One Thing Remains

"Endurance = The ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions." (www.dictionary.com)

Who knew you could keep going because of a bunch of crows?

At the end of a long day of sitting and being mostly confined, it felt great to put one foot in front of the other, breathe in the sweet smells of summer, and work my way around the track. On this particular beautiful day, with the humidity lower than it had been, the track had attracted other one-foot-in-front-of-the-others, too. One was sprinting over and over again and barely breaking a sweat. Another had the unfair advantage of very long legs and effortlessly left me in the dust.

None of that would have mattered much if I hadn't heard crows on the stadium lights laughing at me as I ran by. They didn't do that with the other guys. Just me. Next time around, another cawing chorus of "Ha! Who are you kidding? You'll never make it."

In this race that is the joyful, adventurous, unpredictable marathon of being a Christ-one, you can either agree with the accusations of the crows and give up, or laugh back and remind them: "But my God, His love endures forever. It never quits. And He gives me endurance and encouragement that are second to none!"

And like as many runners do, you find a song that fits the rhythm of your pace and the renewed conviction within so that you feel as though you are walking or running in lock-step with the Savior of the world. A surge of joy, of confidence, of hope, of energy, of laughter at crows, of purpose once more. At the top of your lungs, something like this...

Higher than the mountains that I face

Stronger than the power of the grave

Constant in the trial and the change

One thing remains

Your love never fails, it never gives up

Never runs out on me

And on and on and on and on it goes

It overwhelms and satisfies my soul

I never have to be afraid

One thing remains

Your love never fails, it never gives up

Never runs out on me

In death, in life, I'm confident and covered by

The power of Your great love

My debt is paid, there's nothing that can separate

My heart from Your great love.

—One Thing Remains (c) 2010 Bethel Music Publishing

What the crows don't know is this:

"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises."

—Romans 15:4, Amplified

To all fellow travelers this day, Selah.

Recalibrating...

In the fun of knowing a faster route than your cell phone’s directions are giving you, or in the frustration of missing your exit, the voice of the phone's guide is similar:

In a half-mile, turn le…

In one mile, turn ri…

Recalibrating…

In 500 feet, take a slight left 

Take a slight left

Take a slight left

Proceed to the route...

Sometimes, like the religious leaders who were trying to outsmart the Master, we like to think we know a better, wiser route to the Finish line. And in so many words, Jesus’ response is: “Recalibrate. Strip away all your preconceived ideas of what is important and let this one thing be your guiding foundation: Love Me with all your affections, and all that is uniquely you, and all your thinking and thoughts, and then continually and perseveringly in all kinds of seasons. Then let it all spill over onto others. This is the one thing that really matters for a life that is full and abundant and everlasting."

Sometimes, like the woman at the well, we can be caught in a religious trap where there is a certain place and time and location to meet with God, but then life happens over the next six days until the next Sunday. And in so many words, Jesus’ response is: “Recalibrate. I am much bigger than Sunday morning, or the order of your service, or the size of your building. Let this one thing be your guiding foundation: Break down your preconceived boxes and worship Me, seek Me, in the daily grind, in the places and situations that seem far removed from My interest. The time to worship is always now and wherever you are."

Sometimes (quite often, in fact), like the sisters of Bethany—one who sat at Jesus’ feet and one who had a to-do list a mile long—we are tempted to side with the one who kept humming “gitter done.” Because that’s what Americans do. Because that’s what good church-goers do. And in so many words, Jesus’ response is: “Recalibrate. Let this one thing be your guiding foundation: Remember the religious leaders who were trying to outsmart Me. Remember the woman at the well who was caught in a religious trap. Getting stuff done is important. Go for it, and I will help. But never ever forget the one thing that really matters in the end—not what you have accomplished or learned, but rather, did you know Me and live that way?”

Yeah, but life is a battle.

To which Jesus’ great earthly ancestor responds:

“The Lord is my revelation-light to guide me along the way; he’s the source of my salvation to defend me every day. I fear no one! I’ll never turn back and run from you, Lord; surround and protect me. 

When evil ones come to destroy me, they will be the ones who turn back. My heart will not be afraid even if an army rises to attack. I know that you are there for me, so I will not be shaken.

Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house [presence], finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.”

Recalibrating…proceeding to the route...

“I desire only Him and to be wholly His.”—Brother Lawrence

Just Be

"There is a season—a time appointed—for everything, and a time for every delight and event or purpose under heaven."—Ecclesiastes 3:1, Amplified

"I’ve got to be doing something."

Which is why I think my iPhone camera was drawn to this scene like a magnet. Everything about what is going on here, from the random footprints in the sand, to the chairs insisting that they not be straightened out, to the dog dancing in the surf, said something else entirely:

"Exhale..."

