Shabazz Muhammad is a freshman basketball player at UCLA.  The Los Angeles Times recently ran a story about his path to college, and prospectively to the NBA, and how it was all neatly arranged and planned by his father, Ron Holmes.  How was this planned?  The details are to say the least, icky…

According to the report, Holmes was “fascinated” as a college student at USC by the careful breeding of thoroughbred horses for the purpose of creating faster, more powerful horses to race.  At the same time in his life Holmes, who was a 6’ 5” basketball player for USC, met a female college student named Faye Paige, who was a point guard, sprinter, and hurdler for Cal State Long Beach.  Holmes stated to a friend, “She’s going to be my wife, and we’re going to make some All-Americans.”  The couple had 3 children, and article states very clearly the intentions of the family unit – “Holmes has pinned most of his hopes on the middle child, Shabazz.”

Really?  There are people in the world who view marriage and family as a means to “produce All-Americans”, instead of seeking values of love, friendship, and family?  I suppose this story should not have shocked me as much as it has, but to be honest, I think it’s sickening.  This type of thinking is just one step shy of “master race” type thinking.  Family is not about creating the perfect one, and marriage is not about engineering perfect kids…what is described in the article is not marriage and family, it’s a business contract.  I have no idea how much “love” there is between Holmes and his wife/family, but regardless of how much he might say there is, the manner in which this family was formed speaks volumes as to the truth.

Can we please put the brakes on a culture that only values marriage and family in terms of what they can do for us?  Can we agree that picking your marriage partner based on how the 2 of you might genetically produce a child is disturbing?  Marriage and family is not about perfection, nor the return on the “investment”…this story should cause us all to take a second look at our own marriages and families, to insure we are not running the risk of sliding down this slippery slope.

Bombs, Dirty Mail, Fertilizer Explosions, and Floods:

The third week of April 2013 failed to live up to its springtime reputation. The fresh sounds and smells of a winter coming out of hibernation were overwhelmed by apocalyptic headlines and apoplectic reactions to seemingly unending destruction and death.

First there was Boston. Having crossed a few marathon finish lines myself, the last thing I’d want to be concerned about is the possibility of pressure cooker bombs and missing limbs. Then there was Capitol Hill and Ricin laced letters to lawmakers. Explosions in Texas and the flooded streets of Chicago rounded out a cable news week from hell. Whether the causes were sinister, accidental, or simply nature’s fury didn’t seem to minimize the unsettling impact these roundhouse kicks could have on people’s sense of calm and confidence.

As a nation, we tend to respond extremely well to these kinds of events. We’re good at locking arms when attacked and running to each other’s aid when situations sucker punch the innocent. But what we do as a group doesn’t always align with how we feel when left to our own thoughts. It’s the nature of negative surprises—especially ones designed to strike terror.

Yet, these very same setbacks afford us the opportunity to do two things that are extremely valuable. First, they force us to pull closer to God’s chest. It’s easy to take the good life we enjoy for granted until something terrible manages to slip beneath our myriad layers of self-protection. Whether its unleashed evil or untamed circumstances, fear can seize our heart so tightly that it leaves a permanent imprint from its grip.

We can’t let that happen. When people allow their fears to define them they’re forced to live in a state of emotional punishment that will always limit their capacity to love.[1] God loves us too much to let us exist as people defined by our fears. His protecting, assuring, and calming grace can actually help us leverage weeks like last week to empower us to rest in his perfect love.

The second valuable opportunity we gain from trying times like these is to give our children a chance to watch us remain calm while our resolve is put to the test. In John Steinbeck’s book, The Grapes of Wrath, he tells about the fierce dust storms that would roar across the Midwest plains carrying with them the power to destroy the crops and people’s livelihoods in their path. The adults (parents and grandparents) would study and stare at the aftermath of the storms, but the children would just stare at the face of these adults. What they saw on those parents’ and grandparents’ faces told them whether they needed to be worried. In the same way, our children are looking to us during these trying times to determine whether or not they should be truly afraid. They need to see on us that look of hope, courage, and determination that can get them through these kinds of tough experiences without being redefined by them. You can do this by giving these events the glances they deserve, while keeping your eyes trained on the Lord who has everything under control.

