“Nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love.” Revelation 2:4

Goal oriented, task in hand, and as usual, in a hurry, I was moving some things that I had previously moved in a former task. True to my character, I had been doing the same things then as I was doing now… but something happened! I found myself on my backside, looking up at where I had just been. Only now, I was experiencing pain!

I have lots of tools, things and stuff… and 2 garages to store that stuff. But I have not learned to apply wisdom, experience and the necessary organizational skills to MANAGE that stuff. Having placed a stepladder in a place I thought might be good, I needed it, used it, then hurriedly put it back in a different place, right over where I’d thrown my balled-up extension cord! Ladder, grab, trip… FALL!

I could easily dismiss the entire incident as being stupid, reckless, or foolish. But apparently those words mean nothing to me. When I say them to myself, or if I hear them in some form from someone else, I tend to brush them off. “Eh… I’ll live,” I’ll say. Often I go on to do stupid again! But I choked when the Holy Spirit hinted me a question, “why do you keep committing suicide?”

If the look on my face were recorded and shown back to me, I couldn’t have been more shocked! “SUICIDE? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT JESUS?” But in my relationship with Him, I know when He is serious. I can spiritually see His arms folded, his eyes cast down at me, one eyebrow raised. He did not even need to speak a word! He had already done so MANY times before.

A trip, a fall, a stumble, a setback… they are all the same things. Moving in a forward direction USUALLY indicates a goal of progress. A mission to be accomplished. In Jesus’ business with people, His Book has been written, preached, taught, dissected and mediated upon for millennia! His plans and intentions are clear. He wants my heart and attention 24/7. To NOT give it… is suicide!

Last night, up in the attic, after the ladder incident, I sat on top of a box to change my AC filter, which I’d put off 2 months ago! I had just gotten started when I heard a CRASH! Having been in a hurry to throw some stuff up there 6 months ago, I set a picture, with a glass face, face down on top of a box! THANKFULLY the shattered glass now lay on top of another painting!   I’ll just clean that up later!

This morning one of the sheep under my watch texted me, “I have learned that the more I seek Him, the more He reveals Himself. The less I do, the more trouble I’m in!” Coincidence? Or is the student teaching the teacher about suicide! Jesus loves me enough to warn and TELL me his plans, His Father’s will and goals for me individually… and the Church corporately. He expects love back in the form of obedience!

Are YOU heading toward a suicidal crash by putting other people, stuff and things before the Love of your Savior? Because He’s asking! Apparently He holds a grudge in that area… wouldn’t you agree?

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

In the place where I live and move and roll through, I had never actually seen it done before. But I wasn’t IN my usual world, I was in his… behind him… on a 4 wheeler… and he was slowing down! Sensing something was about to happen… it did! The old guy smacked the throttle and pulled 4 wheels back on 2… and kept on riding! Having JUST begun, I already knew who the leader was!

My new friend Wayne and I rode together a few times, but stopped often. I was intrigued by his spirit, knowledge and skill, and he mine, so we stopped often to talk, taking time to learn about one another. As a newer Believer, he had God questions. Being a leader in that field, I answered. We became fast friends. Soon… we had a following!

The best time of my vacation trip was when we rode with 9 vehicles and 11 people, most under 17. Wayne didn’t know the skill-set of several, so he said, “we’re just gonna take a little ride up behind my place before we get started.” And up the mountain he headed. I took the last position as watchdog of the crew… and was NOT disappointed!

Starting with a wheelie, Wayne headed the crew into a mountainous crevasse where he’d made a figure 8, then hit the gas! Pulling off and shutting mine down, I just watched the show as everyone followed him. Roaring engines, tight turns and a few lessons later, Wayne led the crew back up to me. As he passed I shouted… “ya ol geezer! I KNOW what ya just did!” “WHAAAA?” he replied!

