Vision

Thomas Watson Sr. was forty years old when he became general manager of a little firm that made meat slicers, time clocks, and punch-card machines. At one point, he recognized the incredible potential of a new machine used for processing and storing information -- a computer. That was ten years before the computer began to be used commercially. To match his vision, he renamed his company "International Business Machines Corporation."

Toward the end of his life, he was asked at what point he envisioned IBM becoming so big, and he answered, "Right at the beginning."

In Revelation, chapter 3, Jesus speaks to His church at Sardis: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Now wake up!” (NLT)

Sardis was a church whose members had no vision. They lived on past accomplishments, but they failed to plan and move ahead. They had a “reputation for being alive,” so were satisfied to rest on their laurels. Jesus told them to wake up from their “dead” state.

We have recently begun a new year. I don’t know what you envision for your life in the coming months, but God has great things in mind – far greater than even the most impressive computer. He saw today and beyond! It is only as we catch His vision that we become anything of substance.

While serving as the CEO of Pepsi, Wayne Calloway said, “You should have more dreams than memories. If you don’t, you’re in trouble.”

God has done great things in our past, and yet, in casting a vision for our future, we must keep looking to make memories, rather than just reminiscing over the ones we’ve already made. May 2025 be a year of vision for you!

With Love,

Mike

You Have Done It to Me

Tolstoy wrote that in a certain town there lived a cobbler, Martin Avdeitch. He lived in a small basement room whose one window looked out onto the street, and all he could see were the feet of people passing by. But since there was hardly a pair of boots that had not been in his hands at one time for repair, Martin recognized each person by his shoes. Day after day, he would work in his shop, watching boots pass by.

One day he found himself consumed with the hope of a dream that he would find the Lord's feet outside his window. Instead, he found a lingering pair of worn boots belonging to an old soldier. Though at first disappointed, Martin realized the old man might be hungry and invited him inside to a warm fire and some tea. He had other visitors that evening, and though, sadly, none were Christ, he let them in also. Sitting down at the end of day, Martin heard a voice whisper his name as he read the words: "I was hungry and you gave me meat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in. Inasmuch as you did for the least of these, you did unto me."

The Christian journey is a journey of remembering and preparing. Christ came to us long ago, and He is coming to us again. Like Martin eagerly waiting at the window, we are to ask ourselves as time moves forward: “Will Christ come to me this day? Will I wait for him? Am I ready for him? Am I even expecting to find him?” We are reminded to prepare our hearts and minds for the day Christ will come in glory. But the Scriptures would also have us remember how unexpectedly Christ at times appears--as a baby in Bethlehem, a man on a Cross, as a woman in need.

In the book of Titus, we read, "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." How and where might His grace show up this week? Perhaps in order to remember how much we can offer others, we need to consider again the radical thought of what God has offered us: a Son who comes down to us, a redeemer willing to die for us, a God willing to redefine what is near.

The Christian journey is full of reminders of what God's nearness means. The focus of Christmas is the message of Immanuel – God is with us. The focus of Easter is the declaration of the Cross – God is for us. And the focus of our future is the hope of the resurrection – God will bring us safely home. Until then, God knows all, God is above all, and God is among us, even when it seems most unlikely: "I tell you the truth; whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me."

With Love,

Mike

Tragedy

Trevor Beeson stood at the high altar of Westminster Abbey to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, Catharine, to Anthony, aged twenty-three. Nine months later he stood before the same altar for Anthony's funeral. Anthony had been killed when his car ran into a wall in East London. Four months later, Trevor returned to the altar beside the coffin of his friend and hero Earl Mountbatten, who died when his fishing boat was blown to pieces by Irish terrorist. Reflecting on the experience, he said he could not blame God for these senseless tragedies. He wrote:

“I should find it impossible to believe in, and worship, a God who arranged for the great servants of the community to be blown up on their holidays and who deliberately turned a young man's car into a brick wall. . .. This is not the God of love whose ways are revealed in the Bible and supremely in the life of Jesus Christ.”

