Love Is No Fairytale
We can only learn true love from God. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. (John 3:16) That is love. That is the kind of self-sacrificing, undeserved love that we have from God! That love moves us to love others, truly love others. God’s love is a beautiful, perfect pattern for us to thankfully try to follow as his saved children. That is true for all our various relationships. The short poem below attempts to sum up and express that kind of love. Of course, 1 Corinthians 13 is a go-to passage for this subject and I encourage you to read it along with the poem. Love is no fairytale That you fall into fast Just an unexplainable feeling Such “love” does not last. That’s the love of the world That gives to receive That feels good and stays But then sours and leaves. True love is hearty labor, So stubbornly soft That it gives what is good When receiving what is not. Love is patient and kind, It long suffers to serve, Says, “What can I do?” Not, “What do I deserve?” Love is an ongoing choice Heart-warm and true To meet the needs of another With all you think, say and...
Read MoreA Time For Everything
In January we usually have time on our mind. January is the month we set goals for the year, make resolutions, think about what happened in the year that has past, and anticipate what might be ahead of us in the year to come. One of the more famous verses in the Bible that talks about time is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The passage reminds us that there are certain seasons and important moments that happen in our life on earth. When we are wise we recognize those moments and seasons and take action accordingly. As we go into the new year let these words of God’s wisdom remind us how brief and yet important our earthly existence is. May we also remember that our existence is a precious gift from God–a time of grace in which we live through our ups and downs firmly focused on the Salvation we have in Christ. The last line of the poem draws a parallel between the poor, imperfect peace we might have here on earth and the eternal, perfect peace we will fully experience in heaven as God’s forgiven children. There is a time for everything, A season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born, searing pain, pushing free, Breaking out into air, draw first breath and see. A time to die, feeble, broken with age Or sickly or violently exit life’s stage. A time to plant seeds in the soft, warm soil, Grow them and tend them in seasons of toil. A time to pull up and tear out and uproot A plant that has died or won’t produce fruit. A time to kill what endangers and fights When to kill is allowed by God-given rights. A time to tenderly care for and heal, Nurse life back to health after painful ordeal. A time to tear down something weak or unwise. A time to build strong for a new enterprise. A time to weep when dark sorrow descends. A time to laugh, sharing joy with friends. A time to mourn when the loss hurts deep. A time to dance, celebrate and leap. A time to scatter stones over the ground. A time to gather, till each one is found. A time to embrace, share love with soft touch. A time to refrain when love requires as much. A time to search hard and leave no stone unturned. A time to give up when the hard truth is learned. A time to keep what’s a treasure or need. A time to throw out what exceeds what we need. A time to tear up what was once all united. A time to mend breaks and make all reunited. A time to be silent—let silence speak loud. A time to speak up and step out from the crowd. A time to give love with word, action, and will, As we see God has loved us and loves us still. A time to hate when that hate agrees well, With the hatred God has for all that’s from hell. A time for war—armies crash, people cry As doubt and disaster and death sweep by. A time for peace to build lives and live free To anticipate life as God meant it to...
Read MoreExciting Blessings and Beautiful Distractions
It has been an exciting January so far! My wife and I were blessed with the birth of our 4th child, Ashton Benaiah Nitz born on January 6th. What an amazing blessing! It is incredible to me how I can forget just how tiny and helpless a little baby is until I hold one in my arms again. My little two-year old looks like a giant compared to her newborn brother. With this little blessing comes such responsibility! This tiny helpless life needs constant attention, love, nourishment, and care. He needs it day and night. The little guy has made it hard for me to focus on my weekly writing goals. There are many reasons for that: added stress, exciting events, schedules turned upside down, sleepless nights and a very cute baby to distract my attention. Sad to say, I have slipped behind where I planned to be in my writing last week and this week. I know it is understandable considering the circumstances, but still I do not want to make a habit of it. Somehow I need to find the time to get my daily writing and research time in. If you have any advice or suggestions about that please comment and let me know! I am not a slave to my goals, but at the same time I realize just how important they are to keep me focused and moving forward. I have also missed a few of my daily devotions. I can tell that the entire trajectory of my day changes when I do that. Things are harder to handle and my mind is not in the right place. I need to keep in mind my own advice from my previous post 10 Things I Learned After Writing My First Book! 1 Peter 2:2 is a very appropriate reminder as well: Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. Just like my little Ashton constantly needs pure milk to grow, I need regular doses of Bible truth to grow and mature and face each day with the strength and perspective that only God can give. Thanks to God I am forgiven and my future is perfect. That truth changes every daily experience into an incredible blessing from a gracious God. That truth makes each moment an opportunity to serve that Savior-God with my life, whether it is caring for a baby or writing a book. As always, please keep me, my family and my writing in your...
