Child of Destiny

It is tragic how many children and adults stumble through life with no sense of purpose or very little self esteem. Many people are insecure and fake it and trudge through life feeling like failures while others try to masquerade their insecurity by bravado and pushing for position and power.
How I wish I could unzip every heart who reads these words and plant a few verses in your hearts. You are a child of destiny. That is what God created you to be. This has become one of my favorite nick names for a young lady in our church. I have shortened it of late to C.O.D. No, this does not mean cash on delivery but rather child of destiny.
God created us with purpose in mind. Read [Jeremiah 1:5]. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Please do not get hung on the fact that Jeremiah was appointed a prophet and miss the point of the verse. Before Jeremiah or you and I were born, God knew us. He had plans for Jeremiah’s life before he was even born just as the Lord has for yours and future children. He fashioned, shaped, and skillfully created us. “For You formed my inward parts, You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I ma fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works and my soul knows it very well.” [Ps 139:13-14] Over the past few months I have been blessed to welcome new babies into this world to excited parents. Those helpless infants are children of destiny as well.
God used his creativity to fashion and form you while you were still in the womb. He designed every facet of your being and shaped you with skill and precision. You may feel very ordinary and very average but you were designed for destiny if you will walk in relationship with your Creator. God has plans and things for all His children to accomplish. “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so we would walk in them.” [Eph 2:10]
Some of you were created to teach, coach, or administrate. Others of you were created to repair things that break, to enforce the law, to give care to children, to construct things, and work in the medical profession. You were created to train your own children and prepare them for life and to influence the lives of others along the way. The list could go on and on. I was created to preach and to write. God designed and destined me to do those things and before I was born He knew that I would be planted in the Paradise community and be called to serve a wonderful church located in an extraordinary community.
From time to time I eat lunch with my boys at the schools. It does not matter which campus I am eating on and which people are seated around me I always tell them that we are sitting at the “cool” table. It is my hope to build up the lives of young people to remind them continually they are children of destiny. Many of them have never heard those words spoken over them. What if you and I could speak words of love, support, and affirmation over children from every walk of life? What if I had the opportunity to look eye ball to eye ball with a youngster over a plate or sack lunch and tell them they are children of destiny? Would their self esteem not improve for at least a few minutes?
Recently I was eating lunch on one of our campuses with one of my boys and I nicknamed a little boy seated next to me “Cool Breeze.” Do you know that every time I go back to that campus that bright eyed little boy reminds me that he is “Cool Breeze.”
Yet, how can adults pass on something to children they have not possessed for themselves. Many adults reading this feel nothing like a child of destiny. You may feel like a loser, an under achiever, unwanted, unloved, and unaccepted. People can be cruel and the children’s nursery rhyme about sticks and stones breaking our bones but words never hurting us is a lie. Words do hurt. Cruel, evil, demented, and harsh words spoken over all of us as children can still have impact on our psyches as adults. How can insecure adults ever really pass on with conviction to your own children and children in the community at large that they are children of destiny? Insecure people live life worried about what others think of them or go to the other extreme and rebel with hard hearts to push people away.
I don’t care what you have done. You can still be a child of destiny in a right relationship with God. The Bible and churches are filled with former murderers, adulterers, liars, cheats, deceivers, insecure, broken and wounded people. One by one God has taken such people and redeemed them from shameful pasts and given them destiny. It is beautiful thing to behold.
I know of one such person right here in Paradise. As a child he was physically abused, verbally abused, and abandoned by his father. He was a social misfit who was often sullen and withdrawn from people. As he grew older he became angrier on the inside often resulting in physical altercations with fellow students. He was a rebellious insecure and misunderstood young man. Teachers tried to help but often threw their hands up in despair because of the young man’s stubbornness. Today this troubled youngster is a husband and father and few would ever suspect troubled past of his former life. He today is a child of destiny. You may have met him or seen him around town, eating at a café, watching a ball game, or even attending worship. This formerly disturbed young man I know very well for I AM THAT MAN! Meeting Jesus Christ made all the difference for me and now I live my life as a child of destiny. It is my mission to encourage others that they are children of destiny too.
If you have not met the Jesus I met, He alone gives life purpose and meaning. You were created for so much more than you can imagine. If this resonates with you I encourage you to talk to a friend, one of our many pastors in town, and most importantly to the Lord Himself. You were created to be a child of destiny. If you want the best possible life, the most joy, the greatest sense of fulfillment, and the most exciting adventure you must live out your destiny designed by God. Let me close with one last verse. “’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” [Jer 29:11]
Hold your head up high as you go about your day. You are a child of destiny and you relate to other children of destiny. Some may sit at your table and sleep under your roof, others might be best friends, some you might not even know their names. Please remember you are a child of destiny when you enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and you live among a community filled with children of destiny. Pass it on others who may not have heard this wonderful news.

