The man who went where none should go and saw what none should see,

Had his knowledge wrapped around an eternal mystery.

He witnessed many glorious things, and many heinous too,

Yet ev’n his stores of knowledge failed to reveal something of the truth.

Then one day the man encountered a knocking at the door,

And he who swayed in spirit failed to do so anymore.

‘Find rest old man’, it whispered, defying all he knew.

‘Find rest and you shall find’, it said, ‘your soul has been renewed!’

The man was filled with joy as the shackles vanished from his mind;

He had unintentionally discovered the true eternal kind.

“Never again!” he proclaimed to all, in regards to past pursuits.

“Never again!” he called again, so that some would hear the news.

Yet none desired to listen to what the old man said.

“Fool!” they called him, unaware

Of their own inflicted heads.

First, the man was troubled, unsure of what to do.

But soon enough he found the Way, earning interest for the truth.

Rather than preach a message, he began to act the part.

Instead of looking for the end, he rested at the start.

The people marveled at him, not comprehending why.

“How can you live this way?” they asked the passerby.

“Now you see the truth,” he said, “what I had tried to tell.

But because you did not listen, you’ve found yourselves in hell.”

“What is this that you speak of?” the people asked, astounded,

Refusing to comprehend knowledge so unfounded.

“I will tell you once again,” he said, hoping for the best.

“Never again should you or I seek to leave His rest.”

Finally they understood from witnessing his ways,

This man had found a secret which brightened up his days.

But still he tried to tell them: “My secret’s free for all!

The light is all around you

Waiting for your call…”

(Written by Margaret Coleman)

Broken I come. Empty. My cup is full of tears. Yet you are so faithful to show me where you were in the past years, The years of abuse, the years that the locust came and my life was changed. Numb and broken I stood. I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t understand. Yet you tell me now, that you were with me.

YOU WERE WITH ME.

You were holding my hand. You were my strength, you enabled me to stand. You were the sustaining grace that has brought me to stand here today. You are with me and you are faithful. Again I say, YOU ARE WITH ME, and

YOU ARE FAITHFUL.

You are here to stay. You are constant and true, You are healing the broken places- the black and the blue. I was hiding. Hiding from who you are and always have called me to be. Caught up in an endless sea of insecurity. Searching for satisfaction, while knowing you are the only one that satisfies. Not believing the truth but rather lies.

Not seeing myself through your eyes. Seemingly walking on thin ice of others words and judgments, Too often finding myself broken by their words, and not by your Word. Hiding so often from fully being with you, Because I was scared to be held by you. The depth and vastness of your loves is so overwhelming and deep. Often times in your presence I find myself undone as I begin to weep.

So I stay surface level, with others and with you O lord, Yet you know me, you know me through and through. You see my heart, and you long for me to HIDE myself in ONLY you. Surface is comfortable it doesn’t ask much, Or really tell much either. Surface never really gets to the point, it just casually talks around it. Surface is the typical response to, “Hi, how are you?”… “Good, good!”

Lord I confess I cry out, not everything is good, Not everything is okay all the time, Oh, but YOU ARE. You Father, are the bright Morning Star. You break through the darkness and you speak life.

You hold me safely, as my tears fall at night. Father you are good, always faithful. So draw me out of myself, my sin, Set my feet upon you and show me where to begin, Begin walking in security and assurance. To no longer hide but to be hidden. Hidden in who you are and always have called me to be. Caught up in an endless sea of security and mercy. Drowning in endless grace, captivated by you, Eyes locked, looking unto your glorious face.

The Creator and Captivator of my heart. Forever. For your voice is louder and sweeter than any other, Your truth penetrates my heart and it shows me who I am. It reminds me that when I feel like giving up- When I find myself saying, “I can’t…” that Jesus..

YOU CAN!

“I can, because I am” I am your sufficiency, I am your Healer; I am your Father, I am your Helper, I am for you, I am with you, I am merciful, I am just, I am faithful, I am patient; I am your refuge, I am trustworthy, I am fighting for you, and I am always with you.

MY STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

He can and he will, so today I pray you feel. Feel his sweet love that conquers all fears. I pray that you see the endless grace he has poured out on your life, over the past years. I pray you feel his comfort in the midst of your pain. And I pray today that things would never be the same. That you would leave His presence radically changed. That you would believe God’s truth, rather than lies. I pray that you would take off your disguise.

It is okay to cry, you can come rest He says, you don’t have to try. Don’t try and hold it all in, bring it to me and let it shatter at my feet, Come into my arms, come and meet. Meet with me, abide with me, look to me, and confide in me. I am safe.

When you dance, I dance along with you. When you cry, I am there crying and comforting you. When you try to hide, I am the one that is your refuge and safe place. When you are scared, I am the one, who takes your hand, And lifts your head with peace and assurance. When you are too weak to fight, I am fighting for you- On your behalf and I will never stop.

