Ahhhhhh… after so many of us going through SO many difficulties…from death, sickness, surgeries, money issues and threats from Covid and other unknowns, I find myself tired.  I need a breather!  But please note I DID NOT say I was DISCOURAGED!  Oh NO NO NO NO NO!  Even Jesus took breaks to commune with His Father and get re-centered.  But difficulties have served, over the years, to make me stronger and even MORE defiant against the things that are against God.    I do not doubt Him.  Even though I do not have a map of where He is going.  In fact, I feel sorry for those who do not put their faith in His Love.  I can even laugh at circumstances, some of which “I” have created myself, that would point to my own demise.   Oh no!  Romans 8:28 is a sword!  Not a Kleenex!  A tank!!!  Not a pill.  God WILL PREVAIL!  Even when I don’t know how!  

Article by David Mathis Executive Editor, desiringGod.org

Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple. (John 2:15)

He made a whip. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. It was “a whip of cords,” John reports. Whether any human or animal actually caught it on the backside, we don’t know. We might reasonably doubt he drew any blood. After all, he came to Jerusalem to spill his own blood, not to take it from others. Either way, we do know the whip was effective. “He drove them all out of the temple.”

True, this was an unusual event, but it was not unique — he would do it again at the outset of his Passion Week (Matthew 21:12–13). Jesus didn’t go around wielding whips on a regular basis. He didn’t keep a whip or weapon on his belt. But he also wasn’t afraid to pick one up from time to time. So we dare not reduce the God-man to someone too docile to do anything but play nice and keep thin peace.

He was tender. Oh, the compassion of Christ — a virtue attributed only to Christ, and no other, in the Gospels. His tenderness led him to heal lepers (Luke 17:13–14), to restore sight to the blind (Luke 18:38–42), to help a grieving widow (Luke 7:13) and the distressed father of a demonized son (Mark 9:22). He had compassion on the crowds (Mark 6:34). Even as God in the flesh, without any sin of his own, his life was not driven by righteous anger but sustained by joy. He was known for his compassion.

His wonderful, welcoming tenderness, however, need not rule out his holy strength and grit. In fact, it must not. If he had no spine, it wouldn’t be nearly so precious to know his heart.

His Piercing Tongue

His tenderness, which we love and so desperately need, is all the more striking because of his toughness toward sin and unbelief. His compassion for the afflicted would be undermined if not flanked by righteous anger toward their afflicters. He emphatically did not demonstrate compassion for wicked kings, conniving priests, and self-righteous Pharisees — which makes his tenderness all the more precious as he turns to his trusting sheep.

“It is often the offensive side of Jesus that we need most,” writes John Piper.

Especially offensive to the modern, western sentiment is the tough, blunt, fierce form of Jesus’s love. People with thin skin would have often felt hurt by Jesus’s piercing tongue. People who identify love only with soft and tender words and ways would have been repeatedly outraged by the stinging, almost violent, language of the Lord. (Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, 93)

“Christ’s tenderness is all the more striking because of his toughness toward sin and unbelief.”

In Christ, we see that compassion incarnate will, at times, take up the veritable whip of strong words to sting imperiled addressees. Memorable, of course, is Jesus’s pronouncement of sevenfold woe on the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1–36). To their faces, he said they were “like whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), “like unmarked graves” (Luke 11:44). Jesus found himself in the midst of a “faithless generation” (Mark 9:19), “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 16:4), and he wasn’t afraid to say it. He assumed his hearers were fallen, even evil, and named it (Matthew 7:11).

And he informed his recalcitrant opponents to whom they truly belonged: “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

Hard Words to Friends

We should not mistake “the tough, blunt, fierce form of Jesus’s love” as a severity reserved for his foes, though. Even Peter, first among equals, felt the verbal lash — and it was a grace to him.

Looking back, what a horror for Peter, to think he took Jesus aside and tried to redirect him from obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross (Matthew 16:22). But Jesus rescued himself, and Peter, from the all-too-powerful temptation, with the shocking and appropriate, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). In hindsight, Peter would see it as love. So too, all his disciples have our moments when, like Peter, we need to be stunned wide awake to all that’s at stake in this life.

