Who is Lottie Moon? Good question…some reading this may not know who she was and why we are always raising money for her during Christmas.

Is Lottie Moon a creditor, like Sallie Mae or Freddie Mac? Absolutely not!

Lottie Moon was an early missionary to China in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. She spent 40 years in her beloved country with a burden to get the gospel out. She was a deeply burdened, hard-working, Southern Baptist who faithfully labored so her people could know the Jesus who changed her life.

So why is the annual Christmas offering named in her honor?

While she was in China she constantly wrote letters home encouraging a greater awareness of missions, a greater personal involvement in missions, and a greater sacrificial support for missions. These letters caused the Southern Baptist in 1888 to take up a Christmas offering for international missions. That offering was enough to send three missionaries to China.

That was 125 years ago and her letters still speak to us today. As off today the offering named in honor of Lottie Moon has generated more than 3.5 billion dollars.

Where does the money go?

Every penny goes to support 4,800 missionaries. If we reach our corporate goal this year of $175 million then we would be able to send 576 new missionaries to the field. Calvary’s goal is $2,000 and it thrills me to think that the money we give is going to take care of ordinary people sharing God’s extraordinary grace.

Lottie Moon, missionary to China, died on December 24, 1912. She lived an ordinary life of extraordinary grace, sacrificing everything to get the gospel story of redemption out to the lost people of China. But that is not the end of Lottie Moon’s story. Her story is God’s story of redemption that lives on through the ages, and we can be a part of that story as we give sacrificially to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

Grace & Peace,

As I was reflecting on Doris Sawyer’s life this weekend preparing for her funeral one word stuck in my heart and mind: peace. She was a woman who died in peace because she died in Christ. But her peace went beyond that – she lived in peace. Now that’s something I really want to know more about because it is something that people battle with day in a day out. I want us to know how to live in peace not just die in peace.

The first step is to accept the peace of God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our rebellion. He paid for our peace. Paul wrote,

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…” (Ephesians 2:13-14a).

Genuine, lasting peace comes only through a righted relationship with our Creator. Believing in Jesus for eternal peace is accepting His terms to bring us to that peace. Peace cannot be had apart from a relationship with Him.

Second, this peace sustains us through everyday turmoil. When things are upside down or life has thrown you a curve ball or you are frustrated with the social-political landscape this peace will get you through. Jesus told His disciples,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

He said this in the context of the worst news possible – His impending death. Their leader, the one they would follow to the ends of the earth, that person who had been faithful to get them through each day was going to leave them. They felt abandoned and obviously their hearts were troubled (can you say, “Anxiety attack!”). Sound familiar? Yes it does. And when these anxious moments come we need to listen and practice the words of Jesus: trust me, I’ll get you through. Don’t trust in what the world is offering; that is only a temporary fix to the situation. Jesus’ peace offers permanence.

Does this even make sense? Yes it does. I’m not trying to offer some mantra we recite or give you a spiritual wheel to spin. This is not a ritual it is a reality.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7)

Trusting in Jesus’ peace is a choice we make. Just read verses 4-6 in Philippians 4 and you’ll get what Paul was trying to get across. And it may be a minute-by-minute reminder as we are going through difficulties. We may have to remind ourselves through sinking our teeth into Scripture and constant prayer that we enjoy His peace and His peace is greater that our turmoil.

Grace & Peace,

Are we a refreshing oasis in the middle of a dry and hot desert? Or, are we a disappointing soda machine on the side of a long stretch of road with an “Out of Order” sign? This is something I just can’t shake this week. It is something I spoke about Sunday morning from Philemon. It was sort of a passing thought, but it was one truth that I’ve been thinking about constantly. Let me explain…

If you don’t remember that’s ok (maybe you weren’t even here), I said that Paul was grateful for Philemon because he was refreshing to the saints in Colossae.

“For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” (Philemon 7)

Do I leave people refreshed or drained? We have to make a choice here. We can’t make excuses like, “I’m just not an outgoing person” or “I’m shy.” That really doesn’t resonate with God.

You see, I want to be that guy that people love to talk to because I leave their hearts refreshed. I want to direct the conversation in a way that would magnify God and lift the spirits of the person to whom I’m talking. I want to leave people wanting more, not less. I don’t want people to feel critiqued and miserable because they stopped me and talked with me.

