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What Super Mario Bros. is teaching me

29 Feb
New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Image via Wikipedia

In recent months my daughters and I have become addicted to the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. My wife laughs at us as we alternately cheer, scream, and groan while our respective characters, Mario, Luigi, and Lemon-head face off against giant mushrooms, poisonous fish, and nasty snapping turtles. We’ve gotten pretty good—we’re more than halfway through the entire game—and we’ve also learned an important lesson along the way.

Heroic fights can seldom be won alone.

Through our Mario Bros. exploits we have discovered the incredible power of synergy, and we’ve learned to rely on one another during the tougher parts of the game (Amber is the best at dodging falling rocks, and I’m the best at jumping on the giant frog at the end of each level). When we pool our strengths, and guard each other’s backs we progress much further than we could ever do on our own.

That sounds almost biblical doesn’t it? :)

The Bible makes it clear that life’s adventures should be tackled in community. Jesus never sent His followers out to do great works alone—at the very least he sent them out in pairs so that the power of unified synergy would accompany them. Leviticus 26: 8 says, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”

The principle in that verse has proven repeatedly true in my life–and it will likely be proven again tonight when Amber, Maddie, and I attempt to conquer level 5.

Bloodsuckers

30 Nov

Do you have any bloodsuckers hanging around your life right now? Any people or situations that are constantly swarming you and sucking the life and vitality from you?

Bloodsuckers are an inevitable part of life, and they seem to get even more aggressive when we decide to take great risks for God.

At this year’s men’s retreat I was reminded of a helpful truth about bloodsuckers: they can only latch on to us when we stop moving.

Before the opening session of our retreat, I went for a walk in the woods to pray and I was instantly overwhelmed with how thick the swarms of mosquitoes were. They were large, loud, and aggressive, and if I stopped walking for even a second they were all over me. When I kept moving; however, they had a harder time sticking their proboscis (nice word, huh?) in to my skin. They were forced to retreat and follow me from a distance.

It’s impossible to avoid bloodsuckers—there will always be things that drain and deflate us—but if we are wise we will minimize the amount of time that we spend dealing with them. Rather, we will adopt Nehemiah’s mentality as he rebuilt the broken down walls of Jerusalem. When the bloodsuckers tried to latch on to him he said, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3)

Sometimes the best way to deal with the bloodsuckers is to get back to work God has called us to.

Thankful for the fight!

23 Nov
Swords

Image via Wikipedia

Do you do the whole “let’s go around the room and share what we’re thankful for” thing on Thanksgiving Day?

If you’re like me you probably express thanks for all of the priorities in your life: God’s grace, your loved ones, and the health, wealth, and freedom we get to experience in America. However, if we were able to transport the Apostle Paul in to our Thanksgiving Day gatherings, I think he would add something unique to the conversation. I think he would stand and say, “I’m thankful for the fight.”

In his famous words in 2 Timothy 4:7 he said that the fight of faith was a good fight.

I think there are three things that make a fight good:

  1. A fight is a good fight when we’re fighting for something good.
  2. A fight is a good fight when we fight well in the fight.
  3. A fight is a good fight when we win the fight.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are destined for all three:

  1. We are fighting for the greatest good in the universe—the expansion of God’s Kingdom in the hearts of every man, woman, and child on our planet.
  2. We have the revelation of Scripture and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to help us fight well in our part of the battle.
  3. And we are promised victory. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I don’t always love the fight, but I’m grateful for it—and I can concur with the Apostle Paul that it is good. Can’t you?

God in a tank top

2 Nov
Superman

Image via Wikipedia

I hope this doesn’t sound too irreligious, but sometimes I wish I could see Jesus dressed in something other than His baggy, white robe, and blue sash.

Sometimes I’d like to see Him in a tank top.

Six times in the book of Deuteronomy Moses refers to God’s “Mighty hand and stretched out arm.” In Psalm 89:10 it says of the Lord, “You have scattered Your enemies with Your strong arm.” And then in verse 13 it says, “Your arm is endued with power…your right hand is exalted.”

One of our recurring failures as humans is to rely too heavily on the strength of our own “arms.” I do it all the time. I look at a situation through the grid of my personal strength and ability, and then gauge whether or not I have what it takes to come through. And that’s a terrible thing to do because Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and who makes flesh his arm.” In its original Hebrew language the word “curse” means to hem in with obstacles, and render powerless. When we trust exclusively in our own strength we will eventually find ourselves surrounded and stuck.

We need to recapture a view of God that shows Him sustaining the universe by the word of His power. He is big enough to sustain you. He is vast enough to provide for your deepest needs…He is wise enough to help you navigate life’s tricky mazes…and He is strong enough to carry you through every twist and turn you might encounter during the course of your Christian race.

On fears and vampires

19 Oct
Bela Lugosi's Dracula at the Hollywood Wax Museum

Image via Wikipedia

What are the top fears that are fighting against your confidence and faith in this season of your life? Are they fears of rejection? Failure? Success? Are they fears that you don’t measure up in an area of your life? Are they cringing fears about the future?

There’s something you need to know about the fears that plague you.

They’re a lot like vampires. They can’t survive sunlight, and if you let them, they will suck the life out of you.

Fears grow best in the dark, and when we keep them there, hidden and alone, their power will eventually drain us of our perspective, our confidence, and our faith in God’s love. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Any time we struggle with an overwhelming fear, it is a sign that we need a fresh encounter with God’s unconditional love for us. If we ask Him for a revelation of that love, and then expose our fears to both the light of God’s Word and to supportive, trustworthy friends, our fears will diminish and dissolve—just like the vampires in the old school books and movies used to do (at least before the Twilight books made them simply twinkle in the sun).

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