#278.3 – “Last-Minute Wrapping”

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9
In the same way that I did not get all my presents purchased until two days before Christmas, I did not get them all wrapped until it was time to open them (hey – why break a perfectly good tardy streak, right?). ‘How?’ you ask? Simple: I reused someone else’s gift bag after they had opened it by taking the used bag into another room, inserting my gift, and reusing it! It’s the ultimate in recycling!
After we disappoint God or displease him in some way, He could just cast us aside and never bother with us again, but He doesn’t. Instead, He is merciful to us… allowing us to come to Him in repentance and ask for restoration. And He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness, restoring us to fellowship with Him. But this is a step beyond just recycling. When you recycle something, the product you are left with is still the same basic material you had before… just reused or reshaped a bit. But God actually makes us like new again in His sight – with a clean slate and a new start. He views us as He would view Christ Himself. That’s the kind of God we serve.
Give Him thanks today for His amazing forgiveness and restoration. If you find yourself in need of that restoration today, go to Him in faith and humility and ask for it.

Daniel

#278.2 – “Last-Minute Shopping”

“And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.” - Titus 3:14
One of the fun things to me about Christmas is last-minute shopping. Inevitably, I will have several things I still want to get or several people from whom I still want to buy with just a few days left, and this year was no different. I got out before daylight on Wednesday the 23rd and headed to Wal-Mart. It was surprisingly empty, allowing me plenty of room and time to do what I needed. I picked up all the items I was going after and was back home within an hour, feeling quite good that I had beat the clock once again!
Urgency to make a deadline often helps give me the impetus I need to do certain tasks. I am driven by time quite often. However, I admit that I don’t live with such a sense of urgency when it comes to sharing my faith with others. I need to see the clock ticking as I interact with people for whom I don’t know their eternal destination. I should be more intentional about impacting those around me. I ought to feel the desperation coming from their empty hearts as I talk with them.
Lord, help to be intentional about living with urgency as I go throughout my day.

Daniel

#278.1 – “What Christ’s Coming Means to Us - Peace”

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."– Luke 2:14
“This One will be our peace…” – Micah 5:5
“For He Himself is our peace…” - Ephesians 2:14
The angels proclaimed peace unto men with the announcement of Jesus’ birth, and rightly so… for there is no peace without Christ. Peace is a gift that comes from God to men. And it comes through the person of Jesus Christ. In fact, both Micah and Ephesians declare that He is peace. That bears clarifying: He doesn’t just bring peace… He doesn’t make peace… He is peace. And we can only have the kind of wholeness/completion that we desire in our innermost beings when we come to Him in faith, accepting Him as our Savior and trusting Him as our Lord.
Do you have peace in your heart today? Are you missing something in your life? If so, let me encourage you to pause for a moment and listen to the angels as they proclaim aloud the peace that is found in Jesus. Then go to Him and accept His gift of love to you today.

Daniel

#277.4 – “What Christ’s Coming Means to Us - Faith”

“And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."– Luke 1:45
Elizabeth commended her relative Mary for her faith. She knew she was beholding the personified beauty of what it is to simply believe the word of the Lord. But she was doing much more than that… she was also making a statement for all of us who were to come after the two of them…
Elizabeth said ‘blessed is she who believes’… and in so doing, she threw one of the heaviest one-liners in all of scripture, in my opinion. Her statement summed up all that faith is… and all that is required to have the hope, love, and joy we have already discussed. For in it, she laid out the very treasure map to blessing. Her statement is reminiscent of Heb 11:6 – ‘And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.’ Elizabeth knew this was true, and declared it for all generations to witness.
Jesus’ coming not only gave another opportunity for mankind to respond to God in faith; it made it possible for us to have THE opportunity of our lives: to trust in Him for our salvation. In so doing, He brought us the greatest gift we could ever have.
As you celebrate Christmas with family and friends this year, I encourage you to give thanks for the salvation that comes through faith in Jesus. And if you have never before accepted Him by faith, I hope you will do so… and experience the greatest gift of all!

