March 2000
"The Mountains and the Valleys"
March 25, 2000
"He...opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men."
- Psalm 146:8 (TLB)
Have you ever noticed that this is how life goes:
good times, tough times
happy times, sad times
busy times, slow times...
These are the mountains and the valleys that make up our lives. When we have happiness in our life - whether it be a promotion, a raise, a new baby, etc. - we are "at the mountain's peak." But when things don't seem to be going our way, we are in the "valleys of life."
Now, let me ask you this... where do you think your most growing is done: on the mountain peak or in the valley?
A few years back, I took up skydiving. I know, you're saying to yourself, "I thought he was sane." hehehehehe. Well, let me say that I no longer jump. That doesn't mean I am any more or less sane, you understand ... heheheheheheh. Anyway, I can remember the valleys and mountains of the sport. The valley was this: suiting up, putting the pack on, checking the helmet, the goggles, the gloves, the altimeter... having your pack checked by the jumpmaster. Oh, then came the difficult climb out of the valley: you walked out on the tarmac and loaded up in the plane and were packed in like sardines. Then we reached the rocky ledges on the "climb up the mountain" : the engine started, we taxied and we took about twenty minutes to climb to our jump altitude of 13,000 feet. Uh huh, I said 13,000 feet. And, like in climbing the mountain, the hardest part was as you approached the top... the door was opened and you stepped out into nothingness.
But then, you reach the peak! In the case of skydiving, that is freefalling for 55 seconds, having the chute open perfectly and land standing up. It is a great sense of accomplishment and joy (to say nothing of the absolute in adrenaline rushes!).
My point to this is: look at how much time is spent "in the valley' and "in climbing the mountain" compared to the time spent "on the summit."
Life is like that, too. We do our best growing in the valleys of life. It is in the valley that we reach up to God. It is in the valleys that trees grow, not on the mountain tops. Our verse this week is a reassuring promise from God that he will see us through our valleys...
Just don't forget to stop and thank Him for the times of growth it took to get you to the peaks in your life.
"It was a car deal..."
March 18, 2000
"For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."
- Deuteronomy 20:4 (NIV)
They say one of the most stressful things a person does in their life is buying a car. I think it comes in somewhere like fourth in the "all-stress hit parade", just behind death of a loved one and buying a house.
Yesterday though, my wife and I were actually de-stressed (is that a word??? heheheh) by our new car buying experience. The sales person was an older gentleman with a very helpful attitude and an ever-present smile. It didn't seem to bother him a bit as my wife and I took almost 6 hours to come to our buying decision. When I related this to the man (as I thanked him for his patience) and that the day had not been the least bit stressful, ya' know what he told me? He said that a few years ago, he had suffered a stroke. A light one...
The man went on to say that when you come "this close" to severe disability or death, you kind of tend to realize that some things just aren't worth stressing out over any more. He went on to say, jokingly, that he leaves the stressing to his wife now.
This morning, my wife and I had to go visit the sales lot where we had bought a used car last year... you see, when we went to trade it in yesterday, the dealer found out, through a computer check, that the odometer had possibly been rolled back. My wife and I are trying now to get our money back on that car from the man who we feel misrepresented the car to us. It could have certainly been a stressful day.
But, you know what I did? I tucked away in my heart God's word (our verse this week), the other car salesman's smile AND the thought that he left us with...
"...some things just aren't worth getting stressed out over any more..."
"Death- a View Beyond"
March 11, 2000
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
This past week was horrible for those of us in public service... whether it be firefighter or police officer... whether it be volunteer or paid.
Not only did we lose two veteran firefighters and a deputy sheriff, we were all stunned to learn that the shooting was perpetrated by "one of our own."
Obviously many of you have written me this week... in fact, Thursday, March 9th, set a record for one day visits to the website: 171. Those of you who wrote me expressed:
sorrow
grief
disbelief
confusion
But, the bulk of you expressed anger. Anger that one of our own could do such a thing. Anger - because now we have to watch for bullets amongst all the other dangers we face.
Folks, our verse this week tells us that the grave has absolutely no hold over us who believe in the redemptive power of Christ.
Back in 1983, Ed Bradley, of the TV show "60 Minutes" was interviewing the famous comedian Jackie Gleason. Ed asked Mr. Gleason why he feared death. Jackie replied, "because if there is such thing as a hell, I'm going there." You see, Gleason knew the power that the grave held over him.
I have a question for you... if you were to die tonight, do you know for sure that you would wake up in Heaven? Would you like to be sure?
Ask Jesus Christ into your life right now. Just pray this simple prayer in your heart: "Dear God, I am a sinner (I have done wrong in my life). Lord, I now ask Jesus Christ to be the center of my life and to forgive me of all my wrongdoing. AMEN" God has promised that if you pray this to Him, you have become a child of God.
If you prayed this prayer for the first time, email me and let me know so that I can celebrate the beginning of a new life with you.
"What did you say?"
March 4, 2000
"But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."
- Proverbs 1:33 (NIV)
This week's verse sounds like something your Captain might say to you, huh? "Okay, kid, just stick with me, listen to what I say and you will be all right!"
Some of the stresses we face in our careers have to do with going into unstable environments: burning buildings, over-turned cars, smoky rooms. To effectively do our jobs and to survive, we have to listen. Think about all the times and people we must listen to in order to be effective on the job:
to our instructors back in fire training...
to our EMS instructors...
to our partners...
to the dispatcher...
to the screams for "help"....
to the commands of our Captain...
...all of which are necessary for survival and for completion of the task at hand. However, listening requires an appropriate reaction. It does no good to listen, if we do not respond.
Well, our REAL CHIEF, GOD, says that we must listen to HIM first! This verse was a command with a promise! The command our CHIEF gives is this:
LISTEN TO ME
The promise our CHIEF gives is this:
LISTEN TO ME AND YOU WILL LIVE STRESS-FREE
Do you want to "be at ease?" Take heed to the CHIEF...
LISTEN. Then, respond to what HE is asking.