When Hard Times Come: Pressing On

On this date in 1994, the ice storm had already done its dastardly best. It left behind downed power lines all over this portion of our state. Since my house was off the road, and my lines only served one house, I was one of the last to have power restored.

That sad news meant I was without electricity for more than two weeks. With a toddler in diapers. Cloth diapers. No electricity meant there was no running water and no heat. 

I used oil lamps for light, continuous fires in both fireplaces for heat, and hauled water from the lake for flushing. I bought jugs of water for drinking and cooking and hauled water from a generous neighbor for bathing. We let the livestock into the lake pasture so they could get a drink.

It was a lot of work.

It was also a grand adventure and I still look back on the jambalaya in the dutch oven, simmering in the corner of the fireplace, with fond memories.

I wouldn't want to do it again, but I could if I had to, because the ice storm of 1994 trained me.

Two years ago at this time, we had a rare snow, the water to the barn froze, and I found myself hauling water again. This time for livestock.

It was a lot of work, but I'd had a harder time in 1994 and survived it. I persevered.

This week, the skies have been blue, the days have been pretty, and not a snow flake in sight. 

The aftermath of the 1994 storm seemed interminable, but it wasn't. The days of frozen water pipes in 2014 seemed interminable, but they weren't.

The Apostle Paul knew more than he wanted about hard times. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. He was hungry, thirsty, cold, and uncomfortable. Life after Christ was more difficult than I can imagine, but he didn't whine or complain. He didn't curse his circumstances or struggle to break free. 

Instead, Paul counted it all as a small inconvenience in comparison to the gift of Christ and praised God for the opportunity to suffer for Him. He understood one important fact.

All the hard times we face are temporary. 

When hard times come, and they will, we have several choices to make.

Will we whine and complain, or will we respond with good humor and rejoicing in our adversity?

Will we persevere or crumble under the pressure?

Will we look for a lesson to learn, a skill to gain, a witness to demonstrate in the midst of our trial?

Will we see God's hand of blessing in the midst of our hard times, or only see the difficulty?

Let's use our hard times as an opportunity to glorify God in our response. Like Paul, let's press on, persevere through, and rejoice in whatever comes our way. No matter how long.

"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus..."  (Phil. 3:14 nasb)

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Our next Friday Night with Friends guest blog will post at 6 pm TONIGHT. You don't want to miss it!

In case you missed one of the past week's posts, here are the links:  The Temperament Test and Married Oneness, Leaving a Legacy: Choices That Last for Generations, Jumping to Conclusions: The Terrorists That Were Not, Nothing is Impossible: Ayman al-Zawahiri,  Morning Quiet Time: Who Speaks First, and Changing the World: What One Man (Or Woman) Can do
#presson #hardtimes #upwardcallofGod #disciple

Mamie and the Ink Stain

Alas, I fear Mamie the Apprentice Wonder Puppy will never be a Wonder Dog. Mamie is still a puppy at heart, and determined to stay in that cuddly, rowdy state. Maturity would help us both, if she would only embrace it.

I had just returned to my computer after lunch yesterday when I heard a crunching sound. "What is that?" I wondered. The sound continued. My next thought was, "It must be Mamie."  I was right.

Mamie had climbed up on a table (as only a determined puppy can do) and found a blue fountain pen. She had carried it to my red couch and used it as a chew toy. As you can imagine, blue ink went every where in a mad Rorschach pattern. 

My heart sank. Blue ink. All over one cushion of my couch. It looked like a catastrophe.

I jerked the cushion off the couch and raced to the kitchen sink, praying every step of the way. Slipcover off. Rinse the ink. Blot. Spray stain remover. Rinse. Blot. Spray. Rub. Rinse. Spray. On and on it went.

All thoughts of the scene I was writing and the direction I intended to take went right out of my head. The only thing that mattered at that moment was dealing with the stain.

Of course, the dark stain on the blood-red cushion reminded me of the stain of sin on our lives and the only thing that can remove it. The precious blood of Jesus.

I'm shocked, but the stain came out completely. I think it was, at least in part, because I reacted so promptly. The ink didn't have time to soak and dry in the fabric.

Quick action with stains makes a difference, but so does quick action with sin. If we would relent and repent at the beginning of our sin, before the stain has set, what a difference God would make.

Let's do a check of our hearts today and respond with the same urgency as we would if ink were on our couch cushions. 

Is there evidence of the ink-blot stain of sin in our lives? Let's relent and repent. Allow our Lord wash us clean in the precious blood of Jesus. 

