Ice Storms & Advertising

The mundane tasks of everyday life can lull you to apathy and push God to the back of your mind. Refuse to become self-sufficient in life. You need God every day, whether you're facing a storm or not.  Paul Chappell

Dallas has an ice storm last week.  We are still feeling the effects of it.  In this part of Texas we don’t normally get beautiful fluffy flakes of snow.  We live on the edge of ice and snow which means sleet and ice.   I’ve learned several things about ice storms in the past week. Some of the things I learned I already knew from past experience, and others I learned for the first time. Maybe I am just slow.

Anyway, the first thing I refreshed my memory with is that there are some people who don’t understand the term “ice”.  We had a day and a half of sleet with temperatures in the teens and twenties so driving was a challenge.  Businesses, schools and highways closed.  When I finally was able to drive to work the streets were still frozen.  It never ceases to amaze me how people will drive 60 to 70mph on ice.  You can have cars littering the freeway on both sides and smashed into the guardrails and they will still drive fast to get where they are going. It’s like playing Russian roulette.   

The second thing I learned was that when a sheet of ice 1-2inches thick sits on the roof of your car and you drive around for a while, the wind will eventually catch that 2 x 4 piece of ice and shoot it 30 feet into the air, especially when you are driving 60 mph.  I lost count of the times I saw this happen.  What goes up must come down according to gravity and it did; all over other cars. 

This is the best thing I learned during the ice storm.  When an ice storm occurs around Christmas people can’t get out and shop.  So retailers don’t make their quotas because people aren’t shopping, so they have big sales.  Every commercial on the radio is advertising their “ice-mageddon” sale.  Car dealers are taking $10,000 off, stores are advertising buy one get one free and 70% off prior to Christmas. 

When I heard the first few commercials it started me thinking.  There is incredible mark-up on things.  To make money businesses use markup.  The problem is some businesses do what I call extreme markup.  So if a car dealer can afford to take $10,000 off a brand new car, believe me he is still going to make money. 

When it comes to advertising we are reeled in like a big ole fish.  We believe the hype of what advertisers sell us but we decide to ignore the warnings.  If we really listened to advertisements we would never buy what they are selling.  Am I the only one who doesn’t want to take a medication that can cause suicidal thoughts, hinder brain function, cause blood clots, heart palpitations, breathing problems, hallucinations, yellow eyes, nausea, accelerated heart beats, blindness, trouble walking, loss of hair, sleeplessness, stroke, coma and death?  Does it scare you that you might run into someone taking this medication?  It takes 2 minutes out of a 3 minute commercial to tell you how bad it is for you. Whatever problem I have that I need the medication for doesn’t sound so bad now does it. 

I believe there are good commercials out there just as there are honest businesses out there who are not out to hit a home run with you as the ball.  Wisdom comes in all sizes and if you listen pray and think, God will give you the answers you need to make informed decisions on anything in life.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I listen to advertisements and some of them literally scare me.  They promise all kinds of things that in reality will not make my life any happier, more fulfilled or peaceful.  I pray for Your wisdom when I make decisions.  You are an amazing God and Your wisdom is what I need.  If I will just listen, meditate and pray You will provide.  Every decision I make should be run through your filter first.  Thank You for Your patience with me when I am hard headed.   

Scripture: The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion— A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs 1:1-7

Hurt People Love People

Difficulties and obstacles are God's challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fullness and all-sufficiency of Jesus.  A.B. Simpson

I decided to take yesterday’s devotional one step further.  There are people who are hurting that lash out at others to hurt them.  When they are in pain they want others to feel that pain too.  There is another type of person who is hurting but even in the midst of their hurt, they love others. 

Have you ever met someone like that?  A person who may be suffering from a terminal disease or a loss of a family member or other tragedy, yet they still seem to give to others through all the pain.  When you meet that person, you have seen a glimpse of Jesus.  When this happens, you stand back and ask, “How can this person possibly want to do for others when they are in the midst of so much pain”? 

We all suffer trouble and tragedy in this world.  You can’t avoid it and if you have avoided it up to this point, you will eventually meet trouble face to face.  This is the reality of the world we live in.  How you handle your trouble is the important thing? 

Several years ago I attended a support group for ovarian cancer survivors.  Each time we met we were encouraged to share our story with each other.  Not long after I started attending I shared my story.  One of the ladies spoke up after I finished and turned to me and said, “How can you know what it feels like for us since your cancer is only a stage 1”? 

When she said it I was devastated. One of the other ladies in the group who had been through over a hundred rounds of chemo and was a stage 4, spoke up and said something kind to me, probably because she could see how devastated I was over what the woman said.  Up to that point, I didn’t even think about the number associated with the cancer.  I was just praising God that I was still breathing. Our group was later doing a benefit to raise awareness for ovarian cancer and I called to volunteer.  She was in charge of the volunteers.  She declined to let me volunteer although she later sent out an email requesting volunteers after she turned me down. 

