Sometimes....always. Say what you mean to say, say what you need to say.

  I am really good about listening…sometimes. I am really good about saying the right things…sometimes. I am really good about doing the right things…sometimes. Almost every single day, I wake up and shortly thereafter ask the Lord to guide me. Unfortunately sometimes I just do things my way. My conscious “always” catches up with me and I am even more disappointed in myself for losing my direction and my will to stay the course.
  I need help. I need encouragement. I need strength. I need people around me who will help hold me accountable. Yet, there are times when those people I need aren’t there for me OR I won’t listen or let them help me. Sometimes I (choose to) go it alone and in those times it can be even more difficult.
  I admit it: I wish things were currently better for me and more importantly my family. I wish "I" were "a better me"…for my family, my friends, my co-workers and my God. Life is a continual struggle. It is a series of events that are “sometimes” good and “sometimes” not so good. Sometimes, the situations I face are beyond my control. A day I spent in a hospital bed may have been hard to avoid. Then again, maybe I could have chosen to take better care of myself before that happened. Regardless, there are situations that occur in my life that I know I cannot control. This is such a universal concept that there are a multitude of sayings we know to help us cope with our lack of control. There are so many good sayings that focus on how we react or deal with setbacks. Some of these sayings are awesome. One of my favorite authors, John Maxwell wrote a book on the subject, "Failing Forward" that is an awesome guide for dealing with setbacks in our lives. The truth is I still find myself wishing I could control a lot more in life, but in many instances I ultimately can’t.
  Let me share an excerpt from a letter I wrote to my Father shortly before he died:

"Most of the time I feel the same way about you.  I wonder if there isn’t some way for me to strike a deal with the Lord to give you some of my health and my good days in a trade to allow you more joy in life.  I am not unselfish, I want my health and the days God has given to me as a gift through you and Mom.  I just want so badly for you to feel better and I will never be ready to live life without you (both) there as my best friends.  I know I will survive; I just wish I had the power to change the world and yet I understand I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I had the power."

  To understand the circumstances surrounding this letter, I had a good friend and co-worker dying from brain cancer. I had written to “Dad” expressing how much it hurt me to see her suffer and facing death. A tumor had just appeared one day at work and we had to rush her to the hospital. The doctors gave her a short time expected to live. While she managed to make the doctors wrong in their predictions, she has since died…prematurely. “Sometimes”, when I close my eyes I can still hear her infectious laugh. Also at that same time, my Dad was experiencing more and more serious health problems which included constant pain. It hurt me terribly to see him hurt. And by the way, it “always” hurts me to see someone I love hurt.
  I wrote this letter to him in early 1998. My Father died on February 18, 1998 exactly one week after my Dad’s birthday. I sent the letter via email to him and he never received it…unless he somehow heard me read it at his funeral service. The good news? My Father knew how much I loved him…ALWAYS.
  We even had the opportunity to discuss how strong our love and respect was for one another just a few days before he died. During that conversation in the hospital, my Dad told me that he had not received the letter I had emailed him. More importantly, Dad told me that we were "luckier" than most people because we had found a way to say the important things we needed to say to one another in our lives. I have made a determined effort to say what I believe is important to people even more so as a result of that conversation and my Dad's death just a few days later. It may be part of my continual efforts to blog. Life is too short, too uncertain and too limited on this planet to keep the important things that God put inside of us locked inside. We need to find ways to share who we are with others. Along the way, we just might make a difference in someone else's life.
  And that is my point in today’s blog. There are so many things in our lives beyond our control. So many mistakes we make that we somehow must learn to live with. There are things that happen like the appearance of a tumor that we might just have to learn to live or die with. My word of hope and encouragement is to make sure to ALWAYS let others know that you love them…make peace with someone today who you need to make peace with...for better or worse, in sickness or in health, when they are wrong or right…ALWAYS love one another and make it a part of who you are to be sure they know you love them….ALWAYS!  Merry Christmas...remember the reason we celebrate Christmas is because God gave us the gift of love and grace through His Son, Jesus Christ. Always!!!

An Anonymous Gift to Paul Young Kept on Giving

Great story of the power of giving:
An Anonymous Gift to Paul Young Kept on Giving

I Wish I Could Be.....

I Wish I Could…
  I recently read a story written by Gary Inrig that I would like to share with you.  Here is the story:
    “The story is told of a young man named Bob who received a new car from his brother as a Christmas present.  On Christmas Eve, when he came out of his office to drive it home, he noticed a street kid admiring the shiny car.  “This yours, mister?”  “Sure is.  My brother gave it to me for Christmas.”  The boy was astonished.  “You mean he just gave it to you, and it didn’t cost you anything?  Wow!  Boy, I wish…”  His voice trailed off.  Bob finished the sentence in his mind.  But what followed shook him.  “I wish,” the boy said, “that I could be a brother like that.”
   The young man was so astonished that he said impulsively, “Would you like a ride?”  “Oh, yeh.  That’d be great.”  So off they went, the boy’s eyes sparkling with excitement.  After a while he said,  “Mister, would you mind stopping in front of my house?”  “Ah, he wants to show off a little,”  Bob thought.  “Will you stop where these steps are?”  Almost before the car had stopped, the boy was on his way into the house.  A few moments later, he came back, and Bob saw to his amazement that he was carrying his little crippled brother.  “There it is, John just like I told you upstairs.  His brother gave it to him, and it didn’t cost him a cent.  And someday I’m going to get you one just like it, so we can go see all the things I keep telling you about.”
   Tears were flowing freely from Bob’s eyes as he took that little boy and lifted him into his car to share a ride.  For years, he said the greatest gift he received that Christmas wasn’t the car but the attitude of that young boy saying, “Boy, I wish I could be a brother like that!”

