Three

Three

Two is an easy number.  It really is.  It’s even of course, so that makes it easy.  Four is also an easy number, it’s even as well. Three and five are odd, they just feel different.  

The “perfect” nuclear family is four right? Mom and Dad and two kids.  The American Dream.  A son and a daughter perfect the ensemble.  

Yeah, perfect isn’t life though.  

For those that don’t know, we have recently added another gorgeous little girl to our little family.  You can call her A. 

Monday afternoon as I came off the practice field I’d gotten some texts from Jenn.  One read, “call me now,” with a follow-up, “don’t freak out.”  Always good messages to get. 

Anyway, I call and Jenn tells me we got a call to take in a little girl and that she said yes. I’m not exactly good actor, so I kind of let my emotions speak through my words in the phone call.  I wasn’t happy.  The thoughts running through my head were mostly geared towards: we are finally starting to get comfortable and now we won’t be.  Immediately I begin to analyze the potential issues we could face with three kids.  Being a football coach, I don’t get the opportunity to be around as much as I’d like to, in order to help.  Three kids was going to magnify this by a thousand, or so I thought.  

Then she walked in the door.  I’m a super softy at heart and my heart immediately melted.  Everything I was thinking through and mulling over disappeared.  God has a way of doing that.  I think the whole time he was trying to get my attention to just take a chill pill.  I hadn’t listened.  Like I was hardcore against this, I even went so far as to be completely angry with Jenn, all within a span of a couple of hours.  Ignoring God for those two hours is real dumb.  He hasn’t brought us anything He hasn’t walked with us through.  He’s not going to.  I don’t have to worry about where this or that is going to come from, because He’s got that already taken care of.  I’m called to love on this little girl for as long as she needs me to, and that’s what we are going to do.  

So that’s it, maybe you needed to hear this story.  Maybe there’s something in your life you need to quit doubting or thinking about.  Maybe God is asking you to stop fighting and trying to figure it all out, and to just listen to him and do it.  How much of the work of God do we miss out on because we are so busy trying to overthink or over contemplate.  I’m not saying doing everything on a whim, but I tell you, the Lord will accomplish what he’s set out to do.  

God’s got great plans for my family and for little A.  I can’t wait to see what’s in store. 

Racism: A Declaration of War

Evangelical Christians, mainly of the Caucasian variety, have a great number of pet issues.  One of these would be abortion.  I don’t think I would find anyone in disagreement that abortion is at the forefront of the evangelical agenda.  As it very well should be. 

However, I think we miss on a great number of issues.  Specifically the issue of race, not to mention the foster system in America, as well as, the poverty gap.  I believe that we tend to attack the left on the issue of abortion while stepping over this other issue.  Of course, I believe fully that the left has their pet issues as well.  I would propose the fact that we pull ourselves, as evangelicals to the middle, even our of the political arena all together.  

Let me get to my point rather succinctly today.  My point is, we can’t have one without the other.  It’s been said we’ve got to care about lives outside the womb just as much as we do inside the womb.  Evangelicals do not do that very well.  (Before you comment, understand I am looking at the whole of evangelicals, I know there are pockets that care for both and stand for both.  My thesis is that this is not the majority.)

I recently listened to a podcast where a woman gave a great picture of what racism is.  

It’s a declaration of war.  On who? On the King of the Universe.  On God. 

By now, you’re wondering where in the heck I am going with this.  

In Matthew 22, Jesus is approached by a group of Pharisees he labels hypocrites.  They ask him about paying taxes. He asks to see their coin.  On the coin is the image (Greek: eikon; Hebrew: tselem)  of Caesar, and so he tells them to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.  So let’s take a look at that word there.  The Greek for image, eikon, parallels with the Hebrew word taelem that is used when God creates man.  

Are you with me so far? Okay, cool, here we go!

So in ancient times and many eras to follow, enemies of a king or kingdom would deface any sort of likeness of that king.  Whether it be money or banners, they would deface it.  This would be an act or declaration of war.  

So what is racism.  Well, if we consider that what the Bible tells us is true, then We must deduct that racism is an act of war against God.  If we believe we are all created in the tselem or the imago dei, then we either think or speak in racial tones or when we judge a brother or sister on their skin color, we are thereby defacing them and in turn declaring war on God, himself.  

