An Invisible Man Wearing My Uniform, or Clean

Five days in the field. In the military (at least the job I had), you grow accustomed to dirt, to grime, and not smelling all that great. Five days without running water. Five days without a proper shower. Five days of baby wipes and full body coverage with medicated foot powder.

You get used to it. After around day 2, you kind of just settle down into it. At day 3, you’re too tired to care what you smell like; everyone is grimy. Things you care about:

Do I have my weapon?
Where are my snacks?
Do I have time for one more bathroom break before we head out?
Where’s my battle buddy?

You kind of lose sight of how filthy you are because everyone around you is just as filthy. The grime isn’t visible, until you go back to battalion and get a shower. Then it’s all pretty clear.

Zechariah 3:4 (NLT) “‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ And turning to Jeshua he said, ‘See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.'”

Five days in the field; then it’s time to head to the rear and get a shower and a proper meal. The military barracks I’ve been in are basically one large open room full of bunk bed cots, and a school gym style bathroom off the back of it. The US military is the pioneer of the open floor plan movement. The barracks have the same smell- PineSol and dust.

As I’m shedding my uniform and laying it out on the cot, something strange happened. I noticed that my uniform still kind of kept its shape, like an invisible man was still inside it and giving it a form. Days of dust, and sweat, and grime were caked in and giving it a form: an invisible man wearing my uniform.

I read the passage from Zechariah, and I’m reminded that our righteousness is as filthy rags. We need a Savior, all of us. People who sin like I do, people who sin differently, we all need a Savior- someone to make us clean and clothe us. Life gets you dirty, sometimes. And if you’re not careful, you’ll miss it because everyone has dirt on them.

Our God offers that. He offers a shower and a clean new set of clothes. He offers His own clothes; He clothes us in His righteousness. That’s the offer of the gospel: not just cleaner clothes, but clothing us in something else entirely. As we’re closing out this week, I just wanted to remind you that with our God, dirt doesn’t have to be permanent. We can shed those dirty clothes, shed that invisible man keeping us in the dirt, and we can be made clean.

Life is Sight Reading Sheet Music, or Do-Over

“Ooooh, that was ugly,” I said.

It was in fact ugly. I hit a G when I should have hit an A. Hitting a wrong note when playing music. Bluck! If you play an instrument, you know what I’m talking about. You look at the music, you see an ‘A’, and for some reason your finger goes to G or a B flat. It’s weird. It happens, especially if you’re playing a song you’ve never played before.

Let’s be real. We’re all kind of playing a song we’ve never played before. Life is sight reading sheet music, and sight reading sheet music is hard, and you’re going to make a mistake. What we need, are do-overs.

Honest Confession Time: I love Bill Murray movies. In Groundhog Day, my good friend and yours Mr. Bill Murray gets a series of do-overs: chances to start fresh. While it’s a nightmare for Bill’s character in the movie, does it have to be? Do we even have the option of a do-over: a chance to start fresh?

Zechariah 1:3 (NLT) “Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’”

Our God offers us restarts, do-overs, and fresh anointing. The mistakes of yesterday, even the mistakes of this morning, are opportunities for a do-over. Start fresh. God gives His word that if you return to Him, He’ll return to you. Today is your do-over.

We’re all sight reading sheet music we’ve never played before. Nobody has lived life before, so we’re all kind of struggling to keep up with the drummer and play the right notes. What is most needed, the highest and best thing you can aim for today, is love and compassion. Have compassion for others who hit wrong notes, and rub you the wrong way. Have compassion for yourself- you’re going to make mistakes. Partake of, and offer to others, do-overs.

Fine- Let’s Do This, or Work

“When God repeats Himself, that’s means it’s important, right daddy?” she asked.
“That’s right, babe,” I replied.
I may be biased, but I’m pretty sure my kids are geniuses.

When God repeats Himself, it’s usually a good sign that He’s saying something that He wants you to get, and that you’re probably not getting, yet.

Haggai 2:4 (NKJV) “…be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

I mean, didn’t we just read this the other day, and in a completely different book of the Bible? Well, one of us isn’t getting it. It might be me.

What to Do? Be strong. Just a side note: When God speaks, things happen. When He says, ‘Be strong,’ it is both a command and an enabling. The very act of Him saying, ‘Be strong,’ means that you can be strong and that there is strength available to you. Work. There’s a work for you to do. God isn’t finished with you. You have a work to do. Get to work.

