“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

The county where I live decided to implement a new recycling program. One day I came home to find a HUGE blue container on wheels with explicit rules on how to use it. Yesterday was the new kick off date. Since I have 2 properties, one on the other side of town, I have 2 bins. So I co-operated, making the trip and effort to roll both bins to the curb, facing them in the proper direction.

Not wanting to leave the ‘across town’ bin out as an eyesore, I drove the 9 mile round trip, through heavy traffic and government controlled traffic lights, to put it away. But when I got there, it was still full! So I headed back home… red light, red light, red light… you get the idea. I discovered that the one at home hadn’t been picked up either. Though inconvenienced, I wasn’t surprised. New things take time.

Please note, this is NOT a rant against government or its capabilities. In the interest of public safety, traffic needs to be regulated and garbage removed. And I’m glad that “I” don’t have to personally be the one to do it, since paying my taxes gets it done… usually. The fact is that EVERYBODY complains about taxes and the overall failure of government to satisfy us. Then there is the Government of God!

The woman at the well had NO idea she was going to meet the King of the Universe. Had she known, she STILL would not have been able to clean herself up enough to be worthy of His visit. Her failure has stained deep into her soul. Which, surprisingly, is EXACTLY why God came to her with an offer!

The King of the Universe makes the same offer to me… ‘MY’ sin in exchange for immeasurably more than I could ever imagine… and NO garbage. As I reflect on the lack of ANY promise from human government to completely satisfy me, I am reminded of JESUS promise of COMPLETE forgiveness and of LIVING water that COMPLETELY quenches my deepest heart’s need. I willingly sign up for HIS service and recommend Him to you too! I can truthfully say that Jesus is the ultimate Trash Man!

“Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.” Psalm 111:1

Having planned my day and exited my house, I heard a familiar DING! Like Pavlov’s dog, I am conditioned to respond to my cell phone, and that DING meant an important reminder was waiting. Before I even STARTED my busy day, my calendar ‘app’ reminded me of an appointment I have made…MONTHS ago. It was for that afternoon! DING!!!!! SURPRISE!!!

I actually have 2 ‘apps’ on my phone that dictate my activities. Along with my calendar I also have a ‘to-do’ list that I create and update as I check them off. I could say that my cell phone is like my very own personal secretary (gee… I never thought I’d HAVE one of those)! But I do!As I gave it some thought, I noted that both of those apps are 100% subject to a single authority… ME! I set it up…I make the entries…I follow them. Which makes ME own boss! In essence… I do what I tell me to do!

This morning, in my daily personal time with God, I found myself counting my blessings. It was no accident that I stumbled onto Psalm 111:1. I hadn’t PLANNED on it. But, the way the Christian Life goes, HE had! So I followed. I noted that the FIRST sentence is a command from Almighty God, who is #1 in my life, to ME…#2. “PRAISE ME!“ It is NOT a request! The second sentence then becomes MY response to the first! “I WILL!” My reaction was a smile!

Life is FULL of choices… do’s vs don’ts and will’s vs won’ts! Can’s vs can’ts and shall’s vs shant’s! At each street corner, I make the DECISION as to which way I will turn and move. I have often found that, even though I CHOOSE my direction, I STILL can get lost. And lost often means finding myself in a tangled mess of frustration, sadness and despair. All of which are MY own fault! Enter God!

God doesn’t MAKE mistakes. EVER. He knows it too! That is why He can confidently say…”PRAISE ME!” It isn’t some cocky demand from an egocentric tyrant. He LOVES me and wants the BEST for me. He KNOWS that way. And when I put Him first, everything else just turns to blessing. Even through storms.

Since Christmas and New years fell on a Wednesday this year, we didn’t get together at church for 3 weeks. Last night, we did. It was at that ‘Assembly’ that I discovered the answer to a pondering question. ‘How long does it take to establish a new pattern?’ Since attendance was about half… the answer might be 3!

If you find yourself too busy with too much to do… frustrated… at your wits end, may I recommend Psalm 111:1? It’s easy to remember since it’s ALL 1’s! The first three for the Trinity…111, and the last 1 for lil ol’ YOU. And if God is your number one and you find yourself lost… you MAY want to switch places, start praising and read on as you count His blessings! They’re listed right there!

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” 1 Timothy 4:7

I had reason to drive on New Years Day and was not surprised that the traffic was low. A lot of folks had stayed up New Years Eve to ring in the new year, Getting up and at ‘em was not a priority. Most of the stores were closed and it was rather quiet. Except at the gym!

