Author: Tim

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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.

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For the Record, Don’t Bring a Knife to School

Halloween is coming up, and it takes me back to some old memories.

When I was in…probably 3rd or 4th grade, our whole class was encouraged to dress up for Halloween. I think all the classes were going to be part of a costume parade or something. This particular year I was going to dress up as a pirate. It was cool, I think I had an eye patch, a fake scar or something, and even a clip-on earring that would help complete the look.

I also had an idea for a more controversial item to complement the costume. My aunt knew of my love of the outdoors, and in her travels she found something she thought I’d like. She gave me a novelty knife. The handle was actually made out of a deer hoof, so it was pretty unique. The blade itself was very dull, but the point was very sharp. Maybe it was something a pirate would carry, I dunno, but it looked kinda cool, and I figured I’d bring it to school. (I very conveniently left Mom or Dad out of the decision. I was pretty sure they’d say no, but I think I convinced myself that the reason they’d tell me no was because they didn’t want me to lose the knife.)

On the bus ride to school, everybody was excitedly talking about their costumes or the parties their class would be having. We were all going around, talking about what we’d dress up as, and I started talking about my costume. When I talked about the knife I’d brought with me, a kid that was a year older than me had his eyes go wide. “Hey, you could get in big trouble for that!”

I was a little taken aback. I wouldn’t say I was an angel in elementary school, but I was a pretty good kid. It struck me as ridiculous that I could get in big trouble for carrying a dull novelty knife. My thought was “c’mon…it’s me! I’m not gonna do anything bad with it, it’s just to make the costume look cooler.” At the time I had no concept of zero-tolerance policies or making an example out of somebody. I tried dismissing his input as just plain dumb, but his words stuck with me.

The parade and party were in the afternoon. The whole morning I sat at my desk, wrestling with my own thoughts about whether or not I should include the knife as part of the costume. The entire time, in a class of probably 20+ kids, the knife was sitting in my desk hidden behind some books. I started to worry about what would happen if the teacher found out about it. Was the kid on the bus right? Was it something I could get in trouble for? I ended up getting pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation.

I ended up skipping the knife as part of the pirate look that day. We did our little elementary parade, and the whole time I felt like my costume was incomplete. As far as I knew, nobody else had a clue that anything was missing from my ensemble. At the end of the school day, I brought the knife home with me and never brought it back to school. Mom and Dad are only finding out about it now, the same way you are. J

Just so we’re clear, bringing a knife to school was a bonehead thing to do. I knew better than to consult my parents, but it never entered my mind that they’d have legitimate reasons why they’d say no. For some reason I figured everybody at school, including any teachers that saw it, would say “hey, that’s cool!”

Sometimes all you need is to bounce an idea off someone else. I wasn’t too proud or arrogant to ask…it simply didn’t occur to me that there were other perspectives. I figured my view was sufficient. If you’re facing a decision where you’re a little out of your depth, consider bouncing it off someone else, even if you think you’ve got a pretty good lock on things. I didn’t ever hang out with that kid on the bus, we just happened to live on the same route. Even so, he gave me enough solid advice that he helped change my mind. Maybe someone else can do the same for you.

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You Sure That Thing is Street Legal?

I’m not super handy when it comes to working on cars, but there’s an engine concept I think is very interesting. These days we tend to be more concerned with miles per gallon or some other measure of fuel efficiency, but it seems like not that long ago gas was cheap and horsepower reigned supreme. We might someday have car racing with electric vehicles, but there’s something special about the roar of a gas-powered engine.

In high-performance combustion engines, it may not seem believable, but it’s possible for them to be a little too powerful. Ultra-powerful engines either make the insurance companies too nervous or they make professional races unfair. To make very powerful vehicles street legal, or to level the playing field on a race track, somebody came up with the idea of a restrictor plate.

Some quick background: for an internal combustion engine, one of the things that gives it power is a design that allows a sufficient amount of air into the combustion chamber to enable the optimal explosion of the fuel, which in turn generates power. Generally (at least up to a point), more air equals more power. That’s why you’ll sometimes see muscle cars with crazy contraptions on the hood or weird air intakes built into high-performance cars that have their engines in the back.

A restrictor plate is something that intentionally limits the amount of air that can flow into the combustion chamber. Using less air, the engine can’t produce the same amount of horsepower. A restrictor plate ultimately reduces the amount of power the engine can generate.