Who Should Be Strong and Work? Us. All you people. Even you. Even me. Nobody gets an out on this one. He’s talking to us.

Where? In the land God has placed you. Maybe it’s in a barren land. Maybe it’s a fruitful well watered garden. It’s your home, your marriage, your relationships, your church, your work, your ministry. Be strong in the land God has placed you.

Why? He is with you. When God repeats Himself, that means that it’s important, and it means He wants you to get it. He is with you, and He has a work for you to do.

Bruce Willis Sent Me Off a Cliff Like Wile E. Coyote, or I Got Bruce’d

“Bu..wha…I mean…it…..,” I stammered.
Bruce Willis was a ghost? A ghost? He got me. That rascal got me, and I was speechless.

I’m not a ‘figure out the whole movie five minutes into it’ kind of guy. I don’t put that much effort into it. When I’m watching TV or a movie, I’m there to turn off my brain and see the pretty pictures. I want to be surprised. I fall for plot twists like Wile E. Coyote falls off a cliff. Bruce Willis had sent me off a cliff like I was Wile E. Coyote. You got me, Bruce. (Insert slow clap here) You got me.

You can act cool like Bruce didn’t fool you, but I’m pretty sure he got you, too. It’s in the name of the movie, for goodness sake, and he still got me. My thinking and my perception about what was taking place was all twisted up. I was convinced to believe something that was not in line with reality. I got Bruce’d.

Zephaniah 3:16-17 (NKJV) “…Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

It’s not just movies. I do the same thing in everyday real-life. You do, too. We all do. Man, I can be tricked. I can fall for a clever scheme. I can get twisted up even about who I am and what I am in Christ. I can get convinced of things that do not line up with the reality of God’s word. I’ll even Bruce myself.

I can be my own worst enemy and my harshest critic. Our words and our thoughts can be our greatest asset or our greatest hindrance, so, every so often it’s good to revisit what God’s words and thoughts are about you. Every so often, it’s good to stop and ask yourself, “Wait, is this true? What does God say about this?”

God’s word says you don’t have to fear. God’s word actually says ‘do not fear.’ Don’t fear or give fear a place in your heart or your mind. Why? Because God is with us! For goodness sake, if ever there was a people who should be immune to fear, shouldn’t it be us? But we fear. We fear about health, relationships, family or loved ones, and our finances. The same God who conquered death, hell, and the grave put His spirit in you, if you have accepted Him as your savior. Your future is locked up. You are bullet proof. You don’t have to live in fear.

God’s word says you don’t have to feel weak and ineffective. Death defeating strength is yours. You are strong. God is your strength; not only are you strong, but also you are mighty.

You are not alone. God’s word says you are not alone. You’re not in this on your own. He is in your midst. The Shepherd goes before His sheep. Don’t freak out if you’re stepping in mud and it feels like you’re going to get stuck and on your own. If you’re stepping in mud while you’re following Him, He stepped in it first to make a path for you to get through it. You’re not stuck in the mud and on your own. You may not be able to see Him; you may not feel Him nearby, but He is in your midst. He will save. He will lead you out.

And the biggie: God is not angry with you. Honest Sharing Time: In the church I was brought up in, everything was a sin (especially movies like The Sixth Sense) and God was ready to zap you at any moment. Honestly, that kind of messed me up on what God is all about. Now, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but let me tell you, God’s plan for you is not to destroy you. His plan is not to crush you. God’s plan and will for your life is for Him to rejoice over you, to sing over you, to quiet you with love. His will and plan for you is gladness.

Are you getting Bruce’d? Are you Bruce’ing yourself: fooling yourself into believing something that doesn’t line up with God’s word, something that doesn’t line up with reality? Don’t buy it. You have a bright and a good future.

Mount Everest Cloaked in Chlorine and Sunscreen, or Intervene

“Don’t go out too deep,” she said as they walked off into wild blue yonder of the wave pool.

It was a beautiful day. Late summer. Hot but not sweltering. You could hear kids laughing…it’s not really the sound of laughing though, is it? It’s this instantly recognizable high pitched chattering, like a flock of birds singing. That sound is the sound of kids having fun, and cheating death at the water park. There’s that unmistakable scent of chlorine, sunscreen, and cocoa butter in the air.