I continued to attend the meetings but I never forgot those words spoken in pain from this other woman.  I did however revise my opinion of her after much prayer.  The hurt of the words eventually went away and I started praying for her instead because I finally realized it was her pain talking.  I am sad to say, she later lost her battle with the disease.   

No matter what trouble you face in life, there will be others around you who may have more or less tragic circumstances.  If we blame God or others for our tragedies we will never be able to show them a picture of Christ.  Take your hurt and turn it into love for others.  Christ suffered the worst pain any human being can suffer, but he loved the ones causing His pain so much that he asked God to forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for the tragedies in my life.  They have made me a stronger person and have helped me to love others more for having survived them.  I don’t like pain but it has helped me to see people from Your perspective.  Loving others is a choice each of us make even when they are at their most unlovable.  Jesus, I am forever amazed that You loved us enough to go through unimaginable pain just so that we may live.  I praise You. 

Scripture: There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  Luke 23:32-34

Hurt People Hurt People

As we get close to God, he is going to reveal things in our life that aren't pretty. We'll see the patterns of bitterness, anger, manipulation, and hurt that have cycled in our relationships.  Chip Ingram

Have you figured out that people who are hurting, hurt others.  By that I mean have you noticed how we live in a society of hurt and angry people?  Anger is prevalent in our society and it is getting worse and more often than not, a person who is hurting is going to hurt others through anger or some other means.

What are some of the characteristics of a hurting person?  They are angry and direct that anger at others.  They are insecure because they feel unloved.  Bitterness is a trait of a hurt person and so is sarcasm.  Hurt people build walls around themselves because they are afraid someone will see the vulnerable person inside. 

Secure people who know they are loved don’t act out in anger, bitterness or sarcasm.  A person who knows they are loved is generous, kind and loving. 

One of the things I have learned is that human beings are sinners.  You may think that is a stupid statement but many years ago I looked up to people who reflected an individual who was a Christian but when you learned the true details of their lives, it wasn’t pretty.  There were times in my life when I did this too.  I went through the motions of living a Christian life but there was darkness inside that I didn’t want anyone to see.

Living in a sinful world means that we are going to be disappointed by others around us and we are going to disappoint others too.  Too many times we depend on the people around us to be infallible.  So we look up to others and we are disappointed when they fail us.  Then we turn on them in anger for that very reason. 

When we learn that God is the only one Who loves us unconditionally and that if we put our faith in Him for our security and love, that is when we can learn the wisdom of loving others for who they are and not what we want them to be.  If our focus and security is in the love of Jesus Christ, we start to see the hurt in others.  What this produces in us is wisdom.  When we can see past the hurt and anger to the hurt person inside, we are headed towards God’s wisdom.  God promises us treasure if we search for it.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, in the past I was guilty of showing the world what I thought You wanted me to be, but I was a totally different me inside.  I now understand that it created sorrow, loneliness and hurt and that colored everything I did in life.  I have since come to know Your love and what an amazing gift You have given me.  Knowing You love me changed my life.  It helps me to see others in a different light.  It has taught me to love the unlovable.       

Scripture: This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

Then I said:
“Wisdom is better than strength.
Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised,
And his words are not heard.
Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard
Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war;
But one sinner destroys much good.”  Ecclesiastes 9:13-18
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For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,  that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

Does Someone Want What You Have?

We are indeed the light of the world--but only if our switch is turned on.  John Hagee

As you know I love to play golf.  Many years ago my husband and I took a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  This was a favorite place for us to go because it was not as commercialized as some of the resorts. 

On this trip we decided to take our golf clubs and stay at an all-inclusive golf resort. Some of the most beautiful golf courses are in the tropics.  So we lug our golf clubs to the airport and then to our resort.  We had never played golf at a resort like this.  We didn’t see another golfer on this course.  It was like we had the course to ourselves.  It was just us and the iguanas.  When you hit a shot out of the fairway, which in my case happened a lot, there was nothing but woods, iguanas and you.  I left a lot of golf balls on the course that day. 

So we are out there enjoying the beautiful day and the awesome scenery.  We came up to a fairway and I kid you not, I hit the best shot I had hit all day.  The fairway ran next to beautiful condominiums and private homes.  So as I said, I hit the best shot and it landed on the green.  My husband and I were both amazed.  I felt like Arnold Palmer or what Arnold Palmer must have felt like when he hit an awesome shot. 

