Keep It In The Middle

From the beginning of our lives, we are constantly bombarded with the concept of striving to be the best, to fight our way to the top. The idea of being in the middle of the heap is severely frowned upon. It carries the idea of being average. One definition of average is being at the bottom of the top and the top of the bottom. Who wants to be thought of as being average? We all want to be above average in something, whether at work, school, a favorite hobby or interest. However, there is one part of our lives where being in the middle is the best part, where we are meant to be. That is when we are in the center of our life.

Life is sometimes described as revolving around us, like a wheel. The middle, therefore, is the hub, where all of our life is focused. Think of it as a bicycle wheel with lots of spokes. We take one spoke out to the rim when we head off to school. We take another when we pursue our career. Perhaps we wander around the rim for a while and then take another spoke to get back to the center. Some of us head out to the rim and stay there for a while, taking multiple trips around the rim before finally finding a spoke to go back to the center. Some of us go out to rim and leap off, leaving all of what is familiar behind. While we are away, the wheel is still there, still spinning. If we are brave enough to try, we can jump back onto the rim, grab a spoke and return to our hub. Some never jump back on, seemingly lost forever.

Of course, we can also start our own wheel, build our own hub, attach the spokes and a rim and put the wheel into spin. That is what we do when we head out and build our own life, start a career, marry, have children. While the wheels are separate, they are also connected in such a way that we can move back and forth between them, traveling the spokes to the hubs of our lives, experiencing the different values and love.
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There is one part of the wheel that we can’t see, the part that helps it spin smoothly. Inside the hub, are the ball bearings, unseen but essential to the wheel’s smooth operation. That is what God is, the bearing race that helps us to live our lives smoothly, to keep us in the spin. It doesn’t matter how large we build the wheel, how many spokes we explore, or the number of trips we take around the rim, how many times we leap off or fall off, God is keeping our lives in motion. Unlike real bearings, God doesn’t wear out, He can’t be replaced. He is always there, out of sight, smoothing out the spin of our lives.

Square Pegs, Round Holes

There is an old cliché about not being able to fit a square peg into a round hole. Of course, there is the wise guy who says to just get a smaller square peg. I remember buying a toy for my kids when they were young that taught them about those shapes. It was a plastic ball and it pulled apart. The top half was red and the bottom half was blue. There were yellow plastic pieces inside that fell out when you opened it and they were all different shapes: round, square, star, half-circle. There were holes in the ball and the game was to put the correct piece through the correct hole. Obviously, the object of the toy was to teach shape recognition to the child who played with it.

The same cliché has also been applied to people to describe why we should not have certain ones in our life. The reasons may be financial status, religion, skin color, nationality, or just about any other reason that can be applied. Maybe it is a long standing family feud, such as the Hatfields and McCoys or the Sutton-Taylor Feud. One famous family feud was celebrated in fiction: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Regardless of the reason behind keeping people apart, it is not part of God’s plan for us. God does not teach us to reject people out of our lives; He teaches that we should love everyone, even those who are our enemies.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus is often seen meeting with people who are outcasts. He met and talked to prostitutes, tax collectors, cripples, people with leprosy, Romans, and Samaritans. Even when he died on the cross, he was in the company of sinners, the two thieves who were crucified with him. The strict rules of the time dictated the people he was allowed to talk to and those he was supposed to avoid. He was a constant problem for those charged with enforcing Jewish law at the time because he routinely flaunted it. His message was that the old laws of the Old Testament were no longer in force, that he came to change that part of society and institute a new order, a new set of rules. The new bottom line was belief in him as the savior and all were invited to take part and change regardless of their shape.

We will always have differences between people, whether they are strangers, co-workers, friends or family. We have to remember that while there are differences, they should not be the reason for us to behave towards them in a way that is different from what Jesus Christ taught us and showed us. His message was to love one another, even those who may be an enemy. As a lady I know once said, you have to love them, but you don’t have to invite them to dinner.

How about you? When you meet someone for the first time, do you look for the ways they won’t fit? Do you then decide to avoid them or stay away from having a relationship with them? Do you look, instead, for those differences and apply the rules of the red and blue ball described above? While each piece had to fit into its own hole, when the game was finished, all of the pieces were inside the ball. That is the way it is with God. It doesn’t matter what our shape is, there is still a hole in His ball that will match our shape and He will be there waiting for us. While we are on His earth, can we do less than apply His rules?

It's A Rainbow!

Our life is full of rainbows, just look in the right direction after the rain stops on a sunny day. Usually we get to see one end or the other because trees or buildings get in the way. Many years ago, I was on a tropical island and after the storm and the sun came out, there was a double rainbow out over the water. It was a truly beautiful and wonderful sight. Rainbows are celebrated in poetry and certainly song. I am sure we have all sung "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" to our kids, just as our parents sung it to us. Whether it is the Judy Garland version or the much newer medley by Israel Kamakawio'ole, it is a wonderful song that talks about hope for something or somewhere. There is also the musical, Finian's Rainbow, that debuted on stage in 1947 and was made into a movie in 1968 starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. It is full of music and humor and Astaire's character is always looking for that other end of the rainbow, looking for the pot of gold.

When we took General Science in high school, we learned th colors that are in the rainbow by the silly name of ROY G BIV. The letters stand for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. There is a certain magic in the colors. The Red and Yellow make the Orange, the Yellow and Blue make the Green, and the Blue and Violet make the Indigo. All of those make still more colors, an infinite variety of the visible colors from one end to the other. Don't forget the ones we can't see unaided, the ultraviolet on one end and the infrared on the other.

The physics of light refraction don't change and there have always been rainbows as long as there has been sunlight and rain. However, the best rainbow ever recorded is in Genesis when God showed one to Noah at the end of the period of the great flood and promised him that he, God, would never again destroy the earth with flooding. That promise is but one of many that God has given to us since our creation in his image and likeness. The best promise of all was to give his son to us to save us and redeem us from the sin of Adam and Eve. Twice in the new testament, God the Father announces that Jesus is, "My beloved son in whom I am well pleased". He did it to the multitude who witnessed Jesus' baptism and again on the Mount of Transfiguration. God kept that promise through the horror of the crucifixion and the ascension.

God promised us that we may spend all of eternity with him once our time on Earth is finished. His only request of us is that we serve him faithfully, follow the rules, the commandments, he gave us, and follow the leadership of us son, Jesus. He didn't promise us it would be easy or without trouble or strife. He did promise us he would be there for us to call on when we needed help. Whether that help would be truly miraculous or having the right person come into our life at the right time is up to him. He knows the best way and we who are wise will accept the help he brings.

God may or may not show you his rainbow as the symbol of his promise. He may show you something else of his beauty when you most need it. At the end of the day, what he will show you is his limitless and endless love for you. What more can we want?

It's Not Just The Journey

It is an ancient cliché that says we should enjoy the trip, the journey. The idea is to not just focus on the start and the destination, but to pay attention to what passes before and around us while we are on the way to wherever we are going.

As kids especially, we were always eager to get where we were headed. We were constantly asking our parents, “Are we there yet?”, “How much longer?”, usually with a whine in our voice. Our parents, usually with patience that eventually started to thin, would come up with some answer or other. In an effort to distract us, they would start pointing out different sights that we passed, or sometimes would come up with a game of some kind that passed the time until we either arrived or started the inevitable questions again. Looking at the sights along the roadsides was something that parents did, not us kids. As the years passed and we developed outside interests, we might have started noticing the sights that didn’t focus on us.

As adults, we really aren’t all that different from what we were as kids. We are still in a hurry to get where we are going, ignoring everything that surrounds us as we pass through life. The other cliché of “Take time to stop and smell the roses” was great advice but is largely ignored today. If we aren’t running just as fast as we can, we are just certain that life is going to pass us by, that we are going to miss out on an opportunity of some kind or other, that big promotion, or the sale we have been awaiting.

There is a wonderful world out there, one that God created for us to enjoy. Whether it is nature, animal, vegetable, or mineral, it is out there for us to experience. Too often, we have to be forced to slow down, either by bad health, or some other circumstance that befalls us. Or, maybe we move into the role that our parents once held, of trying to point out to our kids the world that is around them.
Part of the journey we are traveling has to do with God and his plans for us. The quick way is to try to zip our way along. We limit our trip to hurrying to church on Sunday, spending that hour listening to someone tell us about him and how he is supposed to fit into our life. Then we hurry off to play, watch TV, go shopping, work, or do something else. We spend an hour with God and 167 hours each week with something or someone else. God deserves far more than that. We need to slow down and take notice of what he has given us. I am not talking just of taking note of our surroundings, but of taking note of the love that God has for us. He has given us his words and instructions. He has provided men and women whom he has blessed in a special way that enables them to lead us down a path which leads us to spend the rest of eternity with him. In return, he asks that we get to know him better, to take the time he has given us to study, read, and listen. He wants us to be with him when our time comes to leave here. Since we are going to be there for the rest of timelessness, doesn’t it make sense to slow down and get to know him better?

We have a journey to take here in this life, one that leads us to a wonderfully beautiful destination. Are you going to just rush through it focusing on only the surrounding wonders, or are you going to spend time getting to know the One who planned the journey?

Tug-O'-War

You know what the game Tug-O’-War is and how it is played, right? Well, maybe if you aren’t into physical games, you don’t. If that is the case, then imagine two people or two teams, each on one half of a rope, pulling in opposite directions. There is usually a mark or goal that one team has to pull the other team across. I have seen that mark be a line on the ground and I have seen it be a mud puddle. It is a matter of strength, technique, and a small factor of luck if the two opposite sides are equal. Do you use a strong, steady pull hoping to win with just brute strength, or do you use non-rhythmic tugs and jerks, hoping that someone on the other side loses a grip or footing, giving your team a momentary advantage in numbers? It is a game that is fun to do and fun to watch.

