Memorial Day 2026

 In 2013, I got to walk across Arlington Cemetery and noted the many soldiers who sacrificed their lives for our freedom in this country. I realize that they represent only a fraction of those who sacrificed their lives for others. As a Christian, I have the understanding that Jesus sacrificed his life for my sins. I understand that I don’t always show gratitude for that sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed everything. We struggle to sacrifice a little bit of our time to serve others.

Jesus said, “No greater love has this that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. I see similarities between Christians and Americans who focus their energy on politics. Both do not understand true sacrifice, gratitude, or how to truly love their neighbor. Jesus loves everyone, including those who don’t believe or follow Him. He desires for all to come to Him and enjoy His salvation. Social media has revealed that many people do not understand how to love because they refuse to love difficult people in their lives, or people who refuse to do what they demand.

Love requires sacrifice. Sacrifice comes from a pure heart. This last week some old adults tried to get young people to sacrifice their dreams and education for politics. They want others to sacrifice. That’s not sacrifice. That’s gaslighting and guilt-shaming at its finest. You sacrifice when you give from your heart even when you know you just gave everything. You do it with a heart of joy knowing that someone will be blessed for it, yet you do not expect or demand a note of gratitude. Love does not tell others to sacrifice. You just sacrifice expecting nothing in return.

Sacrifice comes when it hurts. Sacrifice comes when we do it with love and selflessness. It never comes from pride or self-serving. It comes when we take the time to pray for what we can do without a thought of what others may do.

Both Christians and Americans must become more grateful. Social media becomes louder when people have extra time during holidays. Instead of being grateful, people insult and judge others. Gratitude starts with focusing on what you have and not on what others have. Envy can be a root sin that becomes difficult to repair. We want what we see others have because we think that they have a perfect life.

Social media has made jealousy a top issue with our current society. We think people get to live each day as how they post. Most of us only share the good things in our lives. We want to be positive for others, or we want to inspire others. Envy kills all of it.

In the church, envy can be in the form of gossip for our leaders. We find flaws with others because we only see that life has given us misery. When we don’t look at the good things in our lives, we become ungrateful and judgmental. A grateful person sees the good in what others do.

Life does not turn out the way anyone expects. For most of us we struggle to get to the point where we are in life now. Some people achieve greatness because of many factors. The Bible states that we must rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Christians do a great job mourning with those who mourn. My Twitter feed had all the words of comfort for the family of race car driver Kyle Busch. Even the Mars company had his sponsored M & M’s crying. Christians love on those who hurt, but scowl at those who succeed and wonder what sin they committed for them to get to that success.

Look around at your life. What do you have that you can be grateful for? Write down one thing every day that you can be grateful for. It has to be a different thing every day. Soon, you will start to see the good things you have in your life. You will stop judging others because you will start to see the good in them instead of their flaws.

Once we understand sacrifice and gratitude, we can then begin to love others as Jesus loves. Love does not mean we have to agree with you on everything or accept everything you do. I have friends who have murdered, stolen, and had addictions to drugs and alcohol. I don’t agree with their actions, but I love them for how I see Jesus working in their lives.

Love means we give grace to those who believe and think differently. Love in action requires us to listen to the entire story of those in our lives. Love means we think before we speak, and many times we make the choice to not speak. Love means we pray for our enemies. We do good things for them rather than insult them. The Bible says that God will take revenge, and if we do good to our enemies, we heap burning coals on their head.

This Memorial Day, take the time to reflect on your life. Scroll through your social media posts and see them as Jesus would read them. Would he see you as a loving, grateful and sacrificial person, or someone who must tell others how horrible they live their lives? How would other people see your social media posts? Do they see them as encouraging or judgmental?

On this holiday, reflect on how you have lived. Then, since you still live, take the time to make the changes to sacrifice, love, and be grateful. It doesn’t take much. It just takes looking outside of life on social media and see the people that God created in His own image.

Peace in the Chaos of Christmas

With all the tasks that must be done by Christmas morning, many of us can get caught up in the chaos and not in the beauty of the peace that Christmas brings. We have presents to buy and wrap. We have brunches, dinners, and sweets to bake before Christmas Day. We have people to contact, and church services to attend. In all the chaos for Christmas Day, we must continue to live our daily lives. We long for a moment of peace.

For years, I dreamed of a quiet and peaceful Christmas, just like the one Jesus had. One year, my mom asked what I wanted for Christmas, and I responded with a day of sleep. I didn’t get that. We had a day of fun, but I wanted what I thought would be a day of peace. It has taken me years to discover that peace comes with the chaos, not instead of it.

If we take a close look at that first Christmas and the birth of Jesus, we find the utter and total chaos that accompanied Jesus’s entrance into the world. First, Mary has an angel tell her she will give birth to a son that she will conceive through the Holy Spirit. That makes sense to us now because we know the entire story, but for Mary, it sounded confusing. For Joseph, it sounded blasphemous, so he decided to divorce her.

In a dream, an angel tells Joseph to marry Mary, and that he would be the father of the Messiah. He obeys. Then, the king calls for a census. In our modern society, that doesn’t mean much, but at that time, people had to travel to the land of their ancestors. His hometown happened to be Bethlehem. So, he loaded up his pregnant wife, and they traveled to Bethlehem. Yes, Mary and Joseph traveled for that first Christmas.

Just like our lives today, Joesph and Mary encountered chaos in their travels. Bethlehem resided as a small town. So, the one place to stay didn’t have any rooms, so they offered Joseph a barn, where Mary gave birth to Jesus. She placed him in a manger, or a feed trough. Imagine giving birth to a baby in a barn and not a warm room with midwives helping.

Imagine the shepherds out at night walking through the fields and seeing the stars and enjoying the peace and quiet. The angel appeared to them suddenly and told them not to be afraid. Their quiet and peaceful night got interrupted, so with all that interruption, they went to see Jesus.

Joseph finally found a place to stay, and then Magi from the East came and brought gifts for a king of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gifts sound atrocious to the casual reader, but if you read into the story, Joseph used those gifts for passage to Egypt. He had to get Mary and Jesus out of Bethlehem in Judea and fleet to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath who wanted to kill Jesus and all babies two years old and under.

Jesus came into this chaotic world with chaos, but he brought us peace. He doesn’t give us the peace that the world has, but a peace that reassures us of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Him. Jesus came into our human world and experienced all the chaos that we experience. He understands us. He loves us with all our chaos that we bring to Him.

This Christmas, as we try to find moments of peace, may we remember to always look to Jesus in the chaos and know that peace is always with us. 

Being Thankful Changes Everything

 We have so much information at our disposal, and yet we continue to choose embellished stories so we can explain a narrative. When the pilgrims and Native Americans had a meal together, it did not denote the first Thanksgiving. That event became visible because of an editor of a magazine who wrote about it to help boost the holiday of Thanksgiving.

