It's All About God

I find myself at curious odds of thought this morning.  I feel like the more I read the Bible the more I see that life isn’t really about us.  It’s about God.  He is the only life and He is the only love.  Yet, He has continued in all of time as we know it to participate in the lives of people, to include having the Scriptures written.  It almost seems contradictory.

While I am alive physically, I have no control over anything outside of the physical actions I take and the words I say.  And there is no guarantee that these will affect anything at all.  At best, I can control what I eat and the exercise I do to have some effect on my physical condition, but I can’t control not getting cancer as I’ve seen the most fit people I know get this awful disease.  I can also deliberately control what I see and hear and make efforts to have a positive and excited attitude.  However, each of these efforts will utterly fail to change much of anything even if all my heart is in it.  Ultimately, I am only myself and I really have no control to effect much.

People die every day and babies are born.  I have no control.

The weather is cold and then it is warm.  I have no control.

The leaves fall and come back in spring.  I have no control.

The sun sets and rises again.  I have no control.

He controls who dies and who is born.

He controls the weather, cold or warm.

He controls the seasons, spring to fall.

He controls the universe, sun and all.

The when, the where, the how and the why.

It’s all about God because He is life.

The only difference that has ever existed is God Himself.  There are lives that have no God.  There are lives that know of God.  There are lives that know God, but don’t want to know more.  There are lives that know God, but they also know the world.  There are lives that want to know God more and they follow and seek Him wherever they can.  Everyone is one of these or somewhere in between.  It is really about God. 

Everything or everyone who promotes our knowledge and relationship with God is important.  There is life and real love in those things and people.  Everything that turns us away or whoever pulls us away from knowledge and relationship with God is our ministry.  God wants to be available where He is rejected until the last moment passes and the choice can no longer be made.   Do we find it confusing that Jesus said to love our enemies?  Or to forgive those who don’t ask, don’t deserve it, and who have hurt us so deeply we don’t know if we can heal?  It is necessary so that they have as many moments as possible to choose God.  It’s all about God. 

He wants to show everyone in as many ways possible at all times available using everything created and anyone who is willing that He exists and is the one true living God.  This is life and this is love.

Never Dead

He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "Sovereign LORD, you alone know." – Ezekiel 37:3

Have you ever wondered if your bones could live again?  I know it’s an odd question.  I have been in times when I just felt old and nearly dead.  I’m talking about when I was just so tired, my spirit was crushed, there was an attack on every side and the attack was physical, mental, and spiritual.  There was no help and those you thought you could always rely on were a part of the attack.  It seems as though I was just sleep-walking through the days as everything pounced upon me, fitfully sleeping although exhausted, and then doing it over again.  Time was moving as each day passed but I was just beat down, existing day-to-day.  I wondered if my bones would ever live again. 

The Lord asked Ezekiel if those dead bones could live and Ezekiel answered that only the Lord knew.  The Lord then tells Ezekiel to prophesy for those bones to come together and have life and he does and they do.  The Lord of life wants everything to live.  Especially those whom are the jewels of His Creation, which is you and me.  “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live!” (v9)  The Lord desires that we be alive and living and it is He and He alone that provides that life.  “I am going to open your grave and bring you from it … I will put My Spirit in you and you will live.” (v13-14)

In this current time there is this push to live your life and do what you need to do to make your life fulfilled.  So many phrases such as “you only live once” (YOLO) are said and re-said to prompt this doing what you think makes you alive.  Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that it is all vanity.  Every effort we make to fulfill our live without God is in vain.  Here, in this valley of dry bones with Ezekiel, God shows us that it is only Him that builds life and it is only His Spirit that provides life.  Every effort we partake to live a complete life without an invitation to God to participate, to lead, and to infuse in Spirit only leads to death, and we were never intended to just exist wondering if we could be alive.

Deuteronomy 30:20 says “The Lord is your life”.  David wrote in Psalms 27:1 “The Lord is the stronghold of my life.”  “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro 6:23)

The Lord made a new army out of those dry bones. In each of us He makes a new life filled with His own Spirit.  “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17)  Wherever the Lord is, there is life.  As Christians who hold the very Spirit of God in our hearts, we are never dead.  We are eternally alive and it is God and God alone that provides our life.

Never Not Loved

While in college, I had learned to drink coffee to stay awake late at night for those all-nighter studying times (usually the result of not studying enough daily).  A consequence of that was learning to drink coffee in the morning after waking up (usually tired).  Upon one morning, I woke up early, got a cup of coffee and stepped outside my apartment on the 2^nd floor and sat on the steps.  From there I could see the sunrise. 

