Unbroken by the Storm

By Diane Mayfield –

When I first started coming to Navarre Beach, I was drawn to the mounds of broken shells I saw. They appeared in little groupings, like villages, up and down the shoreline. They were beautiful in their diverse colors and shapes, lying on top of each other, as if to form a whole community.

Because I was then struggling with Christian brothers and sisters at that time, I saw those broken shells as Christian communities. Like those shells, we too are broken when we come to Christ, desperate in our need for a Savior. While He does His mighty work in us, we still have weaknesses that keep us from being holy and complete.

Mercy, compassion and a good dose of humility filled my heart because of those broken shells. I saw my Christian brothers and sisters and, most of all, I saw myself, just like them.

This trip I’m drawn to the unbroken shells. Not because I’m now into being perfect. Oh no, it’s for quite another reason.

I just started Beth Moore’s study of James. The first lesson begins with quite a punch. “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (NIV James 1:2). She goes on to make the point that trials will come. That’s life. God uses those trials to perfect us. It’s our faith that gets us through those storms of life.

By abiding in Him through trust and prayer, we will come through those storms unbroken, like the shells. Hurricane Isaac sent his forceful wind, rain and storm surges up and down the Gulf Coast a few weeks before I arrived. Navarre Beach felt his impact. Debris litters the sand as a result of Isaac’s power. The shoreline eroded in places and parts of the beach vanished.

And yet, there in the sand, I discovered hundreds, probably thousands but who’s really counting, of unbroken shells. Those shells made it through the storm unscathed. They spoke to me of the lesson I began. I, too, can come through the storms of life, the various trials, unbroken. When I persevere in faith, Jesus turns those trials into joy for what He is completing in me. It doesn’t mean I won’t feel pain or experience negative emotions. But, like Louie Zamperini in the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, I will come out of my storms, whole in Jesus.

Hence, this time the unbroken shells call to me. They made it through the storm and so can we all because of our wonderful Savior Jesus.

Can I Help You?

By Richard Gammill –

It’s the afternoon of Good Friday and Noah and I are stuck in heavy traffic on I-35. I want to finish my errands so I can get to the early evening services. It’s looking more and more like I won’t make it.

I love these times in my pickup with six-year-old Noah. We talk about many things. I try not to waste these teaching opportunities. I ask, “Noah, do you know what is special about this weekend?”

“It’s going to be Easter, Grandpa,” he answers.

“Why do we celebrate Easter, Noah? What is it about?”

“Well, it’s about when a bad man got money for showing where Jesus was.”

“What was that man’s name?”

“I don’t know, but he did a very bad thing.”

“What happened then, Noah?”

“Well, they took Jesus and they put him on a cross and they pounded big nails in his hands and his feet.”

“What happened then?”

“He died, Grandpa. But then he came back!”

“Why did he suffer and die like that, Noah?”

“It’s because he loves us so much.”

“Now what does he want us to do?”

“He loves us very much. Now he wants us to love him.”

“And how do we show that we love Jesus?”

“We show it by loving people and helping people. Like when someone falls down, we don’t say, ‘What happened to you?’ We ask ‘Can I help you?’”

Our conversation moved to other things, and, as I feared, the slow-moving traffic prevented me from making it to the Good Friday service. But Noah took advantage of a teachable moment to remind me the meaning of Good Friday anyway.

Settle for Good-Miss the Best

By Kathi Woodall –

Three p.m. I turned into the parking lot of my daughter’s home school group and drove to my spot at the end of the pick-up line. As I waited, more vehicles lined up behind mine while other parents walked out of the building having already retrieved their children. One particular mom exited with her two small children. As she walked toward her car, I realized I would block her in.

Moments ticked by as I alternated my attention between watching her buckle her two little ones into car seats and watching for the assistant director to come out of the building with her walkie-talkie and start the car line moving. Would the line move in time for me to pull my car forward before the mom was ready to make her exit? She buckled in one child. No sign of the assistant director. As she strapped in the second child, the assistant director appeared and started speaking children’s names into her walkie-talkie. The line slowly crept into action; I should be able to move out of the way soon.

The timing was perfect as the mom opened her own door and sat down while I gently let off the brake to allow my car to pull forward. I watched in my rear-view mirror to see if the lady behind me would wait for the mom to back out of her parking spot. I shook my head as I watched her pull forward without a moment’s hesitation. Busily texting on her cell phone, she was oblivious to the plight of the mom with the two small children waiting to exit her parking spot.

I immediately thought of myself. I often focus so intently on one activity that I am insensible to the needs of those around me or to God calling me in a new direction.

The mom behind me did nothing wrong; she may have had a good reason to text. Likewise, several times I find myself doing good things–lunch with a friend, teach a Bible study, write a new book. I’m comfortable with these things; they are an easy place to stay focused. However, God sometimes calls me to something else for a moment–visit a sick relative, start a new study group, help a friend at work. The original object of my attention may have been valid, but it wasn’t the best that God had for me at that time.

I don’t want to focus so much on the good that I miss out on the best. I don’t want to be so used to the ordinary that I am oblivious to the extraordinary. I don’t want to be satisfied with anthills of ministry when God is calling me to move mountains.

“O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. I finally understand — you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come. As is written about me in the Scriptures: I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart’” Psalm 40:5-8.

The Ties That Bind

By Richard Gammill –

“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (II Corinthians 6:18).

Strong family connections create strong—and sometimes surprising—emotions.