How about you? Do you want to be that refreshing bottle of water on a hot day? Do you want people to avoid you because they know they are going to come away from you discouraged, confused and criticized?

We can become a source of refreshment if we remember what flowed out of Philemon – love and joy. People need a break. We all have been in a battle this week and need someone to refresh us with love and joy. We need to feel that someone genuinely, biblically, foundationally loves us. And we need to talk to someone who sees life from God’s perspective, not the media’s. We need to hear some good news of great joy!

My prayer is that people look for you to be refreshed.

Grace & Peace,

As I write this there are only 78 days, 13 hours, 56 minutes, and 18 seconds until Christmas! In the grand scheme of things that is not much time. These “countdowns” for Christmas are everywhere, and as you well know usually the Christmas decorations are up in the stores before the Halloween candy turns moldy. Now that I have you thinking about Christmas I want to encourage you to think about others with your giving. Certainly don’t forget about your family and some of your friends, but I’m talking about not forgetting about those who struggle just to feed themselves.

We will have giving opportunities surface all around us and I understand we need to be selective, but that’s my point: please select and give outside your family and friends. I actually think we should rebel against the office party white elephant giving or the Sunday school gift exchange or the secret Santa rigmarole. Let’s refuse to get caught up in the giving frenzy that is so often flavored by selfishness and greed. Do you really need another Christmas tie that plays music and lights up? Let’s use this money spent on the frivolous and be a blessing to someone outside our walls and maybe even our country.

I am issuing a challenge to all of us to intentionally sit down with our families and plan some of our Christmas giving ahead of time.

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

So with that in mind let me present some options:

1.            Upstate Family Resource Center. This is a local organization that is helping families in the upstate. They provide some great services to families in need.

2.            Greater Spartanburg Ministries. Here is another local ministry that we already partner with as a corporate body. Due to their location they are able to meet needs of people who are facing extreme poverty.

3.            Nicaragua Mission Team. This team will be leaving November 16. All of the money given to them will go directly to helping and ministering to the Nicaraguans. Their projects will include family food packs that will feed a family for a week ($5 each), family survival packs that gives a family sustainable goods including livestock, tools and feed ($100 each), and feeding stations ($800 each).

4.            Operation Christmas Child. Our goal this year is 250 shoeboxes. This giving opportunity gets us out shopping and not just writing a check. It is so cool to be able to pack these boxes with toys and candy and toothbrushes and soap and whatever. This involves time and that is another gift we can give to needy children all over the world.

Each of these is a giving opportunity to express love so that a bridge can be built. Once the bridges are built then gospel conversations can take place. You see it all starts with love and love gives! We cannot say that we love without giving.

Now we have just 78 days, 13 hours, 29 minutes, and 12 seconds before Christmas. What will you do this year to show love?

Grace & Peace,

“Who’s church is it anyway?” Great question and the answer is even greater. It is God’s church, period! We don’t own it, we didn’t pay for it, so it’s really not ours. God owns it because He purchased it with the blood of His precious Son, Jesus.

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

Clearly the church belongs to God. Paul is careful to point out that it is “the church of God”, meaning the church is God’s personal possession. To treat it as anything else is to profane it and bring it down to a level God never intended. Yes, we have a responsibility but that responsibility is derived from and delegated by God.

I’m afraid that sometimes when people talk about “my church” they are being possessive and territorial. It’s unsure whether this is intentional or unintentional, but I fear the attitude of the church being our personal possession is a dangerous trend. We feel like we paid for it and therefore we own it. The reason for this comes from the attitude that since we pay the bills and mortgage every month that we now own the church. Our Western culture of property ownership has trickled into our theology. Instead of wielding our Bibles we hold up the deed to the church. This mindset thinks more in terms of the property or buildings or rooms or stuff in the building instead of people. I hope we all realize that the church is not possessions but people.

The tragic fallout of this wrong thinking is that God will go ahead and let us “own the church.” He won’t be there but He’ll say, “Go ahead and take possession, I’m out.” But the tragedy doesn’t end there. We can become so attached to the physical campus of a church that we neglect the spiritual needs of the people.

God saved us individually and personally, but He saved us and placed us corporately into His church. We cannot claim to be a Christian without the church and we cannot claim to be a church without Christians. A church without believers is just a building.