As the sun was clearing the trees and its warmth covered me in the brisk fall I could tell the Spirit was knocking on my door.  I breathed a silent prayer and God leaned in upon me and said, “What the hell are you doing?”  Okay, maybe He didn’t use a curse word, but it was just as bold and powerful.  He made an obvious call to me to realize that He should have a dominant place in my agenda and decision-making.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

Even when I was living within my own rules and running my own life and doing what I wanted to do, God refused to let go of me.  And so it is with everyone called by His name.  He will never stop pursuing you.  Even now, wherever you are in your daily/weekly walk with God, He pursues you and wants to have a closer relationship.  

My own experience in the relationships with my children is that sometimes you have to back away from them so the option for a close relationship can exist at another time, when they are ready.  My friend Justin said sometimes raising older teens it is like watching them through a window.  You get to see what they are doing, but you are not allowed to help them UNTIL they open the window.  If you break the window in, they will build a wall over it.  I think there are times when God backs away and simply waits for us to open that window.  But it is important for us to know that He is always there and ready with His arms extended and hands open. (This certainly doesn’t apply for all situations, sometimes the room has to be stormed and we need our butt’s kicked so we’ll see God more clearly.)

In Jeremiah 31:3, God says “I have loved you with an everlasting love”.  Jack Winter described everlasting as “There was never a time in all of eternity when we were not loved by God.”  Think about that for a second, there was never, there is never, and there never shall be a time when God doesn’t love you.  Paul prayed fervently for the Ephesians in 3:17-19, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

No matter what decisions you’ve made today, this past week, this past year or years ago, God pursues you because He loves you.  I hope all of us are able to rest in that comfort of that reality today and every day.

Never Lonely or Rejected

I slept fitfully between 3:45 and 5:45 this morning.  Mainly because the cat would jump on the bed, walk over my legs, curl up next to Julie for a while, then jump off the bed and make a bunch of licking noises for a while, then jump back on the bed, etc.  This cycle repeated at least three times and maybe four in that two hours.  Finally after trying to fall asleep, then waking up, then falling asleep, then waking up, I just got up somewhat frustrated. 

After being awake and getting prepared for the day, I realized I was frustrated for no reason and just figured God was wanting me to get up.  Once I was ready and opened the front door for the cat to go outside I realized I should have gotten up earlier.  I really love early mornings.  It’s peaceful and it’s the promise of a new day.  All things are new again.

For some reason the line “Ah look at all the lonely people” from the song Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles was playing over and over in my mind.  I figure God was trying to tell me that there are a lot of people waking up without a normally sweet loving cat – lonely.  There are a lot of people waking up without a dog that loves people and can’t wait to see them every time they come home or wake up – lonely.  There are a lot of people that don’t have their children at home sleeping peacefully – lonely.  There are a lot of people that don’t have a husband or wife next to them in their bed at night – lonely.  And there are a lot of people that do not know that the Creator of the universe loves them deeply and only wants to fill their wellspring of life and complete them forever – lonely forever.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always”.  Anyone who knows Jesus is never alone.  1 Peter 5:7 says for us to “cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”  Proverbs 18:24 says that “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  In John 15:15 Jesus said “you are My friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”  We are friends of the Son of God, our Savior, and He is with us always.  We can cast all our concerns, worries, and fears upon Him.  He can handle them. 

He will never reject us.  Psalm 27:10 says that “though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”  The Lord will always accept us because of who He is, 1 Samuel 12:22 tells us “for the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own.”  Yes, the Lord was PLEASED to make you His son or daughter and for His name’s sake, He will not reject you, ever.  Finally, Paul pleads in Romans 8:31b-32, 35a, 37-38, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers.”

We, those who are called Christian, are never lonely.  We need only to believe that God will fulfil every promise He made.  He is faithful.  In Revelation 21:5 Jesus says, “Behold, I make all things new!”  Every early morning, every sunrise, and our hearts can be made new.  He is faithful. 

Dear Lord, thank you for this new day and for every new day that can be lived with You.  Help me to appreciate every annoying thing in my life and see it as the blessing it really is.  Help me to get out of the way and for your Spirit to lead me in communion, apart from every knowing a single lonely moment.  Thank you for never rejecting me.  Through Christ I pray, Amen.

