I heard this in a promo for a new TV show...

 The seasoned Detective begins …inside every man there are two dogs fighting…the one who wins is the one you feed. So, I wondered about the story and found a more original form a

 Cherokee Legend.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

 You may be familiar with the story but I was not except a similar tale from the Bible as told by countless writers. It’s the tale of the double minded.

In this day and time as in all others there are so many competing opportunities and influences. It’s not just a choice of one or two options but of hundreds. One way to deal is to multitask, the art of doing more than one thing at a time. The younger generations consider themselves accomplished at this multitasking. They also think they are as competent multitasking as if they only did one. A lot of us think that way too. It just our way.

The Bible speaks to our multitasking.

An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8 HCSB

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! James 4:8 HCSB

Jesus although he never used multitasking spoke to those who were multitaskers or double minded when he said,

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

It’s the same old story we tell ourselves. We have to multitask because the world we live in requires it. That wolf from our story above continues to thrive because we feed the idea that if we don’t do it we won’t win. We won’t have the best or be the best or live the best. The Bible speaks clearly regarding where and on what our minds should be focused. It is not our task. It is to love God with all that we are and to love man as we love ourselves. To concentrate on those two things is to feed the wolf of joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

Often we tell ourselves that the fight is wrong. We should be (oh I hate that phrase should be) at peace meaning without struggle but peace the Bible speaks of is not without struggle but certainty within the struggle.

I believe the struggle is the evidence of the Gospel at work within us transforming us into the image of Christ. The struggle is the old man who is stubborn and strong willed battling against the new creation. Both need energy to fight and that is where we come in. We can influence the speed of the outcome. God will be faithful to complete the good work he began in you. The outcome is certain however we have the opportunity to feed the opposing teams. It is the focus of our minds and hearts that feeds the foes. When we look to Kingdom of God with a laser like glare we feed the new creation. When we look any other way we feed the old self.  Consider what is in your sights?      

In His Service and Yours

The Rev

Bumps in the road...

 Following an accident in my regular school bus in December I have been driving a “sub” bus. In our school district a sub bus is an older bus that has been retired from daily route service to become a just-in-case-you need-one bus. Well as a result of the damage in the accident I have been driving one of those just-in-case busses.

The bus I am driving now has logged over 200,000 miles. It is road worthy just well broken in and like those who are hard of hearing very loud. It squeaks and creaks in addition to no overdrive so the engine is winding up pretty good going down the road. Add to that the noise of 50 children most of them elementary age and a business band radio, now you can “hear” what I mean. On top of that, as a safety device all of the emergency windows and hatches have a buzzer to indicate they are open. Well there are four emergency windows and two roof hatches and the buzzer for all of them is the same. When it begins to howl you have to see a hatch open or inspect each until you find the culprit. As of late a bump will set the buzzer off for a little while and then mysteriously it stops.

I have repeatedly opened and closed all of the windows and hatches to fix the offending switch but to no avail. It still goes off without an opening. Now the mystery is how long it will sound. Sometimes another bump stops it sometimes it just stops on its own. I really don’t know and I am beginning to trust that it will stop on its own. It’s not an emergency, I just have to wait on another bump in the road or maybe not.

I think I learned this (about emergencies) with my first automobiles. My first and seconds cars were MG’s. Those are high maintenance English cars with notoriously faulty electrical systems (they say that’s why the English drink warm beer because they have Lucas refrigerators (Lucas made the electrical system found in my cars)). They were also old when I purchased them. Both came with spare parts and the second (which I still have) came from a junk yard. I quickly learned to put up with switches that failed to work; every failure was not a catastrophe or an emergency. The reason is many times after a bit it would go to working again and be fine. Odd that that happened but true, I do not know why they quit or why they went to working again. I just know they did. Most things are like that.

In our media today any event is huge when it breaks. Every story is the biggest thing until the next one comes along. Just as quickly as the first appeared it has disappeared. What initially seemed so big turns out to be not-so-large. This is so in our personal lives as well. Relationships hit bumps in the road, moments or items that hinder our relationship and one party or both consider it a make or break issue. In reality 90% of those “deal breakers” are not deal breakers at all and not really worth mentioning. We need to choose our battles better. That is what sets apart the best military minds. A great strategist fights the deal breakers not every skirmish. They pick their battles, time, place and tactics leaving nothing to the enemy. They consider the cost and determine if this is really worth going to the wall over. Our relationships could use a similar thought process. When all is said and done and more than emotion is considered then this great issue is nothing but a bump in the road. Yes, it needs to be dealt with in an appropriate manner but it is a bump and not a mountain. If we are not careful we can make a cliff out of a bump. Life is like that more than we realize.