...There is an old New England joke that has many variations, including this one: “There are four seasons—winter, still winter, getting ready for winter, and almost winter.” And when summer arrives, you can almost feel a frantic desire to inhale every second of it, savor it from sunrise to sundown, and get out there and…do something.

Some “do somethings,” like boating, hiking, or swimming, are refreshing and relaxing. Others, like mowing lawns, weeding gardens, and still having to punch in for the 9-5 are obligatory. But then there are the “do somethings” that try to tell you that you aren’t being productive or making the most of your day unless you, well, do something.

That beach photo, though, was a good reminder that Jesus—the greatest "do something" Person of all time—also took time to rest from the weary road, to take a long drink of cool water, to get away from the crowds. And not only that, He told the enemy of our souls: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God." Wonderful words of life. Exhale words like these....

• "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to Me and resting in Me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength…”—Isaiah 30:25, NLT

• “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.”—Exodus 34:21, Amplified Classic

• “Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”—Ecclesiastes 4:6, ESV

• “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”—Matthew 11:28-29, Message

But, there is one “do something” that is always worthwhile wherever we go this summer: to worship. Sing if you'd like, but there's more to it than that. A beyond-Sunday-go-to-church kind of worship. Just follow the beach chairs photo...

Seek to continually face the warmth and glory of the sun, and the Son...

Breathe deeply the salt air and give thanks that God is the giver of life and breath...

Let the ocean waves (or mountain peaks or long, winding pathways) remind you of God’s faithfulness in every season, even this one...

Be grateful for life, and especially be grateful simply for today...

Be thankful that God has placed you in your particular neighborhood of His kingdom, and for a purpose...

Let the vastness of the sea — or the forest, or even your veggie garden— fill you with gratitude for God's abundant provision and endless Love...

Walk, sit, run, wade, play catch with a dog, then take time to rock on the porch, eat lots of ice cream, and drive with all windows down...
...And in the midst of it all, as natural as breathing out and breathing in, keep looking Up and:

“Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually, longing to be in His presence.”

—1 Chronicles 16:11, Amplified

It could just be a typical photo of beach chairs to be admired while on the way to doing something else. Or maybe it's better than that. Maybe those beach chairs are a reminder, and an invitation: "Just...be, even in the midst of doing, even if for only a few minutes of every day."

“Have you ever spent a day or several hours when you sensed the presence of God as you hiked, worked, gardened, drove, read, or did the dishes? Those are foretastes of heaven—not because we are doing nothing but worshiping, but because we are worshiping God as we do everything else.”—Randy Alcorn

[Originally titled: 'Do Something!']

Living in the Overflow

"The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can't supply is proof that Heaven must be our home."—C.S. Lewis

Sometimes, it takes a heat wave to help you realize that you are built for more than what’s right in front of you. More than the next thing, the next goal, the next achievement, the next purchase, the next horizon. Like juice and coffee and lemonade, which all sound and look appealing under normal circumstances, when the heat and humidity have rendered your thirst to the point of beyond description, you realize that only water will satisfy. And even then, you ache for more...

"O God, You are my God; with deepest longing I will seek You;

My soul—my life, my very self—thirsts for You, my flesh longs and sighs for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water."—Psalm 63:1, Amplified

This is a glimpse of what David is feeling in this Psalm about his thirst, his ache for more of God in his life. They are phrases and emotions that are easy, in our nutty world, to pass off as out of touch with reality. But in some translations, the anchor word of what is happening here is anything but fleeting emotion, and to be sought after perhaps more than ever—it is “yearning.” A deep longing within for something you know is out there but you can’t describe, but you know is somehow higher and greater than anything you can imagine. It doesn’t happen every day, but when it does, it settles in the pit of your stomach and wraps your brain into a pretzel with “What is it?!”

“Yearning: It needs to hurt in order to be worthy of the word. Otherwise it is just wanting.”—John of the Cross

If you have ever stared at a stunning landscape and had this strange desire to have another layer peeled away to reveal something even more stunning…

If you have ever heard a song that seemed to have been downloaded from Heaven itself and then hit replay over and over again with a strange desire to go ever deeper into enjoyment…

If you have ever sat around a dinner table with family, friends, and newcomers and felt that all other good ideas about home fellowships miss the mark except this one…

If you have ever left a worship service on a Sunday morning thinking either “but we were just getting started” or “is that it?”…

….then far more than contracting David’s supposedly “out of touch with reality” words that have no answer, you have probably tapped into a yearning that is the vein of God’s everlasting Love—one that is so deep, and wide, and high, and mysterious, you could never plunge the depths of it all. And so, it aches. And maybe one reason why no one yearns that way all the time 24/7 is that the intensity of such longing would do us in. Which is not what God had in mind. We may indeed be built for Eternity, but until then, the prayer from the heart of God to us is “Thy [My] will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

To, as much as it is possible within us every morning and throughout the day, drink in that yearning Love that alone satisfies and that cannot be contained, but that overflows into action, just as it was intended…

“…love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

—Mark 12:30-31, Amplified

You're the God who loves

You're the Son that gives

You're the Spirit that moves

The reason that I live

You call me to Yourself

You call me to be free

You call me to new life

So generous to me

I worship You Jesus

My heart belongs to You

My mind is Yours Jesus

My soul it yearns for You

—"My Soul Yearns," Benjamin Lucas and Samuel Lane (c) 2007 Vineyard Songs (U.K./Eire)

Earbuds Optional

"...Run your race in such a way that you may seize the prize and make it yours!" (1 Corinthians 9:24, Amplified)

“What, no tunes?”

