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Jeremy Camp Let it Fade

Scripture
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
…Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
Psalm 32:8-11, selected

Observation
In my file drawer I keep a thick folder of stick figures drawn by my daughter, finger paints of my son and every encouraging note and email I’ve ever received. In fact that folder has turned into many volumes of scrapbooks I keep in storage for days when smiles come with more difficulty. The label on the top of the file reads “Joy File”. On sullen days I pull it out and chuckle again.

If we should recycle our garbage, should we not also recycle good things as well? Rejoicing is another word for recycling our joy, for this is a choice to re-joy life by smiling again over old things.

Rejoicing is more than something that gives me pleasure, it’s also something that gives God flexibility to improve my life. When I don’t rejoice I take my negative opinion too seriously. Without joy I listen only to my own narrow point of view. My neck becomes stiff and my heart becomes stubborn. The Bible word to describe me is something close to donkey, but not as pleasant. When I have not pursued the pleasure of re-joying I become like a stubborn mule. God can only lead me with the two-by-four of consequences. The best he can do with my life is to keep me under control. There is no willing following of him.

When I rejoice I become flexible to God’s direction and life becomes fluid as I move through his grace to his next plan for me. The question is: how can we rejoice when there is nothing fresh to take joy in? The answer is: recycle past joys and be happy again about them. Joy never wears out, it can always be used again.

Lilly Bailey was the most optimistic human being I’ve ever known, best of all she was my aunt. There were many downbeat moments in her life. She lost a son to a fever and a grandson was tragically run over by his own mother’s car. She outlived three husbands, becoming a widow three times. Yet at 96 she was as chipper as ever. She could always find the positive in anything. We were once driving through a depressing part of town with dilapidated houses. Of course, Aunt Lilly didn’t see all of that, instead she pointed to an upper window and exclaimed, “See those pretty flowers!” In the midst of the slum was a vase filled with red roses. When asked the source of her jubilant spirit she explained that her father was something of an ogre, a negative man. She made a choice as a child to say something positive or nothing at all. Joy is a choice, and with that joy God can move anything forward in our lives.

Application
The psalm writer said, “Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.” There is much joy along the road of my journey if I will look for it and use it to speed my way. The world’s largest royal palace is the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. There I saw a slab of stone probably 90 feet long intricately carved with dragons and phoenixes. The sign explained that the slab came from a quarry miles away, yet without modern transport, the stone was delivered in one piece on the building site. The workers moved the stone in the frigid winter. Along the roadway wells were dug at intervals. Water was drawn and poured over the dry roadbed. Allowed to freeze overnight, the mud became like a luge and the stone like a bobsled shuttling toward Beijing. There is much joy along our journey, no matter how heavy the load may be, for we are surrounded by the unfailing love of the LOrd. Our joy and the choice to rejoice and recycle our joy makes it possible for the Lord to move things that no one else can budge. What is in my joy file today. It is time to rejoice.

Prayer
Father, through out this day let my mind reflect over the thousands of happy moments you have invested into my life. Let me live on the reruns of joy this day. Amen.

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Third Day Consuming Fire

Scripture
“Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. Joshua 14:10-12

Observation
In just a matter of days a sole runner will sprint into a stadium in Beijing holding aloft a solitary flame. Crowds will roar as he or she tosses the burning torch into the cauldron and the fire explodes into the night sky. That flame was sparked with the suns rays on Mount Olympus and was whisked around the world. Many will gasp at the roaring flame, but how many will consider the marvel that the fire, carried so far, did not go out?

How can the fire of passion be kept burning over the long run? Caleb had a pilot light that burned for 45 years and was never snuffed out. His desire to conquer the hill country infested with giants as as hot four decades on as it was in his young commando days. How did he keep it blazing on a long journey over windy desert roads?

The secret is in the word “wholehearted”. Caleb followed the Lord with a whole heart, not just on the day when he and Joshua alone believed God, but through every day of the 45 year journey.

There would have been many disappointments along the way that could have put Caleb’s flame out. There was the road, there was the dust, there was the aimlessness and worst of all the company. He was surrounded with 600,000 negative people who needed to pass on before the next door could open. But against odds of 300,000 to one, Caleb kept his torch burning. His flame and Joshua’s fire were the two lights that kept burning in the wilderness.