In John 6, Jesus’s offensive language turns away the crowds — not foes, mind you, but those who were, to this point, following him (even if presumptuously). Here Jesus is not seeker-friendly. “You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). He challenged the carnality of their “faith” with confounding language designed to drive away those with no spiritual apprehension.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. (John 6:53–54)

Even his own disciples had to confess, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). And he did not relent even then, this time speaking of another disciple, not Peter: “One of you is a devil” (John 6:70).

Hard Words to Families

Genuine, deep, lasting peace is his goal, and Jesus knows hard words are often vital to that goal. When Satan and sin have taken root, we dare not pretend there is peace when there is not.

First, Jesus comes as Truth into a world of lies, and division ensues. “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! . . . Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:49, 51). Even our most basic of bonds, even the most intimate of earthly peace, will be broken to reveal the wickedness of sin and worth of God.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. . . . Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26, 33)

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. (Luke 21:16–17)

I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. (Matthew 10:35–36)

“We need the whole Jesus, the real Jesus. Both gentle and lowly, and honest and courageous.”

Who else can demand such allegiance? Even short-term peace in our own homes, and extended families, will be challenged by the uncomfortable, tough side of Christ. And on the far side, he promises to make up for every loss — and they are genuinely painful losses. “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time . . . and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29–30).

Hard Words to Churches

Jesus’s strong words, even for his own people, appear again in his seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2–3. Along with his words of praise to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:3), he cuts to the chase: “I have this against you . . .” (Revelation 2:4; cf. 2:20). He warns, “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:5).

So too to the church at Pergamum: “I have a few things against you” (Revelation 2:14). And he speaks to the church at Thyatira of “that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). And to the church at Sardis: “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (Revelation 3:1). And of course to Laodicea: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16). In the mouth of Christ, this is love — tough words, for love’s sake: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (Revelation 3:19).

Again Piper writes, What we meet in the biting language of Christ is a form of love that corresponds with the real world of corruption and the dullness of our hearts and the magnitude of what is at stake in our choices. If there were no great evils and no deaf hearts and no eternal consequences, perhaps the only fitting forms of love would be a soft touch and tender words. But such a world does not kill the Son of God and hate his disciples. There is no such world. (94)

Coming Omnipotent Wrath

In the end, hard words, and a whip in the temple, will not prove to be the height of Christ’s severity. One day his wrath will fall, not with words, but in fire. And no one spoke about hell like Jesus, or more often than he did. The angels will separate the evil from the righteous, he says, and “throw them into the fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:50). Better to cut off a hand, or gouge out an eye, than to go to “the unquenchable fire . . . where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43, 48) — to “the outer darkness” where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). Apart from Christ, humans will not only coast and choose hell; they will be thrown there, into “eternal punishment” — “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:30, 41, 46).

Revelation 6 gives us a stunning glimpse of the coming final judgment. A sixth seal is opened. The earth quakes, the sun goes dark, the moon turns to blood. Stars fall, and the sky is rolled back like a scroll. The earth’s kings and “the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful . . . hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains” (Revelation 6:15). So terrified are they at “the wrath of the Lamb” that they call to the mountains and rocks to fall on them: “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16–17). They would rather be crushed to death than to face the omnipotent wrath of gentle Jesus, tender and tough.

Tough Serves Tender

The tough side of Christ, the words and acts hardest on modern stomachs, is not instead of his tenderness, but in service of his mercy. He doesn’t rescue us to rough us up; he roughs us up to rescue us. He shows wrath and makes his power known “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9:22–23). In the coming ages, having seen his toughness and strength, we will see, and enjoy, “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us” (Ephesians 2:7). His toughness serves his tenderness; his power serves his mercy.

The glory of Christ and his Father, at its apex, is the glory not of wrath and power, but of mercy and grace. We need this Jesus, the whole Jesus, the real Jesus. Both gentle and lowly, and honest and courageous. We need ears to hear the love and compassion of Christ even in his most piercing words and uncomfortable acts.

