The Old Has Become New

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! -- 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV


Here we are. 2010 is on it's last legs and 2011 is right around the corner. Have you been thinking and talking about resolutions for the new year or have you discovered what many of us know? It's a lot harder to live up to those resolutions than it is to make them. We have the greatest of ambitions when we resolve to improve ourselves, don't we? "This is going to be the year I lose 20 pounds" or "This time I'm really going to make sure I call my mother once a week" or maybe even "This is the year I find 'The One' and get married". Whatever they are, we usually shoot for the moon. It's a lot of pressure!

You wanna know the secret to realizing success? You have to come to the realization that the creature you long to be is already inside of you! God made you with a perfect design. It's just bursting to reveal itself and you are the only thing holding it back.

Let me put it in the form of a question or two. Can you pinpoint a time in your life when you are 100% sure you felt the presence of Christ in you? You can feel God's pull on your life to be certain, but I don't know that you can really feel Christ's presence inside of you until you get to a point where you need to feel it. Once you do that, you've unlocked your true self. You are free to live a life full of Christ. You are ready to begin the next part of the journey I wrote about this week.

We refer to that as you becoming a new creation, but it's really a matter of you realizing your potential in Christ. Instead of a new creation you become you discover your true self! I can think of no better time to dig deep and give that some thought than New Year's weekend. It's a new year, full of limitless possibilities and as yet untold stories. There will be good and there will be bad to be certain, but even a bad day with Christ is better than the best day without.

Your Mission

God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times. -- Romans 1:9-10 NIV

Candy Lightner founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) in 1980 after her daughter, Cari, was killed by a repeat drunk driving offender. Cindy Lamb—whose daughter, Laura, became the nation’s youngest quadriplegic at the hands of a drunk driver—soon joined Candy in her crusade to save lives. The organization has grown into one of the most well-known and respected non-profits in the world. Through legislation it has pushed, it has saved over 27,000 lives.

It started small. Just a few people fed up at a problem that had personally affected them. Thirty years later it has become something those charter members never dreamed...it has become what God called it to be.

Guess what? YOU have a mission too! In fact, you will have many missions over the course of your life. Some will take very little time. Some will require a life-long amount of effort. Your mission, right now, is the thing you are passionate about. It's the thing you can't seem to get away from. It is what is growing out of the latest trial in your life...and what you have learned from it. Who knows? Your mission could end up being the next MADD. But even if it isn't, your mission is God-given and sent to you because you are in a unique position to make an impact on the world around you. Relish it. Be content with it. Pray about it. Be blessed from it.

Smell The Roses

Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? -- Ecclesiastes 8:7 NIV

As Anna stood atop a rock cliff overlooking the ocean at sunset, her true love on one knee before her asking her to be his wife, she couldn't help but think about how she got to this spot and laugh a little...on the inside, of course! It hadn't been all that long ago that she was hiring this very man to drive her across Ireland to Dublin where her soon to be fiance was waiting. It was one of those trips. Anything that could possibly go wrong did, from his car rolling back down a hill into a pond with her luggage inside to stepping in cow manure to rolling down an Irish hill in a rainstorm and ending up in a mud puddle (and she had missed her train on that one), even the time the two of them crashed a wedding. By the end of the night, she had spilled wine on the bride and puked all over her driver.

Looking back now, it seemed obvious that it wouldn't take very long for her regular life to seem...dull.

You see, the journey IS the point! Anna couldn't have dreamed up an adventure like that even if she had tried. We spend a lot of our lives, I think, waiting. We're waiting for things to get better. We're waiting for the next phase of our lives. We're waiting...for something good to happen. But great things are happening all over the place, and many times they come disguised as more trouble.

Embrace every day, every minute even, of your life! Appreciate all of it for exactly what it is (God's gift). Have peace during the middle of the harshest of times knowing that you will look back on them later and see all that you learned because of it. The roses are there to be smelled, not just to be seen and admired.

Enslaved

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -- John 8:32 NIV

If you've read this blog for any length of time, no doubt you've seen me quote this particular verse. It is one of my favorites, because I'm a big fan of the plain, simple, truth. Even at it's most uncomfortable it is still the truth and the key to freedom.

But that begs the question...freedom from what? Freedom from having to care anymore? Freedom from being broke? Freedom from having to say 'I'm sorry'?

The things each of us need to be freed from are unique to us. We all, of course, need to be freed from sin and Jesus is the one to help with that. But what do you call the things in your life that have you physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually trapped? It's time to speak truth and give each one of them a name. Call it out for what it is. Admit to yourself and someone else who can help keep you accountable what those things are.

