No matter how far you’ve traveled,

The distance you’ve placed between you and your past,

The amends and the erasures you’ve made

The changes you’ve practiced which have now become habits,

And the magical difference you’ve since become in this world…

You will again inevitably stumble around another
unsuspecting corner in which you’re again forced to see the depravity of those places you once called home.

Where you once believed you were living, but indeed, were dying in a coffin of your own making, silently begging for another nail.

At that moment,

While yearning for the next corner, you’ll approach it better armed.

With greater humility
and the irrefutable dignity
you forgot you had since back when it was earned on that same, shameful street where you once lived…

because recovery works.

Addicts survive by the painful remembrances from where they came and from marvelous paths on which they are now walking.

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

Don’t go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.
I am the Lord your God.
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭19‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God provides for those who cannot provide for themselves until they can.

It doesn’t take much to meet the needs of others but those of us with much bear the responsibility to help make it happen.

The essential part of being thankful for what we’ve been given is to give back to those without.

Especially at this time of year, a hand up beats a hand out.

A hand up is the choice to lift another from unfortunate circumstances by acknowledging the abilities they still possess to help themselves along the journey.

This is the very heart of charity.

Bear one another’s burdens but let each carry his own loads.—Galatians 6:2-5

If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.
‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

See something, say something.

In an increasingly detached world, speaking up and speaking out is a risky option.

If it’s not about you, don’t get involved.

Truth is, all that’s needed for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.

That’s not verbatim but close enough to get the message.

We are not called to the fear and timidity that renders us silent. We can all recount countless times in history that false doctrine advanced the cause of evil another small and insidious step.

With knowledge comes responsibility.

Jesus turned this world on its ear by speaking up and speaking out. Following him requires our loudest voice.

See something, say something.

It’s a new slogan for an ancient lesson lest we become accomplice to evil.

10 years ago today, it was the call of the most valuable Christmas gift I’ve ever received.

“Are you sitting down?” Asked my tax specialist Brenda J. Stout.

During my decade long dance with crystal m*th, I’d paid little attention to normal, everyday responsibilities, including my mail.

I was off the rails.

Turns out I’d received 17 different letters over the years from a very patient IRS agent about previous tax year filings and they were now demanding a reply or jail time.

I’d been clean and sober for a few years by then during which time I’d amassed a small fortune in accrued taxes, fees and fines totaling over $100,000.

Time to face the music as part of my recovery program, I met with Brenda Stout at the recommendation of a friend.

She successfully negotiated a $22,000 settlement on my behalf toward which I’d been paying half my meager income each month.

But behind the scenes and entirely unbeknownst to me, Brenda had continued her negotiations on my behalf until I got the call 10 years ago today.

“Are you sitting down?”

She’d been having heart to heart conversations with the agent about my addiction, repentance and determination to pay for my costly life mistakes on my path to recovery.

With $16,000 still due, she called to inform me that the IRS had forgiven and written of the remaining debt, apparently in an effort to expedite my life change.

To conclude, Brenda had orchestrated the most expensive Christmas gift I ever received.

The annual tree lighting service at The Crossing Church always brings back this holiday memory. I went again last evening…

I hadn’t considered myself among “the least of these,” but starting over a dozen years ago at 51 as an ex-felon working a $9/hour church janitor job apparently exceeded the qualifications.

The surprise of a fifty dollar bill tucked in my back pocket by a passing stranger at Christmastime was eclipsed only by the words accompanying the gesture. “You’re making more of a difference than you know, young man.”

I’m not sure if I was more shocked being addressed as a young man or by the unexpected generosity of his acknowledgement of a complete stranger working a lowly, invisible job during the busiest time of the church calendar. I’d just returned from plunging a TeenTime toilet full of poop and was enroute across the courtyard to a hazardous cleanup in KidKare made by two siblings who’d had bad blueberries and Alpha Bits for breakfast.

