Category: There Are No Limits on God’s Love

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Don’t Look at me in That Tone of Voice

I wouldn’t say I grew up in the boonies, but I could almost see the boonies from my house. Pennsylvania is pretty much known for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but there’s a whole lot of nothing filling up the rest of the Commonwealth.

The roads of our development were too small for a school bus to navigate, so the bus stop for our neighborhood was in the parking lot of a nearby church where the bus would be able to turn around. On inclement weather days, there would usually be a few different cars in the parking lot that we’d all pile into, and we’d listen to the radio to see if our school was closed.

Back when I was in middle school and high school people shared information differently. When there was bad weather during the winter, dial-up internet was the order of the day, and if there were websites for individual school districts, they weren’t updated daily. When all the families of the neighborhood wanted to find out if school was closed, having a delay, or operating on schedule, we tuned in to a couple of select radio stations.

One of the DJs we listened to went by the moniker “Gary in the Morning.” Gary’s radio station had a broad listening area, so if there were a lot of school districts affected, his lists could take awhile. First he’d read the alphabetical list of one-hour delays. Then he’d go through the schools operating on a two-hour delay. Finally he’d go through the list of schools that were closed that day. If our school wasn’t on any of the lists, it meant we were running on a normal schedule. (And if it wasn’t on any of the lists, we sat there in disbelief, arguing that there had to be some mistake…until the school bus showed up.) At any rate, we were all familiar with Gary in the Morning’s voice.

Due to the lack of dentists in the semi-boonies, sometimes it was necessary to drive a bit to get to one. For awhile, I went to a dentist whose office was very near the radio station where Gary in the Morning worked. I think I was vaguely aware that the station was nearby, but wouldn’t have even recognized him if he came in and sat down next to me in the waiting room.

There was one day at the dentist, however, where I didn’t need to see him. I was lying in the dentist’s chair, with the dentist doing his thing and the bright light in my face, when I heard a familiar voice talking to the receptionist out front. “No, it couldn’t be…” He kept talking, though, and yeah, that sounded just like Gary. Like a total buffoon, with dentist fingers and tools still in my mouth, I mumbled “Is that Gary in the Morning?”

The dentist, fluent in understanding people with this speech condition, came back with “It sure is! You want to meet him?” I don’t remember what I said, but the dentist gave a shout out to the front, and it wasn’t long before Gary came walking into the area where I was having my teeth cleaned. I was at an obvious disadvantage, but Gary was very nice. He shook my hand and told me I had beautiful teeth, which probably wasn’t true but what else are you going to say to a total stranger who’s in the dentist’s chair and is excited to meet you? I don’t remember what he looked like, but it was a fun little interaction with a local celebrity.

In the New Testament book of John, chapter 10 spends a lot of time covering Jesus’ description of himself as the “good shepherd.” Back in those days it was common to have flocks spend the night in pens, so they’d be easier to consolidate, keep track of, and protect from predators overnight. In the mornings when it was time to get them out of the pen, contrary to the methods of western shepherds, the shepherds of bible times did not drive their sheep, but instead called them out of the pen.

3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. –John 10:3-5

For this method to work, the sheep have to be familiar with the shepherd’s voice. The shepherd is talking quite often, but the sheep need to be listening to the voice, tuning in and becoming familiar with the voice of the one they trust. We (Christ-followers), of course, are the sheep, and Christ is the Shepherd. He’s ever calling us, and is always aware of where we are, and the dangers we face, even if we’re oblivious to them.

Spending time in the Bible and in prayer, dwelling on the things of God, and avoiding things we know to be detrimental to our Christian walk are all ways we become more familiar with our Shepherd’s voice. He doesn’t shout; He calls. There are plenty of ways His voice can be drowned out, so we need to be listening for it.

Let’s be sure to pay attention to the Lord’s voice. His sheep are familiar with it, and will follow it even when things don’t quite make sense. Trusting the Shepherd enables us to simplify the conflicting things our own senses are telling us, and leads to the safety He’s got in mind.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

-Psalm 23

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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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Bad Ideas Just Come to Me; No Extra Thought Required

Have you ever had a lapse in judgment?

