Play as a Team

Just a few more playoff games to be played as the clock ticks toward the start of Super Bowl LIII in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This marks the end of a season spreading out from the heat and humidity of the summer to the snow flurries of February. It is the culmination for football teams of intense physical training, intricate game strategies, impassioned competition, innumerable injuries, and impressive offensive and defensive plans. These combine with miracle plays and finishes, some would characterize as luck or fate. The end result of the season is two teams facing one another to play one final game where winner takes all and walks away with the bragging rights that last until the next Super Bowl.

     What will happen in a season is unknown as it begins. Football experts prognosticate what they expect will happen by season’s end, but at most they are giving their best opinion based upon information they have at the time. In football, like many other sports, there are variables unknown as a season begins. Injuries are always a wild card in the outcome of a season. The Philadelphia Eagles could attest to this in 2017 when they were plagued by injuries that benched many of their key players and finally their quarterback, Carson Wentz. The sportscasters predicted that the Eagles were done. They were out of the hunt for the Super Bowl. But football history reveals a different outcome.

     Doug Peterson, head coach of the Eagles, writes in his book, Fearless, how the team felt after Wentz’s injury. “When I walked into the team meeting on Tuesday [after Wentz’s injury], I could feel the room was down. The team was defeated, as if a family member had just passed away… I had a special message. They had to understand something and remember it: ‘One man can make a difference, but a team can make a miracle.’” Peterson indicated that his oldest son, Drew, saw those words on the background of a family photo in the basement of their home. The family never noticed it before. In the midst of the disappointment a son saw words his Dad needed to hear; words a coach believed a team needed to embrace. Peterson indicated that those words became the theme for the team the rest of the season. When Nick Foles stepped into the role of lead quarterback, he was playing with a group of men who embraced the belief that “a team can make a miracle.” The outcome was the team becoming Super Bowl LII champions.

     Our culture is infected with such individualistic attitudes that many have forgotten the necessity of operating as team – a unit. On one occasion a basketball team paid lots of money for superstars but they were not winning many games. A sportscaster wondered what was wrong. Another sportscaster suggested that they had lots of star players but no team.

     The sports arena is not the only place where this malady of individualism exists. In politics we see political parties not unifying to find solutions to national dilemmas. Instead they try to score victories for their individual parties. The result is political gridlock and national disgust as citizenry chafe under such ineptitude. In our culture we see people vying for individual rights and wants with little regard for the overall impact of such actions upon society in general. Even in the mundane functions of life i.e. how one drives a car, we see individualism rule over the wellbeing of others. Impatience controls driving decisions as one perceives another’s driving hindering their individual desire of getting home a few minutes sooner. Thus a person is passed unsafely, enhancing the potential for an accident.

     One place where individualism is most disappointingly apparent is in the operation of churches. This divine institution is described in the Bible with unifying terms like a body, a building, an army, a family, and other such pictures. Christ prayed for the disciples before he was crucified that, “They may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me…” (John 17:21-23). The emphasis of Christ was oneness, unity, a team of brothers and sisters united in love, functioning in unity, and moving toward a common purpose of glorifying God. Individualism promotes division as personal desires rule. What a violation of the biblical mandate, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). How different churches might be – fewer wars and divisions, more humility and mutual appreciation for another’s need, value, and contribution.

     If it is true that “a team makes a miracle,” then we need less emphasis upon our individual wants and desires and more upon our contribution that may enable our culture to successfully address the challenges of our age. We certainly could use a miracle!  