Now don’t get me wrong. ‘I’ wasn’t going TO the gym, but simply driving past one. The parked cars and people running around it was kind of a surprise. It shouldn’t have been! A BIG resolution every year is to get fit. Statistics show that January is the BIGGEST month for gym membership sales. But by the 3^rd week of January, gym attendance goes back to normal. I easily eliminated the potential guilt by driving past it!

When I got home I knew the trip had impacted me, as I was suddenly curious about my own weight. Stepping on my wife’s scale, I was shocked at the number, which was 7 lbs more than usual! Chocking it up to a bad scale, I forgot about it. That is until I went to the doctor for a standard check up and his scale confirmed the number!

It’s right about now that I feel like a loser. And simply by association, you may have even joined me in the ‘guilty’ corner. Except… I am not there any more! Having been tricked before, I learned how to quickly recover! It is God’s will that I become more GODLY… NOT less weighty! And the proof comes in the following verse.

I LOVE the King James version of 1 Timothy 4:8. “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Kinda cool huh? I like to quote it as I drive by bikers and runners on Sunday morning!

Now what scale to I use to measure the size of my God-Likeness? How am I doing in the one area where GOD expects me to excel? Am I making forward progress? Am I looking good in His eyes? Is there an actual way that I can verify where I am? Do I really WANT to know… and am I moving in the right direction as expected? Good questions! And yes… there are exacting answers!

The nurse heard me mumbling to myself as she led me to the examination room. She made my day when she said…”that scale is 7 pounds over!” And JUST LIKE THAT!!! The previous paragraph with all it’s questions is a gauge unto itself. And if you are truly asking those questions of yourself… you are already in the right gym! Feel better?

Update!!

Thanks for your prayers for Bill Brigham.  He had a quadruple by pass and is on the mend!  Please keep praying. For those of you in Florida… I hope to see you at FLAP tonight where we will REUNITE and finish covering the ‘how to’ of reading the Bible, cover your personal questions AND introduce a new series.  

“But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites (Cohens), because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.” Numbers 7:9

‘The Day’ had arrived. That which I hate had come upon me! The tick of the clock has now forced me to do the thing that I don’t WANT or LIKE to do. After owning an old rental property for 30 years, it is now being sold. And before THAT wonderful day, which will be this week, I have to sort through the junk! I can put it off no longer!

We had bought the house to live in over 30 years ago. After we bought the house we are now in, I had the bright idea to keep it as a rental! Something that I knew NOTHING about! Let me tell you from EXPERIENCE… the horror stories of rental property are REAL. When folks left, the left me their junk. When a small back house had been practically destroyed, I just threw everything in THERE! And I mean EVERYTHING!

We spent a lot of time going through the stuff, much of it ours. Some things had valuable and some were sentimental. We stacked it in piles that determined its ultimate destination. Then I had to MOVE it… and STORE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE! As I was sorting AGAIN, for the 3^rd time, I realized I was sorting through things I had never SEEN before, or hadn’t TOUCHED in YEARS! But now, I was appointing MY precious TIME in order to assign the stuff VALUE!

In the Old Testament priesthood, there was a lot of STUFF needed to run the Tabernacle where the offerings and fellowship with God took place. The regular priests had oxcarts to load their stuff up and haul around. The Cohens, on the other hand, the HIGH Priests, had no such luxury. They had to CARRY their holy things, the things for which they were responsible, on their own shoulders! Which has provided me a lesson… a week too late!

Remodeling, moving, or selling a property ALWAYS requires sorting through SHTUFF! A friend of mine gave me that word and I like it! It is such a good word. it needs no definition! Everybody’s SHTUFF as different value. For example, I found my old router lettering kit in a custom box I built 35 years ago when I had a wood shop. Since I will NEVER have a wood shop again, what do I DO with it? And the list went on and on!

The old saying that ‘You can’t take it with you,” is NOT true. Christians will INDEED take our reward and relationship that we earned and built HERE, with us, to be with Him THERE! But it hit me hard that some of the SHTUFF that “I” think is important… ISN’T… with HIM! And THAT is what He is trying to tell me through my frustration!

I am wasting time! God is calling me to the IMPORTANT! And as I think about what is going to happen with all the SHTUFF in MY house, I have decided I am not going to do ANYTHING. I’ll just leave it for my ‘kids’ to sort through when I am gone! You know… something to remember me by! Just for a laugh! But until then… I am going to plan to spend more time on holier things.

