“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

Suppose you came to visit me one day and found me working in my garden. I explain to you that the garden is a gift from my father. I then ask you to join me as I collect some seeds to plant. You have always thought I was a bit crazy, but what I do next removes all doubt. You watch me walk into a field and begin to gather seeds from weeds. Crab grass seeds, dandelion seeds, chickweed seeds, and others. I fill the bag with a variety of “weed” seeds and return to the garden. You cannot believe what you have seen and say, “I thought you wanted a garden full of flowers and fruit.” I reply, “I do.” You say, “Then why not plant the right seeds?” My response, “Do you know how much those seeds cost? Moreover, it is such a long ways to drive all the way to the garden center to get the good seeds. No thanks, I just do not have the time. Besides, this is good ground and I think these seeds will produce something different from weeds.” You walk away muttering something about a one French fry short of a Happy Meal.

It does not take a genius farmer to understand that you can only harvest what you sow; you can only reap what you plant. Funny, what we have come to believe and know about developing land, we tend to forget when it comes to hearts.

The hearts of our children are fertile gardens ready to provide a crop from whatever seeds we plant. The planting of seeds happens in many ways. One of the ways that is most often overlooked, but seems to be the one that teaches the best is modeling. We all learn from models, examples of how to do it. When engineers design a prototype, they then make a model to see if it works. People use models every day to understand and explain the world around us. Most times, we forget that others are watching. It is only when we hear a voice that sounds familiar (at least it should sound familiar because it sounds like our voice repeating something that we have said), and or witness a person’s reaction to an event that we realize that we have taught this behavior.

Jesus, when teaching His disciples said to them, “Come, follow me…” meaning don’t just trail after me, but do what I do, be what I am, become like me. He showed them how to love people regardless of their cultural background, occupation, or tarnished lifestyle. He gave them an example of a suffering servant. We would do well to remember that there are eyes watching what we say, and what we do. They are learning how to live, by watching the very example of living that we represent.

How are you doing at cultivating your heart? Whom are you following? What have you done to cultivate the hearts of those around you? It is not about trying to be perfect. It is about realizing that what you do and say lives beyond the now, and knowing that if you point to truth the path will be clear for those who follow.

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“May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance.” 2 Thessalonians 3:5 (MSG)

How is your sense of direction? Not that long ago my wife and I were preparing to go to a birthday party over on the Eastside. I had been experiencing computer trouble that day and had sufficiently messed up our internet connection, and so found myself wondering how I was going to find the location of the birthday party since I could not “MapQuest” the location. Right then my brother-in-law called and asked if we had left yet. They were planning on attending the same party. I told him no, and that I needed help locating where the party was to be held. He gave me directions from his house. I wrote them down quickly, but then thought, this really will not help because we are not leaving from his house. At any rate, we hopped into the car and off we went. It was not until we were on I-520 that I realized it. In my rush to get ready I had left the directions sitting on the desk at home. Now we were already several miles from our home and 15 minutes late for the party. All we had was the invitation, prayer, and my memory…well two out of three is not too bad. As it turned out, after driving around for a while we were able to locate the party and ended up only being about 30 minutes late. It sure would have been easier with a map, but in the end we made it.

Life is tough enough as it is. It is even tougher when we do not know which way to go, or if we start heading the wrong direction, or spend a lot of time going in circles trying to find our destination. One of the things I admire most about Jesus was his ability to stay on target. His life never got off track. Not once do you find him wandering around looking at a map, scratching his head, or lost. He had no money, no computer, no administrative assistant, or staff; yet Jesus did what many of us fail to do. He kept his life on course.

Staying on track can be difficult especially when it is so easy to be distracted. We can help ourselves by asking a few questions: 1) Am I fitting into God’s plan (Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 5:20)? 2) What are my longings (Psalm 37:4; Ephesians 2:10)? 3) What are my abilities (Romans 12:3)? And, 4) Am I serving God now (Luke 2:49; Colossians 3:23)? Why not take a few minutes and evaluate your direction? The great thing is that if you need to make a course correction you can. Take the advice from 1 Peter 4:2, and start fresh today.

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“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” Romans 4:20

There used to be this show on television called “Dragnet.” Do you remember it? It was the story of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show is considered by many to be the most famous and influential police procedural drama in American media history. Many are familiar with a line from Detective Joe Friday, whether they watched the show or not, that he used during the course of interviewing a suspect, “All we want are the facts, Ma’am.”

It is seems odd how sometimes “facts” keep you from “truth?” You might be scratching your head and wondering, “What is he talking about?” Let me try to explain.

Every week, I spend much of my time doing one of two things: one, removing “roadblocks” for my staff so that they can render the best in quality education and service to our students and families; and two, helping individuals and small groups resolve problems. Often, the problems are of an interpersonal nature. Problems always have multiple sides, and depending upon whom you talk with, problems are loaded with facts. Most times, especially when there is a high amount of emotion, the facts are relayed in a manner that most benefits a persons’ personal position. “He said….she said,” are only snippets of the stories that are told. Frequently, when a person is intent upon sharing a multitude of facts the reason is not to make sure truth is known, but to provide proof or justification for action (or lack thereof).

