Strong Coffee

Psalm 86:17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me. Recently a clinician shared with me about his difficulty working in an unfriendly environment. His work was hindered by an unfair and unreasonable supervisor. It appeared that everything he did was scrutinized. I shared this verse and the memorable event that God gave me. During my years at Tractor Supply, I went through a tough manager. It seemed everything I did wasn't good enough. Eventually he started teasing me about my faith. Discouragement began to set in. I combated feelings of loneliness, persecution, and worthlessness. One morning, before work, God gave me this verse. As I read it, God spoke to my spirit and told me to trust this word for today. I recall praying, "God, I don't know how you can accomplish this promise for me today, but I'm trusting you to perform it." All morning long...

While reading through the Psalms this week I was surprised at how many times the psalmist used the word "Me" in Psalm 51. Often times you read of prophets or kings that become self centered. What usually follows is a strong rebuke from the Lord but not this time. Psalm 51 is a special chapter that deals with a serious problem; sin...King David's sin. When Nathan the prophet pointed out the sin of the spiritually blinded shepherd turned king he not only repented but he wrote this amazing hymn as an account of it. That takes courage. For us to position ourselves for Gods forgiveness and blessing we have to face our sin and face it head on. Sin disrupts our spiritual progress and weighs us down. When it comes to restoring our fellowship and renewing ourselves to God, self evaluation is key. It takes courage to say, "God, show me myself and my sin!" When God reveals our transgression, the question then becomes; "What are you going to do about...

Matthew 2:10 says the shepherds rejoiced with exceeding great joy.            A definition of what that means can be described in the baptism for Mr. M today. An 88 year old new Christian; WWII veteran; Purple heart recipient; weeping before a crowd of doctors, clinicians, hospital tech"s. and chaplains. Tears of joy defined the moment for him and everyone present as he yielded himself to God. Through his crackling voice he declared..."I've been waiting all my life to do this." What a privilege to perform & witness. The presence of God filled the room with "exceeding great joy," and great grace was upon us all. iPhone

Dr. Abraham and I sat on each side of Mr. M telling him the good news of Gods love, grace, and forgiveness. You couldn't ask for a better listener or finer gentleman. A WWII veteran with extraordinary social graces. Mr. M was agreeable to all of our spiritual encouragement and thankful. After I shared with him Revelation 3:20 "Behold I stand at the door and knock, If anyone opens the door I will come in to them and dine with them", Dr Abraham asked in her gentle way, "Mr. M... do you want to invite Christ into your life right now?" His reply was..."No, but thank you for sharing this with me." We looked at each other a little puzzled. We new Mr. M was polite but we felt sure that the power of Gods presence was drawing Mr. M. We expressed our gratitude for him allowing us to share and he also complimented us for all our work and diligence to his physical and the spiritual. Dr. Abraham and I walked out to the hall scratching our heads. We talk...

There's an old AMC classic movie in which an aspiring writer and his family are struggling to make ends meet. The young novelist is rejected by every publisher. He works odd jobs to hold the family together. His wife and young daughter adore him but the disappointment of his failing career begins to take a toll. Eventually he settles for a compromising situation that takes him away from his family. Suddenly they have more money than they dreamed but the family is falling apart. His loving wife confronts him with his poor choices. His reply is, "Cant you see that I'm doing all of this for you and the baby so we won't have to struggle." Her response is a classic line... "We we're happier when we struggled!" Character, bonds of love, memories, and trust in God are born out of life's struggles. Through the travails of life we learn to rely upon God and each other. There is no short cut to character, faith, and dependence on one anoth...

There are many number of reasons why people reject Christ. The new testament, namely the Gospels, reveal a broad spectrum of those that looked into the very eyes of our Lord and went away sorrowful, resisting the Holy Spirit. When sharing the good news of Christ and Gods forgiveness the human will can present a variety of excuses. Studying these possible alibis is helpful. Personally I am disturbed in my spirit when someone resist the marvelous and magnificent love of God. I can't fathom any justification for shutting the door on Christ, yet so many do. One of these justifications for saying no to Him is found in Matthew 25;    "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' 26 "His mas...

My friend in France, David Porter, has written a wonderful article this month for his blog COFFEE STAINS. There's a powerful message of hope that all need to hear. David is an amazing writer. You'll enjoy this jmt Coffee Stains David Porter http://www.davidscoffeestains.com/ January 14, 2011 Hautvillers, France I'm Going To Win the Lotterie!" ? Lately there's been an advertisement on the television here in France for the lottery. One couple wins and takes a trip around the world. Another man buys a big house and car with his winnings and still another one purchases the business he works for (but keeps his boss). You see what happens when you win the lottery! Yeah! The eminent "philosopher" P.T. Barnum once said something tremendously insightful, "There's a sucker born every minute." The cartoon cat, Garfield, wisely observed, "It's amazing some of the things that people would rather have than money." A lotte...

Job 19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; What is the joy of heaven? To see our loved ones? To behold the splendor of glory? Is it to live in the fullness of joy, peace, love, and goodness? It is to see God. To see him in all his glory. To be   with him, and with unveiled faces, be like him. Heavens joy will be to hear the multitudes sing, "Worthy is the lamb that was slain; to receive glory, power, honor, and strength." When heaven appears, then we will know even as we are fully known. What will we know? That sin was great but grace was greater than all our sin. That God SO loved the world, and we will know the full measure of his love. We will know that he is truth and life and his way was THE way. We will see God. We will want to see him. He is the reason. He is the hope of glory revealed. To see him is chief. To look upon him will be preeminent to anything else. Our longing now is to long for HIM; to...

It's the thrill of a lifetime to serve alongside Christian physicians. Today was no exception. After a medical conference this morning, one of those servants asked if I had the time to see one of her patients. She described him as pleasant man with cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart. She stated that his treatment has gone well but he was showing a failure to thrive. She believed he needed spiritual help. I grabbed another Dr. and the three of us headed to his room. We put him in a wheel chair and took him to a private conference room. For several minutes I listened to the doctors talk to him about their concern for his progress. Eventually the conversation turned to me. I shared with Mr. C about the importance of a healthy spiritual life; how it was the pathway to complete healing. I asked him if he believed in God. He said yes. I asked if he believed in the son of God. He answered yes again. I then shared with him that faith was like a diabetic that b...

What would you say? If someone dying with cancer, wracked with pain, confined to a bed, vocal cords eaten away by disease said to you, "God has a purpose for me chaplain, I know it, can you help me know what it is?" What would you say? I think most of us would draw in a huge breath before answering. This kind of question cuts out all the fluff and fakiness and goes directly to the heart of the matter. I've known Mr. G for several months. I've seen him place his faith in God. We even had a hospital baptism for him which was a remarkable moving service. As I have watched his faith grow, I've witnessed his body decay. These days he is left motionless, anchored to machines, wires, monitors; confined to scribbling notes on a pad. We've laughed together; we've cried together. And now the student asked the teacher, "What does God want me to do?" 2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are...