Lean Into Your Troubles

A person’s psyche is a very fragile thing. It is amazing that on certain days we feel every task is a chore and like we are walking knee deep in mud. Every step is a strain on our physical bodies as well as our psyche. We focus on the difficulty of the journey, the enormity of the mountain we must climb and we begin entertaining thoughts of despair and doubt when what we really need is to reach down deep in the soul with grit and lean into our troubles with determination.
We are not accustomed to leaning into our troubles. We have a trouble adverse mentality seeking to flee in the complete opposite direction. We often seek to step out of the harness of trials and adversity. What is amazing is the number of people who learned how to lean into their troubles and developed character in the process. I am thinking of people like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt. Each of these faced adversity and each learned to lean into their troubles in triumph rather than defeat.
There are days when I am riding my bike and I see an approaching hill and my psyche begins to dread the climb. I begin dwelling on how hard it is to pedal and how I wish I was on the down hill side. My mind muses on the length and steep grade of the hill making it more difficult to endure. There are other days when my mind is determined and focused and I lean into the hill seeking to push past the pain and climb to the top faster than I climbed it the ride before. On those days the hills are just as steep but are somehow easier to surmount. What makes the difference? The hill is the same and the gears on my bike are the same. Attitude makes the difference.
Troubles can be little more than stepping stones to success when your attitude is altered. Keeping God’s perspective about problems makes them more manageable. They no longer overwhelm but give us the opportunity to watch God intervene. We can actually learn from trials if are ready and willing to learn the lessons God is seeking to teach us. At times it might be to learn patience. At other times we might need to learn how to have enduring faith or how to maintain joy in joyless circumstances. We might need a crash course in how to have hope in the midst of hopelessness or to love the unlovable. The lessons are bountiful as well as the lessons learned when we learn how to lean into our problems.
There are things I will never fully understand. Why does one person suffer from a diseased body early in life while another abuses his or her body with sex, drugs, and loose living but lives to a ripe old age? Why do some families encounter tragedy after tragedy while other families may live for generations without ever seeing tragedy? I do not have the answer why some pagan can father unwanted child after unwanted child while some married couple fall on their knees pleading with God for just one child coping with barren wombs? Why do some hard workers who labor diligently for a lifetime never seems able to get ahead while some lazy people cheat, deceive and fraud prospering hand over fist? Life is filled with many such contradictions.
If you give into pity parties and doubting fits, your problems will only appear that much larger. Lean into troubles today and learn what you can you learn from them. Refuse to give up but by faith press on to victory. Partner with God as He brings you into triumph.
I don’t know why we are so surprised when troubles find their way to our address. We ought to expect them and when they do come we should lean into them with our best efforts, our best prayers, our best faith, and refused to be conquered. We are victors and not victims through Jesus Christ. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘for Your sake we are being put to death all day long, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us.”[Rom 8:35-37]
Please take note that we are likely to face tribulation in this life. We are bound to be distressed from time to time just like we might face persecution for our faith. We may know what is like to go through some financially lean times and face danger and or tragedy but none of these things can change the fact that we are loved by Christ. He helps in these troubles and uses them in ways we could never fathom. At times to reject the troubles is to reject Christ and what He wants to teach us and develop in us.
I urge you again to lean into your troubles. Get your mind right and set your thoughts on the things above and not on the things of this earth. [Col 3:1-2] As you lean into your troubles what you will discover is that you are leaning into Christ and what better place is there for any true believer to lean. He gives us strength and resolve to endure and His grace is sufficient. [II Cor 12:9-10]
Lean into the harness of your troubles and plow faithfulness in the soil of your trials. The harvest will come and with it the day of celebration. That might take place in eternity in the presence of Jesus or it might take place with your feet firmly planted in the sod of this planet. Either way, Jesus is sufficient and more than enough to help us keep leaning and straining against the sod of trouble and the snags of this life. In and through Jesus we conquer and overcome when we lean into our troubles.

