They made a life together.

Sixty-three years! There’s no way that loss doesn’t hurt. No way that doesn’t change his life. We try to avoid hurt as much as possible but there’s no way to miss it all.

But, is there hope beyond the ache? Healing? Will the sting ever go away?

Yes … and no.

The pain will always be there, though the intensity is different. That’s not necessarily bad. It’s bearable because He helps us bear it.

Jesus said that we would have tribulation in this world. Paul endured shipwrecks, beatings, and jail terms. His battle for the gospel had nearly gotten him killed. At times he thought he was a goner. (2 Cor. 1:8, 9)

Yet he remained effective in life because God constantly healed him. The only pain that can’t be healed is the pain we refuse to take to Him and ask for help.

And here’s a secret result of our battles. When we combat in faith Jesus gives us a powerful gift. The God of all comfort ” … comforts us in all our tribulations…” (2 Cor. 1:3, 4, NKJV).

We receive heaping helpings of comfort and consolation that we can share with others.

So, what do we do if pain knifes through us? Is there hope beyond the trial?

How do we receive consolation??

–We let God console us. We take it to Him … honestly, brokenly. God can’t ignore a broken heart that comes to Him. He hovers near the broken-hearted.

–We pray for each other. “Please help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks for the blessings we receive in answer to all these prayers.” (2Co 1:11, CEV ) Don’t forget to PRAY for those who hurt. You do help by praying!

–We take the gift of God’s consolation and we console others. People who have been hurt and receive God’s consolation are uniquely placed to help others who are hurting–identifying with them, but more. They bring the same help from God that they received.

It’s as if the healing that the patient received in the hospital qualified him to be a doctor, gave him understanding and skill. It’s true. We receive something tangible to give to others when we are healed. We become more effective healers and we can bring God’s healing to bear in many situations. (2 Cor. 1:4!)

A lady in our church several years ago told me of a wrenching experience. Mary had had a breast removed because of cancer. It was traumatic physically, emotionally and spiritually. She joined a group that helped others who had the same surgery.

“The first time I went into a hospital room and I saw that woman lying in the bed after surgery, I knew exactly what she felt,” she told me.

Part of healing is identification. I think that’s why Jesus would lay his hands on people. That may be why He wept at Lazyrus’ tomb. There’s a powerful healing ingredient in identification. When the hurting person knows that someone else understands her hurt, that she’s not the only one who ever felt that way, the healing process begins.

But, identification isn’t enough. We pray, thereby bringing God’s power into play. If we want healing, we’ve got to have God in the house! Prayer in faith brings His muscle on the scene. Identification makes the connection for God’s power to flow into that situation.

Everyone reading these words has been hurt at one time or another.

Is there hope beyond hurt? “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all…” (Ps. 34:18, 19 CEV)

And the consolation we receive in the battle is a gift with which we comfort others.

“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.” (2 Cor. 1:5-7, The Message)

Hmmm …
“How is your spiritual life going? I used to answer this question by looking at the state of my devotional activities: Did I pray and read the Bible enough today? The problem is that by this measure the Pharisees always win. People can be very disciplined, but remain proud and spiteful.” John Ortberg in his book, “The Me I Want To Be”

Smile

Don’t argue with an idiot; the people watching may not be able to tell the difference. (Internet)

Samson was kind of like that.

He kept sinning and shaking himself, sinning and shaking himself. One day he shook himself and God’s Spirit was no longer there. He lost his hair, his freedom and his eyes to his grinning foes. But, he did a whole lot of repenting and his hair sprouted again. “Just one more time, Lord,” he prayed and brought the house down on God’s enemies. A great victory. Good publicity for repentance. Like my skunk friend, he went out in a blast of power.

I can’t help but be sad, though. It didn’t have to be that way for Samson. He had a lot of muscles but not many brains. What if, instead of a blaze of glory at the end, he had had twenty more years of wisely and powerfully leading God’s people? What if they hadn’t had the negative example of his unfaithfulness to God’s word and subsequent defeat?

Grace after repentance is a heart-warming story. Grace that enables us to be faithful is an even better story.

Are you dallying with Delilah today? Involved in something you know displeases God? Why don’t you quit it? “But, I want it. I like it. It’s so good. I love him/her. It’s to hard; I can’t quit.”

