A Different Perspective
6-17-2026
Have you ever thought about looking at The Fall of mankind from a different perspective. One pastor decided to help his church see it a little bit differently. He stepped up to the pulpit and read from Genesis Chapter 1, then expounded on creation and the unmistakable love for the Created that went into it. As he did so, a painter slipped onto a stool next to him where a large easel had been placed, and began painting a lovely, spacious meadow scene in oils.
The artist was unusually skilled, so we could barely concentrate on what our pastor was saying as trees, lake, midday sun, tall grass, and blue/red sky sprang up in front of us.
Then, just as the painter put his finishing touches on the canvas, our pastor pulled a pan of black paint out from under the pulpit, dipped both hands into it, then turned to the easel and smeared them all over the freshly created scene.
The congregation’s reaction was nothing short of shock! Some even expressed what they were feeling as they watched their pastor smear black paint on the beauty that had been created. The beauty wasn’t totally gone, but many parts of it were completely blotted out, most of it was marred, and none of it could ever be the same. The ruin was complete.
Never had the concept of The Fall been so well expressed. Through Adam’s disobedience and Eve’s deception, there went the human family, still beautiful but defaced; still existing but marred, never in this life to be all it was meant to be.
You and I have, most often, considered The Fall from Adam and Eve’s perspective, looking at what it cost them……what it cost you and me. But have you ever considered what it cost God? Here he’d just created beauty, only to have it permanently desecrated by one act of disobedience. God had perfect intentions for humanity, only to have His handiwork brutally smeared.
It’s a wonder that God didn’t just wipe everything out and start again. He could have, you know. But He didn’t. Instead, He chose to demonstrate His immense love for His creation – for you and for me – by extending love and grace and forgiveness.
May we maintain this perspective on God’s love for us. Humanity ruined so much through sin, yet God loves us even more through His grace.
The Morning by Morning Goodness of God
6-13-2026
On New Years Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played California in the Rose Bowl.
Late in the second quarter, Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California. In his excitement he became confused and began running in the wrong direction — for sixty-five yards.
He thought he was about to score. Instead, one of his teammates tackled him at their own 2 yard line.
This meant that his mistake put California 98 yards away from where they needed to be; 98 yards away from where they could have been had he had a better sense of direction.
The mistake was serious. A few plays later, Georgia Tech got the ball back and scored.
In the locker room at half time, Roy Riegels sat in the corner with his face buried in his hands, humiliated. The rest of the room remained silent. The coach didn’t make his usual half-time speech, but shortly before they were to take the field again, he said, “The starting team will begin the second half.”
The players all left the locker room, except for Riegels, alone on the bench, his head hung in shame. He said, “I can’t do it, Coach. I can’t play. I’ve ruined the team.”
The coach simply said, “Get up Riegels. The game is only half over. You belong on the field.”
He did the take the field that afternoon, playing what he later referred to as the best half of football in his college career. He said, “I gained true understanding of life from my Rose Bowl mistake. I learned you can bounce back…”
It’s a lesson we can all put into practice. Even if all your life has been spent running the wrong way, even if your missteps have you 98 yards away from where you need to be, you belong on the playing field. There’s still some game left to play. The Apostle Paul said it this way:
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)
Did you stumble? Did you fall? Did you run 98 yards the wrong way? God’s response? “Get up and get back in the game. I haven’t forgotten or abandoned you. I love you! Let’s do this together!”
That is the morning by morning goodness of God!
God’s Great Faithfulness
5-27-2026
Many hymns were written in response to a dramatic turning point in the composer’s life – a personal crisis, a lost love, the death of someone near. Others come from he simple day-to-day faithfulness of God.
In 1893, in the southern state of Kentucky, a young newspaper editor named Thomas Obadiah Chisholm surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. He was 27 at the time, and his dream became that someday he would serve God full time in the ministry. He eventually achieved that dream, but his appointment lasted only a year and he was forced to resign due to poor health. He then moved to New Jersey and began selling life insurance, while remaining active in his local church.
Over the years he wrote well over a thousand hymns and sacred poems, submitting them often to various periodicals for publication. A few made their way into print, though he himself never became well-known.
Later in life, at the age of 75, he wrote, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me until now, although I must not fail to record the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”
Finally retiring at the age of 87, Chisholm spent his last years in a retirement home. In 1960, at the age of 94, he went home to be with the Lord. It was a song that he wrote years earlier, in 1923, at the age of 57, for which he is known today. It’s a song we sing various versions of here at LifePoint. Written by a “unremarkable” man who achieved neither fame nor fortune, he did know something about the day-by-day, morning-by-morning goodness of God in every area of life.