Everlasting Rock

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock. – Isaiah 26:4

Last week I was in Washington D.C. working on a project at the Smithsonian Museums.  I had reserved Wednesday to go to Aberdeen Proving Grounds to sit and listen to presentations on aspects of a tactical microgrid from consortium members of which, my company is a member.  However, as I reviewed the Agenda on Tuesday night, I realize that there is an hour set aside for a portion that I was involved.  I immediately called the head of this work effort and asked if I was expected to present.  He called the consortium leader who confirmed yes. 

There it is, Tuesday night and by Wednesday I have to have a presentation put together and then give a presentation intended to last an hour to a group of about 30 people who are experts in their field.  Also, it takes about two hours with traffic to get to Aberdeen so my time is ticking and its ticking fast.  It’s going to be a long night and a long day.

So, what to do?  You guessed it.  Start praying and call Julie and ask her to pray for me.  Got the presentation materials put together.  Made the drive safely and on time.  Gave the presentation and filled the hour with no direct opposition to our methods or conclusions, even though they directly contradicted some of what the experts were doing.

Only God.  Only God delivers us from certain adversaries.  Only God delivers us from our own internal uncertainties and failures.  Only God delivers us to do the impossible. 

Lion's Den

³ Trust in the Lord and do good.  Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.

⁵ Commit everything you do to the Lord.   Trust him, and He will help you.
⁶ He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

– Psalms 37:3-7

About 2 ½ weeks ago, I was having to go to the FSU Stadium and coordinate the power turnover from a temporary 5kV system to the new 5kV system.  This work included programming relays and verifying the testing of the new equipment prior to making it live.  It was exhausting, but mainly because the general contractor had created an adversarial relationship with everyone against everyone.  There was no arm-in-arm we’re going to get this done comradery.  It was the worst I have ever seen. 

I sat in a Panera Bread on that Tuesday about to go to the job site.  I told Julie it was like going into the lion’s den and I fully expected a great fight and possibly being torn to pieces.  Anything was possible.  Julie prayed for me (this is a common theme in my life, without her prayers I’d be nothing). 

When I told her that, my thoughts wandered to what it must have been like for Daniel being put into the lion’s den.  How must he have felt?  He had to be scared for his life, didn’t he?  It is a natural response even when we try to overcome it with faith.  Our physical body has an instinct of survival and doesn’t want to die.  An example is the fear of heights which is a natural reaction we have when we are born.  I have to believe it would be natural for him to be physically afraid of the ferociousness of how the lions would eat him, that pain and terror, even if he wasn’t afraid to die and trusting faithfully in God for his eternal future. 

I also wonder if he had the temptation to be angry.  He had done nothing but be faithful to God and yet here he was about to be put into a lion’s den.  Those who lie and blasphemy against the one true living God would watch as the lion’s destroyed him, God’s witness.  Why would God allow those who oppose Him succeed?  Yes, I can see how he could be angry and how that would be a tremendous conflict inside his heart as he wrestled with God’s authority over all life and circumstance, including his. 

Then, moment-by-moment, he stood silently in the lion’s den expecting the lion’s to wake up at any time.  I can only imagine the beads of sweat and stillness of breath as he stood there, the heightened senses listening carefully, looking intently, the quickly beating heartbeat.  More moments pass, then minutes, then hours.  Maybe just maybe, they won’t strike.  Does he dare hope?  More hours into the dark of night.  Is God here?  Is His hand on the lions? 

Finally, he is removed from the lion’s den.  He is alive with no injuries.  In fact, except for his own anxiety, it was a comfortable night.  God walked before Him, all around Him, and with Him in what certainly was by all human eyes, ears, and logic, a certain death. 

I experienced a similar outcome.  Once there, everyone worked diligently and respectfully to get the job done.  Problems were encountered and overcome.  There were no dedicated enemies.  God made a way to deliver me.  Why don’t I always know that He will do that?  Why do I ever walk in doubt?

Emotions

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6

I recently had to give a message to a group of men (50 or so).  The message had to last around 20 to 22 minutes.  For some reason, every time I would rehearse this I would get emotional.  A little emotion is a good thing as it adds to the sincerity of the speaker and the realness of the topic, but too much and it is very cumbersome to listen too.  In fact, too much emotion can create doubts about the sincerity or even sanity of the speaker, at least for men. 

