Will you share that with me?

I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my prayers. I will call on Him as long as I live, because He has turned His ear to me. (Psalm 116:1-2)

How easy is it to love someone because they do things for you? Probably a whole lot easier than it is to love someone who only takes and takes and takes, right? I wonder just how many so called 'Christians' love God because he 'does things for them', while they take and take and take all that he gives? God isn't looking for our 'sacrificial offerings' - the things we 'give' - as much as he is looking for the ways we just spend time communicating with him. As with any other relationship, there must be communication - not just superficial stuff that gets bantered around, but deeper, more meaningful discussions about what is bugging you, giving you anxiety, or bringing you pleasure and hope. These are the conversation God relishes - those that come from an open heart and a hungry spirit.

There are lots of times it is easier to 'do something' than to just sit down and spend time together with someone you are in relationship with, isn't it? You could just hurriedly 'work out' some detail for them and that might make you feel like you 'showed them' you loved them, but let me just say that some of the greatest moments of love are manifest more in the times of 'real conversation' - the times we let our hair down, so to speak. These are the times when we not only need to be heard, but we also yearn to just hear from the other person we are in relationship with. If this is so true in our physical relationships on this earth, then why do we think it would be any different in our relationship with God himself?

If you are like me, the other person may have to work a little to get your attention. I can get so consumed in what I am doing that I forget to just 'pause' for a while to take time for that important relationship. The thing about God is that he is always listening - his ear is always turned toward us - poised and ready to hear. Our challenge comes in just setting aside the 'stuff of the day' long enough to take time to just share our heart with him. In some circles of the church world this is called 'prayer', in others it is called 'communion'. I don't care what you call it, as long as it is genuine sharing. Have you ever prayed what I will refer to as a 'canned prayer'? You know the ones I mean - they are pre-written and you just 'say' them. There may be a place or time for them, but I think God is more honored by the times we just 'talk' things out with him.

Want to get to know God a little bit deeper? Talk to him! Want to understand his heart? Talk to him! Want to figure out the next step you are to take in life? Yup, you got it - talk to him! Nothing relieves anxiety more than talking things through with the one who knows what caused the anxiety in the first place. Nothing gets to the heart of the matter quite like unpacking it with someone you love and who loves you. There is much to be said about listening, but equally as important is this part of communication known as 'sharing' - openly, honestly, and humbly. Just sayin!

Breathe in, Breathe out

When I said, “My foot is going out from under me,” Your loving-kindness held me up, O Lord. When my worry is great within me, Your comfort brings joy to my soul. (Psalm 94:18-19)

The details never escape God, even when they seemingly escape our notice or attention. Maybe this is why it is so essential for us to trust God - because he has an eye on the details and he will never fail. Even though he never fails, our trust in him does, huh? We let worry grow within us - until it mounts to astronomic levels - and then we panic a little. God never stops taking care of the details of our lives, even when we are spinning out of control. The needs of our life are there, but he has all those needs under his control - no amount of 'great worry' will ever help bring the answer to those needs quicker, or in any better manner!

I don't know where you are today, but I know there are bound to be some of you who are feeling like your feet are going out from underneath you. It may be like you just don't think you can stand it anymore. The pressures mount and mount and your anxieties over life are just about to cause you to burst. All I can say to you at this moment is to 'breathe'. Take a breath for a moment and just settle into his presence for a little bit - not because it is will be easy, but because it is what you need the most right now. You need to breathe in the presence of God and allow it to settle your anxieties.

Life may be messed up right now. Decisions seem harder and harder, almost making it as though you don't even want to move at all. You just want to fall down, call it quits, and just wallow where you are. There is nothing more debilitating than for us to allow worries to multiply until we find we can no longer bear up under those pressures. We are reminded today to allow God to show us how his loving-kindness can actually hold us up when we feel nothing will ever be right again. His comfort is there - we just need to take time to 'breathe' it in.

Think for a moment about Gideon. Do you know the story? They would sow their seeds and then the Midianites and Amalekites would swoop in and steal all their crops, destroying their fields, and leaving them without any resources. They were feeling awfully oppressed and without any hope. It was as though they would do, redo, and then redo again - all to no avail. Until one day when God raised up one man - a man of God - who spoke truth into their lives and began to remind them they belonged to the Lord. There was nothing and no one they needed to fear. 

Yet, if you know the rest of the story, you know Gideon was a little challenged himself in the faith realm. He had to put out a fleece or two to God, asking for the wool to be wet one night and the ground dry around it, dry another and the ground around it wet. All to prove that he was hearing from God and wasn't acting on his whim. In due time, God built up Gideon's faith and they were victorious over these oppressing armies. They weren't massive in number, but the were mighty in force and strength - because God was backing them all the way. When your worries almost make you buckle under their pressure - look up, listen for a while, and just breathe. God is going to build up your faith, settle your worries, and guide you into the greatest victory you could ever imagine. Just sayin!

There I go again

God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Do you have anyone in your life who always hesitates to ask God for things they really, really want? Are you that person? There are times when I think we all hesitate a little to 'ask' God for things because we think we are not supposed to bother him with these piddly concerns, or that they are too 'secular' for us to be asking God for them. The truth of the matter is that everything in our life matters to God - even if all we want is the right size tire for our vehicle to be on sale when we next need to replace them. God isn't going to reject our requests because they are 'too secular'. He wants us to use our common sense with things like purchasing new tires, but he also doesn't get put off by us asking him to help us find the best deal around. Nothing is too 'out there' or 'out of bounds' for us to ask him. Nothing!

Some folks want to treat God like some big genie in the sky, telling him they want this or that, then expecting it to just 'appear' at the blink of any eye. This isn't what I am referencing when I say God wants us to ask him for the things we have need of in our lives. God doesn't mind us asking him for the new tire deal, but he also doesn't mind us asking him to lead us into good relationships that will help us to grow, solidly based churches that will teach the Word of God well, and even for the wisdom to make the right purchases. Nothing is too small for God - nor is anything too big. If we think God will 'limit us' to just certain types of conversations with him, we are wrong. God wants us to discuss life with him - even the things we need or want.

We are correct to remember God is not a genie in the sky, but if our motives are pure, no request is out of the scope of what we should be discussing with him. Herein is our dilemma - do we know if our motives are pure? Let me just assure you of this one fact - God knows! If we are asking for things that will bring harm into our lives because our motives are a little less than pure in asking, we can be confident God will reveal our motives. There are times when despite this revealing of our motives, we just plunge ahead hoping for the best. There are times when God allows us to follow our own stubborn desires, but not because he doesn't care. He cares deeply - he just sees we are not really willing to listen.

In Christ, we receive all things. It is our own sinful nature that somehow messes with the 'goodness' of what it is we are seeking in life. We don't always seek the right stuff as is evident by some of the stuff we have reaped over the years. It isn't that God didn't provide something better in and through Christ, it is that we rejected what he provided in embracing what it is we wanted more than what he showed us we really needed. It is a fine line we walk - choosing our own way instead of waiting until God helps us come around to see his way is better. There is the rub - waiting and in the waiting - learning obedience. In the waiting, our willfulness is often revealed. So, it isn't wrong to ask God for 'things' or 'stuff' we want in life - it is wrong to plunge ahead without considering his answer! Just sayin!

A song in the night

The Lord will send His loving-kindness in the day. 

And His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. 

(Psalm 42:8)

How would you describe the Lord's 'loving-kindness' in your life? As a kid, I would have described it as the nice home I lived in, the neat toys I had, or even the super-speedy bike I rode. As a young adult, I would maybe have thought about the ways God provides for my needs such as a good job, food on the table, and freedom from disease or injury. As an older adult, I now look back over my life and begin to recount the loving-kindness of God in a much different manner. I'd have to say it was known in the embrace of a loving father, the gentle hand hold of a dedicated mother, and the warm hugs from a close friend. It is the 'thank you's' from you kids and grand-kids when you just shared a good meal, or the happy look on your grandson's face when he was the first one to catch the fish on that day outing. Loving-kindness has many forms, doesn't it? Depending on the 'phase' of life you are in, the loving-kindness of God may be felt in different ways, but one thing remains true throughout - his loving-kindness never leaves us short of knowing his presence is with us in all things!

Daytime is probably the easiest for some because we have distractions that keep our mind off of our worries a little. At night, our worries are able to find an easy 'inroad' into our minds because we have less distractions and our thoughts can be carried away quite easily. God doesn't leave us alone in those thoughts, though. He comes to us in the song of worship and praise we might lift to him. I often awake in the dead of night, finding I am rehearsing a particular line from a song over and over in my thoughts. I don't do it purposefully, it is just 'happening' without my conscious thought. How does that happen? I think it is perhaps God working in our subconscious to bring forth that very reminder we needed to help us settle our thoughts and return to our slumber once again. It isn't even the whole song I am rehearsing - it is one or two lines at the most - over and over again. Does that ever happen to you? If it does, maybe it is God reminding you of some way he is intervening in your life, or reminding you he is in control over your worries. His song becomes a prayer to him - perhaps because the Holy Spirit is prompting that prayer, but at other times because our mind and heart needs to just unburden and sing it forth. It may be 'conscious', or it may be in the 'subconscious', but the effect is the same - God is reminding us of who is in control. 

