Need A Hug?

Hugs are great! Nothing beats a hug to express love or to lift someone up. I love giving and receiving hugs. Don't you? 

I noticed a couple of things about this week's hugs though that has led me to write this story. The first one is this - hug conversations.

Have you had any conversations whilst hugging lately? That is, talking WHILE you're hugging. They are wonderful! Always short and to the point. Here's a sampling of mine this week.

"Love you, brother."

"Love you too."

"How are you feeling?"

"You mean right now? Great!"

"It's been too long."

"I know!"

A second characteristic about hugs is their duration and intensity. I had one intense hug this week that was, well, let's just say that I will NOT have to visit a chiropractor anytime soon. I'm not complaining! My back feels great!!

Then there's the duration of the hug. According to the psychologists at the University of London, the most effective hugs last between five and ten seconds. Psychology Today suggests 20-second hugs are the most therapeutic.

Whatever the duration or intensity of our hugs, the most important thing is the giving and receiving of them.

You see, we all have a "personal space." Anytime someone enters that space without permission, we feel uneasy and tend to back away.

But whenever someone allows us to enter, or offers to share their personal space with us in a compassionate gesture, that truly is special. Be grateful. And keep those people close.

I watched our granddaughter give out hugs this weekend. Is there anything more innocent and representative of love than hugs from a child? She reminded me of these words from Jesus.

“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them." - Mark 10:14-16

The Apostle Paul tells us several times in his letters to the churches to "Great each other with a holy kiss."

Maybe that was their way of hugging back in the day. In today's world though, I think I'll just stick to the hugs.

Good vs Evil

I had two memorable encounters with humans yesterday. In the span of two minutes, God taught me something about Himself and revealed something about me.

Each Tuesday I go visit my friends at the place I used to work. I really look forward to Tuesdays - the conversations, the laughs, the hugs.

As part of my Tuesday trip I stop at our local McDonald's for a couple of cheeseburgers and a large Diet Coke. The drive-thru line was long and frustrating. I spent so much time staring at the white SUV in front of me I felt like I knew the owner.

Wisconsin plates starting with AGG-, the car was clean (not a speck of dirt on it), it was driven by a woman (painted fingernails and bracelet). Her credit card apparently wasn't working. She had to stick it in the machine twice!

Finally the car in front of me moved ahead and it was time for ME to pay for my order.

"That won't be necessary, sir. The person in front of you paid for your order."

What? Really? I waved a 'thank you wave' towards the car in front of me and it was gone.

I spent the next few minutes feeling grateful. I said a prayer of thanks and prayed for the woman who had just bought me lunch. Then a dark colored SUV pulled out in front of me and I had to slam on the brakes.

They were still moving rather slowly so I steered to the left so they could see me in their left side mirror. Suddenly the dark grey car swerved to the right and stepped on the brakes again. I was then given a one-finger salute.

During this second exchange I did nothing wrong. I didn't honk my horn, I didn't return the hand gesture, I just took it in stride.

As I got on the freeway I thought about the two vehicles I had just met. The clean, white vehicle was filled with grace and compassion. The dirty grey car had nastiness behind the wheel and was clearly looking out for "number one."

I am glad I encountered grace first, then the bad. Because someone had extended grace to me I was more likely to offer it to others. If it would have happened the other way around - frustration then grace - would I have returned the salute? Would I have tailgated them for a block or two? Who knows.

I quickly forgot about the dirty car and decided to be more like the clean car as I encounter others in my life.

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." - Romans 12:9-12

Purity

"On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel." - Nehemiah 13:1-3

When you hear the word purity, what do you think of? Free from dirt or im-PURE-ities? Free from moral fault or guilt? Chaste? Pure blood or unmixed ancestry? A virgin? These are some of the things listed in Meriam-Webster's dictionary. How about us? Are we "pure?"

In the verses above, the Book of Moses was talking about mixed ancestry. God wanted Israel pure. Not following after false gods, not intermarrying with other people groups. In the New Testament pure has a different meaning - sinless, spotless.

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God." - 1 Peter 1:18-23

As we look in the mirror, do we see someone who is pure? No. Do we see purity in our politicians? Our newspapers? Our newscasts? Our schools? Our churches? I don't see it.

What has happened to us? Where is the passion? The weeping? The anguish over our sin and disobedience to God? We have it too easy in this country. We want everything "for free!" We want everything given to us. Why? Because WE are our own gods. We don't need anything.

Just like in the Old Testament, God will remind us of our disobedience. The day is coming, and it is coming soon, when it will be too late to repent and seek God. Unless we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ we ALL will experience TRUE anguish.

Our faith in Jesus is what makes us pure. We become the virgin bride, pure and dressed in white, through our faith, not through works. Why? Because Jesus was pure and spotless, without blemish. He died and imputed all those qualities to us . . . in the eyes of God.

Let's get on our knees today and thank God for His forgiveness for we ALL have sinned mightily. We are far from pure. We have no purity of our own. But Jesus . . . thank God for Jesus!

A Call To Anguish - David Wilkerson

Bring The Rain

Are you having sex outside of marriage? Are you more concerned about football than you are about worship? Do you care more about money or work than about God, family or others? Then this is your lucky day!

There is a rather ugly word in the Bible - fornication. Here is its definition.

fornication - consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.

Here is the word used in a sentence.

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Does that scare you? You're not alone. Verses nine and ten include a lot of people in our society today. Here's an encouraging verse to go along with these two convicting ones. Verse 11.

"And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." - 1 Corinthians 6:11

What? You mean there's hope? A way out? YES!! Here's all you have to do:

1. Go to God in prayer 
2. Seek His forgiveness.
3. Read His Word.
4. KEEP His Word.

The good news is God loves us. He wants the best for us. And by "the best" I mean He wants a marriage relationship with you! No adultery. No fornication. Purity! He wants us to have no sex outside of marriage - no relationships with idols outside of our marriage with Him. God wants to be first in our lives, not something we do on Sundays. Everyday! Every minute of every hour. God loves us! How much do we love Him?

"Drip down, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour down righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it." - Isaiah 45:8

Bring the rain.

Bring The Rain - MercyMe

Fluffy And Beautiful

I just got back inside after shoveling all of the snow out our driveway for the umpteenth time. Snow looks rather nice after it falls. Everything it so clean and white. Appearances can however be deceiving.

My wife and I bought the lot where our house now sits in mid-winter. It was covered with fluffy, beautiful snow then too. That's why we bought it. It was beautiful! Then the snow melted and we finally saw what was underneath. We spent many hours that spring cleaning up beer cans, newspaper, plastic bags - all kinds of garbage. We still love our lot but we were unaware of the debris we bought along with it,

We humans are a lot like snow covered ground. We can look all fluffy and beautiful on the outside but inside we also can be filled with garbage and all kinds of junk. How do we clean THAT up in the spring?

Let me introduce you to the best cleaning crew I know - the Trinity crew - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Together they make all things new. They can take the dirtiest and heaviest stuff we have hidden, layers deep under the surface, and make it all snowy white.

And if you think that the things you have done could never be forgiven, think again! God doesn't so much care that you've done those things as He does that you humbly come to Him and ask Him the remove them for you.

This time of year our roads get salty and dirty. A fresh layer of snow can be a beautiful thing. If your soul is ditry and dingy and in bad need of a cleansing, run to Jesus. He'll make it white as snow. And your cleaning is absolutely free! Why? Well, it's free because Jesus paid it all.

Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill