Why is this girl smiling? Because she finally has music!

For graduation we gave Elisabeth this older car. Unfortunately, it has had a number of “issues,” one of the more serious being, “No tunes!” It came with a high-dollar stereo… that was dead as a door-nail.

I finally dug into this problem one evening last week. Crawled under the dash and found the fuse… which was fine. The wiring and grounding checked out, too. After about an hour of getting nowhere I concluded the radio was toast. So I spent about two more hours getting the thing out.

Went to a junkyard the next afternoon to get a “new” one. Took it home and hooked it up. Guess what! It was dead too! Hmmm, what are the chances?

Well, I spent about 2 hours on the internet that evening checking to see if others had had the same problem. Sure enough, they had. Turns out there’s another fuse under the hood I hadn’t known about.

You guessed it. A twenty-two cent blown fuse was the extent of the problem. And now I’m the proud owner of two car stereos that work just fine!

How true to life! Blown fuses stop the music. If our power source is interrupted we sing no song. We make no melody; we whistle no tune. It’s just like Jesus said: “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” ¹

But when connected to Him, His divine power supplies us with everything we need for life and godliness.² And His power in us does immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.³ In fact, His power is shown to be perfect through our weaknesses! ⁴

So at all costs let’s watch out for blown fuses and anything else that might disconnect us from the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You should have seen our Woodland Hills triathletes competing at the recent Lake Carolina Sprint! A 500 meter swim, an 11 mile bike ride, and a 5 kilometer run. You’d have been proud!

As we cheered them on, I couldn’t help thinking of all the biblical references to athletic contests: If anyone competes as an athlete… he competes according to the rules.¹ Everyone who competes… exercises self-control in all things.² Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.³ Run in such a way that you may win.⁴

The parallels between life as a Christ-follower and an athletic contest are striking.

• Many start out strong; some never finish.
• The pain can be excruciating.
• Sometimes all you can think about is quitting.
• Cheering friends sure do help.
• Nourishment and water along the way are essential.
• There’s nothing like crossing the finish-line.

Well, all this makes me wonder: How are you doing in the race? Are your muscles screaming, “STOP!”? Do you need some nourishment and a cool drink? Have you become distracted and wandered off course? Are you discouraged and ready to quit?

I can hear the Apostle Paul and so many others cheering you on from the sidelines: Press on! Forget what’s behind and press with all your might for the goal! Press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you! ⁵

 
Who knows this better than Farah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays? In only a week, each of these stepped from the seen into the unseen, from the temporary into the eternal.

Sometimes these made-for-TV, larger-than-life celebrities seem immortal or invincible. But the awful truth of this life is we are all temporary.

And now we’re left contemplating their legacies. We’re sobered because, impactful as each of these personalities has been, it seems the greater part of their attention and energy was devoted to the seen and temporary. And we wince at the prospect of unpreparedness for the eternal.

Considering our own lives, then, let’s purpose anew to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.” *

May yours be a lasting legacy!

Wow! Weren’t Sunday’s ministry reports encouraging!?! I came away with a deep sense of joy and gratitude for all that God is doing in and through us. What a thrill to hear your stories! It really is true—Sunday at 11:00 is only the tip of the iceberg of everything going on at Woodland Hills.

What’s ahead for us? I don’t know, but here’s how I’m praying. Lord, please give us even more of Your grace! Enable us for still greater impact in our areas of influence with family, neighbors, and co-workers.

But there’s a problem. It’s the enemy. He’s not at all pleased. 2 Corinthians reminds us to be on our guard—”in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” ¹

This warning got me to wondering. Are we mindful of schemes he might try to use against us here at Woodland Hills? What are some ways he might try to get at us? One in particular, Paul seems to say, is unforgiveness.²

Friends, let’s allow him no occasion against us whatsoever. Purpose to keep short accounts with God and with others so he has absolutely no foothold! For we are not ignorant of his schemes!

It was an encouraging sight here this morning! Today was the 7 Oaks Elementary School Teacher Appreciation Luncheon, and lots of folks were bringing baked goods by and still others were arriving to help serve the food. Betsy Killins pulled us all together for a prayer time and a brief reminder of why we’re doing all this—to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ.¹

Then we headed over to 7 Oaks Elementary where we joined volunteers from two neighboring churches and served a delicious meal to the teachers and staff. We had the privilege of thanking many of them individually as they came through the line and we were able to sit with them during the meal, too. We invited them to submit written prayer requests for any needs they or their students had. And when we gave thanks for the meal, we also thanked the Lord for their investment in the children’s lives, and we asked the Lord to bless them and strengthen them.

What was the response? Well, you should’ve seen how grateful and appreciative the 7 Oaks Elementary folks were! They were touched and it showed. All in all, I think we did exactly what the Lord wanted us to do—we spread a sweet-smelling fragrance of lives devoted to Christ and others.

I was indeed thankful to be part of the caring hearts at Woodland Hills!

May the Lord extend our influence for His praise even more!