“Nope.”

When you love to listen to, play, and sing music at just about any waking hour of the day, it was one of the oddest responses to a question that I had made all week. Maybe all year. And as my co-worker joining me at the starting line inserted his earbuds, and hundreds around me were doing the same, I wondered for just a second if maybe I was missing something really important in order to complete the race without wimping out.

“Just put your mix on shuffle and go.”

"Throws me off. I can’t find a mix that makes me either want to run too fast or too slow. Besides, I tried it the other day and almost got run over by a car. Not good.”

What I didn’t tell my friend, but that made me smile to think about it, was that I can’t help but want to sing along to my mix, which feels good in its own way but puts me more out of breath than I need to be. Also “not good.”

Sometimes, the best soundtrack for the race—the Journey, the Walk—is not your favorite downloads on shuffle but the music of encouraging voices who’ve done this before and done it well, and are cheering you on through every peak and valley and pothole and twist and turn and straightaway…

   

"It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually, you learn that the competition is against the little voice in you that wants you to quit."—Dr. George Sheehan

   

...It’s a soundtrack without any catchy tunes, but with a steady, ageless rhythm, and all of it able to get your feet and heart in sync like none other:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness…Continually be encouraged by the example of others; never ever say, “Not me, I can’t do it.”

Stripping off every unnecessary weight, and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us…Live to be alert, and to stay fit in every way—and keep putting off junk of every kind and keep putting on and in Life.

Let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us….Remember, it’s always endurance and active persistence, not perfection! Everyone has a life path God has chosen specifically for them. Quit comparing. This one is yours. This one is good. Run it well.

Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith—the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity”…Settle this once and for all: distractions along the course will be many—people, conversations, bright and shiny objects, hills that look too steep to climb. Stay focused, and remember to look straight ahead. Jesus has won His race for us and is cheering you on louder than all the rest—all around me like a cool breeze through His ever-present Spirit, and in person at the finish line, waiting with a crown of life: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

And whether at the grandest of all finish lines, or somewhere along the route—even today—it’s good to remember that running the race well also means that your life always has a full-circle purpose, that you have been put here to be an encouraging part of someone else’s “cloud of witnesses.” 

Ear buds optional…..

“I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go.”—Dean Karnazes, American marathon runner

Remembering Verse 17

"When I see Jesus Christ, I simply want to be what He wants me to be."—Oswald Chambers

They argued, “Oh, so now you’re an advocate for this Galilean! Search the Scriptures, Nicodemus, and you’ll see that there’s no mention of a prophet coming out of Galilee!"

(John 7:52, Passion Translation)

You have to wonder…maybe Nicodemus had done just that. Maybe he did search. Maybe that’s exactly why he was a tender heart among a group of tough and hardened religious peers, why he had the courage to risk respect and friendship by throwing down the challenge: “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?” (John 7:51)

Maybe this same Nicodemus, the one who had come to Jesus by night several chapters earlier to basically, genuinely, perhaps with a bit of trepidation, try to determine for himself, “Who, in Heaven’s name, are you?,” had already felt the seed of belief begin to stir.

Perhaps he had searched the scriptures, just like his peers sneered, and when he came upon Isaiah 9:1-2 about good news coming from the land of Galilee, it gave him pause. Significant pause.

Perhaps he asked questions, lots of questions, about Jesus’ background from those who knew Him best. Maybe His parents and siblings, even. And despite every argument and deeply-entrenched belief held by his peers, perhaps the seed of belief within Nicodemus began to sprout when he learned that Jesus was not born in Nazareth after all, but in Bethlehem—just as the scriptures foretold concerning the coming of the Messiah.

And maybe that seed really began to take root, before the eyes of shocked peers and countrymen, when he joined a fellow seed carrier—Joseph of Arimathea—in taking the body of the crucified Messiah off of the cross, wrapping it in spices and linen, and giving it a burial of deep respect…perhaps, even, of deep love.

That’s the last we hear of Nicodemus. It would be good to know how his life turned out. Why does the Bible do that?