When a kid places their butt over an engine, something happens. Same as when a kid’s hands go around the handle of a pistol! The experience of learning the what’s, how’s, do’s and don’ts from a skilled teacher are some of the most Holy of times in a kid’s life. Learning how to limit and focus outward power and bring it under control is a seriously Biblical term called ‘meekness.’ And Wayne knew!

Before we could SAFELY ride, Wayne needed to know each rider’s capabilities so he could lead us all on a trip that would be safe and enjoyable while fun and adventurous. Knowing how a trip turned out became easy. Wayne and I sat back and listened as riders talked and shared their personal experience of the group’s collective trip! With giggles and jabs, it made me think of ‘Church!’

My journey with Jesus is the most glorious, adventurous, most frustrating adventure of my life. Jesus ALWAYS pushes, tests, prompts and corrects. And then He expects another trip almost immediately. When highlights come up, both good and bad, He expects me to sit with Him and talk about it so I will become stronger, meeker and even more reliable upon Him. THEN He says, ‘GO SHOW & TELL!’

Are YOU showing the world what YOU’VE got with Jesus Christ as Lord? Are you following Him closely? Are you preparing for a next adventure? Because He’s ready to roll and He’s calling YOUR name!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Here it is, only 7:15 in the morning and I am mad as a hornet! I agree the matter is trivial, if I’m talking dollars… which I am. $5.99 to be precise! But this is NOT ABOUT money. It’s about PRINCIPLE! And for me, principle takes precedence over cash! So, after looking for a contact, and getting more edgy, I FINALLY connected and ‘let ‘em have it!’

It should have been simple! Finding the items didn’t take long, But when the ‘place order’ came up, the screen told me they were giving me ‘Free Shipping!’ After ordering, I saw they billed me $5.99! As far back as I remember…. $5.99 isn’t FREE! I felt bad for the lady on the other end of the phone, but she said had no control over the order and asked me to ‘cancel and resubmit.’

Unfortunately, the merchandising business these days has outmaneuvered the ‘service factor.’ Far too often I have tried to contact a company, only to be run through a computer with NO ability to actually TALK to a person. If an order is lost, late or unavailable… the word from the computer is… ‘too bad… not our fault! But thank you!’ And it only seems to get worse.

‘FREE” is my favorite 4 letter ‘F’ word! So, just for curiosity’s sake, I went to my computer browser to look up the word FREE and how it relates to Salvation in Jesus Christ. After all, The ‘Corporate Church’ has been bragging that Salvation is ‘FREE’ forever! After my Bible search, my face registered the same kind of shock as I had with my computer order! Because… it isn’t there!

The Bible does it say that Heaven and Eternal life are FREE! As I write, I can sense the Holy Spirit laughing at my lifetime ignorance, or stupidity! The Bible tells me that I have been SET FREE from sin and death. But it NEVER says that the TRANSACTION was free. After all, God reminded, it took the death of His Son Jesus to BUY IT! And MY death to redeem it! It’s a gift… but NOT free.

Maybe that is the problem with the whole Jesus business. I find most people who call themselves Christians FAR too lazy or presumptuous to actually put time, shoe leather and sweat into their relationship with the God of the universe who suffered HORRIBLY to set me free. When I received Salvation from God by accepting His offer of Grace, we traded titles. Mine for His. His for mine!

God expects me to LOVE Him, FOLLOW Him, SEEK Him, STUDY Him, WORSHIP Him. That means working at finding out what He wants from me and OBEYING Him! THAT is NOT FREE. It takes time, patience, determination and setting Him as Priority 1! ALL THE TIME! But what I get in return, AFTER my investment, is PRICELESS.

Have YOU ordered a life from God you think should be FREE? If so, you may want to cancel that order and resubmit! Because true Worship… is a verb!

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…” Psalm 24:1

I found the balled up former Marine with his chest in my face rather humorous, since he was standing in my driveway! I was glad he was there, because I had invited him. He had a problem with me traveling over a piece of property that he called HIS! But the only legal claim was his testosterone, which I already dismissed… just like he had at my attempts of ‘reasoning together.’