It would be quite an accomplishment if one day we would all have the heart of this little boy!  Jim

Give Me The Heart of the Tax Collector!

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14  Where am I? I pray I have the heart of the tax collector.  
   So many times I am reminded that it is easy to be someone who looks "down" on others. Maybe it might be something someone does that is so obviously wrong that we criticize one another. We think and act like there is no way I would ever do something like that! Other times we might think we understand something that no one else gets. We scratch our heads and think, "Why can't they get this?" I believe this behavior of thinking we're better than someone else happens so often to those who claim they are Christians that many people are driven away from God due to feeling judged by others.
   I am ashamed to admit that I have not always been someone who prays actively. I have not always been someone who loves to read so much about Jesus and faith. I spoke to my close friend and mentor, Bill Lee the other day and we joyfully reminded each other of how we had gone from reading every business book we could get our hands on to reading books about God in our lives. I hope in writing this today that I do not come across like the Pharisee in this parable from Jesus. I so hope and pray I have the heart of the tax collector. I do not desire to compare myself favorably to anyone else. I don't speak of the joy I receive from reading scripture and books about faith to suggest I am better than anyone else. Oh my, no that is not the message of my heart! We're all sinners. Daily, I ask God to have mercy on me as a sinner. It may sound weak to others, but I often beg God to have mercy on me. Some times I am thankful that other people cannot read my mind or hear my thoughts. By the way, I believe God does know my thoughts. Yes, I do need His mercy every day.
   I share these stories because you may know me. You see my imperfections. Some of you have seen me share the message that because I studied business so passionately that I thought I was in control of my destiny. I love learning. I love hard work. I have not lost my passion for being competitive and for hard and hopefully smart work. I have learned in so many ways that I am so much less in control of my destiny than I ever realized. I saw that clearly that day in the emergency room when the ER doctor told me he thought I had experienced a heart attack. (It was not a heart attack, but it was a warning for me.) I have also learned that so much of what I believed was "mine" for as long as I lived and worked diligently has gone away with the new economy in America. We're still incredibly blessed with so much to be thankful for in our family and other aspects of our life.
   Sometimes in life you discover a truth that is so real, so powerful, so important that you feel compelled to share this truth with someone else...maybe anyone else who will read or listen. When I found faith and hope in God and actually felt His love and presence in my life, I felt like I was called to share this with others. I am humbled by His presence in my life. I don't believe I "deserve" the gift God gave me through Jesus and His death on the cross.  What I do believe is once I received this gift I had to share it with others. 

May the Lord be with you in your life...and may you remain forever humble, never judging others, but loving them as He taught us to love.  And Lord if it is your will, please do the same for me.  Amen.

Saying Thank You

  "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:11-19

I love this story.  It is a story of 10 men who are suffering.  They are outcasts from the community.  They have a "right" to have little hope.  They ask Jesus for pity.  Jesus sends them to the priests and heals them as they went.  In those days, leprosy victims could not return home until the priests gave them permission.  As lepers, they could never be with their families again.  Once they were cleansed and healed, approved by the priests, they could have their lives back.  They could live with their families and their communities.

I do not enjoy knowing that any of us are outcasts or suffer from leprosy.  Many of us know people who are outcasts, sick and left alone or we have felt like outcasts.  Jesus is the story of God on earth.  He heals and gives us hope.  These men were healed and given a new life.  Through Jesus, we all can have a second chance.  We can turn to Him and no longer be outcasts - whether it be on this earth or in heaven - Jesus hears us and cleanses us.

The author Luke felt it was significant enough to point out that the lone man who returned to praise God and express his gratitude was a Samaritan.  A Samaritan was the outcast or enemy of the Jews.  Yet, this Samaritan returned, praised God and gave his thanks.  Who do we hold as enemies in our lives today?  Do we need to give our love to someone as Jesus gave His?  I believe we know the answer is yes.

Jesus told the returning man that "your faith has made you well."  I want to be the one who returns to express thanks.  I want to be the one whose faith makes me well.  I hope that we all can be like he.  Remember, even when life is not fair, we have the promise of eternity from our Lord and Savior. Keep your hope.  Keep your faith.  It isn't easy - I can't imagine how the lepers must have felt about their lives and their futures.

I ask today for Jesus, my Master to have pity on me - on all of us.  I ask that we will have faith in Him to receive his blessing.  When He cleanses us I pray that we will return to Him, praise Him and give him thanks!  Amen.

