“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:22

I’ve got a problem, an issue, a job to do. I’ve got dust, dirt and stone in the bottom of my pool that must be removed. If all of it were on the pool DECK, I could easily sweep it up and throw it away. But it’s underwater! Stirring it up will only move it around and NOT RE-move it! I’ve got a dirty pool!

After the pavers went in and the pool pump broke, my next job is to un-dirty my dirty pool! I’ve got a filter for that. But getting clean, clear water requires the dirt be removed and sent THROUGH through that filter. It is going to require a special tool to get that debris from inside the pool to the filter. I am working on that contraption and have a couple ideas.

It takes water to clean water. The water I want cleaned must be picked up, moved, dirt REmoved and the clean water put back into the pool. In essence…it takes water, plus a tool, plus movement, to clean water! Which makes me think of a deadly serious something that is living inside ME. Something that, if NOT REMOVED…will eternally pollute my eternal life. It’s called sin!

To the world, sin isn’t a big deal. It’s everywhere and, much of the time, collecting it can even be fun! But God cannot tolerate even the slightest little bit of the stuff! Holy God will not cohabitate with dirty blooded me. Since TRYING to clean myself up only clouds the real issue, cleaning me up HAS to be done by HIM. That process is called ‘reconciliation.’ The tool He uses is the Cross. It takes blood to reconcile or cleanse blood!

It is not possible for me to throw the pump and filter into the pool and have it all be automatically cleaned. It takes MOVEMENT to get the water to and through the filter. That movement is something I have a part in. It’s called FAITH! God supplies all the expertise and tools, ‘I’ have the choice and responsibility to LET Him. That comes by my choosing to invite Him in and allow Him access to my blood pump…my heart!

Cleaning a pool takes tools and is a long drawn out process. Cleaning ME is impossible without God’s Blood. He’s got to start someplace, somehow and sometime! And He did! On Calvary, with His Son’s blood on a Cross, 2000 + years ago. I am SO grateful and honored to not only be cleaned, but made part of His Reconciling team!

What about YOU….how is YOUR heart looking??? Because I know a Guy!

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Jesus Christ Luke 11:9-10

Rarely do I have reason to walk around to that side of the building. There is really nothing of value or import over there that would require my time or interest. But one thing led to another thing and soon, there I was, standing and looking up at something I did NOT want to see! Apparently it had been there for quite some time…laying undiscovered. Until I discovered it!

The conditions of discovery had to be just right. It was raining and HAD been for some time. The odds of me being outside, over there, and looking up in such conditions, were pretty low! But the discovery was made, and ‘discovery’ now led to the NEXT step of the process. Now it has become a ‘Question of Responsibility!’ What CAN and WILL I DO about it!

I can’t unsee what I saw. Once discovery is made, discovery can exit the stage. I didn’t invent rain, buildings, gravity or vision…though all of those nouns were involved in the ‘discovery process.’ Their existence moved me from ignorance to a real problem. One that requires even MORE questioning, involvement, discovery, knowledge and…POSSIBLY…wisdom. Suddenly, a thought from the land of ‘stupid’ hit me…”I wish I hadn’t seen that!”

I KNOW that it is not a crime to be ignorant about a subject. It just means I DON’T know something. Stupidity camps out when, after ‘discovery’ has made an appearance, the choice to STAY ignorant enters my brain. I am not responsible for rain or gravity. But I WILL suffer the consequences, and inherit guilt, if I choose to ignore what I have discovered!

There are universal laws in play that SCREAM out, “we have a problem.” I KNOW God exists! That I am created for more, that I am sinful, that this world is not an accident and that there HAS to be an answer to the hollowness of life. God is calling…SCREAMING even! Just to ‘look up’ and catch a GLIMPSE of His Godliness immediately removes me from the ignorant to the guilty!

Jesus came along and baited His Father’s trap with the famous words of today’s Bible verse. He implies, ‘how badly do you WANT to know the Truth and how far are you willing to GO to DISCOVER it?’ Because now that I am no longer ignorant, He’s next statement simply says…”Now it’s YOUR move!”

So??? WhatdaYOUknow???

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3

I saw Ethan and his friends at the gym yesterday. He was pressing weights I had NO capability of even lifting. When he was done lifting the weights he lifted his eyes and saw mine…and smiled. I called him over to a cabinet against the wall. ”Hey tough guy…come here and show me what you’ve got!” Extending my arm, we locked hands for some arm wrestling. But I already KNEW what was going to happen!

I am honored to call Ethan my friend. He is a senior in High School and reminds me of my own sons when THEY were that age. Sharp, smart, strong and motivated, I KNOW he is going to be a blessing to the world. So I felt bad when I beat him…kind of! He was very polite and kind when we finished. But I couldn’t let my friend ‘feel bad’ for long. Even if he said he didn’t! I called him over again and told him the truth. ”I cheated!”