What if you were in a Tug-O’-War match by yourself, except instead of one rope, you had one in each hand, and maybe on a foot or two? Each rope would be pulling you in a different direction. On which rope do you concentrate now? You can’t do all of them equally, that takes too much concentration. You would probably feel as though the people on the other ends of the ropes are trying to pull you apart.

Life is like that multiple set of pulls. If you are married, you have your spouse pulling on one rope, the kids pulling on another, your job or profession pulling on a rope, and maybe your need for personal time or a hobby pulling you as well. You have to concentrate on one rope and then another, fighting to hold it all together. Sometimes it gets to be just too much in one direction and then we have to let one go, either permanently or temporarily. We think we just can’t do it all, not successfully anyway. What if we could have someone else grab one of the ropes and hang on for a while?

We do have a teammate, just sitting on the bench, waiting to get into the game. Do we ask for help, or do we continue to try to hang on by ourselves? It is sometimes a sign of stubbornness that keeps us from seeking the help that is just waiting to get into the game. Sometimes it is time to let go of that stubbornness and call for that second teammate, especially when that person is the one we call God. It is tough to let go and ask for assistance, but that is what He has told us He will do for us. He is there to help whenever and however we ask Him.

Maybe the marriage needs some help. All marriages go through periods of stress and have problems. So, we ask God for help to pull on that rope for a while until we can pull it across the win line. Perhaps our finances are a mess or there just isn’t enough to meet the needs. Asking God for some aid, in the right amount and at the right time, can have some surprising results. I am not talking about buying a lottery ticket with the odds stacked against you of 256 million to one. It is not unreasonable to ask God’s help in finding a better job, for more pay or one that allows for more time with family.
Which rope do you need Him to pull today? Since He has an infinite source of energy, He can even help pull on all of the ropes at the same time. The best way He can do that is for Him to be in the center and He can be there when we make Him the center of our life.

We aren’t just in a tugging match with the natural world; we also have to pay attention to the spiritual world. We can’t forget that Satan is also out there. Sometimes he is pulling against us but more deceptively, he sometimes appears to be pulling for us in one direction. The problem is that we can be tempted into a solution for one pull which can cause us to lose a grip on something else. That is the most dangerous time. That is when we need to have God at our center so He can alert us to Satan’s ploys, and help us to defeat him with God’s help and strength. That is when we have to see that the rope Satan is helping us pull is the rope we must let go. When we seek God’s wisdom and strength, we can see that tempting rope for what really is and by letting it go, we actually win.

What parts of your life are pulling you the most? Where do you need to concentrate your forces? Which rope needs that extra help that is always available? Which rope do you need to release? Those answers are all out there, just waiting for your question. He who has all of the answers is there for the asking. When are you going to ask?

The Random Deal

I confess. I am guilty. I love to play solitaire. I started back when I was a kid with a deck of cards. That was back when computers occupied whole rooms. Learning to shuffle was a skill I had to learn and my dad was a great teacher. I sampled different versions of the game and eventually settled on three or four favorites. The problem was that it takes time to lay out the cards before the game can begin. Enter the computer age and personal computers and that problem was solved. The computer shuffled and dealt. (As many of you know, solitaire on the personal computer was actually meant as a teaching tool to teach people how to use a mouse.) The problem in the early days was the shuffling was not as random as it should have been. Over time, the mathematical formulas used to shuffle became much more sophisticated and the results appear to be truly random.

So, what does that have to do with life? Look around you, look at the people to whom you are related, your friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Talk about random! It looks like it was a matter of just chance that said one sibling was blond and the other was a flaming redhead. Just about any physical characteristic can have a variance even between siblings, even “identical” twins. It really looks like God just sets everything up to chance and allows whatever is going to happen, happen. Is there any real planning being done on His part or is He just letting the randomness of chance determine who and what we are, how we look, and our talents and weaknesses?

God always looks out for our best interests…always. It certainly may not seem so at times when He tosses challenges and difficulties our way. He is the ultimate planner; very little happens that He hasn’t planned and prepared us for. Yes, we can mess up His plans. He has given us that right, the right to ignore what He wants us to accomplish. He has not dealt us a random hand. He has given us the necessary gifts and talents to accomplish what He wants us to accomplish. Some of us are musicians and others are mathematicians. Some are great military leaders and others are members of the clergy. Some enforce the law and others violate it. Wait a minute! That latter group is not using the gifts and talents that God gave them. Still, that is a measure of the randomness of God. It is how we use what He has given us that is the random factor. He dealt us the cards, but it is up to us how we play them. That is the one random factor in God’s plans.

We are not alike. We are as different as the grains of sand on a beach. We may resemble family members, but what we are and how we use our gifts is under our control. God dealt us the hand He wanted us to have. In a sense, He stacked the deck. Every hand is a winning hand; every one of us can win the ultimate pot, life with God in Heaven for all eternity. What are you doing with your cards? How are you going to play them and in what order? If you play your cards right, you get to win the ultimate prize. What are you waiting for? Pick up your cards and play your hand to win. It is guaranteed as long as you follow the rules.

That @#$%^& GPS!

Do you remember when you had to get out a map to find out how to get from one place to the next? I am talking about the big paper maps, the kind that you had to fold back up after you finished with it. It always took two or three tries to get it folded right, even when you thought you followed the folds. We went from that to map books and then maps on the Internet, like Google Maps or Map Quest. Since they were awkward to use in the car, we would end up printing the Internet maps and the directions so we could navigate from one place to another.

Finally, a fully electronic system came on the market, the Global Positioning System or GPS. When they first came out for civilian use, they had a built in error factor. It wasn’t in the units themselves, but it was built into the satellites’ programming. It was felt at the time, that the error was necessary in order to prevent the “enemy” from using our GPS system to target our cities. At last, someone realized that if “they” launched a nuclear strike, an error of a hundred feet or so wasn’t going to matter if the weapon could destroy everything within a five mile radius. Thus, the consumer version of the GPS hit the market and it became very common to see the small units mounted on windshields, or built into the car’s entertainment system.

I use the GPS daily for my work. Most of the time, when it tells me I am at my destination, I am right in front of the client’s house. They are most amazing and I don’t know how they do what they do. They can even keep with up with my occasional missed turn, to the tune of “Recalculating” as the computer finds an alternate route.

The problem with the GPS is not its inherent accuracy, but with the accuracy of the stored maps. I have been directed to cross rivers where there is no bridge, or being told to turn down a road that no longer exists, or being told a house is right in front of me when there is nothing there but trees. Then I lose my fondness for that @#$%^& GPS. There is nothing like driving down a road when the GPS says you are in the middle of a field and it simply waits until I get back onto the road again.

As human beings, wonderful creations of God, we have a roadmap we can follow to get where we are supposed to go. It isn’t drawn out for us, the directions are strictly verbal. All we have to do is follow them. Fortunately for us, God picked a special group of people to put his words into format we can use, the set of directions known as the Bible. Whether we use the printed version or one on a tablet or smart phone, we always have those directions available to us. In its own way, it is also a GPS, except this time it is God’s Positioning System. Are you lost? He can help you find your way back to him. Do you have a good destination in mind? He is going to lead you there. Do you have a choice of paths you can take and you don’t know whether to go right or left? Just program the correct destination into God’s Positioning System and you will take the right fork every time. There are no errors in his maps, no incorrect directions. All of it is clear and error-free.

Those of us who use the Global Positioning System get tired of that voice telling us which way to turn or letting us know she is “Recalculating”. The good thing is that when we are using God’s Positioning System, we have to just listen to his son's voice in order to know which way to go and to keep on the correct road. If you listen to that voice, you can never go wrong, never take the wrong path. If you come to the raging river, you will always find a bridge. If you are lost in the forest of the world’s distractions, he will show you the clear path. Regardless of where you are in the world, or in what situation, God’s Positioning System will always lead you to his home. All you have to do if follow his son, Jesus’s, voice.

It’s That “C” Word Again, And That Other One, Too!

If you go out on the Internet and look at the chances of success for staying married, you will run into some sobering statistics. The failure rate for first marriages is about 45%, for second marriages it is 60%, and for third marriages it jumps up to 75%. You would think that second and third marriages would be more successful, not less. After all, shouldn’t the spouses learn from their mistakes and not repeat them? What happens that the numbers go up instead of down?

We all know the standard vows that go into a marriage at the start. The minister has us repeat those promises about sticking together through all of the good times and bad times. Pre-marital counseling and courses teach about finances, sex, adjusting to a new lifestyle, getting along with in-laws, and keeping God in the marriage and making Him the third member. In short, how to work together to start this new life called a marriage. Not much time is spent on what happens after a few years together. Maybe there should be a vow added that includes sticking it out through the dull and boring times, promises to not be complacent and not take each other for granted. Anyone in a dangerous or hazardous profession will tell you that complacency kills. Ask any policeman, fireman, airline pilot, or construction worker and they will all say the same thing: getting complacent on the job is a sure way to get injured or killed. Getting complacent in a marriage can also cause injury or death, except the victim is the marriage itself rather that one of the participants. It is when complacency walks in the door that commitment can stroll out, commitment to spouse, commitment to self, commitment to God. Complacency and lack or loss of commitment leads to becoming a divorce statistic.

