Saturday's cartoon

The captain's face

(I know I have shared parts of this story before, but as I retold it in detail to a group of men yesterday they all told me I had to write about the entire story. This story is true and I'm writing it at the request of the guys in my men's group. Thanks, guys, for your great fellowship, encouragement and partnership in the work of God.)

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A number of years ago I had the opportunity to go sailing with a good friend of mine. Ray was an oil man who had literally gone from struggling to millionaire in one day. In the 80's it happened to a number of guys, but Ray was a Christian and a friend, so we talked about our faith, God's provision and his blessings often. After his new fortune Ray bought a boat he had always wanted, it was a 38' sailboat. He had it delivered to Grand lake in eastern Oklahoma. It's a large lake and a great place to sail. There was a day one spring when we both had some time and Ray asked me to go sailing with him. I was thrilled to join him. I had never sailed before and looked forward to the experience. We met at the lake and got on the boat to get underway. Slowly we motored out of the inlet into the lake and then put up the sails. It was a great experience! I loved the sounds of the wind in the sails, the waves on the boat and the experience of sailing by wind power alone. We had a great time and a wonderful visit.

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Then it happened. Suddenly, and really without warning, a storm came up. It was a big one. 50-60 mile per hour winds and gusts, 3-4 foot waves, black clouds moving overhead. Quickly the lake cleared of other boats. Within minutes we were in a storm I can imagine the disciples experienced on the sea of Galilee when they woke Jesus and declared, "Don't you care that we are drowning?" I think I understood the fear they experienced. Our boat was leaning with the storm winds at 50 degrees or more. The waves were washing over the deck. The skies were black. The rain was intense. I WAS AFRAID! But then I turned around and looked at Ray as he steered the boat across the lake. HE WAS SMILING! I couldn't believe it. Didn't he see what I saw? Didn't he know this was bad? In my amazement I yelled through the storm, "How can you smile in this storm? Don't you see the wind and the waves?" I heard the disciples in my own voice as I said, "Don't you care that we might drown?" Ray smiled back and said, "You don't understand. I know my boat. It has a 9,000 pound keel. This boat was built for the oceans. This storm is nothing! We are fine! Relax, enjoy the ride." Suddenly, my fear subsided. I had looked at the captain's face. He knew things about our boat that I didn't. He knew we were fine. Within a few moments my fear turned to calm. Because I trusted the captain I began to enjoy the ride. Nothing had changed....the wind still blew, the rains still came, the waves still washed over the deck, but something was different....I had seen the captain's face.

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The Christian life is much like this little adventure of mine. We are often caught in the storms of life and fear for our lives, our finances, our health. This life is often overcome by a storm when we least expect it. Fears overwhelm us. Death feels close. Panic is in our voices.....but then, with fear growing, we look at Jesus and discover that he is smiling! How can he smile in this storm? Doesn't he know we are about to go down? And he replies, "You don't understand. I know this boat. I know what I have planned for you. We are fine. I'll bring you safely home. Enjoy the ride." It's funny how a glance at the face of our captain, Jesus, can change a fearful storm into an exciting adventure. A look at the captain's face makes all the difference!

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Fear of failure

One of men's greatest fears is the fear of failure. We live with the nagging fear that will fail or are a failure in our lives. It plagues most men I talk to.

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But there is a more insidious fear that is linked to this fear of failure. It's a fear that I won't succeed. The reason this is so insidious is because my definition of success is based on what someone else has done. If I could be like Joe, then I would be a success. If I could play the piano like Fred, then I would be happy. But, success is never measured by what someone else has done. It's measured by what God has designed you to do. Both success and failure are linked in this one basic concept- I'm only a success when I do what God has designed me to do and I'm only a failure if I don't. It's never measured by what anyone else has done. It's always to be measured by what God wants me to do.

