God of Fresh Air

Ok, I don't know about you, but one of the best feelings I can think of is when you first step outside of a stuffy room and inhale a huge breath of fresh, cool air! 

There's absolutely nothing like it!!

Something I've noticed recently is that it's really easy for our lives to become like that hot, stuffy room that we desperately want to get out of. Stress, monotony, burdens, and the like can really make it hard for us to breathe. 
I've found that in sometimes in life, rather than opening the door for a breath of fresh air, we can lock ourselves in. There are two things that I think we can easily do that will lock us into the room.

1. The first thing is when we, intentionally or unintentionally, decide that God is useless in our situation.

When things get tough or stressful, rather than relying on God, it's really easy to think we have to bear the burden all on our own. It becomes more natural to trust ourselves during the very times when we need God to intervene most!

Symptoms of this mindset include constant worry and stress about what to do with our situations. 
How is this a symptom? Well, if we really believed that God would take care of us, we wouldn't be so worried about whether or not we can handle the situation in front of us. We put all of the weight of the situation into our own hands, which is where the stress comes from. Make sense? 

2. The Second thing that we can easily slip into is the belief that God wants us to stay locked in the room. Now, this one may be surprising, but I've found it quite common.

You see, we can often take a viewpoint that sounds a little bit like this:

"As a Christian, I know my life is going to stink! It's going to be really hard, trying, and monotonous, but I guess I can always look forward to my glorious reward in Heaven when I die..."

This is common, but TOTALLY unbiblical! Yes, we will go through hard times that require perseverance, and yes we have a great hope to look forward to after death, but a life that is lived in the here and now with the Holy Spirit is an exciting one!!!

God is constantly doing a new thing, even in the monotony! I believe that God does not just have hard times and monotony for us, but he has GOOD things! New things! Exciting things he wants to do in and through us!

Now, I realize that there are trying times we all go through as I'm just coming out of one of those seasons myself. However, there is a whole world of fresh air waiting for us to step outside into it! 

God has a plan for your life! 

You are not destined only for bland, monotonous, or trying times, but for new, good and exciting things!

I believe we serve a God of the fresh air! 

It's our choice to lock ourselves into stuffy rooms!

Let me challenge you today, step outside and breathe!

God has a great things in store for you!

Pursue his will.

Meditate on his promises.

Realize who God is and rest in him!

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
   dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

-Psalm 37:3-4

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.

-Romans 8:28

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

 ² He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

 ³ he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

   for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk

   through the darkest valley,^[a]

I will fear no evil,

   for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

   they comfort me.

 ⁵ You prepare a table before me

   in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

   my cup overflows.

⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me

   all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

   forever.

-Psalm 23

A Feather in the Wind

A rushing wave tossed in the ocean...

Or a battered feather, forced to fly on in whatever direction the wind wills.

So often in life, it seems like these things are our lives! 

We just go about our lives living normally when suddenly a gust of pain blows us a direction we weren't expecting.

Other times it seems like everything is going so well when, out of nowhere, the ocean of life circumstance bubbles up and throws us somewhere against our will.

These moments in life are what we often refer to as our "dark moments" or, in christian terms, our "trials."

Sometimes these painful moments seem to envelope us, giving us no choice in the matter as to how life goes or how we live our lives.

These moments are real. Too real. Pain and misfortune happens to good people. 

It seems to me that pain, at least in this current world, is inseparable from life.

However, it would also seem that the level of darkness in our dark moments is partially dependent on us.

'What on earth are you talking about? Life happens and I can't do anything to change that!'

You're right, but what happens in life does not necessarily dictate what we do!

A strong temptation in painful moments is to essentially turn off the proverbial lights and let the darkness fully envelop us. Giving in to grief, sadness and misery is the tempting and natural reaction. 

It almost gives off a weird sort of comforting feeling to rest in despair.

This was never where we were meant to live!

So often, we let life, pain, and grief determine our feelings and actions.

I can tell you now from experience, this is not the only option!

In every painful moment where we want to let go and give into misery, the same chance exists to choose joy!

Nehemiah declares this truth when he says "the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh 8:10)

Unlike happiness, a powerful emotion that relies on circumstances to feed it, joy is an equally powerful thing that does not rely on circumstance but is instead chosen.

How do you choose joy?

By believing that the God of the universe has your back and that he will make things work out for your good (Rom 8:28).