What’s the next step? The first step is to realize that these lives outside the womb are just as important as the lives of unborn babies in the womb!   We must begin to reconcile ourselves to our brothers and sisters.  We have to get over the claim of being “color-blind” and realize that God has created ALL people no matter the color and that this weaves a beautiful tapestry of human kind.  

My prayer is that I begin to think and live this way and that you do too!  

STOP

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:15-16

Jesus’ own words to the church at Laodecia.  Jesus’ words to us.  

What I hear, when I read this text is one word.  STOP!  Stop the flip-flopping.  Stop the wishy-washy.  Stop the fence riding.  We want one foot in the world and one foot on Jesus.  That’s not it.  That’s far from being what His desire for our life is.  God doesn’t want the half of you.  He wants all of you.  It has to be all or nothing.  God doesn’t desire for us to want to serve Him in Monday, then on Tuesday seek to serve our self.  He doesn’t just want our Sundays, when we give our Saturdays to the party.

He wants all!  All of you, all of me!  Everything we’ve got.  

We spend so much time trying to please our friends, co-workers, and our family.  We need to take that energy and spend it blessing God.  His opinion is all that matters.  Take Solomon for example, the wisest man in history.  He chased after every single human pleasure.  Parties, possessions, sex, and even intelligence.  In the book of Ecclesiastes, we get to read about his “research” and “experiment” of experiencing every pleasure he could pursue.  In the end, he likens it to chasing after the wind.  Specific words he uses are “futile” and “meaningless.”  Why was it like this?  The pursuit was apart from God.  Which in turn, makes the pleasure temporary.  The feelings don’t last.  

So we run back to Jesus.  Then, He asks us to do something we don’t want to do, or we learn that we need to make some changes in our hearts and lives.  Where do we run? Away.  We run to the next party or the next bottle or the next person.  We are looking for fulfillment to a hole that only has one shape.  It’s like kids playing with the shapes and the box where the shapes go.  My son has this toy.  No matter how much he tries, or how physical he gets, the square is not going to fit in the circle.  These things we try to fill our hole with, don’t belong there.  

Oh, we like to force it sometimes.  We also like to leave “just enough room for Jesus.”  However, if you go back up and read the verse, Jesus tells us that if we are trying to play that game He's not interested.  He wants fully sold out followers.  

I think further evidence can come from looking at the calling of Jesus' disciples.  

We can see two instances recorded in Matthew 4 and 9.  The callings of Peter, Andrew, James, and John, then the calling of Matthew.  In both scenes, Jesus rolls up, calls out to them, "Follow me," and they drop what they're doing and they go.  They don't wait.  They stop what they were previously doing and go.  We don't see them trying to figure out how to fit God into their schedule.  They let God dictate their schedule.  

We have got to sell out for the right side.  Sell out for following Jesus.  Spend out lives sharing the Gospel.  Wherever we are.  Whenever the opportunity arises.  Follow Jesus or don't.  It is not a two sided coin.

Mr. Fix-it

One of my most natural inclinations is to be a fixer.  When someone shares their problems with me, I automatically default to “fix-it mode.”  This can be a problem relationally, because a lot of times I ignore the person, while trying to figure out a way to fix their problem in my head.  It’s so hard not to try and fix everything.  Specifically for my loved ones.  Early on in our marriage, Jenn would share things with me, and I wouldn’t listen.  I’d interject ways to fix whatever she was going through.  That did not always make for good conversation or moods!  This problem amplified itself when I became a dad.  It even makes appearances in my teaching and coaching.  

With my kids, I want so bad to keep them out of trouble.  When I watch Mary-Faith doing something the wrong way, I want to swoop in and show her the right way to do it, to keep any disappointment from entering her life.  It’s so much worse with a baby.  I’m that Dad that follows his kid around and tries to make sure they don’t slip or fall or touch anything hot.  Of course, I’m not always successful, the only thing I am successful at is annoying either my kids or my wife, sometimes both.  

The thing is, a lot of times, my intervening in my child’s life can make them miss a lesson.  If I am constantly chasing Bubba to keep him from falling, he will never learn anything about walking or exploring.  He won’t even know what it’s like to fall.  If I constantly fix everything for Mary-Faith, she will never grow.  The kids will miss out on opportunities to learn and grow!  

So why doesn’t God just fix all our problems?  Why would God create a perfect world only to let it be screwed up by imperfect people?  

