Christ Redirects Us Through Life Changes

"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." (Psalm 91:14-16)

Things in my life had been proceeding smoothly - busy and hectic, but smoothly nonetheless. It is usually during these times, that 1 Cor 10:12 typically comes into my mind - "Be careful if you think you stand, lest you fall."

Recently, my boss let me know of a situation with the Company which may or may not necessitate cuts, transfers or large wholesale changes during the next two years. Unlike most people who are suffering from "job insecurity" or unemployment, this situation is more of a slow moving event than and a quick cut. That is a blessing in itself because I have time to prepare.

However, I was running a bit on cruise control in my life and I was enjoying my job, the company culture and everything that went along with it. My wife is 6 months pregnant and we had recently purchased a home. A common scenario here in the USA. So, the first few days or so were filled with many moments of thought about the future.

The overriding theme of my thoughts was just a sense and a coming back to the fact that our lives are really set up by the Lord in ways that we do not and cannot imagine. It is our unfortunate tendency to think that we have a lot of control to plan our lives and we make those plans and expectations in our mind. We think, "First I'm going to do this, then this and then finally this will happen and I'll be happy."

This is not to say that goal setting is unworthy - it is obviously proven to be a key in progressing in any endeavor we do. However, my point is simply that we are not the ultimate arbiters of what will transpire in our lives.

Job loss, Sickness, Accidents, Theft - are just some of the things that can pop up in our lives which will send us spiraling away from the path that we have carefully chosen for ourselves.

The saving grace for those of us who call on Jesus is what He has promised to His followers and believers. We are not bereft of protection in the most dire of circumstances. If a large change in our life occurs, He can not only help us to overcome, but He will help us to use it to help others to move us to a more beneficial place.

We can call on Him in trouble and He will answer. He answers because we know each other and we have a deep abiding relationship that comes many conversations, trials and prayers. Too easily I forget all that He has already done for me in my life and I am glad that He still remembers all those moments and helps me to recall that He has never failed me, and that He never will.

Lord Jesus, you are the ultimate planner and user of my life. Please use me as You will and not as I will. You have never failed me before and never will fail me as You have promised this to those who love You. So, use this event to move my life in the direction that it needs to go. When we called You "Lord", we also gave over control of where and how we are serving. In Your blessed name we pray. AMEN.

The Ease of Living Honestly

Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich. (Prov 28:6)

The world seems to be resetting. Although there was great prosperity for almost 30 years from the 1980's through the 2010's, prosperity for prosperity sake seemed to take priority over simple honest living. Now that the party has been halted or even completely extinguished for many Americans, we are left to re-evaluate ourselves and our priorities.

I know that for our family, we have changed a lot during this recession. After having an extended period of being unemployed, we have been humbled, but at the same time we have also strengthened our family bonds and have a deeper reliance on each other and especially upon God. In that way God gave us a great gift that is worth more than any gold in the world.

But even now, we live pretty humbly as a family, but we are lacking in nothing. As I pause and consider the things that we are blessed with, I realize that God has been so very faithful to us. Truly he has known what is best and the ways in which to develop us as well.

We still pray and dream for a house and a bigger family, and along with that we know that it would be nice to have certain things (like a minivan), but as I look upon our lives, I realize that we have no fears or worries about our conduct. We have been able to live honestly, and so even if we have little, there is no drama or worry about it all. There is no weight upon our shoulders.

In the same way, we strive not to push too quickly to move up the ladder. We don't want to cut corners to do something so aggressive that we will run into financial difficulty later.

As I get older and hopefully wiser, I can see that the honest life is indeed best. It may come with little in terms of perks or glamour, but it is the key to a long, happy life.

Lord Jesus, your word is true in every way and when we base our lives upon it and lay down our old ways to You, You lead us upon wise paths. The future is so uncertain, but by Your awesome grace, I know we will get through it all and do so honestly. Please help us to live by Your standard and not get pulled into senseless materialism that can lead to us losing our souls. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Look Up Upon Jesus

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Cor. 4:18 NIV)

"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7 KJV)

"God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Tim 1:7 NKJV)


What is my focus on? Not the focus of my human eyes, but of my mind. On what have I focused my thoughts on? Lately, I have been lamenting the lack of a job during this recession and I have been curled up in fear at times, moaning in prayer to the Lord. Surely, it has not been a pretty sight.

But what I realized is that we could get to that panicked state of mind about anything. In fact, there are numerous mental disorders that may seem strange to the average person, but are really a reflection of paranoia gone wild. (Max Lucado has a terrific chapter on this in his latest book, "Fearless". Thanks Max!)

As Christians, what we focus our thoughts upon is the key to keeping our spirits encouraged and close to God. If we focus on our fears and on the circumstances that we can't control, we lose sight of God and believe that He is distant. We then become paralyzed and overwhelmed, losing our ability to have hope and perspective. As my wife has been finding out lately, we also get testy and hard to be around.

After living in this sandpapery life, my faith has been slowly chipped away and dulled. My focus centered upon my bank account, and not on the Lord. Is it any wonder that I have little vision and sense of where I'm headed?

Focusing on the Lord is like the Three Wise Men being guided by a star in the East to the baby Jesus. He is our GPS, our guidance and we need only to center ourselves on Him at all times. It seems counter-intuitive because if we continually look upwards to God, we might trip. However, that is incorrect - vision, direction and peace will come from God when we seek Him continually. Bad circumstances will happen around us still, but we will recognize them for what they really are - temporary obstacles at best because God will make a way around whatever we face.


Lord Jesus, I am so sorry that my focus has shifted so often to the little fire drills that happen around me. I get so wrapped up in them, that I really fail to keep my eyes on you - and when I do that, fear overwhelms me. Let me behold You instead, and be patient for Your work in Your ultimate timing. Thank You that You are always there with Your unchanging love - yesterday, today, and forever. In the unchanging name of Jesus, Amen.