Unshackled Moments ~ October 1 ~ Time To Celebrate

Today is October first, the day that officially begins the Halloween season for my wife and me. I'm a fan of Halloween. It's one of my favorite holidays. I never went trick or treating. And when I say Halloween, I don't mean All Hallow's Eve, nor Samhain. I just like candy and cool costumes (even though I don't dress up), and I love scary movies.. I like the classic flicks like Nosferatu and pretty much everything with Vincent Price. and I like current films as well. There's just not enough time on Halloween alone to watch all the movies we want to watch, so we start on the first of October and and concentrate on scary movies and thrillers for our movie time during the month. In anticipation we begin choosing films and making a list of what we will be viewing a few weeks in advance. It's a time of anticipation and celebration for us.

But there s something more amazing than Halloween. More precious than Christmas. More to look forward to than Easter. Something we can anticipate with eager hope and joy than every holiday combined. Jesus is coming back. It's going to be epic, but we don't have to wait to enjoy it. That moment is going to be an instant that kicks off eternity. But while we wait,we can get in the spirit of things and pursue a deeper relationship with the Lord now. We don't have to wait. The joyous praise and fellowship we will have in eternity can't be fully enjoyed now, but it can be tasted. Let the eternal celebration of who He is and our love for Him begin today and go on and on until that wonderful day and beyond.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 30 ~ Flying In The Face Of Fear

My wife Leah is afraid to fly, as in seriously near-phobic. I say near-phobic because I am not a doctor and can't diagnose her. Yet at this moment she is getting ready to ride with me to Houston, climb on a plane and fly to Florida. I asked my parents to be praying for her to have peace or less fear or something along those lines. My mother didn't realize how afraid Leah is, and when I shared with them how traumatic her last flight was, my father said, "But that was before...."

You see there are two reasons my wife is about to get on a plane, and they are both the same. Love. First there is the love for her daughter, who we are going to see. A mother's love can make her climb on an airplane when she's afraid. But the second reason is even bigger and more powerful. Leah has become aware of her Daddy's love for her in the past five years like she's never known before. I'm talking about her heavenly Daddy/ And when you get a taste of the deep love of the Father, there is a peace that comes with that that is even stronger than phobias. Perfect love casts out fear.

Love can set you free from fear. Is Leah afraid? Yes. Is she freaked out and panicking and in tears and hyperventilating? Not even close. Is it logic and understanding that flying is truly a safe way to travel? Hardly. It's all about love. Her Daddy's love for her that gives her some peace in a situation that she's not had peace in before, and her love for Amanda that gave her the courage to step out in faith and say, "Yes, I will fly," which put that power of that peace bringing, fear crushing, perfect love tot he test.

The love of God can set us free from fear as much as it can break the shackles of an addiction. Today let us all remember that we can walk free from dominion by fear in the name of love.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 29 ~ Life, The Universe, And Everything

I know that I've mentioned this before, but I love football. I'm pretty crazy about it. I get animated. I shout in joy and triumph when the team I am rooting for makes an amazing play. I roar in frustration and disgust when things go against us. And yes, I say my team as though I own it and we (We're about to score) as though I am somehow involved and a part of the struggle.

This past Saturday afternoon I stretched out on the bed to watch my team, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, play TCU. Yes, they are my team. I finished my degree at Tech, even though I received it from SFA. I leaned back against my back rest and watched the game on the television in the bedroom. It was crazy close, and the lead kept changing, almost with every possession. It was very exciting to me.

No, as much as I love football, especially college football, my wife does not. Leah is at best indifferent and ambivalent, but she'll tell you that she hates football. She just doesn't understand why her husband gets so psycho and obsessive about something so silly and for the most part boring. But while  she doesn't understand the why, she understands that I do love football. So she tries to be supportive and has never once asked me not to waste our time on such triviality. When I talk about it, I sound like an adult in the world of Charlie Brown to her, but she really tries to hear what I am saying. It helps her pay attention if I throw an "I love you" in the middle of the blah, blah, Red Raiders, blah. She knows that I love her more than I do the watching sports, and I limit myself to one college and one pro game a week most weeks during the all too short season of play. But while that self-imposed restriction seems like I barely watch football to me, it feels like a whole lost of football to her.

