I was reading today on Facebook responses of people to the wildfires in Northern California that have burned close to 2,000 homes and businesses, and killed 15 people, and injured many more. Many of the responses were like this one “I can’t handle this”. I wondered exactly what that meant, “I am choosing not to think about it”, “I am pretending it didn’t happen”, “I am going crazy”, “I am going to take a bunch of drugs”. Exactly what does a person do who finds themselves in a very hard situation that they didn’t cause or choose. Well for sure, not handling it is not really an option, you have to handle it. Life is real, not an acted out drama, the events that happen to us each day are real, not a dream, and not something we can choose to delete. Handling it is the only choice, there is no other. Some people go through life facing each crisis that comes into their life like a champion fighter, they will conquer and win, crisis is conquered, fixed, solved, endured, but it never crushes them. Others, like the person who wrote, “I can’t handle this”, live in a constant state of despair, being fearful and anxious, having little joy, and constantly feeling like a victim.

I want to be an “overcomer” that is described in the book of Revelations in the Bible. An overcomer has 5 characteristics that make them an overcomer.

1. They recognize that life is hard and going to get harder, but it is also short, then we will be in heaven, so they focus on the good life in eternity.

2. The best way to handle crisis is to focus on the needs and problems of those around us, and work at meeting their needs, not our own needs. God gives great grace to those people.

3. They manage and control the conversations they have and are careful not to be a jabber Box. We can talk about life and solutions but we can easily just talk about it and go over and over the details until we overwhelm ourselves .

4. Those who are the strongest are those who don’t blame others for the situation they are in, they just deal with the situation they are in. Blaming is a child’s reaction to crisis and it drains us of strength and short circuits creative thinking in our own brain.

5. The strongest are always those who truly trust God, and use crisis as a motivation to seek Him, His strength, and wisdom even more.

Last night a number of fires started burning in and around Santa Rosa, California. Because of 70 mph winds the fires spread rapidly and at this point 1,500 houses and a number of businesses have been destroyed, and 10 people have been killed. Patty’s sister and husband who live in Santa Rosa, were evacuated, and their house was one of those that burned. It was just a week ago that we were down there for the funeral of Patty’s other brother in law, and now this. It is amazing to me how quickly things change, and how little we can do to prevent the change. Life often seems like a roller coaster ride and about all we can do is hang on. Patty and I are driving home from my Mom’s, and while Patty drove, we prayed together (eyes open) for all of our family and a number of other church family people as well.  Sometimes that is all you can do! In saying that I am not implying that praying is the least effective thing we could do, because in fact I believe it is the most powerful thing we can do. Events like this almost instantly put us in a praying mode. 

Patty and I left after church for Trout Lake, Washington to visit my Mom for a day. We moved to the dairy in Trout Lake in 1965 the summer between my Sophomore and Junior year in High School, and Patty and I left Trout Lake in 1976 when I became the Pastor in Jefferson, Oregon. As we were driving up here this afternoon I was reminiscing about those 10 years I lived here. Those years in my life were when I grew rapidly in my relationship with Christ and made most of the significant decisions of my life that brought me to be a pastor at Jefferson Baptist Church. I know many young men in those same years 16 to 26 years of age who drift away from the Lord and make a lot of very poor decisions that messes up their life for years after that. I did just the opposite, but it wasn’t anything that I can claim any credit for. There were a number of very significant people in my life who had such great influence in my life that I grew in character and maturity in spite of myself. I started thinking about each of them and how blessed I am to have had those kinds of mentors, friends, parents, pastors in my life at just the right time. Most of them are gone to heaven already. If they were still around I would be faithful to tell them how important they were in my life.

I decided to Bicycle a different route this summer than the Virginia to Jefferson route, mainly because the price of the airplane ticket and shipping my bike back there was going to be about $600. Instead I am going to head South to the Grand Canyon and bike the trails in Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon and some of the others and then head north to Yellowstone and then back home. That triangle route will be 3,000 miles long with about 100,000 feet of total climbing for the trip which is a bit under about 3,000 feet of climbing per day which is about what we did on our Oregon trip. If I average 70 miles each day that will be about 42 bicycle days with 8 rest days making it 50 days. I will plan on leaving on May 1st and get back June 21st. I am now planning every mile of the trip using 5 different mapping programs figuring out the route, the camp sites, and the places I will have Patty mail boxes of freeze dried food and clean underwear. It is funny but when it is all over and I look back on the whole thing this planning stage is the most enjoyable part because of the excitement and anticipation it builds in me. Life is like that as well, the goals that I set for my life to pursue for the next year, the next 5 years, and the next 10 get me all jazzed up. I am preaching tonight and tomorrow in the regular worship services and I will be talking about goals for ourselves, our families, and for JBC. Goals are powerful, fun, and a great tool to keep everyone striving together.

