It was 6 am and while the rest of my friends were sleeping in, dreaming of two weeks filled with Nintendo, cookies, and hanging out, I was putting on every layer of clothes I could find.

I was getting up and getting dressed against my will, forced to face a frigid environment with no bathrooms, no Christmas cookies, and hard, dirty labor. I didn’t like it one bit.

But I was doing it because my father made me do it. Yes, while every other junior high kid wasted away his Christmas break I was toiling on some construction site alongside my dad, a licensed plumber who owned his own business.

Dad had this antiquated idea that boys should learn how to work hard at a young age. I thought it was cruel and unusual punishment. But the older I have gotten, I now realize the treasure Dad gave me in teaching me through his example and his prodding the value of hard work. Dad was molding me into a man and I didn’t even know it.

I’m thirty-four years old now. I have four children of my own. I still hate working on construction sites, but the lessons of hard work have stayed with me. As a pastor, a writer, a father, a husband, I now see that Dad gave me something that few young men are privileged to have received.

Dad taught me how to be a man.

You can read the whole thing here: Time to Man Up.

Recently she shared a guest-post on Ed Stetzer’s blog where she wrote about the challenge of writing for children. I thought it was keen insight on what many think is an easy thing to do:

People have approached me, holding up one of my children’s books, flicking through it backwards–awful for a writer because it implies the order of the words don’t matter–and cheerfully announcing, “I’m going to do one. I mean. REALLY. How hard can it be?”

How many of us would dream of going up to a surgeon and saying, “I’m going to do an Angioplasty. I mean. REALLY. How hard can it be?”

That people feel free to say this about children’s books tells you a lot–not so much about what they think of children’s book writers. That’s not important. It tells you what they think of children.

The whole post is worth reading here: Ed Stetzer – Thursday is for Thinkers: Sally Lloyd-Jones.

And maybe you’ve read one of the rash of books telling us how the church has gotten it all wrong for all these years, why the youth are heading for the exists. So you’re convinced that you’re church needs to either get more missional, more doctrinal, more seeker-oriented. More something.

Here’s the thing. You’re probably somewhat right. I’m guessing the church you attend has inadequacies. But it’s likely that its served by staff who genuinely care about the Lord, about people, and about doing it right. They’re probably missing some big things and making mistakes.

But, as I look at Scripture I see that God uses churches like this. Imperfect, clumsy, a bit off. Actually these are the only kinds of churches God can use because the only kinds of people he has to work with are . . . . you guessed it, sinners. You’re one of them. Even though you’ve done the research, read the books, attended the seminary, you are still an imperfect human filled with sin. You’re saved only by the grace of God and not you’re merit.

I say all this to say one thing. You can gripe about your church and find another. And perhaps that’s what you need to do. I’m not minimizing serious church issues, abuse, etc. But, largely, church problems are caused by imperfect sinners.

What I’m saying is that you can see your church become more fully effective by becoming part of the solution. Be the change you want to see. Here are five ways you can help your church from an admittedly imperfect, learning, needy pastor:

1) Be Committed. 

The best way to make your church better is to be there consistently and faithfully. Seriously, you can’t gripe about a church you hardly frequent. And you have no idea how it encourages and motivates the heart of the pastor and staff to see you present at most functions regularly. And your regular attendance makes a statement to the world that God’s called-out assembly means something to you. It makes a statement to the devil that you are standing with Christ and His body. And it makes a statement to yourself that church is more important than anything on Sunday. Also, part of being committed is to be at your place of service at the right time. If you’ve signed up for a ministry, be there when you say you will be. The church is depending on you.

2) Be On Time

This seems small, but it’s big. Get up early on Sunday morning and be at church on time. I must confess that before I was a pastor I was habitually late to church. I always came, but I was usually late. Now that I’m a pastor I realize how this totally stresses the church staff. We actually like to know who is going to be there and who we can count on. And I think punctuality at church makes a statement about how much we care about the Lord. If we were as punctual at work as we were at church, I wonder how long many of us would keep our jobs. That’s sounds a bit harsh, I know, but getting to church early and on time helps your church become the church God intends it to be. If you’re supposed to serve in a particular area, make a special effort to not only be on time, but be early. Give the attention to that ministry that you would to something you value such as your job or your favorite hobby.

