Author: Tim

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When the Routine is a Painful One

Back in college there were a few of us among our larger group of friends that would hit the weight room on a regular basis. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around 6:30 pm, Tyrone, Gabe, and I would meet up and head over to the gym.

It was a good routine for us; most of the time all three of us kept the appointment, but of course there would be times when one of us had to catch up on school work, make up some time on a project, or pull some extra hours at work, so the trio would be down a man. That’s when having a group of three paid off, there would still be two guys that could meet up and get a workout done.

Consistency was the key to results. Getting into a routine was important, and after a few weeks of regular workouts, the body came to embrace the physical stress. It was also a good mental discipline for all of us. There were definitely times when I didn’t feel like going, but knowing there were two other guys that were going to come looking for me to go with them helped get me ready to head out the door.

Now, missing a workout every now and then wasn’t a big deal. You can skip a workout and still jump back in without much of an issue. Christmas break, on the other hand, was something you had to figure out how to deal with. Bench press and bicep curls were some of the mainstay exercises we did in the gym, but neither of those exercises were something you really performed naturally in normal life. If you had a couple of weeks off from school (and the weight room), you probably missed a bunch of workouts unless you did something really creative to stay in shape, and those muscles didn’t take long to begin to atrophy.

Every January when we arrived back on campus, we kind of dreaded the first time we got back into the weight room. We still had muscle mass, certainly, but it had noticeably lost some of its density and tightness. We wanted to get back into our routine, but we were also a bit reluctant to get started up again because after you go for a few weeks without doing unnatural movements like bench press, and then you start doing it again, it becomes very painful.

What we came to realize was that it wasn’t the first workout back that we needed to fear, it was the second.

On the first workout back, we’d try to hype each other up a little bit, probably spout off something about working out harder in the new year, and grit our teeth as we pushed through. Sure, we took a couple of steps backward for that first workout, but the goal was to just get through it.

On the second workout back, we wouldn’t be gritting our teeth, we’d be wincing in pain. The acute stabbing pain in our pectoral muscles was terrible as we asked our bodies to work through the soreness that came from our first workout back. The only way to get to the other side of the pain and back into the reality of exercising without that kind of hurt was to just keep going. “If you can make it through the second workout, you’re home free,” we used to say.

As Christians, we’re entrusted with spiritual gifts. If Christ is your savior, you’re equipped with what you need to perform the work God’s asking you to do. We go through different phases and chapters in our lives and we’re capable of giving more effort in some phases than in others, but at some point during our lives God calls us to do something on behalf of His kingdom.

Perhaps it’s been a few chapters since you were willing to step outside your comfort zone to follow God’s will for your life, and you’ve been trying to get back to fulfilling your calling. Things tend to align against you and work to dissuade you from getting back into that sort of routine.

I can’t sit here and honestly tell you that you only have to get through two sessions of whatever it is that God’s called you to do before it gets less painful, but I would encourage you not to give up, and urge you to stick with it. To His followers, Jesus promised persecution, difficulties, and generally some hard times. He said that we’d need to have perseverance and grit to stick it out. I may not know you personally, but I can tell you that you’ll have challenges in this new year. Stick it out. Hang in there.

I’ll leave you with two Bible verses on perseverance. One is addressed to you as an individual who needs encouragement to follow Christ, while the other is addressed to you as an individual who’s exhorted to fulfill your calling. In both cases, note the need for persistence and perseverance.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. –James 1:12

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. –Galatians 6:9

May 2023 be a year of persistence and growth for you, and I wish you the best in getting past your discomfort and into the routine God wants you to pursue.

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Why Do We Even Bother Going to Church?

What’s the point of church? Like, why do we have church?

Many people think it’s a place to bring non-believing friends, family members, or acquaintances so they can hear about God. It’s great if you can bring unchurched people to hear about God, but that’s not the main purpose for church services. When you get right down to it, church exists for believers to gather in corporate worship, be bolstered in their faith, grow in their knowledge of the Bible and the Lord, and then scatter for the purpose of executing different types of ministry on behalf of Jesus Christ.

