You can hope with all of your soul that it will work out in the end if you hold on to Jesus, to the stories which inspire us anew, and to the people like Samwise Gamgee who will always stick by your side and remind you of the things which really matter when you can’t seem to remember yourself.
Happy April! Welcome back to our little corner of the world! This week, we are looking at all of the blog posts, podcast episodes, and social media posts we created throughout the month of March!
If we allow Jesus to show us the dirt inside our cups, the cups that may look clean on the outside, but are actually filthy on the inside (Matt. 23:25), He will cleanse them with His precious blood if we are willing to die to them. We will experience cleansing and deliverance if we immediately put the sins He shows us under His blood.
I know some of us still feel as if we are broken in a million pieces at His feet. We’re left wondering what’s next? How does this whole “Jesus thing” impact tomorrow, even? For just a second, I would like to focus our attention on one simple phrase that has done nothing less than change the world because it is secured in an undeniable fact. I just want you to know that this changed my life.
The battle is not over; perhaps, as in our Friday story, the cross is still to come. The light is overcoming the darkness. We just have to believe, have faith, and get back to looking for the truth we know, the truth we have been told. Restoration is real and possible when we repent and seek Him. Sunday is coming.
For Jesus, the garden was a place of betrayal and sorrow. For me, the garden is a place of peace and comfort only because of what He took on for me. I consider that garden in the cemetery, where it’s literally surrounded by the dead, to be an example of life and power. It’s a constant reminder of the pain and agony that my Savior endured on my behalf.
One thing that has surprised me about myself is how frustrated I can become due to the fear, grief, or suffering I am experiencing. I had convinced my heart and mind that I shouldn’t give into feeling those things because faith doesn’t operate like that. That’s not true, however. Faith isn’t fearless, and what matters in this struggle is how we address the fear we naturally experience. It’s an opportunity to trust the Lord with all that we are and all that we have.
Any leader who is willing to sit back, or even flee, while sending others into the battle he should be winning is a pathetic specimen who should not be trusted even with a little. In the words of General George Patton, “No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.”
Join us for some rapid fire podcast episodes, excellent wisdom from C. S. Lewis, and a convicting read about how to not become mediocre! February was a great month.
Lucy wasn’t “lucky to know”. She was simply trusting that Aslan hadn’t and wouldn’t abandon them, and it was in this act that she was proving herself to Aslan. This provided her with the hope and courage she needed for the future challenges they were about to face.
I’m always amazed when I see the multitude of damage a single mediocre man can make in his sphere of influence. My encounters with these men have led me to promise myself one thing: Whatever the circumstance, turning to mediocrity and selfishness is not an option.
Most of the time, I catch myself just being a nicer version of my old self. You know, I can hold my tongue when a co-worker is rude to me, or I can let the person in the grocery store line behind me go ahead of me because she has one item and I have a cart full. Sure, these are kind things to do, but are they Christian behaviors? Are they things that I could not, would not, do if I was not saved?
Believe me when I write this, dear reader… I am not saying that to merely have a nice title for today’s blog post. There’s not much worse than hearing pretty Christian clichés and reading feel-good posts that everything is going to be alright and that you’re doing a great job when you’re currently in the fire being refined. I write this to you today because nothing has brought me more hope and inspired me to be all the more faithful than the fact that Jesus Himself is the safest place for my suffering.
Happy Thursday and happy February 1st, y’all! So here’s the deal… Madie & I have decided to do something new and fun here on the blog at the beginning of each new month. We will do somewhat of a “monthly recap” of all the content we have created and produced in the last month!
You stand for a moment, and you wonder, how did I get here? How did my life go from this to that right before my eyes? There are days where you still can’t believe it, or you forget the last thing has happened for the last time. Your ears trick you into believing you can still hear the jingle of dog tags hanging from a red and black checkered collar. Your mind still asks you what you’ll wear to church in the morning, because someone is always a little overzealous with the air conditioning. You wonder how many people will be in Sunday school that morning since this person and that person are on vacation or visiting family.
It is past time for us to break off the yokes of bondage that we have allowed misguided men to place upon our necks, and for us to straighten our backs to stand courageously against the darkness they have allowed to enter through the front doors of the Church.
