YESTERDAY, I watched the movie, “La La land”.  It’s a musical about two people pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles. The female lead is pursuing a career as an actress and the male protagonist is pursuing a music career as a jazz musician. Both meet and fall in love but in the end they have to part ways because their love for their dreams takes them on separate paths.  Fast forward five years later and both have succeeded in achieving their dreams. The female protagonist gets the acting career she always wanted and gets married and has a child, meanwhile the male protagonist achieves his ultimate goal of starting his own jazz club. By a fluke chance meeting, the female character just happens to come upon her former lover’s jazz club. She sits at a table with her husband and sure enough she is taken back when she sees her ex lover come out onstage and play his piano. He also sees her in the audience and so when he plays, he plays with everything he has. As he plays, she begins to dream about what might have been. As he plays, we the audience sees what their lives could’ve been, him giving up his dream for hers, them getting married, having a child, sharing life together. However, as the song ends so does the dream and we are back to reality. She gets up to leave along with her husband but as she is about to walk out, she turns back around and her and the guy at the piano share a moment. Their expressions on their faces speak volumes as if to say, “You will always be in my heart.”  I liked the movie just for the fact that sometimes relationships you want to be in don’t always work out. As I look back in my life, I have had a few relationships where I have dated but we were just on separate paths. At some point, we had to move on. My marriage got to that point too. We almost reconciled but as things became clear, it was best to go our separate ways.  It’s easy to want to stay though in that place of nostalgia. That place of what could’ve been. We then find ourselves trapped in the past while the present moves on without us.  It does no good to hold onto that person, thinking maybe today it’s going to happen and they’ll change their mind. Life is complicated and relationships come and go and it hurts. Sometimes the person you want to be with doesn’t want the same thing. The only wise thing we can do is keep moving forward. God has a plan and a purpose  in all this. The broken relationship may not be restored but your life can. Let Him restore the joy that only a relationship with Him can give. For the two main characters in the movie, their dreams were the motivation for them moving forward. As Christians our focus should be on our relationship with God and the plan of hope He has for us. We are commanded to follow Jesus. God is not stagnant stuck in the past, He is always moving forward. The Bible says, “keep in step with the Spirit”, Galatians 5:25.  Remember you have a friend in Jesus, who will never leave you nor forsake you. His love for you is eternal. There will never be any regrets, or breakups with Him.  Stuck in La La Land, over the hurts of a past relationship? Don’t look back, look forward and take His hand. He will guide you from that place of what might have been to that place where all  things are possible. TODAY, is a new day! 