Sounds a little ridiculous, doesn’t it? If you’re going to go through all the trouble of designing and building something that powerful, why would you intentionally reduce its potential? Wouldn’t it be better to just design and build something a little less potent in the first place?

Let’s make the connection now. To all the Christ-followers out there, you gained the Holy Spirit at the moment of your conversion. The Holy Spirit is the member of the Godhead that empowers you with the things you need to perform the tasks God assigns to you. God won’t ask you to do things without also equipping you to do them, yet too often Christians install their own versions of “Holy Spirit restrictor plates.” They hold God at arm’s length in some way, or perhaps see where God is leading and intentionally avoid pursuing that goal. God will implement His plan for you whether or not you’re on board with it, but there’s more that can come from a fully devoted heart than can come from a heart that’s only going through the motions.

So I’d ask you…why not take off that Holy Spirit restrictor plate? If God’s determined to use you, He’s going to use you whether you object or not. Trying to interfere with it is just going to make things hurt more. Why not save some pain, unleash all that horsepower, and see something that’s really high-performance?

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” – 1 Peter 4:10 NKJV.

(I didn’t originally mean to have the “manifold” pun in a post about muscle cars, but now that it’s there, I’m having a hard time taking it out.)

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This is Going To Be a Little Too Close!

Lookout! Take Evasive Action!

This past weekend was a 3-day weekend for us. The federal holiday meant our whole family had the day off, and we decided to go on a hike.

In the northern Virginia area, sometimes it seems like there are a million different ways to get somewhere. My family had been to this particular hiking area before, but I hadn’t. Between looking at the route ahead of time, then following two different sets of GPS directions and my wife’s memory of the last time she’d been there, we ended up going a route none of us had ever taken. It wasn’t bad, we enjoy taking the back roads when we’re not in a hurry, especially if it involves some country scenery…a nice change of pace from where we spend most of our time.

Well, this particular route took us on some small roads. They were all paved, thankfully, but some of them didn’t have any lines painted on them and were narrower than what we’re used to here in the suburbs. It was also the kind where you often couldn’t see too far ahead due to all the turns and/or hills. No problem. I grew up and learned to drive in an area like that.

As we were driving, we were going uphill in a curve. From out of nowhere, a bright yellow 18-wheeler that seemed even larger than normal came flying downhill from the opposite direction, and was very much in my lane. I swerved until I was practically scraping the hill on the passenger’s side, and by the grace of God, we dodged that bullet and lived to see another day. Just when the excitement from that experience died down, a deer decided to try to beat us across the road, and since it, too, came out of nowhere, our vehicle underwent more evasive maneuvers.

Now really, how relaxed do you think I was for the rest of that drive? It would have been nice to go for a laid back, enjoyable ride in the country, but there is a different set of hazards that come along with that activity. As the rest of the family was pointing out fun things along the drive that we don’t often get to see, it fell to me to ignore those things and focus on the responsibility that was more important at the time. I had to keep everyone in the vehicle safe by constantly scanning the road and the surrounding area as we drove along. Thankfully, we finally made it to where we were trying to go.

This life is full of distractions and other things that seem like they’re trying to get in the way of where you’re trying to go, especially if that destination involves pursuing the activities God’s called you to pursue. In that case you have responsibilities that are more important than the distractions you’ll pass along the way. Yes, it means there are things you’ll have to forego. It will cost you personally, and it will sap you of some of your time and energy.

That’s okay, even if it’s hard, because it will one day be worth it. It doesn’t mean God requires that you live a life of misery. (On the contrary, Christians are to live lives of joy.) It simply means that your calling is too important not to do, and if you’re going to succeed in accomplishing it, it means there are other things in your life that are not going to get done. Do your best to ensure the things that don’t get done are things that have no eternal value.

By way of example, I like watching a TV show to veg out as much as the next person, but there’s a difference between decompressing and binge-watching. If doing God’s work means you haven’t caught up on the latest season of whatever the latest hit show is, that’s gonna have to be okay. It doesn’t need to be TV, it’s anything that takes up more of your time than it ought to, or anything that you wouldn’t be devoting time to if you were fully engaged in the thing God’s assigned you to do.

You do that, and when you make it to the end, your prioritization will pay off…

…we made it where we were trying to go!

(As an aside, I was going to write on a different topic before these events happened. When God put two near-misses in our path, I started wondering why. Near as I can figure, it’s because someone reading this needs to hear about it. If so, God orchestrated events just right so we had some uncomfortable moments and sovereign protection so they could be shared. This post’s for you!)

