If Suffering Were a Lollipop

The problem with suffering is the pain. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? But stop and think. Probably most believers would readily give verbal assent to the idea that suffering is used by God for good in our lives. We know enough verses to be cognizant of that fact. Often we find ourselves saying in the midst of deep trials that, though we don’t know why God is allowing this to happen, we do know that He has a purpose in it.
Somewhere deep in our storehouse of biblical knowledge we know that suffering is good for us. A few of the Scriptures we would point to would be:

1. Suffering points us to the glorious return of Christ. (1 Peter 4:13)
2. Suffering causes dependence on the grace of God. (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
3. Suffering demonstrates the grace of God. (1 Peter 2:19)
4. Suffering produces endurance. (Romans 5:3; James 1:2-3)
5. Jesus was made perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10; 5:8-9)
6. Suffering perfects us, as it did Jesus. (James 1:4)
7. Suffering brings the comfort of God. (2 Corinthians 1:5-7)
8. Suffering brings conformity to Christ. (Romans 8:28-29; Philippians 3:10)
9. Suffering causes us to long for heaven. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
10. Suffering gets us out of our comfort zone. (Acts 8:1)

If all these are true then why is it also true that we tend to dread suffering; we seek to avoid it in every way; we look at it, not as friend, but as a fearsome enemy? All too often we are like the kids in the old TV commercial who, when discussing a yucky, healthy food, said, “It tastes like it’s good for us.” We don’t like the taste of suffering. Why? The answer is the pain. Our focus is on the process and not the product.
What if suffering were a lollipop? What if, in God’s economy, He had foreordained that eating a lollipop would perfect the Lord Jesus Himself? What if God had decreed that licking a lollipop would lead us to the abundant grace that is all-sufficient? What if sucking on a delicious sticky lollipop would produce in us endurance and complete us in Christ-likeness? What if the tantalizing taste of a lollipop caused us to long for heaven with all our might?
Answer: we would be ecstatic. We would sing the praises of lollipops. We would longingly look for lollipops. We would encourage others to do the lollipop thing with great perseverance and diligence. We would have lollipop licking colloquies designed to teach the techniques and joys of lollipop delights.
So the problem with suffering is the pain. Would that God would grant the ability to focus on the goal, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and realize that God’s ways are perfect. Why does He bring suffering into our lives? Because He wants us to experience every aspect of His glory. His desire is for us to know His grace and comfort and power and peace. He wants us to taste and see that He is good. Look past the pain, past the process to the Perfect Suffering Savior!

Beauty Will Rise

Stephen Curtis Chapman's new album "Beauty Will Rise" will be released today. This album is composed of songs written in the aftermath of his precious daughter's death in the driveway of their home. Two months ago, Janet and I sat with our friends Marty and Jennifer Goetz and listened to amazing stories of the grace of God in the aftermath of that tragedy. Their daughter was a classmate of the Chapman's son. We wept as we listened. As I think back on that night, I realize I'll probably weep again as I listen to this album.
Here is the story of one song from Stephen himself:

One of the most affecting, affirming songs on the record is "SEE." In the hours after Maria left to be with Jesus, Steven fervently prayed for a sign that she was okay, pleading with God just to let him see. "I remember just saying, "We know it is true. We know she is with Jesus. She is safe in the arms of the God who made her. We know she is okay. We know it, but could we just see something?"" Steven recalls asking. "The next morning we went back to our house to get some clothes for the memorial service. We were not going to stay there and it was really hard to even go in the house because of the memories. We were walking through with friends who were holding on to us and we were going from room to room.

I walked into the kitchen and there is this little art table that Maria and Stevey Joy would sit at for hours. She loved crafts. She would cut out pictures. Scissors and glue were her favorite things. She would just cut and paste and draw for hours, and she often created cards for us. She would write the words she knew, "I love mom" and "I love dad" and then she would sign her name "Maria."

Everything was cleaned up at the table but there was one little piece of notebook paper lying on her side of the art table. It was a flower, a six-petal flower that was kind of her signature flower that she would draw all the time. Only one petal was colored in blue, and the rest of it was just the outline of the petals. It had a little stem and it had a little orange center of the flower and it had little leaves at the bottom of the stem. I had noticed something else kind of bleeding through the back of the paper where she had written something and I turned it over and it was a little butterfly and then she had written the letters S-E-E. She had never written that word before. All that she had ever written as far as we knew was "I love Mom," "I love Dad" and her name. Out of all the words that she could have written that day before the accident, she had written the word "see." I was already weeping uncontrollably and at that moment I just really, really believed that God gave us that sign and that was the gift that Maria left us to say "I know you are wanting to see something, but see I am okay and I am where you said. It is okay." That flower became so precious to us. It was my wife that looked at it and realized what we thought was an unfinished flower, was finished. Only one flower petal of the six was colored in. Then we realized we have six children there is only one that is colored in; there is one that is whole and the rest of us are still waiting for our color. It just became such a gift to us."

