The Price of Being God's Favorite

September 25, 2019

An oldie, but a goodie. I wrote this post over five years ago and it’s still one of my favorite (and most popular) posts of all time! Enjoy!

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Every now and then I read a passage in the Bible that just clicks. One sentence will speak volumes and resonate on so many levels. Today was one of those days. This morning I was reading John 12 – the story of when Jesus went to visit the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus just after raising Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11 (see John 11:38-45). The part that struck me was this:

“But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” John 12:10-11

Lazarus had a great miracle happen to him. He was raised from the dead by Jesus after being dead for 4 days in the tomb. That isn’t the kind of thing that happens every day – even Jesus was alive on the earth. And now that he was alive, he was a living testimony to the power of Jesus. The chief priests were trying to tell everyone that Jesus was a bad guy or at least a normal guy at best. Their message was “don’t follow Him. He is nothing special. Keep living your life as usual and don’t pay too much attention to what He is saying.”

But when Lazarus walked into the room, their message became much less effective. Lazarus was a walking billboard – shouting out JESUS IS THE REAL DEAL! JESUS IS ALL-POWERFUL! JESUS IS GOD! You couldn’t escape it as long as Lazarus was alive.

It's Time to Get Out of the Pit

April 10, 2019

Ever been in a pit? Ever been stuck in the miry clay? Ever felt like you are sinking deeper and deeper as the days passed by?

I’m not talking about a dirt pit on the side of the road. As bad as it would be to get stuck in one of those, the pit I’m talking about is much scarier and much more dangerous. It’s the pit that King David speaks about in Psalm 40.

The Price of a Miracle

October 11, 2017

"My prayer is, when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight." harles Studd

Every now and then I read a passage in the Bible that just clicks. One sentence will speak volumes and resonate on so many levels. Yesterday was one of those days. I read John 12 – the story of when Jesus went to visit the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus just after raising Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11 (see John 11:38-45). The part that struck me was this:

“But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” John 12:10-11

Learning to Blame God

February 12, 2014

Certain passages in the Bible always touch my heart – no matter how many times I read them. Genesis 45 is one of those passages. It’s the account of when Joseph finally comes face-to-face with his brothers and confronts them with the sin they had committed against him years earlier.

A quick recap of the story. Joseph’s family was kind of a dysfunctional one. He was the second youngest of twelve brothers. Those ten older brothers didn’t care much for Joseph. He was somewhat of a brat – an annoying little brother who always got special treatment from their father.

“But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.” Genesis 37:4

They didn’t like him. And gradually their dislike turned to anger. Anger to hatred. And hatred to murder.

“Now when they saw him [Joseph] afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’” Genesis 37:18-19

Uhhh…that’s not good. Look, I got two brothers and we used to get into fights when we were younger; but there were limits! We never used weapons. We never tried to injure one another. And we never threw each other in pits and left one another for dead. Period. Those are the rules.

But not these guys. These “brothers” hated Joseph so much that they wanted to kill him right there on spot. You can only imagine how Joseph felt as he was attacked by his brothers… thrown down, beaten, kicked, mocked, spit upon and then left for dead in an empty well. I shudder just at the thought of how helpless he must have felt – ten burly men attacking and assaulting a weak young boy…AND THAT BOY IS THEIR OWN BROTHER!

You Find What You're Looking For

October 23, 2013

Once upon a time there were two 8-year old twin boys – completely identical in every way except one. THEIR ATTITUDES! One of the boys was always upbeat…always smiling…always cheerful. To him, the cup was always half-full and there was always a silver lining in every situation.

But the other boy was quite the opposite. Seldom would you find him in a good mood. To him, the cup was always half-empty and there was never a silver lining. He was always worried. Always depressed. Always down on life.

Their parents began to worry about these unhealthy extremes in their boys. One boy took life way too seriously and had too much anxiety. The boy was the polar opposite. Life was a party for him. He needed to be brought down to earth a little bit. So the parents came up with a plan. For their 9th birthday, they were determined to find a way to balance their children out.

First they went to a toy store and spent hundreds of dollars on all the latest toys, games and electronics for their depressed son. They filled his room with these items while he was out at school and thought to themselves “When he comes home and sees all these toys, that’ll cheer him up a little.”

For the other son, they filled his room with something different...much different…HORSE MANURE! Yep, that’s right. 30 cubic yards of horse manure, fresh from the stables!

They had the perfect plan…or so they thought.

Really God? Why now?

February 21, 2013

“This stiff neck couldn’t have come at a worse time.” That is what I woke up saying on Wednesday morning of last week. It was 5:00 in the morning and I could barely move. I can’t ever remember feeling pain like that in my neck (insert your own marriage joke here) and it seemed to come at the worst possible time (emphasis on “seemed”).

Why was it the worst possible time? Because on the next day, I was supposed to be travelling up to Toronto for 5 action-packed days. The main event during this trip would be two Outreach Nights hosted by my good friends at SMSV church. During these nights, they invite all the Christians and non-Christians in the area for a night of spiritual revival. They advertised on the radio, in the newspaper and online. And this year they expected a larger turnout than ever before – the facility they rented accommodated close to 900 people!

And the main speaker for both nights….FR. ANTHONY MESSEH! The guy whose neck is so sore at this point that he can barely lift up his head and talk at the same time. What great timing for this stiff neck!

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