My Quirky Neighbor Made Me Stop And Think…
I see him out there time and time again. He’s got his broom, garbage can and a dustpan. He sweeps, bends, empties the pan into the can. Then he moves a little down the way and does it again. It shouldn’t bother me, but he’s out there all the time…probably several times each week…maybe even every day… He’s sweeping his driveway. His driveway! He’s going to drive his car over it tomorrow and make it dirty again! How many people are going to inspect how much dirt is on his driveway? Is he going to eat supper off of it later? He gets every clipping of grass, every granule of dirt, every spec of dust off of his driveway and he spends hours at doing it just about every day. It’s a free country and if that is how he wants to spend the hours of his precious life, I won’t stop him and I’ll try not to be judgmental, but still, it makes me a little sad. Over time I’ve come to find a lesson in watching this repeated ritual. It’s made me question my own life and how I am living. What am I doing in my life that is really just the equivalent of sweeping the driveway? How do I fritter away the hours and days the Lord has given me in things that really in the big scheme of things don’t matter at all? Or…more importantly…can I see the connection between my small, daily activities and the greater purpose for my existence? Jesus connected something as small as giving a child a drink of water to a greater purpose in Matthew 10:42! Can I see the connection between the tiniest things I do and the great reason for why I’m here? If I can’t…really, I’m just sweeping my driveway over and over…right? If I go to work and punch a time-card just to put food on the table or just because I “have” to to survive–I’m missing the point! If I clean the house and mow the lawn just because its expected of me or because it’s what I think I have to do–I’m missing the point! If I write a fiction book and create a story with words just because it makes me happy or because I want to–I’m missing the point! Every little thing I do has purpose if I stop to see the connection to what’s greater. If I am doing it all for me, or for other people to notice or for the praise of other people…I’m missing the point. I can do all those things either with a self-centered mindset or with a true recognition that all of them are and ought to be ways of glorifying and serving the God who saved me from my self-centered, sin-ruined existence and earned and gave me heaven as a free gift. If I see no connection between what I’m doing and glorifying that Savior-God, then I probably shouldn’t be doing it. If I’m doing tasks for God they naturally take on a whole new meaning and purpose. If I go to work and punch a time card…for God…I’m going to work with my eyes open to the opportunities to be God’s hands and feet in the world. If I do household chores…for God…I’m doing them with a different attitude. If I go on vacation…for God…I’ll appreciate the wondrous beauty of his creation all the more and look for opportunities to thank him for the moments of rest. The list could go on and on. And no matter what I do every...
Read MoreEvery Truth He’s Given Me
So many of the truths of the Christian faith defy our natural human logic and sense. It’s all to God’s glory that this is so. I wanted to explore that reality in the following poem. Faith is God-given certainty That holds fast in all sincerity To every truth he’s given me Despite the things I think I know And all the things my eyes can see. Each fallen, sinful human brain Enters life spiritually insane Unable to know or to retain God’s truths that ever shall remain And so…I must just say “Amen!” To illogical truths that God has given… Like that marvelous mystery That we have called the Trinity? That God is both three and also one The Father, the Spirit and the Son One single God forever in perfect unity Is three distinct persons simultaneously! Our Savior, Christ, is both man and God Fully and completely to be honored and awed Born of a virgin—miraculous mystery Jesus, the Christ entered our human history All-present, eternal, unchanging, all-knowing, Even as a child who was constantly growing Yet he gave up full use of his powers divine And lived a life like yours and mine Yet his life was flawless—each and every breath The only human who never deserved death And in his person, on a cross The truth is our God died for us! Experienced full and eternal hell God’s sentence of wrath that we each deserved well He paid the full price for us all on that tree Each soul that is and has been and will ever be. God chose before all time began Each soul who would be in heaven And yet he did not choose one man To face eternity already damned. Yet many choose that wide dead road And refuse to see God carried their load They resist the Spirit at work in God’s Word Just as we all do when first it is heard… Yet end up condemned and lost forever Refusing the gift of the most gracious Giver. But in truth God wants everyone everywhere To be saved and fully aware Of all the love he’s shown to them By living and dying in place of them And if I believe it, God made it so And if I refuse it, I chose it so. And then there’s God’s gracious, marvelous gifts That he gives in the precious sacraments That a little water with God’s Word applied Drowns the old sinful self inside God’s Holy Spirit gives new birth and trust In God’s Son who has fully rescued us And the gift of heaven is given right there To a new baby girl or a man with gray hair. And then when the bread and the wine are blessed And we eat and drink with God’s promise expressed Jesus’ true body and blood are therein Powerful, actual forgiveness of sin Every believer who’s assessed his great need And trusts this true promise—has forgiveness indeed! And on and on and on we could go Marveling at truths that really are so Even when sin-ruined logic cries out And Satan himself spreads his poison of doubt If a creature were made by men Could that creature fully comprehend All the deep complexity of men? We are creatures can we comprehend The God who formed us with his hand? Put God in a box, put him on a table Examine him, if you are able! Tell your God what he should do, Tell him that your truth is true. Can you tell God what to do? Can you tell him what is true? And so my...
