Hope is His Strength in Our Weakness

                              

                         Making a difference in our world today seems evasive giving the many pressures and challenges that pervade our culture. If only we would have the wear-with-all to be consistent in our focus and sharp in our clarity, we might have the discipline to make something happen.

                             However, in putting the burden entirely on our backs, we miss the point of what God wants to do through us. You see, it isn’t so much about our power but His. We must be available to lead, serve and manage and yet, yield control over to His supernatural provision. Does this go against everything we hear in our society? Absolutely! Society says, “You are the only one who can determine your future.” “If you want to do it right, do it yourself.” “You need to stand on your own two feet.” “You have to hustle, you have to make things happen.” “Be a rainmaker” “Be all you can be” “Be a self-made man” “Go Big or Go home” Sound familiar? Very motivational, yet very selfish. The main character in all those statements is “You.” The main character in God’s way is Him. Often times it can feel that motivation is the same thing as inspiration. Motivation comes from the world and the world’s ways of living, working & playing. Inspiration comes the Lord and His way of living, working & playing. The bottom line is that trusting in yourself or others will always disappoint. Trusting in God never disappoints.

                           I have to admit, I love motivational books, CDs and DVDs. They can be very encouraging yet I realized a huge disconnect in many…they fell short of what the Bible heralded as truth. “Self-Help” is just that, helping your self by yourself. The Bible tells a different story, the better story. It says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Proverbs 3: 5-6

                       In my own life I know that success can be earned & achieved through your own effort but who gets the glory, typically it’s you and it’s short-lived because the world always demands more. In my experience in sales, you will have a fantastic month and hit 200% of plan, get kudos and possibly awards….then, what happens? The next month begins and it was like you never achieved success the previous month. They said, “It’s October 1^st, what do you have for me this month, son?” The world is never satisfied with your activity or accomplishments, it will always want more. God on the other hand, is satisfied in you alone, not by what you can do for Him or how well you perform. God loves us for us, not anything else. The way we love God is being obedient to Him and His ways, loving others, serving others and walking in truth.  Does that include accomplishments and activity? Yes, but not at the risk of Him loving us any more or less. He loves us as much today as He did yesterday or tomorrow. We can’t earn more of His love through our working, striving, or producing. Scripture says that “our acts of righteousness are like filthy rags to God.” Isaiah 64: 6 He is Holy and set apart, nothing we can do or say will ever curry His favor or His love more than just that fact that we are His creation and He loves us. Does God want us to be righteous and make good choices and follow Him and serve Him? Sure, He does. The difference is this, He doesn’t require that of us to be loved or accepted by Him. If we are in Christ, we are already accepted. He is our righteousness, not by our own works, but by His. Paul says, “We are saved by Grace, through faith, and this is not from yourselves….it is the gift of God, not by works so that no man can boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9 If we could earn our salvation, who would get the credit? Us. But since we cannot earn our salvation, God gets the credit. 

                          Here is a disclaimer, just because we can’t earn God’s salvation, love or acceptance doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work hard or be productive. We must be diligent and do our part, whether in business, school, our family or ministry. This means being faithful in our commitments, our responsibilities and our promises. This means recognizing that sometimes we get overwhelmed and we need Jehovah Shalom (The God of Peace) to take the reins and give us the strength and endurance we need. This involves admission of help and acceptance of help. Both are very contrary to what we read, watch and hear in our society. Because of the spirit of pride that is so prevalent around us, we think we have to do it all on our own. If we don’t, we are perceived as weak. But Jesus says, “My burden is easy, my yoke is light, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Matthew 11:30 The fact is that we have learned from the wrong teachers. We have been taught that only you can determine your destiny and you have to will it, do it, achieve it and earn it all alone. In essence, this is Idol worship. You are worshiping your own ability and praising your own successes. How much more rich it would be to shift our focus to God, away from us? When we give Him the glory, we are obedient. Because of our obedience, He is faithful to remember and will reward us. The only one who receive the credit is God. The Doxology says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” He gets the praise alone. The world may praise you, even good Christian people but don’t believe the hype. It won’t last long and they will either expect more of you or get bored with you. Give God the credit alone. 

