God is there in the debris.

John 16:33 (ESV)

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

A family had lost their home in a tornado; some friends helped them clean up what was left. There wasn't much. Where their house had once stood was a refrigerator. That's all. Destruction was everywhere. Debris covered the yard and the nearby woods. All day they sorted through the rubble, hoping to find intact some piece of their lives. Sadly they only rescued a few belongings. They uncovered some important papers, a few small personal items, and a handful of photos - not very much to represent an entire lifetime. I'm sure the family treasured those mementos because they're all that remains from their pre-tornado life.

Like the devastating winds of a tornado, I've felt trouble beat against my life. Hardships blow into every life, threatening to knock down all that we value. In the wreckage, we can usually find some valuable treasures, if our eyes are open to recognize them and our hearts are open to receive them.

As long as we're in this world, we will have tribulation. (John 16:33) But this Bible verse also says, "In me you may have peace." How can we have peace amid tribulation? Peace doesn't result from the removal of unpleasant circumstances. It comes from releasing our own plans and being open to God's plan. Rest comes from fixing our eyes on Him instead of on circumstances. It comes from giving up on living for myself and living for Him instead.

From God's vantage point, there is no true debris. I'm confident that He is in the midst of any storm, and I try to keep my eyes on Him to see the gift He gives with the rubble. He has promised that, for those who love Him, He'll bring blessings out of storms.

Dear Lord, thank You that when we look around us and see all the debris we can trust that You are there to rescue us no matter how bad it is. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The "Tech Support" Line is Open

1 Peter 5:5-7 (NIV)

5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud

    but shows favor to the humble.”

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Customer: "I got this problem. You people sent me this install disk, and now my A: drive won't work."

Tech Support: "Your A: drive won't work?"

Customer: "That's what I said. You sent me a bad disk, it got stuck in my drive, now it won't work at all."

Tech Support: "Did it not install properly? What kind of error messages did you get?"

Customer: "I didn't get any error message. The disk got stuck in the drive and wouldn't come out. So I got these pliers and tried to get it out. That didn't work either."

Tech Support: "You did what, sir?"

Customer: "I got these pliers, and tried to get the disk out, but it wouldn't budge. I just ended up cracking the plastic stuff a bit."

Tech Support: "I don't understand sir, did you push the eject button?"

Customer: "No, so then I got a stick of butter and melted it and used a turkey baster and put the butter in the drive, around the disk, and that got it loose. I can't believe you would send me a disk that was broken and defective."

Tech Support: "Let me get this clear. You put melted butter in your A: drive and used pliers to pull the disk out?"

At this point, Tech Support  puts the call on the speaker phone and motioned at the other techs to listen in.

Tech Support: "Just so I am absolutely clear on this, can you repeat what you just said?"

Customer: "I said I put butter in my A: drive to get your disk out, then I had to use pliers to pull it out."

Tech Support: "Did you push that little button that was sticking out when the disk was in the drive, you know, the thing called the disk eject button?"

- Silence -

Tech Support: "Sir?"

Customer: "Yes."

Tech Support: "Sir, did you push the eject button?"

Customer: "No, but you people are going to fix my computer, or I am going to sue you for breaking my computer."

Tech Support: "Let me get this straight. You are going to sue our company because you put the disk in the A: drive, didn't follow the instructions we sent you, didn't actually seek professional advice, didn't consult your user's manual on how to use your computer properly, instead proceeding to pour butter into the drive and physically rip the disk out?"

Customer: "Ummmm."

Tech Support: "Do you really think you stand a chance, since we do record every call and have it on tape?"

Customer: (now rather humbled) "But you're supposed to help!"

Tech Support: "I am sorry sir, but there is nothing we can do for you. Have a nice day."

Sounds like the mess we sometimes make of our lives. We don't consult God's "instruction manual" (the Bible), we don't call for assistance (pray), we just try to "fix" the problems in our lives by ourselves and in the process do some pretty stupid things.

But there's one big difference. When we finally reach the point where we realize we've made a mess and we humble ourselves in the presence of God, He doesn't say, "There's nothing I can do for you." Rather, He stands ready to help.

