Author: tommestevenson@gmail.com

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Root Cause

The root cause of every sin and conflict in our lives is spiritual warfare. Whenever I feel envy or jealousy, it is because I have forgotten that God made me in His image. Whenever I feel lost or abandoned, I have forgotten that all things work for God’s good. Whenever I feel fear or anxiety, I have forgotten that God has a plan for me to prosper, not destroy.

Genesis 1:27, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In the middle of the battle, it is easy to lose sight of the enemy. The struggle becomes about preservation and protection; we lose sight of the victory. We fight to survive; we fight for the right to exist and continue; we lose sight for whom and what we are fighting.

When we have lost our job, we focus on paying bills and feeding our family and ourselves. When we lose a loved one or suffer through debilitating pain, we focus on relief and comfort. When someone betrays us for another, or we get passed over for a promotion, we want confirmation of our self-worth. We become focused on the short term, not eternity; this is human nature. It is the way of the world. It is who we became after the fall.

Getting a quick new job or a new love may bring immediate comfort , but it also might not be the the right solution. In the long run is can mask the underlying problem that will soon come back. It is a placebo that mimics relief, only to let you down later.

I would suggest that if we could take a deep breath, step back from the immediate for a second, we might see a bigger plan. We might see the spiritual battle raging around us. We might see the immediate solution does not bring lasting peace; it brings temporary relief. We might see that God can and will use this very moment to enrich our lives beyond our dreams.

John 1:45-46, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Can any good thing come of our despair? Come and see. I don’t want to seem Polly Anna about this; we have worldly needs that we must address. But thinking that addressing only those needs will somehow solve the bigger problem is foolish. The bigger problem, the problem that brings the most distress, is a  lack of faith. The immediate problem needs a resolution, but knowing that God had written your story before you came into existence and He has foreseen this very moment, should bring reassurance, hope for the future and a degree of patience.

Psalm 139:16, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

The outcome may not be what you envisioned. It may not be as timely as you would like. It may not be easy, but it will be best in the long term. The struggle remains a struggle, but it is no longer a fight you fight alone. The closer you are to Christ, the darker the forces against you, the more you need an army to fight beside you.

Joel 2:11, “The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?”

The next time darkness overcomes you, close your eyes and see His mighty army surrounding you. When jealousy, hate, envy, fear, or anxiety consume your soul, take a minute to close your eyes, and see God’s glory all around you. Take command of all of God’s army with a powerful voice. God knows what we need; he will provide. We must remember that the battle is not a worldly battle over fear or material gain; it is a spiritual battle over our eternal soul.

We are a prize that the Lord will not surrender.

Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

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When God Seems Silent

I don’t know about you, but one of the most fearful times in my life is when God seems silent. The silence creates a vacuum of self-doubt and self-condemnation. It is a breeding ground for spiritual cancer. His silence generally is more about my not hearing, rather than Him not talking. More times than not, I don’t want to hear because I have my desires, and it is not His desire. Sometimes, it is a time of contemplation in which I need to consider all that He has said and weigh it against my desires.

There are many passages, especially in the Old Testament, that speak of God’s silence. Habakkuk laments, “Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?” Job questioned, “When He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?” David called out to God, “For if You are silent to me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.” Asaph begged, “O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.”

A time of silence from God is not a time when nothing is happening. It is time to dig deeper to understand our relationship with God and how it can be better. It is a time of self-examination. God does not stop talking; he changes tone, texture, and volume. Great speakers use changes in pitch, cadence, and volume to get the audience’s attention. Sometimes they shout because of the need for urgency. Sometimes they whisper to indicate intimacy and compassion. God is not limited to our tricks in communications; he is multi-modal. He has many channels.

 Ecclesiastes 9:17, “The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.”

God speaks through the Spirit that we inherited as children of God. He speaks through scripture and wise words of Christian friends and authors. He repeats His message until we acknowledge hearing it. When God is silent, it is we who have gone deaf. It is we who pay more attention to the voices in our heads than the word of God. Our self-talk has more credibility than God’s word. Self-talk is not condemnation; it is the natural result of living in a fallen world.

Isaiah 55:8-11, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Our knowledge and vision are inferior to God’s; we craft solutions based on what we know or perceive. Those solutions drive our desire. God’s answer may be outside of our expectations or even our understanding. Jonah didn’t want salvation for those he saw as evil; he wanted condemnation. God saw it differently, so Jonah ran. How often do we run because what we want is not what we know God wants?

