Never doesn't mean Never

Never doesn’t mean Never

“Never has doesn’t mean never will

hasn’t been doesn’t mean can’t be

what was doesn’t mean what is to come

and who you’ve been doesn’t mean who you will be.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s true that the past is often a good predictor of the future. In sports we study and predict what our opponents will do based on what they have done. In relationships we know friend’s tendencies to be late, to respond a certain way, to say a particular phrase based on what they have done. In life we are creatures of habit often clinging to the familiar ways of how it’s been. There are many times where this is true. ...but not always. Just because something has always been one way doesn’t mean it always will. Change is possible. The baseball team that usually struggles with the off speed can learn to adjust or the friend that usually flakes can be dependable. The same is true for us. We can change...from insecure to secure, from timid to bold, from foolish to wise, from depressed to joy, from lost to found. Who you’ve been doesn’t mean who you will be. Let us give ourselves and those around us the freedom to change knowing never have doesn’t mean never will. Though it’s been never, it’s possible.

"Sing, O childless woman! Break forth into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, even though you never gave birth to a child. For the woman who could bear no children now has more than all the other women," says the LORD.

Isaiah 54:1 NLT

God is a God of the impossible and He loves to show up in our impossibilities! He makes the impossible possible and He goes big when He does it!!! We see this here in Isaiah. He is saying not only will you have a child, you who have never had a child, but you will have so many, even more than all the other women. He says I won’t just meet your desires, I will exceed them. The same He is speaking to you, ‘Believe in me, child. I see your desires, I hear your pain. Don’t lose hope or be discouraged. Instead, Sing! Sing loud and joyful! For even though it seems impossible, even though you feel your desires have never been met I will exceed them beyond what you hoped or dreamed. So sing! For what was is not what will be when you believe in me!’

More than Not

“Faith is more than not fearing, not worrying, or not doubting...

it’s trusting, it’s relying, it’s believing.”

Loren Thornburg

So many times I am trying so hard “not to do” things that I forget “to do” things. I tell this to my pitching students all the time, I guess I should listen. It’s a simple sports psychology lesson of the way the mind works. Your brain doesn’t hear the don’t so when you say, ‘don’t strike out’ it hears, ‘strike out’ and so you end up telling yourself the opposite of that which you are trying to achieve. So while it is good not to strike out instead it is better to focus on hitting the ball. The same is true in life. It is good not to fear; it is good not to worry; it is good not to doubt; but, that is not the answer. Simply trying not to do these things seems to only replicate them for our focus remains on them even if in desiring their absence. We don’t learn to walk by trying not to fall, nor will I learn to walk in faith by trying not to fall by the way of fear, worry, doubt or any other way that we fall. While it is good not to fear if I trust I will not fear. While it is good not to doubt if I believe I will not doubt. So do more than not, think more than not...trust, rely, believe and you will find the more you were hoping for.

“The conquering power that brings the world to its knees is our faith. The person who wins out over the worlds ways is simply the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God.”

1 John 5:5 Message

Faith is what allows us to have peace in the midst of the storm, to bring the world to its knees when it seems over our heads. Now what it doesn’t say is just make sure you don’t fear, focus really hard on not worrying or try as hard as you can to not doubt. No, the conquering power is FAITH. Faith and fear are in contradiction. The latter is an abandoning of a former loyalty while the first is to remain loyal to your conviction, to the truth. Often I get focused on fear even in simply trying not to and I only fall short of the faith that I long for. I have not been called to not fear but to walk in faith. Not in faith alone as a nice idea but the real victory, that which brings the world to its knees is from God through Jesus Christ. As I walk in faith believing in who He is, believing He is the one that saves me from fear, believing that He loves me and loves to care for me...then I can walk in faith! As I walk in that faith the fears begin to subside; they have to for Jesus is in the midst!! Victory is more than not losing it is believing! Lets do more than not, lets bring the world to its knees, lets walk with Jesus by FAITH!!

Reigning Reins

“The one who holds the reins, reigns!!”

Loren Thornburg

It’s not so much the reins but the one who holds them that reigns! Reins are narrow straps used to guide and control horses. In and of themselves they don’t hold much power, yet they cause the horse to change direction, to stop or slow down by pulling on them. They are used to keep the horse under control. So it is the power of the one holding them, the one who used them that gives the reigns their power. Reign adding just a g, means something so different yet so the same. Reign is to hold a royal office or a particular title yet also to prevail or be the strongest. While a narrow strap and a royal office seem miles apart they both hold an element of power and control. Just like the horse is subject to the reins so the people are subject to the royal office’s reign, and still so are our lives subject to that which holds the reins, that which holds power and control over our lives. At times that is another person, at other times that is our thoughts whether positive or negative and at times that is the circumstances in our lives. So the question is who holds the reins of your life? For that which you give the reins will reign!

“as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:21 NASB

And so our choice remains what will have the reins over our life. What will have the highest influence and control? Will it be sin or God’s grace? If it is sin we are brought to death. But, if God’s grace and kindness rules and reigns then we are given right standing with God and eternal life because of Jesus. When you see it like that the choice seems easy!! Yet how often do we let sin take the reins and reigns in the ways that we allow the ways we miss the mark to be the one that holds the reins? I know I do! I let lies be in control of my mind, I let selfishness and pride be in control of my actions, I let my emotions be in control of my heart. Still, we have a choice, still Jesus has defeated the grave, still Jesus Reigns!!! It is because of Jesus that we can reign over lies, we can reign over pride, we can reign over our emotions! It is when we give Jesus the reins that we can reigns with Him! When we let Him take control, when we let Him take the reins when we let Him be the one of highest influence and control of our lives He reigns and we reign with Him!! Though the choice that sounds easy is not always, but it is possible, and the choice that is possible is worth it! So let Jesus hold the reins so that He may reign! For when He reigns there is Freedom, there is Grace, there is Life! Choose His Reins! Choose His Reign!!!

Purpose in the Cracks

“You have purpose, just as you are. You are needed, just as you are. You bring something that no one else can, just as you are...cracks and all.”

Loren Thornburg

A crack is a line or surface where something has been split without breaking it into separate parts. There are many good cracks like cracks in the window that let the air through, you can crack a book and begin reading it, and you can crack up in laughter. If you crack a dish or crack a pot it doesn’t seem like such a good thing. But, there is a story of a cracked pot that changes that. In short a water-bearer carried one perfect pot and the other had a crack in it. So when the water-bearer delivered the two pots one was full while the cracked pot was only half full. The cracked pot felt ashamed that it could only do half of what the other pot could do. Perceiving it as a failure the cracked pot apologized to the water bearer. However the water bearer pointed out the flowers that were found only on the side that the cracked pot was carried on. The water bearer knew about the crack and took advantage of it and was able to pick beautiful flowers because of it. There was a purpose for the crack in the pot. You never know what you see as a crack and a failure in yourself is watering the ground for flowers to grow if you would only stop comparing and start seeing you have purpose...just as you are...cracks and all!