A Walk With God - part 3 of a series of 3

I work in the building supply industry.  Our industry has been declining since 2007.  As many people have probably lost jobs in our industry as any other in America over the past 5 years.  In this time I have either “let go” personally or had a hand in letting go more people than I EVER expected to see lose their jobs in my entire career.  People I expected to retire with.  I saw people take 40 to 50 % pay cuts and had a hand in those difficult situations.  The amount my pay has decreased has ranged from 100% (when as partners, we willingly took no salary in our business for 18 months) to 50% to 75%.  The good news is I am recovering.  I had found a good job in Charleston in spite of the industry circumstances.

  As I prayed for God’s will in my life, doors started opening in Atlanta.  Some were situations where I had knocked and someone answered.  But, here is the amazing revelation:  the job I was offered and now accepted came to me!  In my mind, it was a bit of a miracle in itself.  In an industry where jobs are still being cut, salaries are still being reduced, I was sought after and hired here in Atlanta for a job opportunity potentially as good or better.  I moved home 2 days before my youngest daughter started her Senior year.  I believe the Lord is working actively in my life.  I specifically had come to believe that I would be able to return to Atlanta just before the start of our daughter’s Senior year.

  I recently read a story about a man who had an incredible encounter with the Lord and the Holy Spirit.  By the way, if you think people might look at you funny when you speak of the Lord answering your prayers, wait until you speak of the actual presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  So many people look at you like a religious zealot of some kind.   Yet, one of the things Jesus told His disciples was that He was leaving so that they would have access to the Holy Spirit.  It amazes me that people don’t seem to want to see or mention the Holy Spirit in their lives.  I know I do.

  The man in the story was not really a believer and yet his father, his great uncle and many around Him loved the Lord.  They were all praying for Him to know the Lord.  He was not only skeptical, he did not want to be bothered with all of this "God talk."  He ultimately had an amazing encounter with God and the Holy Spirit.  This happened because of the prayers of others combined with the man reaching out for God in a moment of “weakness”.  Later in the story, the man makes this statement, “Since God has become active in my life, my life has gone into the toilet.”  You might wonder why I would share this if my hope, my prayer, my love for you as neighbor or stranger is that you would come to know, love and trust the Lord in your life?  I hope I can give you an adequate answer.  I pray that I can.  I am turning to the verse in Jeremiah:

  This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls… Jeremiah 6:16

  You might notice that at the end of the verse there are 3 dots…this is there because there is more to the verse:  But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'  I believe this is the hard truth.  Left to ourselves, we will not let go of our lives as we know them and walk in the ancient paths.  Ask where the good way is and walk in it.  Being good is sometimes oh so very hard.  It may mean walking away from easy money in a situation because it isn’t right.  It may mean that the habits that consume our lives and in essence own us, need to be broken.  Breaking those habits can be very hard.  And our lives may become much more difficult as we walk in the good way. 

  Here is the promise that makes it all worth it, “you will find rest for your souls.”  This life is short in comparison to eternity.  Eternity is so long, it is almost impossible for us to imagine.  But our souls were meant to live for eternity.  Any injustice in this life is offset by the incredible promise God has made to us that if we choose Him, we choose eternity.  And my prayer for all people today is that we will find peace for our souls in eternity.  The Lord promises us that if we will follow Him, we will have eternal life.  He always keeps His promises.  If we accept Jesus, then we can have this promise of peace.  It may not mean an easy life, but it will mean a heavenly eternity.  I pray this for you.  Amen

A Walk With God (Part 2 - continued)

I will start with the analogy of being hard of hearing.  I have hearing loss in both ears equal to 40-45% of normal hearing.  The doctors believe it was the result of being born premature.  As a child, I would sit in the front row of the class to hear my teachers.  I have learned to read lips.  I study body language.  I had speech therapy as a child.  I have worn hearing aids at times and currently mine are not working properly.  (Most health insurance policies do not address hearing loss and replacing my hearing aids is expensive.) 

  In order to hear others I have to work hard at it.  I don’t believe we have to work hard at hearing the Lord.  Hearing the Lord starts with asking Him to speak to you.  It starts with praying to Him on a regular basis and “listening” for His response.  So often, His answer comes through others.  You receive a telephone call from someone you need to ask for forgiveness and you have been estranged for years from that person.  You pray for God’s will in your life and doors start to open. As you seek God’s will in your life, you see the door you need to walk through, but you need His help to have the courage.

  What are the best hearing aids available for hearing God in my estimation?  The Bible and prayer!  If you know this passage (paraphrased), I ask you to remember it and think of it early, often and late:  Love God with all your heart, all of your mind and all your soul.  I know this instruction seems virtually impossible to many of us especially if we don’t feel like we know God or if we feel like He has hurt us in our lives.  Maybe you feel like he has been absent.  But, I know if you ask Him to help you love Him, help you know Him (personally), He will show up.  He always does.  And don’t forget the 2^nd part of this passage that Jesus gave us, “love your neighbors as you love yourselves.” 

  What I have come to understand is we do need to listen for Him.  When I started listening hard for the Lord, I began to hear Him more and more frequently.  Over time, it has become a lot easier because I have grown to recognize His words and presence in my life and in the lives of others around me.  I have actually seen miracles in my life and in the lives of others.  I am very thankful for that.

