Category: devotional

There is a flat toad on the street in front of my home.  I checked our begonia basket to see if it is “our” toad.  All summer we have had a toad hide in our begonia basket each day.  In the evening it jumps out to forage for whatever.  It wasn’t in the basket this afternoon.  Could Mr. Flattoad be ours? 
 
I  am concerned and remembered something Jesus said about His Father and birds.  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”  Did God care about the toad?  Would He care about it more if it was “our” toad?  Does loving someone add value to them? 
 
Several years ago I had a graveside service for someone.  I mean “someone” because we did not know his name.  We were burying him in the anonymous section of the cemetery.  It was a very plain section off to the back edge of the cemetery. There were no flowers or shrubs, only numbers.  The only people there were the undertaker, me and two grave diggers waiting for me to finish.   Did he have less value because there wasn’t anyone there that cared?  You might ask, “Didn’t you care?”  Sorta.  I needed to because no one else did?   I wondered if he had a child or grandchildren somewhere?  Would they care if they knew?
 
If loving someone gives added value then he had a lot of value because the most important being in the universe cared.  Just in case you have ever wondered about your worth, just ask what price was paid for you.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only son for you.  Talk about added value.  You are something wonderful.

I talked to a man today who told me he was in the “Slow Leak Business.”  It seemed that I had a slow leak in my left rear tire, so I had gone to the “Slow Leak Man.”   Sure enough he told the truth.  Thirty minutes later my slow leak was no longer leaking and I was back on the road.  He found a nail.  I was patched.
 
As I drove away I realized I too am in the “Slow Leak Business.”  Five days a week I try to help patch the slow leaks that occur in people’s lives by writing about someone else who found nails.  He found four nails.  From the day we are born life slowly leaks away from us.  Every sunrise we are a day closer to being flat.   My prayer is by encouraging you to read about Him you will let Him patch you so you can continue the journey.  The patches are for the short haul.  Just like an old tire there comes a time when it cannot be patched anymore.  The tread is gone.
 
Now this is where the good part happens.  We have a road hazard warranty that has no mileage limits.  When the tire is worn out, He says, “Enough with the patches. I’m going to give you a whole new tire guaranteed never to show wear.  It will last forever.  “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”  I Corinthians 15.
 
I wonder what will be written on our sidewalls.  Good Years, Good Riches or Richelin.

I just now passed a church marquee with the message, “Thank God no matter what happens.”  Really?!  I could not disagree with anything more strongly.   Thank God for 9/11?  Thank God for my neighbor’s child who died because she was struck by a bullet from a stupid drive-by shooter?  Thank God because my friend’s wife died from breast cancer?  Really?  That is just plain stupid.  It makes God out to be a monster.  Don’t preachers think about what they say? 
 
I know that Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.”   Fine.  That means our loving heavenly Father is able to pick up the tragic pieces of our disasters and help us.  But I do not have to be thankful the tragedy occurred.  He didn’t do it.  He isn’t any happier than we are that it happened.  What I am thankful for is that He is there for us when bad things happen. 
 
Sometimes I am afraid we get so syrupy with our faith we are afraid to be angry when rotten things occur.  Loving God doesn’t mean we have to go around being thankful for all the things that happen as if He is doing them.   He is not.  Bad things happen in this world.  Okay?   We have a loving Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children and is just as miserable and broken as we when our children, grandchildren and neighbors are hurt.
 
Please, I beg you.  Do not be thankful no matter what happens.  Be angry that there is an enemy in the land.   Be thankful that no matter what happens, we can be more than conquers through Christ.  Romans 8.   In I Thessalonians 5:18 Paul tells us to be thankful in all circumstances.  That means be thankful in all circumstances that we have a God to help us. 

Recently the president of the Seattle NAACP was scandalized because it was revealed she wasn’t black.  She had been pretending.  I honestly do not know why this was so awful.  Why can’t someone pretend to be what they want to be?  I have been pretending to be something I am not for most of my life.  I was a pastor and pretended to be a good man.  For years I have been a college professor and have been pretending to be knowledgeable about certain areas of knowledge.  The truth is my gift is being able to project confidence because I know a little about a lot of things but I am not an authority on anything.
   
