An Idea

I've seen a couple of sci-fi movies recently.  It got me thinking.  What if when we were born, the doctor took us away from our parents and we never saw them again until after we died?  It's quite the morbid thought, isn't it?  What if during our lives, we got a letter from them once a week, but somebody else had to read it to us?  And what if when they would read it, they'd only read it in small little parts, maybe even just single sentences?  We would never know much about our parents!  We would only hear parts of how they felt about us.  They would be little more than figments of our imagination.  We would read things about parenting in history books and the idea seemed like a good one, but it would never happen in OUR lives!  Any similarity between us and the people who gave life to us would be the sum total of extreme distance and dumb luck.  Parents would be nothing more than an IDEA.

Yet I've just painted a picture of the average Christian.  How?  Just think about it.  By the time we make a decision to follow Christ, we are old enough to make decisions.  Therefore, there have been learned self dependency patterns in many areas of our lives.  It's hard to make the turn from a tangible parent or guardian, to that of an unseen being who has become our "Heavenly Father."  Then we hear words describing Him like holy, righteous, supreme, omniscient, judge, and we wonder exactly how close we can get to someone like that!

So we treat our spiritual lives much like that sic-fi picture I painted in my head.  We look at a relationship with Jesus as nothing more than an idea.  We don't really try to get too close because first, we don't really know how, and second, what if He sees all the ugly parts that aren't cleaned up yet?  It's the equivalent of your parents finding your diary already open to the page with your biggest secret!  So we keep everything at arm's length.  We go to church because we need that in our lives.  It's why we made the choice to follow Christ in the first place.  Sometimes it fills a curiosity, but mostly it's probably social.  The pastor MUST live a much closer life to God than WE ever could, so we'll just go and hear what He has to say and let him "read the letter" from our Father.

See where I'm going with this?  How can we expect to KNOW our Father, which is exactly what He desires, if we only let someone else read His letter to us?  There's no relational heart to heart intimacy there!  And when people ask us about Him, it becomes like telling them about our great, great grandfather.  We know he existed.  We know we're related to him.  But we've only seen few pictures, if any, and might know something about his life.  But as far as if we take after him, or apply any of his life lessons to our lives, or know much about his character, we couldn't even begin to speak to those things!

Oh but we have a "relationship" with Jesus, right?  No.  The majority of us have an IDEA about Jesus.  We know who He was/is.  We know what He did on the cross and that He came back to life three days later.  We know what we were taught in Sunday School or what we've heard the pastor tell us on Sunday mornings, but that's about it.  When you hear things about God, do you know His character well enough that you can discern truth from untruth based on your knowledge of who He is and has been to you in your life?

I know that I'm my parents' son.  You know how?  First, I am a spitting image of my mom, just in male form.  I have expressions like my dad.  My hands look like his and my index finger is slightly crooked at the first joint right below the nail, just like his.  I cough and sound just like my mom.  I walk with my palms facing backward instead of inward, just like my mom and her family.  I have my paternal grandfather's hair line and big hands.  I scrape ice cream from the bottom of a bowl just like my dad, which Michelle points out all the time!  I know these things because I've spent time with them.  I've seen their actions.  And I've emulated them in many ways.

So I ask us ALL this question?  Other than knowing you made a decision to follow Christ, how do you know you're a child of God?  Have you caught yourself emulating Him in some way?  Do you look on others differently than you ever did or thought you would?  Do you see yourself smiling at things you know would make Him smile or does your heart break at things you know would break His?  When you hear the name, Jesus, does it warm you?  Have you ever caught Him smiling at you, saying He's proud of you, or thought that maybe you heard the song He sings over you?  Scripture is only where it begins.  It is the guideline.  Nothing happens outside of the guidelines it sets, but there's so much MORE!  There's the part that's meant for you and only you!