What song are you singing right now? What loving-kindness of God are you most aware of today? These aren't simply questions for you to gloss over. They are challenges to stop for just a moment to consider your song and his blessings. Then let God know you are ever so grateful for both! Just sayin!

Get rid of the gaps

There have been times when someone has asked me how we can really know if someone is a believer - one who has more than just the "title" of Christian, but actually lives as a Christian in their day to day existence. I really believe the person is probably asking because they have been "burned" in some relationship by someone professing to be a Christian, but really not living by the testimony they have proclaimed to be true about their lives. We often see people leave the church, family, or other type of relationship simply because someone "burned" them. It is a sad thing, but it is true. Faith comes in all kinds of packages - some 'packages' are quite genuine, others are mere displays of what might have been if the 'package contents' were allowed to be unloaded. Today's passage gives us a kind of "barometer" for evaluating if our faith (or the faith of another) is real (genuine).

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. (I John 4:13-16)

Let me begin as John did - genuine faith is evidenced by living steadily and deeply in Christ and he in us!  When two are this intimate, there is evidence of the intimacy of the relationship, is there not? First, it is a steady relationship - there aren't a whole lot of breaks in it. In other words, it is a daily, moment-by-moment thing! When we "go steady" with another person, isn't one of the key ideas of this relationship "status" to be dedicated to the other person and that person alone? I think this is the concept John is getting at here - living steadily, in such a manner so as to show no desire to have any other relationship matter as much to us as does our relationship with Christ. Second, it is a two-way relationship - we are "into" him, and he is "into" us. When I was younger, we used to say someone was "into" something, meaning they really liked, found huge pleasure in, and were not easily swayed from their commitment to the thing or person they were "into". Perhaps this is what John has in mind here - begin so "into" each other that we don't have any desire for something else to fill our time, energies, or focus.

Genuine faith is also evident in the life that is reproduced. "He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit." When life is "given" there is a reproducing effect, is there not? For example, when we plant a grapefruit seed, tending it well, giving it just the right environment to grow, doesn't it produce that from which it was planted? Yep, it becomes a grapefruit tree. So, if Christ "plants" his life in us, won't what is produced in us be his life? Yep, we become "kindred" spirits! His Spirit meshes with our spirit and we take on the image of the one from which all life is produced. So, in looking upon an individual, we might do well to examine the spirit - for the spirit is the place of "intertwined" relationship with the Lord. Most importantly, those who "proclaim" faith in Christ actually "live out" faith in Christ because they have a continual intimate relationship with him. There aren't a whole lot of gaps in their relationship. This speaks of "continuity". Let me give you an example to help you get hold of this concept. If we take a piece of paper and fold it over on itself, we form a "pocket" of sorts, but both ends are open, allowing for the escape of anything we put into the "pocket". Now, get some glue and spread it evenly across the surface of the ends, pushing the paper together on the edges. What happens is that you "seal" the pocket so it can hold what we put into it.

We still have paper, folded in two, but it changed because of the "continuity" of the edges. The two became one with the use of the "glue". I think we often "transform" who we are by the "closeness" of the relationship we have not just on the edges of our lives, but also in what is formed in the process of "sealing up" the edges. In other words, we form a "pocket" for Christ's love to dwell, overtaking us and transforming us in every way. Living out faith is nothing more than being continually filled with the goodness of Christ. The two becoming one allow for the "stuff" put into our lives through relationship with Christ to actually be "contained" in our lives - giving us evidence of relationship. Sometimes we see the "edges" of life as a little unimportant. I hope you see that even the "edges" of life are significant! Without "sealing" the edges, we might just be in "casual" contact with the one we'd do much better learning to contain! Just sayin!

Live in and you will love out

God is greater - greater than _______. You fill in the blank. Go ahead, give it a whirl. Greater than . . . that speaks volumes, doesn't it? I wonder if God is your 'greater than' in real practice in your life.  Practice is merely the habitual or customary performance we exhibit as we go about our daily routines. it is the performance we repeat over and over again. The difference between talk and practice is simply our action - practice requires the action that backs up the specific talk we might talk. In other words, there is substance to our words. Today we are reminded that love is really an action, not just a "message" or a thing we "say". It requires action to back it up!

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. (I John 3:18-20)

As a matter of fact, this passage goes a step further and reveals the "means" by which we can evaluate if we are really living in the reality of being kids of the King - it is us putting love into action on purpose in just the right way, in just the right timing! So, it is more than just "action" - it a "measuring stick" by which we can determine if the reality of a life change within has occurred or is occurring. You see, self-centered individuals put love into action, but the action is directed toward themselves, not others! Christ-centered individuals put love into action in such a way that their actions reveal Christ's love to the world. Maybe one of the most important things we see in this passage is the ability for the practice of love within our lives to "shut down" our own self-criticism.  Do I need to remind any of us of the debilitating effect of our self-criticism? I don't think there is probably a person reading this who has overcome all aspects of self-criticism. In fact, if we were painfully honest, we'd admit we often struggle with being a little hard on ourselves on some of the same issues over and over again, right? We can shut this type of "impractical" self-talk down - with the practice of love in our lives.

God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. This truth has the ability to be eye-opening to us if we give it a chance. Let's break it down a little, shall we? God is greater. We don't even need the rest of the passage - God is greater is more than sufficient to shut down ALL of our self-criticism. "God is greater" than any of our foolishness or self-centered actions! Now, if that doesn't put things into perspective, I don't know what will! God is greater - not just bigger, but greater. He is our "more than enough" - more than enough in our failures, more than enough in our deficiencies, and more than enough even when success might build up our egos a bit. Our worried hearts are best handled by the one who settles the storms. God is greater than our worried hearts - this speaks more than most of us realize. You see, we torment ourselves with all kinds of disturbing thoughts, don't we? God is greater than any mountain of disturbing thoughts we could muster up! All the things that "harass" us with continual "nipping at our heels" - those little and big things which we tend to muddle over time and time again - are not outside of his care. We just need to place them squarely into his care! God is greater - but he wants us to realize those worries are best placed into his hands in the first place.

Definitely, the most settling thing about this passage is the final thought: God knows more about us than we do ourselves. Now, that might seem a little hard to believe - another knowing more about us than we do ourselves, but the fact is, the Creator knows the creation best! This should give us some sense of hope - the Creator knows exactly how we were created and he is able to put in order anything which may have become a little "disordered" in our lives through the influence of sin, the self-destruction of various behaviors, or the misguidance of another. Nothing could fit into that "blank" for which God is not sufficient (more than enough) to overcome, fix, or put out of the way in our lives. Love in action in our lives is to realize the most important relationship we can maintain is that which centers us squarely on the one who is "more than enough" to overcome all our worries. We often think we are the ones doing the "loving" in our lives, but until God does the "living" in our lives, all the "loving" which comes out of our lives falls short of what the Creator really designed. Just sayin!

Hollow spaces get filled in time

You have probably noticed that I tend to turn to the Psalms, Proverbs and Pauline Epistles as my "favorite" places to read and re-read in the scripture. It is because I "connect" with King David - a sinner through and through, but intent on keeping God first in his life, not afraid to turn again and again to God seeking grace for his misadventures, much like me. I also connect with Solomon, a man seeking wisdom and intention in life, always open to the truths God would teach. Similarly, I find the honesty of a heart struggling to make a break from the past ways of doing things and reaching to do things in the newness of this Christian walk when I look at the walk of the Apostle Paul. Regardless of the place I go in scripture, the theme is the same - God's gift of grace leads us right to where we need to be - connected to the one who gives life! I particularly enjoy the any scripture that speaks to me of living out my life, not in some "religious" pursuit for purity, but practically, honestly, and dependently. 

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2)

The first thing which "pops" out is the instruction to take the "ordinary" life we live and place it before God as an offering. Now, you wouldn't think the "extraordinary" God of the universe would be interested in the "ordinary" of our life, would you? Yet, the instruction is to bring the "ordinary" to the "extraordinary". It is kind of "releasing" to realize God never expects the "extraordinary" from you and I as an offering. He just expects the "ordinary" - in turn, when we bring that to him, he brings about the "extraordinary" in us! So many times we "work up" to giving something of "worth" or "value" to God. We find ourselves in the frenzy of "religious rule-keeping" and the resulting "busy-ness" of this practice, all the while missing the important point - God wants the ordinary, not what we can "work up" in our lives! God just wants us to embrace his work in our lives. We somehow get this confused, thinking God's embrace only comes as a result of some "work" on our part. The truth is, we reach out and his arms are already open wide to take us into his embrace. WE embrace what God DOES for us - not that we do something to make God want to embrace us. If we have God confused with humans, we might just think we have to do something that makes us "embraceable" in order to be embraced. Isn't this the way we humans operate? Someone does something "nice" or "good" and we return their "niceness" or "goodness" with our embrace. One of the things I worked hard to do in my kid's lives was to embrace them, and to do it for what seemed like "no reason" to them! Just doing it because I loved them - not because they did something well, or FOR me. I wanted them to see the unconditional love of God and to learn to embrace well. Both of my kids give awesome hugs and my daughter has taught my grandsons to do the same! What an awesome thing to pass along - unconditional love!

