A Day of Calamity

 It would be a day that David would not forget. A day when the rug got pulled out from under him. A day where his whole world was turned upside down. A day when grief and despair swept over him like a tidal wave. 

Let me set the backdrop. King Saul hated David and put a hit on his life. David tried to hide in different places in Israel, but sooner or later Saul got wind of it and chased David down like a criminal. David eventually decided the safest thing to do was to find refuge in the Philistine territory. King Achish gave David asylum in a town called Ziklag. 

David was two faced during this period. Pretending to be loyal to Achish David never raided Israelite territories. He only invaded enemy territories of the Israelites and then lied about it. One day all the Philistine armies and their Lords assembled for battle against Israel. David came along with Achish. The other Philistine Lords did not trust David. They even cited David's former reputation for being a fierce warrior. Those leaders believed David would turn on them in battle. Achish was forced to send David away. 

I have often wondered what David would have done if he had been allowed to battle. We know he would not have attacked Israel. His cover would have been blown. He would have been a man caught in the middle. A man with no country. Still hunted as a fugitive by Saul and he would have been exposed to the Philistines. 

David and his band of men returned home. This is where the calamity began. While David and the men were away some Amalekites came and raided Ziklag. They burned the town and stole all the wives and children of David and his soldiers. Not one person was left. All of them were kidnapped. 

We learn that David and his men wept. That does not do it justice. They wept loudly and for such a long time they had no strength to weep anymore. The valiant men were reduced to puddles of tears. They must have felt helpless. They had no idea who had stolen their loved ones. They did not know which direction to go in pursuit. Grief evolved into seething anger. 

Here is where the calamity gets worse for David. Read it for yourself. 

1 Samuel 30:5-6 (NASB)
⁵  Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
⁶  Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

David grieved just like the rest of his men. He suffered the same loss they did. He wept right along with them. Things were bad. They were about to get worse. The men turned on him. They talked openly about stoning David. Incredible. What did David do wrong? 

Just a little historical rewind. When David fled to Philistine from Saul and hid in the cave of Adullam, all these men came attached themselves to David. David did not recruit them. They wanted to follow David. Now they wanted to kill him. You think you can trust some people and then they turn on you when things go south. 

David was greatly distressed. In other words, he was anguished, troubled, and under a great deal of affliction. He had not fully processed what happened to his wives when he had to be concerned for his own well-being. The men were embittered against David. They were filled with pain and rage, and when they could not turn that anger toward the invading raiders, they turned on David.  

What David did next is the lesson for today. David turned to God. He postured himself toward the Holy One of Israel. David strengthened himself in the LORD. David took hold of Yahweh in the day of his calamity with a grip like a man dangling from a cliff clutching for safety. David was outnumbered 600:1. His past exploit with Goliath would do him no good on this day. He had no other hope but Yahweh. 

In Yahweh David found both courage, counsel, and firm footing on the solid foundation of a God who owns days of calamity. God was not surprised by any of the events of that day. He was not caught off guard. He was not unaware. Nor was He bewildered by the events and exasperated about what to do next. 

David turned to God when his men turned against him. David fully relied on God when those he loved most were snatched from him. 

I am going to make a bold prediction. In 2024 you will also face a day of calamity. A day when the waters of trouble will rise dangerously close over your head, and you will feel like you might drown in all your troubles and sorrows. A day when you cannot think your way out it, spend your way out of it, or work your connections to get out of it. You will have two choices. You can turn to toxic things like alcohol, drugs, sex, or unbridled spending to try and cope. On the other hand, you can turn to God for strength like David did. 

David turned to God when his world crumbled. He found refuge in the Almighty. He found God to be both available and a help to him when he felt most helpless. David could write from experience that God was his refuge, strength and a present help in times of trouble. [Ps 46:1]

Like one of my sons told me recently, life is hard. It will hit you hard. On some day in 2024 life will punch us in the gut. Our smooth seas will swirl with tempest winds and engulfing waves. In those moments we come to know what we really believe about God. Some may become embittered against God just like David's men got embittered against him. Some who read this right now may be enraged at God. Questions of why God allowed such calamity to happen in the first place will try to shove every thought of faith far from you. 

Bitter tears may subside, but bitterness may take root at the same time. Ticked off at the very God you trusted for protection for yourself and the ones you love.  Many pew dwellers have not worshiped in years. They are so mad at God for their calamity they cannot sing from a pure heart, pray with sincere faith, or love with adoration. People get stuck here. Never able to get out of the miry clay of calamity and able to move forward. You can choose this path. 

You can also choose to strengthen yourself in the Lord. You can choose belief over bitterness. Trust over trepidation. Courage over cowardice. I am not suggesting for one moment that days of calamity may not bring crushing grief and disorienting fog of confusion. What I am exhorting is that God can still be trusted when everything is going wrong. I mean everything. 

At this time a year ago, I sat in an ICU waiting room for hours on end with a grieving wife and her three adult children as we prayerfully fought for their husband and father to be rescued from his sick hospital bed. The days were long, and the nights were longer. That devoted wife stood her post near her husband. He did not survive. I have observed her navigating a new life without her best friend. 

Daily, hourly, I have watched her lean hard into God for support. Day by day, moment by moment God has sustained her. She has wept buckets of tears. Bravely she pushes forward. She keeps getting out of bed. She keeps breathing. She keeps loving the rest of her family. She keeps serving at church. She keeps smiling even though her whole world is shattered. She is not shattered. She finds strength in God. She is a great example to all of us how to find strength from God in the day of our calamity. 

I see it in others. When one decision, one bit of bad news can destroy everything you worked for decades to build. Dreams come tumbling down. I have watched how viciously people you once thought were your friends, people you could count on when everything went wrong, can turn against you to attack. On that day of calamity God does not abandon. God is the only firm foundation on which to stand when everything else underneath feels like sheets of ice causing you to slip and fall. 

I repeat myself. There will come a day in 2024 when your world could crumble. Terminated from a job. Financial crisis. Unforeseen car caput. Divorce papers served. Death of those you love. Where the clear blue skies turn traumatically and ominously black without warning. God will still be there. He will comfort broken grieving hearts. He will encourage and pull you up when you are not strong enough to get up on your own. He will be there. He is already there on the worst days you can imagine. 

I cannot answer all your questions as to why God allows calamity to happen. God never wanted calamity for planet earth. We chose to sin and rebel against him. It started with Adam and Eve and has flowed down to us. That sinful rebellion introduced pain, calamity, catastrophes, disease and death into our world. That was not God's original plan. His plan was perfect. People preferred imperfect plans over His way. We have suffered the consequences ever since. 

Just like a parent who raised their children to love and serve the Lord wants their child to prosper. Sometimes children rebel. They choose unwisely. They open the door to pandoras box and unleash unintended consequences they never could have imagined. No matter how much the parent tries to steer in the right direction, children make their own choices. That must be how God feels, but infinitely more multiplied by 8 billion people on the planet. 

Even then, we can still find strength in God. We can experience the faithfulness of God even on days of calamity.  Turn to Him like David did. Strengthen yourself in Him. Find encouragement in Him. Wait for His wise counsel. 

A Day of Difficult Conversations

 Someone called me earlier today and asked how I was doing. I commented, "I've been better." They thought I said, "I'm better." It has been a day of difficult conversations. Counseling. Listening to confessions. Mediating between conflicting parties. A difficult day with difficult communication. 

Many people shy away from difficult conversations. They let conflict build. They try to sweep secrets under the rug. Confessions are concealed. Truth telling is avoided because it leads to more difficult conversations. Heads are buried in the sand. Resolution and reconciliation are avoided. 

I will admit that difficult conversations are uncomfortable. That does not mean that they are not needed. Loving confrontation and biblical counsel are not always easy. They are often hard. The truth is hard to hear. In a world of chaos and misunderstandings, bitterness and unforgiveness, petty strifes and contentions these hard conservations are necessary. 

Matthew 18:15-17 are hard conversations. So is James 5:19-20. These are difficult conversations. Some will go to great lengths to avoid these at all costs. This is true of Christian people and unbelievers. People are two faced. Fake. Back stabbers not committed to truth telling face to face. 

I did not wake up looking for difficult conversations today. That was the day of ministry God sent my way. I neither sought it nor avoided it. When called for I looked people in the eye and spoke biblical truth. Some responded. Others did not like it so much. I saw tears on three different occasions. One from a lady and two from a couple of different men facing different issues. 

Difficult conversations can still be infused with love and grace. Jesus had difficult conversations and yet nobody loved people more and extended more grace than He did and still does. 

Satan, the Father of Lies, loves to steal, kill, and destroy. I see his handiwork in people all over the place. He tempts to sin, he ensnares people in bodegas, he disrupts harmony, and he is adversarial toward repentance and reconciliation. I hate him. Opposing his work is a never ending battle. He never quits. He relentlessly works to destroy the work of God among us. We must be equally relentless in opposing him. From time to time that is going to necessitate some difficult conversations. They are not often pleasant but they are vitally important to God's work in and around us. 

Will you courageously enter into difficult conversations the next time they are needed? Will you bravely speak the truth or cowardly avoid truth to keep surface level peace? Surface peace rarely lasts. It seldom leads to true reconciliation. People need to be reconciled to God and to one another. I hope you will commit your self to speaking truth in love when called to do so. I hope you will not shun the day of difficult conversations. 

Hot Head

 Have you ever wondered why God created different moods? To put it another way, have you ever considered why God created different emotions? Emotions like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, love, hate, and others. Can you contemplate living in an emotionless world? Where there are no feelings. People become robotic. We are fast seeing that come to fruition in an age of artificial intelligence. 

