Peace in the Valley

 Let me tell you a story

 

You see if you live long at all you will experience mountains.

And you will most certainly experience valleys too.

 

Long story short, I and my family are in a deep valley right now. I could write a novel and trust me; it would fill multiple volumes. Truthfully.

 

But this story isn’t a tragedy though. It’s a comeback story. Don’t you love those?! I do to.

 

And that’s at the core of this story. It’s a comeback story.

 

Let’s go back just a little while…

 

A number of years ago my oldest sister faced a terrible battle with cancer. After a long time of struggle, God had tremendous mercy and he healed her! As of today, she is over 18 years in remission.

 

But, then several years ago my dear Mother was diagnosed with a similar metastatic breast cancer. After several years of hard fighting, on Christmas Eve, 2018 my Mom was taken home by our Savior Jesus. She was healed of her pain and suffering but we were left behind to grieve and miss her every day.

 

Also, several years ago (more than 5 now as I write this), my sister Colleen was also diagnosed with a metastatic breast cancer as well. She continues to courageously fight this terrible disease. We pray often for her and long for her healing.

 

And if that wasn’t enough, my youngest sister has also been diagnosed with a terrible cancer that appears like the others. We are shaken I must admit and our courage and hope sometimes lay battered and bruised on the floor.

 

But… I assure you our faith in God and the promises that He has given us through His son Jesus stays strong!

 

But, there is more. As I write this, my father lays in a hospice bed in Arizona fighting the last hours and moments with a cancer that I only know as a Giant Cell Sarcoma. A very rare disease and one that people generally don’t survive.

 

There is always more even than what you are given in any story and even in this one, these are just the highlights (lowlights really). But you get the picture now right?

 

How many body blows before we go down?! How much grief and heartache can the human soul take before we crawl into a hole?

 

Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe I’m jaded. Maybe like the rest of my family, with all of this, we can’t process all of this, and could it be that we are checking out… mentally, spiritually?

 

I am going to say it… I don’t think so. You see, there is a common thread here. And it’s not the cancer or the suffering. We each go through our battles as individuals and each of us is experiencing these things separately. So, we have mercy and empathy because we don’t walk in each other’s shoes.

 

What lies beneath all this suffering and sickness is that each of us has given our hearts to Jesus Christ. We sought Him in prayer, and we invited Him to dwell in our hearts. And He does dwell in our hearts. He is the reason we can get up every morning and still be grateful, still put a brave smile on our faces, still laugh, still participate, and still tell others of the hope He has planted in our souls. He continues to transform us into a reflection of Himself and we are grateful for that.

 

So, what am I saying?

 

I am saying that because of our hope in Jesus, though we are battered and beaten on all sides by pain and trials, our roots and our anchor lies deep in the heart of God and in Him are immovable and unshaken. When we are weak, He is strong as the scriptures tell us.

 

Would I have all of these circumstances be different? Would I wish that none of this should have happened? In my humanity, of course that would be an emphatic YES!

 

But, knowing that God can use our trials, our sufferings, our weakness as a catalyst for the good that He wants to accomplish in the world is a comfort is it not?

 

I mean, think on this for a minute… If Christ had not gone through his great suffering and death on a cross, where would we be now?!

 

I don’t make light of my family’s suffering and trials, I am instead trying to encourage you to see your suffering, your trials, or your persecutions as a way for God to accomplish seeing other’s lives saved as they observe Christ’s great work in us.

 

No, this is not an easy truth to take in. No, it doesn’t relieve the current pain of grief, suffering and death but, if we understand that God’s promises to us are real and dependable, then we know our current suffering is temporary and in the case of my Mom and soon, my father there will be a great rejoicing in heaven as my father enters into God’s glory and heaven!

 

What a sorrow for us that wait, but also a peace that does in fact pass all human understanding because there is so much beyond the transition that is our human death. We have real hope and His name is Jesus!

 

Do you believe? Have you committed your heart to Jesus and invited Him in to dwell with you? You can.

 

If you give your heart to Jesus, I will promise you that you will experience peace that the rest of the World won’t understand but it is there, and it will allow you to withstand the strongest storms this world has to offer, and it will not disappoint!

