“For this is what the high and exalted One says— He who lives forever, Whose name is Holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'” Isaiah 57:15

I lost my religion again this weekend. NOT my Christianity… but my religion. You know the difference, right? Religion is a set of rules. Christ)ianity is a relationship. And the funny thing is, He was right there with me when I did… and even watched me do it! He ALWAYS is! Here’s the story.

I write about stuff I do on a day-to-day basis. Some days are better than others. I have been cutting back the hedges on the side of my yard and it is taking DAYS to do the job. YEARS ago, my wife picked these things because they provide a natural fence from the neighbor. Little did I know that they can grow to 25’ tall! Now that they are 12’ tall, I GOTTA cut ‘em back! Being no spring chicken, I find I am upset with the process… AND my wife!

Yesterday I found myself covered in sweat, yet again, as the temperature of my soul reached the temperature of my body. When that happens, old Pittsburgh words erupt out of me like lava from a volcano! I was frustrated, tired, sore and discouraged. Jesus just watched with NO judgment, correction or advice! He didn’t HELP me EITHER! That is until this morning!

As I sat trying to reach Him in the quiet of the morning, I was a little restless. My normal routine was disrupted by my wandering mind. Rather than force my usual way of reading, I let go and picked something else up to read. That led me to something else, which led me to this verse. And then… “OOOOOO THERE you are!”

I plant ‘Steeler-like’ hedges, then complain and cuss when I have to cut them back! I buy stuff, then complain about the cost! I put my glasses, wallet and keys down, then LOSE it when I can’t FIND them! I drive down the road upset that everybody else is there too! I ASKED her to marry me, yet get upset that she wanted these &%#@ hedges! If you look back at that whole paragraph… you see the problem with ME is ‘I’.

Isaiah is a book about the people of Israel. Interestingly, when I looked at this chapter, I saw that God wasn’t talking to the GROUP! He was talking to INDIVIDUALS. YOU and ME included! His message is clear. When I am down, broken and contrite, ‘The Master of the Universe’ comes to live WITH ME… to REVIVE me!

Did you buy stuff you can’t afford? Did you decide to have kids and find yourself frustrated at what they now cost in time and $? Did you skip education and settle for working labor? Did you buy a house that is eating you alive? Did you choose the relationship that is now killing you? Are YOU coming unglued because of your own choices? GOOD! Welcome to contrite! Now please turn around and bow…God has been watching and waiting for this very moment!

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:11-12

My Clusia Rosea hedge needs tamed! And I mean more like a crew-cut than a trim! We planted these things years ago and had NO idea how big they can get. Trimming them yearly, they STILL have expanded to over 10’ tall and 7’ wide. I was not looking forward to the month long process of hand trimming and filling at least 40 garbage cans! Then my son-in-law pulled up!

While I have a lot of STUFF… Todd has a lot more COOLER stuff! In his truck he had a gas powered pole saw that extended to about 87 feet! OK… maybe 18’ And even cooler than THAT is, he offered to LEND it to me! So yesterday… I fired her up! Talk about an experience! As clouds parted and golden sunlight created a holy glow, I SWEAR I could hear angels….sing!

What USED to take me HOURS to cut, I literally cut in minutes! My eyes were wide in amazement as I NEVER have experienced a single tool to SOOO exceed my expectations. I filled up 10 cans in about 1 ½ hours! There is only ONE thing that could have made the experience better… if Todd would have been WITH me to do it! THAT THING IS HEAVY!!! Now (transition time!) think CHURCH!

The Bible tells us that Jesus is ‘now’ in heaven ‘making intercession’ for us to his Father (Hebrews 7:25). Does that surprise you? Maybe even MORE shocking is the absolute truth that WE live in a world and environment where HE HAS TOO! Face it… it’s tough down here. I don’t know of ANYONE who isn’t going through SOMETHING! And aren’t those moments of bliss few and far between? Friends, I need a personal touch!