I wish we could listen in as Samson muttered to himself as he ground away in the prison. It might have sounded like this, “If only I had obeyed the voice of God’s Spirit instead of the lure of my hormones. How could I have been so stupid? I knew it, but I just didn’t stop. I thought I was invincible. I’d never been defeated before. A thousand men fell before me and then I fell before a seductive woman. I can’t believe it. Why was I so stupid?”

Your Delilah might not be female but you know it has you in a state of disobedience to God. Go to God. Repent before you get your hair cut, because a hair cut you will get, sooner or later. Count on it.

You can still go out in a blaze of glory if you repent but that’s not the best way to go. In the case of skunks it’s awful stinky. In the case of men and women, it’s painful.

“Then she said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He woke up, thinking, “I’ll go out, like always, and shake free.” He didn’t realize that God had abandoned him…The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison. But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again… 28 And Samson cried out to God: Master, God! Oh, please, look on me again, Oh, please, give strength yet once  Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, “Let me die with the Philistines,” Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life. (Judges 18:20-22, 28-30, The Message)

But, often we’d be going somewhere in the mountains. My wife would be riding shotgun and she would say, “Oh, look. Isn’t that beautiful!” As I took my eyes from the narrow mountain road to look she’d say to me, “Not you! You drive.”

But you’ve got to look if you want to see.

Or think about  this. The French have a saying, “Love is beautiful.” I’m sure that’s true but sometimes it’s just plain silly.

Take a couple sitting on a park bench looking deeply into each other’s eyes–and looking and looking and looking. This can go on for a long time. The only cure for this disease is marriage.

They are learning to know each other. You can tell a lot about a person by looking into his face, observing his eyes.

God tells us to seek His face, to look at Him. What does that mean?

There is a sense in which we’ll never see God’s face in the way we want to here on earth. The grand consummation of His presence awaits us that day when He makes all things new.

But there is another sense in which we can “see” Him now. I believe the ‘face of God’ has to do with His presence. You can’t see someone’s face unless you’re with Him.

“Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.” (Ps. 105:4)

What intrigues me is that there are differing degrees of seeing someone’s face. If I’m up close I see perfectly. If I’m a hundred yards away I still see his face but I can’t make out his expression.

The person can’t “talk” to me with his face from a distance. Sometimes the Lord guides us with his eyes and you can’t respond to that unless you’re close. Now there’s a thought. Are there times that the Lord won’t speak to us with His voice, but He indicates what He wants us to do with His eyes?

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” (Psa 32:7, 8)  (This verse is translated in a slightly different way in other versions. That’s why I like different versions. I can choose the one that pleases me )

We have to stay close enough to Him to see His face.

When you want to communicate without someone else being in the loop you whisper—or yell–with your eyes. Mama could say a lot with her eyes if I got too rambunctious. Kids have a way of taking advantage of the presence of others to do things that they know mama doesn’t like. Eyes can say a lot. Mama was like Bill Cosby’s mom. She could say, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it,” without moving her lips.

Here’s some keys to being guided by His eyes:

1. I have to move up close. There is so much that we miss from a distance. The face and eyes speak a language that often contradicts words. I like to look constantly at a person who is speaking to me. It’s polite. It lets them know that I care about them even if I’m not that interested in what they are saying. It helps me pick up communication that goes deeper than words. When I speak to a group I look at them. I make eye contact. It bugs me when someone won’t look at me because there is so much that he learns from my eyes and that I learn from his eyes.

2. I have to look. If I didn’t want mama to ‘guide me’ with her eyes when we were in a public situation, I don’t look at her. (Unfortunately mama wasn’t too embarrassed by the presence of others to deliver her message more clearly if the eyes didn’t work)

If you let Him guide you, you’ve got to move closer and look! That’s a heart thing. That’s a will thing. That’s a desire thing.

3. It takes time. We don’t build a relationship with God or another human by just wishing. It takes speaking time, listening time, heart time.

4. We’ve got to check out our heart to make sure we’re not “two-timing” the Lord.  “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (1Pet. 3:12)

5. Be hungry to know about Jesus. Learn about Jesus. “…the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6, NIV)

6. Here are a few feet-on-the-ground things you can do to move up closer: reading the Bible daily and praying often promote closeness if your heart is in it. Assembling together with others to worship the Lord can too. Be careful that you do it with you heart, John Ortberg in his book, “The Me I Want To Be” said,

“How is your spiritual life going? I used to answer this question by looking at the state of my devotional activities: Did I pray and read the Bible enough today? The problem is that by this measure the Pharisees always win. People can be very disciplined, but remain proud and spiteful.”

