Glorious Ruin: Get a copy!

Posted on 4 August 2014 by NerdyLenses

Glorious Ruin: Get a copy!

Hey guys,

If I can recommend only one resource to you, it would be the book “Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free” by Tullian Tchividjian.  Tullian breaks down the common misconception that many of us have been raised with.  Namely, he turns off the idea that suffering is always about us.  He approaches suffering from a Biblical worldview and asks what the Bible says about suffering.

In the process of reading this book, through my own sufferings, I found that suffering is a much more complex subject.  Explicitly, suffering can be an act of worship to God; that doesn’t mean I make sufferings for myself, but when suffering comes, if I choose to let God drive that suffering and do His will through it, then that becomes an act of worship.

I don’t want to spoil the whole book for you.  It is a good and reasonably quick read, but it just might twist your brain just enough that you begin to see those golden nuggets along the path God has you on.

Here’s the link to Amazon, buy the book, the Kindle edition, etc.; just get a copy!

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A Rap/Poem on Surviving Pain

Posted on 4 August 2014 by NerdyLenses

The Journey and Battle

By Ben Messer

Tryin’ to be happy, and I just don’t feel it.

The pain in my heart, waitin’ for You to heal it.

But You tell me to trust, and hold to the Truth.

I know who You are, so I’ll push through!

 

It ain’t easy, no, but it’s worth every pain.

Through the pressure, all the blows that came,

I hear Your voice saying, “That’s my boy.”

You give me every moment of joy.

 

In the midst of pain, the light I don’t see,

But I know that You are there, holding me.

With all that You’ve given, how could I ever doubt

That You are the One who holds the way out!

 

This pain will not always or forever be,

But while it’s here, I use it to help people see

The message of Your love, Your sacrifice for them.

It’s not about me but about Your creation: man.

 

You gave Your son; He gave His life on the cross.

Jesus gave up Majesty to reclaim what was lost

By me. For a bowl of stew, I gave up

My birthright to life, a life with true love.

 

Sin sold me out, gave me death in return,

But You called out, “Will you trust or will you burn?”

“I trust you,” I cried, through sobs and breaths.

“For this moment, I trained You; I will be Your rest.”

 

For so long, I did not understand Your cryptic words.

But now, I see the precision of Your works.

You are God, Sovereign and Holy,

I am but a man, broken and unworthy.

 

You are my God, the One and Only True,

For the days You give me, I will follow You!

 

 

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A shorter post to just share a few thoughts on pain.

I have found that for myself, most of my revelations have come from conversations and other blogs that make me go, “Oh! Someone else feels this way?!?” For much of my life, it seemed I was the only one who felt something. Sometimes, that was affirmed by others. And sometimes, I just never asked if anyone felt the same.

Know that, “You’re not alone!”

When it comes to pain, knowing you’re not alone can bursts the bubble of “Woe is me,” and it opens the doorway to growth.

Instead of, “I’m alone in my pain. No one understands; I will only ever get out of here if I pull myself out, and I can’t see where to pull from!” you get to “oh! Others have walked here. I’m not alone! And look, they’re pulling out!  Follow the Leader!!!”

It grants a tangibility to our hope.

Don’t isolate, relate. Talk to others; find men, whom you can trust, who have gone through a divorce or have someone recommend a fellow. But find someone you can ask questions of, who has gone down that road. It will make the difficulties a bit easier.

Lastly, if, for whatever reason, you can’t find such a person, then leave a comment here, and I will do my best to help!

Posted on 1 August 2014 by NerdyLenses | Leave a comment

A Heartfelt Mind-Meld: Pain!

Posted on 1 August 2014 by NerdyLenses

Pain! In our culture, pain is a thing to be avoided. We take medications to avoid pain, entertain ourselves to ignore pain, drink to drown pain, eat to suppress pain, and many other ways of turning away pain. When someone cries in front of us, we find ourselves compelled to tell them it’ll be ok or that there’s a silver lining. When we cry in front of others, we apologize for crying, and sometimes we even apologize just because we brought the conversation “down.”

When divorce hits us, it usually comes one of two ways: our spouse walks away or we do. It can be slow, progressive, sudden, or tumultuous. Still, divorce usually breaks down into one or both people walking away, and often one chooses the path before the other.  In that moment and the time that follows, there is pain!

Two became one and to tear that apart is much like an amputee losing a limb!  There is pain.  There are the nights or mornings when you wake up and forget there is no one in the bed next to you, until you reach for her.  There are the times when someone greets you and you realize your other half isn’t there anymore.  There are the times when you wonder if you’ll ever survive the loss.  And like all loss, that pain will define the rest of your life.  More accurately, how you respond to that pain will define who you become, into the rest of your life.

Pain can and will vary from man to man.   Some guys will feel relieved by a divorce. Other men feel like a grenade has gone off in their chest. Still, others wrestle with the guilt that comes with divorce. And some are still covering their pain; to the last group, I greatly encourage you to open up and let God work through your pain.

In my own case, I was racked with all of the above. There were pains I tried to cover, a ton of guilt, the grenade-feeling, and even a bit of relief which fed back into the guilt! My marriage had been a silently rough road, and I felt grateful that I didn’t have to deal with any more chaos from my spouse. But that racked me with more guilt because I wanted to suffer! I was willing to suffer to honor God in my vows. And being relieved…boy, that felt like a betrayal of everything I held true!

The first thing I want you to know, though, is that pain has a good purpose!   It helps us identify things that are out of sorts, and God is insurmountably good at bringing precise pain to work out His purposes. What do I mean by that? I mean that He is a precision, top-ranking Surgeon! He will come into your life, and He will use pain as a precise scalpel to remove the cancers of sin in your life.

“Dude! I didn’t cheat on my wife!   I was a model husband! What the hell does God need to work out in my life?!?” (Yes, I will use some mild language now and again because we’re being honest here. And honestly, this is often what we think! I apologize for any offenses, and I will work to not be flippant with it, but I hope to encourage honest discourse between you and God through this blog, and He doesn’t flinch when you use language.)