Do you have anything in your life that you kind of need to 'put out of reach' for a while because it has "consumed" all of your attention? Sometimes we can be more focused on the 'things' of life than on what would do us some 'real' good in our lives! Sometimes we just need a little "space sabbatical". We need to separate from those things that have acted as distractions to us. I think God has to take our attention away from some of the things in life we embrace so freely, often without thinking much about it, just to help us focus again on what is really important in our lives. We become so well-adjusted to the way we are doing things, and then God comes along and "messes with" our adjustment! Even this action reveals his tremendous love for us! Sometimes we need this "adjustment" in order to realize how "fixed" we were on the "thing" and how much this "fixation" was taking us away from what we need the most - connection! Connection with him first, and then connection with the people we love in life! Maybe this is why I like Paul's writings so much - because he was never content to see anything take the place of connection! It never ceases to amaze me how "drug down" I feel in life when the connection with God has been interrupted. It happens in the most physical sense, because when I have taken my eyes off of some relationship, allowing "space" to be created that should not exist there, I almost always feel a little "hollow" inside. That hollowness is really a sense of being "drug down" into some empty space. When connection is broken, with others or with God, there is almost certainly a sense of emptiness that occurs. So, maybe an early sign of needing to "reconnect" is the hollowness we begin to feel with the pursuit of whatever it is that has our attention so "fixed". Just sayin!

Author = Authority

It is one thing to be proud of what you represent, but another to be proud in yourself. I am not ashamed to say and show that I represent Christ in my life, but I do get pretty down on myself when too much of 'me' comes through, showing that side of me that wants the attention and glories in being the center of it. If it were not for the work of the Lord in my life, I would have a very miserable existence. My life course would have been dramatically different. How do I know that? I know full-well the course I was on before Christ grabbed hold of my heart and I began to hold onto his as though my very breath depended on it. It wasn't a good one and the path was headed for more than one form of disastrous outcome. Maybe you can say the same - we don't have the same path, but we all somehow came to the realization we need Christ to take over that 'path setting' in our lives. If you aren't there yet, just wait - your point of turning is coming!

If anyone wants to be proud, he should be proud of what the Lord has done. It is not what a man thinks and says of himself that is important. It is what God thinks of him. (2 Corinthians 10:17-18)

The way we think about ourselves says a lot about how we think God sees us. There is much that goes into the way we think about ourselves, but I'd say the one thing that comes to mind is the tendency to either be way too judgmental about each and every aspect of our lives, or care so little about it that we just live it any old way, come what may. These ways of viewing ourselves is kind of messed up, though. When we get way too judgmental about everything we do, think, or even wear, we find ourselves living very negative and complex lives. If we are way to lackadaisical about how we are living and making choices, we may find our life just lacks purpose and direction. We are all over the board and this isn't good either. Believe it or not, we need both judgment and liberty in our lives.

We might see the need for judgment, while someone else sees the need for liberty - but one without the other leaves a life with an imbalance of 'authority'. You see, whether we are looking at life through the eyes of judgment or liberty, it is all a question of who is the 'authority' we are submitting our lives to in the first place. If we are the ultimate judge and jury in our lives, then we have said we are the 'authority' who we consider most important. To live without boundaries is also saying we are the one who has the 'authority' to live as we see fit. Either way, the wrong 'authority' is in control! Our lives are designed to have Christ at the center - in the spirit of a man - as the authority. Why? He is the 'author' of our life!

As the 'originator' of life, Christ as all the authority to that life, but let me assure you of this - authority is either heeded, or it is resisted. We may butt up against his rule in our lives a whole lot - letting our own prideful self get in the way more often than not. If you haven't figured it out already, that is not the best way to live! We may care less what he asks us to do, we will just go with the flow and see where it gets us. If you haven't figured that one out already, you don't usually find the journey at the end of that road was all that fulfilling or rewarding. Christ is meant to be the one true authority in our lives - anything less than him at the center will make for a pretty unfulfilled and 'pride-filled' life. Just sayin!

Get over yourself

When we are doing things that we didn't want to do, but figure out we really enjoy doing, we are in a good place indeed. To love God with all our heart is a good thing, but let me tell you that it takes time for us to realize just how good it is to let the things we thought were so important to fall away while allowing Christ to take that place within us. We allow a lot of things to occupy the space in our lives that really are meant to be fulfilled with what will truly satisfy us - giving us a sense of enjoying life to the fullest. There are times we do everything in order to avoid the things that will produce true joy and fulfillment because we don't want responsibility in our lives. I am here to tell you that 'responsibility' may be hard, and we may think with responsibility there will be no real sense of doing something because you love it, but when we begin to give of ourselves, not because you feel an obligation to do it, we will begin to enjoy it more.

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart. You must love Him with all your soul. You must love Him with all your strength. You must love Him with all your mind. You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Jesus said to him, “You have said the right thing. Do this and you will have life.” (Luke 10:27-28)

God has created us to be a gift - to love your neighbor as yourself. Let me start with telling you this is very hard until you come to love yourself. We need God to heal us to the point that we love and forgive ourselves, even when we make mistakes. Then we begin to see those who are hurting and bruised, wounded by life, ready for us to become the means by which they begin to realize their own healing. We begin to see others in our circle when we begin to look outside of ourselves. We need to be on the road to wholeness in ourselves if we are to ever to begin to set others on that road themselves. As we begin to heal on the inside - in the depths of our emotions and the recesses of our spirit - we begin to have opportunities to let others experience the things being worked out in our lives. It could be as simple as a simple word of encouragement they need - gifts don't have to be 'huge' in order to be the 'right one' for the one in need.

The genuineness of our love for God isn't really seen in the amount we put in the offering plate on Sunday. It isn't in the times we put ourselves out there for some 'return' on what we have done that love becomes evident. It is in the times we put ourselves out there even when we don't feel like it - when there is likely to be no return on our 'investment'. Our sense of fulfillment isn't found in just the good times - it is nurtured in the bad times. That seems a little counter-intuitive, but it is in giving of ourselves that we find the places that still need a little 'touch up' or total 'renovation' in our lives. There is something that happens when we extend ourselves - something that otherwise isn't realized when we just 'stagnate in place' in life. 

When we move as God would have us move, looking for opportunities to embrace our neighbor, loving them well, we find our life becomes full - until we almost overflow because we are so full. Remember, we cannot love others if we cannot love ourselves. We have to first 'get over' the sense of worthlessness we feel in ourselves if we are to begin to give out of ourselves, finding ways to bless the lives of others. We don't find the answers to what 'hangs us up' in our own self-wallowing and bitter moments of self-criticism. We find the answers to these hang ups when we begin to use what God has given us to be a blessing in the lives of those around us. Just sayin!

Live or Die

Here is something to ponder today - will you die knowing that you spent your life doing something you loved? That can be a hard one for each of us because there are some things we love to do and then there are things we do that seem to almost refill love into our lives. Which is more important? I think they are equally as important, but it isn't always the 'what' we do that matters - it is more important for us to know the 'who' behind all that we do. 

If we live, it is for the Lord. If we die, it is for the Lord. If we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

If we live... 

That speaks volumes to me because we are never assured of life, are we? We might hope we will arise in the morning, put effort into the day, and finish it out in stillness and rest, but are we assured of our next breath? No one knows the hour of his birth, nor does he know the hour of his death. What happens in between those two moments in time is what we refer to as 'life' - at least life here on this earth. With 100% certainty I can say we all will have a finite number of days. It is important to remember we all have this span of time that we can either squander away, or live with purposeful intent.

If we live or die....we belong to the Lord...

Can you say this is true in your life? Do your actions reflect that you belong to Jesus? Do others see Jesus in the way you live? If the answer to this one is a little bit like 'shades of grey', then let me just say it is not too late to be sure the 'grey areas' where Jesus doesn't quite shine through get a little work done on them. All it takes is an acknowledgement of our need and Jesus is right there to help us fill up the void in those grey areas so there is no longer any doubt that we 'belong to Jesus'.

What does it mean to belong? In the most literal sense it means that we are the 'property' of another. We'd like to equate 'belonging' to having the right qualifications, such as us belonging to a particular social group. On Facebook, there are tons of groups created for others with the same interests as you might have. Oftentimes you have to answer a few 'qualifying questions' in order to 'join' the group. Why? The administrators of the site want to be sure the people who join have similar interests, or the right 'qualifications' to be a member of the group.

I am so very glad that Jesus calls us into relationship with him and 'qualifies' us to belong to his family through the work he has done in our lives. The moment we stop trying to 'qualify' ourselves and start trusting in what he has done for us, the more we will 'live or die' as though we belong totally to him. Just sayin!

