A rewrite of an old (and probably true, since I heard a preacher tell it) story…
What do you do when you know God’s call on your life is vocational evangelism, and your wife dies, leaving you with two sons, ages 8 and 10? Will Martin decided to seek out a way jto be both Dad and faithful evangelist. He rearranged his schedule to make sure he was never gone more than four days at a time, and made arrangements for a highly-trusted caretaker. And he made himself a promise: whenever he’d been away overnight, he would always bring his sons a special gift.
Then came the day that Will was wheels-up on the plane and it dawned on him: he’d forgotten to pick up something for his boys. So Will conceived a plan.
The boys were so ready to see their dad, and so excited to get inside his suitcase.
“Don’t even bother, guys,” Dad said. “There’s nothing in there. This one’s special. [click to continue…]
(The Twelve Ways of Christmas, Part 4: The Way of Waiting)
For Scotty Thomas, Christmas was cruel. What other word can you use to describe living in a house where Dad enforced a hard-nosed rule: Christmas presents were for Christmas day?
“But can’t I open just ONE?” Scotty would ask.
“No,” his dad would say, smiling.
“I think I know what this one is,” Scotty would say, shaking a wrapped present under the tree.
“Think all you want,” Dad would reply. “You may be right. You may be wrong.” Inevitably for Scotty, it was a little of both.
Like any good 8-year-old, Scotty also had razor-sharp radar for any kid who seemed to get a better deal. Jeremy Walker got to open the give from his sister a day early. Jeff Dunaway opened family gifts the weekend before Christmas day. But Scotty’s appeals landed on stone.
As Scotty grew older and wiser (age 10 now), he became more sophisticated in his approach. If he couldn’t win by appeal, he would conquer by steal. Scotty set out on a mission to find hidden “treasures.”
Snooping through his dad’s workshop and in the attic, Scotty hit the mother lode a full 10 days before Christmas. A new bicycle, video games, a skateboard, some table games, a basketball, a couple of posters for his room, a wristwatch… this was going to be an amazing Christmas.
It turned into the worst 10 days of Scotty’s young life. [click to continue…]
“So much of our time is spent in preparation, so much in routine, and so much in retrospect, that the amount of each person’s genius is confined to a very few hours.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Whatever happened to Green Stamps? They’re an indelible memory of my childhood. In case you missed it, the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, began offering stamps to retailers back in 1896. Grocery stores, gas stations and the like bought the stamps from S&H and gave them as bonuses with every purchase, based on the amount you bought. In their heyday, 80 percent of U.S. households collected some kind of stamp.
My sister and I grew up licking green stamps and pasting them in books. When the A&P bag began filling up with completed books, we started getting excited. We’d peer at the two pages of toys in the S&H catalogue, surrounded by page after page of sheets, clocks, toasters, and other boring things. (Truth be told, you could get virtually anything with stamps; a school in Erie, Pennsylvania, exchanged 5.4 million stamps for two gorillas for the local zoo.)
Anyway, when we had collected enough to make the trade, we’d go off to the Redemption Center. Technically, we’d already “bought” the stuff. We were presenting evidence of our purchase (the stamps) in order to redeem – to buy back – our merchandise.
This is not about Green Stamps, but about redeeming. About buying back something that already belongs to you – namely your opportunities and your time. [click to continue…]
(Reconciling Your Dreams with God’s Plan)
Once upon a time, a young man had a dream – a prophetic dream. He dreamed that he had two homes, his own boat, and would travel internationally and be a blessing to many people. This could only mean one thing! Obviously God was calling him into the business world, where he would make a lot of money and use his wealth to make the world a better place.
After seeking some counsel and getting confirmation that he was headed in the right direction, he changed his college major to business and prepared for a life of benevolent wealth management.
Then he met her. [click to continue…]
In a previous administration, a lady in our church came back from a trip and brought me a page-per-day calendar. On each page was a funny cartoon about life in Church World. I loved it! Whoever the cartoonist is, he knows church people.
Whenever I found a cartoon that was particularly funny to me, I tried to share with somebody else I thought could appreciate it as much as I did. One day I found just such a cartoon. I laughed out loud, and it reminded me of someone. But it took me a minute to realize who the cartoon made me think of. Then like a lightning bolt it hit me: the name and face of an old friend. The things the cartoon made fun of were things that he and I used to laugh a lot about. It made me think of him so much, I almost sent it to him . . . in a blank envelope.