Here are some practical tips:

- Find Scripture that speaks of God's covenant promises to his children (Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 37).

- Verbally declare your choice out loud to yourself (i.e. "I choose to live in God's joy today!").

- Avoid putting yourself in positions that will feed sadness (i.e. In your room alone with the lights off).

- Be active and social. Get some sun while you're at it! : )

- Thank God for the things he has already blessed you with

Joy is a definitely daily choice, especially in hard times, but a choice it remains.

You see, though we may feel like it, we aren't feathers blown by the wind.

We are not simply prey to our circumstances or emotions.

We have the unique chance to choose joy over sadness.

You may not feel like choosing joy. 

It may seem a whole lot nicer to lay around in sadness.

There's a good chance choosing joy will be difficult, but it is so worth it!

Let me challenge you today.

Don't be a feather blown in the wind. 

Don't be a wave tossed around by emotion and circumstance, no matter how hard it may be.

Make the choice to tell yourself, "Today, I choose joy!"

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence,
   with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

- Psalm 16:11

Explosions and O-Rings

On January 28th, 1986, one of the most tragic and memorable moments in recent American history occurred. 

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, just 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven members of the crew.

Millions of Americans watched the tragedy and grieved as a nation.

When investigations were conducted, results showed that the explosion was caused due to the failure of a "toric joint" or "O-ring." 

An O-ring is a rubber circular seal, about .28 inches in diameter, that is used to create pressure for the gasses to ignite and power the engine. When the Shuttle launched, the O-rings failed causing the explosion of the shuttle and the deaths of the crew members.

The crazy thing about this whole story to me is that the failure of an o-ring, probably one of the smallest parts of the 268,829 pound craft, caused the entire thing to crash!

One small part, uncontrolled, can cause everything to explode.

So imagine with me for a second, if you were a rocket ship, would there be any o-rings in your life?

Really, there are plenty of small things in our lives that could probably be pointed out, but I'm going to hone in on one specific one.

One of the most potentially devastating yet subtle "O-rings" in our lives today is that of gossip.

Gossip? Really? 

Hold on. Let me elaborate.

Gossip is defined as: "casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true."

I'm just going to simplify this and define gossip as: "talking about or discussing information about someone behind their back."

Now, when put in this light, of course it sounds really bad. We would never want to do something like that, right? 

However, in everyday conversation, I've found that it's so much more sneaky! 

We discuss other people we know the same way we would discuss current events or movies.

When it involves our close friends, we'll often say "we're just concerned for them" as an excuse to tell other people an interesting story and possibly gain more info.

If you're unsure as to what's gossip, think about whether or not they would be encouraged by your comment and if not, it's gossip!

It doesn't matter whether or not it's true. 

It doesn't matter whether or not you would tell them to their face.

It's still gossip!

If you're having a hard time with this (like I was a short time ago), it's probably because gossip is an extremely normal part of your conversation.

Although this may be perfectly normal conversation for most people, 

IT'S ABSOLUTELY NOT OK!!!

Like the O-rings to the challenger, gossip will cause relationships with family members, friends, and I daresay even with God, to explode!

The reality is that every time we choose to gossip about somebody, we sin against God! The scary part is that for many of us, this may be tens, if not hundreds of times per day!

I know it's not fun, but let me challenge you with something.

Watch your conversations closely over the next 24 hours.

Let every word that comes from your mouth honor both God and Men.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer"

Psalm 19:14

Creator of Statues

Today I had the chance to visit an art museum in Springfield, MO, a couple minutes away from where I go to school.

I’ll be honest with you, art and I have never really gotten along all that well. Something about it always seems to creep me out. I feel as if some artists have a longing to express some of the most bizarre, disturbing, or intimate feelings on a canvas. Even as I typed a portion of this I was sitting in a room full of clown paintings. 

Can you get more creepy than that?!

One thing, however, that I really did appreciate was the sense of world culture that I saw in the paintings. Insights from people from all around the world from all different time periods seemed to ebb out from the art.

What caught my attention, in particular, was a group of small, stone statues roughly the size of my hand. One of the statues was sitting down, another was carrying a pot, and a third was standing unclothed. The statues were estimated to have been created between 200-900 AD.

The interesting thing (at least to me) about these statues is that these are probably all we have left of the specific people who made them.