Beeson found two insights that helped him to cope with his tragedy and to look beyond it: "The first is that, although God is not responsible for causing tragedy, he is not a detached observer of our suffering. On the contrary, he is immersed in it with us, sharing to the full our particular grief and pain. This is the fundamental significance of the cross."

Second, although we naturally ask, "Why did it happen?" Beeson discovered that the more important question is "What are we going to make of it?"; "Every tragedy contains within it the seeds of resurrection."

Perhaps you have suffered some tragedy in your life. While it is normal to ask “Why did this happen,” you do not have to be stuck with that question. You can choose a different response to the tragedies in your life. You can trust the power of God to hold you firm, to give you strength, and to see you through.

With love,

Mike Tucker

Don't Take No for an Answer

Woman, your faith is great. Your request is granted.” -- Jesus

Do you ever get tired of pursuing a goal? I do. Sometimes, even when the goal is a worthy one, I become weary and am tempted to quit – especially when it feels like I’m being shut out. No matter how hard I try or how loudly I speak, it seems no one is listening.

Recently, I’ve been reminded of the value of perseverance. Sometimes you just have to keep on asking for what you need.

A story came across the Reuters news wires about a family of ducklings that fell down a sewer grate in Vancouver. Their mother did what any parent would do. She got help from a passing police officer! The mother duck grabbed the policeman by the pant leg while he was on foot patrol. He shoved what he thought was just a goofy duck away, but she persisted, grabbing his leg again when he tried to leave, and then waddling to a nearby sewer grate where she sat down and waited for him to follow and investigate. Finally, the officer came to where she sat and saw eight little baby ducklings in the water below.

The rescue began. Using a tow truck, police removed the heavy metal grate. Then they used a vegetable strainer to lift the ducklings to safety. Soon, mother and offspring departed for a nearby pond.

The gospel writer Matthew tells of an encounter between Jesus and a Canaanite woman who desperately wanted healing for her child. She demonstrated incredible perseverance, even in the face of what seemed like heartless rejection.

They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”

Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”

Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”

Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”

He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”

She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”

Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well. Matthew 15:22-28 The Message

While Jesus’ reaction to the woman strikes us as uncharacteristic, he reacted this way as an object lesson to His disciples, revealing the cruelty of the Jews’ typical attitude toward the Canaanites and all Gentiles. Despite this, the woman persisted. She would not stop seeking Jesus’ help until she got it.

That is exactly what Jesus wants us to do. Be persistent in pursuing your goals. Persevere in getting the help you need. Do not be intimidated by authority figures. And remember, we have a Friend who can help us even when all human endeavors fail. Christ is waiting to help you today.

With Love,

Mike

Be Bold

Paul wrote, “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” 2 Corinthians 3:12

Paul exhibited what some have called, “holy boldness.” This type of boldness is yours when you realize that as a Christian, you represent the greatest power in the universe. That makes you bold.

Long ago Great Britain was one of the greatest powers on earth. During those days China was very much isolated from the rest of the world and was completely unaware of her standing against the industrialized nations of the earth. The leaders of China were treated as gods. Everyone who came before them bowed and placed their face in the dirt to address the Emperor, who was called the Celestial Brightness, the Brother of the Sun and the Cousin of the Moon. Even merchants from the West were happy to bow in this manner before the Emperor since they wanted the opportunity to trade and make money.

However, when England sent her ambassadors to see the Emperor, they defied the tradition and stood upright. They were told that they could not be indulged with a vision of the Brother of the Sun and the Cousin of the Moon without going down on their hands and knees. "Very well," said the Englishmen, "we will dispense with the luxury of seeing the Emperor. But tell his Celestial Splendor that it is very likely that his Serenity will hear our cannon at his palace gates before long, and that their booming is not quite so harmless as the cooing of his Sublimity's doves." The ambassadors of the British Crown were no cringing petitioners; the British Empire rose in the respect of the Oriental nations.

