That Dead Dog

A few weeks ago, I did something I had never done.

I killed a dog.

I was driving to class from Anderson and for once I was driving the speed limit. That is simply because I had a test waiting for me when I arrived to campus and I hadn't studied much. There's this stretch of road on the way back to Clemson that has three quick blind turns. I, still driving the speed limit, make it through the first two turns, but on the third I nail this poor dog. You see, the owner of the dog had brought the dog to the dump, like she had many other times, but this time was different, obviously. This time, the adventure seeking pup had jumped out of the owner's car, leaping and bonding for fun across the highway.

The little dude didn't even see me coming.

I couldn't steer the car out of the way, and the little guy couldn't make up his mind which side of the road he wanted to lift his back leg on. The end result was me plowing into this poor little dog while his owner just watched in disbelief. I immediately pulled over and rushed back to the poor animal. But he was dead upon impact.

Now, I realize this is a dog. A small animal. Pointless really, in the grand scheme of life. But, I felt horrible about killing him. What bothered me wasn't the fact that I had never killed an animal or seen blood that deep shade of red before, nor in that quantity. What bothered me was picking up this lifeless animal, who seconds prior had been filled with life, and having to place him in his owner's car. What bothered me was the owner telling me she had to go home and tell her three young children that their first pet had been hit by a car. What bothered me, were her tears, her grief, and the hurt her children would feel later that evening with their first experience of death. What bothered me was life being taken.

The dog owner was very kind and understanding. She didn't blame me. She didn't utter one harsh word to me. She and I both knew that it wasn't my fault. That the dog made a few bad decisions, jumped out of a moving car into traffic, and couldn't decide what side of the street he wanted to be on.

Jesus spoke to me as soon as I got back into my car.

How many of us are like this dog? How many of us can't figure out what side of Jesus Street to play on - with Him or without Him?

The Holy Spirit moved me quickly to the thought of how precious life is. Yes, it was just a dog, but are we not like him? We act without thinking and we do so in much more serious situations. We think of life as a constant - a continuum that will be there tomorrow. We honestly take life for granted. We could easily be living life one moment and suddenly, in a split second's time, be lifeless, dead, gone. If that were you, if you were suddenly struck down and death took hold of you, what would happen? Would your soul do whatever souls do when they lift to Heaven, or would it dive down to Hell? Do you even believe in a Heaven or Hell? Do you place your trust in God, His Son, His mercy, forgiveness, and freedom?

Or do you believe all to be zealotry acts? That life is meaningless. That life, though precious, has no purpose, nothing at the end of the tunnel. Simply, that the life you live is as good as it gets and that you are in complete control.

We could agree on one thing, that people are bad, do horrible deeds, make harmful decisions, and are selfish. Some people call this sin, but others may call it human nature. I would call it both.

Something we need to realize about sin and imperfection in our lives is that Sin must be paid for. Either we accept God and His son's gift, that Jesus has already died for our imperfection - for our lies, our gossip, our porn addictions, our lustful thoughts, our murderous deeds, our thievery, our unbelief our deceit. OR we deny Jesus, we ignore Him beating at our hearts, and we pay for our own sin by going to Hell, for eternity.

Its that simple. Its that cut-n-dry.

I read these verses a few hours before I struck the small naive dog.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18

We are always going to be like that dog. We are always going to make stupid and harmful decisions. We are always going to sin. We will always have naivety, while under the misconception that we know everything. Again, we are always going to sin, it's our nature. However, the one decision and confession that we can make is that of Jesus being the ruler of life. But not just life as a whole, but our individual lives. Accepting that He died for us; that He died for our - for my, for your - sins. But Jesus didn't just die for us. Three days later He rose, conquering death, and He now reigns continuously.

At one point or another, we are going to be that dog. We are going to die. It may come slowly with age or disease, giving us plenty of time to allow a patiently waiting Jesus into our lives. Or death may come suddenly quick with no hint or expectation. Either way sin is paid for.