                             When a person plays golf, like I do, they typically think that power and might alone will allow them to hit the ball farther off the tee, off the ground or off the cart path. This thought process is derived from other sports where kicking, passing, shooting and so forth all rest in the hands of the athlete. Golf is different, very different. Golf requires skill, precision and relinquishing control to the club. You could be the strongest person you know, bench pressing 400lbs or more and yet that really doesn’t matter in golf. Because in golf, you have to learn how to swing correctly, be mentally focused and let the golf club do the work for you. In others words, you must give up control to your club whether that is a driver, 5 iron, pitching wedge, etc. It’s the same way with our lives, God is looking for us to rely on Him for strength, energy and endurance. We may do a lot of things really well, but in the end we are still human and still need rest, still need energy, still need strength. 

                         We may get by on our own for a season, but eventually it catches up to us and we are no better off than we started. We get worn out and overwhelmed.  You say “But giving up control goes against everything we have been taught, it seems weak, it seems lazy”…I agree. Yet, God wants us to rely on Him. He longs for us to say, “Lord, I am going to be honest. I can’t finish this project, it’s too hard, too stressful. I give it to you. You give me what I need to finish and finish well. Thank you. In Jesus name, Amen.” Or could be a simple as this “Lord, I’m weak when it comes to this temptation, please help me. In Jesus name.” No script is required, only honesty. The Psalmist says “a broken and contrite heart, the Lord will not despise” Psalm 51: 17 Asking for help isn’t weak, it means you are mature enough to know that someone else is stronger. God is stronger. He holds the stars in His hands. He makes the oceans wave. He makes the sun shine. He raised Jesus from the dead. Don’t you think He can handle your load, your burden, your weakness, your temptation, your hurt, your project, your pain? The world will disappoint, self-help will fizzle, our bodies will grow tired, our motivation will wane, but God will not. “He neither sleeps, nor slumbers” Psalm 121: 4 He is El Elyon, The Lord Almighty. He is Jehovah Tsaba, the Lord of Hosts. If He helped Gideon defeat an army of 30,000 with 300 men, will he not help us pay our bills once we pay our tithe? Will He not give us wisdom in our business dealings? Will He not provide for our family if we would only ask? He will! He will stand in the gap for us, if we would only trust Him and admit our need of Him. Motivation will only get you so far, God will take you farther. Farther than you can ever dare to imagine. Trust Him today.

Hope is a Red Bird

                               My mother's kitchen is full of them. They are painted on wood. Molded from plaster. Printed on paper. All of them beautiful, and yet all of them unique. They are red birds, Cardinals to some, but I like to say red birds. For my mother, red birds are a symbol of hope. I wasn't quite sure how the two worked together, but I'm beginning to understand. You see, if you think about it, many people see red birds in the winter because they are, well, red. And the landscape outside, is not. It's dark, not much sunlight and in some places, a lot of snow. Therefore, a bright red, red bird will stick out. It's almost as if God is saying, "Don't worry about the cold, don't worry about the darkness, Spring is around the corner. Hope is around the corner!" This brings me to a story about this past winter. I was asked to be in a musical at my church called "I'll be Home for Christmas." I played the part of a geeky, love-struck mailman, Danny, who delivers packages to a family who has been greatly impacted by WWII. Most of my lines were silly and goofy which was ironic because I was not feeling that way in real life. You see, during the time of rehearsals for this musical, I had made a tough decision to leave my corporate job without any prospects for another one. It was kind of dark time, being that it was winter and I was not making the salary I needed to provide for my family. However, every time I would go to practice for my musical, the theme song would play. "Hope is just around the corner. Joy is knocking at your door...." Over and over again. This was a constant reminder that God was looking out for me and that He had a plan in mind.

