Tag: hope

Posted in Life Inspiration

To Sob, Sing or Believe?

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question & meAfter about the 4th or perhaps 40th bad news post on Facebook this morning, my heart was overwhelmed. I was on the verge of either breaking out in tears or song, I knew I had to do something, so rather than explain myself to the rest of the office, I opted to do a quick blog. The page was full of God’s children from birth to retirement fighting battles. They were hurting, their family’s hearts were broken and worry consumed many of their minds and the why’s started coming upon me.

God why does that innocent little child have to suffer like that?

Why does that mommy have to go through that?

Why is it that that man of God, who wants to do nothing more than serve you, has to suffer so?

Why does that man who served our country have to suffer through the rejection of government accountability?

Good grief and o my goodness, that list of why’s went on and on!!

So I turned to the Word of God for reasoning as He is the only One who I know I can trust for answers and I found myself at a familiar passage of scripture:

John 14:1

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

I have to believe God’s got this heartache in His hand and under control… “But it would be way better if I had a reason Lord,” I continued to question God. So I read on until I came to verse 14 of chapter 14 to which it read “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

Woop… stop the record. “Anything?” But God, that’s not how it works. I’ve seen things not go as we ask, why is that in there? In my soul I heard… Go back and read it as I intended it.

Verses 12-13 prior to that read:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Twice it is said that He will do whatever we ask, but not once did it say “as we’d ask it.”

So that child that I asked God to heal, He will. That veteran that I ask God to assist, He will. That Preacher that needs healing and provision, He will provide for. But there’s something attached to that healing and provision, and that is “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” It’s the Son’s decision on how my request is answered, but it is for certain that God will get glory, and it will be well. That’s hard for us to understand when we’re witnessing the pain in this moment of time that way out there in eternity is reason to rejoice. I don’t have the answers… I want the problem fixed, and now would be a good time. But God’s word says I may have to wait, and in so waiting, glory!

If God fixed everything the way we want Him to, how much would we miss out on? And how much worse might things be.

I’ll trust God.

Posted in Easter, Life Inspiration, salvation

The First Easter Bucket

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John 4:9-14

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

I know we’re a few days past the Easter holiday, but truthfully, if we celebrate Christ in our lives every day we’re celebrating Easter; and this thought came into my mind and my heart yesterday and I needed to share it, as I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it since that time. The story of the woman at the well paints such a marvelous picture of salvation for the child of God. An interesting note about this story is that it’s the longest recorded conversation that Jesus has with any one person. And it happens to be with someone He, twice over, should not be talking to according to Jewish law. One a Samaritan, and two a woman. And yet, the Lord doesn’t stand on the formality of religion but rather He goes for the relationship. I love that about Jesus!

So here He stands (or sits, because He was weary) talking to this woman who came to the well in the hottest portion of the day, most likely to avoid people judging her, and she meets the only One worthy to judge. There’s probably a thousand points in this story, but today I’ll mention three.

  1. The Holey Bucket

The Samaritan woman came to the well prepared to get her own water and head back to the house before any of those judgmental people of her city came around. She’d had four failed relationships and was working on the fifth. She’d been let down so many times before, she knew better than to rely on anyone else to take care of her, she could take care of herself. Or so it is that I think of her. And independent woman. Her attitude with Jesus seemed to be almost sarcastic when she says “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with….” In other words, Mister, You came here without a bucket! How do you plan on getting water?

  1. The Holy Bucket

This is what I love about the Lord, and reading His word. In the Bible according to Shari, the one that plays out in my head when I hear or read the Word of God; the one that sometimes adlibs, I hear Jesus saying… Woman, I am the bucket! I have everything you need to sustain life. You can drink of what this world has to offer for the rest of your days but at the end you’ll die of thirst because you can’t live without me.

  1. The unholy Bucket

And then she realizes there’s something different about this man. He knows her, inside and out. He tells her everything that’s been going on in her life, and yet she doesn’t feel condemned. All the sinful, shameful things she’s been doing, she knows He knows. And she also knows that what He speaks is truth. Nothing in the world has ever satisfied her. She tried everything, and every time it fails. She’s tired of coming to that well ashamed, she want to be clean. She’s tired of carrying that unholy bucket around in her life that has her labeled an unfit woman. So she cast care to the wind and says “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”

I don’t want to come here again.