Let’s take a time out and be real for a second: Parents, why do we say silly things like “don’t go out too deep?” When presented with a challenge like a wave pool, I don’t know many kids that won’t head straight for the deep end. That’s why these places have life jackets at every turn. When a child hears a parent say ‘Don’t go to deep,’ that’s practically double dog daring a kid to do it. But I digress…

My son is fearless; my daughter is 8 ft tall. Ok, she’s not really 8 ft tall, but that girl is tall. They make a great picture: a tall beauty, and a fearless child-king ready to lay claim to conquest and victory, marching off into the deep to prove their mettle.

You see, a wave pool or a water slide isn’t just a wave pool or a water slide when you’re a kid. It’s the equivalent of Mount Everest cloaked in chlorine and sunscreen. It exists purely as a challenge, nay, an affront to your abilities. That wave pool or that water slide just screams out, “I bet you can’t conquer me!” There’s no way they’re not going out as far as they can. I know it. They know it. I’m sure my wife knew it. The water park certainly knows it, hence- life jackets at every turn. As they had no other option, the kids headed straight for the deepest part of the wave pool.

Zephaniah 2:7 (NKJV) “…For the Lord their God will intervene for them, And return their captives.”

You guessed it; they went too far. In a matter of seconds, they’re three quarters of the way up the pool, and the waves are eclipsing their tiny-beautiful little heads.

“Oh my gosh, they are tearing my nerves up! Will you go rescue them?” my wife pleaded.

Will you rescue them? Will you intervene? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out too far, gone too deep, and found myself in desperate need of intervention. I’ve thought, “I’ve got this,” and then- boom. I’m in trouble. Sometimes it’s just life and the troubles that come with life. But sometimes it’s pride; it’s sin calling out, “I bet you can’t conquer me!” And time after time we fall for that trap and need God’s intervention.

I braced myself against the chill of the water, and headed in to drag them back to safety. I grabbed one little hand, and then grabbed the second, and I pulled them back to a reasonable depth where they could stand again under the assault of the waves. No fuss. No biggie. That’s life at the water park. That’s life.

I want to encourage you today. God isn’t going to leave you hanging out to dry. You’re not in this alone. You’re not stuck in the deep end. You haven’t headed out so far that God can’t take you by the hand and lead you back to where you need to be. Do you really think you’re in the pool all by yourself? Nah.

I wasn’t going to let the waves overwhelm and destroy my kids. No way. Not going to happen. Likewise, you can be certain that God will intervene on behalf of His children. And, if I’m being honest, it probably didn’t surprise Him that you needed His intervention.

I mean, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” right? He saw this coming from a mile away. He’s not shocked when we need His intervention, because the truth is we always need His intervention; we just don’t always recognize or acknowledge it. You need His intervention so that you can take one more breathe, for your heart to beat one more time. The water park has life jackets; they get it. God has the fountain of living water; He gets it. He came to this party prepared.

In Zephaniah, we see a nation that has strayed from God. Have you strayed? As a result, we see a people hounded by chaos, and held captive. Are you bound and battling? Trust me, I get it. But, in the midst of their circumstances, in the midst of their turmoil, God calls out to His people, “I will intervene for them, and return their captives.” There is no chaos or turmoil in your life where God can’t intervene and see you through. There’s no captivity that He can’t deliver from.

I want to encourage you today to let God take you by the hand. He wants to take you by the hand. He wants to intervene for you. ‘Oh, but I did this and that and then I did it again.’ Yeah. I get it. But, the truth is, God wasn’t surprised by any of that, really. At some level, we’re all just kids in the wave pool. You’re not in the wave pool by yourself. You and God can do this.

Of Course Jesus was an Optimist, or Mr. Jerk B. McJerkface

Of course Jesus was an optimist, you jerk! He was the Son of God. I’m just me.

There I was. Early morning. Not yet highly caffeinated, though I was giving it my all to get that way. Reading a textbook on ministry. It was a recipe for disaster from the start.

Ministers. Ministers, I think, have to be optimists. They have to see the good. They have to see the possibilities in everyone and everything, even in the early morning.

As some of you may know, I’m not really a morning person, and I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being an optimist, except maybe in jest. Nothing will annoy a non-morning-person-pessimist more than an optimist early in the morning. The nerve of this guy. The Author and Pastor- Mr. Jerk B. McJerkface.

