Stillness in the midst of the chaos

Psalm 46:10, a verse in the Bible that I should encompass more in my life:

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”

BE STILL! What a strange idea in this modern, silicone age where we find ourselves smothered by every manner of noise and distraction possible! 


BE STILL! Who in their "right mind" would possibly want to be still when there are so many "must watch" shows on TV?


BE STILL! Who could possibly keep still when I haven't seen all of the movies nominated for awards?


BE STILL! Can I be still when my favorite sports team is in the midst of a fight to make the playoffs?


BE STILL! I mean, really, how can I keep still with so many friends and family calling me, wanting me to go out, or dropping by?


BE STILL! I have my hobbies to tend to so I can relax and have my "me time."


BE STILL! And of course you know I have my job, bills to pay, and mouths to feed so I don't have time for stillness.


I could offer up many more excuses for not keeping still but God sees right through them. They are just that  —  excuses. Excuses for not wanting to listen to God. Excuses for disbelief, disobedience, and even outright rebellion. By making any excuse to not obey God I am sinning. I am putting myself before God. The real enemy of God is not Satan, it is my own pride.


There is no other way. I must deny myself and listen to and obey the Lord. Jesus tells me so in the gospels, here in Luke 9:23-25:

"Then he said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?'"

In Psalm 46:10 God is stating with all authority that He is God. It is because of busyness that people do not know Him. He says to "be still, and KNOW." In order to know God I must obey, and to obey I must hear, and to hear I must listen, and to listen I must be quiet.


Psalm 37 is yet another piece of Scripture that extolls the virtue of being still and waiting for the Lord:

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways,  when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret — it leads only to evil.  For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

In the last two parts of Psalm 46:10 God again says with all authority that He WILL be honored by every nation and the world. God is not saying IF we listen to Him then he will be honored. God is saying that it WILL happen, with certainty. There will come a day when The Lord Jesus Christ will return to the world and reign as our King. We will be judged based upon our belief and faith in Jesus. God is telling us, in no uncertain terms, He is in charge. God is the beginning and the end, the maker of all of creation.


Just as I am individually, the entire world is also caught up in its own busyness. The nations of the world squabble, go to war, and make their plans. Through the course of history we have seen the rise and fall of civilizations, empires, kings, and rulers. All of them planned to last forever but were overcome, defeated, or simply fell apart over time. But God is forever, the Kingdom of Heaven will never cease because it is founded upon the One who made all things.


Read Psalm 2 in The Message translation of the Bible to see what the Word of God says:

Why the big noise, nations? Why the mean plots, peoples? Earth-leaders push for position, demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks, the God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers: "Let's get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!" Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he's amused at their presumption; then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up: "Don't you know there's a King in Zion? A coronation banquet is spread for him on the holy summit."

God is always there. God is unmoving, unchanging, He is constant. I am the one who moves to and fro, who comes and goes, who is too busy chasing my own tail to see and hear God in my daily life. Because I am a man born under the curse of sin, my ability to be in communion with God is hindered. Unlike Adam in Eden who enjoyed communion with God before the fall and sin was unleashed, and unlike the sinless Jesus who is a man but also part of the Triune God, I suffer from a sin handicap that affects my vision and my hearing. 


The cure for this sin handicap is Jesus. Christ is who separates me from sin, washes me clean with his blood that was shed for me on the cross at Calvary, and enables me to have communion with God again. I simply need to focus on Jesus and less on myself, lose my rebellious pride, and take the time to worship, revere and listen to the most holy God.

The Wreckage of My Past Is (No Longer) Haunting Me

A couple of decades ago, when I was a much different person than I am now, heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne released a song called "The Road to Nowhere." Ozzy is famously (or infamously) known for many things, but if you are unfamiliar with this song it might surprise you considering the source. Still a hard rock song, but this one displays an honesty and maturity by a man who, at the time, was middle aged and father to younger children.

In it he sings about reflecting back over the course of his life and how he sees with regret much of what he has done. It is well known that Ozzy is an alcoholic who does not remember very clearly much of the prime of his life. One line that has stuck with me goes "the wreckage of my past keeps haunting me, it just won't leave me alone." Then the chorus is summed up by the line, "The road to nowhere, leads to me."

I never personally battled any demons like drug use or alcoholism. I did spend a lot of years in my twenties and early thirties battling the depression that loneliness brings. I married very young, and was divorced by age 22. I then wasted much time feeling sorry for myself and hoping some beautiful woman from the pages of a magazine would come to life and feel sorry for me and give my life direction and meaning again. Not literally, of course, but I certainly had a skewed vision of what a real woman is from too much exposure to popular culture and pornography. Some early wreckage on my road.

