Month: October 2020

So here’s what I want you to do – God helping you; take your everyday, normal life – your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so self adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without thinking. instead, fix your attention on God. You will be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants for you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you , always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings out the best in you , develops well formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 from the Message

These days almost everywhere I go I must expect or be prepared to have my temperature taken. Although, I don’t mind, I have heard that if that digital thermometer is used too many times, it kills our brain cells!! I wonder if that’s normal?

Normal is defined as the usual, average or typical state or condition. For example, the normal temperature for a person is said to be 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. However, normal for one person is not always normal for another. For me normal is usually around 97 degrees. One day they said my temperature was 95.4, which seems almost comatose to me. There are differences in what is considered normal.

In the last seven months, normal has taken on a whole new meaning. Students have been staying home rather than the normal day of school, parents are working at home rather than an office, restaurants and businesses don’t keep normal hours anymore, churches are altering the normal times and amount of services, and on it goes. There is a new normal in our lives.

In this age, we are all having to cope with the sense of lost normalcy in our lives that we took for granted. It seems that we are being granted the time to review our lives and what is really important.

In years past, normal was a dinner without cell phones where people enjoyed conversation and communication. Now, I rarely see anyone in a restaurant or gathering without their cell phone or laptop on the table. Instead of intimacy and communication, we are becoming a generation that has lost that art. We spend our days isolated with only technology to keep us linked to the outside world. Is that normal?

Many people rarely have time to include Jesus in their normal day. We rush from one thing to another, but the one thing we never are without is our cell phone. We feel we are in constant demand. Jesus felt that way, too. He was pursued at all hours of the day and night by multitudes, yet He always found time to depart into a solitary place and pray.

In the past, it was normal to wake every day to a schedule. Now, we are adjusting to schedule changes. Who in our lives sets the schedule for our normal day? Usually it seems that our job, our family, and we ourselves set our schedule for the day or week. We find ourselves busy with work, family activities, and social activities for ourselves, but rarely do we include time for God in our normal schedule.

It is normal these days to acquire as much monetary wealth as we can, work as many hours as we can, own as many cars, houses, and material things as we can, and push ourselves as hard as we can. The new normal is the need to remember that the most important things are those which have no monetary value.

We are all looking for peace and inner comfort in this not so normal world, so how do we get it? It is probably the world’s best kept secret, but all this is ours for the taking if we just embrace Him and His promises. He will provide us with everything we need to handle life’s opportunities and difficulties. The secret is handling only the things God wants you to handle, and entrusting the rest to Him. That keeps life normal.

Dear Father, help us to expect you as we travel this normal ordinary road of life. We are not asking for sensational experiences, just fellowship with You through every day work and service. Be our companion when we take an ordinary journey and let our lives be transformed by Your presence.

So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me.” John 7:16

When it comes to teachers and students, I’ve discovered over the years that if you get a group of teachers together and ask one question, “Which class was your absolute worst?”, the answers are quick and definitive. If you reverse the question and ask, “Which class was your absolute best?”, the answers are equally (well almost) as quick and definitive. Teachers remember every class and every student because each one holds a special place in their life.

Likewise, students will always be quick to answer definitively when you ask, “Who was your best teacher?” Even as adults, most people remember our best teacher from ages ago! Teachers have that kind of influence on a person’s life.

We all remember teachers for different reasons, but most of the time we remember them because they taught us things we needed to know to survive in this world, and they did it with strength and compassion. Their “teachings” combined knowledge with curriculum and did it in a way which captured our attention and respect.

The ability to live out our teachings isn’t because we are necessarily the smartest person ever, but if we listen to the teacher, watch the process, and try to emulate the teacher, we will learn. I think that’s exactly the method Jesus used to teach others of the Kingdom of God, and I think He would want us to use that method to teach those who need to hear about Him.

There are many different “teachings” going on in the world today. There is the teaching of conforming to the will of the majority. There is the teaching of political correctness. There is the teaching of which lives matter most. There is the teaching of which political party is correct. There is the teaching of what is right and wrong. The teachings of this day and age are too many to number. Which teaching do we embrace and learn? The only teachings that we as Christians should embrace are the ones which come from The Best Teacher, Jesus.

Teachers, in this world of virtual classrooms and constant changes have a very special mission these days, they have to adapt. Besides, teaching the children the curriculum, they also have to be there to model confidence, adhere to safety measures, provide assurance, wipe tears, calm fears, treat students with love and care, and provide a constant for the classroom. Added to an already stressful job, it goes above and beyond their contractual duty. It’s like having three pots on the stove and four casseroles in the oven all on different time schedules with a table of hungry guests at the table!

The best teacher has characteristics which inspire their students just as Jesus had many characteristics which inspired His followers. The best teacher should teach with compassion, authority, tempered with purpose, adapt their teaching style to encompass different scholars, put students first, and approach every day and every student with a unique teaching style.

Jesus did the same thing as He reached so many different people in so many different situations, He adapted. He taught from a boat in the water, He taught on a hillside, He taught from the temple, and He continued to teach from the cross and after the resurrection. He taught to the rich and the poor, the lame and the whole, the young and the old. The best teacher taught by telling stories that relate to life and by using “teachable moments” to which his audience could relate. His teachings had no prejudice – every person was equally valued.

Teachers are leading children by their example, their knowledge, their presentation, their excitement, and their love and care much like Jesus led His followers. When I decided to become a teacher I remember my Mama saying, “That will be the profession that keeps on giving by touching young lives, and it will enrich your own, plus you get the summers off!” One thing proved to be true, it has been a profession that touched my life in so many different ways!