Those are perplexing questions.  They truly work and strain the brain and the strands of theology and faith!  The short answer is, he is going to fix all our problems, one day.  Just like in  Casablanca, “maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon...” God is going to crack open the sky and bring about the conclusion of history.  Why not fix it today though?  

We could all agree that all God would have to do to fix everything in the world, is say the words.  With a quick sentence or two, the terribleness of the world would come to a screeching halt.  However, God seeks the completion of his mission.  He sent his son to the earth to die, so that he could be the atonement for our sin debt.  The Bible tells us in Romans 6 that, “The wages of sin is death...” There has to be a payment for the sin of the world.  In the Old Testament the atonement was the blood sacrifice.  When Jesus came, he replaced that.  He became the payment on the cross for the sin debt that we owe.  Once and for all.  

In the book of Matthew,  Jesus tells us that “all authority and on earth has been given to him.”  He goes on and includes his followers in this plan.  The plan is to spread the word of his Kingdom to the rest of the world.  What has happened is, over time, the people on Earth have walked further and further away from God.  It is then the mission of God’s followers to bring the rest of the human race to God.  God’s people travel the world with this Gospel, or good news.  Some spread it like wild fire, others keep it to themselves.  

Yeah, that’s perplexing in itself.  

We have a solution to the problems of the world, and we sometimes sit on it.  We hide it.  We disguise it, with our continuous bombardment of those who are not followers of Jesus.  We hit them with disgusting comments and even tear down our fellow brothers and sisters in the process of “protecting our truth.”  

So why doesn’t God fix it?  If he fixed it, we’d miss it.  We would have been forced into a relationship.  We’d be miserable in a sort of captivity.  The beauty of the life of a Christ-follower is that the desire to follow after Jesus is all that matters.  We are not forced into our service to the kingdom.  

It’s just like with my kids.  If I forcibly intervene in their life, they will never recognize the sweetness of life.  If all our mistakes were fixed in auto-pilot mode, then no one would want that.  God offers us a completely free gift of salvation.  We definitely did absolutely nothing to deserve the chance at saving.  So God’s not interested in intervening in lives he’s not invited to.  I think the beauty of this is,  free will.  God creates us knowing that one day we are going to choose to step away from him, yet he still creates us.  

So we are not Mr. Fix-it.  We serve the Fix-all.   One day, he will return and he will complete the perfect world.  Until then, it’s our job to encourage and call on those outside of His plan to join up!

Broken

What good is something that is broken?  Today, that question would probably be followed up with a response near this: "the only good a broken thing can do is fill the trash can."   To some people though, they can make beautiful masterpieces out of broken things.  Turn on HGTV and you'll see a great conglomeration of people who make beautiful out of broken.  Open magazines and see all the makeovers of houses, streets, and people.  All around us, people take broken things and make them beautiful.

I guess you could say, we are just imitating our Creator.  God is working to take this broken world and make it beautiful, that is the theme of the Bible.   Like these people remodel these houses and make something new, He does the exact same thing.

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43:19

The things that God does with the lives of His people are simply amazing.

I think we see the trend that we are seeing in the world today, because that is our purpose.  We are already a broken people, we should seek to be restored.  Now, we seek it out in all the wrong.  We go searching for restoration at the bottom of a bottle.  We talk bad about others, so we can feel better about ourselves. We seek it out in the love or lust of another person.  We light up a cigarette or a joint to just feel complete.  We eat and we eat and we eat, because that makes us feel whole.  We cheat in class or on our taxes. We cut and scratch ourselves.  We do all this and yet we have to do it again and again.  Why?  It is not real fulfillment.  It is nowhere near the actual fulfillment of our lives.  The fulfillment of Jesus Christ.

Our restoration can only come from Jesus.  That's why you see so many people go to great lengths in those other realms because one just isn't enough.  Folks, I can tell you now that Jesus is enough.  When you allow Him to take hold of your life, He will be all you'll need.

