On my last trip through the Book of Esther I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I knew the story well enough to know the major events and the theme of the book, namely that “…who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) If we live by faith, we believe God is guiding our steps and the destinies of men and nations. We also believe Esther was free to choose the path she would take, as the first half of verse 14 clearly says, if you don’t do it God will get it done another way, because His will be done. (Esther 4:14 and Matthew 6:10) We can also assume that if we are walking in faith with the intention of doing God’s will, that He will cover our mistakes, blunders, and failures, and He will see us to the end.
Although I wasn’t looking for anything in particular as I read Esther again, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking for anything. On the contrary, when I read the Bible, I’m always looking for something new: a new revelation, a new avenue, a new truth, a new lesson, and I found one in Esther. Check this out!
The Godless Book
Esther is commonly called the ‘godless book!’ What!?! Similarly, when people say that Jesus’ 12 disciples were riffraff and unworthy of their call, I completely disagree. The 12 disciples were devoted seekers of the Messiah. They knew the Torah and they loved God. Imperfect as they were, as we all are, they were worthy, and hand-picked by God to serve.
I understand why Esther is called the ‘godless book.’ It is because God is not mentioned in the book, and amazingly so, given the countless opportunities to mention Him and His hand in the story. One writer pointed out that the Jews were in a very dark place at the time Esther occurred. They were in exile for being rebellious, and their rebellion was severe; they had turned their backs on God in favor of idols and men. While this may have played a part, I believe the characteristics of the Book of Esther are intentional, as is the entire Bible, guided by God.
Look, He’s Right There!
The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is the fraction of the Trinity that displays God’s presence and divine intervention and protection for His people, the Jews, in the Book of Esther. I wonder if this isn’t part of the reason God chose to leave His name out of this book, so He could show us, and remind us, that His Spirit is always present and always at work. Even in the most godless of settings, the Holy Spirit cannot be kept out. He can show up and touch someone’s heart in that place of darkness, because the darkness has no power over Him.
I see the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the Book of Esther, beginning to end. The book begins with the queen rejecting the king, which was foolish and likely unheard of (but this is what was needed to put Esther into position), and it ends with the Jews earning providential favor from the king to destroy their enemies, who were the king’s own people. If the events at the beginning and the events at the end don’t have you scratching your head and wondering how these things could have come to be, then you are missing the divine intervention, which is present throughout the book.
These are afterthoughts for me though. The part of the story that spoke to me, the part that inspired this writing, took place right in the middle. It came right at the heart of the story, when everything was heating up and ready to explode, that is where I saw God’s whisper. After Esther had approached the king for the first time, when she unexplainably (there it is again) failed to discuss the situation with Haman and her people, she had essentially signed Mordecai’s death sentence. That very day Haman received counsel from his wife and friends that resulted in the building of the gallows that would hang Mordecai the next morning. At this point, Esther had failed her uncle.
Do you know that your failures, your hesitations, your imperfections cannot thwart the plans of God?
It takes the Bible to understand the Bible. What I mean is you have to read the whole thing to understand it in parts. You can’t read the Book of Esther by itself and find God without reading the rest of the Bible. You can’t read the New Testament and understand the significance of Jesus’ arrival to the disciples (among many other things) without reading the Old Testament. As I read Esther, I was also reading Proverbs, and I didn’t just happen to be near Proverbs 21, I was led there.
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
This is where God showed His presence to me in the Book of Esther. After Esther procrastinates, leaving the door open for Haman to hang her uncle, watch what the Lord does; He covers for her. In the middle of the night, while Haman was out building the gallows, the king is robbed of his sleep. He asks for the chronicles of the kingdom to be read to him, and who should appear in the reading? Mordecai! My friends, if you believe in coincidences then you need to do a health check on your faith. As a result, Haman parades his enemy around on the king’s horse, dressed in the king’s robe, wearing the king’s royal crest, in place of hanging him from the gallows.
Proverbs 21:1 is revealed to us as a powerful testimony that God stands firm on His word. The events of that night are verbatim with what this proverb says, that God is in control, it is He who holds the heart of the king in His hand, it is He who has the power, and it is He who directs the steps of even the most powerful and hard-hearted men into His will. The Book of Esther is a testimony of how God can take any situation, any mistake, any hesitation, and any person and have His will done.
Key Points
My friends, this is what I want to leave you with:
If you feel it is too late for you to come onto the path God has for you, it most certainly is not! You must refuse to believe that the Almighty, all-powerful God, is limited by our weaknesses and imperfections. He can take you wherever you are and put you right where He intended you to be, right where He needs you, regardless of your doubt and delay, if, as it says 3 times in Joshua 1, you can “be strong and of good courage!”
Never make doctrinal or theological decisions or conclusions based on a single verse or chapter of the Bible. The Bible is a living book, one that guides and speaks to you. Its truths are concrete, and its revelations run deep. Absorb the whole thing and never, ever, stop reading it.
You are never alone, no matter how distant you feel from God, and these days, how distant you feel from the people around you. The Holy Spirit is always with you, always. He doesn’t pester you or push you, but He is there when you need Him and when you look for Him. Call on Him, talk to Him, just like you talk to the Father and to Jesus. He loves you and He is for you.
