pastorpoet

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, rather than give them something that they repeated verbatim, He gave them a model.

Right in the middle of the prayer are these familiar words:

Give us this day our daily bread…

Matthew 6:11

Pause for a minute.  Before the day starts running by us – let’s pause and consider God’s faithfulness.  Right now, at this moment, we have everything that we need.  

Don’t let anxiety or worry about tomorrow cause you to miss the miracle in this moment.  Today, we have everything that we need.  Trust God for the rest!  Get it?

As smart, capable, and talented we are, not one of us can live more than a moment at a time. Let’s give thanks for today, and trust God for the rest!  

God promised to take care of us!

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

When a house is built, the most important work is often never seen. Even before concrete is poured, the ground has to be prepped and graded.  The first step in the process is dirt-work! 

Excavation and installation of footers all must be done before a single brick is laid. Skip this step and you undermine the integrity of the structure and risk future issues and the likelihood of having to start all over again.

Sounds a bit like life, doesn’t it?  When our foundation is questionable, our future is a gamble.  Time, tests, and trials will all tell what’s really there, no?  Times are indeed telling!

I hope we are rooted in God – gripped by grace, and grounded by God’s love for us!  What is true will stand, what is not, will fall.

Remember Jesus’ parable about building a house on a rock? I can hear in His words, an echo from the Psalm:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Psalm 127:1

It’s time for all of us to do some ‘dirt-work,’ huh? It’s beyond time for some excavation and regrading to occur in our hearts and lives. Let the Word and Spirit work! 

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

There are times that life will remind us that we are not in control.  Despite our best laid plans, we will be met with frustrations and unforeseen circumstances.

Honestly, I struggle a bit during these moments and depending on my frame of mind at the time, I have often let them get the best of me. I know I’m not the only one!

While there are many situations that present as emergencies – most things are not.  Yes, there are some things that require urgency and attention, but we cannot make everything an emergency or nothing is! Get it?

Beyond this, as God’s children, we have access to the wisdom of God, and the presence of Spirit to address whatever challenges that may confront us.  We also have the confidence that God sees and knows, and is willing and able to aid us!  Pray!

When we acknowledge God for all of who God is – omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal – we realize that there are no emergencies or surprises with God, and this is the God who cares for us!  Get it?

Whatever the day brings, know that God knows, God sees, God cares, and God is able! 

Before you let anxiety and frustration take hold – remember this…

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121:1-8

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Your Relationship IS Worth Saving…

by Adam & Adrienne Mixon

Once upon a time, letter writing was the primary means of communicating across distances.  

But letter writing has been replaced by the telephone, and the telephone is very quickly being replaced by text messaging and emails.

I can remember when passing notes in school was the way you let someone know a secret or ask them if they ‘liked’ you!  I can’t remember the last time I received a letter that was not a bill or an advertisement.  

In the early church, letters were the way the Gospel was circulated.  It was the way people were introduced to new communities, how their credit was approved, and how credentials were verified.

When Paul was asked for ‘letters of commendation’ by the very people to whom he had preached the Gospel, his amazing and sarcastic response was, ‘You are my letters…’ Paul pointed to the people he blessed, encouraged, healed, and helped, and said – ‘You are my letters…’

Hmm… the imagery got me wondering…

If we are all ‘living letters,’ what message are we transmitting? Are we slick advertisements, or are we bills?  

Perhaps we are love letters…

What if our lives are letters – stamped and sealed by Spirit – sent  to the world, to one another, to remind one another of God’s grace and love through Jesus Christ?

Would you send it?

2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:2–3

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Have you ever known someone who had a knack for saying the wrong thing?  

I’m not talking about the person who may have a speech impediment or the one who may stumble over their words from time to time.  I’m talking about those who are routinely rude, careless, insensitive, or just downright brutal. I hope I’m not talking about any of us.

What’s on the inside?

Did you know that the words we say to and about others, actually reveal our own hearts? Did you know that gossip and coarse jesting are NOT just harmless words?  They are a type of violence, once unleashed are nearly impossible to reign in.

What’s on the inside?

All of us are subject to outbursts when we are in pain or under pressure. This is understandable though even this is not excusable. We need to be careful with our words.  

Blessings and curses, building up and tearing down, life and death – these things lie in the power of our own words (Proverbs 18:21; James 3:1-12). Our words have both creative and destructive powers. But, beyond all this, our words reveal our own hearts.  