I am sure you have a running list of things you would like to get better at or do more of going into 2024. Those things are great, but what about the things that actually matter? What about Jesus? Is He something you just fit into your schedule when it permits, or does everything else flow from your personal relationship with Him?
The Lord has used my father, and Atticus Finch, to teach me that just because what is right may often earn you the hatred of lesser men, and may cost you everything you hold dear, it does not make it any less valuable.
Our family has been incredibly blessed by the opportunities God has given us to preach the Gospel here, and we are so looking forward to what 2024 will bring!
Enjoy this beautiful poem this evening by Henry Van Dyke! Happy New Year’s Eve, y’all! 🙂
As we enter this New Year, for the sake of old times, may we come together as One body and stand together through whatever stormy gales we may traverse in the coming future. For the sake of old times, let’s have Church.
Foster gratitude within your heart for Christ’s death, thanking God that we can have a relationship with Him if we are covered by His blood. Revel in the anticipation of the day you will see Him face to face and all will be made perfect.
Do not ever forget that the only probable explanation for why you desire precisely what the world cannot give you, is that you were made for another world.
I often imagine this is how the Lord viewed us before He chose to send His Son. I can see Him looking down at us after His 400 years of silence and recognizing that the people He loved did not need to be conquered. They needed to be healed.
I would argue that the one page that separates Malachi and Matthew is one of the most important pages in Scripture. It represents 400 years of history, 400 years without a prophet, 400 years without hearing the voice of God.
The King has come! We celebrate this Christmas Day for that reason. No longer is our world grey and grim. No, it is now bursting with hope and joy because the Light has come into our darkness in the most powerful way.
Though dragons have always been a part of our world, we know that the endings of dragons have also echoed through the pages of history. Let us remember that our Knight is no longer a babe in a manger, but is grown, into the Heavenly Warrior He was always meant to become, and His sword is now drawn.
He was there that night, you know. Right there alongside the sheep and cows. Right there in the stall with Mary and Joseph. Like the wise men, the red dragon had followed the signs and found the newborn Christ-child. No nativity scene is complete without him. You might even say that the red dragon is the reason for the season because if it weren’t for him, Jesus would never have had to be born.
We all have a tendency to walk away from Jesus. It is our natural inclination to say, “I’m good Jesus, I’ll take it from here.” I believe, that as men, we have a greater tendency to do this. However, truly collapsing at Jesus’ feet and giving your life to Him is the true meaning behind being “a man”.
When I heard this song my first thought was “That’s me; I am Barabbas!” I literally was (almost) a prisoner and because of what Jesus did on the cross, I am a free man. But then, after listening to the song on repeat, I realized, we are all Barabbas. We are all sinners.
Probably the thing about our Ruby that reminded me most of Jesus was that she loved unconditionally. No matter my mood, sick or healthy, short temper, busy or idle, or anything else she just wanted to be with me and know that I loved her. Just her presence was enough to let me know she loved me; no matter what.
I’m guessing at this point, many of you would like to politely remind me that we are in the month of December, and this is Blogmas after all! The Christmas story, best known as The Birth of Our Lord and Savior, can be considered the ultimate prelude to literally everything else.
Are you ready for a fun, interesting, thought-provoking episode?! Lots and lots of planning went into this episode, and we are thrilled to finally share it with y'all!
Happy Sunday! Enjoy this rich and meaningful poem by our most beloved Lewis today.
You see, I once told you all that Christmas is what we define it as. This year, I tell you that Christmas only holds as much magic in it as we are willing to look for. When we look only for the magic lying dormant in the gifts and decorations and parties, we will have a very briefly merry Christmas indeed. However, when we seek and create the Deeper Magic in the assistance of a stranger, in the melting wax of our Christmas Eve candles, in the way the snow filters down from heaven displaying the undying creativity of our Savior, or in the bright, eager eyes of the little girl staring back at me, we will be able, truly, to keep Christmas in our hearts all the year long.
Aslan had a greater plan! The Deeper Magic stated that if a willing victim, who had committed no treachery, was killed in the traitor’s place, the Stone Table (the place of sacrifice) would crack, and death itself would start working backwards.
I have a choice to make this Christmas season… Will I allow grief to overwhelm my soul and ruin this Christmas? Or will I instead choose to be a threat to the enemy, actively defying him in the greatest way possible, by celebrating the goodness and the hope my Savior has freely offered me?