3) Be Positive

Come to church with a smile. I’m not saying be plastic or inauthentic. If you’re suffering through a crisis,the church should be the first place to cry. Don’t come with a mask. But also don’t come with a super-critical eye. Come intending to give back to the body with your gifts and talents. Come intending to be fed the Word, but also disciple and encourage others. Come ready to love and forgive and hug and forbear. Come to church ready to forgive small and big slights. Also, be pro-church. Greet guests warmly, advance the church goals and ministries with a smile. Be positive, not cynical.

4) Be Prepared

You can prepare with prayer. Before you walk in the doors, you might pray for your pastor and the staff. Pray for the Spirit’s presence to be strong in the service and in the preaching. Bathe the entire church body in prayer. Think of some of the neediest members in your church and commit their needs to prayer. Most of all, before you walk in the church doors, pray that God will use you to impact someone’s life for the Kingdom that Sunday. Sunday not simply an ordinary day. Church is not something to simply cross off our list. Church is the expression of Christ in the world. You are the church. Be the church. Pray that God powerfully uses you to change lives. And pray that through the preaching and worship and prayer you’re heart will soften to the gospel and you’ll become more like your Savior.

You can also prepare by preparing your own heart with Scripture. Be a person of the Word and doctrine so that your heart is ready to soak in the teaching on Sunday. Nurture your spiritual life so that the soil of your soul is ready to be changed for God’s glory.

5) Be Solution-Oriented

In #3 I said to be positive. I want to offset that by saying being positive isn’t being a flatterer or Kool-Aid guy. What I mean by this is that you help your church being gently discerning. If you see an area of improvement, make a note to try to be a difference maker. Ask the person in charge of that are if you can help solve the problem. In other words, rather than complaining about a dirty bathroom or a gap in the childcare, politely and kindly bring this to someone who can affect change and offer to help. The pastor and the staff don’t see everything. They sometimes need some help from committed members on the ground level who can give them some critical feedback on services in the church.

Closing:

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, just a few ways you can make your church what God intends it to be.

My friend Timothy Dalrymple is a rare exception. A gifted wordsmith, he’s an eloquent defender of capitalism. In an article about Mitt Romney’s recent gaffe, he says:

But Mitt, like Republicans in general, needs to reclaim the language of compassion for the poor.  It’s not compassionate to leave the very poor tangled up in our social safety nets.  It’s not compassionate to promote dependency.  What is compassionate — what actually serves the interest of the very poor, as well as everyone else — is unleashing economic growth that brings greater opportunity, better values and better compensation for everyone.  The very poor are not doing fine.  They’re drowning in the unintended consequences of liberals’ good intentions — their families are falling apart, their spirits and creativity are languishing, and the economic virtues are withering from their communities because of the perverse mis-incentives of government largesse.

The entire article is worth reading: Philosophical Fragments » Mitt’s “Very Poor” Phrasing.

I no longer think this way. That’s not to be confused with doctrinal slippage. I feel very strongly that doctrine is vital for the life of the  church and that the attempts to weaken orthodoxy by some will hurt the cause of Christ going forward. But, quite often conservatives have a “guilty until proven innocent” outlook about Christian leaders. Some self-appointed watch-bloggers view any big, successful church movement with sarcastic skepticism, as if every mega-church pastor is out to fill seats, fill coffers, and build buildings. Sure there are charlatans on the evangelical scene. There are prosperity pastors who have watered down faith in order to find Christian fame. But unless we are God (which we are most definitely not) we are not in the position to judge their hearts. We can discern the output (teaching, books, etc). But it should be done with a humble heart, not the sort of sarcastic one-upsmanship that characterizes so many self-appointed watchdogs of truth.

