I am speaking at a church in Washington at a men’s gathering tomorrow. Patty and I drove up tonight and are staying in a motel. So, I got to watch the first game of the World Series. It was a good game and fun to watch. I don’t watch baseball during the season, so I don’t have a favorite team, but my good friend Al’s favorite team is the Yankees because he grew up in New York State, so I am rooting for the Yankees. They lost the first game tonight because of a grand slam homer in the bottom of the 10th inning. I wonder how the pitcher felt. They brought him out of the bullpen to face this batter with the bases loaded, and whammo, game over. A lot of people saw him throw that pitch. I am guessing that tonight will be a tough night for him to get to sleep.

Have you ever had one of those kind of experiences where you wish you could just die? Probably, none of us have had as bad of an embarrassing experience as that Yankee relief pitcher, but we all have experienced shame, which isn’t fun. I have had group conversations with many pastors, and we get started telling some of our most embarrassing experiences. Some of them are hilariously funny. While playing a basketball game in High School, my brother grabbed an offensive rebound, dribbled down to the other team’s basket, and made a layup, giving them two points. Everybody in the stands laughed and the coach yelled, oops.

Often, our most shameful experiences are sins we have committed. I am glad that my worst ones are in the past. The Bible says that when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He not only paid the penalty for our sins, but He also felt the shame of them. Because He has felt all of our shame, He understands us and will help us conquer those shameful experiences.

Self-talk is very powerful in leading us to become a more productive person, a more holy person, and a more in love with God person. How we think determines how we act and who we are. Thinking the same thing over and over, again and again, shapes our attitude. Scripted self-talk does all of that, not just random thoughts we have throughout the day. Our random thoughts are tremendously influenced by the world, our flesh, and the devil. Those thoughts do nothing positive in our lives.

Scripted self-talk are words that I have heard or thought of that motivate me to a higher level of living. Once I come up with them, I set a trigger point to remind myself to think of them. My new line is, “I am not dead, not even close, I am not done; there is so much more in me that I can do for the Lord. He will give me the strength and the wisdom to do it.” My trigger is my chairs and seats. Whenever I sit down in my recliner at home, at the dinner table, on my truck seat, or in my office, I repeat that line in my head and keep it up until some other thought crowds its way in. At first, I forgot most of the time what my trigger point was, but as I reread this goal each evening, pretty soon, it started to happen. In a couple of weeks, I will come up with another motivational thought concerning something in my life that I want to change.

Another way that I do this is with memorized Bible verses that have a pointed message to me. I meditate on memorized Bible passages day and night, and they shape me.

It isn’t hard and it is very effective, try it, come on now, you can do it, tell me about your experience when you do.

I brush my teeth every day. I can’t remember a day that I missed. I am sure I have, but it is far enough in my past that I can’t remember it. I don’t particularly like brushing my teeth; I get no thrill that keeps me motivated. It started with my mother telling me to brush them and has become a habit I hardly think about. My daily Bible reading is close to that kind of habit in my life now. I want it to be, so I am determined not to miss a day until it is. I know I missed days, but I can’t remember when. God loves to bless His children when they do His will. In Psalms 119, there are about 50 blessings given by God to those who read, meditate on, and honor His Word. Those blessings motivate me. Psalms 119 starts with, “How blessed” are those who observe Your Word. There is “blessed,” and then there is “How blessed.” I think that means double blessed!”

I spend time with God in Prayer every day. I thank Him for the day and the blessings of the day, I pray for different people in my life, I ask Him for direction, for protection, and that He will use me. I ask for strength and wisdom. And I confess all known sins to Him: every day, every day, every day.

I have other daily disciplines, but reading my Bible and praying are the most important. If I can keep those two faithfully, everything else in my life will fall into place.

Think about the blessings that come into your life from God when you faithfully keep these spiritual disciplines to maintain motivation. There is nothing wrong with being motivated by God’s rewards. He wouldn’t have made those promises to us so much if there were.

