Life isn't the same...

I dropped by the office of my late dear friend Howard Newman yesterday. I asked Cass how things were going. Her response was quick and to the point, "Life is not the same without him."

To which I replied, "Life wasn't the same with him."
My iWitness...

It's a wonderful "Catch 22."

Life is not the same without you and life is not the same with you.
Do you believe that about yourself?
Whether you believe it or not, the above statement is true.
You have an incredible impact on the people around you.

How about our life with or without God?

Life is not the same without God.
Life is not the same with God.

I am certainly enjoying the ride with God... I really can't imagine the ride without Him...
Can you?

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

"And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28. 20)

Letting Go...

I listened to a song this morning that brought me to tears.
It was performed acapella style by the Westminster College Men's Chorus.
The title of the song is: Oh Love, That Will Not Let Me Go

1. O Love that wilt not let me go,
   I rest my weary soul in thee;
   I give thee back the life I owe,
   That in thine ocean depths its flow
   May richer, fuller be.
2. O light that foll’west all my way,
   I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
   My heart restores its borrowed ray,
   That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
   May brighter, fairer be.
3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
   I cannot close my heart to thee;
   I trace the rainbow through the rain,
   And feel the promise is not vain,
   That morn shall tearless be.
4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
   I dare not ask to fly from thee;
   I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
   And from the ground there blossoms red
   Life that shall endless be.

My iWitness...

Believe me when I say, "I have let go of God many times."
Trust me when I say, "I have pursued my own pursuits and desires with the passion of a dog on a bone."
Put it in the bank when I say, "I have wandered aimlessly in the deserts, the high plains, the jungles, the mountains, the beaches and the forests of life."

But listen ever more closely when you see me on my knees with tears streaming down my face when my heart joyfully professes and confesses...

"His love... will never let me go... Never..."

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

Hope

Yesterday, in the University Chapel the preacher read from Isaiah...

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9. 6-7)

The preacher's voice carried with it a subdued passion. That which Isaiah had proclaimed some 600 years before the birth of the Prince of Peace had become the "hope" on which people eagerly awaited with great anticipation the coming of the Messiah.

Hope...

My iWitness...

My favorite quote on "Hope" is attributed to the Hall of Famer from the Chicago Cubs Ernie Banks...

You can live 30 days without food
You can live 3 days without water
You can live 3 minutes without air
But you cannot live 10 seconds without hope!

Hope and the firm basis of it is predicated on that which is promising the "hopeful" outcome.

I hope that I will be the winner of the Men's 55 US Open Tennis Championship in 2018.
That's called Pollyanna, pie in the sky "wishful" thinking.
I hope for world peace!
I can't even hope for that because the people being held responsible to bring about such peace are not trustworthy to bring about that cause.

I hope that poverty will be forever vanquished.
Poverty could be eliminated in our country but I really don't hope for that either because the decision makers in our country can't make up their minds on how to go about such a task. Even if they would find unanimity in their desire would their constituents be interested in making that a priority in their lives.

As with most things, this list could go on and on...

I do hope for peace in our hearts, minds and in our lives...
I do hope that the very poverty of our spiritual life will be vanquished...
I do hope that in the end, the love of God wins out and that I will live in the house of the Lord forever and ever.

I can hope for these things because such hope is rooted in the firm foundation of the One who can bring about such things - God!

What are you hoping for today?
Where might your hope be placed?
For that which you hope for, on what basis do you find support for such hope?

I hope you find "hope" in the One who is the author of all of our hopes and desires...
Otherwise, you only have 10 seconds to live!

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

HUGS

If you don't like reading politically "incorrect" statements or suggestions please stop reading right now. In fact, if you stop reading right now I would love to meet you. I have never met someone who is "politically correct" all the time.

I was watching a show last night where a woman was trying to help reconcile two ladies. The main woman kept saying to the one lady, "Hug her! Give her a hug! Go on... Hug her."

The one lady was hesitant and did not want to hug the other lady.
The woman in a very strong, firm, yet gentle loving voice said, "Hug her. Hugs stand for Helping Us Grow Spiritually."

Helping
Us
Grow
Spiritually...

I love it!

My iWitness...

Here comes the politically incorrect part of the blog.

Hug someone today.

Reach out and physically touch and embrace another human being.
Don't do what I call the "Butterfly" hug where you lean over at the waist and perhaps your shoulder lightly touches another person's shoulder while you flap your hands on their back ever so gently and softly. I mean... HUG someone! Embrace them fully!

If the acronym HUGS holds true, then I was the most Spiritually Grown man when I was pastoring First Presbyterian Church in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
I hugged about 300-400 people a week.

If the acronym HUGS holds true, then I am shriveling away spiritually in the University setting. If I hug one person a week while on campus that might be stretching it just a bit. The University setting is a "no touching, no hugging zone" for the most part. For me, who loves to embrace, this has been one of the more difficult transitions over the last 20 months or so.

Yes, I understand that "touching" has a very negative connotation these days with all the sexual abuse scandals that have gone on in the past decade. I get it. But, in the same sense it seem like we have thrown the baby out with the bath water. We have this incredible gift from God of "touch and feel" (one of our five senses) and with each passing day this gift gets placed high on the shelf for no one to see or touch.

If Jesus was around today in the flesh He would have a problem on his hands, literally.
Jesus loved to touch and embrace people.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. (Mark 10. 13-16)

There is something very spiritual,
very healing,
very refreshing,
very freeing,
very invigorating when we embrace one another.

HUGS!
Let's grow spiritually today...

And that's my iWitness...With a Big HUG!!
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

"Greet one another with a holy kiss..." (Romans 16. 16)
Now that's for another blog! Just stick with hugging today!!

