“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

It started a couple days ago, as it usually does every year. Boom! Bang! Wizzzzzz! With the 4^th of July approaching, those who bought fireworks for the occasion simply can’t wait for the actual day to arrive. The temptation to ‘shoot off 1 or 2’ is much too strong. Today being the 4^th, it is time to pull ‘em ALL out and let them fly! Spectators encourage sounds and display by their applause.

WAYYY back when I was in Junior High School, a friend gave me a couple ‘firecrackers.’ To this day I will never forget the anticipation and thrill I experienced as I leaned over it, struck a match and lit the fuse. And To this day I am not sure if there was something wrong with it, or if God was trying to teach me an early lesson. Cuz I didn’t get the usual time to ‘RUN!’ before it exploded in my face!

Every American knows that the sights and sounds of Fireworks are meant as a celebration of our Independence. The term ‘Revolutionary War’ describes what it took to free America from the financial hardship that came with the yoke of slavery imposed by England. Daily living was replaced with daily revolting until July 4^th1776, when American Freedom was finally won.

Reading today’s Bible verse alludes to another date in history when man’s ‘spiritual’ freedom was won by God on a cross and through an empty grave over 2000 years ago. The first part of the verse is the ‘Wizzz Bang’ of celebration for those of us who have chosen to receive Life in Christ. The second part issues a warning. Freedom is, and never will be… free! The struggle continues.

Every person born knows that they are not perfect. Inside our being we KNOW what right and wrong are, but even though we have the rules written down, we STILL can’t keep from breaking them in our hearts. Anger, desire, lust, greed ALL convict us as slaves to rules that cannot be kept. This poses a problem! How can imperfect people share Heaven with perfect God? God answers!

Keeping rules isn’t the thing that sets me free. JESUS set me free when He paid for my revolting rebellion. When I gave him my life, I was set FREE from sin and death. But I was NOT set free from my selfish heart. Because try as I may… it still revolts. The remedy isn’t trying to be good! It comes by resting and trusting in HIM! Because only HE can keep me free! Are YOU free… really?

Don’t let life explode in your face… Follow Jesus. 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:2

“OH NO!” was my immediate thought when, holding Katie’s hand, I felt a tug toward the ground. Looking down, I saw my wife on the ground, her knee bleeding. IMMEDIATELY I was overcome with love and empathy. AND with a sense of “what can I do to help my love?” What confronted me was an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Seeing my tough wife down was troubling.

We were in Florence, Italy en route to see Michelangelo’s ‘Statue of David.’ It was 1 of only 2 things she REALLY wanted to see on our European trip. In a hurry and running late, she tripped and pain set in. That was 11 days ago. Limping around since, her pain has only slightly diminished. So yesterday she finally conceded to go to the Walk-in clinic. After an X-ray, they confirmed a sprain.

It was an hour later that the phone rang and Katie was told ‘the sprain’ was actually a fracture! Which, to me, was sweet relief! I love her and want her well. But her stubbornness to NOT get a professional diagnosis was NOT in her best interest. A doctor friend of mine encouraged her to get checked out, she finally agreed. Because of pain, she KNOWS what is wrong and is on the mend.

Today’s Bible verse is a promise from God certifying fire and flood are no match for God’s hand. He PROMISES to be with us when we face difficulty. But the end of the verse can easily be misinterpreted as a false promise. God was talking to Israel in regard to their relationship to Him as a Nation. 3200 years later, we see that Israel is STILL in God’s purview. Kinda-sorta!

Not surprisingly, Christ’s relationship to His Church today carries this same promise. Jesus promised, through His Word, that He would never leave or forsake those who choose Him as their Lord. But the promise carries NO spiritual magic! He does NOT promise us healing and miraculous deliverance from every pain, but to walk WITH us THROUGH the pain and suffering we face.

My experience of walking with Christ for 56 years verifies His faithfulness. He has NEVER left me… though I have often moved away from Him, fracturing our relationship. It is humanly natural to move AWAY from pain, deny and seek more comfortable answers than to proceed through fire! But Jesus’ promise is displayed in the storm. Not on the beach! Knowing WHERE I am is critical.

Facing, seeking, and desiring God and His promises starts with ‘Truth.’ It is no accident that Jesus calls Himself “The Way, The Truth and The Life,” and then adds, “there’s NO other Way!” I know, I’ve tried many! Katie is now ‘obeying’ Doctor’s orders and will get better over time. For now, pain reminds her to rest. The SAME thing Jesus says to me when ‘I’ face the fire… Matthew 11:28-29.

Where are YOU? What fires or floods are YOU facing along this road called life. Are you being honest with yourself and seeking ‘The Truth’ and a REAL solution? Have you sought God to find Him? Or are you hobbling around in denial and pain trying to mask or hide from it? He’s waiting to hear from you… and He has answers. 

