Who's Carrying You

One of the greatest memories I have of being a new dad was carrying Zack around in a baby carrier.  This carrier was new to me. It attached to my chest and it allowed Zack to perch right up in front of me.  It was like a backpack with a kid in it. You know what I am talking about and if you are a parent you probably have one stuck up in your attic or closet somewhere. 

Zack loved this thing!  Without it, all he could see was the back of a stroller, but when daddy carried him in his new little buddy contraption he could see everything. Now I loved this handy dandy toy as much as he did.  Everywhere we went I had my ZackPack (that’s what I called it) with me.   If we went to the grocery store I wore it. If we were at the mall Zack was right there with me.  I carried him everywhere.  I enjoyed seeing his face light up at everything he saw.  I also enjoyed having him close to my chest.  It was an awesome thing for a new dad. 

Zack was too weak to walk but he wanted to experience life and I could tell that he experienced life to the fullest when dad was carrying him around in the ZackPack.

Did you know that God wants to carry you?  We are too weak to experience life by ourselves.  We might think we aren’t but in reality we are.  We cannot walk the path the Father has given us to walk without Him carrying us.

Deuteronomy says it this way;  The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. Deuteronomy 1:30-31 (NIV)

God’s people had watched God carry them out of Egypt and deliver them from the hands of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea.  I would have to say on that day God fought for them and they won victoriously. 

As I have looked back over my life I have seen how God has carried me and fought for me. But what is still so sad is that at 39 years of age I still I think I am in control and can fight my own battles.   All of us have examples of when God has carried us through some disaster in our life. But just like the Israelites we forget easily and quickly how God has brought us through victoriously. 

We walk through life with some sense of control and when we reach the age of strength we begin to rely on ourselves. We tend to leave God out of that blend but in reality He is the one who has His hands on us from our first breath until our last.  He is the one that desires more than anything else to carry us and fight for us just like a father carries and fights for his child.

Although my baby boy didn’t realize it at the time, if he was going to move through life I had to be the one who carried him.  He didn’t realize his inability to do it on his own.  It is the same with us.  We think we can handle the battles, but we can’t.  Our Father wants us to recognize that He delights in carrying us.  I can’t remember whose smile was bigger when Zack was close to my chest, mine or his?

Who’s carrying you?  Let go and let God carry you.  You will go much further than you ever dreamed you could.

Joy in the Journey

I can remember one Christmas when our boys were little we decided to head out to Little Rock, Arkansas to go see Kristy’s family for the holidays.  So we met Kristy’s brother and sister, and their families, in Atlanta and decided to caravan out to the Mid-West together.  We piled 6 adults, 4 children, Christmas presents and every bit of our luggage into three minivans and took off.  Kristy and my sister-in-law were pregnant at the time so that made things very interesting to say the least.   

What should have been a two-hour trip from Atlanta to Birmingham turned into a five-hour ordeal.  We made 27 potty breaks and 13 carsickness stops before we even arrived into Alabama.My philosophy of travel is, “May the best mini-van win.”  When we get in the car we don’t need not stop for anything!  My goal is that of any Nascar driver, to beat the competition.

So this little joyful holiday expedition was not turning out in my favor and I was getting more and more frustrated with every stop we made.  What should have taken us nine hours actually turned into a fifteen-hour trip!

When we pulled into Little Rock I was dead tired and angry.  The pregnant ladies were mad with me because they couldn’t understand my lack of compassion for the ones who were carrying our children.  The nerve of them to be angry with me!  We made horrible time and I lost the race. Where was the compassion for me?

You know, I have to tell you something; a few days later after I had fully recovered from that pain-staking journey, I reflected back on the trip and quickly realized that the greatest thing about it was the traveling.  The hotels, Zach doing his thing on the side of the road because he couldn’t hold it any longer, the fellowship over the C.B. radios, the jokes, the food, everything!

I was looking for the end and I missed out on the joy of the journey.