The question is how to spend time together without making her miserable and without making the watching the game less enjoyable for me. So sometimes she sits beside me and plays on the computer or reads a book while I watch the game. But Saturday she  lay down beside me and rested her head on my chest in the same position that she gets in to cuddle with me while we watch movies. If I didn't know better I would have thought that she was actually going to watch the game with me. A few minutes later I felt her breathing change as she drifted off to sleep with her head against me and my arm around her. I watched the game, but I never lost my awareness of her presence and that she was resting against me. When things went well for the Red Raiders I raised my free hand in celebration, but did so in such a way as to not disturb Leah. When they went poorly, I stilled myself and checked my reactions. There was no yelling. No reaction was allowed through the filter of my love for Leah and my desire not to disturb her.

This awareness and restraint didn't take away from my enjoyment of the game. In fact, it made it wonderful. I loved every minute of that time with Leah napping on me while  I watched football. I got to enjoy being with her and totally aware of her presence and watch the game at the same time. But what's the point? Why share this?

Well, it occurred to me that the time shared with Leah is representative of time with God. There are times of praise and worship that are dedicated to Him and making conscious contact with Him, just like there are times with Leah when nothing is going on but us and our relationship. Morning quiet time, evening reflection, church, prayer throughout the day are all times when the attention is on Him. But there are also times throughout the day when our attention is on other things. I'm not talking about something bad. We need to work and focus on our tasks, and we need to pay attention to the relationships in our life. There are other things that we do that aren't wrong, but if we are not careful we can become so engaged in them that we forget that the Father is right there with us. I want to become as aware or His presence with me, even during times of other activity, as I was of Leah napping against my chest Saturday. I want that awareness of His presence to enhance the experiences of the day. I want to be so filled with the peace and joy of His presence and so full of love toward Him that keeping that awareness is easy and keeping my reactions in check is as natural to me as having them in the first place. I believe that we can have that. It's all in remembering that I love Leah more than football and being with her and pleasing her is more important than any game that makes it easy to sacrifice time I would spend on self for her and makes it easy to put her first, even if it means I can't yell "Touchdown!" And it's all in remembering that our love for God is greater than the pleasure or the responsibility of anything else and that being close to Him and pleasing Him is the whole point of life, the universe and everything that we can do everything as unto the Lord and stay aware of Him at all times, in all things.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 28 ~ Infinity

Our sins are forgiven and are cast as far away from as that East is to the West. Why did the Spirit inspire this analogy? Because the difference between East and West is infinite. If a person begins to travel East and never turns, they will forever head East. But if a person travels North, it will eventually become southbound as they cross the pole. Northern travel will become southbound travel if you go far enough, and vice versa. It's important to understand that no matter what the distance between us and our transgressions is infinite.

No matter how far we go, we never cross a point where suddenly the direction we are traveling makes the Father closer to remembering the sin that He's forgiven. He doesn't promise forgiveness until we miss up again in a similar way and then suddenly throws the past back into the equation. Once it's under the blood of Christ our sin is never uncovered again. Not by the Father anyway. We can't stop the enemy from trying to make us feel guilty for things that are done and gone, forgiven, but we can choose to believe the truth of God over the condemnation of the enemy. And we can stop using condemning ourselves. Today let our goal be to walk in the truth that we are indeed forgiven and that the sins of our past will never be held against by God.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 27 ~ Don't Be Strong

Thursday I spent a little time with a buddy of mine who happened to be watching one of those reality shows that I don't particularly care for. So I wasn't paying the show much mind, but something one girl said caught my attention. The young woman has an issue that was causing her problems and was beyond her control to correct. At one point during one of those talk to the camera so the audience can hear what the rest of the people in the show can't moments, she said that maybe if she could show God that she could stay strong and not give up she'd be ok.

That was the saddest thing, and in a momentary lapse was probably the most real moment of this so called reality tv show. We feel like that sometimes I think. Like God is up there acting like a 7-year-old boy putting things on us to see how much we can take before we break. Here's another straw. Still pushing through itt! Here's another one. Broke the camel's back! When we start feeling and thinking like that it's easy to start feeling that if we can impress him (Oh cool, look how strong and determined he is!) God will take away our load and go play with somebody else.