My eyes are tearing even as I type this, because I have seen His love, His protection, His grace in my life SO strong in the last two years in spite of who I am, not because of who I am!  I still mess up.  I'll never be the son that I'd have liked to have been, yet I still hear God say He's proud of me.  I've felt him sit beside me as my mom used to do when I was little, and put His hand on my back and console me.  I've heard Him warn me when I'm about to step out of line, and I've felt His discipline when I didn't listen.  I know how He reacts to others because I know how He has reacted to me!  This is how I know I'm a child of His!

Yes, I made a decision when I was 11 years old to follow Christ.   But it is the RELATIONSHIP that's made the difference, not so much the choice.  The choice was my recognition of the need of a Savior, the relationship is my recognition of the need of a Friend, a Guide, a Counselor, and a Father, among so many other things.  The choice was a change in direction, the relationship is a companion along the journey.  See the difference?

I'm not speaking to you as someone who has it all figured out!  Actually, the deeper you go in the relationship, the more amazed you are at the depth of its potential!  In my experience, I've seen that God has so much more for me than what I'd ever imagined!!!  I've seen Him work in ways that are completely outside the realm of my own understanding.  In my life, it's pretty much been the equivalent of Elijah calling down fire from heaven!

So where do you begin if you want this kind of relationship with the Father?  Well, as I said before, scripture is the guideline.  The Bible is where it starts.  Find a version that is easy for you to read and understand.  Then talk to Him.  Yes, out loud.  Talk as you're driving.  Nobody is there to look at you weird.  :-)  But after you talk, LISTEN.  He'll speak in your thoughts, in things you see, in what you hear.  He will amaze you!  He's only waiting on you to ask Him.  He responds to the voice of His children, just like He expects us to respond to His voice.

Today, right now, move past an idea.  Get to know your Father.  See if one day, you don't feel the warmth of His smile, or the comfort of His still, small voice.  See if you don't have someone who follows Christ too recognize in you the "family resemblance."  I only wish I could explain the difference it's made in me!!!  And I've not even scratched the surface!!!

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THANK YOU for stopping by!  Till next time...

4 Lessons I Learned in 2013 That You Need to Learn Too

2013 brought so many things, and almost all of it good!!!  I could tell you story after story of the way God showed His mighty awesomeness in our lives over the last 12-18 months!  But there are two things wrong with that scenario.  First, I'm really wanting to concentrate on the year that is, as I type this, in its fading moments.  Second, the LAST thing I want is for this blog to have the tone of a bad Christmas letter!

So instead of reliving moments in my life that have nothing to do with you, my reader, I want to instead leave you with some life lessons that I've learned (or RElearned) that I hope will make a lasting difference in your lives as well.  I honestly don't know that I could create an exhaustive list, but I'm going to pray and ask God to remind me of the ones that need to be included here.  He knows who will be reading this and what all of you need to hear most.

1.  God adores us.  My friend, Debby Berry, says this all the time.  Two years ago, because of decisions I had made personally, I called Debby.  At the time, I would've said it was coincidence.  From what I know now, it was a Divine appointment!  She was the first person who drilled that into my head.  I'd never heard it put that way before.  A few months later, I remember laying in the altar of Gateway Church in Texas and God speaking to me so clearly saying, "You just need to let me love on you.  Cast every worry on me.  Nothing matters except that you let me love you."  Since those conversations, I now wake up knowing that my Father in heaven ADORES me!!!  Not for what I've done, mind you!  That would disappoint even the holders of low standards!  But because He made me, died for me, and still sees in me what He made me to be and knows my potential for His kingdom.  And the same is true for YOU!  Say it with me, "God adores me."  Feels good, huh?  Thanks, Debby, for that simple, yet life-changing lesson.

