Thursday, February 26, 2009

bicycles and bruises

yesterday when i got home from the office i asked my daughter if she wanted to go ride bikes. heaven knows i need the exercise and she just recently learned how to ride without training wheels. there was a positive in it for each of us. at one point i stopped to visit with a neighbor. the next thing i know she was getting a little farther away from me than i had hoped. i knew i could catch up with her before she would find herself in a place of potential danger so i wasn't worried. she on the other hand wasn't so sure. she isn't skilled enough at riding bikes to feel comfortable with looking back over her shoulder. she just assumed i wasn't there because she couldn't hear my voice. i caught up to where she was and still didn't say anything. i wanted to see how she handled the intersection that she was approcahing. we had talked about it a hundred times "come to a complete stop" and "look both ways" had been drilled into her head. we had practiced it MANY times. she knew what to do....i just stayed behind her to see if she would do what she knew to do.

sure enough she came to a complete stop. in the process of stopping and looking both ways she actually sort of came to a falling stop. as soon as she hit the pavement she started to cry. i was right there and so i asked her the natural dad question: "what did you hurt?" she wouldn't answer me so i persisted. eventually she was able to communicate the source of her tears. she was crying because she thought i had left her. she feared she was all alone and suddenly that little street we had ridden down a hundred times seemes a lot bigger....a lot scarier. she thought i had left her all alone.

APPLICATION: i know every story breaks down at some point so bear with me. in that moment i realized a couple of things.

1. God is always close by. He is there even when He is silent. sometimes He lets us fall. sometimes He wants to see if we are going to apply what He has been teaching us.....but He is always there.

2. i wonder if i would even notice if He wasn't with me? perhaps i have become a little too self-sufficient. perhaps i have convinced myself that i can handle my life on my own terms and in my own way. perhaps i need to want God near as much as my little girl wanted to me near her.

go dust off your bike and put a little air in the tires. God may just want to teach you something new...

Thursday, February 19, 2009

do it

life is fleeting. we've all heard it said before and there are those times when we catch a glimpse of that reality for ourselves. how many times have you been at a funeral and told one of your cousins that "we need to get together more often" or looked your grandma in the eyes while telling her your sorry for only coming to see her when people die? it is an issue that we all face because we are so busy. we assume people will be around when we get good and ready to go see them. sometimes we may even feel some offense toward someone and quietly, yet vindictively say to ourselves that if they want to see us they know where we live.

over the past month i have attended a good number of funerals. for some of the families the loss was expected while for others they never saw it coming. in both cases i overheard people apologizing for their busyness and lack of connection. i heard them making promises that the cynic in me believes they will never keep. i can only assume that for the majority of those making promises their intent is pure but their follow through will be lacking. i know this to be true because i am one of those people.

as you go throughout the day let me encourage you to do something. call the people that need to be called. write a letter to the people that need a letter. cancel your plans for the weekend to go play golf or shopping and take the grand kids to see their grandparents. shoot an e-mail to a friend that probably thinks you've fallen off the face of the earth. give your kids a hug....a long one that reminds them that you love them and will always be there for them. leave the office early....tell your boss you have an emergency at your house. if you haven't been home much then you really do have an emergency....your family is probably dying to see you.

all this to say do it! do the things you will regret later if you choose to stay too busy to do them today. say what needs to be said before the funeral and begin to live out the fullness of life.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

out on a limb....

i ran across a cool idea this morning on a blog that was forwarded to me from a friend. i thought i would give it a shot....

send me your questions....perhaps you have a question that has been nagging at you about life, family, anger, forgiveness, God, etc....

i know i don't have all the answers so when in doubt i will enlist people along the way to help respond from a biblical perspective.

i will keep your confidence by not saying who asks what question so feel free to dig deep.

i'm looking forward to hearing from you.

send questions to rwade@clifec.com

Friday, February 6, 2009

satisfied in Him

the student pastor at our church, Casey Coats, shared these thoughts in a devotional that we send out everyday. i thought this was powerful and worthy of sharing with my blog readers.....

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

John Piper offered this statement in his book, Desiring God, and it has stuck with me since I first read it. The concept is one that is contrary to what many think about Christianity. Some people believe that God wants us to follow his commandments, which make our lives less enjoyable, for His glory. Under this mentality, God is most glorified when we are most miserable!

Fortunately, that is the exact opposite of the truth. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” This verse states that there are two essential things to believe about God: 1) that he exists (that’s an easy one!) and 2) that he rewards those who seek him. Isn’t it interesting that according to this verse, the way that you please God is by expecting to be rewarded by him. That is truly alternative thinking. Psalm 37:4 reinforces this principle, stating, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Good Christian boys and girls have long been taught that seeking their own happiness is wrong, sinful in fact. These scriptures teach us the exact opposite. It is good to seek your own happiness, so long as your happiness is in God! Who would want to believe in a god whom the closer and closer you get to the more and more miserable you become? When we seek God life gets better. Your circumstances may not get better, but your life does. John 10:10 says that Jesus came to give us life abundantly. Matthew 6:33 says that if you seek God, you won’t have to worry about anything else because God will give it all to you. Upon reading these verses it really does seem that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, so seek God and request that he make you happy. That is what pleases Him.

(if you would like to be added to our daily devotional e-mail distribution group please e-mail c|Life at info@clifec.com and simply put add to devo list in the subject line)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

i am lion....hear me roar

today at lunch i was engaged in a conversation that reminded me of a priniciple that i, as well as many others, would be wise to remember:

you can't be in authority if you can't be under authority

i hope you will take the time to really marinate in that thought. i believe that every person regardless of age, race, profession and stage of life can benefit from realizing the truth of this statement. all too often i find myself longing for control. i think there is something in all of us that wants to be "in charge" "in control" "in authority." we all want to be the "boss" of something or someone.

i remember my days as a youth minister. i can't tell you the number of times i had to deal with a discipline issue and in the process heard a teenager say "you're not the boss of me." i can also remember adults along the way that were really hard on the students. at their core they loved the kids but saw their "position" as an opportunity to exercise "power" and "authority." what they didn't realize is how they actually undermined their authority in the process. on top of that i, as their authority, had coached them on how to deal with and respond to students. by ignoring my lead they wound up negating their authority and losing their influence. sad but true.

everyone is under at least one authority. most of us find oursleves under the authority of many. perhaps it is a parent, a teacher, a manager, a ceo, a board or any number of other people but we are all under authority. how are you currently submitting to the authorities that God has placed in your life? if you were the parent, the teacher, the manager, the ceo, the board, etc and you had someone like you working under you....would you want to keep them around?

as we go about our lives we, especially Christians, really need to evaluate how willing we are to submit graciously to the authorities that God has placed in our lives. humility and meekness are characteristics God expects to see in His children. i'm convinced that when we are willing to submit to the authorities in our lives God will then be willing to trust us to lead others the way He does.....with loving kindness and compasison. how are we doing?