Along For The Ride

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may

be mature and complete not lacking anything.”
James 1:4

One of the bad things for my family after 30 years of driving back home to New York almost every holiday and vacation is their being victim to my love of driving. Sharing driving duties is something I do reluctantly and so my family, especially my poor wife Nancy, ends up as passengers more often than not. In some ways, you could say that they are “along for the ride”, forced to endure my many driving woes with little or no recourse. You can ask Rachel about New York City if you need more specific information to confirm that thought!

But here’s the thing about living life: no one is along for the ride, whatever the circumstances of your life are. No one is a powerless victim of their life. We always get to choose our response to life’s difficulties and, by doing that, we take control of the steering wheel of our lives. James 1:2 tells us to “count it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds.” In a thought that ends with our finding a greater maturity, and being made complete as a person, we’re encouraged to see all of life as situations we can learn from and where we can grow as individuals. And our attitude plays a key role in how well we learn from life’s experiences. We will feel pain, hurt and disappointment; all that is very real. But we have the final word on how we are affected; we choose our response and our attitude. And no matter how much we try to deny it, we each have our hands firmly at ten and two on the steering wheel of our future.

Henry Cloud said this about our part in our lives: “We play a part in where we are, and when we learn what that part is and what we are contributing to being there, new doors and new paths begin to open up.” As the Lord continues to speak about doing a new thing, we owe it to ourselves to make a thorough inspection of our lives, to see what part we are playing in where we are, no matter how small or how great, and give ourselves willingly to change. So often our personal change, with God’s help, is the key to the circumstances of our life changing. If we quit too soon, if we bail out because of the intensity of the difficulty, we never learn the lesson that is meant to catapult us into the next step in our lives. Dealing with our part opens the door for the Lord to do His part, giving strength, wisdom, sending help from above, answering prayers, and opening doors no man can shut! Along for the ride? Not a chance!!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

I Owe It To Myself To...

“The plans of the diligent lead to plenty

as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Proverbs 21:5

Asking someone to complete a sentence like that above will often bring some rather interesting results. I’m guessing that, in this case, the majority of answers would reflect someone rewarding themselves for their hard work and constant business, along these lines:

• I owe it to myself to have a night out.
• I owe it to myself to have a little fun.
• I owe it to myself to take a day off. 
• I owe it to myself to go out shopping.

Writing this, I can’t help but wonder if David thought he owed it to himself when he sent for Bathsheba to be brought to him. Or if Judas thought he owed it to himself when he stole from the money bag that he held. And we could wonder the same about the decisions of so many others who made short term decisions that ultimately undermined their futures.

“What do I really owe myself?” Here are some examples for you to consider:

• I owe it to myself to think my decisions through before acting so that I don’t live for the moment but lose sight of the big picture.
• I owe it to myself to spend time in God’s Word, on a daily basis, so that I have the guidance that is needed in my life to make wise decisions. 
• I owe it to myself to think before I spend so that my future is not spent paying off old debts rather than being free to follow God’s leading.
• I owe it to myself to develop strong, healthy relationships so that I have others to help me in the situations where I can’t see clearly and struggle to be objective.
• I owe it to myself to pay the price now, in hard work, in diligence, in how I spend my time, and in study, so that my future is not based on a dream or wishful thinking but on the reality of the effort I have expended on growing as a person and as a Christian.
• I owe it to myself to make spiritual matters, time spent with the Lord in prayer and devotion, a priority so that I don’t find myself empty from having built a life on the values and desires of this life while minimizing the life that is to come.

As David wrote, “the plans of the diligent lead only to plenty.” Let’s look down the road of life and do those things today that, deep down in our hearts, we know that we owe to ourselves.