Daniel

#277.3 – “What Christ’s Coming Means to Us - Joy”

“And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."– Luke 1:38
In the same way that mothers have babies only by the grace of God, we have joy only because of His marvelous favor towards us. We do not earn grace; He sends us His favor like He sent His Son. Joy is a gift.
However, we do play a part in whether or not that gift is actualized in us, and we do so when we decide whether or not to obey His will. Notice Mary’s response to the angel when she was told about her; it was a pure willingness to be submissive to the will of God. Consequently, she had the joy of carrying the very essence of the Almighty inside her. We too can tap into the joy that God gives when we simply submit ourselves to Him.
We must here define joy as different from happiness. ‘Happy’ can change; in a short time, you can go from happy to sad. Circumstances may affect ‘happy’, but joy is different. Joy doesn’t change with the wind; it is not affected by circumstances. It is not always fun (just like carrying a baby isn’t always fun), but it does produce a joy that is akin to hope, sustained by the knowledge that there will be fruit that will be born out in time.
Christ’s Coming brought joy to the world, making it possible for man to have a personal relationship with God. The fullest experience of that relationship comes when we submit our will to His and trust and obey Him.

Daniel

#277.2 – “What Christ’s Coming Means to Us - Love”

“Though the divine nature was His from the beginning, yet He did not look upon equality with God as above all things to be clung to, but impoverished Himself by taking the nature of a servant and becoming like men; He appeared among us as a man, and still further humbled Himself by submitting even to death--to death on a cross!"– Philippians 2:6-8
I can no longer think of Jesus’ birth without thinking of His death; the two are inseparable. You cannot – as the old saying goes – have one without the other. If we believe that God knows what is going to happen in the future… and that Jesus was fully God… then we are left with only one conclusion when it comes to Jesus’ death: that it was no surprise to Him… that it was no accident… that it was, in fact, known by Him. And if He, being God, knew His death was a certainty, and it still happened, then it must have been allowed by Him… and that, being allowed by Him, it was part of His plan. And another way of saying that it was part of His plan is that it was intentional. And anything that is intentional carries a motive with it. And so we come to the conclusion that there was motive for His coming to die for us. And the only reasonable conclusion for such an act is none other than love… pure love. Why else would someone die for someone else? There is no other explanation. Christ coming as a baby, in order to grow into a man, who would take death on for our benefit, is the single greatest expression of love ever given. It is why He came… and it is what He offers to each and every one of us.

Daniel

#277.1 – “What Christ’s Coming Means to Us - Hope”

This week, I share some of what we have talked about in our Sunday School class this month.


“The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name 'Jesus.' He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom."– Luke 1:30-33
I suppose that one of the reasons why God has soon-to-be parents wait about nine months from their awareness of a baby’s earliest formation to the time when they actually have a child born to them is so that they can get a glimpse of what hope is all about.
I also suppose that has something to do with why God came to us in the earliest possible form of life… so that we can see hope in Him. After all, there is a great deal of hope in a pregnancy… the mother hopes and wonders what her child is going to be like… the father hopes that everything turns out okay and that mom and baby are both healthy and safe… they both hope they can afford it! In fact, I can’t think of a greater lesson in what hope is than to be expecting a child.
We as Christians collectively celebrate the eternal hope that only one Child brings; we celebrate the hope of Jesus. His coming to earth as a baby brought great hope – not just to Mary and Joseph, nor only to Israel, but to an entire world of believers past, present and future. And speaking of future, that is what hope is all about: looking for something that hasn’t yet taken place… believing that it will… and living today with a certainty in its fulfillment.
That last part brings me to another reason why I think God lets would-be parents have nine months before the baby gets here: so they can get ready! We who help make up the Bride of Christ ought to be preparing for His second Coming in anticipation of the joy of that Day, and living in the Hope that such a promise - made in the past, of a future reality - brings us now.