It is AWESOME to know that Jesus is interceding for me on a regular basis. But honestly, I walk by FAITH. Which means I don’t actually see WHAT or HOW He is doing it! And when I hear someone say, “I’ll pray for you,” that doesn’t really make me giddy! “O.K. thanks,” is my usual reply. But when I am at church, when the doors open up, and one by one my sheepy brothers and sisters walk in. I DO get a joy that is REAL. ‘The TEAM’ is HERE!

Paul knew and wrote about it! Spiritual gifts presented through real people makes us STRONG in the face of a hostile world. There is NOTHING like the encouragement of a touch or listening ear, from someone who lives by faith, to set things in proper order. Each member brings something essential to the life of us all. Even if I wasn’t the pastor… I wouldn’t miss church for the world!! LITERALLY!

What cool tool will YOU be willing to share with your sheepy family?

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” 1 Peter 1:13

It started 2 nights ago with a sore throat. There I was, minding my own business and enjoying life, when I suddenly felt the tingle. YOU know what I am talking about all too well. From past experience my mind went auto-pilot as I reached for the Vitamin C and some tea. But my mind was not satisfied with that! Is started to meander on a hike!!! And THAT is where the trouble started!

If you have any years under your belt you KNOW that the start of a sore throat can lead your mind into the unknown. Immediately I thought, “Oh NO!!! Did I talk too much? Is this a cold? Allergy? FLU? THROAT CANCER? AHHHHHHHHH I’m DYINGGGGGGG!” Then just like that… it snapped back with, “knock it off ya wimp and suck it up! You’ll be fine!” I climbed under the covers and whimpered… ‘o.k.’ But that didn’t stop my wandering mind!

By the time my wife got home yesterday I was not hitting on all cylinders. My nose cooperated with my mind and started to run… my body rebelled and shut down at the competition. One look and she KNEW I wasn’t feeling my best. I’ll never forget her tender words to me, “Have you been pickin’ yer nose again?” Such compassion! Adding to my already paled look my mind added…”See! It’s all YOUR fault!” Wonderful!

I wasn’t sick enough to stay home, so I went to church and avoided touching on people. Asking for prayer requests, there were some SERIOUS issues facing individuals of the flock. It never even occurred to me to ask for a prayer in light of THEIR circumstance. Beside, I already KNEW that MY relief would have to be an ‘inside job.’

Evil, sickness, sorrow and pain are part of this world. It will STAY a part of it until Christ returns and restores all things. This verse today was good for me to read because it firmly plants my spirit on TOP of ‘The Rock’ and kicks my mind off of it! It isn’t positive thinking or hocus pocus either! It is keeping the ‘main thing’ the ‘main thing!’ THIS life is a war zone. Ultimate peace and health are not available in ANY store down here. So I am command to focus and shop where it IS found.

I’m feeling pretty giddy now! O.K., it might be a Sudafed high!! But I CAN tell you that the reminder is GOOD medicine. There is NOTHING like a good kick in the pants to remind me that I hadn’t done what I was SUPPOSED to! This world may deliver an unwanted visitor to my doorstep. But I do NOT have to let it STAY! The thought of Eternity and what HE will bring is the ticket for my mind to take a different kind of hike! Sniff!! Touching, eh?

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Being a ‘hands-on’ kinda guy, I do most of my own work. I take care of my own yard, maintain my own house and fix my own stuff. While I don’t do much automotive, I do drive a truck. In the back of my truck I have a crate of miscellaneous tools and at least 15 old work gloves. But strange as it may sound, and as often as I have tried, I have VERY bad luck FINDING a pair!

One of the greatest inventions for me is the $1 pair of work gloves at the Dollar Tree. Though they come in different colors, color doesn’t help. When I go to grab a pair, I can almost guarantee I will pull out either 2 left or 2 right gloves… every time! And every time… time is what gets wasted as I search and match. Too often I end up with opposite colors in differing conditions…1 REALLY used red glove and 1 like new black one! By now you realize I do NOT have a have GLOVE problem! I have a ME problem!