The writer of Hebrews says what I’m trying to say much better. How about we let him have the last word. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-4

As we celebrate the life of a wonderful man of God, Dr. Howard Hendricks, we wanted to reprint a story from Dr. Kimmel’s book Little House on the Freeway about how Howard Hendricks influenced his life and the life of renouned author and speaker, Dr. John Trent.

(Excerpted from Little House on the Freeway By Dr. Tim Kimmel)

Author John Trent tells of an eye-opening incident on his first day in graduate school. He had enrolled at Dallas Theological Seminary with good intentions, but since arriving there he seriously wondered if he would make it. He walked into his first class with legitimate apprehensions. After all, this wasn’t “party time” college any more. This was an environment where fifty-dollar theological words rolled off professors’ tongues. The dean had made it clear in orientation thatDallaswouldn’t spoon-feed anyone. You either kept up with the workload, or you would find yourself in an unrecoverable position.

The assistant had just passed out the syllabus for the class, and after reading it John mentally calculated that he was already three weeks behind. The professor stepped up to the lectern and stared around the room at the sea of faces. John felt that he could read the man’s mind: So this is the leadership of tomorrow’s church? We’re in trouble! Despite this unnerving scrutiny, everything John had heard about this man underscored that he was a loving and caring gentleman. Dr. Howard Hendricks was one of the main reasons he had enrolled atDallas.

The very first words out of the professor’s mouth sent ice water through John’s veins: “Gentlemen, I am going to give you the most significant test you will ever have during your studies here at Dallas Seminary.”

John groaned silently. So much for all the nice things that I heard about this guy.

“How you do on this test will determine how you do in the ministry.”

Great, I’m getting cut from the team before I even get a chance to play.

“Those who do well invariably succeed. Those who flunk this test invariably struggle and falter in ministry.”

You’re not wasting any time separating the sheep from the goats, are you, Prof? I knew I should’ve had more theological training before I came here. He’s going to split some theological hair and make me look like an idiot.

“On the three-by-five card in front of you I want you to list your three greatest weaknesses.”

That’s it? That’s all? What I’m lousy at? Piece of cake! If being a success just takes a working knowledge of my inadequacies, then I’m gonna be one of the greatest Christian workers the church has ever had.

John joined his fellow seminarians in writing down their weaknesses. They all wrote quickly. The only problem any of them seemed to have was deciding which of their many weaknesses would be considered the top three. He finished writing, laid down his pen, and stared up at the professor with a look of confidence on his face.

Dr. Hendricks continued. “Now, gentlemen, turn over your card and answer this second question.”

I knew it was too good to be true! Here comes the zinger—I’m doomed. Maybe it’s not too late to get back some of my tuition…

“What are your three greatest strengths?”

John joined his colleagues in experiencing temporary paralysis in his writing hand. This time men weren’t rushing to fill out their card. Some simply stared at it. Others tapped the tip of their nose with their pen, or frowned intently at the wall as though they hoped to find the answer written on it.

Answering that question seemed, well, contradictory to John’s calling. He was supposed to be a humble man of the cloth. Listing his greatest strengths seemed like cheap boasting. Wasn’t there something in the Bible about God giving grace to the humble and opposition to the proud? Zeroing in on what made him strong, and even superior to his fellow man, was discomfiting. Besides, God gets a lot of mileage out of working through men’s weaknesses. Didn’t He say to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for [my] power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)?

Across the room from John, another young man sat struggling with the same question. And these many decades later, I still struggle with it.

Dr. Hendricks was right. Knowledge of our personal strengths is critical to a calm and ordered life. It’s easy enough to list our weaknesses—all of us have had plenty of help on that score. Parents, teachers, coaches, friends, and enemies made sure we didn’t overlook a single one.

