The Top Ten Things I Learned this past Decade...so far

Here are the top ten things I learned this decade:

1. Life with God is better than life without Him.... this is my working definition of hope.
2. There is a vast difference between being sober and being sober-minded.
3. Friendship in marriage is great....oneness with your spouse is soooooo much better.
4. God can take my mess...and make a message.
5. The Word of God is a fire....
6. Busyness is the enemy of my spiritual growth in Jesus. Barrenness is the byproduct of busyness...and busyness is often the byproduct of barrenness. The real work God wants me to do is to believe (really hangon) to Jesus and to stay connected to Him everyday...no matter how many "spiritual" activities I may involve myself in.
7. Building relationships with your kids is the key to keeping their heart at home.
8. At the darkest moments of your life, God will meet you.
9. I can live very comfortably (and much happier) without television.
10. Gratefulness is the first step to restoring any lost fellowship and awareness of God's involvement in my life. Ungratefulness is my first step away from God.

This list is a personal glimpse into some of the things I believe the Lord has taught me down the road of this past decade. I will expand on each of these in future blogs. These statements give me hope....I hope they do the same for you.

Rejection or Protection?

People shy away...run away...greatly fear... the possibility of rejection. When circumstances in life...or people in our life seem to reject us, it is incredibly painful and often, debilitating. Some people never recover from the wounds inflicted by rejection. It becomes the lens through which they view the world and, ultimately, themselves.

However, maybe one of the ways we can keep hope alive in our hearts is to take this position: Maybe what I percieve as rejection is actually God's protection.

Joseph said to his brothers...those family members who through him in a pit...and sold him into slavery:

"What you meant for evil, God intended for good..."

Even though Joseph did not let them off the hook for the motives behind their incredibly unloving actions towards him, he was not jaded....cynical...or mean spirited towards them or towards God. He saw what was happening behind all the heinous acts done against him. He saw not their rejection...but God's protection.

When we look at what is happening in our lives and relationships from Joseph's perspective, anything done to us is part of our journey of God creating a life message in us.

Johnny's Got a Gun

JOHNNY’S GOT A GUN

“Therefore….arm yourselves with the same attitude…” I Peter 4:1

We own a firearm….actually two. We bought them with the express intention of keeping our family safe when I travel and have to be gone overnight. Not that my presence would be a serious deterent to intruders, but it does help with the absence of their “manly man.” The guns are locked up safely, away from the grasp of curious children, and only come out when my wife gets to go shooting with her dad down at his place. Or when the tomcat from down the street wanders into our yard. Or when there is a serious threat to our safety.
Last summer my dogs were going crazy in our backyard late in the afternoon. I looked out and could see that my guard dog Mulligan (we found him at a golf course) had cornered something along the back fence. I started out, and then realized that what was cornered was probably a snake that had wandered off the lake. Instinctively, I went for the gun. I am not a great shot….not even a good one…but if the snake were a copperhead or moccasin, I liked my chances with my 38 special. I headed out back, fired off two rounds, scared the little serpent off, and went back to the house to finish my business.
When I read this passage in I Peter 4, I am reminded of how I felt heading out to tackle an intruder on my landscape. The feeling of being armed was a very comforting feeling. I was armed, and therefore, I was invincible…in my mind, at least.When tough times come, it pays to be armed. When the enemy gets in your backyard, it pays to be packing some heat. What I am called to be armed with is not a weapon, but an attitude. The attitude of Christ. Not always sure what that means…but I think it has something to do with the fact that Christ was so God-focused that the sufferings He went through were able to be viewed as a means to an end…not an end in themselves. That is the problem that I have with suffering…especially suffering when you are doing good. Suffering (not the kind I experience from my own bad decisions) seems like an end in itself. But this passage tells me that it does several things for me:1. It gives me perspective- I am done with the trivialities of life when I suffer. I am finished swimming in the three foot end of the pool….wading around in my own inconsistencies and flirtations with sin.2. It gives me power- I am liberated from myself, and begin looking at and following God’s big picture goals.3. It gives me purpose- Suffering removes the dross and purifies my purposes.Looking at life the way God sees it…the way Christ saw it…is terribly comforting in the final analysis. Not only will I begin to emerge a deeper and purer person, I will then have the perspective to weigh what is happening in my life from a bigger frame of reference. When you get to the point that you don’t care what happens to you, you are invincible.

