I Like Ice Cream, But I Have To Stay Away From It

Just because we like something doesn't mean it's right for us. Just because something is comfortable doesn't mean it's what we are supposed to be doing. If that were the case, I'd be able to wear jeans and tennis shoes to the hospital every day and I could eat as many cookies as I felt like. If that were true, I'd be able to curse people out over the most minuscule incidents and not even think twice about it.

The easy road should be the one least traveled, and too often that's not the case. It's not easy to admit you don't have the answers. It's not easy to realize you're not in control. It's not easy to lay down your cross to carry His. But all of these have to be done. It's not really optional. He commands it.

So why is it that we are drawn to what's comfortable? I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think a good part of it is that when we're surrounded by the comfortable, we don't get pushed. Our limits aren't stretched. Our horizons aren't broadened. Nobody likes to be tested, and staying on the easy road is the simplest way to avoid potholes.

James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Unfortunately, we know that we shouldn't be on the easy road and, according to God's Word, we are sinning by staying on it. So how do we get off? How do we change our course? Where's the nearest exit ramp?

Growing up, my parents always told me to be a defensive driver. Always be looking at the road around you. Always keep an eye on the other drivers. Just like on the highway, we need to keep our eyes searching for signs around us. Signs that we're going the wrong way. Signs that an exit is approaching. Signs that we've almost reached our destination.

Galatians 5:16-18 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."

There is no clearer directional sign than the Holy Spirit living inside of us. You can't deny the times that you hear Him telling you to yield, to turn around, to go another way, to stop and start over. Too often we ignore that voice. We think that there's no way He can see what's up ahead better than we can. There's no way He can see what's behind us because, after all, we're the ones with the rearview mirror. Newsflash: the Holy Spirit doesn't need headlights and mirrors. He is one with God the Father - all knowing and all powerful. Not only does He know what's up ahead, but He can see beyond the headlights - even the brights. There's no way we can beat Him.

I hate when I have to be honest in these blogs, but I am. One of the biggest obstacles in my road is attention. I love to get attention. Whether it's praise from a superior or flirting from a girl, I relish those moments. God has been working with me lately on getting away from that. Who needs earthly attention when you have Heavenly attention? Who needs the admiration of man when you have the grace of God shining on you? Who needs a wink from a girl when you have the smile of the Lord pointed at you?

God is shining a light on the exit ramp. Much like Jenny (yes, I named my GPS), His voice is telling me where to go. He's telling me to get off the highway and turn onto His way. But, as your driver's ed teacher would tell you, you have to be careful when you merge. How do we merge from our highway to His way?

James 4:7-10 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

First, we must turn on our blinker and tell God that we are getting off. That we have decided we cannot do it and we need His will to carry us on. Then, as we start to get on the exit ramp, He will immediately be there with us. There's no delay. As soon as we turn our hearts to Him He will lift us in His arms and smile. Picture that. Picture God cradling you in His arms and beaming at You - just like a mom who holds her baby for the first time.

They say that the way to choose a dog is to see which one will let you hold him upside down in your arms. It's crazy, but it's true. That's what happened when we got Jack and Maggie, and there's no doubt that they're the dogs for us. Why is that? Submission. If a dog will let you hold it upside down, then it trusts you enough to submit to your authority. Likewise, we need to be bold enough to lay ourselves in God's arms and submit to His will. When we do that, it makes all attention from down here seem meaningless because there's no one else we care about pleasing. When you make God smile, how important does it make a pat on the back from your boss seem? When you make God smile, how important does it make a compliment from a girl seem? Pretty insignificant.

Final Thoughts

Those of you who know me well know that I used to be a pretty big guy. On January 1, 2005, I began two journeys in my life - one journey back to health and one journey back to God. Fortunately, the journey back to God made the journey back to health a whole lot easier. When you've got Jesus to chase after, you find yourself turning to your unhealthy habits a lot less. I like ice cream, but I have to stay away from it. The good news, though, is that no ice cream will ever compare to the sweet gift of eternal life.

"Play Like A Champion Today"

So driving to work this morning, I found myself behind a car with that bumper sticker on it. "Play Like A Champion Today." I really liked that. So many times in life we play to get by or to make it to the next game, but that's no way to really succeed in life. To be champions, we have to fight for it. I hate to quote Nick Saban here, but he says that the true quality of a team cannot be measured until they've faced adversity. Looking at how you face adversity reveals the mark of a true champion.

Psalm 118:8-9 "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes."