Beholding isn’t mindless apathy, but neither is it redundant activity. It is knowing Him, being transformed, and knowing Him all the more. To know Him more is consequently to know His holiness, His purity, which, just like the person and the pearl, elicits a response.
Is your Present Spirit the representation of wealth, or status, or selfishness? Or does it represent the cross, and your willingness to suffer for it, no matter the wealth or status you have? Is your Future Spirit a representation of a dark eternity? Or does it represent the Light and glory of your salvation?
You know, when I read that story in John 20, I always think about how even though Thomas was not a Judas, he wasn’t present for the most crucial of moments. And for what? This is always the question that races through my mind. What could he have possibly been doing that was more important? More valuable, more significant?
So Death lay in arrest. But at Bethlehem the bless’d Nothing greater could be heard Than sighing wind in the thorn, the cry of One new-born, And cattle in stable as they stirred.
The greatest gift given to any of creation was the day Jesus was born, because it was His birth that led to the rejection of Him, which led to the death of Him, which resurrected Him, which glorified Him, and to that which ultimately glorifies us.
Christmas became something that I despised because I had no family, and who cared about gifts! I would've given anything to be a fly on anyone's wall at that time. Fast forward to age 29, and I'm yet in another situation where I wish I was a fly on anyone else's wall besides the knee-deep situation I had gotten myself into! I woke up at a crack house after a 5-year bender of crack cocaine, tired and lonely, because yet again I pushed everyone away from me. But on this day, I would meet Jesus!
So, as I reflect today and honor those men who, 82 years ago, made the greatest sacrifice for this great nation; a nation founded on the sacrifice of Jesus. A nation that has spread Christ and freedom around the world like no other nation in history. I’m reminded of my own preparation for Christmas.
A Poem by: G. K. Chesterton - Blogmas Day Six 2023
Aslan doesn’t go on to explain why Digory’s mother is sick or what the purpose of it all is. Neither does he promise to heal her in that moment, but what He asks Digory to do is trust Him. He does not act as if he doesn’t care, in fact, Digory felt as if Aslan cared more about his mother than he did. And the truth is, Aslan did.
My question to myself and to you is this. Do we feel the same sentiment regarding Christmas as these song writers did in days long past? Do we understand that we are in sin and error? Do we take time to ponder the most wonderous fact that our Savior was born to save us from that sin and error?
Happy Sunday! We are so enjoying Blogmas and pray y’all are as well! This has become one of my favorite Christmas poems. Enjoy! – L
This old ache that Lewis speaks of is no doubt a Heavenly one, buried deep in our souls, a fire which never ceases to burn but that we try to dim because we wish not to be told that what we’re really attempting to do is escape the darkness of our present circumstances.
It is my prayer that I may be like Merry and Pippin this Christmas season. That those I am with may know that I have endured hardship and face uncertainty, but that they will not guess that it had ever been truly terrible from my speech. I hope they instead hear from me that while something may have been hard, it has also been worth it.
Happy Thursday, friends, and happy last day of November! Here at The Few, we are anxiously awaiting, and preparing in every way we know how for the very first day of Blogmas, which begins tomorrow, December 1st!
We would like to encourage you to take some time to pause and reflect on the origins of Thanksgiving by listening to our latest episode of our Podcast, which just happens to be our 2023 Thanksgiving Special! “How The Providence Of God Can Be Seen In Our Everyday Lives” is an episode you won’t want to miss this year!
In our little corners of the world, God is calling us to be the modern-day prophets who remind our community what it is for, what it is committed to, and what it ought to be. That’s how repentance and revival breaks out, which are the two things our communities urgently need.
We will only make true progress by doing an about-turn and running straight back to our roots; getting back to the point in time when the Church was effective and impactful on the culture, not bowing down to it. Otherwise, we are marching blindly onward to destruction, and we are taking our children, and their children, and their children with us.
We may have before us a great moment, born from great opportunity. We have before us a world crying out for greatness. The kind of greatness only Christ can grant. Yet we withhold it sneeringly, believing their crises of identity and purpose are beneath us to deal with.
