If you ask me what my favorite movie is, without hesitation, I’m going to tell you it’s the movie ROCKY. You know the one about the boxer, who comes out of the slums of Philadelphia and gets the once in a lifetime chance to fight the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed? Yes and I have to admit I have had the guilty pleasure of watching Rocky fight in Rocky 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and even the black Rocky in Creed 1 and Creed 2, which is actually the story of Apollo Creed’s son, where he fights the son of that scary Russian dude from Rocky 4. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up.  I’m just waiting for a Rocky movie where he one day joins the Avengers, so he can fight against the forces of evil before they destroy Manhattan, AGAIN! Poor New Yorkers! Anyway I digress. Actually I want to talk about the first one.  The first one will always be special to me. There’s so much to love about the first movie. The love story between Rocky and Adrian, which is actually the heart of the movie, “Yo Adrian!” “Yo Rocky”, “I love you!” and who could forget the lovable loser Paulie, Rocky’s boisterous nemesis Apollo Creed, and the old and tired trainer Mickey, whose best line in any movie was “Rocky you’re gonna make him eat thunder and crap lightning!”. Love that quote! Not to mention a killer soundtrack, the inspirational “Gonna fly now” and to this day when I hear “Eye of the Tiger”, I want to quickly stop whatever I’m doing and go run up some stairs. And of course my favorite part is the ending. One of the best endings in cinematic history. The music plays, Rocky goes the distance with Apollo, and he’s standing in the ring all bloodied up. Reporters swarm around him to ask questions and all he can yell is “Adrian!” and Adrian comes running through the crowd and calls out Rocky’s name. She finally makes her way onto the ring and the two fix their eyes on each other. Both knowing they never would’ve made it this far without the other.  Rocky tells her he loves her and Adrian replies back that she loves him, they hug, then the picture freezes on Rocky’s face. It is a face that speaks volumes of a man who finally proves it to himself and to the rest of the world that he was more than just a bum. Yes, I’m a Rocky fanatic! Why? Because he’s a fighter! He’s got that fighter spirit inside him that no circumstances no matter how challenging or how stacked the odds are against him, he’s going to dig deep and find that inner strength to fight on and go the distance till that final bell. As believers we face challenges and hardships everyday. We have two choices to make, either quit and give up or persevere and fight through it. Our trainer in Hebrews reminds us, in Hebrews 12:1-2, “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.” What are those things we allow to hinder us from going the distance to reach the finish line that God has marked out for us? Is it fear, is it anxiety, is it doubt, or discouragement? The Bible says to get rid of it, throw it off, remove it but it’s not possible on our own. For in the next verse our trainer of Hebrews tells us how. In verse two he says, “ fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”. You see our living example and hope is found in the one who endured Himself. Jesus could have folded under pressure, He could’ve called for His angels to attend to Him on that cross. But He didn’t. Why, because of one thing and that was “the joy set before Him”. You know what that one thing was? You and me. Jesus fixed His eyes on us. He focused all His faith believing that one day the dream of us being united with Him forever was going to be fulfilled. That’s what motivated Him through the hardships, through the cross, that’s what got Him to last another round and not throw in the towel. For us our joy should be to fix our eyes on Jesus, knowing that the trials we face are worth going through and the battles in life are worth fighting for because it all leads to one thing, being eventually reunited with Jesus face to face! The Bible says we’re already seated in the heavens. By faith let’s continue to hold fast to that dream of being united with Christ in heaven and let’s believe that the dream of being seated with Christ is now, just like the scripture says. Let that dream fuel us to never give up, so whatever opponent we may face in the ring, whether it’s Mr. T or Mr. T’s son, we will find ourselves looking down on our foe from a heavenly perspective, standing tall. And when that final bell rings and we’re still standing, all bloodied and bruised, we will be screaming out His name “Jesus!” and Jesus will be screaming out our name too, making His way through the crowd and onto the ring. And then we will see Him face to face and He will take us in His arms and embrace us, telling us we are His champions and that’s when we will know it was worth not giving up, that’s when we will know it was worth the fight.

