And Yet...

How do you handle difficulties in your life?

Pretend they aren't there?  Paint a smile on your face and continue about your business as if it weren't really happening, wearing a mask to hide the pain from all the people around you who expect you to be and do and say all the right things, all the things they are not and all the things that they hope they can be?

Or maybe you're a controller?  Our pastor was saying this evening that one of the things we all try to do when trials present themselves is control the situation.  We try to fix it.  Are you a fixer?  Do you work and work and work and work in the hopes that maybe, one day, some time you might be able to fix it enough so that it won't hurt anymore?  Maybe one day it might actually go away and not be a problem for you?  In your own strength?  In your own way?

Anybody out there a wallower?  You face the problems of this world and you don't see any need to fix them or control them.  Why even bother trying to pretend they aren't there?  You're a realist!  You know pretending won't make them go away and trying to fix them won't take care of it either!  And so you sit.  You sulk.  You wallow in the misery of your problems and prey on other people to have pity on you, to sit down with you and hear you talk about all of your issues.  You slosh around in the sludge and grime of your tribulations and try to bring as many people down into the depths with you as you can.  Why be sad all alone?  I can bring all my friends too!

I was reading in the Psalms last week and came across a verse I recognized, but from a different portion of the Bible - the New Testament to be exact,

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?  Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest."  Psalm 22:1-2

Those are David's words.  He's going through a trial, apparently so difficult that he finds himself feeling as though God had abandoned him.  It's so difficult, and his words so fitting, that Jesus quotes this same Psalm in Matthew as He is hanging from the cross.  Is it wrong to feel that way?  No, I don't think so.  I think it's a natural part of life to have ups and downs.  There are times when we feel we're on top of the world and everything is going great.  There are times when we feel we're in the lowest of valleys and everything is going wrong.  David is expressing emotions here that we all have felt or will feel at some point in our lives.  Here's the difference - David's response is so radically different from what we feel naturally inclined to do.  Check out the following four words:

"Yet you are holy..."  Psalm 22:3a

We flawed, sinful people all go running to our solutions that we hope will make us feel better (I to my fixing), and David responds to a trial (one that makes him feel forsaken entirely) by praising God for His holiness.  On top of that, I feel like David is revealing a deeper understanding that He has of our God and Father.  David understands that trials are temporary - they don't last forever!  He understands that trials are for our benefit - they grow us and stretch us to be in more intimate relationships with the Lord.  More importantly, however, David understands the ultimate purpose of any trials that we may go through - God's glorification.

David's trial is so intense he feels forsaken - yet God is holy.
Jesus is going to the cross and feels the same way David did - yet God is holy.
You're stressed at work, you feel unaccomplished, you feel like a failure - yet God is holy.
Life has you down, situations are escalating, you're depressed about all of it - yet God is holy.
Your future is uncertain and you don't know the next step to take, you're scared - yet God is holy.


Are you noticing a pattern here?  It doesn't matter what life throws at you.  It doesn't matter if you have the best job in the world and you're on top of the highest mountain or if every situation seems to mount against you and you've sunk down into the lowest valley you could ever imagine.

God is holy.  He loves you.  He has your best interest at heart.  He is taking care of you and watching over you and lifting you up and carrying you when you can't walk anymore.  He is saying to you,

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Take joy in that truth.  Find peace in the lightness of His burden.  Experience true rest.

Footsteps

There's this new thing that Isabella has been doing lately.  She really likes to grab our various pairs of shoes and put them on her feet.  Clunking around in shoes far too large for her is a funny thing to behold indeed!  I watch her try to take normal steps and not even be able to lift her feet from the floor.  Then, she changes approaches.  Instead of her usual big steps, she attempts to shuffle along just a few inches forward at a time.  The result is trip-step-shuffle combination that is silly and wonderful all at the same time.

A couple of days ago, however, she was beginning to do this same thing again - the putting on of a pair of my shoes - and something hit me.  Do you ever have things do that to you?  You're watching a completely normal thing, but some deeper meaning suddenly breaks through, capturing your attention and throwing your whole mind in the direction of that idea?  It happens to me pretty frequently, and this day was no exception.