So, how about the second time around, or the third? There was a movie and a Frank Sinatra song called “The Second Time Around.” They depicted the idea that, if the first marriage failed, the second was true bliss, all of the problems were solved and the couple lived happily ever after. The statistics in the first paragraph clearly show this is not the case, not with a 60% divorce rate for second-timers, or the 75% for third-timers. The obvious answer is the couples see the same pattern being repeated and aren’t willing to stick around. They are complacent in their thinking, assuming that the problems from the prior marriage miraculously fixed themselves and their commitment broke down. The second, or third, divorce is easier than the first. So another marriage dies and adds to the heap of broken dreams, broken marriages, and broken lives.

Could there be another factor hiding there, something subtle, something that exists at the start of those repeats that leads to yet another failure? Remember, 55% of all first marriages SUCCEED! It is the repeat marriages that fail at those sad rates. How about this? A person going into the second or third marriage thinks this time is going to be the real deal, this one is going to last, but, this time the commitment level isn’t the first marriage’s 100%. This time maybe it is 99.999%, or less; and the third timers are maybe 99.5% committed. That is enough to poison the marriage from the beginning, just those small pieces, like having a little toe part of the way out the door, “just in case it doesn’t work out.”

Just think what would happen if, on the marriage day, couples said to each other that they were 110% committed to the marriage. Not 100%, but 110% committed to each other, to the marriage, and that God was going to be an active part of their commitment, to help them when they needed to maintain that level. What if they pledged to ignore the petty annoyances and see their spouse’s goodness instead? People have gotten divorces over toothpaste tubes being squeezed in the middle or toilet paper being mounted the wrong way. Individuals have faults and habits that annoy others, and spouses are no different. Errors, apologies, forgiveness and forgetting the past are all a part of living with another person on a daily basis. If your annoying habit or behavior starts yet another argument,
another fight, are you going to be highly motivated to change, or are you going to just feel your own
anger, resentment, and complacency? What if, instead of anger, it was met with smile, a chuckle, a
shake of the head, and something like, “Yes, I know, you are trying hard to change that…and I know you will someday succeed.”? Would that kind of statement not lead you to be more committed to fixing the problem? Which would motivate you more to change: changing because you love your spouse and are committed to his or her happiness, or because you just want to avoid another fight? What if it took a hundred attempts for your spouse to stop doing whatever bothers you? Is your effort to work on it together until success is achieved not worth the effort? This is especially true of people in second or third marriages who have had a longer lifetime of developing their own ways of doing things, their own habits, and maybe your spouse is the only person who is really bothered by what you do. If your commitment to your spouse is complete, then…shouldn’t you be willing to change your ways to protect the gift that God gave you in putting your spouse into your life?

It is simple: love and commitment, along with God’s grace and a lot of hard work, will make your
marriage successful, it will get you through the high times and the doldrums. Complacency and a lack of complete commitment, even if there is love, will ultimately lead to disaster.

What do you want your marriage to be like, anyway? Committed to success or committed to failure?

The Blockade Runner

Okay, it is history lesson time once again. This time it is the American Civil War, 1861 – 1865. One of the biggest problems facing the Confederate States of America, CSA, was getting arms and supplies in order to fight the Union Army. There was a Confederate Navy, but it had just 11 ships at the start of the war, so the CSA had to look for other ways to combat the Union Navy and to get guns, ammunition and supplies. The answer came in the form of blockage runners. These were privately-owned ships sailing under an authorization from the CSA and it was their mission to get the necessary materials to the South. The South was an agrarian economy without any significant industrial base. In order to supply itself, it went to England and France and traded its goods, primarily cotton, for weapons and other necessities. The North tried to prevent this supply effort by stationing its Naval ships near the likely Southern ports, such as New Orleans, Mobile, and Charleston, and form a blockade.

The blockade runners were usually faster, more maneuverable, and well-armed, and their mission was to evade the Union Navy and get the needs goods to port. This effort lasted throughout the war even though port after port was captured. The last significant port after the above were rendered non-available was Galveston. Many of the blockade runners were captured or sunk and it was a case of too little, too late to help the CSA.

As we go through our lives, whether walking, running or stumbling, we are in a constant battle as well. It is our God-given mission to protect and nourish ourselves while always remaining vigilant, on guard against the enemy who would love to destroy us and win us over to his side. We are not strong enough to do this on our own, naturally, so we have to have divine help, we have to have our own blockade. That blockade is God and He is always available to protect us and strengthen our defenses. Just as the Union Navy blocked the Southern ports and prevent the blockade runners for reaching their goals, so too does God help us intercept and block the devil from gaining an entry or foothold in our lives.

The devil is clever, no doubt about it, and he will seek any opening in our nature to get where he wants to go. Instead of bringing supplies as the blockade runners did, he brings destruction and death. He wants nothing more than our immortal soul, or maybe that should be less. When we learn or sense where we are vulnerable and, with God’s help, close down that weakness, the devil searches for another. Make no mistake, he is going to get through from time to time. When that happens, it is time to call out our own army, and there is none better or stronger than our God. With His help, we can avoid capture and win through a victory.

The war will never be over until we are with God in Heaven. The devil, like the blockade runners of old, will try port after port and try to gain a permanent port in our existence. He will never stop trying, he is relentless and determined. He will stop at nothing. His problem is we have God on our side, just waiting for us to ask His help. We can’t win this war for our souls on our own; we need divine help and reinforcements. Stay vigilant, be aware of the tricks of the master trickster, and call upon God in your battle. Losing the war is not an option or choice. Shore up the holes in your personal defenses and dance your victory dance on Heaven’s streets.

Don't Be Surprised

I remember when I was a kid, a very long time ago, and I would ask my parents for something. Usually that meant my mom, naturally. I would beg and plead and promise whatever it took to get the answer I felt I deserved. Maybe it was just to go see a movie with my friends or something I saw in a store that I just knew I had to have. I learned early on that she was easier to persuade than my dad, so that is the tactic I took. Most of the time, I was successful. I always went to her assuming I would win and get what I wanted. I just never assumed the answer would be “no”. If that was her initial answer, then I would continue asking until I either got what I wanted or I figured out that this time she really meant “no’’. Much later in life I could look back and see that either my strategy was wrong or what I wanted wasn’t right for me.

How often do you ask God for something and, when you don’t get it within your time frame, you give up or just assume that he isn’t going to give it to you. Maybe you are telling yourself that just because you want it doesn’t mean God will grant your request. Perhaps you don’t feel worthy or the past history of not getting the right answer has given you a defeatist attitude. If someone you love came up to you and asked for something special and then closed by saying that they don’t think you will really give it them, but they had to try, how inclined would you be to say, “Yes”? God looks at us the same way. He is willing to do or give whatever we want or need, as long as it is in our good interest. He wants us to be positive and enthusiastic about getting his gifts. However, if you are telling him you don’t believe in his goodness and generosity, then why should he give you what you want?

There are two answers to that last question. If you don’t believe you will get it, then you probably won’t. After all, he wants us to believe in him and if we don’t, then why reward us? The other answer is that he will give it to us anyway. Why? Perhaps it is just to show us that he does love us and he does care. Not only does that generosity reward us, but it also teaches us that we need to believe even when we don’t think we will receive what we request.

Jesus told us we need to come to God like little children. Little children are full of belief, they never doubt. Look at them at Christmas or on their birthday! They absolutely know what they are going to get, they never doubt it for a minute. We need to be the same way when we approach God and ask him for something. He loves us. He wants us to have it all.

So, why do we doubt and spoil it? For the answer to that question, you have to look in a totally different direction. You have to look to the Father of All Lies, Satan himself. He is the one whispering in your ear, putting doubts in your mind. He is the spoiler. If he can create doubt and stop your belief, then he wins and you lose. If God doesn’t reward the doubter, then it just becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Over time it can build until you just assume God doesn’t like or love you. The score becomes Satan “1”, You “0”. It is an easy trap of which you can become the victim.
So, how do you defeat Satan? When you are asking God for something, and all of the negative thoughts start to assault you from all sides, STOP! Take stock and realize where those negatives are coming from. You have to deliberately change your thoughts to the positive and ask God for his help to banish them from you…and send Satan packing.

Don’t, then, be surprised when your most loving parent says “Yes”. Maybe you had to ask just once or many times. When the time is right, when you are ready, then unwrap that present, tear off the bow rip the paper, and have joy in his generosity. Don’t’ forget to look at the card…it will be signed, “Love, God”.

Some Assembly Required

Genesis 2:7 “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground.”

When my kids were growing up, I had that distinct fatherly pleasure of putting together various things like doll houses and bicycles and other wonderful presents. At times, it meant giving up a considerable amount of sleep because the work had to be done after they went to sleep. Like most fathers, I grew to hate that small note on the label that read, “Some assembly required” and it should the simple hand tools that were necessary, like a screwdriver, pliers, and adjustable wrench. It failed to mention that an advanced degree in construction engineering was a definite plus. Of course, after the time of assembling toys passed, it then became fun activities such as furniture. My wife would pick out a really nice piece at the store and when it was delivered to the house, there were several boxes and that same wonderful phrase.

We all know that we have been formed, male and female, in the likeness of God. He took great care to select his design, body and soul, for his best creation. The Bible just says that he formed us from the dust of the ground without additional details. I wonder if he took the dust, added some water and then formed it like modeling clay into a variety of shapes until he got it just right. In any case, we are the results of that miracle of granting life. Of course, we also know that since we started out as dust, it is to dust that we shall return.

