My BHAG

I became acquainted with a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG) in reading the  book Built To Last, and adapted it to my personal life.  I am now working on refining it.  I don’t want to wake up in the morning and do an inventory of my  physical problems (a current danger, and if I start there, I will stay there all day) but goals that rise out of why God has placed me in this culture.  I want them to be big, hairy, and audacious, because God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, more than I can ask or think, according  to His power at work in me! (Eph  3:20)  Besides, Goethe said, "Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.” – especially my heart!

 

Dick Robinson

IT WASN'T THE END!

I was typing Saturday at 6:00 PM, the time Harold Camping had predicted the world would end. For a moment I pondered the foolishness of setting dates, then looked out the window and imagined what it will be like when Jesus does return; the trumpet sound, the skies splitting, seeing Him… What a moment!  I think it is getting close.

 

Dick Robinson

Grieving

There have been seven deaths in the church family in the past ten days.  A number of church members, relatives, immediate family and loved ones of people in the church have passed away (just now, as I was typing this up, a member stopped in my office to tell me of his uncle that just died).

Paul wrote and said, "Brothers, we do not want you to...grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope" (1 Thess. 5:13).  Paul is saying that faith helps us to grieve differently -- hopefully -- confidently.

The saddest funeral I was ever part of was that of a woman who died in Florida.  She was flown back to Illinois and I was asked to have her funeral.  She had one son.  At the funeral service, in the funeral home chapel, there were a total of 7 people -- me, the son, and five others.  When the service ended, the son just stayed in his seat for over 40 minutes.  Neither mother nor son had faith and both of them lived lives closed off from others.  The only thing I could talk about was that God was available to comfort him and that people need Jesus.

Contrast that with the funerals of late in our congregation where there have been singing and laughter and joy.  Don't misunderstand, we grieve; Paul admits that we grieve -- we just grieve differently.  The worship center and fellowship hall have been full with loving support.  And what we are talking about is God's goodness and grace and promises and love and faithfulness.  We are talking about heaven and seeing our loved ones again.  And we are talking about what a blessing they were to us in their life.

Oh, yes!  God is still available to comfort us.  And more than ever we are convinced that people need Jesus.  But praise be to God, we don't have to grieve like those who have no hope!

One Of Satan's Most Effective Lies...

One of Satan's most effective lies is when he prompts us to question God’s goodness in the face of current circumstance, saying “it isn’t fair!” “We have been good; good things ought to happen to us.”

There are things in this world that are not fair. My illness is not one of them – Jesus said storms come, Matt. 7:25. It bothers me when someone says, “It is not fair that you have this disease”. I have a picture on my computer that I keep to remind me of what is not fair. It is of a starving Sudanese child, crawling in the dust toward a feeding center. . A vulture is a few feet away, watching her, waiting.

I live in a comfortable home -- she crawls in the dust. I have hospitals, doctors, and medicine to make me more comfortable – she lacks even the essentials of life. I have many friends that help me -- she lacks one person to pick her up and take her a few hundred yards to the feeding station.

God’s will for us:  “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  I Thess. 5:16-18

Dick Robinson

PS: Next time you feel sorry for yourself, remember this:  If  you make $24,000.00 per year, you are in the top 10% of the world’s wealthiest. If you make $80,000.00 per year, you are in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest.

EMPOWERED!

I read this prayer several times a week to remind myself of the power that is in the Christ follower – the same power that raised Jesus from the grave!  After dwelling on this passage, I feel I want to do something significant with my life, and there is nothing I cannot handle.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:17-21 NIV)

Dick Robinson

I Need Good Friday!

“I wonder why God has done this to you” is the most troubling comment made to me since my diagnosis. I wish I  had a voice to respond, because I wonder why any Christ Follower would say that God capriciously hands out suffering.

I do not know why this has happened, nor do I care.  There are many things I have seen in life that I do not understand; that is what I think “walking by faith” means.

That’s why Good Friday is important to me. I will marinate my soul in the wonder that Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20) and align my life more perfectly to His will.  In light of His love for me, I will ponder the assurance it gives: “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to  come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:37-39 (NASB).

Dick Robinson

Happy Easter

Several years ago a Presidential election turned on the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid!"  The mantra meant that the key issue was the economy.  

I was raised not to call anyone stupid, and I don't except for occasional outbursts when I'm driving.  But I would like the world to know -- "It's the resurrection, __________!"  It all boils down to the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then He is not the Messiah, the Christ, Lord or Savior.  But if He did...then He is all those things and more.  If He did rise from the dead, then He did die on the cross for my sins; then He is the way, the truth, the life and there is no other way to God except through Him; then He has a rightful claim to be Lord of my life; then I am lost without Christ; then there really is a heaven and hell; then there is eternal life; then He is coming again.
  
"It's the resurrection, ___________!" means that because of Easter there is forgiveness, and life, and hope, and an eternity.  It means that God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son.  

Happy Easter!