Read MoreNew Year…New Book Project!
After publishing my first novel I Was There When the Giant Fell this past November I was already itching to get started on my next I Was There book which will take another barely mentioned, little known character in the Bible and imagine his life story and what it would be like to witness another epic moment in salvation history. This time I am fast-forwarding a few hundred years. Israel is divided into two kingdoms. God sends his prophet, Jonah, to go and proclaim God’s message to Israel’s hated enemy the Assyrians in the city of Nineveh warning them to repent. Jonah knows God’s grace. He knows God wants to spare them, and it is the last thing he wants to happen. Despite God’s mandate, Jonah defies God and heads in the opposite direction. He boards a ship bound for Tarshish and the stage is set for one of the most famous moments in the Bible: Jonah swallowed by the great fish. What would it be like to be one of the sailors who encounter Jonah on his fateful journey? How would it feel to be in a raging storm sent by God himself to stop you in your tracks? What if you were a citizen of Nineveh and a strange messenger arrived proclaiming doom on your city? I want to explore these questions and more as I embark on this next project I Was There When Jonah Sank. My research is already in full swing, and I am still collecting more sources. I am fascinated by the Phoenicians, their sailing advancements and trade. I am digging into what it would be like to be a sailor on the Mediterranean in that time period and what it might have been like to be a commoner or a king in the city of Nineveh when Jonah arrived. The book will deal with many issues including long-distance relationships, young love, desperate loneliness, idolatry, humanistic pride, stubbornness, addiction and despair. Above all, it will focus on the incredible persistence of God’s astounding grace for sinful people. I plan to weave in a fair share of love, adventure, storms and dangers at sea. My characters will be interesting people whose struggles and lives are not so far removed from ours today. The rough draft is already in progress and my goal is to have a finished, mostly edited draft by the end of August, 2015 and a completed and published book at or before the end of the year! Again, I ask for your prayers as I start out on this fresh new writing...
Read MoreGod–a Child Born for You
Here is a Christmas poem and reminder based on passages from John 1. Wishing you all a merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of the Savior! In the beginning was the Word The Word was with God, the Word was God He was with God in the beginning. This the Word that spoke forth light That ordered time into day and night That gathered seas and land in place And set each star in outer space. Through Him all that is was made Without Him nothing could ever be made. In Him was life that was our light. In deepest darkness light shines bright But darkness hardens and turns away Refusing to know the light of Day. This the Word now come in flesh, Conceived in virgin lowly and fresh. Angel millions hush each voice, Wide-eyed in silence watch God’s choice— Among the beasts where men won’t sleep In a feeding trough near cows and sheep He comes from womb to sin-full earth No human fanfare greets God’s birth. Blinding glory and might supreme In helpless baby lost in dream. Ancient promise stands fulfilled All is just as God has willed! Look! Peer in with bated breath See infant life that conquers death The babe that drew each breath for you A flawless life-long record true. For poor and wealthy, great and small He came to reach us, save us all… None too broken—wrecked with sin None too lost that he can’t win. He came for stubborn, angry, weak, He came each sinner here to seek And you and me and all our mess Lifetimes of sins, our desperateness He came, He came, He came to save And take our sin, our hell, our grave. This baby’s future? No palace grand, But to feel the bite of nail through hand! He came to that which was his own, Yet his own despised their King, his throne Threw God’s gift back in his face Refused his truth, despised his grace And on a cross this Lamb would die The death we all deserved to die. He felt all punishment complete For a world of sin he bore hell’s heat. With dying words the Word went out “Paid in full!” his mighty shout! And then from grave to glory he Stands risen and rules eternally. This Christmas as we gather round For gifts and fun and joyful sound For worship ritual, carols and bells Festive sights and savory smells May nothing distract us from God’s Son— God’s Greatest Gift and all he’s done Instead, let’s focus on the Word And all year treasure what is heard. May this message fill us new: God—a child born for...
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