If Given The Same Choice...What Would You Do?

"Here you go," He said smiling.

"What is this?" I asked looking at what he'd just put into my hands.

"It's yours."

Confused, my eyes met his. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "It's yours. Do whatever you want with it."

I took another long look at the thing I held between my fingers. Questions started to fill my mind and I grew excited thinking about the possibilities. I thought about what this thing could become. I wondered how big it could get. I wondered what I'd do with it as it continued to grow?

Then my mind shifted. I began to wonder if I could handle the responsibility. What if I messed up? What if I failed? What if this and what if that? So many what-if questions swirled around inside my mind I nearly fell over dizzy.

"I...I can't take this" I said looking at the gift I'd been given and honestly still wondering about all the other potential possibilities. He didn't respond. I looked up expecting to see disappointment staring back at me, but I didn't.

He'd already walked away.

Finally, I took one final look at the tiny seed in my hand. I couldn't be sure why He put enough confidence in me to entrust me with one of His seeds, but He had.

I had one final decision to make. Plant the seed...or not.

What would you choose?

God entrusts us with seeds all the time. Sometimes the seed is an opportunity to share His word or teach a Bible study. Sometimes it's simply singing a song, offering a kind voice to a struggling friend. Other times God entrusts us to be pastors, evangelists, teachers, or other positions in the church. Regardless of position, social status, or any other qualifier, if you've been given a seed then God trusts you to take ownership and plant it. Some seeds will fall on good ground, some won't, but if the seed isn't planted the seed can never grow.

Dear Daughter (Father's Day 2021)

Dear Daughter, 

First, know that I love you beyond my words. I pray this is obvious by my actions, our late-night talks, and each early morning breakfast together. I pray you’re reminded of this each time I hold you tight and carry you to your bed at night. I pray each silly song we sing, and each note we play on our out-of-tune piano brings us closer together. 

I hope you hear my prayers and know I’m praying for you, your mother, our family, our church, our community, our country, and our world. Our prayers, including yours, are powerful. I hope I can be a teacher to show you the word of God, and explain how it changed my life, so you know how it can affect your life and the lives of those you influence. 

I hope I can shield you from some of life’s hurts, but when I can’t, I pray to always have the strength to hold you close and hold you tight when the pain becomes more than you can bear alone. 

I know you're strong. I know you're independent and I know you have your own path to forge in this life. I pray the road you take is full of both ups and downs, strength and weakness because without the lows you won’t fully appreciate the highs. I pray each time you fall, you rise up, rise above, and keep moving forward. You’re an amazing young lady. 

Second, I pray you know I’m not perfect. I fall, and I fail. I hope you see beyond each tired outburst, each time I’ve said “no,” without reason, and each time I’ve not been the dad I could have been. It’s not you, it’s me, and know that I’m trying each day to be a better dad than I was the day before. 

With much love, 

Dad

God See’s the Sparrow

They say he watches the sparrow, so maybe a sparrow never feels inadequate. Maybe the sparrow never feels defeated, as life consistently lands blow after blow leaving them bruised and hurt. As they soar high above, do they ever feel lost or do they have some kind of internal compass that keeps them from going in circles?

What is it about the Sparrow God sees?

There are days when we wake up ready to take on the day. We'll fight, we'll push, do whatever it takes to move forward, but when evening comes, we're exhausted. When we check our progress, we realize we've only moved inches, not yards, or feet, not miles. We're still in basically the same place.

What if we're doing it wrong?

We're trying to fight our battles alone. We're trying to swing our own punches when God is asking us to turn the other cheek. We're pushing forward so focused on the path we've set before our feet, We don’t see the door God already opened next to us.

Somehow, we've closed our eyes and our hearts to the scripture that says, “Seek Ye first the kingdom of God [Matt 6:33].” The goal shouldn’t be to press forward through the day, but instead to be like David. We should be still and know with confidence that He is God [Psalms 46:10]. We need to remember, if God doesn’t forget the sparrow [Luke 12:6], then he hasn't forgotten us. His word says he’s even numbered the hairs on our head [Luke 12:7].

Let’s press toward the mark for the high calling of God, but while doing so, let’s watch for the open door [Rev. 3:8] having enough courage to run through it [Joshua 1:9].

A sparrow may have an internal compass, they may not, but we need to let God be ours and trust he will direct our paths [Proverbs 3:6].

God knows exactly what he's doing.