Intercessor

I was recently reading a book about prayer. The author spent some considerable time talking about the difference between people of prayer, prayer warriors, and intercessors. “A prayer warrior can pray for a thing to be done without necessarily being willing for the answer to come through himself; and he is not even bound to continue in the prayer until it is answered. But an intercessor is responsible to gain his objective, and he can never be free till he has gained it. He will go to any lengths for the prayer to be answered through himself.” Rees Howells Intercessor, Norman Grubb p. 97.
I have been chewing that paragraph over and over again mulling it over in my mind. I found myself earlier today asking the Lord if He wanted me to be an intercessor and one who feels so burdened that prayers be answered that I cannot be free of them until they have come to pass. Am I willing to go to any lengths or pray for great lengths until the Lord gives birth to miracles? Reading that statement made me feel like such a novice at prayer. I pray for things like you do but often I lose heart or interest if the prayer answer is delayed for a long season. An intercessor according Mr. Grubbs could be characterized by what the scriptures reads in [Luke 18:1] “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” Intercessors do not lose heart but stay the course until God breaksthrough.
Rees Howells was an ordinary man who prayed extraordinary prayers and God answered those prayers by transforming drunkards, prostitutes, and those with life threatening diseases. God used his intercessions to transform whole communities. He was tested time and again but he refused to give up and entertain doubt. Elijah was an intercessor and the scriptures reports that he too was a man like we are. “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” [James 5:17-18]
When I look at all the things people are facing today I am finding a deeper burden to pray and needing more extended time to pray than at most any time in my life and ministry. There are some who are facing economic devastation. There are those who are facing an onslaught of trial after trial with no end in sight. There are others who are battling rebellion in the lives of loved ones and those who have strayed far away from the Lord. Some are facing loss of jobs, others relational conflict, and still others the pain of losing and grieving over the death of loved ones. Many have been diagnosed with incurable diseases and multitudes live day in and day out in spiritual darkness speeding toward eternal damnation. There are the lives of students and educators in our local town who need prayers continually for God’s protection and peace.
Again my question is if the Lord is calling me to a whole new level of prayer. Am I content to be a person who prays? Do I desire to rise above the standard of being a prayer warrior to become a true intercessor. Humbly, feebly, courageously I am asking the Lord to do just that in me. I know my nature. I can get excited about something for a few days, weeks, or months, but to take personally the responsibly to pray and knock on the doors of Heaven until the answers come is foreign to me over the long haul.
There are people I love and have witnessed to who give no evidence of interest or fruit of having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Will I stay the course and intercede for them until they are gloriously saved? I must! Eternity stands in the balance. Many are being strangled by the strong hold of sin. I must intercede for God’s deliverance. Burdens must be prayerfully lifted, provision prayerfully made, and hope prayerfully restored. I am pleading to you to pray for me to become a faithful intercessor. I cannot think of anything I would rather leave in the wake of my life than a legacy of God’s faithfulness told and retold over and over again in testimonies of answered prayer. I beg of you to pray God help me live out the calling to be an intercessor. Please pray I would be willing to pay the price in fasting, lack of sleep, and forsaking the company of men to remain hidden with Christ in the secret place continually knocking on the doors of Heaven. Only by His strength and resolve will I ever become an intercessor.

