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…]
I got fired. I’d like to tell you why.
Just before I started grad school, I got a sales job with a unique premise. “Come to work for my janitorial company,” Sergio said, “and I will pay you a commission for as long as we clean the building.”
Remember that thing your mama told you about something sounding too good to be true? Yeah, that.
Living in a city the size of Fort Worth, I could easily see the potential for making some really good money for a long time. After all, the city was filled with office buildings, and that was the focus of Fort Worth Enterprises – particularly the big ones.
You can imagine how my eyes danced with dollar signs when I helped land the company’s first big account – no less than Hulen Mall. [click to continue…]
What are you going to do with the resurrection of Jesus?
Let’s assume for a minute that you actually believe it. That three days after He was crucified, He actually rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.
Now what?
I guess you and I have to decide where to file that. We can be part of the 380. Or we can be part of the 120. [click to continue…]
It’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…]
A famous chicken franchise, run by a deceased military officer in a white suit, has a very specific, sequenced way of taking your order. Go to any store (at least any of the ones I frequent), and it doesn’t matter what you order or how you place it, you will be corralled into the proper procedure.
She: Welcome to KFC!
Me: I’ll have a three piece, original, with mashed potatoes and green beans.
She: Is that for here or to go?
Me: For here.
She: Okay. What would you like?
Me: Uh… Three piece, original, with mashed potatoes and green beans.
She: Okay. Original or extra crispy?
Me: (Bottom lip almost bleeding) Original
She: Aaand, what two sides would you like with that?
Me: Oh, just surprise me.
At times I’ve thought it must just be somebody’s unique personality quirk. [click to continue…]
Took a look at the funnies the other day. To be honest, I read them for the laughter. But I noticed something else in the process. Call me sensitive, or call me curious, but I was intrigued at the ways dads are presented. If it’s true that art imitates life, we may have some big problems. With fathers. With God. With ourselves.
Who is Father? According to the comics, he is Dagwood, the family calamity. He lives to sleep, or to eat, or to deal with the occasional salesman. He’s loveable, but always a little bit late, and about one brick shy of a load.
Who is Father? [click to continue…]
A famous writer once described a beach scene where two children, a boy and a girl, were building an elaborate sand castle near the water’s edge. It had gates and towers and moats and internal passages. Just when they nearly finished the project, a huge wave tumbled in and knocked the whole thing down. Instead of bursting into tears because of losing their hard work, the girl and boy ran up the shore from the water, laughing and holding hands, and started work on another castle.
It seems so instinctive to children. Take the most wonder-filled moments the day has to offer – a castle made of sand, or a dandelion just waiting to be carried by the wind – and look for someone to share it with in love. But time and age have a way of turning our hearts if we let them. Castle-building becomes the higher priority, and dandelions become annoying weeds.
Here is the author’s takeaway:
All the things in our lives, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy creating, are built on sand… Sooner or later, the wave will come along and knock down what we have worked so hard to build up. When that happens, only the person who has somebody’s hand to hold will be able to laugh.
Like anybody else who’s been around a while, I have my share of regrets. One of them has been the tendency to walk away from relationships when it was time to “move up the beach and build the next castle.” Fortunately, I’ve been blessed to have some people in my life who wouldn’t take “Good-bye” as the last word, and that’s a good thing. Had it been left up to me, that relationship would have faded away. I’m working on changing that.
In the previous post, I mentioned that even in an isolated prison, the Apostle Paul found a way to stay close to the people he loved. In particular, he was a master at using words. All throughout his life and ministry, this man knew just what to say or write to draw people to him, and to Christ.
Maybe we can learn some things from Paul’s example. Once you know who’s in your heart (or who you’d like to have there), here are some ways to keep them close: [click to continue…]
“I have you in my heart.”
Sounds charming, doesn’t it? The stuff of Hallmark cards and chick flicks, BFFs and boyfriends.
What if I were to tell you that the person who said this wrote it from a prison cell? That he (yes, he) was a time-hardened traveler who never could take “no” for an answer? That he once was a religious terrorist and murderer? A 63-or-so-year-old man who had argued his way in and out of trouble so many times, many of his closest associates had hit the road?
And yet from prison he wrote to a group of VIPs – friends who had been sources of great joy to him. And this is what he said: [click to continue…]
April-something 2002. It was one of the most surreal, prophetic dreams I’ve ever had. I dreamed I was in prison. Not sure what the crime was; I just remember being in a cell there. The only thing remarkable about that was that instead of the typical concrete and steel, this cell had a nice waxed tile floor and bright lights.
For some reason, they let me out on a weekend pass, but eventually I had to go back. I remember dreading the return, and trying to avoid it. But I did wind up back in my tile‑floored cell. There in the cell, alone, my thoughts turned to Watchman Nee, the Chinese pastor/teacher who was imprisoned by the communist regime for his faith. All those years he spent in prison. How did he do it? How could he experience God’s presence there in the prison?
It was then I actually saw him. In my dream I saw Watchman Nee, prostrate on the floor of his prison cell. As I watched, he was transformed before my eyes into a puppy – a black Labrador Retriever puppy. Then he changed into a silver chalice. Taller, thinner. Rising up. From that he changed into a giraffe. He had risen above his prison cell and was feeding in the tops of the trees.
Four Images of Transformation
Just like that, the dream was over. I was left with four crystal-clear images – a prostrate man, a black lab puppy, a silver chalice, and a giraffe. A transformation from prison to freedom, though the outward circumstances never changed. A deliberately-staged process, flowing from the floor to the heavens. What did it mean? [click to continue…]
Dear Foggy Little Brain,
As you start your day, I want to remind you of some very important truth to shape your thinking…
- You are no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1).
- You are free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
- Your flesh has been dealt with (Romans 8:3).
- The Holy Spirit will enable you to fulfill the requirements of God’s Law (Romans 8:4).
- The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
- Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:8).
- You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8:9).
- Your body may be dying, your spirit is alive because of His righteousness (Romans 8:10).
- The Holy Spirit will also give life to your mortal body (Romans 8:11).
- You have no obligation to the flesh (Romans 8:12).
- You must put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13).
- You are a child of God (Romans 8:14 16).
- You are no longer a slave to the world, the devil, and the flesh (Romans 8:15).
- You have received the spirit of adoption, so that you can go into God’s presence and say, “Daddy!” (Romans 8:15).
- You are an heir of God, and a joint heir of Christ (Romans 8:17).
- The present suffering you may be experiencing is not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to you (Romans 8:18).
- Your body will be redeemed one day (Romans 8:23).
- You don’t pray alone. The Holy Spirit will is helping you (Romans 8:26).
- The Holy Spirit is interceding to the Father for you (Romans 8:27).
- God causes all things work together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
- You are predestined to be conformed into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
- You have been called, justified, and glorified (Romans 8:30).
- God is for you – who can be against you (Romans 8:31)?
- No one can bring a charge against you, because you are God’s elect (Romans 8:33).
- In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).
- Nothing – nothing – can separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:35 39).
As you go about your day, remember the banner under which you live, and the grace on which you stand. I’ve read to the end of the Book… You win!
Have you ever wondered if God gets bored?