The story is not really worth telling because it is repeated everyday by people of all ages. I’ve seen it, and cried it FAR too often. Within family and siblings, children at school, between adulthood friends and acquaintances, by bosses and land owners alike. Like a crease forcefully cut and chiseled under- ground, the darkness is called, “MINE!” The very word itself… simply an empty shaft of nothingness!

I had shared this idea with 2 young men in a beautiful mountain scenery, a picture of which would adorn any room. “Who owns all this, boys?” I asked. After failing to guess, I gave them the REAL answer, which is today’s Bible verse. “God owns EVERYTHING,” I said. “And He owns you too!” With that, I asked them, “so what are you doing with His property because… He WILL demand to know!”

Now admittedly, I was a very selfish child. My mom even gave me a label… “me first-er!” If there was a line for a church dinner, I felt, being the preacher’s kid, that I had a right to be at the front of it. If my siblings had something and I wanted it… I took it! Even if it wasn’t MINE! I actually felt like MY desires superseded their actual rights! But I was headed for a catastrophic and inevitable crash!

‘Telling’ cannot relay the pain and anguish I suffered when, after receiving His free gift of eternal life, I looked at Jesus, after a pointed request, and said, “No… that’s mine!” Being an experienced father of 4, I learned to laugh at my children’s unlearned bent toward selfishness. But I laughed only briefly. Like Jesus, I knew THAT attitude HAD TO GO! And with me… Jesus set about it. The HARD way!

I told that fellow standing in GOD’S driveway that he was a bully. I don’t like bullies because I used to be one and hate the reminder. I learned that Jesus can be much like a pig! Getting into the mud-pit to fight Him made me realize… HE LIKES IT! And I’m glad! I learned the lesson that I don’t OWN ANYTHING, even myself.  Giving God His rights over my everything gives me MORE than everything.

What silly things are you holding onto that YOU call “MINE?” Why not set yourself free and make them HIS?

“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

Returning from vacation in the Pennsylvania mountains, it was interesting to discover that what I heard up there, was exactly what I had been hearing in Florida. And still am! With summer in full swing, often the first words uttered in greeting are, “Wow, it’s hot out here!” It’s a perceived opinion that comes from real individual experience, yet is assumed to be held by all. In Pa…. I just smiled.

My roots go back to Southwestern Pennsylvania. When we visit, Katie and I enjoy both new and old experiences. On a historical tour of an old industrialist’s mansion, our guide suggested our group assemble under “the shade of that big tree” since… “Wow, it’s hot out here!” We winked and thought, almost in a bragging way, “this is NOTHING compared to Florida!” But we held our tongues.

Going to my mountain cabin does many things for me. Having been born and raised up there, I have deep seated memories and emotions tied to ‘The Cabin,’ a former old closed church that my father purchased 48 years ago. A place like my grandfather’s cabin, further north, where I had even learned to walk! It’s a magical spot in mountainous woods that many STILL call ‘God’s Country!’ And I concur.

Growing up, I spent hours walking through those woods with a BB gun and feeling like a big game hunter. Then I was saved in those mountains as a young teen. Now, mountain mornings find me sitting in a chair facing them with God’s Word in my lap, the Holy Spirit in my heart, and Jesus Christ sitting right there with me. It is the holiest place on earth! But that is MY experienced perspective!

“Wow, it’s hot out here,” is not just a summary of air temperature. It can easily apply to the current ‘world atmosphere!’ As population grows, individual demands form group similarities, which often turn toward evil, selfish political demands. But while the world roasts, I smile! Because today’s Bible verse, from experienced perspective, is as real and refreshing to me as my mountain cabin in hot July.

Do YOU know and experience the COOL love, compassion and faithfulness of God? If you do, why not share Him with some poor sweating soul?