 

Don’t waste another day living in fear, living in doubt, living in the unknown. Ask Jesus into your heart today!

 

Because of our hope in Christ, we can have peace in the valley!

 

Love, Mike <><

 

-        Seize the Day!!

Look Around You

 

“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” – Eph 5:16, NLT

 

As I was reading my morning devotional today, I was struck by something that was said in it.

 

“People don’t need the light of our devices to shine on them. What they need to see is the light of Jesus shining through us!”

 

I would go farther. People don’t need our non-professional advice, they don’t need our political opinions, they don’t need our contrived empathy and they don’t need our insincere speech about how we’re going to pray for them when we have no real intention to do so.

 

If you are a disciple of Jesus, you probably have had the Holy Spirit quietly prompt you to speak to someone before. You may have acted on it or maybe you didn’t but I’m pretty sure that if you are a follower of Jesus that you have experienced this.

 

We have all been commissioned to spread the Gospel of Christ, but sadly many of us have fallen into a belief over the years that somehow this is the church’s role, or our pastor’s role or the paid Christian professional’s role.

 

Have you ever asked God to provide you with daily opportunities to reach others for Christ or to be an encouragement to someone?

 

I have become more and more aware that we must be intentional if we hope to be of use to the Lord and His work. We cannot drift through life hoping that a happy accident will occur at any given moment.

 

We cannot afford to be Sunday only Christians. The local church cannot survive as an inward focused entity. We must always be looking outside ourselves for ways to serve the Lord by serving others.

 

And this doesn’t have to be during any specific time of our days. We can be this way at play, at rest or at work.

 

Again, this doesn’t just happen by accident, it happens by intention. And that intention must be transferred and transformed into action. Look carefully in scripture to see what Jesus did as he went about his days. He encountered people sometimes during the most mundane of moments (like the woman at the well) and he turned them into eternity changing moments by pushing into those moments and getting involved.

 

Now you may say to me, “Mike, that would be an interruption to my day. It would take me away from whatever else I was focused upon.”

 

I must ask you. I must ask myself. What deeper and more meaningful purpose do we have as followers of Christ than to spread the good news?

 

Our lives on this big blue ball we call Earth are so very short and this thing called life is obviously terminal so why do we play with this thing called Salvation?!

 

It’s high time that we, the Church, stop playing nice when it comes to the consequences of sin. I have said it many times lately… It’s time we crash the gates of Hell and take by some prisoners for Christ!

 

My encouragement for you and I today is this. Go out into your day with intentionality. Ask God to bring people across your path that need to hear from Him through your obedience to the calling we all have which is to share the Good News! I believe God will faithfully do exactly that and send people your way.

 

Seize the day!

 

-        Mike <><

 

 

When the Words Come Hard

 

Dear God

You know right now

Well, the words come hard

And I guess that it’s ok

 

Because you never said it

You never said we wouldn’t suffer

In fact, you said the opposite

You said that we would share

 

We’d share in your suffering

For the sake of the cross

For the sake of your love

For the sake of the lost

 

But we are so fragile

And our hearts are so weak

We want these cups to pass

But it’s your will we seek

 

So, I ask that you’ll forgive me

When I sometimes lie here in my tears

When I am drowning in my sorrows

When I’m running from my fears

 

I thank you for all you’ve blessed me with

And I know down deep you’re in control

But it’s so easy to get distracted

And so easy to try and usurp your roll

 

So easy to become a prodigal

So easy to become a rebel soul

But I’m making my way back to you

To the only one who can make us whole

 

Dear Lord thank you for your Spirit

The one who voices our groanings

The one who interprets our tears

Who lovingly intercedes when we fall mute

 

Because of you I wake each day

And even when I have no words

Because of you I can still speak

So, thank you God for our Helper

 

Now when the words won’t come

I’ll rest silent and with confidence

Because even though I am weak

In your strength I am still heard

Vent #...

 

Ok yeah, you spotted my title.

 

Don’t let it scare you off.