Abraham Lincoln wanted his troops to have gratefulness and reflect on the good that God had done in their lives. So, he declared the last Thursday of November to be a day of giving God thanks, Thanksgiving. Gratefulness requires us to reflect. Gratefulness brings us into a state of peace and reminds us of our purpose in life. Maybe Lincoln knew that more than the editor who wanted to sell the magazines.

Taking the time to reflect on the good in our lives may require us to turn off the noise around us. Sometimes, social media can be part of that noise. With social media, we get caught up in what we don’t have, that we may not always see the beautiful things God does in our lives every single day.  

To see the good things in life, I have found that I must take the time to reflect. Thanksgiving gives us a day to reflect on what we have and not compare ourselves to others. God created each of us with uniqueness. With all the preparations that we must do, sometimes we let busyness get in our way of being grateful. I have found that taking the time to be grateful gives me peace and content in my life more than trying to please others with my busyness.

Whenever I cook or bake, I am reminded of all the good things God gives me. I have the food, the beautiful appliances, and tools to create meals that give me satisfaction with my hunger, and when I focus, it’s tasty too! With that thankfulness, I don’t become angry over things I cannot change.

Society does not want us to be grateful. See, when you become grateful, your anger dissipates. When you become grateful, you begin to manage and control your emotions and responses to those who may attack you. Society wants to control and manage you. They want you to be angry so you will not be rational. Thankfulness makes you rational.

This Thanksgiving, find a few minutes to be by yourself, reflect on your life, look around your home, and begin to thank God for what He has given you. Make a list. Put it in a place that you can see and remember it every day. Life has its tumbles, but God has given you many great things, that far outweigh the tumbles.

When we focus on what we have and not what others have, we become content. Once we have contentment, we can focus on how to continue to move forward in life and not be blinded by the obstacles in our way. We can leap over the obstacles or push them out of the way when we see how we have done it in our past.

The Bible mentions thankfulness over 365 times. Being grateful for one thing each day of the year will build in us a strength that no one can tear down. So, go, enjoy the day of Thanksgiving. Have a feast with delicious food and count your many blessings and see what God has done.

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

 As we approach Halloween, I wonder what we really fear. Do we fear political leaders whom we think will destroy our lives? Do we fear those whom we think have power over us because of their status or wealth? Do we fear failure or embarrassment? Do we fear that we don’t think we measure up to the standards that we or others have put on us?

 

I think many people fear the last items, but they focus on the first few items, so they don’t have to face their real fears. We blame political leaders or corporate leaders because we refuse to look inside ourselves and face the true fears that lurk in our souls. Fear stands in opposition to trust, which stands as a synonym for faith. We don’t trust that God can carry us through our insecurities to become the purposeful human being that he created us to be.

 

Unless you give them permission, no one can control your thoughts and beliefs. We cannot blame other people for the mistakes that we make. We must face our own failures, pick ourselves up, and move forward. The problem lies that we refuse to admit to our own mistakes because we fear what others, or even ourselves, will think about us.

 

Admitting to our own failures and mistakes has become our biggest fear. We have become accustomed to a society that claims being wrong equates to being a horrible monster. Being wrong does not make you a monster. Claiming perfection can be monstrous. As Christians, we must confess our sins to Jesus. That means, we admit that we make mistakes and can be wrong.

 

As young children, we feared the invisible and non-existent “Boogeyman.” As adults, we have created the “Boogeyman” within us. We have followed the false words of those on social media and in the mainstream media because it’s easier to follow a falsehood than the truth. Jesus never promised us that we would have an easy path if we followed the truth. He said that He would be there for us to give us comfort during the difficult times.

 

Fear comes from outside sources. Trust comes from within us. We choose if we will trust the outside forces that lie to us, or if we will trust the truth of God within us. We can walk with God without it being easy. The only reason we want life to be easy comes from our false perception that if we follow Jesus and do the right thing, then we will have a nice easy life. Nowhere in the Bible does anyone claim we will have an easy life. In fact, we were told we will have trials. (James 1)

 

The scary part comes when the truth becomes muddled. We must study God’s Word and learn the truth, not just the parts that make us feel good, but the uncomfortable parts that make us confront our own sin in our lives. We don’t want to confess our sins, because we fear the change that will occur within us when we recognize the sin. We will be empowered to get the sin out of our lives. We must embrace that act and not fear it. It creates a path that allows us to get back up when we fail.

 

We can be wrong. We can fail and come back from failure and succeed. the most successful people in the world have failed. Without failure, you don’t grow. We have allowed our fears to stunt our growth because we refuse to admit to our wrongs and sins. We must grow and not let sin reign in our lives.

 

We must embrace challenges and veer away from what seems easy. People want to entice us with a smooth and easy life that in the end will be difficult. We must trust God. We must face the fearmongers and not allow them to strike any kind of fear into us.

 

Fearmongers will make you afraid of everything going on in society. Truth tellers will empower you to do what you can do to make a difference in the world no matter what the circumstances. Make the choice. Will you be afraid? Will you have faith and trust? The best life will be lived with faith and trust. The best life will stray from fear and lean into the truth and trust.

The Adventures in Life Build Faith

 I have started the first day of school with my room not completely set up because we had one too many faculty meetings instead of taking the time to set-up our rooms. I’ve started on the first day of school with no textbooks, before online, because the shipment got stalled. This year, we started the first day of online school with a broken platform. The students didn’t enter my classroom until an hour after class started.

 

My day started with a student informing me that he couldn’t see the classroom online. I didn’t want to tell him to let me make my coffee first. Text messages, emails, and phone calls came at me like a storm. In the meantime, I got an email out that the system didn’t work. My administration and other teachers became overwhelmed, and I’m over here thanking the Lord I got my coffee.

 

Life doesn’t always go as planned. When it falls apart, how you react reveals your faith and character. Do you blame other people? Do you get so mad at God that you refuse to believe in him? Do you find a way to move forward even though you have a detour? Maybe, just maybe, God wants to build your faith and give you a life not go as you plan but as He planned.

 

In youth ministry, I discovered at a conference that when we go to places and get lost, explain to the students that we’re just taking an adventure because life is an adventure. Let’s just say I took many adventures. I had to rethink and find my way to the destination through another route. Of course, we did not have GPS, and this generation doesn’t know how to take an adventure.

 

Maybe because when I grew up, life took a drastic turn, and I learned from my mom that you pick yourself up and move forward that I begin to think of alternate routes when life doesn’t go as planned. At the age of nine, my parents divorced. We moved from a three story house in Michigan to a three bedroom trailer in Daytona Beach, Florida. (That third bedroom, mine, was more like a walk-in closet.) I went with the flow because my mom did.

 

In Michigan, I would have been part of a popular group. In Florida, I became the quiet one that most people didn’t notice. I found a few friends at school, but my closest friends came from the church. I had to learn new things and become independent as my mom went to work. I began to see life as an adventure. I found fun in challenging myself to try new things to do and places to go. I may not have been popular, but I had something better, faith.

