December 25

Read John 1:1, 14, I Corinthians 13:12

     I apologize that this devotion may be a little lengthy, but it is Christmas and I cannot let this day go by without writing this.

     When I was a kid, Christmas was my favorite time of year. In Minnesota, in the middle of winter was the best. We would sled and skate and play snow football. My dad also grew up in Minnesota so he knew how awesome winter was. We would be off of school and dad would take a snow blower down the long hill of our driveway and then water it down so that we would just fly down on our sleds. He created a huge skating rink and kept it flooded so it would stay smooth.

     I remember all the baking that my grandma, mom and aunts would do. Invariably we smelled the aroma of Christmas wreath cookies, peanut butter with a Hershey kiss in the middle, and I will never forget the crumb cakes. I remember trying to figure out what I got for Christmas. I remember waking up on Christmas Eve knowing that we would soon be heading to grandma and grandpas for dinner and gifts (I think my mom has turned into the grandma now!). We would have a great time, and everything that was wrong in my young life seemed to fade away. I didn’t worry about math and English and all of my other school responsibilities. I remember when it was time to open gifts, the younger kids would pass out the gifts and we would tear into them. What did grandma get me?  What did my uncle Mike get me (he was just like one of the kids so we always knew it would be cool)? My mind and heart would begin to race because everything seemed perfect.

     Except one thing always bothered me, and it wasn’t just the lutefisk that my grandfather made us all try. As we were opening all of our gifts, it hit me that not all of my family and friends knew the greatest gift of all. From before the foundation of the world God was gift wrapping a plan so that we all could live eternally with Him. Throughout the Old Testament, people wanted to see God, but couldn’t because the package just wasn’t ready.  In Bethlehem, however, God opened up the greatest gift. He gave Himself.

     Imagine how Mary felt as that baby was born and she took Him in her arms. How exciting it was to see that God was beginning to reveal His gift to mankind. However, Mary and Joseph only saw a partial unwrapping of the gift that God truly designed.

     Today, people in the religious world will accept the birth of Jesus as someone that the Father sent, but when we realize that the whole atmosphere around the birth was just another layer of wrapping paper coming off in order to reveal to the world who He is. Everything about the life of Christ was simply more wrapping paper being removed from this great gift. We say today that we know Him. I ask, “Do we really?” Do you know Him beyond the scriptures? Is He so real that you have experienced Him?

 I have said all of that to say this. If God started to unwrap the gift at the beginning of time and He is not finished revealing Himself fully today, is it not safe to assume that God is still trying to reveal Himself in your life today?

     On this Christmas day, do not be satisfied with the celebration of Christ’s birth, but allow the gift to be unwrapped a little further in your spirit. Remember it is the greatest gift of all.

December 20

Read Ephesians 4:25-32

     When I served on the ministerial staff in Dover, DE, we would oftentimes open up the service for testimonies. It was at that time that everyone knew, without a doubt, that my father-in-law would stand and say, “I’m thankful for the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost.” This was not a one time testimony; it was whenever we had testimonies.

     I am thankful for that testimony. Not only is it scriptural (Romans 5:5), it is very personal. That sentiment states that God was so kind to me that I cannot help but to be thankful. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), one of the world's leading intellects, was visiting with Houston Smith, a well-known professor of philosophy and religion. As they were driving to an engagement, Huxley said, "You know, Houston, it's rather embarrassing to have spent one's entire lifetime pondering the human condition and . . . find that I really don't have anything more profound to pass on by way of advice than, 'Try to be a little kinder.'"

     The apostle Paul saw kindness in a different light. In Ephesians 4:32, he linked being kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving with the way God has treated us. In Titus 3:4, he said that it was "the kindness and the love of God" that provided eternal salvation.

     Especially at this time of season when so many people struggle to express their love and kindness, it is imperative that we do so also. However, we need to celebrate Christmas all year. In a world where callous thoughtlessness and selfish indifference are all too common, kindness can make our lives fruitful when motivated by Christ-like love. When our walk harmonizes with our words of witness, it will make a compelling impact on others by pointing them to the kind of love God has for them in Jesus Christ. If Huxley had learned what Paul had learned, he would have seen that trying to be a little kinder is one of the most profound truths of all.

     Kindness is treating others the way that God treats you. What motivates us to try? There's no better reason than, on my father-in-law’s words, the love of God as shown to us by Jesus.