It was very difficult and as the days got closer and closer I got more anxious and more anxious.  I was confident that God wanted me to give the message, but I couldn’t get past the emotions.  In fact, I couldn’t even figure out where they were coming from or why.  Maybe I need to have my testosterone levels checked.  It was very frustrating.  But, I yielded to prayer.  I really saw no way out of how to do this and not look like a babbling fool without simply staring down at my notes and reading them.  Maybe then I could at least complete the task.  I know how ineffective that is, but at this point I was in survival mode.  I prayed over and over for God to deliver me, although I saw no way through it.  Julie was praying for me and she even drove for an hour and 20 minutes alone so she could pray with me before.  She said she prayed the whole way and the drive seemed like it was 10 minutes.

All of this because I am too emotional?  Never have I ever had such a problem.  Emotions have always been something you crush or the world of men will crush you.  I learned early that if you want to be ridiculed and be seen as weak, show emotions.  This is necessary at least somewhat in the world of business as emotions can’t drive reasonable decisions, in fact, they often contradict the right decision.  Therefore, the ability to see through them is very important.  HOWEVER, I have also learned that too much suppression of emotion takes away the enjoyment of life.  Moments requires openness to and the expression of deep felt emotion for them to be everlasting and precious. 

It is very difficult to trust emotions when you have been incredibly careful keeping them caged as though they were a ferocious tiger ready to pounce and devour you.  Yet, here I was, goofily trying to control emotions, a result of my making efforts to allow emotions to exert themselves towards others in my life so moments can be so much more special and life changing.  The tiger was going to eat me alive.  Only God would be able to step in and save me.

And that is exactly what He did.  I was prayed up and ready to go, my wife standing nearby supporting me, and I had no idea what was going to happen.  A real life roller-coaster.  God delivered that message.  I had few emotional moments, nothing whatsoever embarrassing, but enough to make it real.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”, this includes that part that has emotions, “and lean not on your own understanding.”  God made us this way for a reason, I pray I can continue to grow into all of who He intentionally created.

31 Years

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

I've been told I have very low self-awareness by people who are trained in the science of psychobabble.  They're probably correct because I still picture myself as a young, connected, and in shape, yet strenuous physical activity is becoming more and more difficult (Ok, the impossibility of paddle boarding in the surf at Waikiki humbled me greatly!) and recovery is measured in days to weeks.  So it is with great surprise that I awake today and am confronted with my thirty first anniversary.  THIRTY ONE years.  How did I suddenly get so old.  More importantly who is it that puts up with me for so long and how does she do it?
Clearly God has anointed and blessed our marriage.  Without Him, I'm sure I would have screwed this up years ago.  I'm only just beginning to learn how to agape and yet Reja has endured.  What a Saint!
I'm clearly convinced that God created Reja just as uniquely for me as He created Eve for Adam.  What He joined, He sufficiently graced so that today we enjoy the fruit of what He has done way beyond our own deservedness.  I'm thankful that when God knit me together, he already had Reja in mind.  I don't look upon today with pride as I am still not the husband Reja deserves, but I do look upon today with deep appreciation and admiration at what He created in her and what He has done to see us to today.  Happy 31st Reja!  I love you!

Anger

Eph 4:26a  And "don't sin by letting anger control you."

In this election season, I find much on social media to get angry about.  I'm angry that some of the candidates have very questionable records and character, but are not held accountable and even supported by the electorate.  I'm angry that the election and poll results show a clearly divided nation on fundamental issues of values and character.  I'm angry that the media seems clearly biased.  I'm angry about the condescending and judgmental lectures by youngsters on who I should be for or against.  I'm angry about the choices I have in candidates.  I long to debate, but I find myself having great difficulty choosing a champion to back and wax enthusiastic about and that makes me angry!  You all know I have no patience, so to sit on the sidelines of an important issue or worse, watch people misuse scripture or Christian beliefs to justify their position makes me angry! 
I've wanted on numerous occasions to sit down and respond to postings or opine about issues of character, yet I'm mindful that social media is not a good forum for debate or accountability.  Were I to respond to posts, it wouldn't solve anything, but instead fan the flames of division.  Since when did we become so sensitive that we think everything is a personal indictment rather than and indictment of issues, approaches, or someone else's character?  It seems we've become so self-centered we can't accept someone who disagrees with us and we choose instead to sacrifice relationships rather than agree to disagree.  So, I sit and seethe or even "unfollow" a few who just irritate me to no end. 
I'm mindful that while I continue to pray about the election and our nation, I need not contribute to its division in social media.  We seem to have lost our ability to really listen to others, myself chief among us, and debate has instead become a contest which simply must be won at any cost.  In fact, I overheard Kerianne discussing the TV show "Downton Abby" the other day and remarked at how civil the debates were "back in the day." 
So, although dissatisfying and maddening, I think it best for me to simply hold my social media tongue lest I become a stumbling block particularly to younger generations.  Although angry, I think it best to look for opportunities to join in face-to-face dialogue where I can make it clear that the dialogue is about a candidate or issues, not the person with whom I'm engaged in debate.  Holding my tongue is hard stuff (and that makes me angry)!

