A Life Monitor

When my wife was in labor with our first born, I had very little to do. My job was to be the support while my wife went through the most horrific pain she had ever experienced. Not really a fair trade, but it wasn't like I could have the baby, despite the wishes of 5 out of 5 American women.

One of the ways I tried to help was to read the monitor on the side of her bed that tracked her contractions. I would watch until it peaked, telling her to hold on and hang in there, then when the intensity of the contraction began to fade, I told her the worst was over for now.

I thought about this last week while I was huffing and puffing on the stair-stepper watching the seconds click down until I could advance to a less strenuous level. Twenty seconds seems like an hour when you feel like you could faint.

Don't you wish life had a monitor like that at the side of your bed or beside your computer at work? Like you could look at a scale and see that it’s not going to get any worse than it is right now and that tomorrow you’ll be feeling much better.

I reflected on Psalm 23 in light of this. It starts out beautiful...green pastures, still waters, restored soul. So peaceful. Then it moves into the valley of the shadow of death. YIKES. Sounds tough. But it quickly rebounds to being guided and comforted by His rod and staff, preparing a banquet, being anointed with oil, and having goodness and joy following you all the days of your life. What a way to end a story.

Life isn’t so much about mountains and valleys, as it is about a roller coaster ride where you’re holding on for dear life. At times it’s thrilling, other times it’s downright frightening. So how do we endure to the end of the story?

Paul's thought was, keep fixed on Jesus, His life, His testimony. “I have learned to be content in all things,” Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” What if our lens to life was Christ? What if we remembered that often times, some of the best gifts come after the most difficult of circumstances (i.e. labor brings baby/life, working out brings health benefits)? What if we accepted the truth of the Bible over how we’re feeling right now? What if we could always remember that no matter how bad our circumstances get, that our days here on earth are but a blink of an eye and what happens next is our forever (teach us to number our days, O Lord, that we may gain a heart of wisdom…Psalm 90: 12)?

I don’t know where you’re at today on Life’s Monitor. I don’t know if you’re at the top of the pain peak and life seems to be too much to handle, or if you’re so relaxed and calm that you’re not even registering on the scale. Either way, we are all in need of the prayer and support and encouragement of this community, and we are all in need Jesus. Students need God. Faculty & Staff need God. Administrators need God. And by praying for each other, lending an ear, encouraging one another, we bring Jesus to life to a world in need. We are His hands, His feet.

I pray that you would endure and I hope that all of us would pray regularly for this campus that we would all persevere and endure, drawing ever so much closer to our Savior until He comes to take us home. May God bless you and keep you this week!

The Ride of Patience

My son is an early-bird. It doesn’t matter what time he goes to bed, he is almost always up no later than 6:30am. And here’s the even more amazing thing; he’s happy. He sings, he plays games, he reads. Because of this, he goes over with me to the gym in the mornings to get in some exercise before the day starts. When the weather is nice, we ride our bikes.

This morning, Ayden wanted to lead us home. I told him that was fine as long as we were always heading in the direction of home (he likes to take lots of circuitous routes). Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for an adventure, but this morning I had (and have) lots to do at work and needed to get ready. He agreed, but with the typical “7 year-old short term memory syndrome” it wasn’t long before we were twisting and turning in all sorts of directions except for the one that leads us home. I immediately became frustrated and said in a tone reflecting my emotions, “Ayden, daddy has to get home.“ I saw his head drop in disappointment as he began to turn us in the “right” direction.

No sooner did those words come out of my mouth that I wished I could have taken them back. I stopped Ayden and repented. In my mind, God impressed these words, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” Exodus 34: 6. I knew in that moment that I needed to have patience. I knew that I needed to learn a lesson from my Father, who goes with me on all sorts of circuitous routes and is ever so patient with me; and tender, and gracious, and abounding in love and faithfulness. For you see, Ayden will see the Heavenly Father first through me. That is an incredible an humbling responsibility that can only happen by the grace of God. I needed His grace that morning, and I needed to change my attitude.

After that, it took us a little while to get home. We rounded a few extra bends in the road, stopped to take pictures of horses, and clocked how fast Ayden could go down the hill by Davis. And you know what, it was all good. My guess is, at the end of this day I am sure I will be far more pleased that I had an adventure with my son than I would be if I accomplished everything on my to do list.

So it is my prayer for you that today, you can have an adventure of some kind. Take a walk during your lunch break. Call your grandchildren on the phone. Skype your BFF who’s at work on the other side of the globe. Do something just because and see what you can learn about your Heavenly Father today. Remember, He came to give us LIFE and LIFE ABUNDANT. If you’re not experiencing that abundance, it’s not because of Him.

Love, Pure & Simple

I have to admit that I’ve been selfish lately. Several weeks ago I had a special moment with God that I thought about sharing, but I’ve been keeping it to myself as if sharing it would take something away from that moment. But then I realized, through several moments over the weekend, that someone else in our campus family needs to hear this message.

It was a month ago and I had escaped the valley for two days for a Spiritual retreat. I needed to take the time months ago, but I had been ignoring that inner voice calling me to come and rest awhile. So I finally did it, and I’ve vowed to make it a regular thing.

Though much happened during this time, one of my most special moments involved climbing up to the top of a nearby mountain (it was really a hill but that sounds less exciting) and asking God what message He had for me. And here it is, clear as can be, “This is my Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3: 17

Now, I hadn’t read that verse in a long time, but it was right there, plain as day, in my mind, and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.

One week later, having returned to the Valley, I was pouring my heart out to a mentor as I was struggling to remain grounded in my experience of the week before. As we prayed together, I was blown away by the first words that came out of his mouth. He said, “Father, remind Paddy that he is your son, whom you love, with Him you are well pleased.” Now, I hadn’t told my mentor anything about my mountain-top experience, and yet he quoted those exact words and I knew it was God telling me that whether you’re on the mountain-top or in the valley, I am in love with you. What a powerful message and one I needed to hear. What about you? Do you need to hear those same words from your heavenly Father? “This is my daughter, my son, whom I love. With him/her I am well pleased.”

I am always amazed that when I challenge students to sit and listen for God’s voice, those that hear it often hear the same types of things. Even if I asked them to pray for a vision for their ministry this year, or pray for direction in a situation, or pray for healing, they almost always come back with, “God spoke, and you know what He told me.” And I sit on the edge of my seat and say, “What?” With a smile as big as Texas they say, “He told me He loves me.”

I'm ALIVE!!!

Okay, so I took a hiatus from blogging and when I did start, I only had three entries. Don't judge me. I can see your eyes rolling from the other side of the computer screen and I just don't like your tone very much :-).

But seriously, I am committing to adding to this blog weekly and directing people from my weekly emails so that I can tell, in the words of Paul Harvey, "The Rest of the Story."

Incidentally, tomorrow I hope to be writing about a special moment in my life this summer where God spoke, loud and clear. I've been keeping it to myself out of fear that if I share it it won't be my special moment with God. However, I think the message is relevant to us all and I am finding out that the one thing God is most clear on when we need to hear from Him is this, "HE LOVES US, HE'S WITH US, HE WANTS TO HOLD US AND HE HAS BEEN LONGING FOR US MUCH LONGER THAN WE HAVE BEEN LONGING FOR HIM." He's such a good and a gracious God and I am finally beginning to learn what it is to come to Him out of pure joy in worship instead of obligation.

Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Blessings, Courage, JOY!!!