It's Father's Day and I miss my dad more than ever! I am realizing more each day how much he really taught me. I wish I would have recognized it earlier! I learned from my dad how to be Firm. I will not and cannot waver from Jesus Christ, not only because of who He is, but also because my dad showed me how to never waver! Whenever something wasn't going just like he planned, he never stopped trusting God to lead him (even to his last breath on this earth!) 
He showed me how to be Real. He never put on airs, no matter who was around. He was ALWAYS just him.
He taught me to Awe. To this day, in our house, it is not allowed to have anything sitting on a bible except another bible! I stand in awe every time I am blessed to experience the presence of God because dad never let me take it for granted! He taught me that New is not always bad. Talk about a life of directional changes! He epitomized that and so now I do not fear when God asks something new of me!
Lastly, he taught me Kindness. He treated everyone on a level playing ground. Whether they could add something to his life or take something from his life, he treated the equally kind. He believed that EVERYONE had a purpose in God, and it was his goal to help nourish that in people. Prayerfully, I am attempting to do the same.
Maybe someday I'll become the type of man that my dad was, but until then, I'll do what dad always did - keep on keepin' on!
For those that don't know me, I like acronyms and what I have spelled out very briefly here is simply FRANK!
I love you dad, miss you, and cannot wait to see you someday!

Don't Worry, Just Pray!

Read Ephesians 3:14-21

A missionary wrote a newsletter to thank his supporters for being "prayer warriors." Because of a typing error, though, he called them "prayer worriers." For some of us, that might be a good description.
In his book Growing Your Soul, Neil Wiseman writes, "Prayer must be more than a kind of restatement of fretting worries or a mulling over of problems. Our petitions must move beyond gloomy desperation, which deals mostly with calamity and despair."
I know there have been times in my life where all of my prayers just seem to cry out for help. There are times in each of our lives that we need God just to do something on our behalf, but if that becomes the sole reason for our prayers, we are missing out on what pray is really about.
When we can really learn how to pray for people instead of delivering us from people, we will see mighty moves of God. Instead of praying, “Lord, make a way where I am not so stressed about my boss”, to, “Lord, bless and encourage my boss, and help them to sense your love,” then God will have an avenue to really make a difference. When you think closely about it, wouldn’t you rather have your boss saved, than for you to be delivered from your job? The Lord's amazing answers will not only help others, but also help to cure your own anxiety!
There is an old song that said, “Why worry when you can pray, trust Jesus, He’ll lead the way, don’t be a doubting Thomas, trust fully in His promise, why worry, worry, when you can pray.” That song is still so fitting because we often forget that when we pray, He hears our heart's cry, and will meet our need. We tend to worry even when we pray. I do not mean to sound harsh, but when you worry, you are basically saying that God doesn’t care or is unable to care for you. Do you really believe that?
Paul was no "prayer worrier." He prayed for God's people that they might know the strength, love, and fullness of God, who is able to do far more than we can ask or even think (Ephesians 3:14-21). Such confidence made Paul a true "prayer warrior." Are your prayers like that? Fervent prayer dispels anxious care.

“I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about.”
- Henry Ford

This is my annual Mother's Day tribute. Every year I try to write something different, but this keeps coming out! I love the mom's in my life - Trish, you are a GREAT mom to our two boys and I am eternally thankful to you! Kathy Sanders -you are an awesome mom and I am largely what I am today because of how you invested in me - I love you! Patsy Smalley - You are a fantastic mother-in-law! You have shaped me spiritually more than you will ever know and I am forever grateful! To all the other ladies, from my sister to my aunts and cousins and all those that have at one time or another spoken something into my life - Thank you! May you all have a blessed Mother's Day!!!!

Read I Samuel 1:1-28

I remember how we felt. The excitement and the anxiety were intense. The questions and the supposed answers just seemed to line up after years of emptiness. My wife and I wanted to have children desperately, but because of medical reasons were unable to do so. The phone rang one day, and an opportunity to adopt seemed very real. We bought baby boy items such as clothes and toys, all the things that expectant parents do when a new baby is on the way. We had been married for eight years and really wanted to have a child. Then the other call came. Instant devastation. Heart breaking, red-hot tears. Not understanding why God had allowed the boy we were to adopt to be still-born. There is something special about mothers. It does not matter what kind of mother she is; moms are just special people. So here is my tribute to mothers.
For those we call moms: biological, adoptive, foster, and spiritual mothers, whether mothers by birth, by marriage or by choice, I say, “Thank you for making sacrifices that were never seen; for taking risks that were never recorded, for loving more than we deserved.” It is because of you we are here today, and I honor you.
For those who long to be mothers: the path of obedience thus far has not led you into marriage or motherhood. For those who ache each Mother’s Day, taking a handkerchief to the cheek as you listen to the steady rhythm of a biological clock rounding past midnight again as you continue to believe that God is indeed good. I offer my honor to you.
For those who risk hope month after month waiting for God to give you a child, riding the roller coaster of hope and disappointment, excitement and despair, faith and fact, I pour out my heart to you.
For those who have held a child in your womb, or in your arms and later committed them to God’s eternal embrace, or for those who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death with our heavenly Father who also knows what it is like to bury a son, I give honor to your strength.
For those who were faithful to nurture a child in your womb and then in love placed your baby in the arms of another, on behalf of all adoptive mothers and adopted children everywhere, thank you for your courage and thank you for your sacrifice.
My story did not end in the pain of that loss. We received news about a year later that my wife was indeed pregnant. Now, my sons and I, along with millions of other husbands and children, say thank you to the mothers that have changed our lives. Make sure that “Mom” knows you are thankful for her today.
It was Washington Irving that said, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

