Tag Archives: Heartlight

The Gain is Worth the Pain

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[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

I was about 9 years old. I was taking Red Cross swimming lessons at our municipal pool. The day had arrived when I was to be tested to see if I could advance from the Advanced Beginners class to the Intermediate class. Approximately fifteen of us were to take turns swimming from one side of the pool to the other and back, doing various strokes and exercises along the way. I watched as my classmates one by one tried and failed to pass the test. Then it was my turn to fail, I mean, my turn to attempt to pass the test. I got about halfway across the pool when I felt that burning sensation you feel when chlorinated water enters your nose. I immediately stopped and grabbed the side of the pool, ending my test.

One of the instructors was standing above me, a scraggly-haired college student. “Why did you stop?” he yelled, in a less-than-compassionate voice.

“I got water in my nose,” I explained.

That’s when this scruffy college student taught me one of life’s great lessons, even if he probably never realized he was doing just that. Bending down, he shouted, “So?”

So? The question took me aback. It had just seemed logical to me that the answer to pain was to eliminate the thing causing the discomfort. My 9-year-old brain had not latched onto the fact that a valuable goal is worth achieving even if we have to go through discomfort to get there. Recognizing that, I wasn’t sure what would keep me from completing the test. In fact, I did it rather easily on my next attempt. Seeing me pass the test, almost all of the others did so as well.

At times I think Jesus lovingly says “So?” to so many of the things that seem important to me. The obstacles, the hardships, the barriers that appear along the way can’t be compared to the goal that waits at the end. We have to focus on the final destination, not the bumps in the road. The apostle Paul wrote: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). God’s plan for us is not to eliminate suffering in our lives, but to teach us to look past it. When Paul and his companion Barnabas were visiting churches they had started, they told them, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The night before the crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

If you’re not a Christian, it’s only fair that we warn you that the road won’t always be easy. But I can assure you that the goal is more than worth any difficulties we might face along the way. I’d like to tell you more about living above the hardships of life, with our eyes focused on the goal.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries

Forever

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[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

“99ยข refills forever!” That’s what the ad for one restaurant claimed. Seemed like a pretty good deal, so I went ahead and bought one of the special cups from the promotion. Once I had the cup in my hand, I noticed some small letters along the side of the cup: “Promotion may be changed or cancelled at any time.” Wait a minute! What happened to “forever”? Apparently forever can be changed or cancelled at any time. Not only with soft drinks, of course. How many pledges to “love forever” fall by the wayside? Does anyone really expect that everyone who claims to be “best friends forever” will remain lifelong friends? When pop singers sing about loving someone “till the end of time,” we know that statement is merely poetic license. In today’s world, “forever” just isn’t what it used to be. At best, forever means “a really long time.”

So when does “forever” mean “through all of eternity”? When God is doing the talking. God can speak confidently about eternity because he has always existed and always will. If a human being wants to promise me something “forever,” I take it with a grain of salt. That person won’t live forever, so they won’t be around to make good on their promise.

When God speaks of forever, he can do so because he doesn’t change. His essential nature will always be the same. The local restaurant doesn’t know what can happen in the future, so they protect their offer with an escape clause. God needs no escape clause. His promises don’t carry fine print. He will always be around to fulfill his promises, and he will never change.

When Jesus was on earth, he made the statement: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Centuries before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). What God has promised us, we can believe. When he speaks of forever, we don’t have to worry about changes or cancellations. The apostle Paul wrote: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). That’s a promise we can believe in.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries

Cries in the Dark

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[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

The cries were faint, barely audible in the early morning air. There was no air conditioning in our cabin at the youth camp, so we had all the windows open. One of my friends heard the sound about the same time that I did. We bounded out of bed, threw on some clothes and went running toward the sound.

One of the adults that was there that week caught us as we headed out. “Whoa!” he said. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Someone’s crying for help.”

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “The river has flooded. There isn’t anything we can do for them right now.”

Those cries still haunt me when I think back on that moment. Thankfully, I can tell you that all of the people that were still alive at that time were rescued by our camp staff. Eight people had already lost their lives, though. As the counselor told us, there was nothing we could do for them.

I hear similar cries almost every day, cries for help, cries for rescue. The man who moved to another country with his wife, only to find himself all alone when she died suddenly. The woman who wants to stop the improper relationship she has with her boss. The mother whose children have scorned her love and abandoned their home. The man who says, “I’ve been so bad; can God ever take me back?” They cry out for deliverance. Their voices echo in the night.

