You Matter

That drop of water--that's all I am.

A drop in the ocean. A speck in God's creation. I am so infinitesimal, so insignificant that whatever I am, whatever I do, should not make a difference. 

But it does.

God's plan is so big, so complete, so complex that even the tiniest particle of His Creation matters. The picture would not be complete were it missing the tiniest piece.

That's where I come in.

That's where we all come in.

If we are to admit that God's plan is perfect--and I profess that it is--then we must admit that any deviation from that plan would be less so. If perfection is changed in any way, whether to add to it or take away, it would be something different, and no longer perfect.

You and I, we are part of God's plan. Who we are, where we are, what we do--it matters. Absolutely we are no more than a drop in the ocean, but without those single drops, that ocean, that plan of God, would be changed. Take away any part, even a single molecule, and it would be different. It would be imperfect, incomplete.

You matter.

I matter. Sometimes I don't know how or why, but if I am to believe in God's perfection, in His sovereignty, in His divine Will and Plan then I have to believe that I am part of it. If I am part of it, if I am even the smallest element in His grand design, then I matter.

So do you.

A drop in the ocean, yes. A drop that, were you not there, would leave the ocean something less than it could be.

When that ocean is God's plan, then every single drop matters.

That means you.

Do you believe it?

Sin Is Never Far Away

No one is immune.

I don't care who you are, you are not immune to temptation and sin. No matter how "good" you think you are or you try to be, sin is right there with you. In fact, I believe the more "good" we try to do, the more we are tempted. 

Here is how Paul says it in Romans 7:21 . . .

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

Isn't that that truth! In fact, lets look at this verse a little closer and find not one, but three truths Paul points out.

It's a law.

A law is a rule that has been proven over and over to be true, like gravity. If you drop something, it will fall to the ground. That's a law. It never fails.

That's the kind of law Paul is talking about. Not a rule of thumb, but a fundamental guiding principle of how the world works. This isn't something that applies to some and not others, or to only certain situations. This is an across the board, guaranteed to be true reality. This applies to me, and you, every time.

I get to choose to do good, or not.

Most of us realize this. We have choices to make in life, and most of the time we know which of those choices are good, and which are not. Whether guided by Christian principles, a moral conscience, or simply societal rules, we know right from wrong.

We get to choose which path to take.

So far, so good, right? A fundamental rule of life is that we get to choose whether to do good or not. Easy enough.

Except . . .

Evil is right there with me.

That's the kicker, or therein lies the rub.

The fundamental truth shared by Paul is that choosing what is good is so hard because evil is right there beside him. What's so hard about that?

Sometimes evil looks soooo good!

Knowing the right thing to do is usually pretty easy. Doing it is something different. The right thing is often the harder path that leads through the valleys of Struggle and Effort. The right choice often means leaving the crowd, standing out, even suffering loss. Rarely is the right choice the easy one.

Evil, on the other hand, is easy. It is so, so easy to sin. In fact, it doesn't take any effort at all. We are attracted to sin like moths to a flame (and the outcome is the same!). And this law Paul talks about tells us that when we want to do good, when we want to make the right choice, evil will be right there with us, tempting us to do otherwise.

For today, I want us to realize sin is never far away.

An important part of avoiding danger is to be aware that it exists. Every day, every decision we make, is fraught with the perils of evil. Every time we try to go the right, good thing, evil lurks in the shadows, attempting to lure us away.

Wherever you are, whatever you do, be aware that sin is never far away. 

Sin Is The Caged Tiger

It was Sin, of course. 

The name of Christian's tiger from yesterday's blog. The pet he hated to love and loved to hate. That thing within him, the longing and desire he knew he should not have, but yet there it remained.

Sin.

Such a simple word. So easy to say, but oh-so-hard to name in our own lives. We point out the obvious ones, sometimes in ourselves and more often in others, but deep inside many, if not most, and indeed if not all of us have our own tiger we desperately fear for the world to see.

For we are, of course, Christian. Or at least I am.

Little did Christian know . . . 

And by that I mean, little do we know, how dangerous our tigers are. We are not zookeepers. We are not equipped to handle dangerous game in close quarters. We do not have the facilities to keep such wild beasts restrained. We are not lion tamers--but even if we were, there is no such thing as a tame tiger. One little slip, one mistake, and they will turn.

Little does Christian know how likely, indeed how unavoidable it is that his tiger will one day turn on him. Those sins, those deep, dark desires we know we shouldn't have, will devour us. They will take our lives, be it our marriage, our job, our friendships, or even our relationship with God.

