My Dad...

For the past 12 days I've wanted to write a new post to my blog so badly.  But each time I've thought about it all that would have came out is pure emotion, the kind that just comes off as being a whiner or victim or attention-getter and that's not who I am.  As most of you know, my dad died on 10/25/13. 

If you didn't know my dad and you spent some time with him, you would have thought that he was a bit harsh, sometimes rude, but always joyful.  I know that sounds like an odd combination but my dad was a simple man.  So simple, in fact, that he just didn't know better than to tell you what was on his mind.  He didn't mean anything by it, he just thought that the unadulterated truth was best.  Once you knew this is how dad was, it was enlightening to his behaviors.

You see, mostly what was on dad's mind was Jesus and he was going to tell you about it.  Dad loved Jesus with all of his heart.  He was so thankful that God had healed him from cancer (dad was cancer-free when he died, he died from a brain bleed).  Anyone dad met, he told them about his miracle.  If he knew you didn't go to church he would tell you that you need to go to church.  If he thought you may not be a Christian, he would ask you if you were going to heaven or not.

Dad is the only person that I've known to not have an agenda in his relationships.  What I mean is that he didn't love people expecting a benefit.  He had no ill will or malice in his heart so he just assumed no one else did either.  Dad taught me how to give people the benefit of the doubt.  

You had to be close to dad to understand this but dad just loved.  He loved every person that walked through his door because he knew they had came to see him.  He often cried when I got there and cried when I left.  Not because he was sad but because he was so happy to see me.  We enjoyed each other's company and we talked a lot but often we just sat.  So often, we (not just me but my brother Jody and our wives) would just sit.  Dad would sometimes doze off for a few minutes and when he woke up he would always say "I wasn't asleep, I was just resting my eyes".  We loved to watch football together.  We are both huge UT and Cowboy fans.  No matter how good or how bad our teams were, we loved watching them together....together.  If UT got down by as much as a touchdown, you could be guaranteed that dad would say "It's over, UT is beat".  Kim and I always got a good laugh out of that.

I miss my dad.  A couple of people have asked me if I would bring him back from heaven if I could.  To their surprise I said YES!!!  Are you kidding?  I would absolutely bring him back if I could.  Oh yeah, he would be mad at me because I took him away from Jesus but the way I look at it, he would get to go back.  I want him here with me.  I want one more fishing trip with him.  I want to hear him say "We're gonna catch us a whampus" one more time.  I'd like one more heaping bowl of ice cream with him.  Just one more time, I'd like to look at him sitting in his Lazy-Boy with his dog on his lap and him say to me in the most sincere voice "love you son".

I love you dad, see you soon.

John

It's never too late

A few weeks ago, pastor Brad used Jeremiah 18:1-4 in a message series that he preached.  Since then, that scripture has been echoing in my mind.  The NLT version reads like this:

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Verse 4 is what resonates with me.  God specifically was telling Jeremiah that Israel had not turned out as he intended, so like a potter does clay, he was going to crush Israel and start over.  This verse makes me think about my personal life and testimony.  I can see myself on the Potter's wheel and things are spinning and He is molding me as planned.  But then a flaw comes out of the clay that messes up the pot.  As long as I am willing to accept being crushed, the Potter takes me back to a form he can work with and starts again.

Sometimes, the Potter has to completely crush me because the flaw is so big that I just have to go back to the beginning.  Sometimes, he just has to use a tool to dig out an imperfection.  This may leave a scar but that will become part of my testimony.

Obviously, I use this verse when I do prison ministry because everyone knows that a felon needs to start over.  But how about us?  How willing are we to let God crush us into a lump of clay so he can start over with us?  Too often, I'm afraid, we tell God "not yet, let me finish here and then you can have me".  Or just as bad, we see other flawed jars and we tell God that our flaw isn't so bad, especially compared to our neighbor.

Probably the saddest situation is the person that thinks that their flaws are too bad for God to want to fix.  Or maybe they think they aren't important enough for God to fix.  I know this sounds crazy but after talking to the people that I have over the years, you should never be surprised how someone may think or feel.  I have met so many people that just didn't feel worthy to be saved or "fixed".  There are so many hurting people that don't realize that what they have done just doesn't matter to God.  All He cares about is whether you are a willing vessel that is willing to let Him mold you.  Are you?

God loves people, period!  He may hate sin but he loves people.  He loves drunks, drug addicts, child molesters, adulterers, homosexuals, murderers, and liars...to name a few.  He will forgive sins and THEN put you on the Potter's wheel for him to mold.  God is ready to forgive sins and accept you as you are, we just have to be willing vessels.

