So Much More

“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”    – 1 Peter 4:1-3

Some time ago I read where someone posed a very thought provoking question and it has stuck in my brain ever since.  The question is very simple:  If you knew that heaven and hell were no longer in the equation of how you live your life, would you still choose to follow Jesus?  Would you still choose to do the will of God or would you “spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires”?  Now, I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here because if you are a believer you know that there is, in fact, a heaven and a hell.  But the question has challenged me to explore a bit deeper into my relationship with Christ.  Why do I follow Him?  Is it because I can get free fire protection?  What if we examine some other passions in our lives?  How about exercise, I love exercise!  If we knew that exercising would not really make any difference for us in the long term, would we keep doing it?  Do you hate doing it or does it give you a “high”?  Any sports fans out there?  Guilty.  Ok, so what if you knew that the VOLS (or whatever loser team that YOU like) would not win a national championship ever again?  Would you forget about them all together, or are you still glued to the television on Saturdays?  Do any of you ever drive faster than the posted speed limit? (me either)  What if there were no penalties for speeding?  Would you drive around at 110 mph everywhere you go or do you still have a few safety concerns for you and your family?  So are you only living for Christ because of the end result?  Or do you find that living for Christ provides daily blessings that you would never choose to live without?  Do you find that living for Christ is really just an annoyance or does it bring you great joy? I believe that if we are honest with ourselves, even if we found out in the end that there was no heaven or hell, wouldn’t it have been worth it to live for Christ anyway?  Wouldn’t it have been worth it to call him Father, Friend, Lord?  Wouldn’t it have been worth it to stand for Him rather than stand for evil?  Thank God that there is a GREAT reward for those of us that choose to live for Him!  But living for Christ is not just about the heavenly rewards.  No, it is so much more!

Happy Weekend!

Take A Walk With Him

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”    -Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

I like to read different translations of different scriptures.  I’m not necessarily the brightest bulb in the box so sometimes reading passages from The Message really opens my eyes to things.  I love this passage and the simplicity with which Jesus is speaking.  He is saying to us, “Hey, following me isn’t always gonna be easy but I will take care of you.  Just watch me.  I will teach you how to do it and as a result you will live freely.”  Being a Christ follower isn’t always easy.  Sometimes it feels like taking the other path would just make more sense.  Then we get caught up in religion;  Who teaches from the right translation of the Bible?  Who sings the right songs?  Who plays the right music or who plays music at all?  Should the pastor wear a robe?  Should the men wear a suit?  Do we drink the juice from a little plastic cup or from a wine glass?  Do we worship only on Sunday or will God still show up to church on Saturday? Then we add, on top of all that, the burden of trying to obey all the rules so God will smile on us.  We get tired, worn out and burned out.  Jesus tells us to quit worrying about all of those things.  Following Him really comes down to one thing: commitment.  He wants all of us.  He isn’t concerned with doctrines and rules.  He is concerned with mercy and grace.  He is concerned with love and compassion.  So if you are feeling worn out today, forget about the rules.  Forget about religion.  He wants to show you how to do it. Take a walk with Him.

When the Storm Erupts

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” …   Matthew 8:23-25

We all know this story.  Jesus slept in the boat as a fierce storm erupted.  The disciples temporarily lost a little faith.  They thought the storm would consume them even though Jesus was with them.  They called out for help and Jesus says, “Dudes! I got this.  What are you so worried about?  Hey wind, hush!  Hey waves, settle down!”  And just like that, the storm was over and the disciples were amazed.  They were still learning who they were dealing with here.  How often do we feel like the “storm” that is brewing in our life is going to consume us?  We want to run over and shake Jesus and say, “Hey man, wake up!  Don’t you see what’s going on here?  I’m about to drown!”  The reality is that He is not asleep.  He is well aware of what’s happening in our life.  He saw that storm coming while we were still out basking in the sun.  And He isn’t scared.  He isn’t worried.  He doesn’t say, “Oh dear.  I hope Todd can make it through this one.”  Nope.  What He says is, “I got this.”  We are the ones who forget.  We are ones who let worry consume.  We are the ones who need to have faith.  In Isaiah 54:10 God says, “I have spoken it, and I will make it happen.  I have planned it, and I will do it.”  There isn’t a lot left for interpretation here.  “I will make it happen.”  “I will do it.”  God has never promised that we won’t face trials and tribulations.  Heck, it’s pretty much a guarantee that if you are a Christ Follower you will face some of the most difficult trials of anyone you know.  That’s part of being all in with Christ.  But there is a reward coming.  Have faith in Him, even when the storm erupts!