An artificially intelligent avatar was created to preach a sermon. 300 people showed up in a church in Europe to listen to the sermon. The avatar preached via video for about 30 minutes. Many people liked it. One of the most common complaints was the lack of emotion in it. 

God created moods. Different moods apply to and are appropriate for different situations. It is perfectly natural for a person to weep and be sad when a loved one dies. It is also fitting when a newlywed couple are all smiles on their wedding day. Parents are moved to joyful tears when they are handed their new baby for the first time. When a person is attacked, abused, or wronged people get angry. 

Anger has to be one of the strongest emotions. There are so many different ways in the English language to express the mood of anger. Try some of these. Fury. Rage. Outburst of anger. Hot head. Short fuse. Hit the ceiling. Blow up. Fly off the handle. Pitch a fit. Blow their stack. Loose their cool. Flip out. Explode. Many different ways of describing the same mood. 

People who lose their temper can be set off by any little thing. You may never know what will get their dander up. Everything may be smooth sailing and suddenly a squall of anger can turn the seas stormy in the snap of a finger. A snide comment, an inconvenience, a minor irritation, an unmet expectation, a wrong perceived and or done, and the mood of anger begins to belch and erupt like molten lava from a volcano. 

People who cannot control their temper can be toxic and destructive. They can fly into a rage destroying objects in their path. They may use cutting words that strike down like a machete. They lose control as the vent and blow their top no matter where they are or who surrounds them. 

I know of what I write. I have battled a bad temper all of my life. It caused me to get into multitudes of fights when I was a child and a teenager. I have angrily smashed my fists into people, windows, doors, cars, and other objects as a student. Through Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, that hot head in me has cooled. He has produced self-control in me on most occasions. You will notice I did not say all. There are still times when my buttons can be pushed. I no longer smash people or things. I have learned to simmer down, to pray, to walk away, to let cooler heads prevail, and to be slower to speak. This is evidence of the supernatural work of God in me. If my flesh ruled on a daily basis I fear what kind of person I would be. Irritable. Irascible. 

I see hot headed people in society. They live in extreme emotions. From rage to depression. From happiness to fits of anger. They are difficult people. Often leaving a wake of destruction in their paths. Christian or pagan. Preachers or pew dwellers. Dads and moms. Brothers and sisters. Husbands and wives. Friends and foes. Chances are you will cross paths with a hot head at some time or another. They will cause you to walk on pins and needles, to carefully watch what you say or do around them. You do not want them to explode against you. 

God created anger. The Bible is filled with passages where even God gets angry. His righteous indignation is different than a hot head. First, He is slow to anger. He is also perfectly justified when He gets angry for things like rebellion, disobedience, wickedness, evil, and hypocrisy. The full rage of God will be unleashed in judgment against sinners who were never saved.  He will trample them like grapes in a vat being crushed under foot until the juice flows. His judgment against Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt, the Philistines, and even His covenant people Israel are recorded in the pages of the Bible. We cannot justly accuse God of wrongdoing when He angrily deals with sinners. 

The Bible also has a lot to say about anger. 

Proverbs 12:16 (NASB)

¹⁶  A fool's anger is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor.

Proverbs 14:29 (NASB)
²⁹  He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.

Proverbs 15:1 (NASB)
¹  A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:18 (NASB)
¹⁸  A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.

Proverbs 16:32 (NASB)
³²  He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.

Ephesians 4:26 (NASB)
²⁶  BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

 Ephesians 4:31 (NASB)

³¹  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 

These are just a sampling of verses from the Bible about anger and controlling one's temper. It really boils down to be controlled by the Holy Spirit or being controlled by the fleshly carnal nature. A Spirit-controlled person may get angry, but they in subjection to the Spirit will not lose their temper. We learn in Gal 5:16 that if we walk in the Spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 

How much pain and destruction could be avoided if people were led by the Holy Spirit and were not hot heads. It would be a different world. One where people might still disagree but not make everything a fight. A world where peace might abound in families, churches, workplaces, and in society. Where love would triumph over hate. Where grace and forgiveness would get the upper hand over vengeance and violence.

There are times when anger is appropriate. God created it. Anger is not justified by hot headed people when they say, "That's just how I am, or how God made me." That is an excuse to live an undisciplined life. God would not call us to be angry and sin not if it were not possible to do so. Maybe not possible in the natural realm. It certainly is in the spiritual realm. 

I thank God for emotions. Different moods help spice up life. We should not let our moods control us. The Holy Spirit should control our moods.  Hot headed people can become more patient, slower to anger, and able to keep their hot heads in check. The world is a far better place for those who are able to do this with God's help. May God help cooler heads to prevail for all current and former hot heads.

This Day

 I read a comment in a book that is rolling around in my head. Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others all around the world were not given the gift of another day to live?

This day is a gift. Depending on your vantage point it might not feel much like a gift. Sometimes life is hard and throws hard punches that drop us to our knees. We all face challenges. Our challenges pale in comparison to other people's challenges. It becomes a matter of perspective. 

Brenda talked to our sons about the hardest Christmas she ever remembered. Her dad had left the family. Her mother got sick. She said her and her two sisters each got only one present that year. Tucker commented, "I have never had a bad Christmas." Like I said, it is a matter of perspective. 

This day was given to us as a blessing from God. Others were appointed to die before this day or on this day. Why were we given the gift of this day? What did we choose to do with this gift of 24 hours? Did we enjoy it, endure it, or expend it in wasteful living?

I think most of us take our days for granted. They become mundane. Monotonously repetitive and predictable. It is easy to fail to really live while we are living. For instance, do we really take time to enjoy the people around us. Yesterday morning Brenda and I sat around the breakfast table with two of our sons for two hours just talking and reminiscing. I would not trade that treasured time. Those moments are more meaningful because we do not get to be together very often these days. 

Do we enjoy what we do? Some people work to make a living. Others live for the work they are called to do. I enjoy the multifaceted callings on my life. To study, preach, teach, shepherd, lead, plan, read, and of course to write. I had my computer opened to write earlier, but only saw a blank screen. Nothing inspired me until I read that one quote which sparked a fire and all these thoughts. 

Today I got to make one contribution in writing this. I did not waste the day. This morning I got to enjoy three of my four sons in the living room before coming to the office. I talked to 76 year old pastor friend of mine who lost both of his adult sons. He has become a surrogate dad to me and me a surrogate son to him. We talked on the phone for 90 minutes. I enjoyed our conversation and benefited from his wisdom. I took care of a couple administrative details about an upcoming marriage conference we are hosting and some athletic director duties for next week. Not a wasted day. 

Truth is I love my work. The holiday season is challenging for me when everyone and most things shut down for a couple of weeks. I grow a little stir crazy. I yearn to be productive. To make the day count. To keep the nose to the grindstone. God allowed me to live this day. I want to use it for His good pleasure and to enjoy the blessings around me. Not to waste the day unproductively nor in worship less squandered profligate living. 

This is the day. I do not think about that every day when I awake. Some days I wake up in dread of overcommitted calendared events. Other days I wake up lazy and meander meaninglessly through my day. I am not saying we should never slow down and rest. We are commanded to do so. Even in rest we can be productive. Spending time with the people we love. There is nobody I enjoy spending time with more than Brenda. It does not matter what we are doing as long as we are doing it together. That is productive. I love to settle in my chair with a good book and to have uninterrupted time to read. I also love to write. When God inspires I try to write to glorify Him and to help people. I am getting to do both on this day. A profitable and productive day.

This day. God gave it to us as a gift. May what we do with it be our gift back to God. 

Looking to 2024

 2023 is quickly winding down. A week from now we start another new year. Filled with hopes, aspirations, possibilities and opportunities. None of us knows what the future holds. Christians can approach the coming new year with confidence because we know who holds the future. 

I am a dreamer. Always have been. Back to childhood. I could stare out the windows in the classroom hours on end lost in my thoughts and dreams. I would often lay on our picnic table in the backyard looking up to the sky lost in the labyrinth of dreams. My dreams distracted me in the classroom. They filled my head in the bedroom. In those quiet moments of reflection, I dreamed. I dreamed through reading books. That is what dreamers do. They dream about the future. 

I am 57 now. That does not mean that I have quit dreaming. Only now, I've traded in my selfish dreams in exchange for God's dreams. What God wills and desires is my focus. I seek Him and wait for His revelation of what He wants done. I wait for His calling and direction. It does not matter if those dreams are outlandish, audacious, impossible, improbable, risky, daunting, or uncomfortable. 

By faith I go after God's dreams with reckless abandon. I pray. I labor. I sacrifice. I serve. I wait with expectation that God will make His dreams come true. 

Pursuing God's dreams have taken me on a wild ride. On an adventure far beyond anything I could ever have hoped for on my own. Doors have both opened and shut. Opportunities have come and gone. There have been both risks and rewards. There have also been triumphant victories as well as soul crushing defeats. 

As I contemplate 2024, one-word creeps into my cranium. CHANGE. There will be change in 2024. Changes in technology. Change in our workplaces. Change in relationships. Some people will drift out of our lives and new people will enter. Our health might change for the better or for the worse. Our walks with God will change. Some will get closer to God and others might drift further from Him.  Some will change addresses. Some will find new employment opportunities. Some will face change in the form of challenges. Some will embrace change through solutions to difficult problems. 

2024 is a blank canvas waiting to be colored. A book of empty pages waiting to be written. An ocean voyage waiting to begin. I try to peek ahead but cannot see around the bend. I cannot see what will happen today much less what will happen a week, a month, or a year from now. 