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus Through the Spiritual Disciplines.

This has been an issue with Believers forever.  With Disney proclaiming it in cartoon form, “Just Follow your Heart,”  it is easy to get confused and make the wrong decisions.  This article is WELL worth your reading.

Article by Jon Bloom Staff writer, desiringGod.org

“Why shouldn’t I follow my heart? If I am a Christian — if God has caused me to be ‘born again’ and has given me ‘a new heart’ — isn’t my new heart trustworthy?”

Readers have raised some version of this objection when I’ve exhorted Christians, “Don’t follow your heart.” And the objection is warranted. After all, the Bible clearly teaches that in this era of the new covenant, God writes his law on our new hearts so that we willingly follow him (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Hebrews 8:8–12). This would seem to not merely imply, but even mandate, that Christians should follow their hearts.

But the Bible’s description of what a regenerated person actually experiences in this age reveals a more spiritually and psychologically complex picture — one that I believe gives Christians biblical warrant to cultivate a healthy suspicion of what they recognize as their hearts’ desires. So, while we may, and hopefully will, reach a point in our lives as Christians where it’s right, at times, to follow our hearts, allow me to make a brief case that the phrase actually undermines Christians as they labor and struggle to discern their various desires, and that Scripture itself discourages us from thinking this way.

War Within

How might we summarize the complex picture the Bible paints of the born-again experience in this already-not-yet age?

The New Testament explains that when the Spirit brings us from spiritual death to spiritual life (John 5:24; Romans 6:13), we enter a strange new reality. Our regenerated new self emerges, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” And yet our “old self, which belongs to [our] former manner of life,” is still “corrupt through deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22–24). We are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6) while still inhabiting the “flesh,” our “body of death” in which “nothing good dwells” (Romans 7:18, 24).

“The hearts of regenerated people are not yet fully free from the influence of their flesh.”

When Christians are born again, we enter into a lifelong internal war where “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17). Stepping back and viewing these desires objectively, “the works of the flesh” that result from fleshly desires “are evident,” and so is “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:19–23). But Christians often struggle — on the ground, in real time — to discern the desires of the Spirit from the desires of the flesh.

This is why the New Testament Epistles are full of exhortations and corrections addressed to Christians. James tells his readers (and us at relevant times) that their “passions are at war within” them (James 4:1). Peter warns his readers (and us), “Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14). Paul describes this internal experience of warring passions as “wretched” (Romans 7:24). And he admonishes the Colossian Christians (and us) with strong language: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).

Why did these apostles feel the need to speak this way to regenerated people? Because the hearts of these regenerated people were not yet fully free from the influence of their flesh, their old selves.

Follow the Spirit

Much of the Christian life is a war to die to remaining sin and live by the Spirit. John Piper calls it “the main battle of the Christian life”:

The main battle is to see our hearts renovated, recalibrated, so that we don’t want to do those sinful external behaviors, and don’t just need willpower not to do them, but the root has been severed and we have different desires. In other words, the goal of change — of sanctification, of the Christian life — is to be so changed that we can and ought to follow our desires.

That’s exactly right. And when we have been so changed through progressive sanctification, so renovated that our hearts (and therefore our desires, dispositions, motives, emotions, and passions) are, as Piper says, “calibrated to Christ,” then we should follow our hearts.

However, at any given time within our churches, small groups, friendships, and families, different Christians are at different places for different reasons in this heart-renovation process. Some hearts are more sanctified, and therefore more reliable to follow, than others. I think that’s why we don’t hear the apostles generally counsel us to follow our hearts in our fight of faith against remaining sin, but rather to follow the Holy Spirit.

