Fair Weather Fans

By Pat

Have you ever known a sports fan who was crazy about their team... unless they're playing badly? I do. I know people who absolutely love their baseball or football team, and follow the games religiously. But when things turn sour and the team isn't doing so well, they desert them, sometimes for a different team, and sometimes just until their luck turns and they become a winning team again. These people are called "fair weather fans."

In our faith walk, it's very tempting to be a fair weather fan. We think God is just awesome when things are going our way, blessings abound and all is right with the world. We are God's biggest cheerleaders, his number one fans! We pray and praise and worship whole-heartedly. But life has a funny way of turning the tables on us, and we can suddenly find our happiness and well-being challenged. And God often becomes the scapegoat. It's His fault. We become angry with Him, and feel deserted. We find ourselves going through the motions in our spiritual walk, and we pray through clenched teeth. We falter and fumble until, once again, we see things improving in our lives. We are, at those times, fair weather fans.

When things aren't going so well and we are faced with difficulties and struggles, it's more important than ever to keep cheering for God, remembering He never promised us that life would be a continual party. We must pray harder, love stronger, worship with whole hearts and trust that God is at work, no matter what is going on. We must remember to find a way to glorify God every day, in every circumstance, and cling to the hope of better days and stronger faith. We must stay on God's team, no matter what.

"I tell you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble; but take heart! I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Fill Me Up, Lord

By Pat

In 2 Kings 4:1-6, we read about the widow who needed money to pay her late husband's creditor, who was coming to take her two sons as slaves to repay the debt that was owed. Elisha instructed her to collect as many empty jars as she could and fill them with the oil she had left so that she could sell them and repay the debt, so she gathered up as many jars as she could from her neighbors. The small amount of oil she had flowed and filled all the jars, and when they had all been filled, she told her son to bring another one, but he said there were no more. It was then that the oil stopped flowing.

God was willing to continue filling as many jars as the woman could provide, just as He fills our empty hearts and souls with His blessings and provisions. But when we stop offering our emptiness to Him, He stops and waits for our empty jars to be held out to Him again. God's mercies are endless, and His love is overflowing, if only we continue asking Him to fill us up!

We sometimes hold ourselves back from God when things are not going well...we feel that God is distant and not listening anyway, so what's the use? We retreat, and find it difficult to even pray at times, but it's at those times we need to seek God even more diligently and ask him to fill us again. And we also sometimes withhold ourselves when all is well and our jars already seem to be filled. We wait, and we forget to keep those jars held out to God until we need something again. We forget that God knows what we need and is ready to give it to us, whether in times of want or times of plenty, and it's at those times that we need to thank God for what he has blessed us with and seek even more, so that we can complete the work He has for us.

No matter what's going on in our lives, we must never limit God's ability to fill us with His blessings by failing to hold up our empty jars for Him to fill. God loves to give us the good things He has for us. We need only offer our empty jars to Him, every moment of every day!

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Christmas Every Day

By Pat

For many people, sadness sets in when Christmas is over. The cookies are gone, the tree is taken down, lights and decorations packed away. The feelings of peace and joy are replaced by a kind of melancholy, and life resumes as usual. I admit that I, too, am sometimes struck by pangs of sadness realizing it's all over. But why is that? Is it really over?

The greatest gifts ever given were the gifts of forgiveness, redemption and salvation, sent in the form of a baby, our Savior. But this precious gift, unlike other Christmas gifts, can be opened every day and celebrated long after the visible signs of Christmas are gone. For you see, with the right mindset, every day can be Christmas in our hearts.

Every day we can (and SHOULD!) wake up and thank God for the precious gift of Jesus. Every day we can remember that we are saved; redeemed by the birth of a sacred baby. Why reserve those feelings of gratutude for Christmas day? Every day presents us with opportunities to give gifts...gifts of helping a neighbor in need, serving the underprivileged, extending the hand of brotherly love to our fellow man. Why save it for the Christmas season? Instead of presenting Jesus with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh, can't we offer Him the gifts of kindness, generosity and love every day? For each kindness shown, each little gift given, every act of selflessness, is actually a gift to baby Jesus, like those extended to Him by the wise men who traveled to see our newborn King.

With a right heart, we can celebrate Christmas every day, and keep the feeling alive all throughout the year. In fact, I think I will leave my tiny little manger scene out so that I can see it many times each day to remind me not to limit the Christmas spirit to December 25th. Perhaps I'll adopt a new tradition of doing a little something extra for someone in need each month to share the love of God. I will NOT pack away the Christmas spirit this year. I am determined to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Savior all year and to remind my little world that Jesus is born and Jesus is love...every day of the year.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

God Says..."Cast all your cares on me."

By Jason V (Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor)

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

As a husband, father and pastor, I face the constant temptation to worry.  At our church, with our church members and leaders, in our home, in my marriage- everywhere I face almost constant fears and anxieties.

I am tempted to worry about my children: Will they grow up to love the Lord?  Will they fall into trials and temptations that seem to plague so many “pastor’s kids”?  Have I messed up in my parenting? Am I too restrictive? Am I too permissive?

I am tempted to worry about our marriage and our household: Will we have enough money to pay for all of life’s expenses? Am I spending enough time with my wife?  Am I showing her how much I love her?  Is she feeling pressured and overwhelmed by the task of being a “pastor’s wife”?  Am I praying for her as much as I should?

At church, I am tempted to anxiety at every turn: Did the visitors like our church?  Was my sermon really any good?  Will our church grow?  Will giving increase?  Will we meet our budget?  Are our people really growing spiritually?  Are we reaching our community?  Should we be doing more?  How can we?

If I tried to carry the weight of all of these concerns and expectations, they would crush me.  Honestly, on some days, I carry too much and I do feel overwhelmed.  So what am I supposed to do?

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Perfect Obedience

By Pat

We all know the story of Mary and Joseph and the events surrounding and leading up to the most wonderful miracle ever...the birth of Jesus. I love reading and hearing it, that glorious announcement that Mary would give birth to the Son of God, despite overwhelming obstacles. What a privilege! What an honor! I usually focus on the magnificence of the holy events surrounding the birth of a King, the Savior of the world. But when I read it this morning, I was struck by the complete and utter trust and the perfect obedience shown to God by Mary.

Mary knew all the ramifications of this unexplainable and unplanned pregnancy. She had to have been scared. Everything she and Joseph had planned was now changed, and she didn't know why...only that God chose her. So, instead of arguing and presenting her case to God about how difficult this would be, she obeyed. She gave herself as His vessel. How I long to be more like her...but I would guess most of us are not. I'm certainly not.

The excuses used to justify our reluctance and hesitancy in obeying calls from God are many; too old, too young, too poor. Too busy, too dumb, too slow. Too inexperienced, too shy. If something is out of our comfort zone, we argue that we must have misunderstood what God is communicating to us-God would never ask us to do something that seems, to us, preposterous. Right? Wrong! In my heart, I know that God would do exactly that. There are countless examples in scripture of God using the seemingly improbable to accomplish the absolutely impossible, for God always equips us with every tool we need to be effective servants in His work..if only we will obey His call, as Mary did.

So when God presents us with an opportunity to serve Him, let's push aside our fears, stop arguing with God, and boldly say, "Here am I...send me." We will never know what complete and humble obedience can accomplish for the Lord until we truly trust...and OBEY.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her." (Luke 1:38)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.