Solemn Assembly

If you mention the words Solemn Assembly or Sacred Assembly few church members have any inclination what you are talking about. In the Old Testament a Solemn Assembly was a corporate time of repentance and prayer; a sacred gathering of mourning and sorrow over sin that often turned into times of jubilant rejoicing as sins were forgiven and God’s people returned to the Lord. [Joel 2:15-17] states, “Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly. Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, ‘Spare Your people O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations.’ Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is there God?’”
These services are not popular because the focus is on both private and corporate sin and prayer for repentance crying out for God’s forgiveness. Are they no less needed today? Sin is rampant in our congregations, communities, and our country. It is a fearful thing to think about the Lord’s anger being kindled against his wayward and rebellious people.
The aforementioned passage in Joel calls to light several things we might consider today as we look first inward at our own sin and the sin we have committed as God’s people. Joel calls for a trumpet to be blown in Zion. I equate that with a strong wake up call to the church today that we can no longer afford to fall asleep on the walls of our communities. The spiritual blood and well being of people in our communities is on our hands if we do not sound the warning and prepare them for the enemy’s advance. [Ez 33:6-7] We must wake up from our spiritual slumber and shake off the covers of complacency and indifference. That is what a Solemn Assembly does. It is a loud alarm going off to awake us to the dangers we face as we drift further and further from God and truth. The trumpet must be blown and we must be aroused from our spiritual slumber.
Another principle we need to address is that a Solemn Assembly should include people from each generation. In this age specific time of ministry, the generations are most often separated and isolated from one another. Shouldn’t our children grow up witnessing what it is like to see adults and teenagers weeping and repentant before a Holy God and crying out for mercy and forgiveness? Shouldn’t Senior Adults be moved by the moldable and impressionable hearts of children and teenagers? Sin is far too easily swept under the rug and often those who struggle drowning in the murky waters of their own sin do not know how to find help because there is very little opportunity for repentance and confession in our churches. These two things can get real messy. Senior Adults sin, medium adults sin, young adults sin, teenagers sin, children sin. A Solemn Assembly should be a time sacred to the Lord and set apart when all the generations come together for the common purpose of repentance and prayer for revival.
To be honest one of the reasons you so seldom hear about Solemn Assemblies is because preachers can be too cowardly to call themselves and churches to genuine repentance. Preachers can also grow calloused hearts as they learn to minister in a professional fashion but lose the sensitivity to the prompting of the Spirit of God. [Joel 2:17] exhorts that preachers should set the example in brokenness over their own sin and the sin of the people. Where are the tears over sin? We can sing songs like “Break My Heart O God” but know very little of the experience of true brokenness over sin. Our altars are far too often barren and without tear stains. It would do all churches good to periodically be called to the altar and weep over private and public sins. What sins you might ask? There are private sins of gossip, hypocrisy, liars, selfish ambition, power struggles, prayerlessness, sexual immorality, pornography, embezzlement, fraud, stirring up strife among the brethren, unforgiveness, and the list could go on and on. These are just some of the private sins that trip up God’s people. We are to put off these sins so we can run for God with endurance. [Heb 12:1]
There are also corporate sins committed by churches. Churches fuss and fight and split giving no testimony that we are God’s children because we love one another. [Jn 13:34-35] We judge people and condemn them for their sinful blunders. [Matt 7:1-5] We cast stones when we ourselves are not without sin. [Jn 8:7-11] We have left our first love. [Rev 2:2-5] We have become lukewarm in our spiritual fervor. [Rev 3: 15-16] Again the list could continue but we all get the point.
I urge pastors to lie on the altar before the Lord and allow Him to search and try your heart and reveal your own sin as well as the sin of the churches you shepherd. I plead with you to get real before the Lord and refuse to play the church game any longer. It is time for judgment to begin in the house of the Lord. God is looking for a pure bride for His Son and our communities need a church endued with Holy Spirit power to help them out of their prisons of darkness.
Please notice that the bride and bridegroom are called to attend this service. This speaks very strongly to me that this type of service is a high high priority. Nothing including weddings or honeymoons should take priority over this time of repentance. We make many lesser things than weddings and priorities over the Lord and days set aside for repentance. Ball games are more important. Dance and piano recitals are more important. Weekend get aways are more important. Entertainment, recreation, and family gatherings are more important. Sleep is more important even though most Sunday morning services start at between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
The time for repentance and returning to the Lord is now, today! [Joel 2:12] We can ill afford to delay any longer. This is not a service we need to put off until we can find a more convenient time or a time when people will not be offended. Only God can heal this nation and He is more than able to do so when the church repents and cries out for rain drops of revival and refreshing. Start with your own heart and life and then I pray the Lord leads congregation after congregation to hold sacred and solemn gatherings to return to Him and see Him usher in days of spiritual awakening once again.