“The Lord will comfort Israel again and make her deserts blossom. Her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as Eden--the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found there. Lovely songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

Isaiah 51:3 NLT

The cracked pot gave water where there would not have been water were it not for the cracks in the pot. That water made what would have been just dirt into beautiful flowers! So we see in the story that we can trust the water bearer knew what he was doing with the pots that He chose! The water bearer was aware of the cracks in the pot. He was not caught off guard or surprised, but He knew and used them to make something beautiful. Yet, how often do we look at our own cracks and see them as failures and decide that we must be wrong because of them. God knew and God knows. He knew all about you before He chose to carry you, He knows who you are now and knows what you will do and who you will be and still He choses to carry you and use you. Will you trust the Lord as your water bearer enough not to compare and not to decide you are a failure because you are cracked but to know that He knew and knows and still He chose. All he asks is that you let Him carry you, trusting the One who makes deserts blossom, the wilderness beautiful, and gardens out of nothing!

Trust Trusts

“From action to outcome trust trusts”

Loren Thornburg

Trust is in one part of the definition an acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation. It’s the without evidence or investigation that gives me problems. I want to see and I want to know that it’s going to work out okay, but then that wouldn’t be trust. It’s a scary thing because there is an element of unknown, a risk involved. Often times I can muster up enough trust to move me into action but it gets lost in the outcome. I trust enough to take that risky step but I lose it when it doesn’t turn out like I thought it should or would or when it doesn’t happen as fast as I think it should or would. Yet real trust moves you into willingness to act and trust trusts through the outcome whatever it may be. Trust is not a one time thing but it trusts. The s implies ongoing, active and continuing to. Let’s take the trust that moved us into action and put an s at the end to keep us going through the outcome...whatever it might be.

“If you are walking in darkness without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.”

Isaiah 50:10 NLT

It doesn’t say trust in the Lord unless it gets too dark and rely on your God unless you can’t see a ray of light. No, it says when it’s dark and you can’t see trust and rely on God. Even when it’s dark, even when you can’t see still trust! Yet so often I live trust until it gets too dark, until I can’t see a way of what I’m doing working out. I trust God as far as I can see. It sounds crazy when you think about it but that’s what we do. Somehow we decide that we must know better and we trust our own senses over God. But, even when it’s dark He is still God. He is still the one who created the earth, He is still the one that parted the sea, He is still the one that did those miracles in your life, He is still the one! So even when you walk in darkness, even when you thought it would turn out different, even when you feel lost, He is still the one we can trust.

Where are you Standing

“Find another angle, take a different view

For Blessing may be in the trial before you”

Loren Thornburg

 

Have you ever noticed how where you are standing can completely change the way you view the outcome?  The beauty of TV is that they can show you many different angles of the same situation.  As I watched the baseball game I saw a homerun hit that looked foul from the first angle, but from a different angle they showed it was clearly a homerun and in fact not even close to being foul.  It struck me how often this probably occurs yet how seldom I take time to view the next angle.  I am so quick to see things from my view, from where I am standing.  Although we may not have the luxury of another camera into our lives we still can take time to see the other angles if only we take time and awareness to first realize that there are other angles.  Things are not always what they seem.  What appears to be a horrible situation may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, if only we step back to see the other angle.

 

“You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and water, 

Yet you brought us out into a place of abundance.”

Psalm 66:32 

 

God loves to bring us to His abundance! He loves to bless us!   But that abundance and blessing does not come in the way that we think it would or should.  Usually it comes following times of much trial and pain; after the job loss, the depression, the relationship struggle, the failed attempt, the sickness.  It comes after those times we feel things are consuming us, over our heads, where we feel we are drowning and burning in the flames of the situation around us.  Often when I have come to the place of abundance I wonder why I worried so much, fretted so hard, and let the previous times consume me as they did.  God wishes the same thing!  He wishes that I would take another angle, His angle, and look over His shoulder and see things as He sees them.  For from where He is standing He sees beyond the trial to the blessing, He sees beyond the pain to the abundance, He sees not as it seems but as it is.  Where are you standing?  Take another angle...His angle...what do you see? 

Farsighted

“Don’t miss tomorrow’s victory because you weren’t willing to endure today’s pain.”

Loren Thornburg

So often we live such shortsighted lives.  We can’t see past today.  We feel pain and we want it to go away rather than have its way in our lives.  It’s much like the story of the man who seeing the moth struggle to emerge from his cocoon thought he would help it by cutting the last section of the cocoon.  Yet what he found was that the moth was unable to fly because it’s wings had not been fully formed.  It was in the pressure of coming through such a small hole that enabled the moth to fly as it was intended to.  How often we act similarly to our pain as well as the pain of others. We want to rescue and relieve and so we intervene not realizing that we are taking the very thing that is bringing us to more of who we were made to be. Let us endure the pain and suffering of today knowing it is enabling us to fly.  

“Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4 AMP

God wants to have full play in your life.  He desires to do a thorough work so that you may be complete, lacking in nothing, but, that takes trial, temptation, suffering and pain.  I wish there was another way.  And there is but it doesn’t bring the joy, the fullness and the completeness that God’s way does.  So then it becomes a matter of being willing.  Am I willing to let Him have His way even when it hurts, even when I don’t see what it is achieving, and even when I don’t know why it has to be like this?  Only when I remember who He is can I stay willing.  He is all knowing, all powerful and all good.  I don’t want to miss anything that He in His all knowing power and goodness wants to do.  I would hate to have endured the pain this long only to miss tomorrow’s victory because I wasn’t willing to endure today’s pain another day. So let us let Him have His way in our lives as well as the lives of those around us. Let us see beyond what is in front of us.  For we can know whether we feel like it or not He is saying, “I have victory for you My Child if you will trust me with this pain.”  

Don't Miss It

“You are surrounded with reasons to be thankful if only you would look.”
Loren Thornburg


Don’t miss it! Do you see it? There are reasons everywhere…right in front of you, behind you, before you, it’s all around you. Even in that place of struggle, even in the place of tears, even here there are so many reasons to be thankful. Often we miss them in the name of entitlement, pride, and expectations. Somewhere along the way we came to believe that the world owes us. Yet, no where did the world sign you a contract stating that things would always be easy, go as you want, and that you would get everything you want. And if you did well I hate to break it to you, but you were misinformed. The other bad news is that the opposite is true…there will be pain, there will be times when things don’t go your way and you won’t always get what you want. But the good news is there is reason to be thankful!!! There are many reasons that we miss on the road of never enough. But if you will stop with me and look you will find…you are blessed…right here…wherever that is!!

“How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them.”
Psalm 111:2 NLT

God didn’t have to. He didn’t have to do all those amazing deeds! He didn’t have to save you, He didn’t have to love you, He didn’t have to bless you in all the ways that He has…but He did. He did and He wanted to! So often we miss it. We miss all the ways that He has shown up in our lives, has always been present in our lives, guided, provided and protected. We miss it looking at the ways that we think He didn’t show up, didn’t speak, didn’t guide, didn’t provide and didn’t protect in our timing. Sometimes we get caught looking there so long that we miss the ways He is meeting us. Let’s not miss it anymore! Lets ponder all the ways that God didn’t have to, but He did. He has given us so much to be thankful for…don’t miss it…look for it…ponder it!

