The cracked jar

     There was once a man who carried water to his village every day, in two large jars tied to the ends of a wooden pole, which he balanced on his back.  

 One of the jars was older than the other, and had some small cracks; every time the man covered the distance to his house, half of the water was lost.   

  For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger jar was always very proud of its performance, safe in the knowledge that it was up to the mission it had been made for, while the other jar was mortified with shame at only fulfilling half of its allotted task, even though it knew that those cracks were the result of many years hard work.    

  It was so ashamed that one day, while the man got ready to fetch water from the well, it decided to speak to him:     - I want to apologize, but because of the many years of service, you are only able to deliver half of my load, and quench half of the thirst which awaits you at your home. 

    

The man smiled, and said:     - When we return, observe carefully the path.     And so it did. And the jar noticed that, on its side, many flowers and plants grew.      - See how nature is more lovely on your side? - commented the man. - I always knew you were cracked, and decided to make use of this fact. I planted flowers and vegetables, and you have always watered them. I have picked many roses to decorate my house with, I have fed my children with lettuce, cabbage and onions. If you were not as you are, how could I have done that?     

This is how we are to God. We are cracked and leaky jars. But God takes us and uses us, flawed as we are, to further His plan. 

Does God answer your Prayer?

I would like to do a short series on prayer. 
Does God answer your prayer? He does mine. 
Why is it you think God doesn't answer your prayers? 


In John 15:7, Jesus says "If you remain in me and words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it ill be given you." 


Pretty powerful isn't it? Are you remaining in Christ? 


We want what we want and we want it now don't we? But if we are remaining in Christ, we won't want anything that God hasn't in His plan for us. 


Shouldn't we instead be asking what God wants for us? 
How can we know what God wants for us? Well, for one, we need to be remaining in Him. We do that by obeying Him, by reading His word and speaking to Him daily, And we ask Him what His will for us is instead of telling Him what we want. 


If your daughter or son asked you for chocolate cake and cherry cola for dinner from now on... you most likely would tell them no. Wouldn't you? Why would you disappoint your child like that? 


Could it be because you see in that childs future a strong healthy adult instead of the child she/he could be with such a poor diet? And would you be more or less apt to allow the child you love so much to eat chocolate cake and cherry cola dinners because she/he stomped, cried and demanded? 


It is the same with God. He sees the big picture and has a plan for you. A disappointment now, a prayer answered with a no or a not now, is merely Gods way of preparing you for the big picture.


Remember in Matthew 14:22-36 when Peter stepped out of that boat and walked on water to Jesus? What happened when Peter took his eyes off Jesus? He saw the wind and became afraid. Once he took his eyes off Jesus, Peter began to sink and cried out to Jesus to save him.


Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,”he said, “why did you doubt?”


Keep your eyes on Jesus. Remain in Him. Start spending time with Him every day, and stop stomping, crying and demanding chocolate cake and cherry cola dinners. 


Happy Easter. Hallelujah Christ Arose

Just who do you think you are?

I recently read a novel called "Love Amid The Ashes" by Mesu Andrews. the book is a work of fiction  about Job and his trials. It got me to pondering Job. 


After Jobs friends accuse him of being disciplined for unrepentant sin, Job asks God Why? Why me Lord. What have I done to deserve this ill treatment?" and demands God answer to him. 


God replies: Job 38: 2 " Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?"


God does not answer Job with a discourse on Jobs innocence or guilt. God doesn't address Job's suffering or Jobs problem with divine justice. God asks Job a series of questions designed to show Job just how awesome God is, our Creator of the world and how in comparison.. there is no comparison. God asks Job chapter 40:1 " Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer him" 
vs 8 God asks " Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 


I hear God asking.. Just who do you think you are to question my motives? 


I think we all have asked God why we suffer. Why He doesn't answer our prayers the way we think He should. But who do we think we are to question God? How do we as sinful humans, question our perfect Creator?  


Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 


I think Job had the right of it when he told God Job 42:1-2 I know that you can do all things, no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3b Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.


Stop questioning and whining and start trusting in our Sovereign Lord that He has a plan for us. 


Dear Lord. I know you have a plan for my life. I also understand that I don't have to know why things are not always easy for me. Dear God, help me to learn to trust and rely on you in times of trouble instead of railing and whining.
Amen

The Joy of Tough Times

I met a friend for lunch yesterday and as we were standing in the parking lot saying our goodbyes, my friend Lisa related to me about the time earlier in her marriage, when both she and her husband had been unemployed. They had been underemployed for four years. Four years! 


Between them, my friend and her husband hold three college degrees. Yet they couldn't find a job in their chosen fields or even close. Lisa took jobs serving tables and Robert worked day labor.  Lisa told me they were never once late with a bill and never paid the mortgage late and they never failed to put food on the table.  Many times the money came in from one unexpected source or another at the last minute. 


 I am sure it wasn't easy. I am sure they were stressed. I have no doubt they both thought at one time or another " I have a college degree to work hard labor"?  I would have thought that way, wouldn't you? 


What did happen through this time of trial, is they learned to trust in God to provide. 


Something else that struck me in this conversation was Lisa said they had purchased her dream home prior to losing their jobs. Every day she offered that house to God and told Him if He wanted them to sell the house, she would be willing. This was her dream house! The house they worked so hard to buy. But They were willing to give that dream house up if God wanted them to. God always made sure they were able to make the mortgage so they didn't have to give it up.  I wonder if God was testing them to see if they would be willing to give it all up for Him. Would you pass that test? 


We tend to be so tethered to our "stuff". Sometimes it is our pride " I won't work that lowly position, I am a degreed professional" or " I can't mention God in front of other people, I might look like a fanatic or look silly"


Other times it is our house, our car, our fancy clothes..  but we are so attached we can't even think about offering it to God and just trusting in Him. 


Lisa told me that when they were the lowest, when times were the toughest, was when they got the closest to God. she said they felt they had no other choice but to trust ad rely on him and God never let them down. 


James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Serve the Lord with Gladness.. Psalm 100:2

I recently had a job that took me to California 3 weeks of the month. I felt I should be happy to have a job and with the pay I was making from that job, it should have been easy. I always thought I would love a job where I traveled. 


But, I was not happy. I knew I was supposed to be doing something for God. I was supposed to be serving Him. 


Well, I thought, but I need a job, so I am just going to have to find a way to serve Him in California instead of at home in Texas. After searching for months, I finally found a church I could enjoy attending. It wasn't as awesome as my home church, but then, I know God led me to Hillcrest
www.hbcaustin.org  . 


But couldn't God lead me to serve Him in another church? Someplace of my choosing? someplace I could serve Part Time?
Well, since I was still not happy, still not feeling "right" and still knowing in my heart God had something in His plans for me to do and i wasn't doing it.. the answer to that question at that time was no.


So after much prayer, I gave my notice and came home. 
I took two jobs and trusted God would help me make it financially. And I knew peace. Me who has always worried about finances, had peace in my heart.


I made an appointment the following week with the church Education Minister and offered to do whatever was needed. I found myself leading a small group and serving in the singles ministry for my age group. Talk about stepping out into service, I felt more like I was leaping into service! 



I found after I stepped out in faith and obedience, I began singing and laughing and my heart was bubbling over with joy. Friends began telling me how I was not myself before and how much they could see my joy. I had changed!


 I didn't even realize how "off" I was until I got onto the path God wanted me on. I was HAPPY with a capital H. I still wasn't sure how I would manage two jobs, but it didn't matter. I knew God would provide. 




I believe God made us to serve him. I do not think we are happy until we do. 
I now know what having the joy of the Lord is. I get it, having Life to the Full. It isn't having wealth, or a nice car or fine house. It is the peace that comes from obedience to God.

Soon after I started serving in my church, my former employer called me and offered a consulting job for more money than he had paid me as an employee. During the first week of consulting, another company offered me a full time position as a Sales Manager.  They are patiently waiting for me to finish up with the consulting job so i can get started with them.


Isn't God good? 


I think God wants us to desire to serve Him. I think He wants us to trust in Him to handle everything for us and just do what we know He wants us to do. 


Not sure how to serve? Ask your pastor where the need is. Not sure what do do? do something! God will lead you.  Ask your Sunday School teacher, your pastor, a deacon, believe me, churches always need volunteers. 


Matthew 25:40 says "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." 

Take a meal to a shut in. visit with an elderly person. Deliver care bag to the homeless. God will lead you in what he wants you to do.


And you know, sometimes all God wants is for you to desire to serve him, and to do that, you have to believe in Him. 


John 6:28-29 "Then they said to him, What must we do, to do the works that God requires. Jesus answered and said to them, The work of God is this, that you believe on the one He sent."


Dear Lord, Thank you for choosing me to serve you. Please help me to always be willing to serve with a cheerful heart. 
Amen

Who Are You?

Do you ever ask God " Who am I? What is my purpose?"

Moses did. In Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

 Who am I?

King David asked God the same thing and David was a great king over a wealthy nation. 

2 Samuel 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"

Who am I?

What if Moses had asked his adoptive mother? I think she might have said "Oh Moses, you are the baby I found abandoned in the river. " Was that Moses identity? the abandoned baby? 

Or what if David had asked his father Jesse. His father would have told him he was the youngest son. The son who was a shepherd, not a soldier. 

