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  • God’s Lessons from HGTV?

    God’s Lessons from HGTV?

    During the pandemic I was forced to expand my television viewing experiences. Joni loves HGTV and I slowly began to embrace it as well. Don’t worry men, I balanced it with the NFL Network. I loved to watch Hometown with Ben and Erin Napier as they restored old homes in Laurel, Mississippi. One of their signatures is taking an item that would normally be trashed and repurposing it into something beautiful.

    I watched Ben and Erin see the beauty in something I would throw away without thinking twice. And then it occurred to me that God is the ultimate repurposer. God can take lives that are broken and even ugly and repurpose them into something beautiful. Satan lies that God can’t use someone like you. The author of lies says you have no value to God. But our loving Heavenly Father sees the beauty in your broken life. In fact, it is times of brokenness when He is most ready and willing to repurpose your life. Just when you are feeling like your life is worthless here is what the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit whispers to you.

    You are my child.
    I love you.
    You are uniquely designed for a role only you can fulfill.

    In Ephesians Paul encouraged the new followers of Jesus with these words.

    For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the
    good things He planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10, NLT)

    Did you get that second part? God isn’t scrambling to come up with some trivial task for you to feel better about yourself. God planned before you existed things that only you can do for the advancement of His plan. How exciting is that? Another amazing gift of grace.

    In His infinite mercy God does not reveal the ugliness of my heart in one gigantic and loveless revelation that would destroy me. He chooses instead to gently chip away at the rough edges of pride, selfishness, and disobedience. The famous artist Michelangelo would often select a block of marble that others thought unworkable and then begin carving that ugly hunk of rock.  He once remarked, “I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.” That is what God’s grace means to me. He sees the beauty in the stubborn piece of rock that is me. And He sees the beauty that no one else sees. He lovingly and gently carves away the ugliness until a little beauty begins to come through. But He never gets angry and gives up if another strata of ugly crops up.

    As I was writing this an old song from my past came to mind.

    Something beautiful, something good
    All my confusion He understood
    All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
    But he made something beautiful of my life

    For five decades God has been oh so lovingly and patiently making something beautiful of my life. If my time ends soon and folks have anything kind to say about me please let them know this truth.

    It was Jesus who made something beautiful of my life.

    Waking Up Slowly is a 21 Day Journey to become more connected to God and one another. Check it our here.

  • Rethinking Ministry

    Rethinking Ministry

    I can’t quit thinking about my friend Brad Johnson who passed away way too early (in my view) at the age of 57. What I can’t get out of my mind is the staggering impact he had in the lives of hundreds of people. God is using his homecoming to show how He can use a selfless and Christ-centered servant.

    Brad did not check off the typical boxes we have for big ministry success. He was not a well known preacher. No books or highly listened to podcasts. A modest social media presence. A lead pastor role that did not work out well. A period when he could not find a “ministry” job and worked at an ethanol production plant to support his family. Praise God he finally landed in a loving community at Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church that valued Brad Johnson’s remarkable relational skills.

    So how does this resume produce literally hundreds of stories of how Brad loved, encouraged, instructed, counseled, and shared the life changing message of grace? The answer is actually simple.

    Faithfulness.

    I know the struggles that Brad had over the years as he moved from place to place. He often wondered why he could not find a place to plant deep roots and preach the freedom giving Gospel of grace and identity in Christ. But he always did one thing consistently through times of joy and times of despair.

    He served and cared about others.

    Brad learned the lesson that the best way to forget your problems is to serve others with kindness, acceptance, and love. Immersing yourself in the lives of others is messy, sad and difficult. And in a great paradox of our faith, it is the most fulfilling thing you can do. Oswald Chambers talked about the God’s evaluation system and how different it is from our culture.

    “The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet – that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God.”

    Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi about the importance of selfless serving.

    Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. (Philippians 2:3-4, NET)

    God puts opportunities to love and care for others in my path all the time. Sometimes I see them and respond. Sometimes I see them and make excuses why I can’t help. Sometimes I am simply too self-absorbed to see anything but my own problems. Martin Luther King had a wonderful quote that convicts me to be more open to the Holy Spirit’s gentle leading.