Please pray for Bill Brigham… after tests yesterday he was scheduled for open heart surgery this morning at 11am.   TY

“As for God, His way is perfect: the Lord’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 18:30

Way back in October I had asked what Katie wanted for Christmas. And it didn’t take her long to answer. She wanted the 20 year old carpet out of our bedroom and replaced with a new laminate floor. Having purchased the flooring before Thanksgiving, all that remained was the installation.

I am a whiner sometimes! And by now everyone in the church has learned about this project and are as sick of hearing about it as I am telling it. But since I write about daily experiences and how to apply the Bible to everyday situations, this 10 day project gave me lots of resources.

I am not new to the honey-do, and being around the block several times has taught me a few things… the HARD way. Which, not surprisingly, is how I have learned MOST things in life. Once, having had to buy a whole new bundle of shingles for a roofing project, and then a whole box of flooring the last time I cut something wrong, the most important lesson I learned was… ‘to end well, one must START well!’ And THIS job required finding the center of the room for ‘squaring.’

I am NOT a mathematician, fractions and geometry are my worst subjects. So it wasn’t surprising to get frustrated after 5 hours of planning, checking, measuring and re-checking before even 1 piece of material was laid on the floor! But once I got started, the goal was to keep to the original guidelines! Much like the goal of my Christian Life!

Christianity is a very precise and exacting relationship where there is no waffling or guessing involved. God and His Word are VERY precise and clear. HIS way is the RIGHT way… and the best chance for me to succeed in MY life is to follow HIM! It sounds like it should be pretty easy… right???

The Apostle Paul said it best in Romans 7, “Why do I do the things that I do?” In this project I felt his pain, as pushing here made it crooked there. Ignoring the line tripled work time as I had to tear out the mess and start over…AGAIN! But Christmas is over and it’s Monday! And though I feel bad at feeling bad, I distinctly hear Him calling to me in today’s verse as I start a new year over… AGAIN!       So how square are YOU?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This week I have been working on my wife’s Christmas present (laying a new floor), so I have taken one of the top devotionals that spoke to me… and shared it.  I get about 8 a day from various sources. I ALMOST took the time to write this YESTERDAY, but wanted to wait until 2019 passed.  Because literally EVERY devotional I received asked for the SAME THING… and in the SAME WAY!!!

The appeal was for $$$$$$$!  “2019 is going and this is your LAST CHANCE to send your tax-deductible gift.”  And HOW they did it was frustrating to me. “This is YOUR LAST CHANCE to send your donation so more people can hear the Gospel.”  “Last chance!!??”  Now I’m not famous… just a little cog on the big wheel that is ‘The Church.’  But may I say it? “I’m offended!”

Nowhere in Scripture do we find the concept that I can sit back, send a check, and get credited for sharing the love of Christ! Jesus clearly tells me that sharing His love is my own responsibility.  Not someone else’s.  Besides… the folks asking for the money live in Texas, Virginia, California etc.!  They are nowhere NEAR MY friends and neighbors!

So on this first day of January 2020, I’m going to remind you of the same appeal that you had all 365 days LAST Year…  GO INTO THE WORLD AND SHARE!  We KNOW the Way, Truth and Life. We carry His love and joy with us 24/7.  And there is only ONE deadline with which we need be concerned! And He isn’t sharing the date and time of His return!

Maybe we can look at 2020 as a GREAT opportunity to meet new people and just get to know them, help them with a menial task, comfort them in a difficult situation, and SHOW them Jesus by just being a friend!  THEN, when the Holy Spirit opens the door… NOT rely on some outta state preacher to tell them the greatest news of all!  Jesus Christ!

Go get ’em tiger… er.. sheep!!

Happy 2020

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. — Matthew 6:33

In a column, reporter Bob Greene once opinioned on “How to Become a Hero.” He described a Texas gem dealer who went to a mineral show in Arizona. There he met a man who wandered creek beds, looking for interesting stones. This man was displaying some of his finds in plastic containers.

Among the smaller stones the dealer saw a large rock, and that’s all the displayer thought it was–a big rock. But this gem dealer knew otherwise. He recognized it as the biggest star sapphire he had ever seen.

Knowing that the owner had no idea of the true worth of the stone, the gem dealer bargained with him and paid $10 for the rock. Later he reported that it was worth $2.5 million dollars!