Let Not Sin Reign

Paul is the one who delves most deeply into this issue: “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He devotes most of Romans 6–8 to explaining the nature of the strange new-self/old-self, Spirit/flesh reality of the Christian life, including Romans 8:13: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Paul lays the theological foundation of our understanding by explaining “that our old self was crucified with [Christ] in order that [our] body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). Our new selves were “raised with Christ” (Colossians 3:1) so that “we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). Therefore, we “must consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). In light of this, Paul admonishes us,

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:12–14)

And how do we do this? By learning to “set [our] minds on the things of the Spirit” and not on “the things of the flesh” (Romans 8:5) — by learning to follow the Spirit, to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), because “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

Follow the Treasure

One of the reasons I find “follow your heart” generally unhelpful as counsel for Christians is that many of us, from the time we were young, have absorbed this as a pop-cultural creed that says if we just look deep into our hearts, we’ll be shown our deepest truth, and discover the way we should go. Given the significant amount our sinful flesh still influences our hearts, it’s not hard to see how this phrase can easily increase confusion when applying it to the Christian life.

“Some hearts are more sanctified, and therefore more reliable to follow, than others.”

I also don’t believe the Bible encourages that idea since, when it comes to engaging our hearts, far and away what we hear in it is counsel to “direct our hearts,” not to follow them. We see that clearly in Paul’s instructions above. God made our hearts to follow, not to lead. And what do our hearts follow? Jesus gives the clearest answer: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In time, our heart always pursues (follows) our treasure.

When we are born again, the eyes of our hearts are enlightened (Ephesians 1:18) and, through faith, we begin to see the Treasure: God himself in Christ. And since our heart learns to pursue the object that stirs its greatest affections, its treasure, I suggest we not counsel each other to “follow your heart,” but instead to “follow the Treasure.” Looking into our hearts for direction can be spiritually hazardous. It is usually more helpful for us to direct our hearts to what is most valuable and delightful. Which is why I believe David counsels us, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as teacher and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’” Genesis 4:6-7

I noticed it about Thursday of last week… at the time… it was just a faint whiff! But it was a whiff enough to know that something in the church had died. I’m still not sure if it was denial, laziness or a case of wishful thinking, but I must admit that I didn’t really look TOO hard. By Sunday morning, when I opened up the Church, reality hit and my countenance fell! As the seats began to fill, a thorough investigation came up empty. The question on most people’s lips was, “What’s that smell?”

I am experienced in the rat department. I find that rats are like colds, bills and taxes! They seem to come in seasons. I had already caught 5 outside my house last week, and the smell of decay hadn’t yet left my nose, if it ever does! But there I was, dressed in my Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes, facing my failure. If I had only investigated more carefully! Now…it was only 10 minutes before service was to start!

I had already sprayed half a can of air freshener throughout the place. SOME people were even fooled! But not most! Facing the situation realistically I did what ANYONE might do. I had a mini-meltdown! Grabbing 3 of my tough guys I said, “Look.. I am tired of always having to do the dirty work around here! Can you give me a hand and FIND THAT RAT?” 7 minutes later it was pulled from the attic and everyone began to breathe a little easier!

Now this story is an example of what ‘The Church’ is really all about! In the story of Cain and Able, a stench was already settling around Cain when God pulled up a stool, looked into Cain’s eyes and shot that warning off to him. And don’t think for a moment that God didn’t KNOW what Cain was going to end up doing, after the crouching sin entered Cain’s heart, it turned to complete stink! But God HAD to let free will choose! And Cain ended up a stink-pot forever!

I need tough guys and gals around me to hold me accountable and to point out the stink in my life. Sometimes I can’t smell it myself! Other times, I deny it’s there or try to mask it. But the stink of sin is even MORE nauseating than a dead rat. Sooner or later, it takes it’s toll and ruins who and whatever it touches. I find God’s words to Cain are prophetic to ALL of us. Jesus died for us, but even HIS rat removal system cannot have an effect if He isn’t contacted and allowed access to the stench.

If YOU’VE got stench? Who are YOU gonna call???

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV

As I write this, my Grandson ‘Sloan’ is going into surgery for his ear. And Team McCay is getting text message updates and pictures of every step along the way! Ain’t technology amazing? His surgery is in Tampa, but we are ALL there in spirit. And we are all doing our jobs. Even him!