It has been my observation that most people grow up with lots of negative reinforcement. Our culture occasionally rewards but seldom remembers those who come in second. The list of those who “also ran” doesn’t get much space in the yearbook. The last time I checked, “close” only counts in horseshoes and nuclear war.

It’s easy to focus on our failures and weaknesses. And if asked to, most of us are ready to conduct a guided tour through our inadequacies at a moment’s notice. But the fact remains that you and I do have strengths, God-given resources worth developing and managing. And if we want to cope with the incredible pressures of our hurried world, we need to isolate those strengths and put them to work. It’s a matter of stewardship.

The word stewardship isn’t used as much as it used to be, but it’s an excellent word for our discussion. It refers to the conscientious management of the things that really matter. It requires responsibility and maturity. Stewardship demands work and doesn’t accept excuses. It forces people to reevaluate priorities and makes them reconsider their purposes for living.

When I meet older people who advise me to slow down, spend more time with others, and develop my talents, I hear the voice of experience talking. They have learned through waste and regret what God would rather teach us through principles of stewardship—that resources are to be conserved and invested, not ignored or squandered.

Although I’m not quite to the age where I can speak from the wisdom of decades upon decades of seasoned years of experience, I can speak from the platform of observation. Most of the unhappy people who approach me for counsel suffer from a simple syndrome: They are poor stewards of their lives. They have developed a bad habit of ignoring the important and prioritizing the nonessential.

There is only one way out of this dilemma, and few are willing to take it. The path to relief is painful. It requires reordering their priorities—deliberately changing the inner price tags we attach to the components of our lives. For some people, that’s just too much. They would rather accept the discomfort and slow death of emotional cancer than endure the surgery that could save them.

It’s too bad, because this sixth key for genuine rest could give them the platform and the discipline to maintain the other five.

When Dr. Hendricks challenged John and me to isolate and articulate our greatest strengths, he was not asking us to be boastful, haughty, or proud. He was calling us to be realistic, honest, and conscientious. He knew that life becomes a threat to our contentment when we are consistently taking from it but seldom giving back. He knew that we become a drain on people if we use relationships rather than contribute to them. He knew that our greatest joy would be found in investing our gifts rather than burying them.

His kind of thinking comes from the presupposition that every man and woman is born rich. We may come into the world in our birthday suit and leave in our burial clothing, but our greatest treasures are wrapped up in the things that can’t be kept in a safety deposit box. We are born with intrinsic value—the very essence of God’s heart.

God would not sacrifice His Son for someone who has no value.

He would not give eternal life to someone who has no significance.

It might help us, as we develop this discussion on managing our gifts, to divide our true assets into three categories: calling, convictions, and capabilities. These groupings can serve as a checklist as you determine what kind of a steward you are.

The Birth of Jesus Changed Everything!

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! - II Cor. 9:15

THE BELL
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ.  (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God  (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good  (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God’s temple (1 Cor. 3: 16).   I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God’s co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected.(Phil.1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God’s child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are!?

- Author Unknown

Photo Credit: The TomKat Studio

I have been told more than once to stop singing CHRISTmas songs.

Shocking, yes!

Not quite so shocking when you realize I have been told that during the months of March, June and September.

CHRISTmas time seems to just automatically fill me with joy, hope and peace. The entire month of December you will pretty much always find me bustling around with an extra spring in my step.

Yes, I have all the same errands, baking, wrapping and addressing as the rest of the world, but that promise of the birth of Jesus is always front and center because I see and hear evidence of that truth everywhere.

My home has reminders of Jesus’ birth in every room, the CHRISTmas music I listen to reminds my heart continuously to meditate on love.

Singing CHRISTmas songs all year long makes a bit more sense now doesn’t it? It is a quick reminder to be full of CHRISTmas joy…no matter the month on the calendar. I cannot help but be joyful when I sing those words.

