Swimming against the stream?

The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.

What is the 'stream' you are attempting to navigate right now? Is it more like a raging river about to overflow the banks? Or is it more like a babbling brook? Either way, there is still a 'current' to your day. The 'stream' you are navigating doesn't have to have a strong current to make it hard to maintain 'stability' in the midst of it. Right now your 'stream' might be 'sheltering in place' with a house full of kids, spouse, and even an elderly parent. You are attempting this 'work from home' thing and your patience is being tried by the slowness of your internet connection, or the lag VPN can have. Whatever your stream - it has a current - but you don't have to be carried away by it!

I have told you these things so that you will be whole and at peace. In this world, you will be plagued with times of trouble, but you need not fear; I have triumphed over this corrupt world order. (John 16:33)

Some things we all need to keep in mind:

1) None of us are immune to disease, so we need to exercise great wisdom in this time of uncertainty about how this disease is spread, who it will attack, how it manifests itself, and how long it will last.

2) None of us are without a shelter to run to in this time of uncertainty. We all have Christ as our shelter and can run to him as freely as we wish. Will we run to him? That is the real question here. Will we take him our 'currents' and allow him to help us navigate through them?

3) None of us are able to live without close personal contact with others for very long. We all get a little stir-crazy, desire that hug, and need that endorphin release that comes from laughing with each other, holding each other's hand, or getting that bear hug each morning. We might be missing some of that right now, but let me assure you of this - the more we are compliant with 'being apart' right now, the sooner we will be able to be together again.

4) None of us need to stockpile great piles of foodstuff and paper goods right now. We ALL need this stuff if we are to ALL make it through this! Yes, my pantry is stocked, but it usually is. Yes, I have extra toilet paper, but I usually do. Yes, there is extra laundry soap in the cabinet, but there always is. Don't go beyond 'normal' in this time of 'sheltering'. Your 'normal' is sufficient - be wise and allow others to get what they need. Think of your neighbors right now - how can you meet a need they might have?

5) The current isn't felt until we try to navigate against it. Think about that a moment - the current beckons for us to travel in a certain direction - WITH IT. There are those who will choose to follow the current, but if we are to be honest here, God isn't asking us to live without resistance. He sometimes requires us to be the ones who will challenge the 'we are all doing it' kind of mentality. The 'current' isn't always the direction we want to be traveling.

6) No one will navigate your stream for you like Christ will. He is the one who knows the path the current has cut and how the stream will change course shortly because of that very current. Let him take control of your life right now and just be at peace knowing he has this all under his control. Just sayin!

What did obedience cost Mary and Joseph?

As we have looked at the birth of Christ, we have considered the fact he was born of a virgin, with an earthly father so willing to honor God with his life that he married a woman who was already pregnant. In that day and time, a very taboo thing. We also saw how the mother of Christ was chosen by God and given the dramatic news that she would carry the Son of God. Imagine her awe, but also see her tremendous amount of fear as she would have received this announcement, knowing all she knew about the time in which she lived about how a woman out of wedlock showing up pregnant would be treated. We also explored the lowly birth of Jesus in a stable of sorts, surrounded by animals, visited by shepherds, and then honored by magi from afar. The announcement of his birth was by angels - start to finish. Mary heard from an angel (a messenger from God), while Joseph was set at ease by a messenger from God on another occasion - assuring him the thing he was about to do in marrying Mary wa

A brilliant display indeed

Love from the center of who you are ; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply ; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. (Romans 12:9-12) Integrity and Intensity don't seem to fit together all that well, but they are uniquely interwoven traits which actually complement each other. "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it." God asks for us to have some intensity (fervor) in how we love (from the center of who we are), but he also expects us to have integrity in our love as he asks us to be real in our love (don't fake it). They are indeed integral to each other. At first, we may only think of integrity as honesty - some adherence to a moral code within. I believe there is a little more to integrity than meets the eye. In the most literal sense,

Do me a favor

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. (Philippians 2:1-4) Has God's love made ANY difference in your life? What is that difference? Most of us will likely say that our lives were changed for the good, while others will say there was a dramatic change. Some left behind lifestyles marked by all manner of outward sin - like drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, or even thievery. There are many that will admit the things they left behind were just a bit subtler - what we can call inward sin - things like jealousy,

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