Written by Bill Grandi on January 30th, 2024
I’m celebrating today. My bride of 50.7 years has a birthday today. They say it is not wise to ask or tell a woman’s age so I won’t. I’ll just it is somewhere between 72 and 74. You do the math. 🙂
Just to show you what kind of woman she is: I was going to surprise her with a trip to Ohio to see our daughter and grandson. Things didn’t turn out so well. He is with his dad this week so after baseball practice (over at 8 p.m.) he will head off to his dad’s. Janna’s significant other has to work so that would leave the three of us (which would have been okay). Braden has baseball practice until 8 Wednesday morning then has to be back at school by 10 for class. That would make for a very short “wham-thank-you-ma’m” breakfast. Then Jo saw it was supposed to snow in Ohio (90%) and that scared her off. So I cancelled the hotel reservation. To top it off, I started losing my voice by the time the second service was done and I ended up with the creeping crud. Coughing. Sneezing. Aching. Lots and lots of sleep. (I haven’t been like this in years so it is a strange experience). So…not much of a birthday.
But she took it all in stride, much like she has during our 50+ years of marriage. While there have been moments of frustration (as in all marriages), I could not have asked for a better helpmate. I read the following this morning:
Adam was created first, then Eve was made to fill a void in his existence. Adam was the head; Eve was his helper. Adam was designed to be a father, provider, protector, and leader. Eve was designed to be a mother, comforter, nurturer, and helper (40 Lives in 40 Days- MacArthur- p.62)
Jo has always been there. The above words fit her to a “T.” They are not misogynistic or any other “istic” or “phobic” you can come up with. I can give her no greater compliment that to say she was just like Eve: a filler of empty space; a helper who stuck with me through thick and thin; a mother who gave her all to our two daughters, but also allowed them to fly (and she is still there if they need her). Well done, my dear, well done.
Now…if I can only get her to read what I wrote about her I might win some brownie points. 🙂
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Tags: Birthday, Family, Kindness, Opinion, Parenting, Reflection, Story, wife
Written by Bill Grandi on January 29th, 2024
In this age of deconstruction of one’s faith, having questions is seen almost tantamount to betrayal. Unfounded deconstruction with belligerent questions is dangerous. But when someone is asking questions, sincerely asking questions, I think that is a good thing. Dangerous yes. Scary yes. But necessary? Yes.
In my early morning study, I’m reading a book called 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know by Dave Adamson. Dave is not Jewish, just interested in Hebrew words. I know zero, zilch, nada about Hebrew. If I was 40 years younger maybe, but at 71 that ship has already sailed. But I’d like to know a little, even though the alphabet looks like Chinese hieroglyphics.
Anyway, today’s word was “wrestles with God.” (No, I’m not even to try to put the Hebrew letters here). There is no greater story on this topic in the Bible than Jacob wrestling with God. When done, he is a given a new name, Israel.
It is not unusual for people to have self-induced guilt or heaped on guilt by another for questioning what they believe. Or if they question a confusing passage. Or if we see God acting contrary to the way we think He should. And those tough passages that have us raising questions? Aaaaaah!!!
Jacob wrestled with God and came out blessed with a new name and a new purpose. If you have questions don’t bury them. Find someone you trust whom you can talk to. Search the Scriptures. Ask God to reveal His truth to you; He will not turn away. Struggling with your faith should not bring guilt; it should bring deeper digging and celebration as you learn more.
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Tags: Choices, Deconstruction, God, God's Word, Opinion, Reflection
Written by Bill Grandi on January 25th, 2024
Have you ever cried out for help and received it? Or maybe not?
I was struck today by a chapter in the Bible I have read countless time before but never saw what hit me until this morning. It is Psalm 107. It begins with a familiar refrain that was repeated in some previous psalms: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.” (107:1)
Okay. Sounds like something I or maybe you have read before. But then the writer veers from script and begins to recount different events in the life of the wandering Israelites, as well as other events unrelated to them. What I noticed though (and missed this before) is that four times they cry out the same thing: “Lord help! they cried in their trouble and he rescued them from their distress.” Those same words are used in verses 4, 13, 19, and 28. So four times we see their cry, “Lord help!” and four times we see His response: “He saved them from their distress.” Now watch what God did:
- He led them straight to safety-v.7
- He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom-v.14
- He sent out His word and healed them-v.20
- He calmed the storm to a whisper- v.29
Simple point: they cried out for help. God acted. Please read the chapter for yourself and do your own investigation. Let me close this simple devotion with two more verses:
“Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” (107:43)
“Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. With God’s help we will do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes.” (108:12-13)
Cry for help. He will answer. He will fight for you. And remember (as I told someone yesterday): God is seldom early, but He’s never late.
