Sorry...Closing out June!

Read John 14:6

My uncle and I did not show each other much mercy when it came to pulling each other on the tube behind our speed boat at the cabin. For those that do not know what I am writing about, you attach an inner tube to a long rope and lay on top of the tube while someone drove the boat fast and in circles so that the person on the tube would fly over the waves that you created. My uncle and I did our best to see who could cause the other to fly the highest. It amazes me today that we never broke any bones considering how high, fast and hard we hit the water.
The key to making it on the tube was very simply; you had to hold on for dear life. You learned after awhile how to maneuver yourself around back there until you started bouncing out of control.
Who is driving your boat today? You see, when my wife got behind the boat, my uncle was so sweet and kind, and then the devil possessed him when I would get behind the boat and he would try to torture me.
In life, is the kind uncle or the not so kind uncle driving the boat? Life has a tendency to take you on the ride of terror. You must hold on for dear life, lest you crash into the waves below. Life is not always so kind. It tries to beat you down, batter your brains and destroy your dexterity. However, there is a kind driver, named Jesus, who said that He was the life that desires you to enjoy the ride, have fun, sense the excitement, but in the end, find rest.
The easiest way to get off the ride of terror was to just let go. Likewise, in life sometimes we need to just let go and let God. He is a kind driver, and wants to see us face to face and full of life.
My uncle and I are probably both too old to treat each other that way behind the boat...oh, who am I kidding; I’d still drive him that fast!

“The man who says his evening prayer is a captain posting his sentinels. He can sleep.”
- Charles Baudelaire

June 27

Read Psalm 13

It was September 13, 1992. My wife and I entered Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN for our honeymoon. Our old car could barely make it to the top of the mountain where our chalet was located. I remember on our way up that the fog or mist was so incredibly thick that is was often difficult to see very far. The mountain was beautiful, but the view at times was less than desired.
Yesterday, I was walking through a store and noticed a rack of postcards. On each was the best picture of the Twin Cities that you could imagine. Why anyone would not want to visit based on those cards is beyond me. Then I remembered some of the postcards that we looked at in our preparation for our honeymoon. Perfect pictures and perfect scenery is what the postcards indicated.
Our vacation and the postcards of the Twin Cities that I saw in the store caused me to question the way I portray my faith to people around me. Do I present a "postcard" view of my life with Jesus Christ? Do I give the false impression that my life is always sunny—that my view of God is always clear?
That's not what David did. In the passion-filled poetry of Psalm 13, he admitted that he couldn't see God and didn't understand what He was doing (v.1). But by the end of his prayer, he was certain that what he couldn't see was nevertheless there because he had seen it before in God's bountiful care (vv.5-6).
I do not know about you, but my life is more like the weather outside of the store where I saw those beautiful postcards; thunderstorms. I am like the person at the top of our “honeymoon” mountain. I’ve seen the mountain before, so I know it exists even when clouds are covering it.
When suffering or confusion obscures our view of God, we can be honest with others about our doubts. But we can also express our confidence that the Lord is still there by recalling times we've witnessed His grandeur and goodness. That's better than postcard Christianity. Jesus is the light of the world so when living under clouds of adversity, remember that the sun is still shining above them.

“It was a September afternoon, with a broad expanse of pure sky across which large clouds, like mountains of silver, moved in majestic slowness.”
- Francois Coppee

June 28

Read Luke 6:46-49

For the most part I believe that people have good intentions. After all, we were created in God’s image. However, since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, our actions usually speak something entirely different from our intentions.
I read in Readers’ Digest about Robert Ginnett, a researcher at the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, who has found that the values we claim to have are not as closely linked to our actual behavior as we might like to believe.
One business executive, who said his 5-year-old daughter was the most important part of his life, realized that he usually went to work before she got up in the morning and often returned home after she was in bed at night. So to spend time with her, he took her to work with him one Saturday. After looking around his office, she asked, "Daddy, is this where you live?" He may have acknowledged that his daughter was important, but his behavior revealed what he truly valued.
In our relationship with Christ, He asks for our obedience, not a warm feeling or a statement of belief. He asked those following Him, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Jesus illustrated His point with the parable of the wise and foolish builders (vv.47-49). The rock-solid foundation of the wise builder's house illustrates the result of our obedience to God. This honors Christ and enables us to withstand the storms of life.
The old saying, “Actions speak louder than words” is accurate. What we do, more than anything we say, reveals what we truly value the most. If that is the case, and I believe that most people think so, and then to show that you value eternity, make good use of your time today.

