THE PERPETUAL DRAIN ON OUR HEARTS

People are like batteries.  We are good to go for several miles.  We can charge into interference without the slightest flinch...once...well twice...well okay, maybe three times.  But afterwards our energy, we notice, begins to drain.  Our hearts have taken enough hits that we start to lose energy.

No one is exempt from such diminishment of power.

One of the values in knowing this is in knowing this.  Odd, it's a Terry-ism, I know.

We realize this onslaught of drain within our own hearts.  But do we remember it for others.  And do we recognize that some of the others are the very ones draining ours?

We are all in this together.  It is called L I F E.  Yes, some have attitudes which could stand improvement.  Others have misconstrued self-evaluation.  Still others live cluelessly insensitive in their many attempted relationships.

At some point (or 40), we are each a mess.  We need the help of one another.

Sometimes we need compassion.  Sometimes discipline would help.  At all times loving understanding would be the starting point.

Every relative, every neighbor, every colleague awakens hopefully recharged for the day.  A phone call here and a work discussion there; and before one knows it, the battery has been drained.  One thing which we possess to stop the ciphering of our energy is patience.  This is a factor of authentic love.

While it is true that several around us could improve the atmosphere by using better words, we are not dependent upon them for us to have a better day.  No.  We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit who yields within us powers like love and gentleness and joy...and patience.

Go ahead and fight your battles if you would like.  Quit speaking to some.  Berate others.  Play the gossip card.  Or....or dare to allow the Holy Spirit to do within you what you cannot do on your own; love everyone who seems to live to pull others down.

HOW RALPH THE HOMELESS MAN AND I MADE SOMEONE'S DAY

As I drive to work around 6:30, I've noticed an older man sitting upon a concrete wall near the curb.  He has a scraggly beard and matted hair.  He sits upright with head bowed as if asleep.

Every time I see this man I wonder if he knows his value.  I wonder if he has heard recent words of encouragement.

This morning there Ralph (I just now named him) was perched upon that raised concrete slab; head bowed, shoulders slumped...all alone.

I turned the car around and went into Einsteins Bagel just a block away.  Coffee and a warmed muffin felt the right thing to order for my soon-to-be new friend.  I was eager to see what would develop; what would God have me say to this important man in our neighborhood.

As I headed back Ralph's direction, he was gone.

Oh well, I'll meet him one day yet if God is so inclined.

So now I've got hot coffee and a muffin with nowhere for it to go.  As I'm driving I wonder what I can do with this as it needs to bless someone.  And then...

And then there it was right on my way to work....my Lowe's store!  I love this store.  I'm obsessed with going to Lowe's.  I get enthused at just making returns!

So I have this immediate idea.  I walk in with coffee and muffin in tow and see the manager and a cashier first thing standing at a register.  They Good morning me and then I Good morning them back.  It was my next few sentences that were well.....well they were just good.

I had one coffee and one muffin and two candidates which means I may be about to honor one and offend the other.  But I sized up the moment and went for it.  I figure the manager would be honored that I honored his employee.

Hey, good morning. (That was me saying that.)  I am here this morning to honor the Employee of the Day, and you young lady are the one!  Her boss immediately praised her and she expressed how she always needed a coffee and a muffin.

See, the homeless man, while important blessed another in the process by simply not being where he should have been.  And....the homeless man and I gave a boss an opportunity to praise an employee when such wasn't on his docket.  We just created an Employee of the Day award...that homeless Ralph and me.

THE CONTEST FOR THE SPIRIT-ual

Men and women are born into amazing life.  Wonder.  Encouragement.  Opportunity. The array is vast as to what can and will be encountered.  And certainly it must also be acknowledged that great stress visits every individual...repeatedly.

If you are having a good day, congratulations.  Continue on.  If you are having one of those days, I ask what you might think the root cause.  Has it occurred to you that it is always because the flesh wants to do battle with the spirit....and we are comprised of both?

The flesh will eventually wither.  Mirrors affirm such.  If not mirrors, then certainly aches and pains.  Ultimately, the flesh succumbs to the boss of time.

It is the spirit that is eternal.  Yet, the flesh selfishly bids for all of the attention; its needs, its pleasures, its dreams.  There is incredible contest ongoing for the flesh does not want us to be spirit-ual.

I would simply encourage you to pay attention to your spirit.  We feed the flesh regularly; even tossing it treats between meals.  The spirit?  Some live as if this major part of themselves needs no understanding nor attention.  This is where depression escalates and it is not the flesh that gets down; but our spirit.

There is a great contest for our spirit-ual lives.  I ask you to be attentive...to yourself. Do not live as if you are all flesh because you aren't even mostly flesh.  Your drive, your joy factors, your enthusiasm, and your attitudes?  All spirit-ual.

Feed the spirit by being attentive to the God who disciplines and grooms us to live beyond the limitations of the flesh.

WILL THERE REALLY BE A NEXT LIFE?

Will there really be a next life?  Is heaven for real?  Or, is this a concept developed by churches to keep the doors opened?

This is a fair question.  It would seem rational to accept the answer to be a yes.

Much goes on in front of us to give indicators that a next life exists.

• Days end in darkness and yet a new day arises faithfully and consistently.
• One's long days conclude with the need for sleep only to awaken to a new start daily.
• Trees appear to have lost energy as Fall claims its leaves only to see Spring burst open.
• Flower bulbs plummet into earths darkness only to resurrect into a great new display of incomparable color.
• Educational systems succeed in offering information only to find one graduates to the next level.

While these are surely simplistic, I find that there are many who want to believe God; but feel the idea of heaven to be hokey.  I don't think it is.  I believe it to be authentic; exceptionally real.

What ideas would you add to my brief list?

THE CALL OF GOD THAT MAY BE MISUNDERSTOOD

What is the deal with our deep desire that all would know God?  Do we who have such inclination  even know Him ourselves?  Or, are we found to be merely parroting what those before us have said we should say?

This is quite paradoxical to me.  On one hand we want the hope.  On the other, we don't want the frustration that goes with sorting through what is true and what isn't about faith in God.  Every street corner has an opposing view of sorts.  If not careful, our ridicule of such religious clamor will leave our neighbors quite indifferent toward us...and especially toward God.

While I smile a lot on the outside, my heart is grievous day in and day out for the very good people who haven't found their calling toward the heart of God.  Substitutes add to the distraction.  Good people find good works in which to engage.  If not intentional, at least subtly these efforts can become a course of doing good which is to relieve the conscience.

However, good works cannot and will not overcome a problem man has before his Creator.  We cannot do enough good deeds to cover our sins.  This is personal disaster of which we have no say in how forgiveness will be worked out.  The Son of God took care of that on the Cross.  God's question to us is, Do you believe Me?

Therefore, the call of God may be misunderstood.  We may have assumed we need to try harder to be better when our authentic call is to believe that Jesus paid our debts upon the Tree and we are to sink our hope into his work; not our own.

Why is this?  Jesus got more done at his weakest moment (dying on the excruciating Cross for us) than we can do in our best moments.  This call of God to be saved is not a message calling us to work off our offenses.  Rather it is that we are to live thankfully that Jesus has paid the bill.

When we reach this conclusion, discipleship, church, and the entire religious concept shifts from burden to thanksgiving.  The call of God is to please believe that Jesus became all of our wrongs on the Cross that we could become all of the right things about him....II Cor. 5:21.

One is never heaven bound because we finally got all things right.  No.  We are heaven bound because Jesus became all of our wrong things while he handed off to us all of his right things.

BY THIS TIME IN LIFE...

....I assumed that I would have answers for most of the questions.  But instead, I find that God and His world is so much bigger than my small mind.  I have more questions; not fewer.

....I assumed that I would have figured out the direction for my life.  Yet, God continues to open some doors and close others.  In my earlier years, I didn't see giving attention to God and ministry as a part of my trek.  His leadership keeps me on the look for today's course...Jn. 3:8.

....I assumed that I would have conquered the Bible with my expert understanding.  However as God says in the Bible, the Word is alive and I am found that when I learn one thing then three or twenty new things open for me to now learn about them.  This process keeps me forever behind.

....I assumed that I would have increased in righteousness.  The more I learn about Jesus it seems the more I learn about me.  I'm not as hot as I had hoped.  If I'm to get life right, I must decrease that He might increase within me.

EVERY PERSON IS AMAZING

Have you ever noticed that not many people we know are perfect?

Even those who are closest to us have significant glitches, or did you not notice?

But what I like about people is that every person I know or will meet are brilliant; absolutely and undeniably so.

Every one of us has a gift from God which is so strong that others receive our blessings as we use them. No one has all of the gifts.  Few have very many of the gifts; but every person is amazing to some extent.