Transfer of Power

I sat at home yesterday battling a sinus infection. It afforded me the opportunity to watch the Presidential inauguration. I was mesmerized to both the television and the internet throughout the day. I watched as a confident new forty fourth President went to worship and then met with President Bush at the White House before leaving for the Capitol. I watched Bush as he embraced the incoming President and seemed ready to pass the baton of leadership and Presidential authority.
The actual inauguration was inspiring. Some of the most powerful people in all the world gathered to watch the transfer of power from one President to another. Songs were sung majestically, prayers were prayed passionately, oaths were sworn, and the new President stood facing millions crowded to catch a glimpse of history and others tuned in by the millions around the globe and spoke words of hope and vision for a bright future after some hard work.
In only a matter minutes power transferred from one Commander in Chief to the next. I was caught up in this moment and the hopes so many are penning on the next man to sit in the oval office; President Obama.
As I contemplated these events throughout the day I watched as former President Bush hugged the new President and his wife and mounted the steps to board a helicopter. I sat in silence watching him fly away to officially close that chapter of his life to begin a new one back here in Texas. The longer I mediated on this transfer of power the more I was drawn to God and the transfer of power that He has entrusted to His servants.
I will never stand to be inaugurated the President of our great nation or sit with Supreme Court Justices, Former Presidents, Senators, and Congressman. I will never write laws or sign laws. Yet, as a pastor and as a child of God I have access to a greater power that lasts much longer than public policies and impact eternity not just the temporal. God the Father grants me access to His power each time I come before Him to pray.
My weaknesses are transferred for His power to preach, to love and nurture, to offer hope to the sick and ailing, and to introduce people to transformational power of Jesus. His power allows me through prayer to lift the mountain like burdens my people, my sheep, my community, and my nation face daily. Through power my ordinariness is transformed to accomplish the extraordinary as Divinity works through my humanity.
Every day you and I have an invitation to come boldly before the throne of grace to find help and mercy in our time of need. [Heb 4:16] Through our petitions God opens doors, gives requests, and allows us to find that for which we have been seeking. [Matt 7:7-8] This is power that out lasts terms of Presidents and policies and politicians. Our Father holds the whole world in His hands. He was not seen much yesterday during the inauguration but He holds this nation in His hands. He plants kings and presidents and removes them as well. The whole world is held in the palm of His hand. [Is 6:1-2] “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot stool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being,’ declares the Lord.”
Sovereign God, Omnipotent Lord, Creator of the Universe, Ruler of Heaven and Earth alone is all powerful. Yet, He stoops to hear our petitions and grants us access to the full measure of His abilities to intervene in time and space to work miracles, change circumstances and we get His wonder working power flowing both in and through us.
The Presidential Inauguration was inspiring but President Obama is only a man. He will fail people. He will not please everyone. He will become frustrated that people oppose his leadership from time to time. God is timeless, He is perfect, He never has nor ever will fail, and He does what is just. His purposes cannot be thwarted [Is 43:13].
I will never forget the lessons I learned by the transferring of power. I pray I experience that along with you day in and day out. O Lord, please let your unending power flow through these hearts at this time in this place to accomplish what you have purposed. Praise the Lord His power is transferable and more than able to meet every need we will face and even surpass those needs. [Eph 3:20]

