“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!

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.” Luke 3:4

Our immediate family is rather big. With 19 of us, all busy and running in different directions, it isn’t often we can all get together. Some old family friends were in town visiting, and I thought it’d be great to put out an invitation for everyone to come together on Sunday afternoon…if it was convenient. Sometime around midnight on Saturday, my oldest daughter fired a flare!

Flare guns are meant to pinpoint a location where a possible emergency exists. Having all gotten together at Christmas 2 months ago, each family had to weigh out the importance of what they had planned against the invitation to get together as a family. It wasn’t actually critical to be there…until we all saw the flare!

I’m writing this AFTER the get together to say that we had a BLAST! And yes…everyone came! As the subject of the coercive flame shot came up, we all laughed and gave our own side of what happened. My daughter took it all in stride, while sitting there with a smile on her face. She ended the conversation with…”but you’re all here aren’t you?” She had made her point!

There was a time in History when God fired a flare! After centuries of invitations, calls, cajoling, guilt and even threats of persecution, God’s last ditch effort to get the attention of His Family was to fire a flare. His name was John the Baptist! And man…did HE ever get attention!? But toward the end, it wasn’t the kind of attention he was looking for. It cost him his head!

Sin and its independent lifestyle had taken everyone’s eyes off Father God. In fact, the religious leaders were so off base, they invented rules to secure that their lifestyles would remain. That is…until the flare! Suddenly, being part of God’s REAL family made all the sense in the world! And to the chagrin of those with other plans, God’s family came together to form ‘The Church!’

I am pleased and proud that there was a 100% response rate to the flare from my daughter. No one questioned WHY she fired it. THAT was not what was important! Just like God’s flare that He continues to fire in these crazy mixed up days, the only importance was the response of The Family. In all our time together, she has never fired that flare even once. Until now! And I’m glad she did. It gave us a chance to verify just how important we are to each other!

How are YOU responding to God’s signals?

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthews 5:8

Being a faith Guy, I had little faith that this week’s Bible Study was going to be spectacular. With too much on my mind and too many things to do, I was frazzled. Coming up with an interesting topic of discussion was like trying to stuff a 13^th can into a 12 can container. So I asked some of my ‘street preaching men’ for help…“If you can come up with any interesting questions, I’d love the help tonight.”

Every week, we start Bible Study with questions. “What have you been wondering, or what would you ask God if you had 5 minutes with Him?” If no questions come, ‘I’ throw out a topic. This week, I didn’t think my subject was all that interesting. When it got quiet, my friend Dan said, “Alright…here’s one…will there be Hope in Heaven?” And with that…we were OFF!!

The subject wound its way around every part of the Bible. It touched off other questions, which led to clarification of misunderstood Bible verses. Having ALL the items I like to see in a great Bible Study, it was a BLAST! When someone asked Dan, “did you get your answer,” He smiled and said, “I personally didn’t really have a question!” Dan had just rescued us all from boring!

I like learning a LITTLE about Physics. If I had to sit down with a teacher for any length of time with pen, paper and formulas, I wouldn’t! I like dabbling in the mystical ‘what if’s,’ just not real deep ‘proofs!’ The people in our Bible Study are awesome. They don’t just want to HEAR about God, they want to KNOW Him! I guess we could literally call them ‘Pure in Heart!’

Today is the first day of Purim. This Holy day comes to us from the Book of Esther and alludes to this concept of being ‘pure in heart.’ Esther had Jewish roots, but they weren’t really very deep. Her involvement in saving the Jewish race went from casual observer to active participant when she learned that HER fate, and her peoples, was literally determined upon HER next move!

I’m thinking that ‘pure in heart’ has little to do with how perfect or sinless I am and EVERYTHING to do with how close I want to get to The Savior! The closer I get to Him, the more I have to lose of myself! Becoming like Jesus and making Him my Master is kind of like that 13^th can thing. He isn’t going to fit unless something else goes! The question is, ‘how serious am I in really wanting to know and SEE Him in the first place!!!???     Literally??!

NO one gets to heaven, or gets to see God, on a wish!

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17

It had been tucked away for about 14 years…the glass pane that would one day POSSIBLY save me some money and time. If ever one of my house windows broke, all I would have to do is unscrew the frame and screw this one in its place. I’d probably save about $12 and a couple hours of time! In a rush, I was moving some large objects around when I heard the ‘crashing’ evidence that ‘tucked away’ wasn’t tucked enough!