Settle for More

“How much more we miss because we are willing to settle for less”
Loren Thornburg

Settling in itself is not a bad thing. We settle on decisions, settle conflicts, settle in a new home, settle new lands, settle debts, settle legal disputes, or become calm and settled. The problem is that we are often too quick to settle or too early to stop and in that we miss out on so much. I am reminded of this often when I am hiking as I am tempted to stop before the top. There are many reasons to stop…my legs get tired, the climb is hard, the weather is bad. However, what I find as the greatest temptation is a good view. Often along the hike there are places where you get a good view. If I didn’t know there was an even better view up ahead I would settle or subside to stay there in the good view, missing the best view. It reminds me how often I am willing to do that in my life. I cling to what is good and in doing that miss the best. Satisfied with a relationship, a way of living or way of doing things that is in fact suitable or even above average but in staying there in that I miss what could be, I miss a better relationship, a more suitable way of living, and a more effective way of doing things. So enjoy the good, yes, but don’t stop there, move forward until you reach the best!

“Come close, listen carefully: I've never kept secrets from you. I've always been present with you."…"I am God, your God, who teaches you how to live right and well. I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea. “
Isaiah 48: 17-19 MSG

The Lord has our best in mind. In all things He longs for us to settle for nothing less. He invites us to come close to Him, to settle in Him, to lead us and guide us into His best. For in His best we find our best. The Israelites missed this. They missed the invitation to come to Him and in that they missed all the blessings that flow from Him like waves of the sea. We can miss it like the Israelites did in our hikes of life. We don’t always know what is good and what is best when left to our own and we can be quick to settle for the good view along the way. This is why the Lord calls us to Himself so that He can show us the way. He is not in the business of keeping things from us. If only we will look to Him, draw near to Him, listen carefully to Him. He is leading us to more, to best, to HIM! Trail maps may fail, tour guides may falter, but our God never keeps His best from us if we are willing to look to Him, to climb with Him, to follow Him through the tough terrain, the steep incline, and the bad weather. He has your best in mind if you will settle for nothing less than settling on HIM!!

Where are you looking

“Often times it’s not because it’s not there, but because you’re not looking”
Loren Thornburg

I remember getting my Honda Accord only to notice that it was everywhere. I hadn’t noticed it until I was now looking for it since I had one. Or those days I am feeling sorry for myself I can make long lists of reason why my life is so hard. It seems I find what I am looking for. Yet what if I began looking for things to be thankful for?! What might happen then? I might find them!! When you start looking, you start finding it is all around you. So often I become so focused on what’s wrong that I miss what’s right! Don’t miss it! It’s right in front of you…if you will only start looking. Where are you looking?

“Keep on asking and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7 NLT

Keep on looking and you will find…Jesus! What are you looking for today? In need of help, in need of comfort, in need of saving, in need of hope? It is all around you because He is all around you. He has said He will supply all of your needs if we will be willing to ask and keep on asking, look and keep on looking, knock and keep on knocking. He knows what you need even before you ask, look or knock. But will you be willing to look? So often it seems I get caught in finding all the ways I am not finding that which I think I need. Yet when I begin looking to Him rather than to my needs I find what I am looking for. I find this verse that once seemed like a nice idea becomes truth.. It was not that I wasn’t given, finding or doors weren’t opened, but that I wasn’t asking, looking, and knocking for Him. Start looking…you just might find…Jesus. And where you find Jesus you just might find all you have been looking for. He is opening doors for you! Look for Him!!

Even Here

“Even here in the pain, even here in the sadness, even here in the desperation there is hope.
It is here if you will grab it, letting go of all else, it is hope that is enough…even here.”
Loren Thornburg

Hope is like the sun. It always exists, you just can’t always see it. The other morning I ventured to watch the sun rise to find disappointment in finding only clouds. Yet, in fact, I was at sun rise for the sun did rise; I just couldn’t see it behind the clouds. The same is true of hope in our lives. Hope is still there in our cloudy days and in the storm of all storms days. We may not see it, but like the sun it is there. Our eyes are not the determiner of hope, nor are our emotions, just as clouds are not the determiners of the existence of the sun. Clouds, like pain, only make it harder to see the hope. So just know that whether you see hope or not, whether you feel the hope or not, whether it seems there is reason to hope or not…there is. Just like the sun hope is always there. Yes, even here, in your pain, there is hope.

“Even there shall Your hand lead me and Your right hand shall hold me.”Psalm 139:10 Amplified

So often we feel outside of redeemable, outside of restorable, outside of the hands of God. But, once again, our feelings are not truth. For God has said, even there He will lead us, even there He will hold us. Even there, right here, wherever you are, is never too far for the hand of God. So regardless of where you are, what you’ve done, or how you feel listen to this truth…even there His hand will lead you, even there His hand will hold you. But don’t just take it from me. Listen to Him say it to you. He is speaking to you.
“Child, there is nowhere you can go that I won’t be there. Even in this place, even here, in your pain, in your sin, in your desperation. Child, even there My hand will guide you, My strength will support you, My hand will hold you. It will hold you through your tears, through your shame, through your confusion. But, Child, what’s even more is these things are already true. Even now, My hand IS guiding you, even now My strength IS supporting you, and even now my hand IS holding you. For even now I AM! So Child, take hold of My hand! I long to hold you, I desire to lead you, I love to love you, My Child.”.

More Than Mediocre

"More than mediocre. More that sub par. Don't stop, don't settle, keep raising the bar."Loren Thornburg Camping is not something I do often, thus neither is putting up a tent. Now I am not going to tell you how long it took my friends and I to put it up but I am glad that we got there well before dark. With almost 30 different poles sitting on the ground, no directions, and not much experience I was wishing for the tents everyone else had that basically put themselves up. After much trial, error, and frustration the tent was finally up and even functional. However, we soon realized it could be better and would potentially be harmed if we didn't take it all down and re-build the entire thing. Now, if it were up to me I would have just left it. But luckily it wasn't, so we pushed through, past the mediocre tent, to something that was even better. Not only did it now function better, but it functioned as that tent was designed, which made the whole trip more enjoyable. Life is often like that. We wish for the instant tent, we settle for less than best and in doing that we miss life in the big tent that not only functions, but functions well, just as it was designed to. If only we are willing to push past the times when it seems there is nothing, when it seems to be moving slow, when it seems too much work. Step beyond mediocre! Step out of sub par! You were made for something more than mediocre. "Lord you discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You have restored me to health and allowed me to live."Isaiah 38:16 NLT You have been made with excellence in mind. Thus, you will never be fully satisfied until you are walking in that excellence. However, sometimes the road to excellence is paved with times that seem fallen down, broken, missing parts, with no way to be put back together. Other times we settle for minimal function unaware we are capable of so much more because we are not willing to be taken apart and rebuilt. But, God, the one who made you wants to do that. And you can trust Him. For He is the One, who formed you, who knows you, who loves you. Yes, you can trust Him in the times that you see no way out, when you see no signs of hope, when you see nothing. Yes, you can trust Him. For He is good. He is resotring you to life and health more than you have known before. He wants not only to restore but bring you to more life than you've ever known before. Will you trust Him, the One who made you, to bring you to more of the excellence He created you to walk in?

