March 2

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:33-37

I really enjoy country music. I always have. Maybe I had no choice in the matter, since I grew up in southeastern Oklahoma. A common theme through a lot of country music is being a man. Some recent songs include Measure Of A Man, That’s A Man, I’m Still A Guy, Her Man, Man Of Me, Man To Man, Man Of Conviction, and I’m Just A Man to name a few. These songs and others like them all extol a certain type of man, a guy that is tough and rugged, someone that can take care of himself and live off the land if necessary, a man that can admit when he is wrong if he ever is, and man that is a man of his word. This last trait is why my mind went here after reading this passage. We all know someone like this, that is just a man of his word and that everyone trusts and believes. Maybe it is your grandfather or dad, or a former coach or teacher, or perhaps it is someone famous like John Wayne or Jack Bauer.

Being people of our word, like these men, is what Jesus is getting at in this passage. He is calling us to be people that can let our yeses and our no’s speak for them self. So what is it about these individuals that allow them to be men of their word? I think it starts with a life of integrity. They live a life that can be believed and trusted. They live a life that is honest and virtuous. They are the type of man that would return a $100 bill if they saw if fall out of someone’s pocket. They can let their words speak for themselves because of the life they lead.

This is what Jesus is calling us to be. Men and women like this; men and woman that live a life of integrity. I encourage you to live like this today, but realize that the source of our life of integrity is Him. We cannot accomplish this of our own power. We will always fail. We have to be totally yielded to Him to get there.

Today I encourage you to live a life of integrity. Do not do it to impress others, rather do it because that is what God desires. Walk in His truth today.

Leave His footprints as you walk today

March 1

FOR BETTER; FOR WORSE.

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:31-32

I will admit this is a tough devotional to write. I have been racking my brain for several days to find just what God would want me to say about these two verses. They are very self-explanatory. Do not get a divorce just because you want an easy way out of your marriage. Yet how do I apply this to our everyday life. That has been my dilemma.

Finally I decided to stop contemplating and read the notes on this passage from my study Bible. God had given Moses regulations about divorce because it was such a common practice in the ancient world. Sounds kind of like our world doesn’t it? Jesus comes back to this issue because divorce is wide spread again in His day and He is reminded them of God’s truth.

Marriage is to be a picture of God’s love for us, and He wants us it to be a permanent covenant just like His love for us is eternal. We are to model this to world and to be different than their customs. I think that is where we find the application of this passage. God does not call us to be like the world. He calls us to be different and set apart.

The only way we are ever going to have an impact and change the world is by living according to His ways and His laws, especially when they run counter to the ways of the world. We need to come out of our idealism that our culture is still “Christian” and realize how much it is not. We then need to seek to impact our culture for Him.

Today I urge you to be missional and realize that you are taking Him into the culture of those around you. Recognize that you need to act different and live by His standards. Leave Him by living according to Him.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 28

MERELY A FLESH WOUND

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:27-30

I love British comedy! I really do. One of my favorite movies of all time is Monty Python And The Holy Grail. There is a really hilarious scene where King Arthur is fighting the Black Knight. The Black Knight will not let Arthur pass over a bridge until he defeats him. During the course of the sword battle the king cuts off both of the Black Knight’s arms and legs. The Black Knight is still trying to get King Arthur to fight him and keeps screaming, it is merely a flesh wound.

As I read this passage just now this scene came to mind. Jesus says to cut off the part of the body that is causing you to sin. I think most of us read this passage and are at first shocked by this command. I think we should instead feel more like the Black Knight from the scene above and regard the loss of a limb or eye as a minor setback.

About a month ago I was spending some time with my best friend helping him to get his youth ministry curriculum written for the rest of the year. We had been in his office late working and had just gotten back to his place to relax and watch a couple of TV shows he had dvred. It was close to midnight, we had worked really late, and he got a text from one of his youth Sunday School teachers. It said this person wanted to bring their laptop by my friend’s office the next day because they were struggling with porn too much. My friend told me to get my shoes back on, and then we drove across town to get the laptop that night.

