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Tested

"He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do." John 6:1-13 Test day. I remember all too well the feelings of discomfort connected to that expression from my school days. I was so thankful the last time I had to take one. Tests felt so much like a cruel game of, "Guess What I'm Thinking?" with the author of the test. During one particularly grueling test, I noticed one of my classmates cheating like there was no tomorrow. Predictably, he aced it and I let's just say, didn't. It occurred to me later that I was actually being tested in two different ways that day. By God's grace alone, I passed them both. Philip was in the hot seat that day. Jesus, out of the twelve disciples, decided to single him out for testing. From all appearances, there was a massive resource shortage. Five thousand men plus women and children all hungry up against whatever money Judas had in the money bag. Philip was apparently incredulous as he emphaticall
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Nothing Left

"'What do you mean what's the matter?' Micah replied. 'You've taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!" Judges 17, 18 Unaware of some purchases that my wife had made earlier in the day, I didn't even hesitate to use my debit card at the checkout line. However, our bank was fully aware of all those purchases as well as the one I was attempting to make at the present moment. Clearly, the math didn't add up. Something from nothing is something less than nothing and that, as it turns, is frowned upon by our aforementioned bank. In short, the bank told the merchant there was nothing left and the merchant told me, "Declined." Micah was one panicked individual. His personal little self-directed and self-centered religion was coming apart at the seams. He had idols. He had priests. He had a shrine and even a sacred ephod (a priestly garment). All this, he thought, secured the LORD's blessing. When the warri
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True Treasure

"'Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come follow me.' But when the man heard this, he became very sad, for he was very rich."..."Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, 'I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!'" Luke 18:18-25; Luke 19:1-10 It was more than a little hard to watch. The man was truly broken up. On the show, people bring all these different items to the pawn shop to sell looking to get a few bucks out of their "treasure". Sometimes, they do. Other times, like this one, not so much. The man had paid a great deal of money for this autographed whatever with papers of authenticity and everything. He was shocked to discover the whole thing was forgery. His treasure was worth absolutely nothing. In the stories for today, Jesus ran into two wealthy men. One of them came looki
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Hidden

"Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the Lord. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you." Joshua 6-7 As we boarded our return flight, I began to process the rest of the realities of getting home. Land in next airport, transfer to next plane, land, get luggage, take shuttle to car, drive home. "Drive home", I thought again. "I need the key. Where's the key?", I asked myself and then my sweetheart and then my kids. We all took turns scouring my briefcase. No key. I prayed. We all prayed. It turns out God cares about keys. Deep in the recesses of my suitcase, hidden at the very bottom of my toiletry bag -- the key.   Joshua had a problem on his hands. He didn't even know it until they lost a battle, badly. He and the other leaders fell on their face before God for hours
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For or Against

  "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me." Luke 11:14-28 I encountered a new food recently. It's called mofongo. I should have known by the name to tread lightly. Mofongo turned out to be well, let's just say, not my favorite. Well, that's a little disingenuous. I thought it was awful. Others in my family felt quite differently. They thought the mofongo was pretty good. No one seemed to be in the middle when it came to the mofongo. It was a "yum" or a "yuk".  In the Bible verses for today, Jesus revealed an incredibly significant truth. He told the crowd that day as well as us today that when it comes to him, there's no neutral position. I liken it to a V-shaped snowplow. The snow flies one way or another. None of it can stay in the middle. Neutral ground does not exist. It's the same reality with the person of Jesus. No one can "kind of" like Jesus. Ne
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The Choice

"Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship Gods you have not known before."   -Deuteronomy 11 There he stood, all two-and-a-half-feet of his two-and-a-half-year-old self fully engaged with the decision at hand. "Sorry buddy", his mother, my daughter, explained to him, "We don't always get we want." She continued, "If you choose to continue to whine and throw a fit, you'll have to sit in timeout. If you choose to nicely and calmly find something else to do, you're welcome to stay here with all of us. It's your choice."  Moses was having just such a conversation with the people of Israel in preparation for their entrance into the promised land. He reminded them of all that God had done for them in the past.
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Favored

  "Gabriel appeared to her and said, 'Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!'" Luke 1:26-38 "Um...are you sure about this?", I asked. I knew I was going to work on the maintenance crew for the summer, but I wasn't prepared for this news. "Yep", he said, "You're going to lead this team and make sure all of these critical support areas of the camp are right on track." I had never led anything. This plan didn't seem like a winning situation. I didn't know this; I didn't know that...blah, blah, blah. None of that mattered I was told. I was chosen and that was the end of it.  I have to believe similar thoughts went through Mary's mind when old Gabriel showed up with some news for her straight from God. Mary was a young woman. She was a "lowly servant girl." She was not married, but was about to be pregnant. None of that played out well in her world. Yet, she was chosen to become the mother of the &quo
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