Keep Your Fork

Posted on February 3, 2011 by jesustrek

2 Cor.5:8—“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

We probably don’t think about heaven as much as we should. Sometimes we need to be reminded that this life is temporary and that the best is yet to come.

After Glen Wheeler’s wife died several years ago, he often reminisced about the little things he missed. For instance, after supper, as she was clearing the dishes, sometimes she would say, “Keep your fork.”

Glen always smiled when he heard those words because he knew that they were going to have dessert. The best was yet to come!

Heaven will be so much better than what we experience here on earth! In a very real sense, God says to the Christian, “Keep your fork. As wonderful as this life is, the best is yet to come!”

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Necessary Pain

Posted on February 2, 2011 by jesustrek

My friend’s young son received a small cut on his head that required stitches. Several attempts to numb the wounded area failed, so they decided to go ahead and sew up the cut with the father holding his son. The boy cried out, “Daddy, you can’t let them do this to me!”

But he did. The father felt so bad that he himself had to lie down afterwards. But he let them do that to his son because he knew that it was necessary.

My friend now understands a little bit better how God must have felt when he let men do to his Son what they did. It was a painful—but necessary—ordeal.

“…without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Heb.9:22).

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Heb.9:27-28).

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Obvious Growth

Posted on February 1, 2011 by jesustrek
Sara Hammond

She sure has grown a lot.

Sara is the daughter of some friends of mine. The last memory I had of Sara was when she was hanging out at church camp. She was about nine years old–too young to be part of the group that was there that week–so she went off by herself to play. She was very content to be a normal little girl, and this is how she became frozen in my mind.

I moved away, and had little contact with Sara’s family for about nine years. In the meantime, she grew up.

Shortly after I moved back to Kentucky a few months ago, I read about Sara in the sports section of the newspaper. It seems that she turned out to be quite a basketball player. She is now over six feet tall, and is one of the best high school players in the state. She has been recruited to play for the University of Louisville.

As soon as I learned this, I knew that I had to make a road trip. I needed to see with my own eyes how Sara had grown up and become the young lady that she is today.

Last night I made the 3-hour drive to watch her play. In my own unbiased opinion, Sara is magnificent! She possesses the skills of a guard, but she is most effective under the basket—rebounding, scoring and blocking shots. She handles herself with grace and self-control, exuding confidence without coming across as being arrogant. Although she is the best player on her team, she is a good passer who looks to get the ball to her teammates whenever she can.

After the game I got a chance to speak to Sara. I didn’t expect her to remember me, but she was genuinely appreciative of the fact that I had driven so far to see her play. Her social skills seem to be on par with her basketball skills, and her parents told me that she is doing well with her spiritual growth also.

I sure was proud to see how much Sara has grown in every way.

The Bible says, “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” (1 Tim.4:15).

Does God expect us to grow? Obviously! Here is the key question—If someone saw you for the first time in nine years, could he or she tell that you have grown in Christ?

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Teach Your Children Well

Posted on January 31, 2011 by jesustrek

A family was driving home from church, where they had just participated in a baby dedication service for their newest addition. Suddenly, the baby’s older brother started sobbing loudly.

“What’s the matter?” asked his parents.

“The preacher said he wanted us to grow up in a Christian home, but I want to stay with you guys!”

Are your children and grandchildren learning what Christian life is all about? It’s nice to have children’s ministers and volunteers at church to help teach our young ones about the Lord. However, it’s the parents’ responsibility to see that such spiritual training occurs.

“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” (Deut.11:18-21).

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Motivated

Posted on January 29, 2011 by jesustrek
Li Na

Li Na recently rallied from match point to make a comeback against the number one tennis player in the world, Caroline Wozniacki, in the Australian Open semifinals. When she was asked what motivated her comeback, Li Na had this answer for reporters: “Prize money.”

We Christians don’t have to earn our reward from God. He has freely given us our heavenly prize by way of the grace he has shown us through his Son Jesus Christ.

However, his grace motivates us to do our best to live up to our calling. Phil.3:13-14 says, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. 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.”

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Truth Be Told

Posted on January 28, 2011 by jesustrek

Stephen Wilce resigned from the position of director of defense technology in New Zealand last September. The following month a military court found that Wilce had fabricated amazing stories about his life. He claimed to have competed in the Olympics, served as a helicopter pilot in the military, been a British spy, played on an international rugby team and been a folk music guitarist.