When I was a young teenager, probably 14 or 15, my church’s youth leader (Todd) dropped a couple of us off at the entrance to our development. It was December, so it got dark pretty early. I’d guess it was around 5:30 pm; we were coming back from weightlifting (gotta get huge, right?), and since our housing development was on the way back to where Todd was returning the van, he dropped two of us off.

I’m not really sure what I was thinking, but I guess I decided I’d be a bit of a clown, and after I exited the side door and started walking around the back of the van, a dumb thought entered my mind. “Wouldn’t it be funny if I jumped onto the back bumper when Todd started driving away?” I just assumed Todd would somehow know I was there, stop the van, and say “har har, wise guy…off.” Then I’d give one of those dopey teenage “shucks” laughs, and comply, then we’d both be on our way.

Well, I jumped up onto the bumper and held onto the back door’s handle (the handles were more solid back then than today’s handles).

He didn’t notice, though. He started driving away and didn’t slow down. Well, like any joke gone wrong, you just kind of want to make an exit with as little fanfare as possible. Since we weren’t going real fast just yet, I figured I’d just hop off. It was dark though, and I couldn’t see how fast we were going. In one of those “this probably isn’t a good idea but I’m going for it anyway” moments, I hopped off the bumper. As proof I was less than fully committed, I hung onto the handle, just in case.

Yes, the van was moving too fast for me to safely hop off. Once my feet hit the ground it became crystal clear that I wouldn’t be able to stay on my feet. They got pulled out from under me and I started being dragged behind the van, hanging onto the rear door’s handle with one hand.

The ratty old shoes I was wearing at the time were a little too big for my feet, and I distinctly remember one of them starting to come off. If I lost a shoe, that foot could have been subjected to some very nasty road rash, and I probably would have let go of the handle. By the good Lord’s providence, it slipped right back on when I turned my foot a different way. Truth be told, I don’t remember whether or not I started yelling for Todd to stop. My other hand held the jacket I’d brought with me, so I started whipping the van’s back door with it to try to attract Todd’s attention and get him to stop.

Right around that time, a car rounded the bend and started coming up behind us, and illuminated the situation with its headlights. I can’t imagine what that driver must’ve thought when he/she witnessed the scene.

Now, sometimes you do something dumb and you’re fortunate enough that nobody really finds out about it. At the time this happened, we lived in one of the corner houses in this development. When Todd dropped us off, all I had to do was cross the street and I would have been in my yard. The way events unfolded, if you had been on our house’s back deck, you would’ve had a great vantage point to seeing a van driving away with a kid hanging off the back, flailing his coat, illuminated by the headlights of a car following behind. Well, for some reason, my mother was back there and had a great view to all of this. That was probably a pretty horrific sight. Sorry Mom.

Well we probably only went 50 yards or so, and what felt like 50 mph in the dark was probably more like 20-25. A pretty confused Todd stopped the van, and as soon as it was safe, I let go of the handle and left the road for the safety of the grass. My shoes were noticeably more worn than they were 60 seconds ago, and were still warm from being dragged across asphalt. I don’t even remember if I gave Todd any explanation, or if I just waved a “thanks for stopping” and walked away. It was an incredible act of divine protection; my shoes took the only lumps of the evening and I walked away without a scratch.

I’m sure this was one of those moments where Mom wanted to both hug and strangle me. I don’t really remember walking in the front door or what Mom said, but I know she somehow saw things play out, because she’s brought up this event several times in the past. At the time, I probably just mumbled an “I’m fine, what’s the big deal?” in typical teenage boy fashion.

To the teenagers out there: you’re gonna do dumb stuff. Don’t do it on purpose, you’ll do plenty of dumb stuff accidentally. Your parents are going to worry about you, and they’re going to lose sleep over you. Sometimes when they just give you random hugs or tell you they love you, they’re not overreacting, they’re just thinking about all the ways things could have gone wrong and are simply glad you’re okay.