All it takes is one little slip, and we are not experts. We are not, and cannot be, competent to deal with such danger.

There is only one Master over sin.

That, of course, is Jesus Christ. Only He has ever walked side by side with sin, and survived unscathed. Only He has been perfect. Only He can truly master sin.

We are slaves. As even Paul says in Romans 6, we can be slaves to sin or slaves to God, but not both. You can only have one master; it will either be this world and sin, or it will be God. You either try (and fail) to deal with your own tigers, or you give them over to the One who knows what He's doing.

The only question is, are you willing to get eaten?

Christian's Tiger

Christian had a secret. Deep within his soul burned a fire, an ever-present desire. Like a caged tiger it paced restlessly within him, first pressing against the cage of his mind, then slinking back into the shadows, only to return once more. Searching. Stalking. Wanting.

Day after day, night after night it paced. On good days, a constant, echoing growl rumbled through Christian's head, reminding him of his want. On bad days, the growl rose to a thundering roar so fierce and loud Christian feared all around him would hear it. On those days he hid himself away, tucked safely behind the walls he had built between his tiger and the world until the beast within him relented once more, not to disappear, nor to cease his constant prowling, but at least to quiet enough that Christian could emerge once more behind the facade of normalcy.

Christian lived in fear every day of his life. Fear of the tiger. Fear of the world. Fear of the two meeting, realizing the other existed, and thereby learning his secret. Christian feared what the tiger would do if loosed upon the world, but even more than that he feared what the world would do to his tiger if ever they found it. For as much as Christian feared the beast, he loved it, cherished it, cared for it so deeply that he could not bear the thought of losing it. And in his world, tigers were not allowed.

So it went, this war within simple Christian, as he fought to restrain his dangerous pet, fearing and hating it all the time he loved and cared for it. Wishing it were gone all the while hiding it from the world so that it would not be taken away. Desperately wanting to be free, knowing he was as much captive as captor, more prisoner than guard. His tiger was caged, but it was a cage for two.

As all things he loved, feared, desired, and despised, Christian gave his tiger a name, although he knew it was named before it ever became his. It was a simple name, but powerful. A single syllable, so easily uttered, yet Christian rarely allowed it to cross his mind, let alone roll off his tongue for fear that doing so would unfetter the great beast and all would be lost.

To call it by name would be to admit its identity. Doing so, he knew, could only lead to admitting that he had no business keeping such a dangerous beast hidden away. He'd have to let it go, release it to the only One who could truly master it. His tiger of the shadows, his enemy-friend of darkness, would then be gone. Though Christian understood, knew deep in his soul that this must come to be, that he must rid himself of the danger or else become his tiger's next meal, he wasn't ready. Not yet.

Little did he know . . . 


To be continued . . .

Blessings From 11 Year Old Eyes

This is a guest blog by my 11 year old daughter. Unplanned, unsolicited, unedited--here it is . . . and maybe just a little bit of a proud daddy!

Blessings

    There are many blessings around us, ones that we know and are humble about and ones that we take for granted and don't even know about.

    The Lord can be in both of those categories, admit it we take him for granted but other times we are wise and careful.

    There is a story that I have heard lately about this topic. The Israelites were given the promise land that the Lord said that he would give them. They had all that they needed and they thanked the Lord. But then they started to take Him for granted and they sinned and kept falling short which is likely but they were doing it all the time and they were leaning away from him and kept sinning. Well for a while the Lord let them sin and receive the consequences that they deserved until the Israelites were on there feet praying and begging to the Lord. They had taken the Lord for granted and then he stepped out and they suffered and disobeyed the Lord.

    But there are many more stories where the people are wise and careful like in the story of David and Goliath where the Israelites and the Philistine were having a battle and the philistines were tall and strong and they had a giant on there team named Goliath. He was always shouting to the Israelites who would want to fight him and no one ever did because they were to scared. But then one day a young boy named David stepped up and said that he would fight him. So David prayed wisely to the Lord and got ready to fight. David beat Goliath because he was faithful to the Lord.

    This spring break for me was a blessing. To start it off I shot archery in Springfield for state and got first place for girls. I was praising God and feeling so blessed. The next morning I went to Minnesota with some of my good friends to see some good friends. we had a good time and got to see all the things that they were blessed with when they moved there and got to have a of fun.