There I am. It’s not a good look. Grouchy and having an imaginary conversation with a man that I’ve never met. This is my life at 6am. I was on a roll:

It’s like saying, ‘Bill Gates doesn’t worry about money, so you shouldn’t either.’ I hate to draw attention to the obvious, Mr. McJerkface, but Billy G has ‘The Money Problem’ pretty well covered. Of course he doesn’t worry about it. It’s the same with Jesus; Jesus is the Son of God. Of course He’s an optimist. He’s pretty well got it all covered. I’ve read the end of the book. He wins. He can afford to be an optimist.

And that, my friends, is when I got the slap down.

He can afford to be an optimist.
I felt a check in my spirit. Two words. Two word reduced me to rubble.
‘Oh, really?’
That’s it. That’s all I got, but that’s all it took to put me in check.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV) “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Honest Confession Time: I’m not the smartest guy, and probably not the best at reading a room, but I can tell when I’m in trouble. True story. And let me tell you, my friends, I was in trouble. Sometimes you just know. Did you get ‘The Look’ from a grown up or parent when you were a kid? You just know, I’m in trouble. For all my grouchiness, I was immediately reduced to being a petulant child.

‘Oh, really?’ Those two words brought to mind another petulant-grouchy son who raged at his father’s provision and his own perceived lack. In Luke 15, Jesus gives us a glimpse into God’s heart:
‘All that I have is yours.’
Like the son who had it all, but wouldn’t use it, I’ve been living like I believe that the resources of the Father are for others, but not for me. It’s not a conscious thing. If you asked me point blank if that’s what I believe, I’d say no. But it slips out from time to time. Instead of trusting in God to provide for my every need, I revert to believing in my lack and limitations.

Maybe I’m the only goober who does that? Eh, maybe. But, if that’s you, too: If you find yourself believing more in your lack and limitations than in God’s heart, His Word, and His provision, I want to encourage you to do two things:

Ask
Believe

Two words. Over and over in the scripture God tells us His heart; He lays it all out there on the table. His heart is to provide for you and take care of you. His will and plan is for you to live in a state of blessedness and as an agent of blessedness for others. That was his promise to Abraham. That’s his promise to us as His heirs.
Ask.
Believe.
We’re encouraged to ask. We’re commanded to believe. And we’re warned of the consequences of failing to do either. So, my fellow Grouchy T. McGroucherfaces: it’s ok for us to be optimistic about our future, our present, and our past. We can be optimistic because our Father in Heaven has it all covered. Ask. Believe.

Everyone is the Best at Something, or Holding My Breath

“Let’s have a contest to see who can hold their breath the longest.”
“One…Two…Three…Go!”
I’m going to win. I’m motionless. That’s the key. Minimize any movement to save the oxygen floating around in my blood stream. It just feels wrong to hold your breath for a long time.

I am the family champion of holding your breath. It’s not bragging if it’s true. Ok. Ok. It’s a little bit bragging. But it is true. I’m pretty good at holding my breath in the pool, but where I really shine is holding my breath in the car.

There’s this stretch of road, going up through the mountains, where the interstate literally runs through two mountains. Two tunnels. I thought it was so cool to go through the tunnels when I was a kid. Who am I kidding? It’s still cool. You’re driving your car under the mountain. That’s cool, I don’t care how old you are.

I can hold my breath through both of them. Takes a little over a minute. You have to be careful, though. Hold your breath for long enough, and you’ll pass out. I haven’t passed out. Not yet anyway.

I went SCUBA diving once. On our honeymoon, we were at this lovely tropical destination, and we decided that we’d give SCUBA diving a shot. I mean, it looks so beautiful when you see it on TV- floating around under water, fish swimming by. You’re breathing; they fish are fish breathing. Everyone is happy. I’ve never seen an angry SCUBA dude swimming with tropical fish.

It was weird though. You’re not really breathing like you do on land. The SCUBA apparatus kind of pushes air into you. It’s a strange sensation.

Faith is like that SCUBA tank. Faith brings the life giving breath of God to every part of you. It allows you to do more than you could when you’re holding your breath. It allows you to stay in the water longer than you could by just holding your breath.

Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV) “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”

Am I holding my breath?