  The toughest news in this is that once I starting seeking the Lord in my life, my life has not been easier.  If anything I would say it has been harder, significantly harder.  Stuff that I thought was mine, started going away.  Some of the people I trusted most in my life I came to see in a very different light.  By the way, per God’s word I am still called to love them, to forgive them and I do.  It isn’t easy, but it is God’s word and God’s will for me in my life.  In fact, it is those people in my life that are most difficult to forgive and most difficult to love, that I HAVE to forgive and love.  As Jesus shared with us, it is easy to love our family and friends, it is a whole new way to love our enemies.

  I started praying months ago about being reunited with my family.  I had been working and essentially living in Charleston, SC for the past 17-1/2 months.  My family has been in Atlanta.  I was not going to bed next to my wife or waking up beside her.  I missed part of our youngest daughter’s sophomore year and all of her junior year in high school.  Our oldest daughter had been overseas doing mission work and adopting our precious Granddaughter.  When she came home to Atlanta, I was living in Charleston and so I have missed precious time with them too.  I asked God if I should remain in Charleston and if so I would.  I asked God to give me some signs.  I wanted to be sure I was doing what He wanted me to do and not just doing what I wanted.

(to be continued)

A Walk with the Lord - ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it

This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls… Jeremiah 6:16

  The most difficult part for me in writing my blog usually is getting started.  Once I feel like I am off to a good start the words flow and I can write for a long time.  Now part of that problem is at times I use too many words.  But, the main point I am attempting to make here is so often when we stand at a crossroads, we are not sure where to start.  Or, at least I am not sure where to start.  I shouldn’t assume that my struggles are the same as yours.

  The Lord shares with us many times in His written Word, the Bible is where to start.  In this verse all the way back in the Old Testament in the Book of Jeremiah, long before we knew Jesus, God shares with us where we should start when we stand at the crossroads.  Stand and look…ask for the ancient paths…ask where the good way is….walk in it…you will find rest for your souls…  How many of you find yourselves standing at crossroads on a regular basis?  It happens to me quite often.  God’s word tells me where to look, what to do and how to find rest for my soul.  I need more rest for my soul.

  If you follow my blog then you know I am not a Bible scholar.  I am just someone who loves the Bible, loves to read it, loves to know it is close by and loves to gain greater insight into the Bible as often as I can.  I get insight from a sermon delivered by Andy Stanley, a message from a country preacher, a book, a friend, or when I see God through the eyes of a child or my daily life.  I love to share God too.  He has done so much for me. 

  God has been very active in my life over the past 5 years in particular.  I have always “searched” for God.  I remember as a child wondering who God was.  I heard things like God is everywhere.  God is love.  I went to church on a regular basis and remember getting attendance pens in our church for coming to church 13 consecutive weeks.  What I barely can remember was if I knew God in a personal way.  I would pray to God.  I would be asked to love God.  I would try to stay awake in church long enough to understand more about Him, but He was not someone I could claim I had a relationship with.  I do remember things would happen that I might believe were evidence of God showing up in a real way, but I still was not quite sure what I believed.  Thanks to His grace and mercy and my continual journey to find God, that uncertainty has changed for me in a big way. God has become very real for me.  He has become “my Father in heaven, thy will be done…”  When I pray, I have come to know He hears me and answers my prayers.  One problem is that the answers I get are more often than not very different than the answers I am looking for.

  When I write or speak with others about God being very active in my life, I recognize a variety of responses from others.  I cannot hear very well and have not been able to since birth.  As a result I see a lot in people’s body language because that is one of the ways, I have learned to understand what people are saying when I can’t quite hear them.  I can see people’s reactions when we speak who think I must be crazy suggesting that the Lord communicates with me.  They rarely say it, but their body language speaks loud and clear.  I also have some really close friends who ask me about it in bewilderment at times, but we do talk about how I know God has spoken in my life.  This is hard to explain, but I believe it is worthy of our attention.

  First of all, I have only recognized once in my life that I actually heard the Lord’s voice. To my knowledge and understanding, I have never had a dramatic encounter with God like Moses.  I have not had a burning bush experience.  The time I actually heard His voice is worth sharing at some point, but that is not my focus today.  My focus in this series is how He speaks in my life on a daily basis. I have come to learn when He is speaking to me and how He is doing it.  As I have learned of His presence, I have also come to realize that there are likely many ways that I STILL miss hearing Him when He speaks to me.  (to be continued...)

I Am Coming Home -The Importance of "Being There"