Never assume you’ve gotten all your going to get out of certain book or passage in the Bible. When most people think about Esther, they think about being in the place God put you in and doing what He intends for you to do. But is there not so much more in this book? So much more revelation, some of which we discussed in the paragraphs above? Keep searching, reading, and digging deeper with God. There will always be more because it is impossible for us to have it all this side of heaven, and that is a beautiful thing.
Esther 4
14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Matthew 6
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Proverbs 21
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Every New Year’s Eve our family sits down and watches a slideshow of pictures and videos from the closing year. It has become a beloved family tradition, the kids even start asking me about the presentation a month or two in advance, making sure its production had already started. Next year I vow to start that production process before December 29th!
As we watch this video together, usually late on New Year’s Eve, we are reminded of the good and happy times we shared as a family, the people we shared them with, the trips we took, and the memories that have the potential to last a lifetime. But this year, more than any other, I looked back onto with a heavy heart. As I meditated on that, I realized how foolish I was being, because the few negative events that I allowed to define 2021 had overshadowed, even buried, the abundance of good that I and my family experienced. Let me explain.
The Bad Things
In February of 2021, our son was involved in a bad sledding accident. He was seriously injured and had to be flown to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for immediate brain surgery. His skull was badly fractured. All glory to God, he was operated on immediately, was home six days later, and has had a complete recovery. I continue to express my thankfulness to the skilled and disciplined surgeons who played a vital role in saving my son’s life. We were more than overjoyed to have him back home, but the lingering effects of that trauma infected my wife and I long after our son and daughter had moved on from it. We suffered, we were sad regardless of the miracles we witnessed, and we were questioning ourselves.
One morning in July I arrived early to the office. My neighbor had called me asking if I’d seen her boyfriend, who had been living with her for the past three years. They are both in their sixties, he was retired, and she was up north visiting her mother. The day before some people came to that house to meet with this man, who was my friend, but he was not there. Knowing something was wrong I went over to take a look around. I went into the house, honestly assuming he had a heart attack, but he was not there. Then I walked the property. Looking ahead I saw an image that did not register in my mind at first. As I got closer, I could see that my friend had tipped his zero-turn lawn mower over into their small fishing pond and drowned. I won’t describe the scene.
In August I had some serious arguments with others in my business over a sister company I had created six years earlier. The services provided by this company were successful, and the struggles of the first three years had paid off, but everyone in the company rebelled against it. They didn’t want to do that type of work. I decided to close that company, regardless of the financial ignorance of the move. I felt betrayed and abandoned by everyone in my company.
Then in November I experienced another betrayal, a bad one. It still hurts today. I won’t discuss that one.
I’m not writing all this for sympathy, but the stories need to be told so I can show you how a handful of negative occurrences can define our lives, and we don’t think we have a choice in the matter. When I looked back on 2021 those events were what I saw, and they were all I saw. I saw tragedy, guilt, pain, death, loss, and betrayal. I was down when New Year’s approached, and I was anxious for it to end. I admitted there were good things that happened in 2021, our epic family vacation to the National Parks in the west for example, but they did nothing to chip away at that mountain of loss and pain that dominated the horizon we had left behind us. As the New Year approached, knowing I would have to face my family and honestly tell them how I viewed 2021, I was forced to take a hard look at it, and I’m glad I was led to do so.
Reflections on 2021
The Good Things
First, I looked into 2021 for anything that was good, not good, but great, that was outside of the joys of any particular day. Our family vacation took the top spot, hands down. After our son’s accident we were unsure if we’d be able to take this trip we had planned. It was early into his recovery when my wife and I decided to just go for it, if nothing else as a celebration of our son’s life. If we were only to see the Grand Canyon and Yosemite and the Sequoias from the car, then so be it. When we left he was still on restrictions from jumping around while the skull fracture healed, and it was difficult to comply to that, but we experienced a family vacation that lacked in nothing. The trip even took us four days longer than scheduled, and since I’m self-employed and the Lord led us to homeschool our kids in this season, it was no problem to joyfully extend our trip. We didn’t want it to end!
When we got home one of the next projects that highlighted the year was the publishing of my website and blog, www.SingWriteRead.com, which included creating 12 blog posts. This was the culmination of a vision that took over a year to realize. It is a blog type website that promotes blog posts, song lyrics, other writings, and links to my YouTube channel where you can find recordings of most of my songs.
Speaking of YouTube, 2021 is the year I started my most cherished playlist on the channel, “Inside the Ink.” This is an ongoing project where I give a brief narrative of the song and how it was written. I love this project. It allows me to take our viewers inside the songwriting process, or to dissect the lyrics, or to point out important biblical truths in the songs.
In late 2021 I was able to complete my second unpublished book, “A Light in the Darkness,” which is the sequel to the first one written in 2020 (if you have advice on how to confidently publish a book, let me know). A trilogy is planned to complete the series, and God willing it will be written in 2022!
I was also able to write 8 new songs last year. While 8 in a year is the lowest output I’ve experienced since I started writing again in late 2017, I look back on these songs and really dig all of them. Some I have already shared on YouTube.
