Curveballs

I received a call from a very good friend of mine this week. His cousin has been in a battle with a life threatening disease for a while, and last Wednesday he lost. Probably one of the most difficult things to swallow was that his cousin was young. He just got married a year ago.

Curveball.

This same friend called me 2 days later to let me know that his grandfather has passed away as well. You could just hear it in his voice that the family is wrecked right now.

What do you say to someone who just lost 2 family members within a matter of days? How do you comfort someone in that mind state? As my mind raced for the right words to say to him, I just went blank. Seriously, what do you say?

I’m sorry?

What can I do to help?

They are in a better place!

For my friend, he is a man of God, he knows all of that already. So what do you say?

.......and then it became clear.

In times like these, when questions are flying through the minds of the grieving, what is needed is truth.

Experts in any field will tell you that when things don’t make sense, go back to what does and start from there.

For me, it just means that my friend needed to be reminded of where the starting point is.

He needed brought back to the truth.

Brought back to what we know for sure.

Brought back to what makes sense.

Brought back to the Cornerstone.

See, we don’t just believe that God is awesome when life is going great. That’s easy......anyone can do that. We believe that God is awesome when things go haywire.

We believe that the scriptures we read when life is a bowl of cherries, say the same thing when curveballs are being thrown to us.

Our circumstances don’t get a vote in the truth.

It’s when we are no longer able to answer our own questions that we truly begin to seek God’s answers.

My friend is solid and he is going to be just fine, but we can all stand a reminder can’t we?

I sent him a text message earlier today. It simply said “Romans 8:18”

I just wanted to throw another reminder out there to him.

1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you”.

In this life, there will be suffering. Being a Christ follower does not make you exempt.

It is however, what you choose to see in that time of suffering that separates us from the world.

Choose to see that God is still good.

For no matter how dark the cloud, the SON is on the other side.

Peace to you my friend, and to anyone else dealing with pain or questions tonight.

The cupbearer

There is a fantastic story in Genesis about a guy named Joseph. To make a long story short though, Joseph ends up in prison. While he is in prison he gains a couple of roommates.
The chief baker of Pharaoh and the chief cupbearer of Pharaoh. The cupbearer back in those days was responsible for tasting the drink of the King first to make sure it was suitable for the King and also to make sure it was not poisoned. I'm not sure what the baker and the cup bearer did to end up there. Maybe Pharaoh didn't like how his guy sipped from the cup and his bread was moldy, the Bible doesn't say. It just says they did something that Pharaoh didn't like and so they got tossed in the cell with Joseph.

So the cupbearer has this dream and he can't figure out what the dream means. Well, Joseph has the ability to decipher dreams and so he steps in and informs this cupbearer that what his dream signifies and the cupbearer is so excited that he tells Joseph that when he gets out of prison (in 3 days), he will remember that Joseph helped him and see about getting Joseph out of prison as well.

He was so grateful to Joseph for his help that when the 3 days passed and he was let out of prison, that he completely forgot about Joseph……………..For 2 years!!!!

The Bible says 2 years later, Pharaoh had a dream that he couldn't figure out. He summoned all of the people that he thought could help, and none were able to decipher the dream. Then, all of a sudden the Chief cup bearer remembers Joseph.

I can't imagine the feeling he must have had in his gut when the image of Josephs face and the promise he made 2 years ago came back to his memory.

At that moment, the cupbearer is recorded as saying, "Today I have been reminded of my failure.”
He informed Pharaoh about Joseph and told him about the event from 2 years ago. Needless to say, Joseph was released from prison.
The Bible never mentions the cupbearers name. I think that is because it makes it easier to put our own name there.

Are you the cupbearer?

Maybe as you were reading this, a certain someone came to mind.
Somewhere along the line have you forgotten someone?
Someone that perhaps helped you through something or pulled you out of something?

Is there someone in your life that you owe something to?
An apology?
A thank you?

If so, may today be the day that you say, "Today I have been reminded of my failure.”
You might be thinking to yourself that it was so long ago, it will feel awkward to go back and right the wrong at this point.
It was 2 full years before the cupbearer righted his wrong with Joseph.

It's not too late for you or I.
Don't put it off any longer. Be the cupbearer today.

It's not about the whale

Most of us know the story of Jonah and the whale from when we were young, but have you read the story lately?

Jonah is told by God to go and speak to this group of people called the Ninevites. Jonah thinks about it for about zero seconds, flashes God the two finger peace sign and bolted in the total opposite direction. He hops on a boat that is heading out for sea and doesn't look back.

In an attempt to get Jonah's attention he sends in a ferocious wind. So ferocious that the sailors who no doubt had tons of experience sailing in storms, were freaking out. The Bible says that each one cried out to his "own god".

Then the sailors started questioning Jonah about who he was and Jonah said, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

Now the sailors were afraid for their lives. Not only was the storm great, but they had a man on the ship who obviously did something to make the real God upset.

The storm was getting even worse and the sailors asked Jonah, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
Jonah basically tells them to toss him in the sea or it is going to end badly for all of them too.
The sailors listened to Jonah and they picked him up and dumped his storm following rear end over the side of the boat.