This isn’t the first rodeo for Sloan. He has had a problem hearing and has had doctors visits and surgery before. The end of the matter will be when he can hear out of that ear, which has been a problem all along! But not so much that just anyone would notice! Because Sloan has learned to adapt well, he rises to every occasion. He’s a tough little guy in a tough Jesus Family!

As I hear another ‘ding’ of a text coming through, I note that there are 9 of us in the thread of the texts. Comments and encouragement are constant. It’s what we do because it’s what Jesus does…AND what He expects from us. Families, both physical and Church, stick together. Even when we are not physically close. Last week we dealt with the birth of our Granddaughter AND the passing away of Katie’s father. In EVERY case, Jesus Christ was the focal point of our attention and the source of our strength.

The Bible verse of today is not just a verse just to remember and quote in tough times. It is a chosen lifestyle that has been honed, with practice, over decades! I started on the trusting Jesus lifestyle when I was a boy. MY father led me, and after many tough journeys, I learned that God’s promise is ALWAYS true and that Jesus NEVER fails to provide. I taught it to my kids and they are passing it on to THEIR growing brood of Jesus kids. And we just keep getting tougher.

At my age, it is a joyful experience to KNOW that God is able! And that my kids know it too! He is ALWAYS faithful in His promise. Whether He is passing on His courage, patience and Hope through difficult circumstances. Or comfort, strength and peace in times of sorrow or loss. Listen folks, Hear our testimony…”Jesus has NEVER failed us.” Setting closer to the top of the mountain and looking all around at my kids, I see Him working still…just like He promised. And I couldn’t’ be more proud!

So thank you for joining our family in praying for Sloan. AND for signing up to apply this verse to YOUR life, if you haven’t already. Because living this way is the ONLY way to do it with Joy. If you don’t believe it…just ask “SLOAN WOLF!”

Katie forwarded this to ME.. and I am doing the same for you. There is a debate among Believers as to whether God causes all things.. or if He uses all things.  Romans 8:28 states. “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.”  I see God as The Master Artist as WE (and even Satan) hand, drop or even throw Him the tools and materials to work with.  The Beauty that He weaves of our lives will never be fully seen or appreciated until the completed work is revealed in Heaven.  What say YOU?  

What Was Meant for Evil, God Uses for Good by Max Lucado ~ Devotionals Daily

Joseph – Son of Jacob

How? How did he flourish in the midst of tragedy? We don’t have to speculate. Some twenty years later the roles were reversed, Joseph as the strong one and his brothers the weak ones. They came to him in dread. They feared he would settle the score and throw them into a pit of his own making. But Joseph didn’t. And in his explanation we find his inspiration.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. — Genesis 50:20 NASB

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. — Genesis 50:20 NIV

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. — Genesis 50:20 NKJV

In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good.

Joseph tied himself to the pillar of this promise and held on for dear life. Nothing in his story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains, tearstains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.

“You meant evil against me,”

Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that traces its meaning to “weave” or “plait.”

“You wove evil,” he was saying, “but God rewove it together for good.”

God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with the pleasures. Nothing escapes His reach. Every king, despot, weather pattern, and molecule are at His command. He passes the shuttle back and forth across the generations, and as He does, a design emerges. Satan weaves; God reweaves.

One of the most potentially frightening aspects of being a Christian is knowing that when you put your trust in Jesus, all of Hell takes arms against you intending evil upon your life. And, yet what trumps that fear and evil is knowing that, no matter what comes, God is the Master Weaver. He takes was was intended for evil and reweaves it for good. How have you seen that in your own life?

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’” Luke 17:20-21

It was a celebratory day. Coming off a week consisting of our Anniversary, Father’s Day and the birth of my granddaughter Cypress, it was now my birthday! As usual, the basic questions that came from most people were, “what are you going to DO,” and “what do you WANT FOR your birthday?” After the week I had, they became questions I simply could not answer!