                             In one particular scene, I was to deliver a Bible to the girl in the play, Angie, for whom my character had a crush, a love interest. One of my fellow actors was providing me with props to use and she had found a box and a Bible for me to use in this scene. She hadn't put the brown paper around the box yet, needing to convey it was a delivery. When I opened the lid, there was a Bible and then I looked at the lid again. There was a red bird on the cover and just then I thought about my mother. Hope. Then, while I was reflecting and waiting for my next scene, looking at the red bird lid and the Bible(pictured below), the choir started singing the refrain "Hope is just around the corner, Joy is knocking at your door..." God has the perfect timing and it was definitely what I needed to hear that day as I waited for what was around the corner.

                    Most days, we are all waiting for what is around the next corner, we all want to experience the next big thing and get out of the tough spot we feel trapped in. It may be a loss of job which does not only equate to a lack of income but also to having a sense of worth and being productive member society as well as being surrounded by people. Not having a job or a goal or something you are working toward can really affect someone, it affected me. In all this, God was faithful and God provided (Jehovah Jireh). For others, it could be a loss of a loved one or sickness or disease. The road seems long and curvy and no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel. You could be struggling right now, not believing that there is something around the corner or that God is with you, but I'm here to tell you, there is something around the corner and God is with you. Jesus is called Immanuel, God with us. It wasn't just 2000 years in a manger that He was with us, He is with us now! He is always here, holding us, helping us, hoping with us.  Don't give up! Winston Churchill said this in a great speech to rally his country and the allied forces during WWII, "Never, Never, Never Give up!" We don't know what is around the next corner, but we know who will be there with us, Jesus. Immanuel. God with us.

                    Every time I see a red bird, I think of my mom. I think of hope. I sing the refrain from my musical, I'll be Home for Christmas. Even though I was in a dark spot, I had hope. Do you know that the disciples were in dark spot once? They had seen their master, their Rabbi raise others from the dead, feed the multitudes, preach that the "Kingdom of Heaven is near.." and yet they were stricken with fear when they saw Jesus taken away, out of the garden of peace, into the field of death. They all deserted him, Peter denied him 3 times, one guy even high-tailed it out of there in his "Birthday Suit!" So afraid, he left his clothes on the ground!

                        It reminds me of this house party I went to in college.. There was drinking, a lot of underage drinking, sponsored by a fraternity, a drinking faternity. Loud music, people dancing, having a good time, talking hanging out, meeting girls. I remember being in the backyard talking with some of the members of the band I was managing at the time, we had returned that day from a gig the night before. Suddenly, I saw people heading toward the back of the fence and then jumping over. Others were fleeing from the side fences into the neighbors yards. Then I heard someone say, "The cops are here, the cops are here." Apparently, there was a "disturbing the peace" complaint and they were called in to break up the disturbance. Nothing crazy was going on, but it was loud and it was late, people wanted to sleep. I remember not jumping the fence, I remember walking right back through the house and down the sidewalk to my friends house a few blocks away.  I was of the appropriate age. However, others were not of  age and they got caught. But everywhere you looked, you saw college kids escaping, trying to get away from the authority. This is the scene I imagine when I think about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. Disciples and other followers of Christ were out of there in a hurry. At my employer before last, we had an expression for people who got fired. It was slang and it was rude. If it was a girl, we would say "She Gone." A guy, "He gone." In this case everyone had left and so you could say "They gone." There Jesus stood, friends and disciples, gone. The only disciple that was left was His betrayer, Judas. Everyone else there were His enemies. Not only were the disciples in a dark spot, Jesus was too. People who had left their families, their farms, their nets, their jobs....all disappeared. The ones who promised to always be there and follow Him to the grave, ran away in fear of grave danger. If I was honest, I'm not sure if I would have stuck around. I might not have casually walked away like my house party experience. I may have been jumping the fence too! You have to understand, their whole world and what they had staked their lives and livelihood for was now being arrested. As they were sprinting down the sloping rocky hill, sweating and panting, I'm sure they must have been thinking....What does this mean for me?  I guess the Kingdom of Heaven is not coming after all. What about all those promises, Jesus? What about mansions? What about the angels? What about Divine Power? How can you let them take you away? How can you leave us? Why can't you save yourself, you saved others? Questions. Fear. Frustration. Darkness.