Do you know what will happen to you when death arrives at your side and creeps in to your body?

Don't be that dead dog. Allow the patient and all-knowing Jesus in. He's ready, He's waiting, and He's willing.

Are you? Are you willing?

Are you willing to open up and receive the best gift available to you. It's honestly difficult to express the weight and power of living life with Jesus, and that's because life with Him is ever changing. Its an experience that can't be put into words. It's just that, an experience. An experience one would feel if we could be a sunrise. Bright and dark colors alike, faded together to make a completely beautiful experience that everyone can see. The light overpowering the dark in an astonishing way.

Life and death are universal. Both are going to take place. We can't control life any better then we can control death. We can, however, control some actions, some decisions. We can choose to let Jesus, the ruler over life and death, into our lives where He can mold us and shape us into our greatest potential.

Or, we could choose to be that dead dog, wondering aimlessly after every emotional whim.

1 Timothy 4 = Ministry 101

Like I've stated a few times, I've been reading the New Testament. Well, what I do, is as I read, I take notes on how the Holy Spirit speaks to me. This morning I woke up and began to look back through some of my notes. I hit 1st Timothy chapter 4 and stopped. Beside it, I wrote Ministry 101. I had made plans to write a mini blog series on chapter four and how the Holy Spirit moved me through it.

But I can't.

You see, yesterday, a good friend of mine told me to go to www.desiringgod.com and look up Matt Chandler's sermon video entitled "A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep." So this morning, after reading in Hebrews, I did just that. I watched the video. I didn't just watch it, but I studied it. I paused it and wrote 9 pages of notes while going through it. Chandler's message is geared toward pastors, but every God seeking man and woman can be stretched through his words. Chandler's message is on the exact passage I was going to write about, but I can't. He does it better then I could dream.

So here it is. Watch it. Take notes on it. Let the words sink to your soul. Let the Holy Spirit do work in you while you watch and listen. I can't even begin to tell you how meaningful this message is to me. The Holy Spirit gave it to me right when I needed it and for that I am so thankful.





And here's the video notes to go along with it.
"A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep" Notes

Pain & Loss

Pain.
We all feel it at one point or another.
We see it in others.
We hear about others experiencing it.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us and tells us about people dealing with it.
We even cause it in others.

Loss.
Can be caused by pain & it can cause pain.
We can lose a friend over an argument.
We can lose a family member to death.
We can lose faith, lose a job, lose a competition, lose love.
We can lose anything and everything.

The bottom line is that Pain and Loss go hand in hand.

What do we do with pain? How do we cope with loss? How can we deal with such strong emotions? Why does God allow such hurtful circumstances to consume us and cripple us to our knees?

I honestly never had an answer to this question until a few weeks ago. I never really comprehended why God allows pain and loss in our lives until I saw it first hand from a friend. A friend who God is healing from pain. A situation that is horrible, but a person that Jesus is healing and using to spread His own name to others. Lives of others are being changed and relationships with Jesus are made stronger through my friend's situation. Jesus is being glorified through my friends pain and healing. The Holy Spirit brought this to my attention through my friend last month and on the same day I read Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 starting with verse 12 (yes click there) is about Paul being in prison for preaching the word of Christ Jesus. That Paul was in chains, in pain, and lost his freedom. Paul could be in a dark place spiritually, blaming God and Jesus for his pain and loss. But he doesn't. Paul realizes and teaches us that Jesus has put him in chains for a reason.

Jesus has put us in pain and put us through loss for a specific reason.

That reason is to spread and proclaim the name of Jesus. To trust him completely. I learned through Philippians 1:12-30 that Jesus places us in every situation to mold us into Godly people. Jesus allows pain and lose to enter our lives so that people around us can see Him at his core - healing us while in pain. Pain and loss are allowed into our lives so that we can glorify Jesus through every situation. This passage helped me to realize that Hell is worse than whatever pain and loss we experience in life. And as long as we aren't in Hell, we are shown the grace and glory of Jesus Christ.

