March 20, 2006: There is still time on the clock

I love the NCAA basketball tournament. It is both exciting and maddening at the same time. If I was assigned to chose a verse from the Bible to be the theme of the NCAA, it would be I Corinthians 10:12: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

No matter how great a ball team is, we see them go down year after year in this crazy tournament. And no matter how insignificant a ball team is, we see them picking up wins.

The Bible often draws on sports for lessons in life, and this makes a great application. Right now, you might be ranked high, on a winning streak, and leading by 15 points. But that little sin or temptation that you don't think is important, that little omission or thought or misguided affection, is waiting to pull an upset. The golden rule in college basketball is to get the game over quickly...do not let that little team hang around. Get up by more than 40 points, because only then are you safe. For the little team that is allowed to hang around can make a run at the end, and a last-second three pointer can send you packing. Squash that temptation--jump on it early--don't let it hang around where it can turn on the pressure, make some lucky shots, and beat you!

By the same token, you may be the little team. Perhaps there is an insurmountable obstacle in your way...a giant of biblical proportions.

You may be bloodied, bruised, battered, being beaten by basket after basket. Don't give up...there is still time on the clock...there is still hope...and you can be the Northwestern State, the little team that makes a run and wins the game! God delights in having the little guy upset the heavy favorite (reread I Samuel 17).

~Pastor Brian

March 15, 2006:  Dive In!

Well, on my vacation I went SNUBA diving. Snuba is a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving, for those who are not trained for deep-sea diving. Basically, its scuba diving with your tank remaining on top of the water in a raft and a hose going to your respirator (which is in your mouth, under the water). Now, before I write anything else...SNUBA diving is a great idea, and the company we went with did a great job...but I didn't!

I am claustrophobic...not the kind where I can't stand to be in a small room or an elevator...I'm ok with that. But, if I'm closed in where I can't move, well, I flip out.

The moment my head went under the water in the dive I felt the claustrophobia hit.

Now, I can't stand to be afraid of stuff. I've white water rafted, jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet, done a lot of daring stuff. But, in that first instant, I felt that primal panic that I only get when I'm closed in a tight space. But I told myself...I will not give in to this! I prayed, I attempted to calm myself, I used logic...all the things that normally work any time I have a fear about anything.

But these things don't work for me when it comes to claustrophobia. By sheer determination I went down under the water, I held back my fears, till I looked around and didn't see anyone anywhere--I spun around and didn't see anyone anywhere--and then I rocketed up, spit out my respirator, got reprimanded for that foolish action, put my respirator back in, pulled the raft to me, jumped up on the raft, and lay there physically trembling--my dive was over!

No embarrassment or determination or logic or force could get me to go back under the water again.
The only way I could ever scuba dive is if I was transformed inside by an external power...

And that's the way it is with us humans and God. Simply by using logic, emotion, or will we can not make ourselves want to come to Him. Because we have an instinctive sin nature, we naturally run from God. Romans 3:11 says that "there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God."

It may look like some people are seeking God, but really we humans seek anything other than God...we even make our own gods, or try to make the true God into something He's not, because our nature panics at the idea of meeting up with the One true God as He really is. That's why so many people avoid even visiting a Bible-believing church.

But, when God starts to call us, when He works inside our heart, He is able to draw us to Himself in spite of our natural aversion to and terror of Him (John 6:44). And when we respond to that call in faith, He transforms us so that we love Him and long to be with Him. So, becoming a Christian isn't something we do completely on our own...but neither is it something that God forces us to do. He takes away our fear of the water of life so that we can freely dive in--and that swim beats snuba diving, any day!!!

~Pastor Brian

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