How fitting is it that the child we are trying to raise in a Christ-filled home and Christ-like manner, the child who is figuratively going to follow in our footsteps, is literally wearing our shoes around the house?  It was almost overwhelming the way it became so apparent to me and the persistance with which it stuck to my heart.  I've been thinking about it ever since and the application that it should have on our lives, on my life.  This realization, this epiphany of sorts, started me thinking about my own legacy and what kind of life that I lead.  What footsteps am I taking?  What impressions am I leaving in which our daughter will follow?

Here's the thing - regardless of how I live my life, Isabella will emulate it.  Regardless of how much I sacrifice my minuscule self for my magnificent Christ or how much of my selfless Jesus I sacrifice for my selfish wants and desires, Isabella is going to see that example and shape herself into a pretty accurate reflection of the example she's seen, without even realizing it.  It's being modeled every day in our home, in our car, in our conversations, in our relationships, everywhere.  How could she not?

I suppose the question is, what am I going to do about it?  Ever since I began thinking in this direction, it's made me scared of what I say and afraid to do anything wrong.  Now, God doesn't call us to live in fear.  He doesn't want us living afraid to do or say anything because we might mess up.  He already knows we're sinful.  He already knows we're messed up.  I'm going to say and do things that I'll wish I could take back, things that I can't ever take back and things that I can't ever erase from Isabella's memory.  But this I do know - "...for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."

No matter how well I live or how badly I mess up, God will work things for good.  More importantly, God will glorify Himself.  That is His priority above anything else, anyway, so why can't He use my mistakes to teach a lesson or my own life lessons to give encouragement?  He can.  He will.  It's how He works - through His people.

"I may live and I may die, either way You're glorified.  Bless the day I give my life away."

-- Christy Nockels -- 

Prayer

I wonder sometimes if people on the outside think we're crazy.  By 'we' I mean Christians and by 'people on the outside' I mean anyone else.

I mean, from their perspective we all talk to someone nobody can see and eat the flesh and drink the blood of some guy who used to be alive but came out of the grave to walk the earth again.  Sounds like some psycho cannibalistic zombie movie to me...

The amazing, incredible, awesomely-good thing about Christianity is this - IT'S NOT CRAZY AT ALL!  I won't go into every single detail of why Christianity is not a religion full of crazy people, mainly because I would never do it enough justice and would probably hurt the cause for Christ more than I would help it (If you want a good book on the subject, go check out The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel.  He's a converted atheist and he's amazing!).  However, there is one aspect of Christianity that I get the chance to think a little deeper on every so often.  It's a part of my faith that I can never get enough of, don't do nearly as frequently as I should/would like, and yet love almost as much as the fact that I am freed from the burden of sin forever.  It's prayer.

No, we as Christians don't talk to ourselves or some unseen nobody.  We talk to Someone who is much greater than that, and He talks back to us through His inspired Word.  We talk to the God of the universe, the Maker of all things that are seen and unseen, the Alpha and Omega, the One Way, Truth and Life against which everything in life is weighed and measured.

Even better than that - who'd've thunk there could be anything better?! - He listens to us!  He takes the time to hear every prayer that we offer up to Him.  The Bible describes our prayers as 'sweet incense' to the Father.  They are precious to Him just as we are precious to Him.  It pleases God for us to pray to Him and it pleases Him to listen to us.

Here's the part I can never get over.  Even though the Bible says that God answers prayers, people still complain that 'He didn't answer my prayer' or 'My mom still died of cancer even though I prayed for her healing.'  Even though the Bible says that God is just and kind, loving and merciful, full of grace, the great healer, people still complain that God never did anything for them.  Long story short, the fact that you're still alive and breathing is more than He ever had to do for you, and He didn't even have to do that!  The point I'm so laboriously coming to is this - prayer is a great communication tool but it's an even greater learning tool.  I've seen God teach me so much through the discipline of prayer.  I've heard so many stories of what God taught other people through the act of praying.  Consider these questions and their answers:

What is the ultimate purpose of God?  To glorify Himself.