A Christmas Tree's Journey

It was a typical December day in Lancaster with steel gray skies, penetrating cold, and a sifting of powdery snowflakes. The family rolled out of the car as we arrived at the spot where a friend from church said we could select and cut down a fir tree from his lot for our Christmas tree. With chainsaw in hand we walked through the snow keeping a sharp eye out for a tree that would please the majority – a unanimous decision was unlikely with two elementary children, a discerning Mom, and a “bigger-is-better” Dad. Finally we spied a likely candidate. Since the trees were on a steep slope, the tree was not the straightest. However, the majority did agree it was a good candidate to be in our house. I imagined it adorned with a variety of decorations ranging from ornaments from my childhood to a collection of handmade creations fashioned over a number of years by our elementary children. With a pull on the chain saw cord, the engine fired to life and easily felled the tree. We loaded it into the car and headed home.
     The tree sat in the garage for a day to defrost and get ready for the tree stand. It was then I realized the tree was really crooked and would require guide wires to keep it standing. The tree was brought in the house, placed in a corner, anchored with fishing line, and duly decorated. In the decorating process we discovered an abandoned bird’s nest which later became for many years a decoration for subsequent Christmas trees. The tree looked magnificent and we were proud to display it for a special guest who was coming the following night. That night our daughter’s school teacher was coming for desert. Our daughter was in a new school and we wanted to get to know her teacher and honestly hoped to make a good impression.
     My wife put out our Irish tea set, prepared delicious goodies, and put on Christmas music. Glancing over the living room just before the teacher’s arrival I was admiring how good the Christmas tree looked in the darkened room with only the illumination of the lights from the tree. Finally the teacher arrived and we sat down in the dining room to enjoy delicious refreshments and hopefully make a good impression on this new teacher.
     Part way through the gathering a crash sounded from the living room. Jumping up from the table and making a dash for the living room, I was horrified to see that the Christmas tree had fallen over. Ornaments were scattered over the floor. The illuminated star, once on the top of the tree, was dangling from the tree now lying sideways on the floor. Everyone followed me into the room and stood there in silence. I remember saying to myself, “Well, I bet we left an impression on that teacher!”
     Later the tree was uprighted, extra fishing line was attached to secure the crooked tree, and we had a lot of good laughs the rest of the Christmas holidays telling about our wayward tree. After New Year’s we took the tree out to the edge of the lawn and decorated the tree with a variety of treats for the birds to enjoy throughout the winter. Each day we saw that the tree had become a haven for our feathered friends.
     As spring approached an idea came to mind to make the tree into a visual to show the connection of Christmas to Easter. I cut off all the branches and then cut off the top third of the tree’s trunk. I took a nail and some wire and made the Christmas tree into an Easter tree. I reminded our children that Christmas is just half the story. Jesus came to earth not just as a baby at Christmas but to fulfill a great mission. He came to grow up, live a perfect life, and become what John the Baptist announced, “The Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). I told my children they needed to see Christmas as the time when Jesus was born among lambs in a manger so that years later at Easter he could be the Lamb that the world desperately needed. That was why I turned the Christmas tree into an Easter cross. Both events fit together, were equally important, and told the whole story of Jesus’ life.
     How sad that people too often forget the connection between Jesus’ arrival and his final accomplishment. Many of the Christmas carols make the connection. In the popular “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” Felix Mendelssohn wrote:
          Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
          Hail the Son of Righteousness!
          Light and life to all He brings
          Ris'n with healing in His wings
          Mild He lays His glory by
          Born that man no more may die
          Born to raise the sons of earth
          Born to give them second birth
          Hark! The herald angels sing
          "Glory to the newborn King!"
That year our Christmas tree took our family on a journey to recall the journey of Jesus Christ that began at Christmas – from a cradle to a cross and to an empty tomb. Who would have thought that crooked old Christmas tree would be such a vivid reminder!

Arrogant or Confident Humility?

Tis the season where arrogance is on display! The political ads are filled with boastful politicians promising what they can do, and boasting about achievements. Sports figures dance in end zones to celebrate a touchdown, while linemen and blockers struggle back to their feet after making the achievement possible. Celebrities strut down a red carpet as the spotlight focuses on their acting made possible by creative directors, makeup artists, and stunt-doubles. Celebrity preachers promote their books and conferences by highlighting what they have achieved. Such preachers often eclipse the reality that God and spiritually gifted members God gave to the church were the key to the church’s success.

     Is humility an endangered character trait in this age of arrogance? When such a question is asked, one may postulate that people are not arrogant, just confident. While it is true that there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence, one must be careful not to confuse these character qualities. There is a distinction. Arrogance is misplaced confidence in how and why we achieve things. Arrogance trusts that what is about to be accomplished will be achieved by the individual’s efforts alone. It presumes that past achievements were due solely to one’s innate abilities. It assumes that one therefore deserves accolades from others and merits appreciation for one’s achievements. In the end arrogance focuses more upon oneself than it does upon the benefit one’s actions have on behalf of others.