Daniel

#276.5 – “Pure Rest”

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”–Matthew 11:28-29
Monday night was our final community band concert. Sarah’s mom and dad brought all of our kids to watch and listen. After getting settled in, little Joshua got still… and warm…. and (you guessed it) he went sound asleep! I didn’t notice it until after the concert was over. He was still sleeping when we loaded him in the van to go home… and he stayed asleep when we unloaded him and brought him into the house!
What would you give to be four again? Wouldn’t it be great to just stop whenever you got tired? Can you imagine being able to crash wherever you were… knowing that you were safe and would be taken care of? Wouldn’t it be the best sleep – just resting purely and completely in merciful arms?
How I need to have more of a childlike faith – one that truly doesn’t concern itself with the worries of the world, but rests in the arms of the mercy of my Father.

Daniel

#276.4 – “I’m Not So Full Anymore”

“Now may the God of hope make you full of joy and peace through faith, so that all hope may be yours in the power of the Holy Spirit.”– Romans 15:13
After Sunday night’s singing, we grabbed a bite to eat on the way home, so we wouldn’t have to scrounge up something at the last minute. Joshua claimed that he wasn’t that hungry once we got home, so he only had a few sips to drink before getting ready for bed. However, after he brushed his teeth (and realized that the alternative to eating was sleeping), he immediately changed his tune and decided that he wasn’t ‘so full anymore’. Not wanting him to be hungry, but also not wanting him to go to eat and go straight to bed and have an upset stomach, I gave him a few bites and then sent him to bed.
Sometimes we think we want one thing until we get it… and then we realize we didn’t really want that at all. Such is the case with things that tempt us. We consider them because they have something appealing about them; if they didn’t, we wouldn’t waste our time on them. When we choose them, however, we realize that we have, in fact, wasted our time… because they do not (and can not) bring us what we were looking for. We are left with a sense of emptiness and longing for something more… something that satisfies… something that leaves us full. And for us who know Christ as Savior, we remember that there is only One Source of contentment and peace – Jesus. It is Him who makes us full. It is Him who gives us joy… and love… and peace.
Seek satisfaction from the Lord and not other things today… and find peace.

Daniel

#276.3 – “Kids Singing”

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”– Romans 12:1
It is always neat to hear and see children sing in a Christmas program, and such was the case for us last Sunday night here at Emmanuel. Anna, Ruthie, Grant, and Joshua sang with each of their groups that night. Many of your children and grandchildren blessed us as well. Just to hear those sweet little voices singing about the Christ-child is so precious. I can’t help but think how pleasing it is to the Lord to have such pure worship offered to Him.
Today, I want to encourage us to offer God praise with our lives. The verse above is one that I have used many times in these devotions, because it speaks so clearly how we are to offer Him ourselves on a daily basis. May our giving be pure and without any motive other than bringing Him glory.

Daniel

#276.2 – “Changing Out a Headlight”

“Take fast hold of instruction; do not let go; keep her; for she is your life.”– Proverbs 4:13
After our haircuts and another couple of errands, the boys and I returned to the house and I got to work changing out a headlight on our van (I had noticed it was out the night before). It had been so long since I had done any headlight replacement, I had to pull out the owner’s manual to remember what steps to take in order to disassemble the light and switch out the bulb. But, with the help of some succinct but detailed instructions, I had it apart in short order and had swapped out the light.
God’s Word contains a wealth of instruction for living. That is not to say that instruction is the only function or purpose of the Bible, but certainly it is one. My prayer is that I will be a willing student of its teachings, heeding the exhortations it gives… that the Light of Jesus Christ may shine through my life to a dark world.

Daniel

#276.1 – “Boys and a Haircut… Okay!”