Our cowardice has subjected the gospel to contempt. Jesus was humble, and his servants must not be proud, but Jesus was never cowardly when representing Heaven before earthly kings, nor must his servants be. There was no braver man than Christ. He could stoop to save a soul, but he would stoop to nothing by which his character might be compromised, or truth and righteousness insulted. To preach the gospel boldly is to deliver it as such a message ought to be delivered.

Blush to preach of a dying Savior? Apologize for talking about the Son of God condescending to be made man, that he might redeem us from all iniquity? Never! By the grace of God let us purpose with Paul "to be yet more bold," that the gospel may be yet more fully preached throughout all ranks of mankind.

Mike Tucker

An Amazing Choice - Thanksgiving

William Bradford was the first governor of Plymouth Plantation and was deeply committed to Christ. He boarded the Mayflower in 1620 with his wife, Dorothy, and sailed to America seeking a refuge to worship freely with likeminded believers.

William knew what it was to be a pilgrim without a home at an early age. His father died when he was one year old; his grandfather when he was six, and his mother when he was seven. Under religious persecution, at age 18 he fled his homeland of England to live in Holland. A few years later he married Dorothy and had a son.

When it was time to sail to America, many agonized over the danger facing their families during the perilous journey before them. William and Dorothy chose to leave their young son, John, behind for fear of losing him. After they finally arrived in America, with the Mayflower anchored off of Cape Cod and many of the Pilgrim men out exploring a place to settle, Dorothy fell overboard and drowned. (William remarried two years later, had three children, and his son John made it safely to Plymouth to rejoin him.)

In 1608, years before the Pilgrims arrived, English traders had come to America and encountered the native tribes who lived there. They kidnapped many of the native people, took them to Spain, and sold them into slavery. Among these was a 12-year-old boy named Squanto. A monk took pity on Squanto and brought him to his own home, where Squanto learned the Bible and the English language. When the monk learned that English ships were sailing to America, he sent Squanto to live with a family in England so that he could one day sail home.

Ten years after being kidnapped, Squanto finally arrived back in his native land only to find that his home was no more. His entire village had been wiped out by an epidemic carried by white men. Squanto lived nearby with a neighboring tribe until one day he learned that a group of English families had settled in the village that was once his own home.

It had been a difficult first winter and spring for the Pilgrims there, and many had died. Thus, one can only imagine William Bradford's amazement and gratitude when he heard, "Good morning. My name is Squanto," from a kind Indian stranger.

Squanto had made an amazing choice to bless those who now inhabited his home. He taught the starving Pilgrims how to fish and plant corn. In his journal, William Bradford would later call Squanto "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation."

Months later, William Bradford, Squanto, the Pilgrims, and many Indians would celebrate the first Thanksgiving together.

This Thanksgiving, we draw strength from their hopeful perseverance, gratitude to God, and joyful celebration.

With Love,

Mike

Begin with Jesus

The autobiography of G. Stanley Jones is titled A Song of Ascent, and it’s considered to be a spiritual classic. Jones was a great man: a missionary to India, a friend to Gandhi, a tireless world traveler, and a great writer and speaker.

Now, what is amazing to me is that this book was actually his third attempt at an autobiography. He was 83 years old at the time. Jones had written two previous books but had been unwilling to publish them. The first, he said, was too filled with the little events of his life -- things he judged not worth telling. In the second attempt, he tried to take the events of his life and to use them to philosophize about life in general. But even this, he decided, was not the right focus. The third time, he determined, he was going to begin with Jesus. What he discovered after two bad attempts was that he had been working backwards; he had been working from events of life to the Christ Event. And now, in his third attempt, he discovered the secret. As he would say in his introduction to that third book: "Christ has been, and is to me, the Event.

Jones tells a story about an African, who, after he was baptized, changed his name, calling himself “After.” What he was saying was that everything in his life happened “after” he met Christ. Jones felt that that was also the description of his own life. Everything that happened to me, he stated, happened to me after I met Christ.