God starts us out as babies fresh from the womb, with only the life that he gave us, including our immortal soul. It is up to our parents to teach us and guide us from that point to our adulthood. They are assembling us in our knowledge and abilities. Once we do reach that point in our lives where we move out on our own, it then becomes our responsibility to continue the job. The first paragraph talks of assembly jobs that are eventually completed, but the assembly of our self is an ongoing process. We are always adding or deleting as we fine tune us physically, mentally and spiritually.

It is that last point that ultimately becomes the most important. We can grow up in almost any environment and develop physically and mentally. There are or can be huge differences in the quality, but those developments will happen in spite of what we do. It is the spiritual aspect of our assembly that requires special care and attention. In order to know God, to know Jesus Christ, to know the Holy Spirit, we have to have guidance. That may come from parents, friends, a chance meeting with a stranger. Regardless of how it happens, God will give us the opportunity to know him and to serve him. He will make sure of it and he will do it as often as necessary to get out attention. God created us and he did it in such a way to give us the opportunity to be with him for eternity. He wants us to be with him in heaven. It pains God beyond imagination every time one of his creations turns his back on him and chooses to spend that eternity with the devil in hell.

How are you doing with your assembly? What tools are you using to put yourself together in the best way? How often do you pick up the bible and actually read it? Do you have a spiritual leader, a priest, a minister, or someone who can guide you in your task? Are you doing the task in a haphazard way or are you following the directions to the letter? Are you preparing yourself for that final inspection on your last day so you tell God, “Assembly completed and ready to join you”?

Rational Lies

Leviticus 19:11 “Do not lie”, “Do not deceive one another”

I heard a long-forgotten psychology professor say once that the word rationalize is really two words: rational lies. Rational lies that we tell to ourselves to justify something we have said or done or plan to do in the future. It may be something minor such as taking office supplies home from work so you don’t have to buy them at the store, telling yourself, “They will never miss a couple of cheap pens.” Perhaps you shade or adjust a few numbers on that tax return to pay less or get a bigger refund, even if it is really just a few dollars. After all, everyone does it and the IRS even knows about it, that is why they do audits. Maybe you go for a bigger game, like cheating on your spouse. Since the excitement has gone out of the marriage, you deserve to have a little fun, right? What she/he doesn’t know can’t possibly hurt, can it?

Rational lies are still lies. The big difference is they are lies that we tell ourselves to justify something we have done or haven’t done. If really doesn’t matter whether the matter is big or small, it still is wrong. The bible pretty well lays out the guidance for how we are supposed to act and there isn’t a lot of equivocation in it. One of the bible’s biggest heroes rationalized having someone killed so that he could have his wife, the story of David and Bathsheba and how King David sent her husband to the front of the battle lines. David rationalized that his position and desire for her made the killing of her husband justifiable.

We don’t have to be a king or someone in a position of power to tell ourselves lies that can affect other people. When Jesus told his critics that they should “render unto Caesar…”, he was also establishing the bottom line of obedience to civil law. There are of course the obvious crimes like theft and murder, but it also goes to the little things like exceeding the posted speed limit. Of course, everyone else is speeding and you do need to get where you are going a bit earlier, so zipping along 10-20 miles per hour faster than the limit is really okay. It could cost you a ticket and a fine. It could also cause you or someone else to have an accident. It has probably never crossed your mind that disobeying traffic laws are also against the wishes of God and a violation of his laws.

If you are a young person, one still in school, you have your own chance at some rational lies. So, you got too busy last night and didn’t get that math homework finished. You have a good friend you will let you copy his and no one will ever know. Okay, you deceived not only yourself but the teacher as well. Maybe you have a tough multi-page essay to write and you just happen to find what you need is for sale on the Internet. Why waste time writing something that is right there for the copying. Maybe you will use that extra time you saved to pray or read the bible…yeah, right, like that will really do you a lot of good. Maybe you did fool the teacher or professor, but you didn’t really fool yourself or God.

Rationalizing our behavior by telling ourselves rational lies is just wrong. It doesn’t matter what you tell yourself or how often. Why don’t you take a look at what you did today? Stop for a while and think over the things you did or didn’t do, the things you said or didn’t say. How many of them would fall into the definition of a rational lie. Of course, you can always tell yourself another one by saying that one or the other wasn’t really that bad, right?

My Daddy's Hat

Matthew 27:29 “and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head.”

Those of you who remember Coach Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys will remember the hat he always wore at the games. It didn’t matter what kind of weather he faced or if the game was indoors, he always wore that hat. The hat was a Stetson Fedora and it was his trademark, along with his uncanny ability to pick the right players and strategies to win football games. My dad also had a Stetson Fedora and he wore it to work as well. He didn’t make any big headlines or win general national prominence. He was well known throughout his professional community as a comptroller of the electric company that served all of South Texas. He retired in 1973 and went home to God in early 1981. Many years later, Mom asked me if I would like to have that hat and I immediately said I did. There is just one problem with that hat: it is a size 6 7/8 and my head is a 7 ¼. When I tried to wear it, it perched just a little high on my head. It doesn’t matter. Even though my dad has been gone out of my life for 34 years, every once in a while I pick up that hat and set it on my head. It is just a way to get in touch with him, to hope some of his wisdom will somehow pass through that hat and into me. There have been a few times down over the years when I think it worked.

As you can see from the quotation above, Jesus also had a hat of sorts. It was a gift from the Roman soldiers. They took branches of the jujube tree, a tree known for its fruit and thorns, and twisted them into a crown and placed it forcibly on his head. They also gave him a nice purple robe and a staff for a scepter. Along with these gifts, they beat him and tortured him and mocked him and prepared him for the eventual horrible death on the cross. This crown, this hat, is also for us a source of wisdom and pride. I am not suggesting that you go out get some jujube tree branches or even some prickly rose bush branches and place them on your head. Please don’t do that! What I am saying is that we can learn from at least emotionally wearing this crown. He wore it for a long time, all the way from the torture room, through the city streets and finally up that Golgotha hill to his final destination. He wore that crown for hours and hours. He endured its pain and he did that, along with everything else that day, for us.

As Christians, we are often invited to take up the cross and follow Christ. It was a heavy burden and the symbology is obvious. What isn’t obvious and what is often overlooked, is that crown of thorns. The message is that Jesus endured what, compared to the crucifixion, was a much lower level of pain and he endured it for a long time.

Life often presents us with the same opportunity, the same challenge. It may be a physical challenge or a less than ideal life style or living situation. Maybe it involves taking care of someone else who needs us, someone who is not able to take care of themselves. That commitment or situation may be life-long or long term. It can certainly tempt us to escape or turn our backs on our responsibilities or turn inward in despair at what we can’t control or change. The lesson of the crown of thorns is one of endurance, having the strength and the courage to last, even when the pain of the thorns seem to be never-ending. It is at that very time, when we need to call on Jesus to give us a hand and to show us how to wear our own crown with courage and with his grace.

What is in your life that seems to run on without end? What life challenge are you faced with? Whatever it is, turn to Him who showed us how to wear life, to wear our crown of thorns as he wore his.

Get Your Head Out Of The Game!

Whether we are playing a sport, working at our job, or taking part in a hobby, one of the most important things is our concentration on the task at hand. Like anyone else, we can let our attention wander or be distracted by something else and the effect is to lessen our attention to what we are doing at the moment. Take for instance, participating in a sport, especially a team sport like football or basketball where the intensity of the moment demands our complete attention. A slight lapse at the wrong time can lead to an error with game-changing consequences. It can, in just an instant, change a near-certain win into an unexpected loss. It is the task of the coach on the sidelines to watch the players and make sure each is completely in the game, not just physically but also mentally. It is not uncommon to hear an alert coach yell at one on the players and say, “Get your head in the game!”.

“Get your head in the game!” In other words, participate fully on the mental level as well as the physical level. Maybe the player’s body is out there but the mind is not fully engaged in what is developing at that moment. Regardless of the cause, whether it is seeing someone meaningful in the stands or just a flashback memory or thought, it reduces just for a critical instant the most important concentration on the game at hand.

As Christians, it is important for us to know God the Father, to know His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We should read the Bible, study its meanings and think about how to apply all of that to our lives. God expects us to use the intelligence He gave us to know Him better that we might serve Him the best way we can. All of that is important, but it isn’t the whole story. Jesus taught us that we should love God with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. In other words, we are to love God with all of our being. Too often it seems the emphasis is on the third one on the list, and it ignores the first, second and fourth. Too often we are told to learn more and more about God and that seems to downplay the first of that list, the heart.

We are to love God with all of our heart. That is the first part of that directive. The heart is pictured by all as the source and repository of love. When we tell someone we love them, we don’t say, “I love you with all of my … mind?” No, we tell the person, “I love you with all of my heart.” It is all too easy to get into a discussion about God and about Christianity, debating with either non-Christians or members of Christian denominations that have a difference in the way they practice their faith. We can cite scriptural passages and dig up arguments and important points we have heard from others. The problem is, this is all a mind game. It all happens between the ears.

If that is you, then maybe it is time to get your mind OUT of the game. Instead of studying scripture, memorizing favorite passages, psalms, and proverbs, why not just take some time to just be with God, to be with Jesus Christ. When was the last time you just put your mind on hold and just took time to be with Him, to let Him into your heart, and to just feel His presence fill you with the love He has for you.

You are a child of God, He is your Parent. Do you study your physical parents, memorizing their words of wisdom all of the time? No, you also just glory in the love you receive from them and return that same love to them. Maybe it is time to do the same with God, to just feel the love and return that love to Him. Knowledge of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is certainly important and not to be downplayed, but sometimes you should take your mind out of the game, and open up your heart to both receive and to give.

