Dave Gibbons posted the following quote online recently….

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up. -Anne Lamott

I would add that the hope which “begins” in the dark has to have another starting place. There has to have been a time, a moment, a point in which the person in the dark can go back to a memory – or a collection of memories – on which hope can stand.

It’s that ethereal experience where the unseen and seen meet.

It’s the paradoxical moment when God’s voice is loudly heard by only your ears.

It’s the same kind of moment that Elijah had while tucked away in the cleft of the rock and the chaos of the external world gave way to the overpowering strength of the voice of God.

I have found my middle of the night concerns that can easily fill my heart and mind with paralyzing fears seem to melt with the display of God’s power we call “sunrise”.

What troubles you today? What has you close to giving up or giving in?

Push on God. Search out that starting place. Bug Him to meet you in a way that binds your heart to the power of His name. Become persistent like the friend in Luke 11 who finally gets his way.

 ⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. ⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Read Cho’s post here.

Any thoughts?

He must increase, but I must decrease.

Sometimes we take this to mean that our personalities are of no use to God. I would encourage you to think differently about this passage.

John was a bit of an unusual guy – hanging out in the desert, wearing camel hair and eating off the land. My guess is that none of that changed as Jesus “increased” in his life.

So what did change? How can we measure our lives by his bold declaration?

John had a specific job he was to do for Jesus – announce his arrival! All of John’s life was to point people to Jesus as the awaited Messiah. He was not perfect. He was not the Messiah. He was the one to publicly announce Jesus’ arrival and ministry.

Jesus left me with a job as well – “make disciples”.

My personality, my hobbies, my likes and dislikes all need to fall under the rule of the Messiah! In doing so, I will decrease in how I see and promote myself while discovering something better than personal “likes and dislikes” on which to build my life.

How can Jesus increase in my life today? Am I willing to allow Him to use me to direct others to Him? Or am I too wrapped up in my own “likes and dislikes” to even consider what Jesus thinks about my life?

Everyone has a way they “measure” their life. How will you measure yours?

1. We should commit to let each religion talk for itself. The old adage “never assume anything” comes into mind here – it tends to make an….(you get the idea). Go to the original source for your information – avoid the media like the plague!

2. We should talk “with” individuals and not “about” faiths. Stay away from generalizing – “all _______ believe.” We teach couples to stay away from extreme statements in their marriages – “you always___” but we continue to allow these extreme statements to become inflammatory comments in public discourse.

3. Understanding someone’s values and beliefs does not mean you accept them! We have got to stop comparing someone’s worst with our best – this is often not even close to true.

4. Grant each person the freedom to make their faith decision on their own.

Can you agree with these?

This past weekend, the people at Journey wrestled openly with turning our attention off of ourselves and pursuing the act of thinking about others first. This kind of thinking forces us to measure life differently.

Journey, here are your scores from this past weekend…

• 59 man hours were spent in your community this weekend

• 25 patients visited and treated to Halloween goodies

• 13 boxes decorated to deliver meals to families in our area

• 487 pounds of food collected and over $500 with matching gift cards from Market Street!

Way to go Journey! May God continue to open our eyes to the opportunities to love and live the Gospel in bold and very public ways!

The other end of the spectrum causes me to think of the “hushed” conversations that we sometimes have about “older” people. You know what I am talking about, the “under your breath” conversation that Uncle Tony has been that way his whole life and he is far too old to expect him to change at this point.

WHY?

Why do we think Christianity is about simply controlling my behavior – modifying my actions. It seems to me that if this were true then we would easily become “better” Christians by simply learning which behaviors to change – then execute those changes. But our cultural love of therapeutic seminars proves that this is obviously harder than simply changing a behavior.

Why do we then seem to give up later in life and expect that at a certain point we are excused from any kind of significant life change? Did we just get too tired of our behavioral modification methods and decide to live out the rest of our day saying, “I made it this far, I can do what I want!”

In I Samuel 10:9, we read:

“When he (Saul) turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart.”

