change

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV)
 
It's September 1! Except Arkansas apparently did not receive the memo that September is supposed to mean FALL. The calendar says September while the thermometer says, "Absolutely not". But seasons change—eventually—whether we're ready for them or not.
We see that even more clearly when we look at our own lives. One minute we're little kids without a care in the world except maybe whether we're getting cookies after dinner. Then we're teenagers, and suddenly life revolves around having the latest fashion, passing the next test, fitting in, or figuring out who we're going to become.
Before we know it, that season ends too. We're adults. Our focus shifts to jobs, families, bills and responsibilities. Eventually another season arrives, and we're thinking about retirement and what we want our golden years to look like.
Not every season is wonderful. We walk through seasons of loss, illness, uncertainty and loneliness. But there are also seasons overflowing with joy and laughter, when everything seems to happen at exactly the right time.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a season for everything.
Whatever season you're in today, don't become so comfortable that you believe it will last forever—or so discouraged that you fear it will.
Seasons change.
God doesn't.
The beautiful thing is that the God who was with us in the last season is already waiting for us in the next one.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

caught off guard

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
- Psalm 46:1 (NLT)
 
The world as we know it can change in a second. Last week, the world lost an icon when Dolly Parton passed away after a brief battle with cancer. Dolly was never shy about her faith in God, who she was, or where she came from. Even after becoming one of the most recognizable people in the world, she never seemed to forget that little girl from the mountains of Tennessee. Knowing how openly Dolly spoke about her faith, I can imagine her receiving that diagnosis and thinking, “Well, OK, Lord. How are You going to use me in this?”
We may never know that answer. But we do know how God used her life. Her legacy reaches far beyond music—from childhood literacy and education to medical research and healthcare, disaster relief, community assistance, and conservation.
None of us knows what tomorrow will bring. Sometimes we can see the storm clouds gathering. Other times we're standing there wondering, Where in the world did THAT come from? A diagnosis. A phone call. A bill. A relationship problem. A literal or figurative storm.
We may be caught off guard. God never is.
Psalm 46 doesn't promise that trouble won't come. It tells us where to go when it does.
God is our refuge, God is our strength, and He is always ready to help.
We don't have to understand the storm to trust the One who wasn't surprised by it.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

go

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
- Matthew 28:19 (ESV)
 
And just like that...it's Friday again. Yesterday we talked about settling the question of who Jesus is. Today, Jesus gives us an assignment.
Go.
Matthew 28 is an incredible moment. The disciples are standing before the risen Jesus. Some worshiped. Some doubted. Surely they could have stayed there awhile, simply taking it all in. But Jesus doesn't allow the encounter to become the destination. He gives them a commission. Go and make disciples.
Encounters with Jesus are important. So is being equipped. We need church. We need worship, teaching, fellowship, encouragement, and opportunities to grow together.
But most of our lives happen outside the church.
Let's do some math. (because everyone who knows me, knows that I do not math under any circumstances!) If we live 80 years, that's roughly 29,200 days. There are about 4,160 Sundays in those 80 years.
That's only about one-seventh of our life. What are we doing with the other six-sevenths?
Our assignment isn't simply to get someone to come to church with us. Moving someone from one church to another might increase attendance, but Jesus didn't tell us to collect attendees.
He told us to make disciples.
That requires more from us.
It means building relationships. Walking alongside people. Praying together. Opening Scripture together. Answering questions—and sometimes searching for the answers together. It means continuing to grow in our own faith while helping someone else grow in theirs.
God gives us spiritual life, but we have to participate in it.
Sunday equips us for the assignment, but Monday through Saturday are where much of that assignment is lived. At work. At home. In our neighborhoods. With our families. In conversations with friends. Even with the person who tests our patience in traffic. We don't just go to church, we are the Church—and we have somewhere to go.
So take what God has given you, step outside those walls, and live your assignment.
After all, six-sevenths of a life is a whole lot of opportunity.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

questions

And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
- Matthew 28:17 (ESV)
 
