Author: Tim

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Why Does This Whole Thing Seem so Familiar?

I don’t have a whole lot of free time, but when I do, sometimes I like to watch old TV shows. There’s a lot of demented stuff in today’s shows, or they find ways to ratchet up the tension so much there’s no way you’re going to sleep soon after watching it. With the old stuff, yes, there might be more plot holes, or the show was written for an audience with less access to information than today’s audiences, but there’s usually no problem falling asleep after (or even during) the show.

One of the old shows I watch is Magnum, P.I. (not the remake…the original 1980s Tom Selleck version). This is a show about Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL doing freelance work as a Private Investigator in Hawaii. In the show he’s constantly bumming favors from his Vietnam buddies and rarely pays back what he owes them. He gets to enjoy the lavish accommodations, including the famous red Ferrari, of a famous author’s Hawaiian estate in return for providing security advice (much to the chagrin of the estate’s caretaker, Higgins). He’s often dealing with clients that can’t pay his full rate, getting cornered in an alley by some burly dudes that don’t like him snooping around, or trying to avoid Higgins’ pair of Dobermans.

As I watched one episode, there was something about the plot that seemed very familiar, like I’d seen it before. Every 4th of July, Magnum had a tradition of spending the day alone at sea in a little boat called a surf ski. (It’s kind of like a kayak, but it’s got an open top and is easier to fall out of.) While he was out at sea, a reckless boater got too close and capsized him. He got separated from the surf ski and paddle and got caught in one of the strong currents near the islands, and he ended up needing to tread water for like, 12 hours or something crazy like that. I didn’t remember what happened in the end, but I remembered that part of it.

It turns out Magnum, P.I. was a show my dad used to watch when I was a kid. Although I was a bit too young to watch the show when it originally aired, he must’ve been catching this one as a rerun while I was dawdling and trying to avoid going to bed one night. The thought of having to tread water for hours blew my mind as a young kid (and who knows…maybe it subconsciously had something to do with my becoming a lifeguard later), and left a strong-enough impression that I remembered it more than 35 years later.

You know, back before they had TV shows, and way back before paper was readily available, people had to rely on other means to pass down significant things from one generation to the next. The Old Testament Israelites, few of which could even read or write at an advanced level, used markers and oral tradition to keep alive the memory of God’s faithfulness to them. They’d build monuments to serve as reminders for times when God saved them from destruction, or recite the story of how the Lord liberated them from Egypt (the retelling of which is commanded in Exodus 13:3-10, and still today occurs at the Passover seder). Many of the Psalms themselves are written in ways that aid memorization; some Psalms have a verse starting with each successive letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Other Psalms are sung at specific times of the year to commemorate certain things.

Even though we currently have what seems like limitless information available at our fingertips, it’s important to remember and celebrate the information we already have. The Lord’s faithfulness to us is second to none, and His grace and mercy toward us far exceed anything we deserve. Despite the fact that we’re bombarded with more information per day than any generation in history, don’t forget the importance and relevance of God’s actions toward us all. It’s the most important and consequential thing you’ll ever hear about, so don’t forget it, and be sure to pass it on to those around you.

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Alright, it’s Time To Go; Everybody out the Door!

It’s funny just how much kids can teach you about God’s dealings with us.

I’ve got three kids; a girl, a boy, and another girl. They all have different approaches when they know it’s time to leave the house.

My oldest is very deliberate, and spends a lot of time planning to avoid feeling rushed. As long as she knows the departure time, she’ll work backwards from there to calculate time for clothes, time for hair, time for gathering necessities, etc.

My son doesn’t take much time to get ready. After years of urging him to prepare, get shoes on, and use the bathroom in preparation for departure, he’s demonstrated that as long as he knows what’s coming, there’s really no need to call him until we’re about 60 seconds from actually walking out the door.

My youngest is funny. We’ll warn her about our impending departure, but she’ll stay wrapped up in a book for as long as possible. When we tell her it’s time to get shoes on because we’re leaving, that’s when she goes and packs a snack and some water. We end up waiting for her because her idea of “time to go” doesn’t jive with ours.

