Tag: challenge

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You Won’t Know how Strong you are Until Being Strong is Your Only Option

I’d bet few of the people reading this have given much thought to the types of rope used in rock climbing. Climbing ropes are meant to catch somebody who’s lost their grip and taken a fall. As you might imagine, if you’re going to be betting your life on the integrity of your equipment, you don’t want to use just any old rope.

When used properly, the gear used in climbing can withstand harder shocks than your body can. The human body itself is the weak link in the system. To help the climber endure hard falls, the rope itself is designed to have some stretch to it.

As you can imagine, it’s very important that the rope’s owner/user keep track of the number and intensity of falls the rope sustains. Some falls are very easy on the rope; sometimes a climber just kind of slowly loses their balance or their grip and rolls away from the wall without actually falling. In this case the rope holds the weight of the climber, but doesn’t absorb a shock. On the other end of the spectrum, if a climber freefalls 8-10 feet before the rope starts going taut, not only is the climber going to be wincing in pain, but the rope will have used up a great deal of the stretch it’s capable of. That portion of the rope is now both less stretchy during a future fall, and it has less tensile strength and is more likely to break since the stretch is gone. After enough falls, that rope can no longer be considered safe, has to be pulled out of active use, and is retired.

In the last post we talked about succession and training your replacement. This time I’d like to focus on people that may feel like they’ve been forced into something different.

Although many times God will move you from one challenge to a larger one, there are other times He seemingly pulls you out of something and just kinda…leaves you hanging for awhile. Whether it’s ministry or some other profession, or something in your personal life, sudden changes can throw you for a loop. A job loss, a sudden injury, or maybe retirement that came sooner than expected are all examples of a situation leaving you scratching your head and saying “well, what now, God?”

In college I had a professor who taught us about how to safely set up ropes for climbing. He taught us all about knots, setting anchors, and proper care for ropes and gear; these are all technical skills needed for safely scaling or descending walls. As a part of the course he gave all us students a piece of climbing rope about a foot and a half long. He expected us to bring the ropes to class and we used these ropes to practice different knots throughout the course. He didn’t just take a new rope and chop it in pieces; it was a retired rope repurposed to be useful in a different way. Cutting up an active rope to serve this purpose would have worked, but it would have cost the overall enterprise.

If you’ve been forced into a position you wouldn’t have chosen, it’s certainly something easy to grumble about. Maybe you simply can’t perform the same way you previously could, and others that have been waiting for a shot at the role you held are getting a turn at it now. Don’t think that means you have less value. It means your value is going to be used differently. If lots of people can do the job, maybe it’s better to move into something fewer people can do, like a role benefitting from hard-won experience. Just because you can no longer do something you formerly could doesn’t mean you’re without purpose; it means your purpose has changed.

That same professor told a story about when he was younger and managed a nearby ropes course. Since the course was fairly secluded, it was inconvenient to carry ropes back and forth each time the course was going to be used, so the staff had a shed or a box near the course where they secured the ropes after being used. He arrived at the course one day to find the shed had been broken into and one of the ropes stolen. Strangely, a few days later the rope showed up again at the shed.

Not quite sure what to make of this, he knew better than to trust the rope. It had been outside of the ropes course staff’s control, and could not account for the activities that had been done with it. He later heard through the grapevine some students had “borrowed” the rope to pull a car out of a snow bank or something. If that’s true, it was probably a few guys that simply didn’t know their use of the rope would cause it to be retired. I don’t know what my professor ended up using the rope for, but there are plenty of other possibilities. Aside from cutting it up to be used for instruction, rope can also be used for hauling gear up and down a wall, lashing gear to packs, tying down equipment to keep it safe during high winds (or in the back of a vehicle), acting as a drying line for wet gear, improvising shelters out of tarps, etc. After its retirement, the same rope can be used for all of these purposes before they stop being useful.

If you find yourself in a situation where a few bozos made a snow bank-like blunder that ended up costing you, I’m sorry things went down that way. It’s understandable to be upset for a bit, but I have to ask…how long will you dwell on it? If you’ve still got plenty to offer and you’ve got the desire, what other ways can you use your knowledge and experience to benefit others?