Isaiah 43:18-20

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck? Perhaps it’s a career rut you just can’t seem to get out of or maybe it’s a past situation that is out of your control and you find it has held you back from moving forward. Maybe it’s an addiction, maybe it’s a disappointment in life that has now taken away all hope that you figure there is nothing else to do but just accept your reality and settle in the place where you’re at. I was recently reading and meditating in Acts chapter three. It’s about a lame man who was crippled from birth and for many years this man was carried to the temple steps where he would ask for money. Then one day, something extraordinary happened to him. God sent Peter and John along his path and when he asked for alms, they healed him instead. The Bible says that immediately he was able to rise and walk. I was thinking about how amazing this really was. You see, this man was dealt a bad hand. He was given a disability by birth. He did nothing to deserve that. But what’s interesting is that this man was carried everyday to the temple to beg. He had allowed himself and those he surrounded himself with to believe that this was his lot in life and therefore this was all he could ever do, beg. The scripture says he was carried. These people were enablers. Have you ever had people in your life that know your situation yet they tell you what you want to hear? They don’t ever give you a different perspective, they don’t push you to better yourself, no they just carry you around and by doing this they encourage you to stay stuck in your rut. The crippled man had gotten to the point where he accepted his situation as being his reality. His being born a crippled had become now what defined him. So to beg was his only option. However, God wanted to show him there was a better way to live. Instead of enablers, God sent Peter and John and they didn’t see a crippled man, no they saw his potential. He asked for money, they questioned why ask for that, when God wanted to bless him with something better. Sometimes our prayers are so limited, we ask for small things, when God wants us to remember who we’re talking to. There is nothing that is too great for our great God to handle. He wants to do much more than we can ever ask or imagine. Think about it, this crippled man for all those years, just asked for money, he never thought to ask for a healing? Maybe it never crossed his mind.  He believed in his past circumstances and that was his reality. Peter and John saw past the physical limitations and saw this man’s true reality.  I love how they tell him that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth he would be healed.  Why did they say that? Remember, in the New Testament where Nathaniel asks,”Nazareth, what good can come from Nazareth “?  It’s not that Nazareth had a bad rep but it was such a small blimp on the map. A rural town that had a population of maybe 600 people. No one would ever expect greatness to come from a small town such as that one. Yet, here was Jesus fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would come from there. Jesus could have let his humble origins to impact his destiny but he didn’t. Yes, Nazareth was his past but it wasn’t going to define Him. No, He knew who He really was. He was Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. Peter and John by making this statement were in essence saying to this man, your past circumstances are not your identity anymore, it’s now what you are in Christ Jesus.  For the first time this man finally saw the light and scripture says he was healed immediately. Not in two to five years or in some twelve week step program, no he was healed immediately. Sometimes when we are stuck in the same place for years it’s not that God has forgotten us, He’s waiting for the right moment, that when He delivers us, He is going to show off His glory and it’s impact on our lives and others will be tremendous. God loves to show off and it will always be for our benefit and for His glory. This man after his healing rose and was leaping with great joy , praising God telling others about what Jesus had done. When God delivers you, you will have a testimony and this man now had a powerful one.  In chapter four it goes on to tell us that five thousand people came to put their trust in Christ because of this one man’s testimony. Just think what God can do with you. Where do you find yourself today? Are you stuck in a rut? Perhaps it’s been years and you’re wondering how much longer? Have you begun to accept your circumstances as your reality? Does your past define your identity? It doesn’t have to be. Avoid those friends that just want to carry you through life, look for the Peter and John’s in your life that will see your God given potential and push you to believe that God has something bigger and better. You may not see it yet but stay encouraged, your miracle is coming. Pick up your mat, rise and walk, your Jesus of Nazareth has spoken!

Acts 3:6-10

⁶ Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” ⁷ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. ⁸ So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. ⁹ And all the people saw him walking and praising God. ¹⁰ Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

John 1:46

Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Psalm 139:16

  “…..all the days ordained for me were written in your book”. 

In my life, I have ventured many times into the realm of creative writing.  I have written a few scripts, most of which are really bad and should never see the light of day but I’ve written a couple scripts recently, that are so much better.  I still have a few more drafts to go but I’m way more proud of these than the junk I used to write.  What I’ve learned over the years between my first screenplay to my most recent, is that like building a house, if you don’t lay the foundation first, you’re story will be a complete disaster. You have to learn to appreciate the process of writing. Just because you finish a first draft does not mean you’re done. Most successful scripts take up to five to ten drafts. With my first script, I just wrote it down without taking the time to do the research and character development first. I was lazy and the end result was a lousy unstructured plot with stale dialogue, and flat characters.  But I find when I do the groundwork first, take the time to work on character development, my screenplay just flows so much better and the characters are so much deeper and more authentic. It’s so apparent when you watch a great movie.  You just know it. The structure is strong, the dialogue is rich, and the characters are well thought out and have many layers.  It creates an awarding experience for the audience. However, when a screenplay was just quickly put together, these movies usually find themselves straight to Netflix and forgotten pretty quickly. What I’ve learned is that a screenwriter that really cares about the success of the story, will take the time to care about the details. To a really great writer, the smallest character in the movie is as important as the main character. Every line, and every scene is equally important. You know sometimes I think about how awesome it is that the Bible calls our God an author. God,  the author of our lives cares so much about us, that He took the time to think us up.   God is the God of detail. Just look at all creation. Everything has a purpose in this life, from the largest mountain to the tiniest ant.  He took His time creating the world. Just read about how detailed He gets on instructing the Israelites in building the temple. And of course, He took great thought into creating us.  Scripture tells us,  He even knows the number of hairs on our head.  “He knitted us together in the secret place”.  “We are fearfully and wonderfully made”.  God doesn’t create junk. He doesn’t rush, He processes things and in the end, His work is found to be of excellence. If you ever feel you are insignificant, think again. You’re a character in His book. The Author of the book of life, took the time to create you. You may not think you have a big part to play but you do. Remember, if God cares about a little sparrow, why would He not care about little us? God is in the details, there are no insignificant characters and without you, there can be no story. 