“Grandpa!” shouted little Noah as he threw open the door and ran toward me arms opened wide. He jumped into my arms and squeezed my neck.

“Grandpa, let’s go see trains.” His Paul Newman-blue eyes held my attention.

How could I resist? We climbed the stairs—I climbed, Noah ran—to my study and turned on the computer. Noah loves trains. We spent the next hour on the Internet with him on my lap as we looked at videos and pictures of trains.

“Grandpa, we’re best buddies. Can we go swimming now?”

By the time I got to the bedroom, Noah had his clothes off and his swimsuit on. In the pool, he found the water cannon, pumped it full, aimed it at me, and began firing.

“Noah, you are a rascal,” I said, as I stood there dripping wet.

“Grandpa, when do I get to start playing soccer like my sisters?”

“Pretty soon, Noah. And you will probably play baseball and football like your uncles did. I can hardly wait to watch you play. Won’t that be fun?”

“Will you come to my games, Grandpa?”

“Noah, nothing could keep me away!”

That night while I was trying to get to sleep, my thoughts drifted from my day with Noah to my friend Harold and his grandson, Bart. A shadow crept over me and filled me with sadness.

By the time Bart graduated from high school, Harold and his wife, Elaine, had driven thousands of miles crisscrossing the state of Kansas attending every baseball game Bart played in. They traveled even more miles attending performances of his choral group and marching band.

Following his graduation, Bart was accepted into a chiropractic college and prepared to move that fall to Kansas City. Then his girlfriend left him, plunging Bart into a pit of despair. A few days later, his body was found next to his pickup on a lonely Kansas road.

He had taken his own life.

My day with Noah gave me fresh insight into Harold’s devastating loss. The pain of Harold’s daily visits to his grandson’s gravesite gripped me. What could be harder than losing a child or grandchild?

The next morning the news on my computer reported the tragedy met by a group of Ohio high school students during their mission trip to Costa Rica. Five students swimming in the Pacific Ocean at a dangerous beach were caught by a riptide and swept out to sea. Two were rescued, but three drowned. Their bodies were found later. I turned to the ABC news report and made an emotional connection with one of the young students, her family, and mine. Her father teaches at her private high school and her grandfather is a retired Nazarene minister like me. She had planned to attend a Nazarene college. My two oldest granddaughters are students at a sister Nazarene college.

That family’s tragic loss shook me. I experienced a moment of terror as I imagined my reaction if my granddaughter had met a similar fate during her trips to China and Uganda.

Close family ties establish our priorities and give meaning to our lives. The phrase, “Family, first, last, and always,” describes an affair of the heart. It is a heart affair that connects our Heavenly Father with his earthly children. The crucifixion of His “only begotten Son” unites us with God’s heart forever. When our heart responds in faith to His sacrifice it brings us into a family relationship with Him.

Heavenly Father, thank You for making me Your child and giving me the assurance of having a Friend who sticks with me closer than a brother.

The Importance of Connection

By Warren M Mueller –

As I reflected on the tragedies of the Boston Marathon bombing and the Newtown massacre, I realized that those who did these crimes were described as loners or people without friends. This caused me to think about what isolation does to human thinking. I searched for an example I could relate to and thought of my daily commute to work in an auto. In this case, people are isolated from each other, and most of the time, I see the vehicle, not the person inside. It is easy to feel annoyance and even anger when others violate my space on the road by cutting in front of me. When standing still in traffic, I tend to look straight ahead because I do not want to interact with others who may be angry or frustrated. The result is that my view of others on the road is reduced to vehicles that are obstacles or are competing with me for space. This situation fosters low tolerance of actions that violate my space and produces thoughts of others as being rude and selfish which stimulate negative emotions.

Conversely, people who share values, goals or something in common tend to think positively about each other. A great example of this occurs among Christians because of faith in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I am amazed at how I can feel close to people with whom I have very little in common except our shared Christian beliefs. However, I find I feel much less connected to those who I see regularly but do not know by name or shared experience. There is a danger even in church of just being present out of habit or obligation which can result in going through the motions without mentally and emotionally connecting to others.

The Bible says that believers are to seek relationships or connections with other believers and meet together regularly (Hebrews 10:25 NIV). Jesus is the ultimate example of someone who overcame social barriers by connecting with others. Jesus loves us so much that he became human in order to connect with us and help us to become like him (John 1:12-13; 3:16 NIV). Jesus associated with social outcasts. He formed a network of followers to mentor and helped them develop a new identity based on his teachings, example, and relationships. His death and resurrection enable those who accept him as Savior and Lord to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 6:19 NIV). This is the ultimate connection in life because it is the most intimate transforming the mind and changing us into holy children of God (Romans 12: 1-2 NIV).

Shared views and purpose produce loyalty and commitments to glorify God and advance his kingdom on earth. The result of loyalty is unity and love for God and for other believers. This is why Jesus said that others will know his disciples by their love for each other (John 13:35). Why then is there not more love and unity among believers in Christ? I believe the root cause is our failure to connect with others.

Practice connecting to those you encounter by thinking of them in positive ways. I have started to look at people in their vehicles and think of them as working with me to get back and forth to work each day. This has helped me to connect with them giving me greater tolerance and appreciation of our collective effort to return safely home each day. Look those you encounter in the eye and smile at them and think of something you share in common with them. This could be as basic as realizing we are Americans. It will help you be connected and discover something to love in every encounter in your life.

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