Sow a little, reap a lot

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

Wouldn't it be good if we all thought a whole lot less about what it is we will gain from something we are doing and a whole lot more about what others may reap in return? What is the purpose of a seed? Isn't it to produce more growth? We sow one seed, but we harvest a much larger return than just one seed. The farmer who sows wheat seed is not hoping for the return of one grain of wheat - he is hoping for the return to be multiplied. We sometimes think we sow to reap, but I would like us to think differently today - we sow so others may reap from what we have sown. I know we won't always reap the return we hoped for, but that doesn't mean we stop sowing those seeds!

Live and work without pride. Be gentle and kind. Do not be hard on others. Let love keep you from doing that. (Ephesians 4:2)

Live and work without pride. The seeds of pride are sometimes sown without us even being aware we are sowing them, aren't they? We get all 'uppity' in our approach to something because we think we have a better way of doing it and we alienate others when we do. Then we wonder why they don't approach us with their ideas or offer to help us when we need their assistance. It is likely that they are turned off by the seeds we have sown! Live and work without pride - easier said than exemplified, isn't it? Pride has a way of rising up within us as is evident in this thing we call 'comparison'. We 'compare' what we believe should happen to what is happening and then we come to a conclusion that it isn't 'up to our standards'. It could be we even 'compare' the worth of an individual by the 'standards' we imagine they should measure up to, isn't it? We have to learn to shut down this 'comparison' mode inside of each of us if we are to move through life without pride getting in the way.

Be gentle and kind. I think this is a natural outcome of dealing with our pride first. It is no accident that our passage points us toward dealing with our pride FIRST, then toward living with gentleness and kindness. Gentle people are not given to prideful comparisons. Kind individuals are free to extend all manner of kindness because their desire to be noticed is not the most important thing to them. There is a genuine concern for others and it comes forth in gentle responses, kind actions, and moderate temperament. None of these are exemplified when pride is at the core of all we do or say. 

Do not be hard on others. Another good reminder of the importance of sowing the right kind of seeds to reap the right kind of harvest. If you are hard on yourself, that is one thing. To be hard on another is to make life miserable for them. I don't recommend either, though. I am probably the hardest on myself - constantly doing a little introspection, evaluating my 'performance', and the coming to the conclusion of 'measuring up' to whatever standard I have set for myself. While this is good to an extent, it can be carried to an extreme - hence we need to deal with the pride issue first. Let love keep us from being hard on others, as well as ourselves. 

Love is not a 'thing' - it is a person - Christ Jesus. We move away from prideful attitudes and actions "in Christ Jesus". We move into loving, gentle, and kind actions "in Christ Jesus". We stop being ridiculously hard on ourselves because our standard of measurement is not what we see, but what God sees when he looks at Christ in us. Just sayin!

Challenged to Run Well

Time is short - what are you doing with yours? This may not seem like a very significant question when you are twenty and going strong, but the recent passing of a young man just barely in his forties made me realize we cannot take life for granted. Chances are he arose every morning living life to the fullest, but none of us knows when our last breath will come. We all run this race - with urgency and equally with responsibility to run it well. When time is short and a solution is imperative, how do we run? Likely we run with a determination - because we know we have limited time and we want to be sure whatever needs to be done is accomplished. A race is more than a contest in speed - it can also be one of endurance and perseverance. How well we run is often determined by our "interpretation" of the need to run - the thing that is right in front of us that we are running toward, or the thing behind us that is making us run! If we have a wild animal charging at us, intent on making us his supper, we might just run like our life depended on it, right? If we are told by the doctor to get a little more exercise, such as running a mile a day, we might just have a different "interpretation" of the need - one is for the saving of a life, but do we interpret the other as doing the same? The crux of the defining moment is in what we see as the "intensity" of need that is right there in front of us.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. (I Corinthians 9:24-27)

To run well, there is an appreciation on our part of some need, responsibility, or effort that is required of us. Until we "appreciate" it we don't even take the first step. There is something powerful that happens when we come into a full awareness of our need, responsibility, and the effort it will take - to be fully conscious of the first step, one must appreciate the need for that first step. The runner has to see the value in the race! To run aimlessly is silly. To run with purpose makes much more sense - since there is either a prize or a destination in mind! What is your urgent need? What makes you run? Being chased by a a wild animal is a "logical" reason for running as though your life depended on it. I think life is filled with all kinds of "logical" reasons for "running" like our life depended on it. Yet, life is also filled with some "illogical" reasons for "running"! Have you ever watched a scary movie on TV or in the theater and found your heart racing, the tiny hairs on the back of your neck standing on end, and being just about ready to jump out of your seat if someone were to come up behind you and tap you on the shoulder? How "illogical" is it to be afraid of what is "made up" on the TV screen? Most would say the movie was made to elicit some sense of "terror" or "fear" within you. If it did, the movie maker accomplished what they set out to do. 

How illogical is it for us to fear what is "made up"? Most of us would say it is plain silly to be so frightened by that which cannot hurt us! Yet, we walk around everyday with "illogical" thoughts plaguing us with all kinds of "made up" fears! Things like, "You are not good enough", or maybe even "You'll never amount to anything". We have other "illogical" fears which hold us in their grasp - like relationships all end in disaster, so why try? We believe the silliest stuff - just because someone, somewhere, at some time told us it was this way! God wants us to focus only on him in the race, so we have what we need in order to turn the "illogical" into the "logical". We get so wrapped up in "running" after the illogical, we often miss the logical. The logical is the valid - the illogical is the invalid. I wonder what we might accomplish for God if we started running after the logical, avoiding the illogical at every turn? The responsibility to run and run well is part of the race. We all run, but if it is without intent, we miss out on much in the race. I think God might just be focusing us on being "answerable" for how well we run. I don't know about you, but if I give something my half-effort, just barely skimming the surface of what I am capable of giving, I find the "end" a little unfulfilling. Yeah, I made it to the end, but did I give it my best along the way? We have a responsibility to run well - anything less shows we are really not concerned with the answer we will give at the end. I don't know about you, but when I am "answerable" for my actions, I want to be able to "answer well"!

We often equate effort to the idea of exertion. We "put out" and then we realize some "return" for what it is we "put into" the project at hand. All God ever asks of us is for us to make every "earnest" effort we can to live according to the plan he has for us. In other words, we begin to appreciate "obedience" as deserving of our "serious attention". For some, this may seem like a bit much, but if we take the effort to make the first step, we find the "effort" becomes less and less as time goes on. It is important to realize the time is short. We never really know how short our time may be. If we take for granted the day we are given, we may find ourselves woefully lacking when the next doesn't come! If we begin to "process" today well, we won't find ourselves disappointed by the things we "put off" doing in our yesterdays! Just sayin!

What one thing?

We used to play this little game when we were kids. We'd all lay around under the shade of a big tree, one foot crossed over the other, some of us half sitting, half reclining. We'd pitch the question, "If your house was on fire right now, what one thing would you take with you?" That may not seem like a very significant question, but we'd hold each other to just 'one thing', because inevitably we'd have a hard choice between saving our dolls, cars, favorite books, or even our cutest dresses. Before long we'd be spouting off a list of things we would have to 'rescue' from the fire instead of just ONE THING. The instructions weren't hard - the lessons they taught were!

I have found as much joy in following Your Law as one finds in much riches. (Psalm 119:14)

That simple game may not have seemed all that significant at the time, but it actually revealed where our heart was at that moment. Some would choose to save their baseball card collection, while others would collect up as many of their 'favorite' things, even if it meant delaying their safe exit from the fire in the end. Most of my friends also had pets, so we'd hear that they'd save Herman the hamster from his cage, or snatch up the goldfish bowl so none of their 'finned friends' would boil to death. No one considered there would be the potential of needing to rescue one another. None of us ever took thought about 'things' outside of our immediate 'ownership' - if it was 'ours', we'd figure out a way to save it.

"Things" are just that - they are things. They aren't going to last forever - just in case you didn't know they all will fail at some point in time. Not one time did you ever hear one of us say we'd snatch up our baby sister or brother, drag mom or dad to safety, or even grab something like the family photo album. Why? Those "things" weren't really in the forefront of our minds as much as our toys or pets were. Whatever it is that consumes your focus the most is usually what you will fight to save in the end. You will want to preserve it at all cost. Wouldn't it be wonderful if what we thought about first was goodness and grace? If that were the case, we'd do everything in our power to ensure both were preserved no matter what it took to keep them alive around us!

Do we consider God's Word to be like 'riches' in our lives? If the answer to this one is 'no', maybe we need a little refresher time in his Word. When we allow his Word to get into us, we find it hard to be parted from it. We want to not only see it 'available' in our lives, but we want to ensure it will always be "preserved" in our lives. Something that is preserved is kept alive - it lasts to keep you safe and away from harm. We would do everything in our power to ensure we are never without this protection and power in our lives. Maybe the one thing we need to be asking ourselves today is the simple question we asked as kids under that tree. What one thing would you take with you if your house was on fire? It wouldn't need to be your Bible if your Bible got inside your mind just a little bit more! Just sayin!