Read MoreHeaven on Earth?
Wouldn’t it be great if we could create our own little personal version of heaven on earth? Imagine everything falling into place just as we want it to be! Our relationships with spouse and family members magically become fulfilling and joyful at all times and without a lot of effort. Everything just clicks. Suddenly there’s enough money to do everything we need to do and want to do with it. Imagine a dream house, dream car, dream vacation destinations, dream job that is extremely satisfying. We don’t struggle any more with vices, body image issues, anger, doubt, insecurity, pain, loss and a million other nagging problems and instead we are happy, content, satisfied, with an on-top-of-the-world feeling. What would your personal heaven on earth look like and feel like? So often isn’t that what drives us? If I work hard enough, if I yell loud enough, if I plan it all out perfectly, if I pray properly, if I do everything right…if I overcome this, if I achieve that goal….I should at least get a step closer to my own personal heaven on earth. Or…if that doesn’t work, at least I can do everything to appear perfect. Then I’ll look like I’ve got it all together. I have no weaknesses, nothing anyone can say against me and maybe that will help me feel closer to how I want to feel all the time. Isn’t it sad how we lose perspective? Isn’t it sad how we repeat the first sin over and over again–how life becomes all about how I can serve myself, improve my life at the expense of truly serving God and following his word? What if God just gave us our own little heaven on earth? It would be the most unloving thing he could possibly do! Every problem, stress, pain and set-back is a loving reminder that this earth is not how God intended it to be. This is not where we belong forever. This is not all there is. If God gave us a perfect life here…we would not need him anymore, we would not see how desperately we need him, we would imagine ourselves invincible, we would ultimately die in our sins and end up in hell. Those who know and trust in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and the one who sacrificed himself for the sins of the world and donated his perfect record in the place of each and every ruined, sin-wrecked human life, (including mine and yours) already have heaven on earth! No. It doesn’t look like it. It doesn’t feel like it. In fact, it often feels exactly the opposite. We have struggles and problems, feel insecure and ruined. We see how we fail and we continue to struggle with selfishness, pride, anger, doubt and so many other sins. That’s okay! That’s how it must be. This world is not our true home and all our efforts to build some kind of lasting, beautiful, satisfying “good life” here are bound to fail and often distract us from what really matters: God’s love for us and the future he’s prepared for us and thanking him with a life spent in his service and to his glory. We look forward to experiencing that heaven when God calls us home from this sin-ruined existence. And so now, the perspective is so different! If my goal is serving God, I no longer expect my life to be some kind of perfect existence, I no longer need to complain, get frustrated, yell, wallow in self pity or freeze in doubt when something doesn’t go my way or...
Read MoreNew Deadline!
After consulting with my editor and looking out on both of our schedules over the coming months I’ve decided on a new deadline for the completion and publication of my novel: October 2014 I’m so excited about the new deadline and I think it is the right choice. Over the coming months I’ll continue revising and editing so that the book is the best it can be. The cover art for the novel is in its final stages already and it looks awesome. It feels amazing to see this project coming together and I am already really excited to have the final product in my...
Read MoreHymn on Isaiah 53
A Hymn on Isaiah 53 The Lamb of God by Chris Powers A Lenten Hymn, based on Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 is such a go-to passage during Lenten and Good Friday reflections. What a joy to work with these beautiful and powerful words of Scripture! The following is a poem/hymn based on the words of Isaiah 53:2-9. I wrote it according to the melody of hymn 746 in Christian Worship Supplement, so it could also be sung. Please read and meditate on the Isaiah passage as you go through these verses. I hope to take Isaiah 53:10-12 next month and prepare an Easter-themed poem or hymn using those truths. May God bless you as you reflect on his marvelous love during this Lenten season! Like a tender plant from the soil, Like a common root from the ground, Came the promised suffering servant Nothing in his looks would astound. All his majesty and beauty hid from view This is how your God comes for you! See him so despised and rejected His a life of sorrow and pain Like the kind of person we turn from, Hide our faces from all his shame. This—the son of God—the promised one we sought He’s despised and we esteem him not! Surely he took up our infirmness Carried all our sorrows away Yet we thought that God struck and cursed him Smote him with his justice that day. As he hangs there pierced and crushed against the tree It’s not for his but our iniquity! Punishment on him brings us peace now In his bloody wounds we are healed! Like rebellious sheep we’ve all wandered Choosing ways that lead far afield But on him the Lord laid our iniquity Peace with God he gave humanity. How he was oppressed and afflicted Yet he never made a complaint! Like a lamb he’s led to the slaughter Like a sheep for shearing he went So our Savior’s lips were perfect through his pain Innocent and true he’d remain. Taken by oppression and judgment No one in his day took it in That he was cut off from the living Stricken for his own people’s sin Grouped with criminals; laid in a rich man’s tomb Though a perfect man from the womb. All Isaiah’s words are fulfilled now Come and worship Christ your king Sinners lay your burden before him Your new heart will shout and sing Hear your Savior-God’s great promise ever true— “It is finished! All is paid for you!” originally posted on...
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