I Love My Wife

Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"

Col 3:19 says "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them."

I bought a t-shirt not to long ago with the simple statement: I Love My Wife. Nothing fancy, just a plain blue shirt with I love my wife written in small print on the front. The shirt has special meaning for me. After 13+ years of marriage I can say the statement still holds true. However for me the meaning is even deeper.

You see I was a jerk. I did not always treat my wife as the princess she is. Due to sin in my life and not trusting God to help me I came very close to wrecking my marriage. However God is a God of restoration. He allowed me to bring my sin into the light and the He dealt with it. He also repaired my marriage in ways that were even better than the day I said, "I do!" To God be the Glory!

So when I saw this t-shirt it became a must have purchase for me. I received a few comments on it around town but nothing, NOTHING like what happened on a recent trip to Europe!

I was going through airport security in England when the security agent called attention to my shirt and asked if this could be true. Then a clerk at an airport shop asked if my wife bought it for me. I replied to both and made a note of the reaction.

However when I arrived in Croatia it was a whole new scenario. While sitting at a coffee shop with a friend a stranger walked up to ask if this could be true. He then wanted some details. Later that day another man stopped me in a park to ask about it and a clerk at a deli mentioned it as well.

So what is the big deal? Is it because so many marriages end in divorce? Is it because men don't make such public statements anymore? Has sin run so rampant that people don't believe in love anymore? Probably yes to all 3!

I believe God is a God of restoration. He did it for my wife and I. God is concerned for our families. He wants whole families taking forth His Word to the nations.

If you have a story of restoration I would love to hear it. Let's testify of God's goodness together!

The Well

In Croatia, a country that was once a part of Yugoslavia before the war, there is a small town named Krajaschina. In the fall of 1996 I had the privilege of being the first American (at least that was what I was told) to enter this town.

Cows were herded up the rural dirt roads a few miles from the main town. Livestock, typical of a farm area, could be seen all around in the fields.

I was spending the day with a Christian friend from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We had come to this town to help his father pick corn on his grandmother’s farm. They needed the corn to feed their family and livestock through the winter months. It was here I heard the story of the well.

A little over one hundred years ago this country village had ten public wells built at various locations around the town. Farmers would come to get water and various military units would water their horses there as well as they passed through the town. As the years went by the wells began to run dry. One by one they stopped giving their cool, refreshing liquid. All accept one.

Only one well has never ceased to give its needed refreshment. Each time a bucket is lowered down the well it comes back up fool of cold, refreshing, clear water. Visiting this well I was reminded of another story about a different well.

Jesus had stopped at a well for a drink and was met there by a Samaritan woman. He asked her for a drink. She stated, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:9) Jesus proceeded to reveal Himself to her as the Living Water. As she asked questions He responded with a gentle kindness. His responses when to the heart of her real need! The result? He brought this woman into relationship with Himself. She later testified in Samaria about Him.

We all need the water from the well that never runs dry. I know in my own life I have felt really refreshed of late. So sit back and drink of the Lord!

Bobcat Tales – Hide and Seek (Just A Thought #23)

I use to have a pet bobcat. Now, I know that may sound a bit strange, but I am from Tennessee and hopefully that will help it to make more sense. The bobcat was a runt and after this was confirmed by the National Park Service and we were informed it would only grow to the size of a large house cat, we decided to keep it. Eventually, my bobcat mated with a regular cat and we had a few half-breed bobcats running around as well.

One thing I use to love to do is play hide and seek with my bobcat. The cat would come into whatever room I was in, make a guttural sound with its throat and then take off running. You could go from room to room searching for it and when you finally found it the cat would do the same thing again. Sometimes I’d mix it up and let the cat look for me…it would do that as well.

Hide and Seek is a fun game. I used to love playing it as a child. This was especially true if there was a large enough group and a lot of spaces to hide. We’d sometimes play until dusk, which helped us to find a better place to hide.

Even now I like to play hide and seek. However, today I like to play hide and seek with the Lord. I got the idea from the Bible. What? No, it’s true! I’m not kidding. Look at these 2 verses:

“I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” Matthew 6:33

I want to hide the Word of the Lord in my heart daily. Like a treasure, I want to keep it there so that I can draw upon it and not sin against God. I know He can keep my feet secure.

I also want to seek God first and foremost. Nothing else matters. I want to cling to Him like a dying man to a lifeboat! I want to know Him more!

So, I invite you to join in the fun and play Hide and Seek with God. Your life will never be the same

Get Life!

I was looking over the book of John and there is some awesome stuff there. However I noticed a real gem in Chapter 10. The first 18 verses talk about sheep, thieves and gates....but the last part of verse 10 says, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." That verse got me thinking...

Life...Jesus came so that we can have life! LIFE!!!! So how come His children sometimes look half-dead? I don't mean to offend anyone here but did you see that word LIFE!!!!! Now I have to admit there have been times where I have felt half-dead in my walk with the Lord. Yet I don't believe God wants that nor does He expect that of His children. He wants us to have Life and to have it more abundantly.

I am not talking about physical or financial blessings. I am talking about relationship. Naked intimacy with God. Running to Him, with Him! Communing with Him. Talking, living, rejoicing, fellowshipping! LIFE!!!!

Yes Life can be hard. Things happen. Disease, poverty, death. However the Word says in Romans 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? and in Rom 8:37-39 it says "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I want LIFE with Him more than I want life itself. I want to breathe Him, embrace Him, worship Him! I want to go deeper! Deeper into Christ Jesus! Deeper with the Father. I want Life! I want nothing else to matter. I want Life! True Abundant Life! One focused on Him! I don't want to get a life, I want to GET LIFE! How about you?