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Damaged Fruit

Damaged Fruit Growing up in rural Shelby County Missouri meant spending lots of time on the farm, one of my favorite places to be.  We had a farm just north of Shelbina that my dad called Beulah land and it had a small fruit orchard on it.  I loved walking through and picking pears, apples, or plums then eating one after another.  Nothing beat the taste of freshly picked fruit off the tree.  One of the worst things though is picking a piece of fruit, taking a bite, then realizing it is rotten due to worms or birds eating on it.    We, the church, are to be an orchard for the LORD.   As we live out in the community, or gather together, we are to bear good fruit that others would know Christ.   Matthew 12:33 says “Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad; for a tree is known by it’s fruit.” (CSB)   When we live out gospel lives, we bear good fruit as we live out the great commandment and the great commission.   When we are striving to be like Christ
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Head, Heart, Hands

HEAD, HEART, HANDS Have you ever met a know it all?  You know, the person that tends to know everything about everything.  They might even know about your life more than you do as well.  The problem I tend to see in the life of a know it all is that they often fail to live out some, if not all, of the knowledge they have.  They know what foods not to eat but they eat them anyway.  They know every call to make at a sporting event but they don't coach or officiate.  Know it all types tend to posses lots of knowledge but it never seems to move from their head to their hearts and from their hearts to their hands.  This is often true in the realm of Christians, more than many would ever admit. James writes that faith apart from works is foolish (Jas 2:20).  He is not saying works save you but if you indeed claim to have faith in Christ your works should express that faith.  Often as Christians we have lots of knowledge that we have garnered in Sunday school, worship, small grou
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I’m not racist but… For years the phrase that makes my skin crawl always starts the same way “I’m not racist, but…”  What follows is always a racist statement.  It is as if the first part of the statement clears the way for us to be horrible people and get away with it.  It is akin to “Don’t take offense to this, but…”  Like someone will say “Oh, since you said don’t be offended I guess I can’t be…”  Seriously, you are just looking for a way to be a not very nice person and have an avenue to justify yourself.  Racism is unfortunately still a problem in America and it is even more so unfortunately a problem in churches.  I have had more than one “Christian” come to me with the crushing and sinful statement “I’m not a racist, but…” and follow up with something that is racist yet they justify it as not racist because they said they weren’t racist.  The reality is we can say “I’m not a racist” but if our words speak in a racially demeaning way the truth is you probably are racist, a
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Making the most of time In the movie "Alice Through the Looking Glass" Time makes the statement we all will one day face "Tick-Tock you time is up!"  This is a fearful statement for most because it is a stark reminder of what we know and see in the Bible that life is but a vapor, a mist.  James says "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (Jas 4:14b)  Time is something that we all desire to control yet truly have no control of for we cannot add a single moment, hour, day to our lives (Matt 6:27).  When we are young we often view time as our friend, days are long and go by so slowly, then as we age we begin to see time as our foe, time moves quickly and we do not have enough of it.  So what should our view of time be as Christians?  Paul writes in Ephesians "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of your time, because the days are evil." (Eph 4:15-16) Going throu
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Listening to Hear not Speak

L istening can be one of the most difficult tasks anyone has.  It takes a very special person to listen, to truly listen, to someone.  Often we find our listening more of a means of deciding what we are going to say, how we will respond, if we must defend, etc...  Listening is indeed a discipline that I know I have had to perfect over the years.  Often I found myself listening to someone but really I was already thinking about what I was going to say when they were finished.  When this is our attitude of listening much is missed in the conversation and even misinterpreted due to a desire to respond instead of understand.  The Bible calls us to be hearers, that is to be listeners longing to hear. J ames 1:19 says "My dear brothers, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry..."  What a challenge this presents to us in todays modern world where the dilemma is that everyone is easily offended.  When someone begins to talk it
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The Problem of Worry

I once heard it said that worry was nothing more than making a down payment on something that you will never own.  Since I was a kid I was making those down payments.  Throughout my childhood and into adulthood I worried about this, that, and everything in between.  I was, have been, and must say that I am a recovering worrier.  In the last year God has taught, and continues to teach me to stop the worry.  I have learned through the battle of cancer that truly I have no control and all the worry in the world won't change the fact that as I go through scans and tests, God is ultimately in the know and in control.  Our worry, strife, and anxiety accomplishes nothing except to make us feel sick.  Let me share what God has been teaching me in the last year. Philippians 4:6 Paul writes "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."  Paul tells the church in Philippi not to worry.  He
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PRESS ON Confession time, and this ones pretty obvious, my writing is sporadic at best.  I started blogging about my cancer last fall and when I started chemo I didn't feel like writing about it much less thinking about it.  I can honestly say that chemo is not only the most horrific thing I have experienced but it is the assuredly, at least at this time, the worst.  Throughout the process of treatment and feeling sick I found myself angry many times.  I cried out to God "Why me"?  I asked God why His intent was to kill me.  I was hurt, devastated, and lonely but God heard my cries and simply said "Why not you?"  I was shocked and stunned at this thought but I soon found my way into Philippians 4:11-14, that infamously misused passage of scripture.  It was there God spoke deeply into my pain and reminded me of His glory. Paul writes "...for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to ab
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