Turns out there was something almost as satisfying Monday night as watching Eddie Lacy, A. J. McCarron and company put looks of futility and bewilderment on yet another BCS opponent – a game, by the way, I have waited since 1966 to witness.
It was a commercial. For Dr. Pepper, of all things. Now as long as I’ve known anything about Dr. Pepper and commercials, they have always had some kind of big song and dance production. And this commercial was no exception.
What was exceptional was the song in the commercial. It sort of stopped me in my tracks. I actually hit rewind to see the thing again. (If you know anything about me and commercials, you will know this rarely happens.) If you’d like to see the commercial, it’s already on YouTube, and you can watch it here.
I didn’t run out and buy Dr. Pepper. But I did hurry to iTunes and found the song. I just discovered it was released on iTunes on January 7, the day the commercial ran.
The song is by the Nashville group Vinyl Hearts, and it’s called, “I Am.” You can hear it in its entirety by clicking below. Please, hear the song in its entirety. [click to continue…]
This just in, in case you missed it. Christmas is less than a month away.
True confession: Yesterday I snarled in my journal, “I’ll just be glad when it’s over.”
But today, in honor of the late Zig Ziglar, who passed away yesterday, I’m “doing a checkup from the neck up.”
Every year, we have the same choice when it comes to the enchantment and the challenges of the holidays. Do we hunker down, sit tight, and hope for the best? Or do we seek to flourish? To make the most of our relationships, our worship, and even our painful experiences?
Survive or Thrive? It’s up to you. It’s up to me.
When it comes to being a thriver, here are five suggestions, for how you can come out of the bunker and actually have a season of delight:
[click to continue…]
Old friend called yesterday. It had been a while.
“I’m calling to ask you to pray,” she began. “I’ve just had a bombshell dropped in my lap.”
Like you would do, I’m sure, my mind started racing at the possibilities. Family? Finances? Health? It could be anything.
I won’t tell you what hers was, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that she was handed some bad news she didn’t see coming.
Kabloom!
What matters more is that she was really making some progress in some areas of her life, and this jeopardizes all that.
Kabloom again!
And what matters to you is that next time it could be you.
Have you ever noticed that when you start moving in a positive direction, life has a way of testing you out of center field with alarming or disarming stuff? And it comes dressed in any number of ugly outfits. [click to continue…]
I rarely get to sit at weddings. But I’ve stood in more than 200 of them. And may I say, I usually get the best, um, standing position in the house.
I’m not talking about seeing the bride make her way down the aisle – everybody gets up to see that. The best place to stand in a wedding is next to the groom. When they fling that door open and she comes in on Daddy’s arm, I can sense it. I can feel it. Heck, sometimes I can hear it.
There in that least-photographed moment, an otherwise robust, strong-hearted man melts. I’ve seen grown men cry. I’ve seen them rendered speechless. I’ve sensed their breathing and pulse increase. I’ve heard them say under their breath, “Ummph,” or “Wow,” which sorta says it all.
Friends and family have helped his beloved adorn herself. For him. And in that moment, there is nothing he wouldn’t do for his bride. Nothing he wouldn’t say to express the depth of his love for her and the level of his commitment to her.
And after that, they both live happily ever after. [click to continue…]
(Baby giraffe born Sept. 23, 2012 at Hogle Zoo, Utah. AP Photo/Utah’s Hogle Zoo)
+++++++
“Whence comes this idea that if what we are doing is fun, it can’t be God’s will?
The God who made giraffes, a baby’s fingernails, a puppy’s tail, a crooknecked squash, the bobwhite’s call, and a young girl’s giggle, has a sense of humor.
Make no mistake about that” –(Catherine Marshall)
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy (Ps 126:2-3, NIV).
Have I told you lately that I love to laugh?
That hasn’t always been true.
There was a time I was convinced that the world was going to hell and I had to do something about it. And by God, that was serious.
I’m still convinced the world is going to hell (I have that on pretty good authority). But I’ve realized two other things as well. First, God has already done something about it – it doesn’t depend on me.
Second, the nations will never see what God has done for me until my “mouth is filled with laughter and my tongue with songs of joy.” Angry sermons and surly scowls from Mister Blister won’t get the job done. [click to continue…]
The inhabitants of a small third-world village were understandably alarmed. An earthquake was literally shaking every corner of their world, and they were terrified.
