A good post to read

My friend James has written a great post. I invite you to stop by his blog and read his recent post.

thank you

For all of you who have served this country through military service of any kind, thank you. It's been your sacrifice that has made this country a free and safe place. Even today men and women are serving and dying for this country. Thank you all!

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I love the regular trips many in our area take to the airport to greet the troops returning from Iraq and other places. They cheer them home, shake their hands and tell them thank you. So on behalf of my family I want to say thanks for all that you have done to make this country a safe place to live.

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It's a special day for me in another way, it's my birthday. Veteran's day parades have always been special to me because as a small child my dad would take me to the veteran's day parades and tell me, "son, they are marching to celebrate your birthday." For a while I believed him, and it made me feel very special. Now I know the special ones were marching by.

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I'm blessed to have the freedom I enjoy, but I know it was built on the lives of millions of men and women who were willing to die to keep it for us. We are blessed indeed.

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Thank you all!

Saturday's cartoon

Some days are like that

It's a matter of perspective

I deal with people all the time. That's my "job." Talking to them, counseling them, caring for them, listening to them. What I have found is that the way we view our lives and situations is a matter of perspective. I talk to happy people who have had a very difficult life, and others who are miserable who have had very easy lives.

Why the difference? I'm convinced from all the years of dealing with people that it is, in fact, a personal choice of how we want to view our lives. It's a matter of perspective. Will I view my life through my problems, my woes, my difficulties or will I look for the good in life, and be the optimist? One of the people I admire most in life is my wife. She has had some really bad things happen in her life, but she has chosen to look for the good, be positive, forgive, make the best of whatever comes her way.

Then there are those people who insist that the world is against them. I think the difference is all a matter of perspective. How will you view things? It's your choice. That's the difference I see in older people...as soon as you meet them you can tell what they chose....it's now part of their face. Did they choose to finish well or finish poorly? You know the answer as soon as you meet them. What's amazing to me is that the people who are the happiest usually did not have an easy life, but they made a choice...they packaged the situations of their life in light of knowing that God was in charge and loved them.

How you view your life is revealed best by the adjectives you use. Those little defining words that tell us all your perspective. They are the defining words that reveal your perspective on life...is God good or not? From what I read in the bible our perspective on life is a choice. How will we package what is happening to us? How will we view God? How will we evaluate our experiences?

Listen for your adjectives. It will tell you a lot about how you view God. Is your life out of control or is God in charge? It's all about your understanding and belief about God and the world you live in. It's the difference between seeing a bottle of water or seeing diet water....it's a matter of perspective. So, listen for your adjectives today, and tell me what you find out about yourself.

Why does life have to be so hard?

I had coffee with a friend this morning. It was an interesting visit. In the course of the time together he asked, "Why does life have to be so hard?"

It was a sincere question based on his life and marriage. He and his wife have really had a tough time. He and I have spent countless hours over coffee talking and praying over his life and marriage.

Today, without thinking, I answered his question and responded, "Because some people insist on it."

We just sat there and looked at each other for a bit....and then it hit us both....that's true! There are times that life is hard because some people insist on it. They are miserable and want to make sure you are too. I have heard the expression "misery loves company," but I think this is more accurate, "misery creates company." When we are miserable no one is going to get away with a smile in our presence. If I'm suffering then everyone around me will join me or else!

I don't have a scripture for this, it's just an observation that I wanted to share with you. As I think about it I'm finding it is indeed true- why does life have to be so hard? Because some people insist on it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Eternity Practice

I have loved the passage in Revelation this song comes from for a long time. I am so excited to see this passage in Revelation 5:12-13 put to music. This is the praise every creature in heaven and earth will give to God and Jesus, the Lamb. Every creature....isn't that amazing? Those who believe in him of course, but even those who don't believe will worship him. Worthy is the Lamb....what a statement. If you have time today read Revelation 5 and look at the picture painted that sets the stage for this praise. It's the story of an event yet to happen, but I look forward to the day when we will be able to sing this praise in God's presence. Eternity practice? Yes indeed!