Sometimes, I get discouraged writing my blogs, especially when I am tired and can’t think of anything to write. I then get thoughts like, “This is a lot of work for nothing,” or “I don’t think anybody really takes the time to read these,” or “I don’t think these blogs change anything or anybody.” I was incredibly down about the whole blog thing last night. Then today, a couple of good friends sent me some text messages telling me how the recent blogs about Sherri’s illness had influenced a non-believer toward Christ and greatly encouraged another person who was going through trials. I want to continue influencing people toward greater faith in Christ and spiritual growth in their walk with Christ. Writing seems an excellent way to exercise my desire to make a difference in people’s lives as I get older and less energetic. I pray daily for wisdom and anointing from the Holy Spirit as I write and that He will draw people to read and open their eyes as they do read. It was great getting those text messages today. I will continue to pray, “Dear Lord, keep me motivated to keep running the race You have set before me with endurance.

I said in my last blog that Luke 1:15 was referring to Jesus, who was filled with the Holy Spirit while in His mother’s womb, but it is actually referring to John the Baptist. Thank you to those who pointed out my mistake. I wasn’t paying attention.

We got our ballots in the mail today. Patty and I will have a 30-minute date to review it and vote. She likes me to explain things on the ballot to her, especially the State Measures and Initiatives. They are not usually written in an easy way to understand. I will also explain some of the views of people running for various positions that she is not familiar with as well. Two positions have no candidate, and no one filed to run. I think I will write in my son-in-law, Mike Hatfield’s name, just for fun.

I was surprised to read recently the high number of Christian people who don’t vote because they don’t like either of the Presidential candidates. No perfect person is running for any office, so we must go with the best. The best is the one whose views are closest to what the Bible teaches. Abortion is the big deal in this year’s election. Abortion is clearly murdering a living soul. Jesus did not become the incarnate son of God at His birth but at conception. The Bible, referring to Jesus, says in Luke 1:15, “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.” There are many things wrong with our country, but nothing is as bad as our support of abortion as a personal right. Voter guides report on every candidate’s views on abortion. There are some offices where every candidate has some degree of acceptance of abortion, but one is less objectionable than others; go with the best.

If you read the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, it is easy to see that God blessed and worked through some Kings who had some faults but that the entire country suffered under the leadership of evil rulers.

I believe it is a responsibility for us to vote. God uses faithful people; faithful people do the right thing because it is the right thing, faithful people do their duty, and faithful people do what is best for all those around them. Go on a voting date; it is lots of fun.

I took my pick-up to the Ford garage to get fixed, and the estimate was way too expensive, so I decided to fix it myself. Tonight, Patty said her car had a bunch of issues, so I guess I must also fix them. None of the things that need fixing are big deals: a leaky radiator hose, a frayed connection on a battery cable, a window that won’t go up after you put it down, and a gas cap that won’t stay closed. Fixing things is part of life. I also have a leaky faucet in our house, a light switch that isn’t working, and a couple of other things that Patty has on my honey-do list.

Fixing relationships is a much more serious issue. Fixing cars takes a bit of knowledge and skill; fixing relationships takes wisdom and persistence. I ignore many of the car things and house things because it isn’t that big of a deal, and the inconvenience is minor. But I don’t ignore the relationship things because God says in His Word not to. Sometimes, I don’t know what to do because the person ignores me or simply won’t have anything to do with me, and my efforts to fix things just don’t work. I pray for them and ask God to give me wisdom and an opportunity to fix the relationship. I have it down to only two people now, and I will keep praying and trying. The Bible says to work diligently to be at peace with all people. I will do that. I would rather fix Patty’s car.

Sherri is home and looking good. She will be on antibiotics for several weeks as she continues to heal up. She will rest a lot as everybody waits on her and takes care of her. It will probably be hard to keep her down and not run around doing things. It is nice to have her home and the trauma to be over; I have prayed a prayer of thankfulness a dozen times in the last hour.

In the last year, I have prayed for a dozen different people besides Sherri, who have been sick, and they all died. Did Sherri get healed because more people were praying for her, or did those praying for Sherri have more faith? I don’t think so. Many of the same people who prayed for Sherri also prayed for those who died. What if Sherri had died? What conclusions could we draw from that?
Ten years ago, Thomas, Sherri’s husband, had a farming accident, and his neck was broken, and he has been in a wheelchair since. Many people prayed fervently for his healing. I have prayed almost daily for the last ten years that God would supernaturally heal Thomas and he would walk again.
Are there any guaranteed prayers? Does our praying make any difference? Can we say that God listened to the prayers for Sherri but not those offered up for others?