Ethan has a fractured foot from a biking accident. I used that to my advantage and took the side of the surface that gave him ZERO leverage! Physics was on MY side…not his! I told him that wisdom had won. Not physical strength. Then I asked for his email address and told him I was going to write about ‘him’ today!

There are things I think…and things I KNOW. The most important one is…I PERSONALLY KNOW ‘The God of the Universe!’ His name is Jesus! He IS strength, power, love and wisdom! I know that my life would be a waste, and useless, if it weren’t for HIS living HIS life through me. THAT is what I want my new friend Ethan to know more than ANYTHING in this world! It is the ONE thing that will guarantee his success!

The Book of Colossians may only be 4 chapters long, but it is 4 chapters of nuclear God power! Christ holds, in HIS hands, all the treasures of wisdom and the knowledge God. The mysterious became clear to ME, as a young lad, when I wrestled with Him over my sin and inadequacy. And WON! I learned FIRST HAND that with God, losing is winning! That dying to self is finding ‘His Life’ at its REAL meaning! I just wanted to tell my friend that!

So….how smart, rich, strong and wise are YOU???

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10

I’ve had a desire, for some time, to trim some of my tall palm trees. My son had a desire to connect up a new dishwasher that had been sitting there…for some time. His desire and my desire collided yesterday…and rather spontaneously, I might add. You see HE had my ladder. As our desires and wills collided, it was discovered that I had his dishwasher connection!

Colt lives an hour away from me. Having put off the tree trimming for too long, desire became need. I happened to be free and contacted him to see if I could come get the ladder. He mentioned the dishwasher and asked, since I was free and he was working, if I could pick up the special part he needed to hook up the water supply to the dishwasher. Through the power of texting I KNEW what part he needed. Seeing the diagram jarred my brain!

Colt had texted me an explanation of what he needed, but it wasn’t registering. When he sent me a snapshot of the part, I recognized it immediately. Going to the garage I opened a drawer of plumbing parts and ‘voila’…there was the very part he needed! Brand new and never used! Two hours later his dishwasher was doing it’s job!

Now just to be clear, Colt didn’t NEED to hook up a dishwasher. He already HAD SEVERAL! His wife, kids and even HE have been doing dirty dishes for several months now, the old fashioned way! But they are in an EXTREMELY BUSY stage of life right now…where time is a precious commodity. A dishwasher gives them more time to do the MOST important things in life. The hold up to the hook up was a connection I had in my garage all along.

Life happens to us ALL. And there are as many ways of doing life as there are people on the planet. Ways to do it, quicker, better, more enjoyable, peaceful and even more efficiently. BUT…when it comes to making life complete and eternal…there is really only ONE WAY! And there is really only ONE PLACE to find it…in the workshop of ‘The Father!’

There are LOTS of RELIGIONS out there that try to tell you how to find some peace and joy. But there is really only ONE WAY to get it…’ONCE AND FOR ALL!’ His name is Jesus Christ and He is the ONLY TRUE adapter for your hectic, weary and sinful dirty life! It is MY experience that LIFE, and what it is MEANT to be, can ONLY be found when you call up the Father and ask for the Son!

So what’s holding YOU back? Since Jesus is free and The Father is calling!

“So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full.” Luke 14:23 GNT

The story continues with the same problem…only a different day! Having worked all last week on getting the pool pump to work by buying new parts and even getting help, the puddle of water under the pump was proof that absolutely not much had been accomplished! After all the trips, talks and tinkering, AND after spending $$$, I still have work to do! But I THINK I may be getting closer to completing the mission!

Upon each of the last 3 trips to the store I had occasion to share Jesus with someone who has no idea what they are missing. Let’s just say their life is leaky! Trying to hold it all together with hopes and wishes hasn’t been working. It is evident in the tone in which they speak. MY broken thing has placed me right in the middle of THEIR broken life! Which makes me wonder!

Reading from Luke 14 this past weekend brought me some insight. People who think that Jesus is some peaceful, sweet guy like Santa or Gandhi…haven’t read this chapter! God has a problem! People are broken! God set out on a mission to fix that by sending His Son, and now YOU and I are told to ‘GIT-R-DUN!’ To say this is anything less than a stark command would be to water down that Truth!

Luke 14 says that when the King threw the Banquet for His Son, He expected EVERYONE to join in the festivities and to enjoy the celebration. When lame excuses arrived for regrets, the King got ANGRY! “INVITE EVERYBODY…ANYBODY…MAKE IT HAPPEN!” The word He uses means to compel, push, press upon, constrain and urge them to ‘get in here!!’ Far too often I stand there paralyzed…wet with guilt from uncommitted, drippy intentions!

