Category: Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

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“Character Isn’t Developed in Ease and Quiet” -Helen Keller

Quite a bit of the Bible covers the idea of trials being used to teach believers to rely more heavily on God. That’s an important concept I think we overlook too often. God wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to take one step at a time even when we can’t see the path things are going to take. I’m going to put a twist on it, though. I’m not saying it will work this way for everybody, but I’d like to share a bit about how it’s worked in my life.

This hasn’t been true 100% of the time, but throughout our marriage, when my wife and I looked around at some of the people we knew who were in a similar life stage as us, we just seemed to have it a little easier. Maybe our version a particular challenge was less complicated, or our loved ones tended to have better health, or we just had trials that were fairly short in duration. It’s certainly been a blessing, but we didn’t want to grow accustomed to it. Concluding that God can take away as easily as He can give, we adopted the saying “to whom more has been given, more is required.” We considered ourselves blessed in certain ways, so we viewed ourselves as able to offer things others could not.

Years back, I finished some schooling I had been working on. It was such a relief! I took a bit to enjoy the sheer amount of free time after completing a years-long endeavor. Soon, though, I felt I needed to give some of that time back to the Lord rather than sitting on the couch and wasting it. I started looking for ways to use the gifts and talents He’s entrusted to me. After struggling for a bit with what that might look like, I settled on an idea. You can poke around the various pages of this blog and see I’ve had a bizarre collection of interesting experiences most people never come close to. I’m also able to write in a conversational, down-to-earth tone that people find easy to understand. The idea for this blog took shape and started getting off the ground, with the work I put into it following the same schedule my schooling previously did.

It didn’t stop there, though. A couple years after the blog started, the world got put on pause as covid spread across the globe. As you recall, the pandemic changed so many aspects of daily life. In our house, I worked from home for a long stretch of time. It was kinda nice…for a little while. Not having a commute was great, but missing out on the back-and-forth with folks at work drove my creativity to find new avenues of expression. A new, outrageous idea started forming. This time gave birth to the idea of a 10-part Christian speculative fiction book series.

To be sure, it’s an audacious goal, especially considering I’ve never attempted anything like it before. I’m excited about the series though, I’ve got the skeleton for the whole thing mapped out and I’m very far along on some volumes, but what I’ve found is that I get bogged down in the writing. I’ve put together extensive notes on each of the volumes, and it’s fun for me to base some of the characters on some of the people I’ve known in person, to write comedy into it, to write powerful emotional scenes, and ultimately point readers to Christ without making it preachy. But…the project has stalled because I simply don’t have the time, energy, or focus (or more accurately, all three at the same time) to make meaningful progress as far as getting words on paper. It’s incredibly frustrating for me to have what I believe is an epic story mapped out, but be seemingly unable to get it into a deliverable format that can reach the masses and become a tool God starts using to reach a new audience. This might sound a bit like I’m inflating my own ego, but in reality I’m simply treating it with gravity and a matter of urgency; I approach it as though the series will be part of what triggers or contributes to a large revival. Going back to the beginning of this post, the stalled nature of the project is something I’d consider a trial in my life.

In this post I’m taking the long way to arrive at this point: even though I’m facing this trial, it’s related to the work I’m trying to do for God’s kingdom, rather than a trial related to my personal life (finances, health challenges, etc.). Of course I’m interested in getting this story out for public consumption as soon as possible, but I believe the challenges associated with that goal come at a smaller cost to me personally than the trials I’d likely be facing if I had decided not to do anything significant to honor God. I believe when people step into the calling God’s given them, He plows the road for them, removing obstacles that would have inflicted some kind of expense on them had they not followed His lead.

God’s going to allow you to face trials in your life. While you obviously can’t escape all of the personal challenges in life, it seems like you get to bypass many of the especially taxing ones when you’re living in the power of God and walking the path He’s invited you to travel. Had I waved off the blog idea and the book series idea, I don’t know what different set of trials I would have faced in the interim, but I’ve also got a certain degree of peace of mind knowing I’m genuinely taking swings at the pitches God’s giving me. I’m in no way qualified to write a 10-part fictional series, but I’m not afraid to give it a try when I feel God’s saying “here, try this.” I’m relying on Him and His timing, and trusting He sees me and has a plan. In the meantime, in the words of TobyMac, “if I can’t walk, then I’m crawling.” I’m still working on it when I can, always trying to move it forward.

I write this to encourage you. If you’re already following the path you feel God’s calling you down, that’s fantastic…keep it up! If, however, you’ve been feeling a sort of “tugging” in a certain direction you can’t explain, and you’ve been avoiding it because there’s at least some aspect of it that simply doesn’t make sense on any level, I’m going to extend a personal invitation to you to give it a try anyway. Paradoxically, the excuses you’ll think of first could be some of the first obstacles to get plowed out of your way when God starts clearing the road in front of you.

