Wait for it.

I can only imagine you had the same difficulties I had growing up. I’m not talking about outdoor plumbing or limited meals or walking to school in the snow up hill both ways…I’m talking about waiting on Christmas morning for your parents to get up! I’d come down early in the morning and look at all the presents. Then, I’d have to sit and wait until my parents got up in order to play with the toys that Santa brought. Waiting is difficult.

I don’t know your current story but my guess is you are having to wait on something and maybe you’ve been waiting for weeks or months or years. Maybe you’ve been waiting on the new career to begin. Or waiting on that promotion that is long overdue. Or waiting on you to be financially right side up again.

Maybe you’ve been waiting on your marriage to be great again. Maybe you’re waiting on Mr. or Mrs. Right to appear. Maybe you’re waiting on your grown children to have a relationship with you again.

It could be you’re waiting on the cancer to go away or the chronic illness to subside or your child to be healthy and happy again. Maybe you’re simply waiting on children to be born.

I don’t know your story, but I bet you’re waiting on something. And some are waiting to hear God speak into their story. You wait and pray and talk to God but there seems no direction from him, no calming presence, no subtle hint that change is coming for the better.

When we read Habakkuk 2 in the Old Testament, we gather a sense of what the prophet did while he was waiting on God. Verse 1 reminds us that he listened to God. Some people can’t stand waiting to hear from God and walk away after the first little bit. But be patient. We must position ourselves in such a way to hear God’s voice speak into our story. So, every day, carve out time to be in his Word and pray. Let his words wash over you and reassure you He is present and has not forgotten you.

Surround yourself with like-minded people. People who will support you and stand with you as you wait. Positive people who will hold your hand during the chaos. God can also use your circumstance to bolster you and create a deeper faith. Equally, you can hear his voice as you sing praises to him or listen to a message from his word. There are so many ways we can truly hear the voice of God in our lives.

Like Habakkuk, we can also write for God. In verse 2, Habakkuk is called to write down what God says. We too can write and journal our experience. Why? Because Satan wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything that God is doing for you. He wants us to forget all the good that God continues to do in our life.

As a child, I was told not to write in my Bible. However today, all the white margins are filled with my notes. As I read, God places things on my heart which I write down. I also use a journal every day to write discoveries in my study time, prayers, and thoughts about my relationship with God.

Lastly and probably the most difficult, I wait on God. Some of you have been waiting on your spouse to come home, your marriage to be strong again, your finances to pan out, your adult children to have a relationship with Jesus, the promotion to come at work, racism to die, the cancer to be gone and the list continues to grow. Waiting is difficult.

But know if it’s not God’s time, you can’t force it. If it is God’s time, you can’t stop it! God has not forgotten you. He sees you, hears your cries, hears your prayers. He’ll never leave you. We, like Habakkuk, can say, “the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:20). We can worship God before we see him move in our life. We have faith in his goodness. We rejoice in his salvation. We celebrate that he truly is our Father. Blessings on the journey.

Glow in the dark.

I recently relived my youth pastor years, thinking about all the students over 20 years with whom I’ve interacted. So many youth camps, retreats and special events have called for a bonfire. In the dark, we all sat around the fire, mesmerized by it’s glow. It was so dark all around us in the woods, at the edge of the river or the lake. Strange noises coming out of the darkness. Even so, we focused on the fire and sang with each other and told stories.

That’s what the Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews 12, “Fix your eyes on Jesus”. You see Jesus is that glow in a world of darkness. He’s the one who offers hope to the hopeless, life where there seems no life, air when there seems none to breath. He promised us life and life in the abundant. He called us to say when we are weary, he will carry the weight…the burden in Matthew 11.

You see, life is not a sitcom. Some of my favorite sitcoms are Happy Days, Andy Griffith Show, The Office, Parks and Rec. A sitcom is a 30-minute comedy TV show. In the show, it begins with things going well but right away there is tension to be resolved. By the end of the 30 minute show, the tension is resolved and everyone is happy again.

Life is not a sitcom. Rarely does life get resolved in 30 minutes. Sometimes not for 30 weeks or even 30 years. You loose your job. You send out resumes. You get nothing back and the response you do get back places you financially far behind where you were.

