Fall Creek Christian Church

"O Lord, please rescue me from my brother, Esau. I am afraid that he is coming to kill me, along with my wives and children. But you promised to treat me kindly and to multiply my descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore ... Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Genesis 32:11-12, Matthew 10:28 As we waited for the doctors in the consultation room, Mandy and I talked nervously, prayed, and felt our hearts jump out of our chests when the door finally opened. The focus of this particular doctor conversation centered around our infant daughter, specifically, a heart defect that could only be corrected through surgery. It was a new and fierce fear for us to face. We chose to trust God and put her in his hands. Thankfully, he gave her back. Jacob was afraid. His brother Esau had determined many years ago to ...

"So Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife.(This happened ten years after had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt." Genesis 16:4-5 The solution was obvious as far as I was concerned. If we were going to avoid bottoming out in the shallow water, we needed to get our canoe right up to the bank where the current was flowing fast and the water was deeper. The problem with my idea was that "right up to the bank" involved encountering substantial tree limbs followed by a large splash. All could have been avoided with a more patient examination. Sarai looked around at the reality of the situation, her barrenness and Abram with no heir, and identified the obvious and common solution in their world of having a servant carry a child for Abram. Apparently, Abram tho...

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal rock." Isaiah 26:3-4 As my yet to know how to swim granddaughter tip toes to the edge of the pool, her mom says, "Jump sweetheart, I've got you!" She gleefully complies completely confident that mom does indeed "got her." It's a simple childlike trust in one who has proven to be faithful again and again. We do get concerned however, that her fearlessness may embolden her to jump when no one is present to catch her.  Isaiah, in our passage for the day, had a few passionate comments to make about trust. Trust and peace go together. Specifically, placing trust in the Lord will produce the wonderful fruit of peace. He is quick to add that this trust is produced in the life of a person who has their minds fixed on the Lord. He occupies their thoughts. He is continuously in view. He is ever stable....

"I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me ... to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave from my heart a good report ... I followed the Lord my God completely. So that day Moses promised me, 'The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your special possession ... because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.' ... Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey ... So I'm asking you to give me that hill country that the Lord promised me ..." Joshua 14:6-14 Starting and finishing are not the same thing. I've driven my wife crazy and myself too for that matter by leaving things half done. As I write this devotion, my garage is half-cleaned and half-sorted leaving it nearly half-functional. I, of course, have lots of great reasons (lame excuses) why the mess remains, but the painfully obvious reality is that finishing it would be awesome.  Caleb was a ...

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights." Habakkuk 3:17-19 50 was a particularly distressing birthday. I determined to keep myself busy to not think about it. As I hurried to an appointment that morning, I neglected to pay attention to my speed. Unfortunately, an attentive state trooper did. After noting it was my birthday, he rightfully gave me my speed earned ticket. Even though the day started out rough, I decided to just be thankful I was around to have another birthday.    During Habakkuk's time as a prophet, the spiritual condition of God's people was in sad shape. He was bummed out b...

"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." Galatians 2:20 As the interview went on, it was clear to me that this actor was quite serious about his role in a new movie that was based on a war hero's true story. He went to this person's house. He walked around his property. He went into his barns and handled his tools. He watched old interviews of the man and talked to those who knew him well. He was determined to be true to this man's character and life.  Here, in the verses for the day, Paul makes the astute observation that the person who can live most like Jesus is Jesus! Jesus, he says, lives within everyone who believes in him. It's not our job then to "act" like Jesus, it's our job to get out of the way so that Jesus can live his life through us. The key is to trust him wit...

"Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem! And praise him for demonstrating such unfailing love to me by honoring me before the king, his council, and all his mighty nobles! I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord my God was upon me. And I gathered some of the leaders of Israel to return with me to Jerusalem."  Ezra 7:27-30 It shouldn't surprise me anymore, but it still stirs my soul every time it happens. On occasion, I pray for something so specific to a moment in time, to a person, to a unique situation and then God, in ways only he can, makes it happen. I've learned that both the nudge to pray for that very particular request is coming from him and so is the answer. Amazing! The goal, I believe, is to encourage my faith. Ezra found himself in one of those head-scratching jumping for joy moments. Here he was a subject to a pagan king, who could c...

