Imagine sitting in the middle of a 41-piece orchestra clutching your french horn while just a few feet away, a large choir brings favorite Christmas carols to life. After a zillion rehearsals and two performances, I walk away with four lessons from our Community Christmas concerts. Lesson #1 True satisfaction doesn’t come from hearing your own instrument but from hearing the sound of others. While I like my French horn, being immersed in the string section is a magic I would almost pay for. Reminds me of Philippians 2:4: “Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an…
Charlie Brown Christmas
On December 9, 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired for the first time on television. Most everybody knows that Charles Schulz was the creator of the iconic cartoon strip called Peanuts. But what fewer know is that when the animated Christmas special was under discussion, Charles Schulz stood toe to toe with television network executives insisting the program include a reading of Luke’s gospel account of the Christmas story. The biblical passage was necessary, said Schulz, to counterbalance what “had been lost in the eternal good-time frivolity.” After serving in World War 2, Schulz became a Christian and taught Sunday…
It Has to Come to Words!
I am irritated. My wife’s friend mentioned a Sunday sermon where she heard it's unnecessary to be so concerned about verbally sharing our faith. And the preacher quoted these familiar words attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel always—and when necessary, use words.” It’s a pleasant thought. But it isn’t biblical. The Great Commission is not “Go into the all the world and do kind deeds.” It’s preach the gospel! Doing good things is good. Unquestionably, rendering kind acts of service for others opens doors to sharing the gospel. But good deeds are NOT the gospel. The gospel…
Grace looks like chocolate cake. Sometimes.
If you have never sampled a Portillo’s chocolate cake, never twiddled your fork in its fudgy excess, your culinary character is in question. The offer of a free slice of this deadly desert was enough to lure my son, Tim, and me into surrendering our email addresses to join Portillo's birthday club. Both November babies, it was time for us to claim the prize. Having secured a couple of tables at Portillo’s, my wife, Diana, engaged Tim’s wife and girls with a pilgrim craft. Patrons and staff alike fawned over Tim’s little blonde girls (wearing matching red plaid tops and…
Why do you love me so much?
The late Billy Graham used one phrase perhaps more than any other. "God loves you!" It's a message we never tire of hearing. The question is, why? Why does God love us? Recently, I helped three-year-old Emma wash her hands. The whole time (and kids her age love to make a production of it), I repeatedly told her, “I love you so much! I'm so glad you're here, Emma!” Fiddling with the hand towel, she quietly asked, “Why do you love me so much?” The question caught me off guard. I stammered something about her being our granddaughter, so we would always…
When the True King is Revealed
An actual prince and a true pauper meet in a chance encounter. Remarkably, they appear like identical twins. For fun, they switch clothes, the pauper donning royal robes as the prince dresses in the other boy’s rags. But the story takes off when the actual prince, wearing those rags, is shoved off the royal castle property. Like most epic tales, the book version of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper is better than the movie. One of the last chapters is titled "Conclusion: Justice and Retribution." Here we learn the fate of those who have helped or hindered the…
Like–or Love–the Word of God?
Do you love the Word of God—or just like it? The difference is huge—but how can you know? Here are five questions to help you self-assess. Check #1 If you LOVE the Word of God, when you skip a day reading it, you feel out of sorts, not ready for the day—as if you are not fully dressed. If you just LIKE the Word of God, reading it is more of a duty, a check-mark thing. Check #2 If you LOVE the Word of God, you regularly find a nugget of treasure that makes you say, “Wow!” Might not…
Lingering Damage
We’ve all seen the videos: aerial sweeps of entire neighborhoods flattened by Hurricane Ian. After killing 119 people and racking up 47 billion dollars of insured losses, Ian is now the most expensive storm in Florida’s history. We are just back from a trip to Florida, north of where the hurricane left the coast. But even from a distance, you see damage to the vegetation. Where we stayed, the streets were lined with mounds of branches, palm fronds, and other storm debris. Residents think the garbage collection people should handle it, but the trash haulers don’t share that idea. The…
When the Messes are No More
To children, they are treasures—their daily works of art. From crayons to markers to watercolors, kids love to create almost as fast as we can supply the paper. So it was that five-year-old Ava presented me with a collection of her finest. She's embellished a rectangle of blue felt with a polka dot red crescent moon and an orange heart she’d cut out and glued. And on top of that heart was a smaller heart in the background blue shade. This masterpiece arrived with other treasures. Among them was a flamboyant rendering of an ultra-green Christmas tree and another illustration…
Unthirsty
We have a thirst problem, you and me. The problem is—we aren’t. Thirsty, I mean. When it comes to the Word of God—being in the presence of God—many of us just aren’t that thirsty. We like a sip now and then (morning devotions or Sunday church). But few would mistake us for genuinely thirsty souls. When you’re really dried out, you can taste the water before it touches your lips, let alone goes down your parched throat. You smile at the thought of it, anticipating its cool and quenching effect. But for many of us, a swallow of the Almighty…