Life Has Been Like a Blur!

To all of my friends. I do apologize. I haven't posted for a few days. The only excuse is that my office hours are really crazy. Let me share a thought with you.

The other day I was unsubscribing a bunch of e-mail subscriptions, and the thought occurred to me that my in-box would be a lot less cluttered. If your in-box is anything like mine, there are probably 2 personal messages out of what 12? Time to unsubscribe.

Can I challenge you to un-clutter your mind? Cancel those subscriptions to that stuff you just have to delete anyway. Here are a few suggestions:

• Go on a media fast: turn off the TV, the computer(except necessary e-mail), the I-pod and connect with God!
• Read a good book: don't allow the hectic pace of life to stifle your imagination
• Spend time with your family: no job is worth missing the best years of your life!
• Enjoy God's Creation: go to the park or the mountains or someplace to calm the chatter.

Happy deleting!

Don't Lose Your Integrity

Job had a few "friends" that came to "encourage" him while he was suffering. They told him things like "you have sin in your life and God is punishing you." Or "you have served God and this is what you get?"

Maybe you have been in the same situation Job was in. I want to give you some advice, which is found in Job 27: 2-6.

Don't lose your integrity! Don't allow the trials of life to make you into a bitter or resentful person. Instead allow this time of trials to strengthen your resolve to be a man or woman of God.

Written in Stone

Job suffered as very few men ever suffered. He lost his sons and daughters in one day. If that was not enough he lost all of his cattle and sheep, and then he was covered from head to toe in boils. Then his wife told him to curse God and die. And you thought you had a bad day!

Now listen to the hope that springs out of trusting God in the midst of his suffering. "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God." (Job 19:25-26 N.I.V.)

Job said that he wishes his words could be written in stone so that no one who ever went through what he was experiencing would doubt God's providence in their life.

Dear friend you may be going through a trial, but hold onto the fact that your redeemer lives!

My Lawyer

I have a lawyer on retainer who has never lost a case. He is such a good lawyer that he paid personally to have my record of wrongdoings expunged. He is well known and most of my friends have the same lawyer. It almost seems unfair, but the judge assigned to my case is His Father. This Father loves his Son. I know you are already way ahead of me. By now you know that I am talking about Jesus Christ who is my advocate, counsel and the one who is favored by the Great Judge.

In Job 16:19-20 Job describes that consolation he has because he has the same lawyer

• "My witness is in Heaven."
• "My advocate is on high."
• "My intercessor is my friend."

Do you know Him? Who is fighting your battles? Better make sure that your lawyer has never lost a case.

Your Days Are Numbered

In the hectic pace of our lives especially in North America we act as though we are too busy for inconvenient things like illness or even death. The frantic busyness that consumes most folks is actually hollowing out their souls. It is only when we are flat on our backs that we begin to contemplate life and its meaning. Hopefully by then it is not too late.

In Job 14:5 Job is quoted as saying "man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." Wow!

Our time on this earth has already been pre-determined and the time cannot be extended. My question for you, how are you spending your days? Since we are all appointed to die one day, have you prepared for your death? Do you fear death, or do you have peace knowing that death is the transport to heaven and eternity with God? Today is the day my friend, don't let this day pass before you make sure of your final destination.

Trusting God

Do we trust God with our lives? In other words have we released our grip upon our future? Have we released our children that they might obey the plan of God for their lives? What about your life? Do you trust God even to the point of death? In Job 13:15 Job proclaims his trust in God, when he says "though He slay me, yet will I hope on Him." (NIV)

What Job was saying was that my trust and your trust in God should not stop when we die! What a profound statement. If we think about that statement, then we will realize that God is in charge of our lives. When you give God that kind of control, He won't let you down.

Obedience

Sometimes the storms of life are enough to knock the wind out of our proverbial sails. Job experienced this firsthand. In Job 6:8-10 Job complains that God's hand is too heavy upon him. Job wishes that God would either crush him or let him go. But Job says that he wants to be known as someone who obeys God's word no matter what.

How about you?