God knows you and knows what you’re capable of when He empowers you. You act in obedience, then He clears the road. It’s not the other way around. Try stepping out in faith and see what happens.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6

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Well, This Could Get Real Bad Real Quick

Back when I worked as a teenaged lifeguard at a Christian conference center, the lifeguards often spent the morning cleaning the pool and running various errands in preparation for opening the pool in the afternoon.

Normally there were four or five of us, and it was fairly common for us to split the different tasks in a given morning. Rather than unlock and then lock the gate again every time one of us entered or left the pool area, we commonly replaced the lock in the gate and set it so it looked like it was locked when it actually wasn’t. It was important, though, that if there was ever a time when all of us left the pool area, the last one out secured the lock for real.

One morning I left the pool area to head to the resort’s main office for something. As I walked into the foyer of the dining room on my way to the office, I passed a couple of guys who were talking to the dining room hostess. One of the guys was very tall (probably in the 6’5”-6’6” range) and probably at least 240 pounds. She was on the shorter side, which made the guy’s size more pronounced.

As I was walking past, the guy was asking something like “is it okay if we go swimming in the pool before we come in the dining room to eat?” The way he asked it, he made it seem like he was thinking down the road to later in the day/week; the pool was only open in the afternoon and it was fairly common for people to hang out in the pool until it closed, then go right from there in wet swim trunks to the dining room for dinner. He seemed more courteous than most by asking. There was something more to it, though. There was something subtle about the way he asked it that made it sound a little off. She had no problem with the swim trunks thing since a lot of people did it anyway, so she shrugged and said “sure.”

I continued to the office to do whatever I was going to do, then not long after I headed back toward the pool. As I came around the corner, I saw these two guys swimming in the water, and there were no lifeguards around to stop them (or help them out if the need arose). I had no idea where the guards had gone, but right now they were nowhere to be seen. There in the gate, though, was a lock that wasn’t fastened.

I forget what I said, but I made it abundantly clear they had to get out. They gently protested, saying they had received permission from a staff member to go for a swim. Technically, that was true, kind of, but that staff member didn’t actually understand what was being asked, nor did she have the authority to grant their request. It was only coincidental that I happened to witness this exchange that I understood what they were talking about. Now it made sense that they asked in a manner that could be interpreted a couple different ways.

I was pretty peeved about this. It felt like there was intentional deception involved. I wasn’t laid back about kicking them out, I was pretty to-the-point. I stood by the gate the whole time, with it wide open while they got out of the water and collected their things. Then as they drew near the gate, the size of the big dude once again became apparent. I was probably 16 or 17 years old, around 6’3”, and about 180 pounds. I wasn’t a little guy, but if this dude decided he didn’t want to comply, there wasn’t a whole lot I could’ve done about it. As they passed me, the big guy stopped very close to me and just kind of stared me down for a moment. It’s not often I have to look up at somebody. Then he took a step closer, so our faces were only inches apart. If this guy wanted to throw down, he could’ve throttled me. Something about his demeanor told me he was just trying to get me to back down. I sure hoped my judgment was right. I didn’t flinch, blink, or step back. After a very anxious few moments on my end, he walked out of the pool area.

You’d better believe that gate was locked within the next 30 seconds.

In a way, this guy reminds me of Satan. By every measure Satan has the capacity to harm you and the advantage he needs to do it…size, power, speed, drive…but he’s limited in the sense that he has to seek permission to cause you physical harm.

One thing he does NOT need permission for is to mess with you. He can harass you. He can snipe at you. He can do lots of stuff to make you have a really bad day, and he can do it repeatedly, in an effort to get you to back down, to get discouraged, to quit whatever you’re doing for the Lord’s sake. He can intimidate you to no end if you permit it, but if you belong to Christ, you can confidently stand your ground and not flinch when those intimidations come.

If you’re following God’s lead and doing things contributing to His kingdom, you’re making yourself a target in the realm of spiritual warfare. Don’t let it get you down. View it as encouragement that you’re doing something important enough to be considered dangerous to the powers of darkness. After all, why would the bad guys waste time harassing someone who’s not a threat to them?

God, it’s so easy to fixate on only the things I can see and hear. Help me remember there’s more than what I can see, and that if I’m living for You, You’re in my corner and are helping pave the way for where You want me to go. Help me recognize and be an encouragement to others that might be experiencing some of that intimidation and harassment. I ask in Your name, Amen.