Treasures in the Darkness

“Though you walk in the dark, keep on,
for there you will find treasures that will be seen in the light.”
Loren Thornburg

Life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows, mountain tops and valleys, places where things feel full of light and places of darkness. We would prefer it to be full of ups, highs, mountain tops, and light. Unfortunately it is only by the darkness of the dark that we understand the greatness found in the light. So often we find that the greatest treasures this life has to bring are in the places we thought least likely to find them. They are in the dark, in the hard, in those low places of our lives. And what’s more is that it is those hard places that bring us to even more light in our life; light that we would not have known were it not for the darkness. It is in the darkness that we find treasures we would have missed if not for the darkness. So though you walk in the dark know that the treasures will be seen in the light.

“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.”
Isaiah 45:3 NLT

Are you walking through a tough time?...God is there! He is walking with you, even in the darkness. He made both the light and the dark. There is nowhere that you can go that He is not there. Knowing that He is with you even in your darkness it only makes sense that there would be treasures there, secret riches! He loves to show Himself to you! He is calling you by name through your darkness…can you hear Him? He is calling you into His treasures and His riches. No matter where you are, or how you got there He wants you to let Him be God and show Himself as Himself…all powerful, all knowing, all wise, all wonderful, all good, all God! You may not see Him, you may not hear Him, you may not have the treasures yet but know He is there, He is calling you by name, He is giving you treasures and riches that you may know that He is Lord even more, even deeper, even greater than ever before. That is who He is and He can’t help but do it any other way. Hold onto His truth and don’t miss His treasures. They may be hidden in your darkness.

True Trust Acts

“Fear keeps your hands in close;
Faith reaches your hand out;
Trust believes someone will grab it and lets go”
Loren Thornburg

Trust is defined as confidence and reliance on the integrity, strength, ability of a person or thing. Technically trust is both a thing and an action, a noun and a verb. But we can only see the fruits of trust when we put it into action and let it be a verb, especially a verb with an ing at the end. This implies trust which not only acts but is acting now, presently. We can say our trust is in this or that as a thing, as a noun, but until we have to act on that trust it is not true trust. For if we are not willing to act on that thing we say that our trust is in, how is that really the trust we defined. There is no confidence, reliance, or surety in something that we are not willing to step out in. True Trust is willing to act. It not only says it trusts, but it reaches out and lets go because it is truly confident, truly reliant, and truly sure of the strength, integrity, and ability of that which its trust is in. True trust is trusting.

“Trust me in your times of trouble and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
Psalm 51:15 NLT

Trouble brings such fear into our lives and fear tends to bring us greater trouble. For in our fear so often we tighten up and look in. We stop looking, stop reaching for help. We take things into our own hands seeing no other way out. The reasons are many to stop trusting, but none is bigger than our God, who rescues and saves. God loves to show up in our times of trouble. Yet so often we don’t trust Him enough to give Him the time and space to rescue in His timing, in His way. God asks that we trust with a trust that is true, with a trust that acts, and with a trust that is present with an ing at the end. He asks because He knows His ability to rescue us is greater than any other person or thing. Not only does He have the ability to rescue you from that fear, from that circumstance, from that impossible place but He longs to do that. And if that’s not enough when we let Him rescue us from whatever our place of rescuing is He gets the glory.

Unlikely Hero

You’re My Hero
You fight when there’s reason to run
You’re brave when there’s reason to fear
You go when there’s reason to stop
…You’re my hero
You believe even though it’s hard
You try even though you might fail
You play even though it hurts
…You’re my hero
You smile because you’re alive
You dance because you can
You dream because there’s hope
…You’re my hero
You live and never stop loving
You reach out and never stop caring
You push for more and never stop inspiring
…You’re my hero
My life is forever changed
The way it was no longer enough
I won’t, I can’t be the same
…You’re my hero

Heroes are those people whose lives call to ours. Their story speaks so loudly to our own we are ignited in such a way that we will never be the same. I have found that some of my greatest heroes are not world famous, they don’t hold a prestigious position or have great wealth. In fact the older I get it seems the people I want to be like when I grow up are getting younger. Because of these heroes how I lived, the way it was, is no longer good enough and so is true because of 11 year old Erin Buenger. Diagnosed at 5 with cancer, battling this disease for 82 months she fought without fear. Not because it was easy, but because she could. She could still smile, love, fight, encourage, believe, hope and live and that’s exactly what she did. When I think about Erin mediocre is no longer good enough. The circumstances that once defined my life become not smaller because others are going through worse, but they become less powerful. I am reminded of her smile, her energy, her life in the middle of it and that calls to me, it speaks to me, it ignites me to more and now I won’t, I can’t be the same.

“Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”
I Peter 2:4-5 NLT

Jesus was not the likely hero. There was nothing extraordinary about being born in Bethlehem and being a carpenter. He was so ordinary that many people missed Him as the savior they were looking for. It wasn’t that they weren’t looking; they just didn’t think Jesus measured up to what they were looking for. He was the unlikely choice and was rejected by many because of it. Yet God chose Him to be the Savior, the hero for those who saw past the ordinariness to His extraordinary love found no where else. All throughout the bible we see many other stories of unlikely heroes. Of people like you and me, who feel they don’t quite measure up in some way or another, feeling not up to the call. When we read the stories it’s easy to wonder why they feared knowing that God in all His power and sufficiency was calling, until we realize we do the same thing. We feel like the unlikely choice and so we step back. However God says that He is building you, He is calling you, inviting and asking you to be His holy priests because of Jesus. Jesus was the unlikely hero who sacrificed everything for you and now you are invited to come to Christ, to follow God’s call, though you feel like the unlikely choice.

Purposed Progression

There is a reason for this step
It’s building a bigger whole
Keep on in the process
There is purpose for it all
Loren Thornburg

I don’t know much about building a house, but I do know there is an order to it, a progression. You can’t put on a roof without walls and you can’t put up walls without a foundation. As a softball pitching coach I know the value of the small steps. I teach the pitch in a progression not moving forward until one step is built as they each build on one another. Recently I was working with a small group of eight year olds. As we began with the early stages of the pitch they became impatient and many whines were heard saying, “when are we going to do the full pitch?!” I am much like these eight year olds. I just want to get to the final goal and skip all of the steps that prepare me for it. I want to be there already (wherever there is). It’s easy to see the purpose of the progression as a pitching coach because I know the importance of each step. If only the eight year olds understood the importance of the steps to the whole they probably wouldn’t complain so much. And neither would I if I would trust the purpose of the progression in more than just softball.