 

When life goes as planned, we claim that we have great faith. We go to church, read our Bible, pray, encourage others and tell everyone that Jesus has our back. The moment one little thing goes awry, some of us struggle. It’s in those times that our faith gets tested. Our response to the messy parts of life reveals our true faith.

 

So many people believe that they have failed because their lives did not go as planned, or as some young people will claim how others said it would go. No one can predict the future. People can help you plan, but if those plans get thwarted, you must find a way to redirect. That’s when the adventure starts.

 

You can follow the path that you thought would lead you to a happy and comfortable life and still not receive it. Life cannot be happy and comfortable all the time. In fact, Jesus claimed that we would have trouble, and we can turn to him for His comfort. Jesus said, “In this world you will have troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33; NIV) Jesus didn’t say He would take the troubles away. He said he has overcome the world.

 

When people see the word, “overcome,” they think it means that the problem will end, but it means prevailing or having mastery over a challenge. The challenge does not end or change. You change how you will handle it.

 

Take the time to plan. Pray over your plans, and then, take the time to pray that God will guide you when life goes awry. Strengthen your faith in times of trouble instead of running or blaming others. In those detours, pray, read your Bible, and go to church and fellowship with other Christians. Take the narrow road that many don’t travel because on that road they will have troubles, but they know that Jesus has overcome those troubles on the road, and He walks alongside them on that road. Join the road with Jesus.

 

 

You're Not a Christian If...

 If you scroll through social media or listen to the news, you will discover people who say that if you align your life with their values and political side, then you have a righteous life. They make the claim that only people who think and believe like them have a relationship with Jesus. We must follow Jesus and not people.

For centuries, people have used guilt-shaming as a manipulative device to get people to believe or do what they want. In my younger years, I allowed people to guilt-shame me. With maturity of age and growth in my faith in Christ, I refuse to give into it. I know the tricks because I’ve done them.

Some of the guilt-shaming phrases begin with the following: “If you’re really a Christian you would…” “How can you be a Christian and do…” “Here’s a verse that says you can’t do this…” You know what all these phrases have in common? Jesus never used them. Jesus said, “Follow me.” “Have faith.” “Repent and believe.” “Go and make disciples of all nations.” See, those words require action from each of us.

When I reflect on my life politically and spiritually, I can see similarities. I changed because I worked with people. I changed because when I did something to make a difference, policies got in the way, and the people I served lost and became oppressed both in the church and in the community that I served. My views changed because I remembered the most important thing. People, including politicians, cannot save you. Jesus saves.

Jesus sacrificed his life for our sins. We don’t do anything to be saved. We accept Jesus and his grace. We don’t have to believe, think, or vote a particular way for the salvation of Jesus. Once I remembered that in my earlier years, I lived my life with the purpose to serve Jesus in everything I do, especially with my career.  

Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1; NIV) Jesus does not need us to go around and point out the flaws and sins of others like the Pharisees did. He needs us to look in the mirror and repent of our own sins. If everyone did one thing to improve their life every single day, then no one would have the time to agonize over the actions or beliefs of others.

When we focus on what we can do, we get so busy that we don’t have time to fret over what others do. I tried fixing everything with my voice in education. It didn’t work. When I got into the trenches, I saw the root of the issues, and now, I am finding ways to defeat the root issue. God put me in places that I could see the root cause of the issue. I had to see God’s hand in all of it.

We can guilt-shame others, berate others, and disassociate with others who do not agree with us, or we can go and make a difference in the life of someone else and bring them into the presence of Jesus. You get to choose. Jesus saves with His grace through your faith. Jesus does not guilt-shame because he forgives. We all get to choose to follow Jesus or not. No one decides our Christianity for us. 

Leaving a Legacy

 One of my students became inspired by two seniors who prayed at their high school graduation. He wanted to do that. My mentor, Al Siebert, gave me a better goal for my student to do. He encouraged me to have my student start a Bible club at school and leave a legacy. My student did, and to this day, over twenty-five years later, the Bible club still exists. His legacy lives on.

I remember and appreciate many of the words of wisdom that Al Siebert gave to those of us who led youth ministries in the Long Beach area in the 1990s. He even continued to mentor me when I moved to Los Angeles until I left youth ministry in 2007. Al Siebert, who worked for Campus Crusade for Christ unintentionally challenged me to leave a legacy instead of a memory.

Even though Al Siebert’s words of wisdom challenged my student, when he gave those words, I longed to leave a legacy. At first, I pined after what would be things of glory and fame. After maturity, I realized that a legacy comes with the use of our gifts, talents, and passions. I also realized that being consistent and being with people brings a legacy to your name.

Leaving a true legacy requires work and passion. It also means we must fulfill God’s purpose. One Sunday at Mosaic Church in Hollywood, Erwin McManus said that you have a desire to get out of the job where you currently work, but God may have you there to fulfill His purpose. I remember that on days when I feel exhausted or frustrated with teaching. In fact, I begin to look for what God has in store for me when things don’t go the way I want them to go.

In our current society, people scream on social media that they have left a legacy with their posts and screaming of their super righteous thinking. Others on social media want fame and believe that it will leave a legacy, but it usually leaves fifteen minutes of fleeting fame. Fame does not build into a legacy. A legacy goes beyond entertainment.

Our social media posts will last forever on the Internet. Do you want them to be your legacy? Could you do more than just post on social media? Can you find a way to connect with people beyond social media? Paul writes in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (CSB) If all your deeds and words begin to glorify God, then you will begin to leave a legacy. We must strive to glorify God.

Reflect on what you do daily. How can you use those tasks to glorify God? The people you serve, must see Jesus. You glorify God when you serve God through people, not serving people just to serve them. It took me decades to understand this. Once I began serving God, I could say, “No,” to tasks that did not bring glory to God but to someone who didn’t want to do the task. The apostle Paul also stated that he would not please people but God. “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I am trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10; NIV) God wants us to serve Him and leave a legacy that reveals our love for God so others can come into the presence of God.

You don’t have to do something super large. You just use your talents, gifts and passions to serve those around you. Think of how your gift and talent will impact someone in the future. Your legacy lives within you. It’s time to let it out and share it with others.

One day, a student will enter a Bible club on a campus in a public school in the Long Beach area and meet Jesus. That student never met Al Siebert, but Al Siebert’s thumb print exists all over that club. You never know how your words of wisdom or your gifts and talents will impact someone in the future. Begin to day to find how to leave a legacy.

 

The Cost of Freedom

 “Buy one get one free” deals manipulate me to buy more than I want or need, but the fact that I get something “free” entices me. Society today struggles to understand that free stuff comes with price for both the consumer and the seller. The seller sacrificed profit, and the consumer now has too much of something that she does not need or paid the same price or close to it, if she just bought one. This whole concept made me think about freedom, both in America and in Christ.