    “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

    It was the humble and culturally disregarded Samaritan that had a heart to help. I think that was Brad’s heart. His life is causing me to reevaluate my ministry.

    I love writing my books and blogs. I hope that some things I have written have been helpful. I plan to continue writing because it forces me to examine my heart and it keeps me from binge watching Mr. Ed reruns on TV. But I am asking the Lord to increase the personal discipleship and mentoring aspect of my ministry. Brad Johnson demonstrated that there is no more impactful representation of Christ than caring enough to walk with a brother or sister through the ups and downs of life. Brad made you feel like the most important person in the room. He wept when you were sad and laughed like few could when things were good. Brad walked with people without condemnation. He was a person you could share everything, good and bad, and he would love you more for the telling. That is the kind of discipleship that initiates lasting and real change.

    Brad’s humble and relational ministry produced enough fruit to fill a Kingdom Farmers Market. You don’t need a counseling degree to love and care for others. You don’t need a seminary degree to walk with someone through life’s challenges with grace and acceptance. You don’t need special training to be fully present to serve others selflessly.

    Brad’s wife Deb told me that Brad sometimes lamented that he didn’t have a more prominent pulpit ministry. But this is what he told her…

    “If God has chosen for me to be on the background I am okay with that. I just need to be faithful to Him.”

    Billy Graham noted that “the highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service”.

    Nearly 700 people packing the auditorium and overflow room saw the powerful impact of selfless service. Another 3,000 have watched the celebration video. My prayer is that God’s message of how he can use a faithful servant will infect us all. I pray that this event will be a super-spreader of love, service, and kindness.

    As my friend John Weber often said. God doesn’t call us to be spectacular. He just calls us to be faithful. Brad was sometimes spectacular, but he was always faithful. After seeing the fruit of his life I hope my ministry will never be the same. And I want to live this truth for the rest of my days.

    Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 – NLT

  • How To Have An Eternal Impact

    How To Have An Eternal Impact

    This week one of the men I have most admired in my journey died at the way too young age of 57. His passing was sudden, shocking, and completely unexpected. Brad Johnson was one of those people who made you smile every time you saw him, talked to him, heard from him, or even thought of him. I met him when he was a Student Life Pastor in Garland, Texas. I used to call him the Golden Retriever of Pastors because he greeted everyone with enthusiasm, joy, and that signature smile of his.

    We became friends at a much deeper level when he joined us as a staff member at Waterbrook Bible Fellowship. It was a church plant that Joni and I helped initiate. I got to see the character of Brad Johnson on a much deeper level because church plants are hard. Brad was a consistent confidant and encourager through some challenging times. Most of all he was one of the most selfless servants I have ever known. When portable church needed to be set up Brad was the first one there and the last to leave. Someone needed to move? Brad brought his considerable strength to help out.

    During the most difficult season of that church plant Joni was diagnosed with breast cancer. We were stressed, scared, and emotionally exhausted. We wondered if we could continue with this church plant.

    Very early one morning Joni and I arrived at the hospital for her first chemotherapy treatment. It was a surreal moment of uncertainty and wondering what the road ahead would be like. Suddenly this bear of a man walked in and gave us the kind of hug that only Brad Johnson could give. His presence was calming and he told us he really wanted to pray with us. It was a defining moment in our journey of reorienting our emotions away from fear and back to trust in God. Brad’s commitment to us in a frustrating season made us determine to commit to him and this church project. The praise report is that fifteen years later both Joni and the church are thriving.

    When you read the social media memories of Brad you will find that there are literally hundreds of servant heart moments like that. Brad Johnson did not have a high profile ministry career in the pulpit or media. His ministry mirrored his role as an offensive lineman at the University of Nebraska. He was an important contributor but not a star. Offensive lineman learn early in their careers that their efforts are the primary reason that quarterbacks and running backs make headlines. But the backs get the glory while the linemen get dirtied and banged up. Offensive linemen are great teammates who don’t care about themselves. It is about the team being successful and moving toward the goal. That was Brad. He was always the one willing to do the work no one else wanted to do.

