The Plumbline

Have you ever just looked at something and thought what was ahead of you was absolutely impossible? We all probably face that overwhelming feeling on occasion. What we don't want is to not move forward just because we think something is impossible. Arthur C. Clarke reminds us, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." When we do what we know to do, God takes us beyond the 'possible' into the 'impossible'. “What is impossible for people is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) As we move right along in our new year, we may have faced a few things we have already labeled as "impossible" - not because we haven't 'tried' to make a go of them, but because we faced many a roadblock when we did. Roadblocks aren't always there to stop us - sometimes they just slow us down and get us to take a different route we didn't already consider. When God is at the helm of our lives, we can be ass...

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities;  Truth isn't. (Mark Twain) Truth isn't limited to the possible - it transcends it. So many of us focus on what we see as 'possible' rather than looking toward what may seem a little impossible to us. We limit ourselves by the 'belief' that we are 'limited' to what is possible - based upon our talents, status, upbringing, or training. I never knew riding a two-wheeler would be so hard, but after a few falls and a whole lot of wobbly attempts, I was able to realize the 'impossible'. That one 'skill' allowed me to be 'mobile' like I never could be just on foot. If I had of looked at that old Schwinn two-wheeler and my brother's assistance as though they were going to harm me, I never would have got up on that thing. Sometimes we have to put aside our 'belief' that something is impossible if we are ever to move beyond into the p...

It was Vince Lombardi who said we'd accomplish a great many more things in life if we stopped thinking of them as "impossible".  At times, I think we imagine ourselves as never making it to some destination we have in mind - especially when it comes to our walk with Jesus. We won't take the right steps, believe the right stuff, or make right decisions when it really matters. This is how we see ourselves at times and this can be quite defeating because sometimes we won't even try when we feel there is an "impossibility" in trying. It’s  impossible  to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists  and  that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 MSG) Lewis Mumford said, "A certain amount of opposition is a great help to man. Kites rise against, not with, the wind." Too many times we view the "hard stuff" as "opposition" in life. We...