often it doesn’t make sense…

psalm 138.8 says (nlt), the LORD will work out HIS plans for my life.  you need to know this about GOD’s plan.

GOD’s plan is often more painful.  sometimes it’s harder, it’s difficult and often it doesn’t make sense.  it certainly didn’t make sense to mary who had just found out that GOD wanted her to be the mother of HIS SON.  the plan GOD had for mary’s life was much more difficult and harder than the one she had.  can you imagine the difficulty of facing the gossip that she did as an unmarried mother who claimed that GOD was the father?  ruthless criticism, i can imagine. 

then when she was pregnant she had to travel on a donkey a long journey to bethlehem the day before her delivery.  would any of you mothers like to confirm that that would probably be hard?  on the day before delivery take a donkey ride over a bumpy road many miles, taking two or three days, obviously that would be very hard.  then you’re going to deliver your first baby without your mother, without a midwife, without hospital or doctors.  you’re going to deliver that baby by yourself as a thirteen-year-old girl in a stable with donkeys and cows surrounding you.  that would be hard.  i’m sure mary must have thought a thousand times, “why, GOD?  why does this have to be so hard?  i’ve surrendered to your plan.  why does it have to be so hard?” 

GOD was fulfilling a promise HE had made thousands of years before when HE had said the MESSIAH will be born in bethlehem. 

from mary’s point of view this thing kind of came up suddenly.  it looked like she was being ambushed by GOD.  that GOD said, “out of all the little peasant girls in the world I’m going to pick you, mary, in nazareth and you’re going to be the vehicle that i use to come into the world to bless the world.”  to mary it looked like a complete surprise, spontaneous.  but, no.  GOD had planned this before the earth was formed.  as you read the bible you see all the genealogies had been traced back all the way to adam that the MESSIAH would be born in the lineage of david.  this was no accident.  GOD had planned what was going to happen to mary thousands if not millions of years before. 

nothing in your life is an accident.  nothing.  there is a purpose behind every problem.  it doesn’t ever surprise GOD.  HE knew everything that was going to happen in your life before it happened.  even the bad.  HE doesn’t cause the bad.  there’s enough in the world to cause itself.  but HE takes bad and even brings good out of it.  did GOD bring good out of the cross?  i guess so!!  did bad happen to HIS SON?  yes!  did he stop it?  no. 

so GOD’s plan for your life is going to be often harder.

just a thought from the front porch…

our attitude, struggle and pain about time…

if i’m going to use my time as a gift i’ve got to have the right plan, the right schedule.  psalm 90.12 (nlt) talks about this, teach us to make the most of our time so we may grow in wisdom. 

and this is where we spend most of our energy on time management.  this is what hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books are written about.  it’s pretty telling some of these titles.  they indicate some of our attitudes, struggles and pain for us about time. 

like the art of stress free productivity – wouldn’t it be great if it were stress free?  or 21 ways to get more done in less time – if that were seven ways i would get more done in less time.  the time trap – a classic on time management and how we feel about it.  7 day get organized program for overworked, overbooked, and overwhelmed people.  here’s a good one, the complete idiot’s guide to managing your time, 2^nd edition.  why do they need a second edition?  wouldn’t one be enough for “complete idiots”? 

there’s a book called how to live on 24 hours a day.  i guess that’s a good idea!  however, somebody read that title and thought “i can top that!”  so a title came out how to live on 26 hours a day.  squeezing 2 more hours out of every day, as if that’s possible.  somebody read that and thought, i can top that!  there’s a book out the 48-hour day.  pretty soon there will be the 98-hour day.  see where this is headed?

but all those titles miss the point.  the point is GOD has given us enough time to do what HE wants done in this world?  24 hours is quite enough to do what HE has given me to do in this world.

now we are attracted to these kind of titles because this is a place of pain for most of us.  we struggle to keep up with what’s going on, to maintain peace in the midst of all the activity, to take pleasure in the work that we’re doing.  we’re frustrated because we’re not getting enough done, we feel guilty because we’re not doing the right thing – we wish we could spend more time with our family or more time with GOD.  and we feel anxious about the fact that our goals are never going to be reached.  we struggle with these feelings constantly. 