You see, the world around us is great about providing adversity. It tests us. It constantly throws things our way that are way bigger and way more than we can handle on our own. A true champion is someone who can turn to Jesus to rise above the hits thrown his way. It's easy to let the world get a hold of us and pull us down to its level, but God isn't about "easy." Do you think it was easy to create the entire universe in 6 days? Do you think it was easy to later completely flood out all of His creation? Do you think it was easy to watch His Son willingly sacrifice His life for sins He never committed?

"It is better to take refuge in the LORD." When ships pass through storms, they seek out the nearest harbor for safe refuge. Likewise, as we pass through storms, we run inside or grab our umbrellas to protect us from the elements. How does Jesus respond to a storm? We see that in Mark 4:39: "He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm."

So Jesus just stands against the storm and puts it in its place. But we run from storms to seek safety. Why? Wouldn't it stand to follow that if Jesus has the power to calm storms, and that we are nothing more than a suit of clothes for Him to walk around in, that we have no need to flee from adversity? The only thing we have to run from is ourselves, allowing Jesus to take the helm of our ship and right our course. That's what He did when He gave His life on the cross, and that's His greatest desire - total submission to the Father.

Proverbs 28:2 "When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.

You see, when we let things besides Jesus take the wheel (yes, I said it), that's when things spiral out of control. Having many rulers will bring about rebellion. This goes along with what I was talking about the other day regarding being simplehearted. Clearing ourselves of, well, ourselves, is a must. Remember how I was talking about the medicines that transplant patients take? Well, they're called immunosuppressants. Big word for a blog, I know, but what they do is turn off your body's natural responses so that the new organ can function. That's what we need to do. We have to turn off our natural selves, our desire to lead our own lives, and let Christ's heart guide our journey.

What is it about understanding and knowledge that brings order? Is it that we know everything about what's going on around us? No. Is it that we know what obstacles are going to come our way? No. It's that we know that obstacles are coming our way, that the sea is churning, and that we cannot possibly stop the storm ourselves. It's knowing that we are not in control and that we couldn't even begin to handle the control if we had it.

James 3:13-18 "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

Going into the medical field, a lot of value is placed on wisdom. There is both the knowledge that comes from learning and the wisdom that comes from experience. All of my days are spent trying to amass more of that wisdom so that I can not only save a patient's life one day, but also so that I can impress my supervisors. There's the hitch, though. Part of training in the medical field is, unfortunately, impressing those above you. That's selfish ambition if I ever did hear it. And what comes from selfish ambition? Evil practice. Now I don't know about y'all, but I definitely don't want an evil practice when I'm done with this.

It's time to forget about trying to impress anyone. The only person who's opinion really matters, well, I've already got His approval through the blood of His Son. And any wisdom He wants me to have He will provide. I like the seven criteria for His wisdom: (1) pure, (2) peace-loving, (3) considerate, (4) submissive, (5) full of mercy and good fruit, (6) impartial, and (7) sincere. That's what my education should be about - gaining those seven virtues. That one day, as I practice on my own, no one will ever question where I'm coming from and everyone will know the seven-fold foundation of my knowledge.

Final Thoughts

The way to a national championship is through touchdowns. Seven points (including the point-after). Well, God has given us His set of seven points for wisdom. Our wisdom is to be pure. It is to be peace-loving and considerate. It is to be submissive and full of mercy and good fruit. It is to be impartial and sincere. Forget learning facts. He doesn't need us to learn facts because He already knows them and He will provide them to us when we need them. We should instead be focusing on getting those seven points on the board. We're in the "red zone" and it's time to make it count.

Confidence in Christ

Being proactive. Doing. Executing. Yesterday I was really thinking about how I have to be active to keep safe God's presence in my heart. So it comes as no surprise that this morning the following verse jumped out at me:

James 1:19-25 "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."

Being perfectly honest, over the past month I've been faced with some anger issues. As the world as I knew it was changing, my default was to get angry about it. I had a disagreement with one of my best friends, and yes, he really did hurt me, so naturally I got angry about it. But what good is anger? It says pretty clearly above that anger will not get you what God wants to give you. Knowing that God wants to give us His life, and that He already has given it for us, my getting angry was just keeping me from receiving His full gift. Who wants to get a present only to realize that you could have had more? Well God is telling us that there is more, and, that to receive it, all we have to do is lay ourselves down and raise Him up. Talk about needing no more instructions than that!