To the parents of teenagers out there: God bless you. Being the parents of littles is physically exhausting, while being the parents of teenagers is emotionally exhausting. I see why hair turns gray or falls out in this stage of life. Don’t let eye rolls stop you from telling those kids you love them and giving them extra hugs. Pray for them like crazy, and foster their spiritual development as they barrel toward adulthood.

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Should A Christian Support Israel?

Should Christians support Israel? Boy, there’s a can of worms.

Well, there’s a lot to it, but the short version is…generally yes. God gives both conditional (“if you do this, I will do that, but if you stop doing this, I will stop doing that”) and unconditional (“I’m doing this regardless of what you do”) promises. Genesis 12:1-3 contains an unconditional promise God gave to Abram when He told him what He was going to do through the man:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

I mean…there you go. The most neutral option you can take is to be indifferent about it, but if you go that route, you’re kind of avoiding behavior you know God wants to encourage (you just read it, taken right from scripture). So in this case, even neutrality is a form of disobedience.

Years later, Genesis 17:8 records God again talking to Abram (now Abraham): “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” You could say the descendants of Abraham have an everlasting divine claim to the land.

So how does that square with all the heat Israel’s been taking over the past few years with its involvement in Gaza?

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s complicated, but I’d say we have to zoom way out to look at history and the prophesied future of Israel. In the Old Testament, the Israelites’ disobedience led to their being kicked out of the land and taken as captives to foreign nations. They were eventually allowed to return, and they reestablished the country, though the temple was a much reduced version of its former glory. Skip ahead to the New Testament and the Israelites still occupied the land. The Romans controlled it, and they even destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70, after most of the New Testament was written.

But what about the events that have happened after Bible times? It’s been almost 2,000 years since the latest books of the Bible were written. There’s been plenty of time where God’s chosen people weren’t ruling, or even occupying, the land. More recently (say, around the year 1900) the land of Israel/Palestine was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, a Muslim state, who was not fond of giving up territory for the sake of establishing a Jewish nation. Its alliance with Germany led to defeat and subsequent loss of support after World War I, and the British began forcibly making room in Palestine for the Jews, making lots of enemies in the process. Skipping ahead to 1948, Israel became a nation again and has remained so ever since. The nation is currently run by a secular government; while many devout Jews (and some Christians) live there now, the term “Jewish” in Israel generally refers more to an ethnic term than to religious beliefs.

Here’s the short version: the Jews are God’s chosen people, and will one day fulfill His original desire of having them be the ones to proclaim the Messiah. In Romans 11:25-26, Paul notes a future mass Jewish revival…all of Israel will be saved. So that means there will still be a sizable Jewish presence at that time, but we don’t know any details of what occurs to the physical land of Israel between now and then. Israelites have lost control of it in the past and could very well do so again between now and the mass revival, we just don’t know.

So we know the land of Israel will one day undergo mass revival, and we know that hasn’t occurred yet. In the meantime, the country, like any other country, is ruled by imperfect people. They’ll make bad choices sometimes. We don’t have to agree with everything they do, but they should generally enjoy the support of Christ-followers (barring decisions that go against what we know God’s will to be, as in things that run counter to scripture).

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Beware The Shifting Sands of Situational Ethics

Personnel issues in the military can be funny things. The military is usually trying to either grow or shrink the number of troops it’s got in its ranks. Depending on the prevailing environment, a kick-you-out infraction may not always mean you get kicked out.

For example, I joined the Air Force in the 2003/2004 timeframe. We had heavy commitments in both Afghanistan and Iraq at the time. Even though it was an era of high patriotism in the nation (just a couple years after 9/11), the various branches of the military began having trouble recruiting enough folks to maintain troop levels.

During “shrink the force” environments, the brass makes it easy to kick people out. If you get a DUI during such a time, for example, you just gave your leadership everything it needs to discharge you. Instead of getting three strikes, you might only get one. On the flip side, when the military’s trying to keep everyone it has and is still losing numbers from casualties and natural attrition, you might get six or seven strikes and still be okay.

