When is the last time you said to yourself that you have too much – too much money, too much love, too much success, too much time, etc.? I am sure most of you have never said that, not even once. But on the contrary, many of us see ourselves as not having enough. You say if I only had more money, more friends, more time, more energy, more influence, more education, and maybe even more trust in God. You see yourself as not having enough. We limit what we do because we don’t think we have enough. We don’t think we have what it takes. We feel under-supplied, under-funded, and under-trained. We convince ourselves that we just don’t have enough.

As I continue to recover from a stroke, I have real thoughts as to whether or not I will have “enough” neurological capacity to do the things I still want to do in life. It is a reality that I am not able to function in some areas of my life at the level in which I did before my stroke. But it is also true that if I allowed myself to buy into my “not enough” feelings, those feelings could become excuses for not doing those things I want to do. And maybe worse yet, not fulfilling the plans and purposes God has for me.      

While the culture often tells us that we don’t have enough – isn’t that the underlying theme of most advertising – God, on the other hand, tells us that in and through Him, we will always have enough. You are probably familiar with a story found in all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) in which five loaves of bread and two fish feeds a very large crowd. We are told the people ate until they were satisfied, and that there were leftovers. This story, while it does involve a miracle performed by Jesus, more directly points to the source of the miracle more than the miracle itself – it points to Jesus as being both our source and our provider. 

There is a similar story found in the Old Testament in which the prophet Elijah has an interaction with a poor widow who barely has enough flour and oil to make bread for herself and her son. Elijah instructs this widow to make him a small loaf of bread and then to go home and make a meal for herself and her son, promising that the jar of flour would not be used up and the jug of oil won’t not run dry.  

This woman was probably very confused, worrying about the scarcity she sees, yet she went away and did as Elijah told her. The story tells us they all ate for many days (v.15). Pretty cool, right! Well, the story does not end there. Here is what we read in v.16 – “For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.”

Did you get that? There was flour and oil left over! What at first appeared to be not enough, then looked to be just enough, was in fact more than enough. 

(To read this story in entirety: 1 Kings 17:8-16.)

What does all this mean? It is about trust and obedience. This story is really nothing more than when you say, “I can’t do that,” God says, “Yes, you can!” It is about looking to God, through His Son Jesus, as your endless source and your faithful provider.

God wants you to offer everything you have, and everything you are, to Him, even if it is nothing more than a handful of flour or little jar of oil.

Where do you need God to make your not enough into more than enough? What He did for the widow He can do for you too! So, today, will you trust God’s promise of “more than enough” rather than your “not enough”? It starts just as it did for the widow… “And she went and did as Elijah said” (v.15).

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With the official end of summer upon us, many people have headed to the beach for their last summer hurrah. It is good to be prepared when you go to the beach, so, in addition to sunscreen, hat, beach chairs, extra fluffy towels, cooler filled with beverages and snacks, and reading material, one more piece of important beach-gear is needed. A beach umbrella.

 Over the years we have learned a great deal about beach umbrellas. They need four things to do and be what they are intended for – keep you shaded from the hot sun and protected from the ultraviolet rays. First, the umbrella itself should be at least 6-1/2 feet in diameter to give you adequate space underneath it. Second, it needs a roof vent for stability; to keep the umbrella from turning inside out in gusty conditions. Third, the pole should be at least 1-1/4 inches in diameter and be made of sturdy aluminum. This will help it not to bend in those gusty winds.

And lastly, maybe most importantly, you need a solid anchor that screws into the sand to keep your umbrella securely fastened in the ground. Having an umbrella that is properly anchored into the sand allows it to do what it is intended to do. No matter how big or how pretty your umbrella is, it is of little value if you are constantly chasing it down the beach.  

If you have those four things, your umbrella will keep you protected. It is strong. It is beach-worthy.  