there is a reason why scheduling books, program, ipads are top sellers all the time.  we are desperate people in search of solution in our lives.  we look at ourselves and think, my life is a mess but at least i have an ipad.  like that’s really going to solve everything.  it doesn’t.  we need a plan.  and that plan certainly includes scheduling and managing your time. 

just a thought from the front porch…

why pain, why suffering?...

do you ever read some of the warning labels on medicine where they talk about the side effects? steve martin did a whole monologue on side effects.

come to think of it that would be a good thing to have on life. on one side it would talk about all the wonderful things about life. life can be full of wonderful adventure and joy. then on the other side it would mention the side effects because there are side effects to life. there is pain. there is suffering. there is heartbreak. there is disappointment. there are broken relationships. there is crime. there is victimization. there’s abuse. there’s even death.

in fact, JESUS did warn about this. in john 16.33 (niv) HE said, in this world you’re going to have trouble. you’re going to have tribulation. but HE didn’t really in that passage address the question of why. and that is the question that has been on peoples’ minds since the beginning of time. why is there pain? why is there suffering? why do bad things happen to good people?

it’s gone back to the beginning of time. we can see it in the old testament. that was the cry on the lips of job. “why is there suffering?” that was the cry of the psalmists as they wrote. and especially, coming out of the twentieth century as we just did. that was the century we saw suffering on the biggest scale of any civilization – two world wars, the holocaust, the killing fields of cambodia, the devastating famines that took place in africa, the emergence of aids, genocide in uwanda, ethnic cleansing in kosovo. we’ve seen all this stuff and the world wants to know why. why pain, why suffering?

i know for many of you this is not just an academic question, this is not just a theological issue that you bat around the dining room table over dinner. this is a very real issue. you have gone through pain. you have gone through the loss of a child. you are going through illness. you’ve had suffering. you’ve seen loved ones who have gone through pain. and i really wish i could give you the perfect answer from GOD on this issue but i can’t.

now in life we may not be able to make out all the peripheral answers in terms of why. they still may be enshrouded by our limited ability to understand. but there are some key biblical truths that are illuminated to us through scripture. and if we keep our eyes on those points of light just like if you are in a deep fog and you are following the taillights of a semi in front of you i believe they will take us to a place of understanding where our hearts and our minds can be satisfied.

just a thought from the front porch…

it starts with sensitivity...

1 corinthians 10.24 (ncv) says, look out for the good of others.

the first step to kindness is to ask GOD to give you SPIRITual radar, that you would be on the lookout for people in need around you who are hurting emotionally, SPIRITually, physically and in any other way.

some of you don’t need this reminder. you were born sensitive. you automatically sense when people are in need around you. it’s not that you’re more SPIRItual than the rest of us. you’re just wired that way. you’re just naturally sensitive to when people are in pain or whether they’re in hurt.

on the other hand, the rest of you have SPIRITual a d d. it’s easy to get distracted. it’s easy to be task focused and not be sensitive to what’s happening around you.

my wife, margaret is a nurse and a great nurse has the ability to anticipate pain in the patient and then help them.

i thought, that’s the essence of kindness – the ability to anticipate pain, hurt, brokenness, woundedness and then be able to move in and do something about it.

we work with people all the time whose lives are crumbling, but we don’t know anything about it. kindness starts with sensitivity. kindness starts in the eyes. it starts with awareness, observing what’s happening in people’s lives.

we need to start seeing and stop ignoring. the bible says this in galatians 6.8 (the message paraphrase), the person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others, harvests a crop of weeds. all they have to show for his life is weeds.

the fact is, it’s not always easy to see the needs of other people, especially when they’re on the other side of the road. but it’s the starting point of kindness. kindness starts with seeing the needs of the people around you. it starts with sensitivity.

just a thought from the front porch…

why me, GOD?…

joseph is an example of how you handle it when people hurt you intentionally. joseph was his father's favorite son. all of his brothers got very jealous. they decided to sell their brother into slavery. they told their father he had been killed by a beast. they sell him into slavery and he's taken to egypt. he's sold as a slave in a man's house. the man's wife tries to seduce him. he won't give in so he's accused of rape. he's put in prison and he spends years in prison, dwindling away. i'm sure he was saying, “where is GOD in all of this? what did i do to deserve this?”

