Author: Jon Gauger

Sometimes the Word of God really messes with your life.  Have you noticed?

The other morning, I prayed on the train in to Chicago that God would specifically direct me to someone who needed some encouragement, or something of Jesus Himself.   Know what happened?  Nothing.  Nothing that morning.   In fact, nothing out of the ordinary happened all day long. 

That afternoon, as I walked the 1.5 miles back to the train, I reviewed some memory work, the third chapter of First John. Because it helps to cement the verses, I often quote them out loud.  I was three-fourths of the way to the train and about to turn a familiar corner.  That's when he came into view.

A homeless man, baseball cap shielding him from the afternoon sun, crouched on the corner.  As I walked past his outstretched paper cup and the donation plea that went with it, I was actually hearing my own voice recite 1 John 3:17: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”

I managed to make it almost to the other side of the street when the unwanted selfie of my own Phariseeism prompted an inner conversation:

“Really?!  You can quote that verse about seeing a brother in need and not have pity on him?  Exactly what, then, is the point of memorizing this passage?”

“But what if I’m just empowering his drug or alcohol addiction?”

Well….even I know you can't win an argument with the third member of the Trinity.   I knew at once I needed to make a U-turn back to the man on the corner. As I gave the guy some money, I said something about the Lord.  He immediately produced a Bible in a surprisingly nice case.   “I haven't had one of these in a long time,” he said.  “Believe me.  I use it.”  I had no reason to doubt him.  We talked a bit further and he gave evidence of a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

So why was that guy there on the street corner?  Did God place him there just to check my integrity?  I don't know.

I can only confess my own struggle and remind you as I remind myself: It is not advisable to attempt an argument with the Holy Spirit.  Trust me–you can't win!

I can still feel the burning sensation of the stinger, jabbed into my flesh. But honestly the fault was mine.  

At one of the grandest camping places in the country (kings-camp.org) our old pop-up                                                                                                                                                 is on loan to our son and daughter-in-law.  For some time, the hatch that covers the power cord coming out of the thing was broken off.  I should have replaced it months ago but didn't.

A few weeks back, my Dad asked if I needed anything from the local camping store.  I walked him over to our pop-up trailer, showing him the plastic power cord inlet that had lost its cover.  As we peered at the protruding cord, I noticed a wasp on the thing—right there at the opening.  I gave the cord a wiggle (not recommended).  Immediately, a small squadron of very angry wasps descended on me, one immediately stinging the back of my leg. 

Hours later, having foamed the wasps' entrance (aka, the camper's power cord storage inlet) I counted as 12 wasps crawled, tumbled and suffocated out of the opening.  Next, we examined the cavity in the wall of the camper, just to be sure there were no more wasps hiding out.  What I found was a honey comb, complete with embedded wasp larvae.  With long nose pliers, I gently pulled out the honeycomb (photo on this page), observing a few more dead wasps and one on its last legs (literally). 

I offer not one, but two spiritual morals to this tale.

Moral #1: Don't delay taking care of the small openings for sin in your life. Left unattended, you're sure to invite trouble…right in the walls of your soul.

Moral #2:  If you hang around wasps, you're going to get stung.  We cannot play with sin…..      

Her slightly chunky two-year old arm twined around mine as stray blonde hairs from her head tickled my shoulder. As Lucy nuzzled into me, my heart was as gooey as a chocolate bar in summer. 

At that moment, the tot at my side could have asked for the moon, and I would immediately have called up NASA with a down payment.  

Lucy and her older sister, Joslynn, recently came out with us to spend a weekend at the camper.   Because my natural “gifting” tends toward silliness, two-year old Lucy is usually not far away.  

Silly faces.  Silly noises.  Silly stories.  These seem to be my specialty.  But if it's true that I can communicate on the level of a toddler, our toddler granddaughter taught me something of the profound that weekend.

1 John 3:1 speaks of an unusual kind of affection.  The verse reads, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”

I saw several glimpses of “lavished love” as the weekend unfolded.  For no apparent reason Lucy would frequently lean her head against my arm or shoulder.  More than once, she wrapped her arm around my own, flashing perfect white teeth and a smile that would melt granite.