Mount Up with Wings Like an Eagle

I had the unexpected blessing recently of getting a couple of days to view a couple of bald eagles out in the wild while taking a prayer retreat. I sat for hours simply watching one eagle perched nobly high atop a tree near the edge of a private lake. I watched him until the sun went down rendering it impossible for me to make out his silhouette any longer. Periodically he would move his head from side to side but not once in nearly two hours did he flap a wing, move to another branch, or set flight to somewhere else. He did not even budge when a huge fish jumped out the water causing a large splash right underneath where he was perched.
It was fascinating. I arose early the next morning to spend some time with the Lord outdoors in the exact same place I had sat observing the first eagle the day before and saw two eagles perched on the same limb on the opposite side of the lake. I wondered if it was a male and female. One of the things I have learned about eagles is that they mate for life. It reminded me of Brenda and I began thinking about how we are like eagles. My heart soared when one of them left the branch and began circling the lake looking for fish. Not once but three times I had a front row seat to watch that eagle circle over the water and then glide right over the surface reaching into the water with his or her talons for a catch. Did you know that eagles have enough strength to lift approximately four pounds into the air? What a majestic sight.
While talking to Darrell Fishbeck and a few others over the course of the next few days I learned a few things about eagles. I then did some research and learned a few more facts. Eagles have the ability to soar to an altitude as high as 10,000 feet. When storms come eagles simply soar up above them. They achieve speeds of 30-35 mph making them the highest flying bird and one of if not the fastest of all birds. Eagles can live as long thirty years in the wild but face dangers of being killed prematurely from gun shots, electrocution, being hit by moving vehicles, or starvation. Eagles have also been blessed with extremely strong eyesight. In 1782, the eagle was adopted as the national emblem for the United States. When eagles mate they do so for life.
As much as I loved hearing and researching all the characteristics about eagles what has moved my heart the most is the fact that when storms approach eagles mount up on their wings and soar above the storms. Finally after twenty plus years of reading Is 40:31 it made sense to me.
Many of us are tired from life’s battles and challenges. In our weariness it is so easy to neglect waiting on the Lord and allowing Him to strengthen us and helping us to mount up like eagles to rise above our troubles in the spiritual realm. From that perspective we can at least be comforted that just as trials have a starting point they also have an ending point. We can get God’s perspective on those storms and be strengthened to keep running and to keep walking.
When we are in the middle of our storms it easy to get disoriented and believe that there is no hope. We lose precious energy worrying anxiously about what we are enduring. The eagle never has to go through that. He senses the coming storm and gets above it. O how I pray we could learn to do the same thing spiritually. How much fretting, anxiety, and sleepless nights could be cast away if we could learn to wait on the Lord like an eagle and soar on our spiritual wings above our circumstances.
I hope the next time you face a storm and are tempted to lose perspective you will remember the eagle. Father, thank you for lessons learned from the eagle. Please help us to learn from his example. Amen.