Their entire legacy, everything they are remembered by, is based around a small, stone statue. I can pretty much guarantee that the creators of the statues didn’t plan on having them in a museum over a thousand years later, but there they are.

The creators were probably just going about their normal, everyday lives without any great expectations, but through their lives they created things that would last and be appreciated by future generations long after they were gone.

Stephen, a man mentioned in the book of Acts, comes to mind. Stephen was an ordinary man hired by the early Church in Acts to help serve food to widows. 

It was in this context of ordinary life that the extraordinary came about. As Stephen faithfully served, God used him to perform miracles among the people. The Jewish leaders didn’t like what he was doing  and he was convicted as worthy of death in an unfair trial. 

Stephen’s death was tragic and unjust, but it sparked the massive spread of Christianity across the world that still remains today! 

Stephen faithfully lived ordinary life. He probably didn’t expect to have his ordinary service change the global world radically over the next 2000 years! Just like the creators of the stone statues, Stephen's life has enormous and eternal impact.

It's so easy to always look at the big moments and events in life, always waiting for the next one to come. In reality, however, the biggest and most impacting things may really be the ordinary, faithful things we do every day.

I encourage you to take this day and make the most out of every moment you get! 

Statues that will last thousands of years are made in the every-day ordinariness of life.

Stop waiting for the next big missions trip, speaker, relationship, or job opportunity.

Start building your statue right where God has put you today!

Perspective Lens

I'm sure you've heard the phrase "rose colored glasses" before, right? 

A person wears "rose colored glasses" when a situation looks better to them than it is in reality.The interesting thing about this analogy is that out of necessity, the very person that accuses another of wearing rose colored glasses is wearing a set of glasses himself!

As human beings, we all wear a set of glasses, whether or not we realize it.

These glasses are the shade of our beliefs, tinted by our experience and framed by our lives up to this very moment.

You've probably heard these glasses referred to as worldviews and whether or not you're aware of it, your worldview affects your life each and every day.

To put it more simply, the worldview you have, or the " pair of glasses" you wear, is your view on life, the way in which you take in information and make choices in life.

If you want to see these glasses illustrated in real life, just go spend considerable time with anybody from outside your own culture. Chances are that the way they expect life to work and other people to act is vastly different from your own view.

The family situation we grew up with has a huge impact on our worldviews.

The region or place we grew up in, thoughts of books we read, opinions from TV we watch, and even stances taken by people we admire also affect them. Regardless of how it is formed, it is important to realize the massive impact that our worldviews have on our lives as they shape our beliefs, standards, and actions.

An important note about these worldview glasses is that because you don't intentionally put them on, they have a very sneaky way of affecting things without you realizing it.

This sneakiness can be extremely dangerous!

Often, when we make choices or judgments because we assume them to be 'right' or 'true' simply because we have already put thought into them and have come to that conclusion.

However, just because we come to a personal conclusion does not make our conclusion true.

I want to suggest something to you.

Is it possible that you may not have a perfect worldview?

Dumb question right?

Here's another question, what all does your worldview affect in your life?

Does it affect your walk with Christ?

Not sure? I have a theory.

I think it is entirely possible that much of our morality is defined through our specific glasses that we wear. It may even be probable that most of us live our Christian lives according to a standard set by 'norms' of things acceptable according to our worldviews.

When questioned about entertainment choices, a very common response is,

"I think I'm mature enough to handle this" 

or "Its not hurting anybody."

Maybe for someone else, the justification they would use would be that their Christian friends, parents, or even Pastors are ok with it.

Let's try a different lens on for a size for a second. Intentionally set aside all beliefs for a moment to consider this question.

Does is please God? 

Pause. 

I didn't ask, "Would God really care all that much?"

This is the question we would like to ask, and probably the one we do ask all to often when making our decisions. Let's consider this again.

Does it (your belief, standard, or action) please God? 

Does your choice bring glory to God and set a good example for those around you? 

By now you're probably thinking, "Yeah, but if you use a standard that extreme, where does it stop? Are you saying I can't watch any TV or hang out outside of Church?"

Absolutely not! But I am saying that you need to stop looking at the world solely through your own glasses and look through God's! 

Does the way you joke around with your friends please God?

How about the music that you listen to? The movies you watch? The places you hang out? The internet sites you visit?

I encourage you, take off your glasses and think hard about this!