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5

The medical advice I read nailed it… ‘fatigue, an unwell feeling, unfocused with stomach problems!’ All symptoms Katie and I were experiencing, but unable to do much about. Entering the world of Jet lag is very real, coming down to so called circadian rhythms, where sleep cycles gets pegged to a time zone. The more time zones crossed, the worse it gets. We had traveled 6!

It was the first time Katie and I had traveled to Europe. My sons had advised, “sleep on the plane on the way over, stay awake on the way home.” Having done that, I STILL couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Katie! Having not felt well for a long time myself, I attributed it to old age! But Katie is ALWAYS up and running and joyful. She wasn’t even laughing at my jokes! So I Googled it!

The good side of Jet Lag produced even more awake time when I would normally be sleeping. While gone, we were so busy we didn’t really set aside our normal time to spend with Jesus, like we do here on a daily basis. Consequently, with time on our hands, we both went to our respective corners, opened our Bibles and sat at His feet. There, our spirits were revived. Ahhhh… HOME!

My Relationship with Jesus is the same as with people. While I was almost 6000 miles from my family here, they were STILL my family. I had pictures of them on my phone, and occasionally was able to email them. But when we landed, and my son came to the airport to pick us up… THAT was REALITY. The small ache of ‘missing’ was replaced by vivid experience. I hugged him HARD!

Sadly, I have found that most people have not cultivated a ‘real’ experience of walking, talking and spending genuine time with the Lord of the Universe. And even though they suffer the same symptoms of ‘missing something,’ they haven’t quite discovered what the ‘Something’ really is! Many walk around disturbed and downcast, with little hope. Eternally ‘jet lagged!’ How sad!

I’m still dizzy, tired, and internally messed up physically. But not Spiritually. I KNOW who I believe in. And I KNOW that He is ALWAYS there and ready to sit and listen and talk to me. But it is up to ME to make the move to sit at His feet first! It is THERE that I find myself ALWAYS and HOME!

Are YOU disquieted, disturbed or downcast? Have YOU a REAL relationship with The Savior and do you spend time regularly with Him? Or do you spiritually fly away? He’s there and waiting!

“For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40

“Why?” was the question 2 of my 4 kids asked when I asked them for the last 4 digits of their Social Security number. Every person born in America, as well as those wanting to become citizens, has been given a 10 digit number., unique and specific. Unlike ‘David’ or ‘Ann,’ no 2 people share the same number. THEIR number was quickly provided when I responded, “I’m making out ‘The Will.’”

Next week Katie and I embark on a journey we’ve looked forward to for decades. It was our hope and plan to travel ‘when we retired.’ But both of us have come to realize that retirement is not really a vocational option, So since a ‘God-calling’ doesn’t expire, we’re going to take some time to travel by way of land, air and sea. It hit me that NOW would probably be a good time to write out our ‘Will.’

Having ‘A Will’ is extremely important. I’ve heard that all my life. I also KNOW that because, in my profession, I have seen some horrible results from folks who have ‘passed on,’ NOT leaving ‘A Last Will and Testament!’ The government already has its eyes on my estate and plans to take a big portion of it. So unless I set down and express MY will, OTHER’S wills will willingly will otherwise!

In my study of the Book of John, I have been pondering the subject of ‘The Will of God.’ It is an interesting topic, since God doesn’t die and leave instructions on what to do when He’s gone! Instead, God gives specific instructions to us so that we might dedicate ALL of OUR life and stuff to HIS eternal plan. God’s will is simple and plain… “Look to and Believe in my Son… get eternal Life.”

I noted that since God is the Creator of everything, He is also the original ‘Tracker!’ He doesn’t assign a number to me, I automatically came with unique DNA and fingerprints. I ALSO came with a pre-planned PURPOSE for my life that is uniquely MINE. And to be sure, He is The Master at keeping track of how well I track with Him. Now, as His child, I don’t really RECEIVE His Will… I AM His will!

SO how about YOU? Are YOU a willing willful Child of the King working out His plan and purpose for you… willingly?

“As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, (then) I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father.” 1 Kings 6:12

I love my wife. If you know Katie, your immediate response would probably be, “well you SHOULD… LOOK at her!” You MIGHT even follow up with, “how did a guy like YOU get a lady like HER?” My response would be, “You’re right!” But I’m not as dumb as I play! LOVING her, 2nd only to loving God, is the greatest and most important role in my life. It’s tough because… she’s FANCY!

Somewhere, some time and some place, Katie got a cup of coffee that has froth on top of it. Her response was INSTANT gratification… like WOW! When she told me about it, and we tried it, her WOW experience was re-lived. Having nailed it… she had me taste it and asked… “doesn’t it even TASTE BETTER? A girl question that leaves this guy baffled. How can adding air change taste?