Woohoo! And Hallelujah, does that story ever put a shout in my soul! If the woman had a name tag, and she doesn’t, it would likely bear our name. She every one of us who comes to Jesus with our unholy bucket trying to cleanse ourselves, and it never works.

But Jesus isn’t at the well any longer, He is the well. Because of the cross of Calvary we now have that Easter Bucket of endless living water that will allow us to live eternally with our Lord, but for now will allow us to live effectually for our Lord. For now we have purpose.

There is so much in this story I can’t possibly do it justice in a blog, but after she finished her business with the Lord at the well, she went back to the city. This time she wasn’t avoiding people she was looking for people unashamedly to tell them what the Lord had done in her life!

So… have you been to the well? If you not… go quickly! If so… tell somebody!!!

Posted in Life Inspiration, salvation

The Party’s Better than Ever!

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found

It may be my age, but it is more likely it’s my nature that causes me to lie things down and forget where I put them. I’d venture to say that every day I misplace something at some point, and usually it’s because I’m rushing about with too many things on my mind; scattered thoughts which tend to scatter stuff. So I “get” the woman who lost one of the ten pieces of money. She obviously wasn’t rich, else it would not have been such a big deal, but this was a big deal! Because after she found it she called her friends and neighbors over for viddles on the veranda, or perhaps it was just three for tea, it doesn’t go into much detail on the party, only to say that she had company… or comp’ny if you’re from my neck of the woods.

Luke 15:8-10 ~ Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

There’s various stages of emotions when a “lost coin” event occurs in your life.

The first stage is rather apathetic, “Eh, it’ll turn up…”

The second is one of concern… “Wow, I can’t believe I still haven’t found it!”

Thirdly there’s panic… “Oh my goodness, what am I going to do if I don’t find it?”

Lastly there’s great relief and rejoicing when it’s been found, a “Hallelujah!” moment.

The problem with most people is we’re not poor enough to appreciate what we have, so when we lose it we tend to stay in the “Eh” phase quite a while and sometimes never get to the concern or panic stage. And so is the dilemma with salvation. We’re a blessed nation who lives in the “Eh, it’s all good” phase. I have a house, a job, kids, food on the table, and someone to share it all with, I’m good! I’ll find Jesus later. The problem with later is it’s often when you’re in a panic.

For the record, you won’t “find” Jesus, he wasn’t lost. He was merely pushed back into the recesses of your mind, covered over with all the worldly things you thought were important, or so it was in my life. Prior to salvation I would do and buy things thinking that one more thing was going to give me the satisfaction in life, only to discover there was still something missing. I tried to fill my life with people, activities, toys and hobbies; and as each one lost its luster I’d store it away somewhere. And Jesus would be further back in the stack. Until I could barely seem Him back there.

But then one day I discovered He was missing. I went to church and the Pastor mentioned His name. “Jesus.” Woah!, something happened. He moved a little forward. There was a level of concern in heart. And then there was a level of panic… “What am I going to do if I die and I’ve yet to find Him.” And then came the rejoicing! When Jesus found me. It turns out I was the one who was lost… I was the one who had put so much stuff between Him and me, that I’d lost my way.

There was a party going on in my heart! I was happy, I had to tell somebody! And there was a party going on in Heaven too. By the way… I’m still partying! So is Heaven. Won’t you join me?

Posted in Church Unity, Life Inspiration

An f5 Transition

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Nine months ago Victory Baptist Church set on the brink of uncertainly with our Pastor of 21 years leaving and there was a gamut of emotions within me. I feared being leaderless, I had concerns over what a new leader’s ideas might be and what my role would be in the church, I had trepidation for my co-workers in Christ, how would they weather this storm we were about to go through and would the storm be a breeze or would it be an f5 tornado; and who would be left standing when the wind died down? I had faith that I’d be one of them, but also the reality that I’d seen many others in the faith who’d walked away from God in good times, so I knew I wasn’t invincible. Over nine months we’ve gone through the F5 phases of transition: fear, fret, frustration, fatigue and praise God, faith!

