There is a mental exercise that personal coaching consultants perform with their clients. They usually show an emotional video about a life-well-lived, and then they ask, “When you die, what do you want written on your tombstone?” Or a variation such as, “What would you like said about you at your funeral?”vMost of us want to be remembered well, especially by those we love.
Read More“I don’t want to go. I have no idea why God would want me to endure such pain!” That was my plea to two good friends of mine—a husband and a wife. I was to attend a wedding of another friend. But the wounds of my divorce were fresh. The last thing I “wanted” was to witness a marriage ceremony. That is when they dropped a ton of bricks on me. They said, “Do you think we want to go and hear them play ‘Daddy’s little girl’ and watch them dance with their daughter? David, our job is to show up and support our good friend and leave the rest to God.” You see, they had laid to rest their two-year-old daughter months earlier.
Read MoreDo you like conflict? Most people don’t. It often shows up when you are not expecting it. It’s not that you are unaware of the tension, it is just a matter of timing when it comes to a head. How do you handle it? How does the Bible tell us to handle it?
Read MoreThat title could fit many stories in the Bible—and many stories within the grand story of humanity. We make messes—serious messes—messes where people get hurt. He is God’s man, Abraham. He is trying to follow God. His history is pretty-good. By now you know it: he is not perfect. There are some events in the past (some messes, you might say), where he really miss-stepped. A few of them are never over. That is true in our lives, isn’t it?
Read MoreA few days ago, I wrote about “having a good laugh”. Can you picture you and God having a good laugh? Seriously. After all, God did name him! Laughing with people… those delightful moments, when, with your family and friends you are laughing so hard, it is joyfully painful.
Read MoreAny deep fears in your life? I don’t mean something sudden, like being held up at gunpoint. I mean some deep-seated worry or fear that rarely emerges... but when it does, you act irrationally.
There are one or two things in my life, that if they emerge, completely derail me. Why do I bring this up? Because that is what is going on with Abraham. Why I am convinced that Abraham has a “deep-seated fear”?
Read MoreHow many news stories are there, that when you hear them, you cringe?
And the reality is, they are not really new. You know what I mean. Certainly, the names of the people involved are new, but the base story isn’t. Same stuff, different people, year after year. Yet no matter how many times we hear the story, well, we still cringe.
I cringe as I read these eight verses from Genesis 19. They chronicle “the end of the line” for Lot. We won’t read any more of him.
Read MoreThe phrase “a house divided cannot stand” was powerfully used by President Abraham Lincoln in his acceptance speech to become the Republican candidate for Senator for the state of Illinois. Sam Houston had used the image years earlier…and Jesus many years earlier. How about our hearts? What does it look like when our hearts our divided? Are we “able to stand”?
Why do I bring this issue of division up? Simple. There are a few different ways we could look at the text today.
Read More“Can’t I stay up for just 30 more minutes?” Ever heard that request from one of your kids? Ever made that sort of a plea to your parents when you were growing up?
As we get older, we weave logic into these pleas. We point out that we did all our chores, or that our friends get to stay out later, or… You know what I am talking about.
This sort of wrangling takes on a different tone in the Bible. A tone that makes me a bit uncomfortable.
Read MoreEvery now and then I will laugh—a lot. After, whatever was so funny has passed, I always think, “I don’t do that enough!” Has that ever happened to you?
I am around people that laugh… some of them laugh a lot, and loudly.
Laughter: it is good for us. Sometimes we laugh “with” people, and other times we laugh “at” people. I wonder what God thought when Sarah laughed at His promise…
Read MoreLet’s play a quick game. Let’s make a list of things that we all would agree are not great for casual party conversation. Most people say religion and politics. Let’s try and be more specific.
Would you add circumcision to that list? I would. I cannot picture myself walking up to someone and saying, “Hey, don’t you think circumcision is great!” Or, “What do you think about circumcision?”
I like church sermons. Not so much the ones I preach, but the ones I hear from others. I have quite a few that are memorable. Some because they cut me to the heart. Others because they opened God’s Word for me in a way I have not seen. And a few… a few that were just downright funny. One such sermon was on circumcision…
Read Morehere is this inner (spoiled) child in me that shouts, “I want it now!” How about you? Now before you tell me you are not like that; can I just point out how “two-day free shipping” has become the norm? For a quick up-charge, you can have it tomorrow!