Last year I replaced our Facebook Live Worship Sessions of 2020 with live performances at the Victory Dream Center food pantry on Sunday afternoons. This was an answer to prayer and the guidance of God. I longed with love in my heart to play these songs for the hurting people around us, and God delivered. I played for the people in the food pantry line for most Sunday’s last year and gave away many copies of my CD, “The Tragedy of Complexity” in the process. What a blessing.
By years end, that sister company I decided to scrap because of the rejection of my co-workers, we ended up selling it, and God confirmed the move both before the decision and after!
Also in 2021, our son and our daughter are healthy and happy, the coronavirus pandemic has not troubled our family too much, we have not lost anybody close to us due to sickness like countless others have (on that premise alone we can only be thankful as so many around us have experience excruciating loss of sometimes multiple family members and friends).
The Conclusion
Even now, when I read that list of positive events and creative output, I marvel at how I could have ever thought negatively about 2021. After all, our son survived, we sold part of our company, we created a lot of material for the Kingdom of God, as a family we grew closer to God; it just blows my mind how blessed we have been. As I dissected the reasoning behind my negative outlook, this is what I found:
The bad things do not need longevity to become monumental
When we accomplish something great, how long will we be satisfied with that accomplishment if nobody values or recognizes it? Not very long. We thrive on positive affirmation. Negative experiences, on the other hand, hurt, and hurt can be impacting. It doesn’t matter if the lingering effects of the event last for months or for minutes, you’re going to remember that pain if it was significant. Nobody has to acknowledge the hurt you experienced for you to remember it, to dwell on it, or even to allow it to define you. It is true someone may need to acknowledge it for you to heal from it, but let’s face it, it is hard to heal from bad experiences.
As a result, all the negative things we’ve experienced over the last year stand front and center in our memories, and if we are not careful, they can define who we are, how we speak, and what we think. They can affect relationships, your health, even the core of who you are, your personality. They can do damage to your relationship with God. A negative outlook is like a cancer to the emotions, degrading your vibe until it withers and wastes away.
Be intentional about the good in your life
I have come to the conclusion that we must intentionally look for the good, the positive, and the great things that we experience and accomplish, and allow them to define our lives. Otherwise, without this intentional focus, the negative will darken the noon-day sky. Being defined by first our faith, joy, and security in God, and then by contentment and a positive outlook, will likely produce dramatic change in most of our lives, if we just choose to focus on it. I say choose for a reason. There are many things we think just happen to us that are out of our control, but in reality, we choose them. We choose, based on what we can clearly see and by what is written on our hearts, to believe in God. We choose to believe by faith that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God. We choose to love our spouse and our kids when we don’t “feel” like it. Yes, you choose to love! Then why should it be unreasonable to choose to focus on the good in our lives? It’s not.
Bury the bad
How do you bury the bad? You forgive. Sometimes that means you need to forgive yourself, like I had to do after my son got hurt. Other times it is forgiving another person, or God, or even someone who may no longer be with us. Forgiveness is a requirement of the Christian life, and books have been written on what that looks like from a believer’s perspective. Again, it is something we choose to do, something we give to God, and being the loving Father that He is, He takes the burden from us. Forgiveness is potentially the most liberating act we can participate in. Carrying unforgiveness causes hate, bitterness, and sorrow, and this keeps the negative and bad memories of our past front and center in our lives.
You also bury the bad by putting everything under the supreme management team, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. If your business, or passion, or life’s work collapses in shambles, give that to God and let Him make you into something great, like the phoenix rising out of the ashes. If you have a deep hurt or betrayal, turn to God for healing and peace, for He gives peace that transcends human understanding or ability. If you’re not getting the recognition you deserve, give that to God and let Him have the praise for it (ask yourself, who do you serve and who do you work for? The praise and glory of God, or the praise and glory of men?)
We must change the way we tell our story
Finally, the next time someone asks you about your life, pause before you answer. Consider what you are going to say. If you are tempted, like I almost always am, to point out all the challenges you’ve had over the past month, focus on a few of the good things that have happened and start with those items. By changing the way we tell our story we are not denying the existence of the problems we face, rather we are choosing not to let them define us, our responses, and our actions. There is a time and a place and a person to vent the negatives too, but start off with the good, you and your Lord will shine brighter for it.
I write this because I am guilty of it, and I pray that God will help me change the way I respond to and view life. It has caused me to see myself as a negative person, and I don’t like it, neither does anyone else. I want to change who I am, and I want to change how I serve God, with a joyful and grateful heart. I want to be more like Jesus. Lord, please help me.
Romans 12
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I recently went down to Mayfield, Kentucky for two days to volunteer, hoping to help the tornado destroyed city and its residents anyway I could. Having a forestry background, I packed my chainsaw and the necessary personal protective gear into the trunk of my car. I realized I would probably be required to do something other than running a chainsaw, but I wanted to be prepared to offer the only skill I had become really good at, just in case it was needed. Driving into Mayfield at seven o’clock in the morning I missed the turn that would take me to the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters, which is the organization I signed up to volunteer with. By missing the turn, I ended up driving straight into downtown. I cried. That overwhelming feeling of sorrow stayed with me for much of the morning, and I wondered what I could do to help the victims of this storm to make it through, or how I could help them cling to God after unimaginable loss and sorrow. The answer was, more or less, nothing. Not because there was nothing to be done, it was because of the word “I.”