So last night as I watched my new Pastor, Steven Carter, announce his resignation to his current church my heart sunk a little for them. Not as much, because their circumstances are far different from ours; he was a co-pastor with his father. Therefore their transition is more the adjustment to the filling of roles that Pastor Steven played and missing his family’s presence in their congregation, which I don’t make light of. Things that are different are not the same… I think someone wrote a book about that once. Oh yeah… my new Pastor’s father! But even though our circumstances are different, there is one thing for certain, the transitions in life are usually only enjoyable at completion. That middle part… it’s rough.

Life transitions… childhood to adult, single to married, full nest to empty next, job to job, location to location… the list is endless. Life is ever changing. And Solomon, the wisest guy of all said it well in Ecclesiastes 7:8 when he said “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

It’s great when we get to the position in life where everyone’s comfortable in their place and content with that stage of life, but when things are a little shaky and uncertain there’s a humility necessary. You tend to rely on one another more and turn to God more frequently than before. I’m speaking tomorrow at a ladies retreat about how “epic failure equals expert.” So can transition. It’s a learning experience. Now that we’re almost to the other side of this phase in our church we can draw from that for future transitions. This was a first for many of us. I’d had only one Pastor since salvation in 1996, that’s about to change!

I’ve seen others not fare so well in the transition. Their f5 was full of fault finding, falsehoods, forsakenness, foolishness and fussin’. And what it left was devastation. Transition success is relational. It’s not leaving one to never return, it’s about moving down the road to the next phase. The road’s still open (unless you burn the bridge). But it’s good to travel back down the road from whence we came and pull from those experiences, and talk to those people to remind us of the lessons we learned in that phase. That’s why transitioning correctly can make you an expert.

Is Victory Baptist Church an expert? We had less than glowing moments, but they were short lived. And because of that, the ties that bind us are even tighter. We depended on each other, a lot! We talked a lot along transitions road, sometimes healthy conversations, sometimes not. But the point of the matter is as we’re nearing the end of our phase, another church is just beginning theirs. Life…. Forever changing. It’s best to stay in the slow lane when transitioning from place to place, enjoy the view…roll the windows down and get some fresh air… stop and ask directions…. Fill your tank up… keep travelin’…. Enjoy the destination when you arrive. But don’t drive your tent pegs too deep!

Posted in Christmas, Easter, Life Inspiration, salvation

Christmas’ Purpose

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Four o’clock came early this morning but as soon as the alarm went off my first thought was. Good morning Lord, it’s Easter! This is the day you arose and changed the very fabric of our lives. When the veil was torn in the temple there would no longer be a separation between God and man. The privilege once held by the Priest alone, now belonged to the common man… or the common Shari as it is with me.

I woke up as excited as if it were Christmas, which I guess is appropriate being that the reason we have Christmas is Easter. This was Christmas’ purpose.

John 6:40

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Resurrection Morning! This day is what brings hope to all the bad days. This is the day that overrides every heartache in life. God’s ultimate heartache, the forsaking of His Son now gave way to the restoration of man. God opened His Christmas gift that first Easter morning when He opened up the tomb and walked out.

Just to write those words causes my heart to leap with jubilation!!! How must God have felt that first Easter morning? From the cross He spoke “It is finished.” From the tomb, it’s just beginning!

Merry Christmas Lord… Happy Easter!

If you think I’ve lost my mind you may be right, I hope it’s because I’m getting closer to the mind of Christ. But today I have joy unspeakable for what Christ has done in my life. I hope today that you know that joy; that peace on earth and good will to men that we speak so often of at Christmas time. Because were it not for Easter, there would be no peace.

If you don’t have that joy, there’s an easy remedy. Right now, where you are ask Jesus to be Lord of your life and trust Him from this point forward for everything. Believe that He was born of a virgin, that He walked the earth to experience life as you do except without sin because He is God. Believe that He died on the cross to pay for the sin you experience and to put an end to death and give you an eternal hope. There’s still going to be heartaches down here, but because of that first Easter morning we have hope that every heartache has a reason and will for certain pass.