In order to make people hate America, you have to make America hate-able. This is exactly what the Left does day in and day out. Why is this their aim? Because America was founded upon Biblical principles that have guided us for the last 230+ years. They know it is especially difficult to fight for a common cause when you don’t have a common identity.
Jesus didn’t ask the disciples to “pull one bumper sticker off the boat and replace it with a different one.” When Jesus called them, they had to intentionally choose to leave their boat behind. On the foundation of their faith, they stepped forward in obedience to live a new lifestyle.
Too many of us are playing it safe when Jesus is saying, “Come on, try me. All that’s necessary is faith without a ceiling.”
I know, dear reader, especially if you are quiet and deeply feeling like me, that may sound like the most difficult thing God could ever call you to do. It quite possibly sounds downright terrifying to some of us. But may I just encourage you today that what you do with your quietness could echo through the tides of history and make a profound impact on the Kingdom of Heaven.
About a week into experiencing this intense spiritual warfare, I realized I didn’t have a battle plan. Sure, I was throwing a few punches back every now and then, so the enemy knew I was still in the ring, but in my own heart and mind, my goal wasn’t to win. The goal was merely to survive. Here’s the kicker, though… I was losing.
You see, I have found it is always better to light a match and let it burn, however small a flame it renders, instead of simply sitting and regretting the dark.
Friends, do you get what Jesus is saying? If we will do the more, God will do the much more! If you love Him more than physical comfort, if you seek Him more than you seek stuff, if you focus on Him (the heavenly treasure) more than you focus on earthly treasures, if you desire His will more than you desire your own selfish way, God will be able to do much more in you and through you and for you.
There have been many instances in my life, where I have felt as though not a single thing I cherished had been left untouched by darkness. As though everything I held dear would sooner or later experience the decay of depravity. I often echo the detective’s question in wondering how you leave the destruction at the front door.
Not only does the Lord seek to restore that beauty and innocence by inviting us to die to ourselves and experience a glorious resurrection in Him, but He goes a step further. He invites us to be made holy, to take on His beautiful image, and to share that with Him for eternity. What love!
As much as I would like to pat Christians on the back and tell them it’s perfectly fine to retreat when the days are dark and evil, I can’t. We may be living in a post Roe America, and praise the Lord for it, but it is in large part due to the five Justice’s that didn’t go stick their heads in the sand and ignore this crucial, heartbreaking, unlawful issue. Now it is up to us to continue the fight, to advance the Kingdom, to be beacons of light in our little corners of the world.
I have found that it’s easy to get so comfortable with our social, mental, and spiritual isolation that we don’t even realize we are alone. That’s exactly where the enemy wants us, and dare I say, where the enemy has many of us.
We have all sold ourselves to something. We have all sat in slavery so long the thought of pursuing a radical freedom causes us to hug the chains biting into our skin more tightly. Because we have convinced ourselves that we are not the ones in chains.
Disturb us, Lord, when We are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true Because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely Because we sailed too close to the shore.
God wants to bless us, but sometimes that means that we must “give in” to what He has for us and what He ultimately wants to be to us. Jesus so desperately wants to be your everything right now, but you have to first give Him your hand. I promise He will never let go.
Here is what I have come to ask you today: Are you alright with being the lesser light in a time of darkness if it will preserve the coming of day for future generations? Are we still willing to exercise power and maintain even a little light, though it is increasingly difficult to shine it, if it means that those coming after us will be able to expect a dawn?
In case you need to hear it today, God gives freely, abundantly, and consistently and He will never fail you. Sometimes, though, He has a much better plan for you than the one you are mocking up.
From my own personal experience, this conviction of sin, this pruning of what is not of the Lord, of what is unholy and unpleasing to Him, happens most often in times of waiting. In the midst of my weary waiting, God has made Himself most known, most felt, and most real to me.
None of us may be a “master detective” such as Hercule Poirot. However, God has given Christians, who have the Holy Spirit within them, the incredible ability to see the world as it should be (some to a lesser or greater degree). To see a world in which everything is just, and right, and true because we function as we were intended to all along.
Defeat is quite the “gospel” kind of concept, don’t you think? It is a concept which is completely backwards in our minds, in the world around us, and in our feelings. But I have often found that the only gospel worth believing in tends to follow this pattern. A pattern which looks entirely foolish to those who have not been changed by it.