When you give the problems in your life a name and enlist the help first of Jesus and then of those Jesus has put in your life, you start down the path of freedom that comes from truth. It won't always be a easy path, but it IS the truthful path and it leads to Heaven.

Momentum

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. -- James 1:25 NIV

The 1992 Buffalo Bills were coming off of 2 straight Super Bowl losses. They played the Houston Oilers in the regular season finale, losing both the game and their starting QB, Jim Kelly. They would play again in Buffalo in a first round playoff game the next week. The momentum Houston built the week before would carry-over...big time. They could do no wrong. The score was 35-3 very early into the 3rd quarter. Then everything changed and there were two reasons. Two things the Houston Oilers had working against them and their 32 point lead.

First, Coach Marv Levy spoke the words to his backup QB, Frank Reich. In front of the team, he told Reich "You're about to go out there and lead the greatest comeback in NFL history." Second, Reich had led his college team to the greatest comeback in NCAA history as a Senior, rallying Maryland from more than 30 points down to beat Miami. Reich did indeed lead the comeback, taking the game to overtime where Steve Christie kicked the game winner, making the final score 41-38.

It doesn't matter whether it's a relationship, your job, your faith, of yourself, the momentum of your life can turn and you can make the greatest of spiritual comebacks. It takes the belief that you WILL do it and to free yourself to do what you were built to do. If you went through December and moved closer spiritually to Jesus, don't let that momentum fade! Keep on reading your Bible and praying. Look for the opportunities before you to put your faith into action. But if you didn't really succeed this December, maybe now is the time to turn the tide. You've been getting creamed just like the Bills, but Jesus is the greatest coach ever and he's telling you that you are about to lead the greatest comeback in history! You have teammates who will stand with you and help you reach your goal. Momentum is a crazy thing...it is pretty hard to stop. Once you get it rolling in the right direction, feed it and it will grow into an unstoppable force. It's time to get out there and make it happen!

The First Is Last

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” -- Matthew 20:16 NIV

He was born to a humble, working family. His birth came in a very small, mostly inconsequential town. His parents didn't have a nice, big hospital room with doctors and nurses at the ready. Their family had to spend the first years of His life in exile until Herod was no longer a threat. He worked for a living to help support His mother...He was a carpenter, not someone with a really high profile, high paying job. He accepted an unjust arrest, extremely brutal torture (if you don't believe me watch The Passion Of The Christ...and if you don't tear up you have no heart), and crucifixion so that you and I and everyone else who has ever lived and ever will have a ticket to Heaven waiting on us.

There is a long lineage in the Bible of very important people who had very humble beginnings. Go back and look and you will see what I mean. God loves the meek, the humble, those cast aside. It's when He can show up and do His thing where you and I have no choice but to acknowledge it as His hand at work.

Have a very safe, very happy, very Godly Christmas!

Happy Holidays

You shall have no other gods before me. -- Exodus 20:3 NIV

(Gotta love how absolutely no gray area creeps into God's instructions for us!)


We're all guilty of it at times...some of us more than others. We put things ahead of God on life's little priority list, and we're in violation of God's command in doing so. Doesn't matter how insignificant the infraction, it's still an infraction and remember, there is gray area when it comes to God.

The title of today's post gives it away, but the one that really gets me fired up is the fairly recent trend of people insisting on saying 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'. Call centers instruct their employees to use it. TV advertisers use it. My son was playing Xbox with someone who said "Christians need to quit ruining Christmas by talking about Jesus so much." Are you kidding me??? God forbid (and isn't that funny???) that we tick somebody off while we're busy remembering that this is a CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!! The result is that, in the process of trying to not upset everyone who isn't Christian we've managed to slap the Creator right across the cheek. The message we send by even the slightest bump off of our #1 priority is that we don't really need God. It's a slippery slope and, I believe, the reason why it's such a focal point in God's instructions to us. 'Happy Holidays' for me is just like cursing at your parents. It's disrespectful, and we need to stop it.

I understand that not everyone believes in Jesus and I consider that their choice even though I believe it to be the wrong one. But to insist that we can't say Merry Christmas is crossing a line that doesn't need crossing. In my opinion, non-believers should accept that it's a Christian holiday, take their paid day off of work, and be happy with it. We as Christians are taught to love everyone and to be the example to others that Jesus would be if he walked around in the flesh today, but nowhere can you find an example of Jesus backing the idea that he shouldn't proudly display God in his words and actions. So why should we?