Later in the evening we were invited to visit and meet our newest granddaughter. I had built up this great big idea in my head and was anticipating the moment. When we walked into the house… there she was… all bundled up in her bed and sound asleep! She was contented as she could possibly be! Not knowing what to DO or even what I WANTED, I simply sat down in front of her and stared in awe!

It’s moments like these that cause a HUGE question to burp up in my brain…”WHAT is WRONG with me?” I really didn’t know what to expect. But I DID expect SOMETHING! Likewise, I felt like I wanted, or needed to DO something with her, but I didn’t really know what or why! I started getting a clue when they pulled out 3 different cakes and started singing Happy Birthday to me AND Cypress!

The 3 cakes had been made over 3 days. With knife in hand, I started asking the parents, 2 sets of grandparents and 2 brothers, “what kind of cake do YOU want?” In almost every instance, the answer from each individual started with the word…”Uhhhhhhh!” Symbolical of a truth we all know, I realize that we ALL are generally EASY to please…but HARD to satisfy!

The Pharisees were basically non believers of their day. They were expected to know the answers to God questions. But they usually got caught… NOT! In this case, the Kingdom of God was THEIR business to know. When they asked Jesus if HE knew when the Kingdom of God would come, He gave them 1 firm statement that was guaranteed to show that there was NO WAY they could be satisfied. Because as it turned out, ‘The Kingdom’ was right in front of their noses… and inside their hearts…and they MISSED IT!

I must confess that I get caught up in the wanting and DOING of things to try to please God and myself. As if , when I hit the right combination, joy and fulfillment will arrive. While it may sound ridiculously simple, it isn’t. The Peace and Joy of God come to me when I REST in the fact of WHO and WHOSE I am…and NOT what I WANT or DO! It isn’t hard for me to slip off that boulder of truth.

I AM the grandfather of a little baby they call Cypress. I don’t have to DO or WANT ANYTHING to BE that! Sitting there looking at the evidence was PLENTY enough to please me! Likewise, I AM a child of Most High God! REALIZING THAT is really ALL I need to know to be COMPLETELY SATISFIED! It’s NOT a performance!

WHOSE WHO are YOU?  

“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'” Mark 6:15

Today is KC’s birthday so I (Katie) asked if I could hijack the Words of the Day. Happy Birthday KC

We leave behind traces of ourselves everywhere we go, dropping DNA, which tells our story like a puzzle of microscopic pieces.  In the process of living and shedding do we leave a real image of our true person. No. Yes. Maybe?  It depends on the person, doesn’t it?  As a Christian we know we are much more than the bodies we inhabit, and we also know we should be leaving behind much more than strands of hair and flakes of skin. 

Let’s just say I know a guy that literally litters Jesus everywhere he goes.  No one is safe from his inquiries “Are you a Jesus guy?”  No place is off limits, from the gym to the airport – restaurants are his jam.  He even claimed a busy intersection to proclaim Jesus as Lord twice a week! Proclaiming the name of Jesus is like breathing to him – that’s how much he loves Him.  While others may see him as annoying and bothersome, he’s often been known to go ‘a meddlin’.  I will admit there have been times I wanted to be selfish and not share my dinner while sharing the Gospel – shame on me!  Some may see this as pushy and even over the top.  But I will say this in my best ‘wanna be’ Southern voice, “Y’all… this guy loves them more than we do.”  He sees them as lost- we look the other way.  He listens and eagerly waits for an opportunity to pounce with the Good News to perishing people – one ‘special’ waitress at a time.  While we are more interested in the menu and the ‘special’ of the day.  

We have all been given The Great Commission – but usually we selfishly strap on blinders to the lost people we bump into every day.  It is most often easier to ignore than engage.  Not this man, he is busy doing the bumping, because the responsibility weighs heavily on him.  That guy is my husband KC McCay and I have had an incredible view of God at work. 

Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Mark 16:15    

Are you doing that?  Are you more or less?  Do you feel any responsibility?  I challenge you to be more than a collection of tissue and sinew. Don’t just leave a trail of DNA.