It's funny how we define life by one day. I mean you can have a really good day and be on top of the world. You have a really bad day, struggling to make it through and you think the world has ended. The disciples thought their world had ended, but it had only just begun. You see the darkness only last a little while, a few days. Hope was around the corner. It was around the corner of a hill called Calvary, where our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ died on a criminal's cross as a innocent man to save guilty criminals like you and me. Our crimes, there are against God, not following His ways. Not having enough faith. Not trusting. Breaking the commandments. Being born into a sinful world. Having sin already in us. You see we were born with a sinful nature in our blood. Yet, His blood was pure and it washed our sins as white a snow. Where are the red birds most red? In snow. When you see a red bird, think of hope. When you see a red bird, think of blood. Think of Jesus, He traded our past, our mistakes, our unfaithfulness, our guilt, our criminal sentence for hope. We should have died, but He did instead. Grace. Love. Hope. Think of Good Friday, it was good because God is good and because God is good, He gave good. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."  Jesus said in the very next verse..."I have not come to codemn the world but to save it." The Apostle Paul says, "There is no condemnation in Christ!" The world wants to condemn us, but God only wants to save us. We only have to acknowledge we need saving and believe in Him. Hope is always around the corner because hope has always been. The only true hope for our broken lives, is Jesus. He is the hope of the world. He is the hope for today. He is the hope of  yesterday. He is the hope of tomorrow. May the love of Jesus Christ be in your heart today. Amen.

Hope is a Verb

Let's be real honest, the word "verb" is a weird word. It looks backwards almost as if it should be spelled "brev" but it would lack the same appeal. It looks funny and rhymes with not much of anything, except maybe "blurb" and just a handful more. It's not that it doesn't evoke thought, just rarely invokes practical conversational use. We don't hear people say, "Love how you were verbing some sweet moves." or "I'm sorry, can you repeat your question using a verb?" (And just for the record, the word "verb" is a noun, go figure!) Here is the official definition from  dictionary I found after I Googled it:

"A word that indicates an action, event, or state."

There are many words we think of when we think of verbs. We think run, jump, hike, ski, lift, hover(for some), pick, skip, chew, argue, fight, talk and many more things that we do everyday, well, maybe not hover, I don't do that everyday, just Fridays;) To most of us, verbs are not romantic comedies but action-adventure shoot 'em up movies. Romantic comedy movies are all about ethereal things like love and passion and silliness and hope. We never think about these things being verbs they do represent events and states of being or a state in mind. When someone says, "I'm so in love with so-in-so" we think what does "being in love" look like really? Is it roses on the doorstep? Kisses on the lips? Holding hands in public? Laughing at all his awful, corny jokes? (Don't look at me) What is the action tense of "being in love" or is it more than action, is it a state of being? I conclude that it's both. The contemporary christian band that is no longer a band, dc Talk, had a single on their "Free at Last" album(yes, I own it) entitled "Luv is a Verb"(yes they misspelled Love)The second verse go likety, like this yo:

Simple and plain, L O V E, ain't all that junk that ya see on TV
Put soaps on a rope 'cause they ain't worth copin' with
It's a myth that there ain't no hope
And luv is enough if it's unconditionally givin'
Now you're living out the Great Commission

Words come easy but don't mean much
When the words they're sayin' we can't put trust in
We're talkin' 'bout love in a different light
And if we all learn to love it would be just right

Hey, tell me, haven't ya heard? Luv is a serious word
Hey, I think it's time ya learned
I don't care what they say, I don't care care what ya heard
The word luv, luv is a verb

(Read more: DC Talk - Luv Is A Verb Lyrics | MetroLyrics )

I happen to agree with TobyMac, Tait and Kevin Maxx. It is a serious word, it's a word that requires action and is action because it represents affection from two people. Another state of being that I believe is a verb is the word: Hope.  Hope doesn't seem like it should be a verb but it certainly resembles all the attributes of such action tenses.