I spent many a night in bars, smoking cigarettes and drinking a couple of beers (I never was much of a drinker and am very thankful I never got into drugs.) I would be surrounded by many people, a few I got to know their names and some would even act like they were happy to see me. But at the end of the night I would drag myself home feeling lonely and sorry for myself. More wreckage at the side of the road.

The fledgling Internet became a refuge for me. I logged in to a chat room every day and talked with more "friends" but again this was another realm of make believe. By pretending these regulars in the chat room actually cared about me it helped mask the depression I was dealing with. Some of these chat experiences turned into real encounters, but they were doomed from the start because they were founded upon lies. A real relationship takes an environment of real truth in which real love can bloom. I could no more love a chat room ID than I could love a picture in a magazine. Neither of them were real. More wreckage littering the road.

During this time Ozzy Osbourne's song was striking a note with me. The saying "misery loves company" to me meant I found other things to add to my pity party. Not just "The Road to Nowhere" but there were other songs as well ("Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum was another song I was particularly drawn to.)

I thought I was living the way single people were supposed to. It never occurred to me that there was another life to be found in Jesus Christ. I was trying to convince myself I was an atheist. Then when I got a little older I began to admit that there had to be something out there so I then declared I was spiritual and that there must be a "Father Sky/Mother Earth" great spirit we had to acknowledge, but not do anything about.

Clearly, I was lonely, depressed, and searching for something to bring love, happiness, and meaning to my life. Jesus was the farthest thing from my mind at the time, however. I was too self-absorbed, too full of my hurt pride, to really think or acknowledge anyone else. Even my own beautiful little girl who needed a Daddy, who wasn't there for her most of the time because he was too selfish. There is a huge pile of wreckage there.

Fast forward a little and I come across my wonderful, beautiful, saint of a wife, Trudi. I am not sure how, but I convinced her that she loved me enough that she married me. I do not today take credit for this as I am certain that Jesus blessed me with Trudi as part of His perfect plan for the redemption of His creation.

Before we were married we met with the pastor of her grandparents' church. He was a nice man who chatted with us, but he early on saw that I was not a Christian. He simply said he could not marry us because he would not yoke a believer to an unbeliever. Trudi was devastated. I was angry at religion. Despite what looked like another pile of wreckage at the time, it was in actuality a seed planted inside of me.

My grandmother, Garnet, was a beautiful woman who lived a beautiful life as she was firmly rooted in Christ as her source. She must have prayed for me a lot over the years. I can remember as a young boy spending time with her and being exposed to Jesus. But I never really let Him in. I can clearly see now the many seeds she planted in me. Maybe they didn't sprout right away, but the seeds she put inside of me did one day years later finally push through the rocky surface and begin to grow.

Mamaw passed away after Trudi and I were married. She'd had a stroke and was not the same person after that. It was difficult for me to deal with so I did not see her much after her stroke and before she died. I can see now that this again was a sign of my selfishness, that it bothered me so I stayed away from her. More wreckage on that road to nowhere.

The year 2007 was a bad year for us. To start, Trudi's uncle, her mother's brother, passed away. Also, her two children's grandfather on their father's side died.

Trudi, suffering from abdominal pain, was found to have cysts on her ovaries and a marker in her blood sent us to see a gynecology oncologist in Columbus. She had a complete hysterectomy, including her lymph nodes. Tests later confirmed the cysts were cancerous. We were blessed that it was caught so early on that it never really had time to take root. Thank God, she has been cancer free since then. At the time, however, I did not see the Lord's blessing on us, even though it was right there in front of me.

Also, in that year, Trudi and I separated. We actually separated a few times over the course of three or four years. The biggest problem, on the surface, was money. I wasn't making enough to help support us, despite working full time. We were always one payment away from having this shut off or that taken away. I was again too selfish to see I needed to sacrifice some of my happiness to find a job that paid better. More wreckage in the mirror.

The year 2007 also saw the death of Trudi's grandmother, Helen. She was very close to her "Gram" and credits Helen with much of who she is today. Helen was, like my Mamaw, a saintly woman who loved Jesus and lived a life worthy of the Lord. She had been in declining health in a nursing home for a couple of years, but her death was still hard on Trudi.

At her funeral, Pastor Mick Foster, who was then at Faith United Methodist Church where my brother-in-law, Ed, is the custodian, had looked through one of her personal Bibles with her notes written all through it. He chosen one of her favorite passages, found in John 14, to read during her eulogy. I sat there next to Trudi, both of us in tears. Hers were in sorrow and loss. My tears were from Jesus tugging on my heart. Trudi has another of her grandmother's Bibles and later that day I sat on our sofa and began to read it. First, just to look for Helen's notes, but then to see what this book was about.

Fast forward again a couple more years. The brief encounter with the Bible long behind me, I found myself still dealing with the familiar problems of my selfishness putting a strain on our family. In desperation I finally quit my job and took out a loan to go to a school and obtain a commercial driver's license and enter the exciting and lucrative world of truck driving. To make a long story short, I quickly discovered that not everyone is made to drive big rigs and be away from home for extended periods. The old, familiar pangs of loneliness quickly set in and I began to be depressed. I drove Trudi crazy with my phone calls.

After a just month as a new hire on the road with an instructor, I found myelf being let go because I just wasn't good enough. Again, Trudi was devastated at another failure on my part. She told me not to bother coming home. The bus ride home was one of the most painful times in my life. It was my mother who picked me up when I got off the bus and took me to my parents' house.

I was in a really bad place that could have taken a tragic turn. I was back in the throes of depression. I was unemployed and I was not with my family, in my house. I was so down I was on the floor with nothing. The wreckage was not just in my past this time, I was in it for real.

In desperation I started to pray. The only hope I had was that there is a God and that He would take pity on me and He would help me. Dear, sweet, Jesus, oh my how much you have done for me! I found myself in the mud at the foot of the cross looking up for help, for a savior to rescue me. His blood fell down upon me and began to cleanse me. I tasted tears on my tongue. Not just my own, but the tears of Jesus as he wept on the cross for me.

I started reading the Bible. I prayed earnestly. The seeds once planted within me quickly sprang to life and began to flourish. I started to see everything in a different light with a new vision. Suddenly it all looked different. I could clearly see connections in everything that I was blinded to before. I understood with a clarity I never imagined was possible. The words of the Bible are true! God is real and God is good!

From my personal transformation my life also started to change around me. I got my old job back so I was at least able to earn a paycheck again, just as the recession was starting and people were losing jobs. Trudi saw the change in me and gradually accepted the new me back into her life. I soon was blessed to find another job that, despite being harder work, is more rewarding for us. We have grown closer together as a couple in Christ.

I began my personal ministry for God by becoming a member of Faith United Methodist Church. I started to learn and grow with Jesus as my source for everything. I created the church's website. Then I made a Facebook page for it, I began this blog, and became a "Jesus Tweeter."

I know that life will not be pefect until the perfect One comes, and for a follower of Christ life can often be harder because of our faith. Trudi and I still deal with some money problems, but not on the scale we faced before and not with the strain on our marriage. Today, as parents of two young adult women and a teenage boy, we face new challenges. But, no matter what happens I have faith that Jesus is my Lord who will guide me home to the promised land. I am no longer on "The Road to Nowhere" nor riding a "Runaway Train."

This might sound a little cheesy, but I have instead let "Jesus Take the Wheel." And that is all I need.

2012: My New Year's Jesus

I made a resolution some years ago to stop making New Year resolutions. It's the only one I've ever been able to keep. If you know me personally you can clearly see I failed at past diet resolutions and exercise resolutions. I'm not a millionaire so I've also failed any resolutions I made about finances.

So as 2012 approaches I do find myself pondering the new year, but I do not wish to make any resolutions about it. Instead the Holy Spirit within me is telling me one simple word, a name, "Jesus."

I believe New Year resolutions are merely our faulty efforts to do for ourselves that which only Jesus can do for us. We make resolutions out of vain attempts to fix ourselves, to better ourselves, or to give meaning or value to our lives. But we only find our real purpose by looking to God.

In The Message translation of the Bible, it says in Romans 12:

The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

We cannot avoid it because we are created by God, and we are wired in this way because God wants us to seek Him. New Year resolutions are just one way for this yearning for God to be incorrectly manifested.

We are also told in Romans 8:18-25 that ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden we have been under the curse of sin:

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

All of creation and all people suffer from brokenness, sickness, decay, and death. Objects wear out and crumble while living things grow old, suffer from injury and illness, and eventually die. The only cure is Jesus Christ. He is the only way out of sin. Romans 12:2 says:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Jesus is the only way we will be redeemed and restored to the glory it was created. Jesus came, lived a sinless life, was sacrificed as the perfect Lamb to atone for our sins. Then He was resurrected after being dead for three days, defeating the sting of sin and death. It is by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, and through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, that we are cleansed from sin, clothed in His perfect righteousness, and transformed into His likeness.