Investigators found that none of this was true. Wilce admitted that he had been making up stories about himself since he was a child.

Perhaps we all have a tendency to embellish the truth about ourselves in order to impress others. We want people to like us, and we would like to feel that our lives have some significance.

We shouldn’t feel the need to stretch the truth about ourselves in order for God to love us more. He loves us just as we are. Oh, that’s no excuse to remain as we are; God expects us to always be seeking to become more like he wants us to be. But there is nothing we can do to make him love us any more than he already does.

That’s the unembellished truth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

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An Important Speech

Posted on January 27, 2011 by jesustrek

The King’s Speech is a British movie that tells the story of King George VI, who sought to overcome his serious speech impediment with the help of a speech therapist as World War II was unfolding in Europe.

The plot reminds me of another leader who dealt with a speech problem in a time of great crisis. Moses, when called by God to lead the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt, offered a number of excuses to try to get out of the assignment. One of them was that he wasn’t a good speaker. “Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exod.4:10). The Lord responded by telling Moses that he would help him to speak, and that he would send his brother Aaron to share in the speaking duties (Exod.4:14-17).

Things turned out pretty well for Moses and the Israelites. As a matter of fact, Acts 7:22 describes Moses as “…powerful in speech and action.”

I suppose the lesson is that God will help us to speak whenever he wants us to say something important. We just need to trust him more.

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The Winter of Our Content

Posted on January 26, 2011 by jesustrek

My wife and I moved a year ago this month. I don’t advise anyone to move in January in Indiana, but that’s what we did.

Considering our circumstances at the time, you might think we would have had a winter of unrest, to say the least. I had just resigned from a ministry without knowing where my next position would be. We planned to live on my wife’s income from her part-time job until God gave me my next assignment. We had found a temporary place to live, which meant moving twice.

On top of all that, I was in the middle of a slow recovery from major surgery on my left (dominant) hand. I was unable to help load and unload our belongings. Karen had to drive the truck back to the rental dealership. There was snow on the ground, and more was coming down as I followed behind in our car.

You would think we would be at least a bit discouraged about our circumstances, but we weren’t. Maybe we were naïve. Or maybe we were experiencing what Paul felt when he wrote “…I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…” (Phil.4:12).

I just know that as I drove along the highway on that cold, snowy day, I was feeling quite satisfied to be in God’s hands and following his will. It was going to be a good winter.

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No Slam Dunk

Posted on January 25, 2011 by jesustrek

University of Kentucky basketball player Stacey Poole recently fumbled away a ball while trying to execute a flashy dunk rather than simply shooting a layup. When head coach John Calipari asked Poole why he didn’t just lay the ball in the basket, he replied, “Because you don’t understand my game.” To which Calipari responded, “I do. That’s why I’m not playing you much.”

Jesus teaches that those who want to do great things for the Lord will first have to prove themselves faithful in what might seem to be small matters. Matt.25:21 says, “His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

I fear that many players on the Lord’s team feel that their Coach is keeping them on the sidelines for no good reason. They are ready to plant a new church, go to a foreign mission field, write the next top song on the Christian charts, start a nationwide revival or perform some other great feat for the kingdom.

Perhaps God has something like this in mind for you to do. But maybe he is just waiting to see if you can make a layup.

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Joy of Life

Posted on January 23, 2011 by jesustrek

My wife and I once took into our home a young lady who was going through an unexpected pregnancy. She made arrangements to have her child adopted by a Christian couple.

When the baby arrived, I got to spend some time with that precious, beautiful girl in the hospital. I remember holding her on my chest while she slept. Our hearts beat together, and I was filled with joy to experience being a small part of helping that newborn have a good, safe start in life.

We kept in touch with the adoptive parents, and about five years after her birth, we visited the little girl and her family. The youngster acted shy at first, but she soon warmed up to me, and eventually jumped up into my arms for a big, long hug.

She occupied the exact same position on my chest as she had five years earlier. Once again our hearts beat together, and I felt a rush of pure joy.

I urge you to get involved with the pro-life movement in some significant way. It will do your heart good.

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