Proverbs 13: 12 says this about hope:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

Hope is a state of waiting patiently, sometimes frustratingly waiting. It's the longing for something that hasn't happened yet. It's about waiting, but with great anticipation and great expectations. You hope the phone rings from the recruiter after applying for the 39th job. You hope the car starts when it is 12 degrees outside. You hope there isn't traffic on your way to pick up the kids from school. You hope you get the promotion at work. You hope the cancer goes away. Sometimes, we wait a long time. Sometimes this makes us sick, because we wait and we wait and we wonder if God is upholding His end of the bargain. We can become physically ill because we focus on us and not on God, saying things like this.... "God, I have prayed everyday, trusted you, got good grades, did all my prelims and still, I haven't see my acceptance to law school." "God, I teach Sunday School, attend every church service and volunteer at my kids school..plus teach a women's bible study...why haven't you provided me a Godly man in my life?" "God, when will you help me with my bills? They are piling up and I can't afford all that's due!" We wait, we hope, we get frustrated. Out heart grows sick.

The act of hoping reminds me of going out to dinner with three small children, namely mine. Me and my wife get dressed up and make sure they look presentable too. This usually happens on Sunday after church but can happen on the occasional weekday evening too. You picked the perfect restaurant, nice and quaint but kid friendly enough for your three under four years old. The waitress arrives,  asks for the drink order, you ask for the crayons and kid menu adventure sheet first. Everything is going just great until the kids finish all their games and color me spots on the menu and no food has arrived. Bread lasted only a few minutes. Then the natives get restless. All you are hoping for is a nice family meal that you didn't have to prepare. The amazing Chicken Picatta is beckoning your name and just as your wife is carrying off a screaming child, one makes a mess in his shorts and the third is asleep on the booth....the food arrives. It's looks so awesome, prepared to the finest, plated exceptionally, presentation is flawless and you are the only one there to enjoy the Chef's cuisine, the expediter's plate arrangement and waitress' artistic garnishes. After two bites, you ask for the bill and to-go boxes. Yes, this meal, to be consumed at none other than your own dinner table because that's how it goes with little ones sometimes. (The Holderness family should make a video of this scene)You've waited for the delicious morsels to savor and now, after everyone has been pacified, you get to eat the entire meal. And you say, "Honey, this was worth the wait!" Bon Appetite!

But maybe our waiting is the best part of hoping? Not fun but necessary during the time of waiting, it's the best part because it's allow God time to get everything ready for us, including ourselves. What if He did answer our prayer right away? Would we be ready? Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually...probably not. He knows what He is doing. God could have created the earth in one breath in one second but He chose 6 days, why? He needed to lay the foundation, heavens and the earth(Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets) Then water, then light, then day and night. If animals were created first, how would they survive? The same goes for us, He could create an opportunity to answer our prayer immediately but maybe He is laying the foundation first. It could be that we are spiritually immature even with all of our "Spiritual Doing" through activities and responsibilities. We may think since we do a lot, we should get a lot, especially that in which we hoped would happen. Through it all, God knows when we are ready for what He has in store for us. Maybe we need to get our finances in check(stop living beyond our means, close the credit cards down, etc.) before we can expect Him to bless us with a new job or a promotion. Maybe we need to solidify our relationships with our children(i.e.-spend time with them, get to know who they really are, help with homework, pray with them etc..) before we introduce a potential husband to replace their father who left us behind to pursue his "own life." We are often waiting on God but the converse is always true too, He is waiting on us. Only He knows when we are truly ready.