I forget this one guy’s first name, but I’ll call him Rodney. Rodney had a big mouth and a bad attitude. He had skills in what we were training for, but the guy just kept getting in trouble for one thing after another. I’m not sure which straw broke the camel’s back, but our leadership decided they’d rather try to reform him than lose him, so they sent him to corrective custody. Corrective custody is probably best described as being a combination of basic training and some kind of prison. For example, you could go to the bathroom, but you had to ask permission, and permission had to be granted in, like, half a dozen steps or something like that. If you didn’t do things according to the way you were instructed, you ain’t makin’ it to the latrine in time.

When Rodney came back from corrective custody, it was “yes, Sir,” “no, Sir,” and “please and thank you, Sir.”

Thinking back to those days, it might be a little extreme to say it this way, but there were some pretty worthless human beings in the military at the time. You hear stories about people that are problematic during times of peace, yet are absolute heroes under fire, and those are cool stories, but sometimes you’ve just got people that are fulltime sandbags and oxygen thieves. Rodney was on the shiny side of borderline, but it was good enough for leadership to say “let’s try to get him where he needs to be.”

Now imagine someone with a love so unfathomable, so bottomless, that He says “I’m willing to die for the benefit of all those sandbags and oxygen thieves.” Unbelievably, that same someone knows full well “yes, most of them will reject what I offer them,” but died on their behalf all the same! What kind of love is this?

This is the love that Jesus Christ, the one and only son of God, extends to all of us. All of us were born into a world of sin, separated from God and Heaven by our imperfection. The sinless Christ, both fully God and fully man, died on our behalf to bridge the gap we can’t cross on our own. He presented Himself as a sacrifice to God the Father, once and for all creating a pathway to the Lord’s presence for us sinners. That pathway runs through Jesus Christ alone, and He offers it to all of us, regardless of our “worthiness.” We’re all unworthy. Yet due to that matchless love, we’re all invited. Won’t you accept His invitation?

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A Vivid Reminder of His Goodness in my Life

Years back our family took its first plane trip. We visited family in Colorado, had a lot of fun, enjoyed our time quite a bit, and went to the Denver airport for our return trip as travel pros.

I have a gigantic book of Sudoku puzzles I brought with me on that trip. I’d dink around with it on and off during the flight. Trying to switch things up to reduce boredom for our kids, we moved them around to different seats part way through the flight. My youngest daughter, who was four years old at the time, would be sitting next to me for the landing.

During final approach when we started to really drop in altitude, she developed a nose bleed. It was the worst possible time to do it, too. The seatbelt signs were on, the flight attendants were all buckled in, and I didn’t have any tissues or napkins or anything. I called to my wife across the aisle, hoping she’d have some tissues. She did, but they were in her purse, stowed in the overhead bin.

It was such a helpless feeling, not being able to help my little girl when she needed me and couldn’t do anything to help herself. To my great relief, someone in the row behind me heard what was happening and gave us some of her tissues (thank you!).

Once we got home again, we unpacked our things, did all kinds of laundry and grocery shopping, and life began to return to normal. After things had returned to normal I sat down with my Sudoku book. I opened it up to the page where I’d last been working, and was almost startled to see blood on the page until I remembered where I’d been the last time I used the book. To this day I don’t think I remember anything else about that flight, but I remember the bloody nose adventure.

The Bible recounts multiple instances of the Israelites setting up markers, recounting stories to their children verbally, celebrating feasts, and using pneumonic devices to remember what the Lord had done for them. God set up these circumstances and commanded these reminders so that, in an age without notebooks, plaques, or screens, people would be able to easily remember the Lord’s actions on their behalf.

Although this little reminder of mine pales in comparison to being led out of captivity or being established in a land flowing with milk and honey, I’m nonetheless very grateful for the Lord’s provision for my daughter in a time of need. I wouldn’t even recognize the “tissue woman” if I bumped into her, but I’m glad our paths crossed for a few moments years ago.

Do you have any reminders in your own life of the way God’s moved for your benefit? It could be a scar, a vivid memory, or perhaps some trinket, memento, or photo. The Lord still moves in peoples’ lives today, and it’s good to remember His involvement in your life. Keep that in mind as you face new challenges in your daily living.

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Every dog has its day. We do, too.