Let 'em rattle, roll, and roar

There will be wars and rumors of wars. The earth will shake and the waters tremble. The mountains will spew lava and the earth's crust will split apart. These are painful reminders of our sinfulness - of our absence of God's presence in our midst. The one thing we can count on in the midst of all the 'bad stuff' that seems to happen around us is that God is our safe place and our strength. He isn't just a place to hide, but he is a means to stand strong in the midst of what seems to otherwise shake our world. The more we study he faithfulness of God, the more we see he has always kept a watchful eye on those who call upon his name. We should never forget that 'bad stuff' will happen, but we don't have to be afraid of the 'bad stuff' around us. We are safe in his hands - his presence makes a way for us to feel secure and protected.

God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action. Be quiet and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth. (Psalm 46:1-3, 10)

Be quiet - a hard thing to do in the best of times, let alone when all is falling down around us! Yet, these are the instructions of God directly to his people. Would you argue with God? I do on occasion - if not in my words, my actions show that I am arguing with him. Am I the only one who has a hard time just being quiet when the world seems to be crumbling down around us? Yes, I am a believer and I trust God with all my heart, but it doesn't make it any easier to not be a little intimidated by some of the bad stuff I observe around me on occasion. It isn't that I don't want to be quiet and know he is in control, it is that the things around me are so loud it is hard to find the quiet in the midst of the 'loudness' around me!

We might want to quiet our weary minds first, because what usually keeps us from really resting in his place of peace is what is going on in our minds. Our minds have a way of making up stories - embellishing what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. Our minds have a way of going from zero to sixty in under thirty seconds - magnifying the issues, allowing doubts to creep in, and keeping us from really settling into the peace God has prepared for us even in the midst of the 'bad stuff'. If you haven't figured this out yet, when your mind is not at rest, the rest of your body will find it hard to rest. If your mind is not at rest, you spirit is troubled and a troubled spirit isn't a good thing!

In some circles, there is this concept of 'mindfulness' taught. I am not going to give you any mumble-jumble about 'centering your thoughts' or 'meditating until you are at peace'. I am going to remind us of the goodness of God, though. He is the center of all that happens - even when we don't see him in the midst of the muddle of mess we are in, he IS there. Mindfulness is really learning to center your thoughts on the right thing - nothing mystical here - just reminding us that God should always inhabit our thoughts. Maybe this is why scripture is chocked full of those reminders to put him first, think upon good and honorable things, and lift him up in worship. These things actually help us center our thoughts!

The most tragic thing I have observed in my own life is living outside of God's peace because I get so wrapped up in the tragedy of life around me. God's peace isn't elusive - we push it out or allow it to be pushed out. We get our thoughts centered on what we see, hear, and perceive with our limited understanding. We push out God's peace and embrace the world's fear. The more we push out fear and allow God's peace to be back in the center of our thoughts, the more we will live above the things that rattle, roll, and roar around us. Just sayin!

Oh, so that's what I need....

I spend a little time on occasion just perusing ideas on Pinterest because I like to see what creative things others come up with to either save money, make something old new again, or reuse something in a totally different way. It gives me ideas and some of them I actually put into use in my home. What 'worked' for someone else begins to find a way to 'work' in my life, as well. It may be that they show me how to create a raised garden bed and I adopt those ideas as I create my own. It has been useful to see ways people hide pesky cables that gather behind our media stations in life. Sometimes I know what I want to create, but there are no plans I can find. That is when I have to make a "prototype" of the object. It is pieced together in the fashion I 'believe' will work, but not every prototype I create actually works very well! Some make it no further than the scrap pile. Others work 'okay', but they aren't really what I desired. It is good to know that God has a plan for us - he isn't 'winging it' with us. He has purposed how all things in our life should come together, in perfect order, in such a manner so as to allow what he purposes for us to come to fruition. 

We are His work. He has made us to belong to Christ Jesus so we can work for Him. He planned that we should do this. (Ephesians 2:10)

We are his work - we don't direct how the pieces come together - he does. This is probably one of the hardest things for us to remember in life because we think we have the perfect plan. We think we can sustain our way of living, but we forget that his plans may not allow what we have used to 'sustain' life to be there for much longer. For example, when a door closes on a work experience, it becomes harder for us to sustain our way of living without that job. We might even find ourselves scrambling to find a 'replacement' for that experience, because we have deemed it extremely important to not live in a cardboard box on the street! We go through all manner of scheming and planning to create the perfect 'workmanship' in our lives, but forget all the while that his plans may differ significant from ours. We are his work - we need to settle that issue right now. We may think we know the direction we are to be headed, but we also need to be open to his movements in our lives that will change that direction, sometimes completely while at others only marginally.

He made us to belong to Christ Jesus - so we can work for him. We aren't created without a purpose in life. We are created to first of all belong. We belong to Christ - we don't walk alone - we haven't been rejected, standing out there unprotected and alone in this life. We have been given grace, embraced by Christ, and now we belong to Christ. We are actually created to belong - it is a good thing to belong to the one we are created for - outside of realizing it is 'in him' that we belong, we will always seek to 'belong', but will struggle to find where it is we actually belong! Grace upon grace actually is a 'condition' of belonging. We are given his love and shown how deep his love is by the continually infusion of his grace. It is this continually infilling of his grace that helps us 'feel' that we belong. Our work begins the moment we realize we 'belong' to someone other than ourselves. We were not created to please ourselves - but to work for and in Christ Jesus. We belong and find our greatest reward in working for and in him.

We could resist this plan for a long time, but eventually we would find whatever we pursued would be less than fulfilling. We might enjoy a modicum of 'fulfillment', but we would never realize our full purpose because we are only fulfilled to the degree that we allow ourselves to be engaged in the work we were created to do in Christ Jesus. Just sayin!

What do you see in me?

When you stop long enough to watch another - not just in a casual way, but with some purpose in your watching - you might just see a thing or two which you'd have missed otherwise! I believe most of us are probably some form of people-watchers. We observe their behavior, gleaning much from their "attitude", and coming to some conclusions as a result of what we observe. The power of "observation" is a learned habit. It just doesn't happen one day. In fact, you have to learn to look beyond the surface to get really good at this - otherwise, we draw conclusions which are not always based in reality. Don't believe me? Then how is it we 'fall in love' so easily, then come to the realization who we thought we were so 'madly in love with' isn't really the same person we fell for? We saw what we wanted to see and formed the story around what we interpreted in our mind's eye! But...in the real world, this is a dangerous thing!

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

The example we are to "watch" is really none other than God himself! He is the one we should "observe" - taking in his "behavior" in order to learn how we are to approach life, answer life's questions, and create life's best outcomes. Watch what God does - and then do it! So, instead of just "creating" a story about God, we are to do like God does! In God's world of reality, not my made up world of make believe, I am quite comfortable asking God if I can be on mission with him! "MOSTLY what God DOES is love you". I added the emphasis here because I think it is important to realize God's greatest and most easiest observed attribute is his LOVE. It is in all his actions, even when we don't see it! Look at how we learn how to make this attribute ours - we "keep company with him". I have special friends - enjoying every moment of "company" I get to keep with them. They fill my days with laughter, hold me close when I am low, and can just fill my "space" with warmth without even speaking or doing a thing. At my weakest moments, nothing and no one else fills my "space" as well as Jesus, though. In his extravagant way, he reaches into the "space" of our lives - loving us through to wholeness! It is more than making the lame walk or the dumb talk. He meets us at the point of our most desperate need and there, he transforms us.

Now, this may not seem to be significant, but his love is learned in observing his extravagance. His love is not miserly - it is extravagant. In what actions can we observe the extravagance of God's love? First, we see the extravagance of him laying down his divinity to take on the form of a human - in coming as a babe in a manger. We see the extravagance of his love in being willing to touch the untouchable in the world - those labeled as unclean by others in society. He never skimped on his love - making not only wine from water, but the best wine of the evening. He always found time for even the least or most unlikely to be noticed in the crowd - embracing the child, touching the grief of the mother who'd lost her only son, and restoring the guard's ear to full function after Peter attempted to lop it off. Nothing is "outside" of God's extravagant love - he is willing to humble himself for the sake of another; give the touch of hope where no hope exists; and restore what we so foolishly destroy in our haste and misunderstanding. Yet, his greatest display of love - his willingness to hang on a cross for our sins. The man who knew no sin, becoming sin for all mankind. Now, this bespeaks the ultimate sacrifice - the ultimate display of love.

Consider the many "extravagances" of God's love and then we begin to display those same extravagances in our own actions. It takes a little change in our focus to do this. We have to begin to see the extravagances of God's love - first through our eyes, then through his. I really never understood the extravagances of my parents' love until I was a parent myself. In fact, as I was being loved through some of the ugliest period of my life, they were faithfully extravagant in their love, but I was oblivious and oftentimes very unappreciative of their extravagant love! I am older now, and I hope a little wiser. As I look back at their example of love, I see the extravagance of God's love imitated in their lives. It is like God opens our eyes to his "extravagant love" not so much when we are experiencing it, but almost after we have been through it! Maybe it is because we have "clearer perspective" after the fact than we do when our emotions are all muddled up in the moment. What examples of God's extravagant love have you been observing of late? If we look hard enough, we might just see the example of his love in the one right next to us today. If we are willing, we could be the very example of his extravagant love the one next to us needs! Just sayin!