“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”– Luke 6:40
The boys and I loaded up in the little red truck Saturday morning and went to the barber shop. There was a time when they didn’t look forward to getting their hair cut – not because of any person or place, but simply because they are boys and, if you’d let them, they never get a haircut! But now when I say: “Boys, let’s go get a haircut”, I get no resistance. In fact, from all indications, they really enjoy the whole experience (of course, the gum they get as a treat afterwards doesn’t hurt any). But it is kind of funny just to see how they have gotten accustomed to the whole routine: each taking their turn in the chair… hopping up there… and sitting just as still as can be. They look like little men.
We as Christians are all to be maturing in our faith. We often need someone to show us how to establish a routine of bible study and prayer as a part of our relationship with God… and then we take on that habit for ourselves… and eventually we help show someone else how to ‘hop up’ in that chair of faith and do the same.
I want to invite all of us to consider prayerfully where we can give and receive mentoring, in order to help us/others mature in the faith.

Daniel

#275.5 – “Getting Ready”

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” – Matthew 24:44
We do an advent calendar at our house each Christmas season. It is one of my favorite things to do, esp. when we as parents get to watch the kids as they take turns putting up each day’s item. They are so eager to have their turn and do their part. Someone always reads a scripture passage and another hangs up the symbol for that day, and Sarah and I will talk about how it all relates to the coming of Jesus. It is a special time we as a family get to have.
Whether you live with a family or are by yourself… whether you hang up a calendar or not… I would encourage you to take time each day to read a Bible passage that relates to this season and spend some time reflecting of the coming of the Christ. Let the anticipation of this time of year hone your focus on Jesus and His glory, even as we look ahead to His second coming.

Daniel

#275.4 – “When Christmas Lights Don’t Light Up…”

“For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them.”– Ephesians 2:10
Watching the glory of God radiate these several days from within the fake pine needles in our kitchen, I have thought about another truth: like a strand of Christmas lights exists to give off light, I exist to do good works in and through and for Jesus – to ‘shine’ for Him. When I don’t do that, it’s the same as when Christmas lights don’t light up.
I thought about how Sarah patiently worked with those lights the day we put up that tree; she wanted those lights to work and was disappointed when they didn’t. In the same way, God wants His Light to shine through us, and He is so patient in working with us to get us to shine like He wants.
Thank God today that we get to participate in His divine plan… and for His patience when we don’t.

Daniel

#275.3 – “She’s Back At It”

“For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves. It is God's gift, and is not on the ground of merit-- so that it may be impossible for any one to boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9
I knew Sarah was officially ‘over’ her surgery the Sunday after Thanksgiving because, after a Saturday full of activity that included putting out a veritable plethora of Christmas doo-dads in addition to the Shekinah* tree (my new nickname for it), and a regular Sunday morning schedule of Sunday School and Worship, she still managed to finish up all of the Christmas decorations Sunday afternoon.
I took a nap.
When I woke up, she had done all the rest of what needed to be done, neatly stacking up the boxes that needed to be put back up in the attic.
I put the boxes back up.
Yep… things are back to normal at the Metcalfe’s!
When I think about the way Sarah outworks me when it comes to Christmas decorating, I am reminded of how infinitely more valuable the work of Jesus on the cross is than what I can possibly do towards it for myself.
Instead of killing myself trying to earn it, I am invited to rest in His grace.
Thank you, Lord, for providing for me what I could not possibly earn.

Daniel
* Shekinah is the visible manifestation of God’s Presence. The word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means "he caused to dwell," signifying that it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling of JEHOVAH God on this earth. The Shekinah was first evident when the Israelites set out from Succoth in their escape from Egypt. There it appeared as a cloudy pillar in the day and a fiery pillar by night (Exodus 13:20-22).God spoke to Moses out of the pillar of cloud in Exodus 33 assuring him that His Presence would be with the Israelites (v. 9). Verse 11 says God spoke to Moses “face to face” out of the cloud, but when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God told Him: “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v. 20). So apparently, the visible manifestation of God’s glory was somewhat muted. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered his with His hand and passed by. Then He removed His hand and Moses saw only His back. This would seem to indicate that God’s glory is too awesome and powerful to be seen completely by man.