Monday Mornings

The clock read 4:00 a.m. when my eyes popped open. Immediately I began going through a mental list of all the things that I needed to do today. There was the article to submit for the newspaper. There was prayer and sermon preparation for a holiday shortened week since Thursday is Thanksgiving. There was the hope that somehow I could squeeze a work out in at the gym. There were phone calls to make and phone calls to be returned. There was also the lingering desire to write something, anything if I could just find a little time. There are the six different books I am reading at the same time that I would like to complete. I have some appointments in the middle of the morning. There is the out of town basketball game for our oldest son Taylor late this afternoon. There are meetings to prepare for and people who need visiting. So much to do and I had not even rolled out of bed yet.
Wearily I drug myself out of bed trying to recover from another busy Sunday. After getting dressed I sat numbly in my chair watching some news headlines from the weekend and events of the upcoming week. I finally got motivated enough to get in my truck and drive to the office while shivering from the cold blustery north winds sending chills to my bones.
Here I sit at my desk and my fingers slowly at first strike the key board of my computer. Mondays are not always fun. Usually most of us have too much activity crammed into too little time and when Monday mornings roll around we know the rat race starts all over again. Many people view Monday mornings as the end. It is the end of the weekend, the end of time off and the end of freedom.
I choose to look at this Monday morning as a beginning. It is the beginning of another work week and the beginning of a holiday week. Today I will have the opportunity to meet with my Creator in significant and meaningful ways. Today I will get the chance to talk with someone or read something that might change my life forever. Today is Monday and I get live. I will have privilege of eating meals with people I love and cherish. I will have to chance to speak a word for Christ at some point in the day, I will get to intercede for my flock, to believe God for miracles that have long been anticipated, and to make the devil mad every chance I get.
Yes, today is Monday and as I write this the sun has not even begun to hint to its rise but I am thrilled with the prospects of living. My mind is awaking from sluggishness. My passion is increasing for charging into the rest of this day like a knight mounted on a stallion. My faith is stalwart as I think today could be the day when I see God answer prayers and give birth to miracles. It is Monday but I am grateful that God has given me this day as a gift. How I choose to live this day will be my gift back to him.
There are many today who will awaken in hospitals or rehab centers. There are others who will linger in the bed for a long time trying to hide from the pain and despair of their circumstances. There are some who start their Monday staring at job losses and financial crisis. There are some in this world who will awake today starving and wondering where they might find anything to eat. Other wake up trying to shake the oppressive cloak of depression while others try to find the key to unlocking the emotional prisons they have lived in for weeks, months, and even years.
I am a blessed man and as I start this Monday morning I will do so with optimism and the assurance that I start this day walking side by side with my Heavenly Father who knows all, can move any mountain, handle anything that comes my way, and who rules in sovereignty over the whole universe and my Monday morning.
I invite you to embrace Monday mornings as fresh beginning to journey with God. Regardless of what we might face, in spite of the challenges, and looking forward to the bountiful blessings, let this Monday morning be a source of giving thanks. We get to live. We get to relate to beautiful and wonderful people. We get to walk and talk with God. We get to behold His faithfulness. Maybe our paths will cross today and you will say something to brighten and cheer my day. Hallelujah! It is Monday morning and everything is going our way. My of my what a wonderful day is this Monday morning.

Reading, Writing and a Love Affair with Books

From as early as fourth grade I knew I wanted to be a writer. I joined the newspaper staff at our school but what I really enjoyed was not so much writing news as much as I enjoyed the opportunities of expressing myself with the written word. I loved creative writing assignments and while other students writhed in anguish I cherished those times. It was my delight to read my short stories to our fifth grade class and see the listeners being drawn into my story mesmerized and shocked by the endings.
While I loved to write, I also had a fascination with reading books which I attribute to my grandmother’s love for reading. She always had a book in hand. She was the one who took me to get my first library card. I will never forget walking into that building and being overwhelmed by sheer volume of books. Shelf after shelf lined with books on every topic conceivable held me enthralled for hours on end.
I was less than ten back then and today my fascination with books has not changed. I love to write them and I love to read them. My heart thumps a little faster when I walk into a book store. I feel at home surrounded by books. It is the only time I enjoy shopping as peruse shelf after shelf. I seldom go anywhere that I do not have a book with me in case I find a little time to bury my nose is good read.
It is with great delight that I write to inform you that my latest book entitled Behold the Faithfulness of God is set to be released around the first of December. This has been a book in the works for the past eight years. It has been a labor of love as well as one of born out of travail and sorrow. I felt the Lord calling me to donate all the money made from this book to the FBC Paradise building fund as we seek to relocate our church.
Over the next several weeks and months I will be seeking to promote Behold the Faithfulness of God. I have a book signing scheduled in Lufkin early in December as well one in Paradise and at Valu-Right in Bridgeport. I have prayed through the writing phase of this book, prayed for God’s provision to publish it, and now I am praying through the distribution phase. I have asked God to use that book to impact lives and to encourage people who are living in difficult situations and doubting the faithfulness of God. This book was written from my own personal experiences of questioning God’s faithfulness in times of confusion, calls to persevere through trials, and finally to bask in my Father’s love for me and my family through His faithful answers to numerous prayers.
I covet three things from you. First, would you pray for God to use and distribute this book all over the world? I have pledged to the Lord that whether we sell 500, 5000, or 5,000,000 books that God gets all the money for the relocation of our church. I have asked God to show this book His favor and to open doors to promote it and get it in the hands of people. Second, if you know of places I can go and preach to make this book available, especially on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, I will try to work them into my schedule. The promotion of this book is not about my name being in neon lights but it is about the expansion of God’s kingdom in the heart of every reader as well as the expansion of His kingdom in Paradise as our church continues to reach out to those without a relationship with Christ.
Finally, I ask you to pray with me as I near completion on two other books. One is a devotional book called Sitting with the Savior and the other is a book I have been working on for the past two years entitled Running Toward Risk. I need God’s inspiration and anointing to finish them and for God to open doors to publish these books as well. After that, I have some thirty other titles or ideas for additional books for the future. Only God can supply the energy, the discipline, and the time to write.
I do not fully understand why God birthed such a love affair in my heart for books. They are scattered throughout my house in little piles Brenda is constantly tidying up. I am in the middle of reading six or seven books currently and constantly looking for an opportunity to get lost in another good read. My office walls are lined with shelves with some 5,000 plus books. It pains my heart that I cannot get to all of them to crack them open and turn page after page while my eyes scan the flurry of words and lasso thought after thought.
I admit it. I am a bookaholic. I am addicted to reading and writing. I know there are more of you out there. I do hope you will get a copy of Behold the Faithfulness of God and if the Lord uses it in your life I hope you will recommend it by word of mouth to other avid readers or to some who are struggling through their life journey.
Father, thank you for books. Thank you for the many authors whom You have used to teach me and to impact my life. Thank you for a grandmother who instilled the love for books into my life at an early age. Thank you for the calling and the open doors to write for you. I pray you would use these books and others you call me to write for the expansion of your kingdom one book and one heart at a time.

