21 Connect: Day 21 – Final Thoughts

Thanks to all who have joined me on this journey to become more connected to God and one another. This is a hard season for our country, the church, and for many who are reading this today. God does not promise that everything will be perfect. Far from it. You and I are pretty much guaranteed to have some degree of suffering; none of us gets out of this life unscathed. Here is what God does promise. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5) The idea of suffering for Christ does not get people to buy prayer cloths, miracle water, and books. However, God’s promise to shower me with comfort should give me confidence that
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Connect 21: Day 20 – The Best Present You Can Give.

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. After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’swhat I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take careof yourself, have a good time, and make the most ofwhatever job you have for as long as God gives youlife. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, weshould
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21 Connect: Day 19 – It is Still a Wonderful World

There is a country song by George Strait that laments about how long it took him to figure out things in his life. The lyrics humorously admit that he was wrong about a lot of things and slow to the dance on many others. One of my favorite lyrics in that song is when he hears “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and it brings a tear to his eye. “After all these years,” Strait sings, he finally gets that song. Me too. That song by Louis Armstrong sees the beauty in this sometimes-ugly world. Flowers, the blue sky, rainbows, smiles, love, and babies crying. And like a modern psalmist, Armstrong sits back and with a smile in his distinctive voice proclaims to himself and others that it is a wonderful world. Martin Luther said that “God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.” I believe that more than
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21 Connect: Day 18 – The Value of Silence

It comes as no surprise that the Bible regularly addresses our need for silence and solitude. Let all that I am wait quietly before God,for my hope is in him.He alone is my rock and my salvation,my fortress where I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6 Perhaps the most consistent role model for the need for solitude and silence was Jesus. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesusgot up, left the house and went off to a solitary place,where he prayed. Mark 1:3-5, NIV Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16, NIV Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent thenight praying to God. When morning came, he calledhis disciples to him and chose twelve of them. Luke 6:12-13, NIV Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and makehim king by force, withdrew again to a mountainby himself. John 6:15, NIV Jesus understood the need to recenter and reconnect with the
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Connect 21: Day 17 – Words Matter…A Lot

I am saddened, sickened, disturbed, and frightened at how the word hate is being hurled around in our national discourse. Red-faced politicians spew vitriol at those they disagree with. It can be an honest and complicated issue, but they reduce the debate to hating their opponents. Author James Baldwin made this insightful observation: “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” Isn’t that the truth? It is so much easier to demonize than to understand. It is up to me and to you to change the discourse. The politician’s favorite tactic of justifying bad behavior with other bad behavior does not work with a holy God. Frankly, I am grateful He loves me too much to give me a pass on my blindness. Pastor Mark Mitchell is one of many people who has reflected on Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s assessment
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21 Connect: Day 16 – Get Over Yourself

Valuing everyone is how Jesus lived. He modeled that with women, children, people with physical and mental challenges, lepers, social outcasts, and sinners. He served the weak and loved the unloved. He created the template for how the New Testament church should look if it functions biblically. How did the early church explode and multiply against all odds? By serving selflessly, recklessly, and fearlessly. There was nothing comfortable about spreading the news about Jesus in the days, months, and years after His resurrection. The apostles understood after the Cross what Jesus had been trying to tell them earlier. That the world measures greatness on an entirely different scale from the one that God uses. Remember that debate among the apostles? They had the criteria for greatness completely wrong. They began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they
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21 Connect: Day 15 – Let God Love You

I am learning to look into the mirror and see someone that I accept by faith and not by my feelings. I see a saint. That’s right. Many (maybe most) of Satan’s accusations about me are true. But what I now see is a man who is a saint. I found forty references to saints in Paul’s writings in the English Standard Version. From his additional descriptions, I am pretty sure that the recipients of his letters were not always behaving like saints. They were saints because of Christ, and not by meticulously following the law. God sees those who trust Jesus as righteous, no matter how many accusations are thrown at them. Amazing. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Evenbefore he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and
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