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…]
Wisdom asks questions about consequences when all I want to do is enjoy myself. What’s wrong with a little fun, know what I mean? Wisdom uses words like “safe,” “abstinence” and “consequences.” Now THAT’ll get your blood pumping. Zzzzzzz. Look, all I want to do is have a little pleasure in my life. I know there’s more to life than feeling good. But I can control myself. [click to continue…]
Tense Truth: Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. But we are virtually helpless to reinterpret history for ourselves. We need a Source of truth that isn’t subject to the distortions we bring to hindsight.
+++++++++++++++++++
Ms. Past, she’s such a wicked lady,
Ms. Past, she’s always there a waiting,
She’s the Devil’s favorite tool,
She’ll play you like a fool,
She’ll try until she rules.
-Michael and Stormie Omartian
Whoever said hindsight is 20/20 needs new glasses.
Hindsight is blind as a bat.
It’s a house of mirrors.
You can get more accuracy from a weekend weatherman about a 10-day forecast than you can from looking at life in the mirror.
If hindsight is 20/20, why do historians always argue?
If hindsight is 20/20, why do two people in conflict always tell two completely different stories? (And tell two more a week later?)
If hindsight is 20/20, why does the same event speak to you completely differently from the perspective of a day, a week, a month, a year, or a generation?
If hindsight is 20/20, why does God repeatedly have to remind the children of Israel about their rescue from Egypt and the whole Red Sea episode? I’ll tell you why. [click to continue…]
You read it right. I need to be saved. Not in the sense we church folk usually toss the word around, but I need it nonetheless.
Yes, I have repented of my sins, and I have trusted Christ as my Lord. I know I’m going to heaven and that I’m a child of God, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. But more than ever, I need the wholeness, the deliverance, and the healing that only He can offer. I need to be saved.
Salvation is a three‑faced experience. I have been saved; I am being saved; I will be saved. Past, present, and future. The Bible words: justification, sanctification, glorification. All of this is possible through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and His victorious resurrection. And all of it comes as a package deal.
Sometimes we get the idea that we can be justified (forgiven of our sins) and glorified (taken to heaven) and bypass the sanctification (being conformed into Christ’s image). But the fact is, there is no salvation without sanctification. If you see no evidence of the Holy Spirit transforming you into the image of Jesus, you’d best check out whatever it is you call your “profession of faith.”
(Tense Truth: The perfect truth of the gospel was placed into the hands of a group of people whose lives were a complete mess. Jesus knew this, but commissioned them anyway.)
Picture the scene in that upper room on the day of the Resurrection. Rumors and testimonies are flying! A strange mixture of fear, joy, and disbelief. Suddenly, according to John’s account, the Lord Jesus appears and says, “Peace to you; as the Father has sent me, so I’m sending you” (John 20:21).
Hello and head out! Victory and a vision. A Conqueror with a commission. And now these disciples would duplicate on earth what was first transacted in heaven. “The Father sent me. In the same way, I am sending you.”
But wait a minute. Before we glory in our visions of Pentecost, it would do us good to remember who it was the Lord was talking to. So send I . . . WHO? [click to continue…]
“It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society.” -Peter Berger, Redeeming Laughter
At a convention, filled with pastors and other very religious people, I was sitting on a shuttle bus going from the parking lot to the convention center. The bus made a stop, and on hopped Dennis Swanberg – comedian, and then-pastor. I recognized him, because we’d recently had him as a guest in our church. Somebody else recognized him too. A good ol’ boy hollered from the back of the bus, “Hey! Aren’t you Dennis Swanberg? Say sumpthin’ funny!”
Dennis smiled good-naturedly, but the look in his eye said it all: Seriously?
I joked with him about the cluelessness of the request. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s sorta like saying to a doctor in public, ‘Cure something,’”
One Planet, Two Kingdoms
Isn’t it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Where are the clowns? [click to continue…]
There are two places from which to dream – a place of frustration, or a place of contentment. Each has its own perspective and advantages.
Dreaming from a place of frustration is necessary, because without it, nothing would ever change. Dreaming from a place of contentment is necessary, because without it, nothing would ever remain rooted where it should be.
Dreaming from a place of frustration arms us with hope. Dreaming from a place of contentment coils us in faith.
Dreaming from a place of frustration helps define our boundaries. Dreaming from a place of contentment helps raise our standards. [click to continue…]
“I will recognize that this day is a gift to me. Today and every day I will take the time to encourage the encourager. I will recognize that my greatest gifts become available to others only when I offer them first to myself and to my God.” -from “The Encourager’s Creed“
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” -Psalm 46:10, The Message
+++++++++++++++++++
His innovative, radical ministry shook and shaped the town where he lived. He started a church from scratch and tossed tradition on its ear. He insisted that worship services be seeker sensitive – events that people would actually enjoy attending. His preaching was simple and plain, filled with word pictures, practical application, and charisma.
He led his people to reach out with God’s love by establishing an innovative system of literature distribution and visitation. In a matter of months his church went from mission to mega, with more than a thousand people attending his Thursday night Bible study.
He was a prayer warrior. This guy spent an hour a day just praying for the Jews! Another hour daily in general prayer and meditation. An hour and a half in breakfast and family prayers. Six hours in prayer and devotional reading on Sundays.
Oh, and then there was the revival. Returning from the Middle East, he found the town turned upside down with a fresh invasion of the Spirit. People came nightly to hear him preach the gospel. Hundreds came to Christ. Without question, he was one of the greatest Christian leaders any generation has ever witnessed.
There’s an old colloquial saying in Thailand that has become something of a joke. Makes for a great t-shirt, too. When foreigners would travel to the Land of Smiles, and ask if this whatever was the same as the whatever where they came from, or the whatever from another part of the country or town, the standard reply was, “Same same, but different.”
Why do they have the same two kinds of markets sitting right next to each other? Same same, but different.
Are the people on the southern coast the same as the people in Chiang Mai or Bangkok? Same same, but different.
Do the cooks turn out that Thai cuisine they way their grandmothers did it? Same same, but different.
Today those who deal with the realities of change in this, the only nation in Asia never colonized, face great challenges and great opportunities. And yet, they hold on to a culture that is the friendliest form of fierce independence I have ever met. Same same, but different. [click to continue…]
A rewrite of an old (and probably true, since I heard a preacher tell it) story… 
You read it right. I need to be saved. Not in the sense we church folk usually toss the word around, but I need it nonetheless. 
“It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society.” -Peter Berger, 
There are two places from which to dream – a place of frustration, or a place of contentment. Each has its own perspective and advantages.
“I will recognize that this day is a gift to me. Today and every day I will take the time to encourage the encourager. I will recognize that my greatest gifts become available to others only when I offer them first to myself and to my God.” -from “
There’s an old colloquial saying in Thailand that has become something of a joke. Makes for a great t-shirt, too. When foreigners would travel to the Land of Smiles, and ask if this whatever was the same as the whatever where they came from, or the whatever from another part of the country or town, the standard reply was, “Same same, but different.”