I think this is the type of behavior Jesus is talking about in this passage. Not the porn struggles, no the willingness to do something radical to remove temptation from you. The world might think you are crazy and foolish, but that should not be our deciding factor, after all Paul says in I Corinthians 1:18 18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Being sold out to walk like Jesus will require letting go and removing the things in your life that are preventing you from fully following Him

If there is something in your life causing you to stumble, get rid of it now. If it is internet on your phone call your wireless provider right now and have it disabled. If it is a TV or a laptop, get them out of your bedroom and place them where others can see everything you do, and cancel the TV channels that are providing the temptation. Remove the temptation today before it ruins you and detours your walk.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 27

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL BUS TRIPS

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:21-26

So I am going to say I hope that no one reading this is guilty of actually murdering someone. That being said I think we are all to blame for killing someone with our words. I think we all have said things in anger or jokingly that we did not mean. I know I have done this.

When I was in high school I was the athletic trainer for the football and boys basketball team. It was fun. I really enjoyed it; it was a way for me to be involved in sports since a birth defect prevented me from actually playing. My freshman year I worked with the varsity boys basketball team. I was almost the youngest student in my grade, so this was very intimidating for me at times. I knew most of the juniors on the team since my sister was in that class, but the seniors just seemed so much older; I was only 14 at that time. That year I watched as the seniors would make fun of everyone on the bus, even our assistant coaches.

Unfortunately that habit was passed down at least until my fellow classmates were seniors. We never meant anything by what we said, but I know it hurt some of the younger players at times. I do not think I understood the depth of this until a close friend from church told me they should put a plaque in the locker room declaring my class the king of the put downs. This was a friend I admired because of his intelligence and discernment. When he told me this I began to realize how what we were saying might be hurting those younger than us. Not only were we perpetuating bad habits, we were also destroying their confidence. We should have been building them up and encouraging them, but yet we were doing the opposite.

Hopefully you have never hurt someone this bad, but I am guessing most of you have. For some strange and tragic reason our current culture glorifies this type of behavior. Well, if we are going to follow Him and be set apart we have to change and do something different. Today I implore you to speak words of truth and love and kindness to those in your path. Leave His footprints today by leaving His words of life.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 26

TEAM SELLING WITH MY D.M.

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:17-20

I have worked in sales for some time and a highly common characteristic of most all sales jobs is that the most productive and successful people promote. It is not based on any system of seniority or anything other than your personal bottom line. This fosters an extremely competitive atmosphere among coworkers. Several years ago I was working in a mattress store, and to be honest I was not the best at sales in my store. I had my moments, but my two coworkers were much more seasoned and experienced. I was always struggling to meet my monthly budget and quota. One day though our District Manager was in the store for a visit. It was towards the end of the month and I was close to making my month, but was worried if it was going to happen or not. A woman in her early thirties came in, and it was my turn in our rotation system. I mostly led her through the store, but my D.M. decided to help along the way. He had her laughing and joking around most of the time she was in the store. She wound up making a rather large purchase which not only helped me make my month, but motivated me to stay driven and actually finish near the top in total sales and units for that particular month.

These verses brought this episode to mind just now. Jesus told those on the hillside with him that their righteousness must not only be great, but must surpass that of the leaders in their religious society in order to gain entrance into heaven. At this particular company my sales numbers not only had to be consistently higher than my monthly goals for me to make money, they had to be above the overall year goal for me to keep my job.

I was able to have a spectacular month one time because my D.M. decided to step in and help me in a very real and experiential way. I might have closed this sale to this woman on my own, but it may have not been for as much, and it may have not motivated me for the rest of the month. I obtained temporary excellence in my job by relying on the strengths of someone else.

We will never reach this level of righteousness on our own. We can only get their by letting Jesus step into our lives and live it out for us. We have to surrender to Him and let Him be our righteousness. I want to urge you today to remember that you are not on your own. You are not on an island. He is with you and wants to lead. Let Him.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 25

SOONER OR GATOR?

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:14-16

This last month my OU Sooners lost a hard fought game against the Florida Gators for the college football championship. Both quarterbacks are outstanding athletes and from all reports good people. Both claim to follow Christ and both show examples of this in their life. The qb for the Gators always has a verse inscribed on his eye black and cannot go longer than a sentence in an interview without reminding us the he follows Christ. The opposing qb is quieter and lives his faith out primarily with his actions rather than words. Now I do not want this be seen as criticism of the Florida player. If that is what God has impressed on his heart to do, and how to live then he should by all means keep living that way. However I do not think that is how God calls most of us to shine our light into darkness.

The last verse of this passage says that we are to let our light shine in a way that does not call attention to ourselves yet points others directly to God. I can easily illustrate this with a critique of the on field performance of the two aforementioned quarterbacks.