Based on their three different personalities, we treat them differently when we know about a deadline or timeframe we want to adhere to. The three of them need different sets of guardrails to arrive at the same end state. Their approach might be to have all questions answered before formulating a detailed plan, agreeing to the task without having much information at all, or just bobbing along with whatever today brings.

Now, keeping that parenting analogy in mind, how great is it to be known by a Creator who understands us better than we do? He knows what motivates us, what overwhelms us, what inspires us, and what deflates us. He knows exactly what we need when it’s time to get us moving in a certain direction.

Similarly, we’re all offered different opportunities to take part in building Christ’s kingdom throughout our Christian lives. We’re not required to do them, but different sets of blessings and challenges come along with each one. God already knows which of those opportunities we’ll take part in and which of them we’ll decline. He offers us invitations that are easy to accept, and others which prove to be more difficult. I imagine that while He enjoys seeing us accept those easy ones, it brings Him genuine joy to see us choose to accept the hard ones.

So the next time you know God’s extending a challenge to you, even if it’s one you don’t want to accept, why don’t you take a closer look at taking Him up on it? He knows you better than you do, and He’s going to give you everything you need to take on that challenge. Either in this life or the next, there’s a special blessing for you on the other side of your obedience.

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Christmas is Over and now it’s Time To Pay the Piper

Christmas is over. Hopefully you were able to enjoy some time with loved ones. Now the other shoe drops, though. January heralds the arrival of the credit card bills.

There’s a reason stress levels are so high this time of year. The period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is likely the period of highest spending during the whole year for most households. If you were able to sneak through December without dealing with many bills, January’s probably not going to be quite as kind to you. Depending on how much your spending increased during the Christmas season, those bills may put a major strain on your bank account.

Well I don’t have a way for you to make all those problems go away, but I might have something that can help take the sting out of it. For next Christmas, rather than running headlong into your bills using only your regular paycheck, it might help to save up for your Christmas expenses during the whole year. I bring this up now because you’ve got almost an entire year to prepare for the next Christmas. The priority, obviously, is to pay your bills from this Christmas, but if you’re done with that already, you may want to take a look at this strategy.

How much did you spend on this past Christmas? Add everything up. Include those gifts for friends and family that come to mind easily, but what about the less obvious things? Your list might include things like gifts for your kids’ teachers or members of the club you’re part of, white elephant gifts for parties at your work, end-of-year donations, etc. Don’t forget the extra electricity for decorations (indoor and outdoor), the higher electrical demands accompanying the hosting of guests, and additional heat during cold weather. Maybe you picked up some special booze as a Christmas treat. Did you have any extra out-to-eat occasions in late December? Did you have to travel somewhere (gas/tolls/tickets)? Add all of that to your list and tally it up.

After giving it a little thought, maybe that number is a little higher than you expected. Depending on your situation (mainly how many people you purchase gifts for and how extravagant your celebrations are), your total could be anywhere between $200 and $5000 or more. I’m not going to tell you what “right” is, but if you’re feeling pinched, maybe you can make an adjustment now to help prepare for the next round.

Take your total and divide it by the number of paychecks you get in a year. If you get paid every two weeks, you get 26 paychecks a year. If you get paid twice a month, that’s 24 paychecks. After dividing the total cost by the number of paychecks, whatever number you get, that’s the amount you’d need to save per paycheck to cover the same amount of expenses this coming Christmas. Wish you had a little more cash to cover this past December’s festivities? Boost that number a bit. If you did something out of the ordinary that you don’t plan on doing again, like a special trip, you can get away with saving less per paycheck to cover things next time.

Next, it’s a good idea to have a separate bank account for you to start stashing your “Christmas cash.” You could keep it all in your normal account and keep a running tally of how much of that money is set aside for December use, but unless you’re pretty diligent about keeping track of that sort of thing, it gets hard to distinguish how much of that money is just your normal account and how much of it has been set aside for specific use. That’s an easy way for the money to get sucked into other spending throughout the year. Setting up automated ways of funding this account every paycheck makes it easy for you to build your celebration fund without having to actively think about it during the year.

