Ray and Dorcas

I can remember when I was a kid there being a young married couple in our church named Ray and Dorcas. They were good people.  Ray and Dorcas were as sincere Christians as you could find. Yet, whenever my dad gave an invitation for people to receive Jesus as Lord, Ray and Dorcas were always first to respond.  I learned later that they saw each altar call as an opportunity for a fresh start.

As an adult, I’ve wished many times for a fresh start. Not that my spiritual commitment or relationship has changed dramatically, but somehow things inside me get warped, twisted, hard, and dry.  Bad habits develop. Negative ways of thinking, feeling and responding surface that do not fit with who or what I want to be.  I’d like to wipe them out and start again, with a sense of freshness and restoration. I’d like to make a change.

Think about how Israel finally returned back to the promised land after years of exile and rebuilt the temple.  God was faithfully doing new things among His people.  Yet as time passed and the Messiah had not come, the old patterns of life, old values and materialism, crept in.  God raised up a man named John the Baptist as a voice calling Israel to repent…to change. 

One day as John was baptizing people, he spotted some Pharisees and Sadducees standing in the baptism line.  He shouted at them,


”Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskin’s going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin!” (Mt 3:7-9, The Message)

I know it sounds harsh, but fresh starts and newness in our lives is more than ceremony.  It requires changes inwardly that affect our outward actions. This is what repentance is.  The result is that God gives us newness of life that never goes away. Like Ray and Dorcas, you’ll come back again and again.

Wide Open Spaces

One of my favorite places on the planet is the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado.  There’s a spot out by Williams Creek Reservoir that I’d love to take you.  You’d see mountains, water, trees, wildlife, and most of all space.  Lots of space.

It’s not that crowds bother me, it’s just that I don’t like being confined.  Some people love the hustle and bustle of busy places, being where everyone else is.  That’s cool, but what I love are wide open spaces.  An empty road that shoots out for miles.  A single track trail that meanders through a meadow.  Or, a day’s schedule that is blank.  When I think about different wide open spaces, the essence of all of them is the same: they give a sense of freedom, movement, and above all they are welcoming. 

Okay, if natural earth-bound places can provide such release, shouldn’t the people, things, and experiences that surround God do the same?  I mean God created the San Juan Mountains, my guess is He knows all about wide open spaces.  Then why are His people so often narrow, limiting, boring, impassionate?  It’s like we’re living in a crowded confined environment that stifles life and limits freedom.

John’s yelling at us, can’t you hear him?


“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)

People who have studied this verse will tell you that the literal translation would be something like this, “The essence, the first impression, the focal point, of Jesus is that He gives grace, then more grace, then more grace, then more grace, then more grace, then more grace, then more grace, then more grace…”

A woman who understood this wrote a song:


His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again (Annie J. Flint, 1928)

So even if you and I can’t go to the San Juans, we can go to Jesus who will give us freedom, movement, and above all will welcome us again, again, again, again, and again. 

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Skip the Coke

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A few years ago I was in Atlanta and visited the Coca-Cola museum.  It was fun to taste all the different flavors of Coke from around the world, and to learn about the origins of the fizzy sugar water.  But I will never forget something that was written on the museum’s wall:

98% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola
72% of the world has seen Coca-Cola
51% of the world has tasted Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola has only been in existence 125 years.  If God had given the task of reaching the world for Christ to the Coca-Cola company it would be done by now.

It may seem impressive that Americans give $700 million per year to mission efforts, but not in light of the fact that we pay that much for pet food every 52 days. Or the fact that we pay $65 billion a year for soft drinks. Or the fact that we pay $117 billion a year for fast food. The truth is that the average Christian in America gives less than .20 cents a week to foreign missions.

Edmund Burke once said,


“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

When it comes to missions, many of us are like spectators sitting on the sidelines.  Instead of participating in God’s work, were just watching.  If something good happens, we join in the celebration, though we had very little to do with producing the victory.  And if something bad happens, we’re quick to complain about it. 

We’ve been called to reach the world with the good news of Jesus Christ, and that calling has not changed nor is it limited to certain regions.   