Hebrews 12:1-2 New International Version (NIV)
12 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, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Business as usual”, the young twenty something waiter tells himself as he flashes his “business as usual” smile to the strangers sitting in his “business as usual” section. He serves their “business as usual” drinks and takes their “business as usual” orders. His focus however is more on the television as his favorite sports team conducts “business as usual” on the football field and is minutes away from winning again. If only he was at the game, he pretends to nod his head as he jots down the orders in his “business as usual” way. On the way to the kitchen, he picks up the tip left behind from the last table. It’s twenty dollars and he pockets it in his apron pocket, with the rest of his profits from the busy afternoon. His team wins again, tables are tipping well, he can’t help but think about the hot date he’s got later with the new girl on campus. He laughs at a joke told by one of his co-workers as he inputs the orders into the computer. Life is good, just “business as usual”. His manager calls out to him, he turns around and sees her standing at the “to go” counter, holding the phone. She motions for him to take the phone from her hand, curious, he grabs it and tries hard to listen while covering his left ear to block out the noisy kitchen. “Hello?”, he cracks a smile as he watches one of his co-workers accidentally drop a load of dishes. His smile quickly fades, shock and disbelief soon settle in, he can’t believe what he’s hearing. More laughter coming from the kitchen, but he’s zoned them all out, nothing else matters right now, he slams the phone in anger and screams. “Be tough, be strong, you got this”,  he tells himself but the emotions get the upper hand and he pounds his fist over and over against the wall. The manager tries to console him, but one look at him and she knows. Being a mother of three, she knows the look, the look any child gives you when they’re lost and trying to find their way home. It’s the same look she had when her whole world shattered before her, the day she first set eyes on her husband of seventeen years, laying lifeless in a hospital gown. All of the dreams and plans they shared, now forgotten and discarded like items in a card board box in lost and found. For the young man, all he could muster was “mom, why did you leave me?”, there was nothing he could do, her car was found upside down off the interstate bridge. The woman who raised him by herself, who was his best friend and believed in him, had now left him for good. Her car flipped upside down, his life along with it. No more business as usual. Death, it comes for us all and stories like these occur everyday. Sometimes the narrative is told through the lives of others and we are the minor characters who watch from afar, and sometimes the story includes us and we are forced to play the main characters in a tale we want nothing to be a part of. Why? Why us? Why now? Where’s my happy ever after? These are questions we all wrestle with, no matter how mature we are in Christ. We all question God, some of us even get angry with God and some of us unfortunately turn away from Him. No matter where we are in this story, Death is the antagonist we all must face as we turn through the pages of our lives. The question is, not how to avoid it but how are we going to handle it when it comes? If you are going through it now, my heart goes out to you. God has never promised us that there would be no suffering in this life but He does promise us that for believers in Christ, He would never forsake us nor leave us. He did promise us that He was preparing a place for us in heaven, He did promise us that one day, He would resurrect our bodies and that one day there would be no more suffering, and that one day He would wipe away every tear. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ just flip through the pages of your book and you will find that Death dies and we live! All this is made possible because Jesus, the author of our story became a character in our novel. He became death for us on the cross. He knew great loss when He was separated from His Father. “Father why have you forsaken me?”, He cried as He hung on a cross. He gave His last breath and descended into the depths of Hell. Just when the demons thought they had Him bound to the chains of Hades forever, three days later, He rose! Three days later He triumphed over the stink of the grave. Death lost that day and because of His resurrection we too can triumph over the grave. Is Christ in your story? If not, I encourage you before you get to the end of your book, to invite Him to be a main character in your narrative. Ask Him to come into your life and put your trust in Jesus, believing He is the only way to overcome Death. Having Jesus in your story won’t take away the suffering you may have to face nor will it take away the pain of loss in life but He will give you His peace and He will give you His joy to overcome it. The God of suffering knows a thing or two about loss and death but He also has mastered a thing or two about life after death and what it takes to win. If Jesus overcame death, we too can overcome. What chapter do you find yourself in? Will you let His invincible joy take over, will you let Him be the center of your story? Death will rear it’s ugly head, that chapter is coming but if your story is about you, then you will lose and Death will overcome but if it’s about Jesus, I promise you, you will find your happy ending. Suffering with loss? Hurting and feeling crushed by the pain? Remember the author of our story wants to be in our story. He wants to walk through the pain with you. He wants to be that shoulder to cry on, He wants to be the words that will encourage your heart. He wants to be that invincible joy to carry you through the suffering that can’t destroy. Remember Job in the scriptures? He suffered great loss and lost his family, his livestock, his wealth, everything. However, he was still able to muster up his praise. “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord”.  Look to Him for your spark child of God, in time things will heal, our happy ending is coming, take heart and remember we are the children of the promise.

Job 1:21 New International Version (NIV)
21 and Job said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[a]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”