Your significant other steps out on you. You thought you were doing well. When confronted, that person explains why it’s your fault the event happened anyway, deflecting the responsibility away from them.

You get sick. Upon the visit to the doctor, you are told you have cancer. You go to war against cancer. You eat better, your friend group is praying for you everyday, you take chemo and radiation. But it’s all in vain. Cancer wins the day.

Life is not a sitcom.

COVID-19 has wrecked the healthy economy America had built. Many have lost their jobs and careers. Many have lost relationships. The death toll is more than 100K. We’ve been locked down and shut out. We have lost community.

The recent event in Minneapolis has created a chain reaction across our great land. An unjust and inhumane act by someone in an authority position has rocked our communities. Civil unrest, hostility, & anger have fueled an unhealthy glow in our cities at night with the burning of police vehicles, police stations, and businesses.

Right now, you might be asking, “Where are you, God?” just like Habakkuk did in the Old Testament. But we as people who believe in a living God must choose to embrace and wrestle just like the Old Testament prophet. We embrace God knowing he is the giver of life and story. We wrestle with God because we don’t understand what’s going on and want to understand.

Make no mistake. Jesus Christ is the glow, the fire, the illumination we all must choose to fix our eyes on and imitate if we are going to have peace and civility in our land. Jesus, despite being oppressed, dehumanized, segregated, falsely accused, beaten, and killed, led a life of non-violence and peace. Even with his dying breath, he called for forgiveness for those who had wronged him. He calls his followers to “turn the other cheek” when wronged…to “bless those who curse you”.

It is not an easy thing to follow the risen Savior. He asks us to live out life toward others just like he did. May you, in the darkness, in the chaos, in the noise, in the protest fix your eyes on the one who is the author of life and the perfecter of our faith. May you find peace in the Prince of Peace. May we all make a decision to live into a call that will require supernatural strength. May your heart melt with love and compassion for those around you who have a different skin color, nation of origin, different language, different bank account, & different culture. May your journey be one that will be a light for those groping in the darkness. Blessings on that journey.

Some Gave All.

Memorial Day weekend. The “official” start of summer, it’s when city pools open, families and friends gather for picnics, the kids get out the bubbles and sidewalk chalk, bicycle tires get pumped up, flowers are planted, and we relax in the yard with a cool lemonade while the ribs cook on the grill.

Memorial Day, however, is a day of remembrance—of remembering the more than 1.3 million American military men and women who, over the last 240+ years, paid the ultimate price for our freedom to enjoy this pleasant holiday. That number, however, only reflects those who lost their lives in combat. Unfortunately because we live in a sin-filled world, many more will lose their lives in the future so that we can relish the freedom we have come to love so much.

People have paid for this three-day holiday weekend with their lives. Yet, with less than one percent of our population on active duty or in the reserves, most of us are distanced from the true cost of war. When we don’t know any military personnel, it’s easy to become unappreciative or complacent about their sacrifice. Let’s never forget that we continue to have American men and women in harm’s way. Since 2001, over 7,000 American troops have lost their lives in Operation Enduring Freedom/Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom alone and there seems to be no end in sight. I have the honor of being a veteran of that conflict. Each one of those fallen soldiers left behind loved ones who still mourn their loss. For some people, today means placing flowers on a grave rather than a cook-out with hot dogs and s’mores. For them, every day is Memorial Day.

As we celebrate the start of summer, let’s pause to remember those who died in the service of their country, thank God for their sacrifice, pray for their families, and, most of all, pray for peace. Father in Heaven, we thank you for this nation in which we are blessed to live. Thank you for those who went before us, making our freedom possible and those who continue to battle for our country’s safety and survival. Just as we must remember that our salvation was because of your sacrifice, let us never forget that the freedom we enjoy as a nation came at a great sacrifice, as well.

May you enjoy time with family and friends. May you never take for granted the freedom you enjoy. May you take time today to pray for the families who are experiencing an empty chair today. Blessings on your journey.

I've Had Enough.

I know there have been moments when you were “fed up”. You were angry with a boss, a co-worker, a friend or a relative. Maybe you showed anger on the outside but really you were hurt or experienced a heart-break or you were just anxious about something you couldn’t control.