God loves you and I do too!

Crucifixion Outline

I spoke at RIO 180 last night. Here is the outline that I used. I don't have time to fill in the details but this is a very good summary for you to go on to understand what our savior did for us.


1) Jesus was betrayed by Judas

2) He prayed until his sweat became as great drops of blood

3) Abandoned by all of his friends

4) Walked 2.5 miles during a sleepless night

5) He had many people bearing false witness on him yet he did not defend himself

6) He was beaten on the face and mocked at Caiaphas’ house

7) He was beaten by the cat-of-nine tails (according to Roman custom), 39 lashes (Deut 25:3)…Describe what that does

8) He was robed…but when de-robed later, the pain would have been horrific.

9) He was crowned with a crown of thorns

10) He had to carry the top part of his cross

11) The nails were 8 – 10 inches long and they went in his wrists, not hands…explain the tearing

12) One nail was used for his feet

13) When the cross dropped into the ground, his shoulders and elbows would have dislocated (Psalm 22)

14) He was crucified naked (Roman custom), they cast lots for his clothes.

15) His heavenly father turned his back on him...“eloi, eloi, lama sabacthani”…My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? All this because he became our sin. II Cor 5:21

16) His blood began to thicken as water started gathering in his lungs because of the short breathes he was taking. His lungs were working overtime to try to get oxygen from the blood. This is why that blood AND water flowed when his side was punctured. A clear sign of what was happening.


I'm happy to field any questions.


God loves you and I do too!

Time to get dirty

In November, I blogged about being burdened and carrying other's burdens. Galations 6:2 tells us to carry each others burdens. I think the question we all ask is how? How do I carry my brother's burden? How do I help carry your burden?

Until now, I thought I could help carry anyone's burden simply by praying. We all want to help and we all want to be hero's but what if I told you that sometimes there just isn't much you can do to carry a someone's burden? What if I told you that it takes a special type of person that can help you with your burden? I know that will stir some disagreement but that's OK. If we all agreed all the time then we would always be right. But in Numbers 11:16,17 God told Moses to pick certain people to help him. Moses didn't just go get any Joe, they were chosen.

I formed this opinion yesterday. As many of you may or may not know, all three of our kids have stomach viruses. Kim and I went away for my birthday and Kim's mom was keeping the kids at our house when it hit, and boy did it hit. Kim and I cut our trip short and when we got home, the girls were pitiful. After cleaning several messes, Kim said "I think this is what God meant when He said we are to bear one another's burdens". What Kim was saying is that if you REALLY want to carry someone's burdens you have to be willing to get dirty. To carry someone's burdens you have to jump in the mud or the fire with them. After talking to Kim and thinking about it, this made absolutely perfect sense to me.

If you are moving, would you want me to pray that God helps you or would you want me to show up with my truck ready to help you move? If your water line breaks, would you rather me pray that God sends you someone to help or would you rather me show up with a shovel to help you to dig down to the leak? If your going through a divorce, would you rather me pray for you or would you rather Kim and me take you to dinner and listen to you?

I hope you know that I'm not diminishing the need for prayer. We should always pray and we should always pray for each other. However, there comes a time for action for someone. James 2:15,16 addresses this and then of course we know that faith without works is dead. We live in a world of hurting people. Are you willing to roll your sleeves up and get dirty? What are you really willing to do to help carry someone's burden? Unfortunately, it is much easier for people to judge others rather than help them.

Pray, by all means pray. Pray without ceasing. But you should be well aware of those around you because sometimes, hurting people are crying out for help without you knowing it. There may be people around us that are stuck in the mud and they are just waiting for someone to get in with them to help them get out.

God loves you and I do too!

Send me a donkey Lord!

I've got a situation that came up today that has the potential for some serious change in my life.  Whether it is good or bad remains to be seen but to be quite honest, I'm worried to death about it.  That reminded me of a story I heard on K-Love the other day. 

A woman takes her kids to the movies but the theater is empty.  After a few minutes one of the workers tells her that there is a problem with the projector and the movie should start in 10 minutes.  The woman's two kids are pretty pumped up about the movie but they wait patiently.  After about 20 minutes the worker comes back and tells them they can't get the projector fixed so they are sending them to a different theater to see the same movie.  With this news, the youngest of the boys pitches an outrageous fit.  He begins to scream and cry and tells his mom "NO" he wants to see the movie where he is because that is where the movie is supposed to be.  He then asks why she brought him here just so they can't see the movie.  She tries to talk some sense into him but he won't hear of it.  She then drags the boy, kicking and screaming to the other theater to see the same movie.  When they get there, the movie screen was bigger, the seating was more comfortable, and when the young boy gathered himself he saw that they were actually in a better place.  Once the movie started, the mother asked him if he felt silly about the way he acted.  He just said no and then he said he wouldn't have acted that way if she would have just told him it was going to be better.