On the weekend before Monday, March 1, 2010 I moved out of the comfort of our home in Atlanta, Georgia and moved “alone” to Charleston, South Carolina. I had accepted a badly needed job at Buck Lumber. I was leaving behind my wife Elizabeth, children and a business and personal community I had grown to love since moving there in the spring of 1996. Our plan was to allow our youngest daughter, Mary Sims to finish high school in Atlanta and then move our family to Charleston in the summer of 2012.
  I knew Buck Lumber pretty well. I had done consulting work for Eddie Buck back in 1994.  We had stayed in touch over the years and remained not only business associates, but friends. More recently I had come into Buck Lumber and done more consulting work. Over the years, Eddie or Mr. Buck, as so many people here respectfully call him, and I had developed a longstanding mutual respect and trust for one another. 
  I love Charleston. This place might just be the most beautiful place I have ever seen: The islands, the ocean, the rivers, the architecture, the sunrises and sunsets, bridges, the wildlife and the marshes. Most of all there are beautiful people here. People come to Charleston to visit, love what they see and many stay. There is a warmth and “friendliness” about so many people in Charleston that it is hard to do them justice in words.
  The emotions I remember when I came here were bittersweet. I was excited about the challenges at Buck Lumber.  I knew the work would be tough, but also rewarding. The people I had already gotten to know at Buck Lumber were a cut above. It would be great to serve them in a leadership role. It has been all I expected and then some. 
  The “bitter” emotions came mostly from leaving behind my family. It was also really tough to leave the community behind that has been so good to us. We had truly become a “family” in Atlanta and that is something to cherish. I wasn’t sure of this when I left for Charleston, but I sensed that our oldest daughter Heath and her newly adopted child, Neema would be “allowed” to return home to Atlanta from Tanzania after being there for a year. Ironically, I was leaving Atlanta and they would be returning soon. That meant that I would miss them. I was blessed to be at the airport in Atlanta when they arrived home in the middle of March. So much of life for me is about being there.
  Initially, I moved into one of the Buck’s family owned hotels where I would live for 2 months until I found a rental home in Mount Pleasant.  The people at that hotel were great to me and I made some good friends there. It was still very different from living with your family. My neighbors in Mount Pleasant are great too, but they aren’t the same as family.
  In a few weeks, I leave Charleston to return to Atlanta. I have accepted a job in Atlanta and given extended notice here at Buck Lumber. I am very excited about the new opportunity there.  I believe it will be a wonderful business opportunity and challenge for me. It has been very difficult saying goodbye to the people at Buck Lumber. We have travelled far in a short time frame. There are many challenges ahead. I am not sure who has given who more – me in my efforts to serve them or them in their efforts to win in this game of business. I believe I have been the biggest winner because they have given me so much.
  The Buck Family owns and operates Buck Lumber along with over 45 businesses they open each day. They are some of the sharpest, most intense business people I have ever had the honor of working with. Their character and work ethic are reflected in their people. Their business intensity is outmatched by their strong sense of family, community and fairness. I will miss them more than I can describe.
  I cannot wait to return home to my family.  I miss my wife, Elizabeth probably more than I have ever missed anyone in my whole life.  She is such a great person to travel through life with.
  I recently had a medical scare where the doctors “thought” I was having a heart attack. All is well and my heart is fine. In those moments when time stood still, I so clearly remember many of the things I wanted to see in the future involving my children and grandchild – I remember mostly that I wanted to experience those precious times by Elizabeth’s side.
  During this past year I essentially “missed” our youngest daughter Mary Sims’ Junior year in high school. While I can’t have that back, I am so excited that I will be there for her Senior year. I missed a year of having Heath and Neema live with us. Fortunately, they have moved close by our Atlanta home and so I will get treasured time with them other than some weekends.  Most of all I missed being there with my family for the simple moments in life that so many of us take for granted. I will take so much of our time together in the future with gratitude.  When our son, Will returns home from Lander University in Greenwood, I can “be there” with him. Please don’t take these times for granted in your lives.
  For those of you who read my blog, you may be wondering where I am headed today. Usually, I open with a scripture or a story and what I write is designed to share my (limited) perspective surrounding the message. Today’s message is different. I have lived seemingly alone for nearly 17 months. I have been fortunate to see my family on many weekends and when they came and stayed with me. I know many people who are much more separated from their loved ones.  They may only have the opportunity to see their family or loved ones once a year or even less. Some people are totally separated from their families. I know that separation can rip through your heart and soul like a sharp knife. It has mine.
  I found amazing peace this past year in different ways. I found a great community here in Charleston that could never replace my family, but these good people gave me way more than I expected. I found real peace in the Lord through faith, prayers and his amazing love and presence. I visited a prison on several occasions and saw faith through the inmates’ eyes. God has been there with me in so many ways I cannot adequately describe His presence or comfort. Over the next few blogs, I am going to share some insight into how He has “been there.”
  I developed habits reading scripture, praying, reaching out to others for encouragement, blogging about God and serving others that rewarded me well.  I sought out old friends through Facebook and phone calls and made long needed peace with others that I needed to ask for forgiveness. This blog and this effort to share are not meant to be about me. They are hopefully about Him and to serve others. I have seen this recession lead to so many of us to lose our possessions. Far worse than that, I’ve seen so many lose hope. If we turn to God, love Him and love one another, our hope will eventually be restored by the One who created the universe.
  A wise friend shared with me in the Bible that “walking by faith not by sight,” means walking forward when we can’t see what is ahead of us. That is so hard when we learn to believe that we are in control of our lives and destiny. When you are laying on a hospital bed hearing that you may have either had a heart attack or may be in the midst of one, you know you are not in control. (It was not a heart attack for me, but it has been and will be for many.) A friend of mine is comforting his wife who is facing incurable cancer and he knows he is not in control. He often tells me that she is comforting him more than he is her.
  I have seen my faith grow in those times when I have seen my possessions diminish. I admit I thought the opposite would happen. It would logically seem that as the things I thought I had earned and that were rightfully mine started going away, it would be easy to blame God, blame the circumstances or blame others. I admit that I would love to have my “financial net worth” back or even more. More importantly, I am so thankful for discovering that the most valuable parts of my life in this world are my faith, family and community. As God says, “these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” God Bless You.  Be there!

