Friday, March 30, 2012

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“God Told Me” and other embarrassing phrases Christians use

Whenever someone tells you something that begins with the three words “God told me” you should immediately:

1. Look for the nearest exit.

2. If said exit is locked, attempt to cut them off mid-sentence by poking them in the eye.

3. If they are significantly taller than you and hence out of eye-poking reach, quickly lift your pant legs up as high as possible because you are about to wade through a pile of really smelly stuff.

God has never spoken directly to me, ever…

Not through a dream.
Not through a strange set of circumstances.
Not through a person.
Not in my head.
Not in my spirit.
Not in my gut.

Not one time. Never. Nada. Zip. In all my 45 years of walking on this planet I can say with the utmost confidence that the creator of the heavens and the earth has NEVER spoken directly to me.

But…

There have been numerous times that I’ve felt confident that God had indirectly spoken to me…

Through a dream.
Through a strange set of circumstances.
Through people.
In my head.
In my spirit.
In my gut.

The problem is when those times occurred, I wasn’t sure if it was God that was communicating with me, or if I had too much pizza the night before.

And that’s the issue – we’re never sure. Ever. And that’s just the way it should be. Continue Reading…

in Biblical Issues, Living It Out, Rethinking Church

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

3
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Can Difficult Times Be God’s Blessing Too?

In this past Friday’s post I talked about how God loves to bless his children and how we shouldn’t feel guilty about praying for his blessing in our lives.

But what happens when the blessing we pray for isn’t the blessing we receive? Can cancer, infertility, divorce, job loss and grief actually be God’s way of blessing us too?

We asked CCV friends Jaret and Sarah to share their powerful story of finding God’s blessing through the joys and struggles of adopting two beautiful children with special needs.  I believe their story will encourage many struggling to find strength and meaning in the midst of God’s unexpected blessings…

P.S. – Hanging on when you can’t see God’s plan is a theme I come back to over and over again in my book Second Guessing God. Hopefully you can pick it up. If you can’t afford it let me know and I’ll send you a copy for free.

 

in Living It Out, Uncategorized, Worth Sharing

Monday, January 9, 2012

4
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The Perfect Plan?

There’s a small company in our area called ‘The Perfect Plan.”

They’re in the “helping people move” business. If you get transferred out of the area they’ll coordinate all the details of your relocation from turning off the electric to handing you the keys to your new home when you arrive. It’s seems like a great service.

Every time I drive by their sign I laugh and think to myself, I stopped trying to come up with one of those years ago.

I tried.

Lord knows I tried.

But the problem is every time I sat down to come up with a perfect plan for my life – complete with where I’d be, who I’d be with, what I’d be doing, and how I’d be doing it – every time, and I mean virtually every time, I ended up way off target.

Thank goodness. Some of the best things in my life have come as a result of not planning for them, but simply accepting them as they came.

Proverbs 16:9 reminds us,

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.

I take that to mean that planning is a good thing, especially when it comes to things like moving. Relocating your entire family out of state and having your refrigerator end up in Biloxi and your cat end up in Las Cruces is not a good thing.

Continue Reading…

in Biblical Issues, Living It Out

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