For most of us, the more significant issue is timing. I want what I want, and I want it now. I am in spiritual, emotional, or physical pain, and I want it to go away. But, there may be a lesson to be learned first. There may be a heart to be softened. There might be a soul to be saved. God knows our story; he wrote it. He knows what we are going through, and He knows what we can handle. His view is a view of eternity.

When God seems silent, remember:

Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

2 Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Lamentations 3:25-26, “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him”

Know that God does not waste anything. He is always working on our behalf for our salvation. He longs to be in a deep, meaningful relationship with us. That can not happen in a vacuum. When God seems silent, be patient, look into your own heart for clues, seek direction from His Word, and wait. Do not wait passively as someone expecting a gift; wait actively as someone expecting a revelation.

Perceived silence from God is many times the birth of great movements. It is a time of renewal and growth. Do not fear it; strive to understand it. You will see that God is not silent; he may have just changed style to get us to listen closer.

C.S. Lewis said, “though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”

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Waiting on God

Let me start with a short story about patience. On the very first visit to a prison, God helped me better understand patience when waiting on God. I went with Champions for Life, and I was in Broad River Correctional, Columbia, SC. I was standing next to the rail overlooking the cellblock below me. I was in this particular location to avoid speaking to the inmates. Because it was my first visit, I was uncomfortable, and I didn’t feel I had anything to share. So I was hiding in plain sight. I was there without really being there.

My thoughts were on a hundred things without landing on anything, fleeting moments of clarity that dissipated like the fog in the morning sun. I know they were there, without knowing what they were. Then I heard, “I have been praying for weeks that my lawyer would find a way to get me out of here.” This inmate had settled next to me, without making eye contact with me, and started talking to me. You see, he wasn’t a Christian, but he thought he would try out prayer. He didn’t expect anything, but he had hope. I was a Christian; maybe I knew the answer.

Jeremiah 29:12, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

The good news was that this was a conversation that didn’t require scripture memorization. This inmate didn’t know scripture. He had no preconceived theology. He didn’t even know if he had the right to expect an answer. He just made a statement. New evidence came to light that proved his innocence. But getting released was a process, not an event. A lawyer had taken his case and was working on his release. For two months, the inmate hadn’t heard a thing. That had to be incredibly depressing; to have spent years in prison knowing you are innocent, evidence finally surfaces proving your innocence, the release would come from outside the walls, and you were stuck inside.

I can’t remember the exact conversation as none of the words were mine. It went something like this; there was evidence to be reviewed, docket to be cleared, maybe hearts to be softened, liability to be assessed; God’s time is not our time. I remember his response; “Thank you, I prayed for encouragement, and He sent it through you.” That floored me. I couldn’t remember what I said; how could it have been encouraging. Was what I said even true?

1 John 5:15, “And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

What I took away from that weekend was to wait upon the Lord. I’m impatient, get it done, execution is everything type of guy. Ideas are a dime-a-dozen; success comes from following through. With my first visit to a prison, my challenge was that I wanted to experience changed lives, souls reborn. I wanted God to provide me with immediate fulfillment. I didn’t see this first visit as a step toward a new destination; it was the new destination. I fall into this trap all the time. I’m impatient about God’s plan for my life. Everything is significant, and I want to know why. I want instant feedback to confirm I am on the right path.

How do these seemingly false starts keep me on the right path? Why hasn’t this person or that person responded the way I thought they should? Why has nothing happened when I have worked so hard? I am waiting on the evidence that God is with me.

Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

The second I ask, the prayer is answered. When Jesus saw the fig tree without fruit, he cursed it. But it did not die right away.

Mark 11:12-14, “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.”

Mark 11:20, “In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.”

The fig tree died from the root. It started dying the second it was cursed, but the evidence wasn’t clear until the next morning. God answers prayer the second we ask, but the fruit of that blessing may not be seen for some time. My impatience saps the joy out of that blessing. Sometimes when I don’t get what I want, when I want it, I stop looking and miss the blessing altogether.

Today I have a situation that I have prayed about for years. I have not prayed for a specific resolution, just that one happens. I want God’s will to be done. It ebbs and flows like the tide crashing over the shore; good days followed by bad days followed by good days—every fiber of my being screams out to walk away. I’m tired of it all. But a small, meek voice always cautions me to be patient; one day, God’s plan will be revealed. One day.

God may send someone to encourage you, He may not, but the blessing is already happening. Know that it is happening and know that God is faithful in all things.

Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

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The Hand of God

Genesis 45:8, “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”

Today Joseph visited me. He wanted to remind me of something. Remember, Joseph is the guy that alienated himself from his brothers. He listened from the bottom of a well as they bartered away his life. His flesh and blood despised him so much they sold him to an infidel as a slave. Later he was wrongfully accused and sent to prison. Despite all Joseph had been through because of his brothers’ actions, he held no animosity toward them. Instead, he believed the hand of God was in everything.

Joseph reminded me of Ester and Jonah and others in the bible that endured heartbreak and calamity on the path to great things. Joseph consented to God’s power and had hope because of it. Jonah feared God’s providence and ran from it. Ester had to be told by Mordecai. They all were on the path to greatness, but greatness was over the horizon out of view.

I am always reminded that great stories start from great sadness. We love the joy of overcoming and sometimes fly over the journey. We gravitate to the feel-good ending without savoring the life they lived. No one wants to retire in war-torn Beirut. We do not want to talk ourselves to sleep at night by reliving the struggles; we want to bask in the overcoming’s glory.

As I struggle through this day, Joseph reminds me that his journey was critical to his prosperity. It is through his story that he  has value. The things I face today can either be obstacles in the way of my happiness or stepping stones to God’s glory. It is my choice.

John 16:33, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.”

The bible is very clear that we will all face struggles in this world. Some of those struggles are of the nascence variety; some are devastating. Their value is mostly seen in the rearview mirror of life. The path is seldom flat, and wide, and lined with flowers. There are a lot of hills and rocks and roots. We shouldn’t lose sight that every twist and turn has meaning and value; God’s cemented His plans in everyday actions.

I love Mordecai’s statement to Ester:

Esther 4:14b, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

What we face; what we endure; what we triumph over is part of the fabric of our lives. It is part of the great tapestry God created for you before you came into existence. It is one of the greatest stories ever told, written by the most incredible author in the universe. It is meant to be lived. As hard as that may seem at times, it is true. Joseph was in a well listening to his family, betray him. Ester lost her family and was sent into exile to serve a pagan king. Jonah survived in the stomach of a whale. Each of these had their moments. We, too, will have ours.

It is what we do in those moments that define us. It is who we see in the mirror that determines our greatness. Our efforts do not create our greatness, but the action of the one who made us just for this moment. The courage we must muster is not the courage to overcome, but the courage to reach out our hand and ask our creator to take over; not to struggle and persevere, but to fall into His grace and turn the fight over to Him. Only through Him can we prevail. We can’t see over the horizon, but He can.

We live in trying times. Our plans are on hold, and the future became a fog of uncertainty. God knew this. It is part of His plan for you. It is times as these where we as Christian become separated from the weeds.

Matthew 13:30, “Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.'”

When our time comes, we want people to remember our greatness. We want them to remember how we held tight to God’s promise. We want them to remember when we could have taken the low road, but chose to have faith. We were born for times, such as these.  It is in these moments that God marvels of the greatness He created in us, and the greatness we chose to pursue. Today, choose to make God smile.

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Love

Jesus saved the life of the adulterous women (John 8:1-30) by challenging those who have no sin to cast the first stone. He redeemed her from her sin. He gave her a new life. But if she was anything like me, she kept sinning, maybe not the same sin, but sinning all the same. How does that dynamic work with redemption, and the continuation as a sinner?

It is so easy for me to become immersed in God’s love. It is easy to see how He cares for me and meets my needs, that I sometimes forget the devastating impact of my sin. My life is not a story of condemnation, but a story of love. The very essence of my relationship with Christ is not my sin, but His love. It defines everything.

Matthew 22:37, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. “

You see, I need His love like a fish needs water. I need to be enveloped in it. It becomes so critical for my existence; I forget it is just as essential as the air I breathe. I am not always aware of oxygen. I can’t see it, but I know it is there and I know I need it. I know what happens when you take it away. But I don’t think about it until it is scarce or absent. Then a sense of panic set in. My mind goes into survival mode, and I fight for my very life. God’s love is like that.

Jerry Bridges said it like this, “God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.”

What drives my relationship with Christ is not overcoming my sin, but craving His love. I hate my sin because to stands in the way of my relationship with Him. When I sin, I feel that His love is scarce or absent, and my heart fights for its very life. Separation from God brings in a panic state. That panic comes in the form of fear, anxiety, depression and loneliness.

