AM? PM? FM?

Never let it be said that Christ’s people are poor workers. 1 Timothy 6:1

I spent thirty-something years in radio, most of it at Christian stations. Actually started in 1971 at KJNP, North Pole, Alaska. Go ahead, Google it. It’s a real town. The main industry there was the Santa Claus House. People would send their Christmas Cards and packages there to be re-mailed back to friends and loved ones. Postmarked, “From the North Pole.” Not sure who the brain surgeon was that thought that one up but it seemed to work!

In the summertime, the sun would never set. My  body clock got so out of whack, I could never tell if it was 12 noon or 12 midnight. For a while, I pulled a weird split shift where I worked six to ten AM then came back and worked six to ten PM. More than once, my newsman would come in the studio and say, “Del, you’re saying ‘Good Morning.’ It’s evening, Dude.”

I worked briefly at a couple of non-Christian stations, one in Buffalo, Minnesota, the other in Havre, Montana, and I’m pleased to say that, with a few exceptions, most of my Christian fellow-workers consistently gave 110% percent. That’s how it should be. Paul is telling us not to be poor workers. It’s a shameful testimony.

One of the biggest compliments I ever received was from a non-Christian Program Director. Someone asked him how many people worked at the station. “One. I’ve got twelve people on staff but Del is the only one who works.”

Working in a Christian ministry is not all fun and fellowship. It’s not a Sunday pot-luck. There are long hours, heavy demands, deadlines to meet. My boss would give me a piece of production marked ASAP – as soon as possible. But if he really wanted to put a rush on it, he would mark it STP – sooner than possible.

“Del, how soon can you get this done?” Oh, by ten. “Get it to me by nine.” So I would step into a phone booth, put on my cape and go to work. Others preferred to simply keep a can of spinach nearby.

Funny thing I learned, the harder you work, the faster the time goes by. The more effort you give, the more feeling of pride you take in your job.

But above all, always remember, the Lord is taking notice.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23, 24 (NIV)

As you go about your responsibilities today, do it with all your heart. Do it as unto the Lord. Remember:

…never let it be said that Christ’s people are poor workers.

 

Reading, writing and arithma…. No. Sharing!

Note: You may want to review the previous post to put this post in context.

Last time I wrote, I showed you a little trick for developing new disciplines. Simply take the discipline you want to learn and attach it to something you already enjoy.

It helped me get my exercise – my outrigger canoe experience. And it helped me in my daily devotions – my time each morning at Starbucks. In fact, right now, it’s 8:20 AM, Monday, November 13th, and I’m sitting under an umbrella on the outdoor lanai at Starbucks across from Ala Moana Beach Park. Temperature is in the mid-seventies. Gentle tradewinds. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Don’t you hate people like me?!

If coffee is not your thing, or sitting on some tropical beach in Paradise has no appeal to you, I have a couple other suggestions to help you get started in daily devotions.

Take some of the time you spend surfing the net, reading blogs and use that time to begin journaling. Read a passage of scripture and ask God what He has for you. I almost guarantee, a verse will jump off the page. That’s Him speaking. Then begin to write. Don’t edit, just write it straight out, stream of thought.

I longhand it first in a journal. If I write straight to the blog, I find myself writing for others, not for myself. Devotions should be personal. It is God speaking to my heart, pointing out areas in need of attention, attitudes, wrongful habits, areas of weakness in need of strengthening. However, it’s not all negative. From time to time, He says, “Good job, Del.” But like I said, often it is personal, not meant for the whole world.

One thing I do whenever possible, and it’s a lot of fun, I meet with two or three or four other guys and we do devotions together. Takes about an hour. We’ll sit quietly and read a few minutes. Then we spend twenty minutes or so, writing in our journals. Then we go around the circle and share with each other what we got. I cannot tell you how rich it is!

I recommend you have devotions with your spouse at least once a week. Don’t do it every day. You need one on one time with God. Do it together as a family. Do it one on one with one of your children. Do it over lunch break with a coworker.