So when it comes to our spiritual journey I think we constantly look for the end results all the while we are missing out on the best part.  The journey itself!  You and I have the best opportunity right now in this very moment to enjoy the best that Jesus has to offer. 

When we decide to focus on the end is when everything gets complicated and frustrating for us.  Jesus says it this way, “Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to love freely and lightly.” Matthew 11-28-30 (the message)   

The key to life is not getting to the end. It is simply enjoying the here and now.  It is possible for us to take so many things for granted when the blessing of living our lives is right in front of us.

W-Wait on His timing. God knows the plan He has for your life so just enjoy the journey leaving the results of the end up to God.

A – Allow for U-turns in your life.  Life can bring its share of curves and we must be willing to adjust our routes so they will line up with God’s will.

L – Lay your burdens down.  Proverbs 12:25 says, “An anxious heart weighs a man down.

K – Keep going.  Don’t stop walking in the reality of who God is in your life.  Trust His heart for your journey. Our lives are a marathon not a sprint.  If you need to rest, then rest.

Remember that the joy of life is in the journey!

Outside Looking In

We were not wealthy by any means but when I was growing up but I can remember on my sixteenth birthday my parents bought me a used Nissan 300ZX.  It was the most beautiful car I had ever laid my eyes on.  It was sleek with a spoiler on the back and it was very fast.  The speedometer registered 140 and believe me I tested it. (Don’t tell my dad) The sound system was out of this world and at night when the dashboard lights were turned on it glowed orange like the cockpit of a F-15 fighter jet.  It would even speak to me if something was wrong.  If I was running low on gas this sexy little computer voice would come out of nowhere and say “Fuel level is low. Fuel level is low.”  The first night I had it I was cruising around my hometown of Port St. Joe and I am almost positive I heard it say, “Your life is about to change.”  And you know what? That sexy little British voice was right!  I went from this pudgy little fifteen year old huffing around on a Schwinn to the Big Man on Campus!  It was almost overnight that my life changed.  A couple of weeks later I had a girlfriend, I was elected the president of the Student Council and everyone wanted a ride in my new car. 

I became so obsessed with my new car and identity that I made sure it was washed and shiny almost every weekend.

However, I never really understood that I needed to take care of the motor as well.  Gas was a given but that was as far as I got from a mechanical standpoint. 

So on the day of my prom, as my girlfriend spent all day fixing her hair, I spent all day washing and waxing my Z.  To the say the least it was showroom clean.  When I was done I went inside to get cleaned up for the evening’s festivities.  After one thousand pictures of me in my tuxedo I took off to go pick up my girl.  My girlfriend lived in Apalachicola, which was about a 30 minute wooded drive down Highway 98 from Port St. Joe.  Now, I have made it in about 15 minutes before when I was running late for curfew, but that’s another story. 

About half way into my journey my beautiful Z car decided to quit.  It began to sputter and make funny noises and had just enough juice left for me to pull her off the road and then she died. I had completely blown the motor. You see, I hadn’t checked the oil in a while and what I found out was a simple little concept about an engine: No oil, no engine.

I mean who knew?

So I found myself standing on the side of Highway 98 in the middle of nowhere decked out in my tuxedo with my thumb out. 

My sweet ride had left me stranded on the side of the road because I had neglected to take care of the inside.  Sure, the outside looked great, but it wasn’t doing me much good at that particular moment.

Finally, two elderly women pulled over and gave me a ride to my girlfriend’s house. We wound up taking her dad’s dusty old Pontiac Grandpa car to the prom. For the record, it is still in the top 10 on my “worst days” list.  

The truth is, too many times in our walk with Christ we tend to focus on the outside appearance while the inside is wrecked.  What will people think of me? How should I act? What does this look like in public?

Eventually our lives breakdown and leave us stranded on the side of life’s highway because the inside, our hearts, have been neglected.  A polished outside is useless when the inside is wrecked. 