Make today the day that you give all that heartache to the One who took it upon Himself on the cross of Calvary.

Posted in Life Inspiration

Our Greatest Ministry

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Psalm 34:8a

 O taste and see that the Lord is good:

There have been some events in my life that even the very thought of them causes me to crinkle my nose, roll my eyes and a get queasy in my gut. Times in my life that were just not stellar moments either because of something I had done, or something done to me. They’d left a bad taste in my mouth, much like the water that caused the children to murmur against Moses in Exodus 15:23-24:

And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

The water was not the only thing that was bitter, so were they. Why had God brought them to this place with a promise of prosperity and then sat them before bitter water? That hardly seemed right. He’d called them His chosen, the favored of Heaven, should not they be drinking bottled water from the finest of springs? I just realized that I blogged this passage two days ago, so obviously God has a message in it for us, what is it about that bitter water?

I spent yesterday at a ladies retreat in Lexington, VA in hopes of reviving my soul. I wanted to drink from sweet fountain of Christ and be encouraged, and at days end I was, but throughout the day my heart was broken for the three guest speakers. Each had a brokenness that surpassed anything I could imagine. Yes, I’ve had my days of marah, but they paled in comparison to the loss of a family to sin, the loss of a marriage to abuse, the loss of a child to death. Inside my head I kept hearing myself say “Stop the murmuring Shari, you’re ridiculous, you’ve got nothing compared to them!”

There were several notable quotes throughout the day, I’m sure someday I’ll make them mine and totally take credit for the genius, but I can’t take credit, nor give credit for the one I’m about to write because I didn’t take down who spoke, it was said in passing and it stuck in my mind like gum to the bottom of a summer shoe.

“Our greatest ministry comes out of our greatest hurt.”

Is that deep or what? Not only deep but true. All three of the women from the retreat were not murmuring, but rahter using the bitter waters that they’d had to drink to pour sweetness into the soul of other hurting women. Other women who had stood before the same bitter waters.

I thought about what brought me to this place in my life, where I feel entitled to call myself the Jesus Chick and blog my thoughts thinking them worthy of encouraging people. “Who am I, Lord?” I’ve not got any great tragedy (thank you Jesus), what do I possibly have to give someone? I have a few bad tastes in my mouth, but not real bitterness… But then I hear “you’ve tasted my graciousness.”

1 Peter 2:3-5

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

I’m not the one found strong enough to face the tragedies  and stand before the bitter waters these women of yesterday faced, although I’m fully aware that day may come, I have no clue what tomorrow holds.  But God clearly said to me, “Everyone’s life has heartache and sorrow… so has yours. But you’ve always chosen to drink the bitter water and call Me gracious for the mercy I’ve shown you.”

This morning I’m so humbled to be a part of that spiritual house in Heaven and the holy priesthood on earth. I hope you understand that regardless of where you are or who you are in life, you are special in the site of God and worthy through His blood that was shed for you.

To “taste” is to experience. Savor the blessings of life and share that goodness with everyone you meet.

“Our greatest ministry comes out of our greatest hurt.”

Posted in Life Inspiration

In a Day of trouble… there’s one thing good to know…

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Psalm 61 

1-2 Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

David’s prayer in the day of trouble. He’d taken his petition to the only One that he knew could make a difference. It’s good (and needful) to have friends that we can share our burdens and hearts desires with, but how much more it is to have a God Who knew of our heartaches and trials before they happened. It didn’t catch Him off guard that any of it occurred; as a matter of fact it was a part of the plan. For whatever reason God will work this trial to our good and the overwhelming feelings we have in the midst… hold on. David prayed (and me too this morning) that he be lead to the “rock that is higher than I.” That place that I can’t even hope of getting to Lord unless You lift me up.

3 For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

This is not my first rodeo where I feel overwhelmed with the circumstances of life, as a matter of fact it’s been far worse. David’s past experience reminded himself that God had always been a place of refuge. A “place” he could go and for certain find safety. How wonderful it is to know that God will never fail. That’s a reason to shout this morning! The world fails me, people who love me fail me, I most definitely fail me. But God never does.