 Freedom comes with a price.

 Throughout the 250 years that our country has existed, men and women have fought for our freedom and have sacrificed their time, strength, health, and some even their lives so we can live in a free country. If we just take the freedom and sit back and let everyone in the government take care of us, we abuse the freedom and don’t appreciate it. We also begin go lose the freedom.

 The more you allow others to just give you things, the more power and control they have over you. Corporate businesses know that they can entice customers to come and enjoy BOGO sales. Now, they have a returning customer. They also know they can raise the price of items, and you just see the word, “free.” They know consumers do not research why the item is free. They rely on our ignorance to boost their sales.

 In our country, President John F. Kennedy said, “Don’t ask what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” He understood that for protection of freedom, it required every American to do something. If everyone contributes to protecting freedom, then we have a strength as a nation to protect it.

 If we sit at home and demand that freedom means that everyone takes care of us, then we will lose freedom because those who do the work will have power over us. When we have freedom, we have the empowerment to create and have a purposeful life. When we have a purposeful life, others benefit from what we leave on this earth. When we live a life with others in control of us, we lose our desire and ability to create, and we live to survive not with a purpose.

 Jesus understood the human dilemma. He knew that humans needed freedom from sin, and he understood the temptation to sin. Jesus sacrificed everything for us to free us from our sins. Since we have freedom from sin, we can now live in Christ and with him. In Philippians 2:12, Paul said, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (NIV) That passage does not mean that we work for our salvation, but that we don’t stop at salvation from our sins. We continue to glorify God with our lives.

 The passage of working out my salvation did not make sense to me for many years. In our current times, I have taught students who want to do nothing and receive rewards for their nothingness because they have been taught that life will be better without a purpose and just let those over you have everything given to them for free. I realized that as a Christian, I must glorify God with my actions. I cannot just sit back and wait for rewards in heaven, but to live out my reward in Christ here on earth.

God created us for a purpose. We must live out that purpose. We must give him the power over our lives that empowers us to live freely in Him with a purpose to give others of our gifts and talents. His ways supersede the ways of human beings because he wants freedom for our souls. He gives us the gifts and talents to use for His purpose. When we use the gifts and talents God gives us and fulfill our purpose on earth, then our reward in heaven will be filled.

People desire freedom. We must protect it. We can only protect with living our lives with a purpose and working through our faith to find completeness in our relationship with God. Then, we can all enjoy the freedom that we desire. So, ask, not what God can do for you, but what can you do for God. This will reveal your love and trust in God.

 

 

 

Focus on Me

Scrolling through my social media, I find people judging others and calling them out for their gestures, actions, words, and thoughts. They notice other people’s sins and wrongdoings and post them for the whole world to see. While they post the sins of others, they hide their own sins. They complain that the world will never become better but worse because other people refuse to repent and change their evil ways.

Why do we focus on other people so much? Do we know we have a plank in our own eyes?

If it sounds controversial and hypocritical it is. Many people would rather point out the sins and wrongdoings of other than fix and change themselves. If they can direct people’s attention off of them, then they can continue in their own evil ways.

I encountered these ideas and words all my life in the church and Christian institutions. I am also guilty of doing the same thing. I want to hide my sins from others because I fear that they will judge me and dismiss me. I have come to understand that none of us can hide from God.  

Life seems much easier to point out the sins and evils of other people than to repent of our own sins and evils. If we take the time to fix ourselves, we will change. Change brings difficulties and reveals the truth.

We must all face the truth that we all have sin and evil in our lives. Jesus told the people in his message to take out the planks in their own eyes before attempting to take the speck of sawdust out of someone else’s eyes. He made it clear that we cannot put others people’s sins on a scale and ignore our own.

The world must become better. If I stand and point at everyone who must do the work to make the world a better place, I relieve myself from having to do anything. So many people use social media as a platform to inform others of what they must do to make the world a better place, while they sit and scroll on their devices and do nothing.

We can only begin to make the world a brighter and better place when we look into our own souls and make the changes that we must make.

 We don’t always know who we influence. We don’t know who listens or reads our words. One thing I know that most people remember what I did and not what I said or posted on social media.

When we focus on repenting of our own sins and changing our ways, someone changes. Someone does something to make the world a bit brighter. If we want the world to be better, let’s work on taking the planks out of our eyes.

 

Dreams in Los Angeles

 Even though this New Year, 2025, may have had a troubling start, we cannot give up on our dreams. In fact, maybe we need to rely on our dreams. Fires ravaged homes and created chaos in the Los Angeles area and recovery will take its time. Some people have a fire raging inside of them because life started with difficult times, or they have such investment in politics they cannot conceive Donald Trump as President. However, dreams exist.

Let us remember that on this day, as we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., that we can have a dream that celebrates other people and brings them to life. Over thirty years ago, Matthew Barnett had a dream to bring the gospel to those hurting the most in Los Angeles. He went to one of the most dangerous parks in the community at one in the morning and prayed. God told him to go to the home of gang members.

When he went to the home of those gang members, he just asked how he could help. They stared in disbelief. Soon, they came to his little church. They gave their lives to Jesus, and within time, Echo Park in Los Angeles became a community that helped one another because the Dream Center remains open 24/7.

After thirty years, many have come to Jesus. Homeless veterans, families, and those from rehabilitation have had a home at the Dream Center, so it does not come as a surprise that they have become a focal point of helping the community of Los Angeles.

People help when they see other people’s dreams destroyed. The Dream Center stands as a church that brings the healing of Jesus to the people in Los Angeles. When the world destroys our dreams, Jesus can restore us. For some of us, He gives us new dreams to pursue.

Your dreams may have been smashed at the beginning of this New Year, but you can recover and let Jesus restore you. Revisit your dreams. Do they involve helping other people or do they just make your life easier or better? Follow Jesus and your dreams will match his goals for your life that will also involve loving people.

The two greatest commands can be seen in the Los Angeles area after these fires…loving God and loving people. You can only love God when you love others. So take some time and find people in your life that could benefit from your gifts and talents and persevere this year to make those goals happen. In the end, you will have a better year for it.

Hope for 2025

 

A social media influencer in Southern California wanted to help people displaced from the fires, so he set up his hotdog cart in the Rose Bowl parking lot ready to feed 500 people. He posted it on social media to feed people. When people arrived, he got a surprise. Most people came to donate items.

With more social media posts, word spread and more people came with donations. One restaurant owner in Long Beach asked people to bring donations to his restaurant. He then brought two rental box trucks to the pop-up donation center.

The local news broadcasted it. It grew so large that they had to move since the first responders used the Rose Bowl parking lot. The pop-up donation center continues and people who have lost everything can get items that they need now.

It all started because someone wanted to bring hope to the hopeless. When the ashes fall, hope must rise so we can rebuild.