The church is God’s instrument to get the gospel out to the world. We cannot afford to become territorial and neglectful when it comes to God’s church.

Grace & Peace,

Scott

The fall is a beautiful time of year. It is a time of change. We change our clocks back and gain an extra hour; we change our wardrobe and bring out the sweaters, jackets and boots; the scenery changes from green to vibrant hues of orange, gold, yellow and brown; and we change from having the kids around all day to missing them until they return from school. These are just a few of the changes that take place every year. For many of us this is our favorite time of year. Maybe it’s the change or maybe it’s something that we can’t quite put our finger on – we just like the cooler, crisp weather; we like that things are going to be different; we like that we have a new routine.

This reminds me that our spiritual life is about change. God never intended for us to be static. He expected change to take place continuously throughout our lives. Paul put it in the following terms:

“…For your progress and joy in the faith.” (Philippians 1:25)

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” (Colossians 2:6)

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

These are just a few indicators in Scripture that our life in Christ was never meant to get to a point where change didn’t happen. And God has a goal in mind. God’s goal is for us is to be formed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29-30).

But what if change isn’t taking place? There is a great danger in being satisfied with where we are in our relationship with God. What if someone has no hunger or thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6)? What if someone doesn’t delight in God’s Word enough to study it and meditate on it (Psalm 119:16) or even carry it? What if, when someone is confronted with truth, they consistently choose to disobey that truth? Let me put to you this way: How can anyone claim to be God’s child if they have no interest in knowing and obeying the Father?

The answers to these questions are not easy, but I think the questions are necessary for each of us to ask personally. “The unexamined life is not worth living” (Socrates). “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith…” (Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5).

Grace & Peace,

Week after week I find joy and encouragement in pastoring Calvary Baptist Church. These twin feelings come from YOU, the people – the real church. The church is not the buildings or budgets or programs. Even though we have decided that those are things we have, if you were to take them away it really wouldn’t change the fact that WE are Calvary Church!

Seeing you each week fills me with hope. The hope comes because transformation is possible through God’s Word. The Bible is what God uses to change every day people into extraordinary servants. And change is slow sometimes; we have to be willing to wait for the changes to occur. We can’t always have what we want, when we want it. God’s kingdom is not Burger King! It takes a lifetime to raise kids; the same principle is true of discipleship.

This is going to take patience. Patience is something I have to be constantly reminded of to practice. James points out that patience is part of the discipleship process when encountering trials.

“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect [i.e., “mature”] and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3-4)

Because trials are of “different” kinds we have to realize that once we’ve made it through one trial another of a different type is on the horizon. Trials come to mature our faith, to grow us spiritually. And nobody can ever say, “Hey, I’m done with trials. I now have my act together.” We know that nobody has their act together this side of eternity.

So what do we do? We buckle up, hold on for dear life, sink our teeth into God’s Word, and go for it! Faith demands this kind of tenacity. Living by faith is risky business, but it’s the best type of life to live because it is the only life that pleases God (cf. Hebrews 11:6).

I as sit here early in the week my heart is filled with hope for God’s church. Why? Because you keep coming back. Why is that? Because deep down you know that gathering as God’s people, united in purpose, worshiping as a family is necessary to scattering into the world as missionaries. My prayer is that all of us will be successful missionaries to our world.

Grace & Peace,

This week I want to recap the last message series. Believing the gospel is not enough; we must also be doing the gospel. Doing the gospel involves loving, listening, speaking, and living.

Love is what moves us to people. Love is the motivator behind our actions as believers. Love is the starting point for our behavior. Love causes us to do things that are supernatural. Love is essential to mission.

Before we can talk to someone about who Jesus is and what He did we need to listen to their story. Everyone has a story to tell about his or her life. We don’t listen for the sake of checking listening off the list; we genuinely and prayerfully listen to identify what our friend believes their purpose is (creation), where they think things went wrong (fall), who, or what, will rescue them (redemption), and what their ultimate hope is (restoration).

Once we know their story we can now speak God’s story as His ambassadors. As believers we also believe this pattern is God’s story as well – creation, fall, redemption and restoration. God created us to honor Him and spread His fame; however, Adam (and us as well) had a better idea: live for self and spread my own fame. The fall is where every thing went wrong. But, God provided redemption for all through His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Hero in God’s story. Jesus is the only one who can rescue us from our rebellion against God and recreate us to once again live for God’s glory. God will one day restore all things to the way He originally created it and intended it to exist. We will honor God forever; we will live in peace with one another forever; we will joyfully serve God forever – that is our ultimate hope.