1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. “

There is a medical condition called a Hiatal Hernia. A Hiatal Hernia is when your stomach bulges up into your chest through an opening in your diaphragm. I know, gross image, I’m sorry. When the tiniest piece of food is caught in this bulge, the patient feels like someone grabbed their throat with both hands and started to squeeze. They have to fight the urge to panic. The truth is that they can breathe just fine, they don’t think they can. They have to consciously tell their diaphragm to keep pumping their lungs; then, they can drink a little water to pass the food into their stomach; it’s over, just like that. Once they understand the dynamics, they can have an episode, and the people sitting across the table from them don’t sense a thing.

The state of sin is like the Hiatal Hernia. The act of sinning is the tiniest piece of food in the hernia. But just like the food doesn’t stop the patient from breathing, the sin does not stop us from being loved by God. The Hiatal Hernia sufferer tells their diaphragm to contract, expanding their lungs, and inhaling oxygen. We, as sinners, must reach out to God, repent of our sin, and experience His love.

Acts 3:19, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 

In the deepest, darkest moments of my life, I survive solely on the knowledge that the God of the universe loves me unconditionally. God made me in His image, and He adores me. He has a plan for me to prosper. What I am going through may not be His making, but he can use it if I let Him. Evil lurks in every dark corner. It strikes without warning or reason. Some evil is from the enemy; some is from our stupidity. God knows this about the world and the people He has placed in it.

St. Augustine said, “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”

Once I understand the dynamics of God’s love, I can start to control the panic. I repent of my part of any sin that may have happened, and then I breathe in His love. Just like a Hiatal Hernia, there is discomfort I would prefer not to experience; but it is not fatal.

Matthew 3:8, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. “

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Peter Pan

Peter Pan said, “You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.”

Peter wasn’t wrong. Paul put it a little differently.

Philippians 3:7, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

Many people, men, more likely, have sacrificed everything else to gain power, privilege, wealth, or fame. The worldly trappings and the expectations of others drove their view of self-worth; they believed Peter Pan before they believed Paul. They thought that the uneasiness they felt was the product of not having enough. It was just the next thing that would make a difference. Many would look back on their lives and see that they had sacrificed everything in vain.

I don’t want to be that man. I want my life to count for something. I want to leave a legacy that will echo through eternity. In my death, I want to be bigger than life itself.

Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”

The world pulls at us with the gravitation pull of the Sun. It wants to keep us in its orbit of mundane, meaningless accomplishments. Eventually, our orbit will decay, and we will find nothing but a fiery finish. When the time has run out, we will realize that all that we accumulated will either be forgotten or exploited by others we have never met. We cannot reach back for a do-over. The do-over starts now.

Ecclesiastes 5:15, “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.”

Joy is a choice, and God wants us to choose joy, but happiness is also part of God’s plan. Not perpetual happiness with laughs and birthday cake, but true deep down happiness that grows from the soul. The type of happiness that brings tranquil sleep. It is a happiness that radiates throughout your body in quiet moments of reflection. It is a contentment that nothing else can give.

Peter Pan also said, “Never is an awfully long time.” To never experience the pure love of Christ is indeed a long time. It makes life a marathon in Death Valley, rather than a walk in the park. To always have to trust in yourself is exhausting. To always have to know the answers, have the plan, make a move, is to live a  life full of anxiety and worry.

Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is not just to put your sights on eternity with Christ; it is to live a life worth living here on Earth. It is to free yourself from chasing the esteem from others and only pursuing God. It is about having the type of faith that knows that Christ is with you, and your needs will be met. There will be setbacks and challenges, but you are not in it alone. You do not have to create the person that God wants you to be; God already created them; you have to find them within yourself.

Peter Pan, “To have faith is to have wings.”

Peter Pan wasn’t all wrong, but I’ll take Paul.

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A life Worth Living

I got to thinking this morning about how God interacts with me through the Holy Spirit to prod me down a path toward a life worth living. My mind slowly went to why he puts certain people in my life, people with problems. I like problem-solving, but I am a sticks and bricks kind of guy, not colors and hues. The opportunities God presents aren’t always the people or problems with which I feel comfortable. Sometimes, to be truthful, I would prefer not to deal with them, but God sends them to me anyway.

Romans 15:2-3, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Some problems I just don’t get, they seem petty and small. Some people I don’t understand because their problem never changes; they just can’t seem to act. Most are self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Some situations are so painful I wish I didn’t know. But God sends them my way away.

Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

Now I know that I do not have any vast knowledge or talent for helping others. I have always been a common sort. But I also know that God does not put people in my life so I can show off. He puts them there so that He can show off His power and compassion. I have always thought of it as Him letting me be part of His plan for another. That was enough to spur me on.

