New Phone

As far as phones go, cordless ones have had an eventful year at our house. We had an old Uniden forever. Until someone left it on the bumper of the car while out front with the kids. Then drove away. Kids in the car. Phone on the bumper. Dearly departed old phone must have been resurrected to phone heaven. We couldn’t find it anywhere retracing our route.

So a neighbor loaned us her unused phone. A new battery gave it new life. But only temporarily. The loaner phone died last week. We’ve yet to bury it.

But we have replaced it with the fancy new unit you see pictured herein: An AT&T CL82201 DECT Cordless Phone in stylish silver & black. No more older than we remember or plain white loaners for us, folks.

Our new phone has more features than we’ll ever use. And we've got two—count them two—handsets. Exciting indeed. Where we previously had only one handset, now we have the base station with answering machine upstairs and the second handset on the charging station downstairs.

We can even call each other via Push to Talk or Intercom. As the kids and I were learning that handy new through play last night, I had one of those “Aha Moments.”

I can pray anytime. I can talk to God even more easily than talking with my kids on this fancy new phone. No equipment required. Just a heart that connects.

God, I am concerned about...

God, will you help me with...

God, my heart is broken by...

God, I am angry because...

Whatever the need. Whatever the question. Whatever the request. Whatever the complaint. Whatever. God is always there. No phone required.

Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end.

They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

I say: The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him.

Lamentations 3:22-24 HCSB

Share your prayer needs or story of answered prayer in the comments below. Or share this post with someone who needs it. You are welcome to subscribe as well.

I Am An Idiot

Just in case you don’t know me well. Just in case you’ve never seen me in a weaker moment. Just in case you are my Mom and think I am perfect. Just in case, let me share a story with you.

Thanks to my good buddy, Chris, speaker of Techese, I use a handy dandy app called 1Password. It’s the swiss-army knife of important electronic information. It’s an electronic wallet. It generates and keeps voluminous website logins. It auto-fills forms. It’s available for all operating systems. It works on your smartphone, your computer, or your tablet. It’s totally secure. You just have to remember one super-good master password. It’s totally awesome!

Until you forget your password.

Yes. I am an idiot.

My 1Password super-good, super-stout, super-smart master password that I use multiple time every day password. Well, I came in the other day. And it was gone from mind. Like it was erased from my memory gone.

At this point some of you are giving some grace. You are thinking, “You’re not an idiot. You’re just getting old. You just forgot. Don’t worry, it gets worse. Last week I was looking for... What was I looking for?”

The rest of you who never forget a thing, of course, are still laughing at me. Thanks for that. You'll get yours in a minute here. Anyhow... 

Chris turned me on to 1Password over a year ago, then he got a job with them about six months ago. Every day he helps folks in need of tech support (or a brain transplant) like me.

So, I decide to call Chris. He patiently walks me through minutes, then tens of minutes of diagnosis, testing, backups and trying as I type in every possible iteration of my password at his direction. He then repeatedly, yet kindly states things like, “Man this just doesn’t happen with this program. Are you sure you didn’t forget your password?” 

He then said—not directed at me I am sure, or I hope—"This app is foolproof." To which I thought, "Unless you are dealing with a fool. Like me."

It was then I began to  think back... I generated this password as an acronym of a sentence I could always remember. Bit of irony there, yes, I know. My super-good password has upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. In my minds eye, I can recall sitting at my desk trying out sentence after sentence. And it hits me, “I am forgetting the first three characters in my password! I am an idiot! I am the fool it's not proof of.”

And, just like that, all characters remembered, my fingers fly and I am back in business. 1Password open. My electronic life is saved. Yet my ego emaciated.

So, maybe I needed some humility. Maybe Chris needed a story to tell his tech buddies. Or maybe I needed some humility.

Idiocy teaches humility.

Failure teaches humility.

We need humility.

Clothe yourself with humility.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1Peter 5:5

Do you have a story of idiocy or humility to share? Do a guy a favor and write a comment below so I am not the only one looking sad on here.

How NOT to Grow Close

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35

"Thanks, Jesus, but that's not for me. Loving others... I don't really have time. Frankly, I don't want to take the risk. To be honest, I don't really care about others. And, if you want, I've got a few more excuses. Anything to keep me from having to put myself out there."

If this is you, then here are a few suggestions on how NOT to grow close with other Christ followers:

• DO NOT spend time with other church members outside of church. You already see them an hour or so a week. Who really wants more close friends? You don’t need anyone. You’re fine all by yourself. Who really wants to get to know anyone else better?
• DO NOT seek out and meet the needs of church members. Like we said, you are fine by yourself. They should be just fine by themselves too. Why would you want to burden yourself with someone else’s problems? You can just say you love them—and smile or even put an arm around them—but don’t actually do anything about it.
• DO NOT let anyone know the real you. You don’t even like the real you sometimes, what makes you think they will? And if they know the real you, well, that might be... humbling. And you don’t want that. Keep to yourself. Don’t let anyone in. It’s safer for everyone that way.
• DO NOT encourage others. We don’t wanna throw praise around. We don’t want folks to have any reason for vanity. No, don’t encourage them even if they seem down or discouraged. You might get trapped into truly caring for them.
• DO NOT show any excitement about God’s work in your life or anyone else’s. If you talk like that, then people might talk about you too. You don’t want people to think God really moves in your lives, do you? They might think you are weird.
• DO NOT get connected or volunteer for anything. Just smile and nod when someone asks, but walk right by the sign up. Just tell them you’ll pray about it. Of course, you really won't.
• DO NOT say anything good to, or about, anyone. If you absolutely want to make sure to keep others far away, then let them have it. Gossip. Slander. Talk ugly. Be mean. Whatever it takes. If none of the previous suggestions work, then this one should for sure.