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Let There be no Mistake: Wimbledon This is not

In high school I played a couple years of tennis. It was a spring sport, so right around this time of year, when it went back and forth between snow and hot weather, we’d have practice in preparation for our first match.

I played doubles, so the strategy was a little different than for singles. In singles you’re responsible for the whole kit and caboodle: everything that comes over the net is something you need to get back to your opponent. It’s a little different in doubles, and you have to work as a team. Figuring out the way you want to move around the court, who’s got the better serve or backhand, which of your opponents was the weaker player from the baseline, and seeing if you could lure the guy at the net close enough to the center of the court to get it past him down the alley were all parts of the strategy you’d look at developing.

Playing the net was my favorite part of doubles. Most of the time the two guys at the opposite baselines are slugging it out, but every now and then the guy on the other team would either flub the return or maybe underestimate the net guy’s reach, and allow the ball to get close enough for the net man to pounce on it and slam it back between the two opponents. Sometimes teams would get a little tricky and have the baseline and net guy switch sides of the court, which usually threw the other team off balance but also opened themselves up for an attack if they didn’t do it right.

Sometimes it would become painfully obvious that high school tennis players were not professionals. The net guy on one team would “intercept” the return and get it over the net, but the other net player would get to it fast enough to get it back over. The goal was for the net player to return the ball at a sharp enough angle that neither one of the other players could get to it in time.

I’m pretty tall, and I’ve got a pretty large wingspan. When I have a racket in my hand, my reach gets that much further. When I played at the net, I usually crouched and kept my arms tucked in, to try and mask my full reach. As the volleys continued, many times the opponents sort of got lulled into this sense that I wasn’t going to do anything unless the ball came very close to me. Once in awhile I’d even ignore a ball I may have been able to get to. They’d get less and less careful about keeping it away from me, and eventually I’d explode out of the crouch and either blast the ball somewhere onto their side or just barely tap it over the net to a spot they couldn’t reach fast enough.

That lurking, that patient waiting until just the right moment is a lot like one of the tactics our enemy uses. We, Christians, can get lazy or lose sight of the danger, and get lulled into a sense of complacency. We know we should stay away from the really bad stuff, but this smaller, less obvious version is probably okay, right?

It could be anything. Alcohol. Pornography. Racy novels. Gossip. Substance abuse. Gambling. Lying. “It’s not so bad,” we tell ourselves. There are no immediate repercussions. Then we wade a little deeper into whatever it is; we “allow the ball to get a little closer to the guy at the net.” We might even be a little excited about feeling like we’ve got things under control. Then one day, you suddenly and horribly realize you should have made different choices. That sudden realization can look very different depending on what kind of fire you’re playing with.

Then comes one of the enemy’s biggest and most effective tricks. Instead of coming clean and seeking help from someone you trust, he whispers in your ear “you’ll never recover from the shame if people find out. You’ll carry that stigma everywhere you go for the rest of your life. It’s better to just keep it hidden.”

Every one of those examples above are well-known problems among humanity. Admitting it to someone you can trust isn’t admitting you’re a failure, it’s admitting you’re human and you’re not perfect. Guess what? We already knew that. Sharing your struggle with someone and trying to get some help actually takes away most of the enemy’s power to bludgeon you with shame and regret. You have the choice of whether you want to remove a good portion of his power over you. Don’t pass up the opportunity to shed that fear and guilt. Christ didn’t die for you so you could live in shame. He died for you so you could experience the freedom of forgiveness, the wonder of His grace, and the joy of sharing this news with others.

Don’t let that amazing opportunity pass you by because you believe the lies whispered in your ear when you’re feeling vulnerable. There’s power in the name of Jesus, and He’s waiting for you to call on Him.

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A Missed Opportunity is a Lost Opportunity

Ever hear of a sloppy, unrehearsed presentation trouncing a very polished one?

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve written about the urgency of our situation as Christ-followers. We’re not recommended…we’re commanded…to go out and make disciples of all nations. That can be tough. What’s that look like?

The most important thing is that we try. Making an honest attempt equates to obedience here, and obedience is one of the things God wants from us. Although a well-rehearsed, logical presentation of the Gospel is something to work toward, lack of a prepared version is not a good excuse for skipping the attempt. No matter how prepared you are for the pitch, you’re not the one who gets to decide if it penetrates the heart:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. –John 6:63

God can use a fumbling and bumbling version of a Gospel presentation just as much as He can use a highly stylized, well-practiced delivery. Jesus is pretty particular in reminding us about this. Later in the same chapter, Peter started speaking a little pretentiously, and implied that he and the “true disciples” had somehow acquired superior insight, and as a result of this insight, had decided to believe. Jesus was quick to correct him about who did the choosing:

Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. –John 6:69-70

God expects us to obey, but He doesn’t expect us to be rock stars at evangelism. Picture a dad playing with his young kids and a ball. “Throw Daddy the ball!” All the kiddo has to do is get it close, and Daddy will make the catch and complete the play. Same thing here. Just obey, and get it close. If it’s part of His plan, God will take it from there.

