Seeing Past Paradise

By Peter Lundell –

My wife earned an all-expenses-paid trip to a gargantuan, opulent resort for a working vacation, and I got to go along. I was awestruck at the gardens, aquariums, water-park, ocean, and at the grandiosity of the architecture—the billions of dollars that must have gone into making this heaven on earth. I thanked God I didn’t have to pay.

Being so enthralled with the immensity of the place, I found myself not praying or reading my Bible as much as I normally do. Oh, my.

So I asked myself where God fit into this picture of extravagance. Since God is everywhere all the time, isn’t it up to us to determine where He fits into our lives—or more accurately, where we fit into His universe? As I surveyed this Garden of Eden, this palace of kings, I started looking beyond it. And I saw two things.

First, though it would take four days to see everything in this resort, it’s still just a dot on the planet. It would take many lifetimes to see even a fraction of everything on God’s earth—and it’s still a tiny ball in a vast cosmos.

Second, if humans could build such impressive places, what must heaven be like? Being at this resort gave me a new anticipation for how God’s eternal resort must be infinitely beyond this earthly one. Absolutely beyond imagination.

From that point I continuously found myself praying and reaching for my Bible. The change was a matter of getting a new perspective. Whether your life feels good or bad right now, here’s a promise from 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No eye has see, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

PRAYER: Father, keep my eyes always open to see beyond the amazing man-made wonders of this world to the infinitely greater wonders You have in store for those who believe.

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things,    and so they came into being?’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word’” (Isaiah 66:1–2 NIV).

Today’s devotion is by Peter Lundell, author of the award-winning book Prayer Power. A rising new voice on connecting with God, Lundell is a pastor, Bible college teacher, and conference speaker. Visit him at www.PeterLundell.com for his inspirational “Connections” and free downloads of articles, parables, short stories, and book chapters.

Stop the Clock

By Jodi Whisenhunt –

I was watching a football game with my husband the other day, and one team scored a field goal to up the lead. They went ahead just enough that the opponent would need to score more than one touchdown to win. Few minutes remained on the clock, so implying imminent victory, the announcer said, “Nine is a really big number!”

I scratched my head and thought, “Really?” Now, I’m no mathematician, but nine is pretty low on my scale. I mean, it’s not even double digit! I started wondering what other wisdom I might glean from the sport, and I discovered something that could be quite handy: the ability to stop time.

Now, NFL officials don’t actually prevent seconds from ticking away, but they do halt progress of the game periodically. Someone blows a whistle and the teams retreat to the sidelines to rethink their strategies.

I want to stop time.

Imagine how handy that would be. If I’m about to spill spaghetti sauce on my new white shirt, tweet—time out! If my daughter’s about to snatch her little brother’s favorite toy, tweet—time out! If I’m about to miss an important deadline, tweet—time out! Mistakes would be a thing of the past. I’d stop the clock and rethink my strategy as I went along. Writer’s block simply would not exist. I’d just hit pause until play resumed in my head. If only I could stop time!

If everyone had the ability to control time, however, the world would be one big mess. So it’s good that only God can control the clock. Only He can call a time out. Only He holds the whistle. After all, “Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure” (Ecclesiastes 8:5). No need to retreat to the sidelines and rethink strategy. The Head Coach knows the game plan.

Jodi Whisenhunt is a 2009 Amy Writing Award-winning freelance writer and editor in McKinney, Texas. You can find her at www.jodiwhisenhunt.com or www.magicalmouseschoolhouse.com, where Disney IS school.

Winter Wilderness

By Art Fulks –

It always amazes me how many friends and family I reconnect with at some level during the holiday season. Many times, it is a simple passing conversation at the mall while shopping or a few connecting moments at a Christmas gathering. On a common holiday mission, we make commitments to connect on a more consistent basis and to invest in the relationships. But as the new year begins, realities set in and life sometimes seems even more overwhelming. Although we just spent an entire month in a consistent oasis of social interaction and purpose, it is easy to suddenly find ourselves lost and dried up in a winter wilderness. We are people…not camels.

Personally, I find myself in the winter wilderness for three main reasons:  (1) unmet expectations of myself; (2) unrealistic expectations of others; and (3) unrecognized fresh water right in front of me. Practically, I need to focus on pursuing a few consistent goals for growing in my journey and intentionally invest in one or two new realtionships. Also, it is unrealistic to think that every intention stated by others in passing will be made a priority. Finally, when I focus on unmet expectations of myself or others, I often miss the provision of my Heavenly Father who has promised to supply my needs day-by-day.

Sometimes the winter wilderness is unavoidable, but God can do amazing things with barren land.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, may I find my encouragement from Your daily provision. Help me find consistent direction and purpose from You, the only One who always exceeds my expectations.