I won’t challenge that you were a model husband, but I will challenge that God doesn’t need to work out something in you. God doesn’t waste anyone’s time. Never. Not once! I challenge you to allow God to show you what He is doing, let Him in.   I suspect you’ll find that He is pruning an overgrown area of your life. And to whoever you are, I believe I need to leave this verse for you:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” – Matthew 23:27 (though I also encourage you to read all the “Woe”s in the chapter as they reveal many aspect of mankind’s sins that are less than obvious)

Let’s move further, though, because I believe we can go a bit deeper into this reality of pain in our lives. Many of us guys deal with a very clear chunk of pride.   What we don’t often realize is that pride takes two forms. The classic form is the “I’m all that and a bag of chips! Look at me!” The lesser-known form is “I’m not even the crumbs on the inside of the bag! I’m trash. I’m crap! I don’t have anything to give to anyone…” Need I go on? This is the flip side of pride, and it is just as sinful and insidious. It betrays the truth of God in your life just as much as the classic form.

God has made you, dear reader, worthy! In Jesus, you are worthy! In Jesus, you are a masterpiece, a beautiful poem, an incredible creation of the Almighty! Don’t betray that by saying you’re not, nor betray it by saying you made yourself what you are. Without God, you’re nothing. But with God, you are His something! Don’t let the devil rob you of that truth!

So, pain. What does all this have to do with pain? Everything, my friend. Pain is what God will use to break down our pride (both forms!). It is what He will use to draw us close to Him, so that He can work in and through us. It is what He will use to identify the effects of sin in your life (that desire for pornography, that feeling that you’re never good enough, the desire for another drink, making work your life, etc.).   The list of those effects can go on and on! In our present world, the effects of sin are almost muted by greater effects. Until we are willing to let God in with the scalpel of pain, we may never realize how much cleanup there is. Personally, I found entire aspects of my life that God began to reform, and I had no idea that sin had corrupted me there! I thought I was normal but found that my “normal” was really “heavily polluted” by God’s standard.

My friend, I encourage you to take hold of the time you have. Shut off the TV and turn to your Bible. Close the browser and open up your Bible. Put down the bottle, and pick up your Bible. Work will wait! God should not need to. He’s a gentleman, and He will wait. Still, why would you make the God of the Universe, the only One who ever died for you when you were still beating Him, wait because you want to catch this episode of Big Bang Theory. Why would you choose to continue to pour the World into you rather than letting the Living Water cleanse you?

Please do not misunderstand me! I enjoy a movie now and then. I enjoy some TV shows. I enjoy time with games and with my kids, etc. At the same time, though, I find that as I spend time with God, I don’t really like many shows on TV and some of the movies are less attractive. I find that time with my family becomes better and even more enjoyable. Yet, all of this is facilitated because of God.

“But God…” That phrase has come up a lot this week, and it is true! I would be a filthy wretch, even by society’s standards, but God… I would have lost everything and be doomed to Hell, but God… I would not be qualified (nor would I care to) write this blog, but God… Let God intersect into your world! I encourage you to be on your knees before Him in prayer and submission.  Let His pain in, and let Him do His work in you. Let the Creator build His creation, you!

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” – 1 Corinthians 15:10

Vires et Honorem!

(I would also encourage you to listen to this powerful sermon from Pastor Ed Taylor at Calvary Chapel Aurora as it is along the same lines as what I’ve written above, and actually inspired much of it, by the Spirit of God: http://ow.ly/3nMZTO )

Posted in Bible Study, Men, Observations, Passionate Observations, Single-Parenthood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Heartfelt Mind-Meld: It is Time to Wake Up!

Posted on 28 July 2014 by NerdyLenses

I guess when I post once, I start rolling. Well, today, I believe God spoke to me, as He often does, through a circumstance. In the Old Testament, God spoke to many of the prophets through ordinary things. He’d have them go into the city and pour out a jar of water, then He’d give them words to talk about how He is going to pour out something on the people. Even in the New Testament, Paul is told in Acts 21 of how he will be bound if he goes to Jerusalem. Verse 11: “And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says: “In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”’”

(For the purpose of audience and the specifics of what is on my heart, I’m going to speak to men, though I’m sure much will translate to ladies. Also, though much of this can apply to the rest of the world, as I have stated before, this is mostly from my perspective here in America.)

I say all that to say this; God is calling us men to wake up! We have been lured to sleep by tenacious and deadly temptations that are strangling our souls, torturing our families, and anesthetizing our minds. We have bought into the World’s wisdom in ways that are both unassuming and insidious. There is a deep and profound truth that God has been pulsating into the minds of so many men, and it is this simple statement: WAKE UP!!!

“And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ … And He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.” – Matthew 26:40-41,43

These men walked with Jesus, saw His miracles first hand, and knew that He often went off to pray for hours at a time! When was the last time you spent the night on your face, weeping before God instead of sleeping comfortably in your bed? When was the last time you prayed so long that you can’t tell if you fell asleep praying or spent the night praying?

Today, an amazing convergence occurred that allowed me to sleep in a bit (an exceptionally rare privilege) without chaos ensuing. Later today, I felt sleepy again. Having had many busy weeks recently and minimal sleep (especially last night), I chose to take a nap. Several times, I was awoken due to conflicts that needed a mediator to resolve. On the last time, I felt even more tired than when I started the nap. This is when this subject began for me. You see, I had some laundry to do today. By taking the nap, I have failed to get that done, and now I have to make up that time tonight. That pretty much defeats the purpose of the nap!

This is the state of so many here.  Many men are asleep at the wheel, thinking they’ll just catch 40 winks so they can make it through the day.  We miss that our 40 winks is about to drive us off a cliff, meanwhile whatever rest we get is wasted, lost to extra effort needed to get us out the holes we dug.