Men and women are different. God created humans that way for His purpose. Then he added rules to follow so I wouldn’t go about reinventing things that would eventually go wrong! Upon seeing and hearing that my wife loves frothy coffee, frothy coffee is what she is going to get! Last night I was questioned about the tool I use, and where someone might buy one for themselves.

My crazy brain started thinking, and possibly with the help of the Holy Spirit, I wondered… “Is GOD FANCY like that?” Heading back to the building of the finest Temple in the history of man, I found this initial statement God made to Solomon before he built it, and found today’s verse. It appears to me that God really didn’t give much of a hoot for the temple at all. HE wanted… man’s HEART!

Gold, jewels, precious materials and design are PRODUCT that God made though His Son Jesus. They were made by His SPEAKING and POOF!!! They appeared! Like air added to coffee with cream, man’s arrangement of God’s created materials do absolutely NOTHING to improve or make God say, “WOW… would ya LOOK AT THAT!” So God struck a mutual agreement deal with Solomon.

My life, circumstances, pains, experiences, temptations, trials and EVERYTHING, funnel into and land on what was once nothing more than a dead, black heart. God’s love provided me a path to live an extraordinarily FANCY life with HIM at the head of it. But a fancy life like that only comes from giving and allowing HIM to whip all the ingredients together for HIS purposes.

I’m going to work on giving Him every moment along my path today. How about you? Do YOU fancy fancy?  Are you sharing the information to help others whip up their own fancy lives with Him?

“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” John 15:11 NLT

During our drought spell, I noted that my neighbors grass had a large patch of green growing where everything else was brown. I mentioned it to him, saying he MAY want to call the county to check for a leak in his water main. He did! Unfortunately they found that the leak was coming from MY side! $350 to the plumber put a stop to THAT nonsense. 2 weeks later… !!!

When grandchildren came to sleep over, bath and bedtime had them all orbiting the bathroom. The emptying of the tub and the flush of the toilet produced ANOTHER kind of overflow! This time, water was overflowing 2 bathroom floors AND the shower! And it WASN’T fresh water! A call to my plumber, 2 days and many hundreds of dollars later AGAIN, put a stop the that nonsense!

It was rather comical to me to read this part of the Bible when I had just experienced expensive plumbing problems in both the intake and outflow of water under the house. Meditating on what Jesus said, and what He was doing, I realized that when it comes to life in The Spirit, He is NOT concerned with control, waste management or supply and demand. Jesus is a dumper!

Jesus clearly teaches that He came to give Joy! And NOT just enough for the single moment. He came to give so much joy to people, that OVERFLOW is actually expected! It seems to me that the more I overflow with His joy in me, the MORE useful to Him I become. And overflow brings even MORE opportunity for overflow! Leak fixing is the furthest thing from Jesus’ mind!

It stands to reason then that… if I am walking around grumpy and irritable, it ISN’T the fault of Jesus or even life itself! The fault lies within ME. Jesus can supply me with MORE joy and abundant life than I could ever possibly use! TO NOT use or take advantage of that is just plain silly and stingy! Today I am planning to do some splashing in His overflow! How about YOU? I want the lawn of my life to be GREEN!   And so does HE!

“Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV

“Are you in?” was the phrase of the night… and it was said often! ‘The Sleepover’ was specifically for our ‘older’ grandkids because, as we all know, shared interests are often determined by age. Wanting to play a game together, ‘Tripoly’ was suggested and everyone agreed, or swe THOUGHT they did. The game was underway when several had to repeatedly ask one player ‘the phrase!’

Tripoly is a card game that is most fun when played at a faster rate. The goal is to be the first one out of cards, and cards laid are determined, in order, by what other players have already thrown. For example, “3 of hearts” follows “2 of hearts.” as they holler and lay their cards in order. Players need to sort, fan-out and watch their cards, as failure to play a card affects the game’s outcome.

It was soon clear by silence, and then by observation, that one player wasn’t playing. They had not fanned-out, nor were they playing their cards. Irritation soon rose because players couldn’t get rid of THEIR cards if 1 player wasn’t ’in’ the game. So an ultimatum was given by the group… ‘either play or quit!’ Because inattentive sitting at the table is not an option when playing Tripoly!

When it comes to being a follower of Jesus Christ, today’s verse is a ‘seriously kind’ way of saying ‘either play or quit!’ Simply asking someone if they ‘believe’ in Jesus Christ can get a ‘look like’ someone is ‘in.’ But looks can be deceiving! Pretending to be a part of the Body of Christ affects the success of every member of a Family or Church. The 2^nd part of the verse implies a warning!

‘Study’ or ‘be diligent’ is a command from God. It is NOT a suggestion. Not ‘liking’ to read’ is not a legitimate excuse for a pretender. Getting rid of personal ‘bad cards’ is a sign of growing. And growing produces even MORE studying because, if I love Jesus, having MORE of Him makes life even MORE interesting and fun. Being a ’work-person’ for Jesus proves that I am His winner!

