The Green One

In Psalm 52:8 it states "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.  I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever."


Did you ever wonder why the color of the olive tree would matter?  Well you wouldn't be the only one if you did.  The green tree is the emblem of prosperity.  It has been kept unharmed like a green and flourishing tree that would have been in the courts of the sanctuary.  And most importantly it is safe and under the care and the eye of God.  That is why the Psalmist and us desire to be the green ones.  Knowing that the steadfast love of God is able to be acknowledged when we are in God's care.

Pick Your Battles

Recently I was going to a local grocery store to pick up some lunch.  The parking lot has angled parking, so it is basically one-way driving down the row.  I noticed a front spot open, but I needed to go down the one row to come back up the other to get it.  It was easily my spot until a small white sedan whipped around the wrong way to fit into it.  It was such an impossible turn that the car needed to reverse a couple times to straighten up so it wouldn't hit the vehicle next to it nor the big curb on the other side.

I was furious at this driver.  I purposely was stopped right by them so I could see the drivers face.  It was a little awkward because there were two people in the car and they were not getting out.  I was impatient and drove over to the next aisle and found something much further away.  By the time I got out I saw the two people and if I didn't know better I could tell they were looking right at me.  Did they know what they did wrong?  Did they think I was the one at fault?

For reasons that only I can contribute to God, a voice spoke to me telling me to pick my battles wisely.  I was still very mad, but I started to reason with my conscience why in the world was that spot so important to me?  And why was I getting so mad about it?  I remembered John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  There are things that us Christians should speak up about.  Injustices are being done everyday.  It comes down to me if my battles are going to glorify God or denigrate Him.

The Founder

There is so much to read online about faith.  But there is even more I would say that each of us thinks about pertaining to our faith.  Of course this idea of faith has a different perspective to different people. When the word comes up it might mean trusting in another's ability.  For a non-believer this is where faith plays it's part.  You can have faith in your favorite sport's team or the faith in a co-worker to accomplish a project.

The issue that comes up is one of voidance.  There is not one person in this world that hasn't made mistakes.  Yes there are people that get labeled as being 'a good person', but even if I have this label I will eventually let you down.  That is why we need someone that is perfect that doesn't and will not disappoint.  Hebrews 12:2a states that looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith is where our faith comes from.  It not only comes from Him who is perfect in every way, it has been planned this way from creation that we may look to Jesus to fill the void.  If faith is a belief and trust in God, it is God who has provided that faith in us.  A Life of No Separation.

Foul

Recently I've been attending several Middle School Boys Basketball games.  This is my son's first year on the team and it brings back a lot of memories of when I played.  In fact I've noticed some changes to the rules.  On free throws the players line up in different areas.  Also when someone takes a free throw nobody can move until the ball hits the basket.  Those are just a few things I noticed, but it doesn't take away from how the game is played.

One thing that hasn't changed is referees.  They still where the black and white uniforms.  They makes bad calls and they miss other ones.  It is frustrating that in every game I've watched these bad calls have happened.  It is almost as if there uniform represents something about the person.  One color, black, represents all these bad calls because of the human imperfection.  While the other color, white, represents the purity of their calls.  The referee never gets enough credit for all the calls he gets right.

When we judge things in our own eyes we have cloudy vision of what is reality..  Yet the Lord's judgement is what is pure and right. It is what Paul's point about being made righteous through faith, not the law.

Proverbs 16:2
2  All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.

Finding the Fire

You could make a case in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. for the Greatest Champions of Faith not mentioned in Hebrews 11.  Take some time to read Daniel chapter 3.

As I read this passage again, I'm reminded of the faith I strive to model.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego you could say were minding their own business and doing nothing wrong.  Yet in the eyes of some they were doing something very wrong.  They were not obeying the King.  Today we find ourselves in difficult times.  The world is very dangerous in some parts.  It is very unstable in the financial markets and we would sure not want to lose our job.  So it can be difficult and tempting for us to do something for our boss that would violate something unethical or something we see as morally wrong.  But how do we resist?  It would  have been easy for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego just to bow.  Even when they were given a second chance knowing their punishment would be death.