If you start to feel uncomfortable, you're probably doing it right! 

Don't try to shake that feeling because it may very well be the Holy Spirit trying to help you take off your glasses.

Did you know that God commands us to live holy lives because he is holy?

Sure it is difficult, but do you want to know the first step to getting there?

Stop justifying your actions with lame excuses!

I challenge you, take this week to evaluate your actions through a different lens.

May your choices, beliefs, and actions be pleasing to God.

‘And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God'

Col 1:10 

Power Source

Lightning erupts from the sky, sending 1 billion volts of energy crashing to the ground at 140,000 mph!

Earthquakes shatter the ground, effortlessly ripping through steel and stone!

The Sun, so large that 1.3 MILLION earths could fit into it, burns fiercely, giving light and energy to our entire solar system!

Each of these images are sources of almost unfathomable power to us! The amount of energy released from each of these is flat out ridiculous! Within the energy released lies great power to cause great fear and chaos, or in some cases, sustenance and provision.

However, though these forces are daunting because of the force they contain, they could not even dream of having the power to raise the dead! Guess what could?

The name of Jesus!

Did you know that when Jesus died, such an enormous power was released that according to Matthew 27, "The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life."

Crazy!

 I honestly think the Sun wishes he could do that!

Yeah, you're probably starting to catch onto my theme here, but don't shut down just yet. You see, just because you have a head knowledge of this fact does not in anyway necessitate that you live like you do!

So often, we try to have realistic expectations of what God will do in our lives. We pray from the standpoint of someone wishing that God will be able to muster up a bit of his over-exhausted power to use on our situations, hoping only for a tiny little something.

Many times, because of life experience, I hear people pray with no expectation of God to move, almost as if they were saying, 
"I know you can probably do this God, but I don't want to get my hopes up" 
thus, rendering any faith they might have had, useless.

Do you know the name of Him who you call on?

All of the energy from all of the lightning, earthquakes, and sun rays spanning throughout all of history cannot begin to compare to the smallest fraction of power found in the name of Jesus.

Do you really believe this?

There is a way you can tell for sure:

Look at what you're believing for.

Are you expecting God to do anything big? Are you actually believing that God will move in your situation? Or are you just expecting to deal with and/or fix your own situation?

Gut check.

It may be time for a perspective change.

Paul, the writer of much of the New Testament believed that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."

Do you believe in this God?
Prove it!
What are you going to believe God for in your life?

⁷ The voice of the LORD strikes
   with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
   the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks^[s]
   and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

Psalm 29:7-9

A Deeper Reality

Sand slipping through our fingers, slithering away, disregarding the holder.

A Balloon floats away,  narrowly avoiding every attempt of the owner to pull it back to earth, until it is absorbed into eternal blue.

The Sun sets, despite protesters begging time not to leave as the hours quickly vanish into the darkness.

Everyone has had those moments. When something unexpected happens to throw the comfortable sense of reality we have built around ourselves to the ground. An uncomfortable reminder of the truth of our humanity... the truth that everyone knows but wants to forget. As hard as we may try, the simple truth of the matter is:

We can't control anything that happens in these lives of ours.

The best we can hope for is to influence events in our favor. We can control how we behave and decisions we make, but in reality, we're really just feathers blown about by the wind, choosing only how we react to life as it happens.

Sometimes bad things happen that are absolutely out of our control. Financial investments fall through due to unforeseen circumstances. Close, trusted ones violate trust and cause pain, though completely unprovoked. Loved ones pass away despite perfect health the day beforehand. Humanity's lack of control is a fact buried deep in the core of our existence.

This reality will, ultimately, demand to meet us at some point in our fragile lives.

However, despite the weight of this truth that we so often try to hide from, there is a greater reality still that must be looked at in these times. 

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God"

Though we lack control, that does not mean that the universe has no control or that no one controls it. In fact, control has been woven deeply into the fabric of reality, but it is not humanity that holds it. In times when things slip out of our control, we can look to the deeper truth that we serve a God who does have control in his hands.

Though it may be hard to see or understand why something slips out of our control, the proper response, the only real response, is to be still and let God be God.

Humanity is our lot in life. 

Control will never be in reach. 

Trust will.

In whatever season of life you are in, may you meet reality's challenge for control with the deeper truth in where real control lies.

Be still, and know that he is God.