Gabriel was Right

We typically think about Father’s Day as a day to do something special for dad.  It’s a good tradition.

I was jogging a couple of days ago and got to thinking about Father’s Day and found myself walking down memory lane.  (I’m glad I was running alone!)  Memories came tumbling into my mind and heart like a river out of its banks.  In a word, it was overwhelming. 

As I continued around the park in my partial “out-of-body-experience” for some unknown reason my thoughts veered into the storyline in the Book of Job.   I would like to think I have enough faith to get through what Job experienced.  But, honestly, I think about the story of Job and I cringe.  It’s not the theology in the book or God’s sovereignty or any of the other big ticket items that travel across the terrain of the story that unsettle me.  I cringed at the thought of life…without my wife and children.    

One thought stumbled into another one and...I got to thinking about Father’s Day.  Honestly, I couldn’t think about it as “our day”, dads.  I was overwhelmed with the thought of how much God has blessed me by surrounding me with a terrific woman and four fantastic kids.  All I could say as I traveled down “memory lane” was “Thank you, Father, for allowing me to be one.  Thank you for putting these people into my life.” 

There have been a lot of great moments.  That said, there have been some moments I would take back and ask for a “do-over”.  Mercy and understanding restored my heart when I needed it most!  As I continued on my run, God’s word came to me from the Gospel of Luke.  It was one of those “sit up and pay attention” moments.  When the angel Gabriel announced that Elizabeth would give birth to a little boy named John who would be the forerunner for the Christ, he gave an interesting description of his life and ministry.  Tucked away in Gabriel’s words are these words:  “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children…”  (Luke 1:16-17).  The Message version says, “…he will soften the hearts of parents to children.”  You wouldn’t think a dad’s heart would need softening where his kids are concerned.  But, Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, told the truth then and now.

As a father and former child I know firsthand what it was like to live in a child's world.  Life looked very different through ten year old eyes than it does through the pair I’ve got now.  Life was simple.  I had very few worries beyond the school house and the city limit sign.  That all changed with the emergence of adulthood.  The world got bigger.  Responsibility jumped out of the dictionary and came to life.  Dad, can you relate to this?  Life has a way of pressing us and squeezing a lot of good things out of us with the result that we get too focused.  What dad hasn’t felt edgy and overwhelmed on occasion?  Life can become a very crowded experience.  Stuff comes at us relentlessly.  And, we can FEEL it.  I can still hear Gabriel’s words.  Can you?      

Paul said, “Husbands, go all out in love for your wives.  Don't take advantage of them....Parents, don't come down too hard on your children or you'll crush their spirits.” (Colossians 3:19, 21 – The Message)  I’ve read Paul’s words in Colossians many times.  Bet you have, too.  Living them is not really about understanding the teaching of the text.  The text is…well…simple.  As dads, it is about how we manage all the life experiences, pressures, stressors and trials that envelop and challenge the awareness and commitment this text teaches.  Being the kind of husband our wives need and the kind of dad our children need is about managing our own hearts first.  Focus is essential to good leadership. 

God put us at the helm.  We pilot the ship.  It is our calling.  It is our blessing.  And, it is the greatest joy we can experience in this life.  So, how’s your soft side, dad? 

Fellow dads...let's make this Father's Day an atypical one.  Let's embrace Gabriel's words.   Share your heart with your family.  Tell’em what they mean to you.  And...somewhere in that experience I am certain God will move.  What is more, we will all be the better for it.   

Father, you have given us everything we need to be the kind of father’s we need to be.  May we look to you for guidance every day.  Quiet our spirits and soothe our hearts as we lead our families in this sojourn called life. May be never lose the softness that is essential to being the kind of men, husbands, fathers and leaders you need us to be….they need us to be.  Thank you for giving us the incredible privilege and blessing of family.  Amen

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

The Word...Nothing Compares

Word of God speak
Would you pour down like rain
Washing my eyes to see
Your Majesty.

To be still and know
That You’re in this place
Please let me stay and rest
In Your Holiness.
Word of God speak. 

Mercy Me  “Word of God Speak”

The Bible is the #1 best seller of all time in the world with no other book even close.  In fact it continues to be the #1 best-seller each year of all books.   Estimates are that 2.5 billion to 6 billion copies of the Bible have been sold.   Why is this when it seems so many dismiss it as being irrelevant.   Read these combined passages from John 1 and Hebrews 4. 

In the beginning was the Word.  The Word was with God and the Word was God.   God’s Word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword.  It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. (John 1:1, Hebrews 4: 12).

