Tag Archives: religious

October 9, 2012 · 8:16 AM

What to do with an incomplete calling

I had the privilege in the mid 90’s to work with the Lilian Trasher Orphanage in Asyut, Egypt. I would take the train from Cairo about once a month and visit the orphanage. I got to speak to the kids at services and play with them during the day. The orphanage was started in the early 1900’s by Lilian Trasher. She was about 10 days away from getting married when she told her fiancé that she had been called to Africa. He told her that he did not have that same call on his life and they broke up.

She had very little money saved when she decided to board a ship to Africa. Her parents were against the idea, but she believed in her calling so much that she went anyway. One day while she was there, someone came to her and said that a woman needed help. Not long after she arrived, the woman died. An elderly woman in the house was holding the deceased woman’s baby and said she couldn’t afford to keep it alive. Lilian took this baby, nourished her back to health and the orphanage began.

Within a few years, she had over 50 babies that she was taking care of. Today, just over a hundred years later, that orphanage has over 1,000 kids in it. They have a school on site, a church and places for the kids to learn vocations such as weaving. It is an amazing place that still operates because one woman believed so much in God’s calling on her life that she left everything behind to follow it.

Many of us believe we have a calling of God on our lives. We believe we were meant to do more than just survive 70 or 80 years and then go to Heaven. We believe that we can be a vessel that God can use to help others or to lead others to Him. Some people are called to Africa, Asia, Europe or South America, but most of us are called to be a light where we are. You may be a salesman, an accountant, a manager, a janitor or a teacher. Wherever God has you, He has called you to be salt and light.

Lilian wasn’t sure why she was called to Africa. She had not received a calling on her life to go build an orphanage. She just knew she had been called and put herself in a position to be used of God. Just because you don’t know the full extent of your calling, it doesn’t mean that you should wait to do something for God. You should put yourself in position within that calling and look for God to open the door.

Faith is about stepping out when you don’t have the full picture. It’s about leaving a fiancé and your parents knowing God has something for you to do. It’s about looking at every situation as an opportunity for God to use you in and then being willing to obey. We often look at the end of the journey or where we’d like to see God use us in time. We think of the big things we can do for God, but they all start small and with one step of faith at a time.

Has God called you to do something or go somewhere? What step of faith can you take today to put yourself in position to be used of Him? Faith is about action. It isn’t about waiting until you have the whole picture or vision. Take one step of faith today towards the calling He has placed on your life and look for Him to open doors you never saw before.

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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 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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September 25, 2012 · 5:59 AM

God’s Faithfulness

I’m not sure why I am constantly surprised by the goodness of God. There are times where I am just caught off guard at His faithfulness. I look at my life and I see all of my short comings and wonder why God would choose to bless me and to pour out His love on me. I know that I am unworthy of any gift that He gives, yet He still opens up the windows of Heaven and pours them out.

I think that’s one of the areas where it is hard to understand God because our minds try to rationalize Him as a human with human behaviors. We know the we are spiteful and hold grudges and we expect Him to. When He doesn’t, it blows our mind. I love how the psalmist put it in Psalm 36:5 when he said that His unfailing love is as vast as the heavens and His faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. It is so deep and so wide that we can’t begin to understand it.

I always want to rationalize it and understand it rather than to accept it and abide in it. I want to break it down and figure it out instead of just trusting in it. I think David understood it. He knew of the power that God has to forgive and forget. He relied on it and knew he was in trouble without it. You wonder how can an adulterous murderer like himself be a man after God’s own heart? Well it’s because he understood God’s ability to forgive and to forget.

It’s beyond me how He does it. I try to be a man after God’s heart and I fall short. I seek to be like Him and I find I’m more like myself. I try to do what He asks and I end up doing what I want. I start off working hard to please Him, but in the end, I do what pleases me. That’s where God’s faithfulness kicks in. II Timothy 2:13 says in the Amplified version that even if we are unfaithful and untrue to Him, He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character), for He cannot deny Himself.

How is that possible? How can God remain faithful and true to us when all we seem to do is our own thing rather than His? It’s who God is. He is a God who loves us more than our doubts, our mistakes, our short comings and our fears. He is patient and kind. His love knows no end and is not conditional. He is not human and is not limited like we are. Once we remove those human characteristics of who we think He is and accept His divine nature, we can begin to get a glimpse of who He really is.

There were several in the Bible like David and Paul who got a glimpse of that. I don’t think it is reserved for just them though. God wants to open Himself up to you and me and to give us a glimpse of who He is. We fight and push back because we are unworthy. I think that when we finally realize how unworthy we really are though is when He has us right where He wants us to show His faithfulness and love. Don’t push back away from it. Swim in that river of his love that is as high as the clouds and is as vast as the heavens. Accept that you aren’t worthy and trust in His love for you anyway.

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September 24, 2012 · 7:29 AM

Raw Dependence on God

Today I celebrate the ninth anniversary of hitting rock bottom in my life. I know most people may not celebrate such a day, but for me it created a raw dependence on God. Up until that point in my life my faith was something I talked about. On that day it became something I lived. When there is nothing in your life worth living for, you learn to completely depend on God.