David shows us how to deal with anger. He writes about how he feels in Psalms 109. It’s an angry Psalm. Those kinds of Psalms are called imprecatory Psalms where one invokes judgement, calamity and curses down upon one’s perceived enemies. We try not to read those because they are very uncomfortable.

Many scholars believe this Psalm is written due to a story that unfolds for David in 1 Samuel 25 (make sure to read the story now, then come back). David has an interaction with a guy named Nabal. Nabal is disrespectful of David and David is going to get his pound of flesh. In David’s prayer in Psalm 109, David lists all the things he wants God to do to Nabal. Understand, David could have done all the things he wanted God to do but David never does them. He allows God to be a part of the story. He trusts God and knows God will act justly.

David’s experience shows us that in moments when we find ourselves upset and angry, we need to ask ourselves some questions.

First, will I react or respond? David clearly reacts in this story. As followers of Jesus, we are called to respond by thinking through how we will interact at this crossroads. When someone hurts you or gives you pain, we tend to react but God’s called us to be slow to anger and respond rather than react.

Second, will I rehearse or reflect? David, in this story, continues to rehearse how badly he’s been treated and is simply ramping up his emotional state of anger. If we aren’t fixing our eyes on Jesus, we can do the same thing. So many times our anger comes from the hurt and pain other’s have caused us. We can get locked into the replaying of the story over and over until we are sick. Jesus calls us to give him the burden and he’ll give us peace and rest (Matthew 11).

Finally, will I rage or release? I don’t mean you’re going to forget what other’s did to you…that you won’t remember but you’re going to release it to God and let him deal with it. Again, David could have taken care of business but he allowed God to enter the story, gave God his burden, and God took care of it.

At the front end of Psalm 109, David is livid. But by the end, he is worshiping. It’s all because he surrenders his emotions to God. He releases his anxiety, frustration, pain and hurt to God. In so doing, he gains peace and moves through that crossroad to a much healthier and better place. May you experience release in your story. May you allow God to walk with you. May you allow Jesus to bear your burden. Blessings on the journey.

We need mom!

“God couldn’t be everywhere, so He made mothers.” While not theologically accurate, this old Jewish saying describes beautifully the significant role mothers have in our lives.

Motherhood is one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity. A loving, committed mother is an indispensable person in our development. Just imagine a world without mom. It would be a sterile place indeed. Mothers instill powerful social and nurturing characteristics in each generation. It is principally from their mothers that children learn the virtues of sacrifice, sharing, valuing others, compassion, community and a host of other interpersonal values and skills that enable humans to live together in peace.

Women are designed for self-sacrifice. Mothers are designed by God to nurture. There is just no greater nurturing power on the planet than a mother. When the apostle Paul was describing his love for the church at Thessalonica, he used the metaphor of a mother’s love to describe how deeply he cared for them. He reminded them that he was like a “gentle” mother who “tenderly cares for her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). When God described His love for Israel, he did so with a motherhood metaphor. He told Israel that He would comfort them like a mother comforts her children (Isaiah 66:13).

I am reminded of the closing chapters of the great biblical book of wisdom, the book of Proverbs. The book that has helped billions through millennia live better lives closes with a great testimonial tribute to women. They speak of the beautiful, indispensable role that women play in God’s creation. After 30 chapters of directions on living the good, godly, noble life, Proverbs closes with these words: “Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying, ‘Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.’ Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:28-31).

The best of all that God designed a woman to be is expressed in motherhood. Not one of us came into this world without a mother. Motherhood is a conscious, deliberate decision made by a woman to enter that noble, God-like act of loving self-sacrifice to participate with the God of all creation to bring a new life into the world—you!

So, while Mother’s Day is over, never stop telling that special woman how much you love and appreciate her. We all need mom and she needs to hear you do. Blessings on your journey.

I'm worn out.

How are you doing? Feeling worn out? tired? Exhausted? Well, you are not the only one. COVID-19 has done a number on most of us but my guess is, if we were honest, we were tired already. We all push the envelope and burn the candle at both ends. We are a people who squeeze as much as possible out of every single day. While that seems to be an American value, is it a value that we need to consider spiritually?

