10 Things I Know

1. God loves me more than I will ever understand. It's crazy love. I will never figure it out.
2. God deserves more love than my heart is capable of producing. I can love Him "full throttle" and still not love Him enough.
3. Nobody deserves to be forgiven but everybody is offered forgiveness.
4. Sometimes I sit with the simple intent of thinking about God and I have never once been able to reach the bottom of where I think my thoughts are heading. He is simply too deep.
5. Nobody deserves my judgement or trash talk. Most people that I know are far better than I am. And nobody is better able to judge that than I.
6. God loves it when I smile.
7. God wants me to care about others as much as I care about myself. And that means He expects me to care much about myself. Odd, huh? I never would have believed it if He had not said it. ("Love your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.")
8. The only true rest is found in His arms. Everything else is counterfeit.
9. Only God is not lying.
10. I could write 10,000 things about God and still not be nearly finished.

A Series Of Video Messages To Debbie

Whole - E - Cow

So I was sitting here about an hour ago video chatting with Debbie. 530 miles isn't so far away that modern technology can't cut it down to size given the right equipment and a little electricity. We were talking about nothing in particular. I think we were on the subject of my "month-a-versary." It was one month ago today that I relocated to Sheffield Lake. And then ...

WHAM!

I thought somebody was knocking at my balcony sliding glass door. Unlikely. Most people would simply ring me from the lobby rather than climb 90 feet up the side of a building.

WHAM!

OK, this was weird.

WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!

In less than 30 seconds a relatively mild December evening was transformed into a freight train slamming into my window. The lake had been glass-like all day long. It was always dreary and occasionally rainy. No biggie. I have no idea how hard the wind is blowing (and I know I've said this before) but it is the hardest I have heard to date. I peeked through the blinds and there is enough light reflecting from the city off of the clouds to see the lake for about 50 yards off shore. We are talking v-i-o-l-e-n-t here. The temperature is suppose to drop about 20 degrees between now and sunrise. Should make for a nice day. Lake effect snow is on the agenda. Sweet.

It's not so much the wind or Lake Erie that impresses me. Never mind. They do impress me. (I remember growing up in Chicago on really windy days they would string ropes from building to building downtown so that people could cross the street without getting blown away. Yes, really.) But what seriously gets my attention is how God has put His world together in such a way that it can change in an instant. A millisecond. Calm to positively violent. Peaceful to chaotic. And it all happened more quickly than you could sneeze.

But isn't life like that? I visited a precious woman in the hospital late last Friday night. She was very restless and moaning in discomfort. I knew that her time was short but I didn't think that she would be gone by 4:30AM. A mere split second from earth to heaven. That's all it takes.

Only God knows what the next second holds. It might be a big nothing. It might be a storm blasting winter winds against your window. It might be heaven. it might be ... less than heaven if you don't know Jesus. Tonight the gale blowing outside my sliding glass door reminds me of the urgency of the moment. I am so glad that God has brought me here to be "Jesus with skin on" to people. And He has graciously given me some "bread crumbs" along the way to confirm that this is exactly where He was pointing when I headed away from the familiar. Not every moment has been fun but then that is what you call "life."

You know what I want? I mean, in the deepest recesses of my heart, do you know what I long for? I have asked God for it but I almost feel guilty when I do. I mean, I would joyfully come here if He told me to and it was for the purpose of reaching one single soul for Christ. But you know what I deeply, passionately, and intensely want? I want to see God hit one over the wall. I want to see a grand slam by God. I want to see Him take this body of believers that I have joined up with and totally transform the community He has placed us in.

Forgive me for sounding like a youth pastor again ... but that would so rock.