David Livingston speaks to the situation so well, “The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet.” If that diet were Coca Cola we might be more successful, but a missionary diet is more important than fizzy sweet water.  It’s reaching people who would never know about God otherwise.

On a tattered page in Robert Moffat’s journal, he wrote these moving words,


“In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.”

Not everyone can go to foreign mission fields, but we can all be a part of helping send others. Just skip the Coke, and give the money to missions.

Burdened and Beautiful

My wife Kathie is beautiful.  She’s the most photogenic person in the world.  But there was a time when she was especially beautiful.  At our wedding?  After she got her hair done?  In a new outfit?  She was beautiful at all those occasions, but that’s not the one I’m thinking of. 

The one time that Kathie was most beautiful was when she was pregnant.  She literally sparkled.  In fact, Kathie has said that she even felt better when she was pregnant.

The human body is amazing.  Instead of collapsing from the burden of child-bearing, God designed a woman’s body to actually benefit from it.  While most things in this world wear-out and weaken under load, our bodies get stronger when they are put under a load.

The worse thing you can do to your body is nothing.

In the same way your physical body was designed by God to be used, your spirit was designed to be exercised—to carry weight.  There is such a thing as a spiritual burden that God not only wants us to carry, but has made carrying it something that is good and necessary for us. 

Paul knew about this kind of burden.


“My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.” (Ro 9:2-3, NLT)

He was so burdened spiritually for the souls of his fellow Jews that he was willing to give up his own salvation for theirs.  What a burden!   But how could that be beneficial?  Great question.  And there’s a great answer found where we started.

Even though Kathie may have looked better and felt better while she was pregnant, there was a whole lot of pain involved.  Spiritual burdens are the same, it’s good for us to have them, but there is pain.  But like the birth of our children, spiritual burdens give way to spiritual birth, and even though we may not forget the pain, the outcome of the birth was worth it all.

No Nobodies

A visitor was being shown around a leper colony in India. At noon a gong sounded for the midday meal. People came from all parts of the compound to the dining hall. All at once sounds of laughter began to fill the air.  They were laughing at two young men, one riding on the other’s back, were pretending to be a horse and a rider and were having loads of fun.

As the visitor watched, he saw that the man who carried his friend was blind, and the man on his back was lame. The one who could not see used his feet; the one who could not walk used his eyes. Together they helped each other, and they found great joy in doing it.

Imagine a church like that—each member using his or her strength to make up for another’s weakness. That’s what should be happening in every congregation of believers.


“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…that the members should have the same care for one another.” (1 Co 12:7, 25)

Paul likened spiritual gifts to various parts of the human body. Eyes see. Ears hear. Hands work. Feet move the body forward. All are essential. And when each fulfills its function, the whole body benefits. All of us have weaknesses, but we also have strengths. God’s Spirit has gifted each of us for the good of the church. We need each other. In the church, there are no nobodies.

It Could Happen Any Moment

On Sunday, January 7, 2007 we had memorial service for a pillar in our church named Jessie Clark. Her 94 years were recounted with joy, appreciation, and glory unto the Lord.  When Kathie and I had returned home I noticed my cell phone had a voicemail on it, which I retrieved.

It was terrible news.

The message was from a friend of mine in our church, “Hello Joel, we were on our way to church this morning and there was an accident.  We were coming around a corner and were hit head on by a motorcycle.  Our SUV was totaled, but were okay.  The two young riders did not survive.”  Of course I immediately returned the phone call and found out more details about this tragic event.

The next day was Jessie’s graveside service.  As I stood with her family and friends at the cemetery, something began to work in my heart.  There came the realization to me how vulnerable we are. In the normal routine of driving to church, my friends came close to ending up in the cemetery themselves. 

Comparing Jessie’s 94 years of living, with the relatively few years of the couple who were killed on the motorcycle, there would seem to be a big difference.  But in the face of eternity there is almost no difference.  

These events made real to me how important it is that we are ready for death.  We don’t know what, nor who, is around the next corner of life.  In the blink of an eye we could be standing before God.  This is why the Psalmist reminds us…


“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ” (Ps 90:12)

Death could happen at any moment, but we do not have to live in fear or dread of it.  In fact, for the person who knows Jesus Christ there is cause for great anticipation.  The promise for us is that in a seamless transition, we will be with the Lord…forever! 