The hard challenge for each of us is to seek God, and at the same time, to be content to follow Him one day at a time. No matter where He leads. No matter what sacrifices He requires, no matter what obstacles have to be overcome and no matter what changes He requires. 

Ps 119:105 reminds us that His word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path. Just enough light to see a few steps in front of us. Just enough light most days for that day. I am guilty of always trying to peek ahead. To get a sneak peak of the future. No matter what changes come in 2024 all I need to do is to follow God one day at a time. To do what He calls me to do for this day. The truth is all any of has is one day. The day we are living in. 2023 is in our rear-view mirror. We cannot do or undo any of the past. We cannot live in 2024 because we are not there yet. What we have is today. 

The challenge is to live in each moment in 2024. To walk forward when God instructs us to do so. To pause when He counsels us to wait on Him. To forge ahead when He commands us to attack enemy forces. To slow down long enough to enjoy the people we serve with and appreciate their contributions. When He calls us to leap in faith we are to promptly obey. When we fall and He calls us get up and try again, we must rise to our feet, dust ourselves off, and give it another go. 

I don't know anything that will happen in 2024 except change. It will not be the same as in 2023. I look back over the last year at all the changes. We survived one of the hottest summers I can ever remember along with severe drought. God led me away from one opportunity in coaching and opened the door for a new opportunity. Many beloved people from our flock either died or relocated to other cities in the past year. I met many new people who have greatly enriched my life. There have been challenges we have watched God overcome. 

We have no clue what lies ahead. God has surprising twists, turns, and terrain to traverse. If change awaits us in 2024, then may we meet each change with faith. Faith for every change. Some changes will be inconsequential. Others will have massive implications. God rules over both. We are to trust Him. To abide in Him. We are challenged to live each day of 2024 surrendered to Him. No matter where He leads, what He leads us to do, or when He leads us to do it. 

We may not be able to see what is ahead. That is okay. If we keep our eyes fixed on the author and perfector of our faith, we can endure whatever comes our way in 2024. Even if it means seasons of sufferings over bouts of blessings. I look forward to the future. I think change will lead to some adventures. It may not all be easy pilgriming, but I do believe it will be fulfilling. Whatever God dreams let us dream with Him. Before the first day of 2024 dawns may we surrender to His dreams and to His call. Following closely one day at a time. The adventure of 2024 awaits. Get ready, get set, just a few more days and we turn over the blank page of 2024. May God write an amazing story for each of us. 

Christmas Day

 It's early. 3:22 to be exact. Everyone is still asleep. I am up thinking about the events of Christmas Eve. Teaching, preaching, and shepherding. A full day to be sure. Capped off by my favorite service of the year with our annual Christmas Eve candlelight service. 

Oddly I am not excited about our gift exchange as a family. Gifts are piled high. It will be another banner year for the Edwards clan. I am excited to have all our sons home for sure. That happens less often these days as we are spread out all over the state. Three in west Texas and one locally. We laugh about past memories and celebrate our own family traditions. Even some of those traditions don't excite me as much as they used to do. 

I've reflected a great deal on the Christmas message this year. Looking at things from Joseph's and Mary's point of view. Even considering the prophetic predictions of the Prince of Peace coming. Jesus came in the cradle of a manger predetermined to end up on the cross for redemption. The weight of that gift and sacrifice are as real to me today as they have ever been. 

I pause to reflect on the meaning of the season. Part of me wants to get back to work. To get through the holiday season when so many things shut down. There are messages to prepare, blogs to write, people to shepherd, events to plan, and souls to win. That is why I am up so early. I am wide awake and ready to get on with the work at hand. 

My heart is also heavy this morning. I am thinking of many people who will be alone today lost in grief. I think of man who was married 62 years. He still goes to the cemetery every day to visit the grave of his dearly departed wife. I think of another family who watched their father and husband suffer a traumatic medical emergency on this day one year ago. He was rushed to the hospital where they fought to save him in ICU for over a week. They did all they could do, but in the end he died. Christmas day will never be the same for that family. I think of another widow who lost her husband this year. She now sits in the pew alone. It will be her first Christmas without her soul mate. She will have children and grandchildren around her, but there is still loss. I think of one precious lady who is spending this day in the hospital with serious ailments. Instead of enjoying the comforts of home, she is in a bed hooked to wires and fighting to regain her health. I think of other families who will wake up to quiet houses as families have all scattered back to their own homes. Another family lost the matriarch of their clan this past year. Those beloved ladies were wives, mothers, grandmothers, and even great grandmothers. Their death has left a huge void which cannot be replaced. This Christmas will be different for them. 

Christmas day means a lot of things for a lot of different people. For some this is a joyous festive day. For others it is sad and lonely day. I find myself caught in between. I am thrilled to have Brenda, Taylor, Abby, Tanner, Tucker, and Turner around me. I will enjoy watching them opening their gifts. Especially Brenda who gives so much to our family. I love watching the boys get excited to shop for her and see the joy of giving to their mother brings to them. Just having my family around me is gift enough for me. My heart is heavy for the flock who grieve this day. It is mixed bag of emotions for me. 

On top of all that, I ponder where my life would be if I had not been introduced to Jesus. I would never have met Brenda, because I would never have heard of Howard Payne University. I would not be preaching. I would still be stuck in the sewer of sin I see my extended family still trapped in. The last time I visited with my brother he was facing incarceration again. 

Without Jesus I would not have met such great friends as Jimmy Downe, Eric Adcock, Jeff Robinson, Jase Waller, Mike and Julie Carter, and wonderful people we have met at churches we have pastored and staff members we have served with. My life has been enriched with people. Tremendously talented and gifted people. None of them would be a part of my life without Jesus. 

I don't know what I would be doing or where I would be living if I had not met Jesus. I know I would not be living out my passion in preaching and shepherding a church. I most likely would be writing for a newspaper and still living back in Lufkin. I probably would have married my high school girl friend and not be involved in a church. I am not sure such a marriage would have survived without Jesus as the glue. 

No gift I could ever receive today will match the gift of salvation I received when I was 17 and all the subsequent blessings that came along afterward. NO PACKAGE UNDER ANY TREE CAN COMPARE WITH THAT. 

These are some of my musings on this Christmas morning. A cornucopia of convoluted thoughts. I will enjoy my family. Try to laugh with them, take snap shots of the heart, make lasting memories. One day all the boys will be married with families of their own. We will have to share them with the in laws. One day the hustle and bustle of a busy home will again be silenced as they all go their own ways to pursue their own dreams. It will just be Brenda and I again. She is my best friend. We love spending time together. I will enjoy the blessings of this day and try to slow down enough to enjoy family while we are together. I will resist the temptation to go hole up in my office or to get lost in a book when they are awake. 

Today I will enjoy the day. I will not be in a hurry. Enjoy the little things. Laugh a lot. Listen more. Serve enthusiastically. Not take food for granted or shelter from the cold outside. I will treasure each moment with my sons. I will receive more joy from giving than receiving. All of that on Christmas day. 

Scandal

 As they say, the proof is in the pudding. The facts were clear. Infidelity. Adultery. The pain and betrayal were evident. Questions of why and how could she be unfaithful clouded judgment. The emotions toyed back and forth between rage and gut wrenching grief like a yo yo. Confidence had been broken. Dreams of living happily ever after shattered into a million pieces. 

There was no excuse. Explanations were unjustified. The facts remained. He knew. By this time, the whole town knew. Rumors were spreading faster than the local track team. He hung his head everywhere he walked. People stared and he avoided eye contact. The whispers behind his back seemed louder than any shout could have been. 

In private tears flowed. Depression set in. He had no desire to eat. He just wanted to be alone. Yet while alone all he had was his thoughts. Thoughts of the day he heard the news. His wife was pregnant and the child was not his. He could not keep from rewinding the facts and speculating who the adulterous man was. He wanted to get even, but the adulterous man's identity remained a mystery. He suspected every man. 

His wife's tearfully pleaded for a hearing. He had barely listened to anything once she revealed she was pregnant. Nothing else mattered. The facts indicated she had cheated. She protested to no avail. There was only one logical recourse. Divorce. That is exactly what he intended. 

He still loved her. He did not want to drag her through the courts. He wanted a quiet divorce. He set the plans in motion. All was set except the divorce decree. He went to bed just wanting to forget about the whole thing. That is when everything changed. A night he would never forget. A night that would go down in history. A night that could not easily be explained. 

It all started with a dream. Not just an ordinary dream. A spiritual dream. A dream of profound significance. An illogical dream that would alter the whole course of his life. A dream that would vault him into a role of prominence and privilege. 

God spoke to Joseph in a dream. He told Joseph not to be afraid. Truth is fear had been ruling over him for days. He was terrified of what Mary had done, what people would think, and what life without Mary would be like. In the dream, an angel told him specifically not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. They were betrothed. Betrothal was just as legally binding as marriage itself. It was considered legal marriage. There just has been no consecration of the marriage. 

I am sure that was hard enough for Joseph to digest. What the angel revealed next must have been bewildering. The CHILD she had conceived was by the Holy Spirit. Mary had protested that very same thing to Joseph previously. Such a thing had never happened in the history of the world. That is because the world had never been gifted the very Son of God, Jesus the Christ, the Savior, the precious Lamb of God. 

Joseph learned that Jesus would save people from their sins. He was reminded of the Isaiah 7:14 prophecy that a virgin would be with child and name Him Immanuel which means God is with us. 

All of that revelation came in a dream. A dream. Not a thunderous prophet preaching. Not through some sign or wonder. No, just a dream. Such a powerfully convincing dream that Joseph changed his mind about divorcing Mary when he awoke. 