It’s never too late to be who you might have been. –Mary Ann Evans

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Have You Thought About Training Your Replacement?

Not long ago I went to an estate sale. I don’t know that I’d ever been to one before. For those who don’t know, when someone passes away and their heirs/loved ones begin the process of emptying out the home, there’s often a lot of “I don’t need this, I don’t want this, or I have no room for this.” The heirs set aside what they want to keep, then hold an event where pretty much everything left in the home is up for sale.

It’s both very interesting, and very sad. On the one hand, you’ve got this eclectic collection of items that tells a story about the person that last lived here. “This lady obviously loved sunglasses, ravens, and hedge trimmers.” On the other hand, you see just how much clutter they lived with, and it’s a little depressing to see crowds of complete strangers coming in, picking through the departed’s belongings, and haggling over already-low prices. “Why in the world would anybody hang onto this, and why in the world wouldn’t the people putting on the sale throw it out before starting the sale?”

A few years back, I chronicled the story of how our family unexpectedly lost my wife’s dad, Lee, to some health struggles. We thought he’d made it past the most difficult part of his health challenges, but it turns out God wanted him to come home more than He wanted him to stay with us. Lee was a devout Christian, and everybody who knew him understood his faith to be an important part of who he was.

As the pastor concluded Lee’s memorial service, he issued a challenge. “Today we’re saying goodbye to a very godly man. I ask you, who here will take his place?”

Today I’d like to talk about the idea of succession.

Think for a moment about the capacity in which you serve the Lord. It could be any number of ways, and none of them need to come with a fancy title. The day will come when you no longer fill that role. My challenge for you today is to think about this: are you helping to prepare someone else to fill the vacancy you’ll one day leave behind?

In some cases you won’t be able to see the transition coming, and you may not be available to offer advice or insight during that chaotic time. In other cases you might still be around to lend your expertise. I’ve written before about how once you complete a task God’s laid before you, there’s often another, larger task waiting for you. I once heard a famous leader say “if you’re still excited about the same thing you were excited about five years ago, you’re not growing.” Part of the reason you should regularly think about training your replacement is because if you consistently demonstrate faithfulness in smaller things, you should expect God to “promote” you into something larger. It doesn’t mean you’re giving up on something; it could mean God’s used you to set up a situation for someone new, it’s time to move you into another challenge, and now it’s time to turn things over to someone else who’s stepping into a larger challenge of their own so they, too, can keep growing. What feels like closing the door on something is actually a profound opportunity for you to demonstrate leadership and expand your Christ-focused influence.

What does that type of preparation look like? The possibilities are limitless. Some of them are on the process and technical side of the house, like CEOs, family businesses, specific ministry work or leadership roles, etc. Others include volunteer roles, or maybe even roles without titles. Some examples include Sunday school teachers, mentoring someone younger in the faith than you, being the person that shovels the driveway of an elderly neighbor, brings meals to a shut in, or drives someone to a doctor’s appointment or to go grocery shopping. “Grandmother” is a title that carries a lot of weight, and being a godly influence in your grandchildren’s lives comes with an opportunity to have a lasting impact years after you’ve taken your last breath. These roles are less about technical skills than they are about willing hearts and people skills, and those attitudes need to be lived out or demonstrated to others before they can learn them.

Think of the Christian leaders in your own life and the influence they’ve had on you. They don’t need to have held an official title. You don’t need a degree or special training to offer God-honoring advice to a friend, neighbor, or co-worker. You just need to use the influence you’ve got to show others around you what Christian living, especially in difficult times, looks like.

Succession planning is a natural part of any endeavor. You can cling to something if you really want to, but are you giving careful consideration to the idea that the thing you’re refusing to let go of may suffer because of your unwillingness to let go, and you may even be preventing someone well suited for a new role from having the opportunity to grow into it? “Today we’re saying goodbye to a very godly man. I ask you, who here will take his place?”

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Is Your Horsepower Put to Good Use, or Just Idling?