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How’d They Come up With “Yabba Dabba Doo?”

I’ve always been interested in the idea that a multitude of individuals can perform their own distinct (and widely varying) jobs to the best of their ability, but someone over them (a manager, a coach, a superior officer, etc.) oversees and puts together those collective efforts to make something really big happen.

Some people take a different view. They think of themselves as running in the rat race. They don’t want to feel like they’re a cog in the wheel. If you derive your life’s purpose from an unfulfilling job, yeah, you’re going to feel like “just another brick in the wall,” as the old song goes.

But what if you derive meaning from God’s purpose for your life? If you do that, it’s a whole new ballgame. It’s often difficult to see in the moment, but as you look backward, you can see that things fell into place and coalesced in a way that helped you get to where God wanted you to be. Sometimes those things are the actions that other people are taking and other times it’s the way events seem to unfold. When it’s all said and done, a lot of things came together in a way that enabled your goal, your purpose, to go farther than it otherwise would have. It’s like you were part of a puzzle, and your piece and all the other pieces had to fall into place for the picture to be completed.

I’m going to shift gears on you a little bit here. When I was a kid I had lots of different books that I got from yard sales, thrift stores, hand-me-downs, etc. One of the books I had was a Flintstones book. I dug around online a little just now, and it was called “The Great Balloon Race.” I don’t remember much of the story, but as you turned the pages, in one of the upper corners of the page there was a picture of Fred juggling three balls. Each time you turned the page, something about that picture was slightly different, but it didn’t really become evident what was going on until you treated the whole thing like a flipbook. Starting at the beginning of the book, Fred walked onto the page and faced the reader. He tossed a ball into the air, then another, and then another. If I remember correctly, each of the balls made a few uneventful loops as Fred started to put on a show, but then he fumbled one of them. You could see his facial expression change as he realized his mistake. When he focused his attention on that particular ball, it made it difficult to keep track of those still remaining in the air. A second ball danced past his fingertips and fell toward the floor. You saw his eyes start to shift toward the last remaining ball in the air, but by now his rhythm was thrown way off, and he had to swipe at it to even get close. That action just ended up batting it off into the distance and out of reach. Left with nothing, he then looked at the reader, shrugged, and walked back off the page by the end of the book.

Our Christian lives are like flipbooks, but the metaphor goes a layer deeper. Just like before, each individual page of the flipbook is a puzzle, and you’re one piece among many. When you’re doing the will of God, your actions are fitting together with the actions of other believers. This flipbook was already in progress before you were born; one day you walked onto the scene, and there were other pieces that connected with you to form a single, larger picture. The pieces connecting with you may have been Sunday School teachers, a grandparent or parent, a friend, a pastor, or maybe someone you heard on the radio or TV. That particular picture may have also included a family or job situation, a specific time or place, or a set of circumstances that led to your acceptance of Christ. Those other pieces, who were themselves affected by other Christians earlier in the book, had an effect on you that grew you in your Christian walk.

Whether your Christian walk lasts for decades or for only a few minutes at the end of your life, you at one point walk onto the scene, and you’ll someday exit the scene. Each page that happens in between is its own puzzle that consists of numerous other “cogs in the wheel” that are doing what God has charged them to do. None of the individual cogs has insight into what the whole picture is shaping up to be or what kind of story the flipbook will tell, but they know that there’s a grand artist that’s in charge and is steering the path of where the story’s going. After all, when God called individual followers into their individual callings, He had their subsequent interactions already arranged in His mind. You do your part, other people do their parts, and God brings it all together.

Someday you’ll exit the flipbook altogether and it will continue without you. Your calling is meant to bring glory to the Lord, and many times that involves inspiring or somehow helping another “puzzle piece” to live out their Christian walk. Be watchful for opportunities to be a piece of another puzzle that’s a page in one of Christ’s flipbooks. One day you’ll be able to reconnect with all the other people that were involved in the same pictures you were, and you’ll be able to watch how the flipbook turned out.

Lord God, You are intimately involved not only with my life, but with the lives of everyone else on this planet. You’re in the process of telling a grand story, and right now, in this moment, we’re a part of the story for a limited time. Thank you for giving us opportunities to be part of the story; please help us to have the boldness and strength to accept Your invitations when they come. I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.