The truth is that there are many evangelical “celebrities” who are famous because God has blessed their teaching ministries. They are solid preachers and teachers, selfless servants. We shouldn’t begrudge them their blessing. We shouldn’t mask our jealousy and contempt behind a facade of fake discernment. Let’s not assume the worst about our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

On the flip side, some measure orthodoxy only by numbers. I’ve heard a few mega-church pastors who, when garnering criticism for a particular approach, have no other defense except to say something like, “it worked, people came.” And they push away anyone with a helpful critique as a small-minded, unevangelistic doubter. This too is wrong and prideful. Numbers cannot be the only measure of spiritual purity, otherwise we’d be able to say that a fast-growing religion like Mormonism or Islam is God’s chosen instrument of grace in this age. And I don’t think orthodox Christians are prepared to do that.

Lastly, I think we have to look at successful mega-pastors as humans. This goes two ways. First, they are humans in that they will make mistakes of methodology and associations and wording and when they do, publicly, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and forgive them and move on. Let’s assume their hearts are right, critique their methods, but not castigate them as the the next great heretic. Secondly, let’s affirm their humanity by acknowledging that some of what a pastor offers is good and wholesome and some may not be. What I mean by this is that simply because we disagree with a pastor or speaker or leader in one area doesn’t mean we should throw out all of his teaching on every area. He’s human. I’m human. Some of what I write will be spiritually beneficial. Some may not. Eat the meat, throw away the bones.

Lastly, our discernment could be more balanced and less triumphant and snarky. I personally appreciate the work of guys like Trevin Wax and Kevin DeYoung. They are men who critique with humility, love and a biblical focus. They also rarely take on a subject that they don’t know. I never detect mean-spiritedness or a sense of gotcha in their work.I may not always agree with Trevin or Kevin (sounds like a new oldies radio show), but I wish more bloggers would adopt their pastoral tone.

One more thing: We would all do well to speak with grace and clarity online. We will give account one day for every word spoken or written. Even those anonymous snarky comments left on articles with which we disagree.

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On January 17^th at 8:03 PM central time, Linda Diane Sullivan whispered her last breath on this earth and entered the arms of Jesus. I imagine a triumphant welcome in Heaven, because this was the home going of one of God’s most precious saints, a life marked by unceasing joy and an unusual selflessness.

Linda entered my life nine years ago, when I had the privilege of marrying her beautiful daughter, Angela. Angela is the greatest gift Linda gave me, but it was not the only one. For nine years Linda enriched my life in incalculable ways.

When I think of Linda, the first thought that comes to mind is infectious, contagious, relentless joy. God saw fit to allow Linda to endure some heart-wrenching personal trials, hardships that would cause most ordinary people to grow embittered and give up their faith. But Linda endured the worst of life with a gritty, patient, endurance. In our frequent conversations, I would often ask her, “Mom, how is it that you are still smiling after all you’ve been through?” And Mom would inevitably say, “Only God can get me through, one day at a time, sometimes one moment at a time.”

In almost every situation, in almost every scene of her life, you would find Linda smiling. This cannot be said about many people.

This is what Mom taught me. I’ve been a Christian most of my life. And yet Mom showed me, more than anyone I’ve known, what it means to live it out every day, in good times and bad. She showed me a different side of Christianity. One that is real.

Mom and I had similar personalities. Angela often says that she married her mom. We’re both similarly laid back in most things. Mom was someone you could easily talk to, who could enjoy company in any crowd, and who was ready for an encouraging word and a laugh. She could lift any downtrodden spirit.

She reminded me of Philemon, about whom Paul said, “He refreshed the saints.” This could be said about Mom. She refreshed the saints.

We often invited Mom to visit us in Chicago where we presently have tiny living quarters. I have often told people there is only one person in the world who could live with us, in our small environment, for a month at a time. That person is Mom.

When Mom came to live, she had no selfish agenda. Her desire was to serve others, to make their world a little brighter, however she could. Mom was faithful in encouraging people through cards and bookmarks. She was faithful to send cards for birthdays, anniversaries, and any holiday. And she always included a bookmark. I remember when I was going through some difficult personal trials, Mom sent me cards that lifted my spirits.