Mamie may never reach the maturity of a "Wonder Dog", but we don't have to remain in our foolish, childish state. We can choose to become the mature men and woman God intended us to be. If we will.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:

but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 

                                                                     1 Corinthians 12:11 nasdb

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, 

let us press on to maturity..."      

                                                     Hebrews 6:1 nasb

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Follow me on Twitter for "in the moment" tweets about my writing day. It's fun. @leannahollis
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In case you missed one of this week's posts, here are the links:  The Opportunity in Trials,  The Monarch Migration Badge,  The Sermon Without Words,  A Matter of Perspective, Living in Goshen: God's Best, Embracing Our Personal Gethsemane, and What is the Point of Suffering: Extracting the Precious.

#Mamie #repent #maturity #Christian #disciple #Shoutgotitout

Refillable Nespresso Capsules and the Learning Curve

Several years ago, a fellow physician and I were drinking a cup of coffee between patients. The coffee was not as delicious as I'd prefer and he said, "I should bring some of my coffee." 

"What's different about your coffee?"

"I roast the beans myself."

Never one to let someone else know how to do something interesting without learning it myself, I asked for full details. It wasn't rocket science and, before long, I was an amateur coffee roaster, too.

Over the years, I've become very particular about coffee.

When Ryan and I went to the Bahamas to visit my cousin, Christy, our hotel included a Nespresso expresso machine in our room. Fabulous coffee. Eventually, I bought a Nespresso of my own. The only problem with the Nespresso (besides the cost of the capsules) was that I couldn't use my own coffee beans.

Recently, I saw some empty pods for another coffee maker. Do they have those for Nespresso? I wondered. It turns out they do. The reviews were not encouraging, but there was one review that gave me hope. "There's a definite learning curve," it said, and gave suggestions for using the empty capsules. I ordered a set.

The reviewer was right. There is a learning curve. I've read the instructions several times, adjusted the grind and the pack of the coffee. Tried again. And again.

This morning, I popped the newly filled coffee capsule in the machine, set it for a short expresso, and watched with delight as dark espresso dripped into my cup. I did it! 

The reviewer was right. There's a learning curve with the capsules. 

I've found the "learning curve" principle to be almost universally true with worthwhile projects, and no where more than in living the life of a disciple. 

If I'm not careful, I find that I do the things I don't want to do and don't do the things I do want to do. (Romans 7:14-25)

The apostle Paul had the same problem. There is a learning curve to this disciple business, and it takes more than "book learning", as my grandmother would say. 

We do no good for Jesus if we talk a great faith but do not live it. 

Is there a solution? Yes. It requires us to take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:15) rather than let our minds run wild like a herd of mustangs. It requires focus, and our focus cannot be on ourselves, our children, or the stuff we want. Our focus must be on God. 

There's a key point about being a disciple that is often overlooked, and it's the key to everything in this Christian life we're living.

Disciples follow.

Just to be clear, disciples follow their master. We all follow something or someone, and the life we live, the choices we make reveal the one we follow. 

What does my life say about the One I follow? What does your life say about the One you follow?

If we are to be a disciple of Christ, we must follow Him. (Matt. 4:19) Not from a distance, but up close and personal. We must learn to think like Him. Talk like Him. Act like Him. There's a definite learning curve, but the closer we follow, the easier it becomes.

Where are you on the learning curve of discipleship? What can you do to move along the curve? 

If I had stopped at the first failed cup of Nespresso with my new refill capsules, I'd never have reached the stage of good espresso. It's the same way with discipleship. If we stop at the first failure, we'll never reach the stage of peace that comes with following close behind our Christ.

Are you struggling? Have you had a failure? (Either a private failure that only you and God know or a spectacular, public failure that everyone knows...) Receive the grace of God. (Romans 8:15) Accept the learning curve, but don't stay at the bottom of the curve. 

Press on. 

"Brethren, I do no regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14-15 nasb

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In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links: The Wonder Girls Close the Park, Soft drinks, snacks, and airplane takeoff, Yeast in the Flour, The Problem With Phone Calls, How to Recognize Good News, and Removing the Callus.

The most read post of the past week: Removing the Callus.

#learningcurve #presson #disciple #followHim #Nespresso

The Baptism of Suffering

photo courtesy of freeimages.com

"I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!”

Luke 12:49-50 NASB

We have started a new series based on the last few verses in Luke 12. Jesus is speaking prophetically of things that were to come, not all in the distant future.