Thinking about it, anger is nothing more than an overgrowth of pride. When our egos are hurt, we get angry. But what is God saying about pride here? He says that we should humbly accept the new heart He has given us and His Word which he has placed in it. Part of accepting God is recognizing that He's the only answer, and I think that's a big part of why so many people refuse to submit themselves to Him.

I was sprawled out in a massaging recliner at Brookstone tonight after dinner and I happened to overhear some of the employees talking to each other. This is verbatim what the young girl was saying to her coworkers: "You see, I was raised in the church, so it's hard for me to say that I don't believe it, but now that I'm in college, I get science. Science makes sense. So that's sort of where I'm leaning right now." It's comforting when something makes sense to us, isn't it? When something finally clicks in our heads, we have a sense of accomplishment that overtakes us. Pride. God doesn't want that. He doesn't want us to be able to wrap our heads around Him. It's been said that the moment you think you completely understand God, you've made Him too small. That's so true.

One area that I'm very poor in is that of evangelism. Yes, I've done missions trips, and yes, I've shared the Gospel and led people through the prayer to receive Christ. But in that environment I was comfortable with it. It felt "ok." So how come tonight, while hanging out with one of my brothers in Christ and best friends, I wasn't able to go up to this girl and become a part of the conversation? Why was I content to comment about it as we left without having done anything about it? There I go again - a lack of action.

Over the last month as I did my Family Medicine rotation, I was blessed to work with a man who had no qualms about his faith and about sharing the Gospel with anyone and everyone he came across. I kid you not, but every day when he would come in, he would have another story to share about how either he, his wife, or one of their seven children had helped lead someone to Christ the night before. I was in awe. I was in shock. I was ashamed that I didn't have the same fortitude. It's time to challenge myself in professing my faith. Even more, to challenge myself in spreading my faith. It's one thing for everyone to know where I stand, but it's another to help bring them into His fold. I need to be better about taking action on this.

1 Peter 3:3-4 "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

After my daily reading this morning, I flipped over to 1 Peter, a chapter that we have been working through in the Men's Physicians Bible Study at St. Vincents (a group I was blessed to be a part of during my Family Medicine rotation). The above passage is God's command to women as wives. So why would I, as a single young man, be drawn to that passage? Well, it's simple. If that's God's instructions to wives, then shouldn't that be what I'm looking for as I look for His bride for me?

Yes, right now there's a girl who has my interest. But after thinking about the above passage, as well as a conversation I had at dinner tonight, it's even clearer that now is not the right time for me to be dating. As we were talking about her tonight at dinner, my friend asked me, "Is she a believer?" Being completely honest, I don't know. I've observed her personality, I've observed her mannerisms, and yes, she comes across as someone of a similar moral fiber as myself, but that really means nothing in the big scheme of things. Until I'm at a place where I'm confident to openly discuss my faith with a girl, I have no business trying to lead one in a relationship.

You see, that's the real purpose of my healing journey right now. Confidence. Most of my life I've struggled with confidence issues. Hard to imagine that from someone with no problem getting up in front of 2,000 people and singing, right? My confidence has come from the approval of those around me, and that doesn't provide anything long-term. When you build yourself on those around you, it's like building on sand. It's great to - and you must - have people to support you, but they cannot be your foundation.

My focus now is to draw my confidence and sense of who I am from above and within, not from anything or anyone around me. Until I have successfully reached that place, all I'll do is cycle in and out of highs and lows. Confidence in Christ - that's the mission.

Final Thoughts

It's time for action. It's time to step up and do something. It's time to profess my faith. It's time to make known that I'm a child of God. It's time to follow His paths in bringing new believers into His kingdom. I can't help but pray for that employee from Brookstone. Lord, I pray that You work in her heart to bring her to a place of submission. That You bring her to a place where she is able to give up trying to "understand" and is comfortable in sacrificing her life to You. Father, that You would work in her heart and in my own to make us comfortable in our humility. It's not until we've reached that point that we will gain true confidence - Confidence in Christ. In the name of Your Son, Christ Jesus, Amen.

"Physician, Heal Thyself!"

What's this About?

So last week I was watching ER (great to see the return of Dr. Mark Greene - ER's just not the same without him), when something odd happened. The show started with a black screen. Then, they flashed up Luke 4:23: "Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum." I know it's wrong, but I swear at that moment the TV was literally screaming at me, and thank goodness I was listening! "Physician, heal thyself!" That's exactly what I have been needing to do here of late. Why? Well, that's not important. What I want this blog to focus on is the actual healing process. After all, that's what my life is supposed to be about right now, isn't it? Aren't I supposed to go in every day and "heal" people? (For the record, I make no claims that the medical profession truly "heals" people. I'm a firm believer that there is only one true Healer, the Lord God Almighty.)

