Where is the Good?

By Lori Freeland –

“For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Luke 1:49 NIV).

Some life lessons come harder than others. Being good is one of them.

While I’ve struggled with various temptations and issues as a child, teen, daughter, friend, wife, and mother, I’ve always understood one truth.

Without the Lord in my life, I am nothing. Nothing good anyway.

Left on my own, I tend to cross the line, dabble in what pleases me, explore areas of life better left unknown.

Yes, I might manage to hang onto to a husband, produce little people that grow up to be functioning members of society, and enjoy a few close friendships.

I may have more happy days than sad. When you look at me, you might think I have it all together, that I’ve figured life out, that I’m sure about my path. That I am a good person.

But you would be wrong.

Inside, where it counts, I could never claim to be innately good.

I do what’s expected. Cover feelings considered unacceptable. Bite back words I know shouldn’t say. Work hard to fit in. Smile and frown on cue. Move forward. Juggle life. Deal with some issues. Bury others.

But anything truly good, anything right, anything pure does not originate in me. Because inside, I hide anti-good behaviors and thoughts. Inside, I squelch desires I know I shouldn’t have. Inside, I am a completely different person.

Although on the outside it may look like we’ve become better people as adults, sometimes we’ve just become better at masking our flaws and insecurities. Emotions like jealousy, hate, and anger never completely disappear just because we age and develop a few wrinkles.

Some days maturity has more to do with what I censor and harness inside my head than how much I’ve really grown and changed.

Sad, but true.

But hiding is not what God has asked of me. He doesn’t want me to conceal who I really am. He wants to change what’s inside me to reflect what’s inside Him.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8 NIV).

Those are the qualities God asks me to seek.

And so I do. With His help. Hoping one day, what He wants for me will be what I am.

He wants me to be honest. Stop hiding. Quit covering. Be real. Change inside and out. Permanently. He wants a new me. A renewed me. He wants the best for me.

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:9,10 NIV).

Thankfully, it is in His strength that I find the best things, put them on, and offer them back to Him.

For in my strength alone, I will always remain helpless, insecure, and eons from innately good.

Lord, help me put on the new today. Help me look to You for the things You want for me. Change me in a way that means I can never go back to the old.

YOLO

By Elaine James –

My daughter’s friend blurted out “I fell in love with the dress and I knew I couldn’t afford it. So I just opened a new store credit card and bought it. Oh well, “YOLO”.”

“What does “YOLO” mean?” I retorted. Just picture an annoyed teen response: attitude with eyes rolling and all, stating “Everyone knows what YOLO means. You Only Live Once.”

Catchy! I gazed out my window while rinsing dishes and let the phrase roll off my tongue, “YOLO.” I asked myself “Does that line up with what God has to say in His word?”

There are so many similar sayings such as “carpe diem” meaning seize the day. “Once in a lifetime experience” was what I said in my younger years. Do these catch phrases have soul meaning that requires some reflection? I say “Yes.”

Paul informed the church in Ephesus “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3 NIV). When I received Christ as my Savior the Holy Spirit came and dwelled within me, helping me to make decisions. Can Christians have “YOLO” moments?

Each year my husband and his Christian friends head to Canada on a fishing trip. They bring all of their fishing supplies and food and the owners provide cabins and some meals. The owners have seen some groups drinking too much and getting kind of crazy and causing trouble. They have commented to my husband “I love to watch your group have good clean fun.” He plans and budgets for the trip. It is a good “YOLO” moment.

The “YOLO” mindset can be okay when I am Spirit led. It is bad when I buy things, eat junk or do things with the “YOLO” mentality and regret it later.

The movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was filled with some good “YOLO” moments. I think God would agree with Ferris when he said at the end of the movie “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

PRAYER: God, when I say “YOLO”, can You help me to be wise? I know I live once and I have confidence that when I die I will live eternally with You. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit that guides me to live this life well. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Hard Drive Down

By Hally Franz –

Unless you are a technology expert, there are few things that strike fear within a body more than a computer crash. In reality, the word “crash” may not invoke the feelings of chaos that the event generally does. Perhaps, “calamity” or “catastrophe” would be better descriptors.

My recent cataclysmic computer trial and the corresponding conversations with the computer support personnel brought to mind war movies I’d seen in which doctors urgently carry out triage on incoming wounded. “He’s hit in the chest.” The hard drive has been wiped out. “What’s this man’s blood type?” Did you have an anti-virus program? “Stay with me soldier!” Is it under warranty? “He won’t be returning to the field any time soon.” We’ll have to order parts, and it could take a week or so.