A Twit at Heart

In taking a cue from John Piper, my main goal in the Twitter galaxy is to pass on a word of encouragement and exhortation to fellow believers and, hopefully, any unbelievers who happen by. With my recent lapse in blogging, I thought I'd share a compendium of my latest Tweets. Chronologically they run from newest to oldest for a couple of weeks or so.

• Praying that every proclamation of the Word today will bring glory & honor to God.8:53 AM Oct 25th from Echofon
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• "if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?" 1 Sm 2:25 Wow, NOW we know the answer! Heb 10:19-226:13 AM Oct 25th from Power Twitter
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• 1 Sam 2:3 "...let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge," God knows; we don't.5:56 AM Oct 25th from Power Twitter
• Exo 2:25 "God saw the people of Israel--and God knew." Love the simplicity of the ESV here. "God knew" Yes He does!6:45 AM Oct 24th from Power Twitter
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• Great talk with young pastors from central & Northen CA. Passionate for the Kingdom. We need to hear them.3:37 PM Oct 22nd from Echofon

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• Meeting dear friend for lunch who's in tough situation. Praying for encouraging words.11:57 AM Oct 21st from Echofon
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• A moving comment on the Lord's Supper. See #5. http://bit.ly/3liBEk (via @drmoore)7:21 AM Oct 21st from Power Twitter
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• @albertmohler Welcome to your 6th decade.9:18 PM Oct 18th from Echofon

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• "The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high...he will be the stability of your times" Is 33:5-6 God is able & stable!8:42 AM Oct 18th from Echofon

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• Mk 6:27 God doesn't promise "Hollywood" endings to His servants. Be faithful to the end. It's not the end, it's the beginning.6:09 AM Oct 18th from Power Twitter
• Great flight Loovul to DFW. Memorized Heb 10:1-10. Text for Sunday. Who is the ultimate worshiper?6:34 AM Oct 16th from Echofon

• Loovul airport again. Rejoicing. Headed home. Makes Paul's sentiment in Ph 1:22-23 more real.3:09 AM Oct 16th from Echofon

• Overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes. I am a blessed man to have friends like you.11:16 AM Oct 15th from Power Twitter
• Praying for my brothers Hakan & Turan. 2 Cor 12:97:38 AM Oct 15th from Echofon

• First "small" blessing of 1-day flight delay: Get to hear the Cricket (@drmoore) preach in Chapel at SBTS. Pun intended.6:51 AM Oct 15th from Power Twitter
• Loovul. Flight cancelled. Rebooked. Rush 2 airport 4:00 am. Mixup. Flight now tomorrow. Remember SOVEREIGNTY.2:45 AM Oct 15th from Echofon
• Love Hebrews: Jesus is infinitely better than the Old Way -- better than angels & Moses, better Covenant, promises, sacrifices, possession.12:20 PM Oct 14th from Power Twitter
• Thinking how thankful i am for my church allowing me to be their pastor most of my life. I love FITP.2:35 PM Oct 13th from Echofon

• "worship is not an interruption to our lives. Our lives often are an interruption to our worship." @albertmohler7:10 AM Oct 13th from Echofon
• Loovul is quiet in the middle of the night. Time to put old bones to bed. Glad my Father never sleeps or even needs to.10:30 PM Oct 11th from Power Twitter
• "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;" Ps 55:22 God sustains me by.......7:27 AM Oct 11th from Power Twitter
• "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" Job 38:2 Think of all the things you don't know that God knows...and be glad!6:22 AM Oct 9th from Power Twitter

• When God speaks from a whirlwind (Job 38, 40) man should pay attention......or simply from the Bible!6:05 AM Oct 9th from Power Twitter

SADIE: A Very Selfish Dog

Sadie Cinammon Price (official AKC name) was a beautiful copper-colored Golden Retriever. Notice the "was." Her life stopped today.