If Christianity is a seven-day per week commitment, church is a pep talk. Church is where you go to hear one of God’s representatives proclaim the truth. It’s where you call sin “sin.” You’re supposed to walk away from church feeling uplifted and hopeful, but also a little convicted and a little uncomfortable. If you’ve got a pretty good handle on living the right kind of life for God, you should walk away from church with an increased sense of urgency for all the people that still need to hear about Christ.

There’s a problem that’s been happening with churches for a couple of thousand years now, though. There are too many churches that don’t want to be the bad guy by calling something “sin.” Some churches don’t want to touch controversial topics. Some don’t want to offend anybody. Others just want to do “feel good” messages.

A couple of seasons back I bought a new garden hose. The ones I had been using kept breaking near the connection where you screw the hose onto the spigot, so I bought one that had a more robust connection. It was great, I’ve still got it, and it’s still very sturdy. The problem is that I left it attached to the spigot too long, and now it won’t unscrew from the spigot.

I don’t know if it’s because minerals in the water precipitated out and solidified on the connection, or if the two different metals somehow corroded together, but the end result is the same: the two different items that were very distinct before have now become, for all intents and purposes, a single entity that’s now a liability. I shut off the water to the spigot, but can’t fully drain the hose for the winter. Assuming it doesn’t sustain any permanent damage through the winter it should still be able to function when things warm back up, but the hose has lost some of its value (I can’t for example, unscrew it and attach it to my house’s other spigot).

The reason the church exists is to act as the “salt and light” for the world. That is, it’s the means by which the earth’s decay will be slowed. The church exists to provide moral clarity for the world and to point the world to Christ. I will fully acknowledge that a greater percentage of people will ignore or choose to turn their backs on Christ than will follow Him, but that should not influence the Church’s purpose. To be effective at preserving the world, the Church must stand in stark contrast to it. Have no doubt about this: one day God will look at the state of the world and how badly its morality has decayed, He’ll look at the Church and how watered down some teachings have become, and He’ll say “that’s enough. I’m pulling all my children out of there.”

At that point, the earth will have no true church left; it will have to start over again with zero believers. There will be plenty of people that have attended church for years but have not actually embraced Christ as Savior. The earth will still have church members who are more concerned with social events and community garage sales than they are with evangelism, and those people will be confused about why so many parishioners are gone while they’ve been left behind.

Since the “salt and light,” or “preservative” has been removed from the situation, it’s at this point that there’s no longer anything holding back the acceleration of society’s moral decay. To everyone that’s left, God will say “you know what? I gave you plenty of chances. Have it your way, do whatever you want, but I’ve pulled all my people out.”

A note of encouragement to those of you that are pastors/priests/teachers. Those that have a leadership or teaching role when it comes to God’s word are going to be held to a higher standard when they stand before the Almighty, so now’s not the time to compromise for the sake of appeasing earthly voices. We’re counting on you to say it like God wants you to say it. Don’t water things down. Don’t talk yourself into thinking that the Bible means something other than what you know it’s saying. If you make a leap like that, you’re going to have to answer for it someday.

I could apply brute force to that hose to try to get it off, but by doing that I’ll run the risk of twisting and breaking the pipe it’s connected to. I can apply heat to try to cause differential swelling to break the hold, but that risks damage to the hose itself. I can try applying lubricants and penetrants, but odds are that I’m going to need to combine that method with another. In any case, there’s going to be some pain and discomfort associated with breaking that “merged” entity back into two different ones. It would’ve been much better if I’d simply removed the hose from time to time to ensure it wasn’t bonding too closely with the spigot. Let’s take the lesson here and make sure the Church’s teachings are distinct from the audience we’re trying to reach and aren’t getting too bonded to them. It will be a lot more painful to break them apart than it will be to just ensure they stay separate.

