» dan Warner Alliance Church - Lewiston, Idaho

I remember hearing a story about war time prisoners and how they were tortured in an unusual way (don’t worry, this is still a “family oriented” read). I cannot remember all the details of what happened, but the significant factors remain clear.

Each day the guards would take the prisoners out to a place where they would be given a shovel and were told to dig a hole. After they had spent much of the day digging the hole, before they could head back to the prison camp, they had to take the same dirt that they had just spent time removing and fill the hole back in.

At first you may think, what is so torturous about that? What it did to the prisoners was it began to eat away at their sense of living with a purpose. Everything they expended energy on was absolutely in vain.

We all need to live with a sense of purpose, something that declares that my life matters. Many of us can relate to that “torture” to some extent. We come to a point where we don’t see how our day to day affairs connect with something significant. It becomes lifeless and even depressing at times. That is why it is so significant that we continue to maintain the focus of living this life with heaven in mind. If all of our energy and efforts point to a promotion, or our kids, or a new boat, or retirement, then what happens when the job falls through, our kids leave home, our boat becomes a huge expense and retirement is not quite what we had imagined?

None of these focuses are wrong, but they can be if they are elevated too highly.If we can allow the kingdom principle (living this life with heaven in mind) to be our first aim, then the others will be kept in proper perspective. I guess that is why when Jesus was teaching about money and possessions he reminded them to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). After all, if God loved us enough to give us his son, I think everything else we need will be taken care of as well.

We just had to say goodbye to some great friends that came to visit us from Pennsylvania and I was reminded during our visit how much I miss them.  We recalled life before Idaho, where we spent time together, walked through life together and even joked about them moving out here…well at least they were joking.

It is always hard to say goodbye or to let go of something that you really do love and enjoy.  Then I began to think of some of the great things we have experienced in our past that we would not have experienced if we hadn’t moved out here.  New chapters of growth and many great new friends that we have made since moving out west to say the least. The reality is that had we not said goodbye to life before moving to Corry, PA, we would not have said hello to our good friends that came to visit this past week.

Jesus spoke about this when he was talking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit coming to live in each believer after salvation.  He reminded them that unless he said goodbye to them, they could not have the Holy Spirit. You see they resisted any talk of Jesus leaving them.  They had grown close to him and had witnessed life transformation as never before and did not want to let go of what they knew.  But Jesus knew what was needed and what would be best for everyone-He knew his role and that it was time for him to leave so something better could take place.

I am convinced that it was not easy, but it was the best.  We all experience this transition of goodbye’s and hello’s, whether it is with a job, a friendship, or parenting your children.  It is rarely ever easy and shouldn’t be done to just create change, but when you are convinced that it is for the best, you willingly walk through it once again. 

May God give us clarity to know when and how to say goodbye to what we know and likely appreciate, to say hello to what is truly best.

Are you defined by who people think you should be or by who God says you are? I know that too much of my life, even to this day, can be spent on trying to fulfill other peoples “expectations” of me. Like, what kind of pastor, husband, father, friend, neighbor, etc… I should look more like.

I can really get tired, bitter and even feel depressed when I jump on the “gerbil wheel” of trying to meet those expectations, because I use so much of my time and energy and ultimately fall short of meeting those expectations when it’s all said and done with.

One thing that has been helpful is taking time to deliberately and deeply consider who I really am. God tells us that when we become part of his family we take on a new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17), our old identity is actually completely different or foreign (1 Peter 2:11), we have a new purpose for life (Galatians 2:20) and a never-ending source of power for living this new life (John 14:15-17, 26; 16:5-8; Acts 1:8).

The bottom line is that when we live in our true identity, we begin to experience a “life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19).

Recently I read an article that brought up the subject of 3D vision and in particular 3D glasses.  When I think about 3D glasses I think of movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon or Jaws which were a couple of movies that I watched as a young boy growing up.

I also think about trying to watch a 3D movie without the glasses. I cannot remember the movie, but I remember wanting to watch it and not being able to find the 3D glasses. I chose to watch it and it was rather bothersome. The picture was fuzzy and because I knew that certain parts of the movie were geared for the glasses, I felt like I was only able to partially enjoy the movie.

When we become a part of the family of God, we gain a new perspective of life. Before coming to Christ, I viewed life differently and as a result of coming to Christ I am regularly challenged in my day to day thinking. In fact my perspective is significantly changed when I view circumstances through the lens of eternity and in light of what pleases God.

As children of God, we have access to viewing and experiencing life from a clearer and better perspective, but we must choose to "put the glasses on." Make the right choice and enjoy the view. What better way to begin this new year.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, I have been reminded that my life is much more eternal than I often give consideration to. It says that God leads us in “triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him” and that we are “to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing”. So basically, we have victory because of Christ and we are smelling up the place with God.

These really are two great realities to embrace. At first we can walk away thinking that we need to focus on odor management, because that is something that at times we really find ourselves busy doing… trying to create a better aroma of Christ for the people around us.

If I can just know more of the Bible, or be more involved in ministries, or make greater sacrifices then I will become more like Christ. Do you see how these things can almost leave God out of the picture? They become new ways to get what we want without any need of God.

We live in a world that is obsessed with bettering ourselves. What we need to remember is that we cannot do that work, because that is a work that only God does in us. He gave us the Holy Spirit to do all the “God stuff” that ultimately changes us from the inside out, not the outside in. Let’s commit ourselves to chasing after God and leave the “odor management” to him.

How incredible!!! We are beginning to see answers to our prayers for “How will we continue to grow in a space challenged facility?”. We also know that the “journey” to seeing that through will be an essential part of our faith.

I don’t think that it is any coincidence that I am reading the book, “The Peacemaker,” as it has already challenged me in how I deal with conflict in my life. To be honest, I don’t really like having to come to grips with this messy reality, but I do see how necessary it is for me and all that are a part of the family of God. After all, Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” and “Blessed are the peacemakers”, and conflict is definitely a reality we all must deal with.

As we journey together, facing inevitable conflicts of desires, may others come to know us as peacemakers to the glory of our God.