     Confidence on the other hand trusts the gifts and abilities that one has been given to accomplish one’s purpose in life. Confidence understands that such enablement was given to be used wisely to fulfill a specific mission and to be used to accomplish a common good. Confidence is not concerned about self–advancement as much as it is about doing what needs to be done.

     Two characters in the Old Testament illustrate the contrast between these two attributes. The battle scene in 1 Samuel 17 provides a backdrop where these two individuals with vastly different traits are on display. Goliath parades out onto a battle field boasting about what he assumed he could do because of his size, strength, military training, military equipment, championship status, and how he compared to his opponents. He was arrogant and defiant as he faced down the army of Israel and later encountered a young shepherd boy, David. On the other hand there was David – unskilled in warfare, unequipped for a traditional battle, and aware that his only credentials were how God enabled him to be a successful shepherd in dealing with a lion and a bear. Goliath was confident in himself. David was confident in His God (17:37).

     Goliath’s arrogance was expressed in threating words, “Come here and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field” (17:44). David’s words of confidence were in what God could do through him, saying, “You come against me with sword and spear, but I come out against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (17:45). The one arrogantly embracing his abilities fell before the one confidently trusting in what God could do through him. He saw God enabling him to fulfill his life’s mission for the good of his nation. Goliath lost his arrogant head, and David conquered in the confident power of His God.

     Humility is the antidote to the arsenic of arrogance. What does that humility look like?  Chris Tiegreen notes, “Having godly humility means being unassuming – resisting the urge to seek every advantage for ourselves, promote our interests, or defend our rights. We have to choose whether to be our own advocates or let God advocate for us; to defend ourselves or let God defend us; to force doors open or let God open them in His way and in His time.” He wisely added, “The kingdom of God doesn’t have a ladder of success that we can climb. It only has a floor on which we can kneel. In order to be lifted up, we must descend into a position of complete dependence. Such humility is an affront to our pride, but it is the only way to be lifted up.” There is a big difference between arrogance and humility.

      James, the oldest half-brother of Jesus, gave this challenge: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10). He had seen firsthand the power of confident humility in Jesus, who “humbled himself and became obedient unto death – even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus conquered by an act of humility, not arrogance. What would happen in this age of arrogance if our culture was dominated by people of confident humility?         

“To Everything There Is a Season”

Another season is coming. I could be signifying the season as determined by the solstice (Summer/ Winter) or the equinox (Fall/Spring) – September 23 being Fall this year. Or I could be referring to some other marker in life i.e. season of youth or old age; season of health or pain; etc.  The season of life I have in mind for me is that which is introduced with a birthday that ends in a zero! It seems that there is a lot of hype when a person’s birthday ends in a zero, as if it is different from any other birthday that ends in a number. I recall when I hit the big five-zero, I received all of these over-the-hill birthday cards accompanied by lots of gag gifts almost universally colored in a black motif!  Frankly, that decade wasn’t so bad! Then again, even the Psalmist seems to emphasize years that end in a zero – “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty” (90:10).

     As I enter into this next season launched by a birthday that ends in a zero, I reflected on other seasons in my life associated with a birthday ending in zero. When I was 10, it was a season when I was a student and thought school would never end. At 20 I had met my life-long love and was excited about our life together as husband and wife. When the BIG 30, arrived I was a Dad and was trying to figure out how to be one without making too many mistakes! As four-zero landed I hit a mid-life crisis and considered after 10 years as a Senior Pastor, if this is what I would be the rest of my life. At 50 I looked at an empty nest and watched a son and daughter begin to establish their families. When 60 arrived, I was now a grandfather, grinning from ear to ear, and wondering what these children would be like when their future birthdays ended in a zero. Now I hit another birthday with a zero on the end. I wonder now how many more birthdays there may be for me with a zero on the end! Seven decades now doesn’t seem that long and I am filled with gratitude for God’s blessing in each one.