Be encouraged.  Yes, personal inventory would insist you and I lack many attributes which others seem to have.  But, many of them lack significant traits that come easy to us.  What we do is pool life together that all would be highly blessed.

We become family when we can assist one another, cover for one another, and cheer each other on.  Every person we know is amazing.  No one has nothing to offer.  No one.

So for today....for today....I encourage you to emphasize the beauty and value which is to be seen in those who surround you.  We live in a privileged time because we get to hob and nob with the elite of our circle...which is every person!

Do not shrink back from life due to what you feel is personal lack.  March right into the work place or the home front with assurance that you have something very valuable to offer. God doesn't make junk.  He creates wonder.  Do not be egocentric; but allow yourself the confidence in the Spirit of God that you are a delightful, important, necessary person who makes a great difference in the lives of others.

GOD. FAITH. HESITATION.

The subject of God is so big it can seem inauthentic.

Is He real?  Can we know Him?  Where would we find Him?  Is this topic merely man's distorted way of pretending there is a next life?  Is belief really more of a hope-so call from our own frailty which is presently wrapped in eventual death?

More than anything I could obtain on earth (wealth, fame, prestige), I would wish foremost that every person would believe that God is real and that He is crazy about us!

Why is this so challenging?  I speak with extreme sympathy to any who question His existence.  I have gone through my fair share of skepticism.  Faith is not a Sunday morning breeze for the weak.  No, it takes inner strength to seek the truth of the Divine.

Laziness and indifference are the mouse traps of man's spirit.

Why the hesitation to examining the reality of God through research?  Possibly this might contain a twinge of embarrassment.  We may not want others to know that we are beginning to think about God. Too, our past may haunt us as well as raise eyebrows of our colleagues.  Or, we may simply not know how to approach this concept as we have no clue as to church protocol if we were to gain interest.

Another reason that the idea of a true God is easily dismissed is because those who are not a part of the spirit system find inclination to excuse themselves due to the faulty behavior of those in the churches.  Granted, we in the church have displayed a barrage of attitudes foreign to the Son of God.

However, it is for this reason that we are a part of a church.  We cannot obtain eternal life through our self-righteousness.  Either Jesus makes us right--by his dying on the cross for our sins--or we won't ever be right with God.

Every person has both opportunity and responsibility to decide for himself/herself whether to yield one's life to the Son of God.  Personally, I had no idea it could be so adventurous and exciting!  Following God is not for sissies.  I never knew that, either.

I want to be a voice in your world that says that regardless of obstacles in your path which might block you from learning about God...seriously...you can overcome every one of them.  For now?  Just pray that God would help you with this....and He will.

THE DANGER OF UNCONSCIOUS LIVING

A phrase I like to repeat is, Don't you love right now?  

The reason I developed it is twofold: (1) I often failed to notice the delight of any given moment, and (2) I did so because I was so easily distracted by the negatives.  And, yes, negative matters are always hovering; but so are the positives...always.

We must be alert to our own lives.  Are we living or are we merely existing?

If only getting by, we will become subject to dull routine that will eventually wash away beauty and wonder and hope.  Should the latter happen, it is then that we will have entered into an unconscious sort of living.  Cataractive formation of the heart will deter our excitement and engagement for robust living.

We want to change this...right?

It is more than a bit ironic that in this age of electrifying media blitzing there is such an abundant boredom which can become so seemingly dominant.  In touch with the whole world as never to this extent before,  subconscious unconsciousness is a strong trend.

Charles Colson references George Orwell's novel 1984 where he states, It struck him (Orwell) that the truly characteristic thing about modern life was not its cruelty and insecurity but simply its barrenness, its dinginess, its listlessness.  And it continues, Orthodoxy means not thinking, not needing to think; orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

Unconscious living numbs us to the world around.  We can go through the in-and-outs of repetitive eating, working, enjoying, sleeping without interaction with the disturbed, the lonely, even the homeless.  A steady diet of safety and comfort will essentially deaden our spirits which were created by the Spirit for incredible, satisfying adventure.

Finally, the great danger to unconscious living is that we will go through life without thinking, without imagining, without risking.  If we do not correct this trend, dullness will set in to the extent that the heart will eventually atrophy.

The good news is that the Jesus of the Resurrection provides incredible emphasis for new life, new direction, and new hope; not within our control, but within his. Regardless of how low one has seen life become, there is great and strong reason to possess a new kind of hope.  Hope is where we gain the courage to change the things that need to be changed.

I say....go for it!!

ONE OF MY BIGGEST SURPRISES ABOUT CHURCH

There's been an impacting statement that has been around for quite sometime.  It goes something like, Too many Christians go through life looking like they have been weened on dill pickles.  While that's pretty funny, it also could be in several cases fairly true.

My take on church is different in many ways from my earlier days of observation and participation.  I guess one of my biggest surprises about church is to find that it isn't boring, isn't supposed to be boring, and is anything but boring.

There is a distinguishable difference between attending versus being actively engaged in the work.  The former is basically from a spectator position with great need to keep it interesting; a bit of entertainment might help.  The latter, however, strikes when one realizes there is a calling of God to give assistance to others who are down and out.

There is such a difference in being weary of watching the clock as to when the morning service will finally be over compared to a daily life of praising God and helping others. One has little purpose while the other has deep heart-meaning.

Praising God?  Ah, there's a turn-off phrase for some; even many churchies.  Yet, being grateful to God for even the routines of life (like seeing, breathing, walking, talking) is life changing when one shifts to giving Him credit for our living experiences.  We are called to give God enormous praise and when we do, we begin to view our personal walks differently.  They seem to...come alive!

For any who can't stand the thought of church, I get it.  Most likely yours is a misunderstanding as was mine.  I had no idea that God interacted with His followers.  I thought rote attendance was the name of the game.  Not.

The name of the game is loving God...really intentionally loving Him...and loving our neighbors to the extent we will sacrifice for them to see that they have a good day.  The element of the Spirit of God actually participating in our days is not a Sunday-Morning-For-An-Hour system.  It is a wondrous daily walk full of God's provisions....and great surprises!

HOW TO BREAK THE BONDS OF LONELINESS

Loneliness is some weird sort of self-sentencing imprisonment that breaks the heart. With malls, streets, and sporting events flourishing with crowds, this matter at hand is exacerbated.  Wonderful people hurt privately and deeply due to being overlooked by these and other masses.

I wish to be more than sympathetic.

I wish to be quite helpful in breaking these tightly gripping bonds.

A reverse of usual course is probably all that it would take for so many who feel rejected and lost.  By reversal, I mean that God's system works in sowing and reaping. The reaping is never ahead of the sowing.  In order to be recognized, one must first recognize.

Taking personal inventory of sustained neglect is not a help.  Expressing interest in others is the seed that will give delightful returns.  Authenticity is key.  To be attentive for the sake of receiving is not being attentive.  That's merely another form of self-serving manipulation for the purpose of being noticed.

Every person on earth is lonely.  Every one.

Our role is to build others.  When we do so by our words and our actions, there is something divine involved in that God will see that we receive adequate encouragement.  This is a kingdom law.

The way God would have us break the bonds of loneliness is to exert what energies we have to cheering others on; regardless of social, educational, financial, or any other label of comparison.  We are needed by others.  Needed is a powerful word in this discussion.

No one needs another voice calling poor me, sad me, forgotten me.  Rather each is in need of hearing how could I help you, what could one do for you.  The quickest way to cure a lonely heart is to investigate how we could lift others' spirits.

Nothing seems to send happy through our bodies like noting another expressing joy and gratitude over something we have offered.  Offering to others is so different from needing for me.  Serving others is God's deep nature.  Involved in this is the fulfillment of sensing purpose and meaning.

For our moments when we wish someone would say something good about self, if we were to hear it we would likely waste it for seeking such is like trying to fill an eternal hole.  It ain't gonna happen because when centered on self, and self only, nothing satisfies.  We always want more.

God knows how to break the bonds of loneliness.  His Son was alone in the Garden and died, later, atop a lonely hill.  A fascinating part of this story is that Jesus accepted such rejection for the sake of others; frail ones as you and me.  The result was that Jesus was raised on the third day.

So you?  Me?  Yes, we have those moments where we are slapped with fierce and painful rejection.  Our calling is to note the opportunity.  If we will continue to lay down our lives for others...for OTHERS....FOR OTHERS....FOR OTHERS...Father will be back with a rewarding kind of new life (called resurrection) that we could never have created nor caused by our own skill-set.