When it comes to being a Christian, I confess that I get it wrong…a lot. I have this tendency to want to help Jesus out by trying to imitate Him. I read about His life and then go for the work gloves, attempting to work alongside Him to advance His kingdom. Even as I write that, I can sense Jesus rolling His eyes in my direction. After all these years I STILL tend to start every day looking for a pair of gloves… instead of HIM!!

‘Do your best,’ is an old Cub Scout motto for little kids. It has NO place in adulthood OR in Christianity. TRYING to be a ‘Good Christian’ is an oxymoron that is impossible to achieve. It is not about ME working FOR HIM! It is allowing HIM to work THROUGH ME! The evidence of my choice is in the FRUIT! Either I have it.. or I don’t!

Gloves don’t meet, talk, plan or connive. They’re either ‘available’ or not. The Master and Owner of the gloves chooses them, slips them on HIS hands and does all the work. It is up to the glove to simply YIELD. Without the Master’s hand, a glove can’t even lift itself, much less a load! So… why do I keep trying?

I have several adversaries that work against me. The world, my own flesh and the devil CONTINUE to mix me up with words and feelings that seem VERY real! “Dirty glove, bad glove, mismatched glove, wrong color glove!” I take it too personal! This verse tells me that I BELONG to Jesus and He isn’t INTERESTED in my condition. He just wants me to be available! By now you realize that Jesus doesn’t have a glove problem either. He has ME problem. And you know that’s ‘right!’

“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Romans 7:18

I tried EVERYTHING!!! I had given it time… then waited… A LOT! I prayed in faith… BELIEVING… then did it again! I worried about it, inspected it, sought advice about it, tried numerous ‘fix it’ solutions and even secretly wished on a star!!! I had worn out EVERY possibility I could think of to remedy my situation…except the only one that could! But unfortunately, my sewer pipe remained clogged!

It isn’t hard to know when a sewer pipe has failed. Before you see it… you can smell it! Only an owner will be serious enough to follow the smell to SEE what the problem is. The rest will skedaddle in the opposite direction saying, “not MY problem!” Until it is! Then, due to cost, time, denial or wishful thinking, there comes a point that something HAS to be DONE. So I called “SEWERMAN!”

My PLAN was to wait until the weather cooled down, then dig it up and replace it myself. It never got cool and my back hasn’t been cooperating in EASIER things. Calling in my expert cost me in cash, but saved me in sweat, agony and pain. Not really a bad trade off, huh? Now he’s not ‘officially’ “THE SEWERMAN,” but rather my plumber. But I can say that, since he is working on MY sewer pipe! And get this!!!! My ‘SEWERMAN’ is not going to FIX ANYTHING… he is going to REPLACE!! Just like Jesus!

If Jesus took care of my SIN… can’t I call Him ‘SINMAN?’ I know, I know… some of you are offended! So sad, too! I know PASTORS who REFUSE to admit that Jesus BECAME ‘SINMAN’ for me on the cross! They think He only carried my sin there, spiritually maintaining His perfect appearance. But the ‘stink’ proved otherwise. Even His Father had to tun away!

Rusted, corroded, clogged old pipes cannot be repaired any more than than my flesh can. ‘SEWERMAN’ dug it up, replaced it with NEW, and buried the old… NEVER to be seen again! It is just what ‘SINMAN’ JESUS did with MY old stinky flesh! If ever I DO catch a whiff of that old familiar smell and begin to worry, I need to rest assured that it is NOT!

If I call my plumber every week and beg him to go out there and recheck that new line, how many times do you think he will take my call? Right! NONE! He DID it… it is DONE! And when it comes to the stink of sin, that guilt and shame you feel is SUPPOSED to lead you to the TRUSTing JOY that YOUR SAVIOR already DID a good job. It is NOT there to make you feel bad all over again. The message of the Cross is… “YOU CAN’T – HE CAN!” And He DID!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate my plumber. I brag about him and share his phone # with anyone who has a problem. I do the same thing with Jesus!

What do YOU smell… and who will YOU call? 

