Living Unfiltered for God

“If you don’t have to fight any battles than you don’t have to learn to trust.” This is just one of the nuggets of wisdom that was injected directly into my soul the other day, when I listened to a message by Erwin McManus, the lead Pastor at Mosaic Church in Los Angeles. I was led there by a couple of posts I happened to see on social media about a "very important message" that McManus was going to preach this past Sunday. In the message, he told his church that he has been diagnosed with cancer. It is one of the most moving messages I have heard in a very long time. The title and theme of the talk was "Battle Ready". The guiding verses were from the beginning of Judges 3 . The idea McManus focused on was that God brings battles into our lives so that we learn to fight, because in fighting, we learn to trust Him more. The greater the battle, the greater the trust. Obviously, he used the commencing of his battle with cancer as his object lesson. “God wil...

Here we are... the final day of 2016. How is this possible? I would bet that each one of us has asked that question at least once in the last several days. If you're like me, and I would dare say like most people, you've also spent some time reflecting on the last 12 months. What did I accomplish? How did I respond to the challenges that I faced? Did I grow spiritually? Did I make positive memories? These are, in no particular order, just a few of the types of questions that I tend to ask myself each year at this time. It's a also a time to look ahead. I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions per se, but I certainly do enjoy taking the time to set some goals and put together a plan for achieving them. (OK, maybe they are resolutions... maybe it's just semantics... but it works for me!) I want to share a couple of my goals for this coming year, particularly as the pertain to my faith and my quest to live "unfiltered for God." 1 - Actively...

Christmas Eve. Perhaps my favorite day of the year. The culmination of all of the busy preparations for the joyous arrival of Christmas, tomorrow. The excitement of what the morning will bring! As a child, I remember falling asleep on Christmas Eve with thoughts of what might be waiting under the tree. As an adult, I can't wait to watch our kids and grandchildren as they discover what awaits them! (And, of course, I still look forward to what might be awaiting me, as well!)  This morning as I was thinking about these things, sipping my coffee on our back porch before the sun came up, the song Silent Night was looping in my brain, providing the soundtrack for my thoughts. One line kept striking me - one that I've never given much more than a passing thought before, "Sleep in Heavenly Peace." In the context of the song, it's referring to the Baby Jesus, sleeping in heavenly peace, right after His Birth. It made me ask the question... What does it mean for us to ...

Here we are, eight days away from Christmas. The last full weekend before the holiday. There will no doubt be much shopping done in the next couple of days. Lots of other holiday activities, as well. Even in our household, my wife and I will be off in different directions this morning, participating in some of those activities. My prayer this morning though, is that with all of the hustle and bustle, we remember why we're celebrating. I'm probably thinking along these lines because I've found that I've lost sight of it myself, at times, over the last couple of weeks. One quick example... Our family has a cookie decorating party every year. Over the years it has grown to become our big Christmas get-together before the holiday itself. Family and friends gather, we share a meal and then get to the serious (yes, to some it is!) business of decorating Christmas cookies. The party was last Saturday. On Sunday afternoon I went into the Grocery store and I had this strang...

Over the last few weeks, our church has been doing a sermon series called "Wonder". It has been especially impactful to me, during this season of Advent, to "re-remember", if you will, all of those things that bring me wonder. Those things that just make me stop and say, "Wow, would you look at that?" Sometimes it's something I see, other times it's a situation, still others it's a memory that is brought to mind. I wanted to use this space today to record just a few of these wonder-filled moments for me over the last few weeks. I would love it if you would share some of yours in the comments, as well. Where have I found wonder lately?... ... I've found it in nature. The picture below was taken of the sunset on my way home from work the other day. It still doesn't quite capture the vividness of the colors. I saw and "wondered" at how God just shows off sometimes with His beauty in nature. When you look closely, it's alm...

Today, we are going to finish our discussion of St. Francis of Assisi's Peace Prayer. The last few posts have been spent looking at how it would look if we actually lived our lives they way he suggests in the first half of this prayer. What would it look like if we actually sowed things like love, pardon (forgiveness), faith, hope, light and joy into the world and the lives of those around us? We decided it would take looking like we're living life counter-culturally; living in a way that is not necessarily the norm for today's society. Today we will look at the second half of the prayer. To me, the unasked question that is begged is, " What are you seeking? " O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive,  it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,  and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. As I read t...

We are almost done with walking through the Peace Prayer of St. Francis and dissecting what it would look like if we truly walked out its message. As we've already seen, each component thus far has been much more easily spoken than lived out. And to live it out, you have to approach life in a much different manner than what the world would accept as typical or appropriate. So... let's look at the next two lines: where there is darkness, (sow) light; where there is sadness, joy.  This may be the easiest of the admonitions we've looked at so far. I say "easy" though, only in comparison to the what we've already looked at and also in the sense that it is easier to be a generally "happy" person than to be one that is quick to forgive, for example.  Many people who have been trying to live the Christian life for any time at all have probably heard the expression, "be a light in a dark place." I think it's interesting tha...