I Know What Prayer Can Do

When we lived in Dover, Delaware from 1988-1993 a gospel singing group of ladies would get up to sing and they would proceed to sing about knowing what prayer could do! What a testimony from these ladies. All these years later and the statement is even more real today - I know what prayer can do!!! The Lord is leading His people to a return to prayer!

I know what you might be saying, "There are churches everywhere praying. In fact, the church hasn't really stopped praying." I would respond by saying that I am not talking about more prayers, I am talking about more prayer. There are churches all over the world that can say that someone has been praying every hour of every day for years, and I commend them for it. However, what has been the structure of their prayers - are they praying for something, a deliverance, revelation, anointing, revival, harvest, healing, etc., or are they really just conversing in a relationship with Jesus?

His desire in this day is that all people everywhere would fall in love with Him so much that they would just want to spend time with Him. He yearns for our fellowship, we are the part of creation that chooses whether to be with Him or reject Him.

David prayed a prayer in Psalm 86:11, "Unite my heart to fear you..." He is looking for people that are consumed with being close to Him. He is looking for people who desire to converse about their days with Him. He may even share part of His day with you! So while prayer can do many things like open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, raise the dead, restore the broken and a host of other "things", what I have found prayer to do best is draw me near to Him in a relationship that is closer than any other relationship!! How about you? Do you know what prayer can do???

"For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God."
                                                                                                                        Saint Teresa of Avila

As I'm sitting here getting ready for our service in the morning, I began to play some old music from our college chorale. (Yes, Face to Face, Waymaker, Shine de Light and many others were moved from the old cassettes to my computer!!!) While this music was playing I began to see all the faces that were so present in my life at that time. I remember very clearly some things that happened in those wonderful years. I remember our first talent show and the flight of the terydactels, the chapel services and sitting out at the dorm. So many people from so many different backgrounds converging in one place with a desire to serve the Lord. Thankfully, through social media, we have been able to reconnect with so many. If you were at Kent Christian College from 88-92, you will never know what you all meant to me and my history and legacy!

Now, as we lead a great congregation of believers in a great community that needs this congregation, I am reminded that we are all a part of the kingdom of God. No matter how much time passes, how much we age or how much life changes, we were knit together and are still knit together all these years later by the Spirit of the Lord. That same Spirit has now led all of us to unite with others, and what we have done is expand the kingdom of God. So, wherever you are tomorrow, we will be there in spirit and the kingdom will advance.

I find it an honor to be accepted by the Lord in His army. I have been chosen by the grace of the Creator to serve on a kingdom team that is vast and powerful! Whenever I feel alone, I just remember those faces that were knot to my spirit so long ago and I am ready to march once again. I pray and expect that Christ's kingdom will have a powerful Sunday tomorrow!!!!

Recalled for Repair

Read Ezekiel 18:26-32

We purchased a car in 1996. It was a Dodge Intrepid. It had been a very good vehicle. After a decade of driving, we received a notice in the mail. It stated that the manufacturers had made a recall to fix something that had gone wrong in other Intrepids. After ten years, it was amazing that they were still putting out warnings about defective instruments.
During the past year, cars, trucks, tires, window blinds, and toy xylophones have been recalled by their manufacturers. In every case, the message was similar: “This product is defective or dangerous and could cause serious injury or even death. Return it to us and we will correct the problem.” Nevertheless, it is up to the consumer to heed the warning and return the dangerous item.
Suppose God put this warning on the heart and soul of every person: “Because of a fatal attraction to sin and willful misuse, this item is defective. Failure to correct this problem will result in certain spiritual death.” How many “consumers” would be quick to take that defective instrument to the manufacturer?
Honestly, our Intrepid had never needed to be taken into the dealer for the warning that we received. Fortunately, we had no problems (at least in that area) with the car. Our hearts are deceitfully wicked above all things, and unless we deal with it at the cross of Calvary, it will become defective and cause us to fail. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God said that the hearts of His people had become adulterous (Ezekiel 6:9) and as hard as a rock (11:19). Yet, the Lord longed for their hearts to be softened, and for them to come back to Him. He made this impassioned plea: “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin . . . Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies . . . Therefore turn and live!”
Tallulah Bankhead stated what we all are very well when she said, “My heart is as pure as the driven slush.” However, if you could just take your heart back into the Dealership, the Great Physician will do open heart surgery and draw you into His arms and embrace you like you were never broken in the first place. Look at this poem:

