As I was going from room to room in Mom’s house in search of some misplaced item, I noticed her many flashlights. When I noticed them, I was reminded of how comforting and reassuring light can be in the middle of the night or during a storm.

The light of the Lord’s presence is also a great comfort. Light is not something that God has, light is who God is. John wrote that, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.”

While God “is light,” He is much more. Think about the following tidbits from the Psalms that help to define God:

• Ps 18:30: As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.
• Ps. 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord
• Ps. 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble
• Ps. 46:11: The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress
• Ps. 48:14: God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end
• Ps 54:14: Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me
• Ps. 68:20: Our God is a God who saves
• Ps. 73:26: God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
• Ps. 84:11: God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor
• Ps. 116:15: The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

And, because God is all of this, we should: “Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, and extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him— his name is the Lord (Ps. 68:4).”

There are times in life when doing the right thing thing seems so wrong, and choosing to do nothing would be so much easier. When I need the strength to stay the course, I know can find comfort in the Psalms.

Psalm 18 is my rock and fortress for today: “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.”

Due to my schedule this week, this post will be short and posts for the remainder of the week might be sporadic.

A topic of discussion that continues to make headlines is the God versus atheism debate. This emotionally charged discussion appears a little more often around the holidays, and it is frequently laced with disparaging language that attacks religion.

In considering the anti-God attacks and the motivation behind it, Dinesh D’Souza has said: “One reason I think is that they are God-haters. Atheists often like to portray themselves as “unbelievers” but this is not strictly accurate. If they were mere unbelievers they would simply live their lives as if God did not exist. I don’t believe in unicorns, but then I haven’t written any books called The End of Unicorns, Unicorns are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion. Clearly, the atheists go beyond disbelief; they are on the warpath against God. And you can hear their bitterness not only in their book titles but also in their mean-spirited invective.”

What is it about the Faith that fries the faithless counterparts of Christianity? I mean, is wishing someone a ”Happy Easter” or a “Merry Christmas” really demeaning to anyone? When you live in a pluralistic society with a diversity of religions, how can you not expect to meet someone who has a worldview that is different from yours?

I’ve had Jews wish me a “Merry Christmas,” and I’ve been caught in an elevator with giggling Jewish girls celebrating a bat mitzvah. I didn’t chastise the girls and scream at them demanding silence. I smiled and spoke to them about the significance of their coming of age observance. My courtesy was no endorsement of their worldview; however, it did leave the door open for discussion.

The target of the anti-God attacks seems to have Christianity in the crosshairs. Why is this? Why don’t they also mount an assault against Hinduism or Buddhism? If atheists are really genuine, why don’t they attack Islam or take their protests to Iran? Where are their zeal and fervor when it comes to Muhammad and the Quran? Where are the slanderous and mean-spirited verbal attacks? Is this silence cowardice or a lack of conviction?

What do they find so threatening about Christianity? The Faith does not require self-mutilation, and it does not reflect a radical anti-social behavior. As a rule of thumb, Christians do not blow up buildings, or hijack airliners and fly them into buildings. The opposite is true: The Christian Faith calls its adherents to a life of service and to embrace the golden rule: Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.

Here is one of the beautiful things about the freedoms we enjoy in the USA: People can spend money, and launch an ad campaign to tell everyone they don’t believe in God, or anything else. The real joy and absolute greatness of the USA is they are not incarcerated or executed for doing so.

As a worldview, I think atheism is empty and without hope, and I know that most atheists think religion is for the weak and intellectually lazy. I also know it is possible to have friends who are atheists. I do, and we have some engaging conversations, remain friends, and respect each other.

I’ll leave you with a question: Is the quality of an argument strengthened by slander and shouting or by respect and sound reasoning?

When a dream dies, revisit it–there may be a chance it can be resurrected!

Two women went to the tomb to revisit their dead dream, but He was not there–He had risen to new life. Read the account of this incident as recorded in Matthew 28:

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,[a] and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

Celebrate the hope of Easter tomorrow. The worship services at First Christian will be at 8:30 and 10:30. Stop by the corner of Central and Star (300 W Central) in El Dorado and join us.

Do money and morals and ethics and economics have to be mismatched pairs? Recent scandals involving prominent businesses and the less than ethical behavior among the ranks of famous athletes makes me wonder.

The “swiping” policy of Visa is a money and morals issue that caught the eye of the Wall Street Journal. According to the WSJ, “Walmart has sued Visa for more than $5 billion, claiming the card network charged unreasonably high fees when the retailer’s customers paid with plastic . . . Wal-Mart alleges that Visa violated antitrust regulations and generated more than $350 billion for card issuers over nine years, in part at the expense of the retailer and its customers.”

Apparently, corporations and individuals need to examine the morals clause of the Bible.

• Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights ~Leviticus 19:36
• The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but an accurate weight is his delight ~Proverbs 11:1
• Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains. But you, as a person dedicated to God, keep away from all that. Instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness ~I Timothy 6:9-11

Money is not the problem, but the love of money is. The love of money warped the wisdom of Judas Iscariot, and he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

When I think of money and morals, I think of Bernard Madoff. His ethical backbone had the substance of a sponge. His love for money sowed the seeds of mistrust, ruined friendships, and robbed his investors of their retirements.

The word “moral” has a root meaning associated with the idea of “character, custom or habit.” This begs the question: If the character is tainted, can the habit be sainted?

The words of Horace Greeley offer an appropriate conclusion: “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, and only character endures.”

A mentor once said, “To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid.” I think I’ve solved the “young” part of his regimen; however, I find that I’m still prone to fits and spasms of stupidity.

