Our love of the Father, our obedience, and our felt dependence on Him are only matters of the HEART, not of available time, or of circumstance, or pain.

Now is the time! Today is the Day!

“And this is Eternal Life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent!” (Jn.17:3).

Let’s go to Him while He may be found!

He’s waiting for each of us with open arms, a ring and a robe!!

A new name, a new beginning.

Today, for all who will!

John 16:8 And when He [the Spirit] comes, He will convict the
world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and
concerning judgment: (9) Concerning sin, because they do not
believe into Me;
Rom 5:12 Therefore just as through one man [Adam] sin entered
into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed
on to all men because all have sinned.

Sin is related to Adam, the first man God made for Himself, for it was through
Adam that sin entered the human race.

We were born of sin in Adam. If you were born in Adam, you were born a sinner.

In fact, we have been sinners for six thousand years. Although,
as a man, you might be only 30 years of age, as a
sinner, you are 6,000 years old. There are no young
sinners. Every sinner is very old, as old as Adam.

We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we were born sinners.

The sin we are referring to here is the unwillingness to be translated from
Adam into Christ. If people wish to remain in Adam, it means
that they want to remain in the old realm and not move into
the new realm, which is Christ… You do not need to rob a
bank, deceive your wife, or lie to your parents. You may
be a gentleman, but as long as you do not believe in the Lord
Jesus, you are destined to perish. The unique way to escape
from your sinful situation is to believe in the Lord, and the
unique sin that qualifies you for perishing is not to believe
in Him.

Therefore, the key today is whether we believe or
not. If we believe, we shall be translated out of Adam into
Christ. But if we do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of the Living God, we shall perish.

Our Universe was built to be a window into another realm. Most men spend their entire lives seeing only the surface of things. They stare at the window, but never through it.

Only those who stare through the window—who see the brush strokes of the artist in the landscape; who hear the original conductor behind all beautiful melodies; who sense the intervening provision in ordinary circumstances—are fit to be called “worshipers”. All other worship is merely pretense and religion. The “music” may sound lovely, the words may be sincere, the emotions may be roused, but the soul is untouched and the heart is unmoved. It’s Cain’s offering of duty and conscience not Abel’s offering of heaven-piercing faith. The one sees Him who is invisible and reaches through the limits of space and time into heaven to see and find and know Him for themselves. The other knows about God in his “mind” and seeks to do right “things” for Him.

If you are never filled with unexplainable awe, if your heart never skips a beat, if the hair never raises on the back of your neck, if you’re never inspired to love or to dare or to risk…in bizarre ways and times and places, then you’ve not seen the one whose image is stamped indelibly on our Universe and whose image, though tainted, continues to emerge forth—even among the fallen sons of Adam.

This then, is a different sort of look at Him who fills everything in every way. This is a look at Jesus and a call to open our eyes and see Him. The attributes of His nature are built into the structural code of our universe. He is a Warrior, a King, a Poet, a Prophet, a Brother, an Artist, a Groom to be, and a Best Friend.

Though all of His roles have been twisted and counterfeited by the enemy (this is the enemy’s primary way of keeping the masses from falling madly in love with Him, and inspiring them to storm the castle and expel the usurper ), His irresistible nature shines through for those who have eyes to see and hearts full of ignitable tinder…

Because He is a Warrior…

If you did not know her, you’ve probably got a sister, a brother, a cousin or a friend. So, you know what it means to feel love. Turns out Missy loved a bunch — more than we, her family, even knew. Such was the gift of a gracious and mighty God. In our grief, God showed and shared with us a multitude of stories about Missy that helped us know and understand who she was, how special she was and, most importantly of all, that the fruit of her life was love. Scripture tells us that God is love and the fruit of the Spirit is love. She knew and accepted Jesus, and her faith bore ample and abundant fruit. Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and Missy’s faith was not without works and never died.

It happens. It really happens. . . But we never think it can happen to us. Or worse. Those we love.