4 I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.

At this point in David’s life he’d been banished from the tabernacle, but God assured him of impending return. During the time in our lives when we’re overwhelmed by circumstance we often feel the furthest away from God, and it usually a struggle to get back. That period between Wednesday night service to Sunday Worship can seem like an eternity in and of itself sometimes. That’s why it’s crucial to daily read the Word of God and be in prayer. We are the tabernacle for which Christ dwells but He quite often is having services alone.

5 For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.

As a child of God it’s also important to call to mind the day of our salvation. It was not only our commitment of our life to Christ, but His commitment to us. He gave us His name… Christian and the heritage (birthright) that came with it. Glory!

6 Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations.

David had been promised to be King. And even though from this vantage point David didn’t see the Kingdom he knew it was a promise. God wasn’t through with him yet! If we’re still here on earth the same holds true for us! My heart flutters when I think of what God’s ultimate plan could be!

7 He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him.

With all that in mind, David prays for mercy and truth and protection. What more would we want than that in any trial? And how awesome it is to pray to the One who can provide it. It is not wonder David closed out with praise!

8 So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

Keep serving child of God!

Posted in Life Inspiration

Why We Don’t Hear From God

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When my children were growing up I often felt like I was beating the air with feathers. Just a flurry of conversations that fell from my lips and drifted off into eternity like the down of duckling. Just fluff. If I could impart any words of wisdom to young parents it would be to “choose your words wisely as best you can, and don’t sweat the times you don’t… they’re probably not listening anyway.” I’m pretty sure that’s how I treat God, and His Words are always wise.

 Deuteronomy 4:29-31

King James Version (KJV)

But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

We more often than not don’t hear from God because we’ve stopped listening. Start today! That’s great advice. God “But if from thence.” If from this point forward you’ll seek Me, you’ll find Me. He’s not lost, He’s waiting there within our heart and soul; but we’ve got to get past the other junk in our lives. I’m constantly putting things before God. People, things, tasks, and nothing enjoyable! Just “stuff” that blocks my vision (God’s great plans for the future), and stops sound (His Word from reaching my heart). Christian kryptonite. The stuff that drains me of my super Power. But if today I started putting God first, I wouldn’t have any trouble hearing Him. So what would that look like? We first have to look at what’s before us. What’s on your mind right now? Finances? Job? Children? Something else? Now use your creative thinking powers to move ‘that’ behind God and what do we see? Him. Don’t try going around Him to get to your stuff, go through Him. Ask Him for direction and then listen, looking unto Him. Hebrews 12:2 says that “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus endured the cross so that on days like today there would be nothing between us and Him; and nothing would bring Him greater joy than to listen to you and answer you. If something’s there it’s because we’ve put it in the path.

Move it.

Posted in Life Inspiration

Even Cursed I am Blessed

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The God Spot

It’s not been the most enjoyable weekend, which ended a not so enjoyable week. I had lost several dear friends in Christ, the last of which was laid to rest yesterday afternoon. Our community and neighboring communities have had a few really tragic accidents that weigh heavy on my heart. I’ve been battling a bug of some sort that’s caused me to cough my head off with intermittent shots of pain through my entire body. I praise God they were intermittent! For the most part I functioned fairly well, but the loss of the sleep and general achiness was not conducive for productiveness and for me that’s a toughy.  There were things I wanted to get done, but it’s Monday and some did and some didn’t and that’s okay. I am blessed!

In the wee hours of the morning I rolled over to check my phone for the time and discovered that there was a message from yesterday I hadn’t noticed before; it was from my friend Dewey Moede, “God’s Guy” in New Mexico, calling to share his love and concern for my life events. I laid and listened to the message and my first thought was, “Wow! I am blessed with another God spot!”