I absolutely understand that my temporary computer problems in NO WAY compare with the horrible life-changing events that occur during war, but in those moments, they can feel pretty serious. In our world, nearly all of us rely on our paper or electronic planners, laptops and desktop computers, phones and e-mail. Those are the keepers of our information, and without them, we feel vulnerable, disconnected and lost.

While the details of our personal and work life cannot be trusted entirely to our human minds, our Heavenly Father has the whole of the universe at His fingertips at all times. The tiniest details of prayer requests around the globe, and the major events taking place in our world daily, are all under His control at any given time.

That brings me lots of comfort, calm and confidence in the Creator!

PRAYER: Awesome God, keep me ever mindful of Your magnificence. Humble me daily with the knowledge that Your hand has made all things, and You are in control in all circumstances, great and small.

“All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent” (Isaiah 28:29 NIV).

April Showers

By Liz Cowen Furman –

The thunder boomed. We ran to the windows and watched the rain come down in buckets. I felt like Noah. I looked down from the top of our 20% grade drive and saw several infant canyons forming.

That spring convinced me that there is no way it took several hundred millennia to create THE magnificent canyon. A few hundred wet springs max and voila, the Grand Canyon.

Matthew, our middle son, and I were home alone. We sprang into action with hoes and shovels. Toiling in the icy mountain spring rain, and with fervor, we attempted to redirect the torrents of water. Such a rare (to Colorado) wonderful wet spring caused the drainage gutters to overgrow with thick grass. We hadn’t even noticed the danger growing there. So, with nowhere to run, the water shed to our gravel driveway and more specifically to the middle of the drive.

As it flowed, it took with it the soil and gravel too weak to stand against the pressure and power of the rushing water.

Drenched to the bone and shivering as the clouds rolled away, I noticed several stones stayed put. Those anchored into the ground somehow managed to stand. Some of the trenches were over two feet deep and in only a few minutes.

We walked to the bottom of the driveway and were horrified to see literally several tons of gravel, sand and dirt on the paved street below our house.

I noticed so many analogies in that storm. First, in storms and life it seems, only those anchored to The Rock will stand the test of the really big ones. When tragedy strikes if we aren’t tethered to the Rock we wash out.

Then there is the sad realization that a super storm takes out not only those not anchored but as the water gushes, it sweeps away the surrounding bystanders too. There were several small rocks piled behind the big anchored ones left in the trenches. I want to be one that others can cling to in a storm, not because of me, but because I have the power of Him shining through me.

The most troubling analogy? The weeds that went unnoticed until it was too late. They just grew on the side of the road like some of the sins in our hearts. When the storm came, they kept the safeguard gutters from working. Since it is the time of year for April showers…I’m thinking it might also be time for some spring cleaning. Not just in my house and driveway, but in my heart as well.

The last observation really hit us, for days after the storm. With our wagon and shovels, we had to clean up from the mess the storm left. Just like the storms in our lives, if we let those things go unchecked, then we won’t stand strong in a storm and will have a mess to clean up, too.

If we had just taken inventory of our driveway, a little spring-cleaning, if you will, then when the storm blew through, all we would have had to do is a little emergency adjustment shoveling to make sure the water shed to the gutters.

Starting this spring, I want to do constant inventory so that when the storm rolls in I will be the one standing on the rock for others to cling to. How about you?

Spiritual Adultery

By Cheri Cowell –

One day while substitute teaching, I had a Kindergartener who did not want to follow any of my instructions. After the fifth or sixth time correcting him, one of the other children in the class said, “He never listens. He always does what he wants.”

To which I answered, “Wow that must be hard.” The boy stopped and looked at me quizzically. I then explained I had found that many of the people around me knew a lot of things I did not know and when I stopped long enough to listen, I saved myself a lot of heartache. It is the same thing with God and me. Sometimes I don’t listen and keep on doing what I want to do. But God has a better plan.

The bit of wisdom in today’s proverb is tucked in the midst of the chapter on the dangers of adultery. Although these scriptures make it clear they are speaking of sexual adultery, we can also glean the significance of a spiritual adultery. It says if we gain satisfaction, power, and esteem from anything other than God, then we have committed a sort of spiritual adultery. The penalty for adultery in Bible times was stoning, but God’s remedy is His grace. All He asks is that we turn from our ways and acknowledge Him. What an awesome God!

PRAYER: God, forgive me for allowing other things to become substitutes for the real thing—for You. Help me learn Your commands, learn Your teachings, and accept Your discipline. Thank You for being my lamp, my light, and my way which leads me away from spiritual adultery and into your forgiving arms.

“When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life” (Proverbs 6:22-23 NIV).

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