Not having a beach umbrella at all might be fine on certain days, but when the sun is its hottest or your skin begins to turn lobster red, even the smallest of umbrellas would have been a good idea. Even an umbrella not meeting my four beach-worthy criteria is better than no umbrella at all. Any is better than none.    

I see faith having a correlation to beach umbrellas. Not having faith in Jesus might be fine when everything is perfect, but when the heat is on or life beats down on you, let me speak to you from experience, faith is needed. Any faith at all. Faith properly anchored. Faith that isn’t constantly blowing down the beach.  

Having a strong faith does not necessarily mean big faith. It sometimes only requires faith as small as a mustard seed, then allowing those small things God has planted in our lives to become significant works of the Spirit. In Matthew 17, when the disciples could not cast out a demon, they asked Jesus why they could not do so. Click here to read the interaction between Jesus and his disciples. While most modern translations do use “little faith” to describe the faith of the disciples in this context, what Jesus was rebuking them for was at that moment their faith had been tested and it came up short. In other words – unbelief.

And having this strong faith, anchored in Jesus, a spiritual fullness in Jesus, is just what we read in Colossians 2:6-7 – “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” 

Is your faith beach-worthy or will it blow away at the first hint of breeze? Does your faith protect you from the harmful elements or does it just look pretty? Even small faith, as small as a mustard seed, will be of great value.

Note from Dave: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my writings. I will be taking a few weeks off from writing as a way to rest, relax, refresh, and recharge. In the meantime, if you are so inclined, you can check out my Archives page to find all my past writings.

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As we celebrate the Labor Day holiday, do you know its history and purpose? According to the U.S. Department of Labor website, “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is the creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”  

There is debate as to whether Peter McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) or Matthew Maguire, who was secretary of the Central Labor Union of New York, first proposed this holiday to celebrate the labor force. Again, according to U.S. DOL, the form of the celebration was to be a street parade followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of workers and their families. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on September 5, 1882. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a state holiday and in 1894 President Grover Cleveland made it a national holiday.

Here is a little-known bit of information – In 1909, the AFL designated the Sunday preceding Labor Day to be Labor Sunday, a day “dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.” It was meant to be a day for churches to pray for workers and to raise congregations’ awareness of issues of injustice surrounding workers’ rights and wages.

Now that you know the history and meaning of Labor Day, let me shift gears and focus on a verse found in John Chapter 6 – “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (v.27).

First, let me say what this verse does not mean. It is not saying that you are not to work hard to earn a living for you and our family. This is not a verse advocating laziness or sloth. In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 the apostle Paul says this, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

Then what exactly is the verse telling us? What it does say is that you are not to focus upon your ability to work for anything more than meeting your “earthly” needs, because your job (or your ability to earn a living) can be gone in the blink of an eye; it can “spoil.” Jesus is telling us that we are to put our faith and trust in Him for meeting all our needs, including our ability to work and earn a living. Later on, in that same section of scripture Jesus says this, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35).” To read this story in its context, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read John 6:25-59.     

So, this Labor Day, as you celebrate the social and economic achievements of the American workforce, remember this – take a break from your hard work, celebrate your success and accomplishments, and most of all, rely on Jesus for your strength, prosperity, and well-being.  

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One of my favorite times of the year is upon us – the start of the college football season. Thinking back to my football days, the beginning of preseason camp was something I looked forward to. But then 5 a.m. wakeups, three-a-days and sore muscles set in. In high school, we practiced next to a chocolate factory. Oh, how we loved the sweet smell of chocolate wafting over our field. It was both beautiful and cruel at the same time. In college, after having the team run what seemed like way too many gassers at the end of practice, usually in full pads, it was not uncommon to hear our head coach yelling, “Don’t worry about the pain men, you always faint before you die.”

The beginning of a new season is a fresh start. Last season’s natty (national championship) or the disappointing 0-11 record are of no relevance at the start of this new season. Every team starts 0-0.   