{All Scripture is from the New Living Translation}
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Tags: Christian Living, God, God's faithfulness, God's help, God's Plan, Mercy, Ministry, Opinion, Perseverance, Reflection, Scripture look
Written by Bill Grandi on January 24th, 2024
I’ve been thinking…about forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an important aspect of everyone’s life, whether one is a Christ-follower or not. It comes into play seemingly in about every relationship we have. For the Christ-follower is it important to know we have God’s forgiveness. On the human side, it is important for us to either forgive or be forgiven.
One vitally necessary component of forgiveness with God or with another person is knowing unconditional forgiveness. None of us want to hear, “I’ll forgive you if…” We certainly feel unloved or, at best incompletely loved, if say a spouse says to a partner, “I’ll forgive you for the affair if…” or a father says to a child, “I’ll forgive you for the breach of conduct or break of trust if…” How disheartening that is! Why? Because that type of forgiveness has strings attached to it.
The story of the prodigal son is unusual because it is not the father who puts the conditions on the relationship, but the son. Check out the story in Luke 15. The son says, “I will go home to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned and am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as your hired servant.'” (Verses 18-19). Basically, the son says, “If I do this and this then…If I show adequate repentance, become a servant then maybe my dad will forgive me.” It wasn’t the father but the son who put conditions on his love and acceptance. And what happens? The son doesn’t even get out his whole spiel before the father is bending over backwards to forgive and welcome him home and basically say, “My son! Welcome home!”
Do you see it? The father (God) is not the one with the conditions. It is the son who hamstrung himself. How many times have we not seen and accepted God’s complete and absolute forgiveness because we don’t think we are good enough or done enough or repented sufficiently enough or been sorry enough? It’s not God; it’s us!
Stop putting conditions on God’s love and acceptance of you. Instead, bask in the glow of unconditional love and forgiveness. Thinking done. 🙂
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Tags: Christian Living, Conditional forgiveness, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Lifestyle, Love, Mercy, Opinion, Prodigal's forgiveness, Reflection, Scripture look, Story
Written by Bill Grandi on January 23rd, 2024
“Why?” “Why me?”
Those just may be two of the most asked questions in human conversation. I won’t lie. I’ve said them or some variation of them. We usually say them or hear them during a particularly tough time we or someone we know is going through.
I very, very seldom ask that question any more. In fact, as long as I can remember, I stopped asking it years ago. Why? Because there is no answer to it. I mean, how can you or I honestly know why we are going through this rough patch? We can pile on the shame or the guilt or the “I deserve this” or “God’s getting even with me,” but that won’t answer it.
The real reason I stopped asking that question though is because I started asking another one: “Now that this is happening to me God, how do you want me to act?” How does God want me to respond to this trial?
I just finished reading Country Music star, Granger Smith’s book, Like a River. {Spoiler alert: I am not a CM fan} {Spoiler alert #2: Look for a review of Granger’s book on my other site, Cycleguy’s Spin, soon}. Granger and his wife, Amber, lost their son, River, in a tragic drowning accident in their home pool. This book is his story. There was a lot of good teaching that came through his book, but one that struck a chord was after he tells about speaking at a men’s breakfast conference at the church they were attending. It was exactly one year since he had walked into that same church building for Riv’s funeral. When he was done, he wrote that he wasn’t sure if any of those men benefited from what he said, but he did. He learned that by sharing his story of pain and redemption God was answering his question. Not the one he asked why. “The one that asked God, ‘What are you trying to show me through this heartache?'” (p.178) He then wrote that God responded with Isaiah 41:10-“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” He goes on to comment: “God was reminding me to depend on Him. He would be there to pick me up and push me forward from the bottom of the river’s waterfall.” (Ibid).
The question to ask is not “Why? Why me?” The real question to ask is “What now? God, how do you want me to respond? What do you want me to learn?”
Sure changes the perspective doesn’t it?
