Everyone has a story. And many times we diminish the beauty of our own because we compare it to someone else’s. We don’t have to do that. We just have to learn to embrace our own.
“Through All Of It” – Colton Dixon
Tag: hope
Lent 2022 | Day 26: House
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:2-6 ESV
In John’s Gospel, we find Jesus offering words of comfort to his disciples. These words would serve as a reminder to them of Jesus’s mission to prepare a place for them in God’s house. This promise of future rest offered to all disciples is one we do not often take it seriously as we should.
The idea of a house carries with it a particular kind of relationship among those who reside within it. It is often the case that families are the occupants of homes. This particular structure is often viewed as a place of solace and safety. The very notion of being “homesick” reveals how often we associate feelings of belonging to the house that is our home.
While it is not the building itself that provides the feeling that we are describing here, but the people with whom we share that space, the buildings serve as a sort of anchor in our memories and become a sort of “shorthand” for what we mean to describe. It is this relationship between a place and the people who occupy that place that we should consider more often. To forget where we are from is to lose contact with the forces and influences that shaped us in the early years of our lives. Becoming disconnected in this way can rob us of important realities as it relates to our identity.
The promise Jesus made to the disciples is one they would not fully appreciate until after Jesus had returned to the Father. It is difficult to imagine them fully understanding what Jesus was trying to say at that moment. We have evidence of this in Thomas’s question about not knowing the way to where Jesus was going. So Thomas, who was present with Jesus through his earthly ministry had a difficult time understanding what Jesus said. How much more for those of us who are separated from the events by over two millennia?
We can get caught up trying to describe what the many mansions will look like. We can even lose sight of the promise itself by focusing on something Jesus left undisclosed. One of the challenges this passage offers to us is holding on to the promise of Jesus in faithful preparation for our arrival. It would be nice to know more details of what it all meant. It would even make it easier for us to endure the many challenges and obstacles of this life. But it would not change Jesus’s fulfillment one way or the other.
In this season of Lent, I have been reminded over and over to slow down and to be less anxious about what is to come. We do not need to know every detail of the future yet to come. We can rest in the knowledge that God’s goodness will never fail, that Jesus’s faithfulness to accomplish His word will never be hindered, and the Holy Spirit’s power to bring us to that moment can never be challenged.
If we hold on to this hope during this season of Lent I believe we will see with greater clarity the majesty of God’s grace as it was revealed in Jesus’s death on the cross.
Lent 2020 | Day 24: “Awaken”
The act of hearing is not just allowing the sounds hit the eardrum. The idea is that we are supposed to be engaging our ability to reason.
On several occasions as Jesus taught, he would say to the people, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15).
The act of hearing is not just allowing the sounds hit the eardrum. The idea is that we are supposed to be engaging our ability to reason. In the process we are able to learn, to reason, to make sense of what we have heard.
As we think about our focus for today, this was what came to mind. We live in a world that has been working on us. Trying to create a lifestyle of distractedness. Of not focusing on what matters. Of not paying attention to choices we are making or the life we are building.
Into this environment God is calling us to awaken. He is calling us to get up out of our slumber and engage in the world we live in. We are not supposed to allow live to happen to us. We are supposed to live our lives. Filling each moment with life. This is an active reality. It is something we must do intentionally. If we don’t, something will come along and try to take it for its own purposes.
As we continue are march toward Easter morning, I don’t know what is causing you to be distracted. But, I know this. You must ask God to help you snap out of it. I believe that God desires for us to be awake, alert, and making ready for the return of his Son.
On the Death of Kobe Bryant
The loss of any person to tragic circumstances is hard. Even when they are not well know. But there is something about the death of a person whose name many recognize that makes it more shocking. There is the feeling that there was something of us in them.
As the news of Kobe Bryant’s death spread yesterday, the reaction from social media to my family’s living room was actually quite similar. Shock. Surprise. Sadness. The loss of any person to tragic circumstances is hard. Even when they are not well know. But there is something about the death of a person whose name many recognize that makes it more shocking. There is the feeling that there was something of us in them. That is why there is something else we mourn when a hero dies.
I am not a basketball fan. So, I don’t have much to say about the accolades that Kobe Bryant earned during his career in the National Basketball Association. He has been lauded as one of the greatest of his generation to play the game. Maybe one of the best ever. I will leave that determination to those who know better.
In total, there were nine individuals who perished in the crash. While accidents happen all of the time, when a famous person dies, something happens to the collective consciousness of those who recognize the name. The more recognizable the name, the greater the shock. There is something within us that struggles to let go of the ideas and images of the famous. Their legend possesses an immortality that far exceeds the truth: Famous people die too.
All who bear the mark of the human image must live under the weight of our finitude. We all have an expiration date. We just don’t know when that will be. I think this is what shocks us most.
As a pastor, there were two aspects of these events that cause my heart to grieve. Both of which have to do with the fact I am a father.
Reports indicate that the helicopter was heading to a basketball game for one of his daughters. I can only imagine the joy he had in being able to participate in this moment. To have a child who enjoyed the very game you gave so much of your life to. And to be able to share in it with them. It is a beautiful testament to the great responsibility we who are parents feel for our children. I grieve for his other children who will grow up without the love of their father. I grieve for all the other children who lost parents in the crash as well.
Second, I grieve for the loss of the children in the crash. No parent should bury their child. That is not the way it should happen. But, we live in a world where it does. I don’t know how I would feel if that were my story. I’m not sure anyone really does. I know I looked at my children and was thankful for one more day with them. And that is something we all should do when things like this happen.
Every loss is an opportunity to remember what we still have. The greater the loss, the greater the opportunity. It may not happen in the moment, but I hope and pray that eventually, we can look and see that we are more blessed than we ever thought in spite of the loss or the pain.