While her sister, Joslynn, hauled fish out of the lake (at eight years old, she has quite a thing for fishing) Lucy took a break from guarding our bait supply.  From behind, she threw her arms around my neck and insisted on kissing me generously, laughingly.  At night, she laid her head on my chest or arm. Most profoundly, she gently stroked my cheek.

It was rich.  Lovely.  Lavish. 

With nearly every kiss, or pat, or gentle touch, I saw an image of “the great love the Father has lavished on us.” When was the last time you experienced—or expressed—that kind of love?

Lit A Fire!

When NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to sit during the National Anthem, he lit the fire of a roaring national debate.  In a journalism culture that overdoses on a news story and then gets quickly bored with it, I'm intrigued the flames seem only to have intensified.  One commentator I read suggested Kaepernick's career is finished. An ESPN poll shows him as the NFL’s most disliked player.  Others are standing with (or is that sitting beside) Kaepernick. 

 

Nothing Illegal, But…

What should a Christian think?  May I share with you my own thoughts? 

There seems to be nothing illegal about Kaepernick's decision.  Nothing forbidden by the NFL.  Indeed, the 49ers management has repeatedly expressed their support for the quarterback's decision.  Yet I disagree.

Mr. Kaepernick—along with every American—surely has the right to voice his opinion.  But I believe his anthem stance (or lack thereof) is inappropriate.  Here's why.

 

What If We All Sat?!

This nation has never been perfect.  We have always had problems…issues…ugly wounds.    But if all of us decided we'd “had enough” with regard to whatever our particular issue is (abortion, immigration, excessive taxes, loss of religious freedom, etc.) and sat down during the national anthem, than almost no one would stand. 

We do not stand up for the National Anthem because America is perfect or without serious flaws.  We stand up because we have a country where these issues can actually be freely debated and—when in need—corrected through discussion and legislation. We stand up because doing so shows respect, just as not standing shows disrespect

 

Render Unto Caesar

To sit down during the national anthem is perceived as a slap in the face to everyone who has ever put on a uniform to defend our flag. 

It seems to me Christ's words, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” might well include the respect associated with standing for our national anthem.  Even if our nation is less than perfect.  

If someone were to ask you, “What’s a life lesson you will remember to the day you die?” what would that be for you?

I asked that question of singer and songwriter Michael Card.  His response is a story you need to hear.  Allow me to quote him from the book, If I Could Do It All Over Again.

When I was a kid, I often sat in church next to an old man named Basil Edwards. I remember that when I was seven years old, I got into trouble and was crying. Basil got on his knees, face-to-face with me. He said, “Mike, I want you to know you’re wrong. What you did was wrong. But I want you to know I’m on your side, right or wrong. In fact, especially when you’re wrong, I want to be on your side.”

I think what I will take to my grave is that was the first time I ever really understood the gospel. Because while we were sinners, Jesus said, “I’m going be on your side.” Before there is any hope or indication we will repent and come to Him, Jesus still stoops and, essentially, gets face-to-face with us and says, “You’re wrong, but I’m going be on your side.”

Many years later I had a son who had been arrested a couple of times for smoking pot. Every time I’d go to court with him, I would say, “What you did was wrong, but I want you to know I’m here because I’m on your side. Right or wrong, I choose to be on your side. You need to know that.”

Later, after he turned his life around, my son called me and said, “That was the gospel, Dad, wasn’t it?” I said, “Yep. Absolutely.”

I’d love to know what your biggest life lesson is.  Why not share it when you email me at jon@jongauger.com. Maybe we'll share your story—and the stories of other blog readers—in a future Thursday Thought. Thanks!

If you could do it all over again, how would you live your life differently?  I sat down with 28 Christian leaders and asked them.  One of my specific questions was what would you do more of, if you do it all over again.