The Parable of the Two Sons

The Parable of the Two Sons

    ²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’   

 ²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.   

 ³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.    

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

  Jesus said to them,“ I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

   Do you see yourself in this parable?  Which one are you?  Are you the son who said, “no” and later said, “yes.”  Or, do you see yourself as the son who answered, “I will sir, but did not go.  For me this parable contains a strong warning:

I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

   Do we think we are better than others?  Do we think we are more righteous?  Perhaps, we see ourselves as sinners, but surely we’re not as bad as some others around us.  I encourage you today to take Jesus’ warning to heart.  This parable suggests that those who we might look down on for their wrongdoings are entering the kingdom of God ahead of us.  I can’t speak for you, but that scares me.  This is not just anyone saying these words; this is Jesus, son of God and my Lord and Savior.  When he speaks, we need to listen.

   There is something even more powerful, more compelling that I receive from this parable than fear.  I receive hope.  You see, Jesus tells us that the son who starts out on the wrong path by saying no, changes his mind and does what his Father asks him.  Wow.  That message gives me hope.  I “hope” it will give you hope too.

   Jesus clearly tells us that there is hope for the sinner.  If we start out on the wrong path, we can come back to Him and to His Heavenly Father.  This is the message of the gospel, a message of hope.  You may not have believed it before.  You have a past that plagues you somehow.  Don’t we all in some way?  We may believe that God can’t forgive us; we might not be able to even forgive ourselves.  If you feel that way, the news of the gospel is here to give you hope.

   Repent and believe him!  Ask for forgiveness and believe him.  In the days of Jesus, tax collectors were truly despised.  Yet according to Jesus, they believed and are entering the kingdom of heaven.  The prostitutes did too.   Do we really think we’re beyond help or hope?  We aren’t if we will turn to Jesus.

   You may be answering, “no” at this very moment to God, your Father’s question.  But, you can repent and believe him.  The son who changed his mind and did what his Father asked, did what his Father asked.  I encourage you to do the same.  I pray that we all will have the strength, the faith and the will to do what our Father asks.  Amen.

Pillars of Strength - "I can’t but He can through me."

"I can't but he can through me."  I love this admission of "weakness" on my part.  I don’t know exactly when and where I first read this, but this expression has stuck with me for years now.  When I admit that I can’t do something on my own, but God can do it through me, I feel a peace come over me when facing some of the more difficult situations in life.  Realizing that God can work through me gives me the renewed strength to carry on, to continue fighting the battle no matter how insurmountable the odds against me or others may be.  This weakness I referred to is in reality a strength.

   What are some of the statements in your life that give you strength?  We would love to know some statements that inspire and encourage you and others would benefit too.  It is amazing how encouraging it can be to have pillars in our lives to give us strength.  Prayer is a pillar of strength.  Our family and friends can be pillars when they are there for us too.  Sometimes others can't be or aren't there for us.  We especially need encouragement during those times.

   Last weekend, I was on my own for the entire weekend.  I threw myself into getting some work completed that needed to be done.  The work included income taxes and "spring cleaning".  During spring cleaning, I found an old note that appears to be the handwriting of our oldest daughter, Heath.  I believe she wrote these notes years ago when she was in high school or maybe during her early years of college.  This note on the front and back contained expressions of wisdom that I am certain gave Heath encouragement.  There were statements about God and faith.  There were statements about family and doing the right thing.  I am confident she wrote these expressions down to give her reminders to think more clearly and to live her life the way she intends to live.  These words of wisdom can be "pillars of strength" in our lives.  I personally felt renewed strength as I read a number of these statements.  I felt even more connected to her when I realized that we shared in the habit of writing down expressions to give us wisdom and encouragement.

   Years ago when my Father died, I spoke at his funeral service.  As far as speaking in front of a large audience goes, this was by far the most difficult time I ever had.  I was overwhelmed by emotion.  I wanted to be sure that I somehow gave a tribute to my Dad that was worthy of the man whom I had loved and respected my entire life.  He was more than my Dad, he was my best friend and coach.  I also was a bit intimidated by sharing my deepest held thoughts and feelings about our Father in front of my Mother and my older brother and two sisters.  (I am the youngest.)  Our whole family was there as were so many men and women whom I had always known.  I remember getting alone to pray and practice what I planned to say, only to find myself weeping a few minutes after I started.  This happened repeatedly.

   When it came time for me to stand and speak, my voice was dry, my legs were shaking, my palms were sweaty and I just knew I was not going to make it through.  Somehow, I stood and spoke very clearly with as much passion as I have ever done on any subject.  And while a few words at a funeral probably can't really tell the story of a man's life, I did honor my Father that day.  I know to this day that the Lord was with me during those precious moments when I needed Him so badly.  I know some of us wonder where the Lord is in our lives, but He really is with us.  He is with you.  It just doesn't always seem like He is with us.