Sometimes, I take time apart and skip a few meals to concentrate on Him. Lots of times I’ve been impacted by a book that gave me a glimpse of God’s face. Conversations with Christian friends about their heart for God have inspired me to step closer. Helping someone else brings me close to God’s heart.

When is the last time you got up close and looked into God’s eyes and let Him look into yours?

That’s it isn’t it? The last word goes to the heart. If I really want to get close I’ll find a way.

“This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face…” (Ps. 24:6)

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Hmmm …

“We need to know something today we did not know yesterday and to do that we need to be taught. To be taught we need a teacher–the Holy Spirit. Once you cease to learn you cease to be qualified as a teacher of the truth. The truth stays the same but the world does not. Therefore, we must live in a constant state of new revelation so that we can constantly teach the truth as it applies to our community and generation.” Rick Dubose

What if I tried this with my wife?

“Waaaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaah!”My wife  erupts into the room. “What’s wrong?” she asks, imagining that I must be having a heart attack or at least a seizure of some sort.

“I’m hungry. Make me something to eat,” I respond.

Now I don’t know what your wife would do but I have a good idea of my wife’s reaction. But, that’s okay because didn’t the Lord say, “… whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15). I’m just being obedient, acting like a child.

What if, later that day, I pass her desk where she’s writing something with a beautiful pen? I love beautiful pens so I grab it out of her hand and start to leave the room. “What are you doing!” she cries.

“Just being obedient, acting like a child,” I respond. If I child wants something he takes it and fights, bites and squalls to keep it.

About 4 pm I park myself in front of the television, grab the zapper and call up the Cartoon Network. Five hours later I’m still sitting there, eyes bleary, watching something completely inane. “Why are you watching dumb cartoon for hours?” my motherly wife asks again.

“I’m acting like a child,” I answer. “Isn’t that what the Lord said to do?”

Is that what Jesus meant by becoming like children? Ummm, not exactly.

Don’t forget, He also tells us to not act like children: “When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am an adult, I have no more use for childish ways.” (1Cor, 13:11) So, we should have the heart of a child and act like mature grown-ups?

That’s about it.

What is about the heart of a child that Jesus loves?  Kids can be sweet. Sometimes the grandkids wrap their arms around my neck and give me a genuine hug that’s worth a million dollars. (That kind of hug is contrasted with the hugs that come when their parents command them to do it or I threaten to cut them out of the will if they don’t give me a hug).

With small children, what you see is what you get. There’s not a lot of subtlety about them. If they’re happy, they’re happy. If they’re not, you know that, too. We adults are complicated and we often suspect others of doing certain things to try to manipulate us—and we’re guilty of doing it, too. You don’t? Then why was your wife so suspicious the last time you gave her an unexpected gift?

“The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.” (Mark 10:13-16, The Message)

We consider children to be a bit gullible, but they learn by believing what we tell them. If I could only be so open and trusting towards the Lord Jesus. That computer between my ears whirls constantly trying to figure things out instead of just believing God. We want things to compute.

And God says, “Just trust me.” A child can handle that because he does it constantly with His parents.
Jesus noted the humility of children. They’re not always jockeying for position, trying to better themselves. This was what spurred Jesus’ teaching about children: the disciples were always trying to get ahead in the pecking order, to be greater than the others.

“He sat down and summoned the Twelve. ‘So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.’ He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, ‘Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.’” (The Message, Mark 9:35)

Unfortunately, I think there are also scriptures for people  who want to act in the way I described at the beginning of this article “Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and
punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” (Heb_12:6  )

And if He doesn’t do it, my wife can handle me herself. She’s very good at dealing with children.