As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now you know the rest of the story." We read about it in Luke 2. It all started with a scandal. It all boiled down to Joseph choosing faith over fear. Don't ever forget that God chooses to work in mysterious ways. What looked scandalous to the world proved redemptive for all mankind who believe. A Savior sent to save the world from sin. Messiah born in a manger. Immanuel through immaculate conception. All of it believed by faith. Far fetched to the unbelievers. To those of who do believe not far fetched. Faith sight has revealed the reason for the season. God's scandal saved a sin sick and sin soaked world. 

I admire Joseph. His faith was tested. He nearly failed the test if the angel had not shown up in a dream. He did not know all the facts. He almost missed the will of God because he could not see the whole picture. He did not see past the scandal. Praise God he eventually did. He will always be connected to the Christmas story because of God's faithfulness and Joesph's faith. May we not miss what God is up to because we do not look with eyes of faith. 

It

In I Samuel chapter 4 there is an interesting story. Really a sad story. The people of God were facing their familiar foe the Philistines. As the battle continued, the Philistines were getting the upper hand. Suddenly someone from the Israelite camp noticed they had forgotten to bring the ark of the covenant into battle with them. 

The ark of the covenant was much more than a piece of furniture to decorate the Tabernacle. It represented the living real presence of God. God said He would dwell between the wings of the Cherubim covering the ark. For what happened I need to quote the text. 

When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies." [I Sam 4:3]

Did you catch it? Did you notice the error? The people said, "Let us take the ark of the covenant...that It ... deliver us." Not Him. It. Not the LORD. It as in the ark of the covenant. Not Yahweh. The rectangular piece of furniture in the holy of holies. Not Him. It. 

What happened? God let the Israelites be defeated, but He also allowed the ark of the covenant to be captured. The very good luck charm they leaned on instead of God was snatched from their possession. We do the same thing. We wear crosses like good luck charms on jewelry. We decorate our walls with little crosses thinking that will please the Lord and protect us from suffering. We trust in our Bibles more than the author of the Bible. It instead of Him. 

How easy it is to substitute the symbols of God for God. To use faith as a crutch instead of leaning on God as our support. To substitute religious activity instead of relying on the relationship of God rather than religious busyness. We confuse worship for worth ship found only in God. Sermons supplant seeking God for ourselves. It instead of Him. 

I urge you today to slow down. To check the blind spots in your life and to see if there is any place where you trust IT and not HIM. IT will not suffice. IT is a cheap substitute for the real thing. HE is our all in all. He is our true hope. Our strength and deliverance. Not IT but HIM. 

Decapitated

 These are difficult times. Such times try the souls of men and women of faith. We are living in an upside down world where wrong is celebrated and right is ridiculed and rejected. People don't act on common sense much less the word of God. Holy God is offended as He and His commands are increasingly mocked and resisted. 

I would not have believed it unless I read about it. The open flaunting of Satan before the masses. He used to lurk in the shadows. Sneakingly working in stealth to steal, kill, and destroy. Now he is open and flaunting his power plays in broad daylight. 

After school clubs are being promoted and offered in elementary schools sponsored by Satanic churches. Yes, you read that right. Satanic church sponsored after school clubs. Satanic church organizations are increasingly shoving their way into the public sector while Christians remain shaking in their boots in holy huddles insulated and isolated from mainstream society. While we huddled the enemies of darkness marched down the mainstreams of America pushing their agendas through things like Drag Queen story times at public libraries, transgenderism, the LGBTQ lifestyle, the wayward sanctioning from the church of same sex couples, and the putrid acts of pedophilia by elitist. 

It went too far for one man in Iowa. He finally got fed up and took matters into his own hands. More about him later. 

In the state capitol building of Iowa lawmakers went too far. They allowed a statue of Baphomet to be prominently displayed in the capitol for the viewing public. Baphomet is a Satanic statute of a goat head with long curved horns on the body of a man seated on a throne, complete with pentagram, and a little boy and little girl standing on each side looking in admiration. When lawmakers tried to get the 10 Commandments reestablished in the capitol the suggestion was rejected. Satan's statue stood while the word of God was kept hidden. 

One follower of Jesus and retired military man could take it no longer. He went into the capitol on a mission. Not as a tourist but on assignment. He toppled the statue of Baphomet and decapitated the head. WAY TO GO! He said he did it to, "Wake up Christians to what is going on in our nation." This brave solider in the army of God will pay a high price for his defiant act. While the world sneers and snarls in retribution, I assure God smiles and heaven applauds such an act of valor. 

A Satanic statue was allowed to stand in a public building. God's word was rejected. One man said enough is enough. He stood for God and opposed the Father of Lies. He defied the Thief, Deceiver, Accuser of the Brethren, Lucifer, the Enemy, the Devil himself. 

The battle lines are increasingly being drawn. Sooner or later people will have to pick sides. They will no longer be able to walk comfortably between two worlds. Which way will you choose? May we and our households choose to serve the LORD. May we resist Satan and his sinister schemes. [Eph 6:10-12] Choose you this day whom you will serve. [Joshua 24:15]

Honor and Valor

 Today we celebrate Wreaths Across America. A service at the cemetery to honor former military men and women. Wreaths will be laid on 74 different graves to honor those who fought for this country and were buried in the Spring Creek Cemetery. To honor means to regard with great respect. 

In our woke society, it is easy to take the sacrifices of these men and women for granted. To disrespect them, our flag, and our country. That is the mindset of some people. We live in troubling times when words such as honor have very little place among the masses. Today we choose honor. We choose to respect and esteem those who put their lives on the line for the cause of freedom. 

Not all of those military men and women volunteered. Some were drafted. In either case, they answered the call to defend this country and freedom around the world. In places like Normandy, Ija Jima, Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, Iraq, and Afghanistan just to name a few they fought. Some lost limbs. Many lost their lives. 

Why wreaths and why today? Two reasons. Valor and sacrifice. Valor defined means great courage in the face of danger especially in battle. Armed servicemen have stared danger square in the eye without flinching and marched forward. They have hunkered down in bunkers in freezing cold, blistering heat, and torrential rains to press the cause of freedom. Today we choose to honor men and women of valor. Today we choose to pause for a moment in the midst of our busy lives and honor valor. 

We also choose to honor sacrifice. Sacrifice is giving up what is in your own best interest to help others. Those men and women buried in the Spring Creek Cemetery who fought for America did so at great cost. Some came back home in a coffin. Parents sacrificed sons and daughters. Wives sacrificed their husbands. Husbands sacrificed their wives. Children sacrificed their parents. 

Some soldiers did come back home. They sacrificed limbs and other wounds. Others came back with the invisible wounds of PTSD. They struggle with mental health trying to readjust to civilian life. While their wounds are not as easily identifiable as the loss of an arm or leg, they are just as real. 

We choose to honor men and women of valor who sacrificed so much. Some did so over a century ago. Some in more recent times. For all of them today we pause for a moment. We remember. We lay a wreath on their graves. 

The one thing we cannot do is to help their eternal reward or punishment. That was determined before they died depending on reliance in Jesus for salvation or rejection of His sacrifice on the cross. It is too late for those soldiers in the grave. Their remains are buried in the ground, but their souls are either rejoicing in heaven or agonizingly suffering in excruciating ways in hell we cannot imagine or describe. 

In addition to honoring our military personnel, I also choose to honor Jesus who was a man of valor and bravely endured the cross. His sacrifice still brings help and hope to people around the world. It might be too late for those who have already perished, but it is not too late for those of left behind to get right with Jesus if we have not done so before it is too late. Above all I choose to honor Jesus, His valor, and His sacrifice by which people are redeemed to a holy God. 

Send

 The word send can be defined as ordered or instructed to go to a particular destination or in a certain direction. God sits on His throne looking to send people to fulfill His assignments on planet earth. 

Today, He sent me to a hospital to minister to a 90 year old patient. We sat and talked for a good while. He later sent me to make a phone call to pray for a mother who just learned her son had broken his leg. Now He is sending me to write this in hopes that it might touch someone out there needing a reminder that God is still there and listening. 

God sees every event in the world in real time. Not one single crisis, calamity, or critical need is lost. He has perfect record of every single one of them. He sees those torn by war and strife between Israel and Palestine. He is aware of those suffering in Ukraine and Russia. He knows the name of every single homeless person scraping for food to eat and shelter from the winter weather. He takes note of everyone who has lost a job and desperate to make ends meet. 

He knows the families stressed to the maximum levels because of limited funds this Christmas season. He sees the ones sitting beside the bedsides of aging parents, sickly children, and those battling the last chapters of life alone. God sees the teenager who just learned she is pregnant and her world is crashing in on her. He sees the homosexual who wants to be delivered badly, but feels trapped and cannot find a way of escape. He sees the Christian tormented with doubts about whether God is real and the Bible is true. He sees the broken pastor who no longer has hope, has preached his heart out, but sees no fruit for his labors. He sees the family gripped in crisis and abandoned by ones they thought were their friends. 

God sees the abused child. The one who is neglected, unloved, unwanted, and unconfident. God sees the one trapped in addiction. The one who keeps coming back to substance abuse over and over again even after months and years of sobriety. God sees the one living a secret life and working feverishly to hide it from those in the church. Respected people in places of leadership engaged in secret shameful sin. God sees. 

Here is the point. God does more than just see. He also sends. He singles out people with the right experience, the right gifting, the right temperament, and the right resources to help those in need. He nudes people to go and to live on mission for Him. God sends people for divinely appointed missions. Sometimes the missions look impossible. God specializes in making impossible things possible. He does not always send the most qualified. He qualifies the ones He sends. 

