Bad stuff.....it happens

Bad stuff will happen in our lives. A question I get about faith in God, if God is all knowing, all powerful, why would he allow bad stuff to happen? I wish I had answer for why bad stuff happens, it would be a lot easier to talk to people about faith. At the same time, could you imagine life if nothing bad ever happened? How would life look if nothing bad ever happened? Sports would stink, would we ever have an ending in sports? Not that I ever want bad things to happen, what would happen if only good stuff would happen?

Paul spent a chunk of 1 Thessalonians talking about the end times and what would happen in these times. The Thessalonians were new in faith. They weren’t sure and were nervous about the end times/when Jesus would comeback. Paul spent the majority of chapter 4 and half of chapter 5 talking about these end times. One of the last verses of this section of scripture was 1 Thessalonians 5:9…

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God is not sitting up in heaven like a kid with a magnifying glass at ants lighting them on fire. God want to bring comfort to the people. Whenever then end times happen, people do not need to be wondering what is going to happen. There is no need to worry when you have faith in Jesus.

Put it this way. Where are you with your relationship with Jesus? Do you worry about what would happen in the end times? Do you worry what would happen if you past away suddenly and where you would go? What about your family/friends/loved ones? If you are worried, know that the only answer is Jesus. If you are wondering what this entails, talk to me or someone you know that follows Jesus. We can explain what it truly means to follow Jesus.

Have a great day.

Dying sucks, but it doesn't have too

Dying sucks, but it doesn’t have too

A death sometimes isn’t a death. Death sometimes feels like it’s all around us. We have lost people close to us, some expected and some unexpected. From my 35 years of life on earth, there is a major difference going to funerals. The difference is when I go to a Christian funeral compared to a (lack of a better term) normal funeral.

Now if you have lost someone close to you, I am so sorry, but please let me explain the difference between the two.

Paul shares these two verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14: “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” There is a difference in death.

This was shared in the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “Paul wanted the Thessalonians to be neither ignorant nor grieving like the rest of men, that is, like unbelievers, over the death of fellow believers. Christians do grieve over the loss of loved ones; this is a normal human experience which even Jesus shared (John 11:35). But the grief of Christians differs from that of unbelievers, for the latter have no hope of bodily resurrection to glory with Christ (1 Thes. 4:16). Two reasons why Christians should not grieve like unbelievers are that Christians have a revelation from God that gives them hope and they have a glorious future with Christ. Just as certainly as Jesus died and was resurrected by the Father, so God will unite the resurrected dead in Christ with their Savior at His coming.^[1]

Hope. It’s a completely different feeling when you are certain the person passing away is a Christian, the room has a calming presents that it’s hard to explain. The grief is more a feeling of joy then anything else. If you have someone that has passed away and you feel like they were far away from Jesus. I am sorry for that, but know that you have the opportunity to come close to Jesus today. Eternal life is avavliable through everyone who gives their life over to Jesus. You can have hope that you never had before with faith in Jesus. Don’t be afraid to ask someone what it takes to have faith in Jesus or what faith in Jesus is all about. If you do have faith in Jesus, be free to share this message with others today.

Have a great day.

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^[1] Thomas L. Constable, “1 Thessalonians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 703–704.

Boston

A marathon effects more than the city it’s in. My friend Kohon mentioned this marathon effected more people and countries then anyone can imagine. Boston has a strict time guideline in order to qualify for the race, some marathoners spend their whole lives trying to qualify for one of the races on their Bucket List. People from all over the United States and the world come to Boston.

Before two reconstructive knee surgeries, I had the goal of running the Boston (Boston is the one of the only marathons that require a qualifying time, I could not make the time cut yet). My time for the marathon was about the time the explosion went off. Long past my marathons days as I look at this tragedy as a minister of Jesus and see the hurt that people post from this. It’s a sad state and often people ask why would a loving God allow this to happen?

Throughout my time as a minister you see a lot of bad things happen to people. Sometimes it’s when people are already down and something worse happens. Haven’t they been punished enough? Then a tragedy like the Marathon happens and people without understanding call out to God, why God why? To answer this I am going to spend the rest of the time talking about suffering and choice.

