Drinking the Wrong Kind of Tea

I was on a twenty-one day fast and was (for most of it) consuming only water. At some point during the transition back to food, I started drinking watered-down vegetable juices.

And some green tea.

That is until I discovered that green tea doesn’t mean that it is caffeine-free as I had wrongly assumed it was.

I discovered this when, after drinking some green tea, I felt a slight caffeine rush in my system. I had been drinking the wrong tea and educated myself by more carefully reading the box that the tea came in before making myself a cup.

Today, many people are drinking the wrong kind of tea. They are consuming it as they watch TV or stare at the news feed on their smart phone.

Commercial after commercial uses the phrase; “So much uncertainty… So much uncertainty… So much uncertainty!”

As Christians this statement should cause us to stand up and shout; “Uncertainty? Certainly NOT!”

Our God is the God of CERTAINTY!! Hebrews 13:8 tells us:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

And because of it we have so much certainty!

Lysa TerKeurst said it best:

“I do know that what makes faith fall apart isn’t doubt. It’s being too certain of the wrong things.”

We can be free from doubt or reservation; confident; sure. We can exclaim to EVERY situation: I am certain that the LORD will come through!

He tells us in the Bible that He will provide. For our part we are to seek His face and His Kingdom and His righteousness.

We don’t need to live in uncertainty when we have so much certainty from One who is and will always be faithful!

Another phrase that commercials use is the phrase; “Unprecedented…” referring to the times that we are in.

UNPRECEDENTED?? How can that be? Ecclesiastes 1:9 says

That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

The LORD preceded EVERYTHING! He created EVERYTHING! Nothing throws Him off. We may not have gone through it before but the LORD has seen it all.

Some of what has been troubling us is our plans are out of whack. Everything that we planned is up in the air and on hold.

We had been riding a healthy economy with employment at an all-time high. Everywhere you looked companies, stores, and restaurants had “help wanted” signs.

Real estate was a seller’s market and bids were raised way above the asking price in order to purchase a home.

We hadn’t seen the possibility of the whole system crashing. We had not listened to the wisdom in James 4:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

If you, too, have been drinking the wrong tea as you drink the media that exclaims that time are unprecedented and uncertain.

Or if you are struggling to find hope for tomorrow, I have some good news for you.

Every day you can awaken with the hope that as you turn to God each day, you will find His mercy fresh and new waiting for you. Great is His faithfulness; in that you can place your hope!

How much have you acknowledged Him so far this day? He’s not upset with you; He just wants to be with you and have you acknowledge that He is there.

Are you ready to start today over? Have you tried to change your life with no success? Are you tired of trying to do it your way?

Come to Jesus who will exchange your uncertainty for a certainty that cannot be shaken.

Call 1-888-NEED –HIM; someone is waiting to talk with you.

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Another Day In Paradise

“How are you doing?" I asked a friend who I ran in to at a local store.

"Living the dream!" He exclaimed; "It's another day in paradise!"

Really? This is what he dreamed of when he was up all night studying for the finals? This was his dream life and all that it included?

My friend was being sarcastic for his life was marked with many trials such as a failed marriage and bouncing from job to job. His response masked his pain that he was longing for a better life that was filled with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious moments of unending joy!

Truth is, much of life is marked with doing what we need to do: Get up, get dressed, eat, brush our teeth, go to work or do our chores; and at the end of the day we do it all in reverse order and go to bed.

That is how much of our lives go; marked with the occasional outing to purchase groceries and other household items...only to get up and do it all again the next day.

If that isn't enough, throw in the fun tasks such as cutting the grass, shoveling the snow, weeding the garden, taking out the trash, and cleaning the fish tank.

Fun isn't it? Mundane? Boring?  I haven't even added in the trials and hardships that we go through as we live in the real world of brokenness that is so far from the paradise that we long for.

Unfortunately, we stop short and look for approval, validation, and life from things that will never really bring real life and fall short of paradise.

We strive throughout the minutia of our day to get everything that we can possibly want to make this bearable such as tablets, computers, dishwashers, ovens, cars, Roombas, leaf blowers, paper shredders, smartwatches, roof rakes, salad spinners and all of the other modern conveniences  that we need to break up our boring world.

So, we mark our lives by BIG events such as the big holidays, birthdays, weddings, vacations, funerals, graduations, etc. We spend our days planning and longing for the day when we _____________ (fill in the blank).

And yet that isn't really what this life is all about. In fact, many people use their vacation to get away from all that they have by going deep into the wilderness where they can be off the grid and have absolutely no modern conveniences; including running water or electricity.

Real life comes as we pay attention to that heart cry that says;

"this can't be all that there is..."

It is the heart cry from One who put eternity in our hearts that causes us to seek life. 

                 

Life is about just showing up and doing what is on our plates for the day. It is about being consistent and faithful to the items on our agenda for the day. Its leaving room for spontaneous divine 'interruptions' that cross our path.

Life, real life is learning to wake up and be grateful for even being able to wake up. It is looking for and expressing gratefulness in the minutia of this everyday, mundane existence that we call life.

Life comes from the One who Himself wants to give life this side of paradise. He put the heart cry in our hearts for paradise.