This idea of becoming like a child is sometimes hard to understand. What does it mean to you when Jesus said to become like a little child in order to enter the Kingdom?
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Hmmm …

“You’re not ready to tell the world anything until first you’ve heard from God. Unfortunately, most of us are so busy telling that we don’t have time to hear. We’re in such a hurry doing ministry that we’re like a hamster on a wheel; we’re rolling around and around but making no progress. We need to get alone with God so we can hear from him personally.” Rick Warren

Smile—

If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.
~ Author Unknown

When a woman quits asking questions you need to start asking yourself some questions. (Internet)

Take the death penalty for instance. The ‘fors’ and ‘againsts’ heat up once the topic is broached. I found a better solution. You want to punish murderers? Make them ride transatlantic airplanes for the rest of their miserable lives.

In a week they’d be begging you to shoot them.

Give them each the maximum amount of luggage with two carry-ons. Delay their flights constantly. Make them pay airport prices for soft drinks. Let them be searched, x-rayed all the way to their belly button. Make them take off their shoes and belt then hold up their pants while trying to put two laptops in three different trays to go through the machine that looks for suspicious stuff.

And my favorite: put that lady who always sits in the seat in front of me on long flights in front of them.  Now you’ve got to understand. Airlines have reduced the average space in cattle-car class to the amount of living space required by a midget sardine. So, you’re gliding along at 35,000 feet with your knees under your chin when that lady decides it’s time for a six-hour nap.

So, she leans her seat way back onto my knees and drifts off into lala land. My legs weren’t made for airplanes since I’m over six feet tall and when she does that I get claustrophobic and want to yell at the top of my lungs and pummel the seat back with my imprisoned knees.

I don’t know how but she seems to be on every transatlantic flight that I’m on. It’s either her or one of her cousins.

Recently this lady was on my knees for so long that I wanted to say to her, “Lady, we’ve got to stop meeting like this. My wife is getting suspicious.” (My wife was scrunched up next to me, in case you’re wondering).

So, if we were punishing murderers on these flights and she was lying on their laps maybe she’d quit leaning on me. They’d probably do her bodily harm, though.

“If it’s so miserable,” you ask, “why do you subject yourself to the torture of airplane travel?” Well, there’s a reason. Some of my kids and grandkids live a plane flight away and I’m willing to endure that lady on my lap in order to see them.

And some of the things that I believe God wants me to do sometimes requires flying to different places. And I’d sure endure Sally Snoozer in order to accomplish His purposes in my life.

Accomplishing your goals in life often involves doing unpleasant things. We’ve gotten the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of difficulty down to an art form haven’t we?

We consider happiness an inalienable right. But could God tell us to do something that might make us miserable in the short run? How dare He!

How dare He? He’s the Boss, not me. My job is to obey.

Look at those people praying in Acts chapter four. The big guys have threatened their comfort and happiness if they keep on preaching about the salvation that’s in Jesus. And what do they ask God when they pray? “Lord, stretch out your hand and heal people in the Name of your Son Jesus!”

Don’t they know that is what landed them in this mess to begin with? And they’re asking God to turn up the heat? Yep, because for them, obeying the Lord and living their life to complete the mission that God gave them was more important than their comfort, happiness, security– even their life!

God’s Kingdom is more important than our happiness, and to be painfully honest, getting where we need to go sometimes requires us to do things that make us uncomfortable, to make choices that are tough in the short-run. Paul once compared his situation to being “poured out as a drink offering.” That can be disagreeable if all we’re looking for is to be comfortable and contented in life.

But, if our greatest happiness awaits the Day when we stand before Him and hear Him say, “Well done my good and faithful servant,” we do what we have to do to get the job done—even if it hurts.

I’ve been thinking. You know that idea about making condemned men ride transatlantic jets? Just forget it. I’m pretty sure that the Supreme would declare it cruel and unusual punishment.

Hummm …
“Another common misconception: You need to learn from your mistakes. What do you really learn from mistakes? You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that? You still don’t know what you should do next. Contrast that with learning from your successes. Success gives you real ammunition. When something succeeds, you know what worked—and you can do it again. And the next time, you’ll probably do it even better.” David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried Rework (New York: Crown Business, 2010)

Smile—
“Heaven goes by favour. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. “ Mark Twain
“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”
~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

For years I’ve wanted to play the guitar. I could  see myself sitting there, twanging the guitar like Pavrotti sings opera. I was going to be good. Then one day a friend loaned me a guitar and gave me a few lessons.

“Now David,” you think. “You’re going to say you’re really good at it.”  Nope, I still can’t play the guitar. The only things that stopped me from being excellent were the inability to screw my fingers up like a contortionist and the willingness to practice and work hard.