#275.2 – “The Melting Pot Tree, Part Two”

“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” – Revelation 21:10-11
After Sarah got the lights on the tree like she wanted, she called me in from my work at the dining room table to come and give approval (an automatic response kind of thing, you understand). I came around the corner and thought I had landed plumb in the middle of the New Jerusalem itself! I swear I had never seen such brightness since Doogie Howser (dated reference)! You almost needed a pair of those helmets like welders use to be able to cast your eyes in the general direction of that meter-runner, I’m tellin’ you! If you had dared look directly at it, why I’d be afraid to think what might have happened! Saul/Paul himself wouldn’t have had nothin’ on you, you know what I’m sayin? What a bright tree! After my pupils had scrunched down as small as the good Lord would allow, I turned my head again towards the brilliant beast. As the tears of relief came over my dried-up eyes, I saw a great blur of colors, like looking though a kaleidoscope.
‘I don’t think you’ve got enough lights on there’, I said… in my mind (thankfully, that little guy that sits up there between my mind and my mouth to filter what comes out was awake that day, and he substituted what I was thinking with what I had better say).
‘Looks good.’ (He had kept me from almost certain destruction).
And so now, we have a melting pot tree that, if left on overnight, would likely melt the house! But hey – on the bright side (pun intended), I can roast marshmallows without a fire now!
Seriously, to kind of add onto my devotion yesterday, I cannot fathom what kind of bright beauty we will behold There. That fact alone is enough to give me goose-bumps… much less the thought of being with Jesus forever... wow!
Let us all look forward – with the best understanding we have – to what ‘no eye has seen’.

Daniel

#275.1 – “The Melting Pot Tree, Part One”

“After this I looked, and behold a great multitude, whom no man could number, out of every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”– Revelation 7:9
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we put up our pre-lit tree, only to find that all of its lights weren’t working. Sarah wrestled with those lights for a couple of hours - unplugging and replugging… exchanging fuses and bulbs… shaking wires and then shaking the tree (!) – until she finally gave up.
We then (somewhat hesitantly) decided that we would just add in some more strands of bulbs where the blank spots were. We agreed to use some bulbs we had bought and used the year before on the outside of our old house (we weren’t going to use them on the outside this year anyway). The only reason for our hesitancy of mixing lights was that the lights that came on the tree were small colored ones, and the ones from last year were large ones.
How will the tree look with both small and big lights?
Will it look tacky?
Will it be evident that we were just trying to ‘cover up’ a boo-boo?
Should we take all the little lights off and just use big ones?
Should we scrap the whole idea and just get some new little lights for the tree?
We stuck with our plan to mix in big ones… and our tree is now a beautiful little melting pot of big and little lights… all different colors…
They remind me of what heaven will be like, a mass assembly of all variety of God’s elect – those who on earth were rich and those who were poor… those who were well-known and those who were virtually unknown… those well-educated and those who never set foot in any kind of school… those of every nation and tribe and tongue – all coming together to worship at the feet of Jesus… a true living Christmas tree.
Let us all look forward to the Day when our voices will join theirs in joyful ecstasy, praising the Holy Savior.

Daniel

#274.5 – “You Know Christmas Is Here When…”

“You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:14-15
You know Christmas is at the Metcalfe house when all of the Christmas decorations come down out of storage in the attic and get into place. I’m the official ‘getter-downer’, and Sarah is in charge of decoration distribution. That’s a really good system for us, because I can tell you right now: if I were in charge of decorating, it would be skimpy and simple to say the least. But thankfully, I do not have to be concerned with any of that; I just get the stuff down (I am allowed to help put things out; I just have no idea where or how to put them. So, I have to constantly ask Sarah where this should go… or what she wants me to do with that… etc).
Well, this time, I didn’t put out one thing, because I had too much other work to do. The kids all helped Sarah decorate the tree… and the girls helped her unwrap and put out all kinds of decorations around the house… and you know what? It looked great! I was amazed at how well the girls in particular had done, as they worked a good bit of the time unsupervised (I guarantee you that they did a much better job than I would have)! The only other thing I did was put up all the boxes back into the attic, and (later) hang a couple of wreaths on the garage windows. It was actually surprising how unnecessary I was to the whole operation!
The fact that the all-wise Creator would ever let me play a part in His plan of helping reveal Himself to this world is a shock to me, because I realize how insignificant my very best contribution (which I don’t even feel like I often give) is to the whole. And yet, He invites me to join Him on this great adventure of bringing the gospel of Jesus and redemption and salvation to mankind! What an awesome thing!
Thank you, Lord, that you allow me to know You… and to get on board with what You are doing in the lives of man. Help me to treasure that responsibility and to do my best for you.