The ailing and negative bonds of loneliness will be greatly diminished when we quit inventorying how others attend to us.  When we give our lives to others, it is at this juncture that we find meaning.  Life has been created to die for others that they might come to life...II Cor. 4:12.

Who reaches to you is never the question.  Whom did you extend a loving hand toward is.  Loneliness....please take your seat.  You don't run our show.

VULNERABLE AND ENTHUSED ABOUT IT!

Vulnerability is a cross-generational, cross-cultural blessing.  It knows no boundaries when it comes to people.  We've all got the dis-ease of moving through life hoping no one recognizes us in our inadequate and threatened moments.

But our weaknesses show.  The holes in our armor are known.  The good news is that we are not destroyed by them; but will learn through God's grace to make them our fuel.

Pema Chodron puts it this way; we should never underestimate our low tolerance for discomfort.  To be encouraged to stay with our vulnerability is news that we could use.  Her remark exposes our innate trend to distance ourselves from others in order to protect our reputation.  After all, our main goal is to finish the day looking successful.

Yet, isn't this precisely what God did in order to reach us?  He did not come to earth on a limo camel with guards to escort.  No, rather He showed up in the uniform of a human being; a very vulnerable one at that.  Insults, rejection, beatings, and excruciating death were all his because He dared to love others.

That's what vulnerability is all about; loving others.

When we distance ourselves from anyone in order to maintain our we-are-in-control appearance, we fail to love the hundreds around who are in desperate need of attention.

Ministry isn't about sitting at the head table and trying our best to look the part.  It is about celebrities who feel insecure, CEOs who can't keep up the facade, parents who are faking it, and church attenders who know how rotted we are in the center.  Believe it or not, this kind of openness about who we really are lets the community flood our gates because they mistakenly had assumed they weren't good enough to be a part of God's kingdom.

None of us are good enough.  No preacher.  No public servant.  No movie star, nor athlete, nor accomplished artist.  We are all street stuffing filling up space in a specified time-frame.  It is when God hits our hearts and remodels our interior that meaning comes into play.  And, meaning never really arises until we can move with confidence to be publicly unconfident.

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God (II Cor. 3:5).  Self-confidence is a fake for it lasts only as long as we can control a circumstance or a person.  God-confidence, though, is a different matter.  He knows how to take our intimidating vulnerabilities and transform them into a whole new kind of productive energy.

For this, we should live quite enthused!

ESSENTIAL FAITH

There seems to be two main things about faith that always remain the same things; God and people. Jesus addressed these two entities when he spoke of the greatest commandment and the second being like it.

Christianity is always on its strongest run when God and people are at the front of all other details.  Man, however, has an itch to make religion something more than it is supposed to be.  First, we seem to make it difficult.  Second, we shirk responsibility for abiding by these two commands with a strange ability to try to live the line of faith; but with perpetual distraction.

First, the difficult part seems to arise because we carry an urge to be in control.  The way we, then, pull off our control is to make rules of what others can and can't do, can and can't eat, can and can't wear, etc. It seems that the more Christian principles are manufactured there is a simultaneous distancing from a relationship with God and with neighbors as duty/rules have now become the focused driving force.

Second, we are in constant need of practicing the discipline to stay on course. Distractions are everywhere.  They are everywhere and they are many.  Great, strong, vibrant faith is taken to task by hundreds of lesser formations which pull we believers into doctrines which God has named as lesser by naming which two are most essential for faith.

That professing believers deeply desire rules over relationship has set the stage for a most deadening quagmire of circularly dread-ended, always-busy never-accomplishing system which takes much human effort to keep afloat.  Stories amass as to the divisions among us in the name of everything conceivable under the Christian umbrella except for the two main things; adore God and treasure others.

Essential faith is the breakthrough to our stagnancy.  It will set us on proper trek to believe God and to believe in others.  While we will give attention to God's other very important commands, we will not lose sight that the main two are always the main two. No amount of lectureship discussion nor authorship revelation will arise to the fact that Christianity will step up to the plate more effectively when devoted to His top two commands.

Our culture is in desperate need of essential faith.  It can, does, and will come from us as we give heed to becoming more and more the reflection of Jesus rather than the distraction of our best argument.  Our wonderful communities are not in need of debate.  They hunger to find someone who cares.

May we love God to the extent that such a relationship would allow Him to send us back out into the wonderful world to love people...just as He sent Jesus.

I AM THE POSTER CHILD

Surely everyone we know has ample reason to collapse under stress of pedaling through life.  Yes, we have our ups and our way ups.  We look forward to more.  Yet, every person battles temptation to become depressed; some slightly while others predominately.

I lived much of my life in the latter zone.  Discouragement seemed to come natural.  I wasn't enough, in my mind, for anything.  While I lived for the fun times, my life seemed doomed to be marked as below mediocrity.

And then I ran into God.

God has a great knack of defying what man's best thinking promotes.  The last shall be first, says God.  The weak are the ones strong, He assures.  When I read II Corinthians 12:9, power is perfected in weakness, the Light Bulb came on.

If power really is perfected in weakness, I am the poster child!

I encourage you that your strengths are not where you might think.  They are not in what you know or who you know or what you've accomplished or where you've been. Your secret to apex living, which only God would endorse, is always consistently found in your frailties.

Why?

The world is crammed with the hurting.

The masses are injured, discouraged, and inwardly confused.  Every social level fits this description.  The hurting are helped best by those who have been hurt earlier. The best advise for recovery comes from the broken one who recovered.  The most effective hope will always come from the one who suffered and survived in the very place where we are now suffering.

That's how God works.  He didn't send a news bulletin.  Neither did He send a warning. He sent a person named Jesus who would be ripped to shreds in order that God would experience what it was like to be a targeted, beaten, human.

God gets being us!

He understands because He literally walked in man's feet,  God experienced earth-life via His Son.  He found out what it was like to be a created human being.  And, Jesus didn't come with a silver spoon in His mouth.  Rather it was a target on his back that affords the enduring pathway; God's heart to ours.

What keeps us ticking?  God through Jesus in Spirit form.  These are not Sunday School niceties.  This Trinity is sharp, actual, and understanding toward us that we can undertake the fierce struggles of life and never flinch.

Life in God is the most amazing factor of all concepts.  Even the weakest can be confident.  We keep moving forward because God has worn our sandals....and survived!

BOMBARDED BY DISTRACTION

I don't know about you, but I find myself forgetting more than I seem to remember.  It seems (and I could be mistaken) that there are so many more things to track these days.  If this is the case, we must be on alert to pay attention; that the main things are still the main things.

We live in such a competitive world where so many avenues of possibilities compete for our attention and our time.  If not disciplined, we will hurriedly be doing twenty things with mediocrity rather than three things efficiently.  Spread too thin, we may find ourselves accomplishing very little well.

For my walk, I have had to learn to back off of travel schedule and appointments.  Very good opportunities come our way.  Yet, we must try to do a better job of doing a few things well rather than many things haphazardly.

If not handled with care, our children and our families will suffer foundational rot because we jumped on too many band-wagons which seemed to sooth our momentary/temporary whims.  Children don't know any better.  We should.

Routine life is bombarded by distraction.

To refuse invitations to participate can seem insensitive; possibly offensive to the inviter.  Truthfully, those who run another scheduled calendar event past us are also often out of control when it comes to being distracted.  These/we seem to be forever on-the-go while wondering where the time went.

Be encouraged.  Like right now.  See it.  Observe it.  Slow it.  Marvel a bit longer.

Even at the urgent plea of Martha to come quickly, regarding the death of her brother, Jesus possessed the socially unacceptable trait of refusing to move on his own timing.  He waited.

I believe it to be a strange truth that while we/when we live hurriedly we experience grand waste of both time and life.  Do we tend to look at living like we do money; regardless of how much we have, we need more?  Why not live in thanksgiving that what we have is pure gold....now.

Allow the some-days and the hope-so moments to come our way.  But for now...for right now...save the moment and treasure it.  Do not let distraction of so many things rob you of the extremely valuable few things which perpetually thrill the heart.

IS GOD REAL?

I believe the ultimate question of all questions is singular in whether God is God. Billions through the ages have concluded that this concept is a farce.  Other billions have put their lives on the line that He is actual.

So could I say from a heart that is somewhat devoted to what I believe is His cause, there are moments when I wonder if God is real or if I have simply been snagged by the drift of human need to create its own life-after-death scenario.  Furthermore, I don't mind these brief pauses because each causes me to think, rethink, and evaluate just how certain I am.

This is good.

Sometimes I'll be following Jesus in line with the hearts of James and John.  And then other days I will begin to doubt like that Thomas disciple.  Because faith is the conviction of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, the invisibles are a significant challenge to man's needy prove-it-to-me rationale.