Walk The Talk

There is an old cliché about “Walking the walk and talking the talk.” It is about doing the things you say you are going to do. There is another cliché that isn’t really around and it is a combination of the other. I say you should “Walk the talk.” It isn’t so much about doing what you say you are going to do as much as it is about being what you say you are.

As Christians, we say that we do certain things and believe certain things and don’t do or avoid others. Too many of us don’t believe or act on what we say we believe. Christians are supposed to be forgiving people, yet how many do you know, and maybe you fit this yourself, who don’t forgive someone for what they did or didn’t do. Whether it is the Lord’s Prayer in which we tell God to forgive us as we forgive others, or Jesus telling someone that we should forgive someone seventy times seven times (which really meant there was no limit), the direction we were given was to forgive. It is not something we do easily. Some never do it at all.

As Christians, we should ‘forgive and forget’ when we have been wronged. When we ask God to forgive our sins, we also expect that he will forget them as well. They are in the past; he has forgiven them, and does not hold them against us. While we all like to be remembered, we don’t like it when someone tells us they have forgiven what we did or didn’t do, and then proceeds to remind us over and over about the thing we did.

Forgiving one another should be something we do almost automatically. That isn’t to say that we should just let it go by without saying a word or acting on whatever was done to us. We do have an absolute right to confront the other person and make them understand what they have done. There may or may not be a punishment associated with that, as when that person is one of the kids and needs to make sure he or she understands not only what was done but also that all actions have consequences. It is what comes next that is just as important, if not more so. Forgiveness.

Your attitude may be one of “I could never forgive that”. Are we not all supposed to be trying to be like Jesus? Do you not remember the passage in the Passion Gospel where Jesus, hanging on the cross and in terrible pain, looked up to Heaven and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”? Can we do less than that if we are to emulate him? If he could forgive the ones who gave him hours of intense pain which was about to cause his death, then how can we not forgive the small things, by comparison, that are done to us?

Forgiving others as we wish to be forgiven is not only a Christian duty, it is a privilege. It allows us to be more like Jesus Christ. How can we not take advantage of this beautiful opportunity?

The Roses

In 1979, Bette Midler had a huge hit record with “The Rose”. If you look at the lyrics, you will see negatives throughout the song, with love being compared to a razor that cuts and other views of life that are less than uplifting. It isn’t until the last verse of the song, the last lines, that we are reminded that a simple rose seed, buried beneath the snow, will become a beautiful rose in the spring. The thought is that however down and negative life is at the moment, there is always the promise of better times in the future.

We have all known people who look at life as a series of negatives. For them, not only is the glass half empty, it also has a hole in the bottom and the rest of the liquid is seeping out and soon it will be empty. Their life is one negative crisis after another and despite our best efforts to show them the half-full glass, they just can’t understand how we can be so upbeat and cheerful in such a negative world. We get accused of not being realistic and not seeing things as they really are. They tell us we need to stop dreaming and believing that things are going to get better. What they don’t see is we have someone on our side who has told us there is a brighter future, that if life is currently trying to push us down, we need to keep pushing back so we can climb back up.

The Someone I am referring to, of course, is God. Throughout our history with him, we have been told over and over how the end of the story is just the beginning of a wonderful eternity with him. If there was ever a time when God would have been down in spirit, had that been possible, it would have been when his Son, Jesus Christ, was hanging on the cross dying a cruel and painful death. If that was my son or yours, that would certainly be the worst of days. For God, that was the best of days in his in relationship with mankind. His Son’s death on that cross opened the gates of Heaven for us and for all who came before and will come in the future. It allowed all of those created in his image and likeness to join him forever. Jesus Christ suffered, died, was buried in a tomb in the rock, and rose in glory and majesty, ascending to Heaven forty days later. If he can go from the ugliest of all the tortures and deaths to such resplendent glory, why can’t we look at that and draw a lesson from it?

Are you on the top of the world or down in the pit or someplace in between? Regardless of where you are, there is always a better life, a better experience, ahead of you. Do you concentrate on the torture and pain of your current personal cross, or, do you concentrate on the better future? That better future may be here in this life or the next. Are you honoring the God who made you, his Son who suffered for you, by being negative or are you looking ahead at the rising future that he has promised, both here and later forever?

Take that half-full glass and fill it the rim and overflowing with the love of God. Drink of the love of God, the love of Jesus Christ and you will never be thirsty again.

When the spring comes, look for the rose bush rising out of the ground, roses blooming on its branches, and see the promise of all of the beauty not only of the roses but also a never ending future with God.

The 5:41 Marriage

Perhaps you have been married for just a few years, or maybe your anniversaries are teenaged, or perhaps the life of your marriage is middle-aged or even approaching elderly. You have settled into a life, a routine, a comfortable and loving existence. You have God in your life, you make Jesus a part of your everyday, both as individuals and as a married couple. Have you started seeing little chips in the floor, tiny frayed places, a noticeable crack now and again? This isn’t a description of your house or apartment, it is about little problems with the marriage…or maybe they are more than little.

Husbands, does this familiar to you? You talk about how well you take care of your wife, you have a good job, a nice place to live, you remember birthdays and anniversaries without being reminded or prompted, or even having to have a popup on your smart phone a couple of weeks ahead of time. You tell her she looks nice, or beautiful, or how much you appreciate how hard she works, outside the home if she has a job, and certainly inside it. Isn’t all of that part of your job as a husband? And if you have kids, you try to give them as much time as you can, to nurture them and bring them up right, to grow into good Christian adults. Do you, however, sometimes get an itch you just can’t scratch? Do you occasionally get that feeling there is something more that you could do to make the marriage better? You firmly believe you are a good husband, that you are doing everything a husband is supposed to do, but somehow it seems the marriage is a little out of kilter, out of focus just a tiny bit. Maybe your verbal comments or silent thoughts about your wife aren’t always that Christian, or you sometimes don’t get around to accomplishing the things you say you will, or at least not in a timely manner. You casually mention that special night your friend’s wife prepared, just a little jab. You aren’t looking for greener grass, but lately you have noticed a few weeds springing up in your marital yard. You are walking a good mile, but it isn’t necessarily a cheerful, Christian mile. Maybe there is the rare dark and stormy day when you think you should have married what’s-her-name.

Wives, does this sound familiar to you? You brag to all of your friends and relatives what a great guy your guy is to you. You tell them how well you take care of him, how you make sure he has a nice home. If you work outside the house, you make sure you balance both levels of responsibility. You tell him he looks handsome, and if he is like a lot of men who have a poor sense of clothing, you take care to make sure his wardrobe is right. If you have kids, you make sure they are taken care of, doing the job of mom-chauffer-doctor-teacher-counselor-coach. Do you get that feeling there is something more that you could do to make the marriage better? Do you also have that same unscratchable itch? You believe you are a good wife, that you are doing everything a wife is supposed to do, but somehow, it seems the marriage is a little out of kilter, out of focus just a tiny bit. Maybe your comments or silent thoughts about your husband aren’t always that Christian, or your criticisms are too frequent, too sharp. You casually mention the romantic thing your friend’s husband did, just a little jab. You aren’t looking at the greener grass, but lately you have noticed a few weeds springing up in your marital yard. You are walking your mile, but it isn’t necessarily a cheerful, Christian mile. Maybe there is even the rare dark and stormy day when you think you should have married what’s-his-name.

Have you noticed something missing in the two above paragraphs? How about L-O-V-E? How about F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N-E-S-S? Well, of course you love your spouse. Don’t you say so at least daily? Don’t you do all of those little things mentioned above? Matthew 5:41 talks about walking not just one mile, but two, with the implication that it is not done while moaning and groaning, but in a cheerful manner. How is your first mile progressing? Maybe that second mile is doing more than what is expected, or doing it not because it is your spousal duty, but doing it out of pure love. Maybe for you that second mile is that F-word above, the one that is tough for all of us. Remember that Forgiving includes Forgetting. If you aren’t forgetting, then you haven’t forgiven. Do you think that once God has forgiven you of your sins, He will keep reminding you of them when you fall again…and again? We Christian spouses are expected to forgive not just seven times or seventy times seven times, but every time. For those who have a problem with that second F-word, then perhaps you need to walk a third mile, if that is what is necessary.

Whatever your mile is, it will lead to a second, a third, and more after that. Some miles will involve a heavy burden, others not so heavy. With Jesus Christ as our partner in our marriage, He is always there to help us when we need it, to carry a part of the load, or sometimes all of it. Remember, He once carried a heavy burden up a lonely hill, just for you. You can struggle under a heavy load, be you husband or wife, or the two of you together, or you can call on Him who is always there. So walk your miles with joy and cheer, in love always, hand in hand with Jesus, the One who taught us to walk.

Paid In Full

This is about a pleasant experience. We have all bought something on the installment plan. It may have been something small as prices go, like furniture or clothes or a present. Perhaps it was something more expensive like a car or boat, or that largest of expenses, a house. We make the payments each month, regularly as we agreed, until we finally get to the last payment. Once we send in that last payment, we give a sigh of relief and wait for the response to come back, the invoice or contract or title that is marked, “Paid In Full.” Whatever it is, it is now ours free and clear. Whether it was a matter of just a few months, or the five years to purchase a car, or the 30 years that some people wait in order to pay off the last mortgage payment and burn the mortgage contract, it is still a moment of joy at having paid off the debt.