John 16:33 New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 New International Version (NIV)
6 Be strong and courageous, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Revelation 21:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Imagine a high profile boxing match at the famous Madison Square Garden. The place is packed with thousands of people waiting in anticipation for the most talked about heavy weight championship bout in history. Americans across the country are hosting pay per view house parties, sports bars are packed to capacity, even the President of the United States on Air Force One is watching from the skies above. All focus now is on these two muscle bulging gladiators, as they pace back and forth in their corners, eying each other like tigers in a cage ready to be released. The fighters are introduced, the bell rings, the crowd roars, the Champion and the Underdog charge at each other towards the center of the ring. They both juke and jive around the other, just waiting for the other to make their first move. Then suddenly the unthinkable happens. The heavy weight Champion of the world takes the first blow to his head. Everyone in the crowd gasps in unbelief. He receives another blow but this time to the body, even the Underdog can’t believe what is transpiring before his very eyes. It’s not that the Champ has never been beaten badly or smacked around before but what makes this bizarre, is the fact it’s not the Underdog who strikes the blows, it’s the Champ who is the one beating himself up. The Champ continues to smash his nose, giving himself another uppercut to the face, then another fierce body blow to his own ribs. After shaking his head in disbelief, the Underdog finally shrugs his shoulders and then delivers his first real punch to the face.  However, he doesn’t direct his swing towards the Champ’s face, no, he slugs at his very own. The Underdog jabs and smacks his own face again and again, knocking out his mouth piece in the process.  The crowd goes crazy with their cheers, not knowing what or who to cheer for. The boxers taunt each other while continuing to self inflict their bodies. “I’m going down!”, yells the Champ, “Not if I can help it! I’m going down first!”, cries the Underdog. Round after round goes on like this, neither fighter gives up, and neither fighter gives in. It’s a blood fest and both men who have trained and dedicated their bodies their whole lives to win for themselves, are now sacrificing their own bodies, for the sake of each other. Instead of competing against each other for the prize, they are now men striving to fight to the point of death for the other. No longer is the goal about winning but losing. No longer is it about fame and glory for their names but now they bleed for the glory of another, now they fight for something far greater than anything money can buy, now they fight for the sake of love. Can you imagine if that actually happened? The sports world would be turned upside down! Can you imagine as Christians if we were like that with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Can you imagine if we were like this in our marriages, our relationships with our friends, our co-workers, and in all our relationships we come in contact with on a daily basis? What if we lived our lives not to compete against each other so that we can come out on top but what if we lived our lives to try and outdo each other in love so that others would get ahead? The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:10, encourages us to “outdo” each other in genuine love. He wanted the body of Christ to love one another so much, that they would literally be trying to surpass each other by trying to exceed one another in love and service for one another. Wow, can you picture a church filled with people that are constantly trying to outshine each other in giving themselves up for each other?  Imagine this conversation between two Christians,  Moe and Larry. Moe says “Hey, I’m bringing over a meal for you and your family”.  Larry replies, “Oh ya, well thank you brother, I’m going to make a meal for you too and I’m going to buy your groceries for the week”.  Moe responds, “ Oh ya, well thank you but if you think you’re going to win so easily, think again, I’m going to buy your groceries for one whole month.”  Larry counters back, “Oh ya, well I can’t let you get the upper hand brother, I’m going to buy your groceries for the whole month, cook your dinners, and do your dishes too.” Back and forth they go like players in a tennis match not wanting the other to outserve them in love.  It’s a comical illustration but wouldn’t that be amazing?  Yet the church today is so divided, we are supposed to be a body but instead of being a single unit, we all have our personal and selfish agendas. Instead of working together, the hand does its own thing, while it complains about the foot, who just ignores the hand. Then the head, signals for the mouth to speak but the mouth sings instead and the pinky toe gets jealous of the nose getting all the attention and the nose gets nosey and gossips about the elbow but the ear hears it and gets offended. He calls out the nose for blowing everything out of proportion, for being full of snot and calls him nothing but a “nose” it all!  Enough of the puns, Jesus commands us to treat others as we would like to be treated. He tells us to love one another as ourselves. The problem is most Christians don’t love because we’ve forgotten how much we’re loved by God. I’m convinced if we would dwell and refresh our minds daily on Christ’s love for us, we would want nothing but to love others with a selfless love. Remember, scripture says, “We love because He first loved us”. We win in this life because He chose to lose.  He chose to outdo others in honoring us.   He left the comforts of heaven to be born in a manger. The King of Kings humbled Himself as a servant, and washed our feet. He didn’t choose a white steed pulling a golden chariot, instead He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He didn’t strut around in a palace wearing a crown of jewels, instead the lowly carpenter chose to live with the rejects and the sinners, He opted for the crown with the thorns. There’s a lot of hate in this world and it feels like love is the hardest art to learn but Christ painted a masterpiece of what this love looks like and it’s found hanging on the cross.  The question is, where’s  it found hanging in our lives? Does it hang on our bathroom walls? Maybe for us it’s time to redecorate and hang this picture front and center on the doorways of our hearts. If the body of Christ can begin to remind ourselves of this simple truth, that God is love, perhaps then we can practice this love for each other and then as we walk in unity, we can compete in love for the souls of the rest of the world. We can’t love unless we realize how much we truly are loved. We can’t love unless the God of love lives in us and is the center of our lives.  So what will it be? Are you willing to lose it all for the sake of your fellow man? You ready to compete to outdo each other in love? Jesus did that for us. At one time we were His opponents in the ring but instead of fighting against us, He bled for us and took the body blows when they should’ve been directed towards us. He gave up the heavyweight title to give us the victory. He hoisted us on His shoulders and declared  us to be the champions. Now as Champions of Christ, He looks to us. It’s our turn now, the bell dings, the crowd cheers, it’s time to show the world what they’re really missing. Now is the time we surrender our title, now is the time we bleed for the glory of another, now is the moment we fight for something far greater than ourselves. Now is the time we fight to lose, now is the time love wins.