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The worse thing I can do in my life is measure myself by someone else. In ministry this is always a temptation. The devil would like nothing better than for you to feel like a failure because you aren't as popular as ____________. But, God didn't design us all to be or do the same things. We are each created for a specific role, task and mission in life. It's only when I do what God designed me to do that I succeed and it's only when I don't that I fail. The measure of success and failure is intimately woven into what God has made me to be.

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Our culture has fooled us. We have believed the lie that success involves a better job, more money, a nice house, a pretty wife or good looking husband, great kids and shinny teeth. God doesn't look at any of these with pleasure in our accomplishments. All he wants to know is this- are you becoming what I made you to be? If your answer is yes then you are a success! Even if you have no money in your pocket, no hair on your head and you're 50 pounds overweight. Take another look at success and failure from God's perspective. You might find that you have been looking at this thing all wrong. You might find great joy in being just what God made you to be.

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What's most important

This morning, as I read, I came to a very familiar story in Mark 5. It's the story of a man with a real problem. Somehow he had come under the influence of demon activity and over time found himself possessed by thousands of demons. The results were completely dehumanizing. Mark writes, "a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones." The description of this man's life is most tragic. He was living like a wild animal, out of control and insane. It's obvious these demons had taken a great toll in his life.

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What I love about Jesus, as I read his interaction with men and women in the bible, is how kind and loving he is with the hurting and harassed of humanity. This is one of those people whose life was being destroyed slowly by these demons who had taken over his body. He was no longer in control! But then Jesus shows up, "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned."

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I love the picture this passage paints. This man is desperate! He needs help, but much of his life and mind is no longer in his control. With what is left of his mind he realizes that Jesus can help. Notice how Mark describes this, "When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice," Do you see it? He's in Jesus' presence, but he can't help himself, he shouts at the top of his voice. He's desperate! He needs help. Jesus isn't shaken, he isn't offended. He deals with this man's problem, chases off the demons who had taken over his life and gives him back his sanity. It's an amazing story. Now, there are the 2,000 pigs to talk about, but what I want to focus on is the end of the story and a puzzling response from those who lived in this community, "Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region."

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The part of this that has always puzzled me is the last sentence, "Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region." I've read that sentence and wondered about it but never really understood their response. Suddenly, this morning, I got it! It suddenly hit me...they have more guys like this man! Their great fear is for their stuff, their pigs, their possessions. If they let Jesus stay he will deal with the other men and women who are like this one and what then will happen to their stuff? For them, if the choice is Jesus or their pigs they chose the pigs.

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I wonder...how often have I done that? How often has the arrival of Jesus revealed my great need, what I must let go of, what I could lose if he stays and I have chosen my miserable comfort instead of Jesus. I'd rather keep my stuff than risk the loss with what Jesus might do. What's most important to me? What I have, my security, my things or Jesus? There are times when the choices scare us, but for this one man the desire for freedom and a relationship with God changed his life. His demons were gone and now all he could talk about was Jesus.

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What's most important to us? Will we turn Jesus away for fear of what he will ask us to let go of in our lives or will we willingly give him freedom to change everything so we can have him. What's most important to you?

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On being a shepherd

Knowing the God who is

Last night I caught up on news items and different blogs I visit. One that caught my attention was a blog post titled, "Why I'm not a Christian." As I read the author's description of the God he didn't believe in I thought to myself, "I don't believe in that god either!" It's fascinating to me how we "repackage" what we don't want to believe in so that any sensible person would agree with us completely.

A.W. Tozer wrote in The Knowledge of the Holy, "Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, "What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man." Our understanding of God, our beliefs about him, will determine much about us including our decisions and the course of our lives.

A man who wants nothing to do with God will describe him in such a way that it makes perfect sense why no one would want to deal with the God he denies. When you describe the God you don't believe in you are telling me much about what you do believe. Your very words tell me the theology that will guide your life. Now, you may ask, "How can an atheist have a theology?" But in fact he does. When someone who doesn't believe in God tries to describe to me that God he denies he's telling me his theology. That theology will determine the course of his life. Fascinating, isn't it, that theology affects the atheist as much as it does the theist?