So I say to you all, Merry Christmas!!!

The Grinch

But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. -- Job 4:5 NIV

We all have a little bit of the Grinch in us, I think. The Grinch is really nothing more than life's little bits of discouragement that build upon themselves like a garbage pile. Something goes wrong and we stew on it...even, and maybe especially, something miniscule. Then when the next thing (again, probably something minor) goes wrong we get a little more buildup of frustration. Eventually it turns into discouragement and quite possibly bitterness. It's easy enough to do that I would wager most of us don't even realize what's happening until we find ourselves in such a state...and everything just seems so...heavy.

It can get even worse when we are a bombarded with good cheer and holiday best wishes at every turn. Advertisers spend lots and lots of money convincing us that if we don't go spend every dime we have we aren't really "in the spirit". No wonder this time of year is also the most depressing!

The key to eliminating, or at least minimizing, the Grinch inside of us is to keep our perspective. The season is about celebrating. It's a time to celebrate family and friends, to reflect on all of the successes of the past year instead of dwelling on the failures. We're celebrating the birth of Jesus, regardless of whether the world wants you to believe that is still okay or not (more on that tomorrow). So celebrate it! It represents freedom from sin, freedom from burdens, freedom from loneliness, freedom from the Grinch.

Hot Pursuit

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” -- Matthew 2:1-2 NIV

You know what is neat about those two verses? Those Magi were anticipating the star. They knew exactly what it meant. They had studied the prophesies and were ready to act when the time came. Without hesitation or regard for setbacks (they didn't know exactly where to find the baby) they pursued their goal which was simply to be in the presence of a little baby who was born King of the Jews.

I wrote earlier this month urging all of us to spend more time pursuing Jesus during the month of his birth this year. I have to admit that I haven't done as well with that as I would have liked, but I plan to redouble my efforts this week leading up to Christmas day.

If you've done better than I have, then keep it up! You are doing great!!! But if you are like me and the "Christmas rush" has gotten the better of you too, use the next five or six days to really focus on Jesus' teachings. Really take your time with it. Study what it is Jesus is teaching and pray about how to apply that teaching to your life right now. Pursue Jesus just as persistently as those Magi did all of those years ago.

Simply Happy

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. -- Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV


Happiness is one of those subjects that gets talked about, thought about, and written about a lot. After all, we're all on a journey to be happy, right? I know I've written about it multiple times. Sometimes I write about learning how to be happy when the world poops all over your day, sometimes I write about not feeling guilty when you receive blessings from God, and sometimes I write about being happy with where you are in life...and what you have. I've written many, many words on the subject but I think the best answer I've ever come across is today's verse.

It boils down very, very simply. You have no idea what is to come of you next year, next month, next week, or even by the time you finish reading this sentence. So don't bother worrying over it! When times are good, be content and happy with it and enjoy every second that God gives you to be at peace. When times are bad, realize that God did it, God is with you through it, and God has better things planned for you...and carry yourself with God in your heart.

Life is too short to spend it all in a rush or full of worry. Take each day as it comes, do your best to learn from and obey God, and finish each day with the simple smile of God's contentment on your face.

Strong And Courageous

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. -- Joshua 1:9 NIV

What do you think it takes to be strong and courageous? Is it a woman fighting breast cancer, a man who takes a bullet for the President, or a firefighter who rescues someone from a burning building? Could it be exemplified in a child who refuses to be bound by physical impairment, or what about someone who defends their beliefs and actions even when it goes against "the norm"?

I think those are all good answers, to be honest, but the commonality between those people is really answers the question on courage. There is no physical characteristic that defines courage or strength and there is no particular action that defines them either. What is interesting is how the words strong and courage are intertwined in the Bible. Nearly all of the instances of the word courage in the Bible are contained in the phrase 'be strong and courageous'.

True strength is a matter of the mind. Think of strength as your shield. When your mind is strong it comes from having the right perspective on life. Armed with that strength you are prepared to defend yourself against whatever life throws at you from day to day. Many people, including yours truly, draw our strength completely from the Lord. You might say He is the ultimate defense.

If strength is all about the mind, then courage comes straight from the heart. When we talk about courage it is often accompanied by a fight. There is a battle to fight, sometimes against nearly impossible odds, and it takes heart to fight it. For some of us, simply navigating through a normal day requires some amount of courage. The courage that comes from the heart allows us to take the knowledge of our minds and go on the attack. The Bible is the ultimate tool in this battle. You will find that it can serve you well through any of life's situations.

