and see what happened.  I didn't say much at the time but the question wouldn't leave my mind.  He later told me he had heard the question from another adult in a youth class but the question didn't leave him either.  The question and the amount stayed with me until the Sunday when we were setting our missions contribution goal and I told our committee the story and the question.  Guess what?  We set our goal at $100,000.  We have prayed and we have answered questions and we have responded that we couldn't reach that amount with anything we could reason, it would be a God-thing.  

On a weekend where we had seen the first good rain in a long, long time, water wasn't the only thing that poured down from the heavens.  The Spirit of God was at work and our congregation gave $161,000 - over 3 times what we've ever given on Missions Sunday and well over 10 times our normal weekly contribution.  

I told the teenager and I told members of our youth group that they will never know the power they have to affect generations with the Gospel of Christ.  The boy hearing the question and asking the question turned a thought into real dollars and lots of them that will be used to take the Good News around the world and to possibly affect members of families for time eternal.  A simple question.

God takes a simple question asked with good intentions and turns it into something no one was prepared for.  I stood in a room of men, many with tears in their eyes, as they looked at the numbers on the adding machine because God uses us when we might not expect, might not even know it.  It sure makes me want to be open and ready for whatever God has in store because it's something greater than I'll come up with on my own.

#powerofGod

Grace and peace to you.

More On Jobs

Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford is everywhere.  He said some really good things, some really motivating things and something that made me stop in my reading tracks and go back to what it said.  I suggest reading the whole speech but read the following excerpt with me.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.


Did you catch the first two sentences?  No one wants to die.  Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.  WOW!  The sad part to me is that I think he is right on based on many conversations I've had.  I have heard several sermons and many class discussions and plenty of conversations about how wonderful heaven will be but so many people don't want to go.  What will happen to this?  Who will take care of that?  What about the kids?  These conversations go on like we have all the control over all these factors and we have the best plan and it sure makes it seem that when some talk about the almighty power of God they must not believe it.

Jobs missed the mark on me.  I want to go to heaven and I'm ready to go NOW.  I trust that God will take care of my kids in ways I never will.  I trust that God will make a path for things to work how he, the creator and author of life, knows is best.  That path might be that I don't get to go to heaven anytime soon, that he has plans for me here in this dark place.  So be it.  I simply ask that he open my eyes, my mind and my heart to what he has in store for me.  If that's to claim my reward, let's get rolling.  If it's to stay here and be the hands and feet of Jesus for another day, I will trust him.

Grace and peace to you.

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs passed away earlier today.  He's one of those people I wish I knew.  He saw things differently than most people.  He was willing to follow his heart and take risks.  He changed lives in many ways, lives of people he never knew and his innovations will likely touch generations.  I was a Mac-hater for many years because I didn't understand them.  Once I got a taste, I became a Mac devotee and it's all I want to use these days.  

I hope when I'm gone someone can say similar things about me except that it will be in the context of people's souls instead of things of this world.  I respect Jobs' for what he did for the computing world and it seemed something he poured passion into at all times.  I hope I can do the same in this world but even more so in things that are not of this world.  I hope God will use me to change lives, to affect generations and to make people's lives, both here and in eternity, better.

I have no idea of what Jobs' relationship with God was but I hope he is strolling heaven and enjoying what life "on the cloud" is really like.

Grace and peace to you.

The Most Risky Profession | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

The Most Risky Profession | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Interesting article.

It's never far from my mind how I spent years filling a church pew, doing the "right" things and never really knowing God. I can't help but wonder how many people in church services are there because it's the "right" thing to do or participate in activities because it's the "right" thing to do. I'm not judging them, only reflecting on the question of whether anyone else is in the same position I was, playing the part instead of being the disciple. I don't want to step foot in a church or take part in an activity related to a congregation because it's the "right" thing to do. I have and will continue to pass on being busy in favor of knowing I am seeking God's will. Some may think my distinction is a matter of semantics but I know, for me, it's a matter of following my heart for God. I hope my pride or my "right"eousness ever gets in the way of my pure and unadulterated service to my Lord. I have so far to go to be the child I want to be but it simply starts with another step forward each day. If I'm willing, he will make the lead me on the path.

Grace and peace to you.

Gifts

It's been a weekend of reminders and something I needed to be reminded of.  I have been given many gifts and sometimes the gift is taken away.  It's in those moments I make a choice - will I resent losing the gift or will I be thankful for the time I had? 

Anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, loneliness...all emotions that are normal and reasonable to a point but there is another point when these emotions become weapons of destruction.

Last night I had to make a choice.  Do I hang on to resentment for a gift that I was having to give up for a time or do I want to given thanks and rejoice for the hours I was able to spend with these gifts?  It is so easy for me to wallow in the pain and hurt but I don't want to live that way. 

Some gifts are mine forever and some are mine for just a season.  Will I let the loss of a gift cause me to simply focus on what I've lost and forget about the eternal gifts I have? 

Nothing in this world is forever.  It's a temporary place and I need to be reminded to treat it that way. 

In doing so, I can rejoice for the time I've had and know that a better day is still ahead.

Grace and peace to you.

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.

Traveling Man

I'm thankful for a safe and fairly uneventful trip. Our plane into Miami was delayed and we had to hustle to meet our connecting flight and wondered if our luggage was hustling as fast as we were and it all worked out. My hotel room in Aracaju may be the darkest room I have ever stayed in. It's odd being in South America because being winter, it's dark at 5:00. They have had a lot of rain and we just missed a big downpour today that was flash flooding some of the streets. Sleep has been elusive and I hope Thursday night's rest is good and prolonged. It always surprises how I miss Texas and feel so far away from everyone when I make a trip like this. Maybe it's because I can't just pick up my phone and make a call or send a text.

I'm not like you. You are not me. I've been struck lately how some people often try to make someone else out to be like them. It's a little perplexing why it happens when it happens and it's a bit frustrating at times. I don't like being treated as if my personality and thoughts and desires are the same as someone else.

Here's hoping for some great days in Aracaju and 5 seemingly short sleeps until I'm back home in my bed and around people I know and love. In the meantime, I pray that God will do powerful things through me and in me while I'm here.

Grace and peace to you.