Linda was also my biggest fan. She treated me as if I was her own son.

Her visits in Chicago were memorable. She loved to tour the city. And Mom had a knack for attracting trouble, travel trouble. From delayed flights to quirky travel issues, Mom always seemed to have issues when coming to visit us.  But when she arrived it was always a good time. She would play cards and mash her famous strawberries for shortcake and watch her game shows. I’m pretty sure she was the only person who was mashing strawberries at midnight.

She demanded very little. The only thing we had to make sure we had on hand was a bag of ice, because she went through ice, for her cups of water, faster than our icemaker could produce. I would buy the biggest bag of ice for Mom and put in our freezer. She laughed at that.

Mom was a great laugher. She laughed at my jokes, even if they weren’t funny. She would sing to our kids when they were crying. She would encourage Angela when she was down.

Perhaps my fondest memory of Linda was when our first child, Grace, was born. Mom was notoriously bad with technology, especially with cameras and so her picture-taking ability was about as good as mine, which is to say it wasn’t very good at all. And Mom, bless her heart, snapped graphic pictures of every angle of Angela giving birth, pictures that she would later show all her friends, much to the embarrassment of Angela.

But seriously, the fondest memory was being in that birthing room and looking over at Mom holding our newborn Grace, tears streaming down her face. I’ll never forget that image.

Linda was proud of all of us. She talked endlessly about her kids and loved each of them equally. Mom rarely got angry, but if she did it was because somebody hurt one of her children.

If you know Linda’s story, you know that she endured some really hardships. This is where she lived out her faith most publically. Most people would have chosen bitterness, but Mom always chose to trust the Lord, to face life with joy.

You can tell that Jesus in her. And she loved her church here at Glenview Baptist in Forth Worth. She spoke so fondly of Pastor Dennis Baw.

Linda also loved her friends. She had such a wide circle of loyal friends. And all of you know how much of a friend she was to you. She’d be there in a crisis, in a pinch. She’d help in any way she could.

We know Mom is with Jesus now, happy, enjoying eternity in Heaven. We know this because Jesus was the center of Mom’s life. We trust that God is sovereign over all things. We have the hope of the Resurrection and so we don’t sorrow as others who do not know the Lord. I know I will see Mom again. And I know that Mom would want you to experience the same love of Jesus she knew.

But please pray for us during this time on this earth as we will miss her. She will leave a large void in our lives. She won’t be replaced.

It’s rare to find a son-in-law who will sing the praises of his mother-in-law. But all of those common jokes never applied to Linda. She was best mother-in-law a man could want. She graciously allowed me to marry her beautiful daughter. And she enriched my life in countless ways.

I will miss her greatly.

Today I’m honored to feature the talented novelist, Laurie Alice Eakes. She is a fellow client of my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray and an award-winning author. Her books have won numerous awards, including The National Readers Choice Award. She was also a Carol Award finalist. In the past three years, she has sold six books to Baker/Revell, five of which are set during the Regency time period, four books to Barbour Publishing, as well as two novellas to Barbour Publishing and one to Baker/Revell. Six of her books have been picked up by Thorndike Press for large print publication, and Lady in the Mist, her first book with Revell, was chosen for hardcover publication with Crossings Bookclub. She also teaches on-line writing courses and enjoys a speaking ministry that has taken her from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast. She blogs regularly here. Here latest book is  A Heart’s Safe Passage. 

Today Laurie was kind to take time out of her writing day to chat with me about the writing life: 

A lot has been going on in your life since you have begun writing, including moving several times. What tips can you offer writers who are facing life changes while working under deadlines?

Learn to write where and when you can, whether that is in a moving vehicle, in a crowded airport, or the kitchen table of relatives while small children run about, meals are prepared, and any number of other distractions are going on. Waiting for the right place and time just isn’t an option. 

Would you like to live in Regency England or Colonial America? Why or why not?

I had to give this one some serious thought. My conclusion is Regency England if I were at least middle class. More amenities and comforts. I admire our forefathers even more after researching the time period for my two colonial-set novellas coming out in 2012. Even the rich didn’t live what we would consider well. As one professor put it, It was like camping with servants. Camping is not a favorite pastime of mine, and if one didn’t even have servants. . .

