Category: Thursday Thought

It’s hard to take seriously a town that goes by the name of Sandwich. Yet such a burg not only exists, it’s home to Illinois's oldest fair, since 1888. More notable yet is the train car parked at the corner of Main St. and US Route 34.

Not just any train car, the "Isabella" was the railcar home of President Theodore Roosevelt. From 1900 to 1913, he trekked coast to coast in this Pullman-made beauty, featuring Mahogany-trimmed windows and stained glass. But in 1931, it was auctioned off for $75 to a Mr. Henry Tattrersol, who dreamed of converting it into a diner. Thus, it came to rest in Sandwich, Illinois, and a restaurant was born, though the place has changed some over the years.

We sampled lunch cuisine beneath the train car's domed ceiling. And looking out the same mahogany-framed windows from which Roosevelt peered, it was impossible to deny the sense of the "Rough Rider's" persona.

Here was a guy who—after being shot in the chest while out on the campaign trail—was determined to deliver his speech anyway! Asked if he would finish his campaign, Roosevelt declared, "I feel fit as a bull moose!" Hence the name of his political party and the name of the restaurant in Sandwich.

Roosevelt was equally blunt in his thoughts about matters of faith, at one point declaring, “The nation should be ruled by the Ten Commandments.” He also contended, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”

With prophetic insight, he opined, “The thought of modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare beyond imagining. The choice between the two is upon us.”

More than a century later, we're still making that choice. Which is a lot to ponder while munching on a burger and homemade chips in a train car fragrant with a bygone courage and conviction.

Lord, make us sturdy!

Forbid we should sit when you’ve called us to stand.

Help us be salt and light in every place you call us.

Amen!

 

“Choose you this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”  —Joshua 24:15

As I look back, it’s embarrassing.

My computer mouse acted sluggishly. You could grab that mouse and whip it diagonally from one corner of the screen up to the other, and the cursor would move, but only sluggishly. At times, it appeared to freeze for a second. But was it my imagination that the lag times were getting longer?

The mouse appeared to be pausing, halting randomly. Because the mouse is such a crucial part of any computer workflow, my productivity slowed down (though my pulse sped up!). Over time, it became apparent I wasn't just imagining things. That mouse was pausing longer, moving slower.

Earlier this week, while editing some audio files, it didn’t just pause. It pooped out.

I powered down the computer and booted up again, hoping it was just a glitch of some kind. No luck. No mouse. No more.

So I scoured the internet for answers, beginning with the manufacturer. Because it’s a wireless mouse, I immediately replaced the battery. But there was still no life.

On a hunch, I decided to swap out the "new" battery from our vast collection, housed in a plastic tub, with one I knew to be absolutely brand new. You can easily guess the end of the story. The mouse powered up immediately and performed flawlessly, as it has ever since. All it took was a power boost.

But what about you?

Any chance you might need a “fresh battery?” I’m not talking about your mouse. I’m talking about your ministry. About your walk with Christ. About your prayer life, perhaps.

We get so busy "doing" the Christian life that it's easy to forget what God (thankfully) remembers: "that we are but dust" (Psalm 103:14). Which means, apart from His empowerment, we're bound to feel sluggish, lagging, and frozen up.

If you're feeling unproductive and just plain weary—as if your batteries are shot—ponder again the promise of Isaiah 40:29. It's time to connect. But don't wait!

He gives strength to the weary, and to the one who lacks might He increases power.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JT and his wife had prayed earnestly for his church’s VBS, prayed that God would bring in kids who needed to hear about the love of Jesus.

But JT was not prepared for God’s answer, nor did he particularly approve of the Almighty’s student selection for the class that he and his wife would lead.

Elliot was loud, undisciplined, and unpredictable. He was also, it strongly appeared, on the autistic spectrum.

Instead of singing along with the worship band, Elliot cried—the noise being too much. When others waved their worship streamers to the beat, Elliot thrashed his entire body. Instead of merely laughing politely at jokes, he roared so loudly that those around him (and those far away) gawked at the disruption. At times, he howled mournfully, a lone wolf in despair.

It was impossible to tell whether Elliot heard or understood a single word shared during the Bible lessons. But early on JT’s wife, who understands these things, made Elliot the special object of her care.