Let me tell you about Sadie. She was very selfish. For some strange reason, she had the notion that all humans were created to pet her constantly. She HAD to be touched. Everyone was expected to pat, rub, scratch or whatever the need of the moment was. And once one started to pet her, stopping was a non-option. If you stopped, she would put her paw up on your arm as if to say, "Get your hand back down here and TOUCH ME!!

She was also selfish about walks. Anytime we appeared to be dressing for what might turn out to be a walk she was under foot, in the way, with this look of excited expectancy that communicated, "Would you hurry up! There are places to go and people to see and dogs to greet and grass to be marked!"

She was selfish about our being gone. When all or some of the family would leave the house she would lie for hours by the front door just to let us know that we had deserted her, the queen of the castle. Yet even in her displeasure of desertion she would greet us warmly with breathless wimpers of "pet me, pet me, pet me" when we returned.

She was selfish about treats. Every single time she was given an extra treat other than her regular dog food, no matter how large or small, she would take it outside, out of sight, to luxuriate in it all alone apart from the bother of lesser beings known as humans.

She was selfish about the bedroom floor at night. There are some things that we humans have to attend to in the middle of the night. I'm just sayin'........... Well, her position was in the middle of the path to the target area. I knew that, should she last long enough, the time would come when I would die from tripping over her in the nighttime trek.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not suggesting the order of creation was reversed. Most certainly did I exercise dominion over Sadie. I'm just not sure anyone ever told her. Reality is probably that she knew she had us wrapped around her little paw and could get just about whatever she desired.

With such a selfish dog, one wonders why I have such a pain in my chest and tears that keep coming. As I held her in her last moments, involuntarily, images of her as an 8-week-old puppy came to mind as we picked her name. We had narrowed it down to two choices and the vote kept coming up tied. Don't ask how that's possible in a family of seven. It just is. So we wrote each name on a piece of paper and put them on the floor about six feet apart. We set her down in the middle and waited to see which one she would go to first. She picked Sadie.

Now, twelve and a half years and 87 pounds later she was old and fat and largely deaf and tired and had developed a fast growing tumor on her breast. Good stewardship and compassion said stop now before it got much worse.

DO NOT EVER invite me to see "Marley and Me!" And NO, I won't see Sadie in heaven. Though she is a part of that creation that was corrupted by sin, she won't experience the resurrection from the dead. That's really a good thing. I'd rather not spend eternity scratching Sadie.

Children's Ministry: A Mission Field

Children's workers, you are not serving kids only. You are ministering to their parents as well. Here's the testimony that was shared at the baptism of a young mom yesterday in our church:

"I grew up in a non-Christian home and lived my life as a slave to sin. I never talked about or thought about God and the importance of accepting him into my life. I married a man who came from a Christian home and I started to hear things about God, but I still continued just to shrug off the importance of the relationship I needed to have with him in my life. It really wasn’t until I had my children that I started to feel the need to know and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Once my daughter Hayley was old enough she started attending Sunday school classes and also Awanas. I feel that this was all a part of God’s plan to speak to me through my daughter because as I helped Hayley memorize her verses and work on her projects, God was reaching out to me, opening my eyes to what I was teaching my daughter, and opening my heart to let me know he is with me.

A few months ago I made the decision to come to church with my family and while sitting there during service I was overcome with this feeling and I knew that I was suppose to be there and that I needed to change the direction of my life. I found myself filled with this eagerness to learn I began asking many questions about God, Salvation and Eternal life. I was invited to join Moms group and during my first visit I met a Christian mom who asked me if I was a Christian, I told her no and as we talked more she asked if I would be interested in doing a Bible Study with her. I said yes and was very happy to have this opportunity to learn God’s word and to have someone help me since this was all new to me. The first night I went for Bible study Hayley asked me where I was going and when I told her I was going to Bible study she told me Mommy I hope you find Jesus and put him in your heart. That night I just knew that was my time for Salvation and with help from my Christian friend I prayed and accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Since accepting Christ into my life I have found myself changing in ways that have been really good for myself and for my family. I am working towards being the sort of wife and mother that God wants me to be. I feel more positive in the things I am teaching my children because I now have the belief in it. I know that in good times and bad God is always with me. I feel truly blessed to have finally accepted Christ into my life and look forward to seeing what else God has planned for me."


Sunday School Teachers, VBS Workers, AWANA leaders, Choir Directors, YOU are part of God's kingdom plan to take the gospel to the nations. What a mission field!!!