That’s what I thought when I read the scripture above. We get so proud of what we are or what we think we are. We get so proud over what we do or what we think we do. We get so proud. We hold our breath, and wonder why things start getting wonky.

Pride is like holding your breath. It’s like taking a big gulp of air and trying to get life done on your own strength, your own might. You can get by for a while on one big gulp of air. Maybe you make it through a whole tunnel. You can stay under water for a while. Maybe you stay under longer than the next guy. But is that the life God has planned for us? Is that the life He wants for His children?

Where are we holding our breath: our jobs, our finances, our relationships? Wherever we’re pushing and striving to get things done by our own effort, that’s exactly the place we most need God to breathe life into us.

The just live by faith. It’s like the air we breathe. Take away someone’s air- it’s over. That’s how faith is to us: without faith, we’re done for. It’s not easy. SCUBA diving isn’t easy. It’s strange. It feels unnatural to have air forced into your lungs like that. There were times on that SCUBA diving trip when my brain was just screaming out, “Something isn’t right about this!” I mean, when you’re under water you hold your breath. You don’t breathe in. That’s swimming 101.

Maybe the reason why living by faith and trusting God in every single area of life seems so strange for us is because we’ve grown accustomed to holding our breath. To trust God in our finances and tithe? That takes faith. To keep quiet when we want to speak our mind? That takes faith. To put our very souls on the line and to say ‘Come hell or high water, I’m with Jesus’? That takes faith, but that faith breathes life into every aspect of life. Abundant life. Isn’t that what He promised?

Being a Grown Up is Hard, or Meal Plan

Honest confession time: Being a grown up is hard. There, I said it, and everyone knows I’m right. Not everything about being a grown up is hard, but the scales tilt that way.

Work, bills, getting older, health issues, caring for family or children. Even just carving out some time for God or ministry…life takes a lot of effort. Doing life well seems to take more effort.

When I was younger, life seemed easier. That could very well be because I was clueless and generally content with being clueless. Ignorance is…well, never mind.

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to a quaint little college when I graduated High School. Life was simpler then. There wasn’t a lot of effort involved: when waking up for a 9 a.m class is your biggest hurdle, life is pretty good. Hear me out on this. It may sound silly at first, but I’m serious: one of the best parts of college is going to the cafeteria. You don’t have to cook. Cleaning up involves taking your tray to a trash can. That my friends is living like a king. That kingly state I found myself in was all thanks to the greatest of all human innovations- a meal plan.

The meal plan meant whether I had money or not, I could go in, scan my card, and get something to eat. It was glorious. No money, no problem. It wasn’t based on my current situation, but on a previous decision and investment.

Micah 5:4 (NKJV) “And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth;”

Colleges and schools have meal plans. Even amusement parks have meal plans now. Buy into the meal plan, and that part of life is just kind of settled. You are provided for, within the boundaries of the meal plan.

God has a meal plan. He didn’t intend life for us to be…well, what we make it, sometimes. His meal plan is that we are His sheep. And the Shepherd feeds His flock. The sheep aren’t supposed to go around worrying about resources. That’s the Shepherd’s job.

I wonder if sometimes the ‘hardness’ of life isn’t self inflicted. Am I making things harder than they’re supposed to be because I’m trying to do God’s job- a sheep trying to be his own shepherd? I want to encourage you that God wants to be your Shepherd.

He wants to provide for you. He wants to take the burdens off you that you’re carrying around. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Now, I’m not saying as believers that we’ll have sunshine and rainbows and steaks every day. The Bible is quite clear that we will have sufferings. But, the Bible is also very clear that our job isn’t to provide for ourselves, but that He wants to be our provider.

Are you on His meal plan? You can be. It requires a decision: Will you depend on Him? It requires an investment: Will you give your life to Him that you might find real life, overflowing life?

Paralysis, Brain Bleeds, and Faithfulness, or Hot Dog Sandwich

The Sweet Lady. That’s how I know her. Not sweet like ‘handing out candy to the peoples’ kind of sweet. That’s The Sweets Lady. Nah, I’m talking about The Sweet Lady. You spend 5 seconds with this gal, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Her spirit is sweet.