Two Days at Eagle's Rest

There is a small two bedroom cabin located off the beaten path in East Texas where I have taken prayer and writing retreats over the past thirteen years. As you drive into the entrance there are two rock columns, sandwiched between a dirt driveway, with large concrete eagles with outstretched wings perched on the top. Below on both columns are plagues with [Is 40:31] written out. “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
I have spoken and written about this place often. I have nicknamed it my “prayer cabin.” The cabin is located at the back of a long winding dirt drive way. It is nestled in the midst of an oak grove on some 400 acres. It is tucked away far from the highway and hidden from the view of distractions. Rolling hills provide solace to the eyes and the soul across the 90 acre private lake hemmed in by many trees on the outer boundaries. The place was discovered and developed by a famous evangelist who had a vision that eagles (or leaders) could come to that place to be renewed and revived by the Lord. Decades later that vision is still being fulfilled.
I had the blessing to travel to that sacred sanctuary this past week with three other men who are in the ministry. It was a powerful and tremendous experience. We were there for less than twenty four hours but we met with the Lord in some very profound ways both individually and corporately.
One of the thrills for me was to spend several hours praying, seeking, and listening to the Lord along with watching a couple of eagles who live on the place. It was a powerful experience to watch the eagles sitting regally atop trees near the water’s edge. I was thrilled to watch them swooping down in the water and catching fish to eat. At times I heard their screech as they soared over the water looking for their next catch. The Lord used those moments to renew my soul.
During that brief get away the Lord inspired fresh visions, He heard our prayers and saw our tears, He spoke things of profound importance, and He saturated our souls with His presence. That little cabin is holy ground and though God is everywhere He settles on that place in very special ways.
We all need an eagle’s rest. We need a place to pull back from the world, to sit before the Lord, and meet with Him. I have sought the Lord in the mountains of California, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, and Arizona. I have basked in His presence at the edge of the ocean in Panama City, FL, Galveston, TX, Corpus Christi, TX, and Sea Side, OR as well as on the lake shores of Lake Sam Rayburn, Lake Palestine, and Lake Michigan. I have met with the Lord in the Pine thickets of East Texas as well as in the desert regions of Odessa, TX. Yet there is no place I have found more sacred to my soul for renewal than the Eagle’s Rest Retreat.
The carpet has been soaked with the prayers from over thirteen years. Books have been read and devoured in that primitive little living room with the large windows over looking the lake. Articles and books have been inspired and written as God anointed me to write at the old dining table next to the kitchen. My favorite thing of all is that God speaks to me in the old outdated upholstered rocking chair in the living room and in an isolated treasured spot outside over looking the lake and an open field funneling into a pine thicket where white tail deer reside.
I repeat again that everyone needs an eagle’s rest to refresh and renew the soul. Maybe you do not have access to an isolated cabin as I have been privileged to over these many years. Perhaps you do not even have the freedom in your schedule to go and get away. There are eagle’s rests all around. My next favorite place of spiritual refuge is my office at the church. The location is not nearly as important as the meeting with God. You can meet with God walking through a pasture, in the woods, around a park, while seated at a dining table, in an isolated booth in a restaurant, or in your bedroom. God wants to meet with you, to speak to you, to give you vision and direction. Will you make it priority to meet with Him?
Why do we delay in making time, carving out time, and fighting for times of solitude and isolation to wait before Him? In those times of waiting He gives us new vigor for living and service. He replenishes our emotional and spiritual resources to love and fight for kingdom advancement. He graces us with endurance to run and not quit during the race. He does all of this and more when we set aside our time and attention to rest and wait before Him.
What does it mean to wait before the Lord? It means to hope and to expect. It means to pause, slow down, and to linger in His presence. There are times when God wants us to wait for minutes, at other times it might mean for hours, and there are even times when waiting before the Lord might require days and weeks. We are in way too big a hurry for that, yet very frantic paces of our lives is leaving us spiritually bankrupt on running on the fumes of past experiences which are not sufficient to meet the life and ministry challenges of today.
Since when did we ever get deceived into thinking that little ten minute devotionals would ever serve to replenish our spiritual reserves and usher us into the glorious presence of Jesus to be transformed by Him. Even worse when did we ever come up with the notion we did not have to meet with God regularly to stay fresh and renewed in our souls? He longs to meet with us far more than we want to meet with Him.
When Darrell, Corbin, and Richard and I walked into that cabin one of the guys made the comment that I had not stopped smiling since we drove onto the Eagle’s Rest Retreat. I had not noticed it but why would I not smile when standing on such holy ground and hoping and expecting to meet with my Lord in significant and profound ways. Why would my soul not breathe in the intoxicating presence of the Everlasting God [Is 40:28] and exhale the soul draining demands of every day living. [Ps 55:22] When meeting with Jehovah in that place it seems time stands still on one hand and rushes by way too fast on the other hand.
I urge you to find your own eagle’s rest. I urge you to regularly make time to intentionally slow down, and saunter with the Savior down lonely dirt trails and scenic sanctuaries both indoors and outdoors. I will say it again. The location is not the most important thing. The soul thrilling encounters with God are the main thing and finding rest and renewal in your souls. There are not substitutes for eagle’s rests.