“He turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water” (Psalm 107:35 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Art Fulks, a church planter/pastor at Connection Fellowship in Greenville, South Carolina. Married for 22 years and a father of four, Art is a graduate of The Ohio State Univeristy and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a passionate Bible teacher, speaker, musician, worship leader, and life coach. Read more at http://www.connectionfellowship.org http://artfulks.blogspot.com.

Forgiveness Trumps Conventional Wisdom

By Bruce Hebel –

Brad and Molly came to us in crisis. Three weeks earlier Molly had discovered Brad’s pornography addiction and his multiple affairs, including Molly’s best friend, Brad’s best friend’s wife and prostitutes. She was shocked.

A couple of days after the initial confrontation, Brad picked up his Bible. As he began to read, something inside him broke. For two hours he tearfully read the Bible and for the first time, understood the grace of God and the forgiveness provided for him through the blood of the cross. He was dramatically transformed. Heart cleansed. Desires changed.

Molly recognized the change but couldn’t get over the offense. “I thought we had a great marriage. I swore I would not be like my mom, but now I have become my mom because he has become my dad.” She went on to explain how her father would leave her in the car as an alibi while he had affairs with women.

Conventional wisdom wouldn’t give this couple good survival odds, but conventional wisdom doesn’t understand the power of forgiveness. I looked at Brad and asked who hurt him as a child. He described the horrific sexual abuse his sister committed against him from the time he was five years old until he was age eleven. We gently told him, “You must forgive your sister.”

As Brad began to forgive the numerous wounds from his sister, Molly began to weep uncontrollably. Toni knelt beside her and cradled Molly in her arms. After Brad finished forgiving the wounds from his sister, he forgave himself.  I asked him  “How is your heart?” He told us he would never have believed his heart could be any better than the day he trusted the Lord, but in fact it was better now than ever. He was unmistakably free.

Then Toni looked at Molly and said, “You won’t be free, totally free, until you also walk through forgiveness.” After forgiving Brad and her father, the change in her countenance was remarkable and as they stood up to leave, Molly embraced Brad for the first time in three weeks. In fact, on the way home, she unbuckled her seat belt and slid over and snuggled next to him. He almost wrecked the truck! When we saw them a month later she told us their marriage has never been this good. Forgiveness trumped conventional wisdom.

AUTHOR QUOTE: Jesus never let the offence determine whether or not He would forgive someone!

“He himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 NASB).

Today’s devotional is by Bruce Hebel, President of Regenerating Life Ministries (forgiving forward.com) and Adjunct Professor at Carver Bible College. Bruce is the author of the seminar and soon to be published book “Forgiving Forward: Unleashing the Forgiveness Revolution” He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and, along with his wife Toni, has served in pastoral ministry for over 35 years.

Better Part of Valor

By Jane Thornton –

Prom night, thirty years later, still resonates with emotions. Mostly self-mockery at this stage, but I remember the heightened feelings of anticipation and giddiness. Hours spent applying my first set of fake fingernails, a mad dash to the florist for the forgotten boutonniere. For years I planned to wear the floating dress of a southern belle, but, as an oh-so-adult senior, I switched to the sleek, sophisticated look of polyester.

That night, adorned in chic maroon (not pastel), I traipsed into the ladies’ room with a friend to freshen my makeup. Among the throng in front of the mirror, I spotted a dress with vaguely familiar lines.

I elbowed my friend. “Look at her dress. It’s an awful lot like mine except hers vees in the front and mine in the back.”

Eyeing the unaware target of our interest, my friend nodded. “It even has the little cape top.” (I told you this was thirty years ago).

A disdainful sniff scrunched my nose. “The vee in back is much more original.” But my eye was continually drawn to the similarities. “Lisa, I think it’s exactly the same, but she’s wearing it backward . . .”

Slowly an inkling of the mind-boggling reality seeped into my consciousness and horror dawned. “Oh no! I’m wearing my dress backward!”

My awkward words spilled into a sudden silence.

So many lessons can be drawn from that day and night. Vanity. Priorities. Friendship. The list continues. But the moral that resounds over the years is that I should have kept my big mouth shut.

As James 3:2 says, “For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way” (NLT). The price on prom night was just a few moments of excruciating embarrassment followed by a hands-on tutorial in learning to laugh at oneself. At other times in my life, the damage has been much worse.

I have lost count (and hope my children have also) of the number of bedtimes where I had to apologize for my harsh words during the day. I fear my example for handling stress has put the penalty for my loss of control onto my kids.

Although I know I’m forgiven, I still wince at certain memories. More than once my attempts at humor have resulted in a lack of discretion. My unruly tongue has victimized my husband, my friends, my siblings, and my children. Not malice, but a quick and thoughtless mouth, is the culprit.

Let’s not turn this into the tirade I deserve, but thank God for His incomprehensible grace in forgiving each stumble and listen to His guidance for the future:

“Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool” (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3 NIV).

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