Here’s a suggestion that will revolutionize your Sunday School. Instead of the traditional lesson, have everyone do devotions. I did it with a group of sixth graders and they loved it. Same format. Read, write and share. You’ll be amazed at the things kids come up with. God truly speaks to children. The best thing? My Sunday School preparation time was zero. No sweating it out Saturday night trying to come up with a lesson that would hold their attention.

On my next post, I’ll show you a format to follow as you journal. I’ll also discuss one of the main reasons we get sidetracked in our attempt to have daily devotions. It’s all about getting bogged down in some of the “boring” passages. There’s a simple solution I’ll share with you. Hope you’ll stop by again.  

 

Work those abs!

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of daily devotions, especially of journaling. But how do you do it on a consistent basis? It takes discipline and that’s a word many of us don’t care for.

But I found a secret for developing discipline that can make it easier, even enjoyable, and I’ll share it with you in a moment. First, let me describe what often happens when we try to learn a new discipline.

Years ago, I felt a need for regular exercise. I saw an ad on TV. Only three easy payments of $49.95 for a NordicTrack bicycle, guaranteed to give you abs of steel. Or was it buns?

I opened the box on a Monday, and boy did I have a great workout! Sixty minutes of pure cardio. It was awesome! The next day, another great workout. Forty five minutes of pure cardio. Wednesday, I was on a roll! Thirty minutes of pure cardio. I missed Thursday, but Friday, another great workout. Fifteen minutes of pure cardio.

Saturday, I took the day off in observance of the Sabbath. And Sunday, of course, is my own personal day of rest.

On Monday, I discovered another great use for the NordicTrack, one they failed to mention on the infomercial. I found that when you come out of the shower and go to your room to change, the handlebars make a great place to hang your wet towel. And when you go to bed, the seat of the bike makes a great place to hang your clothes.

Yep! For only three easy payments of $49.95, I had a new towel rack and a clothes hangar.

So much for the exercise!

Then, some friends invited me to join them in their outrigger canoe. It’s a popular sport in Hawaii. The boat seats six and you paddle together as a team. I wasn’t up to par with the rest of them physically, but it was okay. They were there just to have fun and fellowship with other guys. If by accident, you got some exercise, that was frosting on the cake!

For the next two years, we went out three times a week. It was an hour of pure cardio in the most enjoyable setting on the face of the earth. Off Waikiki and around Diamond Head. Spectacular!

I developed the discipline of exercise without even knowing it.

So here is the key I told you I would share with you. You take the discipline that you are trying to develop and simply piggyback it, or attach it, on to something else that you really enjoy.

That’s how I developed the discipline of daily devotions. I attached it to something I already enjoyed. Here’s what worked for me.

I’m a coffee drinker. For years, I’ve started my day each morning at Starbucks. I would read the paper, then get out my day planner and go over my schedule.

Now, instead of the newspaper and planner, I read a passage of scripture and write in my journal. And I love it. It is not a drag. It’s something I look forward to. 

I developed the discipline of devotions by attaching it to something I already enjoyed, and like I said yesterday, I rarely miss a day.

If coffee is not your thing, I have a couple other suggestions you might try and I’ll share them with you tomorrow. The following day, I’ll give you an easy to follow outline for journaling. It’s all about SOAP. I hope you’ll stop by again!

 

What happened to the pepper?

Was it last Christmas or the year before? My kids were home from the Mainland and we spent an evening looking at old family photos.

“Here’s one of me in my twenties, before you kids were born. Notice the nice full head of dark brown hair. Now, here I am in my thirties, three children later - the hair is salt and pepper. And this one is in my forties when you were teenagers. It’s almost all salt!”

At that, one of my kids piped up, “Look, Dad, here you are in your fifties. It looks like the old salt shaker is nearly empty!”

It’s true. The new hairs on my brush each day remind me I’m not getting any younger.

After thirty-something years in Christian radio, I took an early retirement due to post-polio syndrome, a malady that sometimes strikes polio victims thirty to forty years after the initial encounter.

I had polio as a youngster. Got along fairly well growing up. I could do most of what the other kids did. Maybe not quite as fast.