     Pondering the seasons of life brought to mind verses in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” The chapter continues talking about various seasons of life (verses 2-8). The verses became the words for a 1965 number one Billboard folk rock hit by the Byrds they entitled "Turn! Turn! Turn!" They only added to the biblical passage the closing line, "A time for peace, I swear it's not too late,” and the repeated phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" I wonder if they shared their royalties with God!

     There are two questions that come to mind as I read those verses in Ecclesiastes. First, in what season of life am I? Second, what is the “God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied” (3:10) in this season of life? It is overwhelming at times to look at life as a whole and try and figure it all out. A better perspective is to see the season of life in which we currently live and then by faith take action courageously and appropriately. Too often we look ahead through the corridors of an unknown future and arrive at a fear-filled conclusion. Such a gaze into an assumed future may paralyze us. Instead of moving out in life by faith, we shelter in place. In such cases, opportunities we could have had and contributions we could have made are often lost.

     Each season of life requires of us an appropriate action. In the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life” we see George Bailey enter into a difficult season of life. He had been a man who in earlier seasons of life had dedicated himself to helping others. Then on Christmas Eve he faces a financial crisis in which he sees no way out. He decides the only way out is to commit suicide, and he expresses that he wished he had never been born. Clarence, George’s guardian angel, honors that wish by allowing George to see a world in which he never existed. Through this he realizes all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community was because he was willing to courageously go through the various seasons of his life – both the good and the bad. He goes back to his community to courageously face the difficult season of life before him. Spoiler alert if you have not seen the movie; he gets though this season successfully.

     Maybe the season of life you are in has nothing to do with a birthday ending in a zero. Maybe your season is a difficulty like George’s. Maybe it is a medical crisis. Perhaps it is some family trial. Could it be just adjusting to an uncomfortable new normal? Whatever it is; it is a season.

     A story is told of a lady who graciously endured a difficult life. Someone asked her what verse encouraged her in life. She replied, “And it came to pass.” The inquirer asked, “Why?’ She replied, “I like to remember that what happens to me does not come to stay! It comes to pass.”

     Remember, “To everything there is a season.” Determine what the season is and respond positively.

A Titanic Lesson

Several weeks ago while visiting family in Northern Ireland, I spent an afternoon in a museum that was dedicated to a disaster. The maritime disaster depicted was the sinking of the Titanic. The sinking is of such historical interest that there are at least five major museums worldwide dedicated to the event including one in the unusual location of the inland Branson, Missouri. We spent almost four hours exploring the museum in Belfast where the Titanic was designed, built, and launched. This massive museum vividly portrays the tragedy from the ship’s design to its ultimate demise in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in the early morning of April 15, 1912. The ship collided with an iceberg just four days into its maiden trans-Atlantic voyage from Southampton to New York City. In 160 minutes the ship sank, and tragically more than 1,500 died.

     The ship was a sensation in the city of Belfast. The White Star Line, the shipping company that built the Titanic and its sister ship the Olympic, claimed in a promotional piece that "as far as it is possible to do so, these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable." However, an iceberg, first sighted 30 seconds before impact by a lookout, proved to be the undoing of the assumptions of the designers, owners, and the ship’s captain. The Titanic could sink and indeed did so quickly.

     How could such a disaster occur? When the ship’s construction began in March 1909, the talents and energy of some 15,000 men labored with pride on the Titanic and its smaller sister ship the Olympic. All of Belfast could see the progress as the massive ships loomed over the city. Lead designers at the Harland and Wolff shipyards had been given a liberal budget and were authorized to spend what they needed to on the ships. Finally on May 31, 1911, the ship was launched. It was then berthed and fitted out with its engines, upper decks, and all the interior features and furnishings. After sea trials a year later it was declared seaworthy and the Titanic prepared to receive passengers and begin its maiden trans-Atlantic voyage on April 10, 1912. It was designed for safety with its double hulled design. In fact one White Star employee reportedly said, “Not even God himself could sink this ship.”

     With that popular assumption in mind, Captain Earl Smith set his course for New York Harbor. He received warnings of icebergs in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland but maintained his course and continued at full speed in keeping prevailing maritime practices. It was believed at that time that icebergs posed little danger to a large vessel. Captain Smith himself declared in 1907 that he "could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that” (Barczewski, Stephanie, Titanic: A Night Remembered)   His assumption was wrong and it became a pathway for arrogance and ultimately led to catastrophe.

