It has been said before that if a person wants to have a satisfying life, the person needs three things: something to believe, someone to love, and some task to do. I guess you could call it the BLT for life. Personally, I generally agree with that formula for a satisfying life.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and I believe in Jesus Christ, God's Son, and my Savior and Lord, and I believe in the Holy Spirit who regenerates and empowers my life. I believe in the church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting. What I believe makes my life very satisfying. Of lesser importance, I believe the annual opening day of the Major League Baseball season should be a national holiday and everyone is excused from work and required to watch a baseball game and spit sunflower seeds.

I love my wife Dawn and I love that she is different from me because God uses her to make my life more whole. If I were stranded on a deserted island and had to choose one person to be there with me, it would be Dawn without any hesitation. And left to my choosing, we would not try to get off the island either. Loving Dawn and being loved by her makes my satisfying.

My task in life is to build people. It is refreshing to have an opportunity to make people better even in small ways. I believe the best minute is the minute I invest in the life of another person. The task of building people makes my life satisfying.

If you do not agree with the above BLT for life, you can always have the traditional BLT, a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. I suppose that would make life satisfying as well.

Let's play catch! It is your turn to throw!

In early August, I went to a leadership conference with a handful of people from Gateway and God used one of the speakers to grab my attention. And not just a tap on the shoulder kind of attention, but a resounding gong kind of attention!

The speaker was talking about her involvement in a ministry that rescues young women from the despicable slave trade or human trafficking. The speaker told us about a conversation with a young woman that had been rescued. The speaker told the young woman that God loves her and the rescued woman asked the speaker, “If God loves me, why did you not come to rescue me sooner?”

That question rocked my mind and heart as I sat listening to the speaker at the conference. The word “sooner” was imprinted in my mind and I kept hearing the speaker say the word “sooner” all day long. And still to this day, I can hear the speaker saying “sooner.”

God impressed upon me that day that I am not always waiting on the Lord for an answer or a prompting but many times God has already given an answer or prompting and I have not acted. Therefore, many people are wondering where is God’s love because I have not acted “sooner” on God’s prompting and provision. As I think about poverty, oppression, injustice, lostness and the like, I wonder if all that dark ugliness would be extinct or at least very limited if only I and others acted “sooner” on the promptings and provisions of God. I believe many times we are guilty of blaming God for His failure to act when in actuality we have failed to act.

Since the conference, my commitment is to act “sooner” on God’s promptings and provisions and to lead others to do the same. I believe if we act “sooner” in the name of Christ, God will reveal more heaven on earth to us and that will cause us to grin more!

Let’s play catch! Your turn to throw!

Earlier in the summer, most of my tomatoes had blossom rot or some blemish on them, and I was getting discouraged. Nonetheless, in recent days the same plants have done a 180 and produced some flawless, perfect tomatoes, at least in my opinion. And that has created a grin on the face of this rookie gardener! And get this, I do not even like to eat tomatoes.

Years ago, some of my ministry colleagues called me the “redneck mystic” because I spend time reflecting on all my life experiences. And in line with that habit, I have spent some time reflecting on those flawless, perfect tomatoes.

My thoughts went to Noah in the Old Testament. Genesis 6:9 declares, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Later, Genesis 6:22 pronounces, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

Then my thoughts went to Galatians 5:7 and it proclaims, “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” That passage reminded me that like some of my earlier tomatoes, I have some blemishes in my life.

And true to form, my reflection kept expanding and I pulled out some statements that have been true in both history and my life. One statement is “God does not call us to minimums” and another statement is “Direction, not intentions, determines my destination.”

And of course, my reflection took me to the game of baseball. I remember that every time my coach gave me the game ball and sent me to get warm in the bullpen, I wanted to pitch a perfect game that day. I never threw a perfect game but I did through a couple of no-hitters and a handful of shutouts. Nevertheless, each game I sought the perfect game.

My reflection on flawless, perfect tomatoes ended with a renewed desire to pursue a life that is blameless among the people of my time, and a renewed desire to lead a church who will do everything just as God has commanded us. I keep telling myself, “Keep the bar raised high!” And one day, I hope to see a grin on God’s face and hear him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Let’s play catch! It’s your turn to throw!

Many mornings I arise around 5:15 and head out the door about 30 minutes later for an appointment. A few days back, when I went out the door, my eyes were captivated by the brightness of a full moon. I stopped for a few moments and gazed at the moon and gave a few claps to the Lord before I drove away. Almost every time I see a full moon, I think of Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

When I consider all that God has done and still does, I am overwhelmed that he is mindful of me. That means that God thinks about me all day long and other scripture passages declare that God does not sleep and He watches over me. Upon reflection, that attribute of God is meaningful to me because I am not like that. Without Christ, my life and mind drips with arrogance and I am not mindful of anyone but myself.

When Christ is having His way with my mind and actions, I am mindful of others. Some manifestations of that is I will write notes to people with blessings of scripture, I will tell my wife the wonderful words she deserves to hear, I will do things for my family without being asked, I will act on divine promptings of service, and I will empower others to do the good works in which they were created.

My daily battle is that I am not mindful of God like He is of me. And I definitely do not want to be like the people described in Ezekiel 23:35,”Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.” I do not want to be guilty of throwing Christ in the backseat and telling him, “I got this and I do not need you today.”

Upon further review, I have a good day when I have captured all my thoughts and actions ahead of time and made them obedient to Christ. Being mindful of God is such much better than being mindful of me. What or who is on your mind today?

Let’s play catch. It is your turn to throw.