This verse has always fascinated me. The disciples weren't hearing stories about Jesus from someone else. They had walked with Him. They had heard Him teach. They had watched Him perform miracles. They knew He had been crucified. And now the resurrected Jesus was standing right in front of them. They worshiped Him. But some doubted.
If people standing in the presence of the risen Jesus could still have questions, maybe we shouldn't be surprised when we have them too.
Can God really do this?
Does God really do this?
Is what I believe really true?
Questions aren't necessarily the enemy of faith. Questions can send us searching for answers. They can lead us deeper into Scripture, into prayer, into conversations with other believers, and into church where we can learn and grow.
But eventually there is one question we have to settle:
Who is Jesus?
Because our circumstances will constantly try to answer that question for us. When prayers aren't answered the way we expected, when life hurts, when we're disappointed, discouraged, or ready to quit, it's easy to allow what is happening around us to change what we believe about Him.
But circumstances change. Jesus doesn't.
Knowing who Jesus is doesn't mean hard things stop being hard. We will still experience pain. We'll have unmet expectations. We'll get discouraged. There will be days when we want to quit. Faith doesn't require us to pretend otherwise. It gives us something solid to stand on while we're going through it.
So ask your questions. Search Scripture. Pray. Learn. Grow.
But settle the most important question.
Know who Jesus is.
Then when everything around you feels uncertain, you won't have to redefine Him according to your circumstances. You can set your mind on what you already know to be true—and keep going.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

hiding

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
- John 20:19 (ESV)
 
I have not always been very good at standing up for myself. Actually, if I'm being truthful, there have been plenty of times when I've allowed people to walk right over me—or use me as a convenient stepping stone on their way to wherever they wanted to go.
I wish I could say that changed completely as I got older. It hasn't. I still sometimes find myself allowing other people to dictate what happens because speaking up feels uncomfortable. Sometimes it's easier to keep quiet. Go along. Don't cause conflict. Don't make anyone upset. In other words, sometimes I still hide.
In John 20, the disciples were hiding too. Their reasons were certainly bigger than mine. Jesus had been crucified. They were afraid, and they had every reason to wonder what might happen to them next. So they gathered together and locked the doors. Then Jesus showed up. I love that He didn't wait outside until they found enough courage to unlock the door. He met them where they were hiding. And His first words weren't criticism. “Peace be with you.”
But Jesus didn't give them peace so they could become more comfortable behind the locked door. Just two verses later, He tells them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” In other words, you can't stay here. That challenges me.
Because hiding doesn't always look like sitting behind a locked door. Sometimes hiding is staying quiet when we know we need to speak. Sometimes it's letting someone else make a decision that affects us because we're afraid of confrontation. Sometimes it's allowing ourselves to be overlooked or mistreated because keeping the peace seems easier than standing our ground. And sometimes we call it being flexible, easygoing, or gracious when the truth is that we're afraid of what might happen if we finally say, “No.”
There is a difference between being gracious and making ourselves smaller so everyone else can be comfortable. Living with conviction doesn't mean becoming loud, argumentative, or unwilling to compromise. It doesn't mean we always have to get our way. It means knowing what we believe. Knowing who we are in Christ. Knowing when something matters enough to stand our ground—and trusting God enough to stand there.
Jesus will meet us behind our locked doors. He will bring peace into the places where fear has kept us quiet. But He loves us too much to leave us hiding there.
So maybe today the question isn't What are you afraid of? Maybe it's simply: Are you hiding?
Because there comes a time when we have to unlock the door, step outside, and live with conviction. I'm still learning how to do that. But I think it's time for me to stop hiding.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

running

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.
- 1 Corinthians 9:24 (ESV)
 