So for 2012 (and beyond) I am exchanging the word "resolution" with the name Jesus. Just like this:

• Money problems  —  give them to Jesus.
• Health concerns  —  give them to Jesus.
• Family issues  —  give them to Jesus.
• A friend in need  —  give them to Jesus.
• Political concerns  —  give them to Jesus.
• World issues  —  give them to Jesus.

It is not my place to be God. It is just my place to trust the One who is the Maker of all things. I read the promise in Romans 8:28:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit have their roles to play, and I have mine  —  have faith and follow Jesus.

May Jesus Christ bless us and we be firmly rooted in His perfect righteousness. To Him be the glory, Amen!

Let me not forget where my real home is

God created me. God created me for a purpose as part of His plan. God also created me not for this world here and now, but for eternity. As Rick Warren said in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, "You were made by God and for God — and until you understand that, life will never make sense."


God created me in His image, too. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, tells me in chapter 1, verses 26-27: "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."


Because God is not of this world and I am created in His image, I am also not created for this world. The Bible says in the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 14-15, "For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name." I live here, I work here, I interact with this world, but I am not intended to stay here for very long.


Too often I lose track of the eternal implications of how I live my life. What is the span of my life compared with the unimaginable length and breadth of eternity? I do not believe the old saying "a drop in the bucket" even comes close to describing the difference. I cannot fit the actuality of eternity inside my mere human mind. 


I am here just a very short time, but what I do here has eternal implications. The Bible tells me that death on Earth is really just a transformation from one world to the next, where I will be forever. In the next world there are two destinations: Heaven or Hell. The choices I make now, and the actions that I do from those choices, determine my fate in the next world.


What happens to me here and now is far less important than how I react to it. The Bible instructs me in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."


If I live with the promise of Heaven in mind, what I experience makes a much smaller impact on me now. By focusing on Jesus more and on the problems less I can see my way to the future. This does not mean the problem goes away or the situation is not happening, but it does put it in proper perspective. What happens now will go away at some point. But my actions could change my eternity.


The New Testament says in 1 Peter 2:11-12 "Dear friends, I warn you as 'temporary residents and foreigners' to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world."


It is important for me to remember that if this world is not my real, permanent home then I am really just passing through here like a traveller. This is a fallen world in the death-grip of sin. If I do not take care I can begin to like this world too much and become ensnared in its temptations and then get too comfortable with sin. I can easily look at aspects of my daily life and see places where I need to take more care. Unbelievers also watch me more closely because of my claims. Often they accuse believers of being "holier than thou" or of being conceited. In many cases they could be right. I may not always be living and acting in ways that agree with the eternal and holy. By becoming too comfortable with this world and with sin, I begin to look like everyone else and less like Jesus.


I also spend far too much time worrying. And much of what I worry about is so trivial, so insignificant, that if I take a few "steps away from myself" and look at the big picture, I see how laughably silly my worries really are. Jesus tells me, in fact, that worrying is absolutely unnecessary if I really believe in Him, in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 25-34:

"'That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 'And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 'So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 'So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.'"

They key words in those verses, to me, are "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else." This is once again instructions for me to think eternally, to live and act as if I really believe in the promise of the gospel and that I will be in Heaven. My worries are mere shadows when the glorious radiance of Jesus is shined upon them.


I need to begin to think about my life and my death, and about eternity. I will die someday and my spirit will leave my temporary, earthly body in the moment of my death. If I believe the promise of Jesus, that if I accept Christ as my Savior and Lord, beg His forgiveness for my sins and follow Him, then I will be saved from the torment of Hell and be united with the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Jesus Christ the King, and the Holy Spirit forever. 


Jesus summed it up by saying this in Matthew 12:33-37 when He was speaking to those who were against Him:  

"If you grow a healthy tree, you'll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you'll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree. "You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation."

I must take care to always keep Jesus in mind, and allow Him to come through me in word and deed. It is through Christ I find my salvation and also where I find the source of my living.

Why was Jesus born, why did He come for us?

Now that the Christmas crush is over we have time to reflect on why we have Christmas to celebrate. Personally, I lived for 40 years knowing the story behind Christmas, hearing of Jesus, and singing the carols. But I never knew the real reason why. Like I was before accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior and beginning regular church attendance and Bible study, I feel that many people today know the Nativity story and how Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in a manger, to the virgin Mary. But do they really know the "why?" Why was Jesus born, why did He come for us?

Quite simply, Jesus came so everyone could be saved from sin and eternal damnation to Hell, and be redeemed and restored to the glory of God and perfection for which we were originally created. In the gospel account of the life of Jesus by Matthew, in chapter 4, verse 17, the adult Jesus begins His ministry, "From then on Jesus began to preach, 'Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.'"

