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- Sign of a Christian - Sign of a Christian: Over the centuries, man has displayed all kinds of symbols to tell the world that they follow Jesus Christ, or simply, that they are Christians. I have a chain around my neck with a cross, as so many people do, and that declares that “I am a Christian!” Do you believe it? You may see cross lapel pins or ear rings. Maybe you will see the sign of a fish on the trunk of a car, another mark of following Christ. In some gatherings of followers, it is the haircut or dress that makes the statement. I guess there is nothing wrong with any of this, if that is your leanings. But, do they really say, “I am a Christian, a follower of Christ”? Is there a true universal mark or sign that tells the world whose you are? Continue reading
- Let Go! - Let Go! Accepting Christ or being born again, by its very nature, requires us to let go of our old self, our old thinking and our own way of living life. Our priorities change, realign with our faith, and we step out as a new person. In essence, we are letting go of the smaller fish, our old life, in order to embrace the bigger fish, a life in Christ. The transition that we have gone through in our commitment to Christ is much easier to describe in words, then it is to live it. Continue reading
- Talking with God - Talking with God: My daughter found this conversation with God by John Roedel and sent it on to me. It is such a good and appropriate message that I wanted to share it with you. Keep in mind, this is You and God having a conversation. A Conversation with God: Me: Hey God. God: Hello...Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together? God: I would rather not.Me: Why? God: Because you aren't a puzzle. [There is more to this worth reading. Just you and God.] Continue reading
- What Is Love? - What Is Love? What is Love? That would seem to be a simple and rather obvious question, but I wonder. Have we redefined love in small and maybe even shabby ways? Seriously, have we thrown that word around for various personal, secular, and somewhat shady motives, maybe to get our way, or to forge a relationship that may or may not follow your heart? “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” Then John tells us what real love is: Real love was shown by Jesus when He gave up His life for us, and we ought to do the same for our brothers and sisters. Continue reading
- The Greatest of These Is Love - The Greatest of These Is Love: Wouldn’t you agree that the most common theme throughout the Bible and in all of our Lord’s teachings is love. Love in all its forms, settings, worship, family. Love. A gift, a grace, a blessing, a joy. We love our husband or wife, or that special person in our life. We love our children, and our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren, and our dog and our cat and other pets, and all our family, extended beyond blood. We love sunsets, oceans, reunions, lakes, mountains, and dreams. I love to write, to read, to travel, to love. You, too, have loves of your own. We are created to love, you and me. Continue reading
- Adversity as Grace - Adversity as Grace: I was reading a brief essay recently about the Wright brothers and their journey to conquer human flight. They never had it easy. Countless failures, money woes, being ridiculed by friends and strangers, not to mention serious injuries. Yet the brothers weren't stopped by the trials they faced. Orville Wright was quoted as saying “No bird soars in a calm.” The apostle Peter taught a similar spiritual principle to the persecuted early church. He told them, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you” (1 Peter 4:12). This wasn't a denial of suffering's pain, because Peter knew that hope in Christ grows our trust in God. It is hard for us to see how a difficult diagnosis, or the loss of a loved one, or an accident that forces a change in the calendar, can be a positive. Continue reading
- What If…? Again - What If…? Again: A recent meditation was built around the rather frivolous idea of What If…, a kind of fantasy which oftentimes provides the basis of story or other forms of narrative. If we incorporate reality into the what if…, it leads us to What’s next…? Think about it, what if dinosaurs returned and they were friendly as golden retrievers and did our bidding? I know that’s a ridiculous assumption but, what if… and what, in your imagination, would follow next? Over these nearly five years of Watchwords, the devotionals were written with careful intent to avoid commenting on politics, in anyway. However, sometimes it is not possible to totally avoid a political slant when the Lord is nudging us in that direction. Think about it. In the book of Micah we read, “What does the Lord require of us? To act justly, Love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” Walk humbly with God?” Continue reading
- What If… - What If… Have you read anything by Charles Martin? Martin is an author of Christian fiction and nonfiction, devotionals and engaging storylines. One of his books that I have truly enjoyed is entitled What If It's True? He makes a persuasive argument that God meant what he said when he said some of the things that may cause us to question. The whole process of writing story is often based on what if… as a device that authors use to put together interesting and creative stories. I believe we have all played a game of what if... Continue reading
- Wisdom and Sense - Wisdom and Sense: Sometimes when we read the Message version of the Bible we hardly recognize the…well, message. Sometimes, however, it speaks to us more clearly than, say, King James, even though it is James! The truth is, it doesn’t matter which version we prefer, it is His Word we are to meditate on each moment of our lives. So, the subject of the passage is wisdom and its related cousin, common sense. Not surprisingly, many sophisticated and intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense. Wisdom and common sense are closely related, wisdom being a gift from God, while common sense is the way we mortals apply God’s gift. Continue reading
- Search Me! - Search Me! That opening verse in Psalm 139, you have examined my heart and know everything about me, is a powerful statement telling us that nothing in our lives is lost on our Lord. Do we believe that, do we trust that? Think about it; the Lord has examined my heart and the creator God knows everything about me. Everything! That should bring us up short. If you've ever read the whole of Psalm 139, I commend it to you. It will open an expanded awareness that God knows everything about me. Regardless of where I am, regardless of how I hide, regardless of how I might avoid being seen or heard or understood, God knows it all. Continue reading