I started running in 2013. Now, before anyone gets too impressed, let me clarify something: I was not fast.
I ran several 5Ks, two Warrior Dashes, a Color Run, a Glow Run, and I even managed one 10K. Randy ran the Warrior Dashes with me. Our youngest son, who ran cross country in high school like his dad did, ran several races with me—although “with me” is generous. He usually ran somewhere ahead of me. Even our middle son joined me a couple of times.
The one consistent thing through all those races was my time. It wasn't great.
I was never last, so I have that going for me, but nobody was standing at the finish line wondering whether I'd broken a course record. But I trained. I showed up. I ran. And I finished.
A few weeks ago, Randy ran his first 5K since 2014. With basically no training whatsoever, he finished with a better time than I ever did. Did I mention that I always trained?
I'm incredibly proud of him. Slightly annoyed on principle, perhaps, but incredibly proud.
When Paul talks about running in 1 Corinthians, he tells us to run that you may obtain the prize.
That makes me think about all those races and ask a question I probably didn't ask often enough:
What was I running for?
I was never going to win my age group. I wasn't chasing a medal for fastest time. I wasn't trying to beat Randy or my sons or anyone running beside me. For me, finishing was the prize. Crossing that finish line proved something to me. I had set out to do something difficult, and I had done it. Even when my time wasn't good, I finished. Even when I hurt, I finished.
Our walk with Christ deserves that same kind of intentionality. Do we know why we're running? Are we actually running—or are we standing on the sidelines watching everyone else? Are we so busy looking at the people in the lanes beside us that we've forgotten where our own finish line is? And most importantly, do we know what prize we're running toward?
Faith isn't a competition with the person beside us. Someone else's pace doesn't diminish our progress. Someone may appear to be farther ahead. Someone may seem stronger. Someone may make something look effortless that requires everything we have.
That's okay.
God didn't give us someone else's race. He gave us ours. Paul wasn't telling us to casually wander through our faith and hope we eventually stumble across the finish line. He said run. Run with purpose. Run knowing what you're pursuing. Run like reaching the finish line matters.
There will be days when the race feels easy and days when every step hurts. There will be people who pass us and seasons when we wonder whether we're making any progress at all.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Because sometimes winning isn't being the fastest person on the course. Sometimes winning is knowing why you started, refusing to lose sight of where you're going, and crossing the finish line knowing you gave the race everything you had.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

traffic

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.
- Proverbs 19:2 (NLT)
 
Driving in Northwest Arkansas is not for the faint of heart. I have come to the conclusion that if I make it to my destination without cussing somebody out, it was a good drive. Don't judge me. I'm working on it.
There always seems to be someone driving ten miles under the speed limit when I'm in a hurry, someone changing lanes without looking, someone riding my bumper, or someone who apparently believes a turn signal is optional equipment. And don't even get me started on the person who races around you just to end up sitting at the same red light.
But if I'm being fair, sometimes I'm the problem. Sometimes I didn't leave early enough. Sometimes I'm watching the clock. Sometimes I'm annoyed with someone for simply being in front of me because I've decided that where I need to go is more important than whatever they're doing. And all that rushing usually saves me what—two minutes?
Proverbs tells us that haste makes mistakes. That's true behind the wheel, but it's also true in life. We live in a world that constantly tells us to hurry. Hurry to work. Hurry home. Hurry through dinner. Hurry to the next appointment, the next accomplishment, the next season of life. Even when we aren't physically going anywhere, our minds can be racing ahead to whatever comes next. But what are we missing because we're so determined to get there?
Sometimes slowing down isn't about the speedometer. Sometimes it's taking a moment before responding when someone makes us angry. It's praying before making a decision instead of rushing into one. It's giving someone a little grace because we don't know what they're carrying. It's recognizing that being delayed isn't the same thing as being harmed. And maybe it's remembering that God isn't only concerned with where we're going. He's concerned with who we're becoming on the way there.
There will always be another slow driver. Another red light. Another interruption. Another person who doesn't move according to our timetable. We can spend the entire journey frustrated that everyone else is in our way, or we can slow down enough to recognize that the journey is part of where God is working in us.
The goal isn't simply to get there quickly. It's to get there safely, faithfully, and without allowing the journey to turn us into someone we don't particularly like.
And if I can manage that without cussing anyone out? Well...I'd call that a pretty good drive.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible