Greatest Joy

When I awoke that Sunday morning, I had no idea what gracious gift God was going to give me that day. How at the end of the day I would crawl into bed with a joy in my heart beyond all I could imagine. And it started just like any other Sunday.

I am blessed to have attended a church for over 25 years with just a few breaks in between. But even in those breaks rarely 90 days passed before I was worshipping with this faith family again. With that much history, going to church for me, is like a family reunion. Lots of “good mornings?”… “how ya doings?” … and with my nephews playing on the undefeated local high school football team a lot of “how ‘bout those Falcons?” (Side note: my church is not just in the same district as the high school but the church’s name is in the school’s address and for many years I taught Sunday school in that high school while my church was building out a new worship center.) I am in 100% agreement with David from Psalm 122 when he said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’”

As I settled into my seat, I looked around and there were my football playing nephews just in front of me. What in the world? They do not attend this local church. “Hey, Aunt Beck! We came to see one of our fellow football players get baptized.” And they had brought another player with them. My heart swelled just a bit. Then, walking down the aisle were my niece and her three brothers. They also attend another church but wanted to come to this church today. And they settled in not too far from me. My heart grew a bit more.

Church started and the worship music began and I looked down and across from me and there were six precious souls that call me Aunt Beck and whom I have prayed for them for years…many since before conception. There they were singing praises to the most high God, opening their Bibles, taking notes, participating in prayer. They were engaged. My heart blew up!

Immediately the verse that came to mind was 3 John 4: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. It was truly a wonderful gift, from a great God who cares for His children, to not just hear but to see them walking in the truth. I know that these kids are not perfect and one may have nodded off a bit during the sermon but they are mine and I love them so. I am eternally grateful to be able to be a part of their lives and hopefully influence them in just a small way.

What is your greatest joy? What gracious gift has God given to you?

What are You Reading? And How are You Reading?

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and has been all of my life. One of my best memories from growing up is actually getting a library card. My escape as a kid was to leave my house and cross the street to a vacant lot with a book under my arm. I would scale a tree (it felt like I was 100’ in the air but it was probably more like 10’), settle in a branch and read. Life was good!

Once I became a Christ follower, reading the Word was my escape. However, in recent years my overachiever has come out and I am not really savoring the Word but just reading it in a year. I was rushing and not really slowing down to enjoy or even learn more about the God I was reading about.

 So, my 2020 Bible reading plan is not the entire year or even just the New Testament but my plan is to read only the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles. But not just read them but think through them. To help me do that I am using the ESV Scripture Journals that I received as a Christmas gift. As I am reading, I am journaling about what I just read and not after reading a verse or two or even a verse. But, in some cases, one word or one phrase stops me to process, to think, to ask. I really started in December and did the book of James – it took me four weeks spending 10 minutes or so a day at it.

 On January 8th, I started the Acts of the Apostles and I made it through two verses:

Here is what I journaled:

1. The books of the Bible are all related. It is one BIG story and each of the 66 books represents a different facet of God, a different story of His works; one needs to know that Luke wrote this as well as the Gospel of Luke 2. Who is Theophilus? The name means friend of God. No one knows exactly who he was but isn’t that just like our God – the letter went to a specific individual but if you are a “friend of God” this letter applies to you as well 3. Luke’s first book dealt with Jesus – all He did and taught – do I remember enough about what Jesus has done in my life? Can I write a testimony beyond salvation of the great things that God has done? 4. Jesus is seated in glory – the tomb is empty and He has been taken away 5. He has left instructions for His people to accomplish 6. The Holy Spirit is now the ”vehicle” which we will know/see/understand the things of God – He will not contradict the scriptures but will guide us if we want to fulfill them 7. Jesus selected His disciples – even Judas – and by selecting them that means He did not select others.

I might not get through all of the Acts and the epistles by the end of the year (at this rate, I might not even get through Acts) and I am just fine with that. The richness of the Word is like a great steak…savor each morsel and don’t rush onto the dessert.