David says it best in Psalm 139:23-24.  Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

The king of Israel stooped low that day, in humility, and asked God to begin working on the inside of his heart. The exact place where you and I must come to in our lives if we want to see change.  We must ask God to help us recognize those things that are affecting our soul and ask for His help by surrendering those things over to His power.

There comes a time in our lives that we must stop being so concerned with what we look like on the outside (Religion) and start allowing God to work on the inside (Relationship).

Outside appearances are deceiving and they don’t last. Our soul will eventually break down when our heart is not fully surrendered.

Today, ask God to heal the wreckage and make you new on the inside and when you do the outside of you will look better than ever!

“Relax”

One of the biggest obstacles in my life is the ability to relax.  Now when I was a child I had no problem with this concept.  I enjoyed life to the fullest for one reason.  I knew that all of my needs were being met and the only responsibility I had in my life was to have as much fun as I could possibly have. Friends, video games, slumber parties and Christmas. 

But as I began to grow into adulthood this little thing called responsibility started to creep into my life and I didn't like it.  I actually avoided it as long as I could. And then it happened. I was no longer the child. I was the parent. And along with those duties came the mortgage, the light bill, the car payment and providing all of the things my parents provided me as a child for my own children. 

In life, we cannot avoid our responsibilities as adults but at the same time we can still enjoy life. Our priorities change in life but that doesn't mean the fun has to go out the door.  And the foundation of a fun life is the ability to relax and take in the small things. And that sometimes is hard for us to do. Well you know, because of our to-do lists and all.

But when we find our needs as adults being met by our Heavenly Father then we can relax. Look at this way:

R— Realize that I am not perfect—Psalm 119:96 says: I have seen an end of ALL perfection, but your commands are boundless.

E—Enjoy God’s Unconditional Love—1 John 3:1 says, How great is the love the Father has LAVISHED on us that we should be called    children of God.

L—Let Go and Let God handle things—1 Peter 5:7 says:  Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

A—Act in Faith instead of Fear—Joshua 1:9 says:  Be strong and  courageous!  Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

X—Exchange perfectionism for Grace—2 Corinthians 12:9 says:  But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Have fun today, relax and enjoy the ride.

“Re-Decorating your Life”

After my wife Kristy and I had been married for a couple of years we finally had the opportunity to buy our first home and so in our excitement we set off with our Real Estate agent in search for our dream home… or at least our first home.  We knew what we wanted and we knew we didn’t have much money. We searched for what seemed like forever. 

After weeks of looking we rounded the corner one beautiful fall day and pulled into the driveway of 304 Wesley Circle and knew it was the home we wanted the second we saw it.  We thought to ourselves that if we could afford it then this was it.  This was our home.  Everything on the outside was exactly what we were looking for and our agent knew it.  It was quite embarrassing for me as I noticed the drool dripping from Kristy’s lips. However, I quickly got over it as I noticed the drool dripping from our agents mouth as well.

I told Kristy if the inside looked half as great the outside then we were heading to the bank.  With excitement and anticipation our agent flung the door open and said, “Here is your new home!”  But when we looked inside the drool dried up and the smiles disappeared quickly because all we could see was teal!  That’s right, I said TEAL!  Teal coming down the stairs, teal in the kitchen, teal in the dining room, teal in the living room and teal in our shattered dreams.  Every speck of floor covering was the color teal. 

At that moment my cell phone rang and I didn’t recognize the number. I let it go to voicemail and later discovered it was the nineteen eighties. They had left a message wanting their carpet back!   

Needless to say we left our dream home disheartened and discouraged.  That night we began to discuss our possibilities and realized that if we offered less for the home then we could take the extra money and replace the carpet.  After serious negotiating with the seller we bought the house and began redecorating.  We began pulling out the old carpet and replacing it with the new and improved carpet.  We were in the process of re-decorating our dream home.

Did you know that God wants to do the same thing with our lives.  He wants to replace the old with the new.  

He wants to re-decorate your life. He wants to change your anger to peace and your frustrations to joy. He wants to change your heart to love.

Let Him in your heart and let Him redecorate your life.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Isaiah 43:18-19