Strength and courage are both characteristics that show a person's spirit. They come from a place of power deep within you, a place that was designed before you were ever born. Everyone has them. We just haven't all quite figured out how to access them. Start with God and let Him be your shield, and then add the Bible's knowledge to your arsenal and you can fight everything from the smallest of events to the deadliest of circumstances with the strength and courage provided to you by the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Morons Are People Too

Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand. -- Psalm 92:6

Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise? -- Psalm 94:8

I'll admit it, I'm just as capable as anyone is of being a moron. We had a headlight go out late Sunday night, so Monday after work I hurried over to the parts store to get a new bulb and get it fixed before dark. Part in hand, I opened the hood and, eventually, figured out how to get the headlight assembly loose. This should have been my first clue that moronitis had struck. Turns out the bulb (model 9006) wouldn't fit. After dropping my wife off at her evening job, I headed back to the parts store to have a word with the guy...now knowing that the correct part number was 9005, not 9006.

New bulb in hand I returned home and, in the dark, installed the new bulb. I turned on the car...no light. Yeah, full moronitis was upon me. I decided to give up until Tuesday night and take another look during the daylight.

First issue, I didn't get the new bulb installed correctly. Second issue, which I didn't figure out until I really got to looking at it, was that I had been looking at the high beam bulb the entire time (this is actually kinda hard to admit). Soooo...one more trip to the parts store to pick up a 9006 and the Lord said, "Let there be light!"

The moral of the story is this: When you get in a hurry and fumble around in the dark, nothing but trouble and frustration will find you. Far better to do what the Psalmist advised and take notice so that we may find wisdom. If only that revelation had come to me earlier!

Learning Curve

Something that never really occurred to me prior to the beginnings of this blog was the challenge that faces any writer or speaker who addresses an audience of any size. Think about that...if you needed to present information to a wide range of people, how would do it to make the subject material interesting and relevant?

There are people who learn by experience, people who learn better visually, people who need to read and study for a long time before ever taking a first step. I admire and appreciate anyone who can stand in front of a crowd or sit down in front of a keyboard and accomplish the daunting task of reaching people all across the learning curve. As for me, I do what I've learned works best...the principal I try to apply across every area of my life. I try to follow Jesus' example.

Look through Jesus' life and you will find that He taught in several different ways, sometimes by telling a story, sometimes by coming right out with the truth, sometimes by example, but always with love. I believe His #1 goal was to get everyone who would ever hear what He taught (that includes you and I!) to think for themselves. He wanted us to formulate questions and ponder the answers with equal doses of prayer and study. I think He knew what all great teachers know...a student who is engaged enough to form their own questions will be more ready to listen to and apply the answers they've learned.

It doesn't really matter how you learn, just that you never stop learning. Effective learning is nothing more than the style of learning that is effective for you! Use your emotions, your logic, your sense of humor, and whatever else you need...and always make a point of applying what you learn to your life. You never know when you will be the one called upon to teach others.

Foreshadowing

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” -- Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Today marks two weeks until Christmas Day. All over the world, young hearts are slowly but surely building in anticipation of the big day. I remember hardly being able to sleep as a youngster knowing that the next morning I would be opening all kinds of cool toys and eating lots of yummy food. I was never disappointed!

I've written a couple of times lately about God's plan and how, as I've grown older, it has become an increasing source of comfort and joy for me, and that feeling is magnified more and more throughout the month of December. Sure, it's still really neat to watch the kiddos get to open their gifts and the food is still just as yummy, but even more so is celebration of Jesus' birth.

One of the many really cool aspects of God's plan is that He was never shy about announcing to the world what was about to happen next. God repeatedly had the prophets announce to all who would listen a series of events that were yet to take place, including the coming of Jesus. Surely there many among the nation of Israel who searched and waited and searched and waited to see Jesus. The Bible talks about some who thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah and John had to tell them that he was just the last of the messengers announcing Jesus' arrival!

With two weeks to go, make this Christmas even more about Christ. Take the opportunity to go read what Christ taught. Let your heart grow in anticipation over the next fourteen days until you celebrate with every fiber of your being the birth of our Lord and Savior!

You Complete Me

Were you just thinking about the movie Jerry Maguire? : ) It's a very famous line from the movie where Jerry is telling his love how important, how vital she is to his very soul.