I will pray for the families of all who lost a loved one in the crash yesterday. I pray that the love of God find them and comfort them in this time of mourning.
Lent 2018 | Day #22: Hope
In order to see the power of hope, we have to remember that it is against the backdrop of the dark spots in life that it shines brightest.
There are few realities in the human experience that are necessary. Some are physical: food, water, shelter. But others are metaphysical. They are not made up of atoms but are realities of the mind and soul. Without these non-physical realities will be robbed of vital spiritual nourishment.
Today I want to look at the necessity of hope. Hope is the fuel that keeps us going when the world is in shambles. It is the optimism that the darkness of the night will fade with the rising sun. Hope is the inclination to believe that tomorrow will be better than today. This is hope. It sustains and protects us from the morass of human weakness.
We all know, instinctively, that the world is broken. That the human family has some very disturbed and wicked members. That injustice is the tool of the wicked. You may not be the victim of this expression of sin, the fount from which all evil springs, but we all have been witnesses to how bad we can be.
In order to see the power of hope, we have to remember that it is against the backdrop of the dark spots in life that it shines brightest. I really like what J. I. Packer said about Christmas. It helps us to see a little better God’s point of view on this life we live on this speck of dust hurtling through the cosmos.
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity–hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory–because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. – J.I. Packer
In Jesus there is hope, but it is not a hope that is blind. It is anchored to a promise of what God is able to do. We can hope, and that hope will abide forever because God sustains it by his power and grace. This is why hope works. When we place our hope in God we are not taxing our limited human abilities. We are placing our trust in God’s capabilities. This is the hope of the Gospel. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again! Glory, Hallelujah!
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation. Psalm 42:5
5 Reasons the Next President will Disappoint You
I don’t normally write about politics. There are several reasons. One, I am not a fan of politics in general. Two, it usually starts more arguments than useful conversation. Third, I have better things to write about. But, as I was sitting in my office and thinking about the upcoming election I realized something. Continue reading “5 Reasons the Next President will Disappoint You”
Sermon | “Spiritual Injuries and Our Hope on God’s Promises”
This sermon was preached in Spanish on September 4, 2016.
Introduction
- The unique vision of Ambassadors of Christ Ministries: Spiritual Health.
- What is spiritual health?
- Why do we need to be spiritually healthy?
- Definition of Spiritual Injuries
- A spiritual injury is a contradiction between what I believe to be true and what actually is true.
- How are we healed from our spiritual injuries?
- We must identify the lies we believe and replace them with the truth.
- We must recognize the blind spots that these injuries have created and work to minimize the way they affect our daily lives and faith journey. Continue reading “Sermon | “Spiritual Injuries and Our Hope on God’s Promises””
Shane and Shane | “Though You Slay Me”
“Though he slay me, I will hope in him…” (Job 13:15a ESV)
May the surety of you character, O God, allow me to trust you in all things.
The Tragedy at Sandy Hook | “The Depth of Human Sin Has Reared Its Head… Again!”
This morning the town of Newtown, CT, was ravaged by the news that an elementary school was taken hostage and the lives of over 25 people were ended, some before they had even had a chance to really begin. When news like this hits it spreads quickly because that is what bad news does. So many thoughts comes to mind about how bad this event is. None of them are good and most of them remind me of what is wrong with the world. A world without love and hope will lead to death and chaos.
As a man of faith I am further convinced that the world does not have the answers to the brokenness of the human heart and soul. Life devoid of God and faith divorced from Jesus will never lead to the kind of peace people hope the government to provide. Followers of Jesus must refrain from placing any faith in the systems of this world. They are broken, tainted and governed by principles that are anathema to the Kingdom of God.
What I dread is the fact that some will being posturing and positioning this horrible tragedy to make a point that neither considers the victims or their families. Some politicians will use this (eventually) to mark some points with someone about needing more gun control. Second Amendment folks will argue that we can’t blame the guns. I have to be honest, I could care less. The only thing that hurts my heart is thinking of all those families (moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents and others) who have had their lives, not just turned upside down, but destroyed. Life as we all know it has changed… again.
This is why I write. These kinds of tragedies just keep happening and they will continue to happen because we are not living in a utopia. That place does not exist! It never will because the people who would make it up are irreparably flawed. The only cure is the heart transplant the comes from a relationship with God in Christ. I am not trying to be trite or overly simplistic. I am trying to point to the only solution that I have found and is available to solve the human predicament.
There will never be an explanation satisfying enough to help the hurting hearts and souls of those who have lost today. No answers will make what has happened go away or feel better. The wound that was inflicted this morning may never truly heal. Time may dull the pain, but it will never remove the memory. The pain of loss, and that of a child, will linger in the dark corners of the heart for as long as blood courses through vein and artery.
Now is the time to invite God in and even to invite him to come. Only then will there be an end to senseless and unconscionable acts of violence. There was something more than innocence destroyed today. We are losing our ability to imagine a better world. The illusion of a good world is being chipped at by the evil that lays potential within the human heart. I am losing my faith in humanity. And maybe I should be. Humanity has never had to power to save itself. Something we seem to have forgotten.
People of God, pray. Pray for peace and comfort. Pray for the strength to love and continue to live. Pray that hope would come in the morning after the dark night of this day. Pray. Pray. Pray.
Video Spotlight | The Legacy Of One of God’s Faithful Servants
I came across the story, testimony and life of Aaron Aden Anderson. He was a young man who strove to share the truth of the Gospel and the hope of salvation in Jesus. He did this through personal evangelism and by making Youtube videos. He died tragically from injuries suffered in a car accident in January. He was 20 years old.
My question is this:
How long will we wait to
begin establishing our legacy?
For Aaron it was 13!