God is looking for people to send right now at this very moment. He probes messages through the Holy Spirit to connect His heart for the needy through those who are available. Maybe today you are the one in need. God knows your name, your address, and your specific need. He is able to send someone to help no matter how forgotten you think you are. 

Perhaps today you are the one available to be sent. You are willing to obey God's whispers to connect God's desire to help someone through you. You have given God your yes and you wait for His marching orders. All you need is a direction to go. He will show you in His perfect timing. 

What happens when God sends people is miraculous. God connects the prayers of some with those He chooses to send to meet the need. God did this with Paul through a Macedonian vision of a man calling for help. God sent Paul to be that help. God does that numerous times through people who have extra finances to share, people who have the ability to give away vehicles, or even houses. God connects people who hold the keys to open the doors for employment to the ones needing a job. God sends people to listen to the lonely. He sends counselors to the confused. God sends people who provide refuge for those ravaged by repeated abuse. 

I don't know if you are the one needing help today, or if you are the one God is sending to help someone. I know God is at work on both ends. The testimonies that could and should be told are thrilling. I hope God will show me where He wants to send me. I trust He will move you to be sent as well. It will be adventurous. It will be miraculous. 

Even If He Kills Me

 [Job 13:15] Even if He kills me, I will hope in Him, I will still defend my ways before Him. CSB

Job suffered as much or more than any human being ever suffered. He lost his wealth, his servants, and his children. If that were not bad enough, he also lost his health. In all of it Job did not curse God. 

Adding misery to his misfortunes his friends came to comfort. They did not comfort. They accused Job of wrongdoing. They judged Job's suffering because they could not explain it. It did not make sense why such a righteous man would suffer so severely unless God was punishing him for offenses he had committed. 

Add all of that up and we end up at Job 13:15. Job sees the source of his pain as God. He does not have the vantage point of knowing that God allowed Satan to attack. He only knows emotional, physical and spiritual pain. That is when he makes his statement. A desperate cry and a statement of faith all wrapped into one. 

Even if He kills me. I am sure that is exactly how Job felt. Like God was slowly and systematically killing him. Life was being sucked out of him. So was hope. Instead of giving up, Job makes a bold declaration of faith. Even if God required Job's life, Job would not give up on God. He would not quit trusting. He would not grow bitter. He would not lose hope. 

I admire Job. I have lost hope with far less trials. I have questioned God in the midst of tumultuous seasons wondering why and if the storms would ever relent. More than once I have been drawn to this passage. 

Other translations record, "Even if You slay me." Sometimes it may feel like God is trying to kill or slay us with the onslaught of difficulties hurled our direction. Even as I write this, I am dealing with the third straight day of piercing pains in my head above my right ear. At first, I thought I had an ear infection. As time passed, I realized the sharp pain did not originate in my ear. Periodically a sharp pain hits causing me to wince. It is not a sustained pain. A sharp pain that has been unrelenting every minute or so. Prayers for relief have not brought healing. I endured yesterday alternating pain medicines. I awoke this morning in desperate prayer and reaching for more pain relief medication after the prayers were not answered with healing. 

Then yesterday while eating breakfast I had another bleed in my right eye. This has happened multiple times over the past several years. I could tell immediately what was happening. Soon a cloudy film built up causing me to be unable to see five feet in front of me out of my right eye. Everything is blurry. I will see my eye doctor next week, but for the foreseeable future have to navigate life and ministry with one eye. Added to all of that, I have counted the loss of over 40 people from our church in the past year through death, relocation, or leaving for other churches. 

I awoke this morning contemplating Job's words. Though you kill me, though you slay me, I will hope in Him. I expect goodness from Him. I will anticipate better days of Him. I will not give into doubts and the futile thoughts of depression. I will hope in Him. Hour by hour. Even if the unrelenting pain in my head turns into something more than a migraine. Even if the vision is not restored quickly. Even if the attendance at the church does not rebound ever. I really have no other choice but to hope in Him. 

Doctors can treat my symptoms, but they cannot heal me. God can. Experts can diagnose a dozen reasons for our dwindling attendance, but they cannot make the church grow. God can.

Hope can be fragile when built on anything other than God. Money cannot purchase hope. If it could many would reverse the devastating effects of divorce, disease, and disaster. Money cannot insulate us from suffering. Neither can faithfulness to God. Nobody was more faithful to God in his generation than Job. Job got slammed with sufferings. Godly people suffer. We may not get to choose what things we face in life. We can choose with what attitude we face them. Job chose to trust and hope in God. I must do the same. 

Many people turn to destructive behaviors to cope with suffering. They go to great lengths to dull the pain. It never lasts. When they get sober or wake up from a prodigal journey away from God, they are still facing the same pain. 

God is our hope. In my situation I know God has the power to instantaneous make my headache disappear. In the twinkling of the eye, He can remove the cloudy film in my right eye and restore my vision. That is easy for Him. That would also make it easy to hope. When the pain persists, when the vision is obscured, and hope is still maintained in God, God is honored and glorified. 

This is my test. God's work in me and through me during this season is my testimony. If I doubt now, give up now, turn from God now, then I am a hypocrite. Shall I accept good from God and not also the bad when it comes. 

Job found hope in God and so will I. That did not keep Job from pleading his case before the Almighty. It does not keep me from asking God to intervene in my circumstances. It should not keep you from doing the same. 

In the end, God did not kill Job. He restored Job's blessing double. He rebuked Job's friends who did not know what they were saying. Job passed the test and left us a lasting testimony. With God's help to persevere in hope may we do the same. Even if He kills us may we continue to find hope in Him. 

Rejoicing Always

 Paul exhorts us in [Phil 4:4] to rejoice in the Lord always. Sometimes that is easier to read than to live. It is easy to rejoice when everything is going your way. When the bank account is full. When the family is getting along. When the trials are minimized and the successes are maximized. When your health is good. Rejoicing is more natural in those times. 

What about when the financial tests keep coming and when funds are depleted toward unexpected expenses. What about when strife is tearing the family apart. When trials pound you like a jackhammer unceasingly and wear you down. What about when all the work you have poured your soul into does not translate into success. What about when your health fails. When your immune system is compromised. Do you rejoice in those times too? 

The word rejoice in [Phil 4:4] can also be translated be glad. It is uncommon to be glad in adverse circumstances. It is both a command and a choice. To choose gladness when circumstances are not gladsome. True our situations may be challenging and even grievous. That does not mean that we cannot rejoice in the Lord. 

We can choose to rejoice that God sent Jesus as a baby in a manger we love to celebrate this time of year. We can rejoice in the miraculous virgin birth. We can rejoice that when mankind needed saving God sent us a Savior born in Bethlehem. We can rejoice that Herod did not have his way exterminating Jesus. We can rejoice that God warned Joseph in a dream to take his family to Egypt. We can rejoice that Jesus resisted Satan's temptation so that He could be the perfect sacrifice to redeem people. We can rejoice in Jesus obedience to accept joyfully death on a cross for the greater good. We can rejoice that Jesus did not stay dead and buried in the tomb. We rejoice that He is risen. We rejoice that He is our Good Shepherd. He is the Light of the World. He is the Lamb of God. He is the King of Kings. The Prince of Peace He is the Lord of Lords. He is the Great Physician. And so much more. 

There are more reasons to rejoice in the Lord than there are reasons to whine, complain, doubt, and sink into depression. It is a matter of perspective. 

We are exhorted to rejoice in the Lord always. Put another way, that means to rejoice in the Lord at all times. Even when you lose a game by 60 points. When the migraine shoots sharp piercing pains all through the night. When your vision dims. When your work is unfruitful. When death cruelly snatches the one you love. When you feel forgotten and neglected. When it feels God has abandoned you. 

It is a rare thing to find people who rejoice in the Lord always. I have met and been inspired by many of them. Some from history like Jeremiah, Joseph, Paul, and Job. Others from more recent past like David Brainerd, Charles Simeon, Lottie Moon, Hudson Taylor, William Carey, Amy Carmichael, and Elizabeth Elliot. I've even seen modern day glad hearted followers of Jesus even in the worst of times. I talked with such a one Sunday morning as she exited the service. She told me she chose joy a year ago in the trial of her husband being terminally diseased. She radiates what Phil 4:4 is all about. 

Remember rejoicing in the Lord always is both a command and a choice. I hope we will choose to obey and be glad. 

Falling Leaves

 I sat in a parking lot waiting on Brenda to purchase a few things at a thrift store. My attention was drawn to the leaves on a tree in the parking lot. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful Autumn colors. The reds, oranges, purples, and yellows excited me. 

It was a windy chilly day. Then, I observed as the winds picked up causing several of the leaves to lose  their grip on the branches and fell helplessly to the ground. That got me to thinking about several things. I thought how soon all the leaves on the branches would be barren. The falling leaves reminded me that the dead of winter is just around the corner. 

It doesn't seem that long ago when we were sweating out above 110 degree heat wave days in Texas. All that is behind us. Cold snaps hint at what lies ahead. Frigid temperatures, howling winds, and possible winter weather storm warnings. I have never been a big fan of winter. I guess it goes back to getting caught in a cold front while wearing shorts and a tank top to a family outdoor outing as a child. That memory scarred me from ever wanting to get caught without proper warm clothing on cold days. 

Falling leaves remind me that Autumn is ending and bleak days lie ahead. Days of dead grass, barren trees, and huddling inside in the warmth from the bone chilling frigid temperature outside. 

