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The Powerful Word of God

In this world, so many things are temporal. There are so many things that live for only a short time and then fade away, becoming only a memory if remembered at all.  But there is one thing that has withstood the test of time; one thing that has never faded away, will never just be a distant memory, but will maintain its power and impact for eternity.

It is the Bible, the inspired Word of God.  It is the words written in a book that has inspired generations, convicted sinful men, transformed broken lives, and defined history. Those words that we hold between worn leather frames are words that have the power to heal, the power to change, and the power to save. 

Human beings are temporal.  Our bodies, while full of strength and vigor and vitality, will one day perish and will be laid to rest in the cold earth.  Our frames are fragile.  Our minds are futile.  Our lives are fleeting.  Mankind has come and gone and continues to dwell here, but one day our existence will end.  One day this life will be over.

Time is temporal.  A day doesn't last forever.  A lifetime is shorter than we think or hope for.  Time passes and time flies but it never stands still.  One day we will find ourselves out of time, wanting more but not finding any. So we embrace what time we have left, hoping to make it last or at least make it special.

Circumstances are temporal.  We face giants, battle, and enemies.  Sometimes every day.  And often it seems as though these vicious opponents will never leave, the war will never end.  But the reality is, even our struggles don't last forever.

As temporal as all of these things are, the eternal Word of God has the power to transform them all.  The Word can change the heart and mind and life of the perishing man or woman.  The Word can transform the past, the present, and the future, in a sense altering time - or at least redeeming it.  The Word takes our circumstances and reshapes them, reclaims them, and gives us the ability to overcome them.  As all things head toward death and the end of existence, the Word of God lives on, giving life to what is fading away.

With such power and ability, it is a wonder why so many of us neglect these wonderful words given to us by our Creator.  It is a mystery why so many people fail to grasp the significance of the Word in their own circumstances, why so many of us even deny its authority in our own lives.  The Word of God has the power to transform us, but so many of us seem as though we would rather remain the same - unchanged, unhealed, and broken. When God offers to us words of comfort, love, encouragement, and instruction, why do we continue to ignore them and instead try to live as though they didn't exist?

Let the Word of God have a role of significance in your life.  It has been changing lives for ages.  It has impacted generations.  It has lasted through the centuries and will continue to do so, as long as God makes it available.  This life will not last forever.  One day time will end.  But God's Word will extend beyond our years, beyond our lifetime, beyond our circumstances.  It will never fade away, even when everything else perishes.  Today, may we be people of the Word, people whose lives are rooted in it, people whose ways are a reflection of it.

Followers of Christ who don't just carry the Word but show it to the world.

"But the Word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word which was preached to you."

You Are The One

You are the One.
The one who hears my prayers
and answers oh so kindly.
You are the One
Who sits upon the throne
And reigns - the Lord Almighty.
You are the One
King of heaven and the earth
The savior of my soul.
You are the One
Who poured your love upon me
and now has made me whole.
You are the One
The only God
who's worthy of my praise.
You are the One.
 My great redeemer,
God of all my days.
You are the One
Whose heart sheds mercy
Upon a broken race.
You are the One
Who made a way for fallen men
To receive your wondrous grace
You are the One
Oh Christ my King
My heart is full
with gladness to know now
That one day Jesus and forever
Your head shall wear the crown.
You are the One.

A rescue story

I can't swim.  At all.  In fact, if you were to throw me into a body of water, I would immediately sink.  I can't even float.  It just isn't possible. 

A few years ago, before my wife and I married, she tried to teach me how to swim.  My wife is an excellent swimmer.  I suppose anyone who can swim at all is an excellent swimmer in my eyes, and she is no exception.  During the summer one year we would spend our weekends (and some weekdays) at a lake in Grapevine, Texas.  She would drag me into the water where she would then attempt to teach me how to swim.  We started out with the first and most difficult step - floating.  In five feet of water she would have me lift up my feet and start kicking to hold myself up and not sink.  I quickly realized that I could not do this very well and I found myself dropping towards the bottom.  I would begin to panic like a mad man until my wife reminded me that I was only in five feet of water and that, being six feet tall, I wouldn't drown.  Even then, it never quite registered.  I was hopeless.  Teaching me to swim was like teaching my dog to play basketball - it just couldn't happen (although my dog learning to shoot hoops is more likely than me learning to swim).

One day after my wife and I got married, we joined her family at a lake for a day of fishing, picnicking, and soaking up the sun.  After a few relaxing hours on the boat trying to catch some fish (another feat I have yet to master), my wife persuaded me to jump into the lake, considering the heat of the day and the coolness of the water.  So, with my life jacket strapped on tightly, checked and double checked to ensure that it wouldn't slip off, I foolishly jumped from a perfectly good boat into water that was about twenty feet deep.  At first touch the water felt great.  It was a stark contrast to the scorching heat of the mid-day sun.  But even with a life vest strapped on, I felt like I was drowning.  The water would occasionally come up to my chin and almost into my mouth and I had this piercing fear that I would begin to sink.  Almost immediately, as I realized how far I had drifted from the safety of the boat, I panicked again.  I suppose I was afraid that I would just keep drifting away until I was lost forever in that lake (as if they couldn't find me even if it did happen).

I began trying frantically to swim back to the boat, in desperate hope of a rescue from my certain demise in that deadly lake.  I saw my wife near-by, looking calm and happy, enjoying the beauty of the water, and I called out to her to have her dad bring the boat to me.  Of course, she laughed at my dramatic desperation.  But I kept flailing my arms, longing for the boat.  In all my excitement and unnecessary movement, two things happened that I didn't expect. 