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Quick Hit: If Santa Followed the Lord

Either voluntarily or by compulsion, one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

At that point it will be too late to make a decision about who Christ is. But imagine if people could come back from that encounter and warn others who haven’t yet experienced that event. I saw a mug last year that shows how Santa might spread the word:

You’re all naughty. Romans 3:23-24

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. –Romans 3:23-24

Don’t forget what Christmas is really all about. God came in the flesh to permanently cover all the sins of those who embrace Him as their Savior. This amazing gift is what inspires our own exchange of presents to one another. May this event inspire joy in your heart year round, but especially this time of year!

Merry Christmas!

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Quick Hit: Christmas Carols Can Cause Mental Anguish?

The Christmas season is in full swing. While Christ is, of course, supposed to be front and center, the season has come to be characterized by shopping, hustle and bustle, extra parties, and Christmas carols.

Imagine if, right about now, less than two weeks away from Christmas, you departed for Basic Training?

That’s what I did when I joined. I left for Air Force Basic about 10 days before Christmas. You can imagine how fun the holiday was that year. We didn’t have any decorations or Christmas trees or anything like that, but we were given the opportunity to go to a couple of extra church services.

Part of the services involved singing Christmas carols, which is a nice thought. It turns out that some sadistic weirdo decided to add “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” to the song lineup for those services. For those of you that may not be familiar, the lyrics talk about how wonderful it is to be home for Christmas, and that the people back home can count on the singer(s) being home in time for the celebration. It then abruptly changes direction and decides that, well, it’s looking like it’s not going to be possible to get home in time, so “I’ll be home for Christmas…if only in my dreams.”

What kind of demented sicko adds that to the song lineup to poke at a bunch of miserable, homesick people in the days leading up to Christmas? Somebody who didn’t get enough hugs as a child, that’s who. Parents…hug your kids!

But anyway, to you military folks, you make lots of sacrifices for us all, and we often lose sight of that. We know it’s not always possible for you to be home for holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, or other special occasions. Thanks to all of you for raising your right hand and for doing whatever Uncle Sam asks of you in order to keep us free to celebrate our freedoms. I hope you have a great Christmas wherever you are. You are appreciated!

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250: That’s a big Milestone

Can you imagine being shipwrecked three times? (Well, I guess it was four, but only three had happened by the time this letter was written.) What about experiencing a sentence of 39 lashes…on five different occasions? Or being adrift in the open sea all night, then all the next day?

The apostle Paul did these things, and much more. The book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 24-33 contains a list of Paul’s sufferings for the cause of Christ. He put together this list not because he wanted to brag about the things he’d been through, but to connect with an audience he believed needed to hear the point he was making. Constantly in danger from his own people, but also from people of different faiths, Paul survived the threat of robbers, false believers, dangers in both cities and in the wilderness, and endured sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, the cold, and the stress and genuine worry that comes along with being concerned about the well being of churches he’d started.

Paul suffered much for the cause of Christ, and that “resumé” is part of what gives him the ability to make such bold claims to opponents of Christianity. Relentlessly focused on spreading the Gospel, Paul’s experiences gave him the “street cred” to use his ministry to advance the Good News. His list of experiences would make anybody sit up and pay attention to what he had to say.

This is DareGreatlyNow’s 250th blog post. Some of the posts age better than others, but the Christ-focused messages hold up. The different entries are mostly about things I’ve experienced. In a sense, this undertaking is my testimony. I can’t hold a candle to Paul and the type of ministry he had, but I can relay my experiences in the hopes of moving toward the same goal he had: advancing the Kingdom of Christ by sharing what He’s done in my life.

Our focus areas are a little different from one another. Paul started churches and mentored young leaders, addressing corruption in the church and encouraging obedient believers. His work involved becoming closely involved in the daily lives of people he came to know very well. He was a leader that rolled up his sleeves and got close enough to correct people when they were wrong, to call out false teachers, and to protect his figurative sheep from various dangers.