Do you know what it is like to be so thoroughly linked with someone you don't think you could breathe without them? I think that's why broken hearts hurt so much. We've developed such a strong bond with them that we truly love them and it's because we now function with them as a new creation instead of the two old ones. Ripping that apart is devastating to the soul.

Of course, Jesus is our ultimate love so He is our ultimate bond. Take a look at John, chapter 5, verses 5 and 8:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

The image of a vine and it's branches is both beautiful and revealing to me. The vine is the core of the plant. It produces the branches and sends them what they need to produce the fruit of the vine! It is at the same time a simple and an elegant design.

We were designed the way we are for a purpose and that purpose is to produce the good fruit of the vine. It is so much a part of our DNA that no amount of ignorance or disobedience can break it. Haven't you ever noticed that when you aren't doing God's will things just seem slanted wrong? Any joy we gain from sin is temporary. Things don't often go the way we planned. It's because our plan isn't THE plan! Even when we are trying to do God's will and our own design creeps in, things don't go like they are supposed to go.

Jesus feeds us and we produce His fruit. The product is that He is glorified and more branches are added to produce even more fruit, and the whole plant thrives. It isn't counter to our nature. We weren't created to sin. To listen to Jesus and produce good fruit IS our nature. In Him, we are complete!

Strength In Numbers

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
-- Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NIV

I am a computer programmer by trade. At work over the past couple of weeks we've been starting on a new project that will complete re-invent the way our people post payments. Their current process was written by one man over 8 years ago. Needless to say, this project is way overdue.

It's such an important project that an entire team of us is taking time away from other projects to develop an approach and begin work on some programming that we can show management. We've been writing this particular type of code for a couple of years now and, while we've gotten better at it, this project will far and away exceed anything else we've done in terms of complexity and sophistication.

Working as a team, we get into some fairly heated discussions but we always come away with a better product for our customer base. Each of us brings a slightly different technique to the table and the result is something none of us could have delivered alone.

That is true for programming, but it's also true in life. By working together, we deliver more. We can help each other out in times of need. We can come to one another's defense. We can bind ourselves together in Christ, because you and I bound together with Jesus is something that is not easily broken at all.

Celebrate all of the people that God has put in your life. These people are there for you when you are down and are the first to offer praise when you succeed. They help you be the best you can be and you do the same for them...and that is a treasure greater than material possession.

You Get What You Pay For

Maybe I'm weird, but there are things that I have absolutely no problem paying big money for while there are others that it ticks me off to have to pay anything for. It could be that I know paying more for the things that seem mundane (toilet paper) or mostly useless (insurance...at least until you need it) takes away from the money available for things I love, like electronics!

The things is, there is almost always a reason why something comes at a bargain basement price. Anyone who has ever bought the absolute cheapest package of toilet paper and then spent an afternoon picking splinters out of their backside knows what I mean. A bargain is a good thing, and shopping around for the best price on an item is a very worthy endeavor. But the knock-off brand isn't going to work quite right and the off-brand isn't going to taste as good. Sometimes it can be even worse, like buying cheap insurance and then realizing hail damage wasn't covered.

God gave Solomon wisdom and one of the first places that Solomon put that wisdom to use was in the building of his palace and the Lord's Temple. 1 Kings 7:9-12 describes the materials used:

All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the LORD with its portico.

Solomon knew that in order to build these structures to last and to make them special, he had to use the best of materials. Whether it be our relationship with God, our spouse, kids, friends, whoever it is...in order to build them special and so they last, we have to give our best. We only get out of life the quality of the work we put into life. It takes time and effort, sure, but the material we use during construction makes all of the difference.

What relationships are yours that haven't been built with your best? Which ones could use a little remodeling? Don't let the sun go down on you again before you pay them the attention they deserve!

Make Your Free Pitches!

My grandfather was a teacher and a coach. Among other sports, he coached basketball...and if I heard him say it once I heard him say it a thousand times. "You have to make your free pitches. If you make your free pitches, good things happen." It would go all over him to watch anything from a junior high game up to an NBA game and see how pitiful most of the players would be at shooting their free throws. If you don't know, a free throw is when a player is fouled and gets to shoot a couple of undefended shots from 15 feet straight in front of the goal.

If a player can average 70% on their free throws, they are said to be above average. 80% makes you a good shooter. But players spend more time trying to dunk in practice than they do practicing free throws. The result is you see lots of spectacular dunks and also lots of missed free throws when the pressure is on at the end of a game (or anywhere in a game for that matter).