Those falling leaves also reminded me of our mortality. At one time those leaves were alive, vibrant, filled with color, carefree dancing in the wind. No matter how long they may fight it, eventually they turn colors, wither, and fall. All people eventually have to let go of the branches of this life and surrender to mortality and then enter eternity. 

I am reminded this festive time of year that not everybody has a festive heart. Some grieve the loss of spouses, parents, and even children. Death is cruel. A harsh reality. Just like the seasons of the year, people also have seasons. In the spring of our lives we are born and grow. We are filled with life and learning opportunities. We mature during the summer season of life into marriage and career. We settle into middle age during the fall season enjoying grown up children and possibly grandchildren. The winter season comes for us all. Ou bodies weaken and our minds become more clouded. We frequent the doctors more and endure one medical procedure after another. We know the end is coming though we may try to resist. 

Sooner or later the end comes for all people. I preached numerous funerals this past year. Only that winter season of death for the child of God leads to the spring of new birth into eternal life. Yes, our leaves may fall, but that does not mean we do not have hope. We have hope that God has prepared a dwelling place in the celestial city. The cold bitter winds of life are not to be shunned, but rather to be embraced keeping that truth in mind. We fall from the branches of this life only to be connected to the True Vine for all eternity. There our leaves will never fade nor ever fall. 

Unbiblical

 I for one am weary of people trying to make money off Bible stories. They may throw a few verses in to make you think it is a Christian message. They may even include some biblical themes. The overall narrative may be one of redemption. Scripture is compromised while naive people sit and subject themselves to things that are not true. I cannot sit by idly while great liberties are taken with Bible truth. 

This was true of a novel titled The Shack that took the nation by storm. Many raved about the book. It made God seem more relatable as a female. Heretical. Unbiblical themes were introduced. Such was the case for Russel Crowe's staring adaptation of Noah. While the masses rave about the hit series Chosen, I had an opposite reaction when I watched one episode. Things were introduced into the narrative that are not included in scripture. The scenes do not accurately reflect what scripture records. Many had no issue with these things. People even showed them in worship. 

Here is the problem. What people see visually will stay with them. Especially young people. Many of them will grow up believing those liberties taken away from the biblical text to make a better story will be remembered more than the biblical text. People may even prefer the Hollywood version of the story more than than the Bible itself. This is a slippery slope of Satan to seduce people away from the Bible. Beware!

Brenda and I enjoy supporting Christian movies. We went to one yesterday that took the Bible account of Job, added science fiction to it and some elements of reincarnation, threw a few verses from Job into the story and at the end wanted us to pay it forward by encouraging others to go support the movie. I cannot and will not. The movie was NOT BIBLICAL. 

I told Brenda when we drove away from the theater that I am too much of a Bible purists to enjoy such a production. It was unbiblical and if you are going to make a movie adapted from Job, that story is pretty compelling in of itself. You do not have to add anything else to it. The production of the movie The Shift was dark, confusing, and far from staying within the boundaries of Christianity and the Bible. 

I believe the Bible is inerrant, God breathed, infallible, without mixture of error. It cannot be improved upon. God got it right the first time. His word is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, and able to discern our thoughts, hearts and to pierce us. The story of Job is compelling. Millions can relate to the story of Job because they are also suffering. Stay with the scriptures. The job of preaching the Bible is more important and necessary as ever. Preach the word preachers! Do not tickle the ears! Do not entertain! Eternity hangs in the balance and many unbiblical books and movies will lead the masses astray into bowels of hell  because they are unbiblical. 

The Goal

 It is not a secret that I am a goal oriented person. I love a good challenge. Pinnacle Christian School issued one I could not resist. They declared October as "Bible Reading Challenge Month." Through the month of October students have been challenged to read the word of God on their own or to have it read to them. They were given a log to keep up with their minutes. At the end of the month, all of those minutes will be tallied to see how much time we spent in God's word as a school. I WAS ALL IN. 

I set my own personal goal. I formulated a plan for how I would have to change a few things in my schedule. I readjusted some priorities. Less tv and more time in the Bible. That is a personal goal I keep before me each year to read scripture. This year I had been sluggish. Sometimes it is hard to balance Bible reading and praying. For most of 2023 I could not keep them balanced. Bible reading often gave way to prayer. I knew that time studying the scriptures is not the same as reading to get close to God. The October Bible reading challenge seemed the right catalyst to get me back on track. 

I have read at a torrid pace. Verse after verse, chapter after chapter, and minute after minute. I also discovered something. A verse that I already knew but had not recalled in a while. 

[Ps 119:165] Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. 

That is true. During this Bible reading month I have felt the peace of God. I have trusted God in trials. I feel less stressed. More tranquil. God renewed my hunger for Him and His word. He gets me up and I eagerly make my way to my chair in the living room and pull my Bible off the coffee table. Many mornings I totally lose track of time. Though I have read through the Bible more than once, it sure seems fresh again this time. 

Do you find yourself gripped with fear? Are you anxious all the time by world events? Do you find trials getting the best of you? I encourage you to rearrange your schedule. Make time for getting into God's word. Read it. Reflect on it. Get renewed by its truth. 

How many own multiple Bibles that are never opened during the week? It is a travesty how little the church values the scriptures. People through history have died to get us copies we can read. Others die to this day smuggling Bibles into forbidden countries. Many around the world will walk for days just to read a fragment of a page of the Bible, for they believe it is a holy book. Dust collectors on the covers of some Christian's Bible. Show me a worn out Bible and I will point to the life of the owner of that Bible as not. being worn out. 

You want more peace and not to stumble over the trials of life. Read the Bible. Meditate on it. Ponder the truth contained inside. Encounter God within in the pages. Learn. Grow. Discover more of God and not just more about Him. Like the Psalmist can say I love the law. I love God's word and have devoted my life to reading it, studying it, preaching it, and teaching it. It is a life transformational book. I hope you will discover it soon again if you have neglected it for a while. 

The Altar

 Brenda and I made a trip to Seminole, TX where we enjoyed two of the sweetest years of our entire ministry from 2009-2011. I was taking part in a funeral of a beloved sister in Christ. 

We stayed in a cabin on a 17,000 acre ranch of some dear friends. It was a joy to catch up. The real joy happened the next day. It started with a time with the Lord in that cabin. Surrounded by a beautiful west Texas sunrise and 17,000 acres of God's beautiful desert creation. The place is an active working cattle ranch. I was more caught up in God and reading His word before going to the funeral. I profoundly encountered God in that cabin. I hope one day God will allow me to return to meet Him for more extended period. 

At the funeral I saw dozens of former church members and community leaders. The church was packed. I stood on the same stage I stood on time after time proclaiming God's word. It was the same sanctuary where God poured out His Spirit on us in the 23-day revival that I have spoken of so often. 

My speaking part in the service was in the middle and I chose to come down off the stage to sit on the front row to my left. I exited the stage on the steps next to the organ before finding my seat. I was settling in when I noticed it. It had escaped my attention before that moment. I even walked on the holy ground and did not even think about it. Not until I sat down on that front row. Then my eyes locked onto a sacred piece of ground where the Edwards' family changed. Let me explain. 

The spring of 2009 I was invited to preach a D Now for FBC Seminole. My friend Jase Waller served the church as the student pastor. What happened over that three day weekend changed my life. I did not see it coming. Turns out FBC church was without a pastor which was of no particular interest to me. At that time, Brenda and I were enjoying a thriving ministry at FBC Paradise. God was growing the church. I thought we would serve there for life. 

On Saturday morning of the youth event, Jase told me that some people on the search committee who heard me on Friday night were already talking about being interested in me. Those conversations deepened after the Saturday morning service. Jase stopped by our host home where I was staying to talk to me more in depth. It was a conversation that sent me to my knees afterward. Jase told me that the search committee was going to contact me afterward. I told Jase I was not looking to leave where I was serving. I was content there. 

When he left I went into the dining room and prayed. I prayed all afternoon. I had a message planned but sensed I needed to change it for that evening service. I preached that night with all my heart about being available to serve God everyday. So many students and adults responded to the invitation that I could not step down the main steps to get off the stage. I had to go down the steps by the organ. It was right there that I got on my knees and poured out my heart to God in sincere prayer. I surrendered my life again to God that night. I told God that if nobody in that room meant being available to Him that I did. I told him I would willingly go to Seminole if that was what He willed for my family. Fast forward five months. My family moved to Seminole, TX where I became the pastor of the First Baptist Church. We left Paradise in tears. I cannot even put into words what God did in our ministry in Seminole.

Now back to the funeral service. When my eyes looked at those steps that became an altar to me 14 years ago, my mind flashed back to that Saturday night D Now service. It was like I was transported back in time. A reminder of a vow I made to God to lay my life down in service for Him. It was a powerful moment. One of those God encounters you cannot forget. God reminded me that prayer was not just a prayer for Seminole. It was an all encompassing prayer for the rest of my life. I was in the funeral service, but spiritually God had me to Himself. Reliving, recommitting, and recapturing that moment all over again. I did not get up and kneel their again physically, but I certainly did so spiritually. 

God has to the right to help Himself to any of our lives anytime He wants. He doesn't have to ask our permission. If we live surrendered to Him then He can call us to do anything, anywhere, at anytime. We are to live our lives surrendered and available. 

Can I tell you what that means? Not totally. A young student interviewed me today about my call to ministry and advice for young people called to do the same. His last question caught me a little off guard. He asked me about my long term plans. I thought back to my encounter at the altar. All I could answer is that I seek to live my life surrendered to God and His plans. If God really has my yes at anytime, to do anything and to do it anywhere I have to live day by day. I have to know that my life is not my own. It is His because He bought it with a price. I am His bondservant. A servant in chains to God's will. That is how we all should live. 

