The first day

The first day anywhere new is difficult.  

Fear of the unknown, 

the uncertainty of an unfamiliar place.  

The first day is hard, 

but imagine it's your first day in eternity, 

your first day after this life is over.

A man I know just spent his first day in eternity.  

He was not a Christian.  

He wasn't interested.  

He and I talked months ago, 

when he was well, 

about life and death.  

We talked about eternity, 

about salvation 

about the cross,

and what God has provided for him.  

But he thought he had a better solution, 

he thought he had his answer and didn't want to hear it.

Today was his first day in eternity.  

His first day of billions more.

  As I think about him I grieve.  

Today, his first day, he faces eternity.

  An eternity without God.  

Quote of the day

"To a blind man no proof of light is adequate, 

but to a seeing man no proof of light is needed."

-Mike Messerli

Wagering eternity

What would you bet on?  

What odds would you risk for something you think is a "sure thing?"

Would you bet a million dollars with the chance to win ten?

It sounds like a foolish question and it is.  Who would risk a million dollars for the chance to win only $10 more?

But many around me wager billions of years for just a few here.

They risk losing everything on the odd chance they might be right about what awaits them after death.

Why would anyone risk millions to possibly gain only a few more?  Why would we wager eternity with a guess, a hope, a speculation?

And yet, most around you will risk it all for just one choice, only lust, one passion...hoping that the pleasure of a moment might be worth the wager of eternity.

Why would anyone risk everything for such a small payout?  The bookies would call you a fool.

Do you realize your wagering eternity with your choices?

Do you realize that nothing in this moment is worth the billions of years it will cost you. 

I know a man who is dying at this moment.  He won't be here for more than a few more days.  He has no idea what awaits him, only a hope that he made a good choice.  He's wagered eternity on a dream, a whim, a hope.  

I visited with him months ago and was grieved to see he had placed his bet.  He had made his choice, thrown the dice and hoped he would win.  I'm grieved that he has wagered eternity on a false hope.

The price is too high to not know for sure.  There is a sure thing, a promise of a win every time.  There is a transaction we can each make that will promised the ultimate return on the investment....

"For God loved you so much that he gave his only Son that if you will trust him you will have eternal life."  John 3:16

Who wouldn't bet on a sure thing?  

It's too important to not know for sure.

A strange God

Religion is an odd thing.  Every tribe on planet earth believes in a god of some kind, a deity who demands things of them, demands worship, gifts, obedience, and sacrifice.  

Religion seems to be woven into who we are as humans. We all believe there is a God, a creator, someone, something above us. Call him a higher power, Allah or Yahweh we all know there is someone, something we are accountable to, someone we must worship.

And yet, there is one very strange God worshipped on planet earth.  A God who comes and lives among us, who tells us he loves us and then shows it by giving his very best gift to us- the life he wanted us to have.

This strange God is a lover.  He loves his creation.  He loves us and proved it.  This strange God doesn't come with demands of worship, expectations of sacrifice, ready to kill us if we don't comply, but he comes to give, to love, to cry, to be part of the world he made and he says this,

"By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him, in this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the payment for our sins."  1 John 4

What a strange God this is, a lover, a giver, a Father, who woos us, invites us into his family with a gift.....the gift of life, free of charge and all we have to do is receive it, believe in his Son and we have eternal life!

Why would the world reject this amazing God for lesser ones?  Why would we scorn the God who made us to serve petty gods who demand we earn our way into their good graces?  Why would we settle for anything less than this amazing God of love?

What a strange God this is....and I love him dearly!

Thinking.....

I know I've been missing in action.  It's a bit intentional.  I have needed some time to think, to reflect and to look at the world around me.  There is so much going on, so many voices screaming in our ears that the din can be overwhelming.

For my part in the great din I want to find a place of silence to really hear God and know his voice, see his face, sense his heart....so I've taken this time to get away.

I'll be back in a few days.  Thanks for your patience.

Experts

I've found myself reading comments on Facebook tonight.

It's quite amusing really.  

With the Internet and the ability to be anonymous everyone is suddenly an expert and, since we no longer believe in truth in our culture, the one who can bluster the most, act angry enough or overwhelm the discussion with confusion usually wins.  

Or do they?

It seems we waste a lot of time with opinions, words, rhetoric and anger that does nothing at all.  And in the end....after all is said...nothing changes.

We are a nation of experts without truth.  It's quite funny to watch as the bluster of words from someone I know nothing about is supposed to convince me they are right.

How about we start with truth, a foundation of some kind, and discuss issues from there?  Oh, wait, we can't....no one believes in absolute truth anymore.

So here we are.  A culture of experts about nothing. 

I'm sure God is smiling at how silly this all sounds as we waste hours discussing nothing at all.

Unless we start with "In the beginning God..."  nothing else will make sense.

Without God it's all just silly....but we sound like experts.

What a world!

Listen

Listen

Just for a few moments

Find a place to listen

A place of silence

a place where you 

can hear your heart beat

Find a quiet place

and listen

In that place you might

just hear

a still small voice

It's in those quiet places

when we really listen

that God can speak

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening

Quote of the day

"Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"  -Jesus

Reflections

 "I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

In this brilliant work by C.S. Lewis one of the demons quotes a man who finds himself in hell after a wasted life.  These are the words of his realization.