Application
On the long journey between disappointment and fulfillment it is easy to pass our torch over to those who will snuff it out. The opposite of following the Lord with a whole heart is to give part of our heart over to the negativity that surrounds us. If we do, before long there will only be darkness. Caleb watched his comrades die one by one until at last only he and Joshua were left. Through al those years of disappointment, Caleb still walked with a heart open to hope and to God. Caleb could fight bravely at 85 as well as at 40 years of age because never for one day did he give up the fight in his heart. He constantly tended his flame. What Caleb did, I must do. Wholeheartedness means giving my heart only to One. The flame is too precious to be surrendered to those who do not appreciate its light.

Prayer
Father, today, wholeheartedly I follow you. Amen.

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Newsboys He Reigns

Scripture
Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. Joshua 8:13

Observation
Delegating responsibility is not always a leader’s best choice. Sometimes he must be personally involved.

Joshua tried delegating his duty to lead Israel when he sent out a small force to conquer a tiny town. Sometimes delegation works, but not always as Joshua learned. The men failed in their duty because somewhere along the line the values sagged. Achan was able to sneak off with his stash because whoever was in command did not make consequences clear enough. The value of full devotion crumbled.

So the second battle of Ai was not delegated. Joshua himself slept with the troops and the next day held his sword long and sharp to win the battle.

When should a leader not delegate? When values are at stake. I see the silhouette of Joshua, with fierce eyes, gleaming sword and the swirl of soldiers around him. His determined gaze would have affected the entire army. The values of any ministry are most concentrated in the heart of the leader. He must be personally involved at times to ensure that those values are absorbed throughout the entire team.

Application
Leadership is never done by remote control. Leaders must lead. What a leader wants in his team he must first have in himself. What he wants to see in others must first be part of him. Leadership is all about getting hands dirty. That’s still my call.

Prayer
Father, help me not to hide in the office but camp in the fields. Amen.

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Scripture
You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. For you have been called to live in freedom my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to sere one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:7, 8; 12-14

Observation
There is one place left in the United States where a driver can open the throttle and see what an engine can do. Along the arrow straight patches of Interstates 10 and 20 in West Texas the speed limit signs read “Speed Limit 80.” A friend of mine from traffic jammed Hawaii enjoyed that stretch of highway a little too much on one trip. Not only did he get a ticket but for the next few hundred miles the cop followed right behind him measuring his speed. That slowed his race.

We’ve all had the experience of zipping along a country highway only to be have the waiting tractor on the side road just ahead pull out in front of us. It can be a long, slow crawl choking on Alfalfa riding behind them.

Paul described someone in a great hurry, making exceptional time, who was cut off and slowed down. The churches in Galatia were trailblazers until visitors came from headquarters in Jerusalem. They brought with them lists of dos and don’ts that slowed down the journey. The simple believers were admonished that it was not enough to follow Christ, they must also follow Moses. The tractor of legalism just created a traffic jam. Instead of following the simple commands of Jesus and his delightful pleasure in us, the people fearfully searched the law books for rules they had missed and must apply.

They were called to freedom. Freedom of course does not mean that they could do whatever they wanted. Lawlessness is as much slavery as is legalism. Freedom means just following one person who takes burdens away and does not add more to the load. Freedom is running with just Jesus. The road is open, there are no speed limits, there is no traffic, simply the call to follow in his steps.

Application
If we have lost our freedom to run after Christ we need to examine who cut in on our race. Often times it comes from people who want us to live up to their expectations. I’ve followed such tractors. Some are dour rain clouds with rules and regulations. Still others are filled with suspicions and want us to prove ourselves. There are sprinters who want us to be clones of their style and so slow us down. There are a few, very few, who deep down don’t want us to make it and ride their brakes to hold us back.

Who is the blame for this slowdown in our lives? Is it those who are blocking traffic? No, it is we who follow them. We follow these people because somehow they offer something that we want. We don’t see it that way. We think it is their fault, when in fact it is our own. Maybe they offer a weird kind of acceptance, approval or acclaim. Our race is slowed because we stopped running our race when we began running theirs. The race begins when follow no one other than Jesus. Most don’t run this race because the road is lonely. It is easier to be rewarded by human voices than to wait for God’s. His voice is heard at the end of the race with the words “Well done!” Until then there is an empty road made just for us.

Prayer
Father, I can see today things I haven’t seen before. There are people getting in the way of my following you. None of them know it. They are just running their race, but I’m copying theirs. The issue is not with them but with me. I’ve been happy to trade in their approval for yours. That’s not right. So here I am to start again. I want to follow you only. Amen.