Do you have a Bible reading plan? If not, here is my favorite one if you are just starting out.

Good Name

This was the cornerstone verse for Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A. He said in an interview with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, “I am always conscious of keeping my name in good order. Doing that, I believe, has been paying dividends for me even now, because in the restaurant business we have to do things right each and every time, not just sometimes.”

This is a challenging thought…doing the right thing every time. But we know it to be true…whether it is college football coaches or leaders in the church or ourselves…one indiscretion can ruin everything. You may still have the finances but family is torn apart, life purpose is destroyed and respect is lost. May we make the right choices today to keep a good name.

Someone is Watching

I take it that since the year 1984 came and went over 2 decades ago, George Orwell’s classic is no longer a required reading in high school. But the phrase “Big Brother is watching” is still a part of our culture. Big Brother was Orwell’s fictional leader in Oceania and was watching every citizen all the time for “their own good.” Of course, he was watching for Oceania’s good not the citizens.

However, we do have Someone watching us all the time in every place and He truly is looking out for our good. And since He is all knowing and Sovereign, we do not need to fear His watching but rather trust His watchful care over us.

Life is an Adventure

Life is fluid….tragedy can strike and life totally changes. Trust in the Lord, submit to Him and He will direct your path.

Treasure Chest for You

If you knew there was a treasure chest full of silver, gold and jewels buried in your backyard, would you be quick to call the back-hoe rental place and start digging? Would you ignore sleepiness, bad weather or the season premiere of The Bachelor to get in the yard and start digging? Would you even be willing to dig with your shovels and picks if a back hoe was not available? Well, probably in your home is this type of chest and it is the Bible. In these 66 books, written over 1,000s of years ago by 35 scripts is a treasure trove of instruction, knowledge and wisdom that is better silver, gold and jewels. For many years, I was too pride to dig into it and at times now still too lazy to do it. But when I do…oh my!! I find gems and nuggets left and right. Praying that you take time this week to find yourself some nuggets.

What is in Your Head?

Your thoughts and your attitudes will make all the difference.

How’s Your Fuse?

It was just after 630 in the evening and I was driving to church to teach a Tuesday evening class. As I approached an intersection, a white vehicle blows around a red vehicle and crosses the intersection without stopping at the stop sign. The red vehicle then accelerates and passes the white one on a hill and then promptly slams on brakes.

Of course, by now I am just coasting down the road and being super mindful of what is going on. As the red vehicle goes over the hill, the white one makes a hard left and u-turns and almost blows my doors off going past me the opposite direction. As I crest the hill, I see the red vehicle fish tailing straight towards me in my lane. I hit the brakes and he was able to correct before blowing past me towards the white one.

What in the world?!?! What caused these men to take a 2.5+ ton weapon and swing it around carelessly? What set them off? Was one guy going too slow for the other or not responding quick enough in the intersection? Or was there something deeper – a fight that started earlier in the day, a girlfriend that has been going out on the other? Regardless, was that craziness worth whatever the “issue” that prompted it?

Then, I thought about some of my own reactions to things. I might not be doing a 180 in the middle of the street but how often do I get frustrated because I have to wait an extra 30 seconds or even 5 minutes? Or when people don’t know how to drive as well as me (at least in my opinion), do I turn to others or even myself and complain? Seriously, what good does that do?

As I saw it, these guys must have short fuses…may I work on having a longer fuse and practice the fruit of the Spirit, peace, patience, kindness. How about you? What makes your fuse go off? Do you need a longer one?

Step #1: Fear the Lord

Leaders are lifelong learners. The easiest and most effective way to learn more is to read (or listen to) more books. In 2014, the Pew Institute found that over 25% of American adults had not read a single book in 2013. This was triple what the number was in 1978. Don’t be like the crowd.