“Soon—and it will not be very long—the wilderness of Lebanon will be a fertile field once again. And the fertile fields will become a lush and fertile forest.”
Isaiah 29:17

God is a god of purpose! Everything He does is for a reason and He is working it for His kingdom, for the bigger whole. He works and is working this purpose out through a progression. Just as the wilderness became a fertile field and then became a fertile forest, that which was desired, so too He is working in the wilderness of our lives to make them fertile fields and then to bring those fertile fields to become fertile forests. He is not satisfied with the fertile field, although it may be fertile, because He knows it was made to be a fertile forest.
Now, He could change things in an instant, but He knows all we would miss in the process. When I think about the way the Lord has worked in my life there are so many times I wished He would take the pain away in that instant. Yet through the healing progression and process I learned more of Him, more of faith, more of trust, and those which are things that not only do I need for other places in my life, but that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. They bring me into deeper relationship with Him, and that is something that far outweighs the pain or frustration of the process. In the wilderness, in the fields and in the forest remember that there is a reason, there is a purpose, there is a process and our God is working it all for His Good and that’s a step worth taking.

Brick by Brick

“A little hurt here, a little hurt there, is like a brick here and a brick there…next thing you know, you have a wall.”Loren Thornburg

It all started one day with one brick. You’ve heard the saying, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ which speaks of the time it takes to build something important. Whether it’s Rome or the wall in your backyard the same principle holds true. Things are built over time. Just like we build walls to separate land we also build walls in our lives in the name of protection that become obstacles to our relationships. And often these walls come without knowing it. We didn’t think one thing was a big deal and then another thing came that didn’t seem like it was worth dealing with and then another thing added onto that we found another reason not to address until eventually we find another brick of pain is added to our wall and now the wall is too big for us to see beyond. Even if we wanted to we can no longer see past the wall of pain that surrounds us. We didn’t see it coming with a brick here and a brick there. Pride here, jealousy there, words that hurt us here, expectations unmet there, disappointment here, sadness there until there is pain everywhere. Over time those little bricks became powerfully destructive to our relationships and our lives. What we thought was protection has become our destruction. However, just as they were built so they can come down. It may not be all at once. It may have to be the same way it went up…one brick at a time. And as we continue to take down those bricks of pain we will find one day that wall is gone just as one day the wall was up. It all starts one day with one brick.

“Look I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem. It is…safe to build on. Whoever believes need never run again…check the foundation wall you have built. Your refuge looks strong, but since it is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception…”
Isaiah 29:16-17 NLT

Walls bring us a sense of safety. They keep things out. However, often times we build walls that keep God out. There are two problems there. First, that we have built our own walls and second that God is not within them. God is the only true safe place. Yet, still we try to build walls to protect ourselves. The pains come and so we lay a brick. But what we use to build them with are lies and deception. Oh we don’t always know this is what we are doing because we do it in the name of protection. And it looks strong, but it won’t last. It can’t last. It’s not true, it’s not truth, it’s not Jesus. It may protect us from some pain for a little while, but truly it is only keeping true freedom out and our pain in. Rather than building walls that protect us from that which comes against us, we have separated ourselves from the only one who can truly Protect and truly free us from the pain that built the wall in the first place. There is safety in walls…only when they are His!

Known Unknown

“You don’t have to know, when you don’t go it alone.”
Loren Thornburg

Have you ever ridden with a friend to a place they know well, but you have never been to before? I find the experience is so different than if I were to try to figure it out myself. By myself in a new place I find I am constantly wondering how to get there, if I am going the right way, when I will be there and all sorts of questions of confusion. However, when I am riding with someone who has been there before I trust that they know the way and I don’t have to. It may still be unknown to me but I am with someone that knows. Life hands us many situations filled with unknowns. But we don’t have to go it alone in the unknown. We can reach out to those around us who know, to those who have been this way before, and let them help us guide the way. It may save you a lot of confusion, detours, U-turns, and stress along the way if you just don’t go it alone. Bring someone who knows into your unknown.

“I am holding you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I am here to help you. Despised though you are, O Israel, don’t be afraid, for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.’”
Isaiah 41:13 NLT

Who better to bring into our unknown than the Lord, who is all-knowing. He knows all of what has been and all of what will be. He knows you inside and out, when you sit and rise. He knows where you have been and where you will go. He has seen it before you were even thought of and this is the God that wants to hold your hand. He knows all of who you are in its best and worst. There are no surprises with Him. He won’t take you by the hand and then change His mind because you weren’t who He thought you were. No, He knows it all and still asks that we would take His hand for He wants to guide us through our unknowns for they are known to Him. He is saying, ‘Let me take your hand and show you the way. I have been here before. You can trust me. It may not look like you thought, but still, you don’t have to be afraid because I am here to help you. I am the Almighty God, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. And I am good and working all things for your good. Will you let me? Will you let me take your hand? I promise you won’t regret it.’

Go Deep

“Beyond the surface, beyond what you see;
go deep to the roots, that’s where real change will be.”
Loren Thornburg

Sometimes I feel I am living that definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. It’s like the weeds in our gardens. We can cut what we see all we want, but until we get the root of it, it will just keep growing back. We have to go beyond the surface and beyond what we see to change what we see. As a softball coach I see this with my pitchers. I can tell them to finish the pitch a certain way all that I want but until I change what is causing the problem in the first place it will just keep happening. I have to go deeper into something at the start of their pitch that is causing them to finish in the way that they are finishing. The same is true in our lives. Our actions have roots and until we deal with the root the action won’t change, at least not for long. We can cut it off like a weed and see change for a little bit, but until we pull up the root it will eventually grow back. When we are seeking real change we have to go deep! That thing you’ve been trying to change…what’s at the root?

“Can you pick olives from a fig tree or figs from a grapevine?
No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty pool.”
James 3:12 NLT

When we go into the ocean, we don’t expect to swallow fresh water, yet sometimes our lives live like that. God is not so concerned about the surface and the outside as He is about what is in our hearts. I think sometimes we expect olives from a fig tree. We expect a plant different from the root which has been planted. We expect ourselves to reap something of which we haven’t sown. We expect different results doing the same things, planting the same things. And we go insane doing the same things, expecting different results. We keep cutting at the surface when God is asking us to go deep, go deeper, to the root. It is only when we get to the root that we can really change that which buds at the surface. When we haven’t dealt with the bitterness in our hearts we can’t expect to be at peace. When we haven’t dealt with the fear in our hearts we can’t expect to be of good courage. So before you spend anymore time cutting at the surface, wanting things to look different, let’s look deeper, beyond the surface. Let’s go deep to the root of what’s going on and start there. When we start there we can end there. For once we go deep to the root that is where real change can begin to occur. When we cut to the heart we can start to really change and we can find the fresh water we were drawing for.