This leads to an important point. Not everyone who hears the Gospel will respond to it, especially the first time they hear it. That means there needs to be more presentations of the Gospel than there are acceptances. That’s where you come in. You don’t have to be successful, you just need to be obedient. Obedience is your responsibility; outcome is God’s responsibility. He won’t be disappointed in you for obeying what He told you to do.

I understand it’s a scary thing, and we’ve been conditioned not to talk about God in the workplace. Let’s start small and you can grow from there. If you’re not going to go out and tell people about God, use the times He brings people to you. The next time a solicitor knocks on your door, guess what? They’re not going to complain to HR about you discussing God with them. They came to you. They’re on your turf. Just because they have something to offer you doesn’t mean it’s a one-way street. I guarantee what you have to offer them is far more valuable than what they’re offering you. Don’t pretend you’re not home.

Not sure what structure to follow? There are a ton out there, and some methods lend themselves to different personalities or levels of memorization. As long as you’re covering these three areas, you’re sharing the Gospel. 1. Why we must be saved. 2. How Jesus can save us. 3. What we must do to be saved.

Try learning about some of these quick methods, with longer descriptions (and additional methods) available at https://dudedisciple.com/methods-of-evangelism/:

  1. The Pray and Say – More people than you’d think are open to having you pray for them. Try articulating the Gospel during a prayer with them.
  2. The Roman Road – Using five different verses in the book of Romans, you walk folks through the need for Jesus. Think you can memorize five verses?
  3. The 1-minute Gospel – Some people reject the Bible because it’s the Bible. No Bible verses required for this one.
  4. The Billy Graham Method – It worked for millions of people, and is pretty simple.
  5. The Five-Finger Method – Five fingers help you remember five points to make.

Ultimately, you’re the best judge of the method you should use…these are just some ideas to get you started and work with complete strangers. You’re welcome to use these, or any other method, on strangers, people you know casually, or people who are very important to you.

I encourage you to check out the link. We (Christians) are here for a reason, and the enemy doesn’t want you to follow through on it. Remind yourself that you don’t have to present the Gospel perfectly, you just need to present it, and it gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to do some big stuff in a person’s life.

Lord, help me remember what’s truly important in this life and to be willing to follow through with what You’ve called me to do. When the time comes, give me the words to say, and may You be glorified through me. Amen.

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You Never Know if the Sunrise You’re Seeing is Your Last One

My family was recently driving along when we encountered a dangerous situation. We passed through an intersection just as a four-car accident occurred. We weren’t involved, thankfully, but it’s not often you’re so close as something so serious happens.

Without getting into drawing pictures, there were two cars waiting in the turn lane to turn right, when a third car came up behind them and slammed into one of the cars. There was a screech of brakes right before it happened, but the car was going pretty fast, and still hit the car in front of it probably between 20 and 30 mph. The car that got hit had its back end picked up and tossed, and the offending vehicle spun a bit too, and ended up striking a car in the next lane. The vehicle that got hit hard struck the vehicle in front of it. This all happened as our family was approaching the intersection from the opposite direction, turning left and driving directly in front of where all the cars were pointing; those lanes of traffic were at a red light as our family crossed in front of them.

We were in a position to quickly get to each of the vehicles, so we stopped and my wife and I got out; we were the first people on the scene who were not involved in the mishap. Two of the cars’ occupants were totally fine (and one of them was already talking with 911 and checking on the people in the other cars). The guy in the offending vehicle seemed okay, but he was kind of acting in ways that didn’t make sense, like he was disoriented. I don’t know if that had any bearing on his failure to slow down in time, but by the time I got close to him he had been through an impact, the car’s airbags had gone off, and the car was facing a different direction than when he last had control of it, so that could have altered his mental state.

The last vehicle, the one who got hit hard from behind, had a driver inside who was hurting pretty bad. He stayed inside the car for awhile, writhing in pain. The guy on the phone with 911 was in there with him. The hurt dude stayed in his seat for a bit, but eventually decided to get out of the car. I should have tried to get him to stay in the vehicle. He struggled to stand on his own, so I helped him over to the grass, where he laid down and rolled around on the ground, his back and neck in serious pain. Thankfully it didn’t take long for fire, police, and ambulance to arrive on the scene. I have no idea what became of any of those folks, but that one guy’s going to be hurting for a long time, and may never walk without pain again.

