Thanks for the break over the last few days my friends! I had great family time and even a long overdue date with my wife!
- Wow! 2012 was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde year for the Singletons! It was a year complete with some of the lowest lows and highest highs of our lives. And several scriptures became new life verses for me. One or two I am clinging to for the near future, a couple others have been answered already, and still more may take until heaven. That’s just all part of our time on this earth.
A few of the scriptures that I’m referring to I would love to share with you if you’ve got a minute. If not, come back later and meditate on them. They’re well worth it.
The first reminded me (upon entering one of the lowest valleys of my life) that we actually are NOT promised a life of ease as believers. Many teach and many more wrongly believe that the sign of a true Christian is threefold and always the same—perfect health, great wealth and unbelievable overall prosperity. But, if that’s true than Christianity’s founders (including Jesus) were miserable failures. God may bless that way, but I’ve found He blesses in a million other ways as well. And those three things are definitely not the holy trinity of blessings. Add to this that some believers I’ve known who seemed to have had the most to complain about are the most joyful of them all. I know they’re rich too! They’re just storing it up some place else.
No, Jesus also said the following about the life of the believer,
First, there’s Matthew 16:24,
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
First of all, that doesn’t sound very healthy. Second of all, there’s no money in it that I can see. You can’t sell gigantic crosses, and people generally try to avoid remembering what we did to the Son of God. No, carting crosses around for Jesus seems more likely to ruffle feathers than smooth them out. And finally, taking up one’s cross is a fickle business at best. If, perhaps cross carrying enters a season of being somewhat in vogue—like, perhaps the 1960’s Jesus Freak movement (although I’m pretty sure some of them were high on hallucinogens rather than Jesus)—then, well, enjoy your 15 minutes of comfort and idleness, but I wouldn’t count on it lasting forever. In the span of one week, thousands of people wanted to both, make Jesus their king, and kill Him. Talk about schizophrenic! No, true followers make an impact and most times that impact feels more like a collision to those who don’t know Jesus than a light, fluffy, touch! Honestly, there have been just as many times in my life where I’ve felt punched by an angel as touched by an angel!
Just saying.
Jesus also said this,
“You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:22
What?! To me, prosperity has always seemed at least somewhat related to popularity, but “hated by everyone?”
Been there too. Not really, but Satan loves to whisper that one in every believer’s ear.
So, like I said, there were a lot of valleys.
But there were mountain tops as well!
- Out of nowhere it seemed—God raised up this new movement of people known as, Impact Church, who seem more fired up and committed to the great commission and great commandment than I would have ever thought possible and the scripture that kept coming to mind is the same one my wife Michelle had printed on the inside of my wedding band,
Ephesians 3:20-21, “20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
Truly, who could have imagined this?
Only a couple months old—in 2 days of Christmas—Sunday and Christmas Eve—we had 650 people show up and 110 of them make decisions for Christ that will forever impact their lives for His glory!
- Still, my family and I were wondering how we were going to make ends meet with me out of work and Michelle having just opened her new practice and that consisting mostly of bills and little income at first. In short, we were in the biggest faith crises of our lives yet, at the perfect place to witness our miracle working God come through. And He did–big time! And the scriptures that kept coming to mind (and still do) are…
Philippians 4:19, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
And this,
Matthew 19:29, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
- So—those are just a few of the scriptures. Some are just between me and God—but I can tell you this much. He is faithful and true! But I bet you already knew that, huh?
- Oh, one more thing! My son and I did a triathlon this week. Yes, you heard that right. When it gets cold, triathlon options are few. There is one however, I try to get to each year—a YMCA indoor tri set each year for New Year’s Eve (daytime – just to clarify). I’ve done it 2 times before and my goal was to break an hour. It consists of a 600 yd. swim in the pool, 10 miles on stationary bike, 3.1 miles (5k) on the treadmill. It’s not as tough as the outdoor ones, but no piece of cake either.
Well, I broke my record in all three (swim, bike, run), 59:08 was my total time. So I’m pumped about that! I got second in my age group too but the real competition was between me and my son, who, alas, beat me by 8 seconds! And placed first in his age group! And he wasn’t feeling well! Once I saw that on the final results I felt like calling for a wheel chair and getting the names of a few good retirement homes for me to look into.
- Friends, 2013 will be what you make of it. Your heavenly Father already wants the best for you, but you can fight Him every step of the way or center your life around Him and find true joy! You decide. What kind of year is it going to be?