By way of example, if you’re paid every two weeks, $50 per paycheck is $1300 at the end of the year. If you go $60 per paycheck when you get paid twice a month, you’re looking at a total of $1440 by your last paycheck of the year. Even small additions can add up. At those two paycheck rates, saving $5 more each paycheck can mean a total of $120 or $130 more at the end of the year. By this point you probably already got your first paycheck of the new year. Even if you did, January’s still a great time to get started on setting up this kind of system with your bank, credit union, or section of the mattress where you stash your money.

Sacrificing that much per paycheck might be too much of a stretch. I totally understand that, but I’d also ask this…if that’s too much to set aside per paycheck, do you have a reliable plan for paying it off all at once if you don’t use a method like this? If for one reason or another this strategy isn’t going to work out for you, consider doing most of the year’s paychecks like this and taking a break when needed, or only saving half or two-thirds the amount per paycheck and coming up with the rest via whatever method you’ve been using. Either way will help cushion the blow if you’re not already doing something similar.

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Some Good News About Last Year and Some Hope for the Next One

Happy New Year!

It seems like January gives us hope for a better year ahead, but by the time we get to December, we’re worn out and tired. Well let me give you some good news about the year we just closed out.

A recent study of 2024 sales of print media showed that for the year, general sales were up approximately 1% compared to the previous year. At the same time, sales of Bibles were up over 20%!

I haven’t looked real deeply into the data, but it sounds to me like there’s no downside to this. I can’t claim anything for sure as a result of this one study, but I’d guess the whole “truth is relative” movement is losing some momentum as people look for something they can count on. While TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram can be fun for awhile, sooner or later people start to question the meaning of life. No matter what, the God-shaped hole in people’s souls needs to be filled, and people seem drawn to truth.

So there’s reason for optimism as we step further into this new year. Revival should always be our prayer. If you encounter someone new to reading the Bible, help them out a little bit. It’s not the most intuitive book to get started reading. Newcomers may not realize that starting at the beginning is actually starting at the VERY beginning. The really important stuff comes much later.

If you’re one of the people picking up a Bible for the first time and you’re unsure where to start, try the book of Matthew. It covers the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. (If you get done and move on to one of the next three books, don’t be surprised if it sounds familiar; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are four different accounts of much of the same material.) There are plenty of online study plans, but I can’t overemphasize the importance of getting some insight from a Bible-teaching church, especially from small group studies the church may sponsor.

As we get a new start on the calendar, let’s keep an eye out for opportunities where we can be used by the Lord in various capacities, both in ways we’re comfortable with and in ways that stretch us. Put those spiritual gifts to good use!

Lord, as we kick off a new year, help us strive to fulfill Your calling in each of our respective lives. As this hunger for truth grows within our culture, help those seekers find reliable, grounded followers to help guide them through Your word. Help us not only represent You well, but help us also be mentors for people new to the Bible. Aside from that, give us the courage we need to follow your leading in our lives; help us to actually become the men and women You put us here to be. May this new beginning encourage us to be bold as we pursue You, being willing to take the next step even when we don’t know where the journey will lead. Above all, may You be glorified through our actions. We know Your will shall be done with or without our permission, and we thank You for the invitation to be a part of Your work in this world. Forgive us when we let You down, and help us avoid wallowing in our mistakes, instead pressing on toward the life You’ve called us to. I ask these things in Your name, amen.

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If You Could Choose Anywhere and Any Time…

Imagine if you could choose where, when, and under what circumstances you were born. If you’re perfectly fine with how things worked out for you, that’s great, I’m not trying to make you unhappy with your upbringing. But think of the possibilities. Many people would probably choose to be born to rich parents, or maybe to royalty, or if nothing else, in a nicer climate or better location than where you started out.

