Snow Melts

In the record-breaking blockbuster Frozen, the supporting character, who most viewers consider the main character, is a happy go lucky snowman named Olaf. I have to admit, he made me laugh several times, and his demeanor is hard to dislike. He sings the second most popular song in the movie called, “In Summer”. For those three people who have not watched this movie, here are some of the lyrics: “Bees will buzz, kids will blow dandelion fuzz, and I’ll be doing whatever snow does in summer…my snow up against the burning sand probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer.”

Of course the humorous thing about this melody is everyone knows what will happen to this poor snowman in summer…

he melts.

The snowman has limits, and unless or until he learns to embrace those limits, he will surely do whatever it is that happens to snow in summer.

Here is the unshakable reality of life:

Truth will always dominate one’s hopes, beliefs, and aspirations.

In fact, everything created has limits. Nothing is exempt from the actuality of our physical laws that hold us together as well as the often-ignored spiritual laws that, if followed, keep us mentally together. We are both physical and spiritual. We have a physical being that is useless without the spirit that makes it alive. That is, all the DNA, RNA, and billions of cells can do nothing without life being breathed into it and we call this our soul…our spirit.

Health conscious people are cautious about what they eat, drink, and think. The interesting thing is that most of them miss the reason they are limiting themselves…

They live with self-imposed restrictions not just to look good, but so they can

“feel” good.

Feelings come from our spirit, not from nerves, electric impulses, or genetics. It is our spirit’s interpretation and assimilation of that constantly fluctuating data that makes someone ‘feel’ good. Our gray matter is our brain, but our mind/spirit cannot be located…it is this mind/spirit that allows us to feel anything.

If you live your life ignoring your physical limitations, you will feel it spiritually.

You will melt

Olaf’s friends hesitated to be honest with him and tell him exactly what happens to snow in summer. If they truly cared and loved Olaf, they would humbly inform him and suggest he daydream about summer, but seek the artic north. For Olaf, he can only prosper and remain happy-go-lucky in the cold.

For humankind, we can only prosper and remain happy-go-lucky by accepting and living the way our Creator has informed us via sixty-six books that we call the Bible.

God, because He IS love:

Warns His beloved that we will, in a sense, ‘melt in the summer sun’.

He humbly requests, does not demand, that we follow His leading because He knows how we function properly, and He desires for us to spiritually prosper.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible is not a book of rules…it is sixty-six books filled with unquestionable wisdom that transcends time, the whims of man, and the silliness of momentary cultures.

Read it.

Study it.

Apply it.

It is from these truths that you will thrive. God is on your side if you would trust and allow Him to lead, you will realize this amazing certainty.

Don’t be an Olaf living in a false fantasy. Live in reality and embrace your boundaries as our loving God has articulated.

Limits are not a bad thing; they keep us alive and keep us 
Frozen.

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’" says the LORD. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” Jer. 29:11

Doubt the Resurrection? Good!

Download my Booklet FREE

Available to read on your eReader, Smartphone, iPad or Tablet

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

Smashwords

Walls

On a short hike through the hillsides of Pittsburgh the other day, I came across this 150-yard-long rock wall. The large structure has many boulders that must weigh several tons each. This barrier is in the middle of nowhere; at least, nothing surrounds it today. As I walked along the top and spied a snake or two, I wondered, who built this thing and why? I imagine it took a great deal of effort, sweat, and planning to create. I don’t know if someone built it to keep something in or out, or both. Regardless, here it sits, a remnant of days gone by, and no one cares if the wall is here or not. It may have done its job in the day, but it does nothing now, except provide a place for snakes to absorb the warmth of the sun, bees to make nests, and plants to hold on to for stability.

As I took some time out of my hike to sit and ponder the wall with my new snake friends, I compared the manmade walls of Christianity that we have built over the centuries. There are rules and regulations on church dockets from years past that are nothing short of ridiculous and humorous at best, and despite the committees it took to form them and the infighting parishioners went through to create them, few care that they are there today. They are useless old walls, which, unfortunately, have done their job. These manmade barriers to eternal life with Jesus Christ are desperately sad and disturbing, and Jesus spoke against them continually. As Alex Himaya wrote, “Jesus hates religion” or man-breathed rules. Many of these hurdles impeded those who were earnestly seeking answers.

Hunters of truth who were turned away because they did not fit into a human-made structure.