I, on the other hand, work to encourage readers to believe that they can be a part of advancing Christ’s kingdom and are capable of more than what they believe themselves to be. I want Christ followers to not only know, but also live in such a way that in the midst of darkening skies, they should abandon reluctance and embrace the use of the spiritual gifts they’ve been empowered with, becoming exactly who it is they were born to be. I want to help people seize on the idea that they were created for more than what their lives currently are, but they have to realize it’s going to take some discomfort on their part to be able to reach their full potential in living for Christ.

I haven’t lived through shipwrecks, beatings, or getting stoned by an angry mob. I write about adventures from my younger years, parenthood, current events, and Bible passages. I recount failures, close calls, and “what were you thinking?!” scenarios. I’ll probably never meet most of the people who read these entries, but I trust that the Lord will help the posts make their way to the people that need to see them. Very few of the events I relay here were things I intended to pursue as a child, but whether I planned them or not, they’re now part of who I am and they’ve helped shape how I see the world. I’m thankful for (most of) them, and I love that I get to share them while turning parts of my life into object lessons that somehow glorify the Lord.

I don’t have to be as famous as Paul; that’s not the type of service God has called me into. His neck was constantly on the line. I don’t deal with that level of stress. I have more food than I need and I can take a hot shower or sleep in a soft bed every day. All I have to do is pay for a website and dedicate some time to writing. God prompted me to do it, and He hasn’t prompted me to stop yet, so I guess He’s still got plans for the posts that are yet to come.

What’s really exciting is that you’re similarly equipped for serving the Lord. I don’t know what the nature of your calling is, but all Christians are empowered with spiritual gifts and other resources that can be used in serving Christ. I also have no idea how God intends to interweave the service of multiple believers, but it’s exciting to think about. If there’s something big that God intends to do years from now, He’s probably already got things in motion. There are going to be things happening in your life, or in my life, that help set the stage for future events. You and I need God to prepare us for those things because if we walked into those future situations right now, we’d be lacking something we’d otherwise have by taking “the long way.”

It’s quite within the realm of possibility that there are things occurring in someone else’s life over the next few weeks, months, or years, that are teeing up a situation where somebody will be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to provide you with exactly the thing you need the most, precisely when you need it most (and I have no idea what that would look like). That’s not an accident, and it’s a privilege to be able to recognize when you’re a part of that. If you offer your talents, and others offer their talents, when used by God, it creates more opportunities for a grand story.

Anyway, thank you to all those that have subscribed, encouraged me, or otherwise supported me in my efforts to follow the Lord’s calling for my life. I hope you’re supported in following your calling. Hopefully in Heaven we’ll get some insight into how we’re all connected through this grand story. In the meantime, take joy in honoring the Lord in a way that only you can…it might just be the reason you were put here.

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It Was Gone With the Wind

At a family get-together at my wife’s aunt and uncle’s house, my son ran into a problem.

This particular piece of property has a field that’s lined on two sides with acres of hardwood trees. My son brought an aerial drone to use in the field, but even a gentle breeze was too much for it to overcome and it got carried toward the trees. By the time he sent the command to kill power, it was out of range and it maintained a hover as the wind took it away.

He came and found me and relayed what had happened. Thankfully some of the other kids overheard the predicament and a small army of second cousins headed out into the treeline to search. (Walking behind them, it was one of those “my faith in humanity is restored” moments.)

The search dragged on for awhile though, and we didn’t develop any leads. My wife’s uncle had a number of tree stands set up in the area, so I decided to climb up a little higher for a better view.

Nearing the top of the ladder, I stopped and began having a look around. Was that… “I might see something over there!” I pointed off in a direction and someone took a walk over to check it out. I steered them toward whatever it was, and sure enough, they picked up the missing drone! It had automatically killed the power after losing contact with the remote long enough.

My son was very fortunate to have so many people willing to lend a hand. It was hard to find the drone walking around on the ground, even with so many of us searching. Getting a different vantage point made all the difference.