I’d like to report the encounter was an interaction but his swift disappearance into the festive crowd of evening Christmas servicers was as angelic as his act of kindness. By the time I put my mop and pail to the ground and wiped my hand on my shirt to shake his hand, he was gone. I reached into my back pocket to find the gift he’d bestowed and while a crisp $50 was a helpful blessing this time of year, his words had been of much greater value.

Invisible people are all around us. Janitors, cashiers, clerks and other such name tags we rarely if ever read or better yet, take notice. Doing so need not cost 50 dollars or 50 cents, but only to know the words to their song on a not so silent night that hoped someone might care enough to notice and at the very least, tell them that in this world, they’re making more of a difference than they know.

It was the first cold night of the season and from her trunk, she handed me a beautiful blue wool pea coat.

“Dad, do you think you could find a home for this?” I said “Yeah honey, I’m sure it will find a good home on its own. They always do.” She replied, “I know. I’ll be waiting to hear.”

Fast forward two days.

78 year old Lettie had taken the bus several miles up Boulder Highway and walked another half mile from the bus stop in chilly 30mph winds to my office.

I took her back for our appointment to help pay her utility bill since the week before, her purse had been stolen along with all her money.

Still shivering, she described making the police report and in tears that dripped frozen to her cheeks, she shared how she’d stowed another $35 saved in a zippered pocket for a special Christmas gift she would now be going without.

With her utility bill paid, I carried two bags of groceries from our pantry and asked her to follow me to the parking lot.

And just as it happened two days prior, I opened my trunk and handed her the Christmas gift she’d saved to buy herself.

The blue wool pea coat fit like a glove, just like the pair I’d received from another donor that morning to accompany another moment just like this.

So every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭36‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Being skilled at a particular craft is an endowment from God with intent for you to use it for his glory.

I’ve been a writer all my life.

It wasn’t until the day I was saved from a 25 year prison sentence that I acknowledged the gift and began using it to tell stories of redemption on my website.

Your craft, your trade, your skills—none are your own. They may earn your livelihood, pay the rent, and put food on the table but not until you put them to work for a higher purpose and calling will they make the difference in this world for which they were so generously given.

It took all kinds of skilled workers to construct the intricacies of the Lord’s tabernacle, and hearts responding to the need, each with his or her own specialized gift.

People may be capable of great things but miss the blessing of using them for the highest and best purposes.

It begins by knowing Jesus, the One from whom all blessings flow.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Moses was lit.

Some people maintain such a close and personal relationship with God it’s evident even before they speak.

They just light up a room.

They don’t say much, but when they do, it’s gold. Humble but so helpful.

There’s a man I know like this. He spends the bulk of his time in study and prayer. Even a brief chat with him leaves me feeling enlightened, invigorated and challenged.

Seek out people who inspire you.

Be the radiant light for others, yourself like a brilliant gem reflecting the love and wisdom of God gained only by time in Word, prayer, and deed.

We can see it on your face.

Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭23‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭

Among the many laws for and promises to his people found in Exodus is this simple gem.

God promised health and a full life on condition of faithful worship.

The foundational and fundamental ingredient for vital living is always a robust faithfulness.

It’s clear that God’s perfect plan for his people is to provide not just for their needs but also for their thriving and flourishing.

Healthy living begins with worship but ends with a dispassionate abandonment of God as Jehovah Jireh, our provider. He will not stand for neglect of the vessel he has provided each of us.

A whole person and a full life is his plan. It’s up to us to get on board.

Colossians 3:1-4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 

It’s imagination but far from make-believe. 

Christianity calls its own to live imaginative, futuristically, in the realm to come, with minds on the prize to come, like it’s already arrived. 

It’s a faith so confident, earthly limitations of the here and now can’t contain it. 

A mind set on things above versus those of our experience here on earth requires imagination that can never capture the real thing but fuels our hopes and dreams of it. 

The Bible provides many detailed descriptions of our heavenly eternity to come, but getting lost in our speculations about it is an adventure we are more than encouraged to take. 

This is not our home anymore. 

Raised with faith in Christ is our invitation to knock on heaven’s door today and every day for a free peek inside.