Then the bible says that the sea grew calm.

Now, forget about the stupid whale this is the meat of the story.

Verse 16 says this, "At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.

Don’t miss this.

God wanted Jonah to bring people into a relationship with Him.

Jonah ran the other way………..and people were still brought into a relationship with God. The sailors went from following their "own god" to following the "God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."

The point is this: You can run from God your whole life, and He is still going to get what He wants and you are only going to get troubled waters.

The other option is to run towards God. He will then get what he wants and you can avoid an untold number of storms.

I kinda like option 2.

Show me paint the fence

Recently our kids were introduced the "The Karate Kid" movie. It had been such a long time since I had seen it that I was actually looking forward to watching it with them. The end of that movie is great (and not just because Ralph Macchio is done acting). It's the classic underdog story. The wimpy Daniel vs. the more experienced and stronger Johnny. I can remember all of my friends thought they had mastered the crane kick that sent Johnny to the floor and Daniel to the winners circle.

I took something new away from the movie this time around though.

There is a point in time where Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to train him in karate so he can enter a tournament and defeat the bad guys one by one.

Mr. Miyagi agrees.

Daniel begins getting frustrated because instead of learning karate moves designed to make his opponents liver bleed, he seems to be being taken advantage of by Mr. Miyagi, who has a never ending list of chores that need accomplished. Everything from sanding the floor to painting the fence to waxing his cars and painting his house.

Finally, Daniel can't take it anymore and he blows a gasket. Daniel begins yelling at Mr. Miyagi about how he hasn't taught him anything remotely close to karate. He follows Miyagi around the yard continuing his rant until Miyagi decides it is time to end the tirade.

Miyagi says, "Show me sand the floor". Daniel is surprised when the motion turns out to be a defensive block of a kick from Miyagi.

"Show me paint the fence". Again, Daniel whips up the defensive motion from the repetitive movement he learned while painting the fence.

"Show me wax on, wax off".

Then the moment comes when the light switch gets flipped for Daniel........and he gets it.

He understands right there in that moment that everything he has been going through, all of the pain, all of the confusion, was for a purpose.

So when the tournament day came, Daniel had already been through the trial....

And he was prepared to handle it.

You may be going through some garbage right now.

You may be at a breaking point in your life.

You may be struggling for answers.

You may even be questioning God about your circumstance.

You may be asking God, "Why me"?

You may be asking God, "Where are you in all of this"?

You may be asking God, "What is the purpose for this predicament I'm in"?

Consider this......

Maybe, just maybe......He is training you for the tournament.

Maybe, just maybe.....This trial in your life, this stage in your life that doesn't make sense to you right now is just preparation and character building within you, so that when the tournament comes and you wonder how you are going to make it through, God can say.....

"Show me paint the fence."

The number 40 and perfect circles

Last night I read a verse about how Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. It reminded me of all of the other times in scripture where I have seen the number "40" and I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out the significance of "40".

Noah was in the Ark for 40 days and 40 nights

Moses hung out with God in a mountain for 40 days and 40 nights

Elijah was running for his life for 40 days and 40 nights

After Jesus' resurrection he showed himself for…….you guessed it, 40 days

So why 40 days and 40 nights? What does it mean?

You can do an internet search for the reason, and you will find out that there are speculations from every angle. I should know….I spent quite a bit of time doing just that.
Let me share a true story with you and then I will tell you what I think the "40" means.


In the14th century, Pope Benedict XI was looking to commission an artist to create some paintings for Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. He sent a messenger to Florence to see a painter by the name of Giotto. The messenger asked for a painting to present to the Pope. Giotto took a canvas, dipped his brush in red paint, and drew a perfect circle. He grinned and said "Here's your drawing". The messenger took the painting back to the Pope. The messenger told the Pope how Giotto had painted this perfect circle unaided. Giotto got the job.

In Mark 12, there was a teacher of the law that approached Jesus and asked Him what was the most important commandment. Jesus responded by saying, "…..love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength….and over your neighbor as yourself".

The messenger was expecting to find a painter that would present this amazing masterpiece on the canvas. The artist gave him a perfect circle. The simplicity of the painting demonstrated the artist's understanding of the most basic element of art wonderfully well.

The teacher of the law was expecting to get a long, amazingly deep response to his question from Jesus. And Jesus dipped His brush in the red paint and gave the man a perfect circle.
Jesus didn't respond with a long drawn out response.

I bet if I was to be sitting in a room with Jesus and I asked Him what the significance of the 40 days and 40 nights is in scripture, He would respond by asking me if I am loving God with all of my heart and all of my soul and all of my mind and all of my strength.

What do I think the "40 days and 40 nights" signifies? Who cares!

I can't even keep that commandment for 5 minutes, but I want to wander off and explore the secret meaning behind the "40 days and 40 nights". I spent several hours in the last 2 days thinking about the meaning……..and it dwarfed the amount of time I spent loving my Creator.

So the next time I go off on some mysterious trail in search of some secret message in the text, I will remember the perfect circle......and spend the rest of my time practicing the basics……Loving God and loving others.