I can think of a lot of "if only's" that would no doubt have changed things...I just wonder how.
If only my family had stayed in one place when I was growing up...where would I be now and who would I be with?
If only I had chosen to remain in the Air Force another 10 years...what new places would we have seen and interesting people would we have met?
If only I had stayed with the church in (name one) for another year...how would my faith have grown (or not) and how likely would it have been to become a lifelong place to live/work?
If only we had put (X) dollars aside each month beginning (X)...how much would we have by now and how would it change the future?
While it isn't healthy to live in the "if only" world all the time it is certainly appropriate to at least consider it once in a while. We can't ever go back and change the "if only's" but we can learn from them about our future. I can look back at several if only's in my life and see some pretty obvious lessons that will guide my future decision. I can laugh at the silliness of those if only's and recognize that when my life is truly given over to God , the if only's are nothing more times I hesitated to let Him lead.
The book of Esther is an amazing book of trust. It contains some if only's that we probably should look at very closely. But the most famous passage from that book is one that should help us put aside all the "if only's" in our lives when we finally get to the point of allowing the Lord to do with us as He sees fit. That passage, uttered by Esther's cousin Mordecai is simply, "...who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14b).
It would be easy to say, "Yeah, but I'm not royalty!" but that misses the point. The truth is, each one of us, because we have been adopted by our great God is royalty! But beyond that, we have each been granted a particular place, job, spouse, children, home, etc., by the Creator and Savior of the world. And while we may not be 100% happy with our "place" in life; while we may very well play a lot of "what if" games; we don't know what He has in mind for us. We probably won't be able to see why it's so important that we live in a particular place or meet a specific person until well after that time is gone.
So perhaps...instead of concentrating on the "what if's" that have passed us by...we need to be saying to the Lord, "Help me see Your grand plan for my life and how You are using me right where I am so that YOU receive the glory You deserve." If only every one of us treated every moment of every day like that...I wonder what life would be like?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sep 28, 2010
Earlier this year the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted a nationwide survey (www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/pew-forum-religious-knowlege-survery) that measured, based on the answers given, how much Americans knew about religious history and the Bible. There were 32 questions asked. The average score was 16. That’s a flat out failing grade on any test at any level.
The research numbers also showed that Atheists (those who don’t believe God exists), Agnostics (those who aren’t sure that God exists and really don’t care), Jews and Mormons had the highest scores averaging almost 21 of 30. Those of the Catholic faith fared the worst with an average score of just over 14.5. Other Christian faiths scored in the 16 answer range.
This is the first survey of this kind so it’s hard to draw vary many conclusions about any trends that may be taking place. But many in the religious world, including myself believe that it does point to a disturbing trend. As I interact with Christians in Bible classes, personal studies and through sermons it is painfully obvious that in general we don’t know as much about Scripture or our own religious history as we have in the past.
The argument could certainly be made that we really don’t need to know our faith history in order to understand God’s word. While that is true, it’s also true that if we don’t understand what has shaped our faith, why some of the differences exist between us and other faith communities and some of the places our forefathers fell we have set ourselves up for continued failure.
But no Christian could argue that of all people in the world we should be the most familiar with the Word of God. From basics like knowing how many books are contained in Scripture and being able to name them in order to a fundamental understanding of what each section of the Bible addresses, we should “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet 3:15, NIV).
Someone once asked an audience, “If you were to lose your eyesight and sense of hearing today, what could you recall of the Word of God?” The answer to that penetrating question just may give us a clue about where understanding what God wants of us is in our list of priorities. Whether or not you commit specific passages of Scripture to memory really isn’t the issue. But being able to point people that are curious, interested or even poking fun, to the right place to answer them is critical.
I hope that if the Pew Research Center were to call one of us we’d be able to score better than 50%. But more than that, I pray that we are being well enough equipped to be able to show our children, our neighbors, our friends and co-workers what God has done for all mankind and how they too can share in that amazing gift of grace.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Lessons Learned
I don’t know why but I continue to be amazed at the lessons God teaches us through what most would consider everyday life activities. I’ve been reminded of a lot of those over the last few weeks.
As I was driving to Montgomery, Alabama a couple of weeks ago I drove through about four very heavy rain showers. I could see them in the distance as I drove on dry pavement then…all of a sudden they were just dumping the rain. One minute it’s dry, the next it’s wet and then it’s dry again. I can’t help but hear the words of Jesus, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45-46).
I’m learning in the game of golf that if you’ll swing the club so it hits the ball, the club does the work and sends the ball in the direction you want it to go. But when I try to hit a ball hard I will usually send it off in a direction that is not good for my score. The spiritual lesson is pretty simple…when I try to keep control of the events in my life they usually end up pretty badly. But when I step out of the picture and allow God to do the work it ends up just exactly right every time. David understood that concept and captured it well when he wrote, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers…” (Psalm 141:3-4).
The battery in Sue’s car died the other morning. Actually, it died sometime between the time she stopped the car and got in it the next morning to go to work. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new battery then had to struggle with just exactly how to get the old one out and the new one in. Once I figured out the trick and hooked up the new one, the car started just as easily as if it were still brand new. One little piece of that machinery didn’t work and it shut the whole thing down! It seems to me that our lives are very much like that too. When we allow our faith in God to grow weak, when we fail to provide our spirit with the right amount of input the rest of our life is miserable and unworkable too. It’s important to remember that, “In Him (God) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a).