I went fishing today on the Alsea River with some friends from JBC, and we all caught a chinook salmon like this one. We got 4 in the boat and lost another 4. The sun was shining, the fellowship was awesome, I had a 2 quart thermos full of coffee, a bag full of snacks, yep it was a good day! But tomorrow might be the worst day of my life, you just never know. A guy does the best he can to plan and prepare so that life goes good, but what we can actually control is pretty small. But I have already decided how I am going to talk and how I am going act if it is the worst day of my life, I can control that, I can decide that. There are a number of words that I can think of that would describe right thinking and acting in spite of life. I have been using the words strong and weak up to this point to describe those who rise above events by choice and those who let life control their attitude, words and behavior, but I am going to change that to a “wise person” or a “fool”. A wise person knows how to talk, act, respond and treat people when life around them becomes the worst day of their life, a fool simple responds as a victim. A wise person gives strength, peace and confidence to those around them, but a fool feeds confusion and despair. The most important thing is that a person filled with wisdom attracts people to their savior, Jesus Christ, but a fool doesn’t attract people to anything. A wise person is admired and becomes a model, but a fool is just laughable and pitied. The interesting thing about these two words is that they have nothing to do with intelligence, with I.Q. , but they have everything to do with trusting God and knowing His Word, and having His Power.

I ride my stationary bike an hour every day. The reason is because I want to keep myself strong and healthy. Physical strength is great, and I love it when Patty oohs and aahs when I flex my muscles and calls me Rocky. But having a strong heart or soul is many times more advantageous to living life successfully than physical strength. Most of us know how to be physically strong even if we don’t do it, but most don’t know how to be strong on the inside. Strong people manage pressure well, they don’t fret and worry about things, they can carry a heavy load of responsibility without burning out, strong people don’t quit, they are calm when everything seems to falling apart and give peace and calm to those around them. Strong people face and deal with crisis in such a way that those around them feel more secure and confident.

So the question is how do I become a strong person, a person with a strong heart and a strong soul.

Deuteronomy 31:6. Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.

Ephesians 6:10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Let me suggest five principles of being strong on the inside in the face of crisis, and the unknown.

1. You make yourself weak by complaining, grumbling, and fretting about hard things in life. It is a bad habit and until you break it, you will not come close to being what you could be in strength and accomplishment.

2. The natural thing to do with news about a mass shooting is talk it to death. Analyze, evaluate, blame, and try to figure out motives. It might seem like a good thing, but talking about our trials, crisis, and the bad events in our life makes us look weak, and feel week.

3. Ask God for strength. God loves to give strength to those who ask for it, and the more we ask the more He gives.

4. Read the Bible everyday. God’s Word the Bible Is supernatural and God loves to give His strength to those who honor him by reading it.

5. Strong people will make us stronger than we are, and weak people will make us weaker than we are when we hang around with them.

A key thing is you have to want to be strong, you want people to trust you and to manage their lives like you do. When a crisis comes like the Los Vegas shô

Reading the news tonight about the shooting in Los Vegas that killed 59 people and wounded over 500 the big question is motive, why? There had to have been a lot of thought and planning that took place before last night. During those many hours of buying the guns and ammunition and transporting all of it to a particular hotel room for a particular day and event what was happening inside Mr. Paddock’s mind. An older man who is reported to be a millionaire is sometimes eccentric or senile, but this was crazy. This shooting is reported to be the worst in U.S. history. I wonder if there will be one that is yet worse? Probably, I wonder when, and again the question, what will be the motive, why, what drives a person to such evil?

2 Timothy 3:1. But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

It appears that things are getting worse all over the world. I wonder how much worse they can get. Evil is a strong word that implies much more than just being bad, and evil would certainly be the word to use for this person and act. The devil is very real, and the author or father of evil. He has an agenda, and it appears to be escalating. When Judas betrayed Jesus it says in the Gospels that “Satan entered into Judas”, and he then did one of the most evil acts in all of history.

So, what has all of that got to do with me, and you? If we are in the “last days” and things do get increasingly worse in the world, and in our country what do I do, how do I live, what is my plan? Most will wring their hands in despair and blame somebody, and then try not to think about it, until the next time. I think my plan is going to be, first to pray for victims and family of victims that God will give them strength, joy, and peace in spite of their crisis, and that they will turn to Him as their God and Savior. Then I will pray for the opportunity to influence those in my life who are experiencing anxiety and despair because of events in our world to totally trust the Lord with their life. A a main commitment in the midst of all the hysteria, blaming, anger, and politicizing is I am going to work at being a man who is calm and at peace, not indifferent or uncaring, but one who knows without a doubt that God is on His throne. I will choose not to get caught up in all the “conversations” about the “news”. And above all else I will look forward to the coming of the Lord.