“As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” Psalm 127:4-5

Last night was a night! For 9 months my daughter Calah has been carrying an arrow! Yesterday she was to go into the hospital to deliver that arrow into the world. Through a series of miscues and events, she was sent home…only to be called back. Last night at 7:26pm, I was able to add 1 more arrow to my quiver!

Cypress Brielle Parker didn’t come into this world easy. In fact, had conditions been slightly different, she may not have made it at all! But it is not my place to place the periods OR question marks in the story. Baby and parents are doing well and the weight and might of my quiver just increased! Which means more work, but also more power!

Life is a war. And it isn’t MY fight… though I DO have a major role to play in it. I am called to choose a side, and will reap the consequences of the choice and my role in the fight. Each and every parent in my family has chosen the side of Jesus. And it is a joy to watch as God blesses and grows us stronger together. And He doesn’t always screen out the bad stuff either. The enemy STILL lurks at the gate.

It is a fact that we don’t raise babies. We raise men and women! THAT starts right at birth. To raise up Godly people is a job that is ALL consuming and the highest order of God’s Business. With the joy comes responsibility, courage and dedication. And while I COULD pontificate on facts, details and events, it is not my place right here or right now. I have things I have to DO right now! And I’m going to go do them. Because that’s what God expects of me.

Are YOU an Arrow for Him?

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:2

A while back I went to visit my kids and grandkids. Walking into the house, something ZOOMED passed me! Something I did not recognize! The way it moved just seemed strange, and I couldn’t tell how it was powered. All I could ask my Grandson was, “WHAT the heck is THAT!???” Trying to explain it to me wasn’t going well so he got off and said, “try it, Papa!” I did, as a smile IMMEDIATELY spread across my face!

The thing is called a Lil Wiggle and it is a BLAST! This thing seemed to defy everything I understood about movement and motion. By simply turning the steering wheel right and left, the Wiggle moves along on it’s own, taking advantage of SOME kind of physics I don’t really understand. But through gigglin’ and wigglin’ the wheel, I didn’t HAVE to understand! It just WORKED! I was having WAY too much fun!

This Father’s day they brought me a strange shaped box and presented it to me. And you guessed it! I now own my VERY OWN LIL WIGGLE! I’ve moved the carpet out of the way and driven it around and honed my skills around tight turns and corners. I can even do a pretty decent 360! When my neighbor stopped over I showed him. He’s a year older than me so I wasn’t sure how his maturity might hinder any zeal. But after a couple, ‘Nah…that’s ok” I convinced him to give it a try. His smile was ALSO IMMEDIATE!

Another strange thing about this toy is that it says the maximum weight is 50 pounds! My neighbor and I almost weigh 4 times that amount! But it worked just fine for us! When I asked him if HE understood how it worked, he looked and said something that SOUNDED smart. I knew he didn’t know either! But I DID get his PICTURE on it!

OK…this is a stretch! But Is it possible Grace is kind of like a Lil Wiggle? It’s tough enough to handle my guilty weight, capable of making the hard twists and turns I give it, and it is an INCREDIBLY JOYFUL EXPERIENCE every time I use it! And the best part is, I don’t have to understand it to enjoy it!

I have heard FAR too many people complain, saying that God is a meany! That if He WAS loving, good and Almighty, like His book claims, then He wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, allow sorrow, sickness, poverty or death into ANYONE’S life! They fail to see that WE were the ones that messed up the perfect life God gave us… BY CHOICE! We aren’t entitled, nor do we deserve, ANYTHING from God, except death! Then God wiggled!

By HIS choice He supplied me with Grace that I can NEVER explain or understand. But I don’t have to. His love and Grace are meant to be TRIED APPLIED by FAITH. Trying to argue or advise God on a better plan simply takes one out of the strange plan that God has already devised. I’ve tried it and just can’t keep it to myself!!! There’s just too much JOY that comes with simply hopping on and giving it a wiggle.

Are YOU having fun riding God’s Grace?