 

I promise. It won’t be what you’re afraid of.

 

So much has been on my mind lately. Some of you know what a few of these burdens are. And I am not alone. Many of you who are reading this even now have burdens so much heavier than my own. Understand that if I’m aware of your burdens, you are loved and my heart as well as my prayers are with you too.

 

This past year or so has been a valley that even though some of us possibly saw coming, we weren’t prepared for the challenges it has brought us. Not even close.

 

And just because some of us saw it coming hasn’t made the reality of it any easier.

 

Know too, nothing that has happened, is happening or will happen is a mystery to our God.

 

He may be grieved by it or He may hurt with us and it’s impact on us but, it’s no surprise to Him.

 

Now, on to my point in this writing.

 

Suffering…

 

Why would a loving God allow it? How could He allow it?

 

Oh, my dear friends. Now, that is a question. And, as easy as it is to ask the question…

 

There aren’t any easy answers to it.

 

Additionally, just as each of us is a unique creation of our Father, the answers for each of us are as different and numerous as the stars in the heavens.

 

To even begin to answer this question, we must look back to the beginning when God created Adam and Eve. Suffering and pain. Sin and evil. These hadn’t entered the picture until that fateful day when Eve gave a listening ear to our great enemy, Satan.

 

And before any of you men start wagging your fingers about how Eve was somehow responsible, remember that Adam sat silent and said nothing. He just partook of the fruit because Eve handed it to him.

 

Oh, and the fate of that day. One sin began it all. Death and evil entered this world and like a flood it has filled the existence of all who came after our ancestors.

 

Suffering entered our world, and it has never been again what it once was. What it was meant to be.

 

But. Thank God that was not the end. God did not then choose to wipe us out entirely and forget us for eternity.

 

Instead, He began writing a love letter to all of us. And He came up with a plan that would not only save those who would accept it, but it would also defeat the very evil that had entered the world so long ago once and for all. A plan that would turn suffering into the fertile ground in which He could plant seeds for our redemption.

 

God has released the floodgates of His love and provision through the death of His Son Jesus.

 

Scripture says that we are more than conquerors. We can crash the very gates of Hell to take back those who have been imprisoned by the lies of our ancient enemy.

 

God also said that He will take us just as we are and where we are at. We don’t have to clean up first.

 

But, be assured He won’t leave us where we are. His great love and His presence in our lives will inevitably transform us into the image of Christ. As our selfish selves are crucified daily, we become a reflection of Christ and His light can lead others to the foot of His cross which continues to do it’s work across the ages.

 

I’ve been confronted with this truth more and more recently:

 

               Why do we sometimes witness those we consider to be doing God’s will and who seem to be pillars of faith and light, suffer?

 

Yes, why?

 

Even I am not immune to this question. To this seeming paradox.

 

It is a hard truth. And it comes with some answers that in the here and now… well, they hurt.

 

I’m beating a dead horse here and I won’t apologize. – we were given a great and terrible gift, we humans.

 

We were given the most monumental pandora’s box…. Free will.

 

We can choose to accept or reject the love of God.

 

And just because you accept God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ does not exempt any of us from suffering in a fallen and sin filled world.

 

This is not the world that we are destined to live in. This world, like our lives is terminal. It’s ending is on the horizon and God has said as much in scripture. No amount of conservation or any other plan of humankind will ever save it. Its destruction is a fact of the future.

 

Of course, none of this brings any comfort, does it?!

 

Yeah, I understand that.

 

It doesn’t fix the pain and suffering of those who battle diseases, hunger, brutal abuse or neglect.

 

No, it doesn’t.

 

But a loving God has said to us that for those who love Him and are His disciples, we have been told that all things work together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.

 

Jesus suffered and died a death that none of us has experienced or could fathom to pay the debt to a Holy and sinless God so that we are freed from paying that debt in eternity.

 

I think many of us have not pondered this enough, if ever.

 

But Mike, you say. You haven’t really answered the question about why those who we view as saints or really wonderful people, are allowed to suffer.

 

No, you’re right.

 

Are you ready for it though? Are you sitting down?