I wonder how many simply stopped trying.

How many people simply moved on, assuming they weren’t good enough for God because they weren’t good enough for humankind?

The wall from space,
Google Maps

Beyond those manmade ‘clay tablet’ rules that Jesus despises, how many parents, grandparents, and churchgoers have thrown up similar walls? The most perplexing to me are those who continue to trumpet their ignorance or fear of answers by saying, ‘it’s a sin’ or ‘it’s not right to ask questions about one’s faith’. If we don’t or can’t ask questions:

How do we learn? How do we grow? How do we know God better?

God told us to “test the spirits” 1 John 4:1

That means, ‘Ask questions’!

I wonder how many times a student, son or daughter, or those on the “outside” couldn’t see over the well-constructed rock wall of religion and missed the relationship. I know this; nature despises a vacuum and will always fill a void. If seekers of truth don’t or can’t ask us, they certainly will seek their answers elsewhere. The world happily gives them the answers they seek, and gladly fills the void.

I could recount many life stories that I have heard where the person at a young age sought truth, but ran into a self-righteous wall of fear or disinformation never to return. We need to stop building walls and start building relationships that bring people to dynamic life in Christ. Clothes, tattoos, cars, houses, jobs, education, looks, athleticism, smells, ignorance, actions, God haters, etc. We can’t let any of those offend us to the point of building a wall that Jesus is trying to tear down. I was a God hater until the age of twenty-seven. I am grateful someone did not build a wall that I could not get over, like so many in my life had already done. Lisa Shores saw me for what I was, despite my adamant belief to the contrary: a man in need of a Savior.

Be a wall destroyer, not a wall builder.

“Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the LORD will be exalted on that day of judgment.” Isa. 2:17

Doubt the Resurrection? Good!

Download my Booklet FREE

Available to read on your eReader, Smartphone, iPad or Tablet

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

Smashwords

Ugly Christmas Boxes

Once a year I go into our garage, push past several boxes of stuff, kick up the dust and dirt that has accumulated over the last year, brush away a few dead bugs, and finally reach my goal—more boxes.

There is an incredible difference between the ugly boxes I move out of the way and the ugly boxes I pull out and it is not just the word ‘Christmas’ written on the outside with black Sharpie, it’s what’s inside of them that makes them different. In fact, these boxes are more worn, tattered, and stained from the years spent in the garage than most of the other boxes. Year after year, they’ve been moved, pushed, and crushed into tight spaces to make room for other stuff.

I tug and pull them out of their resting place, pile them up, and carry them to the living room. They are ugly. They are frayed. Various types of tape hold them together. But unlike the others, these hold promise because of the true meaning behind that one word: Christmas.

It’s been eleven months since we packed them away and who put what where, is a mystery. My family gathers around the stack, and one by one, we open the boxes as nostalgia fills our hearts by what’s inside. Piece by piece, the old ‘works of art’ are pulled out and unwrapped from their protective Wal-Mart bags or the occasional ‘special’ item has paper, bubble wrap, and then the Wal-Mart bag.

The funny thing is… From the most beautiful piece to the downright scary hand-painted Santa, none of the pieces are particularly stirring on their own. It is only when we begin to put them on the tree that a different picture emerges. Then, when we step back, turn on the tree lights, and stand there quietly for a moment and gaze, it is at that moment that we are reminded of the uniqueness of Christmas and the ugly boxes that held this beauty gives way to something better.

Christmas, despite the ardent attempts of humanists, will always be about one thing: the birth of a Savior. He offers life to anyone who will accept His gift (John 11:25). Like the boxes and the items inside, we are all battered, broken, and held together by various types of ‘tape’. With Jesus, it’s not our decrepit body and not the beautiful or ugly moments that make or break us. It’s what we allow Him to do with those laughs—those tears—and those scars that matter. He alone opens the shell you live in, pulls out the good, the bad, and the ugly, puts it on the Tree of Life, and creates a perfect picture of beauty.

Christmas is more than symbolism; it is truth, reality, and it is life. Jesus doesn’t focus on the appearance of your box, the contents on the inside, or the stains from years of a difficult life, nor should you. Focus, instead, on the life Jesus brought to earth on the first Christmas morning and allow Him to lovingly use all of you to glorify Him and give you peace.

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem” Luke 2:10-11

Stumble Much?