Studies show that when we are tired, we become very vulnerable to other emotions. We open the door to things like depression, anxiety, and irritability. Being worn out is a gateway to other things.

But David reminds us how we should be living: with a rhythm of rest. The most beloved Psalm of all time is Psalms 23. David acknowledges the Lord is his shepherd. That word in Hebrew language really means “shepherd-companion”. It’s the idea that the Lord is David’s personal shepherd. God sees David not as a sheep in a big flock of sheep but knows him by name and knows exactly what he needs. It’s in God that David finds rest.

We are all looking for that kind of rest and a non-anxious spirit. If you go back to Genesis 1, you’ll read the creation story. Genesis 1 has a rhythm to it…a poetry. There’s a beat. When you get to Genesis 2:3, you discover part of that rhythm is rest. “God rested after all he created”.

Then in Exodus, God commanded his creation to incorporate the rhythm of rest in their daily lives. Each day, they are to stop during meals and in the morning and at night to pray and rest in all God had created for them. At the end of the week, they called Saturday the Sabbath and on that day, all day long, they rested and did not work. Throughout the year, God’s people had celebrations and feasts to stop, rest, and celebrate all God had done for them.

In our post-modern age, we have become people without rhythm living in a world without rhythm. We say rest sounds good and appropriate but my calendar, my voice, my life says differently. So, we go, go, go thinking we accomplish more by ignoring the rhythm of rest that should be in our life. However, when we take the time to incorporate that rest in our lives, it renews us spiritually, resets us emotionally, and restores us relationally. Living with a rhythm of rest demonstrates our faith is real.

With David in Psalms 23, we can say “we lack nothing” because we know He ultimately provides. Rest is not a time to do but a time to be. David reminds us to create margin in our lives…to intentionally receive things from God. So let me encourage you to do some things this week to create margin to hear God’s voice.

Get off your phone for 30 minutes a day. Put it away where you can’t hear the dings and rings. Get off social media for two hours a day. Allow time you usually spend “scrolling” to connect with God. Stop watching the news. Some of us leave our TV on all day to get the latest. Sure. Watch your 30 minute newscast but that’s it. And finally, go to bed at a reasonable hour. With us not going in to work and not going to school, it’s easy to rationalize staying up to all hours of the night. Get your 7-8 hours of good rest.

In Mark 1, Jesus set the example for us. The town brings out their sick and Jesus heals them all. He’s preaching and teaching. But in verse 35, it says that Jesus got up early in the morning, went to an isolated place and prayed to God. He simply rested in his Father. If Jesus needed that, my guess is we do as well.

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me and I’ll give you rest.” So, go to Jesus. Get some rest. Lay your burdens at his feet. Blessings on your journey.

Feeling the Pressure.

Right now, we all are a little stressed out. We can’t leave our home, we tired of Zoom schooling, we can’t visit our friends, we’ve watched every Netflix episode, our food bill is sky-high…we are a little overwhelmed. 62% of college students are overwhelmingly anxious about school for the future. 75% of hospital visits are induced by some sort of anxiety.

King David gives us some answers concerning his anxiety and how we addressed it. He doesn’t give us “5 Steps to overcoming anxiety” but he does write with emotion and allows us to enter his story. Psalm 55 is one of those moments where David is feeling overwhelmed but knows who to go to when he feels this way.

David starts the Psalm praying honestly about his anxious feelings. He’s vulnerable which is a tough thing for a guy with his reputation. Remember, he killed a giant so all Israel knows his prowess. Yet, he can say he needs help and rescue from God. We cannot let the expectations from the world deter us from being honest about how we are feeling and express those feeling to a loving Father.

We also see that David moves from generic to specific in his prayer. Paul says in Philippians 4, “Don’t be anxious about anything but in everything, make it know to God”. Be specific in what you want from God and how you feel about the thing happening in your life. I feel the most spiritual prayers are unscripted, honest prayers.

So what is causing you anxiety and worry right now? Your health or the health of your family? Your job? Financial stability? A relationship that has betrayed you? Your marriage? Your kids? The future? You’ve got things going on your life right now you want to have comfort concerning. You want to know God is with you no matter what.

