Life...is hard.

Life is hard. Age diminishes us. Disease ravages us. Then, we die.

Or...

Life is hard and softens our hearts.  Age diminishes us and equips us with wisdom. Disease ravages us and empowers us to embrace hope.  Then we die and pass into eternity.

What happens to us, all of us, in the course of a lifetime is simply a variation on the same theme.  What sets apart those not beaten, from those that are?  It's  what that "lifetime process" produces in us. 

Pandemic's serve to remind us, we are fragile and our bodies will eventually fail, some sooner than others, but for all of us life ends in one final breath.  

The ability to see our sojourn as a prelude to "something more" is the key to empowering us to embrace all we experience in "time" with wonder; while anticipating what we glimpse of eternity with hope.  

Yes, I'm talking about faith.  A specific "effective-faith" we are given instruction about in the Scriptures; the Second letter to the church in Corinth, written by the Apostle Paul (5.1-5):

"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.  2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.  4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.  5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit."

Be sure not to miss v.5...God prepares us for Next, gives us a holy desire to "level-up" and then seals the deal with His Holy Spirit--indwelling, empowering, informing us--all the while transforming us into the image of Jesus Messiah--in this life with godly character--in the next life with a heavenly body.  Yahoo!

Over the course of my adult life I've invested time and love in weary people...all filled with hope.  They are fragile over-comers.  Their lives are a tapestry illustrating God's grace, love, presence, power and certitude about Next.  Paul acknowleges this too (5.17-19, 21)...

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them...21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

Trusting Jesus Messiah, through effective faith, is what makes the difference--"so that we could be made right with God through Christ."  No one makes it out alive.  It's what happens Next that matters for eternity.  It's a quality-of-ETERNAL-life issue.  The Apostle Paul spells out exactly what we must do in his letter to the church in Rome...

"...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'”  Romans 10.9-13

Next looms close on the horizon for each of us--we know it's there, what will you do with Jesus?  I'm ready.  Are you?  

Liveitwell!

Towers come...and go.

I glance out the window from my study as I write these words.
It looks like, Spring. 
  
I hear the rustling bows of the trees bending in the wind.
It sounds like Spring.

The sky is a canvas of blue being overtaken by gray as a weather front moves through, bringing a promise of rain later today.
It acts like Spring.

It's Mother's Day.
A celebration of tender love that marks a transition on the calendar. 
A movement from Spring, soon to be Summer.

The normal cycle of the Earth around the Sun is in full swing.  The ways we mark the essential relationships in our lives, celebrate them, remain, in place.

Yet...
Life has changed.  
The Pandemic of 2020 has ravaged the planet;
...our 401k's
...our security
...our economy
...our prospects
...our social mores
...our confident expectations.
Eight weeks.  

Towers go up.
Towers come down.  
We are in control?  
We are not. 
Eight weeks.

I can't shake this feeling.

I am reminded about the first notable tower in history.  The Tower of Babel [Genesis 11].  That tower was imagined as the penultimate expression of independence on the part of humankind; our effort to shake a collective fist at God and say, "See, you aren't so transcendent after all." Foolish pride led to an inflated opinion of who we were; God breathed, language changed, and chaos ensued. 

We discovered we were no match for the transcendent God; we are not in control.

Fast forward to Century 21.  

God, in His grace, has allowed humankind to apply our intellect and ingenuity, these also graciously granted by God, to "discover" thousands of widgets that insulate us from the ill-effects of the fall: pharmaceuticals, asphalt, steel, plastic, roads, air conditioning, engines, automation--the list is endless.

We, in turn, tainted by sin and swelled with pride, believing ourselves to be wise "shake our fists" at God and say, "You see, the Scriptures are a myth; there was a big-bang ,and then there was 'protoplasm' and look at how we have evolved, we have the power to give and take life. We don't need myths to prop us up anymore. We ARE gods." 

In reality, everything we touch we corrupt.
...Look at what we call our "system of Justice." 

...We condition the air at the same time we poison it with hydro-carbons. 

...We pollute the planet, poison our bodies, can't beat legions of disease, and when/if we do, something else always emerges. 

Regardless of how effective we are at blunting the effect of sin on life and the planet, sin always trumps our best efforts...and God allows it to point us to our need for a Savior and His gracious provision for our redemption.