This isn’t my first run-in with situations requiring emergency services. I can’t tell you why, but God has inserted me in a number of crisis situations where somebody called 911. I’ve already written about several of them (bakery blackout, swing swim, father-in-law fiasco, and highway hazard), and there’s at least one or two more I haven’t posted. Sometimes I’m the first person to arrive, other times I’m just another person able to be there to lend a hand. I haven’t been certified in any kind of CPR or first aid for about 20 years. I’m just an ordinary guy. Why does God keep steering me toward these predicaments? I have no idea. I can ask Him one day, but for now I just roll with it.

I wasn’t really sure which direction to take this post. I just wanted to write about an out-of-the-norm event that happened, but I’ll add some observations for you in the event you find yourself in a similar situation, where you might be able to help somebody’s bad day from being worse.

First and foremost, if you arrive on the scene of an emergency situation, make sure somebody has called 911. In scenarios where seconds count, minutes can seem like an eternity, so ensure those wheels have been set in motion. If you’re the one that calls 911, tell them your location and what kind of services you need so they can get the right people moving your way, and then fill in the details. Secondly, make sure you’re not going to make the situation worse by inserting yourself into it. It’s one thing to deal with an acceptable level of risk, but it’s another to recklessly complicate the situation for the trained responders. Only step in if you’re going to make things better. When first responders arrive, get out of their way.

In talking to other people who deal with a lot of emergency situations, I certainly haven’t seen it all, and there’s a lot I haven’t had to deal with. I have, however, noticed that there are a few reactions people commonly have when you show up at a time of great uncertainty. Here are a few I’ve noticed.

  1. Some people are glad they’re no longer alone in facing their crisis. While it’s certainly nice if you know what you’re doing, sometimes they’re just so glad not to be alone that they don’t really care how helpful you can be. A little human warmth and compassion is a powerful force in shaping these folks’ outlook, so if there’s no immediate danger, that may be your best bet.
  2. Other times people are so keyed up and full of adrenaline, they start doing something just for the sake of keeping busy, even if it doesn’t make sense. I’m sure EMTs can tell plenty of stories about showing up at someone’s house to see someone laying on the floor having a major problem while someone else in the house is organizing spices or sorting papers or something. You can help the situation by providing structure during times like these. If they’re obsessing in a way that’s counterproductive or that’s going to get in the way, give them a job that removes them from the picture. “Call 911 and tell them you need an ambulance at (insert address/location).” “Go wait for the ambulance and guide them in here.” “Go make sure the kids are okay and they don’t wander off.” “Help with crowd control.” “Write down a list of medications this person’s on.” Pointing someone in a purposeful direction by giving them something useful to do can make a difference when time is a factor.
  3. Confusion and/or disorientation. Harrowing ordeals have a way of disrupting your brain’s ability to think rationally. Peoples’ threshold for this varies widely; you’d be surprised at how easily this can occur. On the flip side, sometimes you meet people that don’t seem fazed by anything. Regardless of what type they are, just try to make sure they’re safe and keep them from wandering off until first responders arrive.
  4. The emotional and mental processing start to resolve themselves. You can often see people start to become overwhelmed when they realize what almost happened. They may be totally safe after a near-miss, but the adrenaline kicks in and there’s nothing for it to help with, so peoples’ muscles start trembling or they need to pace. You can talk in soothing tones and all that, but the adrenaline just needs to get burned off. It gets awkward sometimes. They’ll usually be pretty tired when it’s over.
  5. Recounting what happened. I’ve seen and done lots of high-risk stuff, so I understand the desire to tell someone all about what took place. Not everyone realizes it should wait until after everybody involved is medically stable, though. Subtle hints usually don’t work during times like this, so you might need to be a little direct in telling people to pipe down while you focus on more important things.

Well hopefully you’ll never need to call 911 or encounter an emergency situation, but if you do, remember these things: Make sure help’s on the way first. Then make sure it’s safe for you to enter the scene. After that, use your best judgment on how to make the most serious thing less serious. Finally, help in whatever way seems best, but make sure you’re not getting in the way when the professionals arrive.

Lord, we live in a broken world, and sometimes that fact becomes painfully obvious. If you call upon any of us to take part in any sort of crisis situation, please give us clarity of thought, excellent judgment, and supernatural wisdom to recognize what actions we should and should not take. Let us be your hands and feet, along with a ray of hope, to someone whose day just took a turn for the worse. I ask in Your name, amen.

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I Never Even Tried Before. Why not?