I didn’t get her permission so I won’t give her name, so for our purposes she’s ‘The Sweet Lady.’ She sings in our church choir. Quiet. Humble. Unassuming. There’s just something about her. Every time I see her, she smiles and has something encouraging to say. But there’s something else. Just a sweet ole gal. She reminds me of my grandma, in that way.

My grandma was a sweet lady. I don’t think she ever said a negative word to me. Like ever in my entire life. I’ve said more negative things to myself than my grandma ever did. She was sweet. And she could cook. Man, she could cook.

Not like Gordon Ramsey-Michelin Star Chef cook, but like ‘anything she makes is amazing’ kind of cooking. Grandma cooking. The best sandwich I’ve ever had in my life was one my grandma made: a sliced and fried hot dog with mustard on white bread. Her sweetness and love just seeped into her food. It was amazing. If you plopped a big juicy steak in front of me or magically zapped a grandma’s hot dog sandwich in front of me, man, it would be hard to turn down that sandwich.

The Sweet Lady. She’s got that same vibe. I wonder if she can cook?…Sweet Lady, you know who you are and if you’re reading this and want to cook me a fried hot dog with mustard sandwich, I’d be forever grateful. Kidding. Eh, kind of.

Nahum 1:7 (NKJV) “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.”

Last night at a worship service, she shared her testimony. Long story short: She had a brain bleed, another aneurysm, brain surgery, a stroke, was paralyzed on one side. She was zucchini. A vegetable. God healed her. She stood there last night, on her own two feet. Sweet. Unassuming, she spoke and testified to the goodness of God.

There were other stories, but the common denominator was: God is good. He is faithful. He is capable to see you through in your time of trouble. He knows you. You specifically. God and You can do this.

Adventures in Everyday Life, or Brothers

My brother. I love that dude. He’s a funny guy. He’s a fun guy. We have some interesting stories of the adventures we’ve shared. We’ve seen each other at our best and celebrated those victories; we’ve seen each other at our not so best and somehow lived to tell the tale, or not tell the tale, thankfully.

To date, our adventures include:

Installing multiple dishwashers and ceiling fans with varying levels of success- Why does it always take all day and four trips to the hardware store?
Moving multiple times with varying levels of success- He lived with us for a while and we moved from a big town, to the country in the middle of nowhere, and then back to the same big town. Pro tip: hire someone to move your stuff. It’s worth it. And never carry a washing machine up three flights of stairs. It’s not worth it.
Tearing apart his box spring mattress to get a cat out of there. True story.
Cleaning up after a possum assassination- It happened. In front of my kids. It was like a Tarantino movie. I’ve never seen him more panicked. Hilarious.
Being sprayed with fecal matter while trying to unclog a toilet- Pro tip: only buy single ply paper. It’s funny now, but just barely.
Helping a neighbor get her dogs and getting cussed out for our efforts.
Seeing him graduate nursing school with honors and high achievements.

When you’re brothers, I think it’s only natural that you get into some exploits and have some stories to tell. My brother and I tend to have funny adventures of every day life. Adventures in laughter. Man, the apostles had stories to tell. Stories that we’re still telling. Still learning from those stories of ordinary dudes with an extraordinary brotherhood.

Micah 5:3 (NKJV) “…then the remnant of His brethren shall return…”
Mark 3:35 (NKJV) “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Brother can mean ‘related to each other’, but it can also mean a deeper connection, a fellowship that exists deeper than mere acquaintance or ancestry: A shared Father.

Our Father, who art in heaven…The beauty and mystery of the gospel is that despite ourselves, despite our past or our ancestry, we can get into some brotherhood level shenanigans with Jesus, with the God who spoke and caused all that is to exist. Don’t forget to include Jesus in your adventures of every day life. There’s no telling what stories will come: laughter, tears, real things.

I’ll probably never forget my brother and me hanging some ceiling fans, and me dropping a mounting screw into the fan housing. Twice. The first time, we manage to tear the fan apart without destroying it. It took forever. We put it all back together, went to hang it again, and boom. I dropped the screw down inside the housing again. We lost our minds. Hysterical laughter. One of those things where you couldn’t do it on purpose if you had to, but I’ll never hang another ceiling fan without taping up the vents on the top of it first.

Even when you mess up, there can be laughter and joy and a funny story to tell when your brother is there. Brothers. Brethren. Our Father. Take Jesus with you today; reach out to one of your brethren and get into some kind of adventure. Share your stories with others.