Now remember that you’ve got an advocate working on your behalf, who not only sees from an elevated vantage point, but from every possible vantage point. He knows what your mind is preoccupied with, He knows what you’re searching for, what He’ll let you find, when He’ll show it to you, and the surprise events that are just around the corner.

In the various crises we face with our short-term memories, it’s sometimes tough to remember that God plays the long game in our lives. The attitudes we take in facing today’s events not only are born out of the previous experiences God’s brought us through, but will also shape our future perspective. In God’s multi-dimensional perspective, He’s both having us arrive at a specific point in our lives and preparing us for some future purpose.

From our position on the ground it’s hard (or impossible) to see, but we’ve got someone in our corner with a way better view, guiding us where He wants us to go. We just need to follow those directions.

The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” -Isaiah 30:20-21

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We’re Given Reason To Be Thankful

Since many of us are probably doing something a little outside of our weekly routine this Thursday, I thought I’d post a little early.

There’s a character in the Bible that normally only gets mentioned around Christmas, but it’s probably more appropriate that we stop to think of him around Thanksgiving.

Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) was a devout man. God had provided a special promise to him. The Lord revealed to him that he wouldn’t die until he had seen the promised Messiah. Since God had been largely silent for hundreds of years (in terms of speaking through prophets), this was a huge deal.

Luke 2:27 says that the Spirit led Simeon to the temple on the day Mary and Joseph were required by law to present their newborn son as the law required. It doesn’t say anything about how he recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, but verses 28 and 29 say that he took the child in his arms, praised the Lord, and proclaimed that he could now die in peace.

This is a level of thankfulness that’s difficult to describe, yet relatable for Christians today.

We’re bombarded by bad news and starved for good news. We see the collapse of morality everywhere, and even the apparent rise of immorality. We’re constantly being asked how our God could let these things happen. It’s easy for Jesus-followers to get discouraged.

And then we remember the promises about the restoration to come.

It’s not quite on the same scale as the guy that got to hold baby Jesus and understand the significance of who he was holding, but it gives us hope and reason to be thankful.

This year as you reflect on what to be thankful for, remember to keep God’s promises and the hope that comes with them at the top of your list.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and may you be able to celebrate with loved ones this year!

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Papers Please. What is the Reason for Your Visit?

When I was a teenager my extended family organized a reunion in Europe. My U.S. relatives connected with my European relatives and plotted out a multi-week celebration and tour for all of us as the younger generation (myself included) met many cousins, second cousins, and great aunts and uncles for the first time. It was a lot of fun, looking back. Lots of beautiful scenery, lots of fun experiences, and many interesting people.

Aside from the flight across the Atlantic, this trip included a good amount of travel once we were there. The host families weren’t clustered in one town, they were sprinkled throughout different areas, so we did lots of smaller trips from region to region. One day as our group was waiting for a train, one of the members of our party showed us how she had made photocopies of passports for her and her husband. In the event that something happened to their actual passports, the photocopies would help in replacing the passports they’d need to get home.

This was a very good idea, and the U.S. State Department actually recommends doing this. We were all impressed with the idea, until she folded the copies up and tucked them back into the bag right next to her actual passports. That’s when everyone started pointing out that the copies should be stored somewhere else, because if they were kept together, whatever unfortunate circumstance befell the actual passports would also happen to the copies.

We’ll come back to that in a minute. The Bible impresses on us that it’s our job as Christians to be the salt and light for the world (meaning that Christ through us is the force that slows the world’s moral decay). We’re ordered to spread the Gospel with the message of what Christ has done for us. It also points out, however, that some situations are so spiritually dangerous that they must be approached with extreme caution.

The New Testament book of Jude is only a single chapter long, and spends a lot of its time talking about apostates, or those that have somehow defected from true, biblical faith. In fact, it’s the only New Testament book that’s dedicated exclusively to confronting those that warp such faith. Apostates intentionally sowed incorrect doctrine among early followers of Christ. Jude called on the church to fight to maintain correct doctrine, and for believers to contend for their faith.