Regency England was a bit more civilized, at least as long as one wasn’t living in the London “stews”. Life for any poor person was rough regardless of location. For those with some income, however, Regency England was relatively comfortable. At least one had access to a fairly varied food source, medicine, and books. Definitely books, newspapers, churches. One wasn’t quite so isolated from other people as most colonials were much of the time.

All that said, I think life in colonial America would have been fascinating in many ways. Imagine the beauty of the barely touched forests in the Virginia mountains and the clarity of the rivers. Imagine listening to the great men—and women—planning the future of our country.

For living, I’ll still choose Regency England, and I’d like a few time-travel visits to the colonial era. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge of writing historical novels as opposed to contemporaries?

What we don’t know. As hard as we look, as much as we read, as deeply as we delve into wonderful resources available through places like the Gutenberg Project and Google Books, we still have no true idea of how people interacted in their most personal thoughts and deeds. We can make a lot of presumptions, and those are based on contemporary standards. And those contemporary standards lead us to another problem: If we really wrote as to how things are, we would too often turn off the contemporary reader. Most just wouldn’t accept that our hero probably smells like a lot worse than the classic horses and leather, and the heroine wouldn’t wash her hair more than every couple of weeks. At the same time, the contemporary reader thinks many things about history that aren’t necessarily true, so one has to walk a fine line between expectation and as much reality as one is free to write.

With contemporary fiction, research can also be intense, and we have a much clearer view of how people think and act, since we see it around us every day, read it on social media sites, read it in e-mails. I don’t mention TV or movie portrayals, as those are generally not particularly real.

Tell us about your latest project.

A Necessary Deception is my latest release from Baker/Revell. This is a romantic suspense novel set in Regency England. Or maybe one can call it an espionage thriller set in Regency England. A lovely widowed heroine, a dashing and mysterious Frenchman, and the heroine’s incorrigible sisters form romance, intrigue, and family drama. 

Tell us about your speaking ministry.

God has blessed me with a lack of stage fright, probably because I’ve done public speaking since I was a small child. So when opportunities started presenting themselves for me to speak, I decided to take them.

My main focus is to the writing community—workshops on writing and historical subjects; however, I also speak to organizations, so far women’s organizations, about faith. Often the two combine in my talks about risk taking. If one is called to write, then one is called to take risks, and if one is called to take risks, then one needs faith. Nothing like opening up my heart and spirit to others regarding these subjects and having my words tested, and the more they are tested, the stronger my faith grows and the more I want to take risks for the Lord.

Such is the case with Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, architect of the Contract with America and a brilliant man of ideas in the Republican Party. I’ve often admired Newt for his willingness to think outside of the same set of conservative talking points (low taxes, strong defense, limited government). But as is well known, Newt has significant weaknesses as a leader, not the least of which is a hubris that grates even on those who agree with him the most. Which is why he was tossed as speaker by his colleagues. Most troubling is Newt’s public moral failings, having admitted to serial infidelity.

By all accounts Newt is now a changed man. As a 68-year old grandfather, he seems to have found discipline and grace in his old age. We have no reason to doubt this. As Christians we believe in the power of redemption and life change.

And yet, what is troubling about Newt’s candidacy, in my view, may not be Newt himself, but his many conservative defenders. All of a sudden, its taboo now for the media to probe into Newts background and ask tough questions of him, questions raised by his 2nd wife’s interview in which she claims Newt wanted an “open marriage.” I’m not sure if Newt asked for that or not and yes, these issues are several years old. However, it is not journalistic malpractice for the media to ask these questions. We are, after all, picking a President. Don’t we have the right to inquire of his moral character?

What distresses me most, what prompted me to write this blog post in the first place, was the searing hypocrisy on the part of some on the Right. I distinctly remember when Bill Clinton was being publically and legally tried for his moral failures while in the White House. I remember his chief defender, James Carville saying something like this, “Character doesn’t matter. Nobody cares about that. It’s the economy stupid.” Conservative Christians rightly denounced this. We do believe moral character matters.

