The Bible suggests we “rejoice” in the face of trials & trouble (James 1, 1 Peter 1, 2 Cor. 1). So, it’s not “my” teaching or my idea that we can expect trouble, even welcome it & learn from it. Trouble has been characteristic of many of the great characters of the Bible (Abraham, Joseph, Jesus, Peter, Paul, etc). Just think of all the trouble Daniel & his friends faced for being people of faith in a strange land.

Christians today can expect trouble because we live in a land that’s not truly our ultimate home.

I believe that God has something to teach us & His lessons often involve hardship. Not that God *wants* us to suffer, but He does allow us to suffer (as Jesus did) in order that we may experience the following:

Facing trouble with faith, we may learn to trust God more; to know what others are going through; to learn about the importance of love & sacrifice; to learn of God’s love.

Trouble, may prove to be after it’s over, a method of teaching & transforming that God uses on His hard-headed, slow-learner kids like me!

Like God did for Jesus, God can do for you & me: turn trouble into triumph.

But makes me think about the basics. How do you win the lottery – you gotta act. You have to do 3 basic things:

1. Ya gotta be in it to win it. Buy a ticket.
2. Ya gotta have the winning ticket.
3. Ya gotta claim your winnings.

It looks like several people have the first 2 basic steps complete. But as of yet, no one has “claimed” it.

When it comes to the Ultimate “Winning” in life, Victory over death – experiencing Eternal Life, the three basic steps are virtually the same:

1. Ya gotta be in it to win it. Believe in Jesus’ victory over death, on the Cross & risen from the tomb.
2. Ya gotta have the winning ticket: have the Christ, accept Him as Lord of your life.
3. Ya gotta claim it.

Just as the lottery “winners” haven’t yet claimed their prize, this final basic step seems to be the one that’s difficult for many Christians.

To “claim” faith in Christ is to take action, to put into practice the way, the Truth & the Life of Jesus. Ya gotta live it!

Better than Mega Millions, Jesus suffered, died and Rose to New Life – for you! This is the greatest Victory we can ever claim.

The Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

A Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

World Prayer for Peace
For peace in your country
For the victims of violence everywhere
For those struggling for peace and justice
For churches in conflict situations
For a world without war and violence
Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth,
Lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love,
from anger to peace,
Let peace fill our beings,
our world and our universe. Amen.

At Meals
Loving Father, we thank you for this food,
And for all your blessings to us.
Lord Jesus, come and be our guest,
And take your place at this table.
Holy Spirit, as this food feeds our bodies,
So we pray you would nourish our souls. Amen.

A Child’s Prayer
Lord,  help me to notice people who need my help. Children who are alone without friends, my parents or teachers, when they need a hand. Amen.

Prayer for a New Heart (Dag Hammerskjold)
Thou who art over us, Thou who art one of us,
Thou Give me a pure heart, that I may see thee;
A humble heart that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love, that I may serve Thee,
A heart of faith, that I may abide in Thee.

Prayer of Ignatius of Loyola
Teach us, good Lord,
To serve You as You deserve,
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to heed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest;
To labor and not to ask for any reward,
except that of knowing that we do Your will,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Wesleyan Prayer
Lord, make me what You will. I put myself fully into Your hands: put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and with a willing heart give it all to Your pleasure and disposal. Amen.

• The Celebration of Discipline, R. Foster
Confessions, St. Augustine
• The Sayings of the Desert Fathers
• The Rule of St. Benedict, St. Benedict
• The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
• The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous
• Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich
• The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis
• The Philokalia (Love of the Beautiful), various authors
• Abandonment to the Divine, Jean-Pierre de Caussade
• The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila
• Dark Night of the Soul, St. John of the Cross
• Pensées,(“Thoughts”), Blaise Pascal
• The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
• The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence
• A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, William Law
• The Way of a Pilgrim
• The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
• The Journal of John Wesley, J. Wesley
• The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• A Testament of Devotion, Thomas R. Kelly
• The Seven Storey Mountain, Thomas Merton
• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
• The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri J.M. Nouwen

“RAK” or Random Acts of Kindness (sometimes “ARK” Acts of Random Kindness) are fairly well-known & common place these days. Lots of good people do lots of good things every day. Thank God for that!

But Bob took that thought a bit farther. He invited friends & strangers to gather in a hotel conference room and spoke to them words of encouragement & inspiration. Then he sent them out to perform Random Acts of Kindness as a way of prompting more good – “spreading goodness” as they say.

Now they do it annually & have to reserve a much larger hotel ballroom. It’s been a powerful experience for the helpers and for those being helped. For example, one person went her community hospital parking lot, where it’s $3 to visit a loved one, and paid for 10 people in line.

Spreading goodness is neither expense nor difficult. Those who make a point of doing something every week are finding many creative ways to be kind to strangers rather than “cutting off” someone on our hurried daily routines.

Bob remarked that it should be a national holiday or something – for everyone to stop thinking of themselves and simply help someone else.

Well, Christians, isn’t every day a holy day for spreading goodness in Christ?

Every Man’s Battle, S. Arterburn

Fighting for Your Marriage, H. Markman, et al.

