Pastor Chuck’s Blog

6-7-2023

Today’s note is an adapted version of a fable by Aesop.

The Lion, the Fox, and the Donkey went hunting together one afternoon, catching a large quantity of game. As they prepared to go their separate ways, the Lion asked the Donkey to divide the spoils. The Donkey sorted everything into three piles, taking extra care to give everyone an equal share.

When the Lion looked at the three evenly distributed stacks, he decided he didn’t like what he saw. So he pounced on the Donkey, killing him in an instant, and tossed him on top of his pile. Then he turned to Fox and said, “Divide the spoils.”

The Fox quickly put everything in one huge pile. Then he cautiously took for himself the carcass of a single small crow, and slowly backed away.

“Very good,” said the Lion. “But I must ask, where did you learn how to divide things so evenly?”

The Fox said, “It’s something I picked up from the Donkey.”

If you’re a donkey lover, I apologize…….my my point is this: it’s one thing to learn from experience, from your own mistakes. It’s quite another to be able learn from the mistakes of others. The first is somewhat uncommon; the second is extremely rare.

Many of the stories of the Old Testament serve this purpose: They offer a chance to learn life’s most important lessons, without having to personally endure the inevitable hard knocks that come with experience.

Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction…(1 Corinthians 10:11)

As you often hear me say: Read your Bible……..it’s fascinating!!

5-24-2023

You did it, graduates! Congratulations on finishing high school! Over the past 13 years you have moved forward, step by step, grade by grade…..but I have to tell you, the events of last week aren’t the end of the journey. You may be familiar in the saying “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. It’s true. You will never begin a journey without the first step.

One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, is a perfect example of this. He took many steps on his journey of following Jesus, but there’s one story in particular that I want you to be aware of. It’s found in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14.

Jesus and just fed 5,000 people with 2 loaves and 5 fish. Finally, the crowd is fed and Jesus is exhausted so He sends the disciples away, dismisses the crowd, and goes up into the hills, to pray. But Jesus didn’t just send the disciples away, He specifically told them to cross the lake. As they did, a storm blew in. The disciples are struggling to reach their destination, buffeted by waves – and scared to death I’m sure.

Then, Matthew tells us that about three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. And let’s just be clear here. The disciples freaked. (And be honest……..you and I would freak too!) Jesus identifies himself and everyone calms down a little, but Peter, seeing Jesus walk on the water, wants to go to Him. So he says, “If it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on the water.”

Jesus says, “Come on,” and Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk across the water. Now, it really doesn’t matter what standard you go by, that’s just way cool. Years ago I had a boat. And I gotta tell you, once I fell out of it and walking on the water would have been really great at that moment, but it didn’t happen. The storm continues to rage around him and Peter gets his eyes off of Jesus and onto the storm and he begins to sink. So he does exactly what you and I would do, he cries out for help……and Jesus reaches out His hand and lifts him up.

Now, let me draw your attention to a few elements of this story to help you on your journey following graduation.

First, whether you believe it or not, you are a person of faith. Peter was a person of faith, he just hadn’t decided where to put that faith. When he met Jesus and Jesus said, “Come and follow me,” somehow Peter knew that this was the guy. This was the place to put his faith. So he did.

Second, faith is a process. No one has it all figured out overnight. In fact, no one has it all figured out before they die. We tend to like things in neat little packages. Faith doesn’t work like that. It’s a process – a life-long process. It was for Peter, it is for me and it is for you.

Third, in the faith process you will have doubts. Peter saw Jesus on the water, believed it was Jesus and wanted to get closer to Jesus so he stepped out of the boat. All of those are steps of faith. We don’t know if Jesus was 10 feet away or 10 yards. What we do know is that somewhere in Peter’s journey from the boat to Jesus, he had doubts. He got his eyes off of Jesus and onto the storm and he began to sink.

In your journey of faith you will have doubts. You will have failures. You will begin to sink. It’s at that time that you have to make a choice. Do I reach out for God to strengthen my faith, or do I give up? Peter chose to cry out for help from Jesus…….let me encourage you to do the same. Why? Because Jesus will always be there. Always.