So, when Jesus asks him, “Do you want to get well?” I now think in my mind, “Do you want to get well? No, really, stop and think about it. Do you really want to get well? Do you really?” Because it will mean an entire life change. Your world will be flipped upside down, totally, and completely different.
I invite you to join me as I contemplate this powerful ballad written by Chesterton this week! Let us always remember the price Jesus paid for our sin, to save us and restore us anew. - L
Mankind has continued to forge chains that bind us and weigh us down. We lack the power to free ourselves from them, and our only hope of being set free lies outside of ourselves. If we will but open our hearts and minds, we will certainly discover that the blessings of obedience to Jesus alone are utterly astounding.
The past is an interesting thing, isn’t it? It is a stained-glass window of divine, confusing paradoxes. It is a constant cycle of destruction. It is a constant cycle of redemption. It is a story of falling. It is a story of rising. It is terrifying. It is soothing. But most importantly, it is to be remembered.
We could be an overwhelmingly dangerous force in the world and a completely victorious force in the spiritual realm if we would function in our God-given capacity. The enemy knows this, friends, and he has so very cleverly disarmed us by making us think that our occupations outside the home are more important, more valuable, than our influence within the home.
It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if the Lord would just give us more clarity, more answers, that our souls would be set at ease. However, what I have found to be true in my own life is that what I really need is more trust, not more clarity.
When we pray, we let the enemy know that we believe the Lord can help us. The Lord knows what’s on our hearts, but through prayer, we remind the Devil who’s really got the power.
SURPRISE! We’ve hit 10,000 downloads on our podcast, A Few Minutes With The Few, and we are celebrating BIG!
The problem is our unwillingness to die with Christ, and if we will not die with Him, we cannot be raised with Him. C. S. Lewis once said, “Die before you die. There is no chance after.”
I have spent most of my life wondering where all the good leaders are. The sorts of leaders you read books and watch movies about, who rouse a complacent group of people into powerful action, who prompt brainwashed people to throw off the chains of their oppressors, who change entire generations of people. Where are the Aragorn’s, the Gandalf’s, the Atticus Finch’s, the Hank Busche’s, and the Marshall Hogan’s of the world? Can they really only be found in fiction?
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, the same women who watched the crucifixion, are now sitting against the tomb, just as they had sat against the cross; still longing to express their love and devotion to Christ. Still, they were seeking after Him.
I know some of us still feel as if we are broken in a million pieces at His feet. We’re left wondering what’s next? How does this whole “Jesus thing” impact tomorrow, even? For just a second, I would like to focus our attention on one simple phrase that has done nothing less than change the world because it is secured in an undeniable fact. I just want you to know that this changed my life.
If Jesus has taught me anything, He has taught me that what is right is always worth believing in, and there is now no one else who will recognize that our belief in Him is infinitely more important than our belief in ourselves, whose perverted justice condemns what is holy and good.
The battle is not over; perhaps, as in our Friday story, the cross is still to come. The light is overcoming the darkness. We just have to believe, have faith, and get back to looking for the truth we know, the truth we have been told. Restoration is real and possible when we repent and seek Him. Sunday is coming.
This man is mentioned in three of the four Gospel accounts. He is mentioned, not for his cruelty, or anything else relating to his profession, but for a miraculous transformation that happened immediately following the death of someone he crucified.
This fascinated me as I was considering the power and meaning of the scent of the perfume that would have lingered on Jesus throughout the Passion Week, letting everyone who smelled it know that He was King. If Mary wiped the perfume with her hair, surely she would have had the same fragrance clinging to her.
I share this with you because these sacrificial provisions taught the Israelites a very significant lesson, and one that greatly relates to us today: God can be approached with the blood of a worthy substitute, and He will always make a way for us to be with Him. No matter the cost.
You see, Jesus came to make siege. To find people who were either for or against Him. To find those who would charge the temple with Him or run for the hills. All the people in Jerusalem would have known the old stories and would have recognized that only a King in possession of a victory takes the temple.
Can you just imagine the thoughts of the priests in the temple as Jesus throws over the money changing tables or the guards who arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? What about those who cast lots for his robe? Would they have caught a whiff of the perfume and got a sinking feeling, wondering who this man really was?
