This summer…
If you’re sitting on the shore would you consider getting your feet wet?
If you’re wading in the shallow water how about venturing into greater depths?
If you’re already taking deep dives are you open to going deeper still?

Once upon a very, very long time ago God spoke things into existence. (Genesis 1). He had everything and everyone just as He desired and “it was good.” Really good! But the human race chose rebellion and so began God’s passionate pursuit to regain, redeem and restore His prized people. This redemptive pursuit story is otherwise known as the Bible and it’s the greatest love story ever told.

God’s story details a glorious beginning and a glorious ending. You and I are living somewhere in the middle of the story.

Have you read your story lately?

This Yankee moved from Boston to Atlanta in 1992.  (Yes – they still call us Yankees down here.) I will never forget the initial culture shock.  My first commute downtown on the MARTA train confirmed everything I’d ever heard about the Bible Belt.  Three people on the train were actually studying their Bibles very intently.  One of the women was even writing in her Bible.  Gasp.  The entire scene shocked me.  I kept my distance from these Holy Roller Jesus Freaks.

All these years later, after coming to the very end of myself and recovering from ROCKbottom, I now know those three people held absolute POWER in their hands.  My entire life, I’d listened to God’s Word on Sunday mornings.  My life wasn’t transformed until I read it and studied it for myself beginning in 2001.  I now know the difference between a religion and a relationship. These days I hang out most mornings with God and curl up with the Bible. God’s Word has unspeakable power that I can’t find words to describe.  His Words will make you whole and create in you an inner strength that is unshakeable.  No matter what this world throws at you.

This broken world is a sea of perplexity complete with breaking waves of confusion, uncertainty and despair. Rough waters are frequent on the surface of our lives. This is why I love scuba diving. No matter how rough the waters on the surface are – once you start descending a resounding peace and stillness take over. And so it is with God’s Word. The deeper you go the deeper the peace you experience.

If you’ve never cracked open God’s Word consider wading in with one of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, which recount the 33 years Jesus walked this earth. Or perhaps the book of Proverbs which is packed with wisdom and guidance to fully equip you for life no matter what your belief system.

If you’re already swimming in God’s Word on a regular basis – what would it look like for you to dive in deeper? Unlike the ocean’s floor, the depths of God’s love has no end. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” “His greatness no one can fathom.” Romans 11:33 & Psalm 145:3 Simply put, we can’t get to the end of God’s greatness, love, mercy and grace. We have plenty of infinite Truth to dive into while we, as spiritual beings, live out this human experience.

The crashing waves and ever changing winds of earthly life won’t quiet until God decides it’s time for the glorious ending of His story as revealed in the book of Revelation. As we live out the middle of the story, reading His Word and putting it into practice will ensure your part of the story is glorious. Perhaps on the journey this can be your prayer: “Deeper” by Meredith Andrews.

There’s a reason the Bible is called the LIVING Word of God and Jesus referred to it as LIVING WATER.  It’s where the life is.  Get some this summer.

Has your heart ever been pierced by a fiery comment? Have you ever been stung by an email message? Tormented by a text? Wounding words and hurtful moments can bring your breaths and heartbeats to a sudden halt.

Several weeks ago, a missile crash-landed in my heart. I excused my stunned self from the meeting room to walk outside. Moments later I turned a corner and saw a ROCKing chair (I later returned to take this photo). The founding verse for the weROCK ministry came to mind and provided an oasis of calm.

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:3-4

God used a special chair during my ROCKbottom years to teach me how to be still and commune with Him…how to be filled with His peace when mine runs out…how to tap into His strength when mine is gone…how to love when I don’t feel like it…how to simply rest in His presence. Now, several years later – in a distant country town, God extended a deeply meaningful invitation.

I accepted the invitation. I rocked in this chair with the ROCK Eternal. He wrapped His loving arms around me and comforted my heart and soothed my soul. The two of us rocked until the internal storm quieted. The two of us rocked until I was once again grounded.

The God of relationship and love extends this invitation to us every moment of every day. At every turn, whether you discover a ROCKing chair or not, He is there inviting you into His presence – inviting you into His perfect peace. No chair required. No appointment necessary. He doesn’t rule from a distant throne but rather in the hearts of His children. At any moment we can enter into His presence. He is amazingly accessible. He can be your constant companion.

Practice His presence and experience His transformational peace, power, passion and purpose.

