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

Our Deliverer

I find in the Exodus story a metaphor for how God delivers us from sin, addictions and the other things Satan uses to ensnare us. To illustrate this I am sharing a story as told by Jill Briscoe.

“Not too long ago I was babysitting one of our three, 3-year-old grandchildren. In our family, we had twins and a single birth all within 24 hours. We call them Search, Destroy, and Demolition. I was to baby-sit Demolition. As I waved goodbye to his parents, he looked perfectly all right. We had a little story out of his favorite book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I put him to bed and went to sleep.

“In the middle of the night, I felt a little hand, and I turned on the light. I looked at Drew: chicken pox from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. ‘Nana,’ he said, ‘Me's having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Why should some things like this happen to I?’

“I thought how like Drew we all are. Why should something like this happen to me? We cannot believe it. As Miss Piggy says, ‘Moi? Not moi.’ We cannot believe that God would allow something to happen to such nice people like us.

“I gave Drew a bath in porridge--oatmeal. It's a wonderful remedy. It takes away the itch. He swam around in this porridge bath, and then I took him out and wrapped his bumpy, little body in a great, big white towel. As I held him against my heart, he just kept saying, ‘Hold me, Nana. Hold me, Nana. Hold me, Nana.’ I thought of Job as I held my little Job to my heart.”

From time to time we all have a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” But the author of Exodus tells us we have a Deliverer. Our God is mighty to save!

Mike Tucker

The Proof

You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader, he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which, by the way, means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today.

There is a story told of a journey Nikolai took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd, he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity, hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.

An hour later, he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded.

Deafening silence filled the auditorium; but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern, standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd; first to the left, then to the right. Finally, he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "Christ is risen!" En masse the crowd arose as one man, and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder: "He is risen indeed!”

Arguments for or against the existence of God are overrated. The proof – the real proof – comes when you have truly experienced the risen Lord. Have you experienced Jesus?

With Love,

Mike

The Gift of Community

Why did God establish the church? One reason the church exists is to provide a community of believers who take care of each other. When I am beginning to stray from God, my fellow believers draw me back. They help me know when my life is getting to the boiling point. They serve as an early warning system for my spiritual condition.

Several years after Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer died from a heatstroke during football conditioning drills in 108 degree heat, three NFL teams began offering their players a "radio pill."

Teams paid between $30 and $40 apiece for the pills, which last 24 to 36 hours.

A crystal sensor in each pill has a frequency geared to the player's body temperature. When the player's body temperature rises, so does the frequency.

A trainer punches in a player's jersey number and waves a digital device in front of him to determine if the player is "getting too hot" and needs intervention.

Like athletes who don't know they have overextended themselves and need intervention, Christians can stray from God and be oblivious to their spiritual condition. Praise God, He made provision even for this. He placed us in community with other believers. As we enter into relationship and share our spiritual journeys, we can become spiritual trainers for one another and maintain robust spiritual health.

With Love,

Mike

Perseverance

Walter Elliot said, "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."

Many would define perseverance as one consistent day after another, but the fact is that no one is consistently consistent in all things 100% of the time.

A better way to say it is that perseverance is 4 consistent days out of 5. Or 9 consistent days out of 10.

I love Paul's use of the phrase "press on" in Philippians 3. It communicates the idea of not just trying, but trying again. Paul admits that he is not perfect, has not yet attained all that he desires to be: (v. 13-14) But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal...

Perseverance isn't so much a matter of winning one long marathon as it is a matter of winning, or even "placing" in, the short races that you run day after day, hour after hour. It requires us to press on, even after minor setbacks and temporary defeats.

Perseverance is a lifetime accomplishment lived out one day at a time, one 40-yard dash at a time.

With love,

Mike

Our Daily Bread

Huckleberry Finn first heard about prayer from Miss Watson, who told him that prayer was something you did everyday, and that you would get what you asked for. So he tried praying for hooks for his fishing line, but when he didn't get what he asked for, he decided, "No, there ain't nothing in it."

Prayer is a strange activity. There are times when it almost comes naturally to us, while at other times, like Huck, we say we "couldn't seem to make it work."

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He replied: "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.'"(Luke 11:1-4)

The Lord's Prayer is not just the good advice Jesus had to offer about praying; it is His praying. In giving His followers this prayer, Jesus was following a common rabbinic pattern. When a rabbi taught a prayer, He would use it to teach his disciples the most distinctive, concise, essential elements of His own teachings. Thus, disciples would learn to pray as their teacher prayed, and from then on, when a disciple's prayer was heard, it would sound like His teacher's prayers.

When Christians pray the Lord's Prayer today, we rehearse the lessons He most wanted us to learn.

Unlike fishing hooks, the prayer for daily bread is foundational. News of world food shortages, the prevalence of malnourishment, and volatile food prices remind us that cries for basic provision are appropriate and necessary. In other words, bread is not merely the private concern of those who need something to eat. Our daily bread is something that affects friends, neighbors, and communities.

Christ's prayer for daily bread, then, is not just a prayer for food and clothing, but also for good neighbors, good rulers, and good conscience as we face need and want together.

Our prayer for daily bread can be a reminder that we do not live in a vacuum before God. Rather, we live in communities where we are responsible for one another. Praying for daily bread, we are simultaneously the wealthy who can respond to the needs around us in gratitude for all that God has given us and the impoverished who cry out for the daily bread we need and the God who sustains us. We are both the rich and the poor. In difficult days, in plentiful days, might ours be a united cry to God: Give us this day our daily bread.