One of the factors that encourages me is the aggressive manner in which some atheists sweat to prove God isn't.  If there isn't such a thing, why spend any time debating a non-existent entity.  Have you ever read books that stood against procyncalime?  I didn't think so.  There isn't such an item.

The tragedy of all tragedies, to me, is how many refuse to give God the courtesy of research as to whether these really could believe the existence of God.  It is the deceptive social trend to dismiss God because of we ridiculous and snarky people who carry our Bibles and attend a church.

I understand why the rejection.  Jesus rejected the same.  Yet, God remains fact.  Jesus died to give the snarky and the doubters and the seekers legitimate hope of a factual eternal life.  I want in on that part and I plead with those who are uncertain to simply check it out.

I ask of the latter, why do you think it is so easy for you to reject the concept of God? May I say with care that a huge part of it is that it is easy.  Some friends reject it, doubt it, as you do, so why not?  The why not is that this is a notorious and irresponsible gamble of your very own eternal soul.

Where should we begin?  Go to the Bible and read Matthew or one of the gospels that reveals the life of Jesus.  You will find he thinks so much like you do.  He loves the lonely and the downcast while flat-out rejecting organized, smug religion.  That's what I still love about him.

You are so important.  God is crazy about you.  Don't you think it about time to give honest reverence in search for Him rather than thoughtless dismissiveness because you can detect the jerks like me are poor representations?  I think you want to do it, can do it, should do it.

Look for God.  He will find you.

MY HEART YEARNS FOR YOUR LIFE

I will skip the careful wording and proper appeal toward you this morning.  I'm going to just come out with it.  What makes me tick?  You.

You do.

Some of those on the receiving end of this blog, I know.  Most of you, I don't.  But I'm really happy that we get to connect.

Every morning I sit at this blank screen and try to think of what to say that would be meaningful to your heart.  What do you need?  What does God want you to hear?  My burden is strong and my love for God loving you/me is stronger.

My heart yearns for your life.  Questions nip at my heart constantly with concern for you.  Are you doing well; feeling well?  Are you receiving encouragement?  Are you being mistreated, ignored, abused?  All of this goes on behind closed doors or out on Main Street.  And...I want to be a voice to cheer you on.

You are worthy of profound life!

What I want to say to you--oh there are so many things--is that you should be in constant awareness that any bad things coming your way can be transformed into a special fuel that ultimately blesses your life.  Nothing is a waste to those who trust God; even the painful stuff.

My heart yearns for those in public eye and those in meager settings.  None can give accurate estimation to the value of self.  Jesus died as God was saying, I'll trade Me for you.

Too many intentionally end their lives through tragic suicide.  The greater frustration to me is that the masses end their lives in another fashion; these quit trying and just accept depletion of life as life.  This can, should, and must change.

Yes, I'll say that God is the answer.  Man has excused himself into unhappiness and motivational lethargy by mocking God and those who love Him.  But this is a dead-end. There's the suicide while remaining upright.  It is still a dead....end.

I'm not big enough nor smart enough to be very persuasive.  Yet, I urge any who are weary of nagging life to trade this for robust energetic life in Jesus.  If you want to know how, I'm one who would surely be willing to visit about it; trush@memorialdrive.org is a private place to talk.

I love you much....really.  You are more valuable than you can imagine.  Even your fans can't fathom the trophy God sees in you.  Do not be afraid.  If you've been closed, open yourself to Him.  He will lead you into a world of great wonder!

IS EASTER A HOAX?

I love this time of year!

The January through March grays and browns are yielding to greens and purples. Spring is springing.  Nature is clearly headed to the Spring dance!

Easter is around the corner.  Colored eggs, kids' programs, and the hunt for the new Sunday outfits are off and running.  This is a great time of year!

Easter is that time of year that the Christian world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.  The whole world is talking about it.  One of the things I love about it is that this is not some made-up hoax.  It is a calendaric, historical event.  Jesus was killed only to arise on the third day!

A magnificent support to this claim is the perpetual excitement to the three-letter world N E W.

New lights up the eyes of children.  New clothes brighten any one's day.  New house, new car, new raise, new job, new hairdo, new....has always been "in".

New never gets old.

It is at this time of the year that new life pokes up from the soil in the form of baby flowers.  Even the grass, transitioning from deadening brown to resurrected green, seems to applaud in memory of God's magnificent obsession with newness.

Historical Jesus was historically raised from a historical tomb.

For any to doubt such might as well doubt that there ever was a man named Jesus born in Bethlehem.   Everyone believes the existence part.  The resurrection part is believable as well.  Nature replicates this God-move routinely.

Easter.  A hoax?  Not ever!

BEING SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS

It seems to be fairly common to hear one say, I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious.

Interpreted, I believe in God, but I don't believe in this church stuff.

This really bugs me because, from the point such is said, I believe the same thing.  I'm glad so many believe such a statement.  Religion, coming from laws and rules, is a killer of one's spirit.  Jesus as much as said so.  No, I need to be clearer.  He said so.

Religion (the perspective from those outside of church) has ruined church influence. Those of us in the church pedal hard to reverse this reputation.  For now, I simply want to concur with the masses that I don't blame them for how turned-off they are.

Too, I would like to encourage these wounded-from-religion folks that the prominent thrust of lively church is, in fact, spiritual.  It is the engagement and involvement of the Holy Spirit that quickens our spirits to be alive, not dead; to be encouraged, not depressed; and to be powerful, not weak.

Religion bores.  Thus the connection of church dislike.  But the Spirit energizes and it is this element that I wish those who avoid us would dare to brush against.

Church isn't sit-down be-quiet count-the-minutes-til-the-closing-prayer clock time. Neither is it useless.  Church is relational; us with God and us with others.  When we find that we are needed, we transition from resistance to assistance.  We are glad to participate if we find meaning and purpose.

I once stayed away from church because I felt that church was simply a good way to ruin a valuable half a day.  Attending church is deadening.  Enmeshed into the fabric of the church is enlivening. Everyone should reject the former and pursue the latter.

Being spiritual is connecting to God and to people.  If one believes he can walk with God and not have interest, compassion, and interaction with people, this would seem to be the ultimate of a false religion.

The exciting news is that the church is spiritual or else it isn't of God.  I want to be a part of that one!

THE EYES HAVE IT

How are those around us doing?  Happy?  Sad?  Distracted?  Ailing?

It is remarkable that often we can tell by reading one's eyes as to how they are feeling. The eyes tell the story.

I encourage you to be attentive to one another.  Relationship is of the utmost importance.  Yet, what I notice is that there are several who do not regard themselves of any value; especially to any who would not be regarded as "close".  In these cases we believe our words not to be important because we are not acquainted or "close" to them.

Therefore, I want to remind you that your words (even to strangers) are important.  A speaker in 1978 changed my approach to life when he said that the average person has not one good friend.  I was stunned.  Yet, since that time, I've seen this statement verified.

Michael Jackson said that he did not have one good friend.  The masses wanted his autograph or a picture with him.  Friends?  None.

It is for this reason that my heart goes out to those in the public eye.  These are often regarded more as icons rather than people.  How I wish all of these could realize their value...as a very good and loved...person.

My point is that there are NO EXCEPTIONS.  Every person in every social level needs to be reminded and confirmed as to their being simply special and extremely important.

Especially in our eyes, we can note the need for approval and love.  And, we take our turns at cheering and in need of being cheered.

Regardless of who we are near or who we know, every person at some point needs to be uplifted.  Every person.  And often we will pick up on this when we look them in the eye.  The eyes are so telling.

The eyes...they have the message that says, "Please, does anyone care for me simply because I am....me?

JUST HOW BROKEN IS MANKIND

Due to sin's destructive nature from the onset of life on earth, men and women have been swallowed up with struggle; enormous struggle.  Even should a person not believe in the spirit nature of good and evil...even these are ravaged by some persistent trend of both disappointment and ruin.

How broken are we?

We are consumed with life's entrapment as we seek the hidden pathway of escape.  No one is immune to the dis-ease of keeping life's plates a-spinning.  Mankind is a mess. To display how great this upset is, we are so extremely warped that we can see the many flaws in all others while thick blindness seems to obstruct us from noticing our own severe sin.

Mankind is broken.  We have been sabotaged, beaten, and broken by dark forces who take little blame nor responsibility.

Of course, this leads us to the One who broke these bonds that wish to barricade us from refreshment and energy.  Jesus died on the cross to pay a debt we could not pay. Thick blindness, however, causes the masses to even ignore such a grand love.