Today, at this very moment, He is reaching out to you; calling to you to come to Him because He wants you to have real life. Today. Right now.

His Name is Jesus and He tells us how to get this life in Matthew 11:28:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

He is the one who said in John 10:10 that He came to that we may have life (Zoë) and life abundantly (superabundant in quality or superior; excessive, exceedingly, beyond measure, superfluous, vehement).

Sounds like paradise this side of paradise doesn't it? And you can have it each and every day no matter what happens. It is a matter of choosing how you respond to the grace and mercy that awaits you at each and every turn of your day; from the moment that you awake.

Your response to Him is to say "yes". It's not based upon what you have done; good or bad...that is what His death, burial, and resurrection is all about. The Bibles says in Romans 10:9-13:

"...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

Jesus will help you to live today and every day after that in paradise; here on earth and eternally beyond this life.

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Waking Up in An Empty Bed

I woke up from a very deep sleep the other day. I must have fallen asleep the night before and slept very soundly (which is very rare for me).

My mind was confused; I didn’t know what day it was or what time it was.

And I realized that the bed was empty; Cathy was gone; and it was frightening.

My mind was even more confused as I tried even harder to figure out what day it was or what time it was.

In my head, I heard an old song by Larry Norman called “I Wish We’d All Been Ready”

       A man and wife asleep in bed
       She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
       I wish we’d all been ready…

       There's no time to change your mind
       The Son has come and you've been left behind…

My mind was even MORE confused as I tried even harder to answer what day it was or what time it was and where Cathy really was at. Was she really gone? Was I left behind?

Suddenly I was fully awakened as I heard our pickup truck start up; Cathy was leaving for work…which meant that it was Friday sometime around six in the morning. A quick look at the clock on the dresser confirmed that it was five minutes before six o’clock in the morning.

I must have really been tired after a full day (Thursday).

As I made the bed, the song continued in my head:

       A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
       I wish we’d all been ready…

I went downstairs to pour a cup of coffee to awaken the remaining part of my brain.

The song continued to play in my head:

       Two men walking up a hill
       One disappears and one’s left standing still
       I wish we’d all been ready…

I sat down in my favorite chair in our living room (with my cup of coffee) and read Matthew 24:36-44; which is what the song is referring to.

In the passage Jesus states:

³⁶ “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. ³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ⁴² Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.⁴⁴ Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

I read the entity of chapters 24 and 25 to meditate on Jesus’ words telling us what to expect as one day this world as we know it comes to an end.

For the record, I’m not one who spends most days thinking about or discussing eschatology (the study of end times), BUT that doesn’t say that it isn’t important.

One day this world will end and I hope that we’ll all be ready. It’s no fun waking up in an empty bed; in fact, it’s frightening and confusing!

Not sure where you are at if He were to return today? Call 1-888-NEED-HIM for more assistance. Or drop me a line at pastortommyoestreich@gmail.com

Pastor Tommy O, River of Hope Ministries

  

“I Wish We'd All Been Ready” by Larry Norman

Life was filled with guns and war
And all of us got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
The children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he's gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and ones left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready

The Father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

There's no time to change your mind
The Son has come and you've been left behind

I hope well all be ready
You've been left behind [Repeat: x3]

Songwriters: Larry Norman

I Wish We'd All Been Ready lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

The End of the World As We Know It

It’s coming; are you ready for it?

 

I don’t want to sound like a doomsday prophet but everywhere I went today I saw confirmation after confirmation that it is about to happen. And I realized that I am not ready nor am I prepared to face what is about to happen.

 

And I really hope that you are ready; are you?

 

The signs are all over the place; everywhere that you go you will see what I am talking about. In fact you would have to be blind if you didn’t see it.

 

I know that you are probably thinking that I sound like a religious nut who is pontificating some delusional hell fire and brimstone rhetoric as the metaphorical hand basket takes us closer to the end. But I’m not! I tell you I’ve seen the evidence as plain as the nose on my face today!

 

I’m not exaggerating, whether your theology or belief systems agree with me; it’s really happening and you need to get ready people! 

 

I’m trying to warn you so that when it comes you won’t be caught off guard and you will be ready to face what is about to happen.

 

Others have warned us that it was coming and now it is here. Get ready folks because you will soon see that the elements will melt with fervent heat and all will be changed.

 

So today I will add my warning that soon you will see new things that shall spring forth.  I really hope that you are ready; are you?

 

Please trust me; soon you will see green grass and crocus and other flowers will be growing up where just yesterday there was snow! Soon you will see buds that will turn into leaves; when just last week there was nothing!

 

Soon children will be outside of the homes riding bikes and laughing and rolling down hills that were recently covered with massive piles of snow. Soon these same children will be playing baseball and soccer or rollerblading in the exact spot that is currently covered with a sheet of ice that I play hockey on.

 

Do you still think that I am kidding?

 

I’m not. And I’m not happy about it because my ice rinks are melting and spring with its warm weather has once again returned.

 

Go back to sleep little one, along with your outdoor hockey, and dream once again of a winter that is only eight months away. And once again you; oh little one, will be happy!