Men, we need to step back up to our roles, and the unfortunate part is that it will be hard! We have slid down the mountain by indulging in things like pornography, casual sex, drugs, alcohol, money, entertainment, and anything else I can’t think to list right now. And really, what is the root of all of these things? It is our pleasure! It is the comforting of ourselves in our own individual pains.   We are seeking the feeling better, rather than fulfilling our purpose. Think about it, which is better: the temporary warm fuzzies or the satisfaction at the end of the race, knowing you did what you were made for?

What you were made for? So many of us have been looking for our purpose, over the years. Still, for others, this may be the first time you have been told that you were made for a purpose. God created you, dear reader. And God doesn’t create things without purpose. Back in my High School days, the evolutionary biologists and such couldn’t figure out a purpose for the human appendix. They claimed it was a “left-over” of evolution and served no real purpose in the human body. HA! Sophomoric hacks! In fact, we have since figured out that the human appendix is a valuable piece of our immune system, which explains how it gets infected and why people without an appendix can be more susceptible to infections.

Well, in the same way, the world tells us men, “Oh!   You’re just evolved from monkeys; so, live for yourself, enjoy your life, live for today, no consequences, etc.!” It’s all lies! You are a created being with purpose. You are to live for God’s pleasure. And you are to live in His life, for today, knowing the consequences of actions, trusting in His salvation! In fact, men, the Bible speaks exactly to this problem in our lives. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these.”

Check that part in verse 5: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” Does that sound like you? Do you hold to a religion, but deny the real God who wants all of you? When God does not meet your expectations, do you try to pull the “if I do X, God will do Y” shuffle? The above are tangible examples of “having a form of godliness, [while] denying its power.”

“But what does it matter, man?   It’s not like I’m needed! [Insert responsible person here] has it under control!”

Oh, dear reader, we are the garden tenders! It was given to men the solemn duty to cultivate beauty in our world. No matter how “under control” that person makes it look, the gardens will never be what they can be with our involvement.

And I don’t mean vegetation, though we have the job of working and producing for our daily needs. Rather, I mean that we are to cultivate true beauty in all those we touch, starting with our wives (if any), our sisters, and then our friends. We are also to teach our sons and brothers to cultivate the same beauty! Think of it, who is the first love of our daughters’ lives? We are. Who is the closest to our wives to speak into their lives? We are. Who can break a guy’s head because he messed with our sister? WE CAN! (Ha ha ha, ok. I’m not advocating violence, but guys, you know what I’m talking about!)

If our minds are in the gutter, we are crippled in our ability to build beauty. Like a man who puts herbicide on his hands and then tries to plant a garden. We taint the very ground we touch. If we are polluting our bodies with drugs or alcohol, we are like the man who pours gasoline in his garden, expecting it to produce edible blessings. And if we speak harshly to those around us, we are like the man who beats the growing plants, if they grow sufficiently, they will be deformed.   But in many cases, the plants won’t grow properly.

Obviously, these plants are our children. And when we look on the past 30-40 years of men abdicating their roles in the home, it is no wonder that our world has spun out of control into perversions and lawlessness of most every kind. We are currently living in the ripple effects of generations of abdication. And now, we who see the rubble of what is left behind must pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild the world our fathers lost.

Men, it is time that we begin rebuilding this world, with the foundation of Jesus’ example and with Him as the muscle by which we work. He is the charge leader, the foreman, if you will, for the building effort ahead. It is going to be hard. It is going to take, at times, everything you can give and more! (And that more will be found in His strength all along!) But here’s the pay-off; if we, as men, will mirror our Lord and build beauty in everyone around us, teaching them the true beauty of a life surrendered to Jesus, then we can be assured by our devotion to Jesus that we will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

That’s the pay-off, simple as that. There will be succulent blessings along the road, little nuggets to encourage our feeble bodies and weakened resolves. But the big pay-off is knowing we have blessed our Heavenly Father, given back to Him what He gave to us. He poured love, beauty, and worth into us.   He invested in what everyone would have termed a lost-cause. He poured in all He had (as if He could run out!), and all He asks from us is to look upon Him, cast our all into Him (and our all is really dirty paper scraps) so that He can use us to pour love, beauty, and worth into others by His Son.

Oh! Before I go, let me dispel one myth that my mind has even caught; we will never succeed in rebuilding this world. This world IS crumbling, my friends. It is tainted beyond repair with sin, and it will perish one day when our Lord determines the end to be that day. What I am calling you to is your world! Our collective worlds. I can’t change what’s happening in another country, but I can change what happens with the family God has given me. I can’t bring all Muslim’s to Jesus in one charge, but I can raise children who (God only knows) may become missionaries to reach these groups. I can’t stop the world from crumbling, but maybe I can slow it down a bit!

He broke me. And He has broken you. But the reason is very simple. He broke us for a reason, and I think that reason is to call men back to Himself, to restore them to their roles as He has intended them. So, step up to the call, men! Let us answer our Lord in union, “Sir! Yes, sir!” Let us begin to rebuild this fallen world.

Go forth, and build beauty! Be men! Even better, be men of the Almighty God! =)

Vires et Honorem!

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A Heartfelt Mind-Meld: The Truth That Changes Things…

Posted on 27 July 2014 by NerdyLenses

You know, when I thought of this blog post, it was merely because a friend’s post had spurred me to think again. =) Apparently, she’s good at that! Still, today, I have been reminded of the immense need for such a reminder.

Our world is tearing apart at the seems, or so it seems. It would be harsh, if not inaccurate, to say that things have always been like this. And yet, in many ways, it seems quite true! There have always been conflicts that have threatened to throw the world in chaotic turmoil! Among a few of them, the fall of the Roman empire, World Wars I and II, and even Vietnam, to many in America. And yet, when all those have been mere ideologies and minor conflicts, these days, it seems that we fight under a banner of Truth versus Lies. But perhaps I’m overstating my case. And frankly, it doesn’t matter if you agree with me on this point. The truth remains that for many of us, our worlds got crushed the day the woman we married walked out.

