Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. Abraham Lincoln

One of the most important things that you will ever do in your life is to stand firm for the right. Too many people have strong feelings for that which is right, but they have a hard time in actually taking a stand. 

Abraham Lincoln is a man who had no trouble in standing up for what he knew to be right. At the time, such a stand did not make him very popular. In fact, he was one of the most hated Presidents to ever hold office. He knew, though, that slavery was an evil that could not be tolerated, so he took a stand. Many stood against him, but many stood with him. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost during that particular stand, but history has proved it to be the correct one. Slavery is gone and Lincoln will always be one of our most cherished leaders.

We have a lot of things to process as we go through life. We have our livings to make, our families to raise, our nation to protect and, most importantly, our God to serve. Balancing all of these things can be quite complicated, but God has not left us without help. In fact, we can go at any time into the presence of the Creator of the universe and ask for His help.

And He will give us that help, you know, if we will serve Him and take our stands for Him. Many believe that we are at a pivotal point in the course of this nation, and I would tend to agree. I believe that we have made a lot of bad decisions for many years, and the consequences of those decisions are starting to take over. I also believe that our nation is worth saving. I believe that we owe it to our children and to our God. 

America, despite claims to the contrary, has always been a Christian nation. It will not remain one, however, unless Christians gain the courage to take a stand for the right again. I'm not talking about war, but I am talking about following Lincolns advice. We must find out what is right again. That secret is found within the pages of the Bible. I am convinced that we need to return to those pages, find out what is right in God's eyes, and take a stand.

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Isaiah 7:9, NIV

Spilled Milk

There's no use crying over spilled milk. Old proverb

Just about everyone has that one "big mistake" from their past that makes them shudder every time it comes to memory. For some that big mistake literally rules their lives, for they either live in fear of discovery, or they live with the consequences of that action. If this is you, welcome to the club! Now, what are you to do about it?

Your first response might be, "What can I do about it? What's done, is done!" And... that is exactly the point. If you could go back and live your life over, you would avoid those big mistakes - but you can't. So, again, the question comes back as to what to do about those things that  we cannot change. The answer, I believe, is to live well today.

When I was a kid, milk came in glass bottles with crimped foil lids. Once, when I was about five, I reached into the fridge and took out a full half-gallon, grasping the bottle by that foil lid. The lid came off in by hand and the bottle crashed to the floor - breaking glass and flooding the kitchen with milk. I was horrified because Dad was sitting right there, aggravated by my carelessness. At five, the mess looked incomparably large. It was certain that I was dead - this was a "big mistake" from which five year-old boys do not recover. So, it was settled: Life was over. Then, we cleaned up the mess and I learned one of life's big lessons: Don't cry over spilled milk!

One of the greatest gifts that we have as Christians is that of forgiveness. We all know this, at least in theory, but we sometimes forget to apply it to our own circumstances - especially when it comes to the "big mistakes". Still, if you are a Christian and you have repented of your sins, regardless of the size, you are forgiven!

God has called us to a life rich with challenges and opportunities and countless blessings, but these things cannot be achieved if we cling to the mistakes of our past. If you could change the past, you would, but you can't. So, don't cry anymore over your own personal spilled milk. You can recover! Your life is not over after all, so you might as well get on with living well today!

But on thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13-14, NIV

There's a story told about a farmer who wanted to teach his little boy about anger. He started having his son hammer a nail in the fence every time he lost his temper. The fence was quickly filled with nails, but after a while, the boy was able to control his temper. The day came when he finally went the entire day without losing his temper. The Dad had him pull a nail out for every day he controlled his temper.

Some time later, the boy - now older and wiser - proudly showed his father the fence. Every nail had been removed. The father looked at the fence and told his son, "Now, look at the fence - what do you see?" "Holes", the son replied. The father then made this point: "Just as your anger has passed, so now all of the nails are gone. But, just as the nails leave holes, so too will your anger leave scars."

One of the truly wonderful aspects of the love of God, is in the area of forgiveness. Once a sin is forgiven, in God's eyes, it is gone. The problem is with the physical consequences. For example, a drunk driver who has killed an innocent victim can ask for and receive forgiveness. The sin is gone and we can have great peace from that, but the "scars" remain. Like the holes in the fence, the "hole" that the lost life leaves will always be there, and we will always remember.

This, I believe, is one of the main reasons that sin is sin - it comes with consequences that God would spare us from. Each one of us carries scars from past sins, and every decent person would go back and change those hurtful things that we have done in the past if we could... but we can't. So, the solution is to do our best with the rest of our life.

Someday, the faithful will be in heaven - not because we deserve it, but because God has made arrangements for the faithful. We've all caused more than our share of these scars in the past. The question is what will we do with the rest of our time?

 A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty. Psalms 19:19; Here is a trustworthy statement that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners... I Timothy 1:15, NIV

Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. Satchel Paige

As I write this article, it is raining outside. For a part of the country that has had only 3 inches of rain in the past year, the rain is more beautiful than one can put into words. It woke me up in the middle of the night and I doubt if an hour has gone by since that I have not offered multiple prayers of thanksgiving. I know that most of you have been overwhelmed with the same sense of gratitude and thanksgiving.

Now, we know that this little dab of rain is not enough. We have still had a year of drought. We have still lost most of our crops and much of our livestock. Our countryside has been plagued with fires since last winter and will likely burn some more before the drought has ended. We still need much, much more rain before our farmers can even think about planting the next wheat crop that is so vital for many of them to survive.

But... today it is raining and we are so thankful.

The measure of a faithful servant, though, is the ability to be thankful during the times that we are not getting those showers of blessings that we think we need. The measure of a trusting servant is the ability to see the travails, to empathize with those who are suffering as a result, but then to thank God for answering our prayers all along because He has, you know, He really has.

And we are so very thankful!

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today - to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul - then I will send the rain on your land in its seasons... I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle and you will eat and be satisfied. Deuteronomy 11:13-15, NIV