Wow, this is dry stuff

I can't get enough of.... You fill in the rest of that one - go ahead, I will wait. My BFF makes these awesome peanut butter brownies, I'd have to say that would be it for me! On a more serious note, though, there are a lot of things in a spiritual sense that I wonder if we'd even consider when we finish that sentence. Enough: adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire. Desire: a longing or craving for something which brings satisfaction or enjoyment. Have you been so desperate for something that absolutely nothing else enters your mind? You just cannot turn your attention from whatever it is you long for, craving it with such intensity, nothing else will satisfy that desire. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could honestly say this about God - his grace, goodness, and love? He becoming the object of your longings or cravings - so that he would become the center of your focus so much that nothing else would satisfy! I wonder how we get to the place where God becomes the object of our desire more than anything else in this world?

God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts. (Psalm 63:1)

It comes in "working up a hunger and thirst for God". Where is this hunger and thirst "worked up"? The hunger and thirst that actually brings God central in our lives comes in us "traveling across dry and weary deserts". In the "dry" and "weary" places of life, desire is built - not for the "little bits" of God's presence, but for the "sufficiency" of his presence! It is in our "movement" that we find our hunger and thirst built - not in our stagnancy. It is as we are "travelling across" the dry or weary place that we build a hunger and thirst like nothing will satisfy. Some of us get into the dry or weary place and just take up residence there - bemoaning how dry it is! No wonder we don't have our hearts changed! We "wallow" instead of "traveling through". Do you know what it means to wallow? It means to roll in the dirt in hopes we will find refreshment! How silly is that? If we were a rhinoceros we might actually benefit from the "dirt bath", but dirt just doesn't have the same effect for us humans! In fact, it clogs our pores, brings nasty zits which annoy and leave us pocked, and then it gives us a pretty rank smell! So, I don't recommend "wallowing".

Probably the definition of "wallowing" that comes closest to what I am think we do when we get into the dry and weary places is to move along, but with such clumsiness and slowness that really reflects our awkwardness with the place we find ourselves in. We "move", but it is with no real purpose, no intensity. We just "flounder about" in our dryness. We don't work up a thirst unless we are traveling "across". In other words, from one side to the other! There is a destination in mind - out of the middle of the muddle we are in! The only way to get out of the mess is to get to the other side of it! It is in moving across that we find the place of moving beyond. But...to get across, we have to experience a lot along the way. The dry place is often characterized by the "absence" of something. We lack something that we need. The absence builds or intensifies as we begin to "move across" in order to get "beyond". If you have ever been thirsty, you might just have begun to sense the dryness of your lips, the pastiness of your tongue, or the awful feeling that you are parched and weary. If you don't address the thirst, what happens? The intensity of the thirst grows, doesn't it? The awareness of the absence of the fluid your body craves begins to grow. In traveling across the dry places in our lives, the intensity of what our spirit craves is growing. We thirst for that which truly fulfills - not just a tiny taste, but the total immersion! 

The movement is key - nothing intensifies thirst or hunger more than "using up" the resources we have at our disposal. Sometimes God leads us into the dry or weary place to show us how little our "enough" really is! He allows us to "use up" what resources we have in "reserve" within us in order to show us how much more we still really need that isn't found within! The dry places make us aware of our little and his MUCH! So, rather than focus on the "place" we find ourselves in, let's begin to focus on what we will discover in our movement to the "beyond" of this place! In our movement, I know our hunger and thirst will be intensified, but it is in the discovery of how much we actually hunger and thirst that we come to the place of being opened to receive "more"! Just sayin!

Do it and Mean it

Did you realize there are various forms of bankruptcy? I didn't know a person could declare themselves 'bankrupt' and still keep their stuff, but they can. They don't always have to 'liquidate' everything - there is this option to kind of 'rehabilitate' your financial status, while eliminating a whole lot of the debt one has created in life. In the simplest terms, being bankrupt means one is unable to satisfy any just claim made upon that individual; or their is this lacking in a particular thing or quality. Today, as our economy tanks and our finances seem to be the focus of so many conversations, I'd like to take a moment to really focus on something we seldom spend much time thinking about in terms of bankruptcy - love. We throw the word "love" around like it was a "thing" rather than a quality, or an outflow of a person's life. For anyone who has been around a while, it is not uncommon to have heard some familiar passages quoted from the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. One of the best known: "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." I'd like us to back up a little and focus on the third verse this morning.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. (I Corinthians 13:3)

I think we have this concept of love that focuses more on some emotional experience than anything else. In looking at what Paul describes here, he begins with the ideas of saying, believing, and doing - all devoid of meaning without the "backing" of love. In terms of bankruptcy, when we have lost our 'backing', we have lost the ability to remain 'solvent'. From the perspective of our emotions and actions, I think he may be focusing on the idea of "doing" without "meaning" what we are doing. If you want a good illustration of this, think back to the last time you were somewhere and thought to yourself or even said to another, "I am here, but I'd rather be anywhere else!" The "doing" was happening, but the "meaning" was missing. You were "at work", but you weren't really "into" work! You were "in conversation", but you weren't really "involved" in conversation!

There is a void created every time we are "doing" without the corresponding emotional investment behind it. In life, we "do" a lot, but I wonder how much "meaning" is behind all our "doing"? Saying, Believing, and Doing. The words we say hold meaning - even if they are spoken in an absent-minded manner! The beliefs we form, and allow to be formed as a result of our actions, absolutely matter in the sense of how they will cause us or allow us to act. The actions we take often reveal much more than our words or our beliefs! Love cares more for others than for self. Link this to saying, and you see how we will not always have the last word. When we value the opinion of others, we don't continually need the last word to be ours. Link this to believing, and we begin to see the uniqueness of allowing another to develop their own understanding of things, prayerfully lifting them up so they will develop solid and consistent beliefs. Link this to doing, and we see how our actions reveal the importance of another in our lives.

Love doesn't revel when others grovel. Link this to saying, and you will soon find yourself not waiting for another to ask for assistance before you begin to respond to their need. Link this to believing, and you will begin to focus on building another's beliefs through constantly reinforcing the right ones and helping them to eliminate the ones that act as stumbling blocks in their lives. Link this to doing, and you will begin to lift another when they see themselves in any light other than as God sees them! Love always looks for the best. Link this to saying, and you will begin to find words that build up, avoiding those which do little more than point out faults. Link this to believing, and you will see others as God sees them - not as imperfect, but as perfect through Christ Jesus. Link this to doing, and you will begin to bring out the best in another - even when they are struggling to get the best out of themselves! Love is practical. It is real. It is tough, but anything genuine is always tougher than anything imagined! I hope this day is filled with all kinds of "saying", "believing", and "doing" that is "love-focused". In other words, "meaning" is behind or backing all we are saying, believing, and doing, so those actions aren't bankrupt and devoid of love! Just sayin!

Just a little niggling

Do you not know that your body is a house of God where the Holy Spirit lives? God gave you His Holy Spirit. Now you belong to God. You do not belong to yourselves. God bought you with a great price. So honor God with your body. You belong to Him. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Is there anybody out there other than me that struggles to treat their body right? You know what I mean - eating healthy, making wise choices with your physical activities so as to not stress out your body too much, and getting enough rest. If you struggle with any of these, then just know you are not alone. I constantly go back and forth between desiring to eat healthy, but also craving a luscious brownie! The two are incongruous, aren't they? I haven't met a 'healthy' brownie yet! We crave a whole lot of things in this lifetime that are incongruous with what God desires for our lives. If you don't really understand what that word means, then let me explain. Anything that is 'incongruous' is inappropriate, unbecoming, and not in harmony with the character we are to be exemplifying in our lives.

There are times I almost do the Eve thing and blame God for putting the brownies on this earth. After all, if God had not created brownies, I wouldn't have the desire to eat them, right? I don't think God created brownies. Actually, the first known 'creator' of brownies was Fanny Farmer - placing the first recipe for this delightful treat into her 1896 cookbook. It is also believed that a socialite by the name of Bertha Palmer commissioned her chef to create a luscious treat for the ladies who would be attending the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, so not sure who 'created' the brownie, but I am certain the creation came some time after God created the heavens and earth! Regardless, the treat isn't God's fault and the appeal it has is not his, either. I 'own' my response to the delightful craving.

All that aside, let me assure you of this one thing - God gave us his Holy Spirit to help us rise above all things that are inappropriate for us in this lifetime. He is there to help us spot the things that will not add goodness into our character. He is right alongside us when we are about to choose a response or action that would be unbecoming in some fashion. If that is the case, then how come we still act so 'wrong' at times? God doesn't send his Holy Spirit to negate our choice - he just sends him to help us make the right ones. We still do the choosing - he just helps remind us which ones will be the best for us. I know it would be a whole lot easier if God just gave us no choice in the matter, but then we'd be puppets.

