Sometimes I have the idea float around in the back of my head to NOT love my neighbor as myself (secret confession of a pastor). I had a close friend tell me one time that they wished they could be 'off-duty' as a Christian sometimes. And just recently a friend was confessing to me that it would be so easy to give in and do the WRONG thing... and by doing the wrong thing they could actually 'get ahead.' How do we handle temptation like this when it comes?
I had to deal with this very thing today. I became very frustrated with a situation today involving folks who can be rather intolerable at times...just like today! I found myself feeling sad and then mad... and the longer I thought about it the madder I got. I knew I had to do something about what was going on inside of me so I called a friend and vented. Then God showed me His grace by reminding me of a dear lady (an adopted grandmother to me), and so I called her to talk about nothing in particular.
I'm still sad about the situation and the unresolved nature that remains within these people's lives, but I'm not mad about it any longer. This where I must trust in the Lord to do what I can not in order to bring about His will. My reading took me to Judges, chapter 14 today. I read about Samson and how God's Spirit came upon him. The thing that stands out the most to me about this is that Samson seemed to have a real problem with authority and did not tend to play nicely with others... he reminds me more of a spoiled brat. Yet God used this man in remarkable ways, even through his defiance to God's commands upon his life. God's will trumped Samson's disobedience and defiance. Realizing this I'm struck wondering how much more could have been accomplished through Samson's life if only he would have submitted more fully to the working of God's Holy Spirit?
O Lord, help me to be patient and to wait upon You in the situations I'm involved in. May I never grow too tired of doing the right thing for the right reasons... for Your glory. May I submit to the working of Your Holy Spirit within my life, and to live out the command to love my neighbor as myself. To God be the glory. -Amen.

This evening has been a fun time as my son, Christian, and I have been finishing up work on his 5th grade science project. We now both know a whole lot more about wet cell batteries and how you can generate electrical power from lemons. He called his experiment "Lemon Power"... I still think my name was better - "Pucker Power." But all Christian would say was, "Daaad... I'm not calling my experiment that!"

This has been a learning process for me... I've enjoyed giving him some guidance and then watching as he took off with the experiment; incorporating his own ideas as he went. I like seeing my children thinking for themselves... at least sometimes (when they are thinking in the positive ways). There are other times that I agree with Bill Cosby that kids are 'brain damaged.'

My reading took me to Colossians, chapter 1. Paul is offering praise and a prayer of thanksgiving because of the faith displayed by the church at Colossi. In this letter Paul mentions a person named Epaphras who had been responsible for teaching/modeling to the Colossians the Christian life. Paul calls this person a "dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ...". This helps put into perspective for me the importance of my teaching and modeling of the Christian life to my family. It's the little areas... the little things that often times gets me off track. I'm reminded of an example given from the book Fantastic Families - "...It's not the great storm that destroys the giant oak tree - it's the little bugs! It's ironic that we weather the great storms and crises in life and then allow insignificant, trifling irritations to destroy our happiness and health."

Lord Jesus, help me to recognize and take care of those little things that bug me before allowing them to destroy the gifts you have given me with my family and my ministry. Thank You for the victory! - Amen.

Last week I went to teach about character at an area middle school. I was not completely ready to teach the material to a younger crowd. The material was slightly different than what I have the opportunity to share at the high school level... But the thing that got me the most was trying to speak to the different age group. I didn't think it would be that difficult to do...
After the presentation I was not feeling particularly good about it... I got through it, but was not confident in the message I relayed on to these kids... not sure they had gotten anything out of it. Today, however, I received a real blessing. I returned to that same middle school to teach the same material to different students. I walked in almost late and could not find the room to go to. I met one of the teachers that was in the room last week and they told me of the wonderful job we had done (I always teach with a partner) in presenting to the class. Then one of the kids from last weeks class saw me and thanked me for teaching last week. Afterward, as we were walking out of the building, another student saw me and said I was "cool"... not bad for an old fart, huh (did I just type that out loud?).
I've come to realize that sometimes an honest effort goes a long way... it even helped to smooth out the roughness of the effort I had put forth. Being genuine in what I was trying to say, and operating out of the right motives really showed through... either that or the teacher and kids were just unusually polite and nice (for the sake of my ego, I'll go with doing the right thing for the right reason).
In the book of John (in the Bible), chapter 17 we read of Jesus' prayer to God the Father. In this prayer Jesus basically prays for protection that brings victory, unity that brings glory, and awareness that brings love. He prayed for His disciples and for everyone that would hear and believe in the message of the Gospel Truth. Jesus was honest in all He did; He was genuine and His motives were pure; and the way He loved revealed the glory of God. Elsewhere in Scripture it is stated that "if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have." I recall hearing that God is interested in our availability, not our ability.
May we bring the offering before God that He desires more than anything else... ourselves!