When I Doubt

                                                            When I Doubt

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanely, and the Scripture is from Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

 

When I doubt is when I am focused on the pieces that are missing.  I doubt when I get all hung up on what is unexplainable and lose sight of what is undeniable.  I doubt when God does not act the way that I think that He should act.  When God gets outside of my little omnipotent box that I have crammed Him into, when He lets things happen that I do not think He should allow, when He does not answer a prayer, when He is unexplainable to me, or when He does not do what I would do if I was God, then I begin to doubt.  But when I shift my focus from those things that are unexplainable to those things that are undeniable, my faith soars even in the face of unanswered questions and mysteries in God that will not fit or stay in my little bitty box. 

 

What is undeniable is that we are here, that the only alternative to creation is that something came from nothing.  It is undeniable that there is a Creator, and there is a creation and all of the Earth shouts of His glory and presence and existence.  There is a God, and that is the starting point.  What else is undeniably true is that 2000 years ago a man showed up on the earth named Jesus.  He was a carpenter s son, a nobody that should have come and gone like everybody else of that age, but He began to teach strange things and perform miracles.  From Roman history this man died on a Roman cross, and He rose from the dead.  The eyewitnesses wrote about it and gave up their lives not because of what they believed or because of what Jesus taught but because they believed that a dead man rose from the dead.  What also is undeniably true is that this message spread throughout all of Europe and all over the world.  Today one third of the world s population believe that a Jewish carpenter rose from the dead; and the reason that they believe it is that at some point in their life they placed their faith in his death on the cross as the salvation for their sins, and they changed from the inside out.  You can go to every continent on this whole globe and you can find Christians in all kinds of different cultures speaking all kinds of different languages.  If you pressed them as to what happened they will tell you the same story.  I needed the forgiveness of sins and when I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior something happened on the inside and it has revolutionized how I have lived my life.  I have peace and joy, and my fear has disappeared.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

My First Christmas in Heaven

My First Christmas in Heaven

 

 

Dear Champions,

 

The following poem has given a lot of comfort to my wife, Beth, as this is her first Christmas without her mother.  The poem was written by Beth s mom to Beth after Beth s father died 11 years ago.  We do not know who wrote the poem, but we thought that it may bless others that are missing a loved this Christmas.

 

My First Christmas in Heaven

 

I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below,

With tiny lights, like heaven s stars, reflecting on the snow.

 

The sight is so spectacular, please wipe away that tear,

For I m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

 

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,

But the sounds of music can t compare with the Christmas choir up here.

 

I have no words to tell you, the joy their voices bring,

For it is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.

 

I know how much you miss me.  I see the pain inside your heart,

But I am not so far away.  We really aren t apart.

 

I send you each a special gift, from my heavenly home above.

I send you each a memory of my undying love.

 

After all LOVE is the gift, more precious than pure gold.

It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.

 

Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do.

For I can t count the blessings or love He has for each of you.

 

So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear.

Remember, I m spending Christmas, with Jesus Christ this year.

 

Author unknown

 

Champions, have a Merry Christmas!-David Vining

 

P.S.  If you have not seen this video of the Christmas story, then you will be blessed to take just a little over 3 minutes to watch it. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWq60oyrHVQ

The Undeniable Rather Than the Unexplainable

The Undeniable Rather Than the Unexplainable

Dear Champions,

The following is part of a sermon by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is  John 9:6-7 After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man s eyes.  Go, he told him, wash in the Pool of Siloam (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

You do not have to understand everything or have all your questions answered to believe in something or to put your faith in someone.  The lie that some of you struggle with is that you have lots of questions and you have bought into a mentality that says until I understand everything I cannot believe in anything as it comes to God and His son Jesus Christ.  Even though there are some things that are unexplainable there are also some things that are undeniable.  We focus on the unexplainable and avoid focusing on the undeniable, so we will never have faith.  But as you begin to embrace the undeniable then the unexplainable will not shipwreck your faith.

 

Everybody has misunderstandings about God, and one reason Jesus came was to clear up this misunderstanding.  What they believed back then was that a person born blind was paying for his sins or for someone else s sin.  When the blind man was healed his neighbors keep asking how he got healed, and the blind man was probably thinking, Who Cares?  I have been a blind beggar all my life, and now I can see.  All you want is an explanation, but how about let s have a party and a celebration.  I do not know how I got healed because it certainly does not make sense to me.  All I know is that I can see, and will someone just celebrate with me and get me a cake and hire a band and get a parade going?