RICE KRISPIES

Have you ever tried to get dried rice krispies off a bowl after they have hardened? Let me tell you...not real easy. I scraped and scraped and scraped. I was 10 shades of furious by the time I was done. My wife needed to remind me I was saved...I was so frustrated. Question: Ever not dealt with something in the day you hear of it? Yeah....like dried Rice Krispies on the side of a cereal bowl. It hardens...and calcifies...and before long, a issue that could have been resolved or settled in mere moments has turned into a mountain of a problem. The Psalmist said "...in the day you hear of it..." Good advice for me who often puts off my problems. It gives me hope.

FEAR KNOT

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about the state of our economy. He, like myself, was in business and could see the ever-increasing signs of a weakening economy. We both concluded that the general mood or mindset of most Americans is still one of fear and worry. Consumer confidence is at an all time low, and the present hope of a change in the leadership of our country has all but lost its luster. I found it interesting that when confidence bottoms out, everyone begins to question leadership. And rightly so. Everything rises and falls on leadership. As I reflected on our conversation, I came back to the mindset of most Americans….and then, the mindset of most Christ-followers in these bleak times. And eventually, my mindset in this present moment. In the past when our country has neared a recession or even began to see the slowing down of the economy, the mindset remained one of hope and confidence. That this slowdown was only temporary. That we would pull out of it in a few months. That it was just a market correction, and that the mighty American dream was not turning into an American nightmare. Yet, now it seems different. Now it seems inevitable…now the thoughts and hopes that could hold fear at bay have been abandoned like a sinking ship and we have jumped overboard, embracing the inevitable and letting fear grip us like the icy waters of a tumultuous ocean. Fear is a funny thing. As I meditated on the Word this morning, I realized that fear does two things to us:
1. Fear causes us to do things we shouldn’t do- I am the guiltiest in this. My disposition generally is one of skepticism and doubt…both of which seem to run in the Fear posse. Fear can cause us to freeze up, to hold onto, to withhold and to make decisions that reflect that we have checked our common sense at the door and proceeded into survival mode. It also leads us to make rash, momentary, temporary decisions.
2. Fear keeps us from doing things we should do- We begin to think that we have to get all we can, that we must solve each and every problem in a way that best suits our fear-based needs, that we can’t get involved or can’t give or can’t trust because the clouds on our horizon definetly speak of an oncoming storm. So we fret…we wait…we hoard…we worry….Fear paralyzes us. At the core of every anxious thought and fretful worry is a fear which is rooted in unbelief… that God is not good enough or wise enough or strong enough to take care of us in tight times. Even though, He has taken care of our eternity, He is unable to take of our time laden problems. Maybe that is why Peter told his readers in I Peter 3 to

”… not fear what others fear…do not be frightened.”

Fear extinguishes hope and trust and is the litmous test of what we truly are hoping for in this life. It is the great revealer of our desires. Peter is actually quoting from Isaiah 8 where the prophet says to not get entangled in the fears that those who know not God get bound up in, but rather to fear God…and He will be a sanctuary. When our desires get so entrenched in the temporary things of this day, the thought of losing those things creates a panic inside. Rather than live in the protection of God's advice to "Fear not...", we find ourselves living in the immobility and lack of faith caused by the fear knot.

Be a hope dealer

Anyone who is influential is a dealer in hope. A hope dealer paints the picture for others that can't be seen by their current circumstances. He gives them perspective and courage to move into spaces that are emotionally road blocked by their current fears and doubts. Anyone can be a hope dealer....dispensing baggies of encouragement and trust....infusing the soul of another with the stimulus to go at it one more day. Most people live under the circumstances and confines of their context...inside the box if you will. But the secret to being a hope dealer is that when you venture outside your box, with the intention of giving hope to others, you get so much more courage and hope than you could ever give away. To take from your journey and, thus, from your soul, and give to another person is to reveal that you are a follower of those "...who have been born into a living Hope..." (I Peter 1:3) Be a hope dealer...and live outside your box.