God never sleeps

These last few days have been pretty crazy and emotionally draining around the Johnson household. And, in ways that only children can truly master, our kids seem to know just when their mom and dad need a little "quiet" time to actually try to have "adult" conversation. I am pretty sure that is when God speaks to their little hearts and says, "Now is when I need you to test your parents' patience... I am trying to build into them." So, in what I am sure is complete obedience they will begin screaming, fighting, falling into things and hurting themselves, or some mixture of it all.

During these times it is very hard for me to see anything but the here and now. Some days it is as if God opens up the future, or allows me to soar above the daily grind and see my life from His perspective. Other days it seems I can hardly make sense of my minute-by-minute tasks. I take comfort knowing that God never sleeps, God never changes, God never loses sight of the big picture, and God never loses His direction. I can rest at night knowing that He will never rest until He has done in me all that He has planned.

Successful... or Satisfied?

I do a little "consulting" on the side. Sure most of it happens in my own mind as I wonder what I would say if people actually asked me to give them some advice. But, however I get there, I find myself talking with people about their life, their business, their church... whatever. One of the questions that people seem to be asking in the back of their mind is, "Am I successful"? I suppose it is the culture we live in that promotes this feeling that we must be successful to have value.

I think they are asking the wrong question. "Success" is a hard thing to measure, especially if you did not actually set any objectives for yourself when you started your endeavor. The better question is "Are you satisfied?"

Most of the time when we talk about success we are trying to figure out how other people think we are doing. When we talk about satisfaction we begin to think about how we think we are doing. Success has to do with meeting expectations of our culture, satisfaction has to do with meeting expectations of... well that is the next issue isn't it? When we start to think, "What would satisfy me?" then we have started down the proper road. That is when we start to think about things like vision, and purpose, and life-goals. When I sit back and say, "I am satisfied with my life", what I am really saying is, "I am fulfilling the vision and purpose that my life was created for."

I think God wants us to be fulfilled and satisfied in our daily lives. He wants us to forget about success as it is defined by others and focus on vision as it is defined by Him. And, before you start to worry that living a satisfied life = living a lazy life... I have a feeling that God's vision for your life will keep you plenty busy for years to come. Being fulfilled and satisfied does not mean you have to be lazy and bored :).

Lessons from the 'Y"

It has been a few weeks since we made the 8 minute trip to visit our local YMCA. I cannot say that it is because of the great distance. They have a great childcare program too, so I cannot blame that. Our kids are not in school, so it is not really that the summer has been all that different. But, for whatever reason we have not been to the gym in... let's just call it a few weeks.

That all changed this morning. During my workout I stopped to talk to one of the trainers, and we started talking about the whole situation. I mentioned that one of the things that helped me come back was seeing the money leave our bank account every month for the membership. He said, "Yea, when you see that bank account it really makes you think, 'Maybe I ought to visit that place I am giving my money.'" Immediately a verse came to my mind where Jesus says, "Where your treasure is there your heart will be also."

God speaks truth. Not just "spiritual truth" that only applies in my spiritual life; just truth. The fact is that because I have committed to pay the YMCA money every month I have a place in my heart for the YMCA. My treasure went first, the passion and commitment came after. The world has no problem asking for financial commitments up front, and we have no problem giving them. It is the way we get cable TV, the way we get the Internet, the way we get our homes. We put our money into things, and sure enough our heart moves to those things.

I started wondering what might happen if people made the commitment to give to God... like an auto-draft out of my account every two weeks. Whether I go to church or not that money comes out. Actually, I know what would happen. Jesus told us what would happen. If we commit our treasure to Him, then we are one step closer to committing our hearts to him also.

Majestic Whispers and Humble Hearts

Every so often it happens. A passage you have read or song lyrics you have sung a hundred times speak to you in a new way. This morning we sang "Wonderful Maker" and I was struck by the phrase, "How majestic your whispers, how humble your love." When I took time to let those word pictures play out in my mind I was amazed at the power in those statements. I imagined watching God breathe the universe into being with a simple whisper of his breath. That same all-powerful God then chose to humble himself to death, even death on a cross in order to demonstrate His love for His creation.

That began our service, and it continued as we read through Ephesians 2:1-10, which also describes that awesome process of how God took us out of our own sin, despair, and death, and brought us to be seated next to His own Son in Heaven. And, He even declares in verse 10 that this was the place we were intended to have the entire time. Even though we despised our God-given nature and chose to take on the nature of this fallen world, He loved us enough to re-make us into our Original form so that we could enjoy life with Him as He had planned from the very beginning.

What a Wonderful God indeed!

Sun Stand Still

I just want to encourage anyone who sees this to join in prayer for Wade Joye and his wife Ferris. I know that children teach me something about the heart of God for hurting people, and when I see hurting children it is probably the closest to understanding God's longing for his people that I come.

Obviously Wade and Ferris are not the only people hurting, and perhaps their trial is not even the most severe you know of right now. In whichever case you find yourself remember that our God is the God who makes the sun stand still, who parts the sea, and who is able to take an entire world of sin onto himself in order to heal his people.

A Great Privilege

Perhaps it is just the way I was raised, or maybe it is something in my genes, but I have always counted it a great privilege to be born in the United States of America. We are so affluent and freedom is so ingrained into our experience that I believe we often take it for granted. I have not travelled too far out of the US, but it does not take much to realize that our reality is just not the reality of the rest of the world. I do not feel guilty to live in this country, but I do feel blessed.

I always take time to remember exactly what it cost (and still costs each day) to receive the freedom I hold dear; and I hope you will do the same this July 4th. I also hope that we as a country, and specifically we Christians in the USA, will prove faithful with all that we have been given.

God Bless America by making Himself known here once more, and God use America to bless this world once again.

God's Work on My Heart

I was listening to a message last night from Ed Young about "waking up". He mentioned that we never really know that we were asleep until we wake up. That is a pretty simple observation, and it is quite true. I have said several times these last few months that I felt like God was waking me up from some type of sleep last Fall. I did not really know I was asleep... until He woke me up. It truly is an odd experience to move from day to day and have such a big change of view. The things that seem normal when I am asleep seem completely absurd when I am awake. The things that occupy my time and thoughts when I am asleep seem more trivial and self-centered when I am awake. When I am asleep I rarely think of things like "calling" and "mission". When I am awake my calling drives me and it seems like I hardly have enough time in the day to accomplish my mission.

This is the work God is doing in my heart... to awaken me to the great LIFE He has planned for me. I realize that I am some small piece in His grand design, and yet when I strive to play my part to the fullest I am completely fulfilled.