Romans 12:10 English Standard Version (ESV)
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

1 John 4:19 New International Version (NIV)
19 We love because he first loved us.

 “Eat your broccoli.” I lovingly encouraged my two year old son Thomas as he sat there in his high chair.  He looked up at me, smiled and politely replied, “No thank you daddy”.  He then insisted I give Him popcorn. I said, “No young man, you must eat your broccoli”. He then threw his broccoli and called me a stinky butt. Of course I reminded him of who’s in charge and that if he didn’t eat his broccoli, then his butt would be more than just a stinky one. Ah rules, no child at first likes them nor do they understand at first why we as parents make them. As parents, we know the rules are there for their own good but all they know is that it sucks when they have to shut off the video game and read a book.  All they know is that it’s such an inconvenience to them when they have to leave the party early to be home in bed by curfew. It’s hard being a parent, especially when you see your kids suffering the consequences of their actions because they failed to heed your counsel. It hurts you more than it hurts them. No loving parent wants to see their kids fail in life. We want them to succeed as adults and that is why when they are young and still under our roof, we are in charge, and we set the rules for them to follow. It’s not to be mean, it’s not so we can show them who’s boss but it’s because we love them and hopefully when they’re older they will appreciate our tough love.  In the same way, God has rules for His children too and He wants us to follow Him and His righteous way of living. Before we became children of God we were once orphans doing our own thing but God adopted us into His family and by His grace, He chose us to live with Him. Now we live in freedom but since we are under His roof, we now must abide by the rules of His house. God is in charge and when He tells us to eat our broccoli we do so because it is for our own good. He must be first in our lives and we must come second. God loves us so much that He knows if we put anything in this creation over the Creator, we are destined to destroy ourselves. Being a disciple and following after Jesus will come at a cost but in the end, the reward far outweighs the sacrifice.  I was reading about this topic in Matthew 8:18-23, where Jesus gives orders to His disciples to get on a boat so they can cross over to the other side. Two of Jesus’s disciples came up to Him and boldly stated that they would follow Jesus no matter what. Jesus tested their hearts to see if they were truly willing but both men realizing the sacrifice it would take, changed their minds and opted not to follow Him.  The first man was a scribe and to him, following Jesus was just an intellectual experience with Jesus. Anything outside of just having a good discussion or listening to one of Jesus’s teachings was the extent of his commitment in following Jesus. For he addresses Jesus as “Teacher”. He considered Jesus an eloquent speaker, one full of wisdom and of great insight. He probably considered Jesus to be one of his religious peers but when Jesus told Him that to follow Him would mean he would have no place to lay his head, the man got nervous. You see, his heart was in his possessions and anything that would make his way of life uncomfortable was not for him. Sometimes believers can be like that today. They fill up the pews on Sunday, listen to a great sermon, have their Bible’s highlighted with all their favorite verses, but when they leave church, they ignore the homeless person in the parking lot while trying to make a mad dash to the nearest Olive Garden for lunch. Stopping to help would only make them feel uncomfortable. After all, they need to save some money for the two dollars they were going to tip their waitress. Some Christians talk a good game but when it comes to giving up their money or sacrificing their comforts to share the gospel with someone, forget about it. They are more attached to their stuff and their comfort zones. To follow Christ we need to be willing to give up our possessions and our comfort zones when Jesus calls us to. Another reason why some choose not to follow Christ is because they are too attached to their relationships. They put people over God. Another disciple of Jesus asked if he could first go and bury his father. Jesus told the man to “leave the dead to bury their own dead”. Sounds cruel doesn’t it? How could Jesus be so mean? But Jesus isn’t saying He doesn’t want us to bury our family members when they die. He is not saying don’t love people because Jesus commands us to love others. In fact in just a few verses prior to this account, Jesus is recorded healing Peter’s mother in law. Jesus is not against caring for ones family, He’s just against it when we put family relationships over Him. Jesus wasn’t trying to be insensitive, He knew what both men needed to help them out in their lives. In fact in the verses that follow this account, we read about the event where Jesus was resting in the boat during a big storm and the disciples panicked in fear for their lives. Think about it, if only the two men listened and followed Jesus, they would’ve gotten into the boat and witnessed a powerful miracle of Jesus getting up from His sleep and calming the wind and the waves. The scribe would’ve come to the conclusion that He doesn’t need to worry about possessions because God who can control the seas, is big enough to provide for his needs. For the man who couldn’t let go of his father, he could’ve witnessed a powerful miracle that would’ve taught him that though his earthly dad may have left him, His Heavenly Father will never leave him. He could’ve come to a deeper trust that the God who calms storms, would get him through his personal storm like the one he was going through with the loss of his dad. However, both men failed to get in the boat and as a result they missed out. You and I as children of God are called to the same standard as these disciples were. We don’t have to always get it right because the disciples that got in the boat didn’t show great faith and there were many times they didn’t get it right either. It’s not so much about performance but more about the heart and what He wants is a desire to follow Him no matter the cost. He is loving and kind and will forgive us when we fail and He gives us His Holy Spirit to equip us for the journey ahead.  God desires we give Him our best simply because He knows it’s for our best and the rewards are knowing Him deeper, experiencing the miraculous, seeing lives saved and living the abundant life. The call to a righteous life is for everyone who puts their trust in Jesus. The price to pay in following Jesus is steep but remember, Jesus paid a big price to buy our freedom from sin and death with His blood on the cross. He gave up the riches of heaven to die for us on a cross, why would we not want to give up everything for Him? Child of God, do you hear Him calling? The time to get in the boat and set sail is now. The time to trade our adventure for His adventure is today. What are you waiting for? There maybe storms along the way, but I promise, we will get to the other side and when we do, we will look back and realize it was well worth the ride.

