Run The Race

By those who love God and by those who despise God, He is often seen as a "rule maker".  Prior to giving my life to Him, I envisioned Him as an insensitive rule maker, and early in my Christian walk I spent much time trying to follow as many of the "rules" as possible in order to make up for all the wrong I had previously done. Now, 15 years after walking with the Lord, I see Him in a very different light.  I no longer see Him as "rule maker" but instead as "creator".  The analogy I often consider is this... If the person who invented the lighter wrote an instruction book, it may say, "Use the lighter in this way, but WARNING! do not bring it in contact with your hair!"  Would we think to ourselves, "That person is so mean to tell me I can't use this for my hair!  Nobody is going to tell me what to do!"? If one did use the lighter for their hair, destruction and a horrible stink would certainly follow.  The "cre...

I was reading in Philippians 2 this morning, and Paul was telling about his friend Epaphrodutus' close encounter with death.  Paul said (2:27), "For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow." As the words "sorrow upon sorrow" appeared before my eyes, I immediately felt connected to Paul's emotions and feelings.  I too know about sorrow upon sorrow - especially in recent years when I lost my son and my mother back to back.  Then just a few months ago, I sat by my Dad in a hospital bed for many days - grief stricken, thinking "Dear God, can I bear another round of such grief right now?  Your will be done." I just visited my Dad in Texas a few days ago, and God did indeed have mercy upon me as he spared me from the sorrow of another loss.  My Dad's recovery is finally skyrocketing, and I am so thankful. The area in which I feel most vu...

Loss comes in all shapes and sizes, though we usually only consider some "loss" when it is death.  Other kinds of loss include loss of a career, loss of health, loss of a dream/expectations (something or someone didn't turn out the way you'd hoped), loss of a valuable relationship, and secondary loss (losing something because of losing someone, such as maybe the family played a specific game with Grandma every Sunday, but now that she has passed nobody will play the game any longer because it is just not the same).  There are others. These things hurt, and they require us to grieve and lay it before the Lord or it could possibly build up inside of us as something nasty, bitter, and destructive in the long run. Below is a list of things Ron and I have found helpful in living/thriving through grief and loss.  I pray it will be helpful to many of you. 1.        Absolutely be in the Word every day. – Early in my loss I took my Bible every...