In his first two attempts, he had been too events-centered and not enough Event-centered. In the third and successful book, he concentrated on the Event and worked back to the events, understanding his own life in the light of Christ.

Our lives take on meaning when we see them in light of the day we accepted Christ. Jesus is the center, the Prime Mover, and the reason for our being. Everything finds purpose in Him.

With Love,

Mike

Tried and True

I've often been asked the question, "Why does God test us?" "Doesn't God know everything already?" we wonder. "If so, why would He need to test us?"

Consider, first of all, that when God tests us, it is not for the purpose of his own knowledge, but for our knowledge and the knowledge of the one whom the Bible refers to as "the Accuser of the brethren." In the book of Job, Satan accused Job of serving God only because God allowed him to prosper. So, God removed the hedge of protection He had put around Job in order to prove his accuser wrong. After the test, not only did Satan know that Job's faith was grounded in more than God's blessing, but Job knew it also.

Consider this: One of the synonyms for "to test" is "to prove." God doesn't test us to see if we will fail. He tests us when He knows that we can succeed; He tests us in order to prove us. Imagine that you've built a table, but your friend casts doubt on the sturdiness of the table. To prove it to your friend, you sit on top of it, demonstrating that it can hold your weight. You are not testing the table because you have a question about its sturdiness; rather, you are testing it to prove its sturdiness to the doubter.

Still, it is sometimes hard to see where the kindness of God fits into his testing. I believe the key to this is in understanding that any time God tests us, He is issuing an invitation for us to test Him – to prove Him!

When Paul and his companions were tested in Asia, Paul wrote: "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us." (2 Corinthians 1:8b-10).

In other words, they came to a test, felt that their strength would fail, and were compelled to rely upon God. And God proved Himself equal to their need.

The words of the familiar hymn “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" were written by a woman named Louisa Stead. Stead and her four-year-old daughter lost their husband and father when he drowned off Long Island trying to rescue a little boy. Years after this severe trial, Louisa Stead recognized that God was the one who had repeatedly passed the test by being faithful to her! She was able to write, "Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I've proved him o'er and o'er."

If, when we are tested, we respond by testing and proving the faithfulness of God and taking Him at his word, we will be able to say confidently with Job, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Blessings,

Mike

Tried and True

I've often been asked the question, "Why does God test us?" "Doesn't God know everything already?" we wonder. "If so, why would He need to test us?"

Consider, first of all, that when God tests us, it is not for the purpose of his own knowledge, but for our knowledge and the knowledge of the one whom the Bible refers to as "the Accuser of the brethren." In the book of Job, Satan accused Job of serving God only because God allowed him to prosper. So, God removed the hedge of protection He had put around Job in order to prove his accuser wrong. After the test, not only did Satan know that Job's faith was grounded in more than God's blessing, but Job knew it also.

Consider this: One of the synonyms for "to test" is "to prove." God doesn't test us to see if we will fail. He tests us when He knows that we can succeed; He tests us in order to prove us. Imagine that you've built a table, but your friend casts doubt on the sturdiness of the table. To prove it to your friend, you sit on top of it, demonstrating that it can hold your weight. You are not testing the table because you have a question about its sturdiness; rather, you are testing it to prove its sturdiness to the doubter.

Still, it is sometimes hard to see where the kindness of God fits into his testing. I believe the key to this is in understanding that any time God tests us, He is issuing an invitation for us to test Him – to prove Him!

When Paul and his companions were tested in Asia, Paul wrote: "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us." (2 Corinthians 1:8b-10).

In other words, they came to a test, felt that their strength would fail, and were compelled to rely upon God. And God proved Himself equal to their need.

The words of the familiar hymn “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" were written by a woman named Louisa Stead. Stead and her four-year-old daughter lost their husband and father when he drowned off Long Island trying to rescue a little boy. Years after this severe trial, Louisa Stead recognized that God was the one who had repeatedly passed the test by being faithful to her! She was able to write, "Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I've proved him o'er and o'er."

If, when we are tested, we respond by testing and proving the faithfulness of God and taking Him at his word, we will be able to say confidently with Job, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."