And yet I’m hearing this same convoluted defense of Newt Gingrich’s indescretions. Again, I’m not throwing stones at Newt, nor am I saying he couldn’t serve as President. But it seems politics has blinded us to what we really believe. Suddenly the character about which we were so excercised in Clinton’s day no longer matters. All we seem to care about is getting rid of Obamacare. I’m hearing comparisons to King David, comparisons which we ridiculed when Democrats used him in defense of Bill Clinton. I’m also hearing conservatives justify Newt by saying things like, “the Democrats do it and are worse.” As if the only way to assess someone’s moral failure is through the lens of who is doing it worse. This is the kind of twisted moral logic I thought the Judeo Christian ethic rejects.

So, there are two conclusions to draw. Either politics has so blinded conservatives to the issues about which they once stood and they operate within a framework that defends their guy at all costs and repudiates the other side at all costs. Or, they’ve come a long way from their moralist past and are embracing more of the gospel’s tone of forgiveness and redemption. I’m cynical, but I believe the former.

I say all of this not to throw stones at Newt. He has very publicly repented. No man is perfect, least of all public figures for whom temptation is much greater. None of us is above the possibility of moral failure. For this, we fall on the grace of God. But what we must realize is that God’s grace extends to both Republican and Democrat, that moral failure is wrong no matter who is committing it. And while we should offer forgiveness to those who fall, let’s not bend so far backward that we actually defend the actual deed or minimize its importance in the life of our nation.

Maybe this will keep us from two equally wrong political postures: twisting the political knife when an ideological opponent stumbles and reflexively defending bad behavior among those whose policies we affirm.

Because if character does matter, it matters regardless of party. And if grace and redemption are offered in the gospel, they are available even to Democrats.

Edward T. Welch, M.Div., Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). He has counseled for over twenty-five years and is the best-selling author of some of the best, gospel-centric counceling books, including When People Are Big and God Is Small; Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave; Running Scared: Fear, Worry and the God of Rest; and When I Am Afraid: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Fear and Anxiety.

His latest book is What Do You Think of Me and Why Do I Care?, Today, Ed was kind enough to stop by and chat for today’s Friday Five.

What are some questions we can ask ourselves to determine if we are being too controlled by the opinions of others?   

The list is a long one here. Am I angry? hopeless? self-protective? afraid? ashamed? depressed? withdrawing? Do I lie to make myself look better? Do I try to attach myself to the celebrity or popular person with the hope of enhancing my own reputation?

Can you explain the term “peer pressure” and what it really means?

I don’t hear this word as much as I once did. It usually means that we are willing to do things we wouldn’t normally do as a way to be accepted by others. There is a good kind of peer pressure, when a youth group really wants to know Jesus better, but that’s not the way it usually happens. We have a lot of the Old Testament biographies in us, and in those cases when a person who belonged to God met a person who loved his or her idols, the follower of God started following the idols and not vice versa. Of course, in the age of the Spirit that can be different.

You say that so much of life comes down to three questions. Can you tell us what they are and how we can find the answers to them?

The questions are Who is God? Who am I? and Who are you?  The answers can be a little difficult to discover. Most of us know the correct theological answers to these questions, but there are the correct ones and then there are the ones we really believe. That why the topic of the opinions of other people is so handy. It can surprise us with our REAL answers to those questions.

So what are some of the real answers?

Who is God? Picky, distant, nice but irrelevant.

Who am I? Needy, I must find an identity in myself – who I am and what I do? The problem is that God isn’t very relevant and other people don’t solve the problem because I am a never ending hole that is looking to others so I can feel okay about myself.

Who are you? A threat, a god.

If we use these three basic questions, the question about God tends to be irrelevant, which is at the very heart of the problem. The normal answer is, he loves me [but so what?].