So we are walking along the fairway when all of a sudden a dog ran out of one of the condominiums and started running across the fairway.  There was another dog hot on his heels.  The first dog runs onto the green, picks up my golf ball and takes off running. These two dogs start chasing each other around the green with my golf ball in the first dog’s mouth.  The one shot of the day where I might have had an extremely rare opportunity to beat my husband’s score, (on this one hole), a dog takes off with my golf ball.    

When I thought of this long ago incident, it reminded me of how this dog ran out with single minded purpose.  All he saw was the ball.  My husband and I are running up to the green telling him to drop it and he paid no attention to us.  When you think about how we can apply this to our lives, shouldn’t we be a light to others.  Our purpose on earth is to be a light to the lost.  People should be so drawn to us as this dog was drawn to my golf ball.  Others should be so drawn to the way we live so much so that they would want to know what we have that they don’t.  It’s kind of hard to be a light to the world when we are so often pursuing things of the world. 

The verse that struck me today is we are to take heed what we hear.  With the same measure we use, it will be measured to you. To you who hear, more will be given.  Notice it doesn’t say to you who buy or make more, more will be given.  How many of us are deaf to God’s calling.  Jesus spoke in parables.  I think the main reason was so that it would intrigue us enough that we would dig deeper and search harder for truth.  If your light is hidden under a basket, no one will seek what you have.  People won’t search for something they can’t see.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I still have a long way to go in hearing all the things You want to teach me.  Help me to be a light to others.  If my light is hidden under a bushel, I will never reach others on your behalf.  Please fill me with the Holy Spirit so that others can see You through me and then You will be glorified.  I want my light to shine brightly in a dark world. 

Scripture: Light Under a Basket
Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. If  anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”  Mark 4:21-25

Jesus Use of Parables
And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. Mark 4:33-34

The Challenge of Golf

The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.  Billy Graham

I like to play golf.  I am not really any good at it but it challenges me.  There is nothing like it when you take an easy swing and the ball sails through the air.  It’s all the other shots that can make you wonder why you chase a little white ball around an 18 hole golf course. 

The interesting thing about golf is that it is the great equalizer.  You can be 4’10” or 6’4” and still compete no matter your size. I have lots of golf stories so I am going to share one of my favorites or in this case most embarrassing. 

I will never forget the time my Uncle Mickey took my dad, brother and me to play golf in Austin.  Did I mention that when people watch you hit that first shot it can make you choke?  All golf courses have the first tee box near the clubhouse.  It makes sense because that is where you check in.  So we went to this exclusive golf course and I got up on the ladies tee box and choked.  I couldn’t hit the ball and when I tried all I did was make a big divot, or in this case a large hole.  For you non-golfers, a divot is a piece of turf torn up by a golf club in striking a ball. 

I had several problems that day. There are times when it is good to have a divot but the divot should be small and should only throw a small amount of grass and dirt in the air.  My divots were more like the size of saucers.  My second problem was the course Marshall was sitting in his golf cart watching me tear up the tee-box.  When I got finished with that tee box it looked like the gopher in Caddie Shack had taken up residence. I don’t know if they ever give out fines for tearing up a golf course with a golf club, but I am sure the Marshall thought I deserved one or at the very least, banishment from the course. They would do a mug shot of me and hang it in the clubhouse so that if I ever crossed the threshold again they would escort me out. 

When I was thinking of this long ago memory, I started thinking about how God sometimes uses the least of us for His purpose.  I started writing my own devotionals in 2012.  It took a lot of encouragement from people close to me who saw potential in there somewhere.  I am not the best writer or grammarian and if you read something profound in anything I write it can only be God.  Sometimes I look back over what I write and think “where did that come from” and my immediate answer is always “God”. 

Do you remember the story of Gideon?  An Angel of the Lord appeared to him and called him a mighty man of valor.  He told him he would save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.  Gideon responds by saying he is the weakest in Manasseh and the least in his father’s house.  God responded by telling him He would be with him.  That should be enough for any of us.  God is with us.

If God can use me in even the smallest capacity to encourage or lift someone up, He can use you too.  The thing to remember is to step back and let Him work.  You will be amazed at what can happen.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I still have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to read what I write.  When someone emails me and tells me how much something that I wrote touched them, I stop and praise You.  You are where the words come from, I am just the instrument You use to speak them.  I praise You for your many blessings and helping others to see You through the stories I tell.  May You be glorified in everything I do.   

Scripture: Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”

So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”  Judges 6:11-16

How Deep Are Your Roots?

Look at that beautiful butterfly, and learn from it to trust in God. One might wonder where it could live in tempestuous nights, in the whirlwind, or in the stormy day; but I have noticed it is safe and dry under the broad leaf while rivers have been flooded, and the mountain oaks torn up from their roots.  Jeremy Taylor

How deep do your roots grow?  Our spiritual life is similar to the roots of a tree or plant.  When our roots grow deep we have a stable foundation in which to produce fruit.