When I was in college a professor, who I really admired, said to me after I made a presentation, “That was the most interesting nothing I have ever listened to.”  Instead of being hurt, I thanked him because I knew he was telling the truth.
 
All this brings me to my point.  As human beings, if we want to face the truth about ourselves, we are basically selfish.  There are a few unselfish people in our midst, a few.  But most of us who claim to be Christians are pretending. To be a Christian is to be Christ-like.  That is an insurmountable goal.  But I am committed to pretending because I believe if we pretend to be something long enough we actually become what we desire to be.  Our challenge is to be a better and better Christian pretender.  The wonderful thing about this quest is God promises to help us become.  Enoch was taken to heaven because he became so much like God.  That did not happen overnight. See Genesis 5.

We’ve a bumper crop of acorns this year.  I can’t recall an autumn with more.  As my dog and I were walking this afternoon I never gave it a thought as we traversed the terrain under a wonderful shady oak.  And then it happened.  Right on top of my not-protected-by-hair head – kerplunk!   I was acorned.  It must be the reason we call October Fall.

Acorns are the promise of another generation of oaks.  They are heralds of hope as well as a present banquet for our squirrels.  One of my favorite authors wrote about acorns.  She said, “As surely as the oak is in the acorn so surely is the gift of God in the promise.”  When we hold acorns in our hands we hold giant oak trees.  When we read “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” we can start planning on what furniture we want where.  John 14.
 
Just in case I was beginning to forget I got hit on the head this afternoon by a promise.  I can start planning my heavenly library.  It’s real.  It’s mine.  My name is engraved on the bottom right hand corner of all the book covers.  They are mine.  I have the bump on the top of my head to prove it.
 
What’s your acorn?  What’s your promise?  Could it be John 3:16, I Thessalonians 4 or I Corinthians 15?   Actually the Bible contains a bumper crop of promises.

I’m sitting here looking at a bonsai elm tree.  I realize bonsaiing is an ancient art that produces some beautiful plants, but I could not help myself from feeling sorry for this tiny elm tree.  It was supposed to be 50 feet tall and make shade for weary travelers.  But here it was stunted and gnarled.  It reminded me of bonsaied Christians who never grew into the giants God planned for them.
 
The world is full of bonsaied Christians who have never experienced the joy of salvation because they are so focused on self-perfection at the expense of understanding while they are growing they are covered by Christ’s perfection. They have never been taught or worse have been taught the opposite.  They don’t know that salvation is a gift that begins the moment they give their hearts to Jesus.  The perfection that is necessary for salvation is and always will belong to Jesus.  They never understand God is a good parent.  Good parents don’t expect their 18 month old child to drive a car.  God knows what we can and cannot do and He has no expectations of us to be something far beyond our developmental stage.  I am an old man who has been a friend of Jesus for seven decades.  His expectations for me are so much more than for a twenty year old.  But sometimes when I morally act like a twenty year old He is disappointed with me but certainly doesn’t throw me out of His family.
 
Certain churches and specific pastors unknowingly bonsai their members.   Fortunately we are not saved by knowledge and so millions of bonsaied Christians will someday understand. They will be freed to grow into everything God wants for them.

My neighbors across the street have a very nice granite pillar for their mailbox and sure enough there is moss growing only on the north side of the pillar.  It makes one want to confirm the old survival rule about moss growing only on the north side of trees.  Of course that is only in the northern hemisphere in the southern hemisphere moss grows on the south side of trees.  Well, maybe that is true in both hemispheres.  Moss will grow on any side of a tree depending upon where sunlight strikes it.  Sunlight retards the growth of moss and all things being equal the farther away you are from the equator the truer is the old axiom.
 