As the children of Adam and Eve, we have inherited their debt, the one they owed to God for making mankind’s first sin. To that debt, we have added our own sins as a purchase that needs to be paid for at some point in the future. When we turn our back on God, which is what sin does to us, we incur the debt obligation to pay off at some time later. It is said that the wages of sin are steep, meaning the cost we have to pay is at least proportional to the gravity of the sin. For some of us that may not be a great price; for others it may be quite high indeed.

When God created us humans and those first of us fell to sin, he came up with an installment plan to help us all pay our debt to him. He spread out the payments over hundreds of years of service and loyalty to him. He took His payments in the sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament, whether they were precious metals, livestock or produce. They were all offerings to him in payment and homage to him. One of the things that he promised was that there would be one final payment, one payment that would ease our burden, forgive the sins of all of those who came before and all who will follow.

God’s repayment plan was simple in concept. In order to make sure it was done correctly and would be everlasting, He sent someone to make sure it was done in such a way as to pay for all of the sins we have committed or ever will. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ. Since the sins were created and committed by us humans, Jesus Christ had to be one of us. He had to be not only God, the Second Person of the Trinity, he also had to be human. While God could certainly put Jesus on the earth as a human adult, he instead started him out in the same way that we start out. Jesus was born of a mother with God as his father. He grew, as the Bible tells us, in “wisdom, age and grace.” When enough time had passed, he was before us as an adult and a teacher.

It was a dark and ugly day for the final installment payment to be paid. It was the task of Jesus Christ to take on all of the sins of all of us, to accept that unbelievably heavy burden. It was his responsibility to make sure that God was properly paid for the sins of us all. In order to do that, Jesus had to die in a most horrible way; he had to die on a cross. This was mankind’s final payment. Now at last, God could stamp the debt “Paid In Full”.

Paid In Full. What a wonderful thought! What it means to all of us is the sins we commit and for which we receive forgiveness just for the asking of it, have already been paid back. Just as Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that once and final last payment, so too does God forgive us our sins without any future debt. His forgiveness is limitless. He has been paid for all of the debts we could ever incur. The bill has been paid off and there will be no more for us who receive the gift of his forgiveness. All we have to do is ask and we will receive.

My Dad Can!

It happens in real life, movies, books, and on television: two boys standing face-to-face, each one yelling at the other one, “My dad can beat up your dad!” Whether such a confrontation has ever happened to you is a moot point. Each boy knows that his dad is the biggest and baddest dad around. We all have a Father like that, God. There is a simple line in the Bible that says so. It is 1 John 4:4 and it goes like this: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (NKJV)”. It is really that simple. The “He” who is in you is God, and the “he” who is in the world is Satan. God is far more powerful than Satan in all things, but it is something we sometimes forget. We don’t remember to call on God during our problems and when things aren’t going our way. We think that we can handle it on our own, fighting off the devil with our own strength and resolve.

It is a well-worn and overused cliché that tells us life is tough. We know that. We have been around the block, up the creek and over the mountain. Life is full of its defeats and its victories. It presents us with challenges when we least want them and then gives us blessings and joys when we least expect them.

It is said that pride is the oldest and most common sin. When life takes a negative turn, we too often struggle through it ourselves, full of stubborn pride in our own ability. Sometimes we may ask our closest friend or a family member for help, unless we are too embarrassed or stubborn to do so. The one direction in which we should turn is to God. He is always there for us, He will help when asked. Oftentimes, His help isn’t what we expect, it is just the way that He thinks is best for us, for His reasons, not ours. Many times He expects us to follow His direction and He is there to smooth out the rough spots and keep us going in the right direction. While it may not be strictly biblical, the old saying about “God helps those who help themselves” is still valid. He isn’t there to do all of the work while we just kick back and relax. He expects us to carry our share of the responsibility.

God isn’t a magician. He doesn’t just weigh into the fray, wave a magic wand and make everything right. He has His ways of solving our problems. Not that He couldn’t work that way if He wanted to do so. After all, He is God. Our problem is that we don’t ask for help when we need it, and, when someone suggests seeking His help, it is our stubbornness that lashes out at that person and causes us to ignore the advice. Did you ever ask yourself where that stubborn streak came from? Who wants you to ignore that advice? Who wants you to continue to try on your own? Could it be that Satan is whispering in your ear, telling you one of his lies, convincing you to stay away from God’s help? Satan doesn’t like to lose, but he knows that when God steps into the fight, he loses. If he can keep you from seeking God’s help, then he can win that round.

Our God is the biggest and strongest “dad” around and He has never lost a fight to the devil and He never will. So, the next time you feel you are on the losing end, that life is not going your way, then that is the time you need to go face-to-face with Satan and remind him that God is on your side and with His help, you will defeat him every time.

Time Out!

I am taking a time out from writing this blog, but will return.  Please check back from time to time.  In the meantime, share God with everyone you meet, whether they follow him now or will follow your lead.

The Temporary Loan

At different times in my life, I have bought a new house, just as many of you have. Along with the excitement and drudgery of moving into a new place, we usually picked up a 30-year mortgage loan. What most people don’t think about is what the mortgage loan really means is you own just a little bit of the house and the mortgage company owns the balance. As the years pass, more of the house belongs to you until you finally pay off the loan. At that point, the house actually and finally belongs to you. Part of the deal with the mortgage company while you have the loan is that you take care of the house, keep it in good repair, and maintain it. If you can think of “30 years” as being temporary, then so is that loan. The mortgage company shows its faith in you by loaning you the money in the belief you will pay it back, since it is just temporary.

One of my favorite authors is the Western writer, Louis L’Amour. One of the recurring themes in his books it that the earth is ours to use as we need to do, but it is just on temporary loan to us. The period of the loan is, of course, the length of our lives. The earth and all its wonders are on loan to us by God and He has faith in us to take care of it properly. God expects us to nurture and tend the earth and when we leave it, to return it to Him in better shape than when He gave it to us.

When God created us as individuals, He infused our immortal soul into our mortal body. Once created, that soul is ours for all eternity. The body is not so lucky. God has merely loaned it to us so we can love and serve Him here on earth for the length of our lives. Some of us have a very long term loan and some not so long at all. It is what we do with the loan while we have it that is most important. Since we also have the gift of free will, we can choose to take care of that loan, keep it up and nourish it, and use it as God intended us to do. We can also exercise that free will and abuse this body or use it for evil purposes. Like any regular loan, God expects us to pay interest. In this case, the interest is to use our earthly existence to serve God in which ever purpose suits His needs and desires for us.

All loans are temporary, whether they are six years for a car, 30 years for a house, or a lifetime for this body. Just as in paying off a financial loan transfers the ownership from the bank to you, so too do you get to keep what you were given when you first received your physical loan. When your loan is paid in full, when you have drawn your last breath and served God for the last time here on earth, you then get the full ownership of the promise God gave to you at your conception: you get to have the full and complete presence of God for all eternity. Your body may have been just a temporary loan, but your soul is yours forever, dwelling always in the divine presence of God.

So, the big question is: what are you doing with your temporary loan? Are you taking care of it, nourishing it with the right kinds of food, exercising regularly/occasionally/sometimes, helping it to heal when it is sick or injured, and generally treating it as a special loan from God? Or, are you abusing it with drugs or drinking out of control? Are you over- or under-eating, or eating the wrong things? There are many things that people do to their bodies by treating them in a manner that God never intended.

When it is time to return your temporary loan to God, is it going to show just normal wear and tear, or is it going to be full of scratches, dents and damage? You are the one who gets to decide.

Pre-heat To 463

If you have ever done any cooking with something other than a microwave, you will have seen cooking instructions which start out with something like this: “Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees”. Following that, comes the list of ingredients and directions on how to mix them or prepare them. When that is done, then you put that concoction into the oven, set the timer for the requisite time, and wait until it is done. Whether it is 8-10 minutes for a batch of chocolate chip cookies or several hours for that Thanksgiving Day turkey or just a quick cooking in the skillet, the wait is, usually, worth your time. It takes very little imagination to remember that first bite into a soft, gooey chocolate chip cookie. Then comes the fun of licking your fingers while trying to steal just one more.

If you don’t do that first step in the preparation, heating the oven or skillet, then all of the wonderful ingredients you so carefully prepared, assuming you followed the rest of the instructions, are useless. They are just one concoction of something that is not what you wanted. Now most of you are willing to eat the cookie dough, but it is a mess and not the final product you envisioned. Raw turkey just doesn’t have the same look, feel, or taste. You have to do the most important part if you are going to get what you want. You have to start at the beginning and follow the directions.

As Christians, we have a very special cookbook of our own. It is the Bible. If we follow the instructions contained within its many pages, we can get to the final product. That product is, of course, spending eternity in God’s presence. Just like in a recipe, we have to do that first preparatory step. We have to recognize and acknowledge there is a God and that Jesus Christ is his son. We have to pre-heat our spiritual oven to 463. You don’t get it? Look at the letters on the numbers of your phone. God is 4-6-3! By heating our spiritual oven to God, we make ourselves ready to follow the rest of the recipe that he laid out for us in His almighty cookbook. Just like a regular cookbook, which has many contributors, each contributing her or his favorite recipe, God selected certain men and women to write His words for us to read. That compilation, that wonderful cookbook, will help us produce the best of all results: life everlasting with God.

The temperature you want to set is 463. The ingredients are the things we do with our life. Sometimes the mix may be smooth and sometimes it may be a bit lumpy. If you follow the instructions, bake it at just the right temperature, set the timer for your life, then what comes out is truly Heaven!

