It came as quite a shock. I rode my bike back and forth to elementary school each day. When I would come home, as I was putting my bicycle away, I liked to bounce the front tire off the garage wall. It was fun to do that with a bit of speed, giving me a nice satisfying jolt.

One day, however, I hit the wall with a bit too much speed. To my dismay, the sheetrock gave way, leaving a jagged hole in the wall. I had broken the wall.

As an adult, that’s not that big of a surprise. Sheetrock has a breaking point. But to a kid, that was a shocking discovery. Walls were solid. Solid things didn’t break. You could rely on walls and doors and counters to always support you.

My understanding of the world changed that day. I don’t want to be too overdramatic, but it’s true. I’m sure it wasn’t the first such discovery nor was it the last, but it’s one that stands out in my mind. Something that I thought I could depend on turned out to be more fragile than I thought.

So what are you depending on? What is solid in your world? Are you depending on yourself, on your own strength? On your health? On your ability to provide for your family?

Do you depend on the government? Is your confidence resting on military forces and police forces that protect you? Are you counting on politicians to look out for your every need?

What is solid in your world? Relationships? Money? Work? Almost all of us have learned that these things have a breaking point, like the sheetrock in our garage wall when I was a kid. Solid is relative.

Unless, of course, your life is built around God. God neither bends nor breaks. He doesn’t change. He doesn’t disappear. He doesn’t fail.

God is the only “solid” that is truly solid. All other things will let us down; the unchanging God will be there until the end of time.

Build your life on a solid foundation. Base your future on God and His promises.

I wonder how long until she grows up and deals with reality.  After all, we adults know better than that, don’t we?  We know that people are mean, you can’t trust anyone, life’s not fair, you can’t be nice to everyone or they’ll take advantage of you.  Pretty dogs sometimes bite, life’s hard, and then you die.  Cynical.  Unhappy.  Selfish.

 So when did we change?  What happened to the pure, innocent hearts we had as children?  Life happened.  People hurt us.  We made poor choices.  We did things we should not have. We did not do things we should have.  And sometimes we wish things could be like they were before we became so cynical. We wish we could be like the child we were:  innocent, loving, pure.     

 Jesus said if we become like little children, we can enter the kingdom of heaven.  He helps us do that.  He came to make all things new, including us.  He makes us pure – innocent again.  He forgives the wrong choices.  He teaches us to see people differently.   He restores our soul.  He gives us hope.  He gives us life.  He makes it possible to be born again.

So if you have ever wished your life could be different, if you have ever wished you could be different, if you ever wished you could be like a little child again… then Jesus is for you.  

What do you think?

steve

On a trip to Las Vegas, Hughes had a disagreement with the owner of one casino. His answer? He bought the casino and several around it. Money was his answer for everything.

Hughes was also nicknamed the world’s greatest womanizer. He dated various beautiful Hollywood actresses, including Ginger Rogers, Olivia de Havilland, and Katherine Hepburn.

In his prime, Hughes was a daring aviator and tireless tinkerer who spurred science to new heights. He was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and world record setter. His wooden plane, the Spruce Goose, was the largest amphibious plane ever built, and was taller and wider than any aircraft in history.

Surely this was a man who had it all. Despite all of that, Hughes lived his last twenty years in reclusion. He refused to appear in public or to be photographed. He became an extreme hypochondriac, with an unnatural fear of germs. He was only seen by his doctors and his personal servants. He refused to cut his hair, his beard or his nails.

It was a miserable life. When he died, he was a wretched skeleton of a man, who died outside the presence of family or friends.

Money is not the answer to everything. It can’t purchase happiness. It can’t bring us peace. It can’t even prolong our lives.

Jesus said, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:20-21).

The apostle Paul said something similar when he wrote:

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:18-19).

Howard Hughes had money, but he didn’t have what Paul calls “the life that is truly life.” He had a dismal imitation of life that no one would choose for themselves.

If your life is built around money and the things it can obtain, you’ll never know what true life is. If your treasure isn’t being stored up in heaven, it will come to be worthless to you one day. You need God and the riches he can give. You need to build your life around the things that will never lose value, that will never fail to satisfy.

You need God.

It makes sense and the smart thing to do is to follow his advice.  In fact, you would think I don’t value my teeth if I neglected them until I had a problem.  So why not apply that same principle to our relationship with God?  Why neglect the everyday care of that relationship, but quickly ask God for help when life gets difficult.  Maybe regular attention to what God says would prevent major problems in my life.   And if I talked to God on a daily basis I would be more equipped to face life’s problems. 

I wonder how God feels when I neglect to regularly put attention on my relationship with Him.  God does not desire our relationship with Him to only be about crisis management.  He wants us in a relationship that includes regular care and maintenance.  He is certainly capable of handling the crisis in my life.  He has proved that.  But that is not the extent of our connection. 