Of course, we have no way of choosing where or when we’ll be born, our ancestral lineage, or the circumstances of our birth. It’s something we all accept as being beyond our control. That’s what makes it so hard-hitting when we look at Old Testament scriptures to see “before-it-happens” predictions of where and how the Messiah would be born. There are a number of Bible verses describing the coming Christ’s future birth:  

Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Genesis 49:10 – The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Micah 5:2 – But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Isaiah 11:1 – There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Now aside from the virgin birth part of it, I can see how a skeptic might say “well, okay, but if you make enough predictions, you’re bound to get something right.” You know what? I agree with that. Here’s the thing, though. The verses listed so far only pertain to Christ’s birth. When you add in predictions about the Messiah’s demeanor, about His riding on a foal, that He never suffers a broken bone, the nature of His death, etc., you start really narrowing the possibilities down in a way that excludes random chance. While it might be possible to fulfill a few of them by chance, things start to get mind-blowing when someone comes along and fulfills all of them.

I heard somewhere that the odds of anyone fulfilling all the prophecies related to the Christ were fewer than one in 80 billion. I think we get desensitized from movies about how astronomically unlikely it is to overcome such odds. The computer virus gets beaten. Han Solo successfully navigates the asteroid field. Tom Cruise saves the day. Let’s bring this a little closer to real life. The odds of winning the MegaMillions lottery earlier this week were a little better than 1 in 303 million. If those odds remained the same from drawing to drawing, you’d hit the MegaMillions jackpot over 260 times before reaching the same level of likelihood as a single individual fulfilling all those messianic prophecies.

Even if you don’t believe in God, you’ve got to admit there’s something a little unusual about that. The inference is that Jesus Christ is the predicted Messiah. If that’s true, it has massive implications for you and for everyone you hold dear. Why don’t you take a closer look into it?

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Veterans and the Christian Life

After I left the Air Force, I spent some time as a contractor working for the Department of Defense. The DoD is a lot more than just people in military uniforms. There are also government civilians and government contractors. (Military members normally move around to different assignments every few years, so government civilians are there longer term to provide continuity. Government contractors are more of the “hired muscle” who bring specialized skills, highly sought-after knowledge, and/or certain kinds of experience.)

As you might imagine, many of the folks working as civilians or contractors in the DoD are veterans. I’ve met men and women who have seen or done all kinds of amazing things. I’ve heard some of them tell stories that left my jaw on the floor. Sometimes it seems like they survived epic events by pure luck. Other times they displayed true heroism. I’ve met a lot of people who spent a great deal of time stationed underground in a missile silo, ready for the command to launch a nuclear strike. I knew a guy who, years ago, witnessed a car careen off the road into a canal, jumped in and dove to the bottom, waited for the car to fill with water so the pressure equalized, then opened the door and pulled the lady out to safety. I’ve known people who disarmed or intentionally detonated explosive devices. I know a dude who parachuted into Area 51. I met someone who used to take apart and put back together portions of nuclear weapons. I met a guy who was portrayed in the movie “Blackhawk Down.” I once worked with two guys who initially met when they were engaged in a firefight…against each other.

One of the fun things about working in an office environment with a bunch of veterans is that, even when the stress factor gets cranked way up, many of them keep their cool. When the tempo really picks up and deadlines loom, they move as fast as they need to, but they don’t seem perturbed. I heard someone explain why once. “I’ve been shot at. This ain’t stressful.”

It’s nice to work with people that have such a clear view of what’s important and what’s not.

It got me thinking, though. Christians should have a similar mindset, shouldn’t they?

What if we looked at it this way? We’ve been rescued from a destiny of eternal condemnation. We make mistakes over and over again, yet always receive forgiveness when we’re truly sorry. We have the opportunity to share this life-giving miracle with others. We serve the universe’s King. Our Lord empowers us to do things we can’t even anticipate. He protects us from eventualities that are not assigned to the same future as us.