“I will put my dwelling place among you and I will not reject you.
I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people.”
Leviticus 26: 11-12

This low quality photo had a price tag of $8,000. I passed by these three crosses on some country highway somewhere in Alabama. I decided to turn around to capture a photo because the scene brought to mind a favorite exchange:

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Jesus, ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us.’ But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” Luke 23: 39-43

That’s it? He’s in just for recognizing Christ as his Savior? Yep. No religious hoops to jump through. No time to turn his life around. No hope of saving himself. No sure outward sign that God was still in control.

Two men were crucified with Jesus. Only one recognized Him – by faith not by sight. By faith not by figuring out how all the pieces fit together. By faith even though the current reality was an eruption of death, darkness and chaos.

After snapping a few photos, I got back into my SUV and was back up to 70 mph in no time. Five minutes later, a woman coming from a side street, ran a stop sign. I was swerving hard left when the small car crashed into my right passenger side…just a few feet away from my daughter sitting in the back seat on the same side.

The shock set in. Phone calls were made. In a surreal blur, my unharmed daughter and I watched as the ambulance sped off with the young lady inside. Her parents had come to the scene of the accident and I learned they’d just been in church with their daughter. It was her first time back to church after a radically rebellious two year absence. Their glorious Sunday morning turned to chaos in an instant.

And so it is with life. How quickly we can crash. When does God author it? And when Satan authors it why does God allow it? Does the origin even matter in the anguish of the moment?

As for the injured driver, she was released from the hospital two days after the accident with internal and external injuries still healing. I wrote to her several times. Oh, how I wanted to share with her the freedom and peace I’d found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. What a redeeming story it would have been if I could have pointed her to the Savior who loved her so much that He died for her on the middle cross. Surely then the accident would have made perfect sense…two women…coming from fresh God moments…meet for a divine appointment. But my three letters went unanswered.

So much suffering and evil in this world go unanswered too. “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 Can we recognize Him even when we do not understand His ways? Can we experience and endure thorn-crowned, nail-scarred, bloodied lives and still trust that God is who He says He is?

All had gone hideously mad on the day Christ was crucified. It seemed the sin-drunk world had won. Three days later, the sunrise brought the Son rise and eternal victory was won.

“I have told you these things, so that IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PEACE. IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:32-33

God is the only One with an eternal lens. Try as we might, it’s impossible for us to know the mystery of God and how He will, as promised, fit all the pieces together for good. But it is possible to transfer our trust to Jesus. How assuring to know that until all the blanks are filled in – we can recognize and “know Christ and the power of His resurrection.” Phillipians 3:10

In this month of March, I couldn’t help but reflect on the blind march towards success. Do you relentlessly pursue the American Dream? What does your vision of success look like? What’s it costing you? More importantly, who do you want to be when you get there?

The pursuit of success, as the world defines it, fuels the insatiable appetite in many of us for more, bigger, faster and shinier. Add to this the digital world’s taunt with the pursuit of infinity. My march stopped dead in its tracks in the most unsuspecting way.

My daughter Lauren adores her Darius Rucker CD. She replays the first two tracks and that’s it. Over and over again. I recently dropped her off at school and let the CD play on. It was track #9 that gripped me and still has me.

We keep on climbin’ that imaginary mountain. When is enough enough? How high is too high? How big is too big? How far will we go just to slip off the edge?

The lyrics hit me at the core and prompted deep self-reflection – particularly given all that happened in my world last month. I lived large and enjoyed many spotlight moments, opportunities and events. The exposure spelled success for my consulting practice and left my fun tank abundantly full. The world’s definition of success came knocking and I greeted it with a door wide open. I gave it far too much of my time, energy and affection.

Nothing that a session in my prayer chair can’t fix! I sat down and asked myself, “What the L?!?” How did I let this happen again?” I’ve been here before and I know what to do. I get quiet before God and allow Him to gently remove the “L” from my WORLD until all that’s left is His WORD. I get grounded again in His Truth and how He defines success for my life. I once again let go of my kingdom building and re-focus on building His Kingdom…starting at home. Success for me must begin at home.

The world’s standard of success should come with a required warning label in neon lights: EXTREMELY SEDUCTIVE AND ADDICTIVE. CAUTION: this will cost you dearly as well as those you dearly love.