Here's the thing though.  I don't mean some campy, emotionally-charged experience.  I am talking about true life change.  Letting Jesus take the reins in EVERY portion of your life.  There was a speaker when I was younger, who talked about how letting Jesus in our lives like letting someone in our homes.  Usually, when someone comes over, we clean the high traffic places.  The living room and the bathroom.  We make those rooms the places that are spotless and clean.  A lot of times, we may neglect the kitchen or the bedrooms, maybe.  Well, he always talked about how we needed to let Jesus into the kitchen of our lives.  The kitchen is sometimes the messiest place in the house.  We need to let Jesus in the kitchen, and let him help us do something about it.  The problem is, we like it that way.  We like our messy sometimes.  We are comfortable with our issues and with our shortcomings, our sin.  We like to just be able to pop in to church and ask God's forgiveness, then go back to what we were doing.

That's not what this life in Christ is about.  If you read the verses I previously shared, He makes us a new creation.  The old has passed away.  When things pass away they don't come back.  The prime examples could be Jesus' disciples.  When he called Matthew out of the tax booth, it's not like Matthew followed him for a couple of years, then went back to tax collecting.  Matthew experienced a life change.  When Chip and Joanna Gaines remodel a house and present it to someone, that person doesn't go in and tear everything down and go back to how it used to be.

For new things to come, change has to happen. Does that mean every change will be drastic?  No.  Some changes will be minuscule and some will be wholesale.  When we allow God to truly take hold of our lives, He will be in charge of what stays and what goes.  Sometimes that requires the whole to be broken.  Sometimes it calls our brokenness to be made whole.

I want to leave you with some poignant lyrics from Propaganda.  The song is called Lofty and in the final verse he says...

"But worth, value, and beauty is not determined by some innate quality
But by the length for which the owner would go to possess them
And broken and ugly things just like us are stamped "Excellent"
With ink tapped in wells of divine veins
A system of redemption that could only be described as perfect
A seal of approval, fatal debt removal..."

Allegiance

Where does our citizenship belong?  Where does our allegiance belong?  Can one man serve two masters?  What is my identity?  Those thoughts have been going through my mind for the last few years.  I don't know why, except to say that God is forming my identity far from what it used to be.

First of all, let me say, the Bible is extremely clear on exactly where our citizenship lies.

  "Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the                          example you have in us.  For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even                      with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end is destruction, their god is                        their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.  But our                              citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will                        transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him                            even to subject all things to himself."

                                                                     Philippians 3:17-21

This passage speaks volumes to where our allegiances should lie and where our citizenship lies as believers.  Jesus Christ is the be all, end all of everything we should do.

When we give our life to Christ, we lay aside everything for His sake.  Yes!  That means our family, our career, our country, and all our allegiance.  As a believer, we are citizens of a Kingdom, beyond anything in this world.  Our loyalty only belongs to God.  In the book of Matthew, Jesus says,"No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other..."  You're finishing that and about to ask me why I didn't.  Jesus closes with, "You can't serve God and money."  So, yeah, we can't serve two masters, but that is just in regards to money and God right?  I must say, I don't think so.  I think we can read this message for what it is.  We must only serve God.  If I swear allegiance to anything else, country, party, money, job, or anything, that puts me on another side away from God.  No country, political party, nationality, or president deserves my loyalty.

Let me stop you before you bring me Matthew 22:21.  Yes, Jesus tells us to "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's."  What we tend to overlook is the end of that statement, "and to God the things that are God's."  You're probably thinking again that this is a statement about money.  You would be right.  Jesus is speaking of taxes, but again I think if we look at His teaching, He is attempting to show us much more.  What has God called us to?  To give Him our lives.  Can I give my life both to Jesus and to America?  Can I give my allegiance to both Jesus and my political party?

My loyalty lies with the King of the Universe, Jesus Christ.

My absolute allegiance and commitment lies in Jesus Christ.  All other commitments I have are secondary to Him.  My allegiance to Jennifer Reynolds is contingent on that relationship not taking the place of my relationship with Christ.  My relationship with the rest of my family is the same way.  My citizenship in the U.S.A. is secondary to my citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.  When the U.S.A. dissipates, the Kingdom of Heaven will still be.

I am not a coach who is a Christ-follower.  I am not an American who is a Christ-follower.  I am not a husband who is a Christ-follower.  I am a Christ-follower who has been placed in this portion of the world for God's purpose.  Contrary to popular belief, God's purpose is not to make me famous or to make my name great.  It is not to get me a lot of money, a beautiful house, or anything of that nature.  God's purpose is that He be made known.   My purpose in life is to know God and to make Him known.  That is it.  He allows me to be where I am because that is where He placed me.  I am a coach because that is how He will achieve His purpose.  I am married to my amazing wife because that is a part of His plan.  I am a foster/adoptive parent because that's how He will spread His love.  All authority on earth is subordinate to Christ.