Jesus taught and lived the way were are to strive for. In the gospel of John, chapter 13, verses 34-35, Jesus taught us, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Yet Jesus also came to abolish the old covenant between God and the people established in the Old Testament books of the Bible, and to create a new covenant. The law of the old covenant only shows the condemnation of our sin. In the New Testament book of James chapter 2, verses 10 and 11, we are told, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'You shall not commit adultery,' also said, 'You shall not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."

Also in the book of Romans, chapter 3, verses 22-24, "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins."

God the Father sees us in black and white. God's standard to be holy enough to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and live there in eternally is simply to be perfect. To have never said, done, or even thought anything evil or wrong. There are no shades of gray, we are not "more good than bad" and thus deemed good enough.

The only way for God to see us as pure white and to be admitted into His holy presence is to have the blackness of sin washed off by the blood of Jesus in His sacrifice for us, and then to be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. Then when God the Father looks at us He sees Jesus in our place. Jesus is our savior and redeemer. This is why Jesus was born, this is why He came for us.

It is summed up in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 11-14: "Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy."

This is why God became human and felt the sting of sweat in His eyes, experienced pain and hunger, and then was arrested, accused falsely, humilitated, beaten, and then nailed to a cross to die. Only Jesus could live in our fallen world, among fallen people, and still live the perfect life that obeyed every Old Testament commandment and law. Jesus then became our sacrifice to God, our Lamb of Perfection, whose blood atones for our imperfection. Finally through His resurrection Jesus demonstrated His divine nature and took His rightful seat at the right hand of God as our Savior, Lord and future King.

It doesn't get any better than this. Oh yes it does!

As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s I remember there being a series of TV commercials that would come on for a beer company during sports programming showing various groups of adults engaging in various activities. The activities represented those fun times in life that become treasured memories, such as a ski trip or a fishing trip with good friends. At the end of the commercials it would show our heroes sitting down together and enjoying said beer brand with one of them announcing, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Now think of some of your fondest memories, those treasured moments from your past where you felt warm and fuzzy inside and it did seem that "It doesn't get any better than this." It could be a trip with the family. A particular Christmas that seemed magical. It might be your wedding day or the day you fell in love. Or the first time you held your child.

As great as your memory may be and as perfect as that moment may have felt, I want you to realize this important fact: nothing that happens to us in this present world comes close to the indescribable joy, peace, and love that will be experienced by those who will be with the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven.

Since the fall in Eden our world is under the curse of sin, and we live under the curse of sin and death. We experience sorrow and suffering while the world undergoes disaster and tragedy. Our happy moments are merely short, shallow and fleeting glimpses of what could be in the future if we turn to Jesus and hold fast.

The New Heaven and the New Earth that Jesus makes will be brighter, grander, and infinitely better than anything we see or experience now. What we see now is like looking through a fog, we do not see everything and we do not see it clearly. This is part of the curse of living in a broken world in decaying bodies.

One day, Jesus will say with the confidence that only God can know, "Truly, it doesn't get any better than this."

Note: If you would like to explore this subject more deeply I suggest you read Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven."

Luke Fickell, I'm sorry. I have sinned.

Luke Fickell, I'm so sorry.

I have behaved childishly and selfishly towards you in thought and in action. You did not deserve it. The blame rests with me.

I now realize it was very selfish of me to blame you for "my" college football team not being as good as it once was. You were put in a very bad position in very tough circumstances, one that I would not have chosen for myself. I see now that you did the best you could with what you had. And I have to admit, you did very good, indeed.

That tough situation was only made worse in recent days, right before the most important part of the year, by the selfish actions of others as speculation ran rampant about your replacement as the head coach of The Ohio State Buckeyes football team. The flames were fanned by ever increasing talk, rumors and leaks of information by supposed "experts" and those "in the know" who were only too eager to engage in their own inappropriate behavior. Now I have to also admit here to my share of the blame for my own tweets and toots that did their part in adding to the noise.

I can only speak for myself, and I offer no excuses. I sinned. I let the flesh take control and lost sight of Jesus. I am no better and no more perfect than anybody else in the world. As much as I pray, read the Bible, go to church, sing hymns and songs of praise, blog and tweet about God and the Word, I am still a sinner, prone to being rebellious against my Lord. Yes, I am a sinner. Even in something so seemingly innocuous as being a sports fan.

I "dropped the ball." Peter, when he tried to be like his friend Jesus in the Bible and walked on the water, took only a couple of steps before sinking to the depths after he took his eyes off of Jesus. He had to be saved by Jesus. I relate to Peter because I also take my focus from Jesus and let my flesh, my pride, take control. And now I need saving again.

Like every day, I need to be saved.