Are YOU participating in God’s game of Life? Are you IN? Are you actively reading and studying God’s Word to get more of Him? Do you have God’s approval or are you mostly ashamed? Now is the time to pick up His Word and get in the game because.. It’s your turn!

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

“Well… we survived!” That was the summation of Katie’s 5 day report in regards to the ‘Cousin Sleepover’ event at our house. The first 2.5 days were started with spending time with my oldest son’s family and 2 elementary school boys. That day ended with 5 of our older grandchildren coming to our house. Overlapping, came our youngest daughter’s family with 3 younger children.

“Cousin Sleep-over” has been a thing since my mother started it decades ago with MY children and their cousins. After being married and alone together, Katie thought children would be a wonderful benefit. Raising 4 children into adulthood and watching them go out into the world to become successful in marriage and parenting is the joy of my life. But we’ve lived alone for over 19 years.

“Time changes things,” is an understatement. When people ask how we managed to raise 4 children, all 2 years apart from each other, I have no wise answer other than to say, we just did it! Having grandkids come into our house to live for a few days was quite an event! OUR kids trust US to watch THEIR kids, and to keep them safe, fed and entertained. We trusted THEIR kids to know the basics of life.

Space and time, when crammed with a small group of small ones, have a way of overwhelming the senses. Individual desires, tastes, likes and dislikes must yield to the mutual benefits of everyone. That includes ours as well. We cannot expect cleanliness, calm and order, things that we mostly live with now, to remain the norm. I forgot how much energy and disorder accompany small children.

We had a GREAT time. That my wife is ‘The Queen’ when it comes to small children is a gift I GREATLY appreciate. Now that things are back to normal, we reflect on how it all went, even talking over some of the challenges. Which made me wonder… how great must GOD be to plan for the mass invasion of his children… into HIS Heaven… for ETERNITY! I mean… how crazy is THAT?

God’s instruction book (The Bible) and His Church, are His methods of prepping us for what is to come. I expected my kids ,who were taught by us, to pass on standards for living and getting along with others, since fighting, selfishness and fits of rage are unacceptable in a group setting. God gives us a lifetime here, working WITH us, to MAKE us what is His minimum standard in Heaven… PERFECT!

Are YOU working with God to become more like what He wants from you? Do you try to please Him? Are you sharing and caring for those in His immediate family… and are you working with Him to grow His family even bigger… and better? How are you doing at becoming… PERFECT?

“Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:19

Behold the Hard Head! If you come to our Church, you know this guy! John is a man in… let’s say… ‘transition!’ He’s a big boy! And while ‘big’ has a lot to do with genetics, in HIS case, as is so many of our physical, mental and spiritual lives, that BIGness came with a price! A LOT of what John is going through right now stems from His willingness to pay a HIGH cost for LOW quality of goods.

John is a Florida boy born and raised. He loves His barbecue and vittles. The majority of us can move through life and only hear the, “ya gotta stop doing _____,” AFTER we’ve gotten away with it for a long time. Sugar and cholesterol are things my doctor has told ME that I need to watch! It never bothered me before… until now! Now those items are possible bullets that could kill me! Ugh-Oh!

John had to have radical surgery to remove a rather large tumor in his brain. It’s the 2^nd one in his lifetime. He had to go back in for further surgery because he started leaking. Not being happy about that, he grumbled. Setting John beside Galen, it is obvious that we have a pair of twins in our church! Galen had the same problem with HIS leg surgery. After insisting on going out, he leaked!

O.K., O.K… I may be picking at small matters here. But then again, maybe not! Both of these Florida boys have a difficulty in following orders. MOST of us do! I CAN write about them because they both already KNOW that is their weakness. Growling dogs growl! I did again last night, and had to apologize for my own attitude as my wife sat and heard me complain about the traffic. Hard heads!

God has a special place in His being for hard-headed people. Stiff-necked people too! I believe the reason is that, once He’s saved a hard headed person, that person will be a hard head FOR God the rest of His life. If you don’t believe it, look at most of God’s most famous prophets, priests, kings… and even His disciples! Look at Peter ‘the rock!’ But hard headedness alone gets no points!

It is absolutely true and wonderful that we are saved by our Grace through Faith alone. But today’s verse shows us that THAT doesn’t eliminate ‘The Rules!’ God STILL expects us to change and obey. Not raise His banner… then rebel! The Spiritual Gifts are rooted in love and kindness. Not war and fighting. It is still possible for us to get to heaven and be called… ‘The Least!’

John and Galen are doing well. John even led his roommate in the hospital to the Lord! And Galen seems to follow Paula’s orders a little more than usual. Both GOOD signs that God expects us to change and get with HIS program. SO how hard is YOUR head and how much surgery is He going to have to do on YOU before you get with His program?