My affiliation doesn't matter aside from who I am in God.  God asks for ALL of me.

If you call yourself a Christian/Christ-follower, the same should be said of you.  God isn't waiting for America to turn back to Him.  He's waiting for you and He's waiting for me to turn back to Him.  He is waiting for us to start living by the Bible.  We have to adopt a new worldview.  For so long, we have adopted this so-called "Christian Worldview."  That worldview is skewed by our Americanized Christianity.  We must align ourselves with the God of the Bible.  That transforms us into a Biblical Worldview.  Sadly, we've westernized everything in creation, the Bible included.

We have to be people of the Bible.  The WHOLE Bible. Not just the bits and pieces that make us feel good.  The parts that make us feel uncomfortable.  These scriptures I have quoted have brought me discomfort, because I know I am not truly living like they say.  I am not always living like a citizen of the Kingdom and I am not always giving God what is His.

I pray that you hear my heart in this writing.  I write what I am going through.  This subject has been and will always be a subject of contention in our country.  I pray that God continues to mold my heart and mind toward his purpose and away from mine.  I pray that you seek the same thing.

Who We Reflect

I get to have a unique perspective on daily life in the relatively small community I live in.  It has always been interesting living in a town with a dynamic such as Henderson.  It’s a good-sized town with 12,000+ people, but it has that feeling of Mayberry, where everyone knows everyone and everything.  If they don’t know who you are, they know your parents or grandparents.  You carry around this invisible label.  

That’s an interesting concept that I’d like to take a look at today.  However,  not from the perspective that one usually looks at this subject from.  I’d like to offer a different opinion, one that I’d not thought about until recently. 

So, as a coach, I talk to my student-athletes a lot about who they are representing.  I walk through the normal line-up.  They represent themselves, their parents, their families, the athletic program, the school, and the town.  If you have worn the Henderson H in middle school in the last seven years, you’ve heard me say that a dozen or more times per year.  Students don’t usually think that way.  They may realize they represent themselves and maybe their families, but come on, the average student in America doesn’t think in terms beyond either themself or their family unit.  Some don’t get past themself.  

From time to time, in that speech I’ve thrown out that students represented their church and God.  I’ve always thought of that as the legit way to get them to commit to make right decisions.  No one wants to disappoint God after all, right?  

So, I’ve started really thinking about this.  God’s really been pointing something out to me.  There shouldn’t be anything beyond representing Him. Our job on this earth, as believers, is to do nothing else but represent God.  We are citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Philippians 3:20 tells us that “our citizenship is in Heaven.”  So, as the Bible says, so we should act like, right? 

We do our best to represent our parents well, usually.  We try hard to represent our schools or workplaces. However, we rarely put it to mind that we represent the Lord.  We worry so much about the parts of this life that are temporary, when we need to focus solely on the portion of this life that is eternal.  The way that we represent God is eternally significant.  We are called to imitate Him.  He would be about His Kingdom business!  We’ve got to be about His Kingdom business!  

We have to be intentional in everything.  It’s of the utmost importance.  Our relationships must be authentic with the goal being nothing but displaying the love of God to the world around us.  We must be the mirror reflecting God.  

As I look around, however, we don’t do that.  We fall into this category of chasing our desires until we’ve had our fill, then we go to church for our “fill up”.  We treat our churches like gas stations and go once or twice a week to get filled.  The funny thing is, God did not intend for our lives to be like that at all.  He intended for us to reflect His glory.  To be a beacon to show Himself to other people.  

The problem becomes when we try to ride the fence.  I do it from time to time too y’all.  However, we’ve got to stop riding the fence.  We’ve got to start being authentic.  Be the person you are at church, at home.  Be the person you are at home, at work.  Be the person you are at work, in the community.  Be a true Christ-follower.  Chase after pleasing Christ rather than pleasing everyone else.  Allow the Lord to prune away the parts of your life that are not going to point others to him.  In 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul talks about how we are “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”  What he’s talking about there is us becoming more and more like our God.  

We MUST stop living the two-faced life.  Choose to follow Christ and follow Him!  Don’t just follow him on Wednesday and Sunday.  Love God and Love People.  That’s the image.  The do’s and don’ts fall into place!  God will guide you, trust Him and stop trying to do it all alone.  You will fail on your own!  Chase Him! 