But in recent years, this post-polio thing has set in and it’s sort of knocked me on my wallet. I’ve had to cut back on a lot of activities.

But God is good and He has awakened a new interest in my life – writing. In a way it is similar to broadcasting. It’s still communications. Just using a word processor instead of a microphone. 

The best discipline I have developed is to spend time daily in devotions and then journal the thoughts and insights God gives me. Started doing it about three years ago. Wish it was thirty.

I have stacks of journals everywhere – they are invaluable to me. If my house caught fire in the middle of the night, I would shove my wife and kids and my journals out the bedroom window, and not necessarily in that order.

Recently I have begun praying about taking some of those musings and scribblings and publishing a devotional book. When I wrote them, I thought they were only for myself but if they can help someone else who is struggling, as I have, then maybe that’s what it’s all about.

Don’t want to wait too long though. I’m not getting any younger.

They say God has the hairs of our head numbered.

So do I!

 

Hurry up and wait

Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord … Psalm 27:14

It happened again this morning. I got in line at the grocery store and it stopped moving. New clerk. She couldn’t figure out the credit card machine.

So I bounced over to the next line and it comes screeching to a halt. The lady in front of me can’t find her checkbook.

Meantime the first line is now moving. The guy who was behind me is walking out the door with his bag of groceries. That would have been me!

Am I the only one this happens to?

And why is it that every time I’m heading for the ten items or less line, ten people or more cut in front of me? 

I really don’t like waiting in lines. I don’t like sitting at red lights. I don’t like waiting for the check to come in the mail.

And to be honest, I don’t like waiting for God to answer my prayers. So I take matters into my own hands and then I really make a mess of it. 

God allows us to wait for a reason. There may be areas in our life that need tweaking. Or a major overhaul! Some pride, immaturity, wrong attitudes. And He can’t give us the desires of our heart. Not just yet.

So we learn patience, understanding, perseverance. We change our attitudes. Let go of bad habits. Develop new disciplines.

And then when He sees the time is right, the light turns green, the check arrives in the mail. God answers our prayers.

 

Doing a double take

Back at Starbucks people watching. It’s great entertainment. Four military guys are to my left. Army, I think. Or Marines. How do you tell?

A young gal just came through the door. Could be Paris Hilton’s twin sister. She walked past these four guys and eight eyeballs popped out of their heads. They look like Jackson Chameleons in their army green uniforms, eyes bugging out.

Okay, so there were actually ten eyes following her across the room. I confess. But I was looking strictly for research purposes. To gather material for this blog. Far be it for an old geezer like me to be checking out some young chick. Disgusting, the thought!

It’s funny how men are wired. We are affected by what we see much more than women are. I’m not telling you anything new. As men, we have to be extra careful to guard what we look at. Solomon put it like this:

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Pro. 4:23)

If anyone should know, it was Solomon. He was the son of David and Bathsheba. David, as you recall, couldn’t take his eyes off Bathsheba, even though she was married to another man. It led to an adulterous relationship that set off a series of tragic events from abuse of power and political cover up to murder and eventually, the untimely death of an innocent child. Read the story yourself in 2 Samuel 11 & 12. It’s riveting. 

There’s a prayer I have prayed a thousand times. I’ll probably pray it a thousand more:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14.

Just got to say one more time, Brother. Guard your heart!

 

Proud to be humble

A couple days ago, this site received an award for being one of the best blogs. What an honor! You can check out what they said at Best Blogs on WordPress.

It’s interesting, it says the author seems like a humble guy. “Yep, that’s me. I’m humble.” Then I emailed all my friends and proudly told them about the award. Hmmm? So much for the humility!

The problem with humility is that as soon as you think you’ve got it, you lose it. You become proud of how humble you are. “Look at me. See how I don’t like calling attention to myself.”

Some see humility as a weakness. They’ll tell you if you want to be successful, then self-promotion is the name of the game. I’m not sure I agree.

