What’s on your schedule for the day?  I don’t know about you, but when I wake up in the morning, my mind is instantly flooded with the day’s to-do list.  It’s easy to roll out of bed and jump right in with both feet running, checking items off that list.  Some days, the temptation to put off my time with God until later in the day is pretty high.  I think to myself, “I’ll read my Bible at lunch.”  Then at lunch, I’m already way behind schedule, so I put it off until after dinner.  By then, I’m so exhausted all I want to do is crash my head into the pillow and sleep.  If I’m not careful and before I know it, I can find myself several days into this routine before I realize I’ve spent no time with God.

Maybe you’re like me? 

Throughout the day, my mind is racing from one thing to the next…one thought to another even before I’ve had time to process the original thought.  I’m so focused on the “next thing.”  All. The. Time.  “Where do I need to be next?  What’s the next item on the list?”  Even when I’m in the middle of one thing, my mind is at least 2-3 steps ahead, trying to stay on schedule and get to where I need to be for the next activity.  Gotta go, go, go…places to be and things to do.

So much so, that I rarely take time to enjoy the moment I’m in.

In my mid-40’s now, it seems my memory is fading more and more every day.  I can remember certain days in the lives of my kids when they were younger.  The first time I met my daughter in the hospital.  Seven months later, the life in her eyes after surviving open-heart surgery.  The day my boys were born. The day I first heard them say “dad.”  Various “hallmark” days between then and now.  I think that’s not simply because my memory is fading with age, but more likely because I don’t enjoy the moment for what it is sometimes.  I’ve usually got my phone in my hand and am distracted with something else…mentally someplace else rather than in the moment.

Can you relate to any of this?

I can remember going through various stages with my kids.  When they were in diapers, I was thinking, “Man, I can’t wait until we’re out of diapers…I can’t wait until he says his first word…until he starts walking…until school starts so we can have our day back and actually get something done around the house.”  Always looking for what’s next and not enjoying the moment.

Have you ever found yourself doing that?

I attended my 5^th grade son’s DARE graduation last night and came face-to-face with the realization that my time is much shorter than I know.  Afterward, I was looking through some pictures and found several of my daughter when she was four years old.  On the verge of her graduating high school in a few short months, I find myself wondering how many moments I missed because I was too busy to enjoy them…too distracted to be with her in the moment.

And, here I find myself thinking, “Man I sure do miss those simpler days…I miss the days when the biggest responsibility was making sure their diaper was changed and that they were fed.”

Let’s face it…the distractions of this world are many—tools used by the devil to rob us of our joy.  Especially during this time of year, the distractions pull our focus away from the reason we celebrate Christmas. We’ve got decorations to put up, lights to hang, trees to trim, presents to buy and wrap, parties to attend and host…all on top of our normal everyday schedules!

It can be overwhelming, can’t it?

I think our challenge this particular season should be to enjoy the moment for what it is…the celebration of the birth of a Savior.  It’s the time we celebrate the life that ultimately conquered death.  Our life is spared, because His life was given.  For me personally, I think my biggest challenge this season is to put away the distractions…to let that call go to voicemail…to not check emails from my phone when I can be engaging my family…and to recognize that the details of our work (and our ministry) should not be given priority over the time we spend with our family.  And, that the time we spend with our family should not be given priority over the time we spend with our Savior.

Instead of being robbed of our joy this joyous season, let’s find our joy through a renewed relationship with the King.

It’s interesting that the Spanish word for “more” is “más.” Christmas - Christ more.  More than what?  EVERYTHING.  More Christ, less me.  I don’t know what’s on your schedule today or how you’ve prioritized it.  I know what’s on mine, and everything else can wait…because right now, I’m gonna go spend some time with my Jesus…followed by some time with my family…and I hope you can make time to do the same.

Let this be our prayer this season of Christmas.

God, create a clean heart for me

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not banish me from Your presence

or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore the joy of Your salvation to me,

and give me a willing spirit.

Then I will teach the rebellious Your ways,

and sinners will return to You. - Psalm 51:10-13

Merry CHRISTmas! Christ more.