We all have a choice. There is something called the free will defense that people a lot smarter then I came up with to explain when bad things happen. The free will defense is this…

1.      God is absolutely perfect.

2.      God created only perfect creatures.

3.      One of the perfections God gave some of his creatures was the power of free choice.

4.      Some of these creatures freely choose to do evil.

5.      Therefore, a perfect creature caused evil.

Every day we have the choice to do good or bad. Which do you choose? Today do you choose to go to work/school or the bar/or skip? It’s a choice an individual makes that can affect other people. We make thousands of choices every day that directly affect us and the people around us some directly and some indirectly. The people that chose to do this in Boston, chose to do evil. Their choice affected people all over the world for this international event.

Even with free will, why do people have to suffer? This is a tough question that you can look at with other questions. If God stopped all evil right now what would that look like? If God destroyed everything that caused unjust suffering and evil – what would survive? We can all do evil and that is where we struggle with sin. Suffering might cause us to be protected from an even deeper evil.

Not all suffering can be bad or evil, it can be pain. Sometimes in life we have to suffer to experience something great. I haven’t met a women who has cherished child birth but you love the result when you get that awesome gift of God in your hands. You sometimes have to suffer and endure hardships to get where you want to go in life (School, strict training, unpaid internship etc).

This doesn’t explain the event in Boston but hopefully you would understand a loving God does not want tragedies like this to happen in the world he created. While things like this do happen, sadly. God gave us Jesus to comfort us during these tough times. God is a loving and just God who cares about the people and I am sure is sad over this tragic event.

Through our lives we have a loving God who sacrificed his only son Jesus for us. Jesus took all of our sins and died for us. Through the bad things in life Jesus loves you cares for you and is sad when you are down. Through the suffering Jesus is always there with you. You can always go to him with your problems.

Why are you doing it, your never going to make it

There is time when utter determination matters.

Some of the greatest inventions and things we use on an everyday basis were made by people that ended up broke and unnoticed.

Charles Goodyear started the tire and spent his life broke.

He died 40 years before Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded.

He spent his entire life working on a product that left him broke but he believed he could do.

He eventually did, but it was after his death that it took off.

I am glad he stuck through it because I like tires and I couldn’t imagine driving on anything else (Until the future looks like it does in Back to the Future 2).

There is something about a determination that people can’t stop.

I ran a marathon in 2000.

I am not saying this to gloat but to tell you what happened before.

Usually you are supposed to take it easy in running before a marathon.

I had one of my biggest cross country meets of the year the day before.

After running that race I was talking to a family member and told them I had to get ready to go to Detroit for the marathon.

This person told me, “Joel, I don’t understand why you are doing it, you’re never going to make it.”

“Thanks,” I said while laughing.

Four hours and nineteen minutes the next day I finished the marathon.

Sometimes people do not know or understand determination.

Sports scientist looked at what it takes to hit a major league pitcher and came to the conclusion the ball came way to fast and in many different directions.  With human brain signals, there is no physical way the body should relay signals to be able to hit a baseball with the bat.

Crazy how that was said and it doesn’t happen that way.

Faith is the same way.

People have doubt for 2,000 years Christianity wouldn’t make it.

Apostles were just jailed for sharing Jesus.

The Sanhedrin wanted them dead before one named Gamaliel spoke up.

He said this in Acts 36, 38-39…

“Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing…Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

They decided not to kill the apostles (They were still flogged).

Even through the pain of being flogged the apostles continued to sharing Jesus and rejoiced that they could suffer for a cause they believed in.

Do you suffer for a cause you believe in?

The apostles never stopped.

They kept preaching the good news of Jesus.

Determination, the apostles had it.

Do we have the same.

There are things I am determined to do in life.

Being a better husband and father.

Serve God to the best of my abilities.

Improve showing love and grace to all people.

What are you determined to do?

What has slowed you down from doing that?

Goodyear didn’t give up and 40 years after he died, he succeed.

What do you want to succeed in today?

What are you doing to go for what you want?

The apostles wanted to share Jesus and not even flogging could stop them.

What has stopped you?

What can you do to stay determined?

Have a great day.

A six year old tells you they are going to die young

Everyone has worries, fears and doubts.

Hailee and I had something happen months ago and it still feels like it happen yesterday.

Nevaeh came in our room after bedtime and said, “I know I am going to die young.”

(Man, even thinking about it almost brings a tear to my eye.)

We asked her, “Why do you think that?”

She started to talk about it just like any normal conversation but mentioned how she was told she was going to die young.

We were shocked about it.

We had no answer for her.

What happens when your six year old comes in your room and tells you she is going to die young?

There is worry, fear and a sense of being completely freaked out when thinking about it.

It scares me.

What could happen to my child that makes her think she is going to die young?

I am troubled by this and need comfort.

As I think about this and have thought about this, God throws out this verse in John 14:1…

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.”

Jesus just told the disciples some bad news in the previous section about Peter will deny Jesus.

The disciples were pretty torn about the entire situation.

Jesus gives them hope in this verse.

Honestly, it gives me hope today.

God knows what’s going on in our lives and what we struggle with.

He is there for us, he knows our lives and where we are going.

I don’t have to be troubled by this because God calms trouble hearts.

While it does scare me, I know that God is in control and I am not.

He eases my troubles and he can with you too.

Have a great day.

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye

There are some sayings I remember as a kid, this being one of them.

There are things I used to do I couldn’t imagine Nevaeh doing now.

As kids we did all sorts of stuff, there are things that would completely scare me if my daughter did them at her age that I used to do.

I remember playing in Washington Park behind our house.

My brother Zach and I loved to climb trees.

There were these two trees by the softball field we loved to climb.

The trees went up about 75-100 feet.

We would climb them often.

I think about those trees how tall they were, how we loved to feel a big wind gust hit us and make us feel like we were falling.

Man, how did we not get hurt more often?

This past weekend we were at our family camping trip.

I think we had 62 members of our family there.

It was awesome.

With that many people someone is prone to get hurt.

I had to make a couple of trips to the ER with one being Connor.

Connor started to say his foot hurt and by the end of one day he was limping.

The next morning I took him up to the hospital.

After about 3 hours up at the hospital, found out he sprained his ankle.

I love kids though, the next day, he was completely healed and running around again.

Thank you God.

Some bad things happen during the day, but it can be more challenging when there is no light around.

Some of the injuries of the weekend took place at night.

I almost fell down a hill at night when I stepped in a low spot and heard my toes crack, I was okay, but bad things can happen without light.

I could have taken a huge fall but, thankfully I did not.

Jesus tells us this in John 12:35-36…

““For a brief time still, the light is among you. Walk by the light you have so darkness doesn’t destroy you. If you walk in darkness, you don’t know where you’re going.”

We know about literal light and darkness, but it goes beyond that in these verses.

Jesus made it known he was the light.

The light was still around the people, but soon Jesus would move on and it would be dark.

Not dark literally, but there would be an empty feeling inside.

I know about that empty feeling.

Before knowing Christ, I tried to handle everything on my own.

The problem was, I couldn’t.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not do it.

Sometimes the harder I tried, the more I failed.

Then Christ came into my life.

I am still a sinner and still make mistakes, but I have light to look forward to.

No matter what, there is still light at the end of the tunnel even during dark times.

Some points in my life, that was the only thing that gave me hope, that Jesus was still there for me.

Sometimes we feel hopeless in life.

It happens.

Jesus is there to be a guiding light when we feel nothing else is.

We have hope again.

We get hurt.

We feel lost.

We feel depressed.

We can still have hope, because of what Jesus did for us.

He was a light when there was none.

Have hope in Jesus.

Have a great day.

When life hits the fan it hurts

Bad stuff happens.

I wish it wasn’t the case, but it is.

I know people right now that are going through some messed up situations and it’s rough to think about, more or less go through.

My mind has been blown away with stuff that has been happening to people I know and don’t know.

I have friends and loved ones that are struggling to make it through the day, hoping that today goes better than yesterday or that there is still hope for tomorrow.

There is still hope in the roughest of times.

A while ago there was a rough point in my life.

I worked with a person that made me feel like garbage.

This person made my life miserable for a year.

I would show up to work early (Like 5 or 6 a.m.) just so I wouldn’t have to see them, because a good day was when I didn’t have to see or talk to them.

They made me feel miserable.

After a surprise meeting with all my bosses that this person scheduled, I felt useless and unwanted.

I didn’t eat for two straight days and just wanted to check out.

By the second day, I told Hailee I was fasting, she knew better.

During this time I begged God to get me out of this situation and constantly wondered why he didn’t.

It was a struggle and I hated going through that.

It was a bad year.

Through that, I still knew Jesus was there.

I wanted instant help and it sucked it wasn’t happening as quickly as I wanted.

I learned a lot on faith and hope through that year.

He was watching over me and took care of me even when I didn’t believe he was.