We have to pick the best teacher and teachings upon which to build our faith and our lives. It seems to me that the obvious choice for the best teacher would be Jesus, and His teachings are the ones upon which we should build our lives and faith.

A huge shout out to all the teachers! God bless you as you exemplify the qualities of the best teacher every day!

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life; homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like the smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit-but nothing moved that house. It was fixed on rock. But if you just use my words in Bible Studies and don’t work them into your life, then you are like the stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. Matthew 7:24-27 The Message

My parents owned a condominium in Panama City for 43 years. It is one of the first condos built on Thomas Drive, and it has weathered many storms during its tenure. The last hurricane of our ownership, Michael, came through several years ago and destroyed much of the surrounding beach areas. We were sweating the damage report which would come after the storm because electricity and phone lines were down and thus there was no communication.

As the first pictures emerged, we were amazed to see the Regency still standing with little damage. Ironically, most of the damage was contributed to the sand that blew in and accumulated. I was intrigued and began to ask around about the strong structure of that building. It seems that when it was built, the foundation, although on sand to begin with, was built down one half as far as the building was tall until it rested on rock. This foundation has kept it intact all these years.

Just like that building, the foundation of our life is what keeps us grounded. If we build our spiritual life on sand, it will eventually shift and we can lose the footing we need to deal with every day life and problems.

Storms on the ocean, just like storms in life, come fiercely and quickly. They crash the waves against the shore, wash through buildings and cars, shake boats loose from their moorings, uproot trees, and leave destruction behind on the shore. However, by the next morning or so, the ocean will return to normal, the sun will shine, and the winds will be calm. No one but God can explain it!

Life is full of the same kind of storms. Things happen in life which no mortal can explain. None of us can explain COVID-19 totally, just like none of us can explain the root cause of cancer, divorce, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, child abuse, and so many other things. We like to try and find answers and justify storms, but only God knows why. The thing is, He doesn’t have to ask us for our opinion on it, or how we would solve the problems of life and nature. He is working, and only He knows the end result.

Just like a storm, if we dwell on the debris left behind, we can begin to feel anger and frustration which grows stronger than the storm itself. Driftwood is one of my favorite things to find on the beach after a storm. We usually find it all knotted and gnarled by storms and the journey it has made to reach the shore, but this only adds to its beauty for me. No two pieces will ever be the same because no two pieces have been through the same experience.

Each of us have journeyed through different storms in our life, and no two of us will emerge from them alike. The storms we have endured only add to our strength and beauty. Lives that are built on the sand are shallow at best, but if our lives are built on the rock then we only have to trust Him to see us through.

Why do people think storms will never come and build their houses on sand? No one knows. It is plain to me, that all we need to do is just dig a little deeper, go down until we hit the rock, then just like the storms, life can emerge slowly from the darkness and destruction to become more beautiful and stronger!

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. Edward Mote

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:3-4

Every time I read the scripture above, I think of how determined these men were to bring their friend to Jesus for healing. These men exemplified tenacity by finding a unique way to approach Jesus.

Tenacity is defined as the quality of being very determined or persistent. Tenacity calls up a picture of holding onto someone or something for dear life. Its a picture of holding on with all one’s strength against overwhelming odds. It makes me think of a God that holds his children tenaciously and in return, his children hold onto Him just as tenaciously.

Tenacity is about so much more than not giving up on a goal. It’s about pushing through barriers of self doubt and having the willingness to persist against all odds. It reminds me of The Little Engine that Could.

In order to demonstrate tenacity, we should start with an attainable goal, something that requires a new skill, something just out of our reach. We make that goal , then go on to add more and more difficult goals.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. We had a situation this summer on our family vacation that is an example of tenacity to me. After eating dinner at a restaurant, we were all boarding Lee’s boat for the ride home. The boat, which had been on a journey of its own, was wet all over. (That’s another story.) As Randy stepped down into the boat from the dock, his foot slipped, and he landed sitting straight up on the bottom of the boat. Now, to appreciate the horror of this moment, one must know that Randy has had two knees and two hips replaced, one hip just two months before.

The family group grew deafeningly quiet as we looked on in surprise, horror, and a little disbelief at him sitting on the floor wedged in between a seat and the side of the boat. We were all thinking the same thing, as we stood in anticipation of calling 911, “How can we get this man up?” Suddenly, before we had time to react, Randy was standing up! It seems that our grandson, Drew, had taken charge. He put his two hands underneath Randy, and he lifted that 240 pound man to his feet!

Drew made the decision to act as the rest of us stood not knowing what to do! His goal was evidently attainable for him, but probably a little higher goal than he would have anticipated!! That’s tenacity!! Amelia Earhart said, “We are capable of so much more than we realize.”

Randy’s perspective said it all, “I was mentally checking off each new joint to make sure it wasn’t damaged when suddenly, two strong arms came underneath me and pulled me up.” Just like those friends who were tenacious about getting their friend to Jesus for healing, God is like two strong arms who are underneath to support and care.

In this day and time, we all need to cultivate a quality of tenacity! We are all capable of doing so much more than we believe to be possible, and if we act instead of waiting in an situation or during a momentous problem, we find ourselves developing tenacity, two strong arms, and a will to help others.

Three young boys were asked to give a definition of faith that illustrates the important aspect of tenacity. The first boy defined faith as “taking hold of Christ,” the second as “keeping our hold on Him” and the third as “never letting go of Him”. That’s tenacity!