Daniel

#274.4 – “The Second Best Part of Thanksgiving Weekend”

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”–Romans 8:31
Besides the blessings of time spent with family and plenty of good food (including ice cream!) to eat, my other treasured experience this past Thanksgiving weekend was watching Alabama beat Auburn. I thought about not writing this devotion, because I didn’t want to look like I was rubbing it in to all of the Auburn fans who read my stuff, but then I thought: ‘Naaahh!!!’ I mean, come on… it’s all in good fun, right? After all, what’s the point of having an undefeated team (yes, I am typing this devotion before the SEC championship game on purpose) if you can’t brag on them a little?
Okay, okay, back to the spiritual now… if God is for me, then who can be against me with any real consequence? If death only brings me face to face with my Savior, then what do I have to fear? If I know that, in the end, my ‘team’ wins, then why not ‘play’ with joy and vigor?
Lord, help me practice more reckless abandon in my spiritual walk this week.

Daniel

#274.3 – “Ice Cream, Ice Cream, and More Ice Cream!”

“Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" And they could not answer Him regarding these things.”– Luke 14:1-6
At this past New Year, I had committed that I would not go out and buy myself any ice cream (my weakness when it comes to food) in 2009, because I would just eat it up… and I knew I did not need to keep that habit up. HOWEVER, I did NOT promise that I would not eat any that was already bought for me! So, intermittently throughout the year, I have had a few bits of ice cream at birthday parties and such. I say all that to explain one of the reasons why I was very much looking forward to Thanksgiving: because I knew that I could have some of my favorite frozen treat (and I did… I ate ice cream after every meal except breakfast from Wednesday evening at my parents’ house till Friday evening at Sarah’s parents’ house… and it was a delight)!!!
You see, I had established a rule for myself back in January that allowed me to keep the letter of the law without keeping the heart of it.
Jesus spoke against this very kind of thing when it came to spiritual matters… often pronouncing judgment against any of the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day for whom such living was a way of life. He clearly spoke against such self-righteous behavior and derided any such hypocrisy.
Righteousness cannot be attained; such a goal will inevitably lead to self-reliant actions, which will prove faulty. Rather, it must be obtained from the only true Source of righteousness.
There was more than one person in need of healing in the story above.
May we see that our righteousness is from Him, and may our focus be on serving the One who offers freedom from the bondage of sin.

Daniel

#274.2 – “More than Just Blowing Leaves”

“While our minds are not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”–2 Corinthians 4:18
Thanksgiving Day, I helped my dad blow leaves out of his gutters. I was grateful that he had asked me to do it for him, because it gave me a chance to help him do something that was meaningful and necessary… and it was something that he is no longer able to do himself. At one point while I was still on the roof, Joshua asked me why I was ‘doing that’. I told him: ‘because Paw-Paw needed my help’.
For me, it was about more than just blowing leaves… it gave me purpose… a cause I could jump in and help accomplish for my father. It made my Thanksgiving to do that for him.
Jesus lived His life for the glory and honor of His Father. For those of us who have accepted Christ as our Savior, we have the same joy: to live our lives for the glory and honor of our Father in Heaven.
Today, I invite you to join in the greatest cause on earth, getting on board with what God is doing, and finding purpose in His will for your life.

Daniel