Match Box heaven

As a dad who has purchased many Match Box cars for kids and grandkids this would be heaven for any kid. Looks like great fun!

Thankful a little longer

May I take the Thanksgiving theme a little further? One day is simply not enough for me to say thanks for God's love, goodness and faithfulness to us. I can't help myself, but must talk about it a little more. Will you indulge me for a moment longer?

I'm thankful to God for who he is, who he shows himself to be- good, loving and faithful. Those attributes show up in our world in three ways, 1. what he has done, 2. what he's doing now, and 3. what he will do in the future. All three declare to a watching world that God is good, loving and faithful to his creation. Here are a few of the things I have noted in these thoughts. There are many more, but this will be enough for this post.

First, What God has done,

He created, Genesis 1:1. His goodness, love and faithfulness are shown in what he has made. All he made matches all he is. “Thank you, Lord, for what YOU made.”

He spoke, 2 Tim. 3:16-17. From the early pages of the Bible God is speaking to man, but for us the ultimate word from God is in your hands! God’s goodness is shown to us today, his love for us and faithfulness revealed in the word of God. God spoke and continues to speak to us through his word. “Thank you, Lord, that you didn’t leave us wondering about you, but you have spoken and we can know you because of your word.”

He redeemed, John 3:16. God’s revelation of his love, goodness and faithfulness are revealed in what Jesus did on the cross. He redeemed us! Now we can each know forgiveness of sin, peace with God and the promise of eternal life. “Thank you, Lord, for saving us! We are so thankful for giving us what we could have never earned on our own. Thank you for salvation!”

Next, let’s look at what God is doing,

He is drawing, 2 Peter 3:8-9, John 12:32, He wants everyone to be saved! No one is left out, everyone is sought, provided for and loved! “Thank you, Lord, that your love and salvation are for everyone. Thank you that you seek out each of us and desire that all men be saved.”

He is preparing, John 14:1-3, “Thank you, Lord, for telling us about what you are preparing. It’s so exciting to know that something amazing awaits us.”
He is sustaining, Col. 1:15-17, “Lord, thanks for holding us together. Thank you for keeping everything together and working out your purposes in this world.”
There are too many to count in each of these lists, but let me add just one more to this list,

He is interceding, Heb. 7:24-25, “Thank you, Jesus, for praying for us. You are so amazing to not only save us, but pray for us as well. We are blessed!”

And, last, here is what God will do in the days ahead,

He will return, Mat. 25:31-33, One day Christ will return. In that moment we will see his goodness, love and faithfulness with our own eyes as he comes to claim his children. “Thank you, Lord, that you are coming back! I can’t wait.”

He will rule, Rev. 11:16-17, The entire human race has lived under the rule of fallen men. One day the perfect king will set up rule over the affairs of man. “Thank you, Lord, that one day we will have a perfect king. Come, Lord Jesus.”

He will restore, Rev. 21:5, All we know is a fallen world. Even in this fallen world we see so many things to be thankful for. Imagine the world as God planned it….the world he designed restored to his blueprint. Then we will know fully his love, his goodness and faithfulness. “Thank you, Lord, that you promise to restore everything to what you made it to be.”

The best response we can offer?

“Thank you, Lord! We are so grateful that you are good, that your love never ends and that you are faithful to be do all that you have promised. We thank you, Lord. May our waking words each day be simply these, ‘thank you, Lord.’”

Happy Thanksgiving

Thankful

(click on cartoon to enlarge)

They feared the Lord and....

I read this passage this morning and have been thinking about it all day. The one word that got the nation of Israel in trouble was the word "and." It struck me that not much has changed in nearly 3,000 years. We still have our "and" to deal with. Here's the verse that caught my attention and makes me think about my own life,

2 Kings 17:³³They feared the LORD and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations from among whom they had been carried away into exile.

The "and" always gets us in trouble, doesn't it? Here are a few examples of how much trouble this can cause us:

-We love God AND our stuff. From experience I will tell you that God won't allow that "and" to remain. The creator will not compete with his creation.

-We fear the Lord AND man. Fear of man will quickly take our focus off of God.

-We serve God AND money. As you know from Jesus' words this will not work.

So I wonder. How much of my life is complicated and compromised by "and?"

What are you thankful for?

It's Thanksgiving week and an opportunity to thank God for his care, provision and love. We have so much to thank him for...not only what he has given, but also what he has not given. When we have so much we forget how blessed we really are. So, what are you thankful for?

May I start? I'm thankful for God's care. We are so richly blessed! I'm thankful for a place to live, a job I love, a family that is amazing, friends that care about me and health. There is so much more....so much we take for granted, but let me start with that short list and I will add to it as we go through the week. So, what are you thankful for?

Tula, Russia

Last weekend I and two other men flew to Moscow to be part of the church dedication for a church in Tula, Russia that our church family funded and built. It was a wonderful weekend with this church family trying to get started in a difficult area of Russia. Here are a few photos from the weekend. I look forward to what God will do with our dear friends in Tula.

Monday's cartoon

Welcome to Thanksgiving week! Take a few moments each day to thank God for his wonderful blessings in your life. I'll be doing that each day here, so join me in giving thanks.

