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Blessings!!

What will He find in me?

I was reading an excerpt about Luke 18:7 in a devotional book by Max Lucado today. It is sometimes hard to understand God’s timing but according to His Word He’s always on time. Verse 17 poses 2 questions (with an answer in v.18) 1st – Won’t God bring justice for His people who cry earnestly for help? and 2nd – Won’t he come in a timely manner? The answer is that yes , He will bring justice for His own, and yes He will come in a timely and even quick manner. The interesting and truly challenging follow-up to this is found in the second half of vs. 18, when He does come, what will He find? Will He find faith? Will He find a people convinced that He not only CAN but that He WILL answer their prayers? How about your heart, what will He find there?

Get a grip

Today the pace of life is frenetic and most of what rushes at you isn’t good. We’re constantly bombarded with messages that are contrary to God’s Word, stand for God’s way and you end up feeling downright pelted. Paul gave Timothy some advice that is pretty timely for us today, he said “holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” (1 Ti. 1:19) Hold on tight to your faith and to your conscience, let go and you’ll end up shipwrecked on the rocks. So hang on tight to the truth of God’s Word and keep a tight rein on yourself in the process. Do so and you’ll be not only able to stand against the current but make headway as well.

Longevity

Last week my Dad turned 70 years old, nearly 50 of those years have been spent in ministry! I can only hope that I have that kind of spiritual stamina and determination. Dad has served God faithfully in the face of adversity as well as joy. Dad didn’t make a short term commitment to Christ, in fact he used to joke that preachers don’t retire they just die and go to heaven. He may have said it as a joke but he really meant it, even his thoughts of “retirement” include ministry. Thanks dad, for the example and the incredible heritage.

Living wisely

I was reading again in Colossians today. I was reading in chapter 4 where Paul instructs us to live wisely among non-believers. That’s a challenge isn’t it at times, to constantly be sure that our conversations are “full of grace”? I certainly want that to be the case. What a great thing, for my conversations to be a source of God’s grace to those around me. Give me your heart Lord!

What fills your thoughts?

In the NLT Col. 3:2 says to “let heaven fill your thoughts”. I read this in my devotions the other day and it has set me to thinking, from what perspective do I view life? My perspective is so limited by my own biases, understanding, and even abilities. Sometimes I can’t see past the end of my nose while God thinks in terms of the entire world and everyone in it. From heaven’s perspective a lot of the things I worry about lose much of their significance. I admit, it is sometimes a struggle keep myself grounded in the reality of God’s kingdom and not my little corner of the world.

Oh how time flies

Well the holidays have passed, what a great time of year. I love Christmas and New Year’s Day. First you celebrate the birth of Christ and then watch football for several days solid! What could beat that? Christmas was good to me. Our church was ridiculously generous to our family and we spent time with family, we missed being with my younger brother and his wife along with my sister and her family. They were all in India so we didn’t get to see them. That makes it a little bitter-sweet but it was still great!

I Am Such A Loser

No really, I am.  In fact I think I’ll “toot my own horn” here.  Over the past three months I’ve been working at getting rid of some excess weight. To give myself motivation I joined the “Biggest Loser” contest here at my place of employment.  Surprise of all surprises, I won.  I managed to lose 12.5 % of my weight.  I’m not telling you what that is in pounds because it’s an embarrassing number.  I feel much better and hopefully this will ensure I pass my upcoming “HealthIQ” physical (we get slightly discounted health insurance rates if we pass).  I feel better too, losing the equivalent of a small child really makes a difference.  I still have some left to lose to reach my goal, so the work continues.  After that comes what will probably turn out to be the hardest part, maintaining!   Pray for me, I have a much harder time keeping weight off than losing it.

Stop moving forward start moving backward

I’m a football (sports) addict,  I admit it.  I love to watch football in particular.  Sitting in the bleachers on a crisp & cool fall night watching high school football is one my most favorite things to do.  I also can’t help but see so many parallels on the field to my spiritual walk.  I watched Michigan beat Penn State today , due in large part to an amazing performance by their running back.  Just when it seemed that he would be in the grasp of a 260 lb linebacker, he would break free or drag the defender for a few more yards.  Many times it was simply a result of the fact that there was no “quit” in him.  His legs would just keep churning and more progress would be made.  How many times has there been “quit” in my walk with God.  Things got hard (or sometimes too easy) and I just stopped striving to go that extra bit for Him.  Right about that time I would without exception stop moving forward and start going backwards.  Serving God and knowing Him for that matter,  are never “static” it’s just not meant to be that way.  God knows us all too well, as soon as we stop improving, we begin regressing.  Did you know that in the Gospel of John the verb “believe” is used over 90 times but never the noun “belief”?  It’s always about starting to believe or continuing to believe (actively).  Just a thought, maybe we should keep those legs churning and get that extra yard for God.

A little rusty

Last night was the first night back with the youth group.  I felt a little out of sync.  Ministry in a youth group setting is much different form that which I d oon Sunday.  I enjoy both of these contexts but having been away from the one for a while made me feel just a little out of sorts. I hope that my students are understanding of that and give me a couple weeks to get my legs back under me.  I really believe that God has some great things in store for them, not because of me but rather because of the desire they have for more of Him.  I’m looking forward to the journey this next year brings, I hope they are too!