The Good Gift

Recently a close friend of mine had to take their child to the emergency room. There was tension, fear, worry, and uncertainty. There was praying and crying, despair and hope. Such is the trial of being a parent. As I prayed I kept trying to put myself in his shoes, trying to relate so I could intercede for him. To a certain degree I was successful. I mean, I have taken my child to the dentist where they had to sedate him and that was scary, so I could relate with the tension/fear/worry part. There was one difference here though, I knew the outcome. Teeth had cavities and in the end, teeth would not have cavities and my pockets would have less coin. In my friends case the outcome was a mystery. Would his child be better? Would there be death? Would there be a life change? Was there a disease? This was all very troubling to me as I prayed and awaited the outcome. I could not imagine what he and his family were going through.

Uncertainty.

A couple of days later with this event still fresh on my mind, I began to think about God sending his Son to earth. After all, it is getting close to Christmas and that is the reason we celebrate it. I kept wondering what it must have been like to send your son to the wolves. I could never do what God did. I could never willingly bring upon myself all of the feelings and uncertainty mentioned above.

I would never willingly place my son in a situation were he would endanger himself.
I would willingly send him somewhere where he would be safe

I would never let my son be ridiculed publicly and not stand up for him.
I would willingly place him in front of people to be praised.

I would never stand by and watch someone beat my son and...do...nothing.
I would do anything to make sure that my son was comfortable and warm.

I would never watch my son get hurt and not run to him and help him and kiss it better.

I would never forsake my son in his time of need.

I would never watch my son be condemned to death for doing nothing wrong and do nothing about it.
I would fight for my son and support him in his time of need!

I could never send my son to a place knowing he would die and then...watch...him...die.

Certainty.

God knew the outcome before it happened.
He knew he was sending his Son to a world full of sinners and ignorant mean people.
He knew his son would be laughed at and ridiculed and punched and whipped and bleed and...die.
He knew it all, before it happened. Such is the trial of being a parent.

God sent his Son as a Gift for us, a good gift.

He knew he was sending his Son to befriend the poor, the blind, the depressed, the outcast, the lost.
He knew he was sending his Son to kiss the wounds of the sick and mend the hearts of the broken.
He knew he was sending his Son to set the captives free, to save a people from their selves.
He knew he was sending his Son to be a hero, a savior.
He knew he was sending his Son to defeat death and to rise again.
He knew it all, before it happened. Such is the joy of being a parent.

He sent his son to be The Good Gift to all and he was certain that he would be.
The only uncertainty is us...
Will we accept The Good Gift.

Food;
Isaiah 53
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2053&version=NIV

Colossians 1:19-20
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=colossians%201.19-20&version=NIV

God seeking us

THIS IS A REPOST OF AN OLDER BLOG OF MINE FROM ANOTHER SITE.

I wanted to share this older blog on my new blog site because it got so many reads on my old one.

Enjoy, the date of this blog was – Feb.18-2008

I recently went to the Colbie Callait concert in SLC Utah and it was amazing. I heard a new artist there named Trevor Hall. This guy is GOOD so check him out. Hes got a song on his new EP titled "The Lime Tree". This song is very catchy and just gets stuck in your head, and as i was singing it this morning it led me to think about something. The song is about someone hiding and then someone finding them, so I was thinking about God finding us. I've heard my Pastor say that we don't find God, he finds us because we don't know where to begin to look for God. After all, we are the ones that are lost.

I think we also try to hide from God at certain times in our lives; like when we sin or when he is trying to get us to serve and we don't want to, etc. So as I was singing this song in my head I thought about Adam and Eve in Gen 3v10 and how they hid from God. I thought, If God is omniscient and omnipresent then why did he call out for Adam and ask where he was? If God is omniscient and omnipresent then God should already have known where Adam was and why Adam was hiding. So I thought deeper, why did God call out to Adam?

I then realized that the voice of God calling out wasn't for Gods benefit, it was for Adams.

Think about it.

When someone gets lost in the forest and another party is searching for them, they call out for the person. The people searching are not lost, they know where they are. They are calling for the person so that the person that is lost knows that someone is coming for them. This calling also gives the person that is lost; hope that there is help is coming. The calling also gives the person that is lost a point to go to for help and the person that is lost calling back gives the pursuer a place to go too as well.

So think about it again, there are much more benefits of a voice calling in the wilderness to the lost person than the lost person calling back. So God calling for Adam was Gods way of letting Adam know that he was coming to rescue him. God knew Adam and Eve were in trouble and his voice (even though it may have been frightening at first) was a welcome sound of hope in a time of trouble, and a beacon of truth to guide Adam and Eve back home.

Remember that when you are lost, God knows where you are.

Remember that when you are in trouble, God knows how to get you out of it and back on the right track.

Remember that when you hide from God, he still cares about you and is calling for you to be with him.

Listen for his voice, he’s calling for you to come to him and his voice is guiding you to the place where he is.


Food:
Genesis 3
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203&version=NIV
Luke 15
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+15&version=NIV

Swine Flu Side Effects

In honor of the Swine Flu pandemic that is sweeping the nation I thought I would share some thoughts on one of the overlooked side effects that is not getting as much attention. ("run" on sentence intended)

Swinarrhea [swine-uh-ree-uh]

Yes this dastardly side effect can have some gruesome results if you are not prepared. I have heard horror stories of decimated pants and beds, this is no laughing matter. Some have even ejected themselves from the place where they had been sitting.

I have only one tip: if you smell bacon and you have not cooked bacon nor ate bacon within the last day - RUN!!!!

Perfection in Imperfection

I am a sinner - there I said it. I sometimes laugh at a dirty joke, stare too long at an image I know that isn't good for me, I judge people, gossip, lie, I entertain curse words in my mind, even though I don't say them all.  I am a human, a man, a descendant of Adam, a sinner... and yet, Christ still loves me and finds his home within my heart. Why?

Why did Christ choose humans to dwell in?
Why did he pick the one being that let him down in the beginning, to put his life, breath and spirit into?
Why make this body of rotting flesh and good for nothingness a temple for himself?

Why dwell in imperfection?


Do we put our most precious items in a dilapidated clay jar that may crumble at any second?
Do we take our finest brew that is $16 a pound or $4 a cup and put it into a broken mug?
Do we put new wine into old wine skins?

So why does God dwell in us?



Why does Perfection dwell in Imperfection?

A Psalm came to mind as I was thinking about this post. Psalm 51, verse 10 in particular stood out to me where it says "Create in me a clean/pure heart..." I like the word CREATE here.
Here is one definition from dictionary.com -

1.	to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes

God caused us to come into being, he makes us new (unique) if we are in him. We would not naturally evolve into the believers we are supposed to be unless he made us new.

God is a creator, he has to create, he loves it, he is addicted to it if you will. I think it brings him joy to create new hearts and minds and souls within his people. Maybe that is why he likes to dwell within us, he gets to create.

The Uncreated God creating within the Creation.
The Perfect God dwelling within the Imperfect being.
The Old Man becoming New at the hands of Perfection.
Perfection dwelling in Imperfection creating it to be like itself every day.

Food:
Psalm 51
2 Corinthians 4:7 and 5:17

The Truth

I had a dream last night. The dream stemmed from a teaching that I had taught on Saturday about the truth, what/whom it was and why we need it. The teaching stemmed from a commercial that I kept seeing during the Red Sox versus Angels ALDS series on TBS. The commercial was for The Church of Scientology; now I do not agree with Scientology nor do I endorse it BUT... the commercial got me thinking. The commercial had passionate music and passionate words and ends with the phrase "we all have this emptiness that can only be filled with one thing...The Truth. I agree with that and that is what my teaching was about, The Truth - Christ.

This takes us to my dream. In my dream I was telling a group of people what made God so awesome, what I said in the dream never had occurred to me while I was conscious. In my dream I told the people that each one of us has an emptiness that is custom made for that individual. We all have different needs that need to be met, different sins that need grace, different hurts that need comfort, different hopes and dreams that need prayer and blessing and so on  and this is why God is so awesome. He custom makes himself to fit each one of those empty spots in our lives. No other God that I know of can be so many things to so many people. No other God that I know of can fit so many people into his life and desire nothing but mercy and love. No other God that I know of freely loves and expects nothing in return.

NO OTHER GOD.

Jesus truly is I AM....
Jesus truly is THE WAY...
Jesus truly is THE LIFE...
Jesus truly is THE TRUTH.... that custom fills our emptiness and that sets us free.

Food:
John 8.31-36 - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208.31-36&version=NIV

John 14.6 - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14:6&version=NIV

Matthew 9.13 - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+9:13&version=NIV

The Mending

I sat there... Staring at it... The imperfection looking me in the eye... It crawled under my skin and screamed for some kind of help, some kind of redemption. I would be the one who would give that redemption! No longer would it have to live a life of imperfection, no longer would it be mocked by its peers. The item... A torn page in a story book. There's just something about a torn page in a book that is like fingernails on a chalk board to me. One accidental turn, one swift read and riiiiiiip out it comes. So in order to prevent this travesty in my sons' Go Dog Go book, I will mend it. I will make it new and whole again. The tool - Super Ultra Clear packing tape, yes this should do the trick. Then he will still be able to enjoy the words and the pictures.

