Every day I am gifted with 86,400 seconds of precious time. I cannot possibly use all of it wisely. But I can invest more of that daily gift into my relationships with God and others. I can’t draw interest on unused time to be used later. Time is far more valuable than the money we so doggedly pursue. I can lose all my money and make more later. But if I lose my time, it is gone forever. Solomon actually beat me to this message by about three thousand years, give or take. He decided that, all things considered, the best way to live is to enjoy the moment. “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18 NLT) Not to be maudlin, but that
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Texas seasons can be brutal for plants and trees. This January an ice storm left mounds of rock solid ice in our yard. Several of the plants in our landscaping were completely buried in ice. Not snow. Ice. We expected they would not survive. The ice very slowly melted and many of the bushes were buried for a week. The plants looked barren as they gradually reappeared. Day after day it seemed likely replacements would be coming. Then one glorious day tiny buds began to appear on the branches. Green buds sprouted in defiance of winters brutal assault. I stopped and meditated on the miracle of life emerging out of barrenness. I thought of the words of philosopher Bernard Williams. “The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.” I love that. Is there anything more hopeful than watching the beauty of budding leaves and blooming flowers turning the melancholy of winter into a wondrous palette
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The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “broad-brush” approach as a general, sweeping overview that lacks specific details, nuance, or individual differences. It is often used in professional or political contexts. Broad-brushing describes a simplified and sometimes unfairly generalized perspective. Yep. I struggle in our current cultural climate with broad-brushing by all sides. What do I mean by that? If you disagree with someone’s beliefs you can automatically assign to them the worst values linked in any way to that belief. Without knowing a single thing about the person’s story, their heart, or their background we can easily throw down the gauntlet of judgment. A lot of faithful Christians have been unfairly broad-brushed recently. I agree that some claiming the title of Christian absolutely deserve to be called to accountability. I have never had a problem with being honest about how I and many other followers of Jesus often fall short of representing the grace and love of Jesus. That is just
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I remember how my parents viewed the state of our country in the ‘60’s. They thought the end might be near and I felt their concern. The song Eve of Destruction was released in the summer of 1965. The country was divided by the Vietnam war, the draft, civil rights, fear of nuclear war, violence, and general mistrust of the government. Sound slightly familiar? Recorded by Barry McGuire, the song became the official theme of the protest movement. But that was not the intent of nineteen-year-old Jewish songwriter P.F. Sloan. He wrote this on his website. “I wrote it as a prayer to God for an answer. I have felt it was a love song and written as a prayer because, to cure an ill, you need to know what is sick. In my youthful zeal I hadn’t realized that this would be taken as an attack on The System! He went on about the division created by the song itself. “Any
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I lived for decades in the performance driven world of sports. We too often measured value not by character but by statistics like how many tackles for loss, field goal shooting percentage, or batting average. Character was a nice bonus but performance was king. I remembered a comment from former Northwestern University football coach Pat Fitzgerald about the impact of negative stats on a football player’s performance. Coaches often talk about the need to reduce “missed” tackles and they keep track of each miscue. Coach Fitzgerald had a different philosophy. His staff did not keep track of missed tackles at all. The staff evaluated each player by their effort even if it did not produce perfect results. His next comment stuck with me. “I don’t like to put negative results in their minds because you become what you think about.” It immediately hit me how profound that comment is for followers of Jesus. We tend to keep spiritual stats on
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I have written a lot recently about the need to show love and grace to those you disagree with on social media. That’s if you actually want a chance to influence them. Sadly, in our world today even that approach is a Hail Mary attempt. At least there is hope for some impact if you listen, refrain from name-calling, and speak with a tone of grace. All followers of Jesus should show a spirit of kindness to those who don’t share our faith and especially to those who do. Maybe our starting point in improving our culture would be unity in Christ throughout the universal church community as our primary focus. Then we have a healthy place to gracefully debate differences. And that would greatly diminish the too often unnoticed enemy. Satan. I believe all communication must be done looking through the consistent focus of the love of Jesus. He loves me. He loves those I vehemently disagree with. Sometimes
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Because of my career path in secular television I have a lot of people very dear to me who do not share my faith and hope in Jesus. Some are simply disinterested. Some think their good works will outweigh their bad deeds and they will be granted entry to Heaven. Some think that faith in God is a foolish pursuit that no intellectually honest person would consider. Some have witnessed horrible actions of people claiming to be Christians. Some have experienced harsh and legalistic religious types who make living a life of faith miserable and emotionally damaging. Some are pushed away by those who share sincere beliefs in a way that does not show the love of God. Any combination of these factors can cause people to step away or not pursue what it means to follow Jesus. I get it. I have struggled with many of those things over my long journey of faith. Brennan Manning wrote this very
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