How Good Do You Have To Be?

Its a long one this week, so grab some coffee before you start.

I did something the other day I am normally very careful about. On my way to town, I saw a man hitchhiking on the side of the road. I said a quick prayer, “God, should I stop?” This time, I felt very strongly that I should.

As he got in, I took the time to notice him. Ok, I was watching for a gun or knife or something. I knew God had lead me to give him a ride and that God would take care of me for obeying, but that doesn’t mean this guy doesn’t have free will and that I should just throw caution out the window. He was in his 60’s. He had a long, blond beard that ended in the middle of his chest. He had long hair that was near the same length of his beard, but he was bald on the top. “Hi my name’s Jake” he said as he got in. (That’s not his real name, I’m just using it to be safe.) “I’m Jon.” I said with a smile.

Jake proceeded to tell me lots of things about his life. How he couldn’t wait to get out of Tennessee, how his parents had died and left everything to his younger brother, how he couldn’t drive because he owe 3 different states money and they wouldn’t let him get a driver’s license, how his sister had cheated him out of $40,000, and many other tales. Jake liked to talk apparently. So, I listened. But what Jake said next really broke my heart. “I’ll tell you this,” Jake said with a cold, harsh look in his eyes, “I’ll be at the pearly gates of heaven to point my sister to Hell!” I was shocked. How do you respond to that? What do you say?

I asked Jake, “Why would you do that? I know she didn’t do you right, but you would see her spend eternity in Hell?” “I was raised (Mystery Religion here, heh) and I believe that God put us on Earth to see if we could be good enough to get back to Heaven with Him.” I sat there a moment, praying “God, what do I say?” I asked the only question I could think of, “How good do you have to be?” A bit bewildered, as if he had never been asked that question before, he looked at me and asked, “What?” I repeated the question, making an extra effort to be polite. “Well, I don’t know. No one knows.” Jake replied.

“What a hopeless way to live.” I thought to myself. Here was a gentleman who had seen lots of trouble. Sure, he may have made some decisions that lead him to the place in life he was, but right now he was living day in and day out with no hope. Everything he had in the past, almost everyone he knew, and almost everything about his life was either letting him down or hurting him. He was truly hopeless. “God, what do I say?” I asked again.

“Well, I know.” I responded. “I don’t think anyone can be ‘good enough.’ I believe the Bible and it says in Romans 3:23 that ‘ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ So there is no way that we can be good enough to redeem ourselves to a perfect God. I believe God saw that and sent His son, Jesus, to pay the debt that I never could. Jesus gave his life so that you, or me, or anyone who accepted Him as their Savior could be sure they have hope for this life and the next.”

Jake rolled his eyes, and said, “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. I don’t buy it.”
I don’t understand that train of thought. Jake would rather live with no hope, with what he was taught, than to look in the Bible and find the truth or listen to a possibility that there may be hope here for him. Its also a big reason I hate, I know that is a strong word and I mean it, I hate false doctrine about my God. It confuses and hinders people from knowing the true nature of God.

As Jake got out, he shook my hand and said, “God bless.” I smiled back and said, “I’ll pray for you, Jake.” For a bit, I felt like I had failed. Like I didn’t get through to Jake. But that’s not my job. I shared the Truth with him. I planted the seed. Now my prayer for Jake is this: “God, water that seed. Holy Spirit, nourish that seed. Jesus, grow that seed. Remove the scales from Jake’s eyes, Jesus, let him see You for who You really are.”

In Christ,
jon walton

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Cheering At Practice...

Tuesday night was my son's first football practice. It was hot, the gear was too big for him, and his regular coach wasn't there, but I was excited about him playing. He, on the other hand, has his doubts. He is not use to the helmet or other gear, he's hot, and out of his comfort zone. He takes the field and begins stretching. I had told him previously, "Whatever the coach tells you to do on the field, you say 'Yes sir!' and do it." He does pretty great at listening to the coach and obeying. When they were running, I was yelling, "Go Isaiah! Go! Run harder!" When they were learning to tackle I was there on the side yelling "Grab him Isaiah! Pull him down!" That was about the time I noticed just about every other parent, including my wife, looking at me like I was an idiot. That's when it hit me. This was practice. Why am I cheering?