In the world of high-performance cars, horsepower plays a crucial role. Speaking generally, the greater the available horsepower, the more speed is attainable. Two of the essential components of maximizing horsepower are adequate amounts of air to facilitate combustion and adequate amounts of fuel to ignite in the combustion chamber. If either one of those components suffers a reduction, the horsepower drops.

Sometimes vehicles with a lot of horsepower are illegal to use on normal public roads. For people who own one of these cars and want to use them out on the streets, one of the options for making them “street legal” is to install a restrictor plate. This is a physical barrier that reduces the amount of air making it into the engine, leading to a loss in combustion efficiency, and causing a corresponding loss of horsepower and drop in speed. It’s kind of a shame, really.

We’ll come back to that in a minute. The world seems like it’s getting darker at a more rapid rate these days. The news media doesn’t often carry good or uplifting news that makes you think positively about humanity’s future. The demise of morality leads me to think it’s not a stretch to believe that some people alive today will still be alive when the Rapture occurs.

If this is true, I believe two things are going to happen along the way. The first is that evil will become more blatant and more prominent. Things formerly only done in secret will be accepted out in the open. A few months back (as our family was driving to church, no less), we stopped at a red light, and I saw the car in front of us had a bumper sticker that said “Satan loves me.” It was disheartening for sure, and I felt a profound sadness for the young lady driving the car and for anyone believing this lie.

The second thing I believe will happen is a more potent display of God’s power through His saints. What that looks like I don’t know, but supernatural involvement will be obvious to any witnesses who are intellectually honest with themselves. Sometimes it will mean believers doing things they shouldn’t be able to do. Other times people will show up in places without knowing why they traveled there, only to find they’re part of some unlikely series of events that unfolds to reveal God’s hand in the process. People will testify of God’s provision in their lives, either by having their material needs met in unusual ways or by receiving hope in very dark times. In some cases, likely growing in frequency, Christ-followers will be killed because of the Master they serve, but God will empower those saints to rise to the challenge placed before them.

Not a rosy picture by any stretch, I know. Yet it gives me hope to know God can and will equip those who trust Him. This brings me to the main point of this post. Though you may trust Christ as your savior, you’re the one that decides how much to limit His ability to use you for building His kingdom. Although each of us has unlimited potential to do the Lord’s work, it’s His call as to how much He wants to let each of us accomplish, so that’s out of our hands. What each of us can decide is our minimum level of willingness. Imagine if Moses had persisted in making excuses until God said “fine, I’ll send someone else.” Imagine if Billy Graham had said “no, I think I’ll avoid anything to do with public speaking, thank you.” Are you willing to accept some discomfort and unknowns for the sake of letting God use you more than He’s currently using you? I’m not just talking about being an usher at church or singing in the choir (though those are good things). I’m talking about the stuff you’re ill-equipped to do and is outside your comfort zone, yet you still feel God tugging at you and saying “this is the direction I want you to go.”

Said another way, you are your own restrictor plate when it comes to serving the Lord. You can’t guarantee high performance, but you can absolutely guarantee you don’t reach your maximum potential of using your spiritual gifts and abilities to be a productive agent of the Lord.

I’m impressed by today’s young people. It seems those in high school and college are consistently a different type of passionate for Christ. Somewhere between that age and mid-life, many of us peter out in terms of our willingness to boldly step out in faith to follow where Christ calls us to go. We get our own place to live. Some of us get married. We achieve career milestones. We have kids. These can all be good things, but somewhere along the way, many of us lose that awestruck attitude of “Christ can do anything through me,” trading it for one that’s more like “but this is probably as good as it gets.” We don’t allow God the chance to do big things on His behalf through us because we close the door on the possibility of Him doing them. We walk away from Isaiah’s attitude of “Here I am, send me.” (Isaiah 6:8)

Everyone, of course, must make their own decisions about how much they’ll let God use them. From now until the time your heart stops beating, though, I’d urge you to be on the lookout for opportunities to step into roles Christ offers you. Darker days mean opportunities to shine brighter for the Lord. God’s gonna do what God’s gonna do, but someone’s eternal fate might switch from lost to found because of your willingness to be used by the Lord. Isn’t that something you’d like to be a part of?