Mayfield First United Methodist Church in Mayfield, KY
Mercy Health Hospital in Mayfield, KY
What can be worse than loss of life and possessions?
I think my greatest source of sorrow when disaster strikes a town, or a family, or an individual, is considering how the victims of the tragedy will react towards God. You have to admit that if a person believes in God or not, almost everyone who experiences something like this will talk to God in one way or another; either to seek Him for His comfort, or to curse Him for His apathy. Disaster and pain have a tendency to make temporal believers out of all of us. Do you know why that is? It is because the truth is written on all of our hearts, but our selfish bodies, along with the distractions of life, are really good at ignoring it. Then we realize we have no control and no guarantees, and through our fear we see Him clearly. Some of us through the lens of hope, others through a filter of anger, hate, and shame. The shame comes from knowing we have denied Him all this time, denied what we knew to be true, but now we feel it is too late, and that we can’t give in now, forced into submission by tragedy and sorrow. No, we will wait for a time when we can consider it, Him, on our own terms.
Yes, my greatest sorrow in times and places like these is that those who do not know God will have gathered more ammunition to use against God, to reject His existence. While others who do believe in Him will become angry and bitter, and eventually turning their backs on Him, leaving their faith behind. Does it take a strong Christian to turn to God in praise and thanksgiving in times of loss? I don’t think so and I hope not. Who are we to say how the Holy Spirit can move in someone’s heart in any given situation? While those who are stronger in faith will likely turn to God, some will not. Likewise, some who have been far away may find themselves looking towards Him for the healing and the hope that is only found in Him, some for the first time.
Why go?
You may be asking, as I did when I arrived, if I knew there was nothing I could do to make any difference in Mayfield, then why did I go? First and foremost, the Holy Spirit guided me to. The longing I had to be there alongside suffering brothers and sisters was irresistible and only explainable through the continual sensitizing of my heart by the Holy Spirit. Those are His tears that come so easily anymore, from the eyes of a man who refused to cry for anything, not to mention the fate of distant strangers. Then everything from the radio announcement, registration with Samaritan’s Purse, having the time to go, getting a negative Covid test, to finding the last hotel room in town after the first night, was all guided and gifted by God. That was the motivation, but what of the reason? That would be revealed while I was there.
Going into a disaster area by yourself, to work with a humble heart that is full of love, will provide little more than free labor and accomplish little more than removing one grain of sand from a hurting community’s sand box. Driving into town with a food truck and serving free meals to one hundred people a day is a great thing to do and demonstrates beautifully the ability of the human heart to love. It takes the stress and worry from immediate needs, but the endurance of that hope only lasts until the time of the next meal. If I were to walk into town and start knocking on doors and asking if I could pray for the people inside, or if I stood on the street corner and prayed over the community night and day, angles in heaven would rejoice but the people would not be physically served. (See James 2:14-17).
When I joined my group at Samaritan’s Purse, I put on that orange t-shirt and joined 15 to 20 other people. As the day passed, I watched crew members pray for homeowners, one even wept as she revealed she had lost a family member on 7th St. I saw the Salvation Army drive in and give meals to our crew and to hungry people. I saw chaplains from the Billy Graham Association talk to, pray with, and give Bible’s to the homeowner’s we served. I was informed that one homeowner we served accepted Jesus Christ into his life. The night of the storm his girlfriend called him and asked him to come home from his job at the Mayfield Candle Factory, which he did, right before 9 people died there. Something was stirring in his heart and eight days later he accepted Jesus when a couple of chaplains talked to him as we cleared his backyard of a fallen tree.
Giving the Bible to a Homeowner
Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Response Vehicle (DRV)
As I worked, dragging limbs and cutting with a chainsaw, I looked at all these wonderful things happening around me, and I realized that nothing would be different if I was not there. The other 15 people would get the brush cut and moved, the food would have been served, Bible’s delivered, prayers given, and salvation witnessed. And this is where I learned what my purpose was in Mayfield, Kentucky. It is a purpose that we all can fill, one that we all must aspire too. It was to simply strengthen the body of Jesus Christ. What a beautiful revelation that was. (See 1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
You see, when we all put those orange safety shirts on, the one’s that say, “Serving in Jesus’ Name,” we are visibly and actively showing people that faith is real and that God is working on their behalf through His body, the church. That’s right, the church, for while not one of us worship in the same building, together we are the church. This is where you see a difference. It is visible and it is in action. It is bold in its faith and unashamed of Jesus Christ. It serves the people under only one banner, the banner of the Holy God. It is serving in missions in your back yard.
The Hope of God
My prayer for the people in Mayfield, Edwardsville, Bowling Green, and the other communities effected by this disaster, and disasters past, is that no one, not even one, will fall away. My prayer is that the devil loses completely and that no one is lost due to these disasters, rather many more are saved and find their way to the hope and the comfort that is found in God the Father. My wife said it beautifully when she wrote about my trip. She said, “Mayfield, a place where people lost everything, and once again nature showed us how vulnerable life is. We give thanks for God’s faithfulness in the midst of chaos, pain, and death. If you feel lost and crumbled, THERE IS HOPE!”