1 John 3:17, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”

The reality is that God puts people in our lives as part of His plan for us. Through them, He can speak to us. Through them, He can help us see when we are petty. Through them, we can see how we do not act when a solution is right in front of us. Through them, we can see the pain in others and give thanks for sparing us the same experience.

Hebrews 6:10, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them”

God uses these moments to help us see how and when He works. When we are in the depths of our problems, it is hard to be objective. It is hard to step outside ourselves and survey the landscape before acting. It is hard to imagine a solution bigger than our wants.  But God does.

Matthew 25:40, “And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

In my life, God uses me to help others to teach me how He helps me. The scripture that feeds their soul, feeds mine. The intersection of their experience with mine is not just me being part of their plan; it is them being part of my plan. I’m not there to be a lifesaver or a lifeboat. I am on the sinking ship with them watching God save us both.

Philippians 2:4, “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

One of the things I have learned in my life is that the root cause of all anxiety is faith, or the lack thereof. I may have lost a job or have someone dear to me suffering; my anxiety does not come for the problem, it comes from my non-belief that God both cares about what I am going through and will act. Because I don’t think He will act, I do not see when He does. I start to believe in fate or serendipity or karma. I don’t see how wonderfully and skillfully God works.

Working through a situation with another allows me objectivity that opens my eyes to how God works. It will enable me to be more objective then I would be if the problem were mine.  He helps me see the times He intervened in my life. God may also show me when I could have leaned on Him and didn’t.

Hebrews 13:16, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

When you see someone in need, view it as part of God’s plan for your life. There is a lesson to be learned and an experience to be had, that will help them and yourself. Helping others is not about being a good guy. It is not about the glory of moving God’s plan down the road for another. It is about becoming the person that God knows you can be. It is part of the learning curve along the path to a life worth living.

James 2:14-17, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

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Answer God’s call

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Let me tell you a story. I remember is was late fall. I remember that because it was dark early and as I walked from the MARTA station to my destination it was cold. Not the crisp northern cold, but a Georgia winter wet cold. The type that crawls under your jacket and digs into your bones. I was late meeting a friend that I hadn’t seen in a while. Walking head down against the wind, I walked across the court yard exiting the station and just vaguely remember seeing a shadow of a man. The voice in my head said “stop”. It seemed loud and real enough that I came to a halt.

I now looked at the man standing in the cold. He had on a trench coat, but it didn’t look warm. He stood looking into the air, moving left, then right. He seemed uncertain as to what he needed to do next. I’m late I said to myself and started to move on. All I heard was “To the least of these…” nothing more.

God doesn’t yell or intimidate, He reminds us of both the great privilege it is to know Him and the great joy we can receive by obeying Him. It wasn’t a command or even a request. It was just a quiet voice of truth.

I looked at the man’s face. This was the first time I actually saw him. You know if you avoid eye contact it’s not really real. His eyes were sad and pain filled. There were a lot of years in those young eyes. He knew disappointment, they were traveling buddies. He had lost something important, and he was at a lost as to what to do. I knew to speak to him was to take on his burden. Once I knew, I couldn’t turn back. Reluctantly I asked “Can I help you?”

God is an incredibly loving God. He is amazing. This man’s need was everything to him. It was insurmountable in his circumstances. But to him it was just another hard day on earth. To me it was simple. I gave him what I had and it was more than enough. He stood erect, shook my hand with a thanks and a nod. But his eye gave it away. Relief and surrender. I started to walk away but I stopped. I turned and said “You know, God really loves you, that is why I am here now.” He smiled and said “Yes sir, I truly know that.”

Answer God’s call folks. Be that person. I don’t have words that can accurately paint the picture of how it will change your life forever.

There are big things that God will just nag us over. He will plant the seed. He’ll water and fertilize it. He will come back over and over to prune it. He just won’t let it go. Those things we eventually come around to acknowledging. They’re BHAG’s (Big Harry Aggressive Goals). They take time and energy and planning, but they are worth it in the end.

What I love, and crave, are the whispered moments when God has a single opportunity to share. It is like God says “Tomme, see that rainbow?” “Look it’s over there.” And when I turn, it takes my breath away. I stand in awe. These are the rocks in my memorial. I pick each one up and remember a time when He loved me so much he asked me to be in His plan for someone else. The stones are the BHAG’s that I could have never accomplished without Him. The rocks are his way of telling me how much He loves me for the little thing that make life worth living.

