“Sure I may be tuckered, and I may give out, but I won’t give IN!” (Molly Brown, from “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”)
We spend a lot of time thinking about sinking.
In the mental and spiritual circles I travel in, we focus a lot on discouragement, sadness, grief and such. The most-read article I have written this year is titled, “The Sinking Soul.”
And for good reason. We live in a broken world. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. A significant part of the New Testament was written to people who face severe, mind-numbing hostility and pain. And left to our own devices, the devil has sinking souls for breakfast.
But maybe it’s time for a different look. [click to continue…]
In the previous post, we looked at some of the kinds of problems that go past hangnails and headaches. Drawing from the experience of Jehoshaphat, Judah’s godly king, we explored some parallels of our own:
- Unprovoked hostility
- Overwhelming odds
- Unresolved fear
- Unfulfilled promises (of God)
- Absolute weakness
- Unclear direction
There are plenty of others, of course. But that’s a healthy list to remind us that faith doesn’t mean you never have problems. Believing God doesn’t mean you’re never afraid, or that you never face impossible situations. And in spite of the way some “believers” act, faith doesn’t mean you have all the answers. In one of my favorite verses in the Bible, this godly man says to God, “We don’t know what to do. But our eyes are on you.”
So when your back is to the wall and the Ammonites are coming, when you’re way past anxious and have no answers or direction, how does faith respond? Let me suggest five ways: [click to continue…]
In the 2004 version of The Alamo, there’s this scene where Billy Bob Thornton, as Davy Crockett, looks over the fort wall at Santa Anna’s approaching horde. There, standing next to Colonel Travis, Crockett mutters grimly… “We’re gonna need a lot more men.”
Sam Houston… we’ve got a problem.
Problems come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Oh, to have the impossible-looking situations we faced in third or seventh grade! But every now and then, you and I are faced with circumstances that go beyond a headache or a flat tire.
We’re in grad school, friends. And we’re getting the third degree. [click to continue…]
Here are seven more random things I’ve had in my oven lately. Did I mention it’s really random?
Why is it that some people can believe the gospel or trust God simply and quickly, and others require more… either convincing or extended confession? It’s all about what it takes to activate their faith.
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First sign your wife may not be ready to give a statement at the accident scene: When asked by the EMT if she knew who the president was, she said, “Osama bin Laden… No… Wait… That’s not right… I don’t remember – I just know I don’t like him.” (She’s doing fine now.) [click to continue…]
(A Turning Point Story)
Have you ever met someone who, in a matter of a few minutes, made you so mad you wanted to reach across a Pizza Hut booth and slap some sense into him? Or lay hands on him… by the throat? Or baptize him with a pitcher of Pepsi (‘cause he’s not worth wasting a pitcher of real Coke on)?
If you answered yes to any of those, you may have once been in youth ministry, too. Or you’re just a little weird when it comes to Pizza Hut.
This is a story with a surprise ending. This is Jason’s story. And it could be yours… or the next teenager you meet. [click to continue…]
Laura Kate getting a kiss from Laverne. Shirley, Mary, and Martha are close by.
When play is a full-time occupation – a sign of health and strength…
When laughter and tears, courage and fears trade places in a matter of seconds…
When growth is expected,
Learning is an hourly occurrence,
Desires are unmasked and transparent,
And trust is as natural as breathing…
When love is the only commodity worth sharing,
And forgiveness is spoken in hugs and pats…
When holding – or resting in those stronger arms – are the universal symbols of peace and oneness…
When wonder and anticipation drive us toward new discoveries with abandon and imagination…
Of such, Jesus said, is the Kingdom.
Have you ever wondered if God gets bored?
I already know the answer, of course. Whatever else I understand about the Lord, He is eternally interesting. And when it comes to us, He’s eternally interested.
But every once in a while, in the middle of the every-day kinds of exchanges, somebody actually takes at face value what He said, and comes calling.
No, I mean calling. As in, asking wasn’t enough – now I’m seeking. And since I’m not finding, I’m knocking. And when somebody like that cries out to God, I believe all of Heaven sits up and pays attention.
That is what the Lord encouraged, right?
Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about (Jeremiah 33:3, NET).
I wonder if He really meant that. [click to continue…]
There’s a reason you wouldn’t name your precious baby boy “Herod.” He made Judas look like a choirboy, and Peter look like, uh, the Pope.
Herod Antipas was the kind of guy who would torture your cat for no apparent reason. A thug and a bully, Herod was a manipulator and would betray his own family if it meant getting more power. The only thing sacred to this man was whatever he wanted in the moment.
Herod’s first wife was an Arabian princess. No joke. Can you imagine a more romantic idea for a lifetime companion in the Middle East? Apparently Herod could. [click to continue…]
I have been greatly encouraged and motivated lately by a simple little thought that has helped me with larger tasks and goals – particularly helping me with attitude. The idea: Win little victories. I may not be able to climb the whole flight of stairs, but I can take the first two. I may not be able to lose 100 pounds, but I can lose 2. I may not be able, metaphorically, to take the Promised Land, but I can cross the Jordan River. Tom Peters calls this milestoning. And it’s a critical thing to do.
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Thirty-seven years I have followed Christ, and somehow this hymn and its lyrics have passed me by. I saw the words last week, and it blew me away. Written in the mid 1800s by Anne Cousin, before it was a hymn it was a poem inspired by the letters and the last words of Samuel Rutherford. Only later was it set to music. (Sorry hymn purists, but I’m ready for a 21st-century musical update.) It actually has 18 or 19 stanzas, but here are the ones that are typically sung: [click to continue…]
I have a friend who used to say, every time somebody asked how he was, “It’s a good day to be dead.”
No, he was not a Klingon, or a descendent of Crazy Horse. He was actually referring to one of the most revolutionary truths in the Christian life. And truth be told, he wouldn’t just stop with the whole dead thing. He’d say, “It’s a good day to be dead, and alive in Christ.”
The truth to which he was referring is expressed most succinctly in Galatians 2:20. Here’s how the New Century Version translates it:
I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore — it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.
The implications of Paul’s simple declaration are profound. It tells me what I have received in order to live victoriously in this life, and to fulfill my purpose for which God created me and saved me.
I have received the life of Christ (“Christ lives in me”).
I have received Christ’s faith (“the faith of the Son of God” – a possible translation).
And I have received Christ’s self-giving love.
There is no situation, no bondage, no need for transformation, no frustration, no failure that the life, the love, and the faith of Jesus in me cannot respond to with power. And the same is true for you, assuming you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior.
So how, then, do we apply this truth? [click to continue…]
We spend a lot of time thinking about sinking. 