Like me she is longing for the lost and crumbled to find their hope in God. She is pointing out that God’s faithfulness is being demonstrated by His body, His army of believers that descended onto Mayfield in the wake of the storm to stand with, pray for, and help their brothers and sisters in any way they could. Because all of us, no matter what you call yourself, are brothers and sisters. We all come from the same place, we all struggle the same struggles, and we all possess hearts that continually resist darkness, selfishness, and sin. We are all the same in the eyes of God, not one is better than the other. Remember that when you are tempted to judge the faults of another. Remember that God’s love for that person is just as strong as it is for you. And there lies the beauty of faith in Jesus Christ. He came for and He died for all of us! Your past, your social status, your religious background, your bank account, are all inconsequential. He will accept you. He will! I am 100% confident of that. And He will comfort you in your pain. He can touch your heart and give you a peace that you can’t understand. He may comfort the hurting through those who are encouraging. He provides for those in need via those who have plenty.
I have a personal testimony regarding this, and I’ve written about it here and there. When our son was seriously injured we turned to God and praised Him in the darkness. Our hearts cried out, but we chose to praise Him in our pain. He gave us peace in our hearts during those early and uncertain moments. He physically prepared our son’s body for surgery. He provided a skillful surgeon to operate on my son. He came through in a mighty, powerful, and miraculous way. Of course, we give thanks and praise to those wonderful doctors at Children’s Hospital, but not the glory. All the glory, all of it, goes to God!
Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to reach out if you are hurting, confused, or lost. Contact me or go to a pastor of a Bible teaching, God fearing church. In parting I leave you with the verse from 1 Kings 19 below. The winds may have destroyed Mayfield and taken the lives of our loved ones. The fire may destroy our forests and towns in the west. Earthquakes can strike us with unimaginable fear. But when the storm passes, we will find God in the stillness of our hearts. He is there to keep you and guide you as we rebuild, say goodbye, and lament. He is with you.
With love,
Chris
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
James 2:14-17
14Suppose a person claims to have faith but doesn’t act on their faith. My brothers and sisters, can this kind of faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister has no clothes or food. 16Suppose one of you says to them, “Go. I hope everything turns out fine for you. Keep warm. Eat well.” And suppose you do nothing about what they really need. Then what good have you done? 17It is the same with faith. If it doesn’t cause us to do something, it’s dead.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.
15Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 16And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? 18God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. 19If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? 20 As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.
21 The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. 23 The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. 24 The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. 25 In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.
27You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.
Have you ever received a gift that you cherished? Maybe it was the best gift you received for your birthday a certain year, or it was given by someone you admired or respected. Then you returned it, and you didn’t even get a refund. Could you imagine doing that? That is exactly what I almost did with a gift that God had given to me one summer day in Athens, Ohio. I learned a great lesson that day, what we Christians like to call, “revelation.”
“Hi, my name is Chris, and I’m an alcoholic.” I have not been to an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting, but being a persistent drinker is where this story begins. I didn’t drink because I liked the taste, although I did like the taste. I drank to feel something. Sometimes I drank to feel nothing. Either way, I drank to get drunk. One day, after drinking with a purpose for several days, I realized that I had succeeded, even if only for a short while, in drinking my troubles away. My rocky marriage, business stress, a baby in the house, working on a Master’s, but mostly it was the rocky marriage that I was escaping. One day I realized that I hadn’t thought about any of those things for at least a day in a half. I had done it! I had done what they said could not be done, I had drank my problems away. But there they were, approaching at great speed and ready for rendezvous in about thirty seconds. It turns out I did not succeed, but that moment was eye opening because it reflected to me what I had become in my house.
Another day I was driving to scout a project in Missouri, it was ten in the morning. I heard a beer bottle rattle beneath my seat and when I reached under, I found two full bottles of beer. I drank them both, and probably got a six pack for the drive home that night.
I started drinking at a very young age, at twelve or thirteen, and since high school alcohol came to define a large part of who I was. When I came to the end of myself in my early 30’s and accepted Jesus Christ as the Son of God and my Savior, I admitted to Him more than once, that I was aware He would require me to carry this burden for the rest of my days. By reading the narrations above you can see that escape was unlikely, freedom impossible. I knew I was destined to fight with my wife over it, to continually disappoint her, to occasionally embarrass my kids, eventually get a DUI and enter financial distress, and I’d never be able to quit. I accepted it, and I let God know as much. I didn’t expect anything of Him, I didn’t deserve it.
I am so thankful I serve the God of miracles!
One day at church, in June of 2016, I asked my pastor for prayer. He told me to go home and make a list of all the things I needed to forgive my father for, and to do it today. I thought that was an odd request, since it had nothing to do with what I asked him to pray for. I didn’t make that list that day, but it stayed on my heart, and I decided to be obedient to the request. What could it hurt? About a week later I sat in my car, it was late at night, and I got out my computer and I made that list. It took about ten minutes, and I included both parents in it. I closed my computer and that was the end of it, I didn’t even show it to my pastor or tell him I had done the assignment. I don’t know how many days had passed, but it wasn’t many (I like to think it was the third day). I woke up one morning and it was as clear in my mind as is my own name, I was freed from alcohol addiction. I can’t explain how or why I knew, I just knew that it no longer defined who I was, it no longer had any power over me. I didn’t ask God for it, I didn’t pray about it (except for in the negative), and I didn’t expect it, but it happened.