The biggest, most important things appear as almost nothing and the least of things appear as mountains. The wisdom is to know the difference and respond accordingly. Other peoples’ emergencies don’t have to be yours. Consider who goes before a believer and who comes behind, Jesus!  Jesus said of himself,

 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NIV 1984     

What can come against you that is not just a bump in the road? Who holds your future in his hand?

See, whatever seems so big it’s just a bump in the road.

In His Service and Yours

The Rev

The Bible teaches...

…many things including we reap what we sow. In other words what you plant is what's going to come up. There is a movie Second Hand Lion where two older men played by Michael Cain and Robert Duvall plant a garden. They have never done that before. This is all new. They bought a wide variety of seed from a traveling salesman. They plant row after row all different vegetables.

The seed sprouts and grows and they notice that all of the plants look the same. Not knowing what these plants are to look like, they continue to care for their first garden. Well, as the story progresses they have row after row of corn. The salesman sold them corn seed. In the following scene the men and their nephew are eating corn, ear after ear. They thought there would be this rich variety of vegetables. They reaped what was sown. 

Last Sunday in worship at Crossroads Church we thought together about the need for grace in our own lives, the kind that influences change in our own monologue. In the book Dangerous Calling, Paul David Tripp writes of the power of influence and the most powerful influence in our lives. 

“No one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you more than you do.” Paul David Tripp

He goes on,

“Whether you realize it or not you are in an unending conversation with yourself, and the things you say to you about you are formative of the way that you live.” 

Psychologists say we are wired to focus on the negative. The negative evokes far more response in our brains than positive reinforcement. That’s why 99 people can tell you how great you were and yet one says it wasn’t so good and all you focus on is the one. Then you say to yourself, “See I thought so” because that had been the narrative of insecurity in your monologue. You know the one we tell ourselves about our identity, capabilities and future. More often than not that monologue is not pretty. It is also not true. Yet it becomes self fulfilling. We reap what we sow. We need our minds to change so that we will change our monologue.

How can you be free if you constantly tell yourself of your past? Although you may be able to extend grace to others at times you have never extended grace to yourself. You can’t forgive yourself for your sin. You sin by denying what God has done. It gives you control. It gives you an excuse to deny grace to ones who have wronged you. It also enslaves you to your past. A past that for one who has claimed Christ and his free gift of grace no longer exists. A past that is no longer true and yet you continue to tell yourself with a little help from the evil one it is true. We have got to change THAT monologue.
The truth WAS you WERE that person. The truth IS that grace has brought life into balance in your favor. The Bible speaks volumes about who we have become in Christ, royal, holy a priesthood, children of God, joint heirs with Jesus, more than conquerors. Jesus writes a new story for each of us. We need to plant his story into our minds and hearts each day.

He frees us to win! 

Grace does that. 

In His Service and Yours,

The Rev

 

Peace...It's almost impossible...

...To have peace now a days. There is always turmoil and yet the Bible says,

The wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. James 3:17

Then I need a lot more wisdom from God. Stop laughing no really stop laughing. We both know I need more wisdom. Yesterday it became uncomfortably clear to me that a number of people and families around me at in great turmoil.

Turmoil comes in so many packages and shapes and sizes. For one it is the apparent redirection of a lifelong ambition, for another it is the closing of his employer, another family has lost a loved one to death, another is dealing with addiction, others with chronic health issues and finally another adult has moved in all unwrapped and with no easy remedy. It is just one thing after another in folks around me at the moment. It is unsettling. That is what turmoil is, unsettling (cha as Carolyn says). We need wisdom.

From and entry titled “A Heart at Peace” from Just Like Jesus Max Lucado writes,

“Jesus’ heart was peaceful. The disciples fretted over the need to feed the thousands, but not Jesus. He thanked God for the problem. The disciples shouted for fear of the storm, but not Jesus. He slept through it. Peter drew his sword to fight the soldiers, but not Jesus. He lifted his hand to heal. His heart was at peace.”          

We see in his life his response to the turmoil bundled in many shapes and sizes. You may be tempted to say, “Well he was God. I am not God.” That is true, he was and you are not. Hear then what Jesus says to me and to you,

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28 The Message

Jesus does not pass off the task. No assistant, angel, servant no, the Master himself will handle your turmoil. He alone will bring his wisdom to your situation and your heart to give you peace in the midst of the mess. That is personal service, personal attention and person-to-person caring. Here is the result when we finally come to HIM.

^6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:6-7 The Message.

Turmoil is part of life. Just watch the news for a moment or two, you will see turmoil. Think of your family for a moment you will see turmoil or its’ after effects. It’s there but so is peace. Jesus is titled Prince of Peace and gives us an open invitation to join him in his peace.

So what’s stopping you from accepting?

 

In His Service and Yours

The Rev