Let's Get Together

“Let unity be your destiny.”
Loren Thornburg

Often when I would go running with other people I would feel like they were pushing me to go faster only to find out at the end of the run that they felt like I was pushing them. This same principle applies in many areas of our lives. When we are working alongside people we go farther than we could go alone because of the encouragement and support that pushes us beyond what we thought we were capable of. We were not meant to go this life alone. We were created to be in relationships with one another. When we live life with others our joys are doubled and our sorrows divided. So, even when relationships get hard, don’t give up on meeting with others. Instead, consider how you can spur others on, come alongside them, walk with them. Make it your habit, your way of life. Walk encouraged, walk together. Let get together…Yeah, yeah, yeah!

“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:25 NLT

There is a reason why Hebrews encourages us to keep meeting together. We need each other! We need others and others need us. Often in our times of despair we find any reason we can to convince ourselves it is better for us to go it alone. Yet even in our despair we are still a part of the body and are called to live like it. The example of our physical body is often used and with that can you imagine if the eye decided that the body was better off without it?! That sounds ridiculous because we know how important the eye is to the body. However, this is exactly what the enemy wants to do…convince us we are not the eye, that we are not needed, that we are better off alone, that we have nothing to offer, that the body is better off without us. The Greek word for body is soma, from the word sozo, which means to rescue from danger. There is protection in the body which means it’s dangerous to be apart. We are better together. The danger comes when we stop living like this is true.

Greater Unseen

“Sometimes it is not so much about the task at hand as it is about the heart of the hand.”
Loren Thornburg

In Santa Fe Mexico there lies a miraculous spiral staircase that was made around 1880 without the use of glue or nails, but only square wooden pegs. There is no means of support and yet it makes two complete circles. It has since become a landmark to which thousands of people have come to marvel at its mystery. There has even been a movie made about it, appropriately titled, ‘The Staircase.’ In the movie it has come to one of the sisters God’s call to build a staircase. This call didn’t come without obstacles and times that she felt a failure because it seemed the staircase had become an impossibility. Yet it seems through the struggle towards the staircase that there was something greater being built…her faith! Sometimes it seems we are so focused on the task at hand that we miss what is going on within us. Something so much greater than the task. In the movie the task was completed and many today are still marveling at this phenomenon. For the sister something greater was being produced within her…a restoration of her once broken faith!

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:7 NLT

The Apostle Peter is writing to encourage those who are being persecuted for their faith. Although my struggles may look different I find myself in need of the same reminder of encouragement and challenge. The challenge is to remain strong through the struggle, endure through the pain, and keep on though there seems no end in sight. The encouragement is that there is joy ahead and there is a reason for the trials we are facing. The trials are doing something not only on the outside but even more on the inside. Even more than that which you see, there is something being produced that you can’t see which is in your faith. And that which you can’t see is far more important to God. It is that which you can’t see that will bring Him praise and glory. So remain, endure, and keep on for on the other side of these trials there is wonderful joy that you don’t want to miss.

The Great Trade

“Sacrifice is the willingness to see the greatness in something other than oneself.”
Loren Thornburg

Sacrifice is to surrender or give up for the sake of something else. In baseball this happens often with runners on where the batter will bunt, expecting to get out, so as to advance the runners and help his team towards scoring a run. However in life it is not always so easy or simple as in baseball. Giving up something often requires more than one at bat in a game but it requires much time and energy. Parents know this better than anyone in the time, money and energy they put into their kids. Sometimes it feels more like a sacrifice than others. But they do it for the sake of something else. They do it because they believe that what it costs is worth what will result. Again, unlike baseball the results don’t always come quick and you may not even see them. But true sacrifice is willing to surrender for the sake of something else, something greater even! This comes from knowing that which is greater. Without knowing we will not be willing and without the willingness there will be no sacrifice. Let us remember the greater that we would sacrifice ourselves.


“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me…”
Psalm 50:24 NASB

“For the Egyptians are mere humans, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits!”
Isaiah 31:3 NLT

Which is greater…our flesh or God’s spirit?! Seems like a no-brainer yet I find so often I live as if my flesh were greater. I trust in my flesh as truth rather than in the greatness of God. I am not willing to sacrifice that which I feel for that which I know is TRUTH. This is not to ignore the way in which I feel, but to truly acknowledge it as it is…my flesh. In the Psalms it speaks of the difference between sacrifice and true sacrifice. The practice of the people had been to sacrifice animals but God was calling them to something more, something true…the sacrifice of a heart that is thankful. He didn’t just want what they had He wanted who they were. He didn’t just want their acts of sacrifice but a heart that was willing to sacrifice as well; a heart that was willing to be thankful even when circumstances called for otherwise. The call of our God is the same today. He is asking us to sacrifice the ways that we want to feel for what we know is true…the goodness, greatness and faithfulness of our God. Isaiah speaks this same charge to the people who are tempted to rely on the Egyptians who are human, and their horses that are “puny flesh” rather than the mighty spirit of the Lord. Let us not fall victim to that same tendency! It will be a sacrifice at times to be thankful, but He is greater, He is good, He is faithful!! I can trade my flesh in its anger, sorrows, apathy, brokenness, emptiness, discouragement, despair for His spirit in all its joy!! Sounds like a good deal to me!

Unlikely Choice

“Possibility lies not in our likeliness but in our willingness.”
Loren Thornburg

The Sisters of St Joseph came to California with only 60 cents in their pockets. Those 60 cents have grown to care for the lives of millions of people each year through their many hospitals and health care services throughout the United States. In the early 1900s no one, probably not even the sisters, would have predicted that they would be the ones that would one day be responsible for the coming of today’s facilities that service and save the lives of millions. They may not have had the money or the resources to do such a thing, but what they did have was a heart to help and a willingness to let what they did have be enough. So often we make excuses for why we aren’t on our way towards our dreams. We tell ourselves we don’t have enough money, time, capabilities, or resources. Yet, the Sisters had only 60 cents! They were certainly not the likely choice for such a great endeavor. The unlikely can become likely when we start looking at that which we do have and reasons it could be possible.

“‘Who makes mouths?’ The Lord asked him. Who makes people so they can speak or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say.’”
Exodus 4:11-12 NLT

God is a god of the unlikely. Over and over throughout the bible we see time and time again that he calls the unlikely to do the unlikely. Our faith is founded on the power of the unlikely of Jesus; baby yet king, carpenter yet leader, executed yet savior. God loves to show up in the unlikely that we would have nothing to credit but Him. In Exodus we see the unlikely Moses called to lead the people out of Egypt. Moses, who after killing a man fled into exile where he tended sheep for forty years. So you can imagine his shock when God asks him to lead millions of people out of slavery and misery. He does as many of us would do and have done in that we look for reasons it can’t be us, because it seems unlikely and we see all the reasons it doesn’t make sense. Yet, God’s ways our not ours! He does not think like us and thus His ways do not make sense to us. Thankfully, His power does not lie in our understanding! He is the one who made us and has all power to do and accomplish His ways and His plans. So who are we to tell Him how He should do or who He should use? Let us stop looking at all the reasons not to and start looking to the One reason that far outweighs them all…the Lord. When we know who He is and that He is with us, we need look at nothing else.