if i were joseph i'd be saying, “why me, GOD?” but he was exactly where GOD wanted him to be. GOD was in control and GOD was working through circumstances and situations. HE didn't cause it but HE allowed the brothers to sell him in to slavery. later on, joseph rose to a position of prominence in egypt and there was a great famine. because of his wisdom both egypt and israel were saved. later he came face to face with the very brothers that tried to hurt him.

genesis 50.20 (niv), one of the greatest verses in the bible. joseph says to his brothers, you intended to harm me, but GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

some of you are being hurt right now by bosses, brothers, sisters, employees, by other people. they mean it for bad but GOD means it for good. there are people who are out to destroy you or maybe they don't like you and are trying to get your job. they mean it for bad but GOD is in control and HE means it for good and HE's got a purpose behind every problem.

what is the key to my response then? look past the pain and try to find GOD's purpose behind the pain. some things in life we're never going to know. why do people die at a certain time? i don't know! we all die eventually. why now? i don't know! but GOD has a plan and GOD is a good GOD. HE's in control. look past the pain.

2 corinthians 4.16-17 (ph). this is the reason why we never lose heart... these little troubles (which are really so transitory) are winning for us a permanent, glorious, and solid reward out of all proportion to our pain.

GOD says the temporary problems you are going through right now are minor compared to the reward you're going to be given on the other side for how you handled them.

in the very next verse paul says, “we don't look at the temporary problems we're going through. we keep our eyes on the eternal things, the things that really count. the things that matter.” look past the pain.

just a thought from the front porch…

where do you go with your pain?

have you found that you can count on GOD’s power when you’re in pain? i deal an awful lot with people who are in pain, deep hurting pain. here’s a list of many different types of pain. maybe you are on this list.

• some of you possibly come from lousy family or marriage situations. the relational dynamics are terrible and there are some hate-filled people in the home and you don’t even want to be there. that’s pain.
• some of the possible pain has to do with your own bodily pain. you have some affliction that you live with. and it looks like tomorrow morning when you wake up you’re going to have the same affliction and you’re tired of it. that’s pain.
• some of you possibly are in less than ideal work situation. you don’t like your job. yet you aren’t doing anything about it. you hit work on monday, to unrealistic quotas and impossible deadlines and it’s grinding you down. that’s pain.
• some of you possibly are going through the trauma of a separation or divorce. that’s pain.
• some of you have possibly recently lost loved ones.
• some of you possibly are just starting to face the reality of an emotional condition that you’re discovering about yourself.
• some of you have friendships that are fractured.
• some of you have constant financial pressures. you’re on the verge of bankruptcy.
• some of you that are parents are possibly broken inside because you’re watching your kids making decisions and their lives are self destructing and it’s unbearable to watch. that’s pain.
• some of you are possibly sick of being single. you’re not dating anyone and marriage seems a long way off or even an unrealistic dream. that’s pain.
  

did i hit you? if i didn’t your number’s coming up! pain is right around the corner. there’s no shortage of difficulty facing us. you’re not immune from pain and neither am i.

if you’re not a CHRISTian, you’re here on the front porch just checking this GOD-thing out, some of my CHRISTian friends that have gone through this kind of pain that i’m talking about will tell you that they have walked through the deepest and darkest valleys of their life but they would also tell you with conviction that if it wasn’t for GOD’s power and strength, they would never have made it out the other side – at least not in one piece.

where do you go with your pain? GOD promises us power in the midst of pain. psalm 41.3 (nlt), the LORD nurses them when they’re sick and eases their pain.

for CHRISTians, GOD’s power doesn’t just pacify our pain. when we access GOD’s power, it so invades our life that it satisfies our soul. do you want to tap into that kind of power? it’s available.

just a thought from the front porch…

supplying or sustaining grace?...

GOD's sustaining grace removes my hurt. it relieves my hurt and helps me keep going when i'm in pain, when i want to give up.

paul, in corinthians, had a problem that was constant pain. three times he said, "LORD, take this pain out of my life" and GOD didn't do it. instead GOD said, 2 corinthians 12.9 (tev), MY grace is all you need, for MY power is strongest when you are weak.