It’s December. In many ways, this is the busiest, and most stressful, time of the year. Remember why we really celebrate Christmas. It’s because we take time to remember the event that changed history forever, and was the beginning of the end for Satan’s reign on Earth. If you’re a Christ follower, you’ve been saved from an eternity of suffering, so don’t sweat the small stuff. “I’ve been condemned to, then rescued from, Hell. This ain’t stressful.”

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Now That Everyone Abandoned You…

Have you ever been worn out, backed into a corner, and devoid of allies? Your own attitude may be your ticket out of a bad place.

In 1 Samuel chapter 30 we read of David, before he was king. On the run from King Saul, he had linked up with, and began leading, 600 men in raids against neighboring enemies of Israel. Building on his success as one of Saul’s most prominent army officers, David’s success continued as a bandit. It ended one day as he and his band of outlaws were away from their home base (a place called Ziklag), leaving it defenseless.

Earlier, in 1 Samuel chapter 15, the Lord had commanded Saul to completely wipe out a people called the Amalekites. Saul chose not to obey God, and one of the consequences of that disobedience was a group of Amalekite raiders attacking Ziklag while none of the warriors were around to defend it. The wives and children of David’s band were all taken captive and carried away as prisoners.

When David’s men learned of it, some of them wept and wailed until they had no more strength left to continue weeping. Their despair turned to anger, and right or wrong, they directed that anger at David. Whispers began spreading through the camp; they began talking about stoning David to death.

At this point David didn’t seem to have anyone he could rely on. Not only was he on the run from the king of Israel (who had more than once tried to pin him to the wall with a spear), he had also been kicked out of a land providing him sanctuary despite his exemplary behavior because high-ranking officials didn’t trust him. Now, as his own two wives were taken from him and he was at a very low point in his life, his own group of thugs began to turn on him too. He had no earthly partners he could count on. Demonstrating why he was known as a “man after God’s own heart,” he did something in 1 Samuel 30:6 we can all take a lesson from. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

There may be times in your Christian walk where it feels like everyone’s turned their back on you and you’re walking alone. Aside from God, you might very well have no other help. It might come down to your ability to encourage yourself that the Lord is still in control, and He has a reason for putting you through the struggles you’re facing. Place some encouraging scriptures in places you’ll see them regularly, find some devotionals and daily encouragements that hit the right spot, and spend time in prayer. Pour your heart out to God; it’s okay, tell Him how you feel! David had plenty of honest sessions with Him, too.

After this low point in the story, David spent time inquiring what the Lord would have him do. That’s an example we should follow. God led him out of that tough time, and David was stronger as a result of having gone through it. Though things are hard, hang in there! God won’t abandon you. Encourage yourself in the Lord, so even when everyone else abandons you, you still have faith in Him.

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Quick Hit: Holiday Curveball

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with a woman who had recently received an unwanted diagnosis. It’s something that, to say the least, is taking some getting used to.

During the course of the conversation, there were two encouraging ideas that came up, which can be applied to other peoples’ lives, too:

  1. This diagnosis didn’t catch God off guard.
  2. This new set of circumstances in no way changes God’s will for your life.

We’ve all had something come along and take the wind out of our sails. As we get ready to kick off holiday season, please be mindful of the people around you who may be going through a particularly challenging time. The holidays, especially, can be a trying time, and you may have been placed in their life for such a time as this.

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Never Have I Ever Done This…

Never in my life have I been excited to watch a live boxing match…until last week, when “Iron Mike” Tyson returned to the ring.

Back in his prime, Tyson was known as “the baddest man on the planet.” His punching power and pure tenacity were unrivaled. He’s the dude that bit off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear! Not only would I not want to meet this guy in a dark alley; I’d be skittish meeting him with a bunch of burly dudes between him and I. When I was a kid, they had video games featuring this guy. If you could beat him in the game, you were the cat’s pajamas!

So when the much-hyped fight between him and a young boxing upstart arrived, I had to tune in. Tyson, a 58-year-old man, was stepping in the ring with an arrogant social media star less than half his age. Everybody I knew wanted Iron Mike to clean this guy’s clock. I hadn’t been this excited about a boxing match since watching a Rocky movie!