Never Beyond Hope

As I sat at breakfast gulping down a plate of biscuits, hashbrowns and eggs, I felt despair settling over me like a wet oppressive blanket. I had just contemplated a series of problems with my wife pondering them from every vantage point and finally determining that there was no hope. The enormity and gravity of the situation was and still is way beyond our control. I tried to peer way down the road of life to the final outcome of these trials but all I could see from my perspective was a dead end road. Hope sank life a diver doing a swan dive.
In between bites Brenda and I talked. She mostly listened as I thought out loud about all the possible scenarios or our situation. She offered words of encouragement and a different perspective than I was seeing in that moment. She has always done that for me and truly when the writer of proverbs states that the man who has found a good wife has found a good thing is true. She is perfect compliment to me, quiet, reserved, wise, and balanced in approach to life. Her words were the first seeds of hope.
I am not sure when it happened later on that day. I am pretty sure it was while attending a Sr. Adult banquet and listening to Dr. Don Newbury, former president and current chancellor of Howard Payne University, give a talk that shook me out of my despair and brought hope back to me full force.
Hope is such a fragile thing. The person who trudges through life without hope will live with a pessimistic point of view and fully expect to have a life of nothing but heartaches and hardships. Let that same person cling desperately to hope and they will expect trials to end, better days to come, and the assurance that God is always there.
In my journey I get to visit with many people and inevitably we talk about problems. Everybody has them. Some are bigger than others and some last longer than others. Everyone reading this faces some challenge, some problem or crisis that seeks to strangle and choke what little hope we may have. I also get to peer into the eyes and more importantly into the souls of those who have hope or those who live in the vice grip of despair.
For the person walking through life without belief in God’s existence or without a vital relationship with the Lord, where does hope come from? It is absolute foolishness to put hope in ourselves. Our resources are limited, whether they be mental, physical, emotional, or financial. God’s resources are infinite. Our perspective on problems can be inadequate and incomplete but God’s perspective is all wise, astute, and incisive.
As you watch the evening news and read the paper are you filled with hope or anxieties? As you keep a close watch on the stock market do you feel hope fading with each drop on Wall Street? Where do you go to cope with life? Many run to cheap thrills, sordid entertainment, and destructive behavior but God offers something better and more lasting. He offers the promise of Himself to help and intervene in life if we follow His principles and live by His precepts.
[Ps 42:5] “Why am I so depressed? Why this turmoil in me? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise Him, my Savior and my God.” There is always hope with God. Even when I am looking into the grief stricken faces of those who have lost loved ones. “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” [I Thess 4:13-14] There is still hope for those worried about their financial futures [Matt 6:25-34]. There is even hope for the ones who have faced problems and carried heavy burdens so long you feel your situation will never change. “He told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.” [Luke 18:1] In other words, we ought to always offer prayers with the hope and expectation that things will get better and live in continual despair. The bills will get paid. The sun will come up again after the rainy nights and days. Depression does lift and the darkness dispels as bright rays of God’s hope pierces through the gloom in our minds and our souls.
I am thankful for a seventy year old retired college president who came into my life last Friday with laughter, infectious joy and reminded me of the hope I have in my Savior Jesus. Suddenly my problems that had consumed my mind only hours earlier over a hot breakfast at a small diner seemed smaller and even petty. If I could be the one who jolts your heart back toward God and ultimately back toward hope then I would count this article a great success. Regardless of what you are going through, you are never beyond hope if God is your companion.