Dread

Internet provides a wonderful way to find incredibly good illustrations. We also find other people on Internet who tell you that the wonderful illustration is really a bunch of malarkey.

For instance, I had this inspiring story about a mama eagle teaching her young to fly. She invites them onto her back, flys high, high into the sky, then dumps them. The little one haplessly beats his wings trying to fly and when he’s in danger of crashing, she swoops under him, flies skyward then dumps him again.

Eventually, the little one learns to fly (or dies).

I was going to tell you about that today, but after some deep and arduous research (maybe 15 minutes on You Tube and Internet), there are more votes against the truth of this story than for it.

I’m beginning to doubt it myself. By the time the eagle is old enough to fly, he is as big as his parents.

I can imagine his mama as she talks to one of her sisters. “You wouldn’t believe it, Mabel. That boy of mine is as big as a cow and eats like a horse. When I dumped him off my back and swooped back under him, he nearly smashed me to the ground.”

Heights Scare us Continue reading

Have You Built a Security Fence or a Prison?

green manOnce upon a time there was a little green man. Actually green has no bearing on our story. He could just as well have been purple. But, he was green.

Our green buddy made friends with everyone around him and every one commented on what a fine fellow their avocado-colored neighbor was. Until one day …

Yes, one day someone did something horrible to our green friend and it took him a long time to get over it. I’ll spare you the details because it wasn’t pretty. Eventually he healed, or seemed to anyway. Somehow he wasn’t the same–more distant, smiled less, and stayed to himself. Continue reading

Is Fear Of God All That’s Holding You There?

Fear of God is not foolish. But if “fear” is all you have you need to go on into fullness.

Kids are sweet but I find they are about 55% sweeter when they’re asleep.

When my rugbugs were little, sometimes I’d stand close to their bed and look at them by the moonlight as they slept. At times like that, you feel like you’re going to swell up and burst with love.

I’ve wondered if God sometimes watches us when we’re asleep. So many people think that the Lord is constantly mad at his people but personally I think He spends more time smiling at us.

We forget how much God loves us because we’re afraid of Him, I guess. Continue reading

How To Keep God From Working In You

When I was in Luxembourg a friend told me a story that was supposed to have happened the day World War II struck the little Grand Duchy.

A powerful German army, like a Mac truck with its motor warming, waited on the other side of the Moselle river from Luxembourg.

The order to attack came down and was put into action early in the morning of May 10, 1940. Luxembourg was a neutral country but the Germans wanted to go around the powerful forts in north France which made up the Maginot Line. Luxembourg and Belgium were the shortest line between the two points.

The Grand Duchy’s minuscule army offered no resistance. Still, when the German army began to cross the bridge over the Moselle river that divided the two countries, a strange site greeted it.

A single customs official stood before them, much like the famous Chinese student standing before the tank on Tiananmen Square, I suppose. He cried, “Halt!”

Well, he was courageous but it helps to be courageous WITH a large army behind you and his bravado didn’t change a lot. According to the story that I heard, he passed the war in a work camp in Germany.

One man can’t stop an army … can he?

Incredibly Strange

Let me tell you something strange—one man can stop the powerful hand of the God who created the universe from working in his life ! I know it sounds outlandish but a little earthworm like me can keep God from accomplishing what He wants to do in my life.

The customs official in our story above could be us. The powerful river of God can be dammed up by a tiny “Halt!” of unbelief, or fear or selfishness. “Stop, God!” And he respects that.

Fear blocks so many blessings. Faith in our hearts walks hand in hand with actions that are based on that faith, so if we don’t act out our faith, we block the good things that God promises us.

How many times have we resisted God because we loved our sin more than we loved his presence and his blessing? We wanted his help and we even dared to say, “I don’t know what God doesn’t keep his promises in my life!” But we knew perfectly well we were disobedient.

It’s always easier to blame God.

A little fellow like me can stop God’s action in his life??? Astounding! … incredibly sad.

It’s so dangerous to adopt that attitude.

“ If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
and made my thoughts known to you.
But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand …
I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you- …
For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
(Proverb 1 :23, 24 26, 32, 33, NIV)

It’s evident that the writer of the Proverb is speaking of those who don’t follow the Lord Jesus, but we can also stop God’s working in our lives.

Watch out! Don’t do it! God comes to bless you. Let Him do it.
______________________

Hmm

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” Martin Luther King