Walking The Walk

Emma defending her "snow fort" long after her brother Scooter loses interest in occupying it.   You know it's coming. The weather app has been refreshed approximately 47 times in the last hour. The meteorologist on TV is using words like "significant accumulation" and "travel not advised," which in snow-speak means "here it comes!" And suddenly, everyone in town has the same brilliant idea: I better go to the grocery store. Right now. As if we're preparing to survive on French toast for the next three weeks.   The grocery store looks like a Black Friday sale. Grown adults are speed-walking toward the dairy aisle. Someone's cart has five gallons of milk. Five!  We are terrible at stopping. Absolutely terrible. Even when we know rest is coming, we resist. We try to cram 47 tasks into the final hours before the universe forces us to sit down. It's almost like we're afraid of what might happen if we actually had to be still for ...

If corgis could read, I'd have Emma read Mark 10: 32-45 because she always thinks somebody should be serving her night and day! I lead a weekly Bible study at a local coffee shop on Wednesdays, and this week we were looking at Mark 10: 32-45.   This morning, w e had a really remarkable conversation about our tendency to put ourselves first.   In these verses, we find Jesus walking with his disciples toward Jerusalem, and two of his closest friends, James and John, come to him with what might be the boldest request in history. They say, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask." Then they drop the bomb, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."   Can you imagine that? These guys wanted the VIP seats in Jesus' kingdom! They wanted to be his right-hand men, the ones with the most power and prestige. It's like walking up to your boss and saying, "Hey, when you get that promotion, can we be your vice presid...

 "Teacher . . . we want you to do for us whatever we ask."   ~Mark 10:35 How often do you pray? With some Christians, they pray every day--some even pray throughout the day.  They follow more of a model of "praying continuously" asking for strength, and wisdom, and peace, and patience as needed throughout the day.  And giving thanks throughout the day, every day, when things go well.   With other Christians, they pray when things go wrong.  They see prayer more as a thing you do in a crisis.  Or they may pray when they really want something. These two different approaches to prayer can tell us where God is in our life.  When we live with God in the center of our life, we're more likely to communicate with God frequently, even continuously, because we feel that God is near to us.  God is part of our life.  God is part of our decision-making.  God is there with us whenever we reach out to him.  And there's no concern we...

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."   ~Mark 11:24   A couple years ago, I was flipping through the channels and I ran across a Billy Graham revival. I love Billy Graham. Always have. He preaches a powerful message, and when I was very young man I had a chance to go and see him.  It was an amazing experience! I decided to watch it. It was obviously recorded in the 80s judging from the hairstyles and clothing of the people in the audience. It was in a big stadium, and there were hundreds, probably thousands there to see Billy Graham.  And as I'm watching it, I was thinking I'd seen the program before, because the message was very familiar.  And then something caught my attention, and I was suddenly grabbing for the remote! When the camera flashed to the crowd, I saw somebody I knew!  I couldn't believe it!  I had to be wrong about that.  I paused it, and ran it back, and sure e...