For almost 24 hours — until the coroner’s report came back — we had no idea why Missy died. We were, as my Uncle Terry said, thunderstruck.

My Dad cursed himself and life itself. He spewed anger at God in much the same way that I imagine Job’s wife urged him to do in the oldest book of the Bible when all that he held dear was helplessly stripped from him. A child, his baby, his only girl, died in his arms. He could do nothing to save her. Dad fought with Missy’s blood clots unwittingly yet frantically as they passed through her lungs trying to use the breath from his own lungs to save his little girl. He gave everything he had for her and to her in those final moments. But she passed anyway.

The ambulance arrived and after an hour or so the angels on the ground pronounced her dead. My brother Chad noticed that the paramedics were angels on the ground and that the same compassion and care they exuded in the physical realm is also carried out by heavenly teams of angels in the spirit world every day as people pass through the shadows of death. Mom didn’t want to leave Missy’s lifeless body alone. She said in a grief-bellowing cry over and over again how much she wanted to cover Missy with love, not ready to say goodbye. Never ready to say goodbye.

My wife and daughter were staying with my parents on vacation when Missy collapsed. I was 1,900 miles away, rounding a curve on a Southern California highway in a supercharged Chevy Cobalt contending with life and absorbing some heavy blows when my cell phone rang.

Missy never married. But she loved Kipp and they had their life together for years. Missy loved her dogs; they were her kids. She was so happy here!

On Valentine’s Day 2009 — a full year and five months before Missy died — she wrote the following as an answer to a personal quiz on Facebook: “17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Brother Todd and his family, wish i could see them more than I do…P.s. thanks Todd for inviting me on facebook.
On the phone about a week before, my little sister and I talked. Cat Stevens, I believe it is, has always haunted me with his song ‘But We’ll Have A Good Time, Then.’ That song will forever remind me of this moment now, until I breathe my last breath. Missy’s last words to me — the last thing she ever said to me — was, and I quote, “Todd, it’s time to come home. It’s been too long. ”

There is so much more to this story, so much more to the chapters of Missy’s life. Her entire story bears reflection because through it are lessons that can strengthen other people’s lives. Missy was a humble, a gentle and a loving soul. She was profound and utterly simple. In these ways, Missy personified and glorified Christ. She could also aggravate you with her hard-headed, set-in-her ways determination and with her stubbornness. Conformity could not claim Missy as an ally. She not only heard a different beat, her drum sticks were manufactured elsewhere.

Fitting in and drawing attention to herself simply did not matter to Missy. She genuinely cared about other people more than she cared for herself. Her servant’s heart baffled us at times. And, we would encourage her to bow up and not be so weak. Thankfully, she rarely if ever listened to our “advice.” She knew better than we did. She really did.

The only person whose attention ever really mattered to Missy was Mom. Missy always wanted Mom to notice her. Missy always wanted Dad to approve of her. As for Chad and I, we were boys. We were different. A different breed. She loved us. But she did not want us singing her song. Not ever. (More on this later.)

Complex in her simplicity and profound, Missy had a Heart full of Love. More than 300 people celebrated her life and shared love stories of her at her service on July 23, 2010. We will never know another Melissa so Sweet.

Chad and Missy were always so close growing up. Less than two years separate them. Though their adult lives did take different paths, they remained close. Always living within a few miles of one another, they saw each other and spoke often. Chad and his wife Kara have three boys and Missy is their Mimi, and the boys all miss her greatly because she was woven into the fabric of their lives. I will never let them forget Missy. Neither will Chad or Kara.

My daughter, Avery, will never forget her Mimi, either. She will always remember Missy and her beautiful smile. She last saw Mimi’s smile as she lay on her bed only minutes from her death — though no one knew that then. Avery handed Missy a soda. Missy smiled and thanked her, calling Avery a sweety. Missy loved Avery and was so proud of her. Missy always said Avery was so beautiful, and looked just like she did. The truth is I can’t begin to tell you how many times throughout her young life Avery did things that reminded me of Missy when she was a little girl. Did I ever tell Missy that? It would have made Missy so, so happy.

One time Missy called me up early one morning. It had been a long time since we had talked. I said hello and she immediately asked if I could get her boyfriend, Kipp, a supercharger for his Mustang. She knew I owned automotive magazines and web sites and that I worked with parts manufacturers on a daily basis. It stood to reason, I could get her one for Kipp, she explained. It would make Kipp so happy. . .

“Missy, you don’t understand. They cost a lot of money, thousands of dollars. I can’t just get you a supercharger! It’s more complicated than you’re making it,” I said.

“Is it really?” Missy asked.

Yes, really, I said. What do you think? Don’t you understand the ways of the world, Missy?

“He wanted one. I wanted to get him one. I thought you could help me. It’s simple, Todd. I understand. Don’t worry about it,” she said in a very detached way.

I admit that single conversation confounded me for years. I would often use it as a marker showing how different Missy and I approached life and things. In my mind, I was right and she was wrong. Things had to be more complicated, more complex, or I wasn’t happy. There had to be some “do” involved. But for Missy, complications disrupted living — living which meant giving. And I always thought I had to teach this type of stuff to Missy. Imagine that! I should have listened more. I should have fallen on our face and thanked God for the gifts He was giving that I was failing to see and comprehend. Don’t do this to yourself? Please, don’t do this.

Five years of not seeing Missy turned into a lifetime in an instant for me. How do I live with that? Only with, by and in the strength and courage of the mighty and all-knowing Father who is capable of taking “all things” and making them “work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Without this knowledge, without this faith, without this promise from a God who never, ever fails, I would not be able to carry on. But with it, oh my strength and courage is renewed and my guilt and remorse sown asunder. For I know — I know — that God will prevail, and that one day Missy and I will stand together in front of a triumphant speaking creator, hopefully arm in arm, as He demonstrates to us how he used our lives individually in this time of pain to call and speak to other’s hearts, unlocking in their minds and in their spirits that deeply seeded knowledge that He is. Through this pain and suffering, through these ashes, He will transform it into a beauty unimaginable. Then, and it will come, in it all pain will be avenged and all distance and sorrow requited. Glory be. And use me now, oh God.

Not only did Missy in our last conversation get the final words in, rich in their profundity upon review for me as always, but I never was able to tell her how much I noticed her, how much I approved of her, and how much I loved her. We should, but we rarely think of those things. So, for now, I wrote her a little note.

“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 3:13b-14

Os Hillman points out that our past can be a hindrance or a help in moving toward God’s purposes for each of us.

For some, the past has meant pain and heartache, and grace is required so that we do not let our past dictate our responses to the future, Hillman says. Pastor John Piper calls this Future Grace, and he has written a book about it by that name. I highly recommend it. God has only good planned for us, but if we allow our past to make us a victim, then we have not entered into the grace that God has for us. If we live on memories of past successes and fail to raise our vision for new things, we again are victims of our past.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland” (Is. 43:19).

Hillman says our past should only be viewed for what we can learn from it, pointing out that wherever we are and whatever we are going through or coming out of we must move forward and avoid viewing the negative or the positive for more than what we can learn.

Many have allowed their past to dictate their future, according to Hillman.

But the Bible is very clear: God is always about doing new things in our lives. He gives fresh revelation of His purposes in our lives, if we will only open ourselves up to receive it.

Do not live in the past. Do not hold onto bitterness that may hinder God from doing new and exciting things in your life. He turns our wastelands into streams of water to give life, not death.

How have you viewed your past? Has it hindered you in some areas of your life? Have you relied on past successes to dictate what you will do in the future? Put aside such thoughts and allow God to do a new thing in your life. Ask Him to help you see the new things He wants to do in and through you today.

“When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you’re headed for the grave” [Author unknown].

When I’m in trouble I call on You, confident that You will answer.

Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Lord, You are my confidence, and You will keep my foot from being snared.

I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I am blessed because I trust in You; my confidence is in you.

Hallelujah!