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Beauty’s in the Eye of the Beholder, But Don’t Give His Eyes Too Much

This one’s kind of tricky because it’s easy for this post to get crass quickly. I’m talking mostly to my sisters in Christ here. I have to say right up front…the information in this post has the potential to be very helpful for others if you use it well, but you can also harm them tremendously with it. Please, please, please…use it for good. If it turns out you’ve been doing some of this stuff unknowingly, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. If you use it with bad intentions though, you’re going to have to stand before the Savior and answer for it someday.

In some way or another we’re all guilty of saying to ourselves “that’s not how I think” or “that thought never even occurred to me.” Okay, well, that might be true, but not everybody thinks (or doesn’t think) the same way as you. Believe me, this is a thing.

Have you ever just been going along, minding your own business (even trying to be on good behavior), when BAM! A thought from left field comes and completely derails you? Sometimes you know what triggered that derailment, other times it’s a mystery. Now imagine discovering you’re the one that derailed someone else in that same manner.

Unfortunately there’s no way to look at someone and accurately judge their character flaws, so you’ll have to treat the following statement as if it’s true all the time, because you just don’t know. While it’s certainly not universally true, a lot of us men are pigs. There’s not really an easy way to say this. Ladies, many of you are making your brothers in Christ stumble because of the wardrobe choices you make.

Here’s the part I’m trusting you to use good judgment with. When it comes to the female form, our piggish eyes tend to be drawn to at least one of three areas (aside from your lovely eyes, of course): chest, caboose, and legs. I know this from years of being a guy and from years of being around guys in the field of construction and in the Department of Defense. If you’re blessed in one or more of these three areas, believe me, there are lots of dudes that are very, very happy for you, even prompting some to spontaneously praise the Lord. Unfortunately, there is a very large number of men out there that struggles with lust, and the struggles that come from our sisters in Christ seem to be unnecessary.

Now some will balk and say “oh, come on, it’s nothing they don’t see everywhere.” While absolutely true, that’s the problem. If you let a guy see a little too much, it’s one more knick in the “death by a thousand paper cuts” idea. The choice of whether or not to indulge in sinful thoughts or actions ultimately lies with the individual, of course, but if you’re his sister in Christ, the way you dress shouldn’t prompt thoughts that shouldn’t be there. Shouldn’t a man be safer from temptation-inducing thoughts when he’s around a fellow Christ-follower?

Now I’m not saying you need to wear a burqa or puffy clothes everywhere, not at all. Here are some things I’ve noticed, though. In church, I’ve seen dresses or tops that are a bit more low cut than they ought to be. Is that dress or are those pants a little too tight in the rear? I’ve seen dresses or miniskirts with hemlines higher than the wearer’s extended fingertips. Probably the most common “visual stumbling block” to your brothers in Christ out there now is the prevalence of leggings/workout pants. I totally understand wanting to avoid loose-fitting clothes when working out or participating in activities where you don’t want clothes flapping around, but if you’re not engaged in anything like that and you’re walking around in skin-tight pants out in public, you can see how this might be a problem for a guy who’s trying really hard not to look. Heaven help us when we go to the gym and there are attractive, fit women wearing clothes that draw attention to all three of these areas. Again, the individual man is responsible for his thoughts and actions, but he can’t always control the things that prompt certain thoughts. Imagine if you’re a recovering alcoholic and when walking down a busy sidewalk, store owners are handing out samples of booze. No, alcoholics know they need to avoid certain places, but for “lust-aholics,” church, along with environments known to be populated with a high prevalence of Christians, should be safe places to be.

If you’re already aware of this phenomenon and dress in a way that makes it easier on us, thank you. Fellas, I’ll bring you back into this now. I’d ask that you, along with your ladies, please influence your sisters, daughters, nieces, and granddaughters with these things in mind.