A year later, in the spring of 2017, I found myself scouting a project for the Wayne National Forest in Athens, Ohio. Athens is a small college town with a nice campus and a “strip” that houses shopping, restaurants, and bars. It was a beautiful sunny day when I arrived, and saving the field work for the next day, I explored the town and ended up walking the strip. As I walked the sun was shining brightly on a brick wall across the street, and in that brick wall was an open door, and in the open door was blackness. It was literally a black rectangle in a brick wall. Music, laughter, talking, and the clinks of glasses could be heard as they leaked out into the street. I contemplated my new freedom from alcohol, and I concluded that last year that black hole in the wall would have been my first stop, and possibly my only stop, before I stumbled out and went back to my hotel room. Instead, I enjoyed a nice walk, saw the sites, and ended up in a restaurant that grew its own vegetables. This restaurant also produced its own line of craft beers, about 40 of them! I received a menu and the waitress said she’d be right back. I picked out a dish for dinner and then contemplated the rows of tappers on the walls. I wondered if it would hurt is I had one glass of beer. I had everything under control, a freed man from the grips of alcohol, so surely, I could enjoy the taste of one beer. Then I thought better of it, and leaned towards a sampler, what is called a flight. Then I could taste more than one kind and still have the equivalent of one beer. Ready to order, and pleased with my ability to enjoy these drinks, thanks to the freedom I received a year earlier, I waited for the waitress to come back. She didn’t come. I waited. I thought. She didn’t come. I waited. I thought. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. He said, “Chris, if you want to give back to Me the gift I gave to you, then that is your choice.” The waitress came. I ordered water.
Do you see how easy it is, even unknowingly, to return or reject a gift or a blessing the Lord has given to us? If I had taken those drinks that day, isn’t it possible that I would have lost the protection of that miracle I received a year earlier? A miracle, mind you, that affected my life so profoundly that I was walking down a sidewalk a year later contemplating how it had radically changed my life! I was minutes away from returning that gift to God!
What does God say in His word?
Maybe you haven’t returned a gift from God, but have you set one aside, or put one on a shelf for a little while? Then it is time to pick it back up, dust it off, and reclaim it. James 1:17 tells us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” That tells me if God gave you a gift, He gave it to you for a reason, and that reason still stands because God does not second guess the gifts He gives to you. It is still there, you can take it back, even if the world has deceived you away from it, or even taken it away from you. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that another gift from God is that we have been saved through faith, by grace. It is not our own doing. You have an abundance of grace available to you, and it is full of love which will cover a multitude of sins. The world, your mistakes, even your rebellion, can’t take you away from God, because by grace you have been saved through faith. I know you still have that faith.
Finally, God gave us the greatest gift in the history of the world. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He did not send His Son to condemn you, He sent Jesus to save you, to give you life that you may have it in abundance on this side of heaven. I can testify that I am a free man today, only because I have Jesus Christ in my heart. If you have forgotten Jesus, or have not yet considered Him, now is the time to return and now is the time to seek. Do not wait. You are only putting off the greatest journey of your life.
Believe. Taste and see. Search your heart for what is already there.
Have you ever seen a miracle? Have you witnessed a miracle either in your own life or in the life of another? It can be anything: A life altering event that couldn’t have happened in the natural, or a coincidence that you were certain was not, or even the miracle of perfection in the tiny flower we call the Virginia spring beauty.
First, let’s define what a miracle is. The most common definition of a miracle is “an event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, and it therefore considered the work of a divine agency.” Other definitions water it down to “a highly improbable event, which brings pleasant consequences.” Followed by an even less thrilling definition of an “amazing achievement.” Look at the progression of those three definitions. What do you see? I see a methodic retreat from anything related to God to the point where He is completely taken out of the picture, a retreat that ends with a glorification of SELF. Do you see it?
The miracles we experience, when we tell them to a skeptical and an unbelieving culture, are unmercifully stolen from us. Chance meetings with people who are on our hearts are passed off as coincidence. Unexplained healings become mistakes made at the hospital. A time saving parking space is random luck. The perfection seen in creation is called “evolution.”
Let me tell you a story, the one that put this writing on my heart. My son suffered a head injury in 2021. At the hospital he was conscious and talking to me. The cat-scan revealed a skull fracture and blood on his brain. As time passed, he stopped talking, he stared blankly at the ceiling, and his hands were frozen in the air. I asked the doctor what was wrong with him. He said there is fluid on his brain and his brain is swelling, his condition is deteriorating, and he needs to get to surgery immediately. My wife and I prayed. We prayed to God, declaring that He is the Creator and Healer. We asked God to intervene and to back the fluid off his brain and to take away the swelling. We asked Him to restore our son, completely. As I drove alone to St. Louis the report from the hospital when the helicopter landed was that our son was in surgery, and the first step was to see if there was any swelling or fluid on the brain. If there was, they would have to stabilize him and wait for the swelling to go down, this could take days. If there wasn’t then they would perform the surgery immediately. We prayed the same prayer. “You, God, are the Creator, and the Healer. You can reverse the fluids and the swelling. We love and praise You, God. Our faith is in You.” In the natural the surgery would be postponed until the fluids were drained away and the swelling went down, but we don’t live by the natural. We live by the spiritual. The next phone call told me they were doing the surgery now, my wife was giving her consent, there was no swelling! Amen! He is with us, right now in this situation. He is with our son, and we knew right then and there that our son would be brought through this by the mighty and loving hand of God Himself!