The Power of God

I’ve struggled for some time in my Christian walk.  Mostly over the power God.  I remember walking through Haiti on my first trip wondering why, as a supposedly saved person with the Holy Spirit inside of him, couldn’t walk over and heal them.  The land was as close to the times of the Disciples as I think I’ll ever see.  It has bothered me ever since. 

What am I lacking?  It has to be faith, right?  I can testify to God’s answering some of my prayers, but sometimes, it just feels like a crap shoot.  Will He answer this one or that one?  Why am I so off in my prayers if He only answers a few?  If I was closer to Him then I’d have to believe my prayers would be exactly what He would pray and it would be done, or He would reveal His will and I’d know why it wasn’t being done.  I would do that for my own children and my love for them is imperfect.  So, what is the deal?

To top it off, I read this text in 2 Timothy and it scared me as to what kind of person I might really be.  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. – 2 Timothy 3:1-5

Am I one of those?  Do I have a form of godliness but deny its power?  Very scary stuff if such a person is also all the things described above it.  My heart has been very broken because it knows that it is indeed such a person, except for the intentional intervention of God, my Father, the only father who has ever loved me.

So, where is His power then?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. – Romans 1:16

The power of God is in the gospel.  What is the gospel?

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

So, the power of God is God Himself, who is love, for “the world”.  Well, of course the power of God is God Himself.  I think it is obvious that only the Creator of all that is, is the power.  But the application of His power is towards people.  This is very important.  We can never live in His power unless we are intentionally and purposefully loving people.  All of them. 

Now I know why I haven’t lived in His power.  I love some of them.  I know I don’t love all of them.  For every person I know or meet, I have to ask myself a few questions.  “Do I love them?”  If not really, then I need to make a conscious choice to love them.  Next, “Why do I love them?”  Is it for what they can do for me, or what they do for me, or is it simply because God wants them to be loved.  It must be the latter or my heart will never show them true love.  And without that true love, His power cannot be made manifest.  Only true sincere love changes people – and that type of love is of God and is the power of God.

If I ever want to walk the Earth as a true disciple and even remotely have the possibility of the power of God being transmitted through me, it will have to come through God’s intense love being given to others.  Then, miracles will happen and people’s lives will be changed.

Dear Lord, help me to love the people You created with the love that You love them.  I know I am incapable of such a task!  Lord, change my heart so my only concern is loving others the way You love them and not being fearful of how they will hurt me, or use me, or manipulate me.  I pray that Your power will infuse their heart and change their life so they might see You and be healed forever.  Through the Christ I pray, Amen.

Fear

Pro 9:10  Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
Luke 12: 5  But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
1 John 4:18  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I've always thought a little fear is a great thing.  We should have a little fear of weather so we don't venture out fishing in bad weather.  We should have just a little fear of heights so we're careful on ladders and rooftops.  We should have a little fear of rejection so we treat others with respect.  Too much fear, however, defeats us and we don't even try.  We don't ever go fishing, or we won't fix the leaky roof, or we won't commit to long term relationships. 
Scripture tells us that true wisdom begins with fearing God.  I find many people can't wrap their brains around fearing God, but when I think about how my parents raised me, fear of punishment often kept me out of trouble.  Jesus even instructs us to fear The One who will most certainly banish us to hell if we don't trust and commit to Him.  But it doesn't end in fear.  John tells us that perfect love casts out fear.  So our relationship with God only begins in fear - fear of temporary and permanent punishment, but there's more to it than just fearing hell and breathing a quick prayer of acceptance.  Once we commit to being a disciple of Christ, He can cast out all fear.  Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of failing health and ultimately dying can all be eradicated through Him who IS love.  That elimination of fear isn't automatic, however.  Instead, we must constantly place those things the we fear in His trust.  For me, this is a daily process and one that does not come easily, yet I believe that fear can reveal to us those areas of our lives that we don't completely trust to God. 
What strike fear into your heart?  Perhaps that is where God is trying to get your attention. 
Ps 55:22  Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.