In this struggle there are people of biblical faith, there are apostates that pervert biblical faith, and there are those that are caught in the middle, either trying to figure out what to believe or not yet completely firm in their decision. It’s this third group that Jude discusses in verses 22 and 23.

Verse 22 is fairly straightforward: And on some have compassion, making a distinction. The people caught in the middle need to hear the truth, certainly, and that’s part of the role of the Christian. This verse is more or less telling us not to abandon people that have been influenced by wrongful teaching. We’re to have compassion on them because it’s still possible to sway them to the truth. There’s a dire warning in the next verse though. Verse 23 says but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

This is very strange. Aside from “praise the Lord,” some version of “fear not” is the most common command in the Bible. Why, then, are we urged to do something with fear? It adds a high degree of emphasis for the reader.

Did you ever literally pull something from a fire? Speed is important. The teaching of apostates can be so sticky, so subtle, and so dangerous, that if I could paraphrase Jude, he’d be saying “if you can’t save them without getting yourself sucked in, don’t attempt it. Give it a quick try, but if you’re starting to get burned yourself, run the other way.” These people are to be given the Gospel, just like everyone else, but it’s to be delivered with a great fear of being contaminated by apostates’ lies or misleading worldview. Think back to the passport example. If the actual passports and the copies are kept in very close proximity, whatever danger befalls one will happen to the other. The two versions can be carried by the same person for short periods of time if necessary, but it’s a bad idea to keep them together in the same place for the whole trip. Jude punctuates his point by metaphorically suggesting that even the garment of one so dangerous is to be avoided for fear of being affected by false teaching.

Are you a Christ-follower? If so, part of your duty is to be very familiar with scripture so you can be on guard against false teaching, and can confront it when you encounter it. The teachers who intentionally twist God’s word will be judged harshly, but by that point it will likely be too late to help those that fall victim to these teachers. This is why it’s essential that when you hear some biblical teaching you know to be incorrect, you speak up.

Need some examples? You’ll encounter many people that don’t believe any of the following, but be especially watchful and on guard when you hear people only partially agree with these concepts:

-Jesus Christ is God’s only son, both fully God and fully man. We cannot ever be equal to Him. He is the only way to salvation, an eternity with God, and Heaven.

-The Bible is made up of the Old and New Testaments. It’s not missing anything (there’s no additional component that’s necessary in order to “complete” the set of scripture).

-Beware of people that claim to have insider information or who “know what the Bible really means.” Christ’s sacrifice is a gift to all humanity…it’s to be shared freely, not hoarded.

Lord, with 8 billion people on the planet, there’s a lot of teaching out there. Some of it’s true, some of it sounds true, and some of it’s downright wrong. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to be our personal lie detectors when it comes to what You’ve revealed. Help us stay rooted in scripture, amplify our understanding, and give us the boldness and confidence to contend for the faith, in order that You may be glorified. I ask in Your name, Amen.

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Lord of (More Than Just) the Rings

About this time of year, probably about five years ago, we had some family pictures taken. My wife had a friend with a photography business, and we set up a time at a picturesque area and met her there for an extended photo shoot.

The fall foliage was exploding with color, and we really did have a very nice backdrop. It was one of the first cold days of the season, but for the sake of the photos we tried to make it look like we weren’t cold. The kids were wrapped in blankets and coats while we set up shots, then they ditched them when it was time to take the pictures.

When I get cold, my fingers shrink a little as they try to avoid losing a lot of heat from my hands. The only way I really notice it is when my wedding ring starts sliding around on my finger more than normal. I have to check my ring more often and sometimes keep my knuckles bent so I don’t lose it.

We took lots of different shots that day, and as in any photo shoot, some of them didn’t work out. One of the later shots we took involved all of us throwing handfuls of fallen leaves up into the air. We tried it a couple of times to get all of our throws synched and a good effect for the leaves spreading out and falling, but it wasn’t working. By that time we were finished with that, we were all a little chilled and the novelty had worn off for at least one of the kiddos, so we weren’t super sad when it was a wrap.