David was anointed as King in 1 Samuel 16 while he was still a shepherd boy. This was before being placed in Saul's service as a commander, before defeating the Philistine's, and while King Saul was still on the throne!  He had to wait a long time in order to actually become King, some estimates were that he was anointed as a teenager between the ages of 14-16 and became King at age 30 (2 Samuel 5) after Saul died. David waited, at the minimum, 14  years. Reminds me of another famous waiting game. Remember the one where in Genesis Jacob was promised Rachel after seven years in her father's(Laban) service. Laban tricked Jacob(ironic isn't it, given Jacob tricking his father to get the birthright blessing from Isaac) and gave him Leah instead of Rachel(and Leah wasn't the prettiest of the two.) Therefore, Jacob worked another seven years, 14 years total to marry Rachel. Talk about a long engagement! Talk about patience! I'm sure along the way, though, Jacob was heart sick for what he hoped for, I'm sure he was a little pissed off too. But that didn't stop him from pursuing the dream. He could have stopped working for Laban, divorced Leah or refused her and tried to do things in his own power, in his own strength and in his own timing. However, he pressed own toward the prize and humbly worked to earn that which he was promised.

We are all promised something in life and we all hope that what we have been promised will be fulfilled. Until it happens, we can experience a myriad of emotions. We can feel worn. We can feel fatigued. We can feel depressed. We can feel anger. We can feel forgotten. Through the journey, those who have hoped in Lord, there is the promise of fulfillment and once fulfillment occurs, it will be like a tree of life. Full of energy, full of vitality, fully of growth and abundance. But the tree didn't become healthy, vibrant and lush all at once. No, it first need to be planted as a seed, then watered and nurtured. Then, roots needs to form and be set to find the nutrients need to growth. Then, one day, it sprouts and green leaves are visible. A trunk gives birth to branches and branches give birth to stems and stems give birth to leaves. Next time you look at a fully grown oak tree or any tree for that matter, think about hope. Think about growth. Think that Hope is a Verb in that it is a state of being but that it is also an action word because through our waiting, we are creating something magnificent and God just can't wait for us to experience what we hoped for. Never stop hoping, it's the verb that keeps on giving. Hoping is worth the wait.

Taylor Swift, Cat Videos & Hope for Tomorrow

                          I'm going to be real honest, when Taylor Swift first came on the scene, I was not a fan. Maybe it was the teenage anthems she sang or the gag-me-with-a-spoon-over-the-top mushiness of it all. Either way, it was not for me. In 2011, however, something changed....I was slowly becoming a fan and even bought her album "Speechless" which I found to be both inspiring and thoughtfully written. While this is not an official artist or album review, her most recent two albums are highly energetic positive pop icons as well, check them out. One is called "Red" and the other "1989" (the year she was born.)  Maybe that is why she is so optimistic, she is from the generation labeled a "millennial" and millennials(18-33 year olds) seem to have a shiny outlook on life, a more fresh approach to the future, full of anxious anticipation.  Taylor's passion for life encompasses all that she does and all that she is....and that is a very good thing.  You see, in this crazy world of headlines citing beheadings, car bombings and riots....Taylor Swift still has a sense of childlike optimism. As you get older (And by no means do I think 35 is old, oops I spilled the beans!) you are tainted by more and more bad news, past failures, bad experiences and wisdom, yes wisdom. Even King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes that Wisdom can rob your joy. You say you will never been hardened or wrecked by all that goes on in the world but inevitably you are affected and not in the most positive ways.

                            So where do the Cat Videos come in? (Yes, I know Taylor Swift likes cats too)  My wife and I have been watching funny cat videos on YouTube as a way of unwinding our days which provides comic relief amidst all the stress and responsibilities we have with three kids, two dogs and plenty of bills.  There have been a plethora of belly laughs and all out cheek-throbbing hilarity from these viewings. Some short, some long but all full of endorphin boosting joy. But not only joy, hope for tomorrow. As followers of Jesus, we often tout Bible verses that deal with hope in the context of our eternal destination in heaven but we seldom realize that God has promised hope not only in eternity with Him but in the here, right now as we abide in Him. Sometimes this comes in the form of hand-raised-high-worship, sometimes in verses of scripture, other times in a long anticipated vacation or visit from a friend. It's the patient anticipation of something bigger, brighter and better. This year, my theme verse is Isaiah 40:31, yeah, yeah I know....one of those verses printed on coffee mugs, graduation frames and wall-mounted flip calendars. It reads: "Those that hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." There are so many things in which we can hope....we hope that we have enough money to pay our bills...we hope that our children will get good grades and go to a good college on scholarship....we hope that we will be able to retire at 65...we hope to someday take a trip to Italy...we hope we pass the exam....we hope we live a long time....we hope and we wait. Sometimes waiting is the hardest part, hoping is easy. Waiting is not. I'm not a very patient person by nature but God is teaching me to resist living life at 90 miles an hour and doing everything myself, controlling every detail and accomplishing goals on my own. Instead, be available for His timing and His will to be shown. As a doer, producer, Type A personality, this is very difficult but I've seen the benefits of waiting. My mom(Momo to her grandkids) and I have the same personality and she recently made a surprising comment. She said, "I realized that I walk too fast and other people, they don't walk this fast and still get stuff done."  (Pause for dramatic reflection...ahhhh) That hit me like a ton of bricks....so true though! Hoping means waiting but also produces joy.