Yet I still fall for it. I’m so prone to drift. I’m so prone to wrap my self-worth around what I do rather than who I am…and whose I am. I’m so inclined to view life as an emergency while racing up some imaginary mountain.

Look to the left in the photo above – I had an epiphany in that very drive-thru one day. I raced through the transaction of treasures not fully present – my mind in pursuit of far too much. When I arrived home and pulled into the garage, I discovered the drive-thru tube still in my lap. “What the L?!?”

Nothing that God’s Word can’t recover and cover. His life-changing Truth can beautifully transform our view of success and our stuff and how we spend our time. NEWS FLASH: NONE OF IT’S OURS. WE ARE SIMPLY STEWARDS FOR A TIME.

“It all comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.” 1 Chronicles 29: 16

“I will not let the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word making it unfruitful.” Mark 4:19

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, FOR EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS YOURS. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” 1 Chronicles 29: 11-13

The cross at Perimeter Church where Marlene met “her girls.”

MARLENE GASKILL. Where to begin? Her life was so tumultuous yet her testimony so powerful and prevailing. I realized at her memorial service held 10.25.11 that HER LESSONS OF LOVE WILL LIVE ON FOREVER.

Marlene grew up in a home that did not show or know love. She numbed the pain with drugs yet she still managed to achieve the world’s definition of success. Marlene lived the high life (figuratively and quite literally) and enjoyed Lear jets, limos, Rodeo Drive shopping trips and even frequent visits to the Playboy Mansion. It all came crashing down when her second husband died of a cocaine overdose and she ran out of money. For many years Marlene had searched for peace and a way to fill the aching void deep in her heart under all the layers of fame and fortune. It seemed now the final strands were unraveling.

One Saturday morning, in her mid-60s, Marlene hit rock bottom. She planned her escape from her hell on earth. She even had the suicide pills laid all out in a row beside the vodka. Something, or was it someone, stopped her. Marlene went out to get the mail. A post card about a music concert at Perimeter Church caught her eye. In an instant she knew where she needed to be the following morning. Long story short – she found the only solution to fill the God-shaped void in her heart. Click here to listen to audio recorded in 2002 of Marlene sharing her testimony.

Whenever Marlene and I were out together and people asked how we knew each other we would both laugh. We found the story of how God intersected our lives and hearts quite hilarious. After accepting Christ as her Savior, Marlene started a ministry to reach and love women in the adult entertainment industry. Turns out Marlene and I were both mentoring the same porn star so we were eventually introduced. My side of this story is for another day but IN OBSERVING HOW MARLENE UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED OUR MUTUAL FRIEND I WAS BLOWN AWAY. NO MANIPULATION. NO DEMANDS. JUST LOVE.

When mentoring “her girls,” Marlene would invite them to church when the time seemed right. They’d make a plan to meet at Perimeter Church. She’d tell them “meet me at the foot of the cross.” MARLENE KNEW THAT IF SHE COULD JUST LOVE THE GIRLS AND EVENTUALLY POINT THEM TO CHRIST – GOD WOULD DO THE REST.

One Sunday after church at Dunkin’ Donuts, I expressed my complete frustration with the destructive choices our mutual friend was making. I was all worked up. Marlene very calmly said to me in a soothing whisper, “Honey, she’s just not ready to trust God yet. Just keep loving her.” MARLENE TAUGHT ME THAT LOVE IS THE ANSWER TO EVERY QUESTION.

There are far more Marlene stories than space so I’ll share just one more. Every year we’d get a small group of women together for a Valentine’s Day lunch. At the 2009 gathering, Marlene shared her favorite love-related Scriptures and how God’s love filled the void in her heart that she’d spent an entire lifetime trying to fill. GOD’S LOVE IS THE ONLY PERFECT LOVE WITHOUT LIMITS. It’s in our quiet time with God that He can remind us of this truth and we can bask in His never-ending love.

Marlene ended our time by reading from Ephesians: her wish for us was from chapter 3:17-18 – that “Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith,” and that we, “being rooted and established in love, may have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Marlene’s send-off challenge to us that Valentine’s Day came from chapter 5:1-2 “BE IMITATORS OF GOD, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love JUST AS CHRIST LOVED US and gave himself up for us.”

Marlene gently closed her Bible and simply said, “LOVE LIKE THAT.”

Valentines Day 2009

A very special love note and reminder.