My parents grow lavender.  Lavender doesn’t like clay soil which is the type of soil they have at the farm.  We amended the soil prior to planting so the lavender would produce blooms.  One of the things that will happen when you amend the soil is that the plant has a shallow root system so its roots are close to the surface instead of going deep into the soil.  This means that it is harder for the plant to survive without continuously adding more soil around its root system.  Rain will often wash the sandy soil away leaving the roots exposed.  This in turn weakens the plant and eventually it will die.  God created this plant to survive by keeping its root system shallow in our Texas soil and climate.  Our plants have a much weaker root system so we harvest by hand carefully cutting the blooms.    

In France where lavender grows in abundance, the root system is much stronger and grows much deeper.  This is what happens when the perfect growing conditions occur and the soil is the right consistency.  So when they drive the tractor over the plant to harvest the stems and flowers, the plant is strong enough to survive having the top chopped off and it will come back the next year.

We are just like these plants.  If we are planted in good soil we will produce an abundance of fruit.  If we are to grow in our spiritual life and produce an abundance of fruit we must work the soil.  It means we need to devote quiet time with God, spend time with other believers and water daily.  The water we use is critical.  If we don’t use Living Water then our leaves will dry up and we will never produce fruit. 

One of the things that changed my life is the quiet time I spend with God.  I started out by spending an hour a day studying His Word and meditating on it.  I have since added another hour to that time and also the time I spend in my car driving.  What happened during this time is the more I studied His Word the more I wanted to learn.  The more I wanted to learn the more time I wanted to spend meditating on it.  That led to questions, which in turn led me to talk to friends, family and other believers. Every day is like hunting for hidden treasure and I can’t wait to see what I find next.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I search for wisdom in Your Word and You have never failed me.  Help me to keep my mind focused on You and to use the tools that You provide for me to build my faith so that my roots will run deep.  I need You to help me withstand the storms of life that threaten every day.  Thank You for Your Son, the Holy Spirit and You.

Scripture:  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.  So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.  For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 1 Corinthians 3:5-17

Excesses & Consequences

Prayer can never be in excess.  Charles Spurgeon

There are many things in life that can be taken to excess.  The following is a list of things that we often go to extreme measures to obtain and many of those excesses can lead to dire consequences.

Food is something that can be eaten to excess.  It can lead us to obesity, heart disease and any number of health issues yet we sometimes continue these excesses even if it ruins our health and shortens our life.

Alcohol can be taken to excess where it hinders our ability to make decisions.  You can take the example of former Cowboys player Josh Brent as a life that has forever been changed.  He drove while intoxicated, wrecked his car and killed his best friend.

Money and the accumulation of and the lack of it can do as much harm as any other excess on earth.  It can lead to greed and selfishness or lead to the opposite extreme of using any means possible to obtain it, whether it is cheating, stealing or even killing for it. 

Drugs are another excess that can lead people to do things they would never think of otherwise.  How many people’s lives were ruined by drugs because they thought they would not become addicted?  You can look at the number of actors in Hollywood who thought that very thing and lost their lives in the process.  

If you think about the things in this list, each one, in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing.  It is the use of them that can be fatal.  If we think we are strong enough to withstand any one of these we are fooling ourselves.  Satan intends for us to fail and he has a lot of ammunition doesn’t he?  We often make it easy for him to bring us down. 

I started thinking about what is there on earth that would be something that it would be good for us to be addicted to.  The only answer I could come up with is prayer.  Prayer is the one thing that we can use to fight all the other addictions.  It is the most powerful antidote around and we don’t use it often enough.  When God tells us to pray without ceasing, he means “all the time”.  Not just before a meal or Sunday at church.  That means every minute of every day we should be praying. When we pray without ceasing it fills our mind and keeps the wrong things from getting in.   

One of the things I have learned to do is any time I reach an obstacle in life, I stop everything I am doing and pray.  It doesn’t have to be an eloquent, lengthy prayer.  One of the ones I use often is “Father help me”.  Here is another one.  “Father I need You.”  God knows all the words in the dictionary so you are not going to impress him with your amazing grasp of the English language.  The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.”  I know God heard Jesus on that day long ago and He will hear our cries as well.

When you feel like you have reached the end of your capacity to handle what life is throwing at you, do some deep knee bends.  God is waiting and listening and He loves us beyond anything we can ever comprehend.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of using things in this life in excess. You created me in your image and sometimes I don’t glorify You when I use things in this life to excess.  Help me to overcome the addictions of this world and turn to you for everything.  You will not fail me and I praise You for Your love for me.            

Scripture: Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,  for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.  And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  1 Thessalonians 5:1-28