 

I don’t have an obvious or clear answer or an easy answer. I have my own questions regarding some people that I know and have known and the suffering that they are or have endured. And I wish I completely understood the why’s and for what reasons. The point is that I don’t.

 

But before you walk away disgusted with me or scratch your head and wonder if I haven’t lost it somehow…

 

Maybe, sometimes, some of us are allowed to suffer because God sees that with His help, we are strong enough to walk these valleys. Maybe He can use how we conduct ourselves through them to lead others to the foot of His cross. Maybe these times are for our faith to be made so much bigger than a mustard seed. Maybe they allow our failing spark to become the flame that sets other hearts ablaze for Jesus.

 

Too often we spin our wheels blaming God for what we perceive that we think He should be doing rather than asking Him to reveal to us what He would teach us or how He would carry us to the other side of the battlefield.

 

The scriptures are clear that for those who would take up their crosses and follow Jesus, that we will share in His sufferings. Look carefully as scripture and as how many of Jesus’ disciples actually lived into old age.

 

My friends. It has been said that wide and easy is the way that leads to destruction. But narrow is the way that leads to an eternity with God in the place Jesus left to make for us.

 

Life is a journey, and I can tell you that at 57 years young I don’t have that many answers that would satisfy those who question the will of God. But I know this… to whom will you go if Jesus isn’t the answer? To the government? To a philosophy or an idea? To your pastor? To your friends or your loved ones? I can promise you this; all of them but Jesus will leave you unsatisfied and without any answers. You will be left at the end of your days with nothing but regret and fear because anyone that tells you that there is nothing after your life is a liar and all lies find their root in the father of lies, Satan.

 

A relationship with Christ is the answer. For He said it Himself… that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He said that nobody can come to the Father (God) but through Christ.

 

God’s Kingdom purposes are way bigger than anything that we can dream up, create, or write down. And though we may not understand the suffering in the here and now, we must remember that God said in His great love letter to us that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

 

Let your anchor be set deep in the Rock that is Jesus. Let your questions become that which drives you to your knees at the foot of His cross daily. For by no other name but the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is salvation found.

 

Let your suffering and that of those around you be the thing that drives you to love more and more. To unselfishly give back the gift that has been given to us. Now that is true worship, isn’t it?

 

Be the light in this dark world and never relinquish the hope we have in Christ!!

 

Seize the day and crash the gates of hell to see those imprisoned there while they still live here!

 

In Christ,

 

Mike <><

Won't Apologize

 

Yeah, I was born white

Lived my life as is

Won’t apologize

It’s who I am alright

 

You were born black

Or yellow, red or brown

Some have plenty

For some, there’s lack

 

What do you want

Me, to rewind time

Me, to give it all back

Don’t repeat Satan’s taunt

 

…That we’re not enough…

 

Sucking down worldly lies

God speaks to the deaf

Spirit whispers to the dumb

Something within dies

 

Division, the enemy’s word

Unity what Christ prayed for

And we the catalysts

Spirit on our hearts poured

 

Unity comes at a price

Prayer with our action

Talk being cheap

Are we warriors or mice

 

Forgiveness a costly gift

Christ our best example

Can we demand less

So our crosses we lift

 

What do you want from me

I am what God made

You, a precious creation too

Open your heart and see

 

I am no more and no less

We should be brothers

We should be sisters

This issue we must address

 

No walking away this time

Our Jesus prayed for this

The time is now my friend

Wouldn’t peace be sublime

 

A world where love reigns

Mercy our first thought

Kindness guiding our hands

As we walk life’s hardest lanes

 

Let’s love like our Lord

Let’s let go the past

Let’s cheer for each other

And put down this sword

 

Time is short can you feel it

Let’s be found being faithful

Turn our back on the world

Hearts ready when trumpets hit

 

For our Lord is coming soon

Creation’s call getting louder

Rocks and stones crying

Can you hear heaven’s tune

 

So I won’t apologize

And really neither should you

We exist as God made us

And for Him I will proselytize

 

Let us reason together

Finding common ground

Linking arms and moving forward

Then life’s storms we can weather