Running on Empty

Have you ever felt like your tank was empty? At the bottom of the pile? Nothing left to give? Desperate, you thought of giving up or screaming at the top of your lungs, "HELP ME!"

In a moment of desperation, a woman began asking for a guy named Elisha. When he asked what she had in her possession she said, "A jar of oil." This jar of oil was the most valuable possession she had. But there wasn't an unlimited supply. And Elisha's request seemed whimsical and nonsensical.

Really, what could a jar of oil do to sustain her life and the life of her son?

"Begin pouring this oil into another jar!"

And another, and another!

Elisha convinced her that she would have to give up what was most valuable to her at the time, a jar of oil, to attain something of greater value, life.

And, finally, after filling many jars, she asked for another. "There are no more jars!"

Are you serious? She gathered jars, maybe what seemed to be an adequate amount to provide for her needs, and yet there was more oil to be poured out.

Isn't that just like God, to have an abundance that He wants to give and we aren't quite prepared to receive all that He has for us? Little people with a small vision of what He wants to do!

In every moment of desperation and despair, trust God to provide a way. And never underestimate His power to provide more than enough.

God is calling you to give your most valuable perhaps your last possession; your pride, a relationship, some possession, to find yourself empty of all hope in yourself so that He can show Himself to be more than enough.

Maybe we are most valuable when we are the most vulnerable!

Better yet, when we are in those vulnerable places we will find God to be our most valuable treasure and turn our gaze upon Him!

From One Beggar to Another

Have you ever seen a beggar?

Maybe not up close and personal, but from a distance?

Don't they look different than you? Discouraged; like they've missed their chance in life? Desperate; willing to take a chance on any thought of hope passing their way?

Almost immediately we begin to build a caricature of who we think we've seen under a bridge or on a commercial informing us about the issue of poverty. But the truth is, beggars are dressed in all types of array from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor.

There are beggars in Hollywood! Haven't you seen them? Their lifestyles are screaming for someone to notice them! To see that they are desperate! Sure, they have money, nice clothes, and plenty of people around them. But they're lonely and destitute hoping someone would prove to them that there's more to life than this.

There are also beggars in your hometown! Be it upper-middle class in the suburbs of big city lights or the working class in small towns all across America. They're everywhere! Working paycheck to paycheck no matter how many digits are showing in their bank account. They're begging for someone's attention!

And here I am; a beggar! No I haven't lived under a bridge, and no, I didn't premiere on a commercial about homelessness. But it's true; I was once a beggar. I was starving for attention. I was desperate for someone to notice me. I was empty and void of feeling like my life had purpose.

And then He found me. I wasn't looking for Him. In fact, I was reasonably sure I could do this without Him. Sure, I had heard about Him. But He seemed to be distant, uninvolved, and unimpressed with my feeble ways.

However, I was wrong. He very much wanted to be a part of my life. He fed me. He comforted me. He gave me purpose. He painted a big picture of what life was really about; a picture that portrayed the great lengths He was willing to endure to provide a way for me to know Him. So I don't have to keep begging or wandering alone through life trying to figure this out on my own.

And now, as part of His forever family, He has given me permission to take this story, my daily bread, and begin feeding it to others. So, here I am, just one beggar trying to tell another beggar where to find bread!

Happy and Healthy

I recently listened as a man described his grandson's eating habits as being a "fussy eater."

"He doesn't like vegetables! He doesn't like meat! He doesn't like fruit!"

"So, I just give him a doughnut!"

His logic?

"I want him to be happy!" He described one of the joys and privileges of being a grandparent as wanting his grandchildren being happy while implying that their health was of less concern.

While I did sense some sarcasm toward the lack of concern about his grandchildren's health, he created a valid talking point for his listeners in the happy vs. healthy debate of our lifestyles.

We live in a world that thrives in a fast-paced form of life. A constant state of busyness finds us frantically searching for 'quick fixes' to many of our health concerns.

Loads of caffeine and sugar replace our lack of proper rest. Supplements to enhance our physique. New faces to replace the struggles of working on our current relationships. Podcasts, seminars, and conferences to provide a quick dose of enthusiasm in our career. A coffee mug with a Bible verse to make us feel better about our spirituality.

And while many of these 'fixes' provide a moment of relief, the rush will eventually wear off because they were never meant to maintain an enduring state of good health. Happy isn't found in a quick fix; it's found in the slow baking oven of commitment over time.

It's a dangerous ploy to navigate the deep waters of happiness far away from the shore of good health. Chasing happiness will eventually leave us feeling stranded without a raft. It will cause us to abandon the deep sense of purpose we know we were created for. And it will cause us to neglect those deeply woven friendships meant to extend a hand in a time of troubled waters.

Our happiness is tied to our health! Not just our physical health, but our emotional, mental, social, and spiritual health as well.

So, today, when you feel tempted to take the easy way out in an effort to be more 'happy,' remember, your health is more important than the quick fix of some moment of ecstasy! To be healthy is to be whole and to be whole will lead to your happiness!

Back to Reality

I'm home now!

A week removed from the villages of Honduras where kids with tattered clothes and worn out shoes walked for what seemed like days through the coffee bean hills for school. Eager to learn basic math facts and parts of speech of their native language, they were intrigued by the truck full of "Americans" passing by their two room schoolhouse.

We parked the vehicles on a recently cleared plot of land and began to dismiss ourselves onto the dusty Honduran road toward the school. As we passed by a shed built with several timbers and an aluminum roof having wooden benches below, someone asked, "What's that?"

"It's the church!"

"Really," I thought to myself. "This is the ONE church in this village! A shed not much fit for keeping animals out of the rain is used to house people for weekly worship services! You can't be serious!" But that it was.

While I love to travel and spend days, even weeks, abroad experiencing diverse cultures, traditions, and languages, I never cease to be amazed and convicted by what I experience when my path crosses the way of Christians in those cultures.

During the week of our trip we were introduced to the work of three men who have given themselves to full time ministry. Pastors, if you will.

Not pastors in three piece suits attending meetings and public speaking engagements that may require using their private jet to get from one location to the next. No, perhaps their responsibilities looked to be more closely associated with Paul's travels in the book of Acts than the former.

From my own experience, we know what must be done yet oftentimes refuse to do so because of our apathetic tendencies. Maybe that's unfair to say. Maybe it's not that we don't care but that our schedules have been bombarded with secondary issues that we've made into an ultimate priority.

To be honest, that sounds pretty accurate for a large majority of our Christian sub-culture.

But how do we provide a more permanent presence in villages like El Ensenal who meet under a shed for their worship services?

While the church is a conglomeration of many people with diverse backgrounds, it is unified by God's singular mission of making Himself known to the world. And the leaders of the church have a responsibility of maintaining that unifying mission for the people who come under the name of Christ and His church.

At least for me, my conviction is planted in this mantra, "Go, send, or disobey!" And what spending a week in Honduras has done for me is help deepen the roots of that mission.

So, I'm back home. Back to reality. And what I will do is spend the next several days, weeks, months fighting back the urge of a self-inflicted drought toward the global mission of God. One that can become easily choked out by the weeds of my own comforts and conveniences. My busy schedule. Being entertained by the propositions of this world.

So I'm choosing to return and view my reality through a different lens. Rather than a lens that seems blurry or dim, I want to remain wide awake to the people and needs around me. One that chooses not to turn a deaf ear or blind eye to others' reality. But one that see others' needs and chooses to embrace and engage!