Gone fishing

It struck me in the last few days, as I read my bible, that I don't always get something from my time in God's word. I know I shouldn't say that, but it's true. I don't always "catch something" when I throw out my nets. There are literally days on end when I come home without any food that I can describe....empty nets to my eyes, but whether I find food or not I cast the net, read God's word and trust him to work. What I know is that God's word is living and active. It will work, it will change me, even when I don't perceive that I found any food at all. Even in those times, like now, when I think my nets are empty, God is working through his word in my life. He promised to do that. He never lies. So I throw out the nets every day. I continue to read. There are days when my nets are full of fish.....food for many days. There are other days when I don't sense that I caught anything, but at those times God is catching me! He is changing me....even when I have fished all night and caught nothing.

The law of liberty

This morning I got to attend a men's study I have dearly missed. They are studying the book of James. Today they are in chapter two and as we read we came to these words,

12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

The discussion focused for a moment on this strange phrase, "the law of liberty." It's a short phrase that presents a paradox. Law and liberty seem, in our day, to be opposites, but in this short passage the text puts these two concepts together. The law of liberty is a contrast to the law of Moses. The law of Moses had 10 commandments, but many more requirements. The law of liberty has one item and yet it fulfills and replaces perfectly the law of Moses! How can this new law of liberty replace all that the old law required? How can this new law of liberty do what the law could not?

It fulfills the law and gives liberty with this one simple command- Love your neighbor as yourself. That one command replaces the law and gives liberty to those living by this new law. Love your neighbor as yourself. It's a law that brings liberty because when I love those around me it sets me free from a list, rules, trying to measure up, trying to please. Love makes the difficult easy. Love, as Solomon wrote, covers a multitude of sins. This amazing law of liberty sets me free to enjoy people. I don't have to try to please them, control them or make them happy. All that is accomplished by love and it sets me free to have real, deep and meaningful relationships. A law that produces liberty? Amazing, but wonderfully true. Today I'm just meditating on this promise of a law that brings liberty.

Observations: the price of conformity

When you travel to another culture it's easy to see the things that are different. It's obvious the choices the culture has made to be alike, to fit in. I noticed that in Russia. It was interesting to see every young lady we passed in 4-5" high heel shoes! They may have had a dress or blue jeans, but all of them were wearing high heels. Really high heels! It was obvious that the cultural norm for young women was at least a 4" heel. The price of conformity is high indeed. What will we do to fit in, to be like everyone else? Almost anything! Imagine how wide the brush stroke of cultural conformity is that would draw a whole culture of young women into a painful lifestyle simply to look like everyone else. Peer pressure is much bigger than we realize. It's clear, from my observations on high heels in Russia, that the anti-Christ will have an easy time changing the world if Russian girls are willing to suffer such pain simply to fit in. When everyone else is doing it how could we not be like them? Even if it hurts....

Made to worship

We were made to worship.

It's part of us.

It's part of who we are.

We look for someone to worship, some thing to worship. If we don't worship a god of some kind we will worship things, ourselves, others.

We were made to worship.

Worship is what we give worth to...what's important to us. We look for something higher than ourselves to give our lives meaning and purpose. We look for something worth living for. We look for something to worship.

The God who made us designed us to worship him, but we have chosen other things...lower things...things that don't fulfill what worship of the true God was meant to do. Worship of God brings focus, peace, direction, joy, happiness. All of these things come because we are doing what we were meant to do- worship and praise the God who made us.

Worship is good for us.

We were made to worship.

Here's one man's worship after a very difficult day. It's a great example of a right focus even in difficult days,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” -Job

Observations on history revisited

One of the great advantages of a long plane ride is having time to read. A friend gave me Erwin Lutzer's new book, When a Nation Forgets God. It's an interesting work looking at Hitler and Germany in the 30's and 40's as Hitler's ideology changed a nation. His ideology and propaganda brought the German nation to choices they might have never considered only a few years earlier.

The fascinating obervations Lutzer made were his comparisons with America in our day. Just as Hitler brought Germany to decisions they could never imagined, we are coming to choices we would have never condoned only a decade ago.

This is a challenging book. I will be thinking about Erwin’s words for a while. I would recommend it to anyone wondering where we are going as a country. It will challenge your faith.

Almost home!

I'm in Moscow as I write this. Last night of this whirlwind trip! We left last Thursday afternoon and will get on a plane home tomorrow morning at 7 AM. It's been exhausting, but well worth the time. We came to be part of the dedication of our sister church in Tula, south of Moscow, and it was quite a day. Here are a few photos of the day. I'll tell you more when I get back.

(It seems that "free WIFI" is a concept unknown in Moscow!)

Vapor Man!

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James 4:14

Vapor Man describes us all. Here for a moment in time and then gone. Today I turn 60! Like all of us I am slowly evaporating.

I thought about getting some T-shirts made with a big V on the front, a Vapor Man logo and the verse above to clarify the title. As I thought about the idea of Vapor Man it struck me that it's not a super hero at all, but the ultimate declaration of weakness. Vapors last for such a short time, make little impact on their environment and are quickly gone. Yeah, that describes us pretty well, doesn't it? Here for a short time and then gone.

As a vapor on my way out it's great to know that, because of Christ, my short life will have eternal consequences. So, as one Vapor Man to many others I'm excited that what might have been a life of insignificance will become an eternity of significance because of Christ!