One of the things I try to teach my students is to be very careful with the words all and every. Depending upon conditions and circumstances there usually are exceptions to almost everything.  Usually moss only grows on the north side of trees.  Usually Christians are nice people.  Actually that should always be true.  No matter whatever someone calls themselves if they are not a nice person they really are not a Christian.  They are just pretending to be.  And that could be pretending even to oneself.
 
In Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, . .”  Isn’t it bizarre that people often get that concept reversed?  This isn’t saying we should not be firm, especially with our children, but it does rule out being nasty.  So here is an axiom that is just the reverse of trees.  Righteousness only grows on the sunny side of a Christian.  That is with Jesus being the light shining on that person.

Mark Twain said, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”  If you haven’t seen it yet go to You Tube and search for bulldog vs. bears.  There you will see Jules, a twenty pound bulldog, chase two large bears out of its California yard.
 
When I was a little guy someone really frightened me with I Peter 5:8 which says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  I thought it would be hopeless to do battle with him.  I knew he was a fallen angel but now he was described as a roaring lion.  What could I do when he showed up?
 
We need to be careful when we talk to little people.  It was years before I discovered Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” and verse 37, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
 
While it would be foolish to be cocky in this battle for our souls, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”  (I Corinthians 10:12)  it is not necessary to be afraid.  “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”  2 Kings 6:16 
 
So let God be our bulldog.  Satan is no match for us when God is on our side.

Skid marks were all that was left.  A tow truck had taken away the car and a crew had cleaned up all the shards of broken glass.  As time goes by rain and snow and traffic will wear away the black stains.   Not all skid marks are the remnants of an accident.  Sometimes they are just the opposite.  Skid marks on the end of a runway mean many flights had safe landings.
 
Life leaves skid marks on people.  We are marked by life’s tragic events.  Accidents, death, disappointments and failed goals mark us and like the disappearing skid marks on the highway time has a way of helping our emotional past to slowly fade.  But it does take time even for the bold who act like they are recovered.  It is one of the reasons we advise people who have lost a dearly loved spouse not to make any major decisions for at least a year.  No matter how seasoned, we are not immune.
 
Jesus forgives sins in an instant.  It often takes much longer for us to forgive ourselves.  We rue our mistakes and harbor wrongs that we have done.  Jesus forgives but the skid marks remain and it takes time.  Forgiveness is a two way event.  As we forgive others so must we forgive ourselves seventy times seven.  We wonder how we could have been so stupid.  Well, we are.  It’s part of being a human, a major part.  But just as surely as the black stains disappear on the highway so they will fade for us.  Living the abundant life promised to us by Jesus is acknowledging our humanity and forgiving ourselves for being so.  Hopefully, some of your skid marks are and will be the remnants of safe landings.

Physicists tell us something called Dark Matter keeps the stars from spinning off into space.  Dark Matter is five times more abundant in the universe than the normal matter that composes you, me, your house and your car.  What is fascinating is they, we, don’t know what it is.  We can’t even see it.  Defining it and seeing it will be the next big discovery. 
 
In the meantime, while super smart people are looking for it, I would like to tell them where to find masses of it.  It’s inside human heads and is responsible for people thinking they are serving God by blowing themselves and other into tiny bits.  Dark Matter is in the heads of those who think slicing off human heads, the most wonderful thing God made, brings glory to God.  Humans are made in God’s image and we cannot imagine Dark Matter in Adam’s head; although He did eat the fruit.  Somehow that stupid decision must have had a lot to do with who was handing the fruit to him.  She had to have been gorgeous and men make terrible decisions in the presence of gorgeous women.
 
Surely we exhibit the Dark Matter in our heads when we mistreat and abuse God’s creation.  When we are cruel and thoughtless, when we curse another person, when we mistreat a child, when we steal from someone or worse deliberately kill them, we are defiling something made in His image.  Jesus said if we do this even to the least of them we have done it unto Him, God.  It is no wonder Jesus called Himself, the Light of the World.  He and He alone is the solution to the Dark Matter problem that exists in us.