  I want to share something more about the words I shared at my Father's funeral.  I primarily used three "sources" for most of what I wrote in that "speech."  I read the Bible every day in preparation.  I also used a dictionary - my Dad loved referring to a dictionary.  He believed in the power of words.  I also found a notebook where my Dad had saved many of his notes of inspirations  and wisdom - sayings that he loved to remember and share with others.  Some were sayings he had heard through the years from others.  Some were sayings from books and movies.  Some were his original sayings.  I was deeply touched when I found there were several sayings he had saved that I had shared with him.  He honored my life when he used something I had shared with him for his inspiration.  We can honor each other when we share expressions that make a difference in our lives.

  I ask you to please share a little bit of yourself with others today.  Give us the gift of at least one of your statements that give you strength.  It could be scripture that especially touches you or lifts you.  We are all connected to one another and the words that have given you strength and hope may serve someone new today.  You can add your statements to the blog or on Facebook.

  There are battles in life that can be better fought with help from others.  As I have grown older, I have realized there are more battles where I can use the help of others than when I was younger and thought I was invincible.  I need my immediate family.  My siblings are there to help.  I have some great friends, business associates, co-workers and mentors in my life that help me when I need help. It is important to be there to help others.  Today, I am reaching out to you to see if you have some words of encouragement that you are willing to share in order to help others.  The greatest source of strength in my life comes from our Father in Heaven and His amazing Son.  Ask Him to come in and help you. He will.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

    Recently someone asked me how to influence someone she loved that she might know Jesus. How do “we” help someone else see and come to know Jesus?  How do we qualify to share Jesus?  Each one of us has issues. If we’re honest with ourselves we know we do. If we want to seek the truth in this ask someone who knows you well or even lives with you. We make mistakes. We speak when we should be listening. We want something that we know we should not want. I frequently find myself being overly critical of others instead of being more accepting. We tend to put ourselves first instead of putting others first. Jesus clearly showed us an entire life of putting others first. We are quick to anger. We just don’t seem qualified to share Jesus, do we?

    I believe it was Saint Francis of Assisi who was given credit for the saying, “Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.” I understand that this was not exactly what he said. Apparently at the time, Saint Francis was asking his brothers to avoid preaching the gospel unless they were given proper permission. He added, “Let all brothers preach by their deeds.” Today, we might say this in another way, “People pay attention to what you do, not what you say.”

    For me, this is a wake-up call. I believe most of us know we are not capable of living the gospel perfectly. Our actions fall short of our own convictions. We tend to step outside of the path that we desire most for ourselves. We’re human and we make mistakes. One of the reasons I hear people say they don’t believe in Jesus is because those “Christians” are hypocrites. This line of thinking blows me away. We quit pursuing God through the amazing gift He gave us in Jesus because of other people’s shortcomings.  Shortcomings we may also share. 

    Please reconsider this. We trust people in our lives every day to help us get food, go to work, pursue an education, invest our money and we know that each person we deal with along the way is imperfect. Hall of Fame baseball players might only get 1 hit out of every 3 at bats. We honor them by pursuing autographs, paying millions, wearing their clothing and so on. I am not suggesting that Jesus is batting .300. I am suggesting that as His followers we are imperfect.

    If we can agree on this point, then we can start pursuing Jesus and when we do, He shows up. So, how DO we share Jesus with others?

1. I believe we must seek Jesus in our lives. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Ask Him to be with you and to guide you. Pray. Read the gospel and the rest of the Bible. If this is awkward or clumsy for you then find someone who you believe loves Jesus and ask for help. Go to church even though there are hypocrites there. As my wife once said, people go to movies and don’t seem to mind being there with hypocrites. What better place to be for all of “us hypocrites” than in church hearing God’s word?
2. Use the example Jesus shared with us in His life to learn how to lead our lives.  We’re never too old or wise to learn, especially from Jesus.  Lead your life as if doing the right thing really matters.
3. Read the opening scripture again:

John 13:34-35 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

These are powerful words Jesus shared with His disciples, His followers.  If we will put in place in our lives these words then the people you love will come to know Jesus through you.  Jesus called us to love not only our families and friends, but our enemies as well.  Love one another.  Make love a verb in your life.  When you do, you can’t help but share Jesus along the way.

Betray – to lead astray. To lead to an enemy by treachery. To fail or desert especially in a time of need.

    Being betrayed is a very painful experience.  Most people experience being betrayed during their lives.  The opposite of being betrayed is when someone stands by you in a time of need.  We refer to that as being loyal.  Being someone who is loyal and who will stand by others is a life worth living.  We especially want to be loyal to our families.  We are also called to be loyal not only to our families, but to our friends and business associates.  I have found some businesspeople attempt to redefine how business is done to exclude loyalty.  When someone suffers at their hands, the answer is, “it is just business.”  When you are being betrayed it is more than business.  It is very personal.

    Speaking from personal experience, it really hurts when someone you have trusted and been loyal to betrays you.  It provides little relief when someone rationalizes betrayal by explaining it or making excuses.  Jesus experienced betrayal by someone He chose as one of his disciples.  He knew Judas Iscariot was going to betray Him yet he chose Him anyway.  How is that possible?  How does the Son of God make a “mistake” like that.  It was not a mistake, it was meant to be.  Jesus intentionally felt the suffering of betrayal and chose being crucified because of his obedience to God.  It is so hard for any of us to imagine choosing being betrayed or being obedient when the consequences are so severe.