Blessings,

Mike

Enjoying the Silences

I remember attending my daughters’ piano recitals when they were in elementary school and listening to the songs of the budding musicians. The tendency of every young pianist is to rush the song. The underlying assumption is that faster is better, and in their haste, they plow through slow or meditative portions of a song, failing to give full value to the rests.

As the young students grow older, they learn not to just read the notes but to hear the music. They come to see that the rests and held notes in the music are every bit as essential to its beauty as the song's progression. What would Schumann's "Traumerei" or a Chopin nocturne be without their pathos-laden pauses?

You may have noticed that God is not one to rush things. He isn't compelled to fill the silence for the sake of moving things along. Between the Old and New Testament, there were roughly four hundred years during which the people of Israel were without prophecy or revelation. Yet this silence, uncomfortable as it must have been for those believers who lived and died under it, only accentuated the crescendo when the Word became flesh.

Perhaps you are going through a period when it seems as though God has grown silent in your life. Silence tries the soul. Try as we might, we cannot explicate it, and the noise of nothing threatens to drown out faith. But consider for a moment that such a noticeable silence actually testifies that God has not always been silent. The fact that we can recognize an absence in fact bears witness that there has been a Presence.

I don't know anyone who would claim that the rests are their favorite portions of a song. But those silent beats are necessary to accentuate the other notes and allow the music to tell its story. So also in our lives, I believe that we will one day be able to see the value of the silences that have given shape to our stories. We can take comfort that silence is hemmed on either side by a song.

Throughout the scriptures, prophets repeatedly cry out, "He who has an ear, let him hear!" We need to learn to listen in the silences as well as in the climaxes, for the silence itself may be what God wants us to hear. The silence will not last forever, and it will make the sound that follows even more glorious.

With Love,

Mike

The Existence of God and Pain

How do you expect me to believe in God," asked Woody Allen, "when only last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of my electric type-writer?"

For a while now, at least in the Western world, the existence of any form of pain, suffering, or evil has been regarded as evidence for the non-existence of God. If a good God existed, people reason, these things would not. But they do and, therefore, God does not.

I have a friend who works in ministry in India. He tells me that he has never been asked this question in India, a country that certainly knows a lot more about suffering than many of us in the West. I find it even more intriguing that Christians who write books in situations where they have known unspeakable torment because of the gospel do not normally raise this as an issue for themselves either. Why?

Whenever the question is asked, it usually comes down to a complaint against God's moral character. "Can I really trust God if I see this happen?" But if you are sure that you can trust God, regardless of the pain you find yourself in, there is no temptation to turn away from Him, as He is the only one who can help.

First, let's deal with the argument against God's existence. Ravi Zacharias has dealt with this thoroughly in his book Can Man Live Without God. If you argue from the existence of evil to the non-existence of God, you are assuming the existence of an absolute moral law in order for your argument to work. But if there is such a law, this would also mean that there is such a God, since God is the only one who could give us such a law. And if there is such a God to give us this law, then the argument itself is flawed, since you have had to assume the existence of God in order to argue that God doesn't exist. It is an attempt to invoke the existence of an absolute moral law without invoking the existence of an absolute moral law giver, and it cannot be done.

Secondly, we must also ask the question: What would it take to create a loving world void of evil? A world in which love is capable of meaningful expression and experience would also imply a world in which there is choice. If someone tells you that they love you, those words mean something because they are freely given. If you learned that someone had told you they loved you but that they had been forced to say it, their words would not mean very much. Thus, if we want to speak of a loving world, we must also speak of a world in which choices are exercised. And in such a world, there is also the possibility of choosing a course of action that is not loving, i.e. evil.

While these observations are helpful in getting at the heart of contradictions often behind the questions of God and suffering, what about the most commonly asked questions: Can I trust God even when faced with great evil? Is God morally trustworthy? Can I trust God even if I don't understand what is happening?