That’s what makes this hymn great. Virtually every line of this great hymn is pulled from the Scripture. It reminds us of how the God we serve is faithful in every way — even when things don’t work out exactly as we would like, we can see his hand at work in every moment of every day.
These are the words that Thomas Obadiah Chisholm wrote…
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not:
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
And this is the chorus…
Great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Thomas Obadiah Chisholm never achieved the accolades of success in this life. As a musician, you might call him a late-comer and a one-hit-wonder. But he lived a great life because he experienced, and he recognized, and he appreciated the morning-by-morning faithfulness of God in his life.
When you make it your habit to seek God’s presence every day, you begin to see evidence of His faithfulness all around you.
Gratitude
5-20-2026
A few years ago a writer named A.J. Jacobs embarked on an adventure that would later become a best-selling book. He resolved to live for one year according to all the laws and commandments of the Bible. The book became, “The Year of Living Biblically”.
At the beginning of the project, he defined himself as an agnostic Jew — Jewish in name and heritage, but not in heritage. His objective was to follow all of the Old Testament laws to the letter — observing the Sabbath, cleansing rituals, the dietary restrictions, even to the extent that he didn’t shave or wear blended fabrics.
He also began to tithe, which he was surprised to discover felt really good: It feels good to be generous. It feels good to help people.
Jacobs also said, in his quest to obey all the Old Testament commandments, that he became overwhelmingly aware of a new sensation, one that he had hardly noticed before:
Gratitude.
He began to feel thankful for every little detail of his life. He talked about getting on the elevator in his apartment building, and being overcome with gratitude for the elevator. And he talked about being thankful to arrive home, thankful for his wife, thankful at the sight of his son. He said that gratitude became something like an obsession with him, that throughout the day he kept saying to himself again and again, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He wrote…
“It’s an odd way to live. But also kind of great and powerful. I’ve never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day.”
I don’t know what has happened in Mr. Jacobs’ life since he wrote this book. I don’t know where he is spiritually, but I do know that while he was on this journey, he discovered a principle of living that, if used everyday, can revolutionize your life.
It’s the principle of Gratitude. Being thankful enables you to recognize more and more the work of God in our lives.
I am thankful for ALL of you! And I look forward to seeing you this evening for our last Bible study before summer break, as well as this coming Sunday.
Chuck
More Than The Climb
5-14-2026
In 2009, pop singer Miley Cyrus recorded a country pop power ballad that incorporates soft rock and pop rock styles for the Hanna Montana movie. The song was titled, “The Climb”. Perhaps you’ve heard the song, perhaps not. It immediately became popular and still gets air time on the radio. But, and I hate to tell you this, Miley was wrong.
It’s not just the climb.
It’s the grind.
It’s the getting up while other people are sleeping.
It’s the walking by your TV and not letting it suck you in to find out who got the rose. It’s the ignoring what you’d like to do because what you love to do needs your time.
It’s sucker punching Monday morning and starting your day before fear has a chance to find you. It’s the swallowing your pride and playing the concert to nobody but the waitress. It’s the filling out all the annoying paperwork it takes to turn your dream into a business.
It’s the 2,000 text messages.
It’s the asking people for help even though you’d like to pretend you’re too strong to need it. It’s the realization that the scale isn’t your boss, it’s a tool. And if you didn’t hit your weight goal today, you’ll get back on the bike, back on the run, back on the steps, and hit it tomorrow.
It’s losing the client, losing the job, losing the opportunity, and realizing you didn’t lose your identity.
It’s getting back up.
It’s the 4 AM alarm clock to catch a shuttle to the airport. It’s the measuring your success against your own actions, not the accomplishments of others. It’s the remembering that hard work still beats 100% of the shortcuts everyone else thinks social media offers.
It’s the being willing to fail.
And fail.
And fail.
And fail.
And get better. Slower than you’d like. In increments smaller than you’d like, but better is better. It’s the not being ashamed of your success or apologizing for the wins, but having the courage to celebrate them without stumbling into the land of arrogance. It’s starting all over again every time the sun does.
It’s being patient in the waiting, and remembering God’s promises to take care of your every need. It’s the realization the God’s mercies are new every morning, and His grace is freely given. It’s thanking God for the bad times, because, without them you’d never know the good times.
Is it just the climb?
No. If you want to change your life and the world, it’s the grind.
Hold on to God’s hand and keep grinding.