For the young ladies out there, your clothes go a long way in determining the type of guy you attract. Dress like you respect your body and you’ll probably attract one that treats you better over the long term. Dress like you want guys to ogle your body and you’ll attract the kind that might treat you really well in the short term, but the nice treatment probably doesn’t last real long and you’ll likely end up going through more relationships. Believe me, the quality guys will notice too, but they’ll be crowded out or intimidated by the chuckleheads licking their chops while circling you.

Now, within the context of marriage…how do I say this? Green light. Full throttle. Go to town, especially if you worked hard for it. Christians don’t need to be prudes. Have you read Song of Solomon? If you got it, flaunt it (to your one and only). Try to make the hubs say “God created woman, and he saw that it was goooooood.” Desire is a powerful thing, and marriage is the only place God intended it to be fulfilled. For both husband and wife, don’t give up and throw in the towel on your appearance after the “I do’s.” Honor, respect, and appreciate one another for the long run, in all kinds of ways.

Finally, for those out there that may be struggling to find their calling…maybe someone reading this needs to consider trying the very challenging task of designing or making new lines of very fashionable, yet perfectly appropriate clothing. It could be any type: street clothes, professional clothes, athletic apparel, you name it. Give it a shot. God will probably bless you if it’s your calling.

On a lighter note about the differences between male and female bodies…

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This Is Probably the Only Time I’ll Do This

Sometimes God asks basic, or even mundane, things of you. Other times, though, He’ll challenge you to do something you might only get a chance to do a few times during your life.

Here’s a pretty unremarkable example, but I hope it helps illustrate my point. About 49 times out of 50, whenever I post something new on this blog, the post goes live on a Thursday (the exception is during the week of Thanksgiving). Today is Thursday, but this is a special Thursday.

Today is Thursday, February 29th. It’s Leap Day. It will be four years before we get another Leap Day, but it won’t be until February 29th, 2052, that Leap Day falls on Thursday again. That’s 28 years from now. At this point I’m unwilling to commit to this website for that long. (Any guest authors out there?) That means today’s post may be the only daregreatlynow.com post that ever gets posted on February 29th.

God many times moves in your heart to do “ordinary” things. There’s nothing wrong with that; in fact, the consistent and reliable service of committed saints is what makes many ministries possible. Volunteering in the church’s nursery, helping out an elderly neighbor after a snowstorm, or visiting with someone who finds it difficult to leave the house are all things that serve God’s kingdom by being the hands and feet of Christ. Every now and then, though, He challenges you with something extraordinary.

There are limitless possibilities, and they often tie in with your unique circumstances, means, and interests. I can’t do the things you can, you can’t do the things I can, and that’s why God put you and I exactly where we are. Whatever that big thing is, the thing that scares you even though you know God’s whispering in your ear, I just want to encourage you to press on. It could be making a very large financial donation to something God-honoring, reaching out to someone you wouldn’t ordinarily engage in a meaningful way, or filling a gap somewhere where you seem to be the only one who notices. There is literally no end to the options that are out there.

I believe that if God led you to serve in those consistent and predictable ways, you should follow through on them. But like Queen Esther, sometimes God weaves the circumstances of our lives into opportunities for us to step into water that’s over our heads and be part of something extraordinary. Don’t pass those up, because they don’t come along very often.

Yet who knows–maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen! –Esther 4:14b (Good News Translation)

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Don’t Lose Sight of the Objective

Though our world continues to darken, there is always hope in Christ, and it’s our job to reflect that hope.

This past week some controversial news came out of the Vatican. I’m not Catholic and I’m not familiar with many Catholic practices, but it seems the Pope has made some changes that now allow blessings for homosexual couples under certain conditions.

To be clear, he’s not changing the Catholic Church’s view that marriage is between a man and a woman, but he’s enabled blessings to take place which formerly could not occur. I’m not real familiar with what exactly a blessing means in this case. If a blessing is something you give to everyone that comes inside, like a handshake or a fist bump, it’s probably not such a big deal. If, on the other hand, it represents the Church saying “we sanction your behavior,” then we’ve got serious problems. I suspect it’s not at either of those extremes. The guidance is that such blessings must not have the appearance of endorsing gay marriage. It is, I think, a relatively minor change to those familiar with Catholic practices and protocols, but again, he has changed policy to enable blessings for people who could not have blessings granted previously. Overall, Pope Francis is trying to make the Church appear more welcoming to homosexuals.