At that moment I was broken and recognized that I had tried to live my faith and my life on my own. I couldn’t do it. I needed God’s help. God’s strength. God’s intervention to live out my life and faith. My raw dependence on God began that day and I’ve learned to trust Him ever since. I don’t celebrate the bad things that happened. I celebrate that they woke me up to the life I was meant to live.

Many of us never get to that point of raw dependence on Him. We continue living our faith on our own strength. We were not made to do that. When we try to do that, we fail. I think that’s why so many people lose their faith or refuse to trust God with their lives. They have been living under the illusion that living out their faith in God required their strength. It was never meant to be that way.

Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” He knew what it meant to have a raw dependence of God. He recognized that life in Jesus is nothing something done in our strength. It can only be Christ, who lives in us, that can accomplish that. We try and we fail every time. For most of us, we think that is just how it’s supposed to be. The problem is we weren’t made to wander in the desert. We were made to live in the promised land.

The Israelites experienced God’s grace and forgiveness when they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. As they began to live in their new freedom, they met with God along the way. He gave them the Ten Commandments to show them how to live. He lead them to the Promised Land to give it to them. When they looked and saw the giants ahead, they said, “We can never beat them.” They were trying to do things in their strength, not in God’s.

Out of all of them, there were only two who recognized that it was by God’s power they had been delivered from their bondage. It was nothing they did. It was God who had led them and would provide what it took to live in abundance and to overcome. They were the ones who were permitted in and reaped the rewards of all God had for them. They were the ones who knew in their strength they were nothing, but in His strength they were more than conquerors.

Many of us live our lives in the desert peering into the promised land. It scares us and that fear prevents us from experiencing all that God has for us. For many that wander in the desert of uncertainty, we think back to the life of bondage we had and remember how secure it was. I think many people who live and wander in the desert wonder about their faith and struggle with it because they aren’t experiencing what God planned for them. They want to return to the life they knew rather than to fully depend on God.

Maybe that’s you today. You always thought that God had more for you, but you feel like you are just wandering aimlessly through the desert of life. If you could live the life God wanted you to live in your own strength, it wouldn’t be faith. Romans 1:17 says, “The just shall live by faith.” It doesn’t say by their own strength, it says “by faith”. What areas of your life and faith are you trying to live out in your own strength? Trust God to do what He has done and said He will do for you. Let Him take you across Jordan into the Promised Land of all He has for you. If you do, you will celebrate that day every year too. I guarantee it!

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September 21, 2012 · 1:04 PM

Storage Wars for Your Soul

One of my favorite shows to watch is Storage Wars. Can I get a “Yuuuuuup” from my fellow watchers? If you aren’t familiar with the show, when people don’t pay their bill on storage units, the company locks them out and then has an auction for the whole unit. When people come to bid on them, they get a few minutes to look in from the outside to determine if it’s worth bidding on. Some units go for cheap while others start a bidding war.

Once a person wins a unit, they then go back and dig through it looking for treasure or anything of value that they can sell to make money on the contents. Sometimes they bust and lose money because it’s nothing but junk and other times they hit the jackpot. It’s fun to watch just to see what people have in storage and to see what things are worth. I think competition has a little to do with why I like it too!

Whether you know it or not, there is a bidding war going on for your soul. One side sees the treasure in you and has bid the highest price possible. The other side will do anything to keep you from recognizing your worth and will fight to keep you from accepting the bid of the other. You are valuable beyond your imagination and you are worth more than you think you are. You are a treasure in God’s eyes.

I used to look at myself and think I wasn’t worth much. It’s hard to think you are worth much when circumstances or people tell you that you aren’t. When you are constantly barraged by words that people use, you begin to believe them. You begin to think they’re right. You question your value and self worth. You sell yourself short and lower the expectations for your life. When that happens, you lose your joy. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of The Lord is our strength and stronghold.

In war, when you lose your stronghold and your strength, you lose. We are talking about the war for your life and you cannot afford to lose! You can’t afford to believe the things that people say or what circumstances come your way. In Luke 7, a woman came up to Jesus and began to weep at His feet. In verse 39, a Pharisee said, “If He were a prophet, He would surely know what sort of woman this is who is touching Him – for she is a notorious sinner, a social outcast and devoted sinner.” Her life reflected that because that’s the way people saw her.

That’s not how Jesus saw her and that’s not how He sees you. When He looked at her, He saw a treasure. He spoke of the wonderful act she was doing and then spoke life into her. he said, “Go and enter into peace, in freedom from all the distresses that are experienced as the result of sin.” I believe He says that to you today. He says, “have peace and joy. I am giving you freedom from what others have said about you. You are my treasure and I have sacrificed my life for you because I value you that much.”

You are indeed a treasure. Proverbs 31:10 says you are far more precious than jewels and you’re value is far above rubies or pearls. You need to tell yourself who you are in Christ. You need to say it until you believe it. Say it out loud if you have to. Write it on paper and tape it to your mirror. When you believe in you, like He believes in you, you will have your joy and you will win the war!