Yesterday, we learned about the fire of persecution. Previously, we've studied lessons from the life of Tyndale.

Today, we look at the coming baptism of Jesus. The word translated as "baptism" is baptista and literally means "immersion, submersion". It has come to indicate the Christian baptism by water but it also means an immersion in calamities and trials to which one is adverse. 


When Jesus spoke these words, He had already been baptized by John. He was not speaking of a water baptism. Instead, He was speaking of His coming crucifixion and death. Jesus knew what was coming, and He was distressed as He waited for it.

Jesus knew He would be betrayed, denied, arrested, beaten, have nails hammered into His hands and feet to secure Him to a wooden cross, left to die, be confined to a tomb for three days while He conquered death and sin, and rise again. Other than the rising again, there was nothing but horrible suffering in what was to come. 

I celebrate the cross but, I have to admit, I sometimes treat it as if it was just a "one stop along the way, no big deal, quick pain and it's over" event. 

It's clear from this verse that Jesus saw it quite differently. The death of Jesus and the events that preceded it were a long ordeal of agonizing torture. He knew what was to come, and He dreaded it. 

Taking on the sins of the world is not to be taken lightly. No mortal man could do it. Only Jesus, and He hated having it to do.

It was a baptism of suffering and He did it because it had to be done. Jesus embraced the suffering, the shame, the pain and did it with love and grace. He preached the importance of loving our enemies and He demonstrated that truth with His death. 

He loved us, despite what lay ahead.

This sacrifice of Jesus should change us. It should make us shout with joy and run into the streets shouting, "He did it! He did it for me!" 

It wasn't a casual sacrifice, like throwing a quarter into a beggar's cup. It was everything. 

Jesus gave all He had, and He did it for us all.

There are times when we, too, endure a kind of baptism of suffering. It can't compare with that of Jesus, but we can respond to our suffering with the grace of Jesus, and we should. We must. It is not my intention to trivialize our suffering. I've had some suffering of my own, and it was horrible and painful and I thought it would never end. But it did end, and it left me changed. I think it left me more like Christ than I was before. 

Suffering is very real, but we must allow God to take that suffering and use it to change us, make us more like Christ. As we face the suffering and pain of our lives again today, let us do it as Jesus did. He looked toward the joy on the other side of the suffering, kept His face turned toward heaven, and pressed on. So should we.

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB

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Our Father, forgive my whining and self-pity. Help me to embrace the circumstances You have allowed into my life and use them to glorify You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

#suffering #perseverance #Ipresson #JesusChrist #disciple #myeyesareonthejoy

The benefit of faithful service

"And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.'Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions." Luke 12: 42-44 NASB

After a week's break for a portion of the Alfred allegory (which will be continued at a later time), we return to Luke 12. 

Tomorrow, we'll look at Jesus' words for the servants who aren't faithful, but for today, let's focus on the benefits of faithfulness. Jesus promised blessings and authority for His diligent servants. 

In the Alfred stories, we saw the faithful servant rewarded when his master found him doing what he was supposed to do. These verses tell us that the servant who is found faithful will be put in charge of all the master's possessions. 

Faithfulness, then, is the key that unlocks greater responsibility in the Kingdom of God. 

With greater responsibility, we have a greater opportunity for doing good, but that's not the best part of "being in charge of the master's possessions".  To be in charge of someone's possessions requires that we know that person's will concerning their possessions. To know their will, we must know them. 

When we receive a divine appointment to greater responsibility, it brings us closer to our Lord.

The appointment to a position of authority, or responsibility, then, is an invitation to draw closer to our Lord by continuing to serve. 

For disciples, the longer we serve our Lord, the closer we draw to Him. 

It's the way it should be, but it's easy to become complacent in our relationship with Christ, as in earthly relationships, and allow our diligence to wane. We can easily become more focused on the work we're doing for God than our relationship with God. 

One of my favorite hymns says, "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows." That's the experience of the faithful server.  

There's no mandatory retirement age in following Christ. The longer we serve God, the more faithful we serve, the greater the blessing. There's no age limit, no limit on years of service, so don't give up. Don't waver in faith or in following. 

Paul, after years of faithful service to His Lord, wrote these words. "Brethren,  I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14 NASB)

Keep pressing on. Keep drawing closer. 

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Our Father, forgive our faithlessness. Draw us closer to You and give us hearts of faithfulness and diligence. Help us to know You more and to press on. In Jesus' name, Amen.

#disciple, #wepresson # JesusChrist