I lost my wedding ring, and I pushed myself further away from the boat.

My wife wasn't too happy about the wedding ring being lost.  We were newly weds after all.  But sadly the only thing on my mind at the time was that all my efforts at getting back to the boat were only making things worse.  I wasn't getting any closer.  I was instead pushing myself further away. Eventually, after what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, my father-in-law brought the boat over and we all piled in.  I was frustrated and exhausted and still shaken up from my near-death experience.  As I looked down at my left hand I was painfully reminded of the cost of my unnecessary efforts to rescue myself - I had lost something precious to me; I had wasted my time, energy, and effort; I had given up my confidence and had existed, if just for a minute, in utter despondency.  And these facts made me sad.

Can't we all relate to this story?  Not in the physical sense, with regards to swimming and drowning, but in the spiritual sense.  How many times do we find ourselves in some type of sin, distant and removed from God, and wondering how we will find our way back to Him?  In times like these we tend to try frantically to "swim" back to our Savior.  We try to correct our own behavior.  We try to pray more or read the Bible more, or do better in that area, or improve in this area.  We do, do, do, only to find ourselves far, far away from the God of grace.  All of our efforts only push us further away from Him.  They don't accomplish what we think they will.  Instead, it seems like its safer to simply stand still. 

Max Lucado says that we always try to "be good, and belong, and behave, but God simply says to us 'Be still.'"  The same is true for you, and for me.  God is a God of limitless grace and love and mercy.  And he wants to pour all of it out on His children.  He doesn't want us to put forth our own futile efforts to correct our behavior or become better people.  He simply wants us to be still and let Him do the work.  He will come to us in our time of need; he will fill the gap; he will bring the boat over and pick us up.  We just need to ask for it.

Our efforts at saving or changing ourselves are like chasing the wind - empty and hopeless.  This is a message that I need to take to heart.  Too often I tell myself to "do better" or "try harder" or "be more."  But Jesus looks at me as I am, even when I have drifted away, and says, "Love me and let me work."  Can you do that today?  Can you trust in God's grace, his unmerited favor upon you?  Can you put your faith in his ability to change you or bring you back to Himself?  Can you stop trying to rescue yourself or pull yourself back to the boat and instead be still and rest in his love?  In doing this, we surrender our stubbornness and open ourselves up to the wonders that God can perform.

"...it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace...
 - Hebrews 13:9

Decision Points - Part II

As I continue in my journey with former President George W. Bush, I find myself growing in my respect and admiration for this man.  And I wonder how I could have been so oblivious to the events on the world stage during the time of his presidency. 

While he was serving our nation as Commander in Chief, I was an obviously ignorant teenager whose priorities were anything but politics, war, or world events.  As I read through President Bush's memoirs I am introduced to a president I never knew and a man I only heard about when scanning the TV channels or radio stations, a man who led this country boldly and with confidence.  And I respect that.

I have finished chapter 8, where Bush talks about the war in Iraq and the capture and removal of Saddam Hussein.  The events of 2003 were nothing short of intense, as President Bush made several dramatic decisions about whether to declare war on a nation that was potentially harboring weapons of mass destruction and whose leader was a ruthless dictator who had made no secret of his hatred for America.  The decision to send troops to Iraq was not made lightly and after giving several ultimatums and consulting with many advisers, President Bush agreed to implement another facet of the recently begun war on terrorism.  While he admittedly has many regrets about his strategy, methods, and the failure to find WMD's, Bush remains adamant that war on Iraq was essential for the protection of the United States of America.  In retrospect, I couldn't agree more. 

In chapter 9, as the former President speaks about leading in various aspects and arenas, I have had the opportunity to explore the faith of George W. Bush.  While throughout the fist eight chapters he has made brief mentions about his faith in God and how that faith helped him make certain decisions, chapter 9 provides deeper insight into just how serious Bush was about his walk with God.  As Governor of Texas, he implemented faith-based policies and initiatives that enabled faith groups to get more involved with the workings of the State.  He worked with Chuck Colson, founder of InnerChange Freedom Initiative, a group that worked with prison inmates who had come to Christ.  Colson and Bush decided to start a faith-based program in one Texas prison.  This program provided Bible study instructors for the inmates, as well as a life lessons course.  Every inmate that went through the program had the opportunity to be connected with a mentor through a local church upon his release.  The program saw tremendous success.

Nine days after his inauguration, President Bush implemented the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.  He made it a point throughout his presidency to work closely with people of faith to help solve societal issues.  Federal funding for faith-based groups was increased, and many groups learned how to write grants and interact with government so that their organizations could benefit from the funding being offered to them.  President Bush understood that the greatest way to improve a society is not to lower taxes, or reform education, or help seniors find health care; he understood that the only way to truly benefit a society and bring lasting reform was to focus on their hearts.  And that is why faith-based programs were such a priority throughout his administration.

As I said, I have developed a greater admiration for George W. Bush.  He wasn't just a President.  He was a man of faith who understood the reality of a person being changed by the "redemptive power of Christ."  He was a humble man who put the needs of others before his own, who fought to rescue a people who had no hope when he declared war on Iraq.  He was a normal guy, a man with a wife and kids and dogs, a man who didn't let his title get to his head, a man who defined himself not by what he accomplished, but by who he was on the inside.

"Government can hand out money but it cannot put hope in a person's heart or a sense of purpose in a person's life."

                                            - George W. Bush