Are you doing your very best?

Colossians 3:23-24 (ESV) 

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

As I lay here and do a lot of recovering from the back surgery I had late last week. As another baseball season wraps up I found an interesting story about doing your very best.

Keith Hernandez is one of baseball's top players. He is a lifetime .300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding. He's won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series. Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father's acceptance and recognition that what he has accomplished is valuable. Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father: "One day Keith asked his father, 'Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?' His father replied, 'But someday you're going to look back and say, "I could have done more."'"

Are you giving your very best?

Dear Lord, we pray today that we would each give our very best.  Help us to not sit back and rest on our accomplishments of the past but to keep pushing forward, bringing honor to Your name in all things. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Lived among us

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

February 15, 1921. New York City. The operating room of the Kane Summit Hospital. A doctor is performing an appendectomy. In many ways the events leading to the surgery are uneventful. The patient has complained of severe abdominal pain. The diagnosis is clear: an inflamed appendix. Dr. Evan O'Neill Kane is performing the surgery. In his distinguished thirty-seven-year medical career, he has performed nearly four thousand appendectomies, so this surgery will be uneventful in all ways except two.

The first novelty of this operation? The use of local anesthesia in major surgery. Dr. Kane is a crusader against the hazards of general anesthesia. He contends that a local application is far safer. Many of his colleagues agree with him in principle, but in order for them to agree in practice, they will have to see the theory applied.

Dr. Kane searches for a volunteer, a patient who is willing to undergo surgery wile under local anesthesia. A volunteer is not easily found. Many are squeamish at the thought of being awake during their own surgery. Others are fearful that the anesthesia might wear off too soon. Eventually, however, Dr. Kane finds a candidate. On Tuesday morning, February 15, the historic operation occurs.

The patient is prepped and wheeled into the operating room. A local anesthetic is applied. As he has done thousands of times, Dr. Kane dissects the superficial tissues and locates the appendix. He skillfully excises it and concludes the surgery. During the procedure, the patient complains of only minor discomfort. The volunteer is taken into post-op, then placed in a hospital ward. He recovers quickly and is dismissed two days later. Dr. Kane had proven his theory. Thanks to the willingness of a brave volunteer, Kane demonstrated that local anesthesia was a viable, and even preferable, alternative.

But I said there were two facts that made the surgery unique. I've told you the first: the use of local anesthesia. The second is the patient. The courageous candidate for surgery by Dr. Kane was Dr. Kane.

To prove his point, Dr. Kane operated on himself! A wise move. The doctor became a patient in order to convince the patients to trust the doctor.

Likewise our Lord came to Earth and became a man and lived amongst us so that we would trust Him. He dealt with the same things we deal with every day and understands what we face. He wants us to trust Him in everything.

Dear Lord , we thank  You that we can trust You in all things. We thank You for coming to Earth and taking our place for the sins we do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Not even one nail

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

One Sunday a Haitian pastor illustrate to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ. His parable: A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn't afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: He would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door.

After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail.

The Haitian pastor's conclusion: "If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ's habitation." 

Dear Lord, we pray that we wouldn’t give the Devil even on small nail in our life. Help us make sure our life is completely Yours. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Are you going to fish?

Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

There's an old story about a fisherman who was very successful. Every morning he went out on the lake in a small boat and when he returned a couple of hours later, his boat was loaded down with fish. He never failed.

People wondered how he did it, even when others were not catching anything at all. He always came in with his boat just overflowing with fish.

One morning a stranger showed up with his fishing tackle and said, "Mind if I go fishing with you this morning?" "No," said the fisherman. "Just hop in and we'll go over to a little cove where I always have good luck."

The man hopped in the boat and off they headed across the lake until they came to a small cove. The old fisherman stopped the boat and cut off the motor. He reached over in his tackle box and took out a red stick of dynamite. He lit the fuse and held it for a moment as the fuse burned down.

Then at the last moment he tossed it in the water and there was a tremendous explosion. Fish were everywhere on the water. He picked up his net and began scooping up the fish.

After watching this for a moment the stranger reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it up, he showed a badge and said, "I'm a game warden and you are under arrest." The old fisherman simply reached over into his box and pulled out another stick of dynamite. He lit it and held it as the fuse burned down. Then, he tossed it to the game warden and said,"Now, are you going to just sit there or are you going to fish?"

There comes a time when we all have to decide - who we're going to be and what we're going to do!

Dear Lord, help us to always be ready to make wise decisions based on Your Word. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Remember who you are.

Ezekiel 38:7 (ESV)

Be ready and keep ready, you and all your hosts that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.

There was once an absent-minded professor who became so absorbed in his work that he forgot the simplest details. One morning his wife said, "Now Henry, remember, we are moving today. Here, I'm putting this note in your pocket. Don't forget."

The day passed by and the man came home to his house. He entered the front door, and found the place empty. Distraught, he walked out to the curb and sat down. A young boy walked up to him, and he asked him, "Little boy, do you know the people who used to live here?"

The boy replied, "Sure, Dad, mother told me you'd forget."

How often do we become so absorbed in "the little things of this world" that we forget who we are and whose we are and where we are going...

Dear Lord, help us never get to busy to remember that we are Yours. Help us work to show the World who You are. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Back surgery take 3

Proverbs 11:3 (ESV)

The integrity of the upright guides them,

    but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

6 years after my last back surgery I find myself having back surgery again. This will be my third Back surgery and I pray my last to repair my lower back. Because I have an abnormally narrow spinal cord my surgeon has to shore up the Lumbar area to take away the pinching of the nerves.

As I prepare for surgery I have done a lot of reading and came across the story that took place in an operating room that deals with integrity and doing the right thing.

In the operating room of a large hospital, a young nurse was completing her first full day of responsibilities. "You've only removed 11 sponges, doctor," she said to the surgeon. "We used 12." "I removed them all," the doctor declared. "We'll close the incision now." "No," the nurse objected. "We used 12 sponges." "I'll take full responsibility," the surgeon said grimly.   "Suture!" "You can't do that!" blazed the nurse. "Think of the patient." The surgeon smiled, lifted his foot, and showed the nurse the 12th sponge. "You'll do," he said.

Do you have the integrity do what’s right when pressured?

Dear Lord, we pray that we would have the integrity to make the right decision. Help us to stand against what we know is wrong. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Prayers of children

1 John 5:14 (ESV)

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

I want to thank everyone for your prayers as I prepare for surgery in the morning. We know the power of prayer and that where two or more are gathered He is there with them. For some pre surgery fun I wanted to share some fun prayers made by children.

Dear God, Did you mean for the giraffe too look like that or was it an accident? - Norma

Dear God, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don¹t you just keep the ones you have now? - Jane

Dear God, Who draws the lines around the countries? - Nan

Dear God, I went to a wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? - Neil

Dear God, Thank you for my baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. - Joyce

Dear God, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. -Bruce

Dear God, I want to be just like my dad when I get big, but just not with so much hair all over. -Sam

Dear God, I bet it is very hard for You to love all the people in the world. There are only four people in my family and I can never do it. - Nan

Dear God, Of all the people who worked for you, I like Noah and David the best. -Rob

Dear God, If You watch me in church Sunday, I'll show you my new shoes. - Mickey

Dear God, We read that Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday School, we learned that You did it. So I bet he stole Your idea. - Donna

Dear God, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw that sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool! - Eugene

Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel wouldn't have killed each other if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother and me. – Larry

Dear Lord, we thank You for hearing our prayers. Help us to be faithful in talking to You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.