The problem is that God isn't a 7-year-old with sadistic curiosity. He's our Daddy, He already knows how much we can take better than we do, and He loves us. God doesn't ever want us to show Him how strong we are. He wants us to show Him how reliant upon Him we are and how much we trust Him. When the load starts getting heavy and the pain starts, it's not the time to be strong. It's time to say Jesus share your yoke with me! That way if we're pulling a plow that isn't His, we can stop. That's easier. Or, if it is a burden or a thorn He's given us, His grace takes over where our determination to do it ourselves ends. The sooner that happens, the better and easier it is.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 26 ~ Get Your Lean On

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

- Psalm 73:25-26

We all have something we lean on. It can be anything or a variety of things. When we are at work we may lean on things like our intelligence and understanding of the job or maybe our physical appearance to succeed while at home we may lean on something entirely different to keep peace and make our relationships succeed. Sometimes what we lean on to make it through our day is not so good. I once leaned on alcohol and drugs to make  it through life. Sometimes what we lean on is what we've been given by God. I have an ability to write. I'm not the best writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a gift that makes writing enjoyable for me and gives me the talent to keep my four or five regular readers coming back. That gift makes opens doors for me to minister my experience, strength and hope of freedom from the things that bind us and the good news of the love of grace of God.

But I shouldn't lean on my gift. I mustn't just go on auto pilot and trust that my ability to write or to talk with get my through what I've been called to do. We are supposed to use our brains. God wants us to think. Whatever strengths we have should be used in a loving and Godly way to make our lives better and to accomplish what we need to accomplish. But while our talents and gifts should be used, they shouldn't be relied upon as our security and safety. They are tools.

God is our refuge and our fortress. He is our provision and our strength. He is our wisdom and the director of our path. He opens doors and protects us on our journey. We should use the gifts and tools we have to do our part in His will, but it is He, and only He, that we need to rely on, because there will be times, regardless of whether what we're leaning on is mental, emotional or physical, where it will fail or not be enough. God will never fail. Not only should we rely on Him, but we can always do so without our support failing.

Today let us remember that the tools we have be born with and the tools we have learned can be helpful and often should be used, but at the same time, they are not to be trusted as the solution. Jesus is our answer, and only in God can we have complete trust. Let's lean on Him today.

Unshackled Moments ~ September 25 ~ Benedict Arnold

Don't be a Benedict Arnold.

Do you understand what I just wrote? Most of us probably understand that if someone calls a person a Benedict Arnold that they are saying they have been or feel betrayed. They are calling the other person not an enemy but a traitor. It's basically the same as calling someone a Judas.

Judas was one of 12 special men called of Jesus. He spent three years at the feet of the Master. Arnold fought bravely for  years before and after his traitorous turn. Yet their names have become bywords, synonyms of treachery and hurt. In all the years that have past there has been no forgiveness or lessening of the damage to their reputations. In fact, in both cases, their failures are more well known than even in the time of their lives. People who know little about Christ or the Bible are well aware of the betrayal of Judas, and people who know little more about the Revolutionary War than that the United States won their independence know Benedict Arnold switched sides or at least that he betrayed the cause he swore to uphold.

Sometimes it may feel that way to those of us who have not walked a relatively faithful and clean walk. To those of us  who have played the prodigal and walked on the seedy side of unrighteousness our failure may feel like a permanent tattoo across our foreheads that can never be removed or covered. We try to turn the torment of the past into the testimony that helps others, but underneath is the pain and shame of the label...traitor, failure, screw up, sinner. It can bind as as surely as the sin that originally brought it on. The world never seems quick to forgive and forget, and the enemy wants to tie our past to every step we take into our future. A part of us often feels as though we deserve the limitations and shame as we surrender to the boundaries our mistakes place on us.

Let us remember though that whether the world sees it or recognizes it or accepts it, we have been forgiven. Jesus loves the broken, and His favorite thing to do is to put the pieces back together even better than before. David failed in so may ways. He committed adultery in such a way that it is possible that by today's standards it would be an abuse or power and considered sexual assault. Then he committed murder to cover it up. Yet he is remembered most as the writer of many of the Psalms and a man after God's own heart. Many examples exist of failures being turned by grace into something that God used. Let the grace of God set us free from the chains of limitation and shame because of prodigal foolishness. We stand clean before God, able by His power and grace to shine more brightly for Him than we ever shone in our rebellion against Him.