So David feels the same way and he begins talking to himself about God. He started talking to God but then changed to talk to himself about who God is and God’s promises. He’s talking to God about his anxiety then begins talking to his anxiety about who God is. David begins turning down the volume of the noise around him and turns up the volume on God’s voice.

You have to do the same. You must turn up the volume on God’s voice and his promises to you. You must turn up the voice of God reminding you he is your rescuer, redeemer, healer, Father, comfort and guide. He’s real and authentic. He’ll never leave you. When we do that, worship drowns out worry.

David closes out Psalm 55 by saying in verse 22, “Give your burdens to the Lord and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.” And so your challenge today and in the days to come is be honest with God how you feel. Talk to him morning, noon and night. And realize He’s with you. He’ll never leave you. He’s got this. Blessings on your journey.

Things are "fine".

Growing up when asked “How are you?”, we were trained to say, “I’m fine.” But sometimes, things didn’t feel “fine”. If you were especially spiritual, you’d say you were blessed. What we’ve found generally speaking is that honesty and vulnerability have not always been part of our spiritual answers. So if we don’t “feel fine”, how do we fix it?

When you look at the life of Jesus, one collection of data suggest Jesus had 39 different emotions during his time on earth. Now, some of you didn’t know that many emotions existed. But Jesus was delighted, sad, angry, wept, joyful, loved, felt loneliness, discouragement and encouragement. We discover that being honest about the way we feel is very human and shows strength, not weakness.

Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on his last night before his arrest shows us the incredibly strong emotions he felt in his last days. He was incredibly anxious about what was in front of him as he thought about his trial, abuse and crucifixion. It’s all recounted in Matthew 26:36-39. Luke’s gospel shows he experienced a physical change due to the anxiety Jesus was feeling that night.

Jesus was so stressed he experienced hemotadrosis, which is a breaking of the capillaries near the sweat glands producing bloody sweat. Jesus says, “I’m overwhelmed to the point of death.” Jesus shows us his emotion and is honest about how he feels. I hope as you see Jesus in this story, it frees you from the pressure Christianity puts on you to be perfect and have it all figured out.

From this story of Jesus, he gives us an example of how we handle stress and anxiety in our life. First, Jesus is vulnerable with his closest friends, Peter, James, and John. He tells them, “I’m overwhelmed…stay here with me.” He doesn’t reveal that to all the disciples. Just three of them.

We should learn (especially on social media) to not tell everyone about what is going on in our world. But we certainly should have 3-4 close friends who we can be totally honest with on how we are doing.

Secondly, Jesus priorities his feelings with his faith. So many times, we rationalize if we feel a certain way, it must be okay or the right thing to do. But in the garden, Jesus says, “I feel overwhelmed. But Father, not my will but yours. I want to do what you want no matter how I feel.”

Finally, Jesus pours out his feelings to his Heavenly Father through prayer. See, we process our feelings with God in prayer. Jesus says, “My soul is overwhelmed.” What about you? Could you say, “Father, I’m so stressed right now or I’ve had enough or I’m really angry or I’m so tired or I’m finding life very lonely?” We must realized God can redeem those feeling but he can only redeem what you are willing to release.

My hope is you’ve got close friends in your corner, that you’ll line up your feelings with what God wants for you and you’ll never forget to take how you feel to God in prayer. Stay safe. Be Jesus. Blessings on your journey.

Connected by Love

As human being, we were made for connection. Right now, we long for company, hugs, handshakes, and close interaction. Right now, many are dejected because your “hoped-for” life story is not going as planned. Things took a different turn. There was a curveball thrown and now you’ve had to make different plans.

Similarly, that first Easter weekend was the same for those who had followed Jesus. Many had placed their hopes in him only to see those plans and hopes dashed with nails on a cross. What do we do now, they asked. How do we move through life since Jesus is no longer with us?

In Luke 24, we find a couple who are asking these questions on their way home to Emmaus. They are walking the 7-mile road home when suddenly a stranger joins them on their journey. It just so happens to be Jesus himself but the text tells us God prevented them for recognizing who he was. You see, when your eyes are downcast, you miss a lot.