Profound words for our culture, for our day.  We find, if we think about it, that these words describe each of us as we rush about chasing money and success.

If you were to reflect on your life and make changes that make a difference what would those changes be?  

Life's short. It's easy to be miles down the wrong road before you realize you are not going where you wish.  

I think this is why so many completely change their lives to do what they most want to do.  But most of us will stay the course...going down the wrong road...unhappy, neither doing what we ought or what we like.

But God....

Have you ever said it?

Have you ever protested to God?

Have you ever cried out,

"BUT GOD!...."

It's a cry of protest, a call for action

It's an appeal to a higher authority

It's a cry for help.

In the Bible the phrase "but God"

is always connected to God's intervention

into the events of life to change them,

influence them, help his people,

to change the course of history.

When I read the words in the bible,

"but God..." I always stop

to see what is about to change

when God gets involved.

It appears 66 times in the bible.  

Once for each book.

God is involved in the affairs of men.

He's involved in each of our lives

In spite of what appears to be happening 

there will be a day when the events 

of life are interrupted with this staccato,

"But God...."

And your life will never be the same.

Year 10!

I just realized I am now into year 10 of this blog!  More than 3,400 posts, almost 500,000 visitors and who knows what has happened in lives because we have met here?  I know the blog format is old school now, but this still provides a vehicle for my thoughts. I hope those few who are still with me are blessed in some way by these words.

Shall we go another year?

Two mountains

Hebrews 12 talks of two mountains.

One, unapproachable.

The second, well....let me allow the passage to describe it,

No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.  You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect.  You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

 Access to this second mountain is available to anyone, it's a glorious place with angels, joy, fellowship, family, God is there, those long dead who trusted Christ are there, Jesus is there.  

It's a mountain open to all, but the only access is by faith.

Many describe the world religions as people all climbing a mountain on different paths with God at the top. A destination all, no matter what they believe, will reach.

But the bible describes two mountains.  One no one could climb and the other, the one where God resides, available only by faith.

Could it be that many are simply climbing the wrong mountain?  Trying to reach God on their own only to find he's not there?

If you're looking for God make sure you are climbing the right mountain.

And others....

Faith is an essential part of the Christian life.  We came to God by faith, we live by faith, all we have is the result of faith.  

Faith in God is at the very heart of the Christian experience.

There is a chapter in the bible that speaks exclusively of men and women who lived by faith, trusted God, made choices, built boats...all by faith.  They believed God, acted and saw the results of their faith in their lives.

But others (and this is where we struggle with the passage) lived by faith and died, lost everything, struggled, were tortured and seemed to fail.

We have a problem with that because we have adopted the belief that if we have faith good things will happen, prosperity will come, prayers will be answered, mountains will move.

But not for everyone, not all the time.  

Some will live by faith and have nothing, 

be hungry, 

struggle to live at all 

and others will lose their lives.  

All these things will happen in the lives of people of faith!  

How can this be?  

Doesn't faith do things? 

Doesn't it have good results?

Here are the words from this chapter on faith that we try to ignore,

"There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—  the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,"

These were men and women of faith and it appears their faith "didn't work!"  But faith is not a gum ball machine...put in your coin and get your prize...it's trust in God with no idea of what will happen next.

It's living with eyes on God regardless of the outcome.  

Faith is trust in God.  It's not a magic lamp I can use for my desires, but it's a decision to trust in the God who loves me no matter what happens!

So what if I'm one of the "others", those who don't see their faith "work?"  What if I trust God and lose everything?  I still win!  I'm trusting God, even if I have nothing at all, even if I'm tortured, even if I lose my life...I still win and my faith in God will take me into eternity!

Humbled

This morning a group of men from our church went to our local community outreach program to help underprivileged kids with clothes and school supplies.

The ministry we worked with had a "store" with all new clothes for the kids....new shoes, new pants, new shirts/blouses and new backpacks.  Our job was to help the families shop for two outfits, shoes and a backpack.

I watched.  I watched children excited to get new shoes, to try on new pants, to pick cute tops.  I watched little girls smiling as they chose the tops they wanted.

I felt ashamed.  Ashamed that I have so much and they have so little. Ashamed that a new shirt is nothing to me, but as I watched these children it was as if they just got the best gift ever!

I was humbled.  Humbled to realize how blessed I really am and how little I appreciate it.  I'm humbled at the great provision of a big God and my sad lack of gratitude.  

I'll never forget the excitement of one of the little 4 grade girls I helped.  She was excited!  She couldn't believe it...new shoes, new pants, tops, a backpack.  It was glorious for her. What a day she had.  

And I watched her humbled. 

Lord, thank you for all you have done.  Forgive my thankless heart. Don't let me forget the joy of that little girl grateful for so little while I grumble about so much.  

Thank you for the eyes to see what's really important through this little girl's example.

a photo...

Here's a photo I took at a recent photo walk.  I love catching these magical moments on a camera.  They are much like the work of God, amazing to see if we are watching.  Easy to miss if we aren't looking for God's art work.  It was only a moment in time, but isn't that how God works and when he does act it changes everything.