I would urge many to be encouraged with life.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the LIFE.  It's weird.  It's odd.  It's immeasurable as well as unexplainable.  But it's ours for he traded us places.  He died that we could live.

May we use our brokenness as fuel to help us endure struggles and claim the purpose of reaching to others up and down life's corridors who feel helplessly broken...just as we once did.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES BELIEF MAKE?

Believing seems to be a rather major player in our walk.  What's weird is that it can be so easily dismissed with a shrug.  The latter would be known as unbelief.

But, doesn't life turn out the same whether one believes or doesn't?

No.  This faith factor is a profound instigator of developmental process.  With faith, things happen.  Without it?  They don't.

It should be noted that a ton of things happen which are simply an ordinary procedure of any given day.  Houses catch fire, tires go flat, and appendicitis attacks.  Details like these are reasons why man has been lulled to sleep regarding the concept of faith. Things just happen.

Yes, they do.  And, things happen also because of a powerful entity called belief. Therefore, one must be cautious not to let random acts of life's processes talk one out of the magnificent secret of believing.

Faith is creative.

It gives life to things that are dying and believes that something that isn't yet can become (Rom. 4:17).  A mate can see that a marriage is dying and by faith breathe new life into it and save it.  Too, a person can have no promising words facing their dilemma.  Yet, by faith can proceed as if there is possession  and potential and actually see the impossible happen.

Christians who believe in prayer pray.  Furthermore, these see results.  Christians who don't believe in prayer don't pray.  These see consistent results of nothing happening because they didn't believe.  Truth.

Believers who think that giving of their money will cause moments of grace from God see this play out day after day.  Those hesitant in unbelief hold on to their funds tightly and do not experience the weird and wonderful displays of God's provision because they simply operate on their own steam.

Play it safe if you want.  Go ahead and supply your own lifestyle.  Take matters into your own hands.  Others of us, however, are certain we cannot provide for ourselves on the level that God can.

Faith.  Faith that He can or faith that He won't.  Which way do you lean?  Whatever you believe is the way it will go.  Now....that's either promising or scary; dependent upon your stance.

Really, disbelief is a misnomer.  One either believes things will happen or things won't.  Whatever we believe is fundamentally and basically the way life goes.

Belief makes a difference; not whether one does, but how one does. We all believe.  Do we believe God is true?  Or, do we believe the concept of God is false?

Whatever our persuasion is usually how life unfolds.  I would rather believe God will than believe that He won't.  Beyond our understanding, we cannot fathom how our Powerful God is willing to yield to our faith parameters; regardless of our direction.

It takes work to believe God (Jn. 6:28-29).  Sometimes life doesn't unfold the way we wish because we are simply too lazy to believe.

WHY WE STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP WITH OUR REMEMBERING

Have you noticed how hard it is to be able to recall what it was you meant to say or meant to do?

I feel certain there are accurate statistical studies to support what I wonder.  Living in the information age (Are we still there?) seems to be pounding my head with more content that ever!

And the problem isn't just with quantity.  It is with the when that this takes place.

The when is constant; like in always while awake?  Information comes at us faster than a thousand people can post a message on FB, Twitter, etc.  We find ourselves with plenty to do, as is, and then with the bombarding of notes, funny stories, and sad ones....we are trying to survive a glut of threads to our heads.

Now I'm not walking away from these terrific communication tools.  I love them and am benefited by them.  They are an answer to prayer as they help me to be in touch with more and more of the world. But what I am trying to do is to say no to more things so that I can get more done.

Distraction is a serious villain.  When one cannot focus upon matters at hand, people often suffer as a result.  We want to be attentive.  We must not pass by the hurting masses because we have a new app that explains how great our help can be.

Therefore, I direct your attention and mine to people.  I'm not writing a post this morning to say I wrote a post.  I'm connecting with the wonders of His creation; men and women.

Enjoy your life.  Enjoy His life.  Refrain from being sucked into the swirl of needing to know so much about so much that you can't remember who it is that needs your love today.

Just sayin'.

TULSA WORKSHOP BEGINS WEDNESDAY EVENING

I am so excited!

What we work on for over a year becomes actuality Wednesday evening as the Tulsa Workshop's "SPEAK LIFE" begins its three-day keynotes, classes, worship, and over-joy day by day!

What are some of your favorite workshop moments over the past 40 years?

WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BE. REALLY?

Imagine creating a movie scene where the gangsters were in the beginning stages of plotting a show-down with the towns-people.  And while these evil planners were merely (unknown and unmarked) scouting out the territory, what if the citizens began bringing their gold, silver, cash, and jewelry to the town square and dumping all in huge tubs for any thieves to take at will?

Bizarre!

Why would they surrender to robbery before these with planners even began to execute their strategies?  Why would a community do worse than defend their goods? Why would the place them out in the open for the dark side to plunder at will?  Why would a decent people possess no energy nor drive to stand against abuse?

Bizarre!

Is this not a reflective scene of some of us who claim to walk by faith?  Have we not said to the Enemy, Here you are.  Take our congregations.  Take our families.  Take our missions.  Take our children.  We surrender them.

And how is it that we do this?

I believe we allow this due to lack of prayer.  Certainly, we can count the numbers of dear brothers and sisters who lead well or follow well in so many works of the church. Yet, this keeps us busy; but may not be keeping us healthy.

Who is praying?  Is it being done?  Yes.  Definitely.  But I think it is not being done by the majority.  This is my concern.  Statistically, I don't have a spreadsheet.  Listening to us, I believe I am accurate in my assessment.

We have work to do; big work.  We have God to believe; big God.  We have tasks before us; big tasks.  But we have not a prayer life to match.

Why?

This is the point of this post.  Could it be that prayer is diminished because we have failed to develop a faith of vision.  The church has succumbed to a whatever will be will be mode.  We've lost our way.  We've forgotten we can create, mold, and groom things that are not yet into being.  We've lost our sense of believing He is strong enough to create the very needs the church has to push back against the Gangsters.

Prayer is tempted to couple niceties with wishfulness.  I encourage you to be visionarily creative in seeking what God has in mind for you today; where, when, and why He wants to move you here and then there.

It is bizarre that we basically sit on our hands when the church and the scrambling world needs impact.  Pray is nothing new as far as topic.  It would be incredibly new to those committed in the church to do good; but can't seem to develop an activated faith.

God can always do more than we can imagine.  All love the text referenced from Ephesians 3:20.  What I wish to do to your day is encourage you to imagine more than surrendering to the dark forces simply because whatever will be will be.  

We have a bigger God than that.  May we develop a bigger faith to fit His size more than ours.

BELIEVE GOD CAN....AND WILL

For certain, walking in the spirit zone is tedious.  Because God calls us (II Cor. 5:7) to walk by faith and not by sight, we can be assured that the visibles will do their best to choke out the invisibles.  Our goals to walk by faith in the unseen is forever tripped up by the distractions of what we see.

It is for this reason that masses of believers don't pray.  Saying words into the ears of an invisible God is about one of the strangest senses a fleshly body can feel.  Speaking words into the air and believing they resonate with Some Being out there? Absurd...unless you really do believe.

Belief is nearly a contradiction to man's most basic anchor.

We should not be surprised, therefore, at the great strain connected to believing God. Our addictions to walking among the tangibles, the measureables, and the handleables seem to undermine the purity of faith before we ever head out the door of a morning.

Curious followers of Jesus posed the big question, What shall we do that we may work the works of God?  What response did they anticipate?  Pray longer?  Track the needs of the poor?  Go to church regularly?  None of these.

This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

Jesus' comment seems so basic that still today the religious world takes constant effort to improve such a fundamental sentence.  Surely there must be more.  However, the religious conglomerate is suffering from lack of efficiency and stability today due to bypassing his simple statement.

There are many things we state that we believe.  As a matter of fact, unity seems to teeter if we don't adhere completely to the rationale of others.  But believing in Jesus; the one whom God sent?  This is easily dismissed in the name of there is much work to do.

There it is.  The kindergarten version of simply believing Jesus tends to be aborted by the time we get to first grade.  Yet, this is our assigned work order.  So why do we tend to rush to a place to serve or a need to be met by robust attention rather than focus on the Son of God?

The flesh seems to crave verification.  Am I doing well?  Do you see me doing well? Will I make a difference?  To believe in Jesus seems/feels like.....vague vagueness?

It takes spirit muscle to believe in Jesus.  Concentration.  Conviction.  Determination. These are in the mix.  Believing Jesus isn't a good mood.  It is a major work.  No one does this haphazardly.  No one possesses a passion for him simply by occasional tossing a thought his direction.