I once sat on a board with a man of sincere humility, Mr. Wong. He drove an old Ford, lived in a modest home, bought his clothes at K-Mart. He didn’t seem to have much going on. Then I found out he owned a major chunk of downtown Honolulu. We’re talking office buildings, shopping centers, residential real estate. He used his wealth to support charitable causes around the world.

He never spoke much at board meetings. Us young hotshots did all the talking. But when he would learn of a need, he would get out his checkbook and encourage the rest of us to do the same. Suddenly, we would get real quiet.

Let me tell you my concept of humility. Humility is having enough confidence that you no longer feel a need to impress others. I’m thinking Mother Teresa. Forget Mother Teresa. I’m thinking Jesus Christ. Though he was the Son of God, he got down and washed the feet of His disciples. I’m not there yet. No where near.

Listen to the Prophet, Micah:

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)

When I truly learn to walk humbly with my God, I will no longer feel a need to impress others.

Until then…please tell everyone what a great blog this is!

 

Microwave prayers

With a quick prayer to the God of Heaven…the king granted these requests, for God was being gracious to me. Nehemiah 1: 4, 8

The setting was the throne room of the King of Persia. Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer, longed to be able to return to Jerusalem, the city of his birth, to rebuild the city walls. Normally an amiable guy, Nehemiah always had a smile and a pleasant greeting as you started your day. But the news coming out of Jerusalem was troublesome and today, he just could not force a smile.

The king asked the same question the bartender asked the donkey. “Why the long face?” Nehemiah seized the moment. It says, “with a quick prayer to the God of heaven” he made his request of the king; to be able to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls. That “quick prayer” was answered and the king granted his request.

Now, if that’s all you read, you might think that all it takes is a quick prayer and God will grant your requests. But look at the prequel. In verses five through seven, you see Nehemiah in deep intercession. “I refused to eat for several days for I spent the time in prayer…” O Lord God, I cried out… look down at me and see me praying night and day.”

Two things Nehemiah deprived himself of; food and sleep. The guy meant business, to the point of being willing to forfeit the necessities of life in order to bring his plea before God.

So it may be true, Nehemiah’s “quick prayer” was answered, but that prayer was preceded by days of hunger and nights of deep supplication.

So where am I going with this, I ask myself? I see in my life a tendency to want to go the quick and easy route. Throw it in the microwave, set the dial to “Petition” and turn on the timer for a minute-thirty. Then expect God to move heaven and earth in response to my request. Well a microwave might be fine for warming up pot pies but here in Hawaii, if you want a luau, you gotta dig the imu, fire up the rocks and tend it all night long. It just depends on what you want.

 

Break a leg!

How enviable is the man whom God corrects. Oh, do not despise the chastening of the Lord when you sin. For though he wounds, he binds and heals once again. Job 5:17,18

Someday, I’ll have to ask my Dad if it’s true. He was raised on a sheep ranch in Eastern Montana. The story I am wondering about is one I have heard quite a few times. It involves shepherds and how they discipline wayward sheep.

According to the story, if a lamb has a tendency to wander off or run away, the shepherd will actually break one of its legs. He will then tend the broken leg – put a splint on it and bind it up. Then for several days or weeks while the leg is mending, he will carry the lamb on his shoulder. If the anecdote is true, once the sheep’s leg has healed, it will follow the shepherd, close at his side, the rest of its life. It will never again go astray.

Now, breaking a sheep’s leg is a bit harsh, yet the shepherd knows it is better for the sheep to suffer temporary pain than to wander off into the wilderness and become lamb chops for some hungry wolf.

Today’s verse tells us God will chasten and correct us when we go astray, and it can be painful. Brutally. But it is for our good. It won’t kill us. And the pain is better than the alternative – becoming rack of lamb on Satan’s banquet table.

Remember, when the Lord wounds, he binds and heals again. He will not leave us broken and bruised. And once we have healed, we will never stray again. How enviable is the man whom God corrects!

Action points:

1. Take time today to examine your heart. If there is any tendency to stray, make the corrections so God will not have to do it for you.

2. If you are suffering a “broken leg” ask God to show you the lesson He wants you to learn, and then learn it quickly.