Month: March 2025

One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in His death so that everyone could also be included in His life. 2 Corinthians 5:14 The Message

This past week, I had a chance to chat with a nurse at one of my doctor’s offices while I was waiting. Surprisingly, she enjoyed talking as much as I do, and when we moved through the usual conversation, she let me know that her daughter plays basketball for Pitt State. She went on to say that her daughter is a substitute for the team, and that she would probably get no playing time in the Final Four game on that night. I ended up watching the game and found her daughter on the bench where she remained until the final four seconds when she got into the game. It made me think of all those who sit on the bench but still put in the same amount of work without the recognition. Being a substitute isn’t easy in this life.

After my thirty years of teaching, I began to fill the gaps of my time after retirement by occasionally being a substitute teacher. I admit that I knew that substitute teachers provide the perfect excuse for students to break all the regular teacher’s rules, but I never imagined how stressful a day could be for the substitutes. It’s like the students had a meeting to dream up plans for things they could do to upset the routine of the day. I know they plotted because in their minds, a substitute doesn’t know their names, they don’t know their parents, and most importantly, they won’t be back the next day. The substitute had no authority. We were considered a stand in for the regular teacher. We weren’t the real deal, rather we were just a substitute.

A substitute is defined as a person or thing acting or serving in place of another. In this case it is another trained indiviual who comes in the absence of the regular teacher and is to facilitate learning.

There are other instances of being a substitute. In 1863, two years after the beginning of the Civil War, Congress passed The Enrollment Act which required every male citizen between the ages of 26-45 to enroll in the Army as a way of providing fresh manpower. However, the Policy of Communication allowed a drafted citizen to pay $300 to opt out of service. Grover Cleveland and John D. Rockefeller were two famous Americans who used this act. The act generated a huge amount of resentment especially between the wealthy and the poor who couldn’t afford to opt out.

The Power of Substitution Act was even more devasting. This policy allowed a draft eligible man to NOT join the Army if a substitute, that was otherwise exempted, could be found. It ended up causing massive problems because the troops chosen by substitution ended up being too old, too young, or in poor health. The policy was later abolished because the perfect substitute didn’t exist.

The word substitute seems to have some bad connotations, but not in the Bible which clearly teaches that Jesus was born to be our substitute. The Message in II Corinthians 5:21 says it this way; “For our sake, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

We know He substituted for us on the cross, but how can we explain this deep love? We want to ask, “What does His love look like?” Look at the cross. If you had been the only person who ever lived, Jesus would have died just for you. But “what does his love cost?” you might ask. The answer is, Nothing! It comes with no strings attached. You didn’t do anything to deserve it, and when you mess up, you don’t forfeit it. Nothing can come between us and God’s love. Romans 8:23

Jesus was the perfect substitute which God sent in to take away our sins, and this sacrifice offers to each of us a path to forgiveness and reconciliation. The right substitute can win eternal life for us all. The best news is this substitute does know your name, He does know your parents, and He will be back every day for all of eternity!

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

The whole point of what we are urging is simply love -love uncontaminated by self interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. 1 Timothy 1:5 The Message

This life offers us many moments in which we can celebrate our life so far, and in which we can laugh and remember the times shared with friends and loved ones which make life so special. This past week, I was able to celebrate a big birthday with some of my dearest friends. There was much laughter as we sat around a beautiful table to enjoy a “Swan House” type meal. I’m sorry, but there is no better lunch than chicken salad, frozen salad, quiche, and sweet tea!

During the jubilant conversation, one friend said, “I just have to tell you all that, as I look around this table, the one thing I love about you all is that you are real.” I loved that description of friends who are real about their life, their heart, and their faith. There’s nothing that we have been through in this life in which these girls are not there for each other.

When we are real, we emphasize authenticity, honesty, and living a life that is aligned with one’s true self, before God and others, encouraging transparency and rejecting facades. The Bible says that being real means being genuine and authentic and that God wants us to be who we are.

When Jesus picked His disciples, he did so after a night in prayer on a mountainside where he was seeking God’s guidance. In the morning, he called them together, and picked the twelve that were to be His apostles. These disciples came from various backgrounds including fishermen, a tax collector, and a zealot. When Jesus chose these men, He wasn’t looking for the strongest, the most handsome, or the most brazen. Rather, He was looking for real people. He chose people who could be changed by His love, and then He sent them out to communicate this love to others.

These disicples became His inner circle or His friends. They walked together, talked together, faced the elements together, ministered together, healed together, preached together, and I can imagine that Jesus could be real with them. Even though these men were real friends, in the end, one denied Him, one betrayed Him, and only one stood at the foot of the cross when He was crucified.

Jesus frequently went to a garden of ancient olive tress known as Gethsemane with His disciples to pray. On the night before His crucifixion after celebrating Passover, Jesus took His disciples there. At some point, he took three of them – Peter, James and John – to a place separated from the rest. Here, Jesus asked them to watch with Him and pray so they would not fall into temptaion, but they fell asleep.