He’s in a tough spot. The number of people that claim to be Catholic (or Protestant, for that matter) is in decline, and he’s trying to do something about it. Unfortunately, when church leaders around the world ask “how can we make the people of the world be more open to attending church?,” the only real answer is “make the church look more like the people of the world.” That’s a mistake.

Christ knew He came with an offensive message, and we, the Church, are to purposely stand in stark contrast to the darkness around us, echoing that offensive message. “You’re all sinners, and therefore unworthy of Heaven.” While that will certainly make you feel defensive the first time you hear it, it’s not the whole story. The rest of the story is that Christ made a way for all sinners (regardless of skin color, wealth, gender, age, political persuasion, social status, etc.) to get to Heaven and spend eternity with God. There are two ways to Heaven: 1. Live a perfect, sinless life, or 2. Ride the coattails of someone who already has. Since option 1 isn’t possible for anyone reading this, we’re all depending on option 2. The only person who’s lived a sinless life is Jesus Christ, and He wants you to accept His offer, which He gladly extends to all without prejudice. The audacity of standing in contrast to what the world says is acceptable is exactly what makes Christ stand out.

I see what Pope Francis is trying to do, but I think if sinners don’t feel welcome in church, that’s as much our fault as it is the fault of upper levels of church leadership. Different churches absolutely have different feels to them, but their primary goal should always be twofold: 1. knowing Christ and 2. spreading Christ. If you’re part of a church that isn’t doing either one of those, it’s probably time to start asking some questions.

We should be going out of our way to make sinners feel welcome at church. After all, we’re sinners, and we’re there, aren’t we? Life is messy. People are broken. No church can fix them, but Christ can. If people are seeking truth, do what you can to make them feel welcome at church, which in turn can help them find the truth of Christ, especially this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to all, and may you know Christ deeper in the coming year!

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The Show Must Go On, But It’s Up to You

If you follow my posts, you probably think to yourself every once in awhile “this guy talks a good game, but what does life look like for him when things get tough?” It’s time for a little bit of transparency. I’m human and I have failings, and it’s often difficult to worship God by pursuing His calling. The whole intent behind writing this blog is to push readers to use more of the potential God’s empowered them with. Here’s an update on what that looks like for me.

I’ve shared in the past that I feel led to write some Christian fiction books. The original plan was seven books that are each 40,000 to 50,000 words. From there it expanded so that a few of those seven stories had multiple volumes, leading to a goal of 10 books that are an average of 50,000 each. That’s a total of half a million words.

As I’ve shared before, this is an odd calling for me. I have a blog, but I don’t come from a writing background. I think I wrote a 10,000-word paper for a college class one time. My academic studies have mostly been science-focused, so venturing into creative writing (especially a creative writing endeavor of this magnitude) is wading into deep waters for me.

Truth be told, I’m pumped about this opportunity. My soul feels settled now that I feel like I know the purpose and manner by which I should honor my Savior. There are a lot of difficulties associated with a project like this, though. I had seven stories floating around in my head, and my imagination kept splitting its focus and bouncing between them. Where should I start? I’d sputter through some writing, but there were so many possible storylines that I couldn’t keep track of them all. Ideas kept coming and coming, and it was all I could do to write down all the ideas.

Taking a linear approach, I started with book number one, dabbled in book number two when I needed to think about something different, and put down some notes for books five and six as I went. I made some decent headway on books one and two, but the ideas kept rolling in for book five (which grew to three volumes), so I got more and more excited about that one. In the interest of focusing my efforts, I eventually stopped working on most of the other stuff and zeroed in on the book five trilogy.