And, noted Greene, this gem dealer has become a sort of folk hero because he found something of value and purchased it at the lowest possible price, without hinting to the original owner what was going on. Greene went on to say, “This is just a particularly dramatic example of the way so many people are getting rich these days. They don’t do anything of importance or value; they just manipulate and sidestep and feint and parry. They make people think they are going to do one thing, and then they do another. The lesson seems to be that only suckers believe in putting in a day’s work for a day’s pay. The smart boys are the tricksters.”

Unfortunately, Bob Greene is right. People’s lives today seem consumed with lotteries, long shots, and insider trading . . . and a continuing saga of greed, bribery, extortion, and embezzlement.

As Christians, however, we shouldn’t be too surprised. Jesus said that his values are the opposite of the world’s and that people who follow him will be misunderstood. True followers of Christ won’t fit into society.

The Bible says that who we are on the inside is infinitely more important than our outward appearance, the way we achieve our goals is as important as the goals themselves, and that seeking Christ and his kingdom is more important than being the richest person on earth.

Greene concludes his column with these thoughts: “Let’s imagine that the gem dealer sees the star sapphire and instead of purchasing it for $10, he tells the man of its real worth and urges him to get some advice about what a fair asking price is before selling it. I know, I know; that’s not the way the world works. Maybe, though, he could have at least cut the poor rock-hunter in on his profits. But then he wouldn’t have been a hero for these days, would he?”

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Matt 16:26).

Don’t worry about making it in today’s world. Focus your attention on being a “hero” where it counts . . . in God’s eyes.  Then HIS promise to take care of you because of your FAITH will profit you greater than any scheme you can generate.

I received this devotional today and LOVED it. I believe it hits at the very heart of all of our human condition. Since I have spoken and written on this very subject exhaustively, I thought I’d share another pastor’s view. The fires we face have been lighted by our own (humanity’s) hand. Regardless, Because He is God, He can take them up and use them to teach and discipline us for our own good and His own Glory. Blessings to you!

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. — Herm Albright

Lois was well into her 80s and just had one of her joints replaced with a new, artificial one. She had a couple complications with the surgery though, and she found herself in the hospital for about five weeks right through the Christmas season. It definitely was not what she planned.

So instead of immersing herself in holiday festivities, she found herself in exile in the hospital bed waiting to heal—a variation on the exile in which Daniel and his friends found themselves in Babylon.

When I went to visit her she said, “I’ve asked God a number of times why He’s letting this happen. And He hasn’t told me yet.” So I asked, “What have you been doing with that?” She said, “Well, I just shifted my focus to all these beautiful people that have to be in this room with me. We’re having incredible conversations, and I’ve heard unbelievable stories. And I’m getting to pray with people. It’s been such a blessing.”

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:28-29, 37)

Honestly, I’m still learning to apply what Lois and Daniel knew. While in exile they knew that backstage a loving God was working for His glory and for our good. Notice, I did not say “for our comfort.” Let me be clear, I said “for His glory and for our good.”

Many times—perhaps most of the time—what is good for us is not comfortable for us. But make no mistake: If it’s allowed by our loving God, then it’s for His glory and our good—even when it looks bad, horrible, or inconceivably tragic.

Lord, in the midst of my personal exiles—be they big or small—be my strength Jesus, and remind me of Your consistent care and power. Amen.

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

It’s Christmas Eve. My FAVORITE Day of the YEAR! Yes, there are still thing to do, but NOTHING tops the anticipation as we approach the evening when we will meet and worship our Savior together as His Church.

I was driving and listening to an old Christmas song when the words really did hit me from above. As I paid closer attention, it hit me that, with just a few word changes, it summarizes how “I” feel on Christmas eve. I came home and made those changes. Maybe they might fit how YOU feel as well.

Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one with you

Merry Christmas Jesus
We’re apart that’s true
But I can dream and in my dreams
I’m Christmasing with you

Holidays are joyful
There’s always something new
But every day’s a holy day
When I’m near to you

Like the lights on my tree
I wish I could see
I wish it ev’ry day
Holy Spirit fire
Fills me with desire
To see you and to say

That I wish you Merry Christmas
Eternal joy, that’s true
I’ve just one wish on this Christmas eve
I wish I were with you

I hope you long for Him and His return, and that TODAY, He your greatest gift. Maranatha and Merry Christmas.

If you are in ton, we have a MOST BEAUTIFUL Christmas Eve Service at 7:00pm and then a reception back at my house for food and fellowship. Why not bring something and join us as we Celebrate our Eternal Love and Life together? I promise “HE will be there!