Coping with Adversity

The plan was simple. Our family was leaving for a get away the day after Christmas to Branson, Missouri. We loaded the car the night before so we could get an early get away the following morning. We ate leftovers for breakfast so we could get on the road. Everything went pretty smoothly getting out the house. The boys had a tv/vcr to watch movies and their video games to keep them occupied, I had a map and detailed directions how to pilgrimage to Branson, and we fueled up for long day of driving.
Anna Bell (our dog) was making her first road trip. She did not understand the importance of making time. We had not been on the road one hour when she began whimpering and pacing back and forth because she needed to go to the rest room. This was only the start of the adversity we would face on our little trip.
Anna Bell ended up needing to stop again about an hour later. Two hours and two stops. Not a great start. As we got into Oklahoma Brenda started feeling really ill and needed to stop. I found a little store in Kiowa, OK and when she came back to the car she started feeling even worse and needed to stop again. If you are counting we are less than four hours into our trip and we made four stops. We were not making good time and adversity was ever present.
We stopped at a restaurant for Brenda to get some relief and so the boys and I could eat. Our little meal in the only restaurant in town was very costly, I mean VERY COSTLY and we had were burgers. While leaving the café I backed into their sign, (praise the Lord there was no damage to the sign or the car; only to my ego.) We prayed for Brenda to feel better and she slept off and on for the rest of the day as we headed north and then east through Arkansas.
I got lost in Fayetteville, AR but finally made our way through some scenic mountains headed to Branson. We managed to turn that seven or eight hour drive into about ten. We got turned around in Branson but finally found the resort we were staying in with Taylor coughing, sniffling, and running some fever. One family vacation, two sick people, dozens of “are we there yet?”, one minor traffic accident (the restaurant sign)and ten long hours but we made it. Taylor felt so bad he did not even want to eat dinner but went straight to bed.
As the rest of our family finally found something to eat exhausted and road weary, I began wondering what kind of vacation it was going to be. We had faced a great deal of adversity just to get there and to top it all off we began getting weather reports that a major cold front and thunderstorms were headed our way. We got the brunt of it the next morning while doing some grocery shopping. And of course the rain really did not begin to fall until after we were in the store and were loading our groceries afterward. We spent ten hours on the road the day before and then due to the thunderstorms the kids could not outside and play in our little condo home for the week. More adversity.
All of us face adversity. It is part of life. Cars break down, computers crash, investments fail, and the health of our loved ones can deteriorate. My great aunt thought she was suffering from severe arthritis for years. Turned out she had cancer and she died only a few short weeks after the diagnosis. Her husband has preached for well over fifty years ministering hope to those coping with hardship but now he is facing a whole new kind of adversity.
Nobody gets through life unscathed. Everyone faces adversity on some level. Jesus did not mince words in Jn 16:33 when He said, “…In this world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Some translations use the words trouble, distress, or adversity. We have to learn to cope with it.
We coped with the dog, with two illnesses, and getting lost, and Taylor getting sick. We coped with the rain and the bone chilling winds. On the front end it might have appeared we were headed for a terrible vacation. The truth is it was one of the most enjoyable we have ever experienced. We laughed, played, worshipped, and feasted together. I urge you to not let adversity get you off track this New Year. You will face some along the way but our God will bring us peace and give us what ever is needed to cope with it. Peace. [Phil 4:6-7] Perseverance.[Rom Heb 12:1-2] Patience. [Gal 5:22-23] God is able to give those things in abundance. With the aid of God’s word, prayer, and old fashioned grit we can learn to cope with adversity. Don’t give up. Keep pushing forward to victory inch by inch, step by step, prayer by prayer, and day by day. We can all learn to cope with adversity with God’s strength [Phil 4:10-13].
Maybe this year has not started out so well for you. Perhaps more difficulties lie around the corner. Maybe adversity is pounding you to your knees like so many I have talked to over the past two weeks. I have ministered to the sick and infirmed, the discouraged, the oppressed, and those who are coping with heartache and sorrow inflicted by loved ones. Jesus gives us grace and tenacity to cope with adversity. Don’t you dare give up or give in. What may seem like adverse circumstances may turn into a blessing if you persevere like our vacation.