All except for one elderly woman, that is, who remained completely calm throughout the whole ordeal. When things had settled down, one of the villagers asked her, “Weren’t you afraid during that earthquake?”
“No,” she replied, “I wasn’t. You see, I just rejoiced to know that I have a God who is powerful enough to shake the world.”
Needless to say, she had a “peace that passes all understanding.” I wonder if I do. I wonder if you do.
I was speaking on this at a retreat over the weekend and I recognized something really important about the peace that is every Christian’s birthright:
Peace isn’t the punch line of a beauty contest joke or the passive purview of those who breathe deeply and chant. Peace isn’t for sissies. It’s the result of a conquest. It is an expression of the God of Heaven going to war to protect our thoughts and minds.
Read these two well-known verses again and look for the traces of battle: [click to continue…]
In 1835 a man visited a doctor in Florence, Italy. He was filled with anxiety and exhausted from lack of sleep. He couldn’t eat, and he avoided his friends. The doctor found that he was in prime physical condition. Concluding that his patient needed to have a good time, the physician told him about a circus in town and its star performer, a clown named Grimaldi. Night after night he had the people rolling in the aisles. “You must go and see him,” the doctor advised. “Grimaldi is the world’s funniest clown. He’ll make you laugh and cure your sadness.”
“No, he can’t help me,” said the patient. “You see, I am Grimaldi!”
It’s one of those ironies, a paradox of life in general, and a hidden truth of Kingdom life in particular. Laughter flows out of pain. Joy would be nonexistent without sorrow. Grace wouldn’t exist if there were no need for it. And what I lack becomes the basis for what I have to offer. [click to continue…]
Something changed that night. And you are the beneficiary. But so many things changed in and around that night that this sometimes gets lost in the shuffle and scuffle.
For three-plus years, Jesus-the-Master had been leading a band of twelve full-time followers. “Disciples,” He called them. And they did what disciples do. Listen. Learn. Serve. Make mistakes. Listen. Lean some more. Serve some more. There were teachable moments and forgettable moments. Fighting times and healing times.
But just before His death, Jesus was giving these loyal men (Judas had already left) a final round of teaching. One guy calls this, “Jesus’ Cram for the Final Exam.” I love it.
Tucked in between these massive concepts about vines and branches and the coming Holy Spirit, Jesus rewrote the contract between Him and those who follow. Read this carefully: [click to continue…]
(Cool things I’ve heard somebody pray, #2… You can find #1 here.)
One of my favorite things to do when we had elders meetings was to spend time praying for each other. Sometimes we’d share where we were in life, then intentionally ask the men there to pray for someone else in the room, based on what that person had talked about.
Someone had shared a pretty heavy request, and my friend Michael was praying for him. And Michael said something to the Lord that stopped me in my tracks:
“There’s nothing too big for a God like you.”
This was more than an intellectual acknowledgement or a theological affirmation.
It. Was. Worship.
It was a faith declaration that suddenly made the prayer need seem not so ominous or obnoxious. And it reminded me of Who it was we were talking to in the first place. [click to continue…]
Oh happiness, there’s grace,
Enough for us and the whole human race
-David Crowder
Sometimes we just make it more complicated than it should be… than it has to be. Can you relate?
We’ve long ago learned that money and things don’t buy it, though that doesn’t seem to stop us from trying.
Technology promises to serve it up, but that server keeps crashing… hard. Of course, that won’t stop us from lining up for the next iThingy when it comes out (complete with a three-year service plan and a monthly charge).
Love? Can’t love do it? Sure, depending on whose definition you’re talking about. Honestly, most people’s definition of love would complicate a two-car funeral or reduce the rest of the world to service providers. And can you really be happy when the people around you are so miserable trying to keep you satisfied?
Yeah, I know. It’s complicated.
We’re like the parents of that preschooler who just spent hundreds on that latest gotta-have-it toy with its techno-wizardry, who are mystified that the kid just wants to play with the box. And he’s having a blast with the box, while the exasperated parents keep shoving this strange, noisy thing in his face trying to get him to be happy.
Most of us, though, have trained ourselves to look past the simple source of creative imagination (the box) and demand that the latest products or people provide us the happiness we demand. And we never quite arrive at what’s advertised… at least not for very long.
Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place. Maybe it’s time to go back to the box. Maybe it’s time to unplug – to go from “batteries not included” to “no purchase necessary.”
Maybe it’s time to rediscover the beauty of Simple Happiness. And you’ll find it: [click to continue…]