The Bible is more than a book on the best seller list.  It’s alive, God breathed, knows us and reaches into our innermost being.  It is powerful, it is eternal, and it provides true life.  It is the Word.  No wonder it dwarfs any other book in sales, because we are not dealing with a book but the embodiment of God Himself.

When the Word is understood as being God, being alive, and being something that judges our thoughts and feelings a different view is revealed.  Instead of me examining the Word it is examining me.  How can I stay in tune and discern this awesome, amazing Book?  Instead of just reading the Word, approach it with reverence and see it as holy.  This is a spiritual experience to be taken in with all my senses.  Spiritual listening with the heart attuned to the Spirit’s leading.   Be open and aware expecting something will be revealed, inviting an encounter with the Word God and the Word Jesus Christ.  When I enter in this posture the Word speaks.  More than reading the words it is holding them, touching them with my senses, and feeling them while being led by the Spirit.  Take it as bread and drink hungering and thirsting for its righteousness.  Ingest it tasting its goodness and receiving its nourishment.  It is through this sensory experience of taking in the Word that we experience God.  It is so powerful and so personal that with His Spirit in us we cry out “Father”!  (Romans 8:15)  A deep yearning with deep feelings, a call of affection, of help, of submission, of assurance of the knowledge He is there and He is fully with me.  This is a new way of thinking of and seeing scripture.  It is God Himself.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:13-14)

This approach and understanding of the Word does not come easily and requires effort, attention and practice.   After you have spent time reading scripture try to be quiet.  God Himself said through the Psalmist: “Be quiet and know that I am God.”  Not just being silent but quieting your mind.  Not thinking about yourself, others, work, play, school, kids, parents, nothing.  Your mind is quiet.  Open, listening, meditating on staying quiet yet alert to the revealing of God through His Word.  Being quiet is an acquired skill that requires practice and consistent attention.  Over time the fruit of this exercise is an amazing delicacy of revelation.

Discernment of the Word is like the Emmaus story where the two disciples’ eyes are opened to recognize Jesus and know the “resurrection” was in fact true.  He is in the flesh, and in front of them.   This is the journey to see the Word for what it is: Jesus Christ as God Himself and the realization of the kingdom.  As I read the Bible I want to make it about me, about my comfort, my success, my prayers being answered, and many times my glory.  My awakening and the true revealing of being in tune with Scripture is the realization that it is about God the Father, about His glory, and His promises of true life which is a perfect relationship with Him and His son Jesus Christ.  Until I look to Him, and view all from the perspective of seeking, asking, knocking, looking, listening, and longing so that I can know Him, I will miss the reality of life in Christ.  The disciples, apostles, and those who walked with Jesus spent days, months, and years with Him.  Yet they did not understand who He was or what He offered until after He was killed, raised, and then appeared to them. 

Lord open my servants eyes and let him see.  II Kings 6: 15-17
Teacher I want to see.  Mark 10:51

If His own disciples misunderstood who He was how do I find Him?  I must stop all that I am “doing” and be still, silent, fallen before my Father in heaven, completely submissive and say here I am.  I trust Him and allow Him to transform me and show me what the true life and abundant life is really about.  Communing with God, discerning His Word, following His Spirit’s leading allows me to know Him.  Being present in the Word, listening, seeing, hearing, and knowing His voice when it comes is from my Father.  I bow in worship, I thank Him and He is glorified.

Father, thank you for your Word that is beyond our comprehension.  Give us wisdom, discernment and understanding.

Scotty Elston
Shallowater, Texas

While I Was Driving

Can you remember the last time you had a “life-changing” moment? You know the kind. It’s one of those “aha” moments. Everything stops for a moment. Maybe longer. Whatever else is true about the moment, one thing is for certain: You know something big is happening in your life.

Sometimes it comes when a child is born – usually the first child. Or, when the last child flies the nest. It can be when we step across the stage and receive a college diploma or slip on a ring and say our marriage vows. Sometimes it’s in the form of a medical report, or sitting in hospital room with a close friend. These “aha” moments can be small. Sometimes they are huge. In a moment of time we move from free spirits to philosophers. Contemplation sneaks up and grabs us. We look at time differently. Our mind, spirit and senses awaken in new ways and process life with greater interest and precision.

About this time last year I had a conversation with someone who had come to the proverbial fork in the road. I guess it was an epiphany of sorts. Here is a rough transcript of what he said.