Maybe, it’s to show us that Nicodemus’ slow progress toward seed-sprouting belief is the norm and not the exception. In many ways, it is our own story. While some people do seem to have an instantaneous full-blown harvest of belief, it’s good to know that when we carry the Light that’s within us around someone we meet or know or love, it might very well be met at first with lots of curiosity and questions but little else that hints at an eventual seed-sprouting.

This is not failing at being a witness. This is normal. Stay faithful. Keep at it. And hold on to the truth that what first aroused Nicodemus’ curiosity and planted that first seed that led to full-blown belief sometime later was not Jesus’ ability to debate the deep things of theology, or His eloquence of speech, or His looking the part, but how His actions and lifestyle seemed to line up with the words of Love that came out of His mouth...

"You are the light of the world… In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

—Matthew 5:14,16

...There isn’t anyone who is a Christ-one who hasn’t had the desire to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, to live and love and serve all kinds of all-over-the-map people, like Nicodemus, the way that He did and still does. While it’s good to remember the most famous Nicodemus verse of them all—John 3:16—it’s just as important to remember that, as we follow imperfectly in Jesus' footsteps, that we hang our hat, our words, our actions, our very Walk, on the verse that comes next:

“God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

—John 3:17, Message

Selah.

'Drive the Dark of Doubt Away'...

“If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”—Psalm 40:5, NLT

H ad to do a double-take when I saw this bumper sticker in a downtown parking lot, but the more I thought about it, the more I loved this glass half-full quip. Not that I’m always feeling it, or because it tells you to look at the stresses of life through rose-colored glasses, but because it shouts in its own way an essential Christ-one reminder:

When you get dressed in the morning, be sure to put on gratitude.

For a photographer, perhaps the most sickening sound imaginable is that of metal and hard plastic colliding with pavement when the camera strap evades your grasp and slips off your shoulder. It is like being in the midst of typing out an important the-clock-is-ticking document, business proposal, or idea and having the “blue screen of death” appear out of nowhere on your laptop screen.

It was a really beautiful, upbeat Monday morning until both of those things happened while working remotely. And in no time, there was no shortage of nausea, anxiety, sweaty palms, and panic. Life happens, and no matter how long you’ve walked with the Savior of the world, you don’t always respond well...

"When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost, and they started screaming."

—Mark 6:49, Contemporary English Version

How quickly a beautiful new day can all unravel on the interior, expecting the worst and not even  daring to think about “hey, look at the bright side” because none seems to be in sight. The problem with camping out in the land of negativity, though, is that it tends to magnify the problem—especially the problem that, so far, only exists in your “what if?” mind. I mean, it looks really bad, so it must be, right?…

…“So, the jailer placed them in the innermost cell of the prison and had their feet bound and chained. Paul and Silas, undaunted, prayed in the middle of the night and sang songs of praise to God, while all the other prisoners listened to their worship. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundation of the prison. All at once, every prison door flung open and the chains of all the prisoners came loose.”—Acts 16: 24-26, Passion Translation

…Driving back to the office more than an hour away, with all of that negativity still swimming mightily on the inside, I purposed to follow Paul’s and Silas’ lead. Like them, not in a “don’t worry, be happy” sort of way, but with the time-proven reality that verbally expressing gratitude and thanks to God who has got the whole world in His hands—including your own little world crisis of a dinged camera and blue-screen-of-death computer—magnifies His goodness, majesty and power on my insides. Gratitude expressed in the midst of whatever our innermost cell happens to be—situation, decision, conversation—can cause an internal earthquake that sends the swimming negativity elsewhere and replaces it with renewed faith and hope in what and Who really matters after all.

And it was so.

It was a reminder that purposefully recalibrating your thinking and emotions to Who’s got this and Who holds you in the palm of His hand helps put meaningful music to that bumper sticker—and not just on Sunday morning in church. Perhaps, even shouting a little "Joyful, Joyful" Beethoven/van Dyke …”Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away…ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife.” (Or,  perhaps something with more of a groove.) 

And even though no one else was in the car that morning, it's good to know that as with Paul and Silas, quite often and though we may not realize it or try to make it happen, that kind of singing in the midst of the hard realities of life can be powerfully contagious. We may never know who’s listening, or their response. Ours is simply to get dressed, put on gratitude, to celebrate God being God even in the midst of strife, and to begin reciting all His wonderful deeds...blissfully knowing that we can never come to the end of the sentence.

Even, and especially when, you drop your camera and die on the inside right along with your laptop.

(Postscript….The diagnosis of the camera: not fatal after all. The diagnosis of the laptop: “seems to be fine—just a computer behaving badly.”)

“Worship is about magnifying the right things. It can be so easy to let the struggles of this life become all-consuming, and we must not ignore them. But, when we worship, instead of magnifying and focusing on those things, we magnify and focus on the Name, the strength, the power, the grace of Jesus. When we do that, it puts everything into perspective.”

—Matt Redman