Even though I’m a high school graduate (EHS class of ’71), have both my B.A. and M.S., I think it’s my S.H.C degree that has been the most beneficial. The latter degree was awarded from the highly esteemed School of Hard Knocks.

Let me share a few of the lessons that I have learned along the way.

1. Be careful who you challenge to a fight: When you pick a fight with a trained boxer, you get your ears boxed.

2. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should: With the skill of Spiderman I climbed up the outside of the old Junior High and fell as I was crawling in a second story window. Yes, all the way to the ground.

3. Even though Mr. Blackmore goes inside his office, you should respect his rope rules. Another fall—this time it was from the top of the ropes to the floor of the old gym.

4. Big feet do not fit through small holes, and basement walls break hands. The fashion fad at the time (8th grade) was Super Slim Levis, and anyone who has ever known me knows a couple of things: First, super slim has never been an adjective used to provide an accurate description of my physical dimensions. Second, I’ve never been accused of having small feet. I’ll leave it to you to discern what I did because my big foot got stuck in the small leg hole of the pants.

5. When the hand-writing on the wall is read, you better not be the author–you just might become a ghost writer!

6. Never light fireworks in the house or you will burn a hole in the carpet and Mom will smolder.

7. With thanks to Jim Croce, I also learned that you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, spit in the wind, or pull the mask off the Lone Ranger.

When my children were just kids, they asked me one day: “Dad if you could go back and start your life all over, would you want to?” I replied: “Not if I had to have the experience of living through all of my stupid mistakes again.”

I’ve received an education from my experiences; however there is a difference between the two: Education is what you receive when you read the fine print; experience is the result of not reading it; and, as Rita Mae Brown said: “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”

8. Here’s one more. Life can be incredibly short, so take the time to make memories. I’m so grateful for the memories I have of my dad: baseball, fishing, hunting, the sound of his whistle and his voice as he sang in the shower.

When I was 12, I was eager for the arrival of my 13th birthday because I wanted to be a teenager. When birthday number 15 arrived, I began the countdown to February 16, 1969. I wanted to be 16 so I could drive.

At some point along the path of my life, I quit rounding up. I was no longer worried about being 12 1/2 or 15 1/2. Even though the want and desire to be a year older lessens with age, it seems that much of a person’s life is spent wanting more of one thing and less of another.

Life can be frustrating. I’ve always wanted fewer calories, another dip of ice cream, and more hot fudge to top it all off.

If you spend your life longing for riches galore, you may have less and end up poor. Jesus focused on this issue, when He asked: “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

The focus of our energy shouldn’t be just worldly goods. Paul said our focus should be in another direction: “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Since the key to contentment is the content of your life, what are you full of?

The pages of the Bible are littered with the names of discontented people who allowed their desires and longings to rule them:
• God gave Adam and Eve everything with the exception of fruit from one tree. Because they weren’t satisfied, humanity died.
• Jacob wanted more and through an act of deception he ran off with the birthright that belonged to his brother.
• Joseph’s brothers wanted more attention from their father and less interference from their little brother, so they sold Joseph as a slave.
• Samson was the strongman of his day and could whip anyone or anything, except his desires. He was a puny 90 pound weakling when it came to controlling them.
• The list wouldn’t be complete without mention of David. He was king and had everything he desired. Things were going great until he desired another man’s wife—Bathsheba.

The discontentment of the soul is the hollowness of humanity. It is a hunger pang that can only be satisfied by tasting the Bread of Life. It is the thirst of dry throats and parched lips that can only be quenched by the Water of Life.

Saul was driven by the awful power of discontent. He was searching for that elusive something to satisfy his deepest longings. What Saul did not realize is that while he was searching, Jesus was seeking, and when the two of them met on the Damascus Road, Saul had a truly life-changing experience.

Later Paul (Saul) would write: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:11-13).”

You can search the world over, but you will never find anything that will fulfill you and complete you. The only hope for true contentment is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Psalmist expressed this in Psalm 62 where he spoke of God as being his rock, fortress, and salvation.

If you’re unsatisfied and searching, there is hope, and His name is Jesus.

My thoughts this morning are on a four letter word. You can rest easy, it’s not the “wash your mouth out with soap” kind of word. “Link” is the word that has my attention, and it means, “to bend, turn, lead and to bind, fasten, to couple.”

When I think of a link, I generally do so with the picture of a chain in my mind. Let’s put this picture on an easel and with a stroke or two of a brush we can refashion this image, and make it a useable tool for daily use.

Now that the image of LINK has been touched up, we can see it in a new light: Listen, Inquire, Note, Know

LINK is a very useable formula or tool you can use to deepen your relationship with God, and it is a concept that is seen in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Listening is an important first step in knowing God. This involves the reading of God’s Word and the intentional focusing of your mind on Him. Calm down, relax, and recognize His presence. Take a deep breath and focus your thoughts on the Lord.

I think it is important to Listen before we Inquire. We should let God speak to us before we speak to Him. Think about, God already knows everything there is to know about us; and, when we take time to listen we get to know more about Him.

Be curious as you read and Inquire:
• Based on the verbs in the Scripture what am I to do?
• Obey a principle?
• Claim a promise?
• Share a truth?

Keep a notebook and pen handy, because it helps to Note the thoughts you have been given. These thoughts do not have to be long poetic sentences and theological paragraphs. They might just be a word or two, something to do, or the name of some person.

Now it’s time to get to Know God in prayer. To know someone, honesty is important—be honest with God. Tell Him how you feel, share your aches, pains, and desires.

In Romans 10:17, Paul said: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When you use the LINK formula, you are hearing God as He speaks to you and as you speak to Him.

What part of today will you take to “be still” so you can get to “know” God?