Now, for me, knowing that I can glorify Jesus in my pain and loss doesn't simply make me feel better, or cause the pain to cease. The Holy Spirit explained to me that the Lord has placed us in every situation so that He may mold us into the Godly individuals He knows we'll become, so that Jesus will be proclaimed and glorified, and that we will trust Him each step (big, small, hard, easy) of the way.

Pain is hard. Pain is dark and hurtful. Pain can lead to loss. Loss can cause doubt, fear, and anger.

Jesus is bigger then pain. Jesus is the regain to our loss - He will seize our loss and blossom it into His glory. We've got to have faith in Him. We've got to trust in Him. We've got to seek Him.

Trust Him. Let Jesus do what we can't see. Explain the loss and pain to Him - talk to Him like a friend.

Let Him heal you.

A Plastic Bag & 65 mph Car

Have you ever hit something, not someone, but an object with your car?

About two weeks ago I was driving home from Anderson on a wonderful sunset lit evening. Of course, me being me, I was speeding home. On this particular evening the wind was howling and blowing heavily against my car. I sped down the winding road and then quickly climbed the paved countryside. As I drove, my eye caught a white object flying through the wind - a white grocery bag. The plastic bag landed directly in the path of my car, and I pressed harshly on the gas to accelerate into it. The plastic bag disappeared under my car as I raced over it. Milliseconds later the plastic bag shot out from under my car and I watched through my rear-view mirror as the bag stayed in the cars slipstream. The bag delayed there for a moment, hovering, safe from the wind. But suddenly the wind grasped the bag from it's momentary haven and rushed it off in every other direction.

The Holy Spirit touched my heart as I continued home.

I am that bag. You are that bag. Jesus Christ is that car.

It's a weird thought at first - welcome to my mind - but let's unpack it a bit. We are individuals who without focusing on Jesus are wandering through life catching the hippest (or easiest) wind. By not living for Jesus we are simply chasing selfish desires that change more frequent then the directions of the wind - a wind that momentarily pleases us, but we grow tired of the flow, so we jump ship to another. We grow restless and become controlled by the wind itself.

That is until Jesus comes speeding down the road at us and rocks our world. Where He crashes into us, giving us a safe haven - guiding us from the wind, from ourselves. While under the car driven by Jesus we get charged, gain momentum, and find safety in His slipstream which prepares us to take on the wind that we are later thrown into. We carry His force with us as we travel through the wind, changed by the velocity and power He transferred to us.

Its this momentary hit by Jesus that gives a safe haven. This hit that we should seek after daily. Not because it makes us safe, but because the force that Jesus produces carries us and works through us, spreading to other "plastic bags." This force that we spread is Jesus Himself and His love and His sacrifice for our sin.

The spreading of Jesus Christ is alive in America today. Maybe not completely, but it's my prayer that one day it will be. That one day America as a whole will realize we are all just simple plastic bags floating in the wind, but only Jesus can steady us, prepare us, and guide us to live. Its already started here in Anderson. On January 11th (yes that exact day, I won't ever forget it) NewSpring Church had 258 people sitting in it's lobby for church. It was a packed house with literally no open seat - believe me I looked for all of them. Jesus blew me away on January 11th - He hit me with His force. The best thing is, a packed out church only occurs by the hands, feet, and mouths of the Body. The members tell others - their friends, their coworkers. Volunteers use their skills to serve the church and most importantly, Jesus.

Jesus can use the hands and feet of a "plastic bag" willing to get hit. A person willing to give their life to Christ, allowing His force to power through and overflow out of themselves.

"This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you."
2 Corinthians 9:12-14

Let Him hit you. Let Him guide you. Serve others for that is how we serve Him. Spread the force in your life that is Jesus Christ. Seek and pray that its not a momentary hit from Jesus, but an empowering overflow of the Holy Spirit into us.