Category: General

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

My wife’s mother passed away early on Monday morning one week ago. It began a long week of making arrangements, gathering family, sharing memories, and wrestling with the loss of one who was dearly loved and who dearly loved us. She was a very special woman with a huge heart that was evident in her life.

I had the privilege of delivering the eulogy at her service on Friday and singing “Because He Lives” with our daughter – Grana’s first grandchild. It was, to put it mildly, an emotional day. The grief was only tempered by the hope that we have that she is now with Jesus experiencing all-surpassing joy.

Carole left a legacy of faith and faithfulness. She lived in such a way as to set the pace for her children and grandchildren. As we continue to process the loss, I also want to remember the life-lessons she taught us all.

Love Children.
Carole worked in the nursery’s in two churches for over 50 years. She has rocked generations of babies, giving parents a sense of security as they left their little ones in her arms. When she was caring for little children, she was in her sweet spot. She modeled the heart of Jesus who said, “Let the little children come to me“ (Matthew 19:14). She saw just how precious every child was and loved them with such a genuine love that each child felt secure in her arms.

Love the Church.
The church was not just a place to attend for Carole; it was a place to belong. She invested herself in the life of the church. She supported it with her presence, her prayers, her service, and her heart. She raised her family in the church and was able to see them raise their families in the church. She could agree with the Apostle John who wrote: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 1:4)

Love Your Family.
Carole had not greater joy that to spend time with her family. Her home was always open and welcoming. She loved it when family gathered for holidays or birthdays. Whether it was putting together a puzzle, watching the Braves, or going shopping, it was always better with family. In never felt like a son-in-law, because in Carole’s eyes I was family. And as the grandchildren became adults with their own lives and eventually their own spouses, she found such joy in just listening to them tell her every detail of their ever-changing lives. Her love was limitless, and she showed it in countless ways.

Love Jesus.
Carole came to Christ at an early age. She had faithful parents who loved the Lord and taught and modeled for her what it meant to love Jesus. She sought teach and model the same for her children. Hers was a deep and genuine faith that guided her through life, and her love for Jesus was expressed in quiet humility and faithful service. She never sought attention. She put the needs of others ahead of herself. She was a source of love and comfort to so many, because she had experienced the love and comfort of Jesus. And now she is able to both give to Jesus and receive from Jesus a love without limits.

The loss of Carole is bittersweet at the moment, but I know for her family the bitterness of the loss will be lessened by the sweetness of the memories that only increases. The hope of eternal life for her and all who trust in Jesus sustains us, as it has so many who have experienced such loss. With the memories we also have a legacy, and may we both cherish those memories and continue that legacy of faith and faithfulness.

Thank you for approaching me after the worship service this past Sunday with a really good and thoughtful question. I am always encouraged when people hear God’s Word and think deeply about what they have heard. It is in thinking deeply and praying fervently that we open ourselves up to knowing more of God, His will, and His ways.

I’m not sure I answered your question as fully as I would have liked, so I wanted to take the time to write this out. I hope you’ll find it and read it, but I am also hopeful that others, who may have wondered but not asked the question will find it useful in some way.

Your question was – “Why would God allow the serpent to tempt Eve and Adam in the Garden?” After making everything and calling it “very good,” why would God allow it to be messed up?!

Before beginning to answer that question, I want to reference a verse to which I have often had to return when struggling to make all the pieces fit in what seems to be a biblical puzzle. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9, ESV)

There are times when we simply will not understand the ways of God. That is not a convenient loophole for all the hard verses of the Bible; rather it is a bold statement that some things will remain revealed until we stand in the presence of the Lord.

I guess it is a little like my family putting a puzzle together when I was younger. Piece by piece it came together forming a picture, but when we got near the end, a piece would be missing. My dad would have hidden it somewhere. It was only when the final piece was put in that the picture became complete. The life we spent on this earthly plane is something like that, and the picture will not be made complete and fully perfect until God places that last piece into place. what an “Aha!” moment that will be for us all.

So, when I say that God’s thoughts and ways are far beyond ours, it’s not just a ready excuse when I don’t understand something. It is reality. In fact, I would argue that anyone who claims to be able to explain everything about God isn’t talking about the God of the Bible. We can know Him genuinely and intimately; we just cannot know Him fully – at least not until we are face to face with Him in eternity.

But God has not left us totally clueless. We can and should be inquisitive when a passage of Scripture challenges our thinking. So, Annabelle, when you came to talk to me after the service, it delighted my heart. Here, then, is a less rushed answer to your question… “Why would God allow the serpent to tempt Eve and Adam in the Garden?”

In Genesis 2, we read – ¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)

And then in chapter 3 –

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
(Genesis 3:1-7)

Even though God had provided an abundance of fruit from an abundance of plants, there was one tree that God insisted was off limits. God had called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it was unlike any other tree in the garden. According to Genesis 3, the fruit looked delicious and appealing. I suppose God could have made it hideously ugly. We also see that the fruit was within reach and the tree seems to be located centrally in the garden. God could have put the fruit well out of their reach or had it hidden in some remote part of the garden. All that is true, but wouldn’t it just have been simpler to not have the tree there at all? Some people have even posited that God set them up for a fall.

I would disagree with that view for numerous reasons. Among these are:
– God is good, perfectly good. (Luke 18:19)
– God is holy. (Isaiah 6:3)
– God does not tempt people to sin. (James 1:13)

God created our Adam and Eve with the ability to think, reason, and choose. He provided for them in abundance and had a relationship with them that was personal and free of fear, dread, and shame. He warned them against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for their protection, yet God knew they would eat from the tree.