I like my teeth so I will keep up my daily brushing and flossing.   I will continue my regular dental check-ups.  I’ll be healthier and happier for it.  And I am going to give daily attention to my relationship with God.  I’ll be healthier and happier for it … both now and forever.

Blessings,

steve

I remember the 1990 World Cup. I was living in Córdoba, Argentina. My colleagues and I had an office downtown where we would talk to people about the Bible and Christianity. Like good foreigners, we chose to keep the office open during the World Cup games, even though the streets were virtually empty of traffic.

On July 3, Argentina played Italy in a semifinal match. Since no one was coming to the office, I decided to slip into the coffee shop next door to watch the game. The tiny shop was packed with people, but I managed to find an empty chair. We watched as the two teams battled back and forth, ending regulation in a 1-1 tie and neither team scoring in the extra periods.

Then came the penalty kicks to decide the winner. The teams traded shot after shot, until the Argentine goalie came up with the stop that ended the game. The coffee shop exploded in cheers. I found myself hugging everyone around me, even though I didn’t know anyone. We weren’t strangers… we were part of the team that was in the World Cup final!

It’s interesting to see the bonds that sports can create. People who have never met treat one another as long lost friends because of their common loyalties.

During his ministry on earth, Jesus spoke to his disciples about something similar. He told them: “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age” (Mark 10:29-30)

I’ve found that to be true. God has given me the chance to travel widely, and around the world I’ve found that I had a home and I had family. People who hadn’t met me before have offered me a bed to sleep in, given me a place at their table, and made me to feel like family.

The sense of community I felt in that Argentine coffee shop was short lived. The euphoria faded, and we went our separate ways. The family ties among God’s people never goes away. Christians aren’t perfect, and our dealings with one another aren’t either. But we are family.

You’ve been invited to be a part of this community. God wants to adopt you as his child, making you a member of his family.

I know what they felt like:

I understand how Abraham felt when he said “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you” in Genesis 23:4.

I have experienced the loneliness that is expressed by Moses when he names his first born, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land” in Exodus 2:22.

I know what it’s like to travel to someplace for the first time, not speaking the language, not understanding the customs, not recognizing the sign for the bathrooms, being alone.

I have been a stranger in a foreign land.

I know those feelings, that dread, fear, because that’s how I felt when I went to Cuba for the first time two years ago.

Let me tell you about that first trip:

The flight was 3 hours late, arriving at 12:30 in the morning. After going through customs and immigration we stepped outside and saw Tony Fernandez, who had been Herald of Truth’s representative in that island nation for 14 years, waiting for us. I recognized him from pictures taken by my colleagues Tim Archer and Steve Ridgell on their previous visits.

After a very short night’s sleep in Havana, the trip to Matanzas, about two hours northeast, is somewhat of a blur only highlighted by the people we met: Ammiel Perez who is the minister of the Havana Church, some radio listeners who had learned about Jesus from Tim’s daily program, the men who were rebuilding an old city bus to be used to pick up members of the congregation living in the surrounding country side, the visit to the farm where food is grown to give to church members, and meeting Tony’s wife Liudmila and his young daughter Susana.

Then we went to the church building. I had seen it in pictures, but being there reminded me that a courtyard of a home with a corrugated sheet metal roof is just as holy as any building we have in the United States. Suddenly, I felt at home. I sat down and just thought about all that God had done there. And that tomorrow, Sunday, I would worship here.

I was both anxious and eager that Sunday morning as Tony drove us the 20 minutes from our hotel in Varadero back to Matanzas. The closer we got the more anxious and less eager I got. How would they greet me, an old white haired Yankee?

That morning I was the last of our group to enter. I, the stranger in a foreign land, was greeted with smiles, hugs, kisses; I was a distant relative returning home. It didn’t matter that all I could say was “halo”, “gracias”; it didn’t matter that I was different.

I had felt like Abraham and Moses, a stranger in a foreign land, but I was and am family.

It’s the same thing that the apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:19-22.

Now, Therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

They and I are no longer strangers or foreigners. And while we live far apart, we are family! We are part of the household of God. We are brothers and sisters because of Jesus.

This last March I again traveled back to Matanzas and again worshipped with my Cuban church family. We were united physically and spiritually.

And I thanked them for welcoming me home.

So here is the question for you: Are you a stranger in a foreign land?

And another: Do you want to be part of a family and will always care about you?

And then: How do you think you’ll find it?

For many of us, our life can resemble my cup.  I have stains from things I have done that I should not have.  Then there are those things I should have done but didn’t.  Mix in the poor choices, the bad thoughts, and the judgmental feelings.  Pour in the stress of jobs, the pressure of relationships, and the uncertainty of our world.  And sometimes we try to rinse out the mess of our lives, but we know something is still missing.  We are still not right.