When I started telling this story to friends and family, I didn’t receive the soul saving response I had hoped for, even naively expected. The responses I heard were, “You can’t really see what’s going on just from a cat-scan.” “That’s why you always get a second opinion.” “The first doctor wasn’t a neuro specialist. He wouldn’t know.” I heard this so much, and I am ashamed to say, I started to believe it. Sure, the people in our church claimed it was a miracle, but I wondered if they just weren’t repeating the same words they always used in situations like this, and I wondered if the majority was right.
I struggled with this for weeks, until our son received a letter in the mail. It was from April Irons, a woman from our church. I don’t remember all April said in that letter, but at the end of it she wrote with boldness, surety, faith and simplicity, “This was a miracle!” That is when the revelation came, when God spoke. It was then that I knew the world had succeeded in softening my faith, in diluting it a little. In that moment I realized that if I was going to have this miracle then I needed to keep it, I needed to claim it and hold onto it. I needed to declare it with total faith. I needed to decide if I was going to believe it or not. From that day on I haven’t doubted the miracle that took place on the cold February night. The one where God Almighty laid His hands on my boy and personally prepared him for surgery. I repented and asked God to forgive my unbelief, I was so ashamed of myself. But remember this, every time you come through a trial of faith you come out a stronger Christian then when you went in. You come out with more heavenly knowledge, a greater realization of your need for grace, and a closer bond with your heavenly Father. Despair becomes delight, when it brings you to His feet.
Remember the Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his beloved servant in Matthew 8? Or the synagogue leader whose daughter was raised from the dead in Mark 5? How about the woman who was healed from a twelve-year illness when she touched Jesus’ cloak in the same chapter of Mark? Can you imagine anyone saying these things to them? “Your servant as sick for a long time. It is only natural he has finally recovered.” Or “Someone made a mistake; the girl was not dead after all. You should have asked a professional to look at her.” Or “What a coincidence, your twelve-year illness has vanished. Maybe when you were pushed down in that large crowd it fixed something inside you!” These are miracles performed by Jesus Christ, in real time, and I would have to assume that there were people who made these statements.
So, I encourage you, hold on to the miracles you know you have received or witnessed. The world will deny them, just like it denies Jesus Christ, just like it denies God Almighty. Remember who you are, a son or daughter of God. Remember what you battle, powers and principalities. Remember what you have, the Word of God.
Also know that by the Spirit of God you must discern what you are to share, with whom, and when. By no means are you meant to run around and tell everyone you meet about all the miracles God has done in your life. Look at Luke 2:19 and Luke 2:51, and see what Mary, the mother of Jesus, did as she witnessed the miracles of her Son’s upbringing. She kept them in her heart and pondered over them. She kept them to herself. It is good to keep these things for yourself and to yourself. If you run into the Monday morning meeting week after week and jubilantly tell your co-workers that God prepared a strategic parking space for you because you were running late, you will not be advancing the Kingdom on earth. Be humble and treasure what God has given you. Read about Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:12-19. He showed off all that God had blessed him with, and he was not considered righteous for it.
But in all seriousness about that great parking space you just scored when you were in a hurry, you need to decide if you’re going to recognize God’s hand in that or not. Many people are quick to say, “All for His glory,” but do they really mean it? Do you really mean it? We can easily give God the glory for surviving a car accident, but if you’re going to give Him “all” the glory, then He gets credit for your parking space too.
Luke 2:19
19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:49-52
49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
50 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.
51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Mark 10:27
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Jeremiah 32:27
27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
We all have scars. They can come in many forms, not only the visible remembrances of an injury or a surgery. Other scars are emotional, unseen wounds, that even when explained appear too minor to be considered tragic. A scar can be a tattoo permanently drawn into your skin, a hole created by a piercing, or signs of early aging from long-term substance abuse. Some are regrets that we carry, memories of actions that we would take back if only we could, regrets of pain we have caused others. Forgiveness we desire from those who will not be able to give it on their own accord. The pains of a former life lived in drug addiction or abuse.
The tragedy of our scars is not what they represent about our past, but what they can do to our future. Too many of us have allowed our scars, our past, to define who we are today, and where we will go tomorrow. We have allowed our scars to tell us that we don’t belong here or there, that we can’t do this or that, or we will never be anything else. They tell us that we have already determined our fate in life, and that there is no going back, that scars remain forever. We have let our past, our scars, define who we are.