With all of this we must remember that “doing the gospel” words make no sense if they are not backed up by a “doing the gospel” life. Living the gospel is essential if we want people to hear the life-transforming message of the gospel.

This series was meant to encourage all of us to begin praying that God would reveal to us who He is calling us to. What relationship(s) does God want you to begin building? God has sovereignly placed us in families, neighborhoods, jobs and gyms to be missionaries. It may take some time to build a relationship bridge to that person, but with patience and wisdom it will happen. And I would love to hear your story about how God did this.

Grace & Peace,

We’ve all said things we wish we hadn’t said. That’s just an axiom of life. It’s not an excuse to go on saying dumb, hurtful, and self-justifying things; it’s a fact of life because we are human and imperfect. Hopefully we are growing to learn to guard our tongues.

Our words usually hurt those with whom we are closest. This is due to the fact that with these people we are on familiar and comfortable ground and our guard is down. We know they will get over it and forgive us. But then the day comes when they don’t, and we are left with a relational and emotional landscape that looks like the beaches of Normandy in 1944. We are at war! The outcome is not going to be pretty. Even with the right help we will end up approaching that relationship with trepidation because of the verbal landmines that have been left behind.

However, there is hope. The first step we need to take is repentance. That means we are going to search the depths of our hearts and ask God to show us where we have sinned. We are not going to do an inventory of someone else’s heart, only our own. We are going to own up to our sin, agree with God that it is sin against Him and His child, and go in the opposite direction.

The next step is to approach that person with humble admission. We must be willing to accept that we were wrong and hurtful. At this point the intent of our heart should not be to just move on but to get the relationship back on the rails. With the right heart attitude we will communicate a desire to do the hard things and work diligently at removing the landmines one at a time. This will be messy and time consuming, but it will be necessary and, in the end, beautiful.

This is a hard lesson to learn and that is why so much Scripture addresses it. Both the Old and New Testaments deal with it, and so it is imperative that we deal with it as well. Solomon wrote, for the good of the nation of Israel, and ultimately for our benefit as well:

From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence. (Proverbs 13:2)

“…The mouth is a tree that produces fruits that it has to eat. Language is not neutral, not sterile; it initiates a process that will come back to its origin…” (L. Alonso Schökel).

We must learn to be careful what we say because we will end up eating our words.

Grace & Peace,

Mike Higginbotham is home! Now life can get back to “normal” for the Higginbothams…except for Mike. I think we all have to realize that right now, even though this soldier is home, his plate has probably never been more full. Why do I say that?

First, he has to figure out what his next step is: should he go back to school, get a job or both? He and Kacie have a wedding to plan in the next six months: where are they going to live, who is going to wash the dishes, who is going to decorate their home? And he has to try to figure out what to do with all the emotions he’s experienced from the last six years. Mike was on the front lines. He has seen death, anger, and depression (and so much more). These realities and the emotions that come with them have been with him constantly. These are things that most of us have never had to face and probably never will. So what can we do?

Calvary Church is a family, and when a family member comes home we celebrate and support. We need to be praying that God will continue to transform Mike, and that God will heal the emotional and spiritual wounds he suffered while doing two tours of war in Afghanistan. Pray that God would give Kacie and Mike guidance as they prepare to honor God through a biblical marriage. Pray for wisdom about job and schooling decisions. And we need to go one step further and speak words of encouragement and support. Love him and be patient. Take him out to breakfast, lunch or supper (I’m sure he would be available).

And let’s always remember, this is the same Mike who left us six years ago to get a haircut, new clothes and a gun, but he is not the same. He had our love and he has earned our respect. Let’s just be for him. Let him know how thankful you are that he was willing to put his life on hold, and on the line, to protect our freedom.

Welcome Home Mike,

Happy Father’s Day! During a time in our culture when it is not uncommon to hear about fathers who’ve checked out (or maybe who’ve never even checked it to begin with), it is refreshing to hear about and see dads who are attempting to plug in and engage their kids not just in the activities of our society but more importantly in a serious spiritual walk with God.