We do the same thing sometimes in our lives, don't we? We spend time chasing after the spectacular instead of dealing with the fundamentals of life, and we end up like those high-flying athletes...hitting some of those spectacular dunks while regularly missing the free pitches!

The OKC Thunder have 14 wins so far this young basketball season. As a team they are averaging over 85% on their free throws. They've won at least half of those games simply by making the easy shots...the undefended free throws. You and I need to wake up every day and realize that the only way to make the spectacular count for anything is to take care of the fundamentals...the dirty work. My grandpa had it right. If you take care of your free pitches, good things will happen.

I leave you today with part of The Serenity Prayer. My prayer is that you will commit it to memory and that you will practice those free throws.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.

The Plan

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. -- John 1:1-4 NIV

I like making plans. I don't necessarily have to plan everything (NO COMMENTS FROM MY WIFE!!!), but I do believe that giving a situation a bit of thought results in things running more smoothly than if you just play it be ear. I'd rather have even a meager plan than no plan at all.

Unfortunately, plans have a way of falling apart on us. I don't like it one bit, but it is pretty much a certainty. No matter how much attention we pay to details and how far in advance we try and put things together, life always seems to step in and put its own spin on things, doesn't it? Have you ever been to a wedding that started on time and had everything run perfectly? Exactly!

That's something I find really cool and very reassuring about the beginning of John's gospel. Whatever the beginning of existence looked like...however it is that all of this came to be, God was there and so was Jesus (The Word). From that point on, throughout history, Jesus has been there with God. The plan was set ahead of time and the plan includes everything that is to come all of the way up to the end of time. It's a plan that has zero chance of failure.

You and can make plans all day long. Some will succeed, some will fail. Life will throw its curveballs and we'll have varying degrees of success hitting them out of the park. Our consolation prize is that the ultimate plan is on track and everything is under control. Remember that and allowing life's little interruptions to slide off your back becomes much, much easier.

Husbands And Wives

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. -- Proverbs 5:18 NIV

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. -- Ephesians 5:25 NIV

The partnership between a husband and his wife is a very, very special one. Just as the relationship between parent and child can be a mirror to the relationship between God and His children, the husband/wife relationship is a mirror for Christ and His church.

You each bring unique and crucial things to the table. On some things you'll be opposites, on some you'll be the same. It's the blending of your differences and similarities that creates the new creation that the Bible calls 'one flesh'.

At no other time of the year is this more critical than fall. Thanksgiving and Christmas together can serve to dramatically increase the stress level in your relationship. There are gifts to buy, parties to attend, and school plays and concerts to see. There can be financial stress, family stress, parental stress, workplace stress. It's easy for all of that to add up to problems. We tend to blow our partner off because there is just too much to do!

Instead, make this Christmas season a time to celebrate and re-kindle your marriage. When the outside stresses increase, tighten your hold on each other. Be deliberate about finding regular time to spend together, just the two of you...even if it's just a few minutes in the car. Remember that Jesus is why we celebrate and that you God is the reason you are together. You are a team in the truest since of the word and God is your captain. Listen to the captain! He has excellent strategies and instructions for you and if you will follow them there is no way the Christmas season, or anything else for that matter, can defeat you.

The Mouths Of Babes

Luke 2: 40, 46-47 NIV
And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him...After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.

I am regularly amazed at some of the conversations I have with my children! They see more than we, as adults, think they see and observe the world differently than we do. It can be intimidating for grown ups to engage in deep, philosophical conversations with kids. Admit it...the urge is there to give them a 'best guess' answer and try to get them to go away!

In that passage from Luke, young Jesus was engaging in discussion with the teachers. He was asking questions and delivering insights. You would think the teachers would be a little put off by that but it says there were amazed at him. I think we need to mimic the attitudes of those teachers. We can't be afraid to engage in meaningful conversations with youngsters, and we definitely don't need to try and pass junk answers off as fact. There isn't a thing wrong with saying you aren't sure but here is what you think. They'll appreciate your honesty and you can set about investigating the subject matter together!

God gave us a big responsibility to raise our children. They need to know how to think for themselves and develop a rational line of thought. They need to know how to back up their theories and arguments in the face of counter arguments. They need the room to explore any angle. Our job is to allow that to happen and to be an active part of the process.

Don't be afraid to talk to your kids. Encourage them to think for themselves instead of handing them the right answer. Tell them what you believe and why without forcing it on them. Your honesty combined with their freedom to explore will only serve to lend more credence to your line of thought. It will create a deeper and more meaningful relationship than you might have thought possible. It will allow both of you to see the world through the other's eyes.