The Florida offense completely revolves around their qb. He is central to every play and is the star whether it is a run or a pass. The Sooner’s field general however is more of a distributer and lets his teammates abilities outshine his own. I do not think I am alone in this opinion. I heard multitudes of sports commentators say similar things as the postseason player of the year awards loomed. The athlete from Florida was praised for doing it all on his own and being the shining star, where the player from Oklahoma was at times faulted for making his teammates looking so good.

I do not want any of the above to be seen as an attack on the University of Florida or any of their incredible student-athletes, I am simply trying to illustrate this verse. You see I think Jesus is calling us to be more like the Sooner qb. He wants us to be great. He says He wants our deeds to be worthy of praise. Now I do not think we can have good deeds deserving of praise if we are being mediocre. He further says He wants our deeds to be done in a way that the praise does not come back on us, but is turned to the Father.

Today I want you to be great, but do so in an unassuming way and let God receive the ultimate glory for it.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 24

UNABOMBER CHRISTIANITY?

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:14-15

Before we get started today I should warn you, I might get to the point of meddling today. I am just sticking to the text though.

Ok so you remember Ted Kaczynski? The Unabomber. Crazy guy that lived in a remote cabin Montana and would mail bombs to various locations. He is really a fascinating person. He had an undergrad degree from Harvard by the age of 20 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan by 25. He then became an assistant professor at Cal-Berkley but resigned two years later. He was a savant in his field, could have been the leading mathematician of today had he not lost his mind. He felt that society was on the wrong course and needed to be reset so he began his bombing campaign to bring this along. Regardless of how nuts he was, he really felt the bombings would accomplish this and so continued at a feverish pace. He finally ended the bombings after both the New York Times and the Washington Post published his manifesto, and it was the styling of this piece that led to his ultimate arrest (his brother recognized the thought patterns and literary traits and tipped the FBI).

Far too often I see the Christian subculture being no different than Mr. Kaczynski. We are secluded in our fortress whether it is a cabin in Montana, or a downtown building in Nashville, or mega church in Dallas or Atlanta. We may send bombs or flaming arrows into culture, and we may boycott this entertainment company or that politician but we are about as effective in changing culture as this crazed former professor.

Imagine if Theodore Kaczynski had used his various mental skills in other ways. Imagine if he had engaged culture with these unique skills and abilities. I am not sure he would have completely changed our society, but he would have had a far more reaching impact. He would probably be known for greater things than being the subject of the most expensive FBI search ever. He probably would have made us think about things differently.

Now the church is even more equipped to alter culture than Mr. Kaczynski ever was, but if we continue to pattern our methods in the same way as he, then we will only be remembered a sideshow and circus act much like he is. We have to get out from the fortress. We have to escape the walls and let our light shine into the darkness. Today I urge you to take your light out from under the bowl and let it really light the dark.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 23

BE THE MOON

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:14

Several years ago God allowed me to experientially learn more about just how to be His light. I was driving south down Interstate 35 in Oklahoma late one Friday night after getting off work. I had to go home, do my laundry, pack, and then hurry back to Shawnee for work the following afternoon, then I was leaving that Sunday night to go to Winter Park, Colorado to ski for three days. I had a lot on my mind that night as I drove south towards my hometown. As I looked out the window, I noticed how bright the moon was. It was a full moon that night. As I gazed at it God began to speak to me. The moon has no source of light in and of itself; it simply reflects the light of the sun. I began to consider how this applied to me as a Christian and how I should live as reflecting the light of God. That night when I arrived home, I was amazed at being taught by God in this way and I was still processing this concept early the following week. Just over 48 hours later on Sunday night I had met my friend Jeremy and the youth from his church in Norman, and we left for Colorado. We stopped at a McDonalds around 5:30 the next morning for breakfast. It was my turn to drive after that, so we headed out west from Salina towards Denver along Interstate 70. I was the only one awake in the van, and I had several moments to revisit my time with God from a couple of nights back. As I watched the moon sink lower in the sky, I noticed several astonishing things. The higher the sun rose, the more the moon faded into the sky; it ceased to be visible and just started blending into the surroundings. You see the moon only gives off light in darkness. The closer it is to the sun, the brighter it shines in the darkness. In the presence of the sun it fades. It allows the sun to have the glory it is due. In fact, when in the presence, of the sun the moon is only visible because of the intense brightness of the sun.