I started the New Year full of hope. I organized my social media posts for the month of January, including my blogs, worked on my daily habits, and on New Year’s Day saw one of the best Rose Bowl Parades in the last decade.  Then, on Tuesday January 7^th, fires raged in the Pacific Palisades. Then, other fires began erupting throughout Southern California including the Pasadena area.

Even though I no longer live in Los Angeles County, whenever the wind begins to rise, my heart races with thoughts if we are next here in Orange County. (This county sits south of Los Angeles County and about thirty miles from the fires and further.) My heart breaks for all the people who lost everything.

I still pray for the people in North Carolina and Florida where hurricanes devastated their homes, and I pray for Maui, another city where a fire destroyed communities. I don’t care if the people have great wealth or live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t care if they identify as a different religion, ethnicity, or gender than me. I care about humanity.

I had planned to write about hope. I believe that the start of the New Year brings us a renewed hope to do more and be better human beings. Once the fires broke out, I realized that many people began to lose hope, most of it in humanity, but they didn’t know the truth.

People brought food to the firefighters. The In ‘N Out truck gave free meals to the first responders, every non-profit organization has called for donations in all areas of Los Angeles, and people have responded with bringing what they can.

People lose hope when they sit in the darkness alone. The residents of Los Angeles have let the victims of these fires know that they are not alone. The media does not report all these acts of hope because they only want to share the bad news and the news that will get the most clicks revealing the tragedy.

We cannot lose hope even if our plans get shifted and changed. Jesus brings us His love and grace no matter what we have done. He reminds us that He will never leave our side. With Jesus in our lives, we must bring Him to those who have experienced a tragedy.

So, my goal changed for the New Year with hope. Look around your community and find the one area in which you can do something or donate. With your one act of kindness, you will give hope to the hopeless, which is what we just celebrated less than a month ago with the birth of Jesus.

 Let’s be the living hope for others. Who knows what will rise from these ashes. I hope it will be homes full of love for Jesus and other people. That can happen if we all just share one part of the hope of Jesus that we have.

 

Hope for the New Year

 I don’t remember how the tradition started. It may have been through a conversation with other youth pastors because I knew enough to only take students in their senior year of high school, but in my youth ministry career at Lakewood Christian Church, I brought students to the Rose Bowl Parade.

We camped out on New Year’s Eve after we celebrated bringing in the New Year at an amusement park with Christian concerts. We grabbed the last front row spot near the end of the parade. We saw the bomber airplanes at 8:00AM and the police escorts at 9:30AM. We camped out at night and had a blast. We learned that at 2:00AM everyone runs to the “blue line” in the street to keep their front row spot.

The parade didn’t disappoint. The beautiful floats, in which you could actually smell the flowers, and the marching bands, including UCLA greeting us with a Happy New Year before playing their fight song and performing in the Rose Bowl game, made the experience worth every freezing moment.

Fast forward to 2015 when I volunteered to help a coworker work on the floats. I did that for two years. I saw the hard work and met creators of floats. I brought in the New Year with a new formed pride of helping with those floats, as I watched them go down Colorado Boulevard on television.

These sweet memories remind me that the New Year has potential to be life changing. We all enter the New Year with so much hope, but many of us grow weary when difficult times call for us to rise to the occasion, and we just may not have the means or strength to do that. We just have to maintain our hope.

Hope. Once we lose hope, we give up on our goals. We lose hope when something comes into our path in life that causes us to turn. Our path does not remain straight but has twists and turns and ups and downs. We cannot lose hope but keep hope and put our trust in Jesus.

Jesus gives us hope, and He wants us to move and face our challenges. No journey is complete without a challenge. On that parade route so many years ago, we searched for a decent restroom in the morning. We faced the elements of the weather with wind and cold, and yet we stayed because the parade would come in the morning. The hope of the coming parade kept us on the street.

Each New Year we have hope. This year, let that hope continue throughout the entire year. Each new day brings hope for something beautiful to come your way. It may not be a parade of flowers and marching bands, but if we can march into each day with joy that God has given us a new day to bring His Word into the world, we might truly have a Happy New Year!

 

The Vote of America

 I voted in the Presidential election for the first time in 1992 in Southern California. I put my vote in the box, walked home, turned on the television, and they told me who won the election. I stared. My vote still sat at the bottom of the box. It didn’t count. Now, when I go on social media to see the life of my friends, I have people explaining that if I don’t vote like them, I’m doomed and will lose my salvation, which the Bible does not endorse.  How would that happen if my vote didn’t even count? 

Other people on social media scream that when we vote, we do the most important thing that we can ever do. I disagree. I did the most important thing in my life when I gave my life to Christ. 

Something in our country must change. We must not give into the same deeds of the media and taunt and call people names or threaten the salvation of others. We cannot allow the wrong voices to lead us into an area that we don’t belong. 

Jesus did not come to die on the cross so we would have the freedom to vote. In fact, the Israelites waited for a political king and got Jesus, a sacrificial king who died for our sins. Voting has importance, but it has its place, and we must keep it in its place. 

Whoever becomes the leader of the country, the state, or city does not determine your life. You make your life. You must discover how you can manage living in a world in which people think and believe differently than you. It may not always be safe and comfortable, but it will be a world in which you can live for Jesus. So, how do we get to this point? 

1. Stop Guilt-Shaming

One of the manipulative tactics that affected my spiritual faith from the church came in the form of guilt-shaming. Guilt shaming questions your Christianity. In the political world, people use it to question how a Christian could vote for a specific candidate or a policy. Jesus never guilt-shamed. 

Our salvation does not rely on how we vote every four years. Jesus didn’t shed his blood for you to manipulate people or guilt-shame them. Could Christinas be sinning with their vote? Absolutely. You know what? Focus on your sins, and the ones that you need Jesus to take from you, and America will be a better country. 

When you respond to someone guilt-shaming, call them out on the guilt-shaming and not the rhetoric. You will not win them over with, “But your side believes…” Point out that when they guilt-shame, they sin because they commit the sin of lying because manipulation fits in the arena of lying. 

2. Listen to the other side to understand

I voted Republican, Democrat, and Independent. If you listened to my story, you would understand my vote. We must start at the root of the problem. Most of the political issues have a root that must be upended. Work on discovering the root issue with the party you support and begin uprooting it to find a solution. 

Most voters want our country to have freedom and help each other, but different visions of how to do that. People have a different journey than you. Instead of screaming on social media, listen. 

Listen. Ask questions. Don’t demonize. Don’t guilt-shame the other person. Listen. Listen to the heart of someone. Find what you have in common. 

When you listen, see the individual. One of the quotes about Auschwitz stated that the Nazi’s gained power over the Jews because they saw people as a group and not an individual. Just because ethnicity, a religion, or a career does something doesn’t mean everyone associated with that does that same thing. 

Do Something

It may sound trite to not be so concerned with the election, but the fact remains that we must live and do life not just wring our hands because we don’t agree with who leads the country, state, or city. 

