Easier to Coach from the Bleachers

Have you ever noticed how easy it seems to run a team from the comfort of your easy chair at home? While hanging out in the bleachers at my kids ball games, I notice how effortlessly parents "suggest" better ways to coach the team.

Not to long ago, I was on the other side of the field. As the coach, the pressures of the game, the expectations of the parents, the desires of the kids, your own desire to excel, all weigh heavily on you before, during, and even after the game. You have a vested interest in how the game goes. Although you cannot make it happen, you benefit from the kids making right decisions, and you get blamed for them making wrong ones. It really isn't all that bad at the 10 year old level, but it only amps up from here...

In correlation, have you ever noticed how easily it is to "live" someone else's life for them from a distance? I listen to people "counsel" their friends on dealing with boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses, children, work, etc. and the interesting thing is they do not have a "dog in the fight". In other words, they are "counseling" from a recliner in their living room. Win, lose or draw, they neither benefit, nor are hindered by the other person's success or failure. Their input is little more than fans yelling at a coach in a ballgame.

What about you? Do you have people that have a vested interest in your success guiding you through the turns of life? Do you have a group of friends seeking to grow together, challenge one another, say the hard things through the thick and the thin? That kind of friendship is harder to develop, and those kinds of friends give more stable, more beneficial advice, because they are in it with you for the long haul.

Anyone can yell suggestions without risk - it takes true friends to stand alongside you and experience the consequences of their counsel.

What do you think? Do you have any experience with this?

Alien and Stranger, or Citizen?

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Heb 11

How unique these people must have seemed to the citizens of the land. Think about what is being said of them, and how it must have been received by those they were living with

They did not receive the things promised - they lived in a way that they held as true something they never saw. They probably spoke of these things to other people who of course didn't see them either - maybe they just thought they were crazy?

They admitted they were aliens and strangers - they reminded themselves and others that they did not belong. They had different values, different goals, different ways of evaluating things, a different economy... They were weird!

AS A RESULT...

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Oh, that this would be said of me. I desire for God to not be ashamed to be called my God. I desire to be His delight.

The Core Values of Man

What is it everyone wants? When taken down to the basic truth, what do all people long for?

This morning, I was reminded in a meeting that the basic needs of man is to love and be loved, to know and be known. It really all boils down to that. Here's the struggle though. Although one longs to be known, the more they share of themselves, the more likely they can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. To the extent that one makes oneself available to be loved it is to that degree that they can be rejected or abused.

The truth is, people long to be loved, yet realize they are unlovely. People want to be known, but they know that if they are fully known, others could not handle who they are.

Enter God. He claims to have a full and complete knowledge of who I am, what I have done, what I am going to do, and even what I am thinking or have thought about doing. According to His word, there is no greater knowledge of me that can be known - not even by myself. So what do I do with this knowledge? I try to hide the ugly parts from God. Because surely He cannot know these things. Yet His word says He does.

What is His response? Repulsion? Disgust? Anger? His response was fleshed out in His son, as his repulsion, anger and disgust were poured out on Jesus. Yes, His response to sin because of His holiness is wrath beyond our comprehension. Yet with His wrath came a way for man to experience a love that we long for at the deepest part of our being.

To be completely loved and completely known. This is the glorious message of the gospel.

How are your investments doing?

I remember when I was a kid, and a salesman came to our door to sell windows. My dad, not the most patient person in the world, gave him some time to tell him about these windows he was selling. The salesman said, "You know, your house is your greatest investment." To which my father quickly replied, "No, my children are my greatest investment."

Ben Franklin encouraged people to invest in knowledge. A sound investment, I agree, but I don't believe it pays the "best interest". You see knowledge can be right or wrong. People can invest all kinds of time, money and energy in learning something that is not true, and the dividends will be devastating.

My thought would be "an investment in truth pays the best interest".

I would like to encourage you to think about your investment of your time, your energy, your money, your family, etc. How are you investing these things? Are you investing in the eternal? Are you investing in Truth? Are you investing wisely? Are you investing with purpose? If not, no matter how well they pay, it will never produce the dividends that you long for.

As the Mariner Follows His Compass

As the mariner follows his compass,
and the motorist follows his guide,
May you follow the words of Jesus,
May they draw you close to His side.

For the Bible's the only guide book,
to direct you wherever you roam.
"Tis the only compass given;
And it points straight north to home."


And if ever life's sea is choppy,
or the mountains of life are steep,
you may read within these pages,
"Fear not, for I know my sheep."

"I'll love, I'll guide, I'll keep you,"
this is His message to you,
Read it and miss not the blessing,
For His Word has been tried and is true.

Yes, the mariner needs his compass,
and the motorist needs his guide,
and you, too, need the Master,
ever close at your side.

Jesus, the Friend of sinners,
Jesus, the Savior of men,
in the Bible the story is written,
read it, again and again.

(Elsie C Webb)