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September 19, 2012 · 8:15 AM

Don’t Give Up

I have several close friends who are going through some difficult times. Many are in desperate need of God’s touch because doctors can only do so much. Others just need a breather from the waves of bad news that keep rolling into their lives. I’ve been there myself a time or two. You probably have been too. You might even be there now, but even though you feel alone in the situation, you aren’t.

It can feel empty sometimes when friends, who don’t know what else to do, simply say, “I’ll be praying for you.” You really want them to throw you a life preserver and pull you from the water that you’re tired of treading. You know there’s nothing they can really do for you, but you wish someone could. You cry out to God, but it seems you’re prayers are falling on deaf ears. The answers you seek don’t come and you’re left with more questions.

When answers finally come, they aren’t really what you were seeking. You’re confused and your faith is shaken. You start to wonder if you’ve done something wrong to deserve this. You think that maybe God is punishing you. You drift into the fog of uncertainty and begin to wonder if God really exists. The only thing you do know is that you feel pain, uncertainty and confusion.

It’s in these moments that you find out what your faith is made of. It’s here that you learn to trust God with everything in your life. When there is nothing that anyone can do to help, you have a God who is there to sustain you in those difficult times and to give you hope for victory. When all you have is Him, you have more than enough. You may not be able to see past today, but He sees your tomorrow.

In II King 6, Elisha had been telling the king through divine guidance where ambushes were set up to attack his army. The king of Aram was furious because his plans kept getting foiled. He accused his officers of leaking information to the Israelis, but one of them knew of Elisha and told him what was happening. The king put a bounty on Elisha’s head. They found out where he was staying and traveled by night to surround him.

The next morning, Elisha’s servant got up early and walked outside. He became fearful because they were surrounded and cried out to Elisha. Elisha got up walked up to him and said, “Don’t worry about it. There are more on our side than on their side.” I’m sure the servant looked at him like he had lost his mind. Elisha then bowed his head in prayer and said, “Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.” At once the servant was able to see what Elisha saw. There was a mountainside full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding the other army.

Today, even if you can’t see beyond the circumstances that surround you, I pray that God will open your eyes. May you see that God is on your side and He is fighting for you even when it seems that no one else is. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world is the way I John 4:4 put it. I’ll tell you what I told my friend yesterday, “I don’t always understand what God does either, but I’ve learned to trust His plan and answers even when they don’t make sense.” You are not alone and God’s answer will be what’s best for you.

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September 18, 2012 · 7:52 AM

Sowing Without Reaping

What kind of heritage are you leaving your family? Have you thought about that? It’s not something that you do when you are old. It’s something you accomplish with the bulk of your life. How you live now affects the future generations of your family. Each of us were handed a heritage from our parents. Some of us received a good heritage while others received a broken, empty heritage.

Whatever heritage you were given, it is your responsibility to create one for your kids. You have to be aware of the seeds you are planting in their lives. There is a Greek proverb that says, “A society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they know they’ll never sit in.” What are you planting now that you know you’ll never reap the rewards of?

That’s a tough question. For many of us, we have grown up in a world where we live for the moment and not the future. We think, “I wasn’t given anything and I made it. Why would I do anything for someone else?” At work, we always talk about setting the customer up for success. Does the customer have everything they need to be successful once they leave? I’d ask, does your family have everything they need in order to be successful once they leave the nest?

It’s not just monetary things I’m talking about here. Yes, leaving your kids the gift of financial freedom is great, but have you taught them how to manage what you’ll be giving them? If you haven’t, what you’re leaving will be gone soon. What about a spiritual inheritance? Are you leaving your kids and future generation a heritage that will last for generations? What are you teaching them with your lifestyle now that will reap rewards later? Are you just taking them to church so that someone else can teach them “what’s right” or are you teaching them a godly example at home?

It is not the church’s responsibility to teach your children about God or what it means to be a Christian. It’s your responsibility. The church’s role is to reinforce what you are showing them and to provide a group of people who are like minded to help you along the way. If you take them to church and live contrary to the teachings of the church, your child’s faith probably will not last. Actions speak louder than words.

King David left his son Solomon a heritage. David knew that God would not allow him to build the temple. David didn’t just tell Solomon he wanted him to build the temple instead. He drew up the plans and bought all the supplies to build the temple. He knew the value of planting the seeds for something he would never get to enjoy. After he gave Solomon all of the supplies and plans, he then blessed him, prayed for him and charged him to do well.

In I Chronicles 28:8-10, David gave Solomon the things he needed to be successful spiritually which is more important than setting him up monetarily. He said, “Learn to know God…, worship and serve Him…., if you seek Him you will find Him…, take this seriously because God has chosen you…., be strong and do the work.” That is an amazing charge and heritage to leave your family. If you haven’t already done so, begin to do the work of leaving a good, godly heritage for your family. You may not get to sit in the shade of the trees of heritage you plant, but your future generations will be blessed and successful because you did the work now.

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