I was considering this thought as Isaiah came over for a water break. He got a drink and looked up at me and said, "I hate this, dad." Ug. My heart sank. I was so wanting him to really be into it. I think he will love it if he just sticks with it. After all, this was just practice. That's why I was cheering. I knew he was a little uncomfortable. I knew he was a little scared. I knew he may not like it at first. But I also believe if he sticks it out, he will love it.

Sound familiar? Sometimes God asks us to do something and we say "God, I don't want to do that! Its not fun, its boring, its out of my comfort zone." What if God knows (and He does by the way) that He is giving you this task because you will love the outcome?

...your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.

-Matt. 6:8

Stay with the difficult task. You may hear God cheering you on. Even when you are practicing for the task.

In Christ,

jon walton

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Keeping Out of Trouble...

Have you ever looked as someone and thought, "He(or she, but henceforth refereed to as "he") really has it all together. He makes wise decisions, he seems to always be on the up and up, and he is just a great person to be around. I wish I were more like him." I know from time to time I feel that way. I do my best to serve God with all that I am, but I mess up a lot. Sometimes I make selfish decisions that don't benefit God or others. Sometimes I speak out of turn and really offend someone. Sometimes I am just lazy and don't do what I should. There are days that I look at myself and wonder, "What in the world am I doing?" Ever have a day like that? (Or a week? Month? Year?)

I was reading through scripture today, and this passage really stuck out to me.

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping Your word.

I have sought You with all my heart;
don't let me wander from Your commands.

I have treasured Your word in my heart
so that I may not sin against You.

LORD, may You be praised;
teach me Your statutes.

With my lips I proclaim
all the judgments from Your mouth.

I rejoice in the way [revealed by] Your decrees
as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on Your precepts
and think about Your ways.

I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.

-Psalm 119:9-16

Wanna keep out of trouble? Wanna make wise decisions? Wanna be happy?(See Psalm 119:1-8) Spend time with God. Next time you see that person who seems to have it all together, ask them about their relationship with Jesus. You may just find that their secrete to all that wisdom isn't from them, its from God.

"God, help me keep my way pure. Help me find time to spend with You. Help me understand Your Word. Help me keep Your commands. Because I love you Jesus. I want to keep in your light. May my life point others to You. Amen"

In Christ,

jon walton

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What Do I Do In My Free Time?

Well, the results are in. I'm not sure I like them. Now, something I want to be clear about: I'm not changing my numbers to make me look "good." I know a higher authority than man that I will report to for my actions. That includes this blog. A few things to explain on how I calculated my numbers: I only counted FREE time. I did not count my time at work, eating or sleeping(I allowed myself 7 hours of time for sleep each night. Any extra time sleeping I did factor in as Personal Time because I was choosing to sleep as a free time activity.) These numbers are all approximate. I didn't need every single second to get a feel for how I am spending my time. Also, this study is from Monday-Thursday, so its only a part of a week, but it was still good.

God Time = Time I spend reading my Bible, praying, or volunteering for God.

Family Time = Time I spent with my family instead of doing my own thing.

Personal Time = Time I spent doing things for me. (Watching TV, Playing Xbox, etc.)

Here are the numbers for my last week:

I had 10 hours of free time. I'll put them in order from the most time spent to the least time spent.

Family Time = 5 Hours

Personal Time = 3 Hours

God Time = 2 Hours

Ouch. Now, I can make all kinds of excuses for this. Like I spend a lot of time in the Bible studying for Youth Lessons and church on Sunday, but that isn't the same as chosen time with God. Or that I had a particularly busy week, but this was a typical week for me. They are all busy. No, I wanted an honest assessment of my free time and that is what I got. Doesn't matter that it was only 10 hours, what matters is that God is at the bottom of that list. I see 3 hours that I could have spent with God, but didn't. Looks like its time for a change.

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15 minutes...

For the past few weeks I have been filling out time analysis sheets for my job. Essentially, I have to write down what I am doing for every 15 minute block of the day. Now, I am not upset by this, nor was it done to try and expose any down time I had. It was just something they asked me to do. I have to say, on my end it was a learning experience and really good for me as well.

I got to see how much time I actually spent on each area of my job. How much time I spent updating a website or see specifically that it took me 1 hour to do a mail out. It really shows where you are spending most of your time.