There are thousands of lessons taught in our presence every day. If we will only take the time to watch and listen with eyes and ears tuned to our Savior we’ll be blessed with every one of them.
As I was driving to Montgomery, Alabama a couple of weeks ago I drove through about four very heavy rain showers. I could see them in the distance as I drove on dry pavement then…all of a sudden they were just dumping the rain. One minute it’s dry, the next it’s wet and then it’s dry again. I can’t help but hear the words of Jesus, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45-46).
I’m learning in the game of golf that if you’ll swing the club so it hits the ball, the club does the work and sends the ball in the direction you want it to go. But when I try to hit a ball hard I will usually send it off in a direction that is not good for my score. The spiritual lesson is pretty simple…when I try to keep control of the events in my life they usually end up pretty badly. But when I step out of the picture and allow God to do the work it ends up just exactly right every time. David understood that concept and captured it well when he wrote, “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers…” (Psalm 141:3-4).
The battery in Sue’s car died the other morning. Actually, it died sometime between the time she stopped the car and got in it the next morning to go to work. I went to Wal-Mart and bought a new battery then had to struggle with just exactly how to get the old one out and the new one in. Once I figured out the trick and hooked up the new one, the car started just as easily as if it were still brand new. One little piece of that machinery didn’t work and it shut the whole thing down! It seems to me that our lives are very much like that too. When we allow our faith in God to grow weak, when we fail to provide our spirit with the right amount of input the rest of our life is miserable and unworkable too. It’s important to remember that, “In Him (God) we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a).
There are thousands of lessons taught in our presence every day. If we will only take the time to watch and listen with eyes and ears tuned to our Savior we’ll be blessed with every one of them.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Need to be needed
Need to be needed
In my recreational reading I’ve been engrossed in a book entitled, “The Essential Church”. It’s a book written by Sam and Thom Rainer who have done a great deal of research concerning church growth and the patterns within the religions of our nation. This particular work is focused on trying to regain those who were once members but have chosen to “drop out”, particularly those in the 18 to 22 year old range.
In that book the Rainer’s point out what ought to be obvious to us. People simply will not stay in a church where they don’t feel important or needed. In other words, in order to simply maintain the members that are already there, we have to make sure they have meaningful things to be involved in and know that they are important to the success of the work that is going on.
As I read that section of the book I began to think about our congregation and whether or not we have made it clear to everyone that they are loved, appreciated and truly needed. Almost every week we have people visiting our assembly. When they walk through the door what do they experience? Do they see a group of Christians that are really engaged with each other and happy to be working arm in arm for the Lord? Or do they see a bunch of individuals who come in, sit in “their” seat and hurry out after the last “amen” so they can get on with life?
When YOU walk through the doors what do YOU see? Do you feel like you are a valuable part of what’s happening here? Have you “pulled back” from the work you once did? Are you going out of your way to make sure others really feel welcome, and know they are loved and needed?
It’s often the case that the leaders don’t make clear the things that need to be done in a congregation. But it’s also often the case that we as members don’t ask the leaders for an assignment or task.
We probably all feel like every person here is important. But we probably don’t all feel like we’re needed. As we look to the future we see challenges to our abilities because of our age or because we are tired, poor, lonely or (you fill in the blank). But the truth is the more individual members choose to be active with the group of Christians the more work we can accomplish and the happier we will all be.
YOU need to know…you loved AND needed! (Dan Boggs)
Posted by Dan Boggs at 2:29 PM
In my recreational reading I’ve been engrossed in a book entitled, “The Essential Church”. It’s a book written by Sam and Thom Rainer who have done a great deal of research concerning church growth and the patterns within the religions of our nation. This particular work is focused on trying to regain those who were once members but have chosen to “drop out”, particularly those in the 18 to 22 year old range.
In that book the Rainer’s point out what ought to be obvious to us. People simply will not stay in a church where they don’t feel important or needed. In other words, in order to simply maintain the members that are already there, we have to make sure they have meaningful things to be involved in and know that they are important to the success of the work that is going on.
As I read that section of the book I began to think about our congregation and whether or not we have made it clear to everyone that they are loved, appreciated and truly needed. Almost every week we have people visiting our assembly. When they walk through the door what do they experience? Do they see a group of Christians that are really engaged with each other and happy to be working arm in arm for the Lord? Or do they see a bunch of individuals who come in, sit in “their” seat and hurry out after the last “amen” so they can get on with life?
When YOU walk through the doors what do YOU see? Do you feel like you are a valuable part of what’s happening here? Have you “pulled back” from the work you once did? Are you going out of your way to make sure others really feel welcome, and know they are loved and needed?
It’s often the case that the leaders don’t make clear the things that need to be done in a congregation. But it’s also often the case that we as members don’t ask the leaders for an assignment or task.
We probably all feel like every person here is important. But we probably don’t all feel like we’re needed. As we look to the future we see challenges to our abilities because of our age or because we are tired, poor, lonely or (you fill in the blank). But the truth is the more individual members choose to be active with the group of Christians the more work we can accomplish and the happier we will all be.
YOU need to know…you loved AND needed! (Dan Boggs)
Posted by Dan Boggs at 2:29 PM
Welcome!
For those who have faithfully followed me on my previous Dan's Drivel, welcome to my new attempt. I'm sorry about the change but it was necessary due to abuses from some readers. I promise I'll try to do better at posting to this one than I did on the other one.
Dan
Dan
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