The decision of the first couple to eat the forbidden fruit did not take God by surprise. God is all-knowing (Psalm 147:4-5), thus God was fully aware of everything that would take place in the Garden. When He put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the Garden, He did so knowing exactly what would transpire. So why put it there? Why allow the Satan to manipulate them when He could have stepped in to prevent it?

God wanted Adam and Eve to obey Him. God wanted them to choose to express their love for Him and their joy in having unadulterated intimacy with Him by choosing to live in His will. God did not make robots; He made people in His image to be in relationship with Him. He desired that they want that relationship, too. They chose to abandon all that God had given them in an effort to grasp the promise of something more, something greater than intimacy with their Creator, and in doing so they lost everything — everything except hope.

Even in the midst of judgment, God gave them hope. That which was lost would not be lost forever. God had a plan to redeem, to restore, to renew. In the first book of the Bible we see everything fall apart. In the final book of the Bible, we see God making all things new.

Annabelle, I cannot explain everything about God, His will, and His ways. Had I the power to travel back in time, I’d go back to the Garden and slap that forbidden fruit out of Eve’s hand, sternly rebuke Adam for not manning up and intervening, and then lop off the serpent’s head before it could do any more damage.

God could have done the same, but He did not. So, Annabelle, I cannot fully explain why God allows and directs what He chooses to allow or direct, nor can I explain why He loves me and wants to spend eternity with me. And even those things about God that I do understand still leaves me amazed that His love is so great that He would send His Son to die for my sins. I find myself asking along with King David, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4)

I was asked earlier today by a friend how he could go about starting a blog. Although I’ve been doing this off and on for a while, I haven’t been great at the blogging thing. I don’t have a ton of people who follow the blog, but I do get a few positive comments that keep me coming back. In fact, I made a commitment to do 4-5 blogs each month (approximately one per week).

Having given the whole starting a blog question some thought, I figured it might be good to put my thoughts “out there” in case others were considering doing a blog of their own. So, here goes…

There are a few decisions you’ll want to make as you get started. The first is the kind of blog you want to post. If you look around the internet, you’ll find an abundance of variety. Some people even have multiple blogs because they want more than one platform to discuss or display various topics. I even know one person who has a private blog. It provides a journal-like outlet for her emotions, struggles, and ideas, but the privacy setting means that nobody else is insider her head. Honestly, I’m a little too paranoid for that approach figuring I’d somehow get hacked and end up being totally embarrassed.

Okay, so what kind of blog do you want to create. The possibilities are nearly endless. If you’re into creative writing, you could post your poems or maybe even a short story that you publish chapter by chapter. If you’re a photographer, a blog can be a good place to put your favorite photos. If you travel a lot, then a blog chronicling your adventures might be fun. An artist could use a blog to post pictures of his or her artwork. Have opinions? You find tons of blogs with the express purpose of expressing opinions. Do you love movies or read a lot of books? You can write reviews. So, what’s your idea? I’m now thinking of a blog that does doughnut reviews…

You’ll also need to determine where you’ll host your posts. Some people stick with putting their creative work on something like Facebook. That could work. If you already have “friends” there, then you already have an audience. Facebook is, however, a limited format. I chose WordPress as my platform, but you can do a quick Google search to find many other options. If you use the WordPress.com subdomain, it’s free. If you want your own domain name, you’ll need to secure that separately. It is not too hard – I was able to do it!

Oh… you’ll have a lot of options to format your page no matter which platform you choose. Look through the free options first. You can tell which are graphics-driven and which are text-driven. Pick the one that fits what you’re trying to create. Most of the time you can change fonts and colors to suit your taste.

Alright… you’ve got an idea for a blog. You’ve settled on a platform and determined who will host the repository of your creative genius. What’s next? You need a name. I know you already have a name, but your blog needs one. Think about this. You want something that reflects who you are and what you want to produce. I chose “Transforming Grace” because I am the pastor of Grace Fellowship. I had a ready-made tie-in for that name. I also want my blogs always to be seasoned by grace. Finally, I believe in the transforming power of God’s grace, and I’d love for everyone to experience it, too.

One word of caution — Don’t get overly creative with the name. Seriously, you can really overthink this one. If your name is Bob, you could very easily name it “Bob’s Blog.” The name should match the content.

Your next step could be to accumulate material or ideas. I keep a list of ideas in Evernote. If my well runs dry, I can always go to my list and find something good. I also clip articles from the internet and save those in Evernote. You can use any “container” to save your stuff. The key is to be able to access it when you need it.

Let me mention a word about proofreading. Find someone who can look through your work – before posting preferably! If you wrote it, you’re more apt to overlook errors because you know what you intended to type. By the way, I’m TERRIBLE at this. Once I get something typed up, I want to hit the “publish” button immediately. My wife often corrects me after she’s read it. I think she enjoys that. My sister even got into the act with my last post. You can save your draft and have someone look it over… if you can wait that long!

I’m sure I forgot something important, but I’ll add what I assume is my final point – Get started. It’s the whole “journey of a thousand miles” thing. God is a creative God, and we are made in His image. The internet gives us an opportunity to express that creativity and for others to be blessed by it. I’ll look forward to seeing your creative work out there on the interwebs!

There is no magic bullet to successfully accomplishing your New Year’s Resolutions, but here is a bit of the wisdom I have gleaned through the years on goal-achievement. One caveat – Knowing and doing are two different things!

Keys to Success in Accomplishing Your Goals:

• Your goals must be aligned with your values.
• Your goals can be motivated by fear (running away from) or by vision (running to), but there is greater joy in your journey if you’re running toward your vision.
• You need accountability to stay on track.
• You need a system to track progress BUT a good system doesn’t guarantee success.
• Make sure what you’re investing in is worthy of your time, energy, resources, and heart.