Monthly Archives: October 2012

October 8, 2012 · 7:56 AM

Back Seat Drivers

My wife and I took a road trip this weekend. The two of us were in the front seat and our toddler was in the back seat. All throughout the trip she would talk to him, play with him and occupy him while I drove. There were a couple of times when she was playing with him when a car in front of me had braked. I too applied my break. When I did, she would look up or turn around to see a car in front of me with their brake lights on and she would let out a yelp and brace herself with the dashboard. We laughed because it was unusual for her to do that.

After doing this a couple of times, I told her, “I got this. Trust me. I knew he was going to brake and I was prepared.” I explained that I had taken defensive driving classes plenty of times (don’t ask why) and that they taught me to look 10-20 seconds ahead to where I was going. As a passenger though, she wasn’t occupied with what was ahead. She kept getting startled and scared by what kept popping up in our path because she wasn’t looking ahead. She was looking behind mostly or right in front of us.

I think a lot of us live life that way. We are either constantly looking back while our lives are moving forward or we are so concentrated on what is right ahead of us that we fail to look ahead. We get caught up when something pops up that we didn’t expect and let out a yelp. We see brake lights in our path and grab our dashboard in fear. We get preoccupied with everything around us without looking ahead to where we are going.

When we do that, I can hear God say, “I got this. Trust me. I knew this was going to happen.” Instead of trusting Him though, we become a backseat driver to Him. We tell Him He should have braked earlier. He should have warned us. We question why He’s taking this road instead of that one. We tell Him to slow down or to speed up. Our lack of trust in who He is and in the plan for our lives begins to show up when we do this.

It kind of reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. The son who had left was returning home after he squandered all that was given to him. While he was walking, he was so concentrated on what he would say. He worried if he would be received and was practicing over and over what he would tell his dad when he got home. He was doing this so much, that he wasn’t even looking ahead. He didn’t know where he was, but his dad did. He was still a long way off when his father saw him and ran to him.

God is always looking far off ahead of us. He knows our path and His plan for our lives. While we are looking down or behind, He is looking ahead and preparing. When things happen suddenly, it may cause you to grab the dashboard and scream because you are unprepared for it, but He is not. Trust Him to do the driving His way. Just because where He is taking you doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t mean He has fallen asleep at the wheel. Trust Him with your life and try not to be a backseat driver.

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October 5, 2012 · 7:09 AM

Serving Others

My Wednesday night church class is starting a new series based on the book “Servolution” by Dino Rizzo. I’m excited about it from what I’ve heard. There is a pastor in Baton Rouge, LA who has built his church on serving others. I believe that’s how the Church should be operating anyway. Meeting people’s physical needs is what opens the door and allows us to meet their spiritual needs.

In the business world, you can’t sell a customer something until you first take care of the need they walked in the door with. The same goes for people who walk through the doors of our churches or live in our communities. If we don’t go out or help them with what is most pressing in their lives at that moment, how will they ever be open to hearing the Gospel? Please don’t think I’m implying that we “sell” the Gospel. I’m not even suggesting you try to share the Gospel right after you help them. Your actions should preach the Gospel.

When we go out and do things for others, they will want to hear what you have to say. For too long, we’ve preached with our words and not our lives. People have tried standing on street corners holding signs that tell people they are going to hell. People have protested other people’s lifestyle’s. People have stood on street corners and gone door to door to witness. What we have rarely done is love with our actions. The world will never hear our message unless we tell them with our actions. They will never see Jesus unless we live our lives like Him.

In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said that He did not come to this world to be served, but to serve. Somewhere along the line, we adopted the ideology that we are to be served and we quit serving. That’s not the precedent Jesus set. We are to love others through serving them without expecting anything in return. When your love for others is genuine, you have no ulterior motives. If you help someone and immediately start witnessing, they won’t see that as genuine. They will think you only helped them or took an interest because you wanted to witness.

When you serve, you are witnessing. You are expressing the love of Christ to others in a way that is both meaningful and real. Your actions will speak louder than your words ever will. St. Francis of Asisi once said, “Preach at all times. Use words whenever necessary.” That stands true today. Serving others is a way to preach at all times without using words. When you serve, they will want to know why.