Boy, I don’t even think my parents know about this one. When I was in 11th or 12th grade, I did something very uncharacteristic of me. I decided to try out for the school play.

Now you have to understand, this was a very unusual thing for me to pursue. There must have been a cute girl in the cast or something. I can’t think of who it would have been, though. Honestly, I think I just wanted to try something totally new.

I can’t even remember what the production was, but I remember I decided to read for the part of a major supporting character. It wasn’t a lead role or anything, but it was somebody who’d grab a lot of attention when on stage. Think ‘Franc’ from “Father of the Bride” or a detective in some other play.

I’d never done a school play before (aside from stuff in elementary school). I went to the interest meeting, got a copy of the play, and grabbed a packet to fill out. In that packet I wrote down the part I wanted to play. One of the questions they asked was something like “if you don’t get your preferred role, are you willing to accept a different part?” I thought it over for a bit, then answered “no.” At some point I turned in the packet, and eventually received information for auditions.

The faculty member in charge of the play was an English teacher I’d had sometime in high school. She knew me from class, but I’d never worked with her in an acting capacity. Whatever the role was, I gave it a shot during the audition. I thought I did fine, but didn’t know the teacher’s thoughts on it. Ultimately, I didn’t get the part, and I don’t know who did. Since the “try something new” thing didn’t pan out this time, I didn’t even go see the play.

With the benefit of hindsight, I totally get why I didn’t get the part. Even if I had a really good audition, I had no track record for the director or other students to rely on. The director can’t take an unknown and throw him out on stage in a prominent role. Will he freeze? Will he nail it? There’s just no way of knowing. Besides, if we’ve got Joey over here, trying out for the same role, and the director’s worked with Joey before, she knows a little better what she can expect from him. Unless the director’s short on cast members, there’s really no upside to picking the brand new guy who’s only willing to play one particular role rather than someone who’s been in plays before and is willing to consider multiple roles if it helps the team out.

Christianity can be a little like this. When it comes to leaps of faith and following God’s lead in your life, track records of past experience are important. The twist here, though, is that past performance doesn’t help God trust you any more, it helps you trust God more as He provides for you in subsequently bigger and bigger ways. With the benefit of hindsight, you can see how your previous struggles and challenges helped prepare you for subsequent larger struggles and challenges. Again, this doesn’t build the Lord’s trust in you, but you get to look at your history of being faithful and seeing God at work in and through you. Seeing that, you trust Him more.

I’d also urge you to be willing to play something other than your preferred role. We can get comfortable in the ways we serve God, and become less and less willing to step out of our comfort zones as time goes on. The Lord loves a willing heart. I’ve heard it said that as Christians, we’re always in the furnace or on the anvil. God spends a lot of time honing us and shaping us into who He wants us to be. I believe a willingness to follow His call into waters deeper than we’re comfortable with is a great way to demonstrate our obedience both to Him and to ourselves.

If you have no track record of faithfulness to the Lord, why not start today? Start small. Begin reading from the Bible every day. Start tithing. Stop doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing. Get rid of stuff you know you shouldn’t have. Being faithful in the small things helps build that history, that lifestyle of obedience. As you follow through on those small things, God will give you bigger opportunities to make a difference in someone else’s life, or lots of other peoples’ lives.

But it all starts with small steps of faithfulness. Start building that track record today.

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Need a Confidence Boost?

Most of my posts are somehow geared at being willing to step out in faith to accomplish tasks you think are beyond your reach, yet which God has enabled you to perform. While I absolutely believe in that idea and use it as the blog’s central theme, it’s also important to help lay the mental groundwork for meeting such challenges. If you think of my normal blog posts as a movie, think of this one as their prequel.

I’ve learned through experience that if you’re willing to take risks in just about any aspect of your life, usually one of two circumstances hold true. The first possibility is that your back is against the wall and you’ve got no real choice; the risk you’re taking is probably the best of your bad options or it’s your last resort. While I acknowledge this as a driving force behind some risky behavior, it’s not the one I want to focus on.

The second possibility is that if you’re willing to take risks, you’re secure enough in who you are that the idea of failing doesn’t paralyze you with fear. If Christ is your savior, He will call you to do things you’re not comfortable with. It’s a risk to obey. You might fail. You may look like a fool. It could cost you.

I don’t know who I’m talking to right now, but you need to hear this. If you’re a Christ-follower and feel God’s called you to some challenge requiring a lot of faith, let me remind you: you are a child of the One True King. Walk down the path with the confidence that comes along with your position. If the Lord commissioned you to pursue a specific undertaking, remember the enemy can harass you, but he cannot harm you without permission. Your idea of what success looks like might not jive with God’s take on it, but it’s part of the life your Lord called you to, so take that next step.

