Tag Archives: grace

Half Full

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I had to shovel today. Twice. Living in Wisconsin can be frustrating. We have all four seasons but they don’t seem to be equal in length. Winter (cold, snow, ice etc.) seems to last 10 months with the other two months being composed of the other three seasons. Yes, I exaggerate but not by much. =-)

But as I kept throwing snow over my shoulder today, I was thinking about the warm weather that is soon approaching. It won’t be too long before I am outside wearing shorts. I look forward to cutting the grass again. But some people call me an optimist.

Yes, I am an optimist. You know why? Hope. That one word is reason enough to be an optimist. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic (hopeful) in this world but we don’t have time to list them all here.

But hope can be fleeting. I mean that my hope in stuff, events, or even people can be broken or disappointed. That hurts. Generally speaking, no one tries to let me down or do something that would hurt the hope I have but it happens. Life can be filled with despair.

So what?

Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not disappoint us,” The hope that is talked about here DOES NOT bring shame or disgrace. It DOES NOT put us to utter confusion. It DOES NOT disappoint. That is the kind of hope that never lets me down.

To really get the whole picture, read Romans 4 and 5. It will explain why there can be hope and what our hope is in. If my hope is correctly placed then I won’t need to live in despair anymore.

When my kids are fighting…I can have hope.

When my wife and I are in a disconnect moment…I can have hope.

When my job really sucks…I can have hope.

When my body hurts just because I am over 40…I can have hope.

When I have to shovel snow, again…I can have hope.

When my former addiction flares up…I can have hope.

When ________________…I can have hope.

I can have hope BECAUSE…of Jesus Christ. It is all about what He did. Whatever is happening right now is does not change the fact that Jesus loves me and died for my sins. Like I said, Romans 4 and 5, is a really good place when looking for hope.

For the rest of this month Hope is the topic.

So today, week 1, the Person of Hope is Jesus Christ

Until next week, have hope. Is your glass half full?

half full 2

Jars, pt. 3

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Have you ever been at the end of your rope? Has life beat you up and left you for dead? Mistakes are all too common in my life. We are messed up.

Following God can be tough. The problems don’t disappear when we get saved. And the stuff of life even make things more difficult at times!

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 gives me hope when I read it. So many times I feel all screwed up and confused. I have little motivation for God. Apathy is all to real. There are moments when I see Jesus and press on. When I pray, there is a real connection, not always but sometimes. But there are times when you or I are at the end of the rope.

 

end_of_rope

I have been writing about jars this month. Today is no different except that the jar is not something that I bring to God so He can fill it.

I am the jar. An earthen jar. A jar of clay.

 

Remember this: a jar is just there to hold something. You and I are the holders of something great!

This is verse 7 of the Corinthians passage: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Let this post be an encouragement to you. Sure, I get it that life sucks and we can make mistakes. But the Word says that “He gives more grace.” James 4:6

 

So be reminded that when you are the end of your rope, you are never out of Hope!

One Yard of Christmas, pt. 3

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Shepherds. They saw angels on the night of the birth of Jesus. Can you picture these smelly guys hanging around the fire? They could have been dreaming up stories for their families. Maybe they were thinking of how to make some money off of the angel visit. Perhaps a book deal was on their mind? Actually, we know that they were not doing any of those things. As with the first two parts, let’s go to the Word of God.

Luke 2:16-17 “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,”

Here is how Dictionary.com defines the word feet:

Noun, 1. a plural of foot.

Foot, noun, plural feet

  1. (in vertebrates) the terminal part of the leg, below the ankle joint, on which the body stands and moves.

 

One of the best parts about the gospel (or the story of Jesus) is that is forces us to make a decision. It seems that the shepherds were among the first to hear the story.

Once they heard, they moved. It was clear to them that what the angels were speaking of was for real. They had a choice and they made that choice without hesitation. It says the “hurried.” And when they saw the baby, another choice was to be made. They “spread the word.”

It is like having a can of paint. It must be spread in order to do the job. It won’t do any good to anyone if it stays in the can.

paint can

Friends, Christmas is all about God giving to us something unique. His son. The other part of that is us giving the world the same gift.

WE MUST TELL THE WORLD ABOUT JESUS. And it is my opinion that this “feet” is the most difficult of the three.

In conclusion,

  •  One Yard of Christmas
    • Feat
    • Fete
    • Feet

Will you wonder in the feat of God giving His son to us?