Isn't that the way we are sometimes with God?  Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't like change but I have to admit that, against my better judgement, I sometimes ask God why.  Sometimes God has to shut one door just so we are forced to walk through the door he has opened for us.  I wish I could tell you that I'm super-spiritual and can see with God's eyes 24x7 but the truth is, I generally see with God's eyes only when it is convenient for me. 

In most of my posts, I tend to extend a challenge to the readers but today my challenge is for me as well.  Have faith!  Sometimes we have to have blind faith, not knowing what lies ahead.  God doesn't always send a talking donkey like he did to Balaam.  God was steering Balaam one way, by way of the donkey, but Balaam wanted to go another.  After trying three times, the donkey finally had to talk to Balaam (Numbers 22:21-34). 

Right now, I feel like screaming "SEND ME A DONKEY LORD" but what he really wants me to do is listen to his voice so that I won't need a donkey.  I encourage you today (and me too) to listen to God's voice and have faith that he will guide your steps.  Let's pray that we only go through the doors that he wants us to and that we don't try to open the doors that He has shut.

God loves you and I do too!

But God, I'm not that strong!

We’ve all heard that God won’t put more on you than you can bear, I’ve even said it. Is it true? Some would tell you that it isn’t true because the scripture has been misquoted. That, indeed, is true. The scripture in question is 1 Cor 10:13 "…He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it". This scripture obviously deals with temptation and not our burdens. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad to be able to refer to this scripture. However, it isn’t always what I need.

A very close loved-one of mine has had a horrible year filled with one disappointment after another, none of which she had any control over. I have often said that "God must think you’re awfully strong" but did I have biblical basis? The answer is a resounding YES!

Numbers 11:11-17 has a very specific example of where Moses was under such a burden that he couldn’t bear it. He basically asked God to fix it or kill him. Verses 16-17 are why I believe that God won’t put more on us than "we" can bear.

16 The LORD said to Moses: "Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

The key element here is WE. Galatians 6:2 tells us to bear one another’s burdens.

But what about my loved-one? The one thing that I’ve learned is that hurting people tend to NOT ask for help. Human nature is to not want to be a victim. Human nature is to want to be strong, even if we aren’t. Admitting that you are hurting seems like admitting a weakness to the one that is hurting. Even if you aren’t hurting, the last thing most people want to do is to ask for help for something.

Ask my wife how often I ask for help when I’m sick. She says I’m the worst sick person in the world because I don’t let her love on me and take care of me. Being sick is a weakness to me and I don’t want to be weak. Does my pride keep me from being less sick? NO! The fact is that now, not only am I sick but I’ve turned away the best possible earthly helping hand that I could have. How stupid of me. I’m sick, I should let my baby take care of me. The same goes for hurting people carrying a burden they don’t think they can. Hurting is a burden. As a matter of fact, I would say that hurting people make up the largest set of people carrying a huge burden in this country. Have you ever been hurt? Has anyone close to you ever let you down? Did you wish that you had someone to help you carry that hurt. Did you wish that you didn’t feel alone?

Now, that briefly addresses the hurting loved-one but what about me? Did I look at this person as though they were weak? Of course not. Did I look at them with judgmental eyes? No. All I want to do is help everywhere that I can. God has shown in Numbers 11 that he is willing to help let our brothers and sisters bear each other’s burdens but he has two requirements; 1) Someone that is asking for help and 2) some person or people that is willing to help.

It is my opinion that every one of us should be a 1 or a 2. Ask yourself today "Am I a person with a heavy burden in need of help or am I a person with a light burden today looking for someone that I can help"? Once you sign up for this Christian life you lost the right to take a day off. You lost the right to have middle ground where things are just OK and I’m just "minding my own business". It all boils down to loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

As loving, kind, humble, charitable Christians (I could go on forever listing the Christ-like qualities that should be present in our lives) we should we should pray for divine appointments with hurting loved-ones or even strangers for that matter.

Whether you are burdened or carrying someone else’s burden, it is our obligation to love people. This is one of the callings that we all share.

I love you and God does too!