Jesus came to this earth to clean up the mess of our lives.  To forgive the wrongs, to pay the price for our bad choices, and to free us from the addictions and expectations of a culture that just doesn’t really work for our lives.  He offers a clean life of purpose, hope, joy, and peace.  He changes lives – not just a little rinse job so the outside looks better – but real, genuine new life. 

Maybe you have never realized life doesn’t have to continue the way it is now.  You know deep down inside that it has to be better… different somehow.  Jesus can do that for you.  And, if you let him cleanse you, you will be amazed, happy, and grateful.

I know this because he did it for me.  Just like he can do it for you.

Blessings,

steve

Despite its great size, the house can be considered unfinished in many ways. There are dozens of doors that open on blank walls, others with knobs on only one side and inside doors with screens on them. There are stairways that reach no destination, chimneys with no stoves, and floors that you can see through.

The construction shows a fascination with the number 13. All the stairways are constructed in series of 13 steps. The chandeliers all have 13 lights. Every wall has 13 panels. Each glass door has 13 pieces.

Who would build such a house?

The mansion was built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester (of the Winchester family that owned the famous rifle company). The June 1937 issue of Modern Mechanix states that, after the death of her husband and infant daughter, Winchester was told by a medium that she must build a house that was never completed; if the house were ever completed, Sarah Winchester would die.

Because of this, the fearful widow maintained her house in a constant state of construction. Her attempt to avoid death failed, of course. On September 5, 1922, Sarah Winchester died. Work immediately stopped on the house, and it remains as a monument to one woman’s fear of death.

Was Sarah Winchester the only person afraid of dying? How many others would do whatever it takes to avoid the inevitable?

A favorite passage of mine is found in Hebrews, and it talks about that very fear: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:14-15) Jesus came to free everyone held captive by the fear of death.

Jesus has defeated death, and he invites us to share in his victory. There is no need to live fearing death. We have a champion who can rescue us from that fear.

Building a house can’t free us from death. Building a relationship with Jesus will do just that.

The Cubans have a saying for this type of ingenuity:  “old things made new.”  They take old, discarded, seemingly useless vehicles and use them to create new, functional vehicles.  It works.  They make “new” vehicles out of old junk.  Seemly dead cars are reborn to usefulness.  It gave me a new appreciation for the effort and care it takes to restore them.  And they are restored for a purpose.  They are needed, they are useful, and they accomplish their purpose.

That is exactly what God does with people in this world.  People that society might deem worthless are given value in Jesus.  The poor in this world are made rich in Christ.  In Jesus, the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead are given new life.  Hurting people are healed to help others.  In Jesus you are made new.  New because the bad things you have done are dead and buried.  New because you have surrendered to the call of Jesus in your life.  New because you have been crucified with Christ and raised to a new life.  New because you now have purpose in your life – a reason you are in this world.  New because you are now going to live forever.

Repaired restored, made new.  Old things made new.  If you want to know more about this new life, then look around this site… or leave a comment.

Blessings,

steve

At one point, David asks, “Is this gonna be forever?” Children don’t realize that anesthesia is only temporary. They don’t have enough experience to have proper perspective on many things. Children don’t know that common illnesses won’t stay with them the rest of their lives. They haven’t had enough headaches or toothaches to realize that these things usually go away with time.

It’s not only children that lack perspective. To one degree or another, we all suffer from that same problem. When we are facing a crisis, it’s hard to know just how important that crisis will turn out to be in the grand scheme of things. What seems so critical today may have been forgotten five years from now.

What if we were to look at things not in terms of years or decades but in terms of eternity? How would that affect our perspective? The highs and lows of life may not seem quite so high nor quite so low. Problems would lose their power. An eternal perspective would certainly change things.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) Paul was a man who had been beaten, imprisoned, and shipwrecked. Once a mob threw stones at him until they thought he was dead. He lived a very difficult life, yet felt that his hard times couldn’t begin to compare with the eternity that was waiting for him.

Imagine if we could paint a stripe to represent eternity. A stripe with no beginning or end, stretching for miles and miles. If we were to then draw the span of our lives on that never-ending stripe, how big would it be? If we were to make the smallest possible dot, it would be too large. Our lives are nothing compared to eternity.

In another letter, Paul wrote, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) That’s the perspective we need. That’s what can help us handle whatever this life can throw at us. No matter how big it is, no problem is as big as eternity.

Is this gonna be forever? No, it’s not. Unless you’re talking about your relationship with God, whatever it is, it’s not going to be forever. Problems will come and go, but God will be with us forever. If you’re not in a good relationship with Him, I’d love to try and help. Write to me at tarcher@heraldoftruth.org or visit our blog on www.hopeforlife.org.