...TheLightshinesthru!

Thanksgiving. We are blessed for many reasons. One stands above all the others: God.

In just a while, we will gather to pause and reflect on God's mercy and grace again in 2018. It never gets old. You see His mercy and grace, what the prophet Jeremiah refers to as His "steadfast love," NEVER fails to show up--it's New EVERY morning.

Like every family, we've needed an abundance of His steadfast love in 2018. We have leaned hard into our weakness and distress, there to discover God's strength and goodness. We continue to walk through the loss of our beloved grandson Braden--he flew into the arms of Jesus just over two years ago.  Then of course there are all the "usual suspects" that threaten our calm-delight and challenge us to keep our eyes fixed on our great God and Father in heaven.

Through it all--God is, has been and will continue to be a Strong Tower for us.  The Apostle Paul addressed the impact of our Heavenly Father on our flawed and fragile state in his letter to the church in Corinth (4.6b-10ff)...

"...God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

8 We are PRESSED on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are PERPLEXED, but not driven to despair. 9 We are HUNTED DOWN, but never abandoned by God. We get KNOCKED DOWN, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through SUFFERING, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

The life of Jesus, seen in OUR bodies--THROUGH...our suffering.  The world has been bent by sin...and that has produced an environment that generates suffering and loss.  God didn't do that, sin did it.  He is engaged in a plan to restore the planet, in the meantime...He is restoring people, one-by-one, when through effective faith they embrace Jesus Messiah as the risen Son of God and Lord of all (Romans 10.9,10).

After effective faith comes the privilege of being  fragile Clay Jars filled with the light of the Glory of God shining brightly for others to see, to contemplate...the life of Jesus in our bodies?!  It's a mystery--HE uses me to reach them.  Our wounds are where HIS light shines through.

I am grateful for this assurance that my suffering is NOT in vain. God redeems it; using it to reveal the life of Jesus to my sphere of influence...restoring people one-by-one.

Thanksgiving 2018...

Father in heaven, I am profoundly grateful for assurance, presence, sustenance,  strength, purpose, tenacity--Your steadfast love; profoundly grateful for my redemption and restoration; profoundly grateful that Your grace and mercy have been embraced by my kids, my grandkids; profoundly grateful that joy has come through mourning. Thanks be to You my God for our Blessed hope.  Empower me to be an radiant Clay Jar, Through Jesus Messiah, let it be.  

Really thankful. 

ThewoundiswhereThelightshinesthru!

The Main Thing.

On December 28, 1968 (age 15) I said "yes" to Jesus, and at that moment my life was transformed; 50 years is...a few. I want to be clear, I have, since then, experienced a number of epic failures. Even so, I have endeavored to align my heart with the things that matter to God and sought to be a clear reflection of His empowering presence; it has for the most part been, by His grace, a slow and steady "long obedience in the same direction."

The dynamics of our culture, over my lifetime, could be described as a devolution from "conscience" and evolution to "relevance" as our moral compass. It's ironic that the most extreme expression of the conservative mind, libertarianism, is in many ways the platform upon which liberalism has been constructed. My point is that "systems of thought" (even theological systems of thought) can't change the trajectory of the human spirit.

God does that one person, one decision, at a time. We just don't have the temperament to pull that off. History is filled with movements which morphed into extremism that marginalized human beings, in the name of a "greater good," producing tyranny and crimes against humankind.

It's not my job to save my culture from itself. The part I have been given, as a Christ-follower, is to point the people in my sphere of influence to God, who can. This is "the main thing" for me. I'm not called to point them to "systems" or movements that will save the day, but to the God of eternity who loves human beings with an everlasting and long-suffering love, a transformative love. He does the formative work in transforming people; this can change the culture.

So then, how can I keep the main thing, the main thing?

• Be humble. 
• Be accountable.
• Love my spouse. 
• Act as an agent of peace. 
• Trust in the power of God. 
• See people the way God sees them.
• Talk to people about Jesus Messiah.
• Focus on walking close to God on a daily basis. 
• Empower my kids and grandkids with a legacy of godliness. 
• Declare the principles and precepts of God in a loving, inclusive way. 
• Love unconditionally my enemies and those who might seek to hurt me. 
• Pray for those raised up as leaders in my church, community, and nation.

Having produced a template to work toward... "12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (me)." Philippians 3.12-14 NLT

Systems and movements, by their very nature, devolve. God, "is the same yesterday, today and forever." 

I choose God. He produces the change which gives me, gives us all...HOPE.

Life is fast.  Press on.


Liveitwell!