The Anxiety Series: Worrying about Tomorrow

What we worry about... bills... keeping our jobs... a promotion... keeping up with others... our kids... our relationships... the future... These concerns are things we cannot control... today's paper (The Ledger) displays flumes of volcanic ash bringing Europe's airports to a halt... farmworkers hit the streets of Lakeland in protests... suicide bombers kill 41 people in Pakistan... where is God???

David, the warrior turned fugitive, found out that the king of Israel was dead... no ruler in the kingdom... David was promised to be king one day... but had found himself in the wilderness.. running for years... Where was God? what now?

When our future seems unclear... look for God in the haze... we are a nation who has boxed God into a church building... we leave Him out of almost every portion of our life... anytime God is brought up, we quickly dismiss Him because reality and faith are a misnomer among the relevant... People may try to approach us with with a Bible verse or a spiritual truth and we are offended... because we are unteachable... we are too proud to be preached at...

This morning at 10am... i was awakened by banging on my door... an older man could be seen through the peep hole... i opened the door and listend to a stranger quote Bible verses and ask me about God's futuristic kingdom... It's a saturday morning... yard sales, great fishing weather, sleeping in, and relaxation are tempting alternatives but this man (a latter day saint) is beating the streets in 2010... taking the time to witness to a woman who probably loves the Lord as much as he does..

I never interupted Him... i thought of all the doors that probably were slammed in his face... and I loved the fact that this man had the boldness... greater than mine to stand before me with a message... we should never be to "great" to learn... we must never slam to door on a "truth sayer"... in a world of uncertainty, stress, anxiety... may we have the fortitude to open our door to a stranger... resolve conflict instead of stir it... and embrace the grace that we cannot control... only love, be loved, and place our future in the omnipotent hands of a Savior...

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Failure is a Gift

I sat in the room, nervous. I had sensed this moment coming all week. Though I felt a small comfort and peace, deep inside, I was terrified. I was bracing for the letdown—far from my first. I made small talk with someone twenty years my junior, knowing that soon, he would ask me to step down. That reality was hard to face. My mind drifted back to my first year as a deputy. I had called my father repeatedly, distressed over my fifth write-up. Each time, he told me to thank them for the discipline, not to quit, and to keep my head up. But I was overcome with sorrow. I felt like a failure. Maybe I could earn straight A’s, but I had no common sense. I feared I would never catch on. I was beginning to give up. Still, my dad insisted I keep going. In my first week alone, I had discharged my weapon—firing over sixteen rounds at a bull on Super Bowl Sunday. Not long after, I found myself in a full-blown foot pursuit of an escapee, my face, mostly pride battered from the struggle. My track...

My Weapon is a Melody

Every day can be a battle. A battle for our hearts, a battle for our minds, a battle to discourage, a battle to get out of bed, a battle to be content in whatever state we are in, a battle to bless God even in the darkest times. Satan seeks to crush and destroy us. When we are so focused on our own pain and battles, we are less useful. Think of a nice shiny car, but with a broken hose. This small hose can cause the entire car to be out of commission. This too is how Satan works in our life. He may sit back and watch us break with the smallest hose. That is all he needs to put us out of service. Many of us have been out of service for quite some time. This is because we have so focused on goals or things that may be outside our purpose. How do we fight battles in our life and overcome them? What should our only purpose be? Praise and worshiping God. That is it. God is constantly seeking out people who just want to worship Him. We constantly ask for blessings in our life, but how many ...

Heart Attack

Valentine’s Day is approaching. It’s easy to love those who are kind to us, but what about those who are cruel? How do we love a bully? It takes a conscious effort to show kindness to someone who has deeply hurt us. But when we learn to love even those who have wronged us—without waiting for an apology—we are truly attacking the heart . This kind of love isn’t normal. It’s outrageous. It means wiping the slate clean, deleting the post , starting over—not for ourselves, but to please God. That’s it. We know that God has forgiven our wickedness, so why can’t we forgive others? This is a love that brings true reward. We often think we practice this kind of love, but do we really? The next time someone enters a room—the very person you’d rather avoid—what will you do? What if God led you to walk up to them and bless them? Would you do it for Jesus? The Cost of Heartache We demand payment for heartaches. We take people to court, punish, divorce, fight, and even kill over them. This has been...

I Am NOT Just a Number

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