Dads, I want to encourage and admonish you that it is primarily your responsibility to disciple your own children. It is a high calling to shepherd a child’s heart, and that is exactly what God has called us dads to.

Don’t wait – do it now. If you are the father of young children start shepherding today. You shepherd by protecting, guiding, warning and loving the kids God has richly blessed you with. I encourage and warn you, don’t be a dad who delegates this God-given privilege to others. We will be held responsible for how we raised our kids, nobody else.

It’s never too late to begin. What if you find yourself with teens or older children? You can still have an impact in their lives. You may have to get creative but it can still be done. How? Establish a family devotional time each day. If your kids are out of the house when they come to visit they will see that you are serious about your devotion to Christ. Other ways you can help steer their hearts in the right direction is to text, email, facebook, call or write them. Any small gesture of discipling will have a profound impact in the years to come.

Don’t see this as a burdensome task; see discipling your kids as a joyful quest. We only have one shot so let’s make it the best shot we can. With all your might fervently pray and with all your love shepherd wisely. Make your home a joyful place where your kids will want to be. Make them long to gather around the dinner table even after they leave.

My prayer for us dads is that our kids would outstrip us in following Jesus!

Grace & Peace,

God has blessed my life tremendously. He has blessed me with a gracious relationship with Himself through the redemption He provided through His Son, Jesus Christ (back to this in a minute). He has blessed me with a wonderful family. He has blessed me with a loving church. He has blessed me with caring friends. He has blessed me with a beautiful place to live. He has blessed me with clear instructions through His Word. He has blessed me with life. He has blessed me with opportunities to serve Him. And the list goes on. In fact, most everyone reading this has been blessed in many of the same ways. Now back to redemption…

Redemption is the plan whereby God beautifully reverses the fortunes of those who are not His own. Peter put it like this,

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10)

That is the gospel and the gospel is the great reversal. Throughout the Bible we can find different metaphors describing the reversal. Once we didn’t belong, but now we do belong; once we had no identity with God, but now we are identified with God; once we didn’t know who our father was (Satan), but now we do know that our Father is God; once we were lost, but now we are found; once we had no hope, but now we are filled with hope. Isn’t that a beautiful reversal of fortunes?

Peter shares the purpose behind this reversal in the previous verse:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (verse 9)

So God changed our lives so that we could tell others how He could do the same for them. This is at least part of why God saved us, isn’t it? Yes it is! Evangelism is not about some new program that the church needs to buy into; it’s not about a certain night when we all “go out” to knock on doors. While those may be helpful they may also become harmful. How? Because it leads the church to think that getting the gospel out into the community is something that we can check off our list of things to do for the week. It can also be dangerous because it leads Christians to practice evangelism once a week instead of making it part of our lifestyle. What about the girl you work with? What if she was to ask about your hope and joy on Friday morning but visitation was Tuesday night? I guess she’s just out of luck for four days, right? No, right then and there we can begin to share the gospel by sharing our story of how God’s marvelous grace rescued us from the darkness and placed us into His beautiful light.

Has God’s blessed you the way He’s blessed me? If so, then why don’t you thank Him and then look for an opportunity to share His blessings with others.

Grace & Peace,

Saturday’s golf tournament was a reminder of why I hate golf and why I love it…at times.

I hate golf because I can’t golf. You see, golf is a mind game as much as it’s a game of athletic prowess. Sure, you need to have ability when it comes to swinging the club and if you’re out of shape then your game will show it. However, you have to remember that you are trying to hit a ball that weighs a little over 1.5 oz and is a little bigger than 1.5 inches in diameter. I can’t even hit an oversized softball! Add to that the fact that they want you to hit that ball on the “sweet spot” of the club you are holding. So here you are, standing on the tee box and you wind up, and with all your might you swing that club to hit that little ball, and what happens? That little ball only goes 20 yards and not in the direction you wanted it to go. Now I’m looking for my ball with the chipmunks. Yes, golf is frustrating, but I know some of you love the game and you’re actually good at it. So I’ll just stick to my once a year game.