Maybe the reason we question God's moral character when bad things happen is that we live our lives largely independent from Him. In other words, we struggle to trust God in times of trouble because we do not really trust Him when things are going well.

Maybe we struggle with suffering so much in the West because we are so comfortable most of the time that we feel we don't need God. We do not rely on Him on a daily basis, and so we do not really know Him. When suffering comes along, therefore, it is not so much that it takes us away from God, but that it reveals to us that we have not really been close to God in the first place.

This is why people living in countries where pain is an everyday part of their existence normally don’t ask questions about God. They trust God in everything, even when things are going well. When times are hard, they cling to God because they have already learned to trust Him. They have learned that God does not change, even when our circumstances have.

Adapted from A Slice of Infinity

With Love,

Mike

A God of Joy!

In August of 1963, due to his ailing health and increasing responsibilities, C.S. Lewis announced his retirement from Cambridge University. His stepson Douglas Gresham and friend Walter Hooper were sent to the university to sort out his affairs and bring home more than 2,000 books that lined the walls of his Magdalene College office. Knowing that Lewis’ house was already filled to its bursting point with books, the pair wondered where they would find the space to put them. But when they arrived, they discovered that Lewis had already contrived an intricate plan for their use.

A nurse named Alec had been hired to stay up nights with Lewis in case he needed assistance. As Gresham and Hooper returned with the enormous load of books, Alec lay asleep in his room on the ground floor. When the truck pulled into the driveway, Lewis appeared, cautioning the men to silence.

"Where will we store the books?" Hooper whispered. Lewis responded with a wink. At his direction, the three men quietly sneaked into Alec’s room, carrying stacks of books with tedious concern so as not to wake the sleeping victim. They piled the works around the nurse's bed, sealing him in a cocoon of manuscript and literature. When they were finished, the books were stacked nearly to the ceiling, filling every square inch of the room where the snoring nurse still slept.

The anxious culprits waited impatiently outside the bedroom door. Finally, Alec awoke. From within the insulated tomb came sounds, first of bellowing, and finally of the tumbling of the great literary wall. Eventually, an amused nurse emerged from within the wreckage.

Lewis teaches us that Christianity is a religion with room—and reason—for laughter.

Near the end of one of his most remarkable lectures, in which he spoke hauntingly of the glory of the God, Lewis added, "This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously."

The Father has made us for joy, sending his Son so that we might know what that very word means. Indeed, let us know Him, and in Him, may we have a life of joy.

With love,

Mike

Being a Neighbor

In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom gives an account of her family’s provision of refuge for Jews during the Nazi persecution across Europe. Corrie’s father often stated, "The master of this house demands that we open the door to anyone that knocks." Even as he was referring to himself, he also referred to the divine Master. This was the line Mr. ten Boom offered to the many who objected to his behavior. To the Jews, he simply opened the door.

The ten Booms were living as Christ's Body, which meant that they must live as true neighbors to those in need. When Mr. ten Boom decided to wear a Jewish star after it was ordered that all Jews must thereby distinguish themselves, he made the decision to live among neighbors, to see fellow human beings -- not people with differences, not people beneath him, nor men and women facing an adversity that had nothing to do with him. "If we all wear them," he said to a man standing in line for his star, "they won't be able to tell any difference."

Our greatest task as Christians is not arguing, reasoning, defending, or preaching, but living as Christ's Body; living the words we profess with a love for both Word and neighbor and with a clear vision of the God who spoke them both into existence.

Before their arrest and subsequent sentencing to the concentration camp, the ten Boom's pastor pled with them to follow an easier ethic: "It is the law," he said, referring to illegality of harboring Jews, "and Christians must obey the law. Think of what you are risking for one Jewish baby." But Mr. ten Boom knew there was yet a higher law. "We are meant to obey the law of the state--if it does not go against our higher law of God."

Like the ten Booms, the Confessing Church that stood up to Hitler's regime was not trying to being relevant or contemporary, liberal, conservative, or rebellious; they were trying to be confessional. Saying no to Hitler, they were being who they claimed to be. They were living the reality of the gospel they professed with their mouths. In the words of a dying Betsie ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep that Christ is not deeper still."