"So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said." Acts 27:25 I didn't believe him at first. After all, he's kind of joker. The story? He claimed a lady, while at the buffet table at our wedding reception, leaned over to scoop up some food. Unfortunately, in doing so, her hair, filled with hair spray, got too close to the candles and went up in flames! He then told me that he took his plate of jello and smashed it on her head to put out the fire. "Yea ... right," I thought to myself. However, later on I saw this same lady with an ice pack on her head visibly shaken by what most certainly had been a hair burning, jello smashing experience! Paul in our story for the day, made it very clear about what he thought when God spoke to him, "I believe it!" He never second guessed a word from God. When God spoke, it was go time. It was courage time. For as he had seen again and again, "It will be just as he said."  God ...

"For the word of God will never fail." Luke 1:37 Fail. I don't like that word. I know it's just a word and it's really not fair to single it out. The problem for me is it's attached to way too many negative memories and emotions in my life. Times I didn't come through under pressure. Times I gave in to temptation. Times I hurt the ones I love. Times I trusted in something or someone and they couldn't endure the crucible of testing. Yikes! Maybe just maybe you can appreciate my struggle with the word fail. Our verse for the day was spoken by one of God's angels. He had front seats to the truthfulness of his proclamation. God's word never fails. Another translation reads, "Nothing is impossible with God." Now that feels a whole better to me. This world is full of pretenders. "Trust me! Trust me!", they say. All we end up with is frustration and disappointment. God's word, however, is better than rock solid. Even m...

"The Lord Almighty has sworn this oath: 'It will all happen as I have planned. It will come about according to my purposes. I will break the Assyrians when they are in Israel; I will trample them on my mountains. My people will no longer be their slaves. I have a plan for the whole earth, for my mighty power reaches throughout the world. The Lord Almighty has spoken -- who can change his plans? When his hand moves, who can stop him?'" Isaiah 14:24-27 I had every intention of following through. The weather was great. The lawn was long. The mowers were ready to roll. Nothing but green lights. It was go time! However, after some lengthy conversations, after meetings I had failed to take into account and after the setting of the sun, go time came and went. My plan was blown up. My checklist item that read, "Mow the yard," was still on the list. Have you ever been there? In our verses for the day, God reveals that this breakdown between plan and reality is one h...

“because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, never wavers between yes and no. He is the one whom Timothy, Silas, and I preached to you, and he is the divine Yes - God's affirmation. For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in him. That is why we say "Amen" when we give glory to God through Christ." I Corinthians 1:19-20 We've all heard the expression, "Their word is as good as gold." In other words, this person keeps their promises. They honor their commitments. They have a track record of reliability. Most of us want that kind of a reputation. We'll go to great lengths to build it and protect it. And yet, on occasion we have failed to deliver on our word. Thankfully, most people will be patient and understanding until it becomes habitual. In our verses for the day, Paul emphatically points to the faithful promise keeper, the "Yes" of God who is a person - Jesus. He is the living embodiment of the fulfillment of God's promises. Ev...

“Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!' 'My Lord and my God!' Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway.'"  John 20:27-29 "You won't believe your eyes!" shouts the carny. "Come see the three-headed chicken!" ... The emcee calls out, "Do you believe?" and then asks for quiet as the master illusionist attempts to perform the "impossible". With a bang and a flash of smoke, the elephant is gone. The crowd cheers. ... What we believe or not believe is the primary course setter for our lives.    Jesus continually called people to believe in him. In the verses for the day, he made an intentional decision to challenge Thomas to believe. He told Thomas to look and touch. He did. He believed. Seeing was believing for Th...

"O Lord, I am willing to call to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help! Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering."  Psalm 141:1-2   I didn't wake up that morning saying to myself, "I think I'll wander off the hiking path alone and end up stuck and stranded on a rock ledge with nothing but boulders below", but that's exactly what I did. There were no good options available to me. Regardless of whether or not I could explain how I got there, the fact of the matter was I was there. So, I did what every other self-respecting young man would do, I yelled for help! Help did come. Not in the form of another person, but in the form of a strategically located sapling about an inch in diameter. It was just close enough and just strong enough to enable my escape. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has ever yelled for help. King David did, all the time. In our verses for the day, he was in trouble....