So...I hold the page together.

Measure the tape. ( so its just right)

Then...Apply...

I repeat the same process for the other side of the book and wallah a brand new page, reinforced in fact.

I stare at my handiwork and I must say that I am very impressed with myself. You can barely see the tape and the page is mended, restored. I am happy, no longer will this page irritate me as I turn towards the end of the story. As I stare a little longer (checking for mistakes) I notice the page is misaligned just a tad but nothing big. I also notice that the tape is smooth and I can see through it really well. Pleased, I start to close the book and put it on the shelf - then a thought hits me.

There is one thing I cannot see. (I re-open the book) I cannot see the hands that did this work, I cannot see the time that it took to fix this book, I cannot see the thought that went into the solution of the problem. The only thing I can see is my finger prints on the "clear" tape. The prints of the healer, the prints of the one who took the time to fix this meaningless page, the prints of the one who thought it beneficial to repair a page in a story book.

David said his life was like an open book to God. (Psalm 139:16 Msg.)

How many of our lives have torn pages?

How many of our lives have restored pages?

There is never a time that God is closer in our lives than when we are in need of healing. Whether we are going through a trial, or need a physical touch, or our emotions are torn and tattered. God is there...mending...placing his hands on us...leaving his fingerprints.

Look at your scars, your torn pages and begin to see The Mending that took place there. Begin to see the fingerprints of God. Analyze how he took the time to work in your life.

Look how he mends and leaves a piece of himself behind.

The Great Balance

It's been a while since I have posted. The reason? Well it's both simple and complicated...Time. My Wife and I recently had our second child and I thought that it was going to be a little easier than the first go round... It has not. I thought we would be able to put to use all the knowledge we had gained from the first child and then we basically would become parental machines. Like an auto-pilot parent, we would know why the new one was crying, we would know how to calm him down and.... We could still sleep (again because of all of our knowledge). I was wrong. I have to agree with my brother in-law when he said "Having two kids isn't harder, its ten times as hard and you are ten times as busy." This then leads me to the title of this post. B.A.L.A.N.C.E. How do we balance our families, our ministries, our jobs, our lives? I've noticed some things as I have tried to answer this question over the past month;

My house has gotten dirtier.

My trucks are not washed.

My lawn needs mowed.

I need a shower.

My faith has grown.

I love even more.

When I have 10 minutes with my wife alone, that time is more precious than gold.

Balance.

Increasing the workload in your life seems to lead to some interesting conclusions. It shows you where your priorities are at. It shows you what you care about. Now I am not this shining saint of a dad, nor am I a "superman" of faith. I am simply a human being and a dad, and even though I desperately need some sleep I love every minute of it. (Well almost every minute.)

Balance.

How do we keep our faith alive when our kids are screaming and we have to get worship ready for youth service?

How do we keep our Love burning strong for our spouses when we barely have minutes to spend with them?

Balance.

How do we balance?

Matthew 6:33 - says to seek God first. This gives us the road map for balance. Put God first and all things will fall into place.

God... FIRST...

I am ever learning how to balance.

The whore that is us

I was talking with my pastor a few days ago and he brought up an interesting question He asked; why do we give ourselves to other gods? What is it in man, that he constantly feels that he needs to give himself to other gods? As we were talking, he said that that question could not be fully answered. He brought up how Israel continually prostituted herself out to other gods and how in the bible God longed for Israel to show the same devotion to him as other tribes did to their gods. My Pastor also brought up how the other tribes had great devotion to their false gods and how Israel (whom worshipped the true God) always was the one to leave their God for another. So what is it that is in us that needs to constantly look for fulfillment in false gods. Why does the notion of "cheating" on God sound so appealing?

Is it our Sin/Flesh nature?

Is it our eyes, do we see something more lovely than what God can give us?

Is it self justification that we seek in other gods? We simply follow a set of rules and then woalla we are justified and then can go on sinning and feel "good and justified" in our sin.

Why does God want us all to himself? Why is it a commandment to have no gods before him? Is he a jealous lover or does he just care for us that much, in that he feels that no one could possibly care for us or love us like he could?

Some food for thought:

Zechariah 10:2-3

Jeremiah 13:25-27