Christ calls us today to allow the Gospel to live itself out in our lives. He calls us to live as neighbors.

With Love,

Mike

Influence

In his autobiography, Breaking Barriers, syndicated columnist Carl Rowan tells about a teacher who greatly influenced his life. Rowan relates:

Miss Thompson reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. I listened intently as she read: "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us."

More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved teacher. She wrote me: "You have no idea what that newspaper story meant to me. For years, I endured my brother's arguments that I had wasted my life; that I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of my brother. After he'd read it, I said, 'You see, I didn't really waste my life, did I?'"

We do not know what a blessing we can be to others by simply saying, “Thanks.” However, we also receive a blessing when we give thanks. Our hearts are made glad and our outlook on life turns a bit sweeter. Giving thanks changes us.

Take time to thank God today for all He has done for you, and then take a moment to consider the people of influence in your life. There is scarcely a person alive whose life has not been changed or made richer by another individual – someone who cared. Have you expressed your gratitude to the person who made a difference for you? You never know the value of a simple “thank you”. It may be of inestimable worth.

With love,

Mike

No Energy for Pouting

In the Ken Burns PBS series on jazz music, Duke Ellington was asked how it felt to be unable, due to segregation, to stay in the guest rooms of the very hotels where he and his band performed.

Duke said, "I took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

I’m a big fan of the music of Duke Ellington. In fact, I own the CD of his music that came from the Ken Burns series. Ellington’s blues are great! The prejudice shown that man, while intended to hurt him and keep in “in his place,” instead produced music that people have loved for generations.

Lately, I keep coming back to Romans 5:3 -- "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character..."

This certainly happened in the case of Duke Ellington. Similarly, as you study the life of Paul, you can see the growth he experienced as a result of the persecution levied against him for his devotion to the Gospel. Paul’s empathy toward those in pain is seen in a passage I quote often at funerals. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 has brought comfort to the hearts of hurting Christians for two thousand years:

13And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died.

15I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. 18So comfort and encourage each other with these words.

This passage grew out of Paul’s own experience of pain. Paul took the pain of his losses and “wrote some blues.”

Tribulations are unavoidable, inevitable, and inescapable, but you can change how they affect your life with a right response. You can use your energy to pout, or you can use it to make great music. It's up to you.

Every day we face some kind of setback, some kind of disappointment -- and everyday we have the opportunity to invest our energy in something more productive than anger, frustration, resentment, or self-pity. Our challenge each day is to put those reactions aside and focus on every opportunity to make music.

With Love,

Mike

One Thing

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (Jack Palance) tells Mitch (Billy Crystal) that the secret of happiness is found in one thing.

"What's the one thing?" Mitch asks.

Curly says, "You have to find out that for yourself."

Paul defined the one thing for himself. He said: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

His "one thing" was winning the prize — the prize of knowing and being known by Jesus. This goal was the driving force behind all that he did.

Paul was a driven man. He was driven to accomplish great things in life. But more importantly, Paul was driven first by the desire to know Jesus. His devotional life, not his ambition, fueled his ministry.

Here's how this plays out in my life. When I'm driven by the desire to see results, I'm frustrated most of the time. Nothing, not even success, is quite good enough. When I'm driven — as I always should be — by the desire to know Jesus, two things happen: One, I tend to work harder. Two, I have peace in the process.

Actually, everyone is already driven by one thing. Some can define it, some can't. When your one thing is the goal of knowing Christ and becoming like Him, as Paul says in Philippians 3, you will find peace. And when your work for Him is fueled by your devotion, not your ambition, it will becomes less of an exercise in frustration, and more of the adventure God intends it to be.

With Love,

Mike

What do you not want to do today?

Legendary football coach Tom Landry said, "The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be."

It's also said that successful people become successful by doing the little things that average people don't want to do.