If we, as Christians, are going to be light in the world, we must display the same principles. We must seek to reflect the light of Christ. We have to reflect the light from Him into the dark places in the world. We cannot be the source of light ourselves, simply the reflecting agent. When we come into His presence we must fade and allow the true light to shine.

Today I encourage you to reflect Him into the dark places around you. Let His light shine your path as you seek to leave Him behind.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 22

SUGARLESS SYRUP

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:13

Several years ago I was a sponsor at a conference for one of my friend’s youth groups. After the Friday night session we went to a local Waffle House to eat before going back to the hotel. As we were sitting around talking I looked over and saw a bottle of syrup that said Sugarless Syrup. I have to tell you, I was a little freaked out by this. Still am unnerved by this idea of sugar free syrup to be honest. I mean what is it? I just grabbed a bottle of normal syrup from the pantry and here are the ingredients: sugar syrup, corn syrup, artificial maple flavor, salt, caramel color, and potassium sorbate (a preservative), so syrup has sugar, flavoring, coloring and preservative. It is really sugar in its purest form, so I am not sure what sugarless syrup is and do not wish to find out.

Now this bottle of strange artificial syrup may have been an unsettling sight for me, but it in no way compares to the anxiousness created by Jesus’ warning at the end of this verse. Jesus says that salt that loses its essence is worthless and only good to be thrown underfoot. The past few days we have looked at several aspects of salt, it makes people thirsty, it flavors, it preserves, it is valuable (the word salary has its roots in salt), it can be used in healing wounds, in fact salt, as we discovered yesterday, is said to have over 14000 different uses. It is multifunctional and essential. Yet with all these potential applications Jesus says we must maintain the saltiness or it is all for naught. I think we should take this warning seriously and avoid its repercussions at all costs.

Some might read this warning and see that Jesus is saying it is possible to fall away from Him and so to somehow lose our salvation. I, however, do not think so. Salt cannot lose its saltiness just by mixing with other things. Salt poured into water retains all the properties of salt and does not become something new. Salt poured onto French fries is still salt. It takes a violent chemical reaction triggered by combustion to alter the chemical makeup of salt. Since I believe that Jesus teaches that once we truly believe in Him we cannot lose that salvation, I do not think there is a force with enough power to separate us from Him. However an initial and understandable reaction to this warning might be to pull back and only hang out with other salt. It is going to be hard to lose the saltiness while stuck deep down in the salt shaker right? But maybe that is just where we might lose our saltiness. Salt really has no impact on other salt. So for us to fulfill any of the purposes of salt we have to escape the homogenic setting and get out into the world. Today leave His footprints by getting out of the salt shaker and onto the plate. Maintain your saltiness by putting it to use, otherwise you are going to lose it, and well that is costly.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 21

UTILITY PLAYER

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:13

Pick up a dropped egg. Soothe a bee sting. Eliminate a grease fire. Clean up oven spills. Set color. Kill poison ivy. Make cream whip more easily and egg whites whip faster and higher. Test for rotten eggs. Clean the brown spots (from starch) off a nonstick soleplate (the bottom of your iron). Repel fleas. Kill grass growing in cracks in the cement or between patio stones. Clean a glass coffee pot. Halt the mountain of suds from an overflowing washing machine. Clean artificial flowers. Keep windows frost-free. Clean tarnished copper. Keep radishes safe in the garden. Clean coffee and tea stains from china cups. Keep potatoes and apples from turning brown once they're sliced. Clean a cutting board. Preserve food. Serve as an interesting paper weight. Bless a new couple on their wedding day. Ward off evil spirit (Middle Ages thought).

Listed above are over 20 random uses of salt. There are many many more. Some people claim there are over 14,000 different uses for this simple rock. Salt actually is a rock. It is the only rock we eat. Well I ate gravel on the playground in elementary school, but I am pretty sure humans are not supposed to do that. A guy named Mark Kurlansky wrote a book about salt. It is almost 500 pages long. When I first started reading it I did not know what to expect. Several pages into the book, though, I was captivated and really intrigued by just how much world history was influenced by this simple rock.