“I was driving to an out-of-town appointment a few days ago. I had a lot of road ahead of me. There wasn’t much on the radio that interested me. So, I just drove in silence. I thought about all kinds of things: family, job, friends, places I had traveled. For some reason I started thinking about my spiritual life. To be honest, I’ve never really been one of those people who spent a lot of time in contemplation about “life”. I just live it moment by moment. But, for some reason, I began to think about my life in ways that I had never thought about it. Maybe it’s because I’m past forty. I not sure really. I just know that this time the moment of contemplation lingered. In fact it took me down roads in my heart and mind that I’ve never traveled. I knew one day I would eventually journey down those roads. I just thought it would be later in life. And, I guess that’s when it hit me. My life is NOW. It’s happening now – not tomorrow. I realized that for most of my life I sort of “hung around” my faith…around Jesus. But, I never really sat down and said, well…like Isaiah, “here I am…send me!” I felt all manner of emotion. Sadness. Tension. Fear. Hope. It’s unlike anything I have ever experienced. I realized that this road trip was a “turning point” for me. My spiritual stars had come into alignment and my life was being “called by God” to write a very new and different kind of chapter. The crazy thing about it all is that I’ve known most of this stuff all my life. I guess my spirit had finally gotten to a place at which I could see and hear what the Lord has been trying to tell me for years.”

I don’t know about you, but I love that story. It leads my mind to the Apostle Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus recorded in Acts chapter nine. Talk about epiphanies! His life was never the same after that. God may not move in our lives as dramatically as he moved in Paul’s life. But, I think He moves nonetheless. He knocks, calls, nudges, pokes, woos, and "speaks" to us in a variety of ways, much like He did to my friend a year ago, to tune our mind and heart to His frequency. I can’t help but wonder if there is something God might be trying to get me to sit up and pay attention to in my life? How about you? I pray we all have ears to hear. It is a blessed thing indeed when that happens. It’s then that we see our life journey as more than an experience. It becomes a divine journey into the heart and will of God.

O Lord, save us from simply traveling across the earth defined by routines, schedules, and life experiences. May we lean into the dangerous experience of contemplating about faith and life. Tune our ears to your calling. Quiet our fears. Calm our hearts. Help us to give to you our moments in the spirit of wisdom so that you are honored by our lives. Thank you for Jesus who taught us to say, “My meat and my drink are to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His purpose.” May we seek it with every fiber of our being. Amen.

Randy Daugherty
Stephenville, Texas

Out With Fear

People have an affinity with fear. It’s a tricky dance we do, fear and us. Fear almost always gets to lead because we don’t like to fight her for the lead on something so complicated. She guides our steps, directs us into intricate spins, presses us close to her so that she can whisper sweet nothings in our ears.   Her whisperings are much more than “nothings,” however. They’re more than we want to hear, more than we want to ponder, and they add an unnecessary tension to decision-making. Her voice decides where we will go, what we will do, and how we will do it. Her voice is so forceful. We let it force us right into emptiness.

And maybe we don’t even realize that we’re acting out of fear. It can be deeply entrenched in other things, so deeply entrenched that we can’t even pick it out of a crowd of emotions and thoughts . . .
I’m afraid to pursue a career that evokes all my passion because I might not make that much money.
I’m afraid to give up [insert addiction here] because living without it might be hard.
I’m afraid to apologize because it might be rejected.
I’m afraid to share the gospel because it might not be accepted.
I’m afraid to love people unconditionally because they might not love me back.
I’m afraid to ask questions in my faith because I might not find answers that I like.
I’m afraid to delve deeper into the Word because it might call me to a higher standard than I’ve previously pursued.
I’m afraid to give away the things that I have to people who need them more than I do because I might live a little less comfortably as a result.

. . . But I’d rather not settle for dwelling in the conditional nature of that which comes after the “mights.” Living life running from the “mights” isn’t living life at all. It’s hiding from life. If you really hate this life and if you’re really discontented, maybe you need to check out your motives for doing the things that you do. If the reasoning behind them is because the alternative has more risk involved, then no wonder you’re unhappy. The joy of investing in an experience that is inherently good should outweigh your fear of possible consequences.

Fear is the absence of faith. Last time I checked, we’re called to faith, not fear. Acting out of fear is about the same as assuming that God’s power cannot transcend human weakness. God has worked (and continues to work) through some seriously weak people.

Own up to your fears and weaknesses and let the Lord work through them. We have nothing to boast in apart from God’s grace. That’s freeing. I’m not obligated to create situations that allow me to boast in myself. Anything I could create will eventually turn to dust anyway. I’m letting God create the situations and I’ll bring my weak self to them. Anything glorious that comes from my involvement in said situations is by the grace of God. That’s something to boast about.

