Happy Valentine's Day!

What a great day to celebrate the love of my life! We shared some small gifts with each other and ensured the kids felt like they were a part of the excitement by giving them a little candy as well. It's hard to believe Nancy and I have enjoyed all these years together (and we are looking forward to so many more!). God has been so gracious to our family and we are so thankful for all that we enjoy. Hard work and faith seem to play a large part of all that, although some would just mark that up as fate. Fate seems like such an empty word, and it appears that there is much, much more to life than just random fortunes to hand around wherever the proverbial winds of fate so choose to blow.

The Scriptures tell us that God has a plan for each and every one of us, and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139 verse 14). It also shares in some versions of the Bible that our steps are "ordered." This can also be translated as making our steps "firm." I'm speaking of Psalm 37 verse 23 which says: "If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm" (NIV). Although there is plenty of "darkness" to go around and bad things do happen to good people, I don't believe that was God's original plan. Albeit, part of God's plan is to be involved with His creation and that would be you and me!

It's pretty cool that the God of all the universe actually cares about us individually. He cares about our day-to-day joys and struggles as well as our children, relationships, and decisions that loom ahead of us at times. He does all that because He loves us far more than we could ever love Him. And on this wonderful Valentine's Day, perhaps it's time to allow God's love to permeate each of our hearts, and renew them once again with a special kind of love that will not only bless our loved ones, but those people all around us who we come in contact with every day of our lives.

Flipped Off!

I was driving home the other day while chatting on my cell phone, and since I was entering a part of the city where construction was being done, I tried to be especially attentive. I was almost home and knew which lane I needed to be in so that I would not have to change lanes farther down the road. The lane I was in did not end but the lane on my right fed into my lane due to the construction.

I was just minding my own business and thinking about home when I noticed that the pickup truck next to me was not slowing down or speeding up to get around me. It suddenly dawned on me that he was apparently oblivious to the fact that he was the one who was supposed to yield as he tried to move into my lane! I wasn't in a hurry so I slowed down to let him in, even though we were both about even with each other. He moved over and I didn't think much about it, until I passed by him when he was slowing down to turn off. As I looked over at him he raised his middle finger and arm in an undignified gesture, which is known as getting "flipped off" if you are the recipient, or "flipping someone off" if you are the originator.

I must admit, many years ago when I was not a Christian, there were times when I initiated a gesture like that. And I wish I could tell you that, as a Christian, it did not bother me to be "flipped off" by that young man, but in actuality, it infuriated me! I was the one being nice and courteous, and all I got in return was a raised middle finger! By the time I reached the house I had settled down - plus my wife had encouraged me (over the phone) not to let it get to me .

As I drove home, I began to think about my situation in terms of evangelism...something an evangelist does on occasion. It seems that many Christians today who actually have the right motives and desire to help other people are often intimidated by the thought of possibly getting "the finger" of rejection when we try to help others (sorry for the word picture!). No one that I have ever encountered enjoys rejection - we all tend to shy away from it. But Jesus did share that the Holy Spirit of God would come to help empower us (Acts 1:8) with some boldness (not arrogance), which was meant to help us stand for the right - even in the face of wrong.

God's grace not only helps us as we do our best to live a life that brings glory to God, but His grace also allows those who do not know Him the opportunity to sense their need for a right relationship with God. God cares so much about all of us that he intentionally goes out of his way to help us face reality...a reality that reveals our need of Him. I'm sure glad that even though there may be times when we get the "finger" of rejection, God will always be there whenever we call upon Him to welcome us into His presence. What an awesome God!

Sometimes It Hurts...

Surgery! Yesterday I had arthroscopic knee surgery for a torn meniscus. I must admit, I’d never had any surgery so-to-speak, except the time I had my wisdom teeth cut out (all four over Christmas holidays during my college years), and got some stitches in my head. {Just a side note: don’t ever stand up quickly while working underneath a combine…It can be painful:).} Since this was my first major surgery with an I.V. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, but it went so smoothly and everyone has been great. Extra kudos goes to my awesome wife, Nancy, and daughter, Hannah, for bringing me home after the surgery!

This was the wonderful ending to a crisis week. Everything was going great up until a week prior to the surgery date: picking up a set of cheap crutches, insurance details covered, clothing to wear, finish grading papers, arranging schedules since Hannah would be out of school and Joshua would be “home alone.” Then on Sunday I came down with a sinus cold. I couldn’t sleep and I was worried that they wouldn’t let me get the surgery. This was a one-time shot since my schedule would pick up right after the New Year. On Tuesday night it got so bad that I didn’t get to sleep until about 4 a.m. I was miserable, worried, and mad at God.

You would think that being mad at God would be the last thing a person of faith would do. After all, He hadn’t done anything to me personally except help. But that night I felt as though God had let me down, that he had fallen through on his promises. I had held onto the words of Scripture I read and knew that God still answered prayer, but I felt like He was so far away – and it wasn’t fair. I felt like I deserved more. And so I got mad at God and stayed that way for about a day and a half.

But isn’t that ironic; that we often get to a place in life where we feel God owes us something. Honestly, we really don’t deserve anything from God, but His never ending grace has allowed everyone of us the privileged possibility of coming before Him when in need. And sometimes we go through days and weeks and months of testing as we move along this life’s journey. When Job (a Godly husband and father in the book of Job in the Bible) suffered with boils all over his body and lost all he had he still held on to his faith in God and God honored that faith.

After I got over being so mad, I was really ashamed; ashamed that things and circumstances could get me to the point of being mad at God. But isn’t that just like life? Things happen and everyone, even Christians, have days that they have to struggle through – not understanding why their world just got turned upside down. The awesome thing is that God’s grace is greater than our short tempers and times of failure. The Psalmist said in Psalms 31 verse 22, “In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.”

Even when we feel like we’ve been cut off from God – He still hears when we pray or talk to Him, and He still answers. He still helps the surgeries of life go better than we could have ever imagined, so even when you don't feel like it, keep holding on and live life to its fullest. That’s what God would want for you, and that’s what you can have when God is right at the center of it all.