At song time, she helped him do the motions. At class time, she graciously overlooked his outbursts. In a word, she loved Elliot. Loved him with the love of Jesus. And few little boys have needed it more.

Elliot’s mom died last year.

But for one week, this island week of craziness called Vacation Bible School, a loud and unpredictable Elliot found the thing he needed most.

Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

 — Jesus, (Matthew 9:13a)

Have you ever met anyone who has shipwrecked their faith?

You've likely heard of the "exvangelical" movement. These people grew up in evangelical churches but have since "de-identified" from evangelicalism. They've walked away from their faith.

According to a Religion in Public blog, between four and five percent of the American population can be classified as exvangelical. Personally, I’m weary of reading their stories. What’s behind this trend?

Exvangelicals – A Note on Size and Sources

Actually, it’s nothing new. Paul saw it coming in his day, which is why he wrote in 1 Timothy 1:18,19, “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.”

For many, the greatest danger in shipwrecking our faith is the presumption that it’s inconceivable. “Not me,” we insist.

But a shipwreck is possible for every one of us! Not just possible, it's probable! Consider: if you are floating in a boat, you are surrounded by that which could kill you! The same is true spiritually.

• The world wants to shipwreck your faith.
• The flesh wants to shipwreck your faith.
• The devil wants to shipwreck your faith.

With all that opposition, how do we avoid a personal spiritual shipwreck? Paul offers three keys in his instructions to Timothy—and us.

Key #1: Prepare to fight (verse 18). We're not called to "love the good rest" but to "fight the good fight." Avoiding shipwreck is a struggle for which we must prepare.

Key #2: “Keep the faith” (verse 19). When circumstances turn hard and answers are few, we don’t chuck our faith. We keep it. We keep holding on to Christ.

Key #3: "Keep a good conscience" (verse 19). We don't violate what we know to be true about Christ and His Word. We stay with the stuff.

Consider: No one ever drifts toward the Lord. We drift away from Him. Shipwreck is not merely possible. It’s probable!

If only there were a warning sign. Or maybe, this is it!

Photo by GEORGE DESIPRIS: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-black-sunken-ship-2056194/

It happened at Hogansville.

I refer to the Georgia town 60 miles southwest of Atlanta. From a glance out the window, there isn't much going on in Hogansville, population 3,267. Unless, of course, you're into hummingbirds. Here, Hogansville shines. Since 1998, they have faithfully hosted an annual Hummingbird event, billed as "Midwest Georgia's Favorite Fall Festival."

But it was a sign on a tree—not a bird at a fair— that caught my eye on Interstate 85 as we rolled past the outskirts of Hogansville. The letters popped out in fire engine red on a day-glow yellow diamond shape. There were just three words on that sign nailed to the trunk: "Save Me Jesus."

Not sure it was by design, but I found a certain irony in the wording of that sign. To save us is precisely why Jesus was nailed to a tree.

1 Peter 2:24 declares of Jesus, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (cross), that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

"Save me, Jesus." Have you prayed that prayer? Have you asked Jesus to rescue you from the self-centered (sinful) lifestyle we all fall into? Have you asked Him to take charge of you—to be your Savior—and to help you turn away from your me-monster lifestyle?

If you haven’t, if all you have is a vague sense of religiosity with a dash of Jesus thrown in—this is your moment, and this is your prayer.

Consider it—your sign.

 

 

 

 

 

He was born in a broken neighborhood in East Los Angeles. When his parents divorced, his heart and home were broken. Statistically speaking, Frank would likely never amount to anything but trouble.

Yet God had his hand on Frank. After graduating from a Christian university, Frank sensed a call to evangelism and scheduled a series of meetings in the summer of 1961.

Yolanda remembers. She was 15, babysitting at the home of a liberal mainline pastor’s family. “I honestly don’t think he was saved,” Yolanda recalls.

But Yolanda was spiritually hungry and wanted to study the Bible. When she mentioned that to the pastor, he handed her a flyer advertising a week of evangelistic meetings at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.

The pastor offered to drive Yolanda and her friends to the school. She smiles, recalling, “It ended up that we had nearly 25 kids and it took several vehicles.”

Speaking that night was a young trumpet-playing evangelist named Frank Gonzales. His music was bright, his message was clear: apart from Christ, there is no hope for salvation.

That very night, Yolanda received Christ, as did ten of her friends. As for Frank Gonzales, he went on to share Christ with people all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala.

But the remarkable thing about Frank was that he didn’t do this ministry alone. He assembled teams of college-aged kids (like Yolanda) to travel with him and sing and share in week-long outreaches that included sports, door-to-door witnessing, and evening concerts and preaching.

Notably, many of the team members Frank took only be described as broken. They came from troubled families, were former drug addicts, or had social issues. Frank loved them and discipled them all.

Team members attended class every morning. My wife Diana, who traveled with the ministry for three years, recalls. "We were taught theology, Scripture memorization, and personal evangelism. Frank was absolutely committed to our growth."

 

By the time Frank died in 1994, he had discipled more than 4,000 young people, and many thousands more were saved at churches and other meetings where he spoke and played.

The world said that Frank would never amount to anything. But God whispered otherwise.

Maybe you feel broken at this very moment. Broken emotionally, relationally—maybe spiritually. You might have a broken past, a broken track record. And every voice you hear seems to say, “You’ll never amount to anything.”

But God whispers otherwise. Search the Scriptures and you’ll discover the undeniable: Christ loves to use broken people.

Just ask the thousands of people touched for eternity by the broken boy from the broken neighborhood in East Los Angeles.

 

 

 

 

 

Six-year-old Emma possesses a charming urge to give gifts. As a nature lover, her gifts are often like the one she presented me last week: a leaf.

But leaves don’t last, and that’s a hard lesson for little ones to learn. I suspect it’s a reality most of us adults struggle with, as well. Whether we’re blessed with little—or a lot—we want the good stuff to last forever. But…

• Leaves don’t last forever.
• Flowers don’t last forever.
• Looks don’t last forever.
• Dream jobs don’t last forever.
• Health doesn’t last forever.
• Houses don’t last forever. 
• Spouses don’t last forever—not in the earthly sense.

These are all wonderful gifts. But we love them too much when we love them more than God and insist they never go away.

We seek a “forever” quality in our gifts, but will find it only in the Giver. Consider, we are pilgrims passing through, not hoarders hanging on.

Our misshapen hearts, deformed by the fall, seek fulfillment in stuff that doesn’t last, rather than a Savior that never leaves. And the whispered refrain of our Heavenly Father is to love the Giver more than the gifts.

You want forever?

• Heaven is forever.
• Christ is forever.
• Souls are forever.
• The Word of God is forever.

Let’s learn to long for these—and not lesser gifts. 

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!   

–2 Corinthians 9:15

It was barely six o’clock in the morning, but the sun was so high—and the humidity with it—sunglasses seemed to beg for their own wiper blades.

Humid or not, Jack launched into his Scripture memory work. In his hand, he held a laminated card featuring the text of Psalm 27. He was working on verse eight:

When you said, "Seek my face," my heart said to you, "I shall seek your face, Lord.

Again and again, Jack worked that phrase over as he hoofed his way toward the office: “I shall seek your face, Lord. I shall seek your face, Lord.” And then a distraction seized his view—a very young, very trim jogger lady whose too-few clothes were too tight.

Jack said, “Immediately, this verse seemed to shout at me: “When you said ‘Seek my face,’ my heart said to you, ‘I shall seek your face, Lord.’”

Rather than linger or leer, Jack turned away and quoted the verse—out loud. And he did so again and again until the jogger had passed. Looking back on that moment, he quipped, "Ya know, it’s hard to quote Scripture and gawk at a jogger.” 

He's got a point! But not just ANY point. Jack was using the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God! It's for moments exactly like this that God has given us the Scriptures.

Ephesians 6:17 urges, "And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." We would not need a helmet or a sword if there were no battle. But fight we must because the war is on.

While it’s nice to celebrate Jack’s win, one victory is hardly the end of the conflict. Jack will surely need to reach for his Sword again. And so will you and I.

I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11

Photo by Ricardo Cruz on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you snack between meals? Probably.

Americans spend 135 billion annually on snacks—almost $500 per person. And get this—44% of us spend more on snack food than Netflix. Snacks account for more than a quarter of U.S. food and beverage spending.

As a toddler, our daughter Lynnette was the poster child for snackers. It got to the point where my wife set out a Cheerios-inspired yellow bowl with snacks to tame Lynnette's appetite. She snacked her way through the day. And so do many of us.

But are we that hungry for God's presence? How many of us PRAY our way through the day?

It was the old radio preacher Bob Cook who I first heard share that phrase, which is anchored in Ephesians 6:18,  "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints." In other words, this verse is saying, "Pray your way through the day."

Before you open the mail—say a prayer. (There could be good news—or bad!).

Before you answer the phone—say a prayer. (You don't know who might be on the other end of the call, desperate for encouragement).

Before you hit “send” on that text or email—say a prayer. (You might end up NOT hitting send!).

Before you walk in the door after work to greet your spouse—say a prayer.

(You don't know what they've been through, what comfort they need).

Yes, we need times of extended, quiet prayer with God—say first thing in the morning. But the temptation (for me at least) is to then “check prayer off the list.”  Instead, let’s learn to pray our way through the day.

I’m hardly a Jedi knight at this, but when I choose to live this lifestyle, I am…

         •        More at peace

         •        Less irritable

         •        More poised to notice others’ needs and encourage them.

Pray your way through the day. Try it! It feels like you're having an extended conversation with Jesus—like you never really leave his presence. Isn't that the way we're supposed to live the Christian life?

Thomas Watson reminds us, “The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.”

Pray your way through the day!

 

 

https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/education/2024/state-of-snacking/

https://talkbusiness.net/2019/12/americans-spend-almost-500-annually-on-snack-foods/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/44-americans-spend-more-snacks-130215223.html

https://www.marketplace.org/story/2024/02/09/many-americans-are-snacking-more-but-looking-for-bargains-in-the-snack-aisle

When it comes to antisemitism, the last 30 days have been ugly.

Justin Kron of the Kesher Project put together the following assessment of the last 30 days:

• Kanye West—an artist with a following of nearly 30 million people, more than double the global Jewish population—released a song and music video titled “Heil Hitler.” 
• Mosab Abu Toha, who denied that hostages were abducted on October 7th, won a Pulitzer Prize.
• A student at Temple University recorded himself ordering bar service with a sign that reads "F*** the Jews," which went viral on social media. After being publicly chastised by Dave Portnoy, the bar owner, somebody created a fund to help the student cover any legal fees he might incur in defending his "free speech."

• The premiere of Bring the Family Home, featuring Jewish rapper KoshaDillz and his efforts to encourage peaceful dialogue with anti-Israel protestors, is canceled by the host theater in Chicago just 3 hours beforehand due to "safety concerns." Thankfully, another theater quickly stepped up to the plate, allowing people to attend the premiere. 
• Tom Fletcher, the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, during a BBC interview, stated that "14,000 babies [in Gaza] will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them," which was entirely untrue. Nevertheless, multiple mainstream media outlets and social influencers, including former news anchor Katie Couric, quickly parroted the lie to millions around the world.

• Two days later, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, both Jewish followers of Jesus who were planning to get engaged the following week, were maliciously gunned down by a pro-Hamas terrorist from Chicago while they were walking out of an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., for the ‘crime’ of being Zionists. Many then took to social media to defend the shooter's actions as justified resistance.

• Just last weekend, during a peaceful march in support of Israeli hostages at the outdoor Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman used a "makeshift flamethrower" and launched Molotov cocktails that burned twelve victims.

Again, all of this (and more) has happened in just the past month. Yet many in our country act like antisemitism isn’t a serious issue and that people like me are just being dramatic about it.

But Justin Kron reminds us it is a serious issue, and as followers of Jesus—a Jewish Messiah—and people called to love our neighbors, we must not remain silent. Let us not pretend that antisemitism is someone else's problem. The Church must stand up. Not only in our prayers but in our pulpits, classrooms, and daily conversations. We must teach our children, disciple our congregations, and challenge our culture to confront this evil.

One way you can step up is by getting the word out about the upcoming release of OCTOBER 7: BEARING WITNESS TO THE MASSACRE this September. I’ve seen the trailer—and it might just leave you breathless. Learn more at october7film.com.

The good news? Romans 12:2 assures us we can “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) and truly make a difference. Why not start today?

Thanks to Justin Kron and the Kesher project for their tireless work. Visit kesherproject.com