Twice Jesus had to wake them and remind them to pray so they would not fall into temptation. This is especially poignant because Peter did fall into temptaion that very night when three times he denied knowing Jesus. These men were real friends to the Master; however, just like many of us, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:38)

When we are real, there is no imitation and nothing artificial, but rather we are genuine. One of my favorite children’s books is The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery William Bianco, and it has a few paragraphs which offer insight into being real.

“What is real?” asked the rabbit when he and the skin horse were lying side by side near the nursery fender before Nana came to tidy up the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the skin horse. “it’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the skin horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are real, you don’t mind being hurt.” “Does it happen all at once like being wound up,” the rabbit asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the skin horse, “it takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Ususally by the time you are real, all your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints…and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are real, you can’t be ugly except to people who don’t understand.”

This part of the book is a beautiful metaphor for the value of authenticity and vulnerability. When we allow ourselves to become more real it is a blessing to those around us.

Don’t be obcessed by getting more material things. Be content with what you have. Since God assured us “I’ll never let you down, never walk off.” The Message Hebrews 13:5-6

It is feeling a lot like spring everywhere we go. The weather is warmer, the flowers are blooming, and the stores are displaying all the new spring fashions. When we think of spring, many of us begin to turn our minds toward “spring cleaning.” This is the annual event where we spruce up our homes inside and out after a long winter of the doldrums due to inactivity.

For most women, the spring season involves the annual “switch out the closet” event which is basically replacing winter pieces of clothing, shoes, jackets, etc., with spring ones. Sometimes this can consist of just moving clothes from one closet to the other, but this year, things are different. This year our church is participating in a program which allows us to simplify our closets while at the same time, make a donation to Must Ministries. The first step is to grab a garbage bag. The program asks us to take one item from our closet each day for the forty days of Lent and put it in the bag. The bags will then be collected and distributed after Easter Sunday.

This idea has worked well for me because it’s not done all in one day, but rather I have forty days to sort through things. However, clothing isn’t the only thing we need to work on! We all have a need to simplify many things, not just material things, in our lives. We are bombarded on a daily basis with emails, phone calls, responsibilites, pressures, schedules, obligations, TV ads, and the weight of everyday life. We need to simplify and drop some of the load we carry.

On a recent radio broadcast, Dennis Rainey talked about Double Eagle II, the first hot air balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The men piloting the magnificent craft caught an air corridor that carried them all the way across the Atlantic, but when they were just on the coast of Ireland, they flew into heavy cloud clover and ice began to form on the balloon’s outer shell. They dropped from twenty thousand to ten thousand feet in a matter of hours. They did everything they could to save the balloon. They began to throw out cameras, food rations, even a glider with which they had planned to land. At about four thousand feet, they radioed their position and then threw the radio overboard. Finally, they descened low enough to catch the rays of the sun, the ice fell off, and they soared to France. We all need to simplify and lighten our load so we can soar through this life.

The scripture above was written to tell Christians to be content with what they have and be comforted in the fact that God will never leave them. Charles Shedd pastored a large church with many demands. He and his wife created a simplicity list to share with the congregation. It’s a perfect reminder for me.

First, remember why you are here. We simplify our lives by putting God’s will first. Then, drop useless goals. Next, make sure you need to simplify. Sometimes our problem is inertia because we don’t do enough! Then, remember you can’t do everything. If God had intended you to be six people, He would have divided you up. Leave some of the jobs to others. Live one day at a time. Plan and hope for the future, but don’t live there. “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34) Live well today and tomorrow’s strength will come.

Then, wherever you are – be there! Stop thinking that happiness comes at a certain time every day or with certain people. Live in the present. Next, develop a hobby. A change of activity keeps you fresh. Time spent playing is time well spent. My personal favorite is, You can’t slow the world, so slow yourself. Learn to gear down. When you can’t alter the pace, alter yourself. Finally, adopt the perfect pattern. Follow Him as He lives a mighty life in quiet confidence.

Thoreau said, Our lives are frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify. I think he means that we should discard the unnecessary and embrace a simpler more intentional life. Don’t get bogged down with material possessions and life’s pressures. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Phillippians 2:5

We all have garbage bags just waiting to be filled! Simplify!

If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business”, will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know, someone who is not impressed with weak excuses. Proverbs 24:12 The Message

We are not quite a week into the season of Lent, and most of us are in the process of either fasting, praying, or “giving up” something in observance of the season. Unfortunately, many of us are probably already offering excuses about why the process isn’t working for us. We have tried it for a few days, and it’s just not working!

As a kindergarten teacher, my colleagues and I have heard probably every excuse imaginable offered by students as well as their parents to explain the inability to complete and turn in lessons on time. The most popular excuses were: I left it at home, I had a game last night, I forgot, and the ever popular, the dog ate it!