Do It Again

“Walking around these walls, I thought by now they’d fall...”

The opening line to a song can hold so much meaning.  How many times do we face a struggle or a test, or even when God asks us to wait for something?  How many times, in those situations, do we walk around the proverbial wall, thinking it ought to be down by now.  

The people of Israel experience this exact situation.  In Joshua 6, we see the inspiration for the first line of this song.  Long story short, they were commanded by God to march around the city of Jericho for six days, once per day.  Then, on the seventh day, they were commanded to walk around seven times, on the seventh trip around the were to give a loud shout and God said the walls would fall down.  

Now, the Bible doesn’t give us any dialogue, at all, as to what they thought or said walking around the walls.  The only record we have of any talking at this point is Joshua telling everyone not to shout or make any noise until he told them to.  Even though we don’t have any recorded conversations, I can imagine there were at the very least some interesting thoughts going around Jericho.  

We do the same stuff.  We are thrust into whatever situation and we begin to wonder.  “Why hasn’t this been resolved?”  

For me, currently, my wall is the fostering of Bubba.  He’s been in our house since last April and the case is ongoing.  The last few weeks, I’ve been looking around thinking, “this should all be over, he should just be ours and we can go on.”  However, God just says, essentially, “keep walking.”  

“But you have never failed me yet.”

The next line of the song is a reminder.  The Lord has never once failed me.  If we look back to the story of the Israelites, He never failed them either.  He led them through the wilderness, which they found themselves in because of their failure to obey the Lord.  God has never failed any of us.  There are times where we may believe He did, however we are so wrong.  God hasn’t and won’t ever fail! 

“Your promise still stands, great is your faithfulness.  I’m still in your hands, this is my confidence, you never failed me yet.” 

God is faithful.  His promises are eternal.  He may tell us to keep walking, and He will provide.  The thing is, we may not always see what He is preparing.  We have to step out in faithfulness and allow Him to dictate what’s happening.  That’s the hard part.  I’m sure the Israelites thought they had a better idea to conquer Jericho, however God’s plan was the correct way.  We, at times, tend to take matters into our own hands and we make a mess of ourselves, then he picks us up and tells us to keep walking.  

“I’ve seen you move, you move the mountains, and I believe I’ll see you do it again. You made a way, when there was no way, and I believe I’ll see you do it again.”

It’s not like God hasn’t proven himself time and time again.  We’ve witnessed it.  There come times when the path can’t be seen, and He provides the way.  We just have to listen and be faithful.

That’s how the song has spoken to me over the last few days.  Our case with Bubba isn’t going exactly how I’d want it to, but the thing is, I’m not in charge.  

God sees the bigger picture.  I’ve got to continue walking.  The walls will fall.  

Why Are We Surprised?

You've no doubt read the headlines of the decision made in New York this week.  If you're reading this post, you probably had the same reaction I did.

I find it hard to understand.  I've always thought that abortion in any capacity was wrong.  That a child at the moment of conception is a child, a human being.  Anything involved the ending of that life is anything short of murder.  This is an unpopular opinion, but abortion in any capacity and for any reason is murder.  

This post is not going to focus on the wrongs of abortion.  Although, I could go on for days with reasoning behind this argument.  This post will stand to take a look at instances in the Bible that would show us we shouldn't be surprised by the degradation of our culture and society.  

First, I want to take a look at a few Biblical characters and their reaction to the societal decay around them.  

Noah

We are first introduced to Noah in a patriarchal lineage in Genesis 5.  In verse 32, we are informed about his three sons.  Chapter 6 begins to account wickedness in the world.  The Bible tells us here that "man began to multiply," and it also mentions that the "sons of God" were roaming the earth and marrying the "daughters of man."  Now, I don't want to delve to deep into the identification of these sons and daughters.  In one camp, people believe the "sons" are angels or fallen angels, in the other, the "sons of God" are identified as the men in the lineage of Seth, and the daughters labeled as the females in the lineage of Cain (in each camp the daughters are simply represented as human).