What is the ultimate purpose of man?  To glorify God.

See a cure for cancer anywhere in there?  Do you see God giving you a million dollars anywhere in there?  Do you see promises of anything related to you in there at all?  NO!  And why not?  Because as amazing as it is that God blesses us and offers us grace that we don't deserve, His goal is still to bring glory to His own Name.  So, prayer works the same way.  Prayer is useful for a lot of things, but ultimately it's to bring God all the glory that He is due.

The closer we grow to God, the more He will strip away our desires and replace them with His own.  The closer we grow to God, the more He will tear away our wants and needs and replace them with His wants and needs.  God is slowly teaching me that as self-seeking and sinful as I can be, He wants to be glorified that much more.  And so God continues to teach.

He is showing me that maybe my prayer shouldn't be that cancer be healed but that someone's soul would be healed instead.

He is showing me that maybe my prayer shouldn't be that I have the winning argument, but that I would learn patience when talking to people who believe differently than I do.

He is showing me that maybe my prayer shouldn't be for someone else to come apologize to me, but that I should go and initiate the apology.

Instead of looking at prayer as a 'gift list' today, try looking at it as a classroom. What is God teaching you through prayer?

Stories

A friend of mine teaches sixth grade math, I think in the Delta.  He posted this story on Twitter yesterday.  I changed the names for the sake of privacy.


"My conversation with the student I sent to alternative school that I ran into at Walmart:
Billy:  Hey, Mr. Smith!
Mr. Smith:  Hello there, Billy.
Billy:  You know I'm in alternative school?
Mr. Smith:  Yes, I'm aware...how is it?
Billy:  It's fun!  You can buy Mountain Dew.
Mr. Smith:  Yes, that is fun.  How's your math going?
Billy:  94
Mr. Smith:  That's great, Billy.  What are you studying now?
Billy:  I'm suspended right now.
Mr. Smith:  Why is that?
Billy:  I drew a star.
Mr. Smith:  Seems like there is more to that story...
Billy:  with a knife...on Johnny.
Mr. Smith:  There it is...Well, good talk.  I'm leaving now."


I'm still deciding whether that makes me want to laugh or cry, although I'll probably end up doing both by the end of the day.  Either way, it's a call to pray for the state of the world we live in, for the souls of all the lost people who have never accepted Christ or haven't even heard the Gospel in the first place.


Especially in this Easter season, when we remember that Jesus went to the cross for our sins and celebrate that He rose again on the third day, what are we doing to share the great love of Christ that we have so undeservingly received?  When's the last time any of us shared our story of how Christ changed our lives, how He pulled us out of the darkness and into the light, how He made us new creations in Him?


Sure, this story was meant to be funny - if you only knew the guy it happened to!  But what if we used it as a catalyst for change?  What if we use it as inspiration to go out and do something to influence the world for Christ?  What if we further the Kingdom of God because of it?


Love the people you meet today.  Tell them your story of life change.  People may not necessarily ask you for more information, they may not want to hear you, and you may never even see them again, but you'll have planted a seed.  You will have begun what Jesus commanded us to do before He left this earth,  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..."

Glorifying Self

Does anyone else feel really good inside when people praise you for something you've done?  Maybe you did a great job on a project at work and you get a raise, a bonus, or a party thrown in your honor.  Maybe you accomplish something that has been a goal for quite some time and people celebrate that with you.  Whatever the case, getting praised for something feels good, doesn't it?


That said, reading this morning convicted me about that very thing.  I try not to, but a lot of the time I catch myself trying to do something that earns someone's praise.  I try to be better than everyone, or be the first to do something, or have all the right answers.  I even look for situations where I can offer my opinion on an issue or dilemma that someone has in the hopes that people will recognize and praise my intelligence and wit.  To be honest, the pride in me really wants to receive praise.


Now, don't get me wrong - praise is a good thing!  Praise can encourage a person when they're feeling down.  Praise can be a motivator for further good deeds.  Praise gives our Father in heaven the glory He deserves from us, of which we can never give enough.  Praise is an incredible word with a lot of application to our everyday lives.