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Tags: Christian Living, Faith/Feelings, God's Plan, Love, Mercy, Ministry, Opinion, Perseverance, Questions, Reflection, Scripture look, Story, Trials
Written by Bill Grandi on January 22nd, 2024
One of the most loved and most quoted verses in the Bible is Isaiah 40:28-31- “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
It is the latter part of that passage which holds special meaning. The image of an eagle has profound meaning to many. From the end of the Hobbit when the heroes are surrounded by hordes of goblins only to hear the shout, “The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!” to this passage of Scripture, eagles leave us with a tremendous picture. Even using the eagle as a symbol of our country gives us the impression of strength and dignity. Consider the following Scriptures:
In Exodus 19:4 we read that God told His people that “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.”
Deuteronomy 32:11 is where Moses writes, “Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.”
Countless times in Psalms we read of being under the protective care of the wings of a bird. The wings of eagles depict God’s protective nature and tender care.
This passage in Isaiah 40 has an ever more beautiful meaning. Often at a funeral as I’m trying to give words of comfort to the grieving family during my talk, I will use the story of a mother eagle teaching her eaglets how to fly. When it is time to leave the nest, the mother will gently nudge her young out of the nest, but not abandon it. As the eaglet falls and is unable to fly, the mother will swoop under it, “bear it up,” and take it to the nest only to repeat the process until the eaglet can gain strength to fly on its own.
Surely you can see that is exactly what God does for His loved ones. We are “pushed out” of the nest and when we falter, where our strength is lax, God bears us up. We are taken for a rest only to be challenged again. Eventually, we learn that God’s strength is sufficient.
No matter what kind of day you are facing, may you know His strength. May you know He never abandons you…EVER.
{All Scripture references are the New Living Translation}
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Tags: Christian Living, God, God's Strength, Ministry, Opinion, Perseverance, Reflection, Scripture look, Surrender, Trials
Written by Bill Grandi on January 19th, 2024
The Bible is a book about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament records the preparation for His first coming. The Gospels record Him coming as God in the flesh and His life on the earth. Acts is the message of Christ as it spreads all over the known world. The epistles give us the teachings we need to know about Jesus. Revelation tells us about His second coming-the coming to end all comings.
One of the most powerful words in the human language is a small, three-letter one. That word? BUT. Track with me please. One, God is Holy, True, and Perfect. Two, men are sinners condemned to be lost forever. The BUT changes all of that with this statement: BUT JESUS. My purpose in this week’s sermon is to investigate why Jesus changes all of that, why He is to be honored above all. I give some more details about the sermon on my other blog, Cycleguy’s Spin. You can access that just by clicking here. In Colossians 1:15-20 the Apostle Paul makes one of the greatest presentations of who Jesus is in all of Scripture. Short. Concise. To the point. And straight on uncompromising. He is Lord of Creation; He is Head of the Church; and He is the Savior of the Cross. I love preaching about Jesus and His preeminence and His work of reconciliation (making us friends again with God) and His redemption (setting us free). This week’s sermon is going to be fun to preach but by no means is it “easy.”Â
Join me/us please at 9:00 and 10:45 in person or via live stream. I would be humbled and honored if you would. Above all, please pray for us this Sunday. Along with the message, one of our elders/building team members will be giving an update on our future addition. Also, two of our young ladies will be reminding us of their planned trip to Kenya next month. Cassie and Hannah need your prayers and support.
Thanks.
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Tags: Christian Living, Church, Doctrine, Jesus, Reflection, Scripture look, Sermon Series
Written by Bill Grandi on January 18th, 2024
As one reads the Bible, it is not unusual to read of someone and think they must have always been like that. Case in point: the Apostle John. We read today from the vantage point of 2000+ years later and we see an apostle of love. We see the aged John-respected, loved and depicted as one full of grace and truth.
But he wasn’t always like that. John had a temper. He also had a vengeful streak. We might even call him sectarian to some degree. Mistreatment of Jesus led to he and his brother, James, wanting to call down fire from heaven to consume the city. In another incident, he and James wanted Jesus to promise they would get preferred seating in the kingdom-one on His right and one on His left. Jesus was not fond of that idea. They wanted Jesus to rebuke a man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name but because he was not with their “tribe” they wanted him silenced. (Mk. 9:38). That didn’t work out too well either.
Over time, John was changed. That’s what happens when people spend time with Jesus. John reminds me of those who are committed to the truth, who “tell it like it is.” But that is all you see. Love? What’s that? All truth. No love. Over time John became known as the Apostle of love. Shall we say “more balanced”?