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Guard Against the “Prepper” Mindset

Nobody knows when Christ will come back, but if you look around at the state of the world today, it’s hard to imagine we’ll still be “business as usual” 20 years from now. (You never know, there could be massive revival and turning to God between now and then, but at least right now, it’s tough to imagine that happening.)

If you’re a student of Christian eschatology – the study of the End Times – you probably fall into one of two major camps. The first, and probably more natural, train of thought is to shake your head in disgust at what the world is turning into, and take “prepper-style” actions to safeguard yourself and your loved ones. With prophecies of the world’s end sprinkled throughout the Bible, it’s tough not to think about making preparations of some kind. I’d guess that at some time or another, just about every believer has looked at the news and considered withdrawing from society and spending their time almost exclusively with other believers. I get it, but I’d caution against it.

(See a past post on the difference between the Rapture and Christ’s Second Coming here)

The second camp acknowledges that even though difficult times are coming for Christians, Christ will snatch the Church out of this world before His plans upend normal life on earth. Current events testify to a rise in chaos, natural disasters, moral decay, and international conflicts. We don’t need to fear the wrath of the Lord acting corporately on us. This is a bittersweet situation; despite the apparent nearing of being yanked out of a fallen world to escape its most terrible conditions, it also means we have less time to do things that will have an eternal impact. We have to be intentional with the time we have remaining. Being “salt and light” means we’re helping point others to Christ, and it’s tough to do that by staying secluded in literal or figurative shelters that we’ve built for ourselves.

Of course, there’s no way for me to guarantee your safety or well-being if you follow Christ’s calling for your life, so please don’t think I’m promising something I can’t deliver. Living for Christ comes at a cost. Just know that since God has plans for your life, it wouldn’t make much sense for Him to allow you to get derailed when you’re walking the path He’s laid out for you. Without a doubt, you need to expect opposition; if you’re running with the ball, people are going to try to tackle you. If you’re living out your calling, though, opposition isn’t something you need to fear.

Time is short. The fields are ready, but the workers are few. Get out there and use the things God’s entrusted to you, because being called home while you still have something in the tank isn’t going to help anybody.

(Are you a literal prepper that’s resolved to separate yourself from society because of the turmoil and moral decay you see? Maybe an ideal ministry opportunity for you is to host Christians that are hamstrung by the anxiety they face from current events. Provide a place for them to seek respite while they steel themselves biblically for a return to their own ministry.)

Lord, people have been anticipating Your return for thousands of years. All of them have been wrong so far about when that day is. Whatever Your timeline, it’s obvious that the world needs You, and we know that You’ve put us here to help spread the good news of the sacrifice you’ve made to save us. Help us not get wrapped up in predicting dates, but instead to focus with urgency on employing the gifts and opportunities You’ve charged us with. Help us bring You glory. I ask these things in Your name, amen.

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Anchor to Something You Know To Be True

I’d like to stretch a metaphor here a little bit and compare the Christian life to rock climbing.

Most of the time when people go rock climbing, they climb a wall that’s been used plenty of times before. These types of places are usually well-trafficked and the climbers set up the rope at the top of the wall. Then both ends are tossed down, and one end gets tied to the climber’s harness and the other end goes to the person manning the safety line (the belayer). This setup is called “top-roping” because the rope is secured at the top of the climb. The belayer keeps the climber safe by locking down on the rope if the climber loses their grip, arresting the fall.

The trickier version is called “lead climbing.” Climbers start at the bottom of a wall and no rope is hanging down from above. As they climb they hook their rope into anchors in the rock they set along the way. This is the style used when a wall is immense and the rope isn’t long enough to cover the whole climb. It requires more skill and more attention to detail, because when top-roping all you really need to focus on is the climb, but in lead climbing you need to be paying attention to how far away you are from your last anchor point. When lead climbing, if you’re climbing straight up and you fall, you’re going to fall twice the length of the distance between the last anchor and the point where the rope connects to your harness. It’s not bad when there’s only three feet of rope, but you feel it a lot more if you’re 12 feet away from your last anchor.

Evil forces are arrayed against the Christian. Compared to a generation ago, there are fewer strongholds of Christian thought. Places that were formerly safe for the Christian are now battlegrounds. Evil is more prevalent and more accepted among the public, and it seems like the percentage of Christians in the population is dropping. Today I’d like to tie us into an anchor on our Christian journey, at least here in America, knowing that this trend will likely continue, but reminding you to take heart and be bold in Christ, because we know He wins in the end.