Other than that I had everything it took.

In some things I’m a dreamer–my guitar playing for instance. I decided that others could work and I’ll listen. But, in some things I’m a visionary. A dreamer’s dream is like a good book. It all happens in his head and best of all he’s the hero of the story. A visionary on the other hand, often smells like sweat. His heart sees what he wants to happen but his legs, arms, eyes, mouth—all of him gets involved in accomplishing what his heart sees.

Dreamers suffer a lot. “The longings of the wicked will come to nothing.” (Ps.112:10). Head-in- the- air dreamers aren’t always wicked but they “long” a lot. They want great things … dropped in their lap. They envy others who seem to accomplish so much. “Lucky,” they think. Or, “It’s not what they know, it’s who they know.” Or, “If I’d been born in that family I would have been successful, too.”

They really want what they see in their mind. They just don’t want to hustle to get it. It’s easier to whine than to change.

Visionaries, dreamers who have a dream from God, go after their dream. They fail, they get knocked down, they cry, and they get discouraged. Then they get a taste of the dream and want it even more. But, it’s still a fight and sometimes it seems that even the taste is taken away. But, they keep on going.

That God-dream is why they’re on the earth. It pulls them forward. Just imagining the fulfillment of this vision gives them almost as much joy as the moment when they finally hold it in their hand.

What most people don’t realize is that the process of winning can be as much fun as actually winning. When we’re working and striving we’re filled with hope, even if the sky seems to be falling. That hope, which comes from God, is the vital sap of our life.

Not everyone is a dreamer in the sense that they get a dream from God. Most people plug into the dream that God gives someone else and that dream becomes their dream, too. And in God’s Kingdom that’s good, because a God-dream is usually too big and requires too many different talents for one person to accomplish it. So one receives the dream and others plug in and dream and reach for it with him.

So, Moses goes to the mountain and receives a dream for a whole people. Some of them plugged in and shared in what God had given Moses but most of that generation didn’t. Ah, but that young generation, tromping around the desert with a vision of a land of milk and honey dancing before their eyes, that generation fought, sweated, and bled to take what God had given them.

Those who like things to stay as they are don’t particularly like those who dream something brighter, even if it would be better if the dream came true. Joseph’s brothers saw him coming one day and scoffed, “Here comes that dreamer!” (Gen. 37:19, NIV)

If Joseph hadn’t dreamed they would all have died in a famine. God’s family, which was the vehicle for sending the Messiah into the world, would have died out and we’d all have been lost. Way to dream, Joseph!

And you? Are you dreaming God-dreams are you just living a fantasy world in your head? If you don’t have a dream from God for doing something for God, get around someone who does. Let’s that passion that fires his soul communicate God’s vision into you. Do your part to make it happen.

Are you a flighty dreamer who never does anything to see the dream fulfilled? Are you a status quo person who is very happy with the world exactly the way it is? Or are you one of those dreamers who get touched by God and go out and change the world to be more like He envisioned it to be?

If you’re a God-dreamer, there’s a promise for you: “Praise the Lord, O my soul … who satisfies your desires with good things.” (Ps. 103:2, 5)

How do you tell the difference between a dream that’s from our own desires and a dream that comes from God? Love to hear what you’ve got to say. I’ll include your responses (or exerpts from them) in a future Coffee Stain.

Hmmm …
“First you pay!! We must to come to terms with that reality! There is a price to pay and it can not be negotiated! Jesus laid it all down and then God raised it up again … and so shall it be for us! … give it up, lay it down, let it go … pay the price that must be paid so that your mission can be fulfilled!” Terry Hoggard

The answers are respectively, “no” and “yes.”

What is arrogance? An old saying goes: ” I wish I could buy that fellow for what he’s worth and sell him for what he thinks he worth.”

Sometimes people prompt us to say, “That fellow has got an attitude!”

The NASB version of the Bible says that love is “not arrogant.”

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines arrogant as: 1: exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one’s own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner <an arrogant official> 2 : showing an offensive attitude of superiority : proceeding from or characterized by arrogance <an arrogant reply>

How can we know if we are arrogant?

An honest friend is one of the best things the Lord can give us. We can’t see arrogance in ourselves, but those around us see it easily. It’s like bad aftershave. After a while we no longer smell it but others can smell us before they see us.