Are you in business? Read business books. Are you a parent? Read parenting books. Are you a spouse? Read marriage books. Are you a leader? Read leadership books. Do you relax? Read novels. Why not challenge yourself to read a book a month (or a week)? It will be life changing.

Don’t Let Fear Stop You

Courage is doing it afraid. Start moving towards your fears and they will fade.

Golden Words

A word spoken at the right time can change one’s life. How do I know? Because my life was changed. The word was choose. I was in a place in my life that because of my own choices and decisions, in a nutshell, was a disaster – emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically. But I was slowly crawling out of it through the Word of God, a great counselor and friends. However, it was HARD work.

Early one morning when the alarm went off and I didn’t want to get up to read my Bible let alone go to work, the song that played was I Choose Joy by Larnell Harris. (Check out this OLD music video of the song.) The word that jumped out to me was choose. It was empowering! I could choose to stay in bed and even skip work but what good would that do? All I had to do was look around me and know that my choosing the lazy way or the unhealthy things were leading me to places I never wanted to go back to. However, I could choose to flip the covers back, step onto that floor and start choosing the better way.

To this day, the power to choose right or wrong, good or better, better or best is still empowering me to move forward and not slide backwards. How about you? Do you have a word that was fitly spoken that is changing your life?

Just Do It

Leaders are lifelong learners AND appliers of that knowledge. This is wisdom. Learn something this week and apply it.

Slow to Speak

When I was living in Russia, learning the language was a slow go and I understood long before I could speak it. In that in between time, forming sentences in my head during conversations would take so much time that they would have moved on to something else. This taught me a great lesson: my opinion is not always necessary.

I am still being taught this and the Lord never fails to give me opportunities to practice. It is an old saying but true…we were given two ears and one mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak. Let’s be wise and work on our listening skills this week. May the bunny ears be a good visual reminder.

Be Resolved

Daniel was resolved not to eat of the Babylonian delicacies and he changed an empire. (Daniel 1:8) What are you determined to do?

Who are You Hurting?

I am blessed to serve women who struggle with food issues through First Place 4 Health. One of these women said to me, “I had an AHA moment…when I get mad at my husband I head to the pantry for pretzels!” My response, “Well, that really shows him.”

This is just a small example of how we can self-sabotage ourselves. Being cruel (mean, unkind) will not only hurt the person you are being mean to but will also hurt yourself. Are there attitudes you have or actions you are taking that are self-sabotaging to you? Identify them and then choose to change. Easy recipe but hard to do – do it anyways.

Grow in Wisdom Get Better Looking

What I am about to say needs to be written in very, light pencil with an eraser near by. My thinking on this proverb maybe more based on what I hope then what the Lord is saying here but…here it goes. I believe as we grow in the wisdom of God we will be better looking because wisdom is an outward ornament that is a crown of glory. It motivates me to stay in the Word for sure. Proverbs also says that grey hair is a crown of glory but I am heading to my stylist every six weeks to remove that crown. :)

Take 3 Minutes

If what you do does not propel you towards your vision, begin today making changes so it does. If you don’t know what’s your vision, take 3 minutes right now and start developing it.

Wounds from a Friend

At first glance, this proverb seems backwards….how can wounds show faithfulness? But it is so true. Only those who love you and have your best interest in mind will tell you “hard” things. I am so grateful that in my life I have several “scars” that were caused by friends. I probably bristled against them at first, but in the end it brought about transformation. May we have friends like this in our lives and may we be a faithful friend.

Failure Lessons

Take a moment and be thankful for one lesson you learned from failure.

Seek Counsel

A friend called me last week and asked about confronting someone concerning slander this person was spreading. I was not the only one whom my friend called. He was seeking wisdom from others before “waging war.” There have been some Facebook posts, Instagram replies and emails that I have sent that I should have sought wise counsel before sending. In the end, it only brought (at best) a loss of emotional energy and (at worst) relational destruction. Let’s seek wise counsel in all that we do. We are better together!