Unsubscribe

For the last five days or so (Black Friday and Cyber Monday Season) I have received hundreds of emails from Mortgage Companies wanting to slash my payments, Investment Firms telling me where to invest my money, Internet Outlets where the greatest bargains in the history of shopping can be found and Car Dealerships tempting me to buy $30,000 automobiles.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what I bought online that would have triggered all these websites trying to secure my money, my attention, my life, my business, my family, my dog... well, you get the picture.

I have noticed one interesting thing about all of these offers. At the bottom of each message, in very small print comes their best offer in just one word - Unsubscribe.

And with a couple of extra keystrokes... I do!

My iWitness...

I wonder what would happen if we took an extensive inventory of the things which clutter and vie for our attention on an everyday basis.

How many items, voices, people, thoughts, offers would that inventory list?

Of those items which ones do we need to Unsubscribe?

What would happen if we filtered out those things which simply and profoundly distract us from being focused on the main thing in our life. Of course that raises a very pertinent and poignant question...What is the main thing in my life? (That will have to wait for another blog on another day.)

Every offer that demands your attention, time and being comes with an Unsubscribe button. Take the time necessary to punch it.

Give yourself an early Christmas present...

Click the Unsubscribe button...

It just might be the best gift you receive this Christmas!

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
    and give me life in your ways. (Psalm 119. 37)

ps - Please don't Unsubscribe from my blog!! LOL!

Reason for the Season?

Someone will post it on Facebook...
It will grace the bumper of the car in front of you...
It will float out there like a righteous hot air balloon in the midst of some serious Christmas conversation...
With the casualness of saying "How's it going?", it will be reeled off the tongue of a sincere friend...
You may even be accosted with it by some non-commercialized zealots intent on keeping Christmas "pure"...
With big letters some store owners will paint it on their storefronts...
Maybe I'm the first one to bring it to your attention this Christmas season...
You are going to come face to face with it sooner or later, so here we go...
"Jesus is the Reason for the Season!"

There...
I said it...
You just read it...
Whew...
Glad that's over with...

My iWitness...

I get it.
I understand.
I know what "they" are driving it when they proclaim it and declare it.
I see the desire to "rail against the commercialized Christmas machine."
Yes...
The focus of the Christmas season needs to center on the newborn savior.

However...
Jesus is not the reason for the season.
Yes, you read that right.
Let me repeat myself...
Jesus is not the reason for the season.

If Jesus is not the reason for the season,
then who or what is the reason for the season?

Do you want to know the answer?
Of course you do!

YOU are the reason for the season!!

Listen carefully as you read the most quoted verse in all of scripture...

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3. 16-17)

God loved who? The world! Who is the world? YOU
God gave His son. So that whoever believes... Who is whoever? YOU
God sent His son not to condemn, but to save. Save who? YOU
God sent His son into the world so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.
Who gets eternal life? YOU

Get it?
Got it?
Good!

YOU are the reason for the season! And don't let anyone tell you different...

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

Let the madness begin...

And so it begins...
Many of us thought it began on Thursday around 8:00 pm when the pre-Black Friday sales began with stores opening at unprecedented hours.
Oh no...
That was the calm before the storm.
That was the eye of the Hurricane passing by...
That was the cold air gently saying hello to the hot air before they agreed to make a funnel...
That was the announcer gently tugging on the string to strike the bell for the heavyweight fight to commence...

There's no stopping the 100 foot tidal wave now...
Get your cellar doors open for the E5 tornado...
The running of the Bulls in Pamplona has just turned the first corner...
You know what I am talking about...
It happens every year at the same moment...
It's December 1st...

Let the madness begin...

My iWitness...

The next 40 days are going to be just about the most important 40 day stretch of 2013 and into 2014.

Shopping...
Church, Christmas Pageants...
Four Advent Sundays, Advent wreaths with Advent Candles...
Parties, Work parties, neighborhood parties, Church parties, small group parties...
Elf on the Shelf...(by the way, should I mysteriously die between now and Christmas day... Investigate the Elf on the Shelf named "Quick" at my home...He makes me very nervous.. He's always smiling and he never blinks... I mean never!!)
Family... immediate and otherwise
Gifts to buy... gifts to return...
Credit cards to swipe...credit card bills to lament
Work...
Christmas cards... Facebook posts...Twitter tweets...Instagram photos...
Smiling when you feel like crying...
Silent Night, Holy Night when the world is full of noise and everything is anything but holy...
Empty chairs where loved ones used to sit at the dining room table...
TV Commercials telling you "He went to Jared's" and "Every kiss begins with Kay" (I'm telling Jared to Kiss off with a capital K!)
Christmas lights...Whose house will have the most?
Christmas trees, decorations, Advent Calendars, wrapping paper and stockings hung by the chimney with care...(try something new this year...hang the stockings recklessly!!)
Food, diets, calories colliding with countless opportunities to indulge, exercise routines...
The annual reading of "Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house..."
Charlie Brown Christmas Special along with Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer...
Non-stop background Christmas music wherever you go...
Don't forget about the needy family that needs practical items along with one "toy."
To top it off did I mention "Your totally dysfunctional family!!"?
By the way... This is my favorite time of the year! I love these next 40 days!

Let the madness begin...

Here's a profound thought...

The madness is the madness.

The real question is, will we be able to experience peace in the midst of the madness?
Therein lies the true challenge for the next 40 days.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14. 27)

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4. 4-7)


Over the next 40 days let's keep the main thing the main thing.
And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and fear not!
David!

ps - Let me know how you are doing...