2.  We don't deserve to be happy.  Now before my fan mail starts crashing this server, hear me out.  See, I tried that.  Here's what I found.  Happiness can be achieved only for fleeting moments at a time.  It is not a sustainable state.  But humanity gives a daily valiant effort at making it such and trying to convince the world that it's possible!  Ok.  So, I challenge you.  Name ONE person that has sustained happiness.  Not asking for a top ten list, not even three.  Just one.  Singular.  YOU CAN'T!  Because nobody has!!!  Most people have for a time, but then it fades away like morning dew.  Scripture tells us that we will face trials.  Ever known anyone to jump up and scream, "YAY!!! Another TRIAL!!!!  I'm so happy life tests me like this.  BRING IT!!!"  Me either.  Not being serious, anyway.  God was guaranteeing times of unhappiness.  He knew they would come with frequency.  He wants two things for us: joy & contentment.  The first is from Him through Jesus.  That kind of joy is sustainable.  The second comes from experiencing the joy of knowing Christ.  And when you add them together, you know what results?  Happiness.  Again, not sustained.  But certainly more common and longer lasting than any we would hope to find in our own pursuits.  So seek Jesus first.  Then rest in the contentment that He brings.  There, you will find the happiness you seek.

3.  The importance of your spouse choice.  Married people, don't cut me off here!  I have come to realize full well that I love Michelle, my wife, more than the day I married her.  Now there are a LOT of reasons why that this blog has no hope of provision for naming, but that's not the point.  Whether you're dating or married, distractions happen.  Distractions hinder the decision making process.  Focus is key.  Keep your eyes where they should be, and everything else will follow suit.  Feel me?  When distractions come, be strong in your resolve.  Have accountability in your life of some sort.  There is no wake up call that will hit you as hard as realizing too late that you made a mistake you can't take back.  Nobody's perfect.  I get that.  But you have no idea the power of the devil where this is concerned, and you'd be wise to wise up!  Pray over who you date AND who you marry.  And NEVER STOP!!!

4.  Speak truth into your life out loud daily!!!  I grew up Southern Baptist.  This is not something we did or that I was ever taught in Sunday School growing up.  And I'm not talking about "prosperity gospel," at least what I always heard that phrase meant anyway.  I'm not telling you to start claiming a Mercedes Benz and expect it in your driveway!  But I am saying that we speak ourselves into the situations in which we find ourselves.  My Pastor, Danny Chambers, said, "Who you are is who you've been saying you are for the last two years."  I believe that.  I've heard believers in Jesus say, "I can't...   I won't...   God didn't...."  They'll talk about being a "realist" about their lives and situations.  They've forgotten whose they are!  I have a list of statements hanging on my bathroom mirror that Jamie Brandenburg, a buddy of mine here in Nashville, gave me.  All of them are based on scripture and are just statements about who we are in Christ.  I wrote them in a recent blog for you to be able to have and use.  You can see them by clicking here.  Go and print then off.  Tweak them if you want.  Add, subtract, it's your life you're speaking truth into.  Make it your own!  But you will see HUGE results if you do!!!  I'm giving you personal testimony to that fact!!!  Life is all about perspective, and saying things like this out loud daily helps keep a right perspective in our lives.  Another quote by Pastor Danny says, "The Israelites looked at Goliath and said, 'He's so big we can't KILL him!'  David looked at Goliath and said, 'He's so big I can't MISS him!'"  It's all in perspective.

As I said early on, this isn't an exhaustive list.  I think 4 is doable for anyone in any situation.  Most of you will think that this was a nice blog and just close it.  No, I'm not going to ask you to do a chain letter!  I just want you to experience all God has for you.  Just USE what Ive given you!  If it doesn't work, I give you permission to call me a liar.  But if it does, and I truly believe it will, then you can share it at your discretion.  And no, your love of Jesus won't be affected if you don't! :-)  I'm greatly annoyed by those emails and posts!

I welcome your comments!  PLEASE click on the words "No Comment" or "Comment" (whichever is listed just to the right of the posting time directly below this paragraph) and post a comment of your own.  You must also choose a profile from the drop down list, or just choose "anonymous" from the list and type your name at the end of your comment in the actual comment box.  Clicking the PUBLISH button posts your comment and you're good to go!  Use the social media links there to share to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts directly.  THANK YOU for stopping by!  Till next time...