Blessed is the man who has others who can speak into his life. Blessed is the man who honestly considers what others say. They’re not always right but if you hear something more than once or twice, some hard thinking is in order.

And blessed is the fellow or lady who can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit reproving him and helping him change his attitude so he can’t get back in the way of God’s blessings.

“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” 1 Samuel 15:23, NIV

Hmmm …
“The longer I live the more I realize that asking the right questions to the right people has more bearing on success than having all the right answers.”
Bryan Jarrett on Facebook

I used to love to help the referees when my kids were playing ball. My wife told me it wasn’t a good testimony but I told her that if I didn’t tell them when they were doing wrong, they wouldn’t know it. “I’m just trying to help them,” I pleaded in my defense.

She finally persuaded me that maybe he didn’t appreciate my advice as much as I did. But I’m still a good person to have in the stands. I cheer my team on and sometimes, when I can’t help myself, I try to help the referee remember to do his job better.

My oldest son Stephen loved playing basketball.  I once asked him, “Does the crowd bother you when you’re playing?”

“When I’m playing the only voice I hear is Ron’s,” he responded. Ron was his coach.

When we’re playing in life there are a lot of voices that scream for our attention. There are hundreds of “coaches” in the stands and they all want you to listen to them, but you’re better off if you listen to the coach.

The “coach” is the voice of the Lord in prayer; it’s counsel from someone who loves us and is wise in the ways of the Lord. It’s His voice speaking to you through His Word, the Bible. It’s that powerful conviction in your soul that something is right.

You need to know what you’re trying to accomplish (what would winning the game look like in your situation?), then shut out the voices that don’t belong to the Coach.

“Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he’ll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he’ll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: “This is the right road. Walk down this road.” ( Isa. 30:19-21, The Message)

Those other voices destabilize and confuse you. Listen to the Coach.

How Do You Block Out All the Extra Voices to Hear the Voice of the Lord? Leave you answer at the end of this article.
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Hmmm …

“Until you take responsibility, you are a victim. And being a victim is the exact opposite of being a leader. Victims are passive. They are acted upon. Leaders are active. They take initiative to influence the outcome.

“This is the great thing about responsibility. Once you own it, you can begin fixing it. This eliminates a lot of wasted effort in playing the victim and blaming others.” Michael Hyatt (http://michaelhyatt.com/)

One day our intrepid explorer, Angus Dillworthy, walked briskly into a village deep, deep in this jungle. He’s the first man from outside the forest who made it to that point. Usually outsiders were waylaid by boa constrictors, black mambas and mosquitos.

The leader of the tribe, Tonto, strode forward to greet him. “Hello, old chap,” Dillworthy says seriously. “I’m here to discover your village.”

“Angus Dillworthy, I presume,”  says Tonto. “Enter! You are honored guest.” (Now some of you are saying to yourselves, “If Dillworthy just discovered these people, how do they already know English?” My reply is, “I’m telling this story and they can do anything I want them to.”)

“We have great feast for you tonight,” Tonto said. “Help you get ready.”

A giant black pot was set up in the middle of the village and beautiful maiden girls and handsome rainforest boys busied themselves building a fire under it.

“What’s this?” Angus Dillworthy asked.

“You greatly honored. We let you soak in bath, prepared just for you.”

“Ah,” said Dillworthy as he took off his clothes, just leaving his boxer shorts, and climbed over the high edge into this strange black washpot. “Ah,” he exclaimed as the water warmed him and his tired muscles began to relax.

“You wouldn’t have a spot of soap, would you, old bean?”

Tonto came towards him carrying an armload of carrots, onions, potatoes and various spices. “Soap not our culture,” Chief Tonto told him. “When you in Rome, you do as Romans do.”

“Rome?” Dillworthy mused, but the delicious hot water was working its drowsy magic on him and he could barely keep his eyes open as Tonto sliced carrots, onions and potatoes and dropped them in with him.

His last sleepy thought was, “I wonder why he’s putting salt and pepper in my bath water.”

In the middle of the night he woke up in Tonto’s belly. (I know some of you purists are saying, “How can he “wake up” when he’s been eaten?” My answer is, “Hey, this is my story and they can do anything I want them to.”)