The farther evolved civilization becomes the further it devolves into moral and spiritual chaos--abortion, failed economies, addiction, violence, corrupt governments, greed, 

broken relationships, idolatry, shamanism, injustice, politics.

We run from God; we can't hide.
Civilization, as we have fashioned it has become humankind's most recent Tower of Babel, the work of "our hands" which demonstrates our independence, our ability to "get it done without God." 

We set out to be like God, and in a final irony, we create the very modality that could be the end of life as we know it. We can destroy it, but we can't fix it..."all the king's horses, and all the king's men, couldn't put Humpty-dumpty back together again." 

Eight weeks to change; the pandemic is the Waypoint.

The lie that deceived Eve continues to vex us, but we aren't beaten. This Truth has set us free...

"When we were utterly helpless...God showed his 

great love for us by sending Christ to die for us 

while we were still sinners." Romans 5.6a,8

Eight weeks.

We don't get to be here long.
What will you do with Jesus?

Liveitwell!

Real love says "no."

"Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good." Romans 12.9 NLT

As a follower of Jesus Messiah, I am instructed to:
1. Love others.
2. Hate evil.
3. Embrace good.

So then, not only is it possible, it is commanded of Christ-followers: love people, without embracing their broken behavior, like Jesus does.

Tolerance is NOT love. Love does not REQUIRE tolerance.

In-other-words, I CAN "love sinful people and hate sin" and BE acting IN LOVE toward those whose behavior I cannot tolerate. I cannot hate broken people.

Love is non-negotiable. 

Tolerance is fraud.
Do. Love. Walk.


Liveitwell!

Something old. Someone new.

Friday our oldest granddaughter, Gabriella, will be 6.  I remember the day she arrived; May 1 came on a  Thursday back in 2014.  As it happens, we received two deliveries that day.

The first was a package generously provided by my sister, filled with carefully prepared and lovingly packed treasures from the life I've lived--and was lived before me.  A tapestry of dreams, tenderness, ambition, hard work, disappointment, and triumph woven through photos, cards, letters, and other memorabilia.  It contained a narrative of my past.

The second was of course Gabriella Grace, fearfully and wonderfully made, and delivered by our lovely daughter-in-law, Miranda, coached by our son Joseph.  "Gabs" arrived at 11.10pm, weighed 7'10, and was just over 20" long.  She, along with her little sister, our children, our grandsons and God willing, our greats...they are my future.

Legacies are brittle.  Soak that in for a few moments...
I am grateful that I can look back, look around, and dream about the future.

I am grateful that I have a sense of where I'm from, where I've been, and who I've become. 
I am grateful that at this moment, I can continue to shape character and destiny.

My story was shaped--altered when at age 15, I made a choice to embrace Christ and believe His story.  He took my brokenness, yes, even at age 15, and built me into a man whose heart's desire is to be like my savior, Jesus.  Laura, our children, know all too well the difficulty we've faced as a family and my shortcomings as a man, a husband, and a father.

Here's my point: it's these challenges, these failures that add strength and color to legacies--that will give my grands and great-grands the "roots" to make choices which will empower them to continue to shape character and destiny; to build bridges from their past to a solid Christ-centered future.

Indeed..."All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful out of my life..." 47 years with Laura; our children Erin and Joseph; their spouses Matthew and Miranda; our grandchildren, Braden, Kellen, Gabriella and now Grayson and Gwendolyn.

Something old, someone new.  Legacies are brittle.  Lean into Christ.

Liveitwell!

Two Camps.

 The confessing church has aligned itself into two camps.  This division has created a wall that impacts Christ's church in a profoundly negative way.  The challenge Believers face is to embrace both the justice and eschatological mandates of the Gospel; it isn't either/or, it's both/and.

The irony is that the same end, compassion for people who Jesus described as “sheep without a shepherd,” drives both camps, yet we (all of us) proclaim a different gospel when we fail to apply the whole counsel of God to our mission.  

We have allowed this blindness to strip the church of its relevance on the one hand, and spiritual power on the other--leaving only a shell for those "asking, seeking, and knocking" to behold. 

The good news is that God isn't marginalized by our failure to embrace the whole Gospel. His love continues to find a way. If only we who have confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, and embraced effective faith could come together, then face the harsh reality that WE are the problem.  