    Brad left our church plant to take a senior pastor role in his home state of Nebraska. I remember how sad I felt the day that he and Deb left. We had been on a journey together discovering the impact of identity and grace in our journeys with Jesus. It was game changing stuff for both of us.

    When that pastoral role in Nebraska didn’t work out Brad was faced with a dilemma. Should he uproot his family again to find a church job somewhere? I remember laughing and crying on the phone with Brad as he agonized over what to do. You will not be surprised to hear that he took the selfless role of putting his career on pause to get a job at a local ethanol production facility. He worked long and inconvenient hours at a job that many men would have deemed beneath their calling. Not Brad. His priority was his God and his family and he kept those two as his North star. I remember him sharing stories of talking to the men at the plant about Jesus. We laughed at the irony of his new role. He had often visited my television production work environment and had seen it could sometimes be a bit rough. We laughed that we now shared another connection of work in the real world. But his heart for Jesus never changed whether it was in a pulpit or doing a late shift at an ethanol plant. God can use a willing and serving heart no matter where you find yourself. Not in your dream role? If you are a follower of Jesus there is ministry all around you and maybe you are there for exactly that reason. That was Brad’s heart.

    Brad and Deb getting ready for some Husker Football

    It gives me great joy that the leadership at Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church in Seward, Nebraska recognized the gifts that Brad brought to the table. They hired him to lead their small group, community connection, and counseling outreaches. He found his niche using his considerable relational skills in that setting. It seems only fitting that this servant of Jesus was counseling when he suffered a seizure and apparent stroke that ended his life. He served until his final breath.

    I think we will be surprised when we get to Heaven. The famous and noted religious leaders may have gotten their due here on this planet. I think we will find out it was humble and selfless servants like Brad Johnson that God used to make His Kingdom grow the most. I think this passage epitomizes Brad’s ministry.

    Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. (Philippians 2:3-4, NET)

    Some will say “I am sorry you lost your friend.” My response is one of hope and joy. “I didn’t lose Brad. I know exactly where he is.” And I know we will be together again.

    A patented Brad hug when he left for Nebraska.

    I look forward to one of those Brad hugs again someday. Maybe my glorified body won’t be so puny compared to his. And I pray that Brad Johnson’s blueprint to have an eternal impact will inspire others. It is not complicated.

    Follow Jesus faithfully. Be loving. Be kind. Be present. Be a giver of grace. Be a light in the darkness. Then trust God for the results.

  • The Impossible Dream 50 Years Later

    The Impossible Dream 50 Years Later

    Fifty years ago this past weekend a very talented group of cast and crew presented the annual Chillicothe High School musical. For reasons I still don’t understand I was cast as the lead. I had never acted and I was not a trained singer. That stellar resume got me the lead role of Don Quixote. Go figure. The play was called Man of La Mancha and I realize almost fifty years later how daring that choice was for small town Chillicothe, Ohio. Man of La Mancha was pretty edgy for that era. You may know that the play is based on Miguel de Cervantes’s seventeenth-century novel Don Quixote. The musical unfolds as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. Cervantes takes on the character of “mad knight” Don Quixote and he assigns roles for the other prisoners. The musical is best known for it’s signature song “The Impossible Dream”.

    As I look back I can see a spiritual lesson in the narrative. The gentle and naive Don Quixote sees the world through eyes of grace. He sees what people can become and not what they are at the moment. One of the characters is a self-proclaimed prostitute named Aldonza. But Quixote sees her as a lady and treats her with respect. He calls her Dulcinea, a name that is more befitting of a “lady”. But Aldonza lashes out with fury and hatred toward Quixote. All of her past junk pours out. A mother who did not know which of her many lovers was Aldonza’s father. Men who had used, abused and abandoned her. And now this man calls her a lady and gives her a new name and identity. Throughout the play Aldonza reacts with anger and fear. She hates what she has become but she is afraid to change. At least her identity as a strumpet is familiar. Don Quixote patiently sees her as a soul created with value who can be redeemed.