Celebrating holidays

Today, November 5th, is a holiday in Iran. It's "Death to America" Day.

I read the news clip on Al Jazeera and it made me stop for a moment. Being one of those who isn't in favor of such a holiday (I hope you understand my opposition to it) I wonder how a whole culture could come to such a place that they would celebrate the death and demise of another country and its people.

And, how would you celebrate such a day? Do you greet one another on this day with "Hello, death to America"? It's such an odd thing to celebrate. Do they exchange "Death to America" gifts? Do they say, "Happy Death to America Day!" It's just seems like a very strange and sad holiday to me.

So, let me counter this holiday with the creation of one of my own. On a day when others celebrate our demise I am going to pray for their salvation. Since holidays are so easy to establish I officially designate November 5th as "Pray for Iran" Day. From this day forward let it be so.

Happy "Pray for Iran" day!

20 minute sermons

It was my first church. I was a new pastor just getting started when on a Sunday morning an older gentleman came up to me. He said, "Pastor, I know you are new, so I wanted to tell you that I only come to church because my wife makes me. I don't like church, but in fairness to you I will give you 20 minutes to preach, then I'm going to sleep and I snore." Sure enough, he did! And the worse part- his wife made them sit on the front row!

Quickly I had to make some decisions. Try to preach through the snoring, or give a 20 minute sermon. I realized that I didn't have to preach everything in one week, they would be back next week. So this old gentleman helped me with a pastoral discipline I couldn't have gotten anywhere else...I learned to preach a sermon in 20 minutes. There were days that it was a race between he and I, but I made the adjustments, and learned a lot.

So, what's the point? I am preaching next Sunday at another church for a young pastor I have been mentoring. He calls me the "bishop of Flower Mound." We met this week to discuss the general topics, and then I asked, "how long do I have to speak?" He replied, "20 minutes." And I just smiled.....thanks to an old gentleman years ago who didn't want to be in church I can do a 20 minute sermon.

Monday's cartoon

Spending time in the ministry and also in the business world has helped me greatly. I understand how busy life is. It's amazing to me how hectic we have become. In the midst of all of the busyness one thing has been lost- time in God's word. May I venture to say that most of the Christ followers I talk to do not spend time in God's word daily. I am convinced that keeping Christians too busy to read God's word is the greatest victory the enemy has achieved in our time. The result? Most Christians you meet look just like the world because they have not invested time in God's word to let it transform them into the image of Christ, so we live and look just like the world around us. If you find yourself in this situation don't feel guilty and just go on with life, make some changes....it's worth the investment.

Quote of the day

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. -C. S. Lewis

Looking back

King David did it often- he would look back on his life. It's a wise thing to do at times....to stop and look back at what God has done. I have always been surprised to find that I see his work most clearly in the rear view mirror. Often, as I live in real time, it's hard to see what God is doing. It's when I look back at my life that I see his hand, his direction, his smile, his work.

David usually stopped to look back when he was discouraged, when it looked like his life was over he would stop and reflect on what God had done and know that the God who had cared for him all his life would do it again. I have to do this often....stop and reflect on what God has done in my life. It helps me when I'm down, defeated, or discouraged to reflect on what God has done in my life already. God has cared for me my whole life why would he stop now? With a moment of looking backward I can go forward. Looking back is a lesson David taught us.....use it when you find yourself discouraged, defeated and ready to give up. Here's one of David's times of reflection to encourage you-

Psalm 42:1 For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
Psalm 42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
Psalm 42:4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
Psalm 42:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.
Psalm 42:6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Psalm 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
Psalm 42:8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:9 I will say to God my rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"
Psalm 42:10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
Psalm 42:11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Sorry, but this is just funny.....