Whichever way you cut that (which is not super important to the point of my post), you see that the society is decaying in the following verses.   Verse 5 tells us that "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  

Then if we skip down to verse 8, we see that "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."  So what that tells me is, that in the midst of a society that was pure evil, Noah followed God.  The rest of the narrative carried out that way.  Noah put his faith in the Lord.  He built a boat in preparation for a flood even before there had EVER been rain!  Noah stayed faithful.  He wasn't perfect, but he stayed faithful.  

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah 

Then we can shift our focus to Daniel.  Daniel and his entire country were taken into captivity by Babylon.  Babylon was insane!  If there ever was an evil society it was Babylon.  When the Israelites were taken into captivity, the king of Babylon separated some of the young men and offered them some of the food that he would eat.  The Bible tells us in the book of Daniel that Daniel "resolved not to defile himself with the king's food,"  and that God granted him favor in the sight of his captors.

Daniel and his three buddies (for those VeggieTale enthusiasts, Rack, Shac, and Benny), all were blessed by the Lord in many ways and were favored with the king.  Their faith grew stronger in two different episodes, for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, while the rest of the country bowed and worshiped an idol, they refused and were throne into a burning furnace.  They stood in their faith, in the midst of a skewed society.  Daniel's faith saw him thrown into a lion's den for refusing to stop praying to God.  Despite the decay around him, Daniel still stood in his faith.

The examples of these 5 Biblical figures should speak to us today.  We are in the midst of a society that is crumbling around us.  However, what we have got to do is stop watching it crumble and grumbling about why.  I can scroll through my social media feeds at any moment and see posts declaring "what's wrong with society."  The problem that I have with most of the things I see is that, I am not 100% sure we did things right before.  That can be a whole new post for another day, but my point is, we must stand strong in our faith.

Standing strong in our faith is not posting pretty little Bible verses on our Instagram or Facebook.  Strength is not found in talking about the "good ole days" or posting about how we need to "let" God back in our schools.  Strength doesn't come from attending a church service or a weekly coffee group at the church.  Finding true strength for our faith is found in truly pursuing God. 

Our faith is not found in checking a box.  All these things we've come to do as a "Christian society" is a load of legalism.  We must seek to chase after who God is and become more like him.  Romans 8:29 tells us that we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus.  In Ephesians 4, we are called to live with "humility and gentleness...patience...bearing with one another in love...maintaining unity..." 

We must begin to live out the actuality of our Biblical command, our lives would be completely transformed.  We must be authentic in our relationships.  We must be intentional in our actions.  We must be Jesus.  

The Perfect Father

Father, Dad, Daddy.  That word can do many things to a person.  For some, like me, it brings up good memories of a father who was present and taught and loved.  For others, it may drudge up things you’d like to forget.  Even further, for some it may bring mixed emotions.  The thing about it is, all of us are somehow affected by that word.  

Interestingly enough, it’s not just a word.  It’s a title.  It’s a person.  It’s unique to everybody across the world.  Dare I say, it’s a calling.  

Fathers are special.  The word can bring to mind leadership.  For many of us, our father was the head of the household. The message and the motivation of the father was meaningful to the whole house.  For others, there was no father, no guidance.  For some others, he may have been there but not been much.  

I can’t help but picture two scenarios when I think about fathers.  Both of which, are first-hand experiences for me.  

First of all, let’s take a look at my father.  Taylor Reynolds.  If you know my dad, there’s so much that can be said about him.  He’s a great man.  He loves fully.  He’s dedicated.  He likes his crime shows.  He’s proud of his kids and grandkids.  He loves Jesus.  He’s talented.  The list could go on and on.  For me, he was and is there.  He’s encouraging and doesn’t take a whole lot of crap off anyone.  For those of us who know him real well, we know his favorite place is his chair and as the years go by, he loves that spot more and more.  All that to say, I am extremely blessed to have a father like him.  

Then I think about my son.  He’s almost 14 months old.  He’s been living with us since he was about 5 months old.  And notice, I said my son.  He’s our foster son, but he’s just as much my son as anybody.  I’m the only father he’s got (well leaving God out of the thought).  A couple of months ago, that hit me.  This kid has no earthly father, except me.  I’ve wrote about the privilege and honor of foster parenting, and it’s becoming more and more real to me.  He needs a father.  More than that he needs a dad.  I’m here to stand in the gap, God-willing forever!  

Not to mention how much my job affords me to be a father-figure.  That’s a post that could go on for days!