Be that person.

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Overcoming Challenging Times

Isolation with too much social media can amplify the challenges in our lives. We should view these challenges as a means to display God’s power and glory. Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. It is the result of living in a broken world. Making sense of it will drive you crazy. But there is one part that has to make sense. We want to know why when it happens to us.

Psalm 139:15-16, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Darkness is relative. The darkness in our lives is relative to the life He has given us. Some of us will never experience what it feels like not to know when we might eat again. Some of us may cruise through life without ever losing someone without whom we cannot exist. Some of us will not fight addiction or fear or anxiety. But we will all drop into darkness at some point. The depth of that darkness is directly proportional to the degree that we experience hope.

Ephesians 1:11, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

I have lived through very dark days. My rock is knowing Christ was with me every step of the way. My thorn was uncertainty. I know that my life has meaning. I understand that each morning when my eyes first open, I have a purpose. I know that the God of the universe, the most amazing being ever to exist, loves me. But when the path ahead of me is unclear, I fear. I do not fear the ending; I fear the journey.

Psalm 71:5-6, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you, I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”

Challenges are God’s way of showing just how much He cares. It is in the dark times His light shines brightest. It is when we cannot help ourselves, that He demonstrates why we should rely on Him and why we should always have hope. The journey is sometimes difficult, the path steep and narrow. There may be times when we don’t think we are up to the task and prefer to quit. But it is at that moment, the darkest of all moments when we should take God’s hand and rise.

1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

He is always with us. He wrote your story before you came into existence. He is the author of your life. Your life is not pulp fiction; it is an eternal biographical classic. Every story has to have moments when it seems all is lost. It is in these moments we see the glory of the author as He pens the impossible, comes from behind, overwhelming all odds rescue. That is our rescue, yours and mine.

Isaiah 46:10, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'”

Tough times will come. They will try men’s souls. If we let them become only tough times, we have wasted everything. If we use these tough times to experience the glory of our maker, we have chosen life over death. He will use us to demonstrate His power to the world.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

God loves you, unconditionally. He will fight for you even when you don’t have the strength to fight for yourself. He created you for great things. We know the ending, do not fear the journey.

Psalm 33:11, “The plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.”  

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Thoughts on John Lewis

It is unfortunate the truly great stories in life start and sometime live in hardship. To truly be a great man of God, when fighting injustice, means that tragedy, pain and isolation become your traveling partners. Few of us, myself included, have the perseverance. But those who do, leave a lasting legacy.

Today I was reading about the passing of John Lewis. I am not a fan of much of John Lewis’ politics. We differ on issues which do not impact salvation. But one must separate the man for the issues.

John Lewis was from Alabama in the 60’s. Those were my formative years and I remember them well. Living in a small farming community in Illinois, far from the violence of desegregation, I felt its touch. I didn’t grow up around any African Americans, but I felt the sting of their conflict. It wasn’t the riots and protests that left a lasting memory, it was the anger on men’s faces from the picture on the news. It was an extreme, visceral, fanatical anger. It was terrifying. I feared it would rock my world.

What separates the man from his ideology is character. John Lewis graduated from American Baptist Theological Seminar in Nashville. He then received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion from Fisk University. At age 21 he was one of the original 13 freedom riders that travel from Washington DC to New Orleans to protest segregation in busing. He was beaten, bloodied, arrested and jailed (sounds a lot like Paul) for his efforts. Lewis was one of the few to make the complete journey.

“Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle for good to overcome evil is already won.” – John Lewis

By age 23 he was one the organizers and speakers at the 1963 March on Washington. By 25 he was standing in the oval office for the signing of the Voting Rights Amendment.

As a people, we should always strive to separate the person from the politics. Politics are complicated by environment. We do not all walk in the same shoes. We don’t experience life the same way. Much of that experience crafts our positions. John Lewis was a man who stayed true to his character when fighting for what he believed.

I think of this quote often when trying to separate a man from his issues:

“The will of God prevails – In great contests, each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war, it is quite possible that God’s purpose is somewhat different from the purpose of either party.” – Abraham Lincoln

As Christians we can disagree on worldly issues while still holding to the character of Christ. We can have passion for issues without losing our passion to live as Christ lived. I have a tremendous fondness for those who have what it takes to suffer for what they believe. The greatness in a life well lived is not the overcoming, it is the perseverance until the overcoming happens.

As Christian let us pray that our character overshadows our politics.

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