 

Jesus should have known better than to heal someone on the Sabbath-who does He think that He is?  The Pharisees basically said, this man is not from God because we know what God is like.  We have God here in a box.  We know what God does and does not do, we know how He acts, and we have God completely under control because we are smart and know God like no one else knows God.  Since we know that God would not heal on the Sabbath, then God did not heal this man-end of case.  What happened does not make since with how we view God, therefore we know that it was not God. 

 

What a bunch of narrow minded, arrogant, ego centric people to think that they know so much about God that they would know everything that He could or could not do.  They could not explain it, so they refused to believe it.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

 

Gratitude

Gratitude

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is Luke 18:17-18   Jesus asked, Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?

There are two hidden sins that no one ever goes knows about.  One is greed, and the other is ungratefulness.  No one thinks that they are greedy, and no one thinks that they are ungrateful.  If you could interview the nine men that did not come back and thank Jesus, they all felt grateful and would deny being ungrateful.  However, unexpressed gratitude communicates ingratitude and is actually a form of rejection.  If gratitude is not expressed, then it does not exist. 

We gravitate toward environments and relationships where we feel accepted, and we are repelled by environments where we fell rejected.  Unexpressed gratitude drives people s hearts out of the relationship.  Gratitude closes the loop in our relationships with God and with others.  To refuse to pay my debts of gratitude is to live with an inflated view of myself.  You have never met an arrogant person that is grateful, and you have never met a humble person that is not grateful.  A returner is someone that is willing to go back to thank those that allowed them to go forward.  We all owe someone a debt of gratitude.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

A Tribute

A Tribute

 

The short excerpt is by me, and the Scripture is Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

 

Monday morning, November 14 at 4 A.M. my wife, Beth, and I got the phone call that her mother, Ina Frazier, had passed away.  While it was not unexpected as she was in her last stages with her battle with cancer, it still brought lots of emotions and tears to us both.

 

Ina Frazier spent most of her adult life as a missionary in Africa with her husband and seven children sharing the gospel.  She was a prayer warrior and a rock to so many, and my wife lost not only her mother but her best friend.  Close to her final days and breaths here on Earth, she insisted that her tithe check make it into the church offering plate and that a good donation was made out of her account to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, a Baptist church offering that goes to support missionaries. 

 

Matthew 6:31 says that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Ina Frazier is now spending eternity where her treasure was when she was here on Earth.  Now she has a new body, and in heaven there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4). 

 

I can almost hear the words spoken from heaven.  Well done, good and faithful servant!  You finished the race well!

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Listening To A Different Voice

Listening to a Different Voice

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Max Lucado, and the Scripture is in the excerpt.

I witnessed something similar to this on an airplane once. I kept hearing outbursts of laughter. The flight was turbulent and bumpy, hardly a reason for humor. But some fellow behind me was cracking up. No one else, just him. Finally I turned to see what was so funny. He was wearing headphones and apparently listening to a comedian. Because he could hear what I could not, he acted differently than I did.

The same was true with Jesus. Because he could hear what others could not, he acted differently than they did. Remember when everyone was troubled about the man born blind? Jesus wasnt. Somehow he knew that the blindness would reveal God s power (John 9:3). Remember when everyone was distraught about Lazarus s illness? Jesus wasnt. Rather than hurry to his friend s bedside, he said, This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God, to bring glory to the son of God (John 11:4). It was as if Jesus could hear what no one else could. How could a relationship be more intimate? Jesus had unbroken communion with his father.

Do you suppose the Father desires the same for us? Absolutely. Paul says we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29 NRSV). Let me remind you: God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. God desires the same abiding intimacy with you that he had with his son.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

No Greater Love

No Great Love

 

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is from Bobby Bowden and is found in his book, Called To Coach.  The Scripture is in the short excerpt.

 

One of my favorite devotionals I told our team is a touching story about two children in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.  A little girl was hurt and needed a blood transfusion to save her life.  They could not find an adult with the same type of blood in her village, so they had to draw blood from her 12 year old brother.  Doctors asked the boy, Are you willing to give blood to your sister to save her life?

 

The little boy said he would do anything to save her.  As the doctor started to put a needle into the boy s arm, the little boy started to cry.  Why are you crying?, the doctor asked him.

 

Will it hurt when I die? The little boy asked.

 

The little boy really thought he was going to die by giving blood to his sister, but he loved her so much he was willing to die for her.

 

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends.

 

John 10:15,18  I (Jesus) lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining