When I read the Bible, I imagine the scene taking place.  I try to put myself in the story just as if I’m watching a movie unfold.  That’s what I did when I read the first “wind and waves” story of this message series, called InterFEARence. By doing that it led me to questions that maybe I would have never asked of Scripture.

For instance, here is the beginning of the scene where Jesus and Peter walk on water:

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

When I visualized this, I wondered about Jesus praying up on the mountainside.  This passage is more than just information, you know.  I thought about what Jesus must have seen up there.  He would have had a great vantage point for watching the storm, obviously.  So, why did He do what He did…

Think about Him high up overlooking the boat.  And now imagine that Jesus looks up and sees the start of a massive storm on the horizon. Rather than run, Jesus prays.  He doesn’t leave just.  He stays until the storm arrives.

As the storm buids He may have been tempted to go quickly back to the disciples on a rescue mission, but He didn’t.  Jesus stays put and prays harder.  If Jesus can walk on water (which we know He can), then Jesus could have come to the disciple’s boat at any moment.  So, why is the moment He left theperfect moment in the storm?

Well, hopefully you have some intriguing questions too as you read God’s Word.  For me, I believe this exercise brought some good thoughts such as the fact that Jesus purposefully wanted these men to encounter what they did alone.  It was a sort of test.  I believe Jesus was up on that mountainside praying for their faith to be strengthened through the test.  Jesus told Peter at another time that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat, but Jesus was praying for Him.  So,  prayer is obviously a key to facing the scary things in our lives.  I noticed that when things got rough, Jesus didn’t bail, He prayed, and then He prayed harder.  Jesus didn’t just fly down to the boat like Superman, even though He certainly could.  Jesus knew it was good for the disciples to go through this test of faith.  Jesus doesn’t save us from every hard situation.  Only our God could know the perfect time to bring deliverance through the storms of life.

So from this passage, I am reminded that prayer,intercession and patience is a key to trusting God to come through when I’m facing a test.  Try visualizing the Scriptures as you read.  It could mean so much more as you immerse yourself in the story God is telling you.

Today I reached my goal to be “overweight.”  Sounds funny, but it really was my goal.  I know, I know…you’re outraged too.  But I’ve accepted it, and moved on.  Better yet, I determined to get fitter. You see, according to Wii Fit from Nintendo, I was in the “obese” category.   So, my first goal was to go from obese to overweight.  And if it sticks past today, you can give me a big fat checkmark on that one!

Others may think that becoming overweight is the opposite of hardwork, but for me it took a lot of initiative.  It takes determination to get where you’re going, even if your goal is a little odd.

The Bible commends us to have goals and to work hard to achieve them.  It also tells us how wrong it is to procrastinate and make excuses. Here’s another seemingly backward way of saying it…

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.” (Proverbs13:4)

In other words, the person who isn’t diligent about what he or she wants, ain’t getting it.  However the diligent person will work and be richly rewarded for it.  In this translation of the Bible, it says, that the person gets “fat.”  But that’s just another way of saying that he or she is extremely satisfied with the results…you know, “fat and happy!”

What points will you plot throughout this year?  This weekend will be a motivational conclusion to the Flashforward message series.  I hope you’re ready for the future that you’re busy working towards.

Showing off my birthday card

I turned 35 this week, and had a great birthday. I received lots of birthday well wishes via facebook (thanks everyone), as well as a few birthday cards. One card in particular is special to me because it is signed by about 40 inmates. While most people are afraid of prisoners and wouldn’t want to go into a jailhouse, I rather enjoy prison ministry, and really like being employed by the SC Dept. of Corrections as a chaplain.

I thought about those inmates who wished me a happy birthday this week in terms of Sunday’s sermon. The topic Sunday was RESTORATION. As you can imagine, the incarcerated would love a chance for restoration. Some of them get a chance to pay their debt and regain what was lost, but most never fully feel restored.

In the book of Ezekiel, God expresses that His people didn’t deserve another chance, but for the sake of His character of love and mercy, He would restore them. This would mean that God would eventually send his people home and lead them to rebuild the city walls and temple. But it really wouldn’t be the magnificent temple that they once had. It was something a lot less glorious.

Just like my incarcerated friends know so well, there are consequences to our sins that God may allow us to go through, and yet He still wants to restore us. Restoration doesn’t mean that we get off without paying for our actions, or that we recoup everything that we once threw away. It does mean, however, that God will not allow those actions, once forgiven, to change His love for us. Restoration isn’t about stuff; it’s about relationship with a personal God who can say to a penitent nation or a convicted murderer, thief, or molester, “I’m there for you.” That’s what God meant when he renamed the restored city “Jehovah Shammah”…the God who is there!

As part of my yearly training at the Prison, I attended a character building class Monday.  The trainer focused on the characteristic of honesty that day.  I thought it was so ironic that just the day before I was preaching to Team Church about temptations, and then I kinda got a follow-up message about giving in to the temptation to lie at my workplace.  It is so cool to hear people work through ethics dilemmas outside of the church atmosphere.  At work, they removed the religious filter, and just said what they really believed.

The trainer asked, “Do you think you’re an honest person?”

I heard answers that started with basically, I am; on the whole, I am; generally, I am; and overall I am an honest person.

The trainer asked, “Why do you think you’re an honest person?”

One answered, “Because I tell the truth more than I tell lies.” (interesting answer, no? )

Another person turned the tables on honesty by saying, “what do you do when your wife asks, ‘honey, does this dress make me look fat?’”  But then in the same breath she said, “we just better stick to talking about honesty at work.”

So, I’m guessing from that that we’re supposed to always be honest at work, but we have some wiggle room at home or either when the truth is not so convenient???  The trainer then asked a very pointed question, “how many lies does it take for us to be a liar?”

On Sunday I was pretty much thinking about the temptation we face “in the dark.”  In other words, I was imagining temptations we have when we’re usually alone, when no one knows what we’re up to, the dark and seedy things that would ruin us if they were ever revealed. But temptations can come in all sizes…isn’t it amazing that we’ll even succumb to the temptation to lie even when it was just as well to tell the truth.

I hope you’re watching out for those temptations this week–No matter if it’s a temptation to begin an affair, scan some internet porn, or even tell a “little white lie.”  Remember, all of our temptations have potential…potential for great harm as well as potential for your victory through God’s help.