Would that we might seek God's face, confess our sin, then healing would come.  That's the promise of 2 Chronicles 7.14... 

"...If MY people who are CALLED by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their (our) wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land." 

May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven; through Christ, let it be.

Liveitwell!

Dust to diamonds.

Given the presence of carbon--along with vast amounts of time, temperature (ranging between 1800 and 2400*F) and extreme pressure (650,000-850,000psi), the Earth will produce diamonds.  It's this remarkable process that makes diamonds a relatively rare and always valuable commodity.

It should surprise no one that God uses a similar process in bringing people with effective faith into a beautiful reflection of the image of our Saviour, The Lord Jesus Messiah.

Dust to Diamonds.

Paul describes this process for us in his second letter to the church at Corinth...

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.

11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies.12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

--2 Corinthians 4.7-18 NLT

Pressed on every side, perplexed, hunted, knocked-down, NOT crushed, NOT despairing, NOT abandoned, NOT destroyed.  BUT suffering, sharing in the death of Jesus--for one glorious purpose: that the life of The Savior might be clearly seen in our bodies, IN us.

Dust to Diamonds.

God uses hard places to fashion us into a new version of ourselves, still us, but transformed in ways that manifest His presence, His grace, His mercy.  This is not what we will be, but we are sufficiently different in ways that produce confident expectation--hope.  Look at how Paul describes it to the church in Rome, where he compares our struggle with the cataclysmic impact sin has had on the Earth; thus, all creation waits...

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

--Romans 8.18-25 NLT

Dust to diamonds.

What is responsible for this transformation and the hope it delivers?  Paul makes this clear to us at the beginning of the eighth chapter of his letter to the Roman church...

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

--Romans 8.1-4

Don`t miss it...for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh (humankind) and for sin (He absorbed the penalty for sin on His own body in our place) He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Sin broke the planet.

God is in the process of restoring what He created.  The tipping point of the restoration is the passion, sacrifice, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah.  We have been redeemed and restored positionally, now we are waiting--suffering still, but knowing that "it is finished." 

In that suffering, as we lean into our weakness, our fragility, there, at that moment, the Manifest Presence of God shines brightly through us and our suffering; for us, for a watching world to behold in wonder.  His strength made manifest through our weakness.  Indeed, "the wound is where the light shines through."

Dust to Diamonds.

Suffering is NOT payback. 

Suffering is NOT God`s plan spinning out of control. 

Suffering IS the last dying gasp of sin--Check, NOT Check-Mate.

Suffering IS the process God has sovereignly allowed to transform our lives on this side of the veil, from...dust to diamonds.

We don't get to be here long.

Liveitwell!

Soon. Very soon.

This is the hardest part of the weather calendar in Northern Indiana.  The calendar says it's spring; reality says, "it's ugly."

Things are ready to go; mowers have been serviced, the hedge has been trimmed.  The irrigation system is functional again.  Bud's are on the trees and bushes...the evergreens aren't just green now, they are awake!  Robin's are busy being the "dirty birds" of the neighborhood.  Chance tracks fresh scent everywhere we go.  We are ready, where is spring?

It feels like Thanksgiving Day when I was a little boy.  Would our guests and extended family ever arrive...

"Mom, how soon will they be here?"  

"Pretty soon, BJ."  

"Mom, do you think they're still coming?" 

"BJ, they will all be here, just like last year." 

"But mom, we are ready, where is everyone?" 

"They are on the way."  

"Then, where are they?"  

"BJ, why don't you wait outside for them, 

greet them when they arrive."  

"I think they changed their mind, 

they aren't coming this year." 

That's the way our conversation advanced every year.  A little boy, anticipating a favorite event, thinking it would never happen, but it always did.

I'm ready, but spring just hasn't arrived...yet.  When it does come and the days slip quickly into summer...the memory of this misery becomes dim, almost dreamlike.  Every day a new color explodes someplace along my route to the office.  It's warm, balmy...with life-sustaining showers from time to time.

There are many "seasons" in our lives...they come, they go--some are better than others; they make life exciting and always produce something my memory clings to, which delivers a lifetime of pleasure and expands my perspective.