You know much of my story, but what I haven’t so clearly said is that when she walked out, it was like someone broke my snow-globe. In a moment, the water got sucked out, and all I once knew became subject to speculation! I began to question the loyalty and honor of everyone around me. If this woman, whom I’d known for 9 years, been married to for 7; if she could betray me, who else would? It messed with my head! Boy howdy, did it ever mess with my head!   I grappled for a handle on reality, and I found it in one, simple fact. All else around me could swirl to no end, and with this truth as my guide, I found a center and could walk in the unknown!

Once you can breathe, just able to take a breath and know the world will not suck it back out of you…heck, even if you can’t find that breath! If you can’t find that breath, I beg you to grab ahold of this truth!

God is still God! … Let that sink in. … God is still God!

“Well, duh! I knew that!” Oh, did you? Seriously, let that teardrop fall, and allow your heart to speak for a moment. Did you really know that? Because I didn’t! As the water fell and the snowflakes crashed to the ground from my lovely little world, I did not immediately think of that! But God is so good! In the weeks leading up to my spouses departure, God had ministered to me some very profound nuggets of truth. So, please let me share them with you, and let God draw out the nuggets for you within these.

1) Surrender! “Only surrender will help you now!”

God loves to use the absurd! So, here’s an incredible absurdity. The woman who was planning to abandon our marriage gave me a gift that God used to remind me of who He is! As she was planning to leave (as I would later learn), she gave me an album by Flyleaf (an alternative Christian band). On this album, there was a song called “Again.” In the days leading up to the grand departure, a major expense had hit us, and I was crying out to God one day about it. This song came on (from the CD), and I immediately fell before God (in my heart, I was actually sitting at a desk). The line that caught me was this: “Here you are down on your knees again/Trying to find strength to breathe again/And only surrender can help you now/I love you; please see and believe again.” I had no idea how powerful that lyric would become in my life, as God asked for me to surrender what little control I thought I had. (We really don’t have “control” in this life anyway; at best, we have control over ourselves.) YouTube link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbdCeWoEH1U#t=12

2) A hymn: God will make a way.

I had been trying to put this hymn together for weeks prior. As I descended a hill on the way home that fateful night, I suddenly put it together, and though I still didn’t have it quite right, it was pretty darn perfect! Here’s the right lyrics for the hymn, which became my anthem along with the above “Again”: [He] will make a way/Where there seems to be no way/He works in ways we cannot see/He will make a way for me/He will be my Guide/Hold me closely to His side/With love and strength for each new day/He will make a way/He will make a way.” YouTube link for this song too: http://www.godvine.com/God-Will-Make-a-Way-Beautiful-Worship-Video-838.html

3) 2 Peter 3:1-9

Now, if you have followed the YouTube links (or do later), you’ll quickly realize the above are so opposite in their tempos and their wording. =)   I love it! One provides direction from God, that His humbling is purposeful and effectual. The other provides hope in God, that even though my world doesn’t make sense, He is working things out. And with that, I began to argue against God (yeah. I do that! He knows I have to understand, and He is so patient!) And with that, I turned to God and asked, “Where are You? Are you even here? After all, everything seems to keep going one without any effort from You; maybe I’m a fool to even believe! Maybe You don’t exist?!?” And with that, I read the above passage. For brevity sake, I will quote only a small portion of it, but I encourage you to read all of it:

“…and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” – 2 Peter 3:4-7

SMACK! I got one right across the jaw from the Almighty. Now, understand me; this was not a vengeful slap from an angry father. Instead, this was one of those polite slaps from your Momma just as she says, “You better watch your mouth!” (No, my Momma never slapped me. {sigh}) The point is that God responded to me with my own words and led me to the truth that if it weren’t for Him, none of this would exist. And that truth has held me true on more than one occasion; the simple facts that there is a God and the Bible is His revealed Word are profound enough to keep me from going off the path, though I sometimes stumble.  (The depth of these truths, though, is equally important, though beyond the scope of this post.)

The Lord is on His throne (Psalm 11:4). He is still God of all! And He has the power to do as He pleases. The question is will you let Him be Lord in your life? Or will you try to hold your own lordship? Remember how we really don’t have control? It’s His world. Will you surrender?

My dear reader, if you are here, and you have never accepted Him into your life or if you are here, and you desperately need to walk with Him again, then may I have the privilege to give you a little prayer you may say? This prayer, itself, has no power to save you! The words you say must echo in your heart and mind. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raise Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) So, it is your faith in Jesus payment that truly saves you, but here’s a way to pray and receive Jesus’ payment for you:

God, I know I have sinned. I have failed to live as you asked me to live. I cannot be perfect. I trust Jesus paid my price by His death on the cross and His resurrection three days later. I want You to be in control of my life. Thank You for all You have done for me! Please help me to live for You.

And that’s it, dear reader! Welcome to the Family of God! But I must warn you, the Devil is real too, and he will try to steal this truth and life from you. So, I encourage you to find a church in your area to grow within. I am personally a bit biased toward Calvary Chapels since I’ve always found them to be solid churches. Still, most will work. If you’re not sure, then let me offer you three simple questions to determine if they are a good church versus a ho-hum church.