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

This past weekend was a GRAND birthday celebration for one of my grandchildren. I say GRAND because, the way they do things today is FAR beyond anything we used to do when I was young. Reservations had been made at a local business labeled, ‘The nation’s largest inflatable adventure park,’ and 9 of my grandkids and all of my kids met to celebrate. What a crazy idea!!

AS I looked around, hundreds of kids, and at least a half dozen birthday parties, were joined together in one place. I was glad I had left my hearing aids at home as the noise was incredible. Everyone was on sensory overload and ‘parent bells’ were ringing off the hook as we tried to keep track of our own kids. When this much fun is available, rules have a tendency to leak out of kids heads, so our family automatically grouped close to the exit door! I settled in to watch!

Looking up I saw the advertised ‘Zip Rail Coaster.’ Hanging about 30 feet above and zipping around the rail like a puppet on a string, my inner child wished “I” could give it a try. I watched as one of my grandkids was making her way to the top to jump by faith! I could tell she was nervous, so I whistled and cheered her on. After a long pause, she turned around and walked back, too afraid to take the leap! I could feel her disappointment but knew this was a learning opportunity for her. Looking around, I saw other ‘Life’ opportunities as well.

Our 3 year old had to be reminded that he could NOT just run off by himself. A smaller one had to be consoled at being told he was too small for the ‘Zip Rail.’ Older grandkids were partnered up with younger and given the responsibility of ‘watching’ them… even though they’d prefer to be ‘set free.’ Waiting your turn, sharing, encouraging, consoling and even taking the time to ‘go potty’ were just a few of the many lessons taught while our kids played. Then I thought of ‘The Church!’

‘The Church’ is a unique and permanent fixture on and nurtured into a forever family that is fun…yet frustrating. Joyful…yet demanding. Free… but expensive! NEVER done ALONE, the purpose is to care for, and grow up, individual members into ONE thing that will be eternal… ‘The Bride of Christ!’ I was reminded this last weekend that while ‘Church’ can be work, it is SUPPOSED to be fun as well! Thinking, “what a CRAZY IDEA!” I heard loud cheering and looked up to see my ‘formerly frightened,’ granddaughter ‘flying’ above us! Her smile said it all!

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 1 Corinthians 9:19

Do you know the difference between last year and this year? Simply…a year! Which doesn’t sound like much… until you were where I was yesterday. My annual trimming and clean up was not going well. The pile to haul away was getting larger as I was running out of steam. I was thinking about how much I still had to do while figuring a way to haul it all off… when I experienced a miricle!

A road separated me from the growing pile of debris. Suddenly, like a vision, a big truck pulling a big trailer crossed that path. It seemed angels were even singing…as the truck passed before my eyes. Planning my time to coincide with the truck’s leaving, I halted its exit with a proposal in mind. Just when I didn’t think it could get any better, I saw there were ‘3’ men inside! Hallelujah! When I pointed to the pile and asked, “how much?” I was given a RIDICULOUSLY LOW price… which I HAD to turn down!

O.K…I know these guys. We have met before. When we got to talking, I found that they new a LOT more about ME than I knew about THEM. Scary huh? Being a preacher as few advantages and the price quote was one of them. But being a preacher ALSO means that I am NOT my own! That pile isn’t mine either. It’s Jesus’ pile. And since Jesus is in the GIVING business, NOT the taking, I made a proposition with a caveat!.

His offer was right up front and so was my counter. I said, “I am going to pay you double that price!” When I saw his eyebrows go up, I felt like I had earned the right to continue talking. So I started talking about… you guessed it… JESUS! Why? Because, as it turned out, these 3 men didn’t know that THEY don’t belong to themselves either! I could tell by their expressions that they were at least beginning to listen!

I find that in many ways, the older I get, the less I can do. I am NOT what I used to be. BUT… in other ways, I am BETTER than I used to be. At my age I have resources and experience to back up my prayers and expectations that God will use me for HIS Glory and Work. I have ALSO learned that God usually shows up, and off, with the unexpected! As they loaded up to leave, I heard the boss say, “Hey guys, now we have lunch money!” All I could think was… good job Jesus!