God Bless,
Pastor Joe

Let Nothing Be Wasted

“Let Nothing Be Wasted”

The words were uttered by Jesus after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” From a solution to a need that started with giving thanks for five small barley loaves and two small fish, came enough pieces to fill twelve baskets with the leftovers after everyone had enough to eat. Five thousand men had been fed from such a meager provision but the focus of Jesus was not on the depth of the miracle but on the aftermath, on nothing being wasted that the Father had provided.

It’s a principal that has many applications in our lives; that no experience we have gone through, that no lesson we have learned (and some have been expensive), and that no truth we have gained would be wasted. How do we waste them? We do that by not sharing those insights into life with others who are going through similar circumstances. The experiences of our lives are precious treasures, regardless of the pain they’ve brought us, that can help another person navigate the potholes of life and make it on their journey.

This past summer, returning from vacation, heading north on I-77 in West Virginia, we heard the news that there was a three hour construction delay at one of the tunnels through the mountains. Word of the experience of others served as our warning to get off the main road and try another route to avoid the backup. And with a sixteen hour drive home, we were happy to avoid three more hours tacked on because of construction. And here’s how it really relates: there is someone, or maybe more than one someone, traveling the same road that you’ve been on. They’re going to face the same discouragements, encounter the same difficulties, and need the same determination to not give up that you needed on your journey. Don’t let one ounce of your experiences be wasted by keeping it to yourself.

Some lessons in life can’t be learned from the pages of a book; we have go through the experience, through the valleys and the storms, over the hurdles and mountains, to gain an understanding of both the depth of human sorrow and the heights of the grace of God. But having another person who has experienced similar circumstances come alongside us? That is strengthening, that is invaluable, and that is what it means to let nothing be wasted.

Each of us has far more arrows in our quivers than we’ve realized. A door God opened, a season you made it through, a victory won – someone out there needs to hear about it and receive the strength that comes from someone else’s experiences. I’m guessing that, like Jesus’ disciples, you might gather up far more than you’d ever have expected. Now it’s time to share them!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

I Run

“I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.”
Psalm 119:32

In one sense, I always envied the pet owners whose dogs were so well trained that they would stay in their yard or by their side without a leash or any other restraint. Some would respond so obediently to the sound of their owner’s voice that even another dog passing by would not entice them enough to get them to exercise their freedom. Others would bark incessantly but their training paid off time and again as they remained where they were told no matter what the temptation, be it a wandering cat passing by or a playful squirrel just out of reach.

But not Diefenbaker, not once, not ever, in fact, he never gave it a second thought. Our beloved Siberian Husky took his freedom very seriously. That’s why I laughed when I read the above scripture last week. David said that because God had set his heart free, he was running after God in his life. When Dief’s chain wasn’t secured right, he ran. When the screen door was left open for even a second, he ran. Lost your grip on his collar? You guessed it; he ran! We did take him to obedience school but you get the idea of how well that worked out. With a world of adventures awaiting him, Dief had a very simple philosophy on life – I run!

Unfortunately, people can end up in one of those two situations themselves. We can become so conditioned by life’s events, and have the routines of our lives so ingrained in us, that even when God sets us free, when God releases grace for something new and fresh in our lives, we stay in that same spiritual place, unmoved and unchanged. I’ve been trying to imagine what David’s “I run in the path of your commands” looked like on a daily basis. Was it going after something seen in scripture that he had never experienced? Was it seeking the Lord for more of His presence, more of his wisdom, or some previously unseen answer to prayer? Did David go beyond the borders of his faith in his running after God, stepping out of the boat he found himself in, or stepping out of the battle line, set free to run after the Goliaths in his life.

While the trained dogs were experiencing their backyards, Diefenbaker had woods and fields to explore, new neighborhoods to discover, and friends to make in the canine world. And if you think he slowed down, nope! Twelve years old, eighty four in people years, and he maintained the same philosophy – I run! And I’m hoping each of us will adopt that same outlook. Every opportunity that God gives, every new freedom that we experience in him, with every breakthrough that comes and every stirring of His Spirit, a purposeful and determined “I run!”

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church