Yet it is through this death that their faith is an example for us.  Are we willing to give up everything we have to follow Christ?  Or just the easy things?  That is the path before us each day as we strive to find the fire, and then walk into it.

OJ Experience

I had one more semester of school left before graduation.  But before that could happen I had a summer to get through.  I found a job in my future field that was close to my home and it was also my first job that I had in my new career.  It would be a great opportunity to apply what I've learned and also be able to add that on job experience to my resume.

My first job with this company was to help one of the veteran employees, Brian, who was needing help with a big project.  It was a difficult hard labor type job that tested my limits.  The blessing came from finding out Brian was a believer.  During our lunch hour he would turn on the radio and we would listen to the Christian talk station.  As I met the other employees after a month into this job I found out from their responses that they were surprised Brian was still on the same job from a month ago.  I was young and I thought things were progressing rather well.

It wasn't until mid-July I was called into the office so Tom the owner could go over some paperwork with me.  But when I arrived early I quickly found out the meeting wasn't about paperwork, rather my performance.  It seems I didn't meet Brian's expectations and I was apparently expected to have more expertise (based on what school I was about to graduate from).  It was a difficult situation for being only on the first rung of the company ladder.  But it was even more perplexing from a Christian stand point.  All those sermons Brian and I listened to during lunch time just seemed to be meaningless to him.  I wondered why he just didn't approach me first before going to the owner?  Or even mention how to correct something I was doing wrong.  As far as I knew I was doing just what he needed done and doing that the correct way.

I'm sure in some strategic way by Tom, I never saw Brian again the rest of the summer there.  I helped out the other techs and they really helped me learn some things.  In fact they were more forth telling about how Brian was lazy and should have been done with that job a long time ago.  I can't say I agreed with them, cause I knew the long hours and sore muscles that became my wounds from working on it.  Was I really lazy or was it Brian that was actually lazy and I took the fall for him?

Maybe you've found yourself asking similar questions.  You know those questions we ask, but know we really won't find out the answer.  I find comfort in knowing that those who love God all things work for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. - Rom.8:28

E=R

Our family is a racing family.  We love watching NASCAR and Indy Car races on the weekends.  Even going to them occasionally and all the drama involved with the drivers and different race teams that participate week after week.  It was my Uncle, who has worked in the tire industry for years, that got the racing bug in us.  I remember when I was younger I was at his warehouse helping him out on a weekend.  We took a break and went into his office where he had several different pictures of himself with famous race car drivers, crew chiefs, and car owners hanging on the walls.  There was one picture that caught my eye, in fact it wasn't a picture at all.  It was a framed piece of paper that looked like it was printed off of a computer printer.  In bold letters it read E=R.  I asked my Uncle what does that mean.  He said it came from the legendary car owner Roger Penske.  It stands for Effort Equals Results.

 James 2:14-17 states:  'What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.'

There is effort involved in a racing team to prepare for their race, but their results will improve the more effort that is put forth. It is the same for whatever we are doing.  Whether it be our jobs or the effort we put forth to do things together as a family.  A result will equal the effort put forth.  James reminds us that our works are not the result of our efforts, rather they are the results of our faith in Jesus Christ.  If we understand our faith in what we read from God's Word our results will be glorifying God and not ourselves.

The Messiness of Joseph

Joseph was a young man that was highly favored by his father Jacob and God.  So it can be difficult to understand how someone so favored ends up as a falsely imprisoned slave.  Where’s the favor in that?  How do children of God become victimized by dishonest people?

We’re promised mountain-moving faith (Mark 11:22-25) & answers to all our prayers in Jesus’ name (John 14:14).  Yet we as Christians suffer, frequently at the hands of godless deeds.  More often than I would like to admit, the wicked seem to prosper & the righteous seem to miss out on the prosperity.  The meek don’t seem to be inheriting very much.  Something seems wrong with that picture.

However that’s not how God sees things.  He takes our worst predicaments to accomplish His purposes, both for our good & for the sake of His kingdom.  By some means He factors human messiness into his best equations.  And while he already sees the outcome of our story, we only see the obvious implications for the moment.