Michael Card told me…

Clearly I would have put more time in with my family.  I think I was on the road doing 150 concerts a year for more than 30 years.  My wife homeschooled and our kids got plenty of attention.  I would be home for two or three weeks at a time. Yet later, my oldest son, Will, took me aside in a very non-condemning, very sweet way and said, “I just need to tell you this.  It was hard for you to be gone so much.”

Josh McDowell shared…

I’ve got four children who would die for me—an incredibly loving intimate close family.  We’re together all the time. But I have made over 19,000 airplane flights and stayed in 2,300 hotel rooms.  Now I just wish I could have been with my family more. 

Erwin Lutzer took me into his office and said…

If I could do it all over again, I would spend an awful lot more time investing in the lives of my children. Of course we prayed with them and we taught them and so forth.  But you know, in retrospect, I really didn’t enter into their world as I could have.  One day my second daughter, Lynn, wrote me a letter when she was about to go off to college.  She said, “Dad, I cannot compete with your studies of Martin Luther and theology.”  Talk about an ice bucket experience!  Sure I was studying Martin Luther and I was studying theology.  But for my child to think that she couldn’t compete with that?  That so set me back!  I realized that I was on the wrong track. I began to change my priorities.  But if I could do it over again: more investment in the lives of my children.

Ephesians 5:15: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

 

You can discover for yourself what Christian leaders regret—and find freedom from your own regrets—in Jon's new book, If I Could Do It All Over Again. 

https://www.amazon.com/Could-All-Over-Again-Christian/dp/0736967966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472481625&sr=8-1&keywords=Jon+Gauger

Facebook.com/authorjongauger 

He was half a second away from being pounded into the grass. In desperation, our Junior High quarterback flung the ball to the only open receiver on the field—me.  Clutching the laced leather, I raced toward the end zone, virtually unopposed. It was only as I crashed across the goal line that I finally understood all the yelling. I had run into the wrong end zone—ours!  To this day, I wish I could do that over.

Here's another do-over.   It was half time at our high school football game.  I was in the marching band.  All 96 of us were high stepping toward the end zone when at a musical cue, we were supposed to flip around crisply and march the other direction.  92 of us did.  But me—and three others—continued ignorantly toward the wrong end zone (all of this captured on film). 

How I cringed later to see myself and my group on the big screen.  We looked like ants, skittering toward the wrong end zone!  (Do you see a pattern here?). 

Trust me. I have plenty of do-overs I’d love to completely erase.  I’m guessing you do, too. For some of us, the do-overs are “big ticket” items: a divorce, a fit of violence, a drunken spree, flunking out of college, serving time in jail or at detox.   Maybe your list is darker yet.  We’ve all got our issues.

But what about the Christian leaders whose sermons we hear, whose books we read and whose music we sing?   Do they have regrets?  I was curious.  So I sat down with 28 well known evangelical leaders.  People like Joni Tada, Tim Keller, Michael W. Smith, Anne Graham Lotz.  I asked them straight out about their regrets, about how they would live life differently if they could do it all over again. Know what I discovered?  They're just like you and me.

There are so many great stories these leaders shared, I compiled them in a book.  But the one truth you need more than any other comes from the ultimate Book, were we are reminded in Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not one.”

 

NOTE: You can discover for yourself what Christian leaders regret—and find freedom from your own regrets—in Jon's new book, If I Could Do It All Over Again. 

https://www.amazon.com/Could-All-Over-Again-Christian/dp/0736967966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472481625&sr=8-1&keywords=Jon+Gauger

Facebook.com/authorjongauger 

As we sat under the porch of the Blue Gate restaurant, there was nothing blue at all about the evening sky.   It was as ink splotched and torn as our hearts were light and joyful.

Why not?  Diana and I had just spent a day relaxing in Amish country—Shipshewana, Indiana.   We sampled 20 kinds of cheeses, shopped at 20 different stores (well…maybe not quite that many), played with unusual musical instruments, devoured a glazed cinnamon pretzel, and watched an Amish craftsman make a new belt for me.  We packed a lot in—and all of it was grand.   Please don't tell anyone we bought a few “hand fried pies” to take back with us.