If you have an immense passion about an issue, then begin to serve and volunteer within that area. If you already do that, step up and find the root cause of why the issue exists. You may be surprised that your political pundits have caused more problems than solutions. I did. 

When I started working in the urban community in education, I thought I could make a difference in those schools, and the education system would change. I was wrong. It took me four years to discover the root issue of the deplorable conditions of the academics in the schools in our poor communities. 

Find your passion. Go volunteer. You will discover that problems can be solved when you do something because solutions come with acts of love not passive acts on a device. 

Love with the love of Jesus

People on both sides of the political aisle love to quote Jesus to fit their agenda. Then, they guilt-shame or berate those who vote differently than them. They do not display the love of Jesus. Jesus loves everyone. Have you seen the commercials “He Gets Us”? I don’t care who does those. I fear that too many judgmental people don’t hear the message of those commercials: Jesus loves everyone. 

Jesus loves democrats, republicans, independents, and even those who choose not to vote. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to go the extra mile for them. He didn’t tell us to eliminate them from our lives. 

In 1988, I asked my friends at my small Christian college which college basketball team should I cheer for in the NCAA tournament. My Indiana friends said Indiana University, and my Kentucky friends said the University of Kentucky. On spring break that year, I watched the Final Four and found my team. They had the best looking guy in the tournament! I chose Duke University, and yes, that cute guy was Christian Laettner. I’ve been a Duke fan ever since. So, telling me who to vote for could result in me still picking my own choice. 

Follow Jesus. Follow the two greatest commands: Love God and Love people, including those who voted differently than you. Our country will be better because of it. 

Art Offends

 Art offends. Art is subjective. The opening of the 2024 Olympics offended some, and some saw the beauty of art. I found most of it repulsive and the 1980s screaming that they want their fashion back! I also had disappointment that the focus moved off the athletes and focused on art. No matter who hosts the Olympics, the focus is sports, even if the artsy fartsy people of this world do not like sports. 

The problem didn’t exist in the art. It existed in the responses to the response of the art. Does it sound confusing? Let me explain. The responses to some people’s response to the opening ceremony remind me of why I struggled with the church. 

I struggled in the church because people would call me ignorant or laugh at my claims. One claim got securely founded when a congregation erupted in applause when the pastor said the exact same claim. I felt validated in my claims and my beliefs, but the healing from the insults and gaslighting took years to overcome. 

Telling me not to be offended can be a form of gaslighting. At least, that’s what all the offended people on social media inform me when they get offended by conservatives. Anyone can be offended. No one has ignorance because they get offended. You don’t know everything about their life and what can trigger them. 

We must stop gatekeeping. Here’s how you learn to look at art. Look at it. What do you see? Take the example of a picture of the ocean. Some can see a beautiful ocean. Others see a monster of danger depending on their life experiences with water. The artist may have depicted peace or the depth of life. Your view may differ from the artist’s origin of thought.  

I have heard many screenwriters claim that it makes them smile how people see their film, but that they never intended for it to be taken in the way the people viewed it. Some artists do create art to offend and make a message. They love the response that they receive. They love the conflicts that it produces, and so many of us fall right into it. 

So, how do we move from gaslighting and being offended that someone gets offended? We take a step in the other person’s shoes. In other words, we put the words of Jesus into practice. “Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.” (Matthew 6:31; CSB) Do you want people to tell you not to be offended? Do you want people to call you stupid? If you don’t, then stop doing it to others, even on social media. 

First, realize that people get offended because of their lived experiences and beliefs. Humble yourself and realize, especially on social media, you don’t know everything about everybody. Let them be offended. Validate their point of view. “I see how that can hurt.” Then, explain how you see it. “This is what I see.” Validating people’s huts brings peace and conflicts can be avoided. 

Next, don’t respond. You don’t have to respond to everything on social media. I started responding to this stupid debate over the opening of the 2024 Olympics and immediately regretted it. I’m not boycotting sports. I’m cheering hard for those young people who do incredible things with their physical bodies and have worked so hard. The young people sitting at home need to learn from the hard work and their determination. 

Finally, find a way to be productive. Post art that brings healing rather than controversy. For those of you who live in the USA, when the Olympics return to our country in 2028, come and serve. They need volunteers for the events. Meet the tourists and with your kindness represent Jesus. Find a way to heal the many who will come with all kinds of hurts. 

We must do better as human beings. The church has struggled with gaslighting and using harmful words, but I see progress that many leaders have attempted to teach their congregation to be better. We can all be better. Let art offend. Then, let the light of Jesus bring healing to a world that has so much hurt. Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous but the sinners. Let’s reach out to those who need Jesus. 

For my Olympic viewer friends: GO USA! 

Summer Break

Every child looks forward to summer break from school. You get a break from the monotony of the schedule of waking up early, having an early bedtime, and no schoolwork. Teachers enjoy the break from lesson planning and grading. Parents get a break when the kids go back to school. 

Everyone needs a break or vacation or a rest. Society tells us to keep going even when our body has complete exhaustion. Looking at scripture, God demands that we take a break or a rest. 

God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. (You can argue the time frame of those seven days because a day is like a thousand years to God, but the point remains that he took a rest from creating.) In the ten commandments, God commanded the Israelites to take a Sabbath from their work. He even commanded them to take a year of jubilee every seven years so the land could rest from planting and harvesting. 

Since God created a time for humans to rest, we must rest. We must stop with excuses and create times in our lives to rest. Unlike school children, you may not be able to take a two month break from work, but with consistent times of rest, you can become more productive in your family, friendships, and your career. 

First, put rest in your weekly schedule. You can create time with family or friends in that time, but make sure not to do any work. As a teacher, I had to develop the skill of doing work at school and be creative with lesson planning and grading while at school. Guard your time off from people who want to fill it with tasks that become burdensome, that includes the church. 

Along with scheduling a day of the week to stop and rest, schedule time in your daily schedule rest. Cut off your screen time and go to bed at a specific time. Your smartphone has a bedtime app you can use. This also helps with health. Once I got into this habit this last year, I had better results with being less tired and even lost weight

Find a hobby that relaxes you and brings creativity into your life. This means putting down the devices, unless you read from a device, and bring peace into your life with enjoyment of a hobby. You don’t have to create a masterpiece of art or even share with everyone what your hobby is, but the less time you spend online and the more you spend on something purposeful, the stronger you will become. 

God took a rest to set the example that we must rest. Don’t let others guilt-shame you into thinking that you must serve at a specific task all the time, or the church will crumble. God has more power than any human. The church will stand with or without your service. Take the time to rest and guard it from guilt-shaming people. You may need to dissolve those relationships so you can have healthy decisions in your life. 

With the heat of summer upon us, take the time to schedule in days of rest. It may be a slow start, but the more you do it, the more you will crave more. The more you rest and regather your thoughts, the better your life becomes. Let God lead you to rest this week. Who knows, you might find the one thing that you needed to be doing all along. 