When we do the work of believing him, we are altering the course of life.  We work to believe he knows the how, the what, the when, the where, and the why of any given need.  We believe in his timing; not ours.  We are sure of his ability; not ours.

When we watch him, we make powerful progress because we know that he isn't doing anything until he sees Father doing it.  Synchronization and harmony will never be more basic than when we shed the many church dynamics that distract in order to focus upon the one who runs the show.

TULSA WORKSHOP...BEGINS ONE WEEK FROM TONIGHT!

40 years!

Next Wednesday evening crowds will gather at the Tulsa State Fairgrounds to begin the three-day TULSA WORKSHOP!

I attended the very first one in 1976, spoke at the second one in 1977 (as a guest preacher from Quincy, IL.), and then directed the third one in 1978.  What a fabulous ride!

The workshop continues to be a kingdom tool to inspire, encourage, and promote outreach.  It started that way and will be the same this year.  The format is always designed with "reach" in mind.

When I begin to plan the workshop program (as my good colleague Shane Coffman and I alternate years), I think about the churches across our land and in other nations that are the size of 38 or 73 or 125 in membership.  I wonder what we could do to offer popular speakers who they might not otherwise get to hear.  Plus, it is a consistent thought of ours as to what would give them a boost in their work back home.

From Wednesday evening's keynote with John Alan Turner to Saturday's rallying final keynote by Jeff Walling at 4:00, the workshop will be powered by the Holy Spirit to send us back into the world with a charge!

If you plan to be here, spread the word of this exciting venture! If you hadn't planned to be here, I would encourage you to make new plans!

Too, all who plan to stay over for Sunday are encouraged to visit one of our area churches.  Memorial Drive will have only one assembly that day which will be at 9:00 (like in nine) for those needing to get on the road.

www.tulsaworkshop.org

Terry

THE FIGHT FOR FOCUS

Negotiating the clock is a major challenge in this present age.  The calendar is no easier.  Communication galore carries with it great value and, then, constant threat. We are blessed to be in touch.  Relationships strengthen through being in contact. We are also threatened by numerous distractions which pull us away from necessary labors.

Interruptions are a profound part of our daily pattern.  The phone rings or the iPhone beeps.  And occasionally that old-fashioned introduction by a knock at the door occurs. Whatever the tool, surprise communication bombards our days second by second.

As we try to accomplish intended goals we find ourselves in a fight for the ability to simply focus.  Yet, we must...or else go nuts.

How can we simplify in a complex time?

We learn to say yes those things that seem to be our God-assignments and no to the many opportunities which beg our attention.  Saying no is both the challenge and the victory.

Surely your emails and texts light up with requests.  And just as certain, our hearts wish to expand that others--the many legitimate needs of these very wonderful others--may be encouraged.  We are all about blessing others.

There must a be a seriousness, though, that we may (or have) become spread too thin. Of course, I get it.  Such admonition is precisely what the lazies want to hear.  But I speak of the servants among us.  We must run our schedules and not the other way around.

Just as our food-intake would be blessed by a disciplined diet, so would our activity-intake benefit by our disciplined scheduling.

If we are going to be a people of efficiency and productivity, we just must focus on the items where we serve well while abandoning the need to please men by our endless offers to cover too much ground quite ineffectively.

HOW TO BE YOURSELF AND LIKE IT

One of my greatest struggles in life has been to like who I am.  If the world has flaws, I seem to have a world of them.  As a result I didn't seem to enjoy the living while being alive.  And even today, those feelings will make effort to intrude upon my wonderful life.

Maybe some of you wage war on a similar battlefield?

I think so.  I am sure of it.  Therefore, I run a few ideas by you which might give you a boost to the point you can be who you are...and like it.

Luke 10:38-42 tells about the personality differences between Martha and Mary.  One scrambled in preparation while the other sat at the feet of Jesus and listened.  The two women represent the competition and strain within our own individual hearts. Committed to live in this distracting world while desiring to slow down and enjoy are very much who we are and what we are like.

Jesus declares distraction unnecessary.  Yet, we believe it is and often offer defensive explanation as to why.  However, Jesus is teaching via these sisters an eternally important truth.  Less is more.

This battle of liking who we are (and not constantly wishing we were someone else) finds clarification when we can focus.  That was Mary's secret from God.  Of course Martha disagreed; out-spokenly so.  She viewed herself as the responsible and mature one.  So Jesus disagreed.

It's interesting that he did not compliment both in that each possessed a wholesome quality.  No.  To the active one (as far as serving others), Jesus leveled, you are worried and bothered about so many things.  Worried and bothered distract. Distractions rob us of liking who we are because we feel behind, overwhelmed, and unappreciatedly obligated.

Mary enjoyed the moment.  For so long I struggled with her seeming lazy indifference. Yet, she gains our Lords praise?  Yes.  She would rather be with him while she had the opportunity.  She treasured him over personal responsibilities because she knew how to focus on what matters.  Mary wasn't lazy.  She was simple.

Simple is desperately needed in our walk.  I've learned over the years that God manages this show; not me.  I've learned that I can be so mobile upon religion's turf that I may miss the presence of God.  Too, I've learned a great secret in saying no to distractions that I might say yes to liking life.

It takes extreme discipline to be simple.  When I get distracted, I tend to get down on myself.  I'm not doing enough, being enough...I am just not enough...and this depresses me.  Simplicity of refusing to live according to interruption's cadence is most freeing as well as enjoyable.  Peaceful doesn't equate to being lazy.

Mary enjoyed Jesus.  Martha surely loved him but missed out on being with him while he was actually in her house.  This is no news; but we spend entirely too much time majoring in minors when it is not necessary.  We are the ones, as did Martha, who put mandatory burdens upon ourselves.  At these points we don't like being who we are.

One of the most difficult things for me to learn was what Mary already knew.

I learned to say no to well-intentioned opportunity that did not fit my calling.  Others can view this negatively; but living to please others is killer law embedded within our own insecurities.

No.  Regardless of how appealing ventures were or how ego-building some invitations seemed, I learned to say no when such was the necessary and disciplined response. Just because someone had an idea for me to be involved didn't mean I was a villain for gracefully declining their approach.

Are we to stretch to be productive for God?  This will always be His call.  For Martha, it was a stretch to sit down and enjoy the moment.  Such moments will often challenge each of us.  The exciting thing for us is that, due to the nature of the Spirit, more gets done when we offer less.

WHAT I THINK MOST DON'T BELIEVE, BUT I WISH THEY WOULD

There is clearly an invisible choke-hold on our minds.  Strangely, it comes from within our own skulls due to being anchored by our own thoughts.  Mankind is snagged and stumped and limited by strangulated thinking.

Faith makes long strides in unstrangulating us.  This is very serious business.  The secret powers of human-connected-to-God living are curtailed exponentially by hesitancy and fear.  Those who reverse this trend experience what God would deem as the surpassing grace of God in us which immediately allows, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (II Cor. 9:14-15) to become our walking reality.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebr. 11:1).

Discussing the deep need for faith, the apostle points to God and insists that faith, gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist (Rom. 4:17).

As long as we continue to sit with our Bibles opened, having listened to thousands of sermons already, too many remain captive in our own fearful minds.  Hesitancy. Threat. Vulnerability.  Sheepishness.  These combined are stagnatizing the Great Commission.

I speak of this not in criticism nor in warning; but in pleading with our very good people.  I'm with marvelous, beautiful, generous, tender believers day in and day out. Few, very few, realize the magic touch within themselves.

Some are pretty. Some are intelligent.  Some are gifted.  Some are serious about their faith.  The vast majority lives in public hiding completely unaware that they possess power and love of Holy Spirit impact that relatives, friends, and colleagues around would be blessed to hear what we have discovered in God.

Very average and normal church members need to understand something about themselves.  God uses very average and normal people to reach very average and normal people.  That's how we found God.  It wasn't through professional parents (for those raised in church).  Nor was it through professional believers (for those not accustomed to church life).  Plain people impact plain people.

I wish Mr. Average and Miss Normal would come out from hiding.  I wish you would imagine inviting some to sit at your table or go to your cafe with you.  I wish you would realize how fascinating the God who resides within you is and that you are the perfect (PERFECT) one to help others reach for that which they deeply yearn; a relationship with God.

You.  Not just others, but you.  You are magnificently influential because no one has a law against being loved.  Our communities are in a world of hurt; depression, anxiety, loneliness.  You and me, we have a way of cheering people on.  God has called us to light up their lives.

I wish you would believe that about you.  You are more wonderful than you can imagine.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO ENCOURAGE THE WORLD?