Then there are the drive-thru lines. Are you good at waiting in them? Do you have an internal clock that at some point starts alarming because your personally established 45-second wait limit has been violated? Don’t believe me? Time yourself next trip through.
Today I want to ask you to observe that Abram’s five encounters with God cover 24 years. In each encounter God is making the same promise—and He has yet to fulfill it…
Read MoreAs you read Genesis 16, did you just get a sense, “This is not a good plan”? I did. I don’t care that it was 4,000 years ago. And even if you ignore the fact that God promised Abram… and Abram said he believed… and then Abram asked how he would know… and God did that “cut the animals in half thing”…
Even if you ignore all that, you just have a sense that this (sleeping with your wife’s maidservant) is not a good idea.
Read MoreOkay…straight out teaching…I just have to do it! I love these verses. First off, just yesterday I am gushing all over Abram and how he is believing God and how God is counting Abram a righteous. I went “on and on” about belief. And then we come to Abram saying, “How will I know…” Really? Isn’t this the same thing as “Help me believe”? Not quite. There is a difference.
Read More“Believe in yourself!” This mantra is a favorite for coaches seeking to encourage, cajole, and use whatever means they can find, to help their protégé excel.
To be sure, self-confidence goes a long way to success. Not too many people stood at the start of a race and said, “I’m going to lose”—and then actually won. I’m sure there are exceptions, but more winners began with a positive outlook.
The point: belief is powerful.
Today, I want to invite us to ponder the power of Genesis 15:6. Abram believed—God noticed. In fact, God “counted it to him as righteousness”.
Read MoreAfter you accomplish something really hard, what do you hope for?
For some it is the satisfaction of a job well done. For others it is a simple pat on the back by your boss. Perhaps it is a bonus or pay raise. Maybe a trophy. The list is long.
Why do I bring this up? Because in Genesis chapter 14, beyond all the names (which are meant to ground us in the fact that a war really happened), we see Abram not wanting an excessive reward. Why?
Read MoreManagement gurus study what makes people successful. The goal is to learn and share the lessons, so we can all be more effective. Throughout the years, while there have been a variety of lessons and techniques identified, Focus and Discipline consistently appear.
It is not that successful people never get off-track. They (we) all do. It is that they know what their Focus is supposed to be, and they have the Discipline to ask if they are indeed focused! (Harvard Business Review, What to Ask the Person in the Mirror, reprint R0701H)
The same is true with our walk with God. In Chapter 13 we see the One Thing we need to do to stay connected with God!
Read MoreNowadays, most TV and Movie superheroes have human character flaws. Not so when I was growing up. My superheroes were perfect! That had (and ridiculously continues to have) an effect on me. I have unrealistic expectations for myself—and somehow think everyone else has these expectations—not just including God—but especially God. Up until recently, writers for centuries would present heroes to be super-terrific people. They would wax over their flaws. It is why I love the Bible. It presents real people: complete, with all their warts. The people of the Bible remind me of me.
Read More“But God told me to do it!” Thoughts about how and when God leads:
We’ve all heard the news reports: someone carries out a horrific act, and then claims that God told them to do it. Now we know that it wasn’t God, but somewhere along the way, God’s reputation, and the reputation of the Church, takes a hit. People who don’t believe in God note that we, Jesus’ followers, are crazy and one-step away from making our own horrific news story.
Add to this situation our own real dilemma. How do we make decisions? How do we know when God is leading, as compared to when we are possibly projecting our desires on God?
So, just how do we navigate the big and small decisions of our lives? How do we hear His voice? How do we know His voice?
Read More“I think God is leading me to be a pastor” I informed my wife. Her response: “Funny, God hasn’t talked to me about it!”
Her next question: “So, how long has God been talking to you about this?” After a big gulp, I said, “About a year.”
Now, as an aside, here is a tip for husbands—don’t wait a year to tell your wife this kind of news.
But what do you do when you are trying to determine whether it is God’s voice, or simply those really old leftovers in the fridge that you ate last night, telling you do something crazy?
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