It looked fun…at first. From the bottom looking up, it looked like a nice, leisurely ride to the top. I bet the view from up there is amazing. And the only thing standing between me and the top of this mountain peak is a mile of cable line and one tram ride. And the voice in my head yelling “are you out of your mind!!??”

If you’ve ever had a fear of heights, then you’ll understand when I say that standing at the base of a ski lift that traverses over a mile straight up the mountain to an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet can be a daunting view. Looking around and seeing more rusted bolts and dry-rotted boards than I could find in an abandoned lumber yard as we make our way to the loading area does little to reassure the growing-louder-by-the-second voice in my head that is trying to remind me that if God wanted me to do something that required my feet leave the ground for more than two seconds, He’d have given me wings.

As I stand in the loading zone and the chair approaches from behind, I wait for the inevitable…and as it literally sweeps me off my feet as it knocks my legs out from under me, I plop down and feel the chair bounce and sway as the cable above us gives a little. Now we’re swaying back and forth as my feet leave the ground and we pull the bar over our heads…a bar that would no more hold me in this contraption than a paper bag would hold in a wild boar looking for its next meal. As the ground beneath us disappears and grows farther and farther away, I notice that this “seat” is no more than hollow metal pipes the thickness of a metal coffee can, held together by rusted bolts. Yeah…how’d I get here again?

A Quarter Mile Up

Halfway up the mountain, it occurs to me that just about every muscle in my body is tense. I’m literally hanging on so tightly with one hand that my fingers are tingling because there is no blood left in them. My other hand is so firmly attached to my son sitting next to me that I’m sure I’ll be reported to DFS for child abuse when someone sees the hand-shaped indention I’ve surely left in his side. It does little to calm my mind when I’m looking down and realize that if I do fall from here, I most likely won’t die…just shatter a femur or two, blow out a knee, disintegrate my ankles, and maybe puncture a lung. I wonder how much my AFLAC policy pays per bone?

Don’t Be Deceived – That’s a 75′ Drop

We like being in control, don’t we? We like the feeling that comes with knowing that we have a say in things…that we have the reigns and even if we’re flying by the seat of our pants, the decisions are ours to make, and we’re piloting this ship we call our life. Our feet are planted firmly on the ground, and we have the power…we’re in control.

But are we? Are we really? Let’s be completely honest here. The feeling of “control” I had when holding on for dear life to that coffee can dangling seventy-five feet above the ground on its way to the top of a mile-high mountain did nothing more than give me a false sense of security. Had something failed on that rusted piece of metal built back when moonshiners ran them hills, I would have no more been able to keep from falling to the rocks below and shattering every bone in my lower body than I could stand on a street corner and catch a bowling ball falling from the Empire State Building. It ain’t gonna happen.

Yet we walk through life unwilling to let go, don’t we? We hold on to the things (and the people) we love so tight, that letting go becomes too much to believe possible. And when you boil it down to the core of why we struggle with letting go, it’s one thing. All too often, we let our fear of letting go overwhelm us. It’s not that we don’t want to let go. No, deep down inside…I believe at the heart of us all…we don’t want to be wound so tight that we can’t breathe. We long to let go and feel the exhilaration of adrenaline pumping through our veins as we live life to the fullest. But despite that yearning, it’s the fear that drives us to hold on so tight…fear of what might happen if we do let go. Make no mistake, friend…if it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen whether we’re holding on or not. And when it does, us holding on is not going to stop it from hurting when we hit bottom.

God is calling us to let go. Our lives are not ours, and we certainly don’t have the control and power we think we have. All we have is an illusion…a false sense of security provided by what we see, hear, smell and feel. We have to look beyond that illusion and realize that life happens on the other side of the fear. Will it be easy to let go? Not always. Will it hurt to let go? Sometimes. Will it be worth it to let go? Absolutely!!! It’s time to truly and fully give our lives to Christ. To give Him the reigns and let Him take His rightful place in the pilot seat of our life. It’s time to let go and let God. If you can, you’ll see for yourself that the view from the top IS worth it.

It IS an Awesome View

And yes…you’ll even find you can have a lot of fun along the way.

Thumbs Up

“The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble. – Proverbs 19:23