    As the play goes on Aldonza sees that Quixote is real. His attention is not another ploy to use and discard her. And gradually she begins to believe what the old man says is true about her. That she does have value. At the end the “Quixotic” world of the Man of La Mancha is destroyed and he draws his final breath. Quixote’s faithful squire Sancho turns to the grieving woman and calls her Aldonza. She looks at Sancho and gently corrects him as she says her new name.

    Dulcinea.

    Her identity had been changed by an agent of grace. A parallel can be drawn to what happens to those who place their trust in Christ. Jesus gives us a new identity and He calls us by a new name.

    Saint.

    We also tend to fight back and remind God of what we used to be and all that is wrong about us now. But Jesus patiently reminds us of our new identity. He tells us that we have been changed. That our spiritual DNA has been rewritten. That we are a new creation in Christ. That we are Holy. When you believe what Jesus says is true about you it will change how you live your life. You don’t need to work or strive to earn more of God’s favor. It is fully given to you at the moment you enter into a faith relationship with Christ.

    Paul writes about this mystery to the Church at Corinth.

    So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

    So we are a new person. Righteous. That is not an “impossible dream” but a theological truth. Christ has imputed His righteousness to us. Paul continues in his letter to the Corinthians.

    And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

    If I may borrow from the Impossible Dream lyrics…

    This is my quest
    To follow that star
    No matter how hopeless
    No matter how far

    To fight for the right
    Without question or pause
    To be willing to march into Hell
    For a heavenly cause

    And I know if I’ll only be true
    To this glorious quest
    That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
    When I’m laid to my rest.

    My quest is to communicate the liberating message of grace till I’m laid to my rest. And that is a very possible dream.

    Parts of this article are excerpted from my book Stay: Lessons My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Loss, and Grace.

  • Gratitude is an Attitude

    Gratitude is an Attitude

    Gratitude is a mind-set, and I am praying that the response of appreciation can become a lifestyle for me, with some practice. It is easy to be grateful for the good things. Accepting with thankfulness the bad and sorrowful takes faith and trust that God is faithful with His children. I cannot claim to be grateful until I can simply say thank you for everything that comes my way, recognizing that every event will bring joy, character, perseverance, or ultimately, glory to God.

    Roman philosopher Cicero wrote that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” Hmmm. I can see how that plays out. I forgive others out of gratitude for my own forgiveness. I give grace because I am grateful I was offered grace when I did not merit that gift. I give to those less fortunate out of gratitude for my financial blessings. Cicero might have been on to something.

    The psalmist knew the power of giving thanks for the blessings of life and The Message has a creative take.

    On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into his presence.
    Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make him.
    We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
    Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.
    For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.
    Psalm 100:1-5, The Message 

    I got a chuckle thinking about having to log in to access God in prayer. Using the password “thank you” would be a pretty good way to prepare my heart, and a reminder every time to appreciate all of my blessings.

    I know that some seasons of life are difficult, and some days you just hope to survive. But I think that the majority of us would admit that we can find something to be grateful for, even in moments of frustration. Gratitude is the stabilizer for my spiritual walk. I think I can make a pretty good case that growing a grateful heart is the foundational attitude of the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

    It is that important. Gratitude keeps me from envy, if I can mentally pivot to the many things I am blessed to enjoy. Gratitude keeps me from anger, if I can be grateful for how patient God is with my myriad of shortcomings. Gratitude keeps me from frustration, when it reminds me how much worse things could be. I have programmed a trigger into my gratitude response.

    When I start getting cranky about my back pain, I think of those who live in constant pain. I become grateful that my pain is not constant, and I am reminded to pray for them. A simple mind- set change can take me from self-pity to prayer for others. I am also being prompted to pray for anyone who makes me angry with his or her thoughtlessness or rudeness. What is hurting that person’s heart so much that the response is filled with such venom? Full disclosure . . . I am not there yet. But when I can respond with an attitude of gratitude, it is the most freeing feeling. Maybe that is the best way to be grateful consistently. When I get outside my little world and see the suffering and sadness around me, I fall to my knees in thanksgiving for how fortunate I am.

    Do everything without complaining and
    arguing, so that no one can criticize you.
    Live clean, innocent lives as children of
    God, shining like bright lights in a world
    full of crooked and perverse people.
    Philippians 2:14–15

  • Opening the Gift of Grace

    Opening the Gift of Grace

    “Lord I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment. If only I had known you better I’d have come running with a bucket.” -Nancy Spiegelberg 

    That quote may be the most indicting summary of my misunderstanding of grace for decades. I am indeed Waking Up Slowly to the mystery and majesty of Grace. 

    Grace.

    It is a word that has lost some of its power through misuse and overuse. We banter about the ridiculous concept of cheap grace as if we must be wary of receiving a gift from our Father in Heaven. Are you kidding me? If we view grace like a sales pitch for a time share resort we are listening to the wrong voices. There are no strings attached with grace. No fine print. No hidden costs. No promises to lure you in that cannot be delivered in reality. Grace gives you full title to the resort and every benefit of the place. Even when you one star the facilities on Yelp!

    Grace

    Grace understood can never be viewed as a cheap gift. It cost Jesus everything. If you think grace is cheap I challenge you to kneel at the foot of the Cross and look up. There is nothing cheap about the transaction that Jesus suffered for you and me. I know that some people misuse grace. There is a word for that. Sin. The truth is that grace is the only real antidote for sin and should never, ever, ever, ever be the excuse for sin. Paul addressed the heresy that grace gives us license to sin. Here is a sampling of the translations of Paul’s undisguised dismay expressed in Romans at the very thought that the sweet grace of the Gospel would be abused.

    God forbid! (KJV)
    Of course not! (NLT)
    Absolutely not! (NET)
    May it never be! (NASB)
    By no means! (ESV)

    So I think we can all agree that no matter which translation you choose rationalizing grace as a sin excuse is abhorrent. I would suggest that line of thought is  only possible when you fail to understand the amazing power of this gift.

    Grace.

    If I was given the opportunity to communicate one message to every person in the world it would be a no-brainer for me. I would beg every person to open their minds and heart to the outrageous grace gift that God offers freely to each one of us. And do my best to convince the world that all you have to do is open that gift in faith. 

    I wish that everyone who hears the Gospel message would comprehend the one-way love that God demonstrates to everyone who will receive that love. Instead of turning His back on sinners who deserved just that God chose to reach out to His creation with a radical plan for forgiveness. A plan that is unlike any other religion in history. Man-made religion always demands something to earn salvation. God’s plan for redemption requires the lost to bring nothing to the table other than sin and need. Nothing. Any other presentation of the sweet Gospel of Jesus Christ is a lie.

    Edwin Lutzer describes the prerequisite for grace.

    “When the mask of self-righteousness has been torn from us and we stand stripped of all our accustomed defenses, we are candidates for God’s generous grace.” 

    How differently we would live if we remembered the gifts of grace. We are saints wrapped in the robe of righteousness. We are new creatures who are forgiven, accepted, and wrapped in this incomprehensible gift of grace. Even in our failure Jesus loves us anyway.

    Tim Keller wrote this very annoying sentence. “The deeper the experience of the free grace of God, the more generous we must become.”

    I can’t ignore the obvious action steps in that simple statement. As I write about grace and begin to understand the miracle of grace I should begin to demonstrate what grace looks like to a hurting world. If I am receiving grace I must also give it. If I welcome the generous gift of grace I must become more generous. If I accept the gift of forgiveness I must forgive. If I marvel at God’s unfailing love I must also love others. That is what the doubting world is looking for from the church. Grace, forgiveness and love.

    As Jesus faced the horror of the Cross He offered this command to His disciples.

    So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. (John 14, NLT)

    I ask myself as I write these words. Does my love prove that I am a follower of Jesus? Does my heart reveal that I comprehend the magnitude of His grace? Living out of grace is not a tiring burden. It is a joyous response of gratitude if we stay focused on the source of that grace.

    Jesus offers this gift to anyone who chooses to follow Him. All you have to do is trust, open His amazing gift, and enjoy true freedom.

    Today’s musing was excerpted from Waking Up Slowly. Click here for more information.