One Shining Moment

 “The ball is tipped, and there you are. You’re running for your life. You’re a shooting star.”  This line gets sung by every college basketball player during the tournament. All of them hoping to win a championship, but all of them desiring that one shining moment that they get to be in the spotlight for that montage of great plays at the end of the tournament.

For some, like the players at Grand Canyon University, they know they will not play professional basketball. For others, they hope that their shining moment will propel them into the professional league. Whatever it is, it’s good to recognize our shining moments.

Throughout my life, people have noticed and pointed out my flaws. I have many of them. I know that. Many times, including Christians, people do not recognize our shining moments. Since other people don’t recognize them, we think that they don’t exist or that we just need to humble ourselves and sweep our shining moments under the rug, but that’s not letting our light shine.

Our shining moments reveal the use of our gifts and talents that God has given us. We can be humble and still acknowledge our shining moments. If we don’t recognize our shining moments, we then struggle to repeat them, and they need repeating because people need the light of Jesus.

So, how do we acknowledge our shining moments and remain humble? I wish I had put this into practice better than I do, but I have seen this set as an example, and it has a unique beauty. My professors at my colleges that saw my abilities had that unique way of letting their light shine without bragging. They accepted praise and didn’t apologize for it. They continued to grow and move forward.

 Moving forward disables bragging and acknowledges what you have done well. When you stay stuck, you just want to repeat the shining moment and live in that moment forever, but you can’t. You must move to the next level.

Society will try to silence you. They get on social media and tell you to be quiet and let others, who have not helped anyone, shine. They claim that you speak too much. They don’t want you to be successful in your talents and gifts because they are filled with envy. If we don’t share our light, then we become greedy. Greed and envy will destroy any society.

If we don’t share our light, which consists of our gifts and talents, then we hoard the love of Jesus and have become greedy with our faith. Just because some people in society want to silence others doesn’t mean Christianity is under attack. It means we allow other people to monitor and control what we do. We cannot hide.

We don’t have to stand on the street corner and scream at people. We just need to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to bring someone into the presence of Jesus. The more we use those gifts and talent, the more people see Jesus.

Our talents could be baking for others, painting, creating homemade cards, singing, balancing budgets for individuals or churches or other groups that desperately need a balanced budget. We can write, meet with others, and empower them with our encouraging words. We can read and research the truth. We can have conversations instead of trying to prove to everyone how right we are. Whatever we do, we can use our strengths to bring glory to God.

So, this week, find your shining moment. Document it. Share it with a friend or family member. Let it be in the montage of your memory. In the end, you will be able to sing. “And when it’s done, win or lose, you always did your best because inside you knew that One Shining Moment you reached deep inside. One shining moment, you knew you were alive.”

 

Palm Sunday-Living by Faith and Not Fear

Having knowledge of the events of Palm Sunday did not increase my faith. Experiencing a church taking a risk and moving on Palm Sunday increased my faith in God and the church. The church decided to move, literally. The pastor, Erwin McManus made the announcement at the end of the service. “Join us next week for Easter at our new location in Hollywood.” I would like to explain the reaction of the congregants that day, but I can’t because I wasn’t there.

Our church met on the campus of Beverly Hills High School. The announcement of the move would create commutes for the people who attended the services at the school campus. In Los Angeles, commuting can be an inconvenience. You can leave with time to spare and get caught in a traffic jam on side streets and arrive for the worship service to start in the evening. I had no idea how this move would end.

Not only did the congregants go to that worship service on Easter, they took time out of their week to go to the location and prepare the old church for an Easter service. With all the sweeping and dusting, we could see the particles of dust shining through the windows in the service, but God worked in ways because we moved.

Since that move, Mosaic Hollywood has made an impact on the community in Hollywood. People from all walks of life came to Jesus. The tour buses stop at the front of the church and explain how the church renovated the old building and has many services. The praise team created their own praise songs that many churches have added to their repertoire.

That Palm Sunday that the pastor informed the congregation about the move allowed God to work in my own faith in the church which had been tarnished after sixteen years of full-time ministry. I come from a home church that fought over the color of carpet. I worked in churches that whenever people wanted to do something innovative, they created committees that sat around and talked but did not act. This time, a church acted.

Having a church service in a school requires payment for rent. The owner of the building on Hollywood Blvd. offered us a year of free rent. We moved in on the first week of that free rent. God supplied and the church responded. We must all move when God calls us.

On the first Palm Sunday, most Christian teachers focus on the people waving palm branches for Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on a donkey. What most people omit is the part that since Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead, the religious leaders wanted to arrest and kill Jesus if he entered Jerusalem. Jesus didn’t just enter, he came in with pomp and circumstance. He exemplified living by faith and not fear.

We had to move. It meant that we would change. Our small gathering grew into many gatherings because we added more people. Change comes because we have grown. We must always grow. We can only grow and change when we take a step of faith and leap and not fear what the future could hold.

Too many Christians choose to live in fear. They want to be comfortable. Jesus said that the peace he gives is not of the world. He gives us contentment throughout our trials. He doesn’t take the trials away from us. He gives us the tools to thrive during trials. We must decide if we will choose comfort and fear or faith and risk.

Risk, change, and growth bring trepidation, but they all create a way for God to work in our lives. Palm Sunday will always be the day that God worked in my heart and revealed people who step up and step out.

This next week, many Christians all over the world take time to remember the sacrifice Jesus did for us. He died for us. He could have had angels rescue Him, but he took the leap of faith and died for us. This next week, find a way to live in faith and not fear. It may be inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it will be life changing.

He Gets Us

 “Jesus doesn’t Hate. He Gets Us.” The words filled the screen after the plethora of images of people washing other people’s feet. Then, the Internet blew up. “Heretics!!!” “He doesn’t condone sin!!!!” Did the ad say that he condoned sin? Did Jesus ignore and judge sinners or did he eat with them? Did he wash the feet of eleven, no ten, righteous disciples, or did he also wash the feet of Judas who betrayed him hours later and Peter who denied him three times hours later? Jesus loves everyone. He wants us to serve others to reveal the love that Jesus has for them. That’s where it BEGINS. 

“But they showed washing the feet of a woman outside an abortion clinic!!! Jesus wouldn’t do that!” So, your church would accept all sinners except women who have had an abortion? So, Jesus can’t forgive those who had abortions? Are you limiting the grace of Jesus? Does your church limit the love and grace of Jesus? I’ m not condemning those who have screamed, and I’m not condoning sin, but I am going to proclaim that those behind this campaign got it right this time. 

People get offended if you breathe wrong, so I’m done with people being offended. I got this because Jesus does get us. Some of you get ready because you will get offended. 

Jesus loves all of us with all the filthy sins that we obtain. I never understood why so many Christians expected people to clean up their lives on their own before they came to Jesus who forgives all sin. Jesus healed people when He walked on earth, but He also forgave their sins. Jesus came for the sinners not the righteous. Although Christians believe in the love and grace of Jesus, we struggle for sinners to walk into our presence and especially our churches. 