I COULD say “I tried.” Or “I gave it my best shot,” and “too bad so sad, God!” But I KNOW I won’t get away with that excuse, since the drip of my excuse is full of holes! JESUS IS SERIOUS!!! Which brings me back to wondering! Is it possible that my leaky pump is just another excuse to make a FOURTH trip to the store to ‘press,’ ‘compel’ and ‘urge’ just 1 more time? I could sit here and think about that…BUT…I think the Master’s tone is evidence enough!   I’m gone!

Where is God sending YOU today? 

“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18

We have lived in this house for about 32 years…and for 32 years the pool pump has been faithfully, and automatically, circulating the water in the pool without problem! I returned home last week to a high pitched screaming sound similar to what I might hear in a horror movie! Upon investigation, I discovered the pool pump was NOT happy! I turned it off and frowned…knowing what I had to do!

Pool pumps can be expensive if hired out. But I’m chea…er….FRUGAL! So I knew I was going to have to learn how to rebuild that pump myself! OR spend LOTS of money for someone else to take care of it. Not knowing how to proceed, I fell back on one of my ‘Rules…’ “When you don’t know what to do…get more information!” After 2 trips to a local pump store, and several YouTube videos, I thought I was ready to dive in.

I’d like to tell you it all went well…but It didn’t! What I HEARD and SAW wasn’t WORKING and I couldn’t understand WHY! Finally I was narrowed down between 2 choices. Spend $$$ or call in someone who might know how! I called my neighbor Rick!

Rick is a DANGEROUS man! I mean he is as scary as ME when you put a tool in his hand. And FEARLESS! He watched the same video I did and finally asked me to hold the pump off the ground as he reached for a hammer! Before I could protest…he gave the pump a WHACK!!! And then several more! In seconds, the part that WOULD not come off…came off! We both smiled as he received my thanks. He left with…”call me anytime!!!”

I was confused, lost, and beaten by a mechanical pump that had worn me down. When I needed something other than what ‘I’ could supply…Rick came to my aid. Because Rick had rebuilt motors before, he could help ME. And this principle is not unlike what happens when I fall into temptation!

Jesus, God’s son, HAD to become human for MANY reasons! Today’s verse says He did so to personally EXPERIENCE what temptation was like…so He could help ME overcome the stuff when it paid a personal visit! The LAW, my HEART and the WORLD had TOLD me I was hopelessly un-helpable! But GOD sent His Son to ME…to PERSONALLY do the undo-able!! And before I knew it…He took a hammer to my REAL issues and replaced my broken parts!

I love having Rick for a neighbor because our experiences together help us help each other. I love having Jesus Christ for my SAVIOR. Because that is what HE DOES! He SAVES ME! AND from a LOT of things that I never even knew about. Like that excessive internal WHINING I so OFTEN hear coming from my tempted, messed up heart!!!

Is He YOUR friend too? When was the last time you called Him?

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

It was time to change our LED Church sign. I try to update it with at least 12 different messages every week to 10 days. Coming up with what to put on the sign takes some time, but is ALWAYS a blessing. It’s also a spiritual journey, as I read my Bible and look up visual images that will match a particular thought. When I saw THIS verse, I mentally cringed!

Typing the verse in I hit ‘images’ and got a HUGE cultural lesson. There on the screen were images of sayings from the world…and what people thought of the idea of being perfect. MANY had even autographed their own slogans…obviously proud of what they had come up with!

Here are some slogans I found as a rebuttal to God’s Word. “The goal isn’t to be perfect, just better.” “Strive for progress, not perfection.” “I don’t want to be perfect. I want to be a beast!” “To love yourself is to understand you don’t need to be perfect.” And, “You were born to be real. Not to be perfect.” And finally….”F… Perfect!” There were lots more, but you get the idea.

I found an old expired ticket to my kid’s Dance Recital from years ago. It’s a ticket! I guarantee that if I tried to use it to get into The Super Bowl…it wouldn’t work..and for MANY reasons. Jesus Christ made this statement in the Bible to describe the requirement to get into Heaven. And even though other people may disagree, God’s standards have never been lowered! If you want to go to heaven…BE PERFECT!

Sliding from my role as ‘Sign Guy’ to ‘Bible Teacher’ last night, I had a 12 question “True – False” quiz on statements from the Bible that dealt with what it takes to get to heaven and to clear the Judgment Throne. The highest score achieved was 6! It wasn’t because our folks don’t know HOW to get there. It’s because they know it so well…they forget how expensive the ticket COST.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY one who can get you into His Father’s Kingdom. He was and IS…Perfect. And to ANYONE who wants to join Him, He offers the opportunity to exchange places. Your sin for His perfection! His death was EXTREMELY expensive to God. Almost as much as your giving up YOUR life in exchange for His. But according to The Father, it is the ONLY PERFECT CHOICE!