But I also love golf. At least I loved it Saturday because I got to spend it with my boys. We were able to spend seven hours of uninterrupted time together and that is a rarity. None of us golf, so the three of us did equally well. One thing I remember about Saturday is that I haven’t laughed with Ben and Blake like that in a long time. Yes, it’s really kind of funny that three grown men who are in relatively good shape can’t hit a golf ball farther than we can throw the chipmunk that was trying to steal our golf balls. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we made a beautiful memory and nothing can take that away from us.

It’s tough when your kids are grown up, living their own lives, taking trips without you, and spending time with their friends on the weekend. As parents we expect that, in fact we want that. But if you spent too much time away from your kids while they were growing up like I did, you long to spend time with them now. That is the boat I’m in. I’ve asked forgiveness from my kids and we’re on track now, but I don’t get to see them like I used to. So when they come into town I try to carve out as much memory building time as I can.

Children don’t raise themselves; they’re just not good at it. They are not equipped to begin life without us. Children need parents. It’s easy for us to neglect our kids. Sure we feed, clothe and shelter them, but that doesn’t mean we’re raising them. They need constant reminders of the importance of God and our love for them. Making memories is one way we as parents can tell our kids how much we love them.

What memory are you making with your kids?

Grace & Peace,

Happy Mother’s Day (a couple of days early)! I hope you’ve all made your plans to properly and biblically honor your mother on this special day. I would encourage you to think of those attributes in your mom that you can praise – her wisdom, hard work, patience, love, grace, perseverance, tenacity, encouragement, foresight, etc. Every mom has something for which we can say “thank you.” So take the time this weekend to tell her how much she means to you. The Bible clearly says that we as children will “rise up and call her blessed” (Proverbs 31:28). In other words, it’s a given, it’s assumed that we will do this…so let’s do it.

Something else we can do this Mother’s Day that we find in the Bible is to remember the lessons she taught us and do them!

…Forsake not your mother’s teaching. (Proverbs 1:8)

We would do well to reminisce on all the little talks Mom had with us and pull out the “wisdom from above” that God was trying to communicate to us. Moms are consistently teaching through their lives and lips. So many tips have come from those lips on cooking or getting a difficult stain out or how to manage time properly or how to show genuine compassion or how to make personal devotions a priority or how to stand under peer pressure, and many countless other valuable lessons. A foolish person hears these wise words and then walks away without doing them (read James 1:22-25). I will take the text from Proverbs 1:7-9 and share some lessons on Sunday morning – so more on that later.

This Mother’s Day we can give the gift of an obedient and wise life to our moms. Solomon wrote this,

A wise son (and/or daughter) makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. (Proverbs 10:1).

Wisdom is simply making choices from a biblical perspective, so foolishness would be the opposite. A foolish child is one who makes decisions based on fleshly desires and earthly pressures. Oh, how many of us have done that (yeah, all of us). But we don’t need to stay parked in despair. Through repentance we can find our way back to wise living. So, let me encourage you to make Mom a glad Mom by living wisely.

Grace & Peace,

What a beautiful week this has been! Last week Barb and I were in Florida visiting my parents, sister, brother-in-law, 2 nephews, niece, her new husband, great nephew, the cat and a small flock of ducks! The weather was perfect for our three days; the sun was out each day and the temperature was in the 80’s each day. As we left on Thursday to return home we had shorts and t-shirts on, and the further we drove north the colder it got. We stopped outside of Columbia to get gas and supper and it was 37 degrees! What happened? Well, we missed the cold weather during spring break but are so thankful that this week proved to be sunny and warm.

I am so thankful for these times you allow me to take away from

I want to encourage all of our couples to take time to check up in one another. Without open communication in a marriage that marriage will fail. I’m not saying you’ll end up calling the lawyers, but you’ll end up being disinterested in one another.

So, let me ask you: “What common interests of discussion do you and your spouse have?” What I am trying to say is: what do you guys like talking about?

It is so easy to check out in a marriage, but it is hard to stay plugged in. Checking out takes nothing. That’s right, you need to do absolutely nothing to grow the distance between the one you pursued so urgently years ago. Plugging in on the other hand takes hard work. It seemed so effortless when you first met and you could talk for hours about, well, pretty much each other. As time passes it seems that we’ve talked everything out and have pretty much beaten the proverbial horse dead. But in order for our marriages not only to survive but also to thrive we need to spend time working on this communication, you know, talking.

So while the weather is sunny and the warm breezes blow take an evening and walk the neighborhood with your spouse and talk. See what comes up and return to those days when you could talk for hours about nothing really special but it meant that you were together.

