I’d Rather Have Jesus – Crabb Family

Good Sunday morning. There are lots of things that vie for our attention and there are lots of things in life that we seek after, hoping to be satisfied by them. We look for that satisfaction in money and material things, in success, in power, in relationships. Many times, we long for the applause and adulation that people give.

Philippians 3:7-11 reads, “But those things which were profit to me, I gave up for Christ. Yes truly, and I am ready to give up all things for the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, which is more than all: for whom I have undergone the loss of all things, and to me they are less than nothing, so that I may have Christ as my reward, and be seen in him, not having my righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may have knowledge of him, and of the power of his coming back from the dead, and a part with him in his pains, becoming like him in his death; If in any way I may have the reward of life from the dead.”  (Bible in Basic English)

I think we all have a “satisfaction center” in our minds and hearts that longs to be completely filled and satisfied. That is why we constantly search for something to make us happy. When we don’t find it, we try to find something else to fill it. For me, the only thing I’ve found that truly satisfies is Jesus Christ.

You can read more about the history of this great hymn here.  I hope you enjoy the Crab Family’s version of Rhea F. Miller’s song made famous by George Beverly Shea.

Wild at Heart – John Eldredge

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Wild at Heart is a great book. I read it a few years ago and it has continued to impact my life.

1 Month Blogoversary – Learning How to Blog

I started blogging July 2, 2008. So, August 2 I was glad to celebrate my 1 month blogoversary. I really didn’t have any idea what would happen when I started. I just wanted to write and write whatever I felt like writing about.

Trusting God – Proverbs 3:5,6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5,6 (NIV)

One of the hardest things for me is trying to understand things and life.  My wife would agree that I do not understand most of what she says.  Really, she’d argue that it’s more a listening problem than a comprehension issue.  But I do struggle with understanding and trusting God sometimes.  It doesn’t come natural.  So many times, I’d rather be able to completely understand a situation and fully define it.  I like to have problems solved.  I feel more comfortable that way.

That’s a human characteristic and part of our nature that dates way back.  It is great to study and learn and try to figure out why and how things work.  That’s what we do in science and all its fields.  But there are some things we’ll never figure out.  The psalmist must have known that when he wrote these words.  Now, thousands of years later, they still have meaning.

When we lean on our own limited understanding, doubt starts to creep in.  We can’t figure out the why’s and how’s and it causes us to struggle.  Sometimes we worry and fret so much about figuring things out that we lose sight of where we are and where we’re going – we can’t find the way, it seems.

Following God means trusting Him.  Trusting that He is in control.  Trusting that He knows what we feel and what we think.  Trusting that He is so much bigger than ourselves. 

One of the most difficult times in my life happened a few years ago when I left work as a missionary to return to the United States.  This verse became very encouraging to me as I began to really trust God and not figure things out myself.  One particular night, after giving an email notification of my intentions,  I was praying that God would just affirm our family’s decision.  I didn’t know it then, but during the same time, I received an email from someone that I hadn’t seen or talked to in about eight years.  Ultimately, it led to where I live now and what I do now as I walked in the steps that God put before me, one after the other.  It has been an exciting and fulfilling time.

For me, it came down to trusting God, acknowledging Him and believing He would direct my path.  That’s exactly what He did and the way things have worked out for me have been better than I had imagined.  It’s hard to trust, but as we do and as we see God work in our lives, it becomes easier and easier to follow Him.

Ten Ways Life is Like My Yard – Part One

Living life is a lot like caring for my yard.  Two years ago in September, my wife and I along with a few friends laid 22 pallets of Tifway 2 hybrid bermuda sod.  That is a lot of grass!  Now, I am not an agricultural, horticultural, archaeolgical or turfgrass specialist.  But there are some things I have learned about starting a yard and maintaining the sod.  As I look back on that, I realize that some of those things have some correlation or parallel with life.  So here are five ways that life is like my yard.

1. There will be different growing seasons.  Last year, my yard’s first growing season, we had a pretty bad drought.  I had to constantly water it (until the “do-not-use-any-water-outside” notice came.  This year, we’ve had lots of rain and it has been pretty pleasant -in the 70’s this week in August in Mississippi is unheard of.  I haven’t had to use the sprinkler hardly at all.  Life is like that.  Sometimes there are very difficult seasons where the sun beats down, the heat is on and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight.  Other seasons, everything just goes right.  It’s pleasant, nice and it’s easy-going.
2. With consistent work and care, it will be a very nice, pretty yard.  When we first laid the sod, we had to pour water to it, sometimes twice a day, for about 2 weeks until it got established.  When I’ve been consistent to water it, fertilize it, cut it and get the weeds out, it has looked nice.  When it’s been neglected, well it just doesn’t look as good.  Aren’t we like that as people?  When we’re careful to take good care of ourselves, mentally, physically and spiritually, doesn’t it make a difference?  Can’t people tell?
3. It needs the sun and rain to grow.  Sometimes, the sun just gets so hot, I wish it would go back in and not come out again.  Sometimes it rains and seems like it will never stop.  But if there were no sun and if there were no rain, my grass wouldn’t grow.  In life, there are those things that we just wish would go away and then there are the times that we just seem overwhelmed and flooded by our circumstances.  Those things, though, are what often help us to grow and mature as people.  As much as we’d like to tell them to go away, it’s through the experiences, whether good or bad, that we are made as people and our character is developed.
4. You can’t get too complicated, especially early on, and overfertilize.  This is where we tend to try to make things complicated sometimes.  I was told that you don’t want to use any fertilizer on new sod until it’s been through the first growing season.  You can “lightly” fertilize it but you especially don’t want to use any systemic weed-killer.  As the yard progresses, you can use more and different products to fertilize and weed the yard.  I’ve kind of found that too be true in life.  “Keep it simple, stupid,” has been a catchphrase I’ve heard a lot.  Sometimes we try to make life too complicated when simplifying it is what we really need.
5. Unless you do something consistently to get and keep the weeds out, they will eventually invade it and make it unattractive.  When I first laid the sod, there were no weeds.  For the first year (since you’re not supposed to use weed-and-feed) I was pretty good about handpicking the weeds.  But as time as gone on, that has been more difficult as more and more weeds or unwanted grasses have crept into my yard.  After cutting, as the grass grows, those unsightly weeds are more easily seen.  We live life with a lot of “weeds” in it.  Those weeds grow and if we’re careful not to get them out of our lives and control them, they just have a way of taking us over and controlling us.