The total number of people who have attended or visited JBC and then have stopped coming over the last 41 years that I have pastored here is probably over 10,000 people. I have a commitment that I will pray for every person who visits at least twice every week for two months so I remember many of those who have attended if even for a few weeks. Today someone came up and said Hi to me, and I knew that I knew them, I just couldn’t quite come up with a name in my memory. When they told me their name I immediately remembered them. It had been 17 years since they had been to church, and we had a nice conversation about their life and all that had transpired sinceI I had seen them last. They assured me that they would be back soon, and I promised them that I would faithfully pray for them that they would indeed be back and seek for and serve God.

For some reason all people tend to drift away from God rather than towards Him. God is very real and loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with us and when we are close to him we will feel peace, security, confidence, joy, and strong so it is amazing that we so easily do drift away from Him, but we do and when we drift away we start feeling anxious, guilty, depressed, and unhappy. Psalms 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness joy, and in your right hand there are pleasures forever”. Whenever I begin feeling even a little bit flat I turn my attention on seeking Him, on focusing on him.

October is a good month, fall salmon fishing, hunting season, and my birthday! Because things seem to start this time of year I make October my beginning of the year as far as my yearly goals are concerned. I typically start writing them October 1st and have them done by October 27th which is my birthday, but because I like to have them done by the time I start teaching my leadership classes I finished them yesterday. I have 70 goals this year, and I am excited about most of them. Many of them are repeats from last year, and are basic disciplines such as my Bible reading goal and a number of my prayer goals. I have had them pretty much the same for years, and I probably would do fine without having a goal to do them, but I like to include them as I use my goals as an example for others as I teach about goal setting a lot during the year. It is a good place to grow to when your goals are done year after year until they become a habit and then move to “delight”, that is you couldn’t hardly not do them because they have become such a part of your life, your character. A lot of people fuss about goals because they want to do what they ought to do because they want to do it. That is a nice place to grow to, but it takes awhile to get there, and it probably will never happen without goals. Hebrews 6:1 has become my main personal Bible verse this year, “I will press on to maturity”. “Press on” is obviously a phrase that speaks of effort, discipline, and hard work. It is also a phrase of focus, an expression that means, “there are a lot of things happening in life , but I am zeroed in on growing in character, maturity”. I have found that goals are a great tool to create focus and intensity on what is important to us. One of the questions that I ask people as I attempt to help them grow is “was the last 12 months a time of significant personal growth for you?” Almost every response I get back is “I don’t know” which means “no”. So the next question is “what do you think it would take for the next 12 months to be a time of significant growth for you?”. Again the response is usually “I don’t know”. One more question,” would you really, really like to make the next 12 months a time of very rapid growth in character in your life?” I then offer to help them make that happen by teaching them to write personal goals and hold them accountable to do them on a weekly basis”. Some excitedly agree, but most say no. It is just to threatening. It is easier to stay in our plateaued state than to write and pursue goals.

My greatest desire in life is to teach people the truth in such a way that it makes sense, the hearers are drawn to believe it and motivated to live it resulting in great success in all areas of their life. There are laws of teaching just like there are laws of farming, if you know them and do them you have good crops. One of the most basic laws is that “you don’t get two kinds of fruit off the same tree”, a “spring of water doesn’t produce both fresh water and salt water”, and out of the same mouth you don’t get words that are life giving, motivating, and truth along with words that are bitter, critical, and angry. Some try to be two kinds of people, one kind at work and another at home, or one kind at church and with church people and another at home. Laws of life are created by God, and they are as sure as gravity. They often aren’t as obvious as gravity or the rewards of keeping or the consequence of breaking might be slower in happening, but they always do.

If we want to change our world and change the people that are in it the words that we speak are our greatest power to do so.

Proverbs 6:12. A worthless person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

Proverbs 10:11. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

Proverbs 10:14. But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand.

Proverbs 13:3. The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

Proverbs 18:7. A fool’s mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul.

Every morning I make a commitment to God that every word that I speak will give grace and edify those I speak to. That I will not argue, blame, gossip, be critical, be irritable or cranky, no matter the circumstances or the words that are spoken to me. I then pray and ask God for the strength to represent Him well with the words I speak and write.

I am going to be doing a lot of teaching this winter. I will be teaching about 8 different classes each week, and I desire with all my heart that the words I speak are anointed by God. If I guard my mouth in ordinary conversations all day long every day, God will bless and work, that is His way.

This Sunday morning at 8 am I start a class on “The Greatness of the Kingdom of God” as I teach primarily from Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. It is a little early to get up on a Sunday morning, but why not come and see what happens.