As I mentioned earlier, if the God described by this atheist author was in fact the God of the bible I would be an atheist as well, but what he described was no god at all. Like the ancient Greeks he had created a god of fantasy that looked so ridiculous that only fools and children would believe in him, and so this author seems the wisest of men to deny the god he has created. But wisdom is easy when all others are described as fools.

Sadly, this author, who doesn't believe in the god he has created, is missing the God who is. I wish he could really know the God who is. His views of life, history and the crisis of man would change completely. But this author may have chosen first to be an atheist and so created the parody of god to justify his choice. I may never know. One of the leading atheists of the last generation said, "I refuse to believe in a God that I must be accountable to." For this man it was God's righteous judgement that he refused to submit to and because of that he dismissed God completely. Truthfully, the decision to deny God is rarely intellectual. Most atheists I have read make great pretense to intellectual reasons for their lack of belief, but it's much simpler than that. An atheist is created in many ways, but at the core is not information, but emotion. Something happened to that person. A prayer wasn't answered, a parent died, a tragedy happened, a desire for sin arose, whatever the reason a choice was made and an atheist was born.

I wish they could know the God who is. In the light of that knowledge, one day, every knee will bow in worship to him. I do wish this atheist author would discover the God who is. I think it would change everything for him.....to see the God who is always changes us. We are never the same again.

Monday's cartoon

Quote of the day

"There are about 200 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the four largest 'unchurched' nations in the world." -John Piper, Author and pastor

Focus

Dogs get it! They understand focus. They know what's important and invest all of their effort and attention into what is important to them. They know how to focus! If our dog could speak, and thankfully he can't, he would say, "throw the ball! throw the ball! throw the ball! throw the ball!" He is focused!

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Most people I know have lost the ability to focus. We are running in a hundred directions all at the same time. We "multi-task". Dogs would laugh at us for our inability to focus. So, what is most important to you? What is there in your life that has your unswerving focus and attention?

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The apostle Paul had one focus in his life. If you asked he could tell you what his focus was without a moment's hesitation. Here's Paul's focus,

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Phil. 3:7-11 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

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What was Paul's focus? He wanted to know Christ. You could ask him, "What's most important to you, Paul?" His response would always be the same, "I want to know Christ!" He had his eye on the ball. He was a man focused on one thing and from that focus the world around him was changed because the thing he wanted most he wanted for everyone else as well. His passion became a passion for everyone else to have what he had. The world was changed by one man who was focused.

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So, if someone asks, "what's most important to you? what are you focused on?" what would you say?

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The primary relationship

I have a very strange job. Every day I deal with people and their relationships with God. When a person's relationship with God isn't working then none of their other relationships work either. In fact, the best warning sign that something is wrong with you and God is when you are having problems with the people around you. If you are not doing well with God then you cannot do well with people either. It's as if God made us to only work as intended when we are in right relationship with him. When that relationship is broken then all of our relationships will be broken as well.

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The story that comes to my mind as I think about this is C.S. Lewis' work, The Great Divorce. It's a small book that's not about divorce at all, but is about a bus ride from hell to heaven for a one day excursion to see if the residents of hell would like to move to heaven. What's fascinating to me is to read as C.S. Lewis rightly describes someone who is not in relationship with God. These people are angry, miserable and quarrelsome with anyone around them. Lewis describes hell as an ever growing place where people move farther and farther out to get away from one another and ultimately isolate themselves completely. It's a wonderful fiction describing the problem of man as what it is at the core- a problem with God. If we don't cultivate the primary relationship, our relationship with God, then none of the relationships of our life will work as intended.

It's really pretty simple...