Within seconds my laughter had turned to a peaceful sadness. The cartoon was still funny, but the situation it reminded me of wasn’t. The last time I had contact with my old friend, I had disappointed him very badly. I didn’t mean to hurt him, and he knew that. He wasn’t bitter at me. I still called him my friend, although I hadn’t been much of a friend to him. But circumstances beyond our control had prevented us from healing and rebuilding what once was a wonderful, close friendship. It was very sad, and at times very painful.
That night I dreamed of him – I’m sure because of the cartoon. [click to continue…]
It’s the ultimate test, and I’ve blown it. Often. Thank God He’s let me live to go one more round or two, maybe to get it right next time.
In a world awash with the expectation of push-button success and results, what do you do when you’ve done everything you know to do, and you still haven’t seen what you expect – what you long for and expect to see? [click to continue…]
A couple of weeks ago I asked an associate to pick me up me a cup of coffee when he went out for an afternoon break. He did. Since I take cream and sugar in my coffee, I looked all over the church for some form of sugar to put in it, and couldn’t find any anywhere. Even though there were at least three people who could have helped solve the problem, I didn’t ask for help. I just poured out the coffee. It felt better to feel sorry for myself than it did to solve the problem.
Self-pity stinks.
I wish I could tell you that this was the first time I had ever felt sorry for myself, but I’m sure you’d know better. Truth is, at times I’m something of an artist at it. Given the right mood, the right circumstances, and just the right amount of self-absorption, I can not only feel sorry for myself, I can influence you to do something to “make” me feel that way.
Like the time in Mrs. Trimble’s class in fourth grade when I kept whining and crying, “Nobody likes me. Nobody!” [click to continue…]
Tense Truth: Jesus, the Light of the World, will sometimes allow us to experience seasons of darkness in order to teach us to trust Him, not guarantees. But He warns us not to turn back to that other kind of darkness – a world of evil or self-initiated “light” in order to find quick-fix relief.
First I’ll give you the pieces, then I’ll put them all together.
- A couple of weeks ago I was having lunch with a friend and he made a profound statement: “When your world is dark, the temptation is to turn deeper into the darkness for relief.” So true. And yet it makes about as much sense as digging your way out of a hole.
- Someone once asked me if I’d ever had a midlife crisis. I blurted out instantly, “Yeah, I’ve had about a dozen of ’em.”
- I’ve noticed a recurring pattern lately. I’m dealing with a significant number of professional men, all of whom could be classified as successful. In fact, they’re geniuses at what they do – so good, they can do it without a lot of thinking. And yet they’re bored, restless, or even depressed. Before my very eyes, they’re starting to act dead-before-they-die. In fact, my most common deep spiritual advice to them is, “You’re not dead yet!”
- Have you ever noticed that people who are living “in the darkness” are also the loudest to predict a dark future? Wonder if that’s just a coincidence?
More than once somebody or something has rocked my Zippity-do-dah world and faith and, for lack of a better way of describing it, “turned the lights off.” What’s ironic is that it didn’t happen because I’d screwed up or was somehow running from God. In fact, the darkness happened while I was pursuing the Lord and, by all accounts and purposes, growing. [click to continue…]
(The Four Faces of Disappointment – Part 2)
I’m not asking for much. I just want all my expectations fulfilled, and a complete removal of all limitations.
Of course… then I wouldn’t need God. Then I’d BE God.
Disappointments are a startling, sometimes rude reminder that the job of God of the Universe has already been filled.
Yesterday I mentioned that in my own experiences of painful disappointment, like the experience of the children of Israel, four “faces” of disappointment have emerged. The first two were delays and distressing people. But I have found two other ways that God deliberately allows us to “feel the burn.”
3. Dead Ends
These have to do with measurable limitations – things like life expectancy, dollars, and distance. Dead ends often lead us to question God’s integrity, because He seems to be contradicting Himself.
It’s like one man said, “I thought becoming a Christian was the end of all my troubles.” It is – the front end!
Examples of dead ends are everywhere: [click to continue…]
“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad”
(Proverbs 12:25, NKJV)
In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame… O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You have healed me… You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness… I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities, And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy… Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea…
I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
You will show me the path of life…. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me… How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand… Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord – Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word… Remember the word to Your servant, Upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life… [click to continue…]