Coverage began at 8:00 pm, and there was an undercard to get through before the main event. I watched a movie with one of my kiddos to help pass the time. I checked back in around 10:30. We still had a long time to go before the big fight. People around me started going to bed. Things just kept dragging on and on. I finally threw in the towel and ended up going to bed probably around 12:30-1:00 in the morning, and the fight was still some time away.

The next morning was a Saturday, but I couldn’t sleep. I woke up after just a few hours and tried in vain to go back to sleep. I got out of bed probably at 5 in the morning to go watch the fight. Everybody else in the house was still asleep. I didn’t check online to find out what happened, I wanted to watch it unfold the way it really happened.

After watching the hype videos and the fighters’ entrances, it was finally time to start the bout! In the first round, Tyson stood toe to toe with his opponent and delivered some decent shots. Could he knock the guy out?

As time went on, it became very apparent that time waits for no man, not even the baddest man on the planet. He still had punching power, but had lost his timing and reflexes, and the killer instinct had faded. He looked nervous and tentative as he grew tired. His old legs didn’t allow him to pursue his opponent around the ring, so he was forced to mostly play defense as the younger man circled around him. Tyson just didn’t have the tools he used to possess. By the start of the last round, I was just hoping Tyson could get through it without getting seriously hurt. In the end, nobody scored any knockdowns or knockouts. The younger guy landed more punches, and the judges awarded him the win.

Time doesn’t stop ticking. I’m at an age now where I can no longer do some of the things I could formerly do, but I’m not so old that I let it stop me from trying. Sometimes it works out okay, but other times I end up being sore for days. I think it’s good to take a lesson from Iron Mike and recognize that your combination of abilities, skills, and desire will change as you get older. The Lord has charged you with certain things to accomplish in this life, whether it be something in ministry or some other area in which He created you to pursue excellence. During the course of your life it’s important to be open to being flexible; the ways you honor God as a young adult probably won’t look the same when you hit middle age, and likewise will probably shift again by the time you reach retirement age and then again by the time you reach old age. You’re not going to have the same tools you formerly possessed (not all of them, anyway). Sometimes that could mean staying in the same line of work but teaming with someone who still has the advantages of youth, while other times it means moving into something entirely different.

I urge you to pursue God’s calling for your life, knowing full well your skillset is likely to look very different at various periods in your life. Don’t waste time pining for the victories of yesteryear; press on to face the challenge God’s placed in your path today. There will always be something too big for you to do on your own, but there will never be something He charges you with doing that He doesn’t equip you to accomplish. He hasn’t stopped being faithful to you, and though your physical and/or mental limits have changed from what they used to be, honor Him with your best today.

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A Lot Happens in the Middle

As a Christian, have you ever wished you’d had a greater hand in leading someone to Christ? Maybe you had general discussions about God with non-believers, or even prayed with them, but you’ve never been part of “closing the deal.”

Well, don’t despair. God doesn’t usually do major works in someone’s life all at once; He usually does His work over the course of time. Some people might only require a short path on their way to deciding to follow Christ, needing only a few conversations or teachings from the Bible. On the other hand, other folks require an extensive amount of steps before yielding to Jesus. They may hear the truth multiple times, they may acknowledge that the theory of evolution doesn’t explain everything, and they may assent to the idea that despite “having it all,” there’s still something missing. It takes people varying amounts of time to work through that paradox.

God works in some pretty amazing ways. We never know if someone’s going to become a Christian, and if they do, how many “steps” it will take to get them there. The important thing to remember is that whether it’s three steps or 705, each one of those steps needs to happen before they bow their knee to the Lord. Being a part of any of those steps helps them get to the end of the journey.

If you interact with someone in a God-honoring way at any point before they accept Christ as their Savior, take joy in participating! You may not learn in this life what happens to that person’s eternal disposition, but then again, you may have brought them a step closer to seeing them again someday after this life is over.

So even if you don’t pray with someone to accept Christ, don’t give up on helping them work toward that goal.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. –Galatians 6:9