     As I looked through the museum’s rain streaked windows at the slipways from which the Titanic was launched, I wondered if the builders and captain were seduced by the assumption that the ship was too grand to fail. After all, this ship represented the cumulative wisdom and design abilities of modern humanity. Builders had access to vast wealth and unlimited resources to do the construction. Craftsmen had invested vast amounts of their skill and energy in this endeavor. Perhaps those assumptions led to arrogance. Maybe this minimized the necessity of carrying sufficient lifeboats. Maybe diligence was diminished as the prospect of peril was reduced. Could a delusion of invincibility have anesthetized the passengers to danger when they refused to enter the available lifeboats after the ship had struck the iceberg? Assumptions too easily can lead to arrogance and disaster.

     Perhaps humans are prone to such disastrous pathways. We live with the notion that what has happened to others would certainly not happen to us. We are too wise to become addicted to some substance or practice. We are too powerful to succumb to a temptation with which we may be dallying. We are too resourceful and intelligent to worry about some dalliance that has ruined other lesser beings. How easily it is for arrogance to flourish in our deluded assumptions.

     Perhaps this is the reason the Bible gives a number of warnings to humanity about attitudes and choices they make as a result. The writer of Proverbs warns, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” (14:12). Perhaps that is why he earlier observed, “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others” (12:15). Humility is the antidote to arrogance. Peter advises people to, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6).

     Perhaps we should be careful about the assumptions we make and the arrogance they may develop in our lives. Such attitudes may just sink our ship!

A Remarkable Rescue

In the recent rescue of the youth soccer team in northern Thailand, it was refreshing to see people actually work together to fulfill this amazing mission. The rescuers were focused more upon the mission than other issues that are often emphasized in our culture’s response to human crises. One did not hear anyone criticize the trapped youth and their coach for their actions. No labels were used saying their actions were careless or foolish and therefore it was their own responsibility to get themselves out of the mess they had gotten into. Neither did one hear that the rescue was too risky to attempt. The danger was acknowledged as a fact, not as a determinant.

     The rescue was not measured in financial outlay. One can only assume that millions of dollars were invested in the rescue of 12 youth and their coach. Nor was there undue focus upon the sacrifice that rescuers were making on behalf of those trapped – even possible death for the divers. Their action was based upon the value of the lives of the youth and the peril they faced.

     The resources that were invested and the personnel that gather from around the world came together rapidly. Nations cooperated and looked beyond cultural, religious, and language differences that may have been hindrances in other circumstances. Technology and human ingenuity were coupled with millions of prayers for divine wisdom and intervention. There was no hesitancy to become engaged in a mission that may have been labeled as foolhardy or useless. Even without knowing all that they might face and setbacks they would probably encounter, rescuers surged to that remote cave intent on rescue.  

     Difficulties and dangers became secondary to the mission of releasing a small group of boys huddled in cold and darkness, facing certain death. The expenditures were made and the result was an outcome beyond what people could hardly imagine. Twelve boys and their coach emerged from the cave of potential death to breathe air they had not experienced during their 18-day ordeal. Can you imagine the gratitude of these young boys? These young eyes that had been shrouded in darkness were now able to see and walk in the light above ground. Young lives were again able to connect to their families, and to satisfy their insatiable teenage appetites. There was rejoicing outside of that cave when that last person emerged. The New York Times headline read, “The Watery Trap is Now Empty.” The only bitter element attached to the rescue was the realization that former Thai navy SEAL, Saman Gunan, died as he participated in the rescue. Attempts at recue always carry a cost.

     What would happen in our world if people would be united around other rescues that are needed? How many lives would be spared if a similar spirit was present as our world addressed the various crises existing around us? People so often cry out for solutions to injustices they see and then fail to help people ensnared in them. Pick a crisis: drug abuse, human trafficking, oppression of people, physical and sexual abuse, social inequities, spiritual despair, suicide, bullying, etc. The list seems endless because life in a sin-filled world is bursting with multitudes of dysfunctions. This is a byproduct of humanity not living in a proper relationship with both God and people. Pick a necessary rescue and respond as did these rescuers in Thailand.