The problem is when we seek out praise.  When I find myself doing things not because of the good that they are but because of the praise I will receive, that's a problem.  When I discover that I accept the praise for something as if I deserved it instead of pointing it back to God, that's a huge problem.  It can even be classified as idolatry - I'm placing me above God.


Jesus said in John 8:54, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing."


Did you get that?  Jesus - the one Man who lived a perfect, sinless life on earth, the one person who was fully Man and fully God at the same time, the one Man who actually deserved glory because He was the Son of God - said, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing!"


Jesus understood that unless His Father received the glory, it meant nothing.  It was worth nothing.  It was a waste of time.  Unless the praise we receive is seen through the lens of glorifying God, we may as well have not received any praise at all.  That's why Jesus says in Mark 8:34-35, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses himself for my sake and the gospel's will save it."  Our job here on earth is to completely give up our wants, our desires, our fancy jobs, our beautiful houses, our very lives for the sake of glorifying God.


If you give up those things for the sake of Christ, will God still bless you with them?  Maybe.  Probably.


Will it be worth it even if He doesn't give them to you?  Infinitely so.


I'll end with the perfectly fitting lyrics of Selah's song 'Glory'

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers You praise

With every hand raised

Singing Glory

To you and unto you only

We'll sing Glory to Your name

Known

Sometimes I feel like I can't be good enough for God.  I know I really can't be good enough, not on my own anyway, but do you know what I mean?  Do you ever feel that way?  I get this feeling that I'm dirty and sinful, and I'm sure that it's the devil attacking me and trying to bring me down, but I even think, "How could God ever love a person like me?"  It can get overwhelming at times.


BUT, the incredible thing about God is that He knows exactly what I'm going through.  


And it's not a "I-know-what-you're-going-through-even-though-I've-never-been-there-myself-and-I'm-just-pretending-to-empathize-with-you" kind of understanding.


He's saying to me, "I've been in your shoes.  I know your struggles and I want to help you through them."  It's that kind of understanding.  What a peace it brings for me to think about and meditate on.


Anyway, I was kind of in that kind of funk a few days ago and I started to notice a few things in my Bible readings each day.  It was so clear that it may as well have painted a picture for me.  The details were unbelievably vibrant.


The first verse I came across was John 2:25, which reads, "...for He Himself knew what was in man."  It was this immediately relevant passage that truly spoke into my heart.  It was as if God  gently reminded me that Jesus knew what He was getting into when He came to earth.  He knew what man was like.  He even knew me.  He knew my character traits, my personality, my good qualities and my bad ones.  He knew that I would have great days of praising and glorifying the Father and He knew that I would have terrible days filled with mistakes and sin.


At the very beginning of His ministry, "He Himself knew what was in man."


Astonishing!


In addition to that, He even told everyone that He knew our flaws:


"For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."  John 3:20


He knew them!  He knew that we were sinful and He knew that we would even run from the light because of our sin, and yet...and yet...


He still went to the cross.


He still died for our sins.


As He took His last breath, He still said, "Father, forgive them."


I don't know what kind of love could possibly possess a man who knows the sins of the world and would still die for that very world, but I know that is a love I want to permeate my life.  That is a love I want to share with others.  And that is a love I want to completely overwhelm me and break me to the point of sacrificing my whole life for the glory of God.


I'm praying that you encounter that very same love in such a deeply intimate way that it radically alters your frame of mind, that it changes you to the very core of who you are, and that it moves you so that you can do nothing else with your life but shout it to the nations.


As I am reminded of Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" I am also encouraged that it is good to be known by that kind of God.

Waiting

Sometimes when you go to the doctor, you end up in the waiting room longer than you spend in the examining room. Once you get back there, the doctor gives you the once over, asks a couple of questions, writes a scrip, and you go on your way thinking, "Did I just pay THAT much money for two minutes with a doctor?"