Sometimes facts can cloud or compromise faith. The Bible has many examples of times when people had the facts but missed the truth. Take for example Abraham and Sarah. Some of the facts were they were both very old (especially for starting a family), and up to this point in their lives they were unable to conceive a child. The truth of the matter was that God had a plan that went beyond the facts they could see and understand. Another example is that of Zacchaeus. The facts: excommunicated by the church because of his vocation (a cheat, considered a low-life, a sinner). The truth: Jesus saw someone who needed healing in his life. As a result, Zacchaeus receives salvation and then blesses the community and those from which he had stolen.

...Facts...Truth...Faith...

How do you view the facts in your life? How are you at seeing the truth in the midst of those facts? Are there facts holding you back, causing you to doubt the promises of God? What truth has become elusive because of the facts? I am sure if you could speak with Abraham, Sarah, or Zacchaeus they could tell you about the truth that was opened up for them despite the facts.

Thanks for reading!

Helen Keller once said that when she was young, she had longed to do great things and could not, so she decided to do small things in a great way.

Earlier this week I was amazed at the spiritual depth of Oswald Chambers while listening to one of our teachers read from his book, “My Utmost for His Highest.” If you have never read this timeless classic, I would encourage you to find a copy and begin to do so. Oswald begins the devotion for October 8 with the thought, “Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus!” Within this short discourse, he writes about our unwillingness towards coming to Christ in every matter. Can you identify with what he is describing? He further states, that a person would rather argue, evade issues, and or even go through sorrow rather than come. There have been times in my life when, because of pride, that I have chosen not to go to Christ. Sometimes I believe that I can work things out myself, and sometimes I am foolish enough to believe that I am strong enough, and sometimes I just want God to do something big when all He wants me to do is something simple.

Have you ever felt “pushed” in this way?

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” What a great promise from Jesus.

Jesus gives a simple and sure way to solve the problems we face. All we have to do is call upon Him, and He will then give us rest. It is interesting to note that the rest that Christ speaks of here is not a rest from work, but a rest found in work. Not the rest from inactivity but of the harmonious working of all of our available resources and affections—of will, heart, imagination, conscience, intelligence—because each has found in God the ideal sphere for its satisfaction and development.

Several people have been having fun with the “Staples—Easy button.” There is an “easy button” available to us at all times. All we have to do is go to Christ and He will give us rest. In Him is everything we need to do and complete whatever lies before us. Yet, that is not all, there is more, after receiving rest from Him for the present; He wants to show us how things could go better for us in the future. If we choose to learn from Him, He promises that we will find rest in the future as well. He loves us enough to take care of the present need and to provide a solution for our future; I find that to be so awesome! Therefore, when you are feeling pushed, out of gas, at the end of your rope, as if nothing is going right, take my advice and go to the One who can make the difference—Jesus Christ!

Thanks for reading!

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” R. McCloskey

The message was easily read, but not one that we wanted to be seen. It happened sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning. It did not really matter; all we knew was that we needed to do something about it before the children arrived on Monday morning. It came off the doors and glass relatively easily, but the part on the bricks was much tougher. In the end, some tape and black plastic did the trick until we could find another solution.

In case you missed it, we were the victims of some vandalism this past weekend. It came in the form of graffiti. Unfortunately, it was not some misguided street artist, but someone expressing his or her rage. Whenever something like this happens, I always ask myself a few questions like: Why would someone choose to do this? What had happened to this person to cause them such pain? Is Fairview somehow linked to this person’s frustration? Is this a random event? Why do they sell spray paint cans to minors? When will this happen again? No body knows the answers, and it is sad when people become destructive.

Obviously, a message was being communicated, but it was completely one-sided. In the Gospels, Jesus uses words similar to, “he who has ears to hear should listen,” eight times. In one of His parables, Jesus compares our ears to soil. He told about a farmer who scattered seed (a symbol of the Word) in four different types of ground (a symbol of our ears). Some of our ears are like hard road—unreceptive to the seed. Others have ears like rocky soil – we hear the Word but do not allow it to take root. Still others have ears similar to something of a weed patch—too overgrown, too thorny, with too much competition for the seed to have a chance. Then, there are some who have ears like good soil. This soil is fertile, discriminate, and ready to hear God’s voice. In all four cases, the seed and the farmer are the same. The only difference is the person listening. The sad part to me is that if the ratio in the story is significant, three-fourths of the world is not listening to God’s voice. Whether the cause is hard hearts, shallow lives, or anxious minds, 75 percent of us are missing the message. It is not that we do not have ears; it is that we do not use them.

So, I hope the person who shared their rage with us gets some help. We may never know who this person is or if they ever will receive healing. One thing I do know, of all the messages, and of all the persons trying to communicate with me, the one I want to do my very best to hear is God. I know that if I listen to Him (because I trust in His character) that everything else will work out. How long has it been since you had your hearing checked? When God throws seed your way, what is the result?

Thanks for reading!