One of Jesus’ last acts of service was to wash the disciples feet. He even washed the feet of Judas whom he knew would betray him that night. We shouldn’t serve only people who we think will treat us well. We should be serving even those who wish us harm. Romans 12:20 in the Message says, “If you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink.” How much more meaningful will it be to that person and to others watching when you serve others who may not like you?

For the Church and Christians to be effective in today’s world, we must learn to serve others unselfishly. We must give of our time and talents to others to benefit them. When we learn to do that, it will benefit the Kingdom. I’m excited to see how God changes our group, our church and others as we learn to serve. Mother Teresa said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Don’t look to find big things to do for others so you will get noticed. Find small things that will make a big difference to others and do it with the love of Christ. If you do, two lives will be transformed; theirs and yours.

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October 3, 2012 · 7:48 AM

Be Strong and Brave

I have an old song stuck on my head today. It says, “Be bold. Be strong. For The Lord, your God, is with you.” It’s a great reminder that no matter what you are facing today that The Lord is with you. If He is with you, then He is for you. The Scripture says that if God is for you, who can be against you? I don’t know what your facing today, but I know that God wants you to be bold and strong because He is with you.

There are times when the storm, battle or mountain that we face seem too big. It may look like it will consume you and there is no way to survive it. I assure you that you can survive it. With God on your side, how can you be defeated? I’ve learned that I may get banged up, scarred or bruised through whatever I’m facing. Just because that happens, it doesn’t mean that God is not for me or that I can’t survive it.

We were not promised that we would walk through this world without getting scars or face problems. In fact, Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this world we would have many trials. That doesn’t sound like life will be a bed of roses if we follow Jesus. He guaranteed that you will fight battles, face mountains and endure storms. The good news is that He didn’t stop the conversation there. The very next thing He said was, “Be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. (AMP)”

Yes, you are going to face some things that will seem like they will swallow you up. They may consume your every waking thought and cause you to lose sleep, but take courage, He has overcome this world and has conquered those things that seem like they’re about to conquer you. You can rest assured in the promises of God, in who He says He is and what He says He’ll do.

You don’t have to lose sleep or waste energy worrying. God sees you in your battle, He’s watching you in that storm and He’s got His watchful eye on you as you climb that mountain. He will give you the strength you need in your time of trouble. He will hear your cry from Heaven. He will come walking to you on the water while the storms of life rage in order to walk with you. If you get scars or bruised up in the process, use them for His glory. Show them proudly and let others know that when you were at your lowest, when you were beat down and when you thought you couldn’t survive another day, God came to your rescue.

Psalm 31:24 in the Message version says, “Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect God to get here soon.” That’s exactly what I need to hear when I’m struggling and fighting what seems to be a losing battle. I love how it ends with “expect God to get here soon.” You may feel like you are fighting alone, but hang on. God is on His way. Expect Him to get there soon. It will be at just the right time and not a minute sooner. Don’t give up while waiting. Be strong and brave.

Here is the link to a YouTube video of the song mentioned at the beginning.

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October 2, 2012 · 7:43 AM

Today’s Traffic

There were several stalled vehicles on the roads this morning. They caused traffic jams that slowed everyone down. It took me nearly double the time to get to work today that it normally takes. It’s frustrating. Why can’t they get a tow truck and move them from the lanes quickly so the rest of us can get to work on time? Once a backup starts in rush hour, it’s hard for the freeways to recover.

When I got past the last stalled vehicle, I wanted to honk and yell, “Push your car into that parking lot!” Just then, I started to think about how many people are stalled in life and are on my path. Do I see them as impediments to where I’m trying to get to? Do I see them as wrecking my schedule and wasting my time? What if God put them in my path and I just speed around them?

I know what it’s like to be stalled, to be broken down on the side of the road of life. There were many who passed me by. In effect, they were saying, “Get your wrecked life out of my way. You’re slowing me down.” They didn’t care to stop and help. They saw me as someone who would require a lot of their time and throw off their schedule. I’m sure many avoided me and took other roads in order to avoid crossing my path. That’s how life is. That’s how we are. That’s how I am.

There were others though, who saw my wrecked life, and came to the rescue. They didn’t just see someone on the side of the road broken down. They saw a friend in need. They saw a stranger who looked down and needed help. They offered words of encouragement. They offered a helping hand. They gave me a push to get me going again. They showed the love of Christ without even knowing it. They didn’t see me as a waste of their time, they saw me as the reason for their time.

I wonder how many of us remember that we are called to love. We are called to help others. As Christians, other people’s lives are the reason we are here. Somehow we forget that as we go along our lives and get caught up in making a living, taking care of our families and securing finances to live a better life. We forget that this world is not our home. We start building our treasure here instead if in Heaven when we forget that.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, it was the religious people who saw the man on the side of the road and passed him by. It was the religious men who went to the other side. They forgot what they were called to do. They forgot their reason for being here. Instead, it was a Samaritan who helped. Someone who had no reason to help, had compassion and took the time to bring healing to the man whose life had been wrecked and was stuck on the side of the road.

Today, my prayer is for me and you to open our eyes to those who are hurting, wrecked or stalled in life. May God use us to help them along and to bring healing. May we not see them as a distraction, traffic or a hindrance to what we need to accomplish. Instead, let us be open to have compassion, to be used of God and to help bring healing to someone in our path today who desperately needs it. Don’t pass someone by today thinking they are wasting your time. They were put there by God and are the reason for your time.

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October 1, 2012 · 7:50 AM

Small Details Matter to God

Do you ever find yourself trusting God with some parts of your life and not others? For me, I trust Him with the “big” things in my life, but don’t always rely on Him for the everyday mundane things. I figure He’s too busy or that there are others who have more significant problems than what little thing I’m facing today. I make my decision and move on. I don’t give a second thought to it until later when something in my life goes wrong and I start to trace it back to where it started.

Zig Ziggler said that if you take care of the small things, the big things will take care of themselves. Big things happen as a result of the small decisions we make. Knowing this should make it easier to get God involved in the “little” things in our lives. Believe it or not, God cares about the little things. He cares about the details of your life. To Him, there are no “big” things or “little” things. If it is in your life, He’s interested and wants to be involved.

I have a friend who had an important interview a couple of weeks ago. He was dressed nicely and was wearing a pink shirt. I said, “Nice touch with the pink shirt. I heard that pink denotes confidence and has a calming effect.” He replied back, “No it doesn’t. It means I don’t trust Jesus.” After asking what he meant, he explained that he had researched what to wear and found that more people say “yes” to someone wearing pink. He was more caught up in the details of what to wear than if this interview was God’s will.

He was right. There are so many areas in my life, and I’m sure in your’s too, where we don’t trust God. We get so caught up in what we can do to create a better future, to get a “yes” from an interview, to get someone to go on a date with us or to provide for our family that we leave God out of the equation. We forget that our steps are ordered of The Lord and not of ourselves. He is the one who directs our paths. Our job is to simply take the steps on that path. Somewhere along the line, we started to think that we made the path too.

When we are more concerned about the details than in trusting Him, we lose sight of what He wants to do in our lives. We get so worried about the little things that we fail to see His hand in the big picture. When my wife or I go on an interview, we always pray before hand. It typically goes like this, “God, if it’s your will for us to have this job, we trust you to make it happen. We realize that there is nothing we can do to keep us from getting it or to make us get it if it is in your will.”

By placing it in His hands, it takes the pressure off of us. I don’t have to worry about what color shirt to wear or how to style my hair. What I have to worry about is trusting God to do His thing and I just need to show up. Even if I feel like I bombed the interview, if God’s desire for me is to have that job or position, then He will make it happen. I just need to trust Him.

What areas of your life are you failing to trust Him with? What things are you doing that you think He wouldn’t be concerned with? He wants to be involved in the details of your life. There is no aspect of your life that God is not concerned with. He wants you to consult with Him and to trust Him with the little things too. He has a plan for you and failing to trust Him in the small things can result in having to trust Him to fix the big things. Let God worry about the details. Walk in faith today and trust Him.

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