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.