Five Love Languages, G. Chapman

Love & Respect, E. Eggerichs

Peacemaker, K. Sande

Real Marriage, M. & G. Driscoll

Shattered Vows: Hope & Healing…, D. Laaser

Christian Parenting: Youth & Children

Children’s International Study Bible

Dr Dobson’s Answer Book, J. Dobson

Mighty Acts of God, S. Meade

Parenting with Scripture, K. Durbin

Shepherding a Child’s Heart, T. Tripp

Lent – 40 Days to Prepare for the Most Important 24 Hours of Christianity

“Lent” simply means spring. The word “Easter” found its origins in pagan rituals of springtime. There’s nothing inherently Christian in these words of the holiest of our seasons! What is it that brings meaning to them? What’s it all about?

It is Jesus Christ, who re-defined the seasons, the calendar, all time and all history! So we understand the changes in the natural seasons through our Christian understanding of God’s power to raise Jesus from the dead. It’s about new life that arises from the death of Jesus and God’s miraculous power to raise Him again.

Our participation involves virtues, good habits, disciplines, and practices of the faith we put into action that underscore the spiritual seasons of Lent and Easter.

Starting with Ash Wednesday (2/22/12) we will focus on 24 Hours that Changed the World, that’s the last moments of Jesus’ life on earth. These amazing actions were done by Christ on your behalf.

Let us take up the Cross during Lent in order that our practices of sacrifice, self-control and self-denial may help us understand and experience Christ personally. Let us approach the Cross, during Holy Week, seeking forgiveness for our sins as we forgive others. Let us rejoice at the Empty Tomb, as we see all signs of new life as God’s power at work over the negative forces in the world.

Economic headlines report declines in home-building and home-values. Perhaps we’re looking at the wrong kind of home or at least the wrong kind of “value.” While the dollar-value of my house has declined, the value of my home is steadily increasing in my estimation. I believe we are building our homes, when we are building up relationships in faith, with the right values, with the Christmas spirit – the Spirit of God’s love. These investments of faith and home pay dividends that are out of this world (literally).

To better understand your home values consider the costs involved in our concepts of home.

This December marks seventy years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. What a great cost so many paid for me and you to enjoy our homes and our freedom in this great nation. Each year I bury more WWII Veterans, as they experience the ultimate home-going. I recall the words of one young soldier pinned down in the South Pacific sands, “During the day we prayed for the night; through the night we prayed for daylight.” I imagine how he thought of home. Also this Christmas thousands of our troops are heading home from Iraq, a season of homecomings for many families. The costly service invested by our military personnel and families build up our values of “home” – particularly at Christmas when we are called to return thanks and to give out of the blessings we’ve received.

Even more, God invests in our homes and builds us up. Mark 6:3 describes Jesus as a “carpenter” but the Greek word actually may mean wood-worker, construction-worker, or “home-builder.” This broader definition builds upon the Biblical images of stones, as believers we’re “like living stones, being built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). Did you know that Jesus probably grew up in a home that was mostly built of rock, or stones, as well as bit of wood?

Christmas proves that God is our ultimate home-builder. According to John 1:14, Jesus, the Word, became flesh in order to dwell, or “make a home,” among us. Christmas is the celebration of the God-with-us who came to build a home among His people, so that we who believe may one day inherit “a home not made with hands but eternal in the heavens”(2 Corinthians 5:1).

This message seems especially meaningful for the many Americans who have lost their homes. I know some young people who recently visited children who are currently homeless. Last Christmas they had a home, this year a hotel room. These Christian youth brought more than food and money to help. They mainly brought hope – an assurance of love, from the God who continues home-building right here among us.

That first Christmas, God’s Son spent His first night “homeless” for they found no room at the inn. Mary and Joseph were relegated to a cave-stable, a hole-in-the-ground, for the Holy Infant. God sure knows about humble beginnings! From Christmas to the Cross, God paid all the costs.

When Christ, born anew this Christmas, seeks to build a home with you, will He find any room at the inn? Will you accept the value God is investing in your home-life? I believe we’re truly “home for Christmas” when we’ve said “yes” to the God who desires to build a home with us.

One thing about living in the Shenandoah Valley, there are plenty of mountains to climb! If you enjoy that sort of thing, it’s a blessing. If you don’t like to hike the trails and the hills, then maybe you enjoy the view of the mountains at least.

I find it invigorating. Yes, I get tired, but it’s a good tired. More than physical exercise, I think of hiking the mountains for spiritual exercise. The Bible is filled with wonder-full and positive passages about the mountains God creates.

Good things have happened on mountains: Moses met God & received the Ten Commandments; Jesus was transfigured; and Revelation proclaims heavenly heights of Mount Zion!

It’s uplifting to the soul when I reach the summit and take in the view of the valley below. Recently I journeyed with a friend to Bear’s Den and Raven Rocks, along the Appalachian Trail. The fall leaves, the cool mountain air – good for the soul. But just as much as the external, we shared the internal – our struggles & challenges of pastoring & parenting. We aired it all out.

One time, I got a rock in my shoe. It felt like it was huge! But after I stopped & took off my hiking boot – it turned out to be just this really tiny pebble. The trail was easier without that painful thing under my sole. It reminded me of something a pastor said to me once: “It’s not the mountains that you’ll climb, but the sand in your shoes that will wear you down.”

I think it’s true. Often my attitude wears thin, until I unpack the painful things building up in me… until I “empty my shoes” – which I like to do… outdoors… climbing mountains.

What about you?