Today...

I took my children to school because their bus was unaccounted for. This morning was the first time I've been down Old Springville Road and Deerfoot Parkway.

To my friends who live near me - I am so very grateful that you are here to read my post.

To those who are seeing video and pictures - it's far worse "in person."

To the young girl who is staying with us - I am so so very glad that you are with us and we got to have cheeseburgers together. And I am glad you are here to tell me you don't like strawberry cheesequake Blizzards :-D

My heart goes out to all those who have suffered loss this week. Prayers for your peace, safety, and speedy provision. Much love you all!

Peace

When blind eyes are opened...

Psalm 146 ESV

Put Not Your Trust in Princes

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6 who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

7 who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

Today I had the opportunity to spend some time with a young man who is on a radical journey with God. He is scheduled to have surgery in a few weeks. Surgeons will removed 50% of one lung and 20% of another. Keep him in your prayers.

I have watched this man grow over the past months since his diagnosis. He has been through fear, pain, suffering, guilt, the whole range of emotions. I cannot explain to you what happens when I listen to him talk now. God shows up so intently; I feel what's in this man's heart. He knows what he's living with now is a result of poor life choices and he accepts that (Jesus can heal him, pray for that). He also accepts that his Jesus loves him and intends to work mightily through him. I believe that! He opens his mouth and Word comes out. I love it! He's destined to preach.

He speaks of reaching those who are doing the things he used to do.

He speaks of telling them how much he hurt his body with what he's done.

He speaks of telling them how much Jesus loves them and can save them.

He's going to do it. Jesus wants him to.

And I want to watch him let Jesus work through him to reach the world.

Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.  Romans 11:19-21

You are the man!

Do you have a Nathan?

Do you need a Nathan?

Do you know who Nathan is??

2 Samuel 12.

We all know that David was a man after the heart of God. He truly loved God and he did some really great things. Read his story. He also had failures. Some REALLY BIG failures. This time read the part of David's story where he steals another man's wife, impregnates her, then to try and fix things, has the husband killed, marries the woman, and is trying to live happily ever after.

Does this sound like a mess?

Yes, just go ahead and say, "Yes, it does."

2 Samuel 11 tells us that it displeased the Lord. Nathan the prophet was sent to confront David about his sin.

Nathan addresses David with a parable, this one describing in veiled imagery what David had done to Uriah. David was angered at the "man" in the parable, even says that this "man" deserves to die because of his actions and lack of pity.

Then Nathan delivers this awesome line, "You are the man!" (see, you thought this was a new saying. Turns out, it's been around for centuries!)

David did his sin in secrecy. He thought no one knew. God always knows. God always knows.

David needed accountability for his sin. God sent Nathan to bring the sin to David's sight. God didn't kill David for his actions, but He did hold him accountable. The baby born of David and Bathsheba's affair died. A mighty price to pay for one's sin...that he didn't recognize as being...sin .In his mind, he thought he had fixed it.

What do you need to take away from this story? You need someone to whom you can be accountable. It doesn't matter if you are a new Christian, been going to church since before you were born, or somewhere in between. You need someone speaking into your life that can say, "Hey man, we need to talk about what you did," and YOU LISTEN AND CORRECT YOUR ACTIONS. A wise man will take the lesson and learn from it. A foolish man will blame someone else. The evil man will act like it never happened. A man who will not be accountable for his actions, well, he's not someone you need to follow.

Find a Nathan or two to keep in your life. You need the accountability. Be the man!