Doesn't make sense, does it? I know it doesn't to me. Here's the cool thing - while with doctors it may not make sense, with God it does. For me, more often than not, the solution is found in waiting for Him rather than meeting with Him. Don't get me wrong, meeting with the Lord is incredible! I love those sweet moments in the morning during my quiet time or a great sermon series or a moving worship set - they really speak to my soul and inspire me to keep living and loving for the Lord and seeking to do what He would have me do. But the times I really LEARN from Him are the times that He keeps me waiting patiently (most times not so patiently) for Him.

I read these verses in Psalm 37 the other day, but because of traveling I haven't had the chance to blog about it until now. Check these out:

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act."

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him..."

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way..."

"The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip."

"Wait for the Lord and keep His way..."

I don't know about you, but to me - especially considering my propensity for impatience - that's God's not so subtle way of telling me to slow down and wait on His timing for things. So many times I think that I've waited long enough and that I'm ready for the next phase in my life, but so often I forget that my job is to be where God has placed me. My job is to delight myself in the Lord, to commit my way to the Lord, and to keep the law of God in my heart. My goal should be to glorify Him where I am, and let Him deal with the details of what's next in my life. God has to be the one who orders my steps and guides me where He wants me to go. Who knows better than Him, right?

So, the next time you go to the doctor, think of the waiting room as a literal lesson in waiting. While the doctor may know how to treat you well, who knows better than the Great Physician?

Shout to the North

This post has been a long time coming.  It's something that's been floating around in my mind for quite a while now, but recently I have seen things that I feel like are forcing me to say something.  Sad news, ladies - this post is for the men who happen to read it.

"Men of faith rise up and sing of the great and glorious King.  You are strong when you feel weak, in your brokenness complete."

I heard that song I don't know how many years back and the last couple of days it's been stuck in my head.  Forget the rest of the song for now, even the whole line.  The first five words are what get me - "Men of faith rise up..."  A few things I've observed recently:

One - I get the chance to work the sound board at church, which means during the service I have a perfect bird's eye view of everything that's going on.  I get to see the people who come in late, the people who are texting instead of actively participating in the service, the people who are truly engaged - all of it.  I thought it was just my imagination, but I began noticing what I thought was a trend.  When the music is going full swing, it seems to me that more women are engaged than men.  Now I know that we as men aren't big on the hand raising and such.  We are a bit more emotionally reserved and so I understand a bit of reluctance.  But it's not just music.  When the sermon is over and the invitation is given, I don't remember the last time I saw a man go up to the front to pray or talk to a pastor.  The women, though, they have it covered!  They go up all the time - to pray, to pray with someone, to ask for prayer from a pastor - they seem to be eager to get to the altar, where the men don't want to budge from their seats.

Two - recently on campus there was a 'Night of Prayer.'  The idea was that for 24 hours our campus would be praying, whether it was prayer requests, for the movement of the Lord among us, for mission trips, whatever came to mind.  I thought to myself, "Oh, that's a great idea.  They've done that before, even when I was a student.  I bet that really moves people to have a heart for the Lord."  Beth and I went to check the mail and passed the sign up sheet for 'Night of Prayer.'  I glanced at it.  I was shocked.  To be honest, I went back later and took it just to make sure I had read correctly (if anyone needs it back, let me know and I'll drop it off where I got it).  There were 107 people signed up (many doubled in time slots) for 20 minute intervals to pray throughout the day.  Pretty good, I guess.  I don't know what the numbers should look like on that, but that wasn't the shocking thing.  I started counting.

Girl, girl, girl, boy, girl, girl, girl, girl, girl, girl, boy, boy...it went on.

In the end, 25 male people had signed up to participate.  If you're tracking along with the math, that means 82 females had signed up.  82!  That's 3.28 times more girls than boys who signed up to pray!  That's 75% of the people who signed up!  What?!  I'm not saying that it's wrong for girls to pray or be involved in the spiritual renewal of our campus, but where are the men?

Now, I know the numbers are skewed some because not everyone who signed up showed up to pray, and not everyone who prayed was signed up.

Obviously.