Salt has to be one of the most multifunctional natural occurring substances that exists on earth. If we are going to be the salt of the earth then we also have to be multi-faceted as well. We have to be able to relate to all people, like Paul did when he declared: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (I Corinthians 9:22) This does not mean we change who we are in a shallow or in insincere way or that we water down truth. Rather we need to be able to relate to anyone and be approachable by all. Also we need to be continually repackaging the truth in ways that can reach everyone.

Today I encourage you to be a utility player for God. Be able to play many different positions and so salt the earth more than in just one spot.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 20

SUGAR, COCOA, OR SALT?

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:13

I just had to take a break from writing to change a load of laundry and get some more coffee. While in the kitchen I decided to do some exploring and see just what all contained salt. Butter, check. Ketchup, check. Mustard, check. Salad dressing, check. French onion dip, check. Bologna, check. Hot dogs, check. Chocolate syrup, check. Ice cream, check. Ritz crackers, check. Peanut butter, check. Cereal, check. Bread, check. Dr. Pepper, check. Pretty much everything I looked at contained salt. I did this little exercise because I was thinking that at times I wish Jesus had called us the sugar of the earth, or the cocoa powder of the earth. I mean who does not love sugar and all its delicious sweetness? Chocolate, now find me someone that does not love chocolate and is sane. My mom cannot eat it now, but she did love it when she could, and still longs for it at times. I do not think salt excites people as much and sugar or chocolate. Then my mind goes to French fries, not sure my mind is ever far from a good burger and fries but that is an issue for me and my clogging arteries to deal with later. As I think about a large order of fries covered in salt my mouth starts to water, and I momentarily turn into Joey Tribbiani from Friends and my mind is so consumed with the fries that I lose my train of thought.

I admit it, I am a saltaholic, not even sure that is a word, but I am one. I put salt on just about everything. I have never tried it in my coffee, but I bet it would be good even there. If we are going to fulfill this characteristic of salt then we, as a collective church body, also have to be good at everything and be flavoring every aspect of life.

Several years ago an Op-ed piece by conservative columnist Cal Thomas challenged the way I thought about how flavor life. In the column, Mr. Thomas criticizes the way that most conservative Christians confront culture. He argues that attacking cartoon characters for supposedly advancing a homosexual agenda is a far cry from the thousands of years when Christians led the way by flavoring the arts, thought, music, science, and all aspects of society. Consider these intellectual and cultural heavyweights from the past; writers such as: T. S. Eliot, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Donne, John Milton, C. S. Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton; philosophers and thinkers such as: Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Anselm of Canterbury, and John Duns Scotus; scientists like: Isaac Newton, Johann Kepler, Robert Boyle, Louis Pasteur; and musicians and artists as: Handel, Brahms, Bach, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Albrecht Durer. These men and others like them shaped and flavored their culture. They created great works and advanced technology to never before imagined heights. They thought critically and used the intellect given them by God. I implore you to follow their lead today and flavor your surroundings for Him.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 19

THESE PRETZELS ARE MAKING ME THIRSTY

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:13

There is a great Seinfeld episode during season 3 where Kramer lands a bit part in a Woody Allen movie that is being filmed in their part of New York City. He is supposed to turn to Woody in a bar and tell him “these pretzels are making me thirsty.” He struggles through the whole episode in deciding just how to say this, and eventually is replaced in the scene. One of the immediately recognizable aspects of salt is that salt makes us thirsty.

The first way we can fulfill this verse is to fulfill this aspect of salt. We have to make people thirsty. We have to make them crave Christ. Too many times Christians are seen as boring or bland. It is up to us to change this perception and to spice things up. Smile more. Laugh. Love. Enjoy the simple things in life. Maintain a positive attitude during hard times. Live different. This does not mean be so different and set apart that we exist in an inaccessible place. Rather, I think the emphasis should be on the word live. We have to still live and experience life, but in a way that causes others to take notice and want what we have. So relax. Loosen the tie. Let your hair down and live a life that makes people wonder why you are so happy and content.

A couple of years ago I was at a local McDonalds with some of the guys from church. It was our custom to go out and eat after Bible Study on Wednesday nights, and I welcomed the chance to build relations with some of the students. This particular Wednesday night we were all sitting around the table, most of us had finished eating, and David started pouring salt into a pile of ketchup on Phil’s tray. David must have emptied ten or more salt packets into the ketchup, and Phil was sitting there watching him do so. Phil then absent-mindedly stuck a fry into the concoction, ate it, and immediately grabbed his cup only to find it empty. He then almost sprinted to the drink refill station to get some relief. This overload of salt had caused him to crave something to drink, and gave the rest of us a reason to laugh quite a bit.