And Then He Does!

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”    -Mark 11:24

For those of you that know me personally, you know that I am kind of a “fitness dude”.  This past weekend, I embarked on my first ever full marathon.  And as if running 26.2 miles wasn’t enough, I took on the challenge of running them in the Great Smokey Mountains.  Brilliant, I know.  Now I don’t have to tell you that the terrain was incredibly steep and unless you have run this particular course you cannot have an appreciation for what that truly means.  I also don’t have to tell you that we don’t have a lot of mountainous terrain in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Therefore, my training did not consist of many hill runs.  What you probably can figure out by now is that by mile 16, my leg muscles were in full on spasm mode and I began to question whether I could continue on for 10 more miles to the finish.  I don’t have a lot of quit in me but at that moment, it was a word that was on the tip of my tongue.  Thanks to some friends, I was able to ice my legs for a while.  And while I was icing, I was praying.  That’s right, praying.  I was praying for strength.  I was praying for pain relief.  I was praying for the spasms and cramping to stop.  Well, no angels showed up to carry me.  The sky didn’t break open.  Everything wasn’t back to normal.  But I know this much….At mile 16 I was barely able to take 10 steps without falling to the ground because of severe cramping and spasms.  10 miles later I RAN across the finish line.  I know, I know.  It was just a race.  It was just a run.  Do I really think that God shows up for these little things in life?…………..Yeah……Yeah I do.  Don’t under estimate God.  He can move mountains and He can certainly pick me up and carry me to the finish line.  He can heal that headache.  Better yet, He can remove that cancer.  He can mend that friendship.  Better yet, He can save that marriage.  I’m not saying that you are gonna win the lottery tomorrow as a result of your bedtime prayers.  I’m saying that God loves His children.  God wants to help you.  God wants you to believe that He can make it happen.  And then He does!

A Humbling Day

Well, it wasn’t as I had planned but 26.2 miles are in the books.  Our group got started at 8:00 am sharp. 

 

The first 13.1 went great for me and my running partner Jamin. We were in a top 10 group at the half-way point.  Great scenery along the way. The beautiful Smokey Mountains!

 

  

  

 We stopped for a quick evidentiary selfie at the 13 mile marker. 

 

 

Then, things went south. The second half consisted of some of the worst hills I have ever been on. Not a lot of mountainous terrain in good ol Middle Tennessee so I wasn’t quite prepared, nor were my quadricep muscles which began spazzing and seizing up for the next several miles. 20 minutes of icing gave me enough relief to finish. Finally got through to the finish line for some celebratory Tru Moo chocolate milk!

   

 

Overall it was a wonderful experience. As wrecked as I am I am so grateful for the ability to run and for the opportunity to achieve a new goal.  Now, for my ice bath!

Mountain Man March

Getting ready to tackle 26.2 miles in these mountains in honor of some brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. May God bless this beautiful day, those men and women and their families. Let’s get it!! 

 