We miss one of the greatest truths in the Scriptures when we fail to understand that only God can change or give us a new heart. BUT there is another piece to this truth found in the verses leading up to this transformation of heart for Saul.

Prior to his heart being changed, Samuel pulled Saul aside at the end of chapter 9 and began to “make known” the Word of God to Saul. In doing so, Samuel began to unfold for Saul the person and character of God through the Scriptures. The path to a transformed heart is by the hand of God. But if you have no idea of who God is, His mighty power, His omniscient presence, His perfect ways, then how can your heart ever be changed?

God gave Saul a new heart – he became a new person – and Saul was able to move forward with God because of his new understanding of the greatness of God.

Are you simply trying to control your actions today?

Are trying not to do bad things?

Or are you getting  to know the God of the Bible in such a way that your new heart has the support and environment to grow in its ability to obey God?

NOW, before you assume this is going to be a political post, please continue to read.

In Psalm 39:7, the psalmist writes,

⁷“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.” (ESV)

The bumper sticker struck a chord in me. I put too much emphasis on certain people. I put too much power into the hands of people who can only control my immediate surroundings. I put too much pressure on individuals for the things that occur in my life everyday – both good and bad. I put too much “hope” in people and things that were never designed to carry such a load!

Hope is the ability to have expectations with confidence. It is the assurance or trust that your expectations will happen.

Where does God fit into my thoughts? How does God fit into my “hopes”?

“HOPE” under the picture of our current president? That is too much pressure! That is misplaced “hope”.

“HOPE” associated with anything or anyone else other than God is misplaced “hope”.

The world is a mess, not because any one political power has control at the moment. The world is a mess because we fail to understand the confession of the psalmist…

What can I wait for that would offer greater “hope” than the Creator of the universe? There is only ONE in whom we can find true “hope”.

The rest is too much pressure!

I have two confessions to make. First, I have never read a John Maxwell book! (So glad to get that out in the open – ha!) So when I had the chance to review his newest book, Everyone Communicates Few Connect, I jumped at the opportunity.

My second confession is that I am often very skeptical when it comes to “self improvement” styled books. They are usually long on lists and acronyms and short on reality!

In Everyone Communicates Few Connect, John Maxwell takes up the issue of learning to really connect with people so that they will hear what you have to say. His approach is simple – focus on what I personally can do to bridge the gaps that may exist between myself and the person with which I am attempting to communicate.

Two things jump out at me in how Maxwell is attempting to help educate his reader in the skill of connecting with others. One is found in Maxwell’s ability to draw on years of experience. He delivers some great, yet simple, illustrations that prove he really has been a student of this art for most of his life.

The second thing that I really thought was helpful was how he would accentuate his principles with practices – giving the reader assignments to sharpen their skills along the way.

No one is going to become a great communicator overnight. But with practice and the implementation of some of John’s principles, everyone should be able to find some common ground with the people they are attempting to communicate.

Check it out for yourself – Everyone Communicates Few Connect

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

In John 7:5, we learn that Jesus faced the same opposition from his own family members.

For not even his brothers believed in him.

Be encouraged! Jesus understands feeling lonely. Now, you are not alone.

Here are my initial thoughts after reading through several books in this new translation:

First, I was excited to recognize several names of scholars working on this project. The reader can rest assured great care has been taken to create a readable and reliable translation.

Second, from the moment I turned to the book of John, the passion of the text amazed me. Background information is set apart in boxes, separating it from the text, and written in a way to draw the reader further into the story. The familiar story is in tact but the structure of the phrases are rich and engaging. I experienced the story as if I were hearing it for the first time. My mind knew the story but my heart was stirred with a fresh excitement!

I love this translation and have already incorporated it into a few sermons. Great effort has yielded great results in the release of the New Testament. I cannot wait until the whole Bible is available in The VOICE. Who knows, we may all be shocked at by what we have been missing in Leviticus all these years!

Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of The VOICE.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own