Today I urge you to be like that ketchup on Phil’s tray. Be so overloaded with Christ that you cause all those we touch to sprint to Him.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 18

A-ROD & RUSH WEEK

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:10-12

I pledged a social club in college (my small liberal arts Baptist school did not allow national sororities or fraternities so we had our own social clubs). I stuck with it for about two weeks before deciding that it just was not for me. It was in the middle of a really difficult time of my life and several good friends decided at the last minute not to pledge. I think there are probably still legends told of how I wound up de-pledging, but I did what I thought I had to do at the time. I can still recall some of the experiences I came by during that brief period. Mostly I remember constant encouragement from older members letting me know that I was not being subjected to anything they had not also faced. It increased my confidence and my hopes to know I had someone I could go to, someone that had walked this path before. I was not the first to tread down this way, and I could take heart with the knowledge that many had passed through successfully.

The preceding paragraph describes why I deeply love Jesus’ words in these 3 verses. There have been scores upon scores of believers who have traveled before us. Whatever ridicule or persecution we might face is not new. We are not the first to experience it. We can even rejoice when we are being subjected to the same treatment as the giants of faith. Just as I did not have to fear anything while pledging, we can go through all manners of trials and tribulations without fear because it is not our suffering alone.

The start of the baseball season is just around the corner, and there have been many stories about the upcoming season lately, quite a few about my beloved Yankees. They have signed several big name free agents, had a not so glowing tell-all book come out, and their star 3rd baseman revealed he once was a steroid user. There has been much scrutiny directed towards Alex Rodriguez for this, and I am sure it has been excruciatingly painful at times. He has hired media firms to help him manage the press and sort through salvaging his image. He has leaned on his agent and brand manager. Yet one of the best places he can go is within his own clubhouse, as a teammate faced a very similar situation just a year ago. A-Rod can call upon this older teammate at anytime for advice or just to talk through everything. His best place for encouragement through his trials is within the family.

It is the same for us as we follow Jesus. I would say with confidence that no matter you are facing today, there is someone within your local church that has faced the same. You cannot know this without being actively involved with that body. One way you can leave His footprints today is by getting more connected to your church, both to serve Him and to more strongly bond with the family there.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!

February 17

BOY, YOU’RE GETTING MORE LIKE HIM EACH AND EVERY DAY

Father, thank You for bringing me to this place and this time today. I ask You to speak to me right now, and to let Your Word breathe life into my heart. Please use these next few moments to bring me to more of a fullness of You and to learn more of Your Glory and how to leave the footprints of Jesus everywhere I go today. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen!

Read Matthew 5:8-9

In case I have not mentioned it before, I am a big fan of country music. Always have been and probably always will be; most days as I write I am listening to country music either through my iTunes program or via an internet radio station which I prefer. The title of today’s reading is a line from the George Strait song So Much Like My Dad, because as I have thought more and more about these verses I have continually come back to the phrase “for they will be called sons of God.” So I want to explore this concept of being a son or daughter today, and look at how we are sons of God.

The easiest way to be a son or daughter of someone is to be the biological offspring of them. A second way is to be raised by someone and exhibit characteristics of them. Now in the perfect setting both of these tasks are completed by the same people but more and more this is not the case. Shaquille O’Neal during his thankfully brief and incredibly dreadful rap career had a song entitled Biological Didn’t Bother. I feel that I must confess that I actually own a cassette tape with this song on it. In this song Shaq says the man that raised him is his real dad, because his biological father was absent. His adoptive father taught him how to be a man and it is his traits that Shaq tries to emulate.

Now I am pretty much certain that God is not the father of any of us in the first sense. We all have biological fathers, some great, some not so great, but since none of us are Jesus, then none of us can claim God as our actual biological father. However, and this is the good news, we all have open and equal access to being His son in the other sense. That is obtained by accepting Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and asking for forgiveness of sins. This brings us into the family. Signing adoption papers also brings an individual into a new family, but they become recognized as being part of the family when they start to take on family traits. Verse 9 in today’s passage gives us a hint of how to take on the traits of God’s family so we can be readily known as His.

It is the peacemakers that will be called the sons of God. Today you can leave His footprints by being an agent of peace among those around you. I encourage you to do this.

Leave His footprints as you walk today!