“God has chosen the world’s insignificant and despised things--the things viewed as nothing-- so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts, must boast in the Lord.”
I Corinthians 1:28-31

Amen.

Erin E. Daugherty, Abilene Christian University

Trust

When God says ‘without faith it is impossible to please Him’ (Hebrews 11:6), we would all say AMEN! But what is faith really? Do we really have it?

In the Bible, faith is a relentless trust in God. A no-holds barred trust. This is a lot harder than we think. A lot of times we agree with the demands of God. So NO trust is required. But what if God requires us to do what we don’t want to do and don’t understand why He would require it. Then we are left with some hard choices to make.  1. Do we really believe God is God?  2. Do we believe He knows everything?  3. Do we believe He has all power?  4. Do we believe He loves us?

See how hard faith is? When it is really dark and we do not understand, do we trust Him? Do we trust Him? What I want is understanding. What I need is trust. Job was the best man in the world. He went through the valley of the shadow. He wanted to understand. He asked God to explain his suffering. God would not explain. He even said Job could not understand. To his credit, Job said, “Though He slay me, I will trust Him.” (Job 13:15)

So, here is the deal. Trust is really hard. It may be the hardest thing you will ever do, but you can do it. There are things you can’t understand but you can trust God. Will you trust Him?

O Father, You who are above the heavens, hear my prayer. You who know everything, please listen to me. I need You. I hurt; I am lost and I am afraid. I do not understand my situation. I believe in you, O God. I believe You know all things. I believe You love me. I believe; help my unbelief. Please Father, stay with me. Please Father, forgive me. Please Father, bring me through this.   In the name of Your Son, Jesus, I pray. Amen

Paul Shero
San Angelo, Texas

What Will You Do Next?

 A hot topic in the current political  race is the struggling economy - jobs budgets and debt are all subjects of discussion and debate.    The voting public wants to know about the plans the returning president will have for the government  to improve the situation in America.  Decisions must be made. 

When things are going our way, collectively or individually, humans are pretty good at thinking all is well. When we are satisfied we are happy. However, life has taught us, it is in conflict that our resolve is tested. When we are confronted with life’s struggles, we must answer the big question: What will we do next?

In matters of faith, God’s desire is for us to persevere to the end (e.g., James 1:4; Hebrews 10:36; 2 Peter 1:6). Struggles and trials create hardship and difficulty. Our knowledge and self-control could be questioned. Our belief system may become rationalized. Growing to maturity in Christ will be costly and often difficult. Praise God, the results are worth our effort! Believing, speaking and living the Truth will save both ourselves and our hearers (1 Timothy 4:16).

The Bible documents several life decisions made by Peter. Facing the struggle of making a living as a fisherman, he chose to drop everything and become a disciple of Jesus (Mark 1:16-18). Based upon knowledge and insight, Peter confessed that Jesus was more than a man; he was the Christ, the Son of God (Mark 8:27-29). Would Peter give up when Jesus rebuked him for having an earthly perspective (Mark 8:31-33)? Would Peter walk away embarrassed when Jesus caught him sleeping during a time of urgency (Mark 14:32-42)? Peter exhibited a confused and intimidated spirit when he denied knowing Jesus (Mark 14:66-72). Peter, most assuredly, in each of these situations, had to decide what he would do next.

Thanks to God’s mercy, Peter chose to recommit his life to the Lord. Jesus helped Peter renew his faith and refocus his efforts (John 21:15-19). Peter boldly preached the sermon at Pentecost: connecting with the people, challenging their belief system, and directing them to Jesus Christ as the savior (Acts 2:14ff). He was strengthened by God to perform miracles (Acts 9:36-42). Peter was an instrument God used to reach out to the Gentiles, bringing peace and acceptance for all (Acts 10:34-38). Peter led the early church with maturity and grace (Acts 15:6-11).

Praise God for Peter’s victory stories. Peter successfully demonstrates God’s merciful forgiveness is available to a sinner with a humble, repentant heart.

What about you? Are you facing struggles or disappointments in your life? Have you made mistakes in your marriage or parenting or work or, most importantly, in your faith? What will you do next?

Dear Father, thank you for offering a warm welcome home. Thank you for promising mercy and forgiveness. Please renew my faith and help me see clearly your promises of a heavenly reward. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Carl Smith
Stephenville, Texas