I’m not sure when I realized it, but before we left, I noticed that I no longer had my wedding ring on. I checked my pants pockets and my jacket pockets, but there was nothing there. I told my wife and the photographer, and the only thing we could think of was that it slid off during the leaf-throwing scene. We went back and started looking around for it in the area where we had tossed the leaves.

I tried retracing my steps and simulating the motions I had done earlier, trying to narrow down where the ring may have gone. We still couldn’t find it, and we couldn’t drag the kids around much longer in the cold. From a practical standpoint, the ring wasn’t super valuable. It was even scratched up from doing all kinds of activities while wearing it. Obviously, we still wanted to find it. Sure, we could replace it, but that was an original ring from our wedding day. Eventually, we had to call off the search. Before we left, the photographer, who lived nearby, pledged to contact her neighbor, who had a metal detector.

We brought the kids home and got them fed and warmed up, and my wife received a text from her photographer friend saying she had acquired her neighbor’s metal detector. It was sitting on her front porch and I was free to come and use it to look for the ring. After lunch I headed back, grabbed the detector, and headed back to resume the search.

I had never used a metal detector before, but I followed the directions on it and started sweeping around the area. I still couldn’t find the ring, but I found some other weird metal stuff. At least I knew it was working. I covered the immediate area a few times over, trying different settings to try to pick up some kind of reading, but still nothing. Growing disheartened, I decided to widen the search area just a little bit more before giving up. Wouldn’t you know it, a faint reading showed up in an area farther away than where we’d been looking. Bending down for a closer look, there it was, lying on the ground among the leaves! I texted my wife right away to share the good news with her. God was gracious that day.

It reminds me of a series of parables Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15. The most famous of the three is the prodigal son, but there are two other parables earlier in the chapter. The first is about a man with 100 sheep that leaves 99 of them to go after the one that’s lost. Then the one that my lost ring reminded me of is in verses 8 to 10.

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

Then verse 10 is my favorite part:  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

All three of these parables describe the joy in Heaven that explodes when a single sinner repents of their ways and turns to God. The last verse of the parable of the 100 sheep says I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Let’s not forget what we’re supposed to be focused on while we’re here on Earth. Eternity hangs in the balance, and it’s for good reason that angels rejoice over the conversions of sinners. Not only has that soul been spared an eternity of suffering, but it’s also an eternity of fellowship between God and a believer that’s been gained. While it’s the Holy Spirit that enables it to happen, He frequently invites Christians to be blessed by being a part of that momentous occasion. Be on the lookout for opportunities to help angels rejoice!

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So Help Me, if I Get one More Election Flyer…

Well, it’s election time again. In America, for better or for worse, a major election is never more than two years away. Where I live, I’ve been getting an obscene amount of political flyers in the mail. It seems like political campaigns are singlehandedly keeping the post office afloat.

If we’re totally honest here, there are problems that politicians cause and there are problems that they don’t cause but still get blamed for. For instance, the President usually gets credit for, or blamed for, the economy, regardless of whether or not their policies are behind its current health. Right now the economy is sputtering pretty hard, and an increasing number of economists are predicting some kind of recession in 2023. Unless you work at the Fed, there’s not a whole lot anyone (including politicians) can do about that. That’s just kind of the reality right now, but if you’re running for office, it’s your job to try to get more votes than your opponent. One way candidates are doing that right now is by saying “if my opponent gets elected, they’re going to crash the economy!” I’ve got news for you. The economy’s going to crash regardless of who’s in office. Don’t make your decision based on that argument. Pay more attention to who’s likely to get us back out of a recession without taking on a whole lot of additional debt.