So…. Are you? 

“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans 7:24

s the PERFECT night with family and friends. My daughter Cori turned into a Samurai Chef before my eyes as, standing in her backyard over an outdoor Habachi Grill, she entertained us with chopping food and uttering Japanese sounding like words… “HAIIIIIIIIIII!” Our family friends from Ohio were there with us…setting there taking it all in. It was PERFECT!!!!! Well…..almost!

Filet, shrimp and scallops were cooked and joined with broccoli, onions, zucchini and a host of other vegetables. ‘Flied lice’ was added at the end as a bonus! We were all stuffed to the max and could hold no more. After a few old family stories to remember our mutual times together, it was time to go home. Heading out I saw a pan of brownies and took one. It was THEN I discovered the something that was out of place…a hair!

All Cori could do was LAUGH!! Try as hard as I might, I just couldn’t! I kept trying to fish the hair out of the brownie, but it kept breaking off in my mouth! With my manliness reduced to nausea, I finally spit it all out into the trash! And right about now I KNOW, that YOU KNOW, EXACTLY how that feels! NOBODY likes hair in their food! It doesn’t matter that it was probably clean, and even baked free of any harmful bacteria. There is something about that experience that grosses ALL of us out!

Some unpleasantness in life can become accustomed to. A foul smell, a gross sound and even a nasty sight can be abated with time. But a hair in food? Nah!!! No way! Sadly, it is the same story when sin comes before the presence of God. It doesn’t matter if it’s from a blonde, brunette, or a gray or redhead! Sin is ALL intolerable to God! Some things just gross HIM out!

As I was leaving and the laughter still hung in the air, I noted my granddaughter’s face as she looked at me through a mirror. She had a kind of guilty smirk on her face! It was then that Cori said, “Gema and her friend made those brownies!!!” And ‘just like that,’ the circle was completed!

Gema didn’t MEAN to put that hair in the brownie. I know there’s not a mean bone in her body! In fact, we don’t even know if it was HERS! But it was THERE! And one way or another…it had to go! Just like the sin that separates me from my perfect Heavenly Father, someone HAD to REMOVE the offensive substance that made me WRETCHED before God. And ‘just like that,’ the answer to today’s Bible verse question is…”JESUS!”

Have YOU been delivered?  

“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” John 20:29

A friend gave me and a few of the church guys this shirt over Christmas. Yesterday I was heading out with ‘my wife’ and decided to put it on before leaving. I had no idea it would get such a large reaction from other people. One guy said it was the best shirt he’s seen in a while! Since Katie was standing right beside me, I didn’t know if He was talking about the shirt…or HER!

I have to admit that when I saw Frankie wearing his shirt, I had missed ‘seeing’ the fine print myself. That is, until I finally saw it! Now I realized that the best and biggest reaction to this shirt is IMMEDIATELY when the word ‘psycHOTic’ is FIRST seen! Which is kind of the way it works with Jesus too!

Psychosis is a symptom of an illness, and is used to describe conditions that affect the mind where there has been some loss of contact with reality. That’s a big fancy way of saying someone is ‘out of their mind’ or ‘crazy!’ Which can EASILY be a word describing a Christian. Since we can’t SEE Jesus, many think we are CRAZY to BELIEVE in Him. When folks SEE the word ‘HOT’ on my shirt…then SEE my wife beside me, it’s not a crazy statement! When they catch the whole word, usually the crazy person becomes ME!

Faith is not blind and it is never intended to be so! No where in the Bible are we called to put our faith into something that has no proof of existence. On the contrary! The Word of God PROVES and gives even MORE evidential proof as to how, and why, Jesus Christ is EXACTLY who He claims to be…the Son of God!

I am called by Christ to be His disciple and to go out into the world to prove, and BE the proof of, His claim. It is an impossible task…on my own! He even says so in His Word! Jesus Christ, living in me, is supposed to be proof of His existence and Godliness. But I have to admit, that seems kind of crazy! Which leads me to a thought!!! Could this maybe be proof that Jesus Christ is psychotic???

There is nothing wonderful, awesome, loving and attractive in me. As a born sinner I cannot redeem myself. But The Word says that God loved and saw me how I am NOT…and made me what I AM. Romans 4:27 says, “God gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Which is the craziest thing I could ever hope for! It makes me see and love this ‘crazy Jesus’ all the more!!

Are YOU crazy for the God who is crazy over YOU?

Thanks for the fun Frankie!