                               What I love most about the Cat Videos and the Taylor Swift  Music Videos is that all of these display a hopeful optimism. Regarding cats, cats don't really freak out when something strange comes in the house like a new baby or a dog. They are patient, they are smart and they are hopeful. By all means, they should be up a tree, a big tree, but they often just lay and wait...waiting to see what happens. My mom often describes people as a "Garfield" (a cat)  or an "Odie" (a dog) from the famous Garfield comic strip. She says she is an "Odie" (high strung, hyper, type-A, ADD, in a hurry) and my dad is a "Garfield" (calm, cool, collective, mellow, chill, patient, not in a hurry). No matter if you are a "Garfield" or "Odie" personality or somewhere in between, we can all appreciate one who is patient and hopefully waits that things are going to be okay. Someone once said, "It's usually not as bad as it seems and it it's usually not as good as it seems...it's probably somewhere in the middle."  Being hopeful is more than just being patient. It's also having a sense of wonder and optimism, paging Ms. Swift once more. Her music, persona, concerts, videos, blogs, tweets all have a sense of wonder, optimism, realness & gratefulness that is hard to manufacturer because it flows naturally. Notice that the people mentioned in verse 31 says that those who hope in the Lord shall do first, renew their strength. You can only renew your strength if you rest and are patient, allow God to renew your strength in Him alone. It also says that you shall mount up on wings like Eagles, talk about wonder and optimism!   It goes on to say that they run and not grow weary. Have you ever been weary? I have and it sucks. I don't recommend to anyone. But if you hope in the Lord, your strength is renewed so you can run and not be weary. You won't get tired. As Paul says, you will run the race that Christ has marked out for us and you shall have all the strength you need, that is, if you are running the race for Christ. If you run for anyone or anything else, you will get weary, you will stumble, you will quit and it won't be a sustaining or satisfying. Not only will you run, you will also walk and not grow faint. After running a race, an athlete will often times collapse because of exhaustion. Isaiah implies that even after running a marathon, you will still be able to walk and not only walk but not be faint. How about that for a promise?

                       Our part is simple, we must place our trust and our hope in the Lord. Not in our own ability, not in other people's expectations, not in what the world says is the best way and not what our friends or families say is the smartest path or destination. We must hope and trust and be led by the Lord, then we will be calm, we will be optimistic, we will be filled with wonder and we will know that we will, not might or possibly but we ABSOLUTELY will have hope for tomorrow. Now pardon me, while I finish this new video I found of Taylor Swift with her cats.... #hope

Chapter 6: Last Supper

Chapter 6:  Last Supper

She had gotten the dishes out. She had cleaned the house already. The meal was almost complete. She lit the candles on the table where her and her only son were about to consume their meal. Not just any meal, this was to be their last meal. Reminiscent of Jesus’ last supper with His disciples, she too was preparing for death. The coffers were empty, the pantry was bare, their 401k had run out and all that was left was a little oil and grain to make a cake of morbidity. It was going to be the last taste of earthly things….until...until a man appeared at the door. Not just any man, but a prophet of Yahweh. And just like most men, he was hungry. “A way to man’s heart is through his stomach” they say, the “they” being men, I’m sure. Here was a hungry man on a mission for God and he asked for this widow’s last meal. Being that she was a widow was even more proof that the woman was poor as it was usually one’s husband who provided for the household, very rare to have a dual-income family in that time. This prophet, Elijah, was demanding their last meal be his meal.