  1. Do they believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God (in case you don’t know, inerrant means without errors)? (This should be and emphatic yes! =D Sometimes, they qualify it by “in the original manuscripts.”  That’s a yes, too!  =D)
  2. Do you believe Jesus was the Son of God? (Again, this should be absolutely yes!)
  3. Do you believe that Jesus death is ALL that saves us from eternal death? (Yes, though they may say something about how when we come to Jesus, we should naturally want to do the right things from that point on. That’s ok.)
  4. Do you preach from the word, by the word, and through the word? (Yes, again.  In other words, do they let the text speak or do they try to soften the message.   Go for the text, run from the softened message!) =)

As I draw this to a close, I encourage you to press into Jesus!   No matter the pain you’re going through, the trauma you’ve experienced, or the nightmare-hell you’re walking through; Jesus has been there. He refers to the Church and Israel (collectively) as His bride. The Old Testament is filled with accounts of God speaking of how Israel has played the adulteress, how He will have to deal with His bride, etc. He knows that pain! Further, He went through a BRUTAL death (beaten and mocked – Luke 22:63-65, more mockery – Luke 23:11, beaten with a whip designed to tear the back open – John 19:1, a crown of thorns pressed into His skull and more mockery – John 9:2-3, crucifixion – John 19:17-18, and even stabbed with a spear after death to confirm he was dead – John 19:33-34). He knows the pain and torture of being in a situation where you are innocent yet condemned.  Most of us are not truly innocent, and yet, I think it’s clear that Jesus can understand having all that you have ever done is used against you, even things which are pure lies and fiction. I know that I never knew, until my day in court, how little was sacred in our household. Here’s a hint: There ain’t one thing that wasn’t opened wide!  But there’s a blessing in that; nothing is hidden to Him either!  And He still loves you!

My dear reader, God is still God. He is still on His throne, and He is still Lord of your life, if you let Him be! He may ask crazy things of you (like not having a lawyer when you go through the legal stuff or giving into her demands or…I don’t know what), but if it’s Him, will you trust Him?

I leave you, my reader, with Psalm 42. It is a profound Psalm that meets you where you are at, in whatever discouragement, and then pulls you up to the truth:

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night,

While they continually say to me,

“Where is your God?”

 

When I remember these things,

I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go with the multitude;

I went with them to the house of God,

With the voice of joy and praise,

With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

 

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

For the help of His countenance.

 

O my God, my soul is cast down within me;

Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,

And from the heights of Hermon,

From the Hill Mizar.

Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;

All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,

And in the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life.

 

I will say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

As with a breaking of my bones,

My enemies reproach me,

While they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

 

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.

Vires et Honorem!

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The Gospel in Mary Poppins!

Posted on 21 July 2014 by NerdyLenses

Hey!  Y’all get a two-fer!  =)  Two blog posts for the dating of one!  =)

With the advent of the anniversary of Mary Poppins, I enjoyed the movie with my children.   As I did, I was taken back to simpler days (or so they seemed!) and my love for this movie was rekindled.  The true shock, though, came when I saw the Gospel in Mary Poppins!  After having given this talk (it takes like 15 minutes) to many folks, I decided to post it out here for you all.  The advent of posting it for a friend on her page made it quite simple to copy and paste here.  =)  (Yes.  I’m a little lazy!)  While I could probably write a term paper on this, I don’t have that much free time to take up (I’m already past my bedtime).  So, I will have to leave you with the Reader’s Digest version.  I humbly ask your forgiveness for anything I have missed, overlooked, or otherwise misstated.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term “the Gospel” it is the phrase used to identify the incredible truth that God became a man, the person Jesus of Nazareth, lived among us for 33 years, He was beaten, and crucified on a cross, willfully, to pay the penalty of our sins. Within the Gospel is the wonderful truth that if we will accept Jesus sacrifice and allow Him to be Lord in our lives, we can be saved from the condemnation we have (and will) create for ourselves by our rebellion against God’s law.

As for the Gospel in Mary Poppins, part of this is me; I have a knack for finding the Gospel in just about anything, but Mary Poppins lends itself to it so beautifully.  You see, Mr. Banks is much like Judaism* was and much of modern Judaism* is; he is a man ruled by law, and he fails to realize the law is insufficient to save him. He believes that the law will create a proper family, government, etc. He misses the fact that the law is pointing to Someone greater, that Banks himself cannot fulfill the law he claims to hold to!

Enter a Bert. Bert is a type/picture of the Holy Spirit. He is present among the people, doing what he can to point to the Truth, but folks aren’t always listening, and even some that are listening don’t care. It is Bert who enlightens the watcher to notice that the law alone is insufficient to save the Banks, and he identifies that Mary Poppins is someone of unique ability.

Enter Mary Poppins. We are told in the Bible that at the fullness of times, Jesus was sent (Galatians 4:4). In the same way, it is when the Banks are at a point of readiness that Mary Poppins enters. Mr. Banks is comfortable in his law, Mrs. Banks in her tepid rebellions against Mr. Banks, and the children in their childish manners. It is also the children who give us the first glimpse of who Mary Poppins should be. This harkens back to Jesus statement that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as children (Matthew 19:14).

So, Mary Poppins shows up and does not contradict or demean Mr. Banks. In fact, she shows him that she fulfills his requirements, but in a way he did not expect. She produces before him an incredible example of a prim and proper lady, but without the religiosity of his law. And it is her presence that enlivened the whole house, as Jesus presence changed history!

At the proper time, Mary Poppins has set things in order and makes her exit. This is where the analogy diverges. Mary Poppins says goodbye and is gone, leaving Bert with no particular instructions. But her mark is clearly made and felt.

When Jesus time to exit came, it took place over many weeks. There was his judgment by the High Priest, his brutal beating, his being mocked, his 40 lashes (which often killed people, it was that brutal), and his crucifixion (before which, it is noted that he was barely recognizable). He hangs on a cross for 3 hours before giving up His Spirit and dying. After which, His body is buried in a tomb for three days before He rises. He then spent some time (I forget the exact number at the moment) showing Himself before 500 witnesses (at different times) before finally ascending to Heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit, which now lives within those who claim Jesus as their own) to take care of those of us here, and as a guarantee of His promise to return.

I do find it interesting, though, that Mary Poppins ends with the flying of kites and that she, too, ascends into the skies not to be found. There are other tidbits within the movie that point, I think, to other details of the Gospel, but I won’t go into those here for brevity sake. All around, it is one of my absolute favorite movies!

*If my statement about Judaism are inaccurate, please understand I mean no offense, y’all! Seriously! I have a ton of love for Israel and all Jews! This has been my understanding of Judaism pre- and post-Christianity. While I don’t want to get into a full argument, I welcome some correction in the comments, as long as you’re not rude or foul-mouthed about it. Thank you!