If David had asked his elder brother Eliab? He told David to go back to the sheep in 1 Samuel 17:28.

David didn't ask King Saul, but Saul told him  “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

David had it right, He asked God. " who am I"?

When is the last time you asked God " Who am I"?

Why is it we ask family and friends for our identities? Shouldn't we be asking God who we are? Do you think maybe the reason so many of us do not have an identity is because we have failed to ask God? 

What if Moses and David had just listened to family? 

Do you think Moses would have led his people out of slavery? Do you think David would have killed Goliath or become a great king? I think not. 

Dear Lord, Who am I? How do I fit into your divine plan? What purpose have you designed for me? 

I Can't Get No... Satisfaction

I know you remember the Old Testament story of Rachel and Leah.

These competitive sisters were married to the same man. Thank Jesus we don't still have this custom today! I don't know about you, but I don't share that well, and neither did Rachel or Leah.

Now Rachel had it all. She was the Beauty Queen of Haren, her home town. Genesis 29:16 says that Rachel was the youngest sister and was lovely in form and beautiful. However, we are only told that Leah, the older sister had weak eyes. I imagine she had frown lines from squinting. Most guys aren't going to be attracted by a myopic frowny faced squinty eyed girl.  In fact, Jacob cried when he first met Rachel then agreed to work for her daddy for 7 years for her hand in marriage, then when he got tricked into marrying her squinty eyed elder sister, he actually agreed to work another 7 years for her. 

So Rachel was the pretty  best loved sister, but was that enough for her? NO! She was so jealous that her sister gave Jacob 4 babies that she whined and demanded of her husband " give me children or else I die" Genesis 30:1 in other words. " I would rather be dead than not have children like my sister". Here she had beauty and her husbands love, but she still wanted what her sister had. 

Now one day, Leahs eldest son Reuben brought his mother home some Mandrake he had found. In those days, mandrake was considered to be a treatment for infertility. Rachel saw the mandrake and coveted it. So she asks Leah for the mandrake. Leah asks her sister Genesis 30:5 " wasn't it enough you took my husband, now you want my sons mandrake?"  Rachel, barters a night in bed with their husband for the mandrake. But God is not mocked, it wasn't in his plan for Lovely Rachel to bear babies yet. But Leah, who didn't have the mandrake had 2 more children with Jacob. go figure!

Goes to show, you might as well trust in God, not in your own manipulation.

Poor Leah, when she bore the 6th son, she thought Jacob would now love her saying Genesis 30:20 "God has presented me with a precious gift. This time my husband will treat me with honor"

I don't know about you, but my heart breaks for poor unloved Leah

Finally after Leah has had 7 children, God decided it was time for Rachel to have a son. and do you know how she reacted? she named him Joseph, which means " He will add" and proclaimed "May the Lord add to me another son!"

Was Leah grateful for her beauty? Was she thankful she was beloved by her husband? Was she appreciative that she finally had a beautiful bouncing baby boy? NO! she wasn't! She immediately asked for more! 

Ya think God knew what He as doing in withholding children from Rachel? I do. She died giving birth to her 2nd son, whom she named Ben-oni or Son of my Sorrow.  What a selfish ungrateful shrew! When she had her first son she screeched "Give me more" now she gets what she wants and she tags her infant with such a dreadful name? Good thing Jacob had the sense to re-name the kid Benjamin or Son of my Right Hand 

Maybe she should have stopped along the way and just been satisfied.  I think it ironic, she had her husbands love til his last breath, yet she was unable to just enjoy it because she always wanted what someone else had. 

Are you like Rachel asking for more instead of enjoying the gifts you have been given? 

Could it be that our problems such as loneliness, depression or conflict in our lives stems from discontent. Are you always thinking " If I only had that, if only................? 

Stop for a moment and think of all the good things you have in your life. A loving spouse, children who honor you, a job that puts food in your mouth, a roof over your head... go ahead.. number them as the song says.  if it means every day you need to write down 10 blessings to remind you not to be whiny and ungrateful.. then do it! 

Don't like your job? at least you have one, many don't. The creak in your knees making you unhappy? at least you have legs to creak. The wrinkles in your face got you singing the blues?  you lived long enough to smile those wrinkles in to place and had enough suns in your life to squint those crows feet into place. 

so quit your whining and sing along with me.... :)

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

• Refrain:
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
  Count your blessings, name them one by one,
  *Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Dear Lord, thank you for everything you do for me daily. for the roof over my head and the food in my stomach.

Thank you I have a job and am able to pay my bills. Thank you for loving friends and for my health.

Most of all Dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me

Please help me to remember I really have it good compared to many.

men