Each week during the season we would watch the game film of the game we just played, looking for what worked and what didn’t work, often with the coaching staff rewinding back to a particular play, sometimes repeatedly. “Okay, coach, how many times do we need to watch that missed assignment that led to our opponent scoring a touchdown?”  We would then watch game film of our upcoming opponent and begin preparing for that game. Focusing on the last game would not help us prepare for the next game. Learning from the last game would help us prepare for the next game, but dwelling on that game, whether we won or lost, did nothing to help us prepare. 

The same is true in the game of life and in our walk with Jesus. What we did or said, or what was done or said to us, yesterday, while it might sting for quite some time, cannot be changed. The game film can be replayed and watched over and over, but the outcome of a particular play, or the final score of the game, does not change simply because we replay the game film over and over. We can learn from it, but what happened in the past is unchangeable.

The apostle Paul gives us a good model to follow. In Philippians 3:12-14 we read these words – “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

In this passage Paul is saying that he forgets his past and presses ahead. Forgetting, and this is important, does not mean wiping his past from his memory, but instead, Paul makes a conscious decision to not allow it to absorb his attention and slow his progress. The same should be true of us. And Paul had a checkered past, one that would have been easy to let burden him. Before his conversion on the road to Damascus he did everything in his power to persecute Christians. After his conversion he was persecuted, falsely imprisoned, and beaten, as he proclaimed Christ to the world around him. 

What happened, or didn’t happen, yesterday is in the past. While yesterday might help to set your course for today and tomorrow, it should never hold you back. Yesterday is done and gone.

So, I ask you today, are you allowing your last game, or maybe even an entire season, to hold you back or are you using it to prepare you for next week’s game? Are you holding onto regrets, hurts, grudges, or feelings that need let go of? Today is a new day, a fresh start, a new season, so press on, both in life and in your relationship with Jesus!

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While the characters in this story are fictitious, the story itself is about every one of us, because… there is a little bit of Tom in all of us.

There was a young couple who went to Virginia Beach on their honeymoon. I will call them Tom and Becky. Becky had a real relationship with Jesus while Tom attended church with her but was still investigating what it meant to have faith in Jesus.

On Saturday evening as they were walking on the boardwalk, they saw a poster that indicated there would be a church service on the beach, near the fishing pier, the next morning. As it was with most church-related things, Becky was interested in going while Tom was thinking about sleeping in the next morning, but because he wanted to be a good newlywed husband, he agreed to attend with her.

The next morning, they woke up early, Becky excitedly so, Tom rather reluctantly. After breakfast they headed to 14th Street and made their way to be beach. About 75 people had already gathered, all dressed casually, many in beach attire. The service began with a small band playing several worship songs. Not music Tom had heard in church before. People were singing and dancing, several even tossing a beach ball back and forth. Tom was very surprised to see that most of the people in attendance actually looked like they were enjoying the experience. He was used to church being formal and somber.

After the worship band stopped playing, a barefooted young man stepped to the microphone and welcomed the crowd, gave a few instructions, then prayed. This prayer was different than what Tom was accustomed to. This prayer seemed like a conversation between the man and God, whereas Tom was used to prayers being formal and filled with lots of spiritual words. After the prayer, a woman in shorts and flip flops got up and gave a message on what it means to have a real relationship with Jesus, to seek after Him with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13). The sermon had personal stories and anecdotes, and Tom felt as if the preacher was talking to him, not preaching at him.

Something pricked Tom’s heart and after the service was over he asked Becky to go with him to talk to the preacher about her message. Becky was pleasantly surprised; in fact, she was hoping this would be the moment in which Tom would commit his life to Jesus. Tom only had one question for the woman – He asked, “You said we need to desire God more than anything else in life. What does that really mean?” The lady preacher gave a surprising answer. She said to Tom, “Walk down to the end of the boardwalk toward Rudee Inlet and look for an old man who spends his days sitting on the beach; he is usually shirtless and well-tanned, with long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail. Ask him that question.”