Matthew 8:18-23

18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

“And she believes in me, I’ll never know just what she sees in me
I told her someday, if she was my girl, I could change the world
With my little songs, I was wrong
But she has faith in me, and so I go on trying faithfully
And who knows, maybe, on some special night, if my song is right
I will find a way, find a way”.

Recognize that one? It’s from the song made famous by Kenny Rogers called, “She Believes In Me”. This song has a very special place in my heart. Years ago my wife Grace got free tickets to an outdoor Kenny Roger’s concert. It’s funny I’m not that big into country but I heard of Kenny, so I decided why not we got nothing better to do. We went with another couple and all along the way to the concert, we laughed at ourselves for actually spending a Friday night at a Kenny Roger’s concert. We all joked about what party animals we were and how there was no way we’d be going if we actually had to pay for these tickets. I remember during the show, sitting there in my lawn chair in this wide open field surrounded by a bunch of old people thinking, “When is this going to be over?”. I was more into my pulled pork sandwich and my lemonade than the show itself. But then just when I thought what a waste of an evening this was, Kenny played the song, “She Believes In Me”.  As he sang, I looked over at my wife and she was crying. I asked her if she was okay and she nodded yes. She told me how she used to listen to that song over and over as a little girl and that now whenever she hears it, she thinks of me. When she said that, I felt tears, put down my food and took her hand in mine and for the rest of the song it was as if the world around us stood still, and it was just us, holding each other close. As I listened to the words I understood what she meant. In the lyrics it’s about a songwriter struggling to make it but he keeps writing his songs all because his girl believes in him. I realized that night how blessed I was to have my wife always there to encourage me, support me and be my biggest fan as I too pursued my dreams. How about you? Did you or do you now have anyone in your life like that? I think at some point in our lives, we can all think of someone, whether it’s our spouse, parents, a teacher, or just a good friend. We’ve all gotten to a certain point in our lives because someone told us they believed in us. Did you know that God believes in you too? I was reading the passage in Matthew 8:23-27. Remember that one? This is the story of Jesus and the disciples in a boat during a storm and as the storm hits, the disciples freak out but Jesus is found sleeping. Eventually they wake Him and He calms the storm. As I was meditating on this a light bulb went off in my head. I had read this passage and heard several sermons preached on this. What they all say is that Jesus was sleeping because He was trusting in His Father to get Him to the other side and yes that is all true. I do believe that but I think there’s more to it. I think the real reason Jesus was sleeping in the boat, was because He was trusting in His disciples to get Him to the other side of the lake. Think about it. When you get on an airplane and you nod off to sleep on the plane,  in essence what you are saying is that you believe in the pilots to get you to where you need to go. You believe in them. I think it was the same thing with Jesus. He was saying during that stormy night, that he believed in them. He believed that they could steer the boat, that they had what it took to speak forth to the storm and tell it to be still. They were the miracles that Jesus believed in but they failed to see it. Sometimes God wants us to believe in ourselves. This is not some New Age talk. I’m not saying to never trust in Jesus. I’m not saying that but sometimes we miss out on the destination God has for us because we fail to believe in ourselves when all along He has had the faith in us to begin with. God gives each of us a brain, gifts, and talents, uniquely for us to use, but when obstacles come our way we put ourselves down, belittle ourselves, we give ourselves reasons why we’re not good enough, not smart enough, not talented enough. We forget God is with us and He sleeps in our boat. He sleeps not because He doesn’t care but because He believes in us to steer the boat. If He believes in us enough to ascend into heaven and entrust us with the keys to His kingdom, just think of how much He believes in us for any other challenge that comes our way. So what’s your goal, what’s that dream that is waiting to be accomplished on the other side of the lake? Don’t be afraid, don’t think lowly of yourself, don’t give up when the waves seem overwhelming. Just remember He is sleeping in the boat with you.  He believes you can do all things, He believes in you. Don’t you think it’s time, you believe in you too?