“The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”
- Stephen Covey

June 29

Read Philippians 1:3-6

I am not very good at jigsaw puzzles. I am more the word game kind of guy. It is difficult for me so see the different shapes and colors and then match them up together. I would rather just look at the box cover than to open it and try to recreate that picture.
Our lives are like jigsaw puzzles. From the moment we took our first breath we were creating pieces of the puzzle that is called our life. I cannot imagine what God must think as He is trying to put the shattered pieces of my life back together, but somehow He always seems to come through.
As I look over my life, I see so many places, eras and endeavors that seem so foolish. For those that know me well, I hate to lose. When I was a boy growing up there was four of us that hung out in the neighborhood. It was Doug, myself, Brian and Wayne. Wayne was the youngest and Doug was the oldest so they always formed one team and Brian and I were the other team. We played every sport imaginable, and it was always those teams. In football, we were even because Brian and I were slightly bigger. In hockey, we always won because the other three couldn’t really skate. In basketball we were even because Brian knew how to play. Baseball was our shortcoming. To this day, I don’t know why.
It was after one of the baseball beatings that Brian and I decided that we would practice and then try to beat them. We hit balls to the outfield so that we could catch and hit. It was after some practice that we became fairly even in this sport as well.
I said all of that to say this, “If Brian and I had not taken the time to pick up the pieces of our failures; we would never have raised our game to the level of Doug and Wayne’s.”
Our lives are like jigsaw puzzles and baseball games; the only way that we will be successful is to pick up and fit together all of our failures and mold them into success. Jesus came to reconcile, or put together the broken pieces of failure of our lives to form a beautiful masterpiece. Will you allow God to put in some time on your life to bless the broken pieces because if you do, very shortly you will see a tapestry of failures rolled up together in success?

“The problems of puzzles are very near the problems of life.”
- Erno Rubik

June 30

Read II Timothy 4:1-5

I received an interesting call the other day. It was from someone who claimed to be a “Torah Observant” Jew. This simply meant that the New Testament is not the holy writ of God. He believed that all of the Old Testament is what dictated salvation. Today, he is still looking for the Messiah.
The recently discovered manuscript The Gospel of Judas alleges that Jesus asked Judas to betray Him. Supposedly, Jesus hoped that His death would free Him from this world of matter to become a pure spirit again.
There is a big problem with this ancient text. Judas could not have written this manuscript that bears his name, since it was written long after the time of Jesus. But because The Gospel of Judas has been newly discovered, it provides a novelty for those who like to speculate.
Proposing a fake story to replace the New Testament account is not new. Paul wrote, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (II Tim. 4:3-4).
There’s a trend today to look for new theories to undermine the Bible. In I Thessalonians 5, Paul told us to “test all things; hold fast what is good” (v.21). Based on the questionable content and authorship of The Gospel of Judas, we know that it’s a fable. The real gospel (good news) lies with the apostles, who walked with Jesus and wrote down His life-saving message in the New Testament.
To trust God is to trust in His holy Word. Those that would attempt to distort the gospel and the New Testament are only solidifying it by proving what the apostles wrote in admonition was accurate. Paul wrote that no one was to add or take away from the Word of God and that heaven and earth would pass, but God’s Word will never pass away. I am glad that I know His Word and that I know Him. In these last days, remember to balance all of the “new” philosophies off the Word of God because it is when the Word becomes clouded in our lives that those philosophies can take a hold of us. Remember, His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths.

“Because the New Testament provides the primary historical source for information on the resurrection, many critics during the 19th century attacked the reliability of these biblical documents... By the end of the 19th century, however, archaeological discoveries had confirmed the accuracy of the New Testament manuscripts.”
- Josh McDowell