An excuse is defined as an attempt to lesssen the blame attached to an offense or to defend or justfiy an action. Many times we find it convenient to blame others when we lack the courage to accept the responsibility for our own behavior or mistakes.

The art of making excuses is not a new phenomenon. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares the story of a man who was preparing a great banquet, and he had invited many guests. It was the custom then, as it is now, to send formal invitations to such a special event quite a long time in advance. Then, as the actual date approached, a more personal invitation was extended.

According to scripture, instead of receiving the invitation excitedly, the guests began to make excuses. The first said, “I have bought a field, and I must go see to it. Please excuse me.” Another said, “I got married, so I can’t come.” Still another said, “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on the way to try them out. Please excuse me.” Not one person simply said, “I will not come,” rather they simply made up excuses to cover up the fact that they did not want to come.

We’ve all made excuses for things we either don’t want to do or things we are just too lazy to do, but we need to realize that excuses show the inability to accept responsibility and they are the hallmark indicator of the lack of character and maturity. We make a thoughtful list of things we might “give up” for Lent, but unfortunately many of us lack the determination to follow through to the end. We blame circumstances and the reality of life for our failure.

When God came looking for Adam in the Garden of Eden and asked for an explanation of eating the forbiddem fruit, Adam made excuses for himself and blamed everyone but himself for the failure to defend the Garden from the evil one. At this point, denial and blame entered the world.

A respected counselor wrote: All blame is a waste of time. Regardless of how much fault you find, it will not change things. The only thing blame does is keep the focus off you when you’re looking for reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. Blaming others is often just a way of avoiding the truth about yourself.

In the late ’60’s and early 70’s, the comedian Flip Wilson made quite a name for himself by popularizing the expression, The devil made me do it, through his character Geraldine Jones. Everytime Geraldine was tempted to do something that was totally unacceptable, her excuse was that the devil made me do it. The character Flip Wilson created was hysterical, but the excuses were far too familiar to most of us.

The Bible makes it clear that Satan can’t force his desires on humankind, but he can deceive us into making destructuve choices and excuses. When Jesus is in our lives, the devil can’t make us make excuses for our actions because we are listening to Him and making choices according to His will for our lives.

As we enter a new week in the season of Lent, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, “He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him. Romans 8:28

Most of us have heard of Murphy’s Law, and we probably have repeated it on many occasions, The law simply says, “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong.” The source of this law is Edward A. Murphy, Jr., who was one of several engineers who designed and experimented with a rocket sled for the U. S. Air Force in 1949 which was intended to test human acceleration tolerances. Of the 16 sensors that were installed, every single one was installed in the opposite way! In response to this Murphy said, “If there’s any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it!”

Murphy’s Law can be related to the Law of Variation. For example, “If you change lines at the grocery store, the line you just left will begin moving faster, and the one you are in will move slower; or as soon as you find a product you really like, they quit making it!” The general laws also include things like, “Nothing is as easy as it looks, and everything takes longer than you think.”

Murphy’s Law means different things to different groups. For instance, for men, it might suggest that “As the value of a tool increases so does the chance that it will be lost, broken, or stolen before the project is completed.” Women might suggest that “The smudge on the window is always on the other side of the glass and it’s always the highest window.” For seniors, the law might suggest that “Placing any item in a “safe” place guarantees that it will not be found again until long after it is needed.”

All of us can probably identify with Mr. Murphy at times. He was not an optimist, for sure, but we do live in a glass half empty kind of world. However, with this mindset, who can enjoy life if we think it has to be lived by this philosophy? Have you ever noticed that when people expect the worst, it happens?

Thankfully, God’s law totally disagrees with Mr. Murphy. The world might expect Murphy’s Law to operate in their lives, but at Christians, we need to resist that kind of thinking and think of things as God would have us see it. Here’s what God’s Law as opposed to Murphy’s Law might say. First, “If anything can go right, it will.” Secondly, “Nothing is as difficult as it looks.” Next, “Everything is more rewarding than it appears.” Finally, “If anything good can happen to anybody, it wll happen to me.”

The story is told of a businessman who came to speak to a small town’s Chamber of Commerce. His job was to help them see the positive rather than the negative of their community. He took a large piece of white paper and drew a red dot in the center. “What do you see?” he asked them. On person answered, “I see a red dot.” “What else do you see asked the businessman?” One by one the audience chimed in “A red dot.” Finally, the speaker said, “You have missed the most important thing; you missed the paper.”

We often let the negatives or the small things in life prevent us from seeing the positives. Think how much more we could enjoy life if we lived by God’s Law and not Murphy’s. God has a great life for each of us that he wants us to enjoy to the fullest. Instead of expecting the worst and blowing everything out of proportion, rely on God’s law and not Murphy’s.

As we begin the forty day period of prayer, fasting, and preparation known as Lent, remember all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.