Peter starts to sink, so he cries out to God, “Save me, Lord!” And here’s my favorite part of the story: Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and grabbed him. See, God is not light years away, He’s not miles away, He’s with you every moment of every day…….waiting to hear from you.

For some of you, you’re about to step out of the boat. You’re going to graduate and head toward college or tech school or a job or a marriage and you’re entering into uncharted territory. Wherever you go, remember that Jesus is there. Peter stepped out of the boat and Jesus was there. He will be wherever you’re going as well. Congratulations, class of 2023…..now go out and make a difference in this world!

5/19/2023

It’s graduation week and we will be honoring graduates this weekend. With that in mind…….

“So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”
–1 Kings 19:21

On February 19, 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés set sail for Mexico with an entourage of 11 ships, 13 horses, 110 sailors, and 553 soldiers. The indigenous population upon his arrival was approximately five million. From a purely mathematical standpoint, the odds were stacked against him by a ratio of 7,541 to 1. Two previous expeditions had failed to even establish a settlement in the New World, yet Cortés conquered much of the South American continent.

What Cortés is reported to have done after landing is an epic tale of mythic proportions. He issued an order that turned his mission into an all-or-nothing proposition: Burn the ships!

As his crew watched their fleet of ships burn and sink, they came to terms with the fact that retreat was not an option. And if you can compartmentalize the moral conundrum of colonization, there is a lesson to be learned: Nine times out of ten, failure is resorting to Plan B when Plan A gets too risky, too costly, or too difficult. That’s why most people are living their Plan B. They didn’t burn the ships. Plan A people don’t have a Plan B. It’s Plan A or bust. They would rather crash and burn going after their God-ordained dreams than succeed at something else.

There are moments in life when we need to burn the ships to our past. We do so by making a defining decision that will eliminate the possibility of sailing back to the old world we left behind. You burn the ships named Past Failure and Past Success. You burn the ship named Bad Habit. You burn the ship named Regret. You burn the ship named Guilt. You burn the ship named My Old Way of Life.

That is precisely what Elisha did when he turned his plowing equipment into kindling and barbequed his oxen. It was his last supper. He said good-bye to his old life by throwing a party for his friends. They shared a meal and shared stories into the early-morning hours. But it was the bonfire that made it the most meaningful and memorable night of his life because it symbolized the old Elisha. It was the last day of his old life and the first day of his new life.

Burning the plowing equipment was Elisha’s way of burning the ships. He couldn’t go back to his old way of life because he destroyed the time machine that would take him back. It was the end of Elisha the farmer. It was the beginning of Elisha the prophet.

Stop and think about the symbolism of what Elisha did. Elisha literally cooked his old way of life and ate it for dinner. And forgive me if this is taking the analogy too far, but after digesting it, he got it out of his system. He eliminated the possibility of going back to farming by eating his own oxen and burning his plowing equipment.

We all, including graduating seniors, have a past. Let’s leave it in the rear-view mirror and focus on the windshield ahead of us. There’s a reason the rear-view mirror is so small and the windshield is so large……that’s where our focus should be.

Seniors, God has a great plan for you and it’s ahead of you…….not behind you. And we’re praying for you all the way!!

4-10-2023

Today I want to share a story that was shared with me. I think this story will touch your heart, but that’s not really the goal of sharing it. I want to share it with you because, well, you need to know how much God loves you. Most of us are familiar with John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)

We see signs along the highway. We see people holding up cardboard posters. We see t-shirts and hats with the message, “God loves you.” While the message is absolutely true, sometimes it’s easy to allow it to go by without realizing just how true it is.

Then there are those who would tell us, “As long as you’re doing good, God loves you, but if you mess up, His love is gone!” That is patently false, but some people still want to spread that untruth. So I’m sharing this story, not just so your heart will be touched, but so your heart and mind will be reminded of just how much God loves you……no matter who you are or what you do. Here is the story, written by Jessica Hurlbut, we go:

One morning, my husband discovered Mara snuggled in bed next to him with a pen in hand, scribbling all over his Bible. As he reached for the pen, Mara looked up and uttered the phrase, “Hi, Daddy.”