Since Blogmas has become such a meaningful time for our family, and we have to wait until December to do it again, we decided that’s simply too far away, and we cannot wait that long. So, drumroll please!
Suffering isn’t easy. Pain isn’t comfortable. Disappointment isn’t ideal. But it doesn’t mean that it can’t be beautiful. On this side of eternity, we have the chance to choose to worship through it all. In Heaven, tears will be wiped away, and our natural response will be to bow down and worship Him. What a privilege it is to be able to worship and choose Jesus when all we feel is disappointment.
My challenge for us today is this: do not succumb to blindness in a world which is predominately overtaken with it. Be the person who sits down with Scripture, who sits down with Jesus, and allow it to awaken your wonder anew. Allow it to shape you into a person who simply will not fit the mold of society, and who dares break the mold with their heroic courage in continuing the greatest Story ever told.
Aslan doesn’t go on to explain why Digory’s mother is sick or what the purpose of it all is. Neither does he promise to heal her in that moment, but what He asks Digory to do is trust Him. He does not act as if he doesn’t care, in fact, Digory felt as if Aslan cared more about his mother than he did. And the truth is, Aslan did.
The world is NOT celebrating Biblical womanhood. It’s celebrating a sinful, sexualized, and perverted version of womanhood that it believes will truly satisfy us and make us better individuals. Here's the thing, though. It’s not what God intended for women, and we will never be truly satisfied until we are surrendered to His design.
There are many quotes, which, over the years, have changed my way of thinking and challenged me spiritually. I must say that it has to be the most difficult thing in the world to choose a few favorites, let alone a single favorite! However, there are seven quotes regarding prayer that have changed my prayer life, and I am very much looking forward to sharing those with you today. Naturally, these quotes are by Leonard Ravenhill, A. W. Tozer, C. S. Lewis, as well as Charles Spurgeon.
The Lord has reminded me through Torrey’s wonderful old book that power and personal revival is attainable. Our lack of it, is because of our neglect of the tools and resources the Lord has provided for us.
For Jesus, it wasn’t about religion, it was about being obedient to His Father for the sake of winning souls and indwelling them with the same Spirit He had. After all, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). Are you getting this? The last thing Christians should be doing is living domesticated lives if we are indwelled with the same Spirit Jesus had and came to give us.
The story of Dunkirk has always inspired me, but I just recently discovered the power of this message that was sent. This message was so incredible because the army at Dunkirk was saying simply that they REFUSED to let the tyrant that was Adolf Hitler, force them into submission and worship of the diabolical group that was the Nazi’s. They pleaded for the British government to help rescue them, ‘But if Not’, they would fight, and they would go on fighting, until the destruction of every last soldier.
What I have found is that God uses those things in powerful ways to not only get in our way, but to show us a much better way. Don’t think that the Lord won’t wreck your plans before they wreck you.
We’re doing a something a little different today. Instead of a typical blog post like we publish every Thursday, we are going to share some behind-the-scenes of our personal lives, along with some cool memories/moments from 2022, and finally what the beginning of 2023 has been like for us personally, as well as The Few!
When you believe the lie that living in a state of fear is “normal”, it gives you the perfect excuse to not do brave things. If the enemy can use the world to get us to react and live our lives in fear, then it’s almost a guarantee that we won’t do anything about the evil they are promoting because we are inward focused.
So many of you loved last year’s post, Twenty-Two Things Christians Should Do In 2022, so much so that we have been itching to post another one for 2023! I love reading through a good list or “idea” type post and have found them to be very helpful when trying to be creatively intentional about living a deep and meaningful Christian life.
This Jesus thing works. It's not crazy. Maybe 2023 is your year to make Him the priority and allow Him to help you begin to heal your shot foot.
You see, Church happens in places like the Bailey’s living room, on Christmas Eve, with a multitude of people who have hardly anything to give, but they give it with such joy. Such love. Such surrender.
Though today and tomorrow conclude Blogmas 2022, we know that the journey does not end. Preparing our hearts for Christ, surrendering all that we are to Him, and serving Him are all daily tasks we, as Christians, get to partake in!
To be truthful, I suppose I am a bit fearful of what 2023 may bring, and at the same time what it may not bring. I guess you could say I currently find myself “world weary”.