The power of God can turn a heart
From evil and the power of sin;
The love of God can change a life
And make it new and cleansed within. —Fasick

The exciting thing about salvation is that it is not turning over a new leaf, but receiving a new life. How’s your heart today?

“If we were faultless we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate.”
- Francois Fenelon

Seeking for Wisdom

Read James 1:5

I love to read. In fact, I usually have about three different books going at one time. I also love cross-word puzzles because it helps me exercise my brain. I love obtaining knowledge. Games like Scrabble, Trivia Pursuit and other games that have to do with facts and knowledge are my forte. My uncle used to be amazed because I could rattle off all of the statistics of any Minnesota sports team. I could do that because I spent time absorbing knowledge about those statistics. One of my favorite pages in the paper is the sports statistics page.
I read this account of someone that walks the same road for knowledge as I do. Brewster Kahle has a vision for the Internet. He dreams of universal access to all human knowledge. As Digital Librarian and Director and co-founder of Internet Archive, Kahle believes we have only begun to tap the vast potential of the Internet to change and improve our world. “My interest,” he says, “is to build the great library. . . . It is now technically possible to live up to the dream of the Library of Alexandria.” He’s referring to a huge vault of writings in ancient Egypt that was said to house all of the world’s knowledge.
But knowledge is not the same as wisdom. I have known people that were brilliant in a classroom setting, but they couldn’t find their way out of a parking lot if their life depended on it. There was a guy in college that would literally sleep through almost all of his classes and still get straight A’s because he had no problem with absorbing and reciting knowledge. However, he did not have the common sense to throw the previous week’s pizza away, but rather, let it fester in his dorm room. There are many a times we went looking for that dead animal stench.
King Solomon was a man of vast knowledge. In his better moments, he used his God-given capacity to collect information and insight from every corner of life. In unguarded moments, however, he showed that all the knowledge in the world does not keep a person from missing the purpose of life. In spite of his knowledge, Solomon married many women, and when he was old he built altars to their gods. His foolishness eventually led to his downfall.
Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Don’t get caught in a web of knowledge without true wisdom that comes from the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). I would rather have the fear of the Lord that begins my road to wisdom than all the data that knowledge can carry. Yes, we need knowledge, but more than ever, we need wisdom to handle that knowledge properly. Remember James told us to ask God for wisdom, not knowledge, and when asked, the Lord will give liberally.

“In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.”
- Lord Chesterfield

Are You A Success Story?

Read Joshua 1:8

Success seems to be a fleeting concept. People have defined success in many different ways, and yet it sometimes is still difficult to comprehend, let alone attain. I want to throw my two cents in today because I feel there are those that do not feel they are successful even though they are.

A man or a woman is a success:
-When they can make steppingstones to higher experiences out of defeats,
-When they can see a silver lining on the edge of a dark cloud that left desolation in the path of life’s prospects,
-When they have a great concept of God and a true sense of their own smallness,
-When their faith and courage are as unwavering when things look bright and lovely as when they appear dark and fearful,
-When they place a higher value on service and efficiency than on money and expediency.

We will look at more ways people are successful over the next few days, but I encourage you to look at the previous list and go beyond the phrase to real applications in your life. Have defeats in your life been used to advance your family? Then you are a success. When everything seems to have been destroyed and you are even fearful to dream, can you still see that ever so faint glimmer of silver on that cloud? Then you are a success. Do you understand how big God is and how small you really are? Then you are a success. It is sometimes easy to lean on God when everything seems to fall apart because it seems no one else can help, but what about when everything is well? Do you still have your faith in Him, or do you begin to trust your resources in good times? If you continue to trust in Him, you are a success. When you can get to the place in life where your heartbeat focuses on helping others rather than yourself, you have become a success.
Just think, you have every opportunity to be successful today. Why not give it a try?

“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.”
-George Edward Woodberry