Recalculating

“But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”    -Genesis 3:9

Have you been in an unfamiliar town lately trying to get somewhere specific?  Did you pull out a map?  I know, what’s a map, right?  If you’re like me you just type in the address where you are trying to go into your handy little gps on your dash or even on your smartphone.  Then you listen and drive where the friendly little voice tells you to go.  You trust her, don’t you?  After all, without her to guide you, you will surely get lost.  And heaven forbid, especially for us men, we SHALL NOT stop and ask directions!  We will figure it out.  But we don’t have to because the gps lady knows where we need to go and how to get there…….until she gets it wrong.  “Honey, this doesn’t look right.  Where are we?  We’re lost aren’t we?”  Well I don’t know!  You heard her, she said to go this way!!   How come we will listen to the little lady in the box and trust her when she is taking us and our children into some dead end alley, but we won’t listen to God when He wants us to go across the street to help a neighbor?  Or maybe God is trying to pull us out of a bad place, but we just don’t seem to want to listen to His directions?  Or maybe, we are just to stubborn to ask God for the directions?  Because maybe He might just tell us to go somewhere we don’t want to go?  Maybe it will be somewhere uncomfortable?  I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure I have been guilty, on more than one occasion, of not following a path that God was trying to lead me down.  Maybe because I thought I was smarter.  Maybe because I thought I wasn’t hearing the directions right.  Maybe because I just didn’t want to listen.  Today I am inviting you to go on a new journey.  No gps required, just you and God.  But there is one very important part of this journey….don’t ask Him to take you somewhere if you aren’t willing to follow the directions.  God’s plans and directions are unwavering.  There is no “recalculating”.

Under the Radar

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”   -1 Peter 2:24

Today we celebrate Good Friday.  That is to say that we celebrate Christ’s death.  Huh?  Celebrate DEATH?  Yes, death.  Death that gives us life.  I was thinking about Good Friday and how it kinda slips under the radar.  I mean, the “holiday radar”.  If you think about it, Valentine’s Day has people all over the world gushing for their sweetheart.  You can’t walk into a grocery store without being bombarded by balloons and long-stem roses.  The Fourth of July brings about barbecues and fireworks, and bottle rocket wars for weeks after!  Then there is the holiday sponsored by the National Dental Association in which we get dressed up in all kinds of weird outfits and beg for candy.  The day after Halloween we begin putting out our hay bales and corn stalks for turkey day prep and, of course, we begin listening to Christmas music.  And then we celebrate Christmas all the way until the new year begins.  Easter is fun for the kiddies who look for hidden eggs and baskets delivered by a long-eared furry creature.  Then there is Good Friday…….Good Friday?  What is it exactly?  It’s a celebration of Jesus’ crucifixion.  But we don’t make much of it, do we?  We gather around a table, drink some grape juice, eat some bread and say a prayer.  People!  This is the day that Jesus was BORN for!  Yes, Christmas is very important of course!  This is the celebration of Jesus’ birth.  But He was born to die on a Roman cross so that WE, YOU, ME, ALL OF US could LIVE FOR ETERNITY!!!  He lived out His whole life on earth in preparation for THIS day!  I know.  It’s unlikely that we will ever put up any trees, lights, streamers, hay bales, corn stalks or pumpkins to commemorate Good Friday.  But today…today, think about what today REALLY means.  “By His wounds you have been healed”.  Whether you choose to get down on your knees and lift your hands to Heaven, shouting praise to the King, or you choose to silently say thank you…..celebrate Good Friday.  Thank Christ for what He did for you today.  Don’t let today fly under your radar.

Easter Dress

“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”       -Joshua 24:15

A few days ago my wife announced to my daughter that she was taking her to shop for a new Easter dress.  Now, it seemed to me that the dress she was wearing at the time was sufficient for Easter and I tried to talk her into just wearing it.  But in her mind, she had already chosen to go in search of a new, pink dress and so the current dress just wasn’t good enough.  A short time later my daughter learned that her friends were at home and looking for her to come play.  Suddenly, playing with her friends was all that mattered.  I asked, “What about your new dress?”.  She quickly responded, “But I thought I was just gonna wear the one I already have on?”.  Isn’t that sort of how we treat God sometimes?  I mean, we have every intention of serving Him, but then a better offer comes along.  I was gonna head to church but my buddy called with an extra ticket to the game.  I was planning on attending small groups tonight but my friends want to have a cookout.  I was going to study my Bible, but this movie came on that I’ve really been wanting to see.  Sometimes serving the Lord…well… “seems undesirable”.  God tells us to choose.  Each day, choose whom you will serve.  We have to set our minds on making Christ the most important event of every day.  We all live busy lives and it is so easy to get distracted from what really matters.  It is so easy to choose to put God off until later because something more desirable came along for the moment.  So today, before you do anything else, make a choice.  Choose whom you will serve.  Choose what you will serve.  The new Easter dress is right in front of you!