I remember the day I asked my dad if I could buy a used dirt bike—a Suzuki 80 that one of the other kids was selling. I was ten. My palms were sweating profusely as I came into the living room—I desperately wanted a Yes from him, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. I was so nervous I forgot my carefully crafted speech and just blurted out, “Dad, can I buy a motorcycle?”

My jaw hit the floor as I heard him say, “Sure!” and then I went to jumping for joy!

Have you ever noticed how some parents are NO parents? Don’t. Can’t. Not now. Stop. Hush. Quit that. NO.

Barb and I were given some good advice as young parents: “Say YES every chance you can!” It’s been hard sometimes, but we’ve really tried to make our knee-jerk response be Yes.

The Bible tells us this YES attitude comes from God. YES is the expression of His heart toward us: All the promises of God find their “Yes” in Christ.¹

Think about all the YES promises to us who are in Christ:

• “I know the plans I have for you…” ²
• “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me…” ³
• “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack.” ⁴
• “He gives strength to the weary…” ⁵
• “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go…” ⁶

God is determined to say YES to us. So determined, in fact, that He has given us every truly good thing. Every blessing. Every promise. Every benefit. Yes, yes, yes. Every mercy, strength, grace, reward, acceptance… and a thousand more, all Yes, in Christ! Talk about hitting the mother lode!

Have a YES day in Christ,
Paul

Caps and gowns, tassles and cords, Pomp and Circumstance, diplomas and speeches… graduation is a big deal, isn’t it? As it should be! Graduation trumpets a fine accomplishment with appropriate honor and celebration. But the really big deal about graduation is what’s ahead. Thus the day’s more formal title. Commencement marks a new chapter with all sorts of fresh hopes and promising opportunities.

I imagine most of us are connected in one way or another to someone who is graduating about now—someone who is commencin’ to plow a whole new field. May I suggest a prayer for that graduate? It’s based on Scripture and it fits this year’s focus on the heart:

“May the Lord direct your heart into the love of God.” ¹

“The heart has directions,” says John Piper. “It moves toward one thing or another. It moves toward what it regards as attractive and satisfying and valuable.” ²

So as our graduates turn the corner and head off in their new directions, let’s pray that God will cause them to see His love as more attractive and satisfying and valuable than any other thing.

And while we’re at it, let’s pray that for ourselves as well! We can’t go wrong with a God-directed heart.

Seems like stress is turning up everywhere. There’s life-change stress, heart stress… now there’s even bank stress!

What is stress? Stress is the strain that occurs whenever the demands exceed the available resources.

Most of us don’t need a test to figure out we’re stressed. All we need is one look at the stack of bills on the table. It’s right there next to the ever- growing to-do list and the candle that’s burning at both ends!

How could you let your life get so out of whack!? we hear ourselves say.

Not Jesus. Listen to His tender invitation: Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.¹

Have you had a chance to slip away with the Lord lately? Maybe an evening stroll or an early morning tea? Why not pause for some refreshment with the Gentle Stress-Healer?

Every so often we see a doomsday headline that predicts we’re on a collision course with a massive asteroid or some other space object. There’s one heading our way that may hit in April, 2029. Will that be the big one? Maybe. It’s just a matter of time—“the world will face an extinction-level impact at some point… but we don’t know when.” ¹

Before you start doing the math to see if you’ll be around in 2029, listen to what God says: “Only if My decrees—the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night—only if My decrees vanish from My sight, will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.” ²

God’s promise that His chosen people will endure is resting on the constancy of His decrees. How likely is He to let a stray asteroid make Him a liar?

Today a headline says scientists have “discovered the most distant object in space.” ³ An orbiting NASA telescope caught a blast from an exploding star 12.8 billion light-years away, “near the edge of the universe… which is thought to be 13.7 billion years old.” ⁴

I can almost hear God laughing and scoffing in heaven. ⁵ Have you indeed measured My heavens? Do you now void My promise to Israel? Think again: “If the heavens above can be measured… then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel….” ⁶

Telescopes are great at capturing the majesty and immensity of God’s handiwork. ⁷ It’s just that some of the people who look through them aren’t so…. Hmmm, well, maybe I’ll just say this: God’s created word will never conflict with His spoken Word.

Have you heard all the ruckus from last Sunday’s Miss USA pageant?

Leading finalist, Carrie Prejean (Miss California ), was asked a question by judge Perez Hilton: “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”

Carrie’s answer: “I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in my country and my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anyone out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman.”

Most agree her answer cost her the crown. The openly gay judge was not at all pleased. Turns out he didn’t want her opinion after all unless it matched his. Since Sunday he’s been on a media blitz blasting her as insensitive and ignorant, and publicly calling her defamatory and vulgar names.

Isn’t it interesting that those who cry “Tolerance!” the loudest are themselves so intolerant.

So, what do we make of all this? And especially in light of our current year’s theme about the heart?

I think God has already given us some insight:

- The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? ¹
- A deceived and wicked heart calls evil good and good evil. ²
- It wipes its mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.” ³
- A darkened heart suppresses the truth, professing itself wise yet proving itself a fool. ⁴
- All the while, it’s looking for teachers who will say what it wants to hear. ⁵

O God, keep us from a deceived heart!