Remembering that we don't belong to ourselves any longer, we need to be cognizant of every choice we make - the little ones and the bigger ones. Certainly we can be trusted to make a wise choice from time to time, but let me assure you, we don't do it consistently. This is where the Holy Spirit comes into action in our lives - reminding us which choice is the best - niggling our subconscious as well as our conscious minds. We need to heed the 'niggling', though. Just sayin!

Sowing in Drought?

Lord, change our circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste! Let those who plant with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts. Let those who go out, crying and carrying their seed, come home with joyful shouts, carrying bales of grain! (Psalm 126:4-6)

Most of us would think of a "circumstance" as something that at least modifies or perhaps influences what will happen in the end - what the outcome of a particular situation or occurrence will be. When we have the right one in charge of the "circumstances", there is no "modifier" beyond our ability or capability! Do you know what a drought is? In the simplest sense, it is a period of "extreme dryness". Most "dry spells" are not a matter of our doing. They are "circumstances" beyond our control - because none of us controls the weather. In the times of spiritual "dryness" there is much at work attempting to modify our responses in life - perhaps even shaping our outcome, as a result. In the time of spiritual dryness we have a couple of options: 1) Scheme our way through it, figuring and recalculating a way to bring life back ourselves; 2) Bolt, looking for refreshment in any other place than where we are at; or 3) Hunker down, trusting God for the refreshing rains that are just around the corner. I don't know about you, but I don't want the circumstances to modify my life by driving me away from what God will do "in" them! I want God to drive me "into" the circumstances deep enough to allow HIM to modify me, not just the circumstances! We oftentimes pray for the circumstance to be 'modified', but the real modification needs to come within US.

It is indeed God who changes our circumstances for the better. I have come to recognize that God often changes US before he changes our circumstances. In respect to the "modifying" of circumstances - it is really not the circumstances that truly "modify" us, but finding God in the midst of them does! David points out a couple of character traits of one who is not modified by the circumstances, but is met in the midst of the circumstances by the "Modifier" of our hearts. First, they are not just hunkered down, hoping for the best, trembling in the trenches of life. They are planting, carrying seed, going about their regular tasks. They don't cease to do what they know to do! Too many times, we face circumstances which seem beyond our control with the attitude of just standing still - there we are, standing there, not even doing what we know to do. God's advice to us - do what you can, then let him take care of the rest. If I am capable of putting my hand to the plow, I need to plow. If I have seed, I need to sow it. The principle is quite plain here - do what we know to do, then trust God!

We also need to be honest with and about our emotions. Most don't plant with tears, but it may be these very tears that are the first "moisture" to touch those tiny seeds. Did you ever stop to consider the tears you shed as being the very thing that waters the very tiny seed you are planting? It may not be a significant amount of moisture to you, but perhaps it is enough to begin to breakdown the tough outer coating of the seed and cause it to begin to germinate! I don't think God ever expects us to mask our emotions - if we are honest with him in our emotions, he can deal with them! Those who 'go out' will return. Their return is not empty-handed, but with much more than they ever imagined. This is the principle of sowing and reaping. In due season, there is a harvest. When we trust God with our "circumstances", we also trust him with the "outcome" (and the "INcome"). It was not the circumstances that modified us - it was the great "MODIFIER" of the circumstances that brought forth the modification that was most needed. The harvest may not have been possible without us first going out - doing what we knew to do. The seed spread in drought is there when the rains come. Think about it - if the seed is never planted, no amount of rain will produce a crop! Instead of allowing the circumstances to modify us, allow the modifying to come from the one who hold the circumstances squarely in his hand! Just sayin!

Just a closer look

Look in the mirror. What do you see? Today you may see a new blemish on your cheek, a little puffiness under your eyes, or a few wayward gray hairs that seem to have a mind of their own. Look a little bit longer and you may realize you need to pluck a few hairs, deep clean a few pores, or see the dentist for a teeth cleaning. We 'see' what we want to see, don't we? There are days when I look in the mirror and just give myself a cursory glance. It is like a really quick once over to just make sure all the hair is down, there isn't anything dribbled down the front of my shirt, or that the outfit doesn't make me look too heavy. Other days I find that chin hair that sprung up out of nowhere, or noticing for the first time how tired I look after a particularly grueling set of circumstances have taken their toil on my body. We see what we want to see so many times, but at others we can see things we probably didn't want to see. God sees both - the things we want him to see and the things wee need to see, but may not be really wanting to see.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at the way he looks on the outside or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. For the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. A man looks at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)

Man looks on the outside and is content to have made that 'cursory look'. The things hidden deep inside a man's heart are oftentimes completely bypassed because there has been nothing more than a cursory look. I know for a fact I have made wrong choices in relationships because I did little more than trust what I saw on the outside to be the exact representation of what would be on the inside! To merely stop at a cursory view of what makes up a man or woman's character is not sufficient to determine the 'make-up' of that individual. I am so thankful God doesn't merely judge by what is on the outside because we can 'make-up' the outside a whole lot better than we can 'make-up' the inside! Mankind has been in the practice of trying to hide their true selves since the beginning of time, so does it surprise you that we are still doing it today? 

God looks at the heart because that reveals the integrity of a man or woman. The 'soundness' of moral character is one thing we cannot 'make-up' for very long. Eventually the true character of a man or woman will surface - given enough time and the right set of pressures, the thing we put forward will eventually crumble under the trial. God looks at the 'wholeness' of a man or woman - the 'wholeness' of a heart is determined by who controls the heart. The heart controlled by a self-willed, stubborn man or woman will be hard and calloused. Much like the hard shell of the turtle conceals the soft and vulnerable places of the inner turtle, the callouses on the heart can conceal what we want no one to really know about us.

What is it we are trying to conceal - to not really allow anyone, even ourselves, to see? Perhaps this is the real question we need to answer if we are to finally see a true representation of the integrity of our hearts. Without Christ, our hearts are never wholly free of those calloused places - those impenetrably hard places. The moment Christ gains access to those places, it soon becomes evident where there is a lack of integrity - a lack of wholeness in any of the places where we have misrepresented ourselves spiritually, morally, or emotionally. Maybe this is why we only want to look on the outside of a man or woman - because we are afraid of what we may discover if we look closer. God isn't put off by the 'closer look' - in fact, he desires it! Just sayin!

What is in the house?

What is a break-through? We hear that terms a lot of the time, but we don't always know how to define it in our particular circumstance. For example, if we need a 'financial break-through', we may say we need to be out from under some oppressive debt. If we need a 'physical break-through', we may say we need to be healed of a life-altering disease. These are easier 'break-through' types to define, but there are a whole lot of emotional, spiritual, and even relational break-through moments that we don't always know how to define. They are a little more elusive because they really rely upon us being open and honest about things. Sometimes we just need to acknowledge what we have, then allow God to do what he will do with what we have - then in some way God allows a break-through.

Now the wife of the son of one of the men who tell what will happen in the future cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know that your servant honored the Lord with fear. But the man to whom he owed money has come to take my two children to make them serve him.” Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your woman servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go around and get jars from all your neighbors. Get empty jars, many of them. Then go in and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour the oil into all these jars, and set aside each one that is full.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They took the jars to her, and she poured. When the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another jar.” And he said to her, “There is not one jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go and sell the oil and pay what you owe. You and your sons can live on the rest.”(2 Kings 4:1-7)

The woman needed help. Her issue was a time of great loss - her husband was now gone, she was powerless to take care of her son. The widow thought she had absolutely nothing at all at her disposal. She saw no way out of her present circumstances. One simple question changes is all - "What do you have in the house?" That may not seem like a significant question, but whenever God asks us what we have to bring to the table, he isn't just asking for the heck of it. He is asking so we will begin to take inventory - to see that even a little in his hands is much more than we would have ever imagined possible. The oil seemed like it was just 'a little bit' - a totally insignificant thing that she would have otherwise have just overlooked.

When we begin to respond to the challenge of 'what is is we have', we begin to make an investment into the solution. It may not seem like much, but remember that the skills, talents, and abilities we have, the people we have in our lives, the ideas we create in our minds, and even our time is really a huge deal when it is submitted to God for his multiplication and use. What God uses, he multiplies! The enemy of our soul would have us discount what we see as 'insignificant' or 'not really all that important' so that we miss out on the provision. God starts with what seems like a little bit and then he looks for us to be obedient to what he asks us to do with that 'little bit'.

What we discount what we have as useless or worthless, we stop God's provision in our lives. God's provision isn't going to come without some steps of obedience on our part. The first step toward obedience may be to actually stop discounting what it is we have or can do. We might think provision comes only in miraculous ways - but God sees the beginning of all 'miracles' as a ready and yielded heart! The widow had to cry out - she didn't know what to do - but when she received the instruction to gather the jars, it probably did not make sense at first. But...she set out and did it! She gathered the jars and then what we see next is that God used what she had to not only provide for the present need, but to make ongoing provision for the future! God isn't stingy when we bring our 'present little bit' to bear on the circumstances - he makes a way beyond our vision! Just sayin!