Stopping The Spin

From 1969 to 1989, I was a Navy pilot and twice during that span of time, I had the privilege of being a jet instructor for fledgling student pilots. So, I am going to give you a mini-lesson in the simple aerodynamics of something I taught to all of my students. This lesson is going to be about how a plane gets into a spin and how to get it out of one. If you have ever been to an airshow, then at some point during the show, an aerobatic pilot thrilled and scared the crowd by putting the plane into a spin and then pulling it out at seemingly the last minute. It looks simple and it is up to a point. So sit back and learn a bit about this basic set of maneuvers. Once I get that done, then see how I turn that lesson into how it applies to our life with God.

The first concept is the stall. Now, if you drive a car, you have probably had a car stall on you. For some reason, the engine quits. Unless there is a mechanical problem, you can restart it by just turning the key and continue your journey. When a plane stalls, that means the wings are not generating lift and that plane is now a streamlined rock and is no longer flying. The recovery is easy: just lower the nose and add power and pull back up to level flight. All spins start with a stall.

When a plane first starts to spin, it enters the post-stall gyration phase. It sort of just flops around, the nose pitches up and down and the turns are erratic, almost as if it really doesn’t want to do this. After a couple of turns, it enters into the incipient spin phase. There is still some pitching and the turns are not very smooth, but it is headed to the final phase. That phase is the steady state phase. The nose attitude is fixed and the turns are constant. The other part is the plane is falling out of the sky at a high rate of descent! Now for the best part: recovery and return to normal flight. That last happens when the pilot applies the correct controls and the plane responds as predicted.

Okay, now you are wondering how the previous three paragraphs about a spinning airplane are going to apply to your relationship with God. Well, here it goes.

What I am really going to talk about is sin. That’s right, the province of God’s enemy, and ours, Satan. Have you ever taken a look at your life when you are a long way down the wrong track and wondered how you got there? Maybe this doesn’t apply to you. If not, then good. Keep reading anyway, because it may apply to you someday or to someone you know.

Just like a car stalls and an airplane stalls, so do we sometimes. Let’s say you are walking through life and something catches your attention. It is something that you should avoid, but what is the harm in a quick glance? Just a short pause and then, when you realize what you see, you add power, recover and keep going. What if you linger just a bit too long with whatever it is. Just like a stalled plane, you can start flopping around with your decision: should you or shouldn’t you? Around and around you go, just flip-flopping back and forth. You can recover at this stage and return to normal flight, but what if you stick around just a little longer.

Sticking around a bit longer can get you from the post-stall phase to the incipient phase. You are really getting into the edges of the sin, temptation has a good hold and you are nibbling at it, but there is still a little bit of indecision there, still a little bit of pitch to your progress into sinning. You aren’t quite all the way into it but you are almost there, fully committed. Here it comes! The steady state spin of your sin. Around and around you go. It is just a nice steady ride, a smooth trip while you watch the world you knew zip past. The problem is the ride is also straight down. You are the streamlined rock and you are taking that definite negative plunge. Aviators have a saying about pilots who don’t recover from the spin. We talk about them creating a smoking hole in the ground. The same can go for you, only the hole you can get into is full of fire and no smoke. It doesn’t flare and go out; it burns with a constant flame, and a hot one at that. Too bad, isn’t it? Had you applied any of the known recovery techniques, you wouldn’t be there.

Recovery? Oh, yeah, I didn’t talk about that part of the deal when I was still talking about planes. The way you stop a spin, whether you entered it on purpose or inadvertently, is to see which direction you are spinning and then apply full opposite rudder. Spinning to the right? Apply full left rudder until the spin stops and then raise the nose back to the horizon and apply power so you can return to level flight.

Recovering from your sinful spin is the same thing. In simple terms, just start doing the opposite to what you have been doing. When you see that you are out of that life situation, return to the straight and level and apply all of God’s power to keep going straight ahead.

Any airplane can spin and it can be done intentionally or unintentionally. It is up to the pilot to make sure it doesn’t happen and, if so, to recover before any damage is done. There is one exception to that: there is one airplane that, because of the design of the controls, it won’t spin. There is one person who didn’t sin, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Any of the rest of us can do so, and can do so many times. It is up to us to recognize that situation, that temptation, regardless of how pretty or appealing and then recover back to the level path. Jesus came and showed us that path and provided us with the means, strength, and help to stay there. Maintaining straight and level flight will get you from your takeoff point to your destination. You have an excellent instructor and the flight manual is full of the details you need for all normal operations and instructions on how to handle emergencies. It is up to you to listen and study. It is that destination that makes all of the effort worthwhile.

Hot Coals

We have all listened to motivational speakers at one time or another and many of us have taken part in the activities or programs they talk about. It is often a matter of believing in what they believe and taking that belief to the next level and using it to change our lives. Maybe it is simply a matter of a single act that shows us we can believe in ourselves and others. The motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, has a part of his program that brings out that belief in the people attending his seminars.  On the last day of the seminar, the people who put it on lay out a strip of wood about 25 feet long and then light it. It burns all day and at the end of the day it is a bed of coals with a temperature of 1,800 degrees. To put this in perspective, aluminum starts to melt at about 1,200 degrees and steel at about 2,600 degrees. At the end of the day, the students are encouraged to walk the length of the bed of coals barefooted. They are assured they will not burn their feet if they follow directions. There is a video on the internet of Oprah Winfrey going across that bed of coals, after first swearing she would never do it.  She believed in what she heard and learned and crossed successfully.

It is all about faith. She had faith in the people who ran the conference, faith that they knew what they were talking about. I can’t begin to imagine how scary that had to be, but she knew she would not be harmed by the hot coals. Get that? She knew. She took the word of someone else and followed the instructions to the letter because of her belief in them.

As Christians we are asked to believe in someone we have never met, someone who lived once a long time ago and has devout followers all over the world. Jesus walked on the Earth for more than 30 years. The people who lived in that time period and within a walking distance knew Jesus. They saw him, heard him talk about God and salvation. Those times have passed; more than two millennia are behind us. Yet we hold onto a system of values and beliefs given to us to guide our lives. Despite all of the nay-sayers and others who challenge us or attack us, we still believe.

I was once told that believing in God and in Jesus Christ based on faith alone is the most illogical of actions. There is only a little proof that Jesus lived and no physical proof of God’s existence. We, however, know that God is alive and well and that Jesus Christ walked upon this planet and today sits at the Father’s right hand. Perhaps we can’t prove the existence to others, but we carry that proof in our hearts and souls. Those of us who have faith have all of the proof we need.

Jesus told the Apostles that their faith, even if it was the size of a small mustard seed, could pick up a mountain and toss it into the sea. I have no intention of picking up a mountain, or even a small hill, and tossing it into the ocean. What I do intend to do is to believe in God wholeheartedly and in His desire to love me and take care of me.

What about you? Do you believe it God totally? Or, do you believe in Him only in your mind and ignoring the rest of yourself? Until you can accept God with all that you are and all you will ever be, you will be incomplete in your belief and in your life as a Christian. If you only believe in God, in Jesus, in your head, then that is just an intellectual exercise. You need to trust God totally and let him into your life, to be the most important part of it.

What do you have to lose? Take that step! It doesn’t lead to a bed of burning coals, just to a wonderful life here on earth and, later, with God in Heaven for eternity.

Equal And Opposite

The renowned physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, put forth three basic laws of physics. The third law says that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. For example, if you have a see-saw and you push down on one end, the opposite end goes up by an equal amount. If you were wearing ice skates and were on the ice, holding a ball, and you pushed the ball away from you, you would move backwards. If you have ever fired a gun, then the recoil is the reaction to the explosion of the gunpowder and the bullet leaving the barrel.

In some countries and cultures, punishment is similar to this. If you steal from a person, you might have a hand chopped off, in a sense an equal reaction. In Mosiac law, the concept of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, followed the same line of reasoning.

When Jesus came and walked on the Earth, He changed this concept of Mosiac law. He also had an equal action/reaction principle to His teaching. The difference was that His reaction to evil was an opposite, but positive, one. He said that if someone slapped your cheek, instead of hitting him back, you turned and offered the other cheek. If a Roman soldier ordered someone to carry his armor for a mile, as was the law under Roman rule, then the positive reaction was to carry it a second mile instead of trying to figure out how to even the score. Even when He was put to death on the cross, He showed us an equal reaction. While He could have used His power to punish those who killed Him, He forgave them. Equal and opposite. Returning good for bad.

How about you? What your reactions to things that are done to you? If someone does something nice for you, what do you do? Sometimes a heartfelt “Thank you” is appropriate enough. A favor done for you doesn’t incur an obligation, but if you should see an opportunity to return the favor in some way, then you should certainly take it. Perhaps a nice thing done for you by a stranger could cause you to do something nice for a different stranger. I am sure you see the drift of this and can come up with your own ways of being an opposite reactor.

All of this niceness is great, but how about the other side of life? What do you do to the person who wrongs you in some way? Maybe they do something that hurts your feelings or causes you to get angry. Getting revenge in some way is certainly an equal reaction. What if your reaction is stronger than their original action? So, they try to balance the books and it goes back and forth, escalating higher and higher. That is not what Jesus taught us to do. Based on His example, we should return at least an equal amount of good for the wrong done to us. There is no telling what such an example might do to another person. What if your positive reaction showed them how it is supposed to be done? What if they talked to you or someone else about it, curious as to why you didn’t return bad for bad, and that curiosity ultimately lead them to Jesus? Not only would you have given them an equal reaction, but you would have given them something even greater.

The life you lead, the people you meet and with whom you interact, offer you countless opportunities to perform equal and opposite reactions. What are your reactions going to be? Are they going to be negative, which plays right into Satan’s plans, or are they going be to positive, just as Jesus taught us through His words and his actions? It is up to you to grab the right one. The question is: Will you do it?

