Walking The Walk

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."   ~2 Corinthians 3: 2-3 Think about that for a moment. You are a letter from Christ. Every day, your neighbors are reading you. They're watching how you handle stress, how you treat your family, how you respond when things don't go your way. They may never pick up a Bible, but they're reading the gospel story written in your daily life.   The question isn't whether people are reading your life, because they are. But what story are they reading? Are they seeing Christ's love, patience, and servant heart reflected in your everyday actions? I've lived in the same small community my whole life--in fact, we built our house on the corner of the family farm. Small towns have a reputation ...

  "The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper."  ~1 Kings 19:11-12 When I was a kid, I'd listen to WLS radio out of Chicago as I'd fall asleep at night.  That was a long way away, and sometimes, it would be difficult to tune it in through the static--especially if there were storms in the area.  I had to turn the dial very slowly, listening through the static, adjusting the antenna, trying to find that clear signal. Sometimes I'd catch just a whisper of music or a voice, and I'd adjust the antennae very carefully to get it to come in clearer so I could hear it. Our rela...

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him" ~1 Kings 18:21 We face the same temptation today, that Elijah confronted Israel with on Mount Carmel in 850 BC.  It continues to be an issue today for both churches and Christians.  We are trying to follow Christ while accommodating our culture.   How do we compromise today? We try and make the Bible "palatable" for our culture by watering down the gospel.  We certainly don't want to appear to be "intolerant" or "non-inclusive."  So churches soften sin's edges, avoid talking about consequences, and try to present Jesus as some kind of life coach rather than our Lord and Savior.   As individuals, we stay silent at work, avoid talking about anything relating to faith, and we're often pressured to accept behavior that is clearly inconsistent with our faith.  We avoid uncomfortable topics by embracing an "all paths lead to...

  "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." ~Isaiah 43: 18-19 Somebody asked me a very hard question this week, and it’s not the first time I’ve been asked this question. How do you start over?   I’ve been there, and it’s a tough place to find yourself. There’s a lot of ways people find themselves in this place. Some of you feel stuck because of broken relationships. Perhaps you’ve had a marriage that ended badly, or a friendship that has dissolved in conflicts, or problems in your family that are broken beyond repair. Many of our problems we cause ourselves because we’ve made bad decisions. We’ve made a poor career move, or made bad decisions about money, or fallen into a destructive habit that you can’t seem to break. But I have good news for you. It’s never too late to begin again.   In fact, God specializes in fr...