New Year and New Mercies

[Lamentations 3:22-23] “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”


The trees have been taken down and the lights and ornaments packed away for another year. 2008 has come and gone and along with it comes a treasure chest of memories; some perhaps good and others perhaps dreadful. As 2008 fades into the pages of the history books 2009 has dawned with the dropping of the ball in Times Square bringing bright hopes, new resolutions, and fresh excitement about the prospects ahead. America looks ahead to the leadership of a new President who will work with a new Congress. Prayers and well wishes have gone out for a happy and prosperous new year.
Just as New Year’s Eve celebrations had to be cleaned up afterward dampening the enthusiasm, with dishes being washed, tinsel and confetti being swept, party favors being discarded, and beverage cans and bottles being recycled, the excitement and enthusiasm of 2009 will fade at some point as Mondays roll around, bill payments come due, laundry has be done, the yard has to be mowed, and deadlines have to be met.
I was thinking about this the other day. At what point during the New Year do we lose all the optimism and energy we have at the start of the year? Does is happen suddenly or is it a slow fade into our monotonous routines and endless to do lists. Resolutions give way to paths of lesser resistance and iron wills become like silly puddy giving in to pressure points. All in all for most of us we can say that 2006 was much like 2007 and 2008 was more of the same. There are exceptions to the rule.
At times we face life altering events during the course of a year. I will never forget the years of 1976 and 1998. In 1976 my little four year old sister drowned. In that same year my much beloved grandfather died after a long battle with leukemia. In 1998 on mother’s day weekend my mother died after a long struggle with heart disease. Those events stick with you leaving a hole in your gut, and while the rest of the world goes on, you may learn to cope with your losses but the hole never goes away.
Conversely you might have had experiences of great joy in years gone by like getting married, the birth of your children, or getting a new job. I will also never forget the 11991 when Brenda and I married or 2005 when our family moved to Paradise. I am baffled by how polarizing our experiences can be all in the same year. I just received an email that my great aunt who was a godly lady succumbed to cancer and died while earlier in the day I talked and prayed with a mother who is scheduled to give birth to a baby boy tomorrow. One family is grieving and the other is rejoicing all in the same year and on the same day.
I am no prognosticator. I do not know what 2009 will hold for all of us. The one thing I do know is that God’s word is true. I was reflecting on the above verses earlier today thinking about the fact that no matter what comes our way this year, God will be faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and His mercies and tender compassions will be new every day.
My great uncle has faithfully preached the word of God as a pastor for more than fifty years with my aunt right by his side. I know that God will be faithful to him and His tender mercies will be new for my uncle tomorrow at the funeral service just as they will be on Wednesday and the following days. God’s faithfulness and loving compassions will be new and fresh tomorrow when that little baby boy comes into this world as with all the days of his life.
God’s mercies will be new every single one of the 52 Monday mornings of the coming year just as they will be on every “Thank God it is Friday.” In this unsure and unsteady world I am rejoicing that I serve a steady, firm, certain, and steadfast God. With that assurance why can’t we maintain hope, joy, optimism, and enthusiasm for the New Year all year long? God will be pouring out fresh mercies day after day far beyond your lifetimes and mine. Let me wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR no matter what blessings you bask in or what trials you have to overcome. May you behold God’s faithfulness and enjoy His mercies and compassions each day and each week of the New Year.