When you throw up your hands and want to give up, I am the one that lifts your hands and your eyes. For I am your Helper. When you are frustrated, I whisper, “I understand, tell me more.” And I tell you of my sweet promises. When you are tired and weary, I am your strength. When you have been going and going, I am your resting place. I am here. So come near. When you find yourself full of questions and doubt, I am the answer, I will give you faith. When you are reminded of who you were…

I am faithful to tell you…WHO YOU ARE!

You are mine and you are loved, So loved that I would send my one and only Son, From Heaven above, He lived a sinless life and bore all your sins, He longs for you to come to Him. So freely come. Come and be forgiven and take hold of life. Life, He is life, I pray you all take hold of that tonight. He is restoring the years the locust have stolen. And he is making you whole. Whole, and holy, He is making you more like him.

The Lord is making you new, Yes you He is making you new. HIS steadfast LOVE ENDURES FOREVER, through and through!

(Written by Scott Porter)

Imagine a world where you personally know every single human being you encounter on a day-to-day basis. Every bystander you walk past, every driver you drive by. You know each and every person— their name, where they came from, what they struggle with, what they triumph with.

Growing up in a small town gives you a small taste of how a world like that would be.

Working at the hardware store in a town of 900 hundred people shows me the true character of people normally at their worst. Some may have a broken pipe that they just can’t seem to fix, others may have a large project or job to do but they just can’t seem to get everything together to start.

Often, those customers take their frustrations out on the first person they see, which is many times me. And that’s okay.

“Do yall have this black (old & outdated) pipe?”

“No ma’am, that pipe has been replaced with a newer kind that is much improved.”

“Well I need this kind and y’all should be ashamed to call yourselves a hardware store when y’all don’t have the pipe that I need.”

(I left out a few choice words the lady said but you get the jist.)

Everyone has bad days.

I often get extremely frustrated dealing with customers who take out all their anger on me. This post is not a rant, it’s a series of thoughts running through my head while I’m laying in bed and can’t seem to fall asleep for my life.

The thought is this—maybe if we knew, and I mean really knew, each person we encountered we would be a little more kind and a little more gracious to our brothers and sisters with whom we live side by side.

Jesus called us to love one another.

People always tell me (on my good days), “you’re too polite” or “you’re too kind.” And that’s an overwhelmingly sad comment. That statement implies that, one, because I held the door for you, you think I’m overly polite, and two, somewhere down the line you have become accustomed to people not being polite enough to hold the door for you.

That shouldn’t be the way of the world. DO NOT read this post and think “Geez, this kid is arrogant to talk about how polite he is.” I struggle with this everyday. I struggle with compassion.

It is hard for me to remain positive in such a negative world. It is hard for me to be polite all the time. But what if we were polite all the time? What if everyday we tried to be so nice to others as if we wanted to make their day? How much better of a place would the world be?

I believe our society wouldn’t have the race issues we have today if we all tried to be a little bit nicer or a little bit kinder to every stranger on the street.

When you know someone personally it’s “common courtesy” to be polite to them. Why is it not “common courtesy” to be nice to everyone?  Why is there such a thing as “common courtesy” instead of just “courtesy.”

I believe Christians wouldn’t have the reputation of being hypocritical or “two-faced” if we took a challenge amongst ourselves to be a little more kind on an everyday basis. How many more lives could we reach? How many more lives could we save? 

Be kind. Love your neighbor. Let’s make the world a better place. Together— regardless of race, location, or economic class. Let’s take a pledge to truly treat others how you want to be treated. Let’s save ourselves from a society that is divided. Let’s reunite our country. With LOVE and KINDNESS.

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Finding God, Finding Me

(Written by John Brady)

3-2 Curveball

Sometimes when you think you have life figured out, you get a curveball. On some occasions not only do you get a curveball, but you get the 3-2 curve- the ultimate surprise. The 3-2 curve is what my family got on February 24th of this year.

My wife Jill, who works in a doctor’s office, felt something on her chest that was out of the ordinary. Dr. Weldon, her boss and our friend, examined her right there in the office that morning. He confirmed her fears when he told her that he believed there was a high likelihood that the mass he had examined was cancerous. Dr. Weldon left his office, where he had a full slate of patients to see, and came to tell me what he had discovered. He didn’t have to do that, especially with the work load he had during the day but because of the magnitude of the situation I am so glad he did. He laid out the process and the steps ahead of Jill and how she was going to whip this evil thing that had decided to invade our lives. We were still afraid none the less.

The next week or so was a blur. Go see this doctor, go see that doctor. Jill was getting poked and prodded like crazy. Miraculously, we got things done in a week or ten days that would normally take a month or more to get done.

Her oncologist told us she was getting things done so fast he could hardly keep up. This is the first of many times I saw a higher power at work. There are no doubts that only because of the hand of God were we able to have tests and answers so quickly and smoothly. I thank God for this because waiting for information is brutal. Even though one of the answers we got was that she did in fact have breast cancer, at least we knew what we were dealing with.