Psalm 139:13-16

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

Luke 12:7

⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Have you ever gone to an Arcade?  I know in the age of Xbox and “Candy Crush”, Arcades aren’t as popular as they once were. But they still exist. I used to go when I was a kid growing up. Do you remember the Groundhog game? I don’t know if that’s what it was called but the game consisted of a table with a bunch of holes. You’d  have an anvil or hammer and out of the holes would pop up a groundhog. The goal would be to hit the head before it went back down. If you hit it just in time, you would get a certain amount of points. If you’ve ever played at first it starts out easy with one groundhog popping up its head but then after awhile it gets harder. Multiple groundhogs begin appearing and at a faster rate until eventually you’re not hitting groundhogs, you’re just looking stupid swinging away and achieving nothing but getting yourself frustrated. Kind of in the same way, as Christians we all have that certain sin or sins that like the groundhogs, keep popping up in our lives.  There is always that one sin that no matter how hard you try to bop it on the head, it keeps coming back up again and again.  You then tell God I’ll do better next time and you put more quarters into the machine and you even tighten your grip on the hammer but again the sin just becomes too overwhelming and before you know it, it’s game over leaving you to feel again like you’re  the biggest loser. You feel embarrassed, ashamed of yourself, like you’re the worst Christian ever. Is there something wrong with you? Then we live in this cycle where we criticize ourselves, live in shame, try harder and then fail again.  We then ask for forgiveness from God again and again and we start to wonder if we’ve used up all our free tokens to get another chance to play the game again. The bad news is that for a lot of Christians including myself, we live most of our lives struggling to keep those sinful desires from coming back and controlling us. However, there is  good news. It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact to go back to the groundhog game illustration. Think about this, if you truly want to win and defeat the groundhogs, it’s not going to be found in trying harder. No, there’s an easier way. All you have to do is go over to where the outlet is and unplug the game. I guarantee it, there will never be another groundhog rearing it’s ugly head again. In the same way, Jesus gives us the key to overcoming our groundhogs. The Bible says that we have two natures. There’s the old nature or the flesh and that’s where the sinful habits and desires derive from.  Then after we put our faith to receive Jesus we are now given new birth into a spiritual body, this is the new nature. The Bible tells us that when we put our faith in Christ something miraculous happens to us. The old nature with all its evil desires has also been nailed to the cross and when Jesus rose from the grave we too rose again with Him into our new nature. “That’s nice”, you might be saying, “but I know I’m a Christian, then why am I still struggling with all these sins controlling me?”.  Remember scripture says, “Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the Old is gone, the new has come”.  My question to you is do you believe that? You may know that verse but if it’s not happening in your life you don’t believe it. So what do you do? Do you muster up the strength to believe it more? No, you simply remind yourself of this truth and accept it. You go over to the outlet and remind yourself that the old man is already unplugged! The scripture says, “I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me”. The old man is dead! He is not coming back ever. But when we stop renewing our minds with this truth we forget and it’s as if we go over to the outlet and turn the game back on. We don’t need to. It’s been done on the cross and the victory has been given to us through His resurrection. Struggling with those relentless annoying sins? It’s time to say goodbye to your groundhogs.  Put down the hammer, you can’t win that way, remember the game is already over. He won it at the cross, the old man is dead, the game is unplugged. Plug yourself into the scriptures of God’s truth about you. Collect your tickets and go receive your reward in His gift shop. There are so many spiritual blessings, to choose from like self control, patience, peace to name a few and whatever you do don’t get too cocky. Without Him we are nothing! Praise Him, and don’t forget to tell others about this little secret, that through Jesus Christ, we are all Groundhog Slayers!

2 Corinthians 5:17 New International Version (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

Galatians 2:20 New International Version (NIV)

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 6 New International Version (NIV)

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.