GOD says, I'm going to give you grace. grace is what you need to keep on keeping on.

if paul prayed and didn't get an answer should i pray about my problem? of course. the bible tells us to pray about our problems. hebrews 4.16 (niv), let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive grace to help us in our time of need.

when you have a problem, a crisis, going through stress and tension and you pray for GOD's strength in your life, one of two things is going to happen. one, GOD may remove the pain. that's HIS supplying grace. but if HE doesn't, number two, HE may leave the pain in your life, in the situation, and HE gives you sustaining grace to handle it, to take you through the problem so you can learn something through the problem.

we'd never learn anything if all of our problems were instantly removed. we learn much more through pain than we do through pleasure. sometimes GOD has to leave the pain there. but whenever HE leaves the problem in our lives HE gives us the grace to see it through.

HE removes my guilt by saving grace, HE reshapes my life by strengthening grace, but HE relieves the hurt and helps me through the problem with HIS sustaining grace. HE's going to help you out.

when you get that down, nothing can devastate your life. no problem, no crisis, no hurt, no harm, no stress because you realize that GOD's grace is sufficient. i can handle it – not on my own – but i can handle it with GOD's grace.

just a thought from the front porch…

the only way to let go of the pain...

so who do you need to reconnect with? maybe you need to reach out. and you need to stop the pain.

why should i forgive them when they’ve hurt me so much? because GOD forgave you and because it’s the only way you’re going to get on with your life. it’s the only way you’re going to let go of the pain. for your own sake, forgive.

so what’s holding you back from doing that? what’s holding you back from reconnecting to that parent, that child, that brother, that sister, that ex, that husband or wife that you’re estranged with or separated from. you’re living in the same house but two different lives. what’s holding you back? fear? pride? resentment?

don’t you think you’ve carried the pain long enough? hasn’t it been enough time? all those things just prolong the pain. why don’t you take the initiative? why don’t you make the first step in honesty and in humility and in forgiveness?

you say, “i know this is the right thing to do but i don’t have the strength in me to do that.” that’s why you need JESUS CHRIST. you’re right, you don't. it takes GOD’s love in you to love the unlovely and to forgive those who’ve offended you. it takes GOD’s love in you to be humble and honest when you’re scared to death to deal with the issue and face it head on. you need JESUS CHRIST in your life.

if you’ve never invited CHRIST into your life why don’t you pray this prayer. just say it in your mind, “JESUS CHRIST, i need you to replace the pain in my heart with your love. replace the hurt with your healing. as much as i know how, JESUS CHRIST, i want you to be at the center of my life and give me the strength to do the right thing. i want to follow you from this day forward. help me to understand it more. thank you for forgiving me. now help me to have the power to forgive others who’ve hurt me. in your name, i pray. amen.”

just a thought from the front porch…

the power of negative words...

we are looking now at what we say in our communication.

and do we realize, do we have any conception of this power that we have to build into other people’s lives with a few words? to build encouragement into somebody’s life with the simple encouragement, “good job!” or to build a sense of healing into somebody’s life with the simple words, “i’m sorry? will you forgive me?” or to build hope for the future or energy for today with the words, “i love you.”

you know about this. it’s happened in your life. think of the times that your life has been changed by just a few words at just the right time, just the right moment. it may have been a coach giving you encouragement. it may have been a grandma giving you advice. it may have been your husband/wife sharing words of love with you. it may have been a teacher sharing some truths. those words said at the right time, you can look back and say, “my life changed because of those words in that moment.”

dr. larry crabb, a CHRISTian counselor, and author and speaker tells of a middle aged man who had been struggling for years with chronic depression and he came to dr. crabb and in the course of counseling, the man related that his father, the self-made head of a large corporation, had repeatedly told him, "son, when you inherit the family business, i expect that you will ruin it."

those words stung more painful each time he heard them. when his father died, the man felt driven to work unreasonably long hours to prove his father's prediction wrong but the pressure to avoid failure relentlessly gnawed at him and was quieted only by alcohol. soon a serious drinking problem developed, his wife threatened to leave him and finally he succumbed to ongoing depression for which he could find relief only in drugs. his life was devastated by the power of his father's tongue.

some of you have felt that pain. some of you know what I’m talking about. the power of negative words on a life. the power of our words

just a thought from the front…