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A Heartfelt Mind-Meld: Just Breathe!

Posted on 21 July 2014 by NerdyLenses

First, I apologize to all my followers and random readers!  It has been too long since I have blogged, and I apologize for the delayed absence.  This is hopefully the start of a series of posts, but more on that shortly!  ON WITH THE POST!!!

A friend of mine recently encouraged me to begin this series of posts. You see, she’s a single-parent too, and had begun to share from a Single-Mom’s perspective. In the process of her posts, I began to notice things that I had yet to solve in my head. Well, she thinks many of us guys might deal with the same questions, so here I am! I hope this is helpful!

So, a bit of my story, I think, is pertinent. The question with any story is, how far back do you go? You see, no story ever truly starts in the beginning (Star Wars had a long history, Star Trek had the journey to intergalactic starships, and even Mary Poppins had history with Burt!). I guess I’ll give you the “It’s a Wonderful Life” fly-over from my college days forward. I apologize, in advance, for the length. I just don’t know how to tell a story without walking alongside you through it.

When I was in college, I had recently lost my Dad, and I was still seeking deep friendships. I hadn’t realized the depth at which God was trying to reach me, mostly because I kept God at an arm’s length, wanting out of hell, but…well, to put it kindly, I wanted all the junk that earth could offer. (Yeah. That’s probably the best way to say it without getting graphic.) I wanted to play in the world because it looked like so much fun! People there had people who loved them, wanted them around, and even wanted to make them happy. Sure; it was all a give-and-take system, but boy, it looked lovely!

Wow, negative sounding, huh? Well, I guess I should explain a bit more. I’ve always been kind of a nerd. (“No! You don’t say?!? A guy with a blog called Through Nerdy Lenses??? A nerd???”) But even worse, I was a Christian Nerd. And how’s that worse? Simple, I didn’t fit in…anywhere! As a nerd, I wasn’t one of the cool kids who rode skateboards (though I tried), played the cool sports (though I went out for football once), nor did I have the cool house, live in the cool area, etc. As the Christian, I was an outcast amongst nerds; I didn’t play Magic, didn’t believe in Evolution (and the evidence I had for Creation was dismissed, regardless of its validity), nor did I engage the Star Wars Universe or Star Trek Universe to understand the ins and outs and details of those worlds. As such, I floated; I was cool enough as a fellow believer but still an outsider, and I was rejected by the nerds as a Creationist-fool.

Hmm…dark, right? Meh. This was life! It’s not like I sat and wallowed in it, but it did contribute to who I became. I was always looking for that person who made me feel like I fit in. And she did. Who? Well, as I was at college, I met this freshman (mind you, I was a several-years-in freshman) who totally rocked my world. She was pretty, fun, and she treated me like any other human! My nerdy side excited her, and my Christian side made me a friend for her. All around, it began to feel like a match made in heaven. I marveled that this could be, but it was! It was not long (and I mean, not quite 90 days even!) before I approached her Dad. I asked for his perspective, and by the time the conversation was over, I was asking for permission to marry her.

If that sounds like a mistake, then you’re only partially right. Here’s the irony of this whole thing: God kept leading me into a massive error. “Whoa!   Did you just say God led you into sin?” Ha! Far from it! No. In fact, God led me into a wonderful relationship that I partly screwed up, but more accurately, God used to get my attention. And here’s where I fast forward!!! =)

9 years from that fateful conversation, through many ups, downs, backs and forths, she and I were 7 years married, living in a mountain town, raising three wee-babes. I was not a perfect husband (no one is…trust me), and I brought my own failures and baggage into our marriage. From the get-go, we had struggles, and over the years, I thought things got better. In reality, they were getting horribly worse. Like a cracked foundation deep under a house, my marriage was crumbling, and I was blithely unaware. In fact, I had recently acquired a job that gave me that feeling that I was making a difference (beyond making money). That job had helped me be unaware because, as I would later realized, I had put it as more important than my family.

In the months prior, many issues had caused pain in our lives; one child was in the hospital with a serious, but short-lived, illness. Another child had been in for observation. Last of all, the woman I married had struggled with some medical issues, the most serious of which was a liver malfunction and the least of which caused us to hold off on having any more kids for a short while. This all set the stage for the perfect storm, which stripped the last off of her. Over several weeks, she began to change; she started smoking, drinking (though I never realized how much), and I was told, from a friend at church, of a time when she had suddenly called to get a sitter. One day, as I considered these things, I punched out as early as I could from work and headed home. I called home to tell her I’d be home, and that was the end of that.

When I got home, my world forever changed! My children were home, but I could not find my wife. In an attempt to keep my emotions from overwhelming me, I went into investigation mode. I quickly began digging up the evidence and details of all that had occurred. Over the next 18 hours, I had recreated a timeline of the events of that Tuesday and knew what had happened. Within 48 hours more, I finally got answers, which confirmed my worst fears, in the most painful of ways. My wife had run off with another man. As I told a friend at the time, “I feel like I’m back in High School and my steady-girlfriend just asked if we can just be friends. But she’s my wife!?!?!”

I’m a lover, not a fighter. LOL! It’s mostly true. I fight for many things, truth, justice, and love. But when I am deeply wounded, I can’t fight at that moment. I don’t think most men can. When you really feel that deep-cut, it knocks the wind out of you. Another infamous quote came as a friend drove me to a lawyer he trusted; my head was spinning from the inside-out, and I couldn’t believe it was all happening. As I sat in the passenger seat, trying to consider what to do, I spoke the truth, “I think I’m gonna throw up.” “Go for it. I’ve got rubber mats,” was his response. It made me laugh, and helped make the pain more bearable. (Within the next 6 months, this friend would go home to be with Jesus.)  Originally, Legal Separation was filed, hoping that there would be a reconciliation, but before long, I was informed that it would be a full Divorce.  In just under 8 months, I went from a life I loved, living my dreams, to a life I had never wanted, even in my nightmares.

But here I stand, 4 years later, raising my children. I am 4 years divorced, emerging from bankruptcy (at least, the payments part of it), and God has proven Himself faithful so many times that I have lost count! (And I probably missed a few times too!) I get the incredible blessing to raise my children to know Jesus and to help them understand the simplicity that it is to follow Him.

Dear reader, my first message to you (in this hopeful series) is this: just breathe! Take a deep, sucking breath until your lungs will hold no more, then blow it out like a balloon that’s been let go!

I dearly pray that no one EVER has to go through what I did. At the same time, I know that many more will! And that breaks my heart in ways few will know. So, dear reader, if you are among those many who will go through this, know that you have my prayers! Know that you have a friend to fight alongside you, even if from the distance of the internet. And, most of all, if you are a brother/sister in Jesus with me, then you should know that we serve a God of miracles! Perhaps I will share more on that another time, but I will say that I and others have seen God work in miraculous ways through the judicial system. Nothing is beyond His ability…let me say that again. N-O-T-H-I-N-G is beyond HIS ability! Ask of Him, and let Him prove Himself to you. That’s not an invitation to make God your slave, as if He has to prove something to you, but it is an opportunity to lay your Isaac on the altar and watch Him provide the Lamb!

Vires et Honorem!

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DISCLAIMER: I’m in the US, and this post is mostly US-centric.  That said, I think non-US folks can still translate the principles herein.  I just warn you because I don’t want to confuse you the way I speak of things herein.  =)  With that, please read on!  =)

So, in recent months (and maybe year or two), there has been a “boycott” against a known coffee company.  And initially, I jumped on that bandwagon.  This company is encouraging something I am completely against!  I was “voting with my dollars.”

And that’s when it hit me.

Where in the world does the Bible tell me to “vote with my dollars?”  Last I checked, the phrase was definitely not in the Bible (nor was Yen, Euro, or Deutschmarks, just in case you wondered).  I know…I can hear your jaw droppin’ at that surprise!!!  =)

But in all seriousness, why would am I boycotting?  First of all, boycotts these days have a very bad track record.  Why?  Well, largely because society has drug itself to the bottom of the sludge pit and many of our convictions are lost in the ooze of our selfishness and desires.  But even beyond that, boycotts used to work because the company being boycotted was doing something folks almost unanimously were against.  So, is this company really going to so far against the curve?

Sadly, no.  Said coffee company (yeah, that one, but do I have to type it?) is actually going with the majority now.  Many people in our country don’t see this moral issue as a moral issue.  They see it as a lifestyle choice, a civil right issue, or even a radical prejudice.

So, where’s the problem?  What did I miss here?  I missed the original point; that point that was banging the back of my brain, that was calling out from the pages of Scripture, that point that was long before any dadgum boycott! I missed the Gospel!

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”  I’m going to pause there.  Did Jesus say “make boycotters” or “make protesters”?  No.  He said disciples.  What’s a disciple?  A disciple is one who devotes his life to the doctrines/teaching of a given teacher.  In this case, it is someone who is devoted to knowing Jesus (personally, because He is, after all, alive!), what He teaches, and who lives their life in accordance thereto.

So, am I going to get the chance to convert Howard Schultz?  As much as that would be AWESOME, geographically, socially, and pretty much every other way, I don’t think that would happen.  But I can pray for him to come to know Jesus.

Did you catch that?  I can pray!  I.can.pray!  I can pray!  Prayer, that incredible exchange with God, that time when I can ask God for whatever I need, that time when I surrender my will and my thoughts on issues into His plan and choice for the future, that time when my Father, who is in Heaven, stops and listens to His Son, who is listening to me.  I can pray!

I wonder what would happen if everyone boycotting said coffee company would just stop for 5 minutes a day, and pray for Mr. Schultz’s heart to be softened, for someone to share the Gospel with Him, and for that dear man, another of the original branch, to receive his Messiah.  I wonder.  Do you think that we might see another soul in heaven when we get there?  Do you think we might give the world one less cause by which to mock our Lord, their Creator?  Maybe, just maybe, before this old world expires and collapses into darkness, we could grab a few more souls by praying for them, instead of boycotting their products.

Now, please, don’t get me wrong.  If God moves you to boycott something, by all means, do so!  “Meat sacrificed to idols” as the old Christian-ese goes (see Romans 14 for further exposition).  At the same time, please understand if I don’t jump on that cause with you; please understand if I drop to my knees, instead.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I beg you to remember that prayer is not our last resort.  As I have been so aptly reminded in the last few weeks, it is our first stop!  Before we look to our checkbooks, assemble the “troops,” as it were, or even ask “what am I going to do?”, let us first drop to our knees before our ever-loving, incredible God, and ask, “What is Your will, Lord?”  Let us not get swayed by monies, causes, or even our own righteousness; let us always remember that ours is “a spiritual battle with human enemies.”  In other words, it’s not about strong-arming folks to agree with us but about bringing souls to eternal life by having a relationship with Jesus through His sacrifice and blood.

Let us give up our “causes,” as it were, and live for Him, so that when the insults are thrown, it is only because we are seeking and saving the lost, not because our “God” is “weak” because He couldn’t stop some company from supporting an immoral cause.  My God ain’t weak!

As always, it’s just my two cents.  Take it or leave it.

Posted on 9 February 2014 by NerdyLenses | Leave a comment

Sacred Cows Make the Best Hamburgers

Posted on 9 June 2013 by NerdyLenses

That is the title of a book, and it has stuck out as a singular principle that makes me chuckle.  The idea behind it, of course, is that we all have pet ideologies, sacred cows, that we carry around.  They are not necessarily truth, or they are full-blown lies, but we carry them as something we’ll defend to death!  And these cows, the principle goes, make some of the best hamburgers, in that we put them to death and use their remains to get us to the truth.

Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but this has been a recurring theme in recent weeks, months, and even the year.  God seems bent upon driving everything out of me until all I have left is His will.  Now, that sounds bad, but think about it, really.  If I am to give my life to His use, what better reality can exist than to drive all of “me” out and let all of Him fill the space?  This doesn’t mean I stop being me, nerdi-ness and all.  It just means that I stop being so focused on me, what I want, what I (think I) need, etc.  I become conformed to His will.  Don’t believe this is what God would do?  Let’s take a look.

(I apologize for the older English.  I only have a KJV handy at the moment.)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. – Romans 12:1-2

Did you catch the last part?  Be not conformed to this world…but transformed by the renewing of your mind…  Now, I’ll admit that in my few decades on this earth, my mind has NOT been encouraged toward God for much of it.  My parents and youth pastors tried, but the schools I attended and some of my friends pushed it a different way.  That is not to mention the stuff I did to myself because I participated in sin!

Ok, ok.  So, where am I going with this?  Simple.  What are you willing to give up to have God?  “Who says I have to give up anything?!?!”  God does.  Take a look:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord the God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Oh!  That’s the Old Testament!  The New Testament says that love is not jealous and God is love.  Hold on now, friend!  Hold on.  God is love, this is true!  But God is also righteous and just.  These characteristics demand God be glorified, not out of spite and arrogance, but out of decency.  It would be like demanding that people don’t set fire to burning trees.  The only reason you’d do that is to kill the tree and maybe to start a forest fire.  The one difference is that in God’s case, He is the only one who deserves that worship.

But let’s break it down.  What could you possibly worship before God?  Mmm.  Your job!  Your paycheck!  Your car!  Your girlfriend!  Your boyfriend!  Your worldview (the way you view the world)!  All of it!  Remember, “or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath…”  You could even get in trouble by putting the whales above serving God!  And again, remember that this isn’t because of some ego trip that God is on.  No!  This is because He truly does deserve this!

So, what does that look like?  It looks like the dismantling of a Jenga tower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7H6wGy5zf4).  And yeah, in the midst of what God is doing, it may feel like your tower is going to fall…and it may!  But the blessing of knowing Who God is, lies in knowing that even if our own kingdoms fall, He will rebuild it into His Eternal Kingdom; that which is lost becomes better than it could have ever been.

So, walk with me once more into the Scriptures, and see something of what this looks like.  Do you remember Abraham?  Well the first encounter we have with Abraham is when he’s named Abram.  And as Abram, God comes to him and says, “Get up, and go to a land I will show you.”  Now think about that.  What if I showed up at your door and said, “Come on!  Let’s go.”  You probably wouldn’t go with me unless you know me; so we know Abram had a relationship with God.  But also, if you turned to me and asked, “Where are we going?”  It’s a reasonable question, but I answer with, “Oh!  I’ll show you.”  It takes and incredible relationship to trust that, but it takes even more to trust that if I tell you to pack some large duffel bags for a trip. In fact, you’re not coming home from this trip!

So, Abram follows and God eventually promises him a son, a son of his own loins, even though Sarah is too old to be carrying a child to term, let alone carrying one at all.  Still, God makes a promise and eventually turns Abrams name into Abraham.  God saves Abraham’s wife’s integrity twice, even though Abraham is lieing, and even makes Abraham very wealthy in the process.  But in the midst of this all, Abraham’s trust wanes as several years (possibly decades) pass by.  Abraham is stuck in his own thought process and doesn’t understand the miracle God wants to perform.  So, Abraham, at the encouragement of his wife, has a child with his wife’s maidservant.  In short, this does not turn out well either, and it is the single greatest reason why we have conflict in the middle east today: two basic nations warring against each other.

Well, God eventually comes through with His promise, twenty-five years after He originally promised it.  Just take a second.  For many of us, that is 50-80% of our lives thus far!  50-80% of your life waiting!  Just waiting!!!  I don’t think many of us can conceive (no pun intended) of the dedication it takes to hold to that kind of a promise.  I think we all understand, now, why Abraham and Sarah might have gotten a little impatient since they are WELL PAST the birthing years!

But they have Isaac, and that’s great!  And that’s it, right?  I mean, God fulfilled His promise, and Abraham had waited, so God should give him a break now, right?  We like the idea, but it’s not what happens.  No, in fact, some years, as Isaac is now grown, God calls Abraham to make another sacrifice: he is to sacrifice his son!  And mind the trust of Isaac.  By most scholar’s estimates, Isaac was, broadly, between 5-36, but the Jewish Historian Josephus puts him at or near 25 years old.  In short, old enough to fight back good and old enough for this to be a gut-wrenching decision by Abraham to sacrifice his only son (Ishmael was cast away already), especially when he was just reaching that age to marry and have children.  Ouch!

And it came to pass after these things, that God did [test] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.  And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovestk, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.  And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his [donkey], and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

…

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it uon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My faterh: and he said, Here am I, my son.  And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering.  And Abraham said, My son God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. – Genesis 22:1-3, 6-8

To shorten the quote, the simple is that as Abraham is about to plunge the knife into Isaac, God stops him and even provides a ram to be sacrificed.  But what Abraham is rewarded for is his willingness to do what it would take!  He was willing to trust God to do something miraculous again!  Maybe God would raise Isaac from the dead, maybe another heir, maybe something….we don’t know.  But Abraham trusted the entire way; I don’t think he trusted blindly either.  I think that Abraham knew God well enough by then to know that God was going to provide.

And so that leads us back to you, dear reader.  What will you decide?  As God pulls your Jenga blocks and unsettles your tower, what will be your response?  Will you scramble to save what you can?  Will you argue with Him about how bad a God He is for doing what He did?  Or will you trust in His goodness?  Will you trust in His sovereignty?  Will you trust in His infinite, perfect knowledge, goodness, love, and grace?

For my take, throw another burger on the grill!  It’s gonna hurt to hear it sizzle!  And yet, when I smell that sweet aroma of the “burger” cooking and feel the freedom of falling into God’s arms, I will know i have made the right choice.  Because I will know I have trusted Him!

Your call…

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