I know a married couple that has two dogs. One of the dogs, Maggie, is on the older side at this point and was rescued from the streets earlier in her life. She lives in a safe environment now, but you can still see echoes of that dark phase (she doesn’t do well with loud noises, she’s quick to bare her teeth when she feels even the slightest bit insecure, etc.).

For the other one, “massive” is the best way to describe him. Murphy is a bull mastiff. He’s so big he doesn’t even realize how much room he takes up and how his size affects others. He’s lived in a safe place his whole life, and between his secure upbringing and his sheer mass, there’s not much he’s afraid of. He’s a confident dog.

Murphy’s size dictates what others in his life can do nearby.

The two are an odd pair, but from a security perspective, they do a great job. If Maggie even thinks she hears something outside, she starts barking away, hanging back from whatever’s happening but alerting everyone else to it. Murphy, curious to see what Maggie’s barking about, silently gets up and walks to investigate, moving directly toward the potential danger. I’ve personally seen a distracted delivery driver recoil in surprise as he dropped off a package near the door, only to look up and see a  175+ lb monster looking back at him with a cocked head through the storm door.

Maggie starts barking because she’s afraid. Murphy walks toward the danger because he’s not afraid. Imagine having that kind of confidence.

For most of us, I’d say we’re probably not often afraid of physical dangers. We’re more afraid of things that might happen. Particularly in our spiritual walks, it’s easy to be distracted by things that simply aren’t true. “What if God stops loving me?” “What if I lose my salvation because I can’t stop sinning?”

I don’t really believe it would be in our best interest to impersonate a bull mastiff, but we can take a lesson from the traits he displays. Our confidence and assurance are not to come from ourselves, but from one we can depend on even more than ourselves. Here are some Bible verses to help remind you about the confidence you’re entitled to as a Christian:

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. -Hebrews 4:16

But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. -1Thessalonians 5:8

so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”-Hebrews 13:6

In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. –Proverbs 14:26

By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. -1 John 4:17

For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. –Psalm 71:5

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. -1 John 5:14

For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught. –Proverbs 3:26

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. –Hebrews 10:35

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. –Philippians 1:6

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Life Lessons From a Sitcom

Years ago there was a sitcom on TV called “Parks and Rec.” It was a comedy that focused on the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department of a small Midwestern town in Indiana.

The main character in this show is a woman named Leslie Knope, a very energetic civil servant overflowing with enthusiasm. Leslie’s best friend is Ann Perkins, a bubbly and fun (but not nearly as over-the-top as Leslie) nurse. My personal favorite is Leslie’s boss, Ron Swanson. He’s a deadpan middle-aged guy that enjoys solitude, fine alcohol, well-prepared meats of any kind, and making government bureaucracy less efficient.

In one particular episode Ron learns Leslie is planning a surprise birthday event for him, which, in Ron’s mind, is a mortifying idea. Leslie’s panache for flamboyant celebrations is something he fears will be turned on him. Out of morbid curiosity, he asks Ann about a past surprise birthday party Leslie threw for her. You can almost sense his nausea as she fondly recalls being “kidnapped” from work, brought to a restaurant where a mariachi band sang happy birthday to her and made her wear a sombrero, then afterward heading home where virtually all of Ann’s friends were waiting to surprise her.

Ron went into defensive mode. He starts sleeping at the office to reduce the opportunities for him to be kidnapped. He starts learning of little hints that another kidnapping is in the offing. When Leslie finally comes to him with a lame attempt to get him to a specific location elsewhere in the building, he resigns himself to the fate he’d been trying to avoid. He follows Leslie to a conference room and she opens the door, where he expects someone to lunge at him.

Instead, he finds a comfortable chair at a simply set table for one. The table has a large steak, a heaping side of bacon, a baked potato with plenty of toppings, a bottle of booze to complement the steak, and two war movies for him to enjoy by himself.

As he stumbles to find the right words to say, Ron mentions the party Ann had described to him earlier. Leslie replies “I did that for Ann. Why would I throw Ron Swanson an Ann Perkins party?”