Matthew 8:23-27
23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Do your prayers sound like this? “Dear Heavenly Father, bless me Lord, oh bless me! Bless my health, bless my job, bless my relationships, bless me Lord. Bless me Lord, oh bless me, bless me when I go out and bless me when I come in, bless me when I sneeze, and bless me after I sneeze. Bless me even before I sneeze and bless those around me that they too may be a blessing to me in my time of need.  Fulfill your blessed plan for my blessed life in Jesus name Amen!   P.S. Lord, Did I mention please bless me?”.  Have you ever prayed that prayer before? If you’re a Christian in today’s society than I’m going to guess you probably don’t pray it as much as you should. I mean, I’m just assuming you’re struggling in this area because based on the number of bestselling Christian books and the endless amount of sermons we watch on YouTube telling us we need to pray for God to bless us, I’m just assuming we don’t do this very well. I guess we still haven’t mastered the prayer of Jabez right? You know the guy in the Old Testament who prayed for God to give him wealth and enlarge his territory.  So God answered his prayer and he became very wealthy and now throughout the decades, Christians are being discipled in a plethora of workshops across our nation, so we can achieve the same kind of success Jabez experienced and be truly happy. You know, name it claim it but disguised in different ways. After all even though there’s no proof, they tell us Jesus was rich too, so why wouldn’t He want us to be wealthy?  God wants to give us bigger cars, bigger homes, bigger boats, bigger sofas so that we can watch Netflix on our bigger plasma TVs. We need to remind ourselves of this daily as we spend time with our Savior reading a five minute devotional on how we can draw close to Jesus, and live our best life now. So the next time we need to park our car at the grocery store, God will give us that front row spot. Never mind that maybe an elderly person or a single mother with four kids could use it, we’re highly favored by God, so let’s adjust our crowns and go for it. Isn’t it great we live in a country with values that are centered around the teachings of Christ? I love how the sixty seventh book of our Bible, the book of Thomas Jefferson focuses on our rights and teaches us not to deny them but to fight for them and teaches us to pursue happiness and the American dream at all costs. This is what makes our nation great. Hey, it’s the economy stupid! Go for the gusto, get your slice of the Americana! Just memorize some verses, go to church once a week, listen to a guy preach, sing some songs, put some change in a bucket, and Jesus will bless us. While during the week God is placed on hold unless we need Him and picking up our cross daily is just a gold chain we hang around our necks. Ah, the Christian life in western civilization, isn’t it dandy? Oh, we mean well but the Christ we’re advertising on our T-shirts is not even close to reality. When Christ is spelled out in our lives, everything is lowercase except the letter “I” in Christ. News flash, we are special but we’re not that special people and we get so upset when others don’t treat us kindly or don’t acknowledge our posts about our kids on Facebook.  How could they not give me a heart emoji for that post? We then get offended so easily if someone just looks at us the wrong way or is rude to us and we let this ruin our whole  day. Yet the early disciples were rejected, thrown in prison, stoned to death, crucified upside down and martyred for Christ. You won’t find that chapter in the “Seven Habits of Highly Successful Christians”.  I mean where’s the fun in that?  But we complain a lot at the slightest discomfort and wonder where’s God? Why isn’t He moving in our country? We blame our politicians, we blame the party we didn’t vote for, we champion the ideas of our talk show radio hosts and listen to them like they’re ordained prophets of God but all they do is make us complain and get us even angrier about the problems of this nation. If we’re truly filled with the Spirit we won’t be complaining, we will be thanking and worshiping God but instead we’re more filled with our agenda and everything else is the problem, not us. We seem to have a long list of solutions too like more gun laws, a bigger wall, need prayer in schools, parents need to be parents, less violence in video games, and Hollywood needs to clean up their act. But perhaps the solution is, instead of more prayer in schools maybe we need more prayer in us. Instead of building walls perhaps we need to build bridges and connect with our neighbors and actually get to know their names. Maybe the change starts with us on our knees and instead of my will be done perhaps more of His will be done. Instead of my kingdom come, His kingdom come. Perhaps the solution is for us to pray less for ourselves and more for others while trusting God that others will be interceding for our needs instead. After all, God did tell us to pray “give us our daily bread”, “deliver us from temptation“. He didn’t say “give me my daily bread”,  He said “give us this daily bread.” The Lord’s prayer is not “me” based but others based. We are taught to  intercede for the needs of others and pray for the will of God on earth as it is in heaven. My wife interceded for my marriage when I had given up on it, my mom interceded for my wife when her heart was hardened to me but because of their prayers and others that faithfully prayed for our marriage, God did the unthinkable and now is restoring what the locusts have eaten. Hard words to swallow, I know. This cup of coffee is a little hot but blow on it, it’ll cool and soon you’ll be able to finish it. We all need to drink this cup even myself. It is a reminder and wake up call for me too. I fall short of interceding for others, I too capitalize the “I” in Christ and I don’t even talk to my neighbors. This is something I need to hear myself. Now this is not to say it’s a sin to be happy, be rich, get involved in politics, or even pray for our individual needs. It’s not a sin to listen to talk radio, read a Christian book or ask God to grow our business. There is a time and place for prayers like Jabez but sometimes we can go too far and put too much emphasis on Christ being centered around us.   All I’m saying is where’s our priorities? Can we move from a “me” centric Christianity influenced by this Western Culture? I believe we can. First, we must be aware of it, second, we must repent of it and third, we must allow God’s Spirit to enable us to live this out. May God forgive us, help us to center our lives around Christ so that whether we are rich or poor, in a season of happiness or sorrow, we are thankful, standing fast in our priorities, Christ first, others second and us last. May we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and trust our needs to God. As we move forward this year, I pray we look for ways to be a blessing rather than receive a blessing. I pray we look for ways to outdo one another in love, through our service towards our fellow man and in our selfless prayers. When Christ is all we want and our only true desire is to bless others with Christ’s love, then the change we want to see in our world, will slowly begin to take shape one heart at a time.

Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

1 John 1:7
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Matthew 6:10
“your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle before my hands, come let me clutch thee!” Recognize that line? You should, that’s from one of the most famous soliloquies written by William Shakespeare. It’s from the well known tragedy “Macbeth”. I remember I had the good fortune of being cast as Macbeth in my collegiate acting career. It will always be my favorite role I’ve ever had the opportunity to perform. What made this role for me so rewarding was the amount of work and the challenges I had to endure to make this character a reality. I remember the first day of rehearsal sitting there listening to my director share his vision to myself and the rest of the cast. He talked about and showed us tiny models of how the set was going to look, the costume designer displayed his drawings of the costumes for each character, and they both stirred up within me and the rest of the cast an excitement for what to look forward to. However, after hearing all the promising things, we then got a dosage of some hard truth. The reality was this production was under a tight budget, all hands on deck, and everything had to be ready to go in three weeks. I remember sitting there and a thought seeped into my mind and said, “This is too much for you to handle. You can’t do this.”. Never in my life did I ever doubt myself when it came to my performances but this time I felt vulnerable. Did I really have what it took? After all, the play was entitled after my character. I had the majority of the lines. This show was going to be a success or a flop and everything was on my shoulders. Not only did I have to memorize thousands of lines but I had to translate what my character was saying too. But as quickly as the thought came, I quickly chose to remove those thoughts and replace them with positive ones. I began to visualize myself as this character and in faith I set a plan for myself. I recorded the lines on an audio cassette tape and listened to them endlessly. I ate Shakespeare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nothing was going to phase me. I knew my goal and kept moving forward and in the next three weeks, I was off book and had become the character of Macbeth. The challenges didn’t stop there though. Once on the way to the theater before my performance, I was met by a stranger off the streets, who followed me alone into the building and then proceeded to attack me. I did what any thespian would do in that situation, I dropped my make up kit and ran for my life. Thankfully, I was okay and so was the makeup kit. And yes that’s the only time you would’ve ever caught me carrying a makeup kit. Anyway, everyone in the cast prayed for me that evening and even though I was greatly rattled, I didn’t let that stop the show from going on. Not only that but I also had to endure challenges within the show itself. Once, during a moment in the play, when my character was in a moment of rage, I hit the proscenium wall and down came the long metal shield which hung from the wall. The shield had to be removed from the stage but how to get rid of it? I did what I felt Macbeth would do. I picked up the shield and flung it into a row of empty seats. It was Shakespeare in 3D and if anyone was sleeping that night they weren’t anymore. One guy from the audience came up to me afterwards and said, “Wow it was like being at a rock concert! Shakespeare rocks!”. Eventually I was awarded best actor in a dramatic play by the school for that year and none of that would’ve been possible, if I had chosen to listen to the doubts in my head at the starting point of rehearsals. Instead I chose to believe in the vision that my director had set forth from day one. And this got me got me thinking about the passage in the Old Testament about the twelve spies. You remember that story? After the Israelites were rescued by God from Egypt, they followed Moses through the desert toward the land of milk and honey promised to them by God. On nearing the land, Moses sent out twelve spies to scope out the Promise Land and they all eventually came back with their reports. They all agreed the land was everything they could ever hope or imagine but the reality was the land was inhabited by giants. All ten believed it was not possible to take the land but only two Joshua and Caleb believed God could deliver the land to them. Do you see the two different starting points? One was a starting point of fear and doubt, the other a starting point of courage, hope and possibilities. I believe that in our lives God has a promised land for us. Whatever that may be will be different for each individual. But it’s up to us to either decide are we going to live in faith or fear? Are we going to change our mindsets from this is impossible to this is possible? Are we going to trust and move in faith or back down in fear? Are we going to listen to what “they” tell us can’t happen or why it’s not possible or are we going to listen to the promises of God? There is always a “they”, a statistics person who loves to tell you the reality of the situation but they end up planting seeds of negativity in your mind. It’s reality, “they” will tell you. Yes, so was the fact there were giants in the Promise Land but that didn’t stop Joshua and Caleb. And you know what, it was only those two who inherited the land promised . Everyone else chose to listen to to the ten and the result, they never made it into the land. They died in their desert. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to let the giants in my life, the naysayers, the challenges of life derail me from inheriting the Lord’s blessings for my life. I don’t need someone to tell me that it’s not possible to increase my readership for my blog, I can’t make a living as an author, my screenplay won’t sell, it’s not good enough. I’m not listening to the lies, and the negativity and my prayer for you is that you wont either. I pray that you will join me in trusting in our God that all things are possible through Him. No matter where you are in your journey, stay the course and never give up. For it may not happen overnight but your Promise Land is coming. Even Caleb and Joshua had to wait another forty years before they actually entered the land but eventually their faith and perseverance paid off. Shakespeare says, “ life is a stage”, so to you I say embrace your role, put away all doubt and fear, trust in our great Director’s vision, step out onto that dim lit stage and declare with boldness for all the world to hear, “Is this a challenge I see before me, the promise land before my hand? Come let me clutch thee!”.