Surrendering yesterday meant speaking at a funeral of a lady I loved. It meant seeing former parishioners we love deeply. It meant giving out more hugs than I could count. It mean reconnecting with several old friends. Today it meant coaching high school boys in basketball and getting ready for Bible study tonight. Tomorrow is a new day filled with new opportunities. 

I thank God for that moment at the altar 14 years ago. I thank God for that reminder yesterday sitting on that front row. Driving home yesterday down I-20 we pulled up behind a big truck. The trailer door had this painted on it, "Anything, anytime, anywhere." The company advertised their ability and willingness to ship anything, anytime, and anywhere. God meant it for another message to me. He can call me to serve Him to do anything, anywhere at anytime. He has my yes. Does He have yours as well?

Sifting the Soul

 Just as sure as the sun comes up each morning, just as assuredly somewhere on this planet people are suffering. They are battling pain, adversity, and misery beyond description. Some are experiencing this on multiple fronts. What is worse is the fact that they have no relief in sight. 

You really get to know what a person believes when adversity hits. Some say adversity builds character. That is true. It is also true that adversity reveals character. When the pressure is on what is on the inside finds a way outside. Suffering is the great sifter of our souls. Sometimes the truth is not pleasant. What shakes out is ugly, foul, and not pleasing to God. 

For all the happy talk in churches, we truly find out what people believe when the suffering starts. I have seen people living in excruciating pain and yet testifying about Jesus and pointing people to Him with their last breaths. I have watched more than one person stare death in the face and still proclaim the goodness of God. Recently I heard a woman singing going through painful circumstances I would not want to have to face. I have not met many people who had more joy than this woman. It exuded from her. 

When Jesus is real to a person, when they understand grace and the tremendous salvation they have experienced, praise, gratitude, and faith still flow from both the heart and the lips. Those are the people who inspire me. They are the ones I watch the most closely. I listen attentively to what they have to say. 

Pretenders are usually exposed when the suffering hits. The inward reality sifted does not always match the outward appearance. 

When God chooses suffering to sift our souls I hope we will chose the path of Paul and Silas in [Acts 16:25]. To pray and praise. The suffering that sifted their souls found Jesus to be real to them. Greater than any discomfort, providing peace that cannot be explained, and an indefatigable joy that could not be extinguished. We all need that. 

Committed When Convenient

 Committed means a dedicated loyalty to a cause. There is no person more worthy of our loyalty than Jesus. No cause greater than His cause. You would think that Christians were the most committed people on the planet. That is not always the case. 

I talked with a pastor friend of mine on the phone today. He told me that the attendance had been pretty low at the church he pastors yesterday. He coined the phrase, "Committed when convenient." He then related how one family missed the service because they went to a cousin's cousin's birthday party. If you didn't get that, it was not a close cousin but a distant cousin several times removed. Going to that birthday party warranted not being in the Lord's house that Sunday. He then told me how three adults in one family drove to town to buy new tires for their vehicle on Sunday of course. They could not do it on Saturday because their son had an all day sporting event. Committed when convenient. 

I contrast this with believers in China, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and a host of other countries. Believers there have adopted a totally different attitude about commitment. They are committed even when it is inconvenient. Their dedication to Jesus has cost some of them torture, imprisonment, and even watching family members be executed for their faith. I don't think those followers of Jesus would understand at all a distant cousin's birthday party or purchasing new tires instead of public worship. 

The reasons people miss worship gatherings these days is long. Let any family get together be scheduled on a Sunday and everyone will be quick to forsake the assembling together to be with family. Family has become an idol. People bow at the altar of family more than at God's altar. In the Edwards' home, even before I preached each Sunday, we set aside a day for worship. Our kids did not play ball on the Sabbath. We even pulled our son out of a baseball game so we could attend a revival meeting at our home church. God was the number one priority in our family. We had a commitment to be in God's house. Even when I traveled full time and preached multiple times a week, if I had a Sunday off, I still took my family to public worship. I still got up early to pray and read my Bible. I still followed through on my ministry commitments when I felt exhausted. 

People do not want to commit to service anymore. We had a list of volunteer opportunities around our church recently. We posted them on bulletin boards and in the bulletins. After nearly two months I asked the one who created the list how many had volunteered. Her answer was predictable. Not one person! People volunteer at schools, for civic organizations, on the job, for booster clubs, scouts, and for community projects. Try to get those same people to commit to a ministry and they will politely, and sometimes impolitely decline. 

It was not convenient for Jesus to leave Heaven and to have God squeeze all of His divinity into the confines of humanity. It was not convenient to set His glory aside to walk the dusty roads of Galilee to minister. It certainly was not convenient to be nailed to the cross and die a cruel death. Nothing convenient about any of that. He is the model of commitment. 

I for one cannot understand or excuse people who continually put God on the back burner for lesser things. Everything is lesser compared to Him. He is to be first in everything. The chief priority. The Most important relationship. Because of the people's commitment only when convenient attitude, most churches have totally abandoned the Sunday night worship service. More and more are moving away from any kind of midweek gathering. Prayer meetings are nearly extinct. Evangelism scarcely happens as proven by dwindling baptisms and church attendance. It is hard to find people to teach the Bible anymore. 

May God rain down the thunderstorm of His conviction until commitment returns to His people. May Christians fully commit to follow Jesus even when it is inconvenient. 

I Don't Believe in Organized Religion

 " I don't believe in organized religion." Those were the first words out of the mouth of a man I just met at 1 Way detox ministry this past week. He grew up in a church. He said he grew tired of being judged by people who did the same things He did. I listened intently. I prayed silently for where to take our study. 

He next said that He did not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus I told them so much hinged on that one fact. We started in Genesis and worked our way to Jesus hitting the high points of Bible history. He listened. He felt their were many ways for a person to get to a good afterlife. He also said he did not believe in God. He believed in a higher power of some sort but did not identify who or what that higher power might be. 

I see it increasingly. People try to invent their own religions. They come up with their belief system based on what fits into their lifestyle conveniently. Here is the issue. We do not set the rules. No matter how many people agree with us. This world did not start with us and it will not end with us. A holy God who identifies Himself as Yahweh created the universe. He set the rules. They are non negotiable. Many have tried. Many found out when it was too late to repent that Yahweh is real, He is sovereign, and He is a terrifying righteous judge for those who rebel against Him. 

It is a terrifying dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Not a dead manmade idol. There is nowhere to hide. This all seeing God sees all and knows all our deeds. Nothing escapes His notice. He not only sees our deeds, but He also knows our thoughts. His eyes move throughout the whole earth keeping record of wrongs. 

Only those who have repented and believed Jesus to forgive and to save will be delivered from the wrath of the Almighty. No concocted belief system will ever justify depraved humanity. No matter how sincerely people believe falsehoods they are sincerely wrong. They will never be forgiven on their merits. 

It is tragic how many believe they can play their own set of religious beliefs and reinvent the rules. This is a foolish choice. God is patient. Long in mercy. Filled with compassion. If He were not, the whole earth would be destroyed again like in the days of the flood. It is the mercy of God that lets us live another day without judgment. 

Make this well. Judgment is coming. For some it will come in death. The truth about God and Jesus will be forever revealed to those who die. Judgment is also coming in the rapture and the Great Tribulation. People better get right before they get left. Salvation is available through Jesus. I hope many will turn to Him before it is too late. 

Where Is Your Prayer Life Today?

 Where is your prayer life today? I read that question in a handwritten note in a prayer notebook I received at a prayer conference while serving this very Spring Creek congregation as a youth minister. I wrote that note on February 8, 1993. I also made a note that I was to answer that question with one word. What word did I write 30 years ago? "LAZY."

When I look back on those days I recall the weakness of my prayer life. I did not know how to really pray because I did not really pray much. The only real way to learn how to pray is to actually pray. Sure you can learn some things by reading. Just reading about how to hit a baseball will not really teach me to hit the ball when I come to the plate with bat in my hand. It takes batting practice. In the same way, it takes practice in prayer to grow in it. 

When I think back over the past three decades, and the countless hours I spent shut up in the prayer closet, I can honestly say that I have grown in prayer. I have infinitely more growth to learn and experience, but I am not where I was back in 1993. 

If I were to answer that same question of where my prayer life is today, I would answer differently. I would say it is GROWING. I am still learning as I wade my way through reading E.M. Bounds. He mastered prayer. He could write about prayer in a way that is foreign to me because I have not progressed as much as he did. That does not mean that I cannot learn. With pen in hand I read the pages. With prayer journal in my lap I try to pray what I am learning. 

The focus of my prayers this morning was much different than three decades ago. I prayed, "Lord, what do you want me to believe you for today?" One of the key difference in my prayers these days is the greater emphasis on what God wills to do and wishes me to believe Him for instead of my petitioning my endless wants. What God wants and wills to do is much more important than anything I want. 

Two things are critical in learning to pray effectively. One, is to pray with genuine faith. Not wishful thinking but fervent faith. To truly believe. To be assured and persuaded that not only God can but also that God will do the very thing we ask Him to do. Faith gives fuel to our prayers. 

The other critical factor in praying is praying according to the will of God. To put that another way, it means to ask God for things He desires and delights to do. That is the assurance that we will get what we ask for. I am learning to put aside my wants in favor of what He wants. Why waste my time asking God for things He does not will to give me or do for me. Why not maximize my praying by asking God for He already wants to do. 