"What is faith?  It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.  It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.  God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith.  By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen."    Hebrews 11:1-3  Promises are a big deal.  I've made quite a few of them in my life.  My intentions were good and sincere when I made most of them.  I didn't want to let my wife down, my child down, my co-worker down, my friend down, my family down, my church down, but on occasion I have.  Unforeseen circumstances, human limitations, failure to think before speaking, and dissipating motivation have steam-rolled my best intentions.  The net result is I feel awful and their faith in me is shaken.  Promises are a big deal. God makes promises too.  To date, he's batting a...

"... Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable."  Romans 12:17 There are very few words left these days that universally generate positive emotions and thoughts.  The word "honorable" is one of those. Recently, I had to have some body work done on one of our vehicles after a little fender bender initiated by a family member, who will remain unnamed.  We were very pleased with the work and that the cost was less than the estimate.  In addition, they sent the car to be detailed inside and out after the repair was completed!  The car was returned to us in far better condition than we had dropped it off. I'm thinking that the manager had read our verse for the day.  Conducting oneself in an honorable way leaves a lasting impression.  I won't ever feel the need to seek out a different body shop.  Living honorably is such a big deal that God saw fit to address it in his word so that we would address it with him in our daily liv...

“'My thoughts are completely different from yours,' says the Lord. 'And my ways are beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Is. 55:8-9 I once was standing in a circle of college professors. Each had earned their doctorates in their particular area of expertise. My immediate sense of intellectual smallness grew through the course of the introductions. "Hello Dr." ... "Dr." ... "Nice to meet you Dr." And then there was me. The Sesame Street tune starting running through my mind ... "One of these things is not like the other." Thankfully, the conversation remained at a level, within which, I could engage. However, I was keenly aware that if they had chosen to do so, they could have easily discoursed over my head. In our verses for the day, God in his mercy lets us in on a little secret. The m...

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalms 23:4 ESV) What or who are you afraid of? Are you fearful of losing your job, your family, or even your life? Are you afraid of a certain person? So many times we are fearful of what may happen. And when we go there, the possibilities for terror are unlimited. The following quote from Eugene Peterson is so powerful: "If we truly believe that we live in a God-bathed world, we having nothing to be afraid of." We are praying today that you would take Psalm 23:4 to heart, and know that you have nothing to be afraid of... Because God is with you.

“This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.'" Jeremiah 17:5-8 On more than one occasion, I've found myself completely parched, thirsty beyond the ability to ignore it. In my efforts to quench my thirst, I've gone to a drinking fountain seeking relief only to discover that it wasn't working. Waterless. An impostor! It looked the part, but once tested, it came up dry. In our ve...

"... I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." II Timothy 1:12 On a regular basis, I meet with my financial adviser. Given the not so bigness of the finances under discussion, our conversations are pretty short and sweet. We make sure my life insurance coverage is at the appropriate levels and that the funds I'm invested in are returning what we need them to in order to reach our retirement goals, etc. It's all pretty typical planning, implementing, and monitoring type activity. Mostly, we just enjoy each other's company and catch up with what's happening with our families. If, however, someone were to ask me, "Why are you working with him?" It would come down to a three word answer, "I trust him." Fundamentally, I trust him because I know him. I don't believe for a second that he would do anything to harm my family or me. Trust is a big ...

Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. Then they immediately began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord. They did this each morning and evening." Ezra 3:3 At some point in our lives, most of us have experienced the grief of bullying either personally or through the eyes of someone we love. Bullying is an egregious attempt on someone's part to elevate themselves or their agenda at the expense of someone else's dignity or efforts. It is horrible through and through. As a grade school kid, I was pretty excited when the local paper boy said that he would pay me to deliver the paper route for him from time to time. I honored my half of the bargain only to discover later that he had no intention of honoring his. He was quite a bit older and bigger than me and I was afraid of him. I had a choice to make. I could either keep being used or I could stand up to him and tell him that I wasn't ...