Here's my point though after noting these two observations.  While there are some men out there who lead their families to walk in spirit and in truth, while there are men out there who do not at all fit into this category - there are a lot of us who are failing in our jobs as men.  The Bible says very plainly that the men are called to be the spiritual leaders of the household, of the church, of society.  The men are to be the ones who are at the forefront of every spiritual battle, whether it's in prayer, on the mission field, at work, at church, whatever.  The men.

Yet, who's doing the leading?  Who's doing all the praying?  Maybe privately there are men all across the globe who are prayer warriors, men who in their households really do lead by example and teach their families what the Lord would have of them.  There are men that I know right now who are incredible spiritual leaders, men who I look up to and hope I will be like when I've grown and matured, my dad being at the top of that list.  

But you can't be a man who privately leads your family and not live it out publicly.
And so, it leads me to believe that many men aren't leading their families, privately or not.

"Men of faith rise up and sing of the great and glorious King.  You are strong when you feel weak, in your brokenness complete."

Men, you don't have to be perfect.  You don't have to know all the answers.  You don't have to get it right every time.  But you MUST lead.  God calls every last one of us to stand up and be the spiritual leader.  He never said we wouldn't mess up, but He is saying we must try.

In the trying, we'll grow.  In the growing, we'll improve.  In the whole process, we'll be leading - like we're called to do.

Joy

What makes you happy?  I know for me there are many things that I would say make me feel happy.  Chocolate, a good book, coffee.  Even people make me happy.  Like my wife saying she's proud of me or my daughter laughing at something silly I've done.

Now, for the real question.  What brings you joy?  You see, joy has a deeper meaning than happiness.  Happiness is just finding delight or pleasure in something, but joy - that's defined as keen elation, great satisfaction.  If you search the Bible for the word 'joy', you'll come up with so many results that you won't know what to do with them.  One of my favorites is Habakkuk 3:18, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation."  We are called to find joy in the Lord.

I learned something new about joy this morning as I was reading in 1 John.  The fourth verse of the first chapter says this, "And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete."

I guess it would help to know the context. John is talking about the fact that he is an eye-witness to Jesus coming to earth to be our salvation.  He's proclaiming the eternal life that Jesus brings with Him for  us and how incredible fellowship is with Him.  He concludes by saying that he's writing all of that so that his joy will be complete.

Here's what blows my mind and, more specifically, what my take away for today is - I can have joy in the Lord all day long, but my joy is made complete when I tell other people about Him.  That joy is not finished growing in my heart unless I'm telling other people about Him and what He means to me.  Will my life still have meaning and purpose?  Yes, but it will not be completely fulfilled, because part of my calling, my purpose, God's plan for my life is to share his love.  I'm created to share the hope that I've found in Him with the people all over the world who don't know that precious, life-giving joy.

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..."

What are you doing to make your joy complete?      

Precious

I was looking at Beth and Isabella while they slept this morning, soaking in a last little moment with each of them before I went off to work, and I had a moment of clarity.


They are precious to me. Those sweet moments when they don't even know I'm watching are precious to me. The times when Isabella is curled up in a chair with a book. The times when Beth has her head tilted just so as she reads a recent blog update or recipe. The times when they're both asleep, nestled into the blankets in the exact same pose. They don't know I'm watching but those are the most precious times to me.


I mean, there are things in life that we like a lot or even things that we love, but I bet there are just a few things that we would say are precious to us. Things that maybe no one else would appreciate or at least very few people would.


The amazing thing about it all is this - to God, we are that precious! Check out this verse from what I was reading this morning:


"As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious..."


Later it says God has chosen us as "a people for His own possession.". What an amazing picture! I was completely overwhelmed this morning as I was reminded that just as I have those precious moments with my family, we are considered all the more precious by our Father in heaven.


Do you feel like the world is weighing you down and nothing is going your way? Do you feel like everyone is against you? Do you feel abandoned or alone or burdened or afraid?
Be encouraged today, because God loves you and He has a plan for you and He has made a way for you to have the most intimate relationship you have ever known! You are precious to Him - more precious than you could ever imagine.


Just one last thing: Are you living your life to reflect how precious you are to the Father?