There are prayers that we can pray that God always answers. God will give us a peace that is beyond understanding. A peace that is supernatural. A peace that gives us confidence and trust in God despite not understanding why. God gives us joy that overrides the pain of our trials. He gives us His supernatural strength to manage life, its pressures, and trials. He gives us wisdom to know what to do and how to respond to others amid confusion. He works in us, causing us to grow more and more into the character of Christ. He uses us to influence others so that their faith grows.

Sherri is probably coming home tomorrow. It looks like she is healing up from her battle with pneumonia and sepsis. It has only been a week since she went into emergency and was so sick that it looked like she could die. It seems like at least a month with all the emotions, tensions, worry, and fear, and then all the prayer times, late nights, and conversations about what the doctors were saying. It will be so nice when this is behind us, and Sherri is back to running the Children’s Ministry at JBC and also our home. It will be so comfortable when life is normal again. But what will be next? When Sherri was a baby and crawling, she crawled to the open basement door and proceeded to crawl down the steps, fell eight feet and landed on the back of her head on a cement floor. I remember that sound like a watermelon hitting the floor. She didn’t make a sound, just a limp body that I scooped up, and we drove to the hospital with. I knew she was dead, but she wasn’t. We had her in the emergency room at the hospital three or four more times before she was four years old, with severe reactions to food allergies and asthma coming very close on several occasions to her dying. When she was six, she fell eight feet down the stairwell of our house and landed on her face on the bottom step. Again, we drove her to the emergency, thinking she would probably die. I remember holding her in my arms with her face all back and swoll up in the waiting room and seeing a poster on the wall that had a picture of a little kid with a black and blue face with the caption, “Be Sure and Report Child Abuse.”

Life happens, and trials are as much a part of life as breathing. It isn’t a question of if; it is a question of when. Sometimes the story ends well, but sometimes it doesn’t. We will all die, sooner or later, some in their sleep at 100 years of age, others at 40 from cancer, and some at 18 in an automobile crash. We would like to choose how our life would go, like a meal on a menu at McDonald’s, but we can’t. But we can trust our heavenly Father to orchestrate our lives the way He wants and not tell Him what is best. He knows what is best and what our length of days are. Our responsibility is to grow to be like Jesus in character as fast and as much as possible in whatever time we have. Our responsibility is to bear as much fruit for Him as possible in the years we have.

I am almost 76 years old. I don’t know how many years or days I have left, but I am determined to live them well so that when I step into glory, I hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your heavenly Father.”

Our daughter Sherri is in the hospital with severe pneumonia and an assortment of other health issues that have her very, very sick. Patty has been staying with her for about 16 hours daily, and several of our other daughters are rotating with her. It sounds like they will draw some fluid that has built up around her lungs tomorrow. It is all serious and scary for our entire family and all of Sherri’s friends as well. There is a lot of prayer being lifted up for her. I have been thinking about several Bible passages about trials in our life. One of them is,
James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

“Consider it all joy.” Does that mean you act like you just caught a huge salmon? Probably not. Does it mean to act happy? I don’t think so. The word ‘consider’ suggests that it is a thinking issue, not an emotional or behavioral issue. I believe it would include three different attitudes or ways of thinking. First, we don’t blame God or get upset that He let this happen or hasn’t healed her yet. Joy is a confident trust that God is always good, whether the result is what we want or not. Second, we are not consumed with the ‘why’ word. Again, that joy would be akin to trusting that God is good and loves us. His ways are often way over our heads; we are OK with that. Third, our way of thinking comes out in our conversations with each other, and our confidence and trust in God grows because of it. Our way of thinking also comes out in our conversations with those who have little hope and joy in their own trials because they have no relationship with God. Our attitude in our trials hugely influences their lives, causing their faith in God to grow, hopefully to the point of accepting Jesus as their Savior.

Sherri has been very influential in her Facebook entries with everyone who reads them. Even her pictures of herself with tubes coming out her nose, she has that cute little smile that communicates “joy.”