Has God asked something of you lately? Something that is a sacrifice? Above and beyond? Maybe a charitable gift or offering where you were using that last $200 in your Wells Fargo account to pay the electric bill or buy groceries and pray that it would last you until the 15^th of the month? Did God ask that you give that in addition to what you had already given to your church?

I have a friend who has been out of work for 4 months. He has a pretty nice single life; 2400 square foot house, 2 cars, freedom of time and several nice things. He had a built up a fine lifestyle in his good income earning era, yet hit a rough spot in the last year. I feel for my friend, but I also know that he is trying to maintain a lifestyle that isn’t sustainable without any cash flow. Therefore, I challenged him to put his house for sale, give away a portion of his possessions or sell them and give the money to his church. Not just any possessions but the ones that were actually worth something to him and then see what happens. In my experience, I have learned that you cannot out give God and often times He is looking for us not only to give Him lip service when giving all our worries and problems to Him, but He is wanting our full commitment. He doesn’t want us to simply get our toes wet, but jump into the pool of His abundance head first. But in order to have that type of abandon, we must shed those things that hinder us from experiencing the abundance He has available. Those things could be physical possessions such as houses, boats, cars, clothes, CDs, furniture, etc... Those things could be habits and addictions that keep us from experiencing God’s best. Those things could be un-forgiveness, doubt, worry or fear. “Let us cast off all that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that we may run the race with perseverance.” Paul is calling us to run light. The Olympics were just on and what a spectacle to see all these amazing athletes compete in so many great events. 100 m Sprint, 200m Butterfly, Beach Volleyball, 4X400 relay…so many athletes, so much talent! Have you ever noticed how little a sprinter wears? They have thin, body tight leotards or shorts and a tank top. Their shoes are super light too! The reason? As you might expect, to make them run faster and finish the race quicker than anyone else. The same is true in our daily lives, but too many times we hold on to the past, we hold on to our stuff, we hold on to our broken relationships, we hold on to hurt, we hold on to bad news, we hold on to everything but God. And all that holding entangles us so much so that we cannot run the race with perseverance but fall short time and time again and get disqualified because we didn’t cross the finish line. Sometimes it’s so hard to hold things with an open hand, because we are so used to clinging to our possessions or relationships so tightly. The Bible says “The world and all that’s in it will pass away but the word of the God shall never pass away.”  We must hold things in our palms... with open hands. Stuff will never satisfy but leave us empty and burdened. God doesn’t want us to be burdened. 

When we give God our stuff, He uses it for His Glory and then replaces what He used with abundance. If you read the rest of the story, the widow’s oil never ran out and kept filling up every jar, pot, pan, Tupperware and vase in the house. God took her gift and multiplied it, many times over. The fact is that later on, her son did die but guess who helped raise him to life, Elijah.

Has God brought an Elijah into your life? Someone you can help and bless? You can be the instrument of God’s work, if you allow sacrifice to enter your daily motif. Nothing is impossible for those who believe in the supernatural work of God. It may not be a prophet who needs a meal, but a minister that needs encouragement, a pastor who needs prayer, a social worker who needs resources, a college student who needs supplies…..and this brings me to a personal story. Right before I went off to my freshman year at Baylor University, a sweet woman from my church, Dea, who I believe to be an amazing woman of faith, took care of a poor minister’s son. Out of the blue, Dea told me that she would pick me up one day and take me shopping for my college school supplies. We went aisle by aisle and picked out the necessary things needed. Honestly, I didn’t know all that I needed but she had a son and daughter start college a few years before so she was able to provide guidance. I think the total was $170 something dollars, nothing crazy, but that little amount did so much to show me the love of God and the love of His people. He is looking for men and women like Dea, who love Him and who are led by Him. I pray that we all can learn these women of faith, from the widow who gave her last meal to a woman who gave her lasting impression.