Why doesn’t his love make that much difference? It’s because other people have become our substitute god. The only way that God’s love becomes relevant is for “Why do I care?” to become a confession, as in “Lord, why do I care so much about me and my desires?” That takes an ordinary desire [for approval, love, acceptance, belonging . . . ] that has grown to extraordinary proportions so that it is a ruling or even idolatrous desire, and it brings that desire back to being an ordinary one in which other people’s poor opinions can hurt us, but not control us.

And who are other people? We want to love them just a little more than be loved by them.

You write a lot in your book about worship. Tell us why this is such an important theme and how it applies to the issue of people pleasing.

Worship seems like a once-a-Sunday thing, but Scripture puts life in either/or terms: either we love God or something else, we trust in God or something else, we bow down to God or something else. Bowing down or worshipping is a vivid and accurate way to describe what is always taking place in our hearts. The word control gets at it. What controls us is our god. What controls us is what we adore and worship.

How can recognizing everyone in our lives—acquaintances, loved ones, friends and enemies—as FAMILY change our perspectives and the way we live with and think about others?

We can have wretched families that are more like enemies than families, but most of us are familiar with relationships in which we love people freely. We don’t have to put on airs, we are always wondering what they are thinking about us. Instead, we simply love and enjoy them. When we are interested, we are more interested in them than we are in what they think of us. That recognizable experience moves us toward a way out from this particular human struggle. At the end of the day, love God and love your neighbor is where we will find lots of answers.

If you and Abraham were in Heaven, relaxing over a sweat tea in rocking chairs (I know Heaven isn’t like Cracker Barrell, but that’s the best I can do right now), I think he would tell you that his little weekend trip to Egypt (Genesis 12:10-13:4) was one of the dumbest moves he made.

I’m not saying this lightly, because for me to say anything this man of faith did was dumb is like me chiding Aaron Rogers for not throwing a tight enough spiral. But Genesis clearly portrays Abraham’s move as being misguided at best.

Think about how it played out. He almost lost his wife to Pharaoh. He caused God to send plagues on Pharaoh, which I’m sure made that world ruler’s day. He also picked up Hagaar in Egypt. We all know how that worked out in Abraham’s family. And it was in Egypt that Abraham and Lot hit the jackpot and became rich. Their spoils eventually became a source of conflict and set Lot on a path to Sodom.

No, this Egypt thing didn’t work so well. God’s intent was for Abraham to stay in Canaan and let God be the hero in taking care of His people during the famine.

You see, Abraham’s issue was the issue you and I face. And I’m talking about those of you who are following Jesus. Maybe you’re not perfect. Maybe you don’t journal with a moleskin and you occasionally check your Facebook too much. However, you’re heart is right in wanting to follow Jesus as Abraham’s was.

And yet in the midst of trusting God, a big crisis occurs. For Abraham it was a famine. This mean he had schlepped his family all the way to a strange land (obeying God) and now they had no food, no water, no provisions. There was no nearby 24/hour Walmart. No Panera Bread or Jamba Juice.

This was a real crisis. But instead of trusting God, Abraham trusted himself. He was going to be the hero of the story. In doing so, he forgot something powerful. When God calls us, He is the hero of our story. Instead of seeing if God could do a miracle and feed His people in the desert (not like God ever did anything like that before, right?), Abraham took matters in his own hands.

I’ve done that lots of times. And I only end up with dirty hands and nothing to show for my scheming efforts.

What’s cool, though, about Abraham’s story is that even though he messed up in Egypt, God still was the hero of Abraham’s story. In other words, Abraham’s lack of faith didn’t thwart God’s plan to make a people and a nation out of which the Redeemer would come. God even used Abraham’s folly to show Himself strong in Egypt and continue the forward march of rescuing His people from their sin.

So what this means is that God isn’t surprised when you and I screw up. He isn’t in Heaven doing a facepalm. He’s not tweeting our failures in disgust.

No, God even uses our evil for His good.

So if you want to see God at work, learn from Abraham’s folly and stop trying to be the hero of your own story. When crisis strikes, let God be the first One you consult. Trust Him.

Abraham could tell you that God’s record is pretty good when it comes to faithfulness. Actually it’s perfect.