Waves

There is a cruise ship named, "The Anthem of the Seas."  It has 16 passenger-accessible decks with a total of 2,090 passenger cabins. The ship also has a surf simulator, a rock-climbing wall, a sky-diving simulator, swimming pools, a solarium, a Spa and Fitness Center, a theater, and a football stadium.  Ok, I made the last one up but it still sounds very impressive.    

On February 7, 2016, the ship sailed through a very serious storm off the coast of Northern Carolina while sailing from New Jersey to Port Canaveral, Florida. The ship was caught in 9-meter waves, with a wind of over 200km/h.  Passengers were advised to stay in their cabins, as the rocking of the ship overturned furniture and caused damage in public areas and cabins, including collapsing part of a suspended ceiling and rendering one of the ship's propellers useless.  Thankfully, only four passengers suffered minor injuries.  

The rocking ship made me think of James chapter 1 today.  In verse 5 it says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."  However, verse 6 says, ""But When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like of wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

How often do we ask, hoping for answered prayer right away?  However, when it is not, we panic. 

I think faith is a lot like working with weights at the gym.  We want to be fit and strong. However, we would prefer to go to the gym and get, “fit and strong,” after one visit, because working out is tough.  Exercising faith is similar.  It takes time to grow and develop.  If everything worked out exactly as planned, we would not need faith.  When the Bible says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see.” –Hebrews 11:1, it is teaching us to get comfortable with perseverance and waiting. 

When we ask God for something in a crisis, the tendency is to ask, wait a minute or two, and then panic (think about everything that could go wrong).  That is what makes us feel like a wave tossed in the sea.  We are so full of fear and panic, we lose all sense of focus on God's promise, and our thoughts become inundated with as many worst-case scenarios as we can think up. 

So what do we do?  It is all about trust.  A situation may turn out the way we hope, but it may not.  Nevertheless, when we trust that God’s purpose is the only thing that matters, our faith will grow and the peace will come…no matter what comes our way.  

Broken Things

Sometimes when we look at the world, we see successful people as those who have it all together.  They seem to be perfect in every way.  In some cases, it even appears that way at church.  Hopefully you know that it isn’t true and those perfect people you see at church will be the first people to say…oh I’m not perfect.  But perception can be crippling if you let it.  In Matthew West’s song he says reminds us that in the Bible, God never looks for and uses the perfect people.  The lyrics say, “It's the rebels and the prodigals; it's the humble and the weak.  All the misfit heroes You chose.  Tell me there's hope for sinners like me.”  God wants to use you and me…we just need to be willing…and say, "yes."

  

Don't Give Up

What are the most common reasons we give up on our goals?  Some reasons may include not willing to put in the time,  not willing to do the hard work, and because of an insufficient reward.  Have you  noticed that those are all valid reasons for God to give up on us?  It often takes many tries for us to get something right.  At times I still don’t think I’ve got it figured out.  We, at least I am, definitely hard to love sometimes.  For God, there is no reward for Him other than to see me live the life that I am called to live.  Thankfully, that’s enough for Him to keep pursuing us.  Don’t give up, because He never will.

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

Are You Living In Fear?

It's a question that you have probably heard before but have never really applied to your own life. Mostly because the phrase, "living in fear," likely makes you think of being scared to leave your house, fly on an airplane, or swim with the sharks.

But what if the situation was more like this?  Let's say you walk into the garage and notice a crack in the wall.  Instead of making a plan to fix it, you think of everything that could go wrong because of it.  You know like, water will leak into the house and cause damage or the foundation is weak and the garage could cave in at any given moment.  Maybe you think it is going to cost a fortune to fix and all you can do is think about the money you don't have.

Instead of coming up with a plan to fix it and trust that God is in control, you worry and think about all of the worst case scenarios.  You're basically living in fear.  

That is just one example but I think many of us struggle with situations like this in our families, our jobs, and possibly all areas of life.  2 Corinthians 10:5 challenges us to, "take every thought captive" and put it to the test.   We need to ask, would God want me to worry about everything and live in constant fear?  Or would he want us to grab that thought, and throw it back to where it came from.  

We were never promised that the problems in life would disappear, but He did promise to walk with us each step of the way.

Philippians 4:5,6 -  6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Max Lucado

I probably have a unique perspective when it comes to Max Lucado because I think of hearing him on LIFE.  He always has a gentle delivery.  But apparently he is an author too :)

I came across a list from Max with a title that caught my attention, "Time Tested Truths To Guide And Navigate Your Life."  Hopefully these will challenge you as much as they challenged me.

• When no one is watching, live as if someone is
• Pray twice as much as you fret
• Listen twice as much as you speak
• God has forgiven you, you'd be wise to do the same.
• Once a week, let a child take you on a walk.
• Only harbour a grudge when God does.
• Never let the important be the victim of the truth

Retro Holiday Monday

We are gearing up for another Retro Holiday Monday.  Hopefully it will stir up some good memories of songs that inspired you in your youth, and perhaps still do.  Here are a few songs that were big in my High Power Youth Group back in the day (stop laughing...you haven't even watched the videos yet).

Whiteheart - Freedom

Steven Curtis Chapman - The Great Adventure

DC Talk - Nu Thang

Petra - Beyond Belief

Michael W Smith - Picture Perfect

Hope you can listen all on on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

It's a familiar verse that most of us know and might have even memorized.  For some reason when I read it today I thought of the Toronto Blue Jays.  After some trades a couple of weeks ago the Jays are one of the best teams in baseball and might even make the playoffs this year.

I was also thinking of what goes into being a great hitter in baseball.  It takes a great swing, hand/eye coordination, accurate footwork, hand position on the bat, etc.  I'm guessing there is more but in a simple way, it shows much much detail goes into hitting in baseball.

What if the batter only worked on his footwork and hand position?  He might get a few hits, but would likely not reach his potential.  You don't even have to be a baseball fan to appreciate that.  But then I applied the same principal to our relationship with God.  I think most of us want God to intervene in our lives, but only if it works for us.

Just like the hitter in baseball needs to pay attention to, and work on every part of process, we need to submit every part of our lives to Him.  We can't give our spouse to Him but not our job.  We can't give our finances to Him but not our kids.  He says, "Submit all your ways..."  If we don't, just like the baseball player who only works on half of his game,  we won't live up to our full potential.