“You have to stop letting the BAD kids come to this youth group. Church is for the good kids whose parents come here.” Said the parent of one of my students in youth ministry whose kid wreaked havoc everywhere he went. I looked at her confused. I said something like, “Jesus wants all the children to come to him.” I then walked away disappointed and confused. My youth ministry just started reaching the kids in the community, and the righteous church goers didn’t want them. So, when I say getting fired was the best thing that happened to me, this was just one of those reasons. 

In my years of attending church, Lakewood Christian, Mosaic Church, and Eastside Christian have always allowed sinners to enter. They allow Jesus’s power to work. People don’t come to Jesus because they see Christian’s super righteous behavior or ideals. They come to Jesus because they experience His love. The only way people can experience the love of Jesus is through Christians demonstrating His love by serving them. 

We cannot limit who we serve. We cannot just serve the righteous. The Dream Center in Los Angeles has served anyone and everyone without any questions. The community around them changed for the better. The love of Jesus spread into the lives of people who many would deem undesirable. 

So here comes the righteous. “If we love them, then we tell them the truth.” That’s correct. Ephesians 4:15 informs us to speak the truth in love. We serve and wash their feet. Then, they see the love of Jesus. Missionaries told me people come to Jesus when they trust you. Trust takes time. For the people screaming, it’s taken many of us time to trust and love you. 

Others criticize those behind this campaign that the money could be spent on the poor. Don’t quote Judas. If you want money to go to the poor, give your money to the poor. This commercial reached people. It made people think. That’s why people screamed. We don’t want to serve. We want others to see our great righteousness, and then we become confused that they just see our flaws and sins. Let’s love with serving. 

Here’s the challenge. Rewatch the commercial. Find that person in your life that you need to wash their feet. Don’t lecture or give a sermon, just serve them and their needs. Then, watch Jesus do His work. Then, maybe you will see that, "He Gets Us." That is the true love. Now, have a Happy Valentine’s Day with chocolate and an attitude of humility to love. 

“Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, so not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a; CSB) 

Revisiting the New Year's Goals

 Th gyms have become empty which make me wonder how everyone is doing on their New Year goals. We have completed one whole month of the New Year. How are you doing on your goals? Did you set any goals? Did you create habits to reach your goals in the beginning of the month, and did not keep up with them toward the end of the month? Did you even start? Many people see the month of February as the month of love. We focus on loving others and doing kind things for others that we forget to focus on loving ourselves. Jesus even made it clear that we must love ourselves. 

When I grew up in the church, they tried to teach me that loving myself went against the Bible. When I went to Mosaic Church in Hollywood, Erwin McManus revealed to me an important part of the second greatest commandment. The first command is to love God. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30; CSB) We all strive to love God in all these areas. It’s the second command that many people struggle to read. “The second is, Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF.” (Mark 12:31; CSB) You cannot love others until you love yourself. 

Jesus lived in a society where people loved themselves. They understood how to love themselves. They struggled to love others. Today, we struggle with both of them because if we can’t love ourselves, how can we love others? Having goals and creating healthy habits to reach our goals are ways that we can love ourselves, which in turn becomes loving others. 

It may not be the first day of the New Year or even the first day of the second month, but it is a new day. Set goals for yourself and create daily habits that will push you towards your goals. This reveals just one way that you love yourself. When you can work towards your goals, you can help others in your life. When you get too busy helping others and forget about yourself, you become useless to both others and you. I know because I did that in youth ministry and my ministry and I struggled. 

People grow. When you stay stuck and think you can help others, the growth becomes stunted. When you grow, others around you see it, and they want to grow too. Find the time to work on your healthy habits. Take one thing away or spend less time on an unhealthy habit like mindlessly watching television or binge watching or social media or playing games on devices. These can all become my vices. I have discovered that with less time on my unhealthy habits and more time on my healthy habits, I have become better at reaching my goals. 

So, take the time to revisit your goals or make goals. Decide to grow in 2024 and work on creating healthy habits. You can always start fresh and new every day. God created each day for us. Let’s honor him with our time and habits to create a better life so others can see the love He has. When we love ourselves, we can love others, and that connects to God’s love. 

The Strength of Brotherhood/Sisterhood

 Many people can recite the words of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech about black and white children walking hand in hand as sisters and brothers. He also had a dream about former slaves and former slave owners. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) The table of brotherhood can be powerful with uniting any group of people. 

We live in a divided society. Some people believe we cannot speak to those who think or believe differently than them, much less look differently than them. Others believe that they cannot tolerate those whose political views differ from them because they do not have knowledge, wisdom, or anything worthy of being a human being. Maybe social media divided us. Maybe our schools have failed our young people. Maybe people just found unique ways to remain prejudiced against people who live differently, think differently, and believe differently than them. 

No matter how hard you try to justify it, prejudice ruins a society. We cannot fight prejudices alone. We must work together to slay the incorrect ideas that lie in the depths of the heart of the nation. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted justice for all people. He wanted justice and equality. He didn’t want us to be enemies, but to join in brotherhood. Brotherhood. The word brotherhood means we stand together knowing that blood is thicker than water with those with whom we stand. 

I am a Duke basketball fan. Any basketball player that ever played at Duke has become part of the brotherhood. The blood of the Duke basketball family runs thick, even for players that may not have had good relations with other players. When a Duke basketball player, current or former, excels or fails, the entire brotherhood rejoices or mourns. They stand together. 

Brotherhood means you stick together and work together to build a dynasty. Duke basketball receives hate from other college basketball programs. Do you know why? A Duke hater admitted that everyone hates Duke because they are so darn good. Imagine if America followed Martin Luther King’s dream of people working tighter in brotherhood and sisterhood. Imagine the force and dynasty our country would have. Other countries may hate us, but hating someone because they use unity to build a dynasty comes from jealousy. 

Building bridges brings strength. Tearing down bridges creates chaos. Chaos brings fights and wars. People in our society, dissatisfied with their own lives, want to create chaos, fights, and wars. They create chaos over words, names, and religious battles that they don’t understand. They do this all in the name of justice and equality. Division does not bring justice or equality. 

I may not understand all the words of Martin Luther King Jr. I may not understand all the injustices that have developed in our society or still remain in our society. I do see the injustices in education, and instead of the leaders working to fix them, they decided to fight over issues that have nothing to do with injustices, and the real injustices stay in place, but with a united group of people fighting for children, they will end.  

People will criticize how you celebrate this holiday. Let them criticize. Challenge yourself to right a wrong. It can be within your family, church, schools, or community. If individuals would begin to work on injustices within their own lives, then the world will become the place that they desire. It just takes a little bit of work. Find a way to create a community of brotherhood or sisterhood around you. The strength of others will strengthen you. May we find the strength to fight for the freedom and justice for all.