You ask; Scott, what are you saying I need to change? Why do you assume I have no room for change? In answer, I would say that I have no idea what you need to change. But you do; and it probably is that thing you thought of as you read that question.
Scrooge’s hard heart was beginning to soften through the power of hospitality. Through the reminder of how Mr. Fezziwig made work enjoyable, even if it was the same hard work Scrooge is doing now. He had the power, through his leadership and attitude, to make people feel welcome, comfortable, at home.
As Lucy explains to her older brother, Edmund, what she had encountered while in Narnia, she says something that intrigues me. She says, “It’s always winter, but never gets to Christmas.”
The King has come! We celebrate this Christmas Day for that reason. No longer is our world grey and grim. No, it is now bursting with hope and joy because the Light has come into our darkness in the most powerful way. What an adventure this has been! Have a very Merry Christmas, y’all! We thank God for each and every one of you!
Though dragons have always been a part of our world, we know that the endings of dragons have also echoed through the pages of history. Let us remember that our Knight is no longer a babe in a manger, but is grown, into the Heavenly Warrior He was always meant to become, and His sword is now drawn.
When you pause to give thanks for baby Jesus, remember to give thanks for our King doing battle with a dragon. And this year, when you place your manger scene on the mantle, look for the red dragon. He’s there in the hay.
Scrooge examined his life, his heart, against God’s standard and found himself lacking. He knew that he could not change on his own but called on the Spirit to strive within him. You and I have a wonderful opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit to live within us this Christmas day and every day, friend!
I wonder how many Christmases Fred had invited his uncle over to join in the celebration and joy. I wonder if he ever found himself distraught over the fact that Scrooge would most likely refuse to accept the invitation, and then remembered the hope he had in Christ, the reason for Christmas, and began his trek to old Ebenezer Scrooge’s without a hint of hesitation.
If your perception of Jesus is askew, then you will live a life accordingly. If you are willing to claim Jesus as Lord this Christmas season, and submit yourself to Him, you are invited to live with Him forever.
You see, I believe that Scrooge’s story is so powerful because it can so closely relate to us and our present lives. I want you to think back over your life. Think about the past, about your innocence. Think about your present, the things you most want. Think about what your future may be, about whether your eternity will be dark as Scrooge’s was once bound to be.
Happy Sunday! We are so enjoying Blogmas, and pray y'all are as well! This has become one of my favorite poems this season. Enjoy! - L
Not many are crowned much of anything at birth, except maybe to be called first born, middle daughter, or maybe even an unexpected surprise! Even in the families of royalty, children have to wait their turn to be called king or queen. Not Jesus. He was Lord at birth.
Our Savior is one who desires every part of your heart, and mind, and speech, and yet we rob Him of the power to display Himself through these things around the people we may very well have the greatest influence over.
And to what does it compare? To His suffering? To the pain He took on His back. That He took on His head. That He took in His hands. That He took in His feet. That He took in His side. That He took until His last breath was drawn. To what does it compare?
This was the day that those colors of the current season were making their last fade. The new ones were officially settling in, brushing over what was, on an eight hour drive from central Texas to Hot Springs, Arkansas. This change would remind me that to love Him is to obey Him. No matter the cost.
This is what the American Church is saying today. We have the same desire to rule over ourselves and imitate the world around us. We are selfish, have turned away from God countless times, and worshiped false idols whenever we have had the chance. Just like He did with the Israelites, God will say to us, you get what you ask for. He will remove His mighty hand from us and allow us to suffer in our rebellion against His perfect plan.
God and I wrestled back and forth about whether or not I was to change jobs. The conflict was so great because a co-worker and I had started a Monday morning prayer group that eventually led to most of the employees attending. For some of them, this would be the only Jesus that they would get for the remainder of the week. So, it was important to me that I knew for sure that God wanted me to move on.
Today is the second Sunday of Blogmas! Enjoy this beautiful poem this evening.
God’s grace is not a license to sin. As a matter of fact, according to Paul it’s a deterrent.
By doing what he said he couldn’t do, Trigger saved the rest of his crew, and their mission to capture the Enigma and bring it back to America was ultimately successful. I believe "can’t" is the most dangerous word that could ever come out of any of our mouths.
The Few 