Sheep Food

  I have a hunch that many of us can recall a time, or two…when we were younger and our parents took us to some large-scale, crowded event, a circus perhaps, or a state fair or even a major league ball game of sorts. You were too big for them to carry so they gave you strict instructions to follow them closely, as in ‘stay on their heels’. You might have seen yourself as being too old to hold their hand yet still too young to navigate the throng of bodies on your own. The obvious concern here was not being separated from one another. And yet…you were. It did not take long when you realized you had no idea where they were, or where you were for that matter. There were just bodies pressing up against one another and noise and confusion and you, being shorter than most everyone else in that crowd, could not see where you were going. Most likely a twinge of panic set in as you realized you were ‘lost’ for the moment. I can assure you, the panic is even greater for the parent who ...

  I won’t lie…it has been a week; or two. Maybe three. This time of the year is my busiest season providing my photographic services for some 16 school campuses in the area taking school pictures of literally…thousands of students. Then I’m processing, uploading, dispersing proof order forms, collecting orders, processing those orders, delivering those orders while then preparing to make another round to each campus to do what we call ‘re-take day’ for those who missed the first day or maybe didn’t like their first pose and wanted another shot at improving it. Then, there is the barrage of relentless emails and messages that are non-stop looking for extra prints, missing prints, request to turn in late orders, etc. Needless to say I have stretches of days where it seems hard to keep my nose above water. Oh…did I mention that in the midst of all this flood of activity and responsibilities… that I was also in the process of this other ‘minor issue’ of trying to get my house ready t...

  Who doesn’t have childhood memories where Mom or Dad came in and turned the light on in that cold, dark room where you were buried under the warm comfort of blankets; and those words of: “Time to get up for school” sent some really negative vibes through you as you wanted to just disappear back into the darkness of your place of comfort. “I just don’t feel like getting up!” I – don’t – want – to! While there have been many new ‘revelations’ that I have come to see and experience since I began this journey three years ago of learning what it means to truly ‘abide in Christ’, one of the more significant changes that have come about in me is this change in my ‘want to’. I want...to do those things that please the Father. That is what a surrendered heart truly wants to do...in everything, not just ‘some things’. Now before I get ahead of myself here, let me assure you that just because one is abiding in Christ does not mean they are never ‘tempted’ to sin or do those things that ar...

  God will test your heart to see just how serious you are about following Him. This you can be sure of. So here’s some ‘food for thought’: “It’s better to not make a vow, than it is to make one and then fall short in fulfilling it.” (Ecc. 5:5) Do you recall the dialogue between Moses and the people after he came down from the mountain top and read the Ten Commandments to them? I would imagine that after hearing all those, there had to be some serious pause of reflection and realizing that this God who was making Himself known to His people was a bit serious about all this. And for good reason as we read there in Exodus 20 that after the reading of the Law, the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.” (18) Then...”Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear; for God has come to ...test you...and that His fear may be before you , so that you ...may...not ...

  “God wants to use you for His glory!” Ever heard that line before? Or better yet, how often have we told this to others hoping it would be an incentive to ‘come to Jesus’ and join our church so God could use all their wonderful skills and talents for the kingdom of God? (Translated to mean it would help our church grow and bring more people in). I don’t know about you, but does anyone else ever find it disturbing when a well-known celebrity shows any inclination to ‘joining God’s team’, and how they are quickly paraded about and celebrated by those in church leadership? Seems James had some harsh words about doing such things in his letter but what would he know about trying to build God’s kingdom in the 21st century? (James 2:1-9) Yet this idea of ‘being used by God’ has sure taken a twisted turn in the modern day church world. It’s almost like we think God needs our abilities and talents to expand His kingdom and if ‘old so-and-so attended church here, we could really get so...

  It’s sad, but true: it takes longer for some of us to get to a place where we are open, and I mean really ‘open’ to not only hearing from God...but surrendering to doing things...His way. I speak from personal experience here. Why I even have a few ‘scars’ to prove it, as do many of us. In the early part of 1980, I was a young, single, ‘pot-head’ who was spending a season in life working as a ‘factory-rat’ out in Arizona. It was then and there that God began to do a work in me, and draw me as He started to open my eyes to the truth found woven in His word. By the summer of that same year, I had experienced a true conversion and found my heart burning with a desire to serve Him with everything thing in me; and was even ready to travel across oceans and live in jungles if that was indeed His will for my life. I had, over the course of those six months seen and experienced the incredible display of His love and power and grace in ways that I could never, ever deny. And by the ea...

  “He sure was a ‘good-ole-boy’”; we often have heard said about some person we may have attended church with for years. Or maybe – “My goodness she made the best cobbler ever brought to a church pot-luck...”. And then there is that ‘other side’ of them that someone mentions as their voice trails off in a midst of head shaking and chuckles. You know what I’m talking about...we like to focus on the ‘good side’ of them...how they were a wonderful deacon or Sunday school teacher or how well they could ‘pick a guitar’. But then it is brought up how you sure wouldn't want to play golf with them and have your mother nearby given they could ‘cuss like a sailor and throw a fit like nobody’s business’. Or that sweet lady who made the cobbler and could be so kind and generous at times....”it’s a shame she never got over her husband leaving her as that bitterness could consume her at other times. My how she could turn and be snappy and spiteful when someone crossed her.” Let’s face it.....

  “If anyone does not abide in me [remain, continue]...he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.” - Jesus. (John 15:6) It would seem to me that for Jesus to make such a statement as the one above here, that not only did He mean what He said, but it would seem that we would want to know everything we could about what it means to abide in Him. To not abide in Him has serious ramifications. And please don’t get ahead of yourself and conclude He is talking about ‘hell’ here either. “Abide in Me...” (3). It was not a suggestion. You say you ‘accepted Christ’ at a young age? Wonderful. Baptized in water in front of friends and family? Great...I celebrate with you. You’ve gone on mission trips every summer with your church? No doubt it was a rewarding experience. No one is faulting you or anyone else who has experienced such uplifting moments in your faith journey. But do you think it is possible one can do ...

  “When His disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying- ‘Who then can be saved’?” (Matt. 19:25) That is not the typical question one might ask after listening to some polished TV evangelist lead people in a ‘prayer to be saved’ these days on their broadcast, is it not? Yes...I waded in to ‘that topic’ yesterday regarding this idea of getting ‘saved’. We believers are easily preoccupied with debating that subject while offering up all our theological formulas on what it means to be saved, how to get saved, stay saved, and how we cannot be ‘unsaved’. Meanwhile...Jesus had more to say about following Him and abiding in Him and continuing in...the faith. But what would He know? He was too busy ‘casting out unclean spirits’ from tormented people when He of all folks should have known they were merely struggling with emotional and mental disorders, and with proper therapy and medication, these folks could learn to cope with their issues and live reasonably normal lives...