So I started to dissect that phrase. If we are to "heal" ourselves, and God is the only true Healer, then that command is telling us to turn our lives over to Jesus so that we may be healed. Now I know you're saying, "But, Drew, you've already done that." And you are correct. But it's not a one-and-done phenomenon. Yes, as soon as we surrender our lives to Jesus he fills us. But, the "process" part is all about continuing to give Him more and more of ourselves. We cannot grow complacent. Complacency leads itself to stagnation. And stagnation leads itself to ruin. Water will stay clean so long as it is flowing, but as soon as the stream stops and the water pools, bacteria and insects will begin to populate.

You see, I had hit my own dam of sorts. I was content with enjoying where I was, doing what I was doing, and living life as I had been living it since I gave myself over to Christ. But in order to heal myself, I have to be continually striving for new heights, for new summits, for new horizons.

So as I was reading through the Word this morning, I had a few verses that really stood out to me. As I go through this process, these are the verses that I want to share here and to meditate upon.

Psalm 116:6 "The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me."

When reading this verse, the word that jumped off the page was "simplehearted." The word "simple" has unfortunately grown to have a very negative connotation in our world. If someone has a simple mind, they lack intelligence. If someone has a simple plan, it lacks development. If someone writes a simple sentence, it lacks a conjugation uniting multiple ideas. You see? Simple things lack.

That's not the case, however. When reading this, it hit me that, yes, being simplehearted means having only one thing in your heart. It's not about you, the people around you, the world around you. It's about Jesus. You love Him. Period. Now, with that, you love the things He loves. You love the people He loves. But all of that stems from loving Him. Too often I find myself loving the things He loves and loving the people He loves without focusing on just loving Him. It's easy to do that. He wants me to love someone? I love them. But now they become the focus, not Him.

I was talking with a friend the other day when all of the sudden the following phrase came off my fingertips (I was texting): "I don't want to know the big picture, cause if I do, I'll focus on the painting instead of the painter." Now I know I'm not talented enough to come up with something like that, so I know that God was speaking to me through my own words. "Focus on ME, the painter," He was saying. "Focus."

Ezekiel 36:24-28 "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God."

What an awesome description of salvation! Just picture that process. God is literally removing me from the distractions of the world and bringing me into His fold. He is washing me clean of
not only what I've done in the past, but also washing those ideas and actions off of the pedestals they held in my life.

But the next statement is where things started to tie together: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." So here we see God putting a new heart in me, and we just learned that He protects the simplehearted, so doesn't it follow that when He puts that heart in me, He puts it there with only one focus - He and his Son?

Now as that heart lives inside of us and becomes a part of us, our bodies naturally start to make it impure. When someone receives a heart transplant, their body inevitably wants to reject their new organ. Well, our bodies do the exact same with the heart God gives us. Our body attacks it, trying to draw it's focus away from that for which it was created. So just as a patient will take medications to prevent rejection, so must we take proactive, preventative measures to protect our new heart. Lack of doing so - or complacency - leads to rejection, which leads to failure of the organ and death.

James 1:17-18 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

There's no denying that the heart God gives us is a gift. What's the first thing you do on Christmas morning when you are handed a present? (Well, after you shake it and try to guess what it is based on whatever means possible.) You look at the tag to see who it's from. Well, in this statement, we are seeing God's "From:" tag: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights."

Isn't that better than getting something from Aunt Bethany in Chicago? As I read this verse, I was overwhelmed by the image of the "heavenly lights." Such awe. Such wonder. I mean, I know I would be completely overtaken by such radiance. And it is from there - not Chicago, not Tulsa, not Des Moines - that the good gifts come. Aunt Bethany will age, and she may move, but God Above never changes - He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And, let's be honest. Why would he want to change?

Final Thoughts

God has given me a direct command. It is time to heal myself. And the only way to do that is through Him. He is the Healer. I hate that the song "Healer" has a tarnished reputation now, but the message does stand true. "I believe You're my Healer. I believe You are all I need. I believe You're my Portion. I believe You're more than enough for me. Jesus, You're all I need." Yes, Lord, You are all I need. So now I rest in who You are - not a complacent rest, but a rest that has me at peace with where You will lead me, with where You will carry me.