If there are fantastic messages in the Bible, one of them must be that God uses nobodies (like you, like me) to perpetuate effective influence.  Meaning?  We can make a positive difference in a world of pain, insecurity, and frustration.

We are not called to spread the bad news that "they" didn't do church right.  No.  We are called to sow seed of good news with the expectation that some of it will sprout.

I don't know how to say this well.  My motivation is to cheer you on to expand your vision of possibilities.  So here goes.  Wish me luck.

Influence doesn't come about because the world reaches to us.  We imagine.  We knock on doors.  We see three out of ten open.  We try.  We fail at times.  But we reach.

While I am tech-inferior, I use it for my reach.  I marvel at sitting at home of an evening and watching Wheel of Fortune and within my iPhone I talk in so many directions to so many people day in and day out...without exception.  (In praying for years for God to help me to reach the whole world, I believe He created iPhones for me. The rest of you just get to enjoy the blessings of His gift for me!)

Last night I was watching a television program while volleying texts with one of the personalities on the program.  Simultaneously, I was cheering on a friend whose mood was slightly bummed.  While all of this was going on, I was hearing from a congressman as to his day at work with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

And then there was the conversation with a sister in Colorado who is recovering from surgery.  (Get well friend.)  Oh, and the volleying of ideas regarding the Tulsa Workshop with my co-director in Washington state linked with my workshop assistant here in Tulsa.  And....then the communication to those working on housing for the workshop event.

It's ongoing, never-ending wonder!

What can we do to encourage the world?  Quit staring at it.  Refrain from wishing for it. Reach.  Knock on heart-doors.  Sure some will not respond.  But, some absolutely will. I want to reach the world.  I desire to give off rays of hope to nations full of His creation.

Please see your potential to do the same.  Together we can keep this message-of-hope baton moving.

I have prayed for Bill Maher for six or eight years.  I have written him repeatedly.  I don't know if he ever gets my notes.  Nothing.  Nothing to show for these efforts.  Not one thing.  The trying, though, matters.  When/if God gets ready to use any part of my efforts of influence, then it will happen...and only then.

The reason much of the world, from the poor to the rich, is not encouraged by the church is because we believers hide in our unimagination as well as our constant inventory of our own inadequacies.  Neither of these are acceptable excuses.

The world doesn't usually knock on our doors nor ring our phones...first.  We go. We are sent by God with the expectation that we will go.  We cannot hide in religious discussion and wish a hurting, aching, dying world into life.

We must go.  We must reach.  We must risk.  We must love.  We must care.  We must.

No one of any social level is exempt from depression and pain and discouragement.  No one.  We can, should, and must see that everyone gets a good shot at the Good News from God for it is both life-changing and soul-building.

May we have the heart to go.  He will work beside us.  We have the strongest hope to offer.  Let's do it.  Would you please free yourself from self-imposed shackles of "I can't" and move out on that outreach limb...and start sawing?

Very good people need you; need us.  And...we need them.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THAT EMPTY GRAVE

Life.  It's exciting, distorted, fascinating, complex, and very important.  We live in its center.  We breathe it, hold it, spend it, and promote it.

Minds are bombarded with variables which are terrific options for some while serving as detrimental distractions for others.  Simply put, much of life is spent avoiding the inevitability of death.  We know of it, experience it for others, and believe it.  Yet, we are consistently looking the other way.

God is most sympathetic to our resistance to death.  He never intended for this to be imposed upon His creation.  He did not give this devastation to mankind a holy shrug. Rather He took action and did something about it.

Father sent Son to replace the hell we were destined to experience.  Jesus experienced it for us.  We won't go because he did.

And...there's more.  After Jesus paid the price on the cross (beaten to a pulp because of guys like me), he was left in a tomb to rot.  But...he didn't stay.

That Jesus didn't stay in the grave is our signal that more than this life is still on its way.  If that grave were to possess a dead body of the Son of God, we would be able to scream hoax.  When the body of Jesus was gone and he returned to interact with his colleagues, we can still call out, "Thank you!"..

Life is about the empty grave.  Give Romans 4:17-25 a glance; so powerful.

God gives us such strong hope that He has the skill to call into being things that don't even exist and can give life to the dead.  This is only and wonderfully through the avenue of faith.

Faith doesn't go with the religious flow.  It believes the radical.  It bears creative power that causes wild moves to break the mold of managerial control.  Faith goes against the grain of routine human expectation.

Breaking into the world of God legitimacy among us is to break out of the grave due to a new kind of life...fueled by faith.  Authentic hope...it's all about the empty grave.

SOMETHING GOOD IS GOING ON IN THE CHURCH WORLD!

I give significant attention to church and her surroundings.  What's working?  What isn't?  Who's being blessed?  Who's being run off?  What should we keep that is of God?  What should we discard because it was once a method that served well; but now has bottle-necked growth and maturity?

Basically, people want to know God.  This trend is rising.  And we will want to remember that church isn't god.  But because so many (both in and out of it) believe it is god, abundant confusion and distraction is presented.  Rather than us seeking God that He would keep us moving forward in life, we have reversed the course by trying to keep the church going.

Yet, something seems to be stirring within our complex society; something good and hopeful and life-giving.

It seems the church is awakening to the truth that we have cluttered our own lives (and others) with a repetitious dogma and boring routine while missing the ultra-simplistic nature of Jesus.  There seems to be a breakthrough so significant that it seems as if this is divinely coordinated by God Himself.

For one, the Sunday morning Show Time is being very challenged in a good way.  I don't mean to speak disparagingly; only to point out that for many church members Sunday mornings are a time to show up without realizing that Mondays  and all other days of the week are equally significant to the kingdom style.

To report for Sunday morning duty only has created a community habit that did not come from scriptures.  If not yet, soon we will increasingly note serious discipleship trends where the churches are gathered day in and day out to learn from the simple lifestyle of which Jesus intended.

Remember, Jesus was in constant hot water with the church leaders because he found their abundant thirst for rules to be offensive to the sinner who deeply desired some sort of news that they, too, could be included in authentic life from above.  He stood up for us.  We must applaud him in thanksgiving.

There is a hunger for more meaningful relationship with God within the church.  And such will most naturally spill over with strong attraction to those observing for these, too, are seeking a life of greater meaning.

Too, somewhat of a pruning seems to be arising.  I don't know if it is social gluttony or political disarray or extremist threat, but our lavish appetite for the flesh is gradually being replaced by a genuine hunger for the Spirit.  Self-determination doesn't seem to be in play as much as a calm spiritual calling.

Denominational walls are coming down; not in the name of care-less liberalism, but under the banner of care-full Jesus.  Church leadership of arrogance is yielding to discipleship of humility.  The indifferent are becoming curious.  Individualism is yielding to serving one another as community.

Something good is going on in the church world!  It's exciting.  It's meaningful.  And it's attractive; drawing us to the One who died for all.

SERIOUS CHRISTIANITY

Urgghh!  There's so much to life.  Communications come at us and go from us at the speed of can't-keep-up.  Debt pesters so many.  Aches and pains, others.  Concerns are in constant pursuit of our awake time.

And, then there's God.

What does He have to offer?  Where does He fit in with our maze of hurried boredom and worried waiting?  Is this faith stuff legit?  Or, is it a convenient cover-up which merely communicates that believers don't know how to do life either?

For certain, those who observe us from a distance don't seem to be buying our bark. Why is that?  And, is there anything we can do about it?

The answer is an absolute yes.

There is a trait of Jesus which profoundly advantaged his reach.  He was humble.  He humbled himself on the cross.  He learned to be obedient by the training of the things where he suffered.  He uttered no threats during his torture.  Getting even was never in his heart.  Converting the enemy was.

This, dear one, is serious Christianity.

Humility is the focal point.  Churches, however, have taken on many facets other than this one.  Arrogance, competition, insensitivity; these would begin a staggering list of why our influence has diminished.

Serious Christianity, as did Jesus himself, will take the blame for others' sins.  We will not blame nor will we label.  We will absorb.

Churches are known for programs, for architecture, for doctrinal stances, and/or for evangelistic zeal.  We are not known for that trait of Jesus that is of utmost seriousness; our humility.

So what shall we do?

May we go to work by first admitting this is a glaring problem in Christian circles.  How could we reverse this negative perception which is quite strong up and down our streets; whether we choose to believe it?  It would seem the posture would be simple.

While we yearn to grow in the Spirit of Christ, may we have steady, perpetual awareness that we have neither arrived nor conquered all there is know about the Bible.  Neither have we mastered His call for our walk.  And, surely any attitudes of doctrinal superiority are, in themselves, glaring error.

Serious Christianity is humble in both belief and in practice.