In a very real sense, there’s nothing I can do for them, either. At least not me personally. But I know a God who does come to the rescue, who offers hope to the hopeless. He can do something. Because of him, I can write back to these people and say, “There is a way out.”

If you haven’t watched the videos at HopeForLife.org, I want to encourage you to do so. The videos tell of people who were rescued. Look around on the site, reading the articles there. The next time you hear someone crying out for spiritual rescue, send them there. Not to find the people who are on the site. Not to place their hope in us. Send them there to find rescue. From the God who cared enough to send his Son to die, that others could live a life of hope.

There is something I can do for those that cry out in the dark. I can point them to the God who rescues.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries

Peace Like A River

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[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

“Saved alone. What shall I do?” Those were the chilling words Horatio Spafford read in the telegram from his wife. It was November, 1873. Anna Spafford had been traveling to Europe with the four Spafford children; Mr. Spafford was to join them later. The ship the family was traveling on, the Ville du Havre, was rammed by a British iron sailing ship, the Lockhearn. Mrs. Spafford was rescued by the Lockhearn, but the four children were taken by the waves.

Mr. Spafford was a prosperous lawyer and real estate developer in Chicago until his fortunes were reduced to ashes by the Great Fire of 1871. Still reeling from that financial disaster, now Spafford faced an even greater crisis. He was a man of faith, but these were times that would try even the greatest saint.

Making the Atlantic crossing to join his wife, Spafford was shown the location of the wreck that had cost him his children. Reflecting on that moment, he wrote his wife’s half-sister saying “On Thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down, in mid-ocean, the waters three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs.”

During the crossing, Spafford sat and wrote the words to one of the best-loved songs of all times. The first verse reads:

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

“It is well with my soul.”

It’s an amazing story. Most of us would have trouble reacting in such a way. When faced with loss, when dealing with grief, the common reaction is to fall back on self-pity. What enabled Spafford to respond as he did? Faith. Spafford believed that death was not the end for his dear children. He believed that the grave was a stopping point, not a destination. To him, his children lay, not beneath the cold waters, but folded safe in the arms of Jesus.

Without God, such hope is not possible. Without God, death is the end. But God has overcome death, through the history-changing resurrection of his son. We can read in the New Testament: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

Do you have this hope? Do you share this faith? If not, let me tell you about the God that can fill you with peace in the most trying of times, that can trace a path of hope through the darkest hour.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries

Changing the Past

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[While we’re traveling in Argentina, I thought I’d post some of the things that I’ve written for the HopeForLife.org blog; they’ve also been posted to Heartlight. Comments are moderated until I get back; sorry about that folks. Some people don’t know how to play nice.]

Alfred had dedicated himself to the science of war. A talented scientist and creative inventor, he studied ways to create new and better weapons. Specializing in explosives, he created dynamite. While you may think that he was a man who enjoyed war, quite the opposite was true. He felt that if he could perfect the instruments of war, it would be impossible for man to wage war. He once said, “My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant whole armies can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by golden peace.”

That dream of peace through improved weapons was shattered by World War I. Alfred’s dynamite and other inventions were used to kill more and to kill faster. Yet he continued on his quest for peace.

One morning, Alfred picked up the paper and was shocked to read his own obituary. Through an error, a French paper had printed Alfred’s obituary instead of his brother’s. It was a terrible shock to this peace-loving man to see himself labeled as “the Merchant of Death,” portrayed as the man responsible for thousands of deaths. This was not how Alfred wanted to be remembered. So in his remaining years, he worked with lawyers to set up a foundation that would give yearly prizes for chemistry, physics, medicine and literature. Today if you ask someone about Alfred Nobel, few will call him “the Merchant of Death” nor connect his name with dynamite. We remember, instead, the Nobel peace prize.

We may not be able to change our legacy that dramatically, but we can do something even better. We can take our past mistakes, our old lives, the guilt and regrets that we’ve built up through the years, and have them erased forever. God has promised to separate us from them “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12) … and that’s pretty far! God will look on us as though we’d never done anything wrong. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Wouldn’t you like to wake up tomorrow and know that you can be proud of every aspect of your life? Jesus can make it possible. A new start, a clean slate. It’s there for the taking.

www.hopeforlife.org

Copyright Herald of Truth ministries