Yes, spring hasn't arrived--and COVID 19 remains, but summer's comin.'  It will be OK sooner than later.  I can wait; in the interim, the memories from "seasons past," the good, the bad, the painful...they sustain me.  It's a wonderful life.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.


Liveitwell!

Today.

Today...
Our nest is empty.
I cannot do things as before.
My face is lined, hair is gone.
Self-confidence gives way to doubt,
Strength gives way to weakness.

Today...
Independence is community.
Knowledge is wisdom.
Love is tenderness.
Time is a gift.

Today help stopped being a four-letter word.

Liveitwell!

Oh so Super!

America is unique.

It's amazing what people can do when given the freedom to succeed AND to fail. Our "Super Bowl" has become a metaphor.

Back in July, each team started at the same place, 0-0, as every other franchise in the NFL. Now, 106 young men, two teams remain standing; black, white, brown...not all born equally, privileged start and not. All shapes sizes...some more talented than others. All making the most of what they've been given, working hard, and sacrificing for a dream. Working together to create synergy. All competing on a level playing field, and yet, a few with a clear advantage over others, not all endowed equally--size, strength, speed. All paid, what the market will bear for their service--some much more than others.

That said, each strives to overcome, to elevate their game and maximize their opportunity, against all the odds. The underdog can prevail because "heart" can't be measured. Mistakes will be made, injuries will occur that force a change to the gameplan, and the unexpected, will be the norm. Bad calls? No doubt, someone is going to feel like it wasn't fair. Most will perform up to standard, a few will be disappointed--and not play well at all. The ball will be dropped, and it will take some bad bounces. But there won't be any do-overs. One performance will be judged most outstanding of all...and propel that player to a new level of achievement and notoriety.

At the end of the day, some will win, others will lose, and Monday morning? Each will crawl out of bed and begin again.   They will attempt to make the ascent to the top of their profession; each sore, tired, some beaten, all driven by conviction: it's a new day, it's a new opportunity, "I believe 'it' can happen, if I work hard, stay focused and apply myself."

This hope compels them to bear down, start over, and try again. They will take what they learned (the good, the bad, and the ugly), winners and losers, and use that as leverage to get better, and they will--because they see the future is filled with open doors.

I believe this is why this night, this event, is more celebrated, anticipated, and watched than any other on the calendar in America. It reflects our hopes and dreams, our core values as a nation, at so many levels. We watch these young men compete and we are reminded, dreams come true here; hard work pays here, the hope of success far outweighs the risk of failure. Bottom line: "It can happen, it does happen." If it doesn't? Failure isn't the end of the world, it's the beginning of a new cycle.

Everyone has to play by the rules, but the rules aren't designed to produce pre-determined outcomes. So, many compete; some win, some lose; some never win or lose, because they never try, that's ok too. America is a place where dreaming is a part of our culture, where we, as free people, set the bar, where people can "do better", and to no one's surprise, we do.

America, "we hold these truths..."

Liveitwell!

Run hard, finish well.

Off to another year in the fast lane of life. 

As we gain experience in navigation, we are dogged by real present danger, cynicism.

Life is hard.
Age diminishes us.
Disease ravages us.
Then, we die.

This is one choice.  There is another.

Life is hard
and softens our hearts.
Age diminishes us,
and equips us with wisdom.
Disease ravages us,
and empowers us to embrace hope.
Then we die and pass into eternity.

What happens to us in the course of a lifetime is simply a variation on the same theme. So, just what sets apart those not beaten, from those that are? It is what that "lifetime process" produces in us.

I've been reminded over the past several years, we are fragile, and our bodies will eventually fail--some sooner than others, but for all of us life ends in one final breath. The ability to see our sojourn as a prelude to "something more" is the key to empowering us to embrace all we experience in time, with wonder, while anticipating what we glimpse of eternity with hope.

Yes, I'm talking about faith. A specific "effective-faith" we are given instruction about in the Scriptures; the Second letter to the church in Corinth, written by the Apostle Paul (5.1-5):

"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee, he has given us his Holy Spirit."

I've invested time in some weary people...all filled with hope; fragile over-comers. Their lives a tapestry illustrating God's grace, love, presence, and power. 

Paul acknowledges this later in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians 5.17-19, 21...

"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them...21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

Thanks be to God.  Our blessed hope is Jesus Messiah. 

Life is fast.  I'm ready.

Liveitwell!