Made a mess of something lately? The "tech support" line is open and ready to take your call. God is always there ready to help.

Dear Lord, thank You for being there even when we mess up and don’t follow the instruction You have given to us in Your word, the Bible. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Against All Odds

Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

Israel was facing impossible odds: 900 iron chariots against men on foot (See Judges 4:3), experienced warriors against 2 women with no experience at all in warfare. In now-a-days terms we could compare this to indigenous people from the Amazon coming up against modern tanks, machine guns, airplane bombers, etc., with a simple bow and arrow.

There was no way Israel could win, and even less with inexperienced women leading the attack!

When Deborah gave the order (verse 6), doubt naturally arose (verse 8). Even though she had never fought before, she lead the way. She knew without a doubt that with God on her side, she truly had nothing to fear!

What happened next was completely unexpected: the mighty warmongers were defeated by the inexperienced (See verse 15). The battle turned out as prophesied: "Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?" (Judges 4:14 NIV)

Unfortunately however, the commander in chief, Sisera, archenemy of Israel, succeeded in escaping. Still there was no need to worry: God was STILL in charge!

Sisera fled to a nearby tent, where Jael (The 2nd woman in our story), wife of Heber the Kenite, supposedly an ally of Sisera's army, was there to greet him. (See verse 17). Without hesitation she led him inside her tent and covered him up. A strange way to hide from your enemy, don't you think! But then when the tide turns against us, we, too, act irrationally!

Now Jael only had a tent peg and a hammer with which to protect herself. What could she do with these? But Jael knew what to do with them, and she used these two useless items to defeat the enemy of Israel (See verse 21). Who would have thought that a mighty warrior could be brought down by a tent peg and a hammer! But then, with God nothing is impossible!

In more recent history, the Allies were facing impossible odds as well. The Germans had built a long wall, called the Atlantic wall, that stretched from Norway to the French-Spanish border, and there they entrenched bunkers, heavy batteries, landmines, and a myriad of other destructive devices. They were literally impenetrable.

On August 1942, more than 6100 troops, consisting of 4,963 Canadians, 1,005 British commandos, 50 US rangers and 15 Frenchmen landed on the beaches of Dieppe, France. Only too late did they realize that the Atlantic wall was truly impenetrable. A total of 3,369 men were killed or wounded and 1,946 were taken prisoner. The war started to look grimmer and grimmer.

Did the Allies ever abandon all hope? Never!

On June 6, 1944, two years later, the Allies attacked the enemy on the beaches of Normandy.

The Germans expected the ally invasion to happen, and they were watching. They surmised that the allies would attack on a clear sunny day, during the daytime, and at high tide, and all of their warmonger traps were set for a high tide invasion. These became useless the day the allies came in, in the fog, at low tide, really early in the morning. The Nazis didn't realize they were there until they were too close for comfort. They quickly tried to reach their Fuhrer for directions, but he was fast asleep, and due to his extravagant temper, no one dared wake him up. And the rest is history!

Hilarious odds can be expected when our hope is in God! We will hopefully all learn sooner or later: "For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:10 NIV)

We may be facing unimaginable odds, but if we rely on God, we will truly have nothing to fear. Those iron chariots or German booby traps, as well as all the other warmongers from hell, are nothing compared to the power of God! Doubt will lead to utter defeat as well as depression, but faith will lead us to victory.

Dear Lord, We pray today that we would trust You and let You guide us in all things. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Lessons From Flies in a Jar

2 Corinthians 2:14 (NIV)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

I have read that if flies are placed in a jar with air holes in the lid, they will fly around frantically, banging into the lid, desperately trying to escape from their prison. If left there long enough, eventually they will stop hitting the lid. Later, if the lid is removed, they won't even try to escape. Somehow they have been conditioned "to feel and believe" that there is no escape. They just keep circling in the cramped jar.