    Recently, I experienced being betrayed by someone I trusted for many years.  He clearly failed me and my family in a time of need.  I find myself fighting my desire to get even.  As if being personally betrayed wasn’t hard enough to accept, he also betrayed another dear friend.  This friend was put in harm’s way possibly by me because I trusted the other man so he too trusted him.  Some times when we trust someone, others trust him too.  Have you ever found yourself in that position?

    There are many lessons to be learned here.  I will touch on a few today.  Choose your friends and those you trust carefully and wisely.  Others may follow your lead.  It is hard when you see someone you love hurt by someone else and wondering if they followed your example.  You may not have convinced others to trust the person you trusted, but then again when they see you trust him, others may follow.  You can unwittingly become part of the person’s deception by your willingness to trust him or her.

    The hardest lesson might be finding the strength and will to forgive someone who betrays you.  Jesus sets an amazing example of forgiving others by forgiving those who crucify Him.  He says, “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”  These men are torturing Him and brutally murdering Him.  Yes, MURDER.  It is murder when you kill someone who is innocent.  Yet, Jesus spoke on their behalf asking His father to forgive them.  This is an example of unconditional love for all men and women to aspire to.

    He chose his betrayer even though He knew He would betray Him.  He knowingly allowed His betrayer to set his trap.  At the Last Supper, Jesus told his followers that he would be betrayed and that they too would walk away from Him when this happened. Peter, who was known as “His Rock” denied knowing Him 3 times. Jesus even told Him beforehand that he would do it.  These same men who ran when Jesus was crucified later upon seeing Jesus return from the grave gave their own lives so that you and I would know Jesus and his story.

    We must share Jesus with others if others are to know His story.  It isn’t to draw attention to ourselves.  It isn’t to say we have something others don’t have.  It is to give people a chance to know what was done for them.  Jesus gave His life for all of us.

    I know there are many more lessons than we can share, but I have one more for today.  Imagine asking your son to die for crimes that He did not commit.  Imagine allowing your son to die for crimes that He did not commit.  For me, imagining that is so hard.  It happened.  It happened so that the things we all do wrong would be forgiven.  The sins of the world were forgiven by this amazing act of grace and sacrifice.  Will you choose to betray or to be loyal?  Will you choose to hold a grudge or to forgive?  The choice is yours to make.

I look unto the hills, from whence cometh my strength

I look unto the hills, from whence cometh my strength

    I love those words of hope and strength.  Thank you Lord for sharing those words with me through your Word, the Bible.  I need to be more disciplined to say them every day, but I DO say them many days.  I feel weakness overcoming me.  I feel vulnerable.  I feel the temptation to give up in a situation.  I say those words either to myself or out loud.  I almost immediately feel strength returning to me.  

    I can’t remember when I first heard these words.  I believe I was a young child.  You know, in God's eyes we are all children.  The same holds true for me looking at our beloved children.  I see the 2 year old precious angel in my youngest daughter even though she is now a teenager.  I see the 10 year old loving daughter in my daughter who is now a young Mother and teacher.  I see the 4 year old amazing little boy in our son, even though he is a young man and college student in love.  We are all children of God.  We may not recognize or accept it, but the truth is still the truth. 

    Let me share with you a significant truth: It does get better when we do accept God as our Father and Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I did not say it gets easier, I said better.  Life is better when we follow the Lord.  Our problems may continue to mount against us.  We don't have to face those problems alone.  My faith started growing when I asked Him to let me know He was there for me.  It took time for me to realize something inside of me and all around me had changed.  It wasn't immediate for me.  For others, I hear His presence is seen immediately.  For me to see Him and feel His Presence it took time.  Perhaps I wasn't ready when I first asked Him to show Himself.  I had lost a loved one and I needed to know God was real. I eventually realized God loved my Father more than I do. God created Him.  Perhaps God immediately answered, but for some time I could not see or hear Him.  What I do know is He did answer my prayers.  He will answer yours too...

   Reach out to Him for strength and you will be renewed in Him.  He will lift you up.  Ask Him to give you the strength to carry on.  He is there for you.  Just as you would help your child get up when he or she falls down, He will lift you up.  He is the perfect Father.

Trust in God - Live in Community

Have you ever considered at what point a test becomes so difficult that you decide you can no longer trust in God and you take over to solve the problem - why?  Is our God too small? Lean and tough times are designed to grow deeper in our walk with God.  Lately, I had been taking some things into my own hands that I needed to trust in God and resist the temptation to take over to solve the problem.  I need to remind myself, I believe Lord, help my unbelief!  Lean and tough times give us an opportunity to be there for one another.  It may be a chance encounter.  It may be a new friend or stranger.  Perhaps it is an old friend that reaches out to you.  Being there for one another is what makes a life worth living.  The Lord designed us and meant for us to live in community with Him and with one another.  Be there for someone today.  And open the door when someone knocks to allow them to be there for you.