  • Celebrating Lives Well Lived

    Celebrating Lives Well Lived

    The weekly blog is a day early for a very special reason. On this Sunday, April 25th our family has the joy of celebrating the 100th trip around the sun for Joni’s uncle Lloyd Banks. I have had the privilege of knowing him for nearly half of his wonderful life. Lloyd and his 93 year old child bride Ebby have been married for seventy-four years. All of those numbers are astounding but a life well lived is about more than longevity.

    Uncle Lloyd had a truly extraordinary career fueled by the Midwest work ethic I grew up with. As a 12 year old in Creston, Iowa he acquired a part-time job sorting bakery items for Colonial Baking. Lloyd worked multiple newspaper delivery routes and cleaned chicken cage pans to earn money. Try selling that job to a young teen today.

    A fun fact about Uncle Lloyd is that he became an accomplished exhibition roller skater and even traveled around southwest Iowa performing.

    After high school he joined the railroad and started with the glamorous task of carrying ashes out of the depot. Over the next thirty years he advanced as a railroad brakeman and conductor. When most folks would be winding down Lloyd launched a new career in home building and real estate. During the next four decades he built 2,000 new homes in southwest Iowa. Uncle Lloyd was a pioneer in building energy efficient homes way before it was the thing to do.

    All of that is commendable but that is not the reason this day is special. Today we honor the character and kindness of Lloyd Banks and his wonderful partner Evelyn. His life had many heartaches. Lloyd lost his only brother at the age of forty-one. Their oldest son Larry died in a tragic work accident when he was twenty-eight years old. Yet Lloyd kept his faith in God and others through those trials. He lived his life giving, serving, and encouraging those around him. That is why so many honor him and Evelyn today.

    Ask his grandkids and great grandkids to describe Lloyd and you will hear words like fun, kind, and giving. Friends will use words like loyal, generous, funny, energetic, and kind. While all of us would like to be successful isn’t it the best measure of real success to be described in those terms? I have treasured my time hearing Lloyd’s stories and seeing first hand his heart for family and others.

    His son Jerry carries on the family tradition of community involvement and success. Last year, the Banks family donated $100,000 to the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation Women’s Fund of Southwest Iowa. The fund aims to support women in southwest Iowa through programming designed to improve their quality of life and overall well-being.

    Lloyd Banks will tell you the key to living a long life is keeping a positive attitude.

    “Have a good attitude. Don’t be mad all the time. Don’t hate people – love them.”

    King David wrote this in Psalm 34.

    What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

    Those simple truths make for a special life. I love this celebration for Uncle Lloyd so much. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing good men and women get to see and hear how their lives have mattered while they are still with us. Too often those memories and expressions of gratitude happen as memorial remembrances instead of face to face affirmation. And that is the gentle grace challenge I will offer to you today. Let the people who have made a difference in your life know how you feel about them. It can be a private communication or you can organize a celebration. But let them know. I have two examples in my own life that come to mind. One success and one regret.

    My fourth grade teacher was so instrumental in my life. I was not interested in reading the assigned books. She realized I was a huge lover of all thing sports so she intentionally allowed me to read and report on sports biographies and stories. She reckoned that if I learned to read sports books voraciously that would transfer to other topics. She was right. I owe my life-long love of reading to Mrs. Snyder but I never told her. I so wish I had.

    My high school basketball coach, Tom Cuppett, was a winner—a great teacher and motivator. He was instrumental in shaping me as a man. Years later I took my then teen-aged sons with me to meet Coach Cuppet. I told him how much he had meant to me. I shared how his tough love coupled with belief in me changed me and offered a template for success for the rest of my life. I will never forget the tears that welled up in his eyes and Coach telling me that he loved me.

    So many good people spend a lifetime giving to others. Can we make it a priority to take a moment of our precious time to let them know they matter? Who can you honor in your life this year?

    Today we honor the well lived lives of Lloyd and Ebby Banks while they can embrace and enjoy the moment. They simply tried to live the principle Paul wrote about to the Galatian church.

    For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

    It has an amazing impact.