This year I may go one step further and when it’s time to put all the CHRISTmas decorations back in those boxes I am going to leave one very important item out. A CHRISTmas nativity!

This year I plan to display one of my CHRISTmas nativities year round.

How about you…how do you stir up joy when the mom grinch begins to prowl?

Whose ideas was it anyway to cram 365 days worth of glad tidings, good cheer, shopping, baking and entertaining into the month of December? Can we point the finger at Martha Stewart? Wal-Mart? Or people like us who love the holly jolly idea on paper?  Yes to all three. We all have some culpability in the overwhelming Christmas season that can sometimes get the best of us.

Here are a few things I need to remember to keep the crazies out of December and keep the fun, joy and meaning in the mix. They might strike a chord with you too.

1. Perfect isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.  In fact, most people don’t even like perfect. We like to see a little underbelly when it comes to our fellow holiday high achievers. There’s something freeing about knowing that you’re not the only one who puts all of the beautiful ornaments on the front of the tree and hangs the sentimental but sometimes lame ornaments on the back.  Other’s foibles and faux pas make us feel good about ourselves.
2. BYOB to the rescue.  Share the fun and the responsibility by saying “YES!!” when someone asks if they can bring something to your party or dinner. People love the chance to fix their favorite dessert or bring their traditional side dish to an event. It makes them feel useful and also gets them off the hook for the perfect hostess gift. (Who needs another box of candy anyway?)
3. Deal a blow to the comparison game. Am I the only one who comes home from a holiday party feeling like a yuletide yodeler because the expensive, professionally made wreath at the party makes my homemade front door wreath look like something I rescued out of the neighbor’s trash? Rather than dis my stuff or envy someone else’s things, I want to be thankful for what I have and enjoy what others have as well.
4. Make sure you stop and sip the cider.  Too often I realize at the end of a wonderful evening of entertaining, where I was able to use many of my love language expressions of acts of service, that while the house was inviting, the food delicious, and the guests all treated as special, I failed to actually experience all of this with my guests. I love to serve behind the scenes, but if I stay there, I miss out on the extraordinary privilege of valuing my guests and myself by taking some time to get to know them better and letting them get to know me better too.
5. Don’t forget the Baby in the manger.  My Jewish neighbors used to be so puzzled by all of the “fuss” we go to for Christmas. I think I get their point if this were just about presents and eating and decorations. In fact, it would appear very self indulgent because all of those things could just be for us. But as I told my neighbors, Christmas is a celebration of the most important event of all time. The babe in the manger grew up to be the Savior of the world. What a gift!!

Christmas is an all-out, no holds barred party that can go on all year long in our hearts and home. We just have to make sure we don’t overdo it on all the trimmings in our zeal to celebrate the birth of our Messiah. Do I hear a hearty Ho, Ho, Ho of agreement?

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

- Galatians 4:4-6 NLT

Ever since September 11th you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who questions whether or not evil exists. We have all seen its ugly face. We’ve calculated the exorbitant fees it demands from the innocent, and too many of us have had to bury its victims. But in spite of looking down the throat of Darkness, most people would still prefer to go through life without giving any regard to the One who overcame evil and pierced the heart of darkness.

Even with Jesus’ PR department-the church-and all of us ambassadors who claim Him as our Lord, the world would still rather try to make it on its own without Him. Part of the reason is obvious, even if it lacks long-term logic. Man has a propensity to want to rule his own life and determine his own fate. He’d rather delude himself with the false assumption that he is capable of making it through time on his own. And when his time is finally up, he’s confident he will be ushered into the hereafter on his numerous merits.

That’s why most people would prefer that God mind His own business, keep His distance, and leave them alone. They’d rather live each day without regard for the One who made that day. They’d rather face the challenges of the present without any help from the only One who can guarantee the future.