This oddly touching scene is the perfect analogy for the way the Lord commissions us to do His work. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason, when I was younger I always feared I’d have to grow up and become some kind of missionary in a far-off land. I know that’s important, but I don’t want to do that! To any missionaries out there, a thousand thank yous for the work you do. I can’t rule out the possibility that being a missionary is still somewhere in my future, but I feel blessed that God’s said something similar: “I already have people for that. I need you to do this thing nobody else is equipped to do.” Hopefully you’re hearing the same message.

As it turns out, there are plenty of roles God can use you for, and there are some we may not enjoy. Sometimes though, you may just find that God hands you an assignment and you mull it over for awhile, only to come away saying “yeah, you know, I think I could do that!”

They won’t always be fun, but you’ll be blessed each time you say “yes” to God.

Lord, thank you for knowing us better than we know ourselves, and for training, equipping, and preparing us for the things You’ll ask of us. Help us be brave when we’re asked to do something we don’t want to do, be appreciative when we’re asked to do something we like, and be confident in You at all times. In Your name I ask, Amen.

To see this “Parks and Rec” exchange, have a look here. There’s some crude language sprinkled throughout, but it’s still a fun clip.

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Quick Hit: If Santa Followed the Lord

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

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

You’re all naughty. Romans 3:23-24

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

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

Merry Christmas!

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Reduced by $10,000, or Paid in Full?

It’s not the best example, and I’m not fond of the idea, but since it’s a current event, I’m using it.

Think about the number 10,000. If you had to count from 1 to 10,000 you could do it, but it would take long enough to be super annoying, so it’s definitely a substantial number.

Yesterday President Biden announced an initiative to forgive holders of federal student loans up to $10,000 worth of their debt if they met certain criteria. These days education can be ridiculously expensive, so it’s very easy to incur that much debt (many times over, in fact).

Still, though, imagine waking up one day to the reality of having that much of your agreed-to obligation wiped out. Then, when you inquire about it, you hear “Don’t worry about it, it’s gone from your ledger.” All you can do is express thanks.

While 10,000 dollars’ worth of debt is certainly nice to not worry about, it’s still a quantity that we can mentally grasp, and most students can eventually repay. What if the total amount of all your different types of debt numbered in the millions, or even in the billions? Having $10,000 forgiven would still be nice, but it would hardly make a dent in the bottom line figure of what you owe.

Now imagine a debt so large that you can’t even comprehend it because it’s so abstract. What if you personally owed debts totaling one hundred trillion dollars? That’s a one followed by 14 zeroes. Nobody on the planet right now could pay back a debt that large. Not even the U.S. Government could do that. You’d have no hope of putting that debt completely to bed in your lifetime. The constant phone calls and mail from debt collectors would be all-consuming; the debt would be the only thing on your mind. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy food, sleeping well is no longer a thing, and you wouldn’t even be able to take pleasure in the little things in life.

But if you had your debt totally wiped out and the balance restored to zero, how thankful do you think you’d be?

It would be the largest weight ever…lifted right off your shoulders. That’s what Christ offers to you, me, and everyone else. There are two ways to get to Heaven: 1. live a perfect and sinless life, and 2. ride the coattails of someone that’s done exactly that. If you slip up even once, route number one is no longer an option. No amount of money can buy back a single mistake. Since nobody reading this can claim eligibility for the first route, you’re left with the second route, and only Jesus Christ has lived a life without sin. God hates sin, and He will not tolerate it in Heaven. When Christ sacrificed Himself on the cross, He essentially gave Himself as an offering that satisfied God’s wrath. That was Him saying “my coattails are right here, waiting for you to grab them.” By claiming Christ as Lord of your life, you gain the status of being covered by what He’s given. It’s Christ saying “don’t worry about it, it’s gone from your ledger.” You’re standing at the pearly gates, trying to get in, and Christ says “yeah, open the gates, they’re with me.”

Placing your trust in Jesus Christ as your savior is the only way for you to go to Heaven. When you trust in Him, your spiritual debt has been wiped clean. It’s gone. Even if you had been living under its crushing weight, it no longer exists the instant you welcome Jesus into your heart.

You want to talk about having a major debt forgiven? There’s no greater example than that one.