I read the following:
John was always committed to the truth, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but it is not enough. Zeal for the truth must be balanced by love for people. Truth without love has no decency; it’s just brutality. On the other hand, love without truth has no character; it’s just hypocrisy. (40 Lives in 40 Days-MacArthur-p.19)
I’ve heard it said that “all truth and no love is legalism; all love and no truth is mere sentimentality.” True that.
There needs to be a balance. We may take pride in being a “tell it like it is” kind of person, but honestly, what good is it if we turn everyone off?”
Find the balance. Truth AND love go together.
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Tags: Christian Living, Grace, Jesus, Kindness, Leadership, Love, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Truth and Love
Written by Bill Grandi on January 17th, 2024
I used to have a haunting dream/thought. I felt like a failure. Not that I expressed it to anyone; it was something I kept to myself and, at times, brooded over. Since it was an internal musing and not expressed out loud, I’m not even sure Jo knew. In fact, I’m almost positive she did not.
Like many young men coming out of Bible college/seminary, I thought I had the world by the proverbial tail. I was going to accomplish great things. I would attend a conference and see and hear speakers/pastor/youth pastors of influence and dream that would be me someday. I would be the pastor of a big church, although I never saw myself as the pastor of a megachurch. I’m more designed by God to be a shepherd than a CEO. (I lost a job largely because of that mentality). But even though I knew certain characteristics of my personality probably held me back, I still had ambivalent emotions as I watched guys my age or younger “move up the ranks.” I know part of it was because I wouldn’t schmooze and play politics in the church world. Meanwhile, all my efforts to be a biblical, expositor preacher seemed to go unseen and unrewarded (in my mind at least). “Why not me?” reared its ugly head more than I care to admit. The twins, envy and jealousy, made their appearance, but fortunately didn’t stay very long because they were unwanted. While my friends we advancing, I was pastoring churches of 100-200, sometimes less. One was 35 which grew to 50 in 16 months but it about killed me spiritually.
Then one day, God got through to me. He didn’t make me nor want me in a big church. He didn’t care whether I broke the 200 or 300 barrier and did all that I was supposed to do to make that happen. Small churches need pastors too. Small churches need men who will love and lead them. I broke. I realized God (almost) always does His work through ordinary people. I’ve stated it before: in God’s economy there are no little people (as the late Francis Schaeffer called them); there are just ordinary people God uses in extraordinary ways.
When I realized that, I found contentment in my work. I currently pastor a church that is less than 200. I have never been happier and more content that I have been for the past 18 years. No matter what you do-no matter how big or how small-be content and just be His. As martyred missionary Jim Elliott once said, “Wherever you are, be all there.” That includes that seemingly insignificant thing or job you do.
God is not interested in you being extraordinary. He simply wants to use the ordinary you in extraordinary ways.
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Tags: Christian Living, God's Plan, Humility, Leadership, Ministry, Opinion, Reflection, Story
Written by Bill Grandi on January 16th, 2024
“I’m proud of my humility.”
“I’m humble and proud of it.”
“I can’t wait until tomorrow.” “Why?” “Because I get better looking every day.” (attributed to Joe Namath from many moons ago)
Those are just three of the statements we make about pride. We are, of course, saying them jokingly. Well…at least I think we are. 🙂
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment (if our pride will allow us). Pride is an issue most, if not all of us, struggle with in some way. There are those who are blatantly arrogant. They turn us off immediately. It’s sort of like “Do I strangle them now or later?” It’s all we can do to even be around them. If we are the arrogant one our eyes are closed to the way we turn people off. “It’s their fault,” we say. “I’m good at what I do so they are jealous.” No, they are sick of your arrogance.
There are also those who have a false humility. They shrug while refusing help when it is offered. Or there feign humility (but really want to hear more).
What brought me to this topic this morning? Reading Proverbs 16 this morning. “The Lord detest the proud; they will surely be punished.” (v.5) “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness (arrogance) before a fall.” (v.18) “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” (v.23)Â {All Scripture from the New Living Translation}
To counteract the ugliness of pride, there are some verses on humility also. But you can read the chapter and find them on your own. 🙂
That is not saying all pride is bad. Some is good. Doing a good job. Working hard. Playing your best. But even then we must be careful pride does not enter the picture by taking even that good pride too far. A phrase from my generation is still true: “Don’t let it go to your head.”
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For you who like to live on the “wild” side, Christian rockers, Stryper, did a song called Pride back in 2015. You can find it here (if you dare). 🙂Â
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Tags: Christian Living, Humility, Lifestyle, Ministry, Opinion, Pride, Reflection, Scripture look