A taste of heaven

We have a new coffee shop that just opened less than a mile from the church, it's call Texas Roast. What's so great about this place is they roast the beans on location! The coffee is wonderful. If necessary I will buy enough coffee by myself to keep this place open. If you are near the area I would encourage you to stop by and try their coffee. You won't find anything better this side of heaven.

Remembering miracles, part 2

It's been almost eight years now. It seems like such a long time ago. My wife went in for surgery to correct some problems she was having. It was an easy surgery, most women who have it are out of the hospital in a day or two, but that was not to be.

The surgery seemed to go well, and after recovery the hospital moved Joye to a regular room. I stayed with her, not wanting to leave until she was awake and responding, but she didn't. She was having problems and I couldn't get a nurse to take the problems seriously. I started calling the nurses station at about 6pm to ask for help. They would come down, tell me all was well and that she was just resting, but I didn't think things were going right. I kept calling, and actually went down to the station to tell them something was wrong....come check her....call a doctor....do something.

Then, finally, at about 8pm they checked her blood pressure for the first time. It was 50 over 30. She was dying! The nurse quickly called down to the intensive care unit and told them we were coming. We literally took Joye, bed and all, and headed for I.C.U. to save her life. Now they are worried, now they are listening to me...but was it too late?

Doctors and nurses came from everywhere, and none of them looked good. This was serious. Joye had lost most of her blood, and they were scrambling to find out what was wrong, and what to do. The room was full of doctors working to keep my sweet wife alive. Joye tells me she knew what was going on, but couldn't do anything about it. She said she just prayed, "Lord if this is it, there's nothing I can do, I'm ready."

Within minutes they decide to go back to surgery, but first they gave her several units of blood. She received 6 units of blood in the next few days to replace what she had lost. Quickly the surgeon is called in, it's midnight, and they head back to surgery. So there I sit, in the waiting room at 2am with another of our pastors, Neil, waiting to see if my wife would survive. It was an emotionally charged night. I will never forget those early morning hours.

I literally had to think about the possibility of seeing a new day without my wife! This was supposed to be an easy surgery, why did this happen? Why did it happen to us?

They told me that she was bleeding internally. She had more than 1,200cc of blood in her abdomen from the internal bleeding. I still don't know what really went on...who was at fault, what really went wrong, why she was bleeding, but by early morning they had stabilized her, and she was back in I.C.U.

She spent a week in I.C.U. before they moved her to a regular room. Slowly, she recovered. It literally took several years for her to get her strength back. Over the last 8 years Joye has almost fully recovered from these surgeries. It takes a long time to come back from a near death experience.

The miracle? In my mind there are a number of them- One, that I stayed with her and knew enough to demand help. Two, although she lost so much blood they were able to repair the damage and bring her back from the brink of death. And three, that God dealt with me during those early morning hours to prepare my heart for the loss of my wife.

It's good to look back at difficult times in our lives and see God work. It's good to see God bless my by letting me keep my wife for a few more years. It's good to know that God does work all things out for our good. It's good to have a good God who loves us.

But here's the rub- there are others who have gone through what we did and lost their loved one. They might read this and think that God didn't love them, that they didn't have enough faith, that God is punishing them. Nothing could be further from the truth! I will tell you that whether my wife lived or died God still loved me. He still cared about us. He still heard my prayers.

For me the difficulty is explaining the "why" of any of this. It is a question we ask....why did this happen? Why did God let my wife die? Why didn't he answer my prayers? Why did you get to keep your loved one and I didn't? I can't answer those questions, but I can tell you that God loves each of us equally. The whole of our lives, if we trust Christ as our savior, is overseen by the gracious, loving hand of God.

So, today I just wanted to take a moment to share one of God's great miracles in my life....and for my sweet wife it gave her the opportunity to be a grandma. What a difference she has made in the lives of those little children! Today I just want to remember a miracle that has rippled throughout the lives of those we know for more than 8 years now.