Invisible People

Matthew 25:40 "...whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me..."

There are invisible people all around us. These are not a real version of a character in an H. G. Wells novel; they are real people. They are the people we see every day but not really. We run into them in stores and restaurants. They are in the places and offices where we work. We see them around our houses, or apartments, or condos. They are there and yet we don't see them except as part of the fixtures and functions. Who are they?

They are the people who serve us and help us. They are the person who checks out your purchase at the grocery store or puts the items in the bags and carries them to your car. They take your order at the restaurant and bring your food to the table. When you go to the restroom at work, you will see them cleaning up after you and your co-workers. If you live in a housing complex like a condo or set of townhouses, they take care of the landscape.

If you can see them, then why do I say they are invisible? Because you look at them as just part of the scenary. Do you look at the nametag of the grocery checker and greet her or him by name? When the server at the restaurant comes up and says, "Hi, my name is Mary (or John) and I will be your server today", how long does it take you to not only forget the name but even what she or he looked like? Maybe that restroom attendant has a name and would like to be noticed and appreciated for a job that most of us would not like to have.

We have all heard of the rich, the famous, and the infamous. It is those others who occupy the background of life who are also there with us. The really wonderful thing is that Jesus isn't interested in our bank balance, he is there for all of us, the highest and the lowest, the very wealthy and the homeless. It is how we live this life that counts, not the counting of the dollars and diamonds. It is how we spend the gift of this lfe, not how much we spend. Remember the lesson of the pharisee and the publican. It was the publican who stayed at the back of the temple, hiding in the shadows because he felt unworthy, who went away justified, and not the pharisee who went up front glorifying himself.

What are you doing with God's gifts? God has given us the gift of seeing the other people around us. How are you using it? Do you see the lowly as well as the highborn? Do you see God in the least of us? He is there, trust me. It is up to you to treat the janitor as if he were Jesus...he just might be.

It's A Rainbow!

Our life is full of rainbows, just look in the right direction after the rain stops on a sunny day. Usually we get to see one end or the other because trees or buildings get in the way. Many years ago, I was on a tropical island and after the storm and the sun came out, there was a double rainbow out over the water. It was a truly beautiful and wonderful sight. Rainbows are celebrated in poetry and certainly song. I am sure we have all sung "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" to our kids, just as our parents sung it to us. Whether it is the Judy Garland version or the much newer medley by Israel Kamakawio'ole, it is a wonderful song that talks about hope for something or somewhere. There is also the musical, Finian's Rainbow, that debuted on stage in 1947 and was made into a movie in 1968 starring Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. It is full of music and humor and Astaire's character is always looking for that other end of the rainbow, looking for the pot of gold.

When we took General Science in high school, we learned th colors that are in the rainbow by the silly name of ROY G BIV. The letters stand for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. There is a certain magic in the colors. The Red and Yellow make the Orange, the Yellow and Blue make the Green, and the Blue and Violet make the Indigo. All of those make still more colors, an infinite variety of the visible colors from one end to the other. Don't forget the ones we can't see unaided, the ultraviolet on one end and the infrared on the other.

The physics of light refraction don't change and there have always been rainbows as long as there has been sunlight and rain. However, the best rainbow ever recorded is in Genesis when God showed one to Noah at the end of the period of the great flood and promised him that he, God, would never again destroy the earth with flooding. That promise is but one of many that God has given to us since our creation in his image and likeness. The best promise of all was to give his son to us to save us and redeem us from the sin of Adam and Eve. Twice in the new testament, God the Father announces that Jesus is, "My beloved son in whom I am well pleased". He did it to the multitude who witnessed Jesus' baptism and again on the Mount of Transfiguration. God kept that promise through the horror of the crucifixion and the ascension.

God promised us that we may spend all of eternity with him once our time on Earth is finished. His only request of us is that we serve him faithfully, follow the rules, the commandments, he gave us, and follow the leadership of us son, Jesus. He didn't promise us it would be easy or without trouble or strife. He did promise us he would be there for us to call on when we needed help. Whether that help would be truly miraculous or having the right person come into our life at the right time is up to him. He knows the best way and we who are wise will accept the help he brings.

God may or may not show you his rainbow as the symbol of his promise. He may show you something else of his beauty when you most need it. At the end of the day, what he will show you is his limitless and endless love for you. What more can we want?

Life Is...

Life is...whatever we make of it. Sometimes it is great. Sometimes it really sucks. John Lennon, the Beatle, said "Life is what happens while we're making other plans." We heard that same quote near the end of the movie, "Mr. Holland's Opus." Life for me was really great when I was there watching three of my four children be born. Life really sucked the morning I walked into my mom's bedroom and discovered she has passed away during the night. I am sure you have your own experiences,

positive and negative, that you could list and some would make mine seem minor by comparison.
If you have ever been around me when something happened, then you probably heard me say just the title, "Life is", meaning "life is what it is". We do have some control over the things that we do and that happen to us. To the limit of that control, we are responsible. There are also things that happen, good and bad, which are out of our control and we have to accept them for what they are. We have no control over buying that winning lottery ticket or having a traffic accident that is the other guy's total fault. It is how we deal with it that really counts and that is under our control.

Many times we like to take the credit for what happens or give it to God or to his archenemy, Satan. Sometimes, it is just random chance, good or bad. If you walk into a convenience store and buy a winning lottery ticket, I don't believe God arranged for those random numbers to spit out at that exact moment. We may certainly thank him for that event and hopefully use that money for good. By the way, don't forget to give him his share. On the other hand, if you are laid off from your job, one you really love to do, it can just as easily be the result of poor management or a downturn in the economy. Many people in that situation like to blame God or Satan for what happened, when the reality is neither one had anything to do with it.

Okay, you say, so random chance happens to you, good and bad, so what? So it is how you handle that random event that opens the door for either God or Satan. The lottery winner who does positive things with his millions is definitely listening to what God has to say and the guidance that comes with it. There is nothing wrong with using that money for our own benefit, after giving God his share first. So you want a new house, cars, vacations, perhaps quit your job, or any other use of that money. Do it! God wants us to be prosperous. It is the fool who uses good fortune for evil, and we know where that comes from, who will suffer in the end. Spending good fortune on things which are a violation of God's rules is definitely a misuse.

Things happen to people, to you and to me. Sometimes it is the hand of God that reaches down to boost us up in a time of need. Sometimes it is a trial that he allows us to experience in order to give us the chance to build up our spiritual strength. Like what? Like the trials of Job. Certainly, he came out of that time of trial much stronger than he was when it started.

The bottom line is that life happens to us whether we are ready or not. It is how we handle that happening that really counts. There is certainly nothing wrong with thanking God for what has happened to us when it was just chance, but the important thing is to use that random event to draw even closer to him and to give him the glory which he certainly deserves.

Racing Down The Aisle

When was the last time you looked backward in time at the day you got married? Whether you can measure it in months, years or decades, it is in all likelihood a sparkling waypoint in the road you have traveled from birth until now and, with God’s blessings and grace, it will continue to be just as bright for all of your years. Lest we forget, God has only part of the responsibility for keeping that shine. Marriage, as we have all heard so many times, is the hardest job you will ever have. Sometimes a joy, sometimes a burden, but it is always there, 24/7. Like any journey, it has a beginning and it has an end…sort of.

Were you the bride, standing there at the foot of the aisle, your hand lightly resting on your dad’s forearm? Whether you were the traditional bride in the beautiful white dress, standing next to your tuxedo-clad father, or in something less traditional, you waited, waited for the moment you were taking that first step into a new life. Down at the end of that walk, he waits. Did you have that moment of impatience? Did you think to yourself that you just wanted to toss that bouquet of flowers aside, tell your dad, “See you later!” and head off up the aisle, scattering a ring bearer and a flower girl in your wake? Was your secret attitude one of “let’s get this adventure started, and I mean NOW!”? You didn’t do it, of course. You walked up that pathway, traded a dad’s forearm for your love’s hand, and waited for the music to stop…stop so you could get started.

Were you the groom, standing at the altar, flanked by a friendly “best man” and maybe some others? All trussed up in a rented tuxedo, or something a little less formal, you waited. That aisle looked a mile long and you wondered just how much longer it would be until she finally started that walk. Maybe in your imagination you could see yourself racing towards each other, like two slow-motion lovers running closer and closer on the beach. You are so ready to get your old life ended and this new one started, with the one, true love of your life. Now all you need is for her to be here, by your side, and have the minister ask God to bless the two of you as you start a new life as one.

When the two of you walked out of the church door, through a shower of birdseed and cheers, did you remember to bring your Best Friend along? You know the one I mean, the one who was at that other wedding some years ago, in a little town called Cana. Being married, as mentioned up above, is a tough job. Taking on a silent partner named Jesus Christ enhances the chances…except He isn’t always so silent. Sometimes He whispers, sometimes He fairly shouts just to get your attention, depending on your needs, whether as individuals or as a couple. Don’t put Him on a shelf, just to drag Him out on Sunday mornings. Invest some time in Him every day, just a few seconds, or minutes will do. This is the kind of investment that doesn’t pay 6% interest, or even 10%. This investment pays 100%, because that is what Jesus has invested in you, 100% of Himself, planning your future, eternal happiness. Where else can you get a guaranteed return like that? And talk about a retirement plan community! When it is time for the two of you to move on to that next part of your life, He has a beautiful home all prepared, rent free, just exactly what you have been looking for and waiting for, for all of your life. When you see who’s waiting at the end of that aisle, you’ll want to race down that one as well.