Yes, this system takes stands and carries weighty conviction.  But none of these have a road to walk on until we soberly see the need to begin the trek by humbling ourselves as least in the kingdom.  From this mode, we begin a healthy venture of seriously reaching to our neighbors.

FAITH NEEDED IN THE PRESENT TENSE

Christians are having to fight for air.  Not because of opponents, but because of faulty doctrine, many are just trying to survive their own dull faith.  Why?

Why is this gigantic belief system walking with such visible limp?  Has faith finished its course and followers of God must now seek alternative steroidal support?  Or, have we created a man-made belief system that has subtly shut the corridors down to reduced travel.

I believe it is the latter.  And here's why.

The central Christian doctrine of wholeheartedly living a life in Jesus in present tense has been subverted into a life-after-death insurance policy for souls.  Hell-less has been the highest motivator.  Heaven-full would come in second.  Living a current life with interactive relationship with the Trinity has gone unconsidered by some of the most influential among Christian movements.

I am saying that in my earlier experience with the church that far too many were a part of it simply to keep from going to Hell.  Compassion?  Not.  Unity?  Not close. Evangelism? Non-existent among these I describe.  Heaven was okay; but only because Hell was to be avoided at all costs.

This thinking kills faith because faith is for the moment; the right now of where we live.  And if we are merely crossing our fingers in hopes that we avoid Hell when we die, the basic calling is to sit, wait, and see how it goes once dead.

Faith, however, calls present life into a new realm.  What makes faith come alive is to discover that God's calling is not for us to avoid eternal damnation; but to make us disciples to spread the powerful hope of the resurrected Jesus to the four corners of the world.  What makes faith come alive is when we begin to realize we have more than an eternal destiny.  We have a mission.

We are raised at baptism to walk a new life; not to wait it out til last breath.  We are urged to realize our citizenship is in heaven....now; not someday remotely out there. Faith comes alive when we dare to leave the security of our on control by yielding to His Holy Spirit leadership.

Pews are not shelves for bodies to sit in hopes of hearing their names called from the Book of Life after it's all over.  No.  Christians are God's army called to active duty.  We have burdened neighbors to encourage, heart-broken families to embrace, and enemies who hate-our-guts to love.

We have work to do and faith works!

The very command to love God and to love others is faith come alive.  If we groom a church-people to focus inwardly on their life-after-death mode, then we will have trained a people to be dead-while-alive indifferent.

What makes faith come alive?  Hearing the call of God and the need of others with no respects for ourselves; this will change the world where we live....in the present tense.

GOING THROUGH LIFE CRIPPLED BY INSECURITY

People.

Do you ever think it is really hard to be people?

We surely do lead lives of paradoxicality.  On the one hand we are self-absorbed; perpetually weighing most matters with the grid of how this affects me.  And, then on the other hand, we hide in a room full of people just hoping we go undetected.  Bless me; but don't look at me.  Life is about me.  Yet, I don't want to draw attention to my insistent obsession.

Me first.  But don't see me.  I want what I want.  But I don't want you to notice me wanting what I want.  

I want to be used by God.  But I don't want to be vulnerably placed in a position where I might fail.  So, it will be best if I keep my dreams for the kingdom to myself. That way, no one gets hurt...and I am safe from criticism.

From the extremes of social status, and any other status, a multitude live in what I label as public hiding.  While these are present in body, they are not available for interaction because their number one mode is self-protection.  Supportive?  Yes, as long as one can get by with being in the game in center court; but have the body posture that we are really on the sidelines.

I get insecurity.

I am a lead professional in insecuritilistic combat.  Fear has been my mentor.  I have been obedient to his constant and threatening beckoning.  It took the Spirit of God to cause this jail cell door to fly open.  So, I understand many of you for we are all so similar.

Of course this is my opinion, but I think all people live in hiding.  Even the most outgoing must be in control of the corridors we travel for it is of utmost importance to never look caught off-guard nor unprepared. Thus, these tread the repeated road of personal security as we appear to have the world by the tail.  In reality we don't.  These merely make sure our walk has the appearance of out-going effectiveness.

Man is crippled by fear.  God is insistent on faith.  Faith will take us places.  Man is bored with going nowhere (Ironic, don't you think?).  God is not boring.  His trek is not boring.  And believe me when I say, He will take us places.

I cheer you on.  Do not continually pass the plate of opportunity to someone else because you feel inadequate.  No one is adequate.  Hear me say factually, NO ONE IS ADEQUATE.  Adequacy is a kingdom secret; a powerful glory of God.

Not that we are adequate to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God (II Cor. 3:5).

WHY THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22-23).

Initial glance gives us a most natural insight of welcome to each of these traits.  Who wouldn't want to possess these?  Who would reject these qualities?  No one.  Each is effective for every moment.

Yet, this Galatians text isn't just about labeling fruit.  

It is of utmost importance to note the Fruit Bearer; the Holy Spirit.  And, the location of this Spirit fruit being born?  Within or from a believer.  This is major.

Christians find ourselves in places of pressure.  Discouragement pushes us to do many things; lash out, unload, or maybe give up and quit.  It is within such uncomfortable moments that we need to be more than we can be from a Source who is more than we are.  Enter the Holy Spirit.

What the Spirit does for a believer in Jesus is He helps us hold on when we feel like we are about to cave.  He works from within us to see that what comes out of us does not resemble our moody, hateful dispositions; but rather the spirit of our Leader, Jesus.

The fruit is of the/from the Spirit; not from our recycled determination to behave better.  He, the Spirit of Jesus, allows a sweetness to issue from his disciples that would be of the nature of him; not of us.

These are not fruits; plural.  This is the fruit of the Spirit.  He will bear each of these in us when we can't muster another ounce of a try-harder-to-be-good attitude.  

Our job is two-fold.  Believe Him and let Him.

Every kingdom laborer is in need of Holy Spirit fruit because we are each pressed and distressed beyond cope-ability.  However, due to this promise of His fruit within us, we have a new hope; not about others first, but about ourselves and what we can endure to see that others are drawn to him.

To be like Jesus is more than a song.  It is a system; that of the Holy Spirit of God who would love to display the Son as coming from within us that we might have a tendency to look more like him.

THE DISTRACTING PURSUIT OF RELIGIOUS STANCES

To balk at the truthfulness that God is real is not the only tactic which would please dark forces.  There is a fundamental need for all to know the way, the truth, and the life which is to be possessed by and in Jesus.  Yet, Jesus doesn't seem to have the church spotlight.

No, we minor in Jesus while majoring in wandering pursuit of distractions. Distractions can be truths which would be valuable to discern, for sure.  But if their goal is within themselves and not to know Jesus better...then there you have it.  This only serves as another religious creation of man to keep others from pondering the Lamb of God.

I'm not innocent in this matter.  I've had my series of disgruntlementations which chewed up my time when Jesus received my mere name-dropping; so to speak. Therefore, this post serves as a warning or at the very least a reminder that it is religion's nature to get caught up in distractions under the guise of truth.  When all is said and done, it will still have been a distraction.

What version of the Bible is the accepted version?  That was a hot-button topic at the time of my conversion.  There were opinions and sides and bold claims of right and wrong, black and white conversations in abundance.  Jesus truly seemed secondary.

Our stance on the authority of elders was a big one to me.  My opinions were mighty. Simultaneously, I was preaching Church of Christ and not Jesus Christ.  Distraction kept me from seeing a major flaw about myself while I was correcting those (my assumption) weaker folk.

Could a woman teach a Bible class in a building; but not on a bus?  We argued this one and caused resentment along the way.  Really?  Women could teach if the property was standing still; but not if rolling on wheels?  Distracting pursuit?  Possibly?

Fast forward today.  Have you ever heard of the term worship wars?  Really?  A people so possessed by the Holy Spirit of God that we would actually divide over worship styles?  The answer is yes.

Women's role is a current fad of front-burner issues that I believe is yet another distracting pursuit.  The reason is that in the clamor I don't see or hear any battle for Jesus to be dominant.  Stances are the issue.

In each of the above, along with a host of other doctrinal segments, there is important insight to be gained.  In every case, these matter.  Yet, we must awaken to our perpetual thirst for majoring in minors compared to knowing our Lord.

Some like me have been consistently off at this point.  Spiritual equilibrium must be regained by singular pursuit of Jesus; wherein all other matters will find wholesome resolution.  The world did not want to know in the '40s whether it was best to take communion with one cup or individual cups; and it still does not want to know.

Who will save us from our perverse selves?  Jesus would be of utmost importance.  As we learn more of and from him, we will surely be found to have gained spiritual wisdom regarding the assorted issues which continually serve as significant distractions.