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Have you ever woken up first thing in the morning and realized you were in a museum?
And you were what was on display?
You may not have recognized the location at first because everything seemed so real. You were traveling through one mental display after another of your past life.
Names.
Faces.
Feelings.
Friends.
Sometimes the scenes are wistful and happy reminders of people and days gone by. Sometimes you’re reliving the glory days. But sometimes it plays out more like a horror movie or a disaster cleanup. It’s ugly – and you’re the reason.
It may be a new day on the outside, but in here you’re trapped in the old ones. [click to continue…]
When the Son of man comes will he find faith on the earth?
-Jesus Christ (Luke 18:8)
Welcome to the waterdown season.
Welcome to the days when we’re thankful, but not really sure Who to thank.
Where we count our blessings, but choke on the Name of the Blesser.
Welcome to the days where we deck the halls and hang the balls,
And sing wistful songs about traffic jams and bells and chestnuts.
When the world becomes a Winter Wonderland without a Wonderful Counselor –
And seeks peace on earth without the Prince of Peace.
But I’m not whining or pining away for the days of Rockwell or Currier and Ives,
Because God has always had a remnant of believing hearts and transformed lives.
And I’m still hopeful and expectant that in the city sidewalks or crowded stores,
In festive churches or feastful tables, someone out there still believes. [click to continue…]
He was careless in the conflict, and a bit presumptuous in the battle. Unaware of the schemes or the true power of his enemies – unaware at times of who his enemies actually were – he went down, wounded in the battle.
This is not your typical military operation. This is a spiritual battlefield, known for its invisible armies and stealth weapons. Known also for its enormous array of spectators – some cheering you on from heaven, others just watching a battle they themselves should be engaged in.
Lying there, ashamed, in pain, and afraid, it’s easy for discouragement and fear to have the final word. But deep in his spirit another wounded soldier’s testimony from long ago begins to stir his broken courage and will: [click to continue…]
Perdido Key, Florida. I was in a hotel room, desperately reading my Bible, even more desperately crying out to God. Somewhere along the way I had, well, lost my way. And I couldn’t find my way back.
Back to a consistently focused walk with God.
Back to a first-love commitment to Jesus.
Back to a sense of spiritual usefulness and power.
Back to a faith that could at least move me, even when it couldn’t move mountains.
Back to the hope that somehow tomorrow could actually be better than today.
I could have told you how to find your way back to wherever you left your path. But I was lost as last year’s Easter egg when it came to me.
I heard all the things I already knew in my head. Didn’t help.
I heard all the platitudes and steps and methods I’d told others and they had told me. Ditto.
I heard all the sermons I had preached to others about coming back to Jesus, and they were profoundly useless to me.
And what I was reading in the Bible wasn’t helping much, either. I kept reading passages in psalms where David would pray things like, “Vindicate me, O God, because I have walked in my integrity.”
I didn’t have any integrity. And the last thing I needed to see in that situation was vindication. Justice either.
In desperation I silently cried out, “God! Is there a verse in there for the rest of us?”
And He showed me something that changed my life. [click to continue…]
My friend Cindy Hughlett wrote the following song, based on a true story, about a sensitive but timely issue. The folks at Studio 84 Productions here in Lubbock produced the video.
You or someone you know is faced with the issue of bullying or abuse. Please help me pass this important message along.
Meanwhile, I’m including the lyrics below. And if you’d like to see more about Cindy’s latest album “Stories, Hope and Lullabies,” click here. Cindy was the 2010 CGC Choice Award winner for Female Vocal Artist of the Year.
Make sure you watch all the way to the end… [click to continue…]
I can’t get this picture out of my head. It’s from Stuff Christians Like, by Jonathan Acuff. Jon describes a scene that took place at the ice cream bar at Chuck E. Cheese when he was in the second grade.
I remember when I was in the second grade watching a fifth grader fall apart at the ice cream bar. The problem he faced was that the hot dog bar was right next to it. While was waiting in line I watched him take a big bowl of pristine white soft serve vanilla ice cream and approach the first condiment dispenser. He pressed down hard and out came a serving of mustard.