The Duck

I always preach mental toughness to the kids that play for me. Perhaps more so than any specific fundamentals, players need to train to be tough. I try to teach kids that there is absolutely nothing you can do about what has happened or will happen. Furthermore, your success on the field and in life is going to depend largely on how you respond to adversity.

Bad things are going to happen. You have to focus on the here and now as well as your reactions and emotions. There is an old cliché that says life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond. I try (sometimes poorly) to keep a calm exterior even when mistakes or adversities happen. Be positive. Focus on this pitch. Players and coaches can’t let emotions get the better of them. Be in control.

You have heard the analogy of the duck that is calm as can be above the water while kicking like crazy underneath. Many times that is me during a game. Now I have to practice what I preach in real life situations, not just some baseball or softball game.

My prayer, especially during these early days, was for God to give me peace when I was around Jill. Even though I would be churning underneath, I would need to be calm on the surface for her. I continued to tell myself that God is with us, and He loves us (Isaiah 43:2-4).

There is no doubt God answers prayer because every time I would go home I found peace and strength that I hope was of help to Jill. On several occasions when I would go lift weights in the morning before school I would just sit on a bench in the weight room by myself and cry. Thank God, when I would return home to get ready for school I would always find the peace I needed to be strong for Jill.

There would always be a calm when I was with her. I would try to pump Jill up and tell her, “You are going to be fine. You are going to whip this thing and will be known as a survivor for the rest of your days! DO NOT BE AFRAID!!” Having said that, I am not sure how much she needed me. She was pretty strong from the get-go. I have grown to admire and appreciate the strength she has shown through all this. Sometimes I think she is calm both above and below the water.

Praise

God never promised us that all of our days would be easy but He did promise in Matthew chapter 28, verse 20 that He would always be with us. We also know that God did not give us a spirit fear but of love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). Since this is the case, should we give in to human nature and be afraid or worry? No. I would encourage people to choose to praise God even in the biggest storms. That’s right. Jill has cancer. Praise God

(Psalms 34:1, 150:2)! Admittedly, this sounds odd. But, if I may make an observation, I think that this is where many people go wrong in their lives when adversity hits. Please do not misunderstand me. I’m not casting stones, and I am not implying that I have all the answers.

Rather, I understand that human nature is to want to feel sorry for yourself and want others to feel sorry for you, however I believe God wants us to refocus on Him when turmoil hits our lives and praise Him for all the absolutely wonderful things He has done in our lives as opposed to sitting back and saying, “Oh whoa is me”, or getting angry at God and questioning His sovereignty. The Bible offers wonderful words of wisdom in James 4:8 where we are told: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Even though there is evil in this world and bad things happen to good people (Jill is a WONDERFUL person by the way), understand that God is still in control and THAT ALONE is a reason to praise His name and to continue to live and enjoy life.

Perspective

Jill and I have become acutely aware that most things in life are just not worth getting upset about and losing sleep over. Furthermore, there is always someone else battling demons and could be going through much worse circumstances. Nobody, unfortunately, is immune to the trials of life. Hopefully, if someone else was going through a trial of some sort, they have seen hope in me and my family.

I have made it a point during this time to NEVER give people the impression that our lives were anything other than wonderful. While that was not always easy, when asked how I, we, or Jill was, my response would always be: “Outstanding”, or “We are blessed”.

No, I wouldn’t pretend that nothing was going on. I would be honest about Jill’s treatments, the side effects she would experience, the fear of losing her hair, the anxiety of having to make potentially life changing decisions, or anything else people would ask about. But, I want to use this as an opportunity to let people know that life still MUST be lived. Even though we got the 3-2 curve, we are able to keep our hands back and we still intend to hit the ball hard.

In Closing

I thank God for Dr. Weldon and the hand he had in getting us pointed in the direction we needed to go. Unfortunately, Dr. Weldon passed away suddenly a month or so after Jill’s diagnosis. I tried to thank him for everything every time I saw him. I hope he knew what he meant to us. Moreover, the love and support our family, friends, and fellow community members have shown has been and continues to be overwhelming and humbling to say the least. Thank you does not even come close to covering the gratitude and appreciation we have.

Jill’s prognosis is good and we believe that this bump in the road will soon be a distant memory. If you are going through a hard patch, you will have to decide whether the circumstance is going to dominate you or whether you are going to hold your head up and keep moving forward.

I have heard it said that the same boiling water that hardens the egg softens the potato. I hope Jill doesn’t mind being compared to food but she is an egg :). She is a great example of the fact that a positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you. Life will not always be easy, but I would encourage everyone to PRAY and PRESS ON! Remember, Psalms 145:18 says that the Lord is near to all who call on Him. God Bless!