God’s Got A Plan

A friend of mine used to say:


“God’s got a plan…and it’s a good one.”

My friend is now with the Lord after battling leukemia for many years.  Besides the obvious encouragement those words bring about God’s good plans, what sticks with me most is that he would say those words at some of his lowest points.

How is it that one can say God’s plans are good while everything around seems the opposite?  I’m glad you asked.  This stance of faith comes from a trust that God is working in all things in such a way that is best for His people (check Rom 8:28).  But it’s more than that.

Trusting God’s plans involves understanding how you and I fit into them.  If you do not see yourself front and center in God’s working you can begin to feel that He is distant, aloof, unaware, or worse, uncaring, when actually He’s in everything and will use everything for your benefit.  This is what Solomon concludes:


“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven…He has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ec 3:1, 11)

Those words tell me that every season of living has a purpose, and that God will make something beautiful out if it in time.  My prayer for you is that you learn to trust God’s plans and see your self fitting into them

Know the Playbook

NFL football fans don’t need to know the playbook of the teams they follow, much less care.  But to the NFL player, the playbook is the most important part of his life. This book contains a set of codes and directions for each play, so that they know exactly what to do, where their position will be, and if executed right, how to make a successful play. It is their guide, it is their life.  

Although a professional football player may possess incredible athletic abilities, and may have played football all their lives, and even be an expert with last season’s playbook, if they don’t know this season’s playbook it won’t be long until they’re benched, or eventually cut.

God has a playbook.  God’s playbook will teach us what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  It will give us the confidence to face our opponent with an expectation of success and victory.


Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
(James 1:21)

God has not given us His word to just to reflect on, or worse yet to let sit on the shelf.  We are to know His word.  We are to live by His word.  God’s word should be as important to us as anything else.  Because once we get a hold of it, when it becomes “implanted” in our lives, it will give us strength to overcome the pull of sin, the uncertainty of not knowing what to do, and the attack of darkness.

But you will never know God’s playbook, much less what to do with it, until you know the One who wrote it.  Only God, the author himself, knows what His playbook says.  He gave the pages order and lovingly assigned each play.  He knows exactly what position suits you best and how to best use the skills he’s developing in you. 

Though time is getting short, there’s still time to learn the playbook.  Being a part of greatest winning season ever seen will be worth the work it takes.  The motivation of being a part of God’s great plans and strategies will make the bench and the grandstands seem like the last place on earth you’d want to be. 

Doing the Right Thing…the Right Way

2 Chronicles 13 records a horrible event.  The story starts out good enough: David had conquered Jerusalem and decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to the city.  He finds out where it was and goes to get it.  But then story takes a negative turn.


“When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. David was afraid of God that day and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” He did not take the ark to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.” (1 Chronicles 13:9–13)

Many things have been written, said, preached, etc. about what happened here.  Everyone makes careful note of David’s passion to get God’s presence back and Uzzah’s presumptuous and deadly mistake, but not much is said about David’s response. 

We are told that David was angry, then became afraid, and then gave up bringing the ark back to Jerusalem altogether.  Instead he left the ark at the house of man named Obed-Edom.  Then, totally frustrated, David headed home.

But God didn’t let David sulk for too long. 

While the Ark was parked at Obed-Edom’s house, David discovered that hundreds of years prior, there were actually very clear directions given for the handling of the ark, but over the years these steps and procedures had been overlooked and forgotten. 

David learned that not only ark was only to be carried in a very specific way, more importantly, it was to only to be carried by the priests.  He called Zadok, Abiathar, and other men, who were of the tribe of Levi.  David instructed them,


“You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.”
(1 Chronicles 15:12–13)

After this, the ark was successfully brought to Jerusalem.  David danced and twirled with joy.  His anger had vanished.  His fear was gone.  And God blessed his rule, calling him a man after His own heart.

Doing the right thing for God certainly should include having the right motive, purpose, and attitude, but it also must be done the right way—his way.