So, what does this have to do with anything?  Well, I see it this way.  Some of you are looking for a father.  Some of you want to know how to be a better father.  Some of you need to step and be a father.  Some of you need know how to inspire and encourage your husbands and boyfriends to be prepared to be a father.  The best answer to all those queries is to know that God is the perfect Father.  

Maybe you didn’t have a father.  Maybe you did and he wasn’t there.  Maybe you had a great father.  What we all have in common is, we still have a need for our perfect father.  As great as my earthly father is, he doesn’t measure up to God.  

God’s the perfect Father.  He’s never going to leave you (Deuteronomy 31:6).  His love lasts forever, despite what you do (Psalm 106:1; Romans 8:38-39).  He’s approachable (Hebrews 4:16).  Even though you may have done everything to ruin any chance at a relationship with Him, He STILL cares for you and wants a relationship with you (Romans 5:8).  

So all that to say, as fathers, let’s strive to be better!  As believers, let’s trust in our perfect Father.  He’s waiting for us to do that.  He’s longing for us to do that.  

What Motivates Us?

What motivates us?

What’s the motivation behind the decisions you make? Money? Recognition? Check off the box? Feeling? What drives you? What pushes you to do the things you’ve got to do? This is a question that, you’d think, could be easily answered.  And I submit to you that it probably is easy for any one of us to admit what the motivations behind the decisions we make are.  The decisions we make on a daily basis have one of these motivating factors.  

Here’s where I take this into an ESPN 30 for 30...

What if I told you, there’s a motivating factor that should be behind every decision we make, yet every decision we make is not always motivated by this factor?  Well, He’s not even a factor, He’s a Him.  He’s Jesus. 

 Jesus has to be the be all, end all of our lives.  There’s no in-between.  Paul writes about it a number of times, but most specifically in his letter to the Philippians.  

In chapter 3, Paul begins to give a little bit of a biography on himself.  He was a DUDE in ancient Israel.  He calls himself a “Hebrew of Hebrews” in verse 5.  Essentially telling us, “if anybody has a reason to think they’ve got it all figured out, it’s me.” Then, he takes all that and turns it in verses 7 and 8...

       “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...”

So what in the world?  This dude had it all and he gave it all away for some preacher? He was one of, if not the man, in Israel.  He had it made in the shade.  He had the world by the tail!  Yet, he walked away from it.  Considered it rubbish. Rubbish is a light word for what he called it.  The word he used in the Greek (skubala/skubalon/skybalon), meant refuse, waste, dung, or poop! Whatever!  The point is, everything aside from Christ is nothing.  

So what do I mean telling you that your job is nothing, your family is nothing, your pursuits are nothing? I mean that, it’s nothing y’all!  

Here’s the thing, nothing you have is worth anything without the Lord.  He MUST be your motivating factor!  There’s no substitute for Hum.  Your family doesn’t take that spot, your own life doesn’t, it’s Him and only Him! 

This relates to a conversation I had with my friend, Jacob, yesterday.  He mentioned the whole idea of our “priority list” being off.  We’ve all heard this before.  Jesus first, Family second...ya da ya da ya da. Right?  Jacob put it this way, “Jesus isn’t something we focus on and then move on from...Jesus is the focus IN it all.”  That’s a different thought to us, well those of us who are fully Americanized Christians.  The Jesus we serve, the real one, not the one we have made up in our brains and books and such, the real Jesus doesn’t want to be number one on our list, he wants to be THE list. 

Here’s how I see it.  Apart from Jesus, I don’t have the blessings in life that I have.  If you read back to some old posts, you’ll see that God’s timing brought Jenn and I together.  God’s timing brought us into the foster care system, which then brought us Mary-Faith.  Side-note: God’s timing has also brought us an amazing baby boy, we call him Bubba, you can too!  God’s timing brought me my job.  I could go on and on.  Why did all this happen to me? So that I could use it to spread the Gospel.  Each and every part of my life is a picture of God’s plan for me.  God’s plan for me and His plan for you is to further His kingdom.  That’s why we are here.  That’s why I am where I am.  To love on people.  To show them His love, love that doesn’t quit.  The circumstances of our lives serve the purpose of pointing us to Him.  In turn, we then, point others to Him. 

So what is our motivation?  The Glory of God. The furthering of the Kingdom.  Love.  That’s our motivation y’all.  Anything outside of that, is just a bunch of junk.