The hardest part for me isn’t the enormous nature of the project. I’ve written down a lot of words. To date, I have over 135,000 words in draft for the different stories. For me the hardest part is how slow the progress is. I’ve got a full-time job, plus a family and all their extracurricular activities. I usually sleep less than six hours a night, I get home about 10 hours after I leave for work. I exercise, I write a blog, I do yardwork, and I pay credit card bills. I need to fill out another form for something? Now it’s time to do taxes. Since starting the series, I’ve twice been notified that my job would be ending and I need to look for a new one. There’s not much time (or sometimes, mental energy) to devote to writing. In fact, over the past year, the bulk of the writing I’ve done is when I take one of my kids to youth group one night out of the week. I find a quiet place in the church to write for a couple of hours while I wait for the event to be over. That usually results in 1,000 to 1,300 words a week. That’s not real fast when you consider the end goal (which, by the way, has been revised upwards to over 650,000 words after finding out just how much text it takes to tell the story you want to tell).

The frustration for me is finally having a clear vision of what God wants me to put effort into, but not being able to execute as quickly as I’d like. It’s aggravating to look at a lot of the junk that comes out of Hollywood and think “I have stories in my head that a Christian movie production company could make and Christian families would probably love, but I can’t write them down and revise them fast enough.”

And yet, despite that aggravation, it’s nice to trust that I’m working on God’s schedule. Ever meet someone that’s really eager to do something, or take on the world all at once? I guess God’s got to slow me down to meet His timing. I don’t know if that’s what He’s doing, but I have to trust that as long as I’m putting earnest effort into it, I’m going to make the progress He wants me to make.

I would love to be able to make a living off writing, but it looks like it’ll be a long time before that comes to pass. In fact, it might not ever be the case. I just know that I have to keep pressing on. Not only is this the task God laid before me, but I’ve now written too much for this to be something I give up on (I can’t just toss 135,000 words in the trash and not look back).

I share this with you not because I’m looking for pity. I’m letting you in on it because I want to be up front and honest with you. The jobs God gives you will not be easy. They’re going to cost you. Sometimes it’s a battle to even keep going. You’ll very likely ask yourself “should I give up?” I urge you not to. There’s no way for any of us to know what our obedience can set in motion, and we have a tendency to think too small about the possibilities. For example, there’s no guarantee that this is how things will play out, but what if there’s a major Christian revival that’s still to come, yet it won’t happen until one or more of the books I’m working on gets out there to shift people’s perspective? That view ought to keep me going. If God handed me a project to work on, I have to assume it’s an important one, right? It’s my responsibility to keep chipping away at it, no matter how long it takes. One of my favorite TobyMac song lyrics is “if I can’t walk, then I’m crawlin’.” If crawlin’ is the best I can do right now, then that’s what I’m going to do, but I’ll be looking forward to a time when I can stand up and walk or break out into a run.

I want this post to encourage you. Don’t quit. The Lord knows exactly what each of us is capable of, but we, His followers, are the weak link in this chain. When you receive a seemingly impossible assignment from Him, you’ve got to trust that not only is it achievable, you’re also going to have what you need at the time you need it. Don’t let a lack of resolve be the reason you don’t get across the finish line. If the Lord led you to do something, it’s got to be important either for other Christians or for unsaved souls. Please don’t let us down.

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It’s Up to You: Volunteer or Be Voluntold

There are a lot of bible verses about leaning on God or relying/depending on God. Lots of times they’re connected to the idea either that “this is more than I can handle on my own,” or “no matter how cool I think I am, God’s really the one in charge.”

Here are a few examples:

  • For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. –Isaiah 41:13
  • In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. –Proverbs 16:9
  • I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. –Psalm 121:1-2
  • I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. –John 15:5
  • When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. –Hosea 13:6

God wants us to rely on Him, but that way of thinking doesn’t come naturally to us. That last verse from Hosea gives a little insight into God’s thoughts. When we’re happy and satisfied with our lives, we tend to drift away from God more than when we’re in the middle of some kind of crisis. During a crisis, “reliance on the Lord” becomes a hands-on lesson for us. It’s that reliance that ensures we don’t forget Him.