Normally I don’t like to use language of paranoia, but I believe there are people out there that spend time plotting about how to weaken the influence of Judeo-Christian values in America. I don’t know who they are, and I don’t know how many of them are out there, but I believe they’re doing it and I believe it’s working. Today prayer cannot be led by faculty or staff in public schools, for example, and nativity scenes can’t be displayed on public property.

Between what I see with my own eyes and what I read about in the Bible, I believe it won’t be long before the law turns against Christians. The first anchor I’d like to link us into is the fact that Americans’ freedom of religion (and speech) are guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Now the way I interpret this is that you should be someone that’s a committed follower of a religion in order to claim the protections of the First Amendment. By that I mean that you shouldn’t be some bigot that inflames conversations about homosexuality, for example, and then runs and hides behind the First Amendment. If you want the religious freedom guaranteed by this bedrock American idea, your life should be consistent with someone who’s trying to live out the principles of that religion. This privilege is not restricted only to Christianity, but to any American who seriously practices their religion.

What are the limits of this protection? In modern-day America, the rise of “woke-ness” means that serious pressure can mount against someone who dares to disagree with the prevailing narrative, and with this pressure often comes some kind of monetary loss (loss of sponsorships or endorsements, loss of a job, lawsuits, etc.). Even though the religious person is likely to be found not guilty if they are faithfully following the pillars of their religion, they will often still have to endure the headache, drama, and expense of legal battles, often at the hands of someone that is better funded and connected.

Additionally, there’s a fluid line when it comes to where the limit of protection lies. If someone makes up their own religion (which is perfectly acceptable in America) and practices it devoutly, that’s fine as long as it doesn’t affect other people. If, however, this person’s religion mandates the collection of doorknobs from other peoples’ houses, and the devout person steals doorknobs from neighbors, well that infringes on the life of someone else, now doesn’t it? That should probably not go unchecked.

The flip side of the coin can be applied to Christianity. The example from earlier will help here. Our religion’s holy book says that homosexuality is one type of sexual immorality, and is sinful behavior. Even though the Bible also says all sinners, regardless of past offenses, need to be told about (and can freely receive) God’s forgiveness, there are many people out there who mistakenly believe they have a right to go through life without being offended. If you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, I can absolutely see how some of the things in the Bible would offend you (after all, the Bible is offensive to all people who embrace sin). I’m unsure of where that legal line between the First Amendment and the pursuit of happiness is, but I can definitely see how we’re setting up a clash between freedom of religion and infringement on personal happiness that will occur somewhere down the road. My guess is that over time the line will move to favor religious practitioners less and less, until religious freedom eventually starts outright losing and subsequently takes a back seat to people who feel wronged.

If you’re blessed to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, He may have called you to endure hardship on His behalf. Take heart, though. The sufferings of this life, while painful in the here and now, will pale in comparison to the eternal blessings still to come.

God, this world is full of pain, suffering, and injustice. Please help us know when we should turn the other cheek and when we should stand up and fight to preserve the religious freedom we’ve enjoyed for nearly 250 years. We know the world will grow more and more hostile to Christians, so please help us embrace a mindset of being willing to follow You no matter what comes. Amen.

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Passing the Baton, and Time is Short

(This has been kind of a stressful week where regular routines got tossed aside and our family had to call some audibles. Part of that change meant not having much time or mental energy to devote to a blog post. My teenaged daughter was sweet, saw that I was stressed about not having the time to write something, and offered to let me use something she wrote. So without further ado, here’s the worldwide debut of my daughter’s writing skills. Thanks kiddo!)

Witnessing to people is hard. You know that’s what God tells you to do, and you can’t imagine people you know and love going to Hell, but sharing the gospel can be very difficult.

Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 that “for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” Thieves come unexpected and unannounced. As Christ said in Mark 13:32, “But concerning the day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

But what if you did know? What if you knew God was coming back, say, tomorrow at 3 pm? What are some things you would do before His arrival? I know one of my top priorities would be to tell my non-Christian friends. I would not care what they thought of me because I would know, Christ’s coming back! I would just want to save them from God’s wrath before it’s too late.

Well, we don’t know when Christ is coming back. But what we do know is that sometime, anytime, Jesus IS coming back. It could be tonight, five years from now, or maybe even tomorrow at 3 pm. The possibilities are endless!

My point is, God’s coming back. Those things you would do if Christ was coming tomorrow? Do them as soon as possible, for all we know, the Lord may be coming back tonight. Don’t be caught off guard.

What are some things you want to have done before Christ returns? How can you make them happen as soon as possible?

Lord, help me to live my life as if you were coming back anytime, because no one knows the day or the hour. Amen.