In your work there are probably a few little things that you don't want to do: items that should be done, but don't have to be done – at least not yet.

Though the items on my not-to-do list change from day-to-day, they all have one thing in common: none of them are impossible. They're all doable with just a little bit of effort.

They have another thing in common: by ignoring them, we shortchange ourselves.

We don't like to call this type of delay by its proper name, but Solomon doesn't hesitate to: Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

For many of us, all that stands between us and the fulfillment of our goals is a little indolence. That's not a mountain in front of you. It's just a hill. A small, tedious, doable hill.

Challenge yourself and your team today to make a not-to-do list – and tackle these items first, one-by-one. See what happens.

With Love,

Mike

Remembering Jesus

Leslie Weatherhead tells of a little boy who was admitted to an orphanage after his parents were killed. One of the first items on the agenda was to find a new set of clothes for him. He was given a new pair of pants, a new shirt, and a pair of shiny new shoes.

Lastly, he was offered a new hat, but he refused to take it. Instead, he clung to his “worse- for the-wear” hat. Finally, the director of the orphanage was able to coax him into trying on the new cap. He tried it on and liked it, but then did something very funny. He reached inside his old cap, tore out the lining, and placed it in his pocket.

Noticing the director had a puzzled look on her face, he said, "The lining is a part of my mother’s dress. It’s all I’ve got left of her, and

sometimes when I touch it, it seems to bring her back."

The boy longed to remember his mother, so he kept a small memento, a little reminder of her. He kept it close so he would never forget.

Jesus knew that we would at times grow lonely as we await His return. We would need small mementos along the way to help us sense His presence and to give us courage. Graciously, He has left the reminders all around: the beauty of nature; His word to us in scripture; the meaningful emblems water, bread, and wine in the communion service; the warmth and love of fellow believers. Each of these things help “bring him back,” reminding us that He is ever near, and that we will one day be reunited with the Savior we love so dearly.

With Love,

Mike

Who Would Have Guessed?

Mark Braun in The Mustard Seed and the Yeast, wrote:

"If you had ventured a guess about the future of Jesus' kingdom two thirds of the way through his ministry, how optimistic would you have been?

He grew up in a despised province of the Roman Empire. He was born before his mother's marriage had become official. He did not appear publicly until he was thirty years old, and then he spent most of his ministry time in the commercialized and more heathen northern Israel, away from the religious power center in Jerusalem. After two years he'd gathered a dozen unimpressive disciples and gained a few converts, mostly among the poor and the unlearned. During the last year of his public life he generated such passionate opposition from both the moneyed aristocracy and from religious fundamentalists that they joined forces-an unlikely alliance to have him painfully, shamefully executed.

Who would ever predict that from such bleak beginnings a great kingdom would grow?

Jesus did. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

Jesus has a habit of producing great things from small beginnings. Never discount seemingly small things. If used for Christ, nothing is insignificant. Mustard seeds have a habit of growing into great plants when Christ is involved.

With Love,

Mike

Insurmountable Problems

Matthew 19:26b “…with God all things are possible.”

In 1879, Proctor and Gamble’s best seller was candles. But the company was in trouble. Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb, and it looked as if candles would become obsolete. Their fears became reality when the market for candles plummeted since they were now sold only for special occasions.

The outlook appeared to be bleak for Procter and Gamble. But then something unexpected happened. A forgetful employee at a small factory in Cincinnati forgot to turn off his machine when he went to lunch. The result? A frothing mass of lather filled with air bubbles. He almost threw the stuff away but instead decided to make it into soap. The soap floated. Thus, Ivory soap was born and became the mainstay of the Procter and Gamble Company.

Why was soap that flats such a hot item at that time? In Cincinnati during that period, some people bathed in the Ohio River. Floating soap would never sink and consequently never got lost. So, Ivory soap became a best seller in Ohio and eventually across the country as well.

Like Procter and Gamble, never give up when things go wrong or when seemingly insurmountable problems arise. Creativity put to work can change a problem and turn it into a gold mine.

With Love

Mike