That seemed like a strange answer, but Becky and Tom grabbed some lunch and headed off to find the old man. They quickly found him, sitting on a rock near the inlet, watching the surfers. After introducing themselves, Tom said, “The beach preacher told me to find you because you would explain to me what it means to seek after God with all my heart.”

Without saying a word, the old man motioned for Tom to follow him, and they walked into the ocean, first up to their ankles, then their knees, and soon they were standing in water chest deep. Suddenly the old man pushed Tom’s head under the water and held him there. Ten, fifteen, twenty seconds went by and soon Tom was running out of oxygen. After what seemed like minutes, Tom was angry and he exploded up out of the water, yelling at the old man, “What were you doing, trying to drown me?” Again, without talking, the old man began walking back to the shoreline, motioning Tom to follow him.

Once they got to the beach, the old man sat back down on the rocks before speaking. He asked Tom, “When you were under the water, what is the one thing you desperately desired most?” Still trying to recover, Tom answered sarcastically, “Oxygen! Well, duh!” The old man looked directly at Tom and said, “When you want Jesus like you wanted oxygen, you will find Him.” With that, he turned and walked away from Tom and Becky.    

Deuteronomy 4:29 tells us this, “But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Proverbs 8:17 reads like this, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find me.”

So, today I ask you, how passionately are you seeking after God?

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So much of what we consume today is full of preservatives. These preservatives are added to food and drink to help prevent spoilage during storage, distribution, retailing, and consumption. In general, to extend shelf life. You are familiar with some of the worst additives: trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), BHA, BHT, sodium nitrate and nitrites. Another not so good additive is Red Dye No. 3, which was banned by the FDA from use in cosmetics in 1990 due to data showing high doses caused cancer in animals, but to this day is still allowed in food. Hmm?

Studies have shown that there are more than thousands of chemicals, some of which are associated with major health harms, allowed to be added to the foods we eat. These chemicals are allowed because of an apparent loophole in the system for additives classified as “generally recognized as safe.” Under FDA guidelines, the agency does not need to preapprove any substance added to food that has “been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise exempted from definitive of a food additive.”       

Like most foods we eat, bread also contains preservatives to prolong its shelf life and to prevent spoilage. Some common bread additives are citric acid, potassium sorbate, and sorbic acid. Even with all that is added to bread, it still eventually gets moldy or hard, becoming inedible. There is another kind of bread that requires no preservatives, needs no additives, and is always fresh and delicious. That bread – the bread of God!

As the Israelites wandered in the desert, a place without food or water, God sustained them with manna, a bread-like substance tasting like honey, that fell from heaven – “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day’” (Exodus 6:34a).

Now fast forward approximately 1,500 years. You probably know the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes with five small barley loaves and two tiny fish (John 6:1-14). This, along with his earlier healing miracles (6:2) created quite a stir, and the next day, large crowds come looking for Jesus in Capernaum (6:22-24). The people come looking for Jesus were seeking free food. He rebukes them by drawing a clear distinction between material bread and spiritual bread, first, by pointing out that is was God, not Moses who provided the manna, and secondly, that manna was simply physical bread whereas the bread from heaven is something much different (6:25-31).

Jesus then makes the bold claims that he is that bread, which gives eternal sustenance, eternal life. Here is what we read – “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’” (John 6:32-33).

It seems that even still, they want something physical rather than eternal – “’Sir, they said, always give us this bread ‘” (6:34). And it is here that Jesus makes his first of seven I AM statements found in John’s gospel – “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and who believes in me will never go thirsty” (6:35). It is here that Jesus explicitly declares himself to be the One sent by God, the One and only who gives eternal life, the One who offers this bread of life

And this bread, this life-sustaining bread, never goes stale, never expires. It is new every single day – “Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

So, you see, the bread of God doesn’t have or need any added preservatives. It is fresh every day! Let it be all you need today and every day.

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