The Story of Your Life

I can't begin to tell you how blessed I continue to be by the preaching of Andy Stanley. We have decided to listen to one of his sermons each night that we are home. I would challenge you at least once a week to forgo watching one of the many TV programs that you watch and watch Andy and listen to what he has to say about God's Word. I guarantee you that it will do you a lot more good than anything else you planned to watch. You can find him by just googling him or by following these links:

www.northpoint.tv

www.northpoint.org

(For some reason I couldn't activate these links.)

We have been listening to his series called Your Move. It is all about the questions you need to ask yourself when facing big decisions, especially big decisions that you didn't expect to have to be making.

The first question to ask is "Why are you REALLY making this choice?" Andy proceeds to explain how good all people are at selling themselves on ideas when we really want to. He said that lots of people want to follow their hearts. But that is dangerous because Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Our culture and the media often celebrate people who follow their heart. But we must be careful, and as parents we need to address this with our children. Andy says that our hearts are not just dishonest; our hearts are deceitful. Our heart is purposely trying to mix a little truth with some lies so that we will follow it.

The next question Andy says we need to ask when facing big decisions is "What story do we want to tell with our lives?" Every time we come to a decisive point in our lives we are faced with the choice of telling a good story, or telling a bad story. We looked at the life of Joseph. He was put in terrible situations over and over in his life and each time these things happened he chose to trust God, to do his best in the storm. Joseph told a great story with his life.

Every season of our life will eventually be boiled down to a few sentences, probably a couple of paragraphs at the most. Each time we face a trial we get to choose how that trial will be remembered in our lives. How I need to remember this in my life right now!

So wherever you are, whatever season of life you find yourself in...

tell a good story.

He knows...

I have been in Ohio visiting my dear friend, Jane. She is just a few years younger than I am, and I have known her a long time. She was raised in my church, and I have been a friend of her family all these years. Several years ago, I decided to take Will to Washington D.C. for fall break. Jane lived in the DC area and opened her home up to us for a visit. Little did we know that those visits would become an annual affair over the next few years. So we became fast friends.

Jane and her family moved to Ohio last year. Just two weeks ago she found out she has lung cancer, very advanced. So Phil and I took a day to drive up to see her and to let her know that we love her and are praying for her.

She looks so good and healthy and strong (except for the acne-like rash caused by the medicine she is taking). She has a wonderful family…beautiful girls and a great husband. And in all that she’s going through, she ministered to us. She spoke with us at length about the troubles that are facing our two children. We know that she cares so much about them and that she is praying for all of us. We came away blessed to have been with her. And resolved to continue to be there for her and her family.

She told us that she had recently had a dream in which she was going about some ordinary tasks when she opened a door and a tornado sucked her up. And that is what her life feels like right now. She told us that in herself she would just remain in a state of panic and fear, and she would just stay in bed and pull the covers up over her head. But God has been there with enough grace and mercy for each day, and each task. And God has proved Himself enough.

We were pretty frank in our discussion of life and death and the realities of living in faith. We shared some thoughts on different scriptures and how they are playing out in our lives.

Recently I heard Andy Stanley preach about Jesus being our high priest. He read these verses from Hebrews 4:14-15:

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,[a] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

Andy said that Jesus doesn’t just sympathize with our weaknesses; He empathizes, which means He has been there and knows just what that feels like.

In Jane’s case that means He knows what it is like to feel that your days are numbered and your time is short. He knows what it is like to face death. He knows how it feels to not want to go down the road that God has laid before you. “If it be possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”

He knows what it feels like to face leaving behind friends and family and having concerns about what will happen to them. He said to Peter, “But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” He asked John to look after his mother.

He knows…

Yes,He knows…

But we move to verse 16:

16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

And we see this verse playing out in Jane's life too. She has received mercy and she has found grace to help in her time of need.
God is working in all that is happening in Jane's life. And we know that as we desperately plead for her healing, and know that God is able to bring her back to perfect health; we know that whatever happens, He is receiving glory and honor and touching many lives through her.

Praise God for what He is doing and will continue to do.

Back to the Blog

I received some prodding from my dear friend Alyssa this weekend, and so it is time to take to writing again. Things in my personal life are not settled but are calmer so I will try to write consistently.

Today in Sunday School we listened to Andy Stanley. The series of messages that we are working through is called Time.

The lesson we listened to introduces us to the reality that our time is short. In light of this fact we find ourselves asking, "What's the point?" In order to really understand the answer to that question we looked at Psalm 90. This Psalm was written by Moses, who had his own unique perspective on time. After being raised in a palace in Egypt, Moses spent 40 years of his life (the BEST years of his life?) as a shepherd. After these years of nothingness, God called him to be the man He would use to deliver His people from slavery.

First, Moses tells us, "From everlasting to everlasting, you are God." This gives us the bookends for our lives. With God in the middle we find the true purpose of our lives, God and His glory.

Moses spends a lot of time telling us about just how short life really is, and then we come to verse 11. It is a difficult verse but the essence of it says this: If we could really see God as He is, we would give Him the reverence He is due. These words come from a man that had seen more of God's glory than any other human had. So he really knew what he was talking about.

And then we finish up with verse 12. "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Brides know how to number their days. Students with assignments due know how to number their days. People who have terminal diseases learn to number their days. And if we want to be wise, we must learn to number our days aright. We'll see where this leads next week.