It's really pretty simple....it's not really that hard. We have made it very hard to do and almost impossible to understand, but it wasn't meant to be. What am I talking about? I'm talking about being a Christian. It's really pretty simple....it's a living and active relationship with God. That's it. It's not more than that and it's never less, but, like the religious people we are, we write books, list rules, give lectures, talk about the do's and don'ts of this thing called Christian. But it's really pretty simple...it's a relationship. The next and only question is this...how do I have a relationship with someone I can't see or hear? How do I know how he feels when I never see his face? What does he expect of me? Relationships are something that people have with one another. First, you need to know that God is a person in the original definition of the word. He has emotion, mind, will. He made us to be like him. He built us for relationship. He made us to be able to relate to him. It's really pretty simple....talk to him. Listen to him when he talks to you. Spend time with him, just like you would with someone you want to know. A relationship demands relating. My personal struggle with all of this is being quiet and spending time with God. I'm a doer. I want to accomplish something so to stop for a moment and be with him is my hardest task, but I will never get to know him unless I do. We want to make a list. God wants to hang out. We want to know what he expects. God wants us to know his heart...that will direct our actions better than any list. We want rules. God wants relationship. You see, God's not as interested in what you do as he is in who you are....because who you are will determine what you do. Who you are and who you become is governed largely by who you hang out with. God wants you to hang out with him. It's really pretty simple.

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(Why the dog? Because I like the picture....)

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post script- I must tell you that this is one of my greatest struggles...a relationship with God. It's the most important thing in my life, and yet it's often the most difficult. It's something that I'm still working on.....

Reflections

Today Joye and I celebrate 36 years of marriage. It's gone by so fast. As I look back on our lives together it seems like a whirlwind of living, but doing life together has made the years much easier than if we had done them alone.

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Today we are watching 4 of our grand kids for the day. We are doing it together so I expect it to be a fun day. No fancy dinner out...at least we haven't decided on a place to go tonight...for now the focus is on 4 wonderful kids.

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Often, for me at least, the best times have been just being together. It's been fun to see God work in our lives as we live them together. I think we are both different for the better because of the influence of the other. Joye has chipped off some of my hard edges and I think I have influenced her as well. We are different people because of being together. I think this is part of what God uses to mold us into the image of Christ...he uses our mates. I have been blessed. Many men are not so lucky, but I have a wonderful wife, partner and friend to navigate life with. I look forward to what God has for us in the years ahead. It has been an exciting ride. I look forward to what's over the next hill because we will discover it together.

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Monday's cartoon

I'm so glad that God understands me....even when I don't have the right words to tell him how I'm feeling. There are times when I have prayed without any words at all and I know that something transpired between me and God. It really helps to have a God who knows what I need even before I pray.

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Under construction or available to use?

Over the years I have often used the illustration of a potter making a pot to describe God's work in our lives, but this morning, as I thought about it, I suddenly realized I have been thinking about it wrong. We are not people under construction. In fact that very illustration has often given me an excuse for my bad behavior. We are people fully constructed and now must choose if we will be available for God to use us or not. Here are Paul's words and then a couple of observations,

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2 Timothy 2:20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

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It suddenly struck me that construction was completed when I trusted Christ as my savior. The rest of my life is growing into who God has made me and being available for him to use me...a vessel for noble purposes. All these years I have envisioned my life as one "under construction." In fact, that's what I was taught by others. With that picture in mind it's easy to make the excuse to do nothing because I'm not ready, or God's still working on me, or it's not time yet....all excuses built on the idea that being under construction gave me permission to do nothing at all. Often that was my response....because I'm not ready yet, God's not finished with making me.

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But, in reading 2 Corinthians and Timothy these last few days I suddenly realized that construction was completed when I trusted him. Now life is simply a series of choices that demand an answer to this question, "Will I be available for him to use me or not?" If I'm already made to be what God made me, already indwelt by the Holy Spirit, already given gifts to use...and all of that is true...then my only question is this, Am I available or not? It's funny how simple this is when you sort through all the bad thinking. Or should I say, when I sort through all of my bad thinking.

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So, today, if you have trusted Christ as your savior the question is simply- As one of his finished masterpieces, a child of God fully equipped, complete and gifted to serve him, are you available for his use?

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Saturday's cartoon