There are a lot of circumstances in life that drive a closer reliance on God. Loss of a loved one, an extended illness or other medical situation, a job loss, relationship problems, and on and on and on. It’s kind of the opposite of “fair weather followers;” when things are fine we don’t talk to God much, but we cozy right up to Him when we need or want something. It’s human nature.

Here’s the part that’s important to remember. If we don’t rely on God on our own, He tends to introduce events in our lives that force us to reconsider. I think it’s interesting to note that as you look at famous biblical characters (Moses, Nehemiah, and Paul, for example), they all had their personal problems, certainly, but those problems were not the primary outlets for their reliance on God. Rather, their reliance showed through when they were doing something bigger than themselves, focusing up and out rather than down and in. When Moses was focused on leading the Israelites out of Egypt, he wasn’t terribly focused on his speech impediment. Nehemiah took charge of a project that gave a ruined city its identity and confidence, allowing him to look past the anxiety he felt for his languishing brethren. Paul traveled all along major trade routes spreading the gospel, planting churches, and empowering the next generation of Christian teachers, not really sweating the small stuff like multiple shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, or being bitten by a poisonous snake.

Another way of saying this is that if you’re not looking at the big possibilities and purposes God is offering you, you’re limiting the options He has in your life to teach you this continual lesson. You leave only the opportunity to experience “defensive” lean-on-God moments, and by avoiding the tasks that stretch you, you shut the door on the “offensive” version. When you don’t give Him options, He creates His own, and that often leads to “crisis mode” situations. This is doubly troubling; when we do this, not only are we turning down the opportunity to do big things for God’s kingdom, we’re also unintentionally sending God the message “hey, I’m not getting it; I need you to do something that grabs my attention.”

Don’t misunderstand; even if you do everything right and jump in with both feet every time God sets a challenge before you, your personal life is not guaranteed to be free of stress and crises. We live in a fallen world. People die. We harm, betray, or steal from one another. What I’m saying is that by responding to God’s calling for your life, by reaching for something that’s beyond what you can achieve on your own, you willingly walk a life of dependence on God, and He looks on that favorably.

One final example. Peter got out of the boat and walked on water. Imagine if he opted instead to stay in the boat. God still would have had ample opportunities to use him for His plans, but He may have had to sideline Peter for a little bit to teach him reliance through a sudden personal tragedy. Peter probably would’ve learned the lesson, but it wouldn’t be nearly as inspirational as what actually happened.

What do you think, have you only been giving God “defensive” reliance opportunities? Maybe it’s time to get out of the boat and walk on water.

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Quick Hit: Lost Souls Are Waiting on You and I

If you trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, congratulations! You are Heaven-bound!

Don’t forget, though, that there’s a lot more for us to do. There are a whole bunch of people that are not blessed the same way we are. While I’m thrilled that we’ll get a chance to chat in Heaven even if we never meet in this life, now’s not the time to take our feet off the gas pedals. This lifetime is the only opportunity we get to make an eternal difference in someone else’s life.

The obvious question is “well what am I supposed to do?” The short answer is that I don’t know the specifics for your life, but in general terms: seek God’s will for your life. Believe me, He’ll call you to serve somehow if you’re actively seeking. For some it’s being Jesus’ hands and feet by volunteering in a soup kitchen or somewhere you’re desperately needed. For others it’s evangelism either right here at home or somewhere far away.

It’s easy to see how those things serve the Lord, but what if you feel you’re not good at anything like that? Well then do the thing you’re good at, and do it to the glory of God. If you’re good at baking pies, bake pies. If you’re amazing at cutting grass, cut grass. Know engines like the back of your hand? Keep working on ‘em. Even if you don’t see how it serves God, be faithful in the little things and trust Him. Over time your role in the grand scheme will become clearer.

The Body of Christ is like a giant puzzle, with each Believer contributing a piece to the overall picture. None of us know what the picture’s supposed to look like when it’s finished, but you don’t add much to the picture by not pursuing your calling. We’re ministry partners that are still waiting to learn how our individual ministries tie together. If and when we get a chance to catch up in Heaven, let’s make that topic a must-discuss point.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. -Romans 12:4-5

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When the Routine is a Painful One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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