Don't look for perfection but look for progress in our lives.

My Titus progress

I'm memorizing the book of Titus and just picked the project back up after about a month off. To be honest, I got spooked at the length of Titus 3:3. But I pushed through that verse and am now to Titus 3:5.

If you haven't recently read that sequence in Titus (3:3-5), do it. Slowly. Savor those words. Paul, in verse 3, acknowledged his ugly background: foolish, disobedience, deceived, enslaved. He lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating others.

Then, like an angel bursting through the clouds with triumphant trumpet shout, the kindness and love of God appeared, saving him. He wasn't saved by his own righteous acts but because of God's mercy.

God saved him by the washing of rebirth and regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was willing to sharply rebuke those who wandered from the truth but not because he reveled in his own superiority. He longed for others to know what he knew: only through God's mercy and kindness was he given new life.

That's good news. Go read it again!

Two stories

Gary didn't come to this country to be treated for brain cancer. He came to teach his people here about the love of Jesus but now he's battling cancer. He's walked with Jesus his entire life, leaving grandchildren in his home country to work in the Lord's kingdom here. He and his wife put up with the oddities of our culture for the sake of the lost.

Mike was born in this country but just lost his job and jobs are scarce right now. He's sat at home for two months now, waiting for something to open up. He's depressed and now has refused to join his wife at church. "I'll go back when God gets me a job," he told his wife.

In crisis, we choose our rock.

Gary's had a life of inconveniences but he's clinging to God in this ultimate challenge. Gary's facing death by cancer and he's praying for the nurses who care for him.

Mike blames God for the loss of a job and clings to his own solutions. Somebody will bail him out. If not God, then a boss or a co-worker or maybe a government official.

I want to be angry with Mike and demand that he step up. But Gary has made an impression in my life.

Gary would share the love of Jesus with Mike, would listen to his complaints, would check on him frequently.

I'm going to try to do the same. Because in crisis, we choose our Rock.

True Love

My daughter has started a blog and now is planning a new blog study on True Love. Here's more information from her on the study (and I hope you'll join her on her journey through the study of love):


What is the opposite of love? The answer may surprise you: selfishness and self-seeking. Why?

This question along with many others will be answered in the new blog study True Love. In this study, we will answered the questions of What is love? Why should we love? How to love? by looking at Jesus’ life and His wonderful word.

I hope you can join us on this incredible journey.

This study will start on November 9th at Living Water devotional blog www.well-of-life.blogspot.com

No praise due

“I was but a Pen in God's hand,
and what praise is due to a Pen?"

Richard Baxter

Crow hopping

My first horse was a white gelding with splayed hooves from some previous pleasure and a limp from a wire cut on his left hock. Obviously, 7-Up had a mysterious prior life.

He had one pink eye and one with a black patch, like eyeliner. He was basically ugly but he made up for that by being pretty dense, too.

His focus for his day was eating hay and avoiding double riders by throwing out a little crow hop when my little sister climbed behind the saddle. (A crow hop happens when the horse bucks straight up.)

I thought that he’d be delighted to be with us after his dark past. We never allowed him to founder and we guarded him from any wire cuts. He was our first horse so he got lots of brushing and some apples on the side. There was always plenty of fresh water and lots of room to roll and run. He had a good life but he still crow hopped.

We came to God like 7-up came to us, a little beat up from our previous life, and we get treated pretty well. God gives us freedom and new life and hope. He loves us and shows us a better way.

And then we crow hop. We think he’s asking too much when he says something crazy like “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

We think God is burdening us with his commands. But when we have an obedience problem, we really have a love problem.

The stethoscope

Thanks, Marcia, for this clip!