Hands-Free

by Andy Wood on January 24, 2010

in 100 Words, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, Principle of Freedom

Oh, the breathtaking joy of living hands-free!

Of living without seizing control – of my life or yours.

Of dropping my guard and relaxing my fist and my grip…

And trusting that He is my shield  and healer, my righteousness and guide.

Oh, what these hands can do if Someone else is at the controls of my life!

Raised to Him in worship…

Extended to you to serve…

Opened to you to touch and support…

Holding the hands of those we cherish most…

Ready to hold you or that which is precious to you…

Pointing the way for others to follow.

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Hindsight is for Idiots

by Andy Wood on January 21, 2010

in Five LV Laws, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Legacy, Protecting Your Investment, Tense Truths

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…]

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Get Up!

by Andy Wood on January 20, 2010

in 100 Words, Five LV Laws, Principle of Freedom

When you’re wounded in the battle, knocked down and winded, get up.

When you’re shamed and blamed, defenseless and without excuses, get up.

When your “friends” abandon you in the darkness or point out the obvious by accusing you in the light, get up.

When the enemy comes in like a flood to kick you when you’re down or to rejoice over your wounds, get up.

When the easiest thing in the world to do is just to lie there and bleed, get up!

“A righteous man will fall seven times.”  But he will rise again.  Get up!

Get up!

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How’d I Wind Up HERE?

by Andy Wood on January 18, 2010

in Consumers, Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

Maybe it’s because I majored in history in college.  Maybe it’s because I’m an explorer at heart (not always a good thing).  Maybe it’s because I’m a typical man who hates to ask for directions, or maybe it’s because I often wind up in places I didn’t intend to go.  But regardless of the reason, one of the most common questions I ask myself is, “How’d I wind up here? 

That’s a pretty handy thing if you want to stay out of the bad neighborhoods, the dead ends, or the “I told you so’s” in the future.

But wouldn’t it be more helpful to have a bit of a roadmap ahead of time?  Maybe to get some directions that apply to whatever path I or you think we’re on? [click to continue…]

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The Diagnostic Question

by Andy Wood on January 15, 2010

in Exploring the Possibilities, Five LV Laws, Gamblers, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom

This is about asking yourself a simple, but profound question about choices and consequences and serving.  Choose well, you’ll live well.  Choose poorly, and you will serve the consequences of those choices.  

Moses understood that.  Just before his death, he called an assembly of Israelis and reframed all the things that God had taught him.  We call it, “Deuteronomy.”  Here’s what Moses had to say as he was wrapping things up:

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, NIV).

There’s one example of the diagnostic question:  Am I choosing life or death?  It’s a powerful question about the path we are on.  A friend of mine has started using this to frame his everyday decisions – what he eats, his business decisions, his family relationships. 

Jesus offered another way to frame your choices. [click to continue…]

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American Idolatry

by Andy Wood on January 13, 2010

in Gamblers, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Protecting Your Investment

He is jealous for me

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

american-idol-stage“If only he can see how good I am,” Jake says to himself as he waits among the cast of thousands.  “Surely he will see what Mama and my cousins all see… and maybe, just maybe I could just be the next…”

Whoa, Dawg.  That’s a little pitchy for me.

On the banks of a river called Jabbock, a man watches the last of his family disappear on the other side, just as the sun begins to set.  On that side of the river, judgment day awaits.  For more than 20 years, Jacob has lived a charmed – and charming – life.  He married the woman of his dreams, has a dozen sons and a daughter, and is a biz whiz like, well, nobody’s business.

But the time has come to face down some ghosts from his past, and demons in his soul.  Jacob must face the twin he betrayed tomorrow.  But tonight, he has an appointment to meet with God.  And to face himself in the process.

Simon says:  Absolutely dreadful.

This kind of encounter allows for no distractions of any type.  [click to continue…]

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A Dance of Promises: A Scripture Symphony

by Andy Wood on January 10, 2010

in Uncategorized

Raised HandsI am the Lord, and there is no other;

apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

though you have not acknowledged Me, 

I will sing of Your strength,

in the morning I will sing of Your love;

for You are my fortress,

my refuge in times of trouble. 

Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.

 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

My goodness and love will follow you all the days of your life,

and you will dwell in My house forever. 

I will lie down and sleep in peace,

for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. 

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.  [click to continue…]

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I Need to be Saved

by Andy Wood on January 4, 2010

in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Principle of Freedom, Tense Truths

Dirty HandsYou 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.” 

How do I know I need to be saved?  Simple.  [click to continue…]

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Go Back to the Closet

by Andy Wood on December 29, 2009

in Ability, Life Currency

PrayerIt’s an old cliche, usually relegated to church bulletin boards and refrigerator magnets.  But the truth is still painfully real:  “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” But if you think that’s bad, try seven weeks.  Or seven months.  Or… you guessed it, seven years.

Moreover, what’s true for individuals is also true for fellowships and churches.  Jesus addressed a group of spiritually-bankrupt church leaders with these blistering words:  “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.  But you have made it a den of thieves.”  I want to suggest that when we cease to make the Father’s house a place of prayer, it will become a den of thieves by default.

Dens of thieves may appear to be spiritual.  [click to continue…]

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When Life Gets Slow as Christmas

by Andy Wood on December 12, 2009

in Life Currency, LV Cycle, Time, Waiting

(The Twelve Ways of Christmas, Part 4:  The Way of Waiting)

Waiting for Christmas 2For 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…]

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