A Bun Dance?

Abundance

There are three main components required to live the Overboard Life: faith, courage and abundance. Faith is about putting our focus on what Jesus is doing in our lives and in the world around us, and on the unchanging, all-powerful nature of our God. Courage is a character quality that God is developing in us as we trust in  the work of the Spirit to move us to follow God, in faith, and to trust that what He is doing, that what He is asking of us, is truly what's best. Courage is what allows us to grab the sides of the boat and take the jump out on to the water.

When I was writing my third book, Overboard, I was trying to come up with the key components of living the Overboard Life, working out a way to express them in writing. The first two seemed natural to me, the faith and courage parts. But the third one eluded me for a while. (I'm a Baptist...I need three points and a poem for it to "count"!)

I batted around a few ideas, like "Hope" or "Love" or "Service" or "Eating Tacos" but none of them seemed to quite encapsulate what I was after. One day, Traci and I were talking about these key themes when God finally granted some clarity.

Hope, love, service and eating tacos are all good things, and obviously, all part of the Christian Life (especially the tacos!). But when it comes to leaping Overboard for the Lord, I realized the missing piece had to do with God's capacity to overwhelm us with everything we need, whenever we need it. He doesn't give out faith sparsely, He doesn't build our courage in limited amounts, but rather, He provides all we need in abundance because He know precisely what we need and when we need it.

To live the Overboard Life we have to embrace that God is an abundant God, that He never lacks in anything, and that He loves to overwhelm His children with His presence (that very thing we need most!). He is the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), the supplier of rain, sun and daily sustenance (Matthew 6:25-27), and He meets all of our needs according to His abundance (Philippians 4:19)!

Naturally, God's abundance doesn't mean all we have to do is "name it" and "claim it," as if God is some how obligated to give us what we want when we want it. Rather, through faith, we trust that God is able to do His work, in and through us, doing more than we could ever imagine, guess or request in our wildest dreams (Ephesians 3:20). So courageously we follow Him in obedience and watch Him supply our needs in abundance.

Where do you need to trust in God's abundance today? What promise from His Word do you need to rest in, believing that He can fulfill (and will!) it, not in scarcity, but in abundance?

Pieces of Peace

Peace

I recently read a fictional story about a great king who loved to showcase great pieces of art in his palace. The story went something like this:

In the kingly library, he desired to put up a painting that best represented the concept of peace, so he sent word throughout that kingdom that he would buy, at whatever cost, the artist's work that most captured peace.

Paintings came in from all over the Kingdom, and after six months of receiving submissions, the king narrowed it down to just two pieces of art. The first was a lake, pristine and calm, with stunning snow-capped mountains surrounding it and a beautiful clear blue sky above. The perfectly still lake reflected the mountains and sky so that they were nearly mirror images of each other.

The second painting also featured a mountain, but this one was rugged and tall, and the sky above was dark and stormy. As the water poured off the mountain, the artist had captured a tremendous waterfall that cascaded over the face of the rocks into a pool hundreds of feet below the peak. But behind the waterfall was a little cave and in the little cave was a bird’s nest and a mother bird could be seen sitting calmly upon her eggs.

After much deliberation, the king chose the second painting, stating, "Peace is not the absence of noise, commotion and chaos, but rather, the ability to remain calm and steadfast despite the storms of life."

I think this fable gives a pretty good description of peace, and Isaiah 26:3 reminds us of the source of that kind of peace. You see, peace, "perfect peace," comes from God, and comes as a result of you and I choosing to keep our hearts and minds focused on Him. When we trust God with the decisions and circumstances of life, He offers to take the worry and anxiety that comes with them, and replaces those fears with peace.

Similarly, Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to give our anxiety and prayer requests to God, and then to take His peace—one that surpasses all understanding—as a replacement. In either instance the truth remains...peace comes from God!

Are the waterfalls of life drowning out God's voice for you? Does the storm seem like more than you can bear right now? Do you stay awake with anxiety about the future or fears about what's on the horizon? Let me encourage you to keep your mind on Christ, to Trust Him, and then prayerfully hand over you worries to Him. He doesn't promise to remove the problem or take care of the situations you find yourself in, but He does promise you peace regardless! And His peace, a perfect peace, can keep you steadfast in any trials that come your way.

Embrace God's peace today!

Would You Like a Little Anxiety with That?

Do. Not.

I enjoy many Bible commands, because they have a more direct impact on me personally. You know, "Wives submit to your husbands" and "Children obey your parents" are great, because I reap the reward of those. (I hope the sarcasm is coming through loud and clear. Ha!) But then there are commands that are equally clear, but far less enjoyable. At least, less enjoyable at the outset.

For example, "Do not be anxious about anything..."

The problem is that the text is pretty clear: "Do not be anxious." This command can't be misunderstood as some loose guideline Paul is giving us, or some principle that is negotiable so that anxiousness can be excused as a cultural construct of Paul's day, or that Paul is waxing eloquently on what is best for us though it would be acceptable to choose another path. No, the command is plain: [You] do NOT be anxious.

Then, as if to further clarify that which is pretty clear already, God had Paul add, "...about anything..." to the context. Not only are we not supposed to anxious, but just to be clear, we are not to be anxious about anything!

As Traci and I were gearing up to leave our paid position at New Hope Community Church, and facing the reality of finishing up our personal support raising while also trying to help find $225,000 to purchase and remodel a bowling alley, there certainly were opportunities to be anxious. I wish I could tell you that I passed all those tests with flying colors, but when I woke one morning at 3:29, finances were already on my mind.

I laid in bed for several minutes pondering a few strategies and ideas and immediately my mind went racing toward anxiousness when this verse popped in to my mind. "Do not be anxious about anything..." (that's the hard part), "...but in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (that's the solution).

Let me encourage you today, give your anxieties, your worries and your fears over to the only One who can take them away. Put Philippians 4:6 to practice. Memorize it. Pray it. And every time you begin to feel anxious, even at 3:29am, let this verse beat your worries away.

At the outset, "don't be anxious" is not a fun or easy command to follow, but when I turn my anxiousness over to the Lord, I'm always grateful for His strength that allows me to be obedient. What worries do you need to hand over to Him today?