Vast numbers of the rank-and-file kick off each year with a celebration to their own self-confidence. They stay up too late, drink too much, and make a handful of empty promises to themselves that they’ll break within a few days, if not mere hours. They set new goals, review their strategies, and execute their plans. And then they slip through the months of the calendar doing their best to do their best.

Some go out of their way to ignore God. They decline our invitations to visit our churches. They offer up an uncomfortable laugh when we mention God in our conversations. They might even insult us should we invoke Jesus’ actual name. Some take their antagonism against God to formal levels and try to silence the voices of Christians at work or try to eliminate any mention of God within the public discourse. They show Him the exit just about any time He makes an appearance in our public school system.

And then along comes Christmas.

With all of the efforts to live life without Him, the average self-sufficient citizen of our country is forced to be surrounded by His presence everywhere he or she goes. Come the end of the year, Jesus grabs the limelight. And whenever He wants to, He steals the show. From our most crowded city to our most obscure village, Jesus makes His presence known. He sets up shop in the front yards of people’s houses and hangs the symbols of His mercy from the arms of our street lights. He draws strangers to His churches, He draws cynics to His nativity scenes, and He draws sinners to His heart.

Almost every store in the country decorates for His birthday. Obviously, Jesus is good for business. And it’s fair to assume that many of the merchants who throw out the red carpet for Him have ulterior motives. But there is absolutely no escaping the fact that when December roles around, the world is going to once again be reminded of how much God loves them…whether they want to be reminded or not.

Many innocuously refer to what comes over everyone during December as the “Spirit of Christmas.” The last act of every year consistently gets billed as the “season of giving.” But whether they want to admit it or not, every kind gesture that people offer, every gift they give, and every smile they return points to Jesus.
Christmas offers everyone a chance to rehearse what every person in the world will someday do. The scripture says “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). Regardless of who you are or what you believe, Christmas has a way of causing everyone to take a peek back over their shoulders towards Bethlehem.

Of all the things that happen this time of the year, nothing seems to illustrate the overriding presence of Jesus better than the music that is played in His honor. It’s everywhere. True, it gets overdone on some stations. And the songs that embody the orthodox message of Jesus’ birth often have to share airtime with many seasonal songs that are silly, trite, or outright inane. But I’m pretty sure it doesn’t bother God since He has always had to compete with the foolishness of man. Regardless of how hard some may try, come this time of the year the airwaves, background tapes, and CD players of our nation surrender to the gospel according to Christmas.

Music carries more influence than any other component of the Christmas season. That’s because music not only wraps its arms around a person’s mind, but the heart and soul as well. It kneads a person’s stubbornness, tenderizes resolve and in the process slips a message into the inner being that is inescapable.

What is probably most amazing about the music of Christmas are the venues in which it is invited. Places that otherwise would want nothing to do with the redemption story of God simply turn up the volume when Christmas comes around. A person can be shopping at the mall, stopping by Home Depot to grab some supplies, or pulling up a chair in the corner of Starbucks to sip some hot eggnog and hear someone singing “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new born King.” A spiritual cynic might be pumping gas, making a bank deposit, or browsing the latest New Age offerings at Barnes and Noble and hear “Be near me Lord Jesus I ask thee to stay, close by me forever and love me I pray.”

We serve a dynamic Savior. He had the first word, He’ll have the last, and He will make His presence known whenever and wherever He chooses. No one can silence Him when He wants to share His message of hope. Whether it is intermingled with the sounds of a casino or slips in through the morphine-induced stupor of some lonely old man in the cancer ward at the VA Hospital, come Christmas, people in bad need of real hope are likely to hear “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her King.”

©Copyright 2012 Tim Kimmel

Lord, help me to praise you with my life by being:

Printable from http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com

Holy

Affectionate

Penitent

Prayerful

Yielded

Trustworthy

Humble

Abundant

Nurturing

Kind

Serving

Grateful

Inspirational

Vigilant

Inviting

Noble

Gospel-centered

The inspiration for this prayer came from

A Pastoral Thanksgiving Acrostic by Andrew Schank