We Still Have Some Life In Us!

In my reading recently, I ran across these somewhat amplified Scripture paraphrases adapted from portions of the cherished 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 passage. I pray the words will encourage you as they encouraged and still encourage me:

We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us; always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our ... mortal flesh. (Version Unknown)

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, He does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best! -- 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (The Message)

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

Best Advice Ever

I was recently surfing the website of a college baseball team. One of the freshman players is a new friend of mine. I eventually found his personal profile page. While the whole page glorifies God, one question in the interview section especially touched my heart. When the young ball player was asked to share the best advice he had ever been given, he simply but profoundly answered: Proverbs 3:5-6. WOW! What an awesome answer!

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT) (5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (6) Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths.

Today, consider yourself a recipient of the best advice ever. (According to a 19-year-old baseball catcher named Billy, who also happens to have a great heart for God.)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Our Everyday Lives? An Eternal Offering!

One of the most soul-searching invitations in the New Testament to me personally is Romans 12:1 from The Message Paraphrase:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and 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.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

The Worst of Times = The Best of Times?

My pastor friend Ron, has been battling cancer for nearly six years now. This week his e-letter contained these amazing words:

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support for me and my family. I am deeply grateful to be alive and blessed in so many ways. This coming February, will mark six years in this battle with cancer. It’s been an amazing journey. My doctors and friends in the medical profession say, “Ron, you should have been dead years ago!” It’s true. My early prognoses were bleak to say the least. In spite of the early, hopeless assessments that I received from some, I’m still alive and kickin’! God has seen fit to preserve my life and I am thankful. I am thankful, not just because it’s Thanksgiving and I love turkey and pumpkin pie and that I’m still alive, but I’m actually thankful for the cancer. I am thankful because through this long and difficult journey God has changed me. I know Him better and love Him more. He is SO Good and Faithful!

Pastor Ron closed his e-letter with these words and a passage from the Word of God:

Well dear ones, I’m thankful! Thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness, for my amazing family, friends and church, and I’m thankful for how He’s worked in me through this journey. Like Marvin Sapp sings, (in his song, "Never Could Have Made It") “I’m stronger and I’m wiser.” I can say it’s true! Wisdom is different than knowledge. Knowledge knows stuff, facts and figures - like the people on the Jeopardy game show. It has its place. When you need CPR, you’re glad someone has the knowledge to save your life! Knowledge is important. But wisdom knows God and His ways. It’s knowing ourselves in the light of knowing Him. And, it’s understanding life in the light of knowing Him. So dear friends, don’t resist or resent the tough times. Through them, you can begin to see everything else in the light of knowing Him. And, THAT is wisdom! Let me leave you with a passage I read this morning from The Message:

James 3:17-18 (MSG) (17) Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. (18) You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

May you be wise without being a “wise guy!” May your wisdom be humble and rooted in your personal life in a knowledge of Christ. And, may your wisdom be marked by a holy life and robust community!

Amazingly Graced,
Pastor Ron

Thanks Pastor Ron for testifying to us that The Worst of Times Can Indeed Equal the Best of Times, and we continue to plead the cleansing blood of our Jesus over your precious life, wise friend.

ALL JOY!
Grateful

Offerings Our Almighty God Deserves

Hear these beautiful words of worship from King David preserved in 2 Samuel 24:24 (TLB): I don’t want to offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing.

Hear these blunt words of wisdom attributed to King Solomon in Ecclesiasties 5:1 (NLT): As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don’t be a fool who doesn’t realize that mindless offerings to God are evil.

Hear these personal words of invitation written by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 (MSG): So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

Hear these sobering words of instruction that I heard God speaking deep within my heart last night as I crossed Virginia's Afton Mountain in my Ford following a heart-wrenching, pastoral visit at the Trauma Center at University of Virginia Hospital where a precious, young life -- *a 19-year-old -- is in a seemingly fragile state: In the very worst of times we cannot afford to approach God with less than our very best.

Please pray for *Chandler at UVA's Trauma Center and pray for his beloved family, too. Also, please consider with me the kinds of offerings our Almighty God deserves.

ALL JOY!
Grateful