It was all over his ice cream and he looked down at it with complete and utter devastation. I felt bad for him but out of nowhere a Chuck E. Cheese employee jumped in and said, “Here, that’s okay. Here’s a new bowl of ice cream. That’s okay. Here you go; have some new ice cream.”
I’ll never forget that little boy’s face as he looked up at the employee and down at his ruined bowl of ice cream. He was so ashamed at what he had done, so embarrassed that he had put mustard on it that he paused and then told the employee, “I’m fine. I’m fine. It’s not a big deal. I’m fine.” And then he started to stir the mustard into the ice cream.
He tried as hard as he could to mix that bright yellow mustard into the bright white vanilla ice cream. Finally it all became this pale emo-yellow-colored mush. He looked back up and then returned to his table, presumably to choke down his mustard ice cream.
What the kid didn’t understand was that when someone purchased his trip to the ice cream bar, they were giving him unlimited access to the ice cream maker. But in his mind and world, “the ice cream is free, but the rest is up to me.”
Reminds me of me. And many Christians I know. [click to continue…]
I.
If you ever wanted to write a forever kind of song
That angels or children or the big choirs sing…
If you’ve ever wanted to rhyme with the heart
Of the One who bends the rainbow
And deserves even more than your finest praise…
Then make your music with a life of passion.
Spell it out with clearly with actions of love.
Dance in the reign of King of the ages.
Promise your steadfast, immovable service,
Then hold in His beautiful power your faithfulness.
Show the whole world His symphony in you.
II.
If you ever wanted to write a together kind of song
Of friends or family or heroes or darlings…
If you’ve ever wanted to love someone else in the music,
Yet knew that your most heartfelt expressions
Were still so short of all they deserve from you… [click to continue…]
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Regardless of the need or the deed that lurks in front of you, the choice that confronts you is a choice of scarcity or of abundance. I thought today it would be a good idea to remind you that whatever God does, He does it abundantly. Even when He’s dealing with you!
Regardless of what you may hear from the Republicans or the Democrats, the courts or the Congress, the economists or the educators, the preachers or the politicians, God is still wonderfully wealthy and lavishly generous. All you have to do to believe that is compare what you have with what you deserve.
God is measureless when it comes to the grace and provision he offers. [click to continue…]
Years ago Ken Medema told the story of an experience he had at a youth function in Atlanta. He had been invited to play for a youth party after church one night, and he entertained the kids with some of his old 50s love songs. After his part was over, somebody fired up the record player (yes, record player) and started playing some other music, and these church kids started to dance.
Ken remained off to the side; he had been raised in a home that forbade dancing.
Soon, however, what he called “this wallflower of a girl” approached him shyly and asked, “Would you like to dance?”
I should mention at this point that Ken is completely blind. He was horrified at the thought of being laughed out of the room for trying something so completely risky and foreign to him, and he tried to beg off.
But Miss Wallflower wasn’t taking no for an answer. [click to continue…]
Imagine a giant stadium, and you’re in it.
As in, on the field.
You’re engaged in a contest that will test every fiber of your strength, will, endurance, and confidence. Sometimes you’re on defense, and the task is to stand your ground against an opponent that has considerable resources. Sometimes you’re on offense, and the task is to recapture lost ground or gain new ground as you outwit, outmaneuver, or overpower your enemy.
Let’s just go ahead and dispense with the obvious. I like you and everything. But left to your own game plan or abilities, you’re cosmic road kill. Dead meat with all the trimmings.
You. Can’t. Win. This.
Heck, you won’t even make the uniforms look pretty.
Oh, and did I mention… this is no game. This is your life. The visible and the invisible. The temporal and the eternal. The private and the very public. The “spiritual” and the “secular” (as if there is any distinction).
Fortunately, you do have some weapons at your disposal that are mighty through God. And there is a pathway – a strategy that leads to prevailing strength and power. [click to continue…]
Have you ever woken up first thing in the morning and realized you were in a museum?