Isolation Illusion

There is nothing you can’t handle, nothing you can’t overcome, nothing you can’t get through…unless it’s just you.”
Loren Thornburg

Michael Moschen is a juggler credited for developing several ball isolations. These are illusions where the ball appears to float in space with the juggler’s hands moving around it. However, in reality the performer is supporting the prop. Appearances have a way of deceiving us. In this case the juggler creates the illusion that the ball can stand on it’s own without any source of help. We often believe that in life; that we can stand on our own, that we don’t need any help. We think it is best for us to isolate ourselves for many reasons. We all have them…either we don’t want to believe that we can’t do it alone, we fear letting others see our struggle, we believe we will be a burden to other people, or the many other reasons we come up with to justify not asking for help. With every reason we are being deceived. There is no freedom found in isolation. The only way out is to reach out.

"One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment." - Proverbs 18:1 (Holman CSB)

Isolation…selfish? It sounds so absurd to say that isolation is selfish. Usually we think we are doing others a favor by isolating ourselves when we are having a hard time. Either because we think we are sparing them from our bad mood, or fear letting them see us struggle, or that they are too busy or too burdened. It all sounds like sound judgment to us when we are the one having the hard time, yet we don’t feel like that about other people when they are having a hard time. And by that I can see the hand of the enemy; that is when something is only true for me and not for others. The enemy wants us to be isolated…away from the light and the truth that fellowship brings. If we stay isolated we keep the body from its fullness. For then the body is one less and those of the body can’t use the gifts they have been given to help us. So it goes both ways. We miss out and they miss out. We need others and others need us! Whatever sound judgment you think you are pursuing, if it includes isolation it’s all an illusion and a selfish one at that. Don’t miss out so others won’t miss out!

Who Woulda Thunk

“Unlikely is not impossible, improbable is not never, and hard to believe is not out of the question.”
Loren Thornburg

I love stories of things that once seemed impossible, dreams that once seemed buried, and hopes that seemed hopeless come to be possible, alive, and fill us with hope. Kurt Warner is one of those stories. From stocking shelves at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee Food Store to making NFL history this quarterback has become an inspiration to many. Sports is filled with these stories where that which seemed impossible is made possible. Although Kurt Warner may have dreamed that one day he would become the football superstar that he is now I doubt that this seemed possible while he was stocking shelves at the grocery store. Who would have thought that he would one day make NFL history with records and rings. Our lives have stories like this too. Maybe they don’t end with records and rings but we all have moments big and small when things that seemed impossible become not only possible but true. Lets remember those as we dream, imagine and believe for that in our lives now that seems impossible, improbable and hard to believe. There is always hope regardless of the circumstance.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord? ... For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have been given Abraham a son in his old age!”
Genesis 18:14…21:7 NLT

God does things we never would have dreamed in ways we never would have dreamed!
Abraham was 100 years old when the Lord told him that his wife Sarah who was ninety would bear him a son. Can you imagine that today? It would definitely make the headlines… “91 Year Old Woman Gives Birth.” It seems impossible. People rarely live to be 100, let alone have kids at this age. Although there are stories of people living hundreds of years in the bible it still seemed impossible to Sarah that she would bare a child after years of being barren at such an old age. Yet, nothing is impossible for the Lord! These impossibilities take time that seems too long. This time is often filled with much hardship that seems too hard. This hardship is often filled with much fear and doubting that seems hopeless. Still though it seems impossible, it seems too long, it seems too hard let us remember He does exactly as He promises. There is nothing outside of that which He has the power to do…NOTHING! Sarah can attest to this! And we can too when we look back to ways that the Lord has done things in our lives that which seemed impossible. And the unlikely ways in which He does the unlikely. What has He done in your life that you never would have dreamed of…in ways you never would have dreamed of?

Look Around

“Don’t just look where you’re going; look around.”
Lindah Miles (Homeless Advocate)

The driver often misses things that the passenger has the advantage of seeing. We all have times in our lives where we need to be the driver and focus on the task ahead. Yet I find often in life I forget to be the passenger. The passenger gets to look around…sometimes to the road ahead but even further to all that is going on around the car. By not being the passenger at times I miss things because I am not looking. Or even, that I am looking, but in the wrong places like being focused inward on how I am doing. I can be so busy playing the ‘woe is me’ card that I miss the help that is in front of me. Many times the answers to our problems come in ways we would not expect and are not familiar with and so we miss them. Let us be the passenger at times and stop to look around. We just may find help for the very thing we were too busy or too involved to look around for.

“…Look, a righteous king is coming!”
Isaiah 32:1 NLT

In order to see where God is moving and what He is doing we have to look. We have to stop looking at ourselves, at the needs of the day, at the distractions pulling for our attention and look. You never know what righteous king you may see coming. He is ready to come into our lives in a bigger way as a greater king if we will look. And He will soon be coming again and I don’t want to miss the joy of that expectation because I was too busy looking down, looking in or just not looking. I don’t want to miss the joy and joining others in what He is doing around me. The things that He might want me to join Him in if only I will be willing to look around and not just in or down or not. It’s like the song called Your Eyes that says, ‘Give me your eyes for just one second, give me your eyes so I can see everything that I’ve been missing, give me your love for humanity, give me your arms for the broken hearted, the ones that are far beyond my reach, give me your heart for the ones forgotten, give me your eyes so I can see.” I don’t want to miss it just because it’s hard or doesn’t fit in the pretty picture I’ve created. I want to keep Looking Around

One Of Those Times

“Hope awaits you. Not just when it’s over and not just when everything it going well. But, even now, in the middle of it is one of those times to hope still.”
Loren Thornburg

We have all had one of those times. Where things just don’t seem to be going as we thought that they would or should; when things are just coming at us at rates we can’t seem to control or combat; where life just seems too hard and we can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel or the reason to keep hoping. And so we don’t. We stay in that place of despair because it seems our only option. Yet, so often we are too busy being mad at life to see the hope in front of us. I am pretty good at it too. Sometimes I don’t even want to see the hope because I just want to be mad. The problem with that is that it is never enough. At no point in that do I find contentment or joy. It only leads to more. And the truth is that there is hope. There is always hope. In fact it is waiting for you in this very moment, in the middle of your despair, if you will only choose to look up and see.

“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumberable! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!”
Psalm 139:18 NLT

He is with You!! It seems easy to think about Him being there when things are going well and to praise Him. But, He is with you even in the middle of it! So often we are so focused on the situation that we miss Him there with us and thus miss the hope that awaits us. I love the song Surprised by Ten Shekel Shirt that speaks of this very Presence. From the voice of God it says, “I walk along the road of your despair you’ll be confused till you see me there.” The problem is that we don’t look for Him. He is there if we will only see. Hope awaits us if we will only look up from our problem long enough to see that Jesus awaits us and holds all hope and peace in His hands. Whether we see Him or not the truth remains that He is with us, in the middle of it. As long as this truth remains may we walk in the hope of this truth. Think about how amazing that truth is! That the God of the universe is thinking about you, He is with you when you sleep, rise and all the in-betweens, and that He is with us in the middle of it.