No escape plan for me

Have you ever hidden so well in that old time game of hide & seek so that you were absolutely unable to be discovered? That which is hidden is not visible - it isn't easily perceived, or has little to no evidence it even exists. If we are playing a kid's game, being hidden in such a manner ensures that you will be declared the 'winner' of the game. In real life, always hiding so well isn't going to ensure you 'win', is it? It just means you remain undiscovered! When our hiding place is in God himself, it isn't that we aren't able to be discovered - it is just that his barrier of protection over our lives is so impenetrable that nothing can get at us! 

You are my hiding place and my battle-covering. I put my hope in Your Word. (Psalm 119:114)

When times challenge us a little, do we turn to God as our covering, or do we simple hunker down a little in some 'place' we have designed for ourselves as a means of escape? I daresay there are a lot of people who merely go through life with an 'escape plan' always at the ready. They don't have any real 'battle-covering' they can rely upon - but merely wing it. When times get harder than they would like them to be, they resort to whatever escape plan they have concocted. Now, this may work for a while, but if you are always 'escaping' rather than facing challenges head-on, the battles don't go away - they just are hidden from our view for a while.

When God is our covering - our battle isn't 'blocked from our view' - it is faced head-on. We can rest in the assurance his covering is sufficient to take us right through that battle, no holds barred. It is one thing to be in the battle and fighting well, but quite another to have been in the battle so long that you become weary and worn by the constant demands of the warfare, though. That's why God is both our 'battle-covering' (protection in the fight) and our hiding place (protection so we can rest a while). Escaping into his restful hiding place isn't escaping the battle - it is regenerating our abilities to continue the fight.

We need both, don't we? We cannot always go through life with an 'escape plan', but we can go through it with the knowledge God will be both our shield and defender when the battle rages hot and heavy, and a source of comfort and healing when we just need a moment or two to regroup. We aren't escaping the battle whenever we retreat because he meets us right there in the midst of the battle and just provides a shelter for us right there. One who retreats into a full escape mode isn't sticking around for the battle - they are working to be clearly out of it entirely. One who retreats into the hidden shelter of his wings is merely allowing him to hold them steady in the midst of it. Just sayin!

By what Power and Right?

Then the Jews asked Him, “What can You do to show us You have the right and the power to do these things? (John 2:18)  I dunno about you, but if someone changed water into wine right in front of my eyes, and not even the cheap stuff, but the top of the line wine, I might not be asking this type of question! I think the Jewish leaders were intimidated and riddled with all manner of confusing 'impressions' about Christ. They didn't recognize him as the Messiah - the Redeemer. They didn't trust his works as those of a man godly in every manner, but rather considered his works as potentially from the one who ruled the pits of hell. They demanded the proof that Jesus had both the right and the power to do great miracles in their midst. Trust me on this, my friends, if Jesus were standing right in the middle of some crowds today, doing some form of miracle, there would be equally as much skepticism!

Some will believe almost immediately, even without the tremendous miracles, because their hearts are open to receiving the love and hope Christ provides. Others will want to see a few more examples of Jesus' power in order to make a firm commitment that he must be someone pretty special, but they will not entirely understand just how special he is. There will be a great multitude that will say Jesus is some form of 'con artist' - here to take people for their money or rope them into some form of indentured servitude, robbing them of all sense of independence as they 'drink the kool-aid', so to speak. Believe it or not, there will be others who wouldn't even turn their head to consider him at all. Why is there such a mixed impression of Jesus in this world? I think it is probably because we all come to believe or trust in varying ways. Is that wrong? Only if you never get to the place of believing or trusting!

What gives Jesus the RIGHT to ask for our lives? To ask for our heart? To ask for our trust? To answer these questions, one must first answer the question: "Who do you say Christ is?" This was something the Jewish leaders struggled with a lot while Christ walked this earth all those years ago. He could have been a great prophet, come to direct their way a little. He could have been some man playing tricks to get the crowds incited against some set of 'religious belief system' of the time. He perhaps was a man inhabited by some spirit from the dark underworld. The possibilities were endless when you stop to think about it. The leaders of the day had a hard time accepting him as God with a Bod - that's for sure! The RIGHT to ask for our lives and complete trust, yielding hearts and minds to his transforming power really is answered in that one statement. He was and is God with a Bod! Period.

What gives Jesus the POWER to do things way beyond our imagining? Things outside of our ability - things we almost find hard to believe ever could or would happen. His POWER is linked to his RIGHT as the Son of the Living God. He is God, the Creator of the universe - so all power is inherent in him. His POWER is what sets minds right, makes hard hearts pliable and yielded. His POWER does things harder than turning water into wine - because turning a hardened, calloused, stubborn heart into a pliable, worshipful, and yielded heart is way harder! If you have even one iota of stubbornness within you, you know just how hard it can be to 'convince' that stubborn place to yield, much less 'change' that stubborn part of you! His position is that of being at the right hand of the Heavenly Father - his power is the result of who he is - the only Son of God. His right stems from WHO he is.

Answer the WHO question first. Then you will come to understand the authority of all that Jesus does in your life. Really, the leaders were asking by what authority Jesus was acting. It wasn't theirs, and they believed themselves to be the ultimate authority of their world. Sound like anyone else you know? I thought I could function as the ultimate authority of my worlds, but let me assure you - nothing changed quite like it did once I allowed a change of authority in my life. If we want to understand the POWER of God, we first understand he has all RIGHT to act as he does within our lives. We accept him for WHO he is and then we begin to see him reveal himself in ways never before seen! Just sayin!

In or Out?

Life can be lived fully - don't you agree? If you are like some I know, you might just be 'squandering away' a little of life each and every day, though. In fact, we all probably do a little 'squandering' without really being aware we are 'losing out' on something that could be really, really big in the end! There are certainly times when we are gung-ho about seeking all life has to show us, while there are others when we'd just as soon "check-out" for a while and resume this whole thing called life just a little later on when things calm down a little - the theme song lyrics of 2020. It is only natural to be "all in" sometimes, and then pull back a little at others - we are not gonna always be giving life our 100%, right? Sometimes we just need to escape - but we don't want to miss out on things just because we did! I wonder if there has been some important stuff we missed out on when we are "checked-out" a little this week, or even last?

So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life. Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day’s work. When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of God’s good pleasure. (Proverbs 8:32-35)

King Solomon puts forward some advice for living well. Foremost we have to be in a position of hearing. I guess the first thing that probably goes when we are "checked out" is  our willingness to REALLY listen. We hear the words, but are they really making any connection with us? Not always. I have been "checked out" for a moment in a staff meeting or two, only to find out I missed some announcement of a change that was occurring or some special honor someone would receive. I "heard" what was said, but it did not make a "connection" so that I held onto it! I was listening, but I wasn't really hearing! God deals with this a lot in each of us - we listen, but do we really hear what he is saying? When "hearing" happens, there is connection. Maybe this is why Solomon begins with us being in a position of hearing!

Second, we have to "mark a life of discipline" - whatever does that mean? It means we take the instructions we are given and we act upon them. It isn't some mystical process - just obedience, plain and simple. The problem we face is in setting ourselves up to miss out on the disciplined life. In other words, if we aren't first in a place of hearing what God says, we won't be inclined to live by his instructions - because we won't really be "listening" to hear what he teaches! When we know to do something, then choose not to do, James says this is "sin". It is knowing what mark we are to aim toward, then choosing to fly in a different direction that God is after in each of us! "Checked out" people don't hit the mark! So, if you find yourself aimless, you might just ask if you are really embracing the instructions God has given. His ways are not aimless - they are directed and sure. Third, we can't go about "squandering" what we are given. We are given grace - how we handle it determines how much impact it is really making in our lives. If someone gives you a gift of $100, and you have not had more than two nickels to your name for quite some time, how would you "embrace" this gift? Some will go "hog wild", spending it so frivolously that it would be gone in under a day. They'd look back and see a few things they might hold onto as a "memory" of the gift, but it would be gone for the most part. Others who have learned the value of the gift might just put it away, making consistent withdrawals from it to meet the ongoing needs they will have along the way. I think God likes the idea of "frequent withdrawals" more than the "scattering to the wind" kind of approach. When we are "marking a life of discipline", we are learning to be consistent. Obedience comes in fits and spurts at first, but in time, practiced enough, it becomes a pattern. Grace becomes a lifestyle, not a "spending spree"!

Fourth, we need to learn the value of alertness. I can be awake, but being alert is a totally separate process! My eyes are open, my eyes are even moving and keeping up with the events around me, but when the moment comes, how I respond to the "thing" that seems to fly at me out of nowhere is evidence of my "alertness". Alertness speaks of focus or attention. Solomon is focusing on our attention gap - because when we are attentive, we are nimble and quick to respond. God's greatest delight is to find us alert - not just awake! We have to be ready to respond, not just with the first thing that comes to mind, but in a well-ordered way. When we begin with hearing, it is natural we will be ready to respond well. We won't miss stuff because we are "all in"! "Checked out" is a choice - determining to live "all in" is equally a choice. Just sayin!