O.K., so it’s confession time! About 5 years ago I was using a weedeater when it kicked up a stone and hurled a perfect, quarter sized circle right through one of my glass window panes. I KNEW I had that replacement and COULD have changed it. But I was in a hurry. I took a piece of clear tape and ‘Voila!’ Good enough! I never got around to replacing it. Now that I can’t, it doesn’t really matter. The tape is still working…just fine!

Much of my life is spent looking for stuff after forgetting where I put it! I’ve already told my kids that I’m going to leave them all my drawers of tools and spare parts to sort through. My wise son simply replied, “I’m backing up a dumpster and it’’ll a be gone!” Sniff!!! Now where’s the sentiment in THAT?

We all KNOW that this world is broken…that we were made for something better. Along the way I have collected and tucked away pictures, stuff and memories of the good times to help me get through rough patches. And there they sit! Perfectly incapable of affecting any real, long-lasting improvement through a crash! Instinctively, I KNOW there’s GOT to be a better way!

I have met the Creator and Sustainer of the world. I know Him PERSONALLY…and very well I might add. When I go to Him for comfort, he doesn’t point me to some trinket of my past for condolence. In fact, I can almost see Him smile, with a twinkle in His eye, as He repeats this verse from His Word. It reminds me that He didn’t come here to CLEAN or FIX ANYTHING!!

As I set here thinking about His plan, I love it more and more! Jesus doesn’t FIX my old refrigerator heart! He REPLACES it with HIS PERFECT one. That old stove with the broken burner is NOT part of HIS-Story! Because GOD’S fire burns quite well…right where He intended it from the start! In MY HEART! Which leads me to a dilemma!

What do I do with the spares, the parts, the tape and all that tucked away stuff in the corner? I think my son’s idea mirrors Jesus’ quite well. Because I can’t start NEW until I get rid of the OLD! If I listen carefully, I can hear Him ‘crashing in’ on a regular basis!! “HEY Jesus!!!   BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!!!!  THAT’S my favorite… oh….forget about it!”

and Jesus replied…”exactly!”

“just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,..” Hebrews 9:27

My truck is in the hospital, and being down to 1 vehicle, I have been taking my wife to work each morning. Since her work is not far from the Beach, I headed there to just spend a little time with God and to think. Far across the parking lot, I saw a man setting on a bench…smoking. What happened next made me think!

A woman, maybe in her late 50’s, came jogging by carrying a bottle of water. I watched as she, staying on the path, came upon the man. As she dodged as far as she could from him, I watched her head as she gave a quick ‘ick’ nod in disgust. It was OBVIOUS she not only didn’t approve, but judged the man’s behavior to be disgusting! Which made me think about, what THEY were thinking about!

Today’s verse is one that is easily misinterpreted. Sometimes it is used as a kind of an appointment prediction! When news of a death comes, some say, “it must have been his ‘time.’” As if God sits in Heaven with a stopwatch and a finger on a death button! When I saw the 2 people in front of me, this verse came to mind. Which was kind of funny to me because…I wondered if EITHER of them had even given ‘death’ a thought!

EVERYBODY DIES! It’s a statistical fact that is indisputable, yet rarely considered. Death has a 100% success ratio. Which SHOULD be rather convincing to EVERYONE. With such an evil winning streak, you’d think people would be thinking about it a LOT! But no! Getting into the woman’s head, I could almost hear her thinking, “that guy’s stupid, unhealthy and killing himself!” All the while she must have been thinking SHE was outrunning Dr. Death herself!

Yesterday, I spoke to a man who HAD been a Church guy for years. Being who I am, I brought up my favorite person…Jesus! When I questioned him about HIS ultimate destination after death, He replied, “I don’t want to talk about it!” There must be something in the air, because he was the 2^nd elderly person I met this week who held a grudge against Jesus, simply because of the way ‘CHURCH PEOPLE’ had mistreated them. In BOTH cases, stinkin’ thinkin’ was CLEARLY the winner!

It is the Lenten season. As we approach Easter, the subject and thought of everyone should CLEARLY be about DEATH! It was not only a major topic of discussion for Jesus, it was the REASON He CAME HERE in the first place…to DIE so that I could LIVE. Sadly, most don’t give as much thought as they should to the subject of termination and ‘what then?”

Eternity is a LONGGGGGG time. In fact, 50, 60, 70 or 80 years is a tick of a clock when compared to it! To be honest, whether I use that time to jog or smoke doesn’t really matter. In the end, Death wins. Unless one has Jesus, that is. Me? I just smiled and enjoyed the morning. Because I don’t care! You see, I know Jesus. He is right here with me making me think! And He will be there when I go! No sweat!