     When Jesus was pressed by a critic about the most important commandment in living successfully in this sin-scared world that needed rescue, he responded, "'You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and first commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). He essentially was saying one must be properly related to God and then he can be properly related to needy humanity around them.

     When one is properly related to God, he looks at humans around them in a different way. People have value regardless of their status, heritage, gender, or other features that cause people to make distinctions. People all have the same problem – sin – and that can only be rectified by a holy God who offers to all forgiveness by His grace (Ephesians 2:1-9). People are to be served not used. People are therefore worth rescuing from their human dilemma. That is exactly what Jesus did in coming to the darkness of our world to bring humans out into the light.

     Our world needs people to engage in some serious rescue operations!      

Stay Under the Influence

The cover story for the Spring 2018 issue of Christianity Today was entitled “When Church Gets Sidelined by Youth Sports.” The feature article was asking the question, “What should pastors do when families choose youth athletics over church services?” There were a number of church leaders answering the question with all kinds of suggestions and offering diverse opinions as to how culture has changed and how churches should respond. In the article a survey of readers revealed that 86% of those surveyed responded, “Yes,” to the question, “Has your church struggled with families choosing sports over church?” The article indicates this is an issue for those who are interested church services.

     How attitudes and perspectives have changed over the recent decades. It dawned on me that many in our Christian culture would not understand or appreciate the Academy Award winning historical drama film, “Chariots of Fire” released in 1981. Contemporary viewers possibly would consider one of the major characters, Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, as an out of touch relic of a bygone era. His conviction of honoring the Christian Sabbath by allowing it to be fully focused on the Lord appears to many to be irrelevant to modern thought and Christian mores. The movie depicts Liddell as refusing to run the 100 meters race in the 1924 Olympics because it was to be run on Sunday. He does not cave to the strong pressure to abandon his convictions by the British Olympic Committee and even the Prince of Wales. Instead he chooses to run the 400 meter race held on another day. He chose to run a race that he was not expected to win. Just before the 400 meters final he gets the following note from the members of the British Olympic team, "It says in the good Book, 'He that honors me, I will honor.' Good luck." The team did not look upon him with distain or disgust, but with respect. Incidentally, he won the race! Others observed that Liddell was committed to be guided by the words of Jesus, “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).

    Why do changes occur in a person’s or a culture’s convictions? Certainly there are a host of reasons. One factor seems to come to the forefront. What influence are we willing to operate under? In the history of Israel there is a record of a king that had a collapse of conviction when the influence he was under changed. King Joash, who ruled in Judah for forty years (see 2 Chronicles 23-24), lived a paradoxical life. His life began in a most dysfunctional time for the nation. He escaped being slaughtered by an evil grandmother, Athaliah, by being raised in secret by a priest named Jehoiada. Later Joash becomes king under the positive influence of that priest that both protected and promoted him. The influence of this priest yielded national reforms and spiritual revival. When this priest died, King Joash came under the influence of leaders of Judah that did not have a heart for the things of God (24:17-18). The reforms and the revival ceased and were reversed as King Joash ignores the warnings of God. He even overlooks the way God had blessed him under the influence of the godly priest, Jehoiada. In fact the King was so impacted by evil influence, that he even put to death the son of the very priest that had sacrificially spared and positively influenced him (24:22). Coming under the wrong influences quickly changes one’s perspective and practices.

     Reflecting on the way changes can rapidly occur in our convictions should give us reason to pause and evaluate. What are the chief influences or influencers in our lives? Do they reflect what we believe are the directions God would have us follow for our lives? Do we have the courage of our God-given convictions to pursue a direction that may be counter-cultural? Are we willing to sacrifice the approval of others while pursuing the approval of God? How are we strengthening our spiritual stamina so that when difficult decisions need to be made we are prepared to make them? These are just a sampling of questions one might consider in such an evaluation.

     When Eric Liddell’s younger sister, Jennie, quizzed him about his involvement in running, the movie records his response. He wants to honor God with his running and says, "I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." When we live to honor and love God first in our lives we are choosing to live under His influence. Living under His influence is not a burden, it is a blessing. Jesus told his disciples shortly before his crucifixion, “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:9-11). Let’s stay under the influence – the right influence!