Sometimes we have to go through bad situations to make sure we appreciate what we have in the later.

Jesus said this in John 11:25-26…

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever live and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?”

Jesus was talking to Martha, a lady whose brother just died.

They were in a rough moment of life.

Jesus gave them hope because of their faith in him.

Martha went and got Mary and brought her to Jesus, they both told him, if you were here, there brother would have lived.

They were in tears, and Jesus felt this too.

Verse 35 explains Jesus being distraught, “Jesus wept.”

Jesus did cry and having true emotions.

The Jews said this in verse 36, “See how he loved him!”

Just how Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, he loves us.

Jesus cares for us and gives us hope when nothing else does.

Bad things happen in life.

For some of my friends, my mind is wrecked with what they are going through.

I have been through some messed up situations in my life, and know it’s not easy.

But Jesus cares for us, even when we feel like he’s not there, he is.

Verses 25-26 explain when you have faith in Jesus, believe that he died for our sins that even when we die and leave this earth, we will have eternal life.

Sad things happen in life.

My heart and prayers go out to my loved ones that are going through that storm in their lives right now.

There is still hope, not because of me, but because of Jesus.

There is a hope that only Jesus can give.

Are you ready to give your life for a better life?

Do you want hope when there is none?

Jesus did this for me in my bad time, and he can do this for you.

Have a great day.

An app for everything

There are fun apps for phones.

I love the fact I can have an app for everything, including a flash light.

I have a flash light app on my phone.

Not only is it a flashlight app, can be so much more.

I can light for a room with police lights or a spinning circle, but my favorite is for romance or a concert.

I can turn my light into a candle.

It looks sweet!

There is an app for everything and I have much love for the flashlight app.

There is something about having a light in a dark place.

Jesus said this in John 9:5…

“While I am in the world, I am the light to the world.”

We live in a dark time with dark places at times.

Jesus was the light to the world, showing people hope when there was none.

We are called to do the same, offer love, hope, kindness and encouraging other people in the darkness of times.

Do people look at you like a light or like the opposite?

You can lift people up out of dark times in their life.

There might be an app for everything, but there is something about encouraging and giving hope to people.

This is what Christ did for us, “Gives hope to the hopeless.”

No matter what you have done or how far you think you are from Jesus…

He still loves you!

He wants a relationship with you and wants to see things get better for you!

Have a great day!

Find a happy place

Sometimes we have to find our own happy place.

In a movie the main character struggled with controlling his anger.

His coach told him he need to focus on a happy place.

After focusing on a happy place he was able to play better.

Do you have a happy place?

Think about this?

What does a happy place look like to you?

I think of time when I was truly happy in life.

There were some great memories through the years.

We all have happy moments in our life.

We also have moments when we are down in our life.

When we are down and feel lower then low.

I know of great days in my life and I know and can think of some pretty awful days in my life.

There are times that life is good and times when we are in a pretty dark place.

Four or five years ago I ran into a guy I was on the swim team with in high school.

I ran into him, was excited to see him and his response, “Joel, now is not a good time.”

You could see something was very much troubling him.

I don’t remember what I said to him but soon we went on our separate ways.

It’s been a long time since I have seen that person.

Some days we are down, some days we are up.

We can be up or down in our life too.

This is what was said in John 1:4-5…

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

This scripture talks about Jesus.

How he was the light that came along.

There were so many hopeless people at this time and Jesus came along to offer hope, to give light to a dark place.

Sometimes we are in a dark place in life.

Some might know about it and some have no clue.

Jesus offers us hope through him.

In life, we all get knocked down, Christ can lift us up.

When we know Jesus we know the light.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for us.

I would be nothing without Christ in my life.

I struggled with anger, anxiety, self-esteem and depression.

If I didn’t have Christ in my life, I would be nothing.

Christ led me and leads me through the dark times in my life.

It doesn’t mean I am in my happy place every minute of every day.

Or that life is perfect after accepting Christ into my life.

It does mean when the dark times happen in my life, I still have hope that I never had before.

Do you have hope in dark times?

I cannot offer you that much.

I am not a real handy guy. I am not the most athletic guy or the most talented.

There is a lot in life I can’t do.

One thing I can….

I can offer hope, when there is no hope.

There is power and strength in Jesus that you can’t get anywhere else.

Is that something you would like?

I can help you get that, just let me know.

We all need hope in dark times.

Have a great day.