It got me thinking, "What if I did this for my personal life? Where would most of my time be spent? Would I be happy with the end result?" Its a fact that where you spend your resources (time, money, whatever) is where your heart is. Am I ready to see where I am investing my time? I am going to do this next week. I'm not counting my work time, I am taking a time analysis of my free time. My goal is not to change what I am currently doing, but rather just write down what I am doing. Next Friday, I'll let you know the result. Anyone care to do this with me? (I won't publish your results if you choose to participate, that would just be cruel!) It won't be easy or fun, but then again self IMPROVEMENT rarely is.

Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

-Psalm 90:12

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I’m not scalping...

A few days ago I took the youth to a Chris Tomlin & TobyMac concert. It was a lot of fun! We had a great spot, about 15 feet from the stage! It was one of the best concerts I have been to in a long time.

Due to some of the youth not being able to go, I wound up with extra tickets. I called some friends who I thought would enjoy the concert and could go last minute, but I still wound up with extra. After some thought and discussion with the people there, I decided just to give the tickets away.

Now, like I said, these were great “seats.” They were on the floor right in front of the stage. Not cheap seats. So, I took up position a bit away from the entrance and was holding the tickets in plain view. As people came up to go into the concert, I would just ask, “Do you have tickets yet?” I was a bit shocked as most people would say, “Yes.” Then I would watch these people walk up and get in line at the ticket booth.

Now, I am not known for being the smartest person all the time. In fact there are many times something can be staring me right in the face and I’ll miss it. “What in the world?” I thought to myself. “Why are they doing that?” Then I realized what was going through their mind. “Can you believe the nerve of that guy? Scalping tickets at a Christian concert!”

So, I decided to change my tactic. I walked right up to where people standing in line to buy tickets and started my conversations with a new statement: “Hi, I’m not scalping. I have extra tickets I am giving away. Anyone interested?”

The looks I got from the people there, some of the same people who walked by me and said they had tickets, was priceless. They looked confused, skeptical, and disbelieving. Finally, after one of those great awkward silences, this guy walked up and said, “Do you have 6 together?” “ Sure do!” I said. “Here ya go.” He took them and asked where they were. “Right up front, on the floor.” I answered. Almost everyone in line turned back around as I said that. It didn’t take long for me to run out of tickets then. Two teenage girls even hugged me as I gave them tickets for them and their parents. Unfortunately, I did run out and had to tell a few people that I didn’t have anymore.

The whole experience got me thinking, “I wonder if this is why some people won’t accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Does it all sound just too good to be true? Is it too hard to believe that it is free? That someone else already paid the price for our gift?”

If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior because you think its just too good to be true, I urge you to just accept the free gift of His forgiveness and salvation. Don’t put it off thinking that His grace is not enough or that the gift of salvation costs too much. The the reason those of us who are redeemed do all that we do for Jesus Christ is because we want to, not to pay for what Jesus gave us.

Salvation is free.

If you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you will be saved.

In Christ,

jon walton

Selfless...

On Father's Day Missy, Isaiah, and I went to her parents house to spend time with her dad and family. We had a great time just sitting, eating and talking. When we got ready to leave, Isaiah (my son) wanted to walk home. We are neighbors so its not a long walk. I was happy to spend some time with my son, so I accompanied him. On the way, he saw a dandelion. "Dad! Dad! I have to make a wish!" He exclaimed as he bent down an picked it. He has been saving his money from chores and gifts to get a new Nintendo DS game, so I assumed that would be what he was going to wish for, but still I thought it was a cute moment with my son. I would never have guessed the words that would come out of his little mouth. He closed his eyes, held the weed close to his mouth and said:

"I wish my dad would have a great Father's Day."

Then he blew as hard as he could, causing only about 3 of the seeds to release their grip from the stem. Not to be defeated, he quickly shook the rest of them off!

I was touched. I almost cried. I bent down and hugged him and said, "Thank you buddy. That made my Father's Day great."

God continues to teach me through my son. Seems like I heard a sermon about thinking of others before yourself recently. Pastor Rick used this scripture that fits this situation pretty well I think:

Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. - Philippians 2:3

Thank you, God, for my amazing family You have given me.

In Christ,

jon walton