We had just finished an Amish dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes, and had plopped down into polymer brown rocking chairs on the covered porch of the Blue Gate to watch the rain.  The whole experience was a study in contrasts:

We had come from the urban crush of Chicago.

            But Shipshewana was nothing except rural peace and quiet.

We had left a place of nasty traffic and snagging congestion.

            But Shipshewana is a landscape untouched by overcrowding.

Where we live, gas stations are crammed and noisy.  

At the Marathon station across from the restaurant, we marveled at two horse-drawn buggies tied to a hitch, while others clip-clopped up and down the street, buggies in tow. . 

We had left a culture that celebrates paganism at every possible turn.

But at Shipshewana, wonderful old hymns were played over sound systems:   What a Friend We Have in Jesus, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, and Wash Me and I Will Be Whiter than Snow.

Sitting on those comfortable rockers, sniffing the rain and listening to the hymns playing, it was tough not to let your mind play tricks on you.  With very little difficulty, you could imagine a slight spelling change in the name of the gas station.  “Marathon” becomes “Maranatha.”  Which means, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Amen!  Come quickly, Lord!

• 1966. Philips created the “Radiorecorder”–better known as the boombox and Holland started to dance.
• 1975.  Boom boxes were booming in the U.S.–big time.    
• 1980.  The first personal computer was introduced.
• 1983.  Cassette tapes outsold vinyl records for the first time…and boomboxes were as big as suitcases.
• 1990.  Boomboxes lost serious ground to the Sony Walkman.
• 1993. The internet went public.
• 1996.  Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound were introduced to our home theaters.   Boomboxes were fading.
• 1997.  Windows first incorporated support for mp3 audio into their Media Player. 
• 2001.   The DVD was introduced. 
• 2006 Blu-ray players were introduced globally.
• 2014.  HDTV became the broadcast television standard…as 4k TVs started to roll out.
• 2016.  What's a boombox? 

Truthfully, I still have a boombox in my garage.  The radio still has a great sound—but I must confess the biggest reason I keep it is for sentimental value.  That's probably okay when it comes to a boombox.

But that's NOT okay when it comes to the way we think and do ministry.  Or personal evangelism. I wonder. Are we guilty of boombox living in a Bluetooth world?    Do we speak and preach and share Christ using the same moldy old methods?

Of course the gospel message cannot and must not change.  The Bible is still the Bible.  But are we just offering what we've always done in the ways that we've always done it?  

This is not your father's America.  If this very pagan nation will be reached, it will take much more than boombox living in a Bluetooth world.

Recently, I bought a collection of Louis L'Amour western novels on Ebay. Some of them had special book club offers tucked inside.  Reading them is a time capsule in direct marketing.

A 1971 edition of The Broken Gun pitched a Zane Grey Library—three books for one dollar (plus a few cents shipping charges). 

In a 1981 copy of The Skyliners, I was urged to examine a hardback edition of Silver Canyon.  Bundled with a 1981 calendar, (valued at $6.95) who could possibly resist?

Then, a 1993 print of The Trail to Seven Pines tried to rope me into—quote–”Claiming my reward!”    That reward turned out to be a hardback edition of a book titled, Sackett.

Yet, I was scarcely able to leave my six-shooters holstered when another book proposed a free Louis L'Amour Collectors deck of cards if I would simply examine another great western on a trial basis.

All four of these offers were presented on tear-out postcards—which I tore out, filled out and put in the mail on Thursday, May 19.  Mind you, the oldest offer goes back to 1971….and the newest is still 16 years old. 

Then came the wait. 

Would even one of the four respond?

Would just one of these publishers be willing to honor their promise?

After nearly three months of waiting, I concluded I would be more likely to shoot the head off three rattle snakes with one bullet at a thousand paces….than get a reply from any of these old offers.

Contrast those cheesy marketing ploys with an offer from God that is as valid today as the day He issued it in His book, the Bible “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Finally, an offer you can trust.   And frankly, the thought of heaven–it's beauty and certainty–makes this cowboy sit a little taller in the saddle.