The “God Spot” began as a joke but became a very real blessing as my friend Gloria and I shop in a busy city. It seldom ever fails that no sooner than we pull into a large parking lot with space at a premium, a parking spot up close the building opens up for us. I “half joke” and tell Gloria it’s our favor with God, but it happens so frequent, I don’t joke anymore. I praise God! It was this morning that I realized that I have so many “God Spots” in my life and I need to begin my day with more praising for His undeserved favor on my life.

From the day man fell in the garden of Eden there has been a curse on the earth:

Genesis 3:17

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Because of their bad decision and our continued bad decisions, life is full of heartache and tragedy. But among it all is there is blessings to be found.

In the midst of this weekend of creeping crud, I was given the honor of singing at the funeral of Mr. Hardman. I wanted to be a blessing to the family, but my voice resembled that of Kermit the Frog. And so I prayed… God please fix this, if I can’t sing well, at least let it be sweet… Mr. Hardman was a fan of music, even “not so great” music as he would arrive early to listen to my beginner violin class practice at church. But the last thing I wanted was to stand before a room of hurting people and hurt their ears! And then the “God Spot” occurred. Just a short time before the funeral I had tried to rehearse and it was a strain to say the least, but I left on faith that it would be okay. And it was. Not my finest hour, but I belted out God is Real, and My Chains are Gone with no creak or crack. My God is awesome like that!

Time after time God has pulled me out of jam, blessed my socks off through His Word, opened up doors of opportunity and given me gifts to the point that I feel like I not only have His favor, but He makes me feel like I am His favorite. I’m not, we all are. He loves His people. Yes we’ll have heartache, but praise God for the “God Spots” in life that give us the strength to make it through.

Are you going through a rough patch? Start looking for the God Spots…

Posted in Life Inspiration

Hanging on to hope… again

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What feels like forever ago was actually just a few years, when I lead a group of students at our local high school in a drug prevention program. It wasn’t “just” a job; I had long since moved on from that theory after Jesus saved my soul and realizing that nothing just happens. I laid hold of Paul’s words to the Philippians in Philippians 3:14:

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

It was indeed a high calling and an opportunity to minister and to be ministered to. Yea, I know… Jesus is not allowed in public school, right? Whether they like or not Jesus is there when children who know Christ are bold enough to put Him there and adults have enough back bone to support them.

This morning is more of a reflection of gratitude for a life that I was privileged to have a miniscule piece of time in. I learned yesterday that one of the students in that program committed suicide, probably about 20-21 years of age. He had left West Virginia and joined the Air Force and other than an occasional look at his Facebook status I really had no clue as to what he was up to. But he had put a mark on my life that gives me sweet peace this morning.

The bible tells us in Philippians 3:17 ~

Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

Mark them. Strong’s Concordance defines this as “to take aim at and heed to.” On more than one occasion this young man would come into my office and set for long periods of time and discuss his relationship with Christ before his peers. What a blessing he was! And I don’t say that “just because.” It’s truth. One of those peers posted on Facebook this morning

Today my brother and best friend left this world to be with Jesus. He rekindled my flame with the lord, and through example showed me there is nothing to be ashamed of. Because of (him) I rededicated my life to Christ on January 3, 2014. You will be missed until we meet again.

He took heed to his friend and because of it they both have hope.

Hope in a suicide? Suicide is the most tragic of deaths. Because the victim of a saved person’s suicide is the family and friends left behind to deal with the unanswered questions. It’s unfair. But praise God that they have hope of seeing him again!

How does one get to the point of suicide if they have Jesus residing in their soul?  I don’t have that answer, only that it serves as a reminder to us all that the world can consume us if we’re not careful to keep our eyes on Jesus. And the need to keep our eyes on one another who bear the mark of Jesus. Loving each other, looking out for each other.

There’s another “mark” that Paul spoke of in Romans 16:17:

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

There will be those who will take a circumstance such as this and use it to further the nonsense that people who are saved don’t have issues in life. Mark them and avoid them. Don’t let anyone steal your hope in life. And if you are someone who struggles with life, please reach out to a friend in the faith. Don’t let Satan convince you that taking your life is an answer. It causes a host of other problems in your passing and denies God His purpose for your life.

Just a side note. This Jesus Chick loves ya today. And so does Jesus.