So to rap things up there are blessings all around us from God himself. The biggest blessing was that he sent his only son to forgive our sins by dying on the cross.

So to cover everything there are many blessings around us in the world some are hidden and others we see clearly.

Have a good week and may you be blessed!

Missed Blessings

What is a blessing?

Hearing the laughter of children too long shut indoors finally set free to enjoy God's Creation. Seeing the faces of friends after having been too long shaded by time, distance, and circumstances. Feeling the Spring sun warm your bones after being perpetually chilled by the cold bite of winter.


According to a dictionary, a blessing is something which is conducive to happiness or welfare.

I think most of us would say that blessings are easy to recognize--good things in life, often unexpected, resulting in joy. Like the ones mentioned above. Those are blessings, certainly.

That is not, however, where the story ends.

I am certain we often fail to recognize the blessings in our lives, and I can think of three reasons why.

We're too caught up in what we want.

Too often, we're so caught up in what we want that we can't believe anything else could possibly make us happy. Blessings are missed because they are not what we ordered. God, I asked for sunny and 70, not cold and windy with sleet and rain. Never mind that God has blessed me with a warm house; that's not the blessing I'm looking for.

Jobs, relationships, opportunities--we want what we want. Anything other than that just isn't good enough. With a mindset like that, we're liable to miss something so much better.

We think blessings have to feel good.

From the definition above, a blessing is something which is conducive to happiness or welfare. All of  us are more than willing to experience and acknowledge those blessings which bring us happiness. What about welfare? The two do not always go hand in hand, do they?

Take going to the dentist. Is such a thing conducive to our welfare? Certainly. But happiness? Not for most.

Not all blessings feel good. Just because it's uncomfortable, however, does not make it any less a blessing.

We forget that God knows more than we do. 

What we think will make us happy, or what we believe is good for us is not always the case. God knows the truth. He knows us better than we know ourselves. That 40 foot sailboat may seem like a real blessing, but not if we're going to sail into a hurricane the first time we take it out.

God knows what's going to work, and what isn't. Some of the greatest blessings God gives is to withhold what we want. 

Don't overlook the blessings in your life.

As with most things, we get the get the easy stuff. Those blessings that make us feel good--thank God for them. Never forget from whom all blessings flow.

Don't shortchange yourself, however, by missing out on those other blessings, when God gives you something other than what you desire, when your welfare is more important than your happiness, or when He takes away to keep you from harm.

Those are often the greatest blessings of all.

Living In The Past

It's fun to revisit the past.

My family and I are getting ready to take a road trip next week to go visit some old friends (even though I'm surely not old enough to have "old friends!"). I'm sure a good portion of our visit will involve revisiting memories, reliving good times, and even paying respect to past mountains we have climbed together.

Our past is the foundation upon which our present and our future are built. Going back and looking at where we've been can be entertaining, sometimes humbling, often frightening, and healthy. It's important, though, that we don't get stuck there.

We have to remember the past is past.

I can't wait to see our friends. They are still a vital and vibrant part of our lives, important to our present and future as well where we've been. I want to go back and remember the good ol' days when we were together all the time, solving all the world's problems at 2:00 in the morning around a kitchen table munching on monster cookies. I want to go back there, and I'm sure we will.

It's important, though, that we don't stay there.

As much as I'd like things to be as they once were, they are not. Distance and circumstances ordained by God have caused the river of life to flow onward. An old proverb says that you can never step in the same river twice.

That's a truism of life.

Some people get stuck in the past.

That's not healthy. Some parts of our past are poison, whether it be old girlfriends wrecking marriages, old wounds reopened, or old habits re-awakened.  Get caught up in those traps, and your future can be just as dead as your past.

Other times we get stuck in remembering the glories of days gone by, thinking no future could possibly be as fulfilling as what we have already lived. That, too, is a pit with a soft bottom. If you believe the future can never be as good as the past was, it won't be.

There's a balance somewhere in the middle.

It's good to remember our past. There are lessons there, fond memories, encouragements, accomplishments, and laughter. Revisit those often. In every past you will also find pitfalls and dangers. Avoid getting caught in their grasp.

Visit your past, but never try to live there. It is who you were, not who you are. Those two people may be very different, or indeed very similar, but they are certainly not the same.

As Christians, our hope is in the glorious future provided and promised by God through His Son. We learn from the past, gain encouragement and wisdom from where we've been, but always our hope is before us.

If you spend too much time looking in the rear-view mirror, you just might miss a glimpse of how great the future will be.