The above suggestions are what NOT to do. They are meant in jest. Yet they contain truth.

Trusting that you really DO want to grow close in your love for others, what do you suggest?

Leave a comment below including your creative ideas on growing close through loving others.

The Shortcut

"I'll get those and be back for you within ten minutes," I boldly proclaimed to my beloved bride.

We were in Adventureland of The Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. We'd settled on an open bench beside the iconic Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse for an afternoon snack break. My wife, who rarely asks for anything, had a craving for those warm, caramelized almonds they sell in the funnel shaped bag. With snack carts here and there, I knew I could get some soon. I thought.

I just had to get from A—our benches by the treehouse—to B—wherever that might be. With my near six year old son in tow, I set out. First snack cart in the direction I went was popcorn and soda. I asked them for direction to the nut stand. Yes, I am man enough to ask directions. They said just down the way and pointed the direction I was going. Great!

But it wasn't. Wasn't great. Wasn't the next cart. Or the next cart. Or the next cart way around the corner. About that time, having walked at a five year old's pace through the crowds, I knew my ten minute promise was blown. I looked at my son, determination in my eyes, "We're getting those nuts, Buddy. Let's keep going!" He grabbed my hand without a word and further we traveled.

Nuts! All the way around by the Liberty Belle Riverboat dockhouse we found them. Short wait. Two bags, please. And we were on our way back. 

Arriving with a bit of pride and a bit of regret, someone asked with inflection that we took too long, "Where'd you have to go?" To which I recounted as above. Our friend, Jason, kindhearted and gentle a man as he is, said, "Did you cut through?"

"Cut through? Where?" I queried. "By the Bear Jamboree," he replied with a smile and an arm outstretched in that direction. The Shortcut. The Whodathunkit Shortcut.

When we walked back by later I took a good look. From both sides. You would have had been snooping in those shops or looking hard to know it was there. Or to have been there before.

If I would have known how far we'd be going to get the nuts, Jason would have told me before we left. But Jason, as much as he knows about Disney, is not omniscient. Of snack carts. Or of my direction.

Shortcuts. Most of us would love it if life had shortcuts. Many of us try to breeze by as if everything in life has shortcuts. But life doesn't always come with shortcuts. Sometimes the long way, the hard way, is the only way.

Thanks be to God—no matter the way—that He will lead us. He says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well," in Matthew 6:33. He'll provide what you need. He'll encourage you as you go. He'll show you the way.

Thug Preacher

I’m a preacher. I love to preach. What a privilege!

It’s a sacred trust. Sharing God’s Word with others. But it’s also scary. What a responsibility! 

Having preached my first little five minute “sermon” at fifteen, and having been a teaching pastor with weekly sermon responsibilities for more than sixteen years, I have preached a lot.

And over the years, as you might imagine, I’ve had my share of feedback. Positive, negative, and neutral. And, as you will admit when you're honest with your preacher, you have said a WHOLE lot more about him & his sermons outside of his presence than you ever had to him. That may not be bad. But if it is judgmental or condeming, then I’ll leave that between you & God. And your preacher.

In all my preaching, however, I have never received a comment like the one I got today. A young man in my congregation wrote this:

Your sermons lately have been “spiritually punching me in the face.” Thank you :-) 

Alrighty then.

I’ve done plenty of things in ministry. I’ve been called plenty of names too. But now you might call me Thug Preacher. My tagline, "Punching folks in the face with God’s Word. With love. Of course."

He didn’t call me that. I just thought Thug Preacher was catchy. And, yes, he did say, “thank you.” And he even added the smiley face :-). So, I know he meant his comment as a compliment. Or, maybe, he is really scared of me! You think?!

Nah! Not me.

His Thug Preacher comment begs the question, however. When is the last time God’s Word got your attention?

To challenge you to obedience?

To convict you of sin?

To call you to surrender? 

It should. Regularly.

That is if you are receiving it regularly.

It’s the new year. And you can be a new you in a way even better than losing weight. You can engage God’s Word daily. gotandem.com can ship it to you via voicemail, email, or text. They’ll even have a real person called an Encourager call you once a week if you’d like. And it's all customized in content & delivery as you choose. youversion.com is available online or via a great, free apps for your phone or tablet. It has more reading plans than you can imagine with notifications on your mobile device or emails. And, of course, it has social sharing so you can do your part to spread the Word & redeem the web. 

In modern America we have no excuse for not engaging God’s Word daily. Other than our self-inflicted time poverty.

So, get off Facebook, eschew that addictive game, and pick up the Bible. Even in electronic form. It still has punch. Take it from the Thug Preacher.

Or you'll have to answer to Thug Preacher too. :-)