I remember watching my sons learn how to walk. Any parent can recall those exciting moments when their child’s wobbly legs and oversized head make what seems impossible possible. And now your exercise begins. They no longer stay where you put them and they systematically alter the decorations of your home until you only have things above three feet. 

Some people get better at walking than others. I have watched some guys at the gym stand on a medicine ball and do squats. You can see the continual fight not to fall and sometimes gravity wins.

My point is, learning how to walk is really learning how not to fall. It is not that all of the sudden the forces of gravity alter for that child and they begin to walk. No, they have simply learned how to constantly compensate for those forces. In a real sense, we are always falling; we simply adjust our weight with strengthened muscles and learned balance. Our state of standing does not come natural. If you don’t believe me, wait until you lie down tonight on your bed. I don’t know about you, but I usually let out a long sigh of relief and an occasional moan as my “anti-falling” muscles get a break.

Life is a daily walk. We usually do okay, but there are moments, days, and sometimes weeks where we don’t do so well. Life has a way of causing us to stumble and sometimes fall. If you can’t relate, you are so young that someone is reading this to you or you need to come back from your over-medicated state of delusion. The great theologian Rocky Balboa said it best, “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” In other words, the trials and tribulations of this life will wear you down until we end up in our natural state—face down.

The Bible doesn’t tell us any different. The book of John tells us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” (John 16:33) If that were all he said, it would be a sad day. But this tough sentence is sandwiched between two all-powerful statements of Jesus, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me…But take heart, because I have overcome the world." Our only source of strength, peace, and ability to stand again is found in the presence of Jesus Christ in our life. Regardless if you stubbed your proverbial toe and are skipping on one foot or shattered your femur and all you can do is lie there and cry out in agony, take hold of the One who earned victory for you, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Some of us simply need to adjust our stride, some need to learn how to walk again, and some have never taken their first step in eternal life. “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6).

Jesus makes the impossible possible. You can stand, walk, and run again even after divorce, addiction, depression, and a death. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. 

“Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love.”

Psalm 5:11-12

Live to Ride, Ride to Live

My friend, Jason, and I were recently on a two-day motorbike ride in Florida. When we woke up on beautiful Cedar Key, we decided to get an early start before the storms had a chance to build. As we left the comforts of the island behind us and rode over the bridge, it became obvious we were in for a wet, and at times, scary ride. I grabbed my phone and took this picture as I crossed the bayou. As you can see, we were heading straight into the dark and ominous veil of storm clouds ahead of us.

It wasn’t until I uploaded the picture that I saw the reflection in the mirror of the bright blue skies behind me. The image captures a cool moment of contrast where we are leaving the comfort and safety of a clear day to enter the dangerous wet roads ahead in order to reach our destination.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I think many of us live looking longingly in the mirror of life. That is, life does not stop or slow down. We desire to go back to the “good ole days” when things were “simpler”. Some people reading this have storms in the mirror and only see darker super storms in their future.

Before the ride

Regardless of what’s in our mirror, we cannot be glued to what’s being reflected because that is only a memory while the reality of actual clouds, hard times, good times, and unknown twists and turns are rapidly coming at us. Glancing at the mirror is normal and healthy; staring at it will inevitably cause us to crash.

Our future is coming, we can’t stop it, but we can and should live in the knowledge that what is in the mirror is there to stay and how we respond to the coming moments is what determines what’s in our mirror tomorrow.

We had to punch through the dangerous rain to get home. What will you do with today? Will you continue to long for the images of your past? Will you continue to lament about the destructive storms in your mirror? Or will you choose to believe in the words of Christ and live knowing He has overcome the worries of today and will lead you through the storms of tomorrow?

“They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” Acts 14:22

God assured us that life would be difficult. He asks us to remain focused through the complexities knowing that we must travel this road to get to the One we love.

This life will take us down; its meandering whiplash turns are daunting, demoralizing, and deadly. In the end, it is our foundation and focus that either gets us through or pulverizes our will to drive into the foreboding unknown. For Jason and me on that ride, it turns out, we barely got wet. The storms broke up before we got there and all we got was some sprinkles. I wonder what hurricanes, tornadoes, and super cells God will diminish, remove, or carry you through.

“We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” 2 Cor. 4:9

What the clouds turned out to be

Get on your bike, glance at what’s behind you, and ride into the wind knowing no matter how bleak it looks, God never abandons you if you have put your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.