Warm Blanket

You know, a warm and comforting blanket of water is sure hard to get out of isn’t it? And I’m afraid that the devil is doing the same thing to a lot of Christians that Tonto did to our hardy explorer. He’s lulling them to sleep in misery and it feels so good they can’t get out of the water.

Misery feels good?

Many people sink into a pit of despair, plodding through life like a three-toed sloth, just barely putting one foot in front of another.

They could probably leave their misery but the effort of getting up would be too much and this misery is so relaxing. So, they just stew while the devil slices in a few more onions.

Sound familiar? If you’re cooking and can’t seem to escape that warm bubbly liquid, here are three things to do to get out of the devil’s stew.

Three ways to get out of the devil’s stew:

--Quit telling yourself how miserable you are...how persecuted you are...how unappreciated you are...how incapable you are. Don’t you know that “your self” hears yourself? Try this experiment. Say, “I just don’t know what I’m going to do. Look at this. There’s no way. I’m miserable.” Warm, comforting—and deadly.

The other day a young woman wrote this on Facebook: “I refuse to weep about my situation and I declare that this mountain will move in the Name of Jesus!!!” Unrealistic? At least she was stirring up the bath water and getting rid of the carrots. That’s tough in the short term but powerful as you keep doing it each day. Repeat what God has said instead of repeating misery.

--Make yourself rejoice. It’s a command but there’s a reason for the command. “"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing." (Psalms 100:1,2 KJV) He didn’t say to do that when we felt like it. He just said to do it.

Journalist Robert Gordon tells of a wretched time when he was an airman in England in the Second World War. One day he watched a whistling sergeant trying to recuperate a B-17 bomber that had slid off the runway into the mire nearby. He should have been miserable in the freezing rain and the muck.

Gordon picks up the story, “Sergeant,” I said to him in a surly manner, “How can you whistle in a mess like this?”  He gave me a mud-caked grin.  “Lieutenant” he said, “when the facts won’t budge — you have to bend your attitude to fit them.”

--Look hard at God’s promises, God’s Word, God’s joy. Look hard at the Lord Jesus. Listen to this.

"Interestingly, our minds work a lot like a magnifying glass. The more you think about something, the larger you perceive it to be. When you focus intently on your situation, it doesn't actually change anything in the natural, but your situation becomes larger and larger in your mind. Magnifying the wrong things can set your life on the wrong course in a hurry... But when you focus on God and magnify Him in your life, all the things of this world—the challenges, obstacles and disappointments—just seem to melt away." Victoria Osteen

In a scary time of testing Nehemiah told his fellow builders,

“Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes." (Nehemiah 4:14, Amplified Version)

The devil may be standing near you, licking his lips, just ready to stick a fork in you. Why don’t you make the decision to stand up and get out of your misery? It’s not easy because it’s a decision you must make each day.

But, it’s better than being devoured by the devourer.

________________________

Hmmm ...
"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for" – William Shedd

Are you living with urgency?

Some people enjoy horror movies. Because their lives are so dull, they need an adrenaline rush maybe, who knows? But what if, as CS Lewis envisions in “Dawn Treader”, what if that worst nightmare came true?

Last night at 2:15 am, Tahnya burst into the bedroom, frantic. “I can’t find Alana anywhere.” Sleep was instantly banished. Every parent’s worst nightmare. A lost child, in the middle of the night. I glanced in the kids’ room and quickly threw on some lights. Then I checked the doors. Still locked from the inside. Good.

But still no Alana. I returned to the kids’ room and searched a little more thoroughly. There, deeply buried in the corner under Joshua’s bed, wrapped in blanket, hidden by a bean bag, was the little Prison Break star.

The relief was amazing, sweeter than dessert. But I cannot banish from my mind those few brief moments of utter desperation as we frantically, frenetically, with total abandon, searched for our daughter. In those moments, I had no thoughts about the other kids. I didn’t stop loving them, but they weren’t lost. They were safe.

If I truly believed that the lost were lost, that children God had redeemed from darkness where still out there, lost, alone, stolen, would my work take on a greater urgency? If I truly believed in eternity and eternal destinies?

Living a little more urgently today.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10, NIV)

Smile–
I’m not arguing. I’m simply explaining why I’m right. Internet

Hmmm …
Dreams come in a size too big so that we may grow into them. -Josie Bisset