Spy?

Mom flew in from Jacksonville this weekend accompanied by my brother, David. Since this was her first visit since we moved here last October, we wanted to show her around and catch some of the museums in D.C. One of the museums we spent some time in was the International Spy Museum. We saw all of the gadgetry used over the centuries by spies from all over the world from as way back as the Old Testament, where the Bible talks about Joshua sending spies to spy out the promised land. It was a great museum. At the beginning of the self-guided tour we were shown a picture and asked to pick out the people who looked suspicious and were spies and objects that were being used for spying. Some things were very easy to pick out but others were very difficult if you didn't have a trained eye. It made me wander, what if someone had a portrait and I was in this portrait along with others and people were asked to pick out the "Christ follower"...would they pick me? Of course only God knows our heart, but if someone had to pick...? Is my life different so as to be noticeable to others? What would give it away? Does my life point people to Jesus? I really don't want to be a "spy" for Jesus, someone who deliberately seeks to hide his identity. But, I also don't want to be the guy on the soap box with a megaphone either. I want to be somewhere in the middle...balanced. Loving God out loud by quietly loving my neighbor.
Duane

Fresh Start

There are days when you feel like you need the slate wiped clean, you just need a fresh start. At the store that I work a few days a week, we sell a fuel additive called "Fresh Start". It's a small round cartridge that you put in your gas cap of your lawn mower. Everyday it releases a drop of chemical that keeps the gas clean and fresh so that the engine will run smooth. This morning I was reading Psalm 32 and David said, "Count yourself lucky--how happy you must be--you get a fresh start, your slate's wiped clean" (The Message). David says this to us as a statement of fact, it's a done deal. You can count on it. You can bet your life on it. How do I know this to be true? Because, as he gave them the cup of wine to drink, Jesus told his disciples, "This is my blood, God's new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26-29). Like the drop of Fresh Start that keeps the gas clean, my life is kept clean by one drop of blood. It cleansed me and it cleanses me. It made my spirit alive. It gave me a new heart that his holy. A place that is clean. A place that God could dwell. David goes on to say, "Count yourself lucky--God holds nothing against you" (v.2). Does all this mean that I never sin anymore? Hardly. When I do sin, I become filled with guilt, like David. When I don't confess it, like David, "all the juices of my life dried up" (v.4). But when I admit to God my failures, when I confess and admit to Him that He's right and I'm wrong, like David, "Suddenly the pressure was gone--my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared" (v.5). Everyone needs a fresh start. My God is the God of the fresh start...the God of the clean slate...the God of the second chance...and the third chance...and the fourth... It's a grace that I cannot comprehend, but I am overwhelmingly thankful for. It's available to all. Come to Him and you too can count yourself lucky.
Duane

Humbled

"So--who is like me?
Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
--so magnificent! so powerful!--
and never overlooks a single one?

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, (O Duane)
or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God LASTS.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows EVERYTHING, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young fold in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind."
Isaiah 40:25-31 The Message

Just when I thought God had somehow overlooked my situation...my circumstance...God pulled it off. He did what only He could do. Just when I had exhausted every avenue, idea, and plan of my own, God came from what seems out of nowhere and performed the impossible. I am humbled.

Two weeks ago I received a phone call from a man I had never met. He found out about our situation with our home in Florida from someone I don't know. He and his partners specialize in buying homes. My first conversation with John was on a Saturday afternoon. The next day he drove to Okeechobee, Florida (5 hours from Jacksonville) to look at our home. That afternoon he said he would buy the home. Granted, he's not going to buy it for premium price, but considering we have received letters from lawyers in Tampa about foreclosure procedures, we are thrilled. But, that's not the really amazing part. This guy, John, who I have never seen, and only talked to on the phone, is going a step further...beyond what people in his type of business would usually do for people in our circumstance. Get this--he has contacted the bank and is paying $10,000 to bring our mortgage back in good standing, and he is going to pay our monthly mortgage payments for the next few months to keep our credit in tact. He then is going to send a work crew to Okeechobee to, in his words, "doll up" the house for him to resell it. He will buy the house from us and close on it in the next 60-90 days. Is that incredible or what?!! This is no joke or con. Those who know him completely trust him and know his integrity.

I am humbled. God did what only He could do...the impossible! He's an on-time God. He receives all the glory. What a journey this is turning out to be!
Duane