This would be a typical response for a three year old. But our daughter Mara is severely autistic and non-verbal. So, when those words rolled off her tongue, my husband’s eyes welled with tears. He found himself overwhelmed with emotions. He was ecstatic to hear his little girl’s voice. This moment poked a hole in the walls of the dam he had built years prior.

You know the walls I’m talking about.

The ones we build around our hearts. No one gets in and nothing comes out. The floodgates broke as he mourned the loss of the daughter he envisioned. He spoke of the pain a father feels when he doesn’t even know his own child. He complained to God how Mara lived in her own world and rarely acknowledged his presence. But that day, God interrupted Greg’s lament and spoke these words to his heart:

I know your pain. I too am a Father and oftentimes, my children fail to acknowledge my presence. Day-in-and-day-out, they repeat the same routine: Breakfast. Work. Dinner. Netflix. Bed. They too live in their own little world. A world entrenched in hobbies, sports, materialism, binge-watching sitcoms, and Instagram surfing.

I try everything imaginable to get their attention. I send people into their lives to interrupt their routines. I answer big and small prayers in hopes they will know my heart. I even went to the extreme of sending my Son, as an attempt to convey my love for them.

I don’t NEED them, but I desperately WANT them. They desperately NEED me, but don’t WANT me. My greatest desire is for them to stop what they are doing and look into my eyes. I don’t have a list of rules for them to follow or a regimented agenda for their lives.

I just want a relationship.

And I’m not mad. I don’t care how many times they have scribbled all over my story. I’m the original author of their lives and I’m crafting a beautiful tale—if they would only hand me the pen. Until then, I will patiently wait for my child to look up and utter the words that cause my heart to skip a beat…

“Hi, Daddy.”

3-8-2023

You may be familiar with Psalm 23. You know, “The Lord is my Shepherd……”, but have you heard this version:

The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest.
It makes me lie down only when exhausted.
It leads me into deep depression.
It hounds my soul.
It leads me in circles of frenzy, for activities sake.
Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done,
For my ideal is with me.
Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me.
They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule.
They anoint my head with migraines,
My in-basket overflows.
Surely fatigue and time pressures shall follow me
All the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration
Forever

Many times I’ve gone home at the end of the day and commented to my wife, “I had a very busy day, but I don’t feel like I accomplished anything.” I may be the only one on the planet with this problem…..but I don’t think so.

For one thing, people (myself included) are far busier today than in the past. Sometimes I wonder where all the time goes! I call this, “The Toilet Paper” effect. You know, the closer you get to the end, the faster the roll goes……..

But here’s the deal: If you don’t master your schedule, it will master you. You might be surprised to know that God has something to say about the stress in our lives. Maybe you’re of the thinking that God is only interested in “spiritual matters”. But the thing is, with God, everything is a spiritual matter. He cares about every single aspect of our lives.

So let me give you three suggestions from the Bible for reducing the stress of your schedule:

First, line up your priorities. Obviously, you don’t have time to do everything. You must make choices. You must decide what’s really important and what isn’t. Take some time to consider the direction of your life.

Proverbs 12:11 says: It is stupid to waste time on useless projects.

Second, lighten up your attitude. Do you really have to do everything on your to-do list? No one is holding a gun to your head. A lot of your stress is self-imposed. God gave us humor as a stress reliever.

Proverbs 14:30: A relaxed attitude lengthens life…..
Proverbs 17:22: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

Finally, look up to God. Stress is always a warning light that you’ve taken your focus off God and are looking at your problems from your limited viewpoint. I believe the single greatest cause of stress is this: We take ourselves too seriously and we don’t take God seriously enough! Need more time in your schedule? Check this out:

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I wish I could tell you that I have this all figured out. I don’t. Like most of you, I keep working at it………..

God bless you this week – this less-stressful week!