Numbers 13:27-30

“This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea[a] and along the Jordan Valley.”
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

Deuteronomy 31:7

And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

Joshua 14:11 (A quote from Caleb upon entering the land at 85 years old)

11 Here I am this day at eighty five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.

Ever heard of the carrot stick principle? The carrot-and-stick principle is this: the stick is tied to the bridle of a mule or donkey, or held by the human rider or cart driver so that it extends above and in front of the animal’s head, and the carrot hangs on a string from the far end of the stick, just out of reach of the animal’s mouth. Attracted by the sight and smell, the donkey steps forward to bite at the carrot, but of course, as it is attached to the stick, the carrot also moves forward leaving the poor animal to never claim his reward but eventually collapse from exhaustion. Too bad the animal never learns. Sometimes we humans can be like an ass, we can be stupid as donkeys. We chase after the carrot of money, success, possessions, pleasure, sex, relationships and we all strive for that carrot dangling in front of us but we never truly grasp it and as a result, we end up exhausted and burned out, having wasted our lives. We think it’s real freedom because we are the ones leading our lives but we fool ourselves, we are just bridled to a cart leading the weight of the world around. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to lead my own life thinking I got this, almost there, only to find myself suffering the consequences later. And I got to thinking, what if all the striving after all these things is just an attempt by me to earn love? Think about it, even when we are born and we have our first cry, it’s not because we’re hungry. Yes, we may be wanting food but deep down inside, it’s because we are craving love. We want to know who loves us. We want to know who’s going to pick us up and hold us and soothe us, who’s going to let us know that we are the apple of someone’s eye. And so from the cradle to the grave we seek this. Look at me, acknowledge me, pick me up and love me. Some say we have a hole in our hearts and it’s so crazy deep, we fill it up with all the things we’ve done, we work so hard just to put money in our hand but all along, the love we really need,  is crazy cheap. The Bible says that what we desire is only found in what Christ can give. In John 10:10, Jesus says He has come to give us life abundantly. It also says He gives us everything we need for life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:3. Wow, and all this time I still chase after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In Him, I’ve got it already. I don’t need to look for it anymore. I don’t need to seek approval anymore. I don’t need to check my Facebook to see who likes my blog or shared it. I don’t need to have a title before my name, just child of God. Jesus loves me and that’s enough. God never tells us to follow the carrot, He tells us to follow Him. The Bible promises us that when He leads us,  He will lead us to green pastures, Psalm23. He will satisfy our souls with good things, Psalms 105:3.
Nothing wrong with dreams or goals or making money but if we can get to the point where our hole is just filled with His love and nothing else, then anything else He chooses to give us or take away from us, will not matter so much. Tired of pursuing love in all the wrong places? Ditch the carrot , give over your life to Jesus, let Him lead you and He will unbridle you from the burden of pulling the weight of the world around in a cart that is going nowhere. Remember, when Jesus is our main love, everything else is just a cherry on top of an amazing sundae.

1 Timothy 6:6-12 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.