By the grace of God I am growing in prayer. I am not as lazy in prayer as I was three decades ago. I still have a tendency to drift back into laziness when prayers are not answered like I would like them to be or as quickly as I would like them to be. Not lazy on a continuous basis. I AM NOT WHERE I WANT TO BE AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT WHERE GOD WANTS ME TO BE. With that in mind I must keep growing. 

If I were asked the same question where is your prayer life three decades from now, how would I answer? I would be 97 at that point. I hope I would be able to answer, "PROGRESSING." What about you? How do you answer today? May God teach all of us and we willingly and exuberantly learn those lessons of prayer. 

In Hot Pursuit

 I awakened this morning with a burden for a couple of people. A couple of people that God is in hot pursuit of redeeming and drawing to Himself. He does that. He convicts, draws, opens blinded eyes, and reveals Himself to people who otherwise do not give Him the time of day. 

I am encouraged that because of the burden it is proof that God is working on the other end too. I do not know how. I do not know to what extent. I just know He is working. God is in the seeking and saving people who are far from Him business. He is on mission. In hot pursuit with the hounds of heaven nipping at the heels of those who do not know Him. He loves to rescue the perishing. 

He does it all over the world. He is in hot pursuit of Muslims, Hindus, and those caught up in African witchcraft religions. He chases after the wealthy, the impoverished, the famous, the obscure, the dark skinned and lite skinned. He desires to bring into His fold children, teenagers, and adults. Nobody is so far gone that He cannot reach, so hard that He cannot break, and so depraved that He cannot forgive. 

John Newton wrote those famous words in the hymn Amazing Grace, "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see." All over the world, every single day, people grow weary of running from God. Once He seizes a heart there is no stopping Him. When He sets His sights on a soul it is only a matter of time before they are brought into His family. 

I wonder who are all the people God is in hot pursuit of redeeming. Skaters. Lawyers. Doctors. Mechanics. Police officers. Long shore men. Soldiers. Construction workers. Nurses. Janitors. Chefs. Cooks. Teachers. Coaches. Oil field workers. Stay at home moms. All over the world He is in pursuit of people. 

I am thankful that 40 years ago He set me squarely in His cross hairs and targeted me at a junior varsity football game. He sent a messenger with a gospel message burning in His heart. He shared that message with me. The God who had been in hot pursuit of me all my life broke through. He won my heart and affection. I have not been the same since that October day back in 1983. 

I wonder if God will use this writing in someone's life around the world to hotly pursue their salvation. I pray He does. I pray He does so soon. I also pray He will remain relentlessly in hot pursuit of the ones He woke me up about this morning. There is always room for more in His family. 

The Fountain of a Thousand Blessings

 Right in the middle of preaching yesterday morning God stopped me in my tracks. He convicted me about a vow I made to Him years ago I had broken. 

Very well do I remember the morning I was praying some years ago. I sensed the Lord say in my spirit, "I want you to enroll in the school of prayer and intercession. I have many things to teach you. Give yourself to prayer." I sat there for a long while that morning. I knew how easily I can be excited about prayer and then the emotionalism wear off. I have fought this for three decades. I did not give a flippant response to the Lord. I knew myself too well to commit to something I knew I could never live up to. 

The truth is I want to be a man of prayer. I want to grow in prayer. That morning I sensed God was calling to a deeper level. A level I could not get to on my own effort. I finally submitted and told God I was willing to enroll in His school of prayer and intercession. I pleaded for Him to put the desire and discipline in me to follow through. Whatever it meant and whatever it might cost. 

I grew. My times with the Lord were rich. He enabled me to spend much time in prayer. I believe He spoke to me in those days some profound things. Something happened a few years ago that changed all of that. I will not go into detail. I have never spoken of it publicly. Let me suffice it to say it was not sin. It was something else that wrecked my faith and prayer life. I have never fully recovered from that incident to this day. Brenda knows about it. She is the only one. 

Don't get me wrong. I still pray. It isn't the same though. It is different. Less intense. Shorter amount of time spent in the prayer room than in previous years. I was still sincere. Really the only way I can explain it is that something broke inside me that has never healed. I did not give myself to prayer as God had instructed me to do. Sometimes it felt more like I was going through the motions of prayer.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I preached from Ecclesiastes about keeping vows to God when suddenly the phrase, "School of prayer and intercession," jolted my mind. In a matter of seconds I recalled my God encounter calling me to enroll in the school of prayer and intercession. Conviction came as I stood silent in the pulpit. I am unsure of how long this conviction lasted and I stood there silent lost in God's convicting work in my heart. He convicted me publicly and I repented publicly. 

My habit for months had been to get up early and hit the gym. I knew if I worked out early I could get it out of the way and afterward I would spend time with God. Only most mornings my workouts cut into any chance for me to have long sustained prayer times. I repented of that yesterday and committed to readjust my schedule. Prayer first. 

This morning I got up at my usual time, but instead of going to the gym, I came to the office to pray. I recommitted to the Lord to devote myself to prayer. While sitting and listening, I felt impressed to browse through my books for an old classic volume on prayer by E.M. Bounds. I found it. 

Later, when I got a chance to read in that book I came across these words. "Prayer is the fountain of a thousand blessings." - Chrysostom

Everything in my ministry flows out of prayer. Revelation of His word. Inspiration for messages and writings. Direction for future plans. Anointing to preach and teach. To have a tender heart to shepherd the sheep. To believe God for impossible dreams. To trust Him for provision. All flowing from the stream of prayers and time spent with Him. 

Sitting alone with the Lord this morning in solitude and silence I could feel my soul lapping it up like a thirsty dog lapping water. My soul craved God. It drank in the silence and solitude like a parched person on a hot summer day. 

Time with God is a fountain. A never ending forever flowing fountain from which I drink. It flows endlessly satisfying the deepest cravings of my life. From that bubbling brook flows a thousand blessings I could never fully list or explain. 

I have missed that free flowing fountain for some time now. I still frequented the fountain but I was always rushed. In a hurry to move onto the next item on my to do list. Today prayer was my to do list. From that and reading just a few pages of scripture and the Bounds book the blessings flowed. My spirit feels more alive and awakened than it has in some time. 

There is more of God to drink in and more blessings to discover. Today was the first step in a long journey of prayer and times spent with God. I plan to drink long from this fountain and go places spiritually I have never been before. 

Like a school boy headed to his first day of class, I head to the prayer closet. I sit at the Master's feet to learn what He wishes to teach me. It is a school from which I will never graduate. There will always be more lessons to learn. While I do not feel like I am in kindergarten of prayer, nor do I feel like I am in advanced graduate level courses of prayer either. There is much to learn. Today I drink of the fountain from which a thousand blessings flow. 

Strong Support

 Right now there are people struggling under oppressive burdens. Some are sick. Some are watching loved ones die a slow death. Others are impoverished. They have no way to make it to the next pay check. Groceries are scarce and so is hope. There are broken pastors and parishioners who see no future to keep the doors open after decades of faithful service. The offerings are low as well as the attendance. 

There are others out of work. Doors keep shutting on them to find employment. They have applied and interviewed for jobs and had their hopes spun up and down like a yo yo. Nothing has worked. They keep getting passed by and they do not understand. Pleadings for God to help seem unheeded. 

Others have given their lives to organizations in faithful employment. They have been passed over for promotions but they stayed and did a good joy anyway without bitter resentment. Worse they have been terminated. Loyalty has meant nothing to the top brass of the company. Experience has been cast aside for younger faces with less wisdom and experience. The aging faithful have been cast to the wind. Nobody wants to hire people on the backside of life. All they need is a chance. Nobody will give them one. Hope is fading fast. 

Married couples are on the brink of divorce. They put on a good face in public but behind closed doors they fight and cut each other with dagger like words. It appears the marriage will not survive. 

There are many who are caught up in addiction they cannot break free from. They have tried in vain. Many times they have vowed they would not go back to the bottle, to the drug, or to pornographic websites. Then a trial comes and they look for a quick fix to relieve the stress even though the addiction is slowly killing them. 

Some have been sexually abused. They cannot get past the horrid nightmarish event where they were violated. They carry the secret shame. They walk around feeling dirty and unworthy of love. The mind is cluttered with countless thoughts screaming with fiendish demonic voices, "Where was your God? Why did He not protect you? Why did He let that happen to you?"

All of these people need God. They need His support. I came across II Chronicles 16:9 today. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth that He might strongly support those whose hearts are completely His...

Even as I write this next sentence God sees who desperately needs to read this and be reminded He is watching. He sees and He supports His children. He comforts the brokenhearted. He opens closed doors. He provides for those needy. He offers deliverance for those in bondage. He heals the psychological, emotional, and physical wounds of those traumatized by sexual abuse. He can mend and reconnect distanced married couples drifting toward divorce. He still has plans for usefulness for the aging. 

How many today need to be reminded that God sees. Not only that, but He also strongly supports His children who have loved and served God with a whole heart. What does that mean. Strongly support? It means God will encourage, hold fast, keep firmly in His grasp and strengthen with His might. 

Maybe God will see fit to use this blog to encourage someone. Maybe He will use it to hold someone fast and remind them they are not alone. Maybe He will hold someone up today overwhelmed who cannot stand on their own. Perhaps He will give the courage and strength to get out of bed and to battle another day the same old trials and summon new faith to pray again. God can do all that and more. 

Whatever your need might be today I just want to remind you that God has not forgotten you. He sees and He knows. His support is available. He will come through. That is His character. It is is His nature. He has done it for others and I am confident He will do it for you too.