In some ways, many people are like this. Some- where in their past, through a frightening and traumatic experience, such as being raped, sexually, physically, or emotionally abused or rejected as a child, they have been conditioned to believe at an unconscious feeling level that they, too, are trapped and that there is no way out of their dilemma. And they end up going in circles with their life and/or relationships.

To be freed from this endless cycle of defeat, those who have been abused need the healing touch of God. As a general rule God uses other people to bring us this healing and deliverance. For the Christian, deliverance begins with acknowledging our problem (often best detected by the symptoms we have), genuinely wanting to be healed with a willingness to face the agony of these painful damaged memories and doing what we need and can do to be healed. And most important of all, praying for God to be with us as we face the circumstance.   

Dear Lord, thank you that you care about our pain and where we have been hurt in our past. Give us the courage to face these painful memories, connect to them and bring them to the light for your healing and deliverance. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God is Reaching Down His Hand

Isaiah 41:10 (New International Version)

So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

"I give up!" the man shouted. "I can't take it any more! There is nothing left for me."

Everyone around him kept on about their business. Some made it a point to get away from him.

"He's crazy," one man said quietly as he nervously rushed toward the door.

The man sat down quickly. Still taunted by whatever caused the outburst, he looked down placing his head in his hands.

"I give up!" he said again.

A young boy standing nearby seemed unaffected by the ranting. While others kept their distance, he stood his ground.

"Sir! Sir!" the young man repeated.

So wrapped up in his anguish, the man never heard the young boy.

Determined to speak with the man, he walked closer.

"Sir! I know what's wrong!" he said. "Please, sir!"

The man still slumped forward in his seat, rocked slowly back and forth. But still he did not respond.

The young boy walked up and placed his small hand on the stranger's shoulder.

This startled him and he picked up his head to see who was there.

The boy was taken at first by his appearance. His red eyes, his unshaven face and hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for days, would cause most people to cautiously avoid him. But this young man wasn't just anyone.

"Sir, I know what's wrong," the young boy whispered.

"What? How would you know what's wrong with me? You're just a child. You can't even begin to know what's wrong," the man said.

"Sir. You said "I give up!"

"Yes, so."

"My Mom said that I should never give up. Whenever I feel like I want to give up, I just need to look up. God's hand will be there to lift me up."

The man's head fell back into his hands as he began to cry again.

The young boy never left his side.

Slowly the man lifted his head to find the young boy standing there with his hands stretched out toward him.

The man's hands shook nervously as he reached out toward him.

At the very moment their hands touched the man said, "Thank you dear God! You do love me."

He raised his head and with an ever so slight smile, he said, "In my frustration I have been angry with God. I thought He never heard my prayers. All morning I prayed to Him with no results. Finally, I asked God for a sign. I told him that I couldn't handle the weight of all my burdens. I begged Him to give me a hand."

Looking at the young man he said, "I never expected they'd be so small...He sent me yours."

"Don't give up...look up!" the boy said.

Why is it that when we are unhappy we count all the little things that go wrong. But when we need help we expect God to make big things happen?

"Don't give up...look up!"

Dear Lord we thank You for reaching out to us. We pray that we would always keep our eyes on You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

They Don't Come to Me.

Luke 10:2 (King James Version)

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.

A man went to a barber shop to have his hair and his beard cut as always. He started to have a good conversation with the barber who attended him.

They talked about so many things and various subjects. Suddenly, they touched the subject of God.

The barber said: "Look man, I don't believe that God exists as you say."

"Why do you say that?" asked the client.

"Well, it's so easy, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be no suffering nor pain. I can't think of loving a God who permits all of these things."

The client stopped for a moment thinking, but he didn't want to respond so as to cause an argument. The barber finished his job and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the barber shop he saw a man in the street with a long hair and beard (it seems that it had been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy).

Then the client again entered the barber shop and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say they don't exist?" asked the barber. "Well I am here and I am a barber."

"No!" the client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beard like that man who walks in the street."

"Ah, barbers do exist, what happens is that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the client. "That's the point. God does exist, what happens is people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Dear Lord we thank You that You are there. We pray today that we would allow You to use is today to bring somebody to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.