Surprised
Ten Shekel Shirt
I’m walking up to your tomb to call your name To give you a new start, remove your shame
It’s time to be surprised
I walk upon the seas of your grief The waves of this world are no match for my peace
It’s time to be Surprised So lift your eyes
I’m with you, With you in the middle of it With you, with you through this time
I’m walking through the walls of your hiding space To remove your fear and put courage in it’s place
It’s time to be surprised
I walk along the road of your despair You’ll be confused till you see me there
It’s time to be Surprised So lift your eyes
Ever present help in time of need This is one of those times
Unclench your fists, unfold your arms And with your heart, with your heart hear me

In the Midst

“Though the rains come and the winds blow, hope stands tall in the midst of the storm.”
Loren Thornburg

There is hope in new beginnings. As we celebrate the start of 2009 we find hope in a new year. New beginnings bring a freshness to them. It is an opportunity for more of what we long for, something better, something greater. Yet, I have found that often that these things I long for, the better, the greater come at a price. They don’t come without some obstacles. There will be rains and the winds will blow but your hope can remain even in the midst of the storm. The storms may catch you off guard, throw you off track, knock you down, or bring some detours from what you had planned. But, don’t lose hope. Even in the storms hope remains. And with hope you can stand tall, get back back up, and back on track. It is through these storms that our longings are made better and even greater if we are willing to keep hoping. Here in front of you is an opportunity to step and keep stepping into the hope. So, as you think back on 2008 and look forward to 2009 keep hoping, even in the midst of the storms.

“And God in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation…There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.”
1 Peter 1:5-6 NLT

God doesn’t work the way we thought He would or should. Often I try to convince Him of my ways only to find that over time His ways are in fact better and greater than what I even hoped. We are promised a priceless inheritance but we are also promised there will be trials along the way. These trials are a necessary part of the joy that comes in our salvation. Necessary means important, required, inevitable, essential, and true. It is the opposite of optional. However, when I am in the midst of trials and storms in my life I forget the purpose they are achieving. It is here that I lose hope feeling far from where I long to be. But in fact they are a part of the process; and not just a part but essential for the joy. Thus, for the hope that lies ahead it is necessary for us to have storms and trials. Yet, we can stand tall with hope in the midst of them because there is wonderful joy ahead.

2008 Quotes

“Beyond all circumstance, beyond all fear.
See beyond what’s in front of you to the hope that is near.”
Loren Thornburg

“Take another look, try a different view.
There’s provision in this moment. If you’ll see with eyes anew.”
Loren Thornburg

“Patience precedes all great things.”
Loren Thornburg

“I can’t just fight when I think I’ll win it’s the end of all belief
and nothing has provoked it more than a possible defeat”
Sara Groves
“We have heard love is patient, love is kind. But have you heard this love is for you?”
Loren Thornburg

“What once was brown now green
What once seemed dead now alive
What once was dry now flowing
But only after it rains
Who once was sad now joyful
Who once was broken now restored
Who once was empty now filled
But only after it rains
When all seems dark hold on
When life’s a storm press through
For new things full of life are coming
But only after it rains”
Loren Thornburg

“Recognize your riches, discover your diamonds, take hold of your talents and stick to your strengths.”
Loren Thornburg

“With change comes challenge but through change comes greatness. For the butterfly would still be a caterpillar if not for the change.”
Loren Thornburg

“Let go of what was so you can grab hold of what’s to come.”
Loren Thornburg

“Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.”
Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon
Fortified Focus

“Our lives are strengthened when we focus on that which gives us strength.”
Loren Thornburg

“Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not.”
2 Timothy 4:2

“It may look different and not as you thought. But hold tight, for these trials and pains are bringing something different, even better than you thought.”
Loren Thornburg

“The deeper the roots the higher the reach.”
Starbucks

“Detoured but not off track, Delayed but making good time
Sometimes the long way’s faster And the shortest distance is not a line”
Loren Thornburg


“You can’t be free if you don’t reach for help.”
Natalie Grant…In Better Hands

“I don’t want to spend my whole life asking,
‘what if I had given everything?’
instead of going through the motions.”
Matthew West…The Motions

“Experience life today in all of the fullness of which you were created to do”
Loren Thornburg

“Take care in where you’re looking. Your eyes direct your path. Distractions will divert you. But vision will direct you.”
Loren Thornburg

“Not as you thought, not as you hoped, not as you wanted, not at you planned.
It’s better, it’s greater, it’s perfect. What once seemed failed is more.”
Loren Thornburg

“…much can be remembered and learned by looking back, but only for a visit, not an extended stay…”
William Young, The Shack

“Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.”
The Shack


“Go Big, Go Full, Go Now, Just Go”
Loren Thornburg

“Our power lies not in our perfection but in our pursuit.”
Loren Thornburg

“Not because you don’t fear,
not because you don’t worry,
and not because you don’t face difficulty,
but because there is courage for the fear,
there is peace for the worry and
there is hope for the difficulty.”
Loren Thornburg

“The battle is often heard before it is seen”
Loren Thornburg

“Not because there’s no opposition
and not because there’s no reason to fear.
But because there’s a reason that’s bigger,
And there’s a hope that is greater
that is how we can all persevere”
Loren Thornburg

“The measure of your worth has nothing to do with the balance in your bank account.”
T.C Powell

“If we wait to see how it will all turn out we will miss the blessings along the way.”
Loren Thornburg

"There may be reason to fear, there may be reason to worry, there may be reason to give up...BUT LOOK! There is reason to trust, there is reason to hope, there is reason to persevere...that's greater!"Loren Thornburg

“Prepare now so you can prosper later”
Loren Thornburg

“Faith is believing regardless of anything else”
Loren Thornburg

“We are builders. Some with their hands, but all with our lives.”
Loren Thornburg

“The building is only as strong as the foundation.”

“Hope is as strong as where you put it”
Loren Thornburg

“Do you have fears or do your fears have you?”
Loren Thornburg

“When you figure out love is all that matters after all
it sure makes everything else seem so small.”
Carrie Underwood, So Small

Though seasons change hope remains
Loren Thornburg

“Though the flames rage and the fire is fierce, the burning will stop, the smoke will clear and we will once again find we can see.”
Loren Thornburg

“There is wonder around you there is greatness to see.
In your midst lies amazement if you’ll stop to perceive.”
Loren Thornburg

“When one wants to trust one must first be willing.”
Loren Thornburg

“Peace is always an option.”
Loren Thornburg

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing.”
Loren Thornburg

“Hope remains for those counting on Jesus when the countdown is over.”
Loren Thornburg