What’s on the inside?

The old adage says, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me…’  This is a lie.  Hurtful, careless, reckless speech can ruin people – both the one who says them and the one they are aimed at! 

What’s on the inside?

Listen:

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Luke 6:45

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Years ago when we bought our first home, we fell in love with it immediately.  We made many of the mistakes that young first time buyers often do.  We were drawn in by how the home was staged and all the little things that make an older home charming.

We moved quickly to place an offer and we got the house.  Then we moved in.  But, in a matter of days problems started to pop up – plumbing, electrical, hvac issues – expensive issues!  Our charming little home very quickly became a money pit!! And, we had buyer’s remorse!

When we first saw the house, I don’t think anyone could’ve said anything to deter us from pursuing it.  We learned the hard way.  Our ignorance was not blissful – it was expensive!

So, we’ve learned to ask different questions, to be more critical – and to hire our own inspector – not the one the realtor suggests!  It was a costly lesson, but we learned it!

What’s on the inside?

We will regularly be approached with what seem like good opportunities.  Be deliberate and be discerning.  Ask questions.  Above all, pray! Never be afraid to ask, ‘what’s on the inside?’

 An intelligent heart acquires knowledge,and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 18:15

What’s on the inside? 

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

In our culture, we spend bundles of money on marketing, advertising, and packaging things for sale.  Unfortunately, the packaging is often the best thing about these things.

The resources we spend on cosmetics and clothing pales in comparison to what we invest in those things that cultivate character.  

I know it’s easier to wash a car than it is to rebuild its engine. I get it. I don’t mean to suggest that we ignore appearances, but we must never get so enamored by aesthetics that we ignore ethics!  

We gotta do better!  While things may pass the ‘eye-test’ we need to become more discriminating.  We need to learn the difference between style and substance!

When Israel desired a king, Saul became the first.  He was tall and handsome but his rule ended disastrously.  Before David was anointed, God gave Samuel these instructions:

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

It behooves us all to begin to check the contents of what and who we invest in. The old adage says, ‘all that glitters isn’t gold!’ 

Before you allow your eyes and desires to deceive you, ask, ‘What’s on the inside?’

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

This morning as you’re preparing to start your day, amid the swirl of bad news, necessities, chores, and responsibilities, I want to make a plea for you… for us…

There are powerful forces at work aimed at isolating us, aimed at weaponizing our fears, aimed at making us suspicious of our differences, and exploiting us for their own nefarious purposes.  We have to learn to fight differently! 

There are powerful people with distorted perspectives who are spreading their irrational and hateful ideas with the intention of blinding us to the beauty that is in the world and the possibility that still exists to participate in what gives life, brings joy, that sheds light, and fosters peace.  We have to learn to fight differently…

Today, I make a plea for us.  Don’t let the darkness win.  Don’t let fear win.  Don’t let hatred win.   Don’t let violence and vitriol prevail.  We have to learn to fight differently.

For years we’ve attempted to fight fire with fire – to transform corrupt systems from within – to use the prescribed tools to promote peace and justice – and for years we’ve witnessed progress followed by backlash and regress.  Every apparent gain cost us a bit of our souls.   Every step forward costs us a bit of our souls.  And sadly, every supposed victory is tainted by some vice that erodes our virtue.  We have to learn to fight differently.

So, today, I make a plea for us.  Let’s stop playing their games.  Let’s refuse to be pawns in their plans.  Let’s take up the tools given us by our loving Creator.  Let’s exercise our shared, sanctified, imaginations, and exercise a  hope that embodies goodwill and grace everywhere that we go.  We have to learn how to fight differently.

Yes, indeed, we are in a war.  But our weapons are not carnal but spiritual.  Yes, we are in a war, but it is not against flesh and blood that we wrestle.  Yes, we are in a war, but our goal is not the ruin of but rather the redemption of those who would label us foes.  

Yes indeed, we are at war, but our goal is not conquest but conversion.  Are you ready to fight?

¹⁰ Finally, ^ebe strong in the Lord and in ^fthe strength of his might. ^{11 g}Put on ^hthe whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against ⁱthe schemes of the devil. ¹² For ^jwe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against ^kthe rulers, against the authorities, against ^lthe cosmic powers over ^mthis present darkness, against ⁿthe spiritual forces of evil ^oin the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore ^ptake up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in ^qthe evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 6:10-13

Good Morning, I love you all!

Ihs,

just adam