Grace & Peace,

All of life hinges on hope, but hopelessness is everywhere in our world, and no wonder. People who don’t know God through His Son Jesus have no reason to hope. All they have is despair and depression. That is normal and that is expected. Sure, they have seasons of alleviated despair but it doesn’t last for very long. This lifting of despair comes with a new toy or outfit or relationship or raise, but once the luster has worn off it’s back to despair. The reason for this is that none of those things can conquer death.

For believers hope is always there because of the resurrection. “…The authentic story of hope hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. It is God’s answer to a hopeless world” (Ed Welch). Something shiny comes along and it may capture our attention, but it doesn’t hold it because we hope in something everlasting that never tarnishes. We are caught up in the story line of the Bible. His story has become our story; His life has become our life; His end is our end; and His future is ours as well.

Think about it this way. I just sold our 1998 Expedition. We’ve had it for 11 years and ran it up to 236,000 miles. When we finally made the decision to sell it I spent a Friday morning washing the outside and detailing the inside. I made sure it looked and smelled wonderful. And then I parked it in the garage and chased the cat off of it. I did all of this in the hope that I would get the most money out of it. We ended up trading it in and all the dealer wanted to do was take the tires off and give it to charity! I didn’t get a dime more for all the time I put in, it was sort of depressing. My hope was misplaced.

That is how someone feels who’s not part of God’s story, why bother, I’m just going to end up in the ground anyway and then nothing. They have no hope to cling to, they have no future that they know of. They have ignored God’s story of redemption and resurrection. They are simply looking for the next shining thing that will come along and distract them from the depressing state of affairs.

In Paul’s beautifully written chapter where he unpacks the meaning of the resurrection he stated that our victory comes from God through the resurrection of Jesus (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:57). We don’t need to get muddled down in the world because God has a brighter future for us. However, we do have purpose in the world today; God has given us a reason through the resurrection to get up and do good:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Jesus Is Alive!

What word in the Bible is most associated with Palm Sunday? Got it yet? Come on, rack your brain…no, it’s not “palm.” The word most associated with Palm Sunday in the Bible is “hosanna” (John 12:13; Matthew 21:9, 15; Mark 11:9-10). It is a unique word, a word that we sing, but is it a word we really understand? As we approach Psalm Sunday allow me some time this week to shed some light on this beautiful word…

“Hosanna” is not an English word, it’s not even a Greek word. Both borrowed the word from other languages. Our English Bibles borrowed it from the Greek and simply used equivalent English letters instead of Greek letters: h-o-s-a-n-n-a. And the writers of the New Testament did the same thing, they used the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew phrase: hosi a na.

Hosi a na is found only once in the Old Testament in Psalm 118:25,

Save us (hosi a na), we pray, O Lord!

The cry of Hosanna in the Old Testament was a cry for help. The cry was in anticipation that God would rescue them. It’s interesting that the answer to their cry came in the very next verse:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

The Messiah was the answer. So they were pleading for the Messiah to come and rescue them. They could not see their Savior, but they knew He would come; they knew God would send a deliverer; they had great confidence in God.

The cry of Hosanna in the New Testament was a cry of confidence. No longer was the Deliverer anticipated, He was a reality. The rescuer had come! I don’t buy into the fact that the crowd in Jerusalem knew what they were shouting; crowds shout all sorts of things. But, some of them did. They recognized that the Messiah they long anticipated was finally here in Jesus.

The cry in the Old Testament, “Save us!” became the shout in the New Testament, “The Savior is here!” This is what we celebrate on Palm Sunday (and every other day of the year). God has sent His Son to save us.

Imagine you are a child, alone in a canoe, thirty feet from shore, on a blustery day. All of a sudden a giant gust of wind capsizes your canoe, and you are violently thrown into the water. Immediately you would cry out, “Help, save me!” As you come up gasping for air you see your dad running down the hill, plunging in the lake, and swimming furiously toward you. Your cry for help is now different because your rescuer had come. Now your shouts of “save me” are joyful because you know someone has come to save you.

That is how we shout “Hosanna!” today. “Salvation has come! I am saved! I rejoice that I now have hope! I am no longer under the heavy burden of my sin and guilt.”

Hosanna!