- Do Not Fear - Do Not Fear : In times like these, it is easy to let fear grip our hearts and occupy our minds. What we heard last night in the latest news, garners even more fear, if we let it. You know, much of it is fear of the unknown. That kind of fear fills our mind, too much of the time. We need to remember these important truths: God is with us, God is for us, God is in charge and God loves us. His voice continues to instruct us: do not be afraid. Brothers and sisters, we are not alone. When the storm rages all around us, and darkness seems to close in, he offers us peace and refuge in the midst of it. He promises us hope and strength. Proverbs 3:5 is a true watchword: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Continue reading
- Change of Plans - Change of Plans: The Lord Speaks: Today I want you to take a deep breath and consider a better way. My Word will give you the answers you need. Realize that a spirit of quietness and confidence only comes when you stop and focus on Me. A change of plans or a new normal! Too often that phrase seems to apply to things changing in your life, often from good to bad, like a medical diagnosis or loss of loved one. Or, perhaps the change is from good to better! You know, like marriage or new babies (especially the first one), or a promotion. Sometimes that ‘New Normal’ is a choice, a decision that one makes because of new information provided. Sometimes God speaks to us and it makes a difference. Continue reading
- Relive the Pain? - Relive the Pain: In a younger version of me, I had aspirations of being an actor. In my early years at college I looked forward to rehearsals because they were fun and I learned a lot of things, some of which are not worthy of being detailed here. Rehearsing bad experiences, or rehashing troubles is not helpful, and results in experiencing discomfort and pains many times over. We are meant to go through the pain of trouble only one time, when it actually occurs and there is no point in multiplying our suffering. Our Lord tells us to “come to me” and to relax in his peace. He tells us that it will strengthen us and prepare us for this day, taking away our fear and turning it into confident trust. Continue reading
- Shepherd of My Soul - Shepherd of My Soul: Psalm 23 may be the best known, a passage more people have memorized in the entire Bible. It’s probably a passage that has more power and more content then we know. More sermons preached and more books have been written on this simple prayer of David. Why? I think that is because we can relate to it. We can translate the simple words into meaning for us, we can relate to phrases like ‘quiet waters’ and we know the ‘right path’ the Lord wants us to travel. The darkness of the valley does not cause us to fear because we know the lord there with us, and that gives us peace. Nevertheless, take a deeper dive, one section at a time. Continue reading
- I Do Not Know That Man! - I Do Not Know That Man! Have you ever said that? You know, denying that you know someone. Maybe you made that denial for reasons that later you regretted? How about this, you're asked a certain question and maybe you don't respond directly to it, but you evade it or you duck it, whatever you did you didn't answer it. Maybe the question was, ‘Do you believe in life after death and why’ and you didn’t feel prepared to respond to the 'why' part of that query. I do not know that man, was Peter begging off of the accusation that he was with Jesus. Poor Peter, he was neither prepared, nor equipped under those circumstances to defend the truth that he was a follower of Jesus. He had much to learn and to regret, before he could accept the love of Christ. Continue reading
- Imagine - Imagine: have said many times that a good round of golf, sets me up for disappointment for the next round. That makes sense, doesn’t it. We get our expectations pretty high at times, and that sets us up for a bit of disappointment when those expectations aren’t met. But dreams, and goals, and expectations are good. We draw a lot from the “way it was” when life was good, the kids were great, the sun was shining, God was in His Heaven and all was right with the world. Right? So, there is your touch point, there is that image of what you wish to experience now. Does that set us up for disappointment? Impatient for the “way it was”? Yes, it probably does. Continue reading
- Utopia, Plan B - Utopia, Plan B: My daughter, Beth, sent me this quote from Oscar Wilde: “A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realization of utopias.” The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines Utopia as “An imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. The word was first used as the name of an imaginary island, governed on a perfect political and social system, in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. The name in modern Latin is literally ‘no-place’.” Continue reading
- Back to Wow! - Getting Back to Wow: Personal for a Point: Jess, the love of my son’s life, was gunned down less than three years ago. Now he stands in the street looking at his house, seemingly unchanged, one of four homes still standing in a neighborhood of 10 or so, after the passing of the blowtorch known as the Santa Ana winds. Homes of friends with children that my son knew, lost. Two major blows, how does one deal with that? Yes his house was still standing, but why? How do we deal with catastrophes that fall upon us? What do we give credit to, how do we cope? We've all seen the pictures of the devastation suffered by our friends and neighbors in California. Maybe we feel fortunate, or maybe we feel guilty. Survival guilt. Continue reading
- Praying into 2025 - Praying into 2025: In a recent sermon, Allen Jackson spoke of four key elements in the prayerful worshiping of God. These included, receiving Christ, renewing our faith, releasing our fears, and rebuilding the broken places in our lives. The following is my attempt to follow his outline in a prayer that leads us into this new year laying before us. Let us pray... Continue reading
- And We Saw God - And We Saw God: This Christmas, my kids gifted me with a magic screen, loaded with their pictures, and loadable with mine. It's a wonderful slideshow that goes on and on throughout the day. In the morning the slideshow resumes. It's a wonder and it has taken me back to my albums of pictures, and of course when you go back to the pictures you go back to the memories. Let me tell you about one memory when my wife, Joanne, and I saw God. This moment occurred over 20 years ago at a little cinder block cabin perched high on a bluff overlooking lake Michigan. The family gathering had lasted throughout the week and we'd had a great time. Now it was just Joanne and I, one more night, closing up the cabin and recalling the days that we had enjoyed.It was at dusk when that moment occurred. Then just before the sun disappeared into the lake, it happened. The sky exploded with the most beautiful awry either one of us had ever seen. It wasn't just the colors, it wasn't just the gathering of clouds, it was something that was speaking to us from the sky and within our own hearts. Continue reading
