Miracles...

I have a question.

This one thanks to a dear friend who challenged me to fall asleep last night thinking about Jesus, and miracles...

Jesus spared Himself no pains while He was here, to relieve the sufferings of humanity. And He spares no pains today to relieve the sufferings of sinners. To me, miracles are one of the ways He says “I love you” most profoundly. They are proof of His power, proof of His authority, proof of His fidelity and infinity... 

Gifts of Grace. 

But have you ever stopped to ask yourself if miracles cost Him anything?

--If the gift of life He gave back to Jairus’ daughter, or the widow’s son, was in fact a measure of His own?

Eternal and Creative as He is after all, it seems like He could give without losing. But is that giving?

Maybe He always filled others by pouring out Himself. 

And maybe... He still does. 

You think?

Really Winning...

I’m weary of hearing cheap scandals promise triumph when all they have to back them is moral insanity, and shameless fraud...

Here’s the alternative: The real ways to win...

“If young [people] make their model an exalted one, having pure morals and firm principles, and if blended with this are affability and true Christian courtesy, there is a refined perfection to the character which will win its way anywhere, and a powerful influence will be wielded in favor of virtue, temperance, and righteousness. Such characters will be of the highest value to society, more precious than gold. Their influence is for time and for eternity.”*

Win its way anywhere?? Even infidels call that “really winning.”

*My Life Today, April 27

Thanks guys...

To some of the highest quality young people I ever hope to rub shoulders with, 

Thank You. 

I can't say it was my idea to roll credits, anchor the meetings, or stream a game of freeze tag live... Nor could I have pulled it all off if I had thought of it. 

But you did. 

Love you guys...

I am Persuaded!

I love this. You are free.

He said so.

Read it really slowly...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

AMEN, and AMEN

(Quoted: Romans 8:35, 37-39, I John 5:4, I Corinthians 15:57, John 8:36, John 8:32, II Timothy 1:7)

The Weight of a Smile

Ask any one of my best friends. They’ll all tell you the same thing...

I love smiles.

In other words, I don’t take them for granted. Smile once when I really need one, and I’ll never, never forget.

I imagine I’m not the only one...

I was just reading today in Christ’s Object Lessons, and I landed on the power of the smile... Did you know that “Kindly affections, [&] generous impulses...are precious talents, and lay their possessor under a weighty responsibility.”?? “All are to be used in God’s service.”*

Kindly affections and generous impulses?? Hmmm... And they’re not just to be distributed to those we know and love. For “the love that gives kindness to only a few is not love, but selfishness.”*

I don’t know about you, but I live in a world that’s starving for kindness.

Don’t let God ever hear you say your talents are small... If you have a smile, you have a weighty responsibility.

Remember that, and smile at a stranger today...

*(COL 352)