Will you celebrate the birth of Jesus instead of commercializing it?

Will you be like a paint brush and spread the truth about Jesus?

I hope you have enjoyed a One Yard of Christmas. It has been fun reliving Christmas this January.

Now go, spread the word and enjoy Jesus for the rest of 2015!

Again…and again…yet again.

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When I was a kid, I fell constantly. As an athletic boy, I was ALWAYS the messiest boy out there. Whether making a sliding tackle or sliding into second base, I was repeatedly getting dirty. The tops of my knees are permanently scarred from all of the scraps. It’s not that I was clumsy or uncoordinated, but rather, I played with passion. Baseball was my best sport. I played third base. Making a diving catch was the highlight reel that played over and over in my mind…and sometimes, it really happened!

Even now, in my forties, I play softball. I feel like I played my best when I can slide. Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I always slide head first. I have more fun that way. =-) In fact, I need to wear pants (as opposed to shorts) so that when I do slide, the wounds are much less severe.

The picture is Pete Rose, not me. Pete Rose and Roy Staiger

The other kind of falling down is the kind that is not so fun. In baseball, sometimes you strike out. In soccer, sometimes the other guy gets past you. Maybe you didn’t get that promotion for which you were hoping. It might have been the harsh words you had with your spouse. Or, if things are really bad, you lose a job because of some bad choices. The gambling problem eats away your savings account. The affair you thought you never would have has become reality. You fell down. Mistakes were made and you fell down.

Now you have a choice. Get up or stay down?

If I did not have a personal relationship with the Creator of the universe, I would say that getting up is stupid or useless. Just get another job. Just file bankruptcy. Divorce is so common these days. Move away to another state. Yea…just stay down.

But I do have an ongoing relationship with the Almighty God and so I say get up. Yes, I fell down. But I am playing with passion right? So I am going to get up and keep going.

Whether you are down because of your own doing or something that has happened to you, make the choice and allow God’s grace to help you back up on your feet.

Here is what God’s word says about us when we fall down, “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10. When we fall, He is right there next to us.

He will help you get up. He is ready to brush off the dust. He will give you a pat on the back. He will tell you that He loves you. He will teach you something. He will remind you that His plan for you only works if you get up.

Take it from someone who has fallen way too many times to count, getting back up is always the best choice.

 

Noah 2.0

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Hello Friends!

So my last post was…it was bad. Not that I said anything I didn’t think was true but I just didn’t say much. No substance, just fluff. My goal today is two-fold:

1. to add some substance to the fluff 

2. to challenge anyone reading to open their own Bible and begin reading

 

1. In the movie, Noah, there were errors. In the ark, there were 7 people: Noah, his wife, his oldest son and his wife, his two other sons, and the bad guy.

The bible says that there were 8 people; Noah and his three sons and their wives. See Genesis 6:18.

2. In the movie, the wife of the oldest son gives birth to twins while sailing on the ark.

The Bible, in Genesis 9:1, God says to multiply and fill the earth. There were no ark-born children.

3. The last discrepancy I want to make is about the Watchers. In the movie, these creatures were angels that came to earth to be with humans. The couldn’t show their true selves so God clothed them in rock and stone. They looked more like something you would find in a Lord of the Rings movie.

In Chapter 6 of Genesis, there is talk of the Nephilim. This can be better read giants. But they were not clothed in rock and stone.

 

There were more examples but for now, that seems like enough. On to the application.

Noah and the Ark is a literal story. It really happened. Besides being an actual event, it is also a symbol of something that is yet to come.

God wanted to destroy the world because of all the wickedness that He saw. He also saw that Noah was righteous. The Ark saved all the righteous people and destroyed the wickedness.

When Jesus arrives on the scene many, many years later, He is also an Ark. Because of the sin that all humans are born into, God wants to destroy that sin. He is holy and just so He can’t stand to look upon that sin. Jesus is the Ark so if someone is in the Ark when the flood (judgment) comes, they will be saved.

 

So by faith, you and I can be saved today. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

 

I challenge you to pick up your Bible and read the Noah account. Besides being a great story, it also gives us hope that God, who is loving and just, has made a plan for us. If you find yourself wondering or questioning, ask me or someone you trust. There is help and hope for you.

 

By the way, there is plenty of room for all of us. See you on the ark!