Like the smell of a skunk’s spray weeks after the unfortunate encounter, it is true that our scars can linger, they can stay with us. Even when we are in the midst of a time of peace and joy, the past can sneak up on us in the most unlikely places and methods, reminding us of who we are, telling us we will never escape the reality we created in years past. But that is a lie, because the past is nothing, it is gone. Below are some Biblical ways to overcome the past and discover a new path forward.
Do not let your scars keep you from seeking, finding, and keeping God in your heart.
God loves you. Yes, you! He loves you in the same way He loves me, just as much as He loves the little old lady from church who prays to Him every day. Believe that, because it is true. You may not have accepted Him, but He is waiting for you. Do not think for a moment that you couldn’t possibly turn to God, for any reason. Maybe you think the people around you would not agree, or the tattoos you have are evil, or your job is in a sinful industry. That is not your concern when it comes to you and God. These things are of the world, and when you hear people say to “come as you are,” that is exactly what it means. You don’t have to change anything in your life to kneel down and pray to God for the first time. He understands where you are, where you came from, and why. Jesus Christ walked the earth, and one of the reasons He did so was to ensure us that He is sympathetic to our struggle in this world, a struggle that has put us all in the same boat. Rich or poor, black or white, east or west, we are all sinners of equal magnitude in His sight. What is required of you is that you seek Him, and He will guide you into a relationship with Him, a relationship that will change your life.
Do not let your scars continue to define who you are today
Regret is a powerful and potentially life changing emotion. In the feeling of regret we know we have done wrong, we know we would not want to do it again, and we know we want to change. Does not regret call us to change? But so often we regress back to where we were before the regret, to try it again, hoping for a different, better, more acceptable outcome. Tomorrow is a new day, and yesterday is gone forever. The Bible tells us all we have is this day, this moment. Use it, right now, to start change in your life.
Remove from your life those things, or people, that encourage your embracing of the past
This is true for most of us who have experienced addiction. If we continue to surround ourselves with the same people who enable us to continue using alcohol, drugs, or sex, then we can not escape the hold it has on us. I know people who have left town, literally moved, in order to get clean. Our environments, acquaintances, and routines can discourage change, even if we are in toxic situations. We find we can not escape, it just won’t let us. It is hard to move on, to reject relationships with others who do not see the errors of their ways. Many times they are in as much pain as we are, and we bring comfort to each other through our toxic behavior. But it is a reality we must face, and a difficult decision we must take. In the end, both parties could be saved, but someone has to have the courage to act first, regardless of the pain it may cause.
A child does not let the use diapers in the past determine how they use the bathroom in the future
You were young once. Inexperienced, under the influence of others (others who may not have been godly, nonetheless kind), looking for adventure, pushing limits, learning, discovering, and making mistakes along the way. It’s OK, it is called life. But we grow, do we not? We gain experience and knowledge. The very essence of these insights is the encouragement to use them to build a better life. To use our past mistakes to make better decisions.
Let your scars be something you have to offer for good, not for continuing in the darkness they created
Pain and damage can be hard to overcome. One way to conquer our scars is to use them for good. Your experiences were real, and there is wisdom to be gotten through them. Sharing your experiences with others who are struggling in the same way you have, like addiction, or serving those who are in positions you have overcome, like homelessness, are powerfully encouraging to others. And when you do these things through our Lord Jesus, they are anointed and used to change lives. Lay down your scars at the foot of the cross and let the Lord use them for His kingdom. But first, you must surrender to Him, giving Him your life, your past, and your future. Your scars don’t have to be for you to keep, you can give them to God, and He will take those burdens from you.
Let’s look at the scars of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Physically He was cut and pierced, leaving scars on His back, in His side, on His head, and on His hands and feet. Emotionally He was humiliated, ridiculed, threatened, falsely accused, and denied. Socially He was isolated, rejected, and sorrowful. He was mocked by the religious elite, and abandoned as a fraud by the rest of His people. On a worldly level, the mental and physical turmoil Jesus experienced would be detrimental to the future of most of us. If we had survived, we never would have recovered, never again feeling worthy or fully accepted. But it is not men and women who we seek to be accepted by, for you can see what the results of those relationships are. Our calling, your calling, is to seek God, His favor, His love, and His grace. When you can see that, the scars on your body, the emotional damage and humiliation you suffered, the addictions that have controlled and defined you, the tattoos that represent former desires and attitudes, will mean nothing under the awesomeness and holiness of the love and the future God has for you.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior. He died and was risen in victory to break the hold this world has on you and to give you the opportunity to be reunited with God, your Creator! Look at this world and consider how it leads you, where it leads you, and what it leads you to. You must be able to see the futility of pursuing desires that can not be quenched. Who of you has ever drank enough alcohol to bring lasting peace? Who has consumed enough cocaine or marijuana to achieve newness? Who of you has had enough sex to be satisfied for any length of time? Who has enough toys, games, cars, square footage, or online friends to fill the hole in your heart?
Have you considered God? Have you considered the historical, proven truth of Jesus Christ and what that might mean in your life? Have you considered to break away from days already gone, and look forward to the new?
Isaiah 51
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You
Zechariah 1
3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the Lord.
Joel 2 12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.
Jeremiah 30
16 ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will make a prey. 17 For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.”
Isaiah 1 16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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