Global economics are evolving. China’s role in the global economy is looking like it’s going to morph into something different. Xi Jinping has just been elected to a third five-year term in China, and that’s a pretty huge deal. They had to change the laws in China to allow this to happen. He’s a staunch Communist, and the changes he’s made in China have been pretty brutal for Chinese citizens. For the past decade or two, China’s been exploding in economic growth, and that’s been good for the country, but Xi has now accumulated enough power to be able to start exerting more control over businesses. His own speeches suggest he wants to close the wealth gap, which sounds great, but what that really means is that he wants to put everybody on the same economic level: poor. Communism can’t thrive if you’ve got a lot of innovators, free-thinkers, and billionaires, so he’s got to lock all of that down and bring it under state control.

On top of that, Xi has pledged to reunify Taiwan with the mainland. This is a little misleading, because “reunification” implies a reuniting, but the Chinese Government has never controlled Taiwan. For all intents and purposes, Taiwan is a separate country from China, but the U.S. position is to recognize the “one China” policy. I think maybe it’s time to change our policy, even though that would draw a tremendous amount of anger from China. Here’s the kicker…because of the strange demographics of China (especially decades of the “one child” policy), the average age of China’s population is about to increase very quickly, and the number of military-aged citizens are going to start dropping fast. That’s the long way of saying that China fully intends to control Taiwan, and if it’s going to do it through force, it has to be very soon.

This election may very well decide who is in office at the time this attempt takes place. I’m not sure how close he is to being ready to pull the trigger, but Xi’s best move would probably be to give the green light during the lame duck period…between the election and when the newly elected officials get sworn in.

Then there’s this Russia/Ukraine thing. The whole thing has been a disaster for Putin. The guy is an evil dude, but despite appearances, he’s not crazy. He’s a rational guy, but his rationale operates very differently than yours or mine might. He’s painted himself into a corner and there’s no way for him to achieve his objectives without doing some pretty unconventional things or taking a major hit to his credibility at home. His army is in shambles, his partial mobilization of everyday Russian citizens isn’t going well, and Russia probably faces a decades-long path to rebuilding itself militarily and economically (if that’s even possible). Running out of options, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Putin employs nuclear weapons in Ukraine if his forces keep taking shots on the chin. I don’t mean the big, multi-megaton “crowdpleasers,” I’m talking much smaller battlefield/tactical nukes. That’s still a big deal, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps not as big a deal as the average citizen may perceive it as. Any way you slice it, a mushroom cloud is something we don’t want to see, but we may be getting closer to seeing one on the news.

Those are some of the things that are happening abroad. In addition to our economy, we’re still trying to untangle snarled logistics chains. The Mississippi River is so low that barge traffic has been drastically reduced. Many of you may have heard about the diesel shortage that’s about to start hitting, probably later this month. Diesel powers most 18-wheelers, locomotives, farm equipment, and other major engines (construction vehicles, large delivery vehicles that supply gasoline to gas stations, etc.) that are crucial to the flow of products across the logistics network. The shortage doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to run out of diesel fuel, it means we’ve got a smaller margin for error when keeping the fuel flowing. As fuel becomes less plentiful, the shortage doesn’t hit all at once; the shortage starts manifesting itself in pockets of scarcity. Farmers, for example, will have to start making choices about what type of equipment to use if they don’t have enough fuel to run everything. Truckers will have to compete for a smaller supply (so do your Christmas shopping early before prices spike even higher or logistics routes take a further hit). If any other headwinds hit the diesel industry, we’ve got major problems.

Again, the people you’re voting for this election cycle could very well be the ones facing the tough choices to be made in such cases. God knows who will be sworn in, and those people won’t take office without His say so. It’s very easy to criticize our elected leaders, and we forget that they’re people with the same limitations that you or I have, but they also have some brutal decisions to make. In addition to praying for the elections coming up on Tuesday, please pray for wisdom and moral clarity for all of our leaders currently in office. Things aren’t getting any better, and we need people with God-honoring values in power if we want God’s blessing on our nation once again.

Lord, thank you that You’re in control and I’m not. Please bless the pending election and put the right people in office, whatever party they’re from. Our land is very divided right now and the world seems like it’s on fire. Please bring peace and revival to this place. In Your name, Amen.