Their posture was one of disbelief and disconnection, much like many of you today. Seniors are missing spring sports and graduation ceremonies. Couples are changing wedding plans. Some are getting creative on how to put food on the table due to the loss of job. Others in the medical field are missing their families because they are working long, hard hours on the front line of fighting this virus.

This couple in Luke 24 are telling Jesus about how hopeless they are; how and what Jesus endured in Jerusalem that weekend. They had “hoped” for something different. They thought the Messiah was going to be different. They wanted a political coup but Jesus was planning a spiritual revolution. Notice the past tense of “We had hoped…”

You had hoped for something different too. You had hoped the marriage was not over; the judge would show mercy; the tumor had shrunk; your child would come home; you could have children; you would not lose the house; your hours would not be cut. But like Luke 24, we must realize that God is still in control although things may not have turned out like you hoped.

As children of light, people who have declared Jesus is risen, we must remind the world, despair doesn’t have the last word when God is writing the story! Satan wants you to stop looking at Jesus and look at the waves. God says, “Wait—you don’t have the last say. It’s not over.”

The couple finally reach their home, still unaware of who is traveling with them. Jesus indicates he’s moving on but they invite him in their house for a meal. It’s a reminder, when you invite Jesus in, He’ll always say “yes”. And it’s in community, in the breaking of the bread, Jesus is revealed to this couple and to us. It’s a reminder that He’s with us on our journey, even in moments when we can’t see him.

So, may you know the Prince of Peace. May you feel his presence. May you feel comforted knowing He’s traveling with you. May your hope be in nothing else but the risen Savior and King of kings, Jesus the Christ. Blessings on your journey.

Connecting through the Noise.

I know you’ve all experienced a parade and a marching band. It can be quite loud. The crowd there may obstruct the view of the float, the ride, the person you had hoped to see in the chaos. And in our current crisis, you may feel a struggle to see Jesus…to think He even hears your voice.

It reminds me of a terrific story of faith in Mark 10:46-52. A blind man named Bartimaeus (I’ll call him Bart) sits by the road when a great crowd comes in front of him. In the middle of the loud, dusty, boisterous group is Jesus. He is leaving Jericho on his way to Jerusalem to give his life for you and me.

But Bartimaeus’ lack of eyesight and seemingly small, frail voice on the day did not deter him from connecting to Jesus. There are certainly some things we can learn from him as we try to hear the voice of peace in our own lives.

Bart’s life was not perfect. Most people did not even pay him any mind. But we learn that one’s life doesn’t have to be perfect to follow Jesus. Some of us try to get everything in order first, then run after the rabbi from Nazareth. But Jesus has already said come to me and I will give you rest.

We also need to concentrate on what we have rather than what we don’t have. Bart could have resolved to wallow in self pity about his eyesight but he decided to focus on what he had instead. He also chose not to be swayed by public opinion. The crowd was telling him to be quiet. “Why would the King of kings want to talk to you?” Bart paid them no mind and repeatedly called out to Jesus. He needed a miracle but there are those who would try to quiet you in your faith as well.

There are three kinds of voices that I’ve discovered try to still my faith in my risen Savior. One is the faith-sucker. People who try to tell you it’s no use. Jesus isn’t going to listen to you. There is also the faith-intimidator. Those people who try to bully you into believing something other than Jesus wants to know you and to be with you. And finally, the faith-mocker. Those are the people who make fun of your faith in Jesus, the miracle-worker. Faith can look silly to the world. But we know faith believes God is going to do something that just hasn’t happened yet.

Eventually, Bart throws off his coat in order to get to Jesus. It begs me to ask the question, “What do you need to throw off to get to Jesus?” Could it be pride and faith in yourself rather than faith you should have in Jesus? Could it be anger and resentment for our current crisis? Maybe it’s the worry and anxious spirit the current situation has created within you. I don’t know what it is but throw